Chapter Summaries

Duan Qizhao told Jiang Xun the date of his birthday, prompting Jiang Xun to recall the painful childhood he had spent believing June 1 was his birthday. The director brought him gifts at the hospital, including an album of village photos, and quietly gave Shen Wangjing an envelope containing information about his mother.

• Duan Qizhao told Jiang Xun that Shen Yanchu would arrange a birthday celebration if Jiang Xun returned, and Jiang Xun said he had never known his real birthday.
• Jiang Xun remembered how the orphanage assigned all the children June 1 as their birthday and how he fought an older boy to keep his lollipops.
• The director returned from Australia and gave Jiang Xun imported snacks as an early birthday present.
• The director gave Jiang Xun a photo album of unreleased pictures from Shiban Village, and he looked through it with Shen Wangjing.
• The director gave Shen Wangjing a sealed envelope containing information the production team had uncovered about his mother.

Jiang Xun noticed Shen Wangjing hurting himself in his sleep, bandaged his hand, and stayed beside him through the night. The next day, Jiang Yanchu arrived with birthday gifts for Jiang Xun and found the hospital room empty.

• Jiang Xun spotted Shen Wangjing lying tensely in bed and found bloody nail marks in his palm.
• Jiang Xun bandaged Shen Wangjing's hand and told him to dig his nails into Jiang Xun instead next time.
• Shen Wangjing caught Jiang Xun's wrist, and later their hands touched across the narrow gap between their beds.
• Jiang Yanchu brought a cake, gifts, and a supplementary black card to the hospital to wish Jiang Xun an early happy birthday.
• Jiang Yanchu entered the room and found Shen Wangjing's bed neatly made, the monitor unplugged, and the IV equipment put away.

Jiang Yanchu mistook Shen Wangjing and Jiang Xun’s discharge for an elopement, but hospital footage showed Duan Qizhao had left with them too. The three arrived by van near a mountain summit, where Duan wondered whether they had been brought to the right place.

• Jiang Yanchu learned Shen Wangjing and Jiang Xun had left the hospital and imagined they had eloped together.
• Jiang Yanchu called Jiang Huaixiao, who went to the security office to review the hospital footage.
• Jiang Huaixiao saw footage of Duan Qizhao pushing Shen Wangjing in a wheelchair while Jiang Xun walked beside them out of the hospital.
• Jiang Xun asked Shen Wangjing why he had brought them to the mountains, while Duan Qizhao hinted that Shen Wangjing had arranged something in advance.
• After a rough three-hour ride, Duan Qizhao, Jiang Xun, and Shen Wangjing reached a mountain road near the summit and got out of the van.

For Jiang Xun’s eighteenth birthday, Shen Wangjing took him to a mountaintop to see the stars and gave him a handmade telescope. Looking through it, Jiang Xun imagined his mother watching over him from the sky.

• Shen Wangjing, Jiang Xun, and Duan Qizhao climbed to a mountaintop, where Duan Qizhao set up food and wine for Jiang Xun’s birthday.
• Jiang Xun saw a sky full of stars unlike any he had seen before.
• Shen Wangjing gave Jiang Xun a handmade telescope engraved with “Xun,” and Jiang Xun used it to examine the Milky Way.
• Shen Wangjing told Jiang Xun that his mother was among the stars, watching over him and loving him forever.
• Jiang Xun searched the sky through the telescope and imagined a star blinking back at him, reassuring him that his mother had never abandoned him.

Jiang Xun celebrated turning eighteen with Duan Qizhao and Shen Wangjing beneath the stars, and he made wishes for his friends’ safety and happiness. The night ended with the three of them toasting together as Jiang Xun claimed the birthday boy’s right to another glass of wine.

• Duan Qizhao posted a blurry Milky Way photo and hurried to prepare drinks before Jiang Xun’s eighteenth birthday began at midnight.
• Duan Qizhao counted down to midnight, and Shen Wangjing quietly wished Jiang Xun a happy birthday as the others celebrated.
• Jiang Xun saw a shooting star and wished that Duan Qizhao would avoid basketball injuries, Grandpa Shen would live to a hundred, and Shen Wangjing would stay safe.
• Shen Wangjing revealed through his silence that he had been watching Jiang Xun instead of the shooting star, while Duan Qizhao teased them for gazing at each other.
• Duan Qizhao toasted Jiang Xun’s eighteenth birthday and promised they would watch the stars with him every year, and Jiang Xun asked for another glass.

