Early Saturday morning, Xu Ze went to the nursing home. As before, the bodyguard drove him there. After getting out of the car, Xu Ze entered the inpatient building alone to look for Zhou Zhen.
“As you know, we’ve tried many medications on your grandmother, but her responses haven’t been very good. The interventional surgery she underwent six months ago didn’t produce ideal results either,” Zhou Zhen said. “On top of that, because of her mental condition, her emotional fluctuations and range of behavior are quite pronounced. This increases the strain on her heart and lungs, which is actually very dangerous for someone with pulmonary arterial hypertension.”
“Professor Li has reviewed her examination report this time. Although he’s adjusted her medication, he still recommends a lung transplant. The longer we delay, the greater the risk. We can’t wait until conservative treatment has completely failed before starting preparations. By then, it’ll be too late.”
“How much will the surgery cost?” Xu Ze sat with both hands clasped together on his lap. He looked very calm, focusing only on the most important question.
Zhou Zhen knew that Xu Ze rarely checked the monthly bills and account statements. As soon as he received his salary, he would transfer it into the nursing home’s account. If the doctor said the medication needed to be changed, he changed it. If the new medication was expensive, he went out and earned more money. Ever since Ye Yunhua had moved into the nursing home, Xu Ze had never been late paying even a single cent of her medical expenses. Sometimes Zhou Zhen found it difficult to imagine how he managed to scrape together all that money, but Xu Ze had always found a way.
“We need to prepare at least 500,000 yuan first. The monthly expenses after the lung transplant will also be quite high. However…” Zhou Zhen paused, seeming unsure how to phrase it. After a moment, he continued, “Finding a donor requires getting in line. It won’t happen that quickly. You don’t need to rush. I just wanted to discuss it with you and get the decision settled first.”
“Mm.” Xu Ze nodded.
But Zhou Zhen understood that his explanation had come too late. Xu Ze would probably start raising the money immediately.
“Will we have to wait a long time?”
“Generally speaking, yes, but it also depends a lot on luck. I’ll organize the documents over the next few days. Then I’ll notify you to come and sign them. Once you’ve signed, we can register her in the system and get her on the waiting list.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Xu Ze fully understood Professor Li and Zhou Zhen’s recommendations. A lung transplant shouldn’t be treated as a last-resort, life-saving operation performed when someone was already on the verge of death. The earlier the transplant evaluation began, and the earlier Ye Yunhua underwent the transplant while her physical condition was still relatively good, the higher the chances of success and the better her recovery would be.
After leaving the office, Xu Ze went to Ye Yunhua’s room.
“She just had some oxygen a little while ago. Her condition is stable for now. If anything happens, press the call button right away,” the nurse said softly.
“Okay. Thank you.”
Ye Yunhua was quietly half-reclining on the bed, looking out the window. Xu Ze followed her gaze outside. It was still the same small patch of scenery she always saw. Ye Yunhua must have grown tired of looking at it long ago.
“Would you like some fruit?” Xu Ze sat down beside the bed and asked.
Ye Yunhua shook her head. Her lips had turned purplish because she was having difficulty breathing. After looking outside for another half a minute, she suddenly said, “How could they just leave Xu Ze all alone and go away like that?”
It felt as though something had lodged in his throat. Xu Ze froze for a long time before managing to speak.
“What?”
“Last night, quite late, Qiao Yuan and Xu Ming came to see me.” Ye Yunhua spoke in an extremely serious tone. “They told me to go with them to a nice place where I could enjoy a comfortable life. I was quite happy, so I went with them.”
“Halfway there, I felt something was wrong. Xu Ze hadn’t come along. So I stopped and asked them, ‘Why aren’t you bringing Xu Ze with you? He’s still so young. He’ll be scared all alone at home.’”
Xu Ze lowered his eyes to look at his hands. After a long while, his fingertips twitched involuntarily. Then he raised his head and slowly reached out to hold Ye Yunhua’s hand. She continued speaking, seemingly unaware of what he was doing.
