The birthday banquet of the Qu family’s second young master was underway.
Countless luxury cars lined the outside of the banquet hall. Seeing the Zhu family arrive, various business bosses stepped forward with their own hidden motives to exchange pleasantries. Zhu Xing had no interest in such matters; it was all being handled by his eldest brother, Zhu Yao.
Just as they stepped through the doors, they ran right into Ying Chi’s family. Bai Ling smiled warmly, saying, “Xingxing, you are here?”
“Aunt Bai, Uncle Ying.” After greeting them, Zhu Xing directly bypassed Ying Chi. He had not expected that even though the two of them mutually despised each other at school, Ying Chi would still show up to this banquet.
Ying Chi had wanted to say something, but remembering the competition incident made him feel somewhat awkward. He hesitated for a few steps and ultimately could not spit out a single word.
Zhu Xing waited for his parents, eldest brother, and the others to finish exchanging pleasantries before walking into the banquet hall together.
Once inside, he saw Qu Qingyu accompanying Qu Xiangshan to socialize with guests. Qu Qingyu had changed into a sapphire-blue suit, and on his wrist was the watch Zhu Xing had given him, glittering under the lights. Zhu Xing felt as though the entire person was radiating light.
Upon spotting Zhu Xing, Qu Qingyu exchanged a few words with Qu Xiangshan and walked right over.
Qu Qingyu looked Zhu Xing up and down; he appeared rosy-cheeked and entirely recovered.
“Is your health fully restored?” Qu Qingyu’s hair was all brushed back, revealing his refined facial features. His deep, dark eyes gazed intently at Zhu Xing, whose simple white shirt made him look clean and bright.
“Mm, I am completely better.” Zhu Xing glanced around. He had no interest in this kind of banquet, save for the food being decent. Everything else revolved around various business talks.
“Hungry? Let us go over there.” Qu Qingyu pointed toward the food in the corner and led Zhu Xing over.
The two of them chatted as they ate, though to be precise, Zhu Xing ate while the two of them chatted.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted from the entrance of the banquet hall. A middle-aged woman was crying tearfully and shouting something. Although the security guards at the door pulled her away, she clung desperately to the doors, drawing the attention of everyone inside the hall. Vaguely, they could hear her crying out, “Xiaocheng, Xiaocheng.”
Zhu Xing curiously asked Qu Qingyu, “Who is Xiaocheng?”
“Me.” Once Qu Qingyu spoke, his expression grew somewhat dark. He stood up, intending to walk over, but was intercepted by the Qu family’s eldest young master, Qu Wenyu.
“Qingyu, you do not need to go over.” Qu Wenyu nodded in acknowledgment toward Zhu Xing, then walked toward the entrance.
“That person is…” Zhu Xing watched Qu Qingyu with a hint of worry. He had actually guessed roughly what was going on and originally wanted to change the subject, but Qu Qingyu remained expressionless. After a few seconds of silence, he raised his head to look back at Zhu Xing.
“That is the woman who switched me at birth.” Qu Qingyu looked somewhat gloomy, then added, “Do you want to hear my story?”
Zhu Xing obediently nodded, taking on the appearance of an attentive listener.
“Come upstairs with me. Staying here is annoying.” Qu Qingyu reached out, grabbed Zhu Xing’s hand, and pulled him toward the upstairs lounge.
Zhu Xing’s hand was enveloped within a scorching palm. Out of consideration for Qu Qingyu’s bad mood, Zhu Xing kept his mouth shut.
The upper-crust circle of City A was well aware of the Qu family’s true and fake young masters, and most people at the entrance instantly guessed who the crying woman was. Their gazes covertly measured Qu Qingyu’s expression, only to watch him take a young man by the hand and head upstairs.
“Young Master Qu, who is that person he is holding hands with?” a certain wealthy socialite inquired with curiosity.
“That is the Second Young Master Zhu,” someone nearby who recognized the young man’s appearance answered.
Ying Chi heard all the whispering around him.
Zhu Xing and Qu Qingyu? He and Qu Qingyu had always been at odds, and Zhu Xing was well aware of that. For Zhu Xing to be interacting so closely with Qu Qingyu at a time like this, Ying Chi could not help but suspect that Zhu Xing was doing it on purpose, deliberately trying to capture his attention.
Yet, the recent Zhu Xing did indeed seem rather different. Roughly speaking, he felt much more vibrant. The old Zhu Xing used to cling to Ying Chi day in and day out with a vacant expression, acting just like a wooden puppet.
