Traveling Through the Book and Becoming a Cub Among the Villains - Chapter 34

In the silent study, as Mu Feng listened to the words coming out of his son’s mouth, his expression grew darker and darker. By the time Mu Zheng finished speaking, Mu Feng was so furious he nearly threw the ornament on his desk at him.

“Absurd!” He slammed his hand on the table and roared, “You two, add your ages together and you’re 60-years-old! And this is what you’ve done?! Don’t you know what you did or didn’t do?! The surveillance in the housing area was broken, fine, but what about the front desk? What about the innkeeper?! It’s not like you didn’t have a photo of her, couldn’t you have shown it around, checked the front desk cameras? And this all could’ve been avoided!”

“You’re both thirty, halfway through your lives, and what about Qin Cheng? How old is he?! What did he do wrong to be dragged through this mess?!”

“From the time you were born, whether you, your brother and sister, even me, or your grandfather, who among us ever suffered like this?! Who wasn’t born into smooth sailing, doted on by their parents? And now look at you, your son, your own son, had no father for the first 6 years of his life, and in the 7th, when he finally got to live with his dad, you didn’t even realize he was your son!”

“Did I not tell you to go ask Qin Luan? To ask clearly who the child’s father was?! You didn’t ask, fine, you have your pride. You wouldn’t let me investigate either. And now look what’s happened. That child lived with you for a full year, 365 days, and only now do you find out you’re his father!”

“If Xiao Xi weren’t so sharp, if Shaowu hadn’t been willing to run a paternity test just to make Xiao Xi happy, if you hadn’t had a decent character and been a good stepfather, then Qin Cheng’s whole life would’ve been ruined by your so-called ‘love’!”

Mu Feng truly couldn’t understand it, “From the time you were little, whatever you wanted, I gave it to you. You’re my son, Mu Feng’s son. I told you, you like something, you go for it. You don’t have to think about others. As long as you like it, as long as you want it, go fight for it, go take it! It’s a world of the survival of the fittest. In this society, only the strong can stand firm. So whether it’s grand ambitions or ruthless desires, as long as it’s legal, go for it!”

“But you?! You were there playing at having a secret crush!”

“What on earth do you have to be secretly in love for?! Who is there that you don’t deserve?! Qin Luan thinking she’s not worthy of you, that makes sense. But you? What reason did you ever have to keep your feelings hidden?!”

“And now look, great job. The child is 7-years-old, and only now do you finally realize you have a son. Mu Zheng, really, well done. Impressive! You’re so capable!”

Mu Zheng listened, his heart full of regret and guilt, “It’s my fault.”

“Of course it’s your fault! Whose else could it be?! What, are you saying it was Qin Cheng’s fault?!”

“If you had just figured out what really happened that night… if you hadn’t gotten yourself stuck in that ridiculous one-sided crush… if you had just once listened to me, before or after getting married, and asked clearly about Qin Cheng’s parentage, none of this would’ve happened! The child wouldn’t have had to wait until now for you to realize you’re his father!”

As Mu Feng spoke, he glared at him fiercely. His eyes were full of fire, he just couldn’t understand how something like this could happen to his son.

 

Who was Mu Zheng?

He was the most outstanding of all his children! The one he had trusted the most, liked the most, from childhood to now! And yet now, here he was, telling him he had a child. That Qin Cheng was his biological son.

Absurd! Ridiculous! Laughable!

Something like this, no matter who it happened to, should never have happened to Mu Zheng!

Mu Feng turned his head away, refusing to look at his son any longer.

But in the end, he was his son.

The anger while scolding him had been real, but when his gaze swept past and saw him just standing there motionless, head lowered, face full of remorse and guilt, Mu Feng couldn’t help but feel a pang of pain for him.

 

How could he not be hurting? He was Qin Cheng’s biological father.

He could have witnessed Qin Cheng’s birth with his own eyes, watched him grow little by little, been there for every moment of his life.

But now, he had missed the entire first 6 years.

Even though father and son had finally been reunited, those years… would never come back.

He was already hurting enough. Scolding him any further would only deepen his guilt and make his pain even worse.

“Today is Friday. This Sunday, have the whole Mu family come over for dinner. At that time, I’ll publicly announce Xiao Cheng’s identity and give him 1% of the company shares.”

Mu Zheng nodded, “Alright.”

He said, “Last night, I already signed the share transfer agreement 2% of the shares under my name have been transferred to him.”

