After The Vicious Cannon Fodder Was Reborn

by Usui Takumii

not mine, theirontreeblooms. Beware BL. Total : 293 Chapters 5 Extras (Completed).

25. 121 to 125

The decision to change Su Dingbang's ending scene was made easily, but it took two days and one night to really finalize the details.

In fact, this plot had always been controversial, including when many readers were reading the original work. Some readers felt that Su Dingbang deserved dying under the gun of the male protagonist when he defected and caused the capture and tragic deaths of many underground party members. But there were also some readers who thought that although Su Dingbang had defected to the enemy side, he still helped the male protagonist a lot in the beginning. Even if he deserved death in the end it should not be at the hands of the male protagonist.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

This debate had continued even after the TV series in the previous life had been broadcast, and professional film critics wrote small essays on the matter. Fortunately, in the previous life, the actor who played the role of Su Dingbang was just a burden that was forced onto the crew by the investors. Naturally, he was not as handsome as Tao Mu, and his acting skills were not even at the level of Tao Mu before rebirth. Compared with a bunch of veteran actors, one could only say that he was only satisfactory, barely having avoided causing the audience to pull out from being immersed in the plot story. As for the character building, there was not much done on his part, Su Dingbang under his acting was just a 2D boring villain.

Because of this, the plot tension that was supposed to fill the scene where he was shot in the head by the male protagonist was relatively weakened.

However, in this life, Tao Mu played this role. First of all, in terms of appearance, Tao Mu's appearance was definitely worthy of the words "beautiful as the red clouds, the clear skies, cool breeze, and charming moon" described in the books. Secondly, Tao Mu's acting skills, which could be called a small explosion, could definitely stand up to the complexity of the role of Su Dingbang. How noble and elegant he was in the early stage, and how filthy and like the walking dead in the later stage. Under this strong contrast, it was easy to arouse the audience's sympathy and sense of substitution.

If the final ending was still to be shot in the head by the male protagonist, then some of the points of contention among the readers would definitely be magnified ten times and a hundred times in the television drama.

So changing the plot to Su Dingbang committing suicide by swallowing opium himself would not only make the character more three-dimensional and complete, but also highlight the brutality and untrustworthiness of the aggressor—defectors and traitors would never end well. This was not only because the people couldn't forgive betrayers, but also because the aggressor's wolf-like ambitions were completely inhuman—those not of one's race, they would never keep their promises to the enemy.

And the death of the entire Su family just proved this.

War was cruel. But more cruel than war was the aggressor. So don't try to compromise, don't think that you could survive by being stubborn. If the revolutionaries did not hold onto the determination to give up their lives when necessary, then their fate would undoubtedly be more tragic.

And in that darkest era, many revolutionary martyrs adhered to this determination and belief, endured the grief of their country's ruin and their families' demise, fought with flesh and blood for more than ten years, and finally dyed China with the blood of countless people for the sky overhead to be bright again.

In the revised plot, when the male protagonist with a small team desperately sneaked into the enemy's trap to find Su Dingbang, when Su Dingbang had already determined that the male protagonist was here to kill him for revenge, the male protagonist just said one thing. He said, "When it was learned that you were captured, the organization tried to arrange for your family to evacuate safely." But the Japanese were faster than them. By the time they tried their best to find out about the Su family, the entire Su family had already been killed by the Japanese.

The Japanese confiscated all the property and wealth of the Su family, and even angered the entire Shanghai Chamber of Commerce for this. Almost half of the members of the chamber of commerce were taken into prison by the Japanese. When a country was on the brink of destruction, even sovereignty could not be guaranteed, so the interests of the people were naturally even more precarious.

After Su Dingbang was forced to defect, he was once unable to face reality. He dared not admit that he was cowardly and weak because he was greedy for life and feared death. He could only place the blame on the underground party, on this revolutionary goal. He deceived himself and thought that if he hadn't had this experience working for the underground party, he would still be a good son of the Su family, a well-respected and adored student who had returned from abroad, rich and splendid. And definitely never have turned into the awful shell of his former self now.

However, the male protagonist's words completely shattered his fantasy. When the whole country was in danger there was no escape for any countrymen, even if some people could hide in the French Concession and seem to be doing well and prosperous, this comfortable status quo was nothing but an illusion.

Once the invaders decide to tear off their disguise and aim their guns at the helpless civilians, then everything that followed was an unbearable disaster in life. The only way was to pick up weapons and guns to fight, drive all the invaders out of the Chinese territory, and use the sound of gunfire to make heard the roar of the Chinese nation. Let those brave heroes who shed their blood for the establishment of New China, and those innocent people who died tragically under the butcher knives of the invaders, rest in peace.

However, Su Dingbang could not do any of this. He used to be high-spirited, passionate, and vowed to use his own power to change the fate of the entire country. He was also naive and weak, and finally, when faced with the choice of sacrificing his life, he shrank back cowardly.

The invaders brutally killed the Su family, but he aimed his gun at his comrades in order to survive a half life.

Su Dingbang, who had been numbing himself by smoking opium all day, finally collapsed. He looked at the male protagonist with tears in his eyes, and uttered the last words of his life: "I should be damned." Then, Su Dingbang took out the opium prepared by the Japanese and committed suicide.

When Tao Mu got the revised script again, he was about to collapse when he looked at the descriptions above.

The key was that the original author of the book, and Screenwriter Fan, who participated in the adaptation of the script, couldn't understand his feelings at all. Screenwriter Fan dragged Tao Mu to talk about it for more than an hour at the meeting, his face flushed with excitement. Just to explain to him what level this script had risen to after this adaptation—

He completely did not imagine just how much trouble he brought to Tao Mu the actor after adapting the script like this.

"I won't be able to eat for the next few days. I need to lose weight." Tao Mu hadn't recovered from his cold yet, and the fever hadn't subsided either. He asked Gou Rixin to take away the IV he was connected to as well: "Help me make an arrangement. I want to observe the state of real drug addicts. It's best I don't sleep these days either."

Noticing Gou Rixin's disapproving look, Tao Mu patted the other person's shoulder and comforted him, "Don't be nervous. It's just these few days, everything will be fine."

"Just go ahead and walk to an early grave! Your fever hasn't subsided yet. If you dare to stop the IV infusion, won't you be afraid of it turning into pneumonia?" Gou Rixin said angrily. However, he couldn't convince the other, what Tao Mu decided to do, no one could stop him.

In the end, Tao Mu got his way and spent three days in a drug rehab center in H Town. On the one hand, the high fever persisted, and on the other hand, he was so hungry that he was dizzy and sore when he returned to the crew to finish filming the last scene while he was in good form.

In the meantime, Tao Mu also asked the props team to re-customize a set of costumes. The one he wore when he was caught. According to the original style, make it two sizes larger—there was no other way, even if he did not eat for a few days with the hope of looking malnourished it was unlikely he would lose much weight however. So he could only make the costume bigger, and then he would make up for it in terms of body and movement. Trying to create the image of a drug addict.

Probably because they didn't expect Tao Mu to be able to go this far.

Inside the crew, the director, assistant directors and veteran actors, even the students from Beijing Film, as well as the group extras and stunt doubles hired by the crew were all frightened by the ruthless attitude of this kid Tao Mu—Tao Mu, this person, possessed deep scheming methods, and this was a fact that everyone was aware of. But being ruthless to others and being ruthless to yourself were two entirely different things.

Especially as he was a person who could clearly remain seated in a high position and be a domineering CEO, but still insisted on driving himself to death for such a small cannon fodder role that couldn't even be considered as an important supporting role. Just for this viciousness, most people would be so afraid that they wouldn't even be able to say a word when faced with it.

How was this a normal person, he was obviously a lunatic!

Everyone was afraid of lunatics, especially those who were rich and powerful and would do anything to achieve their goals.

What Tao Mu didn't expect was that it was because of his ruthlessness in willing to torment himself, the actors and staff who had been distracted by some online scolding wars and so-called scoops, and who kept gossiping in secret, all stopped and started to work more diligently. The atmosphere of the entire crew became solemn and took on a new look. Work efficiency and work quality was once again elevated to a higher level.

However, due to the high fever that threw him in a constant muddled state, as well as his one track desire to complete his role perfectly, Tao Mu didn't pay attention to this at all. When he finished filming in a dizzy state, lying on the set with limbs turned to jelly and feeling only nausea when he moved even his little fingers, and then was forced back into the bed of his hotel room by Li Xiaoheng, who had rushed over by private jet, he still had the mood to ask: "Why does your complexion look so bad? Don't tell me you caught the cold from me."

Since he learned from the mouth of his own private doctor that Tao Mu really just had a cold and fever that had lasted a longer time, and aside from some physical symptoms caused by not eating for a few days, there were no other complications. Nor was it like what the Internet exposed "being brought to a drug rehab center for taking drugs", which had really frightened Li Xiaoheng stiff, so finally he was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Why are you such a handful?" Li Xiaoheng flexed his fingers and knocked on Tao Mu's head lightly: "Not taking shots, not eating medicine, not eating meals, and even going to the drug rehab center to observe the daily life of the patients, just how are you still alive?"

