Chapter 275: Dont Seek The Past
As Li Xiaoheng expected, with Tao Mu and Shen Yu unconscious, all the chess pieces in the game fell into a long dream one after another. But different from the full version experienced by Tao Mu, these people only dreamt about people and things related to the plot. But even so, these bits and pieces were enough to make them sick enough to throw up their lunch. Especially after seeing the comparison between the real Shen Er and the terrible fake that was Shen Yu in their memory.
A fake was a fake, even though Shen Yu imitated Shen Er in everything and tried his best to create the illusion of a phoenix. But Shen Yu was not Shen Er after all. He didn't have Shen Er's heart of innocence, nor did he possess Shen Er's sincerity, care and consideration when interacting with others, nor Shen Er's innate brilliance and compassion. He was just a cuckoo occupying the nest, clinging to the stolen identity and status that didn't belong to him, but looked upon all of these as his innate halo. And then with these false halos he stood high above, maintaining his equally false pity and hypocrisy.
But stripped of all this, the real Shen Yu——no, he wasn't even Shen Yu. His existence only tarnished the name that meant to be endowed with all the fine beauty of nature. Strip the name, and he was nothing but a pathetic and hateful clown. He thought that by wearing the crown and appearing on the raised dais, he could become a king. It was a pity that in the eyes of everyone who had recovered their memories, all this was just a poor imitation show one after another. Under the contrast between reality and illusion, it only appeared even more ugly.
However, it was such a hideous caricature of a thing, which made people feel disdainful to even take a second look, that played all of them in the palm of his hand. And what did they do wrong? In order to satisfy this person's greed and delusion, they fell into reincarnation life after life, and even dying could not bring peace.
"A person like you could actually live so many lives under Shen Er's name." Yao Wenxiao, who had to send Shen Yu to the hospital because Shen Yu suddenly fell into a coma in his office, was so disgusted that he looked like he had swallowed a live caterpillar. His face turned green, and when he thought that he had been bewitched by this thing of a person for so many lives, he had the urge to hit the wall and kill himself.
"How disgusting!" Yao Wenxiao glared at Shen Yu, who just woke up from the hospital bed, with disgust on his face: "How could there be such a disgusting person like you in this world."
Yao Wenxiao's gaze as if he was looking at a puddle of mud instantly stimulated Shen Yu. Shen Yu, who was already emotionally unstable, immediately yelled loudly: "Don't look at me like that. Don't look at me like that. I'm Shen Yu, I'm Shen Yu! I'm your favorite Shen Yu! How can you treat me like this!"
The deranged shrieks attracted the doctors and nurses who were making rounds. The medical staff who didn't know the whole story looked at Yao Wenxiao with disapproval on their faces and walked to the bed to comfort the patient. However, Shen Yu's struggle was so intense that he even accidentally scratched a nurse. The medical staff had no choice but to control the person in a hurry and try their best to appease the patient's emotions.
Yao Wenxiao took two steps back with a sneer, and looked at Shen Yu's crazy display with cold eyes. Suspicious over whether this person was pretending or if he had really gone crazy.
"What happened?"
Yao Wenxiao turned his head and saw Shen Chen showing up at the door of the ward with the Shen family's mother and daughter. He immediately sneered: "Don't you know how to see for yourself? He's pretending to be crazy!"
Yao Wenxiao paused, unable to calm his emotions. He couldn't help but ridicule: "But your Shen family is truly interesting. You actually treated such a nauseating thing like a treasure, holding it in your palm for so many lifetimes, but rejecting the real phoenix."
"What qualifications do you have to say anything about the Shen family? Aren't you equally blind! Treating a fake as real love for so many lifetimes?" Shen Yan gave Yao Wenxiao a vicious look and interrupted him.
Mrs. Shen had already rushed into the ward regardless of anything else, and without any notice, slapped Shen Yu, who was pinned on the bed by the medical staff, twice on both cheeks: "You shameless bastard. How dare you plot against our Shen family like this? How did our Shen family offend you? You fake, a cuckoo occupying the nest, the smelly mud in the stinking ditch, you give me back my son!"
Seeing this, Shen Yan also rushed forward with anger on her face.
Like Yao Wenxiao, the mother and daughter of the Shen family felt disgusted from the bottom of their hearts when they thought that they had been used by Shen Yu for so many lives.
