That evening, at the Ji family estate, Ji Yang saw more members of the Ji family than he had ever seen before.
He had always assumed that apart from the children of the three main branches—the so-called direct descendants—the estate housed only the security center and the usual staff: servants, gardeners, and drivers.
It was only when he entered and saw several stern-faced, elderly people seated below Ji Yansong, alongside members of the three branches, that he realized the old master’s generation of direct cousins and their families were also included within the Ji family estate’s sphere.
Ji Yang belatedly understood that his conception of the Ji family had come entirely from the novel’s superficial descriptions. He had never truly understood a family of this scale.
Moreover, everything he had encountered so far, whether people or businesses, had only been the tip of the iceberg.
The scene before him had all the makings of a formal family tribunal.
From the moment they entered, Ji Zhonglin automatically reined in his usual imposing manner. He greeted the old master and everyone present according to the proper etiquette, then took his place behind Ji Yansong.
Ji Chengyi stood in the main hall, while Ji Yang sat in his wheelchair. Together, they looked like two criminals awaiting judgment.
Or rather, perhaps only Ji Yang was the one actually on trial.
Ji Yang also noticed a couple he hadn’t seen before.
The man looked rather stern. The woman was well-preserved and appeared to have just finished crying.
Ji Chengyi spoke first. Still wearing the bloodstained clothes from earlier, he said, “Grandfather, I’m sorry for worrying you and all the elders. I was cooperating with the police to handle the follow-up procedures, which is why I returned so late.”
“It’s good that you’re safe.” The person who spoke was the Second Madam, Ji Zhonglin’s mother.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of the contempt Ji Yang had previously heard in her voice when she talked about Ji Chengyi. Instead, her face was full of concern.
“You child, how could something like this happen when you were simply attending an auction? We were all frightened when we heard the news. Your parents even flew back directly on a private plane.”
Ji Yang understood now. The couple were Ji Changshou and his first love—Ji Chengyi’s timid biological mother.
The women of the Ji family gathered around Yao Zhaoling, patting her shoulder and comforting her.
“It’s all right, it’s all right. The important thing is that he came home safely.”
“It was supposed to be an ordinary auction. Who could have expected something like this?”
“I just heard from the family doctor. Fortunately, he wasn’t injured. Try to relax.”
Crash!
“You unfilial son!”
A teacup shattered on the floor beside Ji Yang.
Ji Changshou stood up and pointed at him, cursing.
“Look at the mess you’ve made! I’ve been gone for barely any time, and you’ve caused trouble again. If your big brother and all those bodyguards hadn’t been there today, have you even considered what might have happened?!”
“Uncle.”
It was Ji Zhonglin who spoke.
He glanced at Ji Yang, recalling how he himself had spoken just as harshly earlier, and felt a headache coming on. Two hours ago, he had received the information from the police. Now he also noticed the healing dressing still attached to Ji Yang’s arm.
He said, “Today’s incident really doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Ji Yang. He had already called the police beforehand.”
Ji Yang had remained in his wheelchair from beginning to end. He looked around the room and met the gaze of Ji Mingyue, who appeared both anxious and somewhat worried.
Ji Mingyue shook her head at him, probably urging him to soften his attitude and apologize.
Ji Yang turned toward the middle-aged man in front of him and slowly asked, “Who are you? Ji Chengyi’s father?”
Ji Changshou froze. His anger flared even more.
“Say that again!”
“That’s enough!” The old master finally spoke.
Ji Yansong struck his cane against the floor a couple of times. He seemed to have plenty of grievances against his eldest son, Ji Changshou, too.
“You failed to discipline your son properly when he was young, and you can’t even handle the affairs of your own household. You spend all day acting as though you’ll die over a woman. What good does throwing a tantrum now do?”
Ji Changshou’s face turned a dark, suffused red.
