Chapter 1 – The Mirror Opens

“Click.” Everything went from dark to light, the screen flickered and
the picture began to appear.

This is a staff dormitory, one of the most nooks and crannies of the
century-old school group of buildings, located in a remote area, and
the college mostly sends young teachers to live there. The house looks
beautiful from the outside with its red bricks and white steps, and the
ivy climbing around the old building with a thousand delicate vines, so
anyone who passes by can’t help but look twice, but when I was lucky
enough to become a teacher, I went inside and realized – it turns out
that this house has been repaired over the years, and the walls of the
interior walls are all drab, like a tired face that has been touched up
countless times.

So tired that even digital television is lacking, allotted to each room in

the dormitory building, is a cable TV of antique quality.

“Heavy to torrential rains continue in the middle and lower reaches of

the Yangtze River ……”

As the teenager walked past the entrance to the building, the sound of
television programmes filtered through the window panes of the
communication room, and the old lady on duty used to stop him and
shout.

“Hey, young student, do you know? This is the staff dormitory, where
the teachers live, you’re a student don’t always go in there.”

But today, the old woman did not cross-examine him, perhaps because
she was in a daze and her old eyes were dizzy, not noticing his
passing in the dark.

He went straight up to the third floor and knocked on the familiar iron
door.
The door creaked open and the woman in it probed, “It’s you.”

The teenager whispered, “Xie teacher.”

Although it was late and the teenager was an unexpected visitor, she
was his teacher and the closest person to him in the school, and the
woman welcomed him inside after a brief moment of surprise.

Make a cup of tea and cut ginger slices to add to it. It was raining
outside and she felt wet and cold on the teenager and the hot ginger
tea would keep the cold away.

Ms. Xie placed the steaming cup of tea on the tea table in front of him,
“When did you get back?”

“Just got back today.” The teenager stood shakily in front of the sofa.

Teacher Xie: “Sit down quickly.”

Only then did he sit down, his hands curled in his lap, restrained,
without touching the teacup.

“How come you didn’t even tell me in advance when you got back.
There’s a bus to school this late?”

“…… hmm.”

“So how are things at home being handled?”

The teenager was quiet for a moment, looking down and picking at
the torn hole in his jeans.

“My mum still wants me to drop out of school ……”

Ms. Xie was silent.

She spoke to the mother of the teenager in front of her and promised
to give the special hardship family a tuition fee waiver in the hope
that the mother would allow her child to finish the university she had
worked so hard to get into.
But the mother pointedly refused –

“Read what? Learn Chinese? Who doesn’t speak Chinese? You are just
scammers!”

She patiently reasoned with the mother: “The child is very talented,
look, he’s already in his second year, isn’t it a pity to give up halfway?
If he finishes his studies in two more years, he will be able to find a
job in society. I’ve asked him, he wants to be a teacher in the future.
With his grades, it’s not a problem to get a teaching job, it’s a child’s
dream, and teaching jobs are stable ……”

“He won’t make it as a teacher! It’s not like you haven’t seen his
face!”

The mother’s words came down like a blunt knife, cutting between
invisible currents.

Ms. Xie felt angry, but she didn’t know what to respond to.

“I want him to go home and work now! There’s no money in the

house! Don’t waste time! That face – that face …… reads the book,
what’s it going to do! What school would want a teacher like that!”

What kind of a face is that?

An incandescent lamp was on in Ms. Xie’s room, low wattage and

seemingly dim, but still illuminating the teenager’s face.

His face, which Mr Xie was used to seeing, would have made anyone
gasp when they first saw it – half a shadowy face, with bruises
covering his forehead to his neck, like a rotting skin.

Striking and starkly abnormal.

“Sick!”

“Don’t go near him, it’s not likely to be contagious.”

“Hey! Yin and Yang people!”

With this face and with him grew the abuse and ridicule that followed.

Because of his illness, because he was too sick to hide and too ugly to
hide, the youngster grew up with a lot of white eyes. Even though he
studied hard and was gentle with others, he was still like an evil
dragon wandering under the blue sky, not getting any equal
treatment.

Few people share Mr Tse’s ability to find the normal half of his face
good-looking and gentle.

He always bore everyone’s sneers gently and numbly, sometimes

laughing in tandem with them himself, as if he had really done
something wrong.

But what had he done wrong?

He was always the most serious in his studies, honest and sincere,
and always did the most work in his group in silence. When others
bullied him, he always took it good-naturedly and didn’t say much.

“It’s all right, teacher, I’m happy enough for you to talk to me. In the
past, when I was in the village, people used to go around when they
saw me, and no one ever listened to me as intently as you did.”

“The students were all very nice too, at least they didn’t hit me with a
brick.”

He speaks calmly, but his head is always bowed and his shoulders
hunched, having grown a deformed and bent spine from the heavy
insults he has carried for so long.

She later said to him, “You can come to me for individual tutoring
after evening study whenever you want, and if you don’t understand
anything and need my help, just ask.”

He smiled shyly, his half-normal face showing some embarrassed red.

In the two years she had known him, she was used to him coming,
slightly hunched over, to knock on her dormitory door, bringing her
his own written essays, prose, and even poetry, asking for her
guidance.

These days many people like to curse, but few like to write poetry
anymore.

Instead, he wrote doggedly.

His classmates laughed at him, the ugly bastard writing ugly things,
sour as hell, more sour than your rotten grape cheeks.

He smiled and wrote again honestly.

But now, he doesn’t even have that power anymore.

Thinking about what had happened before, Ms. Xie sighed in his heart
and looked at the boy in front of him with pity.

The young man said, “I have come here to say goodbye to my teacher.
I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“Back home?”

“…… Well, sort of.”

The teenager paused, “Teacher, if my illness wasn’t on my face, but

where others couldn’t see it, people would be kinder to me. That
would be so nice.”

She couldn’t help but feel her eyes were red, she had done everything
she could to help him, but unfortunately she was not his family, she
couldn’t make the final decision, nor could she save him. The mother
regretted letting the boy go to school, but after all, there was an able-
bodied second son who was only in secondary school, and the sick one
could be called back so that the able-bodied one could be replaced.

She felt that what she did was not wrong either, and as a mother who
also had to weigh up the family situation, she was fair.
“The paper you …… you left with me last time and asked me to look
over for you, I haven’t quite finished rewriting-”

She felt she was on the verge of tears and hastily changed the subject.

“But I’ve read the front very carefully, do you want to do the school
leaving formalities to go later, when I’ve approved them all ……”

“No.” He smiled and shook his head, “I’m leaving at first light.”

Why did she always feel that there was still time?

Why not stay up one night?

Why, then, go shopping, gossip and have those long, pointless

meetings?

Here is a student’s dream that is about to be broken and a heart that

is about to beat, and she, as his last teacher, is unable to offer a
bouquet of flowers to his dream as a farewell.

“Sorry ……”

“That’s okay.” He said, “but I ended up writing a poem, can I give it to

you?”

She was busy nodding her head.

He then took it from his book bag and showed it to her, the pages
were so thin that they seemed weightless in his hands.

She read it word by word, a very loving love poem, hot and passionate
but careful, a love she had seen written by many masters. She had
read many love poems written by the masters, from the ancient
“When do I lean on a false front and dry my tears in the double light?”
But at this moment, it seems that none of them are as good as this
page held out by the young man.

He didn’t break anything, as if it would be a lack of rhyme to do so.

The young man was a poet, and knew that without poetry, a love of
disparate status would be nothing but an embarrassment.

“It’s left as a memento for you.”

Tenderness is written on both ugly faces and normal faces.

“I’m sorry, teacher, I just can’t afford to buy you any presents.”

“There’s nothing better than that.” She turned her back, suppressing
a choked sob, “You, you eat something, I’ll get you some
refreshments.”

Borrowing from rummaging through the cupboard and getting herself

under control, Mr Tse took a tin of butterscotch biscuits and put it on
the coffee table.

The teenager thanked him politely and, under Ms. Xie’s watchful eye,
finally touched the teacup carefully, only to retract his hand and say
softly, “It’s hot.”

She touched it, “How? It’s warm.”

But still, he was given some cold water to go back to.

The teenager drank it little by little with his favourite biscuit.

After eating and drinking, the night is still long.

He said, “Teacher, can I read in your place for a while longer?”

“Sure.”

The teenager laughed again, a little helplessly, “It’s all going away
and you end up being such a nuisance.”

“It’s okay, you can stay a little longer …… Right, when you get back,
give me another address, I’ll send you a copy of any good books I see.
You’re so smart, in fact, even if you study on your own …… it won’t be
that bad.” Teacher Xie could only chat as a comfort, “If you need any
help, you can find me on WeChat.”

The teenager looked at her, “Thank you.”

There was a pause.

“If everyone was like you, then maybe ……”

He lowered his head and said no more.

The most abundant thing in her dormitory was books, and as he was
ugly and sickly naked, he was the centre of attention whenever he
went to the library, she invited him to come to the staff quarters and
lend him her collection of books to read.

The young man thus spent the whole night reading in the staff
quarters, as if he would take all these words back to his homeland by
this one night.

It was rare for him to be so self-conscious; once upon a time he would

not stay too late, always worried that he might disturb the teacher’s
normal routine. But today was an exception.

She didn’t blame him for this last caprice, it was just that she stayed
up with him until the latter part of the night and did get a little sleepy,
unknowingly ambling off to sleep.

In a haze, she heard the teenager suddenly say to her again, “Thank
you, teacher.”

She answered him vaguely.

“There’s one more thing I’d like to apologise for.”

“Before the class theft …… those students always lost things, how
could they not be checked and caused you to be criticized. Those
things, in fact, were taken by me.”

She woke up in a daze, but she was too tired and heavy to get up.
The teenager said with slight sadness, “But I didn’t ask for those
things, I didn’t ask for a penny. They laughed at me like that, and I
actually had resentment in my heart …… I threw all their bags in the
haystack and later burned them all clean. At that time they suspected
to me, but you did not even come to ask me, and excused me. The
truth is that I was really not the one who did it.”

“I don’t have the courage to admit that I’ve only ever been a normal
person in the eyes of one person, or even a good person.”

“That person is you.”

“Teacher, I’m vain aren’t I? …… But if even you are disappointed in

me, I don’t know what I’ll do. You’re the only recognition I’ve ever had
in my life.”

His voice grew softer towards the end of his sentence.

The eyes, however, are clear, almost transparent, as if relieved.

“- The thing I regret doing the most is this …… Thank you teacher, I’m
really sorry. My illness seems to have moved from my face, to my
heart. If I had another life, I would really like to be a normal person
…… I don’t want to be so sick that I don’t even have the qualifications
to love.”

“Ms. Xie ……”

The wind blew through the window, causing the pages on the table to
flap like streamers beckoning spirits.

And then, all was quiet again.

The tea on the table is cold.

Mr Tse woke up early the next morning to find he had slept at his
desk all night, the house was clean and the teenager was a very polite
man, but on this day he did not wait to say goodbye to his teacher
before packing up and leaving.
Inevitably, she got up and went to the living room with sleepy eyes.

Glancing down at the coffee table –

But the whole thing was like a shower of ice water on your head, and
your eyes were wide open!

The tea she poured for the teenager yesterday had frozen, but ……
but ……

The room temperature was clearly 27 or 28 degrees!

How? How?

She searched the room with wide-eyed ooze, and more and more
traces kept her heart cold – the tin box of cream biscuits, which she
had clearly watched the teenager eat yesterday, but now it didn’t look
like a piece was missing. The water in the teacup had frozen to ice,
but it wasn’t missing either, and finally –

At the end, the content of the implicit love poem was still lying in her
heart, and he gave her a piece of paper as a farewell.

The paper, however, is missing.

Or rather, there never was that page ……

She shuddered when her phone vibrated with a sudden ding, causing
her to jump and snatch it away. She was relieved, but then she woke
up like a dream and quickly dialled the teenager’s number.

Duh. Duh. Duh.

The heart beats and the mechanical sounds flutter together.

“Hello?”

Through.
The person who answers the phone is the familiar voice of a middle-
aged woman, gruff, but with a bit of a sobbing tone at this point. She
exchanged a few words with the mother of the teenager on the other
end of the line.

The heart falls hard into a black hole that it cannot see into and falls
down.

She heard it –

“……”

“It’s you guys! It’s you guys again!!! I haven’t even had a chance to
look for you! You’re the first to call!”

The woman was complaining, and she couldn’t remember what was
said before, her mind was almost blank, she only heard the last harsh
cry as if it were a baton: “He’s dead! He’s dead!”

Blood flows like ice.

Dead?

“It’s all your compulsion!!! He and I had a fight, ran out, it was
pouring outside and the police said there was a section of cable
exposed there ……”

Ms. Xie’s ears buzzed.

She only barely heard two more words in the fierce tirade of abuse
and wailing, like a ghost or a chimera, like a farewell not of this world.

On the other end of the line, the woman’s voice broke into a piteous
whisper.

“What else are you looking for? What else are you looking for?!”

“Yesterday was the seventh day of his death!!!”

 Chapter 2 – I was a student at the
time
“Yesterday was the seventh day of his death!!!”
.

The keyboard stops tapping and He Yu rises from his desk in the staff
quarters.

The old-fashioned television set in the living room of the less-than-

sixty-square house, a wall away, still plays a lengthy poetry variety
show, accompanied by the sound of rustling snow flakes when the
signal is poor.

The sofa is still the same as in the story, the refreshments, the biscuit
boxes, all still there.

But the clock on the wall is 8.09 and there are streetlights on outside,
not late at night. It’s summertime, the air is damp and stuffy, moths
are swirling around the lights, mosquitoes are flying low, and the rain
has not yet fallen.

The teenager left the small study in the staff quarters and pushed the
door out, the light slanting through the dirty window glass, making
the whole space a little illusory, more illusion than the story he had
just finished writing.

A young woman lies on the sofa, the air conditioning on low, asleep
under a coral fleece blanket, in front of her are several tissues that
have wiped tears and snot from her eyes.

He Yu said, “Wake up.”

“Well ……”

“Get up.”

“Don’t make any noise …… I didn’t sleep much at all ……” the young
woman grunted sleepily and smacked her lips twice, “lie down a little
longer ……”

He Yu was just about to say something else when the variety show in
front of the TV started introducing old movies.
“There’s a Brokeback Mountain in everyone’s heart ……”

He paused his service to wake her up and took the remote control to
change the channel.

He Yu hates homosexuality.

“Welcome viewers to our medical wellness segment -”

Change the station again. He Yu also hates doctors and hospitals.

“In the past, Zhuang Zhou dreamed of being a butterfly, a vivid

butterfly too ……”

Let’s leave it at that this time, it’s barely enough of a background

track for his taste.

He Yu put the remote control down, glanced at the woman still

snoring on her back and turned inside the kitchen, opening the greasy
fridge, her face illuminated by the lighting.

He scanned the stock in the fridge a few times, pulled out two eggs, a
slice of ham and found a bowl of overnight leftovers, then he raised
his voice and asked the woman in the living room who was still
sleeping, “Xie Xue, do you have any spring onions? I can’t find any.”

The woman didn’t move.

“Making you Yang Zhou fried rice.”

After a moment of silence outside the house, He Yu looked back again

to see the young woman had somehow gotten off the couch and
peeled over to the kitchen, “…… that’ll be two eggs with a big piece of
lunch meat.”

Again, hesitantly, he asked, “Would you?”

He Yu rolled up his sleeves and turned back with a gentle smile, “Sit
outside and wait. It will be ready soon.”
The woman called Xie Xue wandered off to another room.

She saw the computer open in the study and sat down to browse
through the word: ” He Yu ! Are you using me as a prototype?”

The range hood was loud and He Yu asked, “What?”

“I said-! Are you – taking me – as a prototype?” Xie Xue came out

clutching his computer, “This, Ms. Xie from Ghost Story!”

“Oh.” The teenager was quiet for a moment, cracking an egg and
smiling, “Yeah. You’re the person I imagined you to be.”

“Art comes from reality, Mr Tse.”

“But you wrote that you have a crush on me?”

“…… Art is different from reality, Ms. Xie.”

But he lied in the last sentence.

He does have a crush on her.

He Yu and Xie Xue have known each other for over ten years.

Xie Xue, who is five years older than him, is in her first year of
teaching choreography at Hu Zhou University’s School of Arts, and He
Yu has become a student in her class.

When Xie Xue saw the roster of new choreographers, he surprised He

Yu on WeChat by saying, “What a coincidence! In the two
choreography classes I’m teaching, there’s actually a boy with the
same name as you!”

He Yu was sitting in his window seat with his hand on his face,
looking out at the twinkling lights on the tarmac when his mobile
phone dinged and the familiar avatar popped up. He looked at the
message from the girl he had been in love with for ten years and was
just about to reply when the announcement came over the radio that
the crew had asked to turn off their communication devices.
He Yu turned his face sideways in thought, did not reply to her and
turned off his phone.

How can there be so many coincidences in this world?

Stupid.

Of course he worked hard for it.

–A very different story from the one He Yu made up himself.

Not only was he not poor, but he was not ugly either; he was a
handsome boy, the son of a pharmaceutical magnate, born with the
golden key. His high school was abroad, but when he learned that Xie
Xue had graduated from university with a teaching qualification and
had become a lecturer at Hu Zhou University, He Yu spent less than
half an hour thinking about it and then went to the admissions
website of the Faculty of Arts at Hu Zhou University in China.

A few months later, the Hu Zhou University Art School opened.

However, the newly appointed Xie Xue is still too young to know the
dangers of the workplace.

Jiang Liping, the counsellor in charge of choreographing the first,

second and third classes of freshmen, is a notoriously odd person in
the school. It is said that this person has no education and no training,
and that he got his job by sleeping with a school manager. Jiang is a
beautiful woman who is not ashamed to serve others with her
sexuality, and she is always flirting with the school governor in broad
daylight.

When Xie Xue rushed to class with her notebook in hand, she saw
Jiang Liping in a red dress, occupying her podium and handing over
notes to the new students.

“Excuse me, Miss Jiang, the first class has already started ……” Xie
Xue tried to remind her.
Who expected a wave from the other side: “Wait a minute, the
morning study time is too short and I still have two last requests to
make.”

I don’t know if it was deliberately difficult, but Jiang Liping’s last two
points took fifteen or sixteen minutes to finish: “Well, that’s all I have
to admonish, I won’t delay your class. That …… sorry, did not
remember the new teacher your last name, do a good job, do not be
nervous.”

Ms Jiang stomped away on her five or six inch long scarlet heels, her
long Hong Kong-style, antique dress raising red waves proudly behind
her, leaving Xie Xue to come to the lectern with her computer in her
arms, grey and honest.

It’s fucking killing me.

When Jiang Liping didn’t say anything, Xie Xue swallowed nervously.

Most of the students at the prestigious university are highly

competent and not easily convinced, and they do not trust the young
teachers as much as the old professors, not to mention the fact that
Jiang Liping gave Xie Xue a grim stomp before he left.

The group of human beings understood at once, oh, so the teacher of

their class was a trainee teacher whose name had not even been
remembered by the tutor yet.

How could this be? Even though Xie Xue had three fires in her chest,
she couldn’t stop a large classroom of students from drooling over
her. It took only ten minutes for Xie Xue, a newcomer to the
workplace, to go from confident to stumbling before he started to lose
his eyes and feet.

So she didn’t even notice the tall male student sitting in the last row
of the large classroom, lazily twirling his pen and leaning back in his
chair to watch her.

“Hello students, I’m your choreographer, my name is Xie Xue . That

……”
The student didn’t buy it: “Teacher, how old are you?”

“Why don’t you join us and order a milk tea too, sister?”

“Teacher you look younger than me ……”

When Xie Xue saw that the scene was getting a bit out of hand, he
was at his wits’ end and had to play tough like a paper tiger: “Quiet! I
won’t mess with you. You must not let down your youth and study
hard during your university years. And to be realistic, I’m very strict, I
don’t speak well, and I’m far more likely to fail a course than any of
my other colleagues. Grow a pair yourselves and don’t take my word
for it.”

He Yu couldn’t help but smile down, a smile that fell to the corners of
his lips and was casually hooked-

She’s just a douchebag.

The students in the classroom were silent, looking at her like a

monkey. Some of the boys simply sighed, packed their bags and left
straight away.

“Hey! Classmate! You-”

“Teacher, I can’t fail the class even if you’re mean. I still have a date
with my girlfriend, so I’ll leave first.”

“It’s funny that HU would recruit this kind of intern who threatens
people with failing a class to listen to lectures. Why are you leading
our class while Professor Shen is leading the class next door? I’m
going to write a letter of complaint to the headmaster, so I won’t be
accompanying you.”

Xie Xue is embarrassed.

Although he calmly asked for the names of the students and deducted
points for them with a small board, Xie Xue was clearly devastated
and was unable to recover for half a day, forgetting the contents of
the prepared lesson.
“Teacher, I’ll do it.”

Just as she was about to burst into tears and almost flee, a boy’s voice
suddenly came from the last row of the classroom.

Xie Xue was so tortured that she didn’t even realise how familiar that
nice voice sounded, and went straight to looking gratefully for help.

Then she saw the boy she hadn’t seen in three years, and Xie Xue’s
mouth opened wide in a moment of unimpressive surprise: “He, He
Yu?!!!?”

The boy sat at his desk, his eyebrows fresh, his smile hooked, his lips
thin with character, somewhat stern and evil, like the moment in
Infernal Affairs when the teenager Liu Jianming raised his head to
look at the drunken arry, with the hesitation and insatiable desire of a
young boy who has found his prey.

He raised his eyebrows, “It’s been a long time, Mr Tse.”

That’s how things are.

When she returned to the dormitory, Xie Xue couldn’t take it any
longer and started to cry. He Yu liked her, but he was a bit of an
underdog and not very good at comforting her, so he said to her,
“Then you can cry by yourself, I’ll go to your study and write a story.
I’ll come back out when you’re not feeling bad and have dinner with
you.”

” He Yu can’t you coax!!!”

“So do I have to finish the homework you set?”

“…… there you go.”

But by the time He Yu finished his story, Xie Xue was already crying
herself to sleep.
He was in no hurry to wake up after shouting.

Xie Xue likes to eat first and sleep second. If she is given a good meal,
she will get out of bed in no time. This will not change even if she
becomes a college teacher.

Fifteen minutes later.

“…… What’s this?”

Looking down at the slimy “fried rice with ham and eggs” he served
up, the boy was a bit embarrassed and his pride was particularly high
when he said to his teacher, “Don’t you see, Yang Zhou fried rice.”

“You call this Yang Zhou fried rice?”

“…… Then you don’t have to eat it, I’ll just order a takeaway.” The boy
grimaced, picked up his phone and searched for a restaurant with the
highest ratings, yet was still filling in the address for receiving food
when the doorbell of the faculty dorm rang.

He Yu lifted his almond eyes, “What. A colleague looking for you?”

“No ah, I haven’t even gotten to know them well yet.” Xie Xue put
down her chopsticks and looked up at the clock, “It’s this hour, who
could it be ……”

She said as she slipped on her slippers and ran to the entrance hall.

A few seconds later –

“Brother!” Xie Xue’s surprised voice came from the doorway, “Why
are you here? Aren’t you working late today?”

“……!!!”

The word “brother” was a bolt from the blue, and He Yu’s original lazy
look, which was somewhat gangly and absent-minded, was instantly
broken, and countless dark memories ran through his entire reflex arc
in a flash of lightning.
He immediately got up, grabbed the disgraceful fried rice from the
table and quickly headed for the kitchen trash.

But it was too late, Xie Xue entered the house with her brother on her
arm.

“Brother, I haven’t had a chance to tell you that He Yu is back home,

he’s actually in my class now, he’s sitting in the room, you two haven’t
seen each other for a while, right? –Hey, He Yu!” Xie Xue called out to
him, “Where are you going with your plate?”

“……”

Forget it.

Now that he’s back in the country, he’s always going to meet him
again.

He Yu stood with his back to them, gathering all the true emotions
from his face, before he slowly turned back around, his posture gentle
and graceful.

Compared to the elder brother of the Xie family, who was a full
thirteen years older than himself in front of him, his aura did not seem
to be much better.

He looked at the man whose brow bore a passing resemblance to Xie

Xue’s, the head of the Xie family.

Then the boy backhanded and pinched the back of his neck, watching
over his eyebrows and pausing slightly, “It’s been a long time, Dr.
Shea. …… you seem ……”

He scrutinised him.

The man was still the same as before, with his cold brow and hard
facial lines, a very aggressive facial profile. His eyes are beautiful,
similar to Xie Xue’s, a pair of peach blossom eyes, anyone else with
such eyes would look charming, but he is great, he exemplifies what it
means to be born from the heart, a thousand miles of peach blossom
pond can be frozen into ice by him. The whole person looks cold, hard
and tall.

A very domineering, dictatorial air. Like a grandee in a feudal and

authoritarian family, it would be better to match his pale face with an
imposing set of black velvet sable fur and then two warlord silver
lanyards at the lapels, and it would all come together.

He Yu smiled warmly at last, but there was little laughter in his eyes.

“You seem to be as young as ever, quite young, not old.”

Chapter 3 – I resisted him

somewhat from the beginning
This is Xie Qingcheng, brother of Xie Xue.

Xie Qingcheng once treated He Yu and was the family’s personal

physician.
Although He Yu looks like a normal person on the outside, he has
always given outsiders the impression that he is a gentle, respectful
and thrifty person with excellent character and academic behaviour.
However, the He Yu family has a little-known secret – their “other
family’s child”, who is the envy of all, has been suffering from a rare
mental illness since childhood.

It is an isolated disease, with only four patients recorded to date. Each

patient is in a similar basic state, with congenital defects in the
hormonal and neurological systems, and with a change in
temperament during the disorder. They are usually painfully numb,
but when the disease strikes, they go mad, are bloodthirsty, have a
strong tendency to destroy or self-destruct, and have a standard
antisocial personality.

The clinical term for this disease is “mental Ebola”, which gradually
causes the mind to disintegrate, the body to stiffen, and the body and
mind to die together twice. The disease worsens step by step, just like
cancer, and the patient gradually evolves from a person with full civil
capacity, to a person with limited civil capacity, and eventually to a
person with total loss of civil capacity, becoming a complete lunatic.

Cases 1 to 3, all of whom died before fully deteriorating, couldn’t take

the torture anymore.

He Yu is number 4.

His parents took him to many renowned doctors both at home and
abroad, but to no avail, and the doctors felt that the only way to delay
was to first have a health care provider with He Yu for long-term
supervised treatment to reduce the morbidity.

For various reasons, the He family finally found Xie Qingcheng, who
was only twenty-one years old at the time.

That year, He Yu was eight years old.

But now He Yu is nineteen and Xie Qingcheng is thirty-two.

Xie Qingcheng looked more composed than before, one might even
say indifferent. He was not prone to making too many waves about
things, so he did not report too much surprise at He Yu’s sudden
return, taking only a few seconds to look the young man he had not
seen for three or four years over from head to toe before ignoring He
Yu’s polite pleasantries.

Given his age and social status, he had no interest and no need to go
on the floor with a boy who hadn’t even reached the age of twenty.

He simply asked, “Why are you here.”

“I ……”

“It’s already this hour, and this is the girls’ school staff dormitory
building.”

He Yu smiled, and although he wanted to curse, aren’t you fucking

here too, he said politely, “I haven’t seen Mr Xie for a long time, I’ve
been talking for so long I forgot the time, I’m so sorry, Dr Xie.”

“You don’t have to call me Dr. Shea anymore, I’m not a doctor
anymore.”

He Yu whispered, “Sorry, get used to it.”

“…… oops.” Xie Xue was beside him, seeing the stiff atmosphere
between the two of them, he quickly conciliated, “That, big brother,
you don’t have to look so serious …… He Yu , you sit, you don’t have
to be too nervous, we haven’t seen each other for a long time.”

As she speaks, she distances herself from He Yu again, quite politely –

as she often does, relaxed and more intimate when alone with him,
but keeping a polite boundary with him when others are present,
especially Xie Qingcheng.

He Yu reckons that her behaviour is due to the fact that she has been
taught by Xie Qingcheng since she was a child. Her feudalistic brother
was a standard straight man, and a particularly macho, daddy-like one
at that.
Such people were often very sensitive to the safety concerns of their
female family members. When Xie Xue was a child, Xie Qingcheng
would not even allow her to wear a skirt that did not reach her knees.
Xie Qingcheng’s face was darkened when he saw her on stage. As
soon as she stepped on stage, he asked her why she was participating
in such a messy dance rehearsal, and then forced his own suit jacket
on her.

It was only eight or nine o’clock, but I’m afraid Xie Qingcheng would
have thought it was very late, and it was very inappropriate for He Yu
and his sister to be hanging out alone together.

The man in charge, with his long legs folded, loosens a cufflink while
looking up at He Yu with indifference.

“Tell me how it was such a coincidence that you got into the school
Xie Xue teaches at, or the major she teaches.”

“……”

The gesture was so manly, a complete professional sickness. For a

moment, He Yu felt like a patient who had gone to the hospital for
help, and the doctor, in a bad mood, asked with a stern face.

“Tell me what is uncomfortable.”

He Yu finds it a bit amusing to think this way.

Xie Qingcheng saw that he didn’t answer for half a day, and there
seemed to be a smile at the corner of his mouth, so his eyes became
colder: “Can’t say?”

“……”

He was wrong, it was not the doctor who asked the patient.

The tone is almost like a police officer interrogating a prisoner.

He Yu sighed and said, “No.”

“Then say it.”

“I don’t feel very comfortable abroad and I like the choreography

profession. If you ask me why I am so coincidental, how do you expect
me to explain that?” He Yu smiles and says, as if his nature is patient,
“I’m not a fortune teller.”

“You like choreographers?”

“Yes.”

Xie Qingcheng didn’t ask any more questions as his eyes were drawn
to the ‘fried goose bumps with ham and eggs’ that He Yu was serving.

Xie Qingcheng frowned: “…… something.”

He Yu wanted to throw the plate at Xie Qingcheng’s face, which

looked as if someone owed him a billion dollars, and then add, “What’s
it to you?

But Xie Xue was in the way, so the boys smiled politely at her brother
and said, ” Yang Zhou fried rice.”

Xie Qingcheng looked at it for a few seconds, and with a cold fatherly
face, “Take off your apron, I’ll make a new one.”

“……”

“How have you survived all these years abroad.”

“…… order takeaway.”

The look Xie Qingcheng gave him was sharper, with a touch of
reproach.

He Yu, under such a gaze, felt for no reason like the first time they
had met, on the freshly mown green of the villa, when Xie Qingcheng
looked down at the seven-year-old, his biting eyes seemingly able to
cut open his heart.
It was also He Yu’s birthday, and a group of children were playing in
the He Yu family’s large villa. When the children got tired of playing,
they chatted on the white gravel of the lake cliff about what they
wanted to do when they grew up.

“I want to be a star when I grow up!”

“I want to be a scientist.”

“I want to be an astronaut!”

A little fat man, unsure of what he wanted, but resigned to his

position, looked left and right just in time to see the butler crossing
the front yard with a young doctor.

The green lawn, the blue sky, the young doctor holding in his arms a
bouquet of flowers bought for a visit to the owner, endless summer
hydrangeas in brilliant bloom wrapped in pale silver silk tissue paper,
with silver willow and heavy fresh roses, the bouquet chicly covered
with a layer of gauze for embellishment.

Xie Qingcheng holds the flowers in one hand, while the other is
casually tucked into his coat pocket. He is wearing a clean, well-fitting
lab coat with two ballpoint pens pinned to his chest, his shirt is open
because he is not working formally, revealing his leaden grey shirt
underneath and his long, even legs wrapped in casual trousers.

The little chubby boy looked dumbfounded and after a while,

stretched out his short chubby sausage fingers and pointed at Xie
Qingcheng with a loud voice: “I want to be a …… I want to be a
doctor!”

Suddenly the wind blew hard and the flower sellers were so damned
careless in their packaging that the wind blew the veil off the bouquet
in Xie Qingcheng’s arms and the white veil drifted over the lawn and
then fell when the wind stopped.

The children all looked up at the white veil, which ended up in front of
He Yu, the only one who was not interested.
“……” He Yu was used to being polite and courteous, although he
didn’t like the medical care, the druggist, and the researcher that
would often appear at home. So he still bowed his head, picked up the
soft side of the sarong, and walked over-

“Doctor, you’ve dropped something.”

He tilted his face up and met a pair of pupils’ watery, indifferent eyes.

In the middle of summer, He Yu, who was studying Tang poetry at the
time, somehow came up with the phrase: “The sound of snow is on the
side of bamboo”.

Xie Qingcheng bowed his head and took the veil, the lab coat blowing
slightly with the movement, like the feathers of a white crane after it
had transformed into a demon.

“Thanks.”

At this point, He Yu suddenly smelled a faint odour of potion between

his sleeves.

Some studies say that a large part of how people feel about each other
depends on the scent of each other.

It means that if someone happens to smell like a body scent that you
like, then it is more likely that you will fall in love with them at first
sight. And if that person smells like something you find annoying or
frightening, then I’m afraid that your future relationship will not be a
healthy one.

He Yu does not like the scent of Xie Qingcheng.

Cold, hard, like the countless bitter pills he had swallowed since
childhood, the alcoholic iodine rubbed on his skin before the injection,
the smell of sterile water that permeated the pale, cold,
unaccompanied ward.

He had an almost instinctive fear of the smell and subconsciously

cringed.
But his shoulder was caught by Uncle Butler, who smiled and
introduced himself to the older doctor brother who was making him
uncomfortable, “Doctor Xie, this is our boss’s grandson.”

Xie Qingcheng was about to move his gaze away and stopped for a
moment, his eyes deepening as he gazed at He Yu : “…… So it’s you.”

The look in his eyes reminded He Yu of a scalpel, so sharp that He Yu

had the strange feeling that his heart would be cut open and put
under a microscope.

The young doctor said, “First meeting. In future, I may be the one to
treat your illness.”

He Yu is afraid of doctors, and even a gentle woman doctor makes him

resist, not to mention this kind of nocturnal person who exudes
seriousness and coldness all over his body. The eight-year-old is
immediately uncomfortable, and in order to maintain his poise, he
forces a smile and then turns around.

The scene happened to be witnessed by his mother on the terrace,

and after finishing her business that evening, Mrs Lv Zhishu called
her son into her study, where a cup of hot cocoa, at the right
temperature, was placed on the emerald green flannel-covered tea
table, and she pushed it towards He Yu.

“That Dr. Shea this year, you’ve met him?”

“I’ve seen it.” He Yu was a strict family man and was not so intimate
in the presence of his mother.

Lv Zhishu was disappointed with the perverted son, she had already
given birth to her second child, who was not as smart as her eldest,
but at least he was cute, sweet and healthy, so she was totally devoted
to her second son. As for He Yu, she had little patience: “His name is
Xie Qingcheng and he will be your personal doctor from now on, he
will come to our house every week to see you.

“Hmm.”
Lv Zhishu looked at the eight-year-old boy in front of her with such
composure, and always felt a little frightened in her heart. To remove
this uncomfortable atmosphere, she sighed and teased him a little: ”
He Yu , Dr Xie has signed a contract of sale with our family, if he can’t
cure you, then he will be reduced to the long service of our family,
with no rest all year round, no salary, and not even a wife You can’t
even marry, do you understand what that means.”

“Not really.”

“It means that if you don’t cooperate and discount his treatment,
delaying his return to freedom and preventing him from marrying a
wife in the future, you will be responsible for him and support him for
the rest of his life.”

He Yu was too young then, precocious but only eight years old after
all, so he was still shaken. He immediately looked up, “Can I break my
contract with him?”

“Can’t.” Ms. Lu, who was avidly watching Republican bitter house
dramas while catching her flight these days, actually added an even
more damaging sentence on second thought, “And maybe the way he
asks to be responsible is for you to be his wife, look at you, you look so
good looking, it’s good to be a child bride for someone.”

He Yu had no curiosity about love at that time and was too lazy to
dabble in it, so he didn’t know that marriage in this land was limited
to men and women, and when he heard this from Ms. Lu, the
psychological shadow became even heavier, and for a while even Xie
Qingcheng was in his nightmares: “No, I don’t like you… …I don’t
want to marry you ……!”

This nightmare was not broken until He Jiwei heard about it six
months later.

He Jiwei scolded his wife at the time: “What are you talking about
with the children?”

He also scolded He Yu: “How can you believe such words? Where is
your usual cleverness? You’re a man and so is Dr. Xie, what do you
mean you’ll marry him and be responsible for him, do you have a head
full of Pacific Ocean water?”

He Yu is very gloomy.

For the past six months, when he thought that if he didn’t cooperate
and let Dr. Xie fail to cure his mental illness, he might have to be used
as a child bride by that doctor who reeked of ice, he could only keep
making a fool of himself in front of Dr. Xie on purpose, hoping to make
this man have an extremely bad impression of himself, even if things
really came to that point in the future, this man would definitely not
be interested in him in a way he shouldn’t be.

He spent six months pretending to be crazy in front of Xie Qingcheng,

but all he got was a comment from his father.

“Your mother teases you.”

If not for He Yu’s good manners, he might have blurted out a direct
“Damn you!”. He was so disciplined that at the age of eight, he would
have said “motherfucker”, not to mention “bastard”. Unfortunately,
He Yu was so disciplined that by the time he was eight years old, not
even the word “bastard” had entered his juvenile encyclopaedic
dictionary, let alone such a swear word.

But in any case, through these six months of persistent efforts and
after persistently embarrassing himself in front of Xie Qingcheng, He
Yu has almost accomplished a feat that, no matter how hard he tries,
the next six or seven years ……

No, perhaps more than six or seven years, even after he had left Xie
Qingcheng at the age of fourteen, even today, perhaps it seems to Xie
Qingcheng-

He Yu is still a capitalized, three-dimensional, breathing, panting

douchebag.

The disastrous bowl of fried rice he is holding at the moment is, in Xie
Qingcheng’s eyes, the most compelling evidence that, four years on,
he is still an absolute idiot who can’t even fry a bowl of fried rice.
The boy put down his fried rice and handed his apron to the suited Xie
family’s elder brother, looking calm and collected, but actually a little
gloomy: a blunder, he should not have cooked himself. He shouldn’t
have cooked it himself. Wasn’t this a joke for Xie Qingcheng to pick up
for nothing?

Chapter 4 – I look down at him

when we meet again
He Yu and Xie Xue are sitting at the small, greasy table in the tiny
kitchen, where the sound of frying oil is heard.

Xie Xue cleared her gloom and smiled quite easily as she waited for
her elder brother to finish the meal.
He Yu also smiled perfunctorily, but inwardly rolled his eyes.

The sliding door in the kitchen with the poster on it is opened and the
familiar smell of rice comes out first, then Xie Qingcheng comes out,
his apron off, his shirt waisted and his trousers straight. Despite his
aloof nature, he was a good big brother, as his parents had died young
and he was the head of the family and had grown up looking after the
younger generation, so he was a good cook.

When Xie Xue saw her brother with his sleeves half rolled up, carrying
a tray and setting it on the humble little table, she gave a loud shout
and jumped up happily to help her brother set the tray and get the
cutlery.

“It smells so good. Brother, you’re so handsome you’re so handsome! I

love you so much I love you so much, come on! I’m starving!”

Xie Qingcheng sulked: “Girls don’t put such words on their lips. It’s
not like that. Go on, wash your hands first.”

And to He Yu: “You too.”

He Yu It’s been a long time since I’ve had fried rice like this.

Xie Qingcheng’s fried rice is fluffy and golden, and the rice is well-
defined – He Yu used to watch Xie Qingcheng stir-fry this favourite
staple of his sister’s when he was a child, and knew that good fried
rice needs to be made from overnight rice, not too moist and not too
dry. Before the rice is added to the pan, it is tossed in a large bowl of
beaten egg so that each piece of rice is evenly coated with a golden
brown colour.

When the hot oil comes to a boil, quickly drop two fresh eggs into the
pan, break them up and stir them around, then quickly stir them up.
Add the lard and stir-fry the rice covered with the egg mixture in the
pan over high heat.

But this is not authentic Yang Zhou fried rice, Xie Qingcheng has
adapted it to Xie Xue’s taste and never put green beans in it, but that
doesn’t stop it from being delicious, all three plates of steaming hot
fried rice are golden brown and oily, glowing under the lamp, resting
on small pieces of ham, smooth shrimps and green onions sprinkled
on top, the colour and The colour and flavour of the rice is very
appealing.

He Yu eats his meal, but inwardly he does the maths.

Xie Xue was laughing and joking all through the meal, but since Xie
Qingcheng was here, most of her laughter was directed at her
brother, and the two siblings were chatting freely together, while he
was a non-existent backdrop to their conversation because he hadn’t
been around the two for so long.

The backdrop was unhappy and he had to find a way to get rid of Xie
Qingcheng.

“Want some more?”

He Yu looked back and said politely to Xie Qingcheng, who was

looking at him, “No need.”

“Brother, I want more, you can give me more!”

Xie Qingcheng took Xie Xue’s plate and Xie Xue said to He Yu, biting
his chopsticks, “My brother’s cooking is much better than yours, it’s
very tasty, don’t you want another bowl?”

He Yu grinned, “You’re the only one who can crush the scales, so I
won’t add to the mess.”

“Hey! Where are you like that! You hate me!”

“You were the one who first thought my cooking wasn’t as good as
his-”

The two of them were in the middle of a joke when Xie Qingcheng’s
voice came from the kitchen, “Xie Xue, what are you doing putting a
bucket of water in here?”

“Oh.” Xie Xue immediately stopped playing with He Yu, as if she was
not the one who had just been giggling with him, and sat upright,
“The school said that the water in the dormitory would be cut off
tomorrow, so I drew a bucket of water to store it, but the kitchen is
too small, so I had to put it in the cupboard because it was in the
way.”

“Put it so high, what if you don’t pay attention when you push the
door and fall off?”

The idiot said, “Gee, brother, you don’t have to worry about it, it’s
fine.”

He Yu, who has a passion for pulling the pigtails of girls he likes,
listened to the conversation between the two of them, and her pretty,
innocent eyes swept into the kitchen, and suddenly a very bad trick
came to her mind ……

The three of them had dinner and Xie Qingcheng didn’t like to clean
up, so He Yu, an apparently gentle and reliable boy, naturally took on
the job of washing the dishes and cleaning the pots.

“Do you want help?” Xie Xue asked.

“I’ll call you later if I need you.” He Yu smiled, turned to the kitchen
and closed the door behind him.

His smile disappeared as soon as the door closed.

He Yu began to look carefully at the angle, first moving the bucket of

water resting on the chest of drawers out a little, to a position where
the door would open just enough to knock it over.

Then, calmly, he found the hairdryer Xie Xue had placed on the
second shelf of the chest of drawers, put it in the sink without
blinking, and unscrewed the tap.

“Wow…”

The high-end hair dryer that Xie Xue had bought with half a month’s
salary was thus washed up as a pile of useless junk by her
unquestioning young master He.
Very good.

He Yu calmly dries the hairdryer and stuffs it back into the cupboard.

Preliminary preparations are completed.

He glanced through the door at the girl who was laughing with Xie
Qingcheng, turned back to his white shirt, rolled up the sleeves and
quietly turned on the tap to start pouring detergent and washing the
dishes.

That’s a great guy! A good young man!

However, I guess too many bad deeds always result in retribution.

Just as He Yu had finished preparing for all the action and had just
shaken the water off his hands, ready to let the heroine in for this
“coincidental” encounter he had planned, he suddenly heard footsteps
coming from outside the kitchen. He Yu immediately turns around to
see a tall, erect male figure already reflected in the frosted glass.

He Yu’s almond eyes widened and before he could stop them, he

heard Xie Qingcheng say from outside, “He Yu, I’ll come in and wash
my hands.”

“Wait-”

Half a word had barely escaped his lips when a startling noise was
heard, and the bucket which He Yu had deliberately rested on the
edge of the chest of drawers swung round, and-

“Wow!”

The bucket full of water, which, according to He Yu’s plan, was

supposed to fall on Xie Xue’s head, fell straight on Xie Qingcheng’s
handsome face!

Fuck!

Not a fucking drop wasted!

He Yu : “……”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

The water splashes and fills the room, the meritorious bucket rolls
back and forth around Xie Qingcheng from his head wet to his shoes,
and finally, as if the oldest man was walking, rolls slowly outside the
living room, stopping contentedly in front of Xie Xue’s slippers, who
arrives at the sound of panic.

Xie Xue was shaking with fear as he witnessed the whole thing from
outside.

It’s over ……

It’s fucking over, it’s over, it’s over!

Xie Xue watched as her older brother, drenched to the skin, slowly
turned his head towards him, his already fair face appearing even
more jade-white and dark-browed under the wash of a huge bucket of
rain that had fallen from the sky, his damp, broken hair falling over
his forehead and dripping down. The water dripped across his brow
and into his eyes, which widened in disbelief, and he squinted
subconsciously before snapping back to attention.

” Xie Xue!!!”

Xie Xue was jolted and shrunk himself in fear.

Xie Qingcheng shook off his dripping forehead and said angrily, “I told
you not to put the bucket on the chest of drawers!!!”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Xie Xue came shivering in, grabbing a mop and
a tissue, handing the tissue to her brother as she went to the chest of
drawers to look for the hair dryer, “Brother, I didn’t think it would fall
…… It was fine when it was in and out… . you blow dry your hair first,
don’t catch a cold.”

He Yu blinked sheepishly at the back with warm, almond eyes.

Xie Xue pulls Xie Qingcheng into the living room and unknowingly
digs out the hairdryer that He Yu drenched with water until it was
scrapped, connects it to the electrical panel and flips the switch.

No movement.

“Huh?”

Press again.

Still no movement.

“……”

Press repeatedly.

“…… brother.” Xie Xue looked at her brother’s gloomy to the core
face, almost feeling like she was dying, and said in a trembling voice,
“The hair, hair dryer seems to be broken ……”

Xie Qingcheng looked past the icy peach blossom eyes, “Is this the
hair dryer you told me you bought for four thousand dollars?”

Xie Xue almost fell to his knees.

How could she be so unlucky!!!

Xie Qingcheng didn’t understand why she had bought a hair dryer
that cost more than a regular TV set and scolded her at the time,
thanks to her repeated explanations of how good it was, how well it
cared for her hair and, most importantly, the quality of the machine,
which would last for 20 years.

“I swear, I’ll use this one hair dryer for twenty years! Or you can chop
my head off for the IQ tax!”

With the words still ringing in her ears, Xie Xue felt a chill run down
her neck under Xie Qingcheng’s cold gaze and could not help but take
a step back, raising her hand to cover her neck.
She was at a loss as to what to do when Xie Xue caught a glimpse of
He Yu, wiping his hands clean and coming out of the kitchen in a
human-like manner. Can you do me a favour? My hairdryer is broken!
I didn’t know I was so unlucky! Do you have a change of clothes in
your dormitory? Do you have a hairdryer? Can you bring my brother
over to change? Thank you, teacher!”

“……”

Acting so polite in front of her brother again.

He Yu smiled and was very cooperative: “Mr Xie, you’re very

flattering.”

Eyes turn to Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng is leaning back on the sofa, water still dripping down
from his sharp jaw, his casual grey shirt completely wet, the fabric
clinging to his skin, revealing the faint outline of his chest and his slim
waist – he is now staring sideways, his eyes slanted, his thin lips
pursed, his face grim. He is now staring at Xie Xue with a sullen look
on his face, as if he is ready to euthanise his defeated sister.

He Yu looked at him and felt a slight headache.

In his original plan, it was Xie Xue who ended up soaking wet and
desperate to follow him back to his dormitory to blow-dry his hair.

How did it come to be Xie Qingcheng by mistake?

He is a straight man of steel and hates doctors, and is not at all

welcome to have the old man Xie Qingcheng visit his dorm room.

Xie Xue had already asked for help, so he sighed softly and walked
over to Xie Qingcheng and said to the gloomy-looking doctor sitting on
the sofa.

“You’re soaking wet, so don’t stare at people. Dr. Xie, come back with
me to change into a set of clothes? My dorm is not far from here, just
ten minutes away. Let’s go.”
.

When He Yu took Xie Qingcheng home, it was dinner time and his
roommates had all gone out for food, so there was no one else in the
house.

“Wear this.” He Yu took a clean set of trousers from the wardrobe and
handed them to Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng looks disgusted: “A sports t-shirt?”

“What’s wrong?”

He can’t even remember what he used to look like in these clothes,

they don’t suit him now.

“You give me a shirt.”

“Tch, I’m so sorry Dr Xie, you don’t have a choice.” He Yu laughed a

little, but at the moment Xie Xue was out of the picture and he
stopped pretending.

His smile was suddenly as perfunctory and thin as a piece of gauze,

his eyes dark and heavy, with no sense of sincerity, and his manner of
speaking to Xie Qingcheng was no longer so polite: “I really only have
this one here in your size, my shirt is too big for you.”

Xie Qingcheng raises his eyes, his gaze passing through the damp
forehead of hair that stabs at his eyes and falls on He Yu’s face.

He Yu wiped away the pretense of politeness, and the playfulness of

his lips became obvious as he met Xie Qingcheng’s gaze and raised
his eyebrows slightly: “No? If not, you’ll have to go out naked.”

“……”

Xie Qingcheng yanked the change of clothes from his hand and
headed for the bathroom with a stern face.
He Yu was standing outside the bathroom waiting for him to change
when he suddenly thought the scene looked familiar ……

He spoke to the man inside through the woolen glass door, “By the
way Dr. Tse, I suddenly remembered something from before.”

“Do you remember the year I went to your college dormitory-”

“Don’t remember, get out.”

He Yu laughed, and before he could finish his sentence, Xie

Qingcheng denied it outright, what was the difference between that
and a categorical admission?

Xie Qingcheng clearly remembered the old feud as well as he did.

Even a piece of clothing is his revenge on Xie Qingcheng after a long

period of time.

It’s nice to think that this is how it must feel to turn over a new leaf
after so many years?

“Hurry up, then.” Without Xie Xue around, He Yu’s tail was almost
hidden from Xie Qingcheng’s face. He smiled and leaned against the
bathroom door, his arms in his hands, a hint of uncontrollable
gangster in his voice, flexing his index finger and tapping the frosted
glass, “We have to go back to your sister after we change.”

A few minutes later, Xie Qingcheng pushed his way out aggressively,
hitting He Yu with a thud and even nearly toppling him to the ground.

He Yu was caught off guard and let out a muffled grunt, bowing to
cover his nose.

Xie Qingcheng raised his eyes indifferently, “Why are you so close.”

He Yu was in so much pain that he didn’t want to pretend at all: “……

Xie Qingcheng , are you being reasonable? You are the one who
bumped into it.”
When his temper got the better of him, he would still refer to Xie
Qingcheng by his full name in private.

Xie Qingcheng paused, “Go and get an ice pack.”

“Where am I going to find ice?” He Yu took his hand off the bridge of
his red nose and rubbed it, barely containing his anger, but he
couldn’t help but contradict him, “You look like ice to me, just put
your hand on it.”

I’m homophobic.” Xie Qingcheng imagined the image and gave a cold,
concise assessment: “Too gay.

With that, he pushed his chest away and walked around into the
dormitory, looking around.

He Yu was also speechless by him, “What are you talking about, I

didn’t mean that, you’re homophobic I’m more homophobic than you
are ……”

“Where’s the hairdryer?” Xie Qingcheng didn’t have to grace the boys
with an explanation. He didn’t bother to listen either.

“…… stool.”

He Yu was standing on the balcony, still a little upset, staring at Xie

Qingcheng from afar, wondering why he was Xie Xue’s brother.

Xie Xue sees her brother as a saviour and adores him to the core.

He did not understand what it was about Xie Qingcheng that made
him worthy of worship.

Yokohama is just an old man.

But as he watched, He Yu became a bit distracted.

He remembered that Xie Qingcheng used to be a sort of childhood

nightmare in his eyes. He was always afraid of him and had to see
him, had to be humiliated and disgraced in front of him. Xie
Qingcheng had seen him go crazy, and he had struggled frantically
with his restraint belt tied around him, roaring at him like a crazed
beast. Xie Qingcheng looked at him then with a calm look in his eyes,
approaching him under the shadowless lamp, he smelled the cold
sterile water, then the needle pierced his skin ……

At that time he thought Xie Qingcheng was so tall.

Very cold again.

Powerful, undeniable, and cloudy, he can’t seem to shake this

nightmare for the rest of his life.

But to my surprise, after a few years of not seeing each other, who
looked up to whom and who looked down on whom, they have all
fallen upside down.

He Yu looked at him with slightly downcast eyes…

What’s going on.

Now that I look at it again, he doesn’t seem as scary as he used to be.

Perhaps it is because many people have false impressions of things

they saw as children, impressions made by the brain over the years,
but not the original. For example, when I was a child, I watched a TV
show that seemed so long, but when I look back, I see that it was only
about 20 episodes long, or the sheepdogs that I feared as a child,
which seemed bigger than a tall horse, but when I look at old photos, I
see that the animal only reached the knees of an adult.

Perhaps this was the psychological difference between him and Xie
Qingcheng.

His gaze paused for a long time, so long that Xie Qingcheng was
aware of it.

Xie Qingcheng turned back, cold eyes: “What are you looking at?”

He Yu was quiet for a moment: “See if my clothes fit you.”

“……”

“It’s really big.” He Yu said, ” Xie Qingcheng , I remember you used to

be very tall.”

Xie Qingcheng said coldly, “I don’t think I need to use my height and
size to strut my stuff.”

Then he turned and went back to blow-drying his own hair, only his
face looked a little grim before he turned his head.

He Yu suddenly realised at this moment that his childhood nightmare

was just an ordinary man, even a little thin, his white T was too big on
him, and the pale skin could be seen in the recesses of the neckline,
like a stream of water falling from a snowy mountain, filling the
shadows of his clothes.

Strange, how could one be so afraid of him back then?

Before he knew it, Xie Qingcheng was blow-drying his hair, a straight
man not very good at primping himself. You can have your clothes
back tomorrow.”

“There’s no need to return it. I’m not used to wearing clothes that
have been worn by others. Just throw them away when you’re done
wearing them, they’re old too.”

Having said that, Xie Qingcheng stopped insisting and ruffled the end
of his hair, which was still a little wet, and said, “All right then, I’ll go
first.”

“You’re not coming with me over to Xie Xue again?”

“No, I’m not going.” Xie Qingcheng said, “I have other things to do
tonight.”

“Writing a thesis?”
Xie Qingcheng was not in the social habit of hiding his personal
affairs, or perhaps he didn’t care, so he put on his watch, fastened the
clasp and glanced over at He Yu: “A blind date.”

He Yu, who had only been chatting casually with him, did not react at
first, still distracted, and even secretly glad that Xie Qingcheng had
finally had the sense to leave, but after a few seconds, the two words
finally ran through his ears in a reflex arc that could circle the globe
and reached the end of his brain.

He Yu was slightly surprised and abruptly turned back to me, his

almond eyes widening.

Isn’t Xie Qingcheng married?

Why do you need a blind date?

How come Xie Xue didn’t even mention it to him?

He Yu blinked, holding a thread of thought in his head amidst the

chaos of thoughts that came to him.

He looked at Xie Qingcheng, half of whose face was sunken in the

shadows of the light and very indifferent, hesitated for a moment and
asked tentatively, “Are you …… divorced?”

Chapter 5 – He’s divorced

Xie Qingcheng didn’t seem to want to say anything more to He Yu and
just asked, ” Xie Xue didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

“Then she probably thinks it’s a private matter for me.”

He Yu was quiet for a moment: “Are you and Li Ruoqiu incompatible?”

Li Ruoqiu is the name of Xie Qingcheng’s ex-wife.

He Yu is very impressed with the woman who is married to Xie

Qingcheng and thinks that there is something wrong with her that she
can go to the grave of marriage with a fatherly and cold man like Xie
Qingcheng.

In his mind, Xie Qingcheng seems to be a desperate man, sitting at his

desk in a neat white coat, with a voluminous bookshelf behind him
and the smell of cold, sober medicine on his body.

He Yu found it hard to believe that Xie Qingcheng would ever love

anyone, and even harder to believe that anyone would ever love Xie
Qingcheng.

But Dr. Tse did get married.

He remembers the day of the wedding, when he went to pay his share
as his mother had asked him to, and he went so casually that he
hadn’t even changed out of his school uniform yet. The driver drove
him to the hotel, and he entered with his school bag over one
shoulder, his white sneakers on, and his hands in the pockets of his
school uniform sweatpants.

Xie Qingcheng is there to welcome guests.

The wedding team did his make-up and he stood in the middle of the
crowd, his body straight and dignified, his dark eyebrows looking like
stars had fallen on them. The master of ceremonies was talking to
him, but it was too noisy and Xie Qingcheng was too tall to hear him,
so he tilted his head to the side so that the master of ceremonies
could speak close to his ear.

Skin like a glazed world, lips like frosty red plums.

He Yu is not into men, but he is a very aesthetic man.

In that moment, he had the feeling that although the woman called Li
Ruoqiu was also very good-looking, in all fairness to He Yu, he
thought that with her and Xie Qingcheng, the proposal picture might
look something like this –

Xie Qingcheng should be dressed in white, with his usual biros and
pen, standing with his hands in his pockets like a flower on a high hill,
and then say to the girl in an exasperated tone of voice.

“I will marry you, get down on your knees and give thanks.”

Of course, he’s a very good disguiser and he won’t tell the truth.

He Yu, carrying a shoulder bag, smiled as he walked up and stood in

front of the handsome groom and beautiful bride and said, “Thank
you, Doctor, sister-in-law.”

Li Ruoqiu : “This is…”

Xie Qingcheng introduces his wife: “A friend’s son.”

He had an agreement with the He family that he would not say

outside that He Yu was a patient.

Li Ruoqiu complimented, “How beautiful, what a good looking child.”

He Yu owed a polite, gentlemanly bow, his dark eyes smiling, “No,

sister-in-law, you are the one who really looks beautiful.”

With that, the teenager took the sealed red envelope from his
shoulder canvas school bag, which was very thick, and said gently, “I
wish you and Dr. Xie a hundred years of good luck.”
Hundred years of goodwill my ass.

He had thought then that a man like Xie Qingcheng would not be
tolerated by anyone, but he had not expected this marriage to be
really so short-lived. Now it seems he still has the ability to speak of
Ling?

He Yu held back his gloating and asked, without moving, “Why did
you leave.”

Xie Qingcheng did not say anything.

“I remember she was very fond of you back then. She came to my
house after she and you got married, and she didn’t have anyone in
her eyes then but you.”

Xie Qingcheng opened his mouth and said, ” He Yu , this is really a

personal matter for me.”

He Yu raises his eyebrows slightly.

As he surveyed Xie Qingcheng’s lonely appearance, he suddenly felt

as if many things were different about the man he had seen again
after returning from a few years abroad.

He just wasn’t curious about the changes in Xie Qingcheng, so he

gave a final laugh, “Never mind then, good luck on your blind date.”

Xie Qingcheng’s pale gaze glanced over him, and without saying
thank you, he turned and walked away.

The dormitory door closes behind him.

As He Yu mentions his ex-wife, Xie Qingcheng can’t help but think

back to his own failed marriage to Li Ruoqiu as he walks along the
road.

Xie Qingcheng actually knew why Xie Xue did not mention this to He
Yu.
Because the reason for his divorce is embarrassing – Li Ruoqiu did
love him, but she did stop loving him later.

She cheated.

This was something Xie Qingcheng could not accept; he was a man
who did not know what love was, but knew what family
responsibilities were, and in some places he was very conservative in
his thinking.

But she is different.

She believes that love is the most important thing in a marriage, not
responsibility, so in the end they break up and fall in love with a
married man, and after the incident she cries and accuses him of only
having work in his eyes and heart, and that being married to him is no
different from being married to a cold work schedule.

Such accusations are not without merit, and Xie Qingcheng knows
that he is a man without emotion.

In this relationship, Xie Qingcheng did not really feel any love, she
chased him for years, and he found it suitable, and after a period of
contact, he got married.

After marriage, he did not shirk from doing all the things that a
husband should do, all the duties that he should do.

But that’s not the kind of marriage she wants.

Xie Qingcheng is very committed, but he is not romantic and his

nature is somewhat aloof. He even manages to remain calm and
rational in bed, not sunken, not obsessed, like a man who has to do his
duty after forming a family, but not so keen.

Her heart grew cold.

She cheated on him and turned back to him and said, ” Xie Qingcheng
, you are a man without a heart. You still don’t understand to this day
that I want to have love, not just marriage.”
But what is love?

Xie Qingcheng felt a headache coming on, and it took a lot of effort to
keep himself from slapping the table in anger. He looked at her then,
for a long time, and finally spoke numbly, his voice as calm as
stagnant water: “Does that man like you? He has a wife and a
daughter, how much do you think he really means to you?”

When asked this question, she raised her head and her gaze burned
with something that Xie Qingcheng simply could not understand.

“…… I don’t care if he has a wife and kids. All I know is that when he
hugged me, it was at least passionate. I could hear his racing heart.
Unlike you, Xie Qingcheng , you’re clean, you never mess around, you
give me your money and your home, but your heartbeat for me is like
a dead man’s EKG, always a straight line after all these years of
marriage.”

“Life in this world is just a few decades, he had been bound by his
own unhappy marriage, and so was I. Now I’m open to the idea that I
can live without a name, without money, without even a reputation,
whether people call me a slut or a broken shoe, I just want to be with
him.”

Xie Qingcheng closed his eyes, the cigarette in his hand almost
burning his fingers: ” Li Ruoqiu, are you crazy? There is no love in this
world, love is all about the dopamine in your body, it’s your hormones
at work, but there is responsibility in this world, there is family.
You’re burned out to be with him, is he willing to divorce and live with
you?”

Silence.

Then that fire in Li Ruoqiu’s eyes burned hotter and more frantic, and
she finally said to him, tearfully but invariably stubbornly, “I just don’t
want to make myself regret it.”

” Xie Qingcheng , there is love in this world, it may be treacherous

and against human decency, it may be down to the dirt and dirty, but
it exists and it has nothing to do with hormones and dopamine.”
“I’m sorry I can’t live with you anymore because I now know what
love is. I love him, even though it’s wrong.”

After all these years of divorce, Xie Qingcheng still finds this
conversation absurd whenever she thinks about it.

If the so-called love is to make a person know that it is wrong, but also
to break his head, knowing that a foot down is the abyss, but also to
be obsessed, cursed, spiteful, moral, life, the bottom line …… anything
can be ignored.

He could not empathise with it.

He was a hard man, but after all, he was straight and somewhat
macho, and he was still hurt when his wife cheated on him and ran off
with a married man.

For a while after his divorce, Xie Qingcheng continued to work, write
his thesis, and lead his students, without any signs of distress. But it
was obvious to everyone around him that he was rapidly losing
weight, his cheeks were slightly sunken, and he spoke with a rasp in
his voice.

Out of the fear that “if he dies, the school will be in the news”, the
leader asked him warmly, “Professor Xie, if you are not feeling well,
take some time off to rest at home, don’t push yourself.”

The content was so detailed and systematic that the leader asked
himself if he could have completed such a project in such a short time,
even when he was at his most alert and strongest.

“Do you want me to go back?” Xie Qingcheng leaned back in his office
chair, his long fingers folded, his thin paper-like figure, his thin
smoke-like form, still clear, one might even say cold and sharp when
he raised his eyes to look at people.

“I do want to take a break, but please make sure that the first lecture
of this class can be made like this by anyone else but me.”

There are naturally no people who can make it like this.

The leader also saw in his torch-like gaze that his school would not be
on the hot seat for a while – it was not the kind of look one would get
from someone about to die.

But almost no one knew that Xie Qingcheng would sit in the house
and smoke whenever he got home, coughing uncontrollably, almost
turning his lungs black and turning the whole house into a nicotine
playground, in order to be able to work properly and to keep his
broken emotions buried.

It was hard for him to be seen by his neighbour’s Auntie Lai in this
way.

Xie’s family was originally very well-off, and his parents were both
very high-ranking police superintendents, but then they made an
important mistake in a case and were both relegated to the
grassroots. In order to provide her with medical care, they sold their
large house and moved to a small alleyway in the old city of Hu Zhou,
where they lived in poverty, but made friends with many enthusiastic
neighbours.

When Xie Qingcheng’s parents died, Xie Qingcheng was not yet an
adult and had to take on the responsibility of being the head of the
family.

Auntie Li is a little younger than Xie Qingcheng’s mother and loves

children, but she has never married and has no children of her own.
She almost treated the Xie siblings as if they were her own babies,
especially after the death of both Xie’s father and mother, and this
floating, weedy woman and the two children whose parents had
abandoned them found something in each other that they could not
abandon.

When Xie Qingcheng got divorced, Auntie Li was in tears for a while
and then, like a worried old mother, she tried to introduce him to
girls.

He, too, went all the way so as not to hurt Auntie Lai’s feelings, but he
was really just going through the motions, and he wasn’t a very good
choice for the girls –
When Xie Qingcheng got married for the first time, he was in a very
good position, handsome, tall, a doctor in a tertiary care hospital, in
his twenties, in his prime and with a bright future.

The only hardware flaw is that he comes from a less than stellar
background and has no money.

Now, however, he is a second marriage, his salary as a university

professor is not as high as when he was a doctor, and he is no longer
so young, so his flaws become unusually craggy and diaphanous. A
divorced man, at the age of four, without a good house or a good car,
and with a sister in tow who is not married and needs his attention.

A good-looking face is not a star, and it can’t always be exchanged for

money to get by.

How could the parents of the girl not mind?

Dating is not the same as falling in love, where the first look says it’s
about eye contact, but it’s actually a combination of conditions, so
conversations often occur like this.

“It’s a good job, isn’t it? Can you look after your family?”

“I can’t. Because it’s a medical school professor, the lecture content

needs to be very careful not to make mistakes, and students have a lot
of questions and often work late.”

“Oh …… that’s a good paycheck, isn’t it?”

“It will probably take another three years or so of teaching before I

get promoted. But I’m not sure I’ll still be at the college after three
years.”

“So… …… Do you have any other family members at home?”

“…… has a sister.”

“Married?”
“Not yet.”

……

The jabs are often sharp and blunt, knife-like dissecting away the
person’s conditioning and chipping away at the other person’s initially
hopeful smile.

When Auntie Lai found out, she was so anxious: “Hey, dating is all
about boasting about yourself! It’s a rule of engagement, everyone
else brags about themselves, but you come up and say you’re worse,
people think I’ll say worse, but who knows you’ll do the opposite!”

Xie Qingcheng was going to say, “I don’t want to get married

anymore.”

But meeting Auntie Lai’s anxious to somewhat sad eyes, the words
changed to, “…… I’m used to it. I’m sorry.”

Auntie Lai stared at him, and as she stared, she got a little choked up:
“Son, you say you’re so good, how come Buddha doesn’t bless you ……
I burn incense every day and worship every day, just to beg God to
find another good marriage for my family’s treasure, then it would be
worth it if I died immediately… …”

“Auntie Lai, you can’t talk nonsense.”

“I’m an old man I’m still afraid of what, you’re different, you’re still
young, if you don’t have a good time later, I go underground, where
can I face your father and Muying ……”

Auntie Lai insisted on finding him all sorts of girls, always hoping to
set him up in a marriage.

Xie Qingcheng is a hard man with a proud heart who refuses to lie or
be picked on, and for some reason he is in a completely different state
of mind than he was when he met Li Ruoqiu, and he is pretty sure he
will never spend the rest of his life with anyone.
But with a man in charge like him, how could he stand to have his
friends and family grieve and shed tears for him? He could only
accept that they were living happily under his protection and care.

So even if the outcome was predictable, he would still agree to go to

those job application-like blind dates just to make Aunty Lai happier.

The match was with a very young girl called Bai Jing, whose family
has a relative who teaches at the university and is also a member of a
well-known medical school. She was working as a luxury counter girl
in Hu Zhou’s most fashionable mall.

In the coastal cities, there is no shortage of billionaire owners, the

girls spend their days immersed in the high luxury counters, listening
to the men and women who come and go from the customers, they
can not help but have the illusion that they are also very noble and
cool, look at people with their heads held high, first look at the clothes
logo, those boys wearing Adi Nike all in the heart stamped with poor
steel, at least a prada before The first thing you need to do is to take a
look at the logo.

When Xie Qingcheng arrived at the cafe, Bai Jing was on the phone
with her girlfriend: “Oh, yes, you don’t even know, I meet those idiots
every day at work, and today there were two mothers and sons, the
son was wearing something, I don’t know, I guess it was a treasure
hunt, if not for my professionalism, I would have rolled my eyes to the
sky, hey, wearing Taobao to shop at our counter. Our counter, you
have a dimple not dimple.”

Bai Jing listened to her girlfriend say something back on the other end
of her mobile phone and hid her amusement as her little thumb with
the broken diamond tilted up and stirred the coffee in her little cup.

“What else can I buy? A pair of slippers at our counter probably cost
them half a year’s salary. Hey, honey, and I’ll tell you what, you know
what that boy said to me when he came up? He said to me, ‘Do you
sell baseball caps here? My mum likes sports and she’s having a
birthday today and I want to buy her a baseball cap.’ .”
Bai Jing laughs and trembles.

“I went straight back to him and said, sorry oh, we’ve never had a
baseball cap out of this brand, don’t you know our brand sir?
Hahahahaha, you didn’t see his face! Special wonderful …… oops,
wait a minute, and I match the man seems to come, I first do not talk
to you, back together to Bulgari hit the afternoon tea oh baby, love
you! Mua!”

Unfortunately, the cafe was noisy and Xie Qingcheng was looking for
someone, so she didn’t hear her rant.

Bai Jing saw the way he looked from side to side and fit the
description of “tall, handsome, peach blossom eyes, but cold
temperament”, and immediately waved at him, “Hi!

Xie Qingcheng came over: “Well. Hello.”

Bai Jing looked him up and down, finally fixing her gaze on his simple
T-shirt, and suddenly smiled brightly, her voice cooing an octave:
“Hello, hello, my name is Bai Jing.”

Chapter 6 – Still have to go on a

blind date
Xie Qingcheng had heard before he arrived that this young lady was
concerned about men’s income, but to his surprise, after he had told
her that his salary was not too high, she still did not lose her
enthusiasm.
Bai Jing smiled: “Professor Xie is a true intellectual, he’s really
modest. It’s hard to find such a sincere man these days.”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

“Professor Xie seems to have good taste too… a man of great taste in
life, isn’t he?”

Xie Qingcheng frowned: “No, I-”

“I can tell by the way you’re dressed.”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

He was confused for a while until Bai Jing restrained himself and said,
“Professor Xie, that T-shirt you’re wearing is a genuine model from
our counter.

Xie Qingcheng finally realises that the reason for the wrong
atmosphere on the date is the change of clothes that He Yu lent to
her.

He pondered for a moment what the girl had said, and then
remembered He Yu’s understatement – “No need to return it. I’m not
used to wearing clothes that have been worn by others. You can throw
them away when you’re done with them, they’re old too.”

“……”

The capitalism of all evils.

Bai Jing smiled: “Professor Xie, you don’t want to go out with me, this
dress is almost a year’s salary for many people, and it’s hard to get it
in China without some connections.

Xie Qingcheng said, “It’s a misunderstanding. I borrowed this dress

from a friend.”

“Borrowed?” Bai Jing’s eyes widened instantly.

The latter conversation is somewhat lacklustre, and this blind date
returns to reality after the originally browbeaten counter girl learns
the truth.

Bai Jing’s interest in him waned noticeably, and apart from forcing a
photo with him, she kept snapping away at the dessert and reversing
the camera on herself. A few clients occasionally sent messages in the
middle of the session, and she didn’t shy away from replying directly
by voice–

“Mrs. Zhang, don’t worry, that limited edition bag is of course

reserved for you, gee, you don’t have to send me an extra thank you
gift, it’s embarrassing.”

“Mr. Wang, the dress you ordered last time has arrived, when do you
think it will be convenient to come to the shop? Yes, it was altered in
advance to your size, large size, but the front closure has to close 2.
Don’t worry, I have it all written down here.”

After the meal was over, Xie Qingcheng settled the bill and looked
down at Bai Jing, who was about the same age as his student. He was
a macho man, so he said, “I’ll call a taxi for you.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Bai Jing said nonchalantly, “Then I’ll be grateful to
Professor Xie.”

But this is one of Hu Zhou’s busiest streets, and it’s the evening rush
hour, so the pair waited half a day for a taxi with a passenger.

Xie Qingcheng sighed, “If you don’t mind, I’ll walk you a little further,
it’s better to take a turn at that junction ahead.”

Bai Jing : “That’s fine, but I have a live broadcast at 8 o’clock, I have a
fixed time, so fans will be upset if I miss my appointment, do you
mind?”

Xie Qingcheng doesn’t play live streaming software, but Xie Xue does,
so he knows a little bit about it, and when he heard Bai Jing say that,
he casually asked, “You’re still a host?”
“Yeah, I’m working hard, sooner or later I’ll be a top stream anchor,
hehehe.”

Xie Qingcheng nodded, “It’s good to have a dream, so let’s go, I don’t
mind.”

“Thank you, brother, you’re not very rich, but you’re quite handsome.”
Bai Jing smiled and caught up with him, “By the way, it doesn’t matter
if I catch you on camera later, right? Everyone likes to see handsome
guys.”

“…… as you wish.”

Ten minutes later, Xie Qingcheng regretted the words “whatever you
want” that she had said ten minutes earlier.

He was so out of touch with the times that he didn’t know there was
such a thing as live streaming for young people nowadays. Bai Jing
fished a pink selfie stick out of his bag and started waving it from side
to side, mouthing lines that he found inexplicable and uninformative,
rambling on and on, not knowing exactly what he was trying to say.

“This is the busiest street in Hu Zhou, with lots of good looking guys
and girls, hey did you see that bag that the passerby is carrying?
That’s a high quality replica, I can tell right away, if you want to know
how to identify the real one, remember to follow me.”

“Oh yes, this is a handsome guy I met today next to me, superb
temperament, highly knowledgeable professor, makes a million
dollars a year, look at that out of print t-shirt on him, ah yes, he’s the
one who bought me dinner, and now he’s taking me home. Thank you
all for your well wishes, thank you!”

Xie Qingcheng wondered if he was deaf, and was just about to turn his
head to rebuke her when Bai Jing nimbly turned the camera around
and cut the mute.

“Sorry brother, it’s not easy to make a living, don’t tear me down ok.”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

He just couldn’t figure out why anyone would like to put false
happiness on the internet and use inflated materialistic desires to
attract viewers.

But that was fine, he didn’t want to get into more trouble with the
little girl.

The blind date would have ended so stoically – if not, for the next
person they met.

The man in the middle of the accident came at the three-way

intersection.

Xie Qingcheng and Bai Jing walked for over ten minutes to a less
crowded roadside where they were waiting for a bus. Bai Jing was
talking to her fans on air about the season’s high-end luxury products.

Halfway through the introduction, the perceptive Bai Jing suddenly

spotted a blurred shadow not far behind her in the selfie camera,
which swayed back and forth, seemingly hesitating over something.

She didn’t pay much attention to it at first, but soon the mass of
shadows actually closed in quickly in her direction, and by the time
she reacted, the face of a dirty old tramp was reflected in the
camera’s frame, lunging straight behind her.

Bai Jing froze for a moment and looked back, unable to help but
scream out.

It was an old man with a foul stench, his clothes so torn and tattered
that no one suspected that they would never be put back on after he
took them off, as they were almost full of holes of various sizes. The
old man was accompanied by a lame yellow dog, which now scurried
over to Bai Jing and barked furiously.

“Daughter! Daughter! I’ve found you at last, daughter!”

“Yikes! What’s wrong with you! Who is your daughter! Go away!”

“No, no, no, no, you’re my daughter, aren’t you? Daughter, don’t you
recognize your old man? You quickly let the old man take a look, the
old man has not seen you for how long …… ” the old man seems to be
mentally ill, while but tears, while emotional to go over to hug Bai Jing
.

Bai Jing was so frightened that she left the live camera on and backed
up, screaming hysterically, “What a psycho! Who the hell are you? Get
lost!”

“Daughter, how can you not recognize me anymore?” The old man
burst into tears and snatched two steps forward, his dark grey
withered fingers like coals stretched out unwillingly from the embers,
trembling and pulling forward, “I …… miss you ah …… dad miss you
ah ……”

He spoke with a strong Chinese accent and was obviously not the
father of Bai Jing, a Hu Zhou man. Xie Qingcheng immediately knew
what was going on and stopped Bai Jing behind him, saying
soothingly, “It’s okay, you can hide behind me.”

Bai Jing, in a state of shock: “He’s scary! How can this kind of person
hang out on the road, don’t the city police care? Ahhhhhhh!!!”

Before the words were out of her mouth, she jumped to her feet again
and screamed hysterically as the yellow dog that the old man was
following came around and sniffed at her feet.

“Help! It’s, it’s going to bite me! What’s wrong with this dog! Doesn’t
it have a leash?”

Bai Jing screamed and ran, hastily grabbing his mobile phone and
trying to call the police.

As far as she was concerned, old tramps were scary enough, but these
ugly stray dogs scared her even more, and they should all be arrested!
Not to mention that they scared her and interrupted her live
broadcast …… belch, wait, her live broadcast!!!

Bai Jing suddenly realised she had left her live stream on and
scrambled to pick up her phone to take a look.
A few seconds later, her pupils contracted violently in disbelief –

Her mediocre live streaming room, which normally has only 20 to 30

viewers, has actually risen to over 300 people in a matter of minutes
because of this bizarre outburst!

The number of people on the screen is still skyrocketing, with pop-ups

brushing the online messages at

“Shit, what’s happening, Hu Zhou Night Terrors?”

“Looks like we’ve met a homeless man with a psycho, anchor! Are you
okay? You point the camera over there, trying to see the scene!”

“Exciting excitement, it’s near my house hey!”

“That old tramp isn’t salty, is he? He’s actually trying to hug the
anchor hey, anchor you go check it out! Call the police immediately if
anything happens!”

Like a hydrogen balloon rising in a pop-up, a rocket suddenly lifted off

and then exploded with a bang on the live screen.

Bai Jing was shaken, and the blast woke her up.

Suddenly realising how she should go about it, she hurriedly

smoothed her hair, adjusted her shot and then dashed out from
behind him before Xie Qingcheng even had time to react.

Xie Qingcheng : “Watch out!”

But what he could not have expected was that the girl who had been
so timid one second was now standing next to the old tramp with her
pretty face held high despite the danger – but taking care in advance
to carry her expensive little bag backwards behind her back so that it
would not rub off on the old man.

“Look carefully, your accent is foreign, how can you be my father? You
think I can’t see that you’re horny and want to take advantage of the
opportunity to mooch off me, old man? Don’t be disrespectful to the
old man, okay?”

The old man was frightened and took a few steps backwards.

This made the situation completely different. Xie Qingcheng realised

that the old man really did not seem to mean any harm, and on closer
inspection, the sadness on his face was too deep to be faked.

Xie Qingcheng couldn’t help but frown: “Miss Bai, can you turn off the
live broadcast? This old man doesn’t look in a good state, he might be
looking for the wrong person, why don’t you call the city manager first
and deal with it together.”

Bai Jing didn’t listen to him, and as she watched the live stream
audience rise, she didn’t even mind the old man’s stench anymore and
brought her face closer to his.

“Hey, look at that, the family too.” Bai Jing showed the homeless man
the screen of the phone she was holding up, the selfie stick plus the
front-facing lens just taking in the whole body of the two, “Look at me,
old pervert, and look at yourself, you compare. Could I be your
daughter? Take a good look at yourself – look at you all ragged and
pimply, and you say you’re not here to mooch off?”

The old tramp was confused at first, then he followed her lead and
squinted along the selfie stick.

He should have got a good look at the two men on the screen, so first
he froze, then as if suddenly realising his wretchedness, he scrambled
to run backwards.

He ran away, and Bai Jing came back with a vengeance.

It turns out that getting a clean-cut anchor to overcome his mental

block in an instant and post a badass shoot just rubs off on his fans.

“Look at this, people! This is harassment in disguise! He must be

pretending to be mentally ill, watch me expose him for what he is!”
Bai Jing chases after the old man to get him into the shot, shouting at
him, “Hey! Come here! Didn’t you say I was your daughter? Hu Zhou
is such a big place and the law and order is so good, and you dare to
come here to bang on this kind of porcelain! You don’t even have to
look at your own stinky face! Come here!”

The old man seemed to be a little more awake, but then he didn’t
seem that awake, his eyes half chaotic, half dazed.

As Xie Qingcheng watched, he was sure that the old man had not
come to mooch off the porcelain, but he was in a very bad state of
mind, as if he were a skinny dog that had been displaced through half
of China and had wandered into the rain and smoke of Jiangnan. The
word “searching” had become his bone image, and a quick glance at
him showed that he had lost something and had been struggling to
find it.

But Bai Jing doesn’t care about that. She’s been an anchor for most of
her life, and while she doesn’t attract much of an audience herself,
she’s hot for other people who are trying to make it work.

There was a time when she was racking her brains and failing to earn
eyeballs, so she indignantly ran to the famous bandwagon anchors
and swiped insults below them.

Today she scolds this: “What are you pretending to be! It’s all capital
to put on this age-old look, isn’t it? What you’re showing isn’t even a
real idyllic life!”

Tomorrow she scolds that one: “A man who takes women’s hard-
earned money and buys mansions and villas, and people have said
that every lipstick you buy is the soul under the bricks of his family
na! The women who buy his stuff still refuse to come to their
senses?!”

The day after, she scolded another one: “What do you say about self-
improvement and self-reliance of modern women, all you know is to
sell misery all day long, isn’t anchoring your job? You’re tired but you
earn money, you get scolded but you earn money, you’re paid so much
money, what do you have to complain about?”
No one knows the grimace she reveals as she swipes her phone under
the covers, in the turbulent underground, between the busy buildings,
among the clothes and the paper, always the same Cdy on high heels,
trying to run her business and humbling herself to please her noble
clients.

As she bent over, struggling to maintain her decorum, crouching

down, her delicate hands buckling the shoes of Mrs Chan and Mrs
Lee, and bowing respectfully to see them out of the wide golden foyer,
no one knew how many times she had looked at those swaying backs
and thought that one day she, too, would be able to make even the
most haughty of counters bow down and greet them.

She wanted money, she wanted fame, she wanted to be red-eyed, so

she lost her fear, lost her cleanliness, and couldn’t see the old tramp’s
trembling lips, the hot tears clouding her old eyes.

“Is your daughter from Hu Zhou? Your daughter is still your daughter.
An old man like you, who doesn’t even know if he’s married or not,
will find reasons to act crazy and harass women! Why are you hiding?
Didn’t you just keep rubbing up against me? Let’s see how you look!
Come on!”

“No …… No ……”

The old man was terrified, craning his neck and hunched over, a baby-
like, muffled whine coming out of his mouth.

“I’m sorry …… I …… was mistaken ……”

“Sorry? What’s the point of being sorry? You come here! Look at the
camera! Look at your outfit! You’ve come out to cheat and you’ve
cleaned up properly!”

On the screen, on the pop-ups, unknown viewers were cheering for

the “heroic anchorwoman who killed the harassed homeless man on
the street”, gifts were brushed up, balloons rose, and her heart
seemed to swell with her.

The old man hides in panic, from the excitement of having mistaken
his daughter for him in a fit of mental hysteria to the helplessness of
waking up and running away. He is tracked by the camera as if he
were an old dog with nowhere to run, like the stray wild dog he has
with him, disoriented and scattered by “justice”.

“Don’t film me, please …… I admit I’m wrong …… don’t film me ……

girl, don’t film me… …”

The old man was shaking all over, his legs sifting and shaking in his
loopy trousers.

He covers his face in front of the camera, then tries to cover his torn
and ragged clothes, but in the end he doesn’t know what to cover, as
if every inch of his flesh and blood, every strand of his clothing is
unsightly and shameful. Tears streamed down his furrowed old face,
and he cowered down, almost on his knees, begging Bai Jing for
mercy.

“Please girl, have mercy ……”

“I-” Bai Jing was about to say something unrelentingly when the selfie
stick was suddenly snatched away from her.

Immediately after her phone was unceremoniously taken down, Xie

Qingcheng tossed her selfie stick aside.

“Hey! You! What are you doing?!”

“What are you doing? I told you that this old man looks mentally ill
and told you not to irritate him. Are you deaf or don’t you
understand?”

Xie Qingcheng forced his way out of the broadcast.

Bai Jing’s face instantly turned from pink to red, from red to purple,
and from self to green, and then she slid around like a horse’s lamp,
finally stepping on her high heels and angrily saying to Xie
Qingcheng: “Why do you care so much? Give me back my phone! I am
free to broadcast live! I want to make money, you know that! I want to
be an internet celebrity!”
“It’s none of my business what you want to be.” Xie Qingcheng
grimaced, his daddy energy coming back, lecturing without blinking,
“But Miss Bai, do you want a face? Can’t he see what’s happening to
him! You choose to be wrong even though you know it’s wrong in
order to gain attention, you do whatever you can even though you
know the consequences, you even know what kind of pain your actions
like this will bring to others and you take that pain for a few
attentions because that pain has nothing to do with you, are you
lacking in virtue!”

“What nonsense are you talking about! You don’t have to educate me,
are you my father? You’re just a match for me today! It’s none of your
business!” Bai Jing was furious and rushed to grab the phone.

But Xie Qingcheng had a bigger temper than she did, holding her
down and staring at her with a condescending stare, his eyes like
razor blades.

“Human dignity in your eyes, human life in your eyes, is no better

than the audience you attract to a live broadcast. You’re fucking
monstrous enough.”

“How dare you call me names? You yakuza-”

Bai Jing was so angry that she threw her hands up and tried to slap
Xie Qingcheng.

But Xie Qingcheng grabbed her wrist and twisted it with such force
that she screamed in pain.

Xie Qingcheng said icily, “If you continue to make a scene, I will not
only dare to scold you, I will also dare to beat you up.”

“You, you let go! I’ll call the police if you don’t let go! I’m calling the
cops!”

The road was not crowded, but the noise they were making was so
loud that people were already stopping to watch from afar. Xie
Qingcheng didn’t care about this, he was already a man who treated
people like air, but to his surprise, a sharp-eyed woman in the crowd
suddenly shouted.
“Ouch, it’s killing me! What’s wrong with this old man?”

Xie Qingcheng immediately looked down and saw that the old man,
probably because he was mentally ill, had been mistaken for his
daughter and was being chased by Bai Jing, was overwhelmed with
joy and grief and his heart could not take the stimulation, his lips
turned blue and his face turned white.
 Chapter 7 – He asks me how I am
at driving
Xie Qingcheng, a former doctor, reacted almost instantly, shook off
Bai Jing’s wrist and ducked down to check on the old man’s condition.

In clinical practice, acute heart attacks are acute cardiovascular

diseases with a very high mortality rate, and sudden emotional stress
is one of the major triggers for such attacks in the elderly.

Bai Jing did not react and was still cursing.

Xie Qingcheng rolled up his sleeves and started to give first aid,
turning back to her and saying angrily, “What are you doing? The
patient is having an acute heart attack! Call the emergency number!
Hurry up!”

“What are the …… Acute Heart Attack?!!!”

Bai Jing was dumbfounded for a moment.

Her gold-painted eyeliner couldn’t frame the shock and fear in her
eyes, and the girl instantly blanched, standing over there
dumbfounded, unable to move in or out.

Xie Qingcheng : “Don’t you know the emergency number?!”

Bai Jing might have known, but the situation was so sudden that her
mind went blank: “Yes, what is it?”

“120!”
“Ohhhhhhh ……!” Bai Jing didn’t expect this, so she grabbed the
phone Xie Qingcheng had thrown back at her and called the
emergency number.

“Hello? 110? Oh, no no! Don’t you hang up! I said the wrong thing! I
didn’t want to call the police, I just wanted to call you! I, I met an old
man here with sudden acute faintingitis …… oh no, it’s that what,
acute myocarditis ……”

“Acute heart attack!”

“Ah! Yes! Heart attack heart attack!”

Bai Jing breathes a sigh of relief as she stumbles to the end of the call,
but is still afraid to approach Xie Qingcheng and the old tramp.

Xie Qingcheng had to deal with the discharge from the old man’s nose
and mouth, and had to carefully adjust the man to a flat position to
avoid suffocation.

Bai Jing immediately said, “I don’t want it! It’s disgusting. Who knows
if there’s an AIDS infection? Besides, my clothes are very expensive, if
they get dirty, they’ll be ruined.”

Xie Qingcheng was furious: “AIDS doesn’t spread like that, your
clothes are more important than your life! Come and give me a hand!”

“No, you’re morally abusive, aren’t you? Do you know how long I work
to buy a dress like that and how long I stand? And he must have had
an underlying illness when he had the attack, it’s not my fault, I ……”

The old man wowed and spat out another large mouthful of white
foam, Bai Jing looked so tight in her throat that she almost followed it
with dry heaving, she backed up, “Don’t you force me …… I can’t.”

Fortunately, an aunt from the crowd came out and scolded Bai Jing:
“Little girl, do you have any conscience? You’ll get old one day too!
You’re dressed up in shiny clothes, but you’re so bad-hearted!”

Bai Jing : “I-”

Auntie rolled her eyes and ignored her, saying to Xie Qingcheng, “Tell
me what to do, I’ll help.”

And sometimes the crowd is such that a group of people standing

quietly and distantly watching will not even come forward to help, and
once the first person speaks up, others will spring up.

In a flash, those who had been watching from afar and were afraid to
come close, and those who offered to find a pharmacy nearby where
they could buy first aid and fan them, all appeared, pushing Bai Jing to
the side.

But the crowd of onlookers, no matter how enthusiastic, could not

solve the pressing problem, so they had to wait anxiously for the time
to pass.

Unfortunately, it was not to be, and at that moment Bai Jing’s phone
rang.

“A very unfortunate situation, one of the roads going in on your side is

a ground collapse a big water pipe broke the main road is flooded and
there is no way to get around it, one is an old street you can’t drive in
either, big traffic jam and it’s a one way reverse road, we have to turn
around.”

Bai Jing relayed the situation to Xie Qingcheng, who was resuscitating
the old man, and Xie Qingcheng asked sternly, “How long will it
take?”

Bai Jing was now also in a panic and asked the caller, “How long will
it take?”

“Turn around and go over there, it’ll be thirty minutes at the earliest.”

Xie Qingcheng took one look at the condition of the old man and
rushed over in thirty minutes, which was a fatal amount of time.

How could it be so unlucky that there is an accident now? And still the
ground collapsed and the main road was flooded by a broken water
pipe!
At the end of the day, two headlights flashed on the road and the
rectangular tail lights lit up with aplomb as a black Cullinan with
small wings came steadily and silently from the bright lights and then,
coincidentally, drove down the one-way street towards the junction.

Bai Jing has an unquenchable appetite for all things luxurious and
extravagant, and even at this point in time, when lives are at stake,
she subconsciously has to raise her phone and point it at the big
Cullinan for fear of missing a second before it drives away.

But to their surprise, the Cullinan actually drove slowly up to them

and stopped.

Bai Jing’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The next scene made her pupils quake as she saw the rear window of
her dream car drop silently and a girl peeked out and shouted at Xie
Qingcheng, who was giving first aid to the old man beside her…

“Big Brother!”

Bai Jing : “??!!!”

Xie Xue: ” He Yu invited me to a barbecue and passed by here, I saw a

figure from afar and thought it looked like you, so I asked him to come
over and take a look, it was really you …… ah! Oh my God! What’s
wrong with this person next to you? Is something wrong?

Xie Qingcheng looks up and sees He Yu sitting on the other side,

wrapped in a leather seat, hidden in the darkness, a calm, elegant
silhouette, particularly handsome and refined, but on closer
inspection he seems to catch the air of a beast.

Xie Qingcheng didn’t want to bother He Yu, but at the moment he

couldn’t care less: “I met a patient who was suffering from an acute
heart attack, which I treated briefly, but needed urgent medical
attention.”

Xie Xue was shocked: “Where’s the ambulance?”

“Called, the roads are not working, it will take thirty minutes to get
here.”

As soon as she heard this, Xie Xue opened the car door and jumped
down, rushing to the old man’s side, not at all disgusted with him, but
she didn’t know anything about first aid and was standing at a loss as
to what to do. He Yu, come down and help!”

The Svengali got out of the car, took one look at the old man’s purple
lips and made a snap decision, “Take my car.”

Xie Xue is a fool: “What if people don’t give way to you? Look at this
morning and evening rush.”

He Yu laughed coldly, “Try them running into each other.”

Turning back to the driver, he asked, “Old Zhao, are you driving
steadily?”

“I drive steady but am used to being cautious, not always fast ……”

And I wouldn’t dare to bump into you even if you say so, Young
Master He!

“Then you get down.” He Yu pulled up a sleeve, straightened his long

legs and got into the driver’s seat, pulling off the handbrake without
looking, chewing gum in his mouth, “Get in, you’ll be at the city
hospital in ten minutes.”

Xie Qingcheng : “Do you have a driving licence?”

He Yu was expressionless: “No. Are you sitting down?”

“He does!” Xie Xue was really impressed by the two of them,
especially He Yu, who was still arguing with her big brother, “He just
finished renewing his foreign motor vehicle license in China! Don’t
listen to his bullshit!”

The old man was carefully and smoothly lifted into the seat of the
Cullinan under the guidance of Xie Qingcheng, and with everyone in
the car, He Yu put on his seatbelt and was about to kick the
accelerator into life and death when the lame dog rushed over and
barked at the people in the car outside the slowly closing door.

Xie Xue was soft-hearted and couldn’t help but look at the dog who
was crippled with fur but still following outside the car and said, “So
sad ……”

He Yu gave her a look as the passenger door opened once more,

“Carry it up.”

Xie Xue immediately jumped out of the car and put her hand around,
holding the dog under both front paws and carrying the dirty little
yellow dog to the car.

Little Yellow Dog: “Oooh ……”

As if sensing that he had not been left behind, the little yellow dog
first twisted his head to look at the old man lying in the back seat,
then lifted his furry mouth and his black bean-like nose to sniff Xie
Xue’s cheek gratefully, then twisted his head to bring his face to the
driver’s seat and extended his moist tongue to carefully lick the
youth’s face.

He Yu ignored the dog’s coquettishness and restored his driving rear

view mirror with a keystroke of memory, his large bony hands
gripping the steering wheel, “Call the emergency callback from
earlier, explain our situation to them on the way, let’s go.”

Fortunately, the old man was able to get out of danger because he
received professional first aid in the first place and was taken to the
hospital in time, after working most of the night.

Outside the night resuscitation ward, Xie Qingcheng signs a series of

bills, opens the mobile app to check out, but finds that she doesn’t
have enough money.

Xie Qingcheng turned back and saw He Yu’s face.

“How is it you?”
He Yu : “It’s okay. No need to thank me.”

As the old man was a vagrant, no relatives had been found and he did
not have his identity card on him, some of the procedures were
cumbersome. If Xie Qingcheng hadn’t worked at the city hospital and
was known to the roving director of the night emergency clinic, it
wouldn’t have gone so smoothly. Although the old man is now out of
danger, there are still many procedures to be completed and the
hospital has contacted the unit responsible for urban vagrants and
asked them to come and help with the process.

He Yu They, as enthusiastic people who have seen and done

righteousness, cannot leave for the time being.

“Is the lady named White the one you’re seeing?”

He Yu and Xie Qingcheng walked to the back garden of the hospital

for some fresh air, and He Yu asked this.

“Hmm. Where is she?”

“I was resting in the underground garage with Xie Xue, it was late and
we were both a bit sleepy. He Yu said, “How can you go on a blind
date with such a girl?”

Xie Qingcheng grimaced, “It’s just a casual meal.”

“Then why don’t you just turn down the matchmaker? I don’t think
you’re sincere. Besides, she’s about the same age as Xie Xue, isn’t
she? You’re middle-aged and it’s not really appropriate.”

Xie Qingcheng was a little more relaxed by now, he was annoyed with
him, what’s wrong with him, middle-aged at 32? If He Yu hadn’t
helped him today, he would have said, “You’re too much of a fucking
nuisance, kid. But as it was, he had just used Young Master He Yu as
his driver and then as an ATM, so he couldn’t really say anything too
harsh. So Xie Qingcheng looked at him with bloodshot eyes, and,
having taken the “middle-aged” out of the equation, he said coldly,
“I’ve been taught, Master He, and I really don’t want to nag any more
with kids under 30.”
“……”

Xie Qingcheng simply turned his face away from the middle-aged
man.

Xie Qingcheng walks along the long corridor of wisteria in the back
garden of the city hospital, his face sunken in his pockets, without
saying a word. He used to pass by this road ten years ago, before the
garden was fully restored, and unlike today, there were even
unlicensed stallholders on both sides of the road selling pancakes and
rice balls with congee and noodles, taking advantage of the absence
of city police.

