Ji Yang was simultaneously rebellious because he’d been looked down on and puzzled by Nie Xu’s willingness to go along with him. He’d said he was going to seduce him, but Nie Xu’s response had focused on how good his technique was, rather than questioning the act itself.
Still, as far as Ji Yang was concerned, that was certainly all for the best.
When they left the airport, the midday sun was so bright it was hard to keep their eyes open.
Nie Xu drove away from the airport while Ji Yang contacted Fu Cheng through his own account.
His private messages had piled up like a mountain. He scrolled for quite a while before finally finding Fu Cheng. Their conversation was still stuck on Fu Cheng cursing him out. And the most recent messages had been sent only a week ago.
Now that was persistence.
Ji Yang sent a friendly message:
You there? You haven’t been arrested, have you?
Fu Cheng didn’t know whether he was some kind of freak or had been keeping an eye on Ji Yang all this time.
Ji Yang, fuck your ancestors! Are you deliberately trying to piss me off?
Ji Yang replied:
Go ahead and fuck them, then. Want me to bring you a bed, too?
Fu Cheng:
????? You fucking XXX…
Fu Cheng cursed furiously for more than ten minutes straight. Looking at the screen full of filthy language, Ji Yang really wanted to throw his phone out the car window.
He held back.
After Fu Cheng finally finished cursing, he sent another message:
Although my Fu family may be nothing in the eyes of your Ji family, we’re not so weak that we can’t recover from something like this. Don’t think you’re so great just because you’ve become famous…
Ji Yang replied:
About that secret concerning Ji Chengyi you mentioned last time. Are you willing to sell it?
Fu Cheng:
…Fourth Young Master Ji, are you sick in the head? I begged you before, and you didn’t care at all. Do I look like someone who has no self-respect?
Ji Yang thought: Isn’t that exactly what you look like?
Ji Yang replied:
I know your parents have sold the house back in your hometown just to cover your debts. How about you sell me the information? As long as you get your problems under control and guarantee nothing like what happened before will happen again, I’ll make sure the Fu family won’t be dragged down by you. What do you think?
Fu Cheng hesitated:
You think I’m an idiot? The Ji family is under Ji Chengyi’s control now. With the little power you have, I’d be better off going to him.
Ji Yang was certain.
You wouldn’t dare.
The original male lead, Ji Chengyi, had suffered no shortage of discrimination in Fanzhou’s second-generation rich circles. The more traditional and established a family was, the more importance it placed on one’s background. Even if some people didn’t say anything openly, their contempt showed in every little detail.
People like Fu Cheng, who weren’t at the top but were still better off than most, were the ones who trampled on others most openly.
Of course, they weren’t really doing it for the sake of “Ji Yang.” It was simply the innate sense of superiority and inherent ugliness in their bones.
Ji Yang raised the stakes and sent a voice message directly.
I have someone powerful backing me.
Fu Cheng:
Who?
Ji Yang glanced sideways at the person driving and replied:
Someone Ji Chengyi has tried to win over several times without success. As for who it is, don’t worry about that.
Fu Cheng went silent for quite a while.
Only after some time did he reply:
If even Ji Chengyi couldn’t win this person over, why would your words carry any weight?
Ji Yang:
Because I’m good-looking. What you have to tell me is valuable. I’d even sell my body to get things done for you.
As he said this, Ji Yang could clearly feel a glance coming from the person beside him.
Fu Cheng:
…???
Apparently, he really had no other options. In the end, he said:
Fine, I’ll tell you. But you’d better keep your word, or don’t blame me if I tear off all pretenses.
“Then tell me first.” Ji Yang wasn’t moved by the threat. “I’m expensive. I need to see whether your information is worth the price.”
Fu Cheng was probably so choked up that he was furious.
But in the end, he still told him.
According to Fu Cheng, the street-racing event two years ago had been organized by him. He’d invited Ji Chengyi at the time, intending to find someone to cause trouble for. But Ji Yang had stopped him, giving the reason that Ji Changshou had just warned him to behave himself.
When the accident eventually happened, the first person from the Ji family to arrive was Ji Chengyi.
A wealthy young master had been involved in a serious street-racing accident, and the illegitimate son had put aside past grievances and rushed to the scene first. At the time, this incident had earned Ji Chengyi quite a good reputation.
