Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The silence dragged on for a long time, but in the end, Jiang Shangyun still couldn't make a choice.

His mother, kneeling on the ground, looked up at him with extreme shock and pain. Those eyes, which had once given Jiang Shangyun endless encouragement and infinite courage, filled with maternal love, now caused him pain. He awkwardly dodged his mother's gaze.

In his confusion and shame, he suddenly locked eyes with Ye Mingzhao.

Only at that moment did Jiang Shangyun suddenly realize that Ye Mingzhao actually had a pair of eyes incredibly similar to his mother's.

They were a pair of well-shaped peach blossom eyes, filled with warmth and affection. When these eyes looked at you with amusement, you would feel highly valued, as if your existence captured his full attention. Without realizing it, you would find yourself opening up to make this moment of attention last longer.

But if you observed these eyes closely, you would notice that the smile in his eyes never reached the bottom. His eyes were distinctly black and white, the dark pupils deep and mysterious, making the whites of his eyes seem cold and distant, like snow. Clear and icy, devoid of any emotion.

Jiang Shangyun stared, lost in thought. How had he never noticed the inherent coldness and detachment in this person before?

Was he deceived by the carefully crafted facade of warmth and kindness?

Or was it the natural attraction brought about by bloodline instincts?

Jiang Shangyun couldn't figure it out; he only felt his mind was in chaos.

Past conversations flooded back to him. He didn't understand why any of this had happened.

He only knew that from this moment on, everything he had held onto and believed in instantly collapsed.

"You knew from the beginning, didn't you?" Jiang Shangyun stared intently at Ye Mingzhao's face, gazing into the once familiar and intimate eyes, and asked with difficulty, "From the moment you saw me, you knew I was your... brother?"

Jiang Shangyun bitterly tasted the word. They should have been the closest people in the world. But now, they stood on opposite sides.

Before Ye Mingzhao could respond, Jiang Shangyun quickly corrected himself, "No, it should have been even earlier than that!"

Was it the moment he saw the family photo uploaded on WeChat? Or even earlier, the instant he submitted his application for the costume design competition?

Jiang Shangyun had once heard producer Yu Mingze mention that Ye Mingzhao suffered from hyperthymesia. So he should remember the entire process of being abandoned... Jiang Shangyun's breath hitched, finding it hard to imagine such a cruel truth.

In the past twenty years of his life, the cruelest thing Jiang Shangyun had encountered was owners abandoning their cats and dogs. He had once told Ye Mingzhao that an owner was the entire world to a cat or dog. So, for a baby brought into this world, wouldn't the parents who brought him into this world be his entire universe?

Abandoned kittens and puppies were pitiful, but what about a child abandoned by his biological parents?

Jiang Shangyun couldn't imagine.

He had always found it cruel when others casually abandoned cats and dogs. Yet his mother, the one who had taught him about growth and love, the one who was willing to accompany him in feeding stray cats and dogs, even agreeing to let him bring a stray dog home, had abandoned her own child over twenty years ago.

Jiang Shangyun stared blankly at Ye Mingzhao, remaining silent for a long time before suddenly asking, "Do you hate her?"

Do you want revenge?

In every moment I confided in you as a close friend, how did you see me?

Was there ever a moment when you sincerely considered me a friend? Or had I always been nothing more than a pawn in your revenge against your biological mother?

Ye Mingzhao smiled but didn't answer Jiang Shangyun's question.

However, Ye Mingzhao's smile clearly caused a misunderstanding for Jiang Shangyun, whose face suddenly flushed. His always bright eyes, filled with friendliness and enthusiasm, became moist. He forcibly held back the tears that were about to overflow and abruptly turned to run out of the room.

The cherry wood door panel slammed against the wall, creating a loud echo.

Watching Jiang Shangyun's figure run further and further away, Ye Mingzhao smiled at Ruan Cuimei and said, "Your son is quite a character."

