Chapter Summaries

Jiang Xun returned to the Jiang family, where his stepmother and adopted brother treated him with contempt, and he responded by kicking Jiang Yu in the face when Jiang Yu provoked him. Liu Wanying returned with the injured Jiang Yu and appealed to Jiang Xun's father, Jiang Changping, leaving the family conflict unresolved.

• Jiang Xun recalled how his rough upbringing in an orphanage had taught him to fight back against anyone who tried to bully him.
• Jiang Xun learned that a DNA test had confirmed he was the Jiang family's son, but Liu Wanying immediately looked down on him and he challenged her authority.
• Jiang Yu mocked Jiang Xun's orphanage background at dinner, and Jiang Xun insulted him in front of the family.
• Jiang Xun recognized that his father and brothers did not genuinely welcome him, while Jiang Yanchu continued to favor Jiang Yu.
• Jiang Yu blocked Jiang Xun's doorway, called him a bastard, and was kicked in the face by Jiang Xun, who knocked out two of his front teeth.
• Liu Wanying returned with the bloodied Jiang Yu and complained to Jiang Changping about Jiang Xun.

After Jiang Xun admitted he had hit Jiang Yu for insulting him, he challenged the Jiang family’s treatment of Jiang Yu and exposed the family’s hidden tensions. The next morning, Jiang Yu’s friends arrived to settle the score with Jiang Xun.

• Jiang Changping dismissed the dispute over Jiang Yu’s lost teeth, while Liu Wanying complained that Jiang Xun had hit him.
• Jiang Yanchu rushed home to comfort Jiang Yu and criticized Jiang Xun, who pointed out that Jiang Yu was not his biological brother and accused the family of treating him as an outsider.
• Jiang Huaixiao told Jiang Xun to avoid hitting people in the living room, then went into his study.
• Jiang Xun went to bed reflecting on the family’s dysfunction and woke the next morning to hear that Jiang Yu’s friends had come to settle the score with him.

Jiang Xun fought off the blue-haired guy and his friends after they came to confront him, then tricked them into drinking wine laced with laxative. The men left without realizing what he had done.

• The blue-haired guy demanded that Jiang Xun apologize, knock out two of his teeth, and spend time with the group, so Jiang Xun kicked him and attacked the others.
• Jiang Xun beat the five remaining men, while Liu Wanying shouted for them to stop from the stairs.
• The blue-haired guy threatened Jiang Xun, then mistook the wine Jiang Xun poured for an apology and drank it.
• The blue-haired guy's friends drank from the bottle too, and the group left after smashing the empty bottle.
• Jiang Xun threw away the empty laxative packet, revealing that he had dissolved its contents in the wine beforehand.

Jiang Xun faced Jiang Changping, Liu Wanying, and Jiang Yu after Jiang Yu’s friends became ill from drinking liquor mixed with laxatives. When Jiang Changping ordered him confined and made to apologize, Jiang Xun challenged his father over his mother’s death and his own disappearance.

• Jiang Xun refused to take responsibility when a servant told him the friends’ parents were demanding answers.
• Jiang Changping dealt with the uproar by apologizing to the families and sacrificing company projects.
• Liu Wanying and Jiang Yu accused Jiang Xun of being dangerous and demanded that he leave the family home.
• Jiang Changping ordered Jiang Xun to attend etiquette and tutoring lessons, stay inside the house, and apologize at the hospital.
• Jiang Xun confronted Jiang Changping about his affair during his mother’s pregnancy, her hemorrhaging during childbirth, and Jiang Xun being taken from the hospital.

Jiang Xun confronted the Jiang family over the seventeen years of neglect and rejected their demands, then returned to his room and found a warm glass of milk waiting for him. He drank it, moved by the first small kindness he could remember receiving.

• Jiang Xun challenged Jiang Changping to strike him and reminded him that he had owed Jiang Xun a home for seventeen years.
• Jiang Xun rebuked Liu Wanying and kicked Jiang Yu after he tried to shove him.
• Jiang Yanchu failed to take Jiang Xun's side, extinguishing Jiang Xun's last hope in him.
• Jiang Xun refused to apologize or learn the family's rules, then warned Liu Wanying that he would settle every debt from the past.
• Jiang Xun found a steaming glass of milk in his room and drank it, despite his old distrust of food offered to him.

