HR Chapter 34

“……A bit, the eyes are very similar.” Sha Tang wasn’t entirely sure, after all, it was just a fleeting glance. The reason it left a deep impression was because of those eyes. The expressionless face had a pair of charming, deep eyes that always inadvertently revealed a hint of deep affection, faint passion, and stunning brilliance.

There’s no shortage of people in the world who resemble each other. Having impulsively said those words back then already made him deeply uneasy. He didn’t want to bring disaster upon the person he’d only met twice because of his own actions again. Therefore, even if he confirmed in his heart that this was the person, Sha Tang wouldn’t declare it outright.

But with Sha Tang’s slight confirmation, Lu Qinyuan was already certain that the person was undoubtedly Cheng Hui.

Cheng Hui’s eyes were very special, perhaps to compensate for the flaws on his face. His eyes could speak; understanding his gaze meant understanding the person. Lu Jianwei had said that if Cheng Hui wasn’t facially paralyzed, he would be the modern-day Wei Jie, and men and women would bury him alive in the streets.

Cheng Hui wasn’t dead. Cheng Hui was the person living in Xiao Qi’s heart. Lu Qinyuan felt both joy and sorrow at this information. Joy that Cheng Hui wasn’t dead, sorrow that that person was Cheng Hui.

Lu Qinyuan waved for Sha Tang to leave, staring at the photo in his hand for a long time. It wasn’t that he wasn’t angry. On the contrary, he was very angry, so angry that he couldn’t express it, and also puzzled. There were many questions he couldn’t understand. But he didn’t do anything, just quietly stared at the photo, his face showing no joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness.

When the midnight chimes rang, Lu Qinyuan suddenly came back to his senses. He heard the pattering sound of rain outside the window and suddenly thought, it’s raining. Has Xiao Qi found a place to shelter from the rain?

The night sky was shrouded in a dense black curtain, showing no trace of the previous starry splendor.

Lu Qinyuan stood at the window, looking at the dark night, and wondered again, the night is so dark, will Xiao Qi remember the way back?

Lying in bed, Lu Qinyuan couldn’t fall asleep for a long time. When Min Chu had just died, he also suffered from insomnia. As soon as he lay down, he felt a terrible emptiness, wanting to hold something in his arms, wanting a warmth in his arms to warm him. When he was guarding Min Chu’s coffin, he thought, A-Chu is gone, who will warm the bed in the future?

Now that feeling resurfaced, and he felt exceptionally lonely. Lu Qinyuan turned on his side, gazing out the window, and suddenly remembered the scene when he and Min Chu first had sex.

Lu Qinyuan had never been with someone like that before, and driven by drugs, he’d acted recklessly and drawn blood. The bright red blood was imprinted on the light blue sheets. Min Chu was lying naked, his back to him, with a tooth mark left by him on his shoulder and faint kiss marks on his neck. From his angle, Min Chu’s neck was slender and graceful, with a kind of licentious color because of the recent lovemaking, tempting him so much that he couldn’t take his eyes off it, and he couldn’t help but want to touch it.

Just as he was about to touch it, he suddenly retracted his hand. This was Lazy Master, for crying out loud, and he’d made him bleed. Lu Qinyuan thought dejectedly, what to do? Maybe he should run away before he wakes up.

Just as he was worrying, a woman named Ning came in to check on the situation. Seeing the spots of blood on the bed, she grabbed Lu Qinyuan, dragged him outside the door, and tapped his forehead with her index finger, scolding, “You little rascal, you’re capable, and you’re bold enough. You’re just standing there in a daze even after making him bleed? Hurry up and apply the medicine and atone for your sins before Lazy Master wakes up.”

She shoved a bottle of medicine into his hand and pushed him back inside. Lu Qinyuan stood in the room, holding the medicine bottle, and his eyelids twitched when he heard the sound of the lock behind him.

This was Lazy Master, for crying out loud. When he was as old as him, Lazy Master’s name was already as well-known as a banner, with countless brothers under him. He’d slept with their boss and even made him bleed. Would his brothers skin him alive when they found out?

