Reversed Life: Chapter 33 - The Entire Mu Family Are Hidden Masters in Disguise—
Chapter 33: The Entire Mu Family Are Hidden Masters in Disguise—
Holy shit!
Mu Xiangxiang’s eldest aunt, Hu Cui, exchanged a look with her husband, and both saw the panic in each other’s eyes. They were one step away from cursing out loud.
“W-Wait a second—”
She had only wanted to raise the rent! Why had this family suddenly jumped straight to moving out?!
The eldest uncle was even more flustered than she was. He shot to his feet at once. “L-Little brother, about the rent… fifty thousand might really be a bit high. Whether it goes up or not, if you have objections, we can discuss it slowly!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Eldest Aunt immediately snapped back to herself and hurriedly chimed in. “I-I just casually mentioned market price! How did this turn into moving out? Aiya! You’ve all lived here peacefully for so many years already!”
Father Mu and Mother Mu were both stunned by their sudden change in attitude. Neither of them was good at refusing people, and they were still wondering how to respond when Qiao Nan, standing against the wall, finally caught onto what was happening. Narrowing his eyes, he spoke bluntly: “What’s so troublesome about it? Living here is the troublesome part. It’s old, cramped, damp, and far from our school. We might as well find somewhere closer. It’d be more convenient for Mu Song and me, too.”
Father Mu hurriedly nodded. “R-Right! Exactly!”
Once the thought of moving appeared, it couldn’t be suppressed anymore. Kind as he was, after so many years of being taken advantage of by his elder brother’s family and mocked afterward, there was no way Father Mu felt no resentment at all unless he were a saint. And Father Mu was definitely not a saint. Before, he simply hadn’t had the financial ability to change anything, so for the sake of his family’s peace of mind, he’d kept all those feelings buried inside.
But now, he realized he finally had the money to change his circumstances.
The breakfast stall’s income was already enough for him to lead his family away from all this foul atmosphere.
Never before had Father Mu understood so clearly how much his life had changed. He was so excited that he even forgot his usual timidness in front of his older brother’s family. In only moments, his face was glowing red with excitement. Eldest Uncle sensed disaster looming. Half-deflated already, he still unwillingly tried to persuade him further, but before he could finish saying, “Your legs aren’t good, living on the first floor is more convenie—” A pale ash-blond whirlwind suddenly blew out of the bathroom.
Mu Song had been in the middle of washing clothes, his hands still wet. Flicking water from his fingers, he wore a terrifyingly cold expression as he said: “Get the hell out—”
The look on his face practically screamed: Say one more word and I’ll beat you up. Try me.
And just like that, Eldest Uncle and Eldest Aunt were dazedly escorted all the way to the door. Before shutting it, Mother Mu still apologized sincerely: “Sorry about that, big brother, sister-in-law. The child’s still young and doesn’t know manners. I’ll scold him right away. Please don’t take it to heart.”
Her tone was extremely sincere. If only she hadn’t closed the door quite so decisively.
The couple stood outside in silence. For a long time, Eldest Aunt couldn’t recover.
Perhaps her mindset was similar to Father Mu and Mother Mu’s in some ways. Mu Xiangxiang’s family had lived in this house for far too long—so long that she too had subconsciously begun to believe their lives were permanently tied to this place.
So when she proposed raising the rent, she had imagined all kinds of reactions. The worst-case scenario she envisioned was her younger brother’s family bargaining with her or refusing outright.
Never had she imagined they would decide to move out so readily.
Suddenly, she began imagining the consequences if they really moved away. The razor-sharp tongues of their relatives sent chills down her spine.
Her hands trembled as she helplessly turned to look at her husband.
Only to see that the man who had always yielded gently to her wore a livid expression now, his eyes filled with resentment and fury.
“It’s all your fault! You just had to stir up trouble for no reason! Raising the rent, raising the rent, raising the rent! Well? What now?!”
Eldest Aunt opened her mouth weakly.
That night, the couple—who had never once argued since getting married—fought the entire night.
******
The sounds of smashing and banging from upstairs kept the Mu family awake all night.
Qiao Nan was irritated as hell and got up early to go running. Unexpectedly, he ran into Father Mu and Mother Mu just as they were heading out for work—and discovered the couple looked radiant and energized.
Mother Mu was cheerfully loading a bucket of eggs onto the cart when she saw her daughter and immediately smiled. “Xiangxiang, just make yourself something tonight or buy food outside. Your dad and I are going into the city to look at apartments after the breakfast stall today, so we probably won’t have time to come back and cook.”
Qiao Nan: “...”
He’d realized by now that this couple’s terrifying efficiency extended into every aspect of life.
