ATFBETIBM Chapter 289.2

The old man’s skin turned red and then pale. On the other hand, the three-year-old intellect of Guo Dan remained oblivious to the adult world, his heart and eyes filled with innocence.

After a long time, the old man sat down again with a huff. “Are you serious? Do you want money? How much money would satisfy you?”

Bai Lixin: “I don’t want money, and I’m not in need of it. If I wanted money, I wouldn’t come to you; I’d go directly to Luo Mei. I’m here because only you can answer this question.”

The old man looked at Bai Lixin skeptically. “What question?”

Bai Lixin stared at the old man. “Have you noticed that your daughter’s personality has changed significantly? It’s as if she’s become a completely different person.”

The old man’s gaze avoided Bai Lixin’s. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Bai Lixin: “Don’t understand? Then let me be more direct. Is the current Luo Mei your daughter?”

The old man turned pale in an instant. He breathed heavily and spoke incoherently.

“My daughter, of course she’s my daughter. The present one is my daughter. She’s intelligent, outstanding, and wealthy. She’s my precious daughter.”

“Heh, so you’ve already noticed that your daughter has changed, but you think the current ‘daughter’ is more outstanding, so you naturally accepted this creature that’s taken over your daughter’s body. But you forgot that this creature has ruthlessly stifled your daughter, replacing her vibrant and brilliant life, didn’t you?” Shen Mo, who had put down his phone at some point, looked at the old man with cold eyes, cruelly ripping away the veneer of hypocrisy. “Not only have you not sought revenge for your daughter, but you’ve also pampered the perpetrator as if she were your own. If your daughter’s spirit exists beyond the grave, do you think she would be saddened? The only family she had in this world, was ultimately defeated by selfish interests.”

The old man fell from his chair in a panic. He struggled to get up from the floor, his face red as he shouted hoarsely, “Yes, so what! Compared to my useless daughter before, the current one is like a second blessing from heaven!”

“If she wasn’t useless, how could she have ended up with a swollen belly because of a few old men?”

“She talked about realizing her dreams, but what’s the result? She became a manipulated plaything!”

“But my daughter is different! She’s confident and outstanding. She easily stands at the pinnacle of the pyramid. She’s a pride of heaven.”

“I never wanted my previous daughter. This daughter is the one I wanted!”

The old man ranted hysterically, “What do you know? Have you experienced being heavily in debt? I accumulated a pile of debts trying to treat my cheap wife’s illness.”

“I hoped my daughter would achieve success, but she ended up a financial drain. Getting pregnant at such a young age, how can she ever find a husband?!”

“I worked all my life, hoping to enjoy my later years. I only had this one small expectation, so why is it so hard? She’s not my original daughter, so what? I realized she wasn’t long ago, but so what? She gives me money.”

He rambled on without filter for a long time until he finally gasped for air and stopped.

In the hall, only the sound of the old man’s heavy breathing could be heard.

Even Guo Dan, who had been playing with his toys on the side, ceased his movements, staring at the old man with innocent eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, Bai Lixin asked, “How long has it been since your daughter last called you ‘father’? Is it enough to just give money?”

This sentence was like a bomb, shattering the old man’s long-held defiance.

He broke down, covering his face and wailing, then retreated to a corner of the room, hiding his face in the wall as he sobbed in pain.

Guo Dan stared blankly at his crying grandfather. Dropping the toy he had been holding, he crawled over. Unsure of what to do, he wiped the old man’s tears with his sleeve. “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Blow your nose, daddy.”

“What ‘daddy’? I’ve told you so many times, call me ‘grandpa’!” The old man pushed Guo Dan away, his face filled with disgust.

Pointing at the trembling Guo Dan on the ground, he said, “Look at what my useless daughter has left me with—a worthless child who can’t even speak well.”

Guo Dan had never seen his grandfather with such a fierce expression. Trembling, he shrunk into the corner, fear in his eyes.

He tried to curl up into a ball, his large body oddly fragile, and his urine uncontrollably trickled down.

The old man wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes. He didn’t try to comfort Guo Dan like before; instead, he coldly observed the boy’s misery. A cruel smirk curled up at the corners of his mouth as he ridiculed the embarrassed boy before him. “I detest him. If it weren’t for him, my daughter would still be fine.”

“What if your daughter is inside the body of the person you detest? Will you regret treating him this way?” An abrupt voice rang out from a corner of the room. The old man looked in surprise towards the source of the sound, only to see a man dressed entirely in black slowly emerging from the darkness.

He wore a black robe reminiscent of ancient attire, with shiny golden totem patterns adorning it.

