The next day, they got up early.

Gu Xiqiao and Jiang Shuxuan ran a few rounds downstairs, and when they came up, it was with Baili Bin at their tails to have breakfast with them.

“What’s Jiji doing?” Baili Bin saw Jiji holding a laptop as soon as he came in, a seemingly serious expression on its face as it typed away on it. Baili Bin kinda wanted to laugh at the picture the robot was making.

Having to tolerate Baili Bin so early in the morning, Jiang Shuxuan wasn’t in the mood. “Why do you care what it does?”

“Still running in the morning, are your injuries alright?” Baili Bin asked instead with a warm smile on his face.

Jiang Shuxuan faltered in his steps, but he didn’t reply to him.

Shu Chen had got up early to play games in her room, and she seemed quite keen on it recently. Seeing that Gu Xiqiao had returned, she immediately asked her for help during her dungeon run. Gu Xiqiao leaned over to beat the monsters, and halfway through, her phone rang.

Pulling it out, she found that it was Cecily.

Walking to the side, she picked it up.

“Did you know something major happened last night, Qiao Qiao? The consciousness of heaven’s will appeared!” Cecily’s voice was so very excited, and then she lowered it slightly, “I heard that a great power also appeared in the ancient martial arts world. Some purple lightning colliding with a purple thunder cloud, it sounds like your powers!”

“Yi Tong also told me that the great power is you, it made me laugh till I cried!” She laughed sarcastically. “An ancient great power, and he said it was you! Does he think I’m some three year old that can be tricked?”

Gu Xiqiao laughed along with her. “Why haven’t you returned to your country yet?”

“My family said that the birthday banquet for the Tang family is soon, so I’ll return after I attend it.” Cecily chatted with Gu Xiqiao for a while more before saying, “Ancient power is just too far for us to attain, it should be someone who’s in the top ten of the ranking list. But forget about that, when are you coming out to play? The Imperial Capital seems like there’s a lot of fun things.”

“I have something to do today, maybe another time.” Gu Xiqiao exchanged a few more words with Cecily, before hanging up.

After hanging up, a message came in.

Xiao Yun: 2PM in Central Square.

Gu Xiqiao thought for a while, before sending a reply—I’ll come and find you first later.

Xiao Yun replied soon after—Okay!

“Son, did you hear that?” Shu Chen frowned during the time Gu Xiqiao was on the phone.

Jiang Shuxuan was peeling an egg, placing it in Gu Xiqiao’s bowl. He raised his head when he heard his mother talk to him. “What?”

“That Cecily, she actually called Qiao Qiao. She’s among the top ten in the Youth Ranking List, not someone to offend.” Her face became serious. “If she bullies Qiao Qiao, I’ll break your legs!”

Hearing those words, his hands stopped whatever he was doing. Wait, who’s mother was she again?

After the four of them had eaten, Jiang Shuxuan headed out to the ancient martial arts world to settle some matters. Baili Bin also had to deal with the previous night’s formation, and Gu Xiqiao headed upstairs to catch up on her sleep while Shu Chen continued her gaming.

Before they could split up to do their respective tasks, a knock came on the front door.

Mrs. Zhang was going to open the door, but Jiji pressed a button on its arm, and the door opened suddenly.

A woman was standing outside the door. She was wearing a purple coat, a delicate face but with a tired expression on it. Compared to the first time they had met, she seemed to have aged a lot.

The relaxed atmosphere in the living room suddenly dropped a few degrees.

“Aunt Shu, Brother Jiang, Big Brother Baili, I’ll head upstairs to sleep first.” Gu Xiqiao lowered her head, no changes visible on her face as she turned and left.

The slender, lean figure walked calmly and leisurely, nothing giving her away as to what she was feeling at the moment.

Shu Chen placed the laptop into Mrs. Zhang’s hands and stood, a graceful expression sliding easily onto her face. “Shuxuan, Ah Bin, you both should leave first, you have things to do after all.”

Jiang Shuxuan nodded, taking his coat and keys before walking out.

Baili Bin bid Shu Chen goodbye, and turned to leave. When he reached the door, his footsteps stopped. “Aunt, why are you here?”