Behind him, Yao Zhaoling looked embarrassed. She lowered her head and twisted the handkerchief in her hands tightly, refusing to look at her own son, as though she knew she was bringing shame upon him.
This mother was Ji Chengyi’s Achilles’ heel.
The novel had mentioned that during Ji Chengyi’s first few years in the Ji family, he had desperately wanted to leave with her. But Yao Zhaoling had refused.
He had genuine affection for his mother, yet he also seemed trapped by that familial bond, unable to break free. That was why he kept striving to improve himself, determined to earn a place for himself within the Ji family.
Now, with Yao Zhaoling being criticized by the old master in front of so many people, Ji Chengyi naturally couldn’t remain silent.
He didn’t directly blame Ji Yang for the incident, as he had at the auction.
Instead, he said, “Grandfather, please don’t blame Dad. I was the one who let my guard down.”
Then he added, “It’s just that the blue-and-white porcelain vase you mentioned before was broken. The meeting with the building materials supplier may have to be postponed. I’ve let you down after you placed your trust in me.”
He took responsibility for the incident himself, then brought up the progress of the Lan Hai Bay project. Sure enough, the old master’s expression softened.
“This isn’t something anyone could reasonably blame you for,” Ji Yansong declared.
He placed both hands on his cane and turned the green jade thumb ring on his thumb twice before calling out.
“Ah Xu.”
“Tell us what happened today.”
Ji Yang noticed that when the old master said this, the others didn’t react particularly strongly.
But the few elderly men seated beneath him all looked visibly unsettled.
One of them even forced an awkward smile and said, “Ah Xu was personally trained by you, Old Master. Back then, at Qianlong Bay, the major families fought openly and covertly, dragging countless people into their conflicts. Yet Ah Xu had the courage to lead so many people out of there. And now he’s still so loyal to you. That’s rare indeed.”
Someone beside him chimed in, “Exactly. These days, the entire Ji family has to rely on Ah Xu’s capabilities. We’re getting old.”
As he spoke, Ji Yang felt an unmistakable presence appear behind him.
Qianlong Bay… That must be another piece of Nie Xu’s past that the story had filled in.
Ji Yang didn’t know the details, but for some reason, the scene gave him the feeling of a coordinated siege.
It was as though the enormous Ji family was closing in on the man the old master called Ah Xu.
“Go ahead,” the old master said calmly.
Nie Xu behaved like someone entirely obedient to the old master, a shadow operating in the hidden corners of the Ji family. He gave a concise account of the events.
“At twelve noon, the Fourth Young Master came to Building Four over a work-related matter and asked me to serve as his assistant part-time. Two hours later, I received a phone call…”
At first, Ji Yang didn’t quite understand why Nie Xu had brought up that first point.
It wasn’t until Nie Xu finished speaking that Ji Yansong narrowed his slightly cloudy eyes.
“An assistant? You agreed?”
“Yes,” Nie Xu answered.
Ji Yansong’s expression revealed nothing, but he nodded before saying, “That’s fine, too. As for the shipment at the docks, you don’t need to take it to heart. You’ve been with the Ji family for fifteen years. You know what kind of person my grandson is.”
Then he suddenly added, “He likes you, Ah Xu. What do you think about that?”
Ji Yang could vaguely sense the power play taking place between the two of them.
He instinctively turned to look at Nie Xu.
Their eyes met, and Nie Xu replied without the slightest ripple of emotion, “The Fourth Young Master and I have different statuses. I’ll simply do my job properly.”
Ji Yang silently bared his teeth at him.
If it weren’t for that beating with the whip, which had given him the chance to see Nie Xu’s private side, and the two subsequent confrontations in which his foreknowledge had allowed him to get closer to the man’s true nature, he might actually have believed that Nie Xu was absolutely loyal and would never cross any boundaries.
Ji Yang realized that Nie Xu had been in control of the situation all along. He had answered that way because he understood Ji Yansong too well.
Sure enough, Ji Yansong smiled, looking subtly relieved.
