When it came to getting married, Lu Chong arranged for the two of them to fly abroad to get the certificate, have some fun and then start preparing for the wedding banquet after they returned.

Lu Chong planned a big event. Luo Wencheng later thought it was too much trouble, he didn’t feel like entertaining a bunch of people he didn’t know, but Lu Chong insisted and promised that he would only need to show up, he didn’t have to say or do anything, and with Lu Chong’s status, things like heckling and getting him drunk wouldn’t happen.

Luo Wencheng agreed.

But there was one more thing he needed to worry about – the guest list.

“Is there anyone you want to invite?” Lu Chong asked.

“Who do I have to invite, I’m just a loner.” Luo Wencheng said easily, suddenly freezing at the end of his sentence.

He abruptly remembered that he was not alone.

Lu Chong looked at him and said, “Do you want to invite the Zhang family?”

Luo Wencheng didn’t say anything immediately.

“You didn’t recognise the Zhang family at that time because you weren’t sure what would happen in the future, right? Now that everything is stable, are you not going to tell them about it for the rest of your life?” Lu Chong said softly.

“Then tell them?” Thinking of the scene of father and son recognising each other, Luo Wencheng felt strangely uncomfortable. He didn’t have much affection for Zhang Qihui, but he knew Zhang Qihui cared for him. He had some respect in his heart for the father’s feelings for his lost child. Now that he was well, if he didn’t confess, it seemed a bit unreasonable.

“Just say a word.”

“Okay, but it’s just to acknowledge the blood ties and have a meal together now and then. I don’t think it’s a good idea to invite them for the wedding banquet. Exposing my relationship with them will only make their family’s life unsettled.” The Zhang family were just ordinary citizens, and the people Lu Chong would invite to the wedding banquet were all noble and powerful people, and their family would only feel uncomfortable in the middle of it, receiving countless strange looks.

It was not that Luo Wencheng disliked them, but they had a good life, so why ruin it?

The following day Luo Wencheng and Lu Chong went to the Zhang family’s house. The process of recognising the relatives was quite indescribable. Zhang Qihui almost fainted at the time and was able to digest the fact only after holding Luo Wencheng’s hand and crying.

The two of them also went back to Zhang Qihui’s hometown to visit the grave of Luo Wencheng’s mother, Lan Xiufang, to tell her the news.

They both let go of a big heartache at the same time.

Lu Chong and Luo Wencheng didn’t stay in that small county for long, but after returning to Beijing, they threw a huge wedding banquet with a large number of guests, and got a lot of media coverage.

The wedding banquet of two men, handsome enough, rich enough and with Lu Chong’s identity, caused a great deal of excitement and discussion, and because of Lu Chong’s intervention, the discussion was largely positive and full of blessings. For a long time afterwards there was a talk of the same-sex marriage, this wedding banquet giving a very positive signal to that group of people, who were in an uproar and took advantage of the opportunity to do something about it.

Some people also said there was a huge increase in the number of people who came out publicly during that time.

But these two people didn’t care. They spent some time in Beijing, then some time in Haining, visited the Zhang family twice a year and travelled the rest of the year around the world.

More than ten years later, after the small instrument in Luo Wencheng’s body malfunctioned several times, causing his heart rhythm to be disturbed, he underwent a minor operation, accompanied by Lu Chong. The team raised by Lu Chong with heavy investments was very skilled and repaired the device.

When Luo Wencheng woke up on the hospital bed and met his lover’s slightly reddened smiling eyes, he knew that his time had been extended again.

It is good that I can stay with you longer.

Longer, and longer, and longer, for a lifetime, and so it goes.

……

Somewhere in a certain space, on a screen glowing with a soft fluorescent blue light there was an image of the two men snuggling up to each other. The light flashed on the screen and a line of words appeared…

Changing the fate of the target, third resurrection version, success.

The screen slowly condensed into a blue dot, ready to leave the realm.

“The first mission has finally succeeded?” The best friend from the other realm asked lazily through the internal communication channel, “You failed the first mission and you had to start over so many times. I have done several missions while you have only done this one, and you’ve even drained yourself of energy. Was it worth it?”

It was worth it, the blue dot thought..

It was a junior version of the system, made to change the fate of its target, and this was its first mission, and an experimental task.

Because it was its first mission, the system couldn’t yet be as calm and sensible as its best friend and senior.

Its target, Luo Wencheng, initially asked to return to ten years ago, and the system agreed to do so in order to convince him, only for him to have an accident on the very last day of his stay. Having saved Luo Wencheng, the system almost exhausted its own energy, and it should have abandoned this mission and detached itself from this realm after Luo Wencheng died according to his established destiny.

But Luo Wencheng left one variable behind, that of Lu Chong, who was supposed to die at the age of sixteen.

This man was saved by the target without hesitation, and for over a decade this man waited and looked for the target.

The system didn’t believe that anyone could hold on to a promise, a relationship, for so long. Lu Chong impressed it and made it a little curious, and it wanted to know how far he would go. It wanted to try to see if it could use this man, who had been saved by the target, to save the target again in turn.

Lu Chong agreed without hesitation. He agreed to give his life, so the system, whose energy was almost depleted, had the ability to go back in time once more, and with the love and hope Luo Wencheng himself offered turned into energy, give Luo Wencheng the second chance to live.

But in the end Luo Wencheng gave up his life once again.

The system felt even more unbearable than the last time.

Two people had gone through so much, both willing to sacrifice for each other without hesitation, why was it still a tragedy in the end? Then what was the point of it being so busy for so long?

So in the last three days of Luo Wencheng’s life, the system had been looking for a turning point.

And a turning point appeared.

The system admitted that it had violated the rules by actively interfering with that professor’s brain waves, causing him to make a firm decision to resuscitate Luo Wencheng and immediately seizing the opportunity to declare that he could be resurrected once more after Luo Wencheng’s heartbeat started again.

This was the limit of what the system could do under the limitations of the rules, and it was good that the target and the one he loved finally grasped this last chance.

As a result, one person who should have died a tragic death at thirty-one and one person who should have been shot dead at sixteen were happily and blissfully living together into old age.

To be honest, this result was achieved mainly because they helped each other. Luo Wencheng’s two resurrections only contributed to it. At most, some regulations were violated and the system would be punished when going back. It should have been rewarded for completing the task but now the reward was definitely gone, and the system’s energy was less than when it came there.

However, compared to the two life changed and the punishment of the bad guys, the system felt that its loss was worth it, and it was very happy.

And… the system finally looked at the two men. When their lives were over, it would reappear and collect their love. The love that had never given up after several lives and deaths would be the purest energy of the highest quality. Of course, the system would not be willing to turn that love into energy, but would keep it as its most precious collection.

THE END

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Previous / ToC

In the late autumn of that year, after waiting in Beijing for sixteen years, Lu Chong finally took his old cat to Haining and came to the place where he and the young man first met.

It was just that although he set foot on this land, he still had no idea where to find the young man and whether the other party would appear.

All he could do was keep waiting, just like in the past for so many years.

When the accident happened, there was no warning; the glass shattered and then there was a loud thud as something heavy fell to the ground.

The car slammed to a halt, and the driver said, “Sir, someone jumped out of the window in front of us.”

At that time, Lu Chong had just come out of “Golden Glory”, and the car had driven a few dozens of metres. He felt that the car was a little stuffy, so he got out.

When he walked over and took a look, two people held each other after having jumped off the second floor of a small bar. The taller one was pressing down the smaller one, who was lying on his back, smelling heavily of alcohol. Both of them were unconscious.

He glanced at them: “Take them to the hospital.”

At that time, Lu Chong had no idea that fate was merciful to him and delivered the person he was looking for to him without his knowledge, but he failed to grasp it.

Half a month later, when he went to the hospital to check his eye, he was stopped by a young boy: “You’re the man who saved me that night, aren’t you? My name is Luo Wenjun, the doctor said that a little later, and my leg would have been seriously injured. Thank you so much!”

Lu Chong was startled when he saw this person. The young man had a pair of amber eyes, a little dark but a bit similar to the ones that were blurred in his memory. He was surprised. The young man was thin and looked like a teenager, and his eyes were full of pure gratitude. Lu Chong was particularly friendly to such young men, and he was more patient and tolerant towards them than towards most people, because the person he was waiting for was like this more than ten years ago.

He sometimes had the somewhat whimsical feeling that the other person was not from Earth at all, and that when they met again, he would still look like the teenager he remembered, so he financially supported many teenagers and did a lot of charity in this area.

Because of this, and because some of his opponents or people who simply don’t like him vaguely knew that he was looking for a teenager, rumours spread that he was addicted to young and tender boys, and sponsoring those people was to make it easier to get to them.

Lu Chong was initially furious and punished the rumour mongers severely, but the more he did so, the darker the rumours became, and as he grew older he stopped caring about it. They could say whatever they wanted. He waited silently in vain for so many years. Maybe if this kind of reputation spread, that person would hear it and get angry?

Of course, it was all just fancy hopes.

This Luo Wenjun was the son of the Luo family of Haining, but was abandoned by mistake and lost for more than ten years. Lu Chong heard that when he was accepted back to the Luo family, he was badly targeted by the original fake prince who caused a big drama.

Lu Chong was not interested in that, but he did listen to some of it when Luo Wenjun gratefully and helplessly came to him to talk about his troubles at home.

He could see that Luo Wenjun knew who he was and wanted to get some help from him. Those careful little calculations could not escape his notice, but as he always was 30% more tolerant towards teenagers, even if the other party only looked like a teenager and was actually twenty-one years old. Plus Luo Wenjun was really the underdog who had been victimised, and his desire for his father and elder brother’s approval was so desperate and genuine that when he asked Lu Chong to release those ships of the Luo family, Lu Chong agreed.

As a result, Luo Wenjun’s status in the Luo family had greatly improved. The Luo family survived the crisis and took their business to the next level thanks to his mercy. Lu Chong knew this, but there were too many people who had benefited from him over the years. This little thing was insignificant.

Later, when the rumours spread that Luo Wenjun was his little lover, he just laughed it off.

However, if he had known that Luo Wenjun was using various acts of gratitude, intentional encounters, conversations at certain parties, representing the Luo family to negotiate partnerships and so on to continuously create the illusion of being close to him, to raise his own value, and to use the Luo family as a backdrop to become the real prince of Haining, and the one person he persecuted and oppressed the most was the one Lu Chong was looking for, he would definitely have not let it happen.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know anything.

In his first year in Haining, the cat, which had been with him for more than ten years, died of old age, and he buried it by the amusement park where it had been found that year.

The next year, the amusement park was completed. It was luxurious and grand, with the most comprehensive amusement facilities. Its fame spread far and wide, but the person who said he would definitely come after hearing about it still did not appear.

In the third year, Lu Chong couldn’t wait any longer. Haining was his last hope, but for three full years, it proved that there was no hope for him here. He collapsed a little, couldn’t sleep at night, and even had occasional hallucinations. His doctor told him that long-term heavy stress had caused great hidden dangers to his mental health.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t wait, he just couldn’t hold on any longer.

At that time, there were only two ways in front of Lu Chong. The first was to just let it go, and when he reached the limit one day, he would either become a gloomy madman or would kill himself. And the second one was to find a way to make himself happy and relaxed, so that he could live longer and be more normal.

Someone he was waiting for hadn’t come yet, and he was unwilling to end his life like this. He was even more worried about how that person would feel when he came back and found that he himself was gone.

So at the end of the third year, he left Haining.

He travelled, expanded his business, took care of his family and kept finding things for himself to do, but every year he would come back to Haining, quietly, for a month or so when he was in a good mood.

As each year passed, he actually acquiesced in his heart that he would not be able to see that person again, but he had promised to wait, and he would keep his promise for as long as he lived. It was like an obsession, the last stubbornness of a terminally ill man.

The two most important people in his life, his father and the young man, had been lost on the same day. He had nothing to lose. If even this promise was lost, he would really have nothing.

Year after year, day after day, until finally one night, his heart throbbed and he woke up from a shallow sleep.

There was a feeling, as if somewhere in this world, something most important was leaving him.

“The one you waited for is dead. Would you trade your life for the chance of him to be reborn?” A cold voice sounded.

“What do you mean?! Who are you?” Lu Chong’s heart was beating so hard that he could barely comprehend the meaning of the other party’s words.

He was already forty-two years old, he had been through most of his life, he had experienced many storms, and this heart in his chest had long since aged beyond recognition, but at this moment he would still be horrified and frantic because of a few words.

That cold voice sounded again, “The person you were waiting for was called Luo Wencheng. He died a minute ago, but he has a chance to be reborn. Are you willing to trade your life for the energy for his rebirth?”

“Luo… Luo… Wen… Cheng? His name is Luo Wencheng…” The name sounded vaguely familiar. He must have heard it before, but at this point he lost all ability to think and could only dully repeat it, as if he had lost his soul.

A great pain took hold of his heart, and he could hardly breathe. “You say he is dead?”

“Yes.”

“How did he die? How could he die? Where is he? Where is he!!!”

Lu Chong rushed back to Haining as fast as he could.

At this point, it was just three hours after Luo Wencheng died.

Because Luo Wenhao pretended to give him a decent funeral, he was immediately sent to the crematorium.

Luo Wenjun originally wanted to bury him in a random place, so that he would be a lonely ghost after death, but the man was dead and he had vented enough of his anger, so it didn’t matter anymore.

As a result, they had just arrived at the crematorium and the coffin was about to enter the furnace when a group of people rushed in and took them under control.

