A night of sweet, dark sleep.
Until a cool morning breeze woke Huo Ranyin from his slumber. His hand moved, reaching to the side. His memory was still stuck in last night, when Ji Xun held him in his arms.
But this outstretched hand found nothing. The expected warm body was not in his palm; he only touched a handful of coldness.
Huo Ranyin opened his eyes. With a hint of early-morning haze, he turned his head. The other side of the bed was empty.
“Ji Xun?” Huo Ranyin called out.
However, there was no echo. The spacious house was filled only with flowing cold air. The cold air enveloped his voice, traveling alone through the house.
The last trace of drowsiness faded from Huo Ranyin’s body.
His brows furrowed. He reached for the phone on the bedside table and glanced at the time, immediately feeling a wave of annoyance.
Eight in the morning, so late?
He didn’t do much last night, so how could his years-long routine be broken?
The last time it was broken was—
He thought of some… some images of himself and Ji Xun. The area behind his ears instantly flushed hot.
He forced himself to shift his attention away from these images and thought again:
Where’s Ji Xun? Did he leave?
On Ji Xun’s side of the bed, the sheet was perfectly smooth, so neat that not a single trace of a person was left, as if Ji Xun hadn’t even turned over all night.
Did he not sleep all night? Was there something that required him to leave so early?
He sat up straight, threw on some clothes, and opened the bedroom door.
The morning light had already pierced through the window. Standing in the hallway of the house, the first thing Huo Ranyin saw, besides the increasingly deserted interior in the bluish-green of the morning, was the sofa in the living room with its plastic film torn off.
Although Ji Xun had waited for him at the door last night, besides a lamp in the bedroom, all the other lights were off. He had followed Ji Xun from the dimness into the light, completely unaware of anything amiss in the room.
He stood still and looked at the sofa for two seconds, then turned and walked towards the study.
His steps were a bit hurried. At this moment, he remembered more things, such as the look in Ji Xun’s eyes that had lingered on him last night, the wine that had appeared on the bedside table, and Ji Xun’s insistence on sleeping with him.
From another angle.
If he had been just a little more vigilant, and observed from another angle, it would have been easy to realize another possibility, a possibility completely opposite to what he had felt last night—Ji Xun had done all this simply to keep him out of his sight, simply because there was something he didn’t want him to discover!
He burst into the study, his gaze sweeping over the cardboard boxes.
The cardboard boxes on the floor were all empty.
One by one, the empty boxes, like giant, wide-open mouths, rushed towards him, tearing at his flesh and blood.
A strange weakness overcame his body. Huo Ranyin raised his hand to support himself against the door frame. His eyelashes trembled, like a butterfly unable to withstand a fierce wind, but those eyes still lifted. Underneath the butterfly-wing-like eyelashes were a pair of cold, sharp black pupils.
He withdrew his hand and walked forward.
This time, Huo Ranyin’s steps were no longer hurried.
His pace was neither fast nor slow, exceptionally light, and each step he took on the floor was silent.
He came to the bookshelf and pulled out the book “Personality Psychology.” His hand rested on the cover, slowly caressing it. His expression didn’t change much, only the corners of his mouth, which straightened and flattened, forming a deep, sharp line.
Ji Xun was at the cemetery.
He was driving, his car parked in the cemetery’s parking lot. Not far below the parking lot was the funeral home’s farewell hall. He stayed in the car, and with just a slight glance downwards, he could see the families of Gao Shuang and Zhuo Cangying.
They arrived later than Ji Xun, one after the other. When they arrived, it was as if a clear boundary had been drawn between them, and they firmly refused to step into the other’s space.
The weather today was quite good. The scorching sun hung high in the sky, a perfect, interesting contrast to the song “The Sun Will Not Set” playing in his car.
He watched the flat ground in front of the farewell hall from afar.
Both families had only one son and one daughter. Both families were white-haired parents sending off their black-haired children.
Both families also knew about the lawsuit between the deceased couple.
They still appeared here together. Perhaps there were many considerations, such as the neighbors’ gossip, the reputation of their children, and their grandson—the only child among the four gray-haired old people.
That was Xiao Jun.
He was in the first grade of elementary school this year, the son of Gao Shuang and Zhuo Cangying.
The funeral home staff were tidying up the farewell hall. The two families moved away from the farewell hall and walked up the mountain road for a while, getting closer to the parking lot where Ji Xun was.
Xiao Jun was walking with his paternal grandmother.
Gao Shuang’s mother suddenly waved at him. “Xiao Jun, come to grandma’s side.”
The paternal grandmother disagreed. The maternal grandmother suddenly sneered, “I haven’t even pursued the matter of your son killing my daughter yet.”
Just as the paternal grandmother was about to retort, a black car drove up from the road, and both families fell silent.
After the car left, the interrupted topic was picked up again.
“All that messy stuff about your daughter, I can’t even be bothered to talk about it.”
“What about my daughter?”
“You two, the bodies have arrived. Come over and identify them,” a funeral home worker tidying up the farewell hall shouted to them. Naturally, the four people who had just been bickering fell silent again.
A sarcastic smile appeared on Ji Xun’s lips in the car.
White-haired parents sending off their black-haired children. They all have endless anger in their hearts.
But anger is hard to express directly on their faces.
Perhaps it’s because of the little boy, Xiao Jun, who is right beside them, with his head down; perhaps it’s because of their face, their self-esteem, their status… after all, they are families with some assets. The substance is already lost, so the face can’t be lost too.
