Jiang Chu only learned the truth at the very moment before his death.
The story began shortly before his father died, back when Jiang Chu had just been born.
In fact, when Jiang Chu was first born, his family circumstances had been quite good.
His adoptive father was a businessman. Although he wasn’t involved in any particularly large scale business, he was reasonably well off and loved his wife very much.
Because of this, Jin Wanwan had been able to give birth in a good hospital, which was what created the opportunity for the babies to be switched.
It was only later that his father died in a car accident and his mother’s hand was permanently disabled at the same time.
His father had been primarily responsible for the accident because he had been driving while fatigued.
And just like that, their entire family fell apart.
The cycle of fate continued and Jiang Chu died in another car accident.
When he was first struck and thrown away, he had not yet died. He was still alive when the ambulance rushed him to the hospital for emergency treatment.
It was before the emergency procedure that he learned the truth about his identity.
The revelation of this secret began with Sheng Xun’s unreliable uncle.
Sheng Xun had an uncle who spent his days indulging in wine, women and pleasure, leaving behind a trail of romantic debts wherever he went. Despite being well into adulthood, he still had no intention of getting married.
The old master urged him to marry and have children every few days. He even threatened to sever their relationship and refuse to leave him any inheritance.
Later, his uncle brought a child home and claimed that the child had been born to a woman he had been involved with outside the family.
The old master was a traditional and rigid man who placed exceptional importance on blood relations. He secretly arranged for a paternity test to be conducted, only to discover that the child was not his uncle’s biological son.
The old man was furious.
He didn’t know whether his nephew had deliberately lied to him and was raising a “pitiful” woman’s child, or whether his nephew himself had been deceived.
Older people tended to be suspicious, especially after hearing about all kinds of sordid scandals within wealthy families. For reasons known only to him, the old master took advantage of this opportunity and secretly ordered someone to conduct paternity tests on all the younger members of the family.
He had only wanted to put his mind at ease.
He never expected that the tests would actually reveal a problem.
Sheng Xun was not his grandson.
At first, he suspected Sheng Xun’s mother. However, the results showed that Sheng Xun had no blood relationship with her either.
Only then did he realize that his son and daughter in law might not even know that the child they had raised was not their biological son.
On the day of Sheng Xun’s mother’s birthday, the old master went over during the mealtime. As he arrived, he happened to see someone rushing out of the house.
He raised his head and glanced at that person.
With the realization that Sheng Xun was not his grandson and that his real grandson had been left somewhere outside the family, the old master suddenly felt that the person he had just seen looked much more like his grandson.
That young man carried traces of his son and daughter in law in his appearance. He looked like them.
After entering the house, the old master saw Gu Mengchen as well.
He felt a moment of confusion, so he had someone investigate the identities of the two men.
At that time, he was already secretly investigating the matter. Gu Mengchen was difficult to use for a paternity test but Jiang Chu, who worked at the Sheng family’s company and lived together with Sheng Xun, was much easier to investigate. Obtaining a strand of his hair for testing would not be difficult.
Unexpectedly, everything came together so perfectly.
Jiang Chu really was his grandson.
The old man once again felt that this was the wonder of blood relations, something destined by fate itself. He immediately ordered people to search for Jiang Chu.
When Jiang Chu was being rushed into the emergency room, just before he completely lost consciousness and died, he heard a relative hurriedly telling him the truth.
He opened his mouth slightly but all that came out was a mouthful of blood.
Then he closed his eyes.
After seeing this, both Su Qingyu and 527 fell silent.
The commissions they accepted were all from ghosts who had died carrying deep obsessions and unresolved grievances. They had long known that every person had a story filled with regrets and things they could never let go of.
Yet, even after seeing this, they still couldn’t help but sigh at the way fate toyed with people. They could taste the unwillingness, the resentment and the profound pain hidden within it all.
527 tried to analyze the situation in this world.
