Snowlyme

Home/ The Selfish Gene/ Chapter 1

I never thought that such a ridiculous thing could happen to me.

If a cat wears the skin of a leopard, in the end it would still be a cat.

But just like a supporting character cannot become the protagonist, melody without undulating notes cannot be a lasting bequest. But if heaven thinks that this can defeat me, then…it underestimates me too much.

“This is… the money for the past few months.” Yan Shanhua carefully placed a creased leather envelope on the coffee table, and took two steps back. Her rough and dark palm rubbed the clothes at a loss, looking like she didn’t even know how to stand with nothing in her hands.

Having to deal with a hangover, an empty stomach, and unnecessary people early in the morning really puts me in a bad mood. I glanced at the envelope placed on the coffee table and frowned in disgust.

“You can go now.”

She stood there without moving and looked at me hesitantly, her eyes were full of care and nostalgia that made me sick.

“How have you been recently?”

Knowingly asking, it seems so hypocritical. Ever since she told me that she was my biological mother, how could my life be any better? She asked me if I was okay, but I already know that she didn’t care about me, she just wanted to get close to me so that when she needs something from me in future, she can ask easily, that’s all.

“Chenfeng has already started an internship… He said that he will return all the money to you in less than two years.”

I sat on the sofa with my arms crossed and stared at her with my chin raised slightly. When I heard Ji Chenfeng’s name, corner of my eyes twitched uncontrollably.

“Are you pretending to be a loving mother to your son now?” Without holding back, I blurted out.

Yan Shanhua paused and her face turned pale.

“I…” She muttered on her dry and chapped lips, but she couldn’t refute anything.

Poor, haggard, and cowardly, just looking at her makes me angry. But unfortunately, such a person gave birth to me, and is responsible for half of the genes in my body.

This woman who didn’t even graduate from junior high school is the person who completely changed the lives of Ji Chenfeng and me. She let me, a nanny’s son, live a life of luxury, and let Ji Chenfeng, a young master born with a golden spoon in his mouth, be reduced to living in a slum.

In fact, I should thank her, without her, I would not be where I am now. But couldn’t she keep this secret in her stomach for the rest of her life? That way maybe I would be more grateful to her.

Back then she was the one who exchanged Ji Chenfeng and me with her own hands, so why is she still setting up a persona of a kind and good mother? Ji Chenfeng may be deceived by her, but knowing all the truth, I only think she is pretentious and hypocritical.

Still, it wouldn’t do me any good to push her too hard. Although she promised me again and again that she would not reveal the secret to anyone else, there is no guarantee that one day she will not lose her mind and go to confess everything to Sang Zhengbai and seek forgiveness.

With Sang Zhengbai’s personality, even though I am his own son, he doesn’t care that much about me. And once he found out that I have no blood relationship with him, but is just a counterfeit that replaced his real son, I am afraid that he will drive me out and make me unable to stay in Hongshi any longer.

Thinking of this, I suppressed my temper and softened my tone: “As I said before, you don’t have to pay back the 300,000 yuan. This amount of money is nothing to me.”

Yan Shanhua still had a bit of embarrassment on her face because of what I said before, she lowered her head and didn’t speak again.

She is less than fifty years old, her hair is already gray, there are wrinkles around her eyes, and her skin is dry and dark yellow. Compared to the beautiful “mother” in the portrait that I knew, she is old and ugly, making me unable to feel any intimacy.

“Is there anything else?” I asked again, wanting her to leave.

She shrank her neck and shook her head, then turned and walked towards the door step by step.

I didn’t intend to get up, so I just sat on the sofa and watched her leave.

When she got to the door, she suddenly turned her head and said softly: “You don’t look very well, you should pay more attention to rest.”

Ha, isn’t it because of people like you that I can’t rest?

I stared at her coldly and expressionlessly, until she couldn’t bear it and looked away first, closed the door resentfully and disappeared.

The room returned to silence, and I exhaled deeply from my lungs. After sitting on the sofa for a while, I got up and walked to the bathroom. Halfway through, I took off my thick nightgown and walked into the shower room naked.

