Chapter 1

Rebirth: The Willing One Takes the Bait, by Baye Dang [Complete + Extras]

Synopsis:

People said Weng Shao was greedy and unscrupulous, willing to climb into his enemy's bed to claw his way to the top. They also said the two of them were a pair of beasts in fine clothes, conspiring together, and that they were bound to turn against each other over money in the end.

Weng Shao had thought so too. It wasn't until Pei Xingze died a gruesome death at the hands of kidnappers while trying to save him that Weng Shao realized the seemingly heartless man had loved more deeply than anyone.

*

When Weng Shao opened his eyes again, he was back twenty years in the past—on the day his identity was revealed, and his birth parents cast him aside like trash.

Looking at the close family members putting on a show of moral righteousness as they scolded him for being ruthless and ungrateful, a born traitor who would never appreciate what he had been given, Weng Shao smiled.

Back then, he had been young and naive. He'd mistakenly believed that pouring his heart out would win his family's approval. Instead, once they'd squeezed every last bit of use out of him, they'd thrown him out without a second thought.

Now that he'd been lucky enough to live his life over, he would fight for whatever he wanted himself. As for the Weng family, he might as well use them as bait to lure in his prey.

With a second chance at life, Weng Shao would have his revenge, make his fortune, and land his catch. Since the world called him insatiably greedy, he would make sure he had everything.

*

But Weng Shao never expected that after he appeared before Pei Xingze as prey, used the situation to his advantage, and carefully maneuvered step by step until he finally got the man to take the bait, a wealthy couple would block his doorway before he could enjoy the fruits of victory.

"Son, we've finally found you."

Weng Shao: "???"

*

It wasn't until his birth parents came looking for him that Weng Shao learned he wasn't actually the Wengs' biological son.

Now that the truth was out, the wealthy couple who had finally found their biological son wanted to make it up to Weng Shao, and would give him anything he asked for.

When they heard Weng Shao liked mansions, his wealthy parents bought him a plot of land and gave it to him. He could have as much luxury as he wanted.

Weng Shao: "?"

When they heard Weng Shao liked luxury cars, his wealthy parents bought the sports car brand he liked best and opened a separate production line to make him custom models.

Weng Shao: "??"

Even when Weng Shao wanted to be with Pei Xingze, his wealthy parents found a matchmaker and went to the Pei family to formally ask for his hand in marriage—

Pei Xingze: "..."

An old-school, melodramatic tale of wealthy-family business rivalries, grudges, and romance. A self-indulgent story written to satisfy my own tastes.

Tags: Strong protagonists, wealthy families, rebirth, satisfying revenge, taking down scum

Main character: Weng Shao; romantic interest: Pei Xingze

One-line summary: A sinister villain is reborn and decides to take whatever he wants

Theme: You have to rely on yourself

"Since you want a good life so badly, I'll make sure you get one."

Weng Yingxiong's weathered face flushed red. His palm smacked the table with a loud crack. In the dim, flickering lamplight, every wrinkle on his face seemed to twist and snarl. "From now on, you're no longer my son. I might as well have spent those eighteen years raising an ungrateful wretch. Cough, cough, cough..."

He broke off and coughed so violently it seemed to tear at his lungs.

Seeing this, Weng Yingjie hurried to his feet and explained, "Big Brother, please don't say that. I gave Weng Shao to you as your son the day he was born. He's your son, and he's the one who'll care for you in your old age and bury you."

Old Master Weng, now advanced in years, reached out and gently patted his eldest son Weng Yingxiong on the back. Frowning, he scolded Weng Shao, "You heartless beast! Get down on your knees!"

As soon as Old Master Weng finished speaking, the guests began murmuring all around them. "What a mess!"

"Whatever their shortcomings, the eldest son and his wife raised Weng Shao for eighteen years. They finally got him to adulthood, and the moment he learned the truth about his birth, he started demanding to be reunited with his real parents. What else could he be but an ungrateful wretch?"

"I say Huixin should've kept her mouth shut. Why bring up all that old history out of nowhere? And now look: the son they raised with so much effort is about to go climb a higher branch."

"Weng Shao used to be such a sensible boy. Who could've imagined he'd do something like this?"

"That's why they say you can never know what's in someone's heart. Even a child who's always seemed sensible and dutiful might not really be either."

"They say children don't mind if their mothers are ugly, and dogs don't mind if their families are poor. This boy isn't even as good as a dog."

"Fine sheep's meat can't turn into dog meat. No matter how well the eldest son and his wife treated him, he still wants to go back to his birth parents and live the good life..."

"Of course. One father stuck in bed and unable to move, or a dad who runs a big company in the city. Which one would you pick?"

The voices around him were a jumbled din, the gossip flooding into his ears like a rising tide. Figures blurred before his eyes, colors bleeding together like a greasy canvas. The light and shadows in his vision swayed and warped. Someone shoved Weng Shao hard, and a sharp voice scolded him. "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and kneel to your dad and apologize!"

The shove sent Weng Shao stumbling, and he suddenly opened his eyes. Confused, he looked around and realized he was standing in the main room of his family's old house in the countryside. A dozen or so large round tables crammed the spacious room, all occupied by members of the Weng clan.

