Chapter 23: The True and Fake Young Masters
An Yuan froze on the sofa for a moment. Though he had never met this An Yi before, the other man’s existence gave him an enormous sense of crisis—not only because of his parents’ affection, but also because of the issue of dividing the family assets.
The power struggle within the An family company had always been fierce. An Shaofeng had already started entertaining the idea of stepping down and letting the worthy take over. After all, he was getting older, no longer had as much energy, nor the same drive as the young. He wanted to begin enjoying retired life early. But An Shaofeng still held a massive share of the company stock in his hands.
Everyone could see the sacrifices An Shaofeng had made for the company. With that many shares in hand, no one criticized him for it. After all, it was what he deserved. Even after the next person in power took office, they would still have to treat him with respect.
And those huge shares, before this, should have been inherited by him. But now that An Yi had appeared, it was different—especially since An Yi was An Shaofeng’s biological son.
He was not an An family child, and had not the slightest blood relation to An Shaofeng or Chen Lin. From the day he learned the truth, he knew these assets were not something he should take, nor something he should long for, because they fundamentally did not belong to him.
But human desire was endless.
Who could really make peace with money?
Yet there was always a voice in his heart telling him: An Yuan, if you have any backbone at all, then you shouldn’t take those shares. The An family raised you for so many years. Even if you only learned a little skill, could you not support yourself?
And yet, whenever he thought that An Shaofeng might truly not leave him even a single share, An Yuan felt a bit unbalanced inside.
They had been family for over twenty years. Surely the man would not be that heartless.
Though the two of them had been switched at birth, An Yuan felt that he too had something pitiable about him. He had never truly received fatherly love. An Shaofeng was not at all warm with children—whether his own or other relatives’ children. An Shaofeng might have been a successful businessman, but he was not a qualified father.
Turning his head, An Yuan looked at Chen Lin. “Mom, did An Yi live well in that family?”
Chen Lin shook her head. She felt that he must not have. How could anyone possibly live well in some remote, out-of-the-way mountain place? But An Yi had never talked to her about it.
Chen Lin sighed. “Yiyi never told me.”
The reason An Yi never told Chen Lin was, first, because he did not want to revisit those memories. The past was the past. Hardship was not something worth reminiscing about.
Second, if he truly told her everything in full detail, Chen Lin would not simply cry for three days.
After hearing that, An Yuan nodded. He had heard that when An Yi was found, he had been in a remote mountain village. When he came back, he had asked the bodyguards who had gone to bring An Yi back.
The moment those bodyguards heard An Yi’s name, their expressions became indescribably complicated. When asked about him, the few of them fell silent for a long while, and only after quite some time did one of them say in a lifeless tone, “Young Master An Yi is in pretty good health.”
An Yuan understood. Then that should mean he had lived fairly okay. He had grown up so sturdy, so his life probably had not been all that hard.
That was how he soothed himself in his heart. It was the only way he could numb himself.
Because, to put it bluntly, he had occupied the magpie’s nest. Everyone knew what kind of good life could possibly be had in a mountain ravine? He had been mistakenly swapped into wealth and luxury. He had lived the life that should have belonged to An Yi.
For the past few months, he had always been living in this state of restlessness and agitation. The guilt he felt toward An Yi was like a balloon being pumped full of air—bigger and bigger, larger and larger.
In the end, all he could do was pick out a few stray phrases from other people’s words. An Yi is healthy. He looks pretty happy. Then he would piece together these scraps in his imagination and convince himself that An Yi had actually lived quite well in the mountain village. If he did not think this way, he could not sleep at night. If he did not think this way, he could not get over the hurdle in his heart.
What if An Yi had really lived pretty well? Maybe he had gotten the love of his adoptive parents—say, the fatherly love that An Yuan had always longed for.
When he thought of it that way, it really did seem like the other man had lived a pretty decent life. Yet every time he finished comforting himself like that, a wave of guilt still surged through him.
Because he really did not want to leave the An family. No matter how much he imagined that An Yi had lived well in the mountains, if someone told him to go live there himself, he would be a thousand times, ten thousand times unwilling.
He had previously searched online at night for living conditions in remote mountain regions. How could a place like that be fit for human habitation?
If he had to go there, within three days he would probably throw himself off the mountain.
An Yuan had already thought it through. If An Shaofeng could still spare him a thought and leave him a little stock—even just as a token gesture—he would be satisfied in his heart. But he would not take any of it. He would transfer it all to An Yi. But if An Shaofeng truly did not leave him anything at all…
At this thought, An Yuan fell silent.
Surely not, right? Even zero point one percent would do.
