Chapter 120 A bombshell, but reality doesn't choose to let him go. ...

The man's gaze swept across the entire living room like a hawk's, lingering briefly on each spot as it passed.

Zhu Liushuang quietly turned to the side and hid her phone under her sleeve to inform He Ming.

[Senior, how much longer until you get home? Your uncle is coming.]

Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she continued to smile and pressed the "send" button.

Shortly after, a "beep beep beep" notification sound came from outside the front door.

Zhu Liushuang jumped up from the sofa and said with an embarrassed smile, "Uncle, it must be A-Ming who's back. I'll go see him." With that, she rushed towards the door.

With a creak, the wooden door opened outwards.

Seeing her standing at the door, the man, who was about to go inside to change his shoes, beamed with delight, raising his eyebrows slightly: "Is this... to welcome me?"

Zhu Liushuang didn't respond, but moved closer to him and whispered, "Senior, didn't you see the message I sent?"

"What news? My phone's in my bag..." He Ming weighed the full takeout box in his hand and said, "Stir-fried bell peppers with pork slices, radish and pork rib soup, stir-fried kale, is that enough?"

"Maybe... not enough." Zhu Liushuang pouted and winked at He Ming, "Uncle is here."

He Ming's expression froze, and his tone turned noticeably colder: "My dad?"

"Hmm, I've been here for a while." Sensing his low spirits, Zhu Liushuang silently took the lunchbox from his hand and said, "I'll go to the kitchen to cook a quick dish. You two chat."

Her sleeve was gently tugged, and she turned her head in confusion.

"No need, it's just the two of us eating," the man quickly called out to her.

"Wouldn't this be... not a good idea?" Zhu Liushuang looked troubled.

He Ming insisted, "No. Go plate the dishes, I'll be done here soon."

She dared not persuade him any further, obediently nodded, and turned left into the kitchen.

A heavy frosted glass door separated her from the tense father and son outside.

Zhu Liushuang didn't dare to make a sound, and quietly took out a few plates from the cupboard. Although she was still busy in the kitchen, her mind had already flown outside.

She could vaguely hear noises coming from the living room, and her expression involuntarily tensed up.

"Why didn't you say anything when you changed the door code?" He Guanshan was the first to speak.

Immediately afterward, He Ming replied in a deep voice, "There's no need."

"Unnecessary? What do you mean 'unnecessary'? I am your father!" Upon hearing this, He Guanshan's voice suddenly rose, filled with anger.

"Speak, what brings you here today?" He Ming maintained a semblance of composure, directly avoiding his father's questioning.

But his calmness did not extinguish He Guanshan's anger; instead, it accelerated the eruption of the volcano. A sneer suddenly came from the living room, followed by a man's rough growl.

"Look at the state you're in now... You haven't even called me 'Dad' once since you came in. Do you even see me as your father anymore? What, can't I come over if there's nothing wrong?"

"Could you...stop making such a big deal out of nothing?" He Ming's voice was squeezed out through clenched teeth, visibly weary. "Dad...let's go outside and talk."

...

The two in the living room were on the verge of exchanging blows, and the "battle" was gradually escalating. Zhu Liushuang felt a tightness in her chest as she listened, and her hands became even more absent-minded.

"Bang--"

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, as if something heavy had hit the coffee table.

Zhu Liushuang's heart skipped a beat, and a sharp, knife-like pain shot through her index finger joint.

She quickly looked down and saw a glaring bright red.

Because of excessive force when tearing open the insulated box, the aluminum foil lid accidentally became a "weapon" that cut him. At this moment, fine beads of blood were continuously gushing out from the cut skin.

She subconsciously raised her hand, put her index finger to her lips, and sucked hard.

The rusty, salty smell instantly numbed my brain, and the chaotic arguments around me were replaced by the hum of the loom.

After an unknown amount of time, the noise outside suddenly subsided, followed by a suffocating silence.

The kitchen door was slightly opened, and Zhu Liushuang looked up in surprise.

"Liu Shuang, I have to go out for a bit. You can eat dinner first," He Ming said, rubbing his temples.

The moment she realized what was happening, Zhu Liushuang put her hands behind her back, pinched the wound firmly with her fingertips, and said in a gentle voice, "Oh, okay."

Her face was expressionless, and her tone in response to him was unusually flat, as if she had expected him to say this.

"It might take a while, don't wait for me," the man said apologetically, reminding him again.

Zhu Liushuang hummed in agreement, then feigned a charmingly innocent tone to reassure him, "Don't worry, I won't let myself go hungry!" After saying that, she stopped looking at him and lowered her head to tear off the aluminum foil covers of the other two takeout orders.

Once the two figures had disappeared from the entrance hall, her tense shoulders slowly relaxed. She placed her hand on her chest, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled. She repeated this process until her pounding heart finally calmed down.

The food was still warm, and the aroma of oil filled her mouth and nose. The dishes looked and smelled delicious, but she couldn't bring herself to eat them.

Zhu Liushuang weakly gripped her chopsticks, poking at the rice in her bowl with each stroke. Her gaze drifted uncontrollably towards the coffee table not far away.

A dozen minutes earlier, she had made a cup of black tea for He Ming's father.

A dozen minutes later, the cup of black tea was sitting awkwardly on the coffee table.

The glass was two-thirds empty, and tea leaves clung haphazardly to the sides. Looking at the water stains spreading on the table, Zhu Liushuang's face darkened further.

