“Godparents?” Wei Mingzheng murmured.

Shu Jun awkwardly patted his bald head and said, “If you don’t want to, then forget about it. Either way, you’ll always be part of our family…” 

Cai Qin glared at him. “What nonsense are you spouting? The villa belongs to Mingzheng! We’re living in Mingzheng’s house! You should say that we’ll always be a part of Mingzheng’s family.”

Shu Jun nodded quickly. “Yes, yes, yes. We’ll always be a family.”

Once Shu Ning realized what this meant, he got super excited. He turned his head and asked Wei Mingzheng, “Hey, little villain, what do you think? We’ll be brothers in the future.”

Wei Mingzheng paused for a moment and said, “Godbrothers.” 

“Yeah, godbrothers. That’s practically the same thing.”

Cai Qin excitedly asked, “So, you agree?”

Wei Mingzheng softly nodded. “Yes.”

“That’s great!” Shu Ning poured drinks for everyone and raised a glass. “Come on, let’s celebrate!”

Cai Qin and Shu Jun raised their glasses. Even Shu Yang, who had no idea what was going on, picked up a glass and babbled, “Cheers…”

Wei Mingzheng raised a glass with a smile on his face.

After that, the two of them spent a couple of days playing around. They called up Wang Shenshen, Long Qiao, and Song Nian. Once the five of them got together, Wang Shenshen suggested that they play basketball like old times. They secretly snuck into Longpanshan Middle School to play a few games. Then, they ran away after being discovered.

It was like they had gone back to middle school. They didn’t have a care in the world. 

Wei Mingzheng silently followed along as they messed around. He kept his eyes on Shu Ning the entire time, watching him laugh, watching him make silly faces, watching him open a can and spray Wang Shenshen’s face…

His eyes slowly darkened.

The two of them had a lot of fun in Chuzhou. Meanwhile, the Wei family was calm on the surface, but violent storms were brewing underneath.

One weekend, Madam Wei went straight to the main building and declared that she would cut ties with Wei Ximing. 

Wei Ximing was not her biological son. Furthermore, he had tried to harm Wei Mingzheng, which is absolutely unjustifiable. She brought out all of the information she had learned from Sai Yao and condemned him. She claimed that he had behaved improperly.

Wei Ximing’s face turned pale. He was incredibly shocked.

He had thought that, at most, Madam Wei would just stay away from him and stop contacting him. He hadn’t expected this. Madam Wei actually brought this issue up to Wei Shanhe and Li Yongna and declared that she would cut off their relationship!

Li Yongna was also shocked. First, she was surprised that the well-behaved Madam Wei would do such a crazy thing. Second, she was absolutely shocked that Wei Ximing had actually done such dirty deeds. 

If Madam Wei hadn’t made a fuss, she would have thought that it was just a trivial quarrel between two children.

“Is this true?” Li Yongna asked gravely.

Madam Wei replied, “Of course. The evidence is solid.”

Li Yongna sat on her bed. Her sharp eyes turned towards Wei Ximing. “Answer me. Is this true?” 

Wei Ximing’s forehead was covered in sweat, his face was pale, and his lips were trembling.

This time, he was finally starting to regret. Why did he target Wei Mingzheng in the first place?

Wei Mingzheng just had a sharp tongue. It was him who wasn’t able to hold back his anger. It was him who had insisted on framing him. Step by step, he was the one who pushed himself into this situation.

Li Yongna didn’t wait for him to reply. She could tell from his expression that the allegations were true. 

“Ximing, how could you do this?” She coughed. She resented him for not meeting her expectations.

Wei Ximing knelt down again. He bitterly cried, “I’m sorry, Grandma. I only did it because of a moment’s impulse…”

“A moment’s impulse?” Madam Wei no longer believed anything he said. “You were manipulating competition results and bullying students before Mingzheng even returned. Were these also impulses?”

She was really disappointed and angry. She had been the one to raise Wei Ximing, but he ended up going down the wrong path. Madam Wei felt a deep sense of frustration in her heart. 

Li Yongna was also disappointed. However, since Wei Ximing saved her life, she said to Madam Wei, “Muli, give him a chance.”

“No.” Madam Wei shook her head. “I’m not going to give him any more chances.”

If it was before, she would’ve been hesitant. However, her own son had run away now, and Wei Ximing made yet another mistake. If she didn’t handle this well, she would probably lose both of her sons.

