Back to the Peak

Chapter 41: The City Lord Arrives

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Caught by Cheng Xuze, Gu Changjin’s expression froze.
Somehow, he felt relieved: “Laotaiye…”

Cheng Hong, who was talking to Gu Changjin, immediately guessed the situation: “Transfer the contact to my father.”

Gu Changjin did so immediately.
Cheng Xuze accepted the contact transfer application.
Looking at the three-dimensional picture of his son appearing on his contact terminal, he had a complex expression: “Xiao Hong, what’s the matter with Xiao Ran?”

“Dad, you can call me by my full name.” Cheng Hong frowned, expressing his dissatisfaction with the title ‘Xiao Hong’1.

Cheng Xuze never knew how to approach his overly serious son.
He sighed: “I just want to know why you lied to me that Xiao Ran is autistic.”

“Dad, you don’t have to worry about Xiao Ran.” Cheng Hong was not polite even when facing his father.

“I’m Xiao Ran’s grandfather.
Xiao Ran is the eldest grandson of the Cheng family.
How can I not care? If I hadn’t come to Spark City this time, I’m afraid I wouldn’t know the truth of Ranran’s situation!” Cheng Xuze was angry when he saw his son’s appearance of not absorbing any oil or salt2, being so stubborn that he didn’t want to listen to others.

“What is that ‘truth’?” Cheng Hong asked.

“Xiao Ran is not autistic at all, and there is no problem in his intelligence.
At most, he’s a little weaker.
But what did you say?” Cheng Xuze had made up his mind to ask for the truth.

Cheng Hong seemed dissatisfied: “Dad, I said, leave it alone.”

“Leave what alone? If you still treat me as your father, tell me the whole story.” Cheng Xuze thought, Cheng Ran was actually sent to a radiation energy school! While being angry with his son, he glared at Gu Changjin beside him.

He had investigated Cheng Ran’s experiences in Spark City these days.
At the beginning of school, Cheng Ran had even been bullied…

The wrinkles between Cheng Hong’s eyebrows were getting deeper and deeper.
It seemed that he had finally made up his mind: “Cheng Ran is not my and Qin Liu’s child.”

“What did you say?” Cheng Xuze didn’t believe it at all.
When Cheng Hong was studying in Central City, he married Qin Liu, a young lady of the Qin family, which was already in decline.
They also gave birth to a child, Cheng Ran.

He had seen Cheng Ran’s genetic identification with his own eyes.
He was indeed the child of Cheng Hong and Qin Liu.
So how could such a thing be the case?

“When Qin Liu and I got married in Central City, a friend of Qin Liu stole my sperm and illegally made a test tube baby.
That was Cheng Ran,” Cheng Hong stated.

The history of test tube babies, or in-vitro fertilization, spanned thousands of years.
With the discoveries in science and technology, now not only could men and women use eggs and sperm to make babies through artificial means, but also embryos could be formed with two sperm or two eggs.
Embryos could even be made with only two cells.

Of course, the success rate of the latter two was not high, and the probability of variation in the later stage was also very high.
It was not only time-consuming and expensive, but also the chance of growth in the final stages was also low.

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What’s more, no matter what kind of in-vitro fertilization it was, all babies conceived outside the body were born with very poor talent.
Once there was a couple who were level-7 and level-6 respectively.
Because they felt it was troublesome to conceive, they made test tube babies and found someone else as a surrogate.
The child they finally gave birth to was not even able to become a radiation warrior.

After research, it was discovered this was mainly because the embryo did not feel the radiation energy of the mother at the early stage of growth.
Because of this, now people in large families tended to choose women who were strong and talented.
If something went wrong, in-vitro fertilization could still be used to allow mothers to conceive their own flesh and blood children.

Both Cheng Hong and Qin Liu had good talents, especially Qin Liu.
Among women, she was already a leader at level-5, but Cheng Ran had no energy at all… Cheng Xuze always thought that this was because the strong Qin Liu was injured when she was pregnant.
So this was why?

No, it didn’t make sense: “if Xiao Ran isn’t Qin Liu’s child, you could have refused to acknowledge him.”