“I’m just here to take a look.” Baili Wenxi smiled slightly, watching Gu Xiqiao walk upstairs. She looked a little lost.

Baili Bin didn’t say anything further, brushing past her to press the elevator button.

Shu Chen asked Mrs. Zhang to serve tea. “Wenxi, it’s been many years since we’ve seen each other, right?”

“Yes, it’s been about twenty years.” Baili Wenxi sighed.

“You’ve been abroad for so many years, I thought that you were never coming back.” Shu Chen placed the cup of tea that Mrs. Zhang poured in front of Baili Wenxi. “What’s the reason for coming back this time?”

Baili Wenxi reached out to grasp the tea cup, and took a deep breath. “Madam Jiang, I’m sure you know the reason that I have come back.”

Shu Chen leaned back slightly, narrowing her cold eyes. “I looked into Qiao Qiao’s past yesterday night, and some of it I requested from Ah Bin.” Mrs. Zhang placed the disc into the projector and started to play it.

“This is the environment that she lived in since she was young. While you were living your life comfortable overseas, she was being accused and thrown aside as an unwanted illegitimate child. It continued up to the point when her foster mother passed on. Do you know how a person is, when they have lost all faith in themselves?” Shu Chen took a deep breath to calm herself. “The road ahead of them is grey, and they won’t be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“She was then taken back into the Gu family, even while her relatives were disappointed at the sight of her. Do you know what she went through when she was taken in as an illegitimate child? She’s only nineteen years old, but look at her, she’s matured to the point that she doesn’t look her age at all! You see the glory and success that she has now, but who can succeed so easily, do you know what she paid to pave this road?”

“I just want to make it up to her…” Baili Wenxi murmured. She was already aware of everything that Shu Chen had said, and that was the reason she was all the more wanting to make it up to the girl upstairs. “I’m her biological mother, aren’t I?”

“Just because of that, you expect her to recognize you and call you ‘mother’?” Shu Chen looked at Baili Wenxi’s face, and knew that she had hit the nail on the head.

Shu Chen didn’t continue, but she stood and headed upstairs. “You’ve read the information, you know what kind of person Qiao Qiao is. She’s a gentle person on the inside, and has helped countless strangers. Even your Fu family has received her help, right? That Fu Wei used to have no talents before this, but now he has become the head of the Fu family. If it wasn’t for Qiao Qiao and Nine Heavens, he couldn’t have had this success. So Wenxi, as a person who craves for family affection but refuses to talk to you, do you know why this is happening?”

Baili Wenxi’s face paled at Shu Chen’s last words.

***

Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao leaned against the door, a faraway look in her eyes.

Everything on your body was given to you by your parents.

In her previous life, she had never met her biological mother up even up to her death. All her wishes were burnt along with her body.

She pulled out her phone, sending off a message—Brother Jiang, I’ve already returned the life back to her. This time is one that I have won for myself, and it’s not one that she gave me.

***

Jiang Shuxuan was in the ancient martial arts world, discussing the desert matter with a few others, when his phone rang. He pulled it out, and was stunned when he read the message, a chill flashing in his deep, cold eyes.

“Big Boss?” Yi Bing called out cautiously.

The veins were popping out on his hands, and Jiang Shuxuan lowered his head slightly. After a while, he raised it again, but the chill in his eyes still lingered.

What did she mean by ‘returned the life back to her’?

***

After sending the message, Gu Xiqiao felt her mood improved. She sat in front of her computer and turned it on, watching the interface of the game load on her screen.

There were only a few people chatting in the guild today.

Guild Elder Sunshine: I’ve reached the capital.

Guild Leader Smoke On Water: So fast?

Guild Elder Sunshine: My family was also coming here for a vacation, so I came down with them.

Guild The World Is Ruthless: Where are you? I’ll head over to you since I have nothing planned today!

Guild Elder Sunshine: Forget it, my family’s a little complicated. It’s better if I head over to you instead.

***

After sending that in the chat, Sunshine closed the game.