He turned to the several elderly men beside him and said, “Ah Xu has been like this since he was a teenager. Two years ago, when my grandson was in a car accident and broke his leg, I entrusted him to Ah Xu. He didn’t complain even once.”
The other old men chimed in.
“Young people are young people. There’s no need to be too harsh on them.”
“I actually think Xiao Yang is refreshingly straightforward.”
“You’ve placed too much responsibility on Nie Xu over the years. Besides serving as Chief Security Officer, letting him help Xiao Yang as an assistant would be a good thing.”
What a bunch of hypocrites.
Ji Yang could practically hear these old men speaking with sanctimonious expressions while secretly wishing they could hurry up and push him toward Nie Xu.
An unhealthy obsession. The natural power imbalance that came with their different social statuses.
The Ji family wanted to use this to keep Nie Xu in check, never realizing that the man had simply figured out exactly how they operated.
Ji Yang suddenly felt lucky.
Thank goodness he had laid all his cards on the table with Nie Xu on the day he transmigrated, proposing a partnership. Otherwise, even if Nie Xu had agreed to help him back then, the man might very well have torn him apart once he no longer needed the cover.
Ji Yang looked at Nie Xu with a wounded expression, trying to prove his sincerity.
“You agreed to help me only because I’m a young master of the Ji family?”
Ji Changshou slammed the table.
“That’s enough!”
“Have you not embarrassed yourself enough already?”
Ji Yang thought, No wonder the old master doesn’t think much of you.
But aloud, he shot back, “Your illegitimate son is older than your legitimate son, and you don’t think that’s embarrassing? You abandoned your wife for another woman, and you don’t think that’s embarrassing? But now that your own son likes men, suddenly you’re embarrassed?”
Ji Changshou raised his hand in fury.
“I’ll beat you to death, you little bastard!”
“Go ahead.” Ji Yang maneuvered his wheelchair out of the way, fanning the flames as he went. “Beating up your own disabled son isn’t embarrassing either, is it?”
And then, an utterly absurd scene unfolded in the Ji family’s main hall.
The head of the eldest branch chasing after his own son.
One man was so furious that he had lost his senses. The other dodged him unsteadily while recounting his miserable past, essentially summarizing it as follows: his father didn’t love him, his mother was absent, and he was like a little cabbage left out in the cold.
It was true that he had been close to Wei Qiming and the others in the past. It was even true that he had targeted Ji Chengyi.
But that had all been this old man’s fault!
The ensuing chaos turned the entire gathering into a complete disaster.
It wasn’t until the old master spoke that things finally changed.
“Ah Xu, stop him!”
Nie Xu reached out and grabbed Ji Changshou by the arm, instantly rendering him completely unable to move.
A chorus of gasps erupted around them.
Because the Fourth Young Master of the Ji family had gotten his wheelchair caught on a table leg and suddenly pitched forward.
At the crucial moment, someone caught him around the waist, stopping his fall just in time.
Ji Yang secretly tugged on Nie Xu’s sleeve. Then he turned back, his eyes reddening.
“Brother Xu.”
Only then did everyone notice that the young master’s arms were trembling. He was still injured, his soft hair clinging to his cheeks, and his pale lips stood out against his small, delicate face.
He looked unbearably fragile.
Ji Changshou’s face turned a chaotic mixture of red and green with rage. He struggled free, flung his sleeve down, and spat, “You don’t have a shred of manliness!”
The young master leaned entirely against his own bodyguard. His gaze turned cold, and he spoke softly.
“Right. Fathers who know nothing except how to hit their own children are especially manly.”
Ji Changshou tried to charge at him again.
Everyone rushed forward to calm him down, and the incident was finally brought under control.
The gathering had originally been about resolving the matter of Ji Chengyi being threatened. Thanks to this interruption, the accusations against Ji Yang were quietly dropped.
Half an hour later.