Then he resigned from the City Yard, and then he never walked the
wisteria path again in those later years.

It was probably because he was revisiting the same place and was a
bit touched by it. Xie Qingcheng was silent for a while and then
suddenly said, “Hey, kid.”

“Hmm?”

“You youngsters nowadays, aren’t you all so fond of being internet

celebrities.”

“I’m not interested. But there’s a lot of money to be made, and a lot of
people do want to be. That Bai Jing is an internet sensation?”

“…… How do you know.”

He Yu smiled, “I can see that.”

Another question, “That old man had an attack and she had something
to do with it, didn’t she?”

The night breeze rustles the vines.

Xie Qingcheng says: “He mistook the person for his daughter and Bai
Jing chased him live, the patient kept dodging the camera and
begging her to stop filming, but she couldn’t hear her, she could only
see how many people were coming in on her live stream and wanted
attention.”

After a pause, Cold said.

“That’s kind of what it is.”

He Yu sighed: ” Xie Qingcheng , what you think doesn’t matter, in the

eyes of some people is a bargaining chip to change their lives. It’s
strange for you to see them chasing after fame and fortune, and they
equally don’t understand why you think that. People are the same
species, yet the most separated, often unable to trust each other, let
alone understand each other. Sometimes two people looking at each
other is the same as looking at another order of life.”

As He Yu was talking, his mobile phone suddenly rang. It was the

driver’s phone. It turned out that He Yu’s car was driving too
arrogantly and he was a bully on the street, so the traffic police patrol
was mad and chased him to the hospital.

Driver: “Young Master He, let’s ask the doctor to give an explanation
…… This is a special case…”

He Yu : “It’s okay, take the book and give him the penalty points, no
need to waste this time.”

He hung up the phone.

Xie Qingcheng : “Do you have money to burn?”

“For me time is money and I don’t like to waste it on things that aren’t
necessary. Like explaining things to public officials. And maybe
getting a journalist to write a tear-jerking interview.”

He Yu’s almond eyes drooped, the dark underside of them looking

cold, even a little imperceptibly morbid, but the corners of his mouth
fell into a smile again, “Then I might as well talk to you more, you can
do what they do anyway, can’t you? Like checking my driving licence.”

“……”
The flirtation on He Yu’s lips slowly melted into his eyes as he saw the
other man’s face harden, his hands in his trouser pockets, his gaze
moving forward, not looking at Xie Qingcheng’s face again, but falling
somewhere randomly in front of him. Then he leans forward, his face
tilted towards Xie Qingcheng’s neck, his head lowered, his thin lips
resting not far from Xie Qingcheng’s carotid artery.

The boy just kept a slight yawning motion, his eyes looking off into the
distance, his voice low to the man’s ear, “Brother, how’s my driving?”

The voice was a little more muffled, and the flirtatious sarcasm was
heavier: “Are you still satisfied with the brother I served?”

“……”

Xie Qingcheng’s face became even more ugly.

Why is he still bothering to ask him about his driving licence? How
small-minded and mean-spirited must this person be?

He sneered twice with a sullen grin, “Practice more when you have
time. Don’t be so hairy young man, you’ll be a driver by the time you
graduate.”

Then, not wanting to talk to He Yu any more, he brushed aside the

vines that fell in front of him with a chilly face and managed to walk
ahead of him.

He Yu hadn’t yet finished squeezing him, but he was probably having

fun flirting with him, and he was unrelentingly grimacing over there,
“Ms. Xie, what kind of car will you give me if I work for you as a
driver? How much is my monthly salary?”

Xie Qingcheng didn’t turn around, his voice came through: “A Wuling
Hongguang, and some more medicine for you, do it if you like, or get
out.”

He Yu stuck his pocket and watched his back, sneakers kicking on the
ground, eyes sickly, cursing softly and lowly: “Dispense some
medicine? …… really have your Xie Qingcheng, I really owe it to you.”
Chapter 8 – Still treating me like a
servant
“This old man is called Zhuang Zhiqiang and is indeed a ‘nail-biter’.”

Half an hour later, staff from a rescue station under the Civil Affairs
Bureau arrived and thanked the medical staff and Xie Qingcheng and
his group while explaining the situation.

Xie Xue and Bai Jing, who insisted on squeezing along, also came up
from the underground garage and sat on the sofa in the infirmary,
listening to the specifics of the situation.

” Zhuang Zhiqiang …… alas, his situation is somewhat unique and is a

problem that we have not been able to solve at the rescue station.”
The staff member rubbed his hands together and took a sip of the tea
the nurse had made in a disposable paper cup, smashed his mouth
and sighed, “It was about three years ago when he came to Hu Zhou,
saying he was looking for his daughter, but we checked his account
and found that he was an old man living alone in a kiln in Shaanxi
Province, a place so poor that even birds couldn’t stay there, he had
no neighbours at all and had to walk two miles to get water. Our
people even made a special trip to visit the people in their village and
they all said the old man was very isolated and didn’t know anything
about him.”

“That’s no reason for you to shirk your responsibilities… shouldn’t you

arrest such a dangerous person? He affects the city’s appearance and
may attack people!” Bai Jing couldn’t help but shout.

“Little girl, it’s like this.” The staff looked embarrassed, “We can’t
arrest vagrants, they are also citizens of the community, we can only
arrange accommodation and send them for medical treatment ……”
Bai Jing hated: “I don’t care, the mentally ill should all be in
mandatory detention, shouldn’t these abnormalities be quarantined?”

He Yu originally had nothing against this woman. He was a man of

low moral standards and had a high tolerance for all kinds of people.
Everyone has their own way of living, and everyone has their own
choices.

But Bai Jing’s yelling about mental illness is really bouncing off
Master He’s minefield.

The corners of He Yu’s mouth suddenly took on a cold smile, and he

kept his head down, not saying a word.

The staff at the rescue station wiped the sweat from the heat and said,
“Little girl, don’t get emotional yet, I assure you, because now it
seems that Zhuang Zhiqiang’s old man’s condition is indeed likely to
worsen, and we can’t rule out the possibility of losing some of his civil
capacity, so when his condition is better on this side, we will take him
to a cooperative psychiatric hospital for supervision and treatment
……”

Xie Qingcheng suddenly asked, “Which mental hospital?”

“At this current situation, I guess it’s going to Cheng Kang. It’s a bit
behind in terms of facility management, but the intake capacity with
us over in Wanping is full and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Bai Jing, finally satisfied with what he heard, muttered, “That’s more
like it ……”

As this is being said here, the doctor from the emergency department
arrives.

The doctor spoke to them about Zhuang Zhiqiang’s resuscitation and

that he had been rescued from life-threatening conditions because of
the timely treatment. One can go in and have a look if they want to.

“Preferably a girl, the patient is still unconscious and keeps trying to

find his daughter.”
Xie Xue got up, “I’ll go.”

She followed the doctor.

He Yu had been lazily leaning back on the sofa in the parlour, his
elbows propped up on the back of the sofa, his head bowed as he
listened indifferently to their conversation. When he saw her leave, he
folded his long legs and prepared to follow her.

Xie Qingcheng with a very obvious scrutiny and wariness: “You stand
still.”

“What’s wrong?”

“What are you doing following my sister around all day.”

The boy sat back on the sofa and was quiet for a moment, seemingly
negotiating in a gentle and polite manner, but in fact his almond eyes
were full of sarcasm and flirtation, “Then what do you think, how
about I follow you all day long?”

“……”

He Yu Wen Shen said: “There are you and your date here, it’s not
good for me to sit here. I’ll leave you a place. Save yourself the
trouble.”

Bai Jing immediately lived up to her expectations and shouted, “I’m

not in with him!”

He Yu laughed lightly and did not look at Bai Jing. He turned his head
sideways and said in a low voice that only Xie Qingcheng could hear,
“Dr. Xie, do you think you are getting old and your charm is not
enough, you can’t even handle such a little girl.”

“……”

Lack of virtue stuff.

His family’s ancestral tomb has been turned into a latrine, how could
such a beast be born?

Xie Qingcheng’s face was cold and his lips moved slightly, “Get lost.”

Xie Qingcheng was startled, not knowing what this unorthodox,

gentlemanly scum was up to, but smelling the boy’s adolescent
hormones as He Yu leaned over, feeling the heat on his chest without
touching it.

This sense of oppression, which belongs to the young male, is very

uncomfortable for Xie Qingcheng, who is also a man, and he is very
manly and immediately feels the irritation of an invasion of his male
territory.

Xie Qingcheng was just about to push him away when the male
student, who had invaded his safe distance, straightened himself up.
In his hand was a large bag of coffee brought from the tea table
behind him.

–He Yu has just ordered a takeaway, which has not yet been shared.

“Brother, I’m just getting a drink.”

He Yu looked at the man’s ugly face and the teasing at the corners of
his mouth became more obvious. He divided the coffee in the paper
bag and handed it to the people at the aid station, the doctor and the
nurse, and asked someone to take it to Xie Xue’s side as well, even Bai
Jing had a cup.

But –

“Gee, look, I’m so sorry I forgot about yours.”

After a pause, he handed Xie Qingcheng his glass of iced coffee: “Why
don’t you have mine?”

The straw was already poked in, so he just held it in his hand and
handed it to Xie Qingcheng’s lips.
He had expected Xie Qingcheng to refuse.

Xie Qingcheng, who had been provoked by him, raised his eyes grimly
and then sat there on the sofa, in a position that He Yu had not
expected, being served by the little brat, his pale lips slightly open,
and then he stared up at He Yu and slowly took in the straw that He
Yu was poking at his lips.

lips on it, and then he just stared at him and took a hard,
unceremonious suck.

Xie Qingcheng’s throat rolled and he swallowed provocatively.

“Put it on the side.” Then he loosened his mouth, his lips moist and his
eyes all sharp, “Count your filial piety.”

“……”

He Yu watched his head lower and mouth open to take in the straw,
and felt a hot, annoyed feeling in his heart, as if he was annoyed,
thinking that this man was so indescribably tormented, he had wanted
to see him embarrassed and embarrassed, or annoyed.

But he actually gave him the gesture of being unperturbed and

condescending.

He Yu had a momentary urge to throw ice chai on his ice-cube dad’s

face and then watch his face drip with water and his clothes get
soaked.

But in the end he just smiled and set the iced coffee down gently on
the coffee table, and for a moment he looked down and whispered to
Xie Qingcheng, “Yes, since you asked for it, don’t waste a drop. Drink
it all up and call me if you don’t have enough, and I’ll bring it back to
you.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve been chauffeuring and delivering passbooks all night,
and now I’m a delivery boy.” Xie Qingcheng smiled coldly and took the
cup of coffee, his long fingers brushing over the ice beads, “Go about
your business.”
He said and waved his glass at him.

He Yu walks away with a black face.

The circle of people around them could see that they were not on
speaking terms and were somewhat embarrassed, but Xie Qingcheng
did not take them seriously.

He got up and threw the coffee in the rubbish directly in front of

everyone’s attention.

Xie Qingcheng sat down again and looked calmly at the staff of the
rescue station: “Sorry, the client’s children don’t know any better, so
you’ve made me laugh.”

“No, nothing.”

Two dry laughs.

Xie Qingcheng : “Speaking of which, oh yeah… are you sure Zhuang

Zhiqiang doesn’t have a daughter?”

The staff member says, “No, there’s no one, Zhuang Zhiqiang. We are
supposed to help vagrants to contact their relatives or their units, but
this old man has no one to contact.”

Xie Qingcheng is silent.

In his experience, he felt that Zhuang Zhiqiang’s reaction did not

appear to be unprovoked hysteria, and that his “daughter” must be at
the heart of it.

“Daughter ……” the old man in the hospital bed with the oxygen tube
still murmured in his sleep about the person who might be in his
imagination, “Great girl, I saw you grow up as a child, I saw you study
with your little school bag on your back, I saw You got into college
and went to the big city ……”
He paused for a moment, and a muddy tear leaked from his wrinkled
eye.

The old man’s sleepy voice took on a resigned and choked tone: “Why
can’t you …… come back to see your old man again ……”

Xie Xue, a soft-hearted person, listened to the tears next to him and,
with the permission of the nurse, took the initiative to hold Zhuang
Zhiqiang’s hand next to his bed and said: “Old man, don’t cry. I’m ……
here. I am with you. You have to get well soon. ……”

She couldn’t stay in contact with the patient for too long and after
relieving the delirious old man for a while, the doctor told her it was
almost time to go out.

Xie Xue came out of the emergency room after disinfection and tried
to wipe her tears with a tissue from her bag, but found that she had
run out of tissues.

At that moment a pretty hand handed her a man’s handkerchief.

Xie Xue lifted her slightly red eyes to meet He Yu’s gentle, smiling
face.

He Yu looks like a scum in front of Xie Qingcheng, but he looks like a

dog in front of Xie Xue, and the handkerchiefs he hands out are
particularly delicate, snow-white silk, with no extra creases.

“Rub it in.”

“Thanks, thank you.”

“It’s fine.”

He had known that Xie Xue would react this way.

Xie Xue was born soon after her parents left, and her grandparents
were long gone. She grew up envying others who could shout out loud
to her parents and grandparents, the few words she could whisper to
the cold, wet stone monument every year at Qingming time, standing
under the black umbrella propped up by Xie Qingcheng, holding a
gentle bouquet of white chrysanthemums.

That’s why she can’t stand to see people of her father’s and
grandfather’s age without their children.

“Doctor.” She wiped her tears and spoke to the ER doctor again,
“When Grandpa gets transferred to the psychiatric hospital, will you
talk to me? I’ll stay with him.”

He Yu frowned slightly, “What are you doing in any kind of place.”

“That’s okay, it just so happens that the school is going to ask me to

talk to a couple of prisons and mental hospitals about taking students
on visits. It says they want to give the students in the choreography
class some more special social experience. But I haven’t even had a
chance to talk about it yet.” Xie Xue huffed, “It’s all by the way.”

He Yu had no choice but to walk over and pick up the stray yellow
dog.

The little puppy was lifted to his face by He Yu, pinching his fleshy
armpits, and his yellow and white interlocking legs gave two false
strokes. The dog’s black bean nose met his almond eyes and the dog
froze a little.

He Yu asked gently, “I’ll get you a dog licence, you’ll stay at my house
for now and I’ll send you back when your owner is well.”

The puppy trembled and shivered, “Oooh ……”

Animals often have what they call a sixth sense; they can tell when a
person is smiling underneath the oppressive and morbid, so the dog,
scared and eager to please, stretches out its soft tongue and gives He
Yu a nervous lick.

He Yu laughed, stroking his knuckles over the dog’s head, letting him
lick his fingertips, his eyes sultry: “Good boy. You know better than
that man.”
 Chapter 9 – I’m ignoring him I’m
going to confess my love to her
Having finally dealt with this unexpected episode, the group was tired
and hungry, so He Yu asked them if they wanted to go for a snack.
The first person to raise his hand and cheer in favour of this
suggestion was Bai Jing, who had nothing to do with them.

“Yes, yes, let’s go for congee, shall we? There’s a hotel on the Bund
that makes the best shark’s fin and sea urchin congee, how about
going there?”

He Yu turns his head to look at Xie Xue.

Xie Xue wiped her tears and looked at Bai Jing a little unhappily, “I
want to eat barbecue and eat in the rubbish street.”

“Then we’ll eat on Garbage Street.”

Bai Jing : “Ah …… this is too …… good ……”

Xie Xue was there, and He Yu, somewhat in deference to Xie

Qingcheng, also asked him, “What about you?”

“I won’t be there. I’ll take the dog to get his shots and an adoption
check. If you want to keep it, I’ll send it to you later.”

He said and looked at Little Yellow who was sitting obediently at his
feet.

The little yellow one loves Xie Qingcheng, circling around him happily
and wagging his fluffy yellow tail: “Woof!”

Half an hour later.

Hu Zhou Night market stall.

“Boss, I’ll have fifty skewers of palm, fifty skewers of lamb, ten
skewers of grilled rice cakes, ten skewers of grilled mushrooms, a
dozen grilled oysters, and get five bottles of beer oh.” As soon as Xie
Xue arrived at the entrance of the barbecue, she greeted him in a
familiar way.

“Are places like this going to be dirty …… I never eat them.” Bai Jing
stretched out two fingers, hating the greasy menu with the tips of his
fingernails.

Xie Xue rolled her eyes in disgust, “Aren’t you the one who insisted on
getting in the car and following me?”

“Oh, why are you so mean, little sister? I’m hungry too.” Bai Jing said
as she unceremoniously positioned her noble buttocks on the seat
nearest to He Yu, “Just please order something lighter, it’s late and
I’m afraid I’ll gain weight.”

Xie Xue glared at her, slapped the table with a fierce glare and raised
her voice: “Boss, cut ten more rabbit heads in fucking oil!”

Bai Jing : “You-!”

He Yu blandly: “Then you can have twenty, I want to eat them too.”

Bai Jing : “……”

The skewers are easy to grill, but also difficult to grill. But when the
boss turns his arm and shakes his bamboo skewer, the soft bones are
roasted until they are golden and oily and the excess fat drips off, the
ghee falls into the charcoal and a wonderful chemical reaction takes
place, the scorching aroma of fat and the scattering of stars come up
together. The owner, hidden in the smoke, is like a master of the art
of hiding, his nose twitching and catching the subtle flavour factor in
the smoke with just a sniff, knowing that it is time to leave the fire.

The skewers are served on a plate and presented while still hot. A
handful of skewers with just the right amount of heat, these
comforting skewers seem to have become the sons of the East in the
world of gastronomy, too tender to be raw, too old to be woody, too
charred and crispy to melt in your mouth like snowflakes.
Xie Xue is a familiar face at the restaurant, having ordered a table of
skewers that almost overwhelms the small plastic tablecloth. While
she was wreaking havoc on the table, Bai Jing was still holding it up,
doing her best to perform the face turn, the quintessential trick of
Sichuan opera.

“Young Master He is not from Ala Hu Zhou?” Bai Jing blinked his
semi-permanent curly eyelashes and his pearlescent lips grinned
widely, “Not according to his accent.”

He Yu smiled and asked, “Miss Bai, are you checking your account?”

“Oh, no, no, no, no.” Bai Jing waved her hand and stroked her hair
awkwardly, “That, I studied in Yan City as a graduate student before,
in the Business Administration Department of Yan City University of
Economics. I heard that your Mandarin was quite standard, so I
wondered if you might be from the north.”

“Then you’re a high achiever.” He Yu smiled sagely and rummaged

through the roasting pan to retrieve the head of a staring dead rabbit.

Bai Jing didn’t hear it and continued to ramble, “Yes, so I’m working
at the counter mainly to gain experience and to be promoted to
management later. I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities and bosses,
and I even met an actor the other day, and that’s the most recent
prime time TV-”

He Yu clicked his teeth and bit the rabbit’s brains out.

Bai Jing choked, as if the words she hadn’t finished had been crushed
in her throat by He Yu through the air, and she instantly felt a slight
pain in her neck.

He Yu smiled, and Bai Jing realised that he had tiger teeth, but they
weren’t too pronounced and only peeked out from beneath his thin
lips when he smiled. He Yu eats his rabbit brains slowly and
methodically: “Miss Bai is eating and saying, since you’re here with
us, don’t get hungry, don’t you like rabbit heads?”

Bai Jing waved her hands in panic: “I, I usually eat very little, just a
few sips of Coke and I’m full, no no ……”
“Is that so?” He Yu tossed the shattered rabbit bone onto his plate
and smiled, “That’s a shame.”

The woman is a matchmaker for her older brother, so why would she
add He Yu to her WeChat? When he saw this, Xie Xue finally couldn’t
help himself. This woman was on a blind date with her elder brother,
why did she add He Yu to her WeChat? It was too disrespectful!

Thus angrily he said.

“Sorry, he can’t give it to you on WeChat.”

“Why, are you his girlfriend?”

“I-I’m not!” Xie Xue said angrily and began to make things up, “But
He Yu has a girlfriend, a beautiful woman, very mean, very jealous, a
few years older than him, very strict with him, will slap him if he
doesn’t behave, and I have to watch him when he goes out. Isn’t that
right He Yu?”

Who would have expected He Yu to say, “That’s a military intelligence

agent you’re talking about.”

Grass!

Xie Xue was so angry that he stomped on him under the table.

He Yu : “I don’t have a girlfriend like that, and I don’t like big, sexy,
tough girls who are very jealous.”

What the fuck!

Xie Xue stepped harder, only to find that her feet hurt a little, and
when she looked down, she saw that she was stepping on the bottom
shelf of the table.

He Yu smiled, and without moving his long legs, which were leaning
against the side of the bottom shelf of the table, retracted them,
handed the skewer sprinkled with pepper powder to Xie Xue’s plate,
and then turned his face to the expectant Bai Jing, “But then, Miss, I
do have someone I like. So please forgive me if I don’t randomly add
girls’ wechat.”

Bai Jing was lost: “Can’t we just be friends?”

He Yu didn’t even smile perfunctorily this time, his easy-going

youthfulness seemed to disappear from him in a flash as he gave the
other man a silent look.

“Thanks. But I don’t think we’re from the same world.”

After saying this, it was tantamount to invisibly removing the other

party’s pedestal, and the atmosphere was momentarily stiffened to a
fever pitch.

He Yu took a paper towel and wiped up the grease stains left by the
swab, finger by finger, then threw the paper towel away, glanced
coldly at the lady with the wonderful face and said calmly, “I’m going
to wash my hands.”

Not everyone in this world is socially white and can’t understand

human speech, and Bai Jing picked up on the exact cold hardness of
the golden master’s handsome disdain for her, while the woman at the
table surnamed Xie had obviously experienced what had happened
before and didn’t want to bother with her. Feeling embarrassed, she
finally found a pretext to say that she had to leave on short notice and
left the table in a huff.

After a while, He Yu came back and saw that she had already left,
raised his eyebrows and didn’t even ask a single question, sitting
down next to Xie Xue with a look that nothing had happened.

Xie Xue rolled her eyes a few times and scolded Bai Jing a few more
times before squeaking and biting into two skewers of palm treasure
and turning to He Yu, “Did you just say you had a crush on someone?
Are you serious? Who is it?”

“I’m teasing you.”

Xie Xue patted his chest and took another small sip of his beer, “Oh,
you scared the shit out of me then ……”

He Yu paused slightly in his hand and looked at the girl’s heartless

side.

“What are you looking at me for?”

“Are you scared that I have someone I like?”

“That’s for sure.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m still bachelor, can’t I come and hang out with you more
often if you get off?”

…… what a silly reason.

Xie Xue : “What are you laughing at.”

He Yu lifted his hand, his thumb gently wiping away the unintentional
pepper on the corner of her lips, and unfurled his eyebrows as if
nothing had happened, “How can you eat a kebab and still have it
rubbing off on your mouth.”

In fact, he had wanted to confess to her for a long time, and had been
planning to do so since he returned home.

It’s just that He Yu is a serious person, and he feels that confessions

should be made in a serious manner, not just a feverish rush of blood
and a thoughtless confession of what he has been hiding for so many
years in the streets.

With that in mind, he digressed, “Don’t let your brother go on a blind

date with a young girl like that in the future, he’s too old to be old-
fashioned, and his aunts of his generation can’t stand him, let alone a
girl like that. How deep the generation gap must be between her and
your brother.”
“Why are you bad mouthing my brother? He doesn’t treat you badly!”

He Yu : “I’m telling the truth.”

“I pooh-pooh!”

He Yu rolled his eyes, unable to understand Xie Xue’s brotherly

control: “Really, take off your filter and take a closer look, your
brother is an older man in his second marriage, it’s enough to find a
virtuous one with a good personality, so a young one really doesn’t
suit him.”

“Save your breath, my brother is so handsome and so nice, why

should he settle for anything less?”

“He’s handsome, he’s always looking at people with a condescending

slant, and no one owes him anything.” When He Yu says this, he sees
Xie Qingcheng’s indifferent face in front of his eyes, and thinks of the
way he leans in with his mouth slightly loose, biting down on the
straw between his teeth.

The stance was as if any president was being served by an assistant as

a matter of course, obviously without even money. How can one be so
airy and provocative and sarcastic.

He Yu was a little angry at the thought, wondering what he would

have to say to “Ms. Xie” to cleanse his composure, to make his eyes
confused and his face invaded by embarrassment and humiliation.

But does Xie Qingcheng really have that look of vulnerability on his
face ……

He Yu has never seen it before, and after thinking about it for a while,
I can’t imagine it.

“What are you thinking about?”

He Yu absentmindedly: “Thinking of your brother.”

“Huh?”
“…… I was wondering if your brother has ever lost his cool and been
outclassed.”

“Oh, you can forget it, I haven’t seen him like that for as long as I can
remember. My elder brother is very powerful, calm and tough, don’t
look at him now, he is always in a suit and trousers with a book, but
when he was your age he was the best fighter in our area, once a
group of hooligans bullied me, he alone swung a steel pipe and took
more than ten of them to the police station …… later the group of
hooligans saw him and almost took a carpet for him to walk on, they
all nodded and called him brother. They all nodded and humbled
themselves and called him brother, except for one person …… but that
was an isolated occurrence and cannot be counted.”

He Yu looked at the light in her eyes and became even more

uncomfortable, smiling, “Why are you still the same as you were when
you were a child, always looking adoring at the mention of him,
always thinking that your brother is your saviour.”

“He is! You have no idea how hard it was for him to raise me all by
himself as a father, mother and brother ……”

“Then you are also very obedient and save him a lot of trouble.”

“…… Hey I can’t, I’m not even a tenth of what he can do.” Xie Xue
shook his head while eating a skewer, “Hey I can’t I can’t.”

As they talked, He Yu looked at her in the smoky atmosphere of the

restaurant and found her somewhat amusing, and his eyes grew soft.
A girl that nice, he thought, would not be the only one he liked.

He really couldn’t wait any longer.

He Yu didn’t return to his dorm room that night, it was too late to
disturb his roommates, so after dropping Xie Xue back at the faculty
dormitory, he had his driver drop him off at one of his regular hotels,
took a shower and laid down between fluffy goose down pillows.

“I’m here, you ……”

Fingers flew across the screen of the phone, but the thoughts hit rock
bottom halfway through typing.

He Yu finally sighed, deleted the contents of the dialog box, gazed at

the avatar of the sleepwalking bear on the WeChat interface for a long
time, and only sent the simplest two words.

“Good night.”

He Yu thought it was a reply from Xie Xue and immediately picked it

up to read it.

But the message was actually from the Saviour, and it turned out to
be a transfer message.

“I just set up a limit at the hospital internet bank, now I’ve got it and
the money is returned to you.”

He Yu already hated Xie Qingcheng and was even colder when he

didn’t hear back from Xie Xue.

“I’m just saving a man, why should you pay for it.”

Xie Qingcheng, who also hated He Yu’s behaviour and was too lazy to
argue with him, simply said, “That’s a service charge.”

“What?”

“You pay me for my driving services, I couldn’t find a driver as young

and strong as you who can race even if I got a chauffeur on site.”

“……”

He’s so capable.

How many people in this world would really dare to treat Young
Master He as a chauffeur and pay him for his services?

And how does that sound like whoring money!

He Yu’s eyes clouded over and he was about to reply again when he
suddenly and accidentally backed out and saw Xie Xue’s chat screen.

He thought again of Xie Xue’s bright shining eyes when she

mentioned Xie Qingcheng and the line, “You have no idea how hard it
was for my brother to raise me on his own ……”

“……”

Forget it, he was at least her big brother.

He Yu then replied, “You’re welcome brother Xie, from now on you

can call me anytime you need, I’ll make sure you’re comfortable and
satisfied.”

“Let’s start by showing me your car insurance claim abroad.”

He Yu’s face darkened again: he should never have given him a good
look!

At this point the phone vibrates again.

This time it’s not Xie Qingcheng, it’s Xie Xue.

Xie Xue replied to him, “Good night! Thank you for today.”

She got out of the bathroom in the staff dormitory at HU, rubbing her
wet hair and yawning, and had just fished out her phone when she
saw a good night message from He Yu. She couldn’t help but smile
and sent him back this message.

Then she sat down at the table and opened her handbook. Although
these days few people use pen and paper to record their daily lives,
there are always a few oddballs who have this nostalgic heart and are
willing to wander through yesterday with rusty ink, trimmed-tip pens
and beige pages.

Turning on the light on the writing desk, Xie Xue began to write her
bedtime jottings.
“My brother went on another blind date today, but the girl I didn’t
like, I think ……”

In the 500 words he wrote, probably because he mentioned Xie

Qingcheng’s relationship status, he also thought of himself as still
single.

Xie Xue sighed and looked out of the window at the ghostly night with
the flashing streetlights.

She is not like her brother, who is already disillusioned with love and
marriage, living too soberly, with peachy eyes squinting over and
looking at anyone with a slight impatience.

But she does have a favourite.

There is a vague image of that man in front of me, who I have often
seen looming over me since I was a child, so close and so far away.

Although she was aware that they were not from the same world, the
circle gap was too wide. Not to mention that he was younger than her
……

But now that they were both at HU, she could see that the crop of
girls interested in him was more enthusiastic than the waves of wheat
in autumn.

If she doesn’t tell him herself, there won’t be much time left, and if
she just passes by on the wrong shoulder, she might regret it later
…… and end up in the same situation as her brother – counting the
trivialities of life with people who don’t have much of a relationship,
saying vows that don’t mean what they say, and The first thing you
need to do is to walk into the graveyard of marriage and then one day
swindle your way back out of it and be alone again, with constant
blind dates to keep your elders from being upset.

Sometimes she couldn’t bear to see her big brother like this, she felt
that Xie Qingcheng was living for others a lot of the time. He said he
didn’t care what people thought, but he was the one who cared most
about his family.
Xie Qingcheng is too tightly wound.

It’s not that she didn’t try to persuade him, but every time the words
were still halfway out of her mouth, her elder brother would give her
a look, either telling her to study hard and mind her own business, or
telling her to mind her own business, what do you know about a young
girl?

In fact, the person who knows the least about relationships is himself
instead. He has lived a small part of his life but has only been given
one very unsuccessful marriage.

“I want to try and confess to someone I like. My brother told me to be

brave when I was little, and I think it’s the same in this case. Whether
it works out or not, it’s always an effort. When I think about it later, I
won’t regret it.”

Xie Xue finished her last sentence and closed her handbook.

What she didn’t know was that a few kilometres away in a hotel suite,
He Yu was having similar thoughts to hers ……
 Chapter 10 – Something
Happened on the Day of the
Confession
Afew days later, He Yu booked a date with Xie Xue at a restaurant in
the clouds for a weekend evening, where he intended to make his
feelings known.

Xie Xue was not sure what to expect when she received his call, but
when she heard that there was something to eat, she was overjoyed:
“Yes! I’ll come! I’m definitely coming!”

“Then see you on the 20th at six o’clock in the evening.”

“Hey? The night of the 20th?”

“What’s wrong?”

Xie Xue had some difficulty: “I might have to be a little late on the
night of the 20th because the emergency department at Huyi just
called me and said that the people from the aid station were going to
pick up old man Zhuang to go to Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital on
the night of the 20th. I’ve also said hello to Cheng Kang and want to
talk to their director about bringing students to visit ……”

He Yu sighed, “I’ll change the time then.”

“But this restaurant is so hard to book, the last time I called, the
person said it was at least three months in advance.”

He Yu smiled, “It’s okay, you can go whenever you want. This

restaurant has my family’s contribution.”

Xie Xue : “……”

Capital is so tiresome. It takes the joy out of everything that comes

with it.
“I don’t think so, it’s a bit of a hassle for the restaurant manager and I
don’t like it either.” Xie Xue said, “It’s still the 20th then, I’ll try to get
it done quickly and if there are any changes I’ll let you know on
WeChat in advance.”

He Yu put his hand to his forehead and smiled more obviously, “Okay,
I’ll do whatever you want.”

Xie Xue hung up the phone happily.

There’s something to eat!

The turn of the year was the 20th.

Xie Xue, who had to negotiate a project for the university, wore a
classic suit from the staff of the University of Shanghai to accompany
Zhuang Zhiqiang to Cheng Kang Hospital with the people from the aid
station in order to look formal.

Unlike Wanping 600, Cheng Kang is a private, old psychiatric

hospital. As soon as they got out of the car, they smelt a foul stench,
and it turned out that the caretakers were reluctantly directing the
transport truck to remove the bed linen and bedding contaminated
with patients’ faeces and urine. Next to them were two men who were
responsible for refuelling the truck, arguing about whether the petrol
was missing.

Old man Zhuang was a little scared and shrank back, taking Xie Xue’s
hand: “Daughter, this ……”

“It’s okay, old man, just stay here for a while, then I’ll pick you up and
take you somewhere else later, okay?”

Only then did Zhuang Lao-Be slowly follow Xie Xue inside.

The reception of the asylum is quite warmly decorated, although the

facilities are all quite old, but at least the smell of the house is fresh
and the colour scheme is soothing.
“Zhang from the rescue station, right? Are you here for the temporary
guardianship service for Zhuang Zhiqiang?”

“Yes.”

“The leader and I have spoken, this way please.”

Zhuang Zhiqiang’s condition was relatively mild and he was placed on

the ground floor. Xie Xue was accompanied by the staff to see the
environment of the room and relaxed a little. Once Zhuang went in, a
carer about Xie Xue’s age was smiling and talking to him, and he
again took him for his daughter, chattering away.

“Then I’ll trouble you.” The relief station staff returned to the office
with the head of hospitalisation and signed a series of agreements.

But it wasn’t the receptionists downstairs that Xie Xue had to talk to
about working together, she had to go upstairs. The receptionist was
supposed to accompany her, but unfortunately she couldn’t leave, so
she instructed Xie Xue to go to the 24-hour duty office on the third
floor and ask for Director Liang directly.

The third floor of Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital is the intensive

care area, and as soon as Xie Xue went up in the lift, she instinctively
felt a chill – the whole atmosphere here was different from below.

The screams and ghostly cries that fill the hallways make the
environment as terrifying as a ghost movie.

The light in the corridor is bright, with incandescent lamps on all year
round, but that light shows an abnormal dead white colour in this
atmosphere.

“Dying! Gonna die hahahahahahahahaha-”

“You’re sick! You’re the ones who are sick!”

“I’m not a human, I’m a ghost, no, I’m not a ghost, I’m a human! ……
Who am I really? Am I a human being or a ghost ……?”
Each ward is sealed by a heavy iron door, and each iron door has an
A4 frame-sized tempered blast glass through which the view inside
can be seen.

Xie Xue walks warily inside for a while, but finally, a little curious, she
stops at the door of one of the quieter wards and stands on tiptoe to
look in through the window.

A woman sits in a room giggling, the whole ward is wrapped in

upholstery to prevent patients from committing suicide or self-harm,
there are no tables, no chairs, even the bed is a special kind of un-
angled bedding draped with blackened restraining straps.

The crazy woman was right there fingering the restraining belt,
affectionately pressing it against her, stuffing it into her plump chest,
laughing heartily as she did so: “Let you cheat on me with that bitch,
look, now you ah …… have been chopped into a line by me… . who
else but me would be willing to touch you and hold you like that?
Hubby ……”

Xie Xue moves on to the next room.

The next room was empty, probably the patient had been taken for
treatment.

In the next room was a man with a stooped back, sitting in a corner
facing the wall, smearing something on the wall, his figure looking
very quiet and peaceful. However, when Xie Xue took a closer look, he
realised that what he was putting on the wall was actually his own
faeces!

The next room was occupied by a young man, probably so self-

inflicted that he was tied to a special bed for who knows how long,
and he was still laughing tirelessly, laughing and crying: “Fuck you!
Why did you tie me up? I want to die! I want to die! If you don’t let me
die, I’ll come out and kill you all ……! I’ll kill you all if I come out! Let
me out! Let me go!

The more Xie Xue looks at it, the hairier he gets, and the more hairy
he gets, the more fascinated he becomes.
The eye moves over the glass window and moves to the next –

“AHHHHH!!!”

When she meets an eye pressed against the glass window, Xie Xue is
startled and screams out, retreating to the other side of the walkway,
pressing against the door on the other side and breathing heavily.

The man in the ward looking at her against the glass window was
cross-eyed, with horribly large, bloodshot eyes, and lo and behold she
was frightened of herself, laughing out loud in there with
uncontrollable joy, one boozy nose pressed against the glass, the
grease rubbing the window surface ……

Xie Xue’s heart was pounding and she was able to slow down a little
when she suddenly felt a cold chill on her ankle.

She looked down –

“Ahhhhhhhh!!!”

This time she screamed even louder than before!

It’s a hand!!!

The iron door, in addition to the peep glass above, turned out to have
a flap underneath for food delivery!!!

A small pale hand reached out through the flap of the door and
grabbed her ankle against the door in a death grip!!!

Xie Xue almost had a nervous breakdown, jumping up, crying,

screaming and stamping her feet, her little hands retracted, but the
patient inside retreated to the middle of the room, standing in a
position where he could be seen through the window glass, a little boy
with albinism, his whole body looking as if it had been bleached, even
his eyes almost transparent, looking at her steadily, grinning and
showing his white teeth. He was looking at her steadily, grinning and
showing his white teeth.
“Sister …… hee hee hee ……”

Cheng Kang’s soundproofing is not good, so the whole aisle is aware

of the noise, and the patients flock to the windows to watch Xie Xue,
making all sorts of strange shouts, echoing conversations between
patients and patients, and several hands reaching out from beneath
the flipchart, fluttering and clutching blindly like seaweed.

“A woman has come to see us!”

“What kind of people? A doctor?”

“Farting doctor! Visiting prisoner!”

“It’s a female ghost!”

“Grab her feet!”

They couldn’t catch Xie Xue, of course, but they laughed with such
abandon that for a moment Xie Xue felt she had entered a jungle
where the night lords had become elves and the sounds of spirits and
ghosts were everywhere.

Xie Xue couldn’t stand it any longer and was about to flee back,
regardless of how long the waitress downstairs was going to be busy,
so she waited until she was done and came back up with her!

Just then, however, she was tapped on the shoulder.

“Help aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” One, two, but three, Xie Xue’s mental

defences completely collapsed.

“Shh.”

Xie Xue’s face was drenched in cold sweat and she looked back in
horror, only to be confronted by a very pretty face.

It is a beautiful woman.
The woman was dressed in a very dated vintage style red dress with
red high heels. She was a little older, in her fifties, but you could still
see that she should have been amazingly pretty in her youth, and even
if she was now drying out like a snake fruit that had lost its water and
gone bad, you could still see some of the delicate charm of her day.

She wears a name tag on her chest: ” Liang Jicheng “.

Xie Xue sighed with sudden relief, like a leaking ball, he was almost
deflated: “Liang, Director Liang ……”

Liang Jicheng smiles, but for some reason his face is a little stiff, as if
he cannot fully engage his musculature and can only bring that smile
to the surface.

She whispered to Xie Xue, “You mustn’t scream here, the more you
scream, the more irritated these patients will be and the more they
will try to scare you. Come on, come with me to the office.”

5:30.

He Yu suddenly received a message from Xie Xue: “I shouldn’t be

late.”

He said back to her, “Is everything going well on your end?”

“It went well, the other side agreed that we could have some of the
students visit, but it was slightly more demanding and I’m still
grinding with her.”

After a while: “By the way, this director Liang, who is in charge of
receiving me today, is so pretty, a big beauty, especially elegant. It’s a
pity you didn’t come along.”

He Yu didn’t bother with her anymore, threw his phone away and got
up to get his clothes from the wardrobe, ready to go out and wait for
her at the hotel.
Arriving early, the manager respectfully guided him to his reserved
spot on the rooftop. Although a private room was available, He Yu
chose the terrace, which overlooked the whole of Hu Zhou, and had a
pleasant evening breeze and a glorious, solemn red haze in the sky.
He felt that Xie Xue would have preferred it.

6.05.

Xie Xue is not here yet.

He Yu sent her a message asking her where she was and if there was
traffic. No sooner had the message been sent than she heard the voice
of the waiter not far away, “Ladies and gentlemen, please be careful
on the steps.”

He looked up – there was a large group of people outside, as if it was

some business meeting or a party for the executives of a company.

He Yu felt that it was a bit noisy and was thinking of changing seats
when he glanced over and saw one of the men with an indifferent
look.

He Yu was stunned for a moment: ” Xie Qingcheng ?”

Xie Qingcheng’s medical school had an important event that the

school had arranged months ago at this hotel, and now that the event
was over, it was time for a back-to-back dinner.

He Yu never thought he would be so lucky as to meet Xie Qingcheng

on a date in a place like this.

How can he confess his love to Xie Xue with such a feudal leader
around? Xie Qingcheng would probably throw him from the top to the
river below!

Xie Qingcheng also saw him, spoke to a colleague and came over to
greet He Yu: “Waiting for someone?”

“…… is.”
Xie Qingcheng A nice colleague came over and saw He Yu: “Yo, what
a handsome guy, Professor Xie, a relative of yours?”

“The client’s son.”

“Oh …… chaps dating girlfriends eh?” There are always annoying self-
involved people in this world asking questions that have no sense of
boundaries.

He Yu was so cultured and smiled, “I’m waiting for Professor Xie’s

sister.”

The colleague was even more enthused and winked at Xie Qingcheng:
“Your brother-in-law is so handsome.”

He Yu looked at Xie Qingcheng’s face and knew that if he dared to

confess his love to Xie Xue today, Xie Qingcheng would dare to smash
his desk and fight with him on the spot.

…… Or else forget it, another day, just have dinner with Xie Xue
today.

“You misunderstand, it’s a common friend.” With that in mind, he

offered a smile.

Xie Qingcheng still frowned, “What do you want to ask her for.”

“I haven’t invited her properly once since I got back home.”

Xie Qingcheng was just about to say something when their table was
already greeting the two of them and his colleague pulled him away,
so he had no choice but to give He Yu a warning look and return to his
table.

6:15.

The table of professors from the medical school had started serving
food, but Xie Xue still hadn’t arrived.
Not only did she not come, she had not even replied to the message
He Yu had sent her ten minutes ago. He Yu sent another message
asking for her, but still no response.

He Yu had a slight feeling that something was wrong and he simply

called Xie Xue by voice on WeChat.

Not picked up.

Re-broadcast the call.

First there was a beeping waiting tone, and after waiting for a long
time, there was still no movement.

He called again –

It’s really not right anymore.

“Hello, the user you have called is switched off, please call again
later.”

Xie Xue Suddenly never received a shutdown!

Now He Yu was sure that something was indeed wrong, he

immediately got up and went straight out of the Cloud Restaurant.
The manager was startled to see the young master in such a hurry
and his eyes were cold, and he said in a bit of panic.

“Young Master He, is there a lack of service somewhere?”

“No.” He Yu pressed the lift button, his eyes growing stern, “You tell
the lobby to call me a car, and make it quick.”

“Ohhhhhh, good good.”

He Yu was pissed off at this point, why the fuck is a building so high?
There’s a new transfer lift to get up and down!

“Ding…!”
The spurned lift finally reached the floor and the mechanical dull grey
doors opened, He Yu got in and was about to close them when a hand
slammed against the door and opened it again.

He Yu looked up grimly to see who was holding him up, then saw a
long, beautiful hand with a wristwatch on it.

“What’s going on.”

Forty minutes later, the hotel’s nanny van, which had run a number of
red lights along the way, was parked outside Cheng Kang Psychiatric
Hospital.

He Yu and Xie Qingcheng were admitted to a psychiatric hospital

together.

By this time it was dark and the lobby of the Cheng Kang Psychiatric
Hospital was lit up, with several lightly ill patients on the ground floor
being escorted by carers for review activities.

“Who are you looking for?”

The nurse at reception froze when she saw He Yu and Xie Qingcheng
pushing their way through the door with unpleasant looks on their
faces and got up to ask.

Xie Qingcheng : “There’s a girl, a teacher from Hu Chuan, who came

to see your Director Liang this afternoon to talk about the project. I’m
her brother, where is she?”

“Then it should be on the third floor.” The nurse surveyed Xie

Qingcheng and suddenly blushed and smiled, “Handsome man, you’re
not sure about your sister, are you?”

She sweetly joked, “You don’t have to be so nervous, we are a regular

hospital here, nothing will go wrong, maybe they have been talking
for a bit too long, and our Director Liang is in his fifties and has a wife
and kids, he wouldn’t-”
“What did you say?!”

He Yu interrupted her abruptly.

“You said Director Liang has a wife and children?”

“Yes, yes.”

His face changed at once.

What had been an uneasy guess, He Yu is now absolutely certain that

something is wrong.

There is still the last message Xie Xue sent him on his phone, when
she said to him –

“This director Liang who is in charge of receiving me today is so

beautiful, a big beauty, especially elegant ……”

–Director Leung can’t be a woman!

He Yu immediately ran upstairs!!!

At this moment in time.

The lilting song, “Throw it, throw it, throw the handkerchief, gently
put it behind the little one, don’t tell her, everyone ……” echoed in the
duty office of the mental hospital in Cheng Kang.

” Liang Jicheng” is just humming this song carelessly, and with a

scalpel in his hand, he is hacking at the ground one by one.

The fan buzzed above her head, cutting the light and shadows in a
confusing way, but still illuminating what was in front of her –

It was a corpse that had not long been dead.

Blood has stained the work uniforms of HU teachers …… 沪大教师工作服 ……

It’s Xie Xue!!!

” Liang Jicheng” finally chopped off a whole hand of Xie Xue, she held
the severed hand for a moment and with a numb expression threw it
away, the hand rolled next to Xie Xue’s already cold corpse ……
 Chapter 11 – He Becomes a
Hostage
The office door was closed and locked, and because it was a specially
designed burglar-proof door, Xie Qingcheng and He Yu couldn’t knock
it down, but the receptionist downstairs felt something was wrong and
hurried up with the key.

“There’s a sound inside.” He Yu said.

Xie Qingcheng pounded on the door, and He Yu had never seen such a
terrible look on his face in all the time he had known him, he looked
like he had lost his mind: ” Xie Xue! Xie Xue! Are you there? Can
anyone inside hear me! Xie Xue!!!”

No one responded to him.

All there was was the gentle woman’s voice, slyly coiling through it,
“Throw, throw, throw, throw your handkerchief ……”

“Keys, keys …… keys!!!” The receptionist rushed up and handed him

the keys.

Xie Qingcheng took it, his hand was trembling so much that it took
him two times to align the lock eye, after a few clicks and turns the
lock was unlocked, he slammed the door open and was greeted by a
strong smell of blood, Xie Xue’s bloody body was in Xie Qingcheng’s
eyes in an instant!!!

Xie Qingcheng was suddenly unable to do so, his eyes went black, and
the sky fell on his limbs as if he had been struck by a dull blow.

The fan is still rattling around the house, setting off a thick stench of
fishy air.
Xie Qingcheng was not blood-sick, but at this moment, his whole body
seemed to be drowning in the rich blood. He began to lose
consciousness, hearing, seeing, touching and everything was blurred.

Someone seemed to be screaming behind them, it seemed to be the

receptionist who had accompanied them up, but he wasn’t sure, he
couldn’t seem to hear anything.

Only the sense of smell is suddenly frighteningly clear.

The smell of blood fought its way to his sensory organs, to rip and tear
his lungs apart.

He staggered in, life and death and danger were nothing to him, even
if the killer inside could come up and kill him now.

…… That’s his sister!!!

He didn’t know who he was listening to murmuring, ” Xie Xue …… Xie

Xue ……”

The voice trembled horribly.

Yet, again, it seemed to be a humming that leaked from his own

broken, hoarse throat.

” Xie Xue —!!!”

“Don’t go over there!!!”

Suddenly a man grabbed his hand violently and yanked him back,
holding him by the waist: “Don’t go over there! Xie Qingcheng !!!”

He didn’t blink, nor did he try to break free of the man, he just moved
forward on his own, with surprising force, he was numb to the fact
that he only had so little in the world to care about ……

At that moment it seemed to rain suddenly before his eyes, and the
rain was fishy, and he stood withered in the rain, and that was the
first time he had seen death-
His parents were dead in a pool of blood, their bodies were battered
and broken, half of his mother’s body was almost rolled into mud, and
one severed hand rolled out so far that he walked over to it and it was
right in front of his toes.

His eyes were vacant as he looked at ……

” Xie Qingcheng! Not Xie Xue! Wake up! Look carefully!

The words were like a spell that shattered the magic mirror of terror,
hitting him hard and unexpectedly in the heart, dragging his
consciousness back from his great fear.

He slowly turned his head, his eyes focused in his peach blossom eyes,
fixed on the face of the person who had said this to him.

Yes ……

He Yu .

He Yu was saying this to him.

It’s a fake.

Not really.

Not dead ……

He snapped back to attention and jerked back to fix his eyes –

The sting was still the uniform that belonged to Xie Xue, but on closer
inspection, the bloody mass of dead bodies was not the same height
and build as Xie Xue’s. Xie Xue’s HUU teacher’s uniform was barely fit
over the body and could not even be buttoned at the chest area …… It
was a male corpse!

Xie Qingcheng’s feet went limp and his disembodied soul was forcibly
shoved back into his flesh and blood in an instant, with a force so
rough that it was almost too much for him to bear.
He closed his eyes for a moment to slow down, before he allowed
himself to swim ashore from the horrific fright of extinction he had
just felt, but he was already soaked to the skin and covered in cold
sweat between his eyebrows.

A normal person would not have been able to discern the identity of
this already sparse corpse in such a short time.

The smell of blood alone is enough to make one unconscious and

unable to keep one’s head above water.

But He Yu was a unique case of mental illness, a patient with a

disease known as “psycho-Ebola”. And he was the fourth most gore-
accepting case of psychiatric Ebola.

He is not afraid of blood, and when mad he is even bloodthirsty.

That is why he was able to determine the identity of the deceased in

such a short time.

He chillingly asked ” Liang Jicheng” inside, “Where’s the girl?”

” Liang Jicheng” raised his head –

She was indeed as Xie Xue described in her last message, an

extremely beautiful woman who had even defeated time, the years
had not left too cruel a mark on her face and she was far more
beautiful and sultry than the women of her age.

Behind Xie Qingcheng and He Yu, the waitress, who had fallen to the
ground in fear and had pissed herself, let out a distorted scream, or
rather a wail, when she saw the face of ” Liang Jicheng”.

“It’s her!!! It’s her!!!”

By this time the security guards were rushing up one by one asking
questions, all scared out of their souls at the sight before them, and
only a few broke into a shout –

” Jiang Lanpei!!!”
“How did she get out?!!!?”

Jiang Lanpei is the ‘elder’ of the Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital.

There is an unwritten rule in such institutions, including the funeral
homes of ordinary hospitals – any “unclaimed” patient or body that
has gone unclaimed for too long is called an “elder”.

Jiang Lanpei has been here for almost twenty years.

No one ever came to visit her.

Even how she first came to be has been lost in the archives due to the
change of paper and electronic information, and cannot be found.

Cheng Kang was known in the asylum only as a crazy person who
could not be messed with, because she was the least obvious of them
all, and while others were dishevelled and incoherent, she groomed
herself every day and often answered questions when spoken to.

But everyone in the hospital knows that while what she says is
logically fine, the content is all fiction and, to put it bluntly, very much
like the madness of normal talk.

“Don’t interact with her much, leave as soon as you’re done nursing,
this crazy woman is very compulsive.”

This rule has remained unchanged from the time when Liang
Kangyong, the hospital’s big boss, set it up to the time when Liang
Kangyong died and his younger brother Liang Jicheng and other
partners took over the hospital.

The man who fell to the ground was the real Liang Jicheng.

Jiang Lanpei looked sorrowfully at the growing number of people

outside and spoke, “No police.”

“Hurry up and report-”

“I’ll see who dares to report it!”

Jiang Lanpei brushes up his scalpel and points at one of the
individuals in front of him, his eyes flashing with a frantic light.

“I’ve been here for almost twenty years and I’ve had enough! I want
to get out now, I want to go home! My children are waiting for me!”

“You, you don’t have a child, Jiang Lanpei!” The captain of the
security team, a bold one at that, came forward and shouted nervously
at Jiang Lanpei, “You don’t have a child! You’re all alone! We’ve been
looking after you for twenty years…”

“Bullshit! You took care of me for 20 years? You call that taking care
of me? Let me go! I want to go now! Get out of the way! Get out of my
way! Or …… or you’ll never know where another girl is!!!”

He Yu and Xie Qingcheng both looked very uncomfortable when they

heard these words.

Xie Qingcheng : “Where is she?”

“You think I’m stupid! Why should I tell you! If I told you they could
have taken me away!”

Xie Qingcheng’s face was ironic, but he suddenly thought of

something and stepped forward.

Jiang Lanpei took two steps back and the tip of the knife brushed
against his chest, the sharp scalpel still dripping blood: “What are you
doing? I said don’t come any closer!”

“You took her in order to keep her as a hostage, didn’t you?”

“……”

Xie Qingcheng lifted his hand, staring into her eyes, and suddenly
took hold of the bloody, sharp blade. Jiang Lanpei screamed and tried
to pull the blade out of his hand, and Xie Qingcheng’s palm was
instantly cut, blood pouring down.

“What are you doing – you don’t want her life? You-”
The blade was carried by Xie Qingcheng and rested against his own
chest.

Everyone around them paled.

Xie Qingcheng said, without blinking, “I’ll do it.”

Jiang Lanpei is frozen in place.

Xie Qingcheng slowly released his hand from clutching the blade and
said in one word: “I will take her place. You tell them where she is at
once, and have someone bring her to me! If anything happens to her, I
don’t care if you’re really crazy or not, I’ll fucking kill you!”

Jiang Lanpei considered it for a while, but her mind was also a bit
scrambled and she couldn’t think it through.

The look in Xie Qingcheng’s eyes was so horrifying that she stared at
it, such a murderous murderer, and was actually a little overwhelmed
by him, so she simply stopped thinking about it and yanked him over,
the blade of her knife pressed against the artery of Xie Qingcheng’s
neck.

He Yu : “…… Xie Qingcheng!”

“The little girl is in B3009, my room.”

“I’ve seen it before! Don’t fall for her!” A security guard shouted, ”
Jiang Lanpei! There’s no one in your room!!!”

Jiang Lanpei sneered twice: “Move the bed, there’s a loose plank
underneath, pry it open and there’s a very small dark room. You had
better go through together, there are other surprises waiting for you
besides the little girl.”

Several guards looked at each other and three were ready to go.

Jiang Lanpei suddenly said, “Wait a minute! …… All of you, take your
phones out and drop them on the ground.”
“……”

All could only do as they were told. One mobile phone was thrown to
the ground and after leaving their means of communication behind,
the three bodyguards were allowed to go to B3009 not far away to
find someone while the others remained behind.

A moment later, though, the guard who had gone ran back.

The three men, who had seen something in the dark room, all looked
as grey as half-dried cement that had been unevenly mixed. They used
the sheet as a makeshift stretcher to carry the unconscious Xie Xue
over.

Xie Qingcheng couldn’t stand the sight of Xie Xue.

The heart can’t take it.

On the one hand he was completely relieved that Xie Xue was indeed
fine, probably just drugged up and passed out. On the other hand, he
was devastated that Xie Xue’s clothes had been taken off. It was
summer and autumn and the weather was hot, so with the school
uniform off she was reduced to a thin white lace vest.

Xie Qingcheng took one look at it and averted his gaze, his whole body
shaking with anger.

He raised his hand –

Jiang Lanpei : “What are you doing? Don’t move!”

“That’s my fucking sister!” Xie Qingcheng loosened his own shirt and
tossed it to He Yu under Jiang Lanpei’s trembling, hard against his
blade.

His eyes were red as he ordered He Yu, “Put it on her!”

He Yu didn’t need him to say anything, he had already taken the

clothes and put them on Xie Xue to cover her up. He Yu turned to Xie
Qingcheng and asked him, “What are you going to do?”
“What can I do?” Xie Qingcheng snapped, “What else can I do, it’s bad
luck when I meet you, why didn’t you flip through the original
Singerella and eat the poison inside as sugar and poison you clean!”

He Yu’s eyes narrowed for a moment.

He knew what Xie Qingcheng meant when he said something that

seemed to be a complaint about him.

But he knew that Jiang Lanpei did not.

Jiang Lanpei said, “All of you come with me to the roof.”

“Get on the roof and I’ll let him go.”

When a murderer wants to escape, the hostage should be “call me a

car, don’t call the police, I’ll drive out and let them go”. Jiang Lanpei
is a seemingly sane psychopath, and she doesn’t go down to the
rooftop instead.

Can there be a helicopter on the rooftop?

But since she had ordered this, the others could only do as they were
told.

Jiang Lanpei said, “Go! You go first! Go in front! Get to the top of the
most building! Move!”

She urged them up one by one, and only after everyone had gone out
did she set up Xie Qingcheng and move up carefully.

Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital is located in the middle of nowhere,

far from the city, with sparse rooftop lighting and a strong night
breeze that dries the body with cold sweat and gives you goose
bumps.

Jiang Lanpei ordered everyone to sit at some distance from her and
retreated to the water tower, the scalpel still pressed against Xie
Qingcheng’s neck.
Xie Qingcheng says: “Purpose.”

“I said my purpose was to escape!”

“That’s not what you’re about.”

Jiang Lanpei: “What do you know? The heavenly beings will come to
get me ……” The blade was pressed so tightly against Xie Qingcheng’s
skin that blood was already dripping out.

She stood on tiptoe and whispered to Xie Qingcheng, “You’ll all be

dead by then.”

Xie Qingcheng’s whole being calmed down completely once Xie Xue
was safe. He was so clear-headed that his own life was really nothing
in his eyes.

He said coldly to Jiang Lanpei, “In that case, why don’t you kill me
now? You’ll have to die in the end anyway, as you say.”

“You-!”

“Afraid to kill?”

“……”

“What are you waiting for, people in the sky? Where is there anyone
in the sky, it’s so foggy, there are no stars.”

Jiang Lanpei slyly: “Anyway, you wait, that’s all.”

She was a woman of about fifty, after all, and it was too much for her
to stand on her tiptoes and strain herself to coerce Xie Qingcheng,
and to divert her energy to watch out for the others. So she scanned
the area around the water tower and found a piece of twine that
someone else had used for construction and maintenance, which she
hooked over with her foot while still holding it against Xie
Qingcheng’s throat.
Then she began to tie him, tying him in knots to the water tower,
tying several knots.

Xie Qingcheng laughed coldly: “You are quite skilled in your business.
Is this all you’ve practiced in the asylum in the last twenty years?”

The woman seemed to be touched by him and slapped him loudly

across the face, spitting, “Shut up.”

She tied him up solidly and pushed back a few steps, always relieved.

A light of hatred flashed in his eyes, “You men are beastly things.”

Behind them, the guards couldn’t help but whisper, and those who
hadn’t rescued Xie Xue asked the three who had: “Is there really a
secret room in Jiang Lanpei’s room?”

The three guards looked far worse than the others, and two of them
looked completely disoriented, staring at Jiang Lanpei with fear in
their eyes.

Only one barely managed to pick up, “Yes.”

“What’s in there?”

–what’s inside?

The three guards shuddered in unison.

Before they had time to speak, Jiang Lanpei heard them and she
slowly turned back to them, the sharp knife in her hand.

She smiled, “What is it?”

The hatred in the smile gradually burned up like a blaze, and the
smouldering breath seemed to materialize in this moment –

“What’s inside? Hahaha …… hahahahaha …… It’s love! It’s a special,

special intimate love ……! Isn’t it?” Jiang Lanpei twisted her face, she
was indeed a lunatic.
The only one of the three guards who could still speak held his head in
his hands, he was quite old and had a daughter, so he spoke in pain: ”
Liang Jicheng raped and insulted her.”

“!!!”

“It’s been over a decade …… doing this every night, no matter what
her health is …… Every night Liang Jicheng leaves a picture in that
dark room, and when she goes in, on all sides, all ……”

“Where does it stop?” Jiang Lanpei smiles softly, “See that skeleton in
the corner?”

“……”

“That’s the ‘snack’ Liang Jicheng brought.” She spoke to them with
the gesture of a whisper, but her voice was put out loud and hoarse,
like a crow mockingly mourning, “He eats it outside for fear of
dropping the snack crumbs, for fear of the scent stirring up the cat!
And he took it to the madhouse, and my room was dark from the
beginning, and only he and his brother knew it, and they ate that
confection …… and the little girl couldn’t bear the humiliation and
died by banging against the wall!”

With each additional word she spoke, the horror on the faces of those
who heard it grew.

Only He Yu’s face is always calm.

And Xie Qingcheng is hated more than anger.

“The snacks crashed themselves to death, they couldn’t be dumped in

the trash, it was hard to handle, so they kept throwing them in the
dark room, taking sulfuric acid and dipping them, the meat was soon
gone and there weren’t too many bones left …… but they left some, to
show me and scare me. I was told not to seek death, and that it would
be the same fate if I died.” Jiang Lanpei recalls these events with his
mind so stimulated and somewhat muddled that his speech begins to
break up, but the madness on his face is not lost at all.
“I pretended to be scared and I catered to them every day …… and
then he died …… and there was only one brother …… yuck! That
brother was even more disgusting than he was, a complete pervert
……”

“Why didn’t you tell us! Why didn’t you let us call the police!!!”

The young nurse couldn’t listen any longer and her eyes were full of
tears, “We can help you if you call the police!”

“Who would believe my words! I’m a lunatic! A lunatic!!! They told

you not to talk to me! Get as far away from me as you can! You’ll just
give me pills every day! Take the pills! You give me pills! Has anyone
ever listened to me? Has anyone ever believed me?” Jiang Lanpei
shouted angrily, “I am mentally ill! That’s why I’m a beast in your
eyes! No need to listen carefully, no need for genuine concern, what
do I dare to tell you? If I tell you, Liang Jicheng will kill me later!”

The B3006 is like a rusty furnace in which nearly two decades of lust
and sin have floated.

Because of the illness, there is always a preconceived judgement in

the eyes of normal people, the mad woman and the director of the
madhouse, who would only believe the latter. Slowly, the dark room
under the woman’s bed becomes a spider’s nest where the sun does
not shine, and the woman’s flesh and blood rots in the cobwebs.

“I’m disgusted with you guys.”

“I hate all of you!!!”

The light in Jiang Lanpei’s eyes became more terrifying as he spoke,

and his voice slowly went down, clutching his head.

“No one can help me …… I have long …… I have long since lost track
of who I am and where I came from …… I can only …… I can only go
back to heaven.”

She jerked her head up to look at them.

“You all have to stay with me.”

As the words left her mouth, she suddenly noticed that one of the
guards was looking at her oddly, as if revealing some kind of
nervousness that she shouldn’t have, and she froze for a second,
suddenly reacting and turning back abruptly –

At the same time, she felt a strong gust of wind in her face! She
barely managed to avoid it, but was then pinned to the rough concrete
floor by her opponent’s long legs, and stared incredulously at the
topless man with the strong, thin shoulders and stern look against the
cloudy night backdrop.

“That knot, you …… how could you ……”

“I forgot to tell you.” Xie Qingcheng said icily, “My parents are both
cops. You’re a knot that I grew up fucking playing with.”
 Chapter 12 – The Murderer
Dissolves into Fire
Jiang Lanpei was pinned to the ground, his eyes bloodshot and
panting, but a maniacal laugh squeezed out of the corner of his
mouth: ‘Hahahahaha …… What good are the police …… The police are
all rubbish! Has there been even one cop in all these years who found
me trapped in this hellhole? NONE! They’re all pussies!”

Her mind is so muddled that she catches a key word and dives in and
out for half a day.

In the midst of her cursing, her loose hair was blown into her mouth
by the wind and she spat it out, her eyes more fierce –

“Now what, you’re going to kill me aren’t you? The police? You’re
going to kill me to cover up your dereliction of duty aren’t you?”

She said, a lusty indifferent smile appearing on her face, constrained

by the fact that her eyes were still mocking.

“I knew it, you men are all like that, losers! Nothing works, you just
vent your incompetence on women! I’ve been treated like cattle for
twenty years …… Do you know what I rely on to remember time? I
rely on the pictures that dead thing has on the wall! I look at those
disgusting things every day and the earliest one I had was twenty-
nine! Twenty-nine!!!”

“I’m fifty. …… Huh? Maybe fifty-two? Fifty-one? Or maybe less than

fifty?” She was confused again, a smile dipped on her Dan lips slyly
like a cranberry blended in wine, “Never mind, it doesn’t matter ……
what matters is that I’m out.”

“Do you know how I got out?”

“I spent so many years, I coaxed him, I coddled him, I was a crazy

demented girl, he couldn’t see me but he wanted to screw me,
strutting around in front of me to get back those pathetic male egos of
his …… hahahahaha …… I coddled him into a stupor head, and over
the years he became more and more unsuspecting of me, once he
actually left all the keys to my room door in the dark room when he
took his trousers off.”

As if whispering, she couldn’t hold back another big smile of triumph,

“But I didn’t take it.”

“I handed him that key the other night and asked him what it was. He
turned pale when he saw the key, but then he saw that I was stupid
and let it go. He was sure I was really too sick …… to even recognize
the key, ha!” The eyes suddenly became sharp and the voice, “What
man can live like that for twenty years without going crazy!”

“He just teased me about that key, like he thought I was a dead dog
who didn’t know how to use it even when he had the escape hatch! He
didn’t know that I saw the smugness in his eyes and I was sick to my
stomach! But I could pretend – who says psychos can’t pretend? I
pretended so well that I completely fooled him, and then he got more
and more relaxed and indifferent, and as soon as he left the key
behind, I snuck out… I touched every brick in the whole asylum! But
I’m not leaving! I’m going to make all these men go to hell!”

“Finally I got it all planned out and just yesterday …… I took

advantage of the fact that he had left his key behind again, I took it
and waited until the night and I went out …… and quietly stole a
knife.”

She still clutched the knife in her hand, the blood having dried on the
shiny silver blade and solidified into an ugly, ripe brown colour.

Xie Qingcheng knew that if he let up just a little, the woman would
spring back up and drive the knife into his chest.

The animalism and aggression on her face was too much.

Look at the heavens and look at the earth with abhorrence.

Twenty years have transformed her from a mere patient to a trapped

beast that grinds its teeth and sucks blood.
“I hid the knife under the bed and he came again, rubbing his greasy
mouth on me, and I catered to him by reaching under the mattress
and ……”

Her pupils seem to spurt with the blood and screams of Liang
Jicheng’s murder.

“Hahahahaha …… hahahahahahaha …… so hot blood ……”

“How can someone with such a cold heart have such hot blood, you
say? It shouldn’t be. ……!”

“Later, I dragged him to the office…to try and split him up, but I
heard movement outside the door and saw through the crack that it
was a strange girl who seemed to be looking for something. Of course
I wasn’t going to let her ruin my plans! I had waited so many years!
So I hid the body in the cupboard, pinned on his name tag and I
walked out …… to talk to your sister ……”

She contorts her face as if she is narrating to Xie Qingcheng, or

talking to herself.

“This girl looks good and surprisingly, she even looks a bit like the
‘little snack’ that was brought back at the time and died after hitting
the wall. I guess …… hehehe, it’s the reincarnation of the little dim
sum …… even if it’s not, it doesn’t matter, in fact I don’t really
remember what the girl looked like, but just about the same age as
her, I think it’s really predestined, I tricked her into going to the
office, and when she wasn’t looking gave her a drink of ecstasy …… of
course I know which is ecstasy, looking down on mental illness is the
most ridiculous thing about you normal people, I recognize that
special ecstasy too well, when I don’t obey the surname Liang will
give me a whole cup to pour down!”

“She passed out and I dragged her to the dark room, I thought when I
got my revenge and her kin came looking for her…they’d…they’d turn
the place upside down! Not like me …… not like me …… me ……”

As she said this, her eyes dimmed again, and she actually looked as if
she was a little lonely.
Xie Qingcheng’s sharp gaze was fixed on her, “So you were hoping
that after it was over, someone would find that dark room as well
when they were looking for her?”

“……” the woman didn’t answer, giving a stiff, twisted smile, “None of
that matters now.”

“After I shut your sister up in the dark room, I dragged Liang Jicheng
out of the wardrobe again – I’m going to die with him there, in that,
the place where I first met him! Just me and him, like we did when we
first met …… No one else! Calling on God, I’m going to personally, I’m
going to cut him apart, bit by bit-”

She gave a start and stared at Xie Qingcheng with more bitter hatred
in her eyes.

“But here you are.”

“You have disturbed me so that I could not give him his final revenge
in that place!”

“You guys are bothering me …… you’re the police aren’t you? You are
the police. You cops all turn to the evil, you kill me. If you kill me,
sooner or later I will demand my life from you too-!”

Hatred, determination, hideousness and mad laughter.

It was almost as if it was going to come out of that face of hers and
turn into long fangs that would pierce the man in front of her.

But Xie Qingcheng stared at her and said, word for word, “I’m not a
policeman, and I have no intention of killing you.”

The woman shuddered, unexpectedly. She bared her teeth, her eyes
protruding.

“So what do you want?”

“He wants to take you to the police.” He Yu hands Xie Xue over to a
nearby nurse girl to settle down and walks over to Xie Qingcheng,
whose expression is hard to see in the night.

“Let’s get you to tell the police all about it.”

“I’m not going!” Jiang Lanpei yelled hysterically, “I’m not going! No
one will believe me!!! I’m not going! Liars …… you’re all liars!”

But He Yu slowly approached her.

Xie Qingcheng turned back and said in a stern voice, “What are you
doing here?

He Yu said, ” Xie Qingcheng , you don’t understand her.”

“You’ve been talking to her for so long, has she paid any attention to
you, apart from being scolded by her?”

The boy walked up to them, pulled Xie Qingcheng away and helped
Jiang Lanpei up, who in that moment burst out with incredible force
and violently stabbed He Yu with a knife!

But He Yu spoke to her with a good eye, and her hand froze instantly.

He said, ” Jiang Lanpei , I am also a psychopath.”

The teenager was less than a fist’s length away from her eyes, almond
eyes reflecting those of the mad woman.

His voice was so soft that no one but the nearest Xie Qingcheng could
hear him as he slowly lifted his hand, staring into Jiang Lanpei’s eyes
as he slowly, unmovingly, clutched the cold blade.

If only Jiang Lanpei had looked back and drawn his sword, he would
have been hurt, but He Yu looked too calm, his body tense but his face
seemingly unruffled, like he was talking to an ordinary woman, a
mother, a normal person.

“You know what? I’m a psychopath too.”

The knife, being silently replaced into his hand.

Jiang Lanpei didn’t realise the danger until she lost her blade, and she
stared at He Yu with a pale face: “You-”

But he had no intention of hurting her.

He flexed his knuckles and slowly swept the woman’s loose forehead
hair away and smoothed it behind her ear as he stared into her eyes,
“I’m an orphan case, you look into my eyes, you’re a madman, do you
see the same kind?”

Jiang Lanpei is still wary, but she does stare at He Yu intently, even,
sniffing.

He Yu without any expression, very calmly let her confirm on him in

the most primitive way like an animal, maybe every type of person has
their own way of confirming safety, maybe the beastly nature and
sixth sense of a madman is just stronger than ordinary people.

Jiang Lanpei finally whispered, “You are.”

“I am.”

“Who has harmed you?”

“Natural.”

He Yu blandly: “I don’t even have a goal of revenge.”

Jiang Lanpei : “……”

“But even though I’m a patient, they believe everything I say.”

“Why?”

He Yu smiled, the clouds dispersed, and under the miserable white

moonlight, his eyes seemed to be coated with a frosty silver, and his
side teeth appeared cold and sharp.
He leaned over, as if sharing some wonderful method of overcoming
illness with a sick friend, and whispered gently, “Because, like you, I
can pretend.”

“You pretend to be stupid and I pretend to be normal.”

He filled the pool of icy frost under his eyes and smiled, “After
nineteen years of pretending, not many people have found out that I’m
sick. We all need a bit of protective colour, don’t we?”

Jiang Lanpei was in a trance for a moment, but she soon came to her
senses again.

“No …… I’ve killed people, my disguise is over-”

“You can’t trust them, maybe you can trust me. I’ll tell you a secret
first.”

Jiang Lanpei listened with eyes wide open.

He Yu lifted a finger and pressed it gently to his lips, “Soon, the police
will be here.”

“!!!” Jiang Lanpei’s pupils snapped shut, “What is this? They called
the police?! They still called the police! They’re cunning-”

“I’m the one who reported it.” He Yu looked calm.

“Why should you …… we be the same …… why should you be on their

side, you should …… you should ……” the woman got up incoherently.

“I’m on your side.”

He Yu said.

“But don’t you want Liang Jicheng to die with his reputation still in
tatters? Twenty years, you let him die for nothing, you died a victim,
you may even be memorialised as a good entrepreneur, your
tombstone is filled with flowers, the families of unknown patients
come to mourn him, and you become a murderer, infamous, the front
page of the newspaper carries your ugliest picture, everyone says you
are an ungrateful animal, no one knows what you have suffered, and
after you die You will be spat upon after your death. –Do the math and
see if you’re worth it.”

“……”

“Tell the police everything and you may not be dead. Liang Jicheng’s
name is all counted after his death, and you can let his person and his
name die twice.” He Yu tilted his head sideways and whispered in her
ear, as if it were a compulsion, “What a bargain. Why don’t you go
ahead and do it that way?”

Jiang Lanpei seemed for a moment to be somewhat moved by what he

said.

It was at this point that the sound of sirens raced like a distant tide
towards the asylum, which loomed in the dark, from all directions.

“Get out of the car!”

“Get out of the car, all of you!!!”

Jiang Lanpei’s eyes twitched and she struggled to get up. The guards
showed their intention to restrain her, but He Yu gently helped her
up.

“I’ll walk you through it.”

“Go and have a look, there may be a light way out of that …… up
ahead.”

Jiang Lanpei, as if compelled, trembles and walks forward, reaching

the railing of the rooftop, clutching the cold, rusty iron railing with a
fierce grip and stretching his neck to look down.

Her blurred vision reflected the flashing red and blue lights of the
police cars, brightly lit up in a way that at first glance was a sight she
had not seen in all her years behind bars.
It was as if all the injustice, shame and suffering she had endured
could be illuminated, and that dark room, which had been dark and
secluded for twenty years, could be exposed to the light of day.

As she watched, her emotions suddenly flared and tears came to her
eyes.

Slowly she turned back to the night breeze, and her long red dress –
the dress that Liang Jicheng had bought for her to wear under the
guise of caring for the dispossessed to satisfy his own fetish, but
which he had often lewdly stripped from her – blew clattering in the
night air.

“…… It’s so bright.” She murmured softly, “It’s like dawn.”

“Thank you.”

“But ……”

Overlapping the last few syllables that escaped from her dainty lips
were the PA calls of the police officers downstairs –

“All trapped persons, please calm down! All trapped persons please
stay calm! Do not take the lift! Find a source of water nearby if
possible! Moisten wet cloths! Cover your mouth and nose! Keep your
body down! The firefighters are on their way! If possible, mark your
rescue with any visible object nearby! You will be rescued
immediately!!!”

Jiang Lanpei’s eyes dimmed: “It’s too late.”

“-Twenty years is enough to make me hate everyone.”

“I came to the final step of my plan when you broke into the office.”

“Boy, I can’t turn back.”

As if confirming her words, suddenly-

“BOOM!!!”
An earth-shattering blast!!!

The staff trapped on the rooftop flocked to the edge in panic to see – a
closed door and window near the asylum’s fabric room had finally
been violently blown open by a raging wave of fire and air from
within!

Jiang Lanpei said slowly in the light of the fire: ” Cheng Kang Hospital
has a lot of hidden things, Liang Jicheng has set up many hidden
rooms in the hospital, stocked with gasoline and incendiary devices…
He doesn’t dare to talk about it in front of anyone but me, a fool,
saying He only had to push that hidden start button in his office and it
would be burning in ten minutes…”

“He’s a thief, the smoke alarm system and the surveillance system in
this shithole broke down a long time ago, and he was talking to
someone on the phone about it while he was doing that in my bed. I
heard it all. I’ve gotten to know Cheng Kang better than anyone else
over the years.”

“…… I didn’t intend to get to this point, but you guys just had to get
here when I was splitting up …… I didn’t want to get into the hands of
the police and I had already pushed that button while waiting for you
guys to go to the dark room to save my life. ”

Xie Qingcheng : “You-!”

“Yes, I brought you up here because I wanted to stall for time, the fire
spread, no one could leave, we all died together, and when we died
there would not be so much pain …… to turn back now.” Jiang Lanpei
a sad smile, two words fell to the ground can be heard, “too late.”

“It’s too late ……”

“I’m late, and so are you. ……”

“It’s not too late. ！！！！”

Jiang Lanpei glanced back and saw that it was the firefighters in
special training who had climbed up from the unburned part of the
wall in the shortest possible time, using the protective rope lock.

The fireman, a dog-eared man in protective clothing, probably didn’t

hear what they were saying in front of him, and climbed up to hear
this trapped aunt over here late and late.

Doesn’t this call into question his business skills?

The fire bears quit and yelled, “It’s not too late! I’m fast! Come on,
everyone! Get down now! The fire’s coming to the north side! Hurry
up! The women and children go first!”

“ME!!! Me first!!!”

The little nurse, frightened silly, saw the firemen and saw the gods
descending from heaven, and ran over crying. One by one, several
firemen climbed up through the rope ladder, rushing to take them
away before the fire spread out of control.

Xie Xue and the other female staff were the first to be taken down,
and the firefighters shouted at Jiang Lanpei: “Sister! Come over
here!!! What are you doing standing so far away by yourself! We’ll
take you down! We’ll protect you, don’t be afraid! We’re taking you
home! Come on!!!”

Jiang Lanpei shuddered violently, as if struck by an electric current,

as she stood beneath a tall tower of water, the gale blowing against
her long, blood-coloured dress.

But, where is home?

And who is she?

Where could she go when she was saved? She had been mad for so
long that she had long since lost sight of the world outside; her world
was a secluded room, thousands of photographs, full of hatred and
infinite desolation.
She’s going to hell with all of this, together.

She was just waiting for the fire to come up, for it to spread out and
take all the darkness to the sky and turn it into the first rays of the
morning sun at the end of a long night.

“Sis – come over here -!”

When the windows at the bottom were burst by the draught, the fire
no longer spread silently; it became a dragon of fire, hissing with rage
and spitting black smoke, and the flames lit up the dark sky.

Jiang Lanpei trembles and takes a step forward.

Then she stopped.

Looking up at the water tower behind me, the reserve is rarely

activated and there is not much water in it – no, it’s not water.

The corners of her mouth swept open in a cold smile.

It was the petrol she had stolen the keys to on numerous occasions,
sneaking out without Liang Jicheng’s knowledge and getting it from
the reserve, while her dress bodice hid the last thing that would take
her to “heaven”.

……

” He Yu , come here!!!”

Xie Qingcheng reacted abruptly, yanked He Yu’s arm and ran wildly in
the opposite direction.

As they ran back, Jiang Lanpei smiled, took a steel lighter from his
chest, lit it with a click and threw it at the water tower, which was
dripping petrol.

“…… bam ！！！！”

The fire swept up and in an instant swept Jiang Lanpei’s entire figure
away!

Xie Qingcheng flung herself to the ground with He Yu in tow, a wave

of heat rolling behind her, and the firefighters watched,
dumbfounded, as the woman, arms open and head held high, was
swept up in the flames in a gesture of expectation of salvation from
the gods and a desire to fly skyward.

Xie Qingcheng and He Yu back: “……”

Starbursts of fire! The fire spat out a horrible black smoke! A pillar of
twisted black smoke was formed, and the smoke seemed to be mixed
with the wailing of women and the rotting of life, and the fire was
dancing wildly, cracking the sky and breaking the earth, and the fury
of fire and smoke were striking heavily, tearing the sky, and
overwhelming the sea, towards the blackness of the night, which was
torn open by the fire…

“After twenty years, I don’t trust anyone anymore.”

“There is no way back for me.”

“The people of heaven will come for me, and I will go to heaven.”

Never look back.

 Chapter 13 – Our Afterlife
Xie Qingcheng was the last one to follow the firefighters down the
rope ladder.

By the time he got down there, the fire had started to close in on them
and the smoke was so thick you could barely open your eyes. It was
hard to get his feet on the ground before the rescuers ran over to
check his injuries.

Xie Qingcheng spotted Xie Xue in the crowd, several paramedics were
surrounding her and he rushed over: “How is she?”

“You are ……”

“I’m her brother.”

“Ohhhhhhh, don’t worry, she’s fine, her vitals are stable and she’ll
wake up when the medicine wears off.”

Xie Qingcheng is now relieved.

The paramedic looked the tall, topless man up and down, eating his
food, and although it was not the right time, a man this handsome
could work more nimbly with a couple more looks.

But Xie Qingcheng doesn’t realise how much he looks like with his
shoulders slim and long, narrow waistline sunken into his silver
buckle belt, a man who is so cold and masterful that he doesn’t
usually care much about his appearance or the gaze of others.

The paramedics were looking at him, but after looking at Xie Xue, all
he could do was face Cheng Kang Hospital, which was still in flames.
Xie Qingcheng looked up at the flaming rooftop and felt a mixture of
emotions. And as far as the eye could see, the patients who had not
yet been rescued were screaming in panic on the windowsill, slapping
their hands against the barred windows.

“Help!!!”

“Help us! The fire! The fire’s coming!!!”

“I don’t want to die yet… help me! Help save you help me!!!”

The bars were originally set up to prevent patients from jumping out
of the windows, but now they were the biggest stumbling block to
emergency rescue, and the only way to quickly rescue them from the
windows was to risk their lives by going in and unlocking each room.

The screams were as loud as those of a terrible ghost, and the whole
Cheng Kang mental hospital was, as Jiang Lanpei had cursed it, a hell
on earth.

In the ward closest to the fabric room, there is an old man who keeps
crying out, but he is calling out to his parents. The old man is
demented and often crazy, and his children dislike him and send him
here.

Perhaps he also knew vaguely in his heart that they would be happy if
he died.

Only his parents, who were already ancient, loved him so much that
he wept and howled like a child before he died, crying out for his
mother and father ……

The fire tried to force the window but it was too late, the old man’s
room was too close to the fire and he was engulfed in flames as the
crowd watched, one hand maintaining a rigid position to poke out of
the metal cage ……

No one knows whether he was, in his last moments, an old man who
had been abandoned because he was ill, or a child who missed his
parents.
The fireman’s lips quivered as he turned back towards the crowd and
yelled, “Where are the keys? Did any of you have your keys with you
when you escaped?”

“No, no …… who remembers ……”

“It’s hanging in the Director’s office on the third floor!”

There was another deafening explosion and the window glass popped
out along with the shattered wooden debris.

One of the rescued caregivers stood up and said, “Comrade, don’t you
go back in there!!! It’s too dangerous!!!”

“Yeah …… it’s too late …… to save it at all ……”

Someone even whispered, “Those are all seriously ill …… the higher
the floor the sicker they are, there’s no use saving them out ……”

There was chaos all around.

Xie Qingcheng suddenly saw a lone figure standing in the confusion,

looking up at the burning building for a moment, before heading
deeper into the unnoticed trees towards the north gate.

Xie Qingcheng was taken aback…

He Yu ?!!

“Excuse me, borrow a facemask.”

Xie Qingcheng said, judging the fire, grabbed two protective masks
and ran in He Yu’s direction.

“Hey! Comrade!” The ambulance attendant snapped back, fuck, you

can’t be this capricious even if you’re a handsome guy! She shouted,
“What are you doing! Don’t go back into the fire!!!”

But Xie Qingcheng simply ignored her and followed He Yu’s back like
a cheetah.
He hadn’t expected this man to return to the fire again – what was he
going to do?

He Yu did not go to the north door where the firefighters were

gathered, he grabbed a rope ladder that had not yet been removed
and went straight up to the rooftop from which he had only just
escaped. Xie Qingcheng followed him up, but it was too late for the
others to follow, as tongues of fire had already burned through,
reducing the bottom half of the rope to ash.

He Yu rolled over the rooftop railing and glanced down at the water
tower, where only a charred, huddled mass of a human body burned,
the body of Jiang Lanpei.

He opened the door with a bang, looked at the fire and then ran for
the director’s office.

Xie Qingcheng thought he was a madman, which he certainly was, and

he grabbed He Yu’s arm as he opened the fire door and reprimanded
him very sternly: “What are you doing? Don’t you want to die? Come
down to the north door with me! There’s not much fire here yet, it’s
not too late.”

He Yu stared at his face as if he didn’t know him, “What are you doing
up here?”

Xie Qingcheng didn’t bother to talk to him and his eyes were sharp:
“You fucking come down with me!”

“No. This time it’s different. This time I’m going to save someone.”

“You-”

“They were my kind, only I could save them, only I had time to get
them all out – you heard what those people down there said. That old
man was burned alive right before their eyes, and there were more
waiting to die, but they said, “Forget it.”

The look in He Yu’s eyes was almost ghastly.

He softly: “- mental illness is not worth saving, when it comes to
things like this, they are all given up – they all deserve to die.”

He stared into Xie Qingcheng’s eyes, a cold, biting smile slowly

spreading at the corners of his mouth: “Is that what you think? Dr.
Xie?”

“That’s because it’s really too late …… you be sensible! You can’t
open one door at a time.” Xie Qingcheng’s voice was muffled, “There’s
no time for that.”

He Yu didn’t speak anymore, he was so strong that he broke Xie

Qingcheng’s grip and ran in the direction of the office in one fell
swoop.

Luckily, the area of the office was separated from the largest area of
the fire by a large bathroom, and the building was built with tiles and
not even a wooden frame, but now this area is the slowest spreading
area of the fire.

He Yu found a large set of dinky keyboards in the house and headed

for the part of the ward on the third floor where the fire had not yet
reached.

“Help ……”

“Help us!!!”

“I don’t want to die yet …… I don’t want to die yet!!!”

“Oooooooooh, is it the devil’s fire burning over here? It’s the devil’s
fire!!!”

The lights in the corridor have long since gone out, and there are
cries on both sides of the corridor, but in more rooms, there will be no
more cries ……

The keypad is paired with the door number and He Yu takes the
nearest one and starts to open the door.
He had already opened the first door when Xie Qingcheng came after
him, and out ran a cloaked woman, screaming and screaming, and Xie
Qingcheng’s heart went cold at the sight – it was out of control.

Ordinary people would lose their minds in a situation like this, let
alone these patients.

The woman screamed, and without thinking, she ran in the direction
of the fire instead. Xie Qingcheng is about to stop her, but He Yu
reaches out and drags her back…

“Don’t go in that direction!”

“She won’t listen to you-”

“Fire! There’s fire aaaahhhhhh!!!”

In the midst of the chaos, Xie Qingcheng suddenly saw a flash of cold
light!

He Yu was holding a blade that he had just brought out of the office
with him and wiped it across his palm.

Xie Qingcheng didn’t know why he was doing it, but there was a long-
ago memory of data in his head that seemed to be stirring, and before
he could read it, his instincts were already making his hair stand on
end.

The next moment, his eyes widened as he saw He Yu unhook one of

the rings from the keypad and stain it with his own blood as well, and
he said softly, but without denying it, to the madwoman: “Take this
set of keys and open the door, open one door, then distribute the
other keys to the people inside and order them to open more doors.
Be quick. The faster you are, the more patients you can save. Do it.”

Something horrible happened, the woman who had been hysterical

before suddenly seemed to be sedated in this moment, and the
moment she smelled He Yu’s blood, her eyes became very calm –
It was as if He Yu’s blood, through her sense of smell, had provoked
some kind of reflex reaction in her skull, causing her to be
manipulated along with his emotions.

The woman took the keychain and immediately ran towards the other
iron doors.

The entire order was very brief, but Xie Qingcheng watched with a
chill running through his body, even to his fingertips.

Case 4, He Yu , who has the disease Altered Ability as an adult ……

The “blood compulsion” that has been marked as doubtful in the data
measurement file!

There is a lack of clinical data on psychiatric Ebola, and speculation

on the condition can only be made through the three previous cases,
as well as a series of numerical simulations. What is certain is that
people who suffer from this psychiatric condition each carry a
pathological abnormality in addition to the basic characteristics that
each patient would have.

Simply put, the disease mutates in the individual, and each person’s
genes are different and will allow this disease mutation to
differentiate in different directions. This mutation tends to develop
along with the patient’s age, fully revealing itself in adulthood and
tending to stabilise.

Case No. 1, when the ailment ability that arose was – Smell.

The disease altered her olfactory nerves and her nose became
unusually sensitive. Generally speaking, a dog’s olfactory nerves
occupy four times the area of a human’s; No. 1’s sense of smell
reached more than eight times that of an ordinary human after the
mutation of the disease, and any slightest scent in the air was
stimulating her olfactory nerves, tormenting her more and more into
mental disorder.

No. 2, and No. 3, both exhibited their unique disease-specific powers

before they died.
He Yu, number 4, showed no signs of alienation until Xie Qingcheng’s
departure.

Xie Qingcheng originally thought that perhaps individual variation in

psychiatric Ebola was not absolute, and that He Yu might be an
exception.

But little did he know that he was the one whose data simulation
projections had worked out the most frightening mutation possible –

Blood Compulsion.

The so-called blood compulsion is the paralysing effect that He Yu’s

blood induces under certain conditions in specific groups of people
with mental illness. It is like serotonin, which immediately calms the
patient’s emotions, but at the same time, like a drug, it stimulates the
reward mechanism in the patient’s brain, giving him the illusion that
if he listens to him, he will get more, thus causing the patient to be
controlled by He Yu’s words, as if he were “bewitched”. This has the
effect of “bewitching” the patient with He Yu’s words.

At the time, the laboratory’s calculations were only a guess, and some
researchers did not even believe the data when they modelled the
direction of the “blood parasite” mutation.

But now –

Doors, one by one, were opened by the sick.

It was incredibly fast, and once one was opened to save one, there
was one more to help open the door. The keys were soon divided up,
and the frantic patients, stimulated by the blood compulsion, simply
became well-trained soldiers.

He Yu walked through it with a grim expression, like a spiritual leader

controlling the patients, to the far end of the corridor, where the only
escape was in the direction of the north entrance, where the voices of
the firemen were already hovering at the entrance to the building, and
they would soon be coming up to the third floor.
But in the meantime, the flames at the end of the building had rolled
closer, hissing like roaring dragons of fire as they raced towards
them, wrapped in a choking smoke that seemed to stifle them in this
ghastly tunnel with suffocating poisonous fumes and devastatingly
high heat.

There was no water here to wet the cloth to cover the mouth and
nose, so the pace had to be stepped up.

He Yu stood in front of the fire door, turned his face slightly sideways
and gave instructions to all the patients, “Get down as low as you can,
in my direction, and go down to the fire. Quickly.”

Like robots fed with instructions, the patients swarmed forward,

running towards the safe passage with the amazing speed and order
of a sci-fi movie with manipulated zombies ……

By the time the last patient ran down, the fire was close and the
smoke was getting so thick that it was almost as if he had to lie on the
ground to breathe. He Yu looked at Xie Qingcheng, who was
approaching him, looking rather uncomfortable, and said nothing, just
sidled up to let Xie Qingcheng in as well.

With a heavy thud, the safe passage firestop slammed shut behind
them, temporarily isolating the approaching fire dragon.

Icy almond eyes gazed into shocked peach blossom eyes in the
darkness: ” Xie Qingcheng . Don’t you tell anyone.”

Xie Qingcheng’s face was blue, but he finally handed a gas mask to He
Yu without saying a word.

“Take it. Go away.”

He Yu and Xie Qingcheng follow the rescued patients as the fire

slammed into the fire doors ……

“Brother!!! Brother ！！！！！”

Xie Qingcheng and He Yu were met by firefighters and when the last
two ran out, they were greeted by two near-broken howls. As soon as
Xie Qingcheng took off his mask, he saw a revived Xie Xue rushing
towards him with her face full of tears, running so fast that she even
dropped the shoes the firefighters had found for her.

“Brother ahhhhhhh …… Big Brother!!! Big Brother!!! Are you trying

to scare me to death? Are you trying to scare me to death!!! I thought
even you didn’t want me anymore! I thought even you were leaving
me behind! Brother woo woo woo woo ……”

She jumped into Xie Qingcheng’s arms at once and held him so tightly
that she almost strangled his waist, the explosions and screams
continued around her, some of them were literally beyond saving ……
she was so terrified that it was as if all the blood had been drained
from her body and only a thin painted skin remained on earth, and it
was only as she hugged her brother’s tall body tightly, as she came up
for air and cried while breathing in the smell of Xie Qingcheng’s body,
that she seemed to have a heartbeat again and blood was poured back
into her body.

Teardrops streamed down her face, staining her cat-like face as she
cried out with her mouth open and a slurred yell escaping her lips,
“You can’t leave me like mommy and daddy! You can’t leave me like
mommy and daddy did, big brother! I’m so scared …… I’m really
scared …… you hug me, you hug me!!!”

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Xie Qingcheng is rarely the recipient of such strong feelings. He is a

very family-oriented man, but his love for his family is often
introverted and even expressed in the form of accusations.

But this moment was also a little too much for him, and he hugged his
sister, who was shivering and clad in a long coat, and kissed her
messy bird’s nest head, and his eyes were a little red.

“It’s all right, Xie Xue .”

Xie Xue howled in Xie Qingcheng’s arms for a while before seeing He
Yu again.
Her newly calmed mood broke down again and she threw herself into
He Yu’s arms in tears – no, to be precise, she pulled him towards her
and put him in a ring with her big brother, so that He Yu was forced
to lean close to Xie Qingcheng as well.

He Yu’s handsome face showed some embarrassment, he had never

hugged a man that close before, especially one who was Xie
Qingcheng, and felt uncomfortable – and by the look on Xie
Qingcheng’s face, he seemed to mean it too.

But both men did not move for the sake of Xie Xue’s face and
emotions, leaving her to force the three men to ring around and circle
the reunion where they belonged in the midst of all the chaos.

“Help! Help!!! Comrade! There’s someone here! I’m in here!!!”

At the lift entrance of the Cheng Kang Hospital, a man with grey hair
is shouting in panic, he belongs to the oldest group of leaders in
Cheng Kang. He would not have come back today if he hadn’t had to
take care of some temporary work at his unit.

The man was fighting in his wheelchair, his crotch was already all
wet, urine was running down his trousers, he was experiencing for the
first time how terrible it was to not be able to take care of himself, the
fire was closing in on his direction, he was involuntarily and
frantically pressing that button even though he knew he couldn’t take
the lift, even though it was broken.

“Hurry! Quick…someone, help…I have money…someone help me…I

have lots of money!”

The muscles in his cheeks were twitching and spasming violently

because of the tension.

Suddenly –
As if the heavens had heard his prayers, a fire-fighting-looking man in
a gas mask came running up the darkened security tunnel and saw
him paralysed in his wheelchair.

The man was like seeing a god: “Comrade! Help me!!! Help me!!!”

His nostrils fluttered excitedly, the flesh of his pale nose hung in fine
beads of sweat, and his pupils contracted excitedly, reflecting the
other man’s figure approaching him with his firefighting equipment.

Then, he froze. The eye kernels closed violently!

The man in the fire suit flashed a morose sneer through his eyepatch,
followed by turning the device on in his hand …… that wasn’t a fire
extinguishing device! That was ……

Petrol!!!

“You, you are-!”

” Cheng Kang this mess is out of reach, I was sent by them to ‘clean
up’.” A dull male voice came from under the mask, “Keep that money
of yours and spend it down there.”

“NO!!!”

BOOM!!!

The gasoline and the lighter were thrown together on the man’s face,
which was completely distorted by extreme panic, and the face ended
up looking like the skewed face in Munch’s shout, swallowed up in a
twist of fire ……
 Chapter 14 – Talking about the
past and secrets
” Xie Qingcheng , why did you go into the fire with me just now.”

He Yu and Xie Qingcheng received a serious reprimand from the fire

brigade, after which they stepped aside and He Yu glanced at Xie
Qingcheng, who was lighting a cigarette. He Yu glanced at Xie
Qingcheng who was lighting a cigarette – the same cigarette he had
asked the police for. He felt that he could not see through Xie
Qingcheng’s previous actions and asked him this question.

“The half you went to wasn’t particularly dangerous.” Xie Qingcheng

took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled slowly, only now relaxing a
little.

The starbursts were brightening and darkening between his fingers,

and a snowstorm of soot drifted down.

“Tell me about yourself.” Xie Qingcheng dusted off his cigarette and
looked ahead, “When did it start.”

He asked about the blood compulsion.

He Yu : “…… Shortly after you left. I met a mental patient when I went
to a private hospital for a review and stumbled upon it. I used my
blood as bait and they would listen to me. — You know about this
situation?”
“I know.” Xie Qingcheng coughed lightly and took another drag of his
cigarette, trying to speak as gently as possible, “Blood compulsion, a
mutated offshoot of mental Ebola. …… You haven’t spoken to anyone
else in your situation, have you?”

He Yu smiled, his eyes a little cloudy: “Only you know.”

