Chapter 72
After lying in wait for days, they finally saw the man himself in the flesh. A cry of surprise went up from the crowd.
Upholding the belief that “speed is news,” the media personnel seemed deaf to his words. After a moment of stunned silence, they thrust their lenses right into Lu Wanqing’s face.
Those who reacted a beat too slow were instantly squeezed to the outermost periphery.
This was their first time standing so close to Lu Wanqing. Seeing the contours of his brows and eyes clearly, gasps rose one after another from the front row.
“Iâm speechless. Is the Seventh District’s propaganda department blind? Hiding someone like this away so deeply… is that even reasonable?”
“Quick, post a poll: CEO Gu vs. General Lu. The traffic will absolutely explode.”
“Ask the serious questions, serious questions! If you people in the front row don’t want to work, then get back here.”
“It’s fine if you don’t accept interviews, can you just say a few words?”
The suspended Alpha did not display the hostility or dissatisfaction they had imagined. Instead, he flaunted his affection right in their faces.
He held his not-so-obedient partner around the waist, his hand pressing down on the otherâs head as if afraid they would capture an image of his precious treasure.
Shu Ci was a full-grown man, yet Lu Wanqing held him without any apparent effort.
Retracting the oppressive aura of a General, Lu Wanqing stood there calmly, appearing gentle and modest.
Compared to the imposing presence in the leaked cruise ship video, he seemed like a completely different person.
Lu Wanqingâs gaze swept over the crowd before him, his tone sincere. “Although I have been suspended, the limitations regarding my portrait rights have not expired. Any unauthorized publication will result in legal action against both the individual and their affiliated company.”
Shu Ci, propped up on Lu Wanqing’s shoulder, tried to lift his head.
Lu Wanqing paused for a second, then pressed his head back down.
He continued, “We are merely strangers meeting by chance. Logically, it isn’t my place to say this, but struggling to survive in this world isn’t easy for anyone. There is no need to risk your entire life for a matter that is destined to be investigated to the very end.”
The wrists of the reporters trembled. They glanced at their peers out of the corners of their eyes and realized everyoneâs movements had turned hesitant.
Shu Ci hung casually on Lu Wanqing’s shoulder, raising an eyebrow as he listened. He turned his head slightly, observing these reporters through his peripheral vision.
Based on his understanding of the industry, in situations like this, these people were usually fearlessâif they needed to be shameless, they would be.
At worst, they would negotiate privately later, or submit a retroactive application. If all else failed, they would brazenly delete the posts while getting cursed at, having already earned the traffic.
He tightened his grip on Lu Wanqingâs arm and leaned close to his ear.
He lowered his voice and asked, “Is the portrait rights thing actually real?”
The hot breath landed on Lu Wanqing’s ear, causing a ticklish numbness. It completely snapped the thread of restraint he had been trying to maintain for days to keep his distance.
Lu Wanqingâs body tensed, his heart skipping two beats.
He pursed his lips and adjusted his strength, hitching Shu Ci up slightly, offering no response to the intimate whisper.
The sudden shift in elevation made Shu Ci inexplicably nervous. His gaze darted frantically, accidentally catching sight of the faint redness on the back of Lu Wanqingâs neck and ears.
He paused, and then a smile rippled across his lips.
He wasn’t walking toward another person alone. The destination he yearned for… seemed not as unshakeable as he had imagined.
“Threatening them with portrait rights seems a bit weak, doesn’t it?”
Shu Ci pushed his luck, exhaling his breath against him again.
Suppressing his laughter, he admired Lu Wanqing’s restrained appearance while whispering his complaints in a barely audible voice.
“When the video from the cruise ship was being shared like crazy, I didn’t see you bring up portrait rights then.”
After saying this, he fell silent for a moment.
No, he was thinking about it the wrong way.
Marshal He had obviously been happy to see those videos spread; as long as it didn’t affect the dignity of the Golden Shield, portrait rights were practically nonexistent.
However, the situation was different now.
Gu Yan was using the media to drive a wedge between him and Lu Wanqing. More importantly, he wanted to shift the focus of public opinion away from the case and place Lu Wanqing in the crosshairs.
An opposing stance had already formed. Any trivial reason could become an excuse to launch an attack later.
Portrait rights were a small matter, but if they pried open even a single crack…
The giant ship that was the Gu corporation could be leveraged, giving the opposition a chance to investigate them from the inside out.
Thinking of this, Shu Ci felt a restless agitation in his heart and couldn’t help but want to turn back and look at the group of people at the gate.
“It wasn’t a threat,” Lu Wanqing pressed his head down again. “Just stating facts.”
Shu Ci lost his balance slightly, his head dipping so his eyelashes brushed against the side of Lu Wanqingâs neck.
