Chapter 065

Noticing the weird looks from the others, Jiang Yucheng gave a wry smile.

“It’s strange, right? I didn’t expect it either – my mother actually refused to search for her biological son.” Jiang Yucheng hesitated for a moment, then said, “Actually, my mother and I haven’t been very close all along. But after what happened… she told me to feel at ease being the Jiang Family’s young master and not to think about switching back.”

Qiao Man was puzzled. “Why? Doesn’t she want to see her biological son?”

Jiang Yucheng shook his head. “I don’t know. To be honest, I was shocked too. I always thought my mom didn’t really like me.”

“How is that possible?” Pei Xiwang said. “I remember during your rebellious phase in high school, you hated studying and went drag racing and partying with your loser friends every day. Uncle Jiang didn’t oppose it at all, he even bought you a yacht. It was Auntie Jiang who froze all your cards, afraid you’d go astray, and she watched over you every day and sent you to school.”

The Jiang Family operated on a “lenient father, strict mother” model. Father Jiang doted on his son excessively. It was all thanks to Madam Jiang that Jiang Yucheng didn’t grow up to be a spoiled, rich wastrel.

If she didn’t like this child, why would Madam Jiang bother putting in the effort to guide him and cultivate him into an elite?

Jiang Yucheng looked a bit embarrassed. “You even remember that?”

“Of course I remember!” Pei Xiwang said indignantly. “I skipped class with you once out of curiosity, and Auntie Jiang came to my house personally to tell me not to hang out with you. When my dad found out I’d learned bad habits from you, he almost broke my legs! Do you know how much I envied you for having a great dad like Uncle Jiang back then?”

Jiang Yucheng shot back angrily, “I was way more embarrassed, okay?! My dad gave me a yacht, and I’d already made plans with people to throw a party on it. But when we got there, the yacht had been confiscated by my mom!”

Maomao: “…”

Maomao felt a pang of sadness.

Sniff. During his rebellious phase, he’d only dared to skip school and go to internet cafes to play games. Forget a yacht, he hadn’t even been on a little boat.

Qiao Man’s small face was full of longing. “A yacht…”

Lu Jianxing said, “Can’t afford one, but I can take you for a ride.”

“Really?” Qiao Man was overjoyed. “That’s great! Xingxing, you’re the best!”

“Since Auntie Jiang doesn’t want to search for her biological son, what about Uncle Jiang?” Pei Xiwang proposed another solution. “Uncle Jiang is also a blood relative. We could use his blood to help find the person. Uncle Jiang must want to find his biological son too, right?”

Jiang Yucheng’s expression darkened. “Yes, my dad is currently looking for him.”

Pei Xiwang’s face lit up with joy at his words. “Isn’t this perfect? We can introduce Master Xiao Man to Uncle Jiang.”

Jiang Yucheng shook his head. “I can’t get in touch with him anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

Jiang Yucheng revealed a bitter expression.

Growing up, he had always been closer to Father Jiang. Father Jiang was an overly doting parent, granting his every wish. Friends like Pei Xiwang all envied him for having such a good dad. But as soon as his medical checkup results came out and it was discovered that they weren’t related by blood and he was just a fake son mixed up at birth, Father Jiang flew into a rage. Already ill, he was so angered that he was hospitalized again.

This was understandable.

Anyone who discovered that the son they’d painstakingly raised for over twenty years wasn’t their biological child would feel terrible, especially since Father Jiang’s health had never been great and had gotten even worse in recent years. After being hospitalized from anger, he bluntly said he didn’t want to see Jiang Yucheng anymore.

As the fake son who had occupied the magpie’s nest¹, Jiang Yucheng dared not claim to be innocent. But facing his father’s sudden change of heart, he was truly devastated – the father-son bond of over twenty years was not fake. The reason he was racking his brains to find the real young master of the Jiang family now was partly to make Father Jiang happy.

“The reason my mother and I moved here is also because my dad was angry and didn’t want to see me,” Jiang Yucheng said vaguely. “He’s staying in the hospital recently, with bodyguards guarding the door. Unauthorized personnel can’t get in.”

Did his own son count as unauthorized personnel?

Pei Xiwang swallowed the words he was about to say.

Looking at the sadness Jiang Yucheng was desperately trying to hide, he comfortingly patted his good friend on the shoulder. “Uncle will get better. Don’t worry.”

Jiang Yucheng forced a smile. “If we can find his biological son, my dad will definitely be very happy. Maybe his health will improve too.”

“Besides the parents, other blood relatives can work too,” Qiao Man blinked and said. “If you have any siblings, you can use their blood to search as well, but it’s not as effective as using the biological parents’.”

