Su Yue’er wasn’t the only one who regretted things. Li Boyan regretted them too—only, what he regretted was not coming back through rebirth sooner.
If he could have returned earlier, he definitely wouldn’t have taken part in Director Zhang’s show.
Then he could have avoided every one of his disastrous endings. All he would have needed to do was stay away from the Xie family and Lu Huaiyu before he had grown strong enough.
He would still have been the chosen one of destiny in this world.
And he would have built another business empire of his own.
After being sent to prison, Li Boyan thought about these things every day. He often indulged in the delusion that the will of Heaven would choose him again.
He became completely deranged. Whenever he briefly came to his senses and realized that he was merely an ordinary man with no abilities at all—ordinary to the point of being utterly unremarkable—he would start muttering about his grandmother, as though regretting that he had failed to care for her during the final years of her life.
He hadn’t been able to fulfill his filial duties before her. He hadn’t even been able to see her one last time.
Aside from the time in his previous life, Li Boyan had only gone back to the countryside to visit the old woman for a single day before the show began filming.
But after his rebirth, he had been obsessed with returning to the pinnacle of his previous life. He hadn’t even thought about going to see the old woman.
No matter how much he regretted it now, time would not turn back, and he would never be reborn again.
The plot had already been corrected. The world’s rules had resumed their proper course, and the fortune of Heaven no longer chose him.
Far away in the countryside, Grandma Li learned from others that the grandson she had raised from childhood had been sent to prison.
The shock caused her to faint on the spot. Fortunately, the caregiver Li Boyan had hired for her during his glorious years as an idol rushed her to the hospital in time.
Thankfully, there was nothing seriously wrong with her. But after she regained consciousness, she seemed to have aged even more.
In the end, Grandma Li could only sigh. Deep down, she blamed herself for failing to raise Li Boyan properly and allowing him to take the wrong path.
Grandma Li spent the entire afternoon lying in the hospital. Once the doctor confirmed that she was fine, she was discharged.
Back at her modest countryside home, she sat in a reclining chair and gazed at the moon in the sky for a very long time.
“This is all fate!”
“It’s because this old woman was useless. I couldn’t look after my daughter, and I couldn’t look after my grandson either!”
“I couldn’t control them, just like back then…”
With each sigh, the old woman’s voice unconsciously grew choked with tears.
Back then, when her daughter had insisted on going to a place like Haicheng to make her way in that world of wealth and fame, she hadn’t managed to stop her when her daughter lost herself in it.
Later, when her grandson had insisted on dropping out of school before even finishing middle school, she hadn’t managed to stop him then either.
And when Li Boyan had insisted on entering the entertainment industry—that great vat of corruption—she still hadn’t been able to stop him.
The old woman had never received much education and could barely read. She didn’t understand any of those profound principles.
All she could do was blame herself for failing to guide her children and grandchildren properly, allowing them to stray down the wrong roads.
Inside the house, Xiaofei listened to the old woman’s repeated sighs and self-reproach from the courtyard.
She felt terrible.
She had been hired by Li Boyan to care for the old lady for seven years. Grandma Li was kindhearted and got along well with all the neighbors.
Over those seven years, Xiaofei had long since come to regard her as her own grandmother and care for her as such.
When she learned that her employer had been imprisoned, her first thought had been of the poor old woman.
She had lost her husband in her youth, her daughter in middle age, and now, in her old age, even her only grandson could no longer be at her side.
“Grandma, it’s chilly in the courtyard this late at night. Let’s go inside.”
Xiaofei helped Grandma Li to her feet. The old woman’s deep, cloudy eyes shimmered with tears.
“Xiaofei, go back to the city tomorrow and find yourself a better job.”
“You’ve seen the situation here. You shouldn’t stay any longer.”
What the old woman left unsaid was: Staying here will only hold back your future.
Xiaofei shook her head. “Grandma, there’s no need to worry. When Mr. Li hired me, our contract was for ten years, and he already paid the full salary.”
“Both emotionally and practically, I should stay and take care of you.”
She wasn’t lying. Li Boyan was extremely arrogant and conceited with other people, but he had always been generous toward Grandma Li.