After that, Madam Wei turned around and left. It seemed that she had made up her mind. 

After Madam Wei left, Wei Ximing hugged Li Yongna’s leg and cried, “Grandma! I really didn’t mean it! Grandma, please give me a chance! Don’t drive me away!”

Li Yongna sighed and patted his back. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep my word. As long as I’m still alive, you are my grandchild.”

Wei Ximing wasn’t particularly comforted. This was because he had seen the disappointment in Li Yongna’s eyes.

The rest of the Wei family definitely would not tolerate him. 

Why?

Why did things become like this?

He returned to his room and grabbed at his hair. He blamed himself.

It was all his fault for desiring something that didn’t belong to him! In the beginning, he had clearly wanted to get along with Wei Mingzheng. Why did it become like this? 

If he was smart enough, he would’ve understood. Wei Mingzheng’s provocation, the welcoming banquet, these were all important factors that caused him to do what he did.

When he learned about his identity, Wei Ximing had actually planned to get along well with Wei Mingzheng. After all, once his identity was revealed, he wouldn’t be able to inherit. The best thing for him to do was to get along with Wei Mingzheng and please the Wei family. Once he got enough benefits from them, he’d be able to stand on his own.

In this kind of situation, he would be crazy to try and target Wei Mingzheng as soon as he returned.

That’s why, in the beginning, he really wanted to be brothers with Wei Mingzheng, even if they were just brothers on the surface. 

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Over time, Wei Ximing inevitably started to get jealous.

When Madam Wei brought Wei Mingzheng home, his mental state was already out of balance. Still, he suppressed the sourness in his heart and took the initiative to express his goodwill to Wei Mingzheng. 

If Wei Mingzheng had responded in kind and accepted the gesture, there was a possibility the two of them would’ve been able to peacefully coexist. Once Wei Ximing was able to deal with his jealousy, he would’ve slowly accepted reality.

However, Wei Mingzheng’s response was to shut him out.

Wei Ximing took this as a sign of enmity, and his sense of crisis greatly increased.

During the welcoming banquet, Wei Mingzheng expressed that the two of them were incompatible. Wei Ximing then made up his mind to suppress Wei Mingzheng. 

However, Wei Ximing took action, but Wei Mingzheng didn’t do anything. As a result, Wei Ximing let down his guard. He figured that Wei Mingzheng was all bark no bite. He wanted to take things one step further, and he became more and more careless.

Then, he was grabbed by the neck and thrown to the ground.

Wei Mingzheng used this incident to force Madam Wei into cutting off ties with him. Lian Feng just had to go and betray him. He exposed all of the awful things he’d done, further aggravating the situation.

“It was him, wasn’t it? How could there be so many coincidences?” 

Wei Ximing mumbled to himself.

He was familiar with crafty schemes like this. Slowly, he started to notice something wasn’t quite right.

Now that things were like this, it was self-evident who the biggest winner was.

“It’s him! Wei Mingzheng! He wanted to fuck me over from the very beginning!” Wei Ximing punched the wall of his room. 

He thought that Wei Mingzheng was all bark no bite, but it turned out he was actually a sinister jackal!

Who knows, he might’ve started planning this before he had ever even entered the Wei family’s doors.

Wei Ximing thought it over once more.

Madam Wei’s behavior was also very strange. Even if it was just a dog, you would still have some feelings for it after raising it for ten years. Regardless of what happened, you wouldn’t cut off the relationship. 

However, when he carefully recalled everything that had happened, he found that Wei Mingzheng had been contributing to the flames. First, he refused to return to the Wei family. This caused Madam Wei to get anxious. She started treating him like a treasure, raising his own value in her eyes. As for Wei Mingzheng’s sudden outburst, it sounded like he was asking Madam Wei to choose, but he was actually Madam Wei to abandon Wei Ximing!

With all the prep work Wei Mingzheng had done, it was impossible for Madam Wei to choose him!

Everything was within Wei Mingzheng’s calculations.

As soon as Wei Mingzheng returned, he was going for blood. Wei Mingzheng was never going to give him a chance to be a brother. 

Wei Ximing figured it all out and slumped to the ground.

He predicted that Wei Mingzheng probably had more tricks up his sleeve. Once a jackal started hunting, its prey was sure to die!

Wei Ximing trembled all over. His mind was turning faster than ever.

What are my weaknesses? 

What else could he use to attack me?

He thought desperately. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.

Zhou Juan!

