Ruan Bei was preoccupied with her father lying in the hospital, so she had no time to look around. She hurried through the stairwell and didn't even notice Lu Siyuan standing in the corridor.
Lu Siyuan was startled for a moment by Ruan Bei's face, which resembled that of a member of the Lu family. He reflexively took two steps after him, but Ruan Bei and Qin Gu had already run far away.
He stood frozen in place for a moment, then turned back and opened the dormitory door, where his roommates were all fast asleep, snoring loudly.
Hearing the door open, the boy by the door opened his sleepy eyes and looked up. Seeing that it was Lu Siyuan, he closed his eyes again and mumbled, "Sixth Brother, why are you back at this time?"
Lu Siyuan was still thinking about the boy she had just caught a glimpse of, and casually replied, "I came back to pack my things. I was busy with New Year's Day, so I only had time today and decided to come back."
The boy said "Oh," and then fell asleep again a little while later.
Lu Siyuan started packing his things. He didn't need most of his things anymore, but he had to pack up some of his notebooks where he had jotted down some notes. They weren't very important, but he didn't want outsiders to see them, so he took them home.
As he worked with his hands, he was still thinking about the boy he had just seen.
Although there are people in this world who look alike, that boy still gave Lu Siyuan a very special feeling, making it impossible for him to pretend he hadn't seen anything.
As he pondered, Lu Siyuan slowed down his movements. After a moment's thought, he nudged his roommate, who was the most well-informed in the dormitory: "Eryong, I need to ask you about someone."
Qian Yong was half asleep, having a sweet dream, when he was woken up and was stunned for a moment.
Upon seeing Lu Siyuan, he yawned and said with his eyes closed, "Sixth Brother, you're back. What's up?"
Lu Siyuan said, "I just met a guy in the dorm building. He lives upstairs and is probably a junior. He looks... like me a bit?"
Qian Yong's groggy brain took a moment to process what he was asking.
"Oh, I know, you mean Ruan Bei, right?"
As they chatted, Qian Yong sobered up. He sat up and started dressing, saying as he did so, "Didn't I tell you before? The new freshman at our school looks a bit like you. He's the new school heartthrob, and he's really hot right now."
"Ruan Bei?" Lu Siyuan murmured the name he had never heard before, feeling a strange unease.
"Do you have any photos?" he asked.
"Yes." Qian Yong took out his phone, which was plugged into a power bank and charging, from the bedside, unplugged the charging cable, opened the campus forum with practiced ease, and quickly found a post with Ruan Bei's photo.
He handed his phone to Lu Siyuan: "Look, these are all photos taken and uploaded by those fangirls, praising his god-like looks. Pshaw, I think you're the more handsome one, Lao Liu."
Lu Siyuan took the photos and saw that they were indeed the boy he had just met. There were many photos of him reading in the library, writing in the classroom, and walking under a tree-lined path with a strange and beautiful paper umbrella.
These are mostly distant views, probably taken secretly.
Lu Siyuan frowned more and more as he looked at his phone, a strange feeling rising in his heart. His fingers, which were swiping the screen, suddenly stopped.
It was a close-up photo that exposed Ruan Bei's entire face. The boy in the photo seemed to be talking to someone next to him, and suddenly burst into laughter as if he had heard something happy.
The whole photo looks like it's been bathed in soft light, with sunlight streaming in from the window behind the smiling boy, but his smile is even more dazzling than the sunlight.
Lu Siyuan's gaze lingered on the photo for a long time, so long that Qian Yong curiously peeked at it and said, "I told you, this junior really looks like you, especially his eyebrows and eyes, but his nose and mouth don't look quite the same."
Lu Siyuan's Adam's apple bobbed, and his heart pounded like a drum.
Qian Yong could say that because he had never met his mother. This Ruan Bei's eyebrows and eyes were more like his father's than his own, while his nose and mouth were exactly like his mother's, except that because he was a boy, his features were more heroic.
If it were just a slight resemblance, Lu Siyuan could laugh it off as a coincidence. But to look this much like him, even Ruan Bei's appearance doesn't resemble his parents as much as his own. His mouth and chin look like his uncle's!
Feeling inexplicably anxious, Lu Siyuan hesitated for a moment, then returned the phone to Qian Yong and used his own phone to search for posts related to Ruan Bei on the forum.