“Cheng Ran’s mother is Qin Liu’s good friend.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to get the sperm from my house.
She gave Cheng Ran to me just before she died.
Qin Liu felt sorry for him and left him, but we didn’t intend to let him become my heir.” Cheng Hong added, “Dad, being in the Cheng family is good enough for Cheng Ran.
You don’t have to worry about anything else.”

Cheng Xuze still had some doubts, but what Cheng Hong said was reasonable… If Cheng Ran really came about like this, it was no wonder that Cheng Hong and his wife would ignore him.

“Now that the matter has been explained clearly, Dad, I won’t say much about anything else.
I promised Qin Liu that I would never let Cheng Ran rob her children.
I hope you don’t destroy the feelings between husband and wife,” Cheng Hong added, and then hung up the phone directly.

Cheng Xuze had nothing to do with his son’s affairs, but after listening to Cheng Hong’s explanation, he believed most of it.
If it weren’t for this reason, Cheng Hong and his wife wouldn’t have been so indifferent to Cheng Ran.

However, even if there was this reason, what Cheng Hong had done before…

“Remember not to talk nonsense about this.” Cheng Xuze sighed and looked at Gu Changjin.

Gu Changjin heard the conversation between Cheng Xuze and his son just now, and nodded at once.

However, Cheng Xuze didn’t know Cheng Ran as thoroughly as Gu Changjin did.
Gu Changjin didn’t believe Cheng Hong’s words.

If Cheng Ran was really disliked by Cheng Hong and his wife just because of this, they could just send Cheng Ran out at will.
They could just not put Cheng Ran in their eyes.
So for what reason would they keep watch over Cheng Ran? Before he came to Spark City, Cheng Ran was guarded by people outside the house, and the information access in their home was completely blocked.

Cheng Xuze went upstairs.
Gu Changjin’s contact terminal suddenly vibrated.
He opened it to find that Cheng Hong had sent a message.

“When the old man is gone, I will send something over.
Give Cheng Ran an injection and tell me his situation! If it is not done well… I remember that you have always taken good care of your niece.”

Gu Changjin’s parents died early.
Later, his only younger sister also had an accident, leaving only one niece as his family member… At that time, he almost died, but Cheng Hong saved him.
After that, he basically didn’t contact his niece.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Hong would mention her at this time.

In the past, even if Cheng Hong wanted to force him, he would only mention his life-saving grace to him.
This time, it was a direct threat… Gu Changjin didn’t know for a moment if his scheme to let Shi Qingyang make Cheng Ran change and grow, and let Cheng Xuze discover the problem with Cheng Ran, was right or wrong.

While Gu Changjin struggled, Shi Qingyang and Cheng Ran had just gone to bed.
Shi Qingyang was relieved that he had concealed his injury from Cheng Ran to the end.

Cheng Ran slept very well, likely because his mind was so pure.
He fell asleep as soon as he laid down.
Seeing him fall asleep, Shi Qingyang installed the chip of the old contact device into the new contact terminal, and then began to read news on the Internet.

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Someone had probably stirred the flames, and the recent events caused great repercussions.
Yang Haitao almost became target number one for beating and shouting.
However, this event had barely any effect on the Yin family.
Who knew whether it was deliberately suppressed, or something else.

Shi Qingyang was not surprised.
He knew that doing this could probably help his parents take revenge, but the Yin Family… As long as the Yin family was ruthless enough to cut ties, even if it had some impact on them, it wouldn’t be too big.

Shi Qingyang meandered back and forth between his thoughts, when he suddenly felt Cheng Ran arching towards him.
His heart warmed.
Thinking of the previous events, Shi Qingyang couldn’t help touching Cheng Ran’s face, then touched his own face again.

The reason why Cheng Ran hadn’t noticed his wound was because he took the initiative to kiss Shi Qingyang on the cheek, which made him shy.
When Cheng Ran slept, he didn’t dare to get too close to him…

This matter, he wanted to bring it up when they went upstairs.

Cheng Xuze asked him to sleep with Cheng Ran, which was a good opportunity for him.
But since he knew that Cheng Ran was still young, he didn’t have any inappropriate ideas.

In the past, he used to exercise every night before going to bed.
This evening, he couldn’t do so because he was wounded.
Finally, he simply moved his hands quickly while watching TV to practice his gestures.

He had thought that Cheng Ran would read some books at this time.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Ran finally sat beside him and practiced gestures with him.
They were very close.

