Ming Lu came in with the news about the Luo family. He happened to see Luo Chi falling backwards in Ming Weiting's arms. He was startled and asked, "Sir, what happened to the young master?"
Ming Weiting grabbed Luo Chi's neck in time, protected him with his arms, and let him lie down slowly: "He fainted from fright."
Minglu was stunned: "What?"
Ming Weiting sat back on the bed and looked at the data displayed on the monitoring device: "Some debts are quite large and may take a year or two to pay off."
"What's the big deal?" Minglu was speechless. "How much do you owe? We can just go and settle it."
Ming Weiting shook his head: "Let him do it himself."
He changed the cotton ball, tried it on the back of his hand, and after making sure it was soft enough, he carefully wiped away the moisture that still remained between Luo Chi's eyelashes.
He was considering whether he should not give the real number, but rather halve or round it off.
That night in the hotel, Luo Chi had repeatedly emphasized to him that he was very serious about painting. If it wasn't such an inspiring work, it would take at least three to five days to complete one.
It will take about half a year until I recover and start writing.
If I paint one piece slowly every three to five days, it will take another year or two. There is always a break in between, maybe three or four years, and then a little longer, maybe five or six years.
“You can only do it yourself.”
Ming Weiting replaced the cotton ball with the back of his hand and gently touched Luo Chi'an's closed eyelashes: "There's no rush."
Ming Lu didn't understand what was going on, so he put down his things and went to check. He felt relieved after confirming that Luo Chi was just too tired from another headache and fell asleep.
"Are you unwilling to ask others for help?" Ming Lu said with a smile, "That's no problem, the young master is very capable."
The sky outside the window gradually darkened. Minglu turned on the soft ambient light and drew the curtains. "In that case, Sir, accompany him to pay it back slowly."
Ming Weiting agreed with this statement and nodded. He placed Luo Chi's hand in his palm to warm it and slowly massaged the weak and slightly curled fingers.
He calculated it and the number was neither high nor low.
Luo Chi has always refused to default on his debts, so Luo Chi will have to live a good life for five or six years.
He will accompany Luo Chi and he can help hold the easel. If Luo Chi feels bored because he has no ideas, he can take Luo Chi to all places that can trigger inspiration, to see the most beautiful scenery, and to meet the people in each place.
You don't have to rush to finish the painting in three or five days. When you are halfway through, you can go out to enjoy the scenery and relax. After spending five or six years in this peaceful manner, Luo Chi might feel that the world is not completely boring.
Luo Chi might be willing to accept his invitation and completely leave the deserted fog.
"Yes, sir."
Minglu remembered what he had meant, went back to the table, and took the things he had brought: "The guests are all being entertained."
Given Luo Chi’s current condition, Ming Weiting couldn’t possibly leave the ward and deal with those boring matters himself.
Ming Lu sorted the information in the computer. He didn't know to what extent Luo Chi's hearing had recovered, so he deliberately blurred the content of his speech: "The Xun family asked how sober the person should be."
Ming Weiting nodded and motioned him to put the computer next to the bed: "Tell the truth."
"Maybe it's not easy." Ming Lu whispered, "The truth is too important to her. She just wants to cover it up and escape from it, so she keeps... I know."
Ming Lu suddenly stopped talking. He met the coldness in Ming Weiting's eyes and thought of the part he had overlooked.
The truth is important to Luo Chicai.
No one listened to Luo Chi, but Luo Chi kept talking. He just wanted the truth, just wanted to make everything clear.
Luo Chi is willing to use up all his belongings in exchange for a shadow he met by chance to believe that he has never done anything bad.
"I understand, sir," Minglu said, "I'll let them figure it out."
Ming Weiting lowered his eyes and stopped talking.
He still held Luo Chi's hand, turned on the computer with one hand, and put on a pair of headphones on the side that was not leaning against the bed.
…
The Ming family was very polite in their hospitality to the head of the Luo family.
Early yesterday morning, the head of the Luo family took his eldest son on board the cruise ship docked at the port in order to retrieve the seized container.
Luo Chengxiu is not stupid and would not think that this is an unprovoked disaster.
He quickly asked someone to find out the origin of Luo Chi's ticket, and also found out the hotel that Ming Weiting took Luo Chi to. He guessed how this disaster had hit the lifeblood of the Luo family.
Although he couldn't understand how such a one-time encounter could lead the "master" of this generation of the Ming family to personally take revenge for Luo Zhi...but for Luo Chengxiu, this kind of thing was not something he had to figure out.
Faced with the existing facts, Luo Chengxiu took Luo Jun directly onto the cruise ship.
