EPISODE 18

Cen Wu felt like he was running a fever and hadn’t lifted his head since class ended. It wasn’t until he could no longer hear any footsteps that he finally sat up.

His wet lashes clung together, sticking up in random directions. He slowly packed his schoolbag.

The class committee member liked to hand out papers after school. He wanted to take a look, worried that Xie Guilan had left behind more papers that might get torn again. But when he turned his head, he was startled.

Xie Guilan hadn’t left yet.

It was pouring rain by the time it hit seven in the evening. The heavy rain battered the outer corridor. The entire building for the second-year high school students had turned off their lights, except for Class 3, which was still lit.

Xie Guilan looked up and met Cen Wu’s red-rimmed eyes. Cen Wu had been lying down too long, and the ends of his hair were slightly curled from being pressed, a few strands dangling down on his pale, cold nose.

He looked a mess.

Cen Wu’s lashes trembled. He hugged his schoolbag and turned back around. After packing his water bottle, he stood up and left the classroom. He wasn’t about to assume Xie Guilan was waiting for him.

And sure enough, Xie Guilan didn’t call out to him.

Xie Guilan’s dark eyes lowered, his face expressionless. He continued working on the last extra math problem. Halfway through, his pen slipped and scratched the paper.

He stopped writing, put away the paper, and headed to Lan Ye.

The first and second-year students had already left, and the third-years had evening self-study. It was dinner time, and most people were in the cafeteria. With the rain, there weren’t many people outside the teaching building.

Cen Wu finally felt a little less tormented. He found a black mask and zipped his school uniform all the way up, hiding even the tip of his snow-white chin, before raising his umbrella slightly and walking towards the school gate.

When he reached the gate, he lifted his umbrella a little, glancing around cautiously like a small animal leaving its nest. But he didn’t see the car that usually came to pick him up.

Cen Wu thought about waiting, but he couldn’t stand being there any longer. He tightened his mask and headed towards the bus stop. Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly froze.

A familiar Maybach was parked not far away, and a tall woman stood holding an umbrella.

She wore a simple black dress, but her skin was strikingly pale. Her long, thick curls were scattered over her shoulders. In the crowd on this rainy night, she didn’t draw attention, but you couldn’t help staring.

Despite his social anxiety, Cen Wu was the youngest Best Director winner at the Berlin Film Festival and had seen thousands of actors. Some actors had innate talents and a sense of the camera that others couldn’t match.

Especially when she turned around, her almond-shaped eyes, usually cold and distant, softened into a warm curve as they met Cen Wu’s gaze.

Cen Wu almost instantly recognized her—Guan Xue, his mother’s sister.

Cen Wu’s heart, which had just calmed down, started trembling again. His pale face turned even whiter as he subconsciously gripped his schoolbag strap. Weren’t Cen’s father and mother abroad? Why had they suddenly come back?!

Cen Wu wanted to run, but his feet felt rooted to the ground. He could only stiffly move his feet and walk towards the Maybach.

His parents had died in a car accident when he was thirteen, and he had been living with his aunt since then. He could handle Cen Xiao, but he didn’t know how to deal with his parents.

He couldn’t even speak properly. Others might not say anything even if they noticed something was off because they didn’t care much about him. But his parents would definitely care.

Even the most skilled actors would struggle to hide anything from their parents’ eyes.

Cen Wu’s palms were slightly sweaty, but Guan Xue had already affectionately reached out and hugged him. When she noticed his red-rimmed eyes and wet lashes still clinging together, she hesitated for a moment before asking gently, "What’s wrong, sweetie?"

Cen Wu felt that he should call her "Mom" to avoid raising suspicion, but he hadn't spoken all day, and his throat was so dry and rough that although his lips moved, no sound came out.

Seeing this, Guan Xingxue didn’t ask further and simply put her arm around his shoulder, leading him to the car.

Cen Xiao was at the wheel. He had picked up Cen Wu’s parents from the airport and then brought them over to fetch Cen Wu.

