CH 59

Just ten minutes ago, An Yang had casually inquired about the operation of Dawn Games.

Faced with his mother’s occasional questions, Li Yuan chose to be honest, and explained the company’s situation after some consideration—

At present, the operation of all the old loss-making projects had been suspended, and a new game studio had been invested in and opened. Moreover, most of the manpower and material resources were concentrated on the construction of the new studio.

Although the main signboard facing the public in the future would be YWY Studios, as long as the return funds were sufficient, Li Yuan as the main shareholder and executive party could still resume the Dawn Games projects in the future.

But when An Yang heard this, her expression suddenly changed to show some blame.

In her opinion, Dawn Games was the work of she and her husband during his lifetime, and was one of the few remaining things she had from the other party.

In the end, Li Yuan had joined forces with some unknown outsiders to create a brand new studio without discussing it with her? Even future games would be branded YWY?

This was clearly giving up on Dawn Games!

Li Yuan sensed An Yang’s mood swing, and immediately thought to admit his mistake in order to appease her, but the other party excused herself to the restroom, then got up and left.

Li Yuan was more aware of An Yang’s mental illness these past four years than anyone else. Although the other party’s health seemed to be good in the past half year, he still dared not treat it lightly.

Because there were separate restrooms for men and women, it was inconvenient for him to follow her directly, so he had to ask the female waitress for help.

The bathroom in the hallway was next to the stairs.

An Yang heard the lively party upstairs, and stopped to casually ask the waitress about it.

It should be known that people who could dine at Haodu were wealthy and respectable people.

Although An Yang’s clothes were not from expensive designer brands, because of her outstanding aura, the waitress answered her as a matter of course, “Yes, Madam, the banquet hall is booked for a birthday celebration today. It seems to be the young master from Pei Group…..”

Before she could finish, An Yang’s expression changed, and she rushed forward.

The waitress thought that An Yang knew someone from the Pei family, so she followed her up and was not in a hurry to stop her.

But then An Yang rashly rushed into the banquet hall, which aroused suspicion and discussion from the members of the Pei family and guests, and she even stared at the host of the birthday party with some abnormality.

The waitress realized that something was wrong, and whispered to dissuade her to no avail. Seeing that An Yang was causing the host of the birthday party to be unhappy, she hastily went downstairs to inform Li Yuan.

Upon hearing about An Yang’s “abnormality,” Li Yuan immediately rushed forward.

Seeing his friend hurrying out, Pei Yi swiftly realized that something was wrong.

He was really worried about Li Yuan going upstairs alone, and he looked at Bo Yueming with a frown. “Er-ge, let’s go up and have a look? I feel like something is wrong, and Xiao Li is your GM partner anyway.”

Bo Yueming had seen early on that Pei Yi had something on his mind, and while indulging him, he didn’t forget to make clear, “En, but don’t mess around once you go up. You must be careful.”

Since it was Pei Huan’s birthday, there must be many insiders upstairs who knew their identities. According to the relationship between Bo and Pei, they needed to be careful with their disguises, lest they tip someone off.

After less than five seconds of discussion and coming to a decision, Yan Cen stood up first and summoned a waiter. “The expenses for these two tables will be added to my account.”

Bo Yueming led Pei Yi to stand up. “Let’s go take a look.”

. . . . . .

Inside the banquet hall.

Deng Xiuya wiped at the wine stains on her expensive shawl with displeasure on her face, angry at the one who had shoved her—

The birthdays of her precious son Pei Huan in the past two years had either been outside or with friends. She had tried her best to persuade him about this twenty-fifth birthday until half a month in advance before he agreed to have a larger birthday party.

Deng Xiuya hid her self-centeredness and took a lot of trouble to invite many wealthy families to come.

Firstly, she wanted to find a good match for her son among the children of the same age in the circle.

Secondly, she wanted to be impressive and grand, so as to regain face for herself, her husband, and the Pei family.

Unexpectedly, the banquet was only halfway through when the uninvited An Yang broke in!

