Feng Mian didn't inform Wei Chen about his father's death in the end. He only told him that he was taking him back to S-city.
Wei Chen who lost his strength due to mental draining didn't think much and just followed him quietly.
He didn't speak with Feng Mian at all. All he did in the entire journey was stare at blank spaces with eyes brimmed with tears that dared not to fall as it was the first time he had ever shown this much of a weak side in front of others.
He was scared, embarrassed, and, more importantly, filled with hatred toward Feng Mian, who was responsible for his current state.
As soon as they landed, Wei Chen's mind became clearer. He wanted to find a chance to escape from Feng Mian using whatever means possible. As he had grown up in S-city, he could easily get rid of his watch and run away to a safe place.
However, to his surprise, Feng Mian took him straight away to a funeral hall. Wei Chen initially overlooked it, but he became intensely tense looking at the familiar people who looked at him with pity.
They were his company employees, some who used to be business partners, investors, board of directors, and acquaintances of his father.
Wei Chen's lips quivered as he questioned, "W-What's going on? Why are these people... why are we here?"
Feng Mian wetted his lips gulping down his saliva. He wasn't tense because he had to tell Wei Chen about his father's death but his reaction afterward and how would he handle it with the emotional state he was in.
"..."
"Speak!" Wei Chen halted his steps grabbing Feng Mian's elbow with a terrified expression on his face, "... Why did you bring me here?"
All the people who heard his loud voice stopped and looked at them. Some even took out their phones and started recording.
The media who were bored covering the death of Song Yi Ming from the morning hearing the news that the first son arrived there finally that too along with the youngest son of Li was like fuel to their burning desire to film the juicy drama unfolding in front of them.
Feng Mian clenched his molars as he took the hands that were grabbing him into his and pulled him to walk inside.
But Wei Chen was too scared, "... Is X-Xiao Bo okay?"
Li Feng Mian was a little taken aback. The first thought that came to Wei Chen's mind was about Xiao Bo's well-being. It didn't even cross his mind that something might have happened to his Father.
"Don't worry, Xiao Bo is with Mu Chen in B-city," Feng Mian opened his mouth at last to reply.
"Then why..." Wei Chen stared at the entrance of the funeral hall with a petrified expression.
Feng Mian sighed, "Your father..." He said it.
"Hm?" Wei Chen was dumbfounded for a second, "What did you say?" He grabbed the other by his collar, questioning him with so much distrust.
"Your father passed away yesterday. He took his own life," Feng Mian answered removing the palms on his collar and clasping them hard.
"Ridiculous! You're lying, why would my Father... there's no way it happened. It's a prank, right? You want to see me broken that's why you are playing such a cruel joke on me. How can you stoop to this level?"
Wei Chen screamed feeling what the other said was absolutely absurd but he was still angry hearing such outrageous words from him.
"It's not a prank, first let's go inside," Feng Mian saw how the crowd surrounded and the media was recording them. He tried to drag Wei Chen inside, "Your Father-"
*Slap*
Wei Chen slapped Feng Mian across his face, hard.
"How can you be this sick in mind to tell lies about a living person's death? No matter what he did to your family, he is still my father. Don't you dare..."
Wei Chen was furious. He gritted his teeth and looked at the people, "And you all why are you all playing along with him? How much money did he pay for you all to grovel under his feet and act like this, huh?"
This was the first time anyone ever had slapped Li Feng Mian in his life other than his elder sister who kicked and punched him occasionally.
Anger surged through his veins but Feng Mian controlled himself seeing the state Wei Chen was in. He was in denial of his father's death to protect his state of mind and the other knew it.
"You... why are you doing this...?" Wei Chen asked with an exhausted voice weakly grabbing Feng Mian's suit but the grip was so loose that his hands slid down as he fell to the ground.
Feng Mian crouched down and grabbed the other's shoulders tight,
"Listen, Song Wei Chen! It's not a prank and neither of these people are paid actors. Your father committed suicide yesterday night for an unknown reason. The old butler Mr. Pei was the one with him and informed everyone about it. Go inside talk with Mr. Pei and start the rituals of the funeral as the eldest son, got it?"
"NO!" Wei Chen shouted, "... I don't believe it. As ambitious as my father is he will never take his own life no matter the circumstances. You..." He paused his voice becoming lower, "... killed him, didn't you? Because he was awful to Xiao Bo... right?"
"I didn't. If I had to take my revenge for the deeds he committed toward Xiao Bo then I would have made him suffer than giving him a quick death like this, don't you think? I don't know why he killed himself but he was lucky 'cause if my Father was to get his hands on him the tortures your father would've experienced might be intolerable."
Feng Mian half-hugged him and whispered in the other's ear. Though he was feeling guilty for his behavior with Wei Chen, he had no pity for Song Yi Ming who was the main preparator of Xiao Bo's sufferings all this while.