The Luo family was now the absolute ruler of Haining, one of the most powerful in the whole of the south. Who would dare to go wild on their territory?

But the group of men in black was arrogant to the point of recklessness, and even pulled out their guns directly, as if they would shoot everyone here the next moment.

Ta-da-da-da.

It was the sound of footsteps that were so urgent that they were messy.

When Luo Wenjun looked over, a group of people stepped aside to let in a man coming in quickly.

The man was as tall, dignified, cool and majestic as Luo Wenjun remembered. Although his temples were grey, Lu Jiuye was still handsome and distinguished, full of a charm that grew more mellow with age.

But Luo Wenjun couldn’t feel happy. He didn’t expect to see this man again, and the current situation was obviously wrong.

The man stopped abruptly by the coffin.

He stared blankly at the coffin, opened it with trembling hands and lifted the white cloth inside.

Luo Wencheng died so tragically that his face couldn’t be seen. He was hastily thrown into a gorgeous coffin, covered with a cloth, as if to hide all the tragedies underneath. When Lu Chong uncovered the layer of cloth, the unspeakable smell and the almost disfigured appearance were nowhere to hide.

Lu Chong looked at this face blankly.

He had seen this man before.

He had seen his back that day when he had fallen out of the window; this man had fallen in front of his car. And he had seen his front from afar once afterwards, when he argued with Luo Wenjun and almost struck him, and afterwards Luo Wenjun used it to sell misery.

Twice, he didn’t recognize this person, and twice, he never thought about reaching out to help this young man who was forced into a desperate situation.

He had helped others for so many years, why hadn’t he been able to help the person he wanted to help the most?

Why couldn’t he have been a little more curious, why couldn’t he have been a little more kind?

It was a great invisible hand called destiny that separated them.

When he was alive, Lu Chong couldn’t recognise him, couldn’t remember him, but now that he was dead, he could finally remember what he looked like in his own memory again. Even if he almost looked like a different person, Lu Chong could still recognise him at a glance.

He clearly was very similar to his teenage self.

“Lu Jiuding, don’t forget me!”

“We agreed that you would only like me and you can’t like anyone else!”

“From now on you’ll be called Lu Chong!”

“Fifteen years, fifteen years at the latest, I’ll definitely come to you!”

“Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to die…”

That sound was still in his ears.

It was clear that you said you wouldn’t die.

You little liar, you clearly said you wouldn’t die.

Lu Chong picked up the person in the coffin, ignoring the rancid smell and crawling worms and hugged him tightly in his arms.

The teenager who climbed through the window to save him on a rainy night, the teenager who accompanied him in his recovery, the teenager who smiled mischievously and teased the cat, the teenager who frowned in distress and gave him a name, the teenager who solemnly told him to be good, the teenager who spat blood and reassured him that he would not die…

No more, all of them were gone.

Lu Chong choked and finally couldn’t suppress his voice, crying as if his heart was tearing apart.

Everyone looked at him in shock; this man of terrifying power, this man who decided who would live and who would die, was at the moment crying like a child abandoned by the world.

……

Lu Chong buried Luo Wencheng next to the amusement park, together with the cat.

He had chosen the most trustworthy and reliable person to inherit all his things, and his only request was that when he died, to bury him here as well, and not to let anyone disturb them.

But if time was reversed, all this would be gone, wouldn’t it?

That would be good too.

“Why couldn’t you have told me earlier?” He was rich and powerful, there were countless ways to keep the young man safe. He had worked so hard all those years to actually be able to protect him from a single harm when the young man reappeared.

“This was his destiny.” The cold voice sounded in the empty suburbs, “In his life, he had a chance to change his fate, but he wasted it, or used it in advance. You should have died then, but survived because of him, and as punishment, his fate became a dead end, irrevocable.” 

Lu Chong choked and asked, “Then after he is reborn, can he change his fate?”

“Being reborn is the same as restarting the game. Everything starts from scratch. He will go back in time with the memories of these ten years. How far he can go is up to him.”

“But he still won’t remember me, will he?”

“He will be reborn ten years earlier, nothing before that will change. The memories related to you are a different matter. Therefore, I will not tell him that he was reborn with your help either.”

Lu Chong smiled. All his hair had turned white after that mournful cry. At forty-two, still a prime age for a man, he had aged overnight to the point where it was hard to ignore.

“It’s all right if there’s no me, as long as he’s well.” He looked at the suburbs under the brilliant sun and muttered to himself, “Ten years ago, when I first came to Haining, I should have had a chance to meet. I hope I can help him then.”

Instead of indirectly helping Luo Wenjun harm him.

“No,” he suddenly thought of something, “he’s a smart kid. If he wants to take revenge on the Luo family, he’ll definitely find a way to use external forces. At that time, could I be regarded as a big backer?”

He hooked his lips slightly, “I’m really looking forward to it.”

He hadn’t spared anyone in the Luo family. Luo Wenjun, Luo Wenhao and Luo Kaifang were all worse than dead, especially Luo Wenjun and that professor called Fang Bude. Whatever suffering Luo Wencheng had endured, Lu Chong had returned it to them tenfold and a hundredfold. In addition to this, all those involved and the forces behind the scenes, all had to pay the price.

Lu Chong’s eyes reflected the clear sky, but in the bottom of his eyes bloody madness was surging. He was about to leave the world, but he still wanted to start a huge storm and make the world change colours.

Yes, everything was about to start again, but the pain of his beloved, his young man, would not disappear, and he would even be reborn with this pain and hatred.

Lu Chong’s heart ached, and even though it was pointless, he wanted everyone to hurt with him.

But he could not keep his young man waiting, so he could only retaliate in the crudest way possible, and then sadly let Luo Wenjun and others have their last meal after torturing them for a while.

One night, Lu Chong peacefully closed his eyes with a light smile of anticipation at the corners of his mouth, and the next moment, his breathing and heartbeat stopped.

The system had taken the energy that his life had turned into and replenished it into its own depleted energy cartridge. Lu Chong’s life had been saved by Luo Wencheng, so only the energy of his life could be used by the system. But even so, this energy was only enough to reverse time and Luo Wencheng had to give something of himself if he wanted to live.

The system found Luo Wencheng, who remained at the same node where he had died ten days earlier: “Do you want to start over? I’ll take your love and hope, and for that, I can make your life start again.”

……

Lu Chong’s eyes snapped open.

He kept gasping in the darkness, and the person beside him was awakened, reaching over to touch him, “What’s wrong, did you have a nightmare?”

Luo Wencheng reached out and turned on the bedside lamp. Seeing Lu Chong’s pale, sweaty face, he jumped out of bed to bring a towel for him.

Lu Chong hugged him fiercely, “Don’t go, don’t go, let me hold you for a while.”

Luo Wencheng didn’t move anymore. He touched the hairy head buried in the side of his neck. Lu Chong’s hair was dark and shiny, and it didn’t tangle when touched, just like a male lion’s mane, smooth and heavy.

It was just that at this moment, the male lion seemed to be frightened and suddenly turned into a little cub, begging for comfort and a hug.

Luo Wencheng was about to be strangled by his arms, but he didn’t push him away, stroking his hair and back: “What nightmare scared you like this?”

“I don’t know.” Lu Chong buried his head deeper and said sullenly, “I think I dreamt that you died.”

Luo Wencheng was startled. The side of his neck was wet and moist. He looked down and realised that there were tear marks on Lu Chong’s temples. When he had just glanced at them, he thought they were from sweat.

Did he actually cry in his dream?!

Luo Wencheng didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, and was a little distressed: “I’m fine, aren’t I? Don’t worry, this little instrument is enough for me to live for a long time, and when the time comes, as you said, technology will have advanced and there might be other ways to continue saving me.”

He put Lu Chong’s hand on his heart, thinking that it was his heart problem that made this man think about it day and night.

But hadn’t this matter been resolved? That old professor had been dead for some time.

Perhaps it was precisely because of the relief of pressure. This man was extremely strong, and once he relaxed, his vulnerability was doubled.

Lu Chong vaguely felt that wasn’t the case, but he couldn’t remember exactly what happened in the dream, only the unbearable heartbreaking grief still lingered in his heart.

He could only cling to this person as if he were clutching the whole world that had been lost and found: “Wencheng, don’t leave me again.”

He had said this many times, but Luo Wencheng continued to reply patiently, “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you, ever.”

Luo Wencheng thought the matter was over, but a few days later, Lu Chong did something that surprised him. He tossed the Luo family all over again.

Luo Kaifang, Luo Wenhao, Luo Wenjun, all three of them were in prison. Among them Luo Kaifang was sometimes crazy and sometimes normal. Luo Wenhao had his legs broken and wanted to commit suicide but didn’t dare to. Luo Wenjun was gritting his teeth and actively trying to behave, planning to get out of prison one day, seducing his cellmates in every possible way, hoping that someone who was in prison for a short term would do something for him after he got out.

This something was naturally to retaliate against Luo Wencheng.

Although Luo Wencheng knew about this, he didn’t care at all. He was here with Lu Chong, even a special forces unit couldn’t get close to him, okay?

But Lu Chong suddenly took it upon himself to add fuel to the fire for those three, making their situation even worse and truly making their life worse than death.

Luo Wencheng asked him somewhat hesitantly, “What exactly did you dream about that night?”

Lu Chong didn’t say anything; he didn’t know how to say it because he really couldn’t remember. Even though he got that master hypnotist to hypnotise him, he couldn’t recall the slightest fragment of the dream, but he just felt he needed to know, it was extremely important to him.

He even felt a little aggrieved when he was sure he couldn’t remember anything.

He leaned on Luo Wencheng’s shoulder, “Wencheng, you still haven’t told me why you appeared to me like that back then.”

According to their age difference, when he was sixteen, Luo Wencheng was only five years old, right?

“Ahem!” Luo Wencheng almost choked on his own saliva. Lu Chong had never mentioned this, he thought he would never ask.

It was okay to talk about it, though; metaphysical, yes, but during these few times of separation and reuniting, some of his performances were already metaphysical enough.

“This, ah, to start at the beginning, it was when I was fifteen years old. A system suddenly appeared…”

This was a long and twisted story. Luo Wencheng gave some general information, mentioning that he had died and come back again, without going into details. In any case, he gave the general idea that there was such a thing.

But Lu Chong was so sharp and clever that the mere thought of Luo Wencheng’s extraordinary hatred for Bruin De Lang was enough to make him think of many things, and after questioning, it turned out it was really so.

He was outraged and wanted to kill someone. The man he loved had twice been a test subject, and died horribly the first time because of it!

Yet Bruin De Lang was dead, so Lu Chong turned several circles and went after the Luo family again. And then there was the organisation behind Bruin De Lang. Lu Chong had already withdrawn from the whole thing; and then he popped up again to give full support to counter-terrorism agencies and to catch all those who had slipped through the net.

Because of his strong support, the follow-up operation was really smooth and efficient.

In his previous life, he had not been able to take his revenge properly and slowly, but this time he was finally able to do so, as if it was destined by fate.

Luo Wencheng just watched him look like a big cat with ruffled fur, spinning around in circles, slapping a paw here and there, and felt amused and distressed, finding him a little bit cute.

“I’m fine now, really, I don’t remember the past.” After Lu Chong had vented enough, he found time to talk to him.

Lu Chong said in a muffled voice: “I wish I was by your side at that time.”

Luo Wencheng stroked his hair: “You’re here now, that’s enough. I told you that because I didn’t feel the need to keep it from you, not to make you unhappy.”

Luo Wencheng was really indifferent to those things in the past. He sometimes thought that without that system, he would be destined to die tragically at the age of thirty-one, and Lu Chong would not have survived his teenage years.

And now, they were both fine and together, loving each other, and would spend their lives together.

For such a result, such a life, it seemed not a big deal to go through some twists and turns and suffer a little; and it was not only he who had suffered, but Lu Chong as well.

What they had gone through before was just the price they had to pay in advance for the happiness of the rest of their lives.

Previous / ToC / Next

There was indeed only one controller. After several hypnosis sessions, Bruin De Lang was on the verge of a mental breakdown, but his answers were the same.

Luo Wencheng said he wanted to see Bruin De Lang for the last time.

Bruin De Lang himself was very sensitive to hypnosis and resisted strongly when he was hypnotised, so now he looked broken and haggard, both physically and mentally. But he was still looking forward to the day when he would be rescued, convinced that his big boss was on his way to send help.

But instead it was Luo Wencheng who came.

“You’re here. Is there any news yet? Why hasn’t anyone come to rescue me?” Bruin De Lang squinted at Luo Wencheng for a moment before he recognised him, “Quickly, get me out of here!”

In this hellhole, where at first he had been beaten and interrogated every day, but lately no one came, it was dark, there was no sound, nothing could be seen, no messages had come in for ages, everyone seemed to have forgotten him. He had waited and waited and waited, and waited, and waited until he was going mad.

“No one will come to save you.” Luo Wencheng said indifferently, “Your boss has given up on you.”

“No way! I’ve made him so much money, my brain is what he values most!” Bruin De Lang roared, and suddenly he reacted by pointing at Luo Wencheng, “You…”

“Your brain? Is it great? If you really had the ability, how could you not see that I was pretending?” Luo Wencheng chuckled, “Those drugs of yours, ah, they didn’t work on me at all. What you’ve been working on is actually rubbish, isn’t it?”

“No! No way!” Bruin De Lang was stunned, “Pretending, how could you be pretending?!”