After a drunken night under the stars, Jiang Xun fell asleep against Shen Wangjing and shared painful memories of his childhood at the orphanage. He woke the next morning drinking honey water from an unfamiliar hand, realizing it did not belong to Shen Wangjing.

• Duan Qizhao drunkenly told Jiang Xun that his parents wanted to invite him home for dinner, then passed out.
• Jiang Xun accused Shen Wangjing of pretending not to drink, and Shen Wangjing supported him to a rock by the cliff.
• Jiang Xun said the night was the happiest day of his life and described how he had been punished for coming first in class at the orphanage.
• Jiang Xun fell asleep against Shen Wangjing, who warmed his ear and quietly spoke to him.
• Jiang Huaixiao arrived on the mountain and saw Jiang Xun asleep against Shen Wangjing; Shen Wangjing gestured for him to stay quiet.
• Jiang Xun woke with a hangover, drank honey water from an unfamiliar hand, and realized the hand was not Shen Wangjing's.

Jiang Xun woke to find Shen Wangjing gone and accused Jiang Huaixiao of driving him away, but Jiang Huaixiao insisted Shen had left on his own. Clutching the velvet-wrapped object Shen had left behind, Jiang Xun ordered Secretary Chen to drive to Shiban Village, with Jiang Huaixiao following.

• Jiang Xun woke in Jiang Huaixiao's car at the mountain clearing and searched for Shen Wangjing, but could not find him.
• Jiang Huaixiao told Jiang Xun that Shen Wangjing had left before dawn and left a message telling Jiang Xun to forget him.
• Jiang Xun accused Jiang Huaixiao of pressuring Shen Wangjing, while Duan Qizhao defended Jiang Xun's right to be happy.
• Jiang Huaixiao insisted he had not forced Shen Wangjing to leave and handed Jiang Xun a dark-blue velvet-wrapped object.
• Jiang Xun took the object and ordered Secretary Chen to drive to Shiban Village, while Jiang Huaixiao followed in his Land Rover.

Jiang Xun returned to Shen Wangjing’s home and discovered that Shen Wangjing had left without saying goodbye. He kept the telescope Shen Wangjing had given him and rode back to Capital City in silence, while Duan Qizhao wondered where Shen Wangjing had gone.

• Jiang Xun arrived at Shen Wangjing’s home and found the courtyard cared for but Shen Wangjing missing.
• A caregiver told Jiang Xun that Shen Wangjing had not returned and that only the caregivers and Grandpa Shen were there.
• Jiang Xun tried to smash the telescope but stopped when Duan Qizhao reminded him that Shen Wangjing had carved his name into it.
• Duan Qizhao held Jiang Xun as he trembled and tried to reassure him that Shen Wangjing might have had an urgent reason to leave.
• Jiang Xun rode with Duan Qizhao and Secretary Chen back to Capital City, remaining silent throughout the journey.

Jiang Xun shut himself in his room and refused all food after returning to the Jiang family villa, leaving his family and Duan Qizhao unable to reach him. Shen Yuxing waited for Jiang Xun to sneak downstairs for food as he had during his previous hunger strike, but he never came.

• Jiang Yanchu saw Jiang Xun return to the villa curled up and withdrawn, but Jiang Xun went straight upstairs without speaking.
• Wang Ma and Old Li found that Jiang Xun had not touched his meals, while the food and drinks they left in the fridge also remained untouched.
• Duan Qizhao brought cakes and snacks to Jiang Xun's door, but Jiang Xun gave no answer.
• Jiang Yanchu told Jiang Xun through the closed door that he had canceled the reunion banquet and would not let anyone force him into anything.
• Shen Yuxing waited by the kitchen at night for Jiang Xun to sneak in for food, but Jiang Xun never appeared.

Shen Yuxing tried to convince Jiang Xun that Jiang Huaixiao would not abandon him, but Jiang Xun shut himself away until severe dehydration and malnutrition left him unconscious. After the doctor stabilized him, Jiang Huaixiao recounted how he had held his baby brother and searched for him for seventeen years.

• Shen Yuxing waited outside Jiang Xun's room and told him about Jiang Huaixiao's hardships and how he had called for Jiang Xun after being rescued from the mine.
• On the afternoon of the third day, Jiang Huaixiao had a locksmith open Jiang Xun's room and found him collapsed beside the bed.
• Jiang Huaixiao carried Jiang Xun to the bed and called for a doctor, while Jiang Yanchu rushed to contact one.
• The family doctor diagnosed Jiang Xun with severe dehydration, hypoglycemia, and malnutrition, then treated him with glucose and electrolytes through an IV.
• After Jiang Xun's condition stabilized, Jiang Huaixiao held his hand and told him about their childhood, his seventeen-year search, and how Jiang Xun's eyes resembled their mother's.

