Chu Rong was right; gossip is indeed human nature. Almost no one dislikes gossip. 

The Chu family was massive, with extensive businesses, so naturally, there were quite a few disputes. 

Although on the surface there had never been any white-hot family feuds, in the eyes of outsiders, being a wealthy family meant there simply had to be many hidden scandals. 

Various melodramatic tales about the different branches of the Chu family were embellished and exaggerated. Along with the decline of print media like gossip weeklies and the rise of new internet media, these stories became known to young and old alike. 

Type "Jianghu Chu Family" into any search engine, and an overwhelming array of sprawling gossip would flood the screen, leaving onlookers dizzy. 

Netizens with mundane, boring lives relished eating these wealthy family "melons" on Weibo, WeChat Official Accounts, and even platforms like Zhihu and Douban. 

Every now and then, someone would leave a comment: In the era of big data, everyone is transparent. The rich need to keep their tails tucked between their legs, otherwise they'll be exposed! Fire can't be wrapped in paper!

But could paper really not wrap fire? 

Chu Qiubai didn't think so. At least, he alone had many secrets that had been kept perfectly hidden. 

One of them was his dream. 

A nightmare. 

It happened many years ago. 

But Chu Qiubai still remembered it very clearly. It was a late afternoon with beautiful weather. 

Chu Jianglai had just turned nineteen not long ago, and he himself was exactly twenty-four, right in the prime of his youth. Back then, he had plenty of time and knew almost nothing, yet he thought he could live his entire life perfectly well. 

That day, the chauffeur took Han Ruiqin to another madam's house to play cards. Before leaving, Han Ruiqin ordered Chu Qiubai, who was resting at home on his day off, to go to the airport and pick up Chu Zhentian, who was returning from a business trip. 

Chu Qiubai knew his mother did this intentionally so that father and son could have a proper talk. 

Having only recently gotten his driver's license, Chu Qiubai drove very carefully. A forty-minute trip took him over an hour. His unskillful driving made Chu Zhentian very uneasy, so for the return trip, his father insisted on driving himself. 

Chu Qiubai obediently gave up the driver's seat and sat in the passenger side. He never fixated on trivial matters; he saved all his stubbornness and autocracy for the major events in his life. 

Ever since Chu Qiubai stubbornly chose to study medicine against his family's advice to study finance or business, the father and son hadn't had a proper conversation in a long time. 

Intending to ease their relationship, Chu Zhentian took the initiative to ask him about his life and work at the hospital. Leaning his forehead lightly against the car window, Chu Qiubai answered casually, but his mind was occupied with what snacks he should have the servants prepare for Chu Jianglai later. 

Chu Jianglai had a heavy course load and hadn't been home much these past few days. On the rare occasion he did come back, the first thing he did was cry hunger to him. It was as if the school cafeteria was just for show—away from his brother, he could never get full. 

The conversation circled round and round before eventually returning to the core issue. Tapping the steering wheel with his index finger, Chu Zhentian sighed: "Just because our family is in the medical business doesn't mean you have to do clinical medicine. I'm nearing retirement age, and someone has to take over the company." 

Lowering his eyes to carefully study the pale pink crescent at the base of his thumbnail, Chu Qiubai didn't reply. He thought: Maybe I'll have the kitchen make a Basque cheesecake. Chu Jianglai loves it. Last time, he ate a whole one by himself and ended up slumped on the sofa, burping from being too full.

Thinking of Chu Jianglai rubbing his belly with those drooping puppy eyes, Chu Qiubai smiled slightly. 

His smile gave Chu Zhentian a headache—it was a symbol of non-violent non-cooperation. 

Anger bubbled up within Chu Zhentian out of nowhere. "Are you even listening to me?" 

"Isn't Jianglai here? He's studying business." Still not moving his forehead from the glass, Chu Qiubai watched nonchalantly as the green railings of the elevated highway rapidly flew backward in his vision. 

"Is that the same thing?" Chu Zhentian grew even more furious for no apparent reason. 

"What's the difference?" Playing dumb, Chu Qiubai asked, "Jianglai is so smart, his grades in school are much better than mine. It's perfectly fine for him to take over the company." 

Choking on his words, Chu Zhentian's knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel, looking as if he were so angry he was about to have a heart attack. 

