Chapter 3: The Truth and the Shift

When Jiang Suifeng returned to his residence, he noticed the lights inside were on.

He stood at the door for a brief moment, guessing that Jiang Ying must have returned.

In the past, when they still lived in other cities, Jiang Ying would also leave for a few days whenever this time of year came around.

He hadn’t known why back then, but thinking about it now, she must have come to City A to visit Qin Moxun.

The lighting in the room was dim, and Jiang Ying was sitting by the edge of the bed waiting for him.

This was the first time Jiang Ying had returned since his rebirth, yet it was the second time he had seen her.

The first time he saw her was on the third day after his rebirth, outside the most luxurious villa district in the northern suburbs.

It had been raining lightly that day; the sky was dark, and the air was freezing cold.

He had stood in a dark, obscure corner outside the villa district for a long time before he saw her driving a luxury car and draped in this year’s latest overcoat from a high-fashion luxury brand, surrounded by jewels as she returned from outside.

That kind of magnificence and opulence was completely different from her current simple and shabby appearance.

“Why are you back so late?” Jiang Ying asked.

It was very cold in the basement, but still far better than outdoors.

Jiang Suifeng took off his padded coat, turned around, pulled another quilt from the wardrobe, and skillfully opened the folding sofa to spread the bedding over it.

Only then did he answer softly: “I went to work at a bar.”

“What?” Jiang Ying’s brows knitted together. “Then what about the breakfast stall?”

Ever since he was little, Jiang Suifeng had drifted to many places alongside Jiang Ying. They had started operating the breakfast stall when they temporarily lived in H City, back when he was in his third year of middle school.

However, not long after taking over the breakfast stall for the first time, Jiang Ying’s “regular client” called requesting her to go over and help.

Since the rent had already been paid, it was impossible to get it back. Jiang Ying thought it was a waste, so Jiang Suifeng took the initiative to take over the stall himself.

From that point onward, he had never stopped.

It was also from that time that he began a lifestyle of sleeping late and rising early, maintaining the breakfast stall while continuing his studies.

The breakfast stall was shared with someone else, so it didn’t actually earn much money, but he still saved every bit little by little, regularly transferring it to Jiang Ying.

Their life was very difficult, so even one extra penny was good.

However, running a breakfast stall inevitably affected his studies because the time he finished packing up the stall had long passed the start of morning classes.

Therefore, every single time, he could only run all the way to school at a sprint, having no time at all to change his clothes or clean up.

During that stretch of time in H City, he was always accompanied by the smell of grease and cooking fumes.

Consequently, his life was inevitably shadowed by various taunts and meaningful, mocking glances.

Some people had even tried to tempt him with money.

There were even schoolmates who would maliciously visit his breakfast stall just to torment him.

In front of him, it seemed everyone could find a sense of superiority, everyone could stand high and mighty.

Back then, he had thought Jiang Ying rented the breakfast stall near his school out of care for him, to make his commute to school less exhausting.

Only later, after being forced back to the Qin family, did he realize he had completely misunderstood.

It was also from that point that many things from his childhood began to trace back to a clear pattern.

For instance, whenever they moved to a new place, local children would very quickly start laughing and cursing at his mother, calling her a husband-jinx, a vixen, an unwanted woman…

Back then, little Jiang Suifeng would always step forward at the very first second to shield his mother with his body.

A child’s world was very simple, and in the face of conflict, fists were the most persuasive argument.

So back then, seven or eight days out of ten, he would be covered in cuts and bruises.

His personality gradually grew unsociable and withdrawn as a result, making it extremely hard to make friends.

To the point where later on, he simply stopped taking the initiative to make friends at all.

Jiang Ying, of course, was never short on money.

Only after returning to the Qin family did he learn that because of him, she was able to receive a huge sum of money from the Qin family every year.

She had acquired a vast amount of property—just within City A and its surrounding areas, she owned five or six high-end villas.

Besides that, every single place they had ever lived in also contained her real estate investments.

And all those properties—she left every single one of them to her biological son, Qin Moxun.

Even though up until her death, Qin Moxun had never visited her even a single time.

Everything Jiang Ying did was merely a deliberate attempt to humiliate him, maliciously warping, eroding, and destroying his life piece by piece.

