Our Entire Family Has Secrets [Transmigrated] - Chapter 3

His arm reflexively lifted, but instantly pressed back down.

In the end, Yuan Bozhu did nothing, as if he hadn’t reacted at all, and sat on the ground following the force of the impact.

His glasses fell to the ground, he picked them up and wiped them, seeing the cracks on them, he furrowed his brows slightly, but still silently put them back on.

Several boys ran towards him, their faces full of apology.

“Sorry, classmate! Are you okay?”

“I kicked that ball pretty hard just now, it must have hurt, right? The infirmary should still be open, let us take you there!”

Yuan Bozhu said, “I’m fine.”

The force of the ball had weakened considerably due to the distance, and he had subtly adjusted his angle just now, so it didn’t actually hit him.

He didn’t completely dodge it, mainly considering that in such a sudden situation just now, the chance for a person walking with their head down to dodge or catch the ball was close to zero. Being hit was the normal outcome.

Yuan Bozhu skillfully played the role of an ordinary person.

With the help of several boys, he stood up, waved to indicate that he didn’t need to go to the infirmary, then walked away.

Yuan Bozhu left so smoothly that several boys who thought he had caused trouble breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, someone exclaimed, “He’s so tall, why haven’t we seen him in the basketball team?”

“What’s the use of being tall? Playing basketball isn’t just about height. And look at his glasses, wow, one finger thick, he must be a nerd who knows nothing but studying.”

The two girls who came later heard them gossiping, also looked at Yuan Bozhu’s back, didn’t see anything special, and spat out a word while holding the ball:

“Are you jealous just because he’s tall? He can take a hit and still manage, gossiping behind his back.”

The embarrassed adolescent boys, whose minds were exposed, scratched their heads awkwardly, but didn’t want to be outdone, stubbornly held their necks up, “Humph. Jealous of what? I’m only seventeen, I can still grow taller, right?”

“Oh, you’d better.”

***

The bus swayed and swayed, and by the time it reached the stop, the sunset was no longer visible.

The moon came out, but Yuan Bozhu hadn’t returned home yet.

That ball had broken Yuan Bozhu’s glasses.

He had to detour to the nearest glasses shop and ask if they could be repaired.

“The frame is fine, but the lenses are broken. We’ll have to make new ones for you. The earliest you can pick them up is Friday.” After checking, the staff told Yuan Bozhu, “It’ll cost six hundred yuan to fix.”

Yuan Bozhu furrowed his brows.

The staff thought he found it expensive and said, “Your prescription is particularly high, it’s hard for anyone to make a pair in a year, we have to specially order them, it’s quite troublesome.”

Yuan Bozhu nodded without saying anything else.

He couldn’t explain that his eyes were not nearsighted, and wearing glasses with a power of over a thousand degrees wasn’t to see things clearly, but to block the line of sight.

Yuan Bozhu’s innate physical quality was superior to that of ordinary people. His senses were extremely acute. When he didn’t wear glasses, the world in front of him was like a high-definition thumbnail, and once Yuan Bozhu’s gaze settled on a certain place, everything in that area would be infinitely magnified.

The reason he wore glasses with a degree that didn’t suit him was that he didn’t want to see every detail of people’s faces clearly when talking to them.

Out of concern, the staff and the store manager asked him if he wanted to buy a pair of fixed-degree glasses as a temporary solution.

“It’s not expensive, eight hundred yuan for a pair of 1500-degree glasses. If you add astigmatism correction, it’s nine hundred.”

Yuan Bozhu shook his head, “No need.”

He doesn’t like wasting money.

After leaving the glasses shop, Yuan Bozhu stood at the door for a while, adjusting to the light around him.

Sometimes, learning to restrain one’s curiosity about the world, seeing less, hearing less, paying less attention, is an effective way of self-protection.

Yuan Bozhu had adhered to the strategic policy of “if you didn’t see it, pretend it didn’t happen” from childhood to adulthood, and he believed it was effective.

And now, with the glasses off, everything becomes crystal clear in sight, as if clouds have dispersed to reveal the truth beneath. Yet, Yuan Bozhu still feels somewhat uneasy adjusting to the passage of time, one by one.

Though the sun has set, the streetlights flicker weakly with feeble light, enveloping everything in a murky gray. Despite the dimness, Yuan Bozhu can discern every detail within a hundred meters around him.

