Chapter 103

Chapter 103

That night, Chu Hengyi had a nightmare.

He dreamed that after being reincarnated, in order to take revenge on the Ye family, he chose to ally with Zhou Heting and Hua Rui. With his inside help, the prosperous and deeply rooted Ye family went bankrupt and collapsed in just a few years. Ye Mingzhao was betrayed and abandoned, driven out of the Ye family. Chairman Ye suddenly died of a heart attack, and Mrs. Ye, deeply traumatized, was sent to a sanatorium. Ye Mingchen and Ye Mingxi were also heavily suppressed after the Ye family's bankruptcy, living in poverty for the rest of their lives, never able to recover.

Meanwhile, the masterminds behind his abduction—Zhou Heting and Hua Rui—after bringing down the Ye family, smoothly took over the Ye family business. After fully absorbing the Ye family's connections and resources, they ascended to even greater heights.

Even the Chu family, who had abused him for eighteen years, changed their social status with his help. And he, in a daze, actually joyfully acknowledged his enemies as his benefactors, spending his entire life being manipulated by those who had wronged him.

This nightmare was utterly terrifying. When he woke up in terror, Chu Hengyi was drenched in sweat, his heart pounding like a drumbeat, and his limbs felt weak and limp.

Chu Hengyi glanced at the small alarm clock on the bedside table—it was 2:50 in the morning.

Outside the window, it was completely dark, with only the small night lights along the green belt softly glowing, looking like a string of stars from afar.

Chu Hengyi wiped his face, repeatedly recalling the nightmare that had jolted him awake, and was surprised to find that the nightmare felt so real—every fragment of the dream was vivid, as if it had truly happened.

Still shaken, Chu Hengyi shook his head in disbelief, his entire being still enveloped in the despair and anger of being manipulated and betrayed, unable to calm down.

After a while, Chu Hengyi got up and went downstairs quietly, poured himself a glass of ice water, and drank it in one gulp.

When he returned to his room, Chu Hengyi lay in bed, tossing and turning restlessly, unable to fall back asleep.

It was already 3:30 a.m. After some thought, Chu Hengyi quietly got up and tiptoed to Ye Mingzhao's room.

He carefully pressed his forehead against the door.

The cold, hard sensation traveled from his forehead to his nerves, suddenly waking him up.

Behind the door was utter silence. Chu Hengyi closed his eyes and listened carefully, but he couldn't hear Ye Mingzhao's breathing as he slept.

At this moment, everything was silent. Birds and insects were sound asleep, and the dark night enveloped the Ye family villa, with only a sliver of moonlight streaming through the skylight at the end of the corridor.

Chu Hengyi's heart, which had been racing from the nightmare, slowly calmed. He blinked his tired eyes and suddenly heard a faint click of the door lock.

The handle turned softly, and the door in front of him slowly creaked open. Ye Mingzhao's tall, slender figure emerged from behind the door. He was wearing a set of black silk pajamas, the fabric soft and smooth, glowing softly under the moonlight. The black material clung to his body, revealing his long neck and slender wrists, making his skin appear as white as jade. His features were delicate, his gaze lazy, like a night demon just waking up.

"Why aren't you sleeping?"

At this moment, the night demon frowned slightly, looking at Chu Hengyi standing quietly outside the door: "It's the middle of the night, are you here to scare me?"

Chu Hengyi shook his head in a daze, took a step forward, and without a word, hugged Ye Mingzhao, resting his head in the crook of Ye Mingzhao's neck, his voice carrying a hint of inexplicable panic and grievance: "I had a nightmare."

After hearing Chu Hengyi briefly summarize his dream, Ye Mingzhao understood.

"Come in first." Ye Mingzhao didn't want to wake anyone else. He let Chu Hengyi into the bedroom, took a spare blanket from the wardrobe, and handed it to Chu Hengyi: "Sleep, I'll stay with you."

Chu Hengyi looked down at the blanket in his arms, then at Ye Mingzhao, who had closed his eyes and returned to bed, ready to sleep. After some thought, he threw the blanket aside, quietly climbed onto the bed, and burrowed into Ye Mingzhao's blanket: "I'm scared, I can't sleep alone."