Facing An Yang, who refused to leave, Deng Xiuya had originally wanted to act like a good person and invite her to drink a glass of wine before leaving, but the other party shoved away the wine glass she handed over without saying a word.

Her hand trembled for a moment, and the red wine showered all over Deng Xiuya’s body. The new custom-made shawl would have to be thrown away!

In front of her, An Yang seemed to be possessed by an evil spirit. Not only did she not apologize, but she continued to stare at Pei Huan.

Such eyes made Deng Xiuya uncomfortable, and she was eager to protect her son. She disregarded the wine stains and half blocked Pei Huan from view. “Madam Li, what do you mean by staring at my son so hard?”

“Since you are here, I also treated you as a guest, but if you play dumb like that and interrupt other people’s business, then I do not welcome you!”

An Yang was indifferent, and continued to stare at Pei Huan with her head tilted, neither retreating nor stepping forward.

A guest approached to suggest, “Mrs. Pei, you’d best ask security to escort her out. I hear that Mrs. Li has been mentally abnormal since Mr. Li passed away.”

Someone responded in a whisper, “Yes, ah, that’s right.”

“Look at her eyes, if I didn’t know better, I’d think she was looking at her own son!”

Pei Huan also thought that the way she looked at him was strange, and felt repulsed, but due to the eyes of all the guests on him, he smiled in an appropriately friendly way.

Pei Huan gently rubbed Deng Xiuya’s shoulder with a light smile. “Mom, it doesn’t matter that the shawl got dirty, I’ll buy a new one for you tomorrow. It’s my birthday today, so don’t be unhappy about this little thing.”

Hearing her son comfort her and make a promise, Deng Xiuya was very satisfied. “All right.”

An Yang saw the interaction between the two, and faint jealousy appeared on her face.

She walked up at once and forcibly grabbed Pei Huan’s arm. “Xiao Huan, ah, do you remember me? We met four years ago! That was when you were in university!”

Pei Huan remembered something, and a trace of unnaturalness flashed through his eyes.

Before he could answer, An Yang couldn’t wait, and said, “Right, right, my son’s birthday is also today. Your eyes are very, very similar to someone I knew.”

“His nose was as high as yours when he was young, and, and……”

“Enough! Madam Li, what nonsense are you talking about?”

Deng Xiuya interrupted An Yang’s absurdity and raised her voice to say, “Where are the security guards? What about the manager? She still hasn’t been taken out, contact her family to take her away!”

The manager quickly came and took hold of An Yang. “Madam, please cooperate and leave.”

“I won’t! I won’t go!”

An Yang struggled desperately, but her head was terribly dizzy, and she was in an unstoppable hallucination—she firmly believed that there were villains around her, and that they all wanted her to leave her own son.

An Yang looked thin and weak, but strength came from some unknown place at this moment, and the manager could only forcibly drag her in exchange for a more frenzied struggle.

Li Yuan arrived in a hurry. When he saw this scene, he said loudly, “What are you doing! Let her go!”

The manager was stunned for a moment, and in the next second, An Yang shoved him away with all her strength, causing him to stumble backward into the wine tower.

The guests looking on retreated instinctively, and only Li Yuan rushed forward. “Mom, look out!”

The dozens of layers of the wine tower toppled over, and the sound of shattering glass was so loud that it drowned out the panic of the guests.

Pei Yi and the others came a step late, when they rushed to the door, the farce had already happened.

Broken shards of glass were all over the floor, mixed with dark red wine, and even the cakes next to the wine tower were not spared.

Li Yuan fell to the ground while protecting An Yang, and his beige sweater was soaked with wine stains.

Pei Yi instinctively felt worry for Li Yuan, and regretted that he had intervened too little in advance.

He had clearly intervened so that Dawn Games didn’t close down, but no matter how the butterfly’s wings flapped, it could not change the trajectory of fate.

“Er-ge, I’ll go take a look.”

Pei Yi made his decision quickly, but he was also thinking about Bo Yueming. “There are a lot of people, so don’t go over there.”

Bo Yueming knew that the more this was the case, the more it would be hard for him not to reveal anything, so he could only acquiesce to his kitten’s actions. “Pay attention to your safety.”

