When Ye Bai’s father saw his youngest son sending a message saying he wanted to talk, he sighed numbly.

He could already anticipate that his youngest son was coming to him again about Woden, and he did not know whether this time it was about some project funding Woden wanted approved or if Woden had set his sights on someone’s research again.

When Ye Bai came to him, it was always about these few things.

Ye Bai’s father did not know whether the problem was choosing the wrong gestation agency or using the wrong mechanical womb. He and his wife had always been rational and treated each other with respect.

He did not fool around outside, at most a bit of harmless flirtation, and Ye Bai’s mother did not either. Her poverty-alleviation work flourished, aiming to bring fully intelligent robots to all rural planets.

Yet these two rational parents had produced a son consumed by love—this was a thunderbolt to the Ye couple.

Whenever Ye Bai met Woden, he acted as if he had lost his soul. If Woden asked for anything he had, he always gave it.

Even his own parents would not have been so generous to Woden, but Ye Bai was.

At first, Ye Bai’s father could not believe it and tested several times. When he finally realized it was true, he felt the Ye family was doomed.

He spent several years trying to bring Ye Bai back from that road of no return, but Ye Bai stubbornly refused to turn back.

By this year, Ye Bai’s father had given up.

He had decided to set a will: after their deaths, Ye Bai would only receive a yearly allowance from the central processing unit.

Yet Ye Bai’s father still felt uneasy. He had built such a great family fortune, occupied the position of finance minister, and wanted a biological heir to inherit his wealth, power, and status.

Ye Bai’s mother felt the same. She had worked hard for herself, wanting not only her own achievements but also someone to inherit her power and position. But now…

The Ye couple watched each other through the holographic image and sighed.

While they fretted, it was time to make a holographic call to the elderly Madam Ye in the countryside.

During this call, they saw Ye Wangxing pass through the new image.

The Ye couple’s eyes lit up.

Originally, sending their eldest son to the elderly Madam Ye in the countryside was intended to leave the family a backup plan.

After all, one parent focused on poverty relief and the other controlled the finances. Concentrating power in one family was not ideal.

Although the current Emperor trusted them completely, what about the next Emperor?

Their Emperor did not seem very healthy, early retirement for recuperation was inevitable.

Even if they arranged a marriage with Crown Prince Woden…

Ye Bai’s father recalled his youngest son’s sycophantic behavior and Woden’s attitude toward him.

Even a marriage alliance would not guarantee anything, his youngest son would never pay attention to Woden’s situation.

Even if his youngest son were clever enough to intercept Woden in advance, given his son’s political skills—frankly, throwing rice on an old keyboard would produce better results than him.

The youngest son was hopeless. The Ye couple had agreed to find someone to watch him, and if Woden grew tired of him, they would forcibly bring him back, giving him a few million per year to live comfortably.

The inheritance would still go to the eldest son.

—After all, that was several hundred billion in assets!

Though less than the empire’s wealthiest, it was still a fortune most people could only dream of.

If it were donated to the empire, their hearts would bleed.

Thus, under Ye Bai’s father’s arrangements, the backup plan he had set decades ago finally came into play, and their eldest son arrived on the capital planet a week ago.

Though somewhat unexpectedly, the eldest son appeared timid and like a small easily frightened animal, even weaker-looking than the youngest son.

But at least he was a normal person!

He could even build a business from scratch!

Although it was just an app selling cheap items, and his self-promotion seemed naïve, the logistics and other facilities of the app were already mature!

And a bit of naïve self-promotion was nothing—at least he had normal business thinking.

After the ordeal with Ye Bai, Ye Bai’s father lowered his expectations for an heir and, seeing Ye Wangxing, he even felt he was outstanding.

He felt relieved: finally, a normal person had come, and they did not have to worry about inheritance.

Ye Bai’s mother also felt relieved. After three days with Ye Wangxing, confirming that he was normal and capable of taking on the responsibility of inheritance, she confidently returned to the remote countryside planet to continue her poverty-alleviation work.

Though Ye Wangxing faced cold stares from the nobles, he never retreated, which greatly satisfied Ye Bai’s father.

