Chapter 1

Hospital.

At nine in the morning, the doctor made his rounds as usual.

Unlike the other wards, the room at the very end of the corridor was exceptionally quiet.

The patient had been there for a week, and during that time, no one besides the doctors and nurses had entered or left.

When the doctor stepped inside, the young man was already up. He was no longer wearing a hospital gown, but his own beige shirt. Sitting on the edge of the bed with his head bowed, he had been staring blankly into space. At the sound of movement, he lifted his head and gave the doctor a faint smile.

“I’m all packed.”

It was Yu An’s day of discharge, but the doctor still asked about his condition once more before offering a final reminder.

“You inhaled a considerable amount of water. Keep yourself warm after you go home. If you develop a persistent cough or have difficulty breathing, come to the hospital immediately.”

Yu An nodded. “All right. Thank you, Doctor.”

The doctor patted him on the shoulder. Feeling the boy’s thin frame beneath his hand, he was suddenly overcome with indignation.

A week earlier, the young master of the Yu family had fallen into the water and been rushed to the hospital.

After examining him, the doctor found that he had only inhaled a little water and was in no serious danger.

The Yu family, however, had been frantic with worry. They had kept vigil beside his bed through the night, as though they wished they could lie there in his place.

What they did not know was that half an hour later, Yu An, who had also fallen into the water, was brought to the hospital as well.

By the time he arrived, Yu An had already fallen into a coma. His condition was far more critical than that of the Yu family’s young master, and a family member had to be contacted to sign the consent form before he could be taken into the emergency treatment room.

The moment the call connected, the nurse was hung up on before she could say a word.

The next several calls went unanswered. The nurse kept trying, and when someone finally picked up, an angry voice snapped from the other end, “Stop calling! The Yu family has no son like you!”

In the end, Yu An woke up on his own. No one knew where he had found such astonishing vitality, but he stubbornly signed the form himself and even remembered to say politely to the nurse, “Sorry to trouble you.”

Not a single doctor or nurse present would ever forget that scene.

Every morning, they saw the young master with his rosy complexion and attentive family, then turned to Yu An’s room, where he was always alone. They could not help shaking their heads.

He was supposedly an adopted son, but the Yu family was truly too partial.

—

After completing the discharge formalities, Yu An walked out of the hospital. Two messages arrived on his phone from his opera and dance teacher.

“Little An, are you awake?”

“I’ve prepared a dance costume for you. Remember to come pick it up later.”

Warmth welled up inside him. He had been invited to audition for a theater at eleven that morning. He had assumed there would be no time to return home and change, but his teacher had thoughtfully prepared everything in advance.

He replied:

“Yes, yes. I’ll be there soon. Thank you, Teacher ^^”

After sending the message, he opened the navigation app to look for the nearest subway station. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he caught sight of three familiar figures: his father, mother, and older brother.

Each of them was carrying something as they entered the hospital. Not one of them glanced in his direction.

The smile faded from Yu An’s lips. He understood at once that his younger brother, Yu Qing, was also staying at this hospital.

They were so close, yet none of them had ever come to see him. They might not even know that he had been hospitalized, let alone come to take him home.

In the past, he would have pretended that nothing had happened, then hidden somewhere to grieve in secret.

But after the turmoil of the previous week, all that remained in him now was calm and understanding.

Because he was nothing more than an insignificant, universally hated supporting character, a disposable figure whose sole purpose was to make the protagonist’s success shine brighter.

Even this latest drowning had been engineered by Yu Qing himself, the story’s protagonist. His purpose was to make Yu An begin losing the Yu family’s trust.

Yu An withdrew his gaze and strode away from the hospital in the direction shown by the navigation app.

Looking back on his former life, he finally seemed to understand all the years he had spent exhausting himself over his family.

When he was born, he had been the young master of the Yu family, cherished in the palms of his relatives’ hands. That lasted until he was five, when he was abducted by human traffickers. He managed to escape along the way, wandered alone, and was eventually taken in by an old woman who scavenged for a living.

Her home was an abandoned train carriage in a waste-processing plant.

Every day, he lived among insects and rats, scavenging through garbage and eating whatever he could find.

He was grateful to have somewhere to stay, but he constantly dreamed that one day he would wake up, open the iron door, and see his father, mother, and older brother smiling as they reached out to take him home.

He imagined that scene for five years.

When he was ten, the old woman who had depended on him as much as he had depended on her died. He used all the money they had saved to bury her. Then his older brother found him.

Yu An thought his suffering had finally come to an end. He believed he could return to his parents’ shelter and resume his carefree life as a child.

Instead, he was given the status of the Yu family’s adopted son.

He was forbidden to sleep in his old room and had to live in a hotel far from home.

He was not allowed to call her Mother. He had to address her as Madam Yu.

He did not know what he had done wrong. He had never even considered that he might be unwanted. It turned out that during the five years when he had relied on his family to survive, someone else had already taken his place and become the young master whom the Yu family held dear.

A vast bewilderment enveloped him, until his father told him, “Your mother fell ill, and that was why we had another child. But she loves you very, very much. She became sick because you went missing. You have to be a good boy.”

His older brother told him, “Mother loving your little brother is the same as loving you. Father and I feel the same way.”

And so Yu An told himself the same thing: loving his little brother was the same as loving him.

He stopped dwelling on the title of adopted son. He saved the tastiest sweets for his younger brother and learned to protect him just as his older brother had once protected him.

Gradually, he was allowed to move back into the Yu household. He was even permitted to call her Mother again. He thought his efforts were finally bearing fruit.

So he joined them in bullying himself with ever-greater fervor.

