DASFAM_CH 08

Xie Qi worked with remarkable efficiency. By the following evening, related discussions had appeared across the capital's major local media outlets, forums, and even nationwide social media platforms.

Chen Shaoxuan's remarks, which could only be described as arrogant and overbearing, became the source of widespread condemnation from netizens—

—"So he's some Jinbai crown prince or something? Get lost."

—"Let me correct that, this type at most is a nouveau riche second-generation rich kid. Children from truly wealthy families are all very well-mannered."

—"What did ordinary people ever do to anyone? What did farmers' children and workers ever do to anyone? What right does a group of people who were born with silver spoons in their mouths have to look down on others?"

—"The service attitude at Jinbai's counters really is awful. They scan you the moment you walk in, decide you don't have money, and then ignore you completely. It makes you feel incredibly uncomfortable."

—"With so many shopping districts across the country, why go there at all? Avoiding Jinbai from now on. I'm a consumer, not someone who's there to be insulted."

—"On what basis do they rank people into different tiers? Whether it's the Jinbai shopping district or the brands themselves, without us consumers, what exactly are you?"

Bai Xu lay back against the headboard, quietly keeping watch over how the situation was developing online.

The first to issue a public relations response under the wave of public condemnation was the brand itself. GD Brand's of the capital headquarters released a statement directly—

The brand had immediately dismissed Lin Xu, the assistant manager of the capital Jinbai counter, and pledged to place greater emphasis going forward on supervising and training the reception conduct of staff across all stores, so that similar incidents would not recur.

The contrast spoke for itself.

Jinbai had yet to issue any statement, which only stoked the netizens' fury further—some hurled abuse, others filed complaints, and the attacks came from all sides.

If things continued like this, the group's reputation would inevitably be dragged down. By Bai Xu's estimate, Jinbai's own public relations response would follow within the next couple of days.

Bai Xu had already anticipated the general shape of what would come next. But compared to short-term reputational damage, what the group's controllers valued above all else was always their immediate and future interests.

This storm of public opinion was merely the fuse he had laid.

Bai Xu had long since made up his mind. Showing not the slightest urgency, he simply tossed his phone aside, lay down, and went to sleep.

In the haze that followed, another night of fragmented dreams.

Some belonged to the original owner, some belonged to Bai Xu himself—reality and illusion intertwined and blended together, and by the time he woke, the day had already drifted into midday.

Bai Xu washed up briefly. The moment he opened his bedroom door, he heard a clamor rising from downstairs. He took a few steps toward the staircase and peered down with curious eyes—

On the ground floor below, five or six workers were working together to carry a load of large furnishings into one of the guest rooms. And standing at the foot of the stairs was a middle-aged man directing them with his voice.

Looking down from above, Bai Xu could faintly make out strands of white threading through the man's hair, yet his bearing was full of vigor.

Bai Xu couldn't find a matching name anywhere in his memory. The next second, he heard Xie Qi's voice, "Young Master Bai, you're up?"

Bai Xu withdrew his gaze from downstairs, "This is...?"

Xie Qi kept it brief, "The Fourth Young Master insisted on being discharged last night. The Old Madam couldn't sway him, so she had everyone up at the crack of dawn arranging a new room for him."

Although Shang Queyan had spent years living abroad, his room in the manor villa had always been kept for him. It was simply that, given his current difficulty moving around, the Old Madam had arranged for a temporary room to be set up for him on the ground floor.

"......"

No wonder.

All the cabinet corners had been padded with soft upholstery, presumably out of fear that Shang Queyan might accidentally knock himself against them.

Bai Xu lowered his voice and indicated with his eyes, "So the man downstairs is Butler Lin?"

Xie Qi nodded, "You can just call him Uncle Lin. He and Aunt Zhuang, who oversees the kitchen, are husband and wife. They've both worked here for many years."

To the two young masters, Uncle Lin and Aunt Zhuang were not family— yet they were as good as family.

Bai Xu understood. His gaze drifted quietly downstairs once more.

Xie Qi seemed to sense something, "Young Master Bai, allow me to offer a word of caution. The Fourth Young Master's emotional state has been very unstable since the accident."

The car crash had come without warning. Shang Queyan had been in a deep coma, and the amputation of his lower leg had been a last resort to save his life.

