Zhang Shun immediately straightened his posture, thinking, Finally, I’ve met the man who made the little beauty cry in the wind and pine away at the moon for over two years!
In his mind, a mini Zhang Shun was beating Deputy Director Yu to the ground over and over again, but on the surface, he politely shook his hand and said, “Hello, hello. Nice to meet you.”
Yu Jingzhong gave him a sorrowful smile and gestured toward the bed.
“We only saw each other once after he arrived in Beijing. He passed out before we even had time to talk and hasn’t woken up since. The higher-ups assigned someone to examine him. They said his three souls and seven spirits have been severely damaged—probably from being used by the Esoteric Sect in Japan to refine some kind of soul-forging tool, which caused irreversible harm. The fact that he’s still breathing now is just a matter of hanging on.”
Yan Lanyu lay in the hospital bed, unconscious and pale, only his profile visible from Zhang Shun’s angle. He looked skeletal, completely unaware of his surroundings.
“I heard that in H City, he risked his life to save yours. So I thought… maybe you’d want to see him one last time. He probably doesn’t know anyone else in China. I didn’t want him to die alone.”
Yu Jingzhong sighed. Zhang Shun nodded, expressing his understanding. “It’s okay. I wanted to see him too.”
He walked to the bedside and looked at the boy’s closed eyes under the oxygen mask. The scene reminded him painfully of his father’s death—days and days of unconsciousness before finally letting go. A sour ache rose in his heart, like a wedge of bitter lemon being squeezed.
“I heard he kept waiting for you while he was in Japan…”
Yu Jingzhong seemed surprised that Zhang Shun even knew that. After a brief pause, he murmured, “Did he…? I always meant to go bring him back, but life is never that simple.”
He walked over and gently stroked Yan Lanyu’s hair.
For some reason, Zhang Shun suddenly felt a very strange sensation. He stared at Yan Lanyu’s face and thought, just for the briefest instant, he saw the slightest change in expression.
—But it was so fast, so subtle, he couldn’t describe it.
Zhang Shun froze. He wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it. When he looked again, there was nothing. Yan Lanyu was still lying there, lost in his coma.
Yu Jingzhong bent down and kissed his forehead, then tightly covered his own eyes, as if struggling to keep his emotions under control, taking a deep breath.
“I’m sorry. I just… can’t imagine life without him. He’s still so young… The first time we met, he was even younger than this. I never went back to find him. I thought we had all the time in the world, that the future would be long…”
Zhang Shun had the sense that something was very off, but he couldn’t figure out exactly what. He hesitated before asking, “Sorry… you and he are…?”
Yu Jingzhong nodded.
Zhang Shun thought, You two have such a big age gap. And you’re just a broke civil servant—how are you worthy of this little beauty? Can the old stop preying on the young, please, Uncle? But then he thought again—if Yan Lanyu really liked him, there wasn’t much to be done. He’d nearly died to return to China—maybe it was all just for this man.
With that thought, a wave of melancholy swept over him.
Zhang Shun was still young. His heart warmed involuntarily, wondering if love could really be that powerful. Was it strong enough to make a young man so willingly give up his life? But then, thinking of his brother and Zhou Hui—weren’t they said to have two kids together already? How come they never showed this kind of deep, tragic love?
Then again, back in H City, Yan Lanyu hadn’t shown any signs of strong affection either. He hadn’t even said something dramatic like “Tell him I love him” when he was dying—he’d only insisted the pendant be given to someone surnamed Yu.
With his thoughts swirling, Zhang Shun felt more and more uneasy. He noticed Yan Lanyu’s neck was bare and casually asked, “Did he give you the pendant?”
Yu Jingzhong replied, “Yes. We took it.”
Zhang Shun nodded, saying nothing. Yu Jingzhong cleared his throat. “Hey, kid.”
“Yeah?”
“There’s something I’d like to ask your help with. It’s about Lanyu.”
Zhang Shun immediately straightened up. “Please, go ahead. I’ll help in any way I can.”
Yu Jingzhong tugged at the corner of his mouth, though it couldn’t really be called a smile. “Well… Zhou Hui told me you’re a Buddha Bone—that is, someone born with a deep affinity to Buddhism. People like you tend to have… certain miraculous traits. High monks can bless people by touching their heads; a breath from them can cure ailments. There are even records that the Fifth Panchen Lama once healed a dying believer with his tears, and that believer went on to live past a hundred…”
Zhang Shun froze like he’d been struck by lightning. Wait—what? My brother was the Fifth Panchen Lama?!
Holy crap! Bro, were you a monk?!