“As it should be. You’re his father, it’s only right you give it to him.”

“I’m also planning to open a trust fund for both him and Xiao Xi. Put a lump sum in each. That way, when they grow up, no matter what they want to do, they’ll have financial support.”

“That’s fine.”

Mu Feng’s anger clearly hadn’t fully subsided. He looked at his son, “Mu Zheng, this is the first time, and it will be the last. Now that you’ve learned this lesson, remember this pain and regret. Don’t let what happened with Qin Cheng ever repeat itself in your life.”

“I understand.”

“And as for Qin Luan,” Mu Feng said in exasperation, “she’s not my daughter, so I can’t say too much. But she is your wife. So you go home and tell her, she has a mouth, it’s meant for talking. If she can’t speak properly, then don’t speak at all. But don’t keep silent at the wrong time. If you dare to do something, you should dare to own up to it. If she can’t face the consequences, then why act in the first place?! You were drunk—but she was sober! If she hadn’t followed you in that night, would any of this have happened?!”

“She thinks having a baby on her own makes her some kind of hero?! There are plenty of illegitimate children out there, we don’t even know where half of them ended up! It’s only because you love her, if you didn’t, then a child like Qin Cheng, suddenly showing up like that, at best would’ve been sent far away. At worst, he’d have died in some corner of the world. You think it’s hard to keep someone alive? Or hard to make someone disappear?! Does she really think our Mu family is some place where just any stray cat or dog can come and get involved?!”

Mu Zheng, “….”

Mu Zheng said softly, “She already knows she was wrong. She promised me that from now on, if she has any thoughts or plans, she won’t keep them from me, she’ll tell me everything and won’t make decisions on her own anymore.”

“And what, you think that’s enough?!” Mu Feng snapped, furious, “What, does she plan to do it again?! Let me tell you, because you love her, I’m letting the matter of Qin Cheng go without digging deeper. But if there’s a second time, I don’t care how much you love her, you’ll divorce her immediately! And if you refuse, then you can both get the hell out!”

“There won’t be a second time,” Mu Zheng said, looking straight at him, “I promise you.”

Mu Feng took a moment to calm his anger before speaking again, “After the family dinner on Sunday, you all stay at the old house for a week. Don’t leave until next Sunday. I have things to teach Qin Cheng.”

Mu Zheng asked, puzzled, “What do you want to teach him?”

Mu Feng glared, “And I need your permission now to teach him something?!”

Mu Zheng, “….”

Mu Zheng could only nod.

“I’m sorry,” he said to his father.

“That’s not something you should be saying to me,” Mu Feng replied, “You should be saying it to your son.”

“I already talked to him,” Mu Zheng said.

“Good,” Mu Feng replied, “That’s more like it.”

After speaking, something else came to Mu Feng’s mind, “Since he’s your son, then have his surname changed back.”

Mu Zheng had actually considered this before, but…

“Xiao Cheng doesn’t seem to have any intention of changing his surname. And… if he changes it now, won’t that be unfair to Xiao Xi?” he asked, worried, “There are only two kids in the family, and neither of them originally had the Mu surname. If Xiao Cheng changes his surname now, then Xiao Xi will be the only one who doesn’t share the family name. Dad, are you planning to have Xiao Xi chanGe his surname too?”

“Of course not,” Mu Feng replied without hesitation.

Ye min was gone, but that didn’t mean he never existed. If Ye Qingxi changed his surname to Mu, then what would that make of Ye Min?

Sure, Mu Feng treated Ye Qingxi like his own grandson, but that didn’t mean he was trying to take Ye Min’s place.

Mu Feng shot a glare at his son, “What kind of question is that?!”

“It’s exactly because I know you won’t let Xiao Xi change his surname that I’m worried,” Mu Zheng said, “Right now, I’ve just recognized Xiao Cheng as my biological son, your biological grandson, and if he immediately goes from Qin Cheng to Mu Cheng, while Xiao Xi stays as Ye Qingxi and will always be Ye Qingxi…”

“Even though Shaowu is his father, you won’t allow him to take Shaowu’s surname. So will Xiao Xi feel that, even though you treat him like a grandson, he’s still not really your grandson? That he’s still not a true member of the Mu family? That he’s somehow different from your real grandson?”