While he lived in a cold, damp basement, struggling to survive amidst the grease and fumes of a breakfast stall, she was actually living in luxury mansions under the guise of working away from home, enjoying the life of a wealthy socialite.

Even though she was merely a third party who destroyed someone else’s family—a vicious executioner who had secretly swapped and ruined someone else’s child!

Yet the Jiang Suifeng of his past life had never once suspected her.

After all, how could any child suspect the mother they had depended on for survival all their life?

What kind of child would do that?

And what kind of “mother” was she?

Even though a teenager possessed such strong self-esteem, out of love and a desire to protect his only family member, he still gritted his teeth and endured those insufferable days step by step.

…

After all, his life had been like this since birth—filled entirely with darkness, so he could only learn to get used to it.

He had even once thought he would continue living like this forever.

Yet the unexpected still occurred on a day that could not have been more ordinary: Lu Xiye descended from the sky, storming into his life without any warning.

The very first ray of light in his life was granted by him.

He remembered it very clearly. It was a noon in early spring when he had just turned sixteen and was in his first year of high school.

That day, as usual, he intentionally avoided the rush hour before going to the cafeteria to eat.

Yet inevitably, he still heard some unpleasant words.

Those people gathered around a tall, upright youth, babbling flatteries to him, while the glances they swept over Jiang Suifeng were filled with mockery.

Back then, his hair had grown very long because he had no time to get a haircut, and his clothes were stained with the smell of grease, so no one sat beside him.

The youth heard those words and said nothing, but a moment later, he carrying his food tray and sat right down beside him.

The people trailing around him looked somewhat awkward, but they still sat down following him.

He didn’t raise his head, keeping his head down as he ate the cheapest food on his tray, then stood up, cleared his tray, and left the cafeteria.

Only after stepping out of the dining hall did he freeze in his tracks, turning his head to look back through the cafeteria’s glass doors.

Although he no longer quite remembered his exact mood at that moment, he clearly remembered that he had looked very intently, lost in thought.

That was almost the first time he had ever been treated like an ordinary human being—without sympathy, without charity, and certainly without mockery.

That was also the first time he experienced how precious and wonderful it was to be treated like a normal person.

While most people were chasing individuality and trying to attract the public eye, his dream was so meager.

No one knew that he simply wanted to be an ordinary person.

Yet such a humble dream was so brutally hard, so luxurious for him.

That youth had given him the chance to fulfill that dream—even if only for a single moment, it stayed etched in his heart for ten whole years.

No one knew that his love for him was not because of his status, his looks, or all the glittering traits he possessed…

It was simply because he never looked down on anyone from a high horse, but exerted every effort to give them respect.

He had once respected him like that.

Lu Xiye asked him if he remembered helping him back then.

How could he possibly forget?

He had fought far too many fights in his youth, most of which he had long forgotten, except for that single one—it was etched into his very bones.

That was the only time he and Lu Xiye had ever fought side by side.

Besides that, there was never another time.

“I transferred the breakfast stall to someone else,” Jiang Suifeng sat down opposite Jiang Ying.

“How could you not discuss such a major matter with Mother?” Jiang Ying looked at him in utter disbelief. “You were never this disobedient before.”

In his past life, he had also worked at other places, but Jiang Ying had disapproved every single time, so none of those jobs lasted long.

Later, when Lin Fang brought him to Sanjiu Bar to play, a talent scout wanted to bring him into the entertainment industry.

He had been very tempted at the time.

After all, life at home was far too bitter back then; stepping out to fight for a career might have offered a way out.

However, Jiang Ying was terrified he would be recognized by the Qin family if exposed to the public, even threatening her own death to forbid him from taking a single step forward, so he ultimately chose to give up.

Jiang Suifeng smiled faintly without answering.

“Mother,” he gently rubbed his own fingertips. “Guess who I ran into at the bar?”

He was very certain now that the reason Jiang Ying returned was because today was Qin Moxun’s birthday.

Once day broke, she would probably go secretly watch him, or send him a gift anonymously.

“Who?” Jiang Ying asked in confusion.

“Qin Moxun,” Jiang Suifeng looked at her.

Jiang Ying fell silent, a trace of tension surfacing across her features.

If it were in the past, he would have believed she was worrying about him, but now he knew she was worrying about Qin Moxun.