“They didn’t answer either. They just stood together and smiled at me. I told them, ‘Then you two go ahead first. I have to go back and check on Xu Ze.’” Ye Yunhua sighed. “Qiaoyuan didn’t seem angry with me. That’s good. As long as she isn’t angry with me. I shouldn’t have slapped her.”
She had slapped her daughter once. The next morning, she had discovered that her daughter had slit her wrists and died on a bed covered in blood. Even though she knew that being deceived out of the compensation money had been the final straw that pushed Qiao Yuan over the edge, for a mother, the guilt and remorse were still impossible to erase.
That was why Ye Yunhua’s mental state had deteriorated. That was why, even with her memories in disarray, she still couldn’t stop tormenting herself over that slap.
“She won’t blame you,” Xu Ze said slowly.
Only then did Ye Yunhua notice that Xu Ze was holding her hand. She looked down at it for a few seconds, then pulled her hand away. She examined her wrist on her own before asking, “Where’s my bracelet? I was still wearing it last night.”
Ever since her mental condition had deteriorated, she had never asked about these things. Xu Ze immediately stood up. “I’ll go get it for you.”
He went to the nurse and asked her to unlock the storage cabinet. Then he took out the belongings Ye Yunhua had stored there when she was admitted. They were in an old reusable shopping bag containing some clothes and identification documents.
Xu Ze rummaged through the bag and found the yellow rosewood Buddhist bead bracelet. It had twelve beads in total and gave off a faint woody scent. He returned to the room and handed it to Ye Yunhua.
But Ye Yunhua only examined the bracelet without putting it on. She thought about it for a while, then finally looked at Xu Ze.
“Here, you can have it.”
Xu Ze was slightly taken aback. He sat down and asked, “Why?”
“You’re a good child. You come to visit me so often, and I think you’re quite nice.” Ye Yunhua slipped the bracelet onto Xu Ze’s wrist. “Wear it. Keep wearing it.”
The Buddhist beads bumped against the bracelet Lu Heyang had given him, producing a clear, crisp sound. Xu Ze felt as though his entire being were suspended in midair. After a long while, he finally replied, “I’ll wear it properly.”
After returning from the nursing home, Xu Ze began looking into selling the house. His birthday was coming up soon. He hadn’t really thought about his birthday before, but after this one, he would officially become an adult. The house that had been temporarily placed under the association’s management because of Ye Yunhua’s mental condition could finally be transferred into his name.
Xu Ze had never looked into property prices and had no idea how much this little house in the old district might sell for. He raised his head and looked around the room. He had come here to live with his grandmother after his mother passed away. In the blink of an eye, so many years had gone by, and he had spent most of them alone.
Only this summer had another alpha occasionally appeared in the room. Xu Ze carefully examined the desk, chair, curtains, fan, and pillow. Lu Heyang had touched all of them. Although he hadn’t left behind any traces, Xu Ze remembered those moments.
He stared blankly for a few seconds, then opened his phone’s photo album and copied down the phone numbers of the real estate agents he’d photographed while passing by the neighborhood. At the same time, he was thinking about something else. Next Monday and Tuesday, various universities would hold admissions information sessions specifically for S-ranks. The school required everyone to attend unless they had a special reason not to. Lu Heyang definitely wouldn’t have time to participate.
Although most of the other S-ranks considered these information sessions unnecessary, since they had already planned which universities they wanted to apply to, Xu Ze found them very useful.
On Monday morning, Xu Ze packed his backpack simply and went to the preparatory school’s entrance to catch the bus. The information session would last two days, and everyone would spend one night at a hotel.
An hour later, they arrived in another district. The S-ranks got off the bus, collected their room cards, and went to drop off their luggage before gathering in the conference hall.
The first lecturer hadn’t even spoken for ten minutes when He Wei fell asleep with his head on the table. Xu Ze, wearing his glasses, listened very attentively and kept taking notes.
Two hours passed. He Wei had fallen asleep over and over again until he was finally tired of sleeping. He propped up his head and began searching for nearby restaurants on his phone. Xu Ze was still writing, but he wasn’t taking notes. The university currently being introduced was one he definitely wouldn’t apply to, so he was using the time to work on practice questions.
Sensing someone in the row ahead turning around to look, Xu Ze paid no attention and continued working.