Shen Yu was controlled by the medical staff and had no ability to resist at all. Looking at everyone's disgusted and hateful eyes, and enduring the slaps on the face and body from Mrs. Shen and Shen Yan, the memory of being abandoned like a shoe was instantly brought back. Shen Yu, who was already emotionally unstable, immediately collapsed mentally. He defended in a shrill voice: "It's not my fault. Don't you guys hate Shen Er too? Shen Yan, don't forget that you switched Shen Er and me with your own hands. You don't want Shen Er to return to the Shen family, you said you wanted me to be your real younger brother! You said it! And Mom, you said that you hated Shen Er for inviting the wolves into the house, and regretted giving birth to such a son as him. You all said these things."
The medical staff standing on the side were confused, but they couldn't just watch their patient being beaten on the hospital bed. They could only rush forward, trying to stop the crazy Shen family mother and daughter. Shen Yan became even more angry from embarrassment, and raised her hand to slap the nurse, only to be stopped by Shen Chen.
"Some family matters need to be dealt with. I hope everyone can give us a little time."
Seeing that the medical staff hesitated, Shen Chen smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry. My mother and sister were just too emotional for a moment, and they won't do anything again."
Perhaps it was because Shen Chen came across as too reliable, or maybe it was because of the difficulty of minding other's family affairs, the medical staff looked at each other in blank dismay, and finally left.
After sending the medical staff away, he also persuaded Shen Yan and Mrs. Shen who were emotionally unstable and wanted to continue hitting Shen Yu. Shen Chen then walked to the hospital bed and looked down at Shen Yu.
A strong hope flashed in Shen Yu's eyes: "Elder Brother! Elder Brother! Elder Brother, you like me, right? I am your younger brother. I am good and obedient. Unlike Shen Er, who actually lured wolves into the house and killed you and your Dad, and ruined the Shen family——”
"The person who killed me and Dad was Zhuo Yan, not Xiao Yu." Shen Chen coldly interrupted Shen Yu: "Also, you are not Shen Yu either. From the beginning to the end, you were never a child of the Shen family. You have your own biological parents, and your biological father's surname is Tan. I have already removed your household registration from the Shen family. From now on, you will be Tan Yu."
"Greed?" Yao Wenxiao smiled playfully: "He really lives up to his name." (TN: tan yu=greed/avarice)
"No! No! No!" Shen Yu, no, it should be Tan Yu shook his head frantically, screaming hysterically: "You can't do this. I am Shen Yu, only I am Shen Yu. I am your favorite Shen Yu. You can't do this to me."
Shen Chen still continued to look at Tan Yu condescendingly. His face was expressionless, but there was a trace of pity in his usually cold eyes: "You are really pitiful!"
Yao Wenxiao also shook his head, and said, "People like you will never understand. We like Shen Er, or putting it in another way, the reason why Shen Er is liked by everyone is not because of this name. It depends on who has this name. Shen Er in the past, and Tao Mu in the present, only those with excellent qualities will attract everyone's attention. People in the world are attracted to strength, and moths fly towards the flame. People always yearn for bright, dazzling and warm things. But towards this reasoning, you, a piece of trash who has been gleefully living in the shadow of another over several lifetimes, will not understand."
When Yao Wenxiao said this, he looked at Tan Yu with an increasingly disgusted expression: "Fakes will always be fakes. Even a high-quality imitation can't compare with the genuine thing. What's more, you are not even a high-quality imitation, but just the cheapest of imitations. Naturally, you would be abandoned like worn shoes."
"After all, if you get down to it, a fake is just a defective product." Yao Wenxiao made a final decision and walked slowly to the hospital bed. He still maintained a condescending attitude, looking at Tan Yu as if he was seeing through Tan Yu. He tutted and shook his head: "How pitiful! When you were Tao Mu, you couldn't compare to Shen Er. When you tried your best to become Shen Yu, you couldn't compare to Tao Mu. So, seriously, what is even the point of you messing around for so many lifetimes?"
"What do you know?" Having been completely exposed and his disguise torn off, Tan Yu also showed his true colors, and yelled at Yao Wenxiao with a ferocious face: "You people who have been born with golden spoons in your mouths, and have been pampered all your lives, how could you understand? No one likes a poor orphan with no father and no mother. So no one likes Tao Mu. No matter how hard I try, your eyes are still glued to Shen Er! And never take a look at me! It is because there are too many people like you that I want to do my best to become Shen Yu! I just want everyone to like me, is there something wrong with that? God is not fair! What right does Shen Yu have to be liked by everyone just because he is born well?"