【Host, the difficult part of this world is that you don’t know how to deal with the scumbag, right?】
【Jiang Chu should hate that scumbag very much. He hates him for shattering his dignity and making him stay by his side, only to be treated as a substitute. He also hates him for saying those things to his mother. If the scumbag hadn’t said those words, his mother might have been able to survive.】
【But that scumbag is also his mother’s biological son. Jiang Chu loves his mother very much and he must feel deeply guilty toward her as well. So you can’t hurt the scumbag too severely, can you?】
527’s analysis wasn’t wrong.
More importantly, it had begun considering the situation from the perspective of the commissioned ghost rather than blindly focusing on reforming the scumbag.
Su Qingyu nodded.
【That could be part of it but honestly, it’s not really a problem at all. Why do people have to make life so complicated while they’re still alive?】
527: 【……？】
527 was just about to ask what he meant when the phone on the table suddenly rang.
The time they had entered this world was precisely during their fourth year of university, when everything was still in time to be changed.
At this point, Jiang Chu had already begun interning at the Sheng family’s company and was gradually becoming acquainted with Sheng Xun’s circle of friends.
The person calling was Sheng Xun.
He was asking whether Jiang Chu wanted to go to a bar that evening and whether he should drive back to the university to pick him up.
Most of the time, Sheng Xun was a considerate lover, as long as Jiang Chu transformed himself into the image of his ideal male god and followed his preferences.
Su Qingyu spoke according to Jiang Chu’s usual personality. “No need. Sheng Xun, you can go ahead and stay busy. I’ll make my own way there.”
Jiang Chu had always addressed Sheng Xun like that.
It was Sheng Xun’s request, because his white moonlight had always called him so directly.
Sheng Xun wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Jiang Chu had always been like this and didn’t like troubling him too much.
“Alright, then I’ll see you at eight tonight. Be careful on your way there.”
Su Qingyu ended the call and glanced at the time displayed on his phone.
It was five thirty in the afternoon.
He walked over to the mirror in the dormitory and looked at his reflection.
As expected, Jiang Chu did bear some resemblance to him.
However, their temperaments were entirely different.
He, Jiang Chu and Xu Yunhan possessed three completely distinct presences, each giving off a different impression.
When he had first entered this body, there had still been a strong sense of Jiang Chu lingering around him.
That scumbag Sheng Xun certainly had an accurate eye for appearances.
With this kind of styling, Jiang Chu really did possess the fresh and elegant charm of an orchid.
Su Qingyu sighed emotionally.
【As expected, he’s different from a seductive vixen like me.】
527: 【……】
Su Qingyu tugged at the white shirt he was wearing and walked over to Jiang Chu’s wardrobe. When he opened it, he saw an entire row of white shirts.
“……”
Because Sheng Xun’s white moonlight liked the color white and because the first time Sheng Xun had experienced that heart stirring moment with his white moonlight, the other person had been wearing a white shirt, Sheng Xun had always made Jiang Chu wear white shirts as well.
Su Qingyu said, 【I’m starting to hate white shirts a little.】
527 immediately became displeased upon hearing that.
【Did white shirts offend you somehow? I think white shirts are pretty good. Jiang Huiyin looks extremely good in a white shirt!】
Su Qingyu: 【……】
Why was his system still thinking about Jiang Huiyin even after they had already arrived in an entirely different world?
Su Qingyu said, 【Face reality. Jiang Huiyin isn’t here anymore.】
As he spoke, he stared at the white shirt reflected in the mirror for several seconds. Then, he pinched the bridge of his nose and said, 【Let’s go. I’ll change into another outfit. I don’t want to carry someone else’s shadow on my body.】
Su Qingyu glanced at the balance on his phone.
Then, taking nothing but his phone, he left.
The university Jiang Chu attended was a prestigious institution with a history spanning a hundred years. Its scenery was beautiful and it possessed a profound cultural heritage.
One person and one system slowly walked through the campus, taking in the atmosphere and feeling the unique ambiance of the university around them.