"What do you mean?" Even though the fever muddled his brain, Tao Mu still noticed it very keenly: "…..Someone is stirring up trouble on the Internet?"

"Don't worry. I'll fix it." Li Xiaoheng reached out and touched Tao Mu's hot forehead and tucked in the blankets for him: "What you have to do now is to drink this bowl of porridge, then have the IV hooked up and the medicine taken, sleep well, and get better as soon as possible."

As Li Xiaoheng spoke, he helped Tao Mu to sit up against the head of the bed, and picked up a bowl of white porridge on the bedside table: "I had the hotel cook it, it may not taste good. But it will warm your stomach."

Tao Mu responded and stretched out his slightly trembling hand, wanting to take the porridge bowl from Li Xiaoheng's hand. Li Xiaoheng frowned: "I'm worried that you will drop the bowl, so let me feed you."

Tao Mu was slightly startled.

Li Xiaoheng said solemnly: "Either I feed you, or let Gou Rixin come to feed you. But I have asked Gou Rixin to go back to rest. He has been taking care of you for so many days, while also having to worry about things online, but he dared not let you know, holding it all back. It's been very hard on him. He finally has a break now, so are you sure you want me to call him?"

Tao Mu thought for a while, and said in a low voice, "Sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble." Li Xiaoheng glanced at Tao Mu and said warmly, "Although it may not be a good thing to say so. But in fact, I have been looking forward to this for a long time." Being able to feed you, sleep with you, and accompany you when you are sick. Take care of you by your side.

While speaking, Tao Mu sneezed a few times. Even though he subconsciously covered his mouth, he felt embarrassed that his nose was running: "Hurry and give me the tissues."

Li Xiaoheng stuffed the tissues into Tao Mu's hand, watching Tao Mu use several pieces of tissue one after another, and finally lean on the head of the bed with a red nose and a dizzy head. His hair was also tangled from sweating.

"Ah!" Li Xiaoheng suddenly covered his chest.

"What's the matter?" Tao Mu sniffled and asked with a stuffy nose.

"Remember what I told you before. I like you because your looks are particularly in line with my aesthetics. And that I actually fell in love with you at first sight?" Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu with a warm smile: "Now I suddenly realize that even if you don't look good, your idol baggage is long gone, you can't take a bath because of the illness, your hair is tangled, and you have body odor. I still think you are very cute."

Li Xiaoheng scooped a spoonful of porridge and held it to Tao Mu's lips: "I really want to feed you. Fatten you up."

Tao Mu couldn't take it anymore. He stretched out his hand and hit Li Xiaoheng's arm, and said with a stern face, "I want to take a bath."

Li Xiaoheng smiled: "You are still sick. Taking a bath will make the cold worse."

"If it gets worse, then it gets worse." Tao Mu said angrily, it was bearable when filming, but outside of filming, he had to pick up his idol baggage. How dare he say that he was ugly, that his hair was clumped in sweat and oil, and that he smelled.

If he could still bear it after that, then how was he still an idol? He must defend his dignity!

Tao Mu threw a great hissy fit, he was still lying on the bed weakly, but he threw off the blankets and was determined to go take a bath. Li Xiaoheng couldn't stop him no matter what, and while annoyed at himself for bringing it up in the first place, he could only help Tao Mu to the bathroom. He personally washed Tao Mu's hair, helped him shower off, changed his pajamas, and helped Tao Mu dry his hair before carefully stuffing him back under the blankets.

At this time, Tao Mu was so sleepy that he fell asleep. In the past few days, for filming, he didn't sleep well, eat well, take medicine, or take a shot. He was really exhausted from all the tossing. If he hadn't forced himself to film in one breath, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold on long ago.

When encountering such a fellow who really knew how to get himself in such trouble, Li Xiaoheng was also no opponent. While flying over to take care of Tao Mu, he called his lawyers to sue the unscrupulous media who broke the news that Tao Mu was arrested for drug addiction. And on the way, he also sued Shen Yu's fans who have been spreading this fake news and trying to discredit Tao Mu. And then to appease the Tao Mu fans who have been fighting on the front line, but have not been able to get a response from Tao Mu—Tao Mu had been busy filming recently, and he didn't even have the time to eat, let alone go online. How could he pay attention to those online rumors and gossip mongering and scolding wars.

But while Tao Mu didn't take it to heart himself, the people around him couldn't let someone deliberately smear Tao Mu's name. So sending lawsuits it was. However, what left Li Xiaoheng speechless the most was that Shen Yu would actually call him to apologize for those brain dead fans of his. And this supposed apology didn't follow the normal route, instead it was crying and babbling away about nonsense on kindness and unkindness. Li Xiaoheng was a busy CEO whose time was worth tens of millions. How could he have the time to accompany an insignificant actor to discuss the script of a dog-blood idol drama, so he just hung up the phone.

Directly afterwards, he began to snipe the stocks of the Shen Group. Sure enough, when Shen Yu called to apologize again, he began to speak human words—usually, rude children existed because their parents did not educate them well. Li Xiaoheng particularly respected the practice of teaching by words and deeds. So there was no problem if he had a generation gap with Shen Yu, so long as he could communicate with his father and brother normally.

Tao Mu, who was sleeping soundly, didn't know that Li Xiaoheng had already had a secret confrontation with the Shen family. He slept like a log for a day and a night, and woke up hungry the next evening. Li Xiaoheng helped his weak self to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face, then to sit down at the dining table where he drank a small pot of white porridge.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

He practically wanted nothing more than to lick the bottom of the pot clean, and only then did he finally feel that he was completely alive again. Then he began to have the time to pay attention to what the hell was going on on the Internet. The news came as a surprise. He saw the bright headlines on the homepage of —

"An actor surnamed S was injured in a wire accident and was admitted to the hospital. The doctor identified him as not the blood of the family. Was it Mrs. S who was unfaithful, or is there another secret? FlyNews Entertainment, to follow up and report."

Tao Mu: "?" He just had a much needed rest, what happened!

Tao Mu browsed the Internet for several hours, and finally sorted out the shocking melon of the Shen family.

The whole thing started a few days ago.

After the publicity footage of Tao Mu acting as a body double stand-in on the set was released from the crew of "Purple Clouds", as expected, the fans of the two persons involved and the melon-eating crowd both had a collective climax.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

Especially Chen Yiqian, he knew deeply that Tao Mu was a very vicious person. When he was a body double stand-in, he was already ruthless. Now that he had capital to back him up, he was afraid that he would act even more ruthless than before. Chen Yiqian was also worried that when he used Tao Mu as a body double stand-in to promote the crew, he would anger Tao Mu—although Tao Mu said it didn't matter, but no one truly knew what another person thought. What if Tao Mu was just being generous on the surface, but already had a grudge in his heart? After all, the entertainment industry had never lacked such people.

So after thinking about it, Chen Yiqian not only released the filming footage, but even the most beautiful sets of martial arts movements Tao Mu performed when acting as a body double stand-in were edited into the video and released—especially the fight scene that involved the water hose turned on high power. At that time when Tao Mu finally succeeded against all odds, the entire crew was amazed. Although Chen Yiqian knew that Tao Mu was a body double stand-in, he was still reluctant to edit the close-ups of eyes and face that were captured on camera. Now that there was a chance, it would be released directly in the form of behind-the-scenes, which would not bury Tao Mu's original efforts.

Of course, the most important thing was to befriend Tao Mu.

However, while Chen Yiqian made a lot of calculations, in the end he overlooked one thing.

After the video was released, most superficial people only knew to lick their computer screens, and the screenshots were saved and filed away at the speed of light. All the while shouting out "666" (TN: Chinese Internet slang for cool, smooth). They all especially enjoyed this visual feast and looked forward to the TV series "Purple Clouds".

However, Shen Yu's fans were not happy.

Even if they were unreasonably confident in their idol, they knew that Shen Yu's fighting scenes wouldn't be able to compare to Tao Mu, a professional body double stand-in. In addition, Tao Mu was handsome and tall. Although he was the same age as Shen Yu, the powerful aura surrounding him made Tao Mu appear more mature than his peers. In addition, Tao Mu founded during his freshman year, and then he managed to hug Li Xiaoheng's thigh and became a partner of Xiaoheng Capital. After all of this, he could be regarded as very successful indeed.

In contrast, Shen Yu, who had been selling his little prince image, had a delicate appearance, soft temperament as well as naivety and ignorance of world affairs due to being spoiled and protected by his family. It was natural that he would be a bit dwarfed by comparison. Compared with the pampered, innocent and weak prince, of course, the self-made, iron-fisted and decisive king was more charismatic and awe-inspiring.

Moreover, when playing with the king one could take the opportunity to get some of the king's resources—for example, Guo Yaning who played well with Tao Mu made several rounds of publicity through before the release of her album. After the new album was released, because of the unfortunate incident of being swept away by the storm that was Tao Mu's crossdress dance video, she simply got another video of Tao Mu dancing to use as an MV for one of her album songs. As a result, the popularity of the new album skyrocketed by tens of thousands on that day, especially the new video uploaded on , which had more than 30 million views in just 24 hours.

