(superior)

On a stormy night, wildfires shattered the silence.

Later, as darkness fell and the sky turned a hazy gray, Fu Xuanliao vaguely heard someone whisper in his ear, "Go, I'll let you go."

He resisted understanding the meaning of those words, instinctively clenching his fists as if trying to grasp something. When he was shaken awake, he opened his eyes groggily, seeing the azure sky above him and solid ground beneath his feet, and finally realized that he had left that sea.

It was another early morning, and compared to the tranquil deep sea, the dock was as bustling as a market.

A group of people surrounded Fu Xuanliao. Jiang Rong and Fu Qiming looked at him with concern. Two medical staff members examined him and said, "It should be a temporary fainting spell caused by prolonged sleep deprivation. We recommend that you be taken to the hospital for further examination..."

"Where's Shi Meng?" After regaining his senses, Fu Xuanliao sat up abruptly, ignoring everything else. "Where did Shi Meng go?"

The newly arrived policeman opened his notebook: "A kidnapper? Don't worry, he can't escape. He's being interrogated over there."

It turned out that yesterday morning, when Jiang Rong went downstairs, she found Fu Xuanliao's car parked downstairs, but he was nowhere to be seen. She asked the property management to check the surveillance footage and saw that her son was being taken away at knifepoint. She panicked and immediately called the police.

Shortly afterward, a taxi driver also reported the incident and provided clues, saying that in the early morning, he took two male passengers from Fengcheng to Jiuzhou Bay Beach, and one of the male passengers tied the other's hands with a rope and seemed to threaten him with a knife.

The time, location, and appearance of the person boarding the vehicle all matched, so the two cases were treated as one. However, due to the darkness, the surveillance footage was not clear, and the witnesses could not determine the kidnapper's appearance. The group first went to the beach and learned from the old man who rented the boat that the two had already taken a boat out to sea. One of them was indeed bound by the wrists, so the case was classified as a kidnapping.

Police immediately coordinated with dockworkers to pinpoint the location of the fishing boat and sent signals to dispatch nearby vessels for rescue. Response times at sea are slow; by the time they received news of the boat's location, it was already night, and by the time a large vessel towed the small boat back to shore, it was already dawn.

"Kidnapper?" Fu Xuanliao didn't understand. "Who's the kidnapper?"

The police pointed to the other side: "There he is, he's confessed everything."

As they returned to shore with the other boats, time flew by, leaving Shi Meng with a feeling of being caught off guard as if he had just traversed the night.

He was being watched by two police officers, one of whom was questioning him about what had happened.

He was exhausted, so exhausted that he seemed to remember nothing. He responded to every word the police said, looking down at his left wrist, which was red from being gripped so tightly, and confessed to the crime as if waiting to die.

"Did you coerce Mr. Fu to come here from Fengcheng?"

"yes."

"Was the boat rented from a boatman surnamed Wang?"

"yes."

"I heard you rented this boat a few months ago. What was your purpose?"

"To store things."

"What is that?"

"...It's gone."

The police only questioned those related to the case. When the other party didn't want to answer, they skipped that question and continued, "What was your motive? Why did you take Mr. Fu to the sea?"

Upon hearing this question, Shi Meng was momentarily confused.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps approached from afar. Fu Xuanliao, who had woken up at some point, staggered over and grabbed Shi Meng's wrist, saying, "He's not a kidnapper."

Not to mention the police, even Shi Meng was stunned. The spot where his wrist had been gripped all night seemed to have a memory of it, and he struggled several times but couldn't pull his hand away.

The police officer gathered his thoughts: "Mr. Fu, do you mean the kidnapper is someone else? But the taxi driver and the boatman have already identified him..."

“No,” Fu Xuanliao said, “I wasn’t kidnapped. I came here with him voluntarily, and I boarded the ship voluntarily. He didn’t hurt me, so how can it be called kidnapping?”

Jiang Rong, who followed, said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, officer. This Mr. Shi is someone we know. We didn't see him clearly in the surveillance footage and mistakenly thought he was a kidnapper."

