3: incoming call

Yan Zhuohua had miscalculated. At eight in the morning, his fully charged phone began playing its melodious tune once again.

Without even opening his eyes, Yan Zhuohua mechanically answered the call.

"This better be urgent!" Yan Zhuohua's voice was fierce, yet tinged with sleepiness.

The person on the other end clearly hadn't expected this reaction. After a long silence, during which Yan Zhuohua nearly drifted off again, a crisp male voice finally spoke: "It's me, Yan Qinghe."

Yan Zhuohua snapped awake instantly.

"You... is something wrong?"

"I received word that you've returned to A City."

"Then your sources are quite accurate," Yan Zhuohua replied, purely for the sake of saying something.

For a moment, both fell silent again.

"I want to meet with you. What time would be convenient?" Yan Qinghe's voice finally came through again.

You're certainly confident; I haven't even agreed yet and you're already setting a time. Yan Zhuohua really wanted to retort, but he held it back.

"When did you have in mind?"

Yan Qinghe didn't seem to expect the question to be turned back on him, but he quickly replied, "Let's do lunch today then, at twelve. I'll send you the address."

? What's the rush? Don't you have work today? It's not like I'm going to run away.

Forget it. Yan Zhuohua looked up at the time. Not bad—he could still sleep for another three hours!

"Fine, I'll be there on time."

Having received confirmation, Yan Qinghe quickly hung up.

Yan Zhuohua put down his phone, closed his eyes, and went back to sleep.

Five minutes later, Yan Zhuohua sat up in bed in a rage, irritably mussing his hair before letting out a sigh.

He couldn't sleep.

Infuriating.

Yan Zhuohua simply got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. He ordered breakfast delivery, planning to eat while secretly checking the situation on the social media platform. He felt somewhat guilty.

When he opened his phone, it showed the call log from the conversation that had just ended. The three words 'Yan Qinghe' were clearly displayed at the top.

Yan Qinghe—five years ago, he was called Ning Qinghe.

Five years ago, when Yan Zhuohua was fifteen, he was already the set-in-stone next heir of the Yan Family. From the moment he began learning to read and write, the family had groomed him to be a qualified successor. His curriculum and education covered every aspect, and he had performed perfectly.

But in the year Yan Zhuohua turned fifteen, a nurse named Sun Qian came to their door.

It was a cliché enough story. She claimed to be a nurse who had helped deliver Yan Zhuohua's mother, Jiang Fu Yue, fifteen years ago. While Jiang Fu Yue was in the hospital awaiting delivery, the nurse had met an old woman named Shen Mei. The old woman had a son named Ning Wei and a daughter-in-law named Qin Yue. The son, Ning Wei, was an ordinary street thug and a drunkard—a typical waste of space spoiled by his mother. Had his mother not had some savings, Ning Wei's wife, Qin Yue, probably wouldn't have even been able to give birth in a hospital.

Perhaps sharing a similar dissatisfaction with life, the old woman and Sun Qian became acquainted. From Sun Qian, the old woman learned that there was a woman named Jiang Fu Yue giving birth in the penthouse suite, whose husband was the top tycoon in A City. Her due date was nearly the same as that of her daughter-in-law, Qin Yue.

The more information she heard from Sun Qian, the more resentment and greed toward the wealthy family grew within her.

Soon, the old woman came up with a brilliant idea.

Switch the two families' children.

That way, the Ning Family's child could grow up in a superior environment, while the Yan Family's child would have to suffer in the Ning Family. This was revenge against the rich. Then, when the children grew up, she would reveal the truth. With one being their biological child and the other being raised by them, both children would have to repay the Ning Family and obey them, thereby obtaining a vast amount of wealth from the Yan Family. This was to satisfy her own selfish desires.

The old woman promised Sun Qian that the child would surely repay her when he grew up. Out of resentment for the rich and greed for future benefits, Sun Qian was afraid, but she ultimately agreed.

They actually succeeded in switching the children.

Unexpectedly, the old woman died just a few years later. Sun Qian lost contact with the Ning Family.

But many years later, Sun Qian developed cancer. On her way home one day, she accidentally recognized the old woman's son, Ning Wei. She followed him and saw the child who had been switched all those years ago: Ning Qinghe.

Thus, with death approaching, Sun Qian had a change of heart. She intercepted the Yan Family's car in the Yan Group parking garage and told them everything.

Soon, the DNA comparison results came back. Yan Zhuohua was not the Yan Family's child; Ning Qinghe was.

The sudden revelation left the young Yan Zhuohua quite dazed. However, he had been raised as an heir by the Yan Family since childhood, instilling in him upright values and a sense of responsibility. After locking himself in his room for a night, he decided to leave the Yan Family and let everything return to its proper course.

Thus, Ning Qinghe returned to the Yan Family. Fortunately, both were only fifteen at the time, and Ning Qinghe's grades were excellent. With careful grooming, he would likely be able to take over the Yan Family. So, Ning Qinghe changed back to his rightful surname and became Yan Qinghe.

Yan Zhuohua, however, did not return to the Ning Family. Over a decade of being raised together meant the bond couldn't be easily forgotten, so he kept the surname Yan. But Yan Zhuohua still chose to temporarily leave the Yan Family to make his own way. He hoped to pay back the money the Yan Family had spent on him before returning cleanly and clearly. Before leaving home, Yan Zhuohua promised the Yan mother, Jiang Fu Yue, that he would return to visit once a year and call every month.

