(5/5)
Yang Siguang left.
Li Bo stood in front of the Biyunshan Cementary, quietly watching as his deep gray Mercedes-Benz drove away with the fragile young man, gradually disappearing into the distance.
The man raised his hand and pressed against his aching temple. Seizing the rare moment of solitude, he relaxed his shoulders and let out a long sigh.
Li Bo didn’t think Yang Siguang had truly believed his words.
He was always good at reading people, and he knew that the faint, bitter smile and hollow gaze that appeared on Yang Siguang’s face after hearing his words meant something else entirely.
In fact, he also knew that his words lacked much credibility.
After all, he had once, with disbelief, carefully and cautiously had someone investigate every move that Li Chen made at school.
It could be said that if he hadn’t accidentally discovered that terrible secret, merely by seeing the thick dossier sent by the private detective, he would never have believed that there was any kind of relationship between Li Chen and Yang Siguang.
He wouldn’t even have thought that Li Chen still remembered Yang Siguang, a childhood playmate and neighbor.
However…
At that moment, Li Bo’s phone buzzed.
He was startled and quickly snapped his attention back to the present.
He lowered his head to glance at the screen.
The message had come from the current head of the Li family, Old Master Li.
Although Li Bo had spent many years by that man’s side as an adopted son, the elder’s attitude toward him had never shown any affection or warmth.
That was purely the cold and impersonal demeanor of someone in power giving orders to a subordinate.
[Remember to handle the follow-up matters.]
Old Master Li’s instruction was very simple.
It even seemed a bit puzzling.
Follow-up matters… Was it referring to the funeral or something else?
If someone else were here, seeing this message, they would probably be deeply confused. But as soon as Li Bo saw the message, he understood everything.
[Understood. I’ll take care of it immediately.]
He quickly responded on the keyboard and sent it.
After waiting for a moment, the phone remained silent, and there were no further instructions.
Li Bo quietly stared at his phone for a few seconds. Then he took a deep breath and made a call to his secretary.
“…Send me a car.”
He said, then gave an address that had been lingering in his mind for a long time.
*
Half an hour after Yang Siguang left the Biyunshan Cemetery, Li Bo also got into a car and left the area.
If Yang Siguang could see the trajectory of Li Bo’s actions at this moment, he would likely be very surprised to find that the place Li Bo was heading to was in the exact same direction as his own home.
To avoid drawing attention, Li Bo had specifically requested his secretary to bring an inconspicuous, slightly old Camry.
The driver was no longer a dedicated chauffeur but a senior secretary who had been with him for many years.
The car traveled for a while, gradually moving from the spacious suburban area into the narrow and crowded roads of the old city. Finally, the car left the main road and entered a maze-like alley. After some time, the driver managed to stop in front of a dilapidated old residential building.
“Mr. Li… We’ve arrived.”
The secretary, after double-checking the address that Li Bo had given, spoke in a low voice.
He didn’t say anything else, but Li Bo could sense his secretary’s confusion.
After all, this old district was one of the most forgotten areas in the entire A city’s urban planning.
When the real estate industry was booming, this area, due to its high population and complicated property rights, was difficult to redevelop. By the time the real estate boom had died down, this old neighborhood had been abandoned, left to decay on its own.
As an important member of the now influential Li family, Li Bo had no real connection to such a rundown and impoverished area. At least, the secretary couldn’t understand why Li Bo would suddenly come here.
Could it be that the Li family was starting to intervene in A city’s old city redevelopment projects…?
This thought quickly flashed through the secretary’s mind.
Meanwhile, as the secretary was lost in thought, Li Bo’s gaze shifted to the old building outside the car window.
The building was not tall, only six stories high, and everything about it appeared worn down. Almost every window beneath the kitchen had black grease stains from years of neglect.
By all logic, this place should have been noisy with people and bustling activity, but now the entire building was shrouded in an eerie silence.
There were no lights, no voices—only the flickering, dust-covered glass windows, which seemed like lifeless eyes staring blankly back at him.
At the entrance of the building’s unit stood a heavy iron door. The door looked unusually new, completely out of place compared to the rest of the building.
“…You can drive away now. I’ll call you when I’m ready to leave.”
Li Bo’s calm, emotionless voice suddenly broke the silence.
After all, parking spaces were scarce in this old residential area. Even though he had bought the entire building and had all the residents relocated, the old neighborhood was still crowded with people. No one knew if a car with an unfamiliar license plate that had been parked here for a long time would attract unwanted attention from the nosy neighbors.
At this moment, Li Bo did not want anyone to notice this place.
It wouldn’t be good for the person who had already passed away, for the Li family, or for him.
*
Li Bo used a key that he had retrieved from Li Chen’s belongings to open the building’s front door.
Then he walked in.
Inside the building, there was an old, poorly maintained elevator that creaked as it shakily moved upward. With each jolt and squeak, Li Bo reached the top floor of the old building.
He opened the only door there and walked inside.
*
The interior was completely different from the dilapidated exterior. The apartment was exceptionally comfortable and tastefully decorated.
The living room had genuine Italian leather sofas, and the wall was adorned with paintings from famous artists. The various pieces of art created a warm and refined atmosphere in the space.
