Chapter 30 Mental Illness and Heart Illness
The elevator in the large apartment requires a fingerprint or card to use. They climbed up, and Liu Zhuang was still out of breath, so he didn't have time to comfort his little brother.
Hua Cheng lay on him, heartbroken for a long time, and when she looked up, her eyes were red.
"I'm going to kill that man, kill him!" he said with a sinister expression.
Liu Zhuang was startled: "Calm down, murder is a crime."
"Then arrest me. I won't live much longer anyway," Hua Cheng sneered.
Liu Zhuang: "You won't live much longer. What about Yun Jin? Once the news of her husband killing his lover is broadcast, she will never be able to face anyone again."
Hua Cheng's thoughts of murder and arson vanished instantly, but when he thought about what Yun Jin had done, he couldn't help but feel angry: "How could she let that person live here? How could she hurt me like this!"
"To be fair, her arrangement was actually quite clever; the most dangerous place is the safest place," Liu Zhuang commented.
Seeing that he was still speaking up for Yun Jin, Hua Cheng cried out indignantly, "Fatty!"
“But she really went too far, completely disregarding your feelings. She’s morally corrupt! Despicable! Shameless! Utterly devoid of conscience!” Liu Zhuang suddenly changed his tune.
Hua Cheng said unhappily, "She's the little sister you watched grow up, how can you say that about her?"
Liu Zhuang: "..."
Is he sick? Is he out of his mind?
Oh, he really is mentally ill.
Liu Zhuang forcibly suppressed the urge to punch him, feeling that his tolerance for him had recently become about the same as when he first met him.
Hua Cheng knew he was being unreasonable, but he had too much pent-up emotion that was about to explode, so he could only vent it through jokes and banter.
Seeing his beloved chubby brother rolling his eyes in anger, he slowly exhaled a breath of warm air, feeling a little better.
"Calmed down?" Liu Zhuang glanced at him sideways.
Hua Cheng pursed his lips and lowered his eyes meekly, "I'm sorry, Fatty."
here we go again.
It's always like this.
After you've had your fun with yourself, apologize.
But he actually falls for that.
Liu Zhuang rubbed his temples and asked, "Have you thought about what to do?"
"Wait," Hua Cheng said.
Liu Zhuang paused for a moment, realizing that this meant he was choosing to confront that person head-on.
That works too. Let's cut to the chase and avoid any unforeseen complications.
Then the two of them started to wait.
An hour has passed.
Two hours have passed.
Yun Jin still hadn't come out, and Hua Cheng's expression grew increasingly somber, making Liu Zhuang's heart pound with fear.
As the third hour was drawing to a close, the sound of a door opening finally came from outside the emergency exit. The two men, who had been sitting against the wall, immediately got up and peered desperately through the crack in the emergency door.
Yun Jin stood alone waiting for the elevator, looking like an elegant tree.
Hua Cheng's eyes stung, and he suppressed the urge to rush over and whimper until she left, at which point he gradually relaxed.
"Let's go?" Liu Zhuang asked.
Hua Cheng's expression turned cold in an instant: "Let's go!"
The two walked out aggressively and appeared in the stairwell in the blink of an eye.
The large single-level apartments here are one unit per floor, and there is only one door on the entire top floor.
Many new electronic locks are now equipped with cameras. Liu Zhuang quickly rushed to the door, studied the door frame for a long time, and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that there were no cameras.
"You, knock on the door and say you need help unclogging the drain." He mouthed the instruction.
Hua Cheng nodded and knocked on the door with a dark expression.
Knock on the door.
knock.
Knock, knock, knock.
I knocked for ages, but no one came.
Liu Zhuang frowned and asked in a low voice, "What do you mean? Did they discover us?"
Hua Cheng thought for a moment and then called Yun Jin.
The phone was answered after only two rings, and Yun Jin's calm voice came through the receiver: "What's wrong?"