The person Wei Mingzheng hated the most was definitely Zhou Juan. Zhou Juan deliberately switched the babies and abused him. Wei Mingzheng probably wanted nothing more than  for her to die. 

Zhou Juan had been missing for a long time. There’s no way Wei Mingzheng would just let her go. He had probably already guessed that Zhou Juan would come find Wei Ximing if she was in a difficult situation.

No, he couldn’t let Zhou Juan fall into the hands of others!

Wei Ximing pulled out his phone with trembling hands. He removed Zhou Juan from his blacklist and gave her a call.

Right now, he needed to make sure he and Zhou Juan were on the same page, no matter what. He needed her to stand on his side. It didn’t matter how much money he had to give her. He needed her to do this. 

“…Sorry. The number you dialed is out of service.”

Wei Ximing felt like he was going to faint.

He was one step too late!

At a random amusement park in Chuzhou. 

When Wei Mingzheng received Hu Mei’s message, he was playing with Shu Ning at an amusement park.

“I’m tired. You guys play first. I’ll rest for a while.” He smiled at Shu Ning and the others.

Shu Ning, Long Qiao, and Wang Shenshen were playing like crazy. They were currently lined up to ride the roller coaster.

Wei Mingzheng stared at Hu Mei’s text message and sneered, “Grandma’s too sentimental. That’s not very good.” 

He tapped on Liu Hong’s name and sent her a message: [How’s everything with Zhou Juan?]

Liu Hong quickly replied: [I’m almost done here. I’ll the send the recording to you now]

Wei Mingzheng: [She told you everything?]

Liu Hong: [It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Zhou Juan and Wei Ximing are like oil and water right now. Zhou Juan is full of complaints against Wei Ximing. To her, I’m like a saint who arrived at her hour of need.] 

Liu Hong: [By the way, Zhou Juan’s decided to take Wei Ximing down with her. She spent the past two days stopping every student from Sai Yao. However, Wei Ximing hasn’t attended school loately, so she didn’t manage to find him. She’s about to lose it.]

Wei Mingzheng: [Send me the recording.]

Liu Hong quickly sent the audio file.

Wei Mingzheng put on his headphones and found a quiet place to listen to the recording. 

Liu Hong had a purpose. She very clearly asked for Zhou Juan’s name, address, and situation during the interrogation process. Zhou Juan really wanted to speak and complain, so the cause and effect of it all was clearly detailed. Liu Hong also asked her again and again to confirm what she had said. It was a perfect audio recording.

Wei Mingzheng was very satisfied and decided to give Liu Hong a bonus.

Shu Ning, Wang Shenshen, Long Qiao, and Song Nian reluctantly got off the roller coaster. When they saw the villain standing by the exit, they quickly rushed over.

“The roller coaster was super fun. Do you want to try?” Shu Ning asked. 

The little villain shook his head. “The line’s super long, so I’m not going to ride it.”

Long Qiao grabbed the little villain’s shoulders. “Mingzheng gege, I’ve always found it kind of strange. You don’t really like to do anything exciting. Are you scared?”

Shu Ning stifled a laugh. “He doesn’t do anything exciting? You think he’s scared?”

If he was really a scaredy-cat, where’d he get the guts to invest his entire fortune in future contracts? If he revealed the total amount he’d invested, all of the boys’ hearts would probably stop beating. 

He doesn’t like exciting things? Get real! He clearly does!

Wei Mingzheng nodded. “Not really. I’m just a bit more cautious.”

Wang Shenshen asked curiously, “Shu Ning, your dad’s like the god of investment. You must’ve picked up a couple of skills. My dad keeps telling me to ask your dad to teach me. He even said that we should invite you guys for dinner sometime. What do you think?”

As he spoke, Wang Shenshen felt a little embarrassed. 

Shu Ning was also embarrassed. What god of investment?

He turned to look at the silent villain. This was the real god of investment.

He couldn’t refuse Wang Shenshen, so he said, “Actually, all my dad’s tricks were passed on to Mingzheng. You can ask him if you have any questions.”

“Ah?” Wang Shenshen was surprised. “Does Mingzheng gege also invest?” 

Long Qiao and Song Nian also gathered around them, staring intently at the villain.

The little villain nodded. “Yeah.”

The teenagers immediately became interested. “How do you invest?”

Wei Mingzheng said, “Investment isn’t the same as speculation. It’s usually a much more long-term process.” 

The boys asked, “It’s long-term?”