Jiang Yucheng spread his hands helplessly. “I’m an only child.”

Maomao, who had read his fill of wealthy family gossip, twitched his lips as if to speak, but hesitated and then shut his mouth tightly.

Jiang Yucheng’s gaze fell on him. Maomao immediately looked away guiltily, examining the pattern on the armrest of his seat as if nothing was wrong. But his expression was too obvious, and Jiang Yucheng saw through it at a glance. “My father also doesn’t have any other illegitimate children.”

Maomao’s head whipped around. Qiao Man, who had watched a lot of TV dramas, also blinked curiously. “Not a single one?”

“There were supposed to be some,” Jiang Yucheng said.

Qiao Man asked, “What do you mean ‘supposed to be’?”

“My father has a hereditary illness. Probably because of that, his illegitimate children outside didn’t have very good health either. They didn’t live long and all died of illness,” Jiang Yucheng said calmly, as if discussing something that had nothing to do with him.

Of course, he was the heir that the Jiang Family had cultivated. If not for the true and false young master situation, his position would have been unshakable. Those illegitimate children had exited the stage before they could even dance in front of him. Naturally, he felt no familial affection for those half-siblings who hadn’t even appeared before his eyes. He even felt a touch of schadenfreude.

Jiang Yucheng paused for a moment, then added self-deprecatingly, “In the past, I was very happy that I hadn’t inherited his illness. Now that I think about it, I’m not his biological son, so of course I’m different from him.”

Now, he somewhat envied those people instead. At least they had a true blood connection.

With his father unreachable and no other siblings, it seemed the only option was to seek help from Madam Jiang, who was staying at this hot spring villa.

Jiang Yucheng stood up. “I’ll think of something tomorrow and see if I can convince my mother. It’s getting late, and everyone’s tired from traveling. I’ve already had staff prepare the guest rooms, so please go and rest first.”

“The water pipes in the bathrooms here are connected to a natural hot spring, so if you want to soak, you can do it right in your room.”

Young Master Jiang called someone to lead the guests to their rooms, while he himself retrieved a bottle of wine from behind the small bar in the living room. As Qiao Man, holding Lu Jianxing’s hand, walked out, he heard the clink of ice striking a glass. He looked back to see Young Master Jiang pouring drinks for himself and his friend. The two sat at the bar, clinked glasses, and a few drops of golden liquid splashed out.

They walked all the way to the guest room and soaked in the warm hot spring pool. Qiao Man lay at the edge of the pool, his fair little face flushed pink from the steam, his chin resting on his chubby hands, still puzzled.

“Why doesn’t Auntie Jiang want to find her own son?” Qiao Man muttered.

As someone who’s also a parent, Master Xiao Man would proudly proclaim that no one understands the heart of a parent better than him!

When he found out he had a son out there in the world, the regret, remorse, and relief he felt! He wasted no time in bringing his son back, wanting to present him with the very stars in the sky to make up for all the lost fatherly love.

Letting his own flesh and blood suffer out there? Master Xiao Man would never stand for that.

“Maybe she knew all along that the child wasn’t her biological son,” Lu Jianxing suddenly spoke up.

“What?” Qiao Man froze.

Lu Jianxing was soaking in the same hot spring pool, leaning back against the stone wall and letting the warm water massage his travel-weary body. “It’s just a theory of mine.”

Qiao Man stared at him, dumbfounded. “Why do you say that?”

Lu Jianxing reminded him, “Remember? That Young Master Jiang said he found out from his latest medical checkup that he’s not the Jiang family’s biological son. But people have many checkups from childhood on. Unless there was something wrong with this specific result, all the previous ones must have been tampered with.”

And the person most likely to have tampered with those results was probably Madam Jiang, who showed no interest in finding her biological son.

Qiao Man was stunned. He felt his little brain whir into overdrive. “Could it be… could it be that she switched them herself?”

“Very possible.”

Qiao Man’s brain completely short-circuited.

Who would deliberately switch out their own child and raise someone else’s stranger instead?

Isn’t that just too bizarre?

Even the worldly Master Xiao Man had never encountered something as absurd as this!

Both being parents, he absolutely couldn’t understand why Madam Jiang would choose to raise someone else’s child. Just like how Maomao often begged to be his son, but he felt no fatherly bond with Maomao at all!

Lu Jianxing was also deep in thought.

But the clues they had so far were too fragmented to piece together.

To learn the truth, they might need to ask Madam Jiang herself.

Suddenly, the child’s soft little body leaned over, small arms wrapping around him.

