The Hao family are not amused to hear the elder insisting on leaving part of his inheritance to Shao Yanxi, and they all look particularly unfriendly when Shao Yanxi is there.
Like his aunt-in-law, who utters âoh, Xiao-xi is hereâ with a rather strange tone, which makes even Shao Yanxi raise his brow at her.
Like Liu Yuâan said, the elder is probably doing all this because of guilt, and maybe also to alleviate his own guilty conscience. Though in all honesty, that bit of inheritance that isnât even a percentage point of his owned assets isnât something even worth fighting over.
While he would have been fine giving it back up to the Hao family after receiving it, at least as thanks for Liu Yuâanâs previous request, this uncomfortable attitude of theirs, saying stuff like âhe still owes them big time for taking care of his mother all these yearsâ and âsuch an afilial son should not receive a dimeâ and whateverâŚ
He decided that as soon as the elderâs funeral is over, he would go claim his part of the inheritance.
So now, as the coffin is finally set in dirt, his lawyer who has been on stand-by immediately claims his part of the inheritance as the will dictates, and then immediately transferred it all into his Hengâan charity fund, and practically broadcast it all to the Hao family, making them stamp their feet in anger.
Liu Yuâan had a good laugh hearing about it, saying, âwhat a little baddie you are,â then immediately salvaging his image when he notices the odd stare from Shao Yanxi onscreen, âand thatâs why I like you.â
The shift of tone makes Shao Yanxi smile, who says, âand youâre a little sycophant.â
âNo no,â Liu Yuâan waves his finger side-to-side, and says, âa sycophant doesnât suck up to their darling; a lover does.â
Liu Yuâan then drinks some more water; heâs been parched shooting scene after scene today.
Onscreen, meanwhile, Shao Yanxi seems to hesitate a bit before looking away from the screen and then says, a bit awkwardly, âI love you too.â
The rather sudden and unexpected direct expression of love from Shao Yanxi of all people makes Liu Yuâan super happy, so much so that his instincts got the better of him and he says, âbaby, spare me! I still have a week to go, itâs really tough holding back.â
ââŚâ Shao Yanxi was a bit awkward, not used to expressing his love forthright, but that awkwardness immediately disappears off to the distance, and he harrumphs.
Then they chat a bit more. Shao Yanxi tells Liu Yuâan that he first went to see his mother as well. Though what familial feelings he had for her had been chipped off time and again through the years, she was still his closest living relative. He looked really sad saying all this through the screen.
âLetâs go see her together after Iâm done,â Liu Yuâan of course already knows about her condition. She passed away before the Hao elder did as well.
âRight.â
Shao Yanxi has been organising and keeping stock of all his assets since returning from the funeral in the capital. He plans to establish a public trust fund named after he and Liu Yuâan that would award talent in the different fields of life. Itâs taken up most of his attention these days, during which Liu Yuâan has already finished his side character role in âYou Are My Youth and My Warmth.â
They are scheduled to leave this world in a few months, so they still have some time together. When Liu Yuâan is finally back from work, Shao Yanxi takes him to the capital to visit his motherâs grave.
At the grave, Shao Yanxi tells Liu Yuâan more about his visit earlier. As she was barely clinging onto life, she somehow recognised Shao Yanxi for once; what people refer to as terminal lucidity, perhaps.
âXiao-Xi?â She called out to the young man; she didnât have memory of seeing him grow up, and asked, unsure.
Even though the doctor told him that her mind seemed to have cleared up a little, he wasnât expecting anything when he came, but his nose immediately itched when she called him âXiao-Xi.â When he greeted her back, the âmum!â was more choked; tearful.
The doctor left them alone and closed the door behind him. Inside, not just Shao Yanxi, but his mother both cried; they hugged and cried. They cried a lot.
A bit later, when Shao Yanxi calmed down slightly, he felt off, and when he raised his head to look, his mother had stopped breathing already.
âDoctor!â He yelled, while carrying her onto the bed. The doctor went in to see him holding her hand, yelling out âmum!â over and over.
