Chapter 44

Chapter 44

The driver parked the car in the front courtyard of the Xu family villa. Xu Zhifei got out holding the urn, took a thick envelope from her bag, and handed it to him: "Thank you for your hard work these past few days. We won't need a driver anymore. Take this money and find yourself a better position."

The driver took the envelope, grunted an acknowledgment, and watched her walk alone into the large villa.

Inside, Aunt Shao was packing up the house. Most of the household items had already been packed up over the past few days. Xu Zhifei also gave Aunt Shao a generous red envelope with cash.

Aunt Shao had worked for the Xu family for many years. Besides being employer and employee, they had real affection for each other. Seeing Xu Zhifei so lost and dejected, she fidgeted, wiping her hands nervously as she said, "You pay well, ma'am. I can take a break before looking for a new family. It's not like I have anything urgent at home—why don't I stay and help you out?"

Xu Zhifei shook her head with a weak smile: "No need. I'm heading back to my hometown soon. You should go home and rest for a while. Thanks for everything over the years."

Seeing that she insisted, Aunt Shao had no choice but to take off her apron, gather her belongings, and leave, glancing back reluctantly.

In the end, Xu Zhifei was the only one left in the villa.

She sat on the sofa, staring blankly for a long while before the lawyer arrived. Along with the inheritance documents, there were also the company's share transfer papers. She signed the documents one by one, handed them to the lawyer, and finally the lawyer left as well.

Xu Zhifei turned on every light in the living room, then carried the urn and walked through every room, from the first floor to the fourth and back down. Finally, as if she had finally made a decision, she carefully placed the urn on the coffee table.

Looking around, Xu Zhifei asked softly: "Wangchuan, are you here?"

No one answered.

Xu Zhifei didn't give up. She drifted around like a ghost, asking everywhere she went: "Wangchuan, are you here?"

Xu Wangchuan did not appear. Xu Zhifei stood in the doorway of his old room, staring blankly.

Since they were moving, Aunt Shao had packed up everything in Xu Wangchuan's room. Now it was empty, with only the last light of dusk creeping in through the window, making it feel even more desolate and empty.

Xu Zhifei leaned against the doorframe, staring at the empty room for a long time before speaking again: "God of Joy, are you there?"

Maybe from nervousness, or maybe fear, she spoke very slowly: "...I want to make a wish."

In the unlit room, a figure slowly appeared like a blurry projection.

A red bridal veil was draped over his head, but he wore the school uniform of Nanming Academy. The skin on his hands, exposed by the uniform, was completely colorless, and his fingers were misshapen, unlike a normal person's.

Xu Zhifei stepped back, covering her mouth as tears poured out.

So Muchan was telling the truth.

"Wangchuan... it really is you."

Xu Wangchuan stood there, completely motionless.

Xu Zhifei wiped her tears, walked toward him on her own, and reached out to touch the unsettling red veil: "Mom and Dad failed you. If another family had adopted you back then, maybe you wouldn't have been so well-off, but at least you could have grown up safe..."

Her fingers tightened around the red veil, and Xu Zhifei asked softly: "If I lift the veil, will you turn back?"

Xu Wangchuan stood frozen like a puppet, not moving, but a faint, eerie voice whispered beside Xu Zhifei's ear: "What... is your wish?"

Though the voice was eerie and unnatural, Xu Zhifei could tell it was Xu Wangchuan's voice.

"Mom doesn't have any other wishes."

Her grip on the veil was so tight that her fingers had turned slightly blue. Her voice choked up with tears: "Mom just wants you to be safe, to return to how you were. Even if it costs me my life, I don't care."

She finished speaking, tears streaming, and tore the veil off in one motion.

Under the veil was unmistakably Xu Wangchuan's face. His face was deathly pale, his pupils had an unnatural red tint, and his breathing was extremely weak. He glanced at Xu Zhifei once before fainting.

An ambulance siren echoed through Oak Manor once again.