"Perfectly fine?! You want me to hand the company over to an outsider?" 

Chu Qiubai immediately added fuel to the fire. "An outsider?" He said in a calm, half-joking tone, "It's a pity you and Mom didn't have a daughter. If Jianglai married a daughter of the Chu family, he'd truly be one of our own." 

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!" Chu Zhentian's face visibly darkened. 

Although Chu Jianglai was raised under Chu Zhentian's sponsorship, his household registration and family were not with them; he held a foreign citizenship. 

Even though the Chu elders uniformly claimed to the public that Chu Jianglai was a child they sponsored, the affection born of growing up together, coupled with his father's equally deep fondness for the boy, had gradually made Chu Qiubai forget Chu Jianglai's origins. 

Perhaps because he was genuinely furious, Chu Zhentian didn't speak again for a long time after his reprimand. 

Resting his chin on his hand, Chu Qiubai looked out the window in sheer boredom. His thoughts drifted a little further, recalling the day he laid his cards on the table with Chu Zhentian about pursuing a medical career. 

"Study business." 

When it came time to fill out his college applications, his father's preference was exceedingly clear and his attitude uncompromising. 

But Chu Qiubai was absent-minded. At that moment, his head was entirely filled with the image of those baby mice trapped under the magnifying glass, squeaking as they burned to ash. 

The baby mice had just been born, only a fifth the size of a palm. The tiny, newborn creatures hadn't even opened their eyes to see the world yet. Six pink, hairless little balls of flesh huddled together, squeaking, shivering on the cement-colored floor tiles. 

August was the hottest time of the year, and the midday sun heated the dark gray cement floor until it burned. Even a young primary school student would have seen the educational warning "any reflection from broken glass can start a forest fire" numerous times in the city's ubiquitous fire prevention PSAs. 

Placing a magnifying glass under the sun could set those furry little creatures on fire. That was common sense, known even to an eight- or nine-year-old child. 

Moreover, standing not far away, watching everything expressionlessly, was Chu Jianglai. He had shown astonishing precociousness since childhood; it was impossible for him not to realize the extreme cruelty behind this slaughter. Yet he didn't intervene. On the contrary, he stared intently at the scene of the massacre, standing by with an indifferent, almost enjoying expression. 

Under the magnifying glass, the baby mice focused upon by the sun let out agonizing squeaks, eventually rolling in the flames until they became curled, charred husks... 

His father, firmly trying to persuade him to study business, noticed his inattention and knocked sternly on the desk. 

"Ah, sorry." Snapping back to reality, Chu Qiubai nodded obediently. "You want me to study business. What else?" 

Chu Zhentian looked displeased, but recalling his exceptionally outstanding college entrance exam scores, his expression softened a little. "You've rested enough these past few days. Starting next week, you'll intern at the company. I want you to start from the basics and rotate through the various departments to learn, preparing you to be the future..." 

"Dad," Chu Qiubai interrupted him. "I actually don't want to join the company that much." 

The distinct burnt smell of protein emitted when the baby mice were charred seemed to still linger at the tip of his nose. Chu Qiubai felt a physiological discomfort. 

He thought of the Buddhist hall in the main Chu residence, and the kind-faced, all-seeing Guanyin Bodhisattva. The words karmic retribution rang in his ears like a deafening alarm bell. The Heart Sutra he had copied just that afternoon wove into a brilliant, resonant hum in his mind: "When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound Prajna Paramita, he illuminated the Five Skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty. Shariputra! Form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form..."

Chu Qiubai turned serious and told his father, "I'm not very interested in business." 

"Not interested?" 

"Yes, I want to study medicine." 

Chu Zhentian pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "That works too. Then choose the research track. Even though our US branch hasn't been able to establish a Chinese team capable of independently completing scientific research projects, we've made numerous attempts. In the future, mastering foreign technologies to control them is a certainty. If you're willing to put effort into research in related fields, that's not unacceptable either. Come to think of it, your Uncle Wang also came from a research institute background." 

That "Uncle Wang" was someone Chu Zhentian had single-handedly promoted to the board of directors, basically his right-hand man. 

"In the future, scientists starting their own businesses will be a massive trend. The dividends in the medical industry are huge, and the country has already started vigorously supporting scientists who hold technological patents—" 

"No, Dad. When I say I want to study medicine, I mean clinical medicine." 

