Chapter 1 “I am your mother.

Lin Xu was in a car accident.

A large truck ran a red light and collided with her sedan, causing it to overturn.

Steel pipes from the truck fell off, piercing through her body. Before the pain could even spread throughout her body, she lost consciousness.

Numerous images flooded her mind, and Lin Xu realized that she was in a novel world; both her sons were villains in the story, and her daughter was a disposable supporting character.

After she and her husband died, the three children were left to fend for themselves. With no one to guide them, the sons grew more twisted. One became a pervert who liked to imprison the novel’s female protagonist and play dark room games, and the other was a villain who would nonchalantly draw blood from substitutes, harvesting their kidneys for the female protagonist, his moonlight. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The only daughter, lacking affection in her childhood, grew up love-struck, revolving her life around the male protagonist and setting up traps for the female protagonist.

Because they opposed the leads of the novel, it wasn’t long before the villainous sons were caught and spent their lives in prison. The disposable daughter was manipulated by the male lead, losing the family business and ultimately falling off a cliff in a state of despair.

“Be careful!”

Lin Xu suddenly sat up, gasping for air, her chest heaving violently.

The image of her daughter falling from the cliff was still in her mind. She patted her chest, unsettled, and then noticed the gaping hole the steel pipe had left in her chest during the accident was gone. In fact, all her other wounds had also disappeared.

Lin Xu was stunned. Before she could make sense of what was happening, she heard a loud shout near her.

“Ji Tingyang, I don’t like you, let me go.”

The man’s clear voice was tinged with anger, “I’m telling you, impossible! Butler, take her back to her room!”

Lin Xu followed the voice into the room and saw a man throwing things on the floor, all the cups and dishes swept off the surfaces and shattered into pieces.

She tentatively called out a name, “Ji Tingyang?”

Ji Tingyang turned around, his brows furrowed in displeasure, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

Those familiar eyes and face made Lin Xu’s heart tremble, “I’m your mother.”

“Say that again?!” Ji Tingyang’s eyes were ice cold, his clear voice suppressing anger.

Lin Xu stood her ground, responding, “I said, I’m your mother.”

Ji Tingyang radiated a chilling aura, his frosty eyes piercing her like knives, “You dare to joke about my mother, are you seeking death!”

His mother had died twenty years ago, and even if she had been alive, she would be in her forties or fifties by now, but this woman looked to be in her twenties at most.

“I’m not joking, I’m serious. When you were five, you still wet the bed; at six, you liked Ultraman; at seven, you still enjoyed drinking milk,” Lin Xu revealed details about Ji Tingyang as if she were reciting treasures.

Ji Tingyang’s forehead vein bulged, his teeth clenched in anger, “You’ve had someone investigate me.”

“There’s no need for an investigation, I’ve told you I’m your mother,” Lin Xu was also frustrated, why was this child so obstinate? He had been so cute as a child, believing everything she said.

Lin Xu thought for a moment, then whispered, “You have a red mole on your buttock, surely you can acknowledge that?”

Ji Tingyang’s expression grew even colder. He stepped forward, gripping her wrist tightly, causing her pain, “Is there someone else from your side in this house? Who is it, speak!”

“How can you be so stubborn, I already told you I’m Lin Xu, your mother! After the car accident, when I woke up, I found myself here, completely confused. I’m trying to talk to you, and you won’t listen,” Lin Xu, infuriated, took to hitting him, raising her hand to slap his shoulder as she scolded him.

The familiar tone and slap of anger made Ji Tingyang pause for a moment. He remembered, over twenty years ago when he cut his mother’s dress, she had slapped him just like this when she was angry.

Could she really be his mother?

“If you still don’t believe me, then let’s do a paternity test,” Lin Xu suggested wearily, proposing the most effective solution without further covert signals.

Ji Tingyang had intended to throw her out of the Ji Family, but her face, so similar to her mother’s, along with her actions and demeanor, made him hesitate for a moment.

In the end, he called a doctor to draw blood for testing, but the results wouldn’t be available until the next day.

“You…” Ji Tingyang glanced at Lin Xu and, for a moment, didn’t know what to do with her.