After becoming famous and making money, the first thing he had wanted to do was bring Grandma Li to the city to live with him.
But Grandma Li refused to leave, so he had built her a single-story home in the countryside for her retirement and hired a caregiver for ten years at a time.
Hearing Xiaofei say this, the tears in the old woman’s eyes gathered once more.
Xiaofei knew how much pain she was in, but all she could do was offer a few stiff words of comfort and tell her to try to look on the bright side.
Grandma Li allowed Xiaofei to help her into the house. In the end, she left behind only a sigh filled with boundless sorrow.
“Forget it, forget it. It’s all fate…”
…
After returning to Haicheng, Xie Wanwan either followed her mother around every day or, with nothing else to do, ran to the Xie family villa every few days just to provoke Xie Zhenxing.
After obtaining all of Xie Zhenxing’s shares, Xie Shen did indeed keep his promise and cover the embezzled public funds on his behalf.
As a result, Xie Zhenxing didn’t have to go to prison. That didn’t mean his life was going well, however.
After being kicked out of Leyuan, he was unwilling to accept defeat and was always thinking about making a comeback.
So he sold the last two properties under his name and used the money to invest.
In the end, he lost everything except for the Xie family villa, which was registered under Xie Wanwan’s name. He had transferred it to her back then to create the image of a devoted father who adored his daughter.
Now, it had become a boomerang aimed straight back at him.
Xie Wanwan had already finished her summer homework. Every day, she simply irritated Xie Zhenxing, then idly waited for school to begin.
After divorcing, Ms. Guo had plans to start her own business and was busy from morning to night.
Xie Wanwan couldn’t disturb her mother while she was working. After Xie Tangning and the others went on their summer trip, they had thrown themselves into frantically making up their homework.
Su Xiaoye was busy every day too, either attending one tutoring class or another. Anyone could tell she was the ruthless type, preparing to overtake everyone else before the new school year began.
That left Xie Wanwan with nothing to do but eat her fill and then wander over to the Xie family villa to complete her daily check-in.
For example, at that very moment, the little girl was sitting proudly on the sofa, looking at Xie Zhenxing across from her as she spoke earnestly.
“Dad, you can’t go on being so useless!”
“Go outside and take a look at other people’s fathers. Which one of them is as pathetic as you are—divorced, estranged from his children, and on bad terms with everyone?”
“Now look at Xie Tangning’s father. When have you ever seen him in such a sorry state?”
“I’m not even asking you to be as capable as he is. If you could manage even one-tenth of what he can do, I wouldn’t have to hang my head in shame whenever I went outside!”
There was something incredibly satisfying about using someone’s own tactics against them. Xie Wanwan was thoroughly enjoying herself.
Wasn’t he always fond of comparing people? Then she would let him compare to his heart’s content!
Xie Zhenxing was so furious that he stood up and raised his hand to hit her. But the two tall, burly bodyguards behind the girl immediately stepped forward.
Their mere presence was enough to intimidate him. Xie Zhenxing lowered his hand again, shrinking back as pathetically as ever.
“You—you ungrateful daughter! This is all because your mother raised you like this!”
“About that…”
He had only just started hurling insults when Xie Wanwan cut him off coldly.
“Shut up. If you want to be thrown out onto the street and forced to sleep under a bridge right away, then go ahead and finish what you were about to say in front of me!”
Xie Zhenxing was so angry that he began breathing heavily, yet he could do nothing about it.
After being provoked by Xie Wanwan every few days, he looked noticeably older.
She should have been used to it by now, but every time, it still infuriated her to the point of nearly vomiting blood.
Seeing the coward in front of her fall silent, Xie Wanwan found it boring and let out a cold laugh.
“Let me make this clear: if I weren’t worried about affecting Mom and my brother’s careers, do you think you’d still be living in this house?!”
“You’re living in my house, so keep your head down and behave. Don’t go out causing trouble, and don’t even think about disturbing Mom!”
“And don’t even think about cozying up to those people from the Guo family and causing trouble for Mom and my brother. Otherwise, you can go spend the rest of your life in a nursing home!”
