Chapter 43

Chapter 43

The moment Su Ximu sent the message, he heard two soft *ding-dong* sounds from his dormitory door.

Looking up, he realized Group Leader Lan242 was standing there, though he didn't know when he had arrived.

Group Leader Lan242 smiled at him and then lowered his head to look at his phone.

Seeing this, Su Ximu couldn’t help but put his hands behind his back and clear his throat lightly.

Even though he was the one who sent the message, having the lender read the loan request right in front of him still felt a bit awkward.

He had expected Group Leader Lan242 to ask a few questions after reading the message before deciding whether to loan him the money. But to his surprise, his own phone chimed the very next second.

Su Ximu looked down and saw a transfer notification: Group Leader Lan242 had transferred 20,000 yuan to him.

“Th-That’s too much,” the young man stammered, staring at the amount.

For someone with his spending habits, he hadn’t planned to borrow more than 1,000 yuan from Group Leader Lan242 in the first place.

In fact, he even felt 1,000 yuan was a bit excessive, since money went a long way in this world.

Glancing between his phone screen and Group Leader Lan242, who had now walked over to his side, he began to wonder if the group leader had entered the wrong number.

“No mistake. You can use it first, Xiao Xi. If there’s any left over, you can just return it to me when I’m short on cash,” Blue 242 said gently and understandingly. “Asking to borrow money is difficult for some people. Since it’s already so hard, it’s better to borrow a little more at once, so you won’t have to ask again next time.”

He had actually wanted to give more, but even 20,000 yuan seemed to make Xiao Xi hesitate.

“Oh, and this is for you, Xiao Xi.” Blue 242 opened his palm, revealing a small bottle filled with many small red stones, just like last time—only this time, there seemed to be many more.

“I found these yesterday,” he said.

At that moment, Su Ximu felt somewhat vulnerable.

After all, he wasn’t even twenty yet. Throughout his life, the only close family he had were his grandmother and his cousin.

His grandmother had passed away a few years ago, and his cousin was said to have been admitted to a highly confidential military academy—they hadn’t been in contact for a long time.

These past few days, faced with the care from “Big Brother” and “Third Brother,” it wasn't like he didn't want it…

Looking at Group Leader Lan242’s outstretched hand, Su Ximu slowly took the small bottle and closed his hand around it. Unable to hold back, he pursed his lips, and his eyes uncontrollably reddened.

The familiar sting in his eyes made him quickly lower his head and rub them roughly with the back of his hand, forcing the feeling back.

Seeing this, Blue 242 grew even more flustered.

He gently cupped the young man’s face, lifting it.

Noticing the red marks left on Su Ximu’s fair skin from his rough rubbing, he couldn’t help but lightly touch the marks.

“Don’t cry.” As the red marks faded under his touch, Su Juzi coaxed him again, “Be good, Xiao Xi, don’t cry.”

“Why did you suddenly start crying? Why do you suddenly feel like you’ll be driven out of the house?”

When he was human, he wasn't a normal person. Later, he was a specter for many years. During his time with Xiao Xi, he hadn't always been confident. He had watched carefully, thought deeply, and tried hard to understand the reasoning behind each of Xiao Xi’s actions.

They had been apart for too long—no one stays exactly the same forever.

They had grown up, and Xiao Xi had grown up too.

He knew he couldn’t apply his old impressions directly to the grown-up Xiao Xi.

So when in doubt, he asked.

With Group Leader Lan242 holding his face as though he were some priceless treasure, Su Ximu felt a bit embarrassed, and the urge to cry faded somewhat.

Fortunately, Group Leader Lan242 soon lowered his hands. Su Ximu averted his gaze, avoiding direct eye contact, and tried to save face by insisting, “I felt like crying because I was touched.”

“But I didn’t cry!”

It had been a long time since he last cried.

He hadn’t even cried on his first day in this world.

After answering the first question and seeing that Group Leader Lan242 seemed to believe he really hadn’t cried, Su Ximu began thinking about how to answer the second question.

This one was harder to explain.

Luckily, the most intense emotions had already passed. He could only give Group Leader Lan242 a vague analogy: “It’s like… there’s someone who has many, many things now, but none of them actually belong to him. He really likes those things, but… he can’t keep them. If he tells all his family about this, they’ll probably get very angry, and he might be kicked out.”

Su Ximu felt his explanation was muddled, but Su Juzi understood.

After digesting Xiao Xi’s words for a few seconds, a look of guilt appeared on his face.

He hadn’t realized that, despite paying close attention to Xiao Xi, he had still overlooked something.

He had thought that Xiao Xi wasn’t close to Big Brother and Jiang Lou because they hadn’t spent much time together, and Xiao Xi was naturally a bit shy.

Perhaps he himself was partly to blame—Big Brother and Jiang Lou had hesitated to approach Xiao Xi because of his own warnings.

But he never expected that what was bothering Xiao Xi was something the three of them had never even considered.

Xiao Xi was concerned about the “Su Ximu” who only existed in Jiang Lou’s side story.

Su Juzi couldn’t help but think: if it were him, or Big Brother, or Jiang Lou—if any of them had been the ones to enter Xiao Xi’s world and take the place of someone close to him, instead of Xiao Xi coming into theirs—

Then, they probably wouldn’t have worried about such issues. In fact, to protect the good life they had, they might even ensure that the so-called “original person” they replaced would never reappear…

“So, this person is about to tell all his family about this?” Blue 242 asked.

Su Ximu was silent for a second or two, then nodded. “Yes!”