"But the truth is not like this." A voice came from the door of the ward, and everyone followed the sound, and found that Zhuo Yan and Yan Sheng, who was filming in America, entered the ward one after the other.
It was Yan Sheng who spoke just now: "Even if he is an orphan, Tao Mu can find a way to work hard in his career and find a family that loves him. In contrast, even if you become Shen Yu, you will only end up being betrayed and abandoned by everyone."
"You want to replace Shen Er, but you can only live in his shadow life after life. Even if you steal his life by taking his name, you have no way to become him." When Yan Sheng said this, he couldn't help but sigh: "An individual can never become someone else. You can only try to be the best version of yourself."
It was a pity that Tan Yu would never understand this truth.
"No! Impossible! I don't believe it! I don't believe it! You are all lying to me! How can Tao Mu be likable? No! No! I'm right! I can't be wrong! This world must be wrong! Obviously everyone should like Shen Yu! You should all hate Tao Mu! You should use all means to target Tao Mu! Step on him! Make him unable to stand up for the rest of his life! He only deserves to be lowly in the dust, watching Shen Yu stand up high! It’s you who are all wrong! It's all your fault! How can you think that Tao Mu is better than Shen Yu? How can Tao Mu be better than Shen Yu?"
If Yao Wenxiao's words were just acrimonious, Yan Sheng's words directly shattered Tan Yu's delusion, making him have to face up to his incompetence and failure. However, Tan Yu, who wanted to replace Shen Er even if he sacrificed everything, even his own life, could not bear such a reality.
The taut thread that was in his head finally broke. Tan Yu seemed to have caught some life-saving straw, and two terrifying lights suddenly burst from his eyes, so astonishingly bright.
"Yes! You are right! Shen Yu is not as good as Tao Mu! Tao Mu is the best! I am Tao Mu! I am the real Tao Mu! Shen Yu is not as good as Tao Mu! Tao Mu is the best! The best! But the real Tao Mu is me! I am Tao Mu! I am Tao Mu! Hahahaha….."
Tan Yu's laughter suddenly stopped, and he struggled on the hospital bed: "That's right. I am Tao Mu. I want to take back everything that belongs to me. Mine, mine, everything is mine….."
In the chaos, Tan Yu suddenly touched the fruit knife on the bedside table. He held the small knife, with the sharp tip against his heart, and muttered to himself with a frantic expression: "This life is wrong. Tao Mu is the best. I'm going to switch everything back——"
Zhuo Yan, who had been silent since entering the ward, but carefully observed Tan Yu's state the whole time, was the first to react. He rushed forward, snatched the fruit knife from Tan Yu's hand, and backhanded Tan Yu: "Whether you are really crazy or pretending to be crazy, it won't be so easy to die."
"That's right, this kind of person should live a long life!" Li Xiaoheng who just got off the plane broke out in a cold sweat at the scene just now, and immediately sneered, "Keep him awake and lucid at all times. So that he can see with his own eyes how our CEO Tao's life goes smoothly, and ends happily ever after."
As he spoke, a group of medical staff suddenly appeared from behind Li Xiaoheng. This group of people rushed into the ward while pushing a mobile hospital bed and all kinds of equipment. Regardless of Tan Yu's flailing and screaming, they put on a restraint suit and stuffed a gag in his mouth. They even put a tranquilizer in him for easy transfer later.
Li Xiaoheng nodded slightly at the people in the ward: "Since this person is crazy and has serious suicidal tendencies, I will take over his treatment out of humanitarianism. Don't worry, I will let him live in the best nursing home, and hire the best medical staff to wait on him. Also, doesn't he like to be called Shen Yu?"
Li Xiaoheng looked at Shen Chen: "Change his name back. I want him to use the name Shen Yu without encountering any disaster and disease, and live a long life. It can also be regarded as satisfying his wish of eternal life."
The appearance of Li Xiaoheng and Tao Mu made the atmosphere in the ward suddenly stagnant. Everyone looked at Tao Mu with complicated eyes. Mrs. Shen rushed forward with excitement: "My Xiao Yu——"
"Mrs. Shen!" Tao Mu pushed Mrs. Shen away very coldly: "Shen Er is dead."
