Chapter 80: Butterfly Tears; “A Grand Gift”
Lu Xunye took a step back. Turning around, he saw a car parked at the entrance of the narrow, secluded alley.
Two people got out of the car. One was dressed in a meticulous black suit; the other wore a tattered white shirt.
The moment he saw the man in the black suit, his heart skipped a beat. It was one of the three who had cornered him in the park earlier.
The man in the white shirt beside him was a mess. His clothes were in tatters with bloodstains, and his movements suggested he had suffered quite a bit of physical pain. His face was bruised, and one side was swollen high, making him look somewhat comical. He limped, gripping a knife tightly, glaring at Lu Xunye like a beast that had caught the scent of blood.
Lu Xunye wasn’t stupid enough to think Su Zhuo had suddenly turned on him.
He looked at the black-clad man he had met briefly before, his tone certain: “You’re one of that crazy woman’s people.”
No wonder the person Su Zhuo caught was rescued so quickly. How could ordinary backup act so fast? Had something happened to Su Zhuo too?
The black-clad man neither confirmed nor denied it, giving a half-smile. “Young Master Lu, would you like to share the fate of those two idiots by Su Zhuo’s side?”
Lu Xunye saw the murderous intent in their eyes. He pursed his lips. If this man wasn’t one of Su Zhuo’s subordinates, then…
Oh no, Shen Yunqian!
Lu Xunye’s mind raced. Just as he was about to move, his intention was spotted.
“Who isn’t living life on the edge? Thinking of washing your hands clean? He lost the car to you because he’s a waste. Let’s see who can save you this time!”
The man in the white shirt shouted as he pulled out a knife and lunged toward Lu Xunye’s face.
Lu Xunye dodged. Just as he was gathering strength to strike back, the black-clad man grabbed the white-shirted man’s arm, shouting a warning: “Are you crazy! The Master wants him alive.”
“So I just take that beating for nothing?!” The veins on the white-shirted man’s forehead bulged. He glared at the other, his chest heaving, refusing to let go of his desire for revenge.
The black-clad man didn’t loosen his grip, saying in a low voice: “The Master won’t let him live. You’ll have plenty of chances for revenge before he dies. Besides, the person who beat you was Su Zhuo’s man, it has nothing to do with Lu Xunye. Calm down and don’t ruin our plan.”
The man in a hoodie, who had been watching the show, finally spoke up, his voice raised slightly: “Shut up, both of you.”
Persuaded by the black-clad man, the white-shirted man calmed down and reluctantly lowered his knife at the leader’s command.
Taking advantage of their infighting, Lu Xunye glanced back. If he could just run out of this alley, there was a snack street across the way—there would be plenty of people.
As he silently backed away, something pressed against the back of his head.
The hoodie-wearing man’s sinister voice came from behind his ear: “Young Master Lu, there’s no one left to fool this time.”
He poked Lu Xunye’s head with the barrel of the gun. “You’re a smart man. Don’t play tricks, and you’ll suffer less.”
Lu Xunye let out a laugh and asked in a low voice, “Firing a gun in the city? Do you dare?”
The hoodie-wearing man ignored him and gestured for the other two to tie Lu Xunye up. “Be quick.”
Lu Xunye watched silently as they approached with rope and tape from the car.
When they stepped within two meters of him: [System!]
The System had been waiting for a long time: [Received!]
“Don’t worry, Young Master Lu. You’ll be seeing President Shen very soon.”
Lu Xunye didn’t have time to listen to those words.
He was fully focused. Suddenly, an object fell from the air. While holding his breath, he reached out and threw a handful of something at the two men.
Almost simultaneously, he stomped hard on the foot of the person behind him, spun around, snatched the gun, and slammed the butt of it into the hoodie-wearing man’s neck.
A second later, an empty bottle hit the ground with a crisp sound, followed by several heavy thuds as the three men collapsed around Lu Xunye.
“Didn’t anyone tell you not to get careless before the mission is finished?”
Lu Xunye scratched the back of his head and, on a whim, looked at the barrel of the gun. Something felt off.
To test his theory, he steadied his hand and pulled the trigger. A stream of water squirted out of the barrel.
Lu Xunye: “…”
The System was just as speechless as he was.
Lu Xunye squirted a face full of water onto the hoodie-wearing man. “What did he just say?”
[To take you to see Shen Yunqian.] / “To take you to see President Shen, of course.”
The System’s casual voice and a male voice from the alley entrance rang out at the same time. A flash of ruthlessness crossed Lu Xunye’s eyes. He threw the water gun aside and curled his lips. “Sure.”