Hearing her voice, Hua Cheng felt a pang of grievance, but he still forced himself to remain calm: "Wife, when do you get off work? I'll come pick you up."
"Come back in half an hour, we'll go out to eat," Yun Jin said.
Hua Cheng: "Okay."
After hanging up the phone, Hua Cheng said, "He didn't notice."
"...How did you find out?" Liu Zhuang asked humbly.
Hua Cheng: "If he finds out, he will definitely tell Yun Jin. When I called Yun Jin just now, her tone was very calm, not like she knew."
Liu Zhuang suddenly realized: "Sherlock Holmes Cheng, I've learned something... So what should we do now?"
Hua Cheng looked at the closed door: "Wait."
Liu Zhuang: "...Still waiting?"
Hua Cheng: "I don't believe he won't go out."
Liu Zhuang: "Aren't you going to pick up Yun Jin for dinner later? How are you going to wait?"
Hua Cheng looked at him pitifully.
Liu Zhuang: "..."
For the next period of time, Liu Zhuang stayed in the stairwell day and night. Only when Yun Jin went to work would Hua Cheng come to relieve him, and only then could he go home to change his clothes and have a meal.
Yun Jin comes every day, sometimes once, sometimes twice, sometimes for only half an hour, and sometimes for most of the day.
After squatting for a week straight, Liu Zhuang, with scratches all over his face, earnestly tried to persuade Hua Cheng.
"This can't go on any longer. Your sister-in-law has recently started to suspect that I'm cheating on her. Look at my face, look at this long, bloody welt. If this continues, our marriage will be in danger!"
Hua Cheng expressed his deep sympathy: "Brother Pang, you've worked hard."
"Stop with your sweet talk, I don't want to come again, no more, no more!"
Despite saying no, Liu Zhuang still showed up with a grumpy face when it was time to change shifts.
This shift handover was a little different; Hua Cheng had another person with him.
The man looked to be around fifty years old and was wearing the uniform of a well-known locksmith company.
Liu Zhuang silently moved closer to Hua Cheng: "What do you want to do?"
“This house is registered under Yun Jin’s name,” Hua Cheng said calmly. “As her husband, I can use my ID card, marriage certificate, and other valid documents to ask someone to unlock it.”
Liu Zhuang's mouth gradually opened into a circle.
The locksmith is very experienced; he can open even electronic locks in three minutes without breaking the original password and program.
After opening the door, the master left, and Liu Zhuang rushed into the house first.
"You little bastard, prepare to die!"
A loud shout rang out, but no one responded.
Undeterred, Liu Zhuang wandered around the house several times, but still couldn't find the person.
Compared to him, who was wandering around like a headless fly, Hua Cheng was much more focused. He went straight to the bedroom, opened the wardrobe, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was empty.
The lack of any sense of daily life suggests that it was merely a hideout for secret meetings, rather than a long-term love nest with a third party.
Yun Jin still loves him; she wouldn't actually let a third party live in the same neighborhood as him.
Liu Zhuang rushed in: "Chengzi, nobody's here!"
Hua Cheng closed the wardrobe and calmly said, "There was no one there to begin with."
Liu Zhuang: "?"
“We’ve been taking turns for over a week now, and apart from Yun Jin coming and going, we haven’t seen anyone else. She never brings any food or drink when she comes. If anyone were staying here, they would have starved to death long ago.”
Liu Zhuang's mouth opened wide enough to be the size of a duck egg once again.
After a long pause, he asked, "You guessed it all along?"
Of course not, I only realized that today.
As was his habit, when Liu Zhuang asked this question, he would immediately put on a knowing and profound expression, as if he were the smartest person in the world.
But not today. Fatty just got a beating from his sister-in-law. If he tries to act tough again, she'll definitely beat him up.
"I just figured it out," Hua Cheng said.
Liu Zhuang nodded, then a new question arose: "There's no one else in the house, so what does Yun Jin do every day? I just glanced into the kitchen, and there's nothing there. She stayed here all day the day before yesterday, doesn't she need to eat?"