They’d only talked about moving last night, and today they were already house-hunting. At this rate, wouldn’t they start moving tomorrow?
What talents.
Just as Mother Mu finished speaking and turned around, she noticed two people standing outside the apartment building in the dim morning light. The pair looked miserable. Their hair was disheveled as though they’d clawed at each other all night, and both had bruises on their faces.
Their usual overbearing expressions had transformed into an unprecedented nervousness.
The moment their eyes met, Mother Mu froze briefly, but her hands kept moving efficiently as she and Father Mu quickly finished arranging the disability tricycle and pushed it out of the building.
Then she politely greeted them: “Big brother, sister-in-law, you’re up early.” And with that, she climbed into the vehicle and sped off with her husband.
*****
Sure enough, only a few days later, Qiao Nan received notice from Father Mu telling the whole family to come look at the new apartment.
At first, Qiao Nan had hesitated over whether he should help search too. Compared to Father Mu and Mother Mu, who barely used the internet, he obviously had access to far more information channels. But thinking about how Father Mu seemed to gain confidence the more responsibility he was given, Qiao Nan felt maybe it wasn’t a bad thing to let him shoulder some burdens.
He wasn’t like Mu Xiangxiang. Growing up watching his powerful father and older brother, he’d never instinctively believed family elders needed to be carefully protected and coddled. And from a man’s perspective, if he put himself in Father Mu’s shoes, he figured the man probably wouldn’t want his family thinking he was incapable either.
Forget it. Worst case, he’d jump in later if they got scammed. What was the big deal?
So afterward, he truly stopped asking about the new apartment entirely—until Father Mu and Mother Mu brought him to the entrance of a residential complex. Only then did surprise appear in his heart.
This was actually a pretty decent neighborhood. Not luxury housing, exactly, but definitely above average for City A. Remembering how Father Mu and Mother Mu had previously talked about searching for rentals, he asked: “...You found this from one of those ‘rental info bulletin boards’?”
“As if!” Mother Mu burst out laughing. “Of course, your dad and I used an agent. One of the pancake vendors at the plaza recommended one.”
Now Qiao Nan was genuinely surprised. He had actually considered suggesting they use an agent before, knowing how exhausting house-hunting could be for them. But after thinking about the probably expensive agency fee—and the Mu family parents’ spending habits—he’d decided not to bother.
Yet now Mother Mu was smiling as she said: “Mom’s realized now that some necessary investments are worth spending money on.”
Like agency fees. At first, she and her husband had hated spending the money. But after exhausting themselves chasing rental ads and still finding nothing suitable, the agent had listened to their requirements and quickly found this perfect place.
Yes, the money had been spent. But they’d saved enormous amounts of effort and energy. And when that energy was redirected into their breakfast business, they earned back even more money than the agency fee had cost. Not a loss at all.
After this experience, the couple both felt that the beliefs they’d held for half their lives had begun to shift slightly. So much so that when the egg pancake stall owner recently approached them about partnering in a business venture, neither of them immediately rejected the idea upon hearing the startup investment costs for opening a store.
They didn’t fully understand why their attitudes had changed. But Qiao Nan turned his head and smiled.
He realized he’d underestimated them all along. He’d thought that for Father Mu and Mother Mu, simply pulling themselves out of their hopeless state and becoming self-reliant was already the greatest possible transformation.
But perhaps… the heights they could eventually reach would be far greater than just a breakfast stall.
*****
The moment they walked through the front door, even Mu Song—who had been sulking at Father Mu these past few days and had kept a gloomy silence the whole way—froze in shock.
Warm, brilliant sunlight greeted them head-on.
This place was completely different from the dark, damp ground floor unit in the urban village. Everything visible beyond the doorway felt open and spacious: clean, warm wooden flooring, floor-to-ceiling windows spanning an entire wall, and beyond them, the lush green mountains surrounding the outskirts of City A. The entire apartment radiated warmth and modern comfort.
The apartment wasn’t on a low floor, but because there was an elevator, Father Mu’s bad leg wouldn’t inconvenience him at all.
For the first time, he realized that with the progress of the times, the limitations caused by his disability were nowhere near as terrifying as he had once imagined. With a vehicle, elevators, and mobility aids, he too could work hard like a normal father and give his family a better life.
The apartment before him was proof of that.
He’d already visited many times, but every time he entered, excitement still surged uncontrollably through him. “How is it? What do you think?”
Mu Song, who had lived in the urban village his entire life, was already speechless. Qiao Nan’s lips curved upward too. Though this place wasn’t as spacious as his own home, it was gentle and refreshing. Given Mu Xiangxiang’s personality, she’d probably love it.