“I’m afraid this will make Xiao Xi feel a sense of distance from the family, like he’s an outsider. Even if he never says it out loud, deep down, he might always feel like he’s living under someone else’s roof.”

Mu Feng fell silent at that.

What Mu Zheng said wasn’t unreasonable.

A child at Ye Qingxi’s age was prone to overthinking. And on top of that, he had lost both his parents one after another, and his grandfather was gone, too. Living with them, it was only natural that he might think too much. The Mu family wasn’t his biological family, after all, so some matters had to be handled with extra care.

But Mu Feng truly couldn’t bring himself to do something like changing Ye Qingxi’s surname. It wasn’t right. Ye Min had entrusted the child to him, not so his grandson could become Mu Qingxi instead of Ye Qingxi.

Forget it, Mu Feng thought. Let him stay Qin Cheng. There’s nothing wrong with him keeping Qin Luan’s surname.

As long as he was Mu Zheng’s child, what his surname was, didn’t really matter. Mu Feng, in many ways, was a very complicated person.

At times, he was deeply traditional, like in the case of Qin Cheng. If Mu Zheng didn’t love Qin Luan, and it suddenly came to light that someone had secretly given birth to a child for Mu Zheng, Mu Feng would have found it utterly repulsive. He would have seen it as someone defiling the Mu family bloodline and would have done everything in his power to make Qin Luan and her child disappear from his sight, disappear from Mu Zheng’s life.

Because in his eyes, only someone Mu Zheng wanted, someone Mu Zheng loved, was worthy of bearing his child. Only then would the child be worthy of being Mu Zheng’s son, his grandson. But at other times, Mu Feng was surprisingly open-minded.

Take the name Mu Zheng, that name hadn’t been chosen by Mu Feng, but by his father.

This was his first child, and his father hoped the child would grow up proud, with integrity and strength, someone who could shoulder the responsibility of the Mu family’s next generation. So his father insisted, whether the baby was a boy or a girl, the name would include the character “铮”.

Mu Feng had no objection.

But when he had his second child, his father no longer got involved in the naming. So Mu Feng chose not to follow the same naming pattern as Mu Zheng. He changed the two-character name format to a three-character one.

He added the character “Shao” (少). Originally, though, it wasn’t written as 少, but as 邵.

——His wife’s surname was Shao (邵).

Mu Feng had loved his wife deeply. In his eyes, the one who carried the child for ten months and gave birth was his wife, so the child’s name should naturally have something to do with her.

That’s why he originally named the child Mu Shaowu (慕邵梧).

But his wife felt that those three characters didn’t look aesthetically pleasing when written, so she changed 邵 to 少.

She hoped her child would always carry the spirit of youth—shàonián yìqì—unburdened by the weight of the mundane world.

You could say that, at a time when all the other wealthy families still insisted a child’s name had to reflect the father’s side, Mu Feng’s thinking had already progressed to believe that a child’s name should carry something from the mother.

At the time, he had made progress, but not complete progress.

But the Mu Feng of today had fully evolved.

Of course, he still thought that Qin Cheng taking the Mu surname—his own, or Mu Zheng’s—was ideal.

But if Qin Cheng kept Qin Luan’s surname, he could accept that too. After all, it was Qin Luan who had carried the pregnancy. It was Qin Luan who had given birth. No matter how dissatisfied he was with Qin Luan over this matter, Mu Feng still acknowledged that during those ten months carrying Qin Cheng, she must have gone through a lot.

Even if she and Mu Zheng had clarified things early and gotten together, Mu Zheng wouldn’t have been able to shoulder that hardship for her.

At the end of the day, Mu Feng valued bloodline, but only bloodline. As for surnames, he cared, but not that much.

“Then let’s not change it for now,” he said.

Mu Zheng nodded, “Alright.”

“Let’s eat,” Mu Feng said, standing up.

Mu Shaowu watched as his older brother walked out of the study completely intact, not missing so much as a strand of hair, and couldn’t help letting out a breath of relief. Old age really does soften people, he thought. If this had happened back when his dad was younger, his brother’s two legs wouldn’t have been enough to withstand the beating, no way he’d be walking out without a limp like he was now.

He stood up and took Ye Qingxi by the hand, heading toward the dining room.

Once they were all seated, Mu Feng took his place at the head of the table. He glanced around and saw that Mu Shaoyan hadn’t returned yet. His brows furrowed. One after another, none of them know how to keep things simple!