The System was suddenly startled: [Watch your back! Tranquilizer gun!]
[That was close.] The System let out a long breath of relief, then looked down and saw its host had collapsed.
!!!!?
If I remember correctly, I should have neutralized the drug’s effect?
A certain unfinished building in the eastern suburbs 10th Floor
“Boss, Su Zhuo has been lured away.”
“Good. Has the person been brought here?”
Two figures, a man and a woman, stood at the edge of the floor where floor-to-ceiling windows should have been. The empty space caused their conversation to echo slightly.
The air was filled with the metallic scent of rusted rebar and the pungent smell of concrete. Construction waste, cement bags, and tools were scattered everywhere.
The woman’s hand rested on a piece of rebar protruding from the wall like a skeleton’s bone. Sensing the man’s hesitation, she slowly turned her gaze to the cowering man. “Speak.”
The man didn’t dare look up. “It’s… we failed. Shen Yunqian was… rescued.”
The woman didn’t get angry, as if she had expected it. “Was it a wolf cub sneaking out of its cage, or… Si Zheng? If Si Zheng helped him, it means he approves of him.”
“Neither.” The man lowered his head even further. “It was… the Young Master.”
As the words fell, the woman’s hand on the wall tightened into a fist and slammed against it.
She stared silently at the unfinished building opposite them. Its window frames looked like gaping maws of the abyss. Soon enough, she had a plan.
“Tell that boy from the Jian family that the medical team and the heart donor are ready. If he doesn’t want to die, then…”
She covered her mouth with the back of her hand and whispered a few words. The man said “Understood” and hurriedly left.
After a while, the woman turned around. It was Aunt Fu.
She walked over to the pile of cement bags in the middle of the room, looking down at the person leaning against them. She kicked the person’s leg. Seeing no movement, she asked the man beside her, “How long until he wakes up?”
“He should be awake by now.” The man looked down at the person. “Let’s wait another half hour.”
Aunt Fu nodded. “Where are those three wastes? Why is it just you?”
“And…” Her gaze moved to the burlap sack over the person’s head.
“The three of them were knocked out. After I woke them up with water, I sent them to watch over the one in the nursing home. They’ll coordinate with us if necessary.” The man paused before continuing, “You said his face was loathsome last time, so I took the liberty of covering it.”
“Also, people have already been sent to Shen Qizhao’s side.”
The man made a throat-slitting motion. “Afterwards, no one will be able to trace the events of that year back to us.”
“You did well. It looks like his son Shen Yang’s adulthood ceremony won’t be happening tonight.” A look of praise flashed in Aunt Fu’s eyes, quickly replaced by malice.
Shen Family Old Mansion Garden
“Where are the bones?”
Lu Xunye’s hair and face were covered in water droplets. He was panting as he asked the System, thrusting the shovel into another patch of soil to dig.
“Has someone been here?”
“That shouldn’t be possible.” The System was even more confused, standing in the hole he had just dug to sniff the air. “It’s Su Zhuo. Strange, how did he know?”
10 minutes ago
Lu Xunye had faked being unconscious to find Shen Yunqian’s whereabouts, only to be told that Shen Yunqian had been rescued. Furthermore, he needed to complete the “Where the Butterfly’s Tears Reside” hidden plot within an hour.
To avoid alerting them, he had the System cheat by using a hallucinogen to briefly alter the memory of the man who appeared later. It made the man think Lu Xunye was an accomplice. He had also taken the chance to switch clothes with the black-clad man.
Lu Xunye was splashed with water and pretended to have just woken up. After being scolded, he was ordered to drag the other two “wastes” away and watch the nursing home.
Once “Lu Xunye” was taken away, the real Lu Xunye tied those two up and threw them into a deserted alley. He didn’t care who was in the nursing home.
…
Lu Xunye poked the soil aimlessly with his shovel, his mind drifting far away.
Shen Qizhao and Aunt Fu had been close for years and were involved in secret dealings. Shen Qizhao was a greedy man, and the Shen family’s bankruptcy was inseparable from him. Aunt Fu had no direct grudge against the Lu family; her kidnapping of him was partly to get revenge on Jiang Qingran and partly to lure out Shen Yunqian.
Shen Yunqian’s investigation into the Shen family must have caused Shen Qizhao a lot of trouble. Did Aunt Fu want to kill Shen Yunqian for Shen Qizhao’s sake, or were the two of them accomplices from the start?