He almost wanted to take a picture and send it to her. She’d probably react exactly like her younger brother. Those siblings were idiots molded from the same template.
Fifty thousand yuan a year wasn’t exactly cheap, but it also wasn’t outrageously expensive. Renting in such a nice neighborhood naturally meant the place couldn’t be huge. The apartment was only a little over ninety square meters and still had to be divided into three bedrooms and two living spaces. Yet thanks to the smart layout and excellent lighting, it didn’t feel cramped at all. There was truly nothing to complain about.
Even Mu Song—who cared most about saving face in front of his family—became visibly animated the moment he entered the room that would soon belong to him. He couldn’t stop moving around, opening things, looking everywhere with the restless excitement unique to boys his age.
So they signed the lease on the spot.
On their way out, they ran into a neighbor living on the same floor. Perhaps because she was heading out, the middle-aged woman was dressed with meticulous elegance, and her aura was rather stern.
But after seeing Father Mu and Mother Mu, she paused briefly before quickly smiling.
“Oh, it’s you two!” The woman, who looked extremely difficult to get along with, raised a hand in greeting. “My whole family tried the braised duck you gave us yesterday. It was delicious, thank you. What, bringing the kids to see the apartment today?”
After years of being gossiped about by the residents in the urban village, Father Mu still instinctively became nervous around the concept of “neighbors.” He deliberately straightened his posture, trying to make his limp as unnoticeable as possible. “Y-Yes, yes… uh… heading out?”
“Going to the company for a meeting.” The sharp-eyed woman didn’t scrutinize him at all. Carrying her handbag, she strode briskly into the elevator, speaking casually. “You’re really blessed. Both your son and daughter grew up so good-looking.”
…She probably hadn’t noticed anything unusual about him, right?
Father Mu became even more tense, walking with increasing effort, trying hard to make every step appear normal.
He figured the new neighbor truly hadn’t noticed, because throughout their conversation in the elevator, her gaze never once drifted toward his legs. The topics she discussed were all ordinary things—family, work, everyday life among able-bodied people.
Finally reaching the first floor, the neighbor casually said goodbye while stepping out of the elevator. Father Mu’s back had become stiff from holding himself upright, yet all he felt was relief that he hadn’t exposed anything unusual.
Then suddenly, after walking several steps away, the middle-aged woman turned back. “Oh right, Mr. Mu!”
Father Mu’s steps instantly froze. The next second, she continued naturally: “That mobility scooter by the flowerbed is yours, right? I happened to see you riding it into the complex yesterday.”
Father Mu stared blankly.
The female neighbor remained completely matter-of-fact. “Our property management is annoyingly picky. If you leave it by the flowerbed, security’s definitely going to hassle you sooner or later. Let me tell you—the non-motor vehicle parking area is on Basement Level One. You can go down directly from the entrance near Building Two. Don’t worry, the elevator’s right next to the parking spaces, so it’s very convenient.”
Then she waved and left.
Father Mu stood there stunned for a long time—so long that Mother Mu started worrying his leg was hurting again.
Yet under his wife’s anxious questioning, the tension slowly faded from his face, replaced by a faint smile.
So it wasn’t that she hadn’t noticed after all?
She’d even thoughtfully referred to it as a “mobility scooter” instead of something harsher. The neighbors here really were different from the ones he’d known before.
Father Mu couldn’t help recalling the way old neighbors used to casually joke around with words like “cripple” and “lame.” He knew they probably hadn’t meant real harm; they simply never considered that his feelings needed protecting.
Father Mu blinked away the moisture gathering in his eyes. He led his wife and children out of the complex. Just outside stood a real estate agency, with a large sign displaying housing prices for the neighborhood behind them.
Average selling price: thirty-five thousand per square meter. Multiplied by the apartment size, it became a figure worlds apart from the fifty-thousand-yuan annual rent.
Yet what came with that figure was an orderly living environment and neighbors who understood boundaries and courtesy.
Suddenly, Father Mu felt his horizons all these years had been far too narrow.
Running a breakfast stall, earning some hard-earned money, moving his wife and children out of the urban village, renting an apartment in a decent neighborhood—and he’d thought that alone was enough to feel satisfied?
A surge of passion suddenly filled his entire body.
No, he thought. This was only the beginning for their family. Absolutely not the end.
*****
The Mu family began moving with tremendous enthusiasm. There actually wasn’t much luggage in the shabby old apartment. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and got to work, except for the eldest daughter, who kept getting chased away for only making things harder.
Qiao Nan, who’d been ordered not to help, was very displeased. They were looking down on him too much!
