Jing Jiaxi had absolutely no idea that he had become an overnight celebrity the moment he stepped onto the university campus.
Throughout high school, he had buried himself under a mountain of books, spending every spare second of his academic life working part-time in the cafeteria, leaving him virtually isolated from his peers.
Consequently, he was completely oblivious to just how exceptionally striking his own appearance truly was on a college campus.
University students were practically bursting with the leftover romantic yearnings accumulated from high school, and discovering a top-tier drop-dead gorgeous guy in their very own department was information they couldn’t wait to blast to the entire world.
Before long, people successfully linked the viral forum thread directly to Jing Jiaxi.
The moment Jing Jiaxi stepped down from completing his self-introduction, he was called out of the classroom by his professor.
“Professor, is there something wrong?”
“Your parents are waiting for you in the office. They mentioned they couldn’t reach you—did you have a falling out with your family?”
The professor pushed up the frames of his glasses, staring at the boy’s tightly pressed lips, finding the entire situation incredibly bizarre.
The clothes the boy was wearing were not something an ordinary household could ever afford, yet the middle-aged couple waiting in the office were clearly from a completely different socioeconomic class based on their attire.
The couple looked thoroughly average, whereas the boy was fair-skinned, red-lipped, with exquisitely defined features.
The professor kept his lingering doubts buried deep in his mind.
Jing Jiaxi exhaled a long, heavy breath. “Professor, please lead me to the office.”
He would have to face his parents eventually. During his recovery period after almost suffering a miscarriage, he had constantly avoided thinking about his parents’ transgressions.
They hadn’t come looking for him for such a long time, and Jing Jiaxi genuinely believed he had long since grown numbly disappointed in them—yet his heart still throbbed with a dull ache.
Learning that his parents had tracked him all the way to his school, a tiny, faint glimmer of hope inevitably flared up in the depths of his heart.
Had they been frantic because of his sudden disappearance? Had they actually been worried about his safety and well-being?
Inside the office, the plainly dressed, middle-aged couple held disposable paper cups, shifting restlessly on the sofa.
They were rural folk who had migrated to the city for labor, and in all these years, this was the absolute first time they had ever set foot inside a university. The campus was truly grand and imposing.
The low-tier vocational college their son, Jing Jizu, had managed to get into was like night and day compared to this university.
What a waste that this little wretch was the one who passed the exam. If only the two of them could have swapped places.
This was the identical, silent sentiment shared by the husband and wife at this exact moment.
Jing Jiaxi pushed the door open. Seeing his parents whom he hadn’t seen in ages, his nose stung with a sudden wave of emotion. “Mom… Dad…”
Jing’s mother was the first to rush forward, displaying her concern: “You wretched child! Your mother and father only said a couple of words to you, and you go and run away from home! You nearly scared your parents to death!”
Her palm, broad as a woven palm-leaf fan, slammed violently against Jing Jiaxi’s back, mimicking a mother driven to absolute fury by a disobedient child.
The blows hurt his back terribly, but this was, after all, the mother who had raised him.
Hearing that she had missed him, Jing Jiaxi lowered his head, whispering softly: “I’m sorry, Mom…”
Meanwhile, Jing’s father stood in the background, carefully scrutinizing Jing Jiaxi. The fabric of the boy’s clothes didn’t look like cheap material whatsoever.
In the past, Jing Jiaxi had always worn Jing Jizu’s tattered, hand-me-down clothes filled with holes, and even his school uniforms were discarded items salvaged from others.
Those oversized, ragged clothes had completely shrouded Jing Jiaxi’s natural radiance. Now that he was outfitted in properly tailored, well-fitting garments, he actually exuded a trace of the elegant aura reserved exclusively for high society.
A sinister light flashed through the depths of Jing’s father’s eyes. He approached Jing Jiaxi with a rare, jovial smile: “Son, your mother and I are incredibly proud that you got into university. Don’t hold a grudge against your parents; you still need to come home and visit often.”
Jing Jiaxi was momentarily stunned by the sudden gentleness of his historically volatile father. In the past, such words were reserved solely for his younger brother, Jing Jizu. He was entirely unaccustomed to such a warm family moment.
“…This is the professor’s workspace. Let’s go outside to speak. Professor, please excuse us.”
“Yes, of course. Go and have a proper communication with your family.” Witnessing this, the professor also formed a vague hypothesis—this student likely didn’t get along well with his household.
But they were his biological parents, after all; surely they wouldn’t deliberately plot to ruin their own child. The professor felt secure letting Jing Jiaxi leave.
Jing Jiaxi scanned a code at the automatic vending machine to purchase two bottles of water, twisting the caps open before handing them to his parents. “Mom, Dad, how did you know my semester started today?”
“Sigh, how could two old folk like us figure that out on our own? We’ve been running to the school entrance every single day to wait for you! The security guards wouldn’t let us inside before, and it was only because the semester officially commenced today that they finally permitted parents to enter. We asked around down the road, inquiring everywhere, and searched for a very long time before we finally located your department.”
