Chapter 47: I Understand

Chapter 47: Now I Understand

Song Shimu was pleased with Qin Xu's response. He spread his palm to measure Qin Xu's waist, musing that he should find a time to send Qin Xu some clothes as a thank-you gift.

But the other party seemed to have no need for it. Qin Xu pushed Song Shimu's hand away with a warning glance.

Song Shimu curved his eyebrows into a smile, a sly glint dancing in his eyes.

After showing goodwill to Qin Xu, Song Shimu turned to Tan Manjin to explain, "The main reason I didn't tell you, Mom, is that it all happened years ago, and it would be too much trouble to dig into it now. As for telling my brother, it's partly because we're close in age, so there's no awkwardness, and partly because he's still young and doesn't mind a bit of trouble."

Qin Xu: "……"

Tan Manjin patted Song Shimu's head, then ruffled his hair. "Alright, I get it. You just didn't want us to worry, right?"

Song Shimu lowered his head and smiled, his eyes narrowing.

Tan Manjin ruffled his hair a couple more times and said, "It might be hard to track down those who bullied you before, so we'll play that by ear. But I won't let the Song family off the hook."

At this, Tan Manjin paused, glanced at the date on her phone, and added, "Speaking of which, Song Hongkai's trial is next week. Do you two want to go?"

Song Shimu raised an eyebrow in surprise, turning to look at Qin Xu, only to find the other looking back at him.

Both saw the same question in each other's eyes: "You didn't make a move on him?"

Thinking back carefully, Song Shimu hadn't seen Song Hongkai since the day he was discharged from the hospital. Given Song Hongkai's personality, he wouldn't have given up without getting money.

So, he had tentatively asked Song Yinmu about it, but the answer was always, "I haven't seen him in a long time either. Who knows where he's gone to gamble again."

In the original text, Song Yinmu didn't know much about Song Hongkai. After all, what Song Yinmu had always wanted was never Song Hongkai's approval, but the benefits that came with it—like Songxin, or the wild fantasy of gaining Qinfeng after being recognized by Qin Xu.

So, if he hadn't shown up to cause trouble for so long, it was either because he'd achieved his goal or run into trouble.

Song Shimu had always thought Qin Xu had taken action. He never expected it was his parents.

"Yes, thank you, Mom," Song Shimu said with a sweet smile. "Since we're on break these few days, I'll handle all the cooking at home. I haven't cooked in a while and would like to practice."

"Sounds good," Tan Manjin said, leading them downstairs. She smiled in agreement but then, remembering how busy they had been the previous month, asked worriedly, "You've been so busy in Nanbin City. Won't it be too tiring to come back and handle all the cooking?"

"It's just cooking. It's not tiring. If I do get tired, I'll just ask my brother for help."

Qin Xu's gaze fell on Song Shimu, his eyes seeming to say, "Did I agree to that?"

"You can also ask me and your dad," Tan Manjin said, patting Qin Xu with a laugh. She then turned to Gu Wenrui and asked, "Xiao Gu, would you like to come? Shimu is an excellent cook."

Gu Wenrui looked pleasantly surprised. "Can I really?"

"I'm guessing you've never tried Shimu's cooking before. You should come, if you have time, of course," Tan Manjin said.

"Shimu's cooking? I'd make time even if I didn't have any," Gu Wenrui said with a laugh.

"Haha, I heard you just took over Guyu a couple of days ago. I assume you've been pretty busy lately."

"It's alright, just a bit busier than usual…"

…

When they reached the first floor, dinner wasn't ready yet, so Tan Manjin took the three to the tea room, where Qin Song personally brewed a pot of fine tea to entertain Gu Wenrui.

Unfortunately, Gu Wenrui wasn't knowledgeable about tea and didn't particularly like drinking it. He took a sip and set the cup down.

Qin Song was a bit surprised, thinking to himself, "The father loves tea so much. How come the younger one didn't inherit that?"

But he couldn't say that out loud. Qin Xu took a sip of tea and asked the same question as Tan Manjin, both concerned about Song Shimu's student days.

This time, Song Shimu didn't give Gu Wenrui a chance to speak. He explained briefly himself and quickly changed the subject.

Qin Song had no choice but to ask about the collaboration between the two companies, questioning why Gu Wenrui had withdrawn from the partnership. Gu Wenrui's response was rather casual, even perfunctory, as he said he wanted to shift the company's focus.

Qin Song looked at Gu Wenrui meaningfully, categorizing the act of cutting profitable projects to shift focus as a sign of impatience typical of someone who had just taken over a company. Out of consideration for their former partnership, he used the tea tasting to subtly hint that Gu Wenrui should be more patient and grounded.

Unfortunately, Gu Wenrui's attention was entirely on Song Shimu. He noticed that after drinking his tea, Song Shimu looked at Qin Xu with eyes bright with delight, as if sharing how delicious the tea was.

But Qin Xu didn't look his way, completely ignoring Song Shimu's gaze.

Gu Wenrui clenched his hand slightly, his long eyelashes hiding eyes filled with hostility.

Qin Song could only sigh helplessly at the sight. Turning to his two sons, who were focused on savoring the tea, he felt somewhat relieved. At least neither of his sons was foolish.

Dinner was lavish. Aunt Sun, considering there was an extra guest and one person who hadn't eaten all day, prepared two additional dishes.

Everyone at the table had been in the business world for years, if not decades, so keeping the conversation from going cold was a basic skill.

Tan Manjin and Qin Song kept the conversation centered around the three young men, making sure no one felt left out. Gu Wenrui was excellent at keeping the mood lively, and Song Shimu was in high spirits.

