The test result was real.
The wine that night was the same he’d always drunk, kept in his dorm.
So, Jia Qi had lied to him—this was also true.
But how could he not have sensed it?
He’d had that same wine by his bedside before; just half a glass more, and yet he’d never been so drunk he forgot everything that happened.
Back then, he thought he’d finally fulfilled a secret wish under the influence of alcohol—like any man who cheats, blaming his impulse on the drink, using it as a fig leaf.
If you’re truly drunk, you barely have the energy to sleep, let alone be “impulsive.”
He deliberately avoided thinking about that night, as if that could hide his own shameful thoughts.
But he hadn’t expected that, when the topic came up again, it wouldn’t be his own disguise that was torn away, but Jia Qi’s.
Sun Langgan’s mind buzzed.
His little brother had lied to him.
And the very next day, the truth about the real and fake heirs was exposed.
He’d never felt so clear-headed.
So, Jia Qi’s biological parents had found him long ago. Jia Qi had known about his identity and used Sun Langgan as a stepping stone, afraid he’d be abandoned by the Sun family once the truth came out.
Everything fit together.
He’d always told himself that because he’d lost control, Jia Qi had become so promiscuous, that Jia Qi was taking revenge on him, that Jia Qi’s change in attitude was because of that wild night.
But now, the truth was clear—he was the one who’d been kept in the dark from beginning to end.
Sun Langgan had spent more than a decade in the business world. Facing Jia Qi, he was still a bit naive, blinded by love. But without that filter, it was all obvious.
If Jia Qi had ever truly loved him—even just considered him family, as a big brother—how could he let him take the fall?
Gao Shi looked at Sun Langgan, whose face was deathly pale, and said, “So, do you still want to take the blame for him now?”
Of course, the police weren’t idiots—they wouldn’t arrest the wrong person. But Gao Shi wanted Sun Langgan to open his eyes and see clearly who he was really sacrificing for, who he’d broken with his parents and real brother for.
Sun Langgan didn’t answer. He slowly backed away, despair flooding Jia Qi’s eyes.
Suddenly, Sun Langgan turned and staggered out, no longer the master strategist of the business world, but more like a dog caught in the rain.
Jia Qi’s voice rang out behind him, hoarse and desperate. “Big brother! You said you’d protect me forever! Brother—!”
…
Because of the severity of Jia Qi’s actions and his involvement in previous anomaly cases, he was detained that very day—lightning fast.
And the dramatically fleeing Sun Langgan was also arrested on the spot for obstructing justice, detained for five days, and fined 500 yuan.
That night, Gao Gusheng and friends went out for hotpot to celebrate Sun Jun’s victory.
As they ate, Gao Gusheng glanced over and saw a familiar figure. He paused, lowered his voice, and nudged Sun Jun. “Junzi, aren’t those your parents over there?”
Sun Jun looked over, then silently turned back and kept eating his beef tripe.
At first, Sun Jun’s parents had welcomed him warmly, but for reasons he couldn’t understand, their attitude suddenly changed. They sided with Jia Qi and kicked him out of the Sun family.
That’s why he’d ended up renting a shabby little apartment.
Even the rent was borrowed from Teacher Wu Qin.
He’d never been loved by his parents. Since childhood, he’d done all the chores at home, but never eaten a hot meal.
Later, he learned he wasn’t the Jia family’s biological child. That day, the gentle, beautiful Mrs. Sun cried as she hugged him, her fragrance making him nervously clench his dishwashing-gloved hands.
Behind her, the usually stern but kind Mr. Sun’s eyes reddened. He stroked Sun Jun’s head and gently said, “Welcome home.”
That day was so wonderful it felt like a dream.
He was both happy and anxious.
But then, his big brother stood by Jia Qi, who had replaced him for twenty years, even breaking with their parents for him.
Not long after, his parents—who had once favored him—suddenly became unpredictable, sometimes cold, sometimes remorseful, and in the end, they kicked him out of the Sun family.
At that point, he was truly left with no home.
Fortunately, that day he met Gao Gusheng, and then found this group of friends.
