Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Gu Yubai pinched Gu Yihong.

The latter yelped in pain, his defiant, handsome dark eyes, which usually brooked no defeat, instantly welled up with tears.

Gu Yubai frowned, asking, "Shouldn't you be on a plane with Auntie by now?"

Gu Yihong answered off-topic, his voice so low it was almost a mumble.

"I don't hurt, not at all. This pain must be part of a dream. This dream is going on way too long—I even took a taxi back from the airport and just snatched those butler files in the parking lot. Why haven't I woken up yet?"

"Maybe it's better if I don't wake up. This is the first time Big Brother has appeared in my dream. He must have forgiven me. Big Brother is so good, boo-hoo. This time, I grabbed the documents, so even in this dream, Big Brother won't have to return to the Su family."

Gu Yubai had keen hearing. No matter how softly Gu Yihong spoke, he heard every word clearly.

His eyelids twitched involuntarily as he pondered.

Had Gu Yihong also been reborn?

Still as thick-headed as ever, actually believing he was dreaming. Serves him right for being sent to a mental hospital in their past life.

Gu Yubai had no patience for his nonsense.

He picked up the basin he'd used to wash his adoptive father's face by the bedside and turned to empty it, but suddenly, a loud *snap* came from behind him. The dim hospital room was instantly flooded with bright light.

The brightness came too fast, too abruptly—like flames, so intense it seemed to burn.

Gu Yubai froze, his face turning pale.

He saw fire. Unquenchable flames engulfing the entire ward, the bedridden vegetative patient unable to escape, burned to a crisp. The room was filled with a weird, burnt smell.

That was two years later, when the hospital had suddenly caught fire.

By the time Gu Yubai rushed over from the company, his adoptive father's ward had already collapsed and was destroyed. Everything inside was reduced to ashes, leaving behind just his father's remains.

His breathing grew ragged. The basin in his hands slipped and crashed to the floor with a loud *clang*.

Someone suddenly shoved him from behind, snapping Gu Yubai out of his flashback to the fire.

Unaware of anything amiss, Gu Yihong said excitedly under his breath,

"It's already dark outside. Why isn't the light on in my dream? Good thing I found the switch."

"So Uncle really was in a vegetative state at this time. But back then, I'd lost my memory and went abroad with Auntie without remembering anything. By the time I recovered, you were already an urn of ashes. Uncle, you were so unlucky to die in that fire. I never even got to see you one last time."

Gu Yubai closed his eyes, letting his eyelids adjust to the sudden yellow glare of the hospital lights. He took several deep breaths before finally regaining control of his limbs.

He spun around and slapped Gu Yihong hard across the face.

His palm stung with the force.

"What the hell are you saying? How could Dad die in a fire? Forget skipping the flight with Auntie—how dare you curse Dad right in front of me!"

The slap was brutal. Gu Yihong's left cheek immediately swelled red.

The searing pain shocked Gu Yihong awake from his daze. He looked up at Gu Yubai, then down at his vegetative uncle on the bed.

Up. Down.

After repeating the motion twice, a spark of recognition finally surfaced in his muddled eyes, disbelief dawning in them.

He opened his mouth but, before Gu Yubai could speak again, suddenly lunged headfirst at the nearby wall!

The move was so swift and decisive that, had he succeeded, it could've been fatal. This guy was self-destructive—even to himself.

Gu Yubai just managed to stick his foot out and trip him. In the next second, Gu Yihong's body lurched sideways, his head scraping against the doorframe as he fell.

The door suddenly swung open.

"Oof!"

"Thud!"

"Ah!"

Gu Yihong crashed straight into Butler Zhang, sending the butler tumbling to the ground with a broken coccyx.

All hell broke loose. Butler Zhang was wheeled away for a CT scan, while Gu Yihong, his ear bleeding from the doorframe scrape, received a quick bandage from the ward nurse.

Finally, Gu Yihong quieted down.

His expression was uncharacteristically docile as he sat pressed against Gu Yubai, watching him eagerly, occasionally pinching his arm like an antsy kid. He didn't appear to resent him for the earlier slap.

After a while, he said in a small voice,

"Big Brother, you're really not mad that I'm not going abroad with Auntie?"

Gu Yubai didn't answer, just giving him a side-eye. Gu Yihong grinned.

"Not mad? Good."

