Chapter 57 – Real World (2)
Yu Wen had known Chen Luosong from a very young age.
His father worked for the Chen family as the chauffeur for the then head of the household. Coming from a single-parent family, with his only grandparent bedridden in the hospital and no other relatives to care for him, he was brought to the Chen family mansion.
In that grand house, he first saw the family’s only son, who was called “Young Master.”
This person was as refined as someone from television. Contrary to his imagination, the young master was neither arrogant nor difficult to get along with. He was not as fragile as he appeared; instead, he was daring and adventurous, willing to try anything he set his mind to.
He washed calligraphy brushes in the pond, dyed the horse’s tail with flowers from the garden, and created colorful, aromatic concoctions in the kitchen that could be considered biochemical weapons.
He would involve Yu Wen in all these experiments, and they would get scolded together.
The employer-employee relationship between the Chen family, their butler, and the chauffeur was not overt; they interacted more like friends. This attitude subtly influenced them, and Yu Wen naturally became friends with this audacious young master.
However, this friendship did not last long. Yu Wen was not a local, and schooling became an issue. His father planned to take him back to their previous city, find a new job there, and have him attend school.
Fortunately, Yu Wen ended up staying. The Chen couple had grown accustomed to their current chauffeur and had no intention of finding a new one. Therefore, they arranged for Yu Wen to attend the same private school as Chen Luosong.
The social class catered to by this school was different; Yu Wen originally didn’t belong there, but he indeed became one of its students.
In this school, where the class gap was starkly evident, he felt no discomfort. The classmates around him were even quite friendly.
A natural center of attention, Chen Luosong was the focus wherever he went. When Yu Wen joined the same school, he realized just how popular his friend was.
During lunch, Yu Wen often saw Chen Luosong being called out of the classroom, only to return shortly after. Rumors would quickly spread throughout the grade—another person had been decisively rejected.
Chen Luosong was assertive and protective, and many people wanted to be special to him. Though many tried to get close, Yu Wen was the only one who remained by his side.
Like those who were repeatedly turned away, Yu Wen didn’t know when he started harboring feelings he shouldn’t have.
It might have been the moment Chen Luosong turned to smile at him after coldly rejecting someone else, or perhaps even earlier.
Chen Luosong was outgoing and cheerful, able to get along well with everyone, yet he consciously kept a distance from others, leaving his childhood friend Yu Wen as the only one he didn’t guard against. Afraid of crossing the line from friendship, Yu Wen thought it was enough to be “the best friend” for now.
But things rarely go as planned.
Six months later, Yu Wen’s grandfather, who had been in the hospital, was critically ill. His father quit his job and took Yu Wen back to their original city immediately.
Separated by over a thousand kilometers, they couldn’t even remain friends.
That year, Yu Wen lost a family member and a friend.
The next time he heard Chen Luosong’s name was from his father, who had found a new job, on a sunny day.
His father said that Mr. and Mrs. Chen had died in a car accident, leaving their only son behind. Having known them for so many years, his father felt it was necessary to attend the funeral to pay their final respects.
Traveling from the south to the north, the sunny day turned into a rainy one.
Returning to the mansion where he had spent so many years, Yu Wen found it unchanged yet entirely unfamiliar. The once quiet courtyard was now filled with people holding umbrellas, and various sounds bombarded his ears.
At the front entrance, he saw someone he hadn’t seen in a long time.
Standing under a black umbrella held by the butler, Chen Luosong was dressed in a black and white suit with a tie, smiling and conversing with guests, even though he should have been in school wearing his uniform.
On the way there, Yu Wen had imagined how sad Chen Luosong might be, picturing many scenarios, but he had never imagined seeing him smile.
It was a perfect smile—not overly enthusiastic, yet not lacking sincerity. It was a mask that concealed all emotions. There was no sadness, no fear, and he conversed with the older guests without faltering, showing no hint of his true feelings. Despite his youthful features, he already seemed like a competent successor.
Or rather, a future leader.
As the guests passed by, Yu Wen followed his father forward.
Standing under the umbrella, Chen Luosong noticed him. Through the moving crowd, Yu Wen saw his smile fade, and a faint emotion appeared in his light-colored eyes.
