TL: Hua
Out of the three, Xuan Yihan was the first to spot Lin Yanran.
“Xuan… Xuan Yanran…”
He had just finished complaining about him to his parents when the very person he was talking about showed up.
Seeing Lin Yanran, Xuan Yihan felt guilty and awkward and immediately hid behind his father.
Witnessing their son’s frightened reaction, Xuan Hongwei and Qiu Yayu turned around, fuming and ready to scold him.
“Xuan Yanran, you’ve come at a good time. We were just about to look for you.”
Lin Yanran met their gaze and looked directly at the man, who was both familiar and strange to him.
Strange because he didn’t personally know this man.
Familiar because this man was the original owner’s adoptive father. The original owner had lived with them for sixteen years.
After transmigrating into the book, Lin Yanran hadn’t inherited much of the original owner’s memories.
But upon seeing the man in front of him, his body still instinctively took two steps back.
He then felt an inexplicable discomfort, as if a deep-seated fear was making his body react with this instinctive dread…
Lin Yanran frowned.
He wondered how badly Xuan Hongwei must have treated the original owner.
Even though he was in control of this body now, it could still have such a frightened reaction.
Seeing that Lin Yanran was silent, Qiu Yayu, in her high heels, walked up to him.
She furrowed her thin eyebrows and continued to scold him in an unfriendly tone. “Xuan Yanran, you’re getting more and more ungrateful!”
Qiu Yayu was used to scolding this adopted son, so her tone and posture were perfectly practiced, as if she were disciplining a dog she owned.
Xuan Hongwei immediately joined in, bringing out the same manipulative tactics he had used on the original owner countless times. “We found you abandoned on the street. Your mother and I were kind enough to take you in and raise you to adulthood. Not to mention the debt of gratitude for more than ten years of raising you; even just picking you up counts as a life-saving grace!”
Xuan Yihan’s mind suddenly went blank when he heard his dad’s words.
Hadn’t his dad always told him that Xuan Yanran was adopted from an orphanage? Why was he now saying Xuan Yanran was found on the street?
But no matter what, the focus now was on his parents defending him, so even though he knew there was something off, he didn’t dwell on it or expose it. He just leaned against the wall, continuing to watch the show with a pitiful look in his eyes.
Seeing that Xuan Hongwei had set the stage, Qiu Yayu immediately got to the point.
She held up a finger and pointed it at Lin Yanran’s chest from a distance. “Hanhan is your older brother, so why are you so vicious, always trying to make things difficult for him? We know you’re resentful about leaving the Xuan family, but you left on your own. We didn’t force you.”
Hearing his wife mention leaving home, Xuan Hongwei immediately chimed in. “That’s right. If you have a problem, you should come to us directly. Why are you being so insidious and scheming behind our backs? Don’t think that just because you’re a mentor, you can do whatever you want. Believe me, I can make a call tomorrow and have you sent back where you belong!”
He let out a cold huff, his expression incredibly condescending. “Your mother used to think about you and considered bringing you back in a few years if you behaved. But now, look at you. I think we can forget about that!”
Xuan Yihan immediately grabbed his parents’ hands. “Mom, Dad, don’t say that. Don’t be mad at my little brother. He probably didn’t mean to target me. He’s… just not very good at handling things… Don’t sour your relationship with him because of me. Please bring him back home.”
Seeing her son, who had been wronged, now pleading for someone else, Qiu Yayu felt both heartache and relief. “Hanhan, you are just too understanding. If he had even a tenth of your good sense, he wouldn’t have ended up like this today.”
After praising her son, Qiu Yayu gave Lin Yanran a look of utter disgust.
Lin Yanran was already feeling irritated because of the original owner’s instinctive bodily reaction.
However, as this whole family put on this whole performance for him to see, he really wanted to laugh.
It had been a very long time since he had encountered such simple and crude idiots in real life.
If he could, he would be very willing to read the original book to see how this family, as the main characters, could be so well-accepted by the readers and remain in an invincible position.
The Xuan family finished their dramatic display, and then all looked at Lin Yanran, waiting to see his reaction.
