CH 66

Luo Wencheng was stunned. So, when he was fifteen years old, he travelled back to when he was five years old, and met Lu Chong at that time?

What kind of fate was this?

But why did Lu Chong never mention this matter?

While he was thinking about these things, it was like pressing the fast forward button. When he looked down again, his younger self had already crawled in through the small window and quietly untied the young Lu Chong who was lying on the ground.

Luo Wencheng was a little speechless. At the age of fifteen he had the audacity to crawl in and rescue a stranger without knowing what was going on and with the enemy nearby.

In fact, the teenage Luo Wencheng thought simply that the young man who was about his age must be the good guy, while that fierce and vicious man must be the bad guy. If he hadn’t seen such a thing, it was fine, but now that he had, there was no reason to just walk away.

The fifteen-year-old Luo Wencheng was a good, righteous young man in his bones.

The rope tying Lu Chong’s wrists was not a rope, but a thick steel wire, wrapped around so many times and so tightly twisted that it sank into the flesh, and Luo Wencheng used all his strength to unwrap it bit by bit.

While unwrapping it, he comforted, “Wait, I’ll be done soon, were you caught by that man?”

The cloth blindfolding the young Lu Chong and the rag in his mouth had been removed. He whispered, “Thank you. I was tricked by my family. They want my life. Can you help me escape?”

Luo Wencheng, who had been abused by his “mother” as a child, immediately sympathised with this young man who had also been betrayed by his family: “Don’t worry, I’m here to save you, we’ll climb out through that window in a while.”

He finally unwrapped the wire all the way, wiped the sweat from his forehead, helped the teenage Lu Chong up and asked him quietly, “Are you okay… hey, am I asking nonsense? Are you still able to walk?”

The teenage Lu Chong nodded; his blood-stained face could not be seen very clearly, but those eyes were as bright as the eyes of a lone wolf in the woods late at night.

Luo Wencheng suddenly looked at him, comparing his shoulders to his own. The other party’s shoulders seemed to be wider. He had just crawled in through the window, squeezing hard, and the other party might not be able to climb out.

“You wait.” He ran to the window and used the knife in his hand to scrape the wooden frame of the window, trying to make it bigger. Fortunately, he had a folding Swiss Army knife in his pocket that he had bought to look cool, otherwise he would have no tools at this moment.

The window was so high that it was almost at eye level, and while he hadn’t felt it standing on the stones outside earlier, he was now exhausted just holding his hands up.

“I’ll do it.” The teenage Lu Chong dragged his broken left leg over and took the knife, holding the teenage Luo Wencheng’s shoulder with one hand to stabilise his body. He had many scary deep and shallow wounds on both hands and arms, but with one stroke of the knife a large piece of the wooden window frame had been cut away.

Luo Wencheng whispered, “Wow, you’re so strong.”

Lu Chong dug the window wider and said to Luo Wencheng, “I’ll send you out first.”

Luo Wencheng instantly felt that this young man was completely different from those ungrateful bad guys on TV and that he had saved the right person. But he looked at the high window, then at the other man, who was about the same height as him, at his broken left leg, and said to him, “You can get out first. You are stronger than me, you can pull me out from outside. I am sure I can’t pull you out.”

He squatted down and patted himself on the shoulder, “Hurry up.”

The young Lu Chong looked down at him, pursed his lips, grabbed the edge of the window with both hands and put his unbroken right leg onto his shoulder; then Luo Wencheng slowly stood up and pushed him towards the window.

Lu Chong used his hands and knees to crawl out with immense difficulty, making some noise as he rolled to the ground.

“What’s the sound?” The words came from inside the shack on the far left. Lu Chong got up, stood up on the stones and said to Luo Wencheng inside, “Come out!”

Luo Wencheng grasped the edge of the window with both hands and propped himself up hard. Like a groundhog, he kept pushing up against the wall, but his arm strength was too weak. After he pushed his head out of the window, he no longer had the strength.

The young Lu Chong dragged him by both arms, pulling hard, and suddenly yanked him out of the high window. The two fell to the ground with a thump. Luo Wencheng pressed on Lu Chong. He didn’t feel any pain, but the person he was pressing down on was almost smashed and his ribs were almost broken.

This time the commotion finally alerted the people in the house on the left, and three strong men ran out at once, one running to unlock the house on the right, the other alertly heading out into the courtyard. Luo Wencheng hastily pulled Lu Chong up and put his arm over his shoulder: “Run!”

