Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 233 - 225: Picking Someone Up

Chapter 233: Chapter 225: Picking Someone Up

"What’s the matter?" Ke Yongjia was taken aback.

"Eight or nine out of ten, just short of final confirmation. If it’s true, then at least we should be grateful that Shaojie left behind a descendant." Pei Qingyuan sighed with a rather complicated feeling, and wasn’t it just as Zhang Min had said, ’Hoping he is, yet hoping he isn’t’?

But if not, could they find him in their lifetime?

After listening to Pei Qingyuan briefly explain the cause and effect, Ke Yongjia didn’t know how to comfort him. One of the greatest pains in life is when the elderly have to send off the young, and any comfort in words feels feeble under such immense grief.

"Old Pei." Ke Yongjia could only pat his shoulder with mixed feelings and let out a sigh as well.

"I’m afraid I can’t entertain you much today; the person might be brought over at any minute." Seeing the clock hand slowly moving towards ten thirty, Pei Qingyuan apologetically smiled at Ke Yongjia.

Calculating the time, Shitou should arrive here by noon. Today, aside from Pei Kun, who had gone out to pick up the person, no one else had left the house; they were all waiting at home.

"Alright, then I won’t disturb you any further. After all, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future." Even if he was itching to get an early glimpse of Pei Qingyuan’s "grandson" and probe how much the two resembled each other, he knew the timing wasn’t right and thus took his leave with tact.

"Take care." Pei Qingyuan nodded, personally escorting him to the front door, knowing there would be plenty of opportunities once they had confirmed Shitou’s identity.

--

"You must be Lu Xin, right? Truly, to meet is better than to hear of one."

At the previously agreed spot with Lu Yun, Shitou immediately saw a Hongqi sedan parked nearby; Pei Kun, dressed in a suit, initially leaning against the car, stood up straight and greeted him with a friendly smile upon his approach.

"Let me introduce myself, I’m Pei Kun. Let’s go, we can talk in the car. Otherwise, Grandpa and Grandma will start to worry."

Shitou raised an eyebrow, not knowing why the man before him felt so strangely familiar. His mind filled with many doubts, yet he didn’t hesitate in his actions and quickly got into the Hongqi sedan.

Indeed, Lu Yun had mentioned someone would pick him up upon arrival, but Shitou hadn’t expected it to be Pei Kun—nor that his grandparents wanted to meet him?

Why would Pei Kun’s grandparents have any reason to meet someone like him, an unknown minor figure? Shitou couldn’t figure it out.

Despite his confusion, Shitou’s expression revealed nothing. He sat in the back seat, eyes locked on Pei Kun, who was sitting in the front passenger seat and steadfastly staring back at him. Shitou couldn’t fathom what Pei Kun was up to.

"Not curious at all, Shitou? Could you at least ask a question?"

Pei Kun chuckled at Shitou. To find someone who could genuinely impress Pei Kun wasn’t easy before yesterday. However, after seeing the documentation that Grandpa had especially prepared last night, and the person sitting before him, who might very well be his cousin, and after reviewing his life experiences and the not-very-clear yet significant "accomplishments" in his research, Pei Kun’s thoughts had changed.

In the past, when Grandpa and Dad told him, "There are people beyond you, and skies beyond skies," he always took it lightly. He had always considered himself exceptional, believing he could achieve perfection in both study and work, gaining people’s complete admiration and approval.

But it was only after he had seen all the material about Shitou that he realized what "sitting at the bottom of the well and looking at the sky" really meant. That thick stack of documents, which was only the non-encrypted portion, was enough to convince anyone, let alone if it included...

Last night when he saw the rare look of relief on his grandfather’s face, to say his heart wasn’t tingling with a bit of "jealousy" would be a lie, but that emotion wasn’t entirely "jealousy"; it was a more complicated and indescribable sourness.

He didn’t have Shitou coming to steal his place, so he should have felt the kind of brotherly rivalrous instinct to eliminate him and be quick about it. Instead, there was a sourness mingled with a faint excitement, the thrill of suddenly having an ally to help him become invincible.

It was all due to the shadows of his childhood that loomed too large.

Most families in the neighborhood had siblings when he was a child, but he didn’t. It was alright in other respects, but when it came to gang fights, he suffered a lot because of it. Even when he got punished after a fight, it was so sad; in other families, siblings shared the punishment together, at least they had each other’s company, right? But he was always all alone.

What made him resentful was that he actually had an amazing cousin who could have been found and brought back when he was a kid...

Thinking about how he lacked a "tall figure" to stand by him when he was young, and could only rely on his own "desperation," he couldn’t help but wipe away a tear of bitterness for himself.

"What’s going on?"

Shitou was startled, a daunting presence suddenly released; no one outside knew his nickname was Shitou. Even his closest friends never heard it from him.

Pei Kun felt an overwhelming aura that almost suffocated him, a reverence he only felt in front of his grandfather rose within him, and he uttered the truth without hesitation, "You’re possibly the child my uncle lost outside, my cousin."

"..."

Shitou glanced at Pei Kun and withdrew his pressing aura.

Pei Kun suddenly felt the enormous pressure on him vanish and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a wry smile, "Big brother, how did you do that just now?"

In this moment, when he called him "big brother," it was with genuine respect. He had made up his mind that regardless of whether this man was truly his cousin, he was committed to acknowledging him as his "big brother."

"Isn’t it still unconfirmed?" Shitou glanced at him nonchalantly, leaned back in the rear seat of the car, and closed his eyes.

"Hey, why are you like this? Aren’t you eager and curious to know the whole process?"

Seeing Shitou’s manner, Pei Kun became the unsettled one. How could his cousin not play by the rules? He had been planning to take advantage of his curiosity to put on a bit of a show so that he wouldn’t be able to when they got home. But now, the one who should be anxious wasn’t, leaving him somewhat caught off guard.

"What’s the rush? I’ll find out what I need to know eventually." Shitou frowned at Pei Kun, who seemed a bit foolish. Had he got the wrong person? This one didn’t quite match the image of Old Pei’s grandson that the rumors had painted...

At this moment, Pei Kun was blissfully unaware of Shitou’s thoughts. If he knew, he would probably wish he could just smash his head against a slab of tofu and die—

Seeing that Shitou refused to ask, Pei Kun couldn’t help but eagerly narrate the entire affair from the beginning to the end, with great effort.