Then he turned his head and saw Ye Qingxi.

Of course, Ye Qingxi was the exception. If it weren’t for him, his eldest son and daughter-in-law would still be stuck in some overdramatic Qiong Yao romance arc—still busy playing step-parents to their own biological child.

A biological father acting as a stepfather.

Just thinking about it made Mu Feng’s vision go black and his blood pressure shoot up.

He wanted to beat Mu Zheng all over again! But Mu Zheng was grown now. He even had a child of his own. At this point, corporal punishment just wasn’t appropriate anymore.

Mu Feng tried to suppress his anger and picked up his chopsticks, but how could that fire be so easily extinguished?

In the end, he slammed his chopsticks down on the table in fury, glaring at his children.

“Mu Shaowu! Mu Shaoting! Let me warn you two right now, if either of you dares to secretly pine for someone, don’t blame me for breaking your legs!”

“If you like someone, go after them! If you catch them, great! If you don’t, then either move on or keep chasing. What good is a secret crush supposed to do? I give you money, status, and a name, not so you can sit around sighing at the moon, feeling sorry for yourselves, thinking you don’t deserve love! If you can’t get something, find a way to get it! And if you think you’re not worthy, who the hell in this world is too good for you?! Bring them here, let me see! Anyone in this house dares to keep a secret crush again, they can get the hell out!”

Mu Shaoting, “?????”

Wait—what?! Why are we suddenly talking about this?! She hadn’t even started dating anyone!

Mu Shaoting sat there completely dumbfounded.

Mu Shaowu, on the other hand, wasn’t too fazed. He quietly sneaked a glance at his older brother.

Yep, the old man was seriously pissed—he was already issuing warnings to the rest of them.

Ye Qingxi, …He could tell. This was clearly a jab at his big uncle.

“Got it,” Mu Shaoting replied, speechless, “Why are you so mad this late at night anyway? What, someone in the family got caught having a secret crush or something?”

Mu Shaowu, “..…”

Ye Qingxi, “..…”

Mu Feng let out a cold snort, “You’ll have to ask your dear big brother about that.”

Mu Shaoting, “!!!!!”

She turned to Mu Zheng, utterly shocked, “Brother, who were you secretly in love with?! Wait, you’re already married! What is going on—?!”

“He was secretly in love with your sister-in-law,” the old man said coldly, “Didn’t cheat on anyone, he just spent a year acting as stepfather to his own son.”

Mu Shaoting nodded. As long as there wasn’t cheating, fine. No cheating was good. No cheating was—wait a minute!

She suddenly looked up, horrified, “W-w-wait! What did Dad just say?! Stepfather to his own biological son?!!!”

Mu Zheng, “….”

Mu Zheng could only explain to his younger sister, “Xiao Cheng is my child with Qin Luan. She liked me since high school, but I didn’t know.”

“So… the scumbag who abandoned his wife and kid was… you?”

Mu Shaoting looked at him in utter disbelief.

Mu Zheng, “….”

“I really didn’t know she liked me,” Mu Zheng said, “And I definitely didn’t know we had a child.”

“You didn’t know?! But you did it, didn’t you? How could you not know?!”

Mu Shaowu, “!!!!!”

He immediately clapped his hands over Ye Qingxi’s ears and looked at his sister.

“We can talk about this later in private,” he said, “We’re eating right now.”

He shot Mu Shaoting a look, signaling, There’s a kid here, do you really think this is appropriate dinner talk?

Mu Shaoting instantly shut her mouth, “Right, right. Eating, eating.”

Ye Qingxi, “……”

Ye Qingxi smiled politely. There’s really no need to shield me, he thought. I can hear just fine. I’m already 18! I’m an adult! There’s nothing I can’t listen to.

Of course, that was something he could only say to himself.

Mu Shaowu let go of his hands that had been covering Ye Qingxi’s ears and picked up a piece of sweet-and-sour spare rib for him.

Ye Qingxi happily took it and started eating.

After dinner, Mu Shaoting dragged Mu Zheng straight to her room.

Meanwhile, Mu Shaowu handed the newly bought cat-print T-shirt to Mu Feng.

“What’s this?” Mu Feng looked at him.

“Home clothes,” Ye Qingxi said in a sweet, milky voice, “Auntie said so.”

“Home clothes?”

“Like class uniforms, school uniforms, and home uniforms,” Mu Shaowu explained simply, “It’s the matching outfit for our family.”

