In the Years When I Was a Father-Chapter 2: The Playboy Dad (2)

Putting everything else aside, the most urgent matter was to find Qi Wenyu. But with the vast sea of people out there, it wasn’t easy. The child’s phone had been confiscated by the original host before he left, cutting off all direct contact. Qi Sheng had no choice but to call each of the kid’s friends one by one.
Unfortunately, after calling around, the situation looked grim. The child’s friends were also searching for him.
Thinking about Qi Wenyu’s personality, Qi Sheng could only draw one conclusion: the kid must’ve found somewhere to hide and lick his wounds in private.
After living together for nearly twenty years, Qi Sheng knew the kid’s temperament well. Qi Wenyu had never been the type to share his feelings with others. Now, he was probably hiding somewhere, nursing his pain alone.
Qi Sheng had been a dissolute playboy for years and knew plenty of people from all walks of life. Desperate to find the boy now, he reached out for help. One acquaintance who was quite familiar with him couldn’t help but wonder why he suddenly had a change of heart.
“Didn’t you just kick the kid out a few days ago? Now you’re suddenly in a panic to find him?”
Qi Sheng, worried inside but feigning helplessness, replied, “Don’t even mention it. The old man came back and tore into me. If I don’t find Xiao Yu soon, I’ll be spending New Year’s sleeping on the streets!”
The guy laughed at him and promised repeatedly to do his best to help find the boy.
Meanwhile, the old man had also arranged for a number of people to help with the search. Now all Qi Sheng could do was wait for news.
Thinking back to how the boy had left home without a single cent on him, phone confiscated, not even enough money for bus fare—just walking away from the Qi family estate on foot—Qi Sheng wanted nothing more than to beat the original host to a pulp. But now that he was Qi Sheng, there was no use dwelling on it.
The only consolation was that Qi Wenyu, groomed as the heir by the old man with great care, wouldn’t have too much trouble surviving even without a penny to his name.
Back then, after hearing what Qi Bodong had said, the original host really had put in effort to investigate Zhou Yan. But she was too cunning, and even the old man hadn’t been able to find any evidence against her.
Zhou Yan had continued whispering in the original host’s ear, feeding his paranoia. This only strengthened his belief that Qi Wenyu was secretly conspiring with his birth mother to steal the Qi family’s assets. His hatred for the boy only grew—there was no way he’d ever bring him back.
So even after the old man found Qi Wenyu, with Qi Sheng’s vehement opposition, Qi Wenyu left the Qi family in disappointment of his own accord.
Now Qi Sheng could only wait for news, and in the meantime, his thoughts wandered back to the events that would unfold later in the story.
Aside from the son he had with Bai Ruoqing, Qi Sheng also had an illegitimate child named Qi Wenfeng. Wenfeng’s mother, Zhou Yan, had long coveted a place in the Qi family. But with Qi Wenyu around, the old man had only ever agreed to let Qi Sheng raise Wenfeng properly outside the family. Zhou Yan had no way in and had almost resigned herself to that fate—until Qi Wenyu’s departure reignited her ambition.
Compared to Qi Wenyan, who hadn’t received a proper upbringing, her son was clearly the better candidate to inherit the Qi family fortune!
Zhou Yan continued to feed lies and manipulations to the original host, and Qi Sheng himself was already biased in favor of Wenfeng. As a result, when Wenyan returned to the Qi family, he suffered greatly.
Luckily, with the help of the old man and Bai Ruoqing, he was able to slowly adapt. But because of Qi Sheng’s meddling, Qi Wenfeng entered the Qi Corporation shortly after starting university. The two brothers became rivals, fighting both openly and behind the scenes, plunging the Qi Corporation into chaos. Its former glory gradually faded. The old man, driven by anger and stress, collapsed into serious illness. As the Qi family teetered on the brink of collapse, Qi Wenyu returned.
After years of honing himself, Qi Wenyu—once carefully trained by the old man—had become a rising star in the investment world.
After returning, he helped Qi Wenyan regain control of the Qi Corporation and ruthlessly crushed Qi Wenfeng’s influence.
Zhou Yan, unwilling to accept that the Qi family empire she’d almost secured was snatched away, became desperate. In a final act of madness, she secretly arranged for someone to hit Qi Wenyan with a car.
That day, Qi Wenyu just happened to be with him. In a split second, he shielded Wenyan with his own body—and died from his injuries despite emergency treatment.
The old man, upon hearing the terrible news, was so devastated he suffered a stroke and was left paralyzed.
Although Qi Wenyan eventually uncovered the truth and Zhou Yan and Qi Wenfeng were convicted of attempted murder, the once-glorious Qi family was never the same again.
The original host had been a spoiled, reckless troublemaker his whole life, causing endless heartache for the old man. In the end, he even got Qi Wenyu killed and left the old man paralyzed by stroke.
Qi Sheng no longer wanted to evaluate the original host’s actions. By the time evening came, he finally received news of Qi Wenyu’s whereabouts and wasted no time in driving over.
It was a modest hotel in the outskirts. After confirming the room number, Qi Sheng went straight upstairs and knocked on the door.
There was no response from inside. If the hotel owner hadn’t said the guest hadn’t gone out, Qi Sheng would have thought the kid had already left. Worried something might’ve happened inside, the hotel owner verified Qi Sheng’s identity and opened the door with a master key.
Qi Wenyu had originally thought the knocking was just room service, but he wasn’t in the mood to talk and figured the person would leave after a while. It wasn’t until the door opened that he snapped to alertness. Seeing Qi Sheng walk in, he was thrown off guard.
