Chapter 4

Chapter 4

◎Facing a Toxic Fate, Moving On◎

In the sweltering summer heat, Meng Qi bundled himself up tightly, hunched his back, and sneaked furtively towards the pharmacy.

The place he had fled from half an hour ago was indeed a high-end hotel, and moreover, a chain hotel owned by the Ren family. When leaving, he had glanced back at the hotel's name and was absolutely certain of this.

According to the novel's setting, Ren Suiyi's family was extremely wealthy. Besides owning the upscale nationwide chain hotel named "Ren Zhen," they had other highly lucrative businesses. They were so rich that the money they made in a single second would probably take Meng Qi half a day just to count the zeros.

Not only that, Ren Suiyi himself was exceptionally intelligent from a young age, with a rock-solid reputation as a top student. Throughout his school years, he was always ranked first in his grade. On the rare occasions he placed second, it wasn't because he encountered questions he couldn't answer, but rather to deliberately get two questions wrong to make his *white moonlight*, Jiang Baixi, happy, so Jiang Baixi could also get first place once...

Unsurprisingly, during the college entrance exam, Ren Suiyi performed consistently well, ultimately achieving the impressive national third-place score and successfully getting into Hua University, the country's number one school.

Furthermore, Ren Suiyi collected awards and certificates left and right, both inside and outside school.

His school awards were a given; just looking at his grades made it clear he'd get them. The ones outside school were even more impressive. Not only was he a Taekwondo fourth-degree black belt, had reached Grade 10 in piano, was a Hackathon grand prize winner, with English proficiency at the specialized eighth level, but he also easily obtained an amateur third-dan Go certificate while casually playing against his grandfather...

The *golden fingers* bestowed upon him were so extensive they left Meng Qi dumbfounded.

Ren Suiyi was the male lead, so having these advantages was somewhat understandable. Jiang Baixi, as Ren Suiyi's *white moonlight*, although not endowed with as many as Ren Suiyi, still had enough bestowed upon him to make ordinary people envious and jealous. While reading, Meng Qi once felt that the author probably got carried away when empowering these two characters, cramming every conceivable *golden finger* she could think of onto them without considering suitability or potential criticism, embodying the author's blatant favoritism.

Under this biased author's design, the Jiang family, to which Jiang Baixi belonged, and the Ren family, to which Ren Suiyi belonged, were family friends for generations.

As the saying goes, even those associated with the powerful share in their prestige. Since the Ren family was set up to be so wealthy, the Jiang family was not far behind. Thus, Jiang Baixi also grew up in luxury and comfort. Moreover, he had three older sisters and was born to Madam Jiang when she was over forty. He was both old Master Jiang's son from his later years and the apple of his eye, so he was pampered beyond compare, not unlike the famously pampered Jia Baoyu of the Jiang family.

Despite this, Jiang Baixi was neither willful nor stubborn. Instead, he was gentle, cheerful, and easygoing, with an exceptionally good personality, making him the perfect *white moonlight*. During the reading process, even Meng Qi was won over by this character, shifting from initial indifference to somewhat liking him.

In contrast, looking at the "Meng Qi" in the book, aside from having a decent family background, he was practically good for nothing.

Actually, the Meng and Ren families were also family friends, but compared to the relationship between the Jiang and Ren families, the Meng and Ren families' relationship was slightly more distant. The reason was that Madam Jiang, Zheng Minman, was the original wife and interacted closely with Madam Ren, Ding Yi, who was also the original wife. The current Madam Meng, Li Jintong, was a mistress who married into the position, and Madam Ren was unwilling to associate with her.

The "Meng Qi" in the book was not Li Jintong's child but had been raised by her since childhood.

As the common saying goes, spoiling a child is like killing him. The process of Li Jintong raising the "Meng Qi" in the book could also be described as her process of "killing with kindness." From the moment she officially moved into the Meng household, she showered the "Meng Qi" in the book with excessive, spoiling affection. Outsiders couldn't find a single fault with her, but the "Meng Qi" in the book was gradually ruined by her bit by bit.

This conclusion was drawn by Meng Qi thanks to his god's-eye view as a reader. Up to the point in the story where he found himself, everyone in this book, including the "Meng Qi" within it, was still unaware of his stepmother's hypocritical side.

In truth, the "Meng Qi" in the book was also clever, adorable, and intelligent as a child. But under his stepmother's indulgence, the grown-up "Meng Qi" in the book became extremely arrogant and domineering, completely incomparable to his childhood self—at first glance, they seemed like two entirely different people.

Fortunately, the "Meng Qi" in the book wasn't completely ruined; at least his innate cleverness in academics remained. Although his grades weren't as outstanding as Ren Suiyi's and Jiang Baixi's, he wasn't a total slacker either.

Moreover, out of their childhood bond, Ren Suiyi would occasionally coldly scold him a few times, hoping to restrain his behavior and correct his character, wishing he wouldn't stray too far. Jiang Baixi, however, had long avoided him like the plague and would rarely say an extra word to him.

Although the "Meng Qi" in the book was arrogant, he knew Ren Suiyi scolded him for his own good. At the same time, he wasn't the type to keep chasing after someone who gave him the cold shoulder. So, over time, he came to detest Jiang Baixi intensely and love Ren Suiyi to the point of obsession.