The two of them didn’t bother to hide their tracks and ran as fast as they could, with the burly man immediately chasing after them.

The alleyways in the slums were complicated. They took advantage of the terrain to escape for a short while. Seeing the distance between them and the pursuer getting closer and closer, Lu Chong suddenly said, “Give me the knife.”

He took the knife from Luo Wencheng’s hand, took a deep breath, pulled Luo Wencheng to a halt, turned around, raised his hand and threw the knife.

The distance between the two sides was no more than five metres. The knife stuck precisely in the throat of the strong man behind them, who fell straight down with wide eyes. The teenage Luo Wencheng’s eyes also widened: “Wow, that was amazing!”

The two of them continued to run, kept running and running, and when they finally couldn’t run anymore, they found a corner full of garbage and hid in it.

Not far away came the sound of two other men looking for them. They held their breath, not daring to make a single sound, and perhaps the heavens helped them as the rain began to fall harder and harder, and finally poured down in torrents.

The rain hid their breath, covered the traces of their arrival and made everything in the world a noisy chaos.

Suddenly, the young Luo Wencheng’s eyes widened; what was that?

Lu Chong followed his gaze and saw a large black cat run from the distance through the rain, drop an object it held in its mouth next to the pile of garbage before turning and running away again.

“Meow…” The thrown object moved and let out a tiny cat cry.

“My ancestors, ugh!” The teenage Luo Wencheng hurriedly grabbed the thing. It was a small black and yellow kitten. He covered the kitten’s mouth and made a silent gesture to it, “Shh, don’t make any noise!”

Because the rain was so loud, the two big men didn’t hear this tiny sound and only saw a big cat running past and didn’t care. In the end neither of them found their way here; they came and went, eventually getting farther and farther away. Luo Wencheng breathed a sigh of relief and stroked the little kitten, “Good boy, we’re safe.” He leaned over and whispered, “They’re finally gone… I haven’t asked you yet, what’s your name?”

The young Lu Chong looked at him and said, “My name is Lu Jiuding, and yours?”

“Jiuding, what an imposing name, my name is…” The teenage Luo Wencheng nearly blurted out his name, but finally braked dangerously and scratched his head, “My name is Bage.”

The teenage Lu Chong gave him a somewhat suspicious look but didn’t delve into it, “It’s not safe here, we need to get out of here as soon as possible to find my people.”

Luo Wencheng pointed to his bloodied leg, “Can you walk?”

Lu Chong’s face was pale but showed no pain as he nodded, “No problem.”

Luo Wencheng tucked the little kitten into his pocket, “Okay, let’s go then.”

“You’re taking this cat with you?”

“Of course, it’s so small and the rain is so heavy, it will die soon if we don’t take it with us.”

The two teenagers supported each other as they left the slums and made their way to the city. Lu Chong had trouble with his leg, so Luo Wencheng told him to find a safe place to hide while he went to the biggest hotel in Haining where he had to find someone to help.

Luo Wencheng followed them all the way, watching the two teenagers trudge through the heavy rain and watching his younger self help Lu Chong find a reliable contact. It turned out that Lu Chong had come to Haining on an errand for his father, but had been captured by a good brother of his father’s who had set him up. The man didn’t dare kill him at once but wanted to wait for the storm to pass first. It was safe to say that if Lu Chong didn’t escape, he would certainly end up dead.

“Thank you, Ba…” Lu Chong, in a plaster cast, solemnly thanked him. After a moment, he was still unable to call that name.

“It’s okay! It’s good that you’re safe now, go back and reunite with your dad.” The teenage Luo Wencheng waved his hand grandly, his face blushing. He felt particularly handsome and proud of himself for saving the day.

“Where is your home? I’ll have someone send you back, and when I get better, I’ll make a formal visit to say thank you.”

“My home, oh?” The teenage Luo Wencheng scratched his head, “That, that… I ran away from home, I can’t go back for the time being.”

“I see.” Lu Chong politely didn’t ask more questions but said with some worry, “Then where do you live now?”

Luo Wencheng couldn’t come up with something to say.

“If you have nowhere to go, then how about…” Lu Chong paused for a moment, “How about coming to my house with me?”

“Your house? In Beijing, huh?”