She passed away, perhaps not much peacefully, but she and her son both got to see each other. She went mad all those years ago and always saw Shao Yanxi as his damned bastard of a father and would always lash out when he was in her sights; she finally recognised him as she was at the end of her road, but passed away so soon, so soonâŚ
âMr. Shao, my condolences.â The doctor said after checking. He was someone used to seeing crying relatives too, but was still touched seeing even the usual cold and distant CEO Shao on TV also bawl to this degree.
Shao Yanxi is also in tears at this point, in front of his motherâs grave, burying himself in Liu Yuâanâs embrace, âmy mum⌠she just passed away like thatâŚâ
Liu Yuâan sighs and hugs him some more. He does regret not being able to be with him at his weakest, but thatâs life; life is often full of regrettable things.
It really is fortunate that Shao Yanxi still could bury his head into Liu Yuâanâs chest; that he still had Liu Yuâan, or he would have been all alone when his mother passed. Thank the Heavens for Liu Yuâan.
âIâm fine now; Iâm fine.â Shao Yanxi mutters after a while. His eyes are still reddened though. Liu Yuâan also canât help but feel sad for him.
Shao Yanxiâs mother didnât have a ceremonious funeral. Perhaps because they were dissatisfied about the will back then, even her brothers, Shao Yanxiâs uncleâs family, didnât want anything to do with them anymore. All they did was show up for the funeral in the end.
And they still had the gall to criticise Shao Yanxi for not spending some more money to hold a better ceremony for her, when they wouldnât lend a dime for it themselves.
After they have returned from the capital, at Liu Yuâanâs suggestion, they decide to leave some trivial work for the public trust fund to the vice executives and have a few daysâ holidays for themselves. They went to the equator to have a beach holiday.
They came back right before the âGolden Bell Awards,â which is the Oscar of this virtual world, and Yue Zhun would receive in a few years in the original plot.
It awards both movies and TV dramas. Director He kept telling Liu Yuâan to come, so he came back on time; he got a best-supporting actor from it. He didnât feel anything himself, though Shao Yanxi seemed pretty curious about it, and says with a chuckle, âhow does it feel finally being awarded a best-supporting actor after an entire century of narcissistic self-praise day-in, day-out?â
âYeah yeah, laugh all you want,â Liu Yuâan says, shrugging.
Though Shao Yanxi stops smiling at that point and instead goes to hug Liu Yuâan, saying with a stern face, âI have to tell you something as well.â
âWhat is it?â Liu Yuâan also stops and focuses himself seeing how serious Shao Yanxi looked.
âIâm also not this worldâs Shao Yanxi either.â
â?â Liu Yuâan raises his brow and indicates for Shao Yanxi to continue.
âI went back in time,â Shao Yanxi says, âfrom the collapsed world you said, I think.â
âWhen we had the wedding, right?â
Liu Yuâan immediately reacts. He thought the world had bugged and Shao Yanxiâs character was severely affected, somehow. So it was actually his consciousness somehow being transported to the restarted world, huh.
âYeah,â Shao Yanxi replies, âI was dead not long after Hengâan went bust because, you know⌠and then I suddenly came back to my senses right at the wedding with you. I thought I might be dreaming or something, but when I saw you and remembered how you⌠well, the original âLiu Yuâanâ ran out on the wedding and always trampled my feelings underfoot, I was really angry again. I might have punched you if those two friends of yours wouldnât stop me.â
âIâm actually curious what you might be thinking when you locked him up but still never killed him even to the end when you should hate him so much.â Liu Yuâan asks.
â⌠That was because I only had him back then. But, not now. Now I have someone else,â Shao Yanxi blushes a little and looks away saying that.
Liu Yuâan smiles and locks Shao Yanxi into his embrace again. He changes the topic, not continuing this line of conversation.
A few months after the awards, Shao Yanxi, with Liu Yuâanâs help, has finally dealt with everything they needed to. They spend some time with âLiu Yuâanâs family too, for the last time as themselves, as their selves in this world will be duplicated and replaced by simulated personalities when they leave.
In the end, they spend the rest of the time on a trip around the world, before finally leaving and heading for the main world together.