At this moment, he desperately craved Ye Mingzhao's body and warmth. Only this person could pull him out of the lingering nightmare.

Held by the fiery Chu Hengyi, whose hands were restlessly moving over his body, Ye Mingzhao, already half-asleep, sighed helplessly and grabbed Chu Hengyi's hand: "Stop pretending to be pitiful, it's too late, I want to sleep."

Chu Hengyi clung to him like a sticky, affectionate big dog: "I'll sleep with you."

The warm breath on his neck slightly dispelled Ye Mingzhao's drowsiness. He opened his eyes helplessly, looking at Chu Hengyi, who was three parts fearful but seven parts tentatively eager, and reached out to pat his head.

*

The next morning, the Ye family members, seeing Ye Mingzhao and Chu Hengyi coming out of the same room, all tried their best to pretend they hadn't noticed.

Only Ye Mingxi made playful faces at the two during breakfast, but considering Chairman Ye and Mrs. Ye's acceptance, he didn't dare to tease them out loud.

However, Chairman Ye and Mrs. Ye's acceptance of the matter was clearly higher than Ye Mingxi had imagined.

Since learning that the two were together, Chairman Ye and Mrs. Ye had been waiting for this day. Now that the other shoe had finally dropped, although their feelings were complex, they calmly accepted it.

Only after breakfast did Mrs. Ye tentatively sit down with the two children to discuss their future.

Mrs. Ye cautiously began, "What are you two planning to do next?"

They couldn't just be together without making it official. Mrs. Ye thought they should either get engaged or hold a banquet to publicly announce their relationship. Her son deserved a grand ceremony to announce their happiness to the world.

Ye Mingzhao smiled gently and, before Chu Hengyi could speak, spoke up first, "I plan to move my household registration out of the Ye family and terminate the adoption relationship with my parents."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present was shocked.

Ye Mingxi gasped in shock, grabbing his hair and loudly asking, "What are you talking about?"

Chu Hengyi instinctively reached out, tightly gripping Ye Mingzhao's wrist, his brows furrowed, clearly disapproving.

As for Chairman Ye and Mrs. Ye, it goes without saying. Chairman Ye struggled to maintain his composure, while Mrs. Ye instinctively clutched her chest.

Only the eldest brother, Ye Mingchen, asked calmly, "Why do you want to do this?"

Ye Mingzhao responded, "I will move my household registration out of the Ye family, and let Chu Hengyi remove his."

Hearing this, the Ye family members looked at Chu Hengyi in shock. Only then did it suddenly dawn on them that Chu Hengyi's household registration was still in the Chu family and had not been moved out—

When they found Chu Hengyi, his hatred for the Ye family was too deep, and he insisted on not changing back to his original name, so the name Chu Hengyi remained on the Chu family's household register. Later, so many events occurred that the Ye family forgot about this.

But on the Ye family's household register, Ye Mingyi's name still remained.

In other words, legally, Ye Mingzhao, who had a complete adoption relationship, could not marry Ye Mingyi, the biological son of the Ye family.

Unless Ye Mingzhao terminated the adoption relationship with the Ye family.

Upon hearing Ye Mingzhao's explanation, Chu Hengyi's heart grew heavy. Intense pain spread through his limbs and settled in his heart. Chu Hengyi pressed a hand to his chest, his other hand instinctively tightening around Ye Mingzhao's hand, and said solemnly, "I won't remove my household registration. We can still be together."

No one understood better than Chu Hengyi, having lived two lives, how important the Ye family was to Ye Mingzhao, and how important his identity as an adopted son of the Ye family was. Ye Mingzhao had done so much in his past life to remain part of the Ye family, to keep the Ye family's affection for him, and not to be replaced by Chu Hengyi.

Chu Hengyi couldn't comprehend why Ye Mingzhao, who had fought so hard to preserve everything, suddenly wanted to remove his household registration from the Ye family.

