Chapter 31 Part 3: The Unveiling of a Painful Past (3)

At that time, Xiang Chen didn’t yet understand that sometimes the outcome of events wasn’t judged by right or wrong. When he saw his grandfather bow to a child the same age as him, Xiang Chen felt so distressed he almost cried on the spot.

After that incident, all of Xiang Chen’s sharp edges seemed to be worn smooth. If his resistance only resulted in his grandfather having to apologize for him, he would rather be a good child that anyone could bully.

After transferring schools at eight, he had no friends during his five years of elementary school. Not only because he was bullied, but also because Xiang Chen was unwilling to talk to others.

He was always alone, going straight home with his schoolbag after class.

For middle school, Xiang Chen still chose a school close to home. His grandfather was getting older, and Xiang Chen didn’t dare, nor could he, go too far.

The middle school was not good. Students wore strange clothes, dyed their hair various colors, skipped classes, dated early, fought, cursed, smoked, and used foul language. No one wanted to study, and even the teachers taught half-heartedly.

Xiang Chen was like an anomaly among his classmates. Many looked at him with unkind eyes, and Xiang Chen thought he would have to endure another three years.

Fortunately, he met Huo Kai. Huo Kai, with his rainbow-colored hair, said Xiang Chen was fair-skinned and tender like the rabbit he raised as a child, and inexplicably declared he would protect him.

Thanks to Huo Kai, Xiang Chen enjoyed three relatively comfortable years.

However, his grades steadily declined. He was never a particularly bright child; in elementary school, he could rely on diligence to be at the top of his class, but in middle school, as the depth of knowledge increased and teachers taught without much effort, combined with his family’s inability to afford a tutor, he struggled.

Xiang Chen studied desperately for three years, barely managing to get into a very ordinary high school. That school was a bit far from home, and Xiang Chen wasn’t keen on going. But his grandparents didn’t agree; they pushed Xiang Chen to enroll.

“Huo Kai was my only friend.” Xiang Chen spoke of him with a rare smile. “When you rejected me back then, he was the one who drank with me.”

Xu Hengzhou, however, paid little attention to the person Xiang Chen mentioned. He was still immersed in the anger of Xiang Chen’s past humiliation.

If they were still in that era, he swore he would retaliate. He would make those who had bullied Xiang Chen weep bitterly with regret for what they had done.

“It was my fault.” The anger in Xu Hengzhou’s eyes was barely suppressed, yet he softened his voice as he apologized to Xiang Chen. “I shouldn’t have said that. Please don’t be mad at me, Chenchen, okay?”

“I’m not mad.” Xiang Chen leaned closer into Xu Hengzhou’s embrace. “Now you’re my brother, and I like you the most.”

Xu Hengzhou stroked his head, wanting him to stop thinking about those things, and deliberately teased, “The most? Not just ‘like’? Chenchen is so handsome, surely many people pursue you. Have you ever liked anyone else?”

“Not at all,” Xiang Chen said, his ears turning red.

During high school, Xiang Chen gradually blossomed. His good looks, inherited from his parents, made him very popular among his classmates.

However, the enthusiasm of his classmates frightened Xiang Chen. For a long time, his interactions were limited to three people: his grandparents and Huo Kai.

At that time, Xiang Chen likely had mild social anxiety. The more enthusiastic his classmates were, the stiffer his expression became. Everyone thought he was aloof, but in reality, he was just anxious and afraid.

When Xiang Chen was in high school, his family’s financial situation grew increasingly difficult, while his tuition and various other expenses increased significantly.

His grandmother needed medicine, he needed to attend school, and his grandfather’s pension was so small.

When Xiang Chen discovered his grandmother was secretly reducing her medication dosage to save money for his study materials, he chose to swallow his pride and ask his father for money.

After being humiliated by that mother and son, he received half a year’s tuition.

Xiang Chen took the money and remembered to thank his father, because he didn’t know if this would be the last time he would have to ask for money. If it wasn’t, he would have to get used to it.

