In the exquisite, elegant hall of the Meng Family's main residence.
Meng Guang knelt on the floor with his head lowered, saying nothing, but he looked every inch a troublemaker, his attitude practically saying, "Go ahead and yell. If I admit I was wrong, I lose." In any case, he had infuriated his father.
Father Meng was about to be angered to death by this unfilial son. "Fighting! And you put someone in the hospital! If you're so capable, why don't you beat me up too!"
"Do you still think you're so impressive, that you did nothing wrong? Bring me the board-if I don't teach him a lesson today, he'll be killing someone tomorrow."
A servant tremblingly handed him a long wooden board.
Mother Meng fretted beside him. "Hey, aren't you even going to hear our boy's explanation?"
Father Meng roared irritably, "Their son's in the hospital! What is there to explain!"
Meng Guang remained kneeling on the floor without a word.
Seeing that his cousin had no intention of mentioning him, Song Yu could only steel himself and stand up. "That's not it, Uncle. Actually, I was partly responsible for what happened today too."
His sudden words stunned everyone in the room, and they all turned to look at him.
Song Yu continued, bracing himself. "I was at Linshui today too. My cousin fought Wang Beidan because of me."
Grandma Meng's eyes widened. At her age, she simply couldn't take a shock like this. "Yuyu, what were you doing at Linshui?"
As far as she was concerned, Linshui was a den of vice.
Father Meng frowned too. "Yuyu, go to bed first. You don't need to speak up for this brat. I know exactly what he's like."
"No, no, no, it's true," Song Yu said hurriedly. "Uncle, you can check the security footage. Wang Beidan was forcing me to drink. I messaged my cousin, and he only fought Wang because he rushed over to save me."
Of course, there was no security footage. Wang Beidan hid in a private room to do those things; why would he leave evidence? They must have dealt with the footage themselves long ago.
Grandma Meng's eyes widened even further. "What? Drink? They forced you to drink!"
Mother Meng froze too. She was very close to Song Yu's mother and knew how Song Yu had nearly died from a single glass of alcohol as a child.
The thought that her sister-in-law's son had nearly come to harm while staying with her filled Mother Meng with fury. Meng Guang had probably inherited most of his temperament from her. She snatched the board straight out of Father Meng's hand. "Did you hear that! This time, I'm on my son's side! Good for him! I think he went too easy on him! The disgusting things Wang Beidan's done are no secret in Jing City! Beating an animal like that to death would be carrying out heaven's justice."
His wife's fierceness chased away Father Meng's initial shock, and he said furiously, "Listen to yourself! Is that any way for a mother to talk?!"
"And you think you've done right as his father?"
They launched into a chaotic argument. Irritated by the noise, Grandma Meng slammed the table. "Go back to your room and argue! Your son's been kneeling there for ages!"
Poor Mayor Meng, so mild, refined, and graceful in public, was driven into utter withdrawal by the two women at home. He left without even eating.
Mother Meng helped Meng Guang up, and he winked at Song Yu.
After dinner, Song Yu still had to go back to stay at his grandmother's.
Meng Guang drove him. Insects chirped in the garden outside the house, beneath a clear night sky and bright moonlight.
In the car, Meng Guang couldn't hold back. He slumped over the steering wheel and started laughing. "Now that's loyalty. Your cousin didn't risk his life helping you get even for nothing. Oh man, the look on my dad's face. Hahaha."
Song Yu tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You're celebrating too soon. The Wang Family won't let this go."
Meng Guang lifted his eyelids, utterly unconcerned. "So what if they won't? Can they let anyone know what Wang Beidan was doing in that private room? They won't dare publicize this. They can only swallow the loss in silence."
Having been a crown prince in Jing City for so many years, he certainly knew his limits. He knew who he could and couldn't provoke, and whether things would blow up.
Song Yu said, "Mm."
Only then did Meng Guang suddenly realize something. "Did Wang Beidan really force you to drink?" He had been too hotheaded to see clearly at the time, but thinking back now, something seemed a little off.
Song Yu smiled. "No. I was holding a bottle because I wanted to smash it over him."
Meng Guang: "..."
A moment later, he burst out laughing. "Good for you!"
He tilted his head, his eyes full of curiosity. "How did you end up in 305? Weren't you getting some air?"
Song Yu thought for a moment, then smiled. "I guess fate wanted me to save someone from disaster, punish evil, and uphold good."
Just as Meng Guang had said, the incident didn't cause so much as a ripple in Jing City.
For Song Yu, the only effect was that Grandma Meng was still shaken and never pushed him to go out again.
