Chapter 49: It’s Been a Long Time Since I’ve Seen the Young Master…
Yu Bai practically floated back to the classroom with a wooden expression.
Even after he sat down at his seat, he still felt as if his soul had left his body. His mind was blank, his whole person dazed.
Xie Wu walked over, sighed softly, and patted him on the shoulder.
Meeting the slightly sympathetic look in the other boy’s eyes, Yu Bai instantly realized something.
He had heard it too.
The whole class had heard it.
Haha… that was pretty normal, right?
After all, they had been standing so close.
He forced a smile onto his face, but two clear tears slowly slid down from his unfocused eyes.
Xie Wu was startled by the sudden sight. His expression changed several times before he finally wrapped an arm around Yu Bai’s head with exaggerated loyalty.
“Go ahead and cry,” he said. “After you’re done crying, just forget about him.”
Gu Yang looked over in confusion. Only a few minutes ago Yu Bai had been sharing his troubles with him, but now he was suddenly sitting there sobbing like he’d lost his mind.
With the concerned expression one might use toward a psychiatric patient, Gu Yang asked, “What happened?”
What else could it be?
Sometimes Xie Wu felt like he might suffocate from keeping secrets.
After the whole ordeal in Class Eleven, he felt that his ability to keep confidential information had reached the next level.
His mouth was sealed tight.
So he only said mysteriously, “Nothing. The kid’s grown up. Got some things on his mind.”
Lu Ran watched the entire farce coldly.
Idiots.
Making such a fuss over something so trivial.
Acting like some kind of attention-seeking clown.
It made him irritable all over again.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the empty seat beside him.
Nie Ying still hadn’t come today.
He wondered whether the thing he had promised to do had been done yet.
Then Lu Ran looked at Lu Ji sitting in front of him, the malicious thoughts in his heart impossible to suppress.
So annoying.
Why doesn’t he just go die?
Just before school ended, Lu Ji received a phone call.
The caller ID read: Mrs. Lu.
His eyes darkened. The ringtone rang for several seconds before he finally stepped outside to answer.
The call connected.
From the other end came a gentle, slightly hoarse voice, cautiously calling out to him.
“Xiao Ji…”
Lu Ji responded with a faint “Mm,” and nothing more.
Mrs. Lu was silent for a few seconds before continuing awkwardly.
“Your brother and your father tried calling you before. Why didn’t you answer?”
“Didn’t hear it.”
“Oh… I see.” She hurriedly explained. “You’re still at school, after all. It’s normal if you didn’t notice.”
“Xiao Ji, I’m calling because I want you to come back and live at home.” Perhaps afraid he would hang up immediately, she spoke a little faster. “I asked about your school dorms. They’re double rooms. You have to share with someone else, which must be inconvenient. It would definitely be better to stay at home.”
“There’s nothing inconvenient about it. At least here there’s no one getting in my way,” Lu Ji replied coldly.
On the other end of the phone, Mrs. Lu inhaled softly.
She knew exactly who he was referring to.
But this time, she found she couldn’t even say a single word to smooth things over.
Two days ago, a man had come knocking on their door.
He had demanded that they return Lu Ran.
She recognized him immediately—the gambling addict from the Huo family.
During the years Xiao Ji had lived with the Huo family, he had suffered greatly. Naturally she had no intention of being polite to such a man.
Besides, sending Ranran back to that hellish place was something even biological parents would never do.
They had already paid the man off that day.
But the man, reeking of alcohol, kept spewing words that revealed more and more.
At first he shamelessly thanked the Lu family for raising his son for so many years, saying it conveniently settled the debt from when the Lu Group had ruined his company.
Lu Zhenxing’s expression had changed immediately.
He hadn’t thought much about it before, but the surname Huo and those words suddenly made everything click.
Then the man started cursing foully, saying he had painstakingly sent the kid away to enjoy a good life, yet the ungrateful brat hadn’t even come back to visit after learning the truth about his identity—just busy climbing higher branches.
He said he was tired of keeping the secret and wanted to bring the ungrateful wretch back to teach him a lesson.
Once those words were spoken, the entire story was laid out clearly.
How could the Lu couple fail to understand?
All these years, they had been raising the child of a defeated business rival.
And at the hospital back then, it hadn’t been an accidental mix-up.
The children had been deliberately switched.
Mrs. Lu had once believed that all the suffering her biological son endured over the years was simply bad luck.
The family he had been sent to was too poor and chaotic.
But now, thinking about it again…
It might have been deliberate abuse.
Because the Huo family had always known he wasn’t their child.
Combined with their past grudges, all that resentment had been poured onto the innocent Lu Ji.
Just imagining the possibility made her heart ache unbearably.
And deep within that pain, resentment began to grow.
The Huo family had been utterly shameless.