At least for that moment, some people were not as strong as they appeared.
An inexplicable urge came over Yu Wen—he felt he should hug Chen Luosong, even if it was just a brief embrace.
But he didn’t step forward. His father bowed his head and offered condolences. Yu Wen, his mind in turmoil, didn’t know what to say. He stood there, bowed his head slightly, and said, “My condolences.”
He would never forget the look of astonishment on Chen Luosong’s face when he lifted his head again, nor the sight of the butler closing his eyes to avoid witnessing the scene.
The shock lasted only a moment, after which Chen Luosong smiled again.
Just like before, it was a sincere yet insincere smile. The moment he saw that smile, he realized what he had done wrong.
Something irreversible had occurred, with no possibility of regret or turning back.
The impeccably dressed young man smiled at him and his father, saying, “Traveling such a long distance to be here, you must have had a hard journey. I thank you on behalf of my late parents.”
Growth happens in an instant, and the quiet end of a relationship also happens in an instant.
From that moment on, he knew he was no longer considered a close friend, but merely a guest attending the funeral.
The hesitation that prevented him from closing the distance became an unbridgeable chasm for the rest of his life.
Many people came that day, and the procession to the cemetery was a long line of cars filling the road. Chen Luosong, knowing that he and his father hadn’t driven, arranged for a car to take them.
During the burial, even the butler, who had been holding an umbrella, stepped back. The thin figure stood alone at the grave, his suit pants getting soaked by the falling and rebounding rain.
Amid the overwhelming sound of rain, the person at the grave slowly bowed.
When he straightened up, his emotions were laid bare. The carefree young master who once acted without concern was gone, leaving only a successor bearing a heavy burden.
In the years following the funeral, Yu Wen never contacted Chen Luosong again. He only heard from his father that the Chen family’s company had gone through significant upheaval but continued to thrive, with a promising future.
Later, Yu Wen started his own company, firmly establishing himself in the research field. As his company grew day by day and step by step, the higher he climbed, the more he learned about the person who was already at the top.
He didn’t know when it started, but he heard people saying that Chen Luosong had picked up someone from some hidden corner. It was a thin boy, lacking liveliness, and reportedly had an unpleasant personality. They said he wouldn’t last long and would probably be discarded soon.
Against everyone’s expectations, the person who was taken in was not only not abandoned but even officially settled in the Chen family mansion, received a formal education, and enjoyed the best in clothing, food, and daily needs. Later on, the usually solitary individual who attended important events would occasionally bring the adopted person along, introducing them to people.
He was raised with the same standards as a legitimate heir.
Step by step, Yu Wen finally had the opportunity to attend a high-profile banquet where the other person would also be present. There, he saw the person who had been taken in for the first time.
The appearance of Zhou Kaiji, as the person was called, had changed significantly from the initial rumors. He had become a tall, young, and unexpectedly composed individual, outshining many others in both age and other aspects.
The moment he saw this person, he felt an unprecedented sense of crisis because Chen Luosong smiled, and it was a genuine smile.
It was an expression he hadn’t seen from him in many years.
At that banquet, he finally spoke with the other person. There were no feelings of reunion; the other person just asked a few more questions about his technology.
He knew then that this person was interested in his technology.
Afterward, he collaborated with the Bureau, further enhancing the value of his technology, and then proactively approached the other person.
The other person wanted his technology, and he needed research funds, but the technology couldn’t be given away easily, and the research funds were a significant amount for any major company, posing a high risk from any perspective.
He proposed another form of resource exchange—marriage. In some ways, this method was more stable and efficient than any contract or agreement.
In other words, a business marriage.
Chen Luosong agreed.
On the day the prenuptial agreement was finalized, the Zhou family emerged.
Members of the Zhou family claimed that Zhou Kaiji was the son of the current family head, Mr. Zhou, and his original wife. The Zhou family was a century-old distinguished family, but things had become chaotic in the last two generations.
In his youth, Mr. Zhou was quite the playboy. While married to his original wife, he had several mistresses. One of the mistresses, while pregnant, caused a scene, leading the original wife to divorce Mr. Zhou after taking a substantial alimony. The mistress took her place, but before she could secure her position, another mistress appeared, causing more chaos. The mistress had a miscarriage, losing both the baby and her newly acquired status.
