Shu Bai took a lollipop out of the plastic bag, neatly unwrapped it, and casually stuffed it into Li Yuheng's mouth.
Li Yuheng was taken aback by the sudden feeding. The sweetness melted on his tongue, and he subconsciously smacked his lips, his eyes instantly revealing an unconcealable sense of pride.
He held a lollipop in his mouth and raised an eyebrow defiantly at Qi An, who was frozen by the window.
See? This is just my daily routine.
Qi An looked completely bewildered: ? ? ?
Shu Bai ignored the bubbling guardian beside him and sat down on the only relatively clean chair in the room, looking up at Qi An who was still leaning against the window.
“Let’s talk about Qin Ren. Please sit down.” He gestured to the edge of the bed opposite him. “It’s tiring to talk standing up.”
Qi An's eyes flickered, the Shu family...
That legendary family of Pure Color Masters, protected by righteous gods, whom even "Gray Eyes" dare not easily provoke.
Her gaze swept across the corner of the sparse white robe and the halo around Li Yuheng, her expression shifting several times.
She didn't move, only twitched the corner of her mouth: "The Shu family... truly lives up to their reputation. They can even persuade a righteous god to come."
"We provided for him ourselves, so it's not like we invited him. Tell me, why did you target Qin Ren? He's a ghost now, he's lost his money and his memory. Did you do it?"
Qi An remained silent for a moment, then suddenly raised her hand and rubbed her face and hair, her expression shifting to a perfectly appropriate gentleness.
“Mr. Shu, I was forced into this situation.” Her voice lowered, trembling. “I was tricked into working as a ‘fake color strike’ for ‘Gray Eyes’ a while ago. Qin Ren was my first job. But I felt so sorry for him; his mother had just passed away, and he was completely broken… I couldn’t bring myself to do it, so I secretly returned the money to him. I was planning to quit, but the people from ‘Gray Eyes’ discovered me and have been hunting me down ever since…”
As she spoke, her eyes reddened slightly, and she stole a glance at Shu Bai's reaction.
Li Yuheng crushed the candy and sneered, "Keep making things up. Your ability to change your expression is just as good as my little Shu Baijing's."
Shu Bai ignored Li Yuheng's sabotage and only looked at Qi An: "Have you paid back the money?"
“Really! The card is under his pillow, he probably hasn’t even found it yet.” Qi An said hurriedly, “I know I’m sorry to Qin Ren, but I really couldn’t protect myself at the time… Mr. Shu, you are a legitimate Purifier, and the Shu family is protected by righteous gods, no one dares to touch your people. Could you… protect me for a while? I can help you find the ‘Gray Pupil’s’ stronghold!”
After listening, Shu Bai tapped his finger lightly on his knee: "The story was well told. The emotions were right, and the logic was sound. Unfortunately, there's a flaw."
Qi An's expression changed slightly: "What loophole?"
Shu Bai slowly said, "Qin Ren's memory is blank, and there was external interference. That method is not something that the 'Gray Pupil' group could do. It seems to be... something from within the Pure Color Masters."
"There's someone behind you. Who is it?"
Before Shu Bai arrived, he had already heard about the story of "Hengzi's Adventures" from Li Yuheng last night from him, and thus knew about Qin Ren's memories.
Qi An's delicate expression froze instantly, and her eyes suddenly sharpened like knives.
She looked coldly at Shu Bai: "Patriarch Shu has good eyesight. Unfortunately, knowing too much is not good for you."
"Benefits? I'm not in this line of work for the benefits. I'm in it for the clarity."
Shu Bai stood up and straightened his sleeves: "You have to tell me about Qin Ren. I also need to know about the people behind you. Will you tell me yourself, or will I 'invite' you to?"
Qi An's eyes flashed with anger, and he abruptly retreated towards the window.
Li Yuheng instantly flashed to the window, blocking the way out, and laughed arrogantly: "This road is blocked."
Shu Bai sighed, then slid a few old copper coins from his sleeve and held them between his fingers.
"You won't take the toast." He said with a hint of regret, "Then I'll just have to help you sober up."
