After the short holiday ended, Rong Xu sent Chi Han back to school.
Originally, he had wanted to pick Chi Han up and drop him off every day, but lately the Rong family had been making some small moves a bit too frequently, so it was still safer to have him stay at school for now.
“When I’m done handling things, I’ll come pick you up and bring you back. Be good, don’t run around.” Rong Xu handed Chi Han a big bag full of snacks, leaned forward slightly, brought his lips close to Chi Han’s ear, and said in a low voice, “You’re not allowed to go out drinking with Yin Hao.”
Chi Han had an expression that was hard to put into words: “Got it, you big vinegar jar. I’m not a kid, you know.”
Rong Xu pinched Chi Han’s cheek in a warning sort of way, but couldn’t hold back a smile: “Mm, if you want to drink, I’ll take you. I won’t go up with you now, I still have a meeting later.”
“Mm, mm, I know, go on then. You absolutely have to eat your meals on time!” Chi Han grumbled twice, “If I find out you’re not eating properly, I’ll make you recite the Sutra!”
Right after finishing his threat, Chi Han suddenly felt a little sad. He put the snacks down on the ground, reached out, and wrapped his arms around Rong Xu’s waist.
They’d spent a whole year apart before, but now they couldn’t even stand a few days away from each other.
Rong Xu froze for a moment, then raised his hand and hugged him tightly, lowering his head to kiss the top of Chi Han’s hair, almost regretting this decision.
But he was definitely going to be very busy lately. He couldn’t feel at ease just sending the driver to pick him up alone.
“Alright, go on up now.” Rong Xu was afraid Chi Han would feel worse once he was upstairs, so he purposely teased him, “If you really can’t bear to be apart from me, remember to video call me tonight, and don’t wear anything on the bottom.”
Chi Han’s ears turned red in a flash. He pushed Rong Xu away all at once, saying in disgust, “Go, go, go, go have your meeting!”
Rong Xu laughed twice, grabbed him back, and gave him a proper kiss before leaving.
As soon as Chi Han walked into the dorm room, he saw Yin Hao sitting below with his legs crossed, eating sunflower seeds, looking exactly like an old village auntie at the street corner.
“Tsk tsk tsk, good stuff, I just—good stuff.”
Chi Han put the stuff on the table, lifted his head, and threw him a glance: “?”
Yin Hao spat out the sunflower seed shell, looked at his watch, and exaggeratedly said, “You were downstairs half an hour ago, and you’re only coming up now. Did you two get stuck together like 502 glue?”
Chi Han: “……”
He glared at him, furious and embarrassed: “What’s it got to do with you, you thieving animal in the melon field!”
Yin Hao shook his head regretfully, letting out long sighs one after another.
In the end, he was silenced by a bag of snacks thrown at him.
About this, Yin Hao felt fully justified. Dignity? Can you eat that?
In these past few days since he got back, Chi Han had just been catching up on the classes he’d missed. At night, with the video call on, he was studying on one side, while Rong Xu was handling documents on the other.
Somehow, the two of them gave off the feeling of a model couple.
Feeling provoked, Yin Hao also went to find his girlfriend for a voice call study session, except, the more they studied, the more it turned into endless chit-chat on the phone.
As for what happened between Fang Jingluo and Xu Ting, Chi Han still felt a sense of unreality about it.
The thing he’d worried about for so long, was it really solved that easily?
But life kept flowing along calmly, so he slowly let it go, too.
Maybe the ending had already changed long ago.
Until that night, a bit past eleven, when Chi Han happened to pass by the school gate to help Yin Hao pick up his takeout.
Before passing out, he was still wondering why this skinny delivery guy wearing a mask and a cap looked so familiar. It was only after he collapsed to the ground that he finally remembered. This person was Xu Ting, who had been missing for so long.
It’s over. He was really done for this time.
…
When he woke up, the whole place was flooded with bright light. Chi Han’s vision was a bit blurry. He had to blink hard for quite a while before he gradually saw things clearly.
It was an abandoned factory, broken bricks scattered everywhere, beer bottles on the ground, crumpled tissues, takeout boxes…
At a glance, it looked just like a garbage dump.
When Chi Han moved his hands a little, he realized he was tied to a chair. Both wrists were bound tightly to the backrest. Shifting his shoulders sent sharp pain through him. His ankles were tied to the chair legs, too.
“Awake?”
A slightly cold voice rang out. Chi Han lifted his head and looked over. The one speaking was standing by the window.
Xu Ting had already taken off his mask and cap by now. Days of living in fear had left his face haggard, his eyes rimmed red.
“What’s this supposed to mean?” Chi Han’s face was cold, his wrists quietly twisting behind his back.
The ropes were really tight.
Xu Ting lowered his head and took a drag from his cigarette, his expression gloomy.
“Doesn’t mean anything. I just want to know why everyone’s lying to me,” he turned his head to look at Chi Han, those eyes so similar to his now dark and murky. “Fang Jingluo did, Rong Xu did, too, when clearly you’re the stand-in.”
Chi Han couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh.
No wonder the original novel was a cliché dog-blood angst story. Such a trashy scumbag and there were still people chasing after him. And now it was even better: the “white moonlight” had lost his mind, too, even doing the villain’s job for him.
What a joke. Clearly in the original story, it was him—this cannon fodder with the same name and surname—who was supposed to be the kidnapper, wasn’t it?!
“What are you laughing at?” Xu Ting stubbed out his cigarette on the windowsill, eyes narrowed, voice turning cold. “Do you believe I won’t just throw you down from here right now?”
Perfect, now even his lines were being stolen.
Although Xu Ting’s scrawny build probably couldn’t lift him that easily, Chi Han didn’t want to provoke him too much either. Who knew what this lunatic might do next?
