Chapter 53
Ding-dong—
As the doorbell rang at the small courtyard on Juqing Road, several wild birds strolling in the yard fluttered their wings and took flight to the treetops.
The leaves of the Boston ivy climbing the walls trembled in their wake.
A subtle ripple in the air reached the storage room under the stairs.
Shu Ci looked up, retracting the scent of plum blossoms that filled the room. He closed the file, locked the door, and walked slowly into the yard, his gaze fixing on the gate.
After learning about his Pheromone Disorder, Shen Ti had cancelled the lawyer’s appointment, insisting that Shu Ci rest at home. For the past few days, apart from training according to the materials provided, Shu Ci had done nothing but scroll through the news. There had been almost no visitors.
There were no threatening pheromone fluctuations outside the yard. Shu Ci walked forward with some hesitation, and just as he was about to open the gate, he heard a rustling sound.
His blue-grey eyes darkened with alertness.
He pulled the door open and poked his head out, only to see Yi Xingshui standing before the courtyard wall. She had one hand in her pocket and was toying with a curled vine leaf with the other, her expression grave.
Shu Ci breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his forehead. “Didn’t I message you? I’m fine now; you didn’t have to make a special trip.”
He had more or less figured out the symptoms of the Disorder—
There were no warning signs when the scent changed. The glands became completely uncontrollable, and while his body entered a relatively weak state, other physical functions and indicators remained normal.
Once he gradually adapted to the new scent, he would be no different from usual.
In other words, the only dangerous period was the time between the onset of the disorder and its conclusion.
What made this a blessing in disguise was that the process of adapting to new scents after two episodes had improved the precision of his control over pheromone energy and frequency. The training was becoming increasingly effortless.
“I was worried.” Yi Xingshui frowned. “Do you know how we medical students evaluate Pheromone Disorder? Even a genius doctor feels like an idiot when facing it.”
There were many intractable diseases, but Pheromone Disorder was the only one that left everyone, from novices to research giants, helpless.
“You can rest easy.” Shu Ci produced the check-up reports from the doctor Shen Ti had brought over the past few days. “You guys drained so much of my blood; can I get a refill for free?”
Yi Xingshui took the reports in surprise. After reading them, she finally let down her guard.
She looked up and scrutinized Shu Ci. “Your complexion is indeed fine, but… aren’t you a little different?”
The Shu Ci on Dragon Spine Island had seemed like a piece of soft, exquisite jade—fragile and heartbreakingly beautiful, making one want to protect him.
There had been a slight disconnect between that delicate appearance and his fiery personality.
But now, that gentle delicacy seemed to have been tempered into a sharp blade. The look in his eyes was increasingly matching the sharpness of his words.
“Am I? I don’t feel anything.” Shu Ci shrugged. He only felt that the pheromone training had made his senses sharper.
“As long as you’re okay. If you feel uncomfortable, contact me immediately.”
Seeing that Shu Ci had no intention of inviting her inside, Yi Xingshui tactfully turned to leave. However, she stopped after two steps, looking back at him with hesitation.
“Just say it,” Shu Ci yawned lazily.
Yi Xingshui looked sideways, her gaze falling on the courtyard wall. “Was this… Senior Brother Lu’s home before?”
Shu Ci nodded. “Yes.”
“Our mentor loved assigning group projects, and we used to take turns going to someone’s house to pull all-nighters working on reports. But we never came to Senior Brother’s house.”
Shu Ci paused.
It was understandable that Lu Wanqing, a master of time management with his own secrets, wouldn’t allow others to casually step into his private space. But this was clearly contradictory to his behavior of treating this place as a marital home.
He would rather share it with an arranged marriage partner he had never met than let his juniors visit?
Shu Ci felt an inexplicable irritation rising in his chest.
“He’s not home, so it’s not my place to invite you in,” Shu Ci frowned.
Yi Xingshui waved her hand. “That’s not what I meant.”
She walked back a few steps and pushed aside the layers of ivy leaves. “I was just bored and looking around, and when I saw these, I realized why he never wanted us to come here.”
Shu Ci followed her gaze. On the wall hidden by the leaves were layers of graffiti accumulated over the years. The bloody red and dark black writing had been faded by time, but the marks carved by knives could not be erased.
—Sponge of a bitch Alpha!
—Why aren’t you dead yet?
Every word was an insult. Some contained profanities, others were derogatory slurs dripping with sarcasm. Without exception, they all exuded the condescending arrogance of the person who had written or carved them.
Shu Ci’s pupils trembled.
He remembered that this was the house of Lu Wanqing’s teacher—the former General of the Far-flung Regions, Lu Wei. Lu Wanqing had once lived in his teacher’s home.
How could someone use such filthy, vile words to describe…
A young Lu Wanqing?
So, he didn’t want anyone to have the chance to see these foul traces that were so hard to erase.
Shu Ci pushed the vines aside in disbelief, revealing childish strokes that formed shocking words. It was like tearing the scab off a wound with his own hands; it made his heart ache.
“Don’t look.” Yi Xingshui held his hand, pulling the vine leaves from his grasp and letting them fall back against the wall.
Shu Ci’s fingertips twitched, allowing her to cover the words.
The irritation from earlier vanished completely. He roughly understood why Lu Wanqing had chosen this place as their marital home.