“You think you’re high above, manipulating people’s health and their lives, when in fact you’re a clown, being played for a fool without even knowing it. You think you’re a genius, when in fact you’re nothing. You think you’re so important that you’ll never be given up on, but in fact, you’re simply dispensable. Why else do you think the big boss didn’t come to your rescue?”

Luo Wencheng stabbed him with his words, watching the old yellow-haired man rant in anger, shame, resentment and self-doubt, questioning loudly.

Being played with, teased and ridiculed by the experimental subject that he thought was firmly under his control; Bruin De Lang’s self-esteem and self-confidence couldn’t accept such a blow. He was already emotionally unstable, and he was somewhat crazy at this moment.

In the midst of his madness, someone pressed him down and poured a handful of pills into his mouth. It was the medicine he had given to Luo Wencheng. Because he thought that Luo Wencheng was a successful experiment, he made another batch of the drug in his laboratory abroad. Naturally it was all seized and destroyed, but Lu Chong got a bottle in advance.

Bruin De Lang was fed half a bottle at once, and his body on the floor was twitching, in a wretched state. Luo Wencheng had seen enough, so he turned and left the warehouse.

Afterwards he heard that Bruin De Lang had become an idiot, and then a few days later he was paralysed.

When he had been testing this drug, he had turned many people into idiots and made them suffer from paralysis, and even killed many people. And now he had finally gotten a taste of that too.

It was said that Director Li, Zhang Qingsong and Liu Lifu had ended up in the same way. The three of them had shared most of the remaining medicine in the bottle. Lu Chong mentioned it, saying that even though those three were stupid now, they still couldn’t escape the punishment.

At this point, all four people who knew that Luo Wencheng had been an experimental subject were dealt with.

The big case was put together and broadcast as a counter-terrorism special operation, which created an international strom, especially since the heinous human experiments were involved, causing widespread debates both at home and abroad. One by one, Bruin De Lang’s past and present laboratories were unearthed, and with them local investigations started into how many people had gone missing, or how many had died strangely, or how many hastily buried corpses had been found along with the investigation.

Whether they died as victims of his experiments or not, these lives were pinned on Bruin De Lang. This name was reviled and cursed by everyone, demonised as the embodiment of terror and a disgrace to the industry.

But that had nothing to do with Lu Chong and Luo Wencheng. After dealing with the four men and cleaning up all the traces of his involvement in this incident, Lu Chong disentangled himself from this matter and lived a very leisurely life with Luo Wencheng.

Luo Wencheng went through several more examinations. With the current technology, no one dared to touch the small instrument in his heart. Fortunately, that thing had plenty of power. As long as there was no accident, it shouldn’t be a problem for it to work well for ten or twenty years.

Lu Chong then began to form his own team of medical professionals in cardiology, digging up famous doctors, training outstanding newcomers, introducing the best equipment, and even setting up a special hospital to collaborate with the best hospitals in Beijing.

In short, he wanted to develop the best team in the world to provide the best and most timely service to Luo Wencheng in the future.

Luo Wencheng told him, “Don’t be so busy. My situation is very mysterious. Not to mention a new pacemaker in the future, even a new heart won’t work.” He was alive because of the little pacemaker now and could only survive on it for the rest of his life. It was a bit like a law of cause and effect that could not be changed. That was the price he paid for having been reborn and resurrected three times.

Lu Chong didn’t listen to him: “It pays to be prepared. In case the pacemaker malfunctions in a few decades, it can still be repaired with the best technology and the best talents.”

Luo Wencheng thought about it too. Anyway, they were relaxed now and didn’t lack anything, especially money and time, so they could just go for it.

Since he had enough time to spare, Luo Wencheng finally started to think about what he was going to do in the future. He couldn’t just do nothing every day, could he?

“How about I continue painting?” Luo Wencheng discussed the idea with Lu Chong. He seemed to be most interested in it, but the problem was that now he didn’t have the 20% bonus and the things he drew didn’t have such an aura anymore, and the level dropped a lot.

“You can do whatever you want, as long as you are happy.” Lu Chong gave this kind of answer, which was tantamount to not answering anything.

Luo Wencheng stopped expecting him to give him advice. He thought about it again and again and decided to start from scratch and learn Chinese painting.

Without his previous aura and skill, he could not draw so easily, but the teacher Lu Chong hired for him was very good, a famous master of Chinese painting, who was very strict. Luo Wencheng learned diligently and made very fast progress.

This teacher originally was probably forced by Lu Chong’s power or favour into teaching Luo Wencheng, but after a few lessons, he was willing. In his opinion, Luo Wencheng was very serious and hardworking, not arrogant or impatient, and had strong observation and learning ability. He originally thought it was a child of a rich family who was just playing around; but after some contact, he could see that Luo Wencheng really devoted himself to learning and wanted to develop in this regard.

And most importantly, there was something in Luo Wencheng’s paintings that had his own insights. He was able to capture the soul in every flower, grass, tree and stone. He said that he had no spirituality, but in fact this was already an extremely rare kind of spirituality.

So the teacher was attentive and began to take his student to visit old friends, pick up the wind, visit the painting exhibitions and compete with the apprentices of artists of the same level.

Luo Wencheng finally found his career direction. He was so happy and committed, and every day was particularly fulfilling, so Lu Chong, who was originally very happy for him, was a little depressed.

It was another day when Luo Wencheng practised late, holding the brush until his whole arm didn’t feel like his own anymore, sore and tired. He decided to change into his pyjamas and go to bed without taking a shower, as the weather was cold and dry anyway, and bathing every day was not good for health.

He was thinking of slacking off when suddenly the overhead light went black and the whole hall was plunged into darkness.

Luo Wencheng: “……”

The first thought that leapt into his mind was that the Lu family’s residence had been invaded by someone. Lu Chong had many enemies.

Where was Lu Chong? Where was Lu Chong?

As soon as his heart thudded and his muscles tightened, the dining room in front of him lit up with candlelight, the kind of light from dozens of candles bursting into flame at the same time as if the wind blew by.

Among clusters of candles there was a slender, tall figure holding a violin in his hands. The man slowly started playing, and the elegant sound of music flowed out.

Luo Wencheng was stunned.

It was a very beautiful piece of music. Luo Wencheng had never heard it before, but he could hear the deep and sincere feelings in it, as if someone was talking about the endless tender love of his whole life. It felt like a trickle of water flowed through Luo Wencheng’s heart.

It was warm, soft, sour and astringent, and suddenly he remembered many things from the past, all those happy and unhappy things, touching and painful ones, and slowly, they were all filled with flesh and blood again and restored to colour.

He lowered his head slightly and touched his heart, discerning that there seemed to be something different in its mechanical, steady rhythm.

After the melody ended, the overhead light above the table lit up, illuminating that area, and Lu Chong put down the violin in his hand, “Was it good?”

There was a smile at the corners of his mouth, a smile in his eyes, and a slight hint of raw nervousness. After all, it was the first time he had done something like this.

Luo Wencheng slowly approached, “You know how to play this?”

“I learnt a bit as a child, and recently trained a bit more unexpectedly, but I can’t play it well enough.”

Luo Wencheng sniffled, “I’m so touched, so what do you think, was it good? Why did you suddenly come up with it?”

They knew each other so well, and they were both grown men, so it felt strange to suddenly get so romantic.

“I wanted to surprise you. It’s your birthday today, have you forgotten?” Lu Chong smiled and said, “Happy birthday, Wencheng.”

Luo Wencheng was surprised. He had completely forgotten about it.

Only then did he notice that there were flowers and a cake on the table.

“I wasn’t able to spend your birthday with you last year. I’m sorry and I regret it. This year I want to make it up for you double. I made this cake myself, and I arranged these flowers myself, do you like them?”

As Lu Chong said that, he took Luo Wencheng’s hand and led him to the seat.

Luo Wencheng was even more astonished, looking at the cake that was neither too big, nor too exquisite and flashy, but very neat and beautifully coloured: “When did you learn this?”

“Recently too. You’ve been so busy learning to paint lately, you don’t even know what I’m doing, do you?” Lu Chong said, and in the candlelight and the hazy light overhead, his eyes seemed to be filled with deep grievances.

Luo Wencheng thought about how negligent he had been lately and felt a little guilty, “I’m sorry, I’ve just started learning and I’m too excited. I won’t do it again.”

“Well, can I blame you for that? Make a wish.”

Make a wish.

Luo Wencheng closed his eyes in front of the candles and silently thought: I wish there would be no more ups and downs in the future, and that I and Lu Chong could stay together in peace like this, forever and ever, never to be separated.

He opened his eyes and blew out the candles gently, suddenly feeling a bit girlish with this soft action. He could not help but smile with his eyes curved.

Lu Chong kept staring at him without looking away. Suddenly, he pulled out a red rose from the bouquet. Luo Wencheng, who was about to cut the cake, asked, “What are you doing?”

Lu Chong held a flower to him: “Wencheng, let’s get married.”

Luo Wencheng froze for a while.

“Let’s go get the certificate and then have a big wedding banquet to announce our relationship to the world.” Not some big brother and his little lover, not any relationship that was not serious and dignified and could fall apart at any moment, but a grand, unique marriage.

Luo Wencheng was silent for a moment and then said, “You still care about what those people think, don’t you?”

Lu Chong thought to himself: can I not care? He just couldn’t stand anyone pointing at Luo Wencheng, even if they only dared to talk about him behind his back. He couldn’t control what people thought no matter how good he was. A certificate and a wedding banquet, although a bit vulgar, would be useful against those people.

And most importantly, after the wedding, he would have enough reasons to ask Luo Wencheng to move into his room, or himself move into his room. In short, he didn’t want to sleep in separate rooms anymore. Taking his time was fine, but he found that some things just needed to be pushed and pushed, and there were some benefits that needed to be earned sooner rather than later.

Luo Wencheng was completely unaware of this careful planning and reached out to take the flower, “Okay, let’s get married then.”

He also wanted to settle down completely.

He looked at Lu Chong, who was sitting across from him, his eyebrows warm and handsome. After so many twists and turns, they had finally come to a happy ending.

He suddenly thought of something and said with a smile, “What should people by your side call me after we get married? Madam? Or Mrs. Lu?”

He was smiling, but Lu Chong realised that this was a lethal question, and if he dared to say “yes”, the sun would probably not be so bright tomorrow.

He said, “Of course it’s Mr. Luo. From now on anyone who sees you will have to respectfully and politely call you Mr. Luo.”

Luo Wencheng nodded, “That sounds like a lot of social status improvement all of a sudden.” Although some of the people around Lu Chong already called him that, that Mr. Luo was not the same as this Mr. Luo, which was much more pleasant to the ear.

“I’ve been calling you ‘sir’ for so long. In the future, when I introduce you to people, I can also say ‘this is my husband’. It’s quite wonderful to think about.” (先生 – xiānsheng – means all this – sir, husband, mister, master, teacher) Luo Wencheng smiled and held out his hand, “So, my dear Mr. Lu, please keep teaching me in the future.”

Previous / ToC / Next

In the first half of this year, Liu Lifu went abroad and met with Bruin De Lang. At that time, the latter proudly boasted about his latest project. He did not say Luo Wencheng’s name, but vaguely mentioned him being from Haining and having a big background. This time it was Luo Wencheng who came to Liu Lifu. Liu Lifu combined various information with his own judgement and naturally strung everything together.

He knew that Luo Wencheng had been brainwashed by both drugs and hypnosis, and that something had been buried in his heart. The controller was in Bruin De Lang’s hands, and as soon as the button was pressed, Luo Wencheng would die.

He was now trying to get his hands on that controller.

His old friend valued Luo Wencheng as an experimental subject and was prepared to observe him for at least three years. He didn’t want Luo Wencheng to die now. But what harm would there be if Bruin De Lang let his experimental subject do some extra things for Liu Lifu while being observed as long as Liu Lifu controlled Luo Wencheng’s life and death?

This was what Liu Lifu called control. He was not going to get Luo Wen to acknowledge himself as his master, that would be too much trouble, and his old friend would never agree to it.

Bruin De Lang’s contact was not in Beijing. Liu Lifu had been in contact with that person before. The most he could do was to go on another business trip, which would take some time to arrange, but that didn’t mean that he had to make the contact himself. If Bruin De Lang got impulsive and ordered Luo Wencheng to go there, he would be able to achieve his goal, but then the cute little pawn would be ruined and Bruin De Lang’s project would also be exposed to his boss in advance.

So based on all this, Liu Lifu was confident that his old friend would accede to his little request.

And so he did.

Despite his displeasure, Bruin De Lang wrote down in a coded message about the place where the controller was hidden in the note he sent with Luo Wencheng in reply.

It was abroad in one of his private houses. No one knew that the house belonged to him, and the access code was also given.

Liu Lifu immediately arranged for someone to go and get it.

He was also a very cautious man and knew that Bruin De Lang was being investigated, so he arranged for someone who was not at all related to him on the surface.

But who knew Lu Chong had been dead set on him for a long time?

As soon as the man picked up the thing, he was robbed in the next second.

In fact, Lu Chong didn’t know what Liu Lifu had gone to such great lengths to loot from Bruin De Lang. After all, who would have thought that Liu Lifu would even think of going after Luo Wencheng. But Lu Chong’s intuition told him that the item was important, so he just grabbed it.

His intuition proved to be right.

This thing was Luo Wencheng’s life.

“No way, we set up such a big game, we tried so hard to get it, and we got it just like this?” Luo Wencheng was only informed about it after the item arrived, and when he looked at the inconspicuous, black object lying in the small box in front of him, just like an air conditioner remote control, he felt simply a little incredulous. 

