The room looked exactly as he remembered it—unchanged, as if frozen in time.
The moment HuMing stepped inside, he noticed Han YunXi holding a notebook in her hands, slowly flipping through its pages.
Of course, HuMing recognized the notebook; it was the one he'd left here. Or rather, it was the very thing that had set everything in motion, leading to the ruin of Han ShuYi.
After using his "life" to save Han ShuYi, the notebook he left behind became a symbol of remembrance for the entire Han family.
To understand the impact of this diary on the Han family, one only needed to observe their attitude toward Han ShuYi.
HuMing had meticulously planned everything. Han ShuYi thought that once he left the Han family, he could fully assume his place. Little did he know, the living could never compare to the dead.
This diary was a time bomb HuMing had planted for Han ShuYi. The moment he left the Han family, it was set to explode.
But now, the diary was in Han YunXi’s hands, and its significance had shifted.
Gently stroking the notebook, Han YunXi finally spoke.
"To be honest, I’ve never fully trusted Han ShuYi. Ever since I witnessed you being bullied by other students, I’ve wondered if things would’ve been different if I had treated you better before."
"Later, your transformation took me by surprise. You started improving, no longer rushing into things impulsively like before, without a second thought."
"I kept thinking back then—if I could be the one who changed you, wouldn’t that be wonderful?"
Han YunXi shook her head. Her voice remained calm, without any emotional outburst over learning HuMing’s true identity.
This unsettled HuMing—it was far from the reaction he had anticipated.
"You saved Han ShuYi from Lee Tian and exchanged your life for his. We all know this. But now, HuMing, standing here openly before us, your identity and everything about you scream that what we’ve gone through was all orchestrated, calculated by you."
A trace of disappointment flickered in Han YunXi’s eyes. Deep down, she had hoped HuMing could trust them.
But the truth was, HuMing hadn’t. Instead, he now stood so close yet seemed to mock their helplessness with his actions.
HuMing remained silent. There was no rebuttal—because everything Han YunXi said was true.
He didn’t trust the Han family, not a single one of them. He couldn’t afford any mistakes in his plan.
And feelings? They were the greatest variable.
During his time with the Han family, HuMing had little personal entanglement with them.
Frankly, had Han ShuYi never appeared, HuMing would have feigned ignorance and lived out his days in peace.
But circumstances forced his hand.
Had he made the wrong choice? No, he didn’t regret his decision in the slightest.
But could Han YunXi be blamed? Not at all. She genuinely wanted to help him, hoping he could trust them.
Ultimately, it came down to their differing positions, all centered around one person—Han ShuYi.
"Brother… This will probably be the last time I call you that, because you’re not Han HuMing. I don’t know what Han ShuYi did to you, but this should be the end. Just this once—can you trust us?"
Han YunXi’s lips trembled as she spoke, her reddened eyes fixed on HuMing.
During the days after losing Han HuMing, she had countless nightmares, each ending with his death.
And now, his reappearance seemed to mock her, telling her it had all been her own wishful thinking.
HuMing hadn’t died. Instead, he was the one who had orchestrated this series of “deaths”.
He had used her to confront Han ShuYi.
Han YunXi had once believed their bond was pure, untainted...
HuMing silently watched her—the girl who used to call him "brother" so endearingly.
Perhaps Ye QiuXue and Xia XiaoXi were right—his plans had completely disregarded Han YunXi’s feelings.
And even now, knowing this, he had still gone through with them.
He had exploited the Han family’s emotions.
In the past, he wouldn’t have blinked. But now, he felt a quiet unease.
He was changing, subtly but surely.
As HuMin had once said, he was becoming more “human”.
Taking a deep breath, he looked directly at Han YunXi.
"YunXi, do you still trust me?"
"I do. I believe you wouldn’t go after Han ShuYi for no reason," she answered with certainty. After all, even when Su Liu had humiliated HuMing, he hadn’t sought revenge.
Why would he go after Han ShuYi without cause?
Han Yunxi would never believe it, and at the same time, she felt that HuMing would no longer manipulate them.
The door suddenly burst open, revealing Han LiTian and Zhou WenLi standing there.
Their expressions varied, but it was clear they had overheard everything.
Zhou WenLi pressed her lips together, struggling to process what HuMing had done.
She hadn’t expected all of this to be orchestrated by him.
Yet, Han ShuYi’s actions were equally shocking—she couldn’t accept that her son had tried to have HuMing killed.
And the one who had revealed this truth was none other than her husband, Han ShuYi’s own father!
Han LiTian wouldn’t falsely accuse his son, so it had to be true.
As HuMing explained the situation, the night stretched on, dark and quiet, speckled with faint stars.
Though he had braced himself, Han LiTian still felt a chill as he listened to HuMing’s story.
He hadn’t realized how early on they’d been manipulated.
He hadn’t noticed when his child was switched at the hospital, nor could he have imagined the larger scheme behind it all.
Han ShuYi’s recent actions only deepened the shock.
Zhou WenLi sat limply on the sofa, her eyes hollow, as if her spirit had been drained.
Han YunXi sat beside her, holding her hand tightly, trying to lend her strength.
She understood that the truth had been a devastating blow to her mother.
The Han ShuYi described by HuMing was a stranger to them—a far cry from the person her mother believed him to be.
Her mother, who had poured all her love into raising him, was left with the shattering realization that she had nurtured someone irredeemable.