After Jiang Changping left for Germany, Jiang Xun enjoyed the quiet at home until someone drugged the milk left in his room and he woke in a rural village as a participant in Metamorphosis. He recognized the setup and threatened Liu Wanying on camera, leaving the consequences of his abduction unresolved.

• Jiang Changping left for Germany with Jiang Huaixiao, and Jiang Xun enjoyed newfound freedom while the household kept its distance.
• Jiang Xun found another warm glass of milk in his room, drank it, and was overcome by a powerful drug.
• Jiang Xun woke in a rundown house in Shiban Village and found a television crew waiting to film him.
• The host announced that Jiang Xun would spend thirty days swapping lives with a rural boy on Metamorphosis.
• Jiang Xun recognized the show and threatened Liu Wanying in front of the cameras.

Jiang Xun arrived at his rural host family’s home after Liu Wanying portrayed him as a violent, rebellious child in a prerecorded video. He met Shen Wangjing and quietly ate the sparse meal, frustrating the production crew’s plans to film an explosive outburst.

• A director realized the crew had captured Jiang Xun’s provocative opening remark and urged the cameraman to keep filming.
• Liu Wanying’s video accused Jiang Xun of attacking people at home and said the family had sent him to the countryside to correct his behavior.
• Jiang Xun ignored the host and walked into the courtyard, where he met Shen Wangjing and an elderly man in a wheelchair.
• Shen Wangjing served Jiang Xun a meager meal of thin porridge and greens.
• Jiang Xun ate the food without complaint, disappointing the production crew, which had expected him to throw a tantrum.

Jiang Xun arrived at Shen Wangjing’s home for the life-swap show and refused to perform the rebellious persona the director wanted. After discovering that his arrival had left Shen Wangjing with less food, Jiang Xun headed out through the courtyard gate.

• Jiang Xun ate two bowls of thin porridge and most of the greens after waking from being drugged and going hungry.
• The director introduced Jiang Xun to Shen Wangjing and Grandpa Shen, then explained the life-swap show and its scripted rebellious persona.
• Jiang Xun rejected the director’s request to act rebellious, saying he was hungry and would not perform for the cameras.
• Jiang Xun found the cooking pot empty and confronted Shen Wangjing about having only one bowl of porridge.
• Shen Wangjing told Jiang Xun there had only been enough rice for one bowl because Jiang Xun’s arrival reduced his share from three bowls to one.
• Jiang Xun slapped down his chopsticks and left through the courtyard gate.

Jiang Xun stole boxed meals from the production crew and brought them back for Grandpa Shen and Shen Wangjing. Shen Wangjing finally sat down to eat after Jiang Xun confronted him about pretending not to be hungry.

• Jiang Xun found the production trucks and ate the director's boxed meal.
• Jiang Xun slipped two more boxed meals away before the furious director arrived.
• Jiang Xun returned to the courtyard and gave one meal to Grandpa Shen and the other to Shen Wangjing.
• Shen Wangjing said he was not hungry and resumed chopping wood.
• Jiang Xun took the axe from Shen Wangjing and urged him to eat before the food went cold.
• Shen Wangjing sat down and put a piece of meat in his grandfather's bowl.

Jiang Xun ignored the production team's attempt to send him to the fields, while Shen Yuxing arrived at the Jiang family villa as part of the exchange show. Jiang Yanchu mistook him for a stranger, and Liu Wanying introduced him to the family as the boy taking Jiang Xun's place.

• The director sent the production assistant to urge Jiang Xun to go work in the fields with Shen Wangjing, but Shen Wangjing said he could not manage it.
• Jiang Xun refused to go, saying he would not volunteer for work just because he had nothing better to do after eating.
• Shen Yuxing arrived at the Jiang family villa, where the production assistant coached him to react dramatically to its wealth.
• Jiang Yanchu opened the door expecting Jiang Xun and asked the unfamiliar Shen Yuxing who he was, startling him into nearly falling.
• Liu Wanying came downstairs, reassured Shen Yuxing, and introduced him as the boy brought by the production team while Jiang Xun was away in the countryside.

