“It’s Mid-Autumn Festival today. Look outside, tens of thousands of lights are lit, the moon is full, families are reuniting, and joyous songs are being sung in harmony.”
“Joyous wedding songs are sung for newlywed couples having traditional weddings. If you lack culture, don’t try to show off.”
Wei Chen looked calmly at his friend beside him, completely ignoring the city lights that glittered like starlight.
Li Qian’an frowned, swirling the glass of liquor in his hand as he pondered for a moment. Realizing he couldn’t refute it, he could only mumble, “Fine, you’re cultured, okay? But even with all that culture, I don’t see you going home to reunite with family on a day meant for reunions.”
Wei Chen took a sip of his drink and said quietly, “I’m an orphan.”
Therefore, the warm glow outside had nothing to do with him; joy and harmony were meant only for those with homes.
The strong liquor slid down his throat, burning like fire through his internal organs a flickering flame scorching him bit by bit. This was the only warmth that truly belonged to him.
Li Qian’an genuinely hadn’t expected that the reason Wei Chen had always been on his own was that he was an orphan.
His wildness and arrogance resembled that of a young master raised by a prominent family. Right from the start of his career, he had mastered all the ruthless tactics of a businessman, yet he kept his kind-hearted side hidden deep inside.
Only Li Qian’an knew that this man had been doing charitable work behind the scenes all along.
He leaned his head on his hand and thought back, remembering that Wei Chen had not only donated money to renovate orphanages, but had also helped many vulnerable groups.
“Brother, I didn’t expect life to be so rough on you,” Li Qian’an sighed, patting his shoulder. He felt that someone as powerful as Wei Chen didn’t need comfort anyway.
“You should head back. I don’t host guests overnight.”
“My place is right upstairs from yours. It’s still early, what’s the rush?”
“It’s time for me to sleep.”
Wei Chen left the bar counter and headed into his room to get ready for a shower, leaving Li Qian’an no choice but to take his leave.
When quiet returned to the apartment, Wei Chen entered the bathroom, letting the running water break the stillness.
The steady flow from the shower covered him from head to toe, surrounding him like a gentle, warm embrace.
The bite marks on the inside of his arm had not faded even after all these years.
Wei Chen was an orphan. As a child, he was abandoned after his unscrupulous relatives finished dividing up his parents’ estate. He had slept under bridge arches and snatched food from dogs’ mouths.
Later, through endless wind and rain, he was brought to an orphanage. He moved to a new place where he began snatching food from human mouths, living a life that was supposed to be slightly better than wandering the streets.
After receiving a few years of compulsory education, he ended up becoming a gangster. He followed a boss, living off the fat of the land, and eventually turned into a sleek, well-dressed gangster.
Sometime later, Wei Chen felt being a gangster was pointless and wanted to use his money to do business instead.
Life seemed to play a trick on him, turning him from an uneducated, ignorant little thug and beggar into a newly rich business upstart who pretended to be knowledgeable, polite, and refined.
In the eyes of others, he seemed to have divine assistance not a single investment he made ever failed. Only he knew that none of it was a coincidence.
“Wei Chen!”
It sounded as if someone was calling his name. Wei Chen felt he was hallucinating.
“Wei Chen!”
It came again clearer this time. Someone was truly calling him.
However, the moment he turned his head to look, he suddenly felt dazed as a flash of white light erupted.
In the blink of an eye, his vision blurred as if he had severe myopia. The entire world was reduced to the sudden sound of a baby crying right beside him, sounding just as clear as the voice that had called him earlier.
Everything happened in a bizarre and surreal manner.
Yet surprisingly, listening to the crying baby beside him, he felt calm and peaceful in his heart even experiencing a strange sense of tranquility and belonging.
He sensed someone approaching, and the sound of the crying infant drew nearer.
Through the blur, he saw a woman holding the baby’s hand as she approached him and touched his face.
She said, “Ah Liang, stop crying. Look at the baby brother your aunt gave birth to for you.”
