Xi Yu’s adoption process had always been somewhat tortuous. At that time, he had just left the home of a divorced couple, only to be transferred and sent to another family.
Xi Yu tightly pinched the hem of his shirt with his hand, feeling extremely nervous. It was obvious how well-off this family was; Xi Yu had never even seen such expensive furniture in a house before.
He tried his best to flash an ingratiating smile, making himself look more likable, yet little did he know this only made him appear even more constrained and tense.
Fortunately, the couple was very gentle and kind to him. For a long time thereafter, Xi Yu thought he had finally caught a stroke of luck, living in a grand, beautiful house and being treated very well by the people who adopted him.
Until they began having a child of their own. The wife, who had been diagnosed by doctors as permanently unable to conceive, finally became pregnant. While Xi Yu was happy for them, a fear unconsciously welled up in his heart.
The fear of being abandoned once again!
However, the nightmare did not begin at that moment. Back then, the couple still treated Xi Yu with pleasant expressions, even feeling that it was Xi Yu’s arrival that had brought them good fortune.
What truly caused Xi Yu’s suffering came later. After his nominal younger brother was born, he unfortunately contracted a certain genetic deficiency and acute illness, an ailment so tormenting and anxiety-inducing.
Whenever the younger brother began crying out in discomfort, the couple would vent their frustrations onto Xi Yu, as if everything were Xi Yu’s fault. Xi Yu’s role in this household had devolved into their punching bag, yet he was powerless to leave.
He was abused this way for a long time, until Xi Yu’s bone marrow matched his sickly younger brother’s. Xi Yu did not hesitate; remembering the initial period of beauty when he was first adopted, he was willing to donate for his younger brother.
Yet what did his adoptive parents do? Knowing full well how they had constantly tormented Xi Yu, and terrified that he would refuse to donate and run away, they actually imprisoned Xi Yu, locking him away in the attic of that grand, beautiful house. Cut off from daylight and isolated from every living soul, the only things that entered were meager meals barely sufficient to keep him alive.
Xi Yu had no idea how long such days continued, until he was sent to the operating table to surrender his bone marrow.
Post-surgery, while he lay in the hospital bed, despite the surgical incisions aching so intensely that he could not sleep all night, his adoptive parents never once came to check on him. Those precious nutritional supplements were continuously sent to their biological son instead, while for Xi Yu, there wasn’t even a single person to pour him a glass of water. He was simply forgotten like that, as if such a person did not exist in this world at all.
Xi Yu thought to himself that whatever he owed them had already been repaid.
After that came his departure. Relying on his own floating and struggling existence adrift in society, Xi Yu never inquired about their news again, nor did he ever contact them.
Until recently, when they managed to acquire Xi Yu’s mobile phone number from somewhere; those incoming bombardment text messages made Xi Yu understand what had happened.
A cold sneer could not help but escape from the corner of his mouth. So they were only contacting him because…
Their biological son, maintained by medication all these years, still failed to recover and finally succumbed a month ago, beyond all saving.
At this juncture, this couple finally remembered that there was a person named Xi Yu who could serve as their emotional crutch and retirement tool for the rest of their lives.
They had already lost one son and desperately needed Xi Yu to fill that void. After all, when they first brought Xi Yu home, hadn’t they treated him very well and indeed shared a period of warm times?
Even though that period of time was fleeting, lasting only a single year.
“Xi Yu, I am Mom. Your dad has been suffering from back pain recently, and he said your old massage technique is very effective. Can you come back to see us?”
Xi Yu frowned.
“Xi Yu, don’t forget who brought you home when you were tossed around like a balloon, gave you a grand house to live in, and fed and clothed you.”
Xi Yu frowned even deeper, almost wanting to blacklist the sender in the next second.
Until the next text message caught his eye.
“Xi Yu, wasn’t the reason you left back then simply because of money? As long as you are willing to come back to this family, we can offer compensation for your bone marrow donation back then. It will be a large sum of money.”
Xi Yu’s hand holding the phone paused slightly. If it were just for himself, he truly disdained this sum of money; after all, hadn’t he refused to take it in the first place? He was resolved never to become entangled with them in any way again.
Yet right now… Xi Yu recalled those amber eyes, soft, sorrowful, and pitiful.
Ye Weifeng needed this money.
He needed this money to escape that world and stop suffering abuse.
Xi Yu began to hesitate, much like his past self trapped in the attic who desperately wished for someone to save him. This time, perhaps he could alter someone else’s destiny.
He had already pressed the button to reply to the text message.
Logging back on in the early morning, as the first ray of light filtered through the curtains, Xi Yu entered the game.
“Morning,” Xi Yu said to Ye Weifeng.
Today’s Ye Weifeng seemed quite different. Though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was amiss, Xi Yu vaguely sensed it.
He appeared somewhat nervous, yet also somewhat absent-minded. When the daylight entered, those amber eyes always looked washed out, almost imperceptible.
This sort of Ye Weifeng made Xi Yu feel somewhat unfamiliar, yet the wounds on his body seemed to have multiplied once more. Xi Yu could no longer sit idly by.
