Mother Cheng’s face drained of color, shock flooding her eyes. “Xiao Ye, what kind of nonsense are you talking about? Of course you’re my biological son. Before bringing you back to the Cheng family, we had already done a professional and authoritative paternity test.”
“Oh. Is that so?” Cheng Ye replied flatly, his tone devoid of emotion. “Then as my mother, you favor the adopted son and neglect your own biological son. I’m not wrong, am I?”
Mother Cheng was utterly stunned. “Xiao Ye, I treat you and Fenghao the same. He calls you brother, so the two of you should get along well.”
Cheng Ye found it absurd to the extreme. His voice turned ice-cold, cutting like a blade. “You want me to call a fake my brother and get along with him?!”
The moment Cheng Zhirou heard the word “fake,” she exploded in anger. “Cheng Ye, don’t push your luck! Who are you putting on that arrogant attitude for?!”
“Who else would it be for? For you all, of course.” Cheng Ye’s tone hardened. “I don’t even want to deal with you. Who was it that came over to pick a fight first?!”
Cheng Zhirou’s anger surged like a raging fire. What kind of younger brother spoke to his own sister like this?! Cheng Ye didn’t even have the most basic respect!
Cheng Shiyan was equally furious, disdain written all over her face. “Cheng Ye, you have no ability at all. Other than running your mouth, what else can you do?”
“In my opinion, after you graduate from high school, the only thing waiting for you is going to a factory to tighten screws!”
“In this life, you’re destined to be ordinary, accomplishing nothing!”
Cheng Shiyan had never acknowledged Cheng Ye as her younger brother. Over the past three years, they had barely spoken.
Whenever Cheng Ye tried to curry favor with her, she had never given him the slightest response. In her eyes, Cheng Ye was downright disgusting.
He would constantly go to the hospital to find her, bring her food, accompany her home.
She had made her attitude obvious, yet Cheng Ye still lacked any sense of boundaries. Even when she ignored him, he insisted on sticking to her.
Deep down, Cheng Shiyan believed that Cheng Ye cared greatly about his identity as a young master of the Cheng family.
There was no way he could remain indifferent to the Cheng family’s wealth.
According to the law, Cheng Fenghao was not the legitimate heir of the Cheng family.
The reason Cheng Ye was opposing them now was nothing more than a tactic—retreating in order to advance, playing hard to get.
At that thought, the disgust in Cheng Shiyan’s eyes deepened even further.
Her words struck directly at the pain Cheng Ye had carried in his previous life.
After his grandmother died because of him, he lost all desire to continue studying once he entered the factory.
He had talent, yet he chose to fall into despair, abandoning himself.
Constant inner turmoil, a gloomy and joyless existence.
Pulling his thoughts back, Cheng Ye suppressed the urge to hit someone. He didn’t hit women.
These were the very people from the Cheng family he had once tried so desperately and humbly to please.
Knowing his grades were poor, they still chose to rub salt into his wounds.
Cheng Ye’s body tensed, yet his voice remained steady. “I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you.”
Cheng Shiyan let out a cold scoff. “What, are you trying to say you can get into a good university?” Her tone was sharp and mocking. “Cheng Ye, be realistic. You’re already in your final year. Your grades are basically set. Don’t end up barely scraping into some lousy junior college.”
“Dad, Mom, eldest sister, second sister, and I all graduated from top universities. You carry the Cheng family’s blood, yet you can’t even get into an undergraduate program. Don’t you find that embarrassing?!”
Mother Cheng quickly tried to mediate. “Shiyan, stop talking. As long as Xiao Ye corrects his attitude toward studying, that’s enough.”
“Correct his attitude?” Cheng Shiyan sneered. “He came out of the Physics Competition today in less than 35 minutes, while Fenghao is still inside seriously solving problems.”
She was about to continue mocking him when her gaze suddenly landed on the inner side of Cheng Ye’s right arm.
She froze.