If they wanted their own child to enjoy a better life, why couldn’t they at least treat her son decently?
“Xiao Ji, we’ve already figured everything out about what happened before. Will you come home?” Mrs. Lu pleaded softly. “Give your mother a chance to make it up to you.”
The pain swelled again in her chest.
This time, no matter what anyone said, she would not waver.
She would stay by his side and give him all the love she had failed to give him before.
She would never let him suffer again.
“What about Lu Ran?” Lu Ji asked.
Silence fell.
Lu Ji felt his heart slowly sink again, without even the slightest expectation.
“Your father and I discussed it,” Mrs. Lu said, suppressing her guilt. “It really wouldn’t be fair to you if Ranran stayed at home. After he graduates from high school, we’ll send him abroad to study. We’ll support him until he finishes university, and after that there won’t be any further contact.”
She was fortunate that Xiao Ji didn’t know the full truth.
When the Huo man came that day, only she and her husband had been home.
But even so, she still didn’t know how to treat Ranran anymore.
In the end, she couldn’t let go of the bond they had built over so many years.
The arrangement she just described would be the final compromise.
When she gave birth to her second child years ago, the baby had been positioned incorrectly.
She struggled for a long time, nearly collapsing from exhaustion before finally delivering the child.
When she heard the baby’s loud cry, the tension in her body finally loosened and she fainted from exhaustion.
When she woke up again, she had already been moved back to the ward.
Her husband held her hand and told her the baby was fine.
They brought the baby over for her to see.
But for some reason, when she looked at the child she had struggled so hard to give birth to, she felt nothing.
No waves in her heart.
Instead, there was a faint sense of fear.
She didn’t know where that fear came from.
She thought it was simply because she was too tired. Her husband thought the same.
After some rest, everything would return to normal.
But from beginning to end, she never felt any closeness toward that child.
She didn’t want to hold him.
She didn’t want to patiently soothe him.
She even felt reluctant to feed him.
Her husband thought it was because childbirth had been so difficult, so he comforted her gently and suggested hiring a nanny.
But she knew that wasn’t the reason.
There was a reservoir of maternal love in her heart.
Yet she simply couldn’t pour it onto that child.
Until later, when Ranran accidentally wandered into a storage room at Ye Family Private Hospital and returned with a high fever.
He was only a few years old.
His temperature rose above forty degrees, and even with medicine it kept returning.
At that time, she almost believed she would lose him.
Because of her coldness.
Because she had avoided him.
She stayed by his bedside day and night, holding his hand and praying constantly.
In the end, the fever subsided.
But he was left with asthma.
Only then did she truly accept her identity as a mother.
She poured all the love and guilt she had accumulated over the years into Ranran.
She had finally learned to love this child who once felt like a stranger to her.
And then one day she was told—
Her biological son was someone else.
But she only had one heart.
How was she supposed to divide it?
On the other end of the phone there was still silence, only the sound of wind blowing.
Mrs. Lu instinctively wanted to tell him not to stand outside in the cold.
Finally, he replied faintly.
“I understand.”
Then he hung up.
Leaving Mrs. Lu standing there alone, still holding the phone to her ear.
Was even this not enough?
Lu Ji had never expected a person’s heart could be so biased.
A text message popped up on his phone.
It was from an unsaved number.
“I’ve already done what you told me. Transfer the money now.”
“You’d better not go back on your word. If you do, next time I’ll speak up for Lu Ran and make your life miserable.”
Lu Ji lowered his eyes.
His fingers trembled slightly as he forced himself to transfer fifty thousand yuan to the account.
“Is this all you’re giving me? You think you can brush me off with this?”
“You’re a young master of the Lu family now. I raised you for so many years, and now I’m even helping you deal with my own biological son. You think a few tens of thousands will send me away?”
“One million. I’ll give you three days.”
“Transfer it quickly, or you’ll regret it.”
The lingering shadows of the past made him nauseous even just chatting with the man online.
Taking a deep breath, he opened his memo app.
Inside was a list of things he needed to do, most of them things he had heard from Gu Yang.
Mrs. Lu’s favoritism and the gambler’s greed had pushed his emotions past the breaking point.
He could barely think anymore.
He simply clenched his teeth and marked the task—letting the gambler father step in—as completed.
Like someone clutching a lifeline.
Only after finishing did he finally let out a long breath.
“Were you talking to Mom just now?”
Lu Ran had secretly followed him outside when he answered the call.
Unable to hold himself back, he rushed over and asked, “Why did she call you?”
Realizing his tone was too aggressive, he stiffly corrected himself.
“I just wanted to check on you.”
Since Nie Ying said he would help teach someone a lesson, the plan now was to pretend to get along with Lu Ji first.
An inside-outside cooperation.
