CH 42.2

CW: cyber-harassment; suicide-baiting. Please proceed with caution.

After reaching the Zhang family’s house, Jian Xingsui fell asleep as soon as he reached his newly-instated bedroom. 

He only came back to sleep during the day, and when he woke up, it was already dark. It seemed that he slept through the evening also. 

He didn’t wake up naturally, though.

In fact, he didn’t expect to be woken up from a phone call from his agent Wang-ge. After that finale, Jian Xingsui knew that there would be a day of reckoning. 

And that day finally dawned. He could only bravely answer this phone call. 

Jian Xingsui greeted in a calm tone, “Wang-ge.”

His agent cut to the chase, “Xingsui, did you see the hot search this morning?”

Jian Xingsui was taken aback by the unexpected question, “What hot search?”

Wang-ge sighed: “If you don’t know yet, go and have a look.”

Jian Xingsui immediately switched his phone to open the Weibo app. There, he saw–

#JianXingsuiAnran# 

When he saw this topic, Jian Xingsui had a hunch it was something bad. After all, everytime he got involved with Anran, he would encounter an unlucky situation. 

And sure enough, after clicking it, he found that the hot search content was actually posted by a classmate he and Anran used to share. This classmate knew that Jian Xingsui used to be a child of the Jian’s family, and he also knew Anran, so he was on the cusp of this storm. 

He “exposed” this incident, and also attached a lot of pictures to serve as the proof of his credibility. It showed that Jian Xingsui and Anran were switched at birth, and before that, Jian Xingsui always bullied Anran.

The melon-eating netizens on Weibo were also quite shocked:

[Fuck! Even novels don’t dare to write this kind of plot anymore!]

[This news feels so unreal!]

[I read this and instantly became no longer sleepy.]

A lot of classmates came out to support this statement. They told the netizens Jian Xingsui’s “secret side” with an unified voice: 

[Jian Xingsui has a weird personality in school.]

[Of course he bullied Anran and made things difficult for him in the school cafeteria.]

[Anran is really pitiful.]

Just yesterday, the whole Internet was scolding Anran for using capital and familial connection. The netizens didn’t expect such a big melon would be exposed today. Apart from being shocked, a large part of the netizens spontaneously stood up for justice. After they learned that this poor little Anran had been bullied by Jian Xingsui. Of course they started attacking the culprit. 

[To be honest, I have long felt that he is not a good person.]

[His personal strength isn’t that good anyways,  why should he make his debut?]

[Fans, come see the true face of your idol! School violence record, isn’t he so nice?]

Jian Xingsui watched all of this silently. A complicated feeling rose from inside his heart. 

He remembered that this incident also happened in his previous life. But at that time, it was not during the end of “Starlight”. Instead, it was “dug up” far long from this time, around the time when Anran had become famous. He got many insults thrown at him from all over the Internet. Even some portion of Anran’s rabid fans attacked him in real life. It dealt a double blow to him, both physically and mentally.

It was also because of this incident that he was so devastated, he lost his mind in the end and passed away in a car accident.

The same thing happened again. This time, he didn’t feel anymore fear or helplessness he experienced in his previous life. He had become much calmer, so his heart might be swayed, but it stayed relatively normal.

What strange was… why is this incident brought forward so early this time?

Wang-ge‘s voice was still on the other end of the phone, “Suisui, what’s going on? Is it true?”

Jian Xingsui calmly explained, although he had no dream that his agent would 100% understand his side of the story, “I was ignorant before, and I didn’t want to leave the Jian family. I did confront Anran personally.” 

But his original intention was not to bully Anran, he just wanted to find him to clear things up. But for some reason, every time they met, Anran would look frightened and wronged, making himself at a loss what to do. Before his rebirth, he always thought that Anran was timid and that he had gone too far.

It was only later that he realized that… no matter whether I did anything to Anran or not, Anran always used this to persuade others to seek justice in his behalf. If he didn’t pretend to look that way before, how could anyone pity and choose to stand by his side? 

Wang-ge sighed, “Then this matter will be difficult for you to clarify. Besides, you offended the company, and that one million money hasn’t been resolved yet. Let me tell you the truth, especially because of our past friendship, I just got told by the higher-up to snow you in1hide JXS from the public. He won’t get any new jobs from the company, and if he seeks it himself, they probably would obstruct him.. You can’t blame anyone but yourself, you know?” 

Jian Xingsui lowered his eyes. His thoughts darkened as he hardened his heart, “It doesn’t matter. If you want to snow me in, just do it.” 

His agent choked on pure air. He didn’t expect Jian Xingsui to say such bold words with that level of conviction. 