The fellow peers in the entertainment circle who watched this were both envious and jealous.

But what about the people who played well with Shen Yu? First of all, Shen Yu was spoiled and raised by the Shen family since childhood. He was a veritable prince, and he naturally possessed a hefty case of the prince syndrome. As a result, the people around Shen Yu always had to accommodate him, praising him consciously or unintentionally. In fact, this didn't matter to most, after all, Shen Yu was good-looking, innocent and soft-spoken, and the Shen family was a wealthy family in Shanghai. This kind of person should be the center of all attention and loved by everyone.

But Shen Yu's fans were a bit annoying. Towards those who got close to Shen Yu, they would accuse them for wanting to hug Shen Yu's golden thigh and rub off on Shen Yu's popularity. And towards those who distance themselves from Shen Yu, they would accuse them for being ungrateful, feeling distress for Shen Yu's mistaken friendship. Anyway, no matter what it was always everyone else's fault. Shen Yu was also the kind of spoiled character that would feel wronged and cry about you neglecting him if you don't play with him everyday.

Fortunately, Shen Yu's family and agent were much more reasonable. Knowing that they also have their own things to do, those who were in the entertainment industry would be given some resources in return, and those who were studying in college would be provided internship positions in the Shen Group as compensation. When everyone saw the benefits, they would naturally be happy to play with Shen Yu. But occasionally, they would also mutter to themselves. They just felt that Shen Yu and Tao Mu were both born in the same year, but the difference in how they behave was so big, as expected of poor children maturing earlier than rich children.

Shen Yu was just a Silly White Sweet, and not truly stupid. After hearing this comparison for a long time, Shen Yu also began to feel something. He didn't feel angry at all, just more and more inferior. Especially when Yan Sheng, the male god he had admired for a long time, also inadvertently sighed that he wanted to test his acting chops against Tao Mu during filming, Shen Yu became more and more anxious.

He also wanted Yan Sheng to praise him like that. But he was so useless himself. Afraid of heights and the cold, he didn't even dare to hang on the wires, let alone test acting chops against a film king.

It just so happened that at this juncture, the crew of "Purple Clouds" released the filming behind-the-scenes video clip of Tao Mu acting as a body double stand-in on the set. Everyone started licking the screen excitedly after seeing Tao Mu's fight scenes. Even Yan Sheng showed a look of delight when he saw the video.

Shen Yu was even more anxious. Especially after his fans saw Tao Mu's fight scenes, not only did they not fawn and blow rainbow fart, they even dared to deride Tao Mu's humble status as a body double stand-in for Shen Yu and claimed that he was not worthy of being compared with Shen Yu—please, the Qing Dynasty had ended for so many years and yet they still say such things, it only comes across as embarrassing, honestly.

Shen Yu was anxious, angry, and humiliated. He had yet to figure out how to persuade his fans not to talk about Tao Mu like this when someone actually broke the news that Tao Mu was bullied by Luo Yang with a water hose in the crew. Somehow, someone had managed to get the photo of Tao Mu's embarrassing state looking like a wet dog while being sprayed with a high pressure water hose—

This time, Shen Yu really exploded. It was rare for a person who was never angry to erupt like a small volcano, and he directly scolded his fans. He also Tao Mu and kept apologizing on the Internet as well—he knew that Tao Mu didn't like him and had already blocked his phone number. And he was also embarrassed to call Tao Mu from someone else's phone—no matter how stupid Shen Yu was, he was also capable of being afraid that Tao Mu would scold him. So he could only apologize on the Internet.

But it was too late. Tao Mu's fans exploded when Shen Yu's fans slandered Tao Mu's life experience and used the old story of being bullied when Tao Mu was a body double stand-in.

Tao Mu's fans varied in attributes. There were all kinds of martial arts group extras that he knew when he was filming in H Town, and they all regard Tao Mu as an idol; there were also website fans that Tao Mu attracted after he founded ; and some fans belonging to various stars. Because their idol played well with Tao Mu, they had also become a friendly fan of Tao Mu; more of them were fans who valued Tao Mu's face, and a small group of fans who valued Tao Mu's poisonous tongue, called scold war fans.

The last type was relatively small, but in terms of combat effectiveness, it was definitely at the level of the front-line combat troops.

The mindless actions and mindless protection of Shen Yu's fans directly angered fans of these varying attributes. Especially after Shen Yu's fans posted a photo of Tao Mu being bullied on set, and scolded Tao Mu as a pathetic wet dog. As a result, Tao Mu's fans, who were originally quite Zen, exploded.

So Shen Yu's FlyNews account was bombed by these fans. Especially under the FlyNews thread that apologized to Tao Mu, a large group of Tao Mu fans swarmed and scolded Shen Yu for being hypocritical and two-face, and said that Shen Yu, a spoiled, brain-dead prince syndrome patient, could not compare to even Tao Mu's toenails.

"My Mu used to be weak and bullied by others, but he was able to create from scratch despite all the pressure. Let's see if that bastard from the Luo family dares to bully him now?"

"A good birth is not called skills, living well is. You are just good at choosing a rich family to reincarnate in, and you are far worse than my Mu in terms of ability. How can you have the face to compare with my Mu?"

"You don't even dare to hang on wires despite being an actor and have to find a stand-in even just to shoot a rooftop scene. Why come out to work if you are so delicate and pampered? Why don't you go home and be your Pea Prince?"

Even the Luo Group, which was used to keeping under the radar, was scolded. But fortunately, Luo Xi had a sense of crisis, came out in time for public relations, and even brought out Luo Yang, who had been detained at home by Chairman Luo to recuperate after his broken leg, to apologize in person.

However, Luo Yang, who had been lying at home the whole time, was quite unlucky. After Chairman Luo found out that he used his family background to bully the weak outside, and most importantly that the one who he bullied was Li Xiaoheng's business partner, the most important business partner of Longteng Entertainment, the old man directly took his cane and broke Luo Yang's other leg. After finishing this matter, he sent an apology on FlyNews in person on the Internet, saying that he did not teach his son well, and he would definitely discipline him in the future. Chairman Luo originally wanted to call Tao Mu, but then news broke out on the Internet that Tao Mu was arrested for taking drugs and was taken to a drug rehab center. There were photos to prove it, and there were quite a few people who believed it.

Chairman Luo was in the army, and some of his old comrades in arms joined the anti-drug service after they were discharged from the army. In order to catch drug dealers, there were quite a few who have sacrificed their lives in service over the years. Therefore, Chairman Luo hated people who had relations to drugs the most. When he saw this news, he didn't even make a phone call and just cursed "they are all just as bad as each other", and even warned the Luo family siblings to stop interacting with such people.

The news that Tao Mu was arrested for taking drugs and was admitted to a drug rehab center definitely caused an uproar on the Internet. Especially after the good news that had just exceeded 100 million registered users. Almost all the people who could go online in China were the first to pay attention to this news. It was no exaggeration to say that if was a listed company at this time, then within a few days, 's stock price would definitely enjoy the roller coaster treatment of going from daily limit to the limit down.

Fortunately, had not yet been listed, Tao Mu's relatives believed more in Tao Mu's character, and "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" crew and Gou Rixin testified together. However, the characteristic of fan vs. anti wars was that no matter how conclusive your evidence was, those who didn't want to believe would still pretend to be blind with their eyes open.

This was especially exemplified in the fans of Shen Yu—this scolding war, which had Tao Mu's fans beating them to the extent that they were powerless to resist, lasted for so long, and even passers-by who ate melons didn't stand on their side. So now, when Shen Yu's fans finally caught Tao Mu's "weakness", how could they easily let go.

So disregarding the clarification of the facts put forward by the crew of "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood", all kinds of rumors flew. There were even those who firmly claimed that the "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" crew and Tao Mu's assistant must have been paid money to help Tao Mu cover up. As a result, the people who ate melons and who didn't know the truth saw this and thought that Tao Mu really did take drugs and was arrested in a drug rehab center.

The impact of this was huge. After all, Tao Mu was not just himself. Behind him were , , and even Xiaoheng Capital. Since good words and persuasion didn't work, the final result was that the weak and helpless Lawyer Zhou appeared again, together with the top team of lawyers who earned $2,000 per hour from Xiaoheng Capital. Clarification announcement and lawyer letter indictment were issued more than 100 times, which finally stopped this evil wind.

They also didn't expect that Shen Yu's brain-dead fans would be so powerful in combat, each and every one of them was like a professional water army who received money.

Up to here, to be precise, after receiving the lawyer's letter from and Xiaoheng Capital, and even after the court's subpoena, those Shen Yu fans who wantonly spread rumors on the Internet finally know to start panicking.

They finally remembered that this was not just an ordinary fan vs. anti war, they were smearing an Internet company and a financial institution. And as we all know, these two industries were actually the most concerned about personal image and reputation issues.

Therefore, and Xiaoheng Capital's lawsuits were all based on the fact that the rumors on the Internet caused serious economic losses to the company—if they were investigated, it was definitely not as simple as an apology. They would have to be fined, and if they couldn't pay the fines they would go to jail.

