ATAFBS Chapter 14

At the Yu household.

The room fell into a sudden silence after the hanging tone was heard.

Lu Shuicheng’s expression was unpleasant as she threw the phone aside, her chest heaving violently.

Auntie Xu, who had been watching from the beginning, knew that the phone call didn’t go as smoothly as expected.

Still, Lu Shuicheng wasn’t as angry as what Auntie Xu had imagined. She thought for a moment before saying, “I’ve been getting this feeling that he isn’t as obedient as before.”

Auntie Xu comforted her softly, “Madame is worrying too much. Zijin Mountain Villa is used as a prison by Madam Zhou, and it isn’t that good of a place either. Besides, it’s also very normal for the Second Young Master to have a temper at his age.”

Lu Shuicheng seemed convinced. “Really?”

She was aware that something was wrong, that he was slipping out of her grasp. From the time Yu Juan said he would deal with the matter of the engagement, to him going to Zijin Mountain Villa and telling her about the messages before deciding to stay there, every one of those was what Yu Juan wanted to do. If she thought about it carefully, it was as if she was just following his wishes.

Auntie Xu bowed before continuing, “He won’t forget your kindness in raising him, nor would he want to become a child without parents.”

Since there was nobody else who could support him, having no parents meant he would have no one to rely on.

Yu Juan had been been living like this from a young age. It wasn’t that he didn’t know his own circumstances, rather that he didn’t talk about them, and he treated Lu Shuicheng as his own biological mother. Dead people could neither help nor take care of him, after all, so what he cared the most about was his identity.

Lu Shuicheng smiled. “You’re right. How could he ever forget how I painstakingly raised him?”

Yu Juan was still a baby when Lu Shuicheng’s brother and sister-in-law passed away, so the process of transferring the company and the property was really easy, but Yu Zhao didn’t want Yu Juan to live in their house since he was worried Yu Juan would cause trouble over money once he was older. It was Lu Shuicheng who insisted on having Yu Juan stay, saying she would be the one raising him.

While it kept a good reputation for them on the surface, the main reason was actually because of Yu Juan’s engagement to Zhou Huiyue. There were also some things she could make Yu Juan do since she couldn’t bear to have her biological son do them. Yu Juan wasn’t her son by blood, so there was no need for her to spend much effort. She could just give him a candy when the maids stopped him from eating sweets to gain his favor. And if he was to get a toothache from it, she didn’t care much.

Of course, the premise for giving Yu Juan a life of luxury and raising him until such an age was because she believed she could really control Yu Juan and that he won’t just bite the hand that fed him later.

“But as an elder, you can’t just dote on a child, otherwise they’ll end up spoiled.”

When Auntie Xu heard those words, she knew that Lu Shuicheng already had a plan in mind, so she hurriedly echoed, “You’re right. Like this, the child will still be obedient, and only you will be able to decide what they do next.”

Lu Shuicheng thought for a long time before saying, “I need him to be really obedient.”

But Yu Juan was starting to grow disobedient.

*

After Zhou Huiyue was done handling his emails, he looked outside and noticed that the color of the sky had suddenly changed.

He retracted his gaze, but didn’t put away his phone since he was waiting for a call.

Zhou Huiyue had two phones. One was what he had before the car accident that almost cost him his life and left him with severe injuries. It wasn’t affected much, just that half of the screen was shattered. The other was what Su Li had given him after he regained consciousness, and every call on there was under her surveillance.

Three minutes later, the screen lit up from the call of a number without a contact name.

After picking up, the other party greeted him, “How have you been these days?”

It was Hang Jingshan.

Zhou Huiyue answered curtly, “Not bad.”

Hang Jingshan chuckled, “Sounds like you’re in a good mood. Once you’re done hearing what news I have, however, it’s likely that you won’t feel the same.”

Zhou Huiyue’s tone didn’t change. “Speak.”

Hang Jingshan sighed. “I asked around and found out that Bai Yi wishes to speed things up and get this matter resolved in order to avoid any trouble that may arise if it gets delayed too long. I can still try to drag it on for a while, but what do we do next?”