“……”

“If I ever want to kill someone, I’ll just get you killed.”

Xie Qingcheng gave him a blank look, “You try.”

The cigarette given by the policeman did not smell right to Xie
Qingcheng, it was too slutty, and it was actually a popping pearl mint.

“Don’t you say anything else about this to anyone else. Don’t say
anything to the doctor either.”

“I’m not that stupid, Xie Qingcheng.” He Yu faded, he was also really
a nobleman, after all he had been through, he was still the best
dressed one in the crowd, looking incredibly svelte and handsome,
several of the rescued people next to him were stealing glances at
him.

“Mental Ebola is already an isolated case of the disease, and with this
ability to make mental patients do my bidding again, I won’t be able to
live in peace in the future.”

“But Xie Qingcheng , you have to remember-”

He suddenly moved over, his almond eyes indifferently surveying Xie

Qingcheng’s face, moving slowly: “These eyes of yours are the only
ones that have seen this with their own eyes.”

He was so close that his eyelashes felt like they were touching Xie
Qingcheng’s eyelashes, and the voice was low and slow in Xie
Qingcheng’s ears, in the midst of the chaos, so that he alone could
hear it.
Like a murmur, like a threat.

“This mouth of yours is the only mouth that will reveal the truth.”

His gaze fell again on Xie Qingcheng’s lips, as if he would caress

those thin, pale lips, and walked back and forth, his gaze light, but the
intimidation hidden in it heavy.

Xie Qingcheng is now draped in a suit, which the firefighters had

prepared for the rescued men.

He Yu stood in front of him, staring at his face while raising his hand
to straighten Xie Qingcheng’s collar – in a way that seemed polite to
outsiders, but only Xie Qingcheng and He Yu knew in their hearts that
He Yu was using a lot of force to straighten his clothes. The collar was
tightened without moving, still as a warning and a form of coercion.

He finished whole and gave a particularly gentle, sardonic smile, “So,

the secret-”

“You can contain it well and hold it.”

“Hold it nice and tight in there and don’t let it fall out.”

Xie Qingcheng said morosely, “Are you threatening me?”

“I wouldn’t dare. It’s just a reminder.” He Yu slid his hand down Xie
Qingcheng’s neckline and sighed, “I just want to live a normal life
too.”

Xie Qingcheng is too lazy to talk to this psycho.

He Yu Why is this necessary?

He would not have warned He Yu not to reveal his condition to anyone

else if he would really have told them about it.

But He Yu didn’t think so. He Yu didn’t have that much trust in Xie
Qingcheng.
All he could think of was that Xie Qingcheng’s mouth now seemed to
him a threat that he would like to gag, preferably by stuffing it so hard
that, like a hostage in bondage, he could not even speak so that his
secrets would not leak out.

Xie Qingcheng looked at him, “You said you just wanted to live an
ordinary life, and why did you risk going into the fire and using the
blood compulsion to save those patients.”

“Because wanting and being is never the same.” He Yu says, “I

wanted to be a normal person. But I’ve always been a psychopath.”

“I went in to save people, firstly because the fire hadn’t spread to that
side yet and I knew it was too late. Secondly, you remember me
telling you that people and people can never understand or relate to
each other, right? It’s like two very different species. I think those
people are more like my kind than you. The only thing that makes me
different from them is that I’m just better at disguising myself.”

He Yu said indifferently, “If even I think their lives are dispensable,

then who else will treat them as living beings?”

It’s like a community, a group, a justice organization, a mob alliance.

No matter how it is, people need kindred spirits.

Because absolute loneliness can drive a person crazy.

He Yu was such a lonely man that no one could understand his illness;
others could only listen to his descriptions and know his pain
superficially, and the three people who shared his illness completely
had all died.

He could only go to similar crowds and try to find a little bit of a

pontoon to connect with the world.

But such a He Yu is also dangerous; he can compel the hearts of those

of his kind, his blood is the reward for the mentally ill, his words are
the command those cannot disobey.

He could have used this to commit a crime if he had wanted to.

— and it’s no wonder he doesn’t want anyone to know.

No wonder he wanted to silence Xie Qingcheng, the only person in the

know.

Xie Qingcheng: “Is it that important to you? So important that you

can’t even care about your life.”

He Yu said coldly, “Doctor, you wouldn’t understand us. You are in the
light and the night is what you cannot see.”

“……” Xie Qingcheng sighed and didn’t want to continue this

conversation with him anymore.

“One last question. If you have a blood compulsion, why didn’t you use
it before when you were dealing with Jiang Lanpei?”

“Because it’s unstable.” He Yu says, “There’s also a definite chance

that my blood will make the patient madder, and I can’t afford to
gamble in that situation. Unlike you-”

He said this and suddenly paused.

“You’re really the same, people are in each other’s hands and you’re
still talking to me about Singhra, you’re such a big gamble, aren’t you
afraid I won’t react?”

“I’m betting on this because I think you’re pretty smart.” Xie

Qingcheng said lightly, “And wasn’t it Singhra you wanted to talk to
me about the last time I went to your dorm room to change?”

Xie Qingcheng also raised his hand against his forehead, and it was
only then that there was finally some relief and reprieve between
them.

Yes, they both remembered that incident, not realising it had become
a code word for calling the police in time to save their lives.

It was when He Yu was about eight or nine years old.

At the time, Xie Qingcheng felt that He Yu needed to get out more, in
addition to basic medical care. Many doctors would argue that the
treatment of mental patients mostly depends on medication, but Xie
Qingcheng is of a different school of thought, believing that mental
states are a response to the environment in which a person lives. The
key to a patient’s recovery lies in re-establishing a bridge between
him and society and his family.

So he spoke to Lv Zhishu about it.

In the midst of her busy schedule of business calls, Ms Lu raised her

eyes and smiled shyly at Xie Qingcheng: “I don’t have time, Dr Xie,
you can take him.”

Xie Qingcheng suppressed the fire: “He is your child.”

Ms. Lui, who had become inertial to business talk, said without
looking up, “I’ll give you extra money.”

“……”

Then Lv Zhishu walks off with her phone in her hand, talking as if she
were first a businesswoman and then a mother. The chubby
noblewoman is on the phone all the time, smiling and calling out “Mr.
Zhang, Mr. Li”, and never once does her eyes fall on Xie Qingcheng.

Not to mention He Yu, who stands behind Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng turns around and looks down to see He Yu,

unconcerned by his mother’s actions and seemingly used to this
parent-child relationship, sitting on the sofa peeling himself a large,
golden orange without raising his eyes.

The orange was bigger than his hand, and halfway through peeling it,
He Yu missed his grip and it fell to the floor and rolled under the
coffee table with a grunt. He jumps off the sofa and tries to reach for
it, but his vision reveals a brightly coloured peace fruit.
“You’re still eating the ones that fell on the ground?” Xie Qingcheng
sighed and wondered why he had gone soft. He handed the peace
fruit to He Yu and picked up the orange that had fallen into the dust.

“I’ll take you to the amusement park tomorrow.”

So the next day Xie Qingcheng took his sister and He Yu to the
amusement park together. Xie Xue has a good personality, smiles a lot
and takes care of her brother, and He Yu seems to be in a better state.

But on the way back, it suddenly rained heavily.

It was hard to get a taxi, but all three of them were already drenched,
and as the He family villa was in the far suburbs, the distance was a
bit long, so Xie Qingcheng took the two children to the medical school
dormitory first.

Xie Qingcheng’s university dormitory was the same as He Yu’s school

now, with four students to a room.

When he returned with the two fallen chickens, his roommates were
busy working on a project in the lab and the dormitory was empty.

“Brother! The cactus you have is blooming!” Xie Xue jumped onto Xie
Qingcheng’s desk as soon as he entered the house, smiling brightly as
he fiddled with the cactus ball in an eggshell pot with a cluster of
small goose yellow flowers, “Wow …… it’s so pretty.”

She had apparently visited her brother’s dormitory more than once.

Xie Qingcheng made a cup of hot ginger tea for each of them and
slipped it into the hands of the two children without any further ado.

“Drink it all while it’s hot.”

Xie Xue likes spicy food, so he holds his cup of ginger tea and drinks it
up.
Xie Qingcheng had gone to the bathroom to wash his hands, and He
Yu was at a loss as to what to do with the hot, spicy stuff when Xie
Xue let out a satisfied sigh, “That’s delicious.”

“……” He Yu turned his face sideways and surveyed her without

moving.

Sensing his gaze, Xie Xue also turned her head and hemmed and
hawed at him, her eyes flicking straight to his cup, “If you don’t like it
……”

“No, I like it.” He Yu said lightly.

“How can that be, look how long it’s taken you to drink so little!”

He Yu laughed a little: “It’s because I like it that I can’t drink it.”

“…… oh ……” Xie Xue seemed convinced, nodded with some regret,
and was about to turn his gaze away.

He Yu only then handed her the mug he had wanted to give away for a
long time: “Here you go.”

“Hey? Don’t you, don’t you like it?”

“I’ll let you have it if you want.”

The little fool’s eyes widened for a moment and he gratefully accepted
the hot ginger tea.

He Yu didn’t forget to calmly admonish the fool, “Drink quickly so

your brother doesn’t find out I’ve given you my glass. Otherwise he’ll
lecture you again.”

“Mmmmmmmmm.” Xie Xue, who was being sold and still counting the
money for her, was so grateful that she gulped down the hot tea in
one gulp at a very fast pace and almost choked, “Cough cough ……”

He Yu smiles and pats her on the back.

“I like ginger tea the most.” Xie Xue eased up, her eyes warm, holding
the still warm mug, and whispered to He Yu, “When I was a kid and it
was snowing, we lived in an alleyway and there was nothing to keep
me warm, so my brother made me this ……”

It was clearly such a difficult and heartbreaking experience, but when

she said it, her pupils glowed with a twinkle.

It was as if he was remembering something incredibly interesting

from the past.

When Xie Qingcheng returned from washing his hands, he glanced at

the two children sitting side by side on the edge of his dormitory bed:
“Have you two finished drinking?”

The two children look at each other and exchange secrets; He Yu is

calm, Xie Xue is a little flustered and nods quickly, except that as she
does so, she can’t help but open her mouth slightly and hiccup a little
because she’s so full.

Xie Qingcheng left them alone and went back to the wardrobe to find
a change of clothes. Xie Qingcheng had prepared some dry clothes for
her so that she could come and change.

“Do you want Bella or do you want Cingular?” As the older brother’s
rummaged through his wardrobe, what came out of his pale lips were
the names of two soft fairytale princesses.

The little girl was delighted, “To Bella!”

Xie Qingcheng hands her a pale yellow princess dress. Xie Xue
cheered and ran to the bathroom with the dress in her hand to
change.

Xie Xue is gone, and He Yu is still standing wetly on the edge of the
bed.

Xie Qingcheng continued searching in the wardrobe for a while

longer, then finally sighed, came back to his senses and did something
very inhuman –
“You wear this one.”

He Yu took the clothes, unfolded them and calmly said, “Dr Xie,
you’ve got the wrong one.”

“There’s no mistaking it.”

He Yu stiffened for a moment and slowly lifted his head, his eyes
narrowing slightly, his expression gradually emerging with a grimness
he could not hide.

“What you handed me was the dress.”

And it’s still a blue princess dress by Singletary.

In the face of He Yu’s suppressed anger, Xie Qingcheng, whether

intentionally or unintentionally, actually smiled, but even when his
frosty face was smiling, one could not tell whether it was a cold smile
or a real one.

“You don’t have a choice. It’s the only one I have that’s the right size
for you.”

He Yu : “I think I can wear your shirt.”

Xie Qingcheng clasped his arms and leaned over the ladder of the
high and low bed, looking down at him from above: “Kid. My shirt is
too big for you.”

“……”

“Not wearing it? If you don’t wear it you’ll have to go out naked.”

“……”

The unrelenting rain outside became the background rhythm to the

pattering of this conversation back then ……

.
The fire at Cheng Kang Psychiatric is slowly getting under control as
firefighters enter one after another and the police are busy doing their
investigations. Xie Qingcheng and He Yu look at each other and see a
reflection of the past in each other’s eyes.

He Yu said, “You even told me at the time that I was not at a loss and
that there was a candy in the pocket of the princess dress and
suggested I go through the pockets as a kind of moral compensation
for me. But I said that what you gave me was poison and I wouldn’t
eat it. Now that I think about it, you were really lacking back then.”

Xie Qingcheng : “…… don’t remember.”

He said he was going to leave.

“You’re lying to me.” He Yu raised his hand to block his way, propping
his hand on the tree behind Xie Qingcheng and narrowing his eyes,
“Don’t you remember? When you were caught by Jiang Lanpei, why
did you tell me about the sweets in Singerella just to remind me to
look through the phone in your shirt pocket?”

Xie Qingcheng was not at all vain, his face was cold: “Coincidence.”

He Yu came on fire.

He thought it was a bargain to bring Xie Qingcheng back to his

dormitory and give him a T-shirt to wear, but now he thought he
should get him a wedding dress, even if he ordered a flash delivery,
and one that was erotic with lace underwire straps on the thighs and
stockings, and if not, he should be cuffed and thrown on the bed,
otherwise he wouldn’t be humiliated, because this man was too
shameless!

“Don’t remember do you?”

He looked down and spoke to him.

“Then you should be careful not to get yourself so wet again ……” He
Yu’s eyes slowly slid over Xie Qingcheng’s brow as he whispered, “or
the next time I put you on, it might not be an old t-shirt. I might not be
wearing an old T-shirt next time.”

Xie Qingcheng’s response to his threat was to raise his hand and pat
He Yu’s face, “Don’t worry kid, you don’t stand a chance, I can go out
naked even if I get wet.”

“What are you doing naked?” A policeman came over and saw that it
was the two psychos who had just broken into the fire and
immediately said, “No more going in naked! It’s dangerous! No, I
mean, you can’t go in without being naked either ……”

He Yu smiled gently, his eyes warm and kind: “Yes, I was just talking
about him. How dangerous is that, isn’t it Brother Xie?”

“What are you talking about him for? Weren’t you the one who ran in
first your brother he followed?” The little cop glared at them, “Hey,
forget it. Are you both done with your wounds? Come back to the
police station with us when you’re done, we’ve got a lot of work to do
tonight.”

Because of the high impact of the case and the number of people
involved, everyone is questioned carefully in turn and a statement is
taken.

Police cars brought the people concerned back to the police station in
batches, and because there were simply too many people to keep
busy, the station packed up a few rest rooms for them, so that those
who had not had their turn could spend the chaotic night in the rest
rooms first.

Xie Xue also came after Xie Qingcheng and the others.

As a girl, she was placed in a room with a female nurse, and He Yu

and Xie Qingcheng were placed next to them.

Before Xie Xue went in for a nap, she had already recovered
considerably. She was unconscious the whole time and had not seen
many bloody scenes, so she was not very excited and had started to
comfort the terrified nurse sister.
“It’s okay, a big disaster will come, let’s rest, a policeman will call
when it’s our turn.”

“I can’t sleep ooooooooooooooooooo ……”

“I’ll sing you a song if you can’t sleep… Throw, throw, throw, throw
your handkerchief…”

“Ahhhhhhh don’t sing this netherworld song!!!”

Xie Xue Unknown: “I don’t know why this song just popped into my
head, it feels like someone kept singing it next to me while I was
unconscious…I’ll change it then, there’s a little white boat in the blue
sky galaxy ……”

Nurse: “????”

Xie Xue looked frustrated: “Brain fog, sorry sorry sorry, I’d better tell
you a joke.”

Xie Qingcheng and He Yu are placed in a lounge.

“You two sleep here, the conditions aren’t great, so make do. Feel free
to call us if you need anything. Someone will come and call when it’s
your turn.” The little policeman hurriedly explained things and left,
there were still a bunch of witnesses to be arranged.

Xie Qingcheng pushed the door with He Yu and entered the house.
When they saw the layout of the house, they both froze in their tracks.

It’s quite a makeshift lounge ……

A room with a fucking sofa bed.

How do I sleep?
 Chapter 15 – We sleep on a sofa
bed
The two stood in this tiny lounge, which had just been vacated and
had little else, just an old sofa bed and a chair for clothes, the
furnishings were almost as bizarre as some of the hair washing places
that should have been clamped down on.

He Yu : “……”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

He Yu threw the phone away and turned back to Xie Qingcheng, “Why
don’t you take a break, you’re getting old.”

Xie Qingcheng grimaced, “Do I need to be given a seat and a bed?”

He Yu had been tired for so long and didn’t want to spend his energy
on breaking up with Xie Qingcheng: “Forget it, this sofa bed isn’t too
small, I’ll sleep without disturbing anyone, do you mind?”
That’s where the lad’s poise gives way.

He Yu had never slept with anyone, and the bed was a place to rest
for his personal memories, but Xie Qingcheng was different, and a
married man always had some strange feelings about sharing a bed.

So Xie Qingcheng frowned slightly, “I’m not sleepy, I’ll just sit.”

But his face was a little pale, and even though he had been holding
himself together, there was a hint of weariness that could not be
hidden between his eyebrows.

He Yu said, “I’m not going to eat you, so what are you afraid of?
Afraid I’ll go crazy and kill you in the middle of the night?”

Xie Qingcheng : “…… What the hell are you talking about.”

This psychotic young man is quite sensitive at heart.

Xie Qingcheng was also really sleepy, after a day of tossing and
turning, even a beast’s strength should be exhausted, he didn’t have
the energy to toss and turn with He Yu any more, and sighed, “Then
go to sleep.”

When he had finished, he fell backwards onto the sofa bed and fell
asleep on his side, facing the wall. After a while he felt the other side
of the bed sink slightly, and then he heard He Yu lying down not far
behind him.

Xie Qingcheng was still a little uncomfortable, he didn’t like the idea
of someone sleeping next to him. He is young and hot, and even
though they are not close together, Xie Qingcheng can still feel his
heat and breath clearly in this small space, and when it is quiet
around him, he can hear even He Yu’s soft breathing.

Xie Qingcheng can’t relax.

He was never a family man, a protector, and when he was very young
Xie Xue slept next to him, and later Li Ruoqiu, the kind of woman he
could barely fit into his territory, was the kind of woman who needed
to rely on him.

But the aura of an eighteen or nine-year-old boy is different. That

same androgynous, hormonal aura makes Xie Qingcheng
uncomfortable; the aggression He Yu gives him is too heavy for him to
get used to.

So he moved to the edge of the bed with his eyes closed and frowning
again.

Move it around a bit more.

Re-……

“If you move any further, you should sleep on the floor.” Suddenly a
cool voice sounded behind him.

He Yu suddenly got up, propped up his hand, and before Xie

Qingcheng could react, he pressed right up against him, half of his
body was on top of him, and the breath of a teenager rushed against
Xie Qingcheng in a forceful and reckless manner.

Xie Qingcheng opened his peachy eyes, “What are you doing?”

He Yu misunderstood Xie Qingcheng’s intention to stay away from

him and thought that Xie Qingcheng thought he was sick, so he got a
little malicious and pressed his body lower, pressing his lips against
the side of Xie Qingcheng’s neck, showing some faint tips of his teeth
under his lips as he spoke, and he whispered, “Sick, trying to kill you
to silence you. Do you want to run away now.”

Fucking psycho!

Xie Qingcheng knew that he was uncomfortable and was deliberately

trying to belittle himself, so his tone was very cold and hard: “Get off
me first.

“I’ll take the phone.” Instead of going down, He Yu pressed down even
lower.
Xie Qingcheng, whether he was actually holding the phone or not,
couldn’t stand the broken safe distance, He Yu was so close to him
that his breath was momentarily filled with the heat from another
young male.

Xie Qingcheng turned his face sideways for a moment, feeling too
uncomfortable, he got up at once, clutched He Yu’s wrists, his body
bowed like a cheetah, his shoulder blades spreading like butterflies,
and pinned He Yu down without a word, teaching him a lesson.

“……” He Yu whispered, “What are you jumping on me for, aren’t you

afraid of me.”

“What am I afraid of you for? I’ll teach you to be honest.”

“……”

He Yu then stopped talking.

After a moment, he sighed softly, “Brother, you’re hurting me, you

know.”

After realising that Xie Qingcheng only resented men being too close
to him, rather than wanting to stay away from mental illness, He Yu
stopped resisting and let Xie Qingcheng hold his hand tightly over
him, letting the man’s figure be reflected in his eyes.

His tone and his eyes were light, so light that they were even a little
morbid.

“Fine, fine. I’m honest. Why don’t you please hand me the phone.”

Xie Qingcheng is very uncomfortable with being oppressed, but he is

less uncomfortable when he is looking down on a young man who is
also male, who is ultimately too manly to enjoy any feeling of being
invaded and subjugated in front of the same sex.

So he didn’t bother talking to He Yu any more, he got up and went to

the side and found He Yu’s mobile phone. I guess he didn’t care about
it earlier.
He handed the phone to He Yu.

“Thanks.” He Yu took it and tilted his head to scratch the screen,

carelessly, “Dr. Xie, we’re both male and there’s nothing wrong with
our sexual orientation, what are you so nervous about, not having
slept in the same bed with a man?”

Xie Qingcheng’s voice was very cold: “I’m used to being alone.”

He Yu smiled, still looking at his phone, his long eyelashes fluttering

slightly with his breathing, like a layer of frost in the light of the
screen, “So you used to sleep separately from your sister-in-law too?”

The tone is quite sarcastic.

Xie Qingcheng knew that when he looked at the mental patients

today, he had a feeling that the rabbit had died and the fox was sad.

But as bad as he is, he has no responsibility or obligation to be a

dumping ground for him to vent his frustrations.

Besides, how much better could he be?

Xie Qingcheng looked at him with an even colder look, almost a

reprimand.

“Go to sleep and leave me alone.”

Rolled over and lay back down again.

He Yu was much simpler, he was younger and had no intention of

really resting, just lying down and being comfortable. He stared at Xie
Qingcheng for a while, thinking how this man was so fatherly,
lecturing him as if he were his son.

I really need to find a wedding dress and force him to wear it

sometime. If he wears it, he probably won’t be able to hold his head
up in front of him for the rest of his life.
With this in mind, He Yu was bored, so he opened his mobile shopping
site again and typed in the word “wedding dress”.

The styles that jump out are normal, very pretty and very stately, as if
they don’t achieve the best results.

He Yu pondered for a moment, raised his eyes to look at Xie

Qingcheng’s back, and then lowered his eyes to add a key word.

“Humiliation.”

This time the pages are fantastic.

What halter black silk halter white silk halter lace, bondage erotic,
semi-transparent sarong, a wide variety of styles, He Yu brushed and
brushed, eyebrows are slightly raised.

It’s funny how the human imagination knows no bounds when it

comes to pleasure seeking.

Whenever he saw one that interested him, he took his mobile phone
and compared it to Xie Qingcheng’s back, imagining how Xie
Qingcheng would look one day in his hands, tied up and changed into
these clothes, and he wasn’t sleepy at all anymore.

As a child, he was quite afraid of Xie Qingcheng, but this is often the
way males grow up: the more oppressive the mountains that loom
over them as youngsters, the more they want to overturn them as they
grow up, and by overturning those mountains and snowfields and
reversing the position, the teenagers feel that they have really
matured and taken the initiative they have longed for.

This is why He Yu found it so pleasurable to contradict Xie Qingcheng.

He Yu was probably so engrossed that he inadvertently clicked on a

live page and forgot to put his phone on silent.

So, inside this cramped lounge of less than ten square meters came
the whispered voice of the anchor, “This erotic wedding dress is really
super beautiful, wear it on your wedding night, your husband won’t be
able to hold it ……”

He Yu : “……”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

He Yu : “……”

He hoped that Xie Qingcheng was asleep.

But unfortunately, Xie Qingcheng turned to him and looked at him

with a very cold look, exactly the same as before, a knife-edge look
that seemed to cut He Yu’s heart open.

“What are you doing.”

He Yu didn’t want to hide anything, so he smiled slightly and was

quite gentlemanly: “I use shopping sites.”

“Buying a wedding dress?”

“Can’t you watch it without buying it.”

Xie Qingcheng was also annoyed with him, so he sneered, “What

wedding dress are you looking at, for who?”

He Yu’s eyes flowed and he pondered silently for a moment, thinking,

if he said, “Here, wear this, will Xie Qingcheng just kill him?

Murder in a police station is not a good thing and can reflect very
badly on the people’s public servants.

So He Yu demurely said, “It doesn’t seem to have much to do with

you.”

“……” Xie Qingcheng’s face was frosty as he said coldly, “Turn off
your phone. Stop looking at all this nonsense. You’re so young, you
don’t even have a date to brush up on this kind of stuff.”
His tone was a little cold, and his eyes were tinged with dislike, which
made He Yu more or less uncomfortable.

Who is he to care so much about him.

And what is the relationship between the two of them?

He Yu suddenly wanted to mess with him a bit.

So he looked into his peach blossom eyes, was quiet for a moment,
and slowly, rather sarcastically, smiled that meaningful smile, “You
don’t have to be anxious for me, Xie, I’ll be seeing someone soon.”

After a pause, he added –

“I’ll have to learn from you when the time comes, you’re an elder,
you’ve been there, you’ve been married and divorced, you’re
experienced and know how to treat a girl well. I’ll ask Professor Xie
for advice later, and the professor will remember to give me more
guidance.”

At this point, there was a brilliant gleam in his eyes, and his smile was
a little heavier in its gangliness and malice.

“But there’s one thing I’m curious about. You said that you and Sister
Li have been married for so long, how come she doesn’t have any
children?”

Xie Qingcheng’s face had sunk: “……”

The boy, who had acted so refined and cultured in front of everyone
during the day, was at this moment like a vicious animal that had
returned to its den and shed its human clothes, his almond eyes
glancing down lazily, his voice tinged with a bit of a flirtatious laugh:
“You’re not unable, are you?”

After a few seconds of silence, Xie Qingcheng dragged him by his

collar and threw him to the ground, along with his pillow and quilt,
burying him alive.
He Yu wanted to provoke him, but he didn’t want to provoke him so
much.

Xie Qingcheng is really on fire.

He was unenthusiastic about sex, very somewhat aloof, yet what the
hell was this bugger talking about over there?

” He Yu .”

Xie Qingcheng stared at him, ice dross in his eyes and voice.

— “Are you fucking childish.”

With that he got up, straightened his clothes and left, the lounge door
slamming shut behind him with a “bang!” The door of the lounge was
slammed shut behind him.

Xie Qingcheng went outside the porch of the police station to have a
cigarette.

He hated it when people brought up Li Ruoqiu in front of him, but He

Yu stung him with anything.

He now leaned back against the porch door post, his clothes scattered
and his hair in disarray, his meticulously austere and cold look
stripped away, his green haze smouldering again, his brow hiding
some annoyance, his eyes pulling in some blood, his withered, dry lips
biting the cigarette filter, his eyes vacant, exuding an air of decadent
beauty rarely seen on a normal day.

After a while a young male officer darted over and handed him a cold
beer: “Not in a good mood, comrade? I understand, it’s just that
tonight – hey? Brother Xie? How come it’s you?”

Xie Qingcheng returned to his senses and dropped his gaze on the
male officer.

“…… Chen Man .”

Chen Man is an acquaintance of Xie Qingcheng.

Chen Man’s original name was actually Chen Yan, but since he was a
bit fast at everything, his family really wanted him to be a bit quieter,
so they gave him the gag name Chen Man, and gradually everyone
preferred to call him Chen Man instead of Chen Yan on his ID card.

Xie Qingcheng and Chen Man knew each other because of his brother.
Chen Man’s brother was also a police officer and a disciple of Xie
Qingcheng’s father, but he was later killed. Chen Man enrolled in the
same field as his brother in his university entrance exams and is now
working his way up from the grassroots.

“Brother Xie, why are you involved in this case.” As soon as Chen Man
saw it was him, his fast-paced movements slowed down, and he stood
beside him, opened his beer and handed it to him.

“It’s a long story.” Xie Qingcheng sighed, chewed on his cigarette,

took the cold beer and gave Chen Man a slight lean to thank him
before leaning back against the pillar, distracted, and staring into the
night.

Chen Man, seeing that he had no intention of explaining, stood with

him for a while and said, “Brother Xie, are you cold, or should I give
you my clothes ……”

“It’s fine, it’s not cold, what’s cold about it on a hot day.”

“It’s already autumn by the season ……”

Xie Qingcheng was getting annoyed and thought the boy was
rambling so much, so he said, “Go away, I’m not in the mood. Thank
you for the beer.”

“It’s really okay?”

“It’s really okay.”

Chen Man just took one step back and walked away.
“Wait.” Xie Qingcheng suddenly called out to him again, “Come back.”

Chen Man came flying back again.

Xie Qingcheng tugged on his police uniform. They had been close to
each other for a long time, and Xie Qingcheng didn’t have to be polite,
so he reached into his uniform and took out a pack of cigarettes.

Although Chen Man doesn’t smoke, he carries a box of cigarettes with

him to make things easier when he runs around the department.

Xie Qingcheng smoothed away his cigarette before fixing his uniform
and patting him on the shoulder, “Let’s go.”

“…… Oh. You smoke less then brother. You’re smoking too hard with
this now.”

Xie Qingcheng ignores him again and just leans against the pillar to
finish his cigarette.

Not long after, the sound of footsteps came again behind him.

Xie Qingcheng was impatient: “Don’t you work at night?”

“What do I do for a living.”

“……”

Xie Qingcheng looked back and it was not Chen Man who had
returned, but He Yu who had come out.

As soon as Xie Qingcheng saw that it was him, his eyes grew even
colder and he turned his eyes away without saying a word.

He Yu stood next to him in silence for a moment and spoke

reluctantly, “Dr. Xie, I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry about you and your sister-in-law ……”

Xie Qingcheng’s anger that he had been holding back finally burst out
at this point, as He Yu had been too ignorant and had provoked him
too much. He had been holding back because of his calm nature.

But the apology was like a kind of sarcasm, which offended him even
more. He would have tolerated it if He Yu had not spoken to him in
such a polite manner, but he became angry when he heard He Yu’s
human apologies, because it meant that He Yu was not really sincere,
but just like his parents, a businessman going through the motions as
if to make up, and that even the apology template looked like a
capitalist’s manifesto.

All his boredom came to a head at that moment and he threw the beer
Chen Man had just offered him in He Yu’s face with a crash.

“What are you sorry about?”

The cold, biting beer dripping down the drain is no match for Xie
Qingcheng’s icy tone.

“I don’t hear you apologizing. That disguise of yours is fine in front of

others, it’s useless in front of me. What do you look like that I haven’t
seen?”

“……” He Yu didn’t say anything, for the first time in his life someone
dared to splash him with liquor and he didn’t even have time to react.

“And.” Xie Qingcheng said fiercely, “Stop talking about your sister-in-
law, she and I are divorced, and even if we’re not, I’m not your real
brother and she’s not your sister-in-law. I’m tired of looking at you
tonight, don’t let me see you again!”

He Yu was quiet for a moment and said, word for word, “So what do
you want me to do, swallow what was said?”

The water beaded up between his dark eyebrows, and He Yu was such
a pervert that for a moment, he managed to slowly crack a smile, only
it seemed a little gruesome in its gentleness: “Or do I have to get
down on my knees and say sorry to you to be sincere.”
“You don’t have to do anything.”

With that Xie Qingcheng squeezed the empty beer can raw, stared He
Yu in the eye and threw the can into the trash.

“He Yu, just remember, I may be a failure in my love life, but it’s not
your turn to laugh at me, because you’re so hypocritical and sick to
others, and there’s no one else who can genuinely like you either. —
Didn’t you just say you were going to confess soon? You go and try.”

“……”

“I don’t care who you like, if she can stay with you for more than a
month, I’ll take your fucking name.”

Chapter 16 – But Keeps Arguing

Until the Parting
Neither He Yu nor Xie Qingcheng paid any further attention to each
other throughout the course of the investigation.

After the investigation, Xie Qingcheng took Xie Xue home by taxi. Xie
Xue wanted to wait for He Yu to join him, but Xie Qingcheng did not
allow him to do so.

He Yu just leaned against the pillar with his hands behind his back
and looked on, not saying a word and not forcing himself, like a dog
who knew he had been abandoned but could not follow him, making
Xie Xue feel very uncomfortable.

” He Yu …… brother, why don’t we wait for him ……”

“Get in.”

“But ……”

“Get in!”

Xie Xue : “…… that He Yu , you go home and tell me about it oh.”

Xie Qingcheng : “Have you finished? Let’s go.”

Xie Xue wanted to say more, but He Yu stood quietly and shook his
head, gesturing for her to stop.

When Xie Xue was seated in the car, he just waved to her and then
watched their car drive away ……

Xie Xue leaned back in his chair and sighed, “Brother, what’s wrong
with you two again?”

Xie Qingcheng sat on the passenger side of the car, not bothering to
pay any attention to her. He took the cigarette he had taken from
Chen Man and tried to light it, but when he thought of Xie Xue sitting
there, he gave up.

Xie Xue whispered, ” He Yu Did he accidentally say something wrong

to make you angry ……”

“……”

“Brother, you should not blame him too much, he is a person who is
sometimes a bit shady, but the essence is still quite good, I have
heard, if this incident did not have him, without you two together in
time to find out that I had an accident to rush over, the situation may
be even worse, he …… ”

“He what he.” Xie Qingcheng finally spoke up, holding his cigarette
between his fingers, his tone particularly deep and cold, “I told you to
stay away from him, what are you doing hanging out with him all
day?”
Xie Xue is also a bit aggrieved: “But he’s quite nice, he treats me well,
and he treats you with respect ……”

Xie Qingcheng’s face was blue and he could not speak.

He was respectful.

He’s respectful my ass!

He could not tell Xie Xue about He Yu’s illness yet. Xie Xue only saw
him as a gentleman who was usually gentle and modest to him, and
the anger he suffered behind He Yu’s back, even his own sister would
not believe him.

“Brother ……”

“Just shut up!”

Xie Xue just had to shut up.

That’s how families are, the moment after a disaster, thinking that
they will never fight again in this life, that they must live their lives
well, talk and communicate gently.

As a result, once the warmth of the hijacking buff has passed, it’s still
the same father, the same discipline, the same cursing and swearing
as before, no difference at all.

It’s a fucking limited time warm buff.

Xie Xue is aggrieved, but Xie Xue can’t help it. Who made him her
brother?

Forget it, if she doesn’t spoil him who else will, she’ll just have to spoil
him with this parental temper ……

She thought this, hugging her arms in the back seat and deflating a
little helplessly.
I don’t know why He Yu, who is such a good and elegant guy with
such good moral character, his brother keeps telling her to stay away
from him and seems to have a strong opinion of him from time to time,
which is baffling ……

“Oh ……” said Xie Xue after a while, “Right.”

Xie Qingcheng didn’t bother to talk to her, and Xie Xue knew that her
brother was saying, “If you have something to say, just fucking say it.

So she said carefully, “I was on a break just now and he …… called

…… to ask me what happened and I …… ”

Xie Qingcheng does not ask who “he” is, as if both siblings tacitly
agree that “he” is “him”.

“How did you get back to him.” Xie Qingcheng asked.

“What else could I say, I just said it was fine. Didn’t talk to him much.”

Xie Xue paused for a moment, “Brother, are you in a better mood?”

“Do you think he’ll put me in a good mood.”

Xie Xue had no choice but to move over and poke her head forward
from the back seat, pawing at the edge of the seat back like a kitten,
trying to get her brother’s attention by being cute: “Look at me then,
you can see I’m fine, are you in a good mood?”

Xie Qingcheng : “…… Don’t go to these dangerous places alone

again.”

The tone was always a little softer.

Xie Xue said, “Okay, I know ……”

The car left in the dust.

.
The next day, news of Cheng Kang’s mental hospital hit the headlines.

Although those who were forced to the rooftop at the time all gave a
series of testimonies to the police that behind the case of Jiang
Lanpei’s seizure and murderous arson, there was also a hidden past in
which the woman was detained for almost twenty years and her life
was worse than death. But sadly, Liang Jicheng is already dead, Liang
Pak Hong died before his brother, and the rest of the top brass who
might have known the details of the case are gone, a few having died
in the very fire.

The fire of vengeance that Jiang Lanpei ignites seems to have grown
eyes and consumed all those who had been tainted by this evil.

Her picture was, as He Yu said, the ugliest one on the news page. But
even in that picture she still looked stunning, the dead woman looking
straight out of the paper with a look of strength and a hint of
confusion in her eyes ……

The reporter wrote below her photo: ” Jiang Lanpei may not be her
real name, due to the change of paper files, her information is
missing, the police are trying to make a genetic match through her
remains, but as it spans too much time, there may not be a dusty
result either. The general public can contact the relevant departments
if they have any clues at 138xxxxxxxxx

Inside the villa, He Yu closes his newspaper.

The psychiatric hospital, the mental patient, was thrust into the
limelight in this period, whether it was a fat and greasy uncle, or a
yellow-haired girl, they were all talking about it, just like a
sociological medical expert.

In most people’s eyes, the mentally ill are habitually referred to as

“they”, as opposed to “we”, of course. No matter how pathetic they
are, they cannot be us.

But how does mental illness arise?

He Yu thought of something Xie Qingcheng had said to him before.

“The vast majority of mental illnesses are feedback from normal
human beings to the abnormal environment in which they live.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, bipolar disorder… these
patients must have one or more abnormal atmospheres squeezing
them in their life circle. For example, school bullying, cyber violence,
cruel sexual assaults on women, unequal social relations, these
dysfunctional atmospheres, these culprits that deal a major
psychological blow to ‘them’, ironically, almost all originate from the
family, the workplace, society, from ‘us ‘.”

“To repair the emotions of a mentally ill person, I think it should not
be about locking him up until we have to, but about letting him go out
and become us again like a normal person.”

“Cages are reserved for prisoners and should not be reserved for
patients who have already suffered too much.”

He Yu does not like Xie Qingcheng, but he agrees with what Xie
Qingcheng has said.

It was because of this philosophy that Xie Qingcheng stayed with him
for so long that He Yu felt that he at least saw himself as a living
human being.

So after something like what happened yesterday, when he realised

that he hadn’t got the measure right and had indeed offended Xie
Qingcheng, he would at least be willing to go out and apologise to Xie
Qingcheng.

But Xie Qingcheng was so used to his pretensions that he thought his
apology was a sham and threw beer in his face.

He Yu’s mood turned dark at the thought, and he closed his eyes,
trying his best to put out of his mind the shame of the ice beads
dripping down his cheeks.

Forget it …… don’t think about it anymore.

At least Xie Qingcheng only scolded him and splashed him, not really
treating mental illness like an animal like those people did.
If he had been admitted to a madhouse like Cheng Kang, his condition
would have been much worse than it is now.

Has Jiang Lanpei’s condition lessened or worsened in the twenty years

she has been inside? She probably would not have gone down this
path.

“Young Master He, what you have ordered has been done.”

Old Zhao knocked on the door of his room and after receiving
permission came in to report something to him. The little yellow dog
followed him timidly, wagging its tail cautiously.

“I’ve already spoken to the people at the rescue station, and I’ve also
spoken to Mr He about your wishes, and Zhuang Zhiqiang has been
temporarily settled into our convalescent centre. It won’t be sent to
Wanping.”

He Yu said, “Okay, good work.”

Zhuang Zhiqiang was also lucky enough to be rescued by the

firefighters at the first opportunity, as he lived on a low floor.

Besides, Xie Xue must have cared for him.

Those affected by the Cheng Kang fire were given a week or so off to
recuperate.

The day has to move on, and now that we have emerged from the fires
of purgatory, it is all the more important to live happily and
peacefully.

He Yu thought to himself, “Didn’t Xie Qingcheng say that no one

would want to be with him? Didn’t they say that if anyone could be
with him for more than a month, Xie Qingcheng would take his
surname?

Good. Then he wants to be with Xie Xue.

He wants to be with the person closest to Xie Qingcheng, to take Xie
Qingcheng’s sister away from him – at that point, Xie Qingcheng will
probably have to change his name to He Xie Qingcheng, and there’s
no telling what that man’s state of mind will be.

He Yu feels a slight sense of pleasure at the thought of it.

–would that unassailable, serious, cold face …… show a look he had

never seen before?

So He Yu quickly returned to the university campus after a week’s

break.

He is ready to punch Xie Qingcheng in the face and confess his love
for Xie Qingcheng’s most cherished sister.

On the terrace of a villa.

The outdoor light is unlit and dim, surrounded by a few light-seeking

flying insects, the light wet as a sweat of white hairs, and vaguely
caged in a soft chair with its back to the terrace door.

There is a person sitting on the soft chair.

The back could not be seen, and the subordinate who pushed the door
in could only see the man’s half elbow, slung against the chair.

“Is that so? Did it happen that those mental patients managed to
escape in a very short period of time?”

“Yes, Boss Duan.”

“Interesting ……,” the man in the chair known as Boss Duan let out a
soft chuckle, “helping each other out? Cheng Kang is a mental
hospital, not a nursery where children are taught to be civilized and
polite, right? This is so perverse.”
The subordinate’s head was in a cold sweat: “Boss Duan, Cheng
Kang’s surveillance was originally broken, and after the fire, the ones
that weren’t broken were all destroyed. We tried to retrieve the
records of that time, but it was really ……”

“I wouldn’t have expected to be able to pull any useful records out of

that punk Liang Jicheng.”

Boss Duan paused for a moment.

“Any news from the police station, any news given?”

“Over there, yes, a few of the mental patients said that it seemed that
some of the patients had given them keys at the time to help each
other open the door, but more than that, they couldn’t get it out of
them either.”

Boss Duan sneered softly, “Give them the key and tell them to open
the door, and they’ll listen?”

“……”

“That’s in a sea of fire. A life and death situation.”

The subordinate gave a jolt: “Boss Duan, does that mean-”

The man in the soft chair didn’t reply, the dim light illuminating the
paper he had casually rested in front of him to scribble on.

Two words are written on it, but then circled and marked with a
question mark.

Those two words are.

Blood Compulsion.
 Chapter 17 – I’m locked up with
him
After the Cheng Kang psychiatric hospital case, Xie Xue became the
school’s legendary teacher.

After she returned to the lecture theatre, not a single student was late
or left early, and every class was full. The students all wanted to see
the legendary koi who had escaped from the hands of a psychopathic
killer.

There is an even more outrageous legend that if you print out Xie
Xue’s photo and hang it on your dormitory door, you will not fail your
course.

But Xie Xue doesn’t know that, and she confidently believes that the
reason her choreography classes are so popular is that she must be
having so much fun.

“Oh, I’m such a gifted teacher and gardener.” Xie Xue gleefully said to
He Yu, who had brought her students’ work, “By the way, He Yu, are
you feeling better? The school is going to give you an award. Although
your reckless act of breaking into a fire is not worthy of emulation, the
headmaster said you have a good heart and courage. ……”
He Yu smiles: “It’s better. That award is mainly for my parents too.”

When He Jiwei and Lv Zhishu found out about the incident, they heard
that their son was okay and didn’t come back. Lv Zhishu, in particular,
is a person who is always smiling and joking, and people who are not
familiar with her would think she is very funny and family-oriented.

However, it was clear to people like Xie Xue Xie Qingcheng, who had
known her for a long time, that her humour was fake and her kindness
was feigned, and that for her, outside business was more important
than her eldest son, who was only slightly irritated.

But at the same time she called the school and asked the board to put
pressure on the school, saying that He Yu needed to be comforted.

In fact, He Yu doesn’t care at all about the cold accolades.

Xie Xue was a bit speechless, she felt sorry for He Yu and didn’t want
to continue talking about the He family, so she found another lighter
topic: “Well, by the way, there’s a school play on Friday, you’ve
suffered so much before, so you should take this opportunity to relax
and have fun with your classmates, do you want to come and join? ”

“No, I’ve got something on Friday.”

“So ……” Xie Xue looked regretful, “What a pity, I was thinking of
asking you to keep me company.”

He Yu’s original careless gaze fell on her face, “You’re going?”

“I have to go.” Xie Xue fished a large plush fox head out from behind
her desk, then fished and fished and fished a snowy white tail, “Look
at that.”

“It’s something.”

“Nine-tailed fox mannequin set. The school arranged it so that one

teacher from each major had to be sent to dress up as a pick-up doll,
and I had such bad luck that not only did I get caught in the act, but I
also got drawn for the most boring event field.”
“…… Other people usually have good luck if they’re too stupid, how
you have low IQ luck is also E.” He Yu sighed, still asking, “Sent to
where?”

“The central lake converted into Neverland.” Xie Xue grimaced and
didn’t bother with He Yu’s sarcasm.

“That damn place is said to be Fantasy Island, but in fact it’s just a
small abandoned island where the students hang a few strings of
lights and make star projections, not much different from the usual.
And the distance is far …… alas, this year it was going to be
cancelled, but the headmaster thought it was a traditional project, so
it stayed ……”

She threw the fox condom tail in a demoralised manner and slumped
in her seat.

He Yu took the snow-white fluffy tail she had left on the table and
looked at it thoughtfully for a moment, without saying another word,
but with an idea in mind.

Turning up on Friday.

The sweet, creamy smell of baking pastries came from the baking
classroom.

He Yu opened the oven, lined the finished cakes with clean white
greaseproof paper and packed them into boxes. Then he carefully
tidied up the baking classroom he had borrowed for his aunt and
walked out.

The parade is buzzing with activity.

He Yu, who said he didn’t have time to play, paced the campus with
Xie Xue’s favourite creamy mango mousse in his pocket and one hand
in his pocket.

He played a round of the maze ring and lassoed a puppy doll, a white
Samoyed doll like a smiling angel, cradled in the crook of his arm with
chocolate bean round eyes looking up at him.
“Look!”

A few conversations occasionally drifted into his ears as the little girls
next to him clenched their little fists and covered their mouths.

“It’s Senior He Yu! The senior who rescued the teacher from the fire
…… He’s more handsome in person than in pictures ……”

“What a senior, you silly girl. He’s a junior!!! From choreography

1001 class!”

“Hey? Hokey is so tall …… looks 5’8″, no, it feels like it’s almost 5’9”
……

“I have a friend who is in their class and the girl said He Yu’s family is
very rich, handsome and her grades are fantastic.”

“Isn’t that the same as Senior Wei Dongheng?”

“Wei Dongheng is a man with no virtue, his heart is higher than the
sky and he is more delicate than a flower, why do you call him senior?
Call him “sister”. Last week, the class flower of Performance 5 went
to confess her love to him, and you know what he said?”

“What?”

“-just you? Don’t you even look in the mirror and want me to give you
a set of skincare products?”

“……”

“But He Yu is different, he’s exceptionally soft-tempered, super polite,

doesn’t even talk loudly to people, hey, he even risked his life to save
Mr Xie this time, where can you find such a nice boy to go?”

He Yu smiled at them when he heard them talking about him like that,
and the girls whispered “he heard you” and scattered away in a shy
huff.

He Yu gently and elegantly curbs his smile, his gaze sinking –

I really should give Xie Qingcheng a listen.

How could he not be liked?

However, he didn’t have any interest in these school girls and sisters,
only the man ……

It was the only thing he wanted.

At that moment, the mobile phone in his pocket vibrated twice and He
Yu took it out to see.

“Boss He, do you really want me to cut down the rope bridge?”

The message was sent by a senior from the sophomore outdoor sports
club.

Dream Island is in the middle of Hu Zhou University’s Garden Lake,

and in the heart of the island is the campground of their outdoor
sports club, which is usually managed by the senior.

He Yu replied, “The rope bridge is in a state of disrepair and it is

dangerous to keep it, so it is convenient for the headmaster to cut it
down and rebuild it.”

学長：”But the headmaster just got workers to maintain it at the

beginning of the school year, Fantasy Island is allocated to our club to
manage, if it breaks down in such a short time, it is for our outdoor
sports club to pay for it, although it is just a small pontoon bridge, but
it will cost more than 3000 …… to repair it”

After sending this message, the senior’s phone suddenly made a

clattering sound of broken silver.

“Paypal arrival – $5,000.”

A message from Mr. He followed: “Please be thorough in your cutting,

senior.”

The Poor Schoolmaster: “……”

The capitalists have such a simple and dry way of communicating.

According to the guide written on the tour plan, the “Nine Tailed Fox”
will be waiting for students at the duck boat ferry and will accompany
those who want to take the boat to Neverland.

As He Yu walks towards the shore of the dead lake, he sees Xie Xue,
dressed in a nine-tailed fox costume, waiting for the students who
have come to take the boat.

The white fox sits quietly in the boat, one of its nine tails still dangling
to the surface of the lake, sending ripples round and round as the
light boat sways.

He approached the white fox, the broken leaves making a faint

creaking sound beneath his feet, the nine-tailed fox mannequin
wandering off not hearing until he stood on the shore –

” Xie Xue .”

The nine-tailed fox froze for a moment before looking back up from
the duck boat.

He Yu smiled: “You didn’t expect me to come?”

He looked around again, “It’s true that you’ve been sent too far out of
the way, and if I don’t come, no one will come to this hellhole to clock
in, and then you’ll have to sit dry all day.”

The nine-tailed fox looked at him in silence, not seeming to agree with
what he was saying all that much.

“Who else do you think will come to console you. Your brother?”

“……”

He Yu said gently, “Your brother is going through menopause, and he

has to be forced to go on an older date, and he is so angry with the
young girls that he has to drink Mrs. Oral Liquid to calm them down,
so he probably doesn’t have much time for you.”
Nine-tailed Fox: “………………”

He Yu got on board gently: “Come on, I’ll accompany you. To

Neverland.”

Although it is a central lake, the lake on campus is not much bigger.

After less than two minutes of duck boating, the two arrived at the
‘dirt-bum’ Neverland.

The island was indeed a bleak and deserted place, with only a few
strings of lights hanging symbolically and a few tents scattered
around the camping site, covered in a thick layer of dust – there were
too many mosquitoes this time of year, and the outdoor sports club
had not organised a single activity in the first month of school.

He Yu said, “Look after your business, where is the stamp?”

“……,” the nine-tailed fox moved his head and gave him a direction.

He Yu looked at his partner’s outfit and was amused, “Aren’t you

stuffy in this heat? Why don’t I take it off for you?”

Seeing him reach out to her, the nine-tailed fox coldly took a step
back.

“…… don’t want it?”

Nod.

“…… Ah, yes, wear it then, don’t come crying to me if you get hot.”

The nine-tailed fox indifferently dropped his snow paw pads and made
a gesture of clasping his arms.

He Yu looked at him, “Don’t say it, it’s quite cute. Stay still and I’ll
give you a full mark on the service sheet later.”

“……”

“Go on and lead the way.”

The stamp is in the centre of Neverland, where a small simple desk
and chair is set up. The nine-tailed fox leaned silently against a tree,
his head turned away.

He Yu turned around after he had finished stamping and found it

funny, but he also thought that the hood was quite heavy for Xie Xue
to wear, and with his bullying personality, the more Xie Xue didn’t
want him to take it off, the more he wanted to get it off.

So when he saw the nine-tailed fox turn his face away, he suddenly
had a thought, walked silently over to it, got close, and raised his
hand fiercely to pick-

Laughing, ” Xie Xue –”

“!!!”

What’s going on?!!!

Xie Xue was the one who suddenly came back with his hair in a mess.
It was Xie Qingcheng with a shifty gaze!

He Yu : “……”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

Professor Xie’s lips opened and closed, closed and opened again,
pursed for a long time, then finally raised his hand and roughly
scratched up the messy hair on his forehead, his eyes bayoneting He
Yu, the tips of his snow-white teeth faintly visible under his thin lips.

He said morosely, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

When Mr. He saw that it was Xie Qingcheng, his face sank: “No, why
did you get inside this rag doll and not tell me?”

Xie Qingcheng threw the hood into He Yu’s arms and emerged from
the rag doll with a frown. It was rare that Professor Xie, who was
always so meticulous and spotless, would let He Yu see him crawl out
of the doll with his hair in a mess.
“Tell you what for? All that nonsense along the way, stamp it and you
can get out.”

He Yu stared at him reluctantly, ” Where is Xie Xue?”

“She was too hot and asked me to fill in for her. …… Who has to drink
Mrs. Oral all day long when they’re busy on a blind date?”

“……”

He Yu met Xie Qingcheng’s scalpel-like gaze and smiled as he

remembered what he had just said, “Don’t mind if I do. I didn’t mean
to say anything.”

It was the first time the two men had met since their separation at the
police station, and after the initial scare, the atmosphere was a little
awkward.

Xie Qingcheng, in particular, felt that it was unnecessary after he had

splashed He Yu that day. He is always a very calm person, but that
day he was really under too much emotional stress and He Yu had
stabbed him too much, so he lost his temper and argued with He Yu.

At this point He Yu apologised to him again, and Xie Qingcheng

stopped running his hand through his messy hair and eased his tone a
little to break the treacherous atmosphere: “…… Forget it. I thought
you weren’t free today?”

“…… Hmm. How did you know.”

” Xie Xue said she had asked you and she was going to ask you to fill
in for her. It turned out you said you weren’t available today, so she
didn’t have the heart to ask again.”

“……”

He Yu was silent for a while, did not answer Xie Qingcheng, just put
aside both the headgear and the Samoyed doll, stood with his hands
on his forehead for a while to digest, then turned his back, carried the
bag with the mango mousse and walked back.
“…… I should have glanced at the yellow calendar when I went out
today.”

However, when He Yu returned to the Neverland ferry terminal with a

slight chance, he saw only duck boats already moored and strutting
on the other side of the river, their golden beaks seemingly pulled into
a mocking arc by the distorted light of the waves.

He then remembers that he had asked his senior to cut off all
transportation after he landed on the island in order to trap Xie Xue
on the island to confess his love.

What does it mean to lift a stone and smash your own feet?

The tip of He Yu’s eyebrow twitches slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

There are footsteps behind him and without turning around, the only
second primate with fur panting on the island is Xie Qingcheng. His
original plan was to share the island with a man and a woman, just in
time to confess his love. Now he was alone on the island, with the man
he hated most.

The more he thought about it, the more hostile he became, and he
even longed to torture Xie Qingcheng to death by tying him to a tree
with his hands cut behind his back in the middle of nowhere, torturing
him all night long until Xie Qingcheng turned pale and covered in
grass clippings and passed out. He could have killed the man himself
if he couldn’t confess.

Who told him to spoil it for him?

When Xie Qingcheng took off his uniform, his whole body looked long
and cold, and his aura changed dramatically. When he walked up to
He Yu, it was as if He Yu smelled the cold, medicinal and disinfectant
scent again.

He Yu couldn’t stand the smell, so he settled down, put away his

unrealistic desire to commit crimes, and turned his head back again.
“The boat went to the other side for some reason.”

“…… It’s probably the control room in remote control.” Xie Qingcheng
stuck his hands in his trouser pockets, his face expressionless as he
thought for a moment, “Never mind, there’s another pontoon, you
follow me across.”

Five minutes later –

Xie Qingcheng looks in silence at the simple cable-stayed bridge, most

of which is already sunk in the lake, with a complex look that is hard
to describe.

“The rope bridge is also broken.”

“Ah, how unfortunate. Guess someone screwed up.” He Yu puts on a

calm and collected face, but inside he’s gloomy – yes, surprise?
Surprised? In a few moments you’ll realise your phone still has no
signal.

He had planned to stay on the island with Xie Xue until midnight, for
which he had managed to get a set of the same signal blocker as the
GCSE.

No, I should say even better than the same model in the GCSE,
because that machine was programmed with his own change of
settings.

He Yu is hard at work in this area, and when he is bored he

concentrates on computer system intrusions and information jamming
to distract himself.

Programmed intrusions that required scrambling to match the

opposing firewall’s abilities worked well to deflect his painful curb
sickness, and the side effect of practicing for so many years was that
he accidentally blended into a very scary top hacker.

Of course, he would not tell the seniors that he had set up the shield
himself. He only asked the seniors to turn on the equipment and keep
watch on the other side of the river, thus ensuring that Xie Xue would
not be able to answer his calls. As soon as someone comes along and
wants to go to Neverland, they say that the event is too boring and
has been temporarily closed.

Originally he thought it was a seamless plan for a solo confession.

For this reason he also made a point of urging the seniors.

“Remember to wait on the shore until after twelve o’clock at night and
then row the boat over.”

“Okay, Boss He.”

“No matter how much we ask for help from the outside halfway
through, you’ll ignore us. I want to act like it in front of her or she’ll
be easily suspicious.”

“No problem, Mr. He.”

Boss He now looks at Xie Qingcheng’s lean, tall back and has a slight
headache: how come there’s no problem? This is too big a problem
……

“Wait, there’s a man on the other side of the river.” Xie Qingcheng
walked halfway along the dirt-bumpy Neverland and spotted the
schoolmaster guarding the opposite bank, “I’ll call him.”

“It’s useless for you to call him.” He Yu sighed, holding on to his last
ray of hope, “Or I will.”

Xie Qingcheng : “Why I’m useless.”

“Respect for you, I respect the old and the young is always okay.”

He Yu was now too annoyed to talk to Xie Qingcheng and greeted his
‘wingman’ across the room.

Fifteen minutes later ……

With his mouth dry, the Grand Duke of He leaned back against the
trunk of a tree.

Xie Qingcheng said lightly, “After the filial piety, do you still have the
strength?”

He Yu simply turned to the other side of the tree, not wanting to see
Xie Qingcheng, and tugged a handful of knee-high dog-tail grass to
impatiently swat at the mosquitoes around him.

He Yu stood for a while, getting more and more annoyed by the

thought, and threw the folded grass away, turning around and
walking towards the woods.

Xie Qingcheng : “Where are you going?”

The boy’s voice was hoarse from shouting, “…… I’m going to the camp
to get a drink of water.”

After walking some distance away, He Yu took out his other phone,
which was set to be unblocked, and sent a message to the senior with
a grimace: “There’s been a mistake, could you please let us go?”

The senior quickly replied to the message, not forgetting to pat the
capitalist on the back: “Good on you, Mr. He, for acting like one! Even
this message is pretend, right?”

A few more seconds pass.

“Mr. He, I remember, you told me before to not let you guys back in
no matter what you said. I’ll do my job, don’t worry, I’ll pick you up
again after twelve, and if anyone else approaches Neverland I’ll drive
them back, so don’t be nervous and enjoy your time together.”

He Yu : “……”

What is he expected to enjoy on this isolated island?

Enjoying Xie Qingcheng?

He could indeed have handcuffed Xie Qingcheng and left him in the
hay all night if killing wasn’t a crime, but what would he enjoy now?

Chapter 18 – Thinking about the

day he left
In a society governed by the rule of law, He Yu certainly could not
have thrown Xie Qingcheng into the bushes to torture him in
retaliation.

But there was no way out of the crossroads, and both men eventually
resigned themselves to their fate and returned to camp.

The four eyes can only make small talk.

This shows that Adam and Eve didn’t really love each other either,
probably because there was really no one else, and they couldn’t keep
talking to the serpent in the tree.

Xie Qingcheng : “Kid.”

Apart from Xie Qingcheng, no one else has ever called He Yu a devil.

The use of this term of endearment more or less implies that Xie
Qingcheng intends to communicate with He Yu at this time.

He Yu turned his head sideways, “Hmm?”

“…… your hand healed?”

“It’s healed.” He Yu smiled, “Why does Dr. Xie care about the wound
on my hand? You hated to give me another cut that day at the police
station.”

“…you know I really don’t want to hear about the past anymore.”

“And did you know that I really wanted to say sorry to you that day?”

“……” Xie Qingcheng lifted his eyes.

He Yu still wore a smile, but looked at him with a cold gaze: “That’s
the way I speak, Xie Qingcheng . I wasn’t lacking in apologies that
day, let alone what you said about capitalists speaking. I grew up with
you all asking me to keep my emotions in check. Have you resigned
for so long that you have forgotten what you said to me yourself
before.”

A few moments of silence.

Then Xie Qingcheng said, “I did quit a long time ago.”

“Four years.”

Xie Qingcheng : “…… haven’t been able to ask you properly. Now,
how’s the illness.”

“Much better.”

He Yu added with a smile, “You don’t have to worry, whatever I think

of you personally, I agree with your medical philosophy and I take
your teachings to heart all the time.”

Xie Qingcheng looked at the cold-faced young man in front of him:

“That’s good. You need to help yourself with your illness. No matter
which doctor you change, the most important thing is your own state
of mind.”

He Yu was quiet for a moment, then looked down and smiled: “Listen
to this, it sounds so familiar.
“Ah.” He paused, a coldness flooding his eyes, “Come to think of it.
That’s what you said to me once. I still remember it, Dr. Shea.”

“It was the day you left, right? ……”

It was on the day that Xie Qingcheng left his post.

Before that day, He Yu and Xie Xue had finished reading together in
the library and when it rained, He Yu walked Xie Xue home with an
umbrella.

“Thank you oh for walking with me so much.”

“It’s okay.”

“Do you want to come inside and sit for a while, although my house is
quite small ……”

“Won’t it bother you?”

“Why not, I was afraid you wouldn’t be used to it.” Xie Xue smiled,
took He Yu’s hand and headed for the alleyway that led home.

Xie Qingcheng is not at home, but Li Ruoqiu is.

The woman was sitting at her desk, messaging with someone, with
some restrained smile on her face, not even raising her eyes when her
little sister entered the room, only saying casually, ” Xie Xue is back.”

He Yu and Li Ruoqiu, who had not seen much of each other, entered
the house and politely said, “Sister Li, excuse me.”

Li Ruoqiu was startled at the sound of his voice and looked up, “……
Ah, your guest and honoured guest. Have a quick seat.”

She got up hastily and was going to make them tea.

He Yu smiled, “Sister-in-law, don’t be busy, I’ll just take Xie Xue home
and leave soon.”
“How can that be, sit down and I’ll go and get you both a snack.”

She twisted and turned and went.

Xie Xue said quietly, “Sister-in-law is quite nice and warm, if you
refuse her, she will be angry instead.”

Li Ruoqiu is indeed a strong woman, as He Yu can tell from the few

brief encounters he has had with her. Not to mention the fact that no
woman would want to marry a fatherly, indifferent man like Xie
Qingcheng.

He sat down, Hu Zhou The old house in the alley was very cramped, a
pass-through room, separated by a curtain. The boys in junior high
school have grown taller and understand what they should and should
not understand.

It was the first time he had entered Xie Qingcheng’s private domain,
and his eyes glanced over the furnishings, pausing for a moment with
a subtle feeling on the double bed, half hidden by a curtain.

It’s hard to imagine Xie Qingcheng and Li Ruoqiu doing those things.

He Yu averts his eyes politely.

“Here’s the tea, here, and the dim sum, I don’t know if you’re used to
eating it.” Li Ruoqiu smiled as she manned the household, bringing a
pot of hot tea and pastries, and a tray of cut fruit, “Try some, I baked
the dim sum myself.”

“You are most welcome, sister-in-law.”

Li Ruoqiu hides his mouth and smiles, his eyes taking turns to look at
He Yu and Xie Xue.

Although the two boys are a few years apart, boys grow up quickly at
puberty and He Yu is not wearing his school uniform today, just a
black autumn turtleneck, jeans and a baseball cap, and at nearly 180,
he doesn’t look like a junior high school boy.
He sits next to Xie Xue, who is a few years older than him, and is
surprisingly well matched in height and appearance.

There was silence in the room for a while.

Xie Xue : “……”

He Yu : “……”

Li Ruoqiu : “……”

After a few seconds, Li Ruoqiu puffed out a laugh and, without holding
back, waved her hand, “You guys talk, you guys talk, I’ll go up to Aunt
Li’s house and sit for a while.”

“Hey.” Xie Xue said, “Sister-in-law-”

Li Ruoqiu has tentatively walked away.

Xie Xue’s face was flushed with embarrassment, and her aunt’s smile
before she left was so silly that she knew what she was thinking.

“That, sorry ah He Yu, my sister-in-law she this person like to watch

idol drama, she watch it, she see anything she tend to think more.”

“It’s fine.” He Yu lowered his eyes and took a sip of his warm tea, he
found Li Ruoqiu’s misunderstanding quite flattering and smiled, “I
don’t care.”

He was already quite fond of Xie Xue, and Li Ruoqiu’s

misunderstanding was no big deal at all.

“By the way, your brother isn’t on duty tomorrow, but he’s coming to
my house to take care of some business, do you want to come with
him? When he’s done with his business, I’ll take you to a barbecue.”

As soon as Xie Xue heard that there was something to eat, she happily
agreed.
However, when He Yu came home that evening, he found the light on
in the living room, and when he pushed the door in, Lv Zhishu was
sitting inside reading a newspaper.

He Yu was somewhat surprised.

Lv Zhishu and He Jiwei were usually away from home. The He family
lived in two villas, one in Hu Zhou and one in Yan Zhou. The one in
Yan Zhou was the main house, which He Yu lived in until he was five
years old, when he was taken to the south. Unlike his younger
brother, who had to study and was used to fighting with the local fop
friends, he had a heart attack at the sight of his decathlon brother, so
he stayed almost exclusively at the main house.

The two brothers live across the river from each other, and when their
parents are free, they naturally prefer to spend time with his sweet,
innocent baby brother, and rarely come to spend time with him unless
there is something going on.

“…… What brings you back?”

“Just finished an errand.” Lv Zhishu put down the newspaper and said
to his eldest son, “Sit down, there’s something I want to tell you.”

The boy in his third year of school put down his bag, took off his shoes
and walked in, and his mother needed to look up at him.

He Yu drops his eyelashes, “Go ahead.”

Lv Zhishu poured himself a glass of red wine and took a sip before
saying, “Tomorrow is the last day Dr Xie will come to see you. After
this, he will no longer be our family’s personal doctor.”

He Yu was not expecting such a thing and was stunned.

It was a long time before he heard himself seemingly calmly: “……

Why so sudden.”

“Hmm. Didn’t tell you earlier in case you found out and got tangled
up.”
“…… Why?”

Lv Zhishu did not answer this question of his directly, but said, “The
money is already in the process of being settled, and tomorrow he will
greet you as well when he has handed things over to me. But after
this-”

She took another sip of her wine: “You should just stop hanging out
with their family more.”

“……”

“Do you understand what I mean? We are not of the same class, I sent
Lao Zhao to pick you up this afternoon and he told me that you had
gone to Dr Xie’s house in Strange Rain Lane as a guest and were with
his sister.” Lv Zhishu sighed, “To be honest, you quite disappoint me.
Meng mothers move three times to choose their neighbours, and
when parents want their sons to be surrounded by some agreeable
company.”

She surveyed the boy’s already long and tall figure, and her eyes
moved up to He Yu’s already handsome face.

“Especially the female companion.”

There was a long silence in the living room.

Then He Yu asked, “Is this what Dr. Xie meant?”

“It was his idea to leave, it was my idea to keep you away from their
house.” Lv Zhishu admits it openly, piles on a smile, walks up to He
Yu, raises his hand and tilts his head, smoothing his forehead hair
back.

“But I think, and I mean this in the same way that Dr. Shea does, that
he wouldn’t want to end a period of work and then be unnecessarily
associated with someone else. He’s an exceptionally sober man, which
is one of the reasons your father and I both admire and trust him.”

“……”
“You can ask him yourself tomorrow if you don’t believe me.”

……

The next day, Xie Qingcheng arrived.

After all the formalities had been handed over and he had given him
one last monitoring of his condition, Xie Qingcheng spoke blandly to
the boy lying in the treatment chair, “Your mother should have spoken
to you.”

He Yu : “……”

“As of tomorrow, I won’t be at your house.”

“In the future, if you are uncomfortable with anything, don’t choose to
distract attention by self-harming as you did before. And, no matter
which doctor you change to see you, remember that the most
important thing is always your own mind.”

The young doctor really did not take any personal emotions with him
when he said these words –

Lv Zhishu is right; in Xie Qingcheng’s mind, the boundary between

him and He Yu has always been clear. He Yu was the son of He Jiwei,
the youngest member of the He family.

And he was just a doctor hired by their family.

For He Yu, it would not be good to keep relying on a doctor to ease

the mental distress.

Xie Qingcheng is calm, and he knows it well.

He can give care, support and strong moral encouragement to his

patients, but when it’s time to say goodbye, he doesn’t hold anything
back. He had always handled the doctor-patient relationship with such
dryness and cleanliness that he simply said in the end, “…… well brat,
then I wish you a speedy recovery and good health.”
The boy whose puberty had just arrived suppressed the fire in his
heart and looked at him, “…… don’t you have anything else to say to
me?”

“……”

After waiting for a while, there was no response from Xie Qingcheng.

He Yu said, “Good. You don’t have it, I do.”

“……”

” Xie Qingcheng , I have experienced many doctors over the years

who have put me on medication, given me injections and looked at me
with the same eyes as an independent patient. Only you are different.”

“It’s true that I don’t like you, but I took your words to heart
completely.”

“Because you’re the only one that would treat me like I’m someone
who should be included in society. You told me that the injections and
medication weren’t the most important thing, that going and making
connections with others and building a strong heart was the only way
I could hold on.”

He Yu paused for a moment, “Dr Xie, although I’m not too close to
you, I ……”

“……”

“I ……”

When He Yu said this, he could not continue for half a day, his almond
eyes fixed on Xie Qingcheng’s face.

“I thought you weren’t just looking at me as a patient, you were also

looking at me as a normal person with feelings.”

“I do treat you like a normal person with feelings.”

“So you’re just going to walk away all of a sudden?” The junior high
school boy had grown out of his physique and when he carried some
anger, his aura was actually scary and already oppressive, “Is this
how normal people relate to each other?”

Xie Qingcheng was quiet for a moment: ” He Yu . I know you feel that
this is very sudden and originally I really should have informed you in
advance, but I have communicated with both your parents, especially
your father, who is considered an old acquaintance of mine and my
employer, and I have to respect his wishes first without violating my
principles ……”

“And what do I mean?”

Xie Qingcheng says: “I’m just a doctor.”

“I’m your employer too, right?” He Yu stared at him, “And you don’t
ask my opinion.”

“……” Xie Qingcheng sighed, “Get a grip on yourself, lad. I mean no

disrespect, but you’re still a student, and hiring me is not a price you
can afford to pay.”

He Yu was, I don’t know what to make of it, already calm and

collected by that time, even in the midst of adult socialising, and able
to enter and leave without losing his manners.

But when he thought that Xie Qingcheng and Xie Xue were leaving, he
suddenly became helpless again and blurted out, “I have plenty of
pocket money to–”

“Save it for the cake.”

“……”

Xie Qingcheng said to him rationally, “I’m not a piece of cake that
your father won’t buy for you so you can find your own way to get it at
your own expense. I came to see you in large part because of his
favours. I can’t go against his will, do you understand?”
“Why must he want you to go?”

“He didn’t ask me to leave.” Xie Qingcheng said, “I wanted to leave.

Didn’t you just ask me if leaving like this was a normal end to
relationships between people?”

Xie Qingcheng looks into He Yu’s eyes.

“Yes.”

“Even though you are also a normal person with feelings in my eyes,
the relationship I have established with you is that of a doctor and a
patient, and all human relationships are in stages; even your closest
parents cannot accompany you through life.”

Xie Qingcheng paused for a moment: “Now that my doctor-patient

relationship with you has come to an end, then I should go. It’s a very
normal relationship between normal people and normal people, a very
normal end to the relationship.”

“……”

“That’s when your father and I first agreed, which is these seven
years.”

Xie Qingcheng said, looking back into He Yu’s eyes: “At this stage of
your illness, it is no longer appropriate for someone to continue to be
with you like this. Sooner or later, you will have to rely on yourself to
get out of the shadow inside you. Do you understand?”

“…… So you, like my mother, think that after today there will be no
need for unnecessary contact between us, between Xie Xue and me,
do you?”

Xie Qingcheng : “You can always get in touch if you need our help.”

After a pause, “At other times, there really isn’t much need for it.”

“……”
“Also, your mother told me about you and Xie Xue hanging out alone a
lot.” Xie Qingcheng says, “I, as her parent, really didn’t think it was
appropriate either.”

As he spoke, he surveyed the boy in junior high school and said

decently and calmly, “I know there’s a big age difference between you
and that you’re just an attachment to her and nothing more. But over
time, it’s inevitable that there will be some bad things said, and it
won’t be good for you or her.”

He Yu didn’t correct him for being too old-fashioned and naive, but
simply said, “So you agree with my mother.”

“I agree.”

He Yu stared at him for a long time, then he leaned back in his chair,
braced his face, and smiled softly, a smile that was like a cloud
covering the sun, hiding the one inch of his heart that he had
managed to bare.

He Yu smiled and said, “Doctor, you are really …… calm to the point
that you are not sick, but have no more heart than I do.”

“Good. Since you’ve made it this far, you go.”

“I will remember what you have said, save myself very calmly and live
very calmly, and I wish you a smooth and prosperous career ahead.”

“But-”

The conversation took a turn for the worse.

” Xie Xue, although she is your sister, has her freedom and no matter
what you say, I will still go to her.”

Xie Qingcheng frowned and his gaze became stern: “She is a girl and
you are fourteen years old, you have a bit of distance. Why do you
have to follow her?”

“Because she’s not like you.”

Light and shadow cut a line across the floor, and they are in light and
darkness, like pieces that have been broken in half. He Yu says: “She
is the only bridge that connects me to the world.”

Xie Qingcheng was silent for a moment: “Then you should find
another one.”

When the time came, he had some business to attend to and was
unable to say anything more to He Yu, so he left.

On that day, He Yu sat in his chair, not moving.

From dusk, late into the night.

He Yu thought that Xie Qingcheng was actually a very resourceful

person.

He was the one who told him that he wanted him to think of himself as
a normal person, and that he could get out of the shadows on his own.

He even gave him the illusion that he was close to Xie Xue and that
Xie Qingcheng, as an older brother, could accept him.

But on this day, he knew from Xie Qingcheng’s choice that he had
overthought it after all.

Whether it lasts for ten or twenty years, when the relationship is over,
the money and the goods are settled and no one is owed anything.

A private doctor who gets paid to do his job and walks away without
profit.

There was nothing special about Xie Qingcheng compared to those

doctors of old. He was even more cruel than the other doctors who
saw him as an alien, because he had lied to him the longest and taken
the most profit from his passion and pain. It was he who made him
believe that the relationship he had built was one that would last
forever, who made him believe that his love for Xie Xue was
something that could be accepted by his parents.
But he was all wrong.

He Yu thought about this old story and looked at Xie Qingcheng’s

face.

After all these years, Xie Qingcheng is still the eldest brother of the
Xie family and has not changed at all.

He still doesn’t want Xie Xue to be alone with him, and still stands in
front of his sister as a very domineering and authoritarian protector –
right down to the words of exhortation to think outside the box.

Xie Qingcheng is perhaps a very good doctor, with a medical

philosophy worthy of his name, a fair mind, and a responsibility to his
patients.

But sadly, he has no heart.

“Still thinking about the old days?”

Xie Qingcheng’s voice brought him back from his memories.

He Yu looked back and said, “…… You mentioned it and I thought

about it. When you think about it, it’s really unlikely that you
remember what kind of attitude I used to have when I spoke either.”

He Yu finally laughed: “After all, we’re just a doctor-patient

relationship that’s over, am I right?”

Xie Qingcheng had not yet replied, but at that moment the sky
suddenly lit up with a light, followed by a “bang” and a firework
display in the night.

The annual garden party always ends with this overly splendid flower
fire as a finale.

Several shocks and a million flowers.

Xie Qingcheng said, “Yes.”

In the midst of this glory, there was a sudden rumble of muffled
thunder – a shower of rain. The fireworks, which are by nature blazing
and gentle, were no match for the lightning, which was so strong and
cold that it soon subsided. In the distance, students laughed and fled
into buildings or dormitories to escape the rain, which crackled down
on the bustling mundane.

He Yu, still maintaining that thin smile, said in the darkening sky,
“Then let’s take shelter from the rain together, Dr. Xie. I’d like to
analyse it according to your so sober thinking. Besides the doctor-
patient relationship, you are now my teacher’s brother, and if you get
wet, I won’t be able to explain myself in front of her.”

After a pause, still somewhat sarcastically, “Two people who have

ended their doctor-patient relationship, hiding from the rain together
is normal behaviour, no transgressions or misdemeanours, right?”

Xie Qingcheng knew that in his heart he still resisted himself.

But Xie Qingcheng had no more patience or tolerance to coax him,

and said coldly, “Yes.”

He Yu smiled, “There’s a cave up ahead, after you.”

While He Yu and Xie Qingcheng were looking for shelter on the island,
the seniors were still working hard to get paid to guard the entrance
and keep the other participants away from the garden.

The seniors thought that at this point in time, everyone should have
pretty much had their fun, and it was unlikely that anyone would be so
bored as to come all the way to Neverland to get a stamp, so they
relaxed their minds a lot.

“Geez, this is a lot of rain.” He sat emotionally in the duck boat and
looked triflingly towards the island, hoping to see something.
But the distance was too great, and he had only vaguely seen He Yu
with someone with a slender figure, he was nearsighted and could not
see very well.

The seniors think that Young Master He has really unique tastes and
likes such tall girls.

LOL …… What an enviable life for a capitalist.

He wondered how the two of them were getting along now that it was
raining, and they were both up there without umbrellas, and there
was only one cave on Neverland, which was rarely visited by students
and was a blind spot in the school’s surveillance layout. He had heard
that some couples like to come to the cave in the middle of the night
to have wild fights, and he reckoned that with He Yu’s looks and
family background, and having gone to such lengths to chase that
180-year-old beauty, he must have gotten his hands on her by now.

Do you want to send a text message to sell a set to the capitalists?

The seniors thought and fumbled for their phones.

A confession night home run, that would fit in with this fast-paced life
nowadays, wouldn’t it?

The seniors then started to edit the message to send to He Yu’s

unblocked mobile phone to make a financial capital outlay…

“Boss He, there is a first aid box in the island cave, there are a few
boxes of condoms on the second level of the box, if you need them,
just look in the box and remember to send me a red packet when you
use it ……”
 Chapter 19 – At last, no more
noise
“Boss He, there is a first aid box in the island cave, there are a few
boxes of condoms on the second level of the box, if you need them, go
and look in the box and remember to send me a red packet when you
are done ……”

The message had just been edited and sent when a person’s voice
suddenly came from behind.

“Little student.”

The black-marketing schoolmaster was a thief and almost went into

the water with a cartwheel.

The other man was very sharp, and in one fell swoop he steadied the
boat and laughed, “Little student, did that scare you?”

“Ah, no, no.”

The senior looked up and there in front of him was a bearded man,
always 30 or 40 years old, wearing a sweatshirt and flip-flops, looking
scruffy as hell and not knowing what he was doing, but there was a
sparkle in his eyes.

Thongs asked him with a smile, “This boat of yours, do you use it?”

“Oh, the boat.” The schoolmaster babbled credulously, “The boat, it’s
broken.”

“Is …… broken?”

“Yeah, there’s a hole in the bottom of the boat, it won’t sail, it has to
stop in shallow water.”

Thongs: “What a coincidence? Your rope bridge to this island, it

seems, is broken too.”

“Yeah.” The schoolmaster justified, “I cut – ahem, I guess I gave it a

bad chop. Who are you?”

Thongs smiled and showed a mouthful of teeth: “My school’s electrical

overhauler. I’ve been told to go and have a look around the island.
Look, the toolbox is here.”

He coughed lightly, looked to his right and left, and then came over:
“Brother, let me tell you the truth, today there is a confession from a
tycoon student on the island, and the whole thing is wrapped up, think
about it, can we do that kind of thing, bad marriage, kicked by a
donkey? No.”

Thongs dawned on me, eyes bright and trippy: “Oh, a confession on

Pao Island. So romantic, you youngsters really know how to play
haha.”

“That’s not it.” The schoolmaster slapped his thighs together and
rubbed his fingers together, “Mostly, there’s money.”

The flip-flops were smiling and surprisingly sociable.

“OK then, so this boat of yours, when will it be ready to go?”

“I guess it will have to be the latter part of the night, mainly I’m just
afraid that they are young lovers, once they confess, once they can’t
hold it, the first taste of forbidden fruit, can’t stop, later is also
possible.” The schoolmaster saw that the uncle was a good talker, also
followed the nosy.

Men, when they come together to talk about such things, inevitably
get a little misty-eyed.

The senior said bitchily, “Why don’t you come back in the morning,
uncle, they’re definitely gone in the morning. One of them is a school
bully, there’s absolutely no way he’ll skip class.”

Flip-flops rattled laughing, “Fuck, beauty can’t even slow down a

schoolteacher in class.”

“That’s not true, why else would you be a schoolteacher.”

The older man had a few more words with the senior and left with his
toolbox.

When he reached a deserted place, he stopped, lit a cigarette and

pulled out a mobile phone from his toolbox, the oldest model of brick
phone, which has long been extinct on the market: “Hello. Zheng
team, give us a few hours’ grace, we can’t go up to the island tonight.
…… problem? No problem, just two students are there to confess their
love for the island. The two students are there to confess. I know, I’ll
go up in the morning to see.”

He flicked the cigarette ash and sighed helplessly: “You say our
informant is too cautious, not even willing to send information, every
time he wants to give us information, he must fucking write in this
kind of student guestbook. I’m going to go back to the bureau, you
said I came to get information but also be fed a mouthful of dog food
by a kid, I’m a police officer is not easy… …”

Flip-flops shattered away.

.

Inside the Neverland cavern.

The cave is small and dark, and had it not been for a heavy rain, Xie
Qingcheng thought it would be unlikely that anyone would want to
visit under normal circumstances, but when he entered the cave on
his haunches, he realised he had been wrong.

By the ghostly light of my mobile phone, I can see a few common

outdoor items thrown into the rocky cavern of the wigwam: a wind
lamp, a tarpaulin, a small folding chair with cowries, a wolf’s eye
torch and even a small cooking pot set.

“Secret Utopia.”

“What?” Xie Qingcheng turned back.

He Yu shone his mobile phone torch up the rock face: “It’s written
here.”

Xie Qingcheng is the first to discover that the walls of the wet rockery
are covered in ink from the past and present – all the scribblings of
students who have accidentally entered this secret place.

The largest inscriptions are “Secret Utopia”.

Xie Qingcheng was not interested in the graffiti and after a couple of
glances, he sat down at the mouth of the cavern to watch the rain.

But He Yu is a reader of choreography, and he is often willing to read

any text that comes before him.

“The Great Buddha used to save all sentient beings and was born on
the other shore, so why don’t you guide me out of the sea of books?”

“I loved Mr. Zhou all my life, but he was already a husband by the
time we met, so I couldn’t ask for him.
He Yu shines the lamp on the wall and reads as he shakes his head,
“So literary, so bitter.”

Shine another light on the other side.

That side was fine, with a wide variety of content, and he read, “Get
advanced maths out of the university curriculum soon.”

“I’m graduating soon, and hopefully I’ll be a big director. Go for it.”

“Take shelter from the rain here ph ……”

He Yu’s voice suddenly trailed off and he didn’t read on.

Xie Qingcheng was instead curious: “What’s the phase?”

“…… is nothing.”

Xie Qingcheng was not convinced, and when he looked back, he was
at a loss for words –

“Here take refuge from the rain and love each other, and give thanks
for the good fortune of heaven.”

The names of the two wild lovebirds are also left below, circled by a
large heart.

The situation was so awkward that it was no wonder He Yu didn’t

read on. Xie Qingcheng said indifferently, “I haven’t seen you for a
few years, you’ve got dyslexia, you have to read things out.”

“Don’t you think it’s interesting? All these people are nowhere to be
found, probably long forgotten they even carved something like this
here.” He Yu lifted his hand and rubbed over a section of mottled
writing, “Maybe some of them have returned to dust and dirt, but
these words remain.”

Xie Qingcheng said coldly, “Then do you want to write down your own
ink for posterity as well?”
He had only meant it as a taunt, but He Yu actually looked down and
picked a thin slice of stone, found an empty spot on the wall and said
thoughtfully, “That makes sense, what do you think I’m writing?”

He Yu said, also glanced at Xie Qingcheng , the gaze and with some
can not hide the dislike. Yes,……, here we fall in love in the rain,
thankful for the good fortune of heaven. Many familiar classical and
romantic stories start in this way: the White Snake smiles at Xu
Hanlin in the light boat and borrows an umbrella, Bernini rolls out a
whole red carpet for Nicoletta to walk down the long steps in the rain.

Perhaps if it had been Xie Xue here, the evening would have been
much more enjoyable, and perhaps they could have followed the
example of their predecessors by inscribing the words “us too” in the
handwriting of the two seniors who were bonded by the rain.

Unfortunately, it is Xie Qingcheng who is now trapped on the island.

Straight men and straight men stuck together are inherently boring,
not to mention that their relationship is not particularly good.

Xie Qingcheng sensed that he was looking at him in an unfavourable

way and returned the look with an even more unfavourable one,
“What are you looking at me for?”

“Sorry, I don’t have anyone else to look at.” He Yu tossed the stone
twice and scratched a few random words, “A dream come true.”

The stone powder rustles down.

He Yu finished writing, threw the stone away and turned back: “Do
you want to be childish for once too, doctor?”

Xie Qingcheng’s eyes flickered slightly before he finally shifted his

gaze back to the pouring rain outside, his silhouette as thin as a sheet
of wind-blown raffia paper in the warm, foggy light.

“No need. Mine’s a daydream.”

“Oh.” He Yu said casually, “So tell me, what kind of daydream. –May I
ask? No offence to you.”

When He Yu thought he didn’t want to talk to him, Xie Qingcheng

looked out at the rain that was pouring in the cavern and said calmly,
“I didn’t want to be a doctor before.”

“You’re not a doctor now either.”

“I didn’t think about studying medicine in my earliest days.”

He Yu was a little surprised this time, and his almond eyes lifted, “So
what do you want to learn?”

Xie Qingcheng got up and went back into the cavern, staring at the
words “Dreams come true” under He Yu’s hack, then said, “…… It’s
been too long. I can’t remember.”

The lie was so insincere and perfunctory that he did not even bother
to clean up the frustration in his eyes, and He Yu almost suspected
that he was taking the opportunity to insult his own intelligence.

Xie Qingcheng turned his face away, as if not wanting to carry on the
conversation, and returned to the cave, asking He Yu : “Is there
anything to eat.”

It was indeed time for dinner, and the only food He Yu had brought to
the island was a piece of mango mousse, which he had originally
made for Xie Xue.

But it seems to be contributing to the rations for both of them now.

He Yu was not interested in Xie Qingcheng anyway, and since Xie

Qingcheng did not want to talk about his former life plans, he had no
intention of asking.

He took out the cake and handed a piece to Xie Qingcheng. Xie
Qingcheng was probably too hungry to look at it, so he took it and ate
it quickly.
“Do you have any paper towels?” Xie Qingcheng loves cleanliness and
tidiness, and when he has finished eating, he asks Secretary He for a
paper towel.

Secretary He looked around and saw a first aid box on the Oxford
canvas table, the kind of box that might contain something like
tissues, and walked over to look for it.

The light was too dim, so he found a packet that looked about the
same size and threw it to Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng took it and was about to open it when he suddenly felt
that the box didn’t feel right, why was it a cardboard box?

Fix your eyes on it again.

Xie Qingcheng : “…………”

“What’s wrong?”

Xie Qingcheng coldly threw the Durex back at He Yu.

“Have you grown eyes.”

He Yu looked at it for a few seconds, then silently put the box back in
the first aid box.

It’s fucking brilliant.

Or the delayed erotic version with rubber pellets.

But both are a bit thick-skinned in this respect, and He Yu is generally

more accepting of things, so it’s no big deal if it’s just a faux pas.

Xie Qingcheng, on the other hand, is calm and collected, not prone to
emotional ups and downs, and he is already a married and divorced
man, so although he is not very interested in such things, he does not
make a fuss when he sees adult products.
Xie Qingcheng just frowned: “You students nowadays, why are you so
messy.”

“It’s okay.” He Yu said lightly, “You haven’t seen anything more

messy.”

With that, he again noticed a book sitting next to the medical kit.

The Utopia Guest Book

This type of book is usually a tree-hole book, where the person leaving
the message will space out the previous content, and although the
person in front may not still see it, those who come back later can
continue to join in and it looks interesting in succession.

Of course, most of these books end up as relationship dating books,

and the content is probably quite exciting.

He Yu picked up the book and said to Xie Qingcheng, “Dr Xie, would
you like to see it? There should be a lot in this book to help you
understand the young people of today.”

……

There was nothing to do, so the two of them watched together.

As it happens, the book is densely covered with all sorts of

handwriting, mainly declarations of love, dating announcements,
secret confessions and the like.

Flipping through the pages, suddenly, He Yu “huh?” gave a cry.

” Xie Qingcheng , someone here has mentioned you.”

 Chapter 20 – But I was caught by
him
Xie Qingcheng hadn’t read it that carefully, but after hearing what He
Yu said, he re-read it. In the far corner of the A4-sized page, there was
a box with the words “Male Sex Exchange Group”, and his name
appeared in this box very frequently.

“……” Xie Qingcheng has a bad feeling about this.

Sure enough, the two read the text on it together, and fuck, it was all
a bunch of little zeros.

The small group of zeroes were blah, blah, blah discussing where
there were zero circles of heavenly vegetables in the surrounding
colleges – frankly, they were just looking for a day without any
support here.

The first mention of Xie Qingcheng’s name is written in a biro, the

handwriting is faded and a bit old. The person writing it says that a
new professor has arrived at the medical school next door, called Xie
Qingcheng, who is particularly handsome, has a very Aura and is cold,
and would love to be slept with.

Some people started laughing at his testy broken leg below.

But it wasn’t long before a new message was added and the picture
started to look wrong: “Holy shit! The seniors upstairs are not
laughing, if you have the opportunity to see this guestbook again, you
go to the medical university to see for yourself, really fucking
handsome to let zero water, his legs are long, broad shoulders and
waist thin, the whole person is upright like a pole javelin, the suit a tie
a really want my dog’s life, I met him after three consecutive days of
erotic dreams are him …… ”

The latter is even more exaggeratedly out of control.

“I want to be loved by my brother so badly.”

“I’ve heard that Professor Tse is divorced, so it’s not likely to be the
same kind.”

“Oh my God, really? If it was one of a kind, I could be single for the
rest of my life if he slept with me once.”

He Yu was silent for a long time after watching this, and couldn’t help
it –

He’d be a fool not to flirt with him again because he’s gambling, it’s a
big joke now!

So He Yu laughed: “Dr Xie, I didn’t expect that. You’re a zero-circle

sky dish, and they all want you to sleep with them. Why don’t you
sacrifice yourself and flip a sign.”

Xie Qingcheng’s face is very ugly and he raises his hand to turn the
page.

He Yu pressed the book: “I haven’t finished reading it yet.”

“Turned over.”

“Wait a little longer.”

“Flip.”

He Yu with a scoff: “Just a moment.”

Xie Qingcheng felt he had lost face and turned the pages hard. He Yu
laughed particularly hard and looked down the page to see if there
were any more Xie Qingcheng specials in the back.
But within a few pages, he couldn’t stop laughing.

Because He Yu saw his name.

Xie Qingcheng, who was also in the same “Male Sex Exchange” group,
apparently noticed it too, and the two of them looked at it together
again…

“Why is there zero communication in front of us, here is 1’s

communication group. Please recommend a pretty teenager in
school.”

Some garbled names follow.

He Yu’s name came up.

” He Yu yah, he looks polite to everyone, but he’s actually expensive

as hell and has a strong sense of distance from everyone. And he’s
particularly good-looking and gentle, even though he’s very tall and
has skin as white as a girl’s. I’ve seen him play and he has a very good
sense of power, so he must be particularly good to sleep with.”

“Are you crazy upstairs? That’s the young master of the He family.”

“It’s that status that makes it better to sleep in!!! It really makes the
heart grow fonder.”

“…… Don’t you guys know that He Yu is not only great at playing ball,
he’s great at punching people too? He’s clean-cut, yes, but didn’t you
guys see his swimmer-like body in the school pool after he took off his
shirt …… You could die with one punch from him.”

“But I still want him ……”

Xie Qingcheng finished reading it and said to He Yu, who was

grimacing, “Excellent. You should take a torch with you when you go
out at night, or call me if you’re scared, because we used to know
each other and I can give you a lift.”

He Yu : “Turn the page.”

Xie Qingcheng raised his hand and pressed it against the book, saying
indifferently, “I haven’t read enough.”

“……”

He Yu was gloomy for a while, but finally he didn’t seem to want to

waste his energy on wrestling with Xie Qingcheng. He ripped off the
two pages of the book and lit it with a lighter.

After ordering he even took a tissue and wiped his fingers clean
where he had touched the pages with an expressionless face.

Xie Qingcheng also stopped talking to him and went on flipping

through the book alone.

The cavern was silent for a long time and outside was a torrential
downpour.

The summer rain came and went quickly, and by the time the time on
the phone read eight o’clock, the thunderstorm had turned into a
drizzling rain. Xie Qingcheng lifted his long, cold white hand and was
about to close the guestbook, but just as the book was about to close,
Xie Qingcheng suddenly felt that something was wrong and his gaze
immediately shifted back to the corner he had just unwittingly
glanced at.

“……”

Xie Qingcheng’s hand paused as he switched on the wind lamp, his

expression focused and serious, locking his gaze on that corner ……

A few seconds later, He Yu heard Xie Qingcheng’s cold voice behind

him, a voice so deep that it sounded strange.

” He Yu , come and look at this.”

It was a line pinned in a very obscure corner.

“wzl will be killed recently.”

The line was written in fountain pen in a crooked handwriting that

looked like it was left-handed, but what was so aversive was that at
the end of the line, the person had left her name.

It was a name that didn’t come to mind in any way –

“Jiang. Lan. Pei.”

Outside, muffled thunder roars and a pin drop can be heard inside the
cave.

“……”

” Didn’t Jiang Lanpei spend twenty years in a mental institution?” It

was He Yu who finally broke the silence first, whispering.

Xie Qingcheng frowned in contemplation: “…… Although she later got

the key and had many times free access ……”

“But I’m afraid that’s limited to the Cheng Kang mental hospital.” He
Yu continued, “You think she could have gone out and come back in
unnoticed? And go to the caves of Neverland at HU and leave such a
message in such an obscure hole-in-the-tree book?”

The answer, of course, is no.

“And it looks like this handwriting is very new, like it was left in the
last few days.” Xie Qingcheng peered closely at the red writing on the
book by the light of the searchlight, “Who is this wzl again ……”

The two men pondered over the tattered notebook for a long time.

He Yu suddenly said, “I remembered a legend I’ve heard around

campus the past few days.”

“What?”
“Some students felt that Jiang Lanpei was a horrible, but tragic and
legendary person, and that when she died, she was wearing the red
dress favoured by the evil spirits. Those students then made up a
saying that if you held a grudge against anyone, you could envision
the death of the other person, write the manner of death on a piece of
paper and then drop Jiang Lanpei’s name with a red pen, and Jiang
Lanpei’s ghost would kill your enemy for you.”

He Yu paused for a moment and continued, “But that enemy has to be

a man, not a woman.”

“Why?”

“Because Jiang Lanpei’s experience was published in the newspaper,

the student who made up the rumour believed that Jiang Lanpei’s
hatred was only directed at men.”

He Yu looks again at the writing in the book.

“Do you think it could be that someone recently visited the island and,
while flipping through this book, saw a message from a previous
person and then remembered the legend of Jiang Lanpei’s ghost doing
the deed, and it just so happened that that person, like the person
who wrote the message before him, loathed this man named WZL, so
his mind took the mere emotional outburst in the book and turned it
into a formal curse?”

Xie Qingcheng shook his head, took out his mobile phone and took a
picture of it, and then said, “I’ll bring this book to the Public Security
Bureau later on, I always feel that Jiang Lanpei is a person who has
nothing to do with Hu Da.”

The light in He Yu’s eyes moved slightly and he said softly, “I think so
too.”

“Oh?”

He Yu said, “The school uniform.”

Xie Qingcheng sighed, his gaze fixed, “So you’re thinking the same
thing as me. I reckon the public security have pretty much the same
idea, I’ve seen plain clothes at your school over the last few days, a
few of them are old criminal police officers who worked with my
parents and seem to be looking into some things.”

On the day Jiang Lanpei killed Liang Jicheng, there is one seemingly
insignificant, but very strange detail.

— Why did Jiang Lanpei go to the trouble of removing Xie Xue’s HU

campus worker uniform and putting it on the dead Liang Jicheng’s
body before committing the act of body splitting and abuse?

“Every psychopath’s actions are usually not unprovoked, especially

when they are particularly targeted and unusual.” Xie Qingcheng
says, “In my opinion, Jiang Lanpei’s case will sooner or later be
investigated by some people at your school.”

He Yu lifted his hand and smiled, “Some people are definitely not me.”

“……”

“I probably wasn’t even born the year she was locked up.”

Xie Qingcheng, looking a bit headstrong, said, “It’s not for you and me
to worry about, so give the book to the police when you get out and let
them investigate.”