527 asked, 【Host, have you ever attended university?】
Su Qingyu: 【I went to school but I hardly ever stayed there. I debuted when I was sixteen.】
527 asked curiously: 【Did you start filming movies in high school, just like Jiang Huiyin?】
Su Qingyu: 【…Mention Jiang Huiyin one more time and you won’t have to speak anymore.】
527 immediately shut his mouth, covered his ox head with both hands and obediently sat down on the little stool.
There were all kinds of shops around the university. Su Qingyu first went into a clothing store and tried on several shirts. In the end, he walked out wearing a black shirt that satisfied him, while the white shirt was tossed straight into the shop’s trash can.
Next, he went to a hair salon and guided the hairstylist through changing his hairstyle.
At first, the hairstylist thought it would be better to follow her own ideas but the moment she saw the finished hairstyle, she froze.
Su Qingyu ran his fingers through his heart shaped bangs, revealing a pair of beautiful, mesmerizing eyes. With a smile, he said, “Miss, don’t keep staring. No matter how long you look, I still won’t turn into your boyfriend. I like men.”
527 noticed that the moment he finished saying those words, the two male hairstylists in the salon immediately turned their eyes toward him, looking eager to make a move.
527: 【…】
What a scumbag!
And yet, it absolutely loved it.
After that, dressed in his loose, casually hanging black shirt, Su Qingyu went to an accessories store and bought a collarbone chain along with two metal ear cuffs, clipping them carelessly onto his ears.
527 could see it clearly now. Its host had deliberately styled himself in the exact opposite of what Sheng Xun liked.
Today was the gathering Sheng Xun was having with his friends. It was also the first time he would be introducing Jiang Chu to them.
Sheng Xun had already molded Jiang Chu into the kind of person he liked. Naturally, he assumed Jiang Chu would show up dressed in the way he preferred.
He liked Jiang Chu in clean, white shirts. Su Qingyu refused to give him that. Instead, he wore a loose black shirt, its color as dark as the night.
He liked Jiang Chu’s elegant, pure, moonlight like appearance. Su Qingyu refused that, too. He had undone two buttons of his black shirt, exposing a large expanse of pale, delicate collarbones.
A silver collarbone chain rested against his skin, rising and falling gently with the movement of his collarbones. On his fair earlobes sat a pair of rebellious metal ear cuffs, adding a sharp, unruly edge to his appearance.
He had even bought a richly pigmented lipstick.
How infuriating!
Yet, how much 527 loved it.
Afterward, he simply maintained that appearance and took his time enjoying a meal.
During that time, Sheng Xun called him several times but Su Qingyu didn’t answer a single one.
Once he had finished the last mouthful of hot and sour rice noodles, Su Qingyu set down his chopsticks with a satisfied expression.
【Being able to eat like this is so incredibly happy.】
In the previous world, he had been suffering from late stage stomach cancer. By the end, there had been almost nothing he could eat. Only now did he understand that being able to eat as much as he wanted, to take generous mouthfuls of the food he craved, was the greatest happiness of all.
527 reminded him: 【Host, it’s already eight thirty. You’re half an hour late.】
Su Qingyu: 【Don’t rush. Let me digest my food first.】
……
After finishing his meal, he continued strolling around at an unhurried pace, taking a leisurely walk to aid digestion. Only when he felt he had digested enough did he finally set off for the bar.
Sheng Xun’s friends all came from the same circle of wealthy second generation heirs. The bar they frequented was well known in the area. Every night, it was filled with singing, dancing and indulgence, with music and revelry continuing until dawn.
The group had taken the best seats beside the dance floor, a prime spot for watching the entertainment and were joking around with Sheng Xun.
“Sheng Xun, your little lover sure has a lot of airs. It’s his first time meeting your friends and he’s already more than an hour late.”
“You went to the bathroom twice just now, didn’t you? You were calling him both times, right? And he still hasn’t hurried over?”
“He’s really not giving you any face, is he? Not giving us any face either.”
On the surface, Sheng Xun replied casually, “Am I keeping you from looking at beautiful women? Or stopping you from drinking? What’s wrong with him arriving a little late?”
But the anger in his heart was growing heavier by the minute.