So he smiled, lifted his head, and looked at his friends, who were watching him with concern. “It’s fine, I’ve already figured things out.”
“Should we go to KTV after we eat? Will the school have a curfew?”
Yun Zhiyi whipped her ponytail, “Go! We’re all going! Who cares about curfew, let’s party till dawn!”
They raised their orange juice. “Party till dawn!”
…
While taking a bathroom break, Gao Gusheng glanced toward the Sun parents, then dialed Gao Shi’s number.
“Hey? Dad.”
“Mm-hmm, it’s about Sun Jun. Dad, you really are a genius.”
“Can I tell Sun Jun?”
“Really?!”
“That’s great!”
On the other end, Gao Shi toyed with the spirit-locking bottle in his hand, his expression softening. “The purpose of the Anomaly Management Bureau and the Spirit Management Bureau is to prevent creatures from the yin realm from affecting the yang realm. Since they’re victims, of course they have the right to know.”
“The Anomaly Management Bureau was planning to summon the Sun family tomorrow, but since everyone’s here, let’s do it today.”
Gao Gusheng hung up and looked again toward the Sun parents.
For this art exhibition, Sun Jun had only invited them, not anyone else from the Sun family.
Sun Jun no longer hoped for family affection.
But Gao Gusheng knew he actually deserved it.
When they first met, the Sun parents’ odd behavior was because they were being controlled by the system.
Sun Jun was the child they would rather break with their cold-hearted eldest son and the fake son they’d raised for twenty years than let go of—how could they suddenly stop loving him?
Gao Gusheng’s memory wasn’t as good as Gao Shi’s, but it was decent. When he recalled those early encounters, he noticed more details.
For example, Jia Qi loved to strike at the heart. He liked to take away what was most precious to Sun Jun, to prove his own superiority. He knew full well how important Sun Jun was to the Sun parents.
If he really wanted to break Sun Jun, he could have had the Sun parents curse him directly—their words would have hurt far more than anything from Sun Langgan, who’d never been close.
But the controlled Sun parents only showed concern for Jia Qi.
From start to finish, the Sun parents always had their backs to Sun Jun—until Gao Gusheng’s mask was pulled off and they regained their senses.
At that time, the system’s power was weak, so maybe neither the system nor Jia Qi dared to let the fiercely protective Sun parents face the child they cherished, tormented as he was. Their anger and pain might have broken the system’s control.
The system’s control was torment for both the Sun parents and Sun Jun.
The Sun parents believed they’d truly hurt Sun Jun, and were lost in pain and regret.
Sun Jun, after being abandoned yet again, finally gave up on family ties.
But it shouldn’t have been this way.
Fortunately, with the fox spirit incident resolved, the truth could finally come out.
…
Gao Gusheng thought Sun Jun would get a summons call, but just two minutes later, he saw his dad get out of the passenger seat of a silver sports car, looking quite grim.
The back door opened, and Chang Yang tumbled out, immediately leaning over a trash can to vomit.
“Ugh—Yin Ling, your driving… ugh—I never thought Eye’s abilities could be used like that… ugh—”
Yin Ling scratched his head awkwardly, “Ha, haha, I’m just used to rushing. Speed is everything, right?”
After rinsing his mouth, Chang Yang staggered weakly over to Gao Shi. “So fast, really fast, ten kilometers in a minute and a half.”
Gao Shi sighed heavily and rubbed his brow. “Let’s go, to the private room.”
Tonight, he’d planned to transfer the fox spirit’s bottle anyway. Since they were passing by where Gao Gusheng and the others were eating, he figured he might as well resolve the Sun family’s issue too—especially with Xuan Yu’s formation, no one could eavesdrop.
Speaking of which, after the fox’s true body broke out of the formation last time, Xuan Yu reported it to his sect, which took it very seriously. The master and uncles were dragged out of seclusion by the grandmaster to study the formation all night. When Xuan Yu passed by, he saw all the elders with dead eyes, writing talismans at lightning speed—“brilliant minds,” with the intensity of high school seniors before exams and programmers fixing a crashed website.