He Yu hmmed and said that when he reached Cheng Kang mental

hospital, he suddenly asked Xie Qingcheng : “By the way.”

“What?”

“I’ve been thinking for the past few days about what would happen to
us now if Xie Xue had really been killed by the time we got there that
day.”

Xie Qingcheng turned his dark eyes to him indifferently, “Can’t you
think of anything nice?”
“I wish her well more than anyone else.”

Xie Qingcheng was slightly annoyed, not catching the implication of

He Yu’s remark, and he just casually dismissed it with an annoyed,
“Me too.”

“But if something does happen to her -”

“Then I will live the same way as I do now, as long as I don’t die.”

— it’s not that he hasn’t experienced something similar.

That time, there was not even a turnaround, no redemption.

He watched the cold bodies of his parents lying in the pouring rain,
the yellow and white police cordon drawn up behind him, piercing his
eardrums with the belated and piercing siren. The front of a lorry was
burning fiercely, and in the flames of the sky he could see that his
mother was only half dead. Her wide-open eyes stared blankly in the
direction he was standing, a severed hand, crushed and thrown off by
the wheel, right in front of the tip of his shoe.

He thought then that he couldn’t live any longer.

But nineteen years have passed.

He Yu didn’t know what he was thinking, and when he heard him say
that, he didn’t answer again for a long time, he looked at Xie
Qingcheng’s face with an unpredictable look, and then he laughed
very softly and coldly: “Xie Qingcheng, you are really worthy of being
Xie Qingcheng. You live so calmly all the time, it only takes a minute
for you to lose your cool.”

Xie Qingcheng says: “One cannot live with grief for the rest of one’s
life. Tragedies that happen, even if they are simply unacceptable at
the moment, will eventually be slowly digested. Instead of wallowing
in the pain and not being able to stand up, don’t waste this time,
adjust yourself and go do what needs to be done so that no more
tragedies happen.”
“…… ah.” He Yu said softly, “What a great sobriety on earth.”

He said he didn’t want to share a hole with Xie Qingcheng anymore,

and when the rain stopped pouring outside, he walked out alone.

He Yu took a short walk until exactly twelve o’clock, when he noticed

movement on the other side of the river.

It turned out that the conscientious seniors who had been paid to do
the job had finished their task and returned with the duck boat at a
pinch.

As soon as he saw He Yu, he was so excited that he stood on the

rocking boat and waved desperately: “Well! I’m punctual, aren’t I? Did
Boss He Yu succeed in his confession?”

After saying this, he looked impatiently behind He Yu.

“Hey? Where’s the boss’s wife?”

Confessions of what?

There was only one great sober man on the island, who was he to
confess to?

He Yu smiled at the idiot on the boat, “That doesn’t seem to be

something the seniors should ask much about.”

“Look at you, you’re still shy, hahaha, I get it, I get it.” The other party
gave He Yu an ambiguous scowl before holding out the Alipay QR
code on his phone.

“The final payment.”

He Yu rolled his eyes wordlessly and pulled out his phone, which had
zero signal so far, and scratched it with a chilly face, “…… Please
unblock the blocker first.”

The senior unblocked it and was excited again, “Did you see the
message I sent you? It’s on the other phone.”
“What’s the message?”

He Yu took out his other phone and looked at it.

“Boss He, there is a first aid box in the island cave, there are a few
boxes of condoms on the second level of the box, if you need them, go
and look in the box and remember to send me a red packet when you
are done ……”

The senior gave a gossipy look and quietly approached.

“It’s also a special extended model, guaranteed to make the boss

lady’s legs go weak.”

“……” He Yu smiled slightly, “Don’t put that kind of stuff in your first
aid kit in the future, how unethical, don’t you think so, senior?”

The seniors could see that the capitalists were not happy.

The seniors froze for a moment and it dawned on them that they
hadn’t eaten it!

He could not help but admire the 180 beauty who had yet to reveal
herself.

He had thought that the beauty had not followed He Yu because her
attendant had helped her to pick up her weakness and it was the
beginning of her newfound grace.

Looks like the big beauty is a cold beauty who can’t be lusted after by
the rich and famous!

Young Master He is so miserable, how can he see such a difficult

object. Tsk tsk tsk, money hitting the water floating …… money hitting
the water floating ……

After collecting the money, he called another friend to get another

kayak from the warehouse and the two of them left first, leaving the
duck boat on the shore for He Yu.
He Yu had finished with the crime scene and was about to go back
into the cave to call Xie Qingcheng out, but when he turned around,
he froze.

The man had stood in the moonlit forest, his hands in his trouser
pockets, his back against one of the cypress trees, and was watching
him without expression. Nor did he know how long he had been
listening indifferently in the shade of the tree.

He Yu : “……”

Xie Qingcheng lit a cigarette, his expression was indifferent, as if he

was interrogating a prisoner: “I’ll give you a chance to explain.”

He slowly exhaled his pale green smoke ring, “Go ahead.”

 Chapter 21 – She, on the other
hand, was caught in my pocket
In the meantime.

The Hu Zhou University gymnasium is a bustling place with rows of

student stalls set up on a temporary basis.

This was one of the least crowded areas of the fair, but because it was
raining outside, the outdoor activities could not take place, so a large
number of students gathered here.

“Here’s the confessions mailbox hey.”

“So this is where it is. I’ve been looking for it for ages, and I’ve finally
found it.”

A group of schoolgirls smilingly gathered around a capsule mailbox

and scrambled to write the recipient’s name on a letter of confession
and put it in.

This is a special postbox for shy socialites to avoid the embarrassment

of sending love letters to someone in person, and is very popular with
students at every Shanghai University garden party.

Xie Xue sits in the corner, drinking hot milk while she finishes writing
a letter, she envelops the white envelope, looks it over and then writes
the name of the boy she has a crush on in one stroke.
With a satisfied smile on her face, the girl got up and went to the
capsule mailbox, where she was about to put her confession in, when
suddenly a drop of blood fell, dripping onto the envelope.

Xie Xue was stunned.

“Hey, little sister, you have a nosebleed ……” The person next to her
saw it and immediately fished out tissues from her bag, “Here, wipe it
off quickly.”

Xie Xue tilted her head up and covered her nose with a tissue: “Thank
you.”

What’s with the sudden nosebleed?

She hadn’t had a nosebleed in a long time, and when she thought
about it, it was all still from her childhood.

“This letter from you …… why don’t I give you a different cover ……”

“Ah, nothing, nothing nothing! I scribbled it! Writing for fun! It’s not
important! It’s not important!” Xie Xue was afraid that people would
see the name on the envelope and laugh at her, so she threw the
blood-stained envelope into the tube and ran away without looking
back, covering her nose.

The student by the confessions mailbox then responded, “Hey? That

seems to be Ms. Xie just now ……”

Xie Xue ran some distance away and tried to call her brother to ask
what was going on with the sudden nosebleed.

However after half a dozen calls it was, “Hello, the user you have
called is switched off, please try again later.”

Xie Xue : “……”

Hey …… has her brother gone back to sleep in the dorm?

.
Xie Xue never imagined that his big brother hadn’t slept at all. He was
even trapped on the island for hours by He Yu for taking his place as a
Nine-tailed Fox doll.

He Yu was eventually caught in the act by her older brother.

Now these two lords are standing by the water’s edge, both with their
hands in their trouser pockets, their faces and eyes quite cold, just
staring at each other.

Xie Qingcheng is waiting for an explanation from He Yu.

“…… Good night, beautiful moon in water.” He Yu finally said

languidly, “The moon is beautiful tonight. Do you understand what it
means?”

“Speak human.”

“I think you look good too and want to go out with you.”

“Have some fucking face.” Xie Qingcheng dusted off his cigarette,
“I’m not joking with you.”

He Yu slowly stopped laughing, most likely because he knew that he

couldn’t be cajoled this way either, so he finally curbed his frivolous
façade and his eyes turned dark: “…… Since you’ve heard it all, what
else do I have to explain.”

Meeting Xie Qingcheng’s cold, sharp gaze, he paused, sighed and

briefly ran through the story anyway.

“Good. I have someone I like and I was going to confess to her, but
she didn’t come. Does that make sense to you?”

Xie Qingcheng has a vague feeling that something is not right, but he
can’t see it for a while.

His attention is drawn to the fact that He Yu has a girl he likes.

“From your school?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

He Yu laughed: “What does this have to do with you.”

Xie Qingcheng straightens his long legs and slowly walks up to He Yu,
standing on high ground, so that despite his height he is not as tall as
He Yu, he is looking down on him at this moment, as if a layer of
moonlight is in his peach blossom eyes.

” He Yu , do you know what disease you have?”

He Yu said lightly, “Mental Ebola.”

“So what are you looking for in a guy if you’re not cured and not in
control.”

He Yu is silent for a moment.

It was as if he had expected Xie Qingcheng to react in this way.

He looked back and said softly, “Wasn’t it you who once said that I
should rebuild bridges with people, with society. You encouraged me
to get along with others, to find friendship, affection, to find love. And
didn’t you also say before that I wouldn’t even have a date, that I
would always be just a brat.”

“I was just being angry.” Xie Qingcheng’s eyes were sharp as knives,
“You’re so smart, you can hear what’s true and what’s not.”

“I’m grateful for your kindness.” He Yu said. He Yu said, “I’m only

nineteen, I don’t think as much as you do.”

Xie Qingcheng looked serious: “Don’t worry He Yu, do you know how
many people are depressed because they lost their love? What you
need is a calm and collected mind. When all the indicators are normal,
you can go to whoever you like, it has nothing to do with me, I don’t
even bother to ask.”
He Yu thinks of Xie Xue’s smiling face.

It’s interesting that Xie Qingcheng doesn’t know that the person he
likes is Xie Xue, and he’s already reacting like this without knowing. If
he knew that it was his own sister he was planning to trap on the
island today, he would have slapped himself right across the face.

Xie Qingcheng : “Over the years, have you managed to be in full

control of your emotions. If you haven’t, what qualifications do you
have to talk about liking.”

He Yu’s dark eyes looked into Xie Qingcheng’s: “I’ve made this
decision because I think I can control myself.”

“You’re just too cocky.”

“Conceited?” He Yu repeated, asking gently, “Dr. Xie, have I ever hurt

anyone in nineteen years?”

“……”

“…… I just like a guy.”

“……”

“I wouldn’t be able to have that power, would I.”

Xie Qingcheng : “You don’t know anything about the manifestations

that follow this disease, and you’re also a blood compulsion mutation
patient, you-”

“Professor Xie.” He Yu calmly interrupted Xie Qingcheng, “You are no

longer my personal doctor, and I know you are lonely in middle age
and have a hard time sleeping alone, so it is normal for you to like to
meddle in young people’s affairs, but I don’t think this matter of mine
really has much to do with you.”

Xie Qingcheng was also a bit irritated by his tone of voice: “…… Do
you think I want to take care of you? I’m doing this for your father’s
sake, not to mention the fact that I’ve been looking after your illness
for seven years, and there’s nothing wrong with taking care of a dog
you’ve had for seven years, let alone a human being.”

He Yu smiled down and ran his tongue over his teeth, “Ah, what a
shame I’m not one of your dogs.”

“……”

“It’s late at night and I don’t want to keep feeding the mosquitoes
here, are you coming on board?” He Yu let go of the cable and said to
Xie Qingcheng with some sarcasm, “Does your back hurt after sitting
for so long? Do you want me to come down and help you?”

The two turned out to be unhappy again.

Xie Qingcheng went back to the dormitory, took a shower and thought
about it, but called He Jiwei, even though it was a bit late.

“It’s Dr. Tse. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in touch.” He Jiwei
was quite polite to Xie Qingcheng, “I was thinking of calling you, what
a coincidence.”

“Mr. He also has something for me?” Xie Qingcheng was slightly
surprised.

“Yeah, I wanted to ask you about the Cheng Kang mental hospital.”

“……” Xie Qingcheng Understood.

He Jiwei sighed heavily, “I’ve learned a little about the situation over
the past few days. I heard that he was with you when he had the
accident.”

“Yes.”

“The man at the police station told me that you had been looking after
him that day, thank you so much.”

It appears that He Yu did not speak to He Jiwei about the full

situation.
Xie Qingcheng did not like being thanked for some reason, so he told
He Jiwei about the Cheng Kang incident, without mentioning the
blood compulsion, of course. He Jiwei listened to the silence for a long
time: “…… So that’s how it is. This kid. I’m sorry. ……”

Xie Qingcheng deliberated a little and said, “You were very good to
me in the past, so even though I am no longer employed by the He
family, I will still keep an eye on He Yu when I see him. What I want to
ask is, has He Yu been well all these years?”

“Much better, thanks to you. Didn’t you say at first that he should be
on his own when he reached that stage? I was quite worried at first,
but to my surprise he’s managing quite well, he only needs an
injection and medication occasionally when he’s not feeling well, but
nothing else is going on.”

“And is he heavily drug dependent?”

“This ……” He Jiwei hesitated a little, smiling bitterly, “You know, his
mother and I are both very busy at work, and we really can’t pay too
much attention to what he’s taking… …From what the housekeeper
said, it’s okay, not particularly bad. What’s wrong? Is he showing any
unusual signs?”

“…… is not.” Xie Qingcheng hesitated for a moment, not planning to

tell He Jiwei about He Yu’s intention to fall in love, “It’s nothing. I’m
just asking.”

He Jiwei said, “You can always come back if you want to, a doctor like
you is the best for He Yu, you won’t find another one.”

“You’re joking, Mr. He.” Xie Qingcheng said, “I’ve been out of the
medical system for so long that even my licence to practise medicine
has expired.”

“You were just a student when you first came here …… alas, forget it
…… since you don’t want to, then I won’t mention it. But Dr. Xie, you
and He Yu are close to each other now, when you have time, could you
please keep an eye on He Yu for me a little? He looks mature, but he’s
still young, so he can be reckless and do reckless things, and his
mother and I can’t really take care of him. Sometimes I do worry
about him.”

He Jiwei said, adding, “But if Dr. Xie doesn’t have time, then there’s
no need to force ……”

“It’s okay, it’s just a show of hands. After all, he’s a patient I’ve looked
after for a long time.” Xie Qingcheng said, “He’s also Mr. He’s son.
It’s the right thing to do.”

The two exchanged a few pleasantries and then each closed the line.

Xie Qingcheng leaned back in his chair and raised his hand to press
his temple – He Yu was a special patient for him, with some very
complex interpersonal networks involved.

But He Yu is old enough that he may not even listen to He Jiwei, and
there are things that are beyond his control.

He’ll just have to watch for now, too.

Xie Qingcheng got up with a headache and blew dry his hair and
changed into a clean piece of clothes, although He Yu is indeed not
suitable for a relationship …… but he has to confess, people that
unlucky girl may not agree.

Let’s wait and see.

With this in mind, Xie Qingcheng picked up the guestbook he had

brought back from the secret utopia, pushed the door downstairs,
took a taxi and drove to the police station.

“This year’s confession capsule is also too heavy ……”

“How many love letters are there, anyway.”

“Is everyone so shy that they won’t say it to their face, eh ……”
At the end of the parade, several students who were responsible for
clearing the area carried the equipment for the event, among which
was the huge confession post box.

“Ouch! Don’t you step on my foot …… Ouch!!!”

In the frenzy, one of the students stumbled and fell to the ground,
dropping the confession box with it. The poor quality plastic flap fell
open, spilling the envelopes inside onto the plastic walkway, and the
night breeze sent the scattered envelopes running in all directions.

The student was horrified, “No!”

These are the confession letters of young boys and girls, and they
haven’t even reached the person concerned yet. The students rushed
after them, patting the mud on their bodies and chasing them like
piglets.

But there were too many letters blown away by the wind for them to
pick up, so they shouted at the top of their voices for help from
students passing by, who were eager to help by chasing them back
from all corners.

He Yu was passing by when he saw this scene.

As a gentle and modest gentleman in front of people and a role model

for the Top 10, he of course helped his sisters and seniors to pick up
those “runaway love letters”.

“Thank you, thank you!”

The schoolmistress was too busy to raise her head and bowed
repeatedly.

The sister next to her pinched her and whispered, “It’s He Yu!”

“Ah!!!” Sister screamed and tilted her head to see that it was He Yu ,
immediately her heart was beating 800 mph and she stumbled, “Hi
Hok, Hok ……”
He Yu smiled a little, handed her the letter and went back to helping
pick it up.

He Yu walked over, picked up the white envelope, dusted it off, and

froze…

There was blood on that envelope.

Under the cover of the blood, a very elegant line of writing can still be
seen.

” Wei Dongheng collects.”

Wei Dongheng is a member of the fourth year acting class at the

Academy of Fine Arts and an old acquaintance of He Yu.

They are the two names that come up most often in Hu Zhou’s
wealthy business community when talking about the young masters.
For no other reason than the fact that Master He and Wei are very
similar in every way, even having the same birthday in different years
but on the same month. However, the results of their upbringing are
very different – Mr. He is known in his circle as a well educated man,
while Mr. Wei is known in his circle as an extravagant man.

The Wei family is a military and political family, but it is possible that
the grave of one of the ancestors was unfortunately turned into a
disco, and people popped up at the grave every day, and a scum like
Wei Dongheng was born.

Since he was a child, Wei Dongheng has been racing cars, skipping
school, bombing with hooligans and causing countless problems for
the Wei family. The parents in the circle were furious and said, “Look
at He Yu! And look at yourself! Look at you!” And how many times
have the children in the circle tearfully said to each other, “Look at
Wei Dongheng! And look at your children! What’s wrong with me?”

The whole Hu Zhou University knew that Wei Dongheng was so crazy
that the university offered acting students the chance to audition, but
Wei Dongheng didn’t even do it. He enrolled in the acting department
because it was one of the lowest-scoring majors in the Hu Zhou
University School of Arts, and he came here to get a diploma.
He Yu thought with little concern –

And I wonder what blind girl would write a love letter to him.

He was about to take the envelope back when He Yu paused for a

moment and then suddenly felt that something was wrong.

He re-looked at the envelope ……

Wei Dongheng 收 …… Wei Dongheng 收 ……

Then he was struck dumb.

It’s the handwriting.

This word …… he would not mistake.

It was as if he had been smacked hard with an invisible sledgehammer

–

This is the word for Xie Xue!

“What’s up, yo, a letter spilled?” That’s when a group of boys finished
playing basketball and came out of the court, wiping their sweat, and
one of them casually glanced at it and saw the one in He Yu’s hand.

The boys burst into laughter and turned back, “Young Wei, you’ve had
another bumper crop this year!”

A guy came out of the stadium, about the same height as He Yu, with
impetuous eyebrows, dyed silver hair, five ear piercings and the look
of a rude, unruly gangster.

It was Wei Dongheng himself.

Wei Dongheng and He Yu’s eyes met.

Wei Dongheng nodded first, “Young Master He.”

He Yu also nodded to him, but the words “Wei Dongheng 收” kept
appearing in front of his eyes, the strokes of which were familiar to
him.

Wei Dongheng had no interest in such silly love letters, but as the
letter was in He Yu’s hand, he took more or less a glance at it, and
with this glance, he saw the blood on the envelope.

Wei Dongheng frowned: “A threatening letter?”

He Yu was very cold, even the slightest movement of his lips: “……
seems to be, why don’t I throw it away for you.”

“Love letters don’t interest me much, they’re all going in the trash,
and I’m sure Young Master He understands this behaviour of mine
very well. However, this is the first time I’ve received a threatening
letter, so I’ll have to go back and take a good look at it.” Wei
Dongheng smiled at He Yu and took the letter from He Yu’s hand,
“Thanks.”

He Yu faded out of habit, “You’re welcome.”

It took a while for He Yu to regain consciousness after Wei Dongheng

had left.

He still couldn’t believe what he saw was really a letter of confession

from Xie Xue to Wei Dongheng, and turned around to see the two girls
in charge of the capsule mailbox looking at him with excitement, so
He Yu walked back.

“Please ask for the letter with the bloodstains ……”

“Oh, that’s from the big koi, Mr. Shea.”

“Yeah, that’s her, maybe it’s dry in the autumn, she got a nosebleed
halfway through writing, or I handed her a tissue.”

“…… is good.” After a few moments, He Yu said softly, “Thank you.”

That night, He Yu returned to his bedroom, washed up and lay down
on his bed in silence, sleepless.

Xie Xue has also known Wei Dongheng for a long time.

When the young master of the Wei family came to play at their house,
Xie Xue was also there and always teamed up with him to target Wei
Dongheng. At that time, he thought that Xie Xue hated this boy who
had eyes higher than the sky.

But none of them realised at the time that if they didn’t care very
much, where would the extra targeting come from?

When they were in high school, Xie Xue and Wei Dongheng went to
the same school.

Xie Xue is a sophomore and Wei Dongheng is a freshman.

Xie Xue is in her senior year and Wei Dongheng is in her senior year.

Later Xie Xue graduated and Wei Dongheng was still in his first year
of high school.

This guy froze up and became the talk of the circle with three years of
repetition, but also beautifully described himself as a three-time
senior grass and felt he was very impressive.

When Xie Xue was at school and on duty at the gate, Wei Dongheng
walked past her with a look of indifference and wanted to break the
rules by going out for a barbecue during the lunch break. She angrily
discouraged him, only to be met with his ignorance and the jeers of a
gang of social hooligans who followed him.

“Brother Wei, is this our little sister-in-law? She keeps a tight rein on
you and says you’ll have your points deducted if you dare to go out
hey! So scared, hahahahaha.”

“Sister-in-law, you’re so short and your breasts are flat.”

“Brother Wei! The little girl really wrote you down in the book for
breaking the rules! Why don’t you even coax her?”

Xie Xue, who was wearing the red armband for the week, was so
angry that tears were welling up in her eyes, and she stood on tiptoe
and shouted at Wei Dongheng’s back as he walked away with his
schoolbag in one hand: “Wei Dongheng! You’re a piece of shit! You’re
the most annoying person in the universe!

Why did he become a teacher at the Hu Zhou University Art School

after graduating from university when he was the most annoying
person in the universe?

She came from a university and had excellent grades, so she could
have tried out Yan Zhou Theatre University, which paid more and was
more professional. But at that time she told He Yu in a WeChat
message that she did not have the confidence to apply for a job at Hu
Zhou University, which was a little less difficult.

He Yu was not without his doubts at the time.

Xie Xue had always been a very brave person, and he had never met
anyone other than Xie Qingcheng who was more courageous than her,
so how could such a person not even have the confidence to try for a
job?

Only now did he realise that it was Xie Xue who was chasing Wei
Dongheng, who had already been admitted to Hu Zhou University.

And unbeknownst to him, he quit his offer of higher education abroad

and ran after her.

…… is ridiculous.

He Yu has been lying in his own bed.

And so he thought quietly and numbly throughout the night, until the
dawn broke.
” He Yu , you have class in the morning, are you up yet? Let’s go have
breakfast together.” His roommate urged him from outside the
curtain.

He Yu responded and got up.

But the moment he sat up, a sudden twinge of pain constricted in his
chest, then scattered violently to his limbs.

“……” he raised a hand to his slightly chilled forehead, took the pills
from the bed and whispered, “I’m a bit under the weather, you guys
go ahead.”

He Yu was not well and Xie Qingcheng was not much better this night
either.

By the time he arrived at the police station, something was not quite
right with the man.

I don’t know if it’s the cold or what happened on the island, but Xie
Qingcheng feels dizzy all the time, accompanied by a slight ringing in
his ears.

He handed the book with the fishy message to the police officer on
duty, told the other party what had happened before and after, and
headed back.

But only when he reached the steps did his feet suddenly weaken.

“Shea?”

He reluctantly turned around to find Chen Man, who was helping a

colleague carry materials.

“Brother Xie.” Chen Man quickly ran over to him. Xie Qingcheng was
suddenly so dizzy that he held him by the waist, and only then was he
able to stand still.
Chen Man looked up and down at him nervously, “What’s wrong with
you?”

“I don’t know, my head suddenly got a little dizzy ……”

“Your face is also very red ah, let me see …… ouch, how so hot!” Chen
Man scrambled to set him up, turned his head and colleagues
shouted, “That, Xiao Zhou I something you first help me deal with, I
take someone to go to the infirmary ah!”

Chapter 22 – He was tossed by me

until he had a fever
The police station’s infirmary lacked diagnostic equipment and dealt
more with traumatic injuries, so Xie Qingcheng was eventually taken
to hospital by Chen Man.
Chen Man is busy registering at the night emergency clinic, getting
medication, and waiting for blood work reports, while Xie Qingcheng
leans back in a cold iron chair at the hospital and rests his eyes.

After a while, Chen Man returned from the window with a freshly
typed test report in his hand.

The report sheet contained a line that made Chen Man wonder if he
was blind – mango allergy.

“Comrade, you’re so old, you should know what your allergens are,
right?” The doctor at the night emergency department pushed up his
glasses and said to Xie Qingcheng, “That’s not very careful, look at
the indicators, how scary.”

As he said this, he wrote a bunch of medicines in a ghostly manner.

“We usually give anti-allergy shots to patients with severe reactions

like this, but at his level it’s three days in a row. If you’re busy with
work, there’s another saline solution that’s been available recently, so
just finish hanging it up this evening and see which one you want.”

Xie Qingcheng didn’t like the allergy shots, and didn’t want to go to
the hospital for three days in a row.

“Hang on to the water.” He said.

The two then went to the infusion room.

Xie Qingcheng was intolerant, and if the injection was given quickly,
he would feel dizzy and would want to vomit, so when the nurse left,
he slowed down the drip himself.

Chen Man bustles around, gets all the paperwork done quickly, and
sits down next to Xie Qingcheng.

He stared at Xie Qingcheng’s closed-eyed side for a moment and

whispered, “Brother, don’t you never eat mangoes?”

Xie Qingcheng felt so unlucky: “Am I fucking blind?”

Chen Man is used to being scolded innocently. His brother was Xie
Qingcheng’s father’s apprentice and he had been in contact with him
since he was a child, so he knew how he was.

Chen Man sighed, “Sit down, I’ll get you some hot water.”

He quickly returned with a paper cup and handed it steaming hot to

Xie Qingcheng’s cool fingertips: “Brother, have some.”

Xie Qingcheng now opened his eyes, took it and took a few sips.

“Who the hell tricked you into eating that mango.” Chen Man looked
at him weakly and whispered, “It’s so fucking unethical too.”

Xie Qingcheng finished his water and his tone finally eased up a little:
“Debt collectors ……”

But isn’t it a debt collector?

He wanted to.

Every time I meet He Yu, nothing good happens.

Of course he knew that he was allergic to mangoes and that his

reaction was so severe that apart from the redness and burning of his
skin, he would also develop a high fever. This fruit is a biochemical
weapon that he has known to avoid since he was seven or eight years
old. Even his sister, who craves mangoes from the point of craving to
drooling, has to accommodate him and will never bring anything
mango-flavoured into the house for the sake of his life.

He had forgotten what mango tasted like over time, and when it was
late in the day at Neverland with He Yu, he couldn’t see the fruit
sandwich in the cake base, so he ate the mango mousse as a yellow
peach cake.

Xie Qingcheng sighed, “I’ll take a nap, are you in a hurry to get
back?”

“Oh.” Chen Man was busy saying, “There’s no rush. I’ll stay with you.”
Xie Qingcheng was so tired and uncomfortable that he dropped his
eyelashes and fell asleep in his chair.

Chen Man saw Xie Qingcheng frowning slightly in his sleep,

seemingly because he felt that the temperature was not appropriate,
so he got up and took off his uniform and put his navy blue jacket over
Xie Qingcheng.

Feeling the warmth, Xie Qingcheng’s brow slowly unfolds as Chen

Man looks intently at his handsome, hard face, not feeling the slow
passage of time ……

“Change the bottle, I guess.”

Some time later, an emergency nurse arrived.

The nurse was on shift, replacing the previous one, and when she
came over and saw Xie Qingcheng, she froze for a moment…

She is an old colleague of Xie Qingcheng’s from Hu Yi Hospital, but

not on good terms. When she sees that he is the one hanging the
water, her face sinks a little, and her eyes dart back and forth
between Xie Qingcheng and Chen Man, and she pauses for a few
seconds on the police uniform Xie Qingcheng is wearing.

Chen Man, unsure of what to do, was polite: “Please.”

The nurse sneered and trailed off, “You’re welcome. What kind of
person are you here?”

“…… I ……” Chen Man’s face flushed unconsciously, “My friend.”

“Oh, a friend.” The nurse smiled, “It’s so hard for a comrade officer to
bring a friend here in the middle of the night and keep a close watch.”

“……” Chen Man thought she was speaking strangely, but didn’t take
it personally. The nurse finished changing the bottle and twisted her
back to leave, pulling out her phone and snapping some messages to
her colleagues’ group on the way.
When Xie Qingcheng got the infusion, it was already the middle of the
night and the three vials were hung up at the slowest possible pace.

Chen Man said to him, “Brother, put your clothes on first, don’t catch
cold.”

Xie Qingcheng, who had little energy, responded and headed out,
draped in Chen Man’s uniform.

The lobby of the hospital is now crowded, and Huyi Hospital is the
most crowded place in the world. Chen Man took the medical records
and went to pick up the oral medication, leaving Xie Qingcheng to
wait in a less crowded area.

Xie Qingcheng leaned against the wall with his eyes closed and after a
while he felt footsteps approaching –

Someone stopped in front of him.

Xie Qingcheng thought it was Chen Man and opened his eyes, “All
done?”

Saying that, and without looking at anyone, he straightened up, “It’s

been a hard day for you, let’s go.”

“…… Xie Qingcheng .”

Xie Qingcheng looked up suddenly as the voice entered his ears.

Opposite was a well-defined, very handsome and svelte face.

Standing in front of him is He Yu, the culprit who put him in this
situation.

He Yu stared at him, “What are you doing here?”

Xie Qingcheng’s face suddenly turned ugly.

Not to mention the fact that they had another fight on the island last
night, and that Xie Qingcheng and He Yu seem to have a spat every
time they meet after their reunion. He Yu has grown up and hardened
his wings, and no longer finds Xie Qingcheng as scary as he did when
he was a child, and is in awe of him.

Xie Qingcheng didn’t want to let a young man look at him funny, his
eyebrows gradually became cold and sharp, his back straightened
without any morbid look: “Nothing. Something to take care of.”

He scowled at He Yu: “What are you doing in the hospital again.”

With that, his gaze drops to the bag of hospital medicines that He Yu
is holding.

He Yu put the bag back without moving and said lightly, “My
roommate is sick and I’m driving conveniently, so I came to pick up
some medicine for him.”

“……”

“……”

The two men look at each other with all eyes, both hiding their true
selves.

After a while, He Yu said, “The clothes on your shoulders ……”

Xie Qingcheng realised that he was still wearing Chen Man’s uniform,
and with the police uniform slung over his shoulders over his snow-
white suit shirt, it was no wonder that He Yu immediately spotted
himself in the crowd.

“From a friend.”

“You’re waiting for him?”

Xie Qingcheng gave a perfunctory nod.

He Yu is also in a bad mood at the moment. Xie Xue’s love letter has
given him too much excitement and the medication he usually takes
can’t keep it down, so he is here to prescribe new medication. In fact,
when he saw Xie Qingcheng just now, he didn’t even want to pay
attention to him. He just remembered that Xie Qingcheng was Xie
Xue’s brother, so he had to ask him a few questions since he had
bumped into him at the hospital.

At this point, he didn’t want to say anything more to Xie Qingcheng,

and he didn’t bother to meet his friends.

He said, “I’ll go first then. I’ve got some business.”

He Yu then left.

Xie Qingcheng watched his back with a slight frown, he knew that
when He Yu’s illness worsened, some medicines could only be
dispensed in tertiary hospitals, could it be ……

“Brother Xie.” At that moment, Chen Man returned, interrupting Xie

Qingcheng’s thoughts, “The medicine is ready, I’ll take you back.”

He noticed Xie Qingcheng’s gaze and followed it, but He Yu had just
disappeared into the throng of people.

Chen Man asked, “What’s wrong?”

“…… is nothing.” Xie Qingcheng said.

What else could he say?

Run into the culprit?

Xie Qingcheng said, “Let’s go.”

“Ohhhh okay, brother be careful with the steps.”

Half an hour later, Chen Man drove him back to the single staff
dormitory of the Shanghai Medical School, where he hung his uniform
jacket on a hanger by the door, then went to the kitchen to make a
potion and handed it to Xie Qingcheng to drink slowly.
“Brother.” Chen Man thought for a moment, “Did you just meet
someone you know at the hospital?”

“……”

“And yeah, a nurse came to change your bottle last night and had a
weird attitude.”

Xie Qingcheng took him up on it this time, “Is that nurse long-faced,
with a mole under her lip, about thirty or forty years old?”

“Right.”

“That’s Nurse Zhou who used to follow an old doctor.” Xie Qingcheng
said, “It’s nothing, she and I don’t get along very well.”

Xie Qingcheng took his medicine and, feeling tired again, slumped
down on the sofa.

When he thought about it, he felt annoyed, both by his old colleagues
at Huyi Hospital and by He Yu. Xie Qingcheng liked to smoke when he
was annoyed, especially last night in the infusion room, when he had
stayed up all night without touching the lighter, and now he removed
his arm from his eyes and said to Chen Man, who was sitting next to
him, “Have a cigarette.”

Chen Man was horrified: “You can’t smoke! You the indicator – look
for yourself -”

“Look what, I’m a doctor you’re a doctor, smoke.”

“No, not giving!”

“No or no?”

“No, no-” Chen Man stammered.

Xie Qingcheng ripped his lapel off and accurately retrieved a packet
of Liqun from his police jacket pocket, rolling his eyes before opening
it and taking a bite in his mouth.
Chen Man : “……”

Xie Qingcheng : “Fire.”

Chen Man sighed heavily and really couldn’t help it, “Xie, it’s really
not good for you to do this, if auntie and uncle find out ……”

He also accidentally mentioned Xie Qingcheng’s parents, which

resulted in Xie Qingcheng’s ugly face, so Chen Man dared not say
anything else and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

He then reluctantly handed the lighter to Xie Qingcheng and watched

him commit chronic suicide.

Xie Qingcheng takes a few puffs of his cigarette, his pale, slender
hand dangling over the edge of the sofa, his head tilted back and his
eyes vacant, staring at the ceiling.

Then he said to Chen Man, “It’s been a busy night, so I’ll keep you
busy. Thank you. You go ahead and go back.”

“…… How is this a delay ……”

But Xie Qingcheng couldn’t point to Chen Man’s busy schedule any
longer, he insisted: “Go back and rest.”

Chen Man had no choice but to think: “Brother, I am worried about

you, I feel that your mango allergy must have been caused by some
unscrupulous grandson, who wants to recruit you tell me, I am a
police officer now, I can fix him-”

“What can you do?” Xie Qingcheng finally rolled his eyes and looked
at the boy’s boyish face next to him, raising his hand and pulling his
hat down, covering half of his eyes, “You can do what you can do, you
don’t even have a few flowers on your shoulder, what can you do? I’m
telling you, go back to your job as a civilian police officer and don’t try
to be a hero. Your brother is gone, you’re the only son left in your
family, so save your parents the trouble.”

“…… I got it ……”

Chen Man silently bowed his head.

Xie Qingcheng leaned back against the cushions again, dishevelled,

“Go back.”

Chen Man just had to go.

Xie Qingcheng knew what he had become a police officer for. His
brother had died in an anti-triad operation and he wanted to avenge
his brother’s death. But he was too stupid and not good enough, so he
was assigned to a police station and not to the criminal investigation
team where his brother was working, but in his heart he was always
resentful, and Xie Qingcheng could see that.

But Xie Qingcheng thought it could not be better.

His brother had followed his parents too closely and had become more
and more involved.

Now Chen Man is a junior police officer, catching thieves and looking
for dogs for the old man every day, which is perfect.

It was only the next morning that Xie Qingcheng was awakened by the
ringing of his mobile phone after a drowsy night’s sleep.

“Hello.”

The call came from Xie Xue, who was washing up in the dormitory
while talking on the phone: “Hey, brother. …… Hey? What’s wrong
with your voice?”

“Nothing, I didn’t pay attention at dinner and ate a mango.”

Xie Xue : “What??!!! You’re allergic and you’re still-”

“I told you I wasn’t paying attention, what’s your problem?”

“Oh nothing nothing.” Xie Xue said, “Just checking in with you, we’re
having an autumn trip to South City after class today.”
Xie Qingcheng coughed a few times, only to feel his body like fire, hot,
said: “Then you go, pay attention to safety on the way, not to go alone
with anyone to the remote places, I told you, Cheng Kang Hospital
thing is your luck, in case …… ”

“All right, I know. Don’t worry! Brother, you should take care of your
health too.”

The two siblings talk some more, and Xie Xue hangs up for fear of
disturbing Xie Qingcheng’s rest.

After ending the call, she mulled it over and made another voice call
to He Yu –

……

Xie Qingcheng slept through the night again.

He is a good caretaker of others, but not so good at taking care of

himself. Since Chen Man brought him back, he has not even eaten,
apart from taking two pills and smoking a few cigarettes. He was too
sick to make a fire, so he fell asleep first anyway.

I don’t know how long I slept this time, but in a blur, Xie Qingcheng
faintly heard the click of the door lock, and his consciousness was
pulled back from sleep like a kite in the air.

He didn’t open his eyes, but he knew someone had come in.

He was in a trance and thought it was Xie Xue, who was the only one
with the key to his dormitory.

Isn’t she going out on an autumn trip? It’s not very convenient for a
new teacher to be absent from such events in colleges, so why is she
here ……

Xie Qingcheng rolled over, not wanting to be bothered by his sister,

and subconsciously tried to roll up the blanket, only to realize that he
had been lying on the sofa since his return and hadn’t even loosened
his shirt cuffs.
He was frowning in annoyance when his body suddenly became hot.

The man who entered his house came over, looked at him for a
moment and put a thin air-conditioned blanket over him.

Xie Qingcheng tried to open his eyes, but he was so sleepy that his
rustling eyelashes only faintly reflected the profile of a tall boy before
closing his eyes again from the heavy lids.

It was late afternoon when I woke up again, the dormitory floor had
been diligently mopped and washed, the doors and windows had been
opened for air, and a slightly damp breeze blew against the curtains,
the snow-white gauze swaying back and forth in the sunset glow.

Xie Qingcheng narrows his eyes slightly and stretches an arm out
from under the air-conditioned blanket he has warmed up, the back of
his hand in front of his eyes.

There was another male voice speaking in the room, seemingly on the
phone, “Well …… good. I’ll be here in a few days then. It’s okay with
……, you don’t need long and I’m trying to gain some experience
outside the profession, it’s not really a hassle.”

“Don’t worry Sister Feng, I’ve already taken my leave, knowing your
difficulties, there will be no surprises.”

“Um, okay, I’ll hang up then.”

A sickly Xie Qingcheng finally realises that the voice is that of He Yu.

Xie Qingcheng sat up sharply and with a jolt turned his head in the
direction from which the voice came –

He Yu is just finishing his phone call and comes out of the kitchen. He
is carrying a wooden tray in his hand and walks over to him, which is
set down on the coffee table.

A large, rich bowl of chicken congee on a plate is filled with chicken

stock that has been simmering for a long time, giving it an attractive
creamy colour. The japonica rice is simmered in the broth to taste,
each rice covered in the flavoursome white broth, with the snow-white
chicken floating in it and a sprinkling of crispy white sesame seeds on
top of the congee.

“…… You’re awake? …Since you’re awake, drink it while it’s hot, I
made it from an online recipe.”

After a few seconds’ pause, he added.

“I saw the labs and medication list on your desk.”

“……”

“You did go to the emergency hangover last night. Wasn’t it.”

Xie Qingcheng sat up from the sofa after a while with his hand on his
forehead.

When he was sure his throat would not be as miserable as a broken

bellows again, he reopened, “What brings you here?”

He Yu seems to be in the wrong state, too calm, with an unspoken

gloom in his calmness.

Xie Qingcheng, despite his illness, was vaguely aware of his anomaly.
When he looked at He Yu’s hand, he saw that the young man’s arm
was wrapped in a bandage and, further up, that the almond eyes,
which were always downcast, seemed to have a slight red tinge.

Xie Qingcheng remembers the medication he was prescribed in the

hospital again.

But before he could ask anything, He Yu leaned over and put his hand
over Xie Qingcheng’s shoulder, propped it up on the sofa behind him,
looked down at the man lying on the sofa and spoke, “Xie Qingcheng,
you have such a bad mango allergy, why did you tell me at the
hospital that you were fine.”

“…… Xie Xue told you about this?”

“Right. She asked me to come and see you, said you weren’t feeling
well and your voice was hoarse when you spoke to her.”

“……”

The boy forced his eyes on him, “I was the one who gave you the food.
I did this to you, why did you hide it from me, why didn’t you come to
me, why wouldn’t you tell me the truth even at the hospital.”

“…… Nothing necessary, you didn’t mean it, didn’t know I was allergic
to mangoes.” Xie Qingcheng’s tone was flat and cold, “I’ll just find
someone else.”

This statement did not satisfy He Yu, on the contrary, He Yu stared at

Xie Qingcheng with something more dangerous in his eyes: “…… I
don’t think I’m so bad as to shake off responsibility for getting
someone into this state. ”

“……”

“So what do I really look like in your minds.”

“……”

You?

Xie Qingcheng frowning – who else but him?

But He Yu seemed to be in a bad mood, and Xie Qingcheng didn’t ask

any more questions.

He Yu was quiet for a moment, probably feeling a little out of sorts,

and slowly straightened up and said, “…… Forget it.”

He got up and poured Xie Qingcheng a glass of water and gathered up

Xie Qingcheng’s test results, sighing as he looked at the dreadful
values for allergic reactions on them.

“I’ll go back if there’s nothing else.”

Xie Qingcheng called out to him out of the instinct to heal him for
seven years: ” He Yu .”

“What?”

Xie Qingcheng frowned slightly: “Did something happen to you?”

“…… no.”

“And what’s with the gauze on your wrist. And the medication you
were prescribed at the hospital today-”

He Yu said without looking back as he put on his school jacket, “I’ve

already told you about the medicine, it was prescribed to a classmate.
The wrist is from your stove being too messy and I got burned when I
was cleaning up my things.”

With one stretch of the arm, the gauze was concealed under the wide
sleeve of the college uniform.

He Yu was quiet for a moment, then, as if he didn’t really know what

to say, he paused for a moment and said.

“I’ve got evening study, so I’ll be off. You remember to give Xie Xue a
call and tell her I came by.”

Xie Qingcheng responded, but looking at him, he still felt vaguely out
of place.

After thinking about it, he asked, ” Xie Xue has gone on an autumn
trip, why didn’t you go?”

From Xie Qingcheng’s angle, you can’t quite make out his face, only
half a jaw hidden in the shadows, with a long, sharp line.

“It’s too boring, a lot of them are from the acting department and I
have nothing in common with them and don’t want to participate.”

He Yu pushed his way out of the door without waiting for Xie
Qingcheng to ask him again.
 Chapter 23 – The murder we are
involved in is not over yet
Afew days later.

Xie Qingcheng was cured of his illness.

Xie Qingcheng saw the chicken soup congee in the bowl and suddenly
remembered that he hadn’t seen He Yu for many days. Xie Qingcheng
suddenly remembered that he hadn’t seen He Yu for many days, and
he couldn’t find any news about him in his circle of friends.

He frowned, remembering how unusual He Yu had been that day.

Xie Qingcheng was an extremely rational man, but he was not a

completely heartless one, not to mention the fact that he had
promised He Jiwei to keep an eye on He Yu for him.

So when Xie Xue came over with her plate and sat down opposite him,
he asked her about He Yu’s latest.

Xie Xue’s eyes widened at her brother’s question: “You don’t know?
You don’t know? He took time off to go to Hang Zhou to shoot a
movie, didn’t he tell you?”

Xie Qingcheng paused with his chopsticks in his hand, “Didn’t he

study choreography?”

“It was a very short-lived role, a small supporting role to save the day,
and he was spotted in front of the school while buying breakfast. He
was interested, and frankly, with his looks, it’s hard to say whether
he’ll be onstage or behind the scenes. He’s a very motivated person,
and he wouldn’t miss a chance to gain experience.”

“…… Why so sudden.”

“It’s not because something happened to the original male number

five in the cast. The actor who was originally chosen was really from
the acting class, but before he joined the cast, he crashed his bicycle
with a taxi in front of the school and fell on his face, which caused
several stitches. The crew was in a hurry to find someone to fill in, so
they found He Yu ……”

When she said this, Xie Qingcheng vaguely recalled the phone call He
Yu had made at his home that day, which seemed to be about the
same thing.

Xie Xue rambled on: “But one thing I find strange is that I’ve read the
script, it’s a very bad little web series, and I don’t think he’d like it
given his aesthetics, but he suddenly agreed to it. I don’t know what
he’s thinking, even though it’s not long, he’ll only be gone for about
ten days, but I don’t know what he’s thinking …… and he’s not in a
good mood when I ask for leave, he’s not even interested when I talk
to him.”

Xie Qingcheng listened, his expression gradually becoming more

serious.

He recalls the day He Yu’s wrist was wrapped in a bandage, a hospital

bag of medication ……

” He Yu Has anything bad happened to him lately?”

“No!” Xie Xue, who was somehow in much better shape after her
autumn excursion and actually felt a bit peachy and nourished, bit
into her ice cream scoop for a moment before hesitating and
hesitating, “I don’t really know …… I don’t think so… …”

Xie Qingcheng looked thoughtfully at Xie Xue, whose eyes were

shining as if she was in a good mood.

He felt she had been particularly happy the past two days, and since
she had returned from her trip, she had often snapped back a bunch
of messages on her phone without looking up for half a day. There
was no telling who she was talking to.

She used to post things like “A new xx restaurant has opened on xx

road, any friends want to go with me? The last two days, she has
become inexplicably literary, either posting some Xie Qingcheng
frowning but also unintelligible excerpts from youth literature, or
some strange photos, such as a lake and two leaves, and late last
night she even posted a shadow reflected on the wall, the light is
blurred, whose shadow is not clear at all, probably her own, with the
text: “Hey, hey. Little white hair.”

Xie Qingcheng even replied to her at that time, saying back to her,
“Who is Little White Hair?”

Xie Xue took a long time to answer, “A cute little dog.”

Xie Qingcheng : “Don’t post such meaningless things in your circle of
friends. Go to bed now.”

Xie Xue sent him a tongue out smiley back and after a while Xie
Qingcheng noticed that she had changed her avatar to a swan looking
in the other direction as well.

Thinking about these details, Xie Qingcheng asked, “What about you?
Have you had any good things happen to you recently?”

Xie Xue’s face flushed and she turned her head away, continuing to
chew on her spoon, carefully hiding a secret that had happened
during the autumn trip: “No, not really.”

Xie Qingcheng, arms clasped, watches her body movements without a

word, the details of her shy expression, her gaze gradually becoming
deeper and sharper.

“That’s right, brother.” Xie Xue looked a little sheepish under Xie
Qingcheng’s stare as she tried to stagger the conversation, “I brought
you and He Yu some special treats for the autumn trip, are you doing
anything this weekend?”

“No, what’s wrong.”

“I …… uh, just can’t leave for a meeting at school and the snacks are
perishable, so if you don’t have class, go visit He Yu’s class in Hang
Zhou for me and give him the stuff on the way.”

Xie Qingcheng frowned, and although he felt as if Xie Xue was hiding
something from him, he didn’t press the matter any further.

“Okay.” He agreed; he wasn’t really comfortable with He Yu’s

condition anyway, and he could drop by the set and check on the
other man’s mental state.

This evening.
Outside the ruins of the Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital.

The yellow and white cordon is drawn, the wind rustling the warning
tape and raising the scorched black earth behind it with crumbs of
dust. Many people have come here recently, some to pay their
respects with flowers, others for the sheer curiosity of the occasion.

In the midst of the crowd, there is an unassuming man wearing horn-

rimmed glasses. Huddled in the middle of the crowd, the man stares
at the scorched landscape of Cheng Kang Hospital, a conflicted look of
hesitation and horror in his slightly bulging eyes.

“…… Yeah, it’s all dead, there’s not a single senior person alive.”

“Could it be that Jiang Lanpei’s spirits are claiming his life?”

“That woman was wearing a red dress when she died… I’ve heard that
such ghosts are the most powerful of all… No wonder the fire looked
like it had grown eyes and burned all those people who worked with
Liang Jicheng ……”

“Ouch, clam all clam coloured!”

The man with the glasses shivered harder and harder as he listened to
the chatter of the crowd around him, his back soaking wet from the
hard sweat he had broken out on such a hot day.

He swallowed and turned back –

He is going home.

His parents had been separated for a long time, and he lived with his
father, who was also a member of Division. But among his parents’
shared possessions, in the old mansion where he lived as a child,
there is a safe with a stack of dusty materials, the corners of which
have been moth-eaten.

That is Jiang Lanpei’s real archive.

His father had told him that if something happened to him, he would
give the stack of information to the police and turn himself in, even if
he went to jail, at least he would get his life back.

He was timid, following his father was only sort of in touch with the
skin of the organization, the day the police came to his house to
investigate, he did not dare to say anything, six gods between also
scared vomited, but now he came back to his senses …… he looked at
the list of deaths in the newspaper and knew that this matter is by no
means that simple.

He didn’t want to die …… he didn’t want to be claimed, he was

terrified and desperate to get the contents of the safe out and run to
the police station –

There was a time when he was afraid of police sirens. Whenever a

police car siren sounded in his nightmares, he sat up in fear and
shook like chaff. But now he realises, with the benefit of hindsight,
that only the police can save him.

With this in mind, he entered the villa complex, which was a high-end
neighbourhood twenty years ago, and began to run furiously, terrified
that “those people” would catch up with him, and that Jiang Lanpei’s
ghost would catch up with him.

Red, red tongues of fire, red, red ghostly dresses.

“Ah …… Ah!!!”

The more he thought about it, the more scared he became, and as he
ran, he couldn’t help but scream out, his urine bursting out, his
glasses hanging off his greasy nose.

He raced into the garden of the old cottage and burst through the
door at once –

He was too scared to even realize why the door of the old mansion,
which had been abandoned for more than a decade, was unlocked and
only the gate was hidden ……
The decaying floor, like the remains of a dead patient at Cheng Kang
Hospital, sighed heavily beneath his feet as he ran towards the
basement, panting and panting, his mind on the verge of collapse, his
lips trembling uncontrollably.

Help ……

Help ……

“There was a bang and the door to the basement slammed open, and
he rushed towards the safe.

He remembered the password. His father, though lecherous and

lustful, was often despised by his good-for-nothing mother when he
was young, and they later divorced, but that password was actually
still his mother’s birthday.

When I think about it, his mother also loved to wear red dresses with
curly hair when she was young. The most fashionable thing was that
big wave and big red dress.

The eye man’s fingers tremble as he turns the knob, once, twice ……

“Click.”

The door of the safe opened.

He thrust his hand in – !

After a few seconds had passed, his whole body shook violently,
almost convulsively, as if it had been electrified.

It’s gone!!!

The pile of information!!! GONE!!!

Impossible …… How is it possible ……

In the midst of all his thoughts and panic, he suddenly felt something
warm, ticking, land between his eyebrows.
All his bones felt like they were trying to escape in all directions, yet
he was still trapped by his skin and had to stay inside his body in
despair.

Tick.

Another bang.

Another drop of something hot, this time landing on his lips.

Fishy.

The spectacled man’s eyes bulged, he gasped violently, and slowly,

with twisted features, he raised his face-

He saw a woman.

A dead woman on the stairs, a gun in her hand, her brain pierced,
blood flowing everywhere, her eyes barely discernible from the blast
that had mutilated them, eyes staring fixedly in his direction.

The woman looked suicidal, but the man with the glasses knew it was
never to be.

Because it was his-

“Mom ……” the man with glasses cried out out of breath, not sure if it
was extreme fear or extreme sadness, “Mom!!! Mom ！！！！ AHHHH!!!
Ahhhhh ！！！！”

His mother doesn’t live here ah …… His mother hasn’t been back here
for over a decade ……

Did she also know about the file? Did she also want to obtain this
stack of files to save her son?

The man with the glasses collapsed and flung himself softly to the
ground, tears, snot, sweat and plasma smeared all over his face, a
beastly howl escaping from his mouth, and by the end he no longer
knew what he was shouting.
Then he heard footsteps from behind him, high heels.

“Da, da, da.”

Wearing special, top-tech anti-surveillance shoe covers, the man with

the glasses felt something hard against the back of his head before he
had time to turn around.

A woman’s voice sang behind him with a soft laugh, “Throw it, throw
it, throw the handkerchief, gently put it behind the little one, don’t tell
him, people ……”

The yellowed file bag was handed to him from behind him, by the
man, in front of his eyes.

Slightly hot breath was at the temples of the man with glasses’ ears,
and the visitor said softly, “Are you looking for this?”

“…… you ……”

The man with the glasses didn’t dare turn around, his teeth clacking.

“So did your mother.”

“……”

“Your old man is a cowardly hamster who is too disloyal to his boss
and keeps things like this in the house.” The woman puffed in his ear,
“It’s so wrong …… he thinks the boss doesn’t know?”

“You, who the hell are you …… ……”

The woman laughed, “What answer does the unfaithful want?”

“……”

“Go ask in hell.”

Those were the last words the man with the glasses heard.
A few seconds later.

“BANG!!!”

A gunshot shook off the dust in the basement.

The woman walked around the black and red slurry of blood and
indifferently disposed of the scene, then she lowered her eyes and
read Jiang Lanpei’s dossier alone for a while, then walked out of the
old, deserted building without looking back ……

Chapter 24 – He came into my

hotel room
“Two gunshots were heard by residents of Golden Magnolia Gardens
on the outskirts of the city yesterday night and after they called the
police, they found the bodies of a man and a woman in a deserted old
mansion. The female victim was Yi Mou Ting, aged 52, and the male
victim was Liang Mou Yong, aged 26. The two were related to each
other as mother and son, respectively the wife and son of Cheng Kang
Psychiatric Hospital director, Liang Jicheng.”

“Police find suicide note in old house; both linked to Cheng Kang case,
suspected suicide by fear ……”

Xie Qingcheng was sitting on the high-speed train at dusk on the

weekend when he saw this tweet.

He frowned slightly and clicked in.

The story is not long, as is often the case with such matters, and the
more serious the matter, the fewer the words.

Liang Jicheng is survived by his wife and son ……

He remembered that the little nurse who had received them that day
at Cheng Kang Hospital had indeed made the remark that Liang
Jicheng had a wife and children, and it was this remark that
immediately made He Yu realize that the “Liang Jicheng” Xie Xue had
met was a fake.

Did those two both commit suicide ……

Xie Qingcheng felt slightly uncomfortable about the incident, but he

was not a policeman after all, and there was so little coverage, not
even a mosaic picture, that he had no clue to think about it.

He turned off the phone and sighed softly, as if the fire on the rooftop
of Cheng Kang Hospital had come back to him.

Jiang Lanpei was laughing hysterically, saying that no one had found
her in twenty years and remembered her.

She will turn into a fierce ghost and make the whole of Cheng Kang a
hell.

Is this a kind of meditative reincarnation of karma?

“Hello, your train G12xxxx will arrive at Hang Zhou station in ten
minutes. Thank you for your ride. The train will arrive at Hang Zhou
station.”

The sound of the HSR group’s announcement pulls Xie Qingcheng

back from his contemplation.

He said sorry to his neighbour and took the gift box to the aisle as the
little girl blushed and avoided him, waiting to get off. After all, the
Cheng Kang case was behind him, so he didn’t think much more about
Cheng Liang Jicheng’s wife and son.

He Yu’s drama is a small budget web series.

The writers are new, the directors are new, the actors are new ……
Because the investment is so small, the people are new and the props
are old.

The newcomers had the advantage of being inexperienced, their faces

were not yet greasy from the smoke of the wine tables, their shoes
were not yet muddy from the fame and glamour, and most of them
had their hearts wrapped in a thin chest cavity, which they held out to
each other to see how real they were, but at least not completely fake.
According to Xie Xue, the overall atmosphere was quite good.

Arriving at the set in a taxi, it was the last scene before dinner.

Before Xie Qingcheng arrived, Xie Xue had greeted the crew on the
set, and when he arrived, he was naturally taken to sit by the
director’s monitor to wait for someone and watch the scene.

He Yu is filming.

To be honest, Xie Qingcheng had no idea what kind of group He Yu

was in before he arrived. After reading the story, I guess I knew it was
just a bad story about a teenage school.

He Yu is a male cannon fodder who has quietly liked the heroine for
many years, a capitalist, which does match his own temperament, and
the scene coincides with the capitalist’s confession being rejected by
the heroine and then leaving alone.

The scene had to be filmed in a rainstorm. After all, for a 50-cent

production, the group cast even included the director’s great aunt and
grandma, so artificial rainfall could naturally be saved. When the
stingy producer encountered the God-given rain, he began to pull the
actors into a frenzy of tossing and turning.

He Yu then repeated the scene of the high emotional outburst in the

pouring rain –

Despite not coming from a relevant background and being a first-time

performer, He Yu has this relationship under control.
It’s not so much an act as an unbridled outpouring of personal
feelings.

Xie Qingcheng was surprised, not only by him, but also by everyone in
front of the monitors in the makeshift canopy.

“Wow, this handsome young man he really didn’t study acting ……”
the staff member asked in a super low voice as he rolled the script
into a small microphone.

It was completely dark by the time the whole strip was shot.

The poor crew had set up an improvised shed next door for the actors
to rest and change, and He Yu went in after filming, without moving
for half a day.

Xie Qingcheng sent him a message and it took about ten minutes
before a small assistant came out with the curtain raised and ran to
the shed where Xie Qingcheng was waiting with a large black carbon
umbrella and invited him inside.

The shed is very narrow, with just a white plastic outdoor table and a
few chairs.

When Xie Qingcheng enters, He Yu is sitting on one of the chairs,

polishing his hair. When he heard the noise, he lifted the curtain and
looked at Xie Qingcheng.

This glance was somewhat surprising to Xie Qingcheng.

He thought that He Yu would be in a bad mood, as the hysterical and

emotional scene just now would have affected even the staff in the
studio and made them drop a few drops of cat urine in silence, but to
his surprise, He Yu was indifferent after the scene, listening to music
with his Bluetooth headphones on, his left hand resting on the table,
his fingertips tapping the beat in a casual manner.

He seemed even more mentally fit than when we met earlier in the
hospital.
“Xie Xue and I said you would come.” He Yu took off one side of his
headphones and tossed them onto the table.

He even smiled at Xie Qingcheng, “Allergies okay?”

Xie Qingcheng’s heart was slightly relieved: “I’ll be damned if I don’t.”

Glancing at He Yu’s phone screen, “What are you looking at?”

“News.” He Yu said, ” Follow-up on Cheng Kang mental hospital.

Liang Jicheng’s wife and son died last night, and reports say it’s a
suspected suicide. You saw it too, right?”

Xie Qingcheng responded.

He Yu smiles: “This kind of person also has a wife and son …… and
someone has liked him.”

Xie Qingcheng didn’t hear the gloom in his words and threw the gift
box of specialties Xie Xue had asked him to bring into He Yu’s arms.

” Xie Xue for you.”

He Yu held the weight for a moment and said, “Thank you.”

Xie Qingcheng took it in stride, stood in the shed for a while and
asked, “Enough about Liang Jicheng, let’s talk about you. Why do you
suddenly want to act?”

“I wanted to experiment a bit more. It just happened to come across

the opportunity and it’s a role I like.”

Xie Qingcheng nods, pulls a chair over and sits down, lighting a
cigarette with his hand.

But before the fire could be lit, He Yu said, “Can you stop smoking?”

“……”
Having grown up seeing his parents’ guests swallowing smoke, He Yu
has an inexplicable resistance to smoking.

Xie Qingcheng then put the cigarette back in the box, but the teeth
subconsciously bit his lip, a very addictive action.

He Yu looked at him, “You didn’t used to smoke.”

“…… hmm.”

“When did it start?”

Xie Qingcheng seemed to be silent and thoughtful, then finally raised

his eyes and said faintly, “I forgot.”

The man paused and didn’t seem to want to continue the

conversation, so he looked across the plastic easy table at the boy
across the table, “You did act well. I thought you got into the scene.”

He Yu smiles a lot, whether he is in a good or bad mood, cloudy or

sunny, a smile is not an expression of emotion for him, but almost a
mask he habitually wears in social situations, a random spray of
hallucinogens, so compelling that one cannot see his true heart.

“No, I’m not that stupid. Acting out what other people make up, who
would take it seriously.”

“So how do you act.”

“It’s the same as lying. Haven’t I been disguising myself all these
years?” He Yu’s eyes were fixed on Xie Qingcheng, and his voice was
so soft that only the other man could barely hear it, “I’m sick. But I
pretend to be a normal person.”

“……”

He Yu said, leaning back and lazily playing with the headphones on

the table.
The headphones were spun around the table as if he were a
gyroscope.

Xie Qingcheng said, “I thought you had run into something and came
out to act to let off steam.”

He Yu tilted his head and looked towards Xie Qingcheng: “Was I that
good?”

“It’s okay. How are the burns on your wrists?”

He Yu subconsciously touches his wrist, but quickly lets go again.

He flashed it openly, casually, almost unconcernedly to Xie

Qingcheng.

“It’s fine, but it’s necessary for filming and you can’t have that many
scars. Had some treatment done.”

The make-up was done on his hands with some elaborate tattoos,
mostly in Sanskrit. The confusion between the solemnity of Zen
Buddhism and the ruthlessness of the tattoos is in keeping with the
character’s introverted and grim temperament.

He Yu asked, “Does it look good?”

“It’s hard to look at. It’s even uglier with your school uniform.”

“I didn’t have a tattoo in high school, so I’ll reapply it later when I get
dressed and try to cover it up.” He Yu says, “Are you staying for the
scene later? It’s probably going to be a late shoot.”

“No more, I’ve been looking at you in your school uniform for almost
ten years and my eyes are calloused.”

But even though he wasn’t watching, Xie Qingcheng asked, “What are
you playing tonight?”

“A play for an exam.” He Yu said, smiling a little mockingly, “There

really isn’t much to see. Why don’t you carry these to the hotel for me
and I’ll give you my room card. …… Are you staying at the crew hotel
today? If not, forget it, I’ll bring it back myself after the play.”

Xie Qingcheng looks at the arrangement message Xie Xue sent him
earlier.

“I live in 8062.”

“Then it’s next door to me.”

Xie Qingcheng responded and confirmed that He Yu was not ill, so he

took the room card He Yu handed him and got up to go back to bed.

Xie Qingcheng did not notice anything unusual when he swiped his
card to enter He Yu’s room.

The room matched the air of a boy in college, with a few pieces of
unwashed clothes thrown on the bed, a basketball in the corner, some
sneakers, and two books on the table.

Xie Qingcheng placed the box of snacks next to He Yu’s desk before
returning to his room next door and taking a shower. When he was
draped in the hotel’s snow-white loose bathrobe, drying his hair as he
walked to his writing desk, his mobile phone suddenly rang.

The call came from Chen Man.

“Brother Xie. I came to see you in your dorm, why aren’t you here
today?”

“I’m in Hang Zhou.”

Chen Man was stunned: “You’ve only just recovered, what are you
doing in Hang Zhou?”

“Seeing a patient.”
“…… What a patient. …… Haven’t you not been a doctor for a long
time?”

Xie Qingcheng lit a cigarette, now that he could finally smoke it: “A
little kid, about the same age as you. …… A bit younger than you.”

Chen Man on the other end of the line paused for a few seconds for
some reason.

Then very abruptly, he asked, “Male and female? Brother, why did you
even make a point of running over there.”

Xie Qingcheng took a drag on his cigarette, thinking he was baffled,

but said, “Male, his father and I are related, and I’ve seen him before.
Otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered. Why do you ask so many
questions.”

Chen Man’s tone was inexplicably lighter again as he smiled, “I was

just asking.”

“…… What did you want to see me about at my school?”

“Oh, my mother made some bald butter and I thought I’d send it to
you, it’s especially good with noodles.”

“You can leave it with Xie Xue.”

Chen Man was shocked: “No way! She’s such a good eater, she won’t
have anything left for you, forget it, let’s wait until you get back.”

“…… That’s fine.”

“Brother, you sound quite tired, you take a good rest, then, I’ll leave
you alone ……”

Xie Qingcheng said lazily, “Hmm.”

He hung up the phone without being polite to Chen Man.

After his brother left, he was depressed for a long time. Xie
Qingcheng visited him often during that period.

But Chen Man was right, he was really tired after a long day of
running around, so he just draped himself in his robe and rested in
bed with his eyes closed for a while.

When he woke up, he looked at the electronic clock on his desk and
saw that it was 11.10pm.

He Yu should have been back for a while by this time, but he had just
slept so deeply that he hadn’t noticed any outside noises.

He had no choice but to leave in the morning and He Yu was early for
the play, so I didn’t know if I would be able to meet him, so Xie
Qingcheng thought about it, picked up the thin card on the table and
went to He Yu’s room next door to at least return it to him first.

I knocked on the door several times but there was no movement.

Xie Qingcheng thought about He Yu’s repetitive shooting back and

forth in the rainstorm in the early evening, guessing the boy had
fallen asleep from exhaustion. He dropped his hand and leaned down
with the intention of pushing the room card through the bottom of the
doorway and sending a message to He Yu that he would see when he
woke up the next day.

But before his fingertips can push the card in, Xie Qingcheng
suddenly realises that…

The light in He Yu’s room is on.

The light is not very bright and only a floor lamp is on, although it is
still possible to confirm the light inside quite clearly through the gap
under the door.

Xie Qingcheng’s heart jolted for no reason, and he got up and knocked
louder: “He Yu, are you in there? I’ve come to return your room card.”

No answer.
Xie Qingcheng took out his mobile phone and called He Yu’s number,
and a short while later, He Yu’s mobile phone rang from a door away.

Xie Qingcheng, who was very uneasy about He Yu’s condition,

knocked twice at the door at last and then raised his voice towards
the closed taupe door, ” He Yu, if you don’t make a sound, I’ll swipe
my card and come in.”

“……”

“Did you hear that?”

Still no response.

Xie Qingcheng attaches the half-used card to the induction strip and
the door opens with a soft tick.

The house was heavily curtained and the room smelled very strongly
of alcohol.

Xie Qingcheng had a bad feeling about this.

His eyes swept around the bedroom and then in the corner he saw the
boy who had shrunk himself into a ball.

The worst suspicions came true at this point and Xie Qingcheng was
furious: “…… you!”

The boy, like a Xiao Long in a cage , stirred and did not react much.

Xie Qingcheng finally sees the truth beneath his disguise – his
instincts are correct, He Yu didn’t come to the set to save the day for
no reason, he was really out of sorts and needed to let off steam.

In fact, He Yu has been ill since he found out that Xie Xue liked Wei
Dongheng, but not in the most serious way, and he was able to
restrain himself.

As soon as he sensed that something was wrong with him, he went to

the hospital to get prescribed medication, and later to rehearse on the
set. But every day he could pretend to be calm in front of people, but
when he was alone at night, he couldn’t restrain himself. In order to
keep his condition from worsening, he took all the medication he had
brought with him in a messy manner, but he still felt a bit blocked and
drank wine. When Xie Qingcheng entered the house, he saw bottles of
wine and boxes of medicine scattered all over the floor.

He Yu in indiscriminate dosing.

Xie Qingcheng made it a point to talk to He Jiwei before he resigned

about the importance of strict control of medication, and that if these
drugs also failed, He Yu’s condition would deteriorate again and he
would have to be taken to a hospital for physical control.

He didn’t even say “treatment”.

Just like those seen in Cheng Kang mental hospital – control, restraint
belts, electric shocks, confinement – nothing worked to heal, just to
reduce him to an evil beast, shackled and muzzled, unable to harm
others.

He Yu would be completely insane.

Xie Qingcheng walked towards He Yu with some anger in his voice:

“…… He Yu.”

“……”

” He Yu .”

“……”

” He Yu!”

The boy finally moved, those pretty almond eyes flickering under
thick, slender lashes, slowly moving to the Xie Qingcheng, still clad in
his bathrobe, in the glow of the floor lamp.

“It’s you.”
Then without waiting for Xie Qingcheng to respond, he leaned his
head against the bedside table and said softly, “Tch, my God …… what
are you doing in here?”

“……”

“I’m just tired from work, I’ve had a few drinks, it’s nothing, go
away.”

The alcohol had kept his bloodthirsty violence in check, but it had left
him so dizzy that the ever-clever youth could not make up any decent
lies at this moment, and in fact, he was too tired to do so.

“Go away and don’t meddle.”

In response to the pain in his wrist and the pulling force of a man, he
was yanked up and thrown into a sofa chair before he knew it, and in
the blur of his vision, all He Yu saw was the familiar grim face of Xie
Qingcheng.

A pair of peachy eyes.

As if stabbed, He Yu turned his face away abruptly, his gaze

straightening sideways to stare at a decorative painting in the corner
that had entered the picture innocently and irrelevantly. The hotel’s
kitschy Van Gogh starry sky, a distorted night, a confusion of stars.

His nasal voice was heavy and he was trying his best to be calm, but it
was already ringing out, ” Xie Qingcheng , I said I was fine, what are
you still doing here. What do you care if you’re drunk?”

Xie Qingcheng said, “You think I want to take care of you, look at
what you are like now.”

“……”

He Yu didn’t bother to pay attention to him and raised his hand to

cover his eyelids.
It was at this point that Xie Qingcheng saw his wrists clearly in the
dim floor light…

The tattoos that had been traced and painted on had been washed
away and the foundation that the make-up artist had used to cover
them up was gone, leaving a deep, recently fallen scar on the young
man’s wrist.

Xie Qingcheng’s heart sank.

“You fucking slit your wrists again!”

“What do you care! It’s not like your wrists were slit!”

Xie Qingcheng really wants to leave him alone.

But thinking about mental Ebola and what He Jiwei had said to him
before, Xie Qingcheng gritted his teeth and said, “Okay. I won’t argue
with you. I won’t argue with you, okay?”

With that he went over to He Yu’s desk, which had a box on it, a pill
box.

“Hurry up and eat these for me.”

When he returns from his desk, Xie Qingcheng brings a large glass of
hot water and two of his reselected, sedative pills. He hands them to
He Yu, who is still sitting on the floor with his hands on his knees.

He Yu tilted his face away.

“Do you want to eat it yourself or shall I harden it in for you?”

“……”

“Eat up. Eat it and I’ll fucking leave you alone.”

I really didn’t want to make a mess of it in front of him again, and He

Yu was a little dizzy from all the wine he had drunk. He finally lifted
his eyes wanly, took the pills from Xie Qingcheng’s hand, and took
them with a glass of water.

“Can you go now that you’ve finished eating?”

Xie Qingcheng was not a gentleman whose word was a promise, he

grabbed He Yu’s wrist, “Sit down.”

He Yu grimaced and tried to pull his hand back.

Xie Qingcheng : “Sit still for me.”

“I thought you said you’d leave me alone after I took the pills?” He Yu
leaned his head back against the wall, his throat knotting up and
down.

Xie Qingcheng did not reply to him.

He Yu closed his eyes, “…… You let me just be quiet by myself, okay?”

The youth’s long eyelashes rustled and his throat knot rolled up and
down.

“Leave me alone.”

A dying fish will flop and bounce when it still has the desire to live,
but now he seems to be at the mercy of God, waiting for the last
breath of oxygen to leak out of his chest.

Xie Qingcheng clutched his wrist and looked at him with downcast
peach blossom eyes, sternly, “What has happened to you?”

“……”

Xie Qingcheng: “You are a mental patient, there is no shame in that, it

is the disease that is wrong not you. After seven years, He Yu, I
thought you would stop being so shy about your illness. That’s how
you belittle yourself.”
“……” He Yu’s wrists were still gripped and he just tilted his head and
frowned as he felt his heart beating faster and faster, almost to the
point of panic, catalyzed by the alcohol and drugs.

Xie Qingcheng’s hand is clasped around him, as if taking his pulse.

To see through and pierce, as he had done countless times before, all
the thoughts and lesions that he had tried so hard to hide.

He Yu instinctively began to struggle, pulling his wrist out of He Yu’s

grasp.

” Xie Qingcheng, you won’t let go, will you?”

The boy tilted his head, and when he turned around again his eyes
were bloodshot, half from drunkenness, half from hate, and he
sneered, “Yes, I was unhappy, I was upset, I couldn’t help myself,
everything was just as you said, you predicted it all right, satisfied? To
see the joke and watch?”

Xie Qingcheng sulked, “You think your jokes are so good, I’m
watching you for your father because I’m afraid something will
happen to you.”

“You’re afraid something will happen to me?” He Yu was almost

sarcastic, red-eyed, “Our doctor-patient relationship is over, what are
you looking at for him? Did he pay you to look after him? My dad, he
prostituted you for nothing and you did it too!”

With these words, He Yu jerked his hand hard, this time finally pulling
his wrist out of the slightly distracted Xie Qingcheng’s palm.

Xie Qingcheng didn’t know the meaning of the word “prostitute” in

young people’s mouths nowadays, and was momentarily annoyed and
sternly reprimanded: “What are you talking about? What whoring?
He’s your father! He’s your father!”

“You listen to my father so much, you do everything for his face, then
you go to him and ask him to pay you before you say anything, I can’t
afford to hire you anyway.” He Yu, a little drunk and mentally
depressed, sneered and stared at Xie Qingcheng , “You really must
care, I can only prostitute you for nothing, for nothing means no
payment, Dr Xie, are you willing?”

“……”

Xie Qingcheng looks into He Yu’s eyes.

Moist, hollow, self-deprecating, mocking his …… eyes, even if they

were covered by lashes that thick and deep, even if the light around
them was dim as it was, those eyes still managed to convey a
mishmash of emotions. He Yu tilted his neck and tilted his cheeks
sideways, and the ends of his eyes seemed to be moored with tears
and nothing at all.

He just leaned back, looked at him askance, and asked him.

“That’s no fun, is it, eh, Xie Qingcheng? It doesn’t, does it?”

“What’s the point of being nosy again ……?”

“I’m not going to die if I slit my wrists, can you just let me vent my
frustrations? I did my best, I didn’t kill anyone, I didn’t set fire to
anyone, I fucking hurt myself? What’s my depression got to do with
you? Do you all want to fucking kill me! That’s enough!”

He Yu’s mind is getting more and more confused, his consciousness is

draining away at a rate visible to the naked eye, he usually doesn’t
talk too much to Xie Qingcheng, he only becomes irritable and
talkative when he gets drunk.

Xie Qingcheng just looked down at him, listened to him for a while,
and then-

He suddenly raised his hand and covered He Yu’s eyes.

His eyes are obscured, and He Yu is struck dumb as he takes Xie

Qingcheng’s wrist in his hands – he doesn’t use light force, but his
voice is soft, almost a whisper.
” Xie Qingcheng .” He was blindfolded by him, his lips opening and
closing under his palms, “What do you want?”

Chapter 25 – I kissed him

” Xie Qingcheng …… What do you want?”
It is only logical that a doctor, as an elder, should offer appropriate
comfort at this time.

But not Xie Qingcheng.

He lowered his head, blindfolded He Yu, and let He Yu’s large hands
tighten around his arms.

Xie Qingcheng said: “I tell you He Yu. I don’t have much patience with
you. I have exhausted all my patience in talking to you properly, so
don’t be insensitive and look at me with such a disgusting gaze. Close
your eyes and calm down for a while. Don’t think about such things.”

“……”

Xie Qingcheng’s force is strong, pressing against him, and his words
are not comforting, but it is as if a powerful force has passed through
his hands and into He Yu’s heart.

He Yu slowly moved, his mind still dizzy, and he just sat there, in this
blindfolded position.

After a moment, he blinked. The eyelashes move in the palm of Xie

Qingcheng’s hand.

Xie Qingcheng felt him calming down a little and was about to relax a
little when he suddenly noticed that in addition to the bruise on his
wrist, He Yu also had a small bruise on the side of his cheek.

Xie Qingcheng was speechless: “What happened to your face? ……

You’re shooting a scene and you’re hurting yourself on your face?”

“…… I knocked it on a rocky slope when I was walking the play.”

“You think I’ll believe you again?”

He Yu : “…… don’t believe it forget it. You get out.”

He Yu urged him on, as his consciousness began to grow more and

more chaotic again out of irritation.
The young man’s thin lips, exposed beneath Xie Qingcheng’s palm,
opened and closed, almost struggling to stay awake: “Get out.”

Xie Qingcheng was really angry at seeing him like this: “I’ll say it to
you one last time, He Yu .”

“Even if you think I may not understand you, that I can’t empathise
with you. But I’m telling you, there’s no shame in having to treat your
illness. If you feel uncomfortable, you can ask for pain relief, if you
can’t breathe, you have to take your medicine on time, if you think it’s
bitter, you can squeal, you can eat sugar, no one will blame you for
asking for something sweet. You don’t have to push yourself. And you
shouldn’t hurt yourself.”

“……”

“You’re only nineteen, He Yu. To put it bluntly you’re not even of legal
marriageable age, you’re just a child. You can cry out in pain, you can
ask for sweets, and no health care worker will laugh at a patient who
is afraid of pain and suffering.”

” Cheng Kang, you should be happy to have come back from the dead
after all the dangers of the asylum, what is it that is worth being so
unhappy about?”

He Yu did not speak, leaning against the wall, his chest rising and
falling slowly.

Xie Qingcheng just watched him, watched his breathing slow down,
watched his nostrils turn from heavy to shallow. He Yu’s eyes were
covered and he could not see the look in those almond eyes at the
moment, but it seemed to him that He Yu was struggling less than he
had earlier.

Xie Qingcheng hesitates for a moment, lifts his other hand and
brushes the young man’s sweat-drenched hair from his forehead.

He Yu shrinks back a little.

A clear touch comes from the palm of your hand.

Xie Qingcheng was stunned – he felt his palms moisten.

He could not be sure, nor did he dare to be sure, for he had hardly
ever seen He Yu actually shed a tear, at most a red circle around his
eyes, and for a moment he was afraid to let go of his hand, and he
even wondered if he had misperceived it.

But what he didn’t know was that his words would cause He Yu, who
was already drunk, to fall into a sea of dreams and wakefulness.

He Yu thought of Xie Xue.

Xie Xue had said similar things to him.

When he was a child, she cocked her head and asked the boy who had
been seemingly polite but in fact loving towards her.

“Aren’t you happy, brother?”

“……”

“I heard that my brother and your dad know each other and he’s here
to help your dad with his work for your family, and we’ll both see each
other a lot in the future.”

The little girl said, taking his hand, “I’ll tell you what, if you’re not
happy, you can ask my brother for chocolate, and unless you have
cavities and can’t eat much dessert, he won’t laugh at you and won’t
refuse you. I always ask him for chocolates, look! I even asked for one
this morning!”

She said, digging into the pocket of her little flowery dress and pulling
out a milk chocolate, and she cracked a smile and shoved the sweet,
soft chocolate into his cold palm.

“It’s for you, even though you have a big house, you don’t have the
chocolate my brother gave me.”

“……”
“My name is Xie Xue and your name is He Yu, right? You’ve eaten my
chocolate, so you’re my friend.”

“……”

“Be happy from now on, oh, and if you’re not happy, come and play
with me, I’m the best at making people happy. I can keep you
company all day ……”

Children are the most easily satisfied, for them a whole day is enough,
a very long time, almost the equivalent of a lifetime in adult terms.

So, children will talk about an entire day in solemn terms, while
adults, on the other hand, will talk about a whole lifetime in lighter
terms.

In his drunken stupor, He Yu thought it was still the same afternoon

ten years ago.

He and Xie Xue both have a long, long day ahead of them.

He Yu sighed, and after a moment he suddenly tightened his grip,

taking Xie Qingcheng’s radial wrist and pulling down, inch by inch,
the hand Xie Qingcheng had covering his eyes without denying it.

The warm light pours into the young man’s dull, dull eyes, and for a
moment, perhaps because of the discomfort of going from dark to
light, He Yu’s gaze appears a little slack.

Suddenly he was a little confused as to who the person in front of him

was.

He was quiet for a while.

And Xie Qingcheng, at such a close distance, clearly sees his own
reflection in those almond eyes.

“These words ……,” He Yu whispered at last.

He stared at him, but his vision had become a little hazy and out of
focus.

“You’ve said that to me before.”

Xie Qingcheng frowned, feeling vaguely out of place as the young

man’s warm, alcoholic breath sprayed into every pore of his body.

But he did not know that He Yu’s mind was recalling his first meeting
with Xie Xue, nor did he know that He Yu was almost delirious and
confused. He only thought that He Yu’s words were incomprehensible
and inexplicable.

“I want to know now how long you can stay with me again if I’m very
upset.”

“……”

“How long?”

Xie Qingcheng snapped back, “What kind of stuff are you babbling
about ……”

“I’m asking you a question.”

“……”

“Answer me.”

He Yu’s tone at this point was already a little unkind, too forceful, and
he looked at him with a wolf-like gaze that he had never seen before,
as if the male beast was looking at a female who was determined to
leave him. It was a look that he had never exposed in front of Xie
Qingcheng before.

Xie Qingcheng instinctively felt a chill run down his neck, and even as
tough as he was, he was already feeling sick.

“You’re drunk. He Yu , you get up first.”

The wine had a strong aftertaste and He Yu’s consciousness was
becoming more and more confused. He hmmed but didn’t let go,
supporting his face to look into his eyes, his gaze gradually hazing:
“You lied to me, and you took me for a fool.”

“……”

Under this gaze, Xie Qingcheng feels increasingly tense, the primal
genes deep in his flesh and blood begin to sound the siren of danger.

He finds that he can’t communicate with He Yu anymore.

He Yu’s current semi-epileptic state makes him an island, his whole

being closed off, saying only what he wants to say and refusing to let
others pry into his heart.

At the same time, Xie Qingcheng realises that this is not He’s house,
there are no restraining straps and no special tranquilliser pins.

He should not be alone with such a He Yu at all.

Now that He Yu has taken his medicine, it will be too strong and he
will be asleep in a while, so it is better to wait until he is more awake
in the morning.

Xie Qingcheng then tried to get up, “Forget it, then you can rest by
yourself tonight-”

But unfortunately, his understanding came a little too late, as his hand
was gripped tightly by He Yu, who never let go of it by half an inch.

He Yu kept staring into his eyes.

Xie Qingcheng’s eyes are the most similar to those of his sister Xie
Xue.

Xie Xue’s peach blossom eyes are very warm, always releasing her
curiosity and eagerness for life, while Xie Qingcheng’s peach blossom
eyes are very cold, obviously the most loving eyes in the world, but his
aura has made them look sharp and cold.
He Yu would never have gotten confused if it were normal.

Now, however, he was in a low state of mind, drunk, and the hotel
lights were not on brightly, drowsy and disoriented, but the eyes of a
thirsty sleeper.

As He Yu watched, he finally lost all sense of perspective.

“Good. You have to go, don’t you?”

“What are you doing.”

Without answering, the youth asked again, “I’m asking you. You’re
leaving aren’t you.”

Xie Qingcheng struggled to break his grip: “What the hell are you
doing?”

He Yu looked down and snorted. He was a very proper looking man,

but when he didn’t control himself, the sickly and evil aura in his
bones would come out at will.

Xie Qingcheng looked at the thin smile at the corner of his lips and
suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine.

He rose abruptly, ready to get up and leave, but his legs only had time
to take a step before his wrist was once again “snapped” by the youth.

Before Xie Qingcheng knew it, he was being pulled close by a

powerful young male force, and He Yu got up, clutched Xie
Qingcheng’s wrist with one hand and his waist with the other, and
almost recklessly pushed him against a nearby tea bar table!

The back of Xie Qingcheng’s head hit the hard coffee table with a thud
and he grunted, dizzy: “He Yu…!”

It was as if the dragon in his lair, curled up in slumber and ignoring

the intruder, had suddenly run out of patience and opened its horribly
jagged wings and slashed its claws across the cave wall, pushing the
intruding sacrifice onto the stone bed in a rain of falling stones.
The next moment it is about to rip the blood out of the veins and bury
the teeth in the neck.

But with Xie Qingcheng’s strength, it was not impossible for him to
break free at this point. Unfortunately, Xie Qingcheng was too
straightforward and his first reaction was to think that He Yu’s
bloodlust was coming back to haunt him, so he missed his last chance
to escape.

The cordboard of the floor lamp was tugged by the stumbling steps of
the two men and the lamp thudded on the thick carpet, going dark. At
the same time Xie Qingcheng and He Yu tripped and fell, with He Yu
pinning Xie Qingcheng heavily against the centre of the table.

Breathing is ragged and alcohol is pervasive.

In the darkness of the night, there is only a slight outline visible

through the city lights outside the window, and He Yu’s eyes trace it
carefully, falling on those familiar peach blossom eyes.

In the night, drunkenly, many things are blurred, He Yu looks down

into those eyes close at hand, and the cracks in his heart begin to
grow violently.

He lowered his head, and all the resentment, pain, emptiness and
secret love that he had suppressed for so long broke through the
sedimentary rock at this moment, turning into heartbreak, into
trembling eyelashes, into the hand that clasped Xie Qingcheng’s wrist
in death, and into a hot tear that fell from his eyes.

Where the hot tear fell, He Yu does not know.

But Xie Qingcheng’s struggle came to a halt.

He felt something warm land on his chest.

” He Yu , you ……”

Before he could finish his sentence, the young man who was choking
with his head hanging down above his chest suddenly took the back of
his head and, with his eyes closed, sought it out, and his warm,
slightly wet lips took his cool lips in a sudden grip.

“!!!”

Xie Qingcheng’s eyes widened as he was struck by lightning and his

mind went blank as time stood still.

In the confusion he could not perceive anything, not even the

consciousness of pushing He Yu away turned. He Yu was kissing him,
his breath hot. The force of the kiss was like nothing he had ever felt
before, intense and hot, urgent and mournful.

It’s not that Xie Qingcheng had never kissed anyone before, he and Li
Qiu Ruo had slept together, but he was quite cold and Li Qiu Ruo was
reserved, it was like they were acting together, there was nothing
passionate about each other.

Now he is caught off guard by the hot breath of an adolescent boy on

his lips as he is pressed against him. The kisses of young boys are not
the same as those of adults, they are not tactful, but they are terribly
hot.

“Wha–!”

A young man’s desire is too straightforward to be restrained, as if he

will die helpless if you don’t help relieve him. But if you don’t have
time to pull back, his heat will even be so unbridled that it will melt
your bones.

Xie Qingcheng’s brain nerves snapped in an instant.

He thought he was going mad, was this real or a nightmare? It was

only when another tear fell from He Yu, this time on his cheek and
down his face into his hair, that Xie Qingcheng was suddenly
awakened from this shocking act of immorality and fiercely resisted.
He Yu took him for a stand-in for Xie Xue and was reluctant to let go
of him, choking him by the neck, separating him a little before kissing
him again.
Xie Qingcheng’s strength was great, but the event had hit him so hard
that before he knew it He Yu had the upper hand over him and was
even holding him by the waist and leading him to the bed.

” He Yu …… He Yu ! You fucking look at it …… I fuck ……” Xie

Qingcheng a big man, of course, can not stand this kind of thing, he
came out of the room very casual, this time still wearing the hotel
bathrobe, He Yu’s He Yu’s hand was on the side of his waist through a
thin layer of fabric, and his palm carried an unmistakable heat.

Xie Qingcheng’s scalp was numbing, although he had started to resist

and was a full 180 adult male, He Yu was younger and taller than him,
don’t look at this bunny with his beautiful red lips and white teeth, but
he worked out well, his abs were visible with his shirt off and his
strength was actually very scary.

He Yu has the upper hand from the start and it’s not so easy for Xie
Qingcheng to break free when he wakes up, and it’s He Yu’s first
fucking kiss.

What is the concept of an unmarried nineteen year old virgin, sexually

repressed for so many years, having a first time relative?

It would be no different from an animal that opens its meat in a

disaster year.

Even though He Yu was drunk, sick and unconscious this time, he felt
comfortable and stimulated, and he pulled Xie Qingcheng’s hair
violently, forcing him not to escape.

Sensing that Xie Qingcheng’s struggles were not easy to deal with,
the boy who had tasted the flesh did not let him go, so he simply
moved his hand out of his hair and choked Xie Qingcheng hard at the
back of his neck.

Xie Qingcheng kicks up and He Yu takes it, but uses the force to push
down on the man who was refusing to go to bed…!

“You-!”
Xie Qingcheng felt the sky spin around and his whole body fell heavily
onto the soft spring mattress before He Yu rolled down on him.

Xie Qingcheng’s chest is tense, the shock is too great, the pupils are
tightly contracted ……

He was lying on He Yu’s bed, which even had a few high school
uniforms that He Yu had changed out of in the last few days on the
set, unwashed and smelling of teenage sweat, and a few of He Yu’s
half-read textbooks next to his pillow.

He Yu is truly indistinguishable, his consciousness completely led by

desire, stifling a death grip on Xie Qingcheng’s neck, staring at him,
waiting for him to lose a little of his strength beneath him.

After ten seconds or so, Xie Qingcheng’s face was red from pinching,
and for a moment He Yu’s eyes were so terrifying that it looked as if
he wanted to gouge out Xie Qingcheng’s peach blossom eyes.

But after that moment had passed, he suddenly became particularly

helpless and desperate again. He was stunned for a moment and
slowly let go of Xie Qingcheng’s choked neck ……

The air refilled Xie Qingcheng’s lungs and Xie Qingcheng breathed
heavily, coughing violently, “Cough cough cough…!!!”

“…… I’m sorry ……” He Yu seemed to sober up a little, his eyes were
confused and he said to him, but actually to “her ” said, “I’m sorry
…… I didn’t mean to…I didn’t mean to hurt you…I just …… ”

He didn’t know what to say, but he lowered his head and slowly closed
his eyes, rubbing the tip of his nose against the side of Xie
Qingcheng’s neck, kissing it over and over again where he had
pinched the finger marks.

Rolling lips murmured against his arteries, “I didn’t mean to hurt you
……”

He Yu kissed him on the neck and gazed at him again, kissing Xie
Qingcheng’s lips once more, hotly and unresistingly, holding him in
his arms, his hands deep in Xie Qingcheng’s messy black hair, forcing
him to endure his kisses and plunder ……

This time he tried to pry open his teeth and wrap his tongue around
them!

Xie Qingcheng couldn’t stand it any longer and bit He Yu’s lip so hard
that the smell of blood spread. He took the opportunity to turn his
face away from the youth’s overheated breath and cursed at He Yu.

“Are you fucking crazy? Let go of ……! You’re out of your mind from
drinking so much, get your ass up!”

But the hand that had been pushed against He Yu’s chest was clasped
by the youth, and his fingers were interlocked.

Xie Qingcheng’s scalp tingled with goose bumps and he almost gave
He Yu a shoulder tackle.

And that’s when He Yu’s third tear fell.

Falling in front of his eyes.

The touch of He Yu’s fingers is followed by the rubbing of Xie

Qingcheng’s peach blossom eyes.

Xie Qingcheng didn’t have time to say another curse before he heard
He Yu’s soft sigh, his eyes blurred as he looked at Xie Qingcheng’s
face and flexed his fingers, touching the man’s cheek: “Xie ……”

There was a pause and a softness in the back of the voice.

So Xie Qingcheng only heard the word ‘Xie’, but not the word ‘Xue’
that followed it.

“……”

He Yu had already leaned down, his broad shoulders crushing Xie

Qingcheng beneath him, his head tilted to the side and he murmured
softly on the side of his neck, “I like you ……”
“I really like you ……”

Chapter 26 – After Sobriety

“Ilike you ……”
“……”

“I really like you ……”

“……”

The young man’s head hangs, his lips murmuring half an inch above
Xie Qingcheng’s, his hair falling from his forehead, his eyes blazing
with confusion.

He clutches Xie Qingcheng’s hand, who is stunned by the sudden

confession.

If he had just been angry and surprised, this moment was as shocking
as if he had been struck by lightning.

He even forgot to resist ……

Who likes who?

He Yu likes him?

How is this possible ……

They are both male and He Yu has never shown homosexual

tendencies and is 13 years older than him himself ……

He lies on the bed in the hotel He Yu, his bathrobe dishevelled and
sweaty, turning his head sluggishly and stiffly to look at the boy lying
on top of him in the darkness, unaware that the boy is looking at him,
gazing through him to the girl who looks like him.

“I really like you ……”

“……”

“You do as you’re told and don’t stay with him ……”

“……”
It was only after these words were uttered that Xie Qingcheng slowly
came back to his senses in shock, finally gritting his teeth and saying,
“…… you fuck!”

He Yu is drunk and has the wrong fucking person!

He took his eyes off He Yu’s face and felt that all the things he had
wondered about before were instantly connected into a pearl – the
play He Yu had taken on, his sudden illness, his drunken words about
wanting to confess to a girl in Neverland, his upside-down speech… …
and it all comes together in a flash of enlightenment.

He understood it all.

He Yu This is the unlucky girl who confessed and got rejected ……

Xie Qingcheng couldn’t help but look up and hold his forehead. His
forehead was already covered in sweat from the fierce male brawl
that had taken place earlier. He scratched his sweaty forehead up in a
feverish manner, while his chest rose and fell as he breathed heavily.

He Yu’s neck still hurt, but not as much as his head, and he thought it
was a hell of a day, but he couldn’t help feeling glad for the girl he’d
never met…

Fortunately, this crime was not committed against a girl.

And He Yu.

A person with mental Ebola needs to be calm, restrained and less

emotional, the more rational the better, and things like love are too
abrasive and should be kept to a minimum. But Xie Qingcheng feels
that He Yu is now suffering from “Xie Qingcheng ptsd”. He is willing
to listen to anyone, but not to his medical advice.

Sure enough, the situation has come to this.

It was also fortunate that it only got as far as this situation and was
able to end.
Xie Qingcheng was pinned down by the tall, hot young man, and after
clearing up the situation, he grimaced and put his hand against He
Yu’s heart, “Get the fuck …… off me.”

“Get up!!!”

He Yu’s eyes have been slack since a while ago.

He was still staring at Xie Qingcheng, but the force in his hands was
gradually weakening. His breathing was becoming more and more
stable.

There was even a momentary flicker of clarity in his eyes, but the
consciousness only gathered for a moment and soon dispersed again
……

Xie Qingcheng took this opportunity to break him free, grabbing the
robe and getting up from the bed, his wrists throbbing with pain.

He Yu finally calmed down, or maybe the drugs had finally numbed his
violent streak, so He Yu didn’t do anything more after he was pushed
away so hard.

He opened his eyes vacantly, half-heartedly, and whispered, “…you

know …… I can’t find the bridge ……”

“What?”

“I can’t find …… I can’t walk out ……”

“I …… I can’t get out of here ……”

These soft murmurs, not to Xie Qingcheng, not to anyone, are spoken
with a vacant look, as if he no longer knows where he is, as if he is
murmuring into a darkness.

He Yu slowly closes his eyes, his eyelashes fluttering softly.

Xie Qingcheng didn’t react to what he was saying about the bridge, he
was going crazy with torture tonight, he fought back his anger and
discomfort, his face tightened as he threw the man onto the bed and
threw the bed covers at him, then turned and went to the bathroom to
brush his teeth and rinse his mouth.

Xie Qingcheng is somewhat sexually frigid and does not like to have
unnecessary physical contact with people, let alone being kissed by
the same sex.

He was so disgusted that the tap water clattered out of the faucet.
After half a day of washing, he picked up a handful of water and
poured it over his face, propped himself up on the flow table, and
finally got his wits about him, lifting his eyes to look at his still
dripping face in the mirror.

Young people’s relationships are a messy account, and a casual flip

through it will send chicken feathers flying, and he wouldn’t even
bother to look at the ledger if it wasn’t on his head.

Fucking hell. The hell with it.

He Jiwei should have paid him for looking after the children for He
Jiwei. He should have asked He Jiwei for it later.

Xie Qingcheng sulked for a while, raised his hand and pressed his
faintly aching temples, then turned the faucet back on and walked out
to sit on the sofa chair next to the bed and stare.

When he went out, He Yu was already asleep, lying on the bed with
the blanket on his back, just like his usual model of the three best
students, not at all like the beast that had been pestering him.

Xie Qingcheng looked gloomy and unscrewed the mineral water given
to him by the hotel to take a sip, but as soon as his lips hit the top of
the bottle, he felt a sharp pain. He hissed and felt his hand and found
that his lip had been bitten by He Yu – in his 32 years of life, no one
had ever dared to bite the corner of his lip. Xie Qingcheng’s face
turned black.

He put the mineral water bottle down heavily and, whether He Yu

liked it or not, lit a cigarette and started smoking it around the room,
letting the little beast lying in bed inhale enough second-hand smoke
before he put the butt out.

…… Forget it.

Forget it!

In the end he thought, fuck it and kiss it. What else is there to do?