He abandoned the dance he had studied for seven years and applied to study computer science, which he disliked. He wished he had ten pairs of hands so that he could care for his mother, protect his younger brother, ease his brother’s burdens, and lessen his father’s load.

At times, he felt exhausted. They all claimed to love him, yet he was not happy at all.

But whenever they offered him the slightest kindness, the tiniest bit of sweetness, Yu An would bury his sorrow once more and continue hoping that they might give him another little piece of love.

No matter how old he grew, some part of him remained that child holding out his hands, waiting in vain for a piece of candy.

Each time he obeyed, it was as though a voice inside him whispered, I want love so badly. Please give me some. Just a little more.

What he received in return was still his mother’s indifference, his brother’s partiality, and his father’s guarded suspicion.

Until, on his eighteenth birthday, he was driven out of the house. He died in a car accident, and Yu An ceased to exist in this world.

He had never imagined that he would live only until eighteen.

Even less had he imagined that wanting their love too desperately could kill him.

But he did not want to die.

Then Yu An thought: In that case, I simply will not expect their love anymore.

—

The theater was not far from the hospital. Half an hour later, Yu An arrived.

He crossed the theater building and entered the detached villa at the very back.

He had walked this road to his teacher’s home for seven years.

His teacher taught at the Chao Ge Theater. When Yu An was four, he had studied opera under her for a year.

After the Yu family found him at ten, she had taken the initiative to seek him out and continued teaching him.

His voice was no longer as strong as it had once been, so he gradually shifted toward classical dance. Even so, he still sang opera with his teacher from time to time.

During the most difficult years of his life, theater and dance had been what sustained him.

His family did not know that he had continued studying either.

When he was twelve, his younger brother, Yu Qing, began learning the same disciplines. Yu An was then ordered to give up his dreams.

Fortunately, he had never truly done so. After learning of his circumstances, his teacher stopped charging him tuition.

She had taught him for five years, without missing a day despite wind or rain.

As he approached the villa, he saw his teacher waiting at the gate in the distance, waving to him.

He jogged over with a smile. “Teacher Yu.”

Yu Ling smiled as well. Fine lines showed clearly at the corners of her eyes, but they could not conceal the beauty she had possessed in her youth.

She handed him the bag. “I bought it according to your measurements. Do your best!”

Yu An accepted it. “Yes, yes. Thank you, Teacher Yu.”

Yu Ling studied his face. He had visibly grown thinner, and she knew that his family must have done something once again to wound the boy.

Over the years, she had come to regard Yu An as more than a student. She treated him as her own child.

She also knew how much he yearned for his family’s love, so she had never known what to say.

But when Yu An suddenly accepted an audition invitation from the theater, she still asked, “Little An, have you decided that from now on you’ll also—”

Yu An knew what she wanted to ask and brought it up himself.

“Teacher, I’ve already applied to the university I’ve always wanted to attend.”

As soon as he had awakened, Yu An had changed his university preferences to the school he truly wanted. Fortunately, his grades were high enough that he had no reason to worry about being rejected. Once the semester began, he would only need to arrange a change of major.

Yu Ling stared at him in disbelief, then broke into delighted surprise. “That’s wonderful!”

Yu An suddenly stepped closer and embraced her, speaking softly.

“Teacher, thank you.”

You never gave up on me. Even when I chose not to continue in my dreams, you still treated me exactly as you always had.

Yu Ling’s eyes inexplicably grew warm. She rubbed his head.

“I’ll wait for good news from you. Come back to the house later, and I’ll make you some chicken soup.”

Yu An smiled faintly. “All right.”

—

After saying goodbye to his teacher, Yu An returned to the theater and followed the directions to the audition venue.

When he entered, several dozen people were already standing in the hall.

The moment Yu An appeared, everyone there cast more or less covert glances in his direction, their faces tinged with wariness.

Although appearance was not the theater’s foremost consideration when recruiting performers—their movements and expressions mattered most—Yu An was simply too beautiful.

Standing there alone, he could easily draw everyone’s attention.

He was tall and slender, with refined brows and eyes, dark hair, fair skin, and a face as lovely as peach blossoms. His beauty was breathtaking at first sight.

Yu An had long grown accustomed to such attention. He checked the time. With half an hour remaining before the audition, he went to the changing room, put on his dance costume, and began warming up.

A few others were nearby, apparently finished with their own warm-ups, and had gathered together to chat.

“What should I do? I’m so nervous!”

“Me too. I hope I get to meet Teacher Yu Ling. I heard she only teaches people who work at the theater…”

“Exactly. Even if I don’t get accepted, I’ll have no regrets if she gives me just a little guidance!”

“Why are you all being so pessimistic?”

“Have you seen the numbers for this recruitment? Thirty people received audition invitations, but the theater only wants two. That’s fifteen to one. Terrifying. I’m probably just here to make up the numbers.”

“…”

Yu An remained absorbed in his own world. Only after completing several rounds of stretching did he stop to rest.

His body felt as it usually did, but he had only just recovered from a serious illness. Worried that he might not have enough stamina, he decided not to continue and returned to the hall instead.

At that moment, the person in charge arrived and began explaining the audition rules.

The hall fell silent at once.

After finishing the explanation, the person in charge brought out a small box and had everyone draw a prompt. Fifteen minutes later, he took out the list and began calling the candidates in one by one.

Tension gradually spread throughout the hall.

Yu An’s expression remained calm as he concentrated on deciding which piece he would perform.

The phone in his backpack suddenly vibrated. He took it out and saw the caller ID: Older Brother.

At that exact moment, the person in charge opened the door, glanced at the list, and called out, “Next candidate: Yu An.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Yu An ended the call. He turned toward the person at the door with a bright smile and ran over.

“Coming!”