MCFEM C56

Chapter 56 – One Secret for Another…

In Nie Ying’s heart, Madam Nie had always been a complicated figure.

That woman was abnormally cold, as though her heart were long dead. She showed no reaction to his achievements, and when he made mistakes, she merely watched coolly, her gaze laced with restrained mockery, then calmly cleaned up all the mess he left behind.

She performed the duties of a mother, but never gave him a shred of a mother’s love.

Occasionally, when she felt like it, she would put on a false show of asking after his well-being. Under such hot-and-cold treatment, he had nearly been trained into nothing more than a dog.

Once, he deceived himself, suppressing his pride and convincing himself this was all normal.

But once the truth came to light, he finally understood—in all these years, Madam Nie had been watching his desperate struggle with that same cold indifference. Perhaps she even took it as a kind of revenge, taking pleasure in watching his disgrace.

The thought filled him with burning humiliation and rage. His mind began to overlap Madam Nie’s face with that of the youth before him, Gu Yang.

No wonder. No wonder he had felt such discomfort from the very first time he saw Gu Yang.

Nie Ying forced a cold laugh through clenched teeth.

Now Gu Yang filled his sight and his heart; everything else fell away.

Seeing his hostile expression, ready to charge forward, Lu Ji braced himself, standing firm to block him. Nie Ying’s eyes were bloodshot, his reason hanging by a thread after blow upon blow.

He swung a fist at Lu Ji’s face—but Lu Ji’s reflexes were quicker, and he caught the strike.

When it came to real fights, Nie Ying—who was used to having others stir up trouble for him—was no match for someone like Lu Ji, who had clawed his way up through brawls and scrapes.

After a few exchanges, Lu Ji had a good sense of his opponent’s limits. Considering how Nie Ying had already hired thugs to attack him, old grudges mingling with new, Lu Ji decided to settle accounts here and now.

One solid punch landed on Nie Ying, who staggered, spat blood, then slowly turned his bruised face back, dark as coal.

He realized he couldn’t beat Lu Ji.

So be it—anyone who mingled with Gu Yang was intolerable to him anyway.

“Gu Yang,” he sneered, “seeing me this wretched, are you happy inside?” His words might have been directed at Gu Yang, but through him, they were truly aimed at Madam Nie, who had always met him with cold disdain.

“And what about you? Are you really any better off than me?” Malice spilled thickly across Nie Ying’s face, almost tangible. “Your mother’s dead, isn’t she?”

“I heard it was suicide. Didn’t she abandon you? Didn’t she just throw you away?”

Lu Ji’s face shifted, clearly hearing this for the first time. He instinctively glanced at Gu Yang.

But Gu Yang’s expression didn’t waver. Still holding the little girl in his arms, he gently, clumsily patted her back to soothe her.

Seeing he had struck Gu Yang’s deepest wound, Nie Ying felt as though his own shame had been partially redeemed. Finally, he had won something back.

But Gu Yang merely lifted his eyelids, casting him a lazy glance. “Are you really that hung up on being the housekeeper’s son?”

Nie Ying: “…”

Fuck. Was this damned thing never going to end?

He wanted to smash something, but with nothing left around him to break, he could only rage uselessly in place.

“At least that’s better than you—not having—”

“Enough!”

The sudden voice that cut them off didn’t come from Gu Yang or Lu Ji, but from the seemingly fragile, quiet woman—Hu Xian.

Her eyes were pained as she looked at Nie Ying.

Her impression of him had always been fixed at that first moment when he was born: covered in white membrane, his wrinkled body letting out its first weak cry into the world.

From that instant, she had known their bond as mother and son was unbreakable.

The Nie family had only ever given her memories of darkness, but that child was the single bright spot.

In all the years apart, she had imagined countless times what kind of man he would grow into.

Never had she thought he would become this—a scoundrel.

One who would dig up others’ scars without shame, even flaunting it as pride.

“It’s late. You should go back. I don’t want to see you again right now.”

“You’re driving me away?” Nie Ying stared at her in disbelief.

He still remembered vividly how this woman had once longed to speak with him, clinging so pathetically. And now she spoke so firmly?

Was she siding with Gu Yang?

Hu Xian wiped the tears from her cheeks, then gently took her child back from Gu Yang, murmuring softly, with guilt, “I’m sorry.”

It was an apology made in Nie Ying’s stead.

Even though she was already utterly disappointed.

To see his own mother standing with Gu Yang enraged Nie Ying. He was about to lash out when his phone rang.

