With all sorts of factors coming together, Xu Muchan did not sleep particularly well on his first night at the Xu family home. His biological clock had not even gone off when he woke up.
Feeling around, he found the cell phone beside his bed. The voice reminder told him that it was 6:20 a.m. on April 19.
There were faint rustling sounds coming from next door. Today was Monday, so Xu Muchan guessed that Xu Wangchuan was probably getting ready to go to school.
They had returned home too late yesterday, and Xu Muchan had not found an opportunity to ask carefully about the school transfer and treatment for his eyes. He simply got up and took a shower first, planning to ask Xu Qingming and the others in more detail after they woke up.
When he took off his clothes, he felt a slight pain in his left index finger. Only then did Xu Muchan remember that he had bitten his finger last night and had not treated it yet.
He was just about to go outside to find something to wrap his index finger with when he suddenly noticed something strange.
His right hand slowly felt over the injured area of his left index finger.
The skin there was completely smooth.
There was not only no wound, there was not even a tooth mark.
Only the slight lingering pain reminded him that the finger really had been injured last night.
A wound healing this quickly was absolutely abnormal.
It could only have been Brother.
Xu Muchan rubbed his finger, his expression unreadable for a moment. After pausing briefly, the corners of his lips curved into a faint smile, and he continued showering.
After showering, he stepped out and ran into Xu Wangchuan.
Xu Wangchuan’s complexion was not very good. There were obvious dark circles beneath his eyes, clearly indicating that he had not slept well.
Thinking about the noises that had come from outside his room last night, he looked Xu Muchan over repeatedly and tentatively asked, “Morning. How did you sleep last night?”
Xu Muchan could hear the probing undertone in his words.
He had not slept peacefully, but at least he had slept through the night. He had also deliberately taken a shower that morning, so there was not the slightest sign of fatigue or haggardness on his face.
Facing Xu Wangchuan’s probing, Xu Muchan raised his face and smiled.
“The mattress is too soft. It’s quite different from the wooden plank bed in the village, so I’m not used to sleeping on it yet. Everything else is fine.”
A perfectly normal answer, without the slightest hint of anything unusual.
But Xu Wangchuan clenched his teeth and ground them slightly.
That shouldn’t be right.
The God of Joy should have gone to Xu Muchan…
Something must have gone wrong.
Unwillingly, Xu Wangchuan glanced at him again. He wanted to ask something else, but the nanny had already prepared breakfast and was walking over.
“Wangchuan, breakfast is ready. Hurry and eat while it’s hot.”
As she spoke, she had already reached Xu Muchan. After giving him a thorough look, she introduced herself with a cheerful smile.
“So you’re Muchan? Sir and Madam have already told me about your situation. I didn’t know what you normally like to eat, so I made two breakfasts according to Wangchuan’s tastes. Try them first. If you’d like something else, you can tell me and I’ll make it for you. I prepare all three meals at home every day. You can just call me Auntie Shao.”
Auntie Shao was clearly cheerful and warm-hearted. Judging by her voice, she was probably in her forties or fifties. The hand supporting Xu Muchan’s arm had the calluses that came from years of work, carrying the plain, warm-hearted quality of a working woman that Xu Muchan was very familiar with.
Auntie Shao guided Xu Muchan to sit at the other end of the dining table. She brought over millet porridge, placed the spoon into Xu Muchan’s hand, and carefully told him what side dishes were in front of him.
She was so attentive that she practically wanted to feed Xu Muchan herself.
Instead, Xu Muchan became embarrassed. Holding the spoon, he said, “Thank you, Auntie Shao. I can do it myself.”
Only then did Auntie Shao let go, still cheerfully peeling an egg for him.
Xu Wangchuan’s gaze darkened when he saw this scene.
After finishing his porridge in two or three mouthfuls, he asked Auntie Shao, “Auntie, is the chicken ready?”
“Eh? It’s ready. I went to the market before dawn to pick out a free-range chicken. I watched them kill it right there. It’s absolutely fresh!”
Auntie Shao wiped her hands and stood up. She went to the refrigerator and handed the prepared whole chicken to Xu Wangchuan.
Xu Wangchuan took it and headed toward the basement with a solemn expression.
Listening to the direction of his footsteps, Xu Muchan vaguely remembered that the stairs leading to the basement were over there.
He could not help feeling curious and asked, “What does Xu Wangchuan need the chicken for?”
Auntie Shao blurted out, “To worship the god.”
Only after saying it did she realize that Xu Muchan had just returned home and might not know about these things.
She immediately stopped herself.
“Oh my,” she exclaimed. “Madam wants lily and red-date porridge today. The porridge hasn’t even been started yet. I’ll go take a look. Muchan, eat slowly. Call me if you need anything.”
With that, she hurried away, clearly unwilling to say anything more about the subject.
Xu Muchan slowly drank his porridge, his brows gradually knitting together.