Lu Qinyuan suddenly felt that the medicine bottle in his hand was burning hot, and he stood in front of the bed, not daring to take a step forward.

What if Lazy Master woke up while he was applying the medicine and thought he wanted to do it again? Would Lazy Master beat him up? Lu Qinyuan thought a lot, so much that he didn’t even notice the person on the bed waking up.

Min Chu moved, groaning in pain. He was used to pain, but this kind of pain wasn’t the same, he couldn’t help it. Especially the little rascal standing in front of the bed with that expression, like his parents had just died. Min Chu gritted his teeth and frowned, saying, “You little punk.”

Lu Qinyuan suddenly raised his eyes. Min Chu was crawling to sit up, and the blanket covering his body slipped down to his waist, revealing fresh marks that were bubbling with a pinkish hue. As Min Chu moved, the blanket slipped further and further down. Just as it was about to fall off, a hand quickly grabbed it. Losing the support of one hand, Min Chu groaned and fell back onto the bed, lying motionless for a long time.

“Lazy Master?” Lu Qinyuan called softly, leaning closer and turning him over. Min Chu’s eyes were tightly closed, and he frowned uncomfortably, humming. Lu Qinyuan touched his forehead, he had a fever.

Later, he learned that men had to clean up after doing that kind of thing; otherwise, it could easily cause a fever.

They stayed at Ning’s place for two more days. Min Chu recovered quickly after the fever subsided. Of course, Lu Qinyuan personally applied the medicine, and Min Chu just lazily stared at his face. When he was in a good mood, he would beckon his finger, and he would offer his face for Min Chu to nibble on a couple of times. Every time after applying the medicine, it was as if he had just been indecently assaulted.

Min Chu used Lu Qinyuan like a grandson, feeding him during the day and warming his bed at night. He would also find things for Lu Qinyuan to do for no reason, and he would be happy to see him busy inside and out.

After playing for two days, Min Chu had had his fill and prepared to leave, but Lu Qinyuan wouldn’t let him, sticking to him and following behind. Min Chu asked him, “What are you following me for? Not enough fun?”

Lu Qinyuan said, “I’m a man.”

Min Chu gritted his teeth and said, “You’re a man, and I’m a man too.”

“It’s not the same,” Lu Qinyuan said seriously, “I have to take responsibility.”

Min Chu wasn’t angry either, coaxing the kid was enough, “We both wanted it, we both got something, I don’t need you to take responsibility, don’t follow me anymore, be good.”

“No, I’m your man, I have to take responsibility.” Lu Qinyuan was easily agitated, and when he was agitated, he couldn’t control his voice.

Lu Qinyuan forgot what Min Chu’s expression was at the time, but it wasn’t good anyway. He dragged him into an alley and beat him up before swaggering off.

After being beaten up, Lu Qinyuan still shouted at Min Chu’s back, “I’ll warm your bed for you in the future.”

Min Chu came back and beat him into the hospital, covered him with a white blanket filled with the smell of disinfectant, and smiled as he touched his chin, “You’re not warming the bed? Warm it well.”

It must have been when Min Chu hooked his chin and smiled that Lu Qinyuan fell in love with Min Chu. There was no reason, no cause, no premonition, suddenly he was indispensable.

Later, he got used to it, and finally lost it.

Lu Qinyuan turned over again. The rain was annoying. He got out of bed, closed the curtains, sat on the edge of the bed, took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a puff. He usually didn’t smoke much, partly because Bai Ze couldn’t stand the smell of smoke and partly because he didn’t like the taste of tobacco. When Min Chu was still alive, he would stop him from smoking, saying that smoking was unhealthy. After Min Chu died, no one stopped him, and he could only control himself. But when he was extremely annoyed and depressed, he would smoke a couple to relieve the boredom.

The news that Cheng Hui wasn’t dead must have only recently come out. After all, the Si Cheng family and the Cheng family had jointly confirmed Cheng Hui’s death back then, and no one would suspect that there was any fraud involved. And the Cheng family had enshrined Cheng Hui’s memorial tablet for many years. Cheng Ruoyu cried so hard he couldn’t breathe when Cheng Hui died, and he worshiped him every day. He had seen it all with his own eyes. Therefore, the Cheng family must have only recently learned that Cheng Hui wasn’t dead.