Jiang Chu had always been extremely obedient to him. Sheng Xun had even told him before that he didn’t want to be made a laughingstock in front of others yet, on an occasion like this, Jiang Chu had not only arrived so late but had also ignored every single one of his calls.
Sheng Xun was already thinking about how he would establish some rules for him once they returned.
Just then, Hua Shuming suddenly stood up.
Hua Shuming was his childhood friend. His family owned a large advertising company and over the past two years, their business had expanded, with plans to venture into the entertainment industry. This gave him even more opportunities to come into contact with beautiful people and he frequently kept a few young celebrities as lovers.
He had brought along an unfamiliar young man who had only recently entered the entertainment industry for their outing that night. At this moment, he had already pushed the boy aside.
Hua Shuming was staring straight at the entrance. Slowly, a single expletive escaped his mouth.
“Fuck…”
Seeing him stand up like that, the others naturally followed his line of sight.
Sheng Xun was in a bad mood and had no interest in watching whatever spectacle had caught their attention. He was the last one to turn his head.
By the time he looked over, he was a little too late. All he saw was a tall man approaching another man, apparently trying to strike up a conversation.
The tall man blocked most of the other man’s body, leaving Sheng Xun with only a partial view. He could see that the person was wearing a loose black shirt, the fabric hanging carelessly around his body before gathering at his slender waist. His soft, pale earlobe, however, was adorned with a distinctly punk style earring.
To be honest, Sheng Xun didn’t particularly like people with this kind of appearance. Even so, he couldn’t help taking another look.
Before he had even seen the man’s face, he had already sensed a contradictory, almost bewitching allure radiating from him.
Perhaps it was that narrow waist.
Perhaps it was the contrasting, striking earring.
Or perhaps it was the casual way he lifted his wineglass.
As the people around them shifted, Sheng Xun’s view gradually widened.
He saw the man holding a glass of red wine between his long fingers, swirling it carelessly. The dark red liquid rose and fell against the sides of the glass, reflecting the shimmering lights of the bar.
He lifted the glass and tilted his head back, taking a sip.
His red lips wrapped around the rim of the wineglass. His swan like neck stretched slightly and his Adam’s apple moved as the red wine slid down his throat. Under the ambiguous, hazy lighting, his skin looked so pale that it was almost dazzling.
Sheng Xun could feel the heated gazes of countless people in the bar settling on the man.
Hua Shuming let out another “Fuck,” his voice filled with particular regret.
“Someone beat me to it.”
The young celebrity beside him reached out to grab his arm but Hua Shuming impatiently shoved him away.
“Stop bothering me!”
Li Dongfeng took a large gulp of his drink.
“He’s seriously incredible.”
Sheng Xun had turned his head too late and hadn’t seen the man’s face but he didn’t contradict him.
People like them had seen plenty of beautiful faces. They knew that some people didn’t need an exceptionally handsome face to possess a naturally captivating charm.
But he didn’t like this kind of person.
At that moment, he thought of Jiang Chu again.
He summoned Jiang Chu’s face in his mind, using it to dispel the image in front of him.
And just then, the man slowly turned his head toward him.
The face that had been lingering in Sheng Xun’s mind appeared right before his eyes.
The wine went down the wrong way, slipping into his windpipe and he immediately broke into a violent fit of coughing.
However, none of his friends paid him any attention. Every single one of them was staring in the same direction.
Hua Shuming: “Is he looking over here?”
Hua Shuming: “Yes! He’s looking at me!”
Hua Shuming: “Fuck, fuck, fuck! He’s coming this way!”
Hua Shuming: “Move over! Stop pressing against me!”
Still coughing, Sheng Xun listened to Hua Shuming ramble on in a nervous, excited frenzy. It took him a while to finally suppress his coughing fit. When he looked up, he noticed that it wasn’t just Hua Shuming. Two of his other friends had also straightened their backs and were hurriedly tugging at their clothes, as if trying to make themselves look more presentable.
Someone stopped right in front of him.