Mu Feng raised an eyebrow, “And since when did the family’s matching outfit get decided by you and Mu Shaoting?”

“Obviously,” Mu Shaowu replied, “since I originally just wanted to wear a matching outfit with my precious baby boy, but your daughter rebranded it as family uniform, bought herself a set, bought a set for Mu Shaoyan, then Xiao Xi insisted I buy three more for big brother’s whole family and then insisted I buy one for you, too.”

When Mu Feng heard it was Ye Qingxi who insisted on buying it, he didn’t say anything more.

He took the shirt and gave it a glance, only to feel his vision darken again.

It was definitely in line with the aesthetic of his 5-year-old grandson.

Just… not very friendly to a 60-something-year-old man.

“It’s okay,” Mu Shaowu said considerately, “Your grandson said you don’t have to wear it, you just have to own it.”

After all, his father had never once in his life been cute or soft.

Upon hearing that, Mu Feng turned to look at Ye Qingxi. Only then did some of the anger on his face begin to fade.

“Alright,” he said, “Grandpa will keep it.”

Ye Qingxi immediately broke into a bright smile.

Now—now they were truly a neat and tidy family. A whole row of little kittens.

Mu Feng looked at his sunny smile, felt the soft fabric of the shirt in his hand, and the lingering fire in his heart, sparked earlier by Mu Zheng, finally began to cool. A touch of gentleness rose up in its place.

He stood up and took Ye Qingxi’s hand.

“Come,” he said, “Grandpa has something to talk to you about.”

Mu Shaowu looked confused and quickly tried to follow, but the moment he took a step, he saw his father turn back and say, “Not you.”

Mu Shaowu, “?????”

Now even more confused, he asked, “What kind of talk can’t I listen to?”

“Oh? What, I have to report everything I say to Second Young Master Mu now, is that it?”

Mu Shaowu, “……”

Alright then. He could see it clearly now, the old man still had fire to burn and was ready to roast whoever was nearby.

He bent at the waist and gave a ninety-degree bow, “Of course not. Please proceed, Master Mu. This humble one shall now excuse himself.”

With that, Mu Shaowu turned and headed back toward his own room. Only then did Mu Feng lead Ye Qingxi all the way to his bedroom.

Ye Qingxi had been to Mu Feng’s study many times before, after all, Mu Feng was truly impressive. At his age, others would’ve long since retired, but he still kept an eye on the group’s affairs and was often quite busy. He hadn’t expected that today they’d go to the bedroom.

Mu Feng placed the shirt down on the bed, then sat at the edge with Ye Qingxi.

Mu Feng asked him, “Xiao Xi, do you still remember what I told you before?”

Ye Qingxi, “?????”

Ye Qingxi looked a bit puzzled. Which sentence?

Mu Feng had told him a lot of things.

“I said, your grandfather entrusted you to me, and I brought you back to my home, not so you could suffer. In this house, I’m the one who makes the decisions, so you don’t have to worry about anyone else, not even your father. If he ever treats you badly, you come and tell me. I won’t let you call him your dad anymore, won’t let you live with him. I’ll raise you myself.”

“So, no matter what happens, you can tell me. Whether it’s something good or bad, as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters. And if something makes you unhappy, tell me. I’ll stand up for you and take care of it, including your father.”

Oh, that! Ye Qingxi remembered now.

He nodded quickly, “I remember.”

“Well, I’m still saying the same thing now. I brought you into my home, not to make you suffer. So even now, even though Qin Cheng has become your uncle’s biological son, my biological grandson, I will still stand up for you. Whoever upsets you, you can tell me, even if it’s Qin Cheng.”

Ye Qingxi, Huh?

Mu Feng looked at him and asked, “Between you and Qin Cheng… who do you think I love more?”

Ye Qingxi, “……”

Ye Qingxi felt that this question really shouldn’t be asked right now.

It was awkward.

Qin Cheng was Mu Feng’s biological grandson, of course he should be loved more. But if Mu Feng was asking this question to his face, he obviously wasn’t going to answer “Qin Cheng.”

It just didn’t feel real. He might look 5 on the outside, but he wasn’t actually 5.

Ye Qingxi wanted to get out of there.

He’d always had a tendency to avoid questions about whether people liked or loved him. And now it had turned into a multiple-choice question.

Totally unnecessary. Really.