Even a normal person, fully conscious, would struggle to come to terms with such a reality—let alone Shang Queyan, who had become a racing driver.

When Shang Queyan came to and learned of the twin blows—his family's situation and his own—he broke down repeatedly. At his worst, he had even shown signs of wanting to end his own life.

It was only because the Old Madam and Butler Lin had discovered it in time and talked him down with patient, earnest persuasion.

Afraid that Bai Xu hadn't fully taken it in, Xie Qi made himself clearer, "Not just you, Young Master Bai. Everyone else in the household is the same. Try to avoid being alone with the Fourth Young Master, and don't go wandering in front of him when there's nothing to do."

"......"

Bai Xu understood what Xie Qi meant, but he didn't agree.

The more they allowed Shang Queyan to sink into negative emotions, tiptoeing around him to shield him from every possible 'trigger', the more this kind of overprotection was likely to backfire.

Bai Xu didn't argue back. He accepted the well-intentioned reminder in good time, "Alright, I understand. I'll head downstairs and get something to eat."

"Mm."

Going downstairs, it was inevitable that he'd meet the eyes of Butler Lin.

Unless work was involved, Bai Xu had never been one for making conversation with strangers. Following the original owner's usual temperament, he simply gave a nod, "Hello."

The greeting came out soft, and carried no particular weight.

"Young Master Bai, hello."

Butler Lin had long since heard about Bai Xu and Shang Yanxiao's 'marriage alliance'. He didn't entirely approve in his heart, but it wasn't his place to object.

"From now on, if there's anything you need in this household, you can come to me."

Even though the master and mistress were both gone, and the two young masters each faced their own difficulties, this 'home' had to carry on, that was his duty as the butler.

In the original novel, Butler Lin was an unambiguously upright character.

Bai Xu knew this well. He gave a nod, "Mm."

Probably in consideration of Shang Queyan's return home, Aunt Zhuang had gone to the trouble of preparing several extra dishes, yet the table full of food had gone almost entirely untouched.

Aunt Zhuang set a warm plate of rice before Bai Xu, her expression full of worry, "Young Master Bai, you go ahead and eat first. The Fourth Young Master said he doesn't have much of an appetite."

"Mm."

Bai Xu glanced at the ground-floor guest room, where the furnishing was still being hurried along. He said nothing more, and simply ate his fill in quiet. When the meal was done, he didn't rush back to his room—instead he stepped out of the villa, intending to take a casual walk and settle his stomach.

The estate grounds were vast. Each villa stood at a considerable distance from the next, and getting around on foot alone, you wouldn't be able to cover it all in a day.

Without quite realizing where he was going, Bai Xu wandered to an artificial lake, and his drifting gaze suddenly stilled—

On the bank of the lake, a young man of striking appearance sat quietly. Beneath him was no ordinary chair, but a wheelchair.

A breeze came off the lake, lifting a corner of the blanket draped over him, and beneath it was emptiness. Even with the sunlight falling just so across his figure, a deadness clung to him that would not lift.

"......"

Bai Xu's brow furrowed slightly. In that moment, he confirmed the other person's identity—

The Fourth Young Master of the Shang family, Shang Queyan, and the central male lead of the original novel, 'The Abyss'.

According to the main storyline of the original work, Shang Queyan had once been an unfettered genius racing driver. But a car accident engineered through schemes within his own family left both his household and his body and spirit in ruins.

Having lost his mobility, Shang Queyan became for a time the object of quiet mockery among countless people in the capital's young masters' circles and the overseas racing world. His temperament, too, gradually turned dark and obsessive.

To avenge his parents, Shang Queyan forced himself to take over his elder brother's position—one he had never had any interest in—and quietly set in motion a series of plans to seize control of the group.

As for his elder brother Shang Yanxiao, who had become a 'vegetable' in the accident, he eventually woke after a long coma, but it was not to last. He died once more, this time to shield his younger brother from harm.

This became the final straw that broke what remained of Shang Queyan's restraint. From that point on, he cast aside all inhibitions, joined forces with the Zhang family to go on the offensive across the board, and ultimately wiped out every last member of the Shang family's extended relatives.