The first thing Sheng Xun noticed was the man’s long, straight legs, encased in black jeans. His waist disappeared between the loose black shirt and the snug waistband of his jeans, as though the slender curve had been swallowed by the clothing, leaving only the faintest impression of its shape. The shirt’s neckline was opened wide, exposing a broad expanse of snow white collarbones beneath the shifting, flickering lights.
He had actually put on a collarbone chain!
He had actually worn those kinds of earrings!
He had even cut the hairstyle that Sheng Xun had painstakingly instructed the hairstylist to create for him!
Sheng Xun’s eyes widened as he stared furiously at the completely transformed person standing before him.
“Sheng Xun.”
His lips, still faintly moist from the red wine he had just drunk, curved into a smile as he called his name.
“Sheng Xun, you know this beauti-, this gentleman?” Hua Shuming, who had been staring at Su Qingyu without blinking, immediately questioned Sheng Xun the moment he heard him call out his name. “You know someone this… this incredible and you didn’t even introduce him to us? That’s seriously too much!”
Sheng Xun clenched his teeth so hard they made a sharp, grinding sound.
527 let out a gleeful little “Hee hee.”
【Host, you actually gained three points of repentance value that easily. A scumbag’s thoughts are truly impossible to figure out.】
Su Qingyu couldn’t quite determine where those three points of repentance value had come from. Were they from Sheng Xun? From Jiang Chu? Or perhaps from both of them?
He turned toward Sheng Xun’s friends and gave them a smile.
“Sorry, everyone. I’m late…”
He glanced at his watch before lifting his eyes and continuing, “One hour and twenty five minutes.”
He raised the glass of wine in his hand.
“Consider this drink my apology.”
One by one, every single one of Sheng Xun’s friends displayed varying degrees of shock on their faces. All of them had already figured out who the person standing before them was.
The boyfriend Sheng Xun had mentioned.
The little lover they had been talking about just moments ago.
They had heard Sheng Xun say before that he had gotten himself a boyfriend. The moment they heard about it, they had wanted him to bring the guy out so they could meet him. However, Sheng Xun hadn’t shown any particular intention of introducing him to them at the time.
“Oh, so he’s your classmate from the same university? Then he must be some kind of academic genius, right?”
Since Sheng Xun wasn’t willing to bring him out, they had resorted to asking him what kind of person his boyfriend was.
Sheng Xun had replied, “He is. He gets the highest scholarship at our university every single year.”
The students at their university, Jin University, were already selected from among hundreds of thousands of applicants and this guy had even managed to obtain the highest scholarship. Just how good at taking exams could he possibly be?
Later, they learned from Sheng Xun that Jiang Chu’s hometown was a small place they had never even heard of. Naturally, they assumed he was one of those people who had grown up in a small town and devoted their entire lives to studying, the particularly boring kind who seemed to have nothing in their existence besides exams.
An image of him had automatically formed in their minds.
Someone wearing thick glasses, dressed in proper but unfashionable clothes, perhaps with a relatively clean and delicate face. The kind of appearance that fit Sheng Xun’s usual preferences perfectly.
But just moments ago, they had seen someone emerge from a hotel. His clothes, by the standards of a bar like this, were nothing particularly extravagant. He wasn’t wearing any exaggerated accessories or sporting an ostentatious style.
And yet, the moment he appeared, he had seized the attention of everyone who happened to look in his direction.
✦ ✧ ✦
Cressilia
[Translator]
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ChaptersChapter 30 · Fengdu Underworld (1)Chapter 31 · Fengdu Underworld (2)Chapter 32 Part 1 · The Humble Young Master (1)Chapter 32 Part 2 · The Humble Young Master (1)Chapter 33 Part 1 · The Humble Young Master (2)Chapter 33 Part 2 · The Humble Young Master (2)Chapter 34 Part 1 · The Humble Young Master (3)Chapter 34 Part 2 · The Humble Young Master (3)Chapter 35 · The Humble Young Master (4)Chapter 36 · The Humble Young Master (5)