Of course, inevitably, he notices…

The telephone number scribbled by a child on the “Shop for Rent” sign hanging on the electric pole at the intersection.

And there, lying under the streetlight, a large beast, which shouldn’t be found in the city, lies battered and barely alive, bloodied.

“…Are you sure it’s a wolf? What if it’s just a dog Isn’t calling the police a waste of resources?”

“Nonsense, have you ever seen a dog this big? Its claws are bigger than your head! With injuries this severe, who knows if it’ll survive.”

Several passersby gather after dinner, curious yet afraid, standing by the roadside, observing the creature on the ground, uncertain if it’s a wolf or something else.

Yuan Bozhu lowers his chin, trying to pass by them as if nothing is happening, heading home.

As long as he doesn’t get close, everything happening on this street is none of his concern.

As he brushes past the crowd, Yuan Bozhu catches a whiff of a strong scent of blood.

In his peripheral vision, he sees the wounded wolf struggling, emitting a beastly growl in its feeble breaths.

Yuan Bozhu lowers his gaze, reminding himself inwardly: Don’t get involved.

Suddenly, a passerby suggests, “Maybe we should call the police first. What if it’s a rare species? It needs to be isolated and protected immediately.”

Various fragmented thoughts scatter in front of him—

Yuan Bozhu knows very well that he’s not the type to help others willingly on the street.

Every time he interferes, there’s a risk of being surrounded by onlookers.

But eventually, Yuan Bozhu stops in his tracks.

Before the well-meaning bystanders dial the emergency number, he suddenly turns on the spot. Expressionless, he walks towards the injured creature.

He sees a silver earring adorning the creature’s earlobe, gleaming faintly in the dim light.

It was a birthday gift Yuan Bozhu gave to his brother when he turned twenty-five.

Seeing this, he isn’t surprised.

The onlookers are astonished to see a teenager in school uniform approaching the bloodied beast. They panic:

“Hey, what are you doing?! Don’t get close—”

“Be careful, its claws might scratch you!”

Ignoring their warnings, Yuan Bozhu squats down, strokes the beast’s head, and with mediocre acting skills, he tells them:

“This is a dog.”

“……ha?”

“Don’t just say whatever, young man. This thing stands at least two meters tall when it’s up. You’re saying it’s a dog?”

Yuan Bozhu’s conviction is strong. He nods and repeats, “He’s a dog.”

No one believed him.

Yuan Bozhu doesn’t bother to explain further. He leans down, speaking softly to the lone wolf collapsed on the ground, “You’re a dog, so I’ll take you away.”

“…”

The beast remains silent.

It hesitates for a moment.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the creature emits a clear and crisp:

“Woof.”

The bystanders are stunned.

“Wolves don’t sound like that, do they?”

“C-Could it really be a large dog?”

“Although, the bark of this dog is unusually standard.”

Yuan Bozhu raises his eyes, interrupting their discussion with a casual tone, “Will you take him to the hospital? His abdomen is torn, hind legs broken, and the extent of internal injuries is unclear. Money can save him.”

“Oh, um…”

“…….”

“I can’t find a veterinary hospital.”

“Why should we take it there? It’s not like we’re the ones who raised it?!”

“It’s getting late, I have to go home. Let’s go, let’s go——”

They were all just onlookers, no one really wanted to carry such a big “dog” to the hospital late at night.

But in less than half a minute, the crowd dispersed completely.

Yuan Bozhu stooped down and effortlessly lifted up the huge lone wolf.

When he reached the deserted riverbank, he set it down amidst the waist-high reeds.

Then, he took out some tissues from his backpack, dampened them with water, and wiped away the bloodstains from its body.

Yuan Bozhu inspected it briefly; the injuries were indeed serious.

He wondered what Yuan Qifeng had been up to lately to end up exposing even his beast form to others.

Judging from his combat abilities, anyone who could match Yuan Qifeng must be formidable. Moreover, from the looks of it now, Yuan Qifeng had suffered a crushing defeat.

But fortunately, being of orc lineage, he possessed exceptional self-healing abilities.

As long as the energy glands and heart weren’t affected, leaving him here for the night would be sufficient for him to recover.

Yuan Bozhu calculated this silently in his mind but didn’t reveal anything on the surface.

He only plucked a few strands of fur from the wolf’s tail while cleaning the blood crust.

Due to the numerous wounds and overwhelming pain, Yuan Qifeng didn’t notice this action.