Of course, neither nor Xiaoheng Capital actually wanted this group of little brain-dead idiots to go to jail. But teaching them a good lesson was still necessary. Since you can surf the Internet, you should know that you must be responsible for your own words.

However, what they didn't expect was that this group of panic-stricken fans really knew to be afraid. However, they did not apologize directly, but went to find the little prince in their hearts, Shen Yu. Shen Yu's title, the brain-dead little prince, was also well-deserved. After receiving his fans' cries, his cerebral cortex didn't even tremble, and he directly called Li Xiaoheng. And he didn't apologize properly either, just spouted some self-righteous nonsense "they are still children, you can't be so unkind", which directly pissed off Li Xiaoheng that he laughed angrily.

Although he didn't know why the Shen family, who was a business family, would raise their son to have such serious cerebral palsy (in the eyes of CEO Li, this was no longer the level of cerebral disability. Cerebral disability meant that some functions could still function normally. Cerebral palsy meant that all functions were paralyzed, and they don't even move at all), but Li Xiaoheng still communicated cordially with the Shen family patriarch in his own way—specifically, he greeted the Shen Group's rising stock in the stock market.

Then the Shen family father and son really understood. Li Xiaoheng didn't care how the father and son of the Shen family communicated with Shen Yu. In any case, when he received Shen Yu's apology call again, the style on the opposite side was much more normal.

—From this, it could be seen that a certain someone may not be really brainless. It was just that he subconsciously felt that the whole world was his daddy. But the problem was that while a certain someone may be willing to take the whole world as his parents, Li Xiaoheng was not willing to have such a troublesome son out of thin air. Therefore, it was best to communicate normally with the attitude of ordinary people.

But what Li Xiaoheng didn't know was that after being educated by the Shen family's father and son, Shen Yu was quite on the verge of extreme mental collapse. Especially when Father Shen and Shen Chen were educating Shen Yu, they always liked to take Tao Mu as an example. They felt that Shen Yu was not as mature as Tao Mu, as able to make good friends as Tao Mu, as able to handle affairs as Tao Mu and so on. Originally, netizens used Tao Mu's former status as a body double stand-in for Shen Yu to ridicule Shen Yu for not being able to do anything, so Shen Yu was already a little depressed. Now that his family also said something similar, the brain-dead little prince was not happy at all.

Shen Yu wanted to prove himself to his family and fans. Of course, with Shen Yu's brain capacity, he couldn't think of too high-end face slaps. He could only make a fuss about hanging on wires himself while filming—he wanted to prove to his family and netizens that what Tao Mu could do, he could do too. Even if his fight scenes were not as beautiful as Tao Mu's. But he could learn and practice, and now he had the courage to hang on wires, which was progress.

When the brain-dead little prince put on his wire suit, he was still imagining that after he had finished filming today's scenes, and when he returned home he could act like a spoiled child with his parents and siblings, and how everyone would kiss him and cheer him up.

But Shen Yu didn't think that, in fact, the danger of hanging on wires when filming was very high, and even a professionally trained martial arts stand-in might not be able to guarantee certain safety. What was more, as the male protagonist of the original book, who was not very coordinated with his motor skills, had little courage and was afraid of heights, and who did whatever he did under the halo of the plot—

Tao Mu had reminded Shen Yu of this at the beginning. It was a pity that it was too long ago, and Shen Yu had long forgotten it. Of course, even if he remembered, in Shen Yu's current state, it was likely that he wouldn't take it to heart. So at the first moment when Shen Yu was arguing about hanging on the wires personally, the God of Plot was still doing their due diligence. Even without the objective factor of Tao Mu, the God of Plot still adhered to the principle that they could be late but must not be absent, and therefore the perfectly fine wires of a moment ago had an accident, and then Shen Yu fell from the wires as was always planned.

Like the plot of the original book, Shen Yu, who fell from several meters high, went into a coma with serious injuries and needed surgery. Blood transfusion was required during the operation. After the blood type test, the nurse shouted wildly to ask the blood bank to send a blood bag of type B—

As a result, everyone in the Shen family who was guarding outside the operating room was immediately stunned. In the whole family, Father Shen was ALPHA, Mother Shen was OMEGA, their elder son was ALPHA, and their daughter was OMEGA. Everybody always thought that Shen Yu was also a cute and delicate OMEGA. So now the question was, where did the BETA lying in the operating room come from?

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At this moment, Father Shen, who had always been doting on his wife, couldn't help but feel angry and couldn't help but turn around and b*tch-slap Mother Shen, who was frozen in shock.

After getting the news of Shen Yu's injury, the paparazzi reporter who had secretly followed over from the studio and even managed to sneak into the hospital took such a photo at just the right time.

And that was the breaking news that Tao Mu saw.

"What are you looking at?"

Just as Tao Mu was secretly eating melons online, Li Xiaoheng came over with a cup of warm water and medicine.

"Looking at the gossip on the Internet." Tao Mu put his phone aside, took the water and medicine, and gulped it down gloomily. Then he watched in amazement as Li Xiaoheng took out a piece of milk candy from his pocket and handed it to him.

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Tao Mu: "?"

Li Xiaoheng explained warmly, "Gou Rixin told me that you hate taking medicine."

So you just use candy to coax me? Tao Mu looked at Li Xiaoheng speechlessly, did this guy take him for a child?

"Everyone hates taking medicine. I just hate it more." Tao Mu explained seriously. Grabbing the milk candy on Li Xiaoheng's palm, peeled off the beautiful candy wrapper, and put the oval brown milk candy with a rich milky fragrance into his mouth.

The thick and mellow milk-sweet taste spread from the tip of the tongue, and feeling the round and silky taste and curvature of the milk candy, Tao Mu suddenly thought out loud: "Why was this brand of milk candy all oval, not square or rectangle?"

Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu fixedly: "Because the oval shape does not have clear edges and corners like a square or a rectangle, and it is not too smooth like a circle. It probably wants to adhere to the principle of being a circle outwardly and a square inwardly."

Tao Mu looked away: "…..According to you, the most principled would probably be the Chinese bronze coins. Now that is an authentic outer circle with an inner square."

Li Xiaoheng chuckled and said: "Money is of course very principled. Otherwise, there would not be so many people who regard wealth as an important criterion for measuring a person's success. And it is the same in ancient and modern China and abroad."

Tao Mu raised his eyebrows, he had a feeling that there was something in Li Xiaoheng's words, and it had a lot of meaning.

The atmosphere suddenly quieted down. Tao Mu was thinking about what to say, but Li Xiaoheng had already taken the initiative to strike up another topic: "…..By the way, do you know that your Lawyer Zhou is investigating one by one with the indictment and lawyer's letter the netizens who slandered you online—to be more precise, he is calling the guardians of Shen Yu's fans who are over the age of fourteen but under the age of eighteen and who wantonly spread rumors about your drug use on the Internet?"

For Lawyer Zhou, who had always been ruthless and black-hearted, this was probably the first time he had encountered such a business as a fan vs. anti war. Knowing that even if he sent out lawyer's letters and won the lawsuit, he wouldn't earn much lawyer's commission—it was not like he could really have those children go to jail if they couldn't pay the fines. But Zhou Shenxing couldn't bear the fact that he had worked hard for several days and was likely to not get any money out of it. In anger, Zhou Shenxing actually took the indictment list and called the fans' parents in order. From the perspective of law and money, he warned the fans' parents to discipline their children well. By the way, he also strongly criticized the malicious behavior of these children who did not study well during school and went online to spread false rumors about other people's drug use.

"…..Tao Mu, as the founder of , is also a partner of Xiaoheng Capital. His personal image is closely related to the corporate image. The behavior of your son/daughter directly caused 's economic losses to exceed XXX. Since your child is too young and ignorant, will not hold your child to legal responsibility this time. But as a lawyer representing and a normal-thinking adult, I sincerely hope that you can discipline your own children. If this kind of thing happens again next time, we will not tolerate it at ….."

Li Xiaoheng even vividly recited what Zhou Shenxing warned those parents in front of Tao Mu. Hearing this, Tao Mu was stunned. However, when he thought about it, he felt that with Zhou Shenxing's temperament, it would not be surprising he would do such a thing.

"Lawyer Zhou did a very good job this time. I'll give him a bonus when I go back." Tao Mu thought about it and could only say this.

Li Xiaoheng smiled and said, "This Lawyer Zhou is really good."

However, Li Xiaoheng didn't really want to discuss Lawyer Zhou's person with Tao Mu. He was just using this pretext to talk to Tao Mu.

"Did you just follow the gossip of the Shen family?" After laughing, Li Xiaoheng calmly continued to look for other topics.

Tao Mu responded and thanked him: "I've been busy filming these days, and I didn't pay much attention to the Internet. Thank you for helping me solve the problem this time." Drug addiction had a particularly great impact on entertainment artists. Fortunately, and Li Xiaoheng responded in a timely manner. Otherwise, it was likely that Tao Mu would not be able to explain it in the future. He didn't want to have such a blemish inexplicably.