Fu Cheng said:
But later, I asked the construction crew you found about it and discovered that something didn’t match Ji Chengyi’s own account. He hadn’t rushed over after your accident at all. He’d been there the entire time.
Ji Yang frowned. Where?
Fu Cheng’s tone was full of mockery.
Right there on the stretch of road where your accident happened. According to the route he described for going up the mountain, there was no way he could have driven there. It’s not as if Ji Chengyi could have predicted you’d have an accident in advance, right? Besides, there was a ravine dozens of meters deep just outside that section of road. If something happened, there was almost no chance of survival. Ji Chengyi even used rescue safety as his main reason for stopping people from going down. And yet, you were lucky enough to survive. When they pulled you out, all you’d lost was one leg.
Compared with the information Tao Jisheng had provided, Fu Cheng’s clues could only serve as corroborating evidence. But they also indirectly proved that Tao Jisheng hadn’t been lying.
The truth was almost certainly as they suspected.
Ji Yang didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling.
After all, his memories only began two years after the car accident.
Sometimes, he felt very distant from this body, as though the pain and memories were separated from him by a layer of frosted glass. But at this moment, those fine, dull aches that always came before rainy weather seemed to have been carved into his soul.
Reality was reminding him: this had really happened. Every bit of it was frighteningly real.
According to Fu Cheng, Ji Chengyi had most likely wanted his life. The original Ji Yang had been incredibly lucky to survive, only ending up disabled.
That was completely different from what had happened in the book.
In the book, Ji Yang’s disability had been entirely his own fault. Ever since Ji Yang transmigrated into the story, everyone’s attitude and their descriptions of the past had confirmed this version of events. And now he was being told that everything had been a conspiracy?
Was there something wrong with Ji Chengyi himself, or were there subjective assumptions mixed into all of this?
Just as Ji Yang was pondering this question, Fu Cheng told him something else.
Ji Yang was baffled. “Wei Qiming?”
Fu Cheng:
Brother Wei has always paid close attention to Ji Chengyi. You know that. I specifically went to see him in prison before. Guess what he said?
Ji Yang:
What?
Fu Cheng:
He told me he thinks someone set him up, and that person was your Third Brother. He said what happened at the auction that day wasn’t a coincidence at all. Looking back afterward, he realized someone had deliberately tipped him off that Ji Chengyi would be at that auction. And when the legal proceedings were carried out later, it was confirmed that the person who tipped him off was working for Ji Chengyi.
This succession of revelations hit Ji Yang one after another. First, he had the expression of an old man staring at his phone on the subway. Then he looked enlightened. Finally, he laughed in sheer anger.
Ji Yang still remembered the incident at the auction, when Ji Chengyi had almost been taken hostage.
It had caused quite a commotion and even made the social news.
Ji Changshou and Yao Zhaoling had flown back overnight and pointed at his nose, berating him for associating with such a bunch of trash.
Ji Yang had thought the plot had simply happened ahead of schedule. He hadn’t expected that someone had deliberately brought it forward.
After ending his conversation with Fu Cheng, Ji Yang looked up and slumped back against the seat.
Nie Xu glanced sideways at him.
Ji Yang said, “Aren’t you two childhood friends? You didn’t know his thoughts were this… convoluted?”
Thinking back over every interaction he’d had with Ji Chengyi, Ji Yang couldn’t even tell which of his words had been true and which had been false.
Nie Xu glanced at the rearview mirror and stepped on the accelerator. His tone remained calm.
“Who told you we were childhood friends?”
“Does anyone need to tell me that? Isn’t it common knowledge in the Ji family?”
“It’s false. We aren’t close,” Nie Xu said.
The car overtook several vehicles in succession amid the traffic on the elevated highway. Nie Xu still managed to answer him with an unruffled expression.
“The street-racing accident was investigated by multiple parties at the time. It happened during the first launch of the Lanhai Bay project, and the Old Master had Lu Li take charge of the subsequent handling.”
As he spoke, his jawline tightened for a moment. The bone around his masseter muscle protruded slightly before quickly relaxing again. His emotions were like hidden reefs beneath the sea, impossible to read on the surface.
He only said, “I’ll have someone go through the entire matter again from beginning to end. Don’t contact Fu Cheng anymore. I’ll have someone handle him.”