Jiang Huaixiao told Jiang Xun about the abuse he had suffered in the orphanage and apologized for failing to understand or protect him. He offered Jiang Xun a home, freedom, and lifelong support, while Jiang Xun remained silent and weakened in bed.

• Jiang Huaixiao explained that the orphanage director had embezzled funds and abused the children, and had been taken into custody.
• Jiang Huaixiao recounted the neglect and mistreatment Jiang Xun endured, including being denied care for a fever, food after a broken arm, and a chance at adoption.
• Jiang Huaixiao apologized for keeping his distance and admitted he had wrongly assumed Jiang Xun was tough enough to need no protection.
• Jiang Huaixiao offered Jiang Xun a villa, the choice to leave the Jiang family or Capital City, and support for whatever future he wanted.
• Jiang Xun stayed silent as Jiang Huaixiao urged him to stop hurting himself, and Jiang Huaixiao mourned how much the once-defiant boy had changed.

Jiang Xun settled into a villa arranged by Jiang Huaixiao and returned to school, where he unexpectedly began studying. The chapter ended when a dessert-shop assistant arrived at school with a cake for Jiang Xun.

• Jiang Huaixiao defended his decision to have Jiang Xun live separately, and Jiang Changping backed down.
• Jiang Xun moved into the villa, where Duan Qizhao stayed nearby while worrying about Shen Wangjing's disappearance.
• Jiang Huaixiao received daily reports about Jiang Xun and secretly saved a photo of him eating breakfast.
• Jiang Xun returned to Jinghua Middle School and began paying attention in class, prompting Duan Qizhao to follow his example.
• Duan Qizhao noticed Jiang Xun's new habits and joked that his buddy had been possessed.
• A shop assistant arrived at school carrying a cake and asked, “Is Jiang Xun here?”

Jiang Xun continued to receive weekly cheesecakes that Duan Qizhao suspected Shen Wangjing had sent, while refusing to acknowledge them. During an interview at East City Villa, Jiang Xun asked the director what had been inside the kraft-paper envelope she gave Shen Wangjing at the hospital.

• A shop assistant began delivering a cheesecake to Jiang Xun every Wednesday, but he refused to eat it and Duan Qizhao ate it instead.
• After the sixth cake, Duan Qizhao suspected Shen Wangjing was sending them and realized Jiang Xun knew who the sender was.
• Duan Qizhao agreed to host a Metamorphosis follow-up interview at East City Villa after Jiang Xun left the decision to him.
• The director arrived at East City Villa with her crew to interview Jiang Xun and Duan Qizhao.
• Jiang Xun interrupted the director and asked what she had put in the kraft-paper envelope she gave Shen Wangjing at the hospital.

The director revealed the truth about Shen Wangjing’s mother and the suppressed trafficking case to Jiang Xun. Jiang Xun realized why Shen Wangjing had left after learning what was in the envelope, but still wondered whether there was more he did not know.

• The director explained that Shen Wangjing’s mute mother had been trafficked and sold to Shen Dayong in Shiban Village.
• She described how Shen Dayong abused his wife and how young Shen Wangjing repeatedly tried to protect her.
• The director showed Jiang Xun a police report recording that five-year-old Shen Wangjing had walked to the town station to report his father, but the villagers denied his claims.
• She revealed that records linked Shen Wangjing’s mother to a trafficking ring, but officials had suppressed the case and her identity remained unknown.
• Jiang Xun interpreted Shen Wangjing’s name as his mother’s hope of gazing toward Capital City and questioned why Shen Wangjing had left him without a word.

Jiang Xun addressed Shen Wangjing on camera, demanding that he come back within three days or never see him again. Meanwhile, Shen Yuxing learned that weekly transfers were still arriving for their grandfather, confirming Shen Wangjing was likely alive but keeping his distance.

• Jiang Xun told Shen Wangjing through the interview camera to face him and share his burdens, giving him three days to return.
• Jiang Xun insisted the director air the ultimatum without cuts, then went upstairs with Duan Qizhao.
• Shen Yuxing called Auntie Liu and learned that money had been deposited weekly for their grandfather since Shen Wangjing left the hospital.
• Shen Yuxing reflected on his brother's habit of bearing hardship alone and wondered why he was still hiding after saving enough to travel to Capital City.

