The quiet living room was thick with tension.
After all these days of fighting, these two were finally revealing the reason behind their arguments! The mystery was finally about to be solved!
Everyone wished they could clean out their ears and listen closely.
Wen Nan's words struck Wen Ruohuai's sensitive nerve squarely. He stared fixedly at Wen Nan, his usually gentle face now cold and frightening.
"What? If you hate me so much, go ahead and tell everyone all your reasons. Make everyone hate me. Isn't that what you wanted?"
Wen Nan finally stopped holding back. He had cried and suffered, and now he slowly peeled back his scars. So what if other people saw them?
He told them everything that had happened recently. "The police finished their investigation ages ago. The nurse took money from your family's enemies and deliberately switched the babies to get revenge on your family. It wasn't my birth parents' fault, and it certainly wasn't mine. Ultimately, it happened because your Wen Family had done too much evil.
"And I was a victim too, forced to spend all those years apart from my birth parents. They gave you all their love. Yes, you had a hard life before, but two years ago, when their house was demolished for redevelopment, didn't my birth parents leave both the replacement housing and the money to you?"
At first, Wen Nan couldn't accept being treated like a joke, rejected on both sides.
Now he had made peace with it and was finally willing to tell the truth.
Wen Ruohuai froze after hearing him out. "What did you say...?"
"What did I say? Don't tell me you don't even know the truth?"
"I didn't know..."
"You didn't know? Stop pretending. Do you think your acting is that good?"
Yu Wei nearly applauded. Good heavens, what had they just learned! Could they really say this out loud?! This was explosive!
The real and fake young masters were right here among them!
No wonder they tore into each other whenever they met.
Wen Ruohuai dropped the garlic he was holding and suddenly ran outside, bumping into Bai Shankui on his way past. Zhuang Xingye steadied her by the shoulders.
Wang Zhengxiao gave Wen Nan a thumbs-up. "You've got guts, kid."
"Heh." Wen Nan gave a cold laugh, took over Wen Ruohuai's task, and began peeling the remaining garlic. "I just don't want you all to keep misunderstanding me. Better to clear things up now. I was never the villain."
Other people had become villains first.
He was only protecting himself.
He had joined the variety show partly to undermine Wen Ruohuai and partly because he feared the other man would play the victim, so he wanted to strike first.
Every time Wen Ruohuai had tried to play the victim over the past few days, Wen Nan had said something to anger him, so he had never succeeded.
Sitting in the armchair, Zhang Yin clearly knew the inside story. He said nothing. He had signed Wen Ruohuai because of his talent, but if Wen Ruohuai really was the way Wen Nan described him, he would have to reconsider.
That evening, the meal wasn't particularly delicious.
When Xie Zhuzhou woke up the next morning, it was Thursday, which he considered the hardest day of the week to get through.
The sleep-inducing eight a.m. class made him temporarily forget about the Ji Family, and he had bone broth at school for lunch. Since Xie Zhuzhou arrived, this body had barely missed a meal, and a little color had visibly returned to his face.
He had transmigrated only a week ago, yet he was already gradually adjusting amid his busy life. He had adjusted, but someone who hadn't was starting to reach his limit.
That afternoon, An Xinian finally couldn't hold back any longer and went to wait downstairs at Xie Zhuzhou's classroom building.
Xie Zhuzhou didn't see An Xinian at first. Only after Li Yankai signaled with his eyes did he notice the campus heartthrob, so fair he practically glowed, standing beneath a bare tree. He wore an apricot cardigan, and paired with his handsome, warm face, it seemed as though all the sunlight was shining on him.
Xie Zhuzhou merely glanced at him. Not thinking he was there for him, he continued walking with Li Yankai.
An Xinian suddenly called out to stop him.
"Xie, wait a moment."
Xie Zhuzhou stopped and frowned slightly. There's no reason I should have to inherit the original owner's fish too, is there?
Although he wasn't sure whether he was a cut-sleeve, he swore to heaven that he would never like this warm, nice-guy type who took push and pull to extremes.
"Need something?"
The wave of indifference made the smile just forming on An Xinian's lips turn awkward, and his gaze slowly darkened.
"You haven't come to the club in a long time. Do you want to quit?"
"That's exactly what I was thinking. Sorry for the trouble, and thank you."
The cold, distant words left Xie Zhuzhou's mouth, and before An Xinian could even react, he had already withdrawn his indifferent gaze. An Xinian simply couldn't believe someone could change so quickly. Just last week, he had been perfectly fine, asking whether he had eaten, whether he had slept well, whether anything had made him unhappy.
Now he looked at him like a stranger.
"What do you mean?" An Xinian looked at him and grabbed his arm as he started walking again. "Explain yourself. What do you mean?"
"Don't you know perfectly well what I mean? Why make me say it?"
Xie Zhuzhou thought he was a little angel. After all, this was someone the original owner had liked, so he hadn't simply said, "I'm bored of playing with you."
He had already been more than merciful with his words.
The original owner had simply liked their looks, not genuinely liked them as people. He had even known perfectly well just how nasty these fish were.
Li Yankai still had a hand on Xie Zhuzhou's shoulder. His gaze swept over An Xinian's stunned face, and a secret thrill of satisfaction rose inside him.
Their whole dorm had been mocked along with him for two years! This day had finally come!
An Xinian was certainly handsome, but next to their Little Xie... sorry, Little Xie was still better-looking!
Xie Zhuzhou pulled his arm out of his grip and casually twisted the knife. "Sorry, I don't like other people touching me."
An Xinian looked at Li Yankai's hand resting on Xie Zhuzhou's shoulder, fury blazing inside him. It took a long struggle to stop himself from demanding, in front of everyone, why Xie Zhuzhou had become like this.
He actually found him repulsive now! He wouldn't even let him touch him!
It was as though he were looking at a stranger.
There wasn't a trace of feeling left in his eyes...
They weren't even together, so An Xinian didn't even have the right to bring up breaking up.
He stood rooted to the spot, letting leaves scrape past his trouser legs as he watched Xie Zhuzhou slowly walk away. At the same time, he finally realized something: Xie Zhuzhou was playing him.
Yesterday, he had watched replays of Xie Zhuzhou's old gaming livestreams with Qin Fang. Whenever Xie Zhuzhou called Qin Fang's name, there was always a faint, elusive hint of flirtation.
So, from beginning to end, Xie Zhuzhou had always held the upper hand in their relationship.
Fine. Just fine.
Xie Zhuzhou, don't regret what you said today.