Miraculously, the baby actually stopped crying, sobbed twice, and reached out to rub against Wei Chen’s face.
Seeing this, the woman beamed with joy and placed the baby next to Wei Chen.
As for Wei Chen himself, he couldn’t move at all. He roughly understood his situation he had turned into a baby too, one that had just been born not long ago.
Meanwhile, the baby beside him didn’t stay still for a second. He crawled onto Wei Chen, hugged him, and gradually fell asleep.
Smelling the milky scent, Wei Chen also ran out of energy and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Six Years Later.
“Hey, come over here.”
Wei Chen was playing fetch with his large Golden Retriever in his front yard when he heard a voice. Looking over toward the neighboring yard, he saw Gu Liang.
This kid was wearing a cartoon character outfit, holding a toy shovel in his left hand while clinging to the fence with his right, staring over eagerly.
Yo, as expected of the future overbearing president male lead, he’s been unique since he was little.
Wei Chen didn’t really want to bother with him and pretended not to hear.
After all, whenever this silly kid came to play with him, he always acted like a cute, naive child, only to crush him using his fake six-year-old intelligence.
Whether it was building a sandcastle, assembling a Lego aircraft carrier, or hacking a computer system; basically, except for pharmacology, Wei Chen had never won once.
“Ah Chen, Ah Chen!”
Gu Liang was relentless; he had already dropped his shovel and was preparing to squeeze through the fence.
“Hey, don’t, don’t, don’t! You little ancestor, if your head gets stuck, I’ll be the one getting scolded.”
Having no choice, Wei Chen unlocked the small gate between the two yards to let this little ancestor in.
The little ancestor smiled so widely his eyes narrowed into slits, looking like he had successfully pulled off a scheme.
Knowing he had been tricked, Wei Chen didn’t get angry. He patted the Golden Retriever’s head, kept throwing the ball, and sighed, “It’s really a pity your mom doesn’t send you to become a child star.”
Gu Liang pouted, leaning closer. “Ah Chen, I found a fun place. Come with me, okay?”
His soft palm rested on Wei Chen’s arm, making Wei Chen unable to resist giving it a pinch. But as soon as he finished pinching, like a cold-hearted heartbreaker, he rejected coldly:
“Not going.”
“If you don’t go, I’ll tell Grandpa Wei about how you poked my butt with cockleburs yesterday.”
“…”
What an injustice! Wei Chen swore to heaven that he hadn’t poked Gu Liang’s butt with cockleburs. He had clearly just covered a chair with cockleburs and draped a cloth over it to prank his father. Gu Liang, that idiot, didn’t know, didn’t ask, and sat right down on it, getting poked himself.
Just as he opened his mouth to defend himself, Gu Liang pulled off a predictive strike: “Grandpa Wei won’t care about the cause and effect anyway.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll go, alright?” Wei Chen pinched Gu Liang’s hand again, applying a bit more force this time as he asked through gritted teeth, “Where to?”
Gu Liang smiled, not pulling his hand back, letting him do as he pleased.
Checking that no one was around, he leaned into Wei Chen’s ear and whispered, “We go toward the back of the neighborhood, cross two small paths, and we’ll see a small wooden house. I just spotted it when I was flying my drone.”
“What kind of small wooden house?” Wei Chen had a bad feeling about this.
“Covered in ivy, surrounded by lots of pink roses. It looks really nice.”
Wei Chen froze. He felt that description sounded way too familiar, though he couldn’t recall it at that exact moment.
He had been inside this body ever since he was born as an infant, staying here for six years. If he hadn’t known that this world was woven from words, he would have thought God was granting him a second chance at a good life.
Six years had passed, and he had almost forgotten most of his past life. Searching for clues in his memory would take some time.
“Let’s go quickly! If we stall any longer, it’ll get dark.”
The late spring breeze was light. Gu Liang pulled him as they ran outside. The sun seemed to be receding behind them as their long, endless shadows were trodden underfoot, gliding over the hot, clear asphalt ground.