So he decided to go bother Mu Xiangxiang instead, but before he could even pull out his phone, Father Mu and Mu Song started arguing again—
Mu Song dug out a poster Father Mu had casually tossed into the trash can. “What gives you the right to throw away my stuff?!”
“What use is this thing?” Father Mu sounded baffled. “And those papers pinned to your board too—what kind of nonsense is written on them? Throw them out already and make space for your middle school textbooks.”
Mu Song exploded angrily. “Those textbooks are even more useless! I wouldn’t read them even if you brought them over!”
The father and son exchanged increasingly heated words until the argument inevitably escalated to Mu Song recently asking the family for money to buy a guitar. It ended with Father Mu shouting: “Completely neglecting proper responsibilities!”
Mu Song slammed the door and stormed back into his room. Panting heavily, Father Mu complained bitterly to Mother Mu: “What exactly is going on inside that brat’s head?! Huh? Can’t he be more like his sister and save me some worry? All day long, he won’t study properly, just singing and dancing and fooling around with all that nonsense. Is that what children from respectable families are supposed to do?!”
Mother Mu also couldn’t understand what her son was thinking. In her eyes, there was nothing more important for students than studying hard, so she shared her husband’s worries wholeheartedly.
Amid the couple’s anxious concerns about their son’s future, Qiao Nan bent down and picked up several papers that had fallen during the argument. Sure enough, they were handwritten guitar tablature sheets, covered in edits and corrections—apparently composed by Mu Song himself.
Since Qiao Nan had played around with music before, he could understand some of it, and he found himself surprised. The compositions didn’t match Mu Song’s age, appearance, or rebellious attitude at all. They actually looked… pretty professional.
Meanwhile, Mu Song sat alone in his room sulking. He really wanted a guitar of his own. It had taken him a lot of effort to work up the courage to ask his father for money a few days ago. Though he’d expected rejection from the start, he still felt miserable hearing his father dismiss his passion so completely.
Dad. Mom. Big sister. All the same. To them, studying was everything, and everything else was some kind of evil distraction.
Well… not entirely his sister. She was a little different.
But she still loved studying obsessively. Ever since childhood, Mu Song had never seen her show any interest outside of books.
From personality to worldview, he had nothing in common with his family. If he weren’t afraid of getting beaten up by his sister, he probably would’ve run away from home again just now.
The bedroom door was suddenly knocked on. After a pause, Mu Song got up and opened it, only to see his sister standing outside, casually holding out a stack of papers. “Keep these safe yourself.”
Looking down, he realized they were the music sheets his father had scattered all over the floor earlier. Mu Song accepted them in surprise, and then heard his sister speak again. “Not bad at all. Where’d you learn guitar?”
Mu Song had never expected to hear a question like that from his sister, who always seemed to think studying was the most important thing in life. He froze for a moment before answering, “The band I’m with right now.”
And then, instead of lecturing him to focus on school or criticizing him for wasting his time, she merely patted his arm and left.
For some reason, Mu Song suddenly felt understood. Frowning, he stared at the sheets in his hands as the irritation from his father’s scolding slowly faded away.
The unpleasant argument was only a brief interruption. Filled with excitement for their brand-new future, Father Mu and Mother Mu quickly became cheerful again.
The moving truck came right to their door. The couple bustled in and out alongside the movers, and even Father Mu, whose legs weren’t convenient, moved around at incredible speed, occasionally stopping to say goodbye to neighbors who had gathered to watch.
The residents of the urban village were shocked by the family’s sudden departure—
“What’s going on? Why are you leaving so suddenly?”
Father Mu patiently explained over and over, “This place is too far from Xiangxiang and Songsong’s school. We’re moving somewhere closer so it’ll be more convenient for them.”
Not a single neighbor believed him. They’d lived there for more than ten years—only now they thought the school was too far away?
And because everyone knew about the Mu family’s history, suspicious gazes immediately turned toward Uncle Mu’s family, who stood outside the building looking helpless.
From the moment they saw the moving truck parked outside, Uncle Mu and Aunt Hu Cui had been dumbfounded. They’d originally planned to spend the next few days persuading Father Mu’s family to stay with softer tactics, but they’d never expected them to move this quickly.
As the neighbors’ expressions grew stranger and stranger—clearly assuming they had done something behind the scenes—Uncle Mu felt like crying.
He couldn’t explain himself. How could he? If the rent increase incident came out, the neighbors’ criticism alone would drown him alive.
The resentment he felt toward his wife for stirring up trouble had already led to several huge fights at home. They’d argued, shouted, even hit each other—but none of it improved the situation at all.
