The oppressive, urgent sound of piano keys filled the room, over and over again, looping the same melancholic piece.
A slightly flickering television broadcasted the news. Recently recognized as the city’s Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year, Song Gucheng appeared on the screen, visiting a welfare institution, spreading warmth to children who had little reason to hope.
The piano abruptly stopped. In the narrow, blurry confines of his vision, he saw the woman sitting at the piano slowly rise and walk toward him.
Her long black hair hung loose, tangled, lacking any luster, and her pale, haggard face bore faint traces of the beauty she had once possessed.
He watched her. Instinctively, his hand hid behind him, shoving the remote into the sofa cushion, and then, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, he spoke again: “Let’s go find him.”
“No!”
The woman shouted sharply, instinctively. Struggle flitted across her face, only to be replaced with despair and pain. Slowly, she collapsed to her knees, powerless.
“What about your illness?” He asked again, sorrow and grief evident in his voice, receiving the same resolute answer.
“No matter what happens, we must never bow to them!” The woman’s hands gripped his shoulders, fingers tightening gradually, until finally she held him close to her chest. “Do you understand? No matter what happens, you absolutely cannot forgive them!”
The narrow, dark room, stifling in the summer heat without air conditioning, resonated with her quiet sobs.
The television in the background, suffering from a bad connection, flickered to black and white, displaying Song Gucheng’s magnified, benevolent smile as though it were a carefully prepared memorial portrait.
“If one day you go back to live with them, if you ever begin to accept their ways, remember this place. Remember your mother, okay?”
“Just thinking of this place will make sure you never, ever forgive them…. ever.”
Song Shiyi’s eyes snapped open. He stared blankly at the ceiling, his pupils empty, lifeless.
He curled into himself, trying to pull away from the world within the book, to excavate his own most primal memories: a loving mother, a strict father, and a cold yet gentle elder brother.
But those faces were blurred in the shadows of his memory, leaving only chaotic, trembling lines.
“How long do you plan to stay here?”
The voice interrupted him.
Song Qingwen sat in the armchair, holding a book casually in one hand, asking with an air of indifference. The difference in height made Song Shiyi look slightly up at him.
“You’re my brother… and yet you won’t let me stay a bit longer?”
Shiyi muttered to himself, hugging a pillow tightly to his chest.
Not at all attentive, so different from the brother he had known before. If it had been him, surely…
Surely he would have…
Song Qingwen didn’t react to the unsaid words, only gently said, “You have your own room.”
Shiyi struggled to recall, but the care hidden beneath coldness, the familial bonds that tied them through blood, all appeared blurred, spreading before his eyes like ink in water.
When clarity returned, only Song Qingwen remained before him.
His heart throbbed, screaming, pounding the sorrow and bitterness through his entire being.
“Go back now.” Song Qingwen urged again, gentle but firm.
“No.” Shiyi mumbled through the pillow, “You haven’t even promised me yet.”
He recalled the earlier scene: in the dimly lit stairwell, Qingwen had withdrawn his hand without a change of expression, then gently ran it through Shiyi’s hair. Neither a yes nor a no.
“Couldn’t do it without my help?” Qingwen’s face remained gentle, though his eyes carried an unmistakable assessment.
Shiyi buried most of his face in the pillow, revealing only his eyes, dark and round, gazing at him.
His features inherited the beauty of his deceased mother, a highborn lady, yet his eyes were softer, rounder, giving him an air of naive innocence when his mind wandered.
Qingwen’s thoughts shifted, and he tugged the pillow from Shiyi’s arms.
He found Shiyi smiling faintly, the expression oddly innocent yet tinged with a strange melancholy.
How tragic.
In his original life, he had received far too little love.
Because of this lack, he craved affection. Even when repeatedly hurt and trampled, he still sought to forgive, to tolerate.
Even if the so-called happy ending was more like a ghost story, he could still smile, walking toward what he deemed his own happiness.
But this was wrong.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t the original self, he would not hope, would not long for this hopeless love.
Now that he had inherited this body, he might as well cause chaos.
Chaos so profound that no one would have an easy time.
How else could he justify this absurd plot?
Shiyi extended his pinky toward Qingwen, “You don’t have to help, fine, but you also can’t help the other side. You can manage that, right?”
Playful, teasing, the tone contrasted sharply with the cutthroat treachery of corporate battles. It was child’s play, completely unrestrained.
Qingwen furrowed his brows slightly, sighed softly, and linked his pinky with Shiyi’s, conceding as though he were indulging the boy’s childhood insistence on playing house.
“Also, give me some pocket money, okay, brother?” Shiyi’s smile widened, his tone sweet, almost like a child’s coaxing.
Qingwen, outwardly warm but inwardly cold, could not determine even after reading the book whether familial ties truly mattered.
Compared to love, money was more tangible. He needed money now, to rent a place outside.
Some things simply couldn’t be accomplished within the walls of the Song residence.
After leaving Qingwen’s room, Shiyi gently closed the door without a sound.
Still holding the doorknob, he bumped into Song Jiaxi ascending the stairs.