Zhou Huiyue said a name.

Hang Jingshan was stunned for a moment, unable to understand his intention right away.

The Bai family wasn’t a monolithic bloc. These types of families that have been carried on for multiple generations all have similar issues: a lot of money, but too many children. Some wished for a larger share while others wanted everything as a large sum of money was far from enough to satisfy their desires. And while Bai Yi might seem like the most influential figure in the Bai family, even being in charge for several years, he had a few siblings on the lookout for an opportunity. As long as he made a single mistake, they would definitely pounce on him and take over his position.

It was naturally not that easy to have them make a move, so what was necessary was having something good enough as bait.

Zhou Huiyue just happened to have one. After having lived for fifteen years, that much time, all those things have already been revealed.

Hang Jingshan thought for a moment. “When did you find out? Or, perhaps, did you already know Bai Yi would…”

He didn’t continue probing further since he instinctively felt that it might damage their partnership– there were some things that were better left unsaid, after all.

Zhou Huiyue simply said, “It’s just something that happened a long time ago.”

In other words, regardless of how Zhou Huiyue had acquired such information and obtained the evidence, Hang Jingshan would not be able to look into it, and it would be fine as long as he just continued doing things in that direction.

After being silent for a few seconds, Zhou Huiyue suddenly said, “I plan to deal with that person in Zijin Mountain Villa.”

Of course, “deal with” in a reasonable and lawful way, such as bribing Sun Qibai.

Zhou Huiyue had other ways to proceed and only wanted to inform Hang Jingshan. After all, they had a deep relationship as cooperative partners. Since it was part of their plan to have Zhou Huiyue stay here, Hang Jingshan had the right to know if that would change.

Hang Jingshan had to ask again from how surprised he was, “Didn’t you say that it was unnecessary? How come you changed your mind?”

Hang Jingshan was from a wealthy family. Even if he knew that Zhou Huiyue only stayed in Bu Yu Mountain, a place in the middle of nowhere, to deceive others into lowering their vigilance, Zhou Huiyue’s injury wasn’t fake. The latter was really trapped there, and even his phone calls were monitored. Hang Jingshan wouldn’t have been able to live such a life if he were in Zhou Huiyue’s shoes. He believed that Zhou Huiyue should surely feel constrained living like that, making it easy for him to lose his rationale, which might result in him making a mistake eventually.

After having watched for some time, Hang Jingshan had decided on an appropriate solution for Zhou Huiyue.

Bribing Sun Qibai wasn’t difficult. That, or make his life a little difficult so that he wouldn’t have time to bother with the affairs of Zijin Mountain Villa. Afterwards, he could place some of his right-hand men in the nearby village so that Zhou Huiyue’s life wouldn’t be so hard and sad.

Zhou Huiyue refused.

Hang Jingshan was unable to change Zhou Huiyue’s mind.

There were times he felt that Zhou Huiyue was much too daring– to the point that he sometimes had the impression that the other party didn’t really care about himself. It was as if Zhou Huiyue would sacrifice anything to achieve his goals, even himself.

However, regardless of what he thought, having such a partner wasn’t so bad.

Zhou Huiyue didn’t answer Hang Jingshan’s question.

What he said wasn’t wrong, it was indeed unnecessary at first. There was nothing that Sun Qibai could do that would make Zhou Huiyue change since Zhou Huiyue knew how things would develop. It wouldn’t be much longer until he could leave. As for Sun Qibai, he was just someone negligible in the grand scheme of things. He was also a pawn.

Yesterday, however, when Yu Juan was sitting on the sofa, he said he was really annoyed.

For Yu Juan, Zijin Mountain Villa was a really boring place with both people and things he hated. There was really nothing that would make him reluctant to leave.

After going out, he was deceived into buying sour candies by a shopkeeper. While learning how to ride, he fell down several times and had his knees bruised. Zhou Huiyue knew that Yu Juan was the type who rarely got hurt from how doted on he was. Moreover, even though he hated bugs and seeing wounds, he still helped dress Zhou Huiyue’s wound well.

