Chapter 3: Meeting the True Young Master

Chapter 3: Encounter with the Real Young Master

No classes today, so Chi Xingcun headed back to his room after breakfast.

While tidying his bookshelf, he stumbled on the love letters he had written to Fu Chenzhan.

He had started writing love letters to Fu Chenzhan in eighth grade, and by now, that added up to over three thousand.

He had given most of them to Fu Chenzhan, keeping around three hundred for himself.

He pulled the letters off the second shelf of the bookcase, looking at the cute little symbols on the covers—kisses, hearts, Cupids, and stuff like that. Chi Xingcun's lips curved into a smile—he used to be kinda cute, huh?

No, not cute. He was flat-out stupid.

Fu Chenzhan got love letters every single day from someone he didn't even like, but because of their families, he couldn't just shut him out completely. He must've been totally disgusted.

Chi Xingcun stuffed all the love letters into an old storage box he didn't use anymore. He also ripped out the page about Fu Chenzhan from his old yearbook and threw it in.

He threw in the gifts Fu Chenzhan had been forced to give him over the years, plus the stuff he'd bought for Fu Chenzhan but never actually given him.

Once everything was packed away, Chi Xingcun flopped onto the edge of his bed, exhausted.

He pulled out his phone and opened his chat with Fu Chenzhan—

It was basically all messages he'd sent and video calls he'd made to Fu Chenzhan.

Fu Chenzhan rarely replied. Almost every time, Chi Xingcun had to track him down in person before he'd even bother to respond.

Most of the time, Fu Chenzhan just didn't want to deal with him, because whenever he went to find him, Fu Chenzhan wasn't busy at all—he was out with friends or at home watching a movie.

Chi Xingcun felt like he was such a nuisance.

If Fu Chenzhan weren't tied down by their families, he would've blocked him ages ago, or even... called the cops to set him straight.

"Fu Chenzhan, I'm sorry... you're free now."

......

That afternoon, Chi Xingcun headed out—not to his school, but to the one right next door.

Yubei University of Science and Technology.

It was also one of the best universities in the country.

And that's where the real young master, Xie Yean, was.

Xie Yean would later change his name to Chi Xingye once he was brought back into the Chi family.

Chi Xingcun planned to get close to him, become friends, and then find a way to reveal who he really was.

The sooner, the better—he didn't want to wait another year like he had in his past life.

In his past life, it was exactly because he kept making trouble for Xie Yean that people from all sides came after him.

Chi Xingcun had never understood why everyone loved Xie Yean the second he showed up—until after he died and realized it was because Xie Yean was the protagonist.

Xie Yean was handsome, practically perfect, smart, and had a great personality—so of course everyone loved him.

The whole world revolved around him.

He never should've messed with Xie Yean in the first place.

Chi Xingcun also figured that if he became friends with Xie Yean, maybe the world would go a little easier on him too.

Besides, the price of his rebirth was getting Xie Yean and Fu Chenzhan together.

Once they were friends, the mission should be easier.

Using his memories from his past life, Chi Xingcun planned to slip in through the back gate and head straight to Xie Yean's classroom.

Xie Yean was studying AI. Last night, Chi Xingcun found his class schedule on the school forum, and he had a class this afternoon.

As he walked past the trees, he spotted the red teaching building up ahead. Just as he was about to head over, he heard cursing and the sound of a fight nearby.

Chi Xingcun stopped, stepped back a couple of paces, and looked to the right. In the narrow gap between the trees and the wall, three guys had shoved someone to the ground, grabbed him by the collar, and were laying into him.

All four of them had backpacks on, so they were probably students.

Chi Xingcun squinted and his eyes went wide—wasn't the guy getting beaten up Xie Yean?!

He remembered now. The book had said that before the Chi family found Xie Yean, he'd had a really rough life.

When Xie Yean was six, Chi Xingcun's biological father's investments went bust, and after that, he regularly beat Xie Yean and his mom.

Xie's mom was a traditional woman who, even when beaten, stayed loyal to her husband and refused to leave, dragging Xie Yean along with her to suffer in that kind of household.

Growing up in a home like that, Xie Yean slowly became cold and dark inside.

The book said that at fifteen, Xie Yean had suicidal thoughts—he self-harmed, stood on a bridge, but in the end, he survived through sheer willpower.

Xie Yean wasn't just abused at home—he was also bullied at school because of rumors. His days were bleak, with no light at the end of the tunnel.

"Teacher Chen!" Chi Xingcun deliberately shouted in a random direction.

The three bullies heard him and bolted.

Chi Xingcun strolled over to Xie Yean.

Xie Yean looked completely wrecked—his hair was a mess, there was a bruise on the bridge of his nose, his lip was split and bloody, and his shirt was all wrinkled and covered in dust.

Chi Xingcun had never seen Xie Yean like this. It was way too different from the image in his memory.

In his memory, Xie Yean was cocky, the center of attention, blindingly brilliant.

He was someone on the same level as Fu Chenzhan.

Xie Yean looked up and met Chi Xingcun's eyes.

His amber, upturned eyes—clear, sharp, and cold—were so beautiful they looked like an artist had painted them. His face was as delicate as something out of a painting.

The injuries on his face made him look fragile, but he still carried this natural coldness and stubbornness that was oddly compelling—hard to look away from.

Chi Xingcun looked away, shrugged off his backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out a wet wipe, a tube of iodine, and a band-aid.

Chi Xingcun was the type of guy who took really good care of himself. Whenever he left the house, tissues, wet wipes, iodine, and band-aids were non-negotiable.

Xie Yean glanced at what he was offering but didn't take them.

Instead, he grabbed his backpack off the ground and stood up.

The guy's white shirt was yellowed, his pants looked too small—like a piece of jade buried under dust.

Who the hell carries iodine and Band-Aids around with them?

Xie Yean suspected this guy was here to pull another fast one on him.

When the guy just walked off, Chi Xingcun followed him.

He wanted to get on good terms with Xie Yean, but faced with this familiar stranger, he trailed him for a few steps before speaking up:

"You're hurt."

At the voice behind him, Xie Yean took two more steps, then stopped.

He turned, his gaze sweeping over the guy behind him, a cold, calculating glint flashing in his eyes.

"I've never seen you before."

His voice was cold, devoid of warmth—like it didn't belong to a living person.

Chi Xingcun had a face you'd spot in a crowd instantly.

The online trainees who caked on makeup and played up their cuteness weren't as cute or exquisite as this guy in front of him, who had nothing on his face and showed no expression whatsoever.

Before meeting this guy, Xie Yean couldn't have imagined a real person could have eyes that big, pupils that dark and glossy, lashes that long, a nose bridge that high, lips that pink, skin that fair—such... beauty.

Especially for a guy.

If someone like this went to their school, it would've caused a huge stir ages ago. The confession wall would probably be flooded with posts about him, and girls would confess to him on the street... and maybe guys too.

There's no way he'd never seen him before.