The road ahead gradually narrowed.
The car was forced to slow down.
The pavement was no longer smooth, with potholes scattered throughout.
In a place like this, almost no one cleared the snow.
Even fewer people bothered to properly repair the roads.
To the local government, this area held no value.
Scenes along the way flickered past.
A long-abandoned newsstand stood tilted by the roadside, its iron sheets rusted and edges curled.
An abandoned school stood silently, its windows smashed into jagged pieces, the dark classrooms looking like hollowed-out eye sockets.
There was also a community clinic where large patches of wall plaster had fallen off, revealing the yellowed concrete beneath.
The narrow river of the Wangjiang District was not far away.
The riverbank was neglected, and weeds grew wild.
The withered yellow and dark green tangled together, looking like colors forgotten by time.
The exterior wall of a street-side lottery station was somewhere between gray and yellow.
It had faded so much that the original color was nearly indistinguishable.
Everything here looked like a scene crudely cut out of an old photograph.
A small supermarket nearby was lit with cold white lights.
This was nearly the only remaining amenity for the entire neighborhood.
Further ahead was Gu Yebai’s home.
“Xingfu Neighborhood.”
The mottled characters hung over the entrance.
It carried an atmosphere from around the turn of the millennium—like Chinese dreamcore: real, yet distorted.
“It feels like going back to the late nineties.”
Gao Hongzhi slowed the car and turned.
The Volvo drove through the iron gates into the neighborhood.
Pipes on the exterior of the buildings were exposed to the open air, crisscrossing in every direction.
Jars for pickled vegetables were piled in the corners.
“Little Gu’s living conditions are truly difficult.”
Ya Xinyao’s voice was very soft.
Her eyes were already slightly red.
She subconsciously hugged the gift she had prepared for Gu Yebai tightly to her chest.
‘This is…’
‘The life I was originally supposed to have,’ Gao Hongyi murmured softly.
There were no floor-to-ceiling windows like those in Tomson Riviera here.
There couldn’t possibly be a piano worth 1 million.
There were no meticulously designed evening gowns, and certainly no safe, dignified future.
There was only reality here—and the marks left behind by reality repeatedly grinding everything down.
‘Uncle Bai…’
The name lingered on the tip of her tongue for a moment, carrying an attachment that almost overflowed.
She knew very well that she had plundered a life that didn’t belong to her.
Wearing a princess’s gown, she had stood in the position that should have been Gu Yebai’s, receiving everyone’s attention and blessings.
And Gu Yebai, through words alone, had become the person she loved most during countless silent nights.
Now, she was finally going to meet him.
Guilt, love, pity, and a nearly pathological yearning for the future—these emotions overlapped layer by layer.
They gave Gao Hongyi a sense of surreal dizziness, as if she were standing on the edge of a dream.
‘It’s okay,’ she told herself.
Next, she could pull Uncle Bai out of the mud.
She would wash him clean and then pack him up to take him away.
They would go to the clouds together and live a life unthreatened by reality.
They would stick together day and night.
Not even death would be able to part them.
Many “firsts” in life required a partner.
The first date, the first kiss, the first time truly surrendering their souls and bodies to one another.
They would get married.
They would have children.
Finally, they would draw their last breaths while looking into each other’s eyes.
“Be careful, Hongyi, I haven’t even come to a full stop yet.”
As the car slowed, Gao Hongyi already pushed the door open.
She truly couldn’t restrain herself any longer.
The joy and love in her heart were like an active volcano about to erupt.
“I’m here, Uncle Bai!”
She didn’t even consider whether she would disturb the neighborhood residents.
Her silver studded high heels stepped onto the pavement.
Her burgundy evening gown swayed in the night, looking like a mass of scorching, dangerous fire.
The address had long been confirmed during her father’s phone call with Gu Yebai.
Building Ten, Unit One, Room 502.
Gao Hongyi’s gaze swept around rapidly.