Ruan Cuimei suddenly fell apart. She sank to the ground, kneeling helplessly as she shouted at Ye Mingzhao, her voice hoarse with desperation, "What do you want? If you have any grudges, take them out on me, don't take revenge on my son! Xiao Yun is innocent! He doesn't know anything! He's just a child!"

"How could you be so cruel? How dare you do this to me? What gives you the right?"

Ruan Cuimei screamed in despair, her accusations hysterical and her logic incoherent.

She couldn't bear the fact that the son she had raised with her own hands was looking at her with a contemptuous glare.

"You've been planning to take revenge on me, haven't you? What else have you done? What did you tell my son? How could you use such a malicious method to get back at me?"

However, instead of triggering guilt or reflection in Ye Mingzhao, her accusations made him laugh. "From the moment you stepped onto this set... no, even before that, from the night you chose to abandon your own flesh and blood, you should have expected this day."

Ye Mingzhao looked at Ruan Cuimei, and for the first time, his dark eyes reflected her image.

After a moment, he spoke, asking the question they both already knew the answer to, "How did you find out about me? Who told you to come to the set to find me? And who leaked our relationship to the media and made it public?"

Seeing Ruan Cuimei turn pale and become unsteady, Ye Mingzhao said nonchalantly, "You could have continued living a life of domestic bliss, with a loving husband and obedient children, but that world would never include me."

"But you chose to be used. You chose to be a blade, wielded by others to stab at me."

Ruan Cuimei tried to defend herself hurriedly, "It's not like that—"

"There were many ways you could have approached me," Ye Mingzhao ignored her defense and continued, "but you chose the one that put me in the most difficult position. I don't want to delve into your and your mastermind's interests, I just want you to understand one thing."

"The choices you make should be borne by you."

"You will be judged for the mistakes you made in the past, but the one sitting in the judgment seat won't be me," Ye Mingzhao stood up, looking down on her with cold superiority, his voice gentle yet harsh, "It will be your own conscience, your values, and all the societal norms and moral constraints that govern our world."

"If you have any left at all."

Ruan Cuimei's pupils suddenly dilated, and the moment they locked with Ye Mingzhao's, she instinctively backed away, her hands and feet scrambling. She accidentally bumped into the low coffee table behind her. The loud noise jolted her back to reality, and her body froze.

In the silent rest area, her rapid breathing could be heard. She looked around in panic, only to find that everyone seated on the sofa was staring at her with cold, judgmental eyes.

Each of them sat in judgment, looking down on her with cold superiority. The world around her seemed to spin rapidly, the ceiling pressing down lower and lower, the walls twisting and warping. Ruan Cuimei thought she could hear the voices in their hearts, criticizing her, accusing her, scrutinizing her, mocking her. And she was the only defendant.

"It's not like that!"

"It's not what you all think!"

"Do you think I wanted to abandon my own child? He was my flesh and blood! The child I carried for ten months! A part of me!"

"But what could I do? More than twenty years ago, as a single woman, how could I raise a child? What would people say about me? What would they say about my family? Don't I have any dignity?"

"Why are you all making things difficult for me? Can't you understand my plight?"

Ruan Cuimei shouted at everyone. She didn't even notice that the rest area door had been opened when Jiang Shangyun ran out. Fortunately, Yu Mingze had already arranged for the crew members blocking the corridor to be cleared, but there were still some people standing further away, tiptoeing and peeking in.

Ruan Cuimei didn't notice any of that. She only felt humiliated, as if she were exposed, unable to bear the contemptuous looks from others. It made her relive the moment from over twenty years ago, when the wife of a man barged into their home with a group of people and grabbed her by the arm while she was heavily pregnant. The neighbors, hearing the commotion, stood at the door, pointing and whispering.

The woman sat on the sofa, legs crossed, not even bothering to take off her sunglasses, "So you're the woman Lin Feng has been keeping outside? Did you know he's married?"

Ruan Cuimei had no idea. That year, she had just graduated from college and, wanting to earn more money, gave up the job assigned by the school to work as a secretary at a private enterprise. The manager was an elite executive hired by Lin Feng from Hong Kong. Handsome, refined, humorous, and very caring.

