Part 2
“They knew things they shouldn’t have. Is it not normal for someone to hunt them down? I utilized the situation, but in a way, I also saved their lives. Otherwise, they would have died even sooner.”
Fu Lan raised her hand and affectionately brushed the dust from his face. “If your father hadn’t discovered my identity and leaked it intentionally, we could have lived peacefully for many years. What a shame. I truly liked you when you were a childâa beautiful, cute, and willful kid is quite likable.”
Shen Yunqian pressed his tongue against his teeth, using the pain to dull his intense emotions.
Fu Lanâs gaze moved from the black gun at her neck to Shen Yunqianâs feigned calm. She raised an eyebrow, grabbed the gun barrel again, and pressed it firmly against her own chest.
“So, is little Yunqian going to kill me now? Hmm?”
The series of blows crushed down on him, and Shen Yunqian felt on the verge of collapse. If Fu Lan hadn’t been holding the gun, his hand would have been unable to grip it.
If he could realize it, how could Fu Lan not?
With a muffled click, Fu Lan pressed down on Shen Yunqianâs hand and pulled the gun away from her chest.
Shen Yunqian stood frozen, his blood flowing in reverse, his ears ringing with an explosion of noise. The arm holding the gun felt as if it had lost all sensation.
Everyone present was shocked. It was only after the sound faded that they realized there were no bullets in the gun.
As if she had expected it, Fu Lan let go of Shen Yunqianâs hand. She toyed with the gun for a moment, and the empty magazine fell into her palm. She tossed it aside, and it slid across the floor, stopping near a cement bag that had been sliced half-open.
She pinched Shen Yunqianâs chin. Although she was shorter than him, compared to the dazed Shen Yunqian, she possessed the absolute posture of a victor. “Your bargaining chip is gone.”
Lu Xunye had been watching the whole time. His hands at his sides had clenched into fists at some point. In the next second, his gaze moved past the two of them, landing beneath that cement bag, where he paused for a moment.
Meanwhile, Shen Yunqian clearly hadn’t recovered from the shock.
“What are you afraid of?” Fu Lan smiled until her eyes were mere slits. The few wrinkles at the corners of her eyes finally gave her the look of someone her age. “Still as cute as you were when you were little.”
These words sounded purely mocking.
Lu Xunye couldn’t take it anymore. He stepped forward, grabbed Fu Lanâs hand, and threw it off forcefully. “If you don’t want your hand, I can chop it off for you.”
“You’re sick. If you want to die, go find a beam to hang yourself from. Don’t drag others down with you!”
Fu Lan was thrown back two steps. Lu Xunye took the opportunity to grab Shen Yunqianâs shoulder and pull him back, naturally using the sole of his shoe to step on something.
The first bodyguard, who had been waiting for an opening, immediately trained his gun on Lu Xunye.
The two were forced back step by step toward the edge of the open floor, which had no windows to block the drop. There was nowhere left to retreat.
Once the woman steady herself, she let go of the second bodyguardâs hand. Her expression turned displeased as she turned toward Lu Xunye. “I almost forgot about you. You are the protagonist of today.”
That was an interesting choice of words. Alarm bells rang in Lu Xunyeâs head. “There may be fewer people in this undeveloped area, but it isn’t deserted, and itâs certainly not a no-manâs land! If you kill us today, will it be worth all those years you spent hiding? Aren’t you afraid your enemies will find you?”
“And you,” he turned his gaze toward the bodyguards, “do you think you can escape? If you end up in prison, what about your families?”
Fu Lan found his clumsy tactics amusing. “Do you want to leave? If you want to go, you can leave right now. I certainly won’t stop you.”
Lu Xunye instinctively lightened his breathing, but he hadn’t expected to give those four brutes a chance to show their loyalty. “Our lives were given by you. We can afford the consequences!”
Lu Xunye: “…”
Lu Xunye felt Shen Yunqian tugging at the hem of his shirt. Thinking he was afraid, Lu Xunye squeezed the otherâs hand. “Don’t be afraid.”