On the last day of Jiang Xun’s three-day deadline, he waited anxiously for Shen Yuxing to contact him while pretending he would accept never seeing him again. Meanwhile, Shen Yuxing investigated the regular remittances and watched the bank, where a figure in black finally arrived.

• Jiang Xun hid his sleeplessness from Duan Qizhao and insisted he would not see Brother Jing again if he failed to come by the deadline.
• Jiang Yanchu prepared breakfast and a carefully arranged lunch for Jiang Xun, planning to have Wang Ma deliver it without revealing who made it.
• Shen Yuxing studied photocopies showing weekly remittances made at a Postal Savings Bank in Capital City's Chaoyang District.
• Shen Yuxing took a bus to the bank and watched its entrance from a breakfast shop across the road.
• At 9:47, a figure in black emerged from an alley, tugged down his cap, and entered the bank.

Shen Yuxing tracked a Saturday money transfer to a man who denied knowing Shen Wangjing, while Jiang Xun secretly followed Shen Yuxing and then pursued the man. Jiang Xun rode a bus after him toward the increasingly remote outskirts of Tongzhou.

• Shen Yuxing mistook a man at the post office for Shen Wangjing, then saw that the man was sending money from the Shiban Village Credit Cooperative.
• Shen Yuxing confronted the man about the weekly transfers and demanded to know where Shen Wangjing was, but the man denied knowing him and shoved him.
• Jiang Xun caught Shen Yuxing as he stumbled, then followed the man when Shen Yuxing twisted his ankle.
• Jiang Xun tracked the man through the alleys to a bus stop and boarded the number 17 bus after him.
• Jiang Xun rode east toward Tongzhou as the surroundings grew more remote.

Jiang Xun followed the man secretly transferring money for Shen Wangjing and found Shen Wangjing on a rooftop, but someone struck him from behind before he could speak. As Jiang Yanchu and the others searched for him, the evidence suggested Jiang Xun had been kidnapped.

• Jiang Xun followed the scarred man to an urban village and discovered Shen Wangjing waiting on a rooftop.
• Jiang Xun tried to call out to Shen Wangjing, but someone hit him on the back of the head and he lost consciousness.
• Shen Yuxing told Jiang Yanchu that Jiang Xun had followed the scarred man and vanished, prompting Jiang Yanchu to call the police.
• Jiang Yanchu and Shen Yuxing drove to East City Villa, where Duan Qizhao saw their alarm and asked what had happened.
• Jiang Huaixiao left a board meeting after Secretary Chen informed him that Jiang Xun was missing.
• The police searched the building where Jiang Xun was last seen but found no trace of him, and Secretary Chen raised the possibility of kidnapping.

After Jiang Xun disappeared, Jiang Huaixiao realized Shen Wangjing had left to protect him and regretted letting his brother move out. With the search producing no leads, he went to the villa and found Jiang Yanchu, Shen Yuxing, and Duan Qizhao still searching for Jiang Xun.

• Jiang Huaixiao remembered Shen Wangjing’s warning that Jiang Xun would be targeted if he stayed close, and regretted not investigating sooner or keeping his brother at home.
• Jiang Huaixiao ordered Secretary Chen to investigate Shen Wangjing’s past, his family, and the man who had transferred money to him.
• The Special Police Unit found no trace of Jiang Xun or the scarred man in the urban village, and Jiang Huaixiao left his office to go to the villa.
• Jiang Huaixiao arrived at the villa and found Jiang Yanchu, Shen Yuxing, and Duan Qizhao searching through surveillance footage and seeking leads.
• Jiang Huaixiao saw Jiang Xun’s belongings scattered through the living room, but Jiang Xun was still missing.

Jiang Xun woke bound in an abandoned warehouse and learned that the mine collapse had been murder, while his kidnappers planned to use him to force Shen Wangjing to surrender evidence. After taunting Lao Si, Jiang Xun was kicked toward rubble and broken glass, where he saw an opportunity.

• Jiang Xun regained consciousness tied up and overheard his kidnappers say they had taken him to pressure Shen Wangjing into giving up evidence.
• Jiang Xun realized the mine collapse had been murder and understood that Shen Wangjing had disappeared to protect him from the criminals.
• Lao Si entered the warehouse, and Jiang Xun opened his eyes and calmly mocked him and the kidnappers.
• Lao Si slammed Jiang Xun against a wall and kicked him across the room after Jiang Xun taunted him about fearing Shen Wangjing.
• Jiang Xun landed beside rubble and broken glass and recognized the spot as an opportunity.