Then he discovered that this boy named Ruan Bei was often seen with another boy. Whenever Ruan Bei appeared in a photo in the post, Qin Gu was always by his side.
Lu Siyuan had little interest in the people around Ruan Bei. He downloaded all of Ruan Bei's photos to his phone and saved them, especially the few rare close-up front-facing photos.
Some mysterious person even sent a photo of Ruan Bei's ID card. Lu Siyuan took a close look and saved it.
What upset him was that he saw Ruan Bei and Bai Miaomiao together in the photo.
Because of what happened before, Haiming Group is currently in a period of recuperation and rebuilding. The Bai family, who were once their adversaries, have acquired eight percent of their group's shares.
This left Lu Minghai feeling like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat, yet he was helpless. He was able to take it all in stride and suppress his disgust and anger, using the opportunity to cooperate with the Bai family. One reason was to ease tensions, and the other was to make the next project easier, since they had just been the focus of an official investigation.
He had spent many years in seclusion, and he had also endured hardship in his youth. He remembered these things, but he managed to suppress them.
He could tolerate it, but Lu Siyuan couldn't. As far back as Lu Siyuan could remember, Haiming Group had been in a state of rapid development and prosperity.
Especially when he was around ten years old, Old Bai had an accident, and Bai Sen was appointed to take over in a time of crisis. The Bai family was in turmoil, and Haiming Group took advantage of the situation to rise, and then it soared all the way up.
So, Lu Dashao, who had been pampered since childhood, had to endure all the grievances and frustrations he had never experienced in the previous twenty years.
During Lu Minghai's hospitalization, he wanted to turn the tide like Bai Sen, but he was held back by the power struggles of the old fogies in the company and accomplished nothing. He watched helplessly as his own group was almost bankrupted, and in the end, he sold his marriage to barely save it.
Even so, Lu Siyuan heard a lot of comparisons between him and Bai Sen, mostly criticizing him and praising Bai Sen.
In the past, people would mention him and Bosen together, praising him half and criticizing him half. Bosen was young and his high position was just a matter of timing, while he didn't even finish college.
Although he later had the opportunity to further his studies, can a degree obtained through correspondence courses be the same as one obtained from a regular key university?
So back then, people in the industry praised him, saying that he had a promising future and that the real estate industry would soon be a battleground between him and Bosen.
As a result of this incident, no one mentioned such things again. In fact, they felt that Lu Siyuan and Bai Sen were not on the same level, and compared Bai Sen to his father's generation.
This made the proud and arrogant young master Lu furious and resentful. Although he couldn't do anything about it, it didn't stop him from disliking the Bai family, especially the Bai brothers, Bai Sen and Bai Miaomiao.
Now that I see Ruan Bei and Bai Miaomiao chatting and laughing in the photos, and the post says they have a good relationship, all my previous slight liking for Ruan Bei is gone.
Thinking of Bai Shi brings to mind the unpleasant experiences he's had lately, followed by his fiancée.
Given Lu Siyuan's own appearance, and the fact that none of his relatives and friends are below average in looks, it's no wonder that his standards are higher than the average person's.
But his fiancée... well, he can't even think about her. Just thinking about her gives Lu Siyuan a headache and makes his eyes hurt.
He packed his things as planned, and was about to tell his roommate that he wouldn't be participating in the New Year's Day activities when he remembered Ruan Bei, whom he had just met.
After hesitating for a moment, I didn't say anything in the end. I just told my roommate that I'd see if I had time to come over.
As for Ruan Bei... let's check him out first.
Lu Siyuan was packing his things and going home, while Ruan Bei had already arrived at the hospital.
He found his father's hospital room based on the message his sister sent him, where the whole family was there.
When Ruan Bei went in, his mother was nagging him, his father had a cast on his leg and couldn't move, and he couldn't ignore what his wife was saying. He looked quite pitiful.
He first saw Ruan Bei and Qin Gu, and immediately waved them over happily, saying as he greeted them, "I told you it was nothing, but I insisted on calling you over. The kids are at school, this is making them miss classes."
Ruan Bei was terrified; he completely forgot about class.
Qin Gu spoke up for Ruan Bei: "The day after tomorrow is New Year's Day, and the school has a rehearsal event, so there aren't many classes."
Ruan Bei sat down by her father's bedside, carefully looked at her father's leg that was draped in a sling, and asked what exactly happened, since what was said on the phone was unclear.
