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It was a dark night.
Cao Dingkun turned off the ignition and opened the car window. For a while, the sweltering summer breeze poured into the air-conditioned car, like invisible waves slapping his face.
The clear night sky was dotted with stars and its glare, shining through the glass, gave the impression that Cao Dingkun, who was looking straight ahead, had tears in his eyes.
In reality, he had just reclined his seat and tilted his head to smoke.
Mount Tai Heng in T-city was a touristy scenic area that was still in development by the State. Though the view was magnificent, the road to the mountain area had just been opened so tourists were still scarce. The only reason why Cao Dingkun knew of this area was entirely because Xu Zhen was to film a scene of his new movie on Mount Tai Heng.
For four whole years Cao Dingkun and Xu Zhen had prepared for this massive film release. The script was excellent and more than 100 million yuan had already been invested in the film. From the imperial court and the Jiānghú [1]to war, patriotism[2], and romance, the film covered it all. There were more than 10,000 participants in this production and the film was to be directed by Xu Zhen, who had just won the title of best director at the European International Film Festival and starred by Cao Dingkun, who had also twice won best actor at the same international film festival. As all the other supporting characters were also leading figures in the entertainment industry, the film was set to become a landmark in the history of mainland movies.
Both Cao Dingkun and Xu Zhen had sacrificed a lot for this film. Cao Dingkun, who had just completed work, had immediately taken a flight from New York to Shanghai, and after landing four hours ago, did not return to the company to rest but immediately drove to T-City hoping that his appearance at the site of the film shoot, three months in advance, would give Xu Zhen a good surprise.
But now the blaze of anticipation in his heart had been doused by cold water.
His cold gaze pierced through the windshield and fell on the Hummer that was rocking gently a short distance away.
When members of the crew had mentioned that Su Shengbai had accompanied Xu Zhen out in the middle of the night, Cao Dingkun immediately had a bad feeling in his heart. He didn’t want to suspect that his best brother and his lover were in a dubious relationship, but having worked for decades in the entertainment industry, he had seen too many instances of betrayal and separation. Though Xu Zhen had always been upstanding and Su Shengbai’s personality was clever and clean, Cao Dingkun had always had an inkling that there was more to their relationship. Now, unfortunately he found, once again, that his intuition was accurate.
“Oh …” Cao Dingkun extinguished the cigarette between his fingers and leaned on the steering wheel to look up at the night sky. The fingers supporting his forehead were trembling slightly as he looked into the rear-view mirror and saw his reflection.
His face was pale and bloodless, and there was no sadness or joy in his expression. For decades, he had become used to wearing a mask as such when he really needed to show a response he couldn’t even express his true feelings.
After first surviving the seven-year itch, and then that of the seventeenth year, it was finally in the twenty-seventh year that this relationship had finally come to an end. It could be said that Cao Dingkun had been mentally prepared for this moment ever since Xu Zhen’s career gradually became more successful. However, because their relationship had been calm for so long, he had believed that the curse of being able to share adversity but unable to share prosperity would never happen to him. But now it seemed that his thoughts were entirely too naive.
Cao Dingkun felt the urge to vomit surge violently in his chest at the thought of the duo in the car in front of him who had recently shown him their heart and lungs[3] while still engaged in this illicit relationship. Cao Dingkun could not stop himself from trembling. On one hand, he could understand why Xu Zhen would cheat, in fact, even for Cao Dingkun, at times, the thought of his over two decades worth of feelings left him wearied. But Su Shengbai! How dare he do this …! Did he even have a heart? Cao Dingkun had pulled him out of an unpromising little idol group, taught him to act, negotiated with the company for a contract, found him a broker and connected him with an advertising endorsement. … With no other relatives in this life other than Xu Zhen, he treated Su Shengbai sincerely as his brother. But, in the end, this “brother” stabbed him in the back! This knife is too cruel!
It’s really too cruel!
Cao Dingkun threw the cigarette butt away into the car, took a deep breath, restrained his emotions, grabbed the baseball bat, which he had bought on the way, from the passenger seat, and opened the door.
Every step forward was like stepping on the edge of a knife, a new blade cutting open his skin. It was painful but hard to stop. In fact, he could not stop.
As the Hummer’s owner and his guest were carrying on, in the quiet of the night, one could hear a slight gasp escaping from inside the car through the gaps in the door. Occasionally interspersed were several sharp moans and groans, one high and one low, in sync. What was going on need no longer be said.
Cao Dingkun flashed a wan smile, grasped the bat in his hand, assumed a standard baseball pose, and struck the window of the passenger side of the car without hesitation.
The shaking stopped abruptly.
The second strike followed quickly and slammed down, the sound of the glass shattering was clear and audible. Cao Dingkun heard familiar voices shrieking in the cabin of the car. He reached out and opened the door.
The moonlight was dim, but it was not dim enough to hide everything in the car.