“Then I wish him good luck,” Blue 242’s tone was firm. “I think, in the end, the outcome might not be bad at all—it might even be very good.”

“Because honest children always get what they want.”

Hearing this, Su Ximu looked up, wanting to ask Group Leader Lan242 where he had heard that phrase.

Even children younger than him knew that “honest children always get rewards” was something out of a fairy tale.

***

Wealth Avenue, Su Family Villa

Su Jianglou, who had also just joined the remote conversation, now wore an expression of regret.

He'd been wondering if Xi Bao's serious talk about holding a family meeting was due to the videotape situation—that he no longer wanted to evade the issue and was prepared to face Second Brother's anger head-on.

Even though he made that up too.

But turns out! It was a worse aftermath than the videotape!

Xi Bao, to this day, still feels like an outsider in this family!

Su Jianglou had almost forgotten that when Writer Ghost initially helped him create the replica, she also made up an "original owner."

Like Second Brother, Su Jianglou couldn't help putting himself in that position, concluding that, as long as he could get what he wanted, he wouldn't care whether others lived or died, human or ghost.

After giving his younger brother a long look, Su Xuanxiao took the initiative to admit, "I'm to blame here. You didn't think of this, and neither did I."

Big brother buckling first was pretty rare.

But that wasn't the most important thing right now. The most important thing was: "Second Brother said Xi Bao will be home soon. After Xi Bao 'confesses,' how should we talk to him?"

Telling him everything didn't seem like a good idea.

Second Brother had mentioned that Xi Bao's current situation was pretty unusual. He couldn't handle anything too abnormal.

But then again, would transmigrating into a book seem normal to Xi Bao?

How exactly did Xi Bao define "normal"?

Su Xuanxiao had clearly considered this key point as well.

If he could accept transmigration, could he also accept jumping back and forth?

Su Xuanxiao felt it should be possible.

As he pondered, his gaze fell on what Jiang Lou was fiddling with in his hand, and his brows furrowed sharply again: "Why are you holding Ju Zi's replica key?"

"To go in, obviously," Su Jianglou replied smoothly. "If it weren't for Xi Bao calling this family meeting today, I would've gone in yesterday."

He looked at the rusty, aged key in his hand, his tone a mix of anticipation and anger: "I can't go on like this forever, having to time it just right to appear openly in front of Xi Bao."

While resisting the gray fog's encroachment, he could only keep remembering his happy memories.

And all his happy memories were tied to Xi Bao.

The clearer the memories, the more excited he became when recalling them, and the slower the gray fog's erosion.

So, he allowed his emotions to spiral out of control.

But now it was different. Now, he could rely on his own strength to resist the gray fog's invasion from the weird world.

The emotions that nearly spiraled out of control every time he got close to Xi Bao now troubled him instead.

He didn't want to try any desensitization therapy—it was too slow.

He just wanted to stand before Xi Bao as quickly as possible, always, always.

"So I'm going. I'm going to Second Brother's replica."

Su Jianglou clenched the key tightly in his hand, not giving his elder brother a chance to snatch it away.

The atmosphere between the two brothers grew tense, on the verge of a standoff.

Until quiet but clear footsteps echoed from the open doorway.

Su Xuanxiao immediately straightened up, putting away his stern, head-of-household act.

Su Jianglou took a deep breath, picked up the fruit plate from the coffee table, and put on a bright smile: "Xi Bao, you're back?"

"Work must have been tough. Look, Third Brother cut some fruit for you."

Just as he stepped inside, Su Ximu found a piece of fruit shoved into his mouth by "Third Brother." He chewed instinctively—it was sweet.

But alas, it couldn't mask the bitterness in his heart.

Unable to bear any more of "Third Brother's" fussing, Su Ximu kept his lips tightly sealed during the ten seconds it took to change his shoes, refusing any more fruit.

Once his shoes were changed, he cautiously turned around, closed the main door, and drew the curtains over the large floor-to-ceiling window.

With that, the room dimmed significantly.

Declining "Third Brother's" invitation to sit together, he settled alone on a small single sofa, scanning the room but failing to spot "Second Brother."

But it didn't matter. With both "Eldest Brother" and "Third Brother" present, they could fill him in later.

After organizing his thoughts, he got straight to the point, earnest and serious: "Eldest Brother, Third Brother, there's something I need to confess to you."

Su Xuanxiao nodded, also mentally preparing what he would say next.

Su Jianglou quietly placed one hand behind his back.

Just like last time, that hand had already fully transformed into mist.

Before confessing to "Eldest Brother" and "Third Brother," Su Ximu felt he needed to first give them some background: "Perhaps, Eldest Brother, Third Brother, have you heard of transmigration? Or transmigrating into a book?"

He knew that for a living person, accepting that they were actually living inside a book could be somewhat cruel.

But as the saying goes, "I think, therefore I am." As long as I believe I am truly alive, then the world I inhabit is real.

Having been here for so long, Su Ximu himself felt that this was indeed a real world.

And the content of the book had naturally changed since he transmigrated into it.

So, the book could be altered, and the book wasn't all that important.

If he could figure this out, surely "Eldest Brother," being so clever, could too.

"I—I transmigrated here! In my world, I'm also called Su Ximu. But I'm not your younger brother."

He added, "But don't be afraid. Transmigration is quite common. In my world, there are often transmigrators seeking help online, and many netizens give them advice on how to live better after transmigrating. I just had bad luck—I have no way to contact my original world."

"But who knows? Maybe one day, your real younger brother will return."