These words were like a magic spell, and Mrs. Shen froze in place, and then suddenly broke down crying. Shen Yan stepped forward to support Mrs. Shen, and glared at Tao Mu: "How could you treat Mom like this? Don't forget——"
"Let me remind you!" Tao Mu interrupted Shen Yan's accusation, his face was expressionless and his tone was calm, he even slightly cold: "Don't forget how Shen Er died in every life."
Tao Mu said lightly: "I'm not Shen Er. I have no tolerance for the Shen family. What's more, everyone here, no matter what life you count, can be called my, Tao Mu's, enemy."
Tao Mu's eyes were dark and deep, and he reminded everyone unceremoniously: "Before speaking, consider the power of FlyNews and Xiaoheng Capital."
"You——" Shen Yan was struck speechless by Tao Mu. However, looking at Tao Mu's attitude at this moment, Shen Yan finally realized soberly that the handsome and indifferent man in front of her was really not Shen Er.
As Tao Mu said, the constant reincarnation had completely exhausted Shen Er's last hope for the Shen family. Today's Tao Mu not only had no tolerance for the Shen family, he could even strike them down without hesitation. The only difference was whether Tao Mu wanted to do so or not.
The Shen family who were the most important to Shen Er were all like this. Not to mention other people who have a slightly shallower relationship with him. Yao Wenxiao's figure stiffened, and he looked at Tao Mu with nostalgia——to be precise, he took one last glance at the Shen Er in his memory, and left silently.
Tao Mu was right. No matter what everyone's relationship had been like once upon a time, after the reincarnation of so many lives, they now only exist in the form of enemies. What's more, even if the first life was counted, Yao Wenxiao couldn't resist the temptation in the end, and played a role in betraying Shen Er. The brotherhood of the two had long been broken. To this day, it was already fortunate if Tao Mu decided to ignore the past and let all past grievances rest. Yao Wenxiao didn't dare to ask for anything else. After all, with the current state of the Yao family, even just maintaining a decent livelihood took up all their efforts. He really dared not face giants like FlyNews.com or the Li family.
Zhuo Yan also had the same thinking. His situation was rather special. Even before breaking the reincarnation cycle and recovering his memory, Zhuo Yan often dreamt of being with Tao Mu——to be precise, fragments of being with Shen Er. It was just that Tao Mu was already with Li Xiaoheng at that time.
Zhuo Yan thought to himself that he couldn't compare to Li Xiaoheng, so he didn't dare to let these ambiguous emotions grow. What's more, the most important thing in Zhuo Yan's heart was always to take revenge on the Shen family rather than pursuing romantic love.
Now remembering his previous life, Zhuo Yan dared not have illusions about Tao Mu even more. Not only that, Zhuo Yan was even worried that Tao Mu would not be able to swallow this anger, and would unite with the Li family to take revenge on him. Fortunately, Tao Mu really didn't have any interest. Zhuo Yan rejoiced secretly, and left in silence as well.
Yan Sheng, the only one who felt that he was innocent, sighed, and walked up to Tao Mu: "I hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with you again."
Compared to Yao Wenxiao and Zhuo Yan's guilty conscience and timidity, no matter which life, film king Yan, who only targeted Tao Mu in terms of acting skills, was more calm and undaunted. Although his petty actions of the past few lifetimes were somewhat embarrassing. But Yan Sheng never crossed that line. So he didn't feel that he had anything to be sorry towards Tao Mu. After all, film king Yan was essentially a person who admired the strong. There were a lot of bullies in the entertainment circle, and Yan Sheng's actions against Tao Mu were far from being called that of a bully. After all, he had never tampered with Tao Mu's script arbitrarily by relying on his identity and position, let alone bullying Tao Mu in the crew. He just suppressed the other when acting against each other in front of the camera. If Tao Mu really wanted to hold grudges even for this, then Yan Sheng could do nothing about it.
In the final analysis, because Yan Sheng was backed by the Yan family, although he was quite wary of the Li family and didn't want to offend the Li family easily, it was not to the point that he would avoid in fear. What's more, he trusted Tao Mu, and felt that no matter how many times he had been reincarnated, so long as he was essentially the Shen Er he knew, he would not hate him for such a trivial matter. Besides, if one wanted to quibble over details, the reason why Yan Sheng was even dragged into this cycle of reincarnation was traced back to Shen Er's involvement.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be targeted by that psychopath Tan Yu!