Liu Wanying brought Shen Yuxing into the Jiang home on camera while keeping Jiang Yanchu from stopping her, and Jiang Yanchu realized she was setting Jiang Xun up for public disgrace and expulsion from the family. Shen Yuxing settled into his new role, hiding his ambition behind a timid country-boy act.

• Jiang Yanchu asked the production crew to pause filming, but Liu Wanying insisted they continue and said she had discussed the plan with Jiang Changping.
• Liu Wanying led Shen Yuxing upstairs and introduced him to a large bedroom while the cameras filmed his grateful reaction.
• Jiang Yanchu tried calling Jiang Changping and Jiang Huaixiao, then realized Liu Wanying had arranged the scene to damage Jiang Xun's reputation while his father and eldest brother were away.
• After filming stopped, Liu Wanying ordered Auntie Wang to bathe Shen Yuxing and throw away his old clothes.
• Shen Yuxing noticed Jiang Xun was missing from the family photographs and, alone in the bathroom, dropped his timid facade.

Jiang Xun refused to work in the fields and lounged on the ridge while Shen Wangjing hoed. When the director offered points toward a phone call with his family, Jiang Xun rejected the reward and explained why he wanted nothing to do with them.

• Jiang Xun refused to help with the fieldwork and followed the production crew only to sit in the sun and watch Shen Wangjing work.
• Jiang Xun passed the time weaving foxtail grass while Shen Wangjing hoed the field.
• The director explained that fieldwork earned points and that thirty points could be exchanged for a phone call with family.
• Jiang Xun asked why he would work just to call his family and described the relatives he wanted nothing to do with.
• Jiang Xun told the director to offer him thirty points for calling those people before they could discuss it.

Jiang Xun left the field with Shen Wangjing and returned to the courtyard, where Li Guizhi confronted Shen Wangjing over his late father's debt. When Li Guizhi insulted Shen Wangjing's family, Jiang Xun hit her with a jujube and mocked her hair.

• Shen Wangjing took Jiang Xun back from the field to escape the midday sun.
• Li Guizhi stormed into the courtyard with two men and demanded repayment of money she said Shen Dayong had borrowed.
• Shen Wangjing asked Li Guizhi for the IOU and told her to seek payment from Shen Dayong.
• Li Guizhi insulted Shen Wangjing's father, brother, and grandfather.
• Jiang Xun struck Li Guizhi with a half-eaten jujube and joked about her stiff hair.

Jiang Xun confronted Li Guizhi when she came to demand money from Shen Wangjing’s family, and Shen Wangjing stepped in to protect him when she ordered her men to attack. Li Guizhi fled after Shen Wangjing told her to get out, leaving Jiang Xun surprised by the feeling of someone standing up for him.

• Jiang Xun insulted Li Guizhi and challenged her to call the police over her debt-collecting tactics.
• Li Guizhi ordered her two men to beat Jiang Xun, and they advanced on him.
• Shen Wangjing stepped in front of Jiang Xun with his hoe and ordered Li Guizhi and her men to get out.
• Li Guizhi left with her men, and Jiang Xun called after her to bring the IOU next time.

Jiang Xun teased Shen Wangjing with a sour jujube, then shared a meager dinner with him and his grandfather. Meanwhile, Shen Yuxing arrived at the Jiang family residence, where Jiang Yu bullied him, unaware that Shen Yuxing was pretending to be timid.

• Shen Wangjing warned Jiang Xun to avoid confronting the woman who had visited, and Jiang Xun tricked him into eating a sour jujube.
• The production crew tightened security around Shen Wangjing's courtyard after Jiang Xun's earlier antics.
• Shen Wangjing returned from the fields with wild greens and served porridge and corn to Jiang Xun and his grandfather.
• Shen Yuxing overheard Liu Wanying recounting Jiang Xun's misdeeds before Jiang Yu shoved and insulted him off camera.
• Shen Yuxing acted frightened until Jiang Yu left, then privately judged him an idiot he could use.

