Repeat

In an instant, everyone's gaze turned toward him involuntarily.

Huo Jiu leaned lazily against the wall. He no longer had the strength to stand upright. The high fever left his limbs weak and his head spinning, while waves of nausea surged up from his stomach as though his organs had been soaked in sulfuric acid.

Yet Huo Jiu still wore a gleeful smile at the corner of his lips, like a prank that had successfully paid off.

Passengers rushing to catch the subway unconsciously stopped in their tracks. They looked at Huo Jiu and whispered among themselves. Some took out their phones to snap pictures and record videos. A few older people hesitantly fished loose change from their pockets and tossed it at Huo Jiu's feet.

One softhearted young woman blushed as she stepped closer. "Do you have a QR code? Let's add each other as friends! I'll transfer you some money."

Although he did not have a phone, Huo Jiu still thanked her gently. He appeared especially composed. Then several men in black pushed through the crowd, and Chairman Su's assistant, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, appeared before him. He gave a slight bow. "Young master, the chairman wishes to see you."

The scattered murmurs abruptly fell silent, followed by an uproar. The onlookers seemed to have stumbled upon an interesting scene and immediately perked up.

Leaning against the wall, Huo Jiu looked over the well-dressed assistant and the two rows of bodyguards behind him, then sneered. "What an impressive display!"

Author's Note:

Please provide the Chinese text you would like me to translate. Once you provide the source material, I will process it according to your instructions.

1. The entire story is overflowing with melodrama, melodrama, melodrama. Important things must be said three times.

2. As long as the plot is satisfying, forget logic and intelligence.

3. The author has completely let herself go and truly has no intention of being a decent person anymore. So yes, it is really melodramatic. Consider this another warning.

Repeat

The atmosphere suddenly grew somewhat tense.

The assistant pushed up his glasses and studied Huo Jiu carefully for a long while. He signaled for the bodyguards to step forward and put their arms around Huo Jiu's shoulders, a gesture that looked like support but was actually restraint. He said gently, "Forgive the offense."

Burning with fever and limp all over, Huo Jiu had no ability to resist as two bodyguards took him away. He did not even have time to pick up the money on the ground. The auntie who had kindly given him money bent down to retrieve her own coins, watching the group's departing backs with curiosity and concern.

A few minutes later, inside a café across from the subway station.

Chairman Su looked at Huo Jiu, who sat across from him, with admiration in his eyes. "You are much smarter than I imagined."

Huo Jiu's eyes were half-closed, and he said nothing.

Chairman Su continued, "I know you had a difficult life before. You were always hoping someone could save you from your father. You placed that hope on your mother. And your mother did not disappoint you. Though there was a small complication along the way, it may have made you feel that, in terms of motive, this rescue was not entirely perfect."

As he said this, Chairman Su carefully observed Huo Jiu's expression. "You are still young. Hearing something like this so suddenly may be difficult for you to accept. Every child hopes their parents' love for them is pure. Of course your mother loves you. But she is also Su Zhuo's mother. The love she gives the two of you is equal. Just like me—your stepfather—I will love you as much as I love Xiao Zhuo in the future. As long as you give me that chance."

Huo Jiu sprawled in his chair, expressionless.

Su Shiyuan continued, "You may as well think it over carefully. Su Zhuo is my only son. As long as it is for his good, I will do anything."

In other words, as long as it could restore Su Zhuo's health, Su Shiyuan was capable of anything.

But saying that outright would have sounded too harsh. Huo Jiu was Lu Manzhen's child after all. If he could move him through gentler means, Su Shiyuan did not want to make things too ugly.

Yet after hearing Chairman Su's words, Huo Jiu still showed no reaction. He simply curled up quietly in the booth, his eyes half-closed as though he had fallen asleep.

Chairman Su examined Huo Jiu. The child had beautiful features. Even though the fever and hunger made him look somewhat frail, his slender, well-proportioned body still held an explosive strength visible to the naked eye. Like a young beast trapped in a corner. It looked weak and harmless, yet at any moment it could unleash a fatal strike.

Chairman Su sighed softly and said earnestly, "These past few days have not been easy for you, have they? You are still underage. Without your parents' protection, you cannot survive alone in this city. But I have the ability to let you live very well. At the very least, ten or a hundred times better than you did in the past decade or so."

"Let us make a deal. Donate bone marrow to my son, and I will guarantee you a lifetime of wealth and prosperity."

Chairman Su ordered Huo Jiu breakfast and said unhurriedly, "You must be hungry. The temperature has dropped these past few days, and the difference between morning and evening is considerable. You did not even put on an extra layer when you went out. You seem to be sick. We will go home shortly and have the family doctor examine you. Your room is already prepared. Your mother chose the sheets and bedding herself and made the bed with her own hands. Go back, take a nice bath, get some sleep, and rest. Let the past be the past. From now on, neither of us will mention it again."

Chairman Su had said a whole basketful of nice things, but Huo Jiu remained unmoved. He could not help sighing and tried to appeal to his emotions. "Do not reject me so strongly. You are Man Zhen's child, which makes you my child too. I admit that I do have a purpose in bringing you back. But it is also for your own good. As long as you agree to donate bone marrow, I promise I will treat you as my own son. From now on, in the Su family, you will be the same as Su Zhuo. Whatever Su Zhuo has, you will have as well. I will treat you as my own."

Huo Jiu leaned against the booth and opened his eyes slightly, looking at the seemingly sincere Chairman Su. This Chairman Su had said these things in the original novel as well. Only then, he had likely been certain that the original body could never escape his grasp, making promises from on high. But now...

Huo Jiu tugged at the corner of his mouth. That faint smile was like a blade glinting coldly in the darkness, instantly slicing through the warmth Chairman Su had painstakingly created.

"You had people watch me twenty-four hours a day. You threatened everyone who hired me, forbidding them from giving me work or food. I did not have my ID on me, so I could not stay at a hotel. I could only sleep in the corridors and stairwells of malls, twenty-four-hour supermarkets, and convenience stores. You wanted me to retreat in the face of difficulty, to believe that I could not survive after leaving the Su family."