His eyes sparkled, ignoring Gu Yubai's scowl, like an excitable puppy glued to its owner's heels.

Gu Yubai's phone suddenly rang. He glanced at it and got up to answer.

Gu Yihong stood too. "Who is it?" he asked.

Gu Yubai narrowed his eyes. "The real estate agent selling our house."

Gu Yihong thought aloud. "Big Brother, let's not sell the house, okay? If we cut back a little, our savings should cover all expenses for now. Once I start college, I'll get a part-time job."

Gu Yubai nodded slightly.

He'd never planned to sell the house in the first place.

After hanging up, Gu Yihong suddenly smiled at him.

"Big Brother, I missed you so much. Did you miss me?"

This guy had clearly lost it after coming back.

Gu Yubai checked the time on his phone.

"From the time you left for the airport with Auntie this morning to now, barely half a day has passed. Miss you? Yeah right!"

Just then, his phone rang again. Gu Yubai glanced at Gu Yihong, nodded, and said,

"I need to take this call. Stay put!"

Gu Yihong nodded obediently, his eyes flickering slightly, as if plotting something mischievous.

Gu Yubai glanced back at him skeptically, sensing something off about the kid but... not wanting to waste words on it.

The call was from the milk tea shop where Gu Yubai worked part-time. They said the store was busy and, knowing Gu Yubai was at the nearby hospital, asked if he could help cover an extra two hours. Having just been reborn, Gu Yubai didn’t feel like going home or following Butler Zhang back to the Su family to acknowledge his ancestry, so he agreed.

He informed Gu Yihong, who smiled innocently.

"Elder brother, I won’t be going back tonight. I want to stay at the hospital with Uncle. It’s perfect—I can get my head rechecked tomorrow morning. They'd diagnosed me with amnesia earlier, but I remember everything clearly."

Gu Yubai nodded slightly, not probing further.

He knew that in their past life, Gu Yihong had indeed suffered amnesia at this point. But now that he was reborn, of course he remembered everything.

----

Gu Yihong stood in the hallway, watching Gu Yubai’s figure grow smaller until it disappeared at the hospital entrance.

The smile in his eyes vanished instantly.

He recalled a memory.

In their past life, their final meeting had been outside a psychiatric hospital.

Gu Yihong had pointed at Gu Yubai and shouted vicious insults in front of the media, gloating over how cruel his insults were even after Gu Yubai turned to leave.

That was their last encounter.

When lawyers later retrieved Gu Yihong from the psychiatric hospital, all he saw was Gu Yubai’s cold, lifeless body at the funeral.

Realizing this wasn’t a joke—that Gu Yubai was truly dead—he was completely devastated.

A lawyer stood nearby, attempting to comfort him.

"Mr. Gu, Mr. Gu passed away peacefully in his sleep from exhaustion. He wasn’t in any pain, and the police found no signs of harm. Please accept my condolences."

Gu Yihong turned, his face blank, and asked, "Did he suffer before he died?"

The lawyer gave him a puzzled look, then one of deeper pity.

"How could he? Mr. Gu passed away suddenly in his sleep, completely unaware. He felt nothing—no pain at all."

But if he hadn’t suffered, how could someone just die like that?

At the funeral, only Gu Yihong and the lawyer were present. The eldest son of the Su family never showed.

Gu Yihong was overwhelmed with regret.

The last impression Gu Yubai had of him was a string of hateful insults—words that hadn’t reflected his true feelings at all.

With Gu Yubai gone, Gu Yihong’s world collapsed.

But the Su family still lived. Staring at his crippled enemies, Gu Yihong decided he could keep living too.

Later, he inherited all of Gu Yubai’s assets. Among them was an oddly out-of-place novel website called Jinjiang.

It specialized in all kinds of time-travel and rebirth stories. An assistant mentioned it was the only site Mr. Gu had abruptly instructed the business division to acquire before his death—likely because he enjoyed the novels there.

Gu Yihong later fell genuinely ill. During episodes when he forgot his medication, he’d drive to Jinjiang’s headquarters and personally pressure editors and authors to produce more content—especially revenge fantasy stories about rebirth and the false young masters. The more, the merrier.

He thought if enough of these stories existed, one day Gu Yubai would get so annoyed and rebirth just to scold him.

Against all odds, it happened.

Except he was the one who was reborn. That was fine—this time, he wouldn’t let his elder brother suffer anymore.