Yan Sheng felt that after being forced to sleep with a person like Tan Yu for so many lives, and even treat him like a treasure. Towards such a disgusting experience he didn't even take his anger out on Tao Mu, so Tao Mu shouldn't have any reason to be angry with him, right?
Sure enough, Tao Mu looked at Yan Sheng's outstretched right hand and just smiled slightly before shaking it: "I also look forward to continuing to cooperate with Teacher Yan."
The two looked at each other and smiled, inexplicably sympathetic to each other.
After Yan Sheng also left, only the three members of the Shen family were left in the ward, as well as Tan Yu who was lifted to the mobile hospital bed by the medical staff for transfer.
Shen Chen looked at Tao Mu, moved his lips, and in the end he didn't speak to Tao Mu, but looked at Li Xiaoheng, and discussed: "He is not Shen Yu, nor is he a child of our Shen family. I have already removed him from the Shen family household registration. His biological father's surname is Tan——"
"Then move him back." Li Xiaoheng said without room for argument: "After all, it is the wish of someome who even went as far as sacrificing their life in order for it to be fulfilled. No matter what, let him live a long life and enjoy it to his heart's content. Besides, isn't this also something that some members of your Shen family want? Perfect….."
When Li Xiaoheng said this, he glanced at Mrs. Shen and Shen Yan, and said calmly: "It can also act as a reminder to you Shen family, just what kind of thing that you want to cherish and pamper for life after life."
Everyone in the Shen family was speechless. Mrs. Shen and Shen Yan glared at Li Xiaoheng. However, when their gaze met Li Xiaoheng's still and deep eyes, they cowardly shifted their eyes elsewhere.
After all, they were greedy and selfish, cowardly and incompetent people. They only dare to hurt those who really care about them. Once they encounter someone who didn't care a lick about them, or who had malicious intentions towards them, they would shiver and stick their head into the soil, exposing their ugly buttocks and let themselves be slaughtered. Then intensify the damage they received on those who really care about them.
Li Xiaoheng really hated the Shen family's mother and daughter. Compared to Tan Yu, who was an outright villain, these kinds of people who hurt Shen Er unscrupulously by taking advantage of Shen Er's love, and used familial affection as a knife were the most hateful.
It was just a thin layer of blood, what right did they have to dare to hurt someone who he held preciously in his hands afraid that even the slightest bit of strength would hurt him? Thinking of Tao Mu having his heart cut bloody by these so-called family members where he couldn't see, and how silly he was to endure the pain and keep coming back to seek abuse, Li Xiaoheng wished to get rid of all these people!
"Forget it!" Tao Mu held Li Xiaoheng's palm and squeezed it: "The past is over. No one should mention it again. We finally managed to deal with those bad things. Let's concentrate on living our own life."
Tao Mu's words were not only aimed at Li Xiaoheng, but also meant to warn Shen Chen.
Shen Chen understood, and swallowed all the words he wanted to say. He turned around and said: "Whether you pursue it or not, Zhuo Yan caused the death of me and my parents in the first life, and ruined the Shen family. In this life, he took away the Shen Group again. I will not let him go."
"That's your own grievance!" Tao Mu said lightly, "As long as you don't come looking for me, everyone can just walk our separate paths and mind our own business."
These words again!
Shen Chen sighed inwardly. If he had felt only wariness when he first took the initiative to say this to Tao Mu, then now, there was only melancholy in Shen Chen's heart.
When Tao Mu was still Shen Er, the Shen family hated him in every possible way, and drove him out of the house several times, avoiding him like the plague. But now Tao Mu had really left the Shen family behind.
After several lives as family, they had become strangers after all.
Shen Chen glanced at Mrs. Shen and Shen Yan and thought, this was the Shen family's wish for several lifetimes, and now it had finally come true. But the attitude of his mother and sister did not appear happy.
Just like Tan Yu who also fulfilled his wish. For the rest of his life, he was afraid that he would just regret it even more.
There was an old saying that one could not return to the past life, and one could not seek the next life. But in Shen Chen's view, the fate between Tao Mu and the Shen family was more described as one could not seek the past life, and one could not return in the next life.
With a long sigh, Shen Chen took the initiative to stretch out his right hand, and finally said to Tao Mu the words in his heart that had been buried for several lifetimes: "I hope you can live a sound and happy life and die peacefully at a ripe old age."
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