The other mistress took over and had a child, but as the child grew, it became apparent he did not resemble Mr. Zhou at all. In the end, the Zhou family had no legitimate heir, and Mr. Zhou was growing old. At a recent banquet, Mr. Zhou noticed Zhou Kaiji attending and found him strikingly familiar.
Initially intrigued by the resemblance, Mr. Zhou conducted a thorough investigation and discovered Zhou Kaiji’s connection to his original wife. After various confirmations, Mr. Zhou was certain of the relationship and approached with gifts to reconcile.
The Zhou family’s situation was complex; it wasn’t a simple matter of accepting or rejecting the overture. Zhou Kaiji needed to visit, regardless of whether he decided to stay with the family or not, to resolve the outstanding issues.
During this period, Yu Wen used all his time outside of work to hastily plan the wedding.
The sooner the wedding took place, the better. For Chen Luosong, this was merely a straightforward business arrangement, but for him, it was much more.
The true goal of his collaboration was this marriage. He meticulously prepared everything—the wedding rings, the ceremony details, the venue, and the invitations. Once everything was ready, he sent out the wedding invitations.
The unexpected happened on the day the first batch of invitations was sent out.
While the marriage was beneficial for them, it wasn’t favorable for everyone else. That evening, after the invitations were sent, Chen Luosong was maliciously pursued in a car chase.
That day, it was raining, and the vehicles were on a winding mountain road near the old mansion. High-speed driving on the slippery mountain road was extremely dangerous.
The pursuers didn’t reach their target. According to a later confession from one of the less injured individuals in the car, a figure suddenly appeared by the roadside, which was unexpected in that desolate area. In the high-stress situation, the driver reacted instinctively, swerved, hit the figure, and the car skidded off the road, crashing through the guardrail.
The figure that appeared was Zhou Kaiji. After seeing the wedding invitation at the Zhou family’s place, he immediately took a cab to the old mansion.
His electric car ran out of power at the foot of the mountain, so Zhou Kaiji walked the rest of the way, leading to the incident.
After being hit, he was rushed to the hospital in time. His life and body were saved, but he never regained consciousness.
The pursuing driver was severely injured, while the other person miraculously sustained only minor injuries. Both were detained, along with their employer who had orchestrated the chase.
The wedding was postponed, not because of the chase, but because Chen Luosong needed to take care of the person lying in the hospital.
Unexpectedly, while Zhou Kaiji was involved in a collaborative experiment with the Bureau, another individual chose to join the Bureau as a regular enforcer.
It was then that Yu Wen truly realized how important the comatose person was to the other person. The Zhou family had given up hope of Zhou Kaiji waking up, but Chen Luosong had not.
From that moment, he knew the marriage he had been anticipating would likely never happen.
As expected, after completing a few tasks, Chen Luosong proposed canceling the marriage agreement and offered a substantial investment as compensation for breaking the promise.
Chen Luosong’s commitments were always kept, both personally and in business.
However, this time he broke his promise, the only time he ever did. He didn’t want to delve into the reasons, knowing that the deeper he probed, the more painful it would be for him.
Later on, Chen Luosong failed a mission.
Now, the person who was not expected to wake up is awake and sitting beside him.
Quietly watching as the past was recounted and drinks were consumed, Zhou Kaiji remained silent.
He believed his awakening was not a low-probability event, but a certainty.
The world without Brother Chen was too empty and quiet; he was destined to return to the world where Brother Chen existed, and Brother Chen was destined to have him by his side. He would never apologize to anyone for his awakening.
Yu Wen, holding his wine glass, glanced over and then scoffed, turning his head away.
He had indeed lost completely.
He could never achieve such arrogant determination. At the funeral, he couldn’t resolutely choose to embrace the other person, and when the marriage contract was canceled, he couldn’t firmly express his thoughts.
“I let him down as a friend,” Yu Wen said, setting down his wine glass and touching the corner of his eye under the lens. “Don’t disappoint him again.”
Zhou Kaiji responded and stood up to leave.