“Of course.” The little villain smiled and said, “For example, if you want to go after a certain company or individual, you need to know who you’re up against, understand their current situation, and find their weaknesses. ”

Wang Shenshen raised an argument. “What if there are no weaknesses?”

Wei Mingzheng said, “If there aren’t any weaknesses, you’ll need to create weaknesses. You can even manipulate public opinion in order to put them in a difficult situation.” 

The boys gave each other a look.

Wei Mingzheng continued, “They’ll be on guard if they know they’re being targeted. Therefore, you need to start laying down a trap before they’re aware of what’s going on. You can manipulate things on the surface to mislead them. You can even retreat a little bit in order to make the opponent believe that victory is right in front of them and have them invest more capital.”

“Wait until they’re ripe for the picking. Then, focus all your energy on bringing them down. Let all your dogs loose and let them rip the opponent apart.”

Shu Ning: “…” 

What a dangerous speech!

Why was the villain’s spiel giving off a dangerous vibe?

Although they knew the world of investment was a bloody one, it was still very uncomfortable to talk about in terms of hunting prey. They were super unused to it.

“…Investing is an art. You don’t just get money out of it. Sometimes, watching the enemy run in circles is also very satisfying…” 

They all shivered.

“Stop, stop, stop.” Shu Ning whined, “This isn’t family friendly! It’s not family friendly at all!”

Wei Mingzheng stopped talking.

Wang Shenshen gulped and said, “I think… my dad probably won’t be able to do what you’re describing. Investing a little bit should be enough for him…” 

“Ah, so it’s like that,” Wei Mingzheng said. “In that case, you should still study your target very carefully. You need to understand it very well before you act. Information comes first.”

Wang Shenshen nodded. For some reason, he couldn’t seem to continue the conversation. He had a vague feeling that he and Wei Mingzheng weren’t talking about the same thing.

“Hey, hey, let’s go play something else now.” Shu Ning said, “What are you going to ride?”

“There’s a pirate ship over there.” 

“Let’s go! I’m going to sit in the last row!”

“Song Nian, do you really have the guts to sit in the last row?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Just watch me!”

The boys were instantly swept away. They headed towards the pirate ship as they chattered away. 

Shu Ning and the others had a wonderful time at the amusement park. Meanwhile, Wei Corporation, the Wei Family, and Sai Yao International High School had all exploded!

Not too long ago, a jaw-dropping audio recording was posted to Wei’s Corporation’s official website, as well as Sai Yao’s school forum.

In the recording, the two women talked about how one of them had switched her baby with another over ten years ago. The baby that was replaced was actually a child of the Wei family!

As soon as recording came out, the entire internet flew into a frenzy. 

Now, not only the school knew about it, but the company also knew about it. The crucial point was that the real and fake young masters were switched on purpose!

The Wei family had always attracted attention. Originally, the issue with Wei Ximing and Wei Mingzheng was only circulated among the upper class. After the recording was released, the entire internet knew about it!

It even ended up on the trending list.

The Wei family wouldn’t have been able to suppress the news even if they wanted to. The news was too explosive, and the power of gossip was truly terrifying. 

Who put this recording online? Who were the two women in the recording? One of them was called Zhou Juan. Was she really the culprit who swapped the two children?

Very soon, the internet dug up everything about Zhou Juan, the protagonist of the audio recording. They also dug up information on the other two protagonists, Wei Ximing and Wei Mingzheng. They even managed to find information on everything that happened between Wei Ximing and Wei Mingzheng.

Then, they all discovered that this wasn’t the first Wei Mingzheng had shown up on their feeds.

There were two previous cases. The first time was when he was beaten into the hospital by his adoptive father. His parents abandoned him, so his classmates launched a fundraising campaign to collect medical expenses for him. 

The second time was when his adoptive father committed murder. This had even made it onto the nightly news.

His previous name was Yin Mingzheng.

[Oh my god, it’s actually Yin Mingzheng! We all know about him!]

[Not too long ago, someone from the Wei family came to pick him up. I saw it all.] 

[Yin Mingzheng was very pitiful back then. He was beaten every day, he wore clothes from the trash, he didn’t have enough food to eat, and he didn’t even attend preschool. If it wasn’t for the neighborhood committee, Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang weren’t even going to let him go to school.]