The police officer looked puzzled: "But he has already admitted it."

Fu Xuanliao hurriedly said, "He didn't sleep all night, his mental state is not good, and what he says cannot be taken as fact..."

“I am perfectly sober,” Shi Meng interrupted. “I am very sober right now.”

Before Fu Xuanliao could react, he broke free of his restraints: "I'm the one who kidnapped Mr. Fu here and brought him to sea." As he spoke, he raised his hand, which was wrapped in gauze, forward, "Grab me."

The two sides gave completely conflicting accounts, leaving the police utterly bewildered and unsure whether or not to handcuff the suspects.

"It seems you neither harmed Mr. Fu's personal safety nor sought his money, so what are you after?"

The question is still about the motive for the crime.

Shi Meng turned around and looked at the small boat moored on the shore. There was a charcoal black mark on the stern deck, a mark left by the destruction of evidence of their love.

He looked up at the sky again. Yesterday's sun had set, and what rose again would have nothing to do with him.

The clouds gradually dispersed; time was almost up. Shi Meng squinted and answered in a very soft voice, "Help them fulfill their wishes."

Fu Xuanliao hoped I was the bad guy, and that I stole the painting;

Shi Huai also hopes that no one knows that I am not actually the son of a mistress;

Shi Sihui wanted me to give up my shares and then die;

Both my biological mother and my adoptive mother want me to disappear.

They each had their own preferences and their own plans. Shi Meng, however, could never learn to be gentle, nor did he understand what it meant to yield; all he could do was give in to their wishes.

Since both sides have conflicting accounts and the cause and effect of the case are still unclear, and the suspect's family submitted medical records proving that he had suffered serious injuries and was not suitable for detention, the police relented and allowed him to return to the hospital for treatment, and assigned someone to watch over him to prevent him from running around.

When they ran away, Shi Meng was alone, but when they returned, there was a huge group of people. Gao Lecheng, who was waiting at the hospital, was dumbfounded: "What's going on?"

He had just heard about Fu Xuanliao's kidnapping, but he never expected that it was the Second Young Master Shi who kidnapped him.

After craning his neck and looking around for a long time at the ward door, Gao Lecheng couldn't even see a single hair on Shi Meng's head. He had no choice but to go back and ask Fu Xuanliao, who was being carried back, "Where did you two go?"

Fu Xuanliao hadn't slept for days and was so exhausted he was almost collapsing. He shook his head, unwilling to say more.

Gao Lecheng couldn't contain his gossip: "I heard from Jiang Xue that Shi Meng is the real eldest son of the Shi family?"

Fu Xuanliao nodded with his eyes closed.

"Holy crap!" Gao Lecheng exclaimed, slapping his thigh in excitement, remembering the nonsense he'd spouted on New Year's Eve. "Even my rubbish came true?!"

Zhang Hao, who was staying with his wife on the same floor, also came to join in the fun.

"What? The Second Young Master Shi is called Shi Meng, not Shi Mu?... Ah? Shi Mu is the legitimate young master of the Shi family?... Oh, he's not anymore... Wait a minute, then why is that painting signed Shi Mu?"

At this point, Fu Xuanliao and Gao Lecheng asked in unison, "What painting?"

Suddenly receiving attention, Zhang Hao scratched his head awkwardly: "That painting that was auctioned off for a high price at some charity gala at the Oriental Hotel last year, wasn't it painted by Young Master Shi himself?"

Gao Lecheng gasped: "Was that drawn by Second Young Master Shi?"

"Yes, my friend took a picture and showed it to me. It's a ball of fire, isn't that what he drew?"

Lying in the hospital bed, Fu Xuanliao struggled to sit up, reached for his phone, and showed Zhang Hao a photo from his album: "Is this it?"

"Yes, that's it! I remember now, it's called 'Flame'!" Zhang Hao slapped his thigh. "I heard you two were fighting over this painting. At first, I couldn't understand it, but then I thought about it again, and it's clear that your relationship is just a flirtatious game!"