Xu Zhen stood up and hurriedly put on his pants. His uncovered lower part completely flaccid. The condom he had removed while in a panic was still squeezed tightly in his hand. Meanwhile, Su Shengbai crawled towards the back seat of the car, his snow-white thighs which were on display was covered by broken glass from the window. His thin body made him look like a panicked rabbit under attack. So pitiful. As he scrambled to find a pillow to cover his vital parts, he turned his head and met Cao Dingkun’s gaze, and immediately halted in his tracks.
Cao Dingkun smiled gently at him, while simultaneously reaching out and dragging Xu Zhen, who was still struggling to wear his pants, by the neck.
Xu Zhen struggled in horror and kept yelling, “Let me explain !!!!!!”
Cao Dingkun held the bat over his chest: “let you explain what?”
Xu Zhen, who had been beaten, coughed out blood. He looked up and met Cao Dingkun’s icy gaze, and was spooked, his hair standing up in fright.
Xu Zhen tried to stand upright, his voice trembling: “I, I, I, I, I …”
“You, what… ?” Cao Dingkun tipped his chin at him, one could hear no emotion in his voice. However, this indifference was what terrified Xu Zhen the most. When Cao Dingkun was truly in a rage, he became very expressionless. ” Do you think I’m a fool? …What do you want to tell me?… Tell me! … Did you and Xiao bai come here to work on the script?… Xu Zhen, are you a man? … Can I think of you as one? “
When Xu Zhen saw him waving the bat, he was so frightened, he wanted to ask him to stop but couldn’t find the words. He could shout, “I’m sorry!” “I’m wrong!”, while rolling around trying to escape Cao Dingkun’s rapid strikes.
One, two, three …
Cao Dingkun gritted his teeth and avoided striking Xu Zhen’s body. At one instance, when he looked at the man who he had once been intimate with begging for mercy his feelings were mixed but in the next instant, he was severely overcome by hate!
He had suffered too much for this man, entirely without reservation. For so many years, he could not even begin to tell what his life truly was like. For every twenty-four hours, he worked a full sixteen hours. All his income was invested in Xu Zhen’s films, tens of millions, even hundreds of millions invested, and he never even blinked over the amount!
He thought he had found a life-long companion that he could rely on for the rest of his life, but Xu Zhen delivered this fatal blow when he was almost middle-aged! How could he not hate?
“Ge[4] … Ge …,” there was another weak cry from the car. Su Shengbai looked on at the scene, breathlessly grabbing at the door, “Don’t hit him … Ge, you will take his life … “
Cao Dingkun grasped the bat and stared at Su Shengbai coldly, his frigid stare, freezing the other party in place.
“Xiao bai, I had accepted you as my younger brother.” Cao Dingkun’s voice whispered lightly. “There are so many people in this world and Xu Zhen is already so old, what exactly is it that you want?”
Su Shengbai trembled and cried, falling out of the open back door of the car. He got down onto his knees and crawled towards Cao Dingkun, who was standing in front of him, hugging his thigh: “Ge … I’m sorry …”
“Get away from me.” Cao Dingkun frowned angrily. “Don’t fucking force me to punch you.”
Su Shengbai appeared to be scared silly, and he held on even more tightly: “Ge … I really like him, I…, I am in in love with him, Ge…, Xu Ge still loves you, but you have been abroad for so long … I, … because I was apologetic to you, I tried keeping a distance from him, but after spending such a long time alone with him during filming … I could no longer hold back … “
“Are you fucking cheap or what !?” Cao Dingkun couldn’t listen anymore and shook him off with a kick. “Is this what you enjoy doing? You like to pick up trash? … Here you go! I don’t want this crap! … Love? Whoever wants it can have it!” “But Su Shengbai, let me tell you, from now on our relationship is severed. Do not get in touch with me ever again and in the future, if I ever lay eyes on you again in this circle, I will end you! “
After saying that, he ignored Su Shengbai, who lay whimpering on the ground, and gave Xu Zhen a kick: “Don’t pretend to be dead. I’ll be free next week. We will travel to the Netherlands to get divorced.”
Xu Zhen, who was in a middle of taking a breath, stuttered when he heard the statement, he jerked as though shocked and struggled to hold onto the legs of Cao Dingkun’s trousers: “I was wrong … I was wrong … Don’t …”
Cao Dingkun waved Xu Zhen’s hand away with a cold voice and said emotionlessly. “I don’t have anything else to say. I can no longer get along with you peacefully. You should keep a distance from me after the divorce.” Also, if you don’t want to make this issue even bigger, return the money I invested in the film this week. “
Xu Zhen suddenly staggered: “Please give me … a chance …”
“A Joke.” Cao Dingkun sneered, “Did I force you to cheat? Why should I give you a chance? Who are you? You think I will continue to invest more than 100 million yuan in your film after breaking up with you? Do you think I am crazy?”
Xu Zhen slowly shook his head, pleading with his eyes. He had put too much effort into this film. For four whole years, he could recite every line and every word. This film was to be the centerpiece of his work as a first-rate domestic director. Even though the film was not yet complete he could already anticipate the upcoming success. More than 100 million yuan in investment, who would be willing to give him such a large sum of money without reservations? Investors have never been philanthropists and when a film script is changed, even a little bit, it will always lose its taste.