"It's my duty." Li Xiaoheng said: "We are partners. But I suggest that if you want to clarify this matter thoroughly, it is best to do an official inspection, and then publish the inspection results directly."

Tao Mu thought this was a great idea. At least the source of the rumors could be completely solved. He thought about it and said, "I'll ask brother Gou to accompany me to the police station for an inspection later."

Li Xiaoheng said, "I'll accompany you there. I'll drive you."

Tao Mu glanced at Li Xiaoheng: "Then I'll trouble you."

"It's my honor to be able to serve you." Li Xiaoheng bowed to Tao Mu with a special gentleman's bow and said in English.

Tao Mu smiled, and accompanied by Li Xiaoheng, went to the police station for blood and urine tests. Accompanying them were two reporters from FlyNews Entertainment stationed in H Town. Because Tao Mu wanted to completely clear up the rumors, he simply had the reporters film the process of going to the police station for self-examination.

At the same time, Chairman Shen, who felt like he had been wearing a green hat this whole time (TN: expression for being cuckold), also took a DNA test at his son's suggestion. Mother Shen, who was slapped by her husband for no reason, wept and complained to her children about the grievances she felt. She had never betrayed Father Shen and admitted that she had a clear conscience. She was not afraid to do a DNA test. On the contrary, she felt that it was Father Shen who was the problem.

"Are you messing with women outside?"

Of course this was not possible. When Father Shen was entertaining outside, although there were times when he would play along according to the atmosphere, he was always careful and would never allow the unknown women outside to be pregnant with the seeds of the Shen family. Otherwise, Father Shen would not be so angry as to slap Mother Shen.

As a result, as soon as the DNA test results of the two came out, neither of their DNA matched with Shen Yu's. As soon as this result came out, everyone in the Shen family was stunned.

"How is this possible?" Mother Shen screamed: "Where is my son? I raised him for nineteen years, and now you say that my son is not my son. Then what about my son? Where is my son?"

Mother Shen threw herself at Father Shen with a blank head, grabbed Father Shen's suit jacket, and shouted hoarsely: "Did you replace my son with the bastard of an unknown woman outside? Say something? Where's my son?"

The relatives and friends who came after hearing the news were also stunned. The child who had been raised for 19 years was not biological? Where did the Shen family's child go? Who was lying in the operating room now?

"Investigate!" Father Shen said with a livid face and gritted his teeth. He was also having suspicions on whether someone deliberately spirited the Shen family's child away. What was the other party's purpose?

The Shen family was one of the richest in Shanghai. When Mother Shen was pregnant and gave birth to a child that year, she lived in the best private maternity hospital in Shanghai. Pregnant women who could give birth there were either rich or affluent. The patient information of the hospital was originally kept strictly confidential and not made public.

However, with such a big thing happening to the Shen family, even if the hospital abided by professional ethics, it would not dare to mention the principle of confidentiality to the Shen family at this juncture. At the moment, they obediently transferred the files from nineteen years ago. The results showed that there were a total of four pregnant women who had a child at the same time as Mother Shen.

Nineteen years was not a short time. The four families back then were wealthy, down on their luck, or had left Shanghai. Father Shen tried every means to get in touch with the four families. Either through using sympathy or bribery, he finally persuaded three of the families to bring their children for a DNA test. However, the remaining family was more problematic—because the child of that family was not born that day at all.

"…..I was pregnant and miscarried back then, and I have been unable to have a child since. We both went to the doctor and prayed to Buddha and took a lot of medicine. In the end, we had no choice but to pay for a surrogate. At that time, as you all know, it was not as open as now, surrogacy was illegal. How could we let people know? The girl refused to tell us her name and background. My man found the girl in the labor market. She came to work in the city from another place. After an examination, it was confirmed that there was nothing wrong with her body. We made an agreement in private that she would give birth to a child for us. If it was a boy, we would give her 200,000 yuan, and if it was a girl, we would give her 100,000 yuan. She agreed."

But no one thought that when the girl was five months pregnant, the wife also became pregnant. Now that she was pregnant, there was no need to raise a child born by other women.

"This was something we didn't do properly. At that time, the two of us discussed with the girl. If the girl was willing to raise the child by herself, regardless of gender, we would give her another 200,000 yuan. It would be regarded as the support money after the child was born. She also agreed."

The two sides hit it off, and the surrogate family took out 300,000 on the spot. Because the wife was also pregnant, and felt sympathy for the girl so she didn't do something like demolish the bridge after crossing it—to be a little superstitious, the wife of the family thought her child was brought by the girl's child. Otherwise, why was she pregnant at this time, not sooner or later?

If it wasn't for the prospect of raising a child born by another woman too distasteful, the wife of this family would want to raise that child together with her own.

What happened next was particularly easy to guess. The surrogate mother stayed in Shanghai until she gave birth to a son in health, received the final payment of 100,000 yuan, and after recuperating for a month, she left with the baby in her arms. And because the child was a product of surrogacy, the girl didn't leave a proof of identity. Even the identity she used when hospitalized was in the name of the niece of a cousin of the family. So now the girl couldn't be found at all.

"It's been too many years, and I forgot her name. I remember calling her Xiao Lian at the beginning. As for where she went, we don't even know. She said she would take the child back to her hometown and ask her parents to help take care of the child while she worked outside. We didn't inquire about it." The main reason was that they didn't want to have contact in the future, so there was no need to inquire.

When everyone in the Shen family heard this, it happened that the DNA test results of the other three families had come out. All was fine. Only this one family was left.

Father Shen did not speak, his face sullen. It was Shen Chen who nodded at the husband: "Mr. Tan, I'll trouble you to help with a DNA test."

Mr. Tan nodded again and again and looked at Mrs. Tan before going in to draw blood for examination.

The results of the DNA identification would take up to three hours at the earliest. Mr. Tan and Mrs. Tan stood in the corner with a look of hesitation. They didn't expect such an accident to happen nineteen years ago. They were particularly worried now that the younger son of the Shen family would really be confirmed to be the surrogate child of their family. Then that meant the Shen family had raised their child for nineteen years for free, so would they be angry with their family? The most important thing was where was the younger son of the Shen family now?

Also, when the two families brought home the wrong child, was it an accident in the hospital, or did the girl do it on purpose?

Thinking of this, Mr. Tan and Mrs. Tan only felt like a dark cloud was over their heads and became even more uneasy.

On the other side, the questions that Mr. Tan and Mrs. Tan could think of, naturally everyone in the Shen family could think of.

The most delicate and sensitive was Mother Shen who was about to collapse: "My son, where did my son go? Did that woman take my child away? Did she do it on purpose? She left her son with our Shen family to enjoy a rich and happy life while taking my son to suffer with her. Just where did this vicious woman go, and where did she take my son!"

In the VIP ward, after the operation and the anesthesia wore off, Shen Yu, who had just woken up, heard these words. He didn't know what happened during this period. He thought he had just imagined what he heard: "Mom…..Dad…..Big Brother…..Sister…..it hurts so much….."

"You cuckoo occupying the magpie's nest." Mother Shen heard Shen Yu's voice and rushed over, grabbing the collar of Shen Yu's hospital gown: "Where is my son? Just where is my son? Give me my son back! You damn cuckoo who occupied the magpie's nest….."

"Mom?" Shen Yu looked at Mother Shen with a shocked expression, and then turned his attention to his father, brother and sister: "What happened to Mom?"

"You are not our Shen family's child." Shen Chen frowned tightly and said in a deep voice, "You needed a blood transfusion during the operation. The doctor found out that your blood type is B, but the Shen family's blood type is either type A or type O. So Father and Mother did a DNA test with you and found that you are not a child of the Shen family."

"Wh-what?" Shen Yu, who was lying on the hospital bed, blinked in a daze, feeling that he had not woken up yet.

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Otherwise, otherwise how could it be, he just had an operation, and now he was no longer the child of his parents?

Unable to bear this fact, the even more delicate and sensitive, helpless little prince fainted instantly.

AN: The ABO in the previous chapter was just a joke, not changing this into an omegaverse_(:з"∠)_

Slap!

Overturning the seafood porridge handed to her, Mother Shen leaned against the bedside and shouted hysterically: "Get out! I don't want to see you, you cuckoo occupying the magpie's nest! You return my son to me!"

"Mom!" Being scalded by the hot seafood porridge on the back of his hand, Shen Yu subconsciously clutched his hand and took two steps back: "Mom—"

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"Don't call me mom!" Mother Shen shook her head, more and more on the verge of mental collapse: "I'm not your mother. You're not my son, you damned bastard who stole my son. Get out of here! Get out of the Shen family! I don't want to see you anymore. Get out!"

Mother Shen shouted frantically, and suddenly reached out and grabbed the family photo frame on the bedside table, smashing it hard at Shen Yu. Shen Yu couldn't avoid it, and the edge of the photo frame severely clipped a wound on his forehead. Blood flowed down from the wound, slid across the brow bone, and fell into his eyes. Immediately his eyes turned bloody.

Shen Yu's lips trembled, he touched his forehead in disbelief, and looked at the blood on his hands, only to feel that his heart hurt more than his head: "Mom….."

