“That’s good.” Wen Yuhan nodded, then looked up and asked Pei Shaocheng, “Have you found someone to pick the lock? Xiaomi is still inside.”
"Yes, I've already come. I didn't wake you because I saw you were still sleeping." Pei Shaocheng felt a little disappointed when he saw that the other party didn't comment much on the porridge he cooked. He looked down at the bright green vegetables in the bowl.
"You should head back after you finish eating. I have some other things to do today," Wen Yuhan said, turning down the TV volume. "Also, when are you planning to go back to Yancheng?"
Hearing that Wen Yuhan was going to send him away again, Pei Shaocheng's eyes trembled and dimmed.
After a moment, he gave a wry smile and said, "After the Lunar New Year, I also want to take a good rest."
Upon hearing this, Wen Yuhan didn't say anything more. After finishing the porridge in his bowl, he took the bowl and chopsticks into the kitchen and turned on the tap to wash the dishes by himself.
Pei Shaocheng was about to tell him to leave it alone and wash it himself when his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. Pei Shaocheng looked at the caller ID, and his previously forlorn but at least gentle expression instantly turned cold.
He silently hung up the phone, looked up at Wen Yuhan's back and said softly, "Xiaohan, I'll be going now."
Seeing that Wen Yuhan did not respond, he paused and added, "I'll come see you again later. Call me anytime if anything happens."
"Your clothes are by the radiator." Wen Yuhan paused in her work and said calmly, "Your suit jacket isn't dry yet, it's best not to wear it."
"Okay." Pei Shaocheng replied softly. After changing into his own clothes, he took another deep look at Wen Yuhan, then turned around and gently closed the door for him.
Then, his eyes quickly darkened.
The call was dialed back, and it was answered almost immediately.
A clear, gentle voice came through the receiver, sweetly saying with a smile, "Happy New Year, senior! Guess where I am right now?"
Pei Shaocheng stood under the eaves, his previous cautious and probing demeanor towards Wen Yuhan completely gone, and he reverted to his usual deep and unfathomable appearance.
His head was still a little dizzy. He pressed his aching temples, lit a cigarette, took a drag, and slowly exhaled.
"You're overdue by three days."
There was a slight pause on the other end of the phone, followed by Yi Li's concerned voice: "Why is your voice hoarse? Are you sick?"
A hint of weariness flashed across Pei Shaocheng's eyes. Skipping the other person's greeting, he went straight to the point: "Come on, tell me everything you know about Han Shu."
There was a moment of silence on the other end, followed by a series of soft laughs: "Hehehe... Senior brother, are you not even willing to exchange basic pleasantries with me anymore? Are you that annoyed with me, senior brother?"
“Yi Li.” Pei Shaocheng interrupted with a frown, his voice cold, “I don’t want to cut off your path, but you’d better know what’s good for you.”
"Then tell me... what should I do? Let you cling to Wen Yuhan like a lapdog every day and ignore it? Or watch him drag you down with him, who's covered in filth... I've said it before, you're my light, I can't let you be ruined by others, including myself."
"I think you should see a psychologist."
"Hahaha... How many of us in this line of work are normal? Hahaha..."
Pei Shaocheng remained silent, waiting until Yi Li stopped laughing until he was tired before stubbing out his cigarette and saying, "So the purpose of your call was just to act crazy with me?"
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
Pei Shaocheng took a deep breath and said coldly, "Let me tell you, even if you don't tell me, I still have ways to find out about Han Shu. I gave you a chance, but you didn't take it."
"Ugh... I really hate it when you talk to me like that." Yi Li's tone was pitiful and aggrieved. "Everything I've done is for you, why can't you understand..."
At this point, as if he had finally made up his mind, he said softly, "Never mind, none of that matters now anyway... Senior brother, I will protect you... I will, I definitely will protect you... You gave me this life, and I will use it..."
beep--
Pei Shaocheng immediately hung up the phone.
...
The cemetery in Wancheng is built on a small hillside south of Yanjiang. Customs vary from place to place. For example, in Wancheng, it is customary to visit the graves to pay respects to ancestors on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, while tomb sweeping is not done on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
But Wen Yuhan didn't care about such things. He came today simply because he missed his grandmother and wanted to keep her company. As a result, he didn't prepare any paper money or ingots beforehand, and only broke off a bunch of flowers from the winter plum tree next to the old house before coming.