He’s a guy, there’s nothing to lose, and apart from being disgusting,
there’s nothing wrong with it. And at the end of the day, it was just a
misunderstanding.

Xie Qingcheng is a very rational person who doesn’t waste too much
emotion on a silly misunderstanding.

Rationally, what is more important now is actually He Yu’s current

situation.

This time he experienced the onset of He Yu’s current phase first

hand, it was nerve-wracking and only semi-onset, still a controlled
situation.

And what if it’s a full blown disease? What more could it be?

He Yu’s situation may not be as rosy as it seems.

Xie Qingcheng closed his eyes, anticipating that if He Yu fell in love,

there would be some degree of fluctuation in his condition.

When he stopped He Yu from confessing on the island that day, he

was not only thinking of the girl, he was also thinking of He Yu, but
He Yu wouldn’t listen.

He Yu and he said, “Nineteen years, I haven’t hurt anyone, I just like

someone, but I can’t have that power, can I?”

When he looked into He Yu’s eyes, he was suddenly unable to say

anything.
He Yu, a child he had seen since childhood, was too sick. He has been
wandering in a double abyss, psychological and physical, for more
than ten to twenty years, without being able to find an exit. This kind
of patient is so hostile that he can become extremely violent and
bloodthirsty when his mental illness flares up.

He Yu, however, has opted for internal conflict.

He stayed in his dragon’s lair, hissing and wailing, snatching at walls

with his head, never going out to harm the innocent, suffering these
torments alone in the darkness of the day.

So the girl he didn’t know was a light that He Yu was chasing?

Xie Qingcheng thought back to the tears He Yu had just shed on him,
remembered the boy choking back his sobs and saying how much he
liked her, and couldn’t help but look back again at the youth who had
fallen asleep on the bed.

Is that why he left school, why he couldn’t bear it, why he triggered
the sinking disease in his heart?

Xie Qingcheng lifted his hand and subconsciously touched his own lips
where He Yu had kissed him, and in the midst of his feelings of “this
beast is abominable”, he somehow felt “this beast is pitiful”.

However, Xie Qingcheng was really too stimulated and did not think
deeply about it, and only took the “Xie” that He Yu had just said as the
name that He Yu saw him pronounce when he was half awake and half
confused. He did not think in the direction of Xie Xue.

In Xie Qingcheng’s mind, although He Yu and Xie Xue were of the

same age, there was still a five-year gap between them, and with a
five-year gap, it was unlikely that there would be any love between
them in his eyes.

And how old is He Yu? Nineteen, not even the first two, not even the
first one in ancient times, just a minor.
To be honest, in the eyes of the stereotypical Xie Qingcheng, it is
considered early to fall in love with a boy of 19. You can’t even finish
your book before you’ve grown up and fallen in love. He’s not even set
in his ways yet, so how can it last? In case of an accident, can he take
the girl to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get a certificate and a stamp? On
his own, can he support a family of three and four elderly people?
Without parental support, can he earn enough money for the baby so
that his wife doesn’t have to worry about making ends meet during
her pregnancy?

Waste, neither can.

Then it’s still a teenager, not a man.

Xie Qingcheng would certainly not equate such a man with his future
brother-in-law.

At this point the boy in the bed seemed upset by something and
frowned in his dream at his clear brow. Xie Qingcheng did not want to
look at him again, let alone at the already dishevelled bed.

He got up, pushed the door open and walked out.

He Yu woke up early the next morning.

He opened his eyes in a daze and raised a hand to rake through his
loose forehead hair and cover his slightly cool forehead.

A hangover is like a smashed piece of porcelain. When you try to

mend it and put it back together again, you will inevitably be cut
painfully by the edges of the broken porcelain.

He Yu resisted the winding pain in his skull as the events of last night
were gradually recreated into a general outline.

He …… seems to be …… kissed Xie Qingcheng ……

“……”
He Yu’s first reaction was to hope he was having a nightmare, but
there was still blood faintly on his lip where it had been bitten, and a
lick was accompanied by a stinging pain that could not have been
more awake, signalling that what had happened last night was real.

A model student from childhood, He Yu has the typical qualities of a

bully: he is very receptive and quick to react to everything. But this
was just beyond his threshold, and he sat frozen in bed, his face pale.

At that moment, there was the sound of a drip swipe at the door of the
room, the door slammed open and He Yu watched as the subject of his
unintentional sexual harassment last night walked in from outside
with a sullen face.

Xie Qingcheng had been up all night and had gone back to his room
for a couple of hours to get out of his head, and was now calm. He
came in just before he woke up and saw that the psycho was already
awake, staring at him with his hair in a mess and his almond eyes
open.

He actually looked a bit innocent and bewildered, and with that red-
lipped, white and pretty schoolboy face, it was as if he was the victim.

The beast.

Xie Qingcheng copied He Yu’s T-shirt directly from the sofa chair and
flung it at the beastly schoolboy’s face, covering the two annoying
glances.

In a cold voice, he said, “Get up.”

The beastly schoolboy pulled down his white T and spoke with some
difficulty, ” Xie Qingcheng , last night, we …… me and you …… me
weren’t… …”

Xie Qingcheng Sen Sen said, “Yes.”

He Yu’s face became a little more ugly.

Xie Qingcheng : “But let’s not talk about this kind of crap any more.”
“……”

He Yu was stunned again, he didn’t expect this brother to speak with

such a callous indifference, if he wasn’t sure his memory was correct,
he would almost suspect that he hadn’t kissed the wrong person last
night, but that Xie Qingcheng had been trying to harass him for a long
time.

Xie Qingcheng leaned back against the TV cabinet, folded his arms
and looked at the other man with a cold and serious expression, “Put
your clothes on properly, I want to talk to you.”

The two had such an embarrassing physical encounter last night, even
if it was a misunderstanding, it was enough to make one feel weak.

He Yu’s relatives’ mouths were short, so he would have already

confronted them, but today he couldn’t get over it, so he did what Xie
Qingcheng said.

“You went to confess to that girl you like, didn’t you?”

“…… no.”

“And you’re going to hide it from me? You said something yourself last
night you don’t remember.”

He Yu vaguely remembered some of it, but he wasn’t quite clear-

headed at the moment, and it took him a while to say, “…… I was
mistaken for someone else. I didn’t confess to that girl, I just knew
she had someone she liked …… Forget it, why am I explaining so
much to you, you can laugh if you want.”

He lifted his eyes, “I know you’re happy in your heart that everything
went the way you said it would, that no one liked me and I didn’t
control myself, that everything you said came true, that you’re
happy?”

Xie Qingcheng stared at him, “I’m glad you’re not more completely
mad.”
After a pause, seeing He Yu’s guarded face, He Yu seemed to think
that what he should have said was – I’ve been thinking about this
patient all night and I’ve come up with two treatment options for you,
see if you want chemical castration or physical castration, you’re
welcome to choose either one.

Xie Qingcheng sighed, he really didn’t want to dwell on this issue, it

was quite childish and a waste of time. So he simply said, “…… Forget
it. He Yu .”

“Let’s leave it at that.”

He Yu looked at him, schoolboys are used to snatching answers,

especially the animal kind of schoolboys even in bed, so He Yu asked,
“But?”

“But -” Professor Xie swept his face sternly, dissatisfied with his
snatch of an answer, and continued, “I’ve thought about it for a while,
and what happened last night makes me think that you’re in a very
poor state. To tell you the truth, your father and I spoke on the phone
earlier, and it is true that he asked me to keep an extra eye on you for
him in general. This indiscriminate use of your medication after an
attack and even attempting to hide it from everyone is very
unbecoming, so ……”

He Yu’s father, Ms. Xie, began his lecture.

He Yu still hasn’t slowed down a bit, his head is buzzing, the whole
person is distracted, what dad said, he only heard the beginning and
didn’t take it into his ears, what else can it be said, it must be that he
can’t be spared.

But on second thought, he never asked Xie Qingcheng to control him,

it was Xie Qingcheng who wanted to barge in and approach him.

Luckily I didn’t say Xie Xue’s name yesterday, otherwise things would
have been even more difficult ……

“…… is about right, that’s all.”

At some point, Dad had finished his lecture and made a summary.

“Did you listen in?”

He Yu lifted his head and met Xie Qingcheng’s ice-cold gaze.

Xie Qingcheng is also talking about thirst, copied the mineral water
bottle next to him and unscrewed the cap, drank the water that he
didn’t drink last night and said coldly, “…… If you want, this matter
will be forgotten.”

He Yu hadn’t really listened to much of what he had said, his vaguely

hungover brain only picking up the words “this is over”, but being a
student used to excellence, he nodded instinctively.

Xie Qingcheng looked at him from the top down, unable to see any
expression: “Then, when you come back from the shooting, you will
come to see me at the medical university.”

“……”

He Yu, now slowing down and realising that he had just promised him
something in his mind wandering, finally came fully awake and asked
hoarsely, “Wait. I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Xie Qingcheng’s face sank and his tone was very hard: “Do you have
any more conditions to discuss with me?”

He Yu thought to himself, “What are the conditions?

He didn’t even listen to what he had just said lightly with his upper lip
touching his lower lip ……

What the hell did he promise Xie Qingcheng?

On the other hand, Xie Qingcheng felt he was being generous to He

Yu.
He didn’t even talk to He Yu about the shit that had happened last
night. Of course, the main reason was that he didn’t want to talk
about the kiss that had made his skin crawl.

He Yu’s condition is such that he can’t ignore it even if he doesn’t see

it, not to mention He Jiwei’s face.

Although it is not possible for him to treat the patient personally as he

did in the past, it is not a problem to control He Yu’s emotions and
give some guidance to channel them.

In the process, he could also ask He Yu to do a bit of hard labour for

him – He Yu was a good worker when he was obedient, clever and
hard-wearing. If he could use it as much as he did before, he would be
able to even up his score for being licked by a dog.

A matter of killing two birds with one stone.

Seeing that He Yu was lost in thought, Xie Qingcheng repeated

impatiently: “After the shooting, you should come to the medical
university and do what I want you to do, do some work for me,
distract yourself and stop thinking about things all day. Since you
have someone you like, you should go adjust your mind in time and
learn to get your emotions under control earlier. You won’t lose out.”

He Yu was silent for a moment and said, “…… She has a crush on
someone now, not me.”

Xie Qingcheng sighed, “The girl you like is not too old, is she?”

“…… is not big.”

“There’s no telling what will happen later. What’s more, even if she
still doesn’t like you afterwards, you may have a girl who looks at you
again, and by then it would be good if you could manage your
condition.”

He Yu was quiet again for a while and suddenly said, “…… Why don’t
you ask me who I like?”
“What does this have to do with me.”

“……” He Yu looked down, some slight mockery in his downcast eyes,

“It’s okay.”

He thought of his conversation with Xie Qingcheng at the police

station.

At that time, Xie Qingcheng said that no one could ever like a man like
him, and that he would definitely fail.

He felt like he had been slapped hard. At that time, he thought that if
he and Xie Xue got together, he would want to see Xie Qingcheng lose
his temper, want to see Xie Qingcheng break down, but now,
everything had gone the other way.

Instead, it was Xie Qingcheng who saw him in a state of disarray.

If we retreat at this point, we will really lose face in front of him ……

He Yu closed his eyes and smiled, “After all, you came to see me make
a fool of yourself, didn’t you?”

“If you want to think so, that’s fine.”

“……”

He Yu’s heart deepened as he met the man’s indifferent and

provocative gaze.

He really hated Xie Qingcheng’s demeanour, he had seen it countless

times since he was a child and each time he could really feel Xie
Qingcheng’s indifference and that sense of power that was so off-
putting.

He sulked for a while before finally looking up at Xie Qingcheng: “You

want me to do something for you to distract you. What’s it going to
be?”
“I haven’t thought about it yet.” Xie Qingcheng was casual, “But
you’ve been with me before, and you know the kind of person I am,
there’s no shortage of tossing and turning to make you suffer more.”

“…… Are you planning to screw me?”

Xie Qingcheng paused for a moment and raised the end of his
eyebrow slightly: “You’re afraid.”

He Yu didn’t want to lose his self-respect after losing face: “You’re

joking, I have nothing to fear.”

Xie Qingcheng listened to his reply, fumbled down and fished out a
cigarette, biting it between his lips and teeth, slurring, “I hope you’re
serious and not coming for three days and then crying about giving
up. The lighter is at the bedside, pass it to me.”

He Yu ignored him and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and
rinse his mouth – even though there was nothing left of the kiss
yesterday, He Yu still felt sick, even more so when he thought that he
had mistakenly kissed a man in such a frenzied manner yesterday, and
thought he had to clean himself up.

Before going into the bathroom, he glanced back at the object of his
own passion last night. This time he was sober and decent, as if it
hadn’t been himself who had held the man down on the bed last night
and kissed him like he was in heat: “Second-hand smoke doesn’t count
towards the grind you gave me, it’s no different from chronic murder.
If you want to smoke, please go outside.”

With that, he closed the door of the shower and went to wash up.

In the lavatory.

He Yu looked into the mirror and wiped his fingertips over his lips,
which had been bitten by Xie Qingcheng last night.

He took a handful of water and dipped it onto his face, then held the
tap.
The tendons on the back of the youth’s hand jutted slightly as he
tightened the faucet so hard that the water loss suddenly stopped and
he straightened up and looked at the man in the mirror.

What’s to sharpen him? Didn’t he just want to continue to see him

laugh, torment him and use him?

…… him this time, really inadvertently committed on Xie Qingcheng

this old rascal.

Chapter 27 – He Went to See Chen

Man
Xie Qingcheng, a straight and aloof man of steel, probably never
imagined that he would one day be called an old hooligan by a man in
his heart.

Not to mention the fact that the boy had held him down the night
before and kissed him so forcefully that he was breathing heavily and
almost stuck his tongue in.

From this incident, we can see that some young boys nowadays, on
account of their beauty, their good grades, and the fact that they were
underage hundreds of years ago, are really good at being
unreasonable.

The no-nonsense school bully used the play to cushion his heartbreak
over his lost love, but the scene was a rescue, the role was small, and
the episode itself was short, so it wasn’t long before he was back at
school.

Before returning, he sent a message to Xie Qingcheng and left the

hotel with his suitcase.
.

On the same day that He Yu returned to school, Chen Man asked Xie
Qingcheng to go to the cemetery with him in the morning.

The young policeman has just solved his first case on his own and
feels it’s worth remembering, so he wants to catch up with his
brother.

“It’s from across the province.” Chen Man carries a fruit basket of
paper money to his brother’s gravestone, and he walks through the
cemetery in such a hurry that he almost trips over a nearby bush.

“Inter-provincial bicycle gang theft.” Xie Qingcheng said.

Chen Man’s face reddened: “Since, a bicycle is also a car, it is also the
property of the people ……”

Xie Qingcheng ignored him, took the fruit basket from him, placed the
tribute, the paper melted, the air distorted in the heat of the flames,
and he looked at the picture of the very young police officer on the
tombstone, and the line of gold-chalked letters.

The tomb of Chen Lisheng.

Chen Lisheng’s life was fixed in his early twenties, and Xie
Qingcheng’s memory of him is already blurred, except that unlike
Chen Man, he was a very serious and stable young man, and when he
brought the young Chen Man to their home, he would always say,
“Excuse me! When he brought Chen Man, who was still very young, to
their home, he would always say, “Excuse me” and “Sorry”.

The last message he left for his colleagues before he was killed was
also, “Something came up today, I may be late, sorry.”

Xie Qingcheng looked at the blackened tombstone and said, “Your

brother is also a police officer who can handle cases on his own.”

Chen Man added anxiously, “It’s going to get even better in the
future, I want to move to the criminal police.”
Xie Qingcheng shook his head, “You don’t have enough intelligence.”

“……”

“Your family’s wisdom gene is all over your brother’s head.”

Chen Man knows that Xie Qingcheng doesn’t want him to climb up.
The higher he climbs, the stronger the wind will be, and if he is not
careful, he will be blown down, and he will be shattered to pieces.
That is why Xie Qingcheng always talks to him in this way.

Chen Man is not angry and mutters a few more whispers to his
brother before lighting a cigarette and placing it in front of his
brother’s offering table.

“Brother, one day I’ll solve the case you didn’t finish.” He closed his
eyes and folded his hands.

“……”

Xie Qingcheng knew that Chen Man was talking about the case of his
parents’ murder.

In that case, everyone could see that it was not a normal car accident,
and everyone in the police force knew it. But what could be done?
They didn’t die in the process of handling the case, they couldn’t be
posthumously sealed as martyrs, the murderer who caused the
accident didn’t leave any traces of the crime, and all the evidence
pointed to an accident in which a big car lost control, so in the end the
case could only be closed like that.

To say that the people who have offended, his parents were once high
ranking, involved in numerous major cases, want to revenge the black
and evil forces, drug trafficking organizations …… too many
suspicious objects, in the case of broken leads, there is no way to
investigate.

It’s not that Xie Qingcheng himself didn’t try his best to find out why
his parents died, but he eventually gave up.
Those who are too sober, even if their tears are not yet dry and their
hearts are dead, struggle to see the path that leads to the future.

Xie Qingcheng had already finished offering incense and saw that
Chen Man would take a while, so he managed to go for a walk around.
His parents’ grave is not in this mausoleum, and the land here is very
expensive, with some graves with memorials costing more than a suite
in a second-tier city, and the annual management fee is also incredibly
high, so only those with money and power can afford to lie down.

As he walked, he came to a statue.

A sculptural burial is a type of burial modelled on the European

model, in which the headstone is often carved out of marble of equal
height with a likeness of the deceased. This statue, which stands in a
quiet cemetery, depicts a doctor in a white coat, sitting in a chair,
wearing thick glasses and looking down at a scroll in his hand.

Below the statue is written.

” Qin Ciyan (1957-2017) ”

“The last thing he failed to heal was the heart.”

Xie Qingcheng knows Qin Ciyan.

They both …… used to be colleagues.

Qin Ciyan is one of the most famous alumni of the Shanghai Medical
School and a leading figure in the field of neurosurgery. Qin Ciyan
graduated from Shanghai Medical School decades ago and went on to
study in the United States, returning home after his studies. He has
taught at his alma mater and led a team of academics, and has lived a
lifetime of hardship and acclaim.

A surgeon, who does not move the knife but only the pen, cannot do
that.
So after retiring from Yan Zhou at the age of 60, Professor Qin
returned to his hometown and was rehired at Hu Zhou City No. 1
People’s Hospital.

This is the same hospital where Xie Qingcheng was treated.

However, one dusk four years ago, Qin Ciyan, aged 60, was in his
office packing his briefcase to go home for his partner’s birthday,
when suddenly a young man with a scruffy beard arrived at the door,
carrying a basket of fruit and a silk flag. The man claimed to be the
family of a patient and had come all the way here to thank Director
Qin in person for his mother’s life.

Qin Ciyan has a number of such patients. Seeing the man sweating
and with a loose white face, he must have had a long journey, so he
invited the man into his office and made him a cup of tea.

But what no one expected was that just as the old doctor was burying
his head in the water to make tea, the young man, described as
insecure, quietly got up and drew a sharp, shiny knife from the bottom
of the fruit basket, and the moment Qin Ciyan smiled and made his
tea and turned his head – his face changed! The eyes of Qin Ciyan!
With a loud cry, he rises up and kills him!

This was the case of Yi Beihai, the doctor who killed the entire nation
four years ago.

The surveillance video later retrieved by the police showed the

criminal Yi Beihai pinning Dr. Qin Ciyan against the wall and stabbing
him thirteen times in the chest and abdomen, spraying blood all over
the not-so-spacious office, the handwritten medical file on the table
and the banner the killer brought as a cover, all spattered with a
chilling crimson.

Yi Beihai, who was so bloodied by the time people arrived that he

could not tell if he was a ghost or a man, held Qin Ciyan’s body aloft
in front of the crowd and threw the old man, who had devoted his life
to medicine, through an open window to shouts of horror.

–Bang!!!
Bloody bodies, completely fragmented after falling from a height.

Yi Beihai sticks his head back through the window and stands smugly
in a pool of blood, holding up a dripping red knife and laughing,
shouting, “Retribution! For cheating you out of your money! Kill you!
Kill you!”

But what kind of blood feud is it?

How could a young family member do such a genocidal thing to an old

doctor with sideburns?

The truth released after the police investigation has outraged the
entire community, with public opinion boiling over like oil –

It turned out that Yi Beihai’s mother was a glioma patient with a

malignant tumour that was growing in a very difficult location.

The single mother was afraid of the cost of medical treatment and did
not want to wait for her son to die, but her son, who was already 30
years old, was still idle and not looking for a job.

As she procrastinated and intermittently, her condition became worse

and worse. Finally, she heard that Hu Zhou First People’s Hospital
was famous for its neurology department, and that the doctors were
all good, some of them were kind-hearted and would find ways to
raise funds for poor patients or offer remissions, and they were also
excellent at surgery.

With a sense of hope, my mother carried a sack of local seafood from

her hometown and arrived in a green train to this unfamiliar hot land.

But when she arrived, there were thousands of buildings, thousands

of roads, her mother was confused, she didn’t know anything about
the electronic payment lifestyle, and it took her a long time to even
find a hospital. Eventually she found a hospital, but she couldn’t get a
number, and she was so timid that she stood in the hospital lobby for
a whole day.
By the end of the day, a doctor had finally noticed the woman who was
slow to leave and smelled of fish.

The doctor asked her why she was there, asked for her information,
left her a phone number and said he would help her figure out what to
do.

The mother’s thick pile of medical records was handed over to the
neurosurgery department of Hospital No. 1. What was discussed and
discussed by those doctors is not known to the public, but in any case,
the mother did get the remission she wanted, was scheduled for
surgery, and waited with gratitude for the light of life to come.

Throughout, her gambling-addicted son, who was far away from

home, did not come over to spend even a single day with his mother.

The fee for the surgery was waived, but living in a bustling metropolis
like Hu Zhou, where pearls are like gold and iron, was still a huge
expense for the mother. The woman had to scrimp and save, living in
a small hotel that smelled like the damp stench of a yellow plum day,
sleeping in a room for eight, breaking a Gao Zhuang steamed bun into
three portions and drinking hot water from a love stall.

Towards the end of the month, the woman’s old broken mobile phone
rang. The caller was her son, and the content was, naturally,
thunderous – coming to ask his mother for money.

“Mum’s in Hu Zhou for a doctor’s appointment and there’s money to

be spent everywhere, there’s really no extra down this month ……”

“What?” The young man on the other end of the phone was furious,
his voice almost piercing the eardrums of this old sick woman, “No
more money? Then what am I going to do this month? Who’s going to
support me? I don’t care! You’ve got to find a way! I can’t even
fucking eat!”

The woman hunched down, clutching the phone that had lost its paint,
hesitantly, as if she had done something wrong: “I really don’t have
any money, when mum first came here, the roads were not familiar,
and I paid for several bus rides, but now I remember, I can walk
there, and the money for medical care is now less …… I’ll save more,
I’ll have it next month …… Don’t worry ……”

“Who told you to go to Hu Zhou to see a doctor?” The man still

shouted furiously, “I’ve told you! That place is a scam for fools who
have too much money to spend! Why do you want to go there? Don’t
you have enough to see in the county? Look at you, you eat and drink
all day long, what kind of illness can you be? It’s a waste of money!”

The woman listened, big tears rolling down the spiderweb-like folds at
the end of her eyes and dripping onto the greasy concrete floor of the
small hotel.

My son is still fuming: “Why are you so eager to send all your money
to those doctors? …… Those doctors are there to earn your money,
you know? They want to see idiots like you get sick so they can line up
and give them money! How else can they keep the hospital open?
Now, the money is all ripped off by them, so that you can’t even afford
to feed your child, yuck!”

Yi Beihai cursed and left the phone, not wanting to say another word
to the woman, he grumbled and put on his clothes, fished out the last
fifty yuan he had pressed under his bed and headed for the dark
gambling house at the entrance of the village.

The woman was so distraught that for a while she didn’t want to be
treated anymore. In the end, the doctors at the city hospital talked to
her and to Yi Beihai.

In the end Yi Beihai finally got impatient and said, “If you want to
operate, just do it, just don’t take money from him anyway, and he
didn’t want to spend this time and energy rushing to Hu Zhou,
confirming the risks of the operation over the phone, leaving a
recording, and just have his mother sign the risk letter herself when
the time came.

Although the procedure was not so formal and there was some
disagreement within the hospital, everything went ahead for the sake
of Qin Ciyan’s prestige. The hospitalisation, the adjustments, the pre-
operative communication …… all went ahead in an orderly manner.
Finally it was time for the opening day.

The doctor once again confirmed the risks of the operation with the
lonely woman, informing her that the tumour was in a very aggressive
location and that survival without surgery was expected to be only
three months, but that the risks involved in having the operation were
also enormous and that there was a risk that the operation might not
be resuscitated if it failed.

“I’d like to make another phone call then, OK?”

The woman asked, a little timidly, as she lay on the hospital bed.

The phone was handed over and the woman shivered as she pressed a
series of numbers, wanting to say a few words to her son before
entering the gates of life and death.

But after a long beeping wait, all she got in reply was the same cold,
mechanical tone as yesterday.

Yi Beihai was a gambling addict who would never have time to answer
a phone call from his mother when he was in a gambling frenzy.

The woman finally slowly lowered the phone from her ear, her eyes
wet, sniffling and smiling, “Thank you, Doctor. That ……”

“What?”

The woman stumbled, and it was clear that she was torn, as if she was
blushing at the prospect of making an exit.

The young doctor in charge of the pre-operative preparations said

gently, “Auntie, you can say whatever you want, it’s fine.”

The woman then asked, as if wincing a little, “Does it hurt?”

“Hmm?”
“The operation, did it hurt?” The woman’s face was bashfully red even
as she asked this, thin blood poking out from beneath waxy yellow
skin.

“Oh.” The young doctor responded, smiling and reassuring her, “It
doesn’t hurt, Auntie, there will be anesthesia, just medicine that will
put you to sleep temporarily, no pain at all, and when you wake up,
everything will be over.”

As the woman listened to the young doctor’s gentle description,

something akin to “longing” spilled out of her eyes.

No pain at all ……

As she was wheeled into the operating theatre, looking at the white
ceiling above the hospital corridor and the nurses and doctors
clustered around her in full armour, the last words she heard were
still in her mind, and a small, weak smile curved at the corners of her
rotten lips.

The surgeon who operated on her was Qin Ciyan, who was very old
and had already performed three major operations that day and was
not feeling well himself, but the operation was so difficult that he had
to do it himself.

Time passed, and the old doctor’s sweat seeped out little by little
under his green protective coat.

“Tweezers.”

“Saran wool.”

“Pass two more pieces of saran wool.”

……

Unhurried and unhurried.

But the muscles are taut and the eyes are always unblinking when it
matters.
The first to notice the difference was the second assistant, who
noticed a slight swaying of the teacher’s body as he was reaching for
the surgical tray.

Doctors are doctors, but there are times when doctors are, again,
patients.

As Ersuke looked nervously at Qin Ciyan, Qin Ciyan realised that he

couldn’t do it. He slowly finished the movements in his hands that he
could not pause, and then said in a calm voice that tried not to cause
panic, “I can’t see anything in front of me, there’s a dizzy spell.”

He said and took two steps back to say something more, but his eyes
had gone black and he fell backwards ……

This is the first time Qin Ciyan has had such a condition. He has high
blood lipids and a severe blood clot on the side of his neck, so he often
suffers from headaches and nausea, but never to the point of fainting
and passing out.

Such accidents are rare in hospitals, but not without precedent. The
doctors had been clearly taught during their training how to work
with the remaining doctors in such unexpected situations. However,
the woman’s tumour was in such a treacherous position that, despite
the best efforts of the subsequent doctors, the operation ended in
failure.

The mother is no longer with us.

The son suddenly became very dutiful, he had to be, he was looking
forward to his mother’s meagre monthly allowance, not to mention
that with her death, his nanny, cook and maid …… all disappeared at
once. Yi Beihai fell like hell, how can not accept.

On reflection, it was naturally the doctors who were at fault.

They must have been greedy for the last bit of money in his mother’s
pocket and that’s why they lured her into an operation and
hospitalisation.
Subsidies? Relief?

They must not have made enough money from her and thought they
could use her old bones for free medical experiments, so they tricked
his poor, lonely mother, who was wandering in a foreign country
seeking medical treatment, into being the victim of their knife.

The more Yi Beihai thought about it, the more convinced he became
as he lay in bed, the darkness of the long night outside, the strange
cries of the small village lords like laughter, swirling inside his head
into a whirlpool of hatred that swept him whole.

The next day, Yi Beihai, who was penniless, with no money to gamble
with and in debt, took out a rusty pig-killing knife from his home,
shined it on a whetstone and wrapped it in a thick, dirty matting.

He then went to the small shop at the entrance of the village and
threatened the shopkeeper to give him all the cash in the shop and set
off for Hu Zhou ……

A few days later, the killing of a doctor in Yi Beihai was like a

thunderbolt that struck a chord in the heart of the nation.

The media, the platforms, were filled with shock at the incident, anger
at the perpetrators, and remembrance of Qin Ciyan.

But gradually, some slippery snakes and poisonous scorpions took

advantage of the chaos to come out of their holes.

” Is Qin Ciyan really as kind and compassionate a healer as he

appears to be?”

” The death of Yi Beihai’s mother is indeed in doubt.”

” Yi Beihai is to be pitied, he and his mother have been living in

poverty, eating out of necessity, it is normal for such a child to be
psychologically distorted ……”

Articles and arguments such as these began to be rotated by some

public figures and vloggers. Many of them questioned Qin Ciyan’s
academic papers to his character, and argued that since he was old
enough to retire, there was no need for him to stay in his job and let
go of his power, which ultimately harmed others and himself.

Some people even started to try to find ways to get to the bottom of
Qin Ciyan and her family. Some said that Qin Ciyan’s daughter had
married a foreigner and settled abroad, and what’s so great about
foreigners? What’s so great about a foreigner? It’s like using the
country’s money to pay for a traitor.

The first time I said that Qin Ciyan’s wife was more than ten years
younger than him, why did she marry him? It must have been because
she wanted his money, and it’s possible that she wasn’t even the first
wife, so if we all dig a little harder, we might even find out that she
was a mistress.

The private affairs of the victim doctors actually became an ecstasy

for these people, making them unable to smell the blood that was still
in the hospital and sinking into an orgy that stripped away privacy
and chewed up hearts.

He didn’t say anything, but he only captured the scene where Qin
Ciyan and his team were so tired and thirsty in the ambulance that
the young doctor next to him opened a bottle of glucose and handed it
to Qin Ciyan to drink. The scene where Qin Ciyan and his group are in
the ambulance because they are too tired and thirsty.

Comment section: “I don’t mean to disrespect Mr. Qin, but there is

one thing to say, in such disaster areas supplies are very tight, right?
There must not even be enough to give resuscitation to the sick, he
drank so much in this one sip …… Has he ever considered the victims
who are lying dying on the hospital beds?”

“Did he pay for the glucose ……”

“Specialists are very powerful, you see he wants to give people a free
surgery fee, how can you drink glucose to give money ah. I know
insiders at Huyi Hospital, they say the specialists are all very black, a
surgery down the red packet no less than five figures, if you see them
reduce the patient fee, in fact is sometimes they have to take the
patient to do some risk test, otherwise how to exercise medical skills.”
But what is most shocking and chilling is the definition of Yi Beihai’s
behaviour.

The briefing investigation revealed that Yi Beihai turned out to be an

intermittent psychiatric patient.

According to Article 18 of the Criminal Law: A mentally ill person who

causes harmful results when he or she is unable to recognize or
control his or her actions, which is confirmed by legal procedures of
identification, is not criminally liable ……

Although all the evidence later showed that Yi Beihai was in a

completely normal state of mind at the time of Qin Ciyan’s murder
and had no uncontrollable condition, Yi Beihai was still sentenced to
death, but the tug of war between the various parties and the
unsettling public opinion in the process left many medical staff at the
time overwhelmed with indignation and sadness.

These are things that, to this day, are still being recounted with great
fondness ……

Xie Qingcheng thought about the events of that year, looked

expressionless for a moment, walked up –

” Xie Qingcheng?”

There were sudden footsteps of several people behind them and a

woman’s voice in surprise.

“How did you …… get here?”

Chapter 28 – I also met Chen Man

Xie Qingcheng turned back, what a coincidence. How come they both
came to visit the grave today?

Standing in front of him are several of his former colleagues from the
Shanghai Medical School.
They are students of Qin Ciyan, mostly in the neurosurgery
department, but not in the same department as Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng says: “…… It’s been a long time.”

Among those doctors was Nurse Zhou, who had changed Xie
Qingcheng’s saline bottle in the emergency room during the night.

Nurse Zhou really did not get along with Xie Qingcheng, and she was
impatient and straightforward, so she stared at him for a while, but
couldn’t help saying, ” Xie Qingcheng, what do you mean? What are
you …… doing at Miss Qin’s grave?”

“……”

“You should hurry up and go, Mr. Qin’s grave should not be for people
like you to pay respects.”

Xie Qingcheng : “I didn’t intend to pay my respects. I just accidentally

passed by.”

“You-!”

Hearing this man talk like this, the doctors next to him couldn’t help
themselves.

A doctor sneered, “Professor Xie is having a good time at Shanghai

Medical School, isn’t he?”

“Good times to have time to come and hang out in the cemetery, being
a teacher is just more laid back than being a doctor.”

Xie Qingcheng looked at them indifferently: “What’s wrong with you

all, am I guilty or wrong for what I’ve done? If you want to be Qin
Ciyan, then you can be Qin Ciyan yourself, why do you want everyone
to follow his path?”

” Xie Qingcheng!” When Nurse Zhou heard him say that, she was even
more speechless, and her face grew long, “You still have no shame!”
Xie Qingcheng said, “I have a low level of awareness, I want to die.”

“…… you go, you get out of here!”

“That’s it! Don’t let us see you here again!”

The young doctors could not control their emotions and almost
strangled Xie Qingcheng in the mausoleum, but the noise was so loud
that it brought the cemetery caretaker to the scene.

The caretaker in grey was busy pulling the strings: “What’s the
matter, what’s the matter, solemnity! Whisper!”

He said, pointing to the sign in the distance.

Then he said in a serious tone, “If you are like this, you will disturb
the long sleepers. If you have any grievances or grudges, then you can
settle them outside, and when you get out of the cemetery, you can
make as much noise as you like.

Nurse Zhou’s big white eyes were rolling out, “Who wants to see him
again after the cemetery. I’m so angry when I see his face ……”

Xie Qingcheng said coldly, “Seeing the faces of you fools makes me
feel bad too.”

” Xie Qingcheng you-!”

“Brother Xie!” Just then, Chen Man finished paying his respects to his
brother, heard the commotion and rushed over, “What’s going on?”

He was dressed in a police uniform and there was a subconscious

silence from those around him.

Nurse Chow, for her part, narrowed her eyes for a moment as she
recognised him.

It’s the young policeman who was at Xie Qingcheng’s side that night
again ……
Chen Man : “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” Xie Qingcheng’s peachy eyes scanned the faces of the
doctors one by one, then said to Chen Man, “Let’s go.”

“Oh ……” Chen Man thought there was some sort of conflict between
them, but Xie Qingcheng probably didn’t want to be nosy and said,
“Xie, be careful, it just rained here and the ground is slippery. .”

As the two of them were about to leave, Nurse Zhou was so disgusted
that she couldn’t stand it. She remembered something that had
happened in Hu Yi Hospital and looked at Xie Qingcheng’s now well-
dressed back. She spat out a few words at Xie Qingcheng.

” Xie Qingcheng , before the hospital was rumouring that you were a
homosexual and I spoke up for you. Now it seems that Professor Xie is
very capable, even you can get into bed with a policeman. A little cop
who sleeps with you at night and waits on you during the day to
protect you, now you’ll be very safe and won’t have to worry about-”

“What the fuck are you talking about!”

This time it was Chen Man who was furious, and he didn’t wait for the
other man to finish his sentence before rushing up to fight Nurse
Zhou.

Xie Qingcheng took Chen Man by the hand: “You let her talk.”

“But she called you names like that-”

“Come on Chen Man, you’re still in uniform, watch your skin.” Chen
Man’s chest rose and fell as he gritted his teeth and glared at the men
before following Xie Qingcheng out of the cemetery.

On the car ride back, Chen Man was still furious and cursing the
whole time.

“How can you be so insulting ……”

“Shea you didn’t make a wrong choice in the first place either ……”
“What gives you the right to kidnap you like that, what gives you the
right to say that ……”

Xie Qingcheng is quite calm, the other party’s words don’t seem to be
on his mind at all, as if nothing has just happened and no one has met
him.

Chen Man : “Brother, how come you’re not angry at all!”

“Why should I be angry.”

“They, they said that about you-”

“They are Qin Ciyan’s disciples and Nurse Zhou was recruited by Qin
Ciyan to work at the hospital. It’s normal for them to look at me
badly.”

“They also said that me and you, me …… me ……”

“Gay?”

“……”

“I’m not gay, he says his, it doesn’t affect me whatsoever.” Xie

Qingcheng said, taking out a phone that he hadn’t looked at much all
morning and unlocking the screen.

As he was going to the mausoleum, he had set his phone on silent

mode and only now saw that He Yu had sent him a message.

He Yu : “I’m returning to school today. When does our engagement

start?”

Xie Qingcheng frowned.

He suddenly thought of that passionate kiss under the confusion in

the hotel.
He couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable, recalling how it was
first rumoured that he was gay at the Shanghai Medical School,
thanks to that bugger He Yu.

It was because He Yu came to see him at the hospital, and the boy
was so tall that he was only a junior high school student, but he was
almost 5’8″, and without his school uniform, he had stunned Nurse
Zhou, who was not married at the time, into thinking that he was a
young brother in his twenties, and ran to ask for his phone number.
As a result, in order not to break Nurse Zhou’s heart and to avoid
embarrassment, He Yu, that unethical grandson, didn’t know how his
brain grew, but he actually smiled and said, “Ah, but I’m Dr. Xie’s
boyfriend, I’m here to wait for him to get off work.”

Xie Qingcheng was a little annoyed at the thought of it, so he sighed

and locked the phone again, not bothering to reply to He Yu.

“I’ll take a nap.” He said to Chen Man, “I have class this afternoon.”

Chen Man was still rambling on when he heard Xie Qingcheng say
something like this and he stopped.

“Oh …… then brother you sleep, I’ll call you when you arrive.”

Xie Qingcheng then went to sleep.

The broken light falls on the car window through the treetops, and
flows over Xie Qingcheng’s well-defined face, his slender neck, his
slightly pale skin, finally hidden deep under his well-kept shirt ……

This man exudes a calm, cold, yet tough aura.

For some reason, Chen Man’s heart fluttered and his anger was
tinged with some very subtle feelings when he thought of the foul
language Nurse Zhou had used on them earlier in the mausoleum,
saying that Xie Qingcheng had slept with a policeman.

His eyes traced Xie Qingcheng’s eyebrows, the bridge of his nose, and
finally rested on Xie Qingcheng’s frozen lips, which, when Xie
Qingcheng was awake, did not contain any kind words, but now that
he was asleep with his eyes closed, they seemed soft again… …

Gradually, Chen Man became absorbed in watching, and the heat

between his breaths seemed to be a little heavier than usual.

Shanghai Da.

In early autumn, the campus is free of the noisy cicadas, but the dead
leaves seem to be unaccustomed to the tranquillity of the world,
falling off the branches in droves, and the students walk by, stepping
on them and creaking them, so that the noise is logically transferred
from the treetops to the ground.

When He Yu returned with his suitcase, he coincidentally met Xie Xue,

who was standing with his head tilted against the entrance of the
kiosk, in front of the school.

“…… What’s wrong with you?”

He wanted to walk around and ignore it, but he didn’t think it was
necessary, he hadn’t confessed to her, and Wei Dongheng might not
accept her affection, so they could at least stay friends for a while.

Xie Xue covered his nose with a tissue and said in a jarring voice: “I
don’t know, autumn dryness, nosebleeds again, hey …… you’re back.
Why didn’t you tell me in advance.”

“…… What’s there to say in advance about this. Rather, you, who
always have nosebleeds to see, take yourself off work and I’ll
accompany you to the hospital.”

“It’s okay it’s okay, it’s not that big of a deal.”

He Yu : “What’s all the fuss about? When I was sick before, you also
said you would accompany me to the hospital, can’t I be considered
conscientious and pay you back?”

Xie Xue was dumbfounded, like her nose was bleeding silly: “It’s been
so long since then, I don’t even remember ……”
He Yu sighed and handed her another packet of tissues, “Get used to
it, I don’t even know how you got into college to become a teacher
with that memory.”

He looked at Xie Xue and replaced it with a clean tissue to cover his
nose: “…… Have you spoken to your brother about the nosebleed?”

“My brother, he’s busy, I don’t bother him.”

At that moment, Xie Xue caught a glimpse of a man coming from a

distance, and he waved at her from afar, and Xie Xue’s face suddenly
turned strangely red.

Before He Yu noticed the visitor, she reached out with her free hand
and nudged him: “So, haven’t you just returned to school? Hurry up
and pack your things. Don’t worry! If my nose bleeds again, I’ll go to
the infirmary first, then I’ll go to the hospital if I can’t. I have a
teaching meeting later, so I’ll go first.”

He Yu : “…… Then you go.”

Xie Xue then left.

He Yu thought her behaviour was a bit strange, but didn’t think too
much of it and dragged his suitcase to his bedroom alone.

He had no intention of telling Xie Xue his feelings now, after all this
time, and especially after the incident in the hotel where he lost
control and kissed Xie Qingcheng, he realised that although he had
not lost his mind completely, he was still a dangerous patient.

He could not be sure whether he would be able to maintain his

present state all the time in the future.

What if he’s even crazier?

So perhaps Xie Qingcheng is right –

He should come out first and try to reach a stable situation that Xie
Qingcheng would recognise, and then it would not be too late for him
to make his feelings clear to Xie Xue.

Anyway, he had waited for so many years, not a moment too soon, and
He Yu thought that a rogue like Wei Dongheng would not really be
with Xie Xue.

When He Yu returned to his dorm room, his roommates were not

there, so he packed his bags and sat down to rest when he saw an
unread message on his phone.

The sender is Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng hadn’t spoken to him all day, and only now did he
finally condescend to reply to his message.

“Meet me in front of the third laboratory building of the Medical

University at 6pm.”

He was about to make good on his promise to Xie Qingcheng to start

what he called a ‘hone’.

Six o’clock.

He Yu arrived on time at the Medical University Laboratory building.

But he waited for almost half an hour before Xie Qingcheng came out.

Professor Xie had probably just finished giving his students a

professional class, wearing a clean white lab coat. It was still a hot
day in early autumn in Hu Zhou, and the muggy heat was still
lingering. He had unbuttoned his lab coat after the course, revealing
his light grey casual suit and straight trousers.

Xie Qingcheng picked up the work card hanging around his neck and
swiped it out of the sliding door of the building. A gust of wind blew
the hem of his coat up high, and he used his writing pad to shield his
hands from the gust.
He Yu pulled on the strap of his shoulder bag with one hand and
thrust it into his pocket with the other, looking at him coldly.

“You have so little sense of time.”

“Classes are late.” Xie Qingcheng said, “Been waiting a long time?
Come with me to dinner first.”

The restaurant at the University of Medical Sciences is very good,

better than HU, and Professor Xie and He Yu went there.

By this time the mealtime had passed and only a few of the made-to-
order windows were still open, with a few late arrivals sitting sparsely
in the large dining hall.

Xie Qingcheng swipes his staff card at one of the windows and returns
to his table with a pick-up sheet on which the canteen lady has
scribbled the name of the dish.

While waiting for the stir-fry, two boys came in next to them, actually
holding hands. Xie Qingcheng didn’t even notice at first, but when the
two boys sat facing each other and talked for a while, the taller one
moved over and gave the other fair-skinned boy a lingering kiss on the
cheek.

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

He Yu : “……”

Homophobic straight men are amazingly in step when it comes to gay

men, and neither had to wait for the other’s reaction before they stood
up together and moved to the table next to the far side.

He Yu : “Why are you also ……”

“I can’t stand it.”

“…… Aren’t you a doctor.”

“Medical philosophy and personal life are two different things.” Xie
Qingcheng pushes one of the two cans of beer he bought from the
cooler by hand and pops open the easy-open can, the beer’s snow-
white hops gushing up as he takes a sip: “Why would big old men
want to be with the same sex …… wouldn’t they feel awkward? ”

He Yu also opened his beer, clinked it with Xie Qingcheng and said, “I
have to say, Dr. Xie you have some ideas that I really agree with. I’ve
even been confessed to by a male student before …… He gave me a
big bouquet of roses.”

“And then what happened?”

“I broke his calf bone.”

“……”

The lady at the canteen window poked her head out and shouted at
the top of her lungs, “Two spicy dry pots for number 19 are ready,
come and get them!”

Xie Qingcheng got up and went to fetch the menu.

The two spicy dry pots, one bright and red, were filled with diced
spicy chicken with dried peppers and peppercorns, crispy pieces of
chicken hidden in a sea of sautéed chillies, crisp and oily slices of
spring onions, and slices of garlic popped over high heat amidst a
mountain of dried chicken pieces gently releasing aromas that
tantalised the taste buds.

This one belongs to Xie Qingcheng.

The other dish, although still called Spicy Dry Pot, is a pot of chops
with no spices, the southern marinade mixed with onion powder fried
until crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, the fatty abalone
mushrooms cut in crosses and lovingly rolled, and the boldly sliced
Peking onion in which the fresh mushrooms and meat are dutifully
flavoured. Not to mention the garlicky southern marinade that hits
you in the stomach.
Xie Qingcheng pushes the pan of deep-fried chops to He Yu.

He Yu : “……”

Xie Qingcheng gave him a look, “You don’t like it?”

He Yu said, “I don’t really like fried food and I’m allergic to curd.”

He smiled, “You’re not taking the opportunity to get back at me for

feeding you the mango, are you?”

“…… I have an acquaintance, a few years older than you, who likes to
eat this every time he comes in. I thought that’s what you young boys
liked. If you’re allergic, stop eating it and order a new one.”

He Yu, not so concerned: “Which acquaintance? Do I know?”

“You don’t know him, the last time you were in the hospital, you didn’t
see him either.”

Xie Qingcheng had just finished saying this and was about to give him
his staff card when suddenly his phone rang. He looked at the screen
and put down his chopsticks, “…… Speak of the devil, I’ll take a call.”

“Hey, Xie, I’m near your building, are you out of class yet?” Chen
Man’s voice came from the phone, He Yu could vaguely hear
something, but it wasn’t very clear.

Xie Qingcheng glanced at He Yu: “I have a patient here. I have

something to say to him tonight, why are you here?”

Chen Man paused for a few seconds, “I… I was just passing by from
work and you left your notebook in the car this morning, so I brought
it to you. If you have something to do, you can go ahead.”

He Yu was somewhat interested in this Cao Cao, he had some interest

in anyone who could establish a stable relationship with Xie
Qingcheng and thought, “It’s fine, people are here, let’s have a meal
together, it’s just that I can’t eat this fragrant pot, didn’t you say he
liked it?”
“You don’t mind?”

“Don’t mind.”

Xie Qingcheng then gave Chen Man the location.

He Yu went back to the window and ordered a light seafood casserole

congee and a couple of cans of beer.

As he finishes his order, Chen Man comes rushing into the canteen,
carrying a paper bag containing Xie Qingcheng’s notebook.

He Yu, with his hand in his pocket and three cans of beer in his other
hand, looks straight ahead and walks indifferently back through the
window with his shoulder bag.

They met at Xie Qingcheng’s table and looked at each other.

Both young men are strikingly handsome, Chen Man is fresh and
sunny, He Yu is beautiful and elegant, the kind of look that would
make a normal person glance at them for a moment.

There is a slight bewilderment as they look at each other.

He Yu thought Chen Man looked a bit familiar, and Chen Man seemed
to think so too.

But again, none of them could remember where they had seen it
before.

Chen Man, a very pleasant man, smiled back at He Yu, who had
always been a sensible man in front of people, and to use an
inappropriate analogy, in ancient times, when personalities changed
again, young master He was like a lady of the house and could not
easily lose his manners, so he also smiled politely at Chen Man.

“Hello.”

“Hello, officer.”
Chen Man froze for a moment, “You know me?”

He Yu: “Professor Xie mentioned you.” And I saw Xie Qingcheng in the
hospital wearing your uniform.

Xie Qingcheng frowned as he saw them standing like a harem drama

in which a princess meets a promise: “Sit down, why are you
standing?”

Chen promised that he was a policeman and had the humble quality of
a people’s servant, smiling, “Comrade, you can sit down.”

He Guifei was used to being in and out of business situations with her
parents since she was a child, and was very much aware of capitalist
courtesies, smiling, “After you, sir.”

The people’s police officer, caught off guard by being called sir, was a
little uncomfortable and scratched his head, sitting down rather
restrainedly.

The bourgeois, coldly called a comrade, was quite at ease, smiled and
sat down with him.

Neither of them introduced themselves specifically.

This is the way it is in modern social situations. When you meet a

friend of a friend, you don’t usually give your name, it’s a kind of
conventional barrier, and it’s clear that they are just a meal for each
other, not a deep friendship. There is no need to give your name.

But this did not affect in any way the friendly communication between
the two young people.

After all, they are of a similar age and have a lot in common, plus He
Yu himself has the mentality of “I want to see what kind of oddball Xie
Qingcheng’s acquaintances are”, so once the topic was brought up,
the two people who don’t even know each other’s names actually
managed to talk from games to footballers and from footballers to
tournaments.
At the end of the conversation, Chen Man and He Yu, two handsome
young men, were laughing and having a friendly exchange between
capitalism and socialism, almost as if they had reached a united front
with the Communist Party.

It was as if an East African Rift Valley-like generation gap had

appeared between Brother Xie and them, and they couldn’t get a word
in edgewise.

“…… hahahahahaha yeah that ball was awesome.”

“Sealed zero duel kills are rare indeed.”

“Did you see the one in England?”

“I was on duty that day and watched the replay ……”

The two youngsters annoyed the middle-aged man: “Are you going to
eat?”

Chen Man immediately reacted and realised that he was talking too
much with his peers, and hastily handed Xie Qingcheng a can of beer:
“Brother, you drink.”

He Yu ducked his head without a word, flexing his fingers against the
corner of his forehead to hide the glint of derision at the corner of his
lips.

He just did it on purpose.

Xie Qingcheng was accompanied by this man in the hospital, which

means they should be on good terms. He Yu became interested in the
character of this policeman and wanted to see what kind of man could
tolerate a dad like Xie Qingcheng.

Now that I look at it, I see that it is indeed a silly boy with a very
sunny psyche.
Chen Man is now afraid of leaving Xie Qingcheng alone, and is not too
afraid to talk to He Yu, but always talks to Xie Qingcheng in a casual
manner.

The meal was almost finished, and He Yu reckoned that there was
nothing more to talk about, so he laughed and said, “Professor Xie,
tell me the business, and I’ll leave afterwards.”

Xie Qingcheng didn’t leave him behind and gave He Yu a list: “These
are the students who are often absent from school, you have one week
to go and talk to them one by one and see if their situation hasn’t
changed in a week.”

He Yu took it and looked at it: “Why are they all girls?”

“I have the boys’ share.”

He Yu looks at the list carefully.

Xie Qingcheng : “I have the same number of boys on my list as you do,
and I will talk to them this week as well, and I will do a roll call in the
big class next week. If you lose you have to work for me.”

He Yu : “It’s hard to succeed, isn’t it? You’re a teacher, threaten them

to fail a course and they’ll all come back.”

“What do you call exercise when it’s easy to do successfully. Why

don’t you just ask me to feed you milk?”

He Yu didn’t want to nag him any more, the bully wasn’t afraid of
challenges, so he casually shoved the information into his shoulder
bag, “Let’s go, we’ll see you in a week.”

He nodded politely to Chen Man and smiled, “Take your time, Officer,
I’ll see you later.”

After He Yu had left, Chen Man asked Xie Qingcheng, “Brother, is he

a patient? He looks quite cheerful.”
“…… He just had a little problem with falling out of love. His dad
wasn’t comfortable with it and asked me to do some opening up.”

Chen Man was shocked: “Huh? He can fall out of love even if he’s so
handsome. That girl’s eyes are too high ……”

“What’s the use of being handsome.” Xie Qingcheng thinks of Hang

Zhou when he talks about lost love, and when he talks about Hang
Zhou, he thinks of He Yu’s eyeless kiss, and when he thinks of that
kiss, he gets a little uncomfortable and says to Chen Man with a cold
face, “Look at him, he can’t make money and he can’t support his
family.”

Chen Man was quiet for some reason, then laughed, “Brother, I can
make money and support my family.”

Xie Qingcheng didn’t care at all, just took it as an inexplicable

comparison between handsome young guys: “It’s good, find a date
while you’re young.”

Chen Man : “……”

Xie Qingcheng said lightly, “Have some more food.”

“Good ……”
 Chapter 29 – He Fouled
Afew days later, the Shanghai Medical School.

Inside Xie Qingcheng’s office.

“Oooooooooooooooooooo Professor Tse, I was wrong! I was really

wrong! I don’t have a heart! I’m not human! I have failed your trust
and the expectations of the party and the country, I will never miss
class again ooooooooooooo ……”

Xie Qingcheng sat at his desk, the tip of his pen running across the
paper, ticking off the list and saying to the other party without raising
his eyes, “Good. Go back.”

The boys went away crying in pain.

He had a lot of tricks up his sleeve to deal with problem students. This
boy from the clinical medicine department came in arrogantly and
domineeringly, but he left in tears. Before he left, he bowed to Xie
Qingcheng and choked up, promising to clean up his act and never
skip a class again, not even Professor Xie’s.

Xie Qingcheng closes his notebook, folding his fingers in front of him.
The boys with the problematic attitudes have all promised him that
they will straighten themselves out in the future. Unless He Yu can
persuade all the girls on the other table to come on board too, He Yu
will not be able to beat him in this game.

Sitting upright in his office chair, he felt that he had won, so he

thought for a moment about how to teach the losing primary school
bully.

After a few moments of thoughtless contemplation, the phone

suddenly rang.

“Hello.”

“Professor Tse, it’s me.”

The caller was a girl in her first year of forensic science.

Like He Yu, this girl is an academic. Although she is on He Yu’s list of

talkers, she is one of Xie Qingcheng’s most disciplined students.

She was specially placed there by Xie Qingcheng.

As a cool lady who is much more involved in the study of corpse giants
than in the study of Dior Chanel, she is not obliged to come to her
major classes, for no other reason than the fact that this high-flying
goddess can learn on her own much faster than following a class.

This goddess and god of learning was often a loner, she did not get on
well with her classmates and did not listen to all the teachers, but she
had a lot of respect for Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng is grateful to her for her professionalism, which

inspires her to be strong, and for the fact that the school did not allow
her to apply for independent study, but Xie Qingcheng helped her to
get the opportunity, saying that she had to be taught according to her
ability.

“Professor Tse, the boy called He Yu came to see me.”

“What did he say.”

“He said he was sent by you to talk to me and asked me to have a

coffee with him tomorrow.”

“You go, but don’t listen to him.”

“I know, I’m sure I’ll do you a favor.” The female student said, “But
Professor Xie, he’s from Shanghai University next door, right? He’s
not from our medical school either, how do you know him?

“The son of an acquaintance.” Xie Qingcheng says, “His father has

helped me in the past and I helped teach him when he had some
problems.”

And he was being honest. If it hadn’t been for He Jiwei, he might not
have been in charge of He Yu for so long.

“Oh.” The schoolmaster didn’t ask any more questions, “Then I know,
you can rest assured that I’ll do my job and I definitely won’t let you
down. I’m going to go read my book first, hanging up.”

Xie Qingcheng put the phone away, threw it in his pocket, packed his
teaching materials and went back to the dormitory.

Of course, Xie Qingcheng also knew that He Yu was no slouch, and he

watched with a cool eye as, only two days into the week, the girls who
hadn’t yet returned to class, one by one, and by Thursday, all eleven
students except the female student were back in the classroom, sitting
at the end of their misery.

The female schoolteacher is the last one.

On Thursday afternoon, the student came over to him with a book of

questions and asked him for advice, and when Xie Qingcheng had
finished, he asked, “Has He Yu approached you?”

“Searched.” The sharp, competent girl with the ponytail replied,

“Twice a week, both times for afternoon tea with me.”
But when the girl said that, she actually hesitated for a moment and
then said, “Except he …… didn’t talk to me about missing school or
anything like that, he just really asked me to come out for a walk and
talk.”

Xie Qingcheng frowns slightly.

It’s Thursday and we’re still not talking about business?

Three days to go before the end of the week, what has He Yu got up
his sleeve ……

While lost in thought, the female academic suddenly coughed softly,

“Professor Xie.”

“Hmm?” He lifted his eyes, distracted, and glanced at her faintly.

“I have a question to ask you.”

“Go ahead.” Xie Qingcheng had already picked up the pen with which
he had solved the problem from the table.

But the schoolgirl’s next words made him put the lid on his pen again
–

The bully asked a question that had nothing to do with his studies:
“So, is He Yu in the 1001 Choreography class at Shanghai
University?”

Only a straight man like Xie Qingcheng could not understand what the
girl was thinking when she had asked him so much. He frowned,
sizing up the iron lady standing in front of him, clutching her
notebook.

Finally, I just had to nod dryly, “Yes. What’s wrong.”

“It’s nothing.” The academic bully said decisively, spreading his

notebook out and successfully distracting the teacher, “Professor Xie,
here are the questions I’ve compiled this week that are related to your
major, please help me with them.”
Turning up on Sunday.

The female academic sent him a message, “Professor Xie, are you free
this evening? I’ve been thinking about it all day and I’ve figured out
something, can I talk to you about it?”

So at 6.30 pm, Xie Qingcheng arrived at the office door as promised.

His office was on the fifth floor of the school building, at the far end of
the corridor, and as he walked along the long walkway he didn’t
recognise the girl standing by the banister at all.

When he arrived at his office door, he started fumbling with his keys
to open the door, but automatically ignored the girl who was close by,
and even when she called out “Professor Xie”, his first reaction was
not to look at the young girl, but to look around, trying to find the
student with the white T and jeans.

“…Professor Tse, I’m here.”

Xie Qingcheng back: “……”

A moment later, he subconsciously took a step backwards and the

back of his head hit the aluminium door of the office with a “bang!”
The back of his head hit the aluminium security door of the office,
causing him to let out a cold breath of air and cover his head with a
half-smile.

“Professor! Are you all right?”

“…… I’m fine.”

He was fine for a bump, but it was the girl in front of him who seemed
to have more problems.

The female schoolteacher is completely different from her usual self.

She loosened the ponytail she had been wearing and had the stylist
blow-dry her hair, her face was covered in delicate make-up, and she
wore a pure white tulle dress, her slim legs were like jade hacking
into them, straight down, the line ending in a pair of black satin high
heels. The heels, with their silver buckles, adorned her tender ankles
and set off her root-pink nails.

Xie Qingcheng had to go up and down several times before concluding

that this was indeed not a forgery, but the genuine article.

Suddenly he felt his head ache even more, with a vague sense of some
kind of foreboding.

As expected, the female student’s next words were straightforward:

“Professor Xie, I came to tell you that I went out with He Yu again
today, and this time he talked to me about letting me go back to class,
but he also told me about the agreement between you two.”

“……”

“Professor Tse, as much as I respect you, I don’t think it’s good for
you to take advantage of people like this, it’s really not the right thing
for someone who is a teacher to do.”

Xie Qingcheng’s hand, which was about to take the key and open the
door, stopped: “…… He Yu What did he say to you.”

“Everything was said, he said he didn’t succeed in confessing to the

person he liked and you told him to hone his skills more, so you set
him a lot of difficult challenges.”

Xie Qingcheng raises his hand, his long, bony fingers scratching
through his forehead, scrunching his otherwise meticulously combed
hair in an annoying manner, a few strands of ink falling down.

He glared at her with cold, sharp peach eyes just behind the scattered
ink-black, tsked and turned his gaze away again, “It’s not as simple as
you think.”

After a pause, he added.

“…… Forget it, you go back.”

But the schoolgirl didn’t go away, still gazing at him with the
insistence of a schoolgirl, “Teacher, you have to appreciate He Yu’s
feelings and not make things difficult for him at this time. I think this
matter is really wrong on your part, and I hope you can apologise to
He Yu when you have the chance later.”

……

He Yu This has put a blood compulsion on her, right?

Xie Qingcheng’s expression was much colder, his gaze piercing out
from under his broken hair: “I’m asking you to go back, do you
understand?”

“I understand. But before I go back I want to confess to you,

Professor, that you and I have made a private agreement, and I have
told He Yu about it.”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

“I couldn’t help it, he was sincere with me and I didn’t want to lie to
him. The fact that you put me on the list specifically to win him over is
something I just can’t hide for you.”

The little traitor actually ended with a courteous bow to Xie

Qingcheng.

“I beg your pardon.”

With that, the girl turned around and stomped away on her high heels,
taking a catwalk that Xie Qingcheng hadn’t taken in all the time she’d
known her.

Xie Qingcheng felt a terrible headache, but he couldn’t really argue

with the schoolgirl, so he had to grit his teeth and whisper, “He, Yu
……”

Shifting light and shadow.

A short distance in front of them, footsteps sounded.

And then –

“Professor Tse looking for me?”

Xie Qingcheng looked up suddenly, his hair even more dishevelled,

and his gaze pinned in the direction from which the voice came.

In front of him, he saw a tall boy with a shoulder bag in his pockets, a
relaxed, calm look on his face, a pair of almond-shaped eyes with a
smile on the corner of his mouth.

He Yu has actually been hiding behind a large Gothic column at the

end of the corridor, unbeknownst to the schoolmistress and
unbeknownst to Xie Qingcheng.

He Yu leaned back with his hands in his pockets and listened to the
damned three-person gothic pillar while the bully fought on his behalf
and while Xie Qingcheng was being silenced by students.

Is this even fucking human?

Xie Qingcheng’s face was blue, his gaze shadowy: “You-”

“Oh, you can’t talk about me.” He Yu raised his hand in a shushing
gesture, his eyes narrowed slightly in a way that seemed
imperceptibly gangly.

He looked at Xie Qingcheng from the top down and sneered, “It was
you who first got someone to set me up and collaborate to prevent me
from winning. I’m not being mean if I try to do this to you, am I?”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

If you lose, you will only lose your face if you keep on talking.

Xie Qingcheng then gritted his teeth and said no more.

It was only after a while that Xie Qingcheng said, “How did you cheat
her? Look at the way she’s dressed now, does she even look like a
student? Halter tops and short skirts ……”
“No good.” He Yu comes around and stands at Xie Qingcheng’s
doorstep, one hand still in his pocket, the other still clutching the
buckle of his shoulder bag, the only difference being that when he
gets closer, the way he looks at Xie Qingcheng with lowered eyelashes
is more naked.

“So what do you think a student should look like.”

He closed in on him as if to nail him through a door panel.

“Cultured shirt, jeans, high ponytail and no make-up?”

“Dr. Xie,” he sighed, “I actually wanted to tell you a long time ago that
I’m not the only one who’s sick, you need to see it too. You are too
controlling, do you know that you are straight? What an age it is, you
still think you don’t know how to behave when a girl wears a halter
dress.”

Take a step closer and almost drop your face, nose-to-nose.

This distance can feel ambiguous to the opposite sex, but both are
male and have no same-sex sexual orientation, so it becomes a
distance with aggression and aggression.

This message needs no special words to explain it, it just goes straight
into the flesh and blood of Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng was forced by He Yu to lean back against the cold door
panel, and now that he had come to his senses, he felt very
uncomfortable. Xie Qingcheng didn’t want to talk to him anymore and
raised his hand against He Yu’s firm, broad chest.

“Forget it. I’ll cut the crap with you and get out of the way.”

With that, he pushed the man hard, and then rubbed his right wrist,
dropped his arm to give him a cross look, and walked away from him
walling himself up in a sombre manner.

“…… Wait a minute, Xie Qingcheng .”

A dozen metres away, He Yu turns his head again and calls after him.

Xie Qingcheng’s face was already very ugly, but he stood gloomily for
a moment, still turning his head sideways with an iron face: “What
for?”

He Yu raised the list he had somehow pulled out of his school bag,
“You lose this game.”

That’s not all, and when he was done the scum shoved the list into his
bag and pulled out a piece wrapped in pink wrapping paper.

He Yu raised his eyes and looked at him in a casual way, while raising
his hand and slowly untying the wrapping ribbon, and said, “Although
the professor is playing an exercise game with me, you should have a
penalty for losing. Otherwise it’s no fun.”

“……”

“Tell me, what do you think I should punish you for being a professor,
an elder, and my former personal physician, and yet you are so
unruly. What would I have to do to you to teach you a little lesson?”

You can’t lose your manners when you lose.

Xie Qingcheng said indifferently, “What do you want.”

“What a shame, I, for one, haven’t thought about it.”

He Yu said gently.

“I’ll owe it for now, and I’ll count it together later when I think of it.”

“Together?”

“Hmm. I think you’ll lose to me next.”

Xie Qingcheng could not hold his fire any longer: ” He Yu, don’t be too
wild.”
“I wouldn’t dare.” He Yu laughed, saying this, but “daring” to give Xie
Qingcheng a provocative look, “But Professor Xie, you’d better not
cheat afterwards, you’re not very good at it, and if you move, I’ll easily
find out. ”

His tone was actually still polite.

With his mouth full, the pink wrapper was already torn open in his
hands.

It turned out to be a piece of chocolate, but it was so crooked that it

didn’t look like it had been bought outside, but rather the clumsy
handiwork of some novice.

“Didn’t you just ask me how I communicate with people? It’s nothing
really, it’s just that I’ve invited her to afternoon tea twice before and I
accompanied her to the handmade chocolate class today. She doesn’t
have many friends at school, and the other students think she’s out of
place and weird, but she’s actually quite nice to be around. It’s just
that not many people will take the initiative to invite her when it’s
time to play.”

He said, snapping off the chocolate block and containing a small piece
of brown cocoa curd between two rows of snow-white teeth.

Then, carrying his shoulder bag, he walked past Xie Qingcheng.

The boy didn’t even look at Xie Qingcheng as they passed each other,
his almond eyes straight ahead as he bit into his chocolate and
chewed it slowly without looking away.

“So sweet.”

The bully left after that, leaving Xie Qingcheng with a svelte back in
the sunset.

Same time.
A villa in Hu Zhou at dusk.

The woman’s high heels tread across the bricks of the terrace and the
red hem of her skirt skims the man’s legs.

“Mr. Duan.” She smiled and sat snugly beside the man, lighting a
cigarette for him.

” Liang Jicheng Everything in the house was destroyed?”

“All clean.”

The woman’s hair is long and wavy, and she wants to ask for a kiss.
The woman lifted her long, wavy hair and tried to kiss her, but Mr.
Duan turned his face sideways and avoided it, sniffing at the side of
her neck.

“How many people have you slept with today? It all smells.”

“It’s all because of you?” The woman slouched, “When can you get
down to Shanghai University? I’m tired of sleeping with those
trustees, greasy old things.”

“Those school board members are old, but Mr. Wong is not old? I see
you quite like him.”

The woman daintily took her fingertips and fiddled with her hair: “Mr.
Huang that is old in heart, the more he lives, the more poised he
becomes. But ……” she smiled, “I prefer you, Mr. Duan ……”

Boss Duan raised his finger and nudged it on her soft lips, saying
faintly, “If you keep misbehaving like this, I’ll have to go and talk to
your family’s General Manager Huang. Guess if he’ll be angry when
he finds out.”

The woman stiffened for a moment and forced a smile, “I’m just
messing with you. So serious.”

Boss Duan raised his hand and stroked her hair, his eyes quite calmly:
“Go about your business, I can see that after the accident at Cheng
Kang Hospital, there are some people down there who are not very
peaceful. You can play with those hamsters for a while longer, and
when the equipment we’ve acquired from the US for the hackers we
have here arrives, the work of deterring the rats can begin.”

He lifted the woman’s jaw and examined her brow.

Softly and slowly, “When the time comes, we’ll rely on the hackers for
the technology, but we’ll rely on you and her for cleaning the hamster
cages at HU.”

The light shone on the woman’s face, which was a delicate and
luscious face.

–It was Jiang Liping, a female teacher at the University of Shanghai!

“It’s okay to hit as hard as you can.” Boss Duan’s fingers caressed her
cheek, “I know, you’ve suffered a lot over the years …… After you’re
done, you won’t have to be a ‘bugger’ in the middle of that old group
of hamsters ……”
 Chapter 30 – Who drinks the milk
Another week has passed since then.

This weekend, Xie Qingcheng is not staying at the University of

Medicine – he’s going back to his old house in downtown Hu Zhou to
check it out.

Since the siblings were at university, the old house has not been
inhabited by anyone, and since men and women are different, it is a
bit awkward for both Xie Qingcheng and Xie Xue to live in a snail’s
pace place of less than forty square feet.

However, because they had a good relationship with their neighbours,

and because Auntie Lai treated them like her own mother, the two
siblings would come back every now and then to have a meal and stay
with her for a couple of days.

Xie Qingcheng has had a lot on his plate lately and hadn’t been home
for a while.
“Go to Auntie Lai’s for the weekend, I’ll drive up and pick you up.”

I didn’t expect Xie Xue to say, “I passed by there the night before last,
and I’ve already been to see her.”

“…… Why didn’t you tell me.”

“I…” Xie Xue said with a grunt, “I just have nothing to do but hang
out.”

“There are three underground changes from Shanghai University to

Strange Rain Lane, and there’s no major shopping mall near there, so
you’re just going to wander there by yourself?”

“Yes, yes.”

” Xie Xue, don’t lie to me here.” Xie Qingcheng’s tone was suddenly
cold, “Is there something you’ve been hiding from me lately?”

Xie Xue grunted and couldn’t make up a single word, and finally
simply let out a panicked “ahh”.

“Brother, my phone is out of battery.”

” Xie Xue!”

“I’m really out of battery, I’m hanging up now, go by yourself brother,

I’ve got some work to do this weekend, remember to say hello to
Auntie Lai for me! Bye!”

Xie Qingcheng was about to say something else when his phone
beeped.

……

Xie Qingcheng cut off the call, threw the phone on the table with a
chilly face and walked out onto the dormitory balcony, finishing a
whole cigarette in a distracted manner.

If Xie Xue doesn’t go, he still has to go back.

Not only did he have to visit Auntie Lai, but he also had to clean up
the house. Although no one lives there all the time, it is, after all, his
and Xie Xue’s real home.

So after class on Friday night, Xie Qingcheng picked up some simple

personal items and took the underground back to Strange Rain Lane.

It is one of the few dilapidated alleyways in the city that has not been
demolished. It was built when it was a tenement, with dark red bricks
and pink and white trim. The interlocking clotheslines are like
wrinkles that cannot be covered with powder, and the peeling paint is
a dull lip gloss. These small buildings are a reminder of grandparents
sitting in the middle of young people taking photographs, and are
quite typical of the times.

When Xie Qingcheng entered the alleyway, some old ladies and uncles
were collecting clothes and greeted him when they saw him…

“Professor Tse, you’re back?”

“Has Dr. Xie eaten? Master and Uncle have cooked some corn here
that I can’t eat, so I’ll send it to you later.”

Xie Qingcheng answered them, then turned sideways into the

entrance of the building, which was full of broken bicycles, and went
into the door of his house.

Later, when Xie Xue grew up, he was much sweeter and interacted
with others more frequently than he did, so the affectionate name
“Xiao Xie” was given to his sister, while he was mostly addressed
politely as Professor Xie and Dr Xie.

The only elder not named Xie Qingcheng by her professional name is
Auntie Lai.

Xie Qingcheng and her family share the same doorway, so he went
inside and put the change of clothes he had brought back and
knocked on Auntie Lai’s door.

“Make some noise, make some noise, it’s night time -”

After knocking for half a day, the little red broken door of Auntie Lai’s
house did not open, but the grandfather uncle living in the attic
opened the window and reluctantly stretched out a thinly haired brain
in a crooked manner, but halfway through cursing, finding the person
standing below, the grandfather uncle curbed his spittle.

“Oh, so it’s Dr. Xie who’s back.”

“Uncle, where’s Auntie Lai?”

“Hey hey hey, she met Xiao Xie a few days ago and thought that Nong
would not follow so soon back, so she went to her little sister’s place
this morning.”

“Went to her friend’s?” Xie Qingcheng frowned slightly.

“Yes, aigoo, you don’t know Auntie Lai’s, people are crazy, a lot of
years old, but also crazy and little sisters to engage in what
cheongsam show, play to have a good time. Probably won’t be back
for a couple of days.”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

“Has Dr. Xie eaten yet?” When Uncle Xie had finished talking, he
greeted Xie Qingcheng, “If you haven’t eaten, come up and eat with
Uncle Xie.”

Xie Qingcheng and his neighbours are always nonchalant: “What’s for
dinner?”

“Eat the mango.” My uncle poked an old, grainy bark-like hand out of
the narrow window and held out a large, yellow, peeled mango.

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

When the old urchin saw his expression, he laughed out loud, a few
strands of thinning hair shaking in the wind: “Look at you, look at you,
a serious man with a frown on his face, hahahahahahaha, hair
dimple.”
Xie Qingcheng : “…… Forget it, you can eat it yourself, I’m going
home.”

With that he flung the door open and went into his family room.

The room is divided into two halves, separated by a simple blue

curtain, and the window with a view of the outside is Xie Xue’s place.
The bed is a princess bed that Xie Qingcheng gave her when she was
in junior high school, with colourful dolls and pillows on it, and faded
celebrity posters on the wall along the edge of the bed.

Xie Qingcheng tosses his jacket onto his bed and threads his long,
slender fingers into his tie buckle, pulling it loose and letting it
breathe.

His bed was placed against the door, also separated by a curtain, he
lived a less sophisticated life, an old wooden bed from his parents’
generation to the present, the old furniture is strong, more than thirty
years of conscientious weather accompany, still very solid and
durable.

After a busy week, Xie Qingcheng was so tired that he poured some
water and took some medicine, lay down in bed and slept for a while,
and when he woke up, it was completely dark.

With Auntie Lai away, he was too lazy to sit down and have a good
meal, so he fished out his phone and ordered a random takeaway.

Before you can close the page after clicking it, a WeChat alert pops
up.

He Yu : “Where are you?”

Xie Qingcheng 懒得回.

A second message popped up, “I came to see you at the medical

university and didn’t see you there.”

“……”
Xie Qingcheng, too tired to type, replied as little as possible, “Home.”

He Yu seems to be saying, “You’re home? Have you gone home? Is Xie

Xue with you?”

People who have been tightly wound up can hardly be wound up

immediately once they have returned to the realm of peace of mind
and have completely relaxed.

Xie Qingcheng was lying flat on the old wooden bed, with his tie and
the top two buttons of his shirt loosened, his whole body was so lazy
and soft that he didn’t even bother to move his fingers, he just
pressed his voice, his voice was a little tired and hoarse: “Are you
bothered, she’s not with me, it’s the weekend, why do you come to
me? There’s no milk for you to drink either. You don’t know how to
order takeaway yourself and you need company?”

He doesn’t usually speak so harshly to He Yu.

He was caught cheating by He Yu, so he was a bit embarrassed and

didn’t think of a way to get back into the game, so he didn’t look for
the kid for a week.

Now that He Yu has taken the initiative to bounce him, he’s on fire,
wanting to rest and not worry about the psycho.

The psycho was really silent for a while.

Then came a text message.

“I’m a bit bored.”

Xie Qingcheng continued without a ripple: “Go play with your

classmates.”

Text message: “I wanted to come and see you.”

“Can’t you understand me He Yu ? I’m on a weekend, I’m taking a

break, and I’m at my own house, and you’ve only been here a few
times as a kid and don’t remember the way.” Xie Qingcheng rejects
him irritably, but probably because he’s lying flat on the edge of the
bed and he’s tired, he can’t help but bring on some soft nasal sounds.

He Yu Another text message, “Don’t worry, I remember it well.”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

Also, how else would you be a schoolteacher.

“Don’t you come, there’s no time to entertain you. Unless you’re sick
again. Are you sick?”

Text message: “Not sick.”

“Then don’t come.”

Then the text message, “You lost to me last time and I haven’t given
you a request have I?”

Xie Qingcheng stared blankly at the ceiling with both eyes, the light
from his phone screen illuminating his face with a blue glow,
becoming increasingly deadly dull: “…… He Yu , what exactly do you
want.”

This time the message from the other side was not returned
immediately and seemed to be in thought.

Just when Xie Qingcheng had lost his patience and was about to throw
his phone aside and go back to sleep, another message came from He
Yu, this time a direct voice. The young man’s voice was in perfect
condition, a pool of warmth and subtlety in every word.

Just what was said was shameless.

“I’m not ill, but I’m not in a very good mood, and it’s quite tiring to
think that I have to pretend in front of everyone else, but not in front
of you, so I came to see you for a break.”

“…… Am I a playground? You have nothing to do but come to my place

for a break?” Xie Qingcheng glared at the nice tone, ” He Yu , what
kind of mental disorder do you have, you avoided me before faster
than a dog, but as a result, you got some sweetness last time, and now
you are still chasing after me yourself, what, you are still addicted to
it?”

He Yu actually doesn’t know what’s going on with him.

Maybe I’ve always had my eyes on Xie Xue and I’ve always had a bit of
anticipation.

Now that this expectation was gone, and his eyes unwilling to let Xie
Xue see it again, he chose to turn his gaze away.

In the midst of this bewilderment, he finally finds Xie Qingcheng the

perfect person to work through his knots – Xie Qingcheng knows him
well and ……

The eyes of Xie Qingcheng are, at least, similar to those of Xie Xue.

He watched, somewhat relieved even if he knew it was a fake. Not to

mention that it was really interesting to have Xie Qingcheng lose to
him, something he hadn’t expected and had never imagined before.

Xie Qingcheng is probably right, he is a bit of an addict.

What he didn’t expect was to wait for Xie Qingcheng to call on him
again, but he didn’t. A week had passed, and he was a bit bored. After
a week had passed, he was a bit bored, so tonight he condescended to
send him such a message, and after Xie Qingcheng’s repeated refusal,
he coldly resisted the urge to change the text message to a voice
message, hoping that the other party would hear the displeasure in
his voice.

“I’m coming over now.”

Xie Qingcheng was so annoyed that he threw his phone against the
wall, and He Yu’s unpleasant voice was still playing automatically in
the cramped old house…
“You haven’t been looking for me all week, you’re not afraid, are
you?”

Xie Qingcheng sighed, “I’m fucking scared of you, damn it.”

Xie Qingcheng originally pointed out that he had misremembered the

location of the wrong house, but when the old broken security door
was knocked on unhurriedly, Xie Qingcheng knew that it would be
better to expect He Yu’s IQ to drop than to expect him to walk down
the road and fall into a manhole cover under construction.

“Duk Duk Duk.”

“……” Xie Qingcheng, who had been lying in bed until the power went
out, moved his fingers, still not wanting to get up.

He Yu played the fine qualities of a contemporary university student

who respects the old and loves the young, and is civilized and polite,
and did not rush, nor did he leave, Xie Qingcheng did not get up, he
just bent his index finger and knocked on the door a few times every
few moments, not lightly but not heavily.

He wasn’t even in a hurry.

He was not in a hurry, but the old man upstairs, who had good
hearing, was, and he pushed open the attic window: “Knock, knock,
knock! You’ve been knocking for so long you can’t ask if there’s
anyone there! Yeah? You look familiar, who are you looking for? Who
are you looking for? You’re here to join the community charity and
comfort the widows?”

……

What a fucking disgrace.

Xie Qingcheng, a widow lying in bed and pretending to be dead, was

forced to get up, pulled open the security door and shouted upstairs,
“It’s okay, Uncle, I know someone.”
While clutching the collar of the youth standing outside, he violently
yanked the man through the half-open doorway and into the house.

“Come on in.” The battered security door slammed shut behind them,
and the word ‘fortune’ stuck on the door trembled and shuddered a
few inches because of the force of it.

Xie Qingcheng slammed He Yu against the wall with a black face.

“What do want you to do.”

He Yu stood against the wall, smelling faintly of laundry and the scent
of young boys who had spent time in the sun, the smell of youth in
Ronson.

This smell enters the room and mixes with the cold, scribbling tobacco
smell in Xie Qingcheng’s house.

He Yu raised his eyebrows and pointed upstairs, “Didn’t everyone else

say that? I’ve come to console the widows and orphans.”

The young man did not have the subtlety of a volunteer and did not
regard himself as an outsider.

The most annoying thing was that after going around the house, the
volunteer came back and politely made a request to the “widow and
orphan” whom he had consoled.

“Brother Xie, I’m a bit hungry, can I have something to eat.”

Xie Qingcheng was so annoyed that he lifted his hand and scratched
up his hanging forehead hair: “Go and drink your milk.”

“Do you have milk for me to drink?”

“……” Xie Qingcheng tossed a carton of soothing milk at him as he

rummaged through the carton with no good grace.

He Yu took one look: “This milk is not pure enough, I never drink this
brand.”
“……”

Xie Qingcheng’s eyes were like blades and his thin lips were like frost:
“Then what would you like to drink, young master? Do you want me to
find someone to produce some for you now?”

Chapter 31 – He’s so shameless

Not pure milk is left out in the cold.

Xie Qingcheng’s own takeaway is two buns, one with meat and one
with vegetables.

He Yu didn’t like meat buns, he thought they were too greasy, but
when he was given vegetable buns, he thought the leaves hadn’t been
washed carefully, and he was like the aunt of a lord in the old days.
He opened the fridge and managed to find a bag of wontons from the
freezer.

Brother Xie asked Aunt He, “The next door neighbour packed it, the
last bag, pure and unpolluted, this is it, will you eat it?”

Aunt He’s eyes glanced over her elder brother’s, discerning that the
older man’s patience level had reached a critical point.

After all, he had come here for a break and it wouldn’t do him any
good if he really annoyed Xie Qingcheng.
So He Yu smiled, and his pretty, clean-cut face looked a little
introspective – though he was pretending.

“Then I’ll trouble you.”

The scene that follows is a magical reality in the world of

volunteerism.

Dr. Xie, the widowed man, was seen with a gloomy face and pursed
lips, holding a wooden-handled spoon in front of the induction stove
and watching the water boil.

He Yu, a student volunteer, stood as far away as possible from Xie

Qingcheng in a straight line. A gentleman is far away from the
kitchen, and he looks around the house in a quiet and calm manner,
as he should.

When He Yu was in junior high school, he came here a few times with
Xie Xue, when Li Ruoqiu was still there, and there was a wedding
photo of Xie Qingcheng and her in the house.

The photos are now gone.

But it seems that the photos of Li Ruoqiu are not the only ones, as
there are several locations where the old photos have been removed
much earlier, so you can’t even see them unless you look closely.

“Do you want vinegar?” Xie Qingcheng asked him.

“Yes.” He Yu said, “I’ll add it myself.”

Inside the house is quiet, and through the walls you can hear the
small movements of the neighbours living in the snail’s pace of
Strange Rainy Lane. People live in the world like cells in the body,
operating at different times, with different cycles of metabolism, and
people living at their own pace. While the East family was washing
dishes and chopsticks, the West family was just starting to hear the
sound of the stove being lit.
He Yu leans against a window pane and sees a chameleon crawling
across the sill.

He reached out his hand and the chameleon was actually not afraid of
him and let him touch its head.

He Yu The man’s aura is such that cold-blooded animals are never

close to him and do not avoid him, perhaps because they see him as a
kindred spirit.

But Xie Xue’s favourite thing is a furry, warm-blooded pet and his
biggest fear is insects, snakes and scorpions.

If Xie Xue had seen this chameleon, he would have shrieked in horror
and chased it away.

He Yu strokes the chameleon’s head and the chameleon narrows its

eyes in enjoyment.

He Yu thought that perhaps there was something so different about

him and Xie Xue that she did not like him, but liked Wei Dongheng.

Now he stands here, in the place where Xie Xue spent her childhood
and girlhood, and where the scent of her life that could have soothed
his heart has now become a luxuriant thorn.

The roots reach deep into the earth and the branches pierce the sky.

Once a man’s heart grows thorny, even heaven and earth will follow.

Feeling uncomfortable, He Yu whispered goodbye to the chameleon

and walked away from Xie Xue’s window sill.

When Xie Qingcheng finished serving the ravioli, he looked back and
saw that He Yu, a student volunteer, was half lying on the edge of his
bed, with a pillow covering his face.

Xie Qingcheng : “…… What are you doing. I haven’t showered yet, so
I’m lying on my bed.”
He Yu did not say anything, still covering his face with a pillow, also
hiding himself like a chameleon.

Xie Qingcheng then said, “You still don’t say anything?”

“……”

“If you don’t move again I’ll assume you’ve been suffocated and call
the morgue to carry you.”

After a few seconds of silence, probably to save himself from going to

the morgue, He Yu finally raised his hand and pulled the pillow down
a little, revealing half of the side of his face, his almond eyes looking
at Xie Qingcheng from behind the pillow with a disgusted expression:
“The smell of tobacco on your bed is so strong.”

Xie Qing put the bowl down: “Don’t stay if you don’t like the smell of
smoke, get up and eat, and go back early afterwards, I want to rest.”

“The last time I was in your house the smell of tobacco wasn’t that
bad.”

“That’s how long ago it was.”

Also.

He Yu wanted to.

When Li Ruoqiu was here, Xie Qingcheng didn’t smoke.

I guess my sister-in-law won’t allow it. Xie Qingcheng is quite aloof,

but he is also very responsible and manly, and if his wife doesn’t like
it, he will definitely find a way to make way for the other side.

He Yu was lying on Xie Qingcheng’s bed, looking at Xie Qingcheng’s

indifferent face, and could not help but remember that when he first
arrived at his house, Li Ruoqiu had smilingly gone to help him prepare
snacks and tea, and while he was sitting and waiting, he had
inadvertently caught a glimpse of this big bed with the curtain half
hidden. Xie Qingcheng sleeping with a woman.
Xie Qingcheng, that serious, cold face, can there be times when lust is
tainted?

Xie Qingcheng frowned: “What’s on your mind?”

He Yu gently: “Thinking about life.”

“……”

“Shea, you haven’t gone on any more blind dates since then either?”

“I have no intention of remarrying.”

“You’re only in your thirties ……” He Yu said slowly, “Aren’t you

lonely?”

Xie Qingcheng gave him an indifferent look, “You have a wide range
of inquiries, Dr. Pacific.”

He Yu smiles.

It is estimated that Xie Qingcheng is a cold one.

“Are you going to eat the ravioli or not? I’ll pour if you don’t.”

He Yu was also hungry, so he finally obeyed Xie Qingcheng’s wishes

and got up to sit at the small table.

The chair Xie Qingcheng gave him was the same chair Xie Xue had
used when he was a child, it was small and short, and He Yu’s height
of 189 made it very awkward to sit on it. Xie Qingcheng threw him
another bottle of vinegar and gave the child a spoon, and finally added
coldly, “Do you want a bib?”

He Yu didn’t bother with him, and smiled slightly sideways, looking

good, but the meanness in his eyes revealed his provocation: “Then
why don’t you just feed me, doctor?”

“……”
“Here.” And he handed the silver spoon back to Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng grimaced, “Go and eat it yourself.”

But the ravioli did get a bit hot and He Yu wanted to cool it down a
bit, so he grabbed his phone and cracked himself up for a while.

Xie Qingcheng’s dad couldn’t control it: “You eat, you eat, you don’t
play games.”

He Yu didn’t even look up, his fingers were flying: “This is not a
game.”

Xie Qingcheng looked down at his screen, and it really wasn’t a game,
it seemed to be a bunch of code flying around.

“What is it.”

“Practice, hacking instructions.”

“Don’t you all use computers?”

“I’ve set it up myself, and I can do it all on my phone if I’m operating

on the computer.” He Yu said lightly.

Xie Qingcheng didn’t have much interest in such things, nor did he
know much about them, but he probably knew how good He Yu was,
and that he was a very good player. However, He Yu only attacked
other people’s firewalls as a game that required concentration, and
did not do anything messy.

“Two minutes.”

He Yu finally snapped the confirmation button and the data settled on

the breakout screen of a well-known website, and he raised his hand
to look at his watch.

“Not bad for speed this time, probably in a hurry to get some ravioli.”
He smiled and closed the page again, he just wanted to play with the
other firewall and had no interest in the data and information inside,
like a thief of an eccentric nature who only liked to pick all kinds of
fancy locks and didn’t bother stealing once they were open.

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

He Yu puts his phone down, the ravioli is just the right temperature
for his mouth, so he lowers his head and starts to eat his ravioli
slowly.

The handmade wontons are hard to come by, and He Yu quietly

finishes the whole bowl, still feeling unfulfilled, and looks back at Xie
Qingcheng.

“What are you looking at me for? There’s no code on my face.”

“One more bowl.”

“You think there’s a prize for opening the lid? And another bowl, my
next door neighbour wrapped it up and gave it to me, the one you just
ate was the last bag, there’s no more.”

“So you’ll do it?”

“……” Xie Qingcheng smoked a cigarette and put it in his mouth,

vaguely, “will not cook for you either.”

With that, he polished his lighter, turned his head slightly sideways
and nibbled on the filter, lighting the cigarette.

He Yu frowned deeply: ” Xie Qingcheng, when did you get addicted to

smoking? Can you stop smoking? It’s such a small room, and you’re
making it so smoky that I can’t breathe.”

“This is your home and mine?” Xie Qingcheng took a puff of his
cigarette and exhaled nonchalantly in He Yu’s direction, then looked
at him in the pale green haze of smoke, “You’re eating my wontons,
sitting in my chair, lying in my bed, covering my pillow, and here you
are making demands of me. You can’t breathe through you go back,
your villa is very green, the air must be fresh. The door is over there.”
“……” He Yu has nothing to say.

Xie Qingcheng dusted off his cigarette: “Shall we go?”

“……”

“Remember to wash the dishes if you’re not leaving. You’re polite at

other people’s houses, don’t be a bit of a handful at my place.”

“……”

Just wash it.

It’s not like the young master doesn’t know how to wash dishes, since
he’s at least been abroad.

Xie Qingcheng leans against the window pane and finishes a whole
cigarette amidst the rushing water.

He had been quite tired, but after He Yu’s torment, he had lost the
feeling of sleepiness, and after he had smoked, he was awake. He
looked at He Yu as he washed the dishes in front of the sink. The
young man had no fringes and his forehead was freshly cut, with a
little bit of hair falling down on his forehead as he washed the dishes
with his head down. The young man’s skin is taut, and even in this
slightly dull light, the side of his face seems to glow softly.

Youthful and clean, the scent of that defeated beast can only be smelt
when you are very close to it.

People are smart again.

Xie Qingcheng thought to himself as he surveyed him.

Such a student, if he were not mentally ill, should have won a hundred
battles and had any girl he wanted, and I wonder what girl it was that
couldn’t see him.

“It’s time to change this cage in your house, the water coming out is
too small.”
Young Master He condescended to finish washing the ravioli bowls,
turned off the tap, put down the sleeve of his shirt that he had
buttoned up while washing the dishes and wiped his wet hands.

Xie Qingcheng : “We come back less now and are too lazy to change.”

The young master didn’t think anything of it in that respect and said,
“Then next time I’ll have Lao Zhao come and get someone to change it
for you. And the light in this house of yours ……”

“What’s wrong with you with the lights.” Xie Qingcheng had nothing
good to say.

“The lights are too dim, too, making it look like a haunted house. If it
gets any darker, you can’t even see who’s standing in the room.”

Xie Qingcheng was a bit annoyed by his dislike, how could he put
down his bowl after eating and start picking on him?

He therefore sneered, “This doesn’t seem to be your house, does it?”

“And who’s the one with no eyes to get people wrong, you, He Yu.”

“……”

When he said that, He Yu couldn’t pick up on it.

The fact that he kissed Xie Qingcheng as a woman in the Hang Zhou
hotel, from the table to the bed, was not really acceptable to He Yu.

He Yu’s voice dropped: “I thought you said you weren’t going to talk
about it ……”

Xie Qingcheng rolled his eyes, “You think I want to mention it. Can’t
keep your mouth shut.”

It was awkward, and just then there was a knock on the door.
In order to get rid of this embarrassment, Aunt He cleared her throat,
surprisingly squeezed in this moment with some lowliness: “I’ll go and
open the door.”

“Hello, SF Express, is this Ms. Xie’s house?”

He Yu opened the door.

A young man wiped his sweat outside, “That, Ms. Xie, right? You have
placed an appointment today, saying that you have something to send
and you want me to come and pick it up.”

He Yu turned back, quite politely, “Ms. Xie, S.F. is here to pick up the
mail.”

“……” Xie Qingcheng remembered and grabbed a cardboard box from

the things he had brought back with him and walked over, “Yes, I do
have something to send.”

“Household goods, sent to Sioux City, look at the pre-order.”

“Ok le no problem!”

The courier confirms that the package is correct and is about to put
the cover on for overwrapping when He Yu stands with his arms
around him and suddenly feels that something is not quite right.

“Wait a minute.” He stopped the courier’s impending sealing of the

box, took the cardboard box and lifted out the clothes it contained to
take a look.

A moment of dead silence.

He Yu, who had just been short-souled, slowly turned back with his
clothes, his aura sombre: “Xie Qingcheng.”

Xie Qingcheng’s face remained unchanged: “Why.”

He Yu : “…… you listed the t-shirt I borrowed from you for sale second
hand on salted fish?”
“You said you didn’t want it yourself, you’ve got people grabbing
these clothes to hang 5000 second hand, I can only keep them as
rags.” Xie Qingcheng calmly admits, “What’s wrong with that.”

“What’s wrong with what. I have a mental cleanliness problem don’t

you know? I don’t even want to give anything I’ve used that’s ruined
to someone I don’t know.”

Xie Qingcheng said indifferently, “You’re a form of mental co-

morbidity. Just right, get over it.”

He said snatching the carton over and shoving it into the hands of the
overwhelmed courier boy, “Send it off, the buyer said to send cash on
delivery.”

” Xie Qingcheng!”

The courier hesitated and looked around, “So …… is this a send, or

not a send?”

Aunt: “No mail.”

Pawnshop: “Send.”

The courier wiped his sweat: “…… want, want the two of you to
discuss it again?”

“There’s no need to negotiate.” Xie Qingcheng’s authoritarianism

reared its ugly head, “Send it when I say so.”

After speaking and glaring at the courier, “Hurry up, I placed the
order.”

Not many people could catch Xie Qingcheng’s eye-dagger, and the
courier made a quick run for it after typing up the face sheet.

He Yu was left with a gloomy face because his personal belongings

had been sold, and Xie Qingcheng, who was in a slightly better mood
because he had made 5,000 yuan.
“Aren’t you unhappy? Let’s go, I’ll treat you to a late dinner.”

He Yu stood for a while, couldn’t take it anymore, with a stern face,

picked up the shoulder bag thrown on the bed, slammed his shoulder
through Xie Qing, and pushed the door out without looking back.

“Go and eat it yourself!” He gritted his teeth, “Don’t blink and eat all
the five thousand dollars you made from selling my clothes. Save it!
Call me if you don’t have enough to eat and I’ll feed you myself!”

With a few words of hatred, the young man left Xie Qingcheng’s house
with his school bag in his hand.

The driver was waiting outside the alleyway, and He Yu sidled up on

his long legs and ducked into the car, sullenly asking the driver to
close the window completely, not even looking at the mundane bustle
outside.

Driver: “Young master, are you not feeling well? Do you need me to
take you to the hospital?”

“No need.” He Yu leaned back in his seat with a black face, “I don’t
even want to see another one in a white coat today.”

The phone vibrated and the one in the white coat sent him a message.

“Come work in my office next Monday.”

Young Master He pulled a face and turned his phone off straight
away.
 Chapter 32 – I am so wronged
On Monday, He Yu went to the college next door with his shoulder
bag and knocked on the door.

The teacher in the seat furthest from the door, “Come in.”

He Yu said courteously, “Hello, I’m looking for Professor Xie.”

” Xie Qingcheng you student.”

Xie Qingcheng comes out of the inner office, and to He Yu’s surprise,
he is wearing glasses today.

Xie Qingcheng used to be non-myopic.

“Just in time.” Xie Qingcheng said dryly, “Come in.”

He Yu couldn’t help but look at him a few more times with his glasses
on, he was quite handsome, making him a little less stern, a little
more bookish, and less annoying.

Unfortunately, once Xie Qingcheng spoke, he again had an attitude

that He Yu did not appreciate: “I want you to use these materials to
make some classroom PPTs, and there are some files here that need
to be converted into electronic versions. I’m not sure about the
accuracy of the software, and it’s easy to make mistakes when
converting images to text, so you should check them several times
after you’ve typed them by hand, got it?”