The copper coin hummed at Shu Bai's fingertips, poised to strike.
Qi An suddenly relaxed, leaned against the window frame, and raised his hands in surrender: "Fine, fine, I'll talk. I'm just unlucky to have run into you guys. That's right, Qin Ren's memory has been tampered with. In his state at the time... if we didn't intervene, it wouldn't just be amnesia, it would be a lifetime stay in a mental hospital."
Li Yuheng floated back to Shu Bai's side, a bare candy stick dangling from his mouth, and commented, "Oh, so it's a humanitarian intervention?"
“Intervention?” Shu Bai caught the key word, the copper coin pausing between his fingers. “Who intervened? That’s no amateurish thing.”
Qi An twitched the corner of her mouth: "Patriarch Shu has good taste. The one who did this... actually has some connection with your family." She raised her eyes and looked directly at Shu Bai, "His name is Junwen."
“Junwen?” Shu Bai repeated the name, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly.
Li Yuheng threw the candy stick into the trash can in a parabola, then made the same expression as Shu Bai: "Um... Junwen?"
Seeing their reactions, Qi An knew he had made the right bet, so he simply laid his cards on the table: "Yes, it was Junwen. He said Qin Ren was someone he needed to protect, someone who couldn't really go insane or die. He temporarily sealed off Qin Ren's bloodiest memories, at least to give him some breathing room and prevent him from completely collapsing. As for the money..."
She paused, her tone complicated: "I secretly slipped it back under his pillow. It's just a little bit of my personal...extra conscience."
"An extra conscience?" Shu Bai caught the subtlety in her words. "So your initial purpose in approaching Qin Ren was indeed impure."
Qi An turned her head away and lowered her voice: "Yes. The mission was to swindle all his money. He had just lost his mother and was as fragile as a piece of paper. He was too easy to take advantage of."
She took a deep breath, turned back, and her previous pretense vanished, replaced by a weary truth: "But I never expected him to be... so foolish. He told me everything, the good, the bad, the clean, the dirty... including that he killed the man who harassed him, and even took the body..."
She paused, seemingly unwilling to recall those details.
"He saw me as his last lifeline, his only salvation. But I couldn't bear that responsibility. I thought I should go on a trip and have some fun for a few days first. But he found out... He thought I was going to abandon him and went completely insane."
Qi An pointed to the room: "It's right here. He was holding a knife, and his eyes had completely changed... Junwen suddenly appeared, knocked him unconscious, and took him away."
"And what about you?" Shu Bai asked.
“I was terrified and packed my things, intending to disappear completely. But halfway there… I inexplicably went to look for him again. Maybe it was just my ‘extra conscience’ acting up. I thought I should at least pay him back the money I’d cheated him out of, and we’d be even. But then I saw him swallow sleeping pills and was unconscious…”
“I was the one who took him to the hospital,” she said finally, her tone calm but with a sense of relief.
A brief silence fell over the room.
After listening, Shu Bai silently gathered the copper coins between his fingers.
"So, the story of 'Gray Eyes' chasing you is fake."
"Half true, half false." Qi An twitched the corner of his mouth. "I do want to break away from them, and they will indeed purge traitors. But someone as insignificant as me isn't worth 'Gray Eyes' personally ordering my assassination. I was just trying to scare you."
Li Yuheng scoffed: "You've got some nerve, trying to scheme against us."
“I had no choice, I just wanted to live.” Qi An looked at Shu Bai, his eyes becoming more open. “Patriarch Shu, that’s all I know. I’ve paid back Qin Ren’s money, and I indirectly saved his life. I’m not asking you to protect me, I just want to settle things even and let me go.”
Shu Bai remained silent for a moment.
Where is Junwen now?
“I don’t know. He’s elusive, and he’s always the one who contacts me.” Qi An shook his head. “But he left a message saying that if you ask, he’ll tell you… ‘Old debts haven’t been settled, so I dare not bother you.’”
Old debts.
Shu Bai recalled the complex sigh his grandfather gave when he mentioned this person.
"You can go now." He stepped aside to make way.
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