Carrying a Suitcase, He Ran Away Overnight
The voice that sounded like it was about to cry made Wen Ci pull the phone away from his ear.
The protagonist in the novel was not the type to put on an act, and he would never deliberately say something like that for Wen Ci to hear. Wen Ci was starting to suspect that the protagonist’s personality had changed long ago and was no longer the cold, indifferent one from before.
“It’s fine, Ah Ci won’t mind. Mom will take you shopping for clothes this afternoon, and you can wear Ah Ci’s for now.” Mother Wen hurriedly patted his head. “Ah Ci is really nice, so don’t worry.”
“Can I say a few words to Brother?” Wen Sheng looked at Father Wen and asked uneasily.
“Of course. Your brother also wants to talk to you.” Father Wen said into the phone, then handed it to Wen Sheng.
Holding the phone, Wen Sheng grew even more nervous and stammered, “B-Brother.”
There was only silence on the other end.
After waiting a few seconds without getting any response, Wen Sheng was practically about to cry. His eyes were red as he tried to hand the phone back to Father Wen. “I, I won’t s-say anything after all.”
Father Wen had also guessed that there had been no sound on the other end, which was why Wen Sheng had acted like this. He frowned.
When Wen Ci put the phone back to his ear, he heard Wen Sheng’s words and guessed what was going on. He gave a lazy smile. “The signal was bad just now. I didn’t hear you guys talking, sorry.”
Father Wen’s frown eased, and he motioned for Wen Sheng to relax and keep talking.
Wen Sheng looked panicked all over. He opened his mouth several times as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
Seeing how tense he was, Mother Wen simply pulled Father Wen upstairs and left the living room to Wen Sheng alone.
As soon as the two went upstairs, the tension on the face of Wen Sheng, who was sitting on the sofa, vanished in an instant.
He poured himself a cup of tea, holding the phone in one hand and the cup in the other as he took a sip, saying nothing at all.
After waiting a long while and only hearing a bit of rustling, Wen Ci thought about it and said lightly, “If you’re busy, I’ll hang up.”
“I’m not busy.” Wen Sheng curved his lips in a smile, and there was no more stammering or unease in his voice, only a chill. “You left right after I got back. Was that on purpose?”
Wen Ci was a little sleepy and yawned. Hearing the voice coming through the phone, he thought he had misheard. “On purpose about what?”
“You deliberately made Mom and Dad think you left because I came back, taking a step back so they’d pity you and let you stay in the Wen family.” Before Wen Ci could speak, Wen Sheng continued, “But you won’t get that chance again. You’ve been living as the young master of my family for over twenty years. Has it felt good?”
Wen Ci could not help but laugh softly. “You’re really overthinking it. I’m not pretending to be pitiful, and I never intended to fight you for anything. I also won’t go back to the Wen family. You can rest easy being your Wen family young master. You don’t need to worry about me.”
He was the supporting character, and Wen Sheng was the protagonist. Everywhere the protagonist went, there was a protagonist halo shining on him. Never mind that Wen Ci had no wish to fight over anything; even if he did, how could he possibly beat the protagonist?
“Is that so.” Wen Sheng swirled the tea in his cup and sneered. “I’m back, so you should be gone for good. Understand? You’re not even worthy of having the surname Wen. These twenty-two years you spent in the Wen family were all stolen from me. What? Still not satisfied? You still want to stay like a lapdog? If you want to be the guard dog, that’s not impossible.”
Wen Ci was unmoved by the insults. “You’ve got one thing wrong. The one who mixed up our identities was the hospital. I’m a victim just like you.”
His biological parents had not appeared even by the end of the novel. Although they were barely described in the book, their family was not poor either. Both of them ran small companies, and they were honest, kind people.
The grievances Wen Sheng suffered all came after those biological parents disappeared. Before that, he had loving parents just like everyone else.
Even after Wen Sheng sold the house, he still had more than a hundred thousand yuan in savings on him.
So Wen Ci did not think Wen Sheng was the sort of pitiful person who had grown up scraping by in misery.
Wen Sheng ignored all of that and let out a cold laugh. “If you know what’s good for you, disappear from R City starting today. Otherwise, I’ll be the one to throw you out of R City.”