There was no heat in the bathroom, and the cold water fell on the skin, causing a tingling that could not be ignored, but soon, when the body got used to the temperature, everything began to become numb.

If only I could become so numb when it comes to Yan Shanhua’s matter.

The nails dug deep into the shoulders, leaving shocking bloodstains, and the forehead was pressed against the cold tile, but it could not extinguish the resentment in my heart.

Such despicable and shabby blood is actually flowing through my body, it feels too disgusting.

How can I be the son of that kind of woman, there must be something wrong…

I want to think this way, but deep down I know very well that it is true, I am the son of that woman.

After she found me three years ago, I secretly took her hair for a DNA test. She and I are indeed indisputably mother and child. On Sang Zhengbai’s side, I also did a paternity test with faint expectations. The report was torn to pieces by me a few minutes after I opened it, and thrown into the sewer.

After taking a shower, my body became paler because of the cold. I stood in front of the large mirror, with water dripping from my forehead, and stared gloomily at myself in the mirror with an ugly face. No matter how I looked at it, I felt that the eyebrows and eyes were somewhat similar to the woman just now.

 “Crash!”

I angrily overturned all the bottles and cans on the sink, and slammed the hair dryer on the mirror that reflected everything, broken glass scattered all over the floor, and a piece accidentally splashed out and scratched my ankle. I was gasping for breath and had no time to think about it.

The sound of an electronic door unlocking came from the outside, and I already knew who it was who came at this time.

I kicked away the mess and walked out, only to see Tang Bian struggling to close the door with his foot, carrying large and small packages of takeaway.

“Ah!” He looked up and saw me standing naked in front of him, he was so frightened that he almost dropped everything in his hand.

“I’ll dry you off right away.” He put the takeaway on the dining table and rushed into the bathroom in a hurry.

Tang Bian is two years younger than me, he is the son of my father……Sang Zhengbai’s personal secretary. Because he is too stupid, and is not good at dealing with people, he was sent to me for grooming. The parent serves Sang Zhengbai, and the child serves me.

Maybe he was too shocked by the hurricane-like scene in the bathroom, it took him a while to come out. He was holding a huge bath towel in his hand, and wrapped me from head to toe.

“I’m bleeding.” I grabbed the towel and stood still, refusing to move even a step.

He froze for a moment, looked me over from head to toe, and finally found the small scratch at my ankle.

The blood flowed out, mixed with water, soaking into the snow-white cotton slippers. He brought the medicine kit, knelt down in front of me, and treated my wound with a cotton swab.

Looking at the drooping eyelids, I stared at the hair on the top of his head. Tang Bian’s attitude of absolute loyalty somewhat pleased me. After he put on the Band-Aid, I threw off the slippers, stepped on the floor with bare feet, and asked him to clean up the bathroom and the slippers.

The takeaway boxes almost covered the whole table, all of which are my favorite dishes. Xiao Tang is not very smart, but he works hard and is a good dog.

I ate very slowly, and played with my phone for a while, during which Tang Bian cleaned up the bathroom, washed the slippers, and started feeding the turtle for me.

In the living room, there is a rainforest tank that occupies half of the wall. It is 3mx1mx2m in size, filled with rockery, flowing water, moss, and water mist will be sprayed from the top once in a while. I spent a lot of money to build it five years ago. I didn’t build it for the aesthetic of my living room, but for raising a turtle.

Strictly speaking, the turtle is not my pet, it was left to me by an ex-girlfriend of mine. She is a foreign model in my aunt’s company, and when she was about to leave after finishing her work, she left the turtle to me. Along with it, there was also an insulting letter.

In any case, I have taken good care of it these past few years, or Tang Bian has taken good care of it, and it is already a circle larger than before.

“Master, it seems that the little turtle hasn’t eaten for several days.” Tang Bian opened the door of the rainforest tank, probed in and observed for a while, and became a little worried.

“Is it finally going to die?” While swiping my phone, I raised my head and looked over there indifferently.

“Do you want to take it to see a doctor?” Tang Bian walked to the sofa and began to arrange the messed up pillows, “But I don’t know if those who treat cats and dogs can also treat turtles, or I can go to where I buy aquatic products and ask the boss?”