“…I think you might have a similar… miraculous trait,” Yu Jingzhong continued, noticing Zhang Shun’s strange expression. Thinking he didn’t believe him, he added, “I’m not saying all our hopes lie with you—just that we’ve tried everything else. This is just a last-ditch effort. Can I take a look at your hand?”
Zhang Shun opened his palm. Yu Jingzhong studied the glowing golden swastika-shaped Buddha mark and marveled, “They say the Fifth Unit’s team leader is a living Buddha, but even he wasn’t born with the mark. This is incredible.”
Zhang Shun’s mouth twitched. He couldn’t help but ask, “You’re not gonna ask me to wash Yan Lanyu with my tears, are you? I don’t have that many tears to spare.”
Yu Jingzhong blinked. “Wash him?”
Zhang Shun: “……”
They stared at each other for a moment. Yu Jingzhong cleared his throat. “You misunderstood. I want to ask you for a bit of your blood.”
·
Zhang Shun felt like everything about this situation was creepy as hell. But the man had come right out and said that Yan Lanyu had saved his life—and now, with this emotional appeal, he was only asking for a bit of blood. Not a life in return. It would’ve felt heartless to refuse.
He thought for a second. Saving a life is worth more than building seven pagodas. It wasn’t something to hesitate over. So he followed Yu Jingzhong to have blood drawn. The doctor didn’t say a word—probably prepped in advance. They drew 200cc right away.
Strangely, the Buddha mark in Zhang Shun’s palm glowed brighter than usual during the process—so much so that the golden light leaked through his clenched fingers.
Afterward, Zhang Shun felt a little weak on his feet. Yu Jingzhong clapped him on the shoulder gratefully. “Thank you so much, little brother. If it works, I’ll let you know right away!”
Zhang Shun quickly said, “No problem, no problem. Glad to help.”
They left the blood lab and stood by the elevator. Yu Jingzhong asked if he needed a driver to take him back, but Zhang Shun remembered Zhou Hui had said someone would be waiting, so he declined.
He had a feeling Yu Jingzhong was going back upstairs to the ICU—and considering this was a top-level agent, there might not be another chance to speak with him. So he hesitated, then decided to take the opportunity.
“Uh… excuse me…”
Yu Jingzhong gave him a sharp look. “Something on your mind?”
Zhang Shun carefully chose his words. “You… you probably know someone named Feng Si, right? He’s my brother. I heard he got into some kind of trouble before… I’m not accusing or anything. It’s just—he suddenly left all his money to me and went off to Beijing alone. I’m a little worried. I just want to know he’s still alive.”
Yu Jingzhong chuckled. “You think the organization’s gonna poison him with a capsule or something?”
Zhang Shun didn’t get the joke and stared at him blankly.
“I mean, Feng Si didn’t commit any major crime. The organization dropped the case long ago.” Yu smiled. “He did come back to Beijing a few weeks ago, but left again shortly after. These team leaders—no one really manages their movements. They come and go as they please. I don’t know exactly where he went. I just heard from Zhou Hui that they had a fight, and then Feng Si went to the ‘Path of Hell’ to find someone named Fan Luo.”
—To find the Demon Lord?
Zhang Shun’s heart skipped a beat. He blurted out, “Why did my brother and Zhou Hui fight?”
Yu Jingzhong hesitated.
Zhang Shun’s blood pressure shot up. A storm of terrible possibilities erupted in his mind like popcorn, and he immediately started grilling Yu Jingzhong. Realizing he wouldn’t leave without an answer, Yu pulled him aside and said quietly, “Don’t ask Zhou Hui about everything… Back then, everyone in the bureau knew—he and the Nine-Tailed Fox team leader from Unit Six had a thing going. Feng Si walked in on them, and that’s why he left in a rage.”
Zhang Shun’s pupils widened in shock.
“I didn’t want to tell you, but the bureau’s undergoing major internal shifts. The infighting among team leaders is intense. People who used to be trustworthy… no longer are.” Yu Jingzhong patted his shoulder. “As for the blood donation—try not to tell anyone. If someone gets greedy for the Buddha Bone, things could get messy. Now go on.”
Zhang Shun’s mind was a complete mess. He didn’t even know how he said goodbye. He drifted out of the hospital like a sleepwalker.
The sky had darkened and lights were coming on. It was still hot outside. Couples strolled by in twos and threes, holding bubble teas or ice creams, teasing each other in the evening breeze. Zhang Shun almost wanted to cover his ears.
Had Zhou Hui and Li Hu once walked hand-in-hand down these streets of Beijing like that?
