The little room grew even quieter. The chirping of insects became clearer, and for a while, neither of them spoke.
After some time, Lu Heyang asked, “Did you deliberately lose tonight?”
Although he could not see him clearly, Lu Heyang sensed that Number 17 was somewhat surprised—probably surprised that he was asking this question rather than asking why he had appeared in the alley, why he had saved him, or something along those lines.
“Yes,” Number 17 answered.
His honesty actually caught Lu Heyang by surprise.
“I saw you bleeding quite a lot,” Lu Heyang said.
“It’s always like this.” Number 17 paused. His voice lowered slightly as he asked, “Are you… here for the first time?”
Actually, it was his second time, but Lu Heyang answered, “Mm. First time. I’m not familiar with anything here.”
Faint footsteps sounded outside. Number 17 immediately turned his head and leaned toward the door, listening for several seconds. Only after confirming that it was merely a passerby did he turn back toward Lu Heyang.
“This place is dangerous. Don’t come here again.”
“Really?” Lu Heyang asked.
Number 17 was clearly hesitant.
It was hard to imagine someone who had just been robbed still asking such a question. But the other person’s tone was simply too serious—so serious that it almost sounded naïve, making it impossible not to believe him.
“This place is chaotic, and the public safety is terrible,” Number 17 explained.
Lu Heyang therefore replied, “Okay, I understand.”
Nearly another minute passed before Number 17 placed his hand on the lock and slowly turned it, unlocking the door. In a low voice, he said, “I’ll leave first. If nothing else happens for five minutes, you can go out. Go right, then turn left at the end of the alley. You can get back to the parking lot.”
“Okay.”
In the darkness, Number 17 seemed to turn his head and glance at Lu Heyang. Then he slowly pulled the door open. The streetlamp cast its light diagonally across him, while the brim of his hood completely obscured the side of his face, revealing only the high bridge of his nose, still stained with traces of greasepaint and blood that had not been wiped clean.
“Thank you,” Lu Heyang said one last time.
Number 17’s figure paused. He gave a quiet “Mm,” then stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind him.
He retraced his route back to the side entrance where the incident had happened. It was already deserted. Number 17 walked over to the wall and bent down to pick up a wallet from the corner.
The wallet looked expensive, and it was very new. The thugs had probably been too busy chasing after them and had left it behind. Number 17 slipped the wallet into his jacket pocket, tugged his hood lower, and instead of entering through the side door, walked straight out of the alley.
After waiting another two or three minutes inside the little room, Lu Heyang opened the door and walked out. He went right, turned left at the end of the alley, and then stopped.
Looking at the three panting alphas in front of him, he asked, “Looking for me?”
The alpha in the lead froze for a moment, then pressed a hand to his earpiece and said, “Found him.”
“It shouldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes from when you lost track of me until now, right?”
“We were just about to report it,” the alpha replied in a deep voice.
Lu Heyang smiled. “Then let’s make a deal.”
The men opposite him looked confused. Lu Heyang continued, “I won’t mention that you lost track of me, and you don’t mention it either.”
“Just this once.” He immediately added, “I came out to make a phone call, walked while I was talking, got lost, and nothing happened. There’s no need to make it into something serious, is there?”
The alpha hesitated for a few seconds before finally nodding. “Understood. We’ll be more careful next time.”
When He Wei and Gu Yunchi came out, Lu Heyang was standing beside the car. He Wei took a step down from the curb and asked, “What happened?”
“Let’s talk in the car.” Lu Heyang opened the door.
The three of them got into the car. As He Wei turned the steering wheel, he looked back and asked, “What happened? You said you were going to make a phone call. Why didn’t you come back to watch the fight?”
“I got robbed,” Lu Heyang said.
He Wei slammed on the brakes and twisted around to look at him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I only lost a wallet.” Besides, although the wallet was gone, the money inside it was still crumpled up in his pocket. The actual loss was negligible. Lu Heyang smiled. “It was my own fault for going somewhere secluded to make a phone call.”
“As long as you’re okay.” He Wei breathed a sigh of relief and started driving again. “If anything happened to you, Uncle Lu and my dad would be the first ones to kill me.”