Gao Lecheng still didn't understand: "How can you be sure it was him who drew it?"

Zhang Hao said, "I saw it back in high school. He was painting this painting by himself in the art studio. Back then, he only had lines and hadn't added any color. But I've studied painting for a few days, so how could I not recognize it as the same painting?"

Fu Xuanliao barely heard the rest of the conversation. His face paled even more, a mixture of the unbearable pain of his suspicions being confirmed and the overwhelming sense of helplessness.

Meanwhile, Gao Lecheng was still confirming everything with Zhang Hao, from the appearances of Shi Mu and Shi Meng to their personality differences, leaving no stone unturned.

This serves as a constant reminder to Fu Xuanliao of just how terribly wrong he has been.

His appearance cannot be changed. He said that the person he saw painting "Flame" was the same one he saw at the entrance of Crane Pavilion. He only recognized him as Shi Mu because the signature after "Flame" was Shi Mu.

Moreover, Shi Mu and Shi Meng only have slight similarities in appearance, but their temperaments are completely different, making it difficult to mistake them. Zhang Hao even mentioned Shi Meng's obvious characteristic of "not liking to talk".

However, other possibilities cannot be ruled out. For example, Shi Mu left the unfinished painting in the school's art studio, and when Zhang Hao went in, Shi Meng was looking at the painting... But five years ago, Shi Mu clearly said that the painting was one he had just finished and was preparing to use for a competition. So what was the painting that appeared in high school and was witnessed by Zhang Hao?

Assuming Zhang Hao is lying, what is his motive? He has absolutely no reason to tell a lie that would not benefit him at all, and the fact that they met by chance at the entrance of Heting and that he mistook Shi Meng for Shi Mu is undeniable.

Then only one possibility remains—Zhang Hao is telling the truth, and the painting was indeed created by Shi Meng.

The process of repeatedly verifying the conclusion was like being struck by a series of thunderbolts. Shortly after he learned about Shi Meng's background, one after another struck him, shattering the story he thought he knew and forcing him to face the truth behind it all.

With his fists clenched and he exerted force, he almost dropped the needle. Fu Xuanliao's already wavering belief was shattered beyond recognition by the unseen lightning.

He recalled that Shi Meng had repeatedly emphasized that "Flame" was "mine".

"mine."

"This is my painting."

What was Fu Xuanliao's reaction at that time? He smiled contemptuously, grabbed Shi Meng's neck fiercely, and told him that this was not his, that he had stolen it.

As if an invisible hand were choking him, Fu Xuanliao struggled to breathe in the crevice.

It turned out that Shi Meng was not such a vicious person. All the anger caused by deep hatred had nowhere to go, and even his unrestrained venting became ridiculous.

Just a few hours ago, he was on the vast ocean, and naturally admitted to Shi Meng, "I am yours too."

How powerless, how ridiculous! No wonder Shi Meng didn't believe a single word.

No wonder Shi Meng wanted to burn that painting.

Fu Xuanliao laughed, first softly and intermittently, then he lowered his head, his shoulder blades hunched, and his shoulders trembled uncontrollably with the vibration of his chest.

Gao Lecheng was terrified, thinking that he couldn't accept the fact that the wrong person had been identified, so he tried to comfort him by downplaying the issue, saying, "Don't be like this, it's just a painting, we can clear his name and help him clear his name later, isn't that all?"

Hearing that the painting had been burned, Zhang Hao helplessly advised, "That's right, Young Master Shi painted so well, why not paint an even better one? There will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

Fu Xuanliao, buried in darkness, thought almost naively that it would be wonderful if things were as simple as the onlookers thought.

Hearing voices faintly, Gao Lecheng bent down and leaned closer to listen: "What?"

Exhausted from laughing, Fu Xuanliao's vision blurred, and he gasped for breath, saying, "So that's how it is..."

"Originally what?"

"So... it doesn't have to be like this."

It turns out it didn't have to be like this; there was no irreconcilable hatred between them.

