The driver parked the car in the front courtyard of the Xu family villa.
Xu Zhifei got out while holding the urn. She took a thick envelope from her bag and handed it to him.
“Thank you for all your hard work these past few days. We won’t need a driver anymore, so take this money and find yourself another good employer.”
The driver accepted the envelope and said, “Thank you,” watching as she walked alone into the enormous villa.
Inside, Aunt Shao was packing things up.
Most of the household belongings had already been sorted and packed away over the past few days. Xu Zhifei likewise gave Aunt Shao a thick red envelope.
Aunt Shao had worked for the Xu family for many years. Putting aside their employer-employee relationship, she had naturally developed some affection for the family.
Seeing Xu Zhifei looking so lost and broken, she felt somewhat worried about her.
She awkwardly wiped her hands and said, “Madam pays well. I can take a break for a while before looking for another employer. There’s nothing much going on at home anyway. Why don’t I stay and help you for a while?”
Xu Zhifei shook her head with a smile. “No need. I’m going back to my hometown soon anyway. Go home and get some good rest. You’ve worked hard all these years.”
Seeing that she was determined, Aunt Shao could only take off her apron, gather her things, and leave, looking back three times with every step.
In the end, Xu Zhifei was the only person left in the entire villa.
She sat blankly on the sofa for quite a while before the lawyer arrived. In addition to the inheritance division documents, there were also documents for transferring the company shares. She signed each document one by one and handed them to the lawyer. Finally, the lawyer left as well.
Xu Zhifei turned on all the lights in the living room. Holding the urn, she walked from room to room, going from the first floor to the fourth, then back down to the first. At last, as though she had finally made up her mind about something, she carefully placed the urn on the coffee table.
Looking around, Xu Zhifei asked softly, “Wangchuan, are you here?”
No one answered.
Xu Zhifei did not give up. Like a wandering ghost, she walked around the house, asking every time she passed somewhere, “Wangchuan, are you here?”
Xu Wangchuan did not appear. Xu Zhifei stood dazedly at the doorway of his former room.
Because they were moving, Aunt Shao had already packed away all of Xu Wangchuan’s belongings. The room was now completely empty. Only the remnants of dusk crept in through the window, making the place look even more desolate and hollow.
Xu Zhifei leaned against the doorframe and stared at the empty room for a long while before speaking again.
“Joy God, are you here?”
Perhaps because she was nervous, or perhaps because she was afraid, she spoke extremely slowly.
“…I want to make a wish.”
Inside the unlit room, a figure gradually materialized, like a projection that was not quite clear.
A red bridal veil covered his head, yet he was wearing the uniform of Nanming High School. The skin on his exposed hands was completely devoid of color, and his fingers were malformed in a way that was distinctly unlike a normal human hand.
Xu Zhifei took a step back and covered her mouth as tears came rushing to her eyes.
So Muchan had been telling the truth.
“Wangchuan… It really is you.”
Xu Wangchuan stood motionless where he was.
Xu Zhifei wiped away her tears and walked toward him of her own accord, reaching out to touch the eerie red veil.
“Mom and Dad were wrong to you. If you had been adopted by another family back then, you might not have lived such a wealthy life, but at least you could have grown up safely…”
Her fingers tightened around the red veil as she softly asked, “If I lift the veil, can you turn back into who you were?”
Xu Wangchuan remained motionless like a puppet, but a faint, eerie voice sounded beside Xu Zhifei’s ear.
“What… is your wish?”
Although the voice was sinister and strange, Xu Zhifei could recognize it as Xu Wangchuan’s voice.
“Mom doesn’t have any other wishes.”
Her fingers had tightened so hard around the veil that they were turning bluish. Her voice choked with tears.
“Mom only wants you to be safe and sound, and to become the way you used to be. Even if I have to trade my life for it, I don’t mind.”
With tears in her eyes, she finished speaking and suddenly tore the veil away.
Beneath the veil was Xu Wangchuan’s face.
His face was deathly pale, his pupils unnaturally red, and his breathing extremely faint. He turned his eyes toward Xu Zhifei, then passed out.
Once again, the sound of an ambulance siren rang through Oak Manor.
It was only later that Xu Muchan heard from Yan He that Xu Wangchuan had actually been found and brought back.