The fresh graduate Ruan Cuimei couldn't resist his pursuit, and within half a year, they were living together. Soon after, she became pregnant. She thought they would get married and return to Hong Kong together, but instead, his wife showed up.

It was only then that Ruan Cuimei found out Lin Feng was already married. His wife was Gu Tingjun, also from Hong Kong, from a family that owned a jewelry store. Lin Feng had married into the Gu family as a son-in-law.

"I can't have children! So I don't mind if Lin Feng is with another woman. If you can give birth to a son for him, I would even let that child take the Gu family name! That child could inherit the Gu family's jewelry store in the future. As for you..." Gu Tingjun's gaze fell on Ruan Cuimei's belly, "I won't let you suffer either. I'll give you one million. You have the child, take the money, and leave, living a prosperous life wherever you go."

"You need to think carefully. Lin Feng will never divorce me. With the current standard of living on the mainland, you'll never earn one million in your entire life. Do you want to keep making a scene and end up losing both your dignity and the money, or you can choose to have the child quietly and leave with the money. The choice is yours."

Many years later, Ruan Cuimei still remembered the look in that woman's eyes, as well as the whispering of the neighbors outside the door. It was as if she had truly become a heinous and promiscuous woman.

But what could she have done? She was already more than six months pregnant at that time; she couldn't choose to have an abortion. She had to give birth to the child.

"I can only blame my bad luck!" Ruan Cuimei looked at Ye Mingzhao with a disordered gaze, her eyes filled with an unclear mix of hatred, resentment, or something else, "She clearly said she couldn't have children. Who knew that as soon as I gave birth to the child, she suddenly got pregnant too."

That woman didn't even know if the child she was carrying was a boy or a girl, and just returned the newborn.

"He's no longer useful to me, so I'm returning him to you!"

But what use did Ruan Cuimei, a young woman in her twenties, have for a child with an unknown father?

Moreover, this child was a witness to her being deceived and abandoned.

As long as this child was around, she would always be seen as a disgrace.

Ruan Cuimei held the child and thought for a long time. She considered taking the child back to her hometown. But she couldn't. She couldn't let her family know about her disgraceful past. She couldn't let anyone know she had been deceived and had been a mistress! She couldn't let anyone know that for one million, she was willing to give her child away! She couldn't risk ruining her entire life over this child.

Exactly! She couldn't let this child ruin her life!

She wasn't the one who did anything wrong! She was a victim too! She had been deceived too!

Why shouldn't Lin Feng and that woman face the consequences?

At that moment, Ruan Cuimei even began to hate the mastermind who had coerced her into coming to the film set. If not for their constant pressure, she could have continued living her stable life. She could have remained the good wife in her husband's eyes and the good mother in her son's eyes, instead of being judged so condescendingly by these people...

Everyone in the Ye family noticed that Ruan Cuimei's expression had suddenly changed. She seemed to snap out of it. She didn't say anything but looked at Ye Mingzhao, hesitating to speak, "I know you can't accept my existence. You have your own family now, new parents who must treat you very well. They even gave you shares in the family corporation. It's understandable that you don't want to acknowledge me as your birth mother."

"What are you even doing here?" Ye Mingxi, the second brother, couldn't help but interrupt Ruan Cuimei, "What are you even here for?"

After saying such a vague sentence, "Who can't have children? Who's pregnant?"

"Were you carrying someone else's child?"

"Do you realize that's illegal?"

It was unclear which sentence had hit a nerve with Ruan Cuimei. She suddenly became agitated, "I didn't! You have no right to slander me. I've always lived a clean life. How could I possibly do something like that? They deceived me, they forced me! I didn't do anything wrong!"

As she spoke, Ruan Cuimei could no longer hold herself up. She struggled to her feet and stumbled out.

Ye Mingxi watched her leave, bewildered, "What's going on?"

He turned to the others, seeking confirmation, "Did I say something too harsh just now?"

Why had she suddenly lost it?

The eldest Ye brother looked at the unintentionally sharp-tongued Ye Mingxi and said gravely, "No matter what she's trying to do, we'll find out sooner or later."