“Yes. My home is very nice, my father is also very good-tempered, you will be very welcome. There are also a lot of fun places in Beijing. When my leg gets better, I can take you there. Of course I can also take you out before I recover. Have you ever been to Beijing?”

This sentence simply poked the teenager in the heart. He had never been outside of Haining in all his life. On second thought, staying in Haining was dangerous for him. What if he accidentally collided with the Luo family and changed the trajectory of his life? But after crossing over, it felt too bad to just go back, so the young man happily agreed.

He didn’t notice Lu Chong across the room lowering his head slightly, with a smile of triumph appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Luo Wencheng, who was floating cross-legged in mid-air, raised his eyebrows. What had he missed? How could this scene be so much like a little fox abducting a big white rabbit?

The teenage Lu Chong was like this. He seemed to be hiding his thoughts deep down, but they were actually written on his face. Of course, now his level of awareness was much higher than that of his teenage self, who was naive and innocent from head to toe, and even helped to count the money after being sold.

At the same time Luo Wencheng felt a twinge of something strange. He couldn’t figure it out until he saw his teenage self hold out the little kitten that looked familiar, asking if he could bring the cat to Beijing too and keep it at Lu Chong’s house.

“Of course, you can.” Lu Chong said, “Have you given the cat a name yet?”

“A name?” Luo Wencheng thought for a while, stroking the cat, “Look at it, you can feel every bone in her body. Let’s call her Ribs!”

Ribs…

The cat called Ribs, the person met when he was young and in danger… a vague thought sprouted in Luo Wencheng’s mind.

So, the person Lu Chong had waited for so many years, could it be… him?!

Luo Wencheng stayed still for a long time; his mind seemed to be filled with thoughts but he didn’t seem to think about anything either. He should’ve been happy at this time. If that person was really him, then so many previous losses, entanglements, resentment, bitterness, everything untenable, would become resolved.

But he… couldn’t really be happy; perhaps because he could already foresee the suffering ahead.

He followed the two young men to Beijing and watched his teenage self live happily every day in the Lu family. The teenage Lu Chong would often take him to places, never the same. When the weather was bad and it was not suitable to go out, they would do fun things in the old and spacious mansion of the Lu family, such as watching movies together, playing games together, drawing together, reading a book together, and raising the cat together.

The teenage Luo Wencheng might not know this, but Luo Wencheng, who was floating in the air watching all this, knew that the young man who was still called Lu Jiuding would make plans for the next day every night, trying to make all the activities warm, interesting and enjoyable, for fear of being boring.

The teenage Luo Wencheng was particularly envious of the teenage Lu Chong’s fighting skills and wanted to learn a trick or two too, so the latter spent days making a training plan and hired several very good teachers. Once he was able to walk on crutches after more than two months, he even started teaching Luo Wencheng himself, all with immense dedication.

Luo Wencheng was very surprised. It turned out that he had learned these things before. He thought that all his skills came from the three years in prison. Now that he thought about it, he learned to fight very quickly. It should be because he had a foundation. Even if the memory in the brain disappeared, there were still some memories in the body.

Seeing the three month term approaching, the teenage Luo Wencheng was a bit reluctant to leave.

He put it off day after day and finally told Lu Chong in the last few days, “The time is almost up, I should go home.”

Lu Chong smiled and said, “I still don’t know where your home is, I’ll take you there.”

“Well, no, you can’t go to my house.”

The young Lu Chong asked cautiously, “Is it because the elders at home are strict?”

“Not really, the reason is quite complicated. Anyway, you can’t go, and I won’t come back again when I leave this time. We won’t see each other again.” When the young Luo Wencheng said that, he got sad himself and hastily smiled cheekily, “Don’t miss me, thanks for your hospitality, I had a great time.”

As he said that, he saw the face of the young man in front of him turn pale a little. He felt that he was simply a bad guy. The young Lu Chong was silent for a while and then said, “I’m going to find you anyway. Even if you don’t tell me the address, I will find you.”

“No, you won’t find me.”

“Then can you not go? My leg is almost completely healed, and we can go to school together.” The teenage Lu Chong took his hand, “I don’t want to take over my dad’s business. My dad agreed, but his requirement is that my grades must be very good. We can study together and help each other. I’m going to be in senior school next, what about you?”

“I’m only in my third year.” Luo Wencheng replied subconsciously.