Xu Muchan later heard from Yan He that Xu Wangchuan had actually been found.

Yan He couldn't believe it himself when he mentioned it on WeChat, saying Xu Wangchuan had been rushed to the ER and only moved to a regular room once he was stable. Xu Zhifei, probably worried, had contacted Yan He and asked him to come take another look.

Since Xu Zhifei paid well, and Yan He was curious himself, he went with his senior disciple brother.

Xu Wangchuan, just moved to a regular room, still looked very weak. His body was thick with yin energy and his soul was unsteady, but he was indeed alive. To earn the fee Xu Zhifei had paid, he and his senior spent the whole day in the ward, chanting soul-calming incantations for Xu Wangchuan.

In the end, he told Xu Muchan hesitantly that he hadn't found anything seriously wrong with Xu Wangchuan this time—but Xu Zhifei seemed a bit off.

Xu Wangchuan's life should be safe, though his body would be a lot weaker from now on, probably unable to do any heavy work. Xu Zhifei, on the other hand, was bundled up from head to toe, and she seemed to be in serious trouble.

But the Xu family had been through one disaster after another, and Xu Zhifei clearly didn't intend to ask for their help. Yan He always respected people's personal karma, so after she turned down his offer, he and his senior left the hospital.

Still, thinking that Xu Zhifei was after all Xu Muchan's mother, he got Xu Muchan's contact info from Wei Yao to give him a heads-up.

Xu Muchan thanked him but didn't think much of it.

No matter how Xu Zhifei had managed to get Xu Wangchuan back, it didn't have much to do with him anymore.

The Xu house across the street had already emptied out. The seat to Xu Muchan's left stayed empty. He went to school and came home every day, living a quiet, peaceful life.

It wasn't until mid-June, when his homeroom teacher Wan Zheng called him out of English class, that he saw Xu Zhifei and Xu Wangchuan again.

Xu Wangchuan sat in a wheelchair, pushed by Xu Zhifei, who had come to the school to handle his leave of absence.

Xu Zhifei went to the office with the homeroom teacher to fill out paperwork, while Xu Muchan, who had been called out, waited with Xu Wangchuan in the shade at the corner of the hallway—one standing, one sitting.

Xu Muchan didn't know why Xu Zhifei had called him out, and he didn't plan to talk to Xu Wangchuan. He leaned against the hallway railing, silently memorizing vocabulary in his head.

It was Xu Wangchuan who stared at him for a long time and finally spoke up: "Before you came back, the three of us were happy. I always felt that even though I was adopted, it was no different from being their real child. Mom and Dad loved me a lot. Sometimes Mom would mention you, and back then I even wished you would be found, so Mom wouldn't have to be sad in secret. Having another younger brother wouldn't have been so bad. I would have made it up to you along with Mom and Dad."

"But after you were actually found, I realized that being adopted and being blood-related are different. I thought there was no difference before, only because you hadn't been found yet."

Xu Wangchuan raised his pale, sickly face and stared hard at Xu Muchan: "Actually, before you came back, I could sometimes see the God of Joy. In my dreams, It always asked me what I wanted. But I felt my life was already happy enough—I had no complaints, so I never made a wish."

"Until after you were found... when Dad sent Qiu Ze to Yundong to get you, I was terrified, so I told It I wished you wouldn't come back."

"But you still came back."

Xu Wangchuan clenched his jaw tightly: "Even though you were blind, you were better-looking than me. And even though you came from a backward place like Yundong, your grades weren't bad either. Dad was really pleased with you, and Mom focused all her attention on you, trying to make it up to you."

"But I knew you didn't care at all. If you hated them, why did you come back? Why did you have to compete with me?"

Xu Wangchuan gripped the armrests of the wheelchair hard, his body trembling slightly, thinking about the second wish he had made.

If only Xu Muchan would just disappear.

Then everything could go back to the way it was.