Lu Ji lifted his head and looked at him quietly.
Faced with this sudden goodwill, he neither responded nor questioned it.
Instead he said unexpectedly,
“Can you come somewhere with me?”
Lu Ran thought his attempt at reconciliation had worked.
Without asking where, he nodded.
They hailed a taxi.
But as the car drove further, Lu Ran began to feel uneasy.
The area was far too remote.
For a moment he even wondered if Lu Ji was planning to drag him somewhere deserted and beat him up.
Fortunately they finally stopped in a residential neighborhood.
He followed Lu Ji upstairs reluctantly.
The building was run-down.
There was no property management.
The stairwell was filthy.
Lu Ran’s germophobia kicked in immediately.
How could anyone live in a place like this?
Just imagining coming here regularly made him uncomfortable.
Lu Ji stopped in front of one apartment.
He lifted a faded doormat by the door and took out a key.
Lu Ran stared in shock.
“Why would you hide a key in a place like this? What if someone comes in to steal things?”
Lu Ji looked at him strangely.
“What’s there to steal?”
“The most valuable thing inside is a life.”
Then he muttered mockingly,
“If someone could steal that away, it might even be a good thing.”
When the door opened, Lu Ran immediately smelled a stale odor mixed with lingering cooking grease.
His frown deepened.
He couldn’t understand why Lu Ji had brought him here.
Hearing the noise outside, someone inside ran out quickly.
Lu Ran looked carefully.
It was a tall young man.
He seemed to have been eating.
There were grains of rice stuck to the corner of his mouth and grease on his hands.
Seeing them, he clapped his hands happily and said,
“Brother!”
His tone was strange and rough.
His mind didn’t seem quite normal.
Lu Ran instinctively stepped back.
His foot hit something behind him.
It was a broken stool lying crookedly on the floor, two legs snapped off. The floor itself was covered with cracked holes like spider webs.
Lu Ji looked at him.
“The father in this family is a gambler. Every time he loses all his money outside, he comes home demanding more. If it’s mild, he smashes things. If it’s serious, he beats people.”
“The mother is the only one earning money. She works day and night, and still has to rush home to cook. Because the older brother is an idiot who can’t even take care of himself.”
His voice was calm.
But beneath the calm was a suffocating pressure.
Lu Ran’s eyes widened.
He asked uncertainly, “Is this… your home?”
“No.”
“This is your home.”
Lu Ji stated the fact plainly.
But the faint sympathy on Lu Ran’s face instantly turned to terror.
“No! You’re lying!”
“My father is the chairman of the Lu Group! My brother isn’t some idiot like this!”
“I will always stay with the Lu family!”
All the frustration and suffering he had endured these past days exploded at once.
Looking at Lu Ran’s face, still completely unrepentant, Lu Ji couldn’t suppress the malice in his heart.
He stepped forward.
Step by step.
Forcing Lu Ran to retreat.
“Your future will be spent living in this house.”
“Just like I did.”
“You’ll have to take care of this brother who can’t even take care of himself. When he gets excited playing, he can’t even control his bladder or bowels. You’ll have to clean him up.”
“You’ll endure your mother’s complaints every single day. You’ll become the outlet for her frustrations after she’s bullied outside.”
“You’ll inherit all the debts of that gambling father of yours. Every day people will come smashing on the door demanding money. Some will even bring iron rods and break the door down, grab your head, and slam it into the wall—forcing you to kneel in shards of glass.”
As a young master raised in luxury, Lu Ran had never seen such a scene.
He was completely terrified.
His face pale as paper, he backed toward the door.
In his mind the horrifying images began to form.
“Lu Ran,” Lu Ji said quietly.
“I will make this place your home.”
The words were like a declaration of war.
The already tense relationship between them was pushed to a point of no return.
Lu Ran’s mind went blank.
He tremblingly opened the door and ran out like a stray dog.
The next day in class, Lu Ran still looked terrible.
He had barely slept all night.
For some reason, when he returned home, his usually doting parents had changed overnight.
Lu Zhenxing treated him coldly.
Even Mrs. Lu avoided seeing him.
The scenes he had witnessed at the Huo house kept replaying in his mind.
An unprecedented sense of unease wrapped around him, making him afraid even to close his eyes.
His expression clearly showed something was wrong.
So Ye Chen asked thoughtfully, “Did something happen? You look awful. Don’t end up back in the hospital again.”
Lu Ran didn’t even have the energy to respond.
But he noticed several cameras set up inside the classroom.
A few staff members in work uniforms were adjusting equipment while He Ming’an supervised with a smile.
Lu Ran’s nerves were so fragile now that any small change made him anxious.
“What’s going on?”
“Xiao Cheng wants to film a show of his own,” He Ming’an said with a smile. “He wants to use our class as the filming location. We asked everyone yesterday and they all agreed.”
