Chen Mo took off his jacket and threw himself into the large chair in the corner. Silently, he lit a cigarette.

As the smoke entered his lungs, it awakened his somewhat sluggish thoughts. Only after sitting there immersed in his thoughts for a long time did the reality of having returned to his high school years finally sink in.

All around him were the noisy curses and chatter of teenage boys. The smell of summer sweat mixed with cheap cigarettes, snacks, and instant noodles, filling the entire space with a stuffy, suffocating atmosphere.

A message came in on his phone.

The contact saved as Big Brother asked:

Where are you?

Chen Mo ignored it.

Another two minutes passed.

Big Brother: Uncle Li, the driver, said he couldn’t find you after school. You’re only unhappy because Mom and Dad withdrew the lawsuit, aren’t you? You want to drive Shule out of the Yang family, but that’s never going to happen. I advise you not to cause trouble.

Another two minutes passed.

Big Brother: Reply to my message. You don’t even know how to use a phone?

His patience was clearly running out.

Twenty-five-year-old Yang Zhi was already the heir designated by the Yang family.

Back then, their father, Yang Qian’an, had managed to take over the Yang Group from among his four siblings because he had married Zhou Yaoqiong, the second daughter of the equally powerful Zhou family, in a political alliance.

Over the years, the couple had maintained only a superficial harmony. Their marriage had barely survived, held together solely by mutual interests.

The year Chen Mo and Yang Shule were born happened to be a time when the couple’s relationship was on the verge of collapse.

That was why both sides of the family doted on Yang Shule as though he were their most precious treasure.

Yang Zhi, his elder brother who was eight years older than him, had been raised from childhood to be serious and rigid. But when it came to Yang Shule, he genuinely loved and protected him, and had done so for many years.

Chen Mo was different.

He had appeared halfway through their lives, and there was no emotional bond between him and the Yang family.

Apart from a little guilt and a sense of indebtedness, that was all there was.

They sent him to the best high school, placing him in the most outstanding class.

They gave him more pocket money than he could ever spend.

So they didn’t understand. They were even puzzled. What more could he possibly be dissatisfied with?

Chen Mo also remembered the incident Yang Zhi had mentioned in his messages.

It had started when the Yang family accidentally leaked the news that they were searching for their son, causing fluctuations in the group’s stock price. On top of that, Yang Shule had fallen ill and remained bedridden for more than half a month. Worried sick, the couple directly withdrew their lawsuit against Li Yunru and issued a public clarification: The incident had been caused by a nurse at the hospital making a mistake. There had been no deliberate baby switch.

The Yang family had even crafted an image of Chen Mo as an inspirational young man from the countryside in their clarification report.

Ambitious and sensible, poor but raised in a harmonious family.

His parents had worked hard to support his education, hoping he would make something of himself, and he knew how to be grateful. To him, discovering his true background simply meant that he had gained another family.

In his previous life, Chen Mo had made a huge scene at the Yang family home over this.

He had demanded that if the Yang family wanted to withdraw the lawsuit, Yang Shule would have to leave the family.

That had been his childish revenge against Li Yunru.

Because from the day the Yang family found him, Chen Mo had finally come to understand that Li Yunru didn’t love him. He wasn’t even worthy of that cheap, pitiful bit of maternal affection she had left to give.

However, the news that he wanted to drive Yang Shule out of the Yang family had somehow spread to the school.

Li Rui and his gang had cornered him in the internet café.

His parents thought he was acting out of jealousy and resentment, while Yang Zhi had even sent him a warning message.

Wasn’t that ironic?

Even after two lifetimes, thinking about this incident still made him feel just how absurd it all was.

Moreover, before being cornered in the internet café, he had already been running a high fever. In the end, the internet café owner had been the one to send him to the hospital after he collapsed, where he received an intravenous drip.

For the entire night, not a single person in the Yang family had asked where he had gone.

It was only when he returned the next day that he ran into Yang Shule, who was also running a fever and carrying a suitcase, apparently intending to leave the Yang family.

The Yang parents grabbed hold of him, their hearts aching with concern.

“You’re this sick! Where do you think you’re going? You’re not allowed to leave!”

His elder brother, Yang Zhi, took the suitcase from his hands and looked at Chen Mo meaningfully.

“Shule, this is your home. No one has the right to make you move out.”

The driver and servants gathered around, whispering and pointing fingers.

“Why should Little Le have to move out? He’s always been my favorite.”

“Exactly! So what if Chen Mo is their biological son? The moment he comes back, he starts making things difficult for everyone.”

“He even insists on sending his adoptive mother to prison. What an ungrateful brat.”

“Being raised in the countryside probably made him mean and petty.”

Yang Shule was surrounded by people treating him like the center of the universe, yet he was also the victim of Chen Mo’s supposed dislike.

“I’ll move out,” he said. “Chen Mo, can you please stop upsetting Mom and Dad from now on? And stop making things difficult for Big Brother, too.”

