May 17th, Pei Haobin left work very early. He then locked himself in his study and didn't come out.
Bai Yutong said, "What is Uncle Pei doing? I called him for dinner, but he didn't respond."
Cao Li wiped her hands on her apron, recalling how Pei Haobin had locked away all the banners and medals he'd earned over the years in the safe a few days ago. She also remembered their conversation that night, and her expression darkened. "Today is Pei Chuan's eighteenth birthday."
Bai Yutong's eyes widened.
Cao Li felt uneasy as well. After all, she was his second wife, and Bai Yutong wasn't Pei Haobin's biological daughter. As the captain of the criminal police, Pei Haobin's work was sometimes dangerous.
The comfortable life she and her daughter enjoyed now depended entirely on Pei Haobin. Cao Li didn't have much of a job—her education level was low, and she wasn't particularly diligent. Her only redeeming quality was her ability to gauge and cater to others' thoughts.
What Cao Li feared most was that Pei Haobin had secretly written a will, leaving all his assets to Pei Chuan. She didn't think the man would be so cruel as to leave her and Bai Yutong homeless, but they'd probably only end up with a house and some scattered possessions.
Pei Haobin and Jiang Wenjuan had worked hard for many years and built up a considerable family fortune. Even from the little she had glimpsed, Cao Li could tell the Pei family was quite well-off.
No matter how much she and Bai Yutong tried to please Pei Haobin, they were still outsiders. Pei Chuan was his biological son.
As sons grew up, families usually busied themselves with buying them a house and finding them a wife. If Pei Haobin realized this, combined with his guilt, he might very well leave everything to Pei Chuan.
At this thought, Cao Li's usual composure vanished, and she began to feel panicked.
After discussing it privately with her daughter, Bai Yutong grew even more anxious. She still remembered the terror of Pei Chuan nearly strangling her. If all the money went to him, he would surely abandon her and her mother.
Bai Yutong said, "Mom, I have an idea. Why don't you give Uncle Pei a little brother?"
A healthy child, a true bloodline of Pei Haobin, would be their safeguard.
Cao Li shot her a glare. "Do you think I haven't thought of that? It's not something you can just decide to do." She was almost forty—if she got pregnant, she'd be an elderly mother. Moreover... Pei Haobin was careful about contraception.
Whether it was because the child had left too deep a shadow on him, Pei Haobin hadn't mentioned having another child in the past two years.
Cao Li said, "Enough, go do what you need to do and stop irritating me. Let me tell you, if you know what's good for you, make an effort and study hard. That would give me some peace of mind."
Bai Yutong pouted.
In the afternoon, Pei Haobin emerged from his room. He was in a low mood, wiped his face with his hands, and without a word, went into the bathroom.
Cao Li quietly picked up his phone. There was an unfamiliar number on it, showing a call duration of thirty-two minutes.
Her heart skipped a beat as she guessed what it meant—
The call was most likely from Pei Haobin's ex-wife, Jiang Wenjuan. After all, as Pei Chuan's biological parents, they would surely remember his birthday. Cao Li's anxiety grew, fearing that Pei Haobin's guilt would drive him to leave everything to Pei Chuan in the future. Gritting her teeth, she made a decision: she must have a child with Pei Haobin.
She wasn't wrong. The call was indeed from Jiang Wenjuan.
Jiang Wenjuan had been doing well over the years and had no plans to have more children. Her husband treated her very kindly. Yet, on the seventeenth, she still thought of that child.Jiang Wenjuan had once told him his mother was on a business trip, and then she never returned.
After a sleepless night, with her husband's comfort, Jiang Wenjuan mustered the courage the next day to call Pei Haobin, hoping to speak with Pei Chuan. Her heart was filled with guilt and fear, but she never expected that Pei Chuan was no longer at home. In her agitated state, Jiang Wenjuan immediately started arguing with Pei Haobin.
In the end, Pei Haobin promised that all his future assets would be inherited by Pei Chuan.
~
In the Allure World night, Jin Ziyang and the others were celebrating Pei Chuan's birthday.
Everyone knew Pei Chuan hadn't smoked since Christmas Eve, so they each smoked their own cigarettes. Ji Wei held a book—he didn't smoke or drink either.