"Why did you run to the kitchen?" Hua Cheng asked back.
Because as a fat guy, his favorite thing to do is browse the kitchen. (This is just his personal opinion.)
Liu Zhuang coughed lightly.
Hua Cheng didn't press further and fell into deep thought.
A moment later, Liu Zhuang clapped his hands: "I understand!"
Hua Cheng immediately looked at him.
"Now the entire Yuncheng Technology is on her shoulders. She's busy with work and also has to worry about your illness. The pressure is too much, so she wants to find a quiet place where no one is around. This house... is like a married man's car. Many men who don't want to face family matters after get off work like to stay in their cars alone until late at night before going home."
Hua Cheng: "You've done this before?"
“Of course I didn’t,” Liu Zhuang immediately retorted. “Only a heartless person would shirk responsibility like that. Successful people like me always face challenges head-on.”
Hua Cheng: "Do you think Yun Jin won't rise to the challenge?"
Liu Zhuang was speechless.
Will Yunjin not rise to the challenge?
What a joke! She's incredibly adept at tackling challenges head-on. She tackles any difficulty, even a disastrous start can carve out a bloody path for her.
"...With her personality, she's unlikely to hide away," Liu Zhuang said awkwardly.
Hua Cheng pursed his lips and remained silent.
"Then why did she come here?" Liu Zhuang asked again. "There's no one else here, what's she doing here?"
Hua Cheng pondered for a moment and said, "Perhaps it existed before."
Liu Zhuang: "?"
“When we knocked on the door that day, we probably alerted him. Just because that kid didn’t tell Yun Jin at first doesn’t mean he won’t tell Yun Jin later. And Yun Jin is such a meticulous person, she must have moved him away a long time ago. Then she comes over every day to create the illusion that, as you said, she’s hiding away to relax, so that I can dispel my suspicions.”
This was a bit convoluted, and Liu Zhuang pondered it several times before speaking: "What you said isn't impossible, but we've been taking turns keeping watch. If there really was someone inside, how did they get out?"
"It's not completely seamless. Didn't you leave half an hour early before just to pick up Beibei from school?" Hua Cheng reminded him.
Liu Zhuang exclaimed in agreement with his explanation, and then asked, "If he told Yun Jin, it means that Yun Jin already knows that you suspect her. Has she been acting naturally around you lately? Has she shown any signs of guilt?"
"Don't you know her? She's unfazed even if Mount Tai collapses before her. How could she possibly give herself away just because of my slightest suspicion?" Hua Cheng clicked his tongue twice as he said this.
Liu Zhuang: "..."
I don't know what you're so proud of.
The brocade could arrive at any time; it is not advisable to linger here.
The two restored the house to its original state as much as possible. After closing the door from the outside, they also wiped the electronic lock to avoid leaving their fingerprints.
After leaving the large apartment, the two sat on a bench in the community and began to think about what to do next.
After a long silence, Hua Cheng said, "They will definitely meet again."
Liu Zhuang looked at him.
“But they probably won’t be here anymore. As long as we keep following them, we’ll eventually catch up,” Hua Cheng said, then suddenly grabbed Liu Zhuang’s hand. “Fat Brother, you’ll come with me, right? I have a terminal illness, my wife is cheating on me, and you’re all I have left!”
Liu Zhuang took a deep breath and gritted his teeth: "Fine, I'll risk my life to accompany you."
At worst, I'll get a couple more beatings from my wife.
The next day, Yun Jin left the company again during working hours, but this time she did not go back to the residential area, but went to a nearby hotel.
"...You're incredibly insightful." Liu Zhuang looked at Hua Cheng's gloomy face and tried to ease the atmosphere.
Hua Cheng glanced at him.
Well, that's an attempt to mitigate the failure.
The two men followed stealthily in their beat-up Volkswagen, but lost track of them as soon as they entered the hotel.
