DREB CHAPTER 50

Almost as soon as Li Yan crossed the border of City A, Lu Lianning got the call.

It happened during an important internal meeting with the Lu Group’s top executives. Lu Anling sat at the head of the table, with Lu Lianning beside him.

Lu Lianning’s phone kept vibrating. He silenced it twice, but when it buzzed a third time, he stepped out while Lu Anling gave him a slight frown.

The call was from Lin Cheng[mfn]This is not Lin Sheng (Li Yan’s basketball friend in the future), but has the same surname.[/mfn], the person Lu Lianning had secretly assigned to follow Li Yan.

Lin Cheng reported that they had lost track of Li Yan, and it was already 9:40 PM with no sign of him returning to the Lu family home.

Lu Lianning’s expression darkened instantly. He gripped his phone tightly, thinking that Li Yan was the perfect example of someone who repeatedly made the same mistakes.

He didn’t return to the meeting. Instead, he stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows in the highest corridor of the Lu Group headquarters, staring down at the city lights flickering below.

Three hours later, Lu Lianning received another update on Li Yan.

After all, this was City A, a place where the Lu family wielded immense power. Their influence spanned generations, with roots extending everywhere. Even if Lu Lianning didn’t want to get involved, a mere gesture from him would have countless people scrambling to serve him.

By this point, Lu Lianning had been standing by the window for hours, staring outside. He appeared calm, and from a distance, one might have thought he was simply admiring the beautiful scenery.

When the phone rang, he casually told the person on the other end to let Li Yan go.

Lin Cheng seemed momentarily stunned, but since he hadn’t fully understood Lu Lianning’s intentions from the start, he remained composed and avoided any careless moves.

Leaning against the wall, Lu Lianning adjusted his cuffs, then slowly said, “I want to see where he thinks he can go.”

After all, Li Yan was still naive.

Or perhaps he had misjudged the true nature of Lu Lianning from the very beginning.

After Lu Lianning’s idealistic dreams were shattered, pulling him away from his aspirations in film, Lu Anling guided him while slowly molding him. In just two short years, Lu Lianning had undergone a startling transformation.

He no longer showed his emotions easily and rarely expressed himself. Wherever he went, he wore an unreadable expression that left his subordinates guessing, creating an air of intense pressure.

Last month, he met with a business partner on behalf of Lu Anling. The man approached with a smile, extending his hand, and commented that from a distance, Lu Lianning looked just like another Lu Anling.

With a slight twitch of his lips, Lu Lianning replied, “Not at all.”

Though he sometimes didn’t want to admit it, the truth was clear: the reason he had adapted so quickly and accepted these rules was because, deep down, he and Lu Anling were cut from the same cloth.

Take his current situation as an example. Right after the initial fury of discovering Li Yan’s escape, he had already begun plotting his revenge.

He resolved that he would make Li Yan regret it—so deeply that the tears would be etched into his memory.

He even wondered if his last lesson hadn’t been harsh enough, allowing Li Yan to keep repeating the same mistake. He remembered what Qi Zhen had once said.

Indeed, Li Yan had been so skilled at appearing pitiful that it had softened Lu Lianning’s heart, stopping him from administering the full twenty injections.

About twenty minutes later, a photo appeared on Lu Lianning’s phone.

In the picture, Li Yan sat in the back of a large truck on a dark road. The truck was transporting dirty sheep, some of their dung scattered around. Li Yan, with a bright smile in his eyes, was holding a lamb in his arms, feeding it hay.

In the upper right corner of the image, an iron sign was visible in the dim night, displaying the words “Wujingwan Town.”

Lu Lianning’s gaze lingered on Li Yan’s smiling face. Was he feeling elated, thinking he had successfully escaped?

For someone as cunning as Li Yan, always pretending to be pitiful and playing little tricks on him, how could he also be so naive?

He found Li Yan amusing.

Without any change in expression, Lu Lianning saved the photo.

He decided to wait before capturing Li Yan again. He would let him believe he had truly escaped, to settle into the carefree life he’d dreamed of. Then, he would personally drag him back to reality, shattering that dream.

