Chapter 3

Chi Baichuan didn't believe him and looked him up and down.

Yangcheng No. 1 High School's uniform pants were shorts that only reached the knees.

Chi Ning's skin was fair, making the dark red bloodstains on his ankles especially conspicuous. The two Golden Needle Hoops that had been hanging from his ankles to ward off evil were gone too.

Chi Baichuan frowned tightly. "Why is there blood on your feet?"

Chi Ning immediately felt uncomfortable all over. "It's someone else's blood. I ran into someone who'd been beaten up at the night market today."

Chi Baichuan and Wang Quan, who had been sitting to the side without daring to speak for ages, both let out a breath.

Noticing Teacher Wang's expression, Chi Ning hunched his shoulders uncomfortably. "Teacher, have a seat. I'll go wash up first. I'll be right back."

He wanted to take the needle hoops off his ankles and set them aside, but his hand came up empty.

They were gone?

When had they fallen off?

Afraid he would blame himself, Chi Baichuan hurriedly said, "It's fine. If they're lost, they're lost. Think of it as them taking a disaster for you. They weren't worth much anyway. I'll have another pair made for you some other day."

Chi Ning paused, and the sense of something being off that he had felt when answering the phone earlier grew even stronger.

Back then, when his older brother lost a watch, Father had chewed him out mercilessly when he got home.

Today, he had lost two pieces of gold, yet Father was being so gentle with him that he hadn't even asked how they had been lost.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

After soaping up and washing his feet, Chi Ning returned to the living room and heard his father say to Teacher Wang, "I know my own child. He's loved reading since he was little. There must be a reason he suddenly doesn't want to attend the competition. And he came home looking like this today. Why not let him rest for a while first? Too much pressure is bad for a child's health. Our family isn't short of money. Even if he does nothing but eat, I can afford to support him."

Chi Ning froze, understanding even less.

He had already prepared himself to get scolded alongside his older brother, but Father apparently had no intention of blaming him. Instead, he was asking the teacher to give him time off.

What was going on?

Could biological sons really be treated so differently?

Chi Baichuan added, "The national competition training camp doesn't start for another ten days, right? Why not give him ten days off first and discuss it again before the camp begins?"

"That works too. With your son's abilities, even after resting for ten days, he'll still securely take first place in the country." Wang Quan had spent more than a decade navigating society and knew exactly how to speak.

Everyone liked hearing others praise their children.

Chi Baichuan beamed. "We shouldn't speak too absolutely. There's always someone better. Sorry for the trouble, Teacher."

He picked up his teacup and took a sip.

Wang Quan stood and said to Chi Ning, "It's getting late. I should be going too. The notebooks you threw away were picked up by your classmates. They asked me to ask whether you still want them. If not, could they copy and photocopy them? The class monitor said he could have everyone who copies them give you some money."

Chi Ning said, "Photocopy?"

Wang Quan was surprised too.

Could this little genius really not know how valuable those notes were?

He tactfully said, "Your notes are well done. Everyone's fighting to read them."

Chi Ning gave an acknowledging sound.

It had been too long. Who could remember what was written in their high school notes? Besides, he didn't want them anyway. "Copy them if you want. No need to pay me. Teacher, I'll walk you out."

The moment he finished speaking, the front doorbell rang.

The Chi family's doorbell was operated by a pull cord.

As long as someone grabbed the lever beneath the bell outside the gate and shook it, the bell would ring, "Ding ding ding."

Chi Ning opened the gate and saw his older brother, Chi Yang, with a motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm.

"Brother."

Chi Yang glanced at him, then pulled a warm fried shrimp cake from his pocket and handed it over. "For you."

Chi Ning froze for a moment before raising his hand to accept it.

Those old-style fried shrimp cakes could only be found in Taiguan District. In his previous life, after getting out of evening self-study, he could always eat a hot one when he got home.

He had always assumed the housekeeper had bought them, never realizing they had been brought back by his older brother.

Taiguan was the most chaotic place in Yangcheng, while Jiurong District was Yangcheng's famous wealthy district. Even Jiurong had places like the night market, where all kinds of people mingled. Taiguan's disorder went without saying.

It was home to Yangcheng's most densely populated old-city pigeonhole apartments and mixed markets. Back in the early 2000s, police had arrested quite a few drug trafficking gangs and organ trafficking groups there.

It clearly wasn't worth it for an heir to make a trip there just for a shrimp cake.

His brother might be a playboy, but he shouldn't be stupid.

Chi Ning's mind was a mess. He instinctively said to Teacher Wang, "Let's go, Teacher."

Once they got into the car, Wang Quan clung to the window. Even the gleam off his bald head carried a trace of pitiful pleading. "You'll report to the competition advanced class in ten days, right? If you don't go, what happens to No. 1 High School's competition spot?"

"I haven't decided yet." Chi Ning was vague as he said to the driver, "Thanks for the effort. Please make sure Teacher Wang gets home safely."

"Of course, Young Master."

The private car had barely driven away with Teacher Wang when, not far off, the front gate was kicked open with a bang.

