CH 76

Chapter 076 - He needs their parents to come and take care of their own child. (4)

Inside the mansion, He Shichen separated out his stuff and packed them into his suitcase. He first opened up the bedroom door first and listened for any noises coming from Chu Qianli’s room. Only after he had confirmed that everything was normal did he walked back into his room and walked out gently with his suitcase behind him.

Downstairs, the door to Aunty Li’s bedroom was also shut. She never left her room at night. She has a very set routine.

Now that He Zhenghe and Yu Shen were not home and Aunty Li had already turned in, nobody would know what had happened.

The night was dark, the moon bright, and the stars scarce. It was extremely quiet in the mansion district.

He Shichen walked out quietly with his suitcase in tow. He had no idea where he should go. Anywhere but here. The world is huge but there was no place for him to be.

He Shichen walked forward but suddenly heard familiar noises coming from the backyard along with some odd animation sound effects.

“Big Brother, you always said that I am not smart but I think you trying to take off in the middle of the night better shows that there are issues with your head.”

Chu Qianli was squatting on her heels on a stone bench in the backyard watching animation on her phone. She casually paused it and grumbled, “Where are you going out to steal manhole covers at this hour?”

He Shichen, his suitcase behind him, was stunned. Shocked by Chu Qianli who appeared mysteriously in the backyard, he said in surprise, “What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?”

Chu Qianli replied righteously, “Watching the stars. I’ve told you earlier!”

He Shichen pointed angrily at the screen of the cellphone that was sitting on top of the stone table, “You are watching animations, not the stars!”

Chu Qianli, acting stuck up, waved her hand and said, “You watch the stars with your heart, not your eyes. Aye, I can’t talk to you unenlightened.”

Very well.

He Shichen felt that his fist was hardening.

“Get back inside the house right now! You shouldn’t be wandering around in the middle of the night!” He Shichen got more irritated. He pointed at the front door and scolded, “You still have class tomorrow. What do you think you are doing out here? Cultivating?!”

Chu Qianli said in disdain, “You should be the one talking…..”

“And why can’t I……” said He Shichen angrily. “No, wait, stop changing the subject. Get back inside the house NOW!”

Chu Qianli, “I am not going to. Why don’t you go first?”

He Shichen, “And why aren’t you going first?”

Chu Qianli, “Because I don’t want to.”

He Shichen, “? ? ?”

He Shichen was stuck between a rock and a hard place now. He wanted to leave with his suitcase but felt that it was wrong to leave Chu Qianli out there in the middle of the night by herself. He wanted to call up He Zhenghe to come home and do something about Chu Qianli, but that would interfere with his plans of taking off.

He Shichen stood where he was, frozen, having no idea what to do next.

For once, he wanted to rebel but he ran into the master rebel and didn’t even stand a chance against her.

It even crossed He Shichen’s mind that she was there waiting for him on purpose because she had found out from a reading that he would be leaving.

Thinking of that, he pulled his suitcase over again and said in a deep voice. “I will talk to Dad tomorrow and to Mom when she feels better. I have already found a place and you don’t need to stop me. Hurry up and go back inside of the house……”

He Shichen couldn’t shake the feeling that she was there to stop him from leaving. She had always been the naively foolish one.

He had been thinking about his role a lot lately. This was not a heat-of-the-moment rash decision.

“…… Hurry up and go home. This has nothing to do with you,” He Shichen added softly.

Chu Qianli was the last person who should feel responsible. She did not need to concern herself about this.

Naturally, Chu Qianli did not disappoint He Shichen. She did not try to stop him. Instead, she waved at him in a friendly manner and said decisively, “Okay. Bye bye~”

Chu Qianli neither try and stop him nor return to the house. She continued to watch her animation.

He Shichen, “……”

He Shichen completely gave up on his crazy thought that she was there waiting for him. Seeing that she hadn’t shoved her butt yet, he became more irritated. “Go back inside of the house! Don’t make me shout at you!!”

He only wished that their parents would be back soon. They need to take care of their own child. He couldn’t handle this for one more day.

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Translator’s rambling:

A’right people. I want to hear all about what you think of He Shichen!! =D

I feel bad for him that he felt like an outsider at home. ☹ It seems reasonable for a true/fake child trope though. That the parent would not instantly form bond with the newly-found child (they care, but it will take time) and/or suddenly stop caring for the original child that they had thought was their own and raised for many years. In this case, the parents knew that He Shichen had done nothing wrong (unless He Shichen could somehow work with his parents to have himself swapped at birth) but He Shichen, from his perspective, would still be painfully aware of the fact that he wasn’t part of the family. That is just something that he needs to get over with on his own and knows that his [adoptive] parents cared about him the same whether it was before or after they had found/brought back Chu Qianli.

It is very sweet of him to worry about Chu Qianli being out there by herself on his way out. 

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Other than the switch-at-birth and transmigration trope, there is another overarching theme (?) in this novel that was hinted at in this chapter and will become progressively clearer from this point forward. See if you can figure it out. :D

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As usual, special thanks to those who helped make this [four] chapter(s) happen:

JJ Rasos Chua, Seemanta, eahr0121, Sky, Rohi, Golialo, Akai Sora, and mumu_shin.

Special mention of Golialo’s wiggling baby and eahr’s animated gif. =D