He was an 18-year-old adult, someone with no blood ties to the Mu family. Was he really supposed to compete with Qin Cheng for affection?

Grandpa, can we just skip this question? That’s what Ye Qingxi wanted to say.

But Mu Feng had no intention of skipping it. He took Ye Qingxi’s hand, looked him in the eye, and answered seriously, “I will love you more.”

“Xiao Xi, between the two of you, I will definitely love you more.”

Ye Qingxi, …That’s way too fake. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to believe it, it just sounded too fake. If he really were only 5-years-old, maybe he’d believe it. But the problem was, he wasn’t.

“Grandpa, you can love Brother Qin Cheng more,” Ye Qingxi said.

He liked Qin Cheng too. What a sweet kid. Wouldn’t it be better if they both loved Qin Cheng together?

“I will certainly love him,” Mu Feng said, “because he’s my grandson. Of course I love my grandson. But that doesn’t mean I can’t love you more.”

“Xiao Xi,” he said, gently stroking Ye Qingxi’s cheek, “I’m the one who brought you home. In your grandfather’s will, I was named as your primary guardian. So I have direct responsibility for you.”

“As for your brother Qin Cheng, his primary guardians are his parents. That’s why they will love him most, because they have that responsibility to him. But for you, your first guardian is me. So I will love you more.”

“You may not believe it now,” Mu Feng said gently, “but as you grow older, you’ll come to see, Grandpa didn’t lie to you. I would never lie to you about something like this. I will love you more. And eventually, everyone will know… that Grandpa loves you more.”

Ye Qingxi looked at the tenderness and sincerity in his eyes, and in that moment, he was stunned to realize, Mu Feng was serious.

He wasn’t just coaxing him. He truly meant what he said.

“But then… what about Brother Qin Cheng?” Ye Qingxi asked softly.

“I already said,” Mu Feng replied, “I’ll love him too. But on top of loving him, I’ll love you more.”

He opened his palm and gently opened Ye Qingxi’s hand, placing the two side by side, one large, one small.

“Xiao Xi, look,” he said, “we live together. From now until the day Grandpa is gone, until the day you start your own family, we’ll be living under the same roof. I’ll be here as you grow up, graduate, begin your career, build your life and only then will we part.”

“But your brother Qin Cheng is different.”

He slowly moved his hand away from Ye Qingxi’s.

“He has his own parents, his own home. He’ll live with them, and they will be the ones who watch him grow up, graduate, start his career. They are his closest family.”

“But we—”

He placed his hand back next to Ye Qingxi’s and gently held it.

“We’re also a closest kind of family.”

“Being related by blood is important, yes. But the ones who live together day after day, they are the ones who become the dearest family.”

“Just like how I know what you had for dinner tonight,” Mu Feng said, “but I don’t know what Qin Cheng ate.”

He picked up the little cat-print T-shirt Ye Qingxi had bought for him.
“Just like how you, Xiao Xi, thought to buy me clothes.”

“I’m not your biological grandfather either. But because we live together, because we see each other every day, eat together every day, so you think of me as family. When you’re out shopping, you remember me too. Isn’t that right?”

Ye Qingxi looked at him, quietly, dazed and still.

His heart ached a little.

He said softly, “Grandpa… you could live with Brother Qin Cheng too.”

Mu Feng chuckled and rubbed his head, “When you’re older, you’ll understand. Once you get married, once you have a new family, you’re supposed to move out from your old home.”

“Your uncle has already grown up, already has a new home, so he moved out. And his son naturally lives with his family.”

“And one day, you too… when you get married and start your own family, you’ll move out from here as well, go to your new home, where you’ll raise your own children and have your own family.”

Ye Qingxi shook his head.

He looked at the person in front of him, eyes and nose stinging with emotion.

“I’m not moving out,” Ye Qingxi said softly.

Mu Feng smiled and pulled him into his arms, “Silly child… when you’re older, you’ll understand.”

“I’m already grown up,” Ye Qingxi replied, “I’ve been grown up for a long time.”

“Alright,” Mu Feng said, brushing it off as childish talk, not digging deeper.

After all, Ye Qingxi still had a long way to go before he truly grew up, there was no rush to explain these things just yet.

“If you don’t want to move, then you won’t. If you don’t want to leave, Grandpa certainly won’t make you.”

“Grandpa just wants you to know, you don’t need to worry, you don’t need to be afraid. Even though Qin Cheng is your uncle’s biological son, that doesn’t change anything. This home will not change.”

