Chapter 330

As seasons passed, their relationship grew ever closer, becoming the tightest of buddies.

Whenever Xu Mingchuan came to see Du Ruo, he would bring his test paper from the previous week; his grades leapt forward, each score better than the last.

And Du Ruo would always prepare a lollipop in advance.

"A good kid certainly deserves candy as a reward." She patted Xu Mingchuan's head, smiling.

Because of this, Xu Mingchuan, without her permission, gave her a silly nickname.

"Sugar Sugar."

He also said her smile was lovely, as sweet as sugar.

Du Ruo objected, saying it sounded too cloying, so cloying it gave her goosebumps; unable to resist, she relented: "If you must call me that, at least add 'sister'—call me Sugar Sugar Sis!"

Xu Mingchuan obediently agreed.

Then he continued doing as he pleased.

Du Ruo just went along with it, after all it was only a nickname, not important.

Such days lasted two years, until that midsummer of his second year of high school, when everything came to an abrupt halt.

Xu Mingchuan disappeared.

Du Ruo waited over a month with no sign of him, growing worried, so she sought out Xu Mingchuan's homeroom teacher and learned he had dropped out.

Du Ruo was angry, very, very angry.

After all the hard work I put into tutoring him, was this the result I was meant to see?

She got Xu Mingchuan's home address from the teacher, stormed over, intending to give him a proper scolding.

But Xu Mingchuan wasn't home.

In the low earthen brick house, the lame old man who claimed to be Xu Mingchuan's maternal grandfather told Du Ruo that Xu Mingchuan had gone with his father to the city to enjoy blessings and would never return.

As for anything else, the old man knew nothing.

Later, after inquiring, Du Ruo finally learned the background Xu Mingchuan had refused to disclose.

Xu Mingchuan was an illegitimate child.

His mother, having borne him out of wedlock, was said to have been involved with a wealthy young master who toyed with her feelings before cruelly abandoning her—and even refusing to acknowledge the child in her womb.

Not long after, Xu's mother also died of illness.

Only a pitiful old man and child remained in the household.

The Xu family basically survived on village relief; Xu Mingchuan could attend school only thanks to clan members chipping in—some giving a hundred, some fifty.

He himself often went scavenging for trash to earn a few small coins.

The mischievous village kids, seeing he was small and quiet, liked to bully him, calling him a bastard with no parents. Whenever this happened, Xu Mingchuan would fly into a rage, rush to fight them, but being small he always lost, returning home bruised each time.

But in the past two years he's improved, become more outgoing, and I heard he even ranked first in his class.

Just last month, a few people in luxury cars came to the Xu household, saying they were from Xu Mingchuan's father's side, here to take him back to acknowledge his ancestors and return to the clan.

Xu Mingchuan initially refused outright, but later, after unknown words from those people, he went with them.

As to where they went, nobody knows.

Upon hearing this, Du Ruo felt a bit disappointed, yet sincerely happy for Xu Mingchuan—at least he would no longer be an orphan like herself; he now had a father, someone to care for him, and would receive a better education.

After that, Du Ruo never saw Xu Mingchuan again.

Occasionally she would think of that former closest companion, praying that he was safe and happy, healthy and sound, wherever she couldn't see him.

But she never imagined……

Du Ruo snapped out of her reverie only to realize she didn't know when she had been embraced by Zong Zhengyin, who let out a satisfied sigh: "Sugar Sugar, I've missed you so much…"

Miss you my ass!

Du Ruo shoved Zong Zhengyin away, reflexively raising her hand to slap him, but as her hand neared his head she suddenly recalled his identity in this life, abruptly changed course, and smacked his arm instead.

"You little brat, how did you die at twenty‑six? Was it illness or some accident? Or did you get killed in another brawl?"

Zong Zhengyin: "……"

Well, the tears automatically swallowed themselves back.

Just like when they were kids, he poked her hair with his claws, gritted his teeth and said: "Hey woman, am I really that unreliable in your heart? I've long since reformed, okay!"

Du Ruo swatted away Zong Zhengyin's mischievous hand, rolled her eyes in disgust, "Who taught you this overbearing CEO act? It's so greasy."

Zong Zhengyin, hands on hips, fuming: "I'm basically a CEO, okay!"

Du Ruo couldn't care less whether he was a CEO; she cared about something else.

"Tell me honestly, how did you die? How did you get here? And how do you know I'm here too?"

"You sure have a lot of questions." Zong Zhengyin dropped his playful smile, pushed her onto a stool to sit, "What's the rush? These buns and fried dough sticks are all your old favorites; I personally had them made just for you—eat them while hot, and let me tell you slowly…"

The story that follows is unknown to Du Ruo.

Xu Mingchuan's biological father bore the surname Huo, the second young master of the Huo Group; back then he took a liking to Xu's mother's looks, won her over with sweet talk and money, and succeeded in getting to third base.

As a result, he carelessly left a seed.

The Huo family certainly couldn't allow a village girl who hadn't even finished junior high to enter their doors, so they gave Xu's mother a sum of money and told her to abort the child.

Xu's mother, however, was stubborn; she not only threw the money back at the second young master Huo's forehead, she also gave birth to the child.

That child was Xu Mingchuan.

Perhaps it was karmic retribution; a few years later, Huo's second son married a woman of equal standing, yet no matter how hard the couple tried, they could not conceive.

Later investigation revealed that Huo's second son had a physical problem, rendering him infertile.

They treated it, consulting top doctors worldwide, but to no avail.

The Huo family was completely out of options.

The second branch was essentially cut off.

Just as Huo's second son fell into despair, he suddenly remembered the seed he had left outside, and in a panic sent people to fetch Xu Mingchuan, coaxing him and promising to pay for his maternal grandfather's medical treatment, which finally got Xu Mingchuan to agree.

After returning, Xu Mingchuan changed his name to Huo Mingchuan, and from then on lived the happy life of a wealthy young master.

Of course, this is merely a facade.

In fact, his days were not easy; the wife of Huo Ershao—that is, his nominal 'mother'—did not take a liking to him.

Furthermore, the main branch family was even worse; they wished there were one fewer person to share the inheritance, and toward this nephew who suddenly appeared, they acted all sorts of two-faced, watched his every move, tried every means to trip him up, in order to catch him in a fault and kick him out.

Xu Mingchuan lived as if walking on thin ice.

Fortunately, his biological father, Huo Ershao, was still good to him, after all, he is the only son.

Moreover, his grandfather, that is, the head of the Huo family, Huo Guangyao, was also fairly just, directly sending him abroad for further study. During those years, Xu Mingchuan absorbed useful external knowledge like a sponge, successively earning several honors that ordinary people could hardly match; he also diligently trained his body, combined with diet, and finally grew from a malnourished little chick into a 1.85-meter-tall, eight-pack abs, peerless handsome guy.

The first thing he did upon returning home after completing his studies was to hire a private detective to look for Du Ruo.

(I hit a writer's block; I'm not good at writing romance scenes, I kept deleting and rewriting—either too melodramatic or too cold, long-winded, no matter how I write I'm not satisfied, so I'll just leave it as is. Anyway, as long as you know they were a pair of close companions back then, that's enough. I originally wanted to finish this section today, but I still didn't hit the point, sigh… Tomorrow I'll let the male lead out for a walk.)