However, Yan Zhuohua was so focused on avoiding any appearance of impropriety that, aside from the money he sent back on schedule, he hadn't made contact once.

The Yan Family hadn't given up on Yan Zhuohua, but they couldn't sway his stubborn nature. In the end, they agreed to let him pay back twenty million in upbringing costs. In reality, the money the Yan Family had spent on Yan Zhuohua over fifteen years far exceeded that amount, but the Yan Family didn't want to measure their affection that way. They only accepted the twenty million figure and, on the grounds that gifts didn't count as upbringing costs, insisted Yan Zhuohua keep the house they had bought for him during middle school.

After leaving home, Yan Zhuohua carefully considered everything he could do and finally discovered that professional gaming was his only way out. He wasn't considered a child laborer, he was very good at it, he could continue his studies if he played well, the pay was high, and it included room and board... it was perfect. To put some distance between himself and home, he specifically chose a team located in B City, far to the south.

Over the next five years, Yan Zhuohua became an esports player. His skills were top-tier, and his years of elite education gave him great insight into calculation and judgment, so he quickly became a top-level player.

Through live streaming, endorsements, signing fees, and prize money, Yan Zhuohua had paid off the twenty million within two years.

However, as he kept playing, he succumbed to the charm of esports. Combined with his desire for another championship and his reluctance to return home just yet, he continued playing for another three years until he won his third global championship two days ago and retired.

Meanwhile, Yan Qinghe was at the Yan Family learning how to be an heir. It was said he had already joined the company two years ago.

Actually, the relationship between Yan Zhuohua and Yan Qinghe was decent. Perhaps because Yan Zhuohua was so "sensible" and Yan Qinghe was not fond of communication, there was no tension between them; they were more like brothers who weren't very close.

His thoughts returning to the present, Yan Zhuohua looked at the name 'Yan Qinghe' on his phone, somewhat confused about why he was looking for him. He hadn't planned on returning to the Yan Family immediately upon his return.

Mainly, he had promised to stay in touch but had failed to do so for five years. He estimated that if he went back, he'd likely face a joint tribunal and then be dragged to the ancestral hall to face the family rules.

Terrifying! As a good boy, Yan Zhuohua had rarely experienced something like family rules, except for that one year when he was ten... Yan Zhuohua subconsciously took a sip of soy milk, only to realize he'd been reminiscing for so long that his breakfast was getting cold.

Out of respect for food, Yan Zhuohua immediately pulled back his thoughts and stopped pondering the purpose of these matters. He turned to open his social media platform to continue what he had originally intended to do.

He failed. There were too many messages, and his app froze. Yan Zhuohua felt guilty again.

After a long while, he finally managed to open the app. After clearing his unread messages with one click, he slowly scrolled to the post he had made the day before yesterday.

There were many comments under the post, even more than the one about winning the championship.

Yan Zhuohua browsed through them and had to admire the fans' talent; even their expressions of opinion and anger were quite sophisticated. It was fascinating to read. Of course, if they weren't talking about him, Yan Zhuohua might have enjoyed it more. Speaking of which, although he hadn't done anything wrong, he ultimately felt he owed the fans something.

Giving them a blow to the head while they were in high spirits was a bit much.

Actually, quite a few fans supported all his decisions, but logic and emotion can never fully coexist. Some fans' messages were heartfelt and sincere, making one's heart ache upon reading them.

Yan Zhuohua then turned to the team's official social media account. The official account had reposted his announcement and also posted a separate farewell message. The comments here were even more tragic.

Perhaps realizing that Yan Zhuohua wouldn't respond, the fans focused their fire on the team's official account. Yan Zhuohua felt his guilt was about to make him vanish.

Luckily I was smart and blocked all the Official Weibo Manager's contact info in advance, otherwise I probably wouldn't have survived. Yan Zhuohua thought of his foresight and felt smug again.

But in the end, he couldn't just leave things like this. After all, the fans were urgently waiting for an explanation, and the manager wasn't ready to lose all her hair yet, so he still had to appease them.

Yan Zhuohua unblocked the manager's contact methods one by one and then sent a transfer of ten thousand yuan. He then reopened the social media platform, composed a post to appease the fans and explain his actions, and added a giveaway of one hundred thousand yuan for one hundred people before clicking send.

Hopefully, for the sake of the money, everyone will give me a break.

Amen.

By the time he finished breakfast, it was already nine o'clock. Seeing he still had time, Yan Zhuohua continued packing his remaining luggage—there wasn't much left. He worked at a leisurely pace, occasionally opening his phone to reply to concerned friends and invitations from friends in A City.

By the time he had completely finished all the packing, it was just before eleven o'clock. Yan Zhuohua tidied himself up a bit. Not bad—despite the lack of sleep, he was still the fair-skinned and beautiful (scratched out) strikingly handsome and energetic Yan Zhuohua! Time to head out!

The meeting place was a bit far, a restaurant called Restaurant Name. By the time Yan Zhuohua reached his destination, it was 11:50. He was quickly led by a waiter to the reserved private room.

Yan Qinghe was already waiting inside.