After paying the overdue tuition with that money, Xiang Chen hid in a secluded spot and cried his heart out. He didn’t know why he was crying, but he just felt incredibly sad.

After crying, Xiang Chen wiped away his tears and went home, as if nothing had happened. He couldn’t let his grandparents worry about him anymore.

Xiang Chen once heard someone say that a person’s suffering is finite; if one lives a good life first, perhaps only bitterness remains later. But if one endures all the hardships first, then the future days will be sweet and beautiful.

Xiang Chen didn’t believe this before, because his grandparents and mother had clearly always suffered.

But later, Xiang Chen believed it.

In his second year of high school, a new urban planning announcement designated his grandparents’ area for redevelopment.

This meant that once the old house was demolished, their family would have money. His grandmother could afford better medicine, and he would never again have to beg his father for money.

Everyone was overjoyed. His grandmother even told him that once they had money, she would buy him the best bicycle, the kind young boys liked.

How wonderful that time was, as if a new life was truly on the horizon.

However, good times were short-lived. News of the old district’s demolition spread rapidly, and his father’s side also learned about it.

His stepmother set her sights on him.

He didn’t know how she convinced his father, but less than two years before Xiang Chen’s eighteenth birthday, his father had a change of heart, wanting to take him back and even offering to send him to study abroad.

Xiang Chen was no longer the child yearning for paternal love. Years of neglect had already made him see what kind of person his father truly was.

He rejected his father’s belated ‘paternal love,’ wanting only to live his own life with his grandparents, but they wouldn’t let him go.

While he was at school, his father and stepmother went directly to his grandparents’ house. He didn’t know what they said, but his grandmother was so agitated she suffered a heart attack.

Xiang Chen was called out of class, and his homeroom teacher drove him to the hospital.

That day, his grandmother died, and Xiang Chen also lost his father.

“How much I hated him then…” Xiang Chen’s voice was filled with bewilderment. “Many times, I held a knife, lurking near his house. I thought about how to kill him, and I even wondered if he would apologize to me…”

Xu Hengzhou’s heart clenched. Although he knew Xiang Chen certainly hadn’t gone through with it, he still felt a pang of anguish.

He wasn’t afraid of Xiang Chen committing murder, but he was afraid of Xiang Chen staining his own hands. If Xiang Chen had truly stabbed his biological father to death, regardless of the reason, his entire life would have been ruined.

Xu Hengzhou thought, ‘If only I could have met Xiang Chen earlier, how wonderful that would have been. I would have protected him, driven away all those who bullied him, and given him everything he desired, allowing him to live a joyful life like a little prince.’

“Will you… hate me?” Xiang Chen suddenly looked up and asked Xu Hengzhou. “I’m actually not as good as you think. I’m very bad. Even though I didn’t actually kill my dad, I did a lot of bad things.”

Xu Hengzhou let out a small laugh. “What bad things could you possibly do?!”

Whether it was Xiang Chen’s past stories or the days he had spent with him, in Xu Hengzhou’s eyes, Xiang Chen was truly incredibly well-behaved, soft and round like a little dumpling.

Xiang Chen hesitated for a moment. After Xu Hengzhou again declared that he would absolutely not hate him, he whispered, “I… I found people to seduce my dad and my stepmom…”

“What?” Xu Hengzhou was surprised.

Xiang Chen’s voice grew even smaller. “It’s just… Huo Kai helped me find a girl and a guy. I paid them, and they were responsible for seducing my dad and my stepmom, respectively…”

After hearing Xiang Chen’s tragic past, it was truly inappropriate to laugh, but Xu Hengzhou couldn’t quite help himself.

He asked, “How did you come up with that method?” He felt that given Xiang Chen’s personality, it was more likely he would find someone to beat up the couple.

His guess was quite accurate. Xiang Chen explained, “I originally wanted to find people to beat them up, but Huo Kai told me that would be too obvious.

They would definitely guess it was me and come looking for trouble, which would be very annoying.”