That evening, An Shaofeng returned from the company. Lately, he had been handling the matter of the next successor taking power. In the An family, ability came first, and the one he currently favored most was his elder brother’s second son—a man of outstanding ability, someone with the makings of achieving great things.
As for himself, he held a huge amount of company stock. Even after retirement, he would still be the person with the greatest say in the An family. The company was the family’s lifeblood. He had taken over when his elder brother was in a car accident and fell unconscious, and he had been the one to prop the company back up. Within the An family, even if the old patriarch saw him, he would have to yield him a seat.
At the dinner table, when he heard Chen Lin say that An Yi would be coming back tomorrow, An Shaofeng raised his eyelids slightly and said lightly, “Oh? What time?”
An Yuan turned his head to look at An Shaofeng. Though the man did not show it outwardly, An Yuan could tell he was happy.
Without changing expression, he picked up a piece of bitter melon with his chopsticks, even though he normally never ate it.
Trying to smile while holding it back. This old man really did have too many tricks up his sleeve.
Actually, though An Shaofeng was already forty-seven or forty-eight, it was impossible to tell from looking at him. Among that group of greasy old CEOs, his appearance could be called strikingly outstanding.
An Yuan could not help imagining what An Yi looked like. Chen Lin had said that the first meeting would be more of a surprise if she did not show him a photo.
But Chen Lin herself was not bad-looking either. Back then, she and An Shaofeng had fallen in love at first sight. What kind of child would the two of them produce?
After lunch, An Yuan hesitated for a while, then decided to go to the study and find An Shaofeng. The company had been very busy lately, and tomorrow there was no telling whether he would even come home for dinner. Maybe An Yi would return, but he himself would not be back. Maybe An Yi would leave, and he still would not have arrived. The father and son might miss each other perfectly.
He knocked on the door, then raised a hand to twist the handle, opening it a crack.
An Shaofeng’s cheerful voice drifted out through the door gap.
“I’m not going to the company tomorrow. Elder Brother, you go in my place.”
“Yes, An Yi is coming back tomorrow. Haven’t seen him in a while.”
As he spoke, he could not help laughing.
“This child An Yi isn’t particularly close to me. He’s closer to his mother. But he still cares about me.”
“He’s coming back tomorrow. At night, probably—he might have work during the day.”
The way he looked, one would think he was some empty-nest old man who had been left behind for over twenty years.
Look at how worthless that smile is.
After seeing An Yuan, An Shaofeng said a few more words to the person on the other end, then hung up the phone.
Seeing how quickly he tucked away that big grin, An Yuan: …
So you do know your smile looks cheap.
An Shaofeng cleared his throat, trying to salvage a shred of dignity. “What is it?”
An Yuan stood there hesitating for a while. Originally, he had planned to ask some questions about An Yi. But then, with a sweep of his eyes, he saw the document on An Shaofeng’s left.
The two words “will and testament” instantly stabbed into An Yuan’s eyes.
His mouth flew open at once. “Dad, what happened to you?!”
An Shaofeng: “What do you mean, what happened?”
An Yuan raised a hand and grabbed the will. “Do you have some terminal illness or something? Why are you making a will?!”
He flipped through the pages at lightning speed, and the very first line read: Upon An Shaofeng’s death…
An Yuan: …
Wishing yourself to live to a hundred. Of course it would be you.
Then his gaze moved lower.
All fifty percent of the company shares held in hand shall belong to the eldest son, An Yi.
An Yuan stared at the words eldest son as if struck by lightning under a clear sky.
He looked at An Shaofeng in disbelief. “Eldest son?!”
An Shaofeng was about to say something. “Well, that is…”
An Yuan slapped the desk. “Mom said I was supposed to be the older brother!”
An Shaofeng: …
What happened to me being the older brother?!
Change it for me!
The more An Yuan read the will, the sadder he became. The entire fifty percent of the company’s stock would go to An Yi. This rotten old man was really not leaving him even the tiniest bit. He did not love him at all. Though those shares were not something he ought to take, a token gesture would have been fine!
All these years, in the end, his feelings had all been misdirected.
And so there was now one more heartbroken person in the world.
Holding the will, An Yuan said sadly, “You really don’t love me at all.”
An Shaofeng: “Huh?”
Actually, when it came to An Yuan and An Yi, he thought he had been pretty fair. Behind the scenes, he had read plenty of novels about switched-at-birth true and fake daughters and sons, and in those stories the true and fake heirs always turned against each other like mortal enemies.
So he had decided to be a fair father.
And in truth, he had succeeded.
He took care of neither of them.
But everyone had selfishness. Every time he read those novels, he always rooted for the real one, whether they were the villain or not, because deep down in his heart, he really did like An Yi more.