Jin Ziyang, afraid it wouldn't be lively enough, had invited many people over. Pei Chuan frowned at the sight.
There were even first-year junior girls.
Jin Ziyang said, "Brother Chuan, it's your birthday. More people mean more fun. We're just playing cards and games anyway."
Jin Ziyang truly meant no harm, but some of the junior girls thought differently. Among the boys, Pei Chuan was the best-looking—with sharp, cold features and a cool demeanor when silent.
Everyone knew Jin Ziyang changed girlfriends faster than clothes. Zheng Hang seemed to have someone in his heart before, and as for Ji Wei, though wealthy, studying was his ever-faithful girlfriend.
Only Pei Chuan remained a mystery. Though no one knew his family background, everyone knew he had driven luxury cars. Besides, they had only heard about Wei Wan before, and later she left their circle.
Pei Chuan was single.
Tonight, he turned eighteen—the boundary between boyhood and manhood. The girls stole glances at him, their hearts fluttering.
Pei Chuan's phone rang. It was Pei Haobin calling.
Pei Haobin had previously asked Pei Chuan's homeroom teacher for his number.
On the other end, Pei Haobin sounded awkward: "It's your birthday tonight. Come home for dinner. I've asked Aunt Cao to prepare everything."
Pei Chuan laughed coldly: "Officer Pei, you and your family should enjoy it yourselves."
How thoughtful of you to remember you have a son who's come of age. But he didn't need your care when he was underage, and he needs it even less now.
Pei Chuan hung up and blocked the number.
Seeing his dark expression, someone boldly approached with a smile: "Brother Chuan, it's your birthday. Let me toast you—happy birthday."
Pei Chuan said, "I'm quitting drinking from now on."
Jin Ziyang looked shocked: "Brother Chuan, are you serious? No smoking, no drinking—are you trying to become immortal?"
Pei Chuan seemed to ponder something, a hint of softness appearing on his stern features. He nodded: "So you all have fun. I'm going home before ten."
Everyone responded with stunned "oh"s.
When Pei Chuan actually stood up to leave at 9:50, the looks on their faces were indescribable.
Zheng Hang walked him downstairs, glancing at Pei Chuan's expression: "Brother Chuan, do you have a girlfriend?" Though no one said it aloud, everyone was guessing the same.
Upstairs, someone was singing amidst the noise. The night view of City C was beautiful—not gaudy, but quietly enchanting.
Pei Chuan pressed his lips together: "No."
Zheng Hang noticed that even while denying it, his eyes remained gentle.
Pei Chuan drove off in his eye-catching luxury car.
After the car disappeared from view, Zheng Hang slowly realized: If not for a girlfriend, then for whom are you changing your lifestyle?
Are you imposing these restrictions on yourself?
~
Pei Chuan's car cost five million.The small apartment was purchased under someone else's name, but it could be resold. The money in his bank card, however... was a substantial amount.
At the end of May, Pei Chuan sold his car—after restoring it to its original condition before selling it.
In 2008, for an ordinary family, this was a huge sum of money.
Yet Pei Chuan felt it wasn't enough. He frowned at the string of zeros in another bank card—there was plenty of money there, but it couldn't be touched.
Pei Chuan worked three hours every night, from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., and had been doing so for a year.
He opened his computer, his gaze lingering on the program for a few seconds. Then he clicked delete.
It was password-stealing software, still unfinished. If completed, it could be combined with hacking techniques to steal money from financial institutions at will.
There was also the security breach program. He opened the one he had been working on for six months, his finger hovering over the mouse.
Permanently deleted.
The last item was one of the sources of that largest sum of money.
Pei Chuan lowered his eyes, unwilling to think about what "it" was actually used for. He clicked permanent delete.
As June just began, Pei Chuan received a call from a man.
"Satan, August is the final deadline. Any ideas yet?"
Pei Chuan was silent for a moment before replying, "I'm not doing it anymore. Find someone else."
The man exclaimed excitedly, "Are you kidding me! Six months, and this is how you answer us!" If they could find someone who could write these programs back in 2008, wouldn't they treat this genius teenager like a deity? They had even agreed to his request to let him live a normal high school life.
Pei Chuan said calmly, "That's it."
