Chapter 11

He Corporation started in real estate and became one of the top enterprises in City A. Such businesses rarely attract much attention unless one is in a related field, but He Corporation was famous.

The He couple rode the wave of reform to establish He Corporation. Under the leadership of their eldest son He Jinyan, it grew and expanded into other industries, covering various aspects of City A and other first-tier cities.

What truly brought He Corporation into the public eye and sparked widespread discussion was the almost invisible younger son of the He family, He Cheng.

This incident was somewhat of a fluke.

For a business to grow and thrive, charity is essential. He Corporation had a very good corporate image. The radio station in City A did a special series of interviews with successful people, covering not only work but also personal life.

When the camera entered the He family’s old residence, He Cheng unexpectedly appeared in the frame.

He Jinyan’s appearance was certainly outstanding – dressed in a suit, speaking eloquently, presenting the image of a powerful CEO in front of the camera.

He Cheng was the complete opposite.

At the time, he was sitting cross-legged by the floor-to-ceiling window. Outside was a garden full of vibrant flowers. A perfect beam of sunlight enveloped him. He wore a white shirt and black trousers, his bangs covering his brows and eyes, his skin as lustrous as white jade. Spread before him was a long pink dress, with delicate flowers winding across it. He held a needle and thread, his eyes focused and tender. When the sound of footsteps reached his ears, he looked up with a slight frown.

This was the moment captured by the camera.

The man’s features were beautiful, yet his demeanor was gentle and harmless. The long dress in his hands was like a blooming flower falling into one’s eyes.

And so, this episode about He Corporation went viral.

Clips of He Cheng were all over the platform, despite only being a few seconds long. This did nothing to hinder the public’s frenzied pursuit of a beautiful man.

As a result, He Cheng’s personal information was also dug up.

This included his elementary school, high school, university, and even his hometown address. Those fortunate enough to have gone to school with him also posted online, revealing that He Cheng not only came from a good family and had good looks, but his academic performance during his school years was also at an enviable level.

He was the perfect image of heaven’s favored son.

But as more information was uncovered, people realized that in the vast He Corporation, there was never any trace of He Cheng. Even after graduating from university, he hadn’t engaged in any work, seemingly vanishing without a trace, only appearing briefly in his brother’s interview.

So, even deeper information was unearthed. The He couple, the founders of He Corporation, had passed away when He Cheng was ten years old. The family burden fell on He Jinyan, who was still a teenager at the time. He Cheng, seemingly unable to bear this major blow, was chronically ill, and even during his school years, his time at school was minimal.

Two brothers. One shouldered heavy responsibilities as a teenager, turning the tide to create today’s thriving He Corporation. The other suffered a heavy blow in childhood, was bedridden with illness, fighting against death, sitting peacefully amidst flowers, with everything around him becoming a paradise.

Both had outstanding features. Combined with the imagination of the audience, this created a tragic experience for the two brothers that moved heaven and earth, even leading to the emergence of shocking incestuous fanfiction.

He Jinyan expressed indifference to this, after all, attention means traffic, and why stop something that can make money?

However, regarding online speculation about He Cheng’s illness, all posts that could be deleted were removed. People noticed that while there were no restrictions on fabrications about He Jinyan’s tragic past, any negative comments about He Cheng were deleted as soon as they were posted. This further fueled the shipping fanbase of the two brothers.

This incident had almost no impact on He Cheng, except for a few blurry videos occasionally circulating online, but he was unaware of them.

In the eyes of the public, his character type was that of a delicate, weak, unworldly beauty protected well by his brother.

When he appeared in public, he always seemed to have a soft glow about him. Those who recognized him would freeze on the spot as if under a spell just by looking at his gentle features, feeling that taking a step forward would be sacrilege.

As time passed, entertainment news changed rapidly, and the public’s attention on the He brothers gradually shifted to other new things. Only some dedicated fans still diligently collected any information they could get.

Finally, after a long period without news of He Cheng, the media was set ablaze again.

On the evening of December 20th, the housekeeper who went to clean He Cheng’s rented apartment discovered that He Cheng had committed suicide in the bathtub.

……

The young master of the He family committed suicide in the bathroom.

The shocking bold black headline.

He Yang stared at it for a good while before regaining her scattered thoughts. Her fingertips trembled as she scrolled down, revealing several blurry images where the surrounding environment could be vaguely discerned.

A slightly narrow bathroom, a white bathtub, dark red ripples covering the floor. A man lay inside, with a ghastly knife wound on his wrist.

It was exactly the same as the scene in her dream, with the only difference being that everything in the dream was clearer, even the texture of the man’s skin could be seen clearly, including the lingering gloom between his brows at the moment of death.

He Yang felt shocked, and at the same time, an indescribable feeling of suffocation.

There were two reasons for this.

First, although the accompanying images were blurry, the general structure of the bathroom could still be discerned, and it was almost identical to the bathroom in He Yang’s rented apartment. She remembered that the landlady had mentioned that besides the room she was renting, the apartment across from hers also belonged to the landlady and was rented to a man.

This almost confirmed that He Cheng had lived across from her for a long time.

Second, the time of He Cheng’s suicide was confirmed to be December 20th. This date was very familiar to He Yang – it was her birthday. On the night He Cheng died, she was celebrating her birthday in the room just across from him.

Then the next day, she saw the news of He Cheng’s suicide, realized the place of death was right across from her, and fainted in shock, followed by the incredible rebirth event.

