He had been afflicted with top-tier student syndrome during his school years, and was a complete workaholic after entering the workforce.
His Xingxing seemed utterly uninterested in anything outside of work.
“Has Xingxing ever played video games?”
Chu Lianxing nodded. He had once invested in a gaming company, and when their first game was produced, he was the very first person to test-play it.
Huo Ci continued, “If a game has a bug, the game developers will cause minor peripheral characters to disappear directly, whereas important figures require a series of measures to be put in place to guide them toward their original endings.”
Chu Lianxing nodded. Huang Chuyan held a relatively small share in the original text, so the best way to resolve that bug was to make her vanish.
Himself, Song Yushun, and Huo Ci were crucial presences within the text with significant narrative weight, which meant they couldn’t simply be patched over lightly; it required erasing them bit by bit.
Chu Lianxing tapped his chin with his finger: “The enemy is in the dark while we are in the light; we’re currently at a disadvantage.”
Huo Ci asked with a look of puzzlement, “How so?”
“We now know that it cannot completely control us; it merely uses an irresistible force to push us toward our doomsday ends.
Now that this novel has already concluded, all you know is the former plot, and exactly how it plans to deal with us moving forward remains a complete unknown.”
Huo Ci couldn’t help marveling as expected of someone whom even the plot failed to shake, he truly was exceptionally smart.
“Take me to the research institute first and let me see your achievements over the years.”
Huo Ci nodded, then opened the car door to scoop Chu Lianxing up from the back seat and settle him into the front passenger seat.
He walked around to sit in the driver’s seat himself, conveniently giving the chauffeur half a day off.
His plan had been wonderful: the two of them hadn’t yet been out on a date alone together since getting married, so after coming out of the research institute later, he would take Xingxing out on a date.
The ideal was plump, but the reality was bone-thin.
Before they had even driven out of the city center, a phone call from Li Yuanbai dragged Chu Lianxing rushing back to the Zhou family residence.
The line was extremely noisy, and judging by the sounds, a physical brawl seemed to be underway.
He immediately instructed Huo Ci to turn the car around and head to the Zhou family’s place. The Zhou family’s commercial focus was in the south; following Chu Lianxing’s mother, Zhou Su, marrying into the Chu family, the two Zhou sons split up—one remained in the southern ancestral home, while the other followed his elder sister to the capital city.
Zhou Nannan’s father was that cheap younger brother, Zhou Hua, who had left his hometown behind to accompany his sister as part of her dowry.
He was fine in every aspect except for being far too cold-blooded and iron-hearted.
He married his wife simply to better advance his career, and while his elder sister was still alive, there was at least someone capable of keeping him in check.
After Zhou Su died, his true nature was exposed, allowing his mistress to drive the original wife to her death while attempting to misappropriate the original wife’s assets as his own.
The very first thing Chu Lianxing did after rising to power was to help Zhou Nannan reclaim her mother’s assets.
Although this second uncle of his was a scoundrel, he treated his elder sister exceptionally well. He was a super-duper sister-con of the highest order, the kind who would spend all ten yuan he had on his sister, or all one hundred yuan he owned on her, without wasting a single penny on himself.
That love and devotion toward his sister naturally overflowed onto his nephew, the living memento left behind by her.
With his grandfather’s doting and his uncle’s indulgence, the fact that Chu Lianxing didn’t turn out crooked in such an environment was already proof of his rock-solid moral compass.
Ever since he accidentally struck Chu Lianxing with his car, Huo Ci had been driving slower and slower.
It was the kind of slow where you could stroll alongside a bicycle on the road.
Following Chu Lianxing’s relentless rounds of urging along the way, he finally managed to match the speed of an electric scooter.
What should have been a twenty-minute drive ended up taking a full hour.
Upon arriving at the Zhou residence, Chu Lianxing was so anxious that he completely forgot about his legs’ inability to walk.
Habitually flinging open the car door, he leaned his upper body forward while his lower limbs lacked the ability to keep up with the motion, triggering a sudden sensation of weightlessness.
Protecting his head with his arms, Chu Lianxing could only hope he wouldn’t fall too heavily.
The anticipated pain never arrived; instead, a pair of limbs as solid and firm as steel hooked around him and hauled him back.
Huo Ci stepped out of the car, walked around to the passenger side, and scooped up the beauty from the car seat. Walking swiftly toward the interior of the villa, he offered comforting words: “Don’t rush, I’ll carry you inside—that way it’ll be faster.”
Huo Ci was tall with long legs, taking wide strides and moving at a brisk pace that was even faster than Chu Lianxing’s electric wheelchair.
The crucial point was that it was both smarter and more comfortable than a wheelchair.
Chu Lianxing’s fingerprints were registered at the Zhou family villa, and the moment he pushed the door open, a ceramic plate came flying straight toward them.
Huo Ci shielded Chu Lianxing securely within his embrace. The plate smashed against Huo Ci’s body before clattering down onto the tiled floor.
It produced a,
“Clang.” sound.
Which instantly halted the chaotic situation inside the house.
Disregarding the injuries on Huo Ci’s body, Chu Lianxing pushed aside the other’s clothes and assessed the situation inside the villa.