Lu Chong cautiously didn’t touch the thing. There was only one red button on it. It was a stop button. Once you pressed it, everything was over.

“This should be the right one. I had Director Li identify it. He had seen it in the hands of Bruin De Lang in the basement of the hospital.”

“Is there only one?”

“I don’t know. It was the only one he ever produced in Haining.”

Luo Wencheng did not speak for a long time. After a while he looked up at Lu Chong and asked, somewhat bewildered, “So it’s all over, isn’t it?”

Lu Chong reached out and hugged him, “I’ll check all his trips after he left Haining, all his contacts, and find out whether he had a chance to make the second and the third ones.”

Luo Wencheng smiled, “It’s been months in between, can you find out?”

“Yes! Bruin De Lang is proficient in medicine but not electricity, he would either have to fiddle with it for a long time himself or have someone else make such a small thing for him. There’s no way it would leave no trace.” Lu Chong said with certainty. His voice was steady, but listening closely you could hear a hint of hoarseness that he was trying to disguise by calmness.

All these days, just thinking about Luo Wencheng’s life being manipulated by others and the possibility of an accident happening at any moment, his heart seemed to be cut by a knife and scalded by boiling water. Every minute was a torment. And now he could finally let go of half of his worry.

Luo Wencheng didn’t speak. His smile was actually forced. It was his life, and no one knew it better than he did. From the initial aversion to being controlled at the expense of his life, to the gradual unwillingness to die because he was reluctant to leave the person next to him, how could he ever have a moment of peace?

He was actually not afraid of losing his life, nor was it the matter of carrying a burden. But he watched this man make plans, change plans, work step by step, afraid of making mistakes, afraid that he would be hurt in the process and worrying about his moods. This man appeared calm and confident on the surface, but in fact Luo Wencheng knew how much anxiety and pressure he felt inside. So even at his worst emotional times, he tried his best to cooperate and not to give up lightly.

If it weren’t for Lu Chong, if he didn’t think about Lu Chong, he would actually have wanted to die with that Bruin De Lang countless times.

“Thank you, Lu Chong,” Luo Wencheng said.

“I’m the one who should thank you, do you know how scared I was?” Lu Chong let out a bitter laugh, “How afraid I was to blink my eyes or turn away, or go to sleep and find you were gone…” He hated himself for his incompetence, yet he could not show that kind of emotion, he could only act as if nothing was wrong, could only remain still, could only pretend that everything was under control, could only suppress all his feelings  and think calmly.

The only consolation he could give himself was the thought that if anything happened to Luo Wencheng, this time he would follow him immediately.

“Thank you, Wencheng, for surviving.”

……

Lu Chong still had Bruin De Lang to investigate and had no intention of letting him go, but he wasn’t going to take the pressure of the power behind the old man alone.

That force or organisation behind him, with the infiltration of a terrorist organisation, plus those drug research and development, especially the parasite project targeting the Chinese people had actually raised the matter to the national level. Lu Chong was not arrogant enough to think he could carry such a big load alone.

Therefore, after letting Liu Lifu contact the organisation’s contact person, he informed the relevant authorities. A public official contacting a person with the background of a terrorist organisation was enough to attract attention.

Liu Lifu’s hands were not clean either. He was directly involved in some of Bruin De Lang’s early research, and he couldn’t withstand investigation. Lu Chong threw out some clues, and Liu Lifu was quickly investigated. He implicated Bruin De Lang, and Bruin De Lang and the contact person implicated the entire organisation behind them.

China directly sent troops and joined forces with international counter-terrorism organisations, with great momentum.

Against this backdrop, Lu Chong’s actions were pretty inconspicuous. The parties concerned even blamed China for Bruin De Lang’s disappearance, believing it to be a preparatory and investigative stage for the big move that China was planning.

“Let the country carry the pot, you’re really good.” Luo Wencheng gave Lu Chong a thumbs up when he understood the whole thing.

“I’m contributing to the peace of the country.” Lu Chong said righteously. With an operation as huge as that, there were still people who had escaped. He didn’t want to face countless acts of revenge for the rest of his life. Now he just wanted to live in peace.

“Yes yes, you’re the best citizen,” Luo Wencheng said. He was now particularly compliant with Lu Chong, or maybe not compliant, anyway, he just went along with whatever was going on.

What Lu Chong said that day really shook him deeply. He did guess that Lu Chong would have anxiety and stress in his heart, but he didn’t expect him to live in fear all the time. The man was scared and really hurt. Now Lu Chong in Luo Wencheng’s eyes was someone who needed his care.

“But what are you going to do with that professor? You can’t lock him up for the rest of his life.”

Because of Lu Chong’s meritorious deed and his strong attitude, Bruin De Lang was still left in his hands. The crimes committed by Bruin De Lang were put on his assistants such as Zhang Qingsong to accept the punishment and take the blame.

“It does seem that he hasn’t got a second or third controller so far.” Lu Chong said, “But that’s just what we’ve found out, I’m still a bit uneasy.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Ask him personally.”

The questioning Lu Chong was talking about was not ordinary interrogation, but deep hypnosis. Bruin De Lang had done it to Luo Wencheng in the past, and now it was repeated on him.

By the way, the hypnotist who had hypnotised Luo Wencheng had already been caught. He was a well-known psychiatrist in China. Lu Chong invited someone more powerful than that person this time.

Luo Wencheng’s life and safety could not be guaranteed before, and Lu Chong was worried that Bruin De Lang, who was not quite right in the head, had some unknown tricks up his sleeve. In short, under these circumstances, he did not dare to engage in hypnosis. This kind of thing, in case the hypnosis failed, would reveal their purpose.

He was not afraid now. The hypnotist was in place, and after a few hours of questioning under hypnosis, the old professor said everything he should and shouldn’t say.

Previous / ToC / Next

Luo Wencheng quickly got the instructions from Bruin De Lang who asked him to find a man named Liu Lifu and reveal the situation to him.

This Liu Lifu was a public official in a close-to-retirement age. His position was not high. He was in his fifties. He had a big belly, looked sheepish and was kind to everyone. There was nothing special about him. If it weren’t for Bruin De Lang to provide the name, no one would suspect that such a fat old man could have something to do with a lunatic who was engaged in horrific human experiments.

And it was not an ordinary relationship.

While Luo Wencheng was waiting to meet, he was thinking about the situation of Liu Lifu that he had found out roughly in the past two days. Although Liu Lifu didn’t hold a high position and had an insignificant job, this man was a long-time traveller abroad, and during his formative years, he went to see Bruin De Lang at least three or four times out of every ten trips. The school where he studied abroad as a young man was the same one Bruin De Lang attended, so they were old school friends.

Old classmates who maintained contact for a long time, old classmates who used to ask for help in times of crisis, was this relationship ordinary?

But Lu Chong had not yet investigated it deeper, afraid to beat the grass to alert the snake.

“Haha, did you wait long? What did you say you were here to stamp?” A cheerful voice came from outside the office, and a fat bellied bald old man in an ordinary suit came in. Luo Wencheng stood up and took out a document from the file. The document was a normal document, but once the cover was opened, inside there were two English words from Bruin De Lang, and those words were the ones only Bruin De Lang and Liu Lifu would know.

Liu Lifu’s smile disappeared as he closed the office door quietly and looked at Luo Wencheng: “What do you mean by that?”

“Professor Delang is in danger, and he asked me to come to you for help.” Luo Wencheng looked indifferent, his words and actions were rigid, and it was obvious that what he showed at this time was his “original appearance” that was not deliberately disguised.

Liu Lifu glanced at him a few more times: “What happened to him?”

“Lu Chong found out that the information on the deep sea excavation technology was transmitted to his computer and caught him.”

“So Lu Chong didn’t suspect you?”

“He made me beat up Professor Delang, and when I did, he believed me.”

Liu Lifu raised his eyebrows; that was all it took to believe?

He sat down at his desk, “What did Lao Delang say?”

“He said that you were his best friend, the person he trusted the most, that you knew everything about him and that you had a way to save him,” Luo Wencheng said.

“He really thinks highly of me. It is the famous Lu Jiuye. Who can snatch someone from his hands?”

“You can’t save Professor?” Luo Wencheng’s eyes turned a bit dangerous, but his expression remained blank.

Liu Lifu was interested: “You’re the little slave he mentioned?”

Luo Wencheng said indifferently, “Professor Delang is my master. Please find a way to save him quickly and explain how you want me to cooperate. I can’t be out for long.”

Liu Lifu, however, seemed in no hurry: “You are still with Lu Jiuye, right? I heard that he is extremely fond of you, he promotes whoever you like, and he can take down whoever you don’t like, even if it is an old man who has been with him all his life. He can give you everything, why do you still follow Bruin De Lang?”

Luo Wencheng glanced at him, “Please hurry up.”

Liu Lifu looked at him and laughed: “Do you really have no emotions of your own, just like a robot? I didn’t believe it when Lao Delang told me that he could really brainwash a person to this extent.”

There was a bit of covetousness in his eyes; how nice would it be if such an obedient person was his? What a formidable and powerful pawn planted next to Lu Chong, his most trusted and closest person. And that Bruin De Lang didn’t even let him do anything for so long, what a waste!

He took a piece of paper and scribbled on it, then folded it a few times and handed it to Luo Wencheng: “Give this to your professor, he’ll understand what I mean.”

“This will save him?”

“Just do as I say.” Liu Lifu suddenly said, “By the way, won’t Lu Chong suspect you if you come here?”

“I am an artist. I said I was drawing a comic and needed to find out what it was like for ordinary people to work in an administrative department. So he had someone send me over here, and he had this fake document prepared for me.”

Liu Lifu was taken aback for a moment and laughed. This Lu Jiuye was really overwhelmed by love. What Lu Chong had said in the company meeting about Luo Wencheng before was widely spread in the circle. Later, Lu Jiuye really inexplicably promoted several people who had a good relationship with Luo Wencheng. He was now a love brain all over. Liu Lifu didn’t doubt anything but thought: this pawn is really powerful, ah.

Luo Wencheng put away the paper and turned to leave. There was indeed a low-profile car waiting for him outside the gate, and only after watching him get into the car did Liu Lifu withdraw his gaze.

But he could never have imagined that the one he was thinking of, Lu Jiuye, was sitting in the car.

Lu Chong was so anxious; he waited for ten minutes but it was as if he had been waiting for ten days. As soon as Luo Wencheng got into the car, he pulled him closer, “Is everything alright?”

Luo Wencheng rubbed his face that had been tense for a long time and smiled, “What could go wrong? In that place, even if Liu Lifu was a devil, could he still eat me?”

Lu Chong didn’t want him to go see Liu Lifu when he received Bruin De Lang’s instructions. It was Luo Wencheng who insisted on following this lead. Liu Lifu was not like Bruin De Lang; for one thing he was Chinese, for another he was a public servant, and for the third, was there any reason to kidnap him?

If they did, what would be the point of Luo Wencheng getting Bruin De Lang’s trust? Didn’t they want to dig out more from that old man?

If they had sent someone else to contact this Liu Lifu, the effect would be reduced and there was no telling how much more time it would take to meander and take a detour.

Lu Chong had to agree to him coming and just made him wait for two days, checking Liu Lifu again and again before he was comfortable with Luo Wencheng going to meet him.

Luo Wencheng gave Lu Chong the note Liu Lifu had given him, “This is what Liu Lifu asked me to pass on to Bruin De Lang. Nothing else was said.”

Apart from this piece of paper, he had not extracted any useful information.

Lu Chong opened the folded piece of paper, which contained a combination of numbers and dots that was impossible to read: “It should be a code.” Lu Chong said.

“What kind of code is it?” Luo Wencheng leaned over.

“Can’t make it out.” Lu Chong took out his phone and prepared to take a picture, “I’ll have someone to study it.”

Luo Wencheng smoothly took the phone for him, unlocked it and took a picture of the paper.

He moved naturally, whereas before that, even when Lu Chong’s phone was on the coffee table in front of him, he wouldn’t touch it. Even if he didn’t have his own phone with him but wanted to check the time, he would get up and walk a few steps to take a look at the clock hanging on the wall, rather than move his hand to light the screen.

He subconsciously drew a line between the two of them because he felt that the phone was a very personal thing.

And now, that line was slowly disappearing.

Lu Chong looked at his face.

Luo Wencheng hadn’t noticed it. He tapped on the photo to see the effect. It was very clear. He didn’t know what came over him, or if it was just a purely instinctive hand motion, but he tapped on the photo and slid to the left.

The previous photo popped up. It was him, standing in the courtyard in the late afternoon, fiddling with the flowers. At that time, he lowered his head. The picture was taken from behind on his left. It was obviously a candid shot, but it was actually very good. Luo Wencheng looked at it and thought it looked great.

Luo Wencheng looked at Lu Chong with surprise: “Are you taking pictures of me?”

Lu Chong coughed, “You didn’t seem to want to talk to me that day.” Lu Chong was a very sensitive person, especially to Luo Wencheng’s mood changes. When Luo Wencheng was not in a good mood and did not want to talk, he would be very conscious and considerate not to disturb him.

However, there were too many times when Luo Wencheng was not in a good mood, and too many times when Lu Chong stared silently from a distance, so he couldn’t help but take a few pictures.

Luo Wencheng pursed his lips; in those previous months, his attitude seemed really bad. Either he was indifferent, or although he was reasonable, he was basically pretending to be patient, annoyed with everyone, his face smiling but his heart cold.

From Lu Chong’s point of view, it should be quite upsetting, right?