But in this world, you can't trust people, and you can't trust gods either. How ridiculous.

The God of Joy hadn't granted his wish, but It still demanded its price. He lived day and night in terror of being haunted by the God of Joy, in fear of being abandoned by his parents.

By the time he regretted it, it was already too late.

Xu Muchan looked up at him, unmoved by his accusation. "I never competed with you. I only came back to treat my eyes. I was planning to leave once they healed."

"You just don't dare to resent Xu Qingming, so you chose to resent me instead."

Maybe that hit a nerve. Xu Wangchuan sank back into his wheelchair, turning his head to look at the blazing sunlight outside, and said nothing more.

Silence stretched through the hallway. From the office came the sound of Xu Zhifei thanking the homeroom teacher—so the paperwork must be done.

Xu Wangchuan turned his wheelchair toward the office, but halfway there, he looked back and said, "You have a grudge against Cui Tong, don't you? In the ghost domain, I overheard him communicating with someone, seemed to be talking about how to deal with you."

As he finished speaking, Xu Zhifei emerged from the office. He wheeled over to her, calling out, "Mom."

Xu Zhifei patted his head, gave him a small smile, and then looked toward Xu Muchan, who hadn't come over and was standing at the other end of the corridor.

Xu Muchan stood up straight and met her gaze without flinching.

"Wait here for a moment. I want to have a word with Muchan," Xu Zhifei said to Xu Wangchuan, then walked toward Xu Muchan.

She gave Xu Muchan a careful once-over, then sighed, "You turned out fine without us."

Xu Muchan didn't respond. He was never good at responding to that kind of empty small talk, and simply looked back at her directly. Perhaps because of Yan He's reminder, Xu Muchan noticed that there really were several things off about Xu Zhifei.

It was already mid-June. Though it wasn't yet the hottest time in Jiangcheng, everyone had already switched to summer clothes.

But Xu Zhifei was covered from head to toe in long sleeves and long pants, even wearing gloves on her hands, with only her face exposed. While this could be explained as sun protection, perhaps because of Yan He's warning, Xu Muchan felt something seriously off about her.

Xu Zhifei seemed lost in thought for a long moment before speaking again. "I'm taking Wangchuan back to our hometown. We probably won't come back to Jiangcheng again. Though you can take good care of yourself and may not need this, I still want to say—if you ever run into trouble or feel unhappy, Mom's door is always open."

She gave Xu Muchan a long, searching look, then pulled out an envelope and a card from her bag.

"Your father had already made a will before he passed. Though you're not yet an adult, I think you're capable of planning how to use this money yourself. I've already sold off all the Xu family's shares and assets that could be sold. I split the money roughly into two parts—one for me and Wangchuan to live on, and one for you. It's all on this card."

Before Xu Muchan could refuse, she went on, "You deserve this. Your father and I failed to raise you all these years. You don't need us now, but take this money—you might find a use for it someday."

Xu Muchan thought for a moment, then reached out and took it.

His gaze snagged on Xu Zhifei's wrist—when she reached out, a gap appeared between her glove and sleeve, revealing a patch of skin that wasn't fully covered. It was wrinkled and rough, like bark.

Xu Zhifei noticed it herself. She quickly pulled her sleeve down and added, "The envelope has our hometown address and my new phone number. Wangchuan and I are heading home today. You... take good care of yourself."

Xu Muchan nodded and watched her turn and push Xu Wangchuan toward the elevator.

He only watched for a moment before he turned and headed down the stairs, returning to the classroom to continue his lessons.

Xu Zhifei and Xu Wangchuan leaving didn't affect Xu Muchan's life at all. The only difference was that the Xu family villa went on the market and soon had new owners. And the empty seat to Xu Muchan's left finally got filled.

—The math rep moved into Xu Wangchuan's old seat.

