Chapter 70 Like smoothing the fur of a ruffled kitten...

Song Qi's study is very large, with a typical mahogany traditional style. The desk is wide and long, and there are several rows of bookshelves that are almost as high as the wall on the side. Each shelf is filled with books of different categories, many of which are rare and unique books. They are not ostentatious, but they exude a low-key luxury.

The confidential and critical documents in the study should have been removed by Shixue. The room is cleaned and tidied up by someone every day. The books from that time are still on the corner of the table, as if everything is still as good as new, and the owner has only temporarily left.

"Uncle De said he left something here?"

The man is gone. In his youth, Song Mingli stubbornly and arrogantly refused to call Song Qi "father," always referring to him as "he." Now, even though he can't immediately change his way of addressing him, the word carries a somewhat complicated connotation when he says it again.

Ying Shixue nodded gently, her fingers slowly tracing the edge of the table.

Song Qi's sudden death caught everyone off guard. A fire broke out at the scene of the car accident, and by the time he arrived, the person had already been covered with a white sheet.

External pressure was overwhelming, conspiracy theories and treachery abounded, and public opinion reached its peak. Despite this, Ying Shixue managed to hold a funeral for him.

The white funeral banners fluttered in the wind. Ying Shixue, dressed in black, returned the greetings to each mourner in a daze and numb manner. In the vast Brahma City, he was like a rootless, floating ghost.

When making arrangements for his mother's funeral, he was only thinking about not leaking the company's secrets. He never thought about what Song Qi would leave behind. Even though he vaguely guessed that his mother's matter was related to the laboratory, he did not know the specifics.

The bookshelves and drawers had been carefully organized, and he didn't think Song Qi would put these things in such obvious places. Ying Shixue slowly scanned the room with her gaze before suddenly sitting down in the main seat.

He pondered intently, thinking about what it would be like if he were the user of this study—working, receiving guests, resting, reading… Suddenly, something caught his eye out of the corner of his eye.

The bookshelves in the study were large, and each book was numbered for easy categorization and retrieval. The books on the table were numbered 3126, 4237, 6348, and 7459. As if by some strange impulse, Ying Shixue got up and stood in front of the bookshelf starting with 50, following the numbers.

"Brother," Ying Shixue called out to him, her breathing a little rapid.

Song Mingli walked to his side, and Ying Shixue held his arm, raising her other hand to make a gesture.

His height was fixed at 1.8 meters after he turned 18, but Song Mingli... Ying Shixue looked at the difference shown by her hands with some doubt: "Have you grown taller again?"

Song Mingli raised an eyebrow, but before he could speak, Ying Shixue pulled him around so that he was facing the bookshelf.

The bookshelf has five shelves. Unless you are deliberately cleaning or looking for something, the average woman can only see the third shelf, the average man is about the fourth shelf, and the rest is the top fifth shelf.

Perhaps it's because the Song family has generally superior genes when it comes to height, but Song Qi and Song Mingli are both much taller than average, so the fifth floor isn't difficult for them to see.

“Brother…” Ying Shixue’s hand was still on his forearm as she looked up at him: “Look in the fifth floor and see if there are any books whose last two numbers are between 30 and 40.”

The statement itself is a bit nonsensical, suddenly leading the person to a bookshelf, especially since there are many books in the thirties and forties...

Song Mingli said nothing, and took the books down one by one and placed them on the lower shelf.

Ying Shixue carefully flipped through each book, even meticulously unwrapping the outer packaging, but still found nothing.

He pursed his lips. Song Mingli stepped back a little, his eyes narrowed, and he checked the books still on the desk to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. Suddenly, his gaze sharpened.

The books in this row are all quite large, but this one is very small and thin. It's tucked among the other books, and it's hard to find even if you're looking for it intentionally, let alone when you're aimlessly wandering around and can easily overlook it.

Song Mingli took the book down, and Ying Shixue reached out to take it. Just as she was about to touch it, someone lost their grip, and the pages of the book fluttered and fell to the ground. At the same time, a yellowed and old photograph also fell out.

Ying Shixue was stunned. The photo had fallen face down. He instinctively bent down to pick it up along with the book and turned it to face up.

—It's a graduation photo.

It was a graduation photo? In an instant, countless thoughts rushed through my mind. Did Song Qi go to such lengths to hide just a group photo? Yes, time can bury many secrets of the past. An unsuspecting person would only sigh in surprise, "So even the famous CEO Song of Fancheng had such a youthful time."

But Ying Shixue couldn't laugh at all, or rather, his gaze was completely captured by something, his pupils were taut until they trembled slightly, and his eyes were fixed on a certain person in the photograph.

Memories, like fish swimming upstream, leap out of the water above, splashing droplets that shimmer like crystals in the sunlight.

"Is this the new kid?"

The person who answered was clearly somewhat wary: "Yes, miss, she was very unruly and just got a beating. You would like to..."

"No need." The woman looked down at him, interrupting him before he could finish speaking, and then turned and left.