Jing’s mother patted Jing Jiaxi’s hand, speaking with an air of profound earnestness: “We took a two-hour bus ride here every single day, waiting until nightfall, not even daring to swallow a single extra drop of water, all because we were terrified we might miss you the second you walked out the door.”
His mother’s rough, dark-yellow hand was heavily lined with wrinkles, and the friction against his young skin felt as coarse and abrasive as sandpaper.
Recalling his mother’s relentless, grueling daily labor, Jing Jiaxi couldn’t help but feel a pang of intense sympathy, tears shimmering in his eyes. “Mom, you don’t need to come looking for me. I can take care of myself perfectly fine on my own.”
Jing’s father seized the opportunity to cut in: “Son, how exactly did you manage to purchase this cell phone?” His eyes were incredibly sharp; he could tell instantly that this was the latest, most expensive flagship fruit phone heavily coveted by young people.
Jing Jizu had pestered him endlessly to buy one, and it was only after they had siphoned off a portion of Jing Jiaxi’s academic scholarship to purchase it that the matter was finally put to rest.
“The phone? I… I bought it with the money from my part-time job… I didn’t steal it…”
The moment money was mentioned, Jing Jiaxi didn’t dare tell his parents that Fu Qianyu had purchased it for him. He was terrified his parents would brand him a worthless whore.
In the past, when Jing’s father had committed adultery once, Jing’s mother had continuously cursed in his ear, screaming that the home-wrecking whores who stole other women’s husbands would die a horrible, agonizing death.
This had cast a massive psychological shadow over the young Jing Jiaxi. From that moment on, he understood that becoming a man’s mistress or a third party meant transforming into a reviled creature despised by thousands.
Jing Jiaxi’s shoulders flinched inward. The violent, money-grubbing image of his father was permanently etched into his psyche.
Hearing his father bring up money, Jing Jiaxi instinctively sensed that danger was looming, making him even more terrified to utter a single syllable about Fu Qianyu’s existence.
If his greedy, shameless scoundrel parents ever discovered the truth, they would absolutely latch onto Fu Qianyu like a pair of insatiable vampires.
Jing’s father squeezed out an incredibly benevolent smile: “Son, I know full well you didn’t steal it. Your mother completely misunderstood you the other day—those two hundred yuan were actually taken by Jizu to top up his online video games. Your father apologizes to you; I shouldn’t have hit you, alright?”
“Um…”
His father was standing entirely too close, making Jing Jiaxi feel profoundly uncomfortable. He instinctively wanted to take a step back.
However, his father’s massive palms clamped tightly onto his shoulders. Jing’s father smiled broadly, declaring: “Son, you’ve grown up now, and you’re capable of earning your own money. Isn’t it about time you started repaying your mother and father for the immense sacrifice of raising you?”
The sheer implication behind his father’s words made Jing Jiaxi’s skin crawl with absolute horror. His entire body went rigid. “Dad! I already handed over my entire scholarship fund to you! Where on earth could I possibly have any more money?!”
Jing Jiaxi’s eyes flooded with scalding tears. He knew it. His parents had only tracked him down for the sake of money. How could he have actually believed in them? You are so incredibly stupid!
He forcefully slapped his father’s hands off his shoulders. “Dad! I have no money left! Demanding more money from me now—are you trying to drive me to my absolute death?!”
Seeing how violently agitated Jing Jiaxi had become, Jing’s mother immediately moved to placate him: “Jiaxi, how could you possibly think of your own parents that way? We merely want to help you save it up. A mere child like you spends money far too recklessly…”
“The one who spends money recklessly is Jing Jizu! I have always scrimped and saved every single cent—are you both completely blind to that?!”
Jing Jiaxi had long since grown accustomed to his parents’ blatant, self-righteous favoritism, but he simply could not bring himself to maintain the lie and deceive himself at this moment.
The second Jing Jizu was mentioned, the expressions on his father and mother’s faces plummeted into darkness simultaneously.
Jing’s father spoke up, his tone dropping into a terrifyingly sinister register: “No money? If you have no money, where did this phone come from? Did you go out and sell your body?!”
Jing Jiaxi’s lips trembled violently, utterly refusing to believe that such repulsive, vile words could actually leave his own biological father’s mouth.
Jing’s mother slapped her husband’s arm, throwing him a sharp look to signal him to shut his mouth.
Jing’s mother then spoke with an air of agonizingly forced warmth: “Jiaxi, your father and I are doing this purely out of concern for you. Your expenses will be immense now that you’re in university. Your parents have to hoard money to cover your tuition and living expenses. Hand the money over to us for safekeeping first, and we will return it whenever you require it.”
“Don’t you have access to that student financial aid loan thing? Go ahead and apply for the loan first, and we can store it all together for you.”
The absolute second the loan was brought up, a greedy, predatory light flared vividly within the cloudy, murky eyes of both his father and mother.
Jing Jiaxi bit his trembling lip, caught in a state of being so utterly consumed by pure rage that he began to weep and laugh simultaneously. “Student loans? A loan?!”