After the sect’s research, they were surprised to find that the “Heaven and Earth Spirit-Locking Array” they’d been using was slightly incomplete. The missing parts were found in the sect’s ancient records.
There were actually six flaws. All these years, there had never been a problem—except with the fox spirit.
But to trap the fox, fixing just one flaw was enough. So what about the other five?
Leaving the formation aside, Sun Jun was suddenly called out during dinner, and ended up seeing his parents in a private room, getting his worldview rearranged.
The shock was so great that when Sun Jun came back, his eyes were red and dazed. Yun Zhiyi thought he was constipated and worried about his digestion, planning to cook him something herself—only to be stopped by Zhou Jing and Gao Gusheng, risking their lives. No way—Yun Zhiyi’s cooking would do more than cause a stomachache. They couldn’t have the Sun family, just reunited, all end up in the hospital from her food.
With the misunderstanding cleared up, the Sun family surely had a lot to talk about. No need to sneak back into school tonight—everyone could go home.
“My mom messaged me—my uncle’s family is visiting, so I’m not going back to campus.” Yun Zhiyi held her forehead in pain. Gao Gusheng sympathized, “Is it your second uncle again?”
Yun Zhiyi sighed, “That’s him. It’s so weird—how can a shameless guy like my second uncle have a cousin as great as my cousin? If it weren’t for her, my family wouldn’t bother with him at all.”
Zhou Jing pushed up his glasses. “Did your cousin sign with Xiao Yusheng’s company?”
Yun Zhiyi flicked her ponytail, clearly proud of her cousin. “Yes! My cousin is amazing! I heard she’s going to star in the charity film that the movie king is preparing!”
The group chatted noisily as Sun Jun, now reconciled with his parents, walked over. Sun Jun stood beside his parents, his mother holding his hand like she’d recovered a lost treasure.
He was still a little unused to their affection, his cheeks tinged with red. “Let’s go together. I’ll drop you off at school on the way, so you don’t need to get a taxi.”
Sun Jun’s mother looked at Gao Gusheng and the others with gentle kindness. “Thank you all for taking care of Xiao Jun. Auntie and uncle would love to have you over for a meal—do you have time?”
She was genuinely grateful that these kids had been Sun Jun’s support during the time they were under control.
Sun Jun’s father, not a man of many words, gently placed his hand on Sun Jun’s shoulder, like a big tree supporting a sapling.
The group exchanged glances and all smiled, “Sure, Auntie, we’d love to.”
Just then, Gao Gusheng’s phone rang. He looked surprised, hung up, and smiled, “I’m not going back to school tonight. My dad’s coming to pick me up—I’m going home to sleep!”
As soon as he finished, Sun Jun saw the reliable-looking, definitely-under-25, handsome police officer who had just explained the fox spirit incident to him and his parents—now appearing next to Gao Gusheng.
Then Gao Gusheng called out happily, “Dad!”
Gao Shi naturally rested his hand on Gao Gusheng’s shoulder, greeted his friends, and nodded to Sun Jun’s parents.
The friends’ stunned gazes couldn’t help but flick between Sun Jun’s father’s hand on Sun Jun’s shoulder and Gao Shi’s hand on Gao Gusheng’s shoulder. They noticed not only were their postures strikingly similar, but the loving yet stern way they looked at their kids was exactly the same.
It was a perfect match.
The only issue was—didn’t Gao Gusheng’s dad look a little too young?
Yun Zhiyi muttered in disbelief, “No way, this must be a trick.”
Even Sun Jun’s father couldn’t help but look down at his own hand, then at Gao Shi’s. Their postures were identical. He took good care of himself, but compared to Gao Shi, he looked especially old—like two generations apart. He looked at Gao Shi with sincere respect.
As a middle-aged man, Sun Jun’s father was eager to exchange health tips with Gao Shi, but since he didn’t have much experience with that, he pondered for a while before finally squeezing out a compliment.
“Gusheng’s dad really takes care of himself. He looks just over thirty.”
##
