got engaged
It's a question, but it doesn't give the person time to answer.
"I don't want another person in the world to share my fate. Do you understand what I mean?" Du Pianjian donated incense money, bowed before the statue of the deity, and shook the fortune-telling box.
I don't understand, I don't understand at all.
I don't understand why I should tell him these things.
Yu Zou pretended to understand and nodded, then put his hands together in a gesture of respect. Thinking of the trees outside, he silently wondered: When will my real wife appear?
On the eighteenth draw, the fortune slip read: "A hazy vision appears, a ghostly light flashes, revealing a peach blossom face."
Just as he was wondering what was going on, a sudden clap of thunder sounded outside. Yu Zou turned his head sharply; the sky was overcast, with only a faint afterimage of lightning visible. The temple immediately went dark, with only the red candles on the offering table providing a small patch of light. He got goosebumps. Beside him, Du Pianjian was intently looking at the fortune slip in his hand, his face somber; it probably wasn't going well either.
Yu Zou looked again and thought it might be good news. It was like he would meet his wife one night, perhaps around the Ghost Festival. The peach blossom face meant that his wife was very beautiful and cute.
Another clap of thunder sounded, the sky grew even darker, and the wind picked up. Fleeting flashes of colorful lightning chased each other through the clouds. Yu Zou carefully put away the divination slip and asked, "It's going to rain. Shall we still go back to Wangyuan Garden?"
"No, the party is over at this time."
"Where are you going? Back to university?"
Du Pianjian thought for a moment and said, "Let's go there."
Just as I got into the car, another clap of thunder sounded outside.
During a brief moment of safety, Du Pianjian saw Yu Zou standing in front of the car door, looking up at the sky, his lips curving into an uncontrollable smile, his short, light-colored hair shaving to the side as it seemed ready to fly. Only then did he notice that Yu Zou had a pair of ear piercings. After the others got in, Du Pianjian checked again; they were indeed a pair, about half a centimeter apart.
Yu Zou fastened his seatbelt and noticed him looking at him. He blinked, silently asking, "What's wrong?"
Du Pianjian shook his head.
After passing two traffic lights, the long-awaited torrential rain finally began to fall.
There's been too much rain lately this autumn, or is this just how the weather is in the capital, and he only just realized it? Du Pianjian was asleep in the carriage seat, breathing quietly without making a sound.
The bracelet vibrated, signaling an incoming call. Yu Zou rejected it, but another call came in three seconds later. Fortunately, in this weather, there weren't many cars on the road, allowing Yu Zou to focus on answering the call with his earphones.
Li Kuo asked indignantly, "Did you hang up on me?"
"Wait ten minutes, I'll call you back," Yu Zou said in a low voice, then hung up the phone again. He turned the steering wheel and drove into Shoushu University, stopping in front of the faculty apartments.
The person woke up as soon as the car was turned off.
Yu Zou took out a folding umbrella and handed it to him. Du Pianjian's eyes showed no trace of the confusion of someone who had just woken up. He took the umbrella and replied with a farewell, as if reflecting Yu Zou's smile.
"goodbye!"
Zhao Junjie suddenly pulled open the door, and Yu Zou, who was standing outside the door preparing to push it open, almost bumped into each other.
"What's wrong?" Yu Zou tilted his head over Zhao Junjie's shoulder to look at Li Kuo inside the room. Li Kuo's face was also quite sour, and he didn't try to stop him at all. Yu Zou gave him a way out at the right time, pulling Zhao Junjie inside: "It's an extremely urgent matter. Didn't you say you would wait until I got here to talk about it? Why are you leaving now?"
Li Kuo pushed Zhao Junjie to sit on the sofa, then without a word, pressed a couple of buttons on the remote control. The floor instantly became transparent, revealing everything below. A young man, not yet twenty, was bound hand and foot and thrown on the floor. In front of him sat a sofa, occupied by a burly, scarred man wearing sunglasses. His henchman, receiving instructions, tossed down a stack of photos and asked, "Do you recognize this guy?"
The man was a skinny Alpha who looked like he'd been badly beaten, but his dark skin didn't show many bruises. He looked up, his tone still unfriendly, with a listless, almost lifeless air: "I know him. He often gets supplies from my dad's bar."
"What kind of goods are you? Tell me yourself, don't make me ask you," Scarface said.
"Alcohol, and peach blossoms, an addictive pheromone."
The person at the head table pursed his lips, and the underling immediately rushed forward and slapped him: "Didn't you hear what the boss said? Keep talking."
Alpha coughed up blood, straightened his head which had been knocked askew, and said angrily, "How am I supposed to know what you want if you don't ask? What are you going to say next? My name is Deceleration, I'm seventeen, Alpha, my dead father is called a bastard, my di..."
"Enough! Where did the peach blossoms come from?"
"I don't know where I bought it from. I'm just unlucky today. I was delivering duck wings and that's why you caught me. You damn duck wings, of all days you could be sick, you had to be sick today. I'll chop your dick off when I get home..."
"Watch your mouth. Do you know where you are?"
