Carrying a Suitcase, He Ran Away Overnight
Seawater flooded his nostrils, and Wen Ci struggled violently.
He could swim, but his body felt as if it had been wrapped in invisible ropes, dragging him madly downward. In an instant, the sea completely swallowed him.
The suffocation hit. His consciousness began to blur, and Wen Ci gradually lost all strength. The moment he closed his eyes, scenes from the past twenty-two years flashed through his mind, followed by some things that had never happened.
It was like fast-forwarding through a movie. At the end of the film, he died of illness.
In this day and age, even a life flashing before his eyes came with an automatic fill-in for the rest of his life?
Just before he lost consciousness, Wen Ci felt a hand clamp tightly around his wrist.
On the shore, the man carried Wen Ci to the side and laid him down. He called out in a low voice, and when he got no response, he bent down and began CPR.
Wen Ci coughed, spat out seawater, and opened his eyes in a daze.
He could only make out a blurry silhouette, along with a pair of eyes as deep and bottomless as the sea.
Wen Ci raised a hand and caught the man’s sleeve, weakly saying, “…”
The words were too muffled to hear clearly. The man leaned down close to Wen Ci’s ear and finally made out what he had said: “Th… thank you.”
After thanking him, he finally passed out, reassured.
The man gently peeled away the hand gripping his sleeve, took off his coat, and draped it over Wen Ci. Looking at Wen Ci’s face, he couldn’t help reaching out to brush the wet bangs stuck to his forehead aside, then used Wen Ci’s phone to dial a number.
＊
When Wen Ci opened his eyes, he was already in his familiar room.
Li Shengcheng, who had come with him, had only been crying softly at first, but the moment he saw Wen Ci wake up, he started bawling his eyes out as if his heart had been torn in half.
Only his crying remained in the whole room, like mourning a death.
If his heart hadn’t still been beating, Wen Ci would almost have believed he was really dead.
He struggled to sit up from the bed, grabbed the pillow beside him, and flung it at the head of the swollen-eyed Li Shengcheng, saying weakly, “Stop crying. It’s bad luck.”
His hoarse voice only made his friend cry even more deafeningly. “Ci, you scared me to death, wuwu. I thought you died. I was already looking at coffins, and I was even planning to order you a super luxurious one. Thank goodness you’re blessed by heaven and came back to life. The gods must have heard my prayers. Ci, you scared me to death.”
“Get out and cry somewhere else.” Wen Ci’s head ached terribly. With chaotic scenes flashing through his mind on one side and Li Shengcheng crying on the other, he finally lost patience, climbed out of bed, and dragged his friend outside. “Save the coffin for yourself to use in a few decades.”
With a bang, the door shut, cutting off all the crying.
The room fell silent. His mind finally stopped spinning in chaos, and Wen Ci, pale-faced, sat down by the bed. As he slowly sorted through those scenes, he frowned.
He was inside a real-and-fake young master novel.
In the novel, the protagonist, the real young master, returned home when the fake young master was twenty-two. The family felt deeply guilty toward him and went to great lengths to make it up to him. As a result, the fake young master was neglected. His mind twisted, and he began viciously targeting the real young master, only to be thoroughly face-slapped and crushed by him all the way through.
In the end, he willingly became the real young master’s stand-in, turning as submissive and obedient as a dog.
Even so, the fake young master still ended up despised and loathed by everyone, dying in the hospital.
Wen Ci was the fake young master supporting character who existed to be the protagonist’s stepping stone.
Well, fine. Setting aside all those brainless things he had done, they still wanted him to become a simp stand-in? He’d break their front teeth for them first.
Wen Ci was so angry at that ridiculous plot that he almost laughed. Thinking of his fall into the sea, he opened the door and looked at the red-eyed Li Shengcheng, then frowned. “Who pushed me in?”
“No one pushed you. You went down yourself.” Li Shengcheng wiped his tears and said, “You were drunk, standing at the edge of the boat. You said you were jumping, then just jumped. We couldn’t stop you, like trying to hold back a bull.”