He had been busy with work and had no time to look after children. When An Yuan was little, he cried the moment he was picked up, not close to him in the slightest. After trying a few times, he stopped trying.
After An Yi was brought back, there were many things he did not understand. Every time, he would ask with a dazed expression, “What’s this? And what’s that? It’s so new, I’ve never seen it before. Can I have it? I’m so happy.”
Every time he saw An Yi’s silly look, An Shaofeng wanted to laugh. Every time he came home and Chen Lin was not around, An Yi would sit beside him and ask him all sorts of questions, saying he wanted to learn.
So the longer they spent together, and the more An Shaofeng saw how narrow An Yi’s horizons and life experience were, the guiltier he felt.
The biggest turning point had been that charity gala on the third day after An Yi was brought back.
At that time, he had not felt much for An Yi yet. Even though he was his own flesh and blood, for the sake of face, he had said that An Yi was an adopted son.
After that, he had even pushed An Yi toward the Huo family to save the company.
Without a doubt, he did not deserve to be this father.
And all the shares in his hands were what An Yi deserved. Without An Yi, there would be no company. As long as An Yi inherited them, he would become the biggest shareholder in the An family, with authority and status no one could shake.
Once the company had stabilized, and once he further trained up the younger generation, it would surely continue to prosper. Since An Yi had no ambitions in this area, then he could simply lie at home and collect money.
Holding the will, An Yuan pointed at that line. “You’re not leaving me even a little of the stock?”
An Shaofeng did not even crease his brow, nor did he bother with any useless pretense. “That is what An Yi deserves.”
An Yuan did not catch the deeper meaning beneath those words. With a sudden dive, he threw himself onto An Shaofeng’s lap. “You’re way too biased, aaahhh! Am I not your son?”
After saying it, he froze.
Apparently he really was not.
Looking at An Yuan rolling around and throwing a fit, An Shaofeng sucked in a deep breath.
What a humiliating thing.
“You’re too biased! You like An Yi more than me!!!”
An Shaofeng hauled him up. “His childhood was so bitter. After being brought back, am I not allowed to give him even a little favoritism?”
Put that way, if he did not give him at least some, then An Yi truly was too pitiful.
An Yuan bared his teeth. “But none of that was caused by me! How can you be this biased? Am I not also a victim in this?”
An Shaofeng looked at him and let out a breath. No matter how he tried to educate him, An Yuan’s vision remained terribly limited. He did not know how to see things in depth. That was why he could not become a qualified heir, nor a qualified businessman.
“You are a victim, yes—because you were switched at birth. But let me ask you this: in the end, who was the beneficiary of this whole thing?”
It was not the nurse who had made the mistake back then.
It was not the An family.
It was not the poor family in the mountain ravine.
And it was certainly not An Yi.
In this mistaken incident, there had not been a single beneficiary except An Yuan.
Though he was innocent, he was the only one who profited from it. He had lived a good life he might never otherwise have had. He had enjoyed over twenty years of the wealthy young master’s life that should have belonged to the real heir.
What businessmen and successful people valued most was never some so-called feelings. In this society, the person with money was the one who had the final say; the one who lived well. The complaints and wails of those who had already benefited were nothing more than having it good and still pretending to be wronged.
That the real young master had been brought back and had not shown the slightest resentment was an exceptionally rare thing. And even if he had been resentful, that would only have been natural.
He should have been living in luxury and comfort, yet instead lived a hard life. Do not say things like, As long as his adoptive parents loved him, that should be enough; he still grew up healthy, didn’t he? He was not starved or deprived of water. Other than money, he lacked nothing.
Money—an almost all-powerful thing—was spoken of as though it weighed nothing at all.
And even if, like they said, one set money aside, what about the resources he should have had from childhood? What about the horizons he should have seen from childhood? Were those things really something that could all be brushed aside lightly with one word—love?
In elite circles, who talked about love and all that? That sort of thing was only good for fooling children—telling them that with love, you had everything.
Even people starved of love would still hesitate between money and love.
People always wanted to rise higher. Everyone had ambition.
If the real one had never been found, the heights and horizons he would spend his entire life looking up at and striving for might have been his from the day he was born.
By saying this, An Shaofeng did not mean to make An Yuan feel guilty toward An Yi. He simply meant that An Yuan should not fight An Yi over this. Whether An Shaofeng gave him shares or did not, he should not be behaving like this. It showed not a shred of upbringing. If An Yuan understood even this one point, he would not be acting this way.
An Yuan’s biggest problem was that he only saw what others did badly to him. He never remembered the good. In that, he was the complete opposite of An Yi.
He did not want An Yuan to feel guilty. If the other man did not contend with An Yi, he would never have said these things in the first place. Besides, he had left An Yuan some real estate, enough for the rest of his life.
