The Real Young Master is Entangled by the Paranoid Fake Young Master - Chapter 41

“Once, there was an egg. From the moment it gained consciousness, it sat on a supermarket shelf. Everything in the store had a price tag. Those with the highest prices were placed on the top shelves and tended to by specialists. Every time a customer came by, the expensive eggs on the higher shelves were introduced as ‘Premium Free-Range Forest Eggs.’ The next tier was introduced as ‘Fresh Wild Farm Eggs.’ But those at the very bottom didn’t even have a name. No salesperson would talk at length about their brand, history, farming methods, transport costs, or nutritional value.”

As Zhaoqing spoke, he felt the pain in his hand slowly subside. He looked down and saw that Song Yuening had loosened his grip, though his lips remained pressed against the back of Zhaoqing’s hand.

Zhaoqing continued: “Over time, the eggs in the higher baskets truly began to believe they were superior to the others. They thought their nutritional value was higher and their upbringing more scientific. They looked down on the ordinary eggs, seeing their lighter shells as evidence of their inferiority.”

Zhaoqing let out a soft laugh, though it sounded more like a scoff.

“Until one day, while a clerk was organizing the shelves, the egg that had always lived in the luxury basket overheard a conversation.”

“Clerk A said: ‘Hurry up, the movie is starting. We don’t need to be so meticulous; no one is watching us anyway.'”

“Clerk B replied: ‘Almost done, just a few baskets of eggs left to sort.'”

“As Clerk B spoke, he absentmindedly tossed several bulk eggs into the top basket. The eggs already in that basket protested, how could these common eggs enter their space? They were premium eggs! But of course, the clerk couldn’t hear them. Fortunately, Clerk A asked the question on their behalf.”

“She said to Clerk B: ‘Honey, did you just sort those wrong? You put the cheap ones on top.'”

“Clerk B didn’t care at all. He just laughed and said, ‘Don’t worry about it. I do it all the time and we just leave it. Do you really think these eggs are anything special? Take this one, for example’  Clerk B picked up an egg to show her ‘This egg actually came in the same shipment as the ones I just put up. They even sat together in the same crate; they might have even been laid by the same hen. There’s no real difference between them. If you have to find one, it’s simply that some were placed in a basket that was naturally priced higher.'”

“In that moment, the egg realized that the price it was so proud of wasn’t its own value. Everything it prided itself on its uniqueness, its arrogance wasn’t because it was excellent, but because the basket it lay in had been designated with a higher price.”

The Lesson

“Identical eggs can be artificially separated into different baskets,” Zhaoqing said firmly.

“How can a person be so certain that their perceived superior intelligence, education, accumulation, vision, and wealth aren’t just products of their environment? If you placed someone else in their position, or if they went to someone else’s, could they do better?”

“To ignore objective factors and believe it is solely due to personal effort and talent do these people never consider that perhaps it isn’t that their value is high, but that they were sorted into a high-value zone? Even someone as useless as Fang Haoyang can enjoy resources that ordinary people can’t.”

“It’s easy to live arrogantly like that. But to escape arrogance and embrace true freedom, there is only one thing you can do: look at people from different environments without colored glasses. See what makes them respectable.”

“Otherwise, you end up like you are now, believing that any setback in life is a catastrophe capable of destroying you.”

In this world, no one is a god. Only when you face your own helplessness does your self-destructive, narcissistic soul have a chance to return to normalcy. You may have a beautiful face and immense wealth, but you are not fundamentally unique or superior. You are also capable of being powerless, afraid, and mediocre.

“But you are still you. The moment you face your own mediocrity and helplessness, every second of the future allows you to become a better version of yourself, rather than forever chasing the illusion of power.”

Zhaoqing looked out the window. The clouds were still heavy, and lightning lurked in the shadows, but the sound of the rain was gradually fading. He knew that the storm in Song Yuening’s heart had finally quieted.

The Breakdown

Zhaoqing stood up and walked out, leaving Song Yuening kneeling on the floor with his long hair disheveled. Zhaoqing wiped the blood from his hand. He wasn’t good at comforting people, nor did he enjoy scolding them. Dealing with Song Yuening always drained his energy.

But he didn’t want the life he had worked so hard to save to simply wither away. On this swaying, isolated island, it was hard to say whose heart felt more desperate. Facing a future full of uncertainty and fear, he was truly exhausted.

Yuening’s burdens were too heavy; Zhaoqing couldn’t save him. Only Yuening could save himself.

Inside the room, the silence was suffocating. Yuening’s world was still pitch black, a darkness that terrified him. He feared thunder, the dark, and filth. But most of all, he feared loneliness.

He sat on the floor, feeling the four fears descend upon him simultaneously. It felt like the end. He had desperately bared his darkest truths to Zhaoqing, and they had hurled the most scathing insults at one another. Their relationship had finally collapsed into the ruin he had always expected.