But what he didn’t know was that Jian Xingsui was basically numb to these things, so of course he didn’t care about them. Even if the company didn’t hide him, he originally wanted to terminate the contract anyways.

Wang-ge stammered, clearly still flustered, “You… then you can take care of yourself.”

Jian Xingsui responded with a noncommittal hum and hung up the phone.

He tried to sit up and looked at the time on his phone. He didn’t have any food at home, but he didn’t want to waste money on ordering takeaways. Finally, he found some dried noodles in the kitchen and ate it with plain water as the soup. The meal was basically tasteless. It was unappetizing. 

At that very moment, he remembered something in a daze – not long ago, he had a bowl of very fragrant noodles, which was like heaven and earth compared to today’s noodles. 

However, he could only recall them as a fond memory now. 

Jian Xingsui quickly finished the noodles and washed the dishes. He sat on the sofa to rest for a while, opened WeChat and saw that he had received a lot of messages. Most of them were asking him about the Weibo hot search’s matter. Many people came to ask if it was true. He knew that most of them only wanted to be in the excitement, and that spelled trouble for him. 

But he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was far too exhausted to reply to any of them. 

He clicked one of his friend’s Moments. To his surprise, he didn’t expect that he actually clicked on Fu Jinxiao’s Moments. It was a post of Fu Jinxiao on a beach, catching a big fish. The place should be a private vacation island. The caption of the post was:

[They took the bait.] 

There were many comments on this post: 

[You’re on a vacation? Sick! Where is it?] 

[Sure enough, after filming such a long show, you ran away to a tropical beach somewhere.] 

[Did ge catch me instead?] 

The last comment caught Jian Xingsui off-guard. He swiped on that comment, and saw that Fu Jinxiao replied with a rather solemn tone:

[You are too heavy for me to catch.] 

Jian Xingsui couldn’t hold back his frown when he saw that. 

He muled about it for a while, but in the end, he didn’t dare to comment. He felt that the relationship between himself and Actor Fu was not that good. 

He thought that if he commented and didn’t get a reply, he would be very disappointed and sad. So he made a compromise and gave this WeChat post a thumbs up.

What he didn’t expect was that not long after he clicked the “like” button, he received a WeChat message. 

Jian Xingsui immediately backed away, but he didn’t expect that Fu Jinxiao actually sent himself a message: [Wake up so early?]

It was only five o’clock in the morning, so the question made sense. 

Jian Xingsui replied: [Well, I slept all night, but you are still awake.]

Fu Jinxiao replied concisely: [We are currently on different time-zones. ] 

It was only then that Jian Xingsui realized that the man should not be in the country, but was on vacation abroad. He knew this, because no matter where the actor went to play during the holidays, there would be a crowd of people around him. So Fu Jinxiao would go abroad for vacations, usually on a private island to ensure his privacy. 

Jian Xingsui didn’t know what to talk about, but he didn’t want to waste this chance to speak with his idol. He thought about his reply for a while, before settling for a safe one: [I saw the fish you caught, it’s a big fish. Your fishing skill is really good.]

After a short moment, he got a reply: [There’s a staff member who drove the fish over to my side. Even an idiot can catch it.] 

“…”

Really truthful.

Jian Xingsui still bit the bullet and praised him: [Still, it’s quite impressive.] 

Fu Jinxiao has seen through this little rainbow fart2excessive praise.. In fact, he didn’t know why he sent a message to Jian Xingsui by accident, but doing so really made him feel happy. His mood improved a lot, so he asked again: [How are you doing recently?] 

Jian Xingsui paused for a moment. He guessed that Fu Jinxiao probably hadn’t seen that hot search yet.

If he saw that, how would he think about Jian Xingsui? If he saw that… he probably would never talk so casually with him ever again. Thinking of this, Jian Xingsui’s heart sank slowly, the bitterness in his tongue doubled, leaving him a little out of breath.

Jian Xingsui held his phone with a trembling hand, and finally replied: [Very good.]

But Fu Jinxiao sent a message back: [It seems that your mentality is not bad.]

Seeing this type of reply only meant one thing: [You know?]

Fu Jinxiao replied. He actually was just teasing the youth: [Weibo just gave me a notification.]

[Not bad, your current popularity is almost equal to an A-tier celebrity now.] 

Jian Xingsui originally felt bitter, but Fu Jinxiao’s reply made him feel as if the big stone weighing him down was finally taken off. 

Fu Jinxiao knew of the controversy, and yet, was still willing to talk to him cordially. 

[Then you…]

Jian Xingsui typed two words and hesitated, but he still had the courage to ask: [Will you also think that I… am a vicious person after reading those accusations?] 

The waiting time was a bit long. His heart almost raised to his throat. 

