Approaching midnight, Shen Ci returned to the hotel soundlessly.

He paused slightly in front of the suite and swiped the card to open the door. The lights were already off, and the room was pitch black. Only a sensor nightlight was left at the foot of the bed. When Shen Ci walked past, it emitted a dim, yellowish glow.

The large bed in the master bedroom bulged with the shape of a person, and the sound of shallow breathing could be heard. Shen Ci sat down by the bed. Xie Yu was sound asleep, half of his face buried in the quilt, his brows and eyes looking peaceful and gentle.

Shen Ci watched quietly for a while. Just as he was about to get up and leave, his gaze fell on Xie Yu's hand, and he suddenly paused.

That wound was not bandaged, had no medicine applied, and had not been treated in any way. Furthermore, because it had been soaked in water, the edges were swollen and white. The bloodstains had dried on the wound, a darkish red—a clear precursor to inflammation and infection.

Shen Ci reached out and grabbed Xie Yu's wrist.

He gently turned it over, wanting to observe the wound carefully. However, having just returned from outside, his fingertips were ice-cold. Xie Yu shivered from the cold and woke up from his sleep. As soon as he looked up, he saw Shen Ci holding his hand, his expression cold and stern, looking especially displeased.

Xie Yu instantly jolted awake. "System? System!"

'The middle-of-the-night plot has arrived!'

When Xie Yu slept, the System also shut down, so its reaction was half a beat too slow. In that half a beat, Shen Ci had already turned on the light and sat down while gripping the bones of Xie Yu's hand.

He lowered his eyes to look at the wound, his tone very cold. "I had the hotel leave a first-aid kit, why didn't you treat this?"

Xie Yu: "?"

He froze, remembering that a staff member had just cleaned the room, changed the bedsheets and towels, and left some things behind. But Xie Yu had been dead tired, so he hadn't paid any attention.

The sensation of being held by Shen Ci was very strange. Xie Yu curled his fingers. "Uh, it's a small wound. It shouldn't matter if I leave it alone, right?"

During those years in high school when he was a delinquent, he had suffered many injuries, big and small. Every single time had been more serious than this. It was just a scratch from a button; there was no need to apply medicine.

Shen Ci: "Is that so?"

He grabbed the first-aid kit from the table, took out a bottle of liquid, clamped down on Xie Yu's wrist, and poured it without another word.

Xie Yu was shocked. 'System, where are you? Is the plot pain-shielding ready yet...'

Before he could finish his thought, the liquid slid down through his fingers. The wound felt icy-cool, but it didn't hurt. Shen Ci used a cotton swab to wipe away the bloodstains, applied the medicine, then took some gauze, wrapped it around his palm, and tied a knot.

His expression was cold, but his movements were very gentle. His ten fingers were nimble and light, making even the action of tying a knot pleasing to the eye.

Once the treatment was finished, Shen Ci stood up and looked down at Xie Yu from above. "Uncle Xie entrusted me to take care of you. If something happens to you while you're in my hands, it will be rather troublesome."

Xie Yu was utterly bewildered. "Uh, okay."

His hair was in a messy state, but he wasn't angry at being woken up from his sleep. His expression was dazed and innocent, like a bewildered big cat.

While his brain was crashing, the System finally arrived belatedly.

"I'm here, I'm here! The pain shielding system is ready, where's the plot... Huh?"

Xie Yu's hand was wrapped with gauze, wrapped securely, and there was a faint smell of alcohol and medicine in the air.

It looked at its host in confusion. "Is this the plot?"

Xie Yu kept a wooden face. "It's none of your business anymore. Go play."

"Ahhhh, how can it be none of my business!" The System went crazy. "If he doesn't make a move, what are we going to do about the psychiatric hospital plot tomorrow!"

According to the script, they were supposed to change maps tomorrow and unlock the psychiatric hospital instance. As a result, both main characters were completely off-script. How the hell were they supposed to play this?

The System was frightened awake, but Xie Yu was still dead tired. He said, "Let's just sleep first. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Xie Yu was naturally carefree. He didn't even mind Shen Ci's night raid. Once the other person left, he covered his head and quickly fell back asleep. By the time he woke up the next day, it was almost noon.

He slipped on his slippers, got out of bed, and tentatively opened the room door. The hotel corridor was completely empty; there were no staff members, nor were there any security guards.

Xie Yu thought to himself, 'Strange, Shen Ci didn't put me under house arrest?'

According to his assumptions, Shen Ci wouldn't make a move on him immediately out of respect for Xie Yuanhai's reputation, but he shouldn't allow him to move around freely either.

He tentatively took a step out. The corridor was empty. He strolled over to the elevator entrance. The corridor was still empty. He pressed the down button for the elevator, and still, no one stopped him. He swaggered out of the hotel... still no one.

