[Host! Something terrible has happened!] Zhu Xing was jolted awake from his deep sleep by the system’s booming voice.
[What is it?]
[The protagonist gong and the protagonist shou are breaking up!]
[!] Zhu Xing bolted straight up from his bed.
[Where are they right now?] Feeling his head ache from all this drama, Zhu Xing wondered why on earth they were acting up like this when things were fine. Having no idea what had happened between the two of them, he had no choice but to instruct the system to pull up administrative permissions and review what had transpired over the past few days, colloquially known as checking the surveillance logs.
Three nights ago, at the Ying residence.
“Xiaochi, come here.” Bai Ling’s figure had grown slightly fuller. Having just turned forty, she maintained her appearance exceptionally well, though her complexion looked somewhat pale.
Silence hung in the air as Ying Chi followed her to sit on the couch. Lately, Ying Chi had consistently carried this lifeless expression, completely devoid of his former rebellious and swaggering demeanor.
After they sat down, Bai Ling remained silent, prompting Ying Chi to cast a puzzled glance her way.
“Wait for your grandfather and your father to get here. We have something to tell you.” Ying Chi could sense the solemnity in his mother’s tone.
He waited quietly, a faint ripple of unease stirring at the bottom of his heart.
Once everyone had arrived, Elder Ying looked over at his grandson.
He broke the silence. “Are you still together with him?”
No names were specified, but Ying Chi knew precisely who was being referred to.
“Yes.”
“Very well. Although the Ying family is strict with you, we are not such an old-fashioned household when it comes to marriage. Since you chose him, we will not stop you.”
Ying Chi was stunned. It was the first time he realized that after he had fled the engagement banquet because of Lin Yu, causing his grandfather to nearly be hospitalized with anger, his father to raise a hand against him for the first time, and his mother to be utterly furious, they were now completely letting go of the matter.
Why weren’t they questioning his choice of marriage partner at all anymore?
“Go pursue whatever you want. The company matters will be handed over to your younger brother instead.” Elder Ying dealt him a crushing blow.
Ying Chi stood frozen in a daze. Younger brother? Bai Ling’s expression remained steady and calm as she said nothing.
That meant… Ying Chi looked toward his mother’s stomach.
He felt as though the air around him had suddenly thinned out. Staring in disbelief at his family members, he wanted to say something, yet no words came to mind.
“I…” Ying Chi lowered his head and tightly clenched his fists into balls.
“I understand.” His throat felt as though it had been firmly gripped by something, forcing out only a raspy breath.
“You will still want for nothing for the rest of your life, though. Xiaochi, since you have already made your choice, Mom won’t make things difficult for you.” After all, Bai Ling couldn’t bear to watch her son looking like this.
“Thank you, Mom.” Ying Chi smiled bitterly, his face looking hideous.
Returning to the empty, sprawling villa, Ying Chi’s heart was filled with an unresolvable, suffocating gloom.
When his phone started ringing, Ying Chi absentmindedly pressed answer.
Lin Yu asked him where he was. Hearing that Ying Chi’s mood didn’t sound too good, Lin Yu asked, “What’s wrong, Achi?” Through the phone line, his voice sounded somewhat muffled and distant.
“I’m free now.”
“What do you mean?” Lin Yu sounded a bit puzzled by his words.
“I said I’m free. My family isn’t going to control me anymore.”
Lin Yu’s hesitant voice came through the receiver. “Well, that’s good. Your parents gave you the freedom you wanted.”
“Everything I ever owned is gone.”
“Don’t think like that. You’ll always be Uncle and Auntie’s son, and they will always be your family.”
“By everything I owned, I include my status as heir, my rights, and all of my assets.” Ying Chi had originally only intended to mention his inheritance rights, but the words shifted to encompass everything he possessed the moment they reached his lips.
“No, it won’t come to that. Don’t worry, Achi.” Lin Yu continued comforting Ying Chi, still concerned about his emotional state and asking to see him.
Ying Chi refused. After comforting him a little longer, Lin Yu finally hung up the phone.
Sitting blankly in the empty villa through a sleepless night, Ying Chi only managed to catch a brief nap right around dawn.
The next morning, he was woken up by a ceaseless barrage of notifications on his phone. The device was flooded with messages from close classmates and friends asking whether the rumors were true, accompanied by a shared video clip.