This was just the beginning. Over the next two or three days, Yun Jin went in and out of different hotels, with Hua Cheng and Liu Zhuang following closely behind, but they lost track of her each time.
As things reached a stalemate, Hua Cheng's expression grew increasingly stiff. Liu Zhuang felt like he was walking on thin ice every day, and he also had to deal with his increasingly dissatisfied wife, making his life miserable.
After yet another failed attempt to track him down, Liu Zhuang patiently advised, "The hotel has a complicated layout, many rooms on high floors, so it's normal to lose track of someone. You don't need to put so much pressure on yourself..."
Hua Cheng twitched his lips, but it was unclear how much he had taken in.
Although he was always frustrated and irritable when he was secretly following Yun Jin, he never revealed any of his negative emotions when he was in front of her. He was still the perfect husband who took care of her every need.
It was Friday again, and he and Yun Jin went to a newly opened couples' restaurant.
The restaurant was delicious and had a great atmosphere; both of them felt a long-lost sense of relaxation.
After a few rounds of drinks, we were pleasantly tipsy.
Yun Jin leaned against him, gazing absently at the distant river view.
After a long silence, she said softly, "Sometimes, it really feels like a dream."
Hua Cheng kissed the top of her head; the newly grown wisps of hair tickled him a little.
"Was it a good dream?" he asked.
Yun Jin sat up, looked at him for a long time, and then smiled: "It's not over yet, so I can't be sure."
Hua Cheng laughed as well: "Then when will it end?"
"It'll be soon," Yun Jin leaned against him again. "It'll be soon."
Hua Cheng hugged her tightly and remained silent for a moment.
After a moment, Yun Jin said, "I have to go on a business trip tomorrow for two days."
Hua Cheng paused slightly; the finger she had bitten last night was both itchy and painful.
He paused for a moment, then asked calmly, "Business trip this weekend?"
“There’s been a problem at the factory in Longcheng, I have to go there,” Yun Jin said, gently rubbing the teeth marks on his fingers. “I might be very busy. Don’t worry if I don’t reply to your messages, I’ll be back Sunday night.”
Hua Cheng did not respond for a long time.
Yun Jin noticed that he was in a bad mood, so she tried to get up to look at him again, but he suddenly hugged her tightly and she couldn't turn around.
“Then you must come back on Monday,” he said softly. “My mom invited me to lunch that day.”
"Why did you suddenly ask me out?" Yun Jin asked, puzzled.
Hua Cheng's mother, Sun Lan, left home when he was five years old, and the two did not see each other for many years afterward.
They met again after Yuncheng Technology was established. Huacheng's business was booming and he quickly entered the so-called business circle in Pingcheng. The mother and son were reunited at a banquet. Although they exchanged contact information after that, they rarely contacted each other throughout the year.
The Mid-Autumn Festival has already passed, and suddenly inviting me to dinner feels a bit odd.
Hua Cheng was still upset about her leaving, and answered her question in a muffled voice, "I don't know, she suddenly made an appointment, and I also had something to ask her, so I thought I'd just meet her."
He originally wanted to see Sun Lan alone, but Yun Jin had set a rule for him a long time ago that he had to bring her with him when he met Sun Lan. He dared not disobey and could only tell her the truth.
As expected, Yun Jin didn't tell him to go by himself, but simply nodded and promised, "Don't worry, I'll be back on time."
Hua Cheng didn't say anything more, but just hugged her a little tighter.
Because Yun Jin had to go on a business trip, they didn't stay in the restaurant for long and called the waiter to settle the bill after they finished eating.
The waiter handed the menu to Hua Cheng, who then passed it to Yun Jin, silently watching her.
Yunjin uses QR code payment.
On Saturday morning, Yun Jin appeared at a hotel.
Some time ago, whenever she needed to travel through time, she would first return to her top-floor apartment. However, after returning a few times, she found that not only was it a waste of time on the way, but she was also very likely to be seen by Hua Cheng, who was unemployed at home.