Meeting their expectant gazes, Lin Yanran nodded at them, his lips slightly curved into a smile as he spoke calmly. “Okay, I got it.”
Xuan Hongwei, who thought Lin Yanran would be scared: ???
Qiu Yayu, who thought Lin Yanran would regret it: ???
Xuan Yihan, who thought Lin Yanran would envy him: ???
Seeing that Lin Yanran’s face did not show the expressions they were expecting, all three of them were surprised.
How could this be…?
Shouldn’t he care about this?
Not getting the reaction he wanted, Xuan Hongwei’s brows furrowed deeply. He walked within two steps of Lin Yanran and sternly asked him, “What is this attitude? Don’t you have anything else to say?”
Talking to these people was a waste of time.
Lin Yanran couldn’t be bothered to argue with them and was about to turn and leave.
However, when he saw Xuan Hongwei’s face, he suddenly remembered a large sum of money the original owner had apparently sent to his adoptive parents. So, he looked at the couple and asked, “Did you receive the 5 million[mfn]702,380.50USD[/mfn]?”
The topic change was so abrupt, and the fact that the person in front of them wasn’t following their script left Xuan Hongwei and Qiu Yayu stunned.
What does this have to do with 5 million?
A few seconds later, Xuan Hongwei, who was more sensitive about money, was the first to realize what Lin Yanran was talking about. His tone was a bit stiff as he replied, “We received it.”
The smile on Lin Yanran’s face deepened as he retorted, “Since you received it, aren’t we already even? What are you still arguing with me about?”
They could manipulate the original owner because he had feelings for them.
But these people had no connection to him, so their talk of a “debt of gratitude” was ridiculous.
Besides, even the original owner had seen through them and directly sent them a sum of money to signify they were even. How could they have the audacity to silently accept the money and then come so brazenly to settle a score with him?
Seeing Lin Yanran’s arrogant attitude, Qiu Yayu, who was already uncomfortable from being left speechless, was so angry that she pointed at Lin Yanran. “Xuan Yanran, you…”
Lin Yanran, hearing the harsh name, immediately corrected her. “My name is Yanran, not Xuan. That surname isn’t on my household registration.”
Lin Yanran’s last sentence was, in the eyes of the Xuan couple, a complete provocation.
Seeing their surname being so scorned, both of them were shaking with anger.
To them, it felt like a dog they had raised—one that never bit or barked back when they hit or scolded it—had suddenly become disobedient and turned around to bite them.
Xuan Hongwei, who had never been slighted by his adopted son before, couldn’t tolerate this challenge to his fatherly authority, so he raised his hand, intending to teach Lin Yanran a lesson.
“You’ve learned nothing over the years beside this sharp tongue of yours? I should have locked you, little beast, inside for a few more years to teach you a lesson!”
Just as he had done in the past, Xuan Hongwei prepared to slap Lin Yanran across the face.
However, his hand was stopped halfway.
Gu Siye grabbed Xuan Hongwei’s wrist, his eyes filled with disgust.
“Don’t blame me for being rude if you touch him again.”
Then, Xuan Hongwei felt a sharp pain in his wrist, as if it were about to be broken.
“Ouch, ouch, let go.”
Wincing in pain, Xuan Hongwei looked up at the young man in front of him. He was about to warn him but immediately shut his mouth after seeing his cold eyes.
This man had an extremely strong presence.
Even though he was just a young man in his twenties, he exuded an aura that made people afraid to mess with him.
Xuan Yihan, who had been quietly watching the show from behind, paled and panicked when he saw Gu Siye suddenly appear.
When did he get here? And how much did he hear?
“Gu, Teacher Gu…”
Xuan Yihan, who had always wanted to find an opportunity to impress Gu Siye, inwardly screamed in frustration.
Gu Siye heard Xuan Yihan’s voice. He shot him a look of disgust and then released Xuan Hongwei.
His face, however, was terrifyingly dark.
“Are these your parents?”
Xuan Yihan met his gaze and nodded with great difficulty.