After half a ring, his phone vibrated, signalling that Fu Jinxiao sent him a reply: [If you want to know someone in the future, you can’t only rely on the public’s opinion on them. You must form your own thoughts and opinions. In fact, if you just based it on the public opinion, you wouldn’t actually know 90% of the people in this industry.] 

[While it’s natural to form an opinion based on what you heard, the true excellent people wouldn’t do that. They will see you for what you actually are.] Fu Jinxiao’s words were concise yet heartwarming: [I didn’t see your so-called “viciousness” anyway. Do you think I’m a sheep that could easily be persuaded by the netizen’s one-sided belief?] 

Fu Jinxiao’s words breathed a new life to Jian Xingsui. Slowly, he heaved a sigh of relief he didn’t know he held. 

In his previous life, no one believed him. Everyone only wanted to believe what information they were spoon-fed. Everyone was unified in scolding him – they said he was vicious, that a person like him doesn’t deserve to live, and he should off himself for the good of this world. The overwhelming malice suffocated him. 

But in this life, someone said that he believed that Jian Xingsui was not such a vicious person. And this person was Fu Jinxiao, his favorite idol for many years.

This was enough. 

On the other side–

Anran called Mrs. Zhang early in the morning.

Mrs. Zhang answered the phone cheerfully: “Ranran!”

This time, Anran called to put some pressure on Mrs. Zhang to leave the city with Jian Xingsui and go back to that small town. This wave of “expose” was something he had planned in advance. He also asked his agent to arrange exaggerated words and guide people on the Internet to carry out the cyber-harassment. This was to increase the pressure on Jian Xingsui so he would leave immediately. Furthermore, this was also a way to whitewash himself from his previous scandal. 

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Zhang said: “Ranran, do you know about your Father’s condition?”

Anran was taken aback: “Dad? What’s wrong with him?” 

Mrs. Zhang contained her sadness, “Ranran, your father’s current health situation is really serious. If he can’t find a suitable kidney donor, he may die. You must help me. I can only rely on you.”

Anran was a little surprised: “Has Dad been diagnosed?”

Mrs. Zhang nodded: “Yes, he has!”

Anran’s eyes changed. He didn’t understand what’s going on. While he brought forward his revenge against Jian Xingsui earlier this time, he didn’t expect that the matter of Zhang Xiangyang’s deteriorating health also came forward. What’s the causality that caused this? Could it be… because of his phone call that night?

In his previous life, Zhang Xiangyang’s illness did not occur so early. It only occured at least five years later. He remembered that Zhang Xiangyang passed away without finding a suitable kidney donor. After his death, Mrs. Zhang’s spirit also had some problems. Because of her excessive grief, she only had a few years before she followed her husband to the other world. 

Then in this life…

Anran understood that if he asks the Jian family to help him with all their strength, he might be able to find a suitable donor. After all, if the timeline could change, then everything could also change. 

But if Zhang Xiangyang is ill, Jian Xingsui would naturally have no time to go to that countryside town. Besides, he might be pushed into doing a paternity test. 

But… if Zhang Xiangyang passed away normally according to the timeline of his previous life, then Mrs. Zhang’s fate also would not change…

Then wouldn’t that mean nobody would know that Jian Xingsui wasn’t the Zhang’s biological son? 

Mrs. Zhang on the other end of the phone was still crying softly, “Ranran, you must find a way. You have been under our care for so many years. You know that I cannot live without him. We only have one child like you. If you don’t help, your Father will have no way out!”

Anran heard it in his ears, but his heart was indifferent.

At first he thought that he and Jian Xingsui were only accidentally switched at birth. But after knowing that Jian Xingsui also wasn’t the Zhang’s son, he had a vague guess of what actually happened. He had a guess that the Zhang couple had committed a heinous crime. 

Although the Zhang couple treated him well since childhood, they still wronged him. If it wasn’t for them, how could he, a child of a rich family, become the child of a mere rice cake shop owner?! 

He could have made a name for himself in a wealthy family like Jian Xingsui, but they ruined everything! At least Jian Xingsui was rich in the first half of his life, and he had nothing in comparison. In the second half of his life, Jian Xingsui finally got the life he deserved, but he still had such a shitty ending. 

Why would all the good things he deserved get replaced by Jian Xingsui? 

Preposterous. 

He no longer wanted that shitty ending. Nobody knew how furious he was during that time. 

Anran took a deep breath to calm himself, “Mom, don’t worry, my Dad’s affairs are on my shoulders. I will definitely find a way to help him.”

If the world won’t feel sorry for him, then fine. 

He’ll get his own revenge by himself. 

I vomited a little every time I had to type AR’s thoughts. Disgusting level of self-entitlement and green tea.