It was evening, and the sun was sinking in the west. Beneath the dim, flickering lights, everyone's face had grown indistinct. Only their burning gazes cut through the gloom, fixed unblinkingly on him. Their expressions ranged from surprise and contempt to disdain, and even the barely concealed excitement of people eager to watch a spectacle. A mass of savage faces spun before his eyes. The buzz of gossip, accompanied by flying flecks of spittle, swept mercilessly toward the eighteen-year-old Weng Shao.

Weng Shao stared blankly at the scene before him. After a long moment, he slowly remembered: this was Qingming Festival, twenty years ago. Weng Yingjie, already a successful man, had brought his wife and children back to their hometown to pay respects to their ancestors. On the evening before their departure, he had held a lavish banquet at the old house, inviting the neighbors and relatives.

It was also that evening that Weng Shao learned the truth about his birth from Yu Huixin—and made the decision that would change his life. He wanted to be reunited with his birth parents.

At the time, Weng Shao was in his final year of high school. The crushing pressure of life had left the young man hesitant and afraid to move forward. Even though he was capable of getting into one of the country's top universities, Jinghai University, he had planned to give up the National College Entrance Examination and attend Jinghai Normal University, where his school had offered him a guaranteed place. The normal university would waive his tuition and housing fees and provide a living allowance. His family wouldn't have to spend a cent.

But his mother, Yu Huixin, didn't agree with his decision. In her eyes, her son had already sacrificed far too much for the family. The National College Entrance Examination was one of the most important events in a person's life. Weng Shao shouldn't make a hasty decision that could ruin his future just to save the family money. Besides, none of what he'd endured should have been his burden to bear in the first place.

Yu Huixin tossed and turned, agonizing over it for a long time. In the end, on the night before Weng Yingjie and his family were due to leave, she revealed the secret she'd kept in her heart for eighteen years: Weng Shao wasn't her and Weng Yingxiong's biological son.

Eighteen years earlier, the two families of Weng Yingxiong and Weng Yingjie had been returning to their hometown after working away when they were robbed. While fighting off the robbers to protect his younger brother, Weng Yingxiong was struck across the spine with a club. He was left paralyzed and lost the ability to father children.

For a man responsible for carrying on his family line, it had been a devastating blow. At one point, Weng Yingxiong had considered taking his own life. Unwilling to bury his eldest son, Old Master Weng had decided that his younger son should give the elder one a child to raise.

Weng Yingjie already had an older son, Weng Zhen, and his wife, Zhou Shujing, was three months pregnant. To repay his elder brother for saving his life, Weng Yingjie agreed to Old Master Weng's suggestion. Several months later, Zhou Shujing gave birth to twin boys. Weng Yingjie gave the older twin to Weng Yingxiong. That boy was Weng Shao.

The two brothers, born to the same mother, went on to live vastly different lives.

Weng Shao still remembered how, at eighteen, after suddenly learning the truth about his birth, he couldn't understand why Weng Zhen and Weng Sui had been raised in luxury and given the best education, while his own life had been so miserable, even though they were all his parents' biological children.

While Weng Zhen and Weng Sui attended an international bilingual kindergarten, he carried a bamboo basket and scavenged for leftover wheat in freshly harvested fields to stave off hunger. While they spent tens of thousands of yuan on international summer camps, he cleaned out the foul-smelling pigpen and dug up earthworms and wild vegetables on the mountain to feed the chickens. In the sweltering summer heat, he pedaled a tricycle under the blazing sun, hauling hundreds of watermelons from street to street to earn a little extra money for the family. Sometimes the city inspectors chased him until he ran for his life, stripped of every last bit of dignity. While Weng Zhen and Weng Sui went to school in suits and leather shoes, riding in a car, he had to get up before dawn each day and run for two hours to reach the county high school several kilometers away. While Weng Zhen spent millions studying abroad and Weng Sui, who wasn't good at school, spent millions transferring to an art program, Weng Shao had fought his way into City No. 1 High School and still had to earn his tuition by tutoring before the school year began...

Though they were all biological brothers, while he suffered in the countryside, his birth parents lived in a mansion in the city, drove luxury cars, and worked as a wealthy businessman and an elegant lady of leisure. They had even established a charity fund in the Weng name to help underprivileged students, yet they had never once asked how he was doing. When Weng Shao swallowed his pride and reached out to them so he could afford to attend the university he wanted, they hadn't given him the affection and compensation they owed him for eighteen years. Instead, they'd lashed him with scolding and humiliated him without end.

His birth parents didn't understand him, his twin brothers looked down on him and suspected him, his grandparents and uncle cursed him to his face, and even neighbors with no real connection to the family pointed fingers at him behind his back—

"You can throw away the parents who raised you for eighteen years just to live a better life. I'd never have an ungrateful, heartless son like you. You've disappointed me so much."

"Do you know how much you look like a clown, jumping around like that? You're making such a shameless scene because you want money, aren't you? Don't say you're our parents' biological son too. Do they acknowledge you? You're nothing but a brazen, despicable person. If our parents won't acknowledge you, neither will we. We don't have a brother who'd betray his family for money."

"You went to all that trouble to get into the company just so you could fight me for the family fortune, didn't you? You think too highly of yourself. What do you think you are, some country bumpkin who hasn't even washed the mud off his trouser cuffs? What gives you the right to compete with me?"