If you can’t get close, you can only hide in the distance and take a few photos secretly. It was pretty miserable to think about it.

He whispered: “I will try not to be like that in the future.”

Lu Chong smiled and rubbed his hair, saying gently, “Don’t force yourself, I know you don’t mean it.” His voice was low and soft, like a gentle spring breeze, “Let’s take our time.”

Luo Wencheng rubbed his ears that were slightly tickled by the invading voice. The roots of his ears were tingling.

What a rascal! He thought Lu Chong was getting better and better at teasing people. He could resist sexually explicit words, but this kind of words that didn’t sound like a problem at all, were more exciting.

He actually didn’t wake up in a good mood every morning, and he didn’t want to care about Lu Chong. But as the day went on, he slowly talked more and more, and by the end of the day he was basically soaking in sweet sugar water, titillated by these little gestures, little words of affection and the coaxing voice.

His heart that obviously relied on a machine to keep beating always changed its frequency because of Lu Chong’s performance, and the throbbing sensation of tightening and contracting was quite overwhelming.

He lowered his head and continued to swipe through the photos, each one of him.

He was sitting and reading, he was lying on his back, he was squinting in the sun, he was eating, he was yawning in boredom…

Each one was taken very well. He turned to Lu Chong: “They’re all so good, have you practised it specifically?”

Lu Chong said vaguely, “Somewhat.”

In fact, he had deleted all those that were not good enough.

Luo Wencheng kept flipping through them as if he was addicted, putting aside all the business, and Lu Chong didn’t bother him and pondered over the paper by himself.

But after pondering all the way back to the Lu family’s house, he didn’t have a clue. He sent the picture to his confidants who were proficient in this area, but after a day and a night the reply came that it was unbreakable. It was not a regular code, but a private one that only certain people could read.

Lu Chong could only ask “the man paid by Luo Wencheng” to deliver the note to Bruin De Lang and then monitor his reaction.

The code was indeed a private code between Liu Lifu and Bruin De Lang, which only they knew how to decipher, but it was so complicated that Bruin De Lang took some time to decipher it, and when he did, he was furious.

Liu Lifu was his friend, the two had been in the same dormitory when Liu Lifu was studying abroad and were close enough to keep in touch afterwards. In fact, Liu Lifu had been involved in some of those experiments of his, and some of the unethical things Liu Lifu had done had been done with Bruin De Lang’s help abroad.

They were certainly on good terms because they each had a handle on the other and their interests were entangled.

Bruin De Lang felt that if he was caught so easily this time, there must be a mole around him. He didn’t dare to contact anyone else, so he could only contact Liu Lifu, a personal friend, and then ask him to inform someone reliable in the organisation behind him. With his value, he believed that the organisation and his boss would never give up on him easily and would be looking for him all over the world by now. They would definitely come to his rescue as soon as they knew where he was.

Obviously it was just a simple matter, but that old bastard had taken advantage of the situation and asked him to give him control over Luo Wencheng before he would be willing to help.

Previous / ToC / Next

Bruin De Lang was Professor Delang’s real name, but he had never expected it to be known one day, just as he had never expected to be caught one day by a bunch of yellow monkeys.

“Tell me, who was the man who contacted you and who passed on the information to you?” This time the interrogator was Ling Su again, sitting cross-legged in his chair in the large warehouse, a blindingly bright incandescent lamp above his head. He picked up an enlarged photograph and tapped on it: “Is it this man?”

Bruin De Lang, with his hair and beard a mess, was strapped to a chair. He glanced at the man in the photograph; it was none other than Luo Wencheng.

The professor maintained the modesty and demeanour of a cultural person, a high-end scientist with merits and titles. He said in stiff Chinese: “I don’t know what you are talking about. You have caught the wrong person. Are you not afraid of causing an international dispute?”

“Oops, an international dispute, I’m so scared!” Ling Su pretended to be frightened, and then sneered, “You look up to yourself too much. Believe it or not, I will sue you for stealing state secrets first? The information you received is now in the hands of a confidential department of our country, and when you received it, you used the USB flash you usually use, right? We checked it, and it was full of your stuff, papers and the like. There is a mountain of hard evidence!”

Bruin De Lang didn’t understand everything. The words were too long. When the interpreter translated Ling Su’s words to him, he blurted out: “My computer was stolen.”

“Just lie to yourself. You don’t have to worry too much. Let me tell you, that chip was only kept in the hands of the person in the picture for one night, and no one else had a chance to do it. The person who contacted you was him, right? As long as you nod, I will let you go right away,” Ling Su said seductively, but Bruin De Lang continued to insist he knew nothing.

At that moment the warehouse door opened and a few more men came in.

Ling Su stood up in a hurry and bowed, “Sir.”

Lu Chong entered, icy cold, followed by Luo Wencheng, who wasn’t walking in on his own, but was dragged in, his hair dishevelled and his clothes rumpled. At first glance, he was in a bad situation.

Lu Chong pointed to Bruin De Lang: “Do you know this man?”

Luo Wencheng was “rudely” pushed in front of Bruin De Lang. As they stared at each other, he seemed to be about to call out “Professor” the next moment, and Bruin De Lang, seeing his intention, quickly gave him a covert glare and said first, “I don’t know this man at all, I don’t know anything about him, who the hell is he?”

Luo Wencheng, having received the “instructions”, narrowed his eyes and turned to Lu Chong, “Sir, I have never seen this man before.”

“Really? So you didn’t pass that information to him?” Lu Chong said with a smile as he sat down in the chair Ling Su gave to him. But anyone who wasn’t blind could see that behind that smile was the anger that could burn everything.

“I didn’t pass that information.”

“Who else was it if not you? I handed you the chip myself, only to have the information leaked in just that one night.”

Luo Wencheng gave Ling Su a look, “Maybe someone else set me up. As you know, sir, there are quite a few people who are jealous of me getting your favour.”

Ling Su sneered coldly, “Are you saying I’m behind this?”

“I didn’t name any names.”

Lu Chong listened to the two quarrelling, and a thoughtful look appeared on his face before he extended his hand.

Luo Wencheng bent down consciously, and Lu Chong patted his head with his hand wearing a huge domineering watch and a luxurious low-key ring, “I want to believe you too, so here’s the deal. You beat this old man up, and I’ll believe you have nothing to do with him.”

Ling Su’s eyes widened in discontent, “Sir!”

Luo Wencheng’s hands clenched for a moment and he turned his head to look at Bruin De Lang.

Ling Su snorted, “What, you’re afraid to hit your master?”

Luo Wencheng said hesitantly, “It’s not good to hit someone, is it? Seeing as he is also old, in case he is killed…”

Lu Chong said in a cold voice: “So you can’t do it? Then you can stay here and keep him company!”

He made a move to leave. Luo Wencheng hurriedly stopped him and turned towards Bruin De Lang, who looked at him warily but his eyes did not obviously command him to stop. After all, he was caught, and now the only one who could help him was Luo Wencheng, a pawn, and he had to avoid suspicion.

What Bruin De Lang thought was that Luo Wencheng would start lightly and pretend to hit him a few times. But Luo Wencheng clenched his fists, said sorry and slammed hard.

Bruin De Lang tumbled to the floor with his chair, his whole body in a mess and his soul half knocked out of his body.

Are you really beating me?!

The stars scattered before his eyes and he wanted to swear, but there was a cold “Haven’t you eaten that you hit him so lightly?” As soon as those words sounded, Luo Wencheng’s second, heavier punch landed.

One punch, another punch, one more punch. With every punch, an image of his previous life flashed in front of Luo Wencheng’s eyes.

He was trapped in the hospital bed, his whole body was in severe pain and itching but he couldn’t move, he had difficulty breathing and his flesh was rotting and stinking…

With every punch, an image shattered, with every punch, a shred of pain was annihilated, and with every punch, his whole being became more and more relaxed.

In the end he didn’t even know what he was doing anymore. He seemed to have returned to those years, those indescribable days, frantically venting the resentment and hatred that filled his whole body to the point of explosion, doing what he wanted to do but couldn’t do at the time.

Finally a pair of hands pulled him away and used a wet towel to wipe his bloody hands: “There, I believe in your innocence now.”

Lu Chong swept his eyes over Bruin De Lang, who was like a dead dog on the ground, and said to Ling Su, “Get a doctor to treat him, use the best medicine, don’t let him die, and ask about his accomplices.”

After saying this, he pulled Luo Wencheng out of the warehouse and walked until he reached the car. Then he asked Luo Wencheng, who seemed to be a little unresponsive, “Happy?”

Luo Wencheng looked up at the endless night sky, took a long deep breath, then showed a big smile, took Lu Chong’s hand and placed it on his heart: “Here, it has become very light, lighter than it has ever been.”

He was completely unaffected by thinking about those things from his previous life now. No matter what he remembered, even if he made an effort to think about those white worms, he was unaffected. He was free!

Lu Chong raised his hand to ruffle the dark hair on his forehead wet with sweat and smiled, “Then don’t suddenly get upset again or something in the future, I don’t have ten hearts to get scared by you like that.”

Luo Wencheng looked at him steadily and suddenly took his face in his hands and gave him a kiss: “Lu Chong, you’re so nice.”

Lu Chong laughed in a low, pleased voice and lowered his head to press his forehead against Luo Wencheng’s, “Is this a reward?”

“No, it’s a thank you.”

“Then isn’t this quite a light thank you?” The murmuring voice faded away when their lips met.

Luo Wencheng’s eyelashes fluttered, and he did not refuse the kiss.

Zhou Qian and the bodyguards standing by the cars turned their faces away in silence.

Ling Su came out of the warehouse and looked at the two men in the distance who were almost blending into the night. He froze for a moment, turned his head to look elsewhere and secretly rolled his eyes. Think how wise, how calm and commanding, how majestic, how high and mighty his master used to be, and now it could be said that everything he did was for that guy surnamed Luo.

Yesterday afternoon, all forces were suddenly mobilised and all the connections used. In just ten hours, a foreigner was secretly captured and brought to China. No one could say how many resources were burned before and after, and how much risk was taken. The brothers who participated thought that something terrible had happened. If they knew that all this was just to let one person vent his anger, they would probably vomit blood.

But Ling Su had already seen the light after his previous ups and downs. He was at his master’s service. Whatever Master wanted to do and told him to do, he would just do his best to get it done. As for the reason behind it, why ask so many questions? If it wasn’t for that Luo Wencheng, Master probably wouldn’t have taken him back. It was thanks to Luo Wencheng that he could continue to serve Master!

Besides, Master seemed much happier now than before.

Lu Chong did not deepen the kiss for fear that there were people around, and quickly withdrew. Their lips were separated, but their eyes were not. Lu Chong’s eyes almost seemed to be burning. Luo Wencheng, who was staring at him, felt that his whole face and even his whole person were getting hot, and even the cold wind in the middle of the night became warm, even more so than when they kissed.

Lu Chong took his hand, “Let’s go back.”

“Okay.” They were now in a factory under the name of Lu Chong’s company close to the outskirts.

“By the way,” Luo Wencheng suddenly remembered something, “I’ll leave a note, so you can arrange for someone to pretend that I paid him, and give it to the old man secretly when he wakes up. We need to give him some hope, right?”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Lu Chong said, “When we caught him, he didn’t have anything related to that little instrument in your body. Where he put it, who he gave it to, or how many of them there are, everything needs to be investigated slowly. We have to stabilise him, it’s better to let him pass some information through you.”

Lu Chong said that and waved to Ling Su who was over there watching the scenery. The two of them discussed the next actions, while Luo Wencheng mulled over a small note telling Bruin De Lang to bear with him for a while and that he would find a way to save him, but he was still suspected and under surveillance for the time being, so it was difficult to make too many moves. If Bruin De Lang had anything he wanted to explain to him, he could also convey it through the person who passed the note.

The note was given to Ling Su, and he would choose a suitable time to find someone to slip it to Bruin De Lang secretly.

Luo Wencheng was completely relaxed on the way back, looking out of the window. The dark night scene was beautiful, the cool night breeze was comfortable, and he even hummed a little tune intermittently, his good mood quite obvious.

When Lu Chong saw him like this, he felt that everything he had done was worth it.

It was just after three in the morning when they got back to the Lu family’s residence, had supper and went upstairs. When it was time to part ways, Lu Chong slowly stopped in his tracks and called out, “Wencheng.”

“Hmm?” Luo Wencheng casually responded, and then he met a pair of deep, dark eyes. Remembering the blazing heat in these eyes just a short while ago, he coughed uncomfortably, “Well, it’ll be dawn in a while, let’s hurry up and rest.”

With that he slipped into his room and gently closed the door.

Lu Chong was left standing there, smiling a little helplessly. But he didn’t feel disappointed. Since he was starting from scratch, it was a little early, and he had enough patience to wait.

Luo Wencheng flopped down on the bed and sighed softly. To say what kind of feelings he had for Lu Chong now, he definitely liked him a little. It was not difficult to fall in love with him, no matter how many times he started over, but compared to before, it was still a big difference.

The main reason for the emotional excitement right now was gratitude. There was a faint illusion of affection when kissing, but after that it faded a bit. At least Luo Wencheng didn’t have the feeling of wanting to stay with Lu Chong all the time and missing him when he couldn’t see him. It was estimated that the emotions would fade away even more by tomorrow morning.

Someone else would have been in love with Lu Chong after everything that man had done for him, right? Thinking about it, Luo Wencheng felt sorry for Lu Chong, but those emotions were really out of his control, and he couldn’t help it if there was not any passion.