"Of course I don't know, because if I did, I'd be dead."
"I invited you here to make a deal with you." Scarface smiled and gestured to his henchman, who squatted down in front of him and unfolded a piece of paper—an application form. He flicked his finger, and the paper tore instantly. "If you cooperate, his path will be unobstructed. Otherwise, you'll both end up the same way."
The boy looked up and said, "Okay, but you have to pay me first. Otherwise, I won't do it. This is dangerous work."
"make a deal."
Another henchman pushed a 26-inch black suitcase at him, then chopped him unconscious with a karate chop and took him away.
Yu Zou sighed deeply, patted his forehead back with his hands which were resting on his thighs, and after three seconds of silence, he raised his head and said, "I'm fine. Have you found Fang Bu?"
"No. Was Chi Hengxun's return to the army also one of your purposes?" Chi Hengxun was recalled to the army ahead of schedule to deal with smuggling ships. Li Kuo leaned closer to Yu Zou, becoming increasingly anxious, "You've fallen for him too? Is it really him you can't live without?"
"Whether I like it or not is not important. We're getting engaged in December and getting married next March. It's all set in stone."
"So soon?" Li Kuo blurted out. Even Zhao Junjie couldn't continue to isolate the two of them out of spite, and waited for what they would say with a shocked expression.
"The engagement banquet will be held at this hotel on December 9th," Yu Zou said, gesturing to the table.
The engagement party was turned into a business reception. Yu Zou and Du Pianjian exchanged rings under the watchful eyes of everyone, while the guests exchanged their values under the glamorous lights. However, the light above their heads was exceptionally bright, and under such lighting, the two, dressed in matching black and red engagement attire, actually looked quite well-matched.
Whenever he had a chance, Yu Zou would find an empty room to hide in. Standing by the balcony railing, he would chug champagne in the cold wind, feeling that his future was as dark as the night before him. To be reduced to drowning one's sorrows in alcohol—how utterly pathetic! Even a beggar in golden armor is still a beggar. Yu Zou raised the bottle, but just as the rim touched the glass, a loud crash made him stumble, spilling champagne onto his clothes. Chi Hengxun's furious voice rang out behind him: "Are you really willing to marry him like this?"
"What's there to be resentful about? It doesn't matter who you marry."
Yu Zou lowered his hands, closed his eyes, and silently let out a long breath. Why is it like this again! He was the one who came first, but Du Pianjian and his various suitors always barged in, and he couldn't rest for a moment.
"If you're willing, I can..."
"What do you mean, 'can't'? My dad needs money, and so do I. Do you have any? You're someone who doesn't even dare to take anyone out with him. You can't afford anything. Stop bothering me."
"But I like you! What about him?"
"So what?"
Chi Hengxun roared, and Du Pianjian roared back even louder. Yu Zou, on the other hand, wisely hid behind the wall and silently adjusted his high-level bracelet.
"What? You were used as a tool by your dad?" Chi Hengxun took out a sealed bag from his pocket and threw it on the table. "Your dad is so eager to climb up the ladder that he even used you as a stepping stone. But he's still a beta, being played like a fool without even realizing it! You smelled it? A piece of paper, a million times dirtier than you can imagine."
Yu Zou slowed his breathing and looked at the shadow on the ground. Du Pianjian bent down to pick up the file bag, took out a few documents and a flower from the shadow, and a very faint sandalwood scent wafted in the air.
"Where did you get it from?" Du Pianjian asked.
"This is the corsage your father wore at the conference."
Du Pianjian scoffed: "What? Did they catch him cheating on you by keeping mistresses? Or did they already have people among them?"
Chi Hengxun softened his tone and said with affection, "Pianjian, you are still too naive. This is an insult. They already knew your father was investigating addiction, but they didn't care at all."
The pheromone clues that Du Junzhang had been investigating were placed so openly and brazenly on his chest, without his knowledge, since he couldn't even smell them.
Like a rat in a cage.
"So what?" Du Pianjian looked up at Chi Hengxun, the file bag falling to the ground after being thrown onto Chi Hengxun's chest. "We've always lived like this. At least Yu Zou is Yu Long's heir, able to provide my father's project with technology and machinery. I'm no longer a useless, invisible person in the Du family. What are you?"
"Just wait for me a little while. I can come back from the front."
"Wait for you? Hahaha, why would I leave something readily available waiting for you?"
"You don't even like him!"
I like you even less.
"You're lying!"
The shouts were mixed with the sounds of a struggle, pheromones clashing in the air. Yu Zou tried his best to control himself, hiding himself in a corner, afraid of being discovered and not being able to hear what they said afterward. With a muffled groan, the fight ended, and the door opened and closed again.
Yu Zou waited for a while without any sound before peeking out slightly. He saw Chi Hengxun lying on the sofa, while Du Pianjian was nowhere to be seen.
Yu Zou cautiously went out and checked Chi Hengxun's breath. He was still alive! That's great! What's more troublesome than the engagement party she didn't want to attend is that someone died at the engagement party.
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