Even Yan He found the whole thing unbelievable when he told Xu Muchan about it over WeChat. He said that Xu Wangchuan had been taken straight into emergency treatment and was only transferred to a regular hospital room after his condition stabilized. Xu Zhifei was probably worried about him, which was why she had somehow gotten hold of Yan He’s contact information and asked him to come take another look.
Because Xu Zhifei was very generous with money, and because Yan He himself was genuinely curious, he went there with his senior brother.
Xu Wangchuan, who had only just been transferred to a regular hospital room, still looked extremely weak. His body was filled with heavy yin energy, and his soul was unstable, but there was no doubt that he was alive.
To justify the fee Xu Zhifei had paid him, Yan He and his senior brother stayed in the hospital room for an entire day, chanting soul-stabilizing incantations over Xu Wangchuan the whole time.
In the end, Yan He hesitantly told Xu Muchan that they had not found anything seriously wrong with Xu Wangchuan during the visit. Instead, Xu Zhifei seemed somewhat abnormal.
Xu Wangchuan’s life should have been saved, although his health would be much weaker from then on, and he probably would not be able to do any heavy or strenuous work.
It was Xu Zhifei who seemed to have the bigger problem. She was wrapped up tightly from head to toe, making it look as though something was seriously wrong with her.
However, with one disaster after another befalling the Xu family, Xu Zhifei clearly had no intention of asking them for help. Yan He had always respected individual karma. After she refused when he took the initiative to ask, he left the hospital with his senior brother.
But considering that Xu Zhifei was Xu Muchan’s mother, he had asked Wei Xilou for his contact information and notified Xu Muchan.
Xu Muchan thanked him but did not take the matter particularly seriously.
Regardless of how Xu Zhifei had managed to bring Xu Wangchuan back, it no longer had much to do with him.
The Xu house diagonally across from them had already been emptied out, and the seat to Xu Muchan’s left remained unoccupied. Every day, he went to school and came home on schedule. His life was peaceful and uneventful.
That was, until the middle of June, when Xu Muchan was called out of English class by his homeroom teacher, Wan Zheng, and saw Xu Zhifei and Xu Wangchuan again.
Xu Wangchuan was sitting in a wheelchair while Xu Zhifei pushed him. They had come to the school to complete the paperwork for his suspension.
Xu Zhifei went into the office with the homeroom teacher to fill out the forms. Xu Muchan, who had been called out as well, waited with Xu Wangchuan in the shade around the corner of the hallway—one standing, the other sitting.
Xu Muchan had no idea why Xu Zhifei had called him out. He had no intention of speaking with Xu Wangchuan either, so he leaned against the hallway railing and silently reviewed English vocabulary in his head.
Xu Wangchuan, however, stared at him for a long time before taking the initiative to speak.
“Before you came back, the three of us were very happy as a family. I always thought that although I had been adopted, there was no difference between me and a biological child. Mom and Dad loved me very much. Sometimes Mom would mention you to me. Back then, I even wished that we could find you and bring you back. That way, Mom wouldn’t have to secretly feel sad anymore. Having another little brother wouldn’t be a bad thing. I could make it up to you together with Mom and Dad.”
“But after you were actually found, I realized that there really is a difference between being adopted and being a biological child. I only thought there was no difference before because you hadn’t been found yet.”
Xu Wangchuan raised his sickly pale face and stared intently at Xu Muchan.
“Actually, even before you came back, I could occasionally see the Joy God. In my dreams, it would always ask me what my wish was. But at the time, I thought my life was already very happy. There was nothing I felt dissatisfied with, so I never made a wish.”
“Until after you were found… When Dad had Qiu Ze go to Yundong to bring you back, I was scared. So I told it that I wished you wouldn’t come back.”
“But you still came back.”
Xu Wangchuan clenched his jaw tightly.
“Even though you were blind, you were better-looking than me. And even though you came from such a backward place as Yundong, your grades weren’t even bad. Dad was very pleased with you, and Mom put all her attention on you, wanting to make it up to you.”
“But I knew you didn’t care about them at all. If you hated them, then why did you come back? Why did you have to compete with me for everything?”
Xu Wangchuan gripped the wheelchair armrests tightly, his body trembling slightly as he remembered the second wish he had made.
If only Xu Muchan would disappear.
Then everything could return to the way it had been.
But in this world, people could not be trusted, and neither could gods. How ridiculous.
The Joy God had not granted his wish, yet it still demanded payment.