Ji Yang took advantage of the opening and smiled. “The boss is reliable.”
Ji Yang looked behind them through the rearview mirror and discovered that two cars had followed them.
“Are these the people who were following you before? Isn’t this a little excessive?”
“Lu Li’s people,” Nie Xu said.
Ji Yang was startled. “Did he find out we went to the airport?”
“No. They came up from another road. Sit tight.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Nie Xu suddenly wrenched the steering wheel. At a U-turn, he used several oncoming cars to force the pursuing vehicles to stop at the intersection.
Hearing the screech of brakes from the cars behind them, Ji Yang said, “He’s keeping a pretty close eye on you.”
Nie Xu then slowed down slightly, as though deliberately waiting for the cars behind to catch up. Just as they were about to get close, he turned the steering wheel lightly and slipped between two large trucks. In the rearview mirror, the two cars were trapped behind the trucks, forced to fall a considerable distance behind.
After leading them on a chase like someone teasing a dog for a little while, the two cars suddenly gave up following them.
“Where’s their perseverance?” Ji Yang even complained.
Nie Xu said, “The point of surveillance is to avoid being detected. Their stopping means Lu Li ordered them to.”
Ji Yang thought about how Lu Li treated his subordinates and guessed that the people in those cars had probably already been chewed out mercilessly.
Because the car had changed direction, they eventually stopped at a seaside cliff.
Ji Yang leaned against the car window and made a phone call.
The person on the other end said he was seeking a partnership through Huang Kai.
His surname was Jin.
It was a strange coincidence. This was the very same Mr. Jin, the big shot whose involvement had nearly ruined the business deal between him and Huang Kai.
The other man said, “Fourth Young Master, you certainly are something. Ever since President Huang got involved with you, both his business and his influence have been improving by the day. I heard even that kid Lin Yue has been going out of his way to approach you. I don’t mean anything else by it. I just want to discuss a business deal with Fourth Young Master.”
Ji Yang replied lazily, “Not interested.”
Suddenly, the sound of a boy crying came from the other end of the phone.
The boy begged, “Master Jin, I was wrong! I was wrong! Please let me go, okay? I really don’t know what President Huang has done. He only took me out for a meal. I don’t know anything else…”
Then came the sounds of punches and kicks, accompanied by the boy’s cries of pain.
The man surnamed Jin said, “I heard Fourth Young Master used to enjoy having fun, too. Don’t tell me you don’t even know how to show a little tenderness toward someone beautiful?”
“Oh.” Ji Yang drawled slowly. “Could it be that Master Jin has mistaken me for someone else? I’m a cripple. I’m the one who needs other people to show me tenderness.”
…
At that moment, Nie Xu stood at the edge of the shore.
Qi Songqing’s voice came through his earpiece, sounding somewhat doubtful. “Whose background are you investigating?”
Nie Xu looked in the direction where the car was parked. “Ji Yang.”
Qi Songqing said, “Are you sure you’ve got that right? Didn’t we say Ji Chengyi was behind this? I thought you’d suddenly had a change of heart and regretted spending all those years focusing on your own affairs without ever paying attention to him. You finally couldn’t hold back anymore. And now you’re telling me you want to investigate Ji Yang? What’s going on? Is there something wrong with him?”
Nie Xu’s voice mingled with the sound of the waves. It was as though certain questions had been left unattended for too long, and now they had reached the point where they could no longer be ignored.
“He might have a problem. More importantly, the problems he’s encountered have already become bigger than that possibility.”
Qi Songqing said, “So you finally couldn’t hold back, after all.”
The person in the car waved at him.
“I’m hanging up,” Nie Xu said.
Without waiting for Qi Songqing to express his opinion, Nie Xu ended the call and walked over.
“What is it?” Nie Xu asked, standing outside the car window.
Ji Yang pointed at his phone. “This Master Jin insists on signing me. I told him I already have a boss, but he doesn’t believe me.”
The man surnamed Jin said, “Fourth Young Master, I’m willing to sign you because I think you look decent enough. Don’t be ungrateful. Don’t try to scare me with some so-called boss. I’ve been in this business for years, Master Jin. Go ask around in the underworld. I…”
“Jin Husheng.”
Nie Xu took the phone.
“Are you looking to die?”