Impact

Even drunk, the man had struggled on the floor for ages without managing to get up, but his intention to strangle Wen Shuang was unmistakable.

His fury and hatred were practically tangible—no exaggeration.

Wen Shuang instinctively stepped back half a pace and let the man glare at him. After thinking carefully, he only found the man vaguely familiar. The original owner had never taken him seriously, leaving him with pitifully little useful information.

"That seems to be... Yu Feng from New Orchid Liquor, if I remember right," someone in the crowd said.

A gossip immediately chimed in, "That's him! They used to praise him as some model of entrepreneurial success, and now look at him—what a mess."

"Isn't it all because of someone?" The shrill voice carried a hint of eager anticipation for a show, its malice aimed squarely at Wen Shuang.

For no apparent reason, Wen Shuang shuddered. Information about Yu Feng finally began to surface bit by bit.

To be precise, Yu Feng ranked among the top three most miserable victims of the original owner's scams.

Unlike these wealthy second-generation heirs with family fortunes behind them, Yu Feng had built his assets entirely through his own planning and effort—some of it earned by nearly drinking himself to death at banquet tables. Back when the local wine industry was just taking off, he owned the largest vineyard. His cultivation techniques were excellent, and the grapes he produced made exceptional wine. At first, Yu Feng was merely a supplier, but later he developed an interest in the business and secretly learned the craft every time he made a delivery.

At the time, the owner of New Orchid Liquor was a bachelor. He observed Yu Feng in secret for a long time and found him hardworking and ambitious. He first took him on as an apprentice, then in less than three years raised him like his own son.

With timing, location, and support all on his side, Yu Feng created his own brand and rose rapidly, becoming a celebrated success story of a nobody's rise to the top.

But fate had it in for him. He had to run into the original owner.

Seeing how innocent and easy to fool Yu Feng was, the original owner used a few tricks to become sworn brothers with him. Yu Feng had never gone to school and especially admired college students like the original owner, who attended prestigious institutions. How could he have known that beasts in human skin were everywhere?

The original owner gradually replaced the accountant at Yu Feng's company. He planned to falsify the books, showing Yu Feng a separate, spotless set of accounts. Over time, Yu Feng stopped inspecting them closely. He signed every document the original owner handed him, and when the truth came out, every signature on the papers was Yu Feng's.

When Yu Feng was arrested, it was like a bolt from the blue—a complete nightmare. Looking at the original owner standing in a corner with reddened eyes, crying and wearing an innocent expression, he finally understood what kind of ungrateful wolf he had raised.

The original owner shifted all the blame onto Yu Feng. Fortunately, the sum involved was not large and was discovered in time. Yu Feng cooperated with the investigation throughout, and after all his assets were counted, he paid every fine and every compensation owed. Overnight, he was back to square one. For a poor boy who had come from the countryside, it was like falling into a bottomless abyss. And misfortunes never came alone: after Yu Feng's mother learned of the news, she fell seriously ill and never recovered. She was still lying in the hospital, burning through money every day.

Yu Feng later went looking for the original owner, but the once-innocent young man who used to call him "Brother" sent a group of people to beat him unconscious in an alley. He made it clear that if Yu Feng came again, he should worry about his mother's safety.

The original owner had no shortage of dirty tricks. Yu Feng was utterly unable to withstand them. First he ruined his future, then humiliated his dignity, trampling on human lives without a care. How could Yu Feng not hate him?

That he had not secretly kidnapped the original owner and flayed him alive already counted as mercy.

Now that they met again, Yu Feng's attitude was easy to imagine.

Looking at Yu Feng, his face flushed from drink and shunned by everyone around him as though he were filth, Wen Shuang found himself speechless for once.

He remembered everything, as if he had personally lived through it all. It left a bitter taste in his heart.

"What good guy are you pretending to be now?" Yu Feng pushed himself up using the tables and chairs. He looked at the dazed Wen Shuang and sneered. This man truly was unmatched at playing pitiful and innocent. Yu Feng staggered forward. Given the occasion, he naturally would not make a scene, but he grabbed Wen Shuang by the collar, the icy hatred in his voice entirely undisguised. "Remember this: if anything happens to my mother, I'll fight you to the death. I've got a worthless life anyway. What do I have to fear?"

Yu Feng's father had died early, and his mother had raised him through countless hardships. After saying that, he found it laughable. How could someone as heartless as Wen Shuang possibly understand?

Wen Shuang understood. Better than anyone.

Because he understood, he could now clearly hear the lashes cracking from the depths of his soul. He had always believed that the wrongs were committed by the original owner and had nothing to do with him. But did they truly have nothing to do with him? He had taken over this body, so he was bound to inherit its sins. And the man before him, drinking himself into a puddle of mud to rebuild his life and treat his mother, was not some paper character. He stood alive before him, flesh and blood, his anger and hatred so painfully clear.

There was no escaping it.

The question Wen Shuang had been avoiding ever since arriving here was finally laid bare before him: if he continued to let things slide, the karmic debts the original owner had accumulated would sooner or later come back to him.

"I..." Wen Shuang's voice was low, but Yu Feng shoved him away and left with disgust written all over his face.

Xuan Zhe watched the scene in silence. He saw something shatter and reform in the young man's eyes. This was the translator he had recruited; keeping him close might mean getting bitten one day. Yet Wen Shuang's reaction exceeded his expectations. He did not fly into a rage, nor did he leave in anger. Instead, he seemed trapped in some internal struggle, while his eyes remained clear.

What other tricks did he have? Xuan Zhe wondered.

After today, Xuan Zhe had no intention of keeping Wen Shuang by his side.

After Yu Feng left, the revelry continued. No one cared what would become of a businessman who had failed and returned to rebuild his connections. Only Wen Shuang's heart was in chaos. Just then, a married couple entered through the main doors. Young Master Li, who had mocked Wen Shuang earlier, wandered over with a half-smile. "Your creditor's master is here again. You seduced Qin Mosheng and nearly made his wife miscarry. They barely managed to save the baby. Were you very disappointed?"

After saying that, Young Master Li steadied himself against the table and waited for Wen Shuang to say something shocking.

But Wen Shuang froze for two seconds, said nothing, and turned to leave. From the look of his back, he seemed somewhat flustered.

Li Junshan raised his brows slightly. Feeling guilty? How rare.

Wen Shuang did not look closely at Qin Mosheng. He only knew that the woman beside him was heavily pregnant. He had already experienced again and again the destruction caused by the original owner. A woman's emotions were unstable during pregnancy, and she had nearly miscarried before barely saving the child. Wen Shuang was afraid that something might happen if she saw him.

One blow after another—Wen Shuang truly needed time to process them.

He sat on the staircase landing of the emergency exit. Five minutes later, he pulled a biscuit from his pocket and forced it down like sawdust. When Xuan Zhe glanced down from the side, that was what he saw.

Different again.

Xuan Zhe had expected to see a villain cursing wildly and having a hysterical breakdown. When no one was around, he should have revealed his true face, hideous and monstrous.

But the thin, small young man was curled up there like a frightened little quail.

Xuan Zhe felt as though he had seen a ghost. Otherwise, why did he see traces of guilt and grievance in Wen Shuang?