I had a child with the main lead chapter 45.1

Chapter 45 PART 1

The way this variety show has played out, Away is shattering the fixed impressions people have of them.

But it’s not quite like they’ve fallen from their pedestal.

If anything, the real people behind the personas feel more alive, more vibrant. Even a captain as seemingly flawless as Jiang Shulu has become more animated.

The platform’s discussions, however, are using far more dramatic language.

#IsJiangShuluCrazy# #HowCanSomeoneJustTakeTheBaitLikeThat# #FormerTopBoyBandLeaderAndMaknaeHaveASecretHistory# #LiuXichaoWedding#

Many can’t tell if these are fan-made hashtags or official ones, but clicking on any of them brings up enough content to make you wonder, “Can they really say this on a show?” and “Is this for real?”

Some fans, just for a laugh, have even started flooding the Weibo of the Jiang family’s chain of shopping malls with questions.

—Excuse me, when is your boss getting married? —Can we get a 10% discount at all stores when he does?

Away’s influence was already massive back in the day, and the data from this reunion has been nothing short of terrifying.

Even people in the Jiang family’s social circle have brought it up with Madam Jiang at gatherings.

Jiang Shulu is busy year-round, so even Madam Jiang, Zhu Qiong, rarely sees him.

Even when Jiang Shulu’s boy band was based in S City, he almost never went back home except for specific holidays.

Now that he has taken over eighty percent of the Jiang family’s business, he’s become even more elusive.

His whereabouts can only be tracked by phone calls.

A person’s time, cut into precise segments. A team of secretaries plans Jiang Shulu’s itinerary as if they were lubricating a precision machine.

Madam Jiang is the one who executes the plan.

Ever since Jiang Shulu returned to the Jiang family at the age of seven, replacing her biological son, Zhu Qiong has never given this illegitimate child, originally named Zhou Chou, a single kind glance in private.

But she knows that she and her husband have no choice.

The Jiang family is a massive clan. Jiang Shulu’s great-grandfather’s generation moved to Hong Kong, but the ancestral home has always remained in S City.

Zhu Qiong and Jiang Shulu’s father, Jiang Kaicheng, were married in Hong Kong.

As a young couple, they spent little time together. It wasn’t a marriage of love, but a partnership of mutual interests.

The right of inheritance belongs to the eldest son, who then passes it to his eldest grandson. Only in the event of an accident is it distributed to other relatives.

Jiang Kaicheng had been ill that year, and the inheritance almost passed to Jiang He.

But then Jiang He got into even bigger trouble, so it was returned to Jiang Kaicheng.

The only healthy second son had long since immigrated, nearly severing ties with the family, and was rarely in contact.

This year, because the second brother has fallen gravely ill, they’ve been in slightly more frequent contact.

Zhu Qiong couldn’t tell if it was just her paranoia, but she felt her second brother-in-law was having second thoughts.

Having been coddled in a gilded cage her entire life, Zhu Qiong could not tolerate a single mistake.

At her age, she still maintained a flawless public image. Everyone praised her and Jiang Shulu as the perfect mother and son.

But no one knew that this “Jiang Shulu” wasn’t her biological son.

Jiang Kaicheng had a pristine reputation. He was a highly respected philanthropist, and everyone praised his harmonious relationship with Zhu Qiong.

In reality, the couple had been living separately for years, each with their own lovers. But Jiang Kaicheng had crossed Zhu Qiong’s bottom line.

He had gotten a girl, barely an adult, pregnant.

The girl didn’t even know Jiang Kaicheng’s true identity. Once she found out he was married, she broke off contact and raised the child on her own.

At the gathering, a lady asked Zhu Qiong, “Your Shulu, is he planning something with that boy from the group… what was his name?”

Someone next to her chimed in with a titter, “Tang Yue. My daughter just adores him.”

“Is that the one who already has a child?”

“Yes, can you believe it?”

Zhu Qiong hadn’t even spoken, but a full conversation had already unfolded around her.

The social lives of these ladies were often dull. Most of them were also in arranged marriages, each with their own business interests, and genuine affection was a rarity.

Gossip from the entertainment industry was right there in the open; you could see it just by opening an app.

Even if Zhu Qiong didn’t specifically look, the people around her would report every detail to her.

Jiang Shulu had completely ignored her words.

He was becoming more and more outrageous.

As for liking Tang Yue, Zhu Qiong instinctively felt it couldn’t be genuine.

Instead, she saw it as another one of Jiang Shulu’s rebellions.

She smiled at the lady who had asked the question. “I generally don’t meddle in my children’s romantic affairs.”

The other person nodded. “Of course. A child as outstanding as Shulu… I wish I could have one just like him.”

Another person spoke with envy, “I remember Shulu wasn’t in good health as a child. He didn’t even go to school, just had private tutors. Later, he went to the same school as my son, and he seemed much healthier than before.”

“I heard his name was changed by a master. Looks like it really worked wonders, didn’t it?”

The comments, though seemingly casual, hit a sore spot for Zhu Qiong.

She was reminded of her deceased biological son, Jiang Shu. He was a year older than Jiang Shulu, but he looked nothing like his age.

The Jiang family’s standards were high.

Jiang Kaicheng seemed to want to impose the education he had received, but tenfold, onto his son. The result was a child who fell ill and never recovered, eventually bedridden and kept alive by medical equipment.

Zhu Qiong and Jiang Kaicheng had a huge fight.

When the doctors delivered the final verdict, Jiang Kaicheng told her he had another son.

Zhu Qiong felt like she had lost her mind that day.

Her self-perceived love and dignity were all lies. The man, however, calmly stated that the other woman was in poor health and had a son.

The child was healthy, he told Zhu Qiong, and could replace their eldest son.

Zhu Qiong had no choice.

Her biological son was dead. She buried him in a pet cemetery, pretending it was her beloved dog.

Everyone said she was sentimental, visiting her pet dog’s grave every year, but no one knew she was mourning her son.

To this day, Zhu Qiong still remembered the first time she saw Jiang Shulu.

He looked a lot like Jiang Kaicheng, only his eyes resembled his birth mother’s.

Because Jiang Shu had been in poor health, he had never formally appeared in public.

This substitution was seamless. By the time the Jiang family celebrated the boy’s eighth birthday, the illegitimate child, once called Zhou Chou, had already become the poised and remarkable young master in everyone’s eyes.

Zhu Qiong and Jiang Kaicheng made another pact.

They were even stricter in raising their new son. But a weed that grows in the wild is naturally resilient. He was quiet, but he completed every task assigned to him.

Zhu Qiong’s harshness seemed to go in one ear and out the other for Jiang Shulu. He could even smile at her and say, “Thank you, Mother.”

He grew up to be the qualified heir to a wealthy family, just as Zhu Qiong and Jiang Kaicheng had wished.

The only stain on his record was the sudden rebellion at the age of twenty-one.

Would this be Jiang Shulu’s second rebellion?

What would he use as a bargaining chip this time?

Zhu Qiong maintained a graceful smile, but her heart was filled with worry.

The Tang Yue they were all talking about was the illegitimate son of the now-bankrupt Tang family.

How ironic.

If an illegitimate son takes a liking to another illegitimate son, in a way, it’s a perfect match.

There’s someone for everyone. Unfortunately, Jiang Shulu was still the public face of the Jiang family.

The person who could match him had to be the scion of an equally powerful family, and she had to be a woman.

After seeing her guests off, Zhu Qiong once again reminded them to attend the birthday banquet next week.

One of the ladies asked, “What about your Shulu? Isn’t he filming a show?”

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