Shen Ci seemed to have completely forgotten about him.

Xie Yu sighed and raised his hand to hail a taxi. "Driver, to Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital."

If the mountain won't come to him, he must go to the mountain. As long as he appeared in the psychiatric hospital today, the plot would be half-completed.

In a place he couldn't see, in the hotel lobby, someone silently typed a text message and sent it out.

Xie Yu got in the car and called Xu Qingshan, tactfully expressing his desire to visit. Ever since he went abroad, the two hadn't seen each other for over five years. Xu Qingshan readily agreed, and in less than half an hour, Xie Yu was sitting in Xu Qingshan's office.

A few new patients had arrived recently, so Xu Qingshan was rushed off his feet. After pouring a cup of water for Xie Yu, he left him alone in the office.

Xie Yu then placed the novel screen in front of him, looked at the System in dismay, and started sighing.

According to the plot, when the original host was sent here by Shen Ci, he was already hysterical, shouting until his voice cracked, very much resembling an episode of mania. Therefore, the doctor administered several kinds of sedatives. To illustrate Xie Yu's ruin and disgrace, the novel spent a long time describing the scene of him being forced to take medicine, even naming the drugs.

Psychiatric drugs are controlled substances and cannot be prescribed without a prescription. Xie Yu waited calmly for Xu Qingshan to return. Relying on his experience with bipolar disorder from many years ago and his slightly subpar acting skills, he successfully made Xu Qingshan believe he was ill and tactfully expressed his need for medication.

Many of the drugs on the list were specifically for patients with severe symptoms. Xu Qingshan considered his words before speaking, "I don't think your condition is that serious."

After his assessment, Xu Qingshan believed that Xie Yu was only slightly ill. He prescribed some mild, harmless medication, and then slid a card over to him.

Xie Yu took a look—a black card.

He had a baffled look on his face. Xu Qingshan explained, "This is the money you invested back then. But since our hospital has been open for many years and is in a stable phase, there aren't many places where we need to spend money. So, I used the remaining portion for investments. Luck was on my side, and I even made some profit."

He looked at his nephew's wrinkled clothes and said tactfully, "If you're short on money, you can take this to buy a change of clothes first."

Yesterday, Xie Yu and He Zhiyuan had gotten into a fight, leaving his well-tailored suit crumpled. Later, he was taken away by Shen Ci, so he had nowhere to change.

Xie Yu: "..."

He politely declined. "There's no need."

Xie Yu had a fairly good impression of this younger uncle. He pushed the card back and revealed, "You keep it. Three months from now, you can buy some of the Xie Family's stock."

The novel only glossed over the endings of the supporting characters. The only thing that was certain was that none of the three members of the Xie family were good people. There was no need to mention the original host, Xie Yu, but Xie Yuanshan and Xie Yuanhai both had shady dealings on hand. Three months later, they would be exposed, causing the Xie Family's stock to plummet and triggering a panic sell-off. Just half a year later, Shen Ci would take over the conglomerate, and the company's profits would steadily rise.

Right now, there were still several million on the card. He couldn't buy many shares now, but if Xu Qingshan bought them three months later, he would have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of his life, even if he stopped running the psychiatric hospital.

Having resolved a matter, Xie Yu walked out in a rather good mood. It was around dusk now, and the System perched on his shoulder. "Are we going back to the hotel?"

Xie Yu hesitated slightly.

Yesterday, Shen Ci brought him back to the hotel because it was too late, and he lived far away, making driving inconvenient. It was a compromise and a temporary measure, but he didn't say he could stay there long-term. Going back shamelessly now seemed a bit inappropriate.

The System hesitated. "Back to Wengtou Village?"

As a high-tech system, it had never stayed in such a rundown little motel. Immediately, it started whining, not very willing.

Xie Yu sighed. "Let's go home."

System: "?"

Xie Yu: "Actually, I have a house in Jiang City."

System: "?!"

It was even more confused. "How did I not know about this?"

Back then, to avoid taxes, Xie Yuanshan's house was registered under the company's name. Now that Xie Yuanhai had taken over the company, the house naturally belonged to him. And Xie Yu had never treated that place as home either; he had always stayed in hotels.

Xie Yu: "Let's make a trip back to Wengtou Village first."

One person and one system returned. Xie Yu felt around in his luggage for a moment and pulled out a kraft paper bag from his backpack.

The System recognized this item. This thing had crossed the ocean with Xie Yu to a foreign country and safely returned back home. The kraft paper was as clean and smooth as new, without a single wrinkle, showing that its owner had maintained it properly.

System: "What exactly is this?"

It had been curious for a long time. This thing looked unremarkable and very shabby, at most a bag worth a few bucks. It was one thing for the original host to carefully store it in a luxury safe, but Xie Yu was also acting meticulously with it.