He Yang connected all the events, forming a dense web that descended towards her, enveloping her tightly.

She felt suffocated within the web, felt fear, and also felt a mysterious attraction, as if everything she had experienced was inextricably linked to He Cheng.

How else could she explain the sudden dull pain in her brain when she heard He Cheng’s name?

How else could she explain that the touchscreen device that came with her still contained information about He Cheng’s suicide?

He Yang covered her head with both hands, trying hard to recall what she knew about He Corporation, but she hadn’t been interested in real estate before, nor did she have any interest in interviews with successful people. She liked watching cartoons, which also meant she had no interest in the edited videos of handsome men or forced pairings on the platform.

Fortunately, the news about He Cheng’s suicide saved on her phone was very detailed, seemingly ensuring that even people who didn’t know He Cheng could understand him. The news content not only covered the simple development trajectory of He Corporation but also He Cheng’s path to fame.

He Yang read it carefully.

The familiar dull pain in her brain returned, and she couldn’t support herself anymore, collapsing on the table and falling asleep.

……

In the dream, it was still that familiar dark red water.

The man lying in the water had picturesque features. He slowly opened his eyes, his pupils as black as ink, overflowing with a passionate emotion unfamiliar to He Yang. He was not the gentle and obedient person described in the news, but rather had a cold expression, surrounded by a thick, dark aura, like an evil spirit crawling out of hell.

“He Yang,” he said slowly.

He Yang couldn’t hide her surprise: “You know me?”

The coldness on his face disappeared, and he smiled gently and obediently: “Yes. We are… good friends.”

Good friends?

He Yang had no recollection.

She looked at the blood-covered man expressionlessly, trying hard to recall everything about him. After a while, she moved her lips and muttered, “Why?”

The man didn’t answer.

He lowered his head to stare at the bloody water at his feet, then was attracted by the wound on his wrist, observing it with interest. When he looked at He Yang again, the emotions in his eyes had receded like the tide, and he stood silently, his face suddenly showing a sorrowful plea.

“Help me.”

“Help me.”

He Yang remained calm: “How do you want me to help?”

He Cheng: “I want…”

……

The dream suddenly shattered.

He Yang woke up gasping for breath, pressing her hand to her chest, still feeling a bit of palpitation. The touchscreen device was still in front of her, its screen dimmed due to long inactivity. She casually pressed the power button to turn it off and lay back on the bed.

It seemed she wouldn’t be able to study properly today either.

He Yang thought helplessly.

Her brain was in chaos and needed to calm down. She crossed her hands behind her head, recalling He Cheng’s slightly frantic desire in the brief dream. He must have had something he urgently wanted to obtain, but if he hadn’t gotten it, why would he suddenly commit suicide?

Perhaps it was something he could never obtain, leading to such despair that he destroyed himself.

But what did he want? And what could make him have such an impulsive thought of destroying himself if he couldn’t get it?

He Yang remembered a summer vacation in middle school when she climbed over a wall and knocked down a small boy. He was skinny as a rail, pale-faced, looking like a little beggar.

She had always been a bit overly kind-hearted. Having knocked someone down, she couldn’t bring herself to run away, so she used the money she had saved for a bus ticket home to buy candy to comfort him. After all, such a pitiful child really aroused her compassion.

At that time, she was still a little girl longing for her parents’ love. Witnessing her parents’ favoritism and being scolded for her poor academic performance made her angry enough to want to run away from home. After aimlessly wandering the streets with this strange child, she felt the urge to confide.

After complaining about her lazy brother and biased parents, she asked the little boy about his family. His expression was calm at the time, only saying—

“They’re all dead.”

He Yang was choked up at that moment.

She wanted to say some words of comfort, but seeing the child’s cold expression, she shrank like a quail and didn’t ask further.

Then she continued to complain about her own family. Parents weren’t appropriate to criticize, after all, she couldn’t poke at his wounds, so she vigorously complained about her brother, from his studies to his character, belittling him to the extreme.

“Study changes fate, only by studying well can you make people look at you differently. What? You’re asking about my grades… Ha! Of course they’re good, my grades are especially good, teachers and classmates all praise me, and all my friends are top students, always in the top ten of the grade! I only make friends with top students, okay?”

He Yang rarely boasted like this, enjoying the admiring and worshipful gaze of the little boy. The frustration from being belittled and scolded by her parents for her poor grades dissipated. She straightened her back and patted the boy’s shoulder with an air of maturity: “Don’t run away from home again because of poor grades. You’re probably in elementary school now, right? You still have a chance. Study hard, listen to big sister’s words.”

She thought the little boy was like her, running away from home because of poor grades.

After that, she rambled on for a while. He Yang couldn’t remember clearly what she said, only that she rarely put on the air of an experienced person, using He Qingquan as a negative example to lecture the little boy.

Recalling these things, He Yang covered her face, feeling a headache.

Who could have imagined that the skinny boy who looked like an elementary school student would be He Cheng! If it weren’t for the familiar contours of his features, she would never have connected the two.

He Yang adjusted her position, lying on the bed, muttering He Cheng’s name a few times. Suddenly, she had a jolt of realization, got out of bed, found her turned-off phone, and turned it on again.

The phone still had the movies she had watched before cached.

She found several types and, with a mind to research, hugged the phone and opened them.

She originally thought she had taken on the script of rebirth to change fate, but it turned out to be about redemption?