He might not be willing to let familiar friends or classmates see this wall, but an arranged marriage partner he had never met? That person might be scared. They might be deterred. They wouldn’t dare to get close to him.
So, Lu Wanqing had never wanted anyone to get close to him.
In fact, no one ever had. The original owner of this body had never lived here, nor had he gotten close to Lu Wanqing. Instead, he had walked towards Gu Lanzhu, covered in bruises.
Shu Ci’s nose suddenly stung, and he clenched his fingers.
“Huh?” As Yi Xingshui arranged the thick, dense vines, she suddenly noticed a familiar mark on the side of a brick gap.
She turned to look at Shu Ci, her tone uncertain.
“Why does this pattern look like a variation of the Gu family crest?”
Shu Ci snapped out of his thoughts and stepped closer.
“Family crests? We stopped using those to show off ages ago. You only see them in the old ancestral mansion now.”
The car sped along the road to the lawyer’s office. A partition separated the front and back seats, blocking any sound from reaching the driver.
Shen Ti put down his laptop and looked at Shu Ci suspiciously. “Why ask about crests all of a sudden?”
Shu Ci opened his photo gallery and showed Shen Ti a picture.
He added, “I found it on the outer wall. The imprint doesn’t look very old. Dr. Yi said it looked like a variant of the Gu family crest.”
“This… it really does look like it.” Shen Ti frowned. “Only families with a long history have crests. To be precise, this isn’t a variant. This looks like the earliest version of the pattern.”
“What do you mean?”
“The official crests our families use now are said to have been specially beautified and designed by the Royal Court back in the day. The one you have there looks very much like the original draft. You said you found this on the outer wall at Juqing Road?”
“Yes.”
“That makes no sense.” Shen Ti pulled up a map on his computer. “Going back hundreds of years, Juqing Road has never been within the Gu family’s sphere of influence.”
Both of them fell silent, and the car became instantly quiet.
Shu Ci rested his chin in his hand and looked out the window. Could it be that General Lu Wei, who died in the Far-flung Regions, had some connection to the Gu family?
“By the way, Cui You contacted me yesterday.” Shen Ti tilted his head, a trace of melancholy crossing his brow. “Has your guy contacted you?”
Shu Ci shook his head.
“Cui You avoids talking about Lu Wanqing. Whenever I try to probe, he changes the subject. It looks like… they have other plans.”
Shen Ti had been active behind the scenes of the election recently, and he had keenly realized that Lu Wanqing seemed to have vanished from the public eye for a long time.
Districts Seven and Eight of the Far-flung Regions were now hailed as disaster relief heroes and pillars of the nation, yet there wasn’t even a shadow of General Lu in the news.
“ The Marshal contacted me a few days ago.”
Shu Ci looked at the scenery receding outside the window, his deep gaze revealing no emotion. “I heard that if there really is an accident, they send a will to the relatives. Since they haven’t, the situation isn’t too bad yet, right?”
Shen Ti: “…”
Hey, should I be praising your optimism?
The car stopped in a garage. Shu Ci got out and was shocked by the simple yet elegant, and incredibly grand, decoration of the underground parking structure.
Rows of luxury cars were lined up in a spectacular display.
Do lawyers in this world make this much money?
He rubbed his eyes and quickly caught up with Shen Ti. “You’re just hiring legal counsel for a company; are you looking for a lawyer or an ancestor?”
Shen Ti didn’t speak and led him into the elevator.
Shu Ci followed closely behind him, stepping on soft carpets, winding left and right through elegant and noble rooms until they reached a door carved from pear wood.
A man in a suit and leather shoes walked out and bowed slightly. “The tea is ready. Please, come in.”
Shu Ci stared at him for a moment, feeling like he had seen him somewhere before.
He took two steps, and just as he stepped into the tastefully styled reception room, he suddenly remembered where he had seen that man.
—After completing the island inheritance, the receptionist mentioned a shuttle service. He had seen that driver in the parking lot below the service center.
“Ah Ti, wait!”
Before Shu Ci could grab Shen Ti, he saw a man sitting on the sofa with his back to them. Hearing their voices, the man put down his teacup and stood up.
The blond Alpha turned around and looked at Shu Ci with a smile.
Shu Ci’s eyelid twitched, and he pinched Shen Ti’s arm hard.
“A lawyer? You two brothers teamed up to trick me?” He glared. “No matter how much memory loss I have, I wouldn’t fail to recognize Councilman Shen, who is currently running for Chief Executive.”
Shen Ti awkwardly rubbed his nose. “My brother was a lawyer for many years before entering politics, so it counts, right?”
“Memory loss?” Anxiety actually appeared in Shen Lin’s brow. He walked around the sofa and went straight to Shu Ci. “What happened?”
Shu Ci moved his lips. Nothing really happened, he thought. It was just an excuse I made up because I was afraid people would notice my personality was different from the original host’s.
He stared intently at Shen Lin’s micro-expressions. The man’s worry didn’t seem faked. For a moment, he felt that compared to Shen Ti, this man seemed more like Shen Lin’s younger brother.
Seeing his brother so nervous for the first time, Shen Ti quickly explained for Shu Ci, “It’s just that when his Disorder flared up, he forgot some things. But I don’t think there’s been much change. His personality now is just like it was when we were kids.”
Shen Lin stared at Shu Ci.
His golden pupils rippled with emotion.
Shu Ci’s heart skipped a beat.
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