As soon as Cen Wu got into the car, he saw his father, Cen Junshan, in the back seat. Cen Xiao was already in his twenties, and in reality, both Cen Junshan and Guan Xingxue were no longer young.

However, they were well-preserved, looking as if they were only in their thirties or forties. Cen Junshan wore a black suit, with an antique watch on his wrist. After years in the business world, his demeanor wasn’t gentle, but when he saw Cen Wu, his usually stern face softened with a smile.

"Baby," Guan Xingxue exchanged a glance with her husband before gently touching Cen Wu's head and asked, "Who bullied you?"

Cen Junshan frowned slightly, clearly displeased, and said in a deep voice, "Is it Xie Shangjing again?"

Xie Shangjing was always surrounded by people and often brought them to galas. Cen Wu's parents had assumed he had a girlfriend and never imagined he was gay, let alone that he had feelings for the original owner of this body.

The original person really hated Xie Shangjing. If not for the fear of death, he wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with him.

The original host wasn’t someone who cried easily, but almost every time he was brought to tears, it was because of Xie Shangjing.

Raised with utmost care in the Cen family, even if he wanted the stars, his parents would buy him one and name it after him. He had never felt so humiliated.

Nor could he bear such a massive secret.

His emotions had always been all over the place, and under the pressure of having no one to confide in, he had completely succumbed to his inner turmoil.

The rain poured heavily, his school uniform was cold and damp, but Guan Xingxue’s palms and embrace were soft, with a warm fragrance. As she touched his head, Cen Wu felt a sudden sting in his eyes.

His voice was so hoarse it startled even himself. "N-no one bullied me."

Cen Wu felt a bit embarrassed and lowered his head to wipe his eyes. Guan Xingxue, feeling both distressed and amused, gently pinched his cheeks, wanting to take a closer look.

Cen Wu's ears turned completely red. After all, Guan Xingxue wasn’t his mother. He got nervous even around other men, so being in close contact with a female elder was out of the question.

As Guan Xingxue playfully rubbed his face, he struggled and looked up, just in time to see Xie Guilan passing by outside, holding an umbrella.

Xie Guilan’s umbrella was broken, the one that had been stepped on at the racetrack and hastily repaired. The umbrella’s rib had torn through the fabric, leaving most of his shoulder wet.

Rain trickled down his cold, white neck, and his narrow, dark eyes reflected the wet, cold neon lights of the night.

Cen Wu hurriedly rolled down the window, wanting to call out to him, but Xie Guilan walked quickly and had already caught up with the bus in just a few steps.

Guan Xingxue glanced outside as well. The Cen and Xie families had many business dealings, so she had met Xie Guilan before, but to Xie Guilan, she was just an insignificant person.

She shifted her gaze away within a second and took a beautifully wrapped box from the front passenger seat. She said to Cen Wu, "Baby, Mom bought a cashmere scarf for you and your brother. See if you like it."

Without waiting for Cen Wu to respond, she wrapped the scarf around his neck and then cupped her hands, tilting her head to look at him.

Cen Wu's eyelashes were wet and thick, the scarf was so thick that half of his face was buried in it, leaving only his slightly wide, panicked, and red-rimmed eyes visible.

This sight made Guan Xingxue’s eyes feel a little sore.

She had stepped back from acting more than ten years ago, but she still had several companies under her name. Together with her husband, they managed the Cen family business, so she still had very little time to spend with Cen Wu.

She always worried that he might be suffering in places she didn’t know about.

Fortunately, Cen Wu was good at acting spoiled, unlike Cen Xiao, who was more reserved. Whether he scraped his knee, didn’t like his dinner, or had a bad dream, Cen Wu would always call to tell her.

But today, something felt different. When she looked into Cen Wu's eyes, she suddenly sensed that her child was harboring some unspoken thoughts.

Cen Wu clutched the scarf, feeling quite upset. Xie Guiluan had grown quickly, but they couldn’t afford new clothes. Luckily, he could wear his school uniform most of the time at school.