"Now... enough with the drama. Come with me," Feng Mian whispered again before pulling him back up and signing his men to take care of the media and people who had been recording them and dragged the other inside with him.
Wei Chen mindlessly followed him without putting up any fight cause it didn't actually sink in him that his father was no more.
Nevertheless, the moment he saw the old Pei couple and the casket in which lay his father's lifeless body Wei Chen lost it.
He fell onto his knees with tears silently flowing down his cheeks as he clutched the wood of the casket tightly.
Song Yi Ming's face was filled with bruises and scars, though his body was covered with luxurious branded clothes the hideous structure of the broken bones and the fingers without nails couldn't be hidden underneath.
Wei Chen right away knew it wasn't suicide but murder that too so brutal that he could clearly feel the torture his father went through before his death.
He looked at the old Pei couple, "Old man Pei... tell me the truth..." Wei Chen's voice was dead serious, his painful heart turned chilly cold seeing the dead body of his father which was a complete mess.
Even Feng Mian couldn't believe what he was seeing. The news informed that it was suicide so how come?
The butler Pei glanced in a direction for a moment before he shook his head signing him not to ask anything for now.
Which made Wei Chen's eyes widen in shock. He understood instantly that something was fishy. The old butler of their house knew more about his father than him.
He heard that the butler Pei had been with Song Yi Ming from his teenage days and followed him till now like a loyal dog and his father who was Cold-hearted to him, his own son, and Xiao Bo would talk with this old man openly and never treated him like a servant.
Even the wife of Butler Pei treated Song Yi Ming as his son and cared for him but she couldn't see him abuse Xiao Bo so she left and stayed in her hometown, later butler Pei too followed her footsteps after resigning.
This couple knew about Song Yi Ming inside out and still chose to be loyal to him even now after his death so Wei Chen crossed out the possibility of them hurting his father.
He always felt there was something strange about his father who would behave differently and sometimes so strangely. Wei Chen just couldn't pinpoint what it was that made his father behave so cruelly with him and Xiao Bo.
No matter how much he pondered over it he couldn't understand why his Father would switch his dead baby with Xiao Bo only to mistreat him for whatever hatred he has for Li Zhao Yang.
Yes, his father was a toxic person to his children but that was after his wife Chan Hua's death. Wei Chen still remembered the bright, kind, and caring father Song Yi Ming was before her death.
So what changed him so drastically to the extent that he kidnapped a newborn baby of his rival and inflicted pain on him for almost seventeen years that too for an act of petty revenge?
It couldn't be just business rivalry if Song Yi Ming went this far to exact his vengeance and ended up dying in such a fiendish way still all the media covered it as suicide which meant that there was someone so powerful above who was controlling everything and was the one who killed his father.
Wei Chen became silent after deducting everything on his own from just a sign from Butler Pei. He directed the glare at Feng Mian who was confused but didn't say anything.
People came by to give their fake comfort by their malicious dripping words and went away. Wei Chen did the rituals closed the casket and sat before it without budging.
In just a few days, his world was turned upside down. His little brother was not his family anymore. His father was dead. Their business was in ruins. Now he became poor and an orphan at the same time.
He stopped crying and stared at the casket blankly for a long time until he heard a commotion outside.
All of a sudden Wei Chen was engulfed by two scrawny arms. It was his little brother Xiao Bo sobbing while hugging tightly.
Mu Chen came running inside and saw the two brothers embracing each other. Feng Mian went to talk with him about what he saw.
"How did this... Dage..." Xiao Bo couldn't speak properly as he was crying continuously.
Xiao Bo felt everything was happening because of him and it was all his fault. For him, Song Yi Ming was the worst possible father but the catch was there were sometimes only he knew when his father was caring and loving toward him.
Not even Wei Chen knew about it. This was also why Xiao Bo hoped that Song Yi Ming would change eventually. His death came very shocking to him cause neither in the novel he read as a cancer patient nor in his last life his father never died.
Cause though he was framed as the villain in the novel at the start the real villain and mastermind was Song Yi Ming.
His untimely mysterious death might bring disasters to his life. But that wasn't what Xiao Bo was afraid of. He couldn't predict the future anymore.
At first, when he regressed with the help of the goddess he just thought he would stay out of the storyline and wish the protagonists happiness.
But now he was involved with them, one was his friend and the other became his fiance who was becoming his emotional support as the days went by.
Xiao Bo was now entangled in the storyline deeply and there was no turning back however nothing was transpiring as it did in the novel.
It was actually good for him as he wouldn't be the villain anymore but the future he was heading to... would it be any better or...?
Uncertainties pervaded his heart. Xiao Bo had this gut feeling that something terrible was happening and that more dangers were lurking around.
Wei Chen hugged back Xiao Bo tightly as he stared intensely at both Mu Chen and Feng Mian.
>>>These are the plot scenes I discarded... why...
*****