Shen Qizhao’s weakness… he seemed very afraid of the prayer beads on his wrist, his face changing every time they were mentioned.
It wasn’t quite accurate to say he was afraid of the beads. Lu Xunye recalled carefully—the man was afraid of the red bead on them.
“Remains, charms… blood jade?”
Thinking this, he subconsciously squatted down, staring blankly at the black butterfly orchids swaying in the wind. He remembered the words of Aunt Guo’s granddaughter in Jiangcheng.
In a daze, the sound of a wooden box hitting the ground echoed in his ears. The image of Shen Qizhao’s pale face appeared before him. His brain, like a projector, automatically pulled him back into this memory.
[“I happened to go to the Shen family’s old mansion yesterday. I saw a few nice flowers in the back garden and wanted to dig some up to plant at home, but I ended up digging up a skull…”]
[“What are you afraid of? Did you bury it? Are you trying to scare me?”]
[Shen Qizhao had stammered a reply, saying his heart was bad because of his age and he’d been startled by Lu.]
Why was Shen Qizhao so afraid of a bone? Even if a normal person heard something so bizarre, they shouldn’t be that terrified—especially the obvious panic he showed when Lu asked if he was the one who buried it.
But the question was, why would he bury a skull in the Shen family villa? For luck?
If the skull here was equivalent to the infant’s remains in the story… the Shen family was the “back mountain” where the bones were buried. And Shen Qizhao was the villager who benefited from the luck—the one wearing the deceased’s blood jade.
Could the infant skull buried in the Shen family’s back garden belong to Shen Qizhao’s own child? Or at least someone who died because of him? Otherwise, there would be no need for charms to suppress the resentment.
Lu Xunye didn’t believe in ghosts and gods, but if the perpetrator did, then understanding their perspective would make their motives easier to grasp. Besides, his presence here was already a bug in this world. So, even if a ghost actually appeared before him right now, he figured he could accept it quite well.
For instance, right now. Lu Xunye pushed down the System’s head as it leaned in. “Don’t move yet.”
To complete this mission, Shen Qizhao was clearly the key. Su Zhuo must have found out something to come and dig up this skull. As for how he knew it was here, Lu Xunye guessed Shen Yunqian might have told him.
He asked the System: [Where is Su Zhuo now?]
[Chunhua Avenue.]
At the intersection of Chunhua Road and Yunling Road, traffic was heavy.
The green light was about to end. Cars in the north-south lanes were all slowing down, except for a silver sedan speeding through the traffic. Fearing a drunk driver, other car owners instinctively made way.
“President Su, that car ahead isn’t right.” The assistant squinted at the license plate of the car waiting at the green light in the right-turn lane. “Is it… aiming for Shen Qizhao?”
Su Zhuo had seen it too. He put down his phone, his words brief: “Get out.”
“President Su?”
In the next moment, Su Zhuo leaned over, opened the door, and pushed the assistant out. “Deal with the traffic police when they arrive.”
Before the assistant could understand, the door was slammed shut. Su Zhuo climbed into the driver’s seat.
The light turned green.
The screech of tires pierced the air as two cars accelerated toward each other.
Just as everyone thought the silver car would collide violently with the white Porsche, a black supercar cut in between them.
In an instant, the passenger door of the supercar was crushed by the silver car at a speed invisible to the naked eye. Shards of glass flew through the air, accompanied by a thunderous explosion, scattering like stars under the sun.
Time seemed to freeze. In the next moment, the three cars had come to a stop. Several people got out of the car behind the supercar and dragged the driver of the silver car out.
On the other side, a person who had just gotten out of the unharmed Porsche was restrained, their shoulder pressed against the supercar’s door.
Shen Qizhao looked in terror at the half-wrecked, incredibly expensive car. He racked his brain but couldn’t think of which VIP would have saved his life by sheer luck. “You are…?”
“The person who could be your friend or your foe.”
“You’re Pres—President Su?”
Due to the accident, traffic had already started backing up. Su Zhuo pushed the door open and got out, his indifferent gaze scanning the crowd of onlookers. He frowned in irritation. “I haven’t sent a grand gift for your son’s adulthood yet. Let’s do it together, shall we?”
Before the bewildered Shen Qizhao could react, he was “sent” into another car. By the time he realized he should get out, it was too late.
Su Zhuo had just gotten into the back seat of a different car when the door on the other side was suddenly pulled open, and someone jumped in.
Lu Xunye fastened his seatbelt and turned his face, looking innocent. “Can the incredibly cool President Su give me a lift? It’s on the way.”
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