Lu Shangjin slammed the door and sat in the car, smoking one cigarette after another until the nicotine finally dulled the buzzing in his temples.
Yan Yi’s terrified, pleading face kept surfacing in his mind.
Lu Shangjin pressed a hand against his chest, collapsing forward over the steering wheel as he tried to endure the violent spasms of his heartbeat. His legs felt cold and numb—so numb that when he stepped on the gas, he could barely feel it.
This was, without question, the most overwhelming rage he had ever experienced in his life.
For the next two days, he stayed at the company and never went home.
Most of the contracts piled on his desk had already been signed. Only a stack from Jiu’an Hongye remained untouched. Lu Shangjin had no mood to even open them, so he left them sitting there.
At first, the vice president of Jiu’an Hongye called to check in. But after sensing something was off, he didn’t dare ask again.
After a meeting, Xia Pingtian walked out of the conference room, his face dark as coal.
What the hell was Lu Shangjin doing? Was he targeting Hongye Xia Corporation? Several contracts were about to expire, and there was still no movement. What was he playing at?
That kid his father left behind was already as good as dead—multi-organ failure. Who could save him? Did Lu Shangjin think he was some emperor trying to save a crown prince? Was it really necessary to drag Hongye Xia down with him?
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Unable to hold back, he called Lu Shangjin. If he didn’t pick up this time, Xia Pingtian would personally drive over to Changhui.
The phone rang ten times before Lu Shangjin finally answered.
Suppressing his temper, Xia Pingtian spoke politely and asked a few questions.
Lu Shangjin’s voice was flat. “Did you help your brother look for Yan Yi?”
“…Huh? No.” Xia Pingtian choked for a second. He had helped Xia Jingtian look into it, but he shouldn’t have done anything, right?
“You’ve got a good brother.”
Lu Shangjin hung up.
The frustration in Xia Pingtian’s throat nearly choked him. He grabbed his assistant by the collar. “Go. Get me the medical report from the last time Lu Shangjin took someone for an exam.”
He yanked off his tie in irritation and stormed downstairs, driving straight to Xia Jingtian’s school.
—
Ever since Xia Jingtian came back from the dilapidated bar, he had been staying at school, barely going home.
He lounged on his bed, holding an old notebook, staring blankly at it.
He had taken it from the second-floor bedroom of the ruined bar. He had read it over and over again.
The handwriting was neat and delicate—just like the little rabbit himself.
Most of the notebook read like a diary. Small daily events, happy or sad, all recorded carefully. Every entry related to Lu Shangjin had a score written beside it.
Page after page, loneliness seeped through the lines.
Even when the score had dropped into the negatives, a single “He brought me home” would push it right back up.
Xia Jingtian felt like he had walked alongside that little rabbit for ten years.
“You… you okay?” his roommate asked hesitantly.
Xia Jingtian didn’t answer right away. After a long pause, he asked quietly, “Have you ever liked someone so much that just watching them from afar makes your chest hurt?”
His roommate shook his head.
Before anything else could be said, the dorm door was kicked open with a loud bang.
Xia Pingtian stormed in, dragged Xia Jingtian off the bed, and slapped him hard.
“You’ve got some nerve! Messing with someone else’s wife until she ends up in a false pregnancy? That’s what you learned? I taught you this?!”
…
Meanwhile—
Four or five days passed.
The anger in Lu Shangjin had faded into numbness.
He sat alone in his office, flipping through his phone again and again.
No messages from Yan Yi.
Shouldn’t Yan Yi apologize to him?
No matter the surveillance footage or the false pregnancy—those were Yan Yi’s mistakes. No matter how much Lu Shangjin strayed, at least he had never sought anyone else while still with him.
But—
Yan Yi’s desperate cries surfaced again.
“I didn’t… I didn’t lie… I really have a baby…”
Over the years, they had spoken less and less, until there was almost nothing left between them beyond mission-related words.
But thinking back carefully—
Yan Yi had never lied to him.
Fragments of doubt began to creep in.
If it was a false pregnancy… why would that hospital diagnose it as real?
A misdiagnosis?
The details didn’t add up.
If only he had been calmer.
If only he had trusted Yan Yi a little more.
Then maybe… none of that would have happened.
A cold realization struck him—
If Yan Yi hadn’t lied…
Then Yan Yi must still believe—
That Lu Shangjin had personally killed their child.
Lu Shangjin’s expression hardened. He grabbed his coat and car keys.
He had to go ask him.
He had only meant to punish him—to make him feel pain, to reflect.
False pregnancy had to be terminated anyway.
Yan Yi couldn’t think he was a murderer.
That—he couldn’t accept.
—
The drive home took only half an hour.
But when he opened the door—
It was ajar.
His heart tightened violently.
Inside, the flower pot was shattered on the floor. Wilted rose petals lay soaked in dried water, curling at the edges.
“Yan Yan?”
No answer.
The house was empty.
The fish soup in the kitchen had gone sour.
The closet in the storage room—
Still stained with dried blood.
He stood there for a long time.
Then he found the small book.
Inside—
Pressed rose petals.
And scattered notes.
“I thought I didn’t like roses… but when I received a big bouquet, my nose still stung. Because it was from him.”
“Baby is one and a half months now… so well-behaved…”
Names.
So many names starting with “Lu.”
One circled—
“Lu Yuan.”
“Lu Yan” crossed out.
Lu Shangjin’s legs gave out.
Yan Yi…
Really believed he was pregnant.
And had been waiting for that child.
Every single day.
—
The faint scent of poppy pheromones lingered in the air.
Something snapped inside him.
—
Back at the company, his men were still combing through surveillance footage.
But Lu Shangjin could no longer sit still.
His thoughts spiraled.
What if—
What if Yan Yi had been taken while he was weak… unable to resist?
He didn’t dare finish the thought.
His head throbbed violently. He swept everything off the table.
The phone rang.
He snatched it up—
It was Xia Pingtian.
“Lu-ge, about those contracts—”
Three seconds of silence.
Then Lu Shangjin roared, his voice cracking:
“I’m looking for my rabbit! My rabbit!”