“I was the one who brought you here. So your reliance has always been on me. I am the head of this family, so no matter what your surname is, no matter whether you and your father are related by blood, you are my grandson. You are my real grandson. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“You don’t have to be afraid of anything. If you’re happy, then be happy. If you’re upset, then be upset. Don’t ever force yourself to smile.”

“What Grandpa fears most, what I never want to see, is you pretending to be happy when you’re not… holding something in your heart that you’re too scared to say out loud… being right under my nose, but suffering alone, by yourself.”

As Ye Qingxi listened, he couldn’t help but hug him tightly, burying his head in Mu Feng’s chest. Mu Feng felt his emotion and gently patted his back like he was soothing a child.

From the moment Ye Qingxi entered the Mu family, everything he encountered—people, events—had been good. But how could the world possibly have so many good people and good things? It was nothing more than people watching the wind and setting their sails, bowing to power and influence.

And it was all because, from the very beginning, Mu Feng had openly declared to everyone he liked Ye Qingxi.

So the rest of the Mu family, in order to win Mu Feng’s favor, also liked Ye Qingxi. Even if they didn’t like him in their hearts, they had to pretend to like him on the surface.

He, Mu Feng, was Ye Qingxi’s biggest trump card. If he ever left, if his affection shifted to someone else, Ye Qingxi’s position would instantly become awkward. The higher he had lifted him before, the harder the fall would be after.

Mu Feng understood all too well how high society operated. And so he also understood clearly, once Qin Cheng’s true identity was revealed, how many eyes would turn to Ye Qingxi, waiting to see what would happen to the child who had once been held so dearly in his hand?

And the moment they sensed that he had lost favor, that the trump card had moved into someone else’s hand, that’s when the malice would begin to show.

The current head of the Mu family was Mu Zheng. The previous head was him.

So long as the two of them stood behind Qin Cheng and Ye Qingxi, no one would dare say a word to either child.

But if both he and Mu Zheng stood behind Qin Cheng, then behind Ye Qingxi, there would be nothing left, nothing but the empty wind, and the rumors it carried.

Mu Feng would never allow that to happen.

Since he had made a promise to Ye Min, he would not go back on his word.

Furthermore…

Mu Feng looked at the quiet, sweet child in his arms—so clever, bold, attentive, and kind.

He had done everything he could to help Mu Zheng’s family reunite, to bring his uncle and his cousin together as father and son.

That shouldn’t become a knife turned against him. He shouldn’t fall into an icy abyss just because he had once given warmth to others.

That wasn’t what Mu Feng wanted.

What he wanted was for Ye Qingxi to grow up well. Not just healthy in body and mind—but proud, confident, and fearless.

He hoped that Ye Qingxi, like his other children, could do whatever he wanted, even if that meant charging forward recklessly, even arrogantly. All of that would be fine. As long as he didn’t become timid or self-doubting, afraid to take a step forward.

Mu Feng could accept his child being ignorant of the hardships of life, even standing high above the world.

But he could not accept his child becoming all too familiar with the hardships of life, blending himself into the dust.

You only get one life.

He had lived his own brilliantly. And he wanted all his children to live the same—radiant, unburdened, bold, and free.

Especially Ye Qingxi.

Author’s Note:

 

Xiaoxi: QAQ

Grandpa Mu will indeed love Xiaoxi more. To sum up, there are five reasons: 1. He really treats Xiaoxi as his own grandson. 2. Xiaoxi was raised by him, and Qin Cheng does not live with him. After getting along for a long time, people will love the one they raised more. 3. Everything Xiao xi has now comes from him, so once he does not love Xiaoxi the most, Xiaoxi will face many problems that he could not have faced, and Mu Feng will not allow this to happen. 4. A promise is worth a thousand gold. Mu Feng is the kind of person who either does not make a promise or will definitely do it if he makes a promise. 5. Gratitude.

Of course, this Grandpa Mu will also explain it clearly to Qin Cheng, and Qin Cheng will not min d, because Qin Cheng has figured it out before. He feels that he has two closest people (mom and dad), so Xiaoxi also has two (grandfather and dad). Although Qin Cheng now knows that grandpa is his real grandpa, he now likes Xiaoxi very much and is very grateful to Xiaoxi, so he can understand it. He just wants grandpa to like him too.