It might seem that Yu Juan was just wasting time without any purpose by staying here, but Zhou Huiyue still felt that it was unfair that Yu Juan had to sacrifice so much without getting anything in return.

And so, he hoped that Yu Juan could be less annoyed.

Hang Jingshan didn’t get a reply, though he didn’t really insist on getting one, and asked again, “How long do you plan to stay there for?”

Zhou Huiyue said, “Still for a while. Depends on the situation.”

He had already been prepared before coming here, and the only unexpected thing was Yu Juan’s sudden arrival.

“All right, it’s up to you.”

Hang Jingshan’s tone became slightly more high-pitched as he said, “Right, it just happens that I have something I forgot to tell you.”

After getting the important matters out of the way, it was now time to gossip.

Hang Jingshan said, “A few days ago, your fiancé really lost his temper in the group chat and confronted his own brother for your sake. However, from what I observed, the Yu family didn’t seem to have any intention to stand up for you.”

He paused for a moment before asking teasingly, “What do you think he means by that?”

Zhou Huiyue answered nonchalantly, “Didn’t you say it yourself, that he’s my fiancé?”

Hang Jingshan, “?”

For real? He was only joking around and didn’t expect Zhou Huiyue to answer this kind of silly question.

Yu Juan might be coming here anytime soon, so Zhou Huiyue hung up the call before that could happen.

Yu Juan didn’t have a great perception of time nor did he agree on a time with Zhou Huiyue, so he would just come randomly. Either early, or after he had taken an afternoon nap.

Zhou Huiyue was waiting for him.

*

Yu Juan woke up from the ringing of his phone.

He didn’t sleep well and his eyes were still closed as he groped around until he found his phone on the table, then picked up with a “hello”.

The other party hesitated for a moment, as if trying to overcome some doubt, then finally seemed to have made up their mind and said, “Hello, I’ve seen your post on the forum and wanted to inquire about the exact details and requirements.”

Yu Juan instantly became clear-minded as he realised that the person was the doctor he had been trying to find for Zhou Huiyue.

He quickly sat up and rested his chin on his knee, running a hand through his hair as he thought for a moment, then decided to first ask, “Hello, may I know which hospital you work at?”

Yu Juan was using a virtual number he had just applied for, so even if others were to look into it, they wouldn’t be able to find out it was him who was looking for a doctor. Still, just to be on the safe side, he wanted to ask about the other party’s information first.

After all, once they reach an agreement, he would be bringing the person here.

The person on the other side of the call was stunned for a moment, thinking that Yu Juan might suspect him to be a swindler since he wasn’t trustworthy enough, so he hurriedly said, “My surname’s Yang and I work in a hospital in Xiuhe District. How about I send you my information through email?”

More than a week ago, the young Dr. Yang saw a post with a really tempting pay.

The seniors at the hospital he worked at all told him that it was better to not want this extra income since it was very weird– what kind of disease did they have that they couldn’t go out but still wanted someone to come make a diagnosis? Moreover, with such a sum of money as the pay, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to hire someone from a private hospital?

It was fishy no matter how he thought about it.

Yu Juan had also considered it, but there was a lack of reliable private hospitals. He was also worried that Su Li would be on guard. It was impossible to bribe all the doctors in public hospitals, so he opted to find one on the forum instead.

Finally, Yu Juan’s enticing amount of pay had managed to convince the young and poor Dr. Yang to agree to come over to diagnose a patient who could, for some reason, not displace themself.

What his seniors were most worried about was the location being in such a remote and desolate place. If the other person turned out to be a bad guy, he would be completely stranded without any help. But, before Dr. Yang began his miserable life at medical school, he was the judo youth champion of the whole city. Even if the other person did turn out to have evil intentions, he believed in his ability to run away.