The thing from last night seemed to have come from the direction of the staircase.
Could it be that the god Xu Wangchuan worshiped was that very thing?
His long, delicate brows drew together.
Xu Muchan could not figure it out.
Could it be that after Xu Qingming and his wife sold him away, they had continued raising that thing all along?
Xu Muchan paid attention to the movements near the staircase.
Xu Wangchuan stayed in the basement for about ten minutes before coming back upstairs.
His breathing was somewhat heavy, and his emotions seemed rather unsettled. He did not even bother maintaining his outward politeness and greeting Xu Muchan. After washing his hands, he hurriedly left for school.
After finishing breakfast, Xu Muchan thought for a while, then leaned on his white cane and cautiously made his way toward the staircase.
He walked neither quickly nor confidently, his steps very slow, making him look as though he was simply unfamiliar with the environment and had taken the wrong path.
Sure enough, Auntie Shao soon caught up with him.
She grabbed his arm and said, “Where are you going? I’ll take you there. That’s the staircase to the basement. Be careful not to fall.”
Xu Muchan asked curiously, “What’s in the basement? Can I go take a look? I’ve only walked around the first floor so far.”
Auntie Shao stammered, “What’s there to see in the basement? Your eyes aren’t convenient, so it’s not safe for you to go down. What if you fall? That would be terrible.”
As they were speaking, Xu Zhifei and Xu Qingming came downstairs.
Auntie Shao immediately looked as though she had seen a savior. She helped Xu Muchan turn around and said, “Sir and Madam are up. Let’s go over.”
Seeing this, Xu Muchan had no choice but to give up.
When Xu Zhifei saw him, she naturally pulled him close and showed him another round of concern, asking whether he had slept well, whether he was used to everything, and whether there was anything he was missing.
Xu Muchan answered each question, then smoothly brought up the matter of his school transfer and eye treatment.
Xu Zhifei smiled.
“I knew you would be anxious about it. Your father already asked about the school transfer yesterday. We can take you to school this morning to complete the procedures. As for your eyes, the professor Mom contacted won’t arrive in Jiangcheng until tomorrow afternoon. There’s no point rushing. Let’s complete the transfer procedures today first.”
Regardless of how things had been before or how they would be in the future, Xu Zhifei was genuinely concerned about his affairs right now.
The two things Xu Muchan cared about most had both made progress.
He sincerely thanked her.
“Thank you, Mom.”
Xu Zhifei smiled and rubbed his head.
“Why are you still being so polite with Mom?”
Then she added, “Your hair is so long. It should be cut too. After your examination tomorrow, how about Mom takes you to get a haircut and buy some clothes?”
Xu Muchan was simply too good-looking. Although he still could not see, Xu Zhifei was already impatient to dress him up.
When Xu Muchan returned home last night, there had been quite a few media reporters waiting outside, as well as many livestreaming hosts. The moment when Xu Muchan was helped out of the car by the assistant had been captured on camera and made it onto the trending searches that very night.
For the Xu Corporation, this was quite good positive publicity, and even the stock price rose along with it.
But for Xu Zhifei, it was not quite so wonderful.
In the photograph on the trending search, Xu Muchan was wearing an old school uniform, his head lowered as he hugged his schoolbag. His face was blurry and indistinct, making him look exactly like a timid country boy who had never seen much of the world.
Someone who did not get along with Xu Zhifei had seen it and deliberately taken a screenshot to make sarcastic remarks at her expense.
The good mood Xu Zhifei had been enjoying after finding her son was ruined just like that.
Naturally, she was determined to win back the upper hand.
She had to let everyone in her social circle know that her son was no ignorant bumpkin from the countryside.
Xu Muchan had no idea that he was carrying the important mission of helping Xu Zhifei regain face.
Back in Leigong Village, conditions had been poor. To save money, he had always cut his own hair with scissors, randomly snipping a few times as long as it met the school’s requirement of not covering his ears.
Later, after he completely lost his eyesight, he stopped cutting it.
Still, he would not object to Xu Zhifei taking him to get a haircut.
He simply said, “Let’s go on the weekend. After we finish the transfer procedures, I’d like to familiarize myself with the school first.”
Xu Zhifei was not in any hurry, so she agreed.
After breakfast, Xu Qingming went to work at the company, while Xu Zhifei took Xu Muchan to Nanming to complete his enrollment procedures.
Nanming’s full name was Nanming Foreign Languages School. It was a twelve-year school combining elementary, middle, and high school education. Because its campus environment was exceptionally excellent, and most of its students came from wealthy or influential families, it had long been jokingly called a “noble school.”
Of course, apart from its wealthy students and expensive tuition, the reason Xu Zhifei was willing to donate a building just to get Xu Muchan into the school was its outstanding educational resources: for many consecutive years, more than 98 percent of its students had qualified for admission to first-tier universities; it possessed Jiangcheng’s only foreign-language recommendation qualification; and it had gathered top-tier teaching resources, including teachers who had graduated from leading universities in China and abroad, as well as elite competition coaches.
