Chapter 23
Chapter 23
2.15 – But he loves you~
Xu Yongyi and Bai Luzi both agreed that they could not stay in the city any longer.
They hired a hitman to kill Wen Xiuyuan, but as a result they were cheated out of a lot of money, once again realizing that Wen Xiuyuan had come well prepared and had a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
They chose to leave the country before Wen Xiuyuan brought the police to their door.
If Wen Xiuyuan could make a comeback in two years, so could they.
In fact, Xue Ling admired the feelings between this husband and wife pair. People always said that married couples were like birds from the same forest, flying away separately when disaster struck. But from the beginning to end, the two of them didn’t seem to have any intention to give up on each other. They just handed Xu Qing over to Xu Yongyi’s mother when they packed up their things and prepared to flee.
Mrs. Xu was addicted to mah-jong and was at the tables all day. Although she knew something happened to her son and Bai Luzi, she did not realize it was a major event. She absentmindedly accepted her grandson when he was handed over and vaguely agreed with whatever her son said, then turned around to continue playing mah-jong.
Xue Ling did not intend to take action on her for the time being. Instead, he informed people that Xu Yongyi and Bai Luzi had fled. They were detained when they tried to pass customs.
The two people shouted that Wen Xiuyuan falsified evidence in order to frame them, but the real reason why the police arrested them was actually because Xu Group was involved in a major fraud and tax evasion case. They had also been accused of corruption, and they were the major suspects.
Bai Luzi’s design company was directly shut down. These two people held the controlling shares for the company and were Xu Group’s biggest shareholders. Even if they wanted to contend, there was no way to escape.
Xu Yongyi finally understood the meaning of the phrase ‘If you don’t want anyone to know, then don’t do it’. If they hadn’t participated in those grey area activities, they might have been on a plane headed out of the country right now.
Over the past two years, Country H had been cracking down heavily on corruption. This time, a large number of high-level officials and businessmen were involved in X City’s corruption case. Xu Group, which acted as one of the key links, played an extremely important role and the government attached great importance to them. After they were arrested, they were detained separately, completely isolated and unable to receive any news from the outside world.
Bai Luzi and Xu Yongyi took advantage of Bai Luzi’s design company to make bribes through officials’ families. The investigation this time pulled down a large number of officials and was even reported by CCTV. Xue Ling was also implicated for a while, but with Cole there he didn’t even have to see the police at all, and nothing happened to him.
He stayed in H country until the trial for Bai Luzi and Xu Yongyi ended and their sentences were determined before he prepared to go back.
In modern times, there was no need to fight to the death. Xu Yongyi was sentenced to life in prison and deprived of political rights for life. Bai Luzi’s situation was not much better as she was sentenced to go to jail and had no hope of being released for ten to twenty years. Xue Ling had no intention of letting that day happen. The prison environment was very messy – it wouldn’t be strange if something happened and they died.
By the time everything was over, it was already summer. Xue Ling did not like summer, and after things were settled with Xu Yongyi and Bai Luzi he was even somewhat lazy about managing Mo An Group. After Doyle Owens and Wen Xiuting’s wedding, he merged the company into the Owen family’s group. As for the headquarters in Country M, it became a unique independent existence.
In his own words, it was his sister’s dowry and in the future it would be a gift for Wen Mo or Elaine. He would just help run it in the meantime.
Wen Xiuting very much disagreed with this. The company was something her brother worked hard on for two years, but in order for her to not have any backing when she married into the Owens family, he directly gifted the company to her. This was really unwise, let alone she didn’t want anything from her brother.
But Xue Ling remained indifferent, saying that since the company was now being managed by Cole, he’ll just occasionally take a look. This way, he can spend most of his time playing the piano with Wen Mo. He had never liked running a company; music was still his favorite thing. Now that they had already taken revenge, can’t sister let him spend his days playing piano?
Faced with such a pitiful brother, Wen Xiuting had no choice but to come to terms with it.
Wen Mo’s musical talent became increasingly outstanding. It was most likely because Xue Ling was also an exceptionally good teacher that he entered the Zugeji Conservatory of Music at a young age. After his graduation, he participated in an international-level music contest, accomplishing the dream that Wen Xiuyuan never had a chance to complete, and became the world’s top pianist. Many people admired him, and countless musicians looked up to him.
