EPISODE 12

Cen Wu asked Ah Ling to help look after Xie Guilan because there would be a weekly exam this Friday, covering English and Chemistry.

He had forgotten even his middle school lessons, so he spent several hours that night writing down all the necessary formulas on paper.

The next day, he got up early again to go to school and study.

Cen Wu couldn’t figure out what was going on. He wasn’t a corporate slave anymore, but he was working harder than ever.

Xie Guilan arrived late again today. His usually cold face showed a hint of fatigue. After submitting his homework, he leaned on the desk to catch up on sleep. When he woke up, he noticed the pancake Cen Wu had placed on his desk. He paused and said, “Sir, you don’t need to bring these for me.”

“Just… consider it my apology,” Cen Wu turned around, leaned on the back of the chair, and raised his hand in a gesture of pleading, saying earnestly, “I… I hope you can forgive me.”

Xie Guilan coldly pressed his lips together, his narrow, dark peach-blossom eyes locking onto him like the cold gaze of a predator.

“I’m not blaming you.”

Cen Wu: “……”

Here we go again, bro.

Cen Wu didn’t believe him, but he didn’t argue with Xie Guilan. He reviewed the ion reactions taught this week instead.

The last class of the day was the weekly test. Since it was a routine exam and only took up self-study time, they were tested in their usual seats.

“Don’t worry,” Lu Wang reassured him, “I’m here this time, you’ll still be second to last.”

Cen Wu: “……”

Thanks, I suppose.

But since Lu Wang was being so considerate, Cen Wu felt a bit guilty. His grades were actually pretty good; he had entered the film academy with the top score in cultural courses.

He was going to leave Lu Wang behind in terms of grades. At least his English wouldn’t be the worst.

Worried Lu Wang might get upset, Cen Wu gave him a heads-up, whispering under his breath, “I’ve been hitting the books every night, I’ll do well this time.”

“Okay,” Lu Wang said, though he didn’t believe it, still encouraging his best friend, “Good luck.”

The class monitor had started distributing the test papers, so Cen Wu stopped talking to Lu Wang and began the exam honestly.

It was the beginning of the second year of high school, and there was no school on Saturday. Xie’s father had given Xie Guilan a house key, requiring him to stay at home during the holidays, so Xie Guilan would have to return to the Xie family tonight.

While filling out a few multiple-choice questions, Cen Wu grew more anxious.

Xie Guilan finished his Chemistry exam quickly, only doing the reading and fill-in-the-blank for English, leaving the essay unanswered. He then placed his paper on the teacher’s desk and left the classroom half an hour early.

“What’s with the act, man?” a few boys in the back muttered sarcastically.

Zhou Ye chuckled softly, but with the homeroom teacher still proctoring, he didn’t dare to speak too loudly, “Dreaming, what do you have to compare with him? He’s from the Xie family… that kind of thing.”

Cen Wu frowned. Most of the class didn’t know about Xie Guilan’s connection to the Xie family, but in a key school like this, there were students from well-off families. Even if not as wealthy as Cen Wu's family, many of them came from business-owning families.

They might have heard something about the Xie family.

Fearing offending Xie Shangjing, not many people brought it up openly, only daring to make underhanded comments.

"Shut up." Cen Wu crumpled a piece of scrap paper and, while the teacher wasn't paying attention, tossed it at Zhou Ye.

Zhou Ye was stunned for a moment. "F* you—"

But when he looked up and saw it was Cen Wu again, his jaw clenched, and he didn’t dare say anything more.

He was confused. They used to be close, but lately, Cen Wu had been ignoring him and going out of his way to protect Xie Guilan. What was up with that?

After the exam, Cen Wu didn’t go home. He had the driver take him to the Xie family's residence. According to the original story, the previous owner had a close relationship with Xie Shangjing, so visiting the Xie family felt as natural as going home. No one would find it strange if he went there now.

He might as well stay at the Xie family's place for two days and go back to school with Xie Guilan on Monday.

Cen Wu had been worried about running into Xie's father, but when he arrived at the Xie family's residence, neither Xie's father nor Xie Shangjing was there, and Xie Guilan hadn't returned either.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Xie Mingcheng, Xie's father, was a man of deep schemes and difficult to deal with. Cen Wu didn’t want to see this person.

Xie Mingcheng and Song Lingwei were from the same mountainous region. He was the only college student from that area and later opened a real estate company in Huai Jing. At a banquet, he met Zhou Li, the heiress of the prestigious Zhou family.

It was a classic rags-to-riches story. Xie Mingcheng was undoubtedly capable and had built a name for himself in Huai Jing, but rising to the upper echelons of society was still a challenge.

Cold-blooded, stubborn, ruthless, and with no moral compass.

"Young Master Cen is here," the Xie family's butler greeted Cen Wu as soon as he arrived. "The eldest young master isn't home. Would you..."

Cen Wu waved his hand. "I'll look around myself."

"Very well," the butler bowed slightly. "Please let me know if you need anything."

After the butler left, Cen Wu headed toward Xie Guilan's quarters. The Xie family lived in a manor villa, with the servants living in a small building next to the main house.

But Xie Guilan was living in conditions worse than the servants.

Following the original storyline, Cen Wu walked toward the stable and finally found a shed next to it. It was barely protected from the wind and rain by a few planks, covering less than ten square meters, containing only an iron wire bed.

There was a homemade bookshelf by the bed, holding some textbooks and exam papers. The desk and chair were broken, and the school uniform jacket was hung on the back of the door. The servants also piled the tools for cleaning the stable in this shed, making it dirty and messy. No matter how clean it was, there was still a damp, moldy smell.