He Yu looks at a large medical book on his desk, almost ready to be

used as a killing tool to kill people.

“Professor Tse, do you know that technology can liberate human

beings.”
Xie Qingcheng slammed a copy of Puxin and a copy of Shexin in front
of him, shaking the desk and shuddering the computer screen.

“But I also know that mankind shouldn’t rely too much on technology.
Let’s get to work, starting with what I’ve red-penciled in these two
books.”

He Yu looked at the two thick brick books, lined with annotated paper,
which had almost doubled in thickness. He tried to keep a good face,
after all he was sitting in Xie Qingcheng’s office, and there were
several professors in the same room who had not yet left. So he
whispered to Xie Qingcheng.

“Are you trying to kill me?”

“No. I just want to exercise your patience and perseverance.” Xie

Qingcheng took a sip from his coffee as he stood next to him.

He Yu : “……”

“I don’t ask for much. You do it carefully.” Xie Qingcheng dropped the
words, threw a can of Red Bull at He Yu, and turned back to his own
business.

He Yu narrows his almond eyes slightly.

He opens Xie Qingcheng’s computer, his cursor moves to word and

then stops, a haze looms behind his long lashes.

“Let me see ……”

Men in their thirties, like Xie Qingcheng, usually have something on

their personal computers or mobile phones that is not quite up to
scratch. But to avoid social death, gentlemen are conscious of setting
passwords and hidden folders on their phones or computers, and
never lend them out.

But Xie Qingcheng doesn’t care.

The computer he keeps in his office for He Yu’s use is his own
personal computer. He Yu, a top hacker, searched through the folders
with the shadowy intention of finding something on Xie Qingcheng,
expecting to find at least one or two small movies, but a can of Red
Bull had been consumed and still no luck.

He Yu was not convinced and searched again with a different code,

but the result was the same.

Xie Qingcheng’s personal computer is so clean and honest that, apart

from academic data, it is almost unnatural to call it clean, except for
salary statements.

He Yu frowned and leaned back in his office chair, his long fingers
playing with the empty can, thought for a moment, changed the
language and rewrote another paragraph, hitting enter to search.

This time I found a folder that Xie Qingcheng used to use during his
off-hours, with the questionable name of “Happy”.

With Xie Qingcheng’s straightforward personality, his naming of

folders is generally simple, he will change the name of important
documents to “courseware 1”, “courseware 2”, and the less important
ones are simply the system default name, not even bothering to fix a
title with his fingers. He doesn’t even bother to fix the title, “New
Folder” is already on the list of 23.

He Yu’s eyes lit up and his back straightened as soon as the “Happy”
folder, which didn’t quite fit Xie Qingcheng’s style, came out, and he
stared intently at the screen, moved his mouse to the yellowish clip
and clicked it twice.

The folder is open.

He Yu took a quick glance, his expression instantly changing from one

of indifference to one of calm, before frowning at Xie Qingcheng for
some inexplicable reason.

In the folder called “Happy”, there are only a few pictures of peach
jellyfish.
Other than that, there were just a few videos, which he opened and
looked at, nothing more than videos of water sprites from all over the
world, from sea and moon jellyfish, to rocket jellyfish, in all sorts of
poses. One of the videos was over an hour long, and after dragging
the progress bar a few times, it was actually full of videos of these
water sprites drifting like smoke.

“……”

So Xie Qingcheng’s joy is watching these videos of water sprites?

Although the videos were beautiful, with ancient beings floating in the
water like smoke and mist sinking into the water and moon shadows
falling into the water, He Yu could not understand the old man’s
interest and turned the videos off and backed out.

Although he wasn’t happy about it, He Yu checked several patterns

with his cheek and found that Xie Qingcheng’s private computer was
as white and flawless as the snow had fallen. He threw the mouse
away and gave up…

As long as a normal man, there is not a little bit of desire, right ……

While playing with the empty can, I was lost in thought.

His eyes reverted to the computer screen, thinking that Xie

Qingcheng was so cold that he must really have a cold personality.

Then, since the other person is sexually indifferent, there will have to
be another solution.

He Yu abandoned his plan to search for reels on Xie Qingcheng’s

computer, his tongue resting softly against his teeth as his gaze drew
back.

He had another idea.

Day 2.
Xie Qingcheng’s lecture was in the afternoon, and He Yu was
available. He had compiled the lecture materials electronically for Xie
Qingcheng, so he simply came to the University and sat in the last row
of the multimedia classroom.

Xie Qingcheng originally didn’t want him to come: “You’re a

choreographer coming to dabble in psychiatry.”

He Yu said gently, “Brother, I’m just mental.”

“……”

“Besides, I did all your PowerPoint’s last night, so I can be there in

case there are any problems, don’t you think.”

Xie Qingcheng thought it was right, so he let him go.

As soon as He Yu entered the classroom, Xie Qingcheng regretted it –

he had forgotten that He Yu had talked to some of the girls on his list,
and that the girls who had taken psychiatry had obviously stared at
the sight of He Yu and immediately smiled a very rare
nymphomaniacal smile. like smiles.

“Handsome, what brings you here?”

He Yu beckoned to her but gave her a silent gesture and pointed to

Xie Qingcheng on the podium.

The girl immediately lowered her voice and nodded her head in a
small way, “Ohhhhhhh!” Then with unparalleled cooperation, she
turned her head to look attentively at the podium and prepared to
listen to the lesson.

He Yu took a window seat in the last row of the classroom, tossed his
shoulder bag, leaned back with his arms around him, took off the
headset he had been wearing, and looked at Xie Qingcheng.

That means clearly, look at me, be polite, I will respect you for
listening carefully even though your lecture is a heavenly book to me.
Unfortunately, his apparent politeness was met with a blank stare
from Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng indifferently put the textbook on the table and turned
his eyes away from He Yu, then said with a sullen face, “What are you
all looking at him for? Haven’t you ever seen anyone from the next
school come to dawdle in class?”

The students were silent and did not dare to say much under
Professor Xie’s high-handedness, but their eyes exchanged secretly.

Really haven’t seen it.

Unless it’s a cross-campus romance played out in an idol drama.

After realising this, the female students, especially those who had
been in contact with He Yu before, started to think about their seats,
and some of them had even thought about the maternity hospital
where their children would be born, sitting in a graceful position and
hoping that the handsome man would be looking at them from the last
row.

This scene undoubtedly caught the eye of Xie Qingcheng, who was
standing on the podium.

The serious professor and sexually frigid patient is disgusted by this,

but he is very fatherly and doesn’t usually blame the girls, he just
thinks it’s He Yu’s fault.

Xie Qingcheng then stared at He Yu for a few more seconds.

Then only in a cold voice did he say.

“Books open, class is in session. No one is allowed to turn their head

back in this class, and anyone who can’t manage to crane their neck
back will have six points deducted from their final grade.”

Students: “……”

He Yu, who was targeted, couldn’t help but look down and smile.
He had thought Xie Xue was stupid for bullying students in class, but
now he knew where that stupidity came from.

I bet you learned it all from Xie Qingcheng.

“…… According to the CCMD-3, mood disorders include manic

episodes, depressive episodes, bipolar disorder, cyclothymic disorder,
and severe mood disorder ……”

Xie Qingcheng began by working with the students on the after-school

exercises that were assigned down yesterday. Although many
university students dedicate four years of their youth to living like
gods in the humble wooden beds of their dorm rooms, medical
students are definitely not in that category. In fact, they are likely to
spend at least five years of their lives in a miserable “senior year”.

It took Xie Qingcheng half a lesson to work with them on just a normal
after-school assignment, which shows the amount of questions.

He Yu, the dabbler, was quiet and self-conscious as an uninvited

guest, sitting in the back corner with his arms wrapped around him,
watching Xie Qingcheng.

He found that although Xie Qingcheng’s threatening posture was the

same as Xie Xue’s, the way he delivered the lesson was very different
from Xie Xue. Whereas Xie Xue was trying to get the class to move
and make what he said as lively as possible, Xie Qingcheng almost
ignored the entire classroom of students.

He stands upright on the podium, but it is as if he does not belong to

this world, reality is irrelevant to him, he is like a man half immersed
in an illusory space, while the intellectual data seems to take on a
physical form, drifting and lingering behind him.

It is clear that he is a purely academic professor, who does not wish to

impart knowledge to his students, nor does he intend to exhort them
to study. On the contrary, Xie Qingcheng is a towering figure, as if he
were an extraditionist strolling out of the sanctuary of knowledge, his
long fingertips stained with ink, his thin lips scented with books, and
his concentrated, egotistical, even egoless look that exudes a supreme
nobility.
He doesn’t seem to care whether you learn or not, and he doesn’t care
whether you look at him or not, but the way he stands at the lectern is
the perfect interpretation of “knowledge”.

He Yu almost suspected that at any moment he might open his mouth

and say, “All of you here should kneel down and thank Heaven for the
knowledge that my Lord has come down to give to you.”

With that in mind, the young man looked at the man on the stage who
was indifferent and absorbed in the world of medicine.

“Good. Here’s the right topic from yesterday, so put your head up
below and look at the projected lesson.”

A comment that brought He Yu back to his senses.

He lifted his eyes and the arms that had been clasped to his chest
loosened, interlocking his fingers and resting on the table while his
body leaned slightly forward.

It is a gesture with a note of anticipation.

He Yu should not have expected anything less from Xie Qingcheng’s

class.

Unfortunately, Professor Xie was used to seeing no one, and he didn’t

care about idiots like He Yu who came here to dawdle in the class,
and he didn’t see He Yu’s suddenly slightly tense expression.

He turns on the computer, connects to the signal, sets up the

projector and, with the collective attention of the students, moves his
mouse over the PowerPoint presentation He Yu has made, which is
named ‘Lesson 1′.

Double click.

The lesson opens up.

Xie Qingcheng looked up without looking: “Today we are talking
about hallucinations, proprioceptive hallucinations, true
hallucinations, false hallucinations ……”

After talking to himself for half a day, he didn’t realise something was
wrong until a boy in the front row finally couldn’t help but snort down
and laugh, but he didn’t turn around to look at the lesson either,
instead he frowned and asked the bold boy, “What’s wrong?”

The boys weren’t the only ones who didn’t hold back their laughter
this time.

“Professor Tse, your coursework ……”

Xie Qingcheng now realises something is wrong and looks back.

Thanks to the headmaster’s concern for the students’ learning and his
efforts to upgrade the school’s hardware, the projector in this new
multimedia classroom is large and clear, projecting the pages of the
PPT in a flawless manner –

A group of cute baby water sprites made by computer drawing

software, looking a bit like a Q-version of a sea moon jellyfish.

It’s still in GIF format, and the baby water sprite is doing a series of
“baby’s angry”, “baby’s fainted” and “baby’s not playing with you
anymore” over and over again. The baby water sprite is doing a series
of actions.

The image was so carnal and childish that Xie Qingcheng’s breath
caught in his throat and he subconsciously had to fetch a cigarette to
suppress the shock.

He Yu, on the other hand, couldn’t help but turn his face away, his
shoulders shaking slightly and his head half-lowered in laughter.

Xie Qingcheng looked back in anger to see the culprit leaning back in
his chair with his eyelashes hanging down, noticing his gaze, He Yu
even raised his head, not hiding the thin smile that had fallen at the
corners of his lips.
This brat ……

Xie Qingcheng’s eyes almost nailed He Yu through the middle of the

seat.

He Yu, who was sure that he would not admit in front of everyone that
he had taken the PPT lesson from him, actually loosened his
interlocked fingers, raised his hand with a smile, raised his eyebrows
slightly, and gently tapped his phone on the table.

The implication is that Xie Qingcheng should take a look at his

message.

“……” Xie Qingcheng A face hard to see, back to the podium to close
the PPT, “The lesson is wrong, wait a moment.”

It was rare for students to see Professor Xie go off on a tangent, and
such a low-level one at that, so if it wasn’t for the prestige of Xie
Qingcheng, they would have been laughing their heads off. Everyone
was trying so hard to hold back that they didn’t have time to notice
the undercurrents between the dabbler from the next school and their
professor.

Xie Qingcheng took the opportunity to turn on his phone with a black
face.

Sure enough, there was a message from He Yu two minutes ago.

“Would you like a real PPT?”

“What do you want.”

The other party is typing in ……

Wait a while.

Still “The other party is typing ……”

Xie Qingcheng couldn’t help himself and looked up again past the
students who were holding back their laughter, his eyes piercing the
young man who was slowly and soberly leaning back in his chair and
typing.

As if deliberately grinding his sore points and prolonging the

embarrassment that was causing Professor Xie’s social death, the
youth actually did not even look at him, his slender fingers extending
only one, scratching a few times on the screen, typing a few words,
deleting them again, then typing again, deleting them again.

It was as if the exchange was really being seriously contemplated.

It’s a pity that He Yu’s eyebrows, raised in triumph at the success of

his bad intentions, reveal his dark mood beneath the mask of an
animal.

Just as Xie Qingcheng was about to be worn out by him and was about
to walk over to him and knock on his desk, the news finally came.

Xie Qingcheng immediately presses his phone on vibrate.

“You sold my clothes you remember, right?”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

“Transfer me to 5000. i’ll come up and debug your class.”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

“By the way, if you keep ignoring it, after ten minutes your computer
will automatically download and play some vulgar video, and forcing it
to shut down won’t help. Judge for yourself, Professor, maybe in a few
minutes I’ll raise the price again.”

After the hacker finished typing, he put down the communication tool
they had both used to engage in private messaging in plain sight.

He leaned back comfortably in his chair, one of his arms leaning back
and resting his elbow on the back of the chair.
Then he lifted his chin, nodding imperceptibly in the direction of the
projector, lifted his other hand, tugged casually at his collar and gave
Xie Qingcheng a good, innocent, dark smile.

“……”

Xie Qingcheng looked gloomy, staring into He Yu’s eyes while slowly
clutching his phone, opening Alipay to transfer money and gritting his
teeth to put in 5,000.

One second later.

He Yu’s mobile phone on the table vibrated.

He lowered his eyelids to cover his almond eyes and checked the
$5,000 that had arrived on Paypal.

He Yu got up, worthy of being an actor in a small ragged drama, this

man was no longer an initial actor, he feigned concern for Xie
Qingcheng and walked up to the podium, “Sorry Professor Xie, it
seems that I got the wrong coursework yesterday when I helped your
sister back up the information to your computer. I’m so sorry.”

He Yu politely picked up Professor Xie’s scattered dignity and began

to work on his Xie Qingcheng notebook.

Within a few moments, the real prepared PPT lesson was fished out of
his folder.

He Yu raised his hand and stepped back respectfully and gently to

make way for Xie Qingcheng: “Please, Professor.”

The classroom fiasco was thus put to rest with He Yu winning again.

It was only in the second half of the class that Xie Qingcheng’s face
became even more sombre than the apocalyptic clouds, with the rain
coming down on the mountains and the wind filling the buildings, and
his gaze was so cold that it looked like it had been mixed with ice.
He Yu has no doubt that if the eye blade could materialise, he would
be a sieve through the heart.

But apparently this assumption was not valid, so with a smile on his
face, as well as a gangly badness that was not even visible to the
casual observer, he took the eye-daggers in their entirety without
pulling a single one.

“…… That’s it for today’s lesson.” Xie Qingcheng finally ended the
damn PowerPoint teaching five minutes before the class ended, and it
had to be said that nothing more happened afterwards, which made
his heart finally loosen up a little.

“I’m posting this term’s assignment to the intranet below, so

remember to download and complete it.”

Professor Xie closed the class, opened his browser and typed in the
campus website, and snapped back.

A few seconds later ……

“The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products

and services to the public.

Also forcefully zoomed in by the projector was an advertising pop-up

of a scantily clad woman scratching her head at all the students
whose glasses were shattered off-screen.

All the students were silent.

Xie Qingcheng looks back abruptly.

He Yu : “…………”

A thousand years of injustice.

It’s really not him this time ……

 Chapter 33 – He’s throwing
himself into the net
He Yu and Xie Qingcheng explained this several times after the
incident.

But Xie Qingcheng was too much of a father and a professor to let go
of other nonsense, but this was the only thing he couldn’t let go of.
After a few days, Xie Qingcheng did not want to talk to him either.

It’s one thing for He Yu to get his mind right, it’s another for him to
mess with him. Xie Qingcheng’s minefield has been stepped on and
it’s unlikely that he won’t give him a piece of his mind.

The heavens are watching and the opportunity to give colour is fast
approaching.

On this day, Xie Xue called Xie Qingcheng.

“Brother, there’s a centennial celebration event between Shanghai

University and the University of Medicine, do you know about it?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, one of the activities is to make a joint film between our two
schools, the kind that doesn’t go online, and then it will be put on the
campus network, and there will be a joint viewing.”

Seeing that her brother did not interrupt her, Xie Xue chattered on:
“Although it’s just a practice piece for fun, the university has paid a
lot of attention to it because of the centenary of both the University of
Shanghai and the University of Medicine, and has given us a lot of
funding to organise a good shoot for students of the relevant majors. I
think it’s a very rare opportunity and I’ve already started writing the
script in earnest. Can you come and be the medical director?”

Xie Qingcheng was not interested in this, but since it was Xie Xue who
started it, he said, “Send me the proposal, I’ll take a look.”

“Ohhhhhhhh yes! Definitely oh! You’ll have to give me a shout out!”

Not long after hanging up the phone, Xie Xue sent him a complete
planning document. The students and faculty at HU had already come
up with a general direction for the film, and because of the interaction
with the medical university next door, they had tentatively titled the
school’s film “A Hundred Diseases”, a unit drama about the
experiences of various patients and marginalised people in society.

Xie Qingcheng sits in his office sipping a cup of chai and clicks on the
file to skim through it, realising that there are a lot of actors needed
for this production and Xie Xue has already marked on the file some of
the roles that the students have signed up for, but there are still about
ten vacancies.

As a rule, the students would be more interested in this hilarious play

acting, and the fact that there are roles left is probably because they
are not very likable.

He looked at it and it was right.

Among the uncredited characters are caregivers who serve shit to

patients, pregnant women who have intense pregnancy reactions, and
gay men who have intimate interactions with their rivals.

With HU’s attitude, even if it’s a practice shoot, as long as it’s kept on
file at the school, the students will be required to portray the real
thing, meaning that if they play a caregiver, they really have to pour
out shit and urine, if they play a pregnant woman, they really have to
throw up, and if they play a homosexual, they really have to kiss and
hug. Plus this time it’s the centenary of the double school, so there’s
no way they’re going to let it slip.
If no one signs up for these tricky roles, they all end up having to be
captured.

After Xie Qingcheng looked at the plan carefully, he remembered He

Yu’s manipulation of his coursework and couldn’t help but narrow his
eyes slightly …… He pondered for a moment and picked up his mobile
phone to dial back Xie Xue’s number.

“I’ve finished reading your email.”

He leaned back in his office chair, spinning his pencil, and spoke
slowly.

“I can go as a medical director, but there is one requirement.”

“What’s the request? Brother, just say it!”

Xie Qingcheng’s peachy eyes reflect the biography of a certain gay

character resting on the screen.

He swept his eyes indifferently over the string of text that took up the
entire page of the PowerPoint behind him, “I think there’s a role for
He Yu to try out.”

Although Xie Xue is confused by Xie Qingcheng’s act of “bringing

people into the group”, He Yu is already a student of a related subject,
and he has previously saved the show by taking on a minor drama,
and he is also handsome.

Xie Xue thought about it, probably because his brother and He Yu
were close, and after all, he had seen the child growing up, so maybe
his brother wanted to give the child a chance to work out, so he
readily agreed to Xie Qingcheng’s request.

He Yu was not able to refuse the teacher’s offer, so a few days later,
after his evening study, he came to the rehearsal group for the unit on
“A Hundred Sicknesses”.

He will rehearse one of the plays, Sick Love, a play unit that responds
to the current state of gay existence.
When Xie Qingcheng walks over, He Yu and the other lead actor are
in the middle of a scene.

He Yu was originally a freshman, not an acting major, so he didn’t

have to go to morning work and didn’t take many acting classes.
Although he had previously played the fifth male role in a sketchy
drama, the role itself resonated with him, so it was quite easy for him
to play it. Now that he’s been offered a gay role, he’s been tortured.

Xie Qingcheng leaned over and watched for a while – He Yu’s

performance was a precipitous drop from the acting he had seen at
the Hang Zhou visit.

No, it would be polite to say a precipitous decline, it would be more

accurate to say a precipitous East African Rift Valley decline.

The script is about a secret and sweet private date between the main
character and a same-sex couple, both of whom have to show their
youthful love and lust, but Xie Qingcheng, after watching it for half a
day, didn’t see any love in He Yu’s performance, and AI’s acting was
better than his.

“How much do you love me? What would you give up for me?” The
rival boy was well qualified and acted with great affection, putting his
arms around He Yu’s neck and asking.

He Yu said lightly, “Love you so much, I’ll give up anything you want.”

“Then you look me in the eye.”

“……”

In the next scene, He Yu gazes at his first love for a long time, and
then, suddenly overwhelmed with love, he can’t help but kiss him.

However, He Yu stared at the boy for a while and his expression was
unbearable. He did not look like his first love, he looked like his
father’s enemy.
“Brother, kiss me.” The boy wrapped his arms around his neck, and
since he was walking through the scene and didn’t have to be
particularly concerned with coherence, he shook his arms and said
softly when he saw He Yu’s indifference.

When he didn’t soften his voice, He Yu couldn’t stand it any longer

and pushed him away, asking the director with a pale face, “Excuse
me, can I have a seat?

The person in charge of this unit is a second-year student of directing,

a particularly cool girl who shakes her head mercilessly: “Other
people can negotiate, but I can’t here, I wrote clearly when I
submitted my actor requirements that I don’t accept borrowed seats
for my scenes.”

He Yu : “……”

“But now it’s just a walking scene, you don’t have to let him kiss for
real.” The school director turned to the boy again, “And you, don’t
push too hard, you have to let the young master He get over his
psychological problems, don’t you? After all, he’s not you, you’re the
notorious faggot in our school and he’s the notorious straight guy in
our school.”

The young boy was quite happy to be called a faggot, he was different
from the kind of gay man who hides but is too extreme and thinks
everyone must accept LGBT or they should open the coffin of history
and seal all the heretics in to bury the old Buddha Cixi.

He Yu is relatively restrained; he is homophobic but doesn’t say so

outright, and the young boys assume that he is also the type who can
be bent and acted with enthusiasm.

So Xie Qingcheng is bullying He Yu, deliberately casting him in this

role, as a way of hitting the snake in the seventh inch. He finally felt
better when he saw He Yu’s face almost as blue as a sour plum in
May, as if he was seasick.

He Yu was very well brought up as a child, but since they both

repeated, He Yu’s heart has gone up along with his height, and he no
longer takes him seriously enough to challenge him.
It was only now, as Xie Qingcheng laughed coldly at his helplessness,
that he finally regained some of the feeling of having crushed him.

As he thought this, he could not help but soften the edges of his
serious, icy face.

That’s pretty funny.

“Yo, Professor Xie.” The director saw that the medical director of A
Hundred Signs of Sickness had arrived, just in time for the interval to
give He Yu time to adjust, so he chatted with Xie Qingcheng.

” He Yu is not good, he’s so bad in this.”

“Yeah.”

“Ugh, why don’t you talk to him, you give him a lecture about how the
gay community is just like normal people, that love, well, what’s the
difference? You see him acting like a dead man, I can’t stand it ……”

Xie Qingcheng lit a cigarette and said, “Then call him over.”

He said that he was too noisy for the place and went to wait for
someone behind the stage curtain in the rehearsal room.

After a while, a grim-faced He Yu came in with a swipe of the curtain,

the red velvet tent billowing behind him. As soon as he entered, he
threw Xie Qingcheng against the wall with such force that the
cigarette between Xie Qingcheng’s fingers fell into the dust and he
pressed his whole body against the cold wall.

” Xie Qingcheng , do you want me to get you killed.”

Xie Qingcheng is also very tall and is held down by He Yu, but he does
not look vulnerable.

His peachy eyes scowled indifferently at He Yu : “I told you you have

to learn to be calm in all situations.”

“……”
A soft sarcasm tinged with the smell of tobacco smoldered between
their breaths as Xie Qingcheng whispered, “You don’t understand?”

“……”

“Let go of me.”

After a few seconds, He Yu thought that he couldn’t really strangle

him and pushed Xie Qingcheng hard.

“You know I hate gays and you still let me play them.”

“What.” Xie Qingcheng raised his hand and bit down on his cigarette,
from He Yu’s angle you could faintly see his fine white teeth, “You
can’t even overcome this emotion, what else can you talk about.”

“You’re taking it personally.”

Xie Qingcheng laughed, somewhat mockingly, “So be it. What can you
do to me at ……?”

“……”

“Go on and act well.” Xie Qingcheng lifted a hand to straighten He

Yu’s collar, and behind the dim curtain he raised his eyes to look
languidly at the youth he had tossed about.

“I’m very bullish on you.”

“– He Yu , back! It’s starting!” The director was shouting outside.

He Yu stared at Xie Qingcheng for a moment.

“Just you wait.”

Xie Qingcheng said carelessly, “Go ahead.”

He Yu went out again with a sullen face.

Rehearsals begin once again.

This time it’s even worse. He Yu looked like he was seasick before,
now he looks like he’s seasick, the kind that’s killing him. The more
the boy pestered him, the more he tried to bring him into the scene,
the more he resisted. It’s like a cow doesn’t eat grass and presses its
head.

He Yu and the boys went through the episode a few more times, but
He Yu’s performance was so bad that he could list no less than ten
mistakes in every line and every action he performed.

Once again, the cool director shouted, “Cut!” Then he rolled up his
script and yelled at He Yu: “Ancestor! What are you, a robot? Can’t
you move your body a little more slowly? Don’t act like you’re about to
be raped, okay? You love him! You love him so much! He’s your first
love, you’re 15 years old, you’re naive, you’re reckless, you think the
future is bright, you’ve got the courage to take on society, do you
know anything about this kind of feeling? Brother! It’s the fifth time!
Can’t you walk away from your heart!”

Thanks to He Yu’s good temper in the eyes of the public, his anti-
social personality did not come out in the open, and everyone thought
he was a top 10 model of a good student, so they dared to be so nasty
to him.

But He Yu doesn’t really have the heart to hold a grudge against his
sister, he’s about to have a fit from the overly hot and sincere eyes of
the boys.

When he was stuck, he let her scold him, raised his hand to cover his
forehead, pressed his temples, and walked in place a few times to
calm down.

As he circled around, he saw Xie Qingcheng and was so angry that he

almost went over to him and strangled the culprit, who was leaning
against the wall with his long legs folded, alive.

Xie Qingcheng smiled coldly at him, looked down and took out his
mobile phone, returning the favour. So after three seconds, the phone
in He Yu’s pocket vibrated.
“…… Sorry director, I have a message, I’ll read it before I start.”

“Hurry up and watch! You’re so bad at acting and you’re so nosy!”

He Yu clicked on the message Xie Qingcheng had just sent him in full
view of the public.

You have a message from your “godfather”.

“Godfather” was He Yu’s note to Xie Qingcheng, because he felt he

was too much like a feudal patriarch, sometimes more so than his own
father.

Xie Qingcheng : Very dedicated, I’m waiting to see your kiss scene.

He Yu’s expression instantly turned grim, startling the girl next to

him, “What’s wrong?”

Xie Qingcheng turns his head and purses the corners of his mouth,
looking cold and quiet, as if He Yu’s madness had nothing to do with
him.

He Yu took a breather and stared unblinkingly at Xie Qingcheng with

a stare that seemed like it was going to pin Xie Qingcheng down hard
and nail him through the wall: “…… It’s okay.”

Just then, her characteristic loud voice came from the school
director’s side: “Huh? Really? Does that make sense?”

The crowd managed to get the director’s attention and it turned out
that the actor’s director had gone over and said something to her, and
she was surprised, sizing up the other woman in disbelief.

But this schoolgirl at least respected her seniors, and she hesitated
for a moment before finally nodding, “That’s fine, it’s okay to try, just
do as you say. He’s a bad enough actor anyway.”

The director waved at He Yu from afar, “Come here, buddy!”

He Yu asked himself if he had ever been afraid of anything in his
nearly 20 years of life, but he was a little reluctant to step forward
when she beckoned him to do so.

Xie Qingcheng crossed his long legs and sat in his chair with an
indifferent look on his face, urging with his mouth: “Go on.”

He Yu had no choice but to use the words “You’re dead! Wait for it!”
He gave Xie Qingcheng a hard look before walking towards the
director like he was being tortured.

The director’s lips opened and he dropped a few words that no one
expected: “He Yu, try another opponent first.”

He Yu was stunned for a moment and frowned, “Switching

opponents?”

“Right.” The director replied with a small wave of her hand, not very
patient. Seeing that He Yu’s rival boy was also shocked and wanted to
speak up in protest, she didn’t wait for him to speak and immediately
reassured, “It’s just a temporary change, take it easy and be quiet,
there’s not much time left tonight.”

Then to He Yu, he continued, “Pick whoever is in the room, any dog or

cat that you like. I’ll give you time to talk and do a little bit to see how
it works.”

He Yu was unsure at first, but then he realised what was going on and
narrowed his eyes, then slowly turned back, licking the roots of his
teeth as he turned back, not even hiding his tiger teeth as he grinned.

“There’s no need to pick a director.”

He looked over at Xie Qingcheng, who was still in a good mood and
leaning against the wall watching the play, and smiled.

“It’s just him.”

Director: “…… You’re going to be acting opposite our medical

director?”
“No?”

The director looked puzzled and whispered to He Yu, “You can change
him, he’s not from our school and he’s such a famous professor, it’s
not easy.”

“I don’t feel anything for the others. I just like him a little bit.” He Yu
said gently, “Sister, just let me try with him.”

The cool director is fierce, but she is still a straight woman of steel,
and it is hard not to be swayed when she is coaxed by a handsome
man with such a soft voice.

“That, that’s fine …… then I’ll talk to him ……”

“No need. I know him, I’ll just go and talk to him.” He Yu smiled and
was already walking towards Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng had already vaguely overheard their conversation and

looked at He Yu with a subtle expression on his face as he walked
towards him. He Yu, polite in front of outsiders, takes Xie Qingcheng’s
hand in his and leads him behind an unoccupied curtain.

As soon as the red tent fell, the gentleman’s face changed.

From gentle and gentle, he became a defeated rogue.

He Yu leaned over to Xie Qingcheng’s neck amidst the tumble of the

red tent, and murmured softly, “Professor Xie, have you ever thought
that there is a kind of retribution in this world, called present
retribution?”
Chapter 34 – Then let’s do a scene
He Yu and Xie Qingcheng were communicating behind the curtain,
and the cool director thought it might be too early to finish tonight, so
she wanted to call Jiang Liping, the head teacher of the unit, to ask
her to delay the closing time of the small auditorium.

“Duh …… duh ……”

With the director’s phone dialed and waiting.

Jiang Liping’s mobile phone vibrates on the bed sheets in the hotel
suite at the school.

But the vibration of the mobile phone is nothing, the movement of the
hotel mattress is far more intense than the phone, the woman does
not answer the phone, in an intoxicated fetish with the man.

It took a long time for the movement to stop.

“Hey, I could have gone longer if you hadn’t just called and pushed
me like hell.”

When it was over, the stout man lit a cigarette and said this to the
woman in his bed.

Jiang Liping leaned lazily against him, her eyes like silk: “Enough
tormenting already, what more do you want?”

The man chuckled, showing a look of triumph at the compliment:

“How does it compare to your other men?”

“Ew, you’re a spoilsport.” Jiang Liping pouted, “All other men are just
love affairs, you’re the one I’ve decided is my husband, I’m waiting for
you to propose to me.”
The man was even more floating, hugging her and saying, “No one
else can satisfy you, but I can. So while my wife is in America on
business, let’s be lovers for a while longer.”

Jiang Liping giggled, her soft, plump body twitching: “You’ve finally
regained some energy. I saw how distracted you were a while ago.”

“Alas, some time ago it was because ……” the man said and winced,
not going any further.

Jiang Liping pretended not to know what was going on, smiled and
snuggled up to him.

“Honey, it’s annoying that you’re still distracted with me. Why don’t
we play a little longer, what kind of play do you want and I’ll satisfy
you?”

The man was titillated by her again and swallowed fiercely to go to

the clouds with her again: “…… You are …… forgettable …… Come on,
baby …… play with me again ……”

Jiang Liping greets us with a smile.

“Can’t get through.” Inside the small auditorium, the director hung up
the call once more, scratched his hair very sadly, sighed and said to
the school girl next to him, “Then we can only hurry up, the uncle who
manages the auditorium is particularly cocky, it’s hard to
communicate with one board, let He Yu hurry up.”

学妹：” He Yu is persuading Professor Xie.”

That is not persuasion, it is clearly an encounter between two people.

Behind the curtain, He Yu smiles, not laughs, at the expression on Xie

Qingcheng’s face.

Xie Qingcheng never dreamed that He Yu could go this far.

Dragging yourself into trouble?

Wasn’t that kiss at the hotel disgusting enough?

Xie Qingcheng said coldly, “You want me to cooperate with you in

your play?”

“No way.”

“You’re nuts.” He said and tried to leave.

“You asked for it.” He Yu held him down and stared at him, staring
hard as if he wanted to break every bone in Xie Qingcheng’s body,
“Don’t you dare run away now. You tortured me first, and you’ll suffer
with me if you’re guilty.”

Xie Qingcheng : “You were the one who started it with my computer.”

“That page that popped up was an accident, I’ve explained to you

many times that you have middle-aged anxiety at best, not
Alzheimer’s, right?”

It is this kind of brute that is most hated.

In front of people, he is well-dressed and polite, and he doesn’t even

give a half-hearted look to everyone, so everyone thinks he is a top ten
young man. But when he pushes Xie Qingcheng into a corner, his
mask comes off and he talks a lot of nonsense, cursing without using
profanity.

Xie Qingcheng said coldly, “You’re the fucking adolescent retard.”

He shakes off He Yu’s hand around his left wrist, “I don’t have time to
mess with you, I’m not an actor either, find another girl to act with.”

“It’s not nice to be a little girl.” He Yu said, “Shouldn’t gay people

play with the same sex?”

“Then roll on and pull a random little boy.”

“Look at you, brother, they’re not even as good as you.”

He Yu was also really pissed off by Xie Qingcheng’s tawdry
manipulations, and he unloaded his disguise in front of Xie
Qingcheng, calling out a mocking, angry brother like a clothed animal.

“You’re really ……” Xie Qingcheng took a deep breath and looked at
the rabbit he’d had for seven years with fresh eyes, “too sick. Mad
Special, 600 Wanping Road where can you put Non out eh?”

He Yu lifted his finger and pointed at him, his eyes darting up and
down, the corners of his lips falling into a rancour that no one but Xie
Qingcheng could see at the moment: “Look, Hu Zhou, you’ve made
him angry.”

“……”

“Do you know that you have a soft voice and when you speak Hu
Zhou, it’s even softer, so you don’t sound like you’re swearing at all?”

Xie Qingcheng grimaced: “You don’t want to throw up when you play
this kind of scene with me?”

This ancestor actually smiled slightly, then his expression quickly

clouded over, “Brother, spit in your mouth too. Not a drop will be
wasted.”

Xie Qingcheng : “…… you motherfucker!”

In response to his vicious curses, He Yu spits in his face, his smile

never drops, and to top it all off, he reminds Xie Qingcheng: “You
always expect me to be good in your sister’s drama, don’t you? I’ve
sacrificed myself, so there’s nothing wrong with you following suit.”

“Don’t you want to be good in Xie Xue’s play?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” He Yu pulled away from him slightly,
his gaze dropping to look at him, his tone not being able to tell how
much of it was true or not, “I don’t like her, I’m just a friend, do you
think I’ll bother with her if I’m really upset. She’ll be the one in
trouble then, not me.”
Xie Qingcheng stared at him.

Peach blossom eyes against almond eyes, with dark currents inside.

Xie Qingcheng’s left wrist is still firmly squeezed in the palm of He

Yu’s hand, and the two of them are at a standstill as Xie Qingcheng’s
pulse travels through his fingers, through his bones, through the
greenish-grey veins, and through the skin they are pressed against, to
the centre of He Yu’s information-receiving organ.

“…… is good.”

Xie Qingcheng gritted his back teeth and gave in: “Okay. Okay. I’ll do
it.”

He said, nodding his head as if holding a grudge, “I’ll fucking act,

won’t I? Are you satisfied yet?”

He Yu stared at him and slowly curled a half-smile that was quite

gentle, but somehow creepy. Then he let go of Xie Qingcheng’s thin
wrist and lifted his hand, straightening Xie Qingcheng’s white coat
and shirt that he had tugged around.

Xie Qingcheng let his hand fiddle with his collar, his gaze cold: “But to
be clear, this time it’s not even a formal walk through the scene, and
that student director of yours knows in his heart that it’s just to give
you a feeling, it can’t be real. It has to be on loan.”

He Yu whispered in his ear, “Yeah, hugging you is already tedious

enough, you think I want to kiss for real?”

He dropped the hand that was fixing his shirt collar and finally patted
Xie Qingcheng’s shoulder, his smile fading for a moment, his
expression dark: ” Xie Qingcheng, let’s call it even after this mutual
torture, let’s call a truce or I’ll really throw up.”

Xie Qingcheng thought, “What, are you stealing his lines so you can
get an extra chicken leg for your box lunch tonight?
The two men raised the curtain and walked out, each with a calm
face, as if nothing heated conversation had ever taken place.

The walking play begins.

“How much do you love me? What would you give up for me?” Xie
Qingcheng’s aura was so strong and tough that he was not talking
about love, but rather like the master of the house in his chair.

Even if the phrase – “I’ll break your legs if you don’t give a clear
explanation today” – is added afterwards, it would not be out of place.

“Oh my daddy I’m going to ……” the director covered her face and
just as she was about to shout stop straight away, the actor’s director
stopped her.

“Wait a little longer.”

“He’s too bad about this opponent, he can’t be ……”

The actor-director, a veteran, smiles, “There’s no rush, let’s see.”

On the other side, He Yu had already taken Xie Qingcheng’s line,

“Love you very much.”

The director froze and re-turned back.

Huh? It doesn’t seem as disastrous as one would expect?

Although I can’t say anything about the acting, He Yu’s performance

is at least watchable.

He Yu : “Love you very much. Whatever you want me to give up, I

can.”

“……” Xie Qingcheng continued to recite his lines indifferently, “Then

you look me in the eye.”
He Yu then really started to stare at himself with nice eyes.

The gaze was warm and tactile, even a little itchy as it slid from his
brow to the corner of his nose and lips, and even a little hot as it
reached from the corner of his lips to the nape of his neck.

“Brother, I looked you in the eye ……”

Because Xie Qingcheng had not been very cooperative in his physical
movements, He Yu watched for a while, then suddenly lowered his
head and approached the edge of Xie Qingcheng’s thin, ice-like neck.
Underneath the flesh is the carotid artery, and Xie Qingcheng’s
natural instinct to feel danger makes him tense up, almost pushing
him away and averting his eyes.

He Yu’s lips stopped inches away from the carotid artery.

“You let me look into your eyes, but why won’t you look at me
seriously?” He Yu improvises, and his warm breath sends this almost
sighing question to Xie Qingcheng’s ear, burrowing directly into his
skin, pores and arteries, and snapping his heart.

Xie Qingcheng’s head went numb and the words “Are you crazy?”
were stuck between his lips as he turned his eyes to stare at him
incredulously.

It was, however, a bad decision.

He Yu was in good shape, even better than the actor’s director had
expected. The old director originally asked He Yu to change his rival
because he found that He Yu and his original rival actor were too far
apart. He Yu was clearly uncomfortable, even uncomfortable, with
being approached by the same sex, but he was a closeted boy who had
an obvious crush on him.

In such a situation, instead of fishing for a scene, the opponent’s

entrance into the scene can be so strong that He Yu is at odds with it
and doesn’t know how to get into it. It is as if a drunk person and a
sober person are never on the same page, and He Yu needs someone
who is almost as sober to guide him.
Xie Qingcheng, on the other hand, can’t act at all, but he’s obviously
very effective in guiding He Yu.

He Yu is not at all wary of him. Both of them are well aware of each
other’s sexuality, just straight men, no matter if they kiss or hug, what
personal feelings will there be? When Xie Qingcheng looks back at the
past, he meets a pair of loving and affectionate eyes.

He Yu turned his head sideways, playing the fifteen-year-old boy who

could not restrain his intimate love, his breathing becoming labored,
his eyes becoming eager, his lips moving from the side of Xie
Qingcheng’s neck to Xie Qingcheng’s lips.

Slightly staggered, but each other’s breaths had become silken and
intertwined, like the wet spring water that brings out the lips and
tongue after a passionate kiss. The teenager looked at the man in
front of him, into a state of theatre, each breath hot and sharp, as if to
materialise, to intertwine deeply and bury hard into each other’s spirit
and flesh.

“……” Xie Qingcheng’s entire body stiffened a little.

He recalled the night in the Hang Zhou hotel when He Yu had been
drunk and was looking down at him with such heat above his body.
The heat and desire of a teenager was pressing him hard.

One is always a little uncomfortable with emotions and things one is

unfamiliar with, not to mention the fact that these two glances were
so close together and rushed so recklessly hard.

Xie Qingcheng thought numbly afterwards that it was normal for him
to be very tense, pale and on guard from the sting, right?

What are those people around you laughing at?

“OK, card!”

The director was pleased with the effect of this once and called a halt
in time.
He Yu’s eyes were instantly gone, and he stared thoughtfully at Xie
Qingcheng’s lips for a few moments, wondering what he was thinking.

Then, with a smile on his face, he scanned Xie Qingcheng up and

down a few times.

“…… Are you …… more affectionate when you’re holding an ice

cube?” The director asked He Yu as he sat in his chair with his hand
on his cheek and watched the whole thing with rapt attention.

He Yu lowered his eyelashes, “I think I’ve got the hang of it.”

The trick is that he is convinced that the more sincere he is, the more
disgusting he will be to Xie Qingcheng.

And looking at Xie Qingcheng now, with his face ashen, it is clear that
he has achieved his goal.

The director was delighted and looked at his watch, it was still all in
time: “Well then, let’s take advantage of the moment and make it
official, come -”

She greeted the boy who was working with He Yu: “Come here, Zhao,
try to pass once! Come on, everyone, before the small auditorium
closes tonight. ……”

“Bang!”

Before the words could be said, the door to the auditorium was
heavily pushed open.

Everyone turned their heads in surprise to see the auditorium

manager panting, “It’s closed, it’s closed, finish your work now!”

The director got angry: “Hey, we haven’t had time to borrow the
venue yet, okay? There are still more than forty minutes left, how can
you just-”

Before the administrator could say anything, suddenly a flat

mechanical tone rang out in the auditorium.
“Throw it …… Throw it …… Throw the handkerchief, put it gently
behind the children, no one should tell him …… ”

The whole room was in awe.

Because that voice, surprisingly, was coming out of everyone’s phone

in unison!

“Holy shit! What’s wrong with my phone?”

“Pop up a video!”

“Mine too, I can’t turn it off! What’s going on?!”

Xie Qingcheng snapped open his phone, it was working, the app was
open, but a pop-up box appeared in the top left corner of the phone
that he couldn’t close. Before he could take a closer look, a group of
uniformed police officers walked in outside the auditorium.

The leader of the group said in a deep voice, “There’s something

going on in the school, there’s been a murder. There is a curfew
tonight, so hurry up and go back to your dormitories.”

There was a moment of dead silence in the auditorium, followed by a

chorus of panicked screams, “Ahhhhhhh ！！！！”

Chapter 35 – Alas, another murder

Xie Qingcheng and He Yu were the last to leave the auditorium.
When they arrived outside, they saw students walking in groups
towards their dormitories, led by teachers and police officers, and the
school radio was playing an announcement: “Please stay calm, do not
be left alone, if you are in a remote location, contact your teachers,
roommates or classmates immediately, please return to your
dormitories in an orderly manner… …”

But the sound of the announcements still could not drown out the
noise of the students.

In the open air, everyone’s eyes are glued to their mobile phones, or
to the school’s iconic building, the Hutong Broadcasting Tower.

It is a special building for the arts students of the university, built

exactly like an official television station, with full lighting coverage on
the tower.

At this moment, however, the console system has been hacked, and
the entire tower is locked in a blinding red, like a bloodied sword,
stabbed into the ground, with several lines in black that can be read
clearly from thousands of metres away.

W,

Z,

L,.

Handkerchief throwing death game, start.

Apart from the radio tower, all the smartphones in this part of
Shanghai University were locked out by the other party’s software,
and everyone’s phones were still working, but there was a small
screen that could not be turned off.

Thousands of small windows instantly turned HU in the night into a

river of fluorescent stars, but unfortunately every star in the river
broadcasted horrific and eerie images.
Xie Qingcheng looked down at his phone again, and realised that the
text in that video was the same as the one on the radio tower.

All that is written is: W, Z, L. Throwing the handkerchief death game,

start.

But in the video, beneath each letter, there is a circle of very creepy
little electronic dolls, the dolls sitting in a circle, with one female doll
swinging with a smile, standing outside the circle, holding a scarlet
handkerchief, like the handkerchief throwing game they used to play
as children.

Behind the letter W, the girl doll had dropped her handkerchief
behind one of the little electronic boys, who was running, with the girl
doll smiling and chasing after her.

Suddenly!

The girl doll behind the letter W catches up with the boy, the girl
grins cheekily and clutches the head of the electronic boy doll she’s
caught and twists it off!

A few seconds later, all the mobile phones in the whole school, once
again in unison, emitted the young flat song, “Throw it, throw it,
throw the handkerchief, gently put it behind the child, don’t tell him,
everyone ……”

Countless mobile phone amplifiers turned the soft children’s song into
a chilling chorus that resonated throughout the campus.

As the students watched the scene, they became increasingly

frightened and huddled together in one place, some refusing to even
return to their dormitories, feeling safer to stay together under the
open sky, the less courageous even sobbing already. The phones kept
ringing all around, and the ringing and singing actually overlapped,
all from the students’ parents. It was so big, and now in the age of
electronic communication, that what had happened in Hutuan soon
attracted extremely strong attention through various social media
platforms.

“Hey, Mom! I’m fine …… but I’m so scared ……”

I’m with a classmate! Ummm! I don’t wander off ooooooooooooo ……”

In the midst of the chaos, Xie Qingcheng called Xie Xue and was
relieved to learn that she was at home making ravioli with Aunt Li.
Then, without further ado, he hung up the phone.

When he finishes the call, he finds He Yu looking at him quietly, their

eyes meet and He Yu looks away again.

“……”

Xie Qingcheng then realised that He Yu was not a concern to anyone.

Almost everyone had received messages from family or friends, but

He Yu’s phone remained silent, like a pool of stagnant water. And the
boys’ expressions were as calm as the stagnant water.

Xie Qingcheng was about to say something when the handkerchief

throwing song ended and a large photo suddenly flashed up on
everyone’s phones. The moment the picture appeared, the two heard
a soft “fuck” from the policeman next to them.

The police officer’s paging machine was followed by their captain’s

angry voice: “This is a fucking photo of the police taking evidence
from the scene! How did it get into their hands!!!”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to it.

It was a photograph without any mosaic processing.

The photographs are surreal and shocking, of a male corpse,

strangled to death on a large, messy bed, tongue lolling out, naked,
except for a pair of red high heels over his feet.

This king-size room looks really familiar to all the students, isn’t it the
hotel run by Hutuan?

Every year, many parents choose to stay at this hotel when they drop
off their children at the beginning of the school year. The hotel has a
nice ambience and offers a discount with the Hutong student card.
After the wave of parents who start the school year, it is followed by a
long stream of business from student couples.

The crowd was full of exclamations of “holy shit”, mostly from the
boys, as the girls were a bit more timid and many of them were
already crying and turning their heads away at the sight of death. The
boys were relatively more receptive to this type of visual stimulation,
and many of them could see that this was the place where they and
their girlfriends used to go to have sex. Fuck, now the tender place
has become a killing field! In the future, they will not dare to have a
room here, they will be impotent when they see the same big bed.

He had never patronized such a civilian hotel before, and he didn’t

have a girlfriend to take to a room, so he frowned, not understanding
for a moment why there was a sense of crap mixed in with the “I’m
going” of the boys around him, in addition to horror.

But he interpreted something else from the image, and he turned back
to Xie Qingcheng’s face, not caring about his previous attack with
him.

Then he caught the same suspicion in Xie Qingcheng’s gaze as he did

in his own –

Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital.

This method of killing has subtle echoes of the Cheng Kang mental
hospital.

The first is the dress code, where the deceased were clearly male, but
were dressed in feminine accessories at the time of their death. Liang
Jicheng was dressed in female attire, while this body had red high
heels.

The second is music. Neither He Yu nor Xie Qingcheng could ever

forget the song that Jiang Lanpei hummed softly as he split up the
body in his office, when they thought Xie Xue had been killed and the
madwoman’s eerie humming came from a door away: “Throw, throw,
throw the handkerchief, put it gently behind the little one, don’t tell
him …”
The third is the three letters WZL, which are a testament to the
mysterious message they both once saw in the caves of Neverland.

Gradually, more and more students became aware of Jiang Lanpei’s

similar killing methods, and whispers of fear grew up in the crowd.

“…… Jiang Lanpei …”

“Yes, it’s the song Throwing Handkerchiefs, she was singing it when
she killed someone, I read about it in the paper…”

“Do those red heels look like the shoes Jiang Lanpei was wearing in
the photo of her in the newspaper?”

“Oh dear, I’ve heard that ‘shoe’ stands for evil and ‘send you away’
……”

One student, probably frightened out of his wits, screamed out, “It’s
really Jiang Lanpei! Jiang Lanpei, the evil spirit, is demanding life!

When this voice was shouted, it was like an explosion all around.

As He Yu told Xie Qingcheng earlier, after Jiang Lanpei’s tragic death,

because of what happened to her and the way she died, at some point
a rumour started circulating among the students that “if you write the
name of the scum and the way he died, addressed to Jiang Lanpei, the
woman will come to claim his life as an evil spirit “The saying goes.

Now this photo certainly echoes this kind of schoolyard weirdness,

and with the magnified projection of countless mobile phones, it is
inevitable that the students will be extremely emotionally stimulated.

Seeing that the scene was getting more and more chaotic, the police
and teachers in charge of evacuating the students raised the
megaphones in their hands and used all their strength to shout over
there.

“Silence!!! All students! Don’t crowd here, follow your teachers back
to your dormitories! We will keep you safe!”
The students were herded forward again like ducks, but a pair of eyes
remained fixed on the murder photos.

The result of being overprotective during the day is that students have
a very low tolerance threshold for such images, and when they do see
such gory and horrific scenes, they are instead unable to look away
even more, fearful and scared, and the more scared they are, the
more confused they want to look.

The security evacuation was already difficult, but at that moment, the
picture on everyone’s mobile phone video changed again.

The picture of the deceased disappears and the dominant content

returns to the “WZL Handkerchief Throwing Game of Death”.

But there is a subtle change in the picture compared to earlier.

After the W, which is accurately typed with the name of the deceased
” Wang Jiankang”, the little handkerchief-throwing cyborgs next to his
name have gone black, and all the smiling little people playing the
game freeze in place as the scene freezes on the scene of the little
boy’s head being ripped off.

Underneath the W Wang Jiankang, the letter Z, followed by the

electronic children, which had been standing still, now starts to spin
at speed. The little electronic girl with the red handkerchief smiles
and runs around in a circle, hovering behind the “kids”, ready to drop
her handkerchief ……

The second round of the killing game, has begun.

Xie Qingcheng and He Yu looked at each other, both remembering the

words in the Neverland guestbook, “WZL will be killed recently.”

At the time they all thought WZL was one person’s initials and never
suspected that it actually started with three names ……

W, Wang Jiankang died.

Z, and who could it be?

Suddenly, He Yu’s mobile phone rings.

He Yu froze, taking a second’s pause at the sight of the caller’s name

before picking up the phone less than comfortably, “…… Dad.”

He Jiwei was coming out of the airport when he saw the message sent
to him by his secretary about the video murder in Shanghai: “What
happened to your school? How is security working, how can
something like this happen.”

He Yu did not answer.

He Jiwei : “Where are you now.”

“In front of the school auditorium.”

“I’ll have Bureau Lee send someone to pick you up.”

“No.” He Yu looked around him, people were clogging up like

sardines, not to mention Xie Qingcheng was standing next to him, if
he was picked up by a police car at this point, Xie Qingcheng would
probably look at him another octave lower without saying anything.
“No need, the police car can’t drive in. I’ll go back to the dorm later.”

“So what if something happens-” But He Jiwei, who by now had also
heard the chaotic commotion on He Yu’s side, paused and sighed, “Do
you have anyone you know around now? ”

He Yu looked at Xie Qingcheng for a moment.

I also wonder if this man is considered an acquaintance of his.

Or was it, as they both had previously decided, that before they were
both, it was just a doctor-patient relationship that had ended cleanly.

“Hello? He Yu, are you there?”

He Yu was just about to speak when he heard a boy’s voice on the

other side of the phone, “Daddy! Slow down, I’ve left something on
the plane and I’m going to talk to the crew.”
“……” He Yu’s eyes lightened a lot when he heard the movement over
there, “It’s okay dad, I know someone on my side.”

He looked at Xie Qingcheng and said.

“I’m with Dr. Shea.”

” Xie Qingcheng?”

“Well ……”

“What’s he doing with you, is he attending to you?”

He Yu can’t really say.

Xie Qingcheng has been giving him a hard time since the hotel
incident, and doesn’t seem to have done much to help him
psychologically.

But somehow he seemed to be better. His attention wasn’t entirely

focused on Xie Xue anymore.

He had never realised it before, he didn’t have much trust in Xie

Qingcheng now, he always felt that Xie Qingcheng was just taking
advantage of the situation and looking for trouble. But now he
suddenly realises that this might be a form of therapy that Xie
Qingcheng is giving him.

Xie Qingcheng is not a purely pharmacological practitioner, but is

more concerned with guiding and building up the spiritual world of
his patients. Sometimes it is appropriate to say that he is a bit on the
materialistic side.

This is why Xie Qingcheng is not suited to short-term counselling but

to long-term companionship; therapists like him usually do not repeat:
“You are ill, let’s talk, you can talk to me if you have anything to say.”

He tends to intervene psychologically with his patients in the usual

way, in a way that is closest to life and least noticeable. He always
wants to make his patients feel normal.
In this area of psychotherapy, it is sometimes not possible to see how
professional and smashing the doctor’s words are during the process.

Ultimately, what people want to see is how comforted the patient is

and how their mental state has changed.

He Yu found himself bickering with Xie Qingcheng all this time,

racking his brains to deal with the stumbling he was doing to him, and
actually coming out of the initial shock of losing his love quite well.

He was slightly distracted by this discovery and looked up at Xie

Qingcheng: “……”

He Jiwei : “Why did you stop talking again? What’s wrong again?”

“Nothing.” He Yu coughed softly and turned his eyes away from Xie
Qingcheng, “Yes, he was attending to me.”

“This Xie Qingcheng …… refused to keep him before and asked him
not to, instead he wanted to volunteer.”

He Yu can’t say that he had an attack in the hotel before to chew

people up, irritated Dr. Xie, Dr. Xie couldn’t see it before he took care
of it. He had to say awkwardly, “He …… just looks at it occasionally.
Not a regular.”

He Jiwei paused for a moment, “That’s fine. Then you follow him,
don’t go back to your own dormitory, what safety is there for hairy
kids to get together, you follow your Dr. Xie and go back to his
dormitory with him.”

He Yu : “…… Dad, that’s not quite right.”

“What’s not appropriate? He brought you up as a child, he’s willing to

help with that.”

“He’s not my doctor anymore.”

“One size does not fit all, but isn’t there a favor outside the
employment relationship? Why else would he still see you
occasionally? Besides, it’s not like he’s had a bad time in our house, so
why is the math so cold and clear? If you’re too embarrassed to talk
about it, give him the phone and I’ll talk to him.”

He Yu’s brother’s voice came again on the other end of the phone,
“Dad, why are you leaving so fast? He Yu?”

“…… I got it.” He Yu didn’t want to hear any more as soon as he heard
the voice, “I’m hanging up now.”

After closing the line, He Yu dropped his gaze on Xie Qingcheng and
coughed lightly, “That-”

Xie Qingcheng : “Your father wants you to come back with me.”

“…… you heard it.”

Xie Qingcheng said yes and walked with He Yu through the crowd. Xie
Qingcheng couldn’t go back to Shanghai Medical School because the
school was closed, but he could go to Xie Xue’s dormitory, he had just
spoken to Xie Xue and knew the code to the electronic lock.

The two of them managed to follow the crowded crowd back to the
dormitory when Xie Qingcheng opened the door.

“Come in.”

The living room light was flicked on and the homely atmosphere of the
house dispelled the sense of crushing oppression that had just been
felt outside. Even though the terror continues, in this setting it’s more
like watching a fire from across the river, and less suffocating than
watching a film of police battling a killer.

Not to mention the fact that this is Xie Xue’s house, where they are
greeted by a coffee table full of junk snacks and huggable bear
puppets.

And there were two bowls of Little Raccoon Cup Noodles left to lose.

He Yu : “……”
Xie Qingcheng : “……”

It’s hard to be scary.

Xie Qingcheng closes the door, loosens a button on his collar and,
with a sullen face, starts to collect the rubbish for Xie Xue.

He Yu looks at the living room, which has nowhere to stay. He has

been to Xie Xue’s place before, but Xie Xue always tidies up before
inviting him in.

I didn’t expect the unkept room to look like this, comparable to a

recycling bin site.

For a moment he found it even more shocking than the photos of

Wang Jiankang’s murder, and it was hard to relate such a filthy house
to Xie Xue’s usual clean and fresh appearance.

He leaned against the doorway for a moment with his hands behind
his back before asking cautiously, “…… Is this usually the case?”

“It’s always like this.” Xie Qingcheng, long used to being a father,
expressionlessly picked up one of the bears Xie Xue had thrown on the
floor, patted it clean, and set it back on the cupboard.

He Yu : “…………”

“You go and boil some hot water and make two cups of tea.”

“…… is good.”

When He Yu was making the tea, he noticed that Xie Xue had also left
two sets of tea sets in the sink, and that there were some tea dots in
the bag of strainers, black tea which Xie Xue did not like very much.

Something faintly flashed through his mind, but before he could think
more about it, he heard Xie Qingcheng say to him from the living
room, “Take the Tibetan tea from the third shelf of the tea cabinet, I
drink Tibetan tea.”
He Yu responded, concentrating on finding his “Mr Xie’s” hidden tea
in Xie Xue’s pile of snacks and drinks, and not thinking about the
black tea bags and the two tea sets.

The house was soon cleaned up and Xie Qingcheng looked particularly
stern and elite, particularly high and mighty, but in fact that was just
one level of him.

A man who could start bringing up his sister, who was eight years
younger, when he was a teenager, would never be a man of honor.

Xie Qingcheng was bending over the last pile of books thrown on the
carpet when He Yu came out with a tray of tea.

He leans over beautifully because his legs are straight and long, his
waist is thin, and when he lowers his shirt it is taut and the strong,
thin waist under his shirt can be seen very clearly.

When he saw He Yu arrive, he straightened up and lifted his hands to

put the books back on the shelves, then he looked sideways at him, his
jaw lifting slightly as he gestured for Xiao He’s secretary to put his
stash of tea on the already clean coffee table.

Secretary He: “I brewed the snowy cold incense. It’s not wrong to
take it, is it?”

“Hmm.”

After collecting his things and going to wash his hands, Ms. Xie sat
down on the sofa and pulled his collar loose.

Despite the walls, they could hear the noise of people outside, the
sound of sirens, and even, if Xie Qingcheng turned his face slightly to
the side, he could see through the living room window the tower that
looked like a blood-red sword of judgement.

And on the phone, the little girl behind Z throwing her handkerchief is
still spinning.

Xie Qingcheng : “Hacking?”

He Yu : “Definitely. The lockdown is on mobile electronics and radio
towers in the area.”

He said, probably because he found it annoying that Xie Qingcheng

and his phone were playing the video at the same time, and probably
out of the hacker’s habit of being competitive, he opened his phone
and started typing a code command.

“There’s something interesting about ……, they use the latest

equipment from the US, I’ve been exposed to it once.” It didn’t take
long for He Yu to whisper, “The device radiates widely, but has bugs
and it’s not really hard to get rid of the controls.”

He stared unblinkingly at the deciphering code on the screen, making

a code breakthrough into the opponent’s defences.

A few minutes later.

He Yu’s mobile phone has gone silent.

His phone disengaged from the other’s technological radiation and he

tossed it aside carelessly.

“It’s that simple?”

“My skills shouldn’t be considered bottom of the pile.” He Yu, a top

five hacker on the dark web, says modestly, “He shouldn’t be guilty of
anything to me in any way.”

“And can you stop the radiation in the whole area?”

He Yu laughed a little: “No, you can’t do that without genuine

equipment. And it’s a police matter. If I involve myself in it, I’ll be an
easy target for investigation instead. I won’t put protection on your
phone either, keep it to watch the video.”

He had a point, and Xie Qingcheng responded.

He Yu sat down across from Xie Qingcheng and asked, “By the way,
do you know that Wang Jiankang?”
Xie Qingcheng is a professor of medicine in Shanghai, and Wang
Jiankang is most likely a staff member of Shanghai University. He Yu
was just asking a casual question, but to his surprise, Xie Qingcheng
closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa after taking a sip of cold,
fragrant Tibetan tea, and spat out two words: “I know him.”

Chapter 36 – I took Xie

Qingcheng’s phone
Wang Jiankang is the Director of External Communication at HU, and
is in his early forties.
Because of his work, Wang Jiankang has a wide range of contacts and
often has to meet outside people for dinner.

Xie Qingcheng met him once or twice and found the man annoying.

“I don’t believe in ghosts and spirits, but since he’s dead, he probably
had something to do with what happened at Cheng Kang Psychiatric
Hospital.” Xie Qingcheng took another sip of tea and said, “Besides, it
had nothing to do with Jiang Lanpei.”

He Yu turned his head to look at the radio tower: ” Cheng Kang is

making a lot of noise, and I’m afraid there’s more behind it than just a
mental hospital.”

Xie Qingcheng knows this without He Yu having to say it.

Hu Zhou was able to manipulate the school’s television tower, illegally

unify all electronic communications within its radius, and steal police
photos under such high security, the head of the city’s Public Security
Bureau would probably have been sent to the emergency
cardiovascular unit.

To do such a thing, and to be openly provocative, it goes without

saying how arrogant the people behind it are.

And this matter actually involved in the Shanghai University,

Shanghai University is Xie Xue now work place …… Xie Qingcheng
thinking, head some vague pain, he subconsciously touched a pack of
cigarettes out to smoke, but looked at He Yu, think he will have
comments again, so still go to the balcony.

He Yu hears the soft sound of a lighter behind him and looks back to
see a faint light glowing in the night.

Xie Qingcheng brings the lighter up to the cigarette, the light of

which traces his sharply defined profile and long, slender eyelashes,
giving him a gentle scarlet edge. Then he withdrew the lighter,
leaving only the fire burning on the cigarette flickering brightly and
dimly.
Like fireflies.

After smoking a whole cigarette, Xie Qingcheng comes back from the
balcony with a soft cough and pulls the sliding glass door shut.

“I’m going to cook up some snacks.” It was annoying all around, so I

guess it was hard to sleep tonight, so I might as well eat something to
stay up and see how it turned out.

Xie Qingcheng asks He Yu: “What do you want?”

“Caviar and purple urchin sashimi.”

“Get out.”

“…… That’s all right.”

Xie Qingcheng then went to the kitchen.

He cooks sharply and cleanly, as if he were performing an operation,

everything is clear and well organised. The sound of the cooker hood
rings out inside and He Yu looks down at his phone.

The volume of WeChat messages has exploded.

The main thing is that the students’ group is all talking about what
happened tonight, and I guess no one in the whole Shanghai
University can close their eyes, even if they are honestly staying in
their dorm rooms with their friends and classmates, everyone’s eyes
are all looking at their mobile phone videos.

“Who the hell is Z.”

“Z must be the surname of the murdered target, my surname is Xu,

great, I’m fine.”

“Oooooooooooooooo fucking help! My name is Chang!”

“It’s okay classmate, my last name is Jo, I’ve never disliked my last
name like this and I can’t sleep.”
There are even a few idiots who have spontaneously formed a group
of classmates starting with Z and L, saying that they will hug and
comfort each other in the group.

Someone else pointed out, “Anytime the handkerchief throwing song

comes back on, it’s definitely a target kill. Our whole dorm room was
watching that handkerchief throwing video and it was horrible ……”

The news push also jumps to the home page.

But when He Yu clicked on it, it showed that the content had been
deleted by the publisher, and the Internet police were probably
already working overtime at this point to delete the information. He
understands that the situation is not under control and he does not
know what will happen next, what is at stake and who is involved.

He Yu has a family group, which is largely silent, and he reasonably

suspects that his parents and brother have a small group of three, and
that he, a psychopath, always seems to exist outside the family
anyway.

But today, after such an incident at HU, Lv Zhishu still sent a message
in the group: “Your father has told me everything, you and Dr. Xie tell
us when you go home.”

He Yu : “It’s time to go to the hostel.”

He Jiwei : “Take a picture.”

He Yu sighed, which was a sign that he was probably being

perfunctory, checking in here.

He then got up and as soon as he pulled the kitchen door, ” Xie

Qingcheng , my dad wanted me to take a picture of you.”

Xie Qingcheng frowned, “I’ll just call him later.”

He Yu said it best, and he didn’t want to bother with the group of

“loving family”, so he threw his phone away and went behind Xie
Qingcheng. Xie Qingcheng was cooking noodles, which smelled
delicious.

“What are you doing in here.”

“Look at you cooking. Learn a little.”

Xie Qingcheng is not rushing him, he is now about to fry two eggs,
and as he beats them with one hand and pours them into the pan, he
realises that he is a little distracted and not wearing his apron.

Although he could cook, he hated the fumes on himself and had to

manage the omelette in front of him, so he sidled up to He Yu and
said, “Do me a favour and bring me the apron to tie.”

He Yu: “……” has really become his little secret.

“What are you looking at, why are you still standing there, come on.”

He Yu had no choice but to go to the back of the door and fetch an

apron – it was not Xie Xue’s, a very clean and plain apron, probably
prepared by Xie Xue for Xie Qingcheng.

“How do you tie this thing?”

“…… You really have ten fingers in the air.”

“It’s not that I can’t tie it, I’ve used it, but I’ve never tied it for
anyone.”

“Figure it out for yourself.”

He Yu figured out that it wasn’t that difficult, so he went behind Xie

Qingcheng and tied the apron around him.

He Yu once again noticed Xie Qingcheng’s thin waist when he tied it,
and while he had only looked at it with a cold stare, this time he
looped the rope around the side of his waist and tied a knotted clasp
behind it.
He Yu was taller than Xie Qingcheng, who was standing in front of the
stove, and He Yu was standing behind him. He lowered his eyes and
tied the knot carefully for Xie Qingcheng, and when he looked up
again, he saw Xie Qingcheng’s lowered neck.

Very white, almost transparent porcelain white.

On the side of the back of the neck, there is a small vermilion mole.

He Yu had never seen Xie Qingcheng’s neck from this angle before, he
was not as tall as him when he was a child and could not see it. Only
now did he realise that Xie Qingcheng’s neck was beautiful and he
subconsciously said, “Xie Qingcheng, you have a mole on the back of
your neck.”

And added.

“Red.”

His voice was so close, and so close to his neck, that Xie Qingcheng’s
male instincts made him feel a little pricked, and he turned his head
back at once.

Stupid straight men are so stupid.

In this case, he did turn back out of a sense of male territoriality,

wanting to make sure he was safe and to pull away.

But the stupid straight man didn’t consider that He Yu’s voice was
already so close and his hand was still placed on his waist side to tie
his apron, what distance was it to turn back at that moment?

He Yu’s lips touched Xie Qingcheng’s side ear at once, and even
touched a bit of warm lips on the cheek because neither of them
reacted in time.

A light touch like a dragonfly, a wildfire of embarrassment.

It’s stiff as hell.

He Yu : “……”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

The side of his ear is a very sensitive spot for many people, and Xie
Qingcheng was no exception. Even if it was only for a short time, he
felt the low, hot breath of a boy, and the sense of pressure and
aggression from the hormonally charged young man of the same sex
was so strong that he pushed the other man away from him, coldly
against He Yu’s chest.

Both men’s faces looked very ugly for a moment, staring at each other
not knowing what to say.

Sorry?

He Yu could not have apologised, and Xie Qingcheng could not have
apologised.

What are you doing?

…… Obviously, no need to even ask, it’s just a tragic coincidence

caused by the brainlessness of a straight man.

After a moment of stalemate with each other, a strange smell

suddenly emanated from the pot.

He Yu came back to his senses and said to Xie Qingcheng, “It’s

burnt!”

Xie Qingcheng immediately turned around and saw that the side of
the omelette was blackened.

“……”

He hadn’t burnt an egg since he was eight years old and today was a
bloody bad day.

Xie Qingcheng put down the fire, moved the pan away, and said to He
Yu, “What are you doing standing here? Get out.”
He said this and drew a kitchen wipe and wiped the side of his ear
and cheek where He Yu’s lips had touched him with a sullen look.

He Yu : “……”

This indiscreet touch of lips is not the same as the deliberately neat
and tidy pairing that preceded it.

He Yu also felt quite uncomfortable, so he didn’t say anything else and

went out with his head down. When he returned to the living room he
felt a little uncomfortable, feeling that the look in Xie Qingcheng’s
eyes was too cold, with a clear sense of rejection and condescension.

He Yu doesn’t like this feeling.

He has been overpowered by Xie Qingcheng since he was a child, and

when he met him again after he went to university, he slowly
corrected the shadows of his childhood towards Xie Qingcheng, and
has even taken the initiative in their relationship many times.

But with that look in his eyes, He Yu was immediately drawn back into
the memory – Xie Qingcheng was still Xie Qingcheng, still able to look
down on him with a bayonet-like gaze, calmly, critically, in everything.

Xie Qingcheng is actually still absolutely dominant.

As I was thinking about it, the phone suddenly rang.

He Yu was so distracted that he thought it was He Jiwei calling

because he was tired of waiting, so he just answered it.

“Hello.”

“Hey, brother Xie, I just finished my mission to be able to call and I

saw that something happened near your school. Brother, wait a
minute, I’ll come over now, I’m quite uneasy about you ……”

He Yu held the phone away from him and realised that he had made a
mistake, he had picked up a call from Xie Qingcheng.
And the caller ID shows a person with the memo ” Chen Man”.

The voice was that of a flustered and frazzled teenager.

He also called me “brother” in a very comfortable and intimate way.

He Yu and Chen Man had met before, and they had a meal and a chat
with Xie Qingcheng in the canteen.

But unfortunately, neither of them gave their names at the time.

It was also a little too long apart, and as voices can be somewhat
distorted over the phone, neither of them heard the other.

He Yu looks at Xie Qingcheng, who is still in the kitchen scrubbing the

pan and re-frying the eggs, and gets up to go out to the balcony.

“Brother, why don’t you say something? You ……”

He Yu pulled the balcony door shut and opened it very politely, “And
you are, please?”

“Hey? Isn’t that Xie?” The other person visibly froze, “Who are you?”

“I’m a friend of Dr. Tse’s.”

“Oh, you can put my brother on the phone then.”

He Yu smiled, but his voice was colder as he said, ” Xie Qingcheng

doesn’t seem to have a brother, where are your relatives from, I’ve
never heard him talk about them.”

Chen Man paused for a moment, and he wasn’t stupid enough to hear
that the person who answered the phone was being prickly here.

After all, Officer Chen was a police officer, and only he had ever
interrogated other people, who would ever interrogate him right
away?
And when I listened carefully, the other party should be a male about
the same age as myself. At this point in time, after such an incident,
who could be the young boy who could still stay with Xie Qingcheng?

Chen Man could not have imagined for a moment that he had also
forgotten about his dinner partner who he had been talking to that
day.

He was wary and suspicious of He Yu: “Who are you again. Which
friend? There are only a few friends of Xie’s, I should know them all.”

He Yu smiles, his eyes looking up at the scarlet Cantonment Tower,

which makes his pupils look a little deep and ghostly.

He didn’t really need to announce himself, but he said, “My name is

He Yu .”

“He didn’t talk to me about you.”

He Yu looked at the tower with an unmoving expression as if he

wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to say.

He suddenly realised that his social circle and that of Xie Qingcheng
did not have much overlap.

This surname is Chen ……

” He Yu , what’s wrong?” The sliding door behind her was suddenly

pulled open and Xie Qingcheng was standing there.

“…there was a phone call and I took it by mistake and answered it.”

Xie Qingcheng : “Whose is it.”

” Chen Man .”

As soon as Xie Qingcheng heard the name, he went over and took the
phone out of He Yu’s hand, turned around and answered the phone
inside.
He Yu stood silent and watched.

Xie Qingcheng is a very indifferent person who does not easily show
interest or concern for others. Apart from Xie Xue, there was basically
no one who could attract his undue attention.

This Chen Man seems to be an exception to the rule.

He Yu is inexplicably more uncomfortable.

Chapter 37 – It ran over his

parents
“Your friend?”

After a while, Xie Qingcheng hung up the phone and went inside. He
Yu then asked so.

Xie Qingcheng didn’t intend to explain much to He Yu, who had

probably forgotten all about Chen Man, whom he had met over
dinner, so he simply said, “Sort of.”

“He said he’d just finished work and was coming over.”

“I didn’t allow it.”

Xie Qingcheng dismisses Chen Man and brings the cooked noodles
out of the kitchen. While he was busy, Mr. He watched like a lord, and
did not want to help, but only asked Chen Man about his business.

“Why did he come to you so actively.”

“I told you it was a friend.”

“Quite young, isn’t she, how old is she?”

“About the same as you.”

“Professor Xie is so forgetful.” He Yu said, “Don’t you have a
generation gap?”

“……”

Xie Qingcheng found him inexplicable and put his chopsticks down
with a snap, his eyes cold: “You’re a policeman in the galaxy? What
does my social circle have to do with you.”

He Yu is silent.

He really had nothing to say, and when he came to his senses he did
think he was crazy to care about it.

Xie Qingcheng pushes a bowl of noodles covered with a loose egg in

front of He Yu.

“Eat your food, I’ll go and call your dad.”

At this moment in time.

Zhang Yong is huddled in a dark corner of an office in a building at

the University of Shanghai, the door of which is closed.

Large beads of sweat dripped from his head, and he reached for a
sweatband to wipe it off, but it was soaked through and almost wrung
out.

His piggy green eyes were glued to the iron gate, the only entrance
for outsiders to get in. He had been staring for a long time, and from
the moment the photos of Wang Jiankang’s body were revealed, he
knew he would be next.

After all, he had been involved in the biological experiments at the

Cheng Kang asylum, and the possession of women who had lost their
senses had become a customary trade of power and sex for these men
when they were talking about big things.

There are also beautiful women in the asylum, some of them are even
students of the University of Shanghai who are tricked into treatment,
they are good and obedient, they arouse the desire of many men to
ravish them, and they are safe.

Not many people pay attention to their mental world and take their
words seriously. Some women are so tortured and insane that they
are even forgetful and can turn around and forget all the things they
have done to her.

It didn’t matter if they were pregnant, they had been partners with
Liang Jicheng for many years and Liang Jicheng knew exactly what to
do and knew to get the “incriminating” evidence cleaned up by the
tight-lipped researchers.

But ……

But this wasn’t what he wanted to do at the earliest!

It was clearly that old-timer who instigated him, tempting him with
huge benefits and sexual resources to do his job for him, saying that
we were all brothers in the same boat and that if something went
wrong, we could all pocket it together.

After the Cheng Kang psychiatric hospital was torched, the man
reassured them that it was all taken care of, that the most that could
be done was to investigate Liang Jicheng’s level, and that the rest was
dead and unproven, so they should not worry.

But Wang Jiankang died suddenly and tragically.

His surname and that of one of the other brothers were also put up on
a video of the killings, followed by hints of the dreaded handkerchief
throwing game.

Zhang Yong had just come out of the school building when he saw the
radio tower. He was instantly scared out of his wits, running around
without a clue and calling “the man” in a panic and without thinking.

The phone rings. The sound of very pleasant, soothing music and the
faint sound of an expatriate masseuse gently questioning the force
was heard.
Their lives are on the line.

The man, however, was still at the spa.

“Hey…hey!” Zhang Yong’s eyes were wide with hatred and fear, and
he could not lower his voice to suppress his anger, let alone his fear.

“Hey!!!”

“Oh.” The other party smiled, “Ah Director Zhang. It’s so late, not
sleeping, what can I do for you?”

Zhang Yong was so angry that his cerebral blood vessels collapsed,
and his voice became distorted: “What are you pretending to be!
Wang Jiankang is dead! He’s dead! You said Cheng Kang’s hygiene
had been cleaned up and told us not to worry, but now what’s this!
Say it!”

“Well …… is comfortable, a little harder on the shoulder.” The man

spoke to the masseur in English and then slowly said to Zhang Yong,
“Brother, Cheng Kang’s hygiene is cleaned up. But the dog is sniffing
at the ground and won’t let go, he wants to smell the blood on the
ground, and it’s coming to our doorstep.

“I don’t care! You should go and figure out what to do! You take the
most benefit, you ……”

But the other party interrupted him with a smile, “Director Zhang,
things in this world are often unfair, you are also an adult, how come
you still don’t understand this truth?”

Zhang Yong sweats as he stares at his phone, knowing that the man
will not help him anymore, or even harm him.

This is often the result of working with a tiger.

Zhang Yong looked up at the blood-red TV tower and, as if waking up

from a dream, threw his mobile phone, which could track the signal,
into the bushes and made a mad dash towards the school building.
Now, he is cowering in one of the offices.

There are so many buildings at HU, and the offices and classrooms
add up to a thousand, if not ten thousand.

He’s hiding inside and has taken off all his smart watches with locator
functions, so he should just be safe. As soon as he escapes tonight,
he’ll turn himself in.

He thought better of it, he couldn’t take any more chances and might
be able to reduce his sentence by turning himself in and not end up
like Wang Jiankang, who was strangled alive and naked ……

Zhang Yong shuddered again at the thought of Wang Jiankang’s

death, swallowing hard as Jiang Lanpei’s figure seemed to loom
before his eyes, the female ghost in red clothes and shoes coming to
take him away too.

“Bah!” He shivered and whispered to give himself some courage,

“Blah blah blah! Think what, there are no ghosts! There are no ghosts
in this world!”

But as if to disprove his claim, suddenly –

A woman’s soft laugh rang out in this enclosed space, “Hee hee ……”

Zhang Yong jumped up in fright, his features contorted: “Who!

Who?!!!”

There is no sound again.

It was as if that soft laugh was an illusion he had created.

Zhang Yong’s fat, sweaty back was pressed against the cold wall of
the office he’d purposely chosen, with only doors and no windows!
The office was so small that it didn’t even have a cupboard to hide in!
Where was this noise coming from? Zhang Yong’s whole body was so
wet with sweat that he looked like a live fish out of water, and his
heart was about to pop out of his mouth.
Then, like a ritualistic part of a killing game, it is inevitable.

The song was sung once more.

“Throw ah …… throw ah …… throw handkerchiefs …… gently on the

back of the, children, people don’t tell him ……”

But he doesn’t have a mobile phone on him anymore!

Where exactly is this flat electronic sound coming from? Where was
there a mobile phone? With a glimmer of hope, he consoled himself –
had someone left their phone in this office?

Zhang Yong can barely stand, struggling to discern the direction the
sound is coming from.

Slowly, following the song, he moved those bulging bullfrog-like eyes

upwards, towards the ceiling …… overhead ……

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ！！！！”

Zhang Yong let out a scream that could be heard throughout the
school building –

It’s the air conditioning access port!!!

The air conditioning access hatch had been opened at some point! A
red-clad, dark-haired woman was looking down at him coldly from
inside the overhead, and then smiled at him, slyly.

Zhang Yong, already suffering from cardiovascular problems, was

suddenly white as a ghost, his lips were rapidly turning blue, and his
fat chest, which still had a Buddhist medallion on it, was heaving
violently when suddenly…

Zhang Yong’s breath failed to come out and he took two steps
backwards, covering his heart, and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

The ceilings of the school buildings are all keeled, leaving a large
space above which the students used to be accustomed to the cat and
mouse running around, and the air conditioners have the old-
fashioned type of external lift-off access port, which Zhang Yong did
not realise was large enough for a living person to crawl through.

The woman opened the access hatch and jumped down from it, a
sharp knife with a cold glint in her hand ……

“You …… are you ……!”

Zhang Yong saw the woman’s face even in the midst of his extreme
panic – such a demonic face, with a closed moon and delicate flowers.
But at this moment, to him, it looked like an evil spirit crawling out of
hell!

Jiang Liping!

It’s Jiang Liping!!!

“Now that you’ve seen me, you’re definitely not going to live today.”
Jiang Liping smiled and approached him, “How will you die? A knife?
A gun? Both are very painful ways to die ……”

“You, you’re one of them?! You, you’re not just a broken shoe, you’re
…… you’re still one of them!!!”

“Yes, I’m one of them.” Jiang Liping smiled sweetly, “Why else do you
think I’d want to spend my days mingling among you putrid, greasy
old men?”

Zhang Yong stepped back …… stepped back …… he covered his heart

and stumbled to his knees and moved backwards, glancing behind him
at the iron door — and then —

“Bang!”

He burst out of nowhere, perhaps with a bone-deep desire to survive,

and ran like a wild animal with his feet banging open the door hard
and heading out.

Jiang Liping’s eyes darken.

He ran?

It doesn’t matter if you run.

There had already been killings all around him, he was just dying in a
different way.

She knew she didn’t have to catch up with this man who was already
tending to go half-crazy, not to mention that she couldn’t run out after
him, there were police outside, otherwise why would she have to cross
through the ceiling overhead through the keel ceiling?

“Boss, Zhang Yong has run out of classroom 4406.” Jiang Liping
whispered with a special contact microphone pressed to Zhu’s lips,
“Exit 3 direction. I’ll take exit 6 and have your foster guy come get
me.”

Zhang Yong fled the building in a heap, his screaming and movement
attracting the attention of the police, who and police cars were rapidly
approaching in his direction.

Zhang Yong had no idea that one day the siren he dreamed of would
become God’s salvation song as he sweated and shouted at the top of
his lungs, “Help! Help!!! I’m turning myself in! I’m reporting it! Help
me …… there’s a murderer in that building ……!!!”

He ran panting, the Buddha medal on his chest wavering, Zhang Yong
hadn’t even noticed the eerie light of an electronic signal flashing in
one of the medal’s small holes by this time ……

What do you worship when you have a deficit in your heart and ask
God for help?

Fear of spirits and demons.

The calculations of your accomplices were laid long ago, and the
moment you knelt down and begged God, a pair of eyes looked behind
you and saw your weakness and hesitation.
That’s rotten flesh on the organisation that sooner or later has to be
weeded out.

“Help me…help ……”

“Help!!!!”

The circle of policemen on guard heard his scream and immediately

came running towards him in full armour.

Zhang Yong’s eyes glowed with excitement and he ran towards the
police with almost all his strength, like a drowning man in a storm
trying to swim to shore –

He doesn’t want to die, he doesn’t want to die ……

Almost there ……

Immediately ……

He could already see the tense, steely look on the nearest officer’s
face as he cried and put his hand out to them, reaching over ……

“Help me, I’ll say, I’ll say everything, I-”

“BANG!!!”

A creepy, loud bang!

The pouring out of secrets comes to an abrupt end.

There was a dead silence.

As Zhang Yong ran past the turn-off and was about to join the police, a
school canteen freezer truck parked by the turn-off suddenly let out a
terrifying roar of its engine and ploughed into Zhang Yong who was
about to turn himself in!
Everyone had to stop dead in their tracks and watched as Zhang Yong
was slammed into the wall and bounced back with a thud!

The sound of his brain cracking and blood splattering all over the
floor, Zhang Yong was already dead before he hit the ground, his
obese body falling heavily to the ground. The lorry, with its headlights
on, ran over the body on the ground again, instantly deforming half of
Zhang Yong’s body ……

“Team Zheng!”

A few moments of ghastly silence followed.

Suddenly a sharp-eyed policeman shouted, his voice slightly distorted

by the great excitement of a short period of time: “Look! There’s no
one in the driver’s seat of that car! It’s unmanned! The car is moving
by itself!!! How can that be!!!”

Zheng Jingfeng, the veteran detective in charge of this sudden case,

was in the vicinity and saw the scene where Zhang Yong was killed.

He shouted at everyone, “Get down! Everybody get down!!!”

BOOM!!!

The blast sounded almost at the same time, and the empty driver’s
seat of the freezer truck suddenly burst into flames, followed by the
entire front part of the vehicle being wrapped in the blasted flames
……

Zheng Jingfeng choked and coughed as he rose from the ground,

gasping for breath as he looked towards the half-burning steel
machine, the unmanned vehicle, the spontaneous combustion of the
cab after hitting someone, the half-crushed body on the ground ……
The old detective’s face turned very, very ugly in the brightening
fire… …

It was as if he had gone back to that day nineteen years ago ……

The situation in front of me was almost identical to that day.

The only difference is that it was two of his fellow soldiers, a couple,
who were lying under the wheel at that time.

Xie Ping , Zhou Muying .

“Throw it, throw it, throw the handkerchief, put it gently, behind the
little one, don’t tell him, everyone ……”

The second was marked for journalists and died.

Once again, the soft and treacherous nursery rhyme echoes over the
campus of HU through countless electronic mobile devices.

The whole campus was like the stomach of a giant, and after a few
seconds of silence, it tumbled up and down, and the shouts and
shrieks from thousands of students and teachers were like a sonic
earthquake that hit the ears with a rumbling, muffled sound.

Countless heads hung low, staring in horror at the phone screen.

The handkerchief-throwing electronic villain behind the letter Z also

stops, and the electronic girl grabs the electronic boy, who falls to the
ground with a bright red handkerchief behind him, as the electronic
fire burns up from the little boy.

A few seconds later, the murder video changed its appearance once
more –

Another photograph, overhead far shot stretched.

The photo shows the fire burning and engulfing the front of the
freezer truck, the body of Zhang Yong falling in front of the burning
monster, half of his body already crushed into paste ……

“Another person has been killed!”

“I know him! Zhang Yong!!! The director of the school’s external

communication office!”
“Z is Zhang Yong ……”

The scene was reflected through the projection screen in ten thousand
pairs of eyes, one of which was a pair of sharp, peachy eyes that were
now wide open, staring incredulously at the scene –

Xie Qingcheng’s whole body froze.

The blood became cold in an instant.

He could not have believed that he would see the same …… car
explode into flames after automatically hitting someone today, on this
day, in this video serial killer case.

It was as if an invisible hand had suddenly grabbed him around the

neck and strangled him into a thick darkness, where the pictures of
Zhang Yong’s death on the video overlapped with his lingering
nightmares.

The nightmare that lasted nineteen years ……

The one, the answer he could never track down and eventually had to
give up in disgust ……

Xie Qingcheng’s blood-cold hands failed to hold the cup and it

snapped to the floor and shattered!!!

” Xie Qingcheng, what’s wrong with you?” He Yu sensed that the

people around him were not in the right mood, Xie Qingcheng was in
a completely different state than when they saw the first photo.

When Wang Jiankang was killed, Xie Qingcheng was treated like a
normal person. He watched, analysed, complied with police requests
and returned to his dormitory with clear boundaries as to what he
should and should not do.

But once Zhang Yong’s photo was out, Xie Qingcheng didn’t pay any
attention to He Yu, not even a word of analysis. He took his phone,
thought for a while with a blue face, dialed a phone and went straight
to Xie Xue’s bedroom, closing the door in front of He Yu.
He Yu only had time to hear him say to the person who answered the
phone, “Team Zheng, it’s me ……”

Chapter 38 – Xie Qingcheng I have

never forgotten you
The photo of Zhang Yong’s death has disappeared, and now all that
remains is a final splash of blood-red text –

L.

The final game of the handkerchief tossing and killing game, officially
started.

“You tell me exactly who all the L’s you have locked up.”

Inside the bedroom, Xie Qingcheng takes a hard drag on his cigarette,
one hand against the wall, the fingertips of the other pressed against
his temples, his peach blossom eyes floating upwards, staring intently
at the glint of blood on the radio tower in the distance.

The Zheng team on the phone said something to him in a serious tone.

Xie Qingcheng restrained his emotions: “I’m not going to talk to you
about this nonsense. You give me the list.”

“……”

“A while ago I took a guestbook I found at HU to the police station, it

said that WZL would be killed recently and was addressed to Jiang
Lanpei. I thought it was something useful to your police so I sent it
back. You don’t have to hide it from me, that kind of book doesn’t just
appear there for no reason and it matches the message on the video of
the killing today.”

“Xiao Xie ……”

“That was a message from your informant, wasn’t it?”

Xie Qingcheng is straight to the point, and the other side can’t even
say a word to deny it.

Xie Qingcheng gritted his teeth: “So the fact that WZL was going to
be killed, you already knew about it, but I’m afraid the informant
didn’t know anything about it, so he could only write down what he
knew in a book to give you a reminder, to let you decipher it – WZL,
counting the days, you should have been thinking about You should
have been thinking about this message for a long time, enough to lock
down a list. Zheng Jingfeng , don’t tell me you don’t have it.”

Zheng team sighed long: “…… I can’t hide it from you Xiao Xie. You
listen to me, I understand your feelings, this matter if it were anyone,
no one can stand it, but ……”

As Zheng Jingfeng’s words changed, Xie Qingcheng’s cigarette star

caught the side of his finger, causing a slight shiver.

“But we have to keep it a secret ……”

Xie Qingcheng suddenly burst into a rage, he was rarely in such an

emotional state: “Secrecy? What secrecy? When my parents died, you
couldn’t find out anything, it was just a car accident! How long did I
talk to you then? How much did I have to pay to get an answer? You
know everything but you can’t find any evidence! All those years …… I
gave up because I still had a sister and then I couldn’t care less ……
but now these people are hanging out right under my nose and you’re
talking to me about secrecy?”

” Xie Qingcheng , you are not a police officer after all, you have to be
calm ……”
“I’m the son of the fucking victim!”

“……”

“Who are those people who killed my parents, who are they, and I am
likely to find one alive to ask today.” Xie Qingcheng’s eyes were red
and his forehead rested against the cold window pane, “You say. How
do you want me to calm down.”

“……”

“How do you expect me to trust you Zheng Jingfeng. Nineteen years

and you guys haven’t given me an answer. Now even this video killing
hacking countdown to invasion you guys can’t stop, you don’t need to
talk to me, I know those people are one step ahead of the devil, what
are the chances they can still get out in one piece this time?”

” Zheng Jingfeng, Officer Zheng, do you understand what it’s like to

know only darkness for nineteen years and not be able to wait for a
single truth! I’ve been holding back, I’ve been waiting.”

“…… I understand. But ……”

“I have understood you for nineteen years, can you understand me

this day.”

“…… I understand, I understand ……,” the other muttered, as if he

didn’t know what to say.

Xie Qingcheng paused, and the words were bloody.

“Team Zheng. If you really understand, give me the list of L’s.”

“……”

“Or I’ll find my own way to it.”

“……”

A few moments of silence.

Zheng Jingfeng finally said, “Alas, Xiao Xie, listen to your Uncle
Zheng’s advice ……”

He then said something persuasive, but that was the final straw that
broke Xie Qingcheng’s back.

He suddenly burst into a rage and kicked over the seat next to him:
“Fuck you! What’s the use of that? Don’t you ever come back to me
with that kind of crap again!!!”

Xie Qingcheng threw the phone heavily on the table, his forehead
pressed against the wall, bruised and puffy red from the emotion.

No one in the world, not even Xie Xue , had ever seen this face of his.
His chest was heaving violently and his eyes were red and crawling
with blood.

He was quiet for a moment and looked back up at the Cantonment

Tower.

The broadcast tower and these tens of thousands of mobile phone

casts are synchronised in real time, and the handkerchief tossing
video game behind the L is slowly getting underway.

Xie Qingcheng tried to calm himself down, picked up the phone again
with trembling fingers, adjusted his breathing and went to dial Chen
Man’s number.

“Duh …… duh ……”

“Hey, Shea.”

” Chen Man .” Xie Qingcheng mumbled to the person on the phone,

“…… There’s one thing, see if you can help me.”

Chen Man paused for a moment, “Brother, I will do whatever you ask
me to do. But ……”

“……”
Chen Man’s voice became very hard: “But I know what you want to do
now.”

Xie Qingcheng couldn’t stand it, so he fumbled for another cigarette,

but he could barely find one and bit it between his teeth, but couldn’t
light it.

He tossed the lighter aside in annoyance and bit down heavily on the
layer of filter paper. “You know?”

“I know that almost all of Hu Zhou’s public security is monitoring this

right now. Hu Da’s mobile signal port has been compromised to force
the transmission of the death video, and while our people have
intercepted the hacker – they have received another anonymous
threat of a bombing attack at several Hu Zhou locations if we block
the video. We can’t be sure if it’s true or not right now, but it’s
something we can’t afford to gamble on.” Chen Man’s voice sounded
weary, “Xie, I know what you want.”

“……”

“I’ve seen what you’ve seen. I know you want to find L, stop him from
being killed and ask who really killed your parents back then and
which organisation.”

Chen Man said here, his voice was a little choked up: “I also know ……
I also know that my big brother back then was to ask for a truth for
your father, for his master, he only …… he only ……”

The sound of Chen Man sniffling came from the other end of the
phone.

The knot in Xie Qingcheng’s throat rolled up and down, his throat
slightly bitter.

Chen Man didn’t cry in front of him, but across the current, his tears
seemed to fall on his heart as well.

“You can’t help with this can you?” Xie Qingcheng asked softly.
“I can’t …… that’s the rule …… I, I’m just a base too, I don’t have
access to secret keys that high, and I …… I’m a cop …… I ……”

“……” Xie Qingcheng said nothing more.

He could scold Zheng Jingfeng, even if he was his elder. But in this
case, he could never scold Chen Man.

He simply said, with infinite weariness, “Forget it, then.”

“Brother Xie, I-”

Xie Qingcheng has already hung up the phone.

He lay in bed, time passing around him minute by minute, his whole
being was cold, from his fingertips, to his heart ……

“Dad!!! MOM!!!”

“Don’t go there! Xie Qingcheng! Don’t go over there!!!”

Nineteen years ago, on a stormy night, he lost control of himself and

tried to lunge at his parents when he finally realised who the two cold
bodies in the pool of blood were.

His father’s colleagues hugged him and several people, all of them,
rushed over to stop him.

“Who is the murderer? Who is the murderer? Who is the driver!!!”

“……”

“You guys let me through …… you let me see a little bit more, could it
be a mistake, could it be the wrong person ……?!”

The policemen were in tears, but the hands that held him refused to
let go.

“Shea, don’t be like that.”

“The driver fled, we will look into it …… will definitely look into it and
give you an explanation ……”

But what account did they give him?

He later learned that no one had fled. The surveillance that was pulled
up showed that the car was simply unmanned and appeared to have
been rigged by some remote device that crashed straight into his
parents, before that device activated the explosion sequence and the
fire instantly came up and burned the evidence inside the cab clean
and completely.

Dry and clean.

Clean to the point that nineteen years on, it has failed to be detected.

Xie Qingcheng lies in bed, feeling colder and colder, his trembling
hands unable to light a cigarette, he reluctantly opens his mobile
phone, retrieves a file from it and keeps looking at the images in it.

“Click”.

The bedroom door opened.

And that’s when Xie Qingcheng closed his eyes and switched off his
mobile phone, on which he began to receive a succession of calls –

There are old colleagues of his parents, Xie Xue and Chen Man.

He didn’t answer anyone’s, letting the phone ring one after another,
stinging his eardrums.

“Jingle Bells ……”

Suddenly, the ringing of the phone stopped.

What followed was the sound of the phone being switched off.
Xie Qingcheng had his arm over his forehead and eyes, but only then
did he open his eyes slightly and looked numbly through his flexed
arm at the young man who had switched off his mobile phone.

“I heard it all.” He Yu said.

“……”

“You never told me that’s how your parents left.”

Xie Qingcheng tilted his head, he didn’t cry after all, but his eyes were
red and he wanted to get up and go out, something He Yu couldn’t
understand.

Xie Qingcheng didn’t want to talk to him too much.

He sat up and picked up his cigarette with a hand that was still
slightly shaking, and lit it several times, but there was no strength in
his hands to do so.

The lighter was picked up with a crisp click and He Yu lit the Zippo
for him, bringing it to Xie Qingcheng’s lips.