"Mom, don't do this anymore!" Shen Yan, who had been hiding silently, couldn't take it anymore, and rushed out to hug her younger brother, crying and saying, "Mom, don't blame my little brother. It's my fault, It's all my fault. I was naughty back then, so I replaced my little brother. It had nothing to do with Xiao Yu, so stop scolding XiaoYu. He is innocent too!"

When these words came out, everyone was shocked. Even Father Shen looked at his daughter in disbelief: "Yan'er, what did you say?"

"It's me! I replaced my little brother." Shen Yan burst into tears, hugging Shen Yu tightly and not letting go: "When Mother gave birth to little brother, you were all good to little brother, and your eyes only saw little brother, and no one cared about me anymore. But little brother was not cute at all….."

Shen Yan, who was only five years old, was neglected at home because her mother gave birth to a younger brother, and the whole family's attention was on the younger brother. When she went to the hospital to see her little brother, the little brother only knew how to sleep and ignored her completely. There was none of the cuteness of the baby crying and laughing on the bed next to him.

I don't like this little brother!

Just like I don't like this toy, five-year-old Shen Yan secretly switched the two children's name tag when the medical staff were not paying attention. Because she had heard nurses say that the way they identified babies was by the little hand card on their wrist.

So as long as I change the hand card, I could get a little brother I like.

At that time, Shen Yan didn't understand anything, and even took this as a prank. She also thought that when her parents saw the new little brother and fell in love with the new little brother, she would jump out and tell everyone that their little brother was not so cute at all, it was someone else's little brother. Just like when her parents always complimented other people's children.

But Shen Yan didn't expect that on the night when she quietly changed the name tags, her little brother in the bed was taken away. Shen Yan, who knew that she was in trouble, was terrified and didn't dare to tell her parents the truth.

Over the years, Shen Yan had always been very kind to Shen Yu, just to hypnotize herself. Shen Yu was her little brother. He was her favorite, the little brother she replaced with her own hands.

"It's all my fault. If you want to blame someone, you can blame me. Don't blame Xiao Yu. It's also because of me that Xiao Yu didn't grow up with his biological parents." Shen Yan sobbed out the truth.

Mother Shen just collapsed. She had been having conspiracy theories for so long, always thinking that the woman did not want her own son to suffer, so she deliberately switched the two children. She never thought that all of this was caused by her own daughter out of playfulness.

"What sin have I committed!" Mother Shen clutched her chest and cried out in pain, "My son!"

Mother Shen didn't catch her next breath, she rolled her eyes and fainted suddenly.

"Mother—" Everyone in the Shen family panicked, and Shen Yan scrambled to the side of the bed, shaking her mother vigorously: "Mother, what's wrong? Don't scare me?"

"Mom!" Shen Yu, with blood all over his face, also rushed to the bed. Drops of blood fell on the pure white quilt, which created a shocking contrast.

Shen Chen looked at his little brother, frowning slightly, and called the family doctor to come up, first to bandage Shen Yu's wound, and then see what happened to Mother Shen.

"Mrs. Shen does not have any serious problem, but she was too excited that she fainted for a while. As long as she is taken good care of, it will be fine."

"However, the situation of the young master is a little troublesome." Shen Yu's character was originally timid and obedient, just like a rare and expensive flower kept in a greenhouse. Although it was elegant in appearance, it also needed to be carefully cared for.

But now, due to the exposure of his true birth background, he was unable to get Mrs. Shen's acknowledgement. Shen Yu's vitality was originally severely damaged by his operation, and now he couldn't recuperate in peace either. He was in a state of panic and fear all day long, just like when a pampered greenhouse treasure flower was suddenly exposed to the storm. If he wasn't taken care of carefully, there might be lingering side-effects to his health.

This family doctor had been serving the Shen family for many years. Shen Yu could be regarded as a child he had watched grow up. He liked this innocent, kind and soft-natured young master very much. Even though this young master was raised by his family to be too ignorant of the world, and occasionally embarrass himself due to not knowing the sufferings of the world.

It would be fine if Shen Yu had always been the son of the Shen family. With Chairman Shen and CEO Shen protecting him, his character would not be a problem. But now…..the family doctor shook his head sighing, not knowing how the Shen family would treat this young master whose true birth background was exposed.

Finally, the family doctor gave Mrs. Shen, who had passed out, a sedative, and left a doctor's order for post-operative recuperation before leaving.

After sending the family doctor away, Father Shen and Shen Chen called Shen Yu, who had white gauze wrapped around his head, to the study: "…..You also heard what the doctor said. Your mother's mental state is very unstable. You also need to recuperate in peace. So Dad wants to separate the two of you for now. Pack your bags and go live in the apartment for now."

Was he going to be kicked out by his Dad?

The hands hanging by his side clenched tightly, Shen Yu's big eyes filled with tears, like a chick that was about to be driven out of the nest by his parents, he whispered, "Dad, Brother, don't drive me away."

"It's not to drive you away." Shen Chen explained patiently: "It's just that Mother is weak mentally, suddenly finding out that you are not a child of the Shen family, it is difficult for her to accept this fact for a while. You can also see that if you were to stay at home, Mother would only scold you. You will be walking on eggshells at home, so you might as well leave for a while. I will have Mrs. Liu accompany you to the apartment. With her taking care of you, you can recuperate more peacefully. "

"But I….." I don't want to leave you!

"Be good." Shen Chen walked over from the floor-to-ceiling window and patted Shen Yu's thin shoulder: "It's not that we don't want you anymore. It's just to have you go live for a while outside, and it's also convenient for your recuperation. We can also persuade Mother. No matter what, you are also the son that Mother had raised for 19 years. After so many years of love, she would not really be cruel to you. It's just that she can't think it through for a while."

Was that right?

Shen Yu looked at his father and brother in a daze. His headache was terrible, and he really couldn't think. Since Dad and Big Brother said so, it must be like this.

Shen Yu hesitated for a while, then nodded obediently and agreed to such an arrangement. He looked at his father and elder brother with a look of hope: "…..You will definitely be able to find the real younger son of the Shen family, right? As long as you find him, Mom will forgive me, right?"

The father and son of the Shen family looked at Shen Yu, who was shivering like a newborn cat, but still tried to open his eyes wide and looked at them expectantly, and their hearts softened slightly. Two big hands landed on Shen Yu's head and rubbed, and replied warmly, "It should be like this."

When the three came out of the study, Shen Yan, who had been guarding in the corridor, hurried up to meet them, and asked nervously, "Father, Big Brother, what were you talking about when you called Xiao Yu into the study alone? Was there anything you can't tell me?"

"It's not that we can't tell you. We just want Xiao Yu to live in an apartment outside for a few days."

"What?" Shen Yan was shocked: "No, I don't agree. Father, Big Brother, you can't be so cruel. Even if Xiao Yu is not the Shen family's own flesh and blood, he is also our little brother who had been raised in the Shen family for 19 years! How could you kick him out! He's just had surgery and isn't recovered yet!"

Shen Yan really felt distress for Shen Yu. So at that moment, she hugged the slender Shen Yu and cried.

"Enough! Stop making a fuss!" Facing Shen Yan's unreasonable behavior, the Shen family father and son had another attitude. Father Shen sternly reprimanded: "If you have the energy to intercede for Xiao Yu, you might as well think about what you should do yourself. If you hadn't caused such a big disaster back then, your little brother wouldn't have been missing for nineteen years!" The Shen family would not have raised another's son for nineteen years for nothing!

When Father Shen thought about this, his expression darkened.

"I know it's my fault. But it has already happened, what can I do?" Shen Yan cried loudly, "You can just find him back. Why do you have to drive Xiao Yu away? Can't both little brothers stay?"

"You say it lightly. The sea of people is vast, and he has been missing for nineteen years. Where can we find him?" Shen Chen frowned and scolded: "Enough. Don't make trouble anymore. The reason why Xiao Yu is moving out is for his own good. You have heard what the doctor said. Xiao Yu has just finished surgery and needs to recuperate peacefully. Mother is so troubled now that Xiao Yu can't live in peace at home at all. Instead of walking on eggshells everyday and worrying whether Mother would have another attack, it's better to avoid this outside and recuperate peacefully. Mother won't be so excited when she can't see Xiao Yu. After awhile, maybe she will miss Xiao Yu, and she may ask to see Xiao Yu." No matter what, this was a child she had raised for nineteen years.

When Shen Yan heard this explanation, she didn't say anything anymore. After a long silence: "I want to send Xiao Yu to live outside personally. Otherwise, outsiders will see Xiao Yu and think that Xiao Yu was kicked out by our Shen family. What if others bully him?"

The father and son of the Shen family looked at each other, and Shen Chen nodded in response: "This is no problem. I will ask old Zhou to take you there."

The news that Shen Yu moved out of the Shen family's mansion was the same as in the previous life, causing an uproar in Shanghai and the entertainment circle.

After Tao Mu, who had already returned to the capital, got this news, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised—he didn't expect that Shen Yu in this life was actually kicked out of the Shen family by Mother Shen.