In short, when these three people came together, it was nothing but an ill-fated bond!

Under the scorching sun and dragging his exhausted body, Meng Qi finally found a pharmacy just before his strength gave out. The moment he saw the pharmacy sign, he was so excited he nearly cried, like seeing a familiar face in a crowd of strangers.

Here, he was truly alone, without family or friends. Everything had to be figured out and done by himself. Heaven only knew how helpless he felt during his search for a pharmacy. He really wanted to go home, to return to his grandparents, He Cong and Wang Boyuan...

But, perhaps only Heaven knew how he could get back.

Standing at the pharmacy entrance and thinking about the medicine he was about to buy, Meng Qi took a deep breath. Before entering, he peered through the sunglasses covering half his face, looking over his shoulder again and again. After confirming no one around was paying him any attention, he slipped into the pharmacy like lightning. Standing awkwardly before the counter, he said to the bewildered clerk, "Hello, do you have... contraceptive pills?"

When people feel guilty, they tend to overlook that acting more openly and confidently makes them less suspicious...

"Yes, sir. What kind of contraceptive pills would you like? Do you have a preferred brand?" Once she was sure Meng Qi wasn't a troubled customer, the clerk instantly resumed her professional smile, asking him gently in a warm tone.

She had probably seen quite a few customers like Meng Qi, bundled up tightly and coming in with a thief-like air to buy specific medication. After the initial suspicion, it didn't faze her. She likely mistook Meng Qi for one of those young men who had a secret fling and was now buying medicine for his little girlfriend—besides being nervous, his face showed a constant mix of the fear of being found out and embarrassment. So, she looked at Meng Qi with an "I see through it but won't say it" attitude, hoping to help ease his psychological burden.

But Meng Qi's mind was entirely on the fact that "contraceptive pills actually come in many types." He completely missed the clerk's knowing look. He stood before the counter, agonizing for a while before finally trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about and replying to the clerk, "Just give me the one with the strongest effect."

"Would you prefer oral or injectable?" The clerk smiled slightly and posed a new question.

This...

Faced with this completely unfamiliar question, Meng Qi thought for only a second before answering the clerk without hesitation, "Oral! I want oral!" He was still sore from earlier and couldn't bear the thought of another needle!

"Very well, sir. I recommend this one; it's effective within 24 hours," the clerk turned, took a box of medicine, and handed it to Meng Qi. She patiently taught him how to use it and then asked, "How would you like to pay?"

"Cash." Meng Qi said, handing over a hundred-yuan bill.

Thanks to the "Meng Qi" in the book having a habit of keeping cash in his wallet, Meng Qi didn't end up homeless on the streets. He used that cash to buy himself a new set of clothes, a hat, and sunglasses. After disguising himself, he came to the pharmacy.

He wasn't doing this because he was afraid others would see him buying medicine at the pharmacy. After all, even if people knew what medicine he bought, they certainly wouldn't guess how he intended to use it. And given his usual behavior, they'd probably just advise him not to mess around outside at such a young age.

He did this because he was afraid of running into "acquaintances." So far, he only recognized Ren Suiyi. As for other "acquaintances," whether truly close or not, unless they introduced themselves first, he wouldn't recognize a single one. If he encountered any, he'd definitely blow his cover. Then, if they locked him up in a mental hospital as a madman, it would be terrible! He wasn't being paranoid; based on what he knew of his "stepmother's" petty schemes, she might very well do such a thing.

For now, he had to take it one day at a time. He needed to first try and see if he could find a way to break this deadlock.

However, his thoughts were all over the place right now, and he hadn't thought of a better plan yet.

Besides the wallet, the "Meng Qi" in the book's jacket pocket also contained a mobile phone. Unfortunately, it required a password to unlock; neither fingerprint nor facial recognition was an option.

He didn't know why Young Master Meng chose such an old-fashioned and inconvenient lock screen method... If only he could unlock the phone! Perhaps he could obtain more information about this place from it. Maybe the key to breaking the deadlock was inside this very phone! The more Meng Qi thought about it, the more excited he became.

But right now, he had more important things to do. Unlocking the phone would have to wait.

After buying the medicine, Meng Qi turned and went to the milk tea shop next door to buy a cold drink. Leaving the drink shop, he hurriedly ducked into the small alley beside it, planning to take the contraceptive pills with the cold drink. After finishing the medicine, he intended to find a phone repair shop to try and unlock the phone.

But just then. He had just opened the lid of the cold drink cup and hadn't even had time to take the medicine box out of his pocket when someone suddenly called out from behind him, "Young Master Meng! What are you doing here? I've been looking all over for you!"

Startled, his hand trembled, and the cold drink cup fell to the ground with a *thud*, bursting open into a dazzling little splash. After all the droplets fell back to the ground, they spread into a dark, flower-like yet not-quite-flower pattern.

Chaotic, bizarre, just like his current predicament.

Who is it! How annoying! Couldn't they have come one second later?!

Meng Qi was ready to cry. He didn't even want to turn around to see who was calling him; he wouldn't recognize them anyway. He just wanted to disappear immediately, preferably seizing the chance to return to the real world...

"Author's Note"

Revised on July 3, 2024.

Revised on March 15, 2026.