Lin Xu didn’t mind his awkwardness and asked, “Where are my brother and sister? Why haven’t I seen them?”

Ji Tingyang frowned, “You want to find out where they are? Let me tell you, there’s no…”

Before he could finish, Lin Xu slapped him again.

Ji Tingyang felt a surge of frustration rise in his chest, and he turned to glare fiercely at Lin Xu, about to let loose a curse but held it back upon seeing that familiar cheek, begrudgingly answering, “They don’t come home often; they don’t live here.”

When the test results come back, if this woman has deceived him, he would surely make her regret it.

Lin Xu’s slender brows furrowed, a hint of barely perceptible sadness in her expression, “Do you not get along well?”

Otherwise, why wouldn’t the siblings live together?

Ji Tingyang paused, then fell silent.

Lin Xu wanted to ask more about them, but seeing Ji Tingyang’s unhappy face, she swallowed her doubts.

Forget it, she’d ask another time.

“Is my old room still available? Where will I sleep tonight?” Lin Xu looked around, the house hadn’t changed much, most of it still the way it used to be.

“Sleep in the guest room,” Ji Tingyang said coldly.

Lin Xu’s lips parted, about to speak, but then she met his uncompromising gaze, “Alright.”

Ji Tingyang was still wary of her and it made sense to not allow her to stay in the master bedroom.

Lin Xu had received an overload of information today, leaving her head spinning. She told Ji Tingyang goodnight, went upstairs, chose a guest room she knew, and went to rest.

She slept soundly through the night.

Lin Xu woke up the next morning to the strange yet familiar surroundings of the house and realized she had truly been reborn.

It took her a while to catch her breath and slowly accept this fact. As she opened the door to get something to eat, she saw Ji Tingyang standing in front of her room.

He held an A4 paper in his hand, staring at its contents with an expression of disbelief written all over his pupils.

Lin Xu’s thoughts raced as she looked at the paper, “Are the paternity results out?”

Ji Tingyang looked up, his expression complex as he responded.

Seeing him like this, there was no need to ask what the results were.

As Lin Xu contemplated whether to offer him a long-awaited mother-son hug, the room at the end of the hallway erupted with the sound of objects being smashed.

The nanny rushed out of the room, startled to see Ji Tingyang in the hallway, and hesitantly approached to say, “Young Master, Lady Wen has thrown out all the breakfast.”

Lin Xu’s eyelid twitched as she remembered the novel’s protagonist who was locked in the dark room.

Chapter 2: Fire Her If She Doesn’t Eat

Upon hearing the woman in the room threatening a hunger strike, Ji Tingyang’s face, which had been somewhat gentle just a moment ago, suddenly turned icy cold.

He walked over and pushed open the door.

He saw porridge and greens scattered on the floor, and beneath the bed, two lone buns had rolled away.

A woman with waist-length hair stood inside, her figure exquisitely framed by the silk nightgown she wore.

Her fair face was marked with traces of anger, and her eyes, brimming with unyielding tears, stared resentfully at Ji Tingyang, like a delicate white flower refusing to admit defeat in adversity.

Lin Xu sighed inwardly.

Worthy of being a novel’s heroine, I can’t help but sympathize.

Ji Tingyang stood still, his face frosty: “Housekeeper, since Lady Wen does not like the food, then dismiss Aunt Zhang.”

The nanny next to him, hearing this, pleaded frantically with Ji Tingyang: “President Ji, please don’t dismiss me, I have two elderly to take care of at home and two children to put through school. If you dismiss me, my whole family won’t be able to make ends meet!”

Although the Ji Family was difficult to serve, the compensation was high, enough to sustain a family. But if she were to be dismissed, it would be hard to find another job that pays so well.

Aunt Zhang continued to beg Ji Tingyang for mercy, and seeing him unmoved, she then turned to Wen Li with a beseeching look.

“Lady Wen, please, speak up for me, I beg you…”

She knew that Young Master Ji would definitely listen to this woman.

Wen Li bit her red lips, her eyes showing a struggle tinged with pain.

After a long while, she softened her heart.

“I’ll eat, don’t fire her.”