The math rep was named Wu Dong. Thanks to a suggestion from the math teacher, Xu Muchan and Wu Dong had started interacting and would occasionally get together to discuss math problems. Now that their seats were closer, it was even more convenient for them to discuss—basically the moment class ended, the two would huddle together, their desks covered in practice books and test papers.

Wei Yao, sitting nearby, had once been curious enough to lean over and take a look. His eyes, brain, and soul all took a brutal hit from those math problems, and after that, he never dared to go near Wu Dong's seat again.

But seeing Xu Muchan and Wu Dong with their heads together bugged him. He playfully crumpled up a piece of paper and tossed it over, accidentally hitting Wu Dong on the forehead. Wu Dong looked up, staring at him through lenses as thick as the bottom of a bottle.

Wei Yao said without much sincerity, "Oops, missed. My bad."

Then he said to Xu Muchan, "What are you doing this weekend? Wanna go out and have some fun?"

Xu Muchan was in the middle of fighting with a problem and didn't even look up from his scratch paper as he said, "Can't. My brother's taking me to buy clothes."

Rejected, Wei Yao could only go to his backup for comfort: "Let's go out this weekend! Once summer break's over, it's senior year. Senior year won't have weekends this sweet."

The backup, Wen Dajiang, told him to "get lost": "My allowance can't handle you spending like a young master."

Young Master Wei had his allowance cut ever since he took the crown for last place in the May monthly exam. Now he only got five hundred yuan a week and relied on Wen Dajiang's generosity for all his fun and spending.

As for why he still ended up in last place—of course it was because He Jiaqi didn't take the monthly exam and wasn't ranked, so there was no one to keep Young Master Wei from being dead last.

Rejected again and again, Wei Yao slumped over his desk and sighed: "Man, the world's gone to hell, and people's hearts aren't what they used to be."

Xu Muchan wasn't lying to Wei Yao. On Saturday, Wei Xilou really was taking him to buy clothes.

Not just clothes—a haircut too.

Seeing Wei Xilou come over with a full set of professional barber scissors, Xu Muchan frowned and wanted to bolt: "Can't we just go to a barbershop?"

His own haircutting skills weren't much better, but he trusted Wei Xilou's skills even less.

But Wei Xilou was super into it, and for some reason, his face would darken whenever he heard someone else would be cutting Xu Muchan's hair. Figuring it wasn't worth fighting him over something so trivial, Xu Muchan gave in.

Wei Xilou had apparently gotten a full set of tools together at some point. He draped a cutting cape around Xu Muchan like a pro, then picked up the scissors and started cutting away.

Xu Muchan had no mirror in front of him, so he could only wait nervously for the result.

Wei Xilou circled around him with a serious frown, fussing for a full forty minutes before finally announcing, "Done."

He seemed really pleased with his work, running his fingers through Xu Muchan's black hair and saying, "Very pretty."

Xu Muchan switched his phone to the front camera and took a look. He thought it didn't look much different from before.

Just that the ends looked a bit lighter, and the bangs were a little neater?

He couldn't tell anything else, but he still smiled and said, "Thanks, big bro. You worked hard."

Wei Xilou did look delighted. He set down the scissors and headed for the walk-in closet: "I'll go get your clothes."

Xu Muchan followed right behind him and watched Wei Xilou open all the closet doors, carefully going through each one.

Xu Muchan's mouth twitched.

The walk-in closet was almost completely full of his clothes. He had no idea when Wei Xilou had filled it up—by the time Xu Muchan noticed, it was already stuffed.

Even though he only had to wear his school uniform on weekdays and only wore regular clothes occasionally on weekends, Wei Xilou still loved buying him clothes.

Wei Xilou picked out a white shirt and black cargo pants and handed them over: "Go put these on."

Xu Muchan obediently took them and went to change.

When he came out, he saw Wei Xilou had changed too.

Also wearing a white top and black pants. The two of them happened to be reflected together in the big mirror, and Xu Muchan realized a beat too late that not only were their outfits the same colors, they were even the same brand—the shirts had identical logos.