In this intermittent way, no matter what, the two families, who had to put on a facade of peace and quiet in front of outsiders, were now, without a doubt—inevitably—fighting over the only thing of value.
Xiao Jun.
The Zhuo family wanted to snatch him, and the Gao family also wanted to snatch him.
Looking at Xiao Jun now, Ji Xun thought of the near-death experience of Changchang last night. Different, yet similar.
The cars in the parking lot gradually increased. They were the relatives of the Zhuo and Gao families, as well as the friends and family of Zhuo and Gao.
Because the bodies had been destroyed by Mo Nai and could not be repaired, the people who came to the funeral home skipped the part of bidding farewell to the deceased’s remains. There was only a black and white photo on display for people to pay their respects.
Ji Xun went to the side where Gao Shuang’s friends and family were, which was not very crowded. Compared to Zhuo Cangying’s hospital colleagues, various classmates, and patients’ families of different ages, Gao Shuang’s friends and family were mostly women of her age, either classmates, best friends, or colleagues.
This could be heard from their quiet conversations.
Next to Ji Xun was a pair of women, one claiming to be a classmate and the other a former colleague, who were chatting.
The one in the beige clothes and the one in the gray clothes introduced themselves as HR from Gao Shuang’s former company. The last time they saw Gao Shuang was around New Year’s Day. The one in the gray clothes said that the last time she saw her was at her wedding. They had lost contact after Gao Shuang had a child, and she couldn’t believe she had passed away so young.
Ji Xun listened, and a thought stirred in his heart. He walked over and asked, “Why did you meet on New Year’s Day?”
The woman in the beige clothes sighed. “What else could it be? She came to inquire about a job. She was almost our colleague again, but isn’t it the year they fully opened up the two-child policy? Our boss thought about it and felt that with her family’s good financial situation, she would very likely have a second child, so he rejected her in the end.”
The woman in gray asked with some curiosity, “Shuang wanted to come back to work? Isn’t she well-off, traveling everywhere and playing all kinds of games, living a very carefree life according to her social media? Why would she want to work with us miserable people?”
The woman in beige shrugged. “Tired of being idle? I don’t know either. She came to see our boss two years ago, and she was also looking for a headhunter to apply to other companies, but at that time her conditions were a bit high…”
Two years ago… Ji Xun’s fingers felt a little stiff. He subconsciously asked, “I heard she used to be a senior executive with a high salary?”
“Yes, she was very capable. But our industry is developing too fast. She’s been married and has had a child for so long. To come back and take that position again is a bit awkward—if the position is too low, she would definitely look down on it. I know of a few companies she applied to that fell through because of this. But this year when she came to ask, her requirements weren’t as high. She just wanted to find a leisurely job. Who knew that something unexpected would happen… she passed away so suddenly.”
Two years ago, before New Year’s Day.
Gao Shuang was very capable.
These two prerequisites replayed in Ji Xun’s mind. A fluorescent pen automatically appeared in his mind, highlighting them.
The timing is too subtle!
“Besides these two times, did Gao Shuang look for a job at any other time?” Ji Xun asked the HR eagerly.
“I’m not too sure about that,” the HR said, looking at Ji Xun strangely. She didn’t want to answer at first, but when she saw the handsome man’s anxious face, she felt a little sympathy and added a few more words of comfort. “But I haven’t heard of her looking for a job at any other time. Probably not. After all, our industry is not that big. For someone who has reached a certain position and has some ability to come out and look for a job, everyone would have heard some rumors…”
A wild card that had been hidden all along was now completely revealed.
Ji Xun figured out many things in an instant.
He figured out the motive for another answer regarding Gao Shuang and Zhuo Cangying, an answer he had been unwilling to think about, yet had to think about since he saw Huo Ranyin’s workbook last night.
But this answer—this answer—who could he tell?
He stood in a corner of the mourning hall, his gaze sweeping forward.
He saw the guests who had come to offer their condolences, a group of black and white poles standing in the mourning hall.
He also saw Zhuo Cangying’s parents standing on the left side of the mourning hall, their faces filled with grief; he also saw Gao Shuang’s parents, who were equally sorrowful. Beside them was a small child, Xiao Jun.
Xiao Jun came from beside Zhuo Cangying’s parents to Gao Shuang’s parents.
Perhaps while he wasn’t paying attention, Gao Shuang’s parents had temporarily won custody of the child, able to bring the child with the surname Zhuo by their side, to raise him by their side.
Because Zhuo Cangying had killed Gao Shuang.
If he said it…
Someone patted his shoulder.
Ji Xun trembled and turned around abruptly.
Huo Ranyin was standing behind him.
Before Ji Xun could react, he was led out of the farewell hall by Huo Ranyin. They walked up the mountain road, and the wind blew down from the mountain. They walked all the way to the parking lot.
Beyond the parking lot was a cliff, and beyond the cliff, the city could be seen.
The sun had disappeared at this moment. The continuous steel city was shrouded in a melancholic gray mist, just like Ji Xun’s mood at this moment.
“You saw the workbook last night,” Huo Ranyin spoke first.
He gave Ji Xun no time to evade, to pretend to be ignorant, to joke around.
He turned his head and continued.
“Why was your attitude towards me like that afterwards?”
A hot knife cutting through butter. Huo Ranyin said the secret in one go.
“—After you knew that I had killed my parents, why was your attitude towards me like that?”