Yu Juan clicked on his mailbox and opened the hospital’s official website to compare, and only after making sure there wasn’t any issue did he say, “The patient got into a serious car accident two months ago and fractured both of his legs. It’s been a month since he came to the mountains to recuperate. His last consultation was a long time ago, which is why I hope to find a doctor who could check up on him.”

Dr. Yang was greatly taken aback, “Why not go to the hospital? The patient still needs to go through rehabilitation, no?”

Yu Juan didn’t expect the doctor to still have so many questions and was quite troubled, but he could only explain, “Because his elders believe that the air in the mountains is more fresh and better for recuperating.”

Dr. Yang couldn’t help but curse, “Are they crazy or what!”

“Cough, cough.” Perhaps because Dr. Yang realised that cursing wasn’t good, he pretended that he didn’t say those words.

Yu Juan believed that the doctor was a good person with an overwhelming sense of justice, and smiled before saying, “It’s because they aren’t related by blood.”

After staying silent for a few minutes, Dr. Yang said in a resolute tone, “Let’s just report this to the police, okay?”

Yu Juan sighed. “However, his elders didn’t abuse him. If we report it to the police, the situation might actually even worsen.”

Even if the police came, what could they say? This was a family matter. Zhou Heng and Su Li didn’t abuse Zhou Huiyue. In fact, they even hired a caretaker for him. In this case, the police couldn’t intervene.

Dr. Yang also thought the same. He had seen many such cases while working in the hospital, where one would give up on their own family’s life for the sake of money and not even the doctors could do anything about it, which is why he asked in an apprehensive tone, “Then what are you to the patient?”

Yu Juan originally wanted to say that they were brothers, but, after giving it another thought, it would be very troublesome to have to cover up such a lie if the doctor really did come over in the future, so he admitted, “…My fiancé.”

A full-blown drama about family ethics played out in the young Dr. Yang’s mind. Filled with a sense of justice, he decided he had to go.

Yu Juan lifted his hand and put the phone away from him before yawning, then said, “Thank you. The deposit has already been sent to your account. I’ll determine the date and time as soon as possible.”

After hanging up, Yu Juan looked outside. The strong sunlight made him squint.

Very good, the weather wasn’t bad today. It was the usual scorching heat.

After all, he had to go out.

The doctor had been confirmed, but there was still the issue of how to get in. Unless it was the last resort and was absolutely necessary, Yu Juan really didn’t want to have the doctor disguised as a package and transported in by sneaking him inside a box. It was already good enough that this method worked once, and if it was used again, Sun Qibai would likely grow suspicious.

The manor covered a large area, so while there might be surveillance cameras at the front gates, it didn’t necessarily mean the outer part also had them everywhere.

Thinking up to here, Yu Juan got out of bed and rinsed his face before going downstairs to push his mountain bike out.

He circled around the outer part of the manor, not too far but also not too close, and found a small gate at the back. There was no surveillance camera from what he could see currently, and he began to ponder about the possibility of climbing over it to get in.

Though he still had to find out how to do that first.

It was probably because he was too focused, but he didn’t notice until his phone vibrated to issue an early warning for a rainstorm along with the advice to be cautious and seek shelter.

Only then did Yu Juan lift his head and notice that the sky had changed.

Will it really rain?

The weather forecast had obviously said that it would be sunny for the upcoming week.

Yu Juan glanced at the time– he should go dress Zhou Huiyue’s wound.

*

As usual, the first thing Yu Juan did before going in was look at the window.

Even if he was really lucky enough to not have seen any of those unwanted things whenever he would come here.

There was a small difference this time.

Yu Juan walked to the window edge and bent down slightly to look outside.

Zhou Huiyue was watching from a short distance away, and saw how Yu Juan was pressing his hands against the glass. The other’s knuckles, that were really nicely shaped, were slightly raised.

The glass had Yu Juan’s face reflected on it, blurry and indistinct.

Those branches and leaves that used to extend through the window were now out of reach, unable to be touched.

Yu Juan didn’t turn back. In a barely audible voice, as if he was talking to himself, he asked, “How come you…why did you change the glass?”