“……” Xie Qingcheng took it and took a puff, before the trembling
slowly subsided a little.

He Yu sits beside him and watches quietly as he finishes his cigarette.

He felt that Xie Qingcheng was actually very strong, and that he had
only lost control of his emotions after such an incident, not losing his
temper, let alone having a nervous breakdown.

But such a helpless Xie Qingcheng is still a rarity in his presence.

Xie Qingcheng, who was used to his strength, and who had looked for
help from everyone, had a feeling of wanting to give him his hand.

He looked at Xie Qingcheng, so desperate yet reticent, and suddenly

something looked familiar to him.
He stared at him for a while ……

Then he remembered.

It was very much like himself at the onset, eight, nine, ten …… years
old whenever he was in the most pain, he would be so helpless, yet so
silent, unwilling to say anything to anyone.

And what did Xie Qingcheng do to himself at that time?

…… has been around too long.

He Yu was surprised to learn how he remembered.

Or was it after Xie Qingcheng became his personal doctor? …… He

had his first attack.

The cottage was quiet as a barren mound that day.

He sat alone on the stone steps with hydrangeas in bloom, and

without crying or making a fuss, he fished out a sharp silver knife and
slowly and methodically cut open his own flesh and blood as if he
were dealing with a skin that had nothing to do with him.

He Yu enjoys the smell of blood when he has a fit, and he is

bloodthirsty. Despite the lack of power to hurt people, it is always
right to do it to yourself, no matter what.

He watched indifferently as the blood ran down his hands, felt his
heart grow mossy, and the cruelty extended from his inner core to his
limbs ……

Suddenly, deep in the flourishing flowers of the endless summer, a

calm voice rang out –

“Hey, brat.”

He Yu was taken aback and immediately hid the blade without

moving, put his hands behind his back, and then tidied up his boyish
face with the innocence of a child. When he looked up, he saw that the
person who had emerged from the flower room was the young Xie
Qingcheng in a white lab coat.

Xie Qingcheng raised his eyebrows and looked at him

condescendingly: “Hide what.”

“…… is nothing.”

He Yu never befriended anyone and naturally wanted him to go away.

The sharp blade in his sleeve pressed against his skin and it took a
great deal of effort to restrain the desire to use it to inflict violence on
others.

But Xie Qingcheng clutched his wrist, forcing his hand out, and the
bloodied knife clattered to the ground as Xie Qingcheng saw the
bloodied cut on his wrist.

He Yu tensed up and waited for him to scold him.

But after waiting for a long time, he only waited for the doctor to say,
“…… Don’t you hurt?”

He froze.

Both his parents knew he was ill, but they seemed ashamed of his
illness. His mother, in particular –

“You’re not allowed to hurt anyone, you have to learn to regulate

yourself, I can understand how hard it is for you physically, but how
can a child suffer so much mentally? It seems you’re still not strong
enough.”

He listened quietly to his mother’s admonitions such as these, as he

did every time he was taught. He lived up to their requests for an
award, a trophy, a compliment.

He is in pieces, every piece of flesh and blood put under the

microscope for examination.
He can’t afford to make a mistake.

So, every time he has an attack, he carefully hides the pain and
internalises it into his thickly calloused heart.

He had to be excellent, he couldn’t even shout in pain. There’s no

point in shouting, no one will really care.

Gradually, he actually lost the instinct to cry out in pain. It didn’t

matter any more.

Like the evil dragon in the fairy tale book that grinds its teeth and
sucks blood, spiny and sharp claws, but never flies off its own reef. It
is within himself that he torments, it is his limbs that he engages, and
he transforms all those perverse illnesses that would let people down
into scars that cannot be easily shown.

As long as he doesn’t do any harm, his illness is not missed, is it?

Each fishy-sweet blood mark is a brand he has put on himself, a

shackle he has chosen to bind himself to in order to be a normal
human being.

His own blood was the only sacrifice he sent for the disease.

All this he had long been used to.

But it was the private doctor who had to break his self-imposed
shackles of iron, to step into his cold, unlit dragon’s lair, to touch his
sores of varying depths, and then ask him, “Hey, kid, don’t you hurt?

A faint but furious whine emanated from within him, only to drag his
bloody stump into a hasty dodge as the man reached out to touch his
wounds, his spiny tail flapping impatiently.

He was not used to being questioned.

Even less used to being cared for.

He said, “I’m not in pain.

I’m not in pain don’t look at me like that! I won’t hurt anyone, you
don’t lock me up, don’t question me, don’t come near me, go away
……

Instead, his hand was squeezed and the young doctor yanked out his
arm, which he had been hiding underneath, and smoothed out his
sleeve.

The cold blade fell to the floor.

As far as the eye could see, the warm blood was still flowing in
crisscrossing streaks from the gash the young and tender child had
made on himself with the tip of a knife during his attack to restrain
his urge to hurt.

As if frightened by something, the young dragon even dropped its

good, docile human mask to reveal the wretched, scarred and ugly
face of Xiao Long behind.

He slapped his thorny tail and showed his sharp teeth when he drank
and roared, anxious to expel this intruder from his lair with all the
vigilance he could muster –

“It’s none of your business, don’t touch me.”

Ignoring his resistance, the young doctor wrapped his hands around
his croup and picked the tiny child up in his arms and carried him
over his shoulder.

“Don’t move.”

He Yu struggled, disgusted by the smell of his antiseptic water and

the faint astringent smell of his medicine in his sleeves.

No longer able to hide his tyranny, he gritted his teeth and whispered
a threat, and a warning.

“Let go of me or I might hurt you ……”

“……”
The doctor said lightly, “Do you have a specific plan for how you plan
to hurt me.”

Back in the villa’s purpose-built treatment room, the doctor tosses him
onto the soft children’s sofa, throws the door open with a bang and
goes to the drawer to pull out a disposable mask and put it on. When
he turns his head, all he sees is Xie Qingcheng’s dark, cold eyes.

It was the first time that he was not gazed at and envied as a ‘role
model’.

It was as if he was suddenly a clumsy child in such eyes, justifiably

fumbling and ridiculous, even reaching out to ask for sweets, and
there was nothing wrong with that.

So he froze, he forgot to run away.

Xie Qingcheng washed his hands at the sink to decontaminate them

and then said, “Hold out your hand and I’ll bandage it for you.”

“…… It doesn’t matter. I don’t care.” He Yu looked away, clutching his

bleeding wound, refusing to believe the man in front of him.

Xie Qingcheng raised his eyebrows slightly: “You’re used to the smell
of blood, to violence, even to self-harm because of it, aren’t you?”

He Yu whispered.

“Yes. It’s something that can’t be changed, and I don’t want to bother
you with a cure.”

Xie Qingcheng said indifferently, “I am paid.”

“……”

“Do you think self-harm is the right thing to do, kid? Is being
bloodthirsty and crazy and twisted inside a thing to be ignored?”

“You even hurt yourself, you don’t even value yourself. When you
smell too much blood, you don’t have any human feelings left, slowly,
more and more mad, more and more numb, living all together like
grass and stubborn stones, aren’t you sorry? Don’t you hurt?”

……

These conversations are as if they happened yesterday.

Even though Xie Qingcheng later left and his relationship with him
faded, he always remembers that day, the first time such a person had
offered him his hand and asked him about it.

Don’t you hurt.

How can you not even value yourself ……

He Yu watched as the man hung his head and puffed out the last of his
cigarette.

He suddenly said, ” Xie Qingcheng , you want to know who the police
have locked up L is, don’t you?”

“……”

“Don’t you feel bad. Maybe I can help you.”

Xie Qingcheng raised his head suddenly and looked at him with wide
peach blossom eyes.

“Don’t forget.” He Yu said, “I’m a hacker too.”

“……”

“The equipment they’re using is cutting edge, out of habit, the kind of
equipment I’ve known since I was born, and I’ve just intercepted the
other side’s attack on my phone. Their programming is probably clear
to me, and the technicians these people employ may not be beyond my
ability to break through.”

He Yu wasn’t joking with him.

His look was very serious, even solemn.

It was as if he was announcing to the mountain that had always stood

before him in an insurmountable position that he had grown up and
was no longer the helpless boy of the endless summer.

Xie Qingcheng was at a loss, his mind was blank and his thoughts
were all in disarray.

After a long time, he heard himself asking, “…… Why are you ……
helping me.”

He Yu was quiet for a moment, then suddenly he gave him his hand.

Just like Xie Qingcheng, who had the courage to give his hand to that
sick, depressed, violent, bloodthirsty, self-inflicted child.

“Because once, you did the same thing to me.”

“……”

” Xie Qingcheng , I never liked you.”

“But ……”

The scent of endless summer hydrangeas seemed to waft in again

from the height of that summer, as those standing reached out to
those sitting –

“Dr. Tse, I’ve never …… forgotten you either.”

 Chapter 39 – She never forgot the
hate either
Xie Xue has a laptop in her bedroom, and she is one of the rare
oddballs in modern society who doesn’t have a password.

He Yu opens his laptop, his hands fluttering over the keyboard, his
almond eyes fixed on the screen, lines of code skimming across his
deep black eyes at breakneck speed.

A few minutes later, He Yu’s long fingers pressed enter. A deciphered

message popped up, reflecting on his retinas.

“L is actually not a search anymore.” He Yu stared at the line in the

pop-up box and whispered, “So the police already knew exactly who
WZL was.”

Xie Qingcheng has tried his best to calm himself down by now, but I
don’t know if it’s because he’s sweating so much from his previous
emotions. His back is tense, and he stands upright next to He Yu,
leaning over his notebook and looking at the code.

They were internal communications, three of which He Yu had

intercepted. The messages were partly in code, but to the two men,
who already knew part of the inside story, the meaning was easy to
guess.
” Wang Jiankang , Zhang Yong have been killed.”

“There’s a mole, change the channel.”

“Line up the last location where the Lu Yuzhu signal appeared and
move fast.”

Not to mention Xie Qingcheng, even He Yu was stunned.

Is the last person …… Lu Yuzhu ?

Lu Yuzhu is one of the most honest and simple looking people in the
crowd.

She was in her forties, and helped out in the school’s infirmary. He Yu
and Xie Qingcheng have both been to the infirmary at HU for some
reason and have spoken to her.

How could it be her ……?

At the same time, near the site of Zhang Yong’s murder, next to the
HU campus.

Superintendent Zheng sat rigidly in his command car, his leopard

eyes filled with blood, and the police officers behind him were silent.

They had all heard Zheng Jingfeng being cursed at by a man on a

phone call. The older policemen knew who this man was, and the
younger ones, even if they didn’t know, heard 11, 12, 3.

But what dumbfounded them most was the two murders they failed to
stop in front of them.

The fire was still burning and part of the police force was taking
photographs of the crime scene, protecting it and seeking evidence.

Zheng Jingfeng unscrewed his thermos and took a sip of water, barely
calming his heart.

“Can we still contact the informant who gave us the information?”

His protégé shook his head, “The informant hasn’t been seen since the
guestbook was found and sent to our facility. He said he had been
unsafe for a while then, and WZL was the last message he could give
us recently.”

Zheng Jingfeng leans back heavily on the back of his chair, his fingers
squeezing his eye-point. A deep sigh.

The fact that HU WZL would be killed was a warning given to them by
informants well in advance.

Jiang. Lan. Pei. In turn, the informant agreed with the police to mark
the drop.

But the waters of that mysterious organization are so deep that

messages between the top brass sometimes don’t even exchange, and
many of the transmissions are in coded language, so when the
informant gave the police a tip, he didn’t know exactly what wzl
meant, and just conveyed this encrypted message to the police
counterpart as it was.

It took Zheng Jingfeng some time to decipher that wzl was not one
person, but three, using various detection techniques and correlating
various clues.

The three men who deciphered it were Wang Jiankang, Zhang Yong
and Lu Yuzhu.

All three are involved in the case and will be “cleaned up” in the near
future.

After the tip-off, it was not easy for the police to protect the informant
and communicate with the three targets, who were completely “dark”.
They could never tell the truth to Wang, Zhang and Lu, otherwise they
would alert the snake and had to keep a 24-hour watch on them and
start acting at the first sign of trouble.

However, no one can concentrate on every second of a 24-hour

stakeout. What’s more, the informant only knows the approximate
time they were killed, but not exactly when.
Wang Jiankang was a lecherous man who loved to cheat on his wife
behind her back. This love of cheating makes him act with an inherent
sense of counter-surveillance.

The place where he was killed was at the school hotel and on his way
to his destination he went to the dormitory building and switched cars
with a colleague. There was a meeting at the school that day and staff
were wearing uniform. After Wang Jiankang changed cars,
plainclothes officers mistook his colleague for him, resulting in a gap
of over an hour when they were not able to keep an eye on him.

An hour later, Wang Jiankang was strangled to death in the hotel and
replaced by his killer with women’s shoes.

Zhang Yong is a cautious and timid person. He wants money but is

also afraid of things.

He may also have sensed the mistrust of the organisation’s upper

echelons and the police had tried to start with him, promising him
that they would keep him safe and get him to reveal known
information.

But such a man is alert and thoughtful, and lacks trust in anyone.
Faced with the plainclothes test, the absolute fool’s first reaction is to
assume that the plainclothesman is a fake, sent by the organisation to
ascertain his loyalty.

He therefore guarded it closely and refused to say anything, and after

that day, as an expression of his heart, he told his superiors about it.

From then on, the task of tracking Zhang Yong becomes extremely
difficult and dangerous, as the police are watching Zhang Yong, while
the people of the mysterious organisation are also watching the police
from the shadows.

Zhang Yong’s trail thus created a distance and time gap. He had
called the police in the last hours before he was run over, but then he
saw the photos of Wang Jiankang’s murder and, fearing that the
phone’s location system would not only help the police find him, but
would also most likely become a way for the organisation to dig up his
trail, he dropped the phone.
Until he met Jiang Liping, he thought he could get away with it, hiding
in a deserted office, thinking he would be safe from all the electronic
devices that could track him.

But Zhang Yong did not anticipate that the tracking device had been
left behind by the organisation in the Buddha plaque he was carrying
……

The last known survivor is Lu Yuzhu.

Lu Yuzhu is the trickiest of the three.

Because unlike the first few greasy, money-grubbing, horny men, she
is not in it for profit. She is a natural hater of the public prosecutor
and society because of her own misfortunes.

Lu Yuzhu’s path to crime was unique in that she had been the first
female graduate student in their county, and after graduation
returned to her hometown and became the county secretary of their
hometown.

However, one year, a trainee journalist came to the provincial capital,

and the trainee journalist, full of a simple sense of justice, decided to
visit the following villages to uncover irregularities and violations, and
was determined to break a story.

Lu Yuzhu’s personality is a bit big-headed, coupled with the small size

of the place, the anti-corruption and integrity work has to be torn with
folk customs and folkways, she is very clear on the big issues, but
there are really some small things that she has not done. Someone in
her family received some gifts for the project, the amount was not
much, that is, an agreed amount of favours in the village, at most
enough to buy a pig.

As a result, the journalist took the plunge and gave her a hard string
of zeros after that pig.

This is not good enough, such a big corrupt official in a small county,
must be suspended from duty and thoroughly investigated?
The case was originally a lie written by a journalist with 18 lives of
unethical ancestors. But Lu Yuzhu was unlucky enough to be re-
elected as the county party secretary, and her rival for the position, a
best friend of the family, happened to be the staff member in charge
of the case.

Lu Yuzhu gave them a couple of set-ups and collaborated with them to

actually be convicted of corruption and bribery.

She was still young, her child was two years old, and when she was
jailed, the child had only just managed to say “Mum” in a vague way.

By the time she came out, her husband had already had a new love,
and her daughter, who had no recollection of having such a mother,
was cradled in her stepmother’s arms, looking fearfully at the
emotional woman in front of her.

Lu Yuzhu finally left their small county with his heart in his mouth.

A story written by a journalist who thought he was speaking out for

justice and exaggerating his writing. The dark dealings in the bottom
departments of small counties, unknown to their superiors, the
weakness and betrayal of their husbands …… all of this falls lightly on
this woman, a few words, a few sums of money, a county secretary’s
chair, and the destruction of an ordinary man’s life.

Lu Yuzhu was unable to find too many good jobs after she got out
because of her criminal record. She washed dishes, worked as a
caregiver and did domestic work …… for a short time, and when
employers found out about her previous experience, either politely or
bluntly, they all had to dismiss her.

At the most difficult time of his life, Lu Yuzhu went to work on the
stage.

Of those who had come to toy with her, she had seen too many
professions, including those who were least expected to be in such
places.

Later, one of the customers saw that she was very handy and did not
sound like she had never studied, so out of curiosity, she asked her
about her experiences. Lu Yuzhu didn’t want to say much, but there
comes a time when people are vulnerable, and that day she couldn’t
hold back and told them everything in the ambiguously lit private
room.

The guest smoked a cigarette, thought about it, and wrote her an
address where she could go to a friend of his if she wished, and that
friend would arrange a stable and decent job for her.

This is how Lu Yuzhu came to work as a nurse in the infirmary at HU.

She has been here for a long time, about two or three years ago, the
higher public prosecution department came to thoroughly investigate
the old wrongful cases, found Lu Yuzhu when the corruption and
bribery case, to her case, double regulation of the journalist, the
layout of the year involved in the relevant public officials caught in.

The young prosecutor personally came to Lu Yuzhu’s door to

apologise and present him with compensation, followed by their
county’s new public prosecutor and law functionary.

Lu Yuzhu had just finished taking medicine for a few students at that
time, looked at them, smiled a little and was quite calm: “Let bygones
be bygones. Keep this money for yourselves, I won’t take it.”

The prosecutor asked her why.

She looked at them coldly and said, “Do you think that this money can
buy a person’s life?”

“……”

“My life is ruined, what do I need all this for. Can you guys take me
back to the year I was twenty-five?”

“……”

“Will you give me back my children, my husband, my family?”

“……”
“Go away, you guys.”

But the prosecutor insisted that she receive compensation.

Lu Yuzhu said, “Then you should use the money to set up a foundation
of some kind, to teach the media, to beg them to be more cautious,
more impartial and more reserved when they write about a person or
an event. They’ll have enough eyeballs and money, and the locusts
will be on the prowl, but what about the people involved?”

She smiled, the most thunderous young female secretary in the county
back then, now with deep wrinkles at the end of her eyes.

“That’s a lifetime of wretchedness and pain.”

Lu Yuzhu , is definitely not going to defect to the police.

But the question is, why should such a person, who is very far from
the police psychologically, but who has a high level of recognition and
obedience to the organisation, have to be “cleaned up” by the
organisation?

” Lu Yuzhu was not carrying any electronic means of communication,

but it could be that she was using someone else’s mobile phone and
we couldn’t trace it to locate it.” The police officer in charge of
information detection tapped his keyboard as he reported to
Superintendent Zheng, “There are currently 15,890 mobile phones in
the area sending and receiving signals, and it would be completely
pointless to locate them all.”

Another policewoman answered the phone and went to the command

car, her face was very serious, and she said to Superintendent Zheng,
“Zheng, we can’t track Lu Yuzhu, her anti-surveillance ability is the
top level we’ve seen over the years, she must have been trained in
this area and equipped with a jamming device. ”

Zheng Jingfeng didn’t say anything, his leopard eyes were fixed on the
radio and television tower, which was still spinning with its
“handkerchief throwing” electronic figurines.
The stinging letters of the L look like bloodstained curved hooks.

L……

The old interrogator kept wondering if they had made a mistake in

deciphering the L. Perhaps it wasn’t Lu Yuzhu who was represented?
What was the need for such a highly loyal woman to be killed by her
superiors.

It was the only one of the three he was unsure about. It did not make
sense to kill Lu Yuzhu in terms of the other man’s motive for killing
him.

Although it is true that no other targets have emerged either.

But until this moment, Zheng Jingfeng wondered if there was

something more to the letter L…… that they hadn’t explored.
 Chapter 40 – Let’s stop them
together
HU Faculty and Staff Residence.

” Lu Yuzhu’s personal history is all here.” He Yu quickly looked up the

relevant files, and Xie Qingcheng looked past the screen with the two
of them.

“There is no point in this man being killed.”

As soon as the last line of information had been read, He Yu drew the
conclusion in a very straightforward manner.

“She’s on the other side through and through.”

Xie Qingcheng : “So why did she have to be ‘cleaned up’?”

“Cleaning ……”

He Yu mulled over the word, lost in thought.

As the saying goes, only the best know their own.

Unlike Zheng Jingfeng, He Yu is a hacker who is more aware of the

problems of information transmission and who, in terms of logic, has a
better understanding of the other side. Years of psychiatric disguise,
of living a different lifestyle, have tortured his mind into something
very twisted, taut and sharp.

He pondered for a few seconds, looking out of the window at the

blood-red tower of the radio and television, and then, from the word
“cleaning”, he thought of something.

He suddenly stood up and looked at the building behind the Hutong

Broadcasting Tower, his eyes glowing with an almost terrifying light.

L.
By the way …… there is something in this whole affair that seems
normal, but in fact needlessly exists.

A repetition of the same thing.

Broadcast tower.

What role did it play in the whole video killing? If you think about it,
there is no separate role. So far, its function has been to synchronise
the progress of the killing with the mobile phone video in real time. It
overlaps completely with the function of the mobile phone video.

So why did they make the Cantonment Tower stand there like a sword
of judgement?

Is it just to provoke? It’s arrogant enough to cover the whole area

with a signal, so why go the extra mile.

He Yu’s expression was stony. He has realised that the radio tower is
being controlled, perhaps not for the purpose of broadcasting the
progress of the killing at all, but ……

Rather, because the vicinity of this tower …… may have certain

sources of signals that need their precise control!

Because of this, the opposing hackers did not want to be distracted by

the signal from the radio tower, so they simply took control of it as
well and disguised themselves in a ritualistic manner of killing people.
Their real aim, in fact, was to achieve stability in the surrounding
signal coverage.

L……L……

What are the buildings around the Cantonment Tower that deserve to
be noticed?

Canteen 2 …… Rain or shine playground ……

There is also the fact that He Yu’s gaze is firmly fixed at this
moment…
Library.

Archive Bowen House.

It is also one of the school’s libraries.

Jiang Lanpei has been locked up in Cheng Kang psychiatric hospital

for nearly two decades, and Cheng Kang’s case and the Hutuan Radio
Tower murder case are now closely intertwined, with the organization
having to clean up ……

L, is it just the ‘Lu’ of Lu Yuzhu?

Is it just “people” that they have to clean up?

More than a decade long of darkness must have involved a lot of

paper records. Normal people still need to be bound by contracts with
each other, and it is unlikely that an organisation of that kind would
have kept any agreements verbal, and even further back in time, even
less likely to use electronic versions.

So if there were case files, whether documenting what they did or the
people involved in the case, how many texts would have accumulated
over a decade or two, over twenty years?

The most important ones they will keep to themselves, but what about
the less important ones on the margins?

Will it be taken out and stored in the territory of the collaborators,

like some kind of “contract” that binds them to each other? Binding
the two partners in the darkness?

Wang Jiankang , Zhang Yong , were both senior members of the

school. They are collaborators of the mysterious organization and
have obtained some of the side case files, where would they keep
them? Those files are probably too large to be deposited in a bank
safe, and they don’t want their loved ones to know about them, so ……

What is the one place where the most information is archived in the
whole school and the least likely to be consulted?
The answer is the silent and inconspicuous-looking archive building
that at this moment is still hidden under the bloodshot light of the
Cantonment Tower.

Every century-old university has a building filled with stacks and

stacks of volumes, especially at HU, which still has the age-old
tradition of archiving every graduate’s transcripts, papers and exams
in paper form, even though they are now electronically filed.

The archives building at HU can be traced back to the original thesis

defence written by a student over a hundred years ago, and there are
so many bags in the building that it would take ten days and nights to
sort through them all.

L, Library, Lu Yuzhu .

If she’s not the one being cleaned, then she is ……

He Yu turned back to Xie Qingcheng and said, “If you trust me, you
will come with me to the archives. But I’m not necessarily right. It
takes twenty minutes to get to the archives from here, and we’ll have
to avoid the patrol to avoid detection, which could be more than
twenty minutes. If my guess is wrong, you may not have a chance to
get close to this person who may have a clue to your parents’ death.
Think about it, do you want to do this.”

Xie Qingcheng has always been used to calmly barking orders at

people and planning guidance for them, but this moment he is faced
with the truth about his parents’ nineteen years of untraceable
deaths.

His mind had almost become a jumble.

So, although Xie Qingcheng had a vague feeling that something was
wrong, he didn’t know how to sort out the chess pieces in front of him.

He never expected that the only person who could give him a
direction now would be He Yu.

It would be this brat.

Distracted, Xie Qingcheng took the cigarette case off the table and
then he looked deeply at He Yu.

Xie Qingcheng had never looked at He Yu with such a look in his eyes.

His eyes used to look down, even when He Yu was taller than him, and
the aura that came from his peachy eyes was still looking at a
teenager who needed to submit to him absolutely.

But in this moment, Xie Qingcheng’s gaze is level.

“……,” he said to He Yu, “I believe you.”

He Yu’s heart lurches.

Not to mention Xie Qingcheng paused and actually looked at him and
said to him again, word for word, “…… Thank you.”

He Yu It took a few seconds before he came back to his senses: “……

It’s fine.”

He said, suppressing the inexplicable shudder that ran through him.

“Nothing.” He repeated, grabbing his phone and suddenly thinking of

something, “Right brother, wait for me.”

He turned back to his phone and quickly connected it to his computer,

logged onto a dark web, searched for a software, paid for it with
Mastercard and downloaded it to his phone.

“It’s hacked mirror software of the device they’re using, although it’s
only the most basic part of the mirror.” He Yu says, “but enough to be
useful just in case.”

Xie Qingcheng looked at him and the feeling of inappropriateness

came over him again.

If it was the usual Xie Qingcheng, he would have understood

immediately what was inappropriate. But at this moment his mind was
like half-consolidated glue, spinning too hard.
So when He Yu set up all the software support, put the phone in his
pocket, looked back at him and said, “Let’s go.” Xie Qingcheng
responded, although there was a momentary pause.

He follows He Yu as he runs towards the archives.

Inside the archives.

Lu Yuzhu, looking relaxed, walks Jiang Liping to the lift and hands her
a portable hard drive.

“The important information that was sorted out is in there, and Duan
knows the password.”

Jiang Liping took it, fondled it with her head down and after a while
she said to Lu Yuzhu, “Sister Lu, do you want to see ……”

“I’m not going with you.” Lu Yuzhu said, “This matter needs a finisher.
With all the fuss, the boss is giving a bloody warning to all the
partners, so that everyone hiding in the shadows has sealed their
mouths and knows what will happen if they betray him, knowing that
even under the nose of the police, if the boss wants to make a move,
they will still not be able to save their lives. But the hounds, especially
the head hound, will definitely find a way to get this case investigated.
Otherwise, they will lose their crowns.”

She smiled, “I know only too well how far those people can go to lose
their minds for a black hat.”

Jiang Liping : “You think about it.”

“I’ve thought it through.” Lu Yuzhu said, “I was the in-country

executioner of the whole case, and I had to mislead the police into
thinking that Jiang Lanpei had ties to an offshore power, and that I
was the one who planned all this to avenge Jiang Lanpei’s death.”

“Now, everything I can give the police to complete the triple chain of
evidence has been left behind, and the evidence they get in the end of
their investigation can only prove that it was a cross-border crime,
and that the owner of the offshore machinery manufacturing business
had already been controlled by Mr Duan a few months ago during the
ten-year-long standoff, and Mr Duan was just waiting to lead the
evidence to them before killing them offshore. A giant corpse that big
is more than enough to cover for our organisation in the Cheng Kang
case and those police killings from nineteen years ago, something that
is dead on arrival anyway.”

“Now, most of the hounds in the territory will withdraw if they can
just take me and deliver. Those on the run they won’t spend their
main force chasing, and those left who aren’t willing to do so are
single-handed and alone.”

She said, looking down at the time, and said to Jiang Liping, “Liping,
you should go now, you can’t get away from Wang Jiankang and
Zhang Yong. When will Mr. Duan send someone to meet you?”

Jiang Liping looked at Lu Yuzhu’s face as if she wanted to say

something, but in the end she did not. After a moment of silence, she
replied, “His people have arrived. I’ll be able to leave soon.”

“Go on then, Zheng Jingfeng isn’t stupid, and when he comes around,
he’ll probably chase him here.”

“Sister Lou ……”

“Let’s go.” Lu Yuzhu said, giving her a hug. They were both
undercover Division criminals hiding in HU, and in a sense, sisters
who had shared their troubles. “You must be careful, there are police
informants in the organisation, and this time the plan should have
gone more smoothly if it hadn’t been leaked in advance.”

Jiang Liping : “I know.”

“That informant, so far, has not revealed his foot …… he has secretly
harmed us for so long, after catching him, you must let the boss break
him into pieces ……”

Lu Yuzhu gritted his back teeth, a wild, shining light bursting from his
eyes, “This is the only thing I want before I die. I’ll be watching from
hell.”
Jiang Liping closed his eyes and, without a word, held her tightly.

After a few seconds, she turned around and got into the lift.

The lift doors slowly closed between the two women, separating the
yin and the yang.

The lift rises.

Lu Yuzhu turns downwards and goes deeper into the basement of the
archive.

She had already planted multiple lines of fire, detonators and killed
two of the archive’s staff. Even with the tip-off, Zheng Jingfeng still
lost out to her and was unable to find her location before she
completed her layout.

They were always so useless, they were that way over a decade ago
and they are still that way now.

Always late.

There is no point in being late to justice, they had taught her that with
her life.

She now intends to use her life to return this truth to her.

Lu Yuzhu went to the centre of the basement and retook, carefully, an

inventory of everything, a state-of-the-art set given to her by the
organisation; she didn’t know about explosives, but she knew certain
procedures.

As soon as she had built it the way they wanted and pressed the
detonator, their people could remotely manipulate it and have all the
devices detonated at the same time within five minutes.

Lu Yuzhu walked to stand quietly amidst the cobweb-like lines,

looking around her calmly, knowing that if these things exploded, the
entire archive, not to mention the twenty years, the centuries of files
would go up in flames, and the person who had saved her from a
career as a desk girl would be “clean”.

“Brother Duan.” She softly pronounced the daring, daring title she
usually only dared to murmur in her mind, “I’ve come to clean up for
you.”

With a soft laugh, she pressed the detonator down.

“Boss Duan.”

In a hotel suite in Hu Zhou, a cigar-chomping technician is staring at

his laptop screen with a grimace on his face.

“The detonation far manipulation system was suddenly intercepted.”

The man standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking

the Shanghai University Broadcasting Tower asked coldly,
“Intercepted by the police? I paid such a big price to hire you over,
but you can’t play the police, this money, you received it with peace of
mind.”

“It’s not the police.” The technician wiped the sweat from his head,
his eyes bulging like bullfrogs behind his highly myopic beer-bottle-
lidded glasses from the strain, “The intrusion port isn’t one we’re
familiar with.”

“……” the man looked like he had come to some interest, “…… that?”

“I can’t find out for now, but looking at the technique, I have a feeling
…… I have a feeling the other side is ……”

“Yes?”

The technician swallowed, “Edward.”

The words trailed off and after a few seconds of silence, a woman’s
voice came from the room.
The woman hadn’t spoken before, lying in her recliner and swiping
through Weibo, reading the discussions about the HUDA Broadcasting
Tower. They were quickly blocked and deleted, but the messages
were coming and going, and it was still somewhat interesting to
refresh them every now and then.

But the woman’s hand stopped at the sound of Edward’s name.

She asked the technician, “Are you sure?”

“I, I can’t be sure, but of the well-known hackers who could intercept
my system in such a short time and with such a technique, I can’t
think of anyone else but him for the moment, I ……”

Boss Duan smiled lightly, “It’s easier if it’s him. Let’s see if it’s him
first.”

He said and instructed the secretary at his side, “Call He Yu.”

“Duh …… duh …… duh ……”

“Boss Duan, he didn’t answer.”

The man slightly sidled one deep eye and squinted at the woman, “I
really have to congratulate you, Mr. Lu. You have such a wonderful
son.”

The woman rose from her chair, her high-luxury tailored silk dress
wrapping around her bloated frame, and she walked to the floor-to-
ceiling window, the urban night outside illuminating her face.

That benevolent, eight-faced businessman’s face.

This woman is clearly –

Lv Zhishu !!!

Lv Zhishu drank the wine from her glass, her expression a little
embarrassed.
But she still forced a few laughs and said to the man, “Mr. Duan, I
should congratulate you too, if it wasn’t for him, this would have been
very difficult today, wouldn’t it? If it wasn’t for him, it would have
been very difficult to end this today, wouldn’t it? It’s better if it was
him. Because given my son’s character, there is no way he would have
gotten involved in this on his own initiative. There must be someone
with him.”

She said, glancing down at her phone.

In the family group, He Yu’s message remained: “I’m going back to

the hostel with Dr Xie.” This one.

Lv Zhishu had a complicated look in his eyes and handed the phone to
the man, “Try not to hurt him and find a way to get him to put a stop
to this in a hurry.”

The man scanned the screen.

“Your son and Xie Qingcheng are together again.”

“I guess the relationship is quite good.” Lv Zhishu wanted to get rid of

this matter and his own family, so he pushed it all onto Xie
Qingcheng, “I know my son, he doesn’t like Xie Qingcheng’s
character, but spiritually, he has been using Xie Qingcheng as a
target to emulate the breakthrough. I guess Xie Qingcheng wanted to
investigate this matter today, so he was so eager to send it to him. He
wanted to perform in front of his spiritual idol.”

“Spiritual idol?” The man flipped through the chat and after a
moment, said to the technician, “Go pull up some old footage then. It’s
also time to shatter the kid’s …… what’s it called? Oh …… idol filter.”

Boss Duan walked over to the computer and continued to instruct,

“Both the ones that are publicly available online and the ones that are
internal to us. I’ll talk to you about exactly which videos to look for.”

The man smiled coldly, knowing that He Yu was doing this for Xie
Qingcheng.
It couldn’t have been easier to ask He Yu to stop.

As long as, for example, you see Xie Qingcheng’s past.

This son of Lv Zhishu would certainly not have reached out to his Dr.
Xie.
Chapter 41 – For the truth is never
meaningless
Five minutes.

Lu Yuzhu thought, just five minutes and it would all be over.

The ticking of the detonator echoed in the basement, like the

pendulum clock in the old county house, many years ago, ticking away
at her still peaceful life.

At that time she thought she could live out her life in peace and
harmony.

Suddenly –

It was as sudden as when that hairy reporter broke her life.

The countdown to death surprisingly stopped.

At the same time, Lu Yuzhu heard the muffled roar of the lift bay
behind him.

She turned around and saw the barn door slowly open, and inside
stood a tall, broad-shouldered, long-legged man. He had beautiful
peach blossom eyes and a sharp fire in them.

Xie Qingcheng emerges from the silver-grey lift silo with a wedge-like
gaze that kills into the heart cavity.

He Yu’s guess was right on the money.

Lu Yuzhu was here, and the mirroring software he had downloaded on

his phone triggered a high-intensity signal alert before he entered the
archive. He Yu ran a connection scan and found that there was even a
detonator in place.
More than one.

Unfortunately, the triggers could be manipulated by mirroring

software, which allowed He Yu to break through his opponent’s
firewall and stop the countdown before he got in.

They hadn’t informed the police before they broke in, and time was
running out. They had already established that there was a mole in
the police, and notifying them would only have made things easier.

It was now clear that Lu Yuzhu was going to take a suicidal action to
“clean up” the files and evidence of her benefactor.

“I know the countdown was only five minutes. But now it has
stopped.” Xie Qingcheng stared at the woman’s face, “Can we talk.”

“The countdown has stopped …… How can a countdown ……”

“That’s thanks to your boss’s love of high technology.” A soft, satin

voice rang out behind Xie Qingcheng.

Lu Yuzhu now realises that there is a man standing deep in the lift.

Xie Qingcheng’s aura was so powerful that he stepped out of the

slowly opening door as if he were standing on top of the sky, each
step seeming to be a step on her heart. So much so that she didn’t
notice the young man hiding in the shadows of the large lift.

The young man, dressed in a simple black autumn turtleneck, looked

casual and calm, even playing carelessly with his mobile phone as he
walked out. If the archives were replaced by a bookshop or a club, his
outfit, with these eyebrows, would not be out of place at all.

The youth smiled at her, “Ms. Lu, technology is indeed a good thing.”

But he didn’t say much to Lu Yuzhu, whose technician was going

crazy on the programmed system he had just kidnapped. With a
gentle and thoughtful greeting, He Yu leans back against the wall and
continues to fight this silent programming war with the other side, his
eyes settling and gathering his concentration, never mind the
conversation between Xie Qingcheng and Lu Yuzhu.

Lu Yuzhu is a woman who has been through a lot, and even in this
situation, she regained her composure after a brief moment of shock.

“You’re not cops.” She scowled at them, her tense muscles relaxing
slightly.

“No.”

“The dogs haven’t even sniffed here yet, you guys can come first.” Lu
Yuzhu narrowed his eyes, “What are you people.”

Xie Qingcheng had no intention of talking to her and cut to the chase:
“Nineteen years ago, my parents died in a car accident. An unmanned
car crashed into them, and after impact the front end spontaneously
combusted, destroying valid evidence in exactly the same way as your
people killed Zhang Yong just now.”

“……” Lu Yuzhu said, “So are your parents betrayers who deserve to
be swept away, or are they two police dogs?”

Xie Qingcheng : “They are the police.”

“That was a good death, not at all unjust. A posthumous martyr,

right?” Lu Yuzhu twisted out a mocking smile.

“No.”

Lu Yuzhu’s smile falters for a moment.

“They didn’t die on the mission and there is no direct evidence to

prove that they were killed in a vendetta. Even though all their
colleagues around them understood that the incident was not a
coincidence or an ordinary car accident, as long as they could not
prove themselves, it was an accident.”

“……” Lu Yuzhu’s eyes dimmed slightly, as if he thought of what he

had been through.
“I’ve read your profile. Know what has happened to you.”

Xie Qingcheng pauses: “I know what it’s like to go so many years

without a fair response. Lu Yuzhu , not all police officers are guilty of
the worst crimes.”

“……”

“My parents died when I was thirteen, and as far as I can remember
they did nothing to shame their conscience. In fact they were brutally
murdered because they were constantly pursuing the truth and
clearing the names of people like you.”

“Lu Yuzhu.” Xie Qingcheng said, “I know you hate the journalists, the
investigators, all the people involved who framed you at the time, you
left your home and suffered, it’s too late for you to overturn the case
three years ago, nothing in the past can be changed.”

“But do you know how many journalists, police officers, prosecutors,

whom you can’t see and whom you don’t know, are doing their best
and even end up giving up their lives in order to shed light on you and
on those who have been burdened with trumped up charges? Why are
they giving their blood, their youth, even their lives for things that
have been settled in the past, for things that …… perhaps the parties
involved can no longer forgive even after the case has been
overturned?”

“For the belated truth cannot change the past though.”

Xie Qingcheng’s voice was trembling slightly, as if he was not only

talking to Lu Yuzhu, but also tearing himself apart after nearly twenty
years of being trapped.

“But at least, it will get the future back on the right track.”

“It can make the living, who have suffered injustice, raise their heads
again. It can allow the martyrs who died without a name to be buried
in nine springs. It can remove the heavy shackles from the shoulders
of the victims, and it can show those outside the net of justice what it
means to have justice in heaven.”
“It doesn’t heal the wounds of the past, Lu Yuzhu.” Xie Qingcheng
said, his voice calm and emotionally suppressed, but his red eyes
revealed how broken and fragmented he really was, “but it’s not
meaningless. The truth is never meaningless.”

“The moment you were found by the prosecutor and everyone bowed
in apology, did you have the painful pleasure of …… the gas that had
been blocking you for over a decade finally dissipating in your heart?
Even though that pain was accompanied by boundless suffering, that
was the moment when you could finally catch your breath.”

“……” Lu Yuzhu’s eyes twitched slightly.

“You have waited, Lu Yuzhu. I’ve waited almost twenty years too, and
I haven’t waited.”

Lu Yuzhu : “……”

Xie Qingcheng : “In places you can’t see, there are many people who
have bled and died for your grievances. You don’t even know their
names. But they have been pursuing justice to make up for wrongs, to
get justice for wrongs that were not committed by them, to get justice
for the living and the dead …… Do you think this is meaningless?”

“The first time I saw you, I was a little bit of a nuisance. …… At least
my parents weren’t. They became police officers to make money, to
support their families, to see it as a career. But they said so and
ended up dying for that career, without much money, without raising
their children. I was only thirteen when they left.”

” Lu Yuzhu , you are also a mother, can you imagine what my mother
was thinking at the moment of her death?”

Lu Yuzhu had only been silent before, but at the words, her body
shuddered hard, as if there were a pair of tearful eyes in the sky, like
hers, a woman who had been forced to leave her child, looking at her
in silence.

“Half of her body was crushed. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“By your people.”

“……”

“What did she do wrong Lu Yuzhu? She had never said anything very
remarkable in her life, and the only thing she said solemnly I still
remember to this day. She said that every ordinary person longs for a
truth when they are stuck, and that one has to have something bright
to believe in this world to have a running start to live.”

“She wanted the badge on her shoulder to be bright, something that

could be trusted by every helpless person who asked for help. But
your companions, your organisation, your people, killed her.”

“Her shoulder patches were crushed to pieces.”

Lu Yuzhu’s fingertips tremble faintly.

Xie Qingcheng said: “It’s not the police you should hate, it’s the
criminals who set you up and slandered you. …… Come back Lu
Yuzhu. Some things shouldn’t be like that.”

Lu Yuzhu looked like a wandering soul, more than ten years of her life
torn and spinning inside her body. Finally she raised her head and
opened her mouth to Xie Qingcheng, her voice actually taking on
some huskiness: “…… I’m sorry.”

“……”

“I’m so sorry ……” she murmured.

But –

But, she added.

“You know …… that phrase was the most repeated phrase when the
prosecutor who turned my case over for me found me.”
Lu Yuzhu gently: “I thought at the time, and I’m sorry to say it, what
was the implication? It was that you had a miserable life, but it had
nothing to do with me.”

She looked at Xie Qingcheng with a very complicated look in her eyes.

After a few seconds pause, she continued on, “But now I’m talking to
you, I’m sorry. I feel it, and I’m thinking that maybe …… maybe he
didn’t mean to have nothing to do with me at the time. He did, indeed,
really feel stifled for me. It’s just–”

The conversation has turned.

Lu Yuzhu says slowly in the pale, cold basement light, “…… There’s no
going back.”

“Perhaps our people were compelled to implicate the innocent. Then

again, perhaps it is true that the guilty are at fault, but it was our
people who saved me when I was at my most desperate and unable to
hold on. A piece of shelter was given to me.”

“……”

“Without them, I could have killed myself in this long tracing and
waiting, it’s too painful and I simply can’t wait for the day when the
case is overturned.”

Lu Yuzhu said slowly to Xie Qingcheng: “I cannot say that you are
wrong, and I know that I am wrong. But I, as a person, have belonged
to the darkness completely and utterly. The light is foreign to me.”

“Wrong or right, he gave me this life. I will not betray him even if I
die.”

Xie Qingcheng : “…… Do you think he’s not using you to save you? For
this day, for someone to risk their life and keep their mouth shut for
them! With a five minute countdown to death and remote control, why
didn’t they take you? To let you die in the explosion with the very
thing they were trying to destroy?”
Lu Yuzhu laughed a little: “You despise him.”

“……”

“He said he was going to take me with him and had no intention of
leaving me behind. I was the one who wanted to stay, because when
things got big and enough warnings were given, he always had to
leave a few people in the territory for the police to close the case.” Lu
Yuzhu says, “If I wanted to live, I could have fled after pressing the
button, and he even left me time to backtrack.”

“But I don’t want to.” She said.

“I don’t want to fall into the hands of the police, I don’t want to go
back to the place where I was kept for too many years. I don’t want to
be tortured any more, I don’t want to do any more cooperating. Death
doesn’t scare me at all.”

“It is living that makes one feel long and desperate.”

Lu Yuzhu said, slowly retreating deeper into the basement, out of the
light and into the darkness.

She didn’t want to walk up to it.

She couldn’t walk up again either.

She had her hands behind her back and a pistol at the back of her
waist.

She hadn’t touched the gun, it was the last thing the organisation
gave her, originally it was just in case, she wasn’t sure if she could
actually aim it, but it was always worth a try ……

Her eyes fell on the young man in black who had remained silent,
tapping rapidly on his phone screen.

Yes.
She can no longer remember what Lu Yuzhu, once the county clerk of
Qingli County, looked like.

Her heart pumped tight and she gritted her teeth wordlessly and
trembled as she uncocked the gun ……

Suddenly –

“A message chimed.

He Yu, who was fighting a procedural battle, had a moment.

He had set up a message block, but this message was sent by the
other technician through the barrier. In between the two men’s
exchange, the other man instead sent him an anonymous message.

It’s a video.

Anonymous message, “Edward, I found out who you are and who he
is. Take a look at this and then consider whether you want to do this
for him.”

Chapter 42 – You tell me what the

truth is
What video?

It appears to be related to Xie Qingcheng.

He Yu glanced calmly at the code moving upwards rapidly, it would

take some time for the other side to catch up with him, just a short
time, and who knew if such videos were sent to distract him?

He closed the message window and paid no further attention. No

distractions.

But then a second message popped up insidiously immediately

afterwards.

“Edward, I know you’re a rare psychopath, and while you’ve been

breaching our firewalls, we’ve also been investigating your secret
files.”

He Yu’s hand lurches.

Although his medical condition was kept confidential, his medical

records were kept in private hospitals and private doctors, and it was
not impossible for the other party to hack his identity and retrieve
important information in a short time based on some clues.

A third one was sent immediately after the other.

“That Xie Qingcheng is lying to you, using you, and aren’t you curious
why he’s suddenly not a doctor anymore?”

“……”

Article 4.

“Don’t sell out for him, watch this video.”

Once again, the video frame appeared, snake-like, chasing after him.

He Yu’s willpower is not that weak, and he still doesn’t click on it.
But the serpent’s teeth did bite into his flesh, and he hesitated for a
moment.

If the opponent wants to destroy his attention barrier in a short time,

the entry point must be very tricky.

I have to say, the content of the other hacker’s pop-up box is indeed
what he has been most upset about.

Xie Qingcheng Why do you have to go?

When he was so bent on leaving, so determined to do so, even when

he was so embarrassed and so wretched as to ask for help, Xie
Qingcheng simply said, “I am in the employ of your father.

I’m the one you can’t afford to hire.

It is hard to forget how He Yu felt at that time.

There were only two people in his life, Xie Qingcheng and Xie Xue,
and on that day, that night, they both became phantoms as if they had
never existed.

He tried so hard to live and live like a normal person, never giving in
to his demons, for seven whole years.

At that moment he was actually broken inside.

But in the end, he did not really resent Xie Qingcheng. He Yu was
used to being alone and to understanding all kinds of people, and he
later thought that he could understand Xie Qingcheng’s choice.

After all, it was just a simple doctor-patient relationship.

It’s just a job that gets paid for.

They were neither relatives nor friends, and Xie Qingcheng had every
reason to leave at any time, and Xie Qingcheng did not lie to him or
swindle him before he left, making his point clear.

He has nothing to resent.

It was true that he could not get over Xie Qingcheng’s sudden
departure, but…

Later he thought that at least this person had come and brought him a
clear credo to give him the courage to live well. At least this person,
once, had told him that mentally ill people need to rebuild bridges
with society, that they should not be isolated, that he was not a
heretic in society.

He Yu thought that he should understand him for this reason.

Xie Qingcheng is always able to convince hearts and minds and gain
the understanding of others.

Just like the conversation between Xie Qingcheng and Lu Yuzhu just
now, He Yu also vaguely heard some of it, Xie Qingcheng has always
been very eloquent, and after all these years, he is still able to
convince and impress people with his reasoning.

As he thought about this, He Yu glanced at Lu Yuzhu’s face and saw

clearly that Lu Yuzhu’s heart was shaken. Although she was too
deeply rooted in the mud, this short conversation was no match for
more than ten years of suffering.

But she did falter.

Xie Qingcheng convinced Lu Yuzhu to learn the truth about his

parents’ death, but what about him to himself?

Is it all sincere again, with nothing hidden?

He Yu didn’t order the video, but his eyes wandered a little and fell on
Xie Qingcheng, who was confronting Lu Yuzhu.
And with this momentary lapse of concentration, the opponent’s code
command caught up with him and broke through the defensive
threshold in the moment He Yu returned to his senses!

“Drip-drip-drip-drip…”

The detonation countdown was back to normal and had started to run
away at a much faster rate, the opposing technician had compressed
the five minute count reading per second interval back to the
minimum threshold and the explosion was no longer a five minute
countdown but a mere minute and ten seconds!

He Yu snapped back to his senses and cursed, this was really not the
time to be thinking about such things.

He quickly refocused his attention, typing in commands hard enough

to block out the video interference, sweat seeping from his bare
forehead, his almond eyes fixed on the screen, his fingers flipping like
shadows, so fast that it was impossible to see the movements.

On the other hand, Lu Yuzhu was sure that it was him.

This young man, who looks so young, is the one who is using his
mobile phone to interfere with the remote control of the organisation.
That Xie Qingcheng is not the most important thing, what is important
is this young man.

She paced slowly, unmoving, her eyes locked on Xie Qingcheng as if

she was dealing with him, but her eyes were actually focused on He
Yu.

Slowly, getting closer, she undid the safety of her pistol, which
contained eleven rounds of ammunition.

He Yu quickly enters a string of commands and presses the

confirmation button.

Red light pops out.

Intercepted!!!
The frantic countdown was strangled once again.

He Yu sighed with relief and looked up, just as he was about to give
Xie Qingcheng a no-questions-asked gesture, his eyelids suddenly
fluttered and his sixth human sense made his neck prickle and he
jerked his head around –

At the same time, Lu Yuzhu drew his pistol from behind his waist and
pressed the trigger hard at He Yu!

“BANG!!!”

Lu Yuzhu staggered back two steps, her arm sore from the recoil of
the pistol, and her shot was so crooked that it hit the filing cabinet,
denting the entire surface with impact, shrapnel bursting through the
glass window, cracking like a cobweb before exploding.

” He Yu!”

Xie Qingcheng’s face turned white and he lunged forward!

Lu Yuzhu was pinned down by Xie Qingcheng, but the gun in her hand
wouldn’t let go. She struggled and hissed at Xie Qingcheng, who was
so close to her chest that he was in danger of discharging his gun at
any moment, but he wouldn’t let go.

“Get out of my way!” She screamed at him with her hair in disarray
and her eyes blazing with anger. The blackened gun was pointed right
at Xie Qingcheng’s chest, but for some reason it didn’t shoot him, “or
I’ll kill you too!”

“You can take my life. Lu Yuzhu , but you can’t do it to him, to a

child.”

Xie Qingcheng held her down, whispering and gnashing his teeth.

The words were spoken softly, in a low voice in the confusion, to Lu

Yuzhu, but unfortunately He Yu did not hear them after all, amidst Lu
Yuzhu’s frantic shouting.
Lu Yuzhu let out an unhumanly angry roar.

The first gunshot killed the last trace of hesitation and softness in her
heart, and the sanity and warmth that belonged to Lu Yuzhu drained
away faster and faster.

The mother’s tearful eyes in the sky, which she slowly lost sight of,
were herself a woman who had been abandoned by her child.

She was abandoned ……

All sorts of past events pass before your eyes.

The adulation of the people of the county, the joy at taking office –

“Lu Yuzhu is amazing, the first female graduate student in our county!
A graduate of a major university, she’s come back to the village to
become a secretary, and she’s the first female secretary! Great! You
should do more good for the county!”

“Secretary Lu, thank you for helping our village to build the road and
the Hope Primary School, they just refused to do it after so many
years of delay before.”

“Secretary Lu, thank you, if it wasn’t for you, my mother would have
forced me to get married, I, I want to study …… thank you for helping
me, so I have books to study …… thank you, really thank ……”

“Secretary Lu, why don’t you accept our thank you gifts …… so many
secretaries have taken office, who have not really taken the lives of
our townspeople into account and done so much for us like you have
…… ”

“Thank you.”

Thank you ……

Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, the clouds fell into the abyss.
” Lu Yuzhu, there is a report! Someone has reported you for
corruption and bribery, please come with us to the police station.”

“Jade Pearl ……”

“Ma …… Ma …… Ma …… Ma …… ”

At the end of the great abyss, it was as if there had been a toothsome
child, shouting indistinctly, and the child looked up at her with
outstretched hands and tearful eyes.

Keep calling her, “Ma …… Ma ……”

She returned a few years later, the girl with her hand outstretched
standing timidly behind another young woman, afraid to approach
her.

“Who, who are you ……?”

Who are you?

Lu Yuzhu thought, “Who is she?

Dirty hotel dishwashing room, stained tablecloth and centre of dishes

–

“Lu Yuzhu, be quicker, aren’t you from the countryside? You’re so

slow to do this little job.”

“She’s a graduate student.”

“Huh? Graduate students to do the dishes?”

“Reading what still seems to be a very trendy major, computer

information security …… How strange, so what is she for?”

” Lu Yuzhu , the HR department has rechecked your file information

and you have been in jail before! You can’t hide something like that
when applying for a job, so go away, your salary for this month will be
settled for you, and you don’t have to come back to work tomorrow.”
Between the intimate faces of the men in the fetid massage room –

“The little beauty is quite embarrassed.”

“What’s the pose? Bitch! Isn’t that what you’re selling? I’m paying you
and you’re still talking nonsense! I’m just giving you face! How dare
you bite me–!!!”

“Slap”!

One slap, another slap.

Audible and silent, visible and invisible, slapping her cheeks from the
darkness, from all sides.

She fell to her knees and howled, her fingers gripping the ground with
a deadly grip, her hands full of blood and palms, as if she wanted to
dig a little light and truth out of it and hold it up to those who would
see it.

She was wrong.

She did it wrong, she was receiving money …… but that was just a
pig’s money, it was the unwritten rules of the township, it wasn’t even
her personally receiving it, she didn’t even know about it ……

Why should we be reduced to a broken home, alone and with no place

to stay!

Why ……

A hundred mouths to feed, the net of heaven is dull.

She looked forward to someone who could go and make her trust, who
could give her hope, but she waited for a long time, waited until her
heart was dead, and all she got was one disappointment after another.

“My surname is Duan. Your name is Lu Yuzhu, right? It’s a graduate

student.”
Suddenly there was a starburst of fire.

It was a male guest’s lighter that led to the light.

The male customer had only come for a break, for the novelty of it, to
casually follow his friends and have some fun, and had no desire to
give vent to his desires, nor did he have any interest in the women of
such cheap establishments. He looked at her with amusement and
exhaled a slow, smoky haze in that starburst of light.

“So much reading.” He tossed the lighter on the coffee table and
looked at her, “Why did you come to do this.”

“……”

Perhaps the man’s gaze was too peaceful, not laced with any
contempt, even focused, serious, with a genuine interest in getting to
know her.

Lu Yuzhu’s precarious heart was suddenly struck at that very moment

by a heavy blow.

She held back for a few seconds, or maybe a dozen, but she finally
couldn’t hold back, and she fell to her knees and hid her face right in
front of that customer, crying out in pain ……

The cries of yesterday, the despair of yesterday, seemed to be right

before his eyes, and Lu Yuzhu shouted angrily at Xie Qingcheng.

“Don’t you dare try to stop me from protecting him!!!”

The potential of a human being is terrifying, and with a surge of

strength from somewhere, she jerked her pinned hand up and pointed
it at He Yu, who was next to her.

Instead of running away, He Yu realised the danger to Xie Qingcheng

and came to the aid of his companion. In the past, Lu Yuzhu would
have admired such a young man.

But –
She did her best to bring her wrist up, twist it, turn it towards ……
doing her best to point it at He Yu , clutching the gun tightly and
pulling, the, trigger-!!!

“BANG!!!”

Ear-piercing!

Lu Yuzhu’s face was shattered and broken, the veins on her forehead
were sticking out, her teeth were bared, she looked like a human
being or a bred beast.

“BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!”

Xie Qingcheng had no regard for the danger he was in, refusing to let
go of his hand despite being shot at such close range, but Lu Yuzhu
exploded with a strength that seemed only possible in a human
struggle to the point of death, and he was unable to take her gun
away immediately in such a short and confusing time.

Lu Yuzhu didn’t waste a single bullet on Xie Qingcheng, just a barrage

of shots at He Yu who prevented her from detonating the archive.

“BANG BANG BANG!!!”

There was a cold, muffled thud.

Xie Qingcheng’s eyes widened and he turned back suddenly, his

pupils suddenly shrinking…

” He Yu!!!”

The youth was still wounded, because he refused to leave, because he

had not left Xie Qingcheng to escape until this moment, and he was
hit.

He Yu covered his shoulder and leaned heavily against the wall on his
side, the blood coming from his wound not initially obvious as he wore
a black outfit, red intertwined with black, and the hot blood not stark
in the dim light.
But ……

He raised his hand to cover the gunshot wound, and as soon as his
cold white five fingers covered the wound, they were soaked with
large streams of blood, the red seeping over the pale fingers, and it
was instantly shocking.

Xie Qingcheng’s vision looks like it has been dyed red.

Lu Yuzhu gasped raggedly when she saw that she had been hit. She
maintained her position pinned to the ground by Xie Qingcheng and
looked at He Yu’s spurting blood, then suddenly threw back her head
and laughed, a harsh, horrible laugh that pierced her eardrums, and
as she laughed, tears streamed down her cheeks and into her tousled
hair.

“hahahahaha …… hahahahahaha …………”

The hand loosened and the gun fell to the ground.

Xie Qingcheng got up and immediately ran towards He Yu, whose

injured hand was trying to pick up the phone again to finish the
instructions he hadn’t written, but he tried twice and his hand shook
so much that the phone snapped to the ground and the screen was
already covered in blood.

” He Yu , you ……”

“…… I’m fine. We have to go now, Xie Qingcheng.”

He Yu’s eyes are cold and hard as he stares at Lu Yuzhu’s face, which
is pale and beaded with sweat, but his words are addressed to Xie
Qingcheng.

“You can’t get anything out of her. The man is in too deep.”

“…… I know you’ll be sorry to miss this one alive, but it’s too late if
you don’t go.”
As if to validate his words, He Yu was no longer able to enter the
program before the other team’s technicians quickly breached the
defensive wall and once again took control of the detonator into their
hands.

He Yu frowned.

He wasn’t that afraid of getting hurt, and blood was even more of a
rare thing for him, but the scary thing was that he couldn’t grip
anything in his injured hand anymore.

Everything has gotten out of hand.

“Move it.”

“276……275……274……”

The countdown is fast, compressed, as Xie Qingcheng picks up He Yu

and turns his head sideways, taking one last look with those bloodshot
peach eyes at the woman who has collapsed in a web of detonating
wires.

Lu Yuzhu is like a moth stuck in a spider’s web, shaking with laughter

every now and then, while tears fall from her eyes.

She lifted her arms and covered her eyes, the upper half of her face in
tears while the lower half laughed madly.

Xie Qingcheng closed his eyes heavily and turned his head for a
moment as if in slow motion –

Like taking your eyes off the cold corpses of your parents from
nineteen years ago.

But –

Lu Yuzhu’s pistol had one last round in it!

She cried, laughed and went mad, and hearing that they were leaving,
instinctively picked up the gun, which she had just let go of, and
aimed it at them ……

“Get down!”

Xie Qingcheng was preoccupied with He Yu’s wounds, and again with
his back completely turned to Lu Yuzhu, and this time it was He Yu
who noticed more quickly.

“BANG!!!” The sound!

He Yu didn’t know what he was thinking, or maybe he wasn’t thinking

at all, just an evil dragon’s instinct to protect his belongings. He
slammed Xie Qingcheng down! That last shot actually hit him once
again in the same spot where he was already wounded –

Just a little on the upper side.

This time He Yu’s body trembled with pain and went limp in Xie
Qingcheng’s arms, and blood spilled out in front of him.

Xie Qingcheng’s head was numb, he was a doctor, he was so unable to

face the dripping hot blood at this moment ……

“Why are you ……!!!”

He Yu doesn’t say anything, his dark eyes staring blankly at his

wounds, as if he too is wondering why he went through with it.

Yes ……

Why? ……

As the countdown continued frantically, Xie Qingcheng couldn’t delay

any longer, he picked up He Yu and ran out of the building with the
injured boy in his arms ……
He Yu’s blood was hot, dripping down the back of his shoulders, and
Xie Qingcheng ran on, not caring about the past, not caring that he
had missed the last man alive.

He ran out with He Yu in his arms, holding him in a death grip as he

and He Yu said, “It’s okay, I’ll take you.”

“…… Never mind …… I’m not afraid of that, Xie Qingcheng .” He Yu’s
voice sounded softly beside him, in the footsteps strewn walkway of
the archive building and then down the hall.

He Yu is still very calm.

“I’m not afraid of death, I’m not afraid of blood, and I care about pain,
you remember.”

“……”

“Maybe it’s just too much fear of death that I just went for it that
way.”

The colour of He Yu’s lips is starting to fade. He said.

“It’s okay.”

But Xie Qingcheng felt cared for, felt pain.

Xie Qingcheng was holding him tightly, and He Yu’s face was horribly
white because he had lost so much blood in one moment.

A child that young, only nineteen years old.

Normal children are still asking their parents for pocket money,
playing games happily, reading books without distraction, feeling the
vigorous life sprouting inside them without worry, and looking
forward to the infinite light.

What about He Yu?

He knew full well that he had nothing but darkness before him, that in
front of him only three long-dead mental Ebola patients were laughing
at him, telling him that for the rest of his life there would be no dawn,
only long nights, no exit, only death.

But still he gritted his teeth and tried to struggle to crawl towards the
future that might hold hope.

Childhood, innocence, laughter and carefree.

None of these terms have anything to do with He Yu.

He’s only nineteen …… no matter how powerful or omnipotent, in the

end he’s just a kid.

Xie Qingcheng had finally sobered up from the chaos of his father’s
hatred and his mother’s hatred at this moment, and he finally knew
what the reason for his previous feelings of impropriety was…

He shouldn’t have got He Yu involved.

On what basis?

Who is He Yu to?

This child has worked hard enough, he has actually given him only a
little bit of the most basic, as a personal doctor should have care, how
is it worth this child to risk his life to jump into the fire with himself.

Xie Qingcheng’s hand was shaking slightly as he covered He Yu’s

wound.

He had never felt much pain for He Yu before, it was more of a duty, a
care, a pity, but at this moment, the hot blood of the youth felt like it
was going down his skin, his back, into his heart, carved deep into the
marrow of his bones.

Yes ……
They were just a doctor-patient relationship, just the clearest of
employment relationships, and if one should also pay slightly unique
attention to He Yu because of human entanglements and the
specificity of psychiatric Ebola, He Yu is different.

He Yu did not owe him anything. He should not really have any
feelings outside of facing the doctor when he looks at him.

However, He Yu came along anyway.

Only because Xie Qingcheng said he wanted to know the truth about
his parents’ death.

He was keen to find the killer.

But that’s irrelevant to He Yu ……

Xie Qingcheng took He Yu and ran out, covering the wound on He

Yu’s shoulder with his dead hands and saying hoarsely, “I’ll take you
to the hospital right away, don’t talk any more.”

He Yu is very quiet.

After a moment of silence, the young man only laughed softly and
said, “I’m really fine. But-”

“But there’s just one thing I want to ask you. Dr. Shea.”

“……”

His breath is right next to Xie Qingcheng’s ear.

It was hot, yet seemed to carry some cold.

“I’m curious to know why, back then, you suddenly no longer wanted
to be a doctor? Was it really as simple as a contract expiring?”

“……”
“Why is it that you don’t want me no matter how much I keep you.”

“……”

“For seven years Xie Qingcheng , my dad has said there are favors
outside of the employment relationship. I …… I really wanted to ask
you today.” The blood was still flowing, and He Yu would not look
away, his black eyes looking only unblinkingly at Xie Qingcheng in the
long to horrible night.

The look in his eyes was exactly the same as that of the child who had
been so helpless that he was suddenly very childish, so childish that
he tried to retain him with his pocket money that year.

Even if that child is pain-resistant and his senses are numb, after two
gunshot wounds, he will still hurt.

He Yu’s voice was soft, perhaps because he was in a hurry to run, and
sounded a bit hoarse: ” Xie Qingcheng …… Did you really have no
extra human kindness for me at that time?”
 Chapter 43 – I never thought the
truth would be this
” Xie Qingcheng …… Did you really have no extra favours for me at
that time?”

“……”

In the darkness of the night, He Yu could not see the look on Xie
Qingcheng’s face, but felt the hand that was holding him up tremble a
little.

” Xie Qingcheng , why do you have to go.”

He Yu asks again – how can he be calm when he has reached this

point? It was as if the scarier and more critical the scene, the less it
mattered to him.

“……”

“…… You lied to me, didn’t you, and it wasn’t just time for that time,
was it?”

The look in that child’s eyes.

The look in this teenager’s eyes.

Just like that, calm, childish, stubborn, yet seemingly …… indifferent.
In this way, looking straight at him.

Digging deeper and deeper, I could not find an answer.

Xie Qingcheng suddenly felt unable to face such a look from him, and
he closed his eyes, “…… I’ll take you out first.”

Time was running out, and he insisted on running He Yu out of the

archives. As they run from the silence of the interior to the noise of
the exterior, lights swirl in front of their eyes, sirens blare in their
ears, and they are plunged into a kaleidoscopic world.

Zheng Jingfeng’s men had also discovered the true meaning behind
the L and deduced its location, with red and blue flashes like a tidal
wave, approaching from all sides.

As Xie Qingcheng walked down the steps, holding He Yu, who was
bleeding profusely, Zheng Jingfeng slammed open the door and got
out of the car.

The chief of police on this mission had a frosty face, his leopard eyes
were filled with concern and anger, two conflicting emotions that
were like a shadow play playing out on his face, swords and shadows,
brilliantly.

” Xie Qingcheng ……”

“The archives are going to explode. You can’t let anyone back in.”

These were Xie Qingcheng’s first words after he approached Zheng

Jingfeng.

Zheng Jingfeng looked tempted to grab them both by the neck and
handcuff them, but his eyes met Xie Qingcheng’s …… eyes that were
so similar to Zhou Muying’s that he became afraid to look into them at
the last moment.
Xie Qingcheng’s cheek was stained with blood. Zheng Jingfeng did not
know whose blood it was, but the stain made him feel incredibly
guilty.

Yes, he was keeping Xie Qingcheng away. Xie Qingcheng was not a
policeman and had no business being involved that much.

Even if what is before him concerns the unsolved death of his parents
nineteen years ago. He could only say to Xie Qingcheng, “This is a
secret, you must give it to us.

But organisations are often less powerful than individuals, and the
more formal the organisation, the more so. Not to mention the fact
that there are now feared black police officers within the Bureau, not
to mention that the other group seems to be a cross-border criminal
gang that makes good use of high technology, so Xie Qingcheng has
given them the problem for nineteen years, and so far they have not
been able to give Xie Qingcheng an answer on the ground. Even the
deciphering of the archives has been slower than Xie Qingcheng’s
because of the constraints on all sides.

“Hurry up and pull back.” Zheng Jingfeng couldn’t be surprised or ask

more questions, and immediately turned his attention from the
intercom.

“Archive detonation, all fall back!”

When he had finished he took Xie Qingcheng and He Yu to the police

car and went up last himself, slamming the door behind him.

When they got into the car, everyone around them looked at Xie
Qingcheng with a very strange look.

A short distance away, the radio tower seems to have reverted to its
normal light projection, and Xie Qingcheng glances over to see that
there is no longer a scarlet handkerchief throwing game of death,
there are images of people bobbing about, perhaps an advertisement,
but he doesn’t have time to look at it before the car roars into life.
By this time the main road of the campus was largely deserted, and
the police car sped along, red and blue lights flashing, fleeing for
hundreds of metres and then…

“Bang ！！！！”

There was a muffled thunderous tremor behind them, followed by a

stone-cold bang, accompanied by screams from those who saw the
scene from all sides.

Rumble ……

The archive building has really exploded ……

The brickwork crumbles like a mountain, abruptly covering up the

past.

Xie Qingcheng leans against the car and through the rear window he
can see the flames rising in the direction of the archives, wrapping
crime and punishment in a wind that rolls across the ground and
pulverises them into pieces, shattering them into fragments that can
never be put together again.

Xie Qingcheng closed his eyes and, from the beginning to the end,
never looked back.

The clues are in pieces and he …… can’t go back.

……

It was a long time before the deafening explosion stopped.

The car was quiet, everyone’s attention was focused on the crime
scene. The police car stopped and one by one the officers got out,
outside there was the sound of howling wind, the crackling of flames
in the distance and ……

Suddenly –

“What’s your grievance?”

A man’s voice.

The sound was loud and came from several mobile phones in the car
together.

“If you have any complaints, you go and talk to the institution.”

Xie Qingcheng paused and opened his eyes – was he hallucinating

from the shock? How did he hear his own voice speaking.

“Don’t theorise with me here.”

No, it’s not a hallucination.

Suddenly aware of something, he opened his eyes abruptly –

It’s a video!

It’s amazing that the transmission of that mobile phone video to the
whole of HU hasn’t stopped!

In addition to this, the same content as the mobile phone projection is

being shown on the radio and television towers.

The moment he saw the video projected from the radio tower, he
immediately understood why those police officers had just looked at
him with an oddity in their eyes that should not have been there.

The video had been playing for some time, at least until He Yu and Xie
Qingcheng came out and the Cantonment Tower was dominated by
video footage.

Xie Qingcheng turned on his already switched off mobile phone, which
was immediately kidnapped by the hacker’s robotic signal, and he
received that video feed synchronised in real time with the radio
tower.

That was several years ago itself.

He was wearing the uniform of Huyi Hospital, with the light blue Huyi
crest tattooed on his snow-white lapel and a plastic work name tag
and two pens pinned to his chest. The scene around him was chaotic,
with patients milling around the hospital as he stood in front of his
department, with a pudgy woman in front of him.

“……”

Xie Qingcheng knew immediately which day this had happened. But –

His face changed slightly and he went to see He Yu.

He Yu frowned, not quite realising what was happening, but it was

clear to him that this was the video the hacker had just wanted him to
click on to see if it was “worth it”.

His shoulder was still bleeding and a doctor from the police force was
attending to his injury urgently, and the other man said to him, “I’ll
clear your wound to stop the bleeding, but it will hurt a bit, so bear
with me.”

He Yu said carelessly, “Thanks.”

Pain, blood, even death, really didn’t mean anything to him.

He watched with rapt attention the lighthouse with its changing light.

The picture goes on and on.

The woman in the video is screaming, “Why do you want me to show

my papers? Why do you want the security guards to check me out? It’s
not easy for me to come to see a doctor. It’s so hard to get a
specialist’s number at your hospital, all the numbers are taken away
by scalpers! You have to pay an extra five hundred dollars to get a
place to see a doctor! What’s the point?”

“Not only do you have to die poor, you also have to be treated
differently by your doctors, don’t you? Do you think I want to be so
dirty and smelly, I’ll be outside your hospital at 4am waiting for the
doors to open and waiting in line, do I have time to be as clean and
fresh as you? I’m really not a bad person!”

But the young Xie Qingcheng looked coldly at the woman who had
fallen before him, clutching her knees and crying, her hands in the
pockets of her white coat, her expression indifferent: “After what
happened to Yi Beihai, you are sitting in front of my clinic like this,
but you are not my patient, I know what you want to do?”

Woman: “I just want to see a doctor!!!”

Xie Qingcheng, expressionless, “You want to be cured, I want to be

safe, please, don’t sit in front of my clinic, go to the internal medicine
department if you want, go to the neurosurgery department if you
want, I can’t match the number you’re holding here.”

“But the other places were full and the floor wouldn’t let me sit, I
managed to find an empty seat and I just wanted to take a break, I’ve
been standing all day ……”

“Save that for the security guards, I’m just a guy who gets paid to see
a doctor. Don’t want to be in danger of dying in the line of duty.”

The patients around us had no intention of arguing with the doctor

and were trying to hold back their anger, but when they saw the
woman in tears at Xie Qingcheng’s fierce treatment and Xie
Qingcheng’s aggressive speech, they were so angry that some of them
shouted at Xie Qingcheng, “What are you doing? Don’t you have a
mother? Yi Beihai is just an example, you don’t have to beat all the
patients to death, do you? A selfish and self-serving person like you is
no match for Mr Qin Ciyan! How can you be a doctor?”

Xie Qingcheng’s eyelids lifted, revealing a pair of peach blossom eyes

that were sharp to the point of being a little mean: “Whether you
think I’m worthy or not, I’m a doctor.”

“I don’t think it’s worth dying for a patient, and being killed by a
psychopath is even more wrongful to the point of ridiculousness.
Doctors are just a profession, don’t spend your days rendering selfless
sacrifice and engaging in moral abduction.”
His lips opened and closed.

“A doctor’s life is always much more important than the life of a

psychopath who can’t control himself. Do you understand?”

“……”

The video footage goes haywire in the back, with the crowd of angry
people pushing and shoving the filmmaker, and the footage shakes so
much that you can only hear the patients’ agitated curses.

Countless mobile phones are playing this image, a screen window

flashing with light, spreading this rapidly to all corners of the
internet.

All of a sudden, the mobile phones in the car, both Xie Qingcheng’s
and those of the rest of the police force, were vibrating non-stop, as
long as they were not set to full silent mode. They were messages sent
to them from various chat groups and individuals.

He Yu sits in the seat of the police car while medical staff attend to
the gunshot wound in his shoulder. Throughout the video, he leans his
forehead against the window glass and looks quietly at the
Cantonment Tower.

Watch the video that the other hacker tried to send him and he chose
not to open.

Xie Qingcheng feels his heart sinking.

So that’s what this is about.

The other party exposed him in order to interfere with He Yu’s case.

Suddenly he wanted to say something to He Yu, but he didn’t know

what to say, and there seemed to be nothing to explain.

There were sins hidden in there that he could not even explain,
secrets that he had to keep firmly hidden – and right now, they were
just turned over to everyone’s eyes.
He didn’t care, when he had done and said that, he knew that he was
bound to have grievances in the future, a lifetime of criticism, that
there was a price to pay for everything. And he was ready to die
keeping that secret for the rest of his life, and knew exactly what kind
of future he would face.

But at this moment, his gaze fell on the stoic youth next to him ……

He Yu’s shoulder was still dripping blood and the doctor was treating
it with a tourniquet, but the sweetness of the blood still permeated the
semi-enclosed police command car.

Xie Qingcheng had no reason to think of the time just a few hours
earlier when he had first laid eyes on this young man.

He Yu gave him his hand and no one was willing to help him at that
time, even Chen Man chose to obey the rules.

But He Yu said, “I can help you.”

The hand that reached out was long, slender, wide, clean and
beautiful, even the nails were very neatly trimmed, and it was clear
that it was a well-bred young master with good habits.

There is no blood, no injuries.

Only the old scars on the wrists are vaguely visible, but they have all
healed.

“Why are you ……”

“Because of this action, you have done the same to me before.”

“……”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

The stinging blood stung Xie Qingcheng’s eyes.

The video footage, which could not be stopped, also entered He Yu’s
view.

The picture has changed again.

It was in the hospital conference room.

Xie Qingcheng seems to have completed some excellent academic

presentation and the institution is in the process of recognising him
for his title.

But the colleagues applauding below were not enthusiastic, and the
timeline would have been shortly after his confrontation with the
patient.

When the dean asked him to say a few words, Xie Qingcheng stood
up, his eyes sweeping calmly over the individuals below.

He didn’t say a testimonial; what he did say was, “This is the last time
I will make a presentation in this House and I have decided to resign.”

“……”

A few brainless trainee doctors were still mechanically slapping their

hands.

But within a couple of taps, the trainee doctor came back to his
senses, his eyes widening in surprise, his mouth growing, and looking
at Xie Qingcheng as bewildered as everyone else underneath him.

Xie Qingcheng is the youngest and most talented doctor in their

hospital, so capable that he seems to be a pervert. Before him, there
had never been a deputy chief doctor of his age at Huyi Hospital, and
even if he had made some inappropriate comments a while ago, they
would have passed, which doctor had never had a few conflicts with
patients in his life?

However, Xie Qingcheng said he was resigning.

The dean’s expression suddenly became stiff and he laughed dryly
twice, “…… Dr. Xie, you can go down first, and we’ll talk about work
matters after the meeting.”

The medical director was also forcing a smile and took the
microphone: “Dr. Xie is not in a good mood these days, right? No one
of us can accept that something like this happened to Professor Qin,
Dr. Xie and Professor Qin’s department is close, former colleagues
must have had a good relationship, and at that time you witnessed
Professor Qin’s sacrifice, you have some emotions we can understand
……”

“I don’t know Qin Ciyan very well.” Xie Qingcheng interrupted her,
“I’m not in a bad mood because of Professor Qin either.”

“I just don’t want to be the next Qin Ciyan.”

One of Qin Ciyan’s students couldn’t help himself: “Xie Qingcheng,

what are you talking about? What do you mean you don’t want to be
the next Qin Ciyan? My teacher has dedicated her life to the medical
profession, how can you-”

“But I don’t want to.”

“……”

“A doctor is just a profession to me and I will do what I have to do, but

I don’t feel it is normal to sacrifice my life in this position.”

“I don’t know why a large proportion of you here should be in tears

over this, or even be proud of it, and want to rescue patients with
procedural problems, regardless of their safety. Professor Chin is
respectable, but he is to blame for what happened to him in the end.
Why did he have to operate on a mentally ill mother with incomplete
procedures.”

Qin Ciyan’s students rose up in a fury: “Xie Qingcheng, you…!

“Forgive me for being completely incomprehensible.”

The conference room was in chaos and the young doctor’s grief and
anger were all overwhelmed and spilled out, “What are you talking
about!”

“What blame? Do you think Professor Qin’s death was his own fault?”

” Xie Qingcheng, have you forgotten how you used to talk about the
mentally ill? You were the one who supported the idea that they
should be allowed to live in society, that they should be treated with
tolerance and treated like ordinary people, but now you’ve changed?
You’re afraid when things go wrong, aren’t you? You saw with your
own eyes how Professor Qin died at his post the day of his accident,
and you’re afraid!”

“You watched him being thrown down in a bloody heap, you saw the
blood in his office and you cringed didn’t you? You’re afraid that one
day it’ll be you who’s in this situation! All you come into contact with
are mental patients, you are much more dangerous than he is! If
you’re scared, just say so! No one will laugh at you! Don’t belittle
Professor Qin’s sacrifice, okay?”

Xie Qingcheng said coldly, “Yes, I am afraid.”

The young doctor gritted his teeth, “Then you still talk about treating
mental patients equally-”

“May I ask how you speak to cancer patients. Do you just say you are
sorry you are going to die soon.”

Xie Qingcheng’s face was devoid of a single expression, his eyebrows

as cold as frost and snow: “You wouldn’t say that either, would you?”

“Truth is truth and words are words. I have to give hope and
encouragement to my patients as a mental health practitioner so that
they feel they are being treated as a normal person.”

“But ask yourselves, who among you would really have no qualms
about mentally ill people who are at risk? Who of you would be willing
to be alone with them, or even to give your lives to those patients
without reservation.”
“……”

“Which of you did it.”

“So …… what you say is nothing but pretty words on the stage ……
you are simply …… you are simply… . you’re just a hypocritical little
man who’s a whore and wants to make a name for himself!!!”

Xie Qingcheng does not argue with the man who has lost his temper;
he remains very calm, so calm that he is almost cold, so cold that he is
almost cold-blooded. He says: ” Qin Ciyan may be a saint. I’m just an
ordinary person. When I go to work and put on these clothes, I am a
doctor who sees patients, and when I get off work and take off my
clothes I have a family and a wife and sister to take care of. I’m not as
conscious as he is.”

“……”

“You can be Qin Ciyan if you want to be.”

Xie Qingcheng says, taking off the badge he has just been awarded
and putting it back in the red velvet-cushioned satin box. His eyes
were extremely sober and calm –

“I just want to be normal.”

The video is placed here and the screen suddenly flickers twice.

Suddenly extinguished.

The countdown to the end of the WZL death game is over and the
police can no longer tolerate this kind of aggressive behaviour from
the other side.

At this point, they couldn’t let the picture go on any longer and the
order was given from above, and the Bloody Sword radio tower, which
had been buzzing all night, was finally disconnected from the main
valve as if it had come to its senses from the devil’s manipulation.

There was a loud bang and a big power cut.

Like a stage curtain call, the tower lost its lustre and in an instant lost
half an inch of its glory. It was completely dead after this night’s
“storm”, like a giant beast collapsing in the middle of the campus,
devoid of any life.

Behind the radio tower, the fire was still burning, the raging flames
staining the night above the archives. Police officers stood around the
century-old building that was trapped in the blazing flames. Someone
called 911 for emergency communications.

There is a lot of noise all over campus and no one is sleeping tonight.

Inside the car, on the other hand, there was dead silence.

The video is gone.

The picture is over.

But He Yu’s eyes were fixed on the radio tower – he was very calm,
calm even a little frightening, just looking at the lighthouse, which
had gone completely dark, without moving.

“The vast majority of psychopaths are normal humans giving feedback

to the abnormal environment they find themselves in ……”

“Unequal social relations, a dysfunctional atmosphere, these culprits

for ‘them’ causing a major psychological blow, ironically, almost
entirely originate from the family, the workplace, society, from ‘us’. ”

” He Yu , sooner or later you will have to come out of your inner

shadow on your own.”

“You need to rebuild bridges with people, with society.”

“I wish you a speedy recovery.”

“Hey, brat.”
“Don’t you hurt? ……”

“……”

The words that Xie Qingcheng had said back then, the encouragement
that had pried open the shackles of He Yu’s heart and made him more
or less willing to see Xie Qingcheng as a different person, the comfort
that had been given to He Yu when he had been in deep distress, all
came up at this moment like mustard seeds of dust, but they seemed
absurdly cold.

He Yu looking at the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was lightless, and his eyes were terribly dark
underneath.

At about the same time as these videos were made, which is not more
than a month ago, Xie Qingcheng resigned from his post as a private
doctor and fled as if to get out of the tiger’s den and away from some
malignant infectious disease.

The doctor was clearing him up, and the gunshot wound in his arm
suddenly seemed to be in severe pain.

Why else would he feel chills all over his body?

And why the pale face?

“…… He Yu .”

“……”

“This is something I ……”

He Yu heard Xie Qingcheng’s voice next to him.

Patiently, he waited for Xie Qingcheng to finish his sentence.

One second, another second.

But Xie Qingcheng did not continue.

These were indeed his words, whatever the cause, whatever the
purpose, whatever the secret hidden in them, they were his own
words, and He Yu was indeed the one who was sacrificed by him in
the wave of the Qin Ciyan affair.

Then, too, he really had no reason to explain much more to the

teenager.

For a moment He Yu suddenly felt absurd – he had hated doctors, he

had hated Xie Qingcheng at first, what had made Xie Qingcheng gain
his trust, and what had made him open his heart to him a little?

Isn’t it the so-called equal treatment, isn’t it the treatment of him as a

part of normal society, supporting him to come out of the dark lair of
the evil dragon and to touch the light of all that is outside?

But what did this man say, where he couldn’t see, where he didn’t
know, after Qin Ciyan’s accident and before Xie Qingcheng left his
job?

He Yu slowly closed his eyes, feeling as if he had been slapped

unmercifully on the cheek.

The slap was not so hard when it landed on his face because it was
separated by heavy years, and He Yu did not think he would have any
emotional ups and downs as a result.

There is just a slight tingling between the flesh and blood, vaguely,
eventually.

“All right. The wound is bandaged for now, I’ll send someone to take
you to the hospital.” The police officer in charge of medical work said
to He Yu, “It still needs to be treated quickly. Why don’t you come
with me to the other car.”

“……”

“Classmate?”
He Yu opens his eyes.

He was too calm, too calm to be terrifying.

Xie Qingcheng’s mobile phone is flooded with calls, concerned,

anxious and confirming. …… Calls with different purposes are all
coming in frantically at the moment.

Xie Qingcheng did not pick it up.

He looked at He Yu’s profile.

And He Yu just said to the doctor in the police force in a gentle

manner, “Thank you, it was a real trouble.”

With a long stride, he stepped out of the car with ease.

He took a few steps forward, and it wasn’t until this moment, when he
had to go ahead, that he was finally willing to stop, and turned his
face slightly sideways, the red and blue light of the police lights
tracing a shifting edge of light on his polished side.

He laughed softly, the fire flickering in his dark eyes, “Thank you,
Doctor. I never thought the truth would turn out to be this.”

“……”

“After all these years of pretending, you’ve really sacrificed too much,
it’s been hard on you.”

“……”

He Yu found it ironic when the words were spoken.

For so many years, his greatest fear was to be treated as an alien.

It was Xie Qingcheng who came into his lonely nest and gave him a
wonderful faith that, for the first time in his life, he would have
armour and believe that one day he too could find a bridge to a
normal society.
He believed Xie Qingcheng’s words so strongly, even if he hated him,
even if he drew such clear boundaries, even if Xie Qingcheng had
walked away so ruthlessly, he still understood him, still held those few
words of encouragement like a fool, clad in the armour he gave him,
and persisted, for so long.

But inside that armour, it turned out to be with thorns.

He thought it could withstand the cynicism from outside, but it

triggered a thousand thorns and ten thousand knives from within
when he was caught off guard, and it wounded him, from head to toe.

Xie Qingcheng gave his creed as a fake.

Even he lied to him.

” Xie Qingcheng , if you were so afraid of me, you could have actually
just told me from the beginning.”

“You don’t have to say one thing to your face, let alone talk to me so
much against my heart. That way, it’s not as bad as ……”

He Yu paused and did not finish the sentence.

He was a lonely figure, and his voice was still very calm after all – just
as Xie Qingcheng had once expected him to be, just as Xie Qingcheng
had once taught him to be. Calm to the core.

He Yu finally just smiled, his hot blood still in the palm of Xie
Qingcheng’s hand, his cold smile already drifting into the wind.

And then he turned completely, without looking back, and followed

the police force in the direction of another car.
 Chapter 44 – Once
In front of him, it was as if he was that thirteen-year-old boy again,
stubbornly, helplessly, yet desperately holding back, looking at him.

On the day he was leaving the He family home, he looked into the
eyes of that young man as if he saw something precious that did not
belong to a patient.
But he was too hard-hearted and insensitive to certain emotions, and
he was too wrapped up in many things to be able to distinguish a
child’s emotions carefully. He instinctively did not believe that those
eyes were filled with feelings other than those of the doctor and the
patient.

He must go.

He Yu was indeed sacrificed by him, discarded by him.

One of the children he ruthlessly let go of during the chaos of the Qin
Ciyan affair ……

The child, swept into the whirlpool by the backwash of sickness, had
looked at him like a young dragon that had handed its claws to a
human, had trusted him, but had been deceived, had had its wings
broken and its claws drawn. It lay frozen on the rocks, wounded, its
little wings and claws covered in dried blood, but unwilling to say
anything too serious for the sake of the dragon’s face.

He Yu is a very self-respecting man, so he tried to restrain himself by

saying –

” Xie Qingcheng , over the years, I have experienced many doctors

who have put me on medication, given me injections and looked at me
as if I were an independent patient. Only you are different.”

“Because you’re the only one that would treat me like I’m someone
who should be included in society. You told me that the injections and
medication weren’t the most important thing, that going and making
connections with others and building a strong heart was the only way
I could hold on.”

“Dr. Shea, although I’m not too close to you, I ……”

“……”

“I ……”
“I thought you weren’t just looking at me as a patient, you were also
looking at me as a normal person with feelings.”

With such high self-esteem, he was eventually forced to say something

that bordered on childishness.

“I have plenty of pocket money to-”

You can be hired.

I can keep you.

Can you, please, not go?

Can I stay.

Xie Qingcheng thought at that time that He Yu’s strong reluctance to

leave was probably all because of Xie Xue, and perhaps even He Yu
himself thought so.

But in fact it is not.

As he closed his eyes and thought back on it all, it was as if he could

feel He Yu as a child refusing the injection and medication, being
carried on his shoulders, those hands going from struggling to
obedient, just quietly ambling along, resting on his shoulders.

“Thank you, Doctor.”

” Xie Qingcheng .”

The voice goes from tender, to raspy during the change of voice.

Then, later on, it became a sentence containing sadness, but hardened

by stubbornness and indifference –

“– Xie Qingcheng , you are not sick, but you are even more heartless
than I am.”
–You have no heart ……

I am not yet well and still so sick, why did you leave me behind ……

“Bang!” The piercing sound of the gunshot, the burst of blood that
dripped onto his palm, the teenager’s cold, penetrating almond eyes
in the darkness.

He said, Dr. Xie, so the truth is that …… you have been pretending for
so long, it is really hard for you.

Is this the look of a young dragon, abandoned and hurt, facing the
human who has trampled its innocence and eagerness underfoot?

The force and warmth of the shoulder seemed to disappear there.

Xie Qingcheng with his eyes closed.

Only the palm seems to be still warm from the blood.

“Very tired, I guess.”

Suddenly, a person spoke from behind him, the force on his shoulder
returned and a hand pressed in the same spot.

He opened his eyes and was at the police station.

The person pressing on his shoulder is Zheng Jingfeng.

He had just been lost in thought, in the chaos and busyness of the
past with He Yu.

It was now late at night and Xie Qingcheng was sitting in the
interview room, the young detective in front of him had spent over an
hour getting all the records done, he said hello to Zheng Jingfeng,
gathered the information and walked out.

Although Xie Qingcheng was not a relative of Zheng Jingfeng, Zheng

Jingfeng, who after all had a special relationship with his parents, was
recused during the investigation and it was only then that he came
into the interview room.

“Smoke?” Zheng Jingfeng tries to strike up a conversation with Xie

Qingcheng.

“Good.” Xie Qingcheng spoke wearily.

Zheng Jingfeng handed him a cigarette and sat down opposite him.
Xie Qingcheng lit the cigarette and put the filter on it, the lighter was
on the table and pushed to him.

Taking a drag, he slowly lifted his weary eyes.

Zheng Jingfeng met him eye to eye. Despite knowing the character of
the man in front of him, Zheng Jingfeng was touched by Xie
Qingcheng’s gaze at that moment.

It’s too hard and too sharp.

Like a bayonet, like a rock, like his dead father and mother.

Or perhaps even more so. Because of all that had happened, it was
surprising to look at him again at this time of year without too much
vulnerability in those eyes, apart from physical exhaustion.

Zheng Jingfeng’s hand shakes lightly as he lights his cigarette.

“Why don’t you say something.”

Xie Qingcheng has a slightly muffled voice, which makes him at least
slightly more like a normal person.

“You come in, you don’t just sit around.”

“…… Because I don’t want to say what should be said, you know it all
in your heart, but you still have to go about it that way.” Zheng
Jingfeng sighed, “And, believe it or not, I was thinking about how to
comfort you before I came in.”
“……”

“But after coming in I found there wasn’t much need for it.” Old
Zheng looked at Xie Qingcheng’s almost emotionless face at the
moment.

Xie Qingcheng bites down on his cigarette and drags it across the
ashtray, taking it from between his dry lips and knocking away the
ash.

“It’s not necessary.”

“But you know what? I look at you now and I think of something.”

“What.”

Zheng Jingfeng let out a long sigh, “I think of you as a child ……”

“……”

“The first time I saw you, you were still in primary school. Your
mother had a cold that day, and you volunteered to go to the canteen
to help your mother with the food.” Zheng Jingfeng’s steely eyes were
clouded with a softness of memory, “Your mother liked tomato and
egg soup, and you were too small to reach the big spoon when you
were standing by the soup bucket. I saw you and went over to help
you …… When you looked up to say thank you, I knew you were the
child of Zhou Muying and Xie Ping as soon as I looked into your eyes.”

“……”

“Then you used to come to the office to do your homework, and when
you were tired, you would drape yourself over your parents’ clothes
and take a nap on the desk, waiting for them to finish work. I’ve seen
a lot of people’s children in the unit, and you were the one who talked
the least and knew the most.”

Zheng Jingfeng also exhaled a smoke ring, tilting his head back as his
gaze chased the smoke away.
“I couldn’t help but be curious later and asked your father how the
boy was taught. He laughed and told me that no one cares about you,
you are such a character yourself. I think old Xie is really enough to
show off, not convinced, I ran to ask you, I do not know if you
remember, I asked you then why you are so good …… you showed me
the award certificate of the sparring competition, just after the award
that day.” The old interrogator said, “And then you said ……”

Zheng Jingfeng : “You want to be a policeman.”

Xie Qingcheng : “I want to be a policeman.”

“……”

The words were spoken at the same time, and both were somewhat
silent afterwards.

After a while, Zheng Jingfeng said, “When other children are asked
about their aspirations at that age, most of them have a vague idea.
You were not. I could tell from the light in your eyes that you were
serious. Probably because you had such clear intentions from an early
age, you always lived a more sober and purposeful life than your
peers.”

Xie Qingcheng finishes his cigarette and lights another one.

Zheng Jingfeng : “You should smoke less.”

“It’s okay.” Xie Qingcheng said, “You go on.”

Zheng Jingfeng sighed: “…… But you were still like a normal person at
that time, whether you were calm or cool. I look at you now and
really, I’m quite worried for you. An ordinary person cannot withstand
such a degree of mental discipline from you, it would drive a person
crazy. Xiao Xie, there’s really no need for you to be so tightly wound
up.”

“I don’t feel tight and I don’t feel tired.” Xie Qingcheng says, “You
don’t have to think of some weakness out for me, I’m quite used to the
state I’m in. Being weak is what women are supposed to do, it has
nothing to do with me.”

Zheng Jingfeng was so angry with him that he got a headache in two
sentences, and raised his hand to nudge him: “There’s something
really wrong with your male chauvinism. You need to change. Luckily
our female comrades in the team are not here, otherwise you would
have been rolled over by them even if you were handsome, and I
would have thought you deserved it, good for them. You’re so old-
fashioned and broken-minded!”

Xie Qingcheng doesn’t care about these things.

He fiddled with the cigarette filter, “It’s time to finish the

pleasantries. Team Zheng, let’s get down to business.”

“Which one is not a matter of business?” Zheng Jingfeng glared at

him, “Let me ask you, is your life not a matter of business? Is your life
not a matter of business? Is the messy video outside that big radio
tower not a matter of business? You didn’t look at your mobile phone,
the internet is now in an uproar, you’re really good Xie Qingcheng,
such an organization has been provoked by you to seek out your
videos for free delivery, do you think this is a matter of business? And
you and your little friend were in the archive when it exploded. Yes, I
believe it was just as you two explained, but can the authorities think
that? Is that how the process works? You’re still under investigation,
and so is your little friend. Is that considered proper business? And,
you-”

“How’s his injury.” Xie Qingcheng interrupted Team Zheng’s

rambling.

Old Zheng froze for a moment.

This is the first human comment Xie Qingcheng has made since he
entered the house.

Xie Qingcheng feels guilty about He Yu.

He rarely feels guilty about anything, especially someone this much

younger than him.
To put it bluntly, sometimes when Xie Qingcheng looks at these
youngsters, he doesn’t even look at them as if they were flesh-and-
blood beings.

This is not to say that he did not treat them as human beings, but that
he did not take their feelings for him too much to heart.

The same applies to He Yu.

Despite the fact that Xie Qingcheng had spent so many years with
him, and that he had been the family’s personal doctor from the time
He Yu was seven until he was fourteen, Xie Qingcheng had never put
He Yu on a level where he could have a normal conversation with
himself.

He was always teaching He Yu what to do, never trying to get

anything out of him other than one-sided instruction.

Much less did he feel he could get anything out of a teenager.

It was the first time that Xie Qingcheng noticed that He Yu had grown
up. He has a joy, a sorrow, a personal will that he cannot ignore.

Xie Qingcheng thought of the cold look in He Yu’s eyes when he left,
and looked at his own dried blood, and for the first time, he felt a very
clear emotional connection to He Yu beyond the patient.

He asked again, “Team Zheng, how is he doing.”

“That little friend of yours is on the wrong medication.” Zheng

Jingfeng shook his head, “Not a relative, not a friend, to accompany
you into the archives.”

“And you, how could you let him mess around with you. Doing
something so dangerous with you.”

“……” Xie Qingcheng drops his eyelashes.

He was so confused, his whole being torn apart by nineteen years of

pain, his consciousness in tatters, that he went to the archives with
He Yu thinking that the organisation that had killed his parents might
have an answer today, not even realising that such an act had in fact
been too risky.

It was not until the moment Lu Yuzhu took his gun out that he came to
his senses abruptly.

Unfortunately it is already too late.