It looked like... couple outfits.

Xu Muchan felt weirdly uncomfortable, but Wei Xilou stood in front of the mirror admiring the look for a good while before saying, "The salesperson at the mall said these are from the same collection and can be worn as parent-child outfits. It really does look good."

Xu Muchan: "..."

He had nothing to say to that. He felt stupid for having been uncomfortable at the thought of them looking like a couple's outfit.

The driver dropped them off at the mall, and Xu Muchan suggested having lunch first before shopping for clothes. He had little interest in buying clothes, but Wei Xilou was totally into it.

Wei Xilou picked a restaurant and asked Xu Muchan, "How about this one?"

Xu Muchan gave it a quick glance and nodded. "Let's go with this one."

The restaurant was on the third floor, so the two took the elevator up, only to run into unexpected people inside.

"Wei Yao? Wen Dajiang?"

These two had just come up from the basement.

Wei Yao was also surprised to see Xu Muchan, but after his gaze swept between Xu Muchan and Wei Xilou, he blurted out "Holy crap," and widened his eyes as he asked Xu Muchan, "Why are you wearing matching outfits with the old man?"

Xu Muchan let out a cold chuckle. "It's a matching parent-kid set."

Wen Dajiang glanced at the imposing Wei family ancestor and said flatteringly, "You two don't look like father and son at all—the ancestor looks so young!"

One appeared to be in his twenties, with looks, build, and an aura that could outshine any star; the other was a youthful high schooler, fresh-faced and vibrant, with a face that was... damn, something else.

"Xu Muchan, did you get a haircut?"

Wei Yao stared at Xu Muchan for a long while before realizing that what made him look especially good today wasn't just the change from his school uniform, but also the new hairstyle. It had looked decent before, but that cut had clearly been done haphazardly—his face was doing all the heavy lifting.

As he spoke, he reached out to grab Xu Muchan's hair. "Who cut it for you? Not bad at all."

But before his hand could get far, it was caught by the old man, who then tossed it aside in disgust.

Wei Yao yelped and clutched his sore wrist, only to see the other man even pull out a handkerchief and wipe his fingers with theatrical care, as if Wei Yao were dirt. Wei Yao was furious but dared not speak up, so he could only shoot daggers at his best friend.

But Wen Dajiang ignored him entirely and asked Xu Muchan, "You two heading to the third floor for lunch too? We were planning to eat as well—why don't we eat together?"

For some reason, the moment he said that, the temperature in the elevator seemed to drop a few degrees.

Wen Dajiang rubbed the goosebumps rising on his arms and complained, "This mall's AC is way too strong."

Xu Muchan glanced at the person beside him, whose expression had darkened, and tugged at his sleeve. "Brother, let's eat together. With two more people, we can order more dishes."

Wei Xilou lowered his gaze, met Xu Muchan's sparkling eyes, and grudgingly let out a soft "Mm."

With the old man footing the bill, Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang ordered every expensive dish they'd normally hesitate to splurge on.

After finishing the meal and stepping out, Wei Yao, so stuffed he burped, asked Xu Muchan, "What are you two up to? I know there's a newly opened antique shop nearby—supposedly it's got some good stuff. Wen and I were thinking of checking it out. You coming? If I can score some cool antiques to please my grandpa, maybe I can sweet-talk him into upping my allowance."

Xu Muchan wasn't particularly interested in antique shops either, but given the choice between shopping for clothes and visiting an antique store... he didn't hesitate to turn to the man beside him, blinked, and said, "Brother, I want to check it out too."

Wei Xilou met his gaze, his eyes slowly shifting from Xu Muchan's cute, obedient face to those two annoying little mice beside him.

The little mice were still chattering on about how great the new antique shop was.

Wei Xilou furrowed his brow, barely restraining the urge to crush the little mice, then withdrew his sinister stare and offered Xu Muchan a gentle smile. "If Achan wants to go, then let's go take a look."