“That’s fine, I don’t have a good foundation anyway, it’s just right to repeat the third year with you.” Lu Chong planned methodically, and if one didn’t look at his white face and stiff fingers, one would think he was very calm.

“But I have to go home.” The teenage Luo Wencheng couldn’t bear to interrupt him, but that was all he could say.

The eyes of the young man in front of him gradually dimmed.

“Hey, that, don’t be sad, you will meet other friends, I also have a lot of friends… Hey, say something, you’re not crying, are you?”

The young man’s bright and beautiful eyes were covered with a faint mist, the mist that could condense into water drops and roll down the next moment.

The teenage Luo Wencheng was a little panicked and had no idea how to comfort Lu Chong, circling around him, so anxious that he didn’t know what to do.

Lu Chong lowered his head and said stubbornly, “I haven’t had any friends since I was a child, and I don’t want any other friends. I just want you.”

These words were said in a low voice, and with a strange kind of firmness, and for some reason Luo Wencheng’s ears reddened slightly as he listened.

He said, “Hey, you’re older than me, how come you’re more coquettish than me? Just think of it as me moving away. I had some great friends when I was a kid and played with them really well, but then they all moved away and I couldn’t find them. It would be sad at first, but in time I wouldn’t remember much, and then a new family would move in next door, and if there was someone about my age I would make new friends, just like…”

He thought for a long time about what he was going to say, “It’s not like no one in this world will never be separated, just like no one will only like one person for the rest of their life.”

The latter sentiment came from a movie they had watched together the other day, in which the hero and heroine had gone through so much, but in the end, instead of getting together, they each had a new love.

The young Luo Wencheng was very emotional, and remembered that his own father had many lovers outside. He liked one for a while and abandoned her after a while, and his mother who liked to abuse him was also very pitiful when he thought about it. There was also the eldest brother’s biological mother, who was said to be depressed because of his father’s cheating.

Although Luo Wencheng loved his father very much, he did not approve of or understand this kind of behaviour of falling in love, abandoning, and falling in love again.

But human beings, perhaps, were simply so fickle and greedy, weren’t they?

He asked the young Lu Chong, “Lu Jiuding, do you think there is a person in this world who will only like one person in his life?”

Lu Chong looked at him and said with certainty, “There will be.”

“I don’t believe it. People’s hearts change easily, they love one and love it to death during a period of time, but after a while, if they don’t see it, the feelings will fade away. I’ve seen this sort of thing a lot. It would be nice to have someone who, after falling in love with someone, would never change his heart, no matter whether there is separation or death, through all kinds of difficulties, or through any length of time. Then such a person must be very, very strong and very, very determined in his heart.”

Luo Wencheng sighed and said: “Hey, I probably wouldn’t be able to do that. When I was little, I would sometimes like a toy very, very much, but after a while I would get a bit bored with it and then change it to another one that I liked… Hey, do you think I’m a natural philanderer?”

The young Lu Chong didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, “That’s not the same.”

“Really?” Although the teenage Luo Wencheng was hopeful, he still didn’t think anyone in this world could really hold on to a relationship until death. Love was like that, and friendship was actually similar, right?

Anyway, he felt that although it was hard and sad to part now, it would be fine in time. They would each meet many, many different people, and slowly they would not miss each other anymore. Well, just get over the hurdle in front of them.

But the teenager in front of him obviously didn’t think so. He said sullenly, “I won’t, I won’t make any other friends, I… only like you.”

“Huh?” The teenage Luo Wencheng was caught off guard. The faint heat at the roots of his ears spread to his cheeks at once. He was a bit at a loss. For a moment he didn’t know how to respond properly. Then he remembered that the distance between the two of them was not as simple as a few cities, it was a whole decade. It was quite scary to think about. He was so distressed that he squatted down and pulled the grass at his feet, “But if we don’t see each other, you’ll soon forget about me!”

“I won’t.”

“Yes, you will.”

“I won’t!”

“You will!”

The two stared at each other childishly as if they were quarrelling, and neither wanted to give in. Finally Luo Wencheng was defeated: “But it will be a long, long, long, long time before we can see each other,” he used several “long, long time”, and his tone was very strong: “Will you really not forget me?”

“No, no matter how long it is, even if it is a lifetime, I will never forget you.” Lu Chong’s features were deep and handsome, his eyes bright and persistent, and the teenage Luo Wencheng’s heart felt as if something had pierced it. He could not bear to look away, so he stood up and said stumblingly, “Then, then I’ll think about it.”

