Chapter 16
Cheng Xia’s tone and expression were far too sincere, and Lin Zhiqiao gave a shy smile. “No need to be so polite.”
888 suddenly spoke up: [Host, Cheng Xia favorability +100! Current favorability has reached full value. Any overflow favorability from now on will be deposited directly into the transfer station!]
Lin Zhiqiao sucked in a sharp breath. [How much? One hundred favorability? It maxed out just like that???]
888’s voice sounded a little floaty: [Yes. Congratulations, host, on obtaining your first full-value favorability and unlocking the achievement “It’s Yaolingling!” Reward obtained: one Gossip Targeting Card!]
A glittering golden card appeared in the system inventory.
Even the way Lin Zhiqiao looked at Cheng Xia changed. [What kind of ultimate little sweetheart is this! Good son, Daddy will love you forever!!!]
Cheng Xia’s expression stiffened. Suddenly, he felt a little caught between laughter and tears, and the heavy sourness in his heart eased quite a bit.
Ji Ran and the others came back very quickly, and before long, the spacious dorm was filled with the smell of all kinds of food.
“I bought barbecue, fried chicken, skewers, liangpi, fire noodles…” The coffee table in the living room was soon piled full of food. Ji Ran grinned so hard his teeth were all showing. “Tonight, everybody eat as much as you want!”
Jiang Qianqian’s eyes lit up at once. “Wow! They’re all my favorites!”
Pei Ning nodded. “Today really is a day worth celebrating.”
Tang Zhou looked worried. “I’m done for. If my manager sees this part, I definitely won’t escape a whole lecture.”
He turned to Wen Li. “Aren’t you a figure skater? Don’t you usually have to control your diet?”
Wen Li already had a fried drumstick in hand. Hearing that, she blinked innocently. “But I’m retired already. It doesn’t matter if I indulge once in a while.”
Tang Zhou failed to find an ally, and turned to Lin Zhiqiao instead. “Zhiqiao, doesn’t your manager control your diet?”
“He never controls me.” Lin Zhiqiao had a skewer between his teeth, so his voice was a little muffled. “And besides, I don’t gain weight. Hehe.”
Tang Zhou: “…”
The world where only he got hurt had been achieved.jpg
“Does our base cafeteria even have windows that sell this stuff?” Cheng Xia looked a little lost. “At this hour, isn’t the cafeteria already closed?”
“Of course not.” Ji Ran gave a shushing sound. “I ordered takeout and had the delivery guy secretly pass it in through the fence for me!”
Cheng Xia gave a dazed little “oh.” Several skewers were stuffed into his left hand, and at some point a cup of happy soda had appeared in his right.
Lin Zhiqiao bumped him lightly. “Hurry and eat, hurry and eat. Tonight is carnival night!”
Cheng Xia lowered his head and bit into a slice of pork belly. The charred, fragrant fat spread through his mouth, more delicious than any barbecue he had ever had before.
Maybe it was because there were so many people and the atmosphere was lively, or maybe because it had been so long since he had eaten this kind of junk food that made dopamine explode in his brain, but without noticing it, a faint curve slowly appeared at the corner of Cheng Xia’s lips.
“Doesn’t gain weight! Who’s jealous? Me! [don’t force me to cry for you.jpg]”
“This atmosphere is seriously giving me high school dorm flashbacks. [starry-eyes.jpg]”
“It’s obviously so warm and cozy, so why am I crying like crazy? [crying-cat-head.jpg]”
“I really don’t dare imagine how Cheng Xia got through these past few years. Being misunderstood by the whole internet for so long, he definitely suffered a lot of extreme attacks and cyberbullying.”
“This has me both sad and happy. I hope Cheng Xia’s road ahead only gets smoother and smoother.”
“I used to go with the crowd and curse Cheng Xia. Now I seriously want to slap the me from two years ago a few times, sob sob sob.”
“My heart hurts for Cheng Xia, and also for Lin Zhiqiao. Lin Zhiqiao also had a lot of dirt exposed by marketing accounts. Now I seriously doubt whether any of that black material was real.”
“There’s no way to fake this kind of long, nonstop livestream. Xiao Qiao’s real personality is obviously pretty good. He’s really cute. [holding-face heart-eyes.jpg]”
“After watching these livestreams the past few days, I feel Lin Zhiqiao really isn’t the kind of ‘villain’ those marketing accounts described. I trust my own judgment more.”
“Our Xiao Qiao looks carefree on the outside, but he must feel bad inside too. [yellow-bean crying.jpg]”
“Whispering this softly, but does no one think this pair is super shippable? Salvation and being saved, you are the only light that rescued me from the abyss… just thinking about it makes me ahhhhh [twisted scream.jpg]”
“I’m shipping it, I’m shipping it! I hereby declare this year’s new CP has been born!!!”
“So is no one gonna mention Cheng Li? Ever since Cheng Qiang’s matter got exposed, how come he hasn’t made a single move?”
“For all the things Cheng Xia went through at home over the years, did he really not know anything at all?”
*
“Yes. When I found out about this, I was also extremely shocked.” That was what Cheng Li said in the video interview.
“My parents… never told me about this sort of thing in front of me. Cheng Xia often had injuries on him, and they told me those were from fighting with people at school.”
“Cheng Xia and I didn’t attend the same school. Both of us lived on campus and only went home on weekends, but I spent most weekends in extra classes, so actually, I didn’t spend much time with him.”