When he was interviewed by the media, Wen Mo once made it clear that he was not the best in the world because he was still inferior to his teacher. Unfortunately, his teacher had stopped playing music for others long ago.
Wen Xiuyuan’s fans steadily increased, but news of him continued to decrease. Slowly, he faded from people’s memories and very few people remembered his revenge.
In the second year of her prison sentence, Bai Luzi suffered from influenza and became seriously ill, ultimately dying due to ineffective treatment. Xue Ling made sure to send a message to Xu Yongyi with this news, making Xu Yongyi nearly collapse.
Ten years after Bai Luzi’s death, Xu Yongyi also died. His body and mind was already being tortured day and night; the final straw was when he received news that his son had drowned in the reservoir as a result of his mother’s lax care. He completely collapsed and committed suicide.
Xu Qing grew up to a become a very clever teenager, but because his grandmother never disciplined him, he was always outside playing around. Finally, because he had a cramp while playing in the reservoir, he drowned to death.
His death also involved a young college student who jumped into the water in order to save him. Unfortunately, neither of them made it out alive.
Xu Yongyi’s mother was completely dumbfounded. She had already lost all the back-up money her son had left for her through mah-jong, and her grandson died due to her lack of attention. But the old lady still went and made a lot of noise threatening to sue the government and blaming the reservoir for her grandson’s death. This incident aroused the attention of public, and their family’s affairs were brought out into the light once again. People laughed and pointed at her everywhere she went.
While she was outside the government building fighting with the workers, she was pushed and hit her head on a nail, thus dying from tetanus.
Xue Ling was fishing when he received the news. He adjusted the small hat on his head that was partially blocking his view, tore up the paper report, and threw the pieces into the water to feed the fish.
The small pond that was filled with pieces of paper did not look very scenic anymore.
Cole let him do as he liked, reaching over to help him pull up the fishing rod that had been moving the whole time and caught a big fish.
Xue Ling was a little delighted and said with satisfaction, “It looks good. Let’s have fish soup tonight, sister hasn’t made fish soup in a long time.”
“Good.” Cole did not seem to have ever said the word “no” to him.
Over the years, although he never spoke out about his feelings to the other party and only greedily enjoyed the feeling of being around him, Cole did not want to change the state of affairs between them. He could tell that Xue Ling also did not want to.
They lived in Country E, in the Owens family estate. It was situated on a large spread of land, and there was even a racecourse. Even the royal family did not live in such a beautiful place. Xue Ling lived in the castle with his sister’s family and Cole, although even he did not know what status he was using to live here.
The sky slowly turned red as the sun went down. A car drove to the entrance of the castle, and when the people in the car saw Xue Ling and Cole carrying their fishing equipment, they opened the car door and ran over.
Elaine wore a school uniform from an aristocratic college, her pleated skirt fanning out as she ran, a very beautiful picture. Her long hair was tied behind her head, and those fox eyes that were very similar to Xue Ling’s flashed. She looked very happy.
“Uncle! Cole! ” She called out, hanging herself on Xue Ling’s body. “Is elder brother coming back today?”
The family was absolutely indulgent towards this little girl. She looked very similar to Xue Ling, making Cole like her very much. Xue Ling also loved her temperament and intended to cultivate her into his heir, preparing to hand over Mo An Group to her in the future. Because of her tragic childhood, Wen Xiuting never scolded her, and even though Wen Mo still didn’t like talking, he also pampered her very much.
It was quite miraculous that such a family did not manage to spoil this little girl into a terrible princess.
Elaine was already sixteen years old and could be considered a big girl, but whenever she met with Xue Ling and Cole, she still acted like a child.
Xuel Ling touched her head and answered, “He’s already back. You’ll be able to see him when you go in.”
Elaine kissed him on the cheek, let go of him and kissed Cole’s cheek as well before heading straight for the castle. Behind her, two other children climbed out of the car.
They were Wen Xiuting’s and Doyle’s children. They had a pair of twin boys, and both of them grew up to be little angels, with Doyle’s blonde hair and Wen Xiuting’s soft features.
Both of them were quiet children. They were already ten years old.
“Uncle. Uncle.” They wore identical school uniforms and carried identical small school bags. After saying hello, they both reached out and held Xue Ling and Cole’s hands, one twin per person.
Tugging on the hands that they held, they brought them towards the castle. “Is there a lot of homework today? What did you learn in class?” Xue Ling adored these two children very much. It was probably because their personalities were totally different from their father’s, and more like Cole’s, not liking to talk much. Teasing them occasionally also improved Xue Ling’s mood.
