“Xiao Ying gave Xiao Yi everything back then, and look how that ended. The Song family was just an excuse. Even without them, Xiao Ying wouldn’t have survived.”
“I suspect the whole Yalong Bay incident was a smokescreen too. The Emperor’s Tear was never lost. Xiao Yi says it was, but he’s really using it to keep Xiao Ji under his thumb and stop him from marrying into the Qiao family.”
“Exactly. Xiao Yi’s word is law at the Xiao Group now. Anyone hoping to get into headquarters has to obey him.”
“And those green eyes of his. The old man really can stomach a lot…”
“…”
The corridor was short. Song Liang had barely overheard a few remarks before the speakers were almost upon him. He immediately backed up, climbed over the windowsill, and hung outside by one hand gripping the frame.
Once their footsteps had receded, he was about to climb back in when he noticed an open floor-to-ceiling window in the next room. He decided to climb onto the neighboring balcony with his one good hand instead.
He pushed the glass door open. White and pale-blue curtains drifted gently outward on the breeze.
The room inside was so sparsely furnished that it felt empty. Vintage natural-wood furniture stood against pale-gray walls. The bed held only a mattress, and the adjoining dressing room was bare. A faint dampness lingered in the air. Clearly, no one had stayed here in a long time.
Song Liang shook out his aching left arm as he surveyed the room. At last, his gaze settled on a desk calendar on the bedside table.
December 28 had been circled in red.
He picked it up, and a photograph slipped out.
A boy in a blue jacket and jeans stood in an open field. His dark-green eyes were clear, his skin cool and pale. His slightly long hair curled at the ends. He smiled at the camera with his lips pressed together, looking refined and shy, like a beautiful little angel.
Song Liang studied the child in the photograph for a moment, then suddenly took out his phone, snapped a picture, and sent it to a WeChat conversation.
He moved so quickly that 3085 didn’t even have time to protest.
Meanwhile, Xiao Yi was speaking with a director from another company at the banquet when his phone vibrated twice in his pocket.
The director smiled. “You really are a busy man, Chairman Xiao. Your phone hasn’t stopped.”
“…”
Xiao Yi nodded apologetically and took out his phone. Both WeChat messages came from the same person.
[Song: Image]
[Song: Uncle, this kid looks just like you.]
A sense of foreboding rose inside Xiao Yi. He tapped the picture.
His face darkened immediately.
[Xiao Yi: ?]
[Xiao Yi: Who gave you permission to enter my room?]
When Xiao Ji returned, he found only Chu Xiyuan and Xu Bowen. His expression changed at once.
“Why are there only two of you? Where’s Song Liang?”
“He said he wanted to look around and wouldn’t let us follow.” Chu Xiyuan looked unconcerned. “He’s a grown man. He won’t get lost. Relax.”
Xiao Ji wasn’t worried about him getting lost. Someone who could jump into Yalong Bay in freezing weather and climb ashore unscathed wasn’t going to disappear inside an estate.
He was worried about him causing trouble.
He called Song Liang directly, but there was no answer. He could only send a WeChat message asking where he was.
This time, he received a reply.
[Song: Admiring your uncle’s adorable childhood photos.]
Xiao Ji: “???”
He didn’t understand, but it certainly sounded wrong.
Xiao Ji immediately had someone pull up the surveillance footage, starting from where Song Liang had parted ways with Chu Xiyuan and Xu Bowen.
They discovered that, despite having an arm in a sling, the man had explored more than half the estate before riding a self-balancing scooter straight toward the Xiao family’s residential quarters.
The entire route covered at least several dozen kilometers. Even Chu Xiyuan looked impressed.
“He really gets around.”
Something suddenly occurred to Xu Bowen. “Isn’t that where all the Xiaos are right now?”
The other two fell silent.
Chu Xiyuan glanced guiltily at his friend. “It’s still the Xiao family home. And he has a broken arm. Surely he won’t start hitting people?”
Xiao Ji closed his eyes and let out a heavy breath.
“He prefers kicking.”
Chu Xiyuan: “…”
“Let’s go find him together,” Xu Bowen said.
Song Liang didn’t answer Xiao Yi’s accusatory message. Instead, he searched the room again.
He found nothing else—not even a trace of the room’s owner having lived there. It was as though everything had been deliberately erased.
Since his only good arm was still aching, he didn’t leave by the balcony. He walked out through the door and took the elevator instead.
During the ride, Song Liang brought up the script and went through it carefully once more. He confirmed that it mentioned no old feud between Xiao Yi and the Song family.
Likewise, he found nothing about Xiao Ying.
The original owner really had devoted himself wholeheartedly to being a lovesick cannon-fodder simp. Out of the entire Xiao family, he had paid attention to Xiao Ji alone.
【Because he genuinely loved Xiao Ji.】
“Then why did he betray him later?” Song Liang asked.
【Perhaps the Song family mattered more to him than Xiao Ji did. Or rather, the Song family mattered more than his love.】
Song Liang immediately thought of the side missions added after the instance’s difficulty increased, such as gaining his father’s approval.
Now it seemed that what the original owner really wanted was everyone’s approval—to go from someone despised by those around him to someone universally loved and accepted.
Put simply, he lacked affection and validation. He was emotionally fragile and unable to recognize his own worth.
Xiao Ji was clearly his idea of perfection: the person he wanted to become.
“Is that love?”
【You’re asking me?】
An AI?
“…”
Song Liang grew curious about himself. “I wonder whether I liked men or women before I lost my memory.”
【Possibly yourself.】
After all, the system had never met anyone so narcissistic and self-assured. It was as though he had no emotional weak spots.
Strangest of all—
【You don’t seem curious about your lost memories, or about who you used to be.】
“I am a little curious,” Song Liang answered honestly. “I wonder what blessed land could have nurtured such a heaven-sent talent as me.”
3085 had nothing to say.
Already immune to his narcissism, it returned to the subject.
【If Xiao Yi had a grudge against the Song family, you might never even have had the chance to be born.】
Song Liang had to agree. Given the Song family’s status, if the original owner hadn’t drugged Xiao Ji, Song Zhicheng wouldn’t have been fit to carry Xiao Yi’s shoes.
What sort of feud could they possibly have had?
【You think Xiao Yi tortured the original owner to death in the original plot not just because of Xiao Ji’s scheme to turn them against each other, but because of the Song family too?】
Song Liang: 【Yes.】
Whether he wanted Song Zhicheng’s approval or a marriage to Xiao Ji, this body had to remain alive first.
At the very least, he needed to find out why Xiao Yi would kill him.
The elevator doors opened just as his phone buzzed again. Xiao Ji was asking where he was.
Before Song Liang could reply, someone wheeled Xiao Wenyu into the elevator. The man’s expression immediately soured.
“What are you doing here? Who let you in?”
Song Liang had no intention of causing trouble at the old Xiao family home, so he couldn’t be bothered to engage. He put away his phone and walked past.
He had barely taken a few steps when Xiao Wenyu shouted, “Stop!”
Naturally, Song Liang didn’t stop.
He continued straight past him. Perhaps Xiao Wenyu really had been frightened by those kicks, because he didn’t even order his bodyguards to intervene.
Instead, he said bitterly, “You really think Xiao Ji will get engaged to you? He already likes someone else!”
Song Liang stopped dead.
Someone else?
Had the male lead and his love interest already gotten together behind his back???
Was he the useless husband after all?!
【…】
Seriously. A little too much drama.
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