Bug Fixes, Not an Update

Rebirth of the Illegitimate Son (Complete + 2 Extras), Author: Ba Ye Dang (Intelligent Optical Brain, Golden Finger, Wish-Fulfillment)

[Synopsis]

In an age when everyone was competing over their fathers, Zhang Xianyang was luckier than most: he had one more father than they did. One was his adoptive father, his mother's younger brother, who had taken him in sixteen years ago in accordance with her dying wish and treated him better than anyone could ask. The other was his biological father, who showed up sixteen years later with some ulterior motive and claimed him as his son.

Zhang Xianyang had always felt that life had gone smoothly for him, and that he had more to rely on in the father department than other people. Unfortunately, competing over fathers could backfire—and his biological father had ended up dragging his adoptive father's entire family down with him...

After living a second life, Zhang Xianyang swore to protect the people who truly loved him. He vowed to remember this to his dying day: guard against fire, guard against thieves, and guard against his biological father!

The romance has nothing to do with the fathers. It's the oldest brother and the third brother: Zhang Muyang × Zhang Xianyang (gentle, doting top × proud, troublemaking bottom)

Tags: wealthy families

Keywords: Main characters: Zhang Xianyang, Zhang Muyang ┃ Supporting cast: lots of people ┃ Other: rebirth, Intelligent Optical Brain, golden finger, wish-fulfillment

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Chapter 1: Bug Fixes, Not an Update

Pain. His whole body hurt. He was brutally pinned to the dewy grass, a large hand holding his head firmly in place. Damp, brownish-yellow soil smeared half his face. His moon-white silk pajamas had been torn into strips by a whip, and bright red blood poured from his battered body. His limbs had been broken with iron rods as thick as a forearm, twisted into grotesque shapes. Even the long, slender fingers he had always taken such good care of had been snapped one by one. The pointed heel of a delicate high heel pressed down on the back of his pale, soft hand. The searing pain made Zhang Xianyang instinctively try to curl up.

Zhang Yu leisurely twisted the slender heel of her shoe, looking down at the battered man beneath her. A gleeful smile appeared on her delicate face. It was the satisfaction of finally releasing years of pent-up resentment, the triumph of a long-laid plan finally coming to fruition. Her glee was so unrestrained that it twisted her expression into something vicious.

She crouched at her leisure, shifting as much of her weight as possible onto the foot planted on Zhang Xianyang's hand. Watching him writhe instinctively in pain, she grabbed his soft, silky hair and forced his face up toward her. His features were far too delicate for a man. Though dirt obscured half his face and bruises had darkened his forehead, the corners of his eyes, and his lips, their gentle, refined lines were still apparent. Zhang Yu regarded the half-conscious Zhang Xianyang with envy, then slapped him twice.

Zhang Xianyang's head lolled woozily. Blood seeped from the wounds the blows had opened, staining his eyes red. The whole world turned scarlet. He curled weakly in on himself, staring with bewildered eyes.

Zhang Yu dragged her sharp nails across Zhang Xianyang's face, scratching lines into it. As his once pale, smooth skin grew scarred and lost its former beauty, she laughed in triumph. "Zhang Xianyang, look at you now!"

A sharp dagger pressed against his face. Its tip applied just enough pressure to draw a round, bright bead of blood. The blade traced the outline of his cheek down to his slightly prominent Adam's apple, drew a U, then came back up to his right cheek. After that, it moved to either side of his lips, carving three bloody marks on each.

"Big Cousin always said you looked like a pretty little tiger. Now your older cousin has drawn three whiskers for you. Do you think you look even more like one?"

Zhang Xianyang shut his eyes. He didn't want to look at Zhang Yu's vicious, smug face.

A sudden flurry of footsteps sounded in the courtyard. Li Mobei in military uniform and Li Jiangnan in a suit shoved past the servants trying to stop them and hurried over. Seeing Zhang Xianyang at Zhang Yu's feet, both men paused, their displeasure plain.

"Whatever the circumstances, Zhang Xianyang is still one of the Li family's own. You've gone too far, Cousin." Li Jiangnan's smile remained as warm as spring, but the chill in his eyes and the menace in his voice revealed his agitation.

Li Mobei's gaze, cold as an icy blade, cut into Zhang Yu. He immediately strode toward her. Under his glare, Zhang Yu faltered and instinctively took two steps back. The Li brothers took the opportunity to help Zhang Xianyang to his feet. Zhang Yu sneered inwardly, but smiled as she said, "Cousin and Uncle brought this bastard into the Li family to find out where the Old Zhang Family's secret passage was, didn't they? Now that the whole Old Zhang Family has been wiped out, why are you two still putting on an act with him—"

"Shut up!"

Li Mobei cut Zhang Yu off, his face livid. But Zhang Xianyang, though half-conscious, had already understood. His pupils contracted as he stared at the two Li brothers in disbelief. Zhang Yu laughed mockingly. "That's right. You thought all that fatherly devotion and brotherly affection were real? It was a carefully planned ten-year deception. You're nothing but a bastard born out of wedlock, and you actually thought you were a young master of the Li family? If it weren't for the Old District Zhang Family, and for finding the location of the Zhang Family's secret passage, someone like you—a slut born from a mistress—would never have set foot in the Li family. Dream on!"

"But... Uncle and your two cousins patiently humored you for ten years to get the information out of you. For a bastard like you, that's quite a lot."

As Zhang Xianyang listened to Zhang Yu's sneering taunts, he suddenly tasted sweetness in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood. Images appeared in his mind: the two men leading troops to shoot his uncle's family dead when they had secretly come to take him away. He had never understood it. The two families had been so close—how could they have opened fire without mercy? Why hadn't they helped hide his uncle's family? Why hadn't they done everything they could to clear the Old District Zhang Family of the false charge of treason? How could they have shot his uncle dead right in front of him, without giving a thought to his feelings?