For the whole next day Luo Wencheng was absent-minded. That night, he had insomnia. He tossed and turned in bed, muttering to himself, “He says he likes me, is that that kind of like? Why would he like me? We’re both boys. Is it because I’m good-looking? No, he’s better looking than me! Maybe he thinks I’m cute?”

A moment later, he rolled over again, “Hey, whatever, even if he likes me, how deep can it go? I’ll be leaving soon, and for me, I’ll be back in ten years later. Even if I go to him as soon as I open my eyes, for him it’s already been ten years. Ten years is a lot of days, minutes and seconds, how many things can change, will he really remember me and like me then? We’ve only been together for three months!”

He kept sighing like a little old man, and after a while he rolled over and said excitedly, “But he said he liked me! I’ve been confessed to! And he said he’d never forget me for the rest of his life… what if, I mean what if, he really doesn’t? That seems like… not bad either. I seem to like him too, and I’m happy and comfortable and relaxed with him.”

“How about giving it a try then? I’ll go to him when I get back. No, Dad and Big Brother won’t let me leave Haining. Then I will wait until I become an adult. At the latest, at the latest, when I’m eighteen, I’ll go to him, and if he still likes me at that time, I’ll be with him. That’s okay, right? If he doesn’t remember me, or doesn’t like me anymore, then forget it.”

He laughed, but didn’t laugh for long, then rolled over again and buried his head under the pillow, saying, “But then he’ll be eleven years older than me, he’ll be almost thirty when I’m an adult. We won’t have a big generation gap, right? Will he think I’m too childish? Or maybe he’ll have changed his mind so much after all those years that by the time I go looking for him, he’ll probably have someone else he likes, maybe he’ll be married and have children. Oh, won’t that be too miserable for me?

“But if I let him wait all those years in vain, it seems too miserable for him.”

It was heartbreaking to think about it.

No matter which way you looked at it, it was difficult.

That night, he tossed and turned, muttering to himself, one moment happy, the next sad, one moment determined, the next moment unable to resist the urge to retreat.

Luo Wencheng watched, floating in the air, his eyes a little distant. He didn’t expect that he had had such a tangled period when he was a teenager.

In fact, neither he as a teenager, nor he later was gay, and although he had never liked girls, he had never had his heart set on any person of the same sex either.

But whether he was a teenager and was suddenly and solemnly confessed to by a good boy who said that he would wait for him for the rest of his life, remember him for the rest of his life, and like him for the rest of his life, or whether he was pampered by someone who took care of him in a hundred different ways after going through a thousand different things and felt unprecedented tenderness from the other party, it was hard not to be moved, right?

He had, surprisingly, fallen for the same person twice.

Whether as a pure, innocent teenager, or later when he was dark-hearted and resistant to everything, he could not escape the same fate.

Lu Chong was really his tribulation.

He looked down at himself again, watching his young self feeling shy and sad, watching himself being troubled and unable to resist the sweetness of temptation. Luo Wencheng understood those feelings, but at this moment, he could no longer empathise with them. And, in fact, he would like to tell himself that whether he was happy or not, whether he accepted it or not, it was meaningless because, soon enough, he would forget all about it.

And the agreement you made would only leave the one who still remembered it to guard it and to suffer for it.

He was suddenly curious to know what had caused him to lose this memory in the first place, so he continued to watch.

The next day the teenage Luo Wencheng, with two large dark circles under his eyes, told Lu Chong, the young man who hadn’t slept all night either, that he accepted his liking but would not be able to return to him until ten years or more later.

He didn’t even dare to tell the other party his name and identity; he was afraid that if the teenage Lu Chong went to him in the next ten years, he would accidentally change everything that had been established and thus lead to some accident.

In the end he was so worried about accidents that he said, “Fifteen years at the latest.”

In fifteen years, he would be twenty years old, and no matter how much his father and elder brother controlled him, at the age of twenty he would always be able to stand his own against them, right? As soon as he had his freedom, he would definitely go to Lu Chong, and if he didn’t, then some unforeseen accident must have happened.

“Then stop waiting for me and go and like someone else,” he said to the teenage Lu Chong.

Lu Chong was very reluctant to make this agreement. Fifteen years was too long. He was not afraid of time, but he was unwilling to accept such a long separation.