After much thought, she started staying at hotels near the company, which saved her a lot of time.
As for today, she was supposed to leave from the large apartment as well, but considering that the neighbors would be home on the weekend, and it would be difficult to explain if they ran into each other in the hallway, she chose to stay at the hotel.
As she turned the clock hands, Yun Jin frowned slightly, recalling Hua Cheng's gloomy expression from the previous night.
She knew she had been going to 2013 too frequently lately, and given Hua Cheng's keen sense of smell, he must have noticed something was wrong.
But there was nothing she could do.
According to Fatty's previous statement, the group of debt collectors found Hua Cheng between the end of October and the beginning of November 2013, and it was around that time that they beat him severely.
Now that time period is very close, and given the changes caused by her time travel, that group of people could appear in front of Hua Yu at any time.
She considered hiring a bodyguard to protect him secretly, but considering Hua Yu's keen senses developed during his two-year escape, she feared he would discover something amiss within two days.
She had also considered telling him directly that the group of people had come to Pingcheng and persuading him to accept her protection.
But in the end, he thought that no matter what he did, given his personality, as soon as he realized he was being targeted, whether by bodyguards or debt collectors, he would immediately sever ties with everyone and leave Pingcheng alone.
Those debt collectors were like a swarm of flies that only followed him. Once he left, they would leave too. All the connections she had built up in Pingcheng would be useless, and she would truly be powerless to help.
So after much consideration, she felt it was best to go several times. If necessary, she could set aside some time to stay in 2013.
This will inevitably cause concern for Huacheng.
As late autumn arrived, Pingcheng experienced several rain showers, and the weather grew even colder.
The electronic speaker at the convenience store entrance has been replaced by a string of wind chimes. When someone comes in, they no longer hear the machine playing "Welcome," but rather the clear sound of the bells.
For example, right now.
Liu Zhuangzhuang, who was handing over the work to Hua Yu, looked up at the sound and waved to Yun Jin with a smile: "Sister Yun!"
"Good morning." Yun Jin also raised her hand.
Liu Zhuangzhuang: "Sister Yun, have you had breakfast?"
"Not yet," Yun Jin replied.
Liu Zhuangzhuang: "Great! Hua Yu didn't eat either, so it's perfect for you two to eat together."
After saying that, he winked at Hua Yu.
Hua Yu frowned as she read this.
Ever since their brief chat on the day he moved, Liu Zhuangzhuang has been acting like he's possessed, trying his best to bring him and Yun Jin together, and now it's reached a point of utter madness.
But someone was actually happy to see this happen, and appeared more frequently than before.
Upon hearing Liu Zhuangzhuang's suggestion, Yun Jin immediately responded, "Okay, let's go eat together."
The scab on Hua Yu's lip, which had been chipped by her teeth, had just fallen off. The patch was a little lighter in color than the surrounding area, and it looked wooden, constantly reminding him to keep his distance from married people.
“No,” he refused. “I want to go home and sleep.”
He was on the night shift during this period, and he was always very sleepy during the day, so he wasn't in the mood to eat with people.
"Go on, go on, eat first and then sleep," Liu Zhuangzhuang advised.
Yun Jin mimicked his tone: "Go ahead, go ahead, it's on me."
The two looked at each other and smiled.
Hua Yu thought they were crazy, so she picked up her bag and walked out.
Yun Jin immediately followed, but before she had gone a few steps, Liu Zhuangzhuang called her back.
"Sister Yun."
She turned around.
"Come on, take him down!" Liu Zhuangzhuang clenched his fists.
Yun Jin gave an OK sign and sat steadily in the back seat before Hua Yu could escape.
It's like I've ridden in it hundreds of times.
"Get down."
"It won't go down."
"Get down."
"It won't go down."
Just as the conversation was about to reach a stalemate, Hua Yu took a deep breath and was about to unleash his ultimate move when someone suddenly wrapped their arms around his waist and looked up at him.