He was merely angry that Shi Meng had stolen other people's paintings, and that Shi Meng's methods were domineering and cruel. Now that the truth is out, it turns out that Shi Meng was the victim. Even if the remaining perverted actions were wrong, why should they bear such overwhelming hatred?

Moreover, Shi Meng's starting point was love.

Flames seemed to leap up menacingly before my eyes, replaying last night's scene at sea, as if in a dream.

But Fu Xuanliao was too clear-headed now, so clear-headed that he knew the painting was just a lifeless shell, while what Shi Meng burned was the inside, the burning heart that loved Fu Xuanliao.

(Down)

The embers and ashes had been blown away by the sea breeze, but some gaps remained that could still be filled.

When the results of the re-examination by Meng were confirmed, there was nothing seriously wrong. Fu Xuanliao, who had suffered both physical and mental damage, lay down to rest for a while. When Officer Chen, who was in charge of the previous case, called, he mustered his strength again and forced himself to sit up.

He gripped the phone, his brows furrowing deeper: "You mean, that Zhou guy was just following orders, and Shi Sihui is the one pulling the strings behind the scenes?"

"Based on the current investigation results, that's the case," Officer Chen said. "Before and after the incident, the two men maintained close contact by phone, and it was also found that the receptionist downstairs had informed them beforehand. Whenever someone came to see Shi Huaiyi, they had to go through them first."

The mystery was solved in an instant. Fu Xuanliao hated himself for being slow-witted and for being too hasty at the time. In fact, if he calmed down, he could have figured out that the only person who could be able to control the Shi family group building and knock a living person unconscious and take him away without anyone noticing was Shi Huaiyi or Shi Sihui.

Since the police dared to inform him of this news, it meant the direction of the investigation was clear, so Fu Xuanliao asked, "Where is that person? Have they been arrested?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before the voice said, "The Shi family has hired a lawyer for Shi Sihui. We can only conduct a simple interrogation. The evidence is not conclusive enough. She refuses to admit it, so we can't arrest her."

After hanging up the phone, Fu Xuanliao pulled out the IV needle, put on a coat, and went out.

He slammed the door to Li Bihan's hospital room, rushed in, and without saying a word grabbed Shi Sihui's arm and dragged her out. Shi Sihui screamed in alarm, "What are you doing? Let go of me!"

Shi Huaiyi was also bewildered by this sudden situation and quickly stood up: "Xiao Fu, what are you doing?"

Fu Xuanliao remained unmoved and pulled the man out, saying, "Go to the police station and confess everything you've done, including how you hurt Shi Meng."

"What did you say? I don't understand," Shi Sihui retorted. "What does this have to do with me? Did that bastard tell you?"

Shi Huai also scolded, "That's your own brother!"

Shi Sihui clearly already knew about this, but she didn't care: "They're all people blocking my way, it's the same for them."

Fu Xuanliao became even more certain that Shi Sihui was the mastermind behind this matter. He was determined to find out the truth and seek justice for Shi Meng, so he ruthlessly dragged her away.

Seeing his uncontrollable anger, Shi Huai kept saying things like "She was only doing it for her mother" and "I've already criticized her," but Shi Sihui just laughed instead.

Now that the conversation was out in the open, she proudly raised her eyebrows, emboldened by her parents' protection: "So, are you satisfied with the big gift I gave you?"

Fu Xuanliao was not a good-tempered person to begin with, and he didn't loosen his grip at all: "You're not leaving, huh? Fine, I'll give you two choices: either go to the police station to accept the investigation, or let me beat you up here, just like Shi Meng was injured. You'll suffer the same kind of pain he did!"

Perhaps frightened by Fu Xuanliao's fierce, murderous expression, Shi Sihui, who had originally wanted to say something, exchanged a glance with Shi Huaiyi and ultimately did not resist.

Half an hour later, Officer Chen arrived and took Shi Sihui away.

Seeing her daughter being handcuffed, Li Bihan, leaning against the hospital bed, mustered her strength to speak for her: "Please don't do this, she had no choice..."