To pretend that he hadn’t recognized this wolf as his elder brother, Yuan Bozhu calmly treated him as a stray dog.

After wiping away the bloodstains, Yuan Bozhu stood up and said, “I’m leaving, take care.”

In his beast form, Yuan Qifeng breathed heavily, his mind foggy.

Upon hearing Yuan Bozhu’s words, he only lifted his head to look at Yuan Bozhu with a complex expression.

To solidify the fact that he was just a dog, he let out another whimper.

Then he watched Yuan Bozhu leave.

Watching his innocent and kind-hearted younger brother slowly disappear, Yuan Qifeng shrunk behind the reeds on the riverbank, feeling fortunate that Yuan Bozhu couldn’t discern between a wolf and a dog.

“My foolish brother.”

Ever since Yuan Bozhu turned eighteen in August, the atmosphere at home had become somewhat strange after Zhang Shu and Yuan Jilang took him to the hospital for check-ups multiple times, confirming his good health and lack of any special conditions.

The parents were fine; it was mainly the older siblings.

Just now, when Yuan Qifeng exposed his true form and collapsed on the street, he almost got mistaken for a rare species and taken to the police station. If it weren’t for Yuan Bozhu’s quick reaction to take him away, their family would have been one member short from today onwards.

Yuan Bozhu thought that would be the end of it.

But when he returned home, he saw Yuan Wanjiao, who had been missing for several days, sitting cross-legged on the living room sofa, staring blankly with wide eyes, not moving a muscle, not even breathing.

Yuan Boyu didn’t say a word, he changed into his slippers and walked in from the entrance.

For a full two minutes, Yuan Wanjiao didn’t make any movements.

Approaching the sofa, Yuan Bozhu called out, “Sis.”

Yuan Wanjiao didn’t respond.

Without hesitation, Yuan Bozhu decided to ignore her and went back to his room to do his homework.

Just as he pushed open the bedroom door, the clock on the living room wall struck eight.

A “thud” sound came from somewhere.

At the same time, Yuan Wanjiao, who seemed to have been in a trance on the sofa, suddenly gasped for air violently: “Hoo! Huh! Hah——”

After a series of inhuman howls, Yuan Wanjiao snapped back to reality.

With his hand still on the door handle, Yuan Bozhu hesitated.

“Azhu, you’re back.”

Yuan Wanjiao first stretched lazily, then got up from the sofa and walked towards Yuan Bozhu, patting his shoulder from behind and smiling, “I fell asleep on the sofa just now, why didn’t you wake me?”

Turning around to look at her, Yuan Bozhu’s gaze paused for a moment, pondering for a moment, but remained silent.

“Oh, by the way, Mom and Dad won’t be back for dinner tonight,” Yuan Wanjiao smiled, abruptly changing the topic, saying:

“The beauty salon has a promotion, ten thousand spent gets thirty off. Mom will be doing a full skincare tonight and won’t be back before ten. Dad has to work overtime, the new project is in another city, probably won’t be finished until next week. Yuan Qifeng disappeared again, it’s just the two of us for dinner tonight. Shall I order takeout?”

Yuan Bozhu nodded.

Though he was filled with doubts.

In fact, since a long time ago, Yuan Bozhu couldn’t understand this matter—

His mother, Zhang Shu, seemed to be an ordinary financial worker in a company, but her true identity was the only daughter of the former interstellar pirate, Shu Lolo Bai.

Clearly, as long as she wished, she could at any time take Lolo Bai’s token and go to some distant star, bringing back priceless treasures.

Not to mention skincare, if this first heir of the interstellar pirate wanted, she could simply buy all the beauty salons on this planet.

The whole family, including Zhang Shu, still lived in this less than one hundred square meters small house, dividing the scarce living space among the five of them. Every month, they had to rely on frugality or skim their father’s secret money to go to the beauty salon for discounted services.

What’s strange is not just Mom, but also his middle-aged crisis-stricken father, Yuan Jilang.

Yuan Jilang seemed to work himself to death every day for his project bonuses. His hair was gradually thinning, making him an ordinary middle-aged office worker.

But in reality, he used to be a secret agent for the old government, a nameless warrior who sacrificed himself for the planet.

The new government authorities were eager to rehire outstanding former employees like him, but they were repeatedly refused.