Ji Tingyang’s expression finally softened, and he walked in to grab the woman’s slender wrist: “Wen Li, don’t threaten me with a hunger strike.”

Wen Li’s tears on the brink of falling made her seem all the more pitiable.

Lin Xu, witnessing the entire scene from the threshold, was dumbfounded. In her faint dreams, she had seen her normally well-behaved and kind eldest son turn into a ruthless villain.

But even now, witnessing it with her own eyes, she was still shocked.

Just as Wen Li was tearfully upset over being threatened, a small hand reached out and struck Ji Tingyang’s arm hard.

“Ji Tingyang, how dare you, you’ve even learned to threaten people now?”

Lin Xu angrily patted his arm, signaling him to let go of Wen Li.

Wen Li looked shocked, not expecting that someone would dare to hit Ji Tingyang in the Ji household.

Then, a wave of concern rose from deep within her. The woman standing before her had dared to confront Ji Tingyang for her sake. What if Ji Tingyang decided to dismiss this woman too?

Just as Wen Li was about to plead on her behalf, she saw Ji Tingyang let go of her hand, his expression noticeably uncomfortable: “I wasn’t threatening.”

Lin Xu stared at him with a stern face, silent.

The familiar look brought back a flood of memories deep in Ji Tingyang’s mind.

Ji Tingyang remembered that when he was a child and lied about having a stomach ache because he didn’t want to go to school, Lin Xu had the same stern expression, watching him in silence.

Until he apologized out of guilt and was escorted to school.

Now, under Lin Xu’s gaze, Ji Tingyang’s eyes flickered, and he looked away.

Lin Xu spoke sharply: “How did I use to teach you?”

However, Ji Tingyang was ultimately no longer the little boy he once was. His brow furrowed slightly, and he couldn’t help retorting: “You haven’t been around for these twenty years, not fulfilling any responsibility, so what right do you have to say anything now?”

Lin Xu was taken aback, the seriousness on her face gradually fading. She lowered her eyelids, her eyes tinged with a hint of desolation, and turned to leave.

Ji Tingyang’s heart skipped a beat, and he rushed out after her in a panic.

Wen Li was left standing there, utterly baffled.

—-

Lin Xu returned to her room, just about to close the door when a broad, powerful hand reached in, stopping the door.

Lin Xu gave Ji Tingyang a glance, expressionless, let go of the door, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Ji Tingyang pushed the door open and stood awkwardly by the side. He had a flurry of apologies prepared in his heart, but now facing Lin Xu, he found them difficult to voice.

As he struggled internally, a tear fell from Lin Xu’s cheek.

Ji Tingyang immediately panicked, “I, I didn’t mean to say that just now, please don’t cry…”

Lin Xu sobbed, “It’s not like I had the accident on purpose. You don’t comfort me, fine, but you still blame me for not taking good care of you. You used to be so obedient when you were a child, saying you liked mom the most. Just twenty years have passed and you already hate me, wuwuwu…”

The more she spoke, the more wronged she felt, and tears kept pouring from her eyes.

Ji Tingyang quickly checked his pockets for a handkerchief but couldn’t find one, so he reluctantly used his sleeve to wipe the tears from her cheeks, continually apologizing, “From now on, I’ll listen to whatever you say.”

Lin Xu’s eyes were rimmed with tear, and a subtle hint of cunning flashed through them. She bit her lip, fearing she couldn’t help but laugh and give herself away.

When he was little, Ji Tingyang was always disobedient. She would pretend to cry like this, and in less than two seconds, he would relent, wiping her tears and babbling promises to listen to mom in the future.

She thought now that he was grown up, it might not work, but it was still effective.

Gurgle.

As Lin Xu was crying, her stomach suddenly let out a loud rumble. She and Ji Tingyang eyed each other awkwardly, and she sheepishly said, “…I’m hungry.”

Ji Tingyang got up, “I’ll have Aunt Zhang prepare more breakfast.”

Ten minutes later, Wen Li looked at Lin Xu sitting at the head of the table and ate, a flash of surprise in her eyes.

This woman had just crossed Ji Tingyang and was still not kicked out?

While she mulled over it, Aunt Zhang came out with the breakfast.