Luo Chengxiu dragged Luo Jun onto the deck and explained to Ming Lu who brought people over that it was this good-for-nothing evildoer who had harmed Luo Zhi, and the Ming family could do whatever they wanted with him.
Luo Jun was dragged like a ghost, staggering, and was thrown onto the deck by his father.
…
He didn't start to become like this today.
After returning from the sea, some people felt that something was wrong with Luo Jun.
He seemed to have developed a strange habit that he couldn't stop. Regardless of the piled up work in the company, he had to keep checking the rescued lists, rescue videos and the latest rescue progress. There was really nothing to see, so he went on endlessly to look up some insignificant old events.
For example, who gave the cufflinks, why a contract that was about to collapse many years ago suddenly became smooth, the serious crisis the company encountered two years ago, and what happened to the funds that Vice President Jian brought in...
This happened most frequently five years ago. If we go back ten years, Luo Jun would receive gifts on almost every festival, but after a few years only his birthday was left.
After that, there were no birthdays left, except for one or two times when the company was in the most dire situation and suddenly turned the crisis into safety.
Luo Jun seemed to have guessed the answers to these questions long ago, so he was not surprised when he got the answers.
He became more and more confused by the answers, and his whole appearance became gloomy and cold, almost frightening. However, he insisted on confirming each one personally, as if to masochize himself.
He asked these people again and again why they didn't tell him the truth earlier.
The branch manager who was questioned by him almost cried: "Why didn't we tell you... Didn't Luo Zhi tell you? All the evidence was given to you!"
Luo Jun felt a bloody taste in his throat after hearing this answer. He didn't believe that he could do such a thing, so he forced the other party to turn over all the company's surveillance footage from those years, searching day by day.
…When I found the surveillance video, almost as soon as I saw that scene, my memory came up from the depths that seemed to have been blocked by my subconscious instinct.
Luo Zhi came to the company to find him that day.
Luo Zhi hadn't come to see him for a long time. When she came to see him that day, she looked very calm. She handed him a file bag in her hand and called him brother politely and solemnly.
"Brother." Luo Zhi said to him, "I just found out that you may have misunderstood something."
Luo Zhi said to him: "I asked someone to transfer that amount of money to me. You can check it. I will ask someone to cooperate with you..."
Luo Jun looked at the surveillance footage. He saw himself angrily smashing the file bag at Luo Zhi, as if he was looking at a monster.
People are always like this. When their self-righteous prejudices have become extremely deep, they will see the answer they want to see, and they will also complete the logic they are willing to accept.
When Luo Zhi came to see him, he had already determined that Luo Zhi was a good-for-nothing and naughty brother. So he naturally thought that Luo Zhi must be slandering Jian Huaiyi, and even shamelessly wanted to seize the results of Jian Huaiyi's hard work.
Luo Jun even believed that he must have had some doubts at the time - such doubts would only inspire more intense rebellion and denial, and would only make him more angry and humiliated.
Angry and humiliated, Luo Jun instinctively refused to think about another possibility, and refused to believe and accept that such a useless brother who only knew how to waste his time and cause trouble could actually help him when he was in the most critical moment.
Compared to Luo Jun's unreasonable outburst of weakness and rage, Luo Zhi was unusually calm. He just bent down to pick up the file bag.
"I always thought, you know, those were from me, and I'm very happy about that."
Luo Zhi's eyes fell on his cuffs, then slowly turned to his tie: "Why did Brother Chen Bai do this?"
Luo Zhi seemed to be talking to herself, but also seemed to be asking him: "Brother, do you need my gift?"
Luo Jun was silenced by Luo Zhi's strange calmness, but his anger at being offended rose more sharply in an instant.
He must have said something very unpleasant and hurtful, so hurtful that Luo Zhi leaned against the door and looked at him, but she slowly curved her eyes and smiled softly.
…
Luo Jun was pushed out by Luo Chengxiu and handed over to the Ming family for disposal.
He had been punished to kneel too many times these days. He lost his balance and fell to the deck. He propped himself up with his arms and looked at Luo Chengxiu: "Father, I want to know."
Luo Jun didn't want to ask why Luo Chengxiu wanted to hand him over. He killed Luo Zhi, so he deserved it. He just wanted to know another thing: "Did mother help Jian Huaiyi exchange those gifts?"
There are many people involved in this matter.
Ren Chenbai has been deceiving Luo Zhi under his name.
Ren Chenbai told Luo Zhi that Luo Jun liked his gift very much and was very happy to receive it. Luo Jun actually wanted to take him home, but was worried that it would upset his mother, so he had to let him go temporarily.