It wasn’t until he vaguely heard someone whisper, “Lu Heyang and Gu Yunchi are here?”
that he suddenly jerked his head up as if someone had tugged his ear. Following the gazes of the others, he looked toward the back. He saw a server closing the side door at the rear. Two alphas took their seats in the second-to-last row. As they sat down, Xu Ze caught sight of two black heads of hair that looked almost identical. At a glance, he recognized the one on the right as Lu Heyang.
Xu Ze turned back around. He still hadn’t quite processed what had happened. He stared at his test paper for a long time before finally picking up his pen again.
He Wei’s reaction was even slower, by more than ten seconds. He put down his phone and asked Xu Ze, “Did someone just say Heyang and the others are here?”
“Seems like it.” Xu Ze kept his head down and continued working.
This time, He Wei was surprisingly clever. He directly messaged Lu Heyang on his phone. After receiving confirmation, he let out an excited “Woohoo!” and nudged Xu Ze with his elbow.
“They’re in the back row. Want to go sit with them together?”
“No.” Xu Ze said. He Wei hadn’t seen them in quite some time either, so he probably had a lot to catch up on with them.
“Come on, let’s go! Don’t you miss Heyang?” He Wei had already gotten up, crouching as he moved.
Xu Ze froze for a moment, but still said, “You go ahead.”
“Then I’m going. Remember, we’re having lunch together later!” He Wei said before turning and rushing toward the back rows.
At twelve noon, the morning session of the information event came to an end. Xu Ze packed up his notebook and test papers, then turned around. He saw Lu Heyang and the others standing by the rear door, talking with several lecturers.
Lu Heyang seemed to have gotten a little darker from the sun. His hair had apparently been trimmed again, neat and tidy. His back and shoulders were straight, and his posture was clearly that of someone who had undergone training.
Xu Ze watched him from a distance for a while, then straightened his chair and prepared to leave through the side door. But when he looked up again, he saw Lu Heyang turning his head toward him. Then Lu Heyang raised his right hand and beckoned him over.
Across the crowd of people walking back and forth, Xu Ze met Lu Heyang’s gaze and briefly lost his hearing.
Like a pet that obeyed its owner’s commands without question, he began walking toward the rear door. Xu Ze walked a little too quickly, as though he would miss his chance if he were even a few seconds slower. If Chi Jiahan saw him like this, he would definitely scold him for being completely lovesick and out of his mind.
Xu Ze stopped one meter away from Lu Heyang and didn’t move any closer. Half a minute later, Lu Heyang said something to He Wei and the others before turning and walking toward Xu Ze.
“Let’s go.” Lu Heyang lightly brushed the back of Xu Ze’s hand with his fingertips.
Without asking where they were going or what they were going to do, Xu Ze simply followed Lu Heyang away, leaving He Wei behind, muttering something along the lines of, “Didn’t Xu Ze promise to have lunch with me?”
They took the VIP elevator. Once inside, Lu Heyang swiped his card, and the doors closed. The enclosed space now contained only the two of them.
Lu Heyang glanced at Xu Ze and asked, “Have you gotten used to wearing the glasses?”
Only after he said that did Xu Ze realize he’d forgotten to take them off. Normally, once he was done using them, he would carefully put them away in their case.
“I’m used to them,” Xu Ze said. His voice sounded a little weak because his heart was beating so fast.
“Why do you sound so unsure of yourself?” Lu Heyang asked. “Are you pregnant again?”
Xu Ze had no idea when those two things had become inevitably connected. He tilted his head up slightly and blinked in confusion.
“…No.”
The light from the ceiling of the elevator shone down onto the lenses of Xu Ze’s glasses, reflecting several shimmering colors that fell across his deep gray eyes.
Lu Heyang looked at him and asked again, “Then what’s wrong?”
Perhaps Xu Ze was the only person in the world who couldn’t hear the obvious implication behind that question. He answered honestly, “I’m happy.”
After saying that, he pressed his lips together. There was a hint of an unconscious smile in his eyes, and even the tips of his eyelashes seemed to sparkle.