Children sweat easily when exercising; droplets hung from the tips of their hair like tiny crystal beads, falling onto the lemon-yellow collar and leaving behind dark blotches.
Wei Chen spacing out.
He often spaced out during moments like this when time seemed to slow down.
Before he realized it, the person in front of him stopped abruptly. As Gu Liang turned around, Wei Chen couldn’t brake in time and tackled him to the ground, taking Gu Liang completely by surprise.
An accidental glance revealed a field of pink.
Pink roses representing first love, elegance, and gratitude.
The author of this Mary Sue web novel loved incorporating strange, incomprehensible romantic tropes.
He remembered now! Today was the plot point in the book where Gu Liang gets kidnapped, almost gets beaten to death, and is ultimately saved by the female lead.
Romantic my foot.
“Ah Chen!”
The person underneath him anxiously tried to push Wei Chen off, shouting his name even louder than when he had accidentally fallen down earlier.
With the setting sun behind them, they were shrouded in a larger shadow. The person seemed to be holding a burlap sack.
Wei Chen pinned Gu Liang down tightly and held him securely in his arms. He figured that since they were following the plot, neither of them would die, though they’d have to suffer a bit.
Both of them were covered up by the sack. Wei Chen even took a harsh kick to his butt, gritting his teeth to suppress a scream.
Damn it, what era is it to still use burlap sacks? And why pink ones?!
“Tsk, and here I thought this job was going to be tough. Didn’t the boss say these two kids were really smart and hard to catch? You call this hard to catch? When I make a move, everything goes smoothly.”
“Shut up and knock them out quickly so we can head back and hand them over.”
“Alright, you do it while I tie the rope.”
So there was an accomplice.
Hearing what the other party was going to do, Wei Chen instinctively arched upward a bit, protecting Gu Liang’s head with one hand while covering Gu Liang’s mouth with the other, whispering softly, “Don’t say anything.”
The next instant, his head was struck by a heavy object, and amidst a loud ringing in his ears, he lost consciousness.
Before passing out, he couldn’t help but think: I really am a textbook cannon fodder.
When he regained consciousness, Wei Chen felt no pain in his head or his butt. His body felt so light he could almost float, he thought he had gone straight to the Netherworld.
Opening his eyes, he found himself in a void-like space. Dense grey mist surrounded him, interwoven with numerous silver lines streaming past rapidly.
“Hello, Mr. Wei Chen. System 2002 of the Interstellar Special Task Bureau’s Rebirth Department is dedicated to serving you. We have thoughtfully activated the Slow Self-Healing feature of your Protagonist Aura.”
Wei Chen was startled by the cold mechanical voice, only then noticing a small blue dot of light floating in the air nearby.
A System! Ah, he was familiar with this concept a standard feature for transmigrated protagonists.
But wasn’t this a romance overbearing-president novel? The plot was already underway, and he wasn’t the male lead.
Wait… “What did you just say? Rebirth? You must have made a mistake. Shouldn’t it be transmigration into a book instead?”
System 2002 choked for a moment, let out a breath after a pause, and said: “It is rebirth, there is no mistake. You are the male protagonist of Urban Son-in-Law: Return of the Medicine King, and I am the system sent by the Interstellar Special Task Bureau to assist you.”
This time, it was Wei Chen’s turn to choke. Wasn’t the book he transmigrated into The Delicate Wife Runs Away with the Baby: President Gu’s Priceless Pampering?
Wasn’t his assigned role the standard male lead’s genius doctor best friend? The type who is available on call and doesn’t even need to sleep at night?
How did he become a son-in-law? How did he become a Medicine King? How did he become a Long Aotian protagonist? Besides, if it’s a Qidian-style male-lead novel, shouldn’t it be a Dragon King instead?
While Wei Chen’s mind was full of confusion and his thoughts drifted, System 2002 assumed his silence meant he understood.