He placed the flower branches in front of the tombstone and brushed the raindrops off the kind old woman's photograph with his sleeve. Then he lit a cigarette and slowly sat down beside her grave.
"Grandma, I'm here..."
Then came a long silence.
Waterbirds flew out from among the withered reeds, calling out, and glided onto the surface of the Yanjiang River.
The sparse, dark green pines and cypresses on both sides rustled in the wind, and the rainwater remaining on the branches dripped down, landing on Wen Yuhan's head and shoulders, wetting his clothes.
“Oh right, he came to Wancheng too.” Wen Yuhan gently stroked the damp and cold tombstone and said softly, “I originally wanted to cut off all ties with the past, find a small city with less competition, get a job that wouldn’t let me starve but didn’t require much hope, and just live my life like that. When I die, I’ll come find you… But it seems that even that is hard to achieve.”
At this point, he suddenly chuckled softly: "Actually, I know that it's not impossible to truly let go of the past. Ultimately, it's just that I'm unwilling... I say one thing and do another; I'm truly a terrible person."
A faint rustling sound came from the grass. Someone came out from behind the tree, bent down and placed a bunch of yellow dandelions in front of the tombstone.
Wen Yuhan narrowed his eyes slightly and looked up at the person.
Just then, the sunlight peeked out from behind the clouds, illuminating her delicate and charming face, and the faint beauty mark at the corner of her eye.
"Long time no see, Senior Wen." Yi Li's eyes crinkled, and his smile was as gentle as the spring breeze in April.
Wen Yuhan put the cigarette in her mouth and took two more puffs before stubbing it out. She then stood up, supporting herself on her knees, and looked at Yi Li, saying with a slight smile, "Why is everyone heading to Wancheng during the New Year? I thought it had been developed into a tourist city."
"I came to see my senior and brought you some flowers!" Yi Li said, gesturing with his chin towards the dandelions in front of the tombstone. "You like dandelions, I wonder if your grandmother likes them? I'm sorry, I was in such a hurry that I could only buy this one kind of flower."
Wen Yuhan glanced indifferently at the bunch of dandelions, picked them up, and placed them aside.
"You seem to always be very keen on sending me flowers."
Yi Li was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then his smile widened: "What? So you already knew, senior... Did Senior Pei tell you?"
Wen Yuhan lit another cigarette: "I often see your annotations in the script. You have a habit of always making the last stroke of your handwriting longer."
"Hmm, I see." Yi Li blinked, and after noticing the scar on Wen Yuhan's wrist, his expression instantly turned smug. "Then guess again, why did I send you flowers back then? How did I get your latest script and send it to Professor Han? And how did I find out you were in Wancheng? And what exactly is my relationship with Professor Han Shu?"
"I don't want to guess." Wen Yuhan turned around expressionlessly. "Also, my grandmother doesn't like dandelions. I appreciate your kindness, but please take the flowers back."
After he finished speaking, he was about to leave the cemetery and head down the mountain.
Throughout the journey, Wen Yuhan tried his best to appear natural, but he knew all too well that when he saw that bunch of yellow dandelions, he still couldn't help but feel afraid.
He felt like a rat that had fallen into a vat of oil; no matter how he hid, the cat could find him by following the oil trail. Especially now, the other party was no longer simply driven by hunger, but by the game.
The sky became overcast again, and before the brief sunshine could dry the ground, another round of torrential rain was about to hit.
Hearing the rumbling thunder from the sky, Wen Yuhan quickened his pace to return.
Just as he passed a street corner and saw Shaou Street in the distance.
Suddenly, Yi Li's smiling voice rang in my ears again: "Senior, we haven't finished talking yet..."
The next second, a sharp pain instantly spread from my lower abdomen throughout my body.
Wen Yuhan's pupils contracted slightly as she looked at Yi Li with some surprise.
Directly in front of me was the other person's magnified smiling face.
...
A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 69
A headache accompanied by a loud ringing in her ears jolted Wen Yuhan out of her daze.
His vision gradually cleared, and he saw an old-fashioned chandelier hanging directly above his head. Its dim yellow light swayed from side to side, casting flickering light on Wen Yuhan's body and face.
His limbs were tightly bound to the chair with hemp rope, and the dull pain in the back of his neck told Wen Yuhan that this was probably why he had lost consciousness. But what was even more unbearable for him was the tearing pain that kept coming from his lower abdomen.