"Want to see a thirty-year-old woman behaving like a hooligan in the street?" Yun Jin smiled.
Hua Yu: "..."
He finally set off with her in his car. After driving for a while, he reluctantly asked, "What do you want to eat?"
"Two yuan a bowl of tofu pudding, one yuan a fried dough stick, and a tea egg."
Hua Yu: "..."
A very familiar menu.
His lips moved, but he couldn't get the question out.
Yun Jin volunteered, "That's the one."
Hua Yu didn't say anything, but turned left at the next intersection.
The place Yun Jin was referring to was the steamed bun shop where they first ate together.
Although the main dish is takeout, they also have fried dough sticks, pan-fried buns, and meat pies, offering a wide variety of options, but the environment is a bit lacking.
When he took her there, he had a mischievous intention to tease her. Who knew that someone who was used to going to high-class places could adapt so well to a steamed bun shop with poor hygiene?
Returning to the familiar place, Hua Yu went to order food, while Yun Jin sat at a small square table sharpening disposable chopsticks.
When he returned, the rough edges on the disposable chopsticks had been smoothed out, and Yun Jin handed them to him.
"Why didn't you order the meat pie?" she asked. "Don't you like it?"
Hua Yu suddenly looked at her.
"What's wrong?" Yun Jin asked, resting her chin on her hand, exuding a lazy and composed air.
Hua Yu quickly lowered her head: "It's nothing."
I never expected that after so long, she would still remember what she ate back then.
My feelings are a bit complicated.
Yun Jin couldn't fathom Hua Yu's youthful thoughts. After saying he wanted to eat, he began to eat seriously.
The ingredients used in this small shop aren't the best, but they're very substantial. Plus, everything is made to order, making it far more delicious than those fancy and expensive pre-made dishes from 2025.
Yun Jin had a great appetite and ate every bite with relish. Seeing this, Hua Yu quietly asked for two yuan's worth of fried dough sticks.
The peak dining hours had passed, and the owner personally delivered the fried dough sticks after they were fried.
"Hey Xiaohua, it's been so long since you've been here!"
Hua Yu was clearly not good at small talk, and upon hearing this, she stiffly sat up straight: "Yes, I moved."
"I knew it, it's been so long since I've seen you," the owner said, glancing at Yun Jin. He thought she looked familiar and probably had eaten at their restaurant before. "This... is your sister, right?"
Hua Yu and Yun Jin looked at each other.
Twenty is the prime of youth, and thirty is also the prime of life. Separately, they are both the best ages, but when put together, there are still obvious differences, and they don't evoke any deeper associations.
Hua Yu knew that nodding at this point would be the best course of action, avoiding further gossip and prying. But looking at Yun Jin, he just couldn't bring himself to nod.
Yun Jin suddenly smiled and said, "No, boss, I'm his girlfriend."
Hua Yu slowed her breathing.
Seemingly because he had been staying up all night, he suddenly heard the sound of drums.
"Girlfriend..." The shop owner was embarrassed at first, then slapped his forehead, "I remember now, didn't you come here to eat with him before?!"
Yun Jin readily admitted, "Yes."
"No wonder he ordered the meat pie," the owner laughed. "The meat pie is the most expensive item in our shop. He rarely eats it himself, and that day he even added meat and an egg. It's not like him at all. I thought he got a raise, but now I realize it's because of you..."
Hua Yu slowly snapped out of her daze after Yun Jin said, "I'm his girlfriend." By the time she realized what her boss had said, it was too late to stop him.
Yun Jin looked at him with a half-smile, as if she wanted to peel off his mask.
He belatedly realized that what he had just heard was not the sound of drums, but his own heartbeat.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Da Hua: I feel like I can't hold on much longer (physically)
Xiaohua: Me too (psychologically)
After everyone had been calling her "Big Flower" for so many days, President Hua tearfully accepted the title.
Draw 50 red envelopes~
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