“En.”

In front of everyone, Pei Yi ran close to Li Yuan and deliberately exaggerated his worried and nervous expression.

“Are you okay?”

The greeting that fell into his ears was normal.

Li Yuan was taken aback for a moment, but before he could notice anything, An Yang’s panicked breathing drew his attention back. “Mom, how are you? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“…….”

An Yang remained silent.

She seemed to be stunned by the series of shattering glasses, and let Li Yuan help her up in a daze.

“Did you, mother and son, do this on purpose?”

Watching her carefully prepared birthday party being destroyed, Deng Xiuya’s long-suppressed anger overflowed. “You people of unknown origin, why did you come to my son’s birthday party and make a joke out of it!”

Some guests took the opportunity to comment, “That’s right, she suddenly came to ruin someone’s birthday party. Is it true that Mrs. Li’s mind isn’t normal?”

“Does this need to be said? The family member is also no good, how can he allow this kind of person to come out and make trouble?”

“…….”

Li Yuan took a deep breath and protected An Yang behind him.

He silently accepted the disgust and contempt of the people around him, and apologized with a bow, “Mrs. Pei, I am truly sorry for the loss this has caused you today. I will definitely compensate you.”

“Compensate? Can you afford it?”

“Do you know how much thought I put into Xiao Huan’s birthday party? How much effort it took?”

How could Deng Xiuya fail to see An Yang’s mental abnormality?

She remembered the other party’s inexplicable words just now, and couldn’t help but vent her anger. “What a failure are you as a son, ah? Is that why your mother keeps thinking about other people’s children?”

Pei Yi frowned and kicked a broken glass under her feet. “Shut up!”

Was she not afraid that she would regret saying this in the future?

The wine glass hit Deng Xiuya’s ankle hard, scaring her into a panic. “Pei Yi, you, you little fool, why are you making trouble with outsiders?”

Yan Cen walked up quickly. His worried gaze lingered on Li Yuan’s face for a moment, and he helped by saying, “Mrs. Pei, the matter is already over. Instead of arguing about who is right and wrong here, how about finding a solution first?”

“I’ll ask the staff to rearrange the banquet hall next door.”

Yan Cen regarded Deng Xiuya and deliberately brought up a suitable reason, “After all, today is Young Master Pei’s birthday, and there are so many guests present, so don’t make everyone unhappy.”

“…….”

Li Yuan’s dangling hand lightly clenched the corner of this clothes, and he consciously took half a step back, moving farther away from Yan Cen.

Pei Huan sensed in the depths of his words Yan Can’s protection of Li Yuan, and a rare sourness flashed in his eyes. “Mom, Mr. Li and the others didn’t do it on purpose, so let’s do what Senior wants.”

In public, and as the host of the birthday party, he naturally couldn’t be petty. “Don’t make everyone unhappy.”

For the sake of her child and her face, Deng Xiuya could only nod her head patiently.

An unknown person in the crowd whispered, “See, there is always a difference between a wealthy family and a humble family. The orphan and widow are too inferior to be shown in public.”

Another guest took the opportunity to tout, “Yes, ah, Young Master Pei has outstanding abilities and an amiable temper, and not everyone can be born like that. Mrs. Pei is very lucky.”

“Aiyo, there’s a big difference in the children people can give birth to. It would be great if my family’s punk could be as worry-free as Young Master Pei.”

The voices of deliberate public support sounded and instantly jabbed the pain deep in An Yang’s heart. Her emotions that had finally been stabilized ran out of control again.

“What do you know! Pei Huan is my son! He is my son!” An Yang ran forward with brisk steps, grasping Deng Xiuya’s hand with reddened eyes. “The wrong babies, we took the wrong babies from the beginning!”

“……..”

As soon as this earth-shattering sentence was spoken, everyone in the audience was astonished.

Deng Xiuya dismissed her in distaste, but before she could express her dissatisfaction, Pei Ruzhang rushed over to question her first. “What did you say?”