All he could do was watch helplessly as his younger brother’s family climbed into the moving truck and disappeared in a cloud of dust amid cheerful farewells.
At the same time, his phone buzzed. The moment he pulled it out, he saw a huge name displayed on the screen—
One of the Mu family elders. His vision darkened. Trembling, he answered the call, and the next second the elder’s furious roar exploded from the receiver without mercy—
“You heartless bastard!!!!”
*****
There weren’t enough seats in the moving truck, so Qiao Nan and Mu Song were given taxi fare and told to head to the new place themselves.
Qiao Nan didn’t have much to talk about with Mu Song, so he strolled lazily ahead while playing with his phone, while Mu Song dragged two suitcases behind him.
A perfectly reasonable division of labor.
Qiao Nan was busy sending photos of the new apartment to Mu Xiangxiang. Just imagining the expression she’d have when seeing them on the other side of the screen already made him want to laugh. Then suddenly the rolling sound of the suitcases behind him stopped. Turning around, he saw the gray-haired boy staring at a shop by the roadside with a strange expression.
Qiao Nan’s eyes shifted. A music store?
The kid had a gloomy aura, but his delicate features resembled Mu Xiangxiang’s a great deal. Their temperaments were completely different, yet seeing his face instantly reminded people of his sister.
Mu Song stared at the display booth outside the music shop. The store was running a promotional event, and an employee holding a guitar was enthusiastically explaining its structure to passersby. Mu Song watched the children being led forward by their parents to ask about lessons—Scenes like that would never happen in the Mu family.
Forget it. After being used to this for so many years, it wasn’t really a big deal anymore.
He looked away from those curious faces, only to meet his sister’s gaze as she turned back to look at him from ahead.
Mu Song assumed she was getting impatient from waiting. Realizing he had indeed lingered too long, he immediately started to move forward.
Unexpectedly, the expressionless girl standing ahead moved first. She stuffed her phone into her pocket, looked him up and down, then calmly turned toward the music shop. “You want one?”
The employee instantly noticed the handsome boy and beautiful girl nearby and immediately squeezed through the crowd carrying a guitar to promote it to them. Before Mu Song could react, a guitar had already been stuffed into his arms. The sudden weight on his shoulders made him both embarrassed and annoyed in front of his sister, and he instinctively refused. “Hey—I don’t—”
Seeing the contradiction between the eager look in the boy’s eyes and his deliberately gloomy face, Qiao Nan suddenly felt a wave of concern befitting an elder (?)— Why couldn’t this brat be as straightforward as his sister?
So he leaned casually against a roadside tree and drawled lazily, “Go ahead and try it. If it sounds good, I’ll buy you one.”
Mu Song froze. “…You don’t even have that much money…”
Ha! Qiao Nan thought. Kid, do you even realize what kind of important person you’re saying that to?
Out loud, he scoffed. “Just tell me if you’re gonna play it or not!”
Under Qiao Nan’s gaze, the gray-haired teenager’s expression shifted uncertainly for a long while.
Half a minute later, a stream of soft, flowing guitar music instantly silenced every noisy customer outside the music shop. Everyone looked around searching for the source of the sound, and then collectively froze at the sight before them—
In the glow of the setting sun, the gray-haired boy lowered his eyes as he plucked the strings. His delicate face remained expressionless, his aura as cold and untouchable as ever, yet the moment the music spread outward from him, no one could ignore his presence.
It was a confidence completely mismatched with his thin, delicate body—calm, composed, almost radiant.
Qiao Nan slowly lowered his crossed arms and straightened up bit by bit. The careless expression disappeared from his face as black lines slid down his forehead.
“…” After a long moment, he pulled out his phone and quickly sent Mu Xiangxiang a text.
Mu Xiangxiang’s phone dinged. She opened it to see—
[Qiao Nan: How the hell is your entire family secretly made up of hidden masters?!?!]
Mu Xiangxiang: ????
Author’s Note:
The hidden masters of the Mu family officially begin their new lives—
Mother Mu [full of fighting spirit]: “I’m going to make money to buy handbags for my daughter!” [pulls out the business-earned black card]
Father Mu [burning with passion]: “I’m going to make money to buy my daughter a house!” [pulls out the business-earned black card]
Mu Song [raising his delicate hands]: “I’m going to work hard washing my sister’s clothes!” [pulls out the black card earned from performances and endorsements]
Mu Xiangxiang [worried]: “My dad is fragile, my mom works too hard, my little brother is rebellious and bad at studying and sings all day instead of doing proper work. He probably won’t be able to find a good job. I need to study hard and earn money to support the family.” sigh
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