For some reason, the tightness in her chest was even more intense than before, and she needed to take deep breaths to relieve it.

————

Downstairs in the apartment building, on a quiet, deserted path.

Crimson flames ignited in the darkness.

He Guanshan exhaled a long smoke ring, and his voice regained some warmth.

“Ah Ming, your grandfather has passed away. This year, for New Year's Eve dinner… come back to Yuehu Bay and have it with us.” Actually, he came today to ease the tension with his son.

"No need," He Ming replied without even lifting his eyelids.

"New Year's Eve dinner, New Year's Eve dinner, you should always eat with your family, right?" He Guanshan stubbed out his cigarette and said seriously, "If your uncles and elders find out you're living alone, won't they point their fingers at me and yell at me?"

He Ming's face fell, and he sneered, "In previous years, I didn't spend the New Year with you, and no one seemed to care."

"Can those be the same?"

"What's the difference?"

Seeing that the argument was escalating, He Guanshan took the initiative to back down, softening his tone as he said, "Fine, fine, if you really don't want to come, that's fine too. You don't have to eat, but there's one thing you have to promise me."

"What is it?" He Ming asked his father coolly.

"You and Xiao Zhu are living together, right? How far have things progressed?"

When Zhu Liushuang was suddenly mentioned, He Ming's brows furrowed.

He pursed his lips and didn't respond, so He Guanshan's tone rose a notch.

"I don't care how far things have progressed between you two, break up with her now before you get too deeply involved!"

"Who I like and who I date are my own business." He Ming took a half step forward, his chest heaving.

Last time at the hospital, when he introduced Zhu Liushuang to his father, his father was all smiles. Why did his father immediately demand that he break up with her this time?

"Listen to me on this, you won't go wrong!" He Guanshan seemed hesitant, only urging He Ming to break up, but hesitating to explain why.

He Ming maintained a rare composure: "Dad, since you're so determined to break up with us, you have to give me a reason, right?"

“The reason…of course there is! I just…” He Guanshan’s expression suddenly turned serious, as if he had thought of something. He looked directly at He Ming, his eyes filled with complex and unfathomable emotions, “but…sigh…”

A cold night wind swept by, and the camphor leaves by the roadside trembled in the wind.

Under the streetlights, the middle-aged man's face was deathly pale. His lips were tightly clenched, and the two nasolabial folds above his lips were deeply sunken. In just an instant, He Ming felt that his father had aged several years.

The person who was arguing with him just a moment ago suddenly lost his momentum and showed a struggling expression on his face.

"What exactly is the reason?" He stared intently at him.

He Guanshan turned his back, hiding his face in the darkness: "I'll send you some information on WeChat later, you'll understand after you read it..."

As for what was written in the documents, he stubbornly refused to say it himself, only taking out a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it for himself.

He Ming remained silent, quietly watching his father smoke.

After the cigarette burned out, the dejected man turned around, put his arm around the man's shoulder, patted him twice symbolically, and then walked alone toward the gate of the residential area.

————

The WeChat message from my father, He Guanshan, came ten minutes later.

At that time, He Ming was still pacing back and forth downstairs in the apartment building.

His agitation nearly made him lose his composure, so he dared not go upstairs so quickly.

He held his phone in his palm the whole time, and when the message notification sounded, he immediately tapped on it.

As soon as the PDF document was opened, a scanned old newspaper came into view.

A news report on the homepage was highlighted in red pen; the text was small, dense, and not very clear. Only the bold, lead-print headline in the middle dominated his view: "Gucheng Bus Plunges into Lake: A Life-or-Death Struggle Between 'Violent' Passengers and 'Honest' Drivers."

His heart clenched, and the air in his chest was suddenly sucked out. The striking headline was like an invisible hand, gripping his throat tightly.

His fingertips slid rapidly across the screen, enlarging the text. As the page moved backward, He Ming's gaze grew colder and colder.

His mother's death was a hurdle he couldn't overcome. He had finally managed to hide it, but his father brought it up again, blatantly.

Wasn't he supposed to show him the reasons?

What is the reason for this?

Could it be—

When the thought entered my mind, my blood rushed to my head, and my hands and feet were instantly enveloped in numbness and coldness.

Moving the eye to the very last line, the names of several key figures related to the accident are prominently listed: the troublemaking passenger Li Mouwei, the bus driver Zhu Moudong...

Zhu Mou Dong... The driver and Zhu Liu Shuang both share the surname Zhu.

He Ming brought the phone close to his eyes, zooming in, zooming in, and zooming in again, until the character "祝" filled the entire screen. The character "祝," speckled with black dots, seemed to fall apart before his eyes, its strokes flying around, sharp edges piercing his pupils.

How could that be?

It's just a coincidence!

He closed his eyes in anguish, trying to shake off the images flooding his mind.

But reality wasn't going to let him off the hook.

The phone vibrated, and a new message from his father delivered a devastating blow, sentencing him to death.

[Zhu Mou Dong's full name is Zhu Xiang Dong. You can ask your girlfriend what her father's name is. If you still insist on dating her, Ah Ling, if she knew in heaven, would not rest in peace.]

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Author's Note: This incident has been foreshadowed for a long time [shrug]. As Shuangshuang's mother, I chose to let the male protagonist know first and suffer the pain first [shrug].