The ringtone was set specially—for his grandfather.

The current chairman of Nie Group.

Nie Ying dared ignore anyone’s call but not his grandfather’s.

In his panic, he accidentally hit the speakerphone.

A calm, aged voice filled the air: “Your cousin told me today that you neglect your studies at school. That you spend your days forming gangs, using your family name to bully others.”

“I’ve even heard that some classmates transferred schools because of you.”

“Grandpa, I—”

“Enough. Your father’s here with me. Come immediately. If you have anything to say, think it over on the way.”

The call ended, leaving only the dull beep of a busy signal.

Nie Ying frowned at the phone. He had to admit, just a few sentences from his grandfather pressed on him far more heavily than all of Nie Yunhua’s roars.

He had to hurry over—there was no time to waste here.

Swallowing his fury, he shot Gu Yang one last venomous glare, then strode off.

Once he was gone, Hu Xian finally let her tense body relax, relief and fear flickering across her face.

Lu Ji, still brooding over the exchange, spoke softly to Gu Yang. “Don’t take that idiot’s words to heart. He’s not worth it.”

But he hesitated. Not taking it to heart depended on those words being baseless, yet he felt they weren’t.

He studied Gu Yang’s expression. But the other’s face was calm, betraying nothing.

“What’s there to take to heart?” Gu Yang said indifferently.

—

Song Yixing tightened his grip on his pen, then slowly released it.

He couldn’t keep thinking about it.

Reborn, he needed to take revenge on those who’d hurt him. But he couldn’t lose focus, couldn’t let vengeance ruin his studies.

Shoving aside his thoughts, he finished the last question, then drew out a new test paper.

At that moment, Gu Yang came looking for him.

Song Yixing set down his pen and stepped outside.

After so long, being with Gu Yang had become natural. The awkwardness from the beginning was gone.

Gu Yang leaned casually against the corridor railing, eyes resting on him with interest.

“Did… something happen?” Song Yixing had grown used to Gu Yang’s moods rising and falling, but his heart still stirred.

“Nie Ying was called back to the old house last night,” Gu Yang said slowly, his expression tinged with schadenfreude. “He got scolded harshly—for bullying classmates. Nie Yunhua also suffered. Grandfather Nie decided a man who can’t even manage his own son isn’t fit to run a company. He stripped him of his position.”

It worked, Song Yixing thought.

In his last life, he’d handed that evidence to the school. Word leaked, Nie Ying found out, and he’d been left with terrible scars.

He had been too naive then. This time, though he hadn’t suffered it himself, he’d gathered testimonies from those bullied by Nie Ying.

But instead of going to the school, he gave it all to Nie Ying’s cousin, Nie Siyu.

The Nie family wasn’t as united as he had thought. Nie Yunhua had a younger brother, and there were two cousins watching hungrily.

In his last life, Nie Ying hadn’t made such grave mistakes, so the company’s power had stayed firmly with Nie Yunhua, then passed steadily to Nie Ying. The second branch of the family was suppressed.

After the old man passed away, they were even packed off to Africa without hesitation.

Winners and losers. Now Song Yixing was curious—if Nie Ying was the one to fall, what would his fate be?

“I see,” he said aloud.

“Was it you?” Gu Yang asked bluntly, curiosity lighting his gray eyes as they reflected Song Yixing’s figure, like a small animal acting purely on instinct.

Silence stretched.

Song Yixing didn’t speak. He didn’t doubt Gu Yang, but this touched on his greatest secret—his rebirth. He didn’t know how to explain, afraid to scare him with something so uncanny.

But then he remembered. Hadn’t he once suspected Gu Yang, too, might have been reborn?

“It was me.” A hazy thought began to take shape in his mind. “I gathered testimonies from those Nie Ying bullied and gave them to Nie Siyu. I knew he’d make full use of them—maybe even embellish them further.”

Gu Yang blinked. He had only asked out of boredom, never expecting such a detailed confession.

Teasing, he said, “You told me just like that? You’ve landed Nie Ying in serious trouble. Aren’t you afraid I’ll get bored and hand this over to him?”

“It’s fine. I can tell you anything. With you, I have no need for secrets.”

Looking into Gu Yang’s eyes, Song Yixing spoke each word with grave sincerity.

But under that steady, unflinching gaze, though he had started it himself, Gu Yang suddenly felt the urge to look away.

Song Yixing didn’t let him. Continuing, he said—

“Gu Yang, let’s exchange secrets.”

“One secret for another. How about it?”