The Real Young Master is Entangled by the Paranoid Fake Young Master - Chapter 21

On Saturday morning, the other members of the Song family were out. Zhaoqing could finally breathe a sigh of relief, feeling bold enough to wander around the house instead of being confined to his room.

He was sitting lazily on the living room sofa watching the morning news when his phone suddenly let out two sharp “beeps.”

Zhaoqing pulled out his phone and found that Fang Yang had contacted him, asking if he could meet at a cafe tomorrow to discuss the details they hadn’t finished at the banquet.

How could Zhaoqing refuse? He immediately perked up and sat up straight.

Thus, when Song Yuening walked down the stairs, he witnessed this exact scene:

Zhaoqing was wearing a brilliant smile, his fingers tapping away rapidly on the screen.

Song Yuening stopped in his tracks on the final step of the staircase, watching silently. The joy he had felt just from seeing Zhaoqing began to evaporate.

That smile was so beautiful, yet so familiar.

At the banquet, inside the pavilion, Zhaoqing had smiled at Fang Yang just like that.

For the past few days, Zhaoqing had been cold and defiant toward him, yet here he was, hitting it off with someone else… Song Yuening knew clearly that he only wanted to toy with an interesting plaything to make Zhaoqing surrender to him.

Yet, the moment he saw Zhaoqing “flirting” with someone else as if no one else existed, he felt his heart being violently squeezed.

A strange, subtle emotion sprouted from the depths of his soul.

He didn’t quite understand what the feeling was yet; he only felt instinctively enraged.

Song Yuening’s gaze darkened. Zhaoqing, still immersed in his chat with Fang Yang, was completely unaware of the approaching danger until a familiar voice sounded right next to his ear. Warm breath brushed against the skin of his neck, and a faint medicinal fragrance surrounded him. Only then did he realize something was wrong.

“Who are you chatting with? Why are you so happy?”

Song Yuening leaned in and grabbed Zhaoqing’s left wrist. His grip wasn’t light. Zhaoqing struggled for a moment before managing to break free.

Zhaoqing immediately turned his head, his face full of wariness. When Song Yuening saw the flash of loathing on his face, he felt the nameless fire in his heart burn even hotter.

“What does it have to do with you?!”

Zhaoqing quickly tucked his phone away and looked at him coldly. However, Song Yuening seemed not to care, continuing to talk to himself:

“You’re so happy when others message you, so why don’t you reply to mine?”

He let out a sigh, sounding genuinely dejected.

Nonsense. Obviously, it’s because I don’t want to talk to you, so I blocked you… Zhaoqing thought to himself, though he didn’t voice those thoughts aloud.

“You live right next door. If you have something to say, just say it,” Zhaoqing dismissed him flatly. “Besides, I’m usually asleep by the time you message me. Who told you to send them so late? It’s disturbing my sleep…”

His voice grew softer as he spoke, eventually becoming as quiet as a mosquito’s hum, because he noticed Song Yuening staring at him in total silence as if trying to see right through him.

“Alright then, I understand. I won’t disturb you anymore. Remember to go to bed early.”

Song Yuening watched him in silence for a while before speaking.

For some reason, Zhaoqing felt that this ordinary sentence sounded like a bizarre curse coming from Song Yuening’s mouth, making his skin crawl.

Has Song Yuening been mentally unstable since he was a teenager? Zhaoqing thought back to the “madman” image of the twenty-something Song Yuening from his past life. He gave him a searching look and silently cursed: He’s sick.

The next morning, Zhaoqing was surprised to find that Song Yuening wasn’t home. He didn’t know what the other was busy with, but Song Yuening’s absence allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.

Living under the same roof as that little freak was far too stressful, especially now that he had become so cynical and unpredictable.

Zhaoqing shook his head vigorously, trying to shake the name “Song Yuening” out of his mind.

Standing by the window, he caught a glimpse of workers busy in the courtyard.

Zhaoqing’s heart sank. He hadn’t expected that Song Yuening would actually convince Song Shicheng to build a glass conservatory at home.

Looking at the dark, overcast sky that threatened rain, his mood inexplicably dampened as well.

