Chapter 10: Echoes of the Past

Jiang Suifeng’s movements paused for a moment. He lowered his eyes, lost in silent thought.

Lin Fang nudged his shoulder with his own, probing cautiously: “It couldn’t be people from your father’s side, could it?”

Jiang Suifeng had met Lin Fang six or seven years ago, back when he had just turned eleven and was renting a basement apartment in the old district of another city.

The basement had been partitioned into two separate units with independent entrances; Lin Fang lived in the other half.

Back then, Lin Fang was only eighteen or nineteen, playing drums in a bar and harboring beautiful dreams of music—very different from how he was now.

Even back then, Jiang Ying had already begun leaving the elementary-school-aged Jiang Suifeng alone under the pretext of going to work.

She would return two or three times a month, occasionally staying overnight and leaving very little allowance.

Seeing the young boy next door constantly cooking plain noodles alone—unable to bring himself to add even a single egg—Lin Fang couldn’t help but think of his younger sister studying back in his hometown, and a surge of sympathy arose in his heart.

Thus, he began frequently packing leftover late-night snacks from the bar to bring back, coaxing the child to eat with him.

The boy knew how to return the favor, often leaving a simple homemade breakfast for him in return.

With time, the two grew familiar with each other.

It was also during that period that Jiang Suifeng gradually learned to play the drums from Lin Fang.

Later, however, Jiang Suifeng moved again with Jiang Ying.

He was young back then, had no mobile phone, and led an unsettled life following his mother, so the two lost contact.

It wasn’t until several years later—when Jiang Suifeng moved to City A—that they chanced upon each other and reunited.

However, no one knew what Lin Fang had gone through during those intervening years; he no longer held music dreams and had grown quite despondent, co-managing Bar 39 alongside Jiang Shisi.

In his childhood, Jiang Suifeng had shared some of his background with Lin Fang, but he had never disclosed the identity of his biological father.

Back then, under Jiang Ying’s careful indoctrination, his words had been filled almost entirely with heartache and love for his “mother,” alongside a deep resentment toward the Qin family.

That was precisely why Lin Fang had asked this question so cautiously.

After thinking for a moment, he shook his head and answered, “I’m not entirely sure.”

If it were a few years ago, the Qin family might have been the first thing to come to his mind.

However, ever since his father, Qin Shibie, suffered a stroke two years ago, although the Qin family was still looking for him, they were no longer as active as before.

After all, to the Qin family, he was merely an illegitimate child born of a mistress.

That anyone was still willing to search for him was already an act of immense grace; to not actively hate or suppress him was practically ultimate mercy.

“What did the person look like?” he asked. “What did they inquire about?”

“Very young, pretty good-looking too, not unlike those people who fawn over you,” Lin Fang recalled. “They were asking about you at the bar counter. It was only when they started asking about your place of origin and family background that I happened to walk over to grab some liquor and brushed them off with vague answers.”

Jiang Suifeng nodded.

The lights from the stage flickered through faintly, accompanied by the intermittent sound of a guitar being plucked—it was time for the performance.

Jiang Suifeng folded his gloves neatly, lowered his head to place them into the cabinet, and then pulled open the door to step into the radiance of those lights.

After seeing off the two families of Lu Chenjin and Lu Chenyue, Lu Xiye accompanied his parents to the massive observation balcony to chat.

Outside the window, the neon lights resembled stars scattered across the sky, painting a broad and expansive view that eased one’s mind.

Wu Yun had eaten this meal with complete satisfaction, a trace of warmth even tinting her eyes as she looked at others.

In the past, Lu Xiye was quite unaccustomed to seeing his mother like this.

Because in his mind, his mother was more like a rigorous, conservative researcher in a laboratory, wholly devoted to her work; family and children were to her merely dispensable accessories, and no one could halt her steps.

Years ago, she had been determined to pursue her career abroad. To keep her, Lu Chenming had searched high and low for renowned master chefs to open Wangxian Hall.

Because apart from her work, Wu Yun only seemed to harbor a bit of affection for fine cuisine.

Yet today, Wangxian Hall had become the premier high-end restaurant in all of City A—where even the wealthy struggled to secure a table—yet in the end, it still hadn’t kept Wu Yun from leaving.

Wu Yun was obsessed with her own career, too indifferent to spare even a glance at family feuds over property like those within the Lu family.

Nor did she have spare energy to distribute to other members of the Lu family to engage in intrigue with them.

However, having lived through the events of his past life, Lu Xiye had grown accustomed to this soft, warm look from his mother.

