TSIBAMS Chapter 59

“It’s okay, you’re still young, you might not understand. We can talk about it slowly,” the slick-haired man handed the menu to the bodyguard next to him and instructed, “Give him an orange juice.”

Ye Xing stared blankly at the glass in front of him, unsure of what he was thinking.

Seeing that he didn’t speak, the slick-haired man asked, “You wouldn’t even know what happened to your family, would you? Oh my, then I would really feel guilty.”

But his tone didn’t have a hint of guilt, instead, it was exaggerated to the point of being annoying. Ye Xing looked up at him without saying a word.

Sure enough, he immediately changed his expression, his gaze sharp, his tone slightly fierce, “But thinking about the millions your family owes me, this bit of guilt doesn’t even count for shit!”

“Millions?” Ye Xing frowned.

The slick-haired man raised his chin, “Do you know what illegal fundraising is?”

To be honest, he didn’t really understand, but since looking at Fang Rong’s phone, he had searched online countless times.

Without the approval of relevant departments according to the law, promising to return the principal and interest to investors within a certain period.

This was the sentence he had read the most times, despite his failing grades in politics.

Seeing his expression, the slick-haired man’s tone softened a little. “It’s okay if you don’t understand, you just need to know that your father cheated us out of money, not just me, there are many people, all over the country.”

The waiter brought over two glasses of juice. The slick-haired man handed him the orange juice, but his gaze was fixed on the edge of the table, lost in thought, and he didn’t reach out to take it.

He placed the orange juice on the table in front of Ye Xing and continued, “I know, you have nothing to do with this matter, and I won’t hurt you. I also don’t know if you can contact Fang Rong. If you can, please tell her, I hate people who break their promises the most! She said she would pay back my money within a week, but then she ran away, and I can’t reach her by phone! But I’m quite surprised she didn’t run away with you. How could she be so comfortable leaving you here? This is my territory. If you can’t reach her either… of course, I don’t believe you can’t reach her.”

Ye Xing, who was not good at arguing in the first place, was now being completely overwhelmed. He had no evidence, no support, only a shaky stance. Because Fang Rong hadn’t told him anything directly, he could only spend his days guessing, and the worst possible outcome was nothing more than this.

And the only thing he could refute was this sentence, “I’ll say it again, she didn’t run away.”

It was also the only thing he firmly believed.

Fang Rong said she was going to Singapore, and she would be back soon. Then she went to Singapore, and she would be back soon! She didn’t run away, didn’t abandon him.

He gripped the glass and took a large gulp of orange juice.

“I’m saying, if,” the slick-haired man said, “if you can’t reach her, then you’ll have to come with me. When she comes to see me, I’ll let you go.”

“This is illegal detention! It’s against the law!” Ye Xing almost slammed the glass on the table, making a crisp and jarring sound, attracting the attention of other diners.

The slick-haired man suddenly regretted bringing him here. A public place was not suitable for a proper conversation.

But luckily it was late, and there weren’t many customers. The few scattered tables were also about to leave.

The slick-haired man stood up, bent down closer to him, and lowered his voice, saying, “The real lawbreakers are your family! It’s your dad! Although he’s already in prison, who’s responsible for so many people’s money?! Fang Rong said she would find a way, stalled us for two months, and then ran away! I really don’t want to bully a child, I just want to get my money back! I’m just exercising my legal rights to get back what belongs to me!”

Hearing the words “in prison,” Ye Xing’s body stiffened, feeling cold air pouring in from behind, from his collar down, across his back, the icy sensation slowly invading his body, and he shivered.

He didn’t know where the cold air was coming from on this early summer night, he only felt his body getting colder.

Ye Xing tried hard to control his rapid breathing and the trembling in his voice, saying, “Give me your phone, then I’ll know if I can reach her.”

“No, I’ve changed my mind,” the slick-haired man shook his head, “What if you guys are in cahoots, and you give her a heads-up? Then maybe I’d get the charge of illegal detention, that would be too much of a loss for me.”

Unreasonable.

“What exactly do you want?!” Ye Xing glared at him.

“I already sent her a message saying you’re in my hands. If she can see it, she’ll come. But she can’t possibly not see it, unless she doesn’t want to,” the slick-haired man said and gave a look to his bodyguard.

When he was pulled up by the bodyguard, he realized he was shaking. That familiar, uncontrollable feeling hit him again, from that phone call in the KTV restroom to the moment he peeked at Fang Rong’s phone, reaching its peak, after being blindfolded for so long, he was suddenly dragged out and forcibly shown in the bright sunlight.

The feeling was complex, a mixture of anger, shame, and unease.

