Chapter 12: Found a Good Friend

Translated by Eve

Edited by Kara

Thank you San Xiaojie and someone for the kofi 💕

When he thought about how Song Guochao had fanned the flames when the original host had died a miserable death, Song Xuanhe almost wanted to laugh upon hearing "Can't do anything to you."

Even wild beasts looked after their young. These words meant nothing to Song Guochao, who was over forty and had two sons. On the contrary, if he had been allowed to, Song Guochao would probably have already expelled them from the family. After all, there was only one Song Group, but having another son was no issue.

Actually, the original host's tragedy had to do with Song Guochao deliberately raising him to be useless. Later on, when he had found out that Song Xuanhe had offended the Xiao Family's successor, he immediately placed "righteousness before family." Not only had he expelled Song Xuanhe from the Song Family, but he also had even handed him over to Xiao Yuanmu, hoping that this would alleviate the fury he had towards the Song Family caused by Song Xuanhe's actions.

However, Song Guochao had been counting his chickens before they hatched. Xiao Yuanmu was cold and dark. He was also temperamental. If he had wanted to take revenge on Song Xuanhe, he had a multitude of ways to do so. Why would he have cared about the "olive branch" sent to him by the Song Group he'd so long been disgusted with? Therefore, he had released Song Xuanhe and, at a banquet featuring all of the people amongst the Capital's upper class, he had indifferently appraised the Song Family: coldhearted.

It had been these words that led to the Song Group's collapse.

Although in Song Xuanhe's opinion, if they were to talk about coldheartedness, there was no one more coldhearted than the protagonist, Xiao Yuanmu. However, his appraisal hadn't been wrong. Not only was Song Guochao coldhearted, but he was also extremely hypocritical.

Song Guochao had "righteously" expelled Song Xuanhe from the family while pretending to be a loving father on the outside. He had controlled the public opinion at a key moment. Even if people in the circle had thought that he didn't care for family, no one had criticized him either. After all, before this, they all knew how impolite and rebellious Song Xuanhe had been as well as how helpless and magnanimous Song Guochao had appeared. In their eyes, Song Guochao's actions had been a last resort. He had sacrificed a pawn to save the queen.

It was precisely because Song Guochao had been such a "loving father" that Song Xuanhe had found himself utterly isolated over night. Not only did no one help him, but they had also even thrown stones at him while he was down.

This was also why Song Xuanhe had to fall out with Song Guochao. Otherwise, no matter what happened in the future, he could not let Song Guochao continue acting like a "magnanimous, tolerant, and loving" father, only to ruin him later.

Therefore, Song Xuanhe really let out a snort because of Song Guochao's "Can't do anything to you" as well as his reckless action of wanting to lay his hands on Xiao Yuanmu.

Only, there was nothing bad about letting Song Guochao pull some aggro.

"Dad, not only are you not willing to let off young women, but you also even want to lay your hands on young men?"

Song Guochao was infuriated by Song Xuanhe's extremely mocking words. He only threatened him coldly, "Although I do not wield all the authority within the Song Family, I can still fire him. You're no longer young. You should have some propriety. Don't disgrace my Song Family."

Upon hearing this, Song Xuanhe finally revealed an indignant expression. But, it was only for a second before he covered it up quickly. "Even if he doesn't work, I can provide for him. Do you think I'm scared of you?"

"Do you think he'll still stay with you when he leaves the Song Group?" Song Guochao could see the hesitance in Song Xuanhe's eyes. He was fully aware that he had caught hold of his weak spot. Although he was disgusted that his son cared so much about a man, he knew that if he used this well, his life would be much more comfortable.

"I naturally have ways to make him stay!"

"Using the orphanage's people?" Song Guochao sneered. "Our Song Family's authority isn't for you to use in oppressing others. If you dare use that to threaten him, I will naturally help him for the sake of our Song Family's reputation. At that time, what other chips will you have?"

Song Xuanhe gritted his teeth. In the end, he could only return to his room, flustered and exasperated.

When the door closed, the rage on Song Xuanhe's face disappeared. Instead, there was a schadenfreude smile on his face. If Song Guochao were to do anything to Xiao Yuanmu now, then when Xiao Yuanmu came after Song Xuanhe in the future, even if Song Guochao wanted to send Song Xuanhe over to Xiao Yuanmu in a plea for leniency, he would not find it easy to do.

At that time, when Song Guochao and Xiao Yuanmu would fight, he could take advantage of the chaos and run. He only had to persist for two years. When he returned to his own world, there would be nothing to fear.

After thinking over his plan, Song Xuanhe felt much more relieved. Soon after, he washed up, laid on the bed that was softer and bigger than the one in his apartment, and inhaled, feeling comfortable. It was rare that he didn't have to be under the same roof as Xiao Yuanmu. His nerves and muscles were all relaxed. He began to think about why the plot had deviated today.

All along the way back from the barbecue restaurant, Song Xuanhe had pondered over why Xiao Yuanmu had deviated from the plot. Although the System had said that this kind of matter was common, Xiao Yuanmu had never deviated from the plot before. There must be a reason for why he did so today.

Only, he thought and thought but couldn't come up with the reason. The only thing he thought of was that Song Xuanhe had probably subconsciously deviated from his own character settings.

Song Xuanhe knew himself very well. In his original world, he had lived as he pleased. Even when faced with the people from his family who had harboured motives and schemes, he would verbally attack if unhappy. The only person he hadn't ever called out had been his grandfather. But even then, he would just restrain his temper a bit and had never pretended to be obedient, let alone endure silently or feign civility.

Right now, when he was acting in front of Xiao Yuanmu, although he was quite interested because he liked doing exciting things, his rationality told him that if he didn't do things perfectly, any little thing he did that was out of sorts would influence Xiao Yuanmu's view of him and would lead to an even more tragic ending for himself.

He wasn't so confident as to believe that he could perfectly maintain the original host's personality at all times. He absolutely didn't believe that he could make it so that Xiao Yuanmu, with his extremely high insight, would never notice anything out of sorts about him. He only wanted to drag things out for as long as he could. Because they have interacted frequently, when the time came, these little changes would imperceptibly influence him, and he wouldn't think too much about them even if he noticed them later on.

Moreover, as time passed, he'd be more prepared and would be better able to respond.

Now, it seemed to him that he had underestimated Xiao Yuanmu's intuition and overestimated his own acting ability. Perhaps Xiao Yuanmu hadn't perceived anything off yet, but the occasional appearance of Song Xuanhe's real personality had influenced him.

It seemed that it had caused their relationship to be a bit better.

However, Song Xuanhe knew that even if Xiao Yuanmu changed because of him, it didn't mean anything. This was because the scene of him handing Xiao Yuanmu over to the businessman was inevitable. Xiao Yuanmu's rebirth, this crucial scene, had to happen. No matter how the plot deviated, the fact that Xiao Yuanmu would hate him to the bone after his rebirth would not change.

When he had made clear that he would not be able to escape being enemies with Xiao Yuanmu, Song Xuanhe actually felt less afraid of the scenes to come. After all, he would die no matter what. He might as well think of a way to drag out his time before his death and make his death less miserable.

Song shao, who had smashed the cracked pot, very quickly fell asleep. However, Xiao Yuanmu, who was left alone in the apartment, couldn't sleep.

The author has something to say:

Xiao Yuanmu: The first day Xuan Baby isn't home. I miss him.