A love drama played on TV.
The male protagonist born with high radiant energy fell in love with the female protagonist, who was always in trouble and had low radiant energy.
When the female protagonist was surrounded by beasts, the male protagonist stepped forward and saved the female protagonist.
They didn’t spend time dealing with their wounds or the bodies of the surrounding beasts, but kissed passionately

Wounds exposed to radiation would cause secondary damage.
The corpses of beasts would often attract a stronger creature.
This woman was only level-1.
Exposing her face to the wild environment for a prolonged time would cause her to age in advance

Shi Qingyang secretly roasted that the only thing he could see was the male and female protagonists’ faces, while Cheng Ran took it very seriously and stopped moving: “Qingyang, are they in love?”

“Yes.” Shi Qingyang nodded.

Cheng Ran was silent for a while.
Thinking that he had pursued Shi Qingyang for a long time, he gritted his teeth and said, “Shall we also fall in love?”

“Alright.” Shi Qingyang nodded.
Although Shi Qingyang didn’t respond to his previous proposal, he would not give up such a good opportunity at this time.

Moreover, Cheng Ran had really started to view and treat him differently…

He could get along well with Cheng Ran when the affairs of the Yang family settled.
He didn’t believe that he was taking advantage of Cheng Ran when it was Cheng Ran who took the lead.

While Shi Qingyang was thinking about what to do in the future, he felt a touch of softness on his face – Cheng Ran kissed him.

It was just a light touch, but Shi Qingyang felt his face numb from the kiss.
From his face to the rest of his body, his whole being felt his nerves overload.

He had never felt this way before…

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Unfortunately, after Cheng Ran kissed him, he became very shy, and obviously wouldn’t let him touch any more…

Shi Qingyang stroked his face again, then bowed his head.
He kissed Cheng Ran on the face, then laid down beside him.

Although he couldn’t do anything, holding the person he liked in his arms was also good… Unfortunately, he was really unlucky.
He fainted last time they shared a bed.
This time, he was even wounded.
Cheng Ran’s vague touch should have been a delivery of tender tofu to the door3, making his heart squeal and his mind race, but because he was in pain, all those beautiful thoughts dissipated like smoke.

That night, Shi Qingyang experienced joy and suffering.

But even so, he didn’t use the other set of bedding that Gu Changjin had prepared for him.
He didn’t move Cheng Ran until the next morning.
After estimating the time, he then put the quilt that hadn’t been shaken open on the outside, pretending to have used it.

Shi Qingyang got up very early.
He took the wound dressing medicine downstairs to treat the wound before making breakfast.
However, he was surprised to find that several foods that were not easy to make had been placed on the table, and Gu Changjin was still working in the kitchen.

“Grandpa Gu, you got up early today.” Shi Qingyang looked at the sky outside the window – it wasn’t even dawn yet!

“Yes,” Gu Changjin answered casually.
Last night, he laid on the sofa in the living room and didn’t sleep all night.
He simply got up early.
After drinking a bottle of refreshing medicine, he made breakfast.

He baked small portions of three kinds of barbecue meat, boiled beast eggs and vegetable soup, and fried small pancakes with mashed meat.
Now, he was even making a lot of thin dough with special flour.

One part of the dough was intended to be wrapped around barbecue meat.
The other part… He chopped the meat paste and wrapped it in the dough to fry.
In ancient times, such food seemed to be called spring rolls.

He was in a complicated mood now, so he could only be distracted by working more.

“Grandpa Gu is in a bad mood?” Shi Qingyang was keenly aware of this.

“No, how could that be?” Gu Changjin doesn’t admit to anything.

“Grandpa Gu, is it related to Ranran?” Shi Qingyang asked.
He knew that after Cheng Xuze met Cheng Ran, he would probably have doubts.
Last night, he might have gone to find Gu Changjin.
Was Gu Changjin’s attitude related to this?

“No.” Gu Changjin sighed and put the spring rolls into the pot one by one.

When the spring rolls were fried, the others came downstairs one after another.
Wang Qing came downstairs first.
When he saw that Gu Changjin had already made breakfast, he sat on the sofa and began to contact some people by computer.
Then Cheng Ran came downstairs.
He set an alarm clock for himself, but found that he still got up later than other people, and was a little annoyed.