All of Chen Mo’s suppressed emotions erupted in an instant.

“Move out? Fine.” Chen Mo sneered. “Then make sure you love your biological parents just as much.”

Did he move out in the end?

Of course not.

Instead, from that day onward, Chen Mo finally saw his situation clearly.

He couldn’t keep up with the academic pace of the city’s high school, so he studied relentlessly.

For the things he wanted, the things that should have belonged to him in the first place, he fought for them with everything he had.

The anger burning in his chest, unable to find an outlet, turned into an obsession with making something of himself. It grew stronger and stronger, eventually spreading like a wildfire after years of smoldering, until it burned him beyond recognition.

By the time Chen Mo was twenty-eight, many people hated him, while others feared him. He had finally acquired enough confidence, money, and status to stand on his own. The price, however, was a body riddled with problems.

His stomach was in such terrible condition that he was practically on the verge of stomach cancer.

He frequently suffered from respiratory infections and developed a fever every few days.

The knee problems he had suffered since childhood, after Chen Jianli had forced him to kneel in the snow for an entire night, continued to plague him. Even after surgery, the pain was often unbearable whenever the weather turned rainy.

A doctor who had known him for years had once slapped his medical records in frustration and said, “If you don’t quit smoking and drinking, you’d better start looking for someone to arrange your funeral!”

Chen Mo had been busy with business matters at the time.

“No need. I’ll find somewhere that doesn’t require anyone to arrange my funeral.”

“You’re fucking insane!”

“Is this the first time you’ve found that out?”

In fact, not long after that meeting, Chen Mo encountered an act of revenge.

The middle-aged businessman who had been a rival of the Yang Group for years brought more than a dozen men with him. His eyes were dark and sinister.

“Yang Zhi is ruthless enough! So what if the two of you joined forces to destroy me? The situation you’re in now is what you deserve! It’s what the entire Yang family deserves!”

Leaning against the edge of the fourth floor of an unfinished building, Chen Mo wore an exceptionally calm expression. He was neither surprised nor particularly concerned about the fate awaiting him.

He said indifferently, “I won’t deny that I joined forces with Yang Zhi. Who in this world doesn’t love money?”

“But there’s one thing you’re wrong about.”

“My surname is Chen.”

“If you’re trying to use me to take revenge on the Yang family, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed.”

Chen Mo didn’t know whether anyone had eventually come to collect his body.

He thought there probably had been.

After ten days or half a month, someone would eventually discover his corpse and call the police. For the sake of maintaining the respectable image of a wealthy family, the Yang family wouldn’t begrudge the funeral expenses.

\*

Yang Zhi no longer sent messages through the phone. Instead, he called.

Chen Mo let the phone ring continuously. He simply shook the ash from the half-smoked cigarette resting between his fingertips on the armrest.

The symptoms of his high fever were obvious.

His limbs felt weak and sore, and his head was dizzy and heavy.

A few boys playing games beside him had arrived later. They were cursing and discussing the game excitedly.

“Go around the back! Go around the back!”

“Fuck! I died again. Restart!”

During a lull in the game, someone said, “Have you checked the group chat? The place where Li Rui and his gang cornered someone today seems to be this internet café, right?”

“Who did they corner?”

“Chen Mo from the experimental class.”

“Oh? Isn’t he in the same class as Old Gou? So he’s one of the top students, huh?”

The boy nicknamed Old Gou happened to be sitting right beside Chen Mo. He cursed, “Fuck off.”

“Come on, tell us a little. What’s he like? Lately, all the gossip has been about him and that Yang Shule guy in your class. I’m dying of curiosity.”

“Not close. Can’t remember. If you’re so interested in gossip, why don’t you just go buy some melons at the entrance? Three yuan for two catties. You won’t die from eating too much.”

A burst of laughter followed.

Someone else chimed in, “I heard his family paid to get him into the class. But who knows? The education system in those backward county towns is probably just like that. All the good students are basically the same—bookworms who are good at nothing but rote memorization.”

Chen Mo found their conversation boring. Sitting nearby, he casually asked, “What do bookworms look like?”

Gou Yiyang was startled when someone suddenly spoke beside him.

He turned his head, and his first reaction was: Who the hell is this guy? He’s awfully familiar.

Two seconds later, embarrassment.

Then even more embarrassment.

And finally, the most unbearable embarrassment of all…

Was there anything worse in this world than talking about someone behind their back, only to have that person catch you red-handed?

Someone even stupidly asked, “Old Gou, who’s that?”

Gou Yiyang cleared his throat twice and leaned back slightly so the others could see the person beside him clearly.

“Chen Mo. He’s my classmate.”

Everyone else: “…”

May they ask who this long-legged guy sitting beside them was, with his legs crossed, his eyes carrying the deep exhaustion of someone who had stayed up all night, and smoke swirling around him as he casually smoked one cigarette after another?

Was this really the legendary Chen Mo?

Gou Yiyang’s mouth twitched too.