In reality, Sunshine was a handsome young man, though he had a slightly unruly face. He changed his clothes and headed out. A middle-aged man sitting on the sofa was reading the newspaper when he came out, and the man frowned. “Yang An, where are you going? This is the capital, can you stop making trouble for your brother!”

“I’m meeting a friend.” Yang An replied easily.

“Frend?” Yang An’s father was angry immediately. “What kind of friends could you possibly have in the capital? Other than making trouble, what else can you do?!”

“Dad, Little An is going to meet his online friends,” A young man said as he walked down the stairs.

Not hearing those words would have been better, as his father got even angrier at that. “Game?! What a foul thing! You’re not even one-tenth of your brother, he’s already in contact with Fu Enterprise, which is the hope for the entire Yang family to enter the capital! If you make any trouble for him, you better be ready to get out of this house!”

“The Yang family? Without my mother, what is the Yang family?” Yang An sneered, slamming the door as he left.

After he walked out, he walked to the side of the road and lit a cigarette, waiting for a taxi.

Behind him, Yang Haotian drove out in a Porsche. He wound down the window when he passed by, the car rolling to a stop beside the young man. “Little brother, where are you going? I can send you there.”

“Little brother?” Yang An threw the cigarette, crushing it beneath his foot. “My mother only gave birth to me, do you have the right to call me that?”

Yang Haotian wiped the kind look off his face, sneering coldly, “Yang An, I’ve said it before. There will come a day when I will trample you beneath the soles of my feet, and look at you now, I’ve clearly done it.”

“I obviously developed that engine, you took my design to Fu Enterprise and took credit for it!” Yang An’s face was red with anger, grabbing Yang Haotian’s collar through the window. He really wanted to punch him, but Yang Haotian avoided his fist.

Yang Haotian pried Yang An’s finger off him one by one, satisfaction clear in his eyes. “An unbearable dude, and a calm and wise person. Who do you think the Yang family will believe? Good brother, I’m going to see the person in charge in Fu Enterprise now. After this, the Yang family that your mother created will be in my hands.”

The car window rolled up, and drove off slowly.

Yang An stood where he was, his face dark as he clenched his fist tightly.

The phone in his pocket rang, and he pulled it out to see that it was The World Is Ruthless that was calling him.

“Sunshine, where are you? I’m already in my car.”

Yang An took a while before replying, rattling off an address.

Not long after, a black car came to a stop beside him. The driver’s seat was occupied by a young man wearing glasses.

Yang An smiled. “Are you The World Is Ruthless?”

“What, don’t I look it?” Su Wu opened the passenger seat door. In the game, they were used to not being prim and proper, and there was no changes nor embarrassment when meeting in real life either.

“Extremely different.” Yang An couldn’t help the laughter that burst out.

Su Wu knew how childish his name was as well as how different it was to his own person, and so he didn’t say anything about it.

“We’ll gather at the square at two. I’ll take you for a bite to eat before that.” At the red light, Su Wu explained the plan to him. Suddenly, the phone rang. Su Wu picked it up, slightly surprised. “Yang An, you know Boss Gu?”

“What” Yang An was surprised too. “Boss Gu? Who’s that?”

“Nevermind, let’s get something to eat first.” Su Wu stared at Yang An for a while longer. “Food first.”

Su Wu chose a famous restaurant near the meeting place, and when he got off the car, he patted Yang An on the shoulder. “Lucky kid.”

Yang An: “…” WTF?

“Wait a bit, there are two more people coming.” Su Wu stood by the door with Yang An, taking out his phone to look at the time. “Three more minutes.”

“Who else is coming?” Yang An asked, frowning slightly. “Let me guess, the guild leader? Watermelon?”

Su Wu shook his head at all the names mentioned. Seeing a car approaching, he chuckled. “Look, they’re here.”

A pink luxury car parked by the hotel entrance, and a tall, slender girl got out from the passenger seat. Her face was cold, and her entire person screamed ice and snow. Her appearance drew a lot of looks, and even Yang An couldn’t help but whistle at the sight. What a beauty.