Pei Chuan looked at the room full of coding books and locked the door.
If necessary, he would hand over that dirty money to the state.
It wasn't that he had a sudden crisis of conscience, nor was he planning to become a good person from now on. He still didn't much like this world—the one that had allowed him to be born whole, yet had taken away his legs and everything else.
He just felt that since he had kissed her, he ought to be cleaner.
He didn't know how many years he could stay with her, but he wanted to attend university with her, watch her grow up and become an adult.
Soon, it would be their final year of high school. He didn't know which university she wanted to go to, which part of the country she would head to—would she go see the snow in the north? Or the gentle waters of the south?
He smiled. The little girl hadn't chosen to be with him.
Still angry, huh.
~
Bei Yao was indeed angry—so angry that the winter scarf still hadn't been returned to him, even though it was already summer.
This summer vacation would have extra classes. As their final year of high school approached, every classroom had already enthusiastically put up banners:
"Gain one point, beat a thousand competitors!"
"Without the college entrance exam, can you compete with the rich second generation?"
"Outscore the tall, rich, and handsome; defeat the children of officials!"
"Why sleep so much in life? You'll have eternity to rest after death!"
"There's a path forward, but no way back; keeping an escape route is a dead end!"
...
Even some nutritional supplement companies jumped on the college entrance exam bandwagon, promoting brain-boosting supplements.
As the college entrance exam drew closer, everyone finally began to feel a sense of urgency.
Everyone maintained their humor though, joking: "The college entrance exam is coming up soon, maybe we should take a bottle of 'Brain Boost'? Guaranteed to add a hundred points and beat the hell out of a lot of people."
But compared to the college entrance exam that was still a year away, the more novel excitement was the upcoming Olympics.
August 8, 2008—a very auspicious date. Athletes from all over the world would gather in their homeland to participate in this sports celebration.This is a symbol of our nation's growing strength and prosperity, and it also signifies a world at peace.
Even Chen Feifei, who usually pays little attention to politics, said: "I'd love to go to City B to watch the Olympics live this summer. I'd die without regrets. Yao Yao, do you want to go?"
"Yes," Bei Yao admitted honestly. "It must be incredibly exciting, but I'll probably only get to watch it on TV."
She would be watching it on TV with Zhao Zhilan and the others.
Attending the Olympics in person required tickets, which were hard to come by even if you had the money. Moreover, the ticket prices were steep, and the cost of living in City B was high—far beyond what ordinary citizens like them could afford.
So no one took such talk seriously.
It was just wishful thinking; who actually had the means to secure live tickets at this point?
Before the school holiday in July, Bei Yao saw Pei Chuan, who had surpassed her by over twenty places in the rankings. He held firmly to first place, and this time no one accused him of cheating.
There was only admiration.
She puffed out her cheeks, thinking that she would work harder and surpass that annoying jerk.
But the reality was, she couldn't even overtake Minmin, who was ranked over ten places ahead in the city.
Bei Yao felt deflated.
On the day school let out, Zhao Zhilan went to pick up little Bei Jun from preschool as usual. Bei Yao headed home alone. The summer sun cast dazzling silhouettes, and under a tree, she saw the young man.
Nearly two months of pent-up frustration made her want to give him a good beating, but when he softly called out "Yao Yao," she still went over to him.
"Take this," he said.
After two months apart, he seemed much more mature. He placed a stack of something in her hand. Bei Yao looked down—it was tickets to the 2008 Olympics.
Half in brilliant red and yellow, half in white, made of sturdy paper, exquisitely beautiful.
In the bottom right corner, a cute little cartoon ox.
She stared blankly at the four tickets, then lifted her eyes to him.
The young man smiled. "Go and have fun, okay?"
Bei Yao examined them and said softly, "There are four tickets."
"Yes, you, Aunt Zhao, Uncle Bei, and Bei Jun can all go."
"What about you?" She looked up, her large eyes glistening with tears, on the verge of crying again.
He smiled. "I'll be here waiting for you." Waiting for you to see the wonders of the world, to witness the strength and vitality of able-bodied athletes striving in sports, and then decide whether to come back. August is the most beautiful August—it's your seventeenth birthday.
OpenNovel