However, Xu Muchan’s grades were unexpectedly excellent. Not only did they not need to donate a building, but his transfer procedures also went extremely smoothly.
After the procedures were completed, his homeroom teacher, Wan Zheng, led Xu Muchan to the classroom.
Xu Zhifei had originally been worried and wanted to follow them, but Xu Muchan did not want to make himself seem too special. He tactfully refused her company and followed his homeroom teacher to the classroom alone.
It happened to be the long break between classes.
The somewhat noisy classroom fell silent when Wan Zheng walked in with someone. Everyone curiously poked their heads out to look at the boy following behind their homeroom teacher.
Wan Zheng had a good relationship with the students in his class. Someone immediately called out loudly,
“Old Wan, who’s this?”
Someone else whispered among themselves,
“Why does he look blind?”
The classroom became noisy again, clearly discussing why Wan Zheng had suddenly brought someone to their class.
Wan Zheng raised his hand and pressed downward, signaling everyone to quiet down.
Only then did he introduce Xu Muchan, explaining that he was a new transfer student. Because he had been injured and was temporarily unable to see, everyone should take good care of their new classmate.
Then he smiled at Xu Muchan.
“It’s your first time meeting everyone. Give us a self-introduction.”
Xu Muchan was not the coy type. He stepped forward, facing the front of the classroom with his expressionless eyes, and introduced himself openly and straightforwardly:
“Hello, everyone. I’m Xu Muchan. The Xu from ‘Chengbei Xugong,’ and the Muchan from ‘Mucan buke ting.’”
He was not a talkative person. Once he finished speaking, he quietly stood to the side.
Whispers broke out in the classroom again, with all sorts of discussions going on. School life was dull and boring, so the sudden arrival of a transfer student had everyone extremely interested. They practically wanted to examine and judge Xu Muchan from head to toe.
Wan Zheng had a student move his desk over to make room, then said to Xu Muchan, “You can sit in the seat next to Xu Wangchuan. That’ll make it easier for you two to look after each other. Someone will bring your textbooks over later. If you need anything, you can call me.”
Nanming was not particularly strict about students checking their phones. Xu Muchan’s situation was special, so he was allowed to carry a phone openly.
Xu Muchan thanked him and followed him to his seat, feeling around before sitting down.
Nanming used a small-class teaching system, with only forty students in the class. Each student had their own seat. Core subjects such as Chinese, mathematics, and English, as well as class meetings and so on, were held in the same fixed classroom. Only some minor subjects required students to move to different classrooms.
Xu Muchan had already chosen physics, chemistry, and biology when he was at Yundong, and he continued with the same three subjects after transferring. Fortunately, they were all taught in the original classroom, so he did not need to go elsewhere for classes.
He ran his hand over the completely empty desk. Although classes had not even started yet, his heart settled down. He had the feeling that his life had finally returned to its proper course.
Xu Wangchuan was somehow stung by the smile on his face, and for some reason felt a surge of displeasure. He deliberately spoke up.
“Muchan, if you don’t understand something during class later, you can ask me afterward. Nanming’s curriculum might be a little different from Yundong’s.”
The others in the class were already extremely curious about Xu Muchan. The moment they heard Xu Wangchuan’s words, they exploded into chatter, asking one question after another.
“Class monitor, you know the transfer student?”
“You’re both surnamed Xu. Are you relatives? Wait, could he be that younger brother of yours who was kidnapped and later found?”
“Wasn’t he the one on the trending searches last night?”
All kinds of voices surrounded Xu Muchan. He blinked and ignored them, taking out an earbud and putting it on. He wanted to call Xu Zhifei—he suddenly remembered that he still needed a recording pen, and it would be best if he could also download an electronic version of the textbooks. That way, he could record the lessons and, for the parts he could not understand, go home and study them slowly with the electronic textbooks.
Xu Wangchuan smiled and said, “He’s my younger brother. We only brought him home yesterday. Muchan was worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up with his studies, so even though his eyes haven’t recovered yet, he hurried to school…”
“He transferred from Yundong? …Isn’t it pretty backward over there?”
Someone whispered, “How did he end up in our class? Don’t let him drag down our class average…”
“His eyes are already blind and he still wants to come to school. It’s good that he’s eager to learn, but getting into our class isn’t something you can manage through hard work alone…”
“Hey, Xu Wangchuan, is this your younger sister? She’s pretty good-looking.”
Amid the chattering discussion, a voice crashed into the room like a stone thrown into a lake, carrying an utterly unconcerned attitude.
“Plop.”
The classroom immediately fell silent.
Xu Muchan slowly turned to the right. Furrowing his brows, he said very seriously, one word at a time:
“I. Am. A. Man.”