An Yang broke the jar, and said hoarsely, “Twenty-five years ago at Maria’s private maternity hospital, on November 16th, there were only the two of us who gave birth that day! There was ten minutes’ difference between the children!”

Witnessing all this, Pei Yi sighed helplessly. Some things were destined to be impossible for someone like him, an outsider, to stop.

Li Yuan couldn’t believe it. “Mom, what are you talking about? You’re tired, shall we go home?

Immersed in her own world, An Yang entirely ignored the dissuasion. She grabbed Li Yuan’s hand with force and dragged him in front of the Pei couple.

“Come, I will return your son to you, but you will return my son to me!”

“…….”

Deng Xiuya was just about to refuse, but suddenly recalled a past event. She took half a step forward and easily pulled up the cuff of Li Yuan’s loose sweater—

There was a small, light-colored birthmark imprinted on the elbow joint!

Deng Xiuya couldn’t take a breath, and almost collapsed.

Seeing Deng Xiuya’s reaction, Pei Huan’s heartstrings tightened. “Mom?”

“I-impossible.”

Deng Xiuya shook her head in disbelief, and turned around to take Pei Huan’s hand. “Xiao Huan is my son, how is this possible? What nonsense is this crazy woman talking about!”

Pei Ruzhang noticed his wife’s abnormality and straightened up.

He was the most dignified one in the past, but was a little less measured and a little more eager when it came to this matter. “What’s wrong with you? What did you find?”

Deng Xiuya continued to shake her head, and refused to say anything more—

Back then, Deng Xiuya had a particularly difficult and time-consuming childbirth. When the child was born, she only glanced at it briefly. She vaguely remembered a small mark on the child’s elbow, but before she could see it clearly, she passed out due to postpartum hemorrhage.

Deng Xiuya remembered that when she saw Pei Huan’s clear elbow, she was puzzled, but she assumed it was blood that had not been washed clean after the birth.

Twenty-five years later, this familiar birthmark appeared on Li Yuan’s body, causing a shocking rift to form in her world.

An Yang’s eyes were fixed on Pei Huan, and her tears fell in streams. “True or false, possible or impossible, you will know when you do a paternity test!”

After learning the truth, she told herself many times that she was wrong, she was just wrong, and just pretended that nothing had happened. Even if the child was returned, her husband would be unable to see him and couldn’t be saved!

But today she realized—

Looking at her own son without recognizing him? If she could hold back the first time, she couldn’t hold back the second time!

Pei Ruzhang heard An Yang’s declaration, and knowing that he was in front of everyone, he still insisted on asking, “From the looks of you, you already knew? When did you notice that something was wrong?”

“……..”

Li Yuan silently put down his sleeve, and suddenly understood everything. “Four years ago, when I was a sophomore. In October, wasn’t it?”

An Yang finally shifted her attention for a moment after hearing this time frame.

She looked at the despair in Li Yuan’s eyes that she had never seen before, and her chaotic brain instantly cleared up as her heart sank even more.

An Yang tried to hold Li Yuan’s hand. “Xiao An, listen to mom……”

“I don’t want to hear it, you go on.”

Li Yuan shook off his mother’s hand for the first time, leaving behind these almost inaudible words.

When he turned around, he met the gazes of Pei Yi and Yan Cen. There was a slight pause in his footsteps, and then he strode away while suppressing his emotions that were about to collapse.

Yan Cen followed unthinkingly.

Pei Yi’s gaze swept across the expressions of An Yang, Deng Xiuya, and Pei Ruzhang in turn, and finally realized why Li Yuan hated everything related to them after his past was revealed—

Because everyone was looking at Pei Huan.

From beginning to end, no one really cared about his feelings.

Pei Yi no longer cared about this farce with a fixed ending, and walked back to Bo Yueming’s side at the door. “Er-ge, where did they go?”

“They went in the direction of the safety access passage.”

Bo Yueming checked the situation in the banquet hall from the corner of his eye, and after confirming that nobody was paying attention, he led Pei Yi along and asked, “Was this the ‘big thing’ you intuitively felt today?”

“You already knew about the origins of Li Yuan and Pei Huan? How did you know?”