“He wanted me to drink with him, and I refused,” he continued, carrying a sliver of a disdainful smile. “I will forever remember the words you told me, and I will never forgive the harm the Qin family caused you.”

“Then… did he recognize you?” Jiang Ying asked. “You refused—what… how did he react?”

“He certainly wasn’t willing, but,” Jiang Suifeng looked into Jiang Ying’s eyes and smiled faintly, “doesn’t seeing a bit of blood make them behave?”

The basement was a small single room where the folding sofa sat parallel to the bed, separated only by a narrow aisle with a curtain hanging in the middle.

Right now, the curtain had not been drawn, and Jiang Suifeng leaned forward slightly, drawing very close to Jiang Ying.

Jiang Ying’s face turned pale, whereupon she raised her hand and delivered a heavy slap straight across his face.

“Mother,” Jiang Suifeng’s head was knocked to the side by the slap, his fair, delicate cheek instantly swelling red.

He raised his hand to press against his burning cheek, then turned his face back to look at Jiang Ying: “In the past, whenever I won a fight, didn’t you always reward me? Why did you hit me this time?”

At the exact same time, Lu Xiye also received a phone call from his assistant.

The other party reported to him over the phone: “Young Master Lu, Mr. Jiang has arrived home safely.”

Lu Xiye hung up the phone and gathered the reports regarding target gene drug development spread out before him.

This targeted drug report was developed specifically for mutations in the tumor suppressor gene P53 within the human body.

According to research, mutations in the P53 gene occurred in approximately fifty percent of all malignant tumor patients.

Over the years, numerous pharmaceutical companies at home and abroad had developed various new drugs targeting P53 gene mutations, but unfortunately, time and again, these drugs vanished during clinical trials.

Yet this new drug from Lu’s, after enduring countless twists and turns, had already entered Phase II clinical trials, standing just one step away from success.

Lu Xiye was in his sophomore year of university this year.

His life had been planned out with utmost clarity from the very beginning: studying, going abroad, taking control of the family business, meeting a suitable partner, and perhaps stepping into marriage.

Like a healthy body operating methodically under the cooperation of various organs and tissues, he had never once thought there would come a day when he would fall ill.

Until his senior year of high school, when he was accepted early by a prestigious foreign university he favored, leading him to leave school early to visit relatives in H City.

The vacation was long, and his father, fearing he would grow wild playing around, arranged for him to audit classes at a school in H City for a period of time.

It was during that period that he met Jiang Suifeng.

That person had appeared only once, vanishing without a trace ever after, yet his life had never been truly smooth sailing again from that moment on.

Jiang Suifeng became the mutated gene in his life—a desperate mutation where no precise target could ever be captured.

In order to search for Jiang Suifeng, he gave up going abroad and chose to retake the Gaokao entrance exams.

Afterward, he entered the top chemical institute in the nation, City A Institute of Chemical Technology, majoring in biochemistry with a minor in economics.

From the initial ten years to the remainder of his entire life, he never fell in love with anyone else ever again.

At two o’clock in the morning, Lu Xiye was completely devoid of sleepiness.

He retrieved the scarf he had worn earlier today once more.

The scarf was indeed a bit dirty, but he couldn’t bear to wash it. Wrapping it around his palm once, he brought it back up to his nose and sniffed it again.

Jiang Suifeng had worn it for far too short a time, leaving nothing behind at all.

The computer made a chime, indicating the arrival of a new email.

Lu Xiye lazily nudged his mouse, seeing that the sender was Lin Jun.

He picked up his phone and dialed out. Before long, Lin Jun picked up.

“Not sleeping yet?” Lu Xiye lit a cigarette.

“Nope, just sent you the proposal for the film and television investment. Want to take a look?” Lin Jun said.

Lu Xiye fell silent for a moment, answering off-topic: “Where’s Xiao Jiu?”

“He went to sleep at nine,” Lin Jun said. “He has the Gaokao next year, so he needs to take care of his body and energy—can’t stay up late.”

Lu Xiye smiled softly: “How do you know he’s asleep? You guys aren’t cohabitating, are you?”

“Xiao Jiu wouldn’t lie to me,” Lin Jun said earnestly.

“Mm,” Lu Xiye smiled softly, falling silent for another brief moment before speaking: “Jun’er, how do you pursue someone you like? Teach me.”

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