Zhou Huiyue had helped Yu Juan change the glass in his room, but the one in his own room was still half broken. Yu Juan had thought that it might be because Zhou Huiyue didn’t want to do it, so he didn’t ask much.

Yu Juan had actually put forward many requirements, but none of them asked Zhou Huiyue to do this.

“Because there’ll be rain in summer.”

Summer was just like this. On a day where the sun was scorching hot, there might also be a violet thunderstorm. Still, no matter what, one could only accept such weather.

Yu Juan nodded and said nonchalantly, “Mhm, it happens that there’ll be a thunderstorm today.”

However, Zhou Huiyue had yet to complete his sentence.

He looked at the branch that had grown quietly, then at Yu Juan, before continuing, “And there will also be bugs. Don’t you really hate them?”

Zhou Huiyue spoke in a very natural tone. It was as if the bugs Yu Juan hated were like the rain of summer, both being reasons that couldn’t be refuted.

Yu Juan was dazed for a moment. Just a moment ago, he almost felt flattered because Zhou Huiyue had repaired the window until its condition was as good as new.

That can’t be?

It can’t be flattering.

It gave Yu Juan some kind of– some kind of false impression, that Zhou Huiyue seemed to really value this fiancé of his that had popped up out of nowhere.

But it would be a contradiction.

In <The Count of Baicheng>, there was barely any description about the protagonist’s former fiancé, nor was it written that Zhou Huiyue treated his fiancé any differently. It was like that time before his death, when Zhou Huiyue had said that one sentence to him. Revenge was the only thing on Zhou Huiyue’s mind, and it consumed him entirely– to the point that he never expressed interest in anyone, much less have a lover, which made the readers jokingly say that being in a relationship would just hinder the protagonist’s revenge.

Unlike the novel’s ending, the Count of Monte Carlo’s life was satisfactory, having a lover by his side as they eloped far away.

The Count of Bu Yu Mountain wasn’t the same, but neither did he find it necessary.

That was the kind of life Zhou Huiyue chose.

Their only prior interaction was this accident.

Yu Juan absentmindedly pulled back a chair and began to untie Zhou Huiyue’s bandage like how he usually did.

Today was the last day. The wound had already scabbed over, so there will be new skin underneath once the scab fell.

The scar would gradually fade.

As Yu Juan closed the medicine bottle, he suddenly felt like taking a picture. It was probably because this was the first time he had helped someone take care of their injury.

He could take a picture of either the medicine bottle, the pure white gauze, or even Zhou Huiyue’s hand.

“Where’s my phone?”

Yu Juan’s phone wasn’t with him.

Zhou Huiyue asked, “What’s wrong?”

Yu Juan thought for a moment. There were too many places he had gone to this morning, including the trip around the manor, so it might have accidentally fallen somewhere in between.

He said, “Can you call my number? I’m looking for my phone. I can’t find it.”

Zhou Huiyue nodded and turned on his phone.

The familiar ringing tone didn’t sound, so it was unfortunately not in Zhou Huiyue’s room.

Yu Juan was a bit worried. It might take a long time to find it, considering that there were a lot of places it could have gotten lost at. And he really couldn’t afford to lose it, with how much confidential information he had on there.

When Zhou Huiyue saw Yu Juan pick up the phone on the table, he was so shocked that he didn’t have time to stop him.

But there was also no valid reason to do so.

On the screen that was lit up, Yu Juan saw the contact name comprised of three words.

—”Eldest Young Lady”

What was this?

Yu Juan turned his head really, really slowly. He leaned against the table, his shirt pressed down at his waist, with his neck and shoulders both really upright.

The sky was covered with thick dark clouds. It looked like there would be heavy rain soon, but it had yet to fall. All the colors as far as the eye could see seemed to be covered in a layer of dull grey. The only exception was Yu Juan’s green eyes that were shining brightly, as if they had light slowly flowing inside.

Those same eyes were what Yu Juan used to look down at Zhou Huiyue. He simply looked at this person with some– no, with a lot of anger. He was really angry as he said, “Explain.”