Zhaoqing took a sip of the black tea beside him, his thoughts wandering like a horse racing across a plain.

Sigh. where did that little freak even hear that I like flowers? he wondered.

In the afternoon, Zhaoqing checked his watch. There was still an hour and a half before his scheduled meeting with Fang Yang. He packed up quickly and headed out.

As Fang Yang walked through the most prosperous commercial street in S City, he felt something was off. His pace became increasingly sluggish until, eventually, he could barely move at all.

He looked up and saw a sea of bobbing heads.

Zhaoqing strained to distinguish a few key words from the surrounding noise: “Celebrity,” “Event.”

He suddenly realized there was a commercial promotion happening today, which was causing the massive congestion.

The crowd practically shoved Zhaoqing forward. At first, he had enough breathing room to try and find an opening to escape, but as time ticked by, the area became more cramped. He was swept up by the crowd, unable to break away.

Zhaoqing did his best to push through the throng to save himself.

At that moment, the celebrity finally stepped out of the van. The surrounding crowd grew even more restless. Waves of piercing screams erupted, and the crowd surged forward frantically the precursor to a potential stampede.

For a second, Zhaoqing found it hard to breathe. Just as he was being shoved into the person behind him and nearly tripped, the person behind him let out an impatient “tsk.” A pair of arms suddenly locked around his slender waist, dragging him out of the quagmire with brute, indisputable force.

Having finally escaped the danger, Zhaoqing bent over and gasped for air, his heart still pounding. He had just been reborn; he didn’t want to die again so soon.

The person who “saved” him stood before him, looking down from a height. Zhaoqing felt himself completely shrouded in the shadow of the man’s tall frame.

Once he finally caught his breath and regained his composure, he looked up to offer his thanks.

“Thank—” Just as he raised his head, the words died in his throat.

It felt as though someone had squeezed his neck, rendering him silent.

The man in front of him was frowning, watching Zhaoqing with an expressionless face. His gaze remained arrogant and unyielding, his sharp, handsome features looking breathtakingly impactful under the flickering neon signs.

Zhaoqing’s face turned deathly pale. He involuntarily whispered a name with a trembling voice.

“Xie Chengxuan…”

Conversely, the originally cold and impatient Xie Chengxuan looked startled for a moment upon hearing Zhaoqing call his name, as if trying to recall if they had ever met.

A drizzling rain began to fall from the sky.

“You know me?” The familiar voice poured into Zhaoqing’s ears, triggering a flood of terrible memories. He violently pushed Xie Chengxuan away and fled as fast as his legs could carry him.

Zhaoqing felt his heart racing uncontrollably not because of any lingering affection, but out of sheer, unexpected terror.

This shouldn’t be… in the previous life, they definitely didn’t meet like this.

Why, in this new life, had he encountered Xie Chengxuan here so completely off-guard?

He clutched his chest, the dizzying sensation from moments ago still lingering in his mind.

On the other side of the neon-lit city, a completely totaled red sports car lay on its side in the woods.

Inside the car, a red-haired youth lay with his eyes open, his breathing ragged and intermittent. He appeared to be severely injured.

He was struggling desperately to crawl out of the car.

However, people carrying umbrellas had already surrounded him.

The group had stepped out of several cars parked opposite the wreck. They were all dressed in black, tall and solemn, watching him struggle for survival like a clown. No one was willing to lend a helping hand.

Among them, the leader held a black umbrella. Dressed in a deep blue overcoat and possessing an extraordinary aura, he walked toward the youth step by step.

When the youth saw the man’s face through the haze of blood, his expression shifted into one of immense terror.

“Song… Song… Song Yuening.” Xie Qianze’s voice was filled with infinite regret. He regretted ever crossing such a malevolent star.

Song Yuening hadn’t expected Xie Qianze to be so resilient as to still have a breath left in him.

But that was fine. He preferred to handle things personally settling scores and taking eye for an eye.

He indifferently raised his pistol and aimed it at Xie Qianze’s head. Following a shrill scream and a burst of gunfire, silence finally returned to the woods once more…