Mrs. Ruan said irritably, "It's all because of your dad. He's so old, but he still acts like a young man. When someone robbed him, he not only didn't run away, but he also wanted to fight them. He didn't even touch the person and broke his own leg. It's a good thing that Ah Zhuo was there."
Mr. Ruan muttered under his breath, "I just wanted to help A-Zhuo, the two of them are fighting one..."
Mrs. Ruan glared at him: "It's good that you don't hold us back."
Looking at Yin Zhuo again, her expression softened instantly, and she became more and more satisfied with the tall son-in-law standing to the side.
My daughter Xixi has found a great boyfriend. He has a good personality, gets along well with her, is hardworking, filial, and skilled in martial arts. He's perfect in every way.
Ruan Bei quickly thanked Yin Zhuo, just as she had told her mother, that this was all thanks to him.
Yin Zhuo waved his hand and said, "No need to thank me, it's all my pleasure."
That's his future father-in-law. Even if he were just an ordinary person, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
He had won over the entire Ruan family today, and even his brother-in-law, who had always seemed to have some issues with him, seemed much more agreeable. Yin Zhuo was delighted.
Ruan Bei asked about his father's health and learned that, just as he had said on the phone, it was indeed just a leg injury that would heal with rest, which put his mind at ease.
When the two of them arrived, Mr. and Mrs. Ruan urged Ruan Xi and Yin Zhuo to leave. Yin Zhuo had been waiting outside the Ruan family's door before dawn this morning, so he must not have slept well. Mr. and Mrs. Ruan felt sorry for their son-in-law and told him to go back to sleep.
Ruan Xi was supposed to have work today, but interns have no rights; she hasn't had a full weekend in almost half a month.
This morning, her father injured his leg, and she asked her company for leave. As a result, the senior employee who was supervising her said some very unpleasant things in a sarcastic manner.
Ruanxi had often suffered at her hands. She dumped all sorts of messy things on Ruanxi, never doing her own work and making Ruanxi do it, and even treated Ruanxi like a errand girl, making her pick up packages and buy coffee.
Despite being called a long-time employee, she was actually a relative of a high-level manager, someone who had snuck in just to get by. She could even make a mistake while creating a spreadsheet, and then made Ruanxi take the blame, scolding her in front of many people in the office.
Ruanxi never told her family about these things. She and Ruanbei were truly siblings; they would only complain to their families about minor troubles, but they would keep their major grievances to themselves, so as not to make their families worry and feel sad.
At home, she only talks about the funny and embarrassing things that happened during her internship, and never mentions the grievances she suffered. Sometimes, when she gets really angry, she will complain to Yin Zhuo.
This is similar to Ruan Beiman; he only told Qin Gu.
Yin Zhuo was so angry he almost confronted the man. He told Ruan Xi, "Why don't we quit? Don't suffer this injustice. I'll support you."
These words made Ruan Xi very happy. Although she was unhappy at work, her family and boyfriend were very good to her.
Ruan Xi was secretly pleased and snorted, "It's not your turn. My two younger brothers are willing to take care of me."
Yin Zhuo scratched his head, thinking that he should get married as soon as possible so that he could rightfully support his wife.
Previously, Ruan Xi thought that resigning was impossible. Big companies are hard to get into, and there are very few internship positions available. It took her a lot of effort to get one.
She performed well and has a good chance of staying on after her internship.
Moreover, the school required an internship report with the internship unit's stamp. She just left like that, not only did she not get her salary for the month she worked for nothing, but she also couldn't submit the report. Wasn't that a loss?
But what that person said today was really too much. She actually said, "It's just a fall, it's not like you'll die."
In a fit of anger, Ruan Xi hung up the phone. "Do whatever you want, I'm not doing this anymore."
However, Mr. and Mrs. Ruan did not know that she had fired herself today, and they urged her to go back and rest for a while before going to work in the afternoon.
Ruan Xi could only stammer that she was quitting the job.
When the parents heard this, they knew something was wrong and quickly asked what happened.
Mr. Ruan felt very guilty. He had heard Ruan Xi say that the company she worked for was a Fortune 500 company, a very powerful and difficult company to get into.
It was not easy for Ruan Xi to get an internship. Everything was fine before, but she suddenly resigned today. Ruan's father felt that maybe she was fired because she wanted to take leave to take care of him.