He lived every day in fear of being tormented by the Joy God, in fear of being abandoned by his parents.
By the time he regretted it, it was already too late.
Xu Muchan lifted his eyelids and looked at him. There was not much emotion in his response to Xu Wangchuan’s accusations.
“I never competed with you for anything. I came back only to have my eyes treated. I originally planned to leave once they were cured.”
“You simply didn’t dare resent Xu Qingming, so you chose to resent me instead.”
Perhaps Xu Muchan had struck a nerve. Xu Wangchuan collapsed dejectedly into his wheelchair and turned his head toward the excessively bright sunlight outside. He said nothing more.
Silence spread through the hallway.
From inside the office came Xu Zhifei’s voice thanking the homeroom teacher. She had apparently finished the paperwork.
Xu Wangchuan turned his wheelchair toward the office. Halfway there, he looked back and said, “You and Cui Tong have a grudge, right? When I was in the ghost domain, I heard him communicating with someone. It sounded like they were discussing how to deal with you.”
Just as he finished speaking, Xu Zhifei came out of the office.
Xu Wangchuan wheeled himself toward her and called, “Mom.”
Xu Zhifei patted his head and smiled at him before looking toward Xu Muchan, who had not come over at the other end of the hallway.
Xu Muchan straightened and looked directly back at her without avoiding her gaze.
“Wait here for a moment. I want to say a few words to Muchan.”
Xu Zhifei gave Xu Wangchuan a brief instruction before walking toward Xu Muchan.
She carefully looked him over from head to toe and sighed.
“Without us, you’ve still grown up just fine.”
Xu Muchan did not respond. He had never been very good at responding to meaningless social pleasantries. He simply looked straight back at her.
Perhaps because of Yan He’s warning, Xu Muchan noticed that there really were quite a few things about Xu Zhifei that seemed abnormal.
It was already the middle of June. Although Jiangcheng had not yet reached its hottest period, everyone had long since changed into summer clothes.
Yet Xu Zhifei was dressed in long sleeves and long pants from head to toe. She was even wearing gloves, leaving only her face exposed. It could be explained as protection from the sun, but perhaps because Yan He had warned him, Xu Muchan felt that there was something deeply out of place about her.
Xu Zhifei seemed to fall into thought. After a long time, she finally spoke again.
“I’ll take Wangchuan back to our hometown. We probably won’t come back to Jiangcheng again. Although you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself and may not need this, I still want to tell you that if you ever encounter difficulties in the future, or if you’re unhappy, Mom will always welcome you home.”
She gave Xu Muchan a deep look before taking an envelope and a bank card from her bag.
“Your father had already made a will before he died. Although you’re still underage, I think you should be able to decide for yourself how to use this money. I’ve already handled and sold off all of the Xu family’s shares and fixed assets that could be sold. I roughly divided all the money into two portions. One portion is for Wangchuan and me to live on in the future, and the other is for you. It’s all on this card.”
Before Xu Muchan could refuse, she continued, “This is what you deserve. Your father and I failed to fulfill our responsibility to raise you all these years. You don’t need us anymore, but take this money anyway. You might need it someday.”
Xu Muchan thought about it, then reached out and accepted it.
His gaze paused when it passed over Xu Zhifei’s wrist. When she reached out, a gap had opened between her glove and sleeve, exposing a patch of skin that had not been properly covered. It was wrinkled and rough, like tree bark.
Xu Zhifei noticed it herself and quickly pulled her sleeve down. Then she said, “The envelope has the address of our hometown, as well as my new phone number. Wangchuan and I are planning to go back home today. You… take good care of yourself.”
Xu Muchan nodded and watched her turn around and push Xu Wangchuan toward the elevator.
His gaze lingered for only a moment before he also turned around, went down the stairs, and returned to class.
Xu Zhifei and Xu Wangchuan’s departure had no effect on Xu Muchan’s life. The only difference was that the Xu family villa was put up for sale, and before long, new residents moved in.
And the empty seat to Xu Muchan’s left finally got a new occupant.
The class math representative moved into Xu Wangchuan’s former seat.
The math representative was named Wu Dong. Because of their math teacher’s previous suggestion, Xu Muchan and Wu Dong had already started interacting, occasionally getting together to discuss math problems.
Now that their seats were closer, it was even more convenient for them to discuss things. Basically, as soon as class ended, the two of them would gather together, covering their desks with all kinds of exercise books and test papers.