He didn’t notice the Alphaâs almost imperceptible sway. His eyes lost focus as his brain spun rapidly, trying to keep up with Lu Wanqing’s train of thought.
From the beginning, Gu Yan tried to resolve the negative public opinion from Shen Lin’s livestream by throwing mud at Jin Li. But that was disrupted by Shu Ciâs interview, which turned the tables.
Single-handedly, he had awakened the resonance of Omegas across the entire internet. Their outpouring of grievances and fear was like a floodgate opening.
amidst the intense discussion, before they could turn their guns on Shu Ci, the topic was overshadowed by Lu Wanqing’s suspension.
One step slow, every step slow. Public opinion on the internet was showing a lopsided trend.
The murderer had not been determined, the villain had not been punished, yet only Lu Wanqing was being penalized. People unwilling to accept Lu Wanqingâs suspension turned their dissatisfied gazes to the cause of the incident.
Now, it was the high-ranking families and dignitaries implicated by the Jin Li incident who were being roasted over the fire.
With things developing to this point, the balance of power between Shen Lin and Gu Yan had been directly shaken. The wiser media outlets retreated from the torrent, choosing to follow the police investigation progress closely and report impartially.
Only these people, squatting at their door and jumping in Lu Wanqing’s face, dared to be stubborn enough to gather material here.
A very small number were individuals with nothing to lose, but the majority were companies with vested interests tied to the Gu family.
With a single sentence, Lu Wanqing had casually pointed out their dilemma. The consequences of insisting on filming and reporting were obviousâ
If one person’s infringement caused their entire company to get dragged into a lawsuit with Lu Wanqing, given their peers’ ability to catch wind of scandals, the web of interests behind their media outlet would be dragged into the mire.
Could they afford that responsibility?
No, they couldn’t.
Great families had the wrist to maneuver and the ability to protect their own. But for this groupâpeople who relied on backing from big trees and climbed up using “shamelessness” as their life mottoâonce they became discarded pawns, they wouldn’t need to think about a future anymore.
Shu Ci gazed quietly at Lu Wanqingâs crimson-blue eyes, which were like a calm lake surface without ripples. There was no hate, no resentment, only a trace of faint pity.
Shu Ci was slightly moved.
The thoughts of teasing him earlier vanished like smoke.
He really wasn’t threatening them; he was pitying them.
Pitying them for thinking they were using every means to survive and live their own lives, deluding themselves into thinking they could become superiors, when in the end, they were just sewing wedding clothes for the “protagonists”âbecoming handy tools for others.
The expression with which Lu Wanqing looked at them was like looking at marionettes on a stage, manipulated into various postures.
For a moment, Shu Ci actually felt that Lu Wanqing was looking at his former self.
Forced into the plot, yet wandering outside the main events for all those yearsâhow had he survived it all alone?
Shu Ciâs breath hitched, and he gripped Lu Wanqingâs hand with a bit more force.
Sensing his anomaly, Lu Wanqing raised a hand and gently patted his back. In the pause between breaths, he looked toward a reporter who had been squeezed into the corner of the crowd.
“There are surveillance cameras privately installed by Gu Lanzhu on the streetlights behind you. There are twenty of them within a few dozen miles. Rashly removing them would be dangerous. Whatever media outlet provides this information to the police, I will consider granting an exclusive interview.”
With that, he turned, carried Shu Ci back into the house, and closed the courtyard gate.
Watching Lu Wanqing close the door, Shu Ci braced himself against the wall. A few seconds later, with a push of his palm, motes of silver light rose up, enveloping the small courtyard and the house.
All the noise and clamor were shut out.
Through the shimmering silver light, the sky itself became dreamlike and illusionary.
“What is this?”
Shu Ci stared at the brilliant specks of light, asking in shock.
“A house concealment device left by my Teacher.”
“Wow, it’s so beautiful! Put me down; looking up like this is awkward.”
Seeing him in pajamas and bare feet, Lu Wanqing furrowed his brows. “Put on your shoes first, then go change your clothes.”
He turned back into the room, placed Shu Ci carefully onto the sofa, and let his fingertips linger on the hem of Shu Ci’s clothes before slowly pulling away.
“I’ve seen her resume. She was originally in the technology development group. This thing… she didn’t make it herself, did she?”
Shu Ci stepped into the slippers Lu Wanqing handed him, casually grabbed a knitted cardigan to drape over himself, and walked to the window.
Lu Wanqing nodded.
Aside from talking a bit more when scolding him during training, Lu Wei rarely shared her personal experiences or inner journey. He only learned that she had transferred from the rear technology research center to the front lines of the Seventh District after he went to the Seventh District and looked through the records.
“The last time I saw her, she installed this in the house,” Lu Wanqing said, his voice low.
It was a night of deep sleep; he had been groggy and hazy.
For a long time, he thought he had just dreamed it.