Ji Mingyue pushed Ji Yang along the covered walkway through the back garden.
“Are you really okay?” She examined him suspiciously. “I honestly thought you were having an episode just now. My mom even told me in private that Uncle was being way out of line. She asked me to check whether you wanted a doctor.”
Ji Yang laughed twice.
“I pinched myself. He didn’t even touch me.”
“Why?” Ji Mingyue asked, baffled.
Ji Yang looked back at her.
“I’m already in this state. Why should I let him throw his weight around with that supposedly supreme paternal authority, letting his whole family play happy families while everyone else thinks I’m the one with something wrong in my head? Why should I?”
Ji Mingyue snorted.
“You’ve certainly learned how to put on an act.”
Then she snorted again.
“But you’re smarter than you used to be.”
Ji Yang gave a noncommittal hum.
“Putting on a show? Anyone can do that.”
He hated Ji Changshou just as much as he had hated the alcoholic father from his previous life—the one he had eventually sent to prison with his own hands.
Thinking about what had happened that evening, Ji Yang also recalled Ji Mingyue’s parents, the Third Branch of the Ji family. He couldn’t remember much information about them from the novel.
But judging by what he had seen, the fact that they had allowed their daughter to grow up alongside the original Ji Yang at least suggested that they hadn’t harmed him.
The lights along the covered walkway flickered between brightness and shadow as the plants beneath the eaves partially blocked them.
Ji Yang suddenly said, “Whatever happens, remember that you absolutely must not agree to marry that thing, Qi Yiming.”
“Why are you suddenly concerned about me?” Ji Mingyue asked.
Ji Yang sighed.
“What can I say? Even though your mouth is sharp, you’re still more likable than the rest of the Ji family.”
“Go to hell!”
Ji Mingyue kicked his wheelchair.
Just as they rounded a corner, they suddenly heard voices coming from the garden pavilion.
Ji Mingyue immediately crouched down, sneaking around like a little thief.
“What are you doing?” Ji Yang asked in a whisper. He was already sitting low in his wheelchair, but he still lowered his voice.
Ji Mingyue shushed him, pointing toward the source of the voices.
“Have you forgotten? That’s our family’s secret hideout. Second Aunt cheating with a cousin, the woman your dad was involved with before his second marriage, and even Grandpa with that young maid when I was six—all of them happened there.”
Ji Yang’s worldview shattered into pieces.
He finally understood why Ji Zhonglin’s involvement in such morally questionable affairs wasn’t so surprising. Was there even a single clean person in this family?!
Ji Mingyue whispered, “Don’t talk. Let’s see who’s over there.”
Two indistinct silhouettes stood in the shadows, their voices coming and going.
Ji Yang could just barely make out one of them as Ji Chengyi.
“I know you had no choice. You couldn’t disobey Grandfather’s orders.”
Then he said, “I lost my composure a little last time. Do you know how I felt watching you get beaten by someone like that?”
He continued, “Nie Xu, you saved me again today, just like you did that year.”
The reply came in an excessively calm, composed voice.
“In my position, I’m responsible whenever anything happens to anyone in the Ji family. Saving you is my duty.”
Ji Mingyue gave Ji Yang a deeply sympathetic look.
In a low voice, she said, “Nie Xu really is different. He was trained by Grandfather himself. Honestly, if you’re competing with Ji Chengyi for him, your chances aren’t very good.”
Ji Yang replied, “I can’t compete.”
The person he likes is the real protagonist here.
Still, unexpectedly stumbling upon this scene left Ji Yang feeling rather annoyed.
He rolled forward a little, rested his hand on the railing of the walkway, and let out a loud whistle.
When the two people over there looked over at the same time, Ji Yang noticed the flash of shock in Ji Chengyi’s eyes—and the other man, who seemed to have noticed their presence long ago.
Ji Yang looked utterly relaxed, a lazy smile playing on his lips.
“Having an affair right under my nose? Do you think I’m blind?”