With his glasses on, Xu Ze looked even more like an emotionless robot. There was an inexplicable feeling about him, as though his entire being coldly displayed a sign that read, Do Not Touch.
Lu Heyang withdrew his gaze and said nothing, only smiling faintly.
The elevator stopped on the twenty-seventh floor. Lu Heyang was staying in a suite. He opened the door and let Xu Ze enter first. After closing it, Lu Heyang turned around and found Xu Ze right behind him like a little tail. He hadn’t gone any farther inside.
Lu Heyang lowered his head slightly. Xu Ze tentatively caught hold of the hem of his shirt and leaned toward him, but Lu Heyang pressed a hand against Xu Ze’s shoulder. Xu Ze immediately let go and stood straight, showing that he understood he had been rejected.
“Your glasses.”
Lu Heyang raised his other hand, took the glasses off Xu Ze’s nose, and then kissed him.
They had only been apart for a short while, but Xu Ze felt as though it had been a very long time. The moment their lips touched, Xu Ze extended the tip of his tongue, meeting Lu Heyang’s. His breathing quickly grew hurried. His legs became unsteady, and he stumbled backward. The backpack on his back pressed against the wall, forcing the air out of it with a sound like a sigh.
For one fleeting second, Xu Ze actually thought about summoning the courage to take off Lu Heyang’s clothes himself. But not long after, he heard a noise at the entrance. Xu Ze immediately opened his eyes and pulled away slightly from Lu Heyang.
“The doorbell,” he whispered.
“Mm.” Lu Heyang unhurriedly kissed Xu Ze once more before reaching out to open the door.
Xu Ze leaned against the wall and adjusted his backpack. When the door opened, he saw the person outside even before Lu Heyang did. In that instant, Xu Ze reacted with astonishing decisiveness. He grabbed Lu Heyang’s hand and stepped in front of him, shielding him with his own body.
The alpha outside was tall and muscular. His face showed no expression, and his gaze was calm, but Xu Ze could sense the danger he posed.
“Uncle Wen,” Lu Heyang called out.
Then the back of his hand brushed against Xu Ze’s waist. He asked, “Are you my bodyguard?”
Xu Ze was still breathing slightly heavily, and his lips were red from kissing. He froze for a moment before answering, “No.”
“If you’re not, then don’t jump in front of me so quickly next time. It’s fine.” Lu Heyang placed the glasses back in Xu Ze’s hand. “Go eat first. The food has already been served.”
Xu Ze nodded. He exchanged one more glance with Jiang Wen before walking toward the dining area of the suite.
“Could you beat him?” Lu Heyang suddenly asked after Xu Ze had entered the dining room.
“I could.” Jiang Wen gave a rare smile.
After all, one was a high school student and a boxer who had to exercise restraint even in underground boxing matches to avoid seriously injuring his opponents. Compared with a ruthless former mercenary, even if Xu Ze were given a gun, Jiang Wen would still win with his bare hands.
Jiang Wen entered the study, while Lu Heyang went to the dining room. Xu Ze was sitting motionless beside the table, his hands resting on his lap, as though he had no intention of eating unless Lu Heyang came over.
Lu Heyang took the backpack from between Xu Ze’s back and the chair and placed it on another chair.
“I’ve already eaten. All of this is yours.”
Xu Ze began to worry. “I can’t finish it.”
“I didn’t ask you to finish everything. Just eat until you’re full. Uncle Wen has something to discuss with me, so take your time.”
Xu Ze nodded.
After Lu Heyang closed the study door and sat down, Jiang Wen placed a voice recorder on the table.
“We found He Yi’s younger brother. However, he doesn’t know much about He Yi’s affairs. He only knows the general outline.”
Lu Heyang pressed the play button. An alarmed scream immediately came from the recorder.
“I really don’t know!”
“Did you hit him?” Lu Heyang paused the recording and asked.
“No. We didn’t lay a finger on him.”
“Are you people working for Lu Chengyu? Stop coming after me! It’s been so many years! My brother and his family have already ruined my life! I’m just trying to run a small business peacefully now. Please, I’m begging you, just leave me alone…”
Only after three or four minutes of wailing and pleading did another alpha’s voice come through. It was someone working under Jiang Wen.