"Clinical?" 

"Yes." Having made up his mind, Chu Qiubai raised his normally flat tone just a fraction and said, "I want to be a surgeon." 

As if hearing a joke, Chu Zhentian chewed over his answer again. "A doctor?" 

"You mean you want to go to the frontlines and operate on people?" 

"Yes." 

"Nonsense!" 

Chu Zhentian's reaction was entirely expected. Chu Qiubai told him calmly, "Dad, I'm not speaking nonsense. I've already decided." 

Chu Zhentian naturally wouldn't allow his eldest son to become a frontline surgeon who had to be stationed long-term at a hospital. In a severe tone, he said, "You cannot decide something like this on your own." 

"Why not? It's my own life." 

"You don't have your own life." The look Chu Zhentian gave him was cold and carried a hint of contempt. "You were born into the Chu family, as my eldest son. That destined you never to possess a life truly 'your own'." 

"I don't believe that." 

"This is the rule of this family, and it doesn't require your agreement." Anger showed on Chu Zhentian's face. "Since you were born here and bask in the glory of the Chu surname, the family's interests should rightfully be your greatest consideration for your entire life. What career you pursue, who you marry, how many children you have—all of it must place the Chu family's interests first." 

"Dad." Chu Qiubai paused, then finally said, "I am not your bargaining chip to maintain the Chu family's glory." 

Chu Zhentian stared at him for a few seconds, his tone growing even more severe. "You're not a child anymore; you should understand some basic truths." 

"I don't understand. Are you saying that back when you chose to expand the medical equipment sector and chose to marry Mom, it was all purely for the Chu family's interests?" 

Chu Qiubai couldn't clearly remember how Chu Zhentian answered back then. 

He only knew that if he were to ask the exact same question right now, Chu Zhentian, currently frustrated and slamming the gas pedal in the driver's seat, would definitely answer "Yes." 

That conversation many years ago ultimately ended with Chu Zhentian compromising. 

In a towering rage, Chu Zhentian slammed the desk and roared, "You are your mother's only son! How could she possibly agree to let you become a doctor?!" 

Even though Chu Qiubai immediately confronted his red-eyed, furious father on the spot, asking, "What do you mean Mom only has me as her son? Do you have other children outside?", Chu Zhentian simply treated him as if he were being unreasonable and forcefully brushed the question aside. 

In the end, not wanting to say anything more, his father reluctantly agreed: "Study whatever you want." But he appended a curse-like prediction: "There will come a day when you regret this." 

It was also at that moment that Chu Qiubai finally confirmed that the reason his scandal-ridden father hadn't divorced his mother all this time was simply because he didn't want to split the company shares and lose the Chu family's absolute controlling power. 

Fortunately, Han Ruiqin was broad-minded. Whether it was his business or his other affairs, she asked no questions. For all these years, she comfortably played the role of a wealthy, idle wife at home. 

In the past, friends who couldn't stand watching it happen advised her to pay more attention to her husband's company and his affections. Han Ruiqin, however, was even more untethered than those ladies. "Why should I worry about making money? Are all those highly educated, highly paid young people at the company just sitting around doing nothing?! As for those wild flowers outside... Oh, please, that's just how society is nowadays. Even if Chu Zhentian doesn't go touching them, they'll come trying to touch him. If I got angry over every little thing, how could I keep up? Either way, our family isn't losing out. Besides, even if those wild ones outside get knocked up, as long as the child is born, they still have to call me 'Mom'." 

She appeared so generous and open-minded that over time, no one dared to gossip about her family matters in front of her anymore. 

Yet even so, no one truly knew if Han Ruiqin was actually as unbothered as she appeared. 

The traffic situation ahead was just as unideal as the mood of the two people in the car. Distracted by his conversation with Chu Qiubai, Chu Zhentian accidentally took the wrong turn. Driving too fast, by the time he snapped out of it, they had already missed the best opportunity to correct their course. 

Continuing onward, they merged onto a narrow, unfamiliar bridge road, and their speed gradually slowed down. 

Two heavily loaded, heavy-duty flatbed semi-trailers were squeezed into the same lane ahead of them, inching forward with extremely little space between them. 