“Isn’t it kind of interesting?” Xie Wu added. “Class is boring anyway.”
“And we get to bask in the glory of a big celebrity,” Ye Chen said cheerfully.
“I didn’t hear anything about this.”
Lu Ran’s expression darkened.
He was already on the verge of losing control, and now there was suddenly some filming project too.
“Why did you agree to this?”
“Isn’t it a good thing? Everyone’s interested,” He Ming’an replied calmly, still smiling. “The management company will also pay us a location fee. Admissions season is coming soon—this is free publicity.”
In short: I think it’s good, and everyone else thinks it’s good too.
Lu Ran’s face turned green.
At that moment Cheng Zishi spoke up.
“You happened to be absent when we discussed it yesterday. It wasn’t intentional. The proposal has already been approved by the company.”
Once he brought up the company, Lu Ran had nothing left to say.
For some reason, Cheng Zishi was being unusually friendly toward him today.
Although Lu Ran felt something was off, there was no way to stop it now.
He could only swallow his anger and say nothing.
Watching his retreating back, Cheng Zishi let out a cold laugh.
He Ming’an kindly added, “Don’t worry. These are pre-recordings. Xiao Cheng said if any classmates dislike certain parts, he won’t include them.”
After adjusting the machines, the staff left.
He Ming’an sat down again and glanced at Gu Yang, who was staring at his phone.
Seeing that he hadn’t looked away for a long time, he asked,
“A-Yang, who are you chatting with?”
“Song Yinxing,” Gu Yang said, looking slightly puzzled. “He said he wants to stop tutoring.”
“Why? Am I not paying enough?”
He was just about to type another zero at the end of the payment when He Ming’an quickly stopped him.
“Don’t. You’ll only pressure him more.”
After thinking for a moment, he mentioned something.
“Earlier Xiao Ying said she saw Gu Qingxu going to trouble Song Yinxing. Maybe that’s why he feels it’s inconvenient to come to your house.”
Gu Yang didn’t understand why those two had conflict.
But recalling Gu Qingxu’s usual behavior, he immediately concluded the other party was entirely at fault.
Once he understood the reason, he quickly offered a solution.
“Then I’ll go to your house.”
There was a full minute of silence before a reply came back.
“You want to come to my house?”
Gu Yang’s logic was simple.
“Why not? You’ve been to my house already. Don’t you think that’s unfair?”
After another long pause, the reply finally came.
“Okay.”
Gu Yang had left his phone on the table.
He Ming’an could clearly see the conversation.
Although he was still smiling, there was something subtly strange in the smile.
“You’re actually taking the initiative to visit someone else’s home. That’s rare.”
“I’ve never seen it before. I’m curious.”
This book had gone on for pages without even describing what Song Yinxing’s home looked like.
Gu Yang decided to see it himself.
After school, Song Yinxing sent a message saying he was already waiting at the gate.
When Gu Yang and He Ming’an arrived, Song Yinxing was standing there.
He Ming’an greeted him first.
The moment Song Yinxing saw him, he remembered the car ride they had shared earlier.
He Ming’an had chatted the entire way like a neighborhood committee aunt.
From university goals to career plans, three-year goals, five-year goals, even asking what age he planned to start dating, when he would marry, whether he wanted children.
Song Yinxing now felt he could barely look at him straight.
“Looks like we took too long. Did you run over here?” He Ming’an noticed his slightly rushed breathing.
Of course Song Yinxing couldn’t admit he had rushed home first to tidy up his room and then hurried back.
So he changed the topic.
“Should we go now?”
He pointed down.
Only then did He Ming’an notice he had come by bicycle.
The temperature had dropped sharply today.
It was already below freezing.
Everyone else had put on thick down jackets.
Only Gu Yang still wore a simple overcoat as if he couldn’t feel the cold.
He Ming’an had been about to suggest letting their driver take them while putting the bicycle in the trunk.
But Gu Yang had already climbed onto the back seat.
He Ming’an sighed and pulled up the decorative scarf around Gu Yang’s neck.
“Don’t catch a cold.”
Song Yinxing, finally catching his breath, also noticed Gu Yang was dressed too lightly.
“I’ll call you a taxi.”
“And then you’ll chase after it on your bike?” Gu Yang said lazily.
Imagining the scene, he even chuckled.
“It’s fine. Let’s go. I won’t freeze to death.”
Not far away behind them, Gu Qingxu slowly lowered the car window.
He watched Gu Yang walk past him without even noticing.
Old Huang, sitting in the front seat, sighed.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the young master smile so happily.”
Hearing that, Gu Qingxu finally let out a cold laugh.
Good, Gu Yang.
You’d rather sit behind a bicycle in the freezing wind than sit inside a car with warm air.