[That piece of shit couple kept getting in the way, so Yin Mingzheng started school a lot later than the other kids! They’re really so fucking disgusting! At the time, we had all guessed that he was probably adopted. How could anyone treat their own child like this? Now, we’re realizing that the truth is even worse than what we had imagined!]

On the internet, everyone denounced Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang with righteous indignation. They were especially harsh towards Zhou Juan, who was scolded to hell and back.

After all, she was the one who had switched the children. She was the beginning of all of this misfortune. 

Yin Mingzheng, who was supposed to be living in the lap of luxury, ended up living a life worse than a dog’s.

Wei Ximing, who should have grown up in poverty, enjoyed all the things that Yin Mingzheng was supposed to have.

This exchange of fates was truly too disgusting!

Public opinion on the internet was entirely one-sided. Sai Yao International High School’s forum was also full of discussion. 

[Zhou Juan switched the babies on purpose! That’s terrifying!]

[Yin Qiang was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder! Oh my god! I can’t believe Wei Ximing’s biological parents are these kinds of people!]

[Wei Ximing’s mother switched the children just so Wei Ximing would be able to enjoy the riches of a wealthy family. Then, she took Wei Mingzheng home and abused him! It’s sickening!]

[When Wei Mingzheng returned to the Wei family, Wei Ximing did everything he could to target him and frame him. In the end, he ended up falling into his own trap. Whenever I think about how I used to be a fan of his face, I want to poke my eyes out!] 

[Don’t be a fan of his face! Just look at this photo! He looks a lot like the murderer, Yin Qiang! Just seeing Wei Ximing’s face makes me think of a murderer!]

[Has anyone noticed? The recording said that Zhou Juan came to Beijing two years ago. That means Wei Ximing knew about his identity two years ago. Does anyone know about what he’s done over the past two years?]

[I get chills just thinking about it! Lian Feng broke the news that, one year ago, Wei Ximing had hired a bunch of gangsters to harass Jiang Yao. Then, he decided to play the hero and “save” her. Remember? He would’ve already known about his identity by then. Doing something like that… I want everyone to think long and hard about it.]

[Wei Ximing was raised in a good environment, but he still turned out to be a horrible person. Wei Mingzheng was raised in a bad environment, but he was still able to take first place in the exams. He’s really amazing! All I have to say is genes are supreme and some people are just born evil!] 

There is a lot of discussion online. Meanwhile, the Wei family had completely boiled over.

Everyone listened to the recording as soon as it came out. The second branch and third branch were surprised, but they didn’t really do anything. After all, it was none of their business.

Everything depended on how Wei Shanhe and Li Yongna would deal with it. Wei Ximing was deliberately switched with Wei Mingzheng, he tried to target Wei Mingzheng, and he did a lot of horrible things. He should have been kicked out of the Wei family. However, he also saved Li Yongna’s life, so it was hard to say.

Madam Wei rushed into the main building. Her eyes were filled with ice. 

Things had gotten big. Li Yongna had also listened to the recording. When she saw Madam Wei rushing through the door again, her expression was very complicated.

Wei Ximing had been in Li Yongna’s room the entire time. He listened to the recording with Li Yongna.

Zhou Juan really was a complete idiot. The other person was clearly trying to worm the facts out of her, but she didn’t even realize. She just spilled everything without regard for anything or anyone else.

Wei Ximing had no choice but to argue that the recording was fake. 

“Ximing, the recording said that Zhou Juan came to Beijing to meet you two years ago. Is this true?” Madam Wei cut straight to the point.

Li Yongna still had a glimmer of hope. “Ximing, is it true? The recording’s fake, right?”

Wei Ximing said, “Yes, it’s definitely fake! I don’t even know who Zhou Juan is!”

Madam Wei’s gaze was like a knife. “It’s fake? There are two people in the recording. Tomorrow, no, not tomorrow. We’ll find her today. Then, we’ll see if it’s a fake or not.” 

Wei Ximing gritted his teeth.

The issue had already gotten this big. The Wei family must be looking for Zhou Juan already. Zhou Juan was sure to be found soon.

This stupid fucking bitch!

Li Yongna asked, “Ximing, I’ll ask you again. Is the content of the recording true? If you say yes, Grandma will believe you, but, if we find out that you lied…” 

The creases around her lips deepened.

Wei Ximing broke out in cold sweat. His expression changed for a while before he finally said, “Grandma, it’s true.”

Madam Wei asked once more, “You knew about your true identity two years ago?”

Wei Ximing stared at Li Yongna and hesitantly nodded.