"You're awake, Senior Wen."
Yi Lixin's cheerful voice came from the darkness. Wen Yuhan looked at him with difficulty and saw that the other person was holding a bag of gauze, a pair of scissors and a bottle of alcohol. He walked slowly towards her and placed them at Wen Yuhan's feet.
"Don't worry, the wound isn't deep. I deliberately avoided vital points when I stabbed it in, just to keep you from running away and to make you behave."
Yi Li's tone was as gentle and obedient as when he first met him. He unbuttoned Wen Yuhan's clothes, and his gaze slowly moved down to the bandage wrapped around the other's lower abdomen. He stretched out his white, slender fingers and gently poked at it, then increased the pressure and pressed it in little by little along the wound.
"Ahhh—" Wen Yuhan's muscles tensed instantly, and blood seeped out of the bandage again as Yi Li fiddled with it.
Seeing Wen Yuhan's pale face and trembling body in pain, Yi Li seemed even happier, his crescent-shaped eyes crinkling as he giggled.
"Shh, senior, don't make a sound." Yi Li cut open the bandages on Wen Yuhan's body with scissors. When he leaned closer to examine the wound, he even stuck out the tip of his tongue and gently licked it, which made Wen Yuhan tremble even more violently.
Yi Li spat the blood onto the ground, as if he had eaten a less-than-satisfactory dessert, and frowned to himself, muttering, "Nothing special..."
"What...what exactly do you want to do?" Wen Yuhan felt as if countless knives were being plunged back into his abdomen with each breath, but he still tried his best to remain calm.
"I told you to guess," Yi Li said, unscrewing the cap of the alcohol bottle and looking up at Wen Yuhan with a smile. "Bear with it, senior, it might hurt a little."
After saying that, he laughed and poured the entire bottle of alcohol onto Wen Yuhan's wound.
"Ugh—" Wen Yuhan gritted his teeth and tilted his head back, the blue veins on his neck and arms throbbing.
He bit his lip until it bled, the blood trickling down the corner of his mouth, looking strangely beautiful against his sickly pale face. Yi Li grabbed Wen Yuhan's chin, staring into his eyes, which were misty with pain, his expression somewhat bewildered: "You are beautiful, but it's not that bad... Senior, can you tell me how you managed to seduce Senior Brother Pei so completely, making him willing to give up everything to find you?"
Wen Yuhan closed her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering like feather fans. After the excruciating pain subsided slightly, she faintly raised the corners of her lips: "Do you have any cigarettes?"
"You know I don't smoke."
"I have some in my coat pocket, could you get it for me?" Wen Yuhan's voice was hoarse, but her tone remained calm. "To be honest, if this pain continues, I might go into shock. How can I still be sitting here talking to you like this?"
Yi Li tilted his head and thought for a moment, then realized that what he said made sense. So he picked up Wen Yuhan's coat that had been thrown aside, took out his cigarette case and lighter from the pocket, picked out a cigarette and put it in Wen Yuhan's mouth, lighting it for him.
Wen Yuhan took a deep drag on his cigarette, then frowned as a sharp pain shot through his abdomen.
Whether it was the calming effect of the tobacco or not, his thoughts gradually shifted from shock, pain, and panic, and he began to quickly observe the surrounding terrain, thinking about ways to escape or contact other people.
This is a cylindrical, enclosed space with no other light source except for that old lamp.
The staircase spirals upwards, leading all the way to an unseen top.
Wen Yuhan's eyes darkened. Water tower.
He was taken inside the water tower by Yi Li.
Yi Li finished bandaging Wen Yuhan, then moved a small stool to sit in front of him, curled up his legs, and rested his chin on his hand, saying to Wen Yuhan, "Alright, let's talk now. Senior Wen, go first. What do you want to ask me?"
Wen Yuhan really had no interest in dealing with this madman in front of him, but in order to buy himself time to find a way to escape, he could only go along with what he was saying: "You did this for Pei Shaocheng?"
"I guess so."
"Have you ever thought about how he would treat you if he knew all this?"
A look of sadness and helplessness flashed in Yi Li's eyes: "It doesn't matter what my senior brother does to me anymore. I said I would protect him. If he stays with you, you will definitely ruin him. That was true in the past, and it will be true in the future..."