When Ruan Xi saw her father's sad expression, she knew what he was thinking. She didn't care about hiding anything anymore and brought up all the unpleasant things that usually happened to her, explaining that she had wanted to quit a long time ago, and it wasn't because of her father, so he shouldn't worry about her.
The entire Ruan family was furious; how could they be bullied like this?
Ruan Bei grabbed her sister's hand and said angrily, "Why did you put up with it for so long? You just put up with her bullying you. Didn't you teach me that I should never put up with others bullying me, and that I should fight back if I can beat them, and come back to complain if I can't? But you kept it from us."
Ruanxi touched her younger brother's hair. Back then, she was little and thought the world was black and white, right was right and wrong was wrong.
Once you enter society, you realize that right and wrong are no longer the only criteria for judging things.
Did no one know what that so-called senior who mentored her did? Of course not. The others aren't stupid or blind; they were just being considerate of the higher-up behind her. After all, Ruan Xi was just an ordinary intern.
"Actually, only this one person is really bad." Ruan Xi downplayed the issue, saying, "The other colleagues are all very nice. I've told you that before, right? Everyone is easy to get along with."
Yin Zhuo tried to smooth things over for his girlfriend: "Yeah, it's a big company. With so many people, there are bound to be good and bad ones. Just like in a class, there are good students and bad students. Anyway, we've quit, so we're not going to put up with that anymore."
Ruan Xi also laughed and said, "Bai's Group has tens of thousands of employees, and I've only just encountered one bad guy. I'm lucky."
"Wait a minute!" Ruan Bei asked in confusion, "The Bai family?"
He couldn't remember exactly which company his sister had interned at in her previous life, but he was certain it wasn't the Bai family business.
"Yes, the Bai Group, the one that does real estate, didn't I tell you?"
Ruan Bei shook his head blankly and asked Qin Gu, "Do you know?"
Qin Gu laughed: "If you don't know, how would I know?"
Ruan Xi explained, "Originally, I didn't have a chance, but in the first half of the year, the Bai family took on a big project, and it seems that they intend to continue to expand the group's scale and recruit more people. This year, they gave some extra internship opportunities to several major local universities. I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, so I applied."
Ruan Bei and Qin Gu exchanged a glance, both thinking of the project that Bai Sen had snatched from Lu Siyuan because of Tong Hanming's incident.
Their expressions were strange, and Ruan Xi asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
Ruan Bei sighed and said, "Do you remember my roommate? The one who was shorter than me?"
"Is her name Miaomiao?" Ruan Xi asked.
"Is it that kid who comes to our house for dinner, the one with the sweet talk?" Mr. Ruan asked.
Ruan Bei nodded, and Qin Gu said with a smile, "His surname is Bai."
"Bai Miaomiao?" Yin Zhuo exclaimed in surprise, "Could he be the young master of the Bai family?"
Ruan Xi looked at him in surprise: "You know him too?"
Yin Zhuo said, "Of course I know them. The villa area where the Ran family lives was developed by the Bai family. The Bai family also lives there. I've run into the two brothers a few times."
Ruan Bei rubbed his hands together, eager to get revenge: "Sister, you wait, I'll get Bai Miaomiao to avenge you."
Ruan Xi said awkwardly, "That won't be necessary. We're not very familiar with them."
“We’re very close,” Ruan Bei said. “I did him a huge favor, and he kept saying he wanted to thank me. I just helped him get rid of the group’s pests.”
"If you don't believe me, ask Kunkun."
Qin Gu nodded: "Yes, Bai Miaomiao is very righteous and hates evil. If she knew about this, even if you weren't our sister, she would still care."
The matter was settled in just a few words, and Ruan Bei planned to complain to Bai Miaomiao when he returned to school.
Since Ruanxi no longer needs to go to work, she wants to stay and take care of her father.
However, Mrs. Ruan said that they don't all need to stay here now. Mr. Ruan has injured his leg and has difficulty moving around, so someone has to stay with him to take care of him. It would be better for them to be separated into different shifts.
After discussing it, Ruan Xi and Yin Zhuo decided to go back first, as they had gotten up too early and needed to catch up on their sleep.
Ruan Bei and Qin Gu still have classes, so they can just come over when they have time during the day to relieve their families.
What Mrs. Ruan meant was that she would stay at the hospital that night to keep her company.