“Ah…” Hearing the challenge in his tone, Wen Ci rested one side of his face in his hand and said carelessly, “I’m looking forward to it.”
Wen Sheng was about to hang up when he heard Wen Ci say, “Oh, right.”
He stopped.
Then from the phone came a voice with a faintly wicked smile. “If I fought you for it, who do you think would be more suitable as the guard dog?”
Wen Sheng tightened his grip on the phone at once. “What did you say?”
“Nothing.” Wen Ci smiled. “Also, aren’t you afraid I recorded this?”
Wen Sheng paused, then said indifferently, “Record whatever you want. We can see later who they’re willing to believe.”
On the other end, Wen Ci hung up cleanly.
It took Wen Sheng a long time before he moved.
He poured himself a cup of hot tea, then, without the slightest hesitation, knocked it over.
The scalding tea splashed directly onto his hand. The cup fell to the floor with a sharp crack, shattering all over the floor.
Wen Sheng sat down on the floor, staring at the phone on the table with a cold gaze.
Hearing hurried footsteps coming downstairs, he quickly clutched his hand, his eyes turning red. Tears gathered at the rims but did not quite fall, making him look extremely pitiful.
When Father Wen and Mother Wen rushed over, they saw that Wen Sheng’s hand was already burned red. They were shocked and alarmed, and hurriedly got ice to press on it. “What happened? Quick, quick, we need to go to the hospital.”
“I might have made Brother hate me. I, I…” Wen Sheng sniffed, lowered his head, and refused to move. His fingers were swollen and red in a way that looked terrifying, and his shoulders were trembling slightly. He struggled hard to hold back his grievance, but still broke down. “Dad, I want to go back. I’m not suited to be here. This is Brother’s home, not mine… I don’t want to steal a home that belongs to Brother.”
“What nonsense are you saying?” Father Wen glanced at the phone, suspicion flickering in his eyes. He frowned and said, “What did Ah Ci say to you?”
“Brother didn’t say anything. I just accidentally knocked the cup over myself. It wasn’t because of anything Brother said that I got upset.” Wen Sheng hastily looked up to explain.
Father Wen did not believe that at all. Instead, he felt even more certain that the two had definitely had a conflict.
But right now, the important thing was Wen Sheng’s injury. He coaxed Wen Sheng into rinsing his hand, then hurried him to the hospital.
Mother Wen worried the whole way, and in the end, she still sent Wen Ci a message. “What did you and Ah Sheng say on the phone?”
Wen Ci was eating when he saw the message.
The meal that had originally tasted fine immediately lost its flavor. Looking at the question mark, he smiled and typed back, “Nothing much. What’s wrong, Mom?”
“Ah Sheng just got back, so he’s not used to it yet. After he finished talking with you, he got burned, and we’re taking him to the hospital now.”
Wen Ci could tell that, between the lines, Mother Wen thought Wen Sheng’s injury had something to do with him.
He did not explain anything either, only asked, “Oh, is he okay?”
Mother Wen replied, “We’re on the way to the hospital now. When are you coming back?”
Wen Ci did not reply to that. After staring at it for a while, he only responded, “Not coming back for now. I have things to take care of here.”
Mother Wen: “Ah Ci, why do I feel like you’re avoiding me and your dad? Is it because of Ah Sheng? Mom doesn’t want to see you and Ah Sheng fall out, and Mom certainly doesn’t want either of you to leave your parents. You are both your parents’ children.”
Wen Ci read every word of that message. Then, when he saw Mother Wen send another line, “Ah Sheng’s personality is a little insecure and sensitive. Mom hopes that next time you talk to him, you’ll be a little more careful,” he could not help but give a soft laugh.
Laughing, he tossed the phone onto the bed, ran a hand through his hair, and opened his laptop.
In the novel’s plot, after Wen Sheng returned, Father Wen and Mother Wen’s attitude toward Wen Ci changed a great deal.
As soon as Mother Wen saw him, her heart would ache for Wen Sheng and therefore be unable to be as close to Wen Ci as before. Father Wen was no longer as indulgent toward him either. Afraid of neglecting Wen Sheng, he often deliberately put on a stern face, ignored him, and doted on Wen Sheng instead.