Madam Ye looked at the silent Ye Mingzhao with a heart full of pity. She had never known that Ye Mingzhao had been harboring so many secrets.

Sensing Madam Ye's gaze, the armor Ye Mingzhao had been pretending to wear crumbled. He sat down, exhausted, rubbing his face as he nervously looked at the Ye family, "I'm sorry for causing you embarrassment."

"Don't ever say that." Madam Ye could no longer hold back. She quickly stood up from the sofa, walked over to Ye Mingzhao, and embraced him—just like when Ye Mingzhao was a child and refused to take medicine when he had a fever. She gently kissed Ye Mingzhao's forehead.

"It's not your fault." Madam Ye choked up, "You've done very well."

In the original story, the antagonist Ye Mingzhao lived in fear that the *Ye family* would view him as manipulative and materialistic, so he dared not reveal that he remembered everything about being abandoned in his childhood. However, the trauma of being abandoned by his closest relatives couldn't be erased by deliberate forgetting; it only buried itself deep in his soul, eroding his already imperfect personality day by day.

If Ye Mingzhao had never had the chance to meet his parents, perhaps he would have healed the broken part of his soul, damaged from the moment of his birth, surrounded by the familial love of the *Ye family*.

But life has no "what ifs." The sudden return of Chu Hengyi and his calculated methods of revenge instantly ignited the fuse buried deep in Ye Mingzhao's soul.

The moment his biological parents appeared at the birthday party as a "gift," the sharp-witted Ye Mingzhao immediately sensed the conspiracy that came with it. His manipulative biological parents and the hidden threat lurking in the shadows only fueled Ye Mingzhao's destructive urges and self-preservation instincts.

The thread of reason in his mind finally snapped, and Ye Mingzhao, unable to bear it any longer, chose to retaliate, thus falling into the trap.

His seemingly irrational retaliation only deepened the *Ye family*'s discomfort and suspicion.

Everyone began to see Ye Mingzhao as cold and opportunistic, even attributing his abandonment to a genetic defect. With the mastermind's steady manipulation, Ye Mingzhao was eventually driven deeper into the mud, estranged from everyone, and expelled from the *Ye family*.

However, in reality, the well-prepared Ye Mingzhao had made his moves early on. He used the *Chu family*'s secrets to directly sever Chu Hengyi's emotional leverage, forcing him to hand over Ruan Cuimei's information in exchange—

Knowing the plot well, Ye Mingzhao was certain that, given Chu Hengyi's style of operation, he would never owe a favor to an enemy. The most convenient bargaining chip to settle this debt without affecting the subsequent layout was the identity of Ye Mingzhao's biological parents.

After obtaining Ruan Cuimei's information, Ye Mingzhao further leveraged Zhou Heting's wariness of him to force Zhou Yueze to quickly uncover the true identities of Ruan Cuimei and Lin Feng.

These two individuals—Ruan Cuimei valued her reputation, cherished her family, and was protective of her image. Her husband's garment factory was also facing a management crisis. So, under the pretext of the *Prince of Beggars* production team, Ye Mingzhao organized a costume design competition to lure Jiang Shangyun into the trap. Through subtle influence on Jiang Shangyun, he directly shattered the idealized image of Ruan Cuimei as a virtuous wife and loving mother.

He wanted her beloved child to completely reject her as a mother. That was his revenge.

As for Lin Feng, who was more focused on profit and eager to take the *Gu family*'s jewelry business public, Ye Mingzhao naturally catered to his desires as well. Under the pretext of the production team, Ye Mingzhao also organized a jewelry design competition, inviting internationally renowned designers as judges and persuading luxury brands to sponsor the event. He hoped that the *Gu family* would hear about it and seize the opportunity to network and make a leap forward.

Unfortunately, something went wrong along the way, and the *Gu family* didn’t participate in the jewelry design competition.

But Ye Mingzhao wasn’t concerned about this setback. As long as Lin Feng still wanted to take the *Gu family*'s jewelry public, he would find a way to approach various capital players. In the realm of capital operations, Ye Mingzhao feared no one.