“Ye Weifeng, you asked me about the origin of my name before, right? I can tell you now…”
Before Xi Yu could finish speaking, Ye Weifeng interrupted him, appearing unusually anxious and flustered. “I don’t have time to listen to you talk about that right now…”
The moment the words left his mouth, Ye Weifeng felt a trace of regret. His plan had not yet succeeded, and he ought not to expose his true nature. After all, what Xi Yu appreciated most was his submissive, pitiful demeanor, wasn’t it?
Xi Yu paused slightly as well, figuring that perhaps those newly added wounds were making him uneasy. Thus, Xi Yu hurriedly shared the serious matter with him: “I’ve thought of a way to get you out of here.”
Subsequently, Xi Yu explained his plan to go home and scrape together the money for Ye Weifeng, though he glossed over the harm his adoptive parents had inflicted upon him in the past; he did not want Ye Weifeng to accept his help while carrying a burden of guilt.
A flash seemed to cross Ye Weifeng’s eyes for an instant, though that expression lasted merely a fraction of a second, impossible to catch and leaving one with the lingering, faint sense that it might have been an illusion.
“Really? That’s wonderful, Xi Yu. You have no idea how grateful I am to you; if not for you, I truly wouldn’t know what to do.”
Xi Yu smiled along with him. “As long as it helps you.”
After all, Xi Yu still could not forget what it felt like to be utterly helpless when there was no one left to turn to.
“By the way, my name comes from the poetry line: Fine mats of jade weights, why not hold flowers of fragrant jade.”
He spoke with such earnestness and solemnity, yet Ye Weifeng paid it not the slightest heed. His mind was drifting in a daze, on one hand nervous about the upcoming execution of his plan, yet on the other feeling that Xi Yu, who was willing to go to such lengths for him, was foolish and absurd.
Yet wasn’t it precisely because he was foolish that he could be fooled?
He was about to achieve his goal immediately, so why did his heart still feel so panicked?
As Xi Yu logged off from the game and prepared to return to his adoptive parents’ home, a voice sounded beside Ye Weifeng’s ear.
“He has already said he will bring a large sum of money to ransom you. Based on the amount he mentioned, I think the master will agree. Do you still intend to carry out your plan?”
Ye Weifeng’s expression shifted. “Who knows how much sincerity he actually has? Maybe he’s just casually saying a few things to coax me.”
“Only when fate is grasped in one’s own hands can I feel at ease.”
“Xi Yu, don’t blame me. I have no choice either; if you want to blame someone, blame yourself for trusting others so easily and being soft-hearted.”
As soon as Xi Yu stepped into the house, he was indeed greeted with a grand welcome package. His adoptive parents splashed pomelo water all over him while muttering under their breaths, “It was because we didn’t splash pomelo water before that you brought bad luck in. We can’t make the same mistake this time.”
Xi Yu swallowed the urge to roll his eyes and cut straight to the point. “I’ve fulfilled what I promised you. What about what you promised me?”
“Xi Yu, how did you turn out like this? Talking about money the moment you step through the door, is money the only thing in your heart?” His adoptive mother said with anger.
Xi Yu nodded with an unperturbed expression. “Yes. If you don’t want me to turn around and walk right back out, follow the agreed-upon conditions.”
His adoptive father stepped out to play the peacemaker. “Alright, this check has already been made out for you. Take it. We’re all family; move back home to live starting tomorrow morning.”
Xi Yu accepted the check while the two of them exchanged furtive glances in a blind spot outside his field of vision. It was clear they were keeping secrets from him and were not being frank about the real reason they wanted Xi Yu back.
It was Xi Yu’s first time being astonished by their straightforwardness. Of course, looking at their peculiar expressions, he was not entirely incapable of guessing that there was a catch, but Ye Weifeng genuinely needed this money.
Having stayed for only a few tens of minutes, his adoptive father suffered a succession of coughs. Looking at his increasingly pale complexion, Xi Yu suddenly recalled something.
He cast a mocking look at their evasive appearances. “Why does this look somewhat similar to the symptoms of younger brother’s illness? Could it be that younger brother’s genetic disease was inherited from you? Calling me back home wouldn’t happen to be so I can donate bone marrow a second time, would it?”
Stabbed right in their guilty conscience, the expressions of the adoptive parents underwent a drastic change, turning as unsightly as if they had swallowed a fly. Yet Xi Yu simply took the check and walked straight out of the front door.
Clearly, when he first stepped through this door as a child, he had felt the house was so beautiful. Yet stepping through it once more today, he felt only a bone-chilling cold throughout his entire body.
Fortunately, it was not entirely a fruitless trip. With his help, Ye Weifeng was about to gain his freedom, wasn’t he?
That was worth more than anything else. Those wounds would never appear on his body again, he would no longer need to grovel and humble himself to please players, nor would he be trapped for a lifetime inside that leaking little shack.
Yet Xi Yu did not expect that Ye Weifeng’s freedom would also come with a price, and a price so heavy that it made him pay an unprecedentedly steep bill for his own kindness and soft heart.