Inside the room, Qu Qingyu poured a glass of water and handed it to Zhu Xing, whose mouth felt a bit sticky after eating several pieces of cake earlier.
Qu Qingyu gazed deeply at Zhu Xing, his index finger tapping rhythmically against the table.
Zhu Xing patiently waited for him to speak, knowing his mood was likely atrocious.
“I used to live in a small town in City F. I rarely saw that woman; she would occasionally wire money back, but she almost never returned.”
“And then?”
“And then I came here to ask her for money to save Jinwei Li, who is her husband. You should already know what happened after that.”
Zhu Xing figured that must be the fake father, but wondered if the story was far too short.
“Why wasn’t she arrested and sent to prison for switching children behind everyone’s back?” Zhu Xing asked with some confusion. A child of the Qu family being swapped, how could it be brushed off so lightly? A single finger could easily crush someone like her to death.
Qu Qingyu remained silent, simply lifting Zhu Xing’s wrist and leading him toward the window. Directly below the window, the crying woman could be seen on the street outside, accompanied by a young man behind her who was desperately trying to pull her away.
“Because he pleaded for her.” A single brief sentence, and Zhu Xing roughly understood the whole sequence of events.
The child she had raised for sixteen years as her biological son had begged for mercy, and in the end, the Qu family lacked the heart to deal a fatal blow.
The young man downstairs sensed the gaze from above, looked up for a moment, and then quickly lowered his head again, grabbing the woman in an attempt to drag her away.
A woman who had toiled hard for years possessed immense strength, coupled with a desperate, reckless scene of making a scene. The security guards at the door were terrified of twisting a limb or causing an actual injury, as they had no clear idea what kind of standing the former young master truly held in the eyes of the current Qu family.
Qu Wenning had been sickly since childhood. Without the meticulous care of the Qu family, his health was plagued by one minor ailment after another. Looking at the mother below continuously crying out “Xiaocheng, Xiaocheng,” a trace of mockery flashed deep within her eyes.
She had swapped him into the Qu family and treated the real young master terribly, yet now she came here to cry. Clearly, today was his birthday too. He simply could not understand what on earth she was trying to accomplish.
The Qu family had originally intended to send Wang Fang to prison, having promised Qu Wenning that his mother’s crimes would not be held against him and that he would remain a child of the Qu family. However, Qu Wenning could not bear to see his biological mother locked up in prison like that, with zero hope of ever coming out for the rest of his life.
Consequently, Qu Wenning knelt down and begged for mercy, causing the Qu family to let her go. Qu Wenning severed his ties with the Qu family as well, having lost all face to continue living under the same roof as Qu Qingyu. He had originally wanted to return to the small town with Wang Fang to live a peaceful life, but Wang Fang kept chanting, “We raised Xiaocheng for all those years, now that he is living a good life, how could he forget a mother like me?” Looking at the already deranged woman, Qu Wenning felt a profound sense of desolation. Her husband, his own biological father, had already passed away in the hospital, yet she refused to go back even to see him off for the last time. In the end, it was he, a son who had never met him before, who went to send his father off.
No sooner had he returned than he discovered she had come making a scene once again.
Qu Wenning watched the man emerging from the building, the man he used to call his eldest brother. His complexion turned somewhat pale. “President Qu, I am sorry. I could not keep her under control.”
Seeing Qu Wenyu, Wang Fang eagerly hurried forward, only to be blocked once again by the bodyguards.
“Eldest Young Master, I just want to see Xiaocheng. Today is his birthday, and I made the scallion pancakes he loves most.” Wang Fang pulled out the already-cold food from her bag.
“Do you love eating scallion pancakes?” Zhu Xing listened to the arguing voices downstairs and asked with curiosity.
“I do not.” Qu Qingyu’s expression remained cold and indifferent.
Qu Wenyu downstairs glanced up toward the upper floor, knowing full well that Qu Qingyu was in that exact room.
“Qingyu does not need these things. Do not come here to bother him ever again.” Qu Wenyu’s face was filled with unmistakable impatience. Glancing at the nervous and constrained Qu Wenning, he ultimately refrained from uttering any harsher words.
“Xiaocheng, Xiaocheng, Mom came to see you. Come down and see Mom, will you?” The woman’s voice was shrill and grating.
Watching Qu Qingyu’s gloomy appearance, Zhu Xing felt irritated as well. His own birthday had been ruined by Ying Chi, and now Qu Qingyu’s birthday was being ruined by someone else. He hated seeing Qu Qingyu wear this kind of expression; the confident, provocative posture he wore against Ying Chi was the most vibrant version of him.