No wonder his brother left Zhou Hui. No wonder he’d completely ignored them both in H City!
The more Zhang Shun thought about how he’d once trusted those two as friends, the more he wanted to go back in time and slap himself.
His ears buzzed. He wandered blindly, not even noticing the silver Lexus that had been trailing him. It wasn’t until the horn honked several times that he jerked around. A young driver leaned out the window and called, “Second Young Master Zhang? What were you thinking about so hard? Boss Zhou told me to come get you!”
The guy looked about twenty, wearing a black shirt and jeans. He was sharp and capable. Zhang Shun recognized him—it was Xiao Liu, the driver of Zhou Hui’s Bentley back in H City. But seeing someone sent by Zhou Hui made him feel instantly repulsed.
He shook his head. “No thanks. Just tell me the hotel address. I’ll take a cab.”
“Hey now, that won’t do. You’re on our department’s watch list—we can’t just let you wander the streets,” Xiao Liu said with a mischievous wink. “Besides, Boss Zhou didn’t book you a hotel. He told me to take you somewhere nice. You’ll understand once you get there!”
Zhang Shun didn’t want to make things difficult for a subordinate. He opened the car door and asked, “Where are we going?”
Twenty minutes later, he was standing outside a private room at Heaven on Earth, veins on his temple twitching furiously.
—He actually brought me here?!
A hostess with curves in all the right places knocked gently on the door and called sweetly, “Second Young Master Zhang is here!” As she stepped aside, she deliberately brushed her soft body against Zhang Shun’s arm, leaving behind a trail of perfume.
Normally, Zhang Shun was no stranger to enjoying the pleasures of nightlife—warm bodies, soft voices, flashing lights—but right now, all he felt was rage boiling up in his chest. That bastard Zhou! Even with my brother around, he dares to come to a place like this? If I don’t beat him into painting the national landscape with blood, he’ll never understand why the flowers are so red!
He shoved the door open.
The room was dim, bathed in shifting rainbow lights spinning from the ceiling. The smell of alcohol, cigarettes, and who-knew-what else hit him in the face. Several people were already sprawled across the couches. Zhou Hui sat in the center, clearly drunk, tapping a gold-stamped reservation book with a cigarette between his fingers.
“—I booked Xiao Xi from your place two days ago! And now you’re telling me she’s not here? What the hell are you even running this place for? If I don’t get her tonight, no one’s gonna have a good night! Go get your manager!”
Several club boys and girls dressed like students huddled on the couch, trembling. A woman in her thirties, still quite alluring, likely the floor manager, was standing in front of Zhou Hui, plastering on a smile.
“I’m so sorry, truly. Tonight a very important guest requested Xiao Xi for a private session. But we still have several top girls available. I’ll bring them all out right away—A’Ming, Xiao V, they’re just as popular as Xiao Xi…”
“Important guest my ass! Who the hell cut in on my reservation?!”
The floor manager, bound by discretion, couldn’t reveal a VIP client’s name and was hesitating when someone nearby, drunk and chuckling, spoke up: “Old Zhou’s still got that temper—I know who stole your girl tonight. It was that punk from the Military Commission, that grandson from the Tan family. Came back from overseas full of ABC crap. Always thought he was annoying…”
Zhou Hui, whether truly drunk or just using it as an excuse, stood up and made to storm off and confront this Tan brat. A group of the club’s performers—both boys and girls—rushed over to stop him.
“—Brother Zhou, why do you only want Xiao Xi? Aren’t we good enough?” Probably due to internal rules, if guests started fights, the performers would also face consequences. Several girls in school uniforms clung to Zhou Hui, shaking as they cried, “Please, don’t look down on us like this. Brother Zhou, just be kind to us, won’t you?”
They were really giving it their all—crying in full, teary-eyed melodrama. If it had been Zhang Shun, he probably would’ve given in by now.
Unfortunately for them, Zhou Hui wasn’t Zhang Shun. His tenderness was all for show. He kicked a boy clinging to his leg straight back onto the couch and snapped, “What the hell are you howling about? Trying to jinx me? I’m just going to have a drink with that Tan guy—not going to a damn funeral!”
The boy turned pale with fright, bowing and apologizing repeatedly. The girls rushed over to plead for him. A few other guests, sensing the situation was getting out of hand, stepped in to mediate. The scene quickly became a chaotic mess.
The floor manager realized this was about to escalate and hid in a corner to speak into her walkie-talkie. Not long after, there was another knock at the door. A heavily made-up hostess peeked in, whispering nervously to the manager, “The guests in Tan’s private room want to bring Xiao Xi over. Should we call two security guards in case?”