Xu Ting alone couldn’t have gotten his hands on a drug that could knock him out instantly. There had to be someone helping him behind the scenes.
Was it Fang Jingluo? Then what was their goal?
Chi Han instantly held his breath. They were trying to threaten Rong Xu!
“If you don’t want to talk, forget it,” Xu Ting smiled indifferently and turned to walk toward the door. “Don’t worry, I’ve already called Rong Xu over for you. After all, I still have a few things I want to talk to him about face to face.”
Chi Han’s eyes stayed steady as he stared at the door that had just closed. He gritted his teeth, then forced the chair to tip over. The shards of glass on the floor instantly cut into his calf and his side. But between his tied hands on the chair back, there was now a piece of broken beer bottle glass.
…
Rong Xu looked at the stack of documents that had just been delivered, unable to help but frown. The Rong family’s moves looked exactly like they were deliberately stalling for time.
A sharp glint flashed in Rong Xu’s eyes. He immediately called Chi Han’s phone.
“The number you have dialed is not available…”
Just as Rong Xu, face frosty and grim, was striding out, his assistant suddenly rushed in from outside, looking utterly panicked, his voice trembling: “Boss… Xu Ting kidnapped Young Master Chi!”
Rong Xu’s clenched fist was so tight that it started to shake. He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, his voice carrying the weight of an approaching storm: “Find out Chi Han’s location immediately!”
The assistant swallowed hard, his voice shaking: “Xu Ting already sent the location… and he said you have to come alone.”
When he looked up again, Rong Xu was no longer in the room.
In his towering rage, Rong Xu was terrifyingly calm. He ordered the assistant to bring the team and start pulling in the net. Those hidden lines he’d planted before now all connected, encircling the Rong family in an inescapable trap.
The police had already received the report and begun to act, but Rong Xu was even faster. Before anyone else could react, Rong Xu was already driving out by himself.
The assistant rarely swore, but now he couldn’t help but curse under his breath, then hurriedly called people to gather a few tough retired soldiers to rush over.
Really, caring too much clouds your judgment. What if Xu Ting had given them a fake address!
…
Chi Han was afraid Xu Ting would come back soon, so he didn’t care about anything else. He kept sawing at the rope with all his strength. Both wrists were rubbed raw, the rope cutting into his flesh, fresh blood slowly dripping down the back of the chair.
The shard of beer bottle was dull, so it took him a full five minutes of grinding before it finally cut through.
Chi Han’s face twitched with pain, and he kept sucking in sharp breaths.
He’d always thought everyone was targeting Rong Xu. He never expected that in the end, they’d actually set their sights on him instead.
Just thinking about what Xu Ting had just said made Chi Han’s fingertips go cold. If Rong Xu got the address, he would definitely rush over at the first moment.
No way. He had to take care of this before Rong Xu got here!
The pain in his wrists was sharp and biting. Any slight movement sent waves of agony through him, but at least the bleeding had stopped. Chi Han tore two strips from his clothes and roughly wrapped them around the wounds.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded outside the door. Xu Ting clearly had no experience. This kind of empty place amplified even the slightest noise into a huge echo. When Chi Han had knocked the chair over earlier, he’d done it as quietly as possible.
Chi Han glanced around, picked up a loose brick, and hid next to the door.
As soon as Xu Ting pushed the door open, the cold sneer on his face froze instantly. All he saw in the big room was an empty chair standing alone in the middle.
When he turned his head, he saw Chi Han’s textbook villain smile—and the brick raised high in his hand.
Xu Ting: “…………”
After dealing with Xu Ting, Chi Han tied him up on the chair too, even using a slipknot—one of those kinds that tightened the more you struggled.
He glanced out the window. Outside the brick wall was a mess of overgrown weeds, about as remote and deserted as it could get.
Chi Han had originally planned to run straight out, but then his eyes caught something—someone was walking this way.
Fang Jingluo? What was he doing here?
Chi Han couldn’t quite make up his mind, but heading downstairs now definitely wasn’t a good idea—he’d run right into Fang Jingluo, and who knew if others were waiting below.
He made up his mind on the spot, picked up the brick again, and hid back in the same spot.
…
Xu Ting kidnapping Chi Han. Fang Jingluo really had taken part in that, but it wasn’t for Xu Ting’s sake.
He had thought it through very clearly: Chi Han, once kidnapped, would surely be terrified. He would come over, get Xu Ting out of the way, then take Chi Han away with him. Chi Han would definitely feel grateful and lean on him emotionally. It would also be the perfect chance to let Chi Han see just how much better he was than that cripple.
The first floor was already soaked in gasoline—one spark and it would all go up in flames in an instant.
Fang Jingluo pressed a handkerchief over his nose and mouth, a trace of disgust unconsciously flashing in his eyes.
After so many years apart, Xu Ting really had turned this vicious.
Those soft, radiant eyes he’d yearned for all these years were filthy now, after all.
Fang Jingluo slowly made his way up to the second floor, tossing the handkerchief at the doorway. He reached out, ready to push open the door, a look of confident triumph flashing across his eyes.
Very soon, Chi Han would be his.
When the door opened, Fang Jingluo immediately spotted the figure on the chair, head hanging down, tied up. A glint of excitement and bloodlust flickered in his eyes as he stepped forward:
“Chi—”
Before he could finish, everything went pitch black—his chin slammed into something hard.
In Chi Han’s lowered hand was a brick. His other hand slowly pushed the door shut, the battered old door creaking with a drawn-out “creak—”. With the two people lying sprawled on the floor, it looked like the final scene of a horror suspense film.
Chi Han dropped the brick and gave a slight smile.
The door clicked shut completely.