An Yuan had never been particularly good at studying. His brain was not sharp enough. He had not gotten into high school, so An Shaofeng had used connections to send him abroad to attend a prestigious school and get a polished degree. His nature was not bad—he was just a little stupid.
For example, just like this now.
But if one spoke of selfishness, An Shaofeng admitted that he did have selfishness. Compared with An Yuan, he was more partial toward An Yi. It was not only because of guilt, but also because of the honest, simple way the other called him Dad. In fact, more than a son, An Shaofeng treated An Yi like a daughter.
An Yi was good-looking. His features were not especially masculine, but rather clean and soft. After his skin had been nursed back to a fairer tone, there were times he looked almost genderless.
He remembered that last winter, he had heard from his wife that An Yi had never eaten ice cream before, and this had shocked him deeply. That kind of sweet thing—An Yi had actually never eaten it.
Chen Lin had said that An Yi had only ever eaten popsicles made by freezing sweetened water. He did not know what ice cream was and had only curiously asked her about it after seeing it on TV.
“Mom, what’s that?”
That day after work, An Shaofeng had gone by the mall, bought some snacks, and gone home carrying an ice cream cone for An Yi. He had not turned on the heater in the car the entire way, letting the winter wind blow through the windows so the ice cream would not melt. Fortunately, winter was cold, and it stayed intact.
When An Yi took the cone, his eyes lit up at once. “Dad, is this that ice cream from the TV? I saw it on TV!”
The house had floor heating, so it was not cold. An Yi had heard that An Shaofeng was back and had climbed out of bed. His hair was a little messy, his face red and warm, and holding the ice cream, he smiled as though he had received the stars from the sky.
But he did not eat it first. Instead, he held it out before An Shaofeng. “Dad, you eat first.”
An Shaofeng said, “Dad doesn’t want it.”
Then An Yi turned with the ice cream to Chen Lin, but Chen Lin waved her hand too and said she was cutting sugar.
Seeing that neither of them would eat it, only then did An Yi treasure it and take one careful lick. His eyes curved into little crescents with how happily he smiled.
Seeing that, An Shaofeng deliberately teased him. “What are you smiling at? It’s not even anything that special.”
An Yi said, “I’m happy. Ice cream is so sweet.”
After that, An Shaofeng brought him some almost every day after coming home, until after one month of eating it, An Yi got diarrhea.
Looking at An Yuan on the floor, An Shaofeng sighed.
For a moment, An Yuan was stunned silly by what An Shaofeng had said. The other man was right—he was indeed the beneficiary. And since he was not even the An family’s biological child, if he had any backbone he should not want those shares.
But he was unwilling.
“I don’t care, you’re just biased!!!”
He never considered that the reason the An family had revived was because An Yi had married himself off to Huo Beixing. Nor did he look at the real estate An Shaofeng had already left him.
In his heart, he kept thinking that if An Shaofeng gave him shares, he would not take them. But if they were really given, then in truth he would want them.
He was only numbing himself, nothing more.
—
Late that night, An Yuan opened NetEase Cloud Music, turned the volume up loud, and began his emo night.
Early the next morning, before An Yi had even arrived, Chen Lin had already started directing the An household to clean everything. Everything had to be re-dusted and re-scrubbed. Even the damn dog got bathed twice.
The sense of unfairness in An Yuan’s heart grew stronger and stronger. From what he had heard other people say about An Yi, he sounded like someone with a very healthy mind. He must have received the love of his adoptive parents. That was one thing An Yi had more of than him—he had never known fatherly love.
It was unfair.
He wanted to see for himself what was so magical about blood ties that they could rival more than twenty years of family affection in just one year.
At a little past three in the afternoon, the An family’s front door was finally knocked on. An Yi came to visit with Huo Beixing, carrying quite a number of things.
An Yuan stood stiffly at An Shaofeng’s side, pretending to be calm. But An Yi was holding so many things, and the servants had gone over to carry them, completely blocking him from view.
Before they had even met face to face, An Yuan took a deep breath.
Stay calm. Even if An Yi has come back, I still need to have a place here. I have to fight for those shares! Even if it’s only zero point one percent!!
Chen Lin introduced An Yuan to An Yi. “Yiyi, this is your Brother A Yuan.”
An Yi stepped forward politely, the corners of his brows and eyes curving as he smiled at him. “Brother A Yuan.”
An Yuan froze, then raised his eyes to look.
An Yuan: !
A sweetie!!!
Looking at An Yi’s unbelievably obedient face, then hearing that soft Brother A Yuan, An Yuan felt dizzy.
Damn. Who wouldn’t be dizzy after seeing this?
