Why Doesn't He Like Me Yet?

[Chapters 37 to 45 have all been replaced with new content.]

{My feelings changed a few times while writing this story. Looking back, I realized I could no longer control the characters' emotions. I started writing because I wanted to capture the vivid, unforgettable people in the transparent texture of youth, but I didn't handle things well as the story went on. I'm very sorry.}

Xia Zong grew up spoiled, always getting whatever he wanted, whether it was the stars or the moon.

During the second semester of his second year of high school, family troubles and his mother's job transfer forced him to live with his uncle's family and transfer to a new school.

His new class monitor, Chen Jingxi, was far ahead of everyone academically and was especially popular for both his looks and personality.

But Xia Zong disliked this new class monitor.

It wasn't out of jealousy or anything like that. It was because... Chen Jingxi disliked him.

He was warm and pleasant to everyone else, but always cold and sharp with Xia Zong.

Whether they were talking or doing things together, Chen Jingxi always looked so unwilling, as if he wished he could stay eight hundred meters away. It drove Xia Zong crazy.

But when he came to his senses, Xia Zong realized that even though Chen Jingxi disliked him, he still bought him meals, carried him to the hospital in the middle of the night, and indulged his every whim.

At first, Xia Zong thought Chen Jingxi was simply a genuinely good person. But gradually, he began wanting Chen Jingxi to be kind only to him.

So, on the day he turned eighteen, Xia Zong made a wish by the sea:

He wished that Chen Jingxi would fall in love with him.

On the surface, Chen Jingxi was the perfect class monitor, with excellent grades, outstanding athletic ability, and not a single flaw to pick out.

In reality, he had no empathy and was utterly cold. He had never truly cared about anyone else, and only cared about boxing and winning.

He put on a flawless act for almost everyone, even his parents. But he just couldn't keep up the act around one transfer student, because...

He was too busy.

His darling was too adorable, and his mind was always wandering.

Coming soon: "The Humble Adopted Son Quits"

1

When Yan Yi was seven, a butler led him through the gates of the Ming family estate. From then on, he was renamed Ming Yi and became their adopted son.

Everyone in the Ming family, including Ming Jiao, the young master who was a few months younger than him, knew that he was merely proof of the partnership between Ming Corporation and a charitable organization.

Of course, Yan Yi knew that too.

He never dared to ask for much. The token concern his adoptive parents showed him was enough.

His younger brother didn't like him standing out, so Yan Yi did his best to play the part of an invisible person.

He never shone at anything, and never gave anyone cause to criticize him.

Even so, his younger brother, adored by everyone, led the way in ostracizing him. He was locked outside in the middle of the night and framed for stealing other people's things...

He thought this life would end the day he became an adult and left the Ming family. But one day, outside the study, Yan Yi overheard his adoptive parents quietly discussing making him a tool for a political marriage, marrying him off to a man in his forties from the Lian family who had already been married once.

Yet not long before, that very morning, they had smiled at the dinner table and asked, "A-Yi, is there a girl you like?"

The peaceful illusion of more than ten years living together shattered, and Yan Yi fell into despair.

2

In his twenty-four years, Ji Jinyu had done little besides skip grades and earn dual degrees in computer science and finance from MIT. Everything else had gone according to plan.

He was supposed to get engaged to someone his parents introduced when he was twenty-five, then marry at twenty-seven.

But something unexpected happened.

He slept with his blind date's older brother.

The child Ji Jinyu remembered as proper and self-possessed woke up with marks all over him and remained perfectly calm.

"Sir, do me a favor. Tell my younger brother the truth."

Even without being asked, Ji Jinyu would have done it.

Later, on a day of heavy snowfall, he drove to the Ming family estate.

The boy he'd spent the night with was wearing only a thin shirt, carrying a suitcase as he walked down the steps one at a time.

Ji Jinyu frowned and went forward. But when he saw the boy's expression, he paused.

Yan Yi was smiling.

3

Yan Yi's plan to escape the Ming family went almost too smoothly. He'd intended to ask a rich young man his friend had introduced him to for help putting on a show, but who could have guessed his younger brother's fiance would interfere?

Ji Jinyu might be a hypocrite hiding behind a banner of justice, but at least he had principles.

Sleeping with a hypocrite wasn't part of the plan, but Yan Yi didn't care.

He was finally free.

He no longer had to wear crisp shirts and trousers every day, hide his talents, or let anyone monitor his bank account.

He could travel anywhere he'd marked with a star on the map, and paint whatever he wanted.

4

Before Yan Yi returned to the country, photos of him painting on the streets of a foreign slum had already reached the Ming family.

In the photos, he wore ragged clothes like the local residents, with paint and dust on his face. He looked shabby, but deeply focused.

The Ming family grew even more smug, telling everyone that Yan Yi was ungrateful for cutting ties with them and deserved to end up like this.

After Yan Yi returned, Ming Jiao, dressed head to toe in designer clothes, drove to the apartment building where his "older brother" lived with roommates, intending to humiliate him.

He hadn't expected to find an expensive car parked outside.

Before he could go upstairs, Ming Jiao heard a familiar male voice pleading:

"Yi-Yi, I was wrong. Will you let me in?"

Ming Jiao looked up in shock. The man pleading with him was Ji Jinyu, who had topped the Forbes list of personal fortunes for five consecutive years, and the man he had almost been lucky enough to get engaged to...

Ji Jinyu.

Before Ming Jiao could cry out, the person called "Yi-Yi" spoke with disdain:

"All you ever think about is useless nonsense. Who'd want to live with you?"

"...I was wrong. Please don't ignore me."

What shocked the Ming family wasn't just Yan Yi's relationship with Ji Jinyu. A few months later, after a dating show featuring the two of them aired, Yan Yi, a jack-of-all-trades, went viral online.

Foreign viewers who happened to be watching the livestream recognized him, and Yan Yi's secret identity was exposed...

To those who didn't know him, Yan Yi might have been an unknown street artist. But everyone who knew him understood that he was unquestionably a world-renowned artist.

Free-spirited traveling artist, bottom × hands-on domineering CEO, top

Theme: A harmonious family