Right now, Father Wen and Mother Wen were already moving in that direction.
Wen Ci put aside those messy thoughts and organized the plot on his computer, marking in red the important plot points that absolutely could not happen.
For now, Wen Sheng’s return had already been confirmed. Next, he would blow up in the entertainment industry and meet the protagonist top, Shen Hexu. Shen Hexu would fall in love with Wen Sheng at first sight, but Wen Sheng would not want anything to do with him and would avoid him most of the time.
Then Wen Ci would appear, and Shen Hexu would learn about Wen Ci’s relationship with Wen Sheng.
When Wen Ci wanted to steal everything from Wen Sheng and took the initiative to seduce Shen Hexu, Shen Hexu would have Wen Ci act as Wen Sheng’s stand-in, copying Wen Sheng’s style, tone, mannerisms, and even expressions.
Wen Ci would agree, and by the time he met Wen Sheng, he would look so much like him that even Father Wen and Mother Wen would get the two of them mixed up. Once they realized he had deliberately imitated Wen Sheng, they would question him, asking how he had become like this.
But no matter how hard he tried to be a stand-in, in other people’s eyes he would always be something that could be discarded at any moment. His only use would be to stimulate Wen Sheng.
Because of him, Wen Sheng and Shen Hexu’s relationship would advance by leaps and bounds. Before long, they would get together. He would be abandoned, sink into depression day after day, and die of illness in the hospital.
Wen Ci did not want to turn into that idiotic mess.
He would not go after what did not belong to him, but that did not mean he was going to let himself really end up the way the plot wanted, becoming Wen Sheng’s stepping stone.
＊
After the burn had been treated and the ointment applied, both Mother Wen and Father Wen finally let out a breath of relief.
Wen Sheng looked at his hand without saying anything, not even a single cry of pain. After the bandaging was done, he used his injured hand to tug at Father Wen’s sleeve and asked in a small voice, “Dad, is it really okay for me to come back?”
Father Wen was very displeased by that, so his voice came out louder. “What’s the problem with you coming home?”
Seeing Wen Sheng lower his head, Father Wen quickly added, “Ah Sheng, don’t overthink it. Of course there’s no problem with you returning to your own home.”
Wen Sheng drew back his hand, lowering his head even further. His lashes fluttered from time to time. After a long while, he whispered, “But I don’t want my coming back to affect Brother. I don’t want to be the reason Brother doesn’t want to come home.”
“Did Wen Ci tell you he doesn’t want to come home because of you?” Father Wen asked, his face darkening a little as he thought of Wen Sheng’s expression when he had been burned. “He wouldn’t be that unreasonable, and he definitely wouldn’t care. Don’t overthink it.”
“N-No, Brother didn’t say that. I’m the one who thinks so. Brother never said anything.” Wen Sheng shook his head, his voice anxious as he rushed to defend Wen Ci. “It’s my fault.”
By the end, he was so anxious that tears even came out.
To Father Wen and Mother Wen, that expression no longer looked so simple.
The two exchanged a look. Father Wen gave her a signal with his eyes, then, after comforting Wen Sheng, walked out of the ward. Mother Wen followed.
As soon as they left the ward, Father Wen immediately said, “Call Wen Ci and tell him to come back right away. He’s been out for so long already. It’s time he came back.”
Mother Wen said helplessly, “I sent him a WeChat message, but he didn’t reply. I don’t know if he’s blaming us for bringing Ah Sheng back without telling him. It’s my fault. I meant to tell him, but then I forgot.”
“What are you saying?” Although he had many suspicions, Father Wen still forced himself not to think too wildly. In a gentler voice, he said, “Ah Ci isn’t that kind of person. Don’t you know what his personality is like? He probably really just went off to have fun and doesn’t want to come back.”
Mother Wen thought that made sense and called Wen Ci.
Wen Sheng, standing behind the door, heard the line, “Don’t you know what his personality is like?” His hand tightened around the doorknob, and his face twisted for a moment.
Only after he heard that Mother Wen’s call had not gone through and she was about to come back inside did he turn around, walk to the bedside, and sit down, hiding every trace of expression from his face and returning to the same frail, helpless look as before.