Part 4
He couldn’t help but think of that face, those blood-red eyes staring at him. “Don’t leave.”
Lu Xunye suddenly snapped out of it, a ringing sound in his ears. He shook his heavy head hard.
Suppressing the discomfort in his heart, he didn’t dare look at the countdown numbers that looked like they were made of spilled blood. He looked away in avoidance.
It didn’t matter. They were from two different worlds; there shouldn’t be any connection. Heâd just treat it as… a game.
He let out a light breath, his heart full of suspicion toward the System.
He suddenly brought his face close to it, staring directly into the Systemâs eyes. “You’ve never lied to me, have you? This world really is a book?”
[Of… um.] The System was caught off guard and choked.
After reacting, it was perfectly honest: [Of course!]
Lu Xunye was about to ask more when a noise from upstairs reached his ears. He finally gave up his “harassment” of the System.
…
“You… guys?”
Lu Xunye saw the scene inside the room and had trouble stopping his feet. His hand on the bedroom doorframe stiffened as he met the two gazes from inside.
The System gave an exaggerated “Wow!” in his ear, successfully killing the awkwardness that had just surfaced in Lu Xunye.
Realizing his state, Su Zhuo let go of Si Jinyanâs collar. The other man slumped down into the bedding beneath him.
He looked down at Si Jinyanâs miserable state and got off him.
His anger hadn’t faded, so even his look toward Lu Xunye was full of dissatisfaction, not to mention his tone: “What are you looking at?”
“Why are you hitting him? Was the person found?”
Lu Xunye ignored the manâs towering rage and walked over.
He saw the person on the bed looking dazed, completely out of it.
Si Jinyan lay weakly on the bed, a red mark on his cheek and blood at the corner of his mouth. He had clearly been punched, and hard.
Lu Xunye cast a teasing glance at Su Zhuo. Pretty fierceâyou knocked him half-unconscious.
Su Zhuo was still confronting Si Jinyan. “Are you awake? Now tell me, where did you hide Shen Yunqian?”
Hearing Shen Yunqianâs name, Lu Xunyeâs eyes flickered. He focused and saw that Si Jinyanâs pupils were struggling to focus. Something was very wrong.
He asked the man beside him, “What was he doing when you came in? Sleeping?”
Su Zhuo said coldly, “Like I care.”
Fine, fine. Lu Xunye gave a forced smile.
Before the two could notice, Si Jinyan stumbled off the bed and fell wretchedly onto the floor.
Lu Xunye couldn’t bear to watch and reached out to help him, the back of his fingers touching the manâs forehead.
He didn’t have a fever. Lu Xunye frowned, exchanged a look with Su Zhuo, and then looked back at Si Jinyan, who was struggling to keep his eyes open. “Whatâs wrong with you?”
Si Jinyan ignored their past grudges, secretly pinching his palm to stay awake. After a few heavy breaths, he forced out two words in a raspy whisper: “The… study.”
…
The office chair was overturned on the floor. A pair of scissors and scattered pieces of rope lay nearby.
Si Jinyan pushed away Lu Xunyeâs support. With one hand on the desk and the other tightly clutching a blue syringe on the table, his eyes tightened. He gritted his teeth. “Jian. Luo. Qing.”
Hearing that name from someone else again, a realization suddenly struck Lu Xunyeâs mind.
If it were as the System said, according to the plot, Jian Luoqing should have died from his old illness before the New Year.
Then who was the person he had seen two hours ago? A ghost?!
Lu Xunye looked at the ropes on the floor, his expression turning strange. “You mean Jian Luoqing set you up and took Shen Yunqian away?”
Recalling the person who looked like heâd collapse if he ran a few steps, Lu Xunye felt the world had gone mad.
Su Zhuo had heard about Jian Luoqingâs condition. Furthermore, the man had no connection to Shen Yunqian and was doing his best to avoid Si Jinyan.