Inside the observation room, Ying Shixue bit her lip and curled up on the floor. Layers of cold sweat had already soaked her back. High fever and dehydration had pushed her bodily functions to their limits. Meanwhile, on the other side of the one-way glass, a person in a white coat was still meticulously recording observation data.

Time ticked by, and just as he was dying, the door was finally opened again. He was lifted onto a stretcher, and the shards of the test tube in his hand cut deep into his palm. Just before he was about to have a sudden burst of lucidity and seize someone, a cold hand stopped him and silently took away the shards.

Live, go down, go.

In the void, this person, whose name he didn't even know and whom he had only met a few times, silently uttered these three words to him.

"This place is going to explode in four hours. Let's get out of here then..."

A porcelain doll was placed in his hand without his knowledge. He tried to grab it in a panic, but the woman's usually icy face broke into a rare smile. She pried his fingers apart one by one and pushed him away.

The city was engulfed in collapse and flames, a chaotic scene that seemed both near and far. One moment there were ferocious-looking guards, the next aloof and indifferent judges.

Across endless time, he finally saw her lips move: "Don't turn around."

Don't look back...

don't want...

In the chaos, Ying Shixue stumbled and knocked over a bookshelf. The books were about to fall and crash down when Song Mingli pulled him to the ground, shielding him with his body. The books shattered and flew far away.

Ying Shixue frantically grabbed Song Mingli's arm: "Brother, this is... she is... me..."

Normally, graduation photos like these will definitely include names. Ying Shixue felt a dryness in her throat as she searched through the names line by line, then her body stiffened.

Xi Yan.

Song Qi also studied at St. Francis. This was clearly a class photo, and the identities, ages, and families of the people were quickly identified. But why was it that when he investigated the Xi family, Xi Yan seemed to have been completely erased from existence?

The overwhelming amount of information made his mind buzz. Ying Shixue calmed himself down and continued to examine the photo. Suddenly, Song Mingli pointed to a spot.

Ying Shixue subconsciously looked in the direction he pointed. She had a round face and a plump body. Although she didn't have the exaggerated belly that she would have later, she could already see the faint outline of what would become of her.

The fingers, with their distinct knuckles, moved down and finally stopped on the corresponding name: Huang Junding.

—The name of the director at Tianzhe Medical Equipment!

Ying Shixue suddenly stood up, and the next second two hissing sounds came at the same time. Ying Shixue covered her forehead where she had been hit and fell back down.

They had just been knocked to the ground and were so busy recognizing the photos that they didn't have time to react. When they got up, Ying Shixue's forehead bumped solidly into Song Mingli's chin.

Bang--

Song Mingli was also badly hurt by the fall. Seeing that Ying Shixue was about to trip, he reached out and pulled her into his arms. Ying Shixue was still clutching the photo in her hand and refused to let go.

Song Mingli was so angry he almost laughed. He pinched the boy's face and turned it back, lifting the black hair from his forehead to see how red it was.

“Don’t move,” he threatened.

Ying Shixue blinked, and after a moment she really stopped moving.

In over twenty years, he had perhaps never been so close to the truth. His pounding heart was still ringing in his ears, but now, as he looked directly into Song Mingli's eyes, all the unusual agitation and suffocating sharpness seemed to be slowly soothed, and his mind began to function again.

That's strange...

Isn't it a terrifying thing to be able to completely hand over your emotions to another person?

He wondered why all his emotions were amplified when he was around that person. He hated useless emotions, as they only decreased his work efficiency. But when he wasn't around that person, he was calm, indifferent, dull, and closed off, and his work efficiency was very high. But this side of him...

Ying Shixue twitched his fingers, realizing that he still had his hand on Song Mingli's shoulder.

However, as soon as he looked away, Song Mingli grabbed his chin and pulled him back, forcing him to look into his eyes again.

Perhaps when Song Mingli made this move, his mind hadn't caught up yet, but his hand had already acted subconsciously. He was just instinctively trying not to let Ying Shixue's gaze leave him.

Ying Shixue's eyelashes were long and sparse, resembling fluttering butterfly wings when viewed up close. Her pupils were pure black, yet round and bright.

"Little butterfly".

Song Mingli suddenly spoke up.

Ying Shixue was stunned for a moment, her eyelashes trembling.

It looks even more like it now.

He reached out and touched those long eyelashes; the touch was soft and light, as if he were touching not his fingertips, but the very tip of his heart.

Song Mingli put his arm around him and slowly analyzed the situation with him.

Everyone gets a graduation photo, but with this method of erasing the traces, many people's photos may have been lost for one reason or another, or the photo may never have been given to their classmates.

So who are the people who know about this photo now? What role does Huang Junding play in it? Song Qi has kept this photo hidden for so many years, he must have been keenly aware of something. But since he knows, why doesn't he continue to investigate? Or rather, what stopped him?

Ying Shixue listened quietly, and now she calmed down as well: "We need to find Huang Junding."

The two were still sitting on the ground, or rather, he was sitting on the ground while Ying Shixue sat on his lap. Song Mingli hummed in agreement and stroked his back from top to bottom like stroking a cat with its fur standing on end.