Luo Zhi was still young at that time, and because she believed these things, she was happier to give him more carefully prepared gifts.
Later, as Luo Zhi grew up, she began to notice something was wrong, and the gifts she received became less frequent.
Later on, Luo Zhi stopped giving him gifts and only stepped in to help when the company was in trouble.
Then there was that conflict. Luo Zhi came to him to clarify things, but he angrily kicked Luo Zhi out... After that, Luo Zhi no longer gave him gifts, no longer asked about any matters related to the Luo family's business, and no longer looked at him seriously.
Luo Zhi just casually called him "Big Brother" while playing games, and said some unimportant gossip with a smile, knowing that he would not listen.
Luo Jun took that as disrespect and would get angry every time. He had never carefully watched the games Luo Zhi played.
He later went to play that game. He played it non-stop for days, but he couldn't keep the character alive.
The little man on the screen ran forward desperately, dodging the oncoming subway, the vicious dog and the prosecutor chasing him from behind. The little man hit the fence hard, rolled to the ground, and GAMEOVER, thus using up his life.
"You're bringing up this old matter with me now?!"
In his ear, Luo Chengxiu asked him harshly: "How can I know such a thing? Even if your mother was replaced, what does it matter?"
Luo Chengxiu said coldly: "Luo Jun, your mother is not in a clear mind. Even if she really did it, she just wanted Huai Yi to be closer to you. I didn't know that such a small matter would make you harm your own brother..."
Luo Jun shook his head. He didn't want to bring up the past, nor did he want to excuse himself: "It's my own problem."
"I was the first one to have a prejudice against my brother," Luo Jun said. "It was because of me. I wanted to believe this lie. I wanted to believe it myself."
"I've been so mean to my brother. I didn't protect him or help him. I watched him get bullied by everyone. How could he give me a gift?"
"How dare he give me a gift? Is he trying to prove that I'm the worst person in the world?"
Luo Jun lowered his head and looked at his hand: "So I am willing to believe that this was sent by Jian Huaiyi. I won't ask anything and won't check anything."
Luo Chengxiu's face was grim. He looked at his eldest son who was becoming more and more weird and neurotic, and pulled him up with force: "Luo Jun, I tell you——"
"You don't have to tell me, it's me who has something to tell you, father."
Luo Jun looked at the Ming family members standing in the distance with cold eyes. He retracted his gaze and continued to look at his hands: "Father, do you still remember my tie clip?"
"That was given to me by my younger brother." Luo Jun said, "It wasn't Jian Huaiyi."
Luo Chengxiu's expression already showed a hint of annoyance and feeling offended.
He didn't understand why his eldest son, whom he had always been proud of, suddenly became like this. He also didn't understand why the Ming family didn't come and drag the culprit away and let the matter be resolved as soon as possible, but instead let them sit on the deck and talk useless nonsense.
Is it just to laugh at their jokes?
The Luo family has been made a fool of themselves enough times, and that cruise ship is a nightmare.
He should never have agreed to this trip in the first place, and should never have allowed the whole family to go to that villa.
Luo Chengxiu could no longer suppress his rising irritation. Even though he knew very well that this was the Ming family's territory, the situation that had been getting worse and worse over the past few days finally became the last straw. He completely lost control and slapped his eldest son hard in the face.
"Your brother is gone, do you think I'm not sad?! If I knew he was also on the cruise ship, I would never let you see him!"
Luo Chengxiu said sternly: "I was clearly prepared to treat him well! It was you who pushed him into the sea, and now it's too late!"
"Yes, I have neglected him in the past, but did I let you harm him?!" Luo Chengxiu grabbed his eldest son's collar tightly, "Who told you to do this? How dare you--"
"Father." Luo Jun lowered his head and said, "The tie clip was given to me by my younger brother."
Luo Chengxiu didn't expect that he would dare to ask this at this time. He was almost furious, gasping violently, staring at his eldest son who had become a complete stranger.
"I tell you this because the designer of this tie clip is a very famous designer."
Luo Jun seemed to be completely unaware of his anger: "This is the business of the company I manage. You don't know much about it, so you may not understand it."
Luo Jun said: "This designer is the founder of a multinational jewelry group."
Luo Chengxiu had already raised one hand, but suddenly stopped at a familiar word, and the intense anger that he had been forcibly suppressing also solidified in his eyes.
Luo Jun reported a name and smiled: "Are you familiar with it? Father."
Luo Chengxiu stood still.
...Why are you not familiar with me?
How could I not be familiar with him?