Xu Hengzhou raised an eyebrow. “And then he told you about this method?”

“That’s right!” Xiang Chen nodded.

“Huo Kai loves reading novels, especially romance novels, and he particularly enjoys reading them on a very ‘green’ website. Those authors have incredibly wild imaginations, and their plots are all over the place. Huo Kai got his inspiration from there and gave me this idea.”

Perhaps because he wouldn’t see his friend again, Xiang Chen sold Huo Kai out without hesitation. “He said, first let people seduce them, and when the time is right, blow the whole thing open and let them fight each other like dogs.”

“And did they fight?” Xu Hengzhou asked with interest.

“Not yet,” Xiang Chen said, a little disappointed.

He had started implementing this plan when he first entered university. After his grandmother passed away, his grandfather’s health also rapidly declined. If not for worrying about him being bullied at a young age, he might not have held on.

Indeed, not long after his eighteenth birthday, his grandfather passed away in his sleep.

Xiang Chen was filled with resentment and cynicism during that period, intent on seeking revenge on his father and stepmother. It was Huo Kai who knocked sense into him.

Of course, Huo Kai, perhaps having read too many novels, had a rather bizarre way of thinking.

He said, “If you stab your dad to death, you’ll pay with your life, and then all your dad’s house and money will go to your stepmom and her son. You’d practically be helping them.

What’s worse, if you stab your dad but don’t kill him, and you go to jail, then your money and house will also go to them. Won’t that be a huge loss for you?”

“I also thought it was a huge loss,” he told Xu Hengzhou. “And I calculated that, with my abilities, I couldn’t possibly kill all three of them in one go.”

Xu Hengzhou watched him, with his little steamed-bun face, saying such fierce words. For some reason, instead of feeling angry or disgusted, it was as if he saw a tiny kitten waving its paws and declaring, ‘I’m super fierce!’

‘I want to rub him.’ Xu Hengzhou thought expressionlessly. To maintain the mood, he couldn’t laugh.

“Then Huo Kai gave me that idea,” Xiang Chen continued, unaware of Xu Hengzhou’s wicked thoughts. “I thought it was pretty good. If their love was truly steadfast, then I’d wish them everlasting happiness. But actually, not long after, they both cheated on each other.”

“The people I hired to seduce them told me they were both very easy to get. Just a slight hint, and they took the bait.”

Xiang Chen still sounded a bit angry when he spoke, feeling that his mother marrying such a rotten person was a huge loss. “You don’t know, the girl told me she thought my dad wasn’t cheating for the first time; he was very experienced and skilled.”

“Such a man…” Xu Hengzhou thought of his own father and scoffed. “Scumbags’ methods of being scumbags truly are so similar.”

He asked Xiang Chen, “Didn’t it succeed? Why didn’t you see them fall out? Can they still live together after both cheating?”

“No, not really,” Xiang Chen said with a frown, sounding dissatisfied. “The guy told me my stepmom might be pregnant, and the child isn’t my dad’s. It was too early to tell back then, so I was planning to wait a bit longer.”

Xiang Chen gloated, “When my dad finds out he’s been cuckolded, he’ll definitely be furious. He’s a very image-conscious person. I even prepared a camera, just waiting for that day.

I already planned it out: I’d make several copies of the video, one for myself to watch, two to burn for my grandparents—one for each of them to enjoy and feel satisfied.

The rest, I’d mail one to my dad every now and then, so he doesn’t forget.”

Xu Hengzhou could no longer hold back. He held Xiang Chen, shaking with laughter. He never expected his little dumpling to have such wicked thoughts. He could already imagine how furious Xiang Chen’s father would be when he saw the video.

He suddenly felt Xiang Chen’s approach was excellent. If he hadn’t transmigrated, he would have definitely done the same. His own father’s favorite mistress had tried to cause him trouble; this would have served her right.

“What a pity,” Xiang Chen sighed. “I hadn’t even filmed the video yet when I transmigrated…”

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