The man’s long hair hung partially tied at the back of his head. His gaze was sharp, and his presence exuded an air of superiority.

Shen Mo frowned at this unexpected guest.

Old man: “Who… who are you? How did you get into my house?! Get out, all of you get out, or I’ll call the police!”

However, the man in black ignored him. Instead, he walked directly to Bai Lixin’s side. “I heard you were looking for me, so I rushed here. Did I make it in time?”

Bai Lixin looked at the young man before him, then patted the Young Yama on the shoulder. “No, you’re right on time.”

The old man widened his eyes and glared at the three of them with anger. “Who are you people, exactly?”

Young Yama: “Don’t worry about who we are. Today, I’ve come to tell you that your daughter is inside this foolish giant in front of you.”

He then turned to Bai Lixin, his face full of innocence, as if seeking approval. “Black Wuchang passed your message to me, I investigated her soul in the underworld. She didn’t enter the underworld. Moreover, according to the Book of Life and Death, her lifespan is a full eighty-five years. But her child wasn’t as lucky and died young.”

Bai Lixin looked at the big boy cowering in the corner. “Are you saying that after her son died, her soul was trapped in this body?”

Young Yama nodded vigorously. “You’re really smart, Xin Xin. That’s exactly what it means!”

The old man stood frozen in place. He glanced at Guo Dan, then at the three peculiar men, finally fixing his gaze on Guo Dan again.

Old man: “The three of you are lunatics. Where did you come from? What kind of strange stories are you trying to perform here? And to claim that Guo Dan is my daughter? How could Guo Dan possibly be my daughter? You’re all insane.”

“Look at his bear-like appearance.”

The gazes of the people fell simultaneously on Guo Dan.

As all the eyes landed on him, Guo Dan’s body trembled more intensely. He used his hands and feet to crawl deeper into the wall, as if he could hide within it if he tried hard enough.

“Don’t come any closer.”

“Don’t look at me, don’t take off my clothes.”

“Grandpa, help me. Daddy, save me. I’m scared, I’m really scared.”

Guo Dan spoke in a slurred manner as drool flowed from his mouth.

The old man stood stiffly in place, his disbelieving gaze fixed on Guo Dan.

Unable to crawl any further, Guo Dan finally balled himself up and buried his head deeply into his chest, much like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.

His faint voice reached the ears of the four through the gaps.

“Malans blossom at twenty-five-six, at twenty-five-seven and twenty-five-eight, at twenty-nine-thirty-thirty-one.”

“Little tadpole, so obedient, holding Dad’s hand to find Mom.”

“Mom’s eyes are bright, like little stars in the sky.”

Strange nursery rhymes continued to spill from Guo Dan’s mouth. With each phrase, the old man’s face registered shock.

Finally, the old man’s patience shattered. He rushed over, vigorously shaking Guo Dan’s shoulders, his eyes wide open with a furious glare. “Who taught you all this? Who put these words in your mouth? Answer me!”

Guo Dan was frightened out of his wits and began to sob uncontrollably. Amid his tears, he pleaded for mercy. “Daddy, I’m sorry, Daddy.”

The old man stared in horror at the sobbing Guo Dan in front of him. As if he had been frightened, he quickly let go of Guo Dan, stumbled backwards, and took several steps before stopping.

He continued to gaze at the crying Guo Dan, as if meeting him for the first time today.

With his freedom regained, Guo Dan quickly got up from the ground and swiftly retreated into the basement with his massive body.

The sound of the door slamming shut echoed, leaving the old man staring blankly at the entrance to the basement, his eyes full of disbelief.

After a long while, he remembered there were still three people in the room.

He looked at them in bewilderment. “Who are you people?”

Young Yama tilted his head slightly. “Looks like we can’t hide it anymore. Since you asked sincerely, I’ll mercifully tell you. I am King Yama.”

The old man licked his dry lips and stared blankly at Young Yama for a couple of seconds. “Yama? Which Yama are you talking about?”

Young Yama: “Is there a second Yama besides the one in charge of the underworld?”

The old man slumped onto a chair, struggling to process this overwhelming information.

After remaining in a daze for a couple of minutes, he looked back at the three men. “What exactly is going on here?”

If he hadn’t already experienced the change in his daughter earlier, his level of acceptance might not have been so high now. But now, with the occurrence of this eerie soul-swapping and the actual existence of King Yama, maybe another Yama didn’t seem that far-fetched?

Bai Lixin: “We want to know what’s going on too. Let’s start by getting the timeline straight. When did you first realize your daughter had been replaced?”

The old man licked his lips again. “My daughter had dreams of becoming a singer since she was young. We were poor, so to support the family, she would carry a portable speaker and sing at barbecue stalls right after she turned eighteen and came of age. On a good night, she could earn one or two thousand yuan.”