You might as well ask the boss how to stew it, I thought.

Putting down the chopsticks, I took out a tissue and wiped my mouth. Without paying any attention to him, I got up and walked to the bedroom. When passing by the coffee table, my footsteps paused slightly, I bent down and picked up the leather envelope.

After I changed the clothes in the bedroom, Tang Bian also cleaned up the leftovers on the table. He drove me to Dr. Chen’s private clinic. Because I had an appointment early in the morning, the front desk quickly directed me into a quiet consulting room.

While waiting, I took out a black electronic cigarette from the inside pocket of my suit and fiddled with it idly.

After some time, a psychiatrist in a white coat came in from the outside and sat behind the desk, where she belonged.

After a little preparation, she entered the role.

“Have you tried the treatment plan we discussed last time?”

I stared at a small stain on the carpet, thinking about the cause of it, flipping the electronic cigarette with my fingers regularly.

“Try to read some biographies or novels, it will help you calm your emotions and improve your cognitive ability. Have you recorded the score sheet we mentioned last time?”

“I noticed that you have changed your e-cigarette, and according to the course of treatment, you should have been unable to use it last week.”

I stopped my hands and looked up at the other party.

The middle-aged woman wearing glasses looked at me gently, her crossed hands were naturally placed on the table.

After experiencing countless failed psychological treatments, this Dr. Chen is another “authoritative” psychologist who Sang Zhengbai found for me.

Advising me to quit smoking was the first step taken by this expert to showcase his abilities in me.

I stared at her and said slowly: “The treatment I receive always involves correcting and overcoming, but in fact, I’ve been thinking, why can’t it be simpler?”

“simpler?”

Since just now, I have been thinking about how to change my current situation.

Three years ago, in order to treat Ji Chenfeng’s illness, Yan Shanhua came to me to borrow 300,000 yuan. Although I said that she didn’t need to pay it back, she still insisted on returning the money every two to three months, ranging from a few thousand yuan each time.

I firmly locked all the envelopes in the safe in the bedroom, as if locking the never-seen secret between me and them. But it is just a safe box after all, accidents will always happen, I don’t know if someone other than me will open it one day.

I can’t go on like this, I can’t let Yan Shanhua and Ji Chenfeng restrain me like this for the rest of my life. Will Yan Shanhua stop at 300,000? Will Ji Chenfeng always remain unaware of the truth?

Just in case, I have to figure out a way, I have to turn passive into active.

“Isn’t it better to just clear and eradicate all the things I hate?”

Dr. Chen was slightly stunned, and asked: “You can indeed destroy things, but what if it is a living thing? What if it is a person?”

I lay down on the sofa with a soft backrest, bit the e-cigarette holder, and spit out a mouthful of white mist with a strong mint flavor, vaguely covering her and me, so that the expressions of each other were not very clear.

What if it is a human?

I curled my lips and smiled, but didn’t answer her stupid question.

After finishing the formal treatment, I walked out of the consultation room and asked Tang Bian, who had been waiting outside, for the car keys, and asked him to take a taxi by himself.

“I hate her, fire her.” I said to Tang Bian.

Why do I have to overcome a certain problem, as long as I get rid of the person who caused the problem? This is the easiest and most effective way to deal with it.

Half an hour later, I parked the car in front of a three-story pet hospital. The door of the pet hospital is bright blue, it may be because today is Saturday, there are quite a lot of people coming in and out.

There was smoke in Tang Bian’s car, the real smoke. I lit a cigarette with a lighter, but ultimately didn’t smoke in the end.

I hate the process of getting over it, the problem that I have to work hard to solve, but if dealing with this “problem” has already consumed a lot of my energy, then I hate quitting halfway.

My left hand stretched out of the car window, and a long lit cigarette hung between my fingers. I stared at the busy pet hospital not far away, and my eyes moved back and forth with the tall figure behind the glass door.