Take your time, Luo Wencheng thought; he would work harder.

Previous / ToC / Next

“Wencheng! Wencheng!!!” Luo Wencheng stopped Lu Chong from approaching with one hand, turned away and vomited again. The nausea was so strong that he almost vomited out his whole stomach. In the end, he couldn’t vomit anymore. He was still holding his knees and retching uncontrollably, tears flowing from his eyes.

Lu Chong silently patted him on the back, and when he had calmed down a bit, took the water brought by the servant: “Rinse your mouth.”

Luo Wencheng took the water and gargled twice, then took a towel and wiped his face. It took him a long time to get over the nausea, and only then did he realise that Lu Chong’s shoes and trouser legs had been soiled.

“I’m sorry.” There was a nasal sound in his voice. His eyes were red and his whole face was flushed. He looked miserable. Lu Chong took him away from the courtyard that was being cleaned by the servant and touched his face: “Are you feeling better? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you this.”

“It has nothing to do with you. I’m fine now, go and clean up.”

“Then sit down for a while, I’ll be down soon.” Lu Chong looked at him and admonished anxiously.

“I’m fine, go ahead.” Luo Wencheng watched Lu Chong go upstairs and sat dumbly on the sofa, still a bit in a daze. Only after a while did he realise that he had a bit of filth on his clothes as well and that he didn’t smell right.

He went upstairs to his room to take a shower.

The old mansion covered a large area but didn’t have many floors. Only the main building had two floors, and there were only two rooms on the second floor. Originally it was a master bedroom and a study, both belonging to the head of the Lu family, that is, Lu Chong. But later Lu Chong converted the study into a bedroom for Luo Wencheng, and the study was moved downstairs.

Lu Chong quickly tidied himself up and went downstairs but saw no one, so he panicked: “Where is he?”

The servant replied, “Mr. Luo has gone to his room.”

Lu Chong went back and knocked on Luo Wencheng’s door. It was unlocked. He pushed the door and heard the sound of rushing water from the bathroom.

He breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that he had been in this kind of situation of gains and losses for a long time, fearing that if he didn’t watch constantly, Luo Wencheng would disappear again.

He was leaning against the wall facing the bathroom door and had time to think. Luo Wencheng’s reaction was very strange. He was not a squeamish person, so he wouldn’t vomit like that when he heard those few words. His reaction was very much like…

In the bathroom, Luo Wencheng turned off the water and came to the mirror, propped both hands on the sink and looked at himself in the mirror, water dripping down his wet hair. He looked at his fair, intact skin, but those images from his previous life kept flashing in his mind like snapshots.

The nausea that he had felt a moment ago had gone. He wasn’t too sick to throw up again and again over some bugs, but those images were more vivid than ever. He even had the illusion of countless worms crawling all over him.

He could even conjure up that picture of white worms crawling out of his own flesh.

He wiped his face and scratched his hair, his whole being in chaos and confusion. He was conscious of the fact that he was in the wrong state; if he found out about it when he was at his most normal, he would not have reacted so badly. But now, he simply couldn’t control himself, fantasising in the most extreme direction.

He wanted to kill someone!

He was going to go mad!

“Ah!!!” He swept the items off the sink counter with one hand.

With a bang, the bathroom door slammed open, and a nervous Lu Chong burst in, looking at the young man holding on to the sink and gasping for breath. Meeting his fierce cold gaze, Lu Chong was stunned. He took the robe from a side shelf and draped it over Luo Wencheng. Then ignoring the water all over him, he held the young man tightly in his arms, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Luo Wencheng’s wet hair pressed against Lu Chong’s shoulder and neck, quickly wetting half of the clothes he had just changed into. He said fiercely, “Lu Chong, I want him dead!”

His voice was hoarse from the strain, but there was a frantic ruthlessness to it, “I want him dead right now, I want to kill him!”

Lu Chong lowered his eyes to hide his emotions and gently soothed, “Okay, let him die, he deserves to die.”

The comforting words said over and over again finally calmed Luo Wencheng’s irritable emotions. Such an exertion made him feel extremely tired. Lu Chong half-helped and half-carried him to the bed. After his hair was dried, Luo Wencheng lay down and fell asleep.

One of his hands still clenched Lu Chong’s clothes tightly.

When Lu Chong looked at him like this, his heart was aching and soft, as if it had melted into a messy lump.

The sun was shining outside the window. It was still a few hours before dark. Lu Chong took the remote control from the bedside and closed the curtains. The room suddenly became dim. He opened the quilt and lay in, took Luo Wencheng into his arms, and then took out his mobile phone and started sending messages.

It was midnight when Luo Wencheng woke up. The smell of food floated all over the room, and his entirely empty stomach contracted in revolt.

“Wencheng, Chengcheng, it’s time to get up and have something to eat.” A hand smoothed his hair, rubbed his scalp and stroked his ears for a while, waking him up as if coaxing a child.

Luo Wencheng opened his eyes lazily, lying on his back and not wanting to move. Lu Chong also lay on his back and looked at him levelly: “Shall we eat something?”

Luo Wencheng blinked his eyes, not wanting to move, not having an appetite.

“You have to eat something, otherwise you won’t have the strength to beat people to vent your anger.”

Locke Wencheng looked at him with wide open eyes.

“Bruin De Lang was caught,” Lu Chong said, “That is Professor Delang.”

Luo Wencheng hesitated for two seconds before sitting up sharply, “Caught? How did you catch him?”

He had been wearing a bathrobe before he went to bed and hadn’t even tied the belt, so when he sat up, his chest was exposed. Lu Chong covered him up and picked up a bowl of sweet soup: “First drink some soup for starters.”

Luo Wencheng was fed two spoonfuls of soup in a daze before his whole body finally woke up: “I’ll do it myself. How did you catch the man?”

He picked up the bowl of sweet soup. He didn’t know what it was made of, but it was particularly moisturising and delicious, so he gulped it all down. It wasn’t a large amount, just an appetiser, and he felt even hungrier after that.

Lu Chong moved the small dining table to the bed, “Eat first, I’ll tell you when you’ve eaten.”

On the table was a bowl of white porridge, followed by four or five plates of side dishes, fried squash strips, fried tender eggs, chicken with mushrooms and braised beans… They were all simple dishes, but they were all Luo Wencheng’s favourites. Luo Wencheng drank a large bowl of porridge with these dishes.

“Are you full?” Lu Chong asked him.

In fact, he wasn’t full. Luo Wencheng’s appetite had completely awakened, and he felt like he could eat two more bowls, but he didn’t have the intention to eat any more, so he nodded and said he was full.

Lu Chong told him to change his clothes, while telling him what had happened.

In fact, Lu Chong’s original plan was to lure Bruin De Lang to China first and then observe and investigate for a while before making the best plan to take action. But Luo Wencheng’s reaction during the day made him change his plan.

Because the other party agreed to come to China and finally stepped out of the shadows and returned to the university where he worked, Lu Chong had someone go there directly to seize the man and bring him back to China through a special channel. The plane just landed half an hour ago.

“I seized him in the name of finding out that the deep sea excavation technology was transmitted to him, so you have been suspected by me of being a traitor. The next step is for me to take you to confront him, do you understand?”

Luo Wencheng was surprised; was this a new script?!

“This professor is arrogant and suspicious. I have considered using human experiments or drug research as an entry point to investigate him. But this is his field after all, and he could easily suspect something was wrong with you that led me to him. That would put you in more danger instead. But if I found out through some IT that you and he might be in some kind of contact and caught him to confront you, it would make more sense,” Lu Chong said.

Luo Wencheng understood in seconds, “In this way, if he falls into your hands, it will be logical to do whatever you want to him while investigating him. And if he wants to escape, he must rely heavily on me as his inside man, and is even less likely to touch me easily.”

“That’s right, but after all, it’s a bit radical to do so. In case he goes crazy, he might directly declare you his person and demand you to turn against me on the spot so that everyone dies together. Or if he feels that you caused him to fall to this point, regardless of anything, he will kill you first…”

Lu Chong stopped and did not say anything further. This was exactly what he was worried about, so his initial choice was to trick the professor into coming to the country and watch him before thinking long and hard about what to do, rather than just seizing him.

“Don’t worry, he’s unlikely to do that.” Luo Wencheng said with an icy sneer, “He’s a scientific research fanatic, he’s so desperate to do more research that he won’t be willing to die together until the last minute.”

Lu Chong laughed, “That’s best. I’ll create an opportunity for you to beat him up in a fair and square way.”

Luo Wencheng was stunned, and then it occurred to him that Lu Chong had changed his plan, captured the man abroad and brought him to China. He didn’t know how much extra effort Lu Chong had put in just for him to be able to vent his anger as soon as possible.

It didn’t really matter; as long as the old man was duly punished in the end and Luo Wencheng was able to save his own life, that would be enough. Even Luo Wencheng himself, although he was screaming for immediate revenge and killing the man, understood after he had calmed down that he had to take things one step at a time and be patient. 

But Lu Chong, just because of his words, changed his plans and put in who knows how much effort so that once he woke up, everything was ready, just waiting for his anger to be taken out.

At this moment, his heart felt truly a million different things.

“Why did you stop?” Luo Wencheng stopped moving halfway during dressing, and Lu Chong took a coat out of the wardrobe and put it on him, “It’s cold outside, don’t freeze.”

Luo Wencheng suddenly turned around and pinned him against the wardrobe, “Lu Chong.”

The two of them were very close, with their knees and their bodies pressed together. He grabbed Lu Chong’s collar and pulled him down a little bit, staring into Lu Chong’s eyes, the tip of his nose against the tip of Lu Chong’s nose. Their breath was mingling. Luo Wencheng laughed lightly: “I seem to start liking you a little bit again.”

“A little bit”, “start liking”, “again”, this sentence actually contained a lot of information.

Lu Chong’s gaze flickered slightly, then returned to deep and gentle. Being gazed at by him, one could feel an illusion of drowning in that affection: “After all I’ve done, I only get ‘a little’ liking from you?”

In the gentleness, there was a hint of faint grievances.

Luo Wencheng smiled and said, “Well, you’ve earned a lot of points.” He kissed him on the lips, “Okay, let’s get down to business.”

Before Lu Chong could catch him, he slipped away. Lu Chong looked at the door with an amused smile and gently touched the place where he had been kissed. This seemed to be the first time in a long while that Luo Wencheng had taken the initiative to kiss him.

So the previous resistance, the previous indifference and seeming neither close nor distant, was because he didn’t like him anymore?

A belated heartache squeezed Lu Chong’s heart; his breath hitched as he held onto the wardrobe door, feeling dizzy.

But then a shout came from downstairs: “Lu Chong, hurry up!”

There was excitement in the voice, and it seemed that nothing had changed.

A hint of sweetness emerged from the heavy heartache, firmly occupying a corner.

It didn’t matter, he was still him, and he was still him. They missed and lost it twice, and now it would be good to start over.

Translator’s note: I see some reviews that express dissatisfaction that Wencheng’s feelings for Lu Chong are gone. Well, they are gone, true, it’s the price he pays. But he has lost the love and hope he had, not his ABILITY to love and hope. I think it is a very important point the author makes: that no matter how many times Wencheng is stripped of his feelings, he still has strength and courage to love again and hope again. Calling him “a different person” for that is like calling a character who suffered an accident and re-learns to walk “a different person”.

Another thing that really surprised is some people echoing each other that Lu Chong really didn’t know the teenage Luo Wencheng and just loved the idea of him. Come on, the guy risked his life to save him. The guy saved the kitten even though he himself was in danger. The guy sacrificed his life without a second thought to protect him. Doesn’t it say anything about him as a person? What do you need to know to know someone? His mother’s maiden name? It was not “the idea” dying in Lu Chong’s arms, it was a lively, cute, idealistic, brave and caring teenager. Was the teenage Wencheng so unloveable that Lu Chong needed to love “the idea” of him?

Previous / ToC / Next

Lu Chong’s business, on the surface, was a large enterprise with numerous subsidiaries, called Lu Group, but there was also a part of it that was not visible on the surface. It meant that Lu Chong was mostly white, and the semi-black part was in the grey area. Then through the white part, he could cover and control the grey part.

From his head office to his subsidiaries, most of the people in important positions were his close subordinates or certain members of the Lu family, and a small number of them also were involved in the grey sector.

This was the case with Ling Su. After finishing interrogating Director Li twice more that day, he was transferred back to his former position in the head office. Ordinary employees only thought that their boss had been transferred to work in a subsidiary for a while, but the insiders knew very well how Ling Su had been removed and how he had come back.

Someone came over to joke, “Ling Su, you’ve had a hard time pleasing that big red guy.”

Now they didn’t dare to call Luo Wencheng “little white boy”, but the title “big red guy” (red meaning popular) didn’t mean much respect either.

Ling Su looked coldly at this man who wasn’t on good terms with him. If any more gossip appeared because of him, he would really have to retire completely. Thinking of what Lu Chong had said to him, Ling Su showed a frivolous smile: “What hard time? You don’t know, I did Mr. Luo a big favour this time and he put in a good word for me with Master despite the past grudges. So Master decided to promote me to vice president.”

He said proudly and with feeling, “After taking a half-year vacation in vain, I’m still being promoted. Mr. Luo is really my lucky star! I had so many prejudices against him before, and I was really guilty.”

The other person’s face turned blue.

Vice president? There were only three vice president positions in the head office. One was the most senior elder under the late old master and the other was an elder of the Lu family with a very high seniority.