It wasn’t until he was stuffed into the back seat of the car that he remembered to resist, “Where are you taking me?”

“To a hotel first,” the slick-haired man said from the passenger seat, without turning back.

“I don’t have my ID card,” Ye Xing said.

The slick-haired man turned to look at him, a smug smile on his face, “Don’t worry, it’s my hotel.”

Seeing Ye Xing didn’t speak, he added, “That restaurant just now was also mine. Otherwise, do you think I could have dragged you away in broad daylight?”

The hotel was quickly reached. Ten minutes later, Ye Xing was pushed into a dark room.

The door slammed shut. He clutched the room card in the darkness. Although the card slot was right at hand, he didn’t have the strength to lift his hand.

He leaned against the door, lost his balance, and slid down little by little. By the time he realized it, he was already sitting on the floor.

Even though the carpeted room successfully separated him from the cold floor, the chill on his body didn’t decrease at all.

The windows were tightly closed. The thin, sheer curtains hung down motionless. The room was silent, while the various colored lights outside flickered in, silent and out of place.

And when did his life begin to be isolated from the outside world like this room? In constant self-suggestion, he remained silent, gazing at other people’s light, thinking that borrowing it would make him forget he was in the dark.

From self-suggestion to self-deception.

In the mutual deception and the “I’m fine” facade created with Fang Rong, he faded away the facts he couldn’t accept, so that he could pretend all was well and live properly.

Until today, he was dragged out of the darkness, forced into the bright light and told, stop thinking you’re just an observer, you want light? Here you go!

You, the light-stealing clown, you don’t deserve a normal life, nor do you have the right to pursue your dreams.

Did you see clearly? Now go back to your darkness and keep muddling through!

Ye Xing gripped the room card tightly, until a pain spread from his thumb. He threw away the card and crawled into the quilt, almost in a crawling posture.

Many scenes from his memories flashed through his mind like a montage in a movie.

Fang Rong handed him the address of Chen Town, telling him it was just an ordinary move.

She said, you just focus on studying, adults will handle adult matters…

…I will never abandon you.

…If you really think you’re a man, prove it with your ability to live independently.

And there was that father, forever estranged from his life, seemingly without a word in his memory, like a strange man.

He didn’t know this man’s birthday, exact age, favorite color, what time he usually woke up, or how many moles he had on his face…

And that man should be the same towards him.

Ye Xing wasn’t sure if he hated him, but it seemed that he hadn’t loved him either, so how could there be hate?

He had thought that he could follow Fang Rong’s expectations and finish high school peacefully in this small town of Chen Town. Yes, since the truth would eventually come, he could at least bear these unbearable things after the college entrance exam.

At least not when he had finally found a direction in life.

The past eighteen years he was too well protected by Fang Rong, and on the contrary, he lived without any value. Now that he finally had to enter life with his own hands, to strive for a certain unknown but attractive direction, he was too afraid that fate would play another joke on him.

But life has no rehearsal, he thought he was running towards a new life, but he had run into this dark room.

Just like the past he was running away from.

Time passed, and he didn’t know how long. Many colorful lights outside gradually faded into the depths of the night, leaving only the worthless street lights standing alone.

It’s good there are street lights, Ye Xing thought.

Otherwise, it would be all darkness, and he couldn’t even see the stars.

He probably wouldn’t see them anyway. In a city with such severe light pollution, how could there be stars? How could it deserve stars?

His mind was still confused and chaotic. He tossed and turned, and in the end, he simply buried his head under the pillow, as if he could suffocate and dissipate those messy things.

Sleepless.

He tossed and turned all night without finding a suitable position to sleep. No matter how he lay, he felt like his airway was blocked by a foreign object, suffocating and wanting to vomit.

In the end, he simply lay on his stomach on the bed, his body weight pressing down on his heart, which surprisingly made him feel a little better.

The feeling of subduing the Schrodinger’s foreign object made him want to cry so badly.

He glanced at the time displayed on the landline on the bedside table.

5:40.

In the darkness, he heard footsteps coming from outside the door. He had no skill in guessing people based on footsteps, but these footsteps gave him a familiar and reassuring feeling.

Not dragging, not heavy, a bit hurried.

The sound got closer and closer, then stopped.

Time stood still for a few seconds, followed by a knock on the door.

Knock, knock, knock…

Knock, knock, knock…

Knock, knock, knock…

Ye Xing didn’t get up. Rather than not having the strength, it was more that he suspected he was probably in a dream. If it were the slick-haired man’s people, they wouldn’t need to knock because they had a room card.

But who else could it be? Especially at this unbelievable time.

Just as he was about to pinch himself, the voice outside the door instantly sobered him.

“Ye Xing, it’s me.”