At the same time, another figure also came down from the driver’s seat. She was facing the sun, and just from the outline of her figure you could tell that she was an elegant girl. She lowered her head slightly, closing the door of the car. When she raised her head, she revealed a flawless, smooth, attractive face. For a moment, her surroundings vanished and she was the only thing that existed.

Those clear eyes were bright like stars, and Yang An couldn’t even blow a whistle, stunned as he was.

“Miss Gu.” It was Su Wu’s voice that snapped him back to reality.

“This is Sunshine.” Su Wu pointed at Yang An, smiling. “Our Elder.”

“Whispering Winds, real name, Xiao Yun.” Xiao Yun reached out to shake Yang An’s hand, the coldness in her face chipped away a little. “Hello, Elder.”

After shaking Xiao Yun’s hand, Yang An turned to Gu Xiqiao. “This is…”

Gu Xiqiao stood beside Xiao Yun, her eyes on Yang An. “Hello, Yang An. I’m For A Millenium.”

Yang An was unable to react, until he was suddenly sitting down in a chair. He didn’t even know how he ended up here.

She was For A Millenium?

But wasn’t For A Millenium male?

His mind was still in a jumbled mess.

“Su Wu, do you know the great god?” Yang An turned to Su Wu with a blank expression, who was sitting beside him.

“Of course,” Su Wu replied, nodding his head.

“You lied to us!” Yang An’s mouth twitched, thinking that Su Wu had been saying that For A Millenium was a man all the time in the game.

Su Wu smiled brightly. “Because it was more fun that way.”

When he had first found out, he was no less surprised than Yang An, okay!

He needed to see the look of surprise on somebody else’s face to balance it back out.

The four were close to each other in the game, adding on the fact that Su Wu, Xiao Yun, and Gu Xiqiao were all friends, the atmosphere was not awkward in the least. Yang An himself was a lively person, so they got along easily.

When Yang Haotian and Fu Dongyi came down from the stairs in the same restaurant, they saw Yang An who was eating hotpot, facing their direction and two girls were sitting opposite him.

“Little brother, this is President Fu.” Yang Haotian raised his voice slightly, speaking to Yang An.

Today, he had discussed collaborating with Fu Dongyi. The results of the discussion would be concluded tomorrow. Looking at Fu Dongyi’s attitude, it seemed that he was satisfied with the engine design. Although it would take another day to finalize it, Yang Haotian was already holding the winning ticket in his hands.

He couldn’t wait to see the look on Yang Ang’s face, the one that looked like a kicked puppy!

“Are these the friends that you were meeting?” Yang Haotian walked to Yang An’s side, leaning down to whisper in his ear. “I’ve already gotten the collaboration agreement with Fu Enterprise. With such useless friends like them, how are you planning to fight me?”

Anger crossed Yang An’s face, and he raised his hands, intending to punch him once again, but Su Wu pressed down on his shoulder.

Yang Haotian looked towards Su Wu, as well as the two women who were eating, their heads lowered. Contempt in his eyes, he straightened up and walked back to Fu Dongyi.

“That was Fu Dongyi, the CEO of Fu Enterprise.” Yang An balled his fist, finally letting go of the anger he was feeling. “He’s a real financial tyrant, can’t say that he’s the top in the capital, but it isn’t a problem for him to bring down a few small medium-sized enterprises.”

Su Wu nodded his head, dunking a bunch of enoki mushrooms into the hotpot. He remembered seeing Fu Dongyi in Nine Heavens more than half a month ago.

Yang An watched the three who were still eating calmly, and felt like he was a chicken talking to ducks, not on the same page at all. That’s right, they weren’t in this industry anyway, they didn’t know what the name ‘Fu Dongyi’ meant in the end.

Thinking of this, Yang An sighed. The feeling of suffocation from seeing Yang Haotian lifted instantly, and he grabbed the lotus root slices from Su Wu’s bowl to eat.

Yang Haotian reached Fu Dongyi, giving him a flat smile. “President Fu, let’s go.”

Fu Dongyi ignored Yang Haotian, turning to walk quickly to the table that he had just come from. “Miss Gu,” he greeted in a respectful tone.

Plop!

The chopsticks in Yang An’s hand fell to the table.