“What about the bodyguards?” Gu Yunchi asked.
“I spent ages wandering around the club before I finally got out. They lost track of me.”
He Wei immediately asked, “Then does Uncle Lu know too?”
“No. I made a deal with them.” Lu Heyang rubbed the back of his neck. “I told them I just got lost and told them not to report it. Otherwise, they’d be punished, and we wouldn’t be able to come here again.”
He Wei clicked his tongue. “They follow you everywhere normally, but when something actually happens, you can’t see them anywhere.”
The three of them had been followed by bodyguards since they were little, and they were already used to having their movements monitored every moment of every day. Just like this time, when they came to the western part of the city, they knew perfectly well that each of them had at least three bodyguards following behind. They simply pretended not to notice.
After all, they had been pretending for so many years already.
Gu Yunchi frowned slightly. “Should we investigate and find out who they were?”
“It’s fine. No need.” Lu Heyang rolled the crumpled banknotes between his fingertips and said, “I’m not interested in this.”
At nine-thirty Saturday morning, Lu Heyang went downstairs for breakfast.
Ten minutes later, footsteps sounded on the stairs. Lu Heyang looked up and saw an omega wearing a dark-blue silk robe, her long hair loosely pinned up, revealing an exquisitely featured but tired-looking face.
“You only slept for three hours,” Lu Heyang said after taking a sip of milk.
“I have to get on a plane again this afternoon. There’s too little time, so I could only sleep a little less.” Lu Qingmo sat down at the dining table and rubbed her temple. “Besides, I can’t sleep for very long normally either. I’m used to it.”
“I can go to Luanshan by myself. We can go together next time you’re free.”
Lu Qingmo smiled. “Next time? Who knows when that’ll be. It’s already been almost three months since the last time.”
“You’re putting too much pressure on yourself.” Lu Heyang finished spreading something on a slice of toast and placed it on the plate in front of Lu Qingmo.
“There’s no pressure. I just wanted to go take a look.”
“Okay,” Lu Heyang said. “I’ll drive later. You can rest on the way.”
After breakfast, they changed clothes. Lu Heyang had the driver bring over an ordinary car. Lu Qingmo sat in the passenger seat, holding a long, narrow gift box in her hands. Lu Heyang started the car and asked, “What is it?”
“Paintbrushes,” Lu Qingmo said. “Custom-made. I waited a long time for them.”
Lu Heyang looked at the road ahead. “He’ll be very happy when he gets them.”
“I hope so.” Lu Qingmo rested her hand on the gift box, leaned back against the seat, and closed her eyes.
To get to Luanshan, they had to pass through an old urban district not far from the Preparatory School. Every time Lu Heyang drove through here, he would slow down because the roads were rather narrow, and there were many cyclists and pedestrians. It was crowded and required extra caution.
There were many breakfast shops along the roadside, though there were already fewer people coming out to buy breakfast at this hour.
Lu Heyang happened to glance over. After turning his head back, he paused for a second, then turned to look toward that direction again.
An alpha wearing a white T-shirt was holding a bottle of soy milk and a bag of bread. After paying, he pushed an old bicycle along the sidewalk.
His figure was tall and upright, but because he habitually looked at the ground while walking, his head was slightly lowered. He was dressed plainly, yet there was still a strong sense of detachment about him.
He seemed completely out of place among the busy stream of people passing by, as though he had merely happened to pass through here by chance, rather than actually belonging to this place.
Lu Heyang turned his head back and continued driving. About two or three meters later, as he reached the corner, the tires rolled over a shallow pothole. After that, there was a noticeable strange sensation beneath the tires as the car moved, accompanied by a creaking sound. Before long, the dashboard displayed a tire-pressure warning.
Lu Heyang stepped on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road.
Lu Qingmo opened her eyes and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“There’s a problem with the tire.” Lu Heyang turned on the hazard lights and unfastened his seat belt. “I’ll get out and take a look.”
—17: “Don’t come here again in the future. It’s dangerous.”
—Lu Heyang (verbally agreeing): “Mm-hmm, okay. I won’t come again.”
But the next time, he came anyway.