Volume One, Chapter Six: Persisting with Chi Xingwan

Chi Xingwan broke the cookies she had snuck from the banquet hall into pieces and fed them to the parrot. The parrot ate with relish.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Dai Dai.”

It sounded like a childhood nickname.

“Where is your physical body?” she pressed further.

The parrot shook its head.

Chi Xingwan understood. This was likely a child who had already passed away; for some reason, his soul had not yet entered the cycle of reincarnation but had instead entered the body of a parrot.

Chi Xingwan had worked for the King of Hell for two thousand years without pay, so she knew that such cases rarely needed intervention. Once the parrot died, the child’s soul would naturally pass into the Underworld.

As the banquet drew to a close, Chi Xingwan bid the parrot farewell.

On the way home, Chi Zhenghua was silent. Tonight, he had tried every means to break into the circles of the wealthy elites, but those people, though gracious in words, showed no real intention of accepting him. Few were even willing to exchange contact information. Even though Chi Xingwan was now engaged to Xiao Yue, he still failed to earn their respect.

Yang Jing’s expression was equally unpleasant. Before marrying Chi Zhenghua, she had been a popular singer in the entertainment industry. Although her skills and private life were often criticized, time and careful management had elevated her to an untouchable artist in the public eye. Many people begged her to perform just a single song.

But at the banquet, the ladies had jokingly asked her to sing, clearly not taking her seriously, treating her as just another entertainer.

She had schemed to marry Chi Zhenghua, gone to great lengths to learn the etiquette of high society, but in their eyes, she was still unworthy.

Meanwhile, Chi Qianyu and Chi Yueyao, sitting in the back seat, were quite pleased. Tonight, a parade of young men had come to chat with them—an experience they had never enjoyed before.

Even Chi Baiyu, who sat next to Chi Xingwan, wore a pleased expression. Though he hadn’t broken into the circle of young masters, several heiresses had already extended him an olive branch.

Each person was lost in their own thoughts as they returned to the Chi family home.

Chi Xingwan emerged from the bathroom, ready to sleep, when she heard a knocking at the window. She drew back the curtain and saw the fiery red parrot tapping rhythmically on the glass with its beak.

“How did you follow me here?”

Chi Xingwan opened the window and let Dai Dai in.

As soon as the parrot entered her room, it tried to roll around on the bed, but Chi Xingwan grabbed it and gave it a thorough wash in the bathroom before finally letting it roam free.

Dai Dai wasted no time leaping onto the bed and even pulled the blanket over itself.

“So you’ve decided to latch onto me, is that it?”

Dai Dai looked at her pitifully. “I have nowhere to go. Please take me in.”

In those dark eyes, she could actually see a hint of grievance.

Chi Xingwan truly couldn’t stand it. “I never said I’d throw you out. But remember, in front of others, don’t act too strange.”

Parrots could mimic human speech, but after all, they weren’t human. If Dai Dai behaved too abnormally, who knew what trouble it might bring?

Dai Dai stretched out one wing and waved it, indicating understanding.

Chi Xingwan said no more and crawled into bed to sleep.

Midnight.

In the Xiao family’s small villa, Xiao Yue opened his eyes.

Everyone knew he had lost his mind, but few were aware that every morning at midnight, he would awaken, clear-headed, and remain so for an hour.

Only Old Madam Xiao and Secretary He, who lived in the villa with him, knew his secret.

But even they didn’t know that during the day, his soul resided in the body of a parrot.

His mother had died when he was six, and less than two months later, Xiao Peiyuan married Zhu Yaru.

At seven, under Zhu Yaru’s machinations, he was abducted by human traffickers. Drugged, he drifted in a haze until rescued by the police. Gravely ill and devastated by his mother’s death, he awoke to find his memory gone.

And so, he was sent to live in an orphanage.

There, they called him Dai Dai, and he lived as Dai Dai for two years. When he was nine, his memories returned—he remembered who he was, where his home was, and finally returned.

Yet the soul inhabiting the parrot wasn’t his present self, but his eight-year-old self—Dai Dai, who had no idea of his own identity.

He had researched metaphysics and found that such cases were described as incomplete souls.

In other words, only a fragment of his soul resided in the parrot, which explained the situation.

Every midnight, his soul would return, and he would recall everything that had happened while he was in the parrot’s body. But when he became the parrot again, he would forget he was Xiao Yue.

Usually, upon awakening, Xiao Yue would get up immediately, but tonight, he lay in bed for a while.

He hadn’t expected to follow Chi Xingwan home; now, his other body was lying right beside her.

Though they were engaged, years of strict upbringing forbade him from such impropriety.

He felt almost like a scoundrel.

With a sigh, Xiao Yue rose, tidied himself, and went to the study.

Old Madam Xiao and Secretary He were waiting.

“Yue, why are you up so late tonight? Is something wrong?” his grandmother asked.

He shook his head. “Grandmother, I’m fine. Let’s start working.”

For the brief hour he was lucid, he devoted himself entirely to work.

When the alarm rang at 12:50, Xiao Yue set down his papers and stood. “Grandmother, Secretary He, I’m heading back. See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

...

Xiao Zhuo awoke with a hangover and didn’t get up until evening.

He lounged over his food, while Zhu Yaru looked at him in disappointment.

“You’ve been out of school for over a year. When are you going to start working at the company? You can’t live idly forever.”

Xiao Zhuo replied impatiently, “Mom, it’s not just up to me. Nagging me won’t help. If you have the ability, talk to Grandma. If she agrees, I can go in.”

“She already offered you a position before, but you refused.”

Mentioning this made Xiao Zhuo irritable. “Did you see what position Grandma offered me? I’m her eldest grandson, yet she wants me to start at the bottom.”

What angered him most was that he had to start as a junior employee, while Xiao Yue, who hadn’t even graduated, was already assistant to the president.

Why was it that, though both were grandsons, he was never good enough in Grandma’s eyes compared to Xiao Yue?

Zhu Yaru simply fanned the flames. “Xiao Yue may have lost his mind, but I don’t think he’s completely gone. He might recover. You need to seize the opportunity. Once you’re established in the company, even if he recovers, there’s nothing he can do to you.”

Xiao Yue, Xiao Yue, Xiao Yue...

Everyone kept talking about Xiao Yue.

“Enough!” Xiao Zhuo threw down his chopsticks and stormed out of the dining room.

He drove away from the Xiao family home, wondering which girlfriend he should spend time with.

The sky grew darker. Driving along, he felt increasingly cold, even though it was summer. He turned off the air conditioning, but the temperature didn’t change at all.