Cen Wu thought the recent downpour hadn’t been strong enough. If it had been any harder, it might have washed the whole shack away.

Xie Guilan had lived here for ten years, enduring humiliation and suffering in silence.

Xie Guilan only returned home on weekends, and even though it had been cleaned, there was some dust from the past week. Cen Wu didn’t want to disturb anything, so he just swept the floor and wiped the dust off the table.

Song Lingwei had an evening check-up, so Xie Guilan went straight to the hospital after school. As soon as he arrived at the ward, he saw Xie Mingcheng in a suit and tie, causing Xie Guilan to hesitate.

"Xiao Lan is back from school," Song Lingwei, with her pale skin and red lips, would hardly seem like a patient if not for her frail build. She waved at Xie Guilan. "Your father has come to see us."

Xie Guilan didn’t respond.

-

Xie Mingcheng, in his early forties, wore silver-rimmed glasses with a cold, distant look. The glasses didn’t make him look scholarly; instead, they enhanced his cold, unapproachable demeanor as someone in power.

He was tall and broad, with an intimidating presence, unlike many middle-aged men who had become bloated.

"Alright," he suppressed his impatience and reassured Song Lingwei, "The doctor will take you for your check-up. I need to talk to Guilan for a moment."

Song Lingwei tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and softly responded, allowing the nurse to help her out of bed.

Xie Mingcheng also stood up and walked towards the door of the ward. As he passed Xie Guilan, he patted his shoulder, "I heard you signed up for the chemistry competition next month?"

"Yes," Xie Guilan's eyes held a cold, sharp anger, but he concealed it.

"Make sure you prepare well," Xie Mingcheng said in a low voice, "You remind me of myself more than Shangjing does. Don't disappoint me."

He had always felt that Xie Shangjing had been spoiled by his mother, carrying the temperament of a young master, lacking the blood and grit that Xie Guilan had, climbing out of the chaos at the bottom.

Xie Guilan didn't speak again, and Xie Mingcheng didn't push him.

Song Lingwei always made a scene, so he had come to the hospital. After seeing her, he left with his secretary before Song Lingwei’s exam was finished.

Xie Guilan waited alone outside the examination room.

After giving birth back then, Song Lingwei had hurriedly left the mountainous area, finding a town to settle in. About a year later, she went on a blind date and remarried.

While working as a hostess at a bar, she had miscarried several times. The doctor had advised her not to have any more children, but Song Lingwei had been desperate to use the child in her womb to threaten Xie's father. The child was too valuable to her, and she couldn’t bring herself to end the pregnancy, so she gritted her teeth and gave birth.

Her health was already fragile, and it worsened after giving birth. The man she had married often abused her.

Xie Guilan still remembered when he was seven years old, in the first grade. After school, he had come home to find Song Lingwei covered in blood, lying on the floor. Her head had been broken by his stepfather, blood flowing down her nose, her face too dirty to make out her features.

She had been stabbed in the stomach, and the attacker twisted the knife several times, causing severe internal damage.

His mother almost died, her intestines spilling out onto the ground. He called an ambulance and, in a panic, tried to push her intestines back inside, his hands slick with blood.

Song Lingwei barely survived but was left plagued by illness, with countless chronic health issues.

Half a year later, her husband passed away, and Song Lingwei was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Desperate and out of options, she brought him to Huai Jing to beg Xie Mingcheng for help. That was when he learned he was an illegitimate child.

Xie Mingcheng had provided him with living expenses in the past. At that moment, Xie Mingcheng walked past him, holding the money.

But instead of handing it to him directly, he deliberately sat down on the sofa, crossed his legs, and placed the money on the armrest, lightly tapping it with his fingers. "Come and get it," he said.

It was a clear attempt to humiliate him, forcing him to submit.

Xie Guilan knew that every time he asked for money, it would be another humiliation, so he refused to accept it. "I’ll figure out how to earn my own money, and I’ll pay you back for the medical bills."

Xie Mingcheng narrowed his eyes and curled his lips slightly, not expecting Xie Guilan to defy him.

There was no real bond between them, only a cold power struggle, until Xie Guilan bowed his head or Xie Mingcheng was defeated.

After Song Lingwei’s exam, Xie Guilan took her back to the hospital room and then headed home.

It was around 10:30 PM, with few people on the bus and dim lighting. The faint shadows on his nose accentuated the cold sarcasm in his eyes.

His parents, his home—none of it felt like it belonged to him. He was born to be the Xie family’s pawn, destined to sleep in the filthy stables, where anyone could humiliate and command him.

The Xie family’s villa was far from the city center, almost halfway up a mountain, surrounded by lush tree shadows. In the evening, the lights in the villa began to twinkle, making the tree shadows appear even deeper.

The cold mountain night seemed to wrap around him, as if the darkness itself was suffocating.

He walked towards the stable, but his steps paused as he lifted his head. The dark stable was lit by a few old hanging lamps, and the shed beside it also glowed, guiding the way home in the night.

Xie Guilan pushed open the door. The discarded tools that the servants had intentionally thrown were all in the stable, the floor swept clean. It was still dilapidated, but much more spacious.

Cen Wu lay on his bed, sleeping deeply.

But his posture was considerate, curled up to take up as little space as possible. His pale cheeks were slightly flushed from sleep, his long, thick lashes curled and arched, the tips of his fluffy hair brushing his nose, the strands bathed in a warm glow, looking fuzzy at first glance.

Xie Guilan's eyebrows twitched; the stray cat had followed him home.

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