To say Jian Luoqing would voluntarily go to Si Jinyanâs territory and drug him just to rescue Shen Yunqian… Su Zhuo didn’t believe it for a second.
Then again, Si Jinyan had countless prior offenses.
“President Siâs excuse is a bit too clumsy. You have so many servants in your villa, yet you let a sick man take someone away while you were unconscious without anyone knowing?”
Lu Xunye nodded in agreement.
Hearing this, a look of mockery flashed in Si Jinyanâs chaotic eyes. He gave a self-deprecating laugh as he looked between the two of them.
“What? Since youâre so close to him, did he not tell you what day it is today?”
Lu Xunye could tell from Su Zhuoâs look that he didn’t know. He turned an interrogative gaze toward the System.
In the next moment, the Systemâs voice and Si Jinyanâs raspy voice rang in Lu Xunyeâs ears at the same time.
[Itâs his motherâs death anniversary.]
“Itâs my motherâs death anniversary.”
“Yes. I admit the bastard things I did to him were my fault. I shouldn’t have hated him so much. But what about me? Did my mother die for nothing?”
As he spoke, Si Jinyan turned his head mechanically toward Su Zhuo, his eyes hollow and soulless. “Tell me, what attitude should I have toward the son of my motherâs killer? Should I be grateful?”
“But how can you be sure it was his parents who killed your mother? Even if they did, what does that have to do with Shen Yunqian? Besides, his parents are already dead!”
“Itâs true the Shen family took you and your mother in. You cut off Shen Yunqianâs education, you hid behind the scenes to push Shen Qizhao along and cut off his escape… and now you’ve suddenly realized the truth and want his forgiveness? We never wanted to target you; youâre the one who wouldn’t let it go.”
“Si Jinyan, I understand you less and less.” Su Zhuo was truly curious. “What exactly do you want?”
Si Jinyan opened his mouth but didn’t know where to start. It was as if his throat were being squeezed by an invisible hand. A rare look of confusion appeared on his face.
Perhaps even he didn’t know why it had turned out like this.
In a corner no one noticed, the System was arguing fiercely with someone. Finally, it lost the argument, looked at Lu Xunye silently for a moment, and vanished.
Lu Xunye didn’t notice the System was gone. His full attention was on the scene before him. He couldn’t help but speak up to break the eerie atmosphere.
He turned to Si Jinyan. “Then where do you think Jian Luoqing would take him?”
Hearing this, Si Jinyan looked up at him and finally shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Lu Xunye wasn’t surprised. He even thought it was normal. After all, the two truly had no intersection; their only link was Si Jinyan.
According to the usual tropes, wasn’t this the part where the “White Moonlight” supporting character kidnaps the “Substitute Shou” and forces the “Protagonist Gong” to choose?
Thinking of this, Lu Xunyeâs mind drifted into uncontrollable fantasies.
The next second, he was repulsed by his own thoughts and shuddered. He looked up to find Su Zhuo staring at him. “…”
“What exactly…” Su Zhuo hesitated. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” Lu Xunye asked as if casually, “Are there any bays nearby?”
Without giving the others time to answer, he whispered to himself again, “No, Jian Luoqing doesn’t like Si Jinyan.”
Then that plot wouldn’t make sense. Even if Jian Luoqing did like Si Jinyan, he didn’t believe the man was the type to do something so extreme out of jealousy.
He didn’t realize he had spoken aloud.
Si Jinyan, being at the center of the topic, said nothing, but his eyes grew darker and darker.
So, heâs afraid Si Jinyan will hurt Shen Yunqian? Lu Xunye believed he had found the truth.
Suddenly, a hand landed on Lu Xunyeâs shoulder and turned him around before he could react, wrinkling his clothes.
He couldn’t escape. Behind Su Zhuo, the red numbers were burned into his pupils like a brand.
00:15 00:14 00:13 12, 11, 10âŚ
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