Shen Yuxing entered the Jiang home and used a staged display of shyness and hardship to win sympathy from the crew and Wang Ma. After the cameras stopped, he dropped the act and secretly used Jiang Yu’s electric toothbrush to scrub the toilet.

• Shen Yuxing reviewed his notes on the Jiang family and wondered why Jiang Yanchu had looked disappointed when they met.
• Wang Ma brought Shen Yuxing milk and cookies, and he offered the family ears of corn he had brought from home.
• Shen Yuxing pretended to savor the milk and saved part of a cookie to take to his older brother, moving Wang Ma to tears.
• Shen Yuxing carefully washed the glass and cleaned the tray before politely saying good night to the crew.
• After locking his door and dropping his timid act, Shen Yuxing waited until Jiang Yu was out drinking and used Jiang Yu’s electric toothbrush to scrub the toilet three times.

Jiang Xun caught one of Li Guizhi’s men trying to steal chickens from the courtyard in the middle of the night and held him at knifepoint until the production crew arrived. The thief denied the attempt, and Jiang Xun challenged his claim that there was no evidence.

• Unable to sleep from hunger, Jiang Xun sat outside and heard someone climb over the courtyard wall.
• Jiang Xun caught Gold Chain reaching into the chicken coop and threatened him with a chipped cleaver.
• Gold Chain tried to shout for help, but Jiang Xun kicked him to his knees and mocked his excuses.
• The director and production crew arrived to find Gold Chain beside the coop and Jiang Xun holding the cleaver.
• Gold Chain denied stealing because the hens were still there, and Jiang Xun asked whether attempted theft was not a crime.

Jiang Xun insisted that the intruder be taken to the police, then argued with Shen Wangjing about standing up to troublemakers. The next morning, Shen Wangjing took Jiang Xun to eat at the village school cafeteria, where Jiang Xun realized how much responsibility the young man carried.

• Jiang Xun persuaded the director to take the man who had entered the house to the police station using the production crew's footage as evidence.
• Shen Wangjing warned Jiang Xun not to get physical with troublemakers, but Jiang Xun defended his actions before going to bed.
• Shen Wangjing woke Jiang Xun before dawn and took him to the school cafeteria for breakfast.
• Jiang Xun ate vegetable gruel and two cornmeal buns while Shen Wangjing left without eating, saying another meal would cost extra.
• Jiang Xun watched Shen Wangjing walk away and reflected on the heavy family responsibilities he carried at such a young age.

Jiang Xun confronted Zhao Pengfei in the cafeteria after Zhao mocked the poor Shen family and boasted about his village-chief father. Jiang Xun hit Zhao with a cornbread bun and traded insults with him, and the chapter ended as Zhao swung a fist at Jiang Xun.

• Jiang Xun sat down to eat as Zhao Pengfei entered the cafeteria with lavish lunch boxes and taunted the hungry students.
• Zhao Pengfei mocked a short boy’s family and then insulted Jiang Xun and the Shen family while bragging about his father.
• Jiang Xun launched his cornbread bun into Zhao Pengfei’s mouth, knocking his head against the wall.
• Zhao Pengfei threatened to tell his father, but Jiang Xun mocked him and insulted his mother.
• Zhao Pengfei charged at Jiang Xun and swung his fist at his face.

Jiang Xun took Zhao Pengfei’s family lunch after beating him and brought the food back to the Shen family, where Grandpa Shen doubted his explanation. After Zhao Pengfei complained to his mother, Li Guizhi sent six men to confront Jiang Xun on the road as the show’s director watched from hiding.

• Jiang Xun dodged Zhao Pengfei, struck him with a lunch box, and left the school carrying Zhao Pengfei’s family food.
• Jiang Xun shared the food with Grandpa Shen and set aside a portion for Shen Wangjing, who was working in the fields.
• Zhao Pengfei told Li Guizhi that Jiang Xun had beaten him and stolen their lunch, leaving out his own insults toward Shen Wangjing.
• Li Guizhi grew furious over Jiang Xun’s latest actions but calmly told Zhao Pengfei to go do what he needed to do.
• Jiang Xun carried a bowl of food toward the mountainside and found six club-wielding men blocking the road while the director and cameraman watched from hiding.