When he saw his youngest son today, he felt reluctant, but as he was still his son, he ultimately sent him a message allowing him to come to the study.

When the youngest son burst in, waving his lightpad, Ye Bai’s father was too tired to speak. He immediately asked: “What does Woden want from you this time? I won’t handle anything illegal. Make sure he prepares the paperwork, or don’t blame me for reporting it to His Majesty.”

Ye Bai’s father spoke rapidly, like a volley of cannonfire.

This had already become his reflex, to prevent Ye Bai from finding a loophole in his words and racking his brain to make him help Woden.

“Sigh…”

Ye Bai’s father sighed numbly again. He really wondered if he had committed some sin in a previous life to have such a youngest son.

But there was no choice—it was his own flesh and blood, he could not just abandon him.

“Luckily, there’s the eldest son. I’ll give him a bit more pocket money later. It’s something we owe that child. Even if we let him know his responsibilities, he never blamed us, but we can’t let a good kid suffer.”

“The company just started, and no matter how much funding we put in, it might not be enough. We can also see if the eldest son tries to touch the shares that secure his livelihood.”

Ye Bai’s father thought absentmindedly, but the next second he heard his youngest son scream.

“Dad! This really isn’t about Woden this time!”

Ye Bai’s father looked up, puzzled. Not about Woden? Since when did his youngest son think of him for something else?

“It’s about the eldest brother, Ye Wangxing!”

Ye Bai did not hold back and told him everything in one breath.

“Last night, I caught Eldest Brother dating four men within an hour, giving each of them gifts, and this morning he put those four men on the homepage of his company’s app as models to sell similar, affordable versions!”

The sentence had no punctuation, and Ye Bai’s father paused for a long time before finally letting out.

“Ah?”

Ye Bai’s father was dazed. Even if he called Ye Wangxing in front of him, he would not know what to say at first. He could only have him sit down while he organized his words.

At first, Ye Bai’s father had been furious. He thought his eldest son had also gone down the same path as the youngest, maybe even worse. The youngest son at least only “licked” one person, this one was “licking” four.

Then Ye Bai, hearing his father’s reaction, said with a strange expression: “Dad, maybe you should look at this before making a judgment…”

Ye Bai’s father found this odd. When he turned, he saw Ye Bai push four lightpad screens in front of him.

One showed a fuzzy, red persimmon, which looked festive and appealing to both children and adults.

Another screen displayed a thick wool blanket, but it looked oddly handcrafted, not machine-made.

Looking further down, Ye Bai’s father read the product name and immediately understood.

“Traditional wool finger DIY knitted blanket scarf thick yarn blanket quilt handwoven seat cushion gift for boys and girls, social party matching affordable version…”

The dense product title clearly came from his eldest son’s app. To game the algorithm, he had written every possible keyword.

Most stylish interstellar merchants would never do this. Every merchant wanted their product to be high-end to attract wealthy customers.

Ye Wangxing had chosen to target ordinary people, a niche market—but at least it wasn’t crowded, and making money was feasible. Ye Bai’s father had even praised his eldest son for this approach before.

Yet the models on these two pages, with their faces covered, looked familiar.

Ye Bai’s father was puzzled, and then Ye Bai said seriously,

“Dad! Don’t you see that these two models are Lord Semos and Prince Janus!”

This finally made Ye Bai’s father realize that the two models were indeed the lords mentioned, and the remaining two pages also seemed to show people he recognized.

The third page was another tourism project developed by Ye Wangxing’s small company.

The destination was a small planet that had been given to him along with the pocket money.

That planet had recently been mined for gold, but there were many planets with gold in the galaxy. While still tied to currency, it no longer required state regulation. Ye Bai’s father had casually included this small tourism project as compensation for his eldest son.

Now, his eldest son used the small planet for a tourism project.

—Melting gold ore by hand for a loved one and refining it into rings or other jewelry.

The person featured on the homepage ad was clearly General Ortas.

In the empire, this man’s physique was one of the best.

Now, on General Ortas index finger was a golden snake ring, and the official website claimed it was made on this planet.

According to advertising law, if they dared to post it, it either meant they were not afraid of lawsuits or it was true.