“Today we were given an exercise book.” Parkins, the older twin said, “The teacher said that it was from Country H, and told us to practice our math.”
Xue Ling smiled and nodded. He had learned about Country H’s exercise books being used internationally when he skimmed through the news on his microblog earlier, but he did not expect that they would end up in the hands of his little nephews.
The sky turned dark and it was time to go in. Suddenly, all the landscape lighting and villa lights were switched on all at the same time. The scene of everything lighting up at once was especially beautiful and even the twins sighed with admiration. Elaine stood at the door and waved at them: “Uncle, Cole, you are walking too slowly! Mother has already finished preparing dinner!”
Life in this world was very warm and blissful, and Xue Ling felt that his stay here passed really happily. It was a totally different experience from the days when he used to travel and spend time in the mortal world alone. He lived until the time came for Wen Xiuyuan’s natural death, lying in a rocking chair and watching the sunrise by the sea, and slowly closed his eyes.
Cole was sitting beside him. The two of them grew old together even though they never expressed any love or affection for each other all their lives. They just accompanied each other and lived together like best friends and unresolved lovers.
Wen Xiuting never understood what her brother was thinking. She even told Xue Ling that she could accept Xue Ling and a man being together if that man was Cole.
But Xue Ling smiled and shook his head, expressing that he didn’t love Cole.
“But he loves you.” Wen Xiuting was surprised.
Xue Ling smiled. Even though he was no longer young, he was still as attractive as ever. “That’s why he doesn’t say it. He knows I don’t love him.”
Xue Ling really enjoyed this kind of gentle warmth and the feeling of being accompanied by someone. He had to admit that Cole had given him a wonderful experience, different from that of his previous life when he died early as a military advisor.
But the more Cole loved him, the less he was able to return those feelings. So he never asked, and Cole never spoke about it. As though they had a very deep tacit understanding, they both never brought up this topic.
As a passerby in this world, Xue Ling couldn’t afford it, nor did Cole seem to want it.
Time flew on, and when he closed his eyes, Xue Ling thought to himself that if he had to redo this world again, he would probably have sunk into the feeling gentle warmth and beauty that Cole gave him.
Unfortunately, there was only one Cole, and Wen Xiuyuan’s life, or rather Xue Ling living as Wen Xiuyuan, would not happen again.
When he returned to the patch of space with the system, Xue Ling still had some difficulty pulling himself together. The system somewhat worriedly swept across his face with its tail and was swatted away by Xue Ling. “Go ahead, start the next world.”
The system was surprised: “Does host not want to rest for a while? Weren’t you moved just then?”
Xue Ling’s lips curved and he stretched out his hand to rub the little fox’s head. “You had the wrong impression. Let’s hurry up and start the next world. I’m really looking forward to it now.”
The little fox had no choice but to open the door for him.
After they left, a voice rang out in the dark and empty patch of space. It carried a sense of amusement, and a hint of teasing. “Your snare was pretty deep, but the other party doesn’t seem to feel any nostalgia or yearning at all.”
A man came out of the darkness. He had left the world a little later than Xue Ling, so he also arrived back at this patch of space a little later. He frowned and rubbed his temples, sending a rather intolerant look towards a particular place in the darkness. His gaze was cold.
The darkness was quiet for a while, seemingly a little frightened, but soon it spoke up again. “If you don’t like it, you don’t have to follow over~”
The man looked into the darkness again, and it was hard to tell where his gaze landed. The voice in the void was momentarily quiet before cursing and opening the door again. “Go then, go then. Looking at your iceberg face ruins my mood.”
The man did not go in straight away, only standing quietly for a long time before opening his mouth to ask, “Are you playing tricks behind the scenes?”
“Eh? No! “
“It better not be you.” The man’s voice was very pleasant, but was like the expression on his face – cold and icy, making others feel cold. He did not wait for the voice’s reply and once again entered another world.
And then, that patch of space was quiet once again.
xiin: …and that wraps up arc 2. what did you all think of it?
arc 3 starts in the next chapter! it’s another modern world setting, with more face slapping, badass!MC, and pining!ML. will they finally get together?~
(i won’t say, because that would be spoiler-ing… ㄟ( ^_^ )ㄏ)
also, happy new year!
editors: alamerysl & BlueBug