But it was also logical when thinking about it. In his last life, he and Shen Yu had the wire accident together. After being sent to the hospital, his birth background was directly exposed because of the blood transfusion. He took advantage of the situation to return to the Shen family, and because of resentment in his heart, he made a fuss to expel Shen Yu from the Shen family.

At that time, although the Shen family was surprised by Shen Yu's birth background, but their own son had appeared, naturally there would be no more heartache of losing one's child. Those with a darker mind, would likely even speculate about him because of this coincidence. Facts have proved that as soon as he returned to the Shen family's house, he was seen as a scheming profiteer desperate for quick success and instant profit, trying to compete with Shen Chen for family inheritance. Everyone looked down on him.

But in this life, he was too lazy to get involved with the Shen family's lame business. When Shen Yu was involved in the wire accident, in order to determine the bloodline, the Shen family had to find the families who conceived and gave birth at the same time Mother Shen did for a DNA test. Finally, the Tan family and the surrogate mother were found. It was preconceived that the surrogate mother had ulterior motives. Therefore, affected by the halo of the plot, Mother Shen, who lost the son of her own flesh and blood, replaced the role of Tao Mu in the previous life, and she drove Shen Yu out of the Shen family to complete that part of the plot.

As for Shen Yan's initiative to reveal the secret of her switching them back then—

To tell the truth, because Tao Mu and Shen Yu returned to the Shen family at the same time in the previous life, don't know if it was because of the negligence of the plot or other reasons, the Shen family did not take the initiative to investigate Shen Yu's birth background. Therefore, the plot detail involving the Tan family and the surrogate mother did not exist in the previous life. Since Shen Yu's status in the Shen family was not threatened, of course Shen Yan, the culprit, would not take the initiative to expose herself.

However, in this life, because of Mother Shen's preconceived ideas. She determined that Shen Yu's biological mother had a bad heart. If this guess was accepted by others, it was conceivable that Shen Yu's situation in the Shen family would be even worse. After all, the nature of a cuckoo occupying a magpie's nest and innocent involvement were different. Of course Shen Yan, who really regarded Shen Yu as her true little brother, couldn't bear this kind of speculation. So she took the initiative to reveal the secret that even Tao Mu didn't know, just to make Shen Yu's living environment in the Shen family a little better.

After all, in the previous life, Shen Yu was the protagonist of a sweet pampering novel. Shen Yu's biggest backer was the Shen family. If the Shen family no longer supported him because of Shen Yu's birth background, and thinking back to the fact that after Shen Yu was kicked out of the Shen family by him in his previous life Shen Yu would always inexplicably provoke all kinds of villains…..it was likely that the sweet pampering novel would turn into an angst novel. He imagined that the God of Plot would not want this to happen.

—And combined with Shen Yan's revelations, Tao Mu could also understand why Shen Yan hated him so much in his previous life. There were two kinds of people in this world. One kind of person feels guilty and wants to make up for it the more they owe others; another kind of person feels bold and confident that they are in the right the more they owe others. Thinking about it, Shen Yan was the latter type of person.

Perhaps after Tao Mu returned to the Shen family, Shen Yan even complained about him in private, complaining that his appearance had made the ever-happy Shen family become tense, and maybe she even secretly hoped that he would disappear again, so that the Shen family could return to their former happiness and tranquility.

"So just what the hell kind of family I was looking forward to in my last life!" Tao Mu rubbed his chin and pondered to himself.

A father and brother, who were always indifferent and put their interests first. A mother, who was affected by the halo of the plot and existed purely for the sake of the plot. If she was asked to provide protection brainlessly, she would provide protection brainlessly, and if she was asked to slander brainlessly, she would slander brainlessly. And a sister who clearly committed a wrong but wanted nothing more than for the victim to go die.

Putting aside the Shen family's father and son, Tao Mu always felt that the existence of Mother Shen and Shen Yan once again proved the importance of IQ and ability.

—Those with strong will could do their best to minimize the damage of the plot halo even if they were at the center of its radiation; the same was true for people with strong and far-reaching influence. As for those ordinary people with low IQ who were easily incited, it was best to stay as far away from the center of the whirlpool as possible.

So the reason why Mother Shen had shown such obvious changes in the two lifetimes was because her IQ was too low? Being manipulated by the plot and cooperating with the hero to carry out the plot, sure enough, the earth would still turn no matter who was missing. The dog blood drama would still continue no matter what character was missing!

Tao Mu chuckled and decided again to "cherish one's IQ and stay away from Shanghai", protecting his sock puppet in this life at all costs.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

For things like 8pm dog-blood idol dramas, he should just be a loyal audience. As for the important task of carrying on the plot, he'll leave it to someone else.

"What are you thinking about that is making you so happy?" Li Xiaoheng, who was looking through the documents on hand, heard Tao Mu's laughter, and couldn't help raising his head and asking.

"It's nothing, just eating melons and watching a show!" Tao Mu said, and really did pick up a piece of watermelon from the coffee table, eating it leisurely.

For the sake of filming, forcing oneself into a high fever of 39.3 degrees Celsius, and later, in order to film the role of a drug addict, refusing to eat or take medicine. Although after fighting to the end, the scene was successfully completed. But for the so-called death of one's own making, he would have to endure even if it was on his knees. So after returning to Beijing, towards the matter of Li Xiaoheng keeping a close watch that he took his medicine, even if Tao Mu was not happy, he had to endure it.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

"…..I think I've recovered." After swallowing the last two small pills with warm water, Tao Mu repeatedly confirmed, "From tomorrow onwards, I won't need to take any more pills, right?"

Before waiting for Li Xiaoheng's reply, Tao Mu emphasized again: "I heard that taking too much cold medicine will affect the brain in bad ways. If I am no longer smart, I may make mistakes in project decision-making."

Was it not a bit too childish to use this kind of thing as a threat?

Li Xiaoheng squinted at Tao Mu, a half-smile on his lips.

Probably also feeling that his behavior was inappropriate, Tao Mu's face flushed and he tried to explain reasonably: "It's not a good thing to take too much medicine. As the saying goes, medicine can also be poison."

"Also, could you stop with the herbal soup? It's too expensive and troublesome, I'm feeling quite ashamed here."

"The doctor said that you almost turned a simple cold into pneumonia." Li Xiaoheng said mildly: "I don't want my partner to have this much disregard for his own body. Or, would you prefer that I tell Mr. Liu, Mr. Meng and Mr. Song?"

Afraid that his family would be worried, Tao Mu didn't dare to tell his family that he was so ill at the time. Even if the entertainment tabloids spread rumors, Tao Mu only dared to tell everyone that he had a common cold, and that the gossip paparazzi deliberately wrote sensationalist titles as a gimmick—after all, they said before that Tao Mu was brought into a drug rehab center for taking drugs.

With the testimony of Gou Rixin and Li Xiaoheng, two honest and particularly reliable people, Liu Yao and the others did not have any doubts. They also felt that the gossip paparazzi really dared to say anything for the sake of sales.

But on the other side, Tao Mu, who was caught in the act by Li Xiaoheng, now had a difficult life. Being forced to take injections and medicines was nothing, but the most annoying thing was that Li Xiaoheng learned medicinal herbal soup recipes from somewhere, and now made a pot for him every day. Tao Mu, forced to drink it all everyday, was on the verge of throwing up. After a week, he could no longer stand it.

"Consider it my surrender. At most, I promise you that I will never pour cold water on my head and deliberately come down with a fever for filming again. As CEO Li's most important partner, I will definitely protect this head of mine, strive for clear and logical thinking during the next ten years, and never delay you from earning money."

Possibly all the most embarrassing moments in his life were seen by Li Xiaoheng—his whole body smelling unwashed, hair greasy, dizzy, hungry, limbs weak, and needing Li Xiaoheng's help to stand in the shower, so Tao Mu felt that he already had not much to hide from the other. When facing Li Xiaoheng again, his whole person was much more relaxed and he could even throw in some jokes in between words.

Li Xiaoheng cherished such a lively Tao Mu very much. But some things must be made clear: "It's not just pouring cold water on yourself, it's about prohibiting all self-destruction."

"Tao Mu, I know you like acting. But I hope you can cherish your own body. In other words, you can only act in more dramas and films if you are in a healthier state. Instead of ruining your health for a trivial role." Li Xiaoheng put his hands on his knees which were crossed, and said calmly, "You are a businessman yourself. You should understand that input and output should at least be proportional to each other."

"You mean, I should do my best when I'm playing the male lead, and just take it casually at other times?" Tao Mu raised his eyebrows and deliberately misinterpreted Li Xiaoheng's words.

"I mean, even if you play the male lead, you can't force your body like that. You have to understand sustainable development." Li Xiaoheng patiently corrected: "When you deal in business, you know how to strategize and keep a card up your sleeve, but why do you drain the pond to get at the fish when you act?"

"Is it that exaggerated?" Tao Mu sat down on the other end of the sofa and picked up the apple on the coffee table. Just as he was about to bite down, it was snatched away by Li Xiaoheng.

Li Xiaoheng picked up the fruit knife, peeled the apple and cut it into pieces, before handing it to Tao Mu with a toothpick: "Do you need me to recite the test results of your body checkup?"