“……..”

Faced with Bo Yueming’s keen speculation, Pei Yi said guiltily, “I, I always felt that Pei Huan and Pei Ruzhang didn’t look alike. On the contrary, it’s Li……Li Yuan who combines the advantages of that husband and wife and looks better.”

Bo Yueming raised his eyes slightly. He knew that he was being perfunctory, but didn’t expose him. “Want to go have a look?”

“En.”

. . . . . . .

It was dark in the safety access passage.

Li Yuan took advantage of the weak light from the direction indicator sign to touch his pocket and take out the cigarettes and lighter he carried with him.

He took out a cigarette and held it between his teeth, wanting to get a little strength for his numb self out of it. He pointed the cigarette butt at the mouth of the lighter, but his fingers were limp from the trembling, and he couldn’t light it no matter what.

“…….”

Li Yuan gritted his teeth and slammed the lighter switch.

—Whoosh!

The flame suddenly jumped up, but failed to light the cigarette butt, and burned his finger at an angle. “Hiss!”

The lighter accidentally fell to the ground, and the door to the safety access passage opened again.

Yan Cen accurately captured this scene and quickly approached, a trace of worry flashing under his lenses. “Are you alright? Did you burn your fingers?”

Li Yuan lowered his head to avoid the other’s gaze. “No.”

Yan Cen was anxious, and tried to grab his right hand. “Let me see.”

Like a frightened bird, Li Yuan lost control and blocked Yan Cen’s concern. “I said it’s fine! Don’t touch me!”

Silence fell at once.

Yan Cen looked at Li Yuan’s faintly reddened eyes, and just as he was about to apologize, the other party took a step ahead. “S-sorry, Mr. Yan. I want to be alone for a while.”

It was always like this. He always lost face in front of him.

Li Yuan knew that his life had become a big joke, but he was still trying to hide it. He didn’t dare look at Yan Cen, and when he left to avoid him, he happened to pass by Pei Yi, who was rushing over.

Yan Cen followed two steps, unable to control himself, and when he reached the door of the safety access passage, Pei Yi stopped him. 

“Mr. Yan, you’re not suitable to go.”

Yan Cen was taken aback: “What?”

Pei Yi looked in the direction of Li Yuan’s departure, paused for a second, and made a decision. “Then I’ll follow him. Er-ge, you find a place to sit first, and I’ll contact you later.”

Bo Yueming faintly understood something, but still gave Pei Yi enough private space to ‘make friends.’ “Be careful, and contact me at any time if you need anything.”

“Okay.”

Pei Yi nodded obediently.

He was afraid of losing Li Yuan, so he chased after him without wasting any time.

. . . . . .

Half an hour later.

In a small, quiet bar not far from Haodu, the specially dark environment seemed to be able to absorb all emotions.

Li Yuan drank alone until the liquor bottle was empty again. Just as he was about to call the waiter for another, a brand new bottle of unopened whiskey was placed in front of him.

“If you drink this liquor in a hurry, you’ll get drunk.”

“…….”

Li Yuan suppressed the drunkenness in his eyes and looked up to see the face of the visitor clearly. “A place like this bar is not for a little fool like you.”

Pei Yi unscrewed the bottle and slowly filled another glass for Li Yuan. “At a time like this, you’re still thinking about me?”

He had followed the other party to this bar, and stood silently at the door for a long time to make sure the other party’s emotions had settled before walking up.

Li Yuan heard Pei Yi’s overly normal way of speaking and laughed. “Then do you want to drink?”

“No, I’ll pour for you.”

Although Pei Yi was addicted to alcohol, he was clear on the situation.

If he was alone at home, or with Bo Yueming at his side, he would drink boldly.

But he couldn’t today. He had come to accompany Li Yuan, so he couldn’t let himself get drunk easily.

Li Yuan drank it all alone, and did not pressure the other party to drink. The bitter alcohol entered his throat, and his heart was even more bitter.

His cold, dim eyes reddened with a film of tears, along with unspoken grievance. “I always thought she blamed me.”