This is the most arduous part. The hospital environment is not as good as home, and when Mr. Ruan needs to get up at night, the person staying with him has to get up too.
No one else was willing to do it. Ruan's mother was already in poor health, with a back ailment that made her prone to aches and pains. Ruan Bei and Ruan Xi couldn't bear to see their mother suffer like that, and neither could Ruan's father.
Ruan Bei said that his mother was too weak to help his father, so he would keep watch at night.
Qin Gu and Yin Zhuo also said they could help, and thinking about it, it made sense; Ruan's mother and Ruan Xi couldn't help Ruan's father.
The three of them take turns coming. Once Mr. Ruan's leg gets a little better, he can get used to the wheelchair and crutches on his own after some exercise, and they won't need to come every night anymore.
It's settled then. Since Ruan Bei is going to come over to keep me company tonight, Ruan's mother will send him away and tell him to come over later.
After leaving the hospital, Ruan Bei and Qin Gu didn't rush back to school.
Previously, Ruan Bei had been worried about his father's injury and hadn't thought about it in detail, but now that he had calmed down, he couldn't help but have doubts.
Was Dad's injury an accident?
So early in the morning, there are hardly any shops open in the old street. Why would those two robbers have wandered over there?
Moreover, if his sister hadn't called Yin Zhuo, and Yin Zhuo hadn't been with his father, the outcome would likely have been different; his father wouldn't have only injured one leg.
They called Shen Linpeng, saying that having connections in the government makes things easier. Upon hearing this, Shen Linpeng immediately told them to go to the police station where the two robbers had been arrested and wait for him.
On the way, Ruan Bei kept thinking about this. Qin Gu reached out and rubbed his furrowed brow: "Do you think someone is deliberately trying to harm Dad?"
Ruan Bei nodded: "If once is an accident, then twice is also an accident? What if there's a third or fourth time?"
After saying that, he asked in confusion, "But I can't figure out who would want to harm my dad. My dad is just an ordinary person and hasn't offended anyone. What would someone want from harming him?"
Qin Gu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Could it be Lu Sibai?"
"Him? Why?" Ruan Bei was even more puzzled.
"What if he already knew you were switched at birth?" Qin Gu also felt that his argument was a bit far-fetched, but he had always been wary of Lu Sibai. Ever since Ruan Bei told him about his past life, Qin Gu felt that there was something wrong with Lu Sibai.
“Even if he knows,” Ruan Bei continued, following his train of thought, “then let’s just assume he’s inherently evil. He should be targeting me, right? He should kill me first. If the Lu family finds out the babies were switched, and I’m gone, he can still be the young master of the Lu family. What does he gain from harming my father?”
Qin Gu covered his mouth, frowned and said unhappily, "Don't talk about dying or anything. If he dares to bully you, I'll kill him first."
Ruan Bei tugged at his hand and whispered, "You said it yourself."
"Whether he lives or dies is none of my business." Qin Gu said coldly, "Whether it is or not, let's check first. With Shen Linpeng here, I'm not worried about not getting the truth from the police. I'll take another look to see if there are any traces of magic left on their bodies."
If someone knowledgeable in metaphysics was really behind what happened this morning, the person who was affected by the spell would still have traces of the spell still lingering on their body.
"Okay, let's go take a look."
The two took a car to the police station. As soon as they got out of the police car, Qin Gu looked warily into the shadows around the street corner.
After paying the fare, Ruan Bei looked in the direction Qin Gu was looking, but there was nothing there. However, he knew Qin Gu wouldn't make things up: "What are you looking at?"
There was a ghost over there.
"A ghost?" Ruan Bei was also surprised. No ghost would be so foolish as to run towards the police station, just as bad guys wouldn't choose to commit crimes in front of the police station. They would naturally avoid it.
"It feels somewhat familiar, I should have seen it before." Qin Gu recalled that when they, as exorcists, caught ghosts, they didn't have the Yin-Yang eyes like Ruan Bei, and no one would waste an eye-opening talisman, so naturally they couldn't recognize faces and relied on identifying Yin energy.
"Shall we go take a look?" Ruan Bei asked.
"No need, they've already run away." Those ghosts are very sensitive; they react to the Celestial Master like mice to a cat.
"All right."
Ruan Bei just said it casually and didn't take it seriously.
They waited at the door for a short while before Shen Linpeng arrived.
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