God of Illusions

“Sorry for disturbing your sleep, husband,” Aunt Fang said with an extremely coquettish voice. Bai Xiaofei and Xue Ying shivered when they heard it. Fang Ye and Wang Hang had no reaction, seemingly already used to it.

“I hope you are the only one to hear what I have to say next,” Fang Ye said before Fang Guozheng could say anything. It was obvious that Fang Ye wanted him to have Aunt Fang leave the room.

Fang Guozheng paused before deciding to respect Fang Ye’s wishes. “Fang Fang, leave with Luan’er and Han’er for now.” 

After all, he and Fang Ye wouldn’t have the chance to speak alone again in the future. Even so, a trace of displeasure still appeared on Aunt Fang’s face. Nevertheless, she still did as told. After all, she had to stick close to the role she played for Fang Guozheng. 

After she left with a teenager and a boy of about six or seven years old, Fang Guozheng said, “They’re not here anymore. You can now say whatever you have in mind.”

As he spoke, he walked towards the sole table in the room, poured himself a cup of tea, and sat down. He behaved like a big shot, and it was obvious that he hadn’t been the president of a merchant house for nothing. Moreover, he acted as if he had not seen Bai Xiaofei and the others. He did not seem to have any intention of greeting them.

“I have thought about what you asked me previously. I can leave.” Although Fang Ye was already mentally prepared for this, when he actually spoke of it, he still felt pain in his heart. At times thinking about something was very different than actually carrying it out.

“Sorry. I also have no choice. After all, your younger brothers are too young. If you are around—”

“Uncle, don’t bother saying those nonsensical but polite words. None of us are idiots here.” Bai Xiaofei couldn’t hold himself back anymore, and he interrupted Fang Guozheng before Fang Guozheng could finish his apology. Bai Xiaofei directly sat down opposite him and poured himself a cup of tea.

“Um, not bad. I did not expect to see a good tea here. President Fang is indeed someone who knows how to enjoy life. This tea is definitely not something supplied by the academy,” Bai Xiaofei said with a faint smile, successfully attracting Fang Guozheng’s attention.

Looking at how Bai Xiaofei was behaving, Fang Guozheng was obviously displeased, but he did not voice his displeasure.

“Young brother, this is our family affair.” Fang Guozheng did not say anything else, but his meaning was quite clear: Why are you sitting here when you are an outsider?

Surprising Fang Guozheng, Bai Xiaofei appeared indifferent to what he said and responded with a sneer. Instead of giving Fang Guozheng a direct reply, he turned his head and told the other three to sit down. “Why are you all standing? Sit down. Are you not tired standing?”

Bai Xiaofei was behaving as if this was his personal turf, and it further annoyed Fang Guozheng.

“Ye’er, who is this person? Did you tell an outsider our family affair?” Fang Guozheng questioned coldly, his voice filled with displeasure.

“He is my class monitor, also my future leader,” Fang Ye said in a very calm manner – it was a calmness that was rarely present within him. In any case, this was a level of calmness Fang Guozheng had never seen in him.

“Do you hear that, President Fang? I am not an outsider. To be precise, in a sense, you will be the outsider moving forward.” With these words, Bai Xiaofei set the tone of the conversation: they wouldn’t be playing nice!

In fact, Bai Xiaofei’s words had indeed pierced straight into Fang Guozheng’s heart, causing his face to twitch. No matter what, Fang Ye was still his son. Although he hadn’t paid much attention to him, it was not possible for him to not care about his son at all.

At the very least, he could not accept having an outsider sneer at him using this issue.

“Young brother, you speak some very interesting words. No matter what, the blood coursing in Fang Ye is mine. This is something that will never change.” Fang Guozheng glared at Bai Xiaofei and used his “trump card”.

Blood is thicker than water. What gives you the confidence to compete against me in terms of relationship with Fang Ye?

Bai Xiaofei sneered and didn’t hold back as he countered, “Hehe, this is curious. Were you the one who gave birth to Fang Ye? No? To be precise, the blood coursing in Fang Ye is his mother’s blood, right? As for the so-called familial affection you have mentioned, your new wife has erased it over the past decade when you were married with her.”

Beside him, Wang Hang felt extremely good inside when he heard Bai Xiaofei’s words. He had long wanted to say them, but he hadn’t because his status had been too low.

He was a slave.

On the other hand, Fang Ye wore a rather complicated expression on his face. All emotions that might appear in such a situation were all simultaneously appearing on his face. It wasn’t hard to see that he was still conflicted about the whole situation. That was why Bai Xiaofei was the one doing the speaking instead of him. Ever since Fang Ye had made up his mind, Bai Xiaofei was aware that there were still some words that Fang Ye wouldn’t be able to say himself.

“Y-you!” Fang Guozheng pointed at Bai Xiaofei as he panted furiously. Unfortunately, he did not have a long mustache. Otherwise, it would have been quite an interesting sight to behold.

“Don’t bother. You should have seen it coming the moment you forced Fang Ye to make his choice. You wanted your son to continue being subservient to you, to continue being your puppet. What a good plan. Unfortunately, you thought wrong.

“Firstly, your son is not a person who would be a puppet. You don’t understand him at all. Although he has never truly hated you, that was due to the familial tie you have with him, not his fear of you.

“Secondly, the ‘family assets’ that you and that woman care so much about are absolutely worthless. At the very least, your assets don’t have enough worth to turn Fang Ye into your dog.

“Lastly, I need you to know that from today onward, Fang Ye will be under my wing. I guarantee that he will be ten thousand times, no, 100 million times better than those two younger sons of yours!”

Bai Xiaofei said all this in one go, causing everyone to stare at him with blank looks. They had been expecting that what Bai Xiaofei said would be intense. However, they had never expected that he would be this intense. Nevertheless, his intensity felt very good!

Fang Guozheng also blanked out. Although he didn’t think too deeply into what Bai Xiaofei said, a few words still caught his attention.

Familial affection…

Slowly, he turned his head in Fang Ye’s direction. Bit by bit, the past replayed in his mind.

Back then, he wasn’t this rich.

Back then, Fang Ye’s mother was still around.

Back then, Fang Ye was still young, and he would frequently play with Fang Ye.

Back then….

“What Big Brother Fei said is what I wanted to say as well. There is no point in continuing to talk. From today onwards, we will walk our separate paths, and I will properly walk on my path. I hope your path will be a pleasant one as well.” Then, the storage ring on Fang Ye’s finger flashed as he took out a badge with “Fang” written on it.

He said, “If a day comes in the future where you need my help, come to me with this badge. I will do my best to help.” Slowly, Fang Ye walked towards Fang Guozheng and placed down the badge. 

Heart aching, he said, “Goodbye, Father. This might be the very last time I call you this.”