"True familial bonds are not bound or severed by a piece of paper," Ye Mingzhao smiled slightly. "Even if my household registration is removed from the Ye family, won't I still be my parents' son?"

Before Chairman Ye and Mrs. Ye could speak, Ye Mingxi, the attention-seeker, spoke up first, "Of course not. No matter where you move your household registration, you will always be my brother."

Even the typically reserved and taciturn Ye Mingchen solemnly stated, "No matter where your household registration is, you will always be a member of the Ye family."

Chairman Ye also said gravely, "Compared to that piece of household registration, the shares of the Ye family business are more convincing."

Mrs. Ye, heartbroken, held Ye Mingzhao's hand and looked at Chu Hengyi with hope, her expression was very complex.

She truly wished for Chu Hengyi to fully embrace the identity of Ye Mingyi, but she also couldn't bear to lose Ye Mingzhao as her son.

Chu Hengyi reiterated, "Since you said that true familial bonds are not bound or severed by a piece of paper, then I don't need to remove my household registration."

He had lived two lifetimes as Chu Hengyi, and there was no need to abandon his past for the sake of this sense of ceremony.

Even if this past was burdensome, filled with blood and tears.

"It's different," Ye Mingzhao silently shook his head, his dark eyes seeing through Chu Hengyi into another world. "Giving up the name Chu Hengyi doesn't mean you have to abandon your past, but I hope you can completely sever ties with it and move forward into a new life without any burdens."

In this world, there was never really a Chu Hengyi.

There was only a victim created from greed and hatred.

Ye Mingzhao didn't want Chu Hengyi to live under this shadow forever. He hoped Chu Hengyi could let go of those absurd and heavy past experiences and embrace a new life as Ye Mingyi.

Hearing this, Chu Hengyi was momentarily taken aback, immediately realizing that his nightmare last night must have also frightened Ye Mingzhao. Although Ye Mingzhao didn't show it clearly, his insistence on making Chu Hengyi give up this name now was like that of a startled bird.

Realizing this, Chu Hengyi's eyes filled with tears, nearly spilling over.

He had never so clearly felt Ye Mingzhao's care and protection for him, but Chu Hengyi also had his own persistence.

"I am Chu Hengyi. Even if this name was forged by hatred and greed, even if this name carries a false and heavy life, I am still Chu Hengyi."

The Chu Hengyi who was adopted by the Chu family at the age of three, abused by his adoptive parents for eighteen years, toiling hard yet brimming with hope for the future; the Chu Hengyi who lived a second life, filled with hatred, yet mellowed by family and love; the Chu Hengyi who deeply admired Ye Mingzhao; the Chu Hengyi who could let go of the past and embrace a new life lightly...

Not just the mere name on the Ye family's household register.

"Let the name Ye Mingyi remain peacefully on the Ye family's household register," Chu Hengyi smiled with relief, tenderly stroking the back of Ye Mingzhao's hand. "I can be Ye Mingyi, but I will always be Chu Hengyi."

"You don't have to carry the weight of everything I've been through. Even if the reason you were adopted by the Ye family started with me, you are you, and I am me. This is our destiny."

"If I hadn't been kidnapped, you wouldn't have been adopted by the Ye family, and I might not have met you."

In the vast sea of humanity and the expansive world, Chu Hengyi couldn't imagine how desolate and lonely a world without Ye Mingzhao would be. So he was immensely grateful that he had traded eighteen years as Chu Hengyi for the chance to meet Ye Mingzhao.

Ananda once said he would become a stone bridge, enduring five centuries of wind, sun, and rain, just so the girl could walk across it.

Chu Hengyi didn't believe in gods or Buddhas; he knew that praying to them was not as good as relying on himself. So he cultivated for two lifetimes, just to grow old with Ye Mingzhao.

"If you really want to move out of the Ye family's household register," Chu Hengyi paused slightly here. He suddenly let go of Ye Mingzhao's hand, knelt on one knee in front of Ye Mingzhao, and said solemnly in front of the whole family, "I only accept one way."

"That is, our two names fall on the same household register."

"Ye Mingzhao, would you be willing to marry me?"