They had clearly liked him so much before...

So none of it had been real. Had the Li family been waiting for that day all along?

Zhang Xianyang laughed, the sound full of bitter irony. Warm, harmonious scenes flashed through his mind one after another.

His father, who had already been married, yet had deceived his mother when she had just started university, dated her, and gotten her pregnant...

His father, who had known he existed but waited until he was fifteen to come to the Old District Zhang Family and say he wanted to bring him home...

His father, who had repeatedly apologized to his mother and indulged Zhang Xianyang in everything...

His two brothers, who shared only their father, yet had accepted him without a trace of resentment...

His stepmother's face, always composed and gentle, with an air of superiority—and now and then, a flicker of mockery and pity...

His father's habitual sighs, as if he wanted to say something, and his subtle complaints whenever Zhang Xianyang brought up his uncle's family too often...

Zhang Xianyang had thought his mother was a thorn in his stepmother's side, one that would never go away. He'd figured his guilt-ridden father didn't like him talking about his life with his uncle in front of his stepmother, so he had deliberately stopped bringing it up in the years that followed. But his stepmother, his two half-brothers, and his stepmother's family had asked him about it again and again. With time, Zhang Xianyang had started mentioning it every so often.

So for ten years, whenever his two brothers took him out and used their curiosity about his uncle's family as an excuse to draw him into talking... they had been plotting this all along?

Zhang Xianyang felt his heart being squeezed tight. The pain of being betrayed by his family was like a sharp blade plunged into his heart and twisted around and around. His chest felt so constricted he could hardly breathe. His mouth hung open like a fish dying of thirst on the shore.

Scenes from his ten years in the Li family played through his mind like a movie.

Li Mobei, three years older than him, had gone with Li Cunzhou to the Old District Zhang Family to bring him to the capital. His uncle had refused, so Li Mobei and Li Cunzhou had knelt in the Old Zhang Family's courtyard all night. After arriving in the capital, it was Li Mobei who took him to the military base to practice shooting. Li Mobei had taught him his flawless marksmanship, hand over hand. Everyone in the military district had praised Li Mobei for seeing the bigger picture and treating a younger brother who didn't share his mother as though he were his own flesh and blood. Zhang Xianyang had been so delighted by their words that he could hardly contain himself. For the next ten years, he had followed Li Mobei devotedly, working like an ox for him.

Li Jiangnan was a year older than him, and they attended the same university. Since they were close in age, Li Cunzhou had told Li Jiangnan to look after Zhang Xianyang when he first arrived in the capital. So Li Jiangnan took Zhang Xianyang to every entertainment venue in Four-Nine City. Everyone in their circle knew that the two Li brothers were inseparable, as close as two halves of one person.

Ten years...

Zhang Xianyang closed his eyes in despair. All he could see was the two men shooting his beloved uncle and two cousins to death. On that stormy night, he had been locked in the attic. Through the glass window, he had seen his uncle and two cousins climb over the wall and sneak in with their people. He had been overjoyed, only to watch helplessly as they all fell soundlessly to the ground. Cold rain, cold corpses, and pairs of eyes that had died unwillingly.

The Old District Zhang Family had been forced to "disappear," falsely accused of treason. So many brothers from the gang had died with their eyes open because of his mistake. Whether his eyes were open or shut, Zhang Xianyang could see the blood-soaked faces of his brothers, their dark eyes fixed on him. The guilt of having plunged into an endless abyss could drive a person mad. The heart-rending agony of being betrayed by the people he trusted most, the people closest to him, was like an invisible hand that never stopped tearing at his soul.

Two trails of bloody tears slowly ran from Zhang Xianyang's hollow eyes.

Someone gripped his pointed chin. Zhang Yu's contemptuous, scornful voice sounded beside his ear—

"Hurts, doesn't it? You were the one who told us where the Old District Zhang Family's secret passage was. It was through you that we reached the other gangs in the Old District and persuaded them to join us against the Zhang Family. All those gang members from the Old Zhang Family who died unjustly... you sent every last one of them to hell yourself. You idiot."

"Why?" Zhang Xianyang's eyes remained fixed on the two Li brothers. His vision had grown blurry; everything was stained red. The stench made him feel sick, but he still couldn't bring himself to look away from them. "I want to see Dad."

After a long silence, Li Mobei said quietly, "Dad's busy. He doesn't have time to see you."

Zhang Yu burst out laughing. "Stop dreaming. The Old District Zhang Family has finally been wiped out. You're useless now. Do you think Uncle will still indulge you like he used to? A bastard is a bastard—disgusting, stupid, and never fit to show his face."

Zhang Xianyang's pupils suddenly contracted. With some difficulty, he asked, "You brought me into the Li family not to let me reclaim my place in the family, but only to use me against the Old District Zhang Family?"

The Li brothers turned their faces away, refusing to meet Zhang Xianyang's gaze.

Zhang Xianyang closed his eyes, his hope gone. He let the two Li brothers drag him out of the Kyoto Zhang Family and back to the Li family, where they locked him in his room again.

The pain all over his body, together with the agony twisting inside him, kept him from falling asleep. So Zhang Xianyang quietly got up and opened the heavy curtains. There was no moon in the sky that night. Darkness swallowed the entire Li family; everything was black, like a monster crouched in the shadows, waiting to devour anyone who came near. Zhang Xianyang pushed the window open. A cold night wind blew in with the rain. His room was in the tallest building in the Old Zhang Family, about five stories high. He struggled onto the balcony behind its railing and could just make out the hard granite pavement below. Zhang Xianyang thought that if he jumped headfirst, his brains would surely be splattered everywhere—and he would definitely die.