With the miraculous golden finger of Tongtian, which had been repaired and now seemed heaven-defying, Ye Zhizhou spent only one afternoon digging up most of the old matters concerning the Ren family.
"The current head of the Ren family is named Ren Yunjie, and he has a younger brother named Ren Yunling. Ren Qiao is Ren Yunling's only daughter and doesn't have a close relationship with the main branch. In the original plot, after Ren Qiao's rise in the harem, she seized the position of family head from her cousin Ren Zhuo, and she even forced her cousin Ren Dan, who secretly loved Qian Yuan, to marry an ill-tempered old man. Ren Zhuo later disappeared without a trace in a distant land, and Ren Dan died of illness in her second year of marriage. Both of their endings were not good."
He wrote down the names of these two individuals on a piece of blank paper and circled them, connecting them to the names of various Ren family branches. "Most of the younger generations close to Ren Zhuo had miserable fates. They either left the federation or passed away prematurely, all used as cannon fodder."
Dongfang Shu wanted to hug him but hesitated for a moment, then withdrew his hand and asked, "Have you made any progress on identifying your parents' identities?"
"Yes," he lowered his gaze and wrote down a name. "Yesterday, Fang Shixiong and I went through the Ren family genealogy and identified five potential candidates. Today, combining it with plot information, I realized that none of them fit. My father should be him, the illegitimate son of the previous Ren family head, Ren Haonan."
Dongfang Shu frowned. He had just flipped through the Ren family genealogy, and there was no mention of an illegitimate son named Ren Haonan in the records. After years of understanding each other, Ye Zhizhou could tell what Dongfang Shu was thinking just by looking at his expression. Ye Zhizhou picked up some records of Ren family beneficiaries from several decades ago and explained, "Indeed, there is no mention of Ren Haonan in the Ren family genealogy because he was never officially acknowledged by the Ren family. He was raised by the Ren family as a designated beneficiary."
Dongfang Shu took the list of beneficiaries from Ye Zhizhou's hand and flipped through it, asking, "The Ren family supported many orphans, how can you be sure that your father is this Ren Haonan?"
"The Ren family did support many orphans, but there were not many who were of suitable age, carried the Ren family surname, and stayed with the Ren family from birth until death," Ye Zhizhou leaned against the couch, pulled a pillow into his arms, and continued, "The Ren family's support was also tiered. In the records, this Ren Haonan performed quite averagely in all aspects, but he received the highest level of support. The best conditions, the best schools, the best job opportunities... The Ren family isn't foolish. Why would they invest so heavily in an orphan with mediocre abilities? Moreover, Ren Haonan's identity as an orphan is filled with doubts. The previous Ren family head did indeed have a good relationship with his wife, but his extramarital affair was a well-documented fact in those scandalous reports from back then. If I calculate the timing, Ren Haonan's age aligns perfectly with the time of the previous Ren family head's affair."
Dongfang Shu put down the genealogy and asked, "Who's the second possibility?"
"It's the department where Ren Haonan worked after entering the Ren family research institute," Ye Zhizhou pulled out another document and tossed it over. He spoke with mixed emotions, "Ren Haonan majored in genetic research, just like me, but the department where he worked had nothing to do with genetic research; it was the nutrition department. I don't believe that the Ren family would invest so much in a talent and then waste it on unrelated work. Most importantly, I used Tongtian to find a blurry photo of Ren Haonan, and our facial features are very similar. Additionally, my date of birth..."
Dongfang Shu kissed his forehead gently and held him securely in his arms. He said softly, "Don't be sad; you still have me."
"I'm not that sad," Ye Zhizhou smiled at him and continued, "I was found and sent to the welfare institution when I was only a few months old. I was clean, well-dressed, and chubby, indicating that I had been well taken care of... but I was still abandoned."
Dongfang Shu patted his back to comfort him in silence.
Ye Zhizhou took a deep breath, broke free from Dongfang Shu's embrace, and retrieved some documents from the table. "There's something else I found suspicious. The Ren family's spiritual stabilizer, which they use for psychic abilities, was developed in the year after Ye Wenxiu left the institute. The year after I was found and sent to the welfare institution, the Ren family's spiritual stabilizer was officially launched."