The “evil mother-in-law” to his “little daughter-in-law” from a few days ago was sprawled on the floor, struggling desperately as she tried to crawl toward a wheelchair that had overturned not far away.
Even though it was less than half a meter away, it remained hopelessly out of reach for someone with paralyzed legs.
She was surrounded by numerous shards from the plate she had just hurled to vent her frustration.
The plate that had come flying toward them just a moment ago was originally intended to smash into Zhou Hua, who had been standing by the entrance, but he had dodged it with a serpentine side-step.
As a result, it hit Huo Ci, this innocent scapegoat.
Seeing Chu Lianxing filled him with immense delight. Zhou Hua stepped forward, his mood—which had previously been soured by his daughter’s rebellion—instantly clearing up: “Xingxing is here.”
Chu Lianxing did not immediately acknowledge this uncle who doted on him so dearly.
Directing Huo Ci’s fully automatic wheelchair version, he rolled right up in front of Zhou Nannan.
He had Huo Ci crouch down while he himself reached out to lift his cousin’s head, which had remained lowered the entire time.
The haughty young lady’s eyes were red and swollen, her face streaked with tear tracks, bearing a bright red handprint on her cheek evidently a slap delivered by Zhou Hua. Her hair, usually styled and maintained to be sleek and neat, had become a complete mess.
With a heart full of heartache, Chu Lianxing pulled Zhou Nannan into his embrace, gently patting her back with his palm: “What grievances has Nannan suffered? Tell your older brother—older brother will settle the score for you.”
Clearly it was the simplest comfort imaginable, yet Zhou Nannan burst into tears, her body trembling and voice choked with sobs as she vented the grievances she had bottled up for so long: “Older brother, not only is he trying to seize the company Mom left behind for me, but he also wants to force me to marry a man in his forties.”
Panicking, Zhou Hua rushed forward to clap his hand over the rebellious girl’s mouth, only to catch sight of Chu Lianxing glaring at him with a pair of icy-cold eyes.
Zhou Hua knew full well that this rebellious girl held a weight in his nephew’s heart that far exceeded his own.
Huo Ci gently placed Chu Lianxing down onto the sofa, then grabbed Zhou Nannan by the back collar of her clothes to haul her up, hooking his foot under the wheelchair to deftly set it down before returning to stand by Chu Lianxing’s side once more.
Only then did Chu Lianxing begin to seriously survey his surroundings.
The argument clearly hadn’t been small: the jade ornaments on the cabinet had been smashed into fragments scattered across every corner of the room, famous paintings on the walls had been slashed or torn down, and even the sofa had several claw marks ripped into it.
It looked like quite a row had broken out. Moreover, Chu Lianxing noticed that something was missing from the room.
Scanning his surroundings, he never caught sight of Li Yuanbai—that crazy hound who was practically joined at the hip with his cousin. With her primary bodyguard missing, it didn’t take a genius to figure out whose handywork this was.
Chu Lianxing looked toward Zhou Hua: “Uncle, where is Li Yuanbai?”
Zhou Hua played dumb: “What Li, what Bai? I don’t know.”
“Hmm?”
Blood ties truly were a magical sort of thing. His elder sister had passed away when Chu Lianxing was very young, leaving him without even a single memory of her, yet not only did he resemble her in appearance, but every single gesture of his was also carved in her exact likeness.
Even the protective posture he assumed over Zhou Nannan was identical to how his elder sister used to shield him during their childhood.
Whenever he made mistakes as a kid, his elder sister would sit on the sofa just like this, listening to his far-fetched excuses before simply letting out an “hmm.”
Thinking of this, his eyes couldn’t help moistening as he raised his hand to make a phone call.
Before long, Li Yuanbai was dragged in from outside by two men in black suits.
She bore obvious injuries on her body, and her clothes were soaked through with sweat despite the freezing winter weather, making it painfully evident just how severe the torture she had suffered must have been.
“Xiaobai.” Zhou Nannan’s voice trembled. Turning her gaze toward her father, she enunciated each word clearly: “Let her go.”
With an indifferent wave of his hand, Zhou Hua had the two bodyguards toss the completely exhausted Li Yuanbai onto the floor.
The bodyguards then retreated to stand behind their employer of their own accord.
Maneuvering her wheelchair over to Li Yuanbai’s side, Zhou Nannan touched the injuries on her face with a heart full of heartache: “Does it hurt?”
Straining with all her might, Li Yuanbai hoisted herself up from the floor, resting her head against Zhou Nannan’s unfeeling lap as she forced out the best smile she could manage: “It doesn’t hurt.”
How could it possibly not hurt? Casting a hateful glare at her father, Zhou Nannan tearfully recounted to her older brother everything she had endured over the past few days: “Older brother, his son’s incompetence caused the company to lose a major project, so he wants to marry me off to a forty-year-old geezer in exchange for a business partnership.
And on top of that, he’s forcing me to hand over the company Mom left behind.”
Chu Lianxing’s heart felt as though it was being torn to shreds by grief; his pampered little sister had never suffered this kind of humiliation in her life: “Uncle.”
“Xingxing, let your uncle find a clever excuse to explain no, wait, no explanation needed.”