Because in his past life, after Qin Moyan passed away, it was also Wu Yun who had rushed back from abroad at the very first moment, staying by his side day and night.

So much so that after persisting for years, the design headquarters of WUYUN was eventually relocated back to the country.

“Out with it,” Lu Chenming said, serving a piece of sugar-free cake onto his wife’s plate before turning to question Lu Xiye. “Who exactly got on your bad side today? Everyone at that table had to watch your expression—you certainly looked mighty powerful out there.”

“I’ve realized,” Lu Xiye chuckled softly, using a small spoon to gently trace the latte art on his coffee, “how is it that you aren’t half as decisive and resolute when handling interpersonal relations as you are in business?”

“If I were decisive and resolute, I would have thrown you out just now,” Lu Chenming retorted. “Where would that leave room for you to act so arrogant?”

Lu Xiye smiled again. “‘Grasping trends,’ ‘Understanding principles,’ ‘Mastering methods’—if Lu’an or Kangyi could manage even one of these three, I wouldn’t mind lending them a hand.”

“As a pharmaceutical enterprise, maintaining our own integrity and clean slate is far more critical for us than for other types of businesses,” he said. “Dad, since useless mud can’t stick to a wall, why should we get ourselves covered in a pile of filth?”

How could Lu Chenming fail to understand such logic?

Yet he was still thoroughly riled up by the cold, ruthless lack of human warmth in his son’s words.

“I said it back then,” he complained to Wu Yun, “we should have had more children.”

“You and Mom can still have one now,” Lu Xiye said unhurriedly. “If you don’t feel like raising them after they’re born, I can even raise them for you two.”

In this lifetime, he didn’t particularly want children; he wanted to reserve all his time for Jiang Suifeng, so it didn’t matter to him if his father wanted another child.

Of course, if Jiang Suifeng wanted one, then they would have one—after all, medical science would advance in the future to the point where two men could have children together.

Just as the cup in Lu Chenming’s hand was about to be hurled at Lu Xiye’s head, Wu Yun finally interrupted the conversation between father and son.

She paid no mind to worldly matters, but that didn’t mean she could remain indifferent to her son’s lifelong happiness: “You mentioned you have someone you like? When will you bring them for us to meet?”

“Sometime in the future,” Lu Xiye smiled, his eyes softening unconsciously. “Once he’s ready to accept me, we’ll talk.”

“I’ll be heading abroad in a few days,” Wu Yun said. “It’s fine if you trick him into coming over.”

Lu Xiye paused, not realizing his mother could be so playful: “Trick him how? Teach me.”

“What do young men like to do? Invite him out to play. Didn’t Little Feng just say that Chen family boy invited her to watch movies, enjoy fireworks, and take night boat rides…” Wu Yun recalled. “You invite him out, and I’ll just steal a quick look. I won’t cause trouble for you—I won’t be a wicked mother-in-law.”

Lu Xiye clicked his tongue softly. Thinking of Jiang Ying, he felt that he himself was actually the one facing a “wicked mother-in-law.”

However, since Lu Feng had been brought up, Lu Xiye mentioned in passing: “I heard there might be new reshuffles within NCC’s upper management recently.”

Lu Chenming understood instantly: “Are you saying that boy might not necessarily be sincere toward Little Feng?”

“Who knows?” Lu Xiye said casually. “I only said one sentence, yet you thought so far ahead.”

“Sigh, you young people nowadays…” Lu Chenming sighed, no longer bothered to meddle.

For the remainder of their time, Lu Xiye discussed recent fashion shows with his mother as well as WUYUN’s primary direction for the coming year, before the three of them left together.

As the elevator descended to the first-floor lobby and the doors slid open, he heard someone greet enthusiastically: “Uncle Lu, Auntie Wu.”

Standing two steps behind his parents as he stepped out of the elevator, Lu Xiye saw the two individuals walking toward them.

The person greeting them was Qin Moyang, and behind him stood another man.

Dressed in a well-tailored suit, that man was tall and built, appearing around twenty-five or twenty-six, yet carrying an exceptionally steady and composed aura.

It was none other than the Wei family head and long-time partner of the Qin family, Wei Chengbai.

Although they hadn’t met many times, Lu Xiye recognized the other man at a single glance.

Instantly, his eyes burned with a searing heat as a scorching, fiery pain flared up all the way from his heart to his eyelids.

In his past life, through an alliance between the Qin and Wei families, Qin Moyan had ultimately chosen to engage to Wei Chengbai—only to drown in City H, where the Wei family resided.

That had happened right before their engagement ceremony.

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