Feeling quite thoughtful, the system said: “It’s time for you to go back and follow the plot. If you need anything, you can call me directly in your mind.”
“Wait, what plot? You haven’t even—”
Before he could finish, Wei Chen lost consciousness once more.
“Ah Chen, Ah Chen, wake up!”
A crying voice soaked in intense panic and worry made Wei Chen’s ears throb with pain.
The weightless floating sensation completely vanished, replaced by a severe pain at the back of his head and soreness all over his body.
He tested his movement and realized he was bound by ropes; except for his neck, he couldn’t move anywhere.
However, his body was indeed recovering and self-healing at a slow pace. That wasn’t a dream just now that System 2002 hadn’t lied. Still, he was in no hurry to summon the system again; he needed to calm Gu Liang down first.
His eyelids felt sticky, likely covered in blood.
Lifting his drooping head and opening his eyes slightly, his vision was expectedly blurred in red, making it impossible to see clearly.
“Ah Chen…”
Gu Liang called out weakly again, the end of his voice trembling.
Well, no matter how smart he was, he was only six years old after all. It was normal to be scared in a situation like this.
Wei Chen tilted his head, wanting to wipe the blood off his eyelids on his clothes, but his hands couldn’t reach, so he gave up.
Since they wouldn’t die or suffer permanent harm anyway, he closed his eyes and muttered, “What are you crying for? I’m not dead yet.”
“But the back of your head has been bleeding for a long time.” Seeing what he was trying to do, Gu Liang leaned over and used the fabric of his own shoulder to painstakingly wipe the blood for him.
Wei Chen cooperated with him. As their clothes brushed, he could clearly feel Gu Liang trembling all over, moving with extreme care.
After a good while, the blood was finally wiped away, allowing Wei Chen to open his eyes. Looking closely, the little guy’s face was indeed covered in tear tracks, his long eyelashes stuck together in clumps, and the corners of his phoenix eyes slightly red and swollen.
“Alright, stop crying. I’ve been reciting medicine names since I learned to talk at one year old. Don’t I know whether it’s serious or not?”
Gu Liang had already surveyed their surroundings and concluded that this was a fairly clean bedroom located in an old residential building, likely far from the wealthy district.
Although it wasn’t dark yet, twilight could be seen along the edges of the grey curtains.
Having a general idea of the situation, Wei Chen began to focus on comforting Gu Liang.
“I’m fine. Don’t go crying like a little girl are you wailing at a funeral? Besides, my mom said you must never be brothers with someone who isn’t strong like this. Spending too much time together means bad habits rub off! If I really got infected by you crying every time something happens, my mom would beat me to death.”
“Tell me, if we don’t die this time, but I get beaten to death after we go back, wouldn’t that be a tragic injustice?”
He had never pretended to act like an ordinary child in front of Gu Liang, yet his composure and behavior far beyond his age had never raised suspicion. It had been like this since childhood people just treated him as a kid trying to act grown-up.
Gu Liang was indeed provoked by his words; his fear dissipated quite a bit. But seeing the blood on Wei Chen’s face, he couldn’t talk back like he usually did.
After holding it in for a long time, he squeezed out a childish reply: “Right back at you!”
Wei Chen burst out laughing directly, causing Gu Liang’s pale face to turn red with annoyance.
Perhaps because the environment was so quiet, the sudden laughter sounded too conspicuous and was heard by the guard outside.
“Laughing when you’re at death’s door? Shut up! Or I’ll come in and beat you both up!”
The door panel was kicked heavily. A rough man shouted from outside, his voice different from the one who had tied them up earlier.
“That kid probably woke up. He couldn’t have been knocked stupid by that wooden stick earlier, right? If he’s gone dumb, can we still get that much money?”
Another unfamiliar voice chimed in: “The boss said we can, so we can. Stop worrying unnecessarily. Both of these kids are single heirs in their families, precious young masters. Even if they’re knocked stupid or half-dead, this job is guaranteed to make us rich. Let’s just wait to collect the cash.”