For the first time, he had failed to achieve what he wanted. He might be permanently blind. It seemed that ever since he met Song Zhaoqing, nothing good had happened. The boy was his nemesis, smashing his perfectly curated life to pieces.

If he hadn’t succumbed to the thrill of approaching him, if he hadn’t been so overconfident, he might still be the “darling of the heavens.”

But he stopped thinking about that. He didn’t care about the darkness or the status anymore. He only cared about where Song Zhaoqing had gone after he drove him away.

Panicked, he scrambled toward the bed to pull himself up. In the darkness, he rushed forward blindly, only to trip over the door threshold and fall back to the ground. He was a mess. His feet throbbed, and he couldn’t stand.

But that’s okay. I can crawl.

He reached out and dragged his body forward. Without his special medication, every movement felt like a knife to his heart.

I’ve been abandoned. Song Zhaoqing has abandoned me!

The Return

Suddenly, a pair of hands blocked his path. They were small and rough, not Zhaoqing’s hands.

Xiao Heng, carrying medicine, saw the door open and the beautiful, strange youth crawling on the floor. He dropped the medicine in a fright to help him. “You can’t move! Your wounds will reopen!”

But Yuening ignored him, murmuring obsessively, “He doesn’t want me anymore. He’s left me, hasn’t he?”

“What’s wrong with you?!” Xiao Heng felt the man’s forehead, no fever. His grandfather hadn’t mentioned that the man would wake up with “dog madness.”

“Take me to him! Please, I beg you,” Yuening whispered piteously.

“Take you to who?”

“Song Zhaoqing! Take me to Song Zhaoqing!”

“Are you two filming a drama?” Zhaoqing’s voice drifted in from behind them, indifferent and dry. “Sounds like a real tear-jerker.”

“Brother Zhaoqing, you’re back? Where did you go? Your friend was looking for you.” Xiao Heng summarized the situation and then noticed what was in Zhaoqing’s hand. “Oh! Roast chicken! It smells so good. Auntie Wang at the village entrance sold it to you, right?”

Song Yuening froze. “So, you just went to buy roast chicken?”

The tears hadn’t even dried on Yuening’s face. The domestic banter between Zhaoqing and Xiao Heng made his previous emotional outburst seem somewhat absurd.

“Song Yuening, stop crawling around on the floor. Xiao Heng, help me out.”

Zhaoqing’s tone was brisk, as if the earlier argument had already been forgotten. Xiao Heng helped return Yuening to the bed and then discreetly left the room.

“I said, can you tell someone before you decide to go for a walk next time, Your Majesty?” Zhaoqing teased. “Is it not filthy to crawl around like that? Such a young master, if the bedding gets dirty, someone else has to change it for you…”

“I was wrong,” Yuening said softly.

The rest of Zhaoqing’s teasing died in his throat. “Fine. As long as you know it.”

He felt a bit awkward. When he had stormed out, he just needed air. He could never actually leave the man behind. On this isolated island, where else could he go? It was like a sibling fight, no matter how much you scream about running away, you still show up for dinner.

“I thought you didn’t want me anymore,” Yuening whispered. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things. I was wrong.”

In his past life, Zhaoqing had dreamed of hearing those words. From the disastrous banquet to the business betrayals and the drunken mistakes, Yuening had never once said “I’m sorry.”

“But I was lying earlier, I’m sorry. I never actually wanted you to die,” Yuening continued. “I won’t let you die. Zhao-zhao, it’s true. I don’t know why, but from the first time I saw you, I really liked you.”

His face flushed with a hint of embarrassment. His beautiful, sightless eyes searched for Zhaoqing’s direction. He leaned his head onto Zhaoqing’s lap, letting his hair drape over the hand he had bitten.

“I hurt you, didn’t I? I’m sorry. You can bite me back.”

Zhaoqing, feeling playful, grabbed Yuening’s hand. Yuening straightened his arm like a disciplined schoolboy. Zhaoqing expected him to beg for mercy, but the man only said:

“Do it hard.”

“Hard, my foot!” Zhaoqing laughed, stuffing a chicken leg into the man’s mouth. “You’re like a little dog. Eat your chicken, Young Master. You can’t wallow in self-pity after losing an argument.”

“When I used to get beaten until I bled, I still knew to go eat a bowl of beef noodles. As long as you can still eat, you won’t want to die.”

“Mmh, then I’ll be your little dog.” Yuening wasn’t angry; he seemed cheered by the insult. It turned out he preferred being Zhaoqing’s “little dog” to making Zhaoqing his. He rubbed his face against Zhaoqing’s neck.

Zhaoqing felt his heart race at the man’s sickly beauty.

“So, will you forgive me?” Yuening looked at him with a wet, piteous gaze, even though he couldn’t see.

“If you become a better person, I’ll consider it,” Zhaoqing said.

Fat chance, he thought to himself, but he didn’t have the heart to say it out loud.

“I’ll definitely become better!” Yuening promised with almost childish sincerity.

Whether or not there was a “fat chance” in his own heart remained to be seen.