The final page showed fresh fruits in the app’s supermarket section, molded into heart shapes.

The featured person this time was Count Unobert, and the page also labeled the product as an affordable version.

Ye Bai’s father felt the answer was right in front of him.

At this moment, Ye Bai said gravely,

“Dad… the four men Eldest Brother dated last night are these people.”

Ye Bai’s father nearly fell off the sofa.

“Young master, when did your eldest brother get involved with these four people? And he even gave them such cheap gifts!”

Ye Bai immediately recounted everything from last night, including that the gifts Ye Wangxing had given them were not cheap at all.

—However, without Ye Wangxing’s permission, these replicas would never be allowed to be sold

This left Ye Bai’s father a little confused, he didn’t understand what Ye Wangxing’s actions were about.

So he decided to call Ye Wangxing over to have a proper talk with him.

When the young man finally appeared, Ye Bai’s father recalled that when Ye Wangxing had returned home, aside from giving him a few encouraging words at the family banquet and a few small planets as a welcome gift, he had immediately started working on the mid-year report.

He had completely forgotten about Ye Wangxing’s matters, not even holding a banquet.

‘…I’ll have to make it up to him later’ Ye Bai’s father thought.

He softened his expression and asked Ye Wangxing: “Wangxing, I called you over because I want to ask about last night’s banquet. I heard from your brother that you seemed to reconnect with a few friends?”

His tone eased the young man’s nervousness.

Ye Wangxing’s face flushed slightly, and he nodded.

“Yes, I met those friends again and gave them some gifts. The fluctuations in my pocket money were because of this.”

“That’s fine, after all, your pocket money is yours to use. But I still have a question—what exactly is your relationship with those four people?”

Ye Bai’s father had held high positions for so long that, even in a gentle tone, there was still an air of pressure. His question sounded almost like an interrogation, and it seemed to frighten the young man, his blush faded.

Fortunately, the young man adapted quickly and answered promptly.

Though the answer was somewhat unexpected.

“Well… although it sounds absurd, actually, I and they…” the young man said shyly,

“…are ex-boyfriends.”

Ye Bai’s father: “…”

He was silent for a long moment before asking: “All of them?”

The young man slowly nodded.

“Gah?”

Ye Bai’s father let out a rare duck-like sound.

Fortunately, the young man didn’t question his father’s habit, so he didn’t ask further.

Ye Bai’s father then stood and paced back and forth in his study ten times before finally sitting back on the sofa.

“So you’re ex-boyfriends. Why did you give them gifts at the banquet? And go on dates with four of them in one hour! Wait—you weren’t taken advantage of, right? And what’s with these replica items?”

Ye Bai Father, the youngest finance minister in the empire’s history, now looked like a virus-infected AI, spitting gibberish.

Once he calmed down, Ye Wangxing finally had a chance to explain everything.

“…Originally, I intended to break off contact after we parted, and I made parting gifts as a farewell to the past. I didn’t expect to run into them at the banquet.”

He smiled happily as he spoke.

“I also didn’t expect that after receiving the gifts, they confirmed that we were friends.”

Ye Bai’s father: “…”

Wait, does that make my son a jerk or not?

He hadn’t intended to pursue a relationship with them again, just to say goodbye to the past, but unexpectedly, he received a pleasant surprise.

And after a breakup, who they gave gifts to and how many people they gave them to wasn’t anyone else’s business.

But it was unusual for ex-boyfriends to become friends—something felt off.

Ye Bai’s father’s thoughts became tangled, and he decided to cut to the chase: “Setting other things aside, son, tell me—what do you really think of them?”

Facing his father’s sharp, hawk-like gaze, Ye Wangxing looked determined and said: “We’re friends!”

Ye Bai’s father: “…”

His face slowly displayed a ‘you take me for a fool?’ expression.

It seemed to shake Ye Wangxing, who finally lowered his head.

“…I still have lingering thoughts, wishing we could reconcile” he admitted sadly.

‘And which one did you hope to reconcile with?’

Ye Bai’s father groaned, feeling this was truly tricky.