Blamed him for not being an eligible bone marrow donor, blamed him for being a child who was unable to save his biological father.

Pei Yi didn’t speak, and only poured another glass for Li Yuan. He knew that the other party needed someone to vent to.

Li Yuan continued to speak slowly, “I told myself that she was sick, and because he couldn’t control her emotions, she was lukewarm toward her son.”

But in the end, nothing was as he had thought.

Pei Yi didn’t speak. As an outsider, he could see it clearly.

Not to mention his experiences in the last twenty years, just judging from the past four years, it was obvious that his destiny had been wrongly changed—

Pei Huan was still the young master of the Pei family who never had to worry about material needs. He was able to successfully complete his studies, and then have his own business under the arrangements of his family, and there was no shortage of praise and flattering wherever he went.

And what about Li Yuan?

He was forced to suspend his schooling, take over the soon-to-be bankrupt Dawn Games without any experience, and then while switching his major, he had to take care of his parents. Whenever it was necessary to rely on investment to maintain the company’s operation, he always received cold looks and ridicule.

In the original text, it only said the “Li Yuan” had inexplicable hostility towards the protagonist “Pei Huan”—

But which person in such a situation could forget the pain of the past generously and calmly, and laugh it off?

One shot after another of whiskey poured down his throat.

The pain in Li Yuan’s heart did not decrease with the drunkenness, and dusty memories continuously played, making him laugh and cry, cry and laugh.

“Pei Yi, do you know?”

“When I was in university, I participated in an online investment simulation competition. In more than three months, I ‘destroyed’ four to five hundred participating students and got into the top ten.”

Pei Yi came to a realization. “Is that the one Yan Cen and Pei Huan participated in?”

“Heh.”

Li Yuan nodded, then shook his head in incredulity. “The day I finished writing the last round of practical investment plans, my dad passed away without warning.

As the only son of the Li family, Li Yuan could only bite the bullet and arrange the funeral.

The company was facing bankruptcy. In order not to default on the wages of the employees, he owed a lot privately in order to shore up deficits in that area. 

The time when Li Yuan chose to take a break from school was at the time his family needed money the most.

Li Yuan paused for a while, getting increasingly drunk. “One day, my mother suddenly took my investment plan and said someone wanted to buy it for 500,000 yuan, as long as I kept it a secret.”

“…….”

Pei Yi’s expression changed at once. As keen as he was, he immediately understood the meaning behind Li Yuan’s words.

“She didn’t know how valuable that online investment competition was.”

As long as he could get into the top three, Li Yuan could enter the world’s top investment company without going through recruitment during the internship period.

“She didn’t know that I wanted, that I wanted so much……” To stand side by side with him.

Li Yuan failed to express his lost love, but drank to drown out the sadness and grievances. There was no other way. The money could solve their urgent needs, so he agreed.

Pei Yi was uncertain, and instinctively asked, “Did you get that money?”

“My mother handled it for me, and it was probably used to pay off debt.” Li Yuan didn’t dare to think too deeply. He only knew that after the final rankings and investment reports were made public, he saw everything that belonged to him in Pei Huan’s column.

“…….”

Pei Yi sneered at the absurdity. He never expected that there was such a situation that was not described in the original text!

Sure enough, when the perspective was different, the results were also different.

No wonder Li Yuan’s mood fluctuated so obviously when he heard Yan Cen praise Pei Huan for his excellence at the banquet.

Vicious supporting role? Ridiculous!

Who could be indifferent to the stolen grades, stolen appreciation, and stolen life?

After Li Yuan finished talking about this old story, he finally couldn’t resist the double exhaustion of body and mind, and buried his face in the table.

Pei Yi quit while he was ahead and put the remaining bottle of whiskey under the table.

He thought of Bo Yueming and Yan Cen who were still waiting for news, and immediately picked up his phone and opened WeChat.

Pei Yi confirmed Li Yuan’s situation, then quickly sent the location of the bar and their table number. Then, like a child obediently reporting the itinerary and waiting for someone to pick him up, he typed—

“Er-ge, this is where I am. You can come here.”