Fu Xuanliao said with a stern face, "She almost killed Shi Meng."

Something touched Li Bihan; her body trembled, and she turned her face away, silently shedding tears.

Having resolved a major issue, Fu Xuanliao took the toiletries bag from Gao Lecheng, went to the bathroom to quickly shave and wash his face, making sure his face, which hadn't been groomed for several days, looked at least neat, and then headed to Shi Meng's ward.

As a result, they were stopped at the door before they even got to see each other.

“He doesn’t want to see anyone,” Jiang Xue said.

Fu Xuanliao said urgently, "I just want to take a look. He's been adrift at sea all day, without eating or drinking anything..."

“He’s eaten and drunk his fill and is sleeping now.” Jiang Xue said, handing over a piece of clothing she was carrying on her arm. “He told me to give this back to you.”

Looking down, I saw it was the suit that Shi Meng had taken with him when he left the hospital.

Just a few hours ago, it was still covering his body, protecting him from the wind and waves at sea.

He slowly reached out and took the suit jacket from Jiang Xue. Before Jiang Xue closed the door, Fu Xuanliao couldn't help but ask, "Did he say anything else?"

Jiang Xue looked at Fu Xuanliao's distraught appearance and chuckled softly for no reason.

His tone carried a hint of melancholy: "There probably isn't any more. He's made such a big fuss; he should have said everything he wanted to say by now."

Shi Huaiyi is also nowhere to be seen, even though Shi Meng is present.

Fu Xuanliao returned to Li Bihan's ward to learn more about Shi Meng's condition, after all, they were her parents.

Though it was called an inquiry, it carried an air of interrogation. Fu Xuanliao's features were rather deep and thick; when he smiled, he was charming and amiable, but when he put on a stern face, he exuded a fierce and intimidating aura.

Shi Huai was feeling guilty because his son had almost gotten into trouble by tying someone else's son up in the sea. Although he felt offended, he didn't dare to remain silent.

"Of course it's nothing serious. The bruise on the back of my head has mostly subsided, my ribs are fine, and the rest are just minor injuries."

Li Bihan interjected, "Then... what about his hand?"

"We'll have to wait for the next dressing change and X-ray to see how his hand is. Even if he can't paint anymore, it's not a big deal. It's not like we can't afford to support him."

As Shi Huaiyi spoke, he turned to Fu Xuanliao and said, "Mengmeng is not as good as you in this respect. You know to let things go for the sake of the relationship between the two families and not hold it against him. Sihui is his sister after all. I went to him just now and asked him to speak up for Sihui in front of the police, but he wouldn't even let me in the door. He really doesn't know any better."

Upon hearing the words "ignorant," Fu Xuanliao was initially confused, and then a sense of absurdity washed over him.

When Shi Meng was quiet and didn't fight or grab, no one ever praised him. But when he was hurt and simply raised a weapon to defend his legitimate rights, he was called immature.

Shi Huaiyi continued to nag about Shi Meng's lack of magnanimity, saying that the young girl surnamed Jiang blocking the door was obviously after the Shi family's wealth and power, otherwise she wouldn't have gone to such lengths. He also suggested that they should cancel the newly signed share transfer agreement so that he would have a reason to persuade Shi Meng to let Shi Sihui go...

He treated Fu Xuanliao as one of his own, speaking from the bottom of his heart, but Fu Xuanliao felt a chill run down his spine.

When the topic turned to having Li Bihan visit Shi Meng, and how he could not refuse his own mother coming to his door, Fu Xuanliao finally couldn't stand it anymore and said coldly, "Why can't he refuse?"

The other two people in the room were both taken aback.

Fu Xuanliao looked at Shi Huaiyi: "Just because you provided him with so-called superior living conditions and the 'glorious' status of the young master of the Shi family, yet you don't care how people view or talk about him, leaving him to live in a state of constant misery where he could be stabbed in the back at any moment?"