Judging by the plot summary, it was an archetypal big-male-lead revenge and rise-to-power story.

Brainless—but satisfying, and that was enough.

It was a pity that Bai Xu hadn't managed to finish the final family power struggle arc before accidentally transmigrating into the book.

...

Bai Xu pulled his thoughts back from the original story's plot. He was still hesitating over whether to go and disturb him, because judging by the current timeline and what he had heard—

Shang Queyan should still be drowning in the dark whirlpool of his trauma, unable to pull himself free. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone this long without noticing Bai Xu's presence.

Then, all of a sudden, Shang Queyan moved. His face expressionless, he maneuvered the wheelchair forward, closing the distance between himself and the lake's edge little by little.

Bai Xu's heart clenched. Acting on the instinct to save someone, he ran to intervene, "What are you doing?!"

Bai Xu grabbed the handles at the back of the wheelchair and hauled Shang Queyan—already dangerously close to the bank's edge—sharply back!

—Screech!

The wheelchair let out a sharp cry against the ground, jolting the heart.

At the same moment, the blanket across Shang Queyan's legs slipped to the ground, exposing entirely what it had been concealing.

Shang Queyan's startled hands grasped at nothing. The numbness on his face cracked open at once, a fissure of anguish breaking through.

A heavy, suffocating silence spread like a cold tide.

Even having long since learned of Shang Queyan's condition, Bai Xu still lost himself for a brief moment at the sight.

"......"

Feeling Bai Xu's gaze linger however briefly, the self-loathing and sensitivity Shang Queyan had been holding down erupted entirely. There was not a trace of gratitude or relief at having been 'saved'. Instead, his eyes blazed with fury.

"What are you looking at?"

Bai Xu picked the blanket up for him, "Sorry, I—"

Shang Queyan snatched the blanket back and shouted, "Get lost! Did I ask you to stick your nose in?"

"......"

Well. A good deed gone wrong, he'd walked right into the line of fire without thinking.

Bai Xu could understand Shang Queyan's feelings. He chose his words carefully, "Sorry. I just saw the wheelchair sliding forward a bit and was worried you might go in."

In truth, it hadn't been the wheelchair losing control and sliding forward. It had been the person controlling it who had harbored a will to die.

Shang Queyan thought of the reckless impulse that had flashed through him moments ago, and his disappointment in himself deepened another degree.

He knew Bai Xu's actions had probably come from good intentions, yet instinct made him recoil all the same, "I don't need you putting on a show of concern here!"

Shang Queyan fixed his gaze on the unfamiliar face before him, and something seemed to click, "You're Bai Xu? The one who entered into the marriage alliance with my brother?"

Bai Xu didn't deny it.

Shang Queyan confirmed his identity, and suspicion and disgust crept unmistakably across his brow, "Go ahead and say it, how much did my second uncle and the others pay you? To stay by my brother's side under the cover of this marriage alliance and make life unpleasant for everyone?"

Bai Xu heard this and knew at once that Shang Queyan had the wrong idea about him, "You're overthinking it."

"Drop the act. I've seen plenty of people like you—"

Shang Queyan seemed to have found an outlet for everything inside him, channeling all his inner pain into a blade dripping with blood and striking out indiscriminately.

"Spineless and without a shred of ability, wherever there's money, that's where you burrow in. Always clinging to other people's handouts like a parasite just to get by. What's the matter, doesn't it disgust you?"

Faced with these deliberate barbs, Bai Xu listened clearly and saw plainly—

On the surface, Shang Queyan was mocking him. But beneath it, he was tearing down his own present and future self.

A faint glimmer passed through Bai Xu's eyes. His reply came lightly, "Should I just push you back in, then?"

"......"

What?

Shang Queyan heard this completely unexpected answer and froze.

"No, wait— if I push you, that'd be breaking the law."

Bai Xu clicked his tongue, his expression as calm as a bystander with no stake in the matter, "If you truly don't want to live, then go ahead. Take yourself and the wheelchair right over the edge."

"I promise—"

Bai Xu stared straight at Shang Queyan, entirely deadpan, "I won't be kind enough to pull you back a second time. But out of humanitarian consideration, I'll pass word along to someone else to collect your body."

–

TL: Muji

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