But at the same time, he felt that there was always a way to find each other in advance.

He was a very determined man and would never give up on anything he was sure of. He said, “I will keep waiting.”

The teenage Luo Wencheng was helpless: “Well then, if it comes to that, you go to Beicheng. Isn’t there a piece of wasteland next to that slum area? Build a big amusement park there. I’ll definitely go there when I see it, and we’ll meet then.”

Even if something happened, surely Lu Chong would still remember how he looked, right? Surely he wouldn’t change much after more than ten years?

When they had made their agreement, the teenage Luo Wencheng was so happy that he repeatedly urged the teenage Lu Chong never to forget him. He was convinced that they would have a good ending as long as the other party did not change his heart.

He spent the few days he had left dragging the young Lu Chong around, hoping to make more and more memories.

He also helped Lu Chong change his name and gave him his cat to keep. He urged Lu Chong to protect himself in the future and never let himself get hurt again.

Like a little big brother, he was relentless in his long-winded instructions, and the more imminent the parting was, the more anxious Luo Wencheng became. He even wanted to take Lu Chong back with him to ten years later.

But there was no way, he couldn’t stay, and Lu Chong couldn’t go.

There was just such a long, long distance between them.

The two of them, immersed in the sorrow of their parting, didn’t pay attention to the strange look of the driver in front of them, and Lu Chong, the teenager who should have been extremely alert, didn’t notice anything. By the time Luo Wencheng noticed, it was already too late.

He didn’t even think about taking a bullet for Lu Chong.

At that moment he knew he was finished; he had carefully held out for so long, and on the last day, he failed.

Realising that he might forget it all, realising that he might not be able to keep his promise, he tugged at the frightened teenage Lu Chong, trying to comfort him, even trying to tell him everything, but he didn’t have much time left. The system forcefully stopped him from saying something about the time travel, and then mercilessly and decisively took him away from that time and space.

Ten years later, Luo Wencheng was back in his room, and his teenage self had reappeared on the bed. It was as if he had fallen into a deep sleep, and he opened his eyes somewhat in a daze, “Hey, didn’t I just sit down, why did I suddenly fall asleep?”

He rubbed his head in ignorance, as if he had had a dream, but he woke up not remembering anything. There was a vague hint of what seemed to be fear and grief lingering in his heart, and he wanted to cry a little, but he didn’t know why he wanted to cry.

“Was it the dream that was so sad?” He muttered blankly as he touched his pocket, “Hey? Where did the Swiss Army knife I just bought go?”

After rummaging through his pockets, he couldn’t find it. He knocked on his head; he must have left it somewhere.

A shout came from downstairs calling him to dinner, and he answered, shaking his head to get rid of all the excess emotion before opening the door briskly and heading downstairs.

The door closed again, and only Luo Wencheng, who was floating in the air, was left in the room. He was silent for a long, long time.

The cold electronic voice reappeared: “This is the memory that you lost, and now I am returning it to you. I’m sorry, you were dying at that time and even if you told Lu Chong some information, you wouldn’t have enough time to explain everything. It was impossible to predict what Lu Chong, who learned part of the truth, would do, and your past was definitely not allowed to change, so I stopped you from telling anything.”

Luo Wencheng still did not make a sound.

The icy voice waited for a long time and asked, “Is there nothing you want to say?”

Luo Wencheng slowly let out a long sigh as if his consciousness had returned to his body.

“I feel so sad, but here,” he touched his heart, “I don’t feel sad here.”

That was the saddest thing.

Translator’s note: If you remember, in Chapter 2, Lu Chong remembers the process of finding Ribs differently. Why is that? With how carefully the author ties everything up it is certainly not a mistake. My guess is that it is a sign of how blurred and distorted Lu Chong’s memories are by the system. Did he find the cat, or did his beloved find the cat? Did the cat’s eyes look like Luo Wencheng’s eyes – or were those his beloved’s eyes? He can’t be sure what is real, and his mind supplies a probable scenario.

Another point I find interesting about this flashback is the scene with Luo Wenhao in the previous chapter. It is not there just to show how mean Luo Wenhao is. It is actually an indirect answer to the question whether Luo Wenhao really didn’t know how Luo Wencheng suffered in the previous life. He “didn’t know” that just as he “didn’t know” He Mei abused Luo Wencheng – that is, he knew and took pleasure in it.