Clearly, they were worried the two parties were about to get into a brawl—these were all elite young masters, and if anyone got hurt, there’d be serious consequences. If even one princeling got a scratch, heads would roll.
The manager, though a seasoned veteran of these scenes, went a little pale. She opened her mouth to respond—but before she could say anything, the hostess was pushed aside and a group of rowdy people burst in, dragging a girl in a white dress. Leading them was a man in a floral shirt, holding a bottle of liquor. As soon as he saw Zhou Hui, he grinned and stepped forward.
Zhang Shun, now shoved to the side, watched the spectacle unfold. He was half-expecting the guy in the floral shirt to smash the bottle over Zhou Hui’s head—but instead, the man stopped in front of Zhou with a big, flattering grin, like he’d just seen his favorite uncle.
“—Brother Zhou!”
What the hell kind of plot twist is this?! Zhang Shun thought.
“Sorry, Brother Zhou, I had no idea you’d booked this girl tonight. Total miscommunication from my team,” the Tan guy said quickly. He grabbed an unbroken glass from the table, uncapped the bottle with a flick, and poured out half a glass of golden liquor. “Here, Brother Zhou, please don’t take it personally. Let me toast to you!”
Refund my ticket. Seriously. REFUND MY TICKET! Zhang Shun thought furiously.
“Old Tan’s quite the ladies’ man lately,” Zhou Hui sneered, half-smiling. “Not to be petty, but I booked this girl days ago. Then I show up tonight and get told she’s gone. Can’t even hit on a girl without someone jumping the line…”
Everyone around burst into laughter.
Tan’s face flushed red, then pale. He laughed awkwardly, then turned to scold one of his men: “Brother Zhou likes this girl! What the hell are you standing there for?!”
The underling quickly went and brought over the girl in the white dress.
Zhang Shun, watching like a suspicious future brother-in-law, examined the girl closely. The high-end ladies in clubs like this didn’t rely on skimpy clothes to attract attention. On the contrary, this girl was quite elegant. White dress, long black hair, delicate and sweet appearance—she had a fragile charm, like a gentle girl from a southern water town. If movie stars rated a ten, this girl could easily score an eight or nine.
Zhang Shun had never seen his brother’s real face, but he had seen Mohe’s. And while Maha might’ve been a patricidal, matricidal, cannibalistic maniac, at least he’d inherited his mother’s looks. This girl? At best she could match maybe one-tenth… no, one-twentieth of Maha.
At that moment, Zhang Shun genuinely felt: If Zhou Hui is smashing glasses over a girl like this at a nightclub… he’s really f**ing lost his mind.*
What he didn’t see was that Zhou Hui’s mouth also twitched slightly at that moment, as if he was helplessly annoyed—but he quickly covered it up with a cough.
“Old Tan, this really isn’t right of you. What if you scared the poor girl bringing her here like that?”
The Tan guy kept drinking and smiling obsequiously. Some people around were heckling, others joking, teasing Zhou Hui about suddenly learning to “cherish beauty.” A few, already tipsy, kept trying to hand the girl a bottle and told her to toast Zhou Hui.
The girl, clearly seasoned in this kind of scene, though still showing traces of fear on her face, quickly put on a delicate smile. She filled a glass to the brim and offered it with both hands: “Brother Zhou, you’re clearly upset tonight. Why don’t you drink this to calm down?”
Zhou Hui played along and downed it in one go, earning a round of cheers.
By now, most of the crowd had sat back down in twos and threes, drinking and chatting. Some were already flirting with the club’s hosts and hostesses. Zhou Hui had the girl—Xiao Xi—sit beside him, then turned to Tan and asked, “You’ve been living it up lately, huh? Even brought your old man along?”
Tan gave a bitter smile. “No, no. Just doing some business, met a few people… thought I’d come out and build some connections.”
“Oh? What kind of people?” Zhou Hui smiled, casually asking, “Worth coming in person for?”
Tan was just about to answer when there were two knocks on the private room door.
Several people turned around at the same time. Tan looked up and went, “Oh! CEO Chu—sorry for the delay. I was just having a drink with some friends. You guys still ordering more drinks?”
Zhang Shun instinctively turned to look—and froze.
—Chu He was standing at the door, wearing a black suit jacket and a white shirt. No tie, collar slightly loose, his appearance clean-cut and relaxed.
He didn’t even look at Tan. His gaze landed straight on Zhou Hui, lips quirking faintly.
“—He invited me.”