Wei Yao, who sat next to them, had once refused to believe it could be that bad and stuck his head over to take a look.
His eyes, brain, and soul were simultaneously subjected to a violent assault by mathematics.
From then on, he never dared go anywhere near Wu Dong’s desk again.
However, seeing Xu Muchan and Wu Dong with their heads together still irritated Wei Yao. He mischievously crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it over, accidentally hitting Wu Dong right in the forehead.
Wu Dong looked up at him through lenses as thick as the bottoms of glass bottles.
Wei Yao said without much sincerity, “Oops, missed my target. Sorry.”
Then he turned to Xu Muchan.
“What are you doing this weekend? Want to go out?”
Xu Muchan was currently wrestling with a math problem. Without even lifting his eyes from the scratch paper in front of him, he said, “No. My brother said he’s taking me shopping for clothes.”
After suffering another rejection, Wei Yao could only turn to his backup for consolation.
“Come out with me this weekend. Once summer vacation ends, we’ll be seniors. There won’t be weekends this wonderful anymore.”
His backup, Wen Dajiang, told him, “Get lost. My allowance can’t survive being spent by a spoiled young master like you.”
Ever since Young Master Wei had won the glorious title of dead last in the May monthly exam, his allowance had been brutally cut.
He now only received five hundred yuan a week, and relied entirely on Wen Dajiang’s generous subsidies for his food, drinks, and entertainment.
As for why he had still ended up dead last, of course it was because He Jiaqi hadn’t taken the monthly exam and therefore wasn’t included in the rankings.
There was no one left to take the bottom spot for Young Master Wei.
After being rejected again and again, Wei Yao sprawled over his desk and sighed.
“Ah, the world is going downhill. People’s hearts aren’t what they used to be.”
Xu Muchan hadn’t been brushing Wei Yao off, either.
On Saturday, Wei Xilou really was going to take him shopping for clothes.
And not only were they buying clothes—he was also getting a haircut.
When Xu Muchan saw Wei Xilou approaching with a professional set of barber’s scissors, he frowned and tried to escape.
“Maybe we should just go to a barbershop.”
His own haircutting skills had not exactly been great before, but he trusted Wei Xilou’s skills even less.
However, Wei Xilou seemed extremely enthusiastic about it. And for some reason, whenever he heard that someone else was going to cut Xu Muchan’s hair, his expression would immediately turn gloomy.
Following the principle that there was no need to oppose him over trivial matters, Xu Muchan chose to surrender.
Wei Xilou had somehow assembled a complete set of tools. He even properly draped a barber’s cape around Xu Muchan before picking up the scissors and starting to snip away.
There was no mirror in front of Xu Muchan, so all he could do was nervously wait for the result.
Wei Xilou frowned seriously as he walked around Xu Muchan, trimming from every angle. After a full forty minutes of fussing, he finally mercifully announced, “Done.”
He seemed extremely pleased with his work. Running his fingers through Xu Muchan’s jet-black hair, he praised him.
“Very handsome.”
Xu Muchan opened the front-facing camera on his phone and took a look. It seemed to him that there wasn’t much difference from before.
The ends of his hair seemed a little lighter, and his bangs were a bit neater?
Xu Muchan couldn’t really tell what else had changed, but he still smiled and thanked him.
“Thank you, Big Brother. You worked hard.”
Wei Xilou indeed seemed very happy. He put down the scissors and headed toward the walk-in closet.
“I’ll get you some clothes.”
Xu Muchan followed closely behind him and watched as Wei Xilou opened all the closet doors and carefully went through the clothes, one section at a time.
The corner of Xu Muchan’s mouth twitched.
The walk-in closet was almost entirely filled with his clothes. He had no idea when Wei Xilou had filled it up, but somehow, by the time Xu Muchan noticed, the entire place was packed.
Even though he only needed to wear his school uniform at school and only occasionally needed regular clothes when going out on weekends, Wei Xilou was still extremely enthusiastic about buying him clothes.
Wei Xilou picked out a white shirt and black cargo pants and handed them over.
“Go change.”
Xu Muchan obediently took them and went to change.
When he came back out, he saw that Wei Xilou had changed clothes too.
He was wearing a white top and black pants as well. Their figures happened to be reflected together in the large dressing-room mirror.
Only then did Xu Muchan belatedly realize that not only were their outfits in exactly the same color scheme, they were from the same brand too—the shirts even had the same logo.