The fragrant smell of steamed buns and dumplings filled the air, alongside an assortment of staples like corn porridge and pumpkin porridge…

The breakfast was laid out with the spread of a buffet.

Wen Li glanced at it, her expression listless, “I don’t feel like eating.”

Ji Tingyang’s brows were furrowed, and he shot a fierce look at her, “If what Aunt Zhang made doesn’t suit your taste, then she no longer needs to work for the Ji Family.”

Another threat.

Wen Li clenched her hand by her side, seeing Aunt Zhang casting pleading eyes at her, anger burning increasingly fierce in her chest.

She clenched her teeth, about to speak out, when she heard the person beside her put down her chopsticks.

“I don’t feel like eating either,” Lin Xu sighed.

Wen Li’s brows slightly furrowed. Was she mimicking her?

Ji Tingyang surely wouldn’t pay her any mind.

Just as Wen Li thought this, Ji Tingyang turned towards Lin Xu, concerned, “Why, don’t you like these? What would you like to eat? I’ll have someone make it for you.”

Lin Xu thought for a moment, “Is that rice noodle shop on Liberty Road still open?”

Ji Tingyang nodded, “It’s still there.”

Lin Xu said, “I’d like to have their rice noodles.”

Ji Tingyang immediately sent the butler to buy them, and also asked her about lunch and dinner preferences, ordering them to be made as well.

Lin Xu made several requests, and Ji Tingyang agreed to all.

Wen Li looked at the kind-faced Ji Tingyang in shock.

In her memory, Ji Tingyang was always cold-faced, arrogant, and spoke only in threats and commands. She had never seen him treat anyone so obligingly.

Who exactly was this woman?

Chapter 3 “I will always love you.

“`

Lin Xu’s previous bedroom was still kept intact, and after eating breakfast, she moved back into it.

The bedroom seemed like it was cleaned often; not having been lived in for twenty years, the furniture was still spotless.

She walked in, looking around, and noticed that everything inside was still as it had been, except the family portrait on the wall had become yellowed with age and lost its original clarity.

Lin Xu approached the desk, where a wedding photo was placed. In the photo, she was leaning against a handsome man, her smile blooming like a flower while the man’s lips were slightly raised as he sweetly gazed down at her with a tender and sticky look.

She reached out and gently touched the man in the photo, a pained expression appearing in her clear eyes as tears slid down.

On the day of the accident, Lin Xu and her husband were driving together when the crash happened, he held her tightly in his arms as steel pipes from a truck pierced through both of their bodies.

Now that she had been reborn, had he been reborn as well?

Lin Xu thought to herself and then shook her head.

If he really had been reborn, how come he hadn’t come to find her, to check on their child?

While she was grieving over her husband’s death, a harsh noise of arguing came from downstairs.

Ji Tingyang was gripping Wen Li’s wrist tightly, his gaze dark and terrifying, “What did you say?”

Wen Li furrowed her brow in pain, yet she showed no sign of backing down, “Ji Tingyang, I’m a human being, not your pet. You can’t keep me locked up in the villa forever, I want to go out!”

“Go out, and then what?” Ji Tingyang sneered coldly, “To meet Xiao Yu?”

Hearing the name of the man she loved, a shy blush spread across Wen Li’s cheeks, and she ground her teeth, “Whom I meet is none of your business.”

Ji Tingyang, seeing her like this, felt a chill spread over him even more icily, “Unless I die, you won’t ever dream of leaving here in this lifetime.”

Wen Li’s face turned deathly pale, her red lips parting slightly, just as she was about to speak, a cry of surprise sounded not far away.

“Ji Tingyang!”

As Lin Xu came downstairs, she heard her eldest son’s declaration of restricting personal freedom, and felt darkness cloud her vision.

She hurried over, twisted Ji Tingyang’s arm, and pulled him aside.

“Who taught you to speak like that, to lock someone up? Aren’t you afraid of the police arresting you?!”

Ji Tingyang wanted to lose his temper from the pain, but the person in front of him was his mother, so he could only hold back his anger and rubbed his arm.

“Who would call the police?”

Lin Xu said, “Wen Li.”

Ji Tingyang, “She wouldn’t dare.”