Since he wasn’t dead, why didn’t Cheng Hui go home? And if he wasn’t going home, why did he return to the Si Cheng family again? What identity did he return to the Si Cheng family with? How did a dead person sneak into the research institute? His appearance shouldn’t have changed, so how did he avoid the Si Cheng family’s investigation? What exactly happened in that fire back then?

How much does Mo Qiu of Bird of Paradise know about this?

He connected to Mo Qiu’s phone. Mo Qiu hadn’t rested at this hour. Before he could speak, Mo Qiu asked first, “You let Jian Qilu go?”

“Is there a problem?” Lu Qinyuan took a drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled it. “I shouldn’t have let him go? Your news is really well-informed. Why wasn’t your news so well-informed about Second Uncle’s affairs?”

Mo Qiu laughed, “Master Lu, you asked me to investigate Jian Qilu, but you didn’t ask me to investigate Cheng Hui. Cheng Hui’s not being dead is the Cheng family’s business, it doesn’t have much to do with you.”

“Hmph, it has a lot to do with me.” Lu Qinyuan frowned irritably. “Xiao Qi’s crush is Cheng Hui.”

“Uh,” Mo Qiu stammered for a long time before laughing dryly, “So, you slept with your second aunt? I haven’t found out about this yet. How did you know?”

The cigarette in his hand quickly burned out. Lu Qinyuan stubbed the cigarette butt in the ashtray and took out a second cigarette, lighting it. “What does ‘not yet’ mean?”

“Not long ago, don’t blame me for not telling you. Let me put it this way,” Mo Qiu asked, “If I had told you earlier that Jian Qilu and Cheng Hui were a couple, would you not have liked Jian Qilu and would you have made concessions? Based on my understanding of you, absolutely not. So what’s the point of me telling you, just to make you feel bad? As a friend, I would tell you the news as soon as I got it, but the premise is that I’m your subordinate. As a subordinate, I wouldn’t be so talkative about this kind of thing.”

“Do you draw such a clear distinction with Bai Ze too?” Lu Qinyuan’s mood improved slightly. Then Mo Qiu threw another small bomb: “Oh, just wanted to let you know, Bai Ze went to the hospital yesterday and stayed there for about two hours before coming out. According to the information I received, Lu Qingshuang fed him some smoke.”

The finger holding the cigarette flicked gently, shaking off a piece of ash. Lu Qinyuan’s voice fell along with the ash, “That Addict Phoenix, send him away, he’s an eyesore.”

“You’ve finally loosened your grip.” Mo Qiu’s voice contained a hint of a smile. He had wanted to get rid of Lu Qingshuang for a long time, but Lu Qinyuan wouldn’t allow it, saying that really killing him would fulfill Lu Qingshuang’s wishes. That’s why Lu Qingshuang’s life had been spared until now. It seemed that Lu Qingshuang’s repeated provocations last night had touched his sore spot.

Lu Qingshuang was a person who was desperate to die. Now his wish could be fulfilled.

Mo Qiu knew that Lu Qinyuan couldn’t sleep, so he started talking to him about work: “Although Lu Chunjun’s territory is under Lu Qingshuang’s control, he can’t win people’s hearts. Lu Jianwei turns a blind eye, not knowing who he’s helping, which makes it difficult to figure out. It’s still considered one’s own if one wins or loses a war in one’s own family, but it’s different if outsiders intercept it from behind. Recently, that Master Yan made a deal with the Si Cheng family. We can’t help but be wary of this.”

Lu Qinyuan said, “Yan Wuchang is no small fry. He must be doing that to gain greater benefits. I wonder what agreement they reached.”

Mo Qiu said, “I asked Little Pigeon, and he doesn’t know either. If Master Yan doesn’t say it, no one can guess what’s on his mind. He truly is worthy of being the successor of the Blood Bat.”