An illegitimate son of a wealthy family struggled to survive on his own, even joining a criminal organization. After that organization was destroyed, he found his way back to his powerful family, lay low for several years, and quietly wiped out the opposing faction.
Then he exploited his brother and sister-in-law’s trust to orchestrate a kidnapping, sending them to their deaths in a sabotaged car. He traded custody of his nephew for company shares, secured his position as chairman, and made the entire Xiao family dependent on the illegitimate son they had once looked down on.
And when his nephew learned the truth about his parents’ deaths, he turned on him without hesitation.
This was Xiao Yi, the true main villain of “The Top Star’s Secret Husband Is a Hundred-Billion CEO.”
The office outside had long since fallen silent.
Song Liang reviewed the original novel’s plot on his own and finally arrived at the real reason Xiao Yi and Xiao Ji had fallen out.
The murder of his parents.
No wonder there had been no room for reconciliation. It could only end with one of them dead.
【The main storyline is nearing its conclusion. Have you decided how to betray Xiao Ji, host?】
“…”
【Host?】
“Ah, I’m here. I’ll figure it out when the time comes.”
Song Liang wandered out. Sure enough, the office was empty. He returned the book to its shelf and left the thirty-second floor with his hands in his pockets.
Downstairs, the receptionist greeted him warmly. Song Liang smiled and waved before walking out of Xiao Group’s headquarters.
Before leaving, he looked back at the towering building, his gaze rising to the highest floor.
The enormous windows reflected the city’s brilliant lights, concealing everything inside.
A taxi stopped in front of him.
Song Liang opened the door and got in.
At the top of Xiao Group’s headquarters, Xiao Yi stood before the windows and watched from more than a hundred meters above.
He watched the car drive somewhere beyond his sight, while he could only remain where he was.
This building, a symbol of supreme power, was like a cage reaching into the sky, imprisoning him within it.
“You knew he was in there.”
Footsteps sounded behind him. Yang Xun came to stand at his back, looking toward the distant illuminated towers.
“A book was missing from the shelf.”
“…”
Yang Xun exhaled softly, looking distracted.
“Why insist on letting him hear it? What are you trying to prove?”
Xiao Yi remained silent.
He didn’t know what he wanted to prove.
Or perhaps he didn’t dare consider it. Didn’t dare imagine the outcome he wanted, for fear he wouldn’t get it.
There were too many things he could never have. Long ago, he had stopped allowing himself to hope.
Yet someone had appeared before him, seemingly out of nowhere, and effortlessly seized all his attention.
At first, he had merely found him interesting. Later, when he realized his feelings had changed, he had decided to cut his losses before it was too late.
But again and again, he couldn’t help seeking that figure out, watching his every gesture, every expression.
Until, finally, he could no longer look away.
And no longer wanted to let go.
He had never truly had anything.
He only wanted one person. Wanted that person to look at him, and him alone, forever.
He didn’t think that was asking too much.
“Why did it have to be him?” Yang Xun sighed.
Why Song Liang?
Anyone else would have made things so much simpler.
But he was Song Zhicheng’s son and Xiao Ji’s fiancé.
Those two identities alone meant Song Liang would never stand on Xiao Yi’s side.
For the next week, Xiao Ji never returned to Feixi No. 1. Song Liang didn’t see him at all.
Xiao Yi began leaving early and coming home late. Occasionally, when Song Liang stayed up gaming and went downstairs for a midnight snack, he would encounter Xiao Yi just arriving home.
He would be wearing a shirt and waistcoat, his suit jacket draped over one arm. Even in the dim entryway lighting, the faint weariness around his eyes was visible.
A desperate Xiao Guangjin. Xiao Musheng pulling strings behind the scenes. Xiao Ji, now aware of the truth about his parents’ deaths.
Without anyone quite noticing when it happened, this man had reached the same point as in the original novel: deserted by everyone around him.
Yet he seemed to accept it all calmly, as though he had foreseen it from the beginning.
A month later, Song Zhicheng came to find Song Liang, saying his biological mother wanted to see him.
Song Liang was surprised. He searched the entire script without finding anything about the original owner’s mother.
3085 explained that this was a butterfly effect caused by the altered storyline.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say he had uncovered the real story.
The system kept beeping as though demanding his life, so Song Liang had no choice but to visit the original owner’s mother.
She was bedridden in a vegetative state.
No wonder she had played no part in the original plot.
At the care facility, Song Liang also met Song Zhicheng’s current wife, Xia Yuyan.
The daughter of a scholarly family and a professor at a prestigious music university, she stood quietly and elegantly before him.
She asked him to help the Song family, to help his own father, in consideration of all the years they had cared for his mother.
Song Liang had expected this.
Over the past month, Xiao Yi had not only sent Xiao Guangjin to prison but also nearly cleared Xiao Musheng’s trusted allies out of the board.
Even Song Zhicheng’s company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Both he and Song Xinglang were embroiled in scandals.
The Song family was almost out of options.
Song Liang agreed.
Then Song Zhicheng took him to see Xiao Musheng.
Their previous meeting had been at the birthday banquet before the New Year. Song Liang hadn’t shown the old man any deference then, and he didn’t now.
Without even greeting him, he sat down opposite Xiao Musheng.
Song Zhicheng’s face changed in alarm, terrified that he would offend the Xiao patriarch.
Song Liang had no such concerns. Leaning back boldly and crossing his legs, he looked at the old man.