“When she was nineteen, a talent scout discovered her. They said they could package her as a queen of the music industry—her future was limitless. My daughter signed a contract with the talent agency without fully understanding it. Later, she found out that it was all a deception.”

“For over a year, the agency never arranged any substantial work for her. Instead, they dressed her up and had her accompany clients while looking alluring.”

“My daughter didn’t agree, so the talent agency slapped her with an astronomical penalty for breach of contract. The penalty was exorbitant, far beyond what we could afford. Worried about me, my daughter never told me about this. I had been under the impression that my daughter was singing under a legitimate music company.”

“Later on, I finally learned the truth when she returned home pregnant.”

“A few months later, my daughter gave birth.” The old man looked towards the basement with complex emotions. “It’s Guo Dan, that child. Because he wasn’t regularly examined during the pregnancy, we didn’t initially realize he had Down syndrome. Moreover, he was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, which led to developmental issues from birth. The doctors concluded that his cognitive abilities wouldn’t surpass that of a three-year-old.”

“This child is the offspring of one of those big shots, but who would care about a sick child? But even this could be used as leverage.” The old man sighed. “Perhaps it was to compensate for my daughter, or perhaps to keep her quiet, they agreed to let her debut as a singer.”

“My daughter changed her age.”

“When she debuted, she was actually in her late twenties. However, a female singer who debuts in her twenties lacks market competitiveness. So, when she debuted, the talent agency publicly announced she was only twenty.”

“Over the past few years, whenever my daughter has had time, she comes home to visit me and brings some treats for Guo Dan.”

“But whenever I look at this child, I’m reminded of those wretched men. I also remember my daughter’s foolishness. Watching her become increasingly subservient infuriated me. For a while, I often wished that time could be rewound, that my daughter could have grown confident and accomplished like other stars.”

“Then one day, she truly changed.”

“She became confident and elegant, radiating wealth and authority. She continued sending money, but she never came to see me again, never called me ‘father.’ I visited her on the set once. Though she was polite and gentle, her eyes were cold and distant. She wasn’t my daughter anymore. That was when I realized she wasn’t my daughter.”

“But I was deluded at the time. I felt that this was the daughter I wanted, so accomplished, so high and untouchable, shining so brightly. I welcomed her with joy. She arranged this house in the Gold Sea Luxury Apartments for us, and had me and Guo Dan move here. She even arranged for a live-in housekeeper for us.”

“The only downside is that she never comes here. When I call her, her assistant always answers.”

“I can only see her through the television screen.”

“After several years, the initial excitement waned and I would often find myself thinking about my former daughter. The one who used to tug at my sleeves, calling me ‘daddy’. The one who would massage my chest and cook for me when I felt unwell. The one who would push aside work to be with me during festivals.”

“Late at night, when it’s quiet, I often question myself: What is it that I truly want?”

“Is it a life envied by others? Or the feeling of superiority? Every time I ponder these things, I see my daughter’s sweet smile in my mind. Now I have a daughter who’s a household name, living in a mansion that others can only dream of, but it hurts here.” The old man tapped his chest. “I traded a daughter who truly cares for me, and gained a distant celebrity. I’m unhappy. I want my daughter, not this impostor, but my flesh-and-blood daughter.”

——————————

In the live broadcast room

[Ah, sometimes we only realize the value of something precious after we’ve lost it.]

[I can totally relate to that.]

[There’s no true understanding until something happens to us personally.]

[But we can learn from this. Parents should accept their children’s ordinariness. Amid countless people in the world, we only have one family. Would we prefer a cold, perfect daughter with a gold-trimmed frame on the wall, or a genuinely affectionate daughter? This story has given us the answer.]

[But thinking about it is still unsettling. He knew from the start that the person wasn’t his real daughter. His real daughter might even have been killed by that intruder, yet he accepted it readily. It was only after experiencing neglect that he remembered his real daughter’s goodness. But if this imposter treated him like his real daughter, would he still miss her? In essence, it’s selfishness at play. The imposter satisfied his yearning for wealth and status, but couldn’t provide genuine care. Now that he’s comfortable, he starts missing genuine affection. The real daughter fulfilled his craving for true emotions. Who knows if he’ll eventually miss the comfort brought by the imposter’s life?]

[…Fuck, brother, you’re so insightful! This analysis is just spot-on. I suddenly don’t feel sorry for that old man anymore. He deserves it. My heart aches for that poor real daughter; she’s the truly tragic one.]

[I think I’ve got it now too. Thanks a lot for your analysis, brother! You’re my hero!]