Wen Li’s parents worked in his company, and she wouldn’t risk offending him and having her parents be unable to find work in the country.

Lin Xu felt frantic inside.

What wouldn’t Wen Li dare to do? Your ultimate fate was still to end up in jail!

Lin Xu wished she could do what she did when Ji Tingyang was a child and made a mistake: pick him up and spank him, but with his height now at 1.85 meters, even taller than herself, she had to give up that impulse.

She decided to try a different approach, to appeal to his emotions, “Do you really like her that much?”

Ji Tingyang paused, then nodded slightly.

Lin Xu asked him, “Were your father and I not very much in love?”

“`

Ji Tingyang reflected for a moment and continued nodding.

Lin Xu: “That’s right, that’s because your dad would respect me and support every decision I make, which is why I like him. Of course, part of the reason is that he is both handsome and wealthy, seemingly cold on the outside, but every time I tease him, his ears would secretly turn red…”

Ji Tingyang: “…”

He unexpectedly had to endure a round of his parents’ public display of affection.

“Ahem, anyway…” Seeing the speechless look in her son’s eyes, Lin Xu quickly steered the conversation back on track, “What I mean is, if your dad was like you, cooping me up in a room all day, I would never have liked him. So, if you want Wen Li to like you, you should let her out even more because nobody likes a big villain who locks them up, you know?”

Ji Tingyang pursed his lips, his thoughts in his mind kept pulling and struggling. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

A little black figure said that he should lock Wen Li up, this way she would always belong to him. Another little white figure said that his mother was right, love must learn to respect each other.

The black figure contested, what mother, she wasn’t there when he was bullied, wasn’t there when he struggled alone to raise his two younger brothers and sister, and now she suddenly shows up to educate him about what love is…

Suddenly.

A hand gently ruffled his head, the gesture was so tender it even stirred the still waters at the bottom of his heart.

Lin Xu tiptoed, her body swaying gently as she caressed his head, “But our Tingyang is so powerful, no matter what others think, I will always love you.”

A sourness welled up in Ji Tingyang’s heart. He swallowed hard, took Lin Xu’s hand from his head, and held it tightly in his.

In the time not long after his parents died, Ji Tingyang would feel a sour envy when he saw children celebrating their birthdays with their parents kissing their cheeks and saying they loved them. But as time passed and he grew older, he had become numb to such scenes.

However, today, hearing Lin Xu say this, he found that numbness beginning to waver.

The little black figure in his mind also dissipated.

…

Wen Li watched Ji Tingyang and Lin Xu from a distance. Even though she couldn’t hear what they were saying, she knew from their occasional glances that they were talking about her.

That woman seemed to be trying to persuade Ji Tingyang to let her out.

Wen Li stood there uneasily, her hand at her side clenched into a fist. She knew that Ji Tingyang was a pervert, no matter what anyone said, he would never let her go.

Suddenly, she saw the woman touch Ji Tingyang’s head and, to her astonishment, not only did he not get angry, he also tightly held the woman’s hand with a tenderness she had never seen before.

Wen Li was stunned for a long while and before she could snap out of it, Ji Tingyang walked over and said something that completely shocked her.

“Butler, from now on, don’t obstruct Miss Wen wherever she wants to go.”

Wen Li couldn’t believe her ears, “Are you really willing to let me leave?”

Ji Tingyang’s expression was as cold and ruthless as ever, as if the tenderness she had just glimpsed was her misperception.

“Leave? Don’t even think about it. I’m just letting you step outside, but if you aren’t back by 10 p.m., I can’t guarantee what might happen to your parents.”

Wen Li’s face turned pale, and although she was still unwilling at heart, at least she could now go outside.

She bit her lip, nodding reluctantly.

Lin Xu listening to the glaring threats in Ji Tingyang’s words felt overwhelmed, sensing the daunting task of educating her child resting on her shoulders.

But fortunately, there was now a good start, and the rest could be taught slowly.

Wen Li, with secretly delighted lips curving up, looked up at Lin Xu walking beside Ji Tingyang, her confusion deepened.

No one had ever been able to successfully dissuade Ji Tingyang… perhaps that woman could become a breakthrough.