To ensure he never dared to dream so easily again.

At that moment, Lu Lianning didn’t even realize how much his behavior mirrored Lu Anling’s. Just as Lu Anling had secretly pushed him toward success, only to stop him short of receiving the award when his acting career finally gained recognition.

–

Li Yan returned to Wujingwan Town.

The place where he had grown up.

His escape wasn’t meticulously planned, but it wasn’t entirely without preparation either.

The main reason was that he had unexpectedly run into Uncle Wu from his hometown in City A. Struggling to control himself, he stepped forward and called out, “Uncle Wu.”

Uncle Wu was both excited and surprised, saying he never expected to see him there and that he had lost touch with everyone after leaving Wujingwan Town. He mentioned that many people missed him and remarked, “Xiao Yan still looks the same…”

Li Yan found himself sitting in the back of Uncle Wu’s truck, listening to him chatter away. He responded while reminding him to keep his eyes on the road ahead.

If he could escape, all the better; if not, returning for one last look would be worth it.

Li Yan watched the thick smoke rise from the truck’s tailpipe and listened to the engine’s loud rumble. A relaxed smile, unseen for a long time, appeared on his face as he sat in the open truck bed, surrounded by the unpleasant smell of sheep dung.

Wujingwan Town had changed significantly over the past few years.

Especially his neighbors, the Chen family, whose three-story Western-style house seemed to have sprung up from the ground, becoming the most eye-catching building on the street.

Standing in front of his own low, dilapidated home, Li Yan was stunned for a moment. After a brief pause, he finally stepped forward and opened the door.

The door creaked loudly, as if letting out a sigh of exhaustion, and a cloud of dust puffed into his face.

He spent the next hour cleaning up the bed. While rummaging through the nightstand, he found a few old belongings: childhood toys, a photo of him with Chen Yu and Chen Yaxin, and a picture with his grandmother…

The candle he had lit when he first entered flickered in the breeze, casting uneven shadows on the walls.

That night, Li Yan felt unexpectedly spirited. He stayed up late flipping through old photo albums. Finally, he rubbed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Over the following days, Li Yan went to his grandmother’s grave to pay his respects and spoke endlessly about many things.

He also visited the Chen family, though only Father Chen was still there. When Li Yan knocked on the door, it was opened by an Omega.

Father Chen looked different. The grief of having a terminally ill child was gone from his face. His half-gray hair was now black. It must have been dyed.

When Father Chen saw his long-lost son-in-law, his expression remained neutral. He introduced Li Yan to his new Omega wife. Li Yan opened his mouth but couldn’t bring himself to call her “mom” or even “auntie.” She looked about his age.

Li Yan glanced around the Chen family house, noticing its luxurious appearance inside and out, along with the expensive furniture.

Noticing Li Yan’s probing gaze, Father Chen perked up and patted him on the shoulder. “You won’t believe it, but our Chen Yu has really made something of himself. A generous person paid for his transplant, and after that, he went back to school. He earned so many scholarships he couldn’t even use them all, so he invested in some small businesses—and now, he’s made a fortune.”

Father Chen’s face lit up as he spoke about Chen Yu. He set his teacup on the table, and the Omega promptly refilled it with water.

“That’s why I said Xiao Yu has good fortune! Better than his sister! He even sent me a large sum of money…”

Li Yan listened, feeling as if he were hearing something completely incomprehensible.

Chen Yu seemed to be doing quite well. He could take care of himself and his family, allowing them to hold their heads high.

Yet, amid all the talk about his success and wealth, there wasn’t a single mention of Li Yan.

It seemed as though Chen Yu was simply exceptionally lucky and uniquely favored by fate.

Father Chen continued to ramble, “I remember when people on this street used to avoid the Chen family, afraid we’d ask to borrow money. But now, just in the last two years, our new doorstep has been practically worn down with visitors…”

Li Yan kept nodding along, his expression frozen in a dazed smile. “Well… that’s really great…”