Not to mention other things, Ji Chenfeng’s eyes are beautiful. The double eyelids are just the right width, the corners of the eyes are neither too blunt nor too sharp, and the high eyebrows connect with the same high nose bridge, making the eye sockets deep, so that even if he wears a mask, he still looks handsome.

I can’t help but think even if the phoenix fell into the chicken coop, it would still be a phoenix. Even if the young master grew up in a slum, he is still a noble son.

It’s a pity that Yan Shanhua made him a cripple.

The line of sight fell to the other party’s left ear. Ji Chenfeng’s hair is very short, the kind that ordinary people don’t usually have. I don’t know if he shaved his hair like this to make it fit more securely, or if he deliberately wanted to expose the instrument on his ears. The black cochlear implant attached to the scalp with wires on the left ear can be seen at a glance. With his white coat, it exaggerates a cool sense of technology for no reason.

Without this thing, would he be deaf?

Yan Shanhua found me back then, told me all the truth, and borrowed 300,000 yuan. Three hundred thousand, for me it was just a few boxes of cigars, but for her it was an astronomical sum. And the reason why she asked for the money so urgently was to give Ji Chenfeng a cochlear implant.

I still remember the day she stood in front of me in her washed up white clothes and called out my name tremblingly with a disturbed expression.

“Sang Nian…”

I was a little drunk in a nightclub, and for a moment I thought it was some janitor in the building.

“Huh?” Pulling my clothes on, I stopped to listen to what she had to say.

“You, hello… My surname is Yan, my name is Yan Shanhua. You may not remember me anymore, I am… I was the nanny who took care of you when you were just born, you’ve drank my milk. You still have a mole on your buttocks, and you really like being hugged by others, and you won’t sleep unless you’re hugged…”

Her accent and unfocused way of speaking quickly bored me, and I had to interrupt her to ask her what she wanted from me.

She carefully observed her surroundings, like the kind of criminal who sells drugs in an alley, for fear that someone in plainclothes would suddenly appear and arrest her.

She asked to find a quiet place to talk to me in detail, claiming that she had something very important to tell me.

I ignored her and directly opened the door of the downstairs apartment with my fingerprints, not wanting to listen to her nonsense anymore. I’ve seen a lot of people like this, who say “important things”, but want me to invest in their unrealistic junk projects, or want to form some relationship with me.

I drank her milk? So what? Just imagining that picture is enough to turn people off.

“Wait, I really have something important to say!” She grabbed my arm and tried to prevent me from entering the door.

I was pulled back suddenly, and took a few steps back. It may be because of the alcohol, my feet were a little floating, and my body almost lost my balance and fell down.

“Let go!” I stood firm, turned around and looked at her with a warning.

She kept apologizing to me, but she still didn’t let go.

“Sang Nian, Xiao Nian…” She called out a nickname that shouldn’t be called, firmly grasped my arm, and spit out ridiculous words, “I know it’s hard for you to believe it, but you are my son , you were born to me, and I am your mother…”

A gust of wind blew away the long-accumulated soot from the cigarette butts, and rolled over the back of my hand with the lingering ashes, which made me frown instantly and wake up from the memory.

The familiar sound of a motorcycle came from behind, and I cursed inwardly. In a few seconds, the traffic policeman stopped the motorcycle in front of my car, got off and walked towards me.

“No parking here.”

I turned around and took out the driver’s license from the armrest box, and handed it to the other party skillfully.

“I know.”

The traffic policeman looked at me and angrily took the ID from me.

After opening the form and asking me to sign it, he handed me back the driver’s license and warned in a bad tone: “Drive away immediately, or I will call a tow truck.”

Twitching the corners of my mouth, I casually threw the documents into the box, and finally looked in the direction of the pet hospital.

Ji Chenfeng was unaware that someone was looking at him from a distance, he took the notepad handed to him by the nurse, but seemed to have not heard what the other party said, so he bent slightly, and brought his face closer to the other party.

The little nurse blushed, and suddenly remembered something, and hurried to the side where the other party was wearing the cochlear implant.

Withdrawing my hand stretched outside the window, I stubbed out the cigarette butt, under the watchful eyes of the traffic police, I deliberately made a loud roar, stepped on the accelerator and drove away.

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