Jiaxi had just finished tending to his bandages and looked at Shiyi with surprise and suspicion.
“When did you and big brother get so close?”
“Guess.” Shiyi’s smile lingered, carrying an ambiguous, almost teasing undertone.
“You!” Jiaxi bared his teeth but dared not provoke him as before.
After Shiyi’s recent blunt and harsh lessons, Jiaxi, though unwilling to admit it, had a hint of fear. Where exactly did I offend him? If it was those minor conflicts before, isn’t he overreacting?
He retreated, using caution as a shield, and complained, “You’re far too petty.”
Shiyi watched silently. His eyes, pure black, deep as bottomless pits, seemed to swallow all light.
“Have you ever felt the burn of red-hot coals on your skin?”
“Or been left outside in freezing ice and snow, barefoot, wearing only a single thin garment?”
“Or forced to tattoo the name of the person you hated most onto your body?”
Shiyi stepped closer. His voice was soft, gentle, devoid of aggression.
Yet the effect was chilling.
Jiaxi shivered involuntarily.
Step by step, he was pushed back, nerves on edge, yet he whispered through gritted teeth, “What about you? Have you ever gone through that?”
What a joke! Jiaxi had investigated Shiyi’s background! none of this existed.
When he reached the stair railing, half his body suspended in midair, he finally realized it, gripping the rail to stop.
“I… I only dreamt it.”
Shiyi’s voice was almost a sigh, lips curling faintly, yet his eyes carried no humor, only a vague, ethereal weight as he stared at him.
The gaze was as if he wasn’t looking at a living person, but at a malevolent mark imprinted in his mind.
“In my dream… it was you, and all your friends, doing these things to me. That’s why I’m angry.”
Just because of a dream? Jiaxi didn’t know whether Shiyi was truly mad.
He swallowed hard, unwilling to say a word.
“So be prepared. This time… I won’t spare a single one of you.”
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Cresvynia
[Translator]
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ChaptersChapter 1 · He’s in the BookChapter 2 · You Like playing Stand-in, Right?Chapter 3 · This Kind of person is just asking for troubleChapter 4 · Is it so Bloody?Chapter 5 · Let’s Rot togetherChapter 7 · Illegitimate SonChapter 8 · Unfaithful husbandChapter 9 · MemoriesChapter 10 · Silence before stormChapter 11 · Hunt beginsChapter 12 · Nightmare I rememberChapter 13 · Why do they ride on their own heads?Chapter 14 · I forgive myselfChapter 15 · Can you take me in tonight since I’m homeless?Chapter 16 · Mr. Qin, do you like me?Chapter 17 · If you like it, you can have itChapter 18 · Gu Ye, it’s obvious that you also pursue these thingsChapter 19 · If you still can’t let go of Gu Ye, why not give it a try with me?Chapter 20 · He actually made him bow down to that bastard.Chapter 21 · Ruining someone’s future is simply unforgivableChapter 22 · God can’t possibly favor someone like youChapter 23 · UrnChapter 24 · May they die a horrible deathChapter 25 · If you’re broke, stop showing off.Chapter 26 · Kneel before me, begging for mercy.Chapter 27 · The plan succeededChapter 28 Part 1 · This time, the victim is Gu Ye Part 1Chapter 28 Part 2 · This time, the victim is Gu YeChapter 29 · This time, I’ll make full use of youChapter 30 · Educating about the existence of lawsChapter 31 · So who is he now?Chapter 32 · I want to destroy this fake spacetime.Chapter 33 · So, I was himChapter 34 · They’re all crazy, just let me have my wayChapter 35 · I will punish them in the right way.Chapter 36 · I’m already a lunaticChapter 37 · Can you stay by Qin Huai’s side for my sake?Chapter 38 · I’ll grant your requestChapter 39 · Not a pitiful littleChapter 40 · They Both should dieChapter 41 · I want to destroy the empire that Song Gucheng builtChapter 42 · Do you hate me too?Chapter 43 · No one should feel goodChapter 44 · He’ll definitely be the winner in the end!Chapter 45 · Acting is really tiringChapter 46 · I wanted that bastard to disappearChapter 47 · Ready made scapegoatChapter 48 · He’s willing to save themChapter 49 · I’ve come to catch up with youChapter 50 · You stole someone else’s placeChapter 51 · Shiyi, why won’t you save me…Chapter 52 · To make a good life is more importantChapter 53 · Even if you really cheated on me, it doesn’t matterChapter 54 · Finally, I can say goodbye to you completelyChapter 55 · Angel sent by heaven to save himChapter 56 · CEO Gu is a very affectionate personChapter 57 · If you love him, go to jail for himChapter 58 · His most beloved son wanted to kill himChapter 59 · Take good care of our dear fatherChapter 60 · Take back everything that truly belongs to meChapter 61 · He knew that Gu Ye would not let him downChapter 62 · The Song family’s shares must absolutely not be transferred to Song ShiyiChapter 63 · I am no one’s thingChapter 64 · He always knew what kind of person Song Qingwen was.Chapter 65 · FinalChapter 66 · Extra