He almost instinctively called out “Dad,” but stopped himself just in time, remembering this man no longer had anything to do with him.
Qi Sheng closed the door behind him. Looking at the visibly haggard boy, he felt a pang of guilt. Still, he wore an awkward expression as he said, “Xiao Yu, uh… have you eaten yet? Come on, go out with Dad for a bite.”
The kid didn’t respond and just stared silently at Qi Sheng. Qi Sheng scratched his head, a bit helpless, and said, “Your grandpa’s out of the hospital. He’s been missing you like crazy. Come on, come back with Dad first—we can talk more once we’re home.”
Qi Wenyu pushed down his disappointment and found it laughable that he had even hoped this man would come looking for him on his own. “Don’t worry. I won’t return to the Qi family. As for Grandpa… the old man, I’ll trouble you and Madam to look after him.”
Even though he was worried about his grandfather’s health, having been raised by him, Qi Wenyu knew his condition well. Since he had been discharged from the hospital, things probably weren’t too serious anymore. He really wanted to go back and see him, but he also knew that his return would only throw the Qi family into more chaos.
Besides, aside from Grandpa, no one else would want him back. Why ruin their New Year?
“What kind of talk is that? What do you mean, don’t worry? I’m your dad. It’s the New Year—you don’t want to go back to the Qi house, then where do you want to go? Come on, be good, don’t throw a childish tantrum. Your grandpa’s waiting at home!”
Qi Sheng looked all righteous and exasperated, as if he were just a tired old father trying to coax a rebellious son home. Unfortunately, Qi Wenyu remembered all too clearly how this very man, the one he’d called “Dad” for eighteen years, had cursed him as a bastard and an ingrate that day, screaming at him to get out of the Qi family and never dream of taking anything from it.
“Ahem… You brat. What grudge between father and son lasts overnight? I was just confused that day, believed the wrong person, and said some dumb crap in the heat of the moment. What, you want your old man to apologize now?”
“If you believed it then, why don’t you believe it now? Aren’t you afraid I really am after the Qi family’s wealth, secretly hiding my origins and funneling money to my biological parents?”
“So what if you are? It’s all your grandpa’s money anyway. If he doesn’t care, why would what I say matter?” Qi Sheng huffed and, like a rascal, dragged the boy over to the bed and plopped down himself.
“I already know now—you didn’t take the money. Come on, be a good son. Your dad wrongly accused you that day, and I shouldn’t have said all that. Just do me a favor and come back with me, alright?”
Qi Wenyu looked at him in surprise. Because of Qi Wenfeng’s existence, their father-son relationship had grown more strained over time. He was never one to act sweet or obedient like Qi Wenfeng, and because of his mother, he had confronted this man more than once, blaming him for humiliating her for the sake of another woman and an illegitimate son. Over time, their relationship grew distant.
He never thought that now, after they were no longer related, this man was actually less cold to him than before.
“Did Grandpa ask you to come?” Qi Wenyu couldn’t help but ask.
Qi Sheng rubbed his nose, a bit guilty. “So what if he did? Are you really not planning on coming back? Your grandpa said if you don’t return, then I’m getting kicked out with you!”
“I’m not going back. Please tell Grandpa I’ll be fine on my own. He doesn’t need to worry. When there’s a chance, I’ll go visit him.” So it wasn’t regret, just coercion from Grandpa. Qi Wenyu suppressed the pain in his chest and replied with a blank expression.
“You stubborn brat!” Qi Sheng couldn’t help raising his hand to flick his son on the forehead. The kid didn’t dodge, just lowered his head in silence.
“Are you worried your mom won’t accept you? Don’t worry—Grandpa talked to her too. Don’t be mad at her. She just couldn’t accept it at first, that’s why she didn’t stop me that day.”
After learning that her biological son had been deliberately swapped at birth and had suffered so much over the years, even though she knew the boy was innocent and had watched Qi Wenyu grow up, Bai Ruoqing still couldn’t face him. So when Grandpa was too sick to stop Qi Sheng from kicking him out, Bai Ruoqing had just taken her biological son and left, choosing not to intervene.
“I never blamed her,” Qi Wenyu said. And I don’t even have the right to, he added silently in his heart.
His biological mother’s jealousy and greed had caused Qi Wenyan to suffer horribly in his place, while he grew up pampered under someone else’s name, loved by Grandpa and his parents. What right did he have to resent Bai Ruoqing for being cold to him that day?
“It’s the New Year—you really plan on staying in this run-down hotel? Come on, be good. Dad already apologized, right? Come back with me. Your grandpa wants to see you right now.”
Seeing his son still unmoved, Qi Sheng deliberately raised his voice. “I raised you for nearly twenty years, and now you think you can just walk out like that? Get up! You’re coming with me!”
Without waiting for a response, he began packing up the boy’s things.
But Qi Wenyu had barely brought anything when he left the Qi house, so the room looked nearly empty. Qi Sheng glanced around and said, “Got your ID on you? Let’s go.” Then he dragged his son downstairs to check out at the front desk.
Once the two were in the car, Qi Wenyu finally came to his senses. Looking at the rascal-like grin on the man’s face, he obediently fastened his seatbelt.
As he drove, Qi Sheng comforted the boy: “You don’t need to worry—Wenyan’s a good kid. You two just get along. Actually, you should be a little older than him, so from now on, you’re the big brother.”
“Alright,” Qi Wenyu replied after a moment of silence. Then, listening to the man ing back to Grandpa on the phone, he couldn’t help blurting out, “Thanks, Dad.”
“You brat. Let’s go home!”