“It’s my fault. If only I had cared a little more about Cheng Xia back then, asked him where those injuries came from, maybe things wouldn’t have…” Cheng Li’s eyes reddened and his voice choked up. “I know there’s no use saying anything now, but… I’m very sorry.”
…
In the comment section below the interview video, there were a lot of people speaking up for Cheng Li and excusing him, saying he was innocent because he did not know, saying he was also a victim, and so on.
Cheng Li’s favor with passersby really was so good it had reached an almost miraculous level. Was this the protagonist halo of a transmigrated book character with a system? Such clumsy lies and acting, yet so many people still believed it.
Lin Zhiqiao turned off his phone and instinctively raised a hand to rub his nose.
The smell was too strong. His nose felt a little itchy.
There was not much time left until the ten-day appointment, and everyone had thrown themselves into the training room. The sense of urgency was very strong.
Even Cheng Xia accompanied them every day. From the smallest separated detail movements to each person’s stage positioning, Cheng Xia was involved almost the whole way through, practically becoming the instructor of everyone in Life.
Even Ji Ran had sighed more than once that if Cheng Xia had not been delayed by what happened two years ago, then with Cheng Xia’s ability, he probably would already have become explosively famous long ago.
At that moment, Cheng Xia had just helped Tang Zhou adjust his position and noticed Lin Zhiqiao touching his phone, so he walked over and asked, “What are you looking at?”
Without thinking, Lin Zhiqiao replied, “Fresh green tea.”
Cheng Xia looked a little surprised. “You like drinking tea?”
“I don’t like drinking it, but I do like looking at it,” Lin Zhiqiao said honestly. “Every kind of green tea is very different. It’s interesting.”
Cheng Xia did not understand, but he chose to respect it.
And for some reason, maybe it was just an illusion, but he felt like Lin Zhiqiao’s words had a hidden meaning.
Cheng Xia secretly glanced at him. Seeing that Lin Zhiqiao had no intention of explaining more, he did not ask. Instead, he quietly sat down nearby and watched Lin Zhiqiao practice in front of the mirror.
Lin Zhiqiao had a very solid dance foundation. After these past few days of training, there were already very few areas left for him to improve.
Another round of practice ended, and a thin layer of sweat had appeared on Lin Zhiqiao’s forehead.
Cheng Xia handed him a towel and unscrewed a bottle of mineral water, waiting beside him. In a low voice, he said, “Has anyone ever told you before that you really look good when you dance?”
Lin Zhiqiao blinked. “Now someone has.”
Cheng Xia looked a little surprised. “So I’m the first?”
Lin Zhiqiao said, “Aside from my grandma, you’re the first.”
The corner of Cheng Xia’s lips lifted slightly, and he visibly became happier.
“Cheng Xia is so clingy with our Xiao Qiao. [hehe.jpg]”
“So pretty, so nice to watch, let him cling a little more. Isn’t this way better than those brainless sweet dramas full of industrial sugar? [dog-head.jpg]”
It was already close to mealtime.
While stretching, Lin Zhiqiao heard a few girl-group trainees beside him whispering quietly: “Did you hear? People from the Ji family have been looking for someone around our base these past few days!”
“I heard, I heard, but it sounds like they still haven’t found the person yet…”
Lin Zhiqiao’s ears instantly perked up.
The Ji family? Looking for someone?
Could they be looking for that mysterious real young master?
Lin Zhiqiao’s interest was instantly piqued.
It seemed… he still had one Gossip Targeting Card left unused.
Ji Ran, standing nearby, had also heard the girl-group trainees’ conversation. As if suddenly remembering something, he pulled Cheng Xia and asked, “What’s your blood type?”
Cheng Xia thought for a moment. “I think it’s AB.”
Ji Ran sighed. “Not type O…?”
“Probably not.” Cheng Xia said. “I was tested when I was little, so I don’t remember very clearly.”
Both of Ji family’s parents were type O. From a genetics standpoint, it was almost impossible for them to have a child with AB blood.
Ji Ran’s blood type was AB.
It was precisely because they discovered the blood type did not match that the family realized the child might have been switched at birth.
On the other side, Lin Zhiqiao hesitated for a good while, then clenched his teeth and used the Gossip Targeting Card on Ji Ran.
He decided to gamble once and see whether he could find any useful clues from Ji Ran’s gossip.
[Ji Ran is actually the fake young master of the Ji family…]
The parts Lin Zhiqiao already knew, he skimmed through quickly, until—
[Ji Ran’s biological parents have long since passed away. His mother was an orphan, while his father still has a twin elder brother alive named… Cheng Qiang?]
Lin Zhiqiao froze. [Huh? Cheng Qiang? Why does that name sound a little familiar?]
[Wait wait wait, isn’t that the name of Cheng Xia’s scumbag uncle??]
[Ji Ran’s biological father’s elder brother—that is, Ji Ran’s biological uncle—is Cheng Qiang. Which means the child who got switched with Ji Ran back then was Cheng Qiang’s nephew, which means…]
Just then, the training room door was pushed open. “Excuse me, is Cheng Xia here?”
The person who had come was Cheng Li.
Everyone’s gaze swept toward him, then turned with remarkable unity toward Cheng Xia.
[The real young master of the Ji family is actually Cheng Xia?!]