It looked like a scar left by a burn.
Cheng Fenghao also had a burn scar, but his was on his wrist, with only a small area affected—nothing compared to the size of the burn on Cheng Ye’s inner arm.
Two years ago, one night, she had just finished performing a major surgery at the hospital.
Exhausted, she returned to the apartment she had bought nearby.
There had been a power outage, so she lit candles for illumination. After washing up, she lay on the bed, half-asleep, forgetting to close the window or extinguish the candles.
When she woke again, the room was already engulfed in flames. Thick smoke filled the air. Her consciousness began to fade, and she didn’t even have the strength to get up.
Just as she was about to completely lose consciousness, she vaguely heard the sound of someone kicking the door open, followed by someone lifting her into their arms.
When she woke again, she was already in a hospital ward.
After asking her family who had saved her, she learned that Cheng Fenghao had risked his life to pull her out of the blazing fire.
At that time, when she saw the burn scar on Cheng Fenghao’s wrist, she became even more certain—it had been him who saved her.
But then… why did Cheng Ye also have a burn scar on his arm?!
A deep suspicion rose uncontrollably in Cheng Shiyan’s heart.
“Seriously solving problems?” Cheng Ye looked toward Cheng Fenghao, who had just walked out of the exam hall, his gaze filled with a condescending disdain, as if looking down on an ant. “He’s just slower than me, that’s all. And his accuracy isn’t as high as mine.”
Cheng Fenghao’s expression stiffened for a moment, but in front of the Cheng family, he quickly put on a gentle and magnanimous facade. “Brother, I admit that I still have a lot of room for improvement in physics.”
As he spoke, tears streamed down his face as if they cost nothing, his eyes reddening. “Then in the future, if I encounter physics problems I don’t understand, can I ask you for guidance, brother?”
Father Cheng grew increasingly irritated. “Cheng Ye, you’re bullying Fenghao again. When will you ever change that temper of yours? If anything, Fenghao should be the one teaching you.”
“The Physics Competition results will be out tomorrow. We’ll know then,” Cheng Ye said lazily as he turned and walked away, leaving behind a casual remark.
Cheng Zhirou was speechless. “All he knows is how to brag!”
Cheng Wei supported the emotionally shaken Mother Cheng as they left. “Mom, don’t cry anymore.”
Father Cheng became even more convinced that Cheng Ye was unfit for the arranged marriage. With the Physics Competition results coming out tomorrow, it was the perfect opportunity to take Fenghao to meet the old master of the Chu family.
As long as Fenghao left a good impression, perhaps the old master would agree to let him become his granddaughter’s husband.
Cheng Shiyan, however, remained distracted. Just how had the burn scar on Cheng Ye’s arm come about?
Each member of the Cheng family harbored their own thoughts as they escorted Cheng Fenghao and Chu Xiyan back to the classroom.
While going downstairs, they happened to brush past a young man dressed in a sharp suit, wearing a black mask.
Father Cheng’s heart jolted.
The man had an extraordinary presence, exuding the aura of someone in power. More importantly, he felt strangely familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
The young man walked upstairs and soon disappeared around the corner.
Father Cheng suppressed the strange feeling and couldn’t help but speculate about the man’s true identity.
“Dad, what are you spacing out for?” Cheng Wei had walked quite a distance supporting Mother Cheng before realizing that their father had fallen behind. She turned back to see him staring at the corner of the staircase, lost in thought.
Father Cheng snapped out of it and resumed walking. “It’s nothing.”
Maybe he was just overthinking it.
…
After lunch, Cheng Ye returned to the classroom.
From a distance, he saw Jiang Mian sitting at her seat, her bright eyes lifted as she chatted with a strange man.
The man sat facing her, wearing a black mask that concealed his true appearance.
But from his exposed forehead and eyes, it was clear that he was about the same age as Jiang Mian.
Cheng Ye’s first thought was… Jiang Mian’s boyfriend?