Dongfang Shu held Ye Zhizhou's hand and furrowed his brows. "Do you suspect that Ren Haonan developed the spiritual stabilizer? And then the Ren family threatened Ren Haonan and Ye Wenxiu?"
"Otherwise, it's hard to explain why Ye Wenxiu left and went into hiding and why she abandoned me in the end," Ye Zhizhou replied while holding Dongfang Shu's hand. He looked into Dongfang Shu's eyes. "Do you believe that a woman who chose to leave her promising career to give birth to a child would abandon that child willingly? I don't, unless there were compelling reasons. And I have memories of Ye Wenxiu secretly visiting me in the welfare institution. All of this tells me that there were hidden secrets in the events of that time. After going through the records repeatedly, I've almost reconstructed the events of that year in my mind. First, Ren Haonan developed the spiritual stabilizer, and then the Ren family discovered Ren Haonan's relationship with Ye Wenxiu. They were probably threatened or realized something was wrong with the Ren family, so Ye Wenxiu left. Ren Haonan might have been controlled or restricted by the Ren family, preventing him from leaving with Ye Wenxiu. Later, Ye Wenxiu went to another distant city to give birth, and a few months later, she must have been traced by the Ren family. Afraid of them harming the child, she abandoned me and hid me in the welfare institution..."
"And then there's my car accident," he drew a timeline, connecting everything together. "Ren Haonan passed away, and the patent for the spiritual stabilizer was hanging in the air. The Ren family must have been desperate, and when they discovered me, the car accident happened. Unfortunately, I didn't die, and I ended up in the hospital. After that, Ren Qiao, influenced by the Soul Flag, had a sudden surge in her abilities and appeared in my project team, starting to scheme against me. In any case, I don't think the Ren family's actions are over; this calm here is probably just temporary."
Dongfang Shu glanced at the various documents scattered on the coffee table, lost in thought.
"Soul Flag is quite clever; it supports whoever has the most malice towards me," Ye Zhizhou smirked and continued, "After returning, I lost all my memories of the mission and forgot everything that happened before and after the car accident. The police told me the accident was due to the driver's mistake, and I just believed it. But now, it seems that my accident may be related to the Ren family. To investigate this, we can start by talking to the driver's family."
"I'll handle the investigation," Dongfang Shu volunteered for the task. After a pause, he added, "I just want to help you. Don't worry; this time, I won't..."
"I know," Ye Zhizhou rushed forward and embraced him, nuzzling affectionately, "You don't have to explain all the time; I understand."
Dongfang Shu raised his hand to hug him back, his eyes softening. "The power of the Soul Flag is already very weak, which can be seen from the number of Soul Flags in this world. Xiaozhou, you're amazing. You didn't lose your composure even though it's your own world. I'm proud of you."
"Can you tell me what the Soul Flag actually is now?" Ye Zhizhou asked, nudging him with his head.
Dongfang Shu tightened his grip on Ye Zhizhou's arm and fell silent.
Ye Zhizhou lightly bumped his head against Dongfang Shu's. "If you don't want to say, forget it... I can probably guess anyway. In the previous world, there was too much information exposed about the Soul Flag, and with Jiajia... the Soul Flag is probably really on its last legs, or else it wouldn't have come to our world to cause trouble. Also, in the previous world, Jiajia mentioned that the protagonists in different worlds aren't chosen tools of the Soul Flag. After being directly attacked by the Soul Flag once, he mostly accepted this. But in this world, it's obvious that the protagonist, Ren Qiao, was selected by the Soul Flag. I trust Jiajia wouldn't lie to me, so the only explanation for the difference in this world is that the Soul Flag's power is insufficient."
Thinking of this, he glanced at his lover, pursed his lips, and wondered what the future held for him and Dongfang Shu once the mission was completed and the Soul Flag had disappeared.
Two days later, Ye Zhizhou obtained detailed information and contact details for Qian Yuan and personally confirmed Ren Qiao's pregnancy.
"It seems Qian Yuan hasn't developed a more-than-friends relationship with Ren Qiao yet," he chuckled, closing the file and swallowing a transformation pill before heading out to engineer a chance encounter.
Unfurling the flag was necessary. Discovering the truth from that year and seeking revenge and retribution were also necessary. But finding out the identity of Ren Qiao's child's father was the most urgent matter now!