“Are you done? I’ll ask, and you answer.”
“…Oh.”
…
“This really has nothing to do with me. If anyone’s to blame, it’s my brother and his family… No, it’s my sister-in-law! That omega was an absolute idiot! He actually hired people to kidnap Lu Chengyu’s son before the election! In the end, Lu Chengyu wasn’t affected at all. Instead, the He family was the one that suffered. After Lu Chengyu took office, one person after another in the He family was brought down… Even I, who wasn’t involved in politics, had my company driven into bankruptcy…”
“I’m telling you, this really has nothing to do with me! I somehow ended up penniless for no reason. All I knew was that my brother had offended Lu Chengyu. I only heard about the kidnapping much later. I’ve finally managed to enjoy a few peaceful years. Please, I’m begging you, please leave me alone…”
…
The recording lasted more than twenty minutes, but the useful information amounted to only a few brief statements. The rest was nothing but tearful wailing and pleading. It seemed he really hadn’t known anything.
Lu Heyang wasn’t surprised. In political and business power struggles, children had always been the easiest people to get caught in the crossfire. Even Gu Yunchi had experienced a similar incident.
Kidnapping an opponent’s son on the eve of a general election was an absurd scandal. It was perfectly normal for the information to have been suppressed to protect the image of the Alliance government. That so-called idiotic omega, He Yi’s spouse, had clearly been the one pushed out at the end to take the blame.
Being kidnapped wasn’t unusual. But if all that had happened was a kidnapping, why did he have no memories of it? Lu Heyang had undergone detailed examinations, and there were no signs that his brain had ever sustained an injury.
“Can’t we find out where He Yi is?” Lu Heyang asked.
“We can’t. He was sentenced to five years at the time, but disappeared as soon as he was released. That omega was originally sentenced to seventeen years, but he went insane halfway through and was sent to a psychiatric hospital. One day, he suddenly disappeared. He Yi probably took him away.”
The fact that both of them had managed to get out of prison alive meant that Lu Chengyu hadn’t been determined to kill them. He had simply turned a blind eye and let things slide.
Having pieced the clues together this far, Lu Heyang understood that the He family wasn’t the main issue. The real focus was still Lu Chengyu.
“We need to be even more careful from now on.” Lu Heyang handed the voice recorder back to Jiang Wen.
Jiang Wen nodded. After a brief pause, he said, “Han Jian was beaten up and hospitalized.”
Lu Heyang frowned. “Wei Lingzhou?”
This kind of tactic was too petty. It couldn’t possibly have been Lu Chengyu. If Lu Chengyu had made a move, Han Jian wouldn’t have been beaten up. He would simply have been fired and permanently stripped of any chance of establishing himself in the capital.
“Yes. Miss Lu has already found out too.”
It was inevitable that she would find out, because Wei Lingzhou had done this specifically for Lu Qingmo to see.
“Send a few people to keep watch at the hospital. Prepare plenty of nutritional supplements and have them delivered.” Lu Heyang glanced at the date on his wristband. He felt that Wei Lingzhou had miscalculated this time. “As it happens, my sister is returning to the country this evening.”
After seeing Jiang Wen out, Lu Heyang went to the dining room. He had told Xu Ze to take his time eating, and Xu Ze had taken him seriously. He was eating very slowly, with a mouthful of rice still inside. His right cheek bulged out, and he stared without blinking as Lu Heyang walked over to him.
For some reason, Lu Heyang felt an urge to poke Xu Ze’s cheek. In fact, he really did it, making Xu Ze freeze for a second.
“Why were you taking pictures of those male sexual health advertisements on the wall?” Lu Heyang sat down in the chair beside him. “Is there something you’re too embarrassed to talk about?”
Xu Ze turned the sentence over and over in his head, subjecting it to an in-depth reading comprehension exercise. Finally, he realized that the real estate agent’s phone numbers he’d photographed beside the neighborhood wall were surrounded by all kinds of small advertisements plastered everywhere. The bodyguard had simply described the scene to Lu Heyang exactly as he’d seen it.
The entire He family consists of 108th-tier NPCs with barely any screen time. Don’t pay them any attention.