Having a lot on his mind, Chu Zhentian actually wished the traffic jam would last a bit longer so he could gather his thoughts. He didn't rush to overtake them like he usually would, merely following along leisurely. But the drivers behind them didn't have his good temper; the constant blaring of horns made even Chu Qiubai in the passenger seat feel a bit anxious. 

Just as Chu Qiubai rolled down the window to get some fresh air, he heard his biological father say, "Mind your own business when it comes to Jianglai. I won't give the company to him. You are my son. Even if Chu Jianglai wants to fight for it, you must hold your ground!" 

As the window rolled down just a crack, choking exhaust fumes instantly filled the cabin. Rapidly rolling the window back up, Chu Qiubai asked, "Do you think the two of us are fighting to be your successor?" 

He kept one highly disrespectful thought hidden in his heart: Who do you think you are? The Emperor? 

But just the sentence he did say out loud was enough to make Chu Zhentian laugh. He laughed at how he could have raised such a naive son. 

"Who doesn't like money?" 

Chu Qiubai lifted his eyelids faintly to glance at him, his gaze blunt and sharp. "Do you think money can buy everything?" 

"Can't it?" Chu Zhentian shot back sarcastically. "Then go ask your mother if she'd still turn a blind eye to my affairs if she lost her no-limit black card." 

Hoping his eldest son would quickly see the true nature of the world—even to the point of revealing that his marriage to his wife was purely based on mutual interest—Chu Zhentian hardly seemed like a father at all. 

When it came down to it, he himself was nothing more than a selfish young master who had been steeped in money and power his entire life. 

"What age are we living in? Do you really still believe that emotions triumph over interests?" 

The reprimanded Chu Qiubai silently stared at his father, as if scrutinizing a complete stranger. 

Chu Qiubai had accidentally discovered that his father, who kept harping on about never leaving the family business to an outsider, had set up a separate trust fund containing hundreds of millions in cash. The beneficiaries were Chu Jianglai and a woman suspected to be his biological mother. 

He had thought that this trust document was his father's only secret. Unexpectedly, it seemed to be merely the tip of the iceberg, a single drop in the bucket of Chu Zhentian's many unspeakable truths. 

Chu Qiubai had long known that his father was promiscuous, unfaithful in marriage, and morally corrupt. But he was also resolute, sharp, dared to dream and execute, and possessed immense drive and a strong sense of purpose in his career. 

He was the one who brought Chu Qiubai into this world, gave him life, provided him with a comfortable lifestyle and an excellent education. And when he was in a good mood, he would lift the tiny Chu Qiubai up, toss him high in the air, and catch him securely. 

Chu Qiubai detested him, yet he admired him. 

What kind of person was his father, exactly? 

The bewildering circumstances complicated everything. Caught in a web of mysteries, Chu Qiubai frowned deeply. Plagued by contradictions, he subconsciously reached up to touch the brooch Chu Jianglai had given him. 

"Shouldn't I believe that? The biggest difference between humans and beasts is that humans possess morals and emotions." 

Grasping the steering wheel with both hands, Chu Zhentian turned his face slightly, revealing a frustrated expression of anger born from disappointment. "Stop being so naive! Look how old you are, you should have grown up by now. Jianglai is—" 

For many years afterward, Chu Qiubai frequently wondered: What was that sentence Chu Zhentian was trying to say that day? 

Jianglai is more mature than you? 

Jianglai is more realistic than you? 

Or maybe, what he wanted to say was: Jianglai is just an outsider. Unlike you, he is not my legitimate heir? 

But there was no way to investigate it anymore. 

A violent shudder interrupted Chu Zhentian's words. 

Chu Qiubai, who had been lazily leaning against the window, suddenly jerked upright and snapped his head forward in horror. 

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The ground abruptly tore open into a massive fissure. Right before his eyes, the truck heavily loaded with steel coils rolled off the side of the bridge. Amidst a deafening roar that felt like the sky collapsing and the earth caving in, several lampposts, eight or nine meters tall, toppled crookedly—like toothpicks stuck into liquid, utterly unable to hold their ground—violently slicing the congested traffic in half. The road ahead was littered with smashed, flattened vehicles. 

Amidst the swirling dust, a metal lamppost cover suddenly magnified in Chu Qiubai's pupils. Like a meteorite falling from the sky, it slammed into the hard windshield, creating a spiderweb of cracks. In sharp, crisp sounds of shattering, this "bulletproof" garbage the salesman had touted rapidly disintegrated. 