The last person to go downstairs was Cheng Xuze.
He was old and slept little, but he couldn’t rest well because of what happened last night.
He didn’t close his eyes until the early morning.
Naturally, he got up late.

After a night, Cheng Ran was more familiar with Cheng Xuze.
He helped Gu Changjin arrange the dining table, and then introduced the dishes to Cheng Xuze.
Although he occasionally said something awkwardly, it was obvious that overall, he didn’t have any problems interacting whatsoever.

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When Cheng Xuze saw Cheng Ran like this, he was in a mixed mood.
When he found that Cheng Ran was different from what he had known before, he thought about bringing Cheng Ran back to Yangtze City, but now…

Although he liked Cheng Ran very much, if Cheng Ran’s identity was really the same as what Cheng Hong said, he couldn’t take Cheng Ran back.
But if he lived here…

After eating a fried crisp spring roll, Cheng Xuze looked at Cheng Ran with a smile: “Ranran, are you used to living in Spark City? Do you want to go back to Yangtze City with Grandpa? Grandpa can find a pharmacist to instruct you to learn medicine.”

Cheng Ran immediately remembered his previous living situation and shook his head: “Grandpa, it’s good to be here.
My father told me to study here.
And I… also… have a teacher.” He looked at Gu Changjin and Shi Qingyang in a panic.
After Shi Qingyang smiled at him, he calmed down.
But he didn’t know that Shi Qingyang was already regretting his act of bringing Cheng Xuze…

Cheng Ran’s attitude was very clear.
Seeing his appearance, Cheng Xuze stopped worrying: “Then Ranran will live here.
Grandpa will send you something later.” Cheng Hong had made it clear that nothing would be left to Cheng Ran, so he could only help the child a little.

Although this was how it is for Cheng Ran, in fact, it was good to stay in a small city.

Gu Changjin’s breakfast was very rich, but the amount of each variety was not much.
He had kept in mind everyone’s appetite when creating portions, so in the end, nothing was left.

As soon as they finished eating, someone knocked on the door of the villa.

The person who came to visit was Xing Ou, the leader of Spark City.
Xing Ou was about 40 years old.
He looked like an upstanding gentleman, and didn’t bring anyone with him except a secretary.
When he came in and saw Cheng Xuze, he smiled: “Hello, Mr.
Cheng, I’m Xing Ou, the leader of Spark City.
It was ten years ago when I last saw you in Central City.
Unexpectedly, you haven’t changed at all in the past ten years.”

Cheng Xuze felt they didn’t know each other at all, but he didn’t mind being complimented by the other: “It turns out that you are City Lord Xing.
I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Mr.
Cheng flatters me,” Xing Ou smiled.
“Mr.
Cheng, I came to apologize this time.
There were ferocious bandits attacking Mr.
Cheng in Spark City.
I will investigate this matter in detail!”

“Thank you, City Lord.” When Cheng Xuze saw the appearance of the City Lord, he knew that he probably had a relationship with the Yang family and the Yin family, so naturally, the man was acting very enthusiastically.

“It was all our negligence that caused Mr.
Cheng to suffer losses.
Mr.
Cheng can rest assured that we will give Mr.
Cheng justice.” Xing Ou said righteously.
After he had learned of yesterday’s matters and saw Cheng Xuze’s image delivered by his subordinates, he knew his chance had come.

Shi Qingyang watched them go back and forth.
Although the City Lord didn’t notice the actual victim of yesterday’s matters at all, Shi Qingyang didn’t care and let his heart settle.

Footnotes

1 – Xiao means little, so it’s an endearing nickname like “Li’l Hong”.
Cheng Hong’s attitude shows he’s drawing a line and being distant. [return]

2 – Not absorbing oil or salt: 不进油盐, Just left this idiom here for people who wanted to learn it.
It means to be extremely stubborn and not listening to others’ suggestions. [return]

3 – Tender tofu: I don’t know for sure but since ‘eating tofu’ means to y’know, take advantage/cop a feel, what he’s saying is that Cheng Ran personally taking initiative to give him physical affection should’ve got him racing, but he’s too beat up to do anything.
RIP.
_( :’3 」∠ )_ [return]