Song Yu looked up the Wang Family of Jing City and finally understood where that sense of familiarity had come from. In Gentle Control, the rich second-generation kid who had relentlessly tormented Xie Sui in high school was the Wang Family's youngest son, Wang Ci. His entire family doted on him like a treasure, and he could have anything he wanted in Jing City. With an older brother like Wang Beidan leading him along, Wang Ci had started playing around with women and men at a very young age. He was rotten to the core.
Even in high school, his head had been full of filthy ideas. He had locked Xie Sui in a classroom after school, wanting to take nude photos to threaten him with. During the sports meet, he had deliberately drugged a drink, wanting to make Xie Sui humiliate himself in front of the entire school. During finals, he had locked Xie Sui in the bathroom to keep him from taking his exams and earning a scholarship. Later, he had even wanted to tamper with the college entrance exams so Xie Sui would miss them, ruining his whole life.
Song Yu felt he really shouldn't think about the original novel's plot. He was only making himself suffer.
On his third day of lazing around at home.
Worried that he would be bored, his grandmother brought over a boy his age.
He was the son of the driver who had picked him up from the airport that day, a skinny boy with wheat-colored skin named Ma Xiaoding.
Who knew what Ma Xiaoding had heard from his father? At first, he spoke to Song Yu in a voice as faint as a mosquito's, as though raising it by a single decibel would put Song Yu in the hospital. He only changed after Song Yu finally lost patience and warned him.
As it turned out, Ma Xiaoding had even been Xie Sui's classmate in middle school.
Wanting to learn more about Xie Sui, Song Yu chatted with him. "That Xie Sui in your class-what was he like in middle school?"
Ma Xiaoding's eyes went round, making him look rather guileless. "Young Master, why are you asking about this?"
Song Yu disliked that form of address. "Don't call me Young Master. If you really admire me from the bottom of your heart, call me Brother Yu!"
Ma Xiaoding scratched his head. "Okay, Young Master-ah, no, okay, Brother Yu. Why are you asking about Xie Sui?"
Song Yu choked, then immediately had a flash of inspiration. "Didn't he rank first in Jing City on the high school entrance exams? His grades are pretty good. I want to pit myself against him. Know yourself and your enemy, and you'll never lose a hundred battles."
Ma Xiaoding was instantly filled with respect. Though he didn't know how people could pit their grades against each other, he still obediently told Song Yu everything he knew.
"Xie Sui, huh? I think he's pretty pitiful. His family must be really poor. He'll wear the same piece of clothing for three years, the kind that's washed so much it's faded white, and still keep wearing it. He's really withdrawn. Hardly anyone dares approach him, and he didn't have a single friend in all three years."
"At first, people did try to get close to him. After all, he's good-looking and gets good grades. Being his friend wouldn't hurt. But someone in our class lived in the same neighborhood as Xie Sui and was always badmouthing his mom behind his back. They said his mom had caught AIDS and jumped off a building, and since AIDS could pass from mother to child, Xie Sui probably had it too. That scared everyone in class. Anyway, Xie Sui never took the initiative to interact with anyone, so over time, he became invisible in class."
"Everyone deliberately ignored him no matter what they were doing, even the teachers. In all three years of middle school, I barely heard Xie Sui say anything."
"He often slept in class. I heard people say he apparently didn't study after going home, but worked at a restaurant instead. There was a group of troublemakers in our class who found out where he worked and went there together to give him a hard time. They talked loudly about the AIDS thing and cost him his job. Xie Sui didn't say anything either. He just bottled it up. Once, on my way back from an internet café, I saw Xie Sui covered in blood, on his face and body, holding on to a pillar and vomiting."
"He..." Ma Xiaoding sighed. "He probably fell in with a bunch of delinquents from outside school. You can get paid for helping out in a fight too. But that money comes at the risk of your life."
The more Song Yu listened, the colder his expression grew. He lowered his eyes and fiddled with his phone.
Ma Xiaoding looked up at the sky and continued, "Of course, I thought those people were talking out of their asses. AIDS isn't something you can just joke about however you like. They really went too far. I thought about helping Xie Sui, but he was so cold and hard to approach. If you said something to him, it took forever to get a reply. He probably didn't want to bother with us either."
Song Yu suddenly remembered the boy's final, hoarse "thank you" last night.
With a cold laugh, he switched his phone to the navigation screen and entered the address Xie Sui had given him.
Song Yu said, "It's not that he's hard to approach." Rather, the environment he had been born into was so terrible that he had never felt the slightest warmth, leaving him at a loss when faced with kindness and gentleness.
Ma Xiaoding said, "Huh?"
Song Yu jumped off the bed. "I'm going out for a bit. Just tell my grandma I went to buy books."
Ma Xiaoding: "???"
Song Yu paused, then casually made up an excuse. "When in Rome. I'm going to buy some Jing City textbooks and study ahead."
Ma Xiaoding: "..."
Did all rich second-generation kids work this hard these days?