“You should be glad Lu Yuzhu doesn’t know how to use a gun, or

you’d both be dead in there. Even if you didn’t die, how would you
face his parents if he did?”

Speaking of which, Zheng Jingfeng scratched his head, annoyed to

death: “Speaking of which, he’s also He Jiwei’s son, you’re really
good, you dare to use He Jiwei’s son. His parents are on the phone,
asking what’s going on. Fortunately, it’s only on his arm, not on the
bone. Otherwise I’d see you… I’d see you…”

He gave Xie Qingcheng a few sharp pokes in the air with his fingers.

“I’ll see how you end up!”

“……” Xie Qingcheng closed his eyes.

He Jiwei actually called him a few times, but he didn’t think of

anything to say, so he didn’t answer.

Later He Jiwei messaged him and he said, ” Why would He Yu do

something like that with you?”

This is what Xie Qingcheng did not know.

Perhaps because He Yu had really looked up to his ideas from before,

seven years of companionship made He Yu feel that their relationship
might be more than just a thinly veiled doctor-patient relationship.

But now –

After those videos were broadcast.

It no longer matters what the original answer was.

He Yu’s eyes were cold when he left, as cold as when they first met,
even colder than when they first met, as if he was looking at a fraud.

If you think about it, He Yu had never looked like that before, even if
he had said he hated him.

He had never looked like that to anyone, ever.

Even at the onset, bloodthirsty and ruthless, all his outbursts were
directed at himself, and all the damage he chose to do was internal.

Xie Qingcheng was the first person he had ever plucked out with that
horrible look.

“Alas, well, well, there’s nothing seriously wrong with that little friend
of yours now, and you shouldn’t think too much about it.” Zheng
Jingfeng misunderstood Xie Qingcheng’s silence and folded his hands
on his desk, his tone easing slightly, “He is just like you, all the
procedures have to be followed and all the investigations have to be
conducted. His parents’ side, we will explain clearly first, and you can
decide whether you should follow up with a door-to-door apology.”

“…… hmm.” Xie Qingcheng was distracted and finished his second
cigarette.

He’s going to get a third one.

Cigarette case held down by Zheng Jingfeng.

“Do you want your lungs? Smoke, have you ever smoked like that,
huh? I thought you hated people smoking when you were a kid, what’s
gotten into you now.”

Xie Qingcheng : “I’m annoyed.”

“You can’t smoke like that even if it bothers you.”

“……”
“My grandson has a fever of 39 degrees in the hospital and I didn’t
even have time to call back.” Zheng Jingfeng flexed his fingers and
tapped the table, “Hold on! Wait for me to finish talking to you!”

Xie Qingcheng sighed, “…… line, you say.”

“I was listening to the monitor when you were dictating, and I

believed everything you said. But I’m telling you ……” Zheng
Jingfeng’s eyes flickered a bit as he spoke, and his hard tone of voice
loosened up for some reason, “You can’t get your hopes up.”

“By my guess, Lu Yuzhu’s death had been planned a long time ago,
and she was the one left behind by that organisation of theirs to
‘hoodwink’ the crime. For that reason they also left behind some
evidence and clues that would put the blame on her as the direct
perpetrator of all these murders tonight, and the three pieces of
evidence are in place to close the case.”

“This has gone too far today, and you know the bigger the matter, the
more important it is to have an account as soon as possible. The
people working below are not stupid and do know that there are big
holes in many details, but certain people up there, who can’t stand too
much pressure and have a full chain of evidence, may not look into
things in detail, or even desperately want to wrap it up immediately.”

Xie Qingcheng cannot smoke, so he is playing with his lighter, making

it click and clack.

“And there’s an umbrella over it, isn’t there.”

The knife-edged gaze lifted.

“I don’t know which one it is and how big it is, but that’s the umbrella
they have in place since they dare to do it.”

Zheng Jingfeng : “…… You don’t ask me, I don’t know a fucking
thing.”

“I really shouldn’t ask you.” Xie Qingcheng leaned back in his chair.
This is a police station, what can Zheng Jingfeng say? What’s more, if
he really knew which umbrella was which, why would he be sitting
here in such a stalemate?

“In fact, their purpose for this operation tonight is quite clear.” Zheng
Jingfeng said, “First, to clean up the traces of the archives.”

“Secondly, the reason for making such a big fuss is that they see
people like Zhang Yong who are likely to defect to the police because
they are weak in character and not very sticky to their organisation.
Tonight’s death game at the Cantonment Tower was an example to
the ‘Zhang Yong’s’. So that they know that they can kill people under
the nose of the police, even if they are protected by police trails. They
are deterring all their collaborators and henchmen.”

“Thirdly, they want to wrap up the Cheng Kang affair by throwing out
Lu Yuzhu, the dead soldier, and perhaps other scapegoats afterwards,
taking advantage of the desire of some of us to minimise the impact
and close the case quickly. Even if the police were to follow up on the
case, it would only be their own personal action, and their power
would be weak. …… I can’t rule out the possibility that there is indeed
a big ghost on the inside.”

With that, Zheng Jingfeng returns his attention to Xie Qingcheng.

“But what I can’t figure out is the last thing.”

Xie Qingcheng actually knew which one he was referring to, but he
still asked, “What.”

“Why did they play those videos of you at the end.”

“……”

I am afraid that the video was released because the other party knew
by some means that he and He Yu were the ones who interfered with
Lu Yuzhu, which could have been guessed by stealing part of the
school’s surveillance.
The fact that the other side used this approach to make He Yu no
longer available to Xie Qingcheng says one thing –

This organisation already knew that He Yu had a mental illness.

It is also known that Xie Qingcheng was his personal physician.

Zheng Jingfeng didn’t know about it, and even Xie Xue didn’t know
about it. Xie Qingcheng had worked for the He family for so many
years, and all he said was that it was related to He Jiwei’s drug
company project.

Xie Qingcheng had thought in this direction, and for a moment he

even doubted He Jiwei, but the thought was absurd. He Jiwei was He
Yu’s father and had been a great help to Xie Qingcheng, he would not
do such a thing.

Xie Qingcheng then realised that the fact that He Yu was mentally ill
could not be considered an iron-clad secret, as so many of the He
family’s servants knew about it, and it was difficult to pinpoint a
certain group of people based on this. The other side also has hackers
who go in and out of major information sites like nobody’s business.

“I asked you a question, Xiao Xie.” Zheng Jingfeng saw that he was
lost in thought again and scratched his hair in annoyance.

“Not sure.” Xie Qingcheng still hasn’t told Zheng Jingfeng about He
Yu’s illness, “probably because he monitored me for blocking Lu
Yuzhu and wanted to teach me a lesson.”

Zheng Jingfeng lifted his eyes and stared at him in disbelief.

Xie Qingcheng stares back at Lao Zheng without blinking.

Finally Zheng Jingfeng sighed: “Very well. Then they’ve served their
purpose.”

He pushed his phone to Xie Qingcheng: “Take a look for yourself.”

The internet has exploded, for one thing, because Xie Qingcheng’s
comments were really mean and inappropriate, hitting a sore spot
with many people, and bringing in Professor Qin Ciyan.

The second reason is that such a criminal organisation, after the

handkerchief throwing murder game, actually showed an old video
related to Xie Qingcheng, which had been circulating on the internet
for a long time, but not many people had watched it for so many
years, and it didn’t even get a few hundred hits. Nor would anyone
have known that the video was meant to divert the hacker He Yu, who
was at Xie Qingcheng’s side at the time, and speculated that Xie
Qingcheng could be connected to the mastermind of this horrific case.

Xie Qingcheng, an ordinary doctor who has resigned and is now a

professor of medicine in Shanghai, has been in the news for a while.

“Is it nice?” Zheng Jingfeng, again helpless and hating Xie Qingcheng
for not listening to him, is torn by a complex mix of emotions that
actually ends with a bit of eldritch mockery.

Zheng Jingfeng got up, patted Xie Qingcheng on the shoulder and
sighed, “You’re really good, even the stars aren’t as good-looking as
you. But it’s a pity that you have such a negative mouth. I can’t
believe you could say something like that. What’s wrong with you?”

“…… didn’t what happened.”

“What do you mean nothing’s going on? Is that you? Can I not fucking
understand you? If you don’t explain yourself before it’s too late, look
what’s going to happen, now that public opinion has-”

“Do you think you know me well Team Zheng?” Xie Qingcheng looked
at him, “Those are the words of my heart.”

“Bullshit heart, I’ve known you and your parents for two generations
combined for over forty years, I could still not know you ……”

But when he met Xie Qingcheng’s eyes, Zheng Jingfeng’s tone

eventually softened: “…… Forget it. If you don’t want to talk about it,
forget it! I won’t force you, no one can stop you from doing what you
want to do anyway, I’m convinced, okay?”
“……”

“You get some rest. When you’re rested, go and see that little friend
of yours.”

You can see that this was the last thing Zheng Jingfeng chose to say to
him: “I don’t know why, but he kept running a high fever, but the
wound was treated promptly and didn’t get infected.”

Xie Qingcheng looked up, his fingers imperceptibly clenched.

–Inexplicable high fever is one of the symptoms of a psychotic Ebola

attack in He Yu. Then he ……

“But I don’t know if he’s willing to see you, he seems to be in a bad

mood and doesn’t say much except the necessary answers.” Zheng
Jingfeng sighed, “…… He’s already gone to the hospital, so you can
contact him yourself later.”
Chapter 45 – He doesn’t care if he
lives or dies
It is true that He Yu was not willing to see Xie Qingcheng.

It was as if he was determined to disappear from Xie Qingcheng’s

presence, and any messages he received were lost to the sea.

Xie Qingcheng also went to the hospital, but He Yu was not used to
the noise of the public hospital and soon went to a private hospital,
where Xie Qingcheng could not even enter.

The next few days were also chaotic for Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Xue , Chen Man …… is approached by a variety of concerned

neighbours, colleagues, leaders and people asking him what happened
that night and why he was hung up on a radio tower by a group. On
top of that, he has to be summoned to the police station from time to
time to complete the investigation and go through the process.

He knew the internet was buzzing about it, but it didn’t affect him
much as he didn’t have much time to sit down and look at the social
media platforms.

Xie Xue left it at that, crying and talking to him on the phone for a
long time. She asked him where he was, to come and see him, but he
refused to say no, and didn’t tell her exactly where he was.

Fortunately, Xie Xue had never seen any photographs of the scene of
her parents’ death, and Xie Qingcheng had never described the exact
circumstances of their death to her in order to protect her from falling
into the same long despair as herself.

Xie Qingcheng hopes that the less she knows, the better.
Chen Man is also here.

Chen Man, unlike Xie Xue, was fully informed. That is why he was the
first to arrive, when Xie Qingcheng was still undergoing his first
round of investigation.

He was not a member of Zheng Jingfeng’s bureau, but had come here
on leave. He hugged Xie Qingcheng as soon as he entered, and it took
him a long time to get a sentence out.

“Brother, are you trying to scare me to death.”

Xie Qingcheng saw the pale green stubble on his jaw, it looked like
the boy hadn’t bothered to primp himself properly in the past two
days, he sighed and patted Chen Man on the back.

Later, when the investigation had finally come to an end, Chen Man
came to collect Xie Qingcheng and take him home.

On this day, Xie Xue was supposed to come too, but she was very
unwell due to continuous mental stress, so Xie Qingcheng asked her
to take a leave of absence and go back to Strange Rain Lane to rest,
while Aunt Li would take care of her.

He and Chen Man went back to the staff dormitory of the Shanghai
Medical School together.

For example, Xie Qingcheng’s dormitory is more spacious than Xie

Xue’s, but of course there is no denying that Xie Xue’s room is full of
clutter, while Xie Qingcheng’s single dormitory is a home away from
home.

“Brother, rest and take a nap while I make you something to eat.”

Chen Man went into the kitchen.

He has been to Xie Qingcheng’s dormitory more than once and knows
his way around.
Xie Qingcheng is lying tiredly on the sofa when the sound of the
cooker hood comes on.

In a trance, he thought the scene looked familiar and then

remembered that He Yu had been here on the day of his mango
allergy and fever and had been busy in the kitchen following a recipe.

Xie Qingcheng opens his phone’s address book, crosses through the
piles of unread messages, and finally finds He Yu’s name.

The chat still stops at the messages where he asked himself how he
was doing.

He Yu still did not reply to him.

Xie Qingcheng thought about it, found his number in his address book
and called him once again.

Not surprisingly, the phone rang a few times before being hung up.

Xie Qingcheng sighed softly, he couldn’t even coax a woman, let alone
a teenager who was angry, and the teenager was more than angry, he
was heartbroken and cold-hearted.

Not knowing what to do, he raised his hand to his forehead and after a
long time he wearily put the phone down and turned to go to the
bathroom.

When he comes out of the shower in his robe, Chen Man is setting the
dishes at the living room table.

“Brother, do you want to …… look up halfway through the sentence

and Chen Man stops.

He saw Xie Qingcheng, dressed in a snow-white bathrobe, leaning

languidly against the window pane, lighting a fire with a cigarette.

Xie Qingcheng’s hair is still dripping, but he doesn’t bother to wipe it

off. The water drips down his neck, full and crystalline, as if hiding
some indescribable desire, slowly rubbing into the shadow of his robe
collar.

Xie Qingcheng, who was in a bad mood and not paying attention to his
image, took a drag from his cigarette, coughed gently and turned his
head to Chen Man : “What did you just want to say?”

“Oh, I… I said…” Chen Man blushed, but unfortunately Xie Qingcheng

was in too poor a state of mind and the light in the room was too bad
for him to see clearly.

“I said do you want to dip some vinegar, I’ve put down some
dumplings.”

Xie Qingcheng absentmindedly: “…… are fine.”

Chen Man then darted back into the kitchen, almost tripping over the
switchboard on the floor as he turned back.

Xie Qingcheng smoked his cigarette by the window and, after some
thought, sent another message to He Yu.

“A quick word with you about the archives, thanks anyway.”

Cigarette ashes rustle and fall in the wind, like gentle water sprites,
floating in the water.

Xie Qingcheng looked on quietly for a moment and then added

“I didn’t think it through, I’m sorry.”

He knows that these two lines may not be what He Yu wants to hear.

He Yu’s heart was broken by the words he said on the video.

But Xie Qingcheng doesn’t know how to explain that. He didn’t want
to, much less could, explain it.

“Brother, the dumplings are cooked, come and eat them.”

Xie Qingcheng turns off his phone screen and walks over to the table.

The dumplings that Chen Man cooked were the ones that Auntie Lai
had wrapped and delivered earlier. They were thin-skinned and
stuffed with a spring asparagus and pork filling that had been melted
with fresh soup jelly.

Chen Man made dry fish and served the soup separately so that it
would cool quickly. Xie Qingcheng was also tired and hungry, so he
ate about 30 of them in one sitting.

Only then did Chen Man whisper, “Xie, don’t you ever do anything like
that again.”

“Do you remember how you advised me when my brother left?”

“You told me that the past, even if it is sad, cannot be changed. If one
still intends to go on living. Sooner or later, you’ll have to pick
yourself up again.”

“……”

“You also told me about my aunts and uncles, and when I was too
young to turn anything around, I asked you why you didn’t keep
pursuing it. You told me that answers are important, but sometimes
one can’t get stuck in the mud and not get out just for an answer.”

“You’re desperate to know the real cause of your aunt and uncle’s
death, to find out who framed them …… but you can’t support the
family properly if you’re throwing all your energy into it alone. You
still have your sister, and ……”

Xie Qingcheng says: “Xie Xue has grown up.”

“……”

“This is something that if it were ten years ago, I would have held
back and not interrogated the truth. Because the price of getting the
truth might be more than I could afford to pay.”
“But now Xie Xue is an adult, I have no wife and children to raise. I’ve
been selfish for nineteen years and now is the time when I finally have
nothing to hold on to and the clues to kill my father and mother are
out there and I can no longer turn a blind eye.”

Chen Man’s voice rarely rings out in front of Xie Qingcheng, but he
can’t help but hear it here.

“What do you mean, brother? It means that it doesn’t matter if you die
now, does it? All you have to do is raise your sister and see that we’re
all independent and you think that if you died it wouldn’t be anything
unacceptable for us, would it?! — Shea, you …… How can you say
that?”

His voice was trembling.

“How can you think that?”

“……”

Chen Man suddenly feels that Xie Qingcheng is a terrible person. He

can consider the lives and deaths of all the people around him in a
plan, but he does not take his own life into account.

Xie Qingcheng’s decision as to whether he could die was not based on

“whether I want to live or not”, but on “whether the people in my care
could survive on their own if I died now.

He is even self-destructive in the face of a great threat.

“You live …… you live for other people? As long as you have set others
in order, you don’t think your death is anything important do you?!”

Xie Qingcheng sighed and took a cigarette out: “I didn’t mean that-”

“You’re not allowed to smoke anymore.”

Chen Man suddenly stood up, pressed his hand and took away his
cigarette, together with the lighter, together with the cigarette case,
with an iron face. Then he threw it into the rubbish bin right in front
of him.

Xie Qingcheng did not get up, he sat down in his chair and after a
long time he said, ” Chen Man , I do not feel that my life does not
matter.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“It doesn’t mean much, but everything is in order of priority. Raising

Xie Xue used to be the most important thing in my mind, ahead of the
pursuit of truth. Now that this is done and I have nothing to hold on
to. The pursuit of the truth becomes important at this point.”

Chen Man said with red eyes, “But your life is also important.”

“……”

“In my opinion, more important than the truth.”

Xie Qingcheng said, “You’re a policeman.”

Chen Man says: “But I’m still Chen Man.”

“……”

No one spoke again in the room for a long time, and the only sound
heard was the clock ticking on the wall.

In the end it was Xie Qingcheng who could not bear to see Chen Man
in this state, and with a sigh he staggered the conversation and said,
“Sit down. Have something to eat with me.”

“……”

“Stop it and sit down.”

At this point, it is a concession to Xie Qingcheng.

Although Chen Man was resigned, Xie Qingcheng’s aura was so
strong that he was never able to defy it for long.

After holding on stiffly for a few seconds, he had to sit down slowly
under Xie Qingcheng’s stare and picked up his chopsticks again, while
tears fell into his soup.

Inside a villa in the city.

“What?! You’re saying He Yu is a blood compulsion?” Lv Zhishu

looked at the person in front of him in shock and took a while to
digest it, “Mr. Duan, you can’t be joking ……”

Boss Duan flipped through the newspaper in front of him, “Lu always
has such a son, he should be very happy.”

Lv Zhishu’s stubby fingers smeared with red nails scratched her hair,
her eyes laden with shock as she muttered for a moment before
addressing the man in front of her, “He …… was judged by the
organization long ago to be a cripple with little ability as patient
number 4. All these years I’ve just looked after him like a normal
patient, never thinking he had the ability to mutate his condition, and
you guys …… you don’t think he’s of any research value either ……”

Boss Duan smiled, “Then obviously, it’s human to make mistakes.”

“……”

” Patients escaped from Cheng Kang Hospital and later investigations

revealed that the people who returned to the fire at the time, one He
Yu and one Xie Qingcheng, went in and the patients were rescued at
an unnatural rate in large numbers. Although the reason they told the
police was that some of the doors were unlocked and just snapped
from the outside – but that reason will convince the police, it won’t
convince you or me.”
Boss Duan took a sip of the tightly steeped pu-erh tea and leisurely
said to Lv Zhishu, “But don’t worry Mr. Lu, since He Yu is your son,
he’s one of us.”

Lv Zhishu’s eyes wandered and he shook his head, “No, given his
character, I’m afraid he won’t ……”

“Hearts are made of flesh, blood is thicker than water, even if he is

not now, sooner or later he will be on our side. What son would
disobey his mother?” Boss Duan smiled skinily.

Lv Zhishu : “……”

The old pu-erh was sweet and mellow in the mouth, and Mr Duan took
another sip.

Lv Zhishu said, “Chief Duan, in this matter, I really can’t pack my

bags with you. If he really has a blood compulsion, he has never
mentioned this matter to us ……”

Mr. Duan laughed heartily.

“Isn’t this reason, Mr Lu, that you are too biased? Even I know that
you and your family’s Lao He don’t accompany Chang Gongzi much at
all, so of course his heart is far away from you. But through this
matter of the Canton Tower, I see that he may not be that cold – the
Doctor Xie you hired for him before only accompanied him for a little
longer and respected him a little more, and he was able to go this far
for the surname Xie.”

Lv Zhishu is, on the contrary, a bit indignant when it comes to this.

“If that shot had actually hit him in the vitals, that ……”

“Don’t you still have He Li? He Li is the most important thing to you,
right?”

“……”
Boss Duan playfully scrutinised Lv Zhishu’s face, which looked like a
puddle of unblended milkshake, red and green.

“In future, remember to share a little of your and Lao He’s loving
kindness with the eldest son; He Li is a normal child and knows you
like it. But now that He Yu has the blood compulsion, it would be
great if he would follow us with his heart and soul, saving a lot of
trouble of imposing on others.” Boss Duan used the tea dispenser to
pour himself some more red soup and said gently, “Take your time
with this, Mr. Lu, it’s not a day’s work to freeze three feet of ice, give
him more attention little by little and sooner or later he will
understand your previous indifference to him. There is no hurry.”

He poured some tea soup for Lv Zhishu too this time, raising his hand
in gesture.

“The pu-erh that Xiao Shen brought from Yunnan this time is really
good, Mr Lu tries it.”

“……”

Seeing Lv Zhishu stiffen, Chief Duan’s eyes sharpened a little more:

“You, ah, have always been a very clever person. That’s why your
family’s Lao He has been fooled by you for so many years – your
acting skills are no worse than those of the starlets that Mr. Huang
keeps under his hand. But acting, you can get into a scene, and you
can also wear it out. Do you understand what I mean, Mr. Lu?”

Lv Zhishu looked like he had been stung by his words and was a little
unsteady on his feet.

Mr. Duan smiled: “We’ve both been partners for how long. I even
know you better than your family, Lao He. As long as you’re
cooperative enough, I’ll keep He Jiwei’s affairs under wraps for you,
so don’t worry. Have a seat.”

He pushed the teacup closer to Lv Zhishu.

“Taste it, don’t you like tea best?”

Lv Zhishu finally took a slow seat on the sofa in front of him, his
horrified fingers touching the rim of his glass to get used to the
temperature before he lifted it and took a sip.

The tea is swallowed and the tannins are raw.

Lv Zhishu forced a smile, “It’s good.”

The first thing you need to do is to take care of yourself, you don’t
have to stress too much, your son is only 19 years old. The more the
mental Ebola mutation gets, the more powerful it will be. Let him take
his time to hone his skills first, and then show his hand when the days
are long. I am sure that by then he will want to be one of us.”

Lv Zhishu : “So …… how do you plan to sharpen him up?”

“Just watch.” Duan was quite relaxed, as if he was playing a very

interesting game, “Take one step, see one step, he was a surprise that
we didn’t expect, I don’t think that we need to plan too much for him.
I don’t think we need to make too many plans for him. Besides, he
should have been hurt badly by his doctor Xie in the past few days,
and the young man has suffered some blows, so he should be left to
adjust himself.”

He said, leaning over and putting on some more water, ready to go

over the tea next.

“We also have a lot to do, this time the video killing, the rats that
should be deterred have been deterred, Cheng Kang and Huda’s tail,
we have to keep an eye on collecting them clean. We gave the dogs a
bone, we have to keep an eye on them to finish gnawing on it, and
now that we’ve led them to the scapegoat outside the country, let’s
not let the dogs come sniffing after them again.”

Duan finished and cooked himself some hot tea: “Be nice to He Yu, but
remember to be natural, if He Jiwei finds out that something is wrong,
you will always be the one to suffer.”

Lv Zhishu looked at his fat, bloated, out-of-shape reflection in the

tealight for a long time, then murmured, “…… Good. I know.”
 Chapter 46 – Deceiving me all the
time
He Yu has indeed gone mad.

It had been many days since the frightening night, and he had actually
been discharged from the hospital, but had not told anyone and had
not returned to the main house.

Everyone is now disgusting and hypocritical in his eyes. He owns a

flat in a new development in downtown Hu Zhou, and he doesn’t go
there much after he gets the keys, but at the moment he chooses to
live there alone.

When he first saw the Xie Qingcheng videos, he was devastated, but
when he came to his senses, he was not happy.

When he had calmed down a bit at the hospital he wondered if he had

misunderstood.

Could it be that the criminal gang had an ulterior motive and that Xie
Qingcheng’s past had been taken out of context? Xie Qingcheng was
not such a person.

With that expectation, with his last hope, he returned home – he

wanted to make sure in person and didn’t want to be disturbed by
anyone.

What he didn’t expect was that what had come out was far more
brutal than the tip of the iceberg he had seen on the video.

The truth is awful.

The deeper he looked, the sicker he became.

On the table were medicines to control his condition, he took a few of

them and then didn’t touch them again.
Because it doesn’t work at all.

The results of his personal investigation had caused his inner world to
collapse even further, and it was no longer something that could be
controlled by a few pills. His heart felt like moss, his senses were
numb, he wanted to kill and devour blood, and morality and the law
had suddenly become unworthy of mention in his eyes.

It is also true that life is nothing when mental Ebola strikes, and when
a person is not afraid of death, he is not afraid of the rules of society.

He Yu sits on the black single armchair, his mobile phone ringing

several times, a message from Xie Qingcheng calling, but he doesn’t
answer or read it.

He just raised his eyes and looked at a whole white wall in front of
him.

With a height of over five metres, the walls are as wide as a huge
screen in a cinema.

And at this very moment, thousands of chats are densely projected on

the wall.

–This is the private incoming and outgoing message of Xie Qingcheng,

which is all that is currently recoverable from the cloud trail by means
of black technology for the past many years.

Information about He Yu.

He Yu is a top hacker, he has always had this sick ability, but having
the ability does not necessarily mean that he will actually do
something, just like there are many people in this society who have
the ability to kill, but how many of them will become real murderers?
There is a clear line in He Yu’s mind, a line he has never crossed in
the past.

But once you pry open the dusty door and step inside, you see what
it’s like inside.
He watched as the blood ran cold.

Although too much time has elapsed and the news has been restored
in fragments, there is enough information to be had.

From the earliest recoverable content, he saw that his father had
offered Xie Qingcheng a high fee to come and see him, but Xie
Qingcheng was initially reluctant and said that case number 3 had
died, having been severely violent and aggressive before he died, and
that although he sympathised with He Yu, he really did not want to
spend his time with a mental Ebola patient. He was very sympathetic
to He Yu’s plight, but he really did not want to spend his time on a
long-term entanglement with a mental Ebola patient.

“Caring for such patients is fruitless and doesn’t make much sense. I
want to use the time to do something more worthwhile with the
subject.”

He Jiwei sent him a message: ” He Yu is different. He is still too young

and he and case number three must not be going down the same path.
I know that psychiatric Ebola will not be unappealing to you, Dr Xie,
please, for the sake of my previous friendship with you, come to our
home at least once to talk. Meet my son.”

“Mr. He, I have other very important things to finish and I’m not
really in favour of the kind of companionship therapy that the other
doctors and you are talking about. Maintaining a relationship with one
doctor for a long time can make the patient dependent and when the
time comes, forcing an end to the treatment, just like drug
rehabilitation, is more likely to affect the patient’s emotional
rebound.”

He Jiwei : “But there was nothing else I could do. That’s all I can do to
try.”

“……”

“Dr. Tse, please, for my sake, will you at least see him once, please?”

It was so hard to come, so much begging and pleading.

What about the day you leave?

The day of departure –

He Jiwei : “Dr Xie, you’ve decided to end this job after all.”

“Yes.”

“Beyond the contract, after all, there are favours. You’ve always been
good to He Yu, sometimes even arguing with me over him ……”

“I’d have the same attitude if I were any other person. Because that’s
what I’m supposed to do when I get paid.”

“But He Yu is already dependent on you, and you should know that.”

“I’ve been talking to Mr. He from the beginning about how long-term
companionship can have this effect on patients. It was all actually
something we expected.”

He Jiwei : “Dr Xie, you are different to him ……”

Xie Qingcheng : “But he was the same to me as all the patients.”

“It doesn’t make any difference.”

The conversation isn’t over yet.

He Jiwei said, “Xie Qingcheng, if you insist on leaving, I can’t force

you to stay, but even if the contract is terminated early, our original
agreement was for ten years. There are some remunerations that I
promised you, and I won’t be able to honour them all.”

Xie Qingcheng : “It’s okay, I don’t care.”

Having come to this point, He Jiwei understands that there is no point

in talking to Xie Qingcheng.
His message, after a long silence, became, “…… Then think about
what to say to him, you’re leaving so suddenly, there has to be a way
to get him to accept it as soon as possible.”

Xie Qingcheng’s reply was straightforward: “If you have no objection,

I intend to tell him that the original term of the contract is seven
years, so that he will feel more comfortable. But I also need your
cooperation.”

“……”

” Xie Qingcheng, is there really no more room for negotiation in this

matter? The Qin Ciyan incident has hit you so hard, do you have to be
so desperate?”

“Mr. He, there’s no such thing as never, it’s a job.”

“I can’t, and never have, brought more than a few feelings with me.”

“I have to leave my job.”

“Can’t we wait for the end of the contract?”

“Can’t.”

“…… Xie Qingcheng , you’re a man with a heart that’s really colder
than I ever imagined.”

“That was the kindest lie to him.”

Outside the window the city lights flicker and twinkle, the giant
billboards change, and the light reflecting in He Yu’s living room flows
like sparkling water, washing over the tens of thousands of messages
projected on the walls.

He Yu seems to have seen Xie Qingcheng’s face only today.

His patience with him, his equality, his acceptance, were all false.
It’s reading from a book, it’s a falsehood, it’s paperwork, it’s coaxing
him to deceive him.

Even the duration of the contract stated at the time of parting was not
true.

At that point he really believed it.

Xie Qingcheng was determined to leave because it was time to do so.

Is this really the truth? ……

Ten years.

Xie Qingcheng was supposed to stay with him until he graduated from
high school.

But after the Qin Ciyan affair, Xie Qingcheng was determined to leave
his post rather than cut his pay.

How scared is he?

He has cheated on himself with He Jiwei, yet he can still be so calm

and speak so eloquently, telling himself that this is a normal parting of
a relationship.

The reasoning is all Xie Qingcheng’s, and he is like an unintelligent,

unreasonable clown.

It’s silly ……

It’s all fake.

Fake!!!

Xie Qingcheng The words that once supported him, that gave him
strength in the pain of his illness, that allowed him to struggle to
guard his heart, were indeed just the words of a psychiatrist speaking
to a patient on the spot.
It’s like a surgeon saying to a patient with terminal cancer, “Just hang
in there and there will be hope.”

In fact, the doctor knew in his heart that there was no hope.

It’s also as if the policeman is advising the young man who wants to
take a lighter life: “You’re not ugly! What makes you think that?
Everyone is unique, there will always be someone who likes you, come
on down and give me your hand!”

But was it true that the policeman could not see the ugly face and fat,
demented body of the light-hearted boy?

That too is only the most vain of consolations.

Xie Qingcheng’s medical philosophy, the one that guided him into
society, gave him a decade of inner support, and even when Xie
Qingcheng chose to leave, He Yu did not resent him.

He tried his best to understand what Xie Qingcheng was saying, to

understand the end of the relationship between normal people and
normal people, as Xie Qingcheng called it.

He finally reconciled himself with Xie Qingcheng’s choice.

But to my surprise, none of these were Xie Qingcheng’s true words.

Just a doctor’s treatment with some pretty words.

Even the duration of the contract he told himself was fabricated.

He couldn’t help but think again of Xie Qingcheng and himself eating
in the canteen when they met a gay couple, both of whom were so
uncomfortable then that they got up and changed places.

He was a bit surprised and asked Xie Qingcheng, “Aren’t you a doctor,
how come you can’t see it?

But Xie Qingcheng told him at that time that medical philosophy, and
personal ideas, were two separate things.
As a doctor he did not see any psychological problems with
homosexuality, but as a person Xie Qingcheng was emotionally unable
to accept such same-sex relationships.

So now He Yu also sees it clearly.

As a doctor, Xie Qingcheng is willing to guide him towards society and

treat him as a normal person.

But as Xie Qingcheng, with whom he had no relationship, he not only

kept himself away from him – He Yu couldn’t help thinking that Xie
Qingcheng had also asked Xie Xue to stay away from him.

Xie Qingcheng was afraid, he fled, preferring not to be paid more, but
to distance both him and his loved ones, from himself ……

He Yu leans back in the armchair, propping his face up as he watches

the scene unfold before him.

He smiled slowly, his lips thin and hooked up in a somewhat deceptive

curve when viewed from the side.

“You doctors, are you that hypocritical?”

He whispered softly, murmuring to the empty white walls before him.

The wound on his shoulder was still bandaged, blood seeping out, and
there was a vague, dull ache that spread like snake venom down the
scar to his fingertips and heart.

“What a human skin you have on you …… Xie Qingcheng .”

He Yu felt in this moment that what he had done before was as good
as a joke, what with restraining his heart and what with escaping the
grip of the disease.

What has he been working on, clinging to, and believing in all these
years?
He slowly closed his eyes, and in addition to the gunshot wound in his
shoulder, the scar on his wrist seemed to ache vaguely.

How could Xie Qingcheng be so hypocritical, he thought. A pair of

hands had blindfolded him and allowed him to follow in ignorance for
so long.

He said to him that it is not terrible to be sick.

He told him that he could cry out in pain and ask for candy and no one
would laugh at him.

He thought Xie Qingcheng was offering him a pair of warm hands, but
it turned out to be just a cold knife.

He Yu protects himself well, but Xie Qingcheng’s knife goes deep into
his heart.

It’s pathetic.

He Yu lived for nineteen years, wearing a tightly woven false face,

never telling anyone anything true, and never getting too sincere a
word from anyone.

In these nineteen years of illness, only Xie Qingcheng had asked him
one question –

“Don’t you hurt?”

Don’t you hurt ……

He Yu slowly rose from between the armchairs, raised his hand and
pressed it against his heart.

He looked at the icy message spread out before him, like a bone-
chilling blizzard blowing in his face, he lowered his head, bowed his
body, and slowly smiled ……

It’s funny how he actually seems to, genuinely, feel the horror of pain.
Is this pain?

Associated with deception, with futile efforts, with his folly and
loneliness.

If that was the case, he would rather remain numb all the time. What
was wrong with being a grass? Why should he be put to death by lies?

He went through it page by page, sheet by sheet, line by line, word by

word, each word seemed like a knife cutting into his heart. He had
thought his heart was thickly calloused, yet this moment it hurt as if
even his flesh and blood skin did not belong to him …… not to himself
……

He Yu lifted his hand and touched it to his forehead, his fingertips

cold, his limbs numb, he knew enough already, and he suddenly rose,
sweeping away everything on the coffee table in front of him in an
almost tyrannical manner.

The pieces clattered all over the floor!

He gasped, to find the projection remote, he lifted it up, he was going

to close this Pandora’s Box – !

However ……

It was then that he saw a message belonging to Xie Xue in one of

these nebulous explosions of messages.

Sent 6 years ago.

The day of his birthday.

“Brother, Aunt Lai is sick, I’m hanging with her, when are you coming
back from your business trip? All these hospital procedures are so
messy, my head is spinning… I wish you were here ……”

When He Yu first saw the message, he felt a gentle tug on his mind,
like a moth falling on a spider’s web, and initially did not react.
But a few seconds passed, and he looked up suddenly, incredulous at
the message as the moths stuck to the cobwebs began to struggle
frantically, fluttering, their wings vibrating off the phosphorous
powder and fanning out the mountain of memories –

Six years ago?

His birthday?

That Day ……

Wasn’t Xie Xue with him that day?!

Chapter 47 – Too much pain

Six years ago.

The silence and cold of He House.

No laughter, no company.
Although the maids had prepared a cake for He Yu, as He Jiwei and Lv
Zhishu had instructed, He Yu did not go to eat it. For his birthday, his
parents were away, both in Yan Zhou with his brother, and they said
they had a very important client to talk to today, so they would have
to see if they had time to catch a flight back afterwards.

He didn’t have many friends either, and most of his classmates were
polite and distant, so inviting them to his birthday party was a bit too
tightly wound.

On that day, Xie Qingcheng was not in Hu Zhou either, he had a

meeting and was indeed away on a business trip, as Xie Xue had
asked in a text message.

He Yu stood in the living room, where the large European windows

had become an unpredictable, eerie ink painting, framing the rain
that was pouring outside.

Dang… dang… dang…

The large clock in the villa rings every hour, each time striking the
time on its face with unerring accuracy.

From afternoon, to dusk, to nightfall.

“Young master …… don’t wait, Mr. He and Mr. Lu said they can’t
come back today ……” The housekeeper, who couldn’t bear it, went up
carefully and put a shirt on He Yu, “Go to bed early.”

“It’s okay, it’s not really an official day.” He Yu turned back, actually
still smiling, “You go ahead, I’ll rest later. I’ll watch the rain for a
while longer.”

With a soft sigh, the butler went down.

Is it really okay and doesn’t matter?

Not at all. He was just waiting for-

He felt that there should always be someone in the world who could
come to him through the storm, think of him, miss him, and be with
him in the darkness.

He wasn’t such a bad person, he didn’t have to be punished like that,

alone to this point, did he?

He waited.

Waiting for ……

” He Yu! He Yu!!!”

Some time later, it seemed, just as the clock was about to strike
midnight, he heard a knock on the door outside, the girl’s faint voice
as faint as an illusion in the storm.

His eyes widened slightly and he hurried over to the door and opened
it.

Standing outside is a panting Xie Xue – the only one, of the opposite
sex, with whom he is acquainted. The only one, the playmate who had
been by his side for many years.

Xie Xue is wearing a mackintosh, her face and forehead are covered
with water, and she is cold, but when she looks up at him, she is
warm.

She sniffled and smiled as she pulled off her mackintosh to reveal the
birthday cake carefully guarded underneath.

“Finally catching up are we?”

“…… What brings you here ……”

“I didn’t want you to be alone on your birthday, how sad.” Xie Xue
wiped the water that was still dripping down her hair, “Made you your
favourite chocolate flavoured cake, God I’m getting drenched, it’s
raining so hard, live to tell the tale ……”
He Yu In that moment, all the resentment in his heart seemed to
dissipate and all the gaps were filled.

He clutched Xie Xue’s cold hand and pulled her in, and he felt his
voice take on a bit of a rasp as he spoke. He said, “I guess I shouldn’t
be alone either ……”

“How can that be. How can you be alone? You have me, I’ll always be
there for you.”

“……”

“Happy thirteenth birthday, He Yu.” The girl smiled brightly,

becoming the brightest ray of light in the dimly lit villa.

He Yu doesn’t remember much of what happened afterwards, as time

has passed.

All he remembers is that he went back to the fridge later to look for
the unfinished piece of chocolate cake, but it was no longer there.

Of course, along with that cake disappeared the treats that the nanny
had baked for him that he hadn’t touched a bite of.

Seeing his gloomy face, the nanny didn’t wait for him to get angry and
busily explained, “Those things are not fresh anymore, they are bad
for your health, that’s why we poured them …… if you still want to eat
them, we will make them again tonight.”

But it won’t be the same cake that Xie Xue brought on a rainy night.

He Yu said, “It’s okay, forget it.”

……

He Yu looked at the projection in front of him and fell into an ice cave.
He clearly remembered that Xie Xue had come here that day.

He that day …… was …… was accompanied by someone who thought

of him ……
But –

The information on the projection was retrieved and deciphered by He

Yu himself, and the cloud storage traces were backed up, so there is
no way to fake it.

“Brother, Aunt Lai is sick, I’m hanging with her, when are you coming
back from your business trip? All these hospital procedures are so
messy, my head is spinning… I wish you were here ……”

How did this happen?

How did this happen!!!

He flipped out of his computer, his fingers flipping, his expression

almost twisted, his eyes bordering on madness, as if he wanted to dig
up the graveyard of information and open the coffin to find the long-
buried truth.

He retrieved the information from those days extremely quickly.

Xie Xue’s, Xie Qingcheng’s, He Jiwei’s and Lv Zhishu’s.

The truth was like an incorruptible corpse, in a cloud of information,

smiling at him with a cold smile of mockery.

Fake ……

Fake ……

Fake!!!

Because it was so long ago, a great deal of the chat logs could no
longer be captured, but the information that was successfully restored
was enough to prove that Xie Xue, on that night, the night he needed
her most, she –

Never came at all.

He Yu even saw the message she sent to Xie Qingcheng the next day:
“Brother, He Yu asked me if I would go to his house to play for his
birthday, but Aunt Lai was so sick yesterday, I was really busy and
faint, I forgot to reply to him, I’m really sorry, can you apologize to
him for me… …I don’t dare to explain to him ……”

Xie Qingcheng : “You don’t need to get that close to him.”

……

Retrieve further.

The timeline moves forward a little bit more ……

It’s even more alarming to the eye.

He turned to a particular record.

It is a conversation between Xie Qingcheng and He Jiwei.

” He Yu seems to have some kind of imagination when he is helpless.

The object of his imagination is that little sister of yours.” He Jiwei
said, “I recently overheard something that he told me that didn’t
actually happen at all, Dr. Xie, this situation ……”

“It’s normal for him.” Xie Qingcheng replies, “I’ve always known this
behaviour from him.”

“How did this happen ……”

“He Yu lacks a friend of his own age, but his heart refuses to really
open up to anyone his own age. His mind is peculiar and precocious,
and most of those around his age do not understand him very well.
The long period of isolation leads to him needing an outlet for his
feelings, and this is when the nearest peers to him can easily become
a reflection of himself.”

“A reflection of yourself?”
“Yes, part of the children with autism, or other psychological
problems, grow up imagining a friend in front of whom they can hand
over their innermost being without any reservations. That friend may
not exist at all, or may be partially present. They are imagined by the
patient in the sense of fulfilling a strong desire within the patient.”

Xie Qingcheng explained one more thing to He Jiwei: “In fact, not only
children with mental illnesses, but also normal children, when they
are lonely, they may have some unrealistic fantasies, such as being
excluded in class and having no friends. Only they can communicate,
it’s a child’s instinct for self-psychological protection.”

“It’s just that people who don’t have it, they can tell that it’s their
imagination, it’s a hallucination, it’s not reality, and they know very
well that it’s a sense of solace that they crave. But a child like He Yu.
It’s actually very difficult for him to recognise this – especially as he’s
still carrying out a partial imagination.”

He Jiwei : “Partially imagined meaning ……?”

“Xie Xue did exist, she was my sister, she was the closest to him of all
his friends, and she was really nice to him.” Xie Qingcheng says, “But
I know my sister, she’s always been very warm and welcoming. He Yu
was a good friend of hers, but not a close friend, and there were
things she wouldn’t do.”

“For He Yu, however, his spirit needs to be sustained, and the things
that Xie Xue doesn’t do, but that he wishes she would, are left to his
own complementary imagination. He only has this one friend, and he
doesn’t want to be disappointed in that friend, and his subconscious
mind will repeatedly convince himself that those things did happen,
that Xie Xue did do them.”

“But it’s so metaphysical that I find it hard to believe-”

“It’s not mysterious at all, the human brain is a very complex and
sophisticated instrument and a person’s memory that is off and is
repeated over and over and over again will appear that way.”

“It’s like there are people who sometimes confuse reality with dreams,
or the so-called Mandela effect, for example.”
“The Mandela Effect?”

“It’s not a rigorous academic concept, but it lends itself to

interpretation. He can always be interpreted as a mass memory error
event, and you can see many cases by going online and searching. For
example, did …… Mickey Mouse wear backpacks?”

This time He Jiwei took a while to reply, seemingly confused by the

fact that Xie Qingcheng had suddenly asked such a cute question in
the middle of such a serious conversation.

“Wear it.”

“It wasn’t worn. But a large part of the population believes that it was
just wearing a pair of strappy trousers all along. That’s the Mandela
effect. It’s an inherent impression created by a false memory being
reinforced by the human brain.”

“He Yu could argue that Mickey Mouse equals my sister, which does
exist, but she doesn’t actually have a backstrap at all. And He Yu
relies on his imagination to fill in the two non-existent backpacks and
is steadfast in his belief that this is the way things really are.”

He Jiwei : “…… So, is this paranoia?”

“It can’t be defined that way. For He Yu, it’s just his self-preservation,
his self-relief, his self-redemption.” It was a long time after Xie
Qingcheng posted this message that the latter one came –

“Mr. He, with all due respect, you and Mr. Lu have been far too little
for him; even a healthy child at heart can rarely endure such neglect,
let alone the fact that he is a patient himself.”

“He is unloved, but strong, or perhaps not strong, but he knows that it
is useless for him to cry, that it is useless for him to plead, that
nothing can make him get the response he needs, so he has become
accustomed to internal conflict, to self-defence. The Xie Xue he
projects is in fact a reflection of himself, his inner self comforting him,
the Xie Xue’s mouth through which he tells himself what he wants to
hear.”
“……”

He Yu looked at the dusty messages and thought about those longings

he had deep inside ……

For example, I will always be there for you.

For example, the one he’s been waiting for, a face-to-face, happy
birthday wish.

Are these not the words to which he so dearly wishes to have

recourse?

But he could never wait ……

Xie Qingcheng’s message: “Because no one has said anything to him,

and he is a man with high self-esteem and cannot say anything to
himself, his brain has to rely on part of his imagination, which both
satisfies his wishes and maintains his dignity. It is a mechanism of
psychological protection that man has for himself, and you need not
worry too much about it.”

He Jiwei’s message: “You knew all this already?”

“Probably observed it for a while. It’s something I couldn’t tell him, it

hit him too hard.”

But I kept Xie Xue away from him,” says Xie Qingcheng. Xie Xue is not
the person he should be emotionally attached to either. Neither she
nor I are, Mr. He. We had to leave sooner or later.”

“I am a doctor, I am not He Yu’s relative. I can’t spend my whole life

on one case, and Xie Xue even more so. I can only give him
detachment, and the kind of love he is missing and wants, I cannot
give him. The same goes for my sister.”

“……”

The latter message, which He Yu did not read again, was no longer of
any importance.
It was enough for him to know this.

More than enough.

Xie Qingcheng had been lying to him, and Xie Xue was also a fake.
The two of them, the one who had given him the strongest creed of
encouragement to believe that he could one day return to normal
society, and the one who had given him the gentlest companionship,
had come to his side in time at every moment of his despair and
helplessness.

Like that night in the pouring rain when she knocked on his door,
shouted his name through the storm, took off her mackintosh and held
out the piece of chocolate cake he wanted.

It never occurred to him that maybe that piece of cake, that Xie Xue
…… didn’t exist.

And his pathetic, humble self-satisfaction all fell into the eyes of Xie
Qingcheng, who was looking down on him and holding him in his
hands.

No one has ever loved him.

It was he who acted like a fool! He was too stupid, too demented, too
eager to step out into the warmth of the crowd, to be a normal person,
to put away his ugly green face and fangs, to create that faint light
from within his bloodied skull.

Xie Qingcheng saw it, but he said-

“I can’t spend my whole life on one case, and Xie Xue even more so. I
could only give him detachment and the kind of love he was missing
and wanted, I couldn’t give him. The same goes for my sister.”

But if one possesses love in itself, why should one even lie to oneself?

What kind of liar would deceive the world and end up deceiving
himself the most.
Only the poorest and poorest crooks do this.

He has so little and has shed so many tears that he has to get even a
happy birthday from his imagination. What else could he live on with a
smile like this if he didn’t lie to himself?

So even in front of himself, he wears a smiling masquerade, clasped to

death, and refuses to take it off. He swindles even himself.

Xie Qingcheng is right, he has dignity.

He didn’t want to be seen as a sick man, he didn’t want to be seen as

a madman, he knew that with the position of the He family, he didn’t
know how many people were waiting for him to fall down and see his
ugly face and watch his corpse revel in his blood, and for that reason
he grew stronger and stronger, he simply didn’t want to shine his
sores to anyone to gain pity.

He Yu stood for a long time in the empty living room.

So long that time seems to have become a little blurred, his gaze thin
and sharp, skimming over and over the cold tide of information in
front of him, and finally his sharp gaze also seems to have been
eroded by the tide, becoming branched and trance-like.

He slowly closed his eyes.

A false face, symbiotic with flesh and blood, is now cruelly torn off by
Xie Qingcheng, who raises his hand and touches his own face without
a sound.

Ouch.

It hurts so much ……

It hurt so much that it made his heart, his whole being, tremble.

It was as if nothing was left of him overnight.

Xie Qingcheng’s credo was false, Xie Xue’s intimacy was false, the
comfort he gave himself was false, and finally even his self-respect,
the hard shell he used to protect himself, the mask, was in tatters. It
was only then that he realised that his ridiculous clown-like face had
been exposed to Xie Qingcheng for so many years.

So what exactly is he holding on to?

And why would he be so stupid! Risking his life to be with that person,
maybe just for a word of approval, to repay the glimmer of hope that
Xie Qingcheng had given him before ……

He’s risking his life to please a liar and a mortal lie!

He Yu laughed softly, bowed and leaned against the wall, the laughter
grew louder and more insane, like the ghost in the grave returning
from a fraudulent body, the sickness inside him put on a cloak and
wandered out in the darkness of the night, he put his hand on his
forehead, his laughter was almost maniacal, like anger, like hate, like
sadness, like madness, tears flowed unceasingly from his face ……

It was so painful.

He saw Xie Qingcheng open his hand in front of him, but in the centre
of it lay a cold scalpel.

That’s the truth.

He saw Xie Xue smiling and handing him chocolates, and then with a
wink she just looked away from him.

That’s the truth ……

He saw again ……

He saw him again standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, a

fierce storm outside, the antique desk clock inside the old mansion
striking twelve times, the night deep and the infinite dimness all
around.
But no one knocked on the door.

There was never a knock on the door.

He just waited, from darkness, until dawn, when the storm had
stopped and the long night was over, and he could not wait for a
sincere happy birthday.

This, then, is the truth.

He saw him again lying on the restraint bed, needles pricked down,
his mouth and nose hooded, he was struggling and crying out like a
dying beast, but he could not call out the name of any one person.

He is an island.

There is no bridge.

That’s the fucking truth! THE TRUTH!!!

An unloved child who lies to God and to himself for years in order to
fight the disease inside him and to try to live ……

The moment.

He Yu leaned against the wall, the bandages on his shoulders had

been ripped away with a vengeance, he let his wounds crumble and
bleed, only blood could give him the pleasure of feeling real that he
was indeed alive! He had a skin, the blood that came out was warm,
he was a living man, he was alive …… he was alive ……

He clutched at his hair, his fingers white and sinewy, like a dragon
with blind eyes and broken claws, deprived of the treasures he had
treated so tenderly and the cave in which he had hidden himself,
forced to expose himself to the light of day, with every ugly scar on
his body open to inspection and ridicule.

The dream, at last, is awake.

He has struggled for almost twenty years and he is still a madman.

No one had ever loved him, no one had ever cared for him.

He had nothing but a poorly conceived lie.

He hadn’t gotten anything out of it.

Chapter 48 – The Madman

It hurts too much.

Contract deception, Xie Xue’s truth, Xie Qingcheng’s deception,

headlong flight ……

Nineteen years as in a dream, he thought he was well disguised,

deceiving everyone, but in fact he was the madman who was most
deceived.
He Yu held his head and howled like a bloodied beast in a trap, his
voice was not even human, his voice was hoarse and torn, his eyes
were half-mixed with confusion and madness, and he sat in a corner,
hugging himself, huddled in fear of the cold.

What creed?

Lies!

What warmth?

Illusion!

He is a psychopath, a delusional, an ugly, ridiculous, absurd, comical,

fool who exposes his scars to the world without knowing it!

For a moment he looked pitiful, like a baby dying in its mother’s body,
cut off from the outside world, his umbilical cord broken, unable to
breathe, sinking into the infinite suffocation of the water, his cries
unheard by the people on the shore.

He can only cling to himself, all the warmth he can get from himself
……

It was all just a comfort he gave himself.

He Yu clutches his hair, stiffens for a long time, his eyes grow red, his
heart grows darker, he finally stops howling with grief, he sits quietly,
his body stretched out, his head tilted back, looking at the ceiling.

Then he got up.

He looked into the ornamental cabinet, in which his wretched figure

was reflected.

Terribly strange.

“Bang!”
Suddenly the darkness and violence weighing down his bones flared
up and he grabbed the metal trim next to him and slammed it into the
trim cabinet like a madman!!!

It was as if the chains of the evil dragon had been opened and the
devil inside him came out of his hole and vacated, raining down
hatred in a roaring hiss – he went completely mad, He Yu roared and
smashed almost everything in the house, making his wounds worse
and bloody, but he didn’t even care.

He tore down the curtains, cracked the TV, reduced everything to

rubble –

His heart died, and there should be something to pay tribute to it.

This frenzied outburst went on for who knows how long, even if the
building was well soundproofed, the neighbours downstairs couldn’t
take it anymore and ran up to knock on the door. He Yu pushed the
door open violently, a steel pipe removed from the window rail in his
bloodied hands, the floor full of mess behind him, his eyes bloodshot
and staring dead at each other.

“Can I help you?”

The neighbour pissed himself in fear and his legs went limp, but He
Yu picked him up by his collar and stood him up straight.

The smell of blood was so strong that the neighbour’s fine silk
nightgown was stained with He Yu’s blood.

He Yu asked again morosely, “What’s up?”

“No, no, no!” The neighbour didn’t expect such a bloody and violent
scene at first glance, and the pale, pretty boy in the room looked so
evil that he looked like one of those psychotic ghosts on TV. Do as you
please, as you please, as you please.”

He Yu pushed him out and slammed the door shut.

The neighbour practically rolled back into the lift crawling, shivering
and wailing before he even touched the door: “Wife – wife help ……”

He Yu’s venting was interrupted by the arrival of this man.

He gasped and turned back sideways, and with a glance, where did
the whole home still look like home?

Clearly a scene of war.

He Yu swept around with red eyes and decided there was really
nothing left for him to smash, so he threw the pipe across his arms,
stepped over the rubble and headed for the bathroom with a blue
face.

He looked at his own face in the chapped mirror.

Because of the cracks, his reflection is fragmented, as if he were

revealing a thousand faces in society.

He Yu was quiet for a while, allowing his breathing to calm down, his
lips slowly going from trembling to calm ……

The pathos has passed, the madness has passed, and at this moment,
all that remains for him is peace – a terrible peace.

With the violence out of the way and the whole lair destroyed, what’s
next?

He still should have gone outside, he didn’t care about normal or

abnormal at the moment, he wanted to show that abnormal look,
spread his jagged, hideous wings, fly out of his dark hole and hiss at
the so-called normal people.

The young man in the mirror slowly raised his eyes and a bloodied
hand leapt up to his cheek and slowly grasped it.

At the corners of his mouth, a cold, thin smile that looked gentlemanly
and civilised but was in fact never the same again.
.

Xie Qingcheng, far away in the dormitory building of the Shanghai

Medical University, had a vague feeling of unease and his eyelids
jumped several times.

After he and Chen Man finished eating, Chen Man helped to put the
table away and got ready to go back.

Before he left Chen Man said to him, “Brother, I’ll come back
tomorrow night. That ……”

“Hmm?”

“You should stop surfing the internet these days, it’s quite annoying.”
Chen Man said softly.

Xie Qingcheng knew that he was referring to the online projection of

the Canton Tower, but Chen Man was wrong, he wasn’t one to pay too
much attention to the internet, especially when reality was so messy.

Xie Qingcheng agreed, and after sending Chen Man away, he bought
a new pack of cigarettes downstairs and smoked them while talking to
Xie Xue on the phone.

Xie Xue was in no better shape, but with Auntie Li by his side, he was
more or less comfortable. As the two siblings were talking, a call
suddenly came in on his mobile phone, so he gave Xie Xue a few
words of advice and ended the call.

The call came from Zheng Jingfeng.

“Hey, Old Tay.”

“Ah Xie, someone in our team just saw the little kid who went to the
archives with you.”

Xie Qingcheng’s heart tightened: “He’s out of hospital?”

Zheng Jingfeng grunted in response, but his focus was clearly not on
that as he said, “Yes, by the way, how old is your little one? Eighteen?
Nineteen? I forgot ……”

Xie Qingcheng : “…… What are you asking this for.”

“You think I’m willing to ask, didn’t you tell me to talk to you in case
something happened?”

Xie Qingcheng’s knuckles were slightly white: “What happened to

him?”

“It’s not a big deal, alas, I find that there is just a gulf between them
bourgeoisie and us proletariat, fuck, eighteen and nineteen years old,
I’m still up and about in the army training. That little friend of yours, I
guess he’s out of hospital but still in a bad mood, just drove a luxury
car and went to the Empty Night Club …… yo, you see we have news
in this work group, I heard he was about to turn his sports car into a
rocket, it was hard to stop him in front of the club, he cooperated but
also cooperated, but his attitude was so fucking bad that it was
outrageous, got out of the car with a bang He got out of the car and
threw the door open and had the car towed away to save him from
having to find a chauffeur.”

Xie Qingcheng : “……”

“And the Empty Night Club, you know that place, right? It’s really not
a good place, you say it’s illegal, but it also does business according to
the rules, no over the line hookups, but these things in the nightclub
are pandemonium, everyone knows it by heart ……”

Xie Qingcheng took a deep breath, and before his eyes came back He
Yu’s gentle, understanding face from before, whether it was faking or
not, and finally it became a bloodstained, cold look back at the Canton
Tower.

“I know.” Xie Qingcheng raised his hand to his forehead, leaned

against the window and said into his phone, “Thank you, Lao Zheng.”
“Then, listen to me more and don’t get caught up in your parents’
business again. It’s time for your heart to get some air, I can’t stand
watching you like this.”

“…… is good.”

After hanging up the phone, Xie Qingcheng put on his coat and
headed for the Empty Night Club.

He thought of He Yu as a young man standing in front of the cottage

sofa, not letting go of his pride but not letting go of his goodbyes,
looking at himself sadly, stubbornly, but forcibly, as if he were fine.

” Xie Qingcheng , I have a lot of pocket money and I can ……”

I can hire you.

I don’t want to be sunk in the vortex, can you save me …… can you
save me ……

The words that He Yu could not speak, the pleas for help that he could
not send, he never saw. He Yu’s dignity allowed him to save the last of
his dignity in front of Xie Qingcheng, but he also lost his last chance
to ask for help.

That year, he left him.

However, He Yu did not resent him too much when he saw him again.

Even when he needed help the most, it was the boy who accompanied
himself into the dragon’s den and nearly cost him his life in the end.

He Yu had said that a man had done the same to him when he had
given his hand to himself.

But Xie Qingcheng did it because of his status, because of his job,
because he was in a position to do his job.

And what is this child for?

Xie Qingcheng closes his eyes.

Zheng Jingfeng’s words seem to be ringing in my ears. Said He Yu

went to the empty night consumption, said He Yu bad attitude ……

He knew that He Yu had never been like this before.

He Yu never gave in to his desires, never took Mephisto’s poisoned

wine, he refused to fall, he refused to admit defeat, he lived ten times
harder than ordinary people, he tried to do everything perfectly. He
was too afraid of disappointing people.

A patient, trying to make it on his own, don’t let others give up on

him, don’t equate him with number one, number two, number three,
who died before him.

He had been doing his best to call for help.

That’s why he was so afraid of being wrong, of not being good

enough, of the disappointment in the eyes of others.

But he was left behind in the end.

“…… Xie Qingcheng , you’re not sick, but you have no more heart
than I do ……”

That sarcasm with restraint, that sarcasm that was really a sigh and a
plea, he heard but could not hear the pleading and sobbing hidden in
the teenager.

Xie Qingcheng knows.

There are some things, indeed, that he fails to live up to.

The boy had trusted him so much, even though he hadn’t been very
nice to him, just businesslike, but that had been a rare moment of
sincerity and equality for He Yu.
So He Yu wasn’t wrong to call him out, he was too ruthless, never got
it right, never did it right.

Inside the Empty Nights Clubhouse.

“Aigoo, Young Master He, a rare guest, a rare guest…”

The manager of the club is a particularly clever old man, with a smart
suit, a greasy face and a person as smooth as a mouse in greasy
water.

He Yu was listening to the traffic police when he was talking to them.

Although He Yu didn’t come to Empty Nights much, he was a member
of the circle after all and had accompanied clients here to relax before
when he had to help his family with their relationships.

Usually He Yu just sits by himself, chatting gently for a while, and

when the atmosphere is warmed up, he goes downstairs to sign and
hang up the bill, asking the manager to charge it to his card, and then
leaves.

Today is different.

The manager had a keen eye and realised that young master He Yu
had no one with him today, just himself. As one of the main
protagonists of the incident, He Yu’s psychological stress and
abnormal behaviour were all normal to the manager.

I guess after being shot, the young man thought that he couldn’t live
such a dull life, so he finally figured it out and, like his fellow gentry,
planned to come here to find out the true meaning of life.

He Yu is a walking black card in the eyes of the manager, who

welcomes him with a smile. I guess when Mr. He Yu said he wanted
his mother to come out and chat with him, he would not hesitate to
give her a long-distance hotline and buy an early flight.

“Young Master He, which floor do you want to go to tonight? I will

immediately arrange the best service for you ……”
He Yu had simply taken care of the gunshot wound in his arm before
leaving home. He is still wearing a simple plain black long-sleeved
turtleneck autumn shirt, jeans and even a student-like baseball cap,
but through the shadow of the brim, one can see the haze that is rare
in adult society in his almond eyes.

He looked up, the light of the paper-thin, empty night trickling

through his dark eyes.

He said, “The top floor.”

“……”

The top floor is a large private room with excellent privacy, and the
staff in the rooms are personally taught by their boss, all of whom are
smart and clever, making it a very suitable place to talk about any
business or do anything.

And of course, the spending is sky high.

The manager thought to himself, “The He family’s youngest is really,

to go to the top of the elimination without primping, thanks to today’s
encounter with him, otherwise this simple and casual to the extreme
student dress, if it is replaced by any no-eye men, probably can be the
young master stopped.

The manager thought of this and was secretly glad he had avoided a
bloodbath, otherwise with Young Master He looking so perverse
today, it was not certain that he would have smashed the venue if he
had been messed with.

“You lead the way.” He Yu said lightly, his hands in his jeans.

The manager was busy bowing with a smile, “Yes, yes, yes, come, this
way please, Young Master He.”
 Chapter 49 – Deep Fall
He Yu doesn’t usually like this kind of glamorous place, but now it’s
the only place where he can find a bit of flesh and blood that belongs
to the world.

“Young Master He.”

“Greetings, Young Master He.”

The waiter greeted him respectfully at the open door of the box,
bowing his eyebrows and not even daring to raise his eyes.
The Empty Night Club is a place of intoxication, a city of alcohol and
flesh. The casino is regulated, but the waiters are all pretty and
smooth, and the ground floor dance floor is often filled with beautiful
men and women. A large number of these people are willing to be
taken out in private, and when it comes to personal relationships, it’s
just normal midnight lovemaking, romance and flings, and no one
cares.

That’s why there are always so many luxury cars outside the gates of
Empty Nights, and as the night progresses, many of the bosses’
skinned legs straddle their cars, smiling and snuggling up next to
them as they leave.

He Yu is here tonight with a vengeance in mind, a self-destructive

thrill of falling into the mud.

This mentality is like a student who has spent all his energy and
savings, but has never made it to the top of the examinations, and who
has worked so hard, but when the energy that was holding him up
fails again and again, he gives up on himself when he fails again.

He Yu has now figured it out. He wanted to hear a good lie, and why
did he have to suffer like that?

In a place like the Empty Night Club, where he sits down and is
approached by someone, he can hear the same soft words all night
long. He didn’t have to deceive himself, he only had to pay for it, and
there were people who wanted to deceive him.

They don’t run away halfway like Xie Qingcheng, and when they do,
they think his pocket money is too small.

“Young Master He, this is the most eloquent group of waiters we have
here, they are in charge of your box, if you need anything, just talk to
them.”

He Yu did not get up from the sofa and looked indifferently at the two
rows of waiters that the duty manager had brought in from outside
with his permission.
These are the head staff of the casino, poised and smiling, standing
behind the manager as he introduces them.

After a round of introductions, the manager went down nicely,

showing He Yu the door by hand.

“Would you like to play any games, Young Master He?”

Despite the guest’s scowl, these well-trained waiters smiled sweetly

and tested his attitude.

He Yu was silent for a moment and smiled, “Open some bars. Rather
embarrassing to have you all standing around dry like this.”

The heavy gilded wine list was handed over, a fucking pig killing
place, with wines under 10,000 rare, but 100,000 to 200,000 or so not
uncommon.

He Yu leaned back lazily on the sofa, ticking off all the ones in front of
him without blinking, before his eyes fell on a bottle of a special blend
called 59 Plum Spice.

He has accompanied clients here many times and knows what kind of
special drink it is, the string of zeros that follows the drink and the
three burning heart symbols that tell the person who orders it what
kind of experience it will bring. He Yu used to see the plum aroma
customers ordered on almost every order when signing the checkout.

“It smells high class, but ……” a friend once recommended with a half-
drunk, half-sober grin in He Yu’s ear, “and frivolous and cheap. Does
Master He understand what I mean?”

He Yu hooked up the 59 plum aroma and casually handed the drink

order to the girl nearest him.

The sisters looked at each other with some joy and excitement in their
eyes.

When he first entered the room, he thought the guest was not so easy
to deal with, but to his surprise, he was handsome, good-tempered
and generous, and even before he was coaxed, he wanted to open the
most expensive wine stacked with champagne towers.

“Does Young Master He play with colours?”

He Yu smiled and said lightly, “I’m afraid you can’t play me.”

The girl pouted, “Then I can’t play, Young Master He should have
mercy and let me go.”

“That’s right ……”

Warm, soft bodies moved closer, beside him, by his legs, by his hands,
and He Yu looked at them calmly and indifferently – yes, in his present
position, what kind of flattery could he not buy, if he did not go
begging for a genuine one?

As the wine opened and the towers stacked, the girls laughed and
grew bold in the sparkling light.

“Why did Young Master He come alone? Aren’t you with friends?”

“Can Young Master He tell us a little about what happened at HU

earlier? It’s really legendary, I’d love to hear you talk about it ……”

He Yu’s mobile phone rings while we are talking and laughing.

He glanced at it and his face twitched slightly – it was from Xie

Qingcheng.

“Who is it?”

“Nothing.” He Yu, after a brief silence, put his hand on his chin and
casually scratched the screen, rejecting the call and saying to the girl
who was telling a joke in front of him, “Go on.”

When the girl saw that He Yu seemed interested in his joke, she told it
with even more enthusiasm.

A few seconds later, Xie Qingcheng’s call came back in.

The bell rang more than once, repeatedly prodding, and a bold girl
covered her mouth and laughed, “Young Master He’s girlfriend?”

“Joking aside.”

He Yu declined the call from Xie Qingcheng for the second time.

It took a little longer to die down this time, but the bell rang a minute
or so later.

He Yu is about to refuse to answer when his fingertips stop on the

screen and pause.

–This time it was not Xie Qingcheng, but Xie Xue who called.

He hesitates for a moment, but picks up.

” He Yu .” Xie Xue called his name from the other end of the phone.

“…… hmm.”

” He Yu …… me, I want to ask you …… what my brother went through

with you that day at school.” Xie Xue’s voice had some sobbing in it,
which more or less made the false smile that adorned He Yu’s face in
front of the people converge.

“Why would his previous video be suddenly put on the murder video? I
didn’t dare to watch it some days ago…… searched carefully online
today and found that many people were cursing, you know…… there
were also people who published to our home address and threw paint
on our door… …I am now …… I am now really particularly sad …… I
also dare not call my brother, even if I call him, he will not say
anything, he will also be sure to blame me why I do not listen to go
search these things. I ……”

When the girl got to the end of the story, she couldn’t hold back her
tears.

All that was left on the phone was the sound of her sobbing.
The woman in the sales room didn’t know what was going on and was
still smiling and pouring him a drink.

He Yu lifts his hand, gently and morbidly stroking the woman’s long
hair, but the lustre in his eyes sinks as he listens to Xie Xue’s cries.
Her devastation and despair soaked straight through the microphone
and into his heart.

“I don’t even know what to do anymore ……”

He Yu thought for a moment of Wei Dongheng, whom Xie Xue was

secretly in love with, but who had chosen to look for herself when
things went wrong. He felt a little comfort in his heart, but then he
realised…

Wei Dongheng seems to have recently taken a leave of absence to go

to his father’s army because of the death of an old man in his family.
His father’s side is a heavy military area, and even the signal is not
very good. Besides,……, He Yu thought, maybe Wei Dongheng didn’t
even know which teacher Xie Xue was, so of course Xie Xue couldn’t
have approached him.

” He Yu ……” Xie Xue sobbed, sounding like a wounded kitten, “What

am I going to do …… I want to do something for my brother , so I, I
opened the video to explain, but …… ooooooooooooooooooo ……”

“But when I try to talk to them properly, hardly anyone wants to listen
to me calmly and completely to tell them what I have to say …… They
always start cursing halfway through or don’t listen at all …… and call
me a liar and say I’m not his sister and It’s …… is ……”

She took a breath and didn’t say what it was, huffing for a moment
before saying helplessly, “They think I want to use the murder case to
hype myself up and report my video …… and others say my parents
are behind the murder …… He Yu you know, they have been dead for
many years, I want the dead to be important, can we not even
implicate the dead …… but they …… they are …… ”

“Instead they asked me to show my mum and dad’s cremation

certificate ……!”
When Xie Xue said this, she couldn’t go on any longer and lost her
voice in tears.

He Yu’s knuckles are faintly white.

He was so used to being nice to Xie Xue that when he heard her cry
like that, he reflexively wanted to say something to comfort her, or
even to solve her problem, but the words were in his throat and he
immediately remembered the messages he had seen between Xie
Qingcheng and her.

That temperature which belonged to man, slowly, again, receded from

the tide of his long-sick and decaying heart.

He was quiet –

A voice advised him with a sigh, saying that although Xie Xue was not
as kind to him as he thought she was, she did not know anything after
all, and she was at least the kindest and gentlest to him. And that was
enough.

But there was another voice that was stabbing him and hurting him,
saying that he need not have any more mercy or scruples, that he
should not be so foolish any longer.

“Can I ask you something, Xie Xue.” He Yu concluded.

“Well …… you …… you said ……” Xie Xue huffed.

He Yu sat in the extravagant and glitzy box and asked the girl who
was currently sitting curled up in the shabby shack, “You saw all the
videos that the hackers dropped on the entire HU mobile device that
day.”

“See ……”

“Your brother is a psychiatry-related doctor, and it’s one thing that he

can’t be faulted for saying things like that that would be attacked. The
internet is inherently a world where emotions are higher than reality,
and the human spirit is a much more punchy thing when you lose the
constraints of the physical body. I’m not surprised he’s being called
out.”

“…… But that’s all he’s saying …… He’s been …… doing his job very
seriously and responsibly all these years, he’s never never been
perfunctory, you know all this too ……”

He Yu interrupted her gently, he almost never interrupted Xie Xue, “I

know.”

“But I also know some other things about your brother. Including the
fact that he keeps telling you to stay away from me.”

“……”

Xie Xue looked a little confused, as she didn’t seem to know why He
Yu’s attitude had suddenly changed, and she didn’t know how to take
He Yu’s words.

He Yu, however, is calm, almost demonic in his calmness.

” Xie Xue , I just want to ask you one thing right now.”

“……”

“All these years, in your mind, as you listened to your brother

admonish you in this way, did you ever, even for a moment, suspect
that I was sick too?”

“I-”

Xie Xue was unexpectedly stunned by the question he asked.

Is there one?

Has it ever been?

Did she ever have a moment’s hesitation over Xie Qingcheng’s words
during the past countless days and nights?
Did she ever suspect that He Yu was also a patient, and that was why
Xie Qingcheng had stayed at He Yu’s house for so long, and why he
had told her so much?

Is she really 100 per cent free of suspicion?

“I ……” Xie Xue is not a very good liar, she hesitated, hesitated,
dumbly clutching the phone, half a day can not say a word, “But… .
but how do you …… even if you are …… that’s …… not right, no,
you’re so good, surely you won’t be ……”

He Yu smiled softly as his eyelashes flicked and clouds drooped.

He said, “Yeah, I’m not.”

The woman lit a cigarette and tried to hand it to He Yu, who took it,
looked at it, smiled and handed it back to the woman, shaking his
head sagely.

He appears to be at peace with himself, but there is a morbid shadow

between his eyes.

“So, He Yu, can you-”

“I can’t.” He Yu said gently, “Xie Xue , I’m sorry. I can’t.”

He was still smiling when he said it, but the dull pain in his heart
coned down in his chest again like a crack in the earth, and he played
with the woman’s hair, the tips of his fingers cold.

“I’ve got something going on tonight and I can’t get away.”

“……”

“Let someone else keep you company.” He Yu’s lips parted a little,
“We both probably didn’t have that much of a deep friendship before,
did we?”

The girl on the other end of the phone froze.

It seems I have never seen a face like He Yu’s before, never heard a
voice so soft and elegant, yet so unemotional.

Or maybe the feelings there are too deep and too heavy.

The boy she had known in the past, the boy He Yu had known
personally, had been rolled to a bloody pulp, his face completely
unrecognisable.

He Yu didn’t wait for Xie Xue to say anything else, hung up the phone
and smiled –

With Xie Qingcheng around, it turns out that all his past efforts were
in vain, and with Xie Qingcheng around, it was impossible for him and
Xie Xue to be together in the first place.

No, in Xie Qingcheng’s eyes, it was not just Xie Xue, but perhaps he,
He Yu, who should not have had an intimate relationship with anyone
at all.

“What do you want to play next, Young Master He?” Seeing him end
the call, the girl who was clinging to his side, the closest to him and
the most delicate, glared at him.

Her fingertips brushed unruly against his leg.

He Yu put the phone down and looked at her from above, saying,
“Take your hands off me.”

“I don’t like people touching me without permission. You sit down

properly and don’t be a smart ass here. Otherwise I’m going to have
to ask you to leave.”

His gloom and doom startled the girl and the room went silent.

Everyone else sat up straighter, not knowing what to do.

He Yu ignored them and drank to himself, even opening the bottle of

59 degrees plum.
“Young Master He, this wine ……” the usher tried to remind him.

He Yu said, “I know what it is.”

He was sober and just opened that wine and didn’t drink it. As to
whether he drank it or not, and when he drank it, all this depended on
his final mood.

The pressure was low and the girls did not dare to say anything, so
they remained frozen for half a day until their legs and feet were sore
from standing in their seven or eight-inch high heels, when a clamour
suddenly arose from outside.

“Sir, you can’t go in here ……”

“Sir – first -”

Suddenly –

The door to the compartment was unceremoniously pushed open.

He Yu glanced over his shoulder, and in his icy vision stood Xie
Qingcheng in a white shirt and slim-fitting trousers.

He never answered Xie Qingcheng’s calls, so Xie Qingcheng barged in

on his own.

The manager on duty at the door was horrified: “You, you insensitive
thing! How did you get people to come here?”

The patrolling field followed by Xie Qingcheng was also as pale as

wax, and before he could reply, he heard He Yu, who was leaning
back on the sofa, say lazily, “…… Forget it.”

There was something of a stinging sneer in his voice.

“He’s very good at it, so it’s normal that you guys can’t stop him.”

“Since we’re all here. Just let him come in and sit down.”
He Yu’s words were directed at the two managers, but his eyes were
unblinkingly fixed on Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng is breathing hard because he has come in a hurry, his

lips are slightly open and he is gasping for air, his hair, which has
always been perfectly combed, is falling in front of his eyes, and his
sharp eyes are on fire, like a vermilion red koal that has fallen into a
pool of water.

He Yu gazed into those eyes for a moment and said, quite calmly, “Dr.
Xie, please come in.”

“Ah …… this ……” followed Xie Qingcheng to discourage the patrol

tube all the way to the bridge of the tongue at once.

Xie Qingcheng, a man who has been on the internet for the past two
days, and who had previously experienced the Shanghai scare with He
Yu, had a feeling that these two ancestors must have some kind of a
life-threatening problem, and that it would be better for people to stay
away from the hurricane and not get caught in the middle.

The two of them quickly withdrew from the scene, closing the door
that Xie Qingcheng had pushed open.

The two people in the room looked at each other, neither of them
speaking.

But the moment their eyes met, they both knew that the person in
front of them was just like themselves –

It had only been a few days since their last meeting, yet their
mindsets were already different, with the highs and lows being
switched.
 Chapter 50 – I am no longer as I
was yesterday
“How did you know I was here?”

In the private room, He Yu pours himself a glass of red wine and also
pours one for Xie Qingcheng, gesturing to the woman beside him to
pass it to Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng did not ask for it.

He Yu folded his fingers and looked at him quietly.

After a few moments, he said, “Dr. Xie. In fact, if you really want to
talk to me properly, it would be more appropriate for you to drink this
glass of wine.”

Xie Qingcheng tried his best to maintain his composure as he stood

looking down at him with mixed feelings: “He Yu , you should go
back.”

“Don’t say that, if you didn’t know, you’d think you were one of me.”
He Yu smiled, and the attractive woman beside him lit another
cigarette, which He Yu surprisingly took this time.

His almond eyes stared unblinkingly at Xie Qingcheng, his mouth

loosened slightly, he took in the filter, inhaled slowly and deeply, and
then exhaled gracefully and calmly.

Green smoke disperses.

He Yu smokes, sometimes with a smile and a whisper in order to

blend in at a social gathering. But he doesn’t like it, and he never
touches it in private.

So before today, Xie Qingcheng had never known that He Yu, who
clearly hated smoking, could hold a cigarette with ease, even with
skill.

“Pass one to Dr. Tse too.”

The woman lights her cigarette again, as she is told, and brings it to
Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng didn’t answer: “I don’t smoke.”

He Yu instantly laughed, the hand holding the cigarette against his

forehead: “My God …… Dr. Xie, you are indeed hypocritical enough,
how come I didn’t know that before.”

Xie Qingcheng said, “There’s a lot you don’t know, so come back with
me first and I’ll tell you whatever you want to ask, as long as I can tell
you.”
He Yu heard Xie Qingcheng say this and finally went from slouching
and reclining to slouching and sitting. He sat up, resting his elbows
back on the back of the sofa, and then nodded with a slight sigh.

“Yes, there are many things I do not know.” A pair of canine-like

almond eyes lifted, but at the moment, his eyes were cold, rather like
a wolf.

“For example ……”

“For example, why you suddenly didn’t want to stay on at the hospital
before, or why you suddenly avoided me like a snake and a beast ……”

He paused, still not intending to tell Xie Qingcheng about Xie Xue, or
about the contract.

That alone is enough; why involve yourself in more and add to your
own folly?

“Xie Qingcheng–” He Yu’s eyes rose, and he looked coldly at the man,
every word broken between his teeth, “I did not know any of these
things at the time. ”

Xie Qingcheng closed his eyes: “…… Is that why you run to such a
panoply and degrade yourself?”

The girls of Pansies: “……”

He Yu’s smile became more pronounced, which caused his normally

uncovered tiger teeth to show through, and his otherwise gentle face
suddenly looked a little sinister due to this subtle change.

“Dr. Xie, first of all, this place is a proper business, not involved in
pornography, gambling and drugs, and the good-looking waiters and
attentive service don’t get in your way. I don’t want a bunch of
crooked people to serve me when I open a bottle of wine for 100,000.”

“Secondly – Xie Qingcheng , may I ask why you always lift yourself up
in this way?”
“……”

“Who are you considered to be, and will I be influenced by you as to

where I go and what I do?”

The smile suddenly fades away, leaving only a sunken cloud on one
side.

“Professor Xie, I know that older people like to hold on to things, and
since you’ve done a good job as a professor, there’s no shortage of
students to hail you, so it’s inevitable that you get carried away and
get used to taking yourself seriously everywhere you go. I can
understand that middle-aged people have this problem – but to be
clear, I only do things because I’m happy.”

He Yu lightly lit his cigarette, dusted it off and leaned back, his
uncigarette hand open, resting on the back of the sofa.

“Not half as much to do with you.”

It was only then that Xie Qingcheng noticed that his eyes were
bloodshot and his lips had an abnormal, sickly hue. It was worse than
the last few times He Yu had been seriously ill, and he felt a pang in
his heart and subconsciously tried to check the heat on He Yu’s
forehead.

Xie Qingcheng was more familiar than anyone else with his illness,
which was often feverish when He Yu was ill, so it was customary for
him to do so.

But his wrist snapped into He Yu’s grip.

He Yu didn’t look like he was pushing hard, but his five fingers were
closed, not moving, and the force was undeniably strong: “Hmm. Let’s
talk properly, don’t move your hands.”

He looked at Xie Qingcheng from behind his wrist.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been close enough to you that you could just
touch me if you wanted to.”
After he said this, he could feel Xie Qingcheng’s strength gradually
loosening and the light in his eyes gradually dimming.

After a moment of stalemate, He Yu released his fingers and Xie

Qingcheng dropped his hand.

“…… He Yu . Whether you believe it or not.” After a long time Xie

Qingcheng turned his face sideways, avoiding He Yu’s grim gaze, and
said, “Those words at first …… I was not referring to you. I wasn’t
referring to you.”

“Which words?” He Yu tilted his head in mock confusion, then

grinned, “Oh — ‘It’s not worth dying for a sick person, and being
killed by a psychopath is so wrong it’s ridiculous.’ –Well said, that’s a
good point, why do you need to explain more?”

He looked around the room and said indifferently, “Are any of us

psychopaths here? How can people like that be free to breathe fresh
air when they should not all be locked up, locked in cages, put in
restraint belts, given electric shocks, drugged and, if necessary,
knifed to cut certain nerves in their heads? Don’t you think so.”

Xie Qingcheng did not reply, there were too many people standing
around in the room and He Yu’s status as a psychopath was a secret
that few people knew. It was not really convenient for him to say
anything in full view of everyone.

He was silent for a moment, lifted his peachy eyes and asked him,
“Can you let these people out first?”

“Why.”

“There’s something I want to say to you alone.”

He Yu smiles: “That’s not necessary.”

“……”

“Dr. Tse, there is no need for such things as preaching. You have so
many students waiting for you to expound the truth with them, so why
commit to me? I am nothing special to you either. You are the same to
me. That’s fine, and I don’t want to complicate this relationship any
further.”

“……”

“If there’s nothing else, you can go.”

Given Xie Qingcheng’s temper, he would have criticised him severely

and ordered him to follow his orders.

But Xie Qingcheng is now in the wrong in front of He Yu.

Xie Qingcheng eventually just said, “…… What will it take for you to
go back. Your parents wouldn’t want to see you like this.”

It was fine if he didn’t mention He Jiwei and Lv Zhishu, but when he

did, He Yu’s mood became even darker.

He stares at Xie Qingcheng’s face.

Having said all that, it still circles back to his parents.

He Yu thought about the messages Xie Qingcheng had sent to He

Jiwei, which were much more real than when he was talking to
himself, and perhaps in his mind only He Jiwei was his equal.

And the day she left her job, she had put aside her dignity, so
wretched that she even tried to keep the man in her footsteps with
pocket money.

Because he felt that once Xie Qingcheng was gone, Xie Xue would be
gone, and he would fall back into a terrible loneliness that he could
not live with.

He said to Xie Qingcheng at that time, I have a lot of pocket money, I

can ……

But Xie Qingcheng cut him off.

He then gave him a bunch of grand speeches and told him that his
employer was first and foremost He Jiwei, and that you, He Yu, could
not afford to hire me, and that he should save his money to buy some
cakes and have some fun.

In fact, He Yu should have known that in Xie Qingcheng’s eyes, he

was only He Jiwei’s son, and if it wasn’t for his father, Xie Qingcheng
probably wouldn’t have bothered with him.

This thought drove He Yu’s already grim heart even further into
madness.

But his face remained light.

He looked at Xie Qingcheng for a long time, thinking of He Jiwei ,

thinking of the Canton Tower, thinking of Xie Xue , thinking of the
sincerity he had never received …… He hated Xie Qingcheng in his
heart.

He really wanted to tear him apart.

He Yu thought so, sizing him up as he slowly finished his glass, and he

raised his hand to pour himself another one.

The cup in front of Xie Qingcheng was still full.

He Yu couldn’t help but be more annoyed and sneered, “Dr Xie really
doesn’t know the rules, what kind of person comes to apologise and
first presses the person’s parents, but doesn’t even accompany them
with a drink. Do you want to keep these for fish?”

With that, he took another empty glass and casually copied an already
opened bottle of wine and poured it full.

“Sit down, and since you’re here, sit and drink with me for a while.
Finish your drink.”

“……”

“Dr. Tse you don’t smoke, does that mean you don’t drink either?”
Xie Qingcheng knew that he would not be able to dominate today.

Since He Yu said so, he didn’t say anything and sat down on the sofa
opposite He Yu.

“I’ll drink and you’ll leave, yes?”

“I wonder if Dr. Xie would be willing to lay down his life with me as a
villain?”

The box was quiet and everyone seemed to be affected by the aura
around them, not daring to breathe.

In this deadly silence, Xie Qingcheng’s hand reached out, into the
invisible rain of blood. He took the tall glass of wine resting on the
marble table and moved it to his face with a clang.

In the shifting colours of the wine, in the hazy light, Xie Qingcheng’s
brow is as cold and hard as water becoming rock in a pool of ice.

He lifted the glass of dry red and drank it down. Then he took the
other glass He Yu had poured for him and drank it without blinking.

Strong wine in the throat.

He Yu finally smiled again, “Good. Brother Xie is really good at

drinking.”

He tilted his head to one side, his eyes still fixed on Xie Qingcheng,
but said to the woman next to him, “Fill him up again.”

“……” The leader, however, turned pale.

She gathered her courage, leaned over and whispered quietly in He

Yu’s ear.

He Yu is stunned, and his eyes sweep to the bottle of wine he has just
poured for Xie Qingcheng on the table.

“!”
59 degrees of plum fragrance ……?

He, he inadvertently poured this aphrodisiac wine for Xie Qingcheng

……!

This wine He Yu originally intended to indulge himself in a bad mood

today …… but he accidentally poured it down Xie Qingcheng’s throat.

This wine–

He Yu glanced up to see Xie Qingcheng, but was met by the other

man’s cool, cold eyes.

The alcohol had not yet kicked in and he was still unaware of it.

But He Yu knew that Xie Qingcheng would not remain sober for long.

“It smells, at first taste, all very high class, but when you drink it, it’s
lowly and frivolous ……”

The words that the friend, who was half drunk at the time, had
whispered in his ear, surfaced again.

How could he have made such a stupid mistake.

Why didn’t he see the wine when it was just poured?

The heart rhythm was extremely fast and furious.

Cold sweat came down.

But then, in a few dozen seconds of silence, He Yu’s heart went from
stunned, to calm, to calm, to mad –

He quickly realised that a mistake had been made, did he have to rush
Xie Qingcheng to hospital?

He could never do that.

Besides, it’s useless to take this wine to the hospital, it’s just an
aphrodisiac, it’s not poisonous.

He is silent, staring intently at Xie Qingcheng.

Staring at his well-dressed and suited figure, at his serious and self-
possessed, very majestic face.

And then – suddenly, because of this unintentional coincidence – a

thought suddenly sprang up inside He Yu’s frantic mind and burst into
flames ……

Is this perhaps …… a providential arrangement?

This is retribution –

This is Xie Qingcheng’s retribution ……! He brought this on himself,

and the heavens could not see his hypocrisy, hence the coincidence.

Xie Qingcheng is a human being, and if he is a human being, he has

desires, and if his desires are overwhelming and he cannot get what
he wants, he will be in a terrible state and beg for alms.

He Yu stared at him silently, and suddenly he wondered what it would

be like for Xie Qingcheng to have his heart burned by wine, to kneel
before him, incoherent, desperate and disrespectful.

Xie Qingcheng had finished his drink and put down his glass: “Is that
enough?”

“……” He Yu did not answer, that thought of his still lurking and
tempting him, but because the previous drink had been unintentional
and not deliberate, he hesitated for a moment.

Xie Qingcheng said, “If it’s not enough I’ll drink with you again.”

“I can drink until you’re satisfied and willing to go. As long as you
don’t degrade yourself tonight, as long as you don’t fool around.”

“……” He Yu was stunned for a moment and raised his eyes, “Why.”
Xie Qingcheng told him, word for word, “Because it was my fault, it
was my mistake, and it should not be you who pays the price.”

In the midst of the chaos, He Yu’s heart was touched as hard as it had
been when Xie Qingcheng had first told him that the mentally ill
should be treated equally.

But he then felt angry.

He was angry with himself; why, when things had come to this, was
he still moved by this man’s trifling words?

Extreme anger has instead spawned ruthlessness.

He Yu, who had been hesitant a moment before, finally decided that
he had a bad idea in mind.

He Yu slowly leaned back, fully, against the back of the sofa and
sighed softly, “Xie …… look, you’re coaxing me again.”

“……”

The sudden change of address seems to have given Xie Qingcheng

some hope.

Xie Qingcheng looks at him.

He Yu braced the side of his face, still sighing, “…… But how come I’m
still willing to be coaxed by you?”

” He Yu ……”

“…… Shea, tell me, did you mean what you said to me this time?”

Xie Qingcheng stared at him, and for some reason, his heart felt a
little hard, and he said, “It’s true.”

He Yu watched him quietly for a moment, and then his face took on
the look of the young dragon: “So you don’t lie to me?”
“I’m not going to lie to you.”

“Then let’s pull a hook.”

He Yu leans forward slowly as he makes childish remarks, as if he too

has had too much to drink.

It was only at the moment when Xie Qingcheng extended his tail
finger that He Yu suddenly changed his hooking motion to opening his
whole hand and threading it through –

Ice coldly –

Touching the handsome face of Xie Qingcheng.

He looks at him playfully, the purity of the young dragon, right under
Xie Qingcheng’s nose, gradually transforming all into the gloom of the
evil dragon.

“Naive, Xie Qingcheng. Are you really going to hook up with me?”

“Unfortunately this time, I’m the one who’s lying to you.”

“And how can I trust you so easily again.”

“……”

“You hurt me so badly.”

Xie Qingcheng’s eyes, which had a little light in them, are now
dimmed again.

A long tens of seconds of silence.

The teenager looked at the fire extinguished in the man’s eyes.

“Let’s do it this way.” He Yu thought about it and said.

He sat up straight again, and without moving, he drew the 59-degree
plum, signalling the lingering woman to take the empty glass and fill
it most of the way himself, passing it to Xie Qingcheng’s side.

The leader was horrified –

She thought He Yu would stop giving this man this bottle of strong
wine when he knew about it.

“Seeing you like this, I’m a little touched too.” He Yu said lightly, “I
can give you another chance, only you have to show me your
sincerity.”

The first cup was poured by mistake.

This second cup, he had to coax Xie Qingcheng to drink it willingly.

“I don’t ask for much, you go on for a few more rounds. Drink until
I’m satisfied, and I’ll go back with you. …… I won’t force you, but if
you really started to care about me, you wouldn’t be unwilling to
agree to even this little thing.” He Yu raised his eyes, “Do you think
that’s okay?”

Xie Qingcheng looks at him without saying a word, and after a

moment he once again lifts the glass He Yu has given him.

“As long as you go back. I’ll drink.”

He Yu looked at him with his head tilted back and the knot in his
throat swallowing and rolling. A thick, smouldering resentment
burned in the slightly drunken mood.

…… Drink up. Drink it all down.

This drink is too much, and karma is coming.

Retribution.

He Yu thought so once again.

He will see all his ugly desires, see him lose his composure in front of
women, and agonize over them, but beg for them.

That’s what you call real karma.

Call it a loss of face.

The waiters in the room were too breathless to breathe.

They could see that Young Master He was intent on screwing the man
in front of him, he had poured 59 degrees plum into a large red wine
glass and was intent on making the man in front of him drink the
whole bottle.

Two women standing close to the back looked horrified and pulled
each other by the skirts of their super-short skirts, whispering, “What
should we do.”

“What else can we do, but stand and keep them company.”

“I’m so worried that something will happen, this wine last time a boss
drank a little too much, and that mistress he brought is about to be
tossed to death, what should we do in case Young Master He asks us
to accompany him later ……”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, that, that can also be refused, we are here
originally just to entertain a drink only, the rest that is a private
matter of your wish …… even if the young master He he can not force
us …… ”

“But ……”

Their voices were so loud that they were overheard by the leader in
front of them, who gave them a warning glare, and the two girls
immediately dared not make another sound, keeping their heads down
and their hearts in their mouths.

The third glass has gone down.

Xie Qingcheng’s face flushed a thin red and his eyes were slightly
disoriented. But he hadn’t realised that the wine wasn’t right and just
looked at the boy in front of him.

He lifted a hand to his forehead with a nasal note of some alcohol on

top: “…… He Yu , that’s about it, you stop it and come home with me.”

He Yu’s voice had become soft and not as cold as when he had first
met Xie Qingcheng.

He poured another full glass for Xie Qingcheng and pushed it over,
compelling him, “Yes, of course I will go back with you. You’re so
authoritative, I’ll listen to anything you say …… Come on, Xie, have
another drink, this one will go down and the whole bottle will be
almost finished, don’t waste it.”

Xie Qingcheng leans back on the sofa, his eyes already bloodshot, his
peach blossom eyes a little damp from the wine and his face a little
flushed. But he is still well suited, his shirt tightly buttoned, and he
has no intention of overstepping his bounds.

He drank his fourth glass of wine.

But Xie Qingcheng, who had almost had enough wine to drink, still
had good self-control and didn’t even look at the gorgeous women.

It seems that when people pretend for a long time, there is always a
bit of acting that becomes real, isn’t it?

“……” He Yu was silent.

Some displeasure, some irritation.

He thought that perhaps Xie Qingcheng had been single for too long
and that he should give her a little catalyst.

He then raised his eyes and glanced at the two women standing next
to Xie Qingcheng.
One of them smiled and picked up a glass of wine, while the other
went around the back of the sofa and sat down softly, trying to lean
over Xie Qingcheng.

“Handsome ……”

“I’ve heard Young Master He call you Brother Xie, so how about I call
you that too?” The woman’s body was soft, and she softly lifted her
face to Xie Qingcheng’s ear and breathed like an orchid, her kohl-
dotted hand moved closer to Xie Qingcheng’s broad chest, her
fingertips touching his tightly buttoned, ascetic shirt buttons.

Men’s shirt collar buttons are designed in such a way that they are
easy for others to unfasten.

The girl saw Xie Qingcheng’s handsome face, very manly, and teased
with a bit of genuine affection: “Brother Xie, why don’t I come and
have another drink with you ……”

“Pop”.

The woman gave a jolt.

Her slender wrists were tightly clutched by Xie Qingcheng.

Xie Qingcheng closed his eyes, a few moments of clarity came into
them, and he shook her off: “Go down.”

Woman: “……”

“Get down. Don’t give face.”

The woman’s face turned blue and red for a while, and finally she
looked at He Yu with some embarrassment, wondering what young
Master He’s reaction would be.

Then she saw the look in He Yu’s eyes that she called frightening.
He Yu leaned back on the sofa, one elbow spread against the back, the
other hand holding a glass of wine, the young man’s slender legs
braced as he kept his eyes on the man across from him.

The eyes are cold, the calculations don’t work and He Yu finally stops
pretending.

His gaze was frozen into ice, with frost running through it.

“You ……” Xie Qingcheng had a terrible headache and a terrible

burning fever flushed through her body, “Are you going or not… …”

He Yu sighed softly, “You can’t say two soft words before you’re
hollering at me again. Brother Xie, you are really a heartless thing.”

There was a pause, but the corners of his lips split into a cold,
dangerous smile –

“Hmm. I’d be willing to go with you, but are you, right now, going to
be able to go?”

“……”

Xie Qingcheng lifted his eyes inch by inch, and his eyes felt like they
were on fire.

It was now that he finally felt something was wrong, the force of 59
doses of plum had begun to rush through his limbs in a frenzy. Xie
Qingcheng gasped as his body reacted with a visible alcohol
intolerance. Right under He Yu’s nose, Xie Qingcheng’s otherwise
pale skin flushed an unnatural thin red, like frozen rouge in a snowy
day, and the colour of the wine seemed to seep into his bones.

“You the wine ……”

“It’s a bit expensive.” He Yu said gently, “But it’s a good wine.”

“…… you ……!”

“Dr. Tse has been so kind to me, so of course I must treat you well.
Isn’t that right?”

Xie Qingcheng leapt to his feet. He could not believe that He Yu had
managed to do this, and his anger flared up inside him, which he had
been suppressing.

He stepped over the coffee table and grabbed He Yu by the lapels,

“Are you fucking crazy? You actually …… He Yu …… you actually ……”

“I actually?”

Xie Qingcheng’s voice trembled with anger, and even though he felt
guilty for what he had done to such a psychopath, his eyes were still
red with rage: “You dare to drug me–!”