It was true that he wasn’t close to Chen Mo. The central figure of all this gossip had transferred into their experimental class over a month ago, but Gou Yiyang’s impression of him hadn’t gone beyond his self-introduction on the first day.

The person standing on the podium back then had been neither as timid and submissive as he had imagined nor as arrogantly proud as someone who had supposedly leaped from obscurity into a wealthy family.

Those eyes of his always seemed cold when looking at others. He certainly wasn’t an easy person to approach.

So when Chen Mo took the initiative to speak, Gou Yiyang’s first thought was that he was looking for trouble.

Gou Yiyang had no intention of provoking a confrontation. Guessing that Chen Mo was in a bad mood after being bullied earlier, he could only smooth things over on behalf of his friends.

“Don’t take it to heart. They didn’t mean anything by it.”

“What if I insist on taking offense?” Chen Mo looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

Gou Yiyang froze and released his mouse.

“Then take it out on me.”

Chen Mo withdrew his gaze and suddenly smiled.

“Forget it.”

This classmate, whose name sounded rather like “Dog-Like,” was actually the doctor friend Chen Mo had become very familiar with in his previous life.

It was just that they hadn’t gotten to know each other until after graduating from university in his previous life, rather than during high school.

Chen Mo could hardly remember what Doctor Gou had been like as a high school student. In his memories, Gou Yiyang had always been a rather serious-looking man who occasionally cracked jokes.

Back then, Chen Mo’s mind hadn’t been occupied with things like this.

Just then, someone at the entrance suddenly shouted, “Bald Lai is here!”

“Fuck!”

“Run! Run!”

The entire internet café descended into chaos.

Chen Mo raised his eyes and looked toward the entrance.

In the next second, someone forcibly pulled him to his feet.

He heard Old Gou say, “Bro, let’s put our personal grudges aside for now. Staying alive is more important.”

Chen Mo leisurely reached for his jacket and casually asked, “Are you guys that afraid of him?”

“You’re not? That’s Lai Xianfu, the grade director for the second year of high school!” Gou Yiyang looked at him as though silently saying, Let’s see how long you can keep up that act.

Then he stepped forward, picked up Chen Mo’s jacket for him, and said, “Let’s get out of here first. The experimental class is one of his main targets for inspections. If he catches you and me hanging around in an internet café, neither of us will live to see tomorrow’s sunrise.”

And just like that, Chen Mo was inexplicably dragged along with the group as they ran out through the internet café’s back door.

By then, it was already dark outside.

There were hardly any pedestrians on the street in the back alley. The scattered shops cast dim yellow light, and a stray cat, startled by the commotion, darted out of a pile of garbage.

After running that short distance, Chen Mo felt that his heartbeat was abnormally fast.

Holding the jacket he had retrieved, he naturally leaned back against the wall behind him.

Someone rested his hands on his knees and panted. “Bald Lai didn’t chase us, did he?”

“Probably not.”

“What a lousy gaming experience today. Damn it!”

“Then let’s get going.”

“How about barbecue together?”

“All of us?”

They turned to ask Chen Mo.

Sometimes, things between boys could be quite simple. Unlike Li Rui’s genuinely troublesome gang, these people had only heard rumors about Chen Mo before. They had no real grievances with him.

Chen Mo shook his head. Because of his high fever, his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

When the wind blew through the back alley, it sent a bone-deep chill through him.

“You guys go ahead.” Chen Mo’s voice was slightly hoarse.

Perhaps Gou Yiyang was destined to become a doctor. His intuition was astonishing. Looking at Chen Mo, he asked, “Are you okay? I noticed you didn’t look well even when we were inside.”

After he said that, the others also turned to look at Chen Mo.

Having been accustomed to interacting with the adult Gou Yiyang in his previous life, Chen Mo instinctively replied, “I’m not going to die.”

Just then, his phone notified him of another incoming message.

When he checked it, surprisingly, it was Yang Zhi again.

Yang Zhi: Do you even know what time it is? Chen Mo, even if you’re unhappy, there has to be a limit.

This was strange. Had Yang Zhi really sent him this many messages in his previous life?

Chen Mo replied:

Chen Mo: Worried about me?

The person on the other end was probably so disgusted by the reply that he fell completely silent.

Having achieved his objective, Chen Mo pressed the back button. After pausing for two seconds, he typed a sentence onto a blank note page.

—Retired and enjoying life. Do not disturb.

Then he turned off his phone.

His fingers unconsciously brushed against the cigarette pack in his pocket. Suddenly, he felt like smoking another cigarette.

Then he remembered that he had left his lighter at the internet café, so he gave up on the idea.

After putting away his phone and looking up, he realized that none of the others had left.

“Weren’t you guys going for barbecue?” Chen Mo changed his mind in the next instant and said, “My treat.”

“No need for you to pay.”

“Exactly.”

“Old Gou should pay.”

“Go to hell! Why don’t you pay?”

“Then let’s split the bill.”