The former was actually quite indifferent to Lu Chong, but he was loyal to the old master, rigid and old-fashioned, conscientiously guarding the business left by the old master. He was not often in charge, but he was something like a sacred existence in the head office.

The latter was a mascot that looked good and appeased the hearts of the Lu family, but had little real power.

When Lu Chong left for Haining back then, he didn’t intend to return. He had arranged positions for all the people under him, the head office, the subsidiaries, the overt ones and the covert ones. For the position of the third vice president of the head office, he was going to arrange someone when he retired completely. The three vice presidents would keep each other in check, and as long as no one did anything wrong, the business would be safe for several years.

However, Lu Chong not only did not retire, but also came back, and once he came back, he returned to his position as the head of the company, and turned over the whole company upside down from top to bottom.

Not to mention the remaining vice president vacancy, even the first two vice presidents shrank their necks and reduced their sense of presence. At this time, someone was going to be suddenly promoted to the third vice president?

No one could guess what their boss was thinking, but the only thing that was certain was that the third vice president’s position should not be Ling Su’s in any way.

In terms of age, seniority, contribution and ability, there were plenty of people ahead of him, so why should such a good thing go to Ling Su?

Too many people were dissatisfied, complained and secretly gathered to speculate, but no matter how much they jumped, Ling Su still quickly and formally was promoted to vice president. At the same time, another person attracted everyone’s attention.

That man was Zhou Qian.

Lu Chong promoted him to be his special assistant, bringing him to his side for personal guidance and giving him great authority.

Who was Zhou Qian?

Everyone looked confused. This was simply a name that they have never heard of. Some people asked Zhou Yishan if this was his relative, and Zhou Yishan replied with “hehe”.

Then people found out that Zhou Qian had worked with the “big red guy”.

Everyone was silent.

Ling Su had been promoted to one of the three vice presidents because someone said a few good words for him, and Zhou Qian had soared to the top because he had followed someone.

Their top boss was clearly sending a message – those who are pro-Luo Wencheng would be given opportunities.

People were dissatisfied. They complained to the two vice presidents that Ling Su and Zhou Qian were not qualified enough and it was too unfair. The two vice presidents kept their mouths shut and made it clear that they didn’t care about this matter and that people with a clearer head and clearer vision wouldn’t get involved.

Some fools were bold enough to suggest directly to Lu Chong at the meeting that there should be transparency and fairness and so on. Lu Chong did not often attend such company meetings, and what required his presence was often not the kind of the business on the surface; but as long as he was present, all the heads of the company’s departments, large and small, would be present, so the whole conference room was full of people.

Lu Chong glanced at these faces lightly and said unhurriedly, “This is my company and my property. I promote whoever I like and reappoint whoever I like. You want to talk to me about justice, should we call a board of directors meeting first?”

Everyone froze. They did not expect Lu Chong to say these words.

But when they thought about it, it was true. This was his company, his property.

As for his relatives, Lu Chong did inherit Lu Group from his father; but the current Lu Group was something Lu Chong had fought hard to create on his own, and no one was in a strong enough position to dictate what he should do. The sixty-odd percent of shares Lu Chong personally owned was enough to put him in the position of an absolute leader.

In the past, he was fair, rewarding generously and clear in his punishments, so much so that he made everyone forget that he was the rule-maker and could play the game however he wanted, without needing anyone’s approval at all.

Now he just employed people according to his mood, and if you didn’t agree, you could either hold your tongue or go and please the big red guy too!

The meeting ended in a weird atmosphere, and then that afternoon, Luo Wencheng found out about Lu Chong’s feat. It was Lu Chong himself who told him about it smugly, waiting for praise.

Luo Wencheng, who was pruning the branches in the courtyard, was speechless: “Aren’t you afraid of ruining your company by doing that?”

“If it’s ruined, it’s ruined. As long as I’m still here, it won’t get too messy.” Lu Chong squeezed Luo Wencheng’s hand and said carelessly.

As for what would happen in the future when he was no longer there… he wouldn’t have children anyway, so what did it matter to him what happened in the future?

“Don’t those people dislike you because I’m nice to you? I just want them to know that you are my most important person and that they all bundled together aren’t worth as much as one finger of yours.” Lu Chong said very rudely, “Now those people should be racking their brains thinking how to please you. If you are happy, play with them. If you are unhappy, treat them as if they don’t exist. I have cleaned the house inside and outside and rearranged it. Even if one uses a special force team, it’s not possible to get in.”

Luo Wencheng looked at Lu Chong for a while. Lu Chong’s eyes were shining, almost as if “Am I a good boy?” was written on his face.

Luo Wencheng put down the big scissors in his hand, cupped the man’s face with both hands and pulled it closer: “Are you really Lu Chong? You’re not possessed by some love brain, are you?”

“Don’t you like it?” The tall, big man said inarticulately, aggrieved.

Luo Wencheng rolled his eyes, “You should really take a good look in the mirror. You look like a dim-witted ruler, the kind who abandoned a bunch of veteran heroes and meritorious officials for a favoured concubine.”

“You are not a favoured concubine, you are My Majesty the King. Everything I have is yours, including my life.” Lu Chong took Luo Wencheng’s hand and kissed it reverently.

“You… where did you learn all this? Corny to death.” Luo Wencheng couldn’t stand it and withdrew his hand, but the faint smile at the corners of his eyes revealed his pleasure at the moment.

Seeing that he was teased, Lu Chong breathed a sigh of relief.

When Luo Wencheng first came back, he had to put on a show for the professor, and even though there were some strange things, Lu Chong only thought that Luo Wencheng was pretending. Afterwards, when the crisis of being watched passed and the two of them talked about what had happened more than ten years ago, he was in a state of great joyful excitement for days.

It was only gradually afterwards that he realised that something was wrong with Luo Wencheng.

Mostly his face was expressionless and his eyes were more cold than calm, no matter what he did or looked at. Sometimes he looked happy one moment, then inexplicably irritable the next moment. At times he seemed well adjusted to the life he was living, but more often he seemed to be struggling to remain patient, unable to suppress the gloom that filled his eyes. Even when he looked at Lu Chong, there was little warmth in his gaze.

Joy and anger were indeterminate, he didn’t care about anything and seemed to lack interest in everything. He was obviously right in front of Lu Chong, but Lu Chong had a sense of fear and panic as if he couldn’t touch, couldn’t grasp no matter what.

Lu Chong didn’t know what made Luo Wencheng what he was now. Every time he saw his negative emotions disguised as if nothing had happened, he felt distressed. He would try his best to change him back, and if he couldn’t, he would do everything he could to make Luo Wencheng happy every day.

Luo Wencheng was indeed amused by him, and while he continued to cut off the too dense branches, he asked, “Any news from that professor?”

When it came to business, Lu Chong’s face became serious.

Several days passed since Director Li was tortured, and according to Director Li’s revelations, Professor Delang had been invited to Haining as a Doctor of Medicine, but of course not under the name of Professor Delang. With this clue, Professor Delang’s identity was completely figured out, and surprisingly, he was really an old professor with considerable virtue and prestige.

Lu Chong asked someone to invite Professor Delang to China again in the name of an official exchange. 

“He has already agreed and will arrive in two days.”

Luo Wencheng was surprised: “He just took the bait?”

“That depends on what the bait is.”

Luo Wencheng waited, but didn’t wait for the continuation, “Don’t just say half of it.”

“You’d better not listen, I’m afraid it’ll spoil your appetite and we’re going to eat later.” Lu Chong didn’t want to say it, because it was really too disgusting.

“Am I that fragile? How disgusting a few words can be? Speak up.”

Lu Chong had no choice but to say, “What this Professor Delang did was simply heinous. When he came to Haining, what he was working on was not actually this project of yours, but a parasitic worm. According to the information obtained, this parasite initially only infests the human immune system, reproducing at a low rate but gradually destroying the normal immune cells little by little. It is able to remain unnoticed during immune tests and resist most anthelmintic drugs. And when the person’s  immune system is completely ruined, the parasites will crawl out and multiply all over the body, gnawing…”

The more Luo Wencheng listened, the more his body stiffened. He suddenly thought of the image of himself rotting away at the end of his previous life, maggots all over his body. He had always thought it was the drugs that had done that, that he was half dead from general exhaustion and his whole body was failing. Could it be that it was actually…

His stomach surged fiercely, and he bent over and vomited.

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Luo Wencheng did not immediately answer this question. Lu Chong then continued: “You first appeared in Haining. Later you mentioned that you had a father and elder brother. Your upbringing and appearance all indicated that you were born in a wealthy and powerful family. There were many such small clues. The most important thing was that, when you appeared again, Ribs was unusually warm to you, even… even when she was about to leave, she had to have you by her side to feel at ease.”

Lu Chong said with a bitter smile, “Animals are much more spiritual than people. The little girl recognised you the first time she saw you. I didn’t even think in that direction, although I also found you familiar in many ways and many things made me like you.”

Apart from not remembering Luo Wencheng’s face, there was also a big reason why he had always thought that the young man back then was not an ordinary person, if not from an alien planet, then from some mysterious race.

“I’m sorry, Wencheng, you have already come to me, and I didn’t recognise you and did a lot of things that made you sad,” he said gently and guiltily.

Luo Wencheng was uncomfortable hearing his words, silently turned his face away and whispered quietly, “Corny.”

He couldn’t help but wonder what Lu Chong’s face would look like if he said that wasn’t him. Would he be upset, shocked, and struggling like he had before?

Luo Wencheng felt his own emotions at the moment and realised that compared to the complete indifference at the beginning, he now felt a hint of intolerance towards Lu Chong and his sad emotions.

Was this a little bit of progress?

He couldn’t help but glance at Lu Chong as he said lightly, “It’s not your fault. I only recently remembered it.”

Receiving this affirmative answer, Lu Chong was relieved, showing an almost silly smile, holding Luo Wencheng’s hand tightly, not knowing what to say for a moment. He could only repeat: “This is amazing! This is amazing!”

Luo Wencheng then watched as Lu Chong’s eyes slowly turned red and even glistened with water, and when he wanted to look away, he was embraced once again.

This hug was different from the past, and Luo Wencheng heard the pounding heartbeat in the man’s chest. He couldn’t empathise with it but did wait for Lu Chong to finish with his excitement with some understanding.

But one minute, two minutes, three minutes…

He patted the man, “Have you finished hugging yet?”

“Not finished hugging. Chengcheng, you’re not going to leave me again, are you?” The man asked in a very vulnerable tone.

Luo Wencheng’s teeth almost ached at the tone and the “Chengcheng”: “Speak normally!” After a pause, he said, “I won’t leave until I die.”

Lu Chong laughed and pulled him closer, “I won’t let you leave, let’s go do the examination first.”

Lu Chong had some suspicions about the power behind Professor Delang. After all, even the big shots were not all willing to touch or dared to touch such things as experimenting on humans. Coupled with the characteristics of the new drugs, the scope of suspicion was greatly reduced.

He had people keep an eye on the suspected domestic and foreign powers, and after two months, finally found that one of them was recruiting talents in the area of deep sea excavation. At that point, the target could basically be identified.

At the same time, the annual medical conference in Beijing was held, and invitations were widely distributed to well-known hospitals and well-known doctors across the country. A maternal and child health centre in Haining received one that invited Director Li to participate by name.

Because the case of amniotic fluid embolism rescue that Director Li personally performed successfully at the beginning of this year was praised all over the country, Director Li immediately became famous in China. For a small maternal and child health centre in a small county, this was an unprecedented honour. The director of the county hospital came to congratulate him.

Amidst the looks of admiration, congratulations and jealousy, Director Li embarked on a flight to the north.

After the plane landed, the organiser sent a special car to pick up Director Li, who happily got into the car and then arrived at the hotel.

The hotel was very nice, and Director Li decided to take a shower first and then sleep to replenish his energy.

However, as he washed, for some reason his head got heavier and heavier, and by the time he realised something was wrong he no longer had the strength to open the door. His feet slipped and he passed out on the floor.

The bathroom door was opened from the outside; there were several people there. Ling Su looked into the bathroom and waved his hand in front of his nose in disgust, while the others rushed in, picked up Director Li and took his clothes.

An hour or so later, a new Director Li appeared. He was dressed in Director Li’s clothes, wearing Director Li’s watch, and a make-up artist was working, making him look exactly like the real Director Li who was unconscious on the bed.

“Done.” The make-up artist finally announced; the new Director Li was exactly the same as the old one.

Ling Su sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, taking a closer look at the face, “Out there, no one is allowed to make the slightest mistake, you know? Your Brother Ling almost got retired. This task is a hard-won one, so don’t mess with me.”

In order to be able to do his job again, Ling Su had to spare no effort sucking up to that kid surnamed Luo for three months. He was about to lose it. When Ling Su thought about it, his face turned a bit black.

The fake Director Li smiled, “Don’t worry about it, Brother Ling.” He was speaking with the exact same demeanour and tone as Director Li, no more no less.

Ling Su nodded and waved his hand at the two men, who then retreated.

Someone examined the unconscious Director Li up and down, inside and out, “Brother Ling, he definitely doesn’t have anything on him that transmits a signal.”

“Alright, wake up our friend.” After Ling Su’s words, someone threw a basin of icy water on Director Li’s face.

Director Li woke up with a jolt, only to find that his limbs were tied up and several people in the room were surrounding him, looking extremely fierce.

“You, who are you?” He said in horror.

“Why be so surprised? If you walk at night, you will surely meet ghosts. Think of all the bad things you’ve done, you should have expected this day to come, right?” Ling Su said lazily, “Now start explaining everything you have done to anger God.”