If his son were a bit of a scoundrel, there would still be ways to handle it—but now…

His eldest son was sincere!

The only difference from his younger son was that the eldest knew how to make money. Even when giving gifts, he remembered to release affordable versions for profit.

He could even use this opportunity to make the app more popular.

Thinking this, Ye Bai’s father asked about the replicas. After suppressing his sadness, Ye Wangxing looked up at his father in slight surprise and said: “Because the company needs income. Plus, the small planets you gave me before require employment rates. Using these hot-selling items consumes inexpensive materials—it works out perfectly, doesn’t it?”

The young man smiled brightly.

“Besides, they wouldn’t mind such small matters. They can feel my intentions,” he added, tilting his chin confidently.

Ye Bai’s father couldn’t evaluate his eldest son’s romantic situation, so he decided to let him go and figure out a strategy later.

“By the way, send me the link for the plush persimmon. I’ll send it to your mother, she needs a family-related news item, and this fits perfectly,” he said, picking the priciest 39.9 version with a satisfied look.

“And each of you should get one. Make sure it’s visible, so no one thinks our family is divided.”

Ye Wangxing: “…”

Dad, haven’t you forgotten the manufacturer is right in front of you?

Ye Bai was shocked when he saw Ye Wangxing leave his father’s study unharmed.

He had expected his father to explode in anger, and even prepared the medical robot.

But after Ye Wangxing calmly explained everything, Ye Bai’s shock changed: His brother walked out unscathed—but he was the ex-boyfriend of those four? That was shocking!

What magic did his brother have to make them engage with him?

“…Dad, did you even ask about my brother’s romantic history? Why did they break up?”

Ye Bai’s expression made veins bulge on his father’s forehead. If beating children were allowed in the empire, he might have needed the medical robot to save Ye Bai.

“Your own romantic life is already a mess, and you’re curious about your brother? Solve your problem with Woden first! Don’t sulk here while he flirts outside!”

Compared to the eldest son, who handled his romance well despite complications, the father was angrier at his younger son’s incompetence.

Seeing trouble, Ye Bai immediately slipped out of his father’s study.

Ye Bai’s father, finally calming down, began thinking about his sons romantic affairs.

The younger son was self-sufficient, just greet the Emperor. The key issue was the eldest son.

His attitude was clear—he still had feelings for those four.

And what did the four feel?

Though the finance minister and the four were peers, his son wasn’t unworthy.

If one truly liked his son, it would be good, if not, his son wouldn’t be left to chase.

From the next day, Ye Bai’s father observed the four to see if anyone felt differently toward his son.

On the first day, he went to the palace and saw Prince Janus—carrying a cashmere blanket in the summer sun, refusing to let go even when sweating.

Though he thought Janus a bit silly, he felt comforted.

On the third day, he discussed tax issues with Count Unobert—who brought a private fruit box filled with heart-shaped fruits grown by his son. Others who tried to take some were politely refused.

His father smiled politely, finding it tricky but manageable.

On the fifth day, he saw General Ortas request military funding—the gold ring still worn on his index finger, polished repeatedly.

Whenever asked, Ortas would proudly explain that someone personally made the ring for him.

Ye Bai’s father’s smile stiffened, a chill creeping into his heart.

On the seventh day, he visited the marshal’s home regarding military funding. Semos descended from upstairs, playing with a persimmon that looked more delicate and soft than others’.

The marshal wouldn’t touch it, he even prepared a bath of sand for it.

Ye Bai’s father: “…”

His heart almost raced, triggering an alert at the marshal’s residence.

After returning home, he desperately wanted to ask Ye Wangxing how he had spoken with the four and why they broke up.

But the butler’s answer left him in despair: “The eldest young master was taken to the banquet by the youngest. It was Prince Woden invitation. The banquet wasn’t low-level, I heard Prince Janus and General Ortas would attend.”

The butler, noticing Ye Bai’s father’s pale expression, hurried to reassure him: “Don’t worry, with those two in charge of security, the young masters safety is guaranteed.”

Ye Bai’s father turned to the butler sharply in his mind, thinking: ‘It’s exactly because those two are there that the scene isn’t safe!’

 

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