Screech— BOOM—! 

Collapsing right along with it was the elevated bridge deck they were on. 

In a state of extreme terror, Chu Qiubai instinctively tried to do something. But in the next second, a sudden, excruciating pain engulfed all his senses. The world flipped upside down. Fighting through the agony, he struggled to open his eyes, trying to check on Chu Zhentian's condition, but all that remained in front of him was an empty, void-like blackness. 

Dad... 

Jianglai... 

These were the last two names that surfaced in Chu Qiubai's mind before he lost consciousness. 

When he woke up again, everything before his eyes was pitch black. 

The faint, muffled hum of operating machinery near his ear left him feeling disoriented. 

Chu Qiubai's sense of smell was extremely sharp; the heavy scent of disinfectant in the air made him involuntarily frown. However, very soon, a sensation of pain—far more impossible to ignore than the smell of disinfectant—scrambled to drill its way out of the joints and bone seams all over his body. 

It felt as if every bone in his body had been shattered and then forcefully pieced back together. A piercing, aching soreness surged from his limbs and bones straight into his chest, the pain so intense it made it hard to breathe. 

Especially his head. 

The chaotic images from right before he lost consciousness—like the world ending—were like crumpled balls of scrap paper haphazardly stuffed into his brain. 

His suddenly packed head throbbed with pain, feeling as heavy and groggy as lead. He neither knew where he was nor could remember what had happened. 

In this semi-conscious state, Chu Qiubai guessed that he must have lost his skull, otherwise, how could his head hurt this badly? 

In the pure darkness, time flowed exceptionally slowly. 

After an unknown amount of time, a pleasantly surprised, anxious, and flustered voice suddenly rang out nearby: "Doctor! Doctor! My son is awake!" 

The familiar voice cleared up his muddled consciousness a bit. Chu Qiubai recognized it as his mother, Han Ruiqin's voice. 

Immediately after, a flurry of hurried footsteps approached from afar. 

"Mr. Chu, can you hear me? I am your attending physician, Dr. Tao. How are you feeling right now?" 

The male doctor's voice was unfamiliar but very kind. 

Chu Qiubai opened his mouth to try and speak, but his throat hurt as if his vocal cords had been ripped in half. Even after trying for a long time, he couldn't form a complete syllable. He had to suppress the agonizing pain and swallow hard a few times before he could finally force his trembling, cracked lips to push out a hoarse "Pain." 

The sound of suppressed, low sobbing came from beside his ear. Han Ruiqin gripped his fingers tightly, choking with the relief of a lost treasure found: "Qiubai, you're finally awake... You scared Mom to death." 

The mother's cries made the doctor even more certain that the patient in front of him was a pampered young master, and he spoke even more carefully: "You are heavily injured, so pain is expected. But thankfully, no vital organs were harmed. You will recover." 

"Although it might hurt a bit, I still need to trouble you, Mr. Chu, to follow my instructions and do a few movements..." 

Following the doctor's orders, Chu Qiubai very cooperatively lifted his leg, bent his knee, and made a fist. 

Although his entire body ached, fortunately, all his limbs were intact and his motor functions were unimpaired. 

Seeing this, the male doctor let out a long sigh, seemingly much relieved. 

"From the looks of it, there's not much damage to your joints, and your motor abilities are fine. You have some scrapes and bruises on your skin which might be a bit painful, but they'll heal very soon. It's truly a blessing..." 

Chu Qiubai let out a confused "Oh," keeping his eyes open as he instinctively turned his head to seek the source of the voice. 

The doctor paused. His words of relief abruptly halted, and it sounded as if he drew a sharp breath. 

Right after, Chu Qiubai felt something wave a few times in front of his heavy eyelids. 

Then, the air became so quiet it felt frozen. 

"Qiubai..." 

He heard his mother calling his name uncertainly in a nasally voice. 

Not understanding what was wrong, Chu Qiubai blinked blankly. Suddenly, he too realized the crux of the problem. An extreme, ethereal, and hollow terror seized him instantly. 

That hand, bringing a gust of wind, forcefully waved in front of his eyeballs again. 

Chu Qiubai heard the male doctor hesitantly ask him— 

"Mr. Chu, can you see my hand?"