Chi Baichuan's furious roar came from inside the residence. "Get out! Don't show your face in front of me! I don't have a son as unfilial as you! If you don't admit your mistake, don't come back tonight!"

Chi Ning jumped in fright.

The old-style fried shrimp cake in his hand was still warm. What had his brother done this time to make Father so angry?

"You think I care?" Chi Yang sneered. He put the helmet hanging from his motorcycle handlebar over his head and gave a cold laugh. In the end, without saying another word, he mounted the bike, twisted the throttle, and roared toward the garden gate. But as he passed Chi Ning, he slowed down and said coldly, "Eat it while it's hot."

Chi Ning watched his older brother's retreating figure, his mind filled with his father's shouting.

Honestly, wasn't his brother pretty good? Why did his dad always get so worked up?

Chi Ning walked back into the living room in a daze and saw Chi Baichuan sitting on the sofa watching financial news. There was no anger on his face at all as he gently said, "Ningzai, go to bed early and get some proper rest. Look how dark your eye circles are."

His attitude was worlds apart from before.

Holding the fragrant shrimp cake, Chi Ning peeled back the greaseproof paper and took a bite. A wildly disrespectful suspicion surfaced in his mind.

Oh no, could his dad really be playing favorites?

Chi Ning answered along with his father's words and asked, "Where's Mom?"

"She's away on a business trip." Chi Baichuan smiled. "What do you want for breakfast tomorrow? I'll have the housekeeper make it for you."

"Sweet rice balls."

The next day.

Chi Ning slept until he woke naturally. Looking at the clock beside him, he saw it was exactly nine o'clock. First period had already begun.

But both his father and teacher had agreed to let him take ten days off, so there was nothing wrong with not going to school during those ten days.

He wandered downstairs for breakfast, catching sight of a small stack of newspapers on the table from the corner of his eye.

They said that playing the financial market meant playing the news.

The Chi family subscribed to nearly every newspaper from major publishers on the market, not even overlooking entertainment tabloids.

Among them, a headline from an entertainment tabloid caught his attention. It read—Chi Family's Eldest Son Speeds Late at Night, Causing Jiu Pharmaceutical Transport Truck to Overturn.

The subheadline read—Chongning Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Plunges at Opening: Does Chongning Still Have a Future?

Half the newspaper page was filled with photos of Chi Yang angrily leaving the Chi Residence and passing by him. Though the pictures were somewhat blurry, judging from the distance, the photographer seemed to have been not far ahead and to the side of the garden gate.

Strange, he hadn't seen anyone there yesterday...

Just as Chi Ning was about to turn the page, there came a thud from the mailbox.

The Chi family's mailbox was connected to the milk box. Both faced the side balcony near the small street, which was meant for milkmen and postal workers. The boxes connected inside and out, and they were close to the housekeeper's room. Things could be dropped in from outside and retrieved from indoors.

Letters and newspapers couldn't possibly make such a solid sound. His curiosity piqued, Chi Ning immediately set down his bowl and went to retrieve it.

Inside was a plain envelope without a stamp, beside a glass bottle of chilled bayberry juice.

The middle of the envelope bulged slightly. When he opened it and poured it out, two Golden Needle Hoops rolled out with a newly braided red cord. There was also a yellowed note inside, which read:

The cord broke. The items fell by the west gate of the night market.

The bottle of bayberry juice was newly bought and unused.

Chapter 3

The letter had no signature, and the wrinkled note gave no clue as to its origin.

Chi Ning turned the red cord over and over in his hands. The more he looked at it, the more familiar its braiding seemed.

But there were only a few ways to braid a cord. He couldn't remember where he had seen it, so he simply bent one leg onto the chair and tied the red cord back around his ankle.

It was exactly the right length, as though someone had measured it with a ruler.

Chi Ning fiddled with the two Golden Needle Hoops resting together, making them produce a soft clinking sound.

He dared wear the Golden Needle Hoops, but he definitely couldn't drink the bayberry juice without first finding out where it came from.

In his previous life, he had fallen asleep in the laboratory after drinking water handed to him by a colleague. When he woke up, all the experimental data on his computer had been swept clean.

That data had been intended for patent applications. Later, someone else registered the patents first, forcing Chongning Pharmaceutical to abandon a new drug it had spent a long time developing.

From then on, he never drank anything from an unknown source again.

Fortunately, the Chi family had surveillance cameras. He could check whether the little unlucky fellow had delivered the bayberry juice.

That person had an injured leg and surely wouldn't walk smoothly, making him easy to identify.

Chi Ning walked to the home surveillance room and said to the person inside, "Uncle, help me check the footage by the mailbox around nine thirty."

In 2001, surveillance cameras had not yet become widespread. They were extremely expensive and required regular maintenance. Installing high-definition color cameras in every corner of a house would cost enough to buy a luxury car.

So the Chi family had only installed two, one at the entrance and one by the mailbox.

The security guard in charge of surveillance was the housekeeper's son and also worked part-time as a driver. Chi Ning had heard that he had studied overseas, and he was an honest man.

With a toothpick in his mouth, he tapped away at the equipment, turned the screen toward Chi Ning, then pulled over a chair. "Young Master, have a seat."