Night slowly enveloped this unfamiliar city.
Lu Yu could only feel the sweat on Jiao Yuyin's hands, and she had no idea how much unspoken unease was hidden there.
Jiao Yuyin walked to the balcony alone and lit a cigarette.
Nicotine penetrated his lungs, forcing him to take deep breaths into the night air.
After his cigarette burned out, Jiao Yuyin made a phone call.
"Brother Dong, do you have any friends in Istanbul?"
"Yes, Xin Chao is in Istanbul."
"We need reliable people in the industry, as soon as possible."
"Okay, I'll wait for your message."
Jiao Yuyin only felt some relief from his headache after arranging for people to search for Xin Chao's whereabouts.
When she returned to her room, Lu Yu noticed the thin beads of sweat on her forehead.
"Does your head hurt again? Don't hold it in. Even pressing it a couple of times can help." Lu Yu leaned back on the sofa and shifted to one side, making room for Jiao Yuyin to lie down.
Lu Yu felt helpless. As long as she was by Jiao Yuyin's side, he would deliberately suppress his headaches. If she hadn't read Qin Meng's thoughts last time, she would still be kept in the dark.
"It's alright," Jiao Yuyin said, then quickly washed his face before lying down on the sofa.
Lu Yu lifted Jiao Yuyin's head and placed it on her lap, gently pressing Jiao Yuyin's temples.
He obediently took off his glasses, closed his eyes, and his furrowed brows relaxed a little.
After taking off his glasses, the deep blackness in his eye sockets and his exhaustion were clearly visible.
Lu Yu's voice rang out softly and gently.
"Hearing Sister Ou's heartfelt words today, I learned that you were kicked out of the Jiao family by your father. I really want to go back to your childhood and protect you."
Jiao Yuyin chuckled softly with his eyes closed, "You're even younger than me, how can a little sister protect her older brother? But I appreciate the little fish's concern."
"How old were you when you left the old house?" Lu Yu asked.
“After the college entrance exam, I applied to schools abroad, but my father disagreed, and we had a fight.” Jiao Yuyin said calmly, “I mentioned my mother at the time… and he used that broken cane to beat me out of the Jiao family home.”
"Then what?"
“Nothing much happened after that. He confiscated my passport, and I had no way to resist, so I studied at Tsinghua University. Absolute obedience to him was something every member of the Jiao family was trained to be like that. If you disobeyed his orders, you would face even harsher punishments. Being locked in a dark room, forced to kneel, and being kicked and stomped on were commonplace. Later, we learned to avoid his sharp edge. I didn’t get along well with my other siblings when I was a child, so I don’t really know how the others got through it,” Jiao Yuyin said slowly as he recalled.
“But your parent-teacher conferences… how can we keep letting you skip them?” Lu Yu revealed Ou Jie’s inner thoughts.
“It’s really nothing,” Jiao Yuyin said. “None of the Jiao family’s children attend parent-teacher conferences. I know that other families usually send their nannies to fill in. For the Jiao family’s children, the absence of parents is the norm, and the nanny is more like a half-mother figure. Just like how Sister Ou was to my second sister, Jiao Huachang.”
Lu Yu pinched Jiao Yuyin's sunken eye sockets and asked, "What about the nanny who takes care of you?"
“No. When my mother passed away, a nanny came to take care of me, but because I wasn’t feeling well at the time… the nannies kept changing. After I turned eleven, I was on my own all the time, and I took pretty good care of myself.” Jiao Yuyin held Lu Yu’s hand and kissed it.
"Not good? How is it not good?" Lu Yu pressed.
"Alright, that concludes today's Q&A session. Time to wash up and rest. We're heading back to Qingbei City tomorrow," Jiao Yuyin said.
Lu Yu said stubbornly, "No, you can't just leave things unsaid. I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't hear the whole story."
Jiao Yuyin sighed, sat up, and said, "It's just that I kept sleepwalking to the sixth-floor window, hiding knives in the bedroom, and so on, which scared the nanny, so... Anyway, it's all in the past now." He ruffled his messy hair and urged Lu Yu, "Go take a shower and go to bed."
Lu Yu didn't know how to give Jiao Yuyin strength.
The truth has come to light, and the past has faded into oblivion.
There are still many unknowns and difficulties ahead, weighing heavily on Jiao Yuyin's shoulders.
Lu Yu blinked, staring into the dark night. His warm chest still throbbed behind her, and her neck still felt his disordered breathing. Their hands were clasped together in front of her. She silently tightened her grip on Jiao Yuyin's hand, trying to soothe his restless dreams.
The early morning ringtone of a cell phone startled me so much that my heart pounded.
Jiao Yuyin rubbed his forehead, forced himself to put on his glasses, glanced at the caller ID, and immediately got up, taking his phone to the balcony to answer the call.
Seeing Jiao Yuyin's expression, Lu Yu immediately woke up and said, "Brother Dong's call? I'm awake, you can answer it."
Jiao Yuyin did not hesitate any longer and quickly pressed the answer button.
Looking at Jiao Yuyin's increasingly solemn expression, Lu Yu felt a strong sense of unease wash over him. He didn't reply with many words, mostly listening to what Brother Dong was saying on the other end of the phone, but even in those few short utterances, one could still hear the slight tremor in Jiao Yuyin's voice.
The long phone call finally ended.
"Have you not found Xin Chao?" Lu Yu asked anxiously.
"Xin Chao is dead," Jiao Yuyin said weakly.
"Wh-what?"
Lu Yu never expected that in just one day, they would receive news of Xin Chao's death.
Jiao Yuyin sat on the edge of the bed, lowered his head, and forcefully grabbed the hair at his temples. "And... Sister Ou was also found dead in her home by the neighbors this morning. Xin Chao died in a car accident, and Sister Ou supposedly suffered a sudden heart attack. It's all a lie... I was too late."
It was such a coincidence that two people, thousands of miles apart, died almost simultaneously.
Jiao Cheng's ruthlessness and speed of action completely exceeded Jiao Yuyin's expectations.
Lu Yu struggled to accept reality and asked the crucial question, "This shouldn't be... How could your dad possibly know where Xin Chao is? I overheard your dad and Tang Weiren saying that they didn't know where Xin Chao was. This... How is this possible?"
Self-blame and fear grew in Lu Yu's heart.
“You heard me right, this isn’t your fault. Xin Chao’s last phone call before the accident was from Sister Ou. It’s likely that the old man has been tapping on Sister Ou’s phone all along. He knew I was looking for Sister Ou, and he probably even found Xin Chao’s approximate location, which is why he acted so swiftly.” Jiao Yuyin closed his eyes briefly. “I actually overlooked such a crucial detail. Sister Ou has been under semi-house arrest for a long time, so it’s highly likely her phone was being tapped… That’s why he wasn’t afraid of me investigating…”
Lu Yu silently reached out and covered Jiao Yuyin's hand.
The hideous face of the truth surfaced, but the fishing line that pulled it up remained untouched...
Jiao Yuyin knew that returning to Qingbei City would mean facing a constantly perilous environment. This time, he lost again…
Jiao Yuyin felt the touch on the back of his hand and suddenly came to his senses.
Looking up at Lu Yu, he spoke with difficulty, "Little Yu, I'm sorry. If... you were to go abroad now, to an overseas basketball club, would that be alright?"
...
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