The downside? After coldly assessing himself, Gu Yihong wasn’t sure if the mental illness from his past life had come back with him.

At least he could control his emotions now.

In his past life, he’d dreamed countless times of his brother’s entanglement with the Su family. The first dream had been set in a hospital.

On sleepless nights, Gu Yihong would pore over thoroughly investigated files, childishly hoping he could snatch the documents about his brother from the butler’s hands that day.

After all, the Su family didn’t care about Gu Yubai back then. As Butler Zhang himself admitted, he didn’t even know Gu Yubai’s full name, let alone his appearance.

If the butler’s documents were lost and he brought back a fake, Gu Yubai wouldn’t have to return to the Su family.

When Gu Yihong woke up at the airport, he thought he was still dreaming. After a quick goodbye to his sleeping aunt, he took a taxi straight to the hospital and actually found the middle-aged butler from the files, waiting in the parking lot.

Just like in countless dreams, he stole the documents.

Unlike those dreams, Gu Yubai’s slap jolted him awake—this wasn’t a dream. He had truly been reborn. His brother was still unharmed, not yet broken by the Su family.

If someone else took Gu Yubai’s place in the Su family now...

They’d never even know they got a fake!

The hospital room door opened again. A familiar figure—Butler Zhang, holding his side—stood determinedly in the doorway.

He looked at the lone youth in the comatose patient’s room and, recognizing him, asked somewhat resentfully.

"Excuse me, are you the Gu student, adopted by Mr. Gu Mingliang from the orphanage fifteen years ago?"

Gu Yihong’s smile faded.

He replied softly, "I am. And you are?"

------

In their past life, Gu Yubai hadn’t sent Gu Yihong to a psychiatric hospital because he was ill.

He just thought Gu Yihong’s logic was flawed and needed "professional evaluation." He knew better than anyone that Gu Yihong was completely sane, so he wasn’t worried about him causing trouble after rebirth.

Just as Gu Yubai was about to leave, the store manager called out.

"Xiao Gu, our delivery drivers in this area are overwhelmed. There’s an unclaimed milk tea order, and I remember you live in this neighborhood. Could you deliver it on your way home?"

Gu Yubai checked the address and was surprised to find it was indeed his own apartment building—directly below his unit.

He nodded.

Half an hour later, Gu Yubai took the customer's milk tea with him home.

Before boarding the elevator, he called the customer, but no one answered. Swiping his keycard, he went up, then took the stairs down one floor to the customer’s door.

This looked like a new move-in, with old furniture still sitting outside.

Gu Yubai knocked, and suddenly, something heavy crashed inside, then nothing.

He knocked again, but there was still no response.

Just as Gu Yubai was about to leave, the door suddenly flew open.

A man appeared.

He had nothing but a white towel wrapped around him, his hair still foamy with shampoo—clearly fresh out of the shower and in a hurry.

When he saw Gu Yubai, the man seemed momentarily stunned, his eyes widening briefly in surprise.

He then quickly lowered his gaze, his hand gripping the towel subconsciously tightening. Through the slightly ajar door, he gave a soft cough.

“Yes?”

Unexpectedly, his voice was mature and gentle, a weird contrast to his half-naked, shampoo-foam head.

But somehow it worked.

The guy was ridiculously good-looking, his sharp brows and eyes radiating authority—clearly someone accustomed to leadership and decisiveness.

Since when did guys like this order bubble tea?

Gu Yubai spoke softly, “Hello, your milk tea is here.”

Understanding dawned in his eyes. He quickly glanced at Gu Yubai, nodded, and took the drink. But just as Gu Yubai turned to leave, the man suddenly called out to him.

“Wait—uh, my friend ordered this earlier while visiting, but he’s gone now, and I don’t really like milk tea. You want it?”

He took a step forward, seemingly forgetting he was only wrapped in a towel. Instinctively, he opened the door wider with one hand and extended the milk tea with the other.

The towel dropped straight to the floor.

A flash of pale skin was briefly exposed to the air.

Before Gu Yubai could get a proper look, the man scrambled back inside like a burglar, slamming it shut with a loud bang.

Silence followed from behind the door.

Holding the milk tea, Gu Yubai glanced at the discarded white towel on the floor and recalled the man’s mortified expression. He barely kept from laughing right there.