Yuan Jilang gave up all the benefits that others couldn’t get, but now, in order to get a bigger house, he worked overtime every day until his temples were streaked with gray.

Yuan Bozhu didn’t understand.

But he wouldn’t ask.

What bothered him more than his parents now was the current Yuan Wanjiao.

“What do you want to eat? Barbecue, fried chicken, hotpot, pizza—”

Yuan Wanjiao hadn’t noticed the problem yet, still holding her phone and browsing food delivery apps.

After speaking, she didn’t wait for her younger brother’s response.

She alertly repressed her smile and hesitantly looked at Yuan Bozhu.

Yuan Bozhu just stared at her in silence.

“Why aren’t you speaking? What’s wrong?”

Yuan Wanjiao slowly put away her phone and asked tentatively, “Did you… see something?”

Yuan Bozhu nodded. “Mm.”

Yuan Wanjiao tensed as if facing a formidable enemy, her body slightly stiffening. “What did you see?!”

Yuan Bozhu chose his words carefully. “You’re having a nosebleed.”

Yuan Wanjiao: “?”

She instinctively wiped her hand, finding it covered in crimson warmth.

Immediately, Yuan Wanjiao let out a loud shriek and rushed to the bathroom.

Bang!

The bathroom door closed quickly.

Yuan Bo Zhu sighed silently.

It wasn’t just a nosebleed.

Yuan Wanjiao was bleeding from all seven orifices, her eyes bloodshot, like she had just passed through the gates of hell. Veins bulged on her neck, and even steam rose from the top of her head.

Like a resurrected female ghost.

Soon, sounds of water came from the bathroom, along with Yuan Wanjiao’s struggling explanation:

“I went to a comic con today! It’s… it’s a zombie cosplay. I forgot to remove my makeup when I got back. I’ll come out as soon as I finish showering, okay?”

Such a clumsy lie, no one would believe it.

But Yuan Bozhu didn’t want to spoil her mood. He just said, “Okay.”

He went into the bedroom and closed the door.

***

Keeping secrets consumes a lot of energy.

Living an apparently ordinary life at school required tremendous patience, perfect self-control, and keeping one’s lips sealed, which was even more difficult.

But Yuan Bozhu managed.

And his secret had been kept for eighteen years.

To this day, nobody knew that in their seemingly ordinary family of five, the older brother was a rare werewolf with awakened bloodline, the sister was a witch inheriting psychic blood, the mother was the only daughter of a former interstellar pirate, and the father was once a dreaded secret agent across major galaxies.

Even they themselves didn’t know that the identities they thought were well-hidden had actually been seen through long ago by the seemingly most ordinary Yuan Bozhu in the family.

And the reason Yuan Bozhu knew all of this was because—

He was a transmigrator.

Eighteen years ago, when Zhang Shu was pregnant for ten months and about to give birth.

At that time, a bizarre weather phenomenon called “Ghost Day” enveloped the entire city of Qian. The summer day was suddenly covered in a dark storm with fierce winds. The sky seemed to be torn apart, emitting dazzling and eerie light from huge fissures.

Accompanying this peculiar weather event, a cultivator from another world had his soul swept into this world.

Thus, Yuan Bozhu, who was on the verge of ascension after practicing for thousands of years, perished on the day of the heavenly tribulation and transmigrated into this world as a crying baby.

Yuan Bozhu knew that this was a world from a book, but the time he transmigrated to was years earlier than the main storyline.

For him, this was a good thing.

Yuan Bozhu had enough time and energy to avoid getting involved in the main storyline.

The further away from the main character group, the simpler and calmer his life is in this world.

He spent eighteen years in this world calmly, without any waves.

However, whether intentionally or unintentionally, since last month—after Yuan Bozhu’s eighteenth birthday—his siblings have been showing more and more flaws.

It was evidently not easy to maintain a calm facade.

Yuan Bozhu rubbed his forehead and collapsed onto the bed.

Too exhausted to do homework, he slowly closed his eyes…

It can only be said that fortunately, he is good at avoiding risks. Even though it’s always touch-and-go, Yuan Bozhu always manages to handle it calmly.

Now, he once again guards everyone’s secrets.

Today is just an ordinary and ordinary day.

Author’s words:

Yuan Bozhu: We are an ordinary and ordinary family.

Yuan Qifeng (holding onto animal ears): Yes, right?

Yuan Wanjiao (wiping blood off her face): Yes indeed.