Xie Yu tore open the seal and placed the item on the surface.

It was a dark red booklet with six large gold-stamped characters on it.

Property Ownership Certificate.

Xie Yu stroked the red booklet. "This should be the house my mother... no, the house his mother left him."

He and the original host had vastly different personalities, but they both had a tyrannical father and a gentle, proper mother who loved him deeply.

Xie Yu's mother had also left him a property deed, also wrapped in kraft paper, and carefully stored in his luggage.

Naturally, this house couldn't compare to Xie Yuanshan's luxury apartment. It was just an ordinary one-bedroom residence outside the Third Ring Road, but in his current situation, it was Xie Yu's best place to go.

The house was located on the second floor of an old-fashioned residential area, with no elevator. Xie Yu carried his suitcase upstairs bare-handed. As soon as he opened the door, he coughed twice—the house had been uninhabited for a long time, and the floor, sink, and the mottled, peeling old-fashioned dresser were all covered in dust.

The System looked around and hesitated. "Hire... hire a housekeeper?"

Xie Yu: "Hire your head. Did you forget our character setting?"

A penniless second-generation heir who was framed by his own uncle and didn't even have taxi money, where would he get the money to hire a housekeeper?

He rolled up his sleeves. "If we finish earlier, we can still light the stove to cook dinner."

The old house had many old items: an enamel cup from the last century, pillowcases and bedsheets with large floral patterns, as well as yellowed posters and an old calendar. Xie Yu sorted the unwanted things into categories and packed them in boxes. When he picked up the calendar, he paused slightly and raised his hand to wipe away the layer of dust on it.

The System was puzzled. "An old item from so many years ago, why wipe it?"

Xie Yu ignored it and neatly placed the calendar properly. Only then did the System notice that a date on it had a red circle drawn around it. Xie Yu laid out the calendars one by one; a date in every year had a red circle. The strokes were crooked and immature, clearly drawn by a child.

January 7th.

Just three days from now.

These calendars were from more than ten, almost twenty years ago. At that time, the original host was just a little kid. So many years had passed, and the ink had faded slightly. The striking circles marked on the old, yellowed paper looked like mottled bloodstains.

System: "...What does this mean?"

It was completely confused, but it saw Xie Yu sigh slightly, as if he had realized something.

Xie Yu stood up holding the calendar. "I think I know what the situation is."

He sighed slightly. "Let's buy some alcohol. I need to go somewhere in three days."

Ten kilometers away, Shen Ci wearily pinched the bridge of his nose.

He had already finished today's work. What was displayed on the screen was not a financial report, but a few academic papers—ever since leaving the university, he hadn't read papers for a long time.

These papers weren't from his research field either, but were related to bipolar disorder. This illness was considered a common condition in the psychiatric field, and its causes, symptoms, and treatment plans were relatively clear.

Causes: The patient might have suffered from violent treatment during childhood, which matched the scars on Xie Yu's back. Symptoms: Anxiety and violent behavior—also a match.

The papers also mentioned that restricting the patient's area of activity might exacerbate the symptoms.

Shen Ci wasn't sure what stage Xie Yu had developed to. Xie Yu had always been treated at Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital, where patient privacy was strictly protected. Moreover, Xie Yu appeared completely normal on the surface without any symptoms.

Just then, the special notification bar chimed. Shen Ci swiped it open and saw the latest message: "Mr. Xie did not return to the hotel after coming out of the psychiatric hospital."

Shen Ci was not surprised in the slightest. He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a self-deprecating, mocking chuckle.

Ever since Xie Yu returned to the country, he had been trying his hardest to clear away any ties with him, whether it was pretending not to know him at the banquet or the subsequent official and polite terms of address, it had all been the same.

He lowered his eyes and typed, "Did he return to Wengtou Village?"

Young Master Xie would rather stoop to staying in a small motel with an unreliable supply of water, electricity, and heating, than stay in a luxury hotel suite.

"No, he went to Xingfu Community. Room 302."

Shen Ci paused slightly.

Xingfu Community. This name was full of a retro flavor from the last century, making it seem entirely out of place among today's many 'Luxury Courts' and 'Elegant Gardens'.

He continued to browse the academic papers. "Are there any vacant rental properties in that community?"

At this time, Xie Yu had finally finished cleaning one room.

Given that cleaning the entire house was too difficult, he cleaned the sleeping area first. He washed what needed to be washed, replaced what needed to be replaced, paid the water, electricity, and gas bills, and even bought some scallions, green vegetables, and a few ribs from a street vendor.

Xie Yu tied on a little bear apron, started the fire to cook, and threw the ribs into the pot to blanch them. His movements were effortless and skilled. In a rather good mood, he hummed a little tune with the window open, completely unaware that the lights of the neighboring apartment had quietly lit up, and a figure had appeared by the window.