After running out of the Jiang Family home, Jiang Xun flagged down a taxi.
As he settled into the car, salty tears still streamed uncontrollably from his eyes. His chest felt heavy, as though a stone were pressing down on it.
He really had been acting at first-he had even pinched his own thigh red-but now he wasn't. He genuinely felt awful.
The kindhearted middle-aged driver even asked if he was having trouble with something.
666 explained mechanically: [These are the original owner's emotions lingering in this body.]
Jiang Xun understood.
With parents and brothers that biased, no wonder he still held a grudge even after death.
Don't worry, Jiang Xun. I'll do my best to help you get what you wanted. Rest in peace.
"Where are you headed, young man?"
Jiang Xun found a fairly well-known hair salon online and gave the driver its address.
He planned to get this ridiculously tacky haircut fixed, especially the bangs hanging down over his eyes.
[By the way, Six, what can I do with those five hundred points I earned from yesterday's mission?]
666 had already given up on correcting what he called it: [You can purchase items in the system's Points Shop.]
An electronic screen appeared out of thin air in front of Jiang Xun. Like a shopping app, it displayed an assortment of products with their prices underneath.
They didn't look much different from the things sold in a supermarket.
Jiang Xun even spotted all sorts of sex toys.
This system was more than a little dodgy.
There was also scar-removal cream, skin-brightening body lotion... sultry gaze eye drops?
??? What the hell was all this?
666: [Perfectly respectable products.]
The corner of Jiang Xun's mouth twitched, and he mentally rolled his eyes. Do you honestly think I believe that?
Still, the scar-removal cream and skin-brightening body lotion might be worth trying. Anything sold by the system had to be different from ordinary products.
Both cost 499 points each, so he only had enough to buy one.
A little over ten minutes later, he arrived at the salon.
Although Jiang Xun's current hairstyle, appearance, and complexion made him look like a country bumpkin fresh off the bus, his clothes and shoes were all designer brands. Even his T-shirt cost tens of thousands. Tony the hairstylist greeted him enthusiastically, looking at him as though he were made of gold.
Before Tony could open his mouth, Jiang Xun struck first. "No membership, no packages. Just a haircut."
Tony deflated.
Jiang Xun had a good eye for style and guided Tony into creating the haircut he had in mind.
His hair and bangs were both cut short, with a lightly textured part, then simply blow-dried.
His short black hair was soft and fluffy. With no bangs hiding them, his finely shaped brows and eyes were on full display, giving him a clean, fresh look.
There was nothing particularly special about it, just an ordinary college student's haircut. Compared with his previous, painfully tacky hairstyle, though, it was a complete transformation.
Tony was so stunned that the comb slipped right out of his hand.
Was this really the same dark-skinned country bumpkin from earlier?
He was still dark-skinned, but there was nothing rustic about him anymore. That face shape, those features, that bone structure-if his complexion were a little fairer and his skin a little smoother, he would be absolutely perfect.
Jiang Xun looked at himself in the mirror and was reasonably satisfied. There was a three-centimeter scar above his left eye, but it didn't detract much from his appearance.
An eighteen-year-old body and an eighteen-year-old face-he really did look fresh-faced and youthful, with plenty of room for improvement.
"Handsome, want to add me on WeChat? I know a big-time agent in the entertainment industry. You might even be able to make your debut."
Jiang Xun declined Tony's kind offer, paid without fuss, and left.
As if he couldn't tell the guy was an older gay man lusting after his youthful face and body. Not a chance.
After leaving the salon, Jiang Xun went to the mall to buy some clothes and shoes.
The original owner's taste really left him speechless. He had piled designer brands onto himself indiscriminately, reeking of money, thinking that would help him fit into upper-class circles.
Jiang Xun didn't care about brands when it came to clothing. Comfort came first. In his previous life, all his clothes had been custom-made.
He held shirts and trousers against himself and bought whatever looked good. It wasn't his money he was spending, anyway.
Before long, Jiang Shiyuan received a text notification. Over a hundred thousand had been spent in one go on the supplementary card he had given Jiang Xun.
It was a trifling sum, nothing worth worrying about.
Soon, more notifications arrived one after another, showing purchases of tens of thousands or over a hundred thousand. The final transaction came to a full three million.
What trouble had that brat gotten into out there now?
Remembering how he had wrongly accused Jiang Xun that morning, Jiang Shiyuan held back his anger.
Jiang Xun had spent three million on a Patek Philippe wristwatch. After buying it, he took the watch and caught a taxi home. As for all those bags of clothes, someone would deliver them to the villa.
Jiang Huaijin and Jiang Zixing hadn't returned yet. Deng Shu was the first to see Jiang Xun walk through the door. She froze, then stared straight at his face in startled disbelief.
Jiang Xun raised a hand to rub the back of his head and gave his newly acquired mother a shy smile. "What is it, Mom? Don't you recognize me?"
Deng Shu came forward, her lovely face brimming with delighted surprise. "It really is you, Xiao Xun! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. How did you suddenly get so handsome?"
She studied her son's face carefully, but when she noticed the scar above his left eye, her smile stiffened.
"Xiao Xun, why do you have a scar here?"
Jiang Xun's gaze seemed to flicker evasively before he lowered his eyes. "It's nothing. I was naughty as a kid and hurt myself in a fall."
To keep his parents and family from worrying, the original owner had concealed not only the deafness in his left ear, but also the truth about the years of abuse he had suffered at his adoptive parents' hands.
He had merely told them that he had lived fairly well over the years and that his adoptive parents had taken reasonable care of him. The Jiang Family had simply believed him.
"I see..." Jiang Xun's reaction left Deng Shu with doubts, but she didn't press him further.
She tenderly touched the scar, her voice reassuring. "We'll find some time to have it surgically removed. It'll be fine."
"Mm," Jiang Xun said.
He scoffed inwardly. Although Deng Shu really had treated the original owner well, it was rather inexcusable that she hadn't noticed the scar on his face after all this time.
This mother still favored Jiang Zixing. For instance, when the original owner's school scheduled a parent-teacher meeting, Deng Shu had initially agreed to attend.
But shortly afterward, they learned that the finals of Jiang Zixing's piano competition fell on that very day. Over the phone, Jiang Zixing had sweetly pleaded for his parents and eldest brother to come watch him compete and win a prize, leaving Deng Shu torn.
In the end, they had all gone to Jiang Zixing's competition, while Jiang Shiyuan's assistant attended Jiang Xun's parent-teacher meeting in their place.
"Xiao Xun, I'm sorry. We've investigated everything concerning Mrs. Liu. Your father wrongly accused you."
"I really never imagined she would treat you like that behind our backs. You've suffered so much."