They looked almost like… matching couple outfits.
Xu Muchan felt inexplicably awkward.
Meanwhile, Wei Xilou stood in front of the mirror admiring them for quite a while before saying, “The sales associate at the mall said these are from the same collection and can be worn as parent-and-child outfits. They really do look good.”
Xu Muchan: “…”
He had nothing to say.
He felt that getting awkward just because the clothes looked a little like couple outfits had been utterly ridiculous.
The driver took the two of them to the mall. Xu Muchan suggested having lunch first and then shopping for clothes.
He really had no interest in buying clothes, but Wei Xilou was thoroughly enjoying himself.
Wei Xilou picked out a restaurant and asked Xu Muchan, “How about this one?”
Xu Muchan glanced at it casually and nodded.
“This one is fine.”
The restaurant was on the third floor. The two took the elevator up, only to run into two completely unexpected people inside.
“Wei Yao? Wen Dajiang?”
The two had just come up from the basement level.
Wei Yao was also surprised to see Xu Muchan, but after his gaze traveled over Xu Muchan and Wei Xilou, he immediately blurted out, “Holy shit,” then widened his eyes and asked Xu Muchan,
“How are you wearing matching outfits with our ancestor?”
Xu Muchan gave a cold laugh.
“These are parent-and-child outfits.”
Wen Dajiang glanced at the intimidating Wei family ancestor and said ingratiatingly, “You two don’t look like father and son, either. Our ancestor looks so young!”
One looked like he was in his twenties, with his looks, figure, and presence all at celebrity-crushing levels.
The other was a youthful high school boy, right in the prime of his youth, with a face that was… tsk, tsk, tsk.
“Xu Muchan, did you get a haircut?”
Wei Yao stared at Xu Muchan for a long time before finally realizing that the reason he looked especially good today wasn’t just because he had changed out of his school uniform. His hairstyle had changed too.
His hair had looked pretty good before, but it was obvious that it had been cut casually, relying entirely on his face to carry the look.
As he spoke, Wei Yao reached out to grab Xu Muchan’s hair.
“Who cut it for you? The technique’s pretty good.”
But before his hand could reach Xu Muchan, it was grabbed by his own ancestor.
Wei Xilou pinched his hand and then tossed it away in disgust.
Wei Yao howled and clutched his painfully squeezed wrist. He saw the other man even take out a handkerchief and deliberately wipe his fingers, as though Wei Yao were some filthy thing he had touched.
Wei Yao was furious but did not dare say anything. He could only glare viciously at his best friend, silently complaining with his eyes.
Wen Dajiang ignored him completely and asked Xu Muchan, “Are you two going to eat on the third floor too? We were planning to eat as well. Why don’t we go together?”
For some reason, the temperature inside the elevator suddenly seemed to drop several degrees after he said that.
Wen Dajiang rubbed his arms as goosebumps rose all over them.
“The air conditioning in this mall is way too strong.”
Xu Muchan glanced at the gloomy-looking person beside him and reached out to tug lightly on his sleeve.
“Big Brother, let’s eat together. With two more people, we can order a few more dishes.”
Wei Xilou lowered his eyes and met Xu Muchan’s sparkling gaze. He reluctantly gave a quiet “Mm.”
With the ancestor paying the bill, Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang ordered all the expensive dishes they normally couldn’t bear to order.
When they finished eating and came out, Wei Yao was so full that he burped.
“What are you guys going to do? I know there’s a newly opened antique shop nearby. Supposedly, there are quite a few good things inside. Old Wen and I were planning to go take a look. Want to come? If we can find some old artifact that makes my grandpa happy, maybe I can sweet-talk him into giving me a little more spending money.”
Xu Muchan wasn’t particularly interested in antique shops either.
But if he had to choose between shopping for clothes and going to an antique shop…
Xu Muchan immediately turned to the person beside him, blinked, and said, “Big Brother, I want to go take a look too.”
Wei Xilou met his gaze.
His eyes slowly moved from Xu Muchan’s obedient, adorable face to the two annoying little rats beside him.
The little rats were still chattering away about the newly opened antique shop.
Wei Xilou knitted his brows, doing his best to suppress the urge to crush the little rats to death. He withdrew his ominous gaze and gave Xu Muchan a gentle smile.
“If A-Chan wants to go, then let’s take a look.”