Obviously not needed. Tao Mu ate the apple slices. Then he suddenly realized that he was too close to Li Xiaoheng. Of course, this was also due to the small space of his apartment opposite Beijing Film. The small apartment was only 30 square meters, and there was only one sofa in the living room, so it seemed that the two men who were over 1.8 meters tall were too close.

"You always come to work here, don't you feel crowded?" Tao Mu suggested subtly, "I think you can go back to your own apartment or office. We can communicate by phone if you have any questions."

Li Xiaoheng sneered, stood up directly, and walked into the kitchen where he put on oven mitts, brought out the old pigeon soup simmering on the familiar stove, and scooped out a bowl. He then returned to the living room, and handed it to Tao Mu: "The medicine can be stopped. But the soup must continue to be drunk. In your words, I, a domineering CEO who deals in tens of millions every minute, has cooked soup for you personally. Don't you feel moved?"

He did feel moved. But. The key was that drinking too much soup was too nourishing, and if he gained weight, he would have to go to the gym to lose weight.

Tao Mu took a sip of the soup with a conflicted expression—not to mention, the domineering CEO who dealt in tens of millions every minute had a really good talent for learning to cook.

"I also think that I am a God of Cookery who was delayed by my job as a domineering CEO. Even Mr. Song said that my talent was good." In the process of getting along, Li Xiaoheng became more and more open. Every time he joked, Tao Mu would also feel amused.

—It was just that the habit of confessing out of the blue every once in awhile would also give Tao Mu a headache: "…..So, I'm already so good. I can make money to support the family and act as good eye-candy, able to handle in and out of the kitchen. You really aren't going to consider dating me?"

Tao Mu almost choked on a mouthful of old pigeon soup. Hearing this, he looked at Li Xiaoheng helplessly: "I really don't know what you like about me?"

"Maybe it's because you don't like me. If I say that, will you feel a little more relaxed?" Li Xiaoheng smiled and teased, his eyes looking at Tao Mu becoming more gentle and soft: "I said it before, I like you, so I am willing to pursue you. It's my own business, you don't have to feel burdened. I just hope you can enjoy the process."

Tao Mu held the soup bowl in silence.

The warm-toned lighting shone down from overhead, reflecting off of Tao Mu's long eyelashes and making them appear extra thick and delicate. Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu's trembling eyelashes, and smiled warmly: "If you are worried, that when one day you are moved by my pursuit, and you want to accept me, only to find that I am not interested. Then we can sign a contract—"

"How can a contract be signed on this kind of thing?" Tao Mu frowned and interrupted Li Xiaoheng: "Do you think it is a partnership to do business, that you can sign a contract?"

Even if it was a business partnership, there were quite a few partners who have survived the initial financing period only to finally turn against each other in the end. The human heart was unpredictable, how could it be bound by a paper contract? And for people like them, the so-called contract was just an expedient between two equals. When signing a contract, not only must they abide by the contract, but they must always be ready to tear up the contract as well.

Tao Mu had never been a person whose promises were worth a thousand gold. Everything he did was to maximize profit. If the benefit of betrayal was big enough, he could even tear up all the promises. What was even more ridiculous was that Li Xiaoheng was also such a person.

Two people who regarded their personal interests to be paramount, actually want to date and fall in love. Like two venomous snakes trying to stay warm together. Originally it was a cold blooded animal with venom dripping from its fangs. Was it necessary to always beware of the opponent's fangs striking even when being intimate?

He had had enough of that in his last life when he had to be vigilant even against those close to him.

Tao Mu was pondering to himself, when he suddenly felt his cheeks get hot. It turned out that Li Xiaoheng's finger was poking at the corner of his mouth.

"What are you thinking about for you to look so aggrieved that the corners of your mouth are drooping down?" Li Xiaoheng said with a warm smile, "I think you are like a little leopard."

"Huh?" Tao Mu didn't get Li Xiaoheng's meaning, and was dumbfounded for a moment.

"I think you are a beautiful little leopard, with smooth fur and sharp claws. Do you know the hunting characteristics of leopards? They like to hide in the trees, waiting for the prey to pass under the tree, or sneaking close to the prey before attacking. And their stamina is very good, when there is no prey, it is not a problem for them to starve for a few days."

Tao Mu looked at Li Xiaoheng with a bewildered expression, not knowing why he suddenly mentioned the leopard. Was it because he stayed at home the past few days and often watched the animal world channel to pass the time?

While thinking random thoughts, he saw Li Xiaoheng, who was sitting on the other side of the sofa, suddenly slide closer, and a pair of dark, shiny eyes stared at Tao Mu from up close. So close that Tao Mu could clearly see his own reflection in the other's pupils.

"If you are a leopard, I would volunteer to be your prey. I hope you can be my companion for a long time. Become familiar with my temperament and life rules. If one day, you feel that I betrayed you, you can be like the hunting leopard, stand high on a tree and pounce down, using your sharp claws to rip out my throat. Or sneak up behind my back and attack me, directly biting down on my spine. I believe you are able to do it."

The tall figure slowly shrouded him, and the strong intimidating scent of male pheromones made Tao Mu frown uncomfortably. He subconsciously clenched his fists and tensed his body. That was the male's conditioned reflex to show dissatisfaction and rejection after another male intruded the safe distance, and even a subtle sign of aggression caused by lack of security.

The originally fierce phoenix eyes instantly widened, and a very strong deterrent force erupted in the blink of an eye, just like a satiated little leopard immediately entering a state of alert when it saw a natural enemy. The sharp claws and powerful aura that flared at that moment was simply beautiful and captivating.

The two lines of sight met in the air, and the atmosphere instantly became intense and anxious. Li Xiaoheng wanted Tao Mu to see his heart clearly, but Tao Mu looked back, not to be outdone. After a while, Li Xiaoheng took the initiative in showing weakness and looked away, stepping back slightly. He stared into Tao Mu's eyes and said with a smile, "If two powerful hunters want to fall in love, one of them must surrender first. And I am willing to lie down first and show my belly for you to see."

After Li Xiaoheng said these moving words, he began to act teasingly again. Leaning on the other end of the sofa, he stretched out his hand to hold the hem of his shirt and made an upward movement: "The six-pack abs I developed after working out in the gym for a long time, do you want to see it?"

Tao Mu instantly had an exasperated expression: "No need."

He stood up and ordered the expulsion directly: "It's getting late. Go back quickly."

"Actually, I could stay." Li Xiaoheng also stood up and laughingly teased: "If your sofa welcomes me."

"You're a domineering CEO who deals with tens of millions every minute. Sleeping on the sofa is really wronging you." Tao Mu continued to banter, but his actions did not pause at all. He went straight to the entrance and opened the door, telling Li Xiaoheng in no uncertain terms that even the sofa did not welcome him in this apartment.

"I bought a 180-square-meter three-bedroom in the next building. My master bedroom, your guest bedroom and our study room. There is also a very large kitchen." Li Xiaoheng put on a woolen coat, and took out keys from his briefcase: "You are welcome anytime. Of course, it would be even better if you are willing to accept the keys."

Tao Mu was obviously unwilling. So Li Xiaoheng could only regretfully carry the spare key back to his lonely new home. When he got home, he remembered that he forgot to bring his laptop back and had to call Tao Mu: "…..I left my laptop at your place. Are you willing to bring it over to me? I still have to work at night."

Tao Mu looked at the very innocent laptop on the coffee table with a speechless look, and couldn't help but get the feeling that he wouldn't hold up against Li Xiaoheng's methods.

"Can't you give up the idea of eating the grass next to the nest?" (TN: targeting close friends/acquaintances for love interests)

"I thought we had reached a consensus on this point." Li Xiaoheng took Tao Mu's favorite snacks and fruits out of the refrigerator, and said with a smile: "…..I'm referring to the fact that everyone is a carnivore here."

"Speaking of which, I've always been curious. As a powerful predator, you actually hold yourself to the standards of rabbits." Li Xiaoheng asked, pretending to be puzzled: "Is it because you have been craving rabbit meat recently?"

"Braised or stir-fried? If you really want to eat, I could learn from Mr. Song. How about stewing in a pot?"

Looking at the phone that was suddenly hung up, Li Xiaoheng chuckled.

Ten minutes later, the cold and lonely three-bedroom finally welcomed its first guest—or more appropriately, its other owner.

"Welcome." Li Xiaoheng put a pair of rabbit style fur slippers for Tao Mu, invited him in, and took the laptop handed over: "Since the place was renovated, you are the first guest to step in."

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

If one used a house as a metaphor for the heart, Tao Mu was also the first person to enter Li Xiaoheng's heart over these many years.

However, Mr. Tao, who was very realistic, didn't notice Mr. Li's hidden meaning. Hearing these words, he subconsciously covered his nose: "Are you sure that the formaldehyde did not exceed the standard?"

Li Xiaoheng: "….."

AN: Small Skit—

Li Gong: The old house is on fire (?-ω?)

Tao Mu (splashing a basin of water): What?

Li Gong: …..It's nothing!