“Xingxing, don’t worry.” Qiao Man hugged him, pressing his chubby cheek against him and squeezing into his arms. He looked up with a serious expression. “I like you the most. I would never swap you for someone else.”

Lu Jianxing: “…”

Well, thanks, but…

He paused for a moment, then replied, “Mm.”

…

The next day, a professional styling team arrived at Hot Spring Villa.

The villa also had a dedicated beauty room, usually used by Madam Jiang.

For now, while Madam Jiang wasn’t around, Qiao Man sat in a raised chair draped in a barber’s cape, his short legs dangling in the air. He watched in the mirror as his messy mop of soft hair was trimmed neat, the stylist blow-drying it into a cute style. A beautician came over to massage his chubby cheeks and apply some sweet-smelling baby lotion.

After the whole wash, cut, and blow-dry, he hopped off the chair looking twice as adorable. The ladies on the styling team cooed in high-pitched voices, “Baby, baby, how are you this cute?”

When Madam Jiang came to the beauty room for her daily treatment, she saw the familiar staff gathered around a child, showering him with exaggerated compliments.

She glanced at the child with mild confusion, recalling he was brought by her son’s childhood friend, Pei Xiwang. Madam Jiang had little interest in children, so she quickly lay down on the beauty bed. The staff brought out her usual skincare products and began her facial treatment.

With her eyes closed, she let the beautician apply lotion to her face in the familiar routine. But today something felt different. After the beautician applied a sheet mask and left, she could still faintly hear a soft, steady breathing nearby.

She opened her eyes in bewilderment to find a vaguely familiar child right in front of her, leaning against the beauty bed and staring at her with curious, bright eyes.

Madam Jiang jumped in fright, bolting upright as she clutched her chest, still shaken. “…What are you doing?!”

A little embarrassed, Qiao Man stepped back. “Sorry, Auntie, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just reading your face.”

“My face?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Qiao Man tilted his head up, studying her features carefully. But her earlier skincare products had blocked the way, and now with the sheet mask on, he couldn’t see anything clearly.

“But I can see that you have a very, very thick Kinship Line on you.” Qiao Man’s little finger pointed at her, then toward another part of the villa—the direction of Young Master Jiang, Jiang Yucheng. “You and your son have such a great bond!”

Just like the wonderful bond he had with Xingxing.

For someone to have such a thick Kinship Line, Madam Jiang must be a wonderful mother.

Qiao Man gave her a cute smile, the dimples on his cheeks faintly appearing.

“What Kinship Line?” Madam Jiang listened, bewildered. Seeing his young age, she didn’t take his childish ramblings seriously and just said lazily, “You came with Xiaocheng’s friend, right? Go find Xiaocheng to play. Besides the hot springs, you can ride horses and fish here too. If you want to go up the mountain, make sure an adult goes with you.”

Madam Jiang lay back down and closed her eyes.

“…Oh.”

Qiao Man obediently answered.

But he hadn’t finished. Madam Jiang had two Kinship Lines—one connected to Jiang Yucheng, the other stretching into the distance. One was thick and strong; the other, on the verge of snapping, hung by a thread. The second one, he figured, belonged to her real son.

But Madam Jiang had her eyes shut and clearly had no interest in engaging with him, so he let it go and obediently scampered out.

He dashed all the way out to the living room, where he found Lu Jianxing. Qiao Man launched himself toward him in delight. “Xingxing, I want to go horseback riding!”

…

Fifteen minutes later, the esthetician came back and peeled the mask off Madam Jiang’s face.

She continued applying lotion to Madam Jiang’s skin while chatting idly with the other staff.

“I never expected Master Xiao Man to be a friend of the young master,” the esthetician said. “When I saw him here, I was startled—I thought I’d mistaken him for someone else. But he was with Lu Jianxing, so it had to be Master Xiao Man.”

“I wonder if Master Xiao Man would be willing to do a reading. There’s actually something I’d like to ask him to divine for me…”

Madam Jiang’s eyes flew open. “What master?”

“Master Xiao Man, of course,” the esthetician said. “Madam, haven’t you seen the news online? Master Xiao Man is famous. He’s incredibly capable—he does fortune-telling and even solves cases. He helped Shao Jingqiu find her long-lost biological daughter not long ago.”

Madam Jiang froze. “Are you saying… that child just now is a master?!”

“That’s right. Don’t let his age fool you—he’s incredibly capable… Madam?!”

The esthetician stared blankly as Madam Jiang’s expression suddenly shifted. All composure forgotten, she didn’t even bother washing the product off her face as she scrambled to her feet and rushed out after him.

Translator’s Notes