“What are you talking about? Have you gotten the wrong person?”

“Still refusing to tell, are you?” Ling Su sighed, seemingly helpless about the other party’s lack of cooperation, “Then since you know Professor Delang, tell us about this one.”

Director Li’s face instantly stiffened; it was really about this matter.

Professor Delang had left China more than three months ago. Director Li thought it was all over, otherwise he wouldn’t leave Haining and come to Beijing.

A few hours later, Luo Wencheng hung up the phone and continued to distribute the soil for the new potted plants, “Ling Su called, the professor’s identity was confirmed. The person behind him is the same as the one we determined before. I’ll have him report directly to you for details.”

He filled one pot with soil and Lu Chong gave him the next empty one, “Actually if you don’t like him…”

“I really don’t like him much, the man is too aggressive, but that’s a personal matter between me and him. Lu Chong, you don’t need to quarrel with the people around you because of me. Ling Su is very efficient in his work, loyal to you and does everything without any personal feelings. He is an invaluable helper, it’s a shame to hang him out to dry like this.”

Luo Wencheng continued his actions, adding the fertiliser to the pots. Then he began to stuff the seeds into the pots, saying as he did so, “I know that you and the brothers under your command have had a bad time over the past six months or so because of me. It really was unnecessary.”

Lu Chong used to be a liberal and magnanimous person, at least when it came to the people under his command; but since the car crash, he had become harsh and demanding, looking at everyone with displeasure, and even with Lao Ding and Liu Weizhi, the trust and intimacy of the past was gone.

Those people were not fools, they had their own thoughts. No matter how loyal the heart is, no matter how strong the relationship is, it can’t stand too much grinding. Luo Wencheng didn’t want to see Lu Chong destroy the solid part of his rearguard because of him.

Of course, the most important reason was that the way people looked at him when they happened to run into each other sometimes annoyed him.

It was as if he was some kind of a traitor who damaged the country and caused suffering to the people.

Not only did Lu Chong ask him to stay in the Lu family’s old house, taking care of him in every way; basically, no matter what Lu Chong did, no matter how important the occasion was, he would bring Luo Wencheng along with him, and it was getting worse and worse.

Luo Wencheng now felt that some people seemed to be ready to “clear evil ministers around the ruling monarch”.

In the end, it was because the difference in their social status and power level was too great that Luo Wencheng was tired just thinking about it. Obviously he should have been content. He knew that he should have lived his life to the fullest. He knew that Lu Chong was one hundred percent on his side. He should have felt more and more at peace and comfortable; but when he thought about it, those world-weary thoughts seemed to pop up every minute.

That Ling Soo, trying to find ways to see him all day long to make amends; Luo Wencheng was actually annoyed with him. He didn’t hate the man, but he hated being bothered.

“Just assume I don’t want to be the focus of conflict,” he said.

Lu Chong looked at him in silence for a long time and said, “I didn’t think about it well. I know what to do.”

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When Luo Wencheng came, Lu Chong was already waiting on the balcony. The balcony was enclosed in glass and comfortably warmed by the air conditioner.

After a couple of drinks, Lu Chong was called out, so Luo Wencheng took the opportunity to install three cameras in his room, and when Lu Chong came back he pretended that nothing had happened. In fact, the two men knew everything when they looked at each other.

Luo Wencheng got up to say goodbye, but Lu Chong suddenly took his hand: “Stay tonight.”

Luo Wencheng froze for a moment and said in a panicked, shy tone, “What are you talking about?”

But with his back to the camera he gave Lu Chong a quiet glare; the man knew there were cameras in the room!

Lu Chong laughed, stroking his head, “Just sleep with me, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep these days looking for you, shouldn’t you make it up to me?”

He gently hooked his fingers. It was too difficult and risky for them to have private communication at other times, but if they were under the covers it was as good as under the blanket in the car. No camera could capture what they were doing.

Luo Wencheng lowered his head sheepishly, “Okay.”

Lu Chong went to take a shower and came out. The two of them lay down on the bed and turned off the light.

Lu Chong held Luo Wencheng in his arms, and the void in his heart seemed to be filled all at once. He wanted to ask Luo Wencheng about the past, but now he couldn’t mention anything.

He glanced at the stud in Luo Wencheng’s left ear in the darkness and smiled a little, then asked about Luo Wencheng’s future plans. Luo Wencheng said he was going back to school. As they talked, Lu Chong slipped an earplug into Luo Wencheng’s right ear.

Luo Wencheng listened to the words Lu Chong had recorded in the earplug in advance.

Lu Chong now had two plans; one was to investigate Professor Delang himself and everything behind him, and the other was to increase Luo Wencheng’s value.

The other side was only ordering him to do surveillance now, but if what he spied on was so important that the other side needed him to do more, they were bound to be unwilling to abandon him easily. On the one hand, it would buy them more time, and on the other hand, Professor Delang might contact Luo Wencheng more frequently, whether by phone or by sending people to contact him. The more contacts there were, the more entry points there would be for their side to investigate.

Lu Chong was prepared to work on both fronts at the same time, but a sudden move on their side would look suspicious. That was why Lu Chong arranged an assassination attempt on himself so that he would have a reason to make some big noise.

After listening, Luo Wencheng took out the earplug, took Lu Chong’s hand under the quilt and wrote quietly: This isn’t dangerous, is it?

What he asked about was the assassination attempt. Lu Chong didn’t tell him that for it to look realistic he was really looking for a professional killer to try to kill him. He just said that everything was arranged by him and there would be no danger. It was just that Luo Wencheng should not leave the villa during this time.

The two of them had two sets of exchanges in public and in private, which was very labour-consuming and exhausting, and they felt tired after a while. Lu Chong really hadn’t slept well for months, and Luo Wencheng, in Professor Delang’s hands, had to pretend every day and was also very tired. The two soon hugged each other and fell asleep.

Luo Wencheng was hugged, but there were no waves in his heart and there was no change in his heart rate. He slept peacefully until dawn.

A few days later, Lu Chong was ambushed while he was out. He suffered a gunshot wound and was furious. Coupled with the last car accident, he was so angry that he used all his manpower to investigate and decided to go back to Beijing.

What he said to Luo Wencheng was that Haining was no longer safe after two consecutive attacks within a few months, and he had to return to Beijing to do some work.

“That can’t be helped. It’s a pity I still want to go to school,” Luo Wencheng said regretfully.

Lu Chong nudged his nose, “Don’t go to school. I’ll get you a big studio if you want to paint, and you can help me do other things. After these two incidents, I suspect there are spies around. Now ah, the only person I can trust is you.”

He looked like a dim-witted ruler, but in a few words he actually gave Luo Wencheng an extremely important identity. Luo Wencheng looked at him with a touched expression, laughing in his heart. The man was adding more and more small details to the script.

That night, Luo Wencheng finally received his first phone call from Professor Delang, in which he was told to follow Lu Chong to Beijing.

Luo Wencheng said, “Yes, but I heard that the Lu family’s main residence is very heavily guarded. Those cameras might not be able to be installed, and what I have on me, I might not be able to bring in either.”

“The one in your earring will definitely not be detected. Destroy the rest. Someone will contact you when you get to Beijing. Do whatever Lu Chong tells you to do and don’t get suspected.” Professor Delang ordered him; he seemed to be receiving instructions as he spoke.

Luo Wencheng hung up the phone and thought to himself: as Lu Chong expected, this was going to be a big game.

However, when he arrived in Beijing, the person who was supposed to contact him did not show up even half a month later, when Lu Chong ostentatiously stuffed something into his hand.

“What is this?” Luo Wencheng looked at the chip in a transparent box.

“Deep sea excavation technology, an amends gift from Chen Jingqiu to me,” Lu Chong said.

“Chen Jingqiu, the head of the Chen family?”

Lu Chong pinched his face: “Smart. This guy’s ambitions are higher than the sky but his guts are smaller than a mouse’s. At the beginning, his eldest son and his brother-in-law ambushed me and almost blinded me. He was worried that I would settle the score with him and immediately got his brother-in-law killed to make amends for me. Then he turned around and stirred up trouble behind the scenes. That car accident in Haining was done by his men with his connivance. The post on the campus forum against you was also related to him. I told him today that he could either apologise to me, or I would bet most of my fortune to destroy the Chen family, send a car to hit him every day and find a killer to kill him, and he gave in.”

“So this is what he’s offering you as an amends gift? Just one technology?” Luo Wencheng asked.

“Baby, do you know how important deep sea excavation technology is?” Lu Chong said, “There are countless mineral resources in the deep sea but they can’t be mined because of technical reasons. The Chen family has been researching this technology for over ten years. Although it’s not mature enough, what’s in this chip is definitely a global leading technology.”

Luo Wencheng: “Is that so? Then what are you going to do with this thing? Find someone to continue the research?”

“No, I’m going to take it and give it away.”

“Give it away?”

“My previous actions in Haining were too conspicuous and made some people at the top look at me badly, so it’s just the right time to use this to go and make amends.”

“Is the dignified Lu Jiuye also afraid?”

“Of course there are times when I’m afraid. I’m still afraid every day that you’re not happy.” Lu Chong said in a flirtatious tone, “You will go with me tomorrow, I’ll introduce you to some people. By the way, that place is rather strict, no communication tools are allowed.”

“Understood,” Luo Wencheng said as he and Lu Chong looked at each other. There was no need for words to communicate what they meant.

After returning to his room, Luo Wencheng waited for a short time before a phone call came, still from the same long-unheard-from Professor Delang.

He was asked to pass on the contents of the chip to Professor Delang immediately.

Luo Wencheng looked at the chip and thought to himself, to draw out this old fox, some investment was definitely needed.

He turned on his computer, transferred the stuff over and asked if he was still going to follow Lu Chong to that very strict place tomorrow.

“Of course you go!” Professor Delang got the information and was clearly in a happy mood, “Luo, you’re fantastic! Keep it up! I’m not sure how high the level of security at your national level is. Just in case, take the earring off tomorrow and report back to me when you get back.”

“Yes.” Luo Wencheng turned off his computer, took off the earring straight away and locked it in a drawer, and went out to see that Lu Chong was indeed waiting outside the door.

His gaze first fell on Luo Wencheng’s left ear, “Took it off now?”

“I’m supposed to take it off tomorrow, but it’s not that far off. He’s too busy with the data I’ve passed him to keep an eye on me,” Luo Wencheng said indifferently.

“That’s too risky.” Lu Chong reached out and rubbed his earlobe, then took him into his arms and said with a sigh, “But it’s great that we’ve finally made a step forward.”

It was not just a step, it was the biggest step of all.

Luo Wencheng let Lu Chong hold him, not breaking away or returning the hug, “You went to a lot of trouble for this, didn’t you? Is that information real?”

“The information is real, but I asked a professional to modify it on the chip. This thing was not perfected in the first place, modifying some of it won’t be discovered and it’s enough for them to take a long detour.” Lu Chong straightened up and lovingly touched Luo Wencheng’s face, “When they don’t contact you, I’m worried to death. If this doesn’t attract their attention, I don’t know what else to do. Look, my hair is falling out from worry.”

These days, in order to act, to show that Luo Wencheng was the most important person in his heart, Lu Chong had said a lot of intimate words, even flirtatious words, and now these coquettish words were coming out of his mouth.

But when Luo Wencheng saw the hairy head lowered in front of him, his expression didn’t waver, and inwardly he didn’t want to laugh.

But the man in front of him didn’t seem to realise this. He didn’t care if he didn’t get any rewarding words. He looked up at Luo Wencheng, his eyes calm again. One arm gently wrapped around Luo Wencheng’s waist as he slowly lowered his head…

Although Lu Chong was showing intimacy these days, he had not done anything substantial. As an old-fashioned man with a conservative heart, he must have minded doing this kind of thing under surveillance.

Luo Wencheng looked at Lu Chong’s face getting closer and closer, and thought faintly in his heart, such a pity, if he had done this back then, he would have definitely cooperated happily, but now…

He raised a hand, pressed it to the older man’s shoulder and pushed him back.

Lu Chong looked at him, puzzled.

Luo Wencheng mentally chuckled without any emotion. Did he think it was a matter of course for the two of them to kiss?

“Since we don’t have to beat around the bush, let’s talk about the details of my current situation,” he said.

Lu Chong also remembered the business: “I’ve arranged for someone to give you a full examination.”

“That’s not necessary…” Luo Wencheng paused, “You can check. I’d also like to know what’s going on with this thing in my heart. But I have to tell you first that it shouldn’t be possible to get this thing removed. Because without this thing, I would have been dead a long time ago.”

He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, saying blandly as if he was talking about someone else, “That so-called professor has the remote control that can stop this little apparatus or something. I just need to get that remote control and make sure there’s no second one in someone else’s hands.”

“So that’s the only way you’ll have to live on in the future?”

“That seems about right.”

Lu Chong didn’t speak again for a moment, just looking at him.

Luo Wencheng waited for a while, “What are you looking at?”

“Is it because you saved me?” Lu Chong touched his face and whispered, “Last time you saved me, you disappeared straight away for more than ten years. This time you were originally going to disappear too, but you happened to meet those people. Is that right?”

Luo Wencheng said subconsciously, “Not exactly like that, last time it was…”

He suddenly paused and looked at Lu Chong: “You…”

“Back then you said your name was Bug, but I actually misheard you, you said not Chongchong, you said Chengcheng, right?” Lu Chong stared hard into Luo Wencheng’s eyes, “At that time, it was also you, wasn’t it?”

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