Xu Zhen was stunned and speechless. He could only silently plead tearfully in his heart for Cao Dingkun to change his mind. However, Cao Dingkun only gave him a disgusted look after saying his piece and moved towards his parked car.
Su Shengbai hugged Cao Dingkun’s thigh, tears on his snot covered face: “Cao Cao, Cao Cao, I was wrong, I was really wrong. You know what this film means to Xu Ge, I, … Please don’t do this. If you feel hate, just seek your revenge against me. Don’t break up with him, he still loves you! “
Cao Dingkun threw a backhand against Su Shengbai’s face, and he flew out and hit the ground.
“I told you to not force me to hit you, why are you not listening?” Cao Dingkun frowned. He tipped his chin towards Su Shengbai, and threatened, “revenge on you? Funny, I will get even.” Not only against you, but against him too, you two should not think that I will let either of you go. You don’t have to remind me twice. xiao Bai, You took me for granted, right? You think I am easy. I will show you my methods otherwise you’d forget again.” “I wish you both a long life. “
Seeing Su Shengbai’s face gradually show a startled expression, Cao Dingkun chuckled dryly, threw down the bat, and got into his car.
The mountain road on Mount Tai Heng was rugged and rarely used as such you could only hear the roar of the engine and the clear sound of music playing inside the car.
A female singer’s raspy voice accused her partner of being unfaithful.
Cao Dingkun face was expressionless, he was tired, and his mind was blank. At this moment, all he wanted was to find a safe place to shut himself up and lick his wounds.
His body suddenly shook violently, and he pulled back his empty thoughts, Cao Dingkun looked behind him in shock, and immediately heard a second loud noise coming from the rear of the car.
Someone is rear-ending him!
After making this realization, Cao Dingkun’s nerves tightened instantly. He saw that the vehicle at his rear had not turned on its headlights, however, from the reflection in the rearview mirror, Cao Dingkun easily identified the large Hummer.
He wanted to turn onto the road’s inner lane to be closer to the mountain wall, but he failed to do so because the Hummer constantly accelerated as though attempting to overtake him.
Cao Dingkun angrily rolled down the window and shouted: “Are you fucking crazy !!!?”
The only response was a third severe collision. The explosive power of the Hummer completely outmatched Cao Dingkun’s commercial vehicle. The impact tilted the entire body of Cao Dingkun’s car towards the outer lane of the mountain road which had no guardrails. Cao Dingkun could not escape. He wanted to jump out of the car but saw the crazy expression on Su Shengbai’s face in the reflection of the light when he turned around.
His movement was delayed for a second, and there was no longer time to remedy the situation.
As the rear of the car hit the ground, the car flew forward horizontally, the rear force volleying the vehicle into the air. Cao Dingkun’s pupils dilated, he felt sore from head to toe. In the next instant, there was only the sound of was roaring air accompanied by darkness.
[1] Meaning immortal cultivation or Wuxia
[2] The author used the term 铁血 (tiě xuè) which literally means Iron blood, conveying tenacious, undefeatable will to overcome all opponents . I believe its used in the context of war and confrontation which is why I translated the term as patriotism.
[3] To prove their devotion
[4] meaning Older brother
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I really enjoyed reading this so I was a little sad when the translation stopped. I’m glad to see you’ve picked it up! I was initially going to wait until it picked up where it had left off, but it’s so enjoyable to watch him beat the crap out of the cheaters. I may just have to reread it ?
Right! He’s rather bad ass. Thanks for checking this out!
Re-reading this cause I forgot what happened but man its great but my hate for that white lotus who killed our MC was intense.
Thanks!
He really is detestable!
They are detestable, but MC is kinda stupid. XD he should just not confront them in the middle of nowhere. Just take pictures, go back home and destroy those people then. Now you are dead. Ofc if he wasn’t stupid in that moment we wouldn’t have any story. XD he wouldn’t be dead and reincarnated into fresh young lad ???
😀 True. But if you think about it though, in the MC’s mind he was only confronting his lover of 20 years and his protegee. Of all the possible scenarios of how this confrontation could have gone, I don’t think he would have ever imagined that it would end in his death.
he is fucking crazy! poor MC…
Excuse me, what- I expected MC to die but I thought he was gonna die from an accident while driving…never thought the cheaters would kill him. Talk about shameless.
Thanks for the translation!
While reading this Before he cheats by Carrie Underwood starts playing on my tv and I thought it was so funny and coincidental
DAMN I just want to say I hope they didn’t get his money through his will omg
But they’re legal partners…. ahh
Hello, excuse me. here I would like to ask permission to translate this novel on one of my wattpad accounts @xiaohuanran into Indonesian and I will also include your web translation in order to get support to continue translating this novel. thank you
Regard
xiaoran
I thought this through and given the fact that I MTL, In order to ensure that whatever story you translate still reflects the author’s intentions i think its best to use the original raws and not my translations (which contains a fair bit of my interpretation). In that regard i don’t think its wise to give you permission to use my translation. Sorry.