“Are you afraid of dying?” Shen Yunqian squeezed back. Both of their palms were sweaty and cold; they had to press together tightly to feel a hint of each otherâs warmth.
Lu Xunye realized belatedly that the other person might actually have “Protagonist Halo”!
With a sudden burst of confidence, he said firmly, “You won’t die.”
Shen Yunqian turned his head slightly. The sunlight spilling from the edge of the clouds outside shot straight through, illuminating his expressionless profile and spreading across Lu Xunyeâs straight back.
Reflected in his pupils was Lu Xunyeâs hair, turned a brownish-chestnut by the orange sunlight. As the breeze moved the strands of hair, Shen Yunqianâs eyelashes trembled. He slowly withdrew his hand and whispered silently: I won’t let you die.
Lu Xunye felt his palm go empty, and his heart tightened. Before he could turn his head, the person who should have been behind him appeared in front.
“Fine. You say you had nothing to do with my parents’ death. I only ask you one thing. The Shen family being mired in controversy, the warehouse fire, the destruction of all evidence, the pressure on Shen Yunji so he couldn’t show his faceâdid you participate in any of these, aside from Shen Qizhao and the malicious corporate competition?”
Shen Yunqian questioned her angrily. “You knew all along that my brother wasn’t on that flight. Even the recent second fire in the warehouse, the framing of Pei Huaizhiâit was all your doing. The person behind Shen Qizhao is truly you, yes or no!”
Fu Lan chuckled. “You already know the answer. Why bother asking?”
“As I thought…” Shen Yunqian let out a sigh of relief as if a burden had been lifted. “He is Shen Yunji.”
Who is he? An image of a face appeared in Lu Xunyeâs mind. Gu Jiang…?
If it were truly him, they had already metâwhy wouldn’t he reveal himself? How could biological brothers who hadn’t seen each other for four years not recognize each other? Unless his appearance had changed.
But that didn’t make sense.
It seemed only the person himself knew what had happened back then.
“Since everything has been brought into the light, I might as well tell youâdo you really think that evidence survived the fire four years ago?”
Shen Yunqian frowned. “What are you trying to say?”
“So your brother hasn’t told you his identity yet.” Fu Lan found it amusing. “It seems that wolf cub escaped from Jiangcheng and still has the energy to cause trouble for me.”
Escaped? Lu Xunye was secretly amazed. To be able to escape under such tight surveillance, he was truly a character.
“You captured him.” Shen Yunqian grew frantic, but his attempt to rush forward was stopped by Lu Xunye.
Lu Xunye gripped his arm tightly. “Stay calm. She might be bluffing.”
Fu Lan was not at all surprised by his reaction, continuing at her leisurely pace.
“As a rising company, your father was too rigid and didn’t know how to adapt. He offended quite a few people. The evidence from back then was destroyed long ago. Even if Shen Qizhao hadn’t started it, someone else would have made a move.”
“And the evidence youâre currently using against Shen Qizhao and the other ‘murderers’ was collected and sent to you by that wolf cub at the risk of his life. He was nearly caught in the process. It seems his voice was also damaged, and he had to jump into the sea to escape. I didn’t expect him to still be alive.”
If that were the case, Lu Xunye could understand. The Shen family had risen in the middle, so they naturally didn’t have a foundation as stable as the long-standing wealthy families. They had low risk-resistance and countless enemies.
Once disaster struck, everyone was eager to get a piece of the pie. The plane crash, which declared Shen Yunji dead, was the perfect alignment of time and place. Why would they leave a way out for a wolf cub whose wings had yet to fully grow?
Shen Yunqianâs chest heaved. He frantically gripped the handgun that had its magazine removed, a murderous impulse in his bloodshot eyes.
“Let go of me! I want to kill her.”
Shen Yunqian struggled with all his might to break free from the grip on his wrist.
Lu Xunye, nearing the limit of his strength to hold him back, pulled the otherâs arms toward his own chest, restraining him in a half-embrace.
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