Xie Guiluan did very well in school, and the school had waived his fees, including the uniform, which helped preserve a bit of his dignity as a teenager.

But winter was hard to endure. The winter school uniform jacket wasn’t very thick, so Xie Guiluan could only layer it with a cheap thin woolen sweater or a worn-out jacket.

Who would buy him a scarf? Certainly not someone like Song Lingwei.

Even if Xie Guiluan disliked him or made fun of him, what could he do? Cen Wu regretted leaving without saying goodbye to Xie Guiluan.

He pulled out his phone and secretly sent Xie Guiluan a sticker of a cat with a paper bag over its head, its eyes peeking out from a hole.

Xie Guiluan didn’t respond, so Cen Wu pursed his lips and continued typing.

“So, what happened at school, Xiaobao?” Guan Xingsnow motioned Cen Xiao to drive and then hugged Cen Wu, asking.

Cen Wu panicked and put down his phone. After calming down a bit, he embarrassingly recounted how he and his friends went to a gaming cafe, got caught, and were punished with a self-criticism.

He was so unscholarly; he thought Guan Xingsnow would be angry.

But Guan Xingsnow, instead of getting mad, gently stroked his head like she was soothing a small animal and tentatively asked, “Xiaobao, was there something that made you go to the gaming cafe?”

Cen Wu: “……”

Actually, no. He went just to play around.

It dawned on Cen Wu just how much Father Cen and Mother Cen loved the original owner. When something happened, their first reaction was never to blame him, which explained why Guan Xingsnow's hair had turned white overnight when the truth of the body-swap was revealed.

The love and indulgence she showed the original owner now felt like a harsh rebuke to her own biological child.

Feeling awkward, Cen Wu continued speaking quieter and quieter, “No… I just… went to play.”

Cen Xiao held the steering wheel and, after listening, raised his eyebrows and couldn’t help but laugh, “What’s so great about going to a gaming cafe? If you want to play, I’ll take you to a training base to watch the pros practice.”

The most rebellious thing Cen Xiao had ever done was at fifteen when he insisted on dropping out to play e-sports and even ran away from home. Cen Junshan had packed his things and sent him to a training base.

Cen Xiao stayed at the training base for half a month, getting thoroughly beaten in games, and finally realized he wasn’t cut out for it. He slinked back home with his tail between his legs.

Since he realized he wasn’t cut out for professional gaming, he decided to invest in a team. Now, the hottest PUBG team, a popular battle royale game, in the country was under his management.

“Just drive properly,” Cen Junshan, who had been frowning, frowned even deeper when Cen Xiao spoke.

And somehow, he even dragged Cen Wu into the conversation.

Cen Junshan turned around, his tone authoritative, “You should write that self-criticism. With the grades you have, going to a gaming cafe? When we get home, I’ll find you a tutor. You’re not allowed to leave the house until you pass.”

Cen Wu: “……”

Dad’s love came in waves, sometimes overwhelming.

Guan Xingsnow shot him a glance, and Cen Junshan shut up, handing Cen Wu a card with a 500,000 RMB limit, “Alright, it’s not a big deal. Didn’t you mention wanting new sneakers? Have your brother take you.”

Cen Wu: “……”

Dad’s affection returned.

Cen Wu obediently accepted, “Thanks, Dad.”

He was already raising a lot of suspicions, and if he refused the money, Cen Wu's parents would definitely become more suspicious of him. It was better to accept it and put it away somewhere without spending it, saving it for later.

The heavy rain made the bars unusually quiet that night. Xie Guilan arrived at Blue Night before finally checking his messages from Cen Wu.

"Cen Wu: Playful cat.jpg"

"Cen Wu: You were ignoring me today."

"Cen Wu: I’ll come back for you tomorrow."

Xie Guilan: “……”

Coldly, Xie Guilan glanced at his phone, staring at the little cat emoji for a second before putting his phone away and changing into his clothes.

The next day, he went to class.

Class after class passed…

……

But Cen Wu didn’t show up.

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