He would eventually get his revenge.

In the original story, the group of people who had banded together for mutual benefit would inevitably fall apart.

Ye Mingzhao wouldn't give them the chance to unite. He would break them one by one.

Of course, all of this had to be done without affecting his own life.

So, he proactively withdrew from the *Ye family business*, using the *Zhou family*'s eagerness to sow discord. He deliberately showed weakness, not only earning the sympathy and guilt of the *Ye family* but also successfully securing shares in the *Ye family business*—although it was only one percent, the number wasn’t important. What Ye Mingzhao valued was the significance behind the shares.

He wanted his family to see that he wasn’t invincible or perfect. He had his own little schemes, and he also felt uneasy and afraid. He was afraid of losing everything he currently had, not just the material wealth but also the spiritual stability and contentment.

Because he vividly remembered being abandoned by his biological parents as a newborn!

"He's no longer useful, send him back."

"If you send him back to me, what am I supposed to do? I'm not married yet; I can't raise a son, can I? I thought she couldn't have children?"

"She's pregnant. Of course, she wants her own child."

"Then what about this child?"

"Do whatever. If necessary, give him away, or at worst, send him to an orphanage."

"Consider him unlucky!"

Ye Mingzhao once despised his hyperthymesia.

The ability to never forget what he saw or heard wasn’t as wonderful as people imagined. Because it also meant he could never forget anything he wished to forget.

Even the bits and pieces he heard when he was still too young to understand were firmly etched in his mind.

They constantly reminded him: I was unwanted, I was abandoned.

But as he got older, Ye Mingzhao began to be grateful that he had hyperthymesia.

Because his exceptional memory allowed him to learn any skill he wanted. He could effortlessly master anything, easily maintaining excellence, becoming the pride of his parents and the considerate younger brother his siblings always wanted.

He would remember the preferences of everyone around him, never miss a valuable anniversary, and recall any casual remark made by anyone, bringing it up lightly the next time they met.

Gradually, Ye Mingzhao gained the affection of many people. His friends grew in number, his network expanded, and he possessed more and more.

He finally broke free from the tattered swaddling clothes that had once bound him, from the menacing wild dog, and from that blue figure that always turned its back on him.

But he still liked snowy nights and the color blue. Because these things starkly reminded him that if you were worthless and unloved, you would be abandoned.

Ye Mingzhao buried his head in Madam Ye's arms, his shoulders shaking helplessly like when he was a child, but he made no sound.

Everyone felt a lump in their throats. They couldn’t resist stepping forward, encircling Ye Mingzhao's slender shoulders, patting his back, hugging his slim waist. Even the most reserved Chairman Ye couldn’t help but rub Ye Mingzhao’s head.

The five members of the family embraced tightly together.

Only Chu Hengyi stood coldly on the spot, indifferently watching this scene.

The tactic of playing the victim was becoming more and more sophisticated.

He thought expressionlessly.

And in the next second, he took out his phone and sent a message.

That night, Ye Mingzhao, with an ice pack on his slightly swollen eyes, opened a social app.

A photo lay quietly in Chu Hengyi's chat box.

In the dimly lit karaoke box, Zhu Junjie and some actors from the *Prince Transformation* production team, along with some actors from Zhou's film company, were drinking and singing karaoke.

On the coffee table in front of them were some things that shouldn’t have been there.

Ye Mingzhao set the ice pack aside and asked, "What is this?"

"Chu Hengyi: A little bribe."

Ye Mingzhao looked at the photo, clicked on it, and saved it.

"Chu Hengyi: There's also a video, do you want it?"

Ye Mingzhao replied, "What are you asking for?"

Ye Mingzhao had thought that Chu Hengyi would continue asking about Hua Rui. But the typing indicator at the top of the chat box flickered repeatedly, and in the end, Chu Hengyi sent a cryptic message.

"Chu Hengyi: Do you really like the color blue, or is it just a reminder of what you lost?"