The only issue was that after a few days without anyone coming here, a thick layer of dust had already settled on the teak flooring, which should have been shining.
Li Bo cautiously stood at the door, looking at the room. Despite its warm and cozy decor, it made his stomach tighten.
Especially knowing what he was about to see, that uncomfortable feeling only grew stronger.
Li Bo locked the door behind him and, without hesitation, stepped into the room. He didn’t waste time in the luxurious, comfortable areas but instead went straight to the most inconspicuous door in the farthest corner of the room.
Li Bo stood at the door, expressionless, pausing for a few seconds before forcefully pushing open the steel door, which was decorated with wood paneling.
…Inside was complete darkness.
However, as soon as it sensed someone entering, the lights in the spacious secret room flickered on, illuminating a wall of photographs.
Even though he was prepared, Li Bo couldn’t help but hold his breath.
Thousands of photos, almost all taken surreptitiously, filled the wall. From that person’s forced smile in social settings, to their side profile with lowered eyes while taking notes in class, to the figure of that person walking through the campus, and even their changing moments in the gym…
The subject of every photo was the same person.
And that person, not long ago, had just shed sorrowful tears at Li Chen’s funeral for the latter.
With so many photos, so many snapshots of Yang Siguang’s life, all appearing before Li Bo, the impact was suffocating.
Li Bo’s brows furrowed tightly. He quickly diverted his gaze and took a few steps deeper into the room for further inspection.
It was there, by the window, that he saw the remarkably conspicuous telescope.
Li Bo’s heart skipped a beat. Although he knew the room’s owner was beyond saving, he still held onto a final thread of hope and stepped forward to confirm.
The telescope was aimed at another building not far from the old building.
It was an ordinary-looking family home.
Yang Siguang’s house.
The building Li Chen had bought had a perfect angle, allowing it to overlook every corner of the Yang family’s residence.
Especially, Yang Siguang’s room.
Li Bo’s expression had completely darkened.
A dark anger slowly surged, dangerously burning through the strong self-control he had built over the years.
He was on the verge of throwing the telescope to the ground, but just at that moment, a familiar figure appeared in his sight.
Yang Siguang must have just returned home. He still looked exhausted and pale, completely unaware that someone, hundreds of meters away, was staring at him through a telescope without blinking.
The young man, oblivious, calmly began to undress in front of the lens.
The suit, the shirt…
A large expanse of pale skin immediately filled Li Bo’s eyes, and it was precisely because of the skin’s pale color that the clear rope marks on his body became glaringly obvious.
With Yang Siguang’s weary, sorrowful expression, those marks seemed like filthy, lewd red snakes writhing on the young man’s body.
Li Bo suddenly stood up, veins bulging on his forehead.
It was as if… as if the scene he had just seen, from such a distance, had directly bitten into his eyeball.
His heart raced uncontrollably.
Vague and extremely dangerous premonitions surged within him. He was both terrified and furious, kicking the expensive telescope over in a fit of rage.
The telescope crashed to the floor with a dull thud.
Yet, Li Bo still couldn’t control himself, staggering back several steps, as if the object now lying on the floor wasn’t a telescope but something far more dangerous. As he stepped back, he accidentally tripped and fell onto the low, soft ergonomic couch behind him.
When his heavy body suddenly sank into the soft chair, it seemed to trigger some automatic program set by Li Chen.
Suddenly, the sound of Yang Siguang’s labored breathing echoed in his ears—clearly recorded during the post-workout muscle relaxation phase in the gym.
The therapist’s voice in the recording had been muted.
Only faint instructions like “Relax,” “Just bear with it,” were audible.
What was amplified in high definition, however, was Yang Siguang’s breath, which was sharp and strained.
Occasionally, faint moans and sobs slipped from his lips.
…
“It hurts… please, go easier… mmm…”
“It’s too painful…”
The wet, muffled sobs, accompanied by the sound system, reverberated loudly in the soundproof room.
And what caught Li Bo even more off guard was that, as the sounds played, a large screen fell from the wall, and several life-size images were projected onto it.
They were a few photos with the faces cropped out.
Compared to the other candid photos, these were the blurriest… yet the most provocative.
Li Bo stared at those images in disbelief. Even without the faces, he could recognize at a glance that these photos also belonged to Yang Siguang.
Below Yang Siguang’s collarbone was a small, bright red mole.
*
It was today at the funeral home when he had carried the fainted Yang Siguang to the lounge due to his hypoglycemia.
To help Yang Siguang breathe more easily, under the doctor’s guidance, he had helped him remove his suit jacket and unbutton the white shirt around his neck.
At that moment, he had indeed caught a glimpse of the small red mole beneath Yang Siguang’s collarbone.
He hadn’t known then that he would remember this detail so clearly.
Could these photos have been taken by Yang Siguang himself?
It was easy to confirm from the shooting angles.
But no matter how he tried, Li Bo couldn’t connect the images of the wet, youthful, yet seductively provocative body on the screen with the hazy, pale young man he remembered from the funeral.
It was too strange.
He thought.
This is really…
Too strange.