Ying Chi tapped open the video to find footage of his grandfather presiding over a morning board meeting, announcing that the company shares originally scheduled to be transferred to Ying Chi upon his college graduation were being revoked. While revocation still left room for potential future re-transfers, doing so at this particular juncture…
Equated to directly announcing Ying Chi’s removal from the line of succession.
Ying Chi ignored the messages, whether they came out of curiosity, probing, concern, or schadenfreude.
Ever since he was a child, everyone had told him that he was the future heir of the Ying Corporation, and everyone had pampered and fawned over him.
Yet today, all of that had vanished into thin air.
Inside, Ying Chi felt a mix of bewilderment and sorrow. Was this truly what he wanted? He had lost everything, and he had lost his family too.
When his phone started ringing again, his finger was already hovering over the hang-up button before he realized the person calling was his grandfather.
“Hello, Grandpa.” Ying Chi’s voice trembled slightly, carrying a hint of grievance.
He knew he had done something wrong, but he had never expected the consequences to be this severe.
“Xiaochi, you already know about what happened at this morning’s board meeting, don’t you?”
“I know.”
“Then do you know why eloping once, combined with showing up at the banquet with that young man, resulted in this outcome after just two incidents?”
“I know I did wrong, and I brought shame to the Ying family name,” Ying Chi answered in a daze.
“Wrong! What you did wrong wasn’t just bringing dishonor to the Ying family’s reputation. You and Xingxing grew up together from childhood, and you agreed to the engagement yourself. Yet you deliberately chose to slap him across the face on the very day it was announced! You didn’t give a single thought to the bond between the two of you, not even if it was just as friends.”
Catching the slightly choked-up tremor in Ying Chi’s voice, Elder Ying continued.
“Afterward, I told you to go make a personal apology, but you refused every single time. Did you think your grandfather had no way of dragging you over there? I simply believed that my grandson should have the courage to own up to what he did.”
In the end, Ying Chi still hadn’t gone to apologize. He knew he was in the wrong.
“You showed no regard for Xingxing, you lacked the courage to own up to your mistakes when things went wrong, and you acted on sheer impulse right on my birthday by bringing that young man straight before us. Have you ever considered the dignity of your parents, the dignity of the entire Ying family, or how your grandfather is supposed to face his old comrade in arms?”
Lin Yu wasn’t even someone he had brought along himself; Ying Chi no longer had the face to voice that explanation. After all, even if he hadn’t brought Lin Yu, rebelling against his parents and grandfather on Lin Yu’s behalf was entirely his own doing.
Elder Ying let out a heavy sigh. “You grew up by my side. Although your actions were sometimes driven by impulse, you were always steady when it mattered most. Yet in this matter, Grandpa can’t understand you. You will always be my grandson, but the Ying Corporation is the lifeblood of our entire family. Its heir cannot be someone who is ruthless and ungrateful to outsiders while proving unfilial to his own family.”
Hearing those earnest, heartfelt words from Elder Ying, Ying Chi realized his grandfather still acknowledged him as family, and he broke down, weeping uncontrollably.
“Thank you, Grandpa. I know I was wrong, and I shouldn’t have been so self-willed.”
“As long as you know you were wrong, hurry on home. Last night your parents were terrified something might happen to you and didn’t get a single wink of sleep.”
Ying Chi wiped away his tears. “Okay, I know. Okay.”
After resting at home for a night, Ying Chi’s emotions had calmed down considerably.
Only then did he remember that he hadn’t been in contact with Lin Yu for an entire day and night. He dialed Lin Yu’s number, but it rang without anyone picking up, and his text messages went unanswered.
Morning passed into afternoon, yet still not a single message came through.
Even though Ying Chi’s feelings toward Lin Yu were somewhat complicated right now, as his boyfriend, he couldn’t help worrying if something might have happened to him.
He didn’t find him when he checked his home, nor was he at the café where he worked part-time. Ying Chi didn’t know much about who Lin Yu’s other friends were, since Lin Yu was always endlessly caught up in working part-time or studying.
Just as he ran out of locations to check, Ying Chi thought of the lounge where Lin Yu used to work.
Right as he was failing to track down any sign of him, a message finally popped up from Lin Yu:
“Let’s break up.”