Wen Ci had never once thought of killing himself. Something suddenly occurred to him, and he and Li Shengcheng stared at each other for a moment before he said, “You’re saying I insisted on jumping, and you couldn’t stop me no matter what?”
“Yes.” Li Shengcheng knew his personality well and directly pulled out a video for him to see, wiping his tears as he said, “If you don’t believe me, watch it yourself.”
In the video, Wen Ci stood at the side of the boat, arms spread wide, feeling the sea breeze blowing toward him with an expression of enjoyment. When Li Shengcheng worriedly urged him to come down, Wen Ci suddenly tried to leap into the sea.
The people nearby were terrified and hurriedly scrambled to grab him.
But after being caught, he started kicking people in annoyance, sending everyone staggering and falling with the force of a one-man wrecking crew. In the end, he flashed a slightly taunting smile, then jumped into the sea without hesitation and splashed around once or twice before disappearing.
By the time his friend jumped in after him to look, it was already too late. They couldn’t find him at all.
Wen Ci: “…”
That smile did look a bit like his style, but he absolutely could not have jumped into the sea, and he had no memory of this scene at all. He only remembered getting drunk and passing out. When he came to again, he was struggling in the water.
In the novel, this was the day he fell into the sea, was rescued, and came home to recuperate. It was also the day the real young master was brought back.
And because of this fall, his body became incredibly weak, and even his brain stopped working properly.
The room he woke up in, along with what Li Shengcheng had said while crying, all matched the plot he had seen in his mind. So he really was inside a novel, and it was a novel that had written him as an idiot supporting character.
Wen Ci pressed his lips together. “Who pulled me back up?”
“Don’t know. We searched everywhere for you and couldn’t find you. After we called the police, we got a call from your phone. A man told us where you were, and when we got there, you’d already passed out. Oh, and there was a coat on you at the time. It should’ve been that man’s.” Li Shengcheng pointed to the coat set off to the side.
Wen Ci glanced at the coat and immediately made a decision. “I’m going home now. I need to pack.”
If he really was in a novel, then he had to stay far, far away from the protagonist, the real young master, so he wouldn’t end up turning into a simp.
Wen Ci had no intention of stealing anyone else’s things, and he didn’t want to fight the real young master the way the novel described either. Not to mention, with the protagonist halo, there was no way he’d win anyway.
“Pack for what?” Li Shengcheng finally stopped crying and clung to Wen Ci. “Ci, I was the one who failed to hold you back. If you really got brain damage from jumping into the sea, I’d still have some responsibility. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely try my best to book you a bed in the city’s top psychiatric hospital and find the best doctor to cure you.”
“Get lost.” Wen Ci kicked him once, then smiled lazily, picked up his rescuer’s coat, and walked outside. “I’m fine. It’s just my turn to step down now.”
This inexplicable line left Li Shengcheng confused, but Wen Ci’s familiar smile reassured him that he was fine, so he followed after Wen Ci with relief.
The two of them took a taxi in the middle of the night, each going back to their own home.
There was no one in the Wen family villa. Wen Ci stood at the entrance, staring into the darkness for a long time without moving.
In the novel, he came home around dawn and found no one there. Only by daytime did he learn that Father Wen and Mother Wen had gone to bring Wen Sheng back, and had already brought him home.
At the time, Wen Ci had fallen into the sea and fallen ill, with no one caring for him, which already hurt badly enough. Then he saw everyone crowding around Wen Sheng, asking after him with warm concern and smiling faces, and he snapped right then and there. He threw a fit, only to be met with disdainful looks from everyone who thought he had gone crazy; even his parents, who had always doted on him, harshly scolded him for being unreasonable.
Fortunately, although he had followed the novel’s plot and fallen into the sea, his body and his intelligence were both fine.
Wen Ci packed his luggage at top speed, took his bank card, and glanced at the time before leaving.
It was five in the morning. The sky still wasn’t light.
The sound of a car engine shutting off suddenly came from outside, followed by Father Wen’s voice. “Ah Sheng, this is our home. I’ve already had your room prepared. You’ve been on the road all night, so hurry back to your room and get some proper rest.”