Only Qin Xu seemed noticeably disinterested, responding coldly and eating quietly by himself.

Normally, Qin Xu ate rather slowly. With his good upbringing, even when he was hungry, he maintained an elegant demeanor, eating methodically and deliberately.

This meant that by the time he was still eating, everyone else had already left the table.

"Gu Wenrui and I are going out to walk off our meal," Song Shimu said, putting down his chopsticks after taking a few more bites once he saw Gu Wenrui had finished.

"Alright," Tan Manjin nodded.

[Favorability: 83]

Outside the villa, moonlight draped a silver veil over the vibrant garden.

Along the flagstone path, ground lights lit up one after another, their soft yellow glow gently outlining the rounded shapes of holly balls. Rose bushes swayed lightly in the interplay of light and shadow, as if whispering to the night.

Song Shimu and Gu Wenrui walked side by side along the flagstone path, moving forward slowly.

"What do you think of my family?" Song Shimu asked first.

Gu Wenrui thought for a few seconds before saying definitively, "Not good."

"Why?"

"You're not acting like yourself around them," Gu Wenrui said, frowning.

Song Shimu stopped and looked at Gu Wenrui, signaling him to continue.

"You're not the type to please others. I don't know much about your relationship with your biological parents, but from what I've observed so far, their focus is still on Qin Xu. Any kindness they show you seems like an overflow from their attention to him."

Song Shimu pursed his lips, lowered his head, and his bangs cast a shadow over his eyes. From a distance, he looked somewhat forlorn. "I think they treat me quite well."

Gu Wenrui moved closer and embraced him gently, saying softly, "You need to remember—you are the legitimate son of the Qin family, their true bloodline. Everything in the Qin family should be yours. You shouldn't have to submit like this or live as a guest in someone else's house. You should be standing at the top, looking down upon everyone."

[Favorability: 73]

Song Shimu looked up. Through the window opposite them, a tall figure stared rigidly at them. Backlit, its expression was indiscernible, leaving only a dark, ghostly silhouette.

Song Shimu took a step back, putting space between himself and Gu Wenrui. "You want me to stand at the top?"

Gu Wenrui's gaze remained fixed on Song Shimu. "You belong there."

"Why? I'm just an ordinary person," Song Shimu said.

"You're not. Shimu, you're special in a way no one else is."

"Is it because I'm a member of the Qin family? What about Qin Xu?"

"Your uniqueness isn't because you're a member of the Qin family. Believe me, Shimu, one day you will stand at the top. As for Qin Xu, that bastard who stole your place—he doesn't deserve to stand beside you." Gu Wenrui's gaze darkened, his narrow fox-like eyes gleaming fiercely.

Song Shimu studied him intently and asked, "Will you stand by my side in his place?"

"The one standing by your side will only be me," Gu Wenrui declared with conviction.

Song Shimu turned and walked toward the center of the garden. "You said before that you wanted to eliminate him. Do you have a plan now?"

"It's already in motion, Shimu. Just sit back and watch. I'll smooth out every obstacle for you," Gu Wenrui said.

"Okay."

"073, ask the main system if the villain trying to usurp the protagonist's position gets any cheat abilities," Song Shimu prodded 073.

073, who had been lamenting that Gu Wenrui's sincerity was doomed to end badly and that the villain was such a ball of jealousy, was stunned by his host's question. "Who? The villain is trying to usurp your position?"

"No, Gu Wenrui is trying to take Qin Xu's place," Song Shimu said.

"?……Huh?"

"You didn't really think all the system errors were just bugs, did you?" Song Shimu said helplessly.

073 was baffled. "…They weren't?"

"None of them were."

"……How could you tell?" 073 was even more confused.

"Because I am the original host," Song Shimu said.

"………Huh? Wait! How are you the original host? Aren't you from another world?" 073 was completely shocked.

"001 said that the essence of binding a host is to replenish the world's energy, and the reason the world's energy is lacking is because the protagonist's soul is incomplete. The moment I arrived, I couldn't leave. It might not be because you bound the wrong person—it's because I am the original host."

"Later, when we go back to the room, I can show you hundreds of handwriting analysis reports. All the results indicate that I and the original host are the same person. Plus, my appearance and physique are exactly the same as they were originally. I used to think this was a novel world, so I didn't find it strange that a written story wouldn't have a real face, and I thought the shared name was just a coincidence."

"Wow… damn…" 073 was stunned by Song Shimu's words.

Ignoring 073's mental turmoil, Song Shimu continued, "Gu Wenrui is clearly targeting Qin Xu. He's been plotting since he returned to the country. If he were really doing this for me, the ones he'd resent the most would be the Song family. There's no way his first target upon returning would be Qin Xu. So, I suspect he wants to remove Qin Xu to gain some other benefit."

"Combined with the Romance Specialization System, where the surface-level target is Gu Wenrui but the real target is Qin Xu, it means my actual love interest is Qin Xu—he's the other protagonist. Gu Wenrui must know I'm the protagonist and that Qin Xu is the other one. That's why he's been buttering me up and seducing me, pretending to speak up for me while actually trying to take Qin Xu's place."

"But I still don't understand how he managed to alter the original story and even affect your system."

…………

"This feels really creepy…" 073 felt a chill down its virtual spine.

"Just report it. The system errors aren't bugs, which means your recent trips to the 'black room' are hinting at something else. And Qin Xu—since he's affected by the system errors, any unusual behavior from him might also be significant."

"You mean… what happened today… wasn't due to possession?"

"I suspect he might have recalled something, but I electrocuted him into forgetting."

…

"I see," 073 fell silent for a moment before suddenly saying, "So I'm still a stumbling block on your path to love?"

"…………"