Chapter 4
The cold light of the phone screen reflected Qin Yu's face, which had suddenly lost all blood. The surging emotions on it almost swallowed him up. He gripped the phone tightly, his knuckles making a slight crack from the strain.
"He caught Uncle Lin." Qin Yu repeated, his voice as if squeezed out from between his teeth, each word wrapped in cold despair.
Gu Jing only felt a chill rushing from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and his limbs and bones became cold in an instant.
Uncle Lin... Butler Lin, who had watched him grow up, had been his only source of warmth in that cold home after his mother's death. Qin Zhengfeng actually...
"What does he want?" Gu Jing's voice was so tense that it almost changed its tone.
Qin Yu turned the phone screen towards him.
The message from the "Old Man" was just one concise sentence:
Bring him back. In exchange for Lin Hai's life.
Attached to the back was the address of an abandoned factory in the suburbs and a countdown - forty-five minutes.
A cold-blooded deal. Gu Jing for Uncle Lin.
The air froze. In the darkness, only the two people's suppressed breathing and the silent red countdown ticked like a death spell.
Qin Yu suddenly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, all the shock and vulnerability within him were forcibly suppressed, leaving only a kind of almost crazy determination. He ripped away Gu Jing's blood-soaked tie, which was still pressed on his wound, with rough but swift movements.
"He's crazy..." Gu Jing muttered, his blood freezing, unable to think. Go back? Walk into a trap? Qin Zhengfeng's target was clearly the two of them!
"He's not crazy." Qin Yu's voice was cold as ice. He tore off the hem of his shirt and quickly wrapped it around the wound on his arm several times, tying a knot with a frighteningly skilled technique. "He just calculated it right."
I calculated that Gu Jing would not stand by and watch Uncle Lin die.
Qin Yu had no choice.
"You can't go!" Gu Jing suddenly grabbed his intact arm, his fingertips cold, "This is a trap! He wants us to go back and die!"
"I know." Qin Yu looked at him. In the darkness, his eyes were terrifyingly bright, filled with thick emotions that Gu Jing couldn't understand. "So, you stay here."
"What?"
"My people will find this secret room soon, and they'll take you out another way." Qin Yu spoke quickly, leaving no room for doubt. "After you get out, contact this number. They'll arrange for you to leave the country and go to a place where the Qin family can't find you." He quickly reported a series of numbers, and before Gu Jing could react, he added, "I've already isolated Gu's core assets using overseas shell companies. They can't swallow them up, and later..."
"Qin Yu!" Gu Jing interrupted him, his heart as if being gripped by an icy hand, breathing hard. "You want to go alone? Are you going to die?!"
Trading himself for Uncle Lin? Qin Zhengfeng would eat him alive!
Qin Yu stopped talking and looked at Gu Jing deeply in the dim light. His eyes were heavy and hot, as if he wanted to carve him into his soul.
He suddenly laughed lightly, with endless self-mockery and a little bit of... relief.
"Gu Jing, for the past ten years, I've watched you, thought about you, and used all my energy to play the role of a business rival you hate and worthy of yours." His voice lowered, but every word was clear. "Marriage is my only despicable chance to get close to you."
"But I never thought I would drag you into this." There was a barely perceptible tremor in his voice. "My father is right. Love from someone like me will only kill you."
"Now," he took a deep breath, as if to cut off all ties, "this is the only thing I can do for you."
Save the people he cares about. Give him a chance to live.
After saying that, he turned around abruptly and was about to push open the secret door.
"Stop!" Gu Jing shouted, his voice trembling with the huge emotional impact.
Qin Yu paused, but did not look back.
In the darkness, Gu Jing could hear his heart pounding wildly, nearly bursting through his chest. Fear, anger, a sense of absurdity, and… the handwriting in the notebook, the trembling questions on the wall, and now the figure, determined to die… All the fragments of the image spun wildly, finally converging into a sharp, stabbing pain that pierced his heart.
He suddenly understood.
Understand Qin Yu's cold alienation, those deliberate targeting, and those painful gazes that are almost overflowing and hidden under the appearance of disgust.
I also understood what was frantically trying to break out from beneath the frozen soil in my heart.
Not sympathy, not touching.
yes……
At the moment when Qin Yu's hand was about to touch the door panel, Gu Jing suddenly rushed forward and hugged his waist tightly from behind!
Qin Yu's entire body trembled violently, and he froze in place. Gu Jing's embrace was almost ferocious, his cheek pressed tightly against his bloodied back, his warm body temperature and rapid breathing transmitted unreservedly.
"Qin Yu..." Gu Jing's voice was muffled by the fabric of his clothes, choking with suppressed sobs and a desperate determination. "Ten years... Do you think you're the only one acting?"
Qin Yu's body was as stiff as a rock.
"I hate your targeting, I hate your arrogance, and I hate this damn marriage!" Gu Jing's voice was trembling, but very clear. "But I hate it even more... I hate seeing you chatting and laughing with others! I hate that you pretend to be in love with me when you clearly don't love me! I hate it so much... I wish all those who smile at you would disappear!"
He raised his head and almost yelled at Qin Yu's stiff back: "Do you think you are the only one who pretends not to love someone?!"
"Do you know how upset I feel every time I mock you?!"
The secret room was dead silent.
There was only Gu Jing's uncontrolled panting and Qin Yu's breathing which suddenly became heavy and chaotic.
Time passed second by second, and the red countdown ticked silently on the cold screen.
Qin Yu turned around very slowly, bit by bit.
In the darkness, he couldn't see Gu Jing's face clearly. He could only feel the hands clutching his clothes, shaking violently, their knuckles turning white with force. He could feel the other person's breath on his neck, hot and wet.
He raised his uninjured hand and touched Gu Jing's cheek tremblingly and almost cautiously.
My fingertips were cold and wet.
He cried.
This realization was like a bullet, instantly piercing through all of Qin Yu's defenses and despair.
"Gu Jing..." His throat was choked with pain and his voice was broken.
Gu Jing suddenly opened his hand, but instead of pushing it away, he grabbed the front of his shirt even more tightly, bringing the distance between them closer, so close that their noses were almost touching.
"Don't even think about being a hero on your own." Gu Jing's voice still tinged with tears, but it was firm and resolute, with a desperate madness. "Qin Yu, we haven't settled this account yet. For ten years, you've been peeking at me, tricking me into marriage, and dragging me into this mess..."
He took a deep breath and spoke word by word, hitting Qin Yu's heart:
"You want to use death to avoid paying your debt? Dream on!"
"If you want to die," he stared at Qin Yu's blurry silhouette in the darkness, his eyes brightening surprisingly, "I have to kill you with my own hands."
"Before that, don't even think about getting rid of me."
The air seemed to explode and then solidify.
Qin Yu froze in place, a web of immense, never-before-seen ecstasy and even deeper fear woven together, binding him tightly. He could feel Gu Jing's hand trembling as he grasped his shirt, and he could sense the unmistakable determination in his words.
This is not forgiveness.
This is a deeper entanglement, a bond that binds us together on the road of life and death.
The countdown is still ticking relentlessly.
Qin Yu suddenly grabbed Gu Jing's hand that was clutching his collar with his backhand, his strength so great that it seemed as if he wanted to crush him into his bones and blood. He lowered his head and pressed his forehead heavily against Gu Jing's, their breaths mingling hotly.
"Okay." He squeezed out a word from between his teeth, with a bloody fierceness and a rekindled, terrifying vitality. "Then I won't die."
"Let's go together," he raised his eyes and looked at the secret door, his eyes as sharp and sinister as a poisoned knife, "let's turn the old man upside down."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