Wen Ci dragged his suitcase out of the villa just as he ran straight into Wen Sheng.
The somewhat thin man had no expression on his face, and his features carried a faint gloom.
The moment Wen Ci saw him, the last sliver of hope left in his heart sank completely.
It was all real.
Just like the novel’s plot he knew, Wen Sheng had returned at this exact time, and his appearance matched too.
He really was nothing more than a stepping-stone supporting character in a novel, and everything brainless he had done was only to make way for the protagonist standing before him.
His hand on the suitcase tightened slightly, and Wen Ci let out a breath.
Fortunately, nothing had started yet. It could still be changed.
Looking at Wen Ci, who was pulling a suitcase, Wen Sheng tilted his head and gave a strange smile. “Where are you going?”
Wen Ci didn’t answer him, and he also didn’t care about that odd expression on Wen Sheng’s face. With a smile, he left behind one line, “Welcome home,” and under Wen Sheng’s somewhat blank gaze, he dragged his suitcase and ran, deliberately avoiding Father Wen and Mother Wen, who were parking the car.
When Father Wen came back from parking and saw Wen Sheng still standing at the door without going in, he patted his shoulder. “Why are you still outside? Were you waiting for us? By the way, Ah Sheng, that older brother I told you about on the way, he’s out playing right now. Once he comes back, I’ll introduce you two.”
Wen Sheng said softly, “He was at home. He just left with a suitcase.”
Father Wen froze. “Left? Where did he go?”
“I don’t know.” Wen Sheng shook his head, then suddenly shrank his neck a little as if afraid. His tone held a trace of unease, but his eyes were utterly cold. “It seems my arrival disturbed him, so he left.”
“Ah Ci wouldn’t do that. Besides, I haven’t even told him you’re back yet. He definitely wouldn’t leave because of you.” Father Wen didn’t notice the look in Wen Sheng’s eyes at all. “Ah Ci is very well-behaved. He probably just ran off somewhere to play again. Never mind him. Come inside.”
Well-behaved?
Thinking of the rather rebellious smile on Wen Ci’s face when he left, Wen Sheng said nothing more. After following Father Wen into the villa, he stopped at the door and didn’t move again, his face full of hesitation and unease.
“What is it?” Father Wen asked, turning back with some confusion.
“I… I’m afraid I’ll dirty the… floor.” Wen Sheng lowered his head, his voice filled with timidity and uncertainty. Clutching his clothes nervously, he asked in a small voice, “C-can I really go in? I… maybe I should just sleep outside.”
How could anyone sleep outside?
Father Wen was shocked, then looked at him with deep pity. He walked over and patted his head. “Of course not. No one can sleep outside. Ah Sheng, don’t be too restrained. From now on, this is your home.”
That sentence didn’t make Wen Sheng feel better at all. Instead, his face went even paler, as if he might collapse at any moment.
Several times he tried to speak but couldn’t, and in the end his eyes turned red. He said extremely uneasily, “I, I’m used to it. I’ll just sleep outside. Don’t worry, I won’t dirty the floor outside either.”
When Mother Wen, who had come inside, saw him like this and thought of the miserable things she had heard from other people about what had happened to him, her heart felt unbearably heavy. She walked over and patiently and gently comforted Wen Sheng for a long time before finally coaxing him back to his room.
“This child…” Father Wen sat on the sofa and shook his head repeatedly, his face full of worry.
“So many things have happened to him. It’s only normal for him to be this sensitive. Ah Ci has been spoiled by us since he was little, so of course he wouldn’t be like Ah Sheng.” Mother Wen’s eyes were red. “It’s my fault. I only found him now.”
“How can you blame yourself?” Father Wen said. “Don’t be sad. Ah Sheng is back now. We have to treat him well and make up for everything we’ve owed him over the years.”
“Yes, we have to make it up to him properly.”
The man standing in the shadows on the second floor heard their conversation and slightly curled his lips, smiling silently.