Then she looked at Li Bihan on the hospital bed: "Is it because you gave him life but treated him indifferently, and after learning the truth of what happened back then and knowing that he suffered a lot of injustice, you still cowered in your shell and refused to accept the facts?"

"Who do you think you are, to make him suffer so much?"

Shi Huaiyi and Li Bihan were speechless when asked the question.

Although he was clearly angry, Fu Xuanliao's eyes were as cold as ice, enough to silence everyone present.

Finally, he emphasized: "I am not trying to settle this out of consideration for the relationship between the two families, but for his own sake, and it is my own choice."

Having said that, he couldn't stay a moment longer, so he stood up abruptly and strode out.

He only managed to walk a few steps before his strength gave out. Fu Xuanliao, his spirit broken, was like a punctured balloon, his back pressed against the wall as his limp body slid down.

He squatted in the empty corridor on the top floor of the hospital, his arms resting on his knees, palms drooping, his head also motionless and facing downwards, only his shoulders rising and falling with his breathing.

Unseen by anyone, Fu Xuanliao continued his thought from before: Why is it that everyone can hurt Shi Meng and then forget about it as if nothing happened?

In order to find the culprit, Fu Xuanliao began to uncontrollably trace the origins of the problem—

It's all because Shi Huaiyi couldn't control his lust and had an improper relationship with another woman, resulting in a child; it's all because Ms. Yang, whom he only met once, was so vicious that she did such a terrible thing as switching children; it's all because Shi Mu stole someone's painting, tarnished their reputation, and then turned around and accused them, causing the misunderstanding to deepen; it's all because Shi Huaiyi tried to cover it up, causing Shi Meng to suffer for so many years, and causing their relationship to become so twisted.

But were the injustices and suffering that Shi Meng endured truly caused solely by this irresponsible couple?

As the panic subsided, Fu Xuanliao took a breath and then slowly exhaled, followed by an overwhelming sense of regret.

He regretted sentencing Shi Meng to death without listening to any explanation, regretted not believing every word Shi Meng said, regretted not going to see Shi Meng by his bedside before leaving home that day... He regretted that after so many years, he realized that he had never treated him well.

No wonder he ran away, Fu Xuanliao smiled self-deprecatingly.

Who are you, and who am I? Why did you accept an exchange of value but refuse to take responsibility, and even turn against us with harsh words?

Why should he be driven to such frantic insistence, only to give up in despair, leaving no way out?

So Shi Meng could be disheartened. Fu Xuanliao forced a stiff smile and thought to himself, "No wonder he's an artist. He'd rather be a broken jade than a whole tile. Even if it means destroying it with his own hands, he won't leave a single thought for a relationship that didn't end well."

After closing his eyes for a few seconds and then opening them again, Fu Xuanliao turned his head to look at the glass window at the end of the corridor. Inside, there was a person who looked even more disheveled and wretched than in the mirror before.

He watched quietly, thinking to himself, "This person is also to blame, to be held responsible for the stubbornness that he had no choice but to act upon."

In the evening, Shi Huaiyi pushed open the ward door and almost reflexively took a half step back when he saw Fu Xuanliao's face.

He was still shaken by the two outbursts the young man had thrown during the day. Although Fu Xuanliao was just a junior, he was still a little intimidated.

Following them to the window at the end of the corridor, Shi Huaiyi spoke with kindness and caution, "Uncle must be tired after a long day. Why don't we talk about it tomorrow..."

Fu Xuanliao made a decisive decision: "No."

"I only have two questions. You can go back after I answer them."

Shi Huaiyi had no choice but to say, "Then ask away."

Having received a reply of agreement, Fu Xuanliao hesitated to speak.

He gazed out the window, the afterglow of the setting sun spilling into his eyes, yet it could not fill the emptiness in his heart that he felt he had missed out on everything.

However, having made his decision, he would no longer run away from it.

Fu Xuanliao turned around and faced Shi Huaiyi: "I want to know, did Shi Mu know about the switch before he was born?"

"Five years ago, Shi Mu stole Shi Meng's painting and claimed it as his own. Were you aware of this?"