One year ago, late in the month.
The sky was a heavy, misty gray, looking as though it might rain at any moment. Sophomore students at Haicheng University were gathered on the track for their physical fitness test; the men’s 800-meter sprint was about to begin.
Dressed in simple casual wear, Qi Zhi was stretching his limbs, performing a basic warm-up before the run.
At that moment, a boy wearing gold-rimmed glasses approached him. “Qi Zhi, let’s run together.”
The newcomer was Qi Ran, dressed in a full set of designer sportswear, looking clean-cut and elegant.
Qi Zhi glanced at him briefly but remained silent.
“Don’t be like that.”
Aware of the other students nearby, Qi Ran lowered his voice. “I am the real child of the Qi family. It’s only due to my generosity that a misplaced foster son like you wasn’t kicked out. You should be trying to please me, not giving me attitude.”
Qi Zhi continued to ignore him. As soon as the physical education teacher signaled the start, he set off on his own.
His name was Qi Zhi, twenty years old, and a sophomore at Haicheng University. As the situation implied, because a hospital nurse had swapped their ID tags twenty years ago, he and Qi Ran had spent their lives in each other’s places.
The Qi family wasn’t the top tier of the elite, but they held significant status in Haicheng.
Qi Zhi’s biological father, though also surnamed Qi, was nothing more than a loathsome gambler and thug from a “village within the city,” while his biological mother sold fried skewers at a night market.
The disparity between the two families was night and day.
The moment the truth came to light, almost everyone blamed Qi Zhi for “stealing” everything that belonged to the Qi family’s young master and enjoying a life that wasn’t rightfully his.
This included the parents who had raised him for twenty years.
The only exception was Qi Ran.
He had stood up magnanimously and told everyone: This was just an unfortunate accident. He was as much in the dark as I was; he is not at fault.
He even persuaded the Qi family to let Qi Zhi stay as an adopted son.
Shortly after, he convinced the family to pay off Qi Zhi’s biological father, who was trying to use the situation to extort money claiming he wanted to provide Qi Zhi with a peaceful environment for his studies.
Truly fitting for the real Young Master Qi. Look how kind and generous he was!
If it weren’t for the fact that Qi Ran constantly went out of his way to cause trouble, Qi Zhi might have actually believed it himself.
“Being angry is useless. It’s a done deal, and there’s nothing you can change now,” Qi Ran caught up, keeping pace effortlessly beside Qi Zhi.
Qi Zhi still didn’t respond.
Qi Ran: “Actually, I— Ah!”
Hiss—!
Their feet tripped over something. Both Qi Zhi and Qi Ran tumbled onto the track together.
The other students rushed over to see what had happened.
“Qi Zhi, why did you trip me?” Qi Ran sat on the ground clutching his knee, looking at Qi Zhi with an expression of pure disbelief. “Are you blaming me? Do you hate me because my appearance caused you to lose everything?”
His eyes grew red as he spoke. “But… those things were mine to begin with.”
Qi Ran hated Qi Zhi with a passion. It wasn’t just because of the identity swap, it was because of Qi Zhi’s boyfriend, Qi Zhennan.
Qi Ran loved Qi Zhennan. He had fallen for him at first sight on the first day of freshman year, but at that time, Qi Zhennan only had eyes for Qi Zhi and couldn’t see anyone else.
Qi Ran had been forced to hide his feelings deep in his heart.
Even after the identity swap, when Qi Zhi had nothing left, Qi Zhennan refused to break up. He even frequently compared the two of them, jokingly telling others: “If only we could have just let the mistake continue forever.”
It was because Qi Zhi was handsome, had a gentle temperament, and excelled in his studies—he was the classic “star student” every parent wanted. At school, many girls even referred to him as the “most perfect campus idol.”
Qi Zhennan was unwilling to let go of the Qi family’s wealth, but he was equally unwilling to let go of Qi Zhi’s perfection.
Because of this, Qi Ran was determined to make Qi Zhi look bad.
At any time and in any place, as long as Qi Ran was there, Qi Zhi would never know a moment of peace.