Almost before her parents could even get out of the car, she had already locked onto the unit building.
‘I won’t let you suffer anymore, Uncle Bai…’
‘I’ve come to love you, Uncle Bai.’
‘And you must fall deeply in love with me too.’
Gao Hongyi had a nearly arrogant confidence in her own appearance.
In this world, no one was immune to beauty.
Those who said they didn’t care about looks and only cared about the soul were merely hypocrites who were better at pretending.
Her face was the weapon she would use to conquer Uncle Bai.
‘Prepare yourself, Uncle Bai.’
At this moment, Gao Hongyi suddenly felt that the fact she possessed a face capable of making anyone’s heart swoon was divine providence.
It was a blessing from the god of fate, allowing her to settle the score tonight.
Her beauty existed for Gu Yebai.
She was grateful from the bottom of her heart that she possessed such a beautiful shell.
She stepped onto the stairs, practically running up.
The heels of her shoes made crisp, hurried tapping sounds in the stairwell.
She was getting closer.
The first floor.
The second floor.
The third floor.
The fourth floor.
And then, the fifth floor where Gu Yebai lived.
Finally, finally…
“Uncle Bai!”
She raised her hand and knocked on the door.
Meanwhile, her parents had only just reached the second floor.
Originally, Gu Yebai had planned to spend the entire weekend honestly working on his novel.
However, after the video call with Yi ended, he felt a bit lightheaded, as if his soul had been snatched away.
Immediately after, the phone rang again.
It was a call from Yi’s father.
Can I take your father’s place and watch over your life?
When those words reached his ears, Gu Yebai realized he had no reason to refuse.
From that moment on, the direction of things began to feel a bit off.
He was originally just a listener, sitting on this side of the screen, quietly listening to Little Yi’s story.
But at some point, he had suddenly stepped into the story itself—and into the role of the male lead.
Gu Yebai couldn’t help but feel an absurd illusion, as if he had stepped into thin air and transmigrated directly into a trashy novel with a cliché plot and crude logic driven entirely by coincidence.
What about fate?
Fate was like a brothel madam with a wicked sense of humor, smiling at him.
‘Little Gu, a guest is here. Go greet them.’
‘What? You want to rest?’
‘Make good money, and Mommy will love you.’
And so, Gu Yebai was pushed to the forefront for no apparent reason.
His feelings for his father and mother were sincere.
That parting of life and death was something no one could ever replace.
But now, a Shanghai Dad and a Shanghai Mom had suddenly appeared, telling him that they were his biological parents and inviting him to shed his identity as a poor man to return to Donghai as a young master.
Was this really okay?
Actually, Gu Yebai knew very well that his biological parents hadn’t done anything wrong.
The moment they discovered the children had been swapped, they came looking for him.
They weren’t in the wrong.
It was just that he was truly afraid.
He was afraid that their kindness would slowly, bit by bit, replace the parents who shared no blood relation with him.
Gu Yebai looked at the funeral photos on the desk again.
Gu Chengfeng’s bright smile.
Lu Xiaomai’s gentle smile.
They were his parents.
Gu Yebai felt a sense of rejection toward this whole situation, yet he couldn’t voice it.
This was a world where no one had done anything wrong.
Yet, Gu Chengfeng and Lu Xiaomai had already become irreplaceable.
If they were still alive, they would surely say with a smile: “Go, son. Go chase a happy life!”
But… he was really afraid.
He was afraid that one day he would forget them.
That one day, he would be numbed by a honey-sweet life and forget the warmth he had experienced while living in the mud.
This easily attainable happiness also made a strong sense of guilt rise in his heart for no reason.
His parents were gone.
He hadn’t been able to save them, yet he had escaped.
There were some things one might never be able to move past, even after a lifetime of wandering.
Just as Gu Yebai was struggling to understand his own heart, a knock suddenly came from the door.
Immediately after, a sweet and clear voice rang out from the other side of the wooden panel.
“Uncle Bai!”