Bastard

Capital City, the Jiang family home.

Liu Wanying reclined on the chaise longue in the master bedroom, the tablet screen illuminating the curve of her lips.

Third on the trending list, the hashtag #Jiang Xun's violent tendencies# had a black-and-red "Exploding" tag beside it.

The comments were uniformly abusive, paid accounts copying and pasting "No upbringing-that's what you get from an orphanage" and "A bastard is a bastard" in perfect unison.

Occasional questions from ordinary users appeared among them, only to be downvoted into oblivion the moment they surfaced.

Liu Wanying scrolled through two pages, rested the tablet on her lap, and picked up the rose tea on the dressing table for a sip.

The temperature was just right, the fragrance of roses swirling over her tongue, as soothing as her mood at that moment.

She had watched the clips of that little bastard grabbing boxed meals in the village, talking back to the director, and fighting local thugs over and over. Every frame left her feeling thoroughly refreshed.

The cruder and more violent Jiang Xun appeared, the more heartfelt her tearful complaints in the prerecorded video seemed.

Once the show finished airing, no matter how much affection Jiang Changping still held for his late wife, he could not possibly keep a violent maniac reviled by the entire internet in the Jiang family.

The only thing she was dissatisfied with was the director.

"We firmly oppose all forms of cyberbullying"-who was that supposed to be aimed at?

She had paid for those accounts to destroy Jiang Xun's reputation, not for the production team to jump out and play saints.

Liu Wanying picked up her phone and dialed a number.

"Station Chief Zhou, we've worked together for so many years. Surely you know how much Jiang Corporation spends on advertising with your station every year?"

Station Chief Zhou was drinking tea in his office when he heard her voice and nearly choked on the tea leaves.

"President Liu, come now. We've always had a pleasant partnership. You've seen the ratings for this season of Metamorphosis, too. It passed three hundred million viewers right at launch. That's good for both of us-"

"Good?" Liu Wanying gave a soft laugh. "I don't think so. That chief director of yours doesn't seem very clear on who the show's biggest investor is. The statement she released sounded so righteous. Anyone who didn't know better would think she was filming some public-interest documentary."

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Station Chief Zhou's forehead. He repeatedly agreed, promising to speak with the production team and give her a reasonable explanation.

Liu Wanying hung up and picked up her flower tea again. Sunlight from the window fell just right across her well-maintained profile.

She was very pleased with how she had played this game, and it was nearly time to wrap it up.

A crash of breaking glass suddenly came from the living room, immediately followed by Jiang Yu's distorted roar.

"You fucking dare touch my stuff?!"

Liu Wanying frowned, set down her teacup, and rose to go downstairs.

The living room was a mess.

The fruit platter from the coffee table lay overturned on the rug, cherries scattered everywhere. Crushed pulp smeared the wool rug, its juice seeping into the fibers in a dark-red stain.

Jiang Yu's limited-edition figurine lay amid the wreckage, broken in two.

Shen Yuxing stood at the foot of the stairs with his head lowered, his thin shoulders trembling slightly.

"S-sorry. I really don't know how it fell."

His eyes were already red. He crouched to pick up the fragments, and a sharp plastic edge sliced his fingertip. Beads of blood seeped out and dripped onto the floor, his voice aggrieved and helpless.

"I just wanted to help Auntie Wang wipe down the cabinet. I'm sorry, Xiao Yu. Can I glue it back together for you?"

Jiang Yu stood opposite him, holding the smashed game console-its screen was a spiderweb of cracks, and pressing the power button produced no response whatsoever.

"Do you know I had three months' worth of save data on here?!" Jiang Yu's face flushed scarlet, veins bulging at his temples. "Can you afford to replace it? Everything your family could earn in a lifetime wouldn't be enough to buy this console!"

He advanced a step and jabbed a finger into Shen Yuxing's chest.

"Do people like you who crawl out of some poor mountain backwater come here just to mooch off our family? First that bastard stole my room, and now you're smashing my things-"

"Jiang Yu!"

Jiang Yanchu strode down the stairs, his expression livid.

Jiang Yu turned smugly, ready to enjoy the show, certain his second brother would take his side.

"Look, Yanchu." He held the console up in front of Jiang Yanchu. "He smashed my console, and that figurine you gave me last time got broken in half, too! It's a limited edition!"

But Jiang Yanchu did not look at the figurine. "What did you just say?"

Jiang Yu froze. A coldness he had never seen before surged in Jiang Yanchu's eyes, making him entirely unlike the mild, good-tempered second brother he remembered.

"You just said 'that bastard.'" Jiang Yanchu enunciated every word. "Who were you referring to?"

Jiang Yu opened his mouth, belatedly realizing he had stepped into a hole he had dug himself.

He instinctively backed up a step, his heel knocking over the trash can. Snack wrappers and used tissues spilled across the floor.

"I-I wasn't talking about anyone. I just said it without thinking-"

"Bastard?" Jiang Yanchu gave a cold laugh. "That's what you call Xun?"

Jiang Yanchu had already been seething with anger these past few days.

He had gone through every preview on the show's official website and even asked a senior schoolmate who had volunteered as a teacher in Yunling County to help him inquire.

It took most of the day for his schoolmate to reply. He said a production team was indeed filming in Shiban Village, but the exact address was being kept confidential during filming. The village was remote, and its residents were tight-lipped. No one knew the exact address at all.

Liu Wanying had locked down the information completely. Everyone on the production team had been instructed not to answer any calls from Jiang Yanchu.

Jiang Yanchu had thrown his phone onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, breathing hard for a long time.

He had never so much as argued with anyone growing up.

With Jiang Huaixiao representing the family and Jiang Changping making the decisions, his job was to be the undemanding second young master: good grades, a good temper, good at everything, never causing trouble or making a mess or embarrassing the family.

But now he felt utterly useless.

He could not bear to read the abuse directed at Jiang Xun online a second time. Every comment pierced his heart like a needle.

His own younger brother was drinking watery porridge and sleeping on a hard plank bed in that godforsaken place while enduring a deluge of abuse online. Yet he, the older brother, could not even find out the address. All he could do was look on helplessly.

When he heard Jiang Yu say "bastard," the taut string in his mind finally snapped.

With Jiang Yanchu blocking him beside the sofa, Jiang Yu's expression went from smugness to bewilderment to panic in mere seconds.

"Yanchu, I didn't mean it like that..."

"Then what did you mean?" Jiang Yanchu advanced step by step. "The very first day he came back, you brought people to block his door and curse at him. Did you think I didn't know? At first, I thought he'd gone too far when he kicked you. Now that I think about it, he should have kicked you more."

All color drained from Jiang Yu's face.

"Yan Chu!"

Liu Wanying hurried down the stairs, the hem of her house dress swaying gently with her steps, that eternally unchanging expression of maternal kindness on her face.

"How can you speak to your little brother like that? You watched Xiao Yu grow up. Don't you know what he's like? He just spoke without thinking for a moment-"

But Jiang Yanchu did not smooth things over as he had in the past. He stared coldly at Liu Wanying. "Auntie Liu, how much did you spend on those paid accounts attacking Xun on the trending list?"