If he could, he would have denied it entirely.
The thought of Gu Siye witnessing their family’s collective bullying of Lin Yanran…
At that moment, Xuan Yihan felt like he was the one who had been slapped…
It was just too embarrassing!
Feeling like he couldn’t bear to stay there for another second, Xuan Yihan quickly pulled on Xuan Hongwei’s sleeve, urging him to leave.
“Let’s, let’s go.”
After pulling his parents away a short distance, Xuan Yihan bravely turned around to look at Gu Siye.
He found that for the first time today, the man was looking at him directly.
However, his eyes were full of warning and disgust.
Once the Xuan family of three had walked away, Lin Yanran thanked Gu Siye. “Thank you, Teacher Gu.”
Gu Siye shook his head and turned to look at Lin Yanran’s face. “Are you okay?”
He had been walking behind Lin Yanran on the way to the parking lot and never expected to witness such an awkward scene.
Lin Yanran shook his head and smiled softly, signaling that he was completely fine.
“They’re just a few clowns. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
In truth, even if Gu Siye hadn’t intervened, he could have stopped Xuan Hongwei himself.
Lin Yanran was telling the truth, but to Gu Siye, who didn’t know the full story, it sounded different.
He walked up to Lin Yanran and gently patted his shoulder, comforting him. “They’re not worth your sadness.”
Lin Yanran didn’t initially understand what Gu Siye meant.
It wasn’t until a while later, when he connected it to the scene of the trainees calling their parents, that he realized Gu Siye had mistakenly thought the Xuan couple were his biological parents.
But he couldn’t explain the situation to Gu Siye, so he could only let the misunderstanding stand.
“It’s all in the past. I’ve long since moved on.”
When Lin Yanran returned home, he went straight to his room to retrieve the original owner’s diary.
He had found the diary in an inconspicuous corner while tidying up the room.
But out of respect for the original owner, he had never looked through it.
However, today’s conversation with the Xuan family made him realize that he had to learn about some of the original owner’s past experiences.
In particular, Xuan Hongwei’s phrase, “I should have locked you little beast inside for a few more years to teach you a lesson,” had been bothering him.
So, Lin Yanran opened the yellowed diary, hoping to find some clues.
The diary looked old, and there wasn’t much content inside, but the things it did contain were shocking to Lin Yanran.
The original owner was often hit and scolded by his adoptive parents. They disliked him because they thought he was unmotivated and had poor grades, so they saw him as a disgrace to the Xuan family. They would often starve him and lock him in a dark room.
The original owner became more and more insecure from the torment.
He knew his parents’ abuse was wrong, but their manipulative talk about a “debt of gratitude” made him feel guilty, so he never fought back.
Later, when the original owner helped them bring Xuan Yihan home, his adoptive parents suddenly discovered that they had a better biological son who was more in line with their expectations. Therefore, they became more and more disgusted with this insignificant boy and found various reasons to kick him away.
During this time, Xuan Yihan also fueled the fire, deliberately creating situations to frame him. This made the adoptive parents dislike the original owner even more, and their emotional abuse grew harsher.
But the original owner, out of a desperate desire for family and to not be an orphan, endured it all. He shamelessly clung to the family like a beggar.
His longing for family, however, did not earn him their affection.
The couple found an excuse, claiming he was obsessed with games and not doing anything productive, and sent him to an internet addiction treatment center for half a year.
Six months later when he was released, completely disillusioned with that family, he willingly offered to cut ties with the Xuan family.
Afterward, he was diagnosed with depression and attempted suicide multiple times.
After finishing the diary, Lin Yanran’s heart ached with a heavy pain.
He had always felt that the original owner’s actions were inconsistent with the personality he had come to know.
This included willingly signing such an unfair contract with Day and Night Entertainment.
It also included enduring the rumors and insults from anti-fans without ever clarifying anything for himself…
It was as if he was completely immersed in his own little world, ignoring everything around him.
Now, after reading about his experiences, Lin Yanran finally understood everything.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to fight for himself.
It was that in his despair, he had never intended to live a good life at all.