He dreamed that Lu Wei returned here, her face covered in blood. She nested the entire device over the house, pressed his hand to verify his identity, and leaned against the wall gasping for breath, saying, “If I die someday and someone comes to trouble you, turn this on. No one will dare touch you.”
Later, when he returned from the Seventh District, he fumbled around and found the activation switch. Only then did he realize that what he had thought was a dream for so long was actually a final farewell.
Shu Ci shrank his neck slightly. “Such a powerful thing, and you just turned it on so casually?”
Lu Wanqing shook his head. “She did that to protect the me of that time. Shielding technology was rare back then; she led the research on it. Compared to what exists now, it’s nothing special.”
Lu Wei hadn’t anticipated that in the decades after she left this world, the speed of development in the era and technology would exceed her imagination.
“After countless upgrades and iterations over the years, the stealth mode on naval vessels is the ultimate evolution of this.”
After listening, Shu Ci looked back at him and asked thoughtfully, “Before… when Gu Lanzhu was stalking and monitoring me, why didn’t you turn it on?”
Lu Wanqingâs eyes flickered, and he didn’t answer.
Back then, he wasn’t like he was nowâentangled by desire and yearning, unable to extricate himself. Subconsciously, he still felt that Shu Ci would follow the arranged path, leave him, and go toward Gu Lanzhu.
Why add another obstacle to trap him in the quagmire named “Lu Wanqing”?
Yes, his action of turning on the device just now harbored some twisted and base intentions.
Just like his move to change the marital status information, it was a secret vent, a silent pretense of possession.
Knowing he should let go, he still indulged himself, embracing that affection while festering alone in the abyss.
He didn’t want to expose his shameful, conflicted heart in front of him, nor did he want to lie to Shu Ci. So he lowered his head in silence, saying not a word.
However, Lu Wanqing still underestimated the keen sense of an excellent director with extremely sensitive emotions.
Shu Ci looked at the veins popping on his hands and looked away.
He could tell that this man held too many things inside his heart; they were about to crush him.
He couldn’t push him too hard.
He was suspended now, wasn’t he? There was plenty of time to make him open his heart.
“Then, a different question.”
Shu Ci rubbed the tip of his nose, crossed his arms, walked up to him, and poked him in the chest.
“Why didn’t you come home for so many days? Why did you ignore me? And why didn’t you reply to my messages asking about the suspension?”
Lu Wanqing looked dazed for a moment.
He stared fixedly at Shu Ci, opening his mouth slightly.
How could he question him in such a cute, intimate, yet complaining tone? It was as if… as if he were truly a little wife aggrieved by being left out in the cold at home.
Why else?
Because that out-of-control kiss had shattered all his confidence and pride in his own willpower.
Those cyan eyes were locked onto him, seemingly vowing not to stop until they got an answer.
“Because I didn’t know…”
Lu Wanqing spoke with difficulty. “How to face you.”
Shu Ciâs brows relaxed, and he turned to walk into the stairwell.
Lu Wanqing watched his retreating back. His heart felt as if it had been suspended in the air, beating violently at a great height, unsure when it would plummet.
Was he angry? Why wasn’t he speaking?
Was he just going to leave him hanging here?
Subconsciously, Lu Wanqing followed him. Walking into the narrow stairwell, he leaned down slightly and looked, only to see Shu Ci clutching several sheets of paper in his hand.
His pupils trembled.
Was this… a divorce agreement? Was he preparing… to leave?
Lu Wanqing took a step back, turning as if to leave.
The next second, Shu Ci lunged in front of him in a single step, grabbed his collar, and yanked him down.
He bowed his body to meet his gaze levelly.
Their noses were inches apart, as if exchanging breath.
Shu Ci lifted his chin slightly, pressed forward firmly, and bit Lu Wanqingâs lip with the force of a sudden storm.
Lu Wanqing didn’t react at all.
He simply let him knead and press against his lower lip.
Before he could even taste it, Shu Ci stopped.
He pressed his forehead against Lu Wanqingâs, his voice taking on a persuasive tone. “I initiated it this time, and I stopped first too. We’re even. Don’t think about it anymore.”
Lu Wanqingâs hands, which were hanging at his sides, unconsciously wrapped around Shu Ci’s waist.
And after they were even?
How could he… how could he not think about it?
Shu Ci pushed him away and slapped the papers in his hand onto Lu Wanqingâs chest. “You didn’t know how to face me; I understand that. But do you know how I spent these last few days because you wouldn’t reply to my messages?”
Lu Wanqing took the stack of papers blankly and focused his gaze on them.
Then, he stood frozen in place.
This was… his handwritten last will and testament?!
Author’s Note:
Director Ci: It has to be me. I’m so wild.
Old Lu: … (Inner thought: Wifey, don’t go QAQ)
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