“If you don’t even dare arrange to meet me at the family estate, Old Master Xiao, I imagine you have bigger concerns than empty formalities.”
Song Zhicheng choked.
Xiao Musheng studied him with aged but penetrating eyes.
“Children do change when they grow up. You’re like a different person. Bolder, and with more schemes in your head.”
Song Liang wasn’t remotely worried that the old man might realize someone else now occupied this body.
“Just tell me what you want. I don’t have much time to keep a lonely old man company.”
Song Zhicheng: “…”
Xiao Musheng’s eyes chilled.
“I hear you and Xiao Yi are quite close. Still living together.”
“It’s all right.”
“You’re being modest. No one except Xiao Ji has ever stayed in that house. You’ve nearly lived there longer than he has.”
A patronizing note entered Xiao Musheng’s voice.
“Do you know what people are saying about you two?”
Song Liang said nothing.
It wasn’t as though he had lost internet access. Of course he knew.
The paparazzi had simply exposed the fact that, despite the uncle and nephew’s falling-out, he—the future nephew-in-law—was still living with the uncle.
He had read it all as gossip.
“You see him as an elder, but he sees you as a plaything. And you’re his nephew’s partner. Don’t you have anything to say about that?”
“It’s all right.”
“…”
Finding him impervious, Xiao Musheng abandoned the indirect approach.
“Do something for me, and I’ll help the Song family. Your mother can also receive treatment from the world’s leading brain specialists.”
Song Liang nodded.
“Fine.”
“…”
Xiao Musheng faltered, clearly not expecting such a ready agreement.
“I thought you might be reluctant.”
Song Liang had known what the old man was planning before coming here. He had no interest in dragging this out.
“But I have one condition.”
That actually reassured Xiao Musheng. An agreement with no demands would have made him uneasy.
“Name it.”
“I want to marry Xiao Ji.”
Xiao Musheng paused, then smiled.
“So you really do love my grandson. His concern for you hasn’t been wasted.”
Song Liang raised an eyebrow.
“He’s concerned about me, but can’t even come home to see me?”
“He certainly wants to.”
“…What does that mean?”
“Xiao Yi has Feixi No. 1 under tight guard. No one can get in. Unless you come out yourself.”
“…”
Song Liang genuinely hadn’t known.
He had assumed Xiao Ji was too busy making trouble to remember him.
Apparently, he couldn’t even get through the gates.
【That’s not right,】3085 said, thoroughly confused. 【That’s the setup for a domineering patron keeping a caged canary. How did it end up in your storyline?】
Song Liang looked at Xiao Musheng.
“That’s my only condition. Next month.”
Xiao Musheng frowned.
“That’s too soon. Besides, Xiao Yi won’t agree—”
“How do you know if you don’t try?” Song Liang raised an eyebrow, impatient. “And if he refuses, can’t you think of something? At your age, you can’t even keep your own son in line?”
Xiao Musheng’s face darkened. Veins rose on the hand gripping his cane.
“You dare speak to me that way?”
“I speak to Xiao Yi this way. Why would I treat you any differently?”
Song Liang stood and looked down at him, his lips hovering on the edge of a smile.
“I have one condition. As for the Song family, do whatever you like.”
He turned and left.
Even Song Zhicheng failed to stop him.
3085 was stunned.
【??? Why wasn’t there a character-collapse warning? The original owner cared deeply about the Song family. How is that not out of character?】
“You need to understand that there are rules above other rules. The same goes for character traits.”
Song Liang spoke leisurely.
“Being a simp is my defining trait. Everything else comes second.”
3085 remained astonished for a long moment.
【You can actually do that…】
【Wait. Then that means—】
Suddenly realizing something, its voice shot up.
【If the original owner placed Xiao Ji above the Song family, why did he betray him in the novel?!】
“Because he never betrayed Xiao Ji.”
Song Liang looked calmly at the traffic and pedestrians.
“The contract that ultimately brought Xiao Yi down? The original owner swapped it.”
“He loved Xiao Ji to the end. That’s why his wish was powerful enough to bring someone here to fulfill it.”
【…Wait, how do you know that?】
3085 sounded both frustrated and bewildered.
【Which one of us is the system? How do you know so much? Do you have an extra script?】
“Intelligence.”
Song Liang tapped his forehead.
“That thing you’re so proud of.”
Successfully infuriated, 3085 stopped talking.
Song Liang chuckled and got into his globally limited-edition Ferrari under the envious gazes of passersby.
Time to research how to betray Xiao Ji.
“How did it go in the original again?”
【Read it yourself!】3085 snapped.
“…”
Well, he had ruffled his little electronic pet’s feathers.
Fine. He would read it himself.
Song Liang pulled over, opened the original script, found the chapter where the original owner sided with Xiao Yi, and scrolled down.
Then fell silent.
A rare look of puzzlement appeared on his face.
“Are you sure this is how he won Xiao Yi over?”
3085 suddenly remembered something too.
【…Well, it is adult literature.】
Song Liang frowned at the screenful of text and studied it for a long time without speaking.
3085 grew nervous.
【You’re not going on strike, are you? You can just go through the motions. It’ll get cut by the censors anyway. You don’t actually have to—】
“All right, stop. I get it.”
Song Liang turned the wheel and headed back toward the city center.
“Let’s buy the supplies. We’re doing this tonight.”
【…】
And to think it had actually assumed this man possessed a sense of shame.
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