The Luo family took advantage of the birthday party for their adopted son to get in touch with several multinational companies and are trying to grab several large diamond mining projects in order to obtain the mining rights of the mines.
Once you get into this game, there is no way to get out of it. You keep burning more and more money. The Luo family cannot stop the losses on the spot, and the cash flow of the subsidiary is also filled up.
It was because that batch of goods was stuck that the money that was being burned in these projects was cut off, and the sky-high penalty for breach of contract instantly created a bottomless hole.
"What do you mean?" Luo Chengxiu's hands and feet suddenly became cold. He felt dizzy for no apparent reason, as if the entire cruise ship was shaking suddenly. "What do you mean by this?"
Luo Jun fumbled with his tie. His hand paused at a certain position before he continued to slowly pull it down, as if there was still an intact tie clip there.
Ren Shuangmei's network of contacts is far wider than that of the Luo family. After so many years of fighting with her rivals in the business world, they have developed a mutual respect for each other and have even been drinking tea together in private.
Hearing that Xiao Huo Miao couldn't sleep these days and wanted to give his brother a gift, Ren Shuangmei didn't say anything and drove him to have tea with his old friend.
The founder is over 70 years old and likes children with good artistic talent the most. Watching the boy brought by Ren Shuangmei playing sand painting with her own grandchildren, and watching the child match the colors for a few minutes, she almost snatched the boy away to be her student.
He later found out all these things bit by bit from the heir he had briefly chatted with on the cruise ship.
"He really has talent, what a pity."
The other party was abroad and didn't know what had happened to Luo Zhi. He told him with great interest how the old man liked the child's talent for color perception and how he did not hesitate to praise them how bright, rich, lively and warm the colors were.
The other party also said that Luo Zhi had been sending paintings to the old man intermittently in the past few years. The old man was very satisfied and asked someone to send them to the gallery for exhibition. It's a pity that I haven't painted much in recent years. When asked, he said he had no inspiration. I don't know what happened...
Although such a large amount of money could never be compensated by friendship, if Luo Zhi stepped in and delayed the deadline for breach of contract a little bit, it wouldn't be a big deal.
Luo Jun repeated these slowly. He could feel the appreciation in the other person's tone as he listened. He thought that if he was a qualified brother, he might be qualified and proud at this time.
But he was just being slowly skinned alive by these words.
He tried hard to think about why Luo Zhi stopped painting, and then he felt ridiculous. Was there any point in thinking about such a question?
"Father, I want to tell you." Luo Jun said, "We couldn't have gotten to this point."
Luo Jun said: "We deserve it."
Luo Chengxiu said nothing, staring at him fiercely, as if he wanted to find any hint of lying in him.
Luo Jun just staggered to his feet. He walked in front of Ming Lu and held out his hands: "I killed my brother."
Luo Jun asked: "How are you going to let me atone for my sins? Thank you for helping me."
Minglu shook his head.
Luo Jun's pupils trembled and he suddenly felt fear.
"I made a mistake." Luo Jun stopped Ming Lu, "You want to torture me. I feel sorry for Luo Zhi. He can't take revenge by himself. You do it for him--"
"Mr. Luo." Minglu said, "You still call him Luo Zhi now."
Luo Jun suddenly froze in place.
"You are the eldest son of the Luo family and the future heir of the Luo family. You have a younger brother named Jian Huaiyi and a younger sister named Luo Cheng."
Minglu flipped through the information: "This is your family history. As for Luo Zhi, the one you're looking for, he's in there."
Minglu closed the document and raised his hand to point at the quiet, dark and deep sea in the night.
"Our guest is Patriarch Luo. If you have finished your conversation, please follow us."
Minglu turned to Luo Chengxiu, who seemed to have lost his soul. Two silent and strong crew members came from behind him and held Luo Chengxiu's arms.
Luo Jun still stood there.
No one visited him anymore, and he didn't even deserve to be punished because he was not worthy of being a brother and he had never been a brother.
He watched his father being brought into the cabin, and he lowered his head and looked at his hands.
In his memory, Luo Zhi asked him, "Brother, do you need my gift?"
The other Luo Zhi in his memory was leaning against the side of the boat, his blank and empty eyes slowly moving, not saying a word, looking up at him with difficulty.
It was the first time in perhaps a long time that Luo Zhi looked at him seriously again, and it turned out to be the last time.
He was still calling Luo Zhi, he didn't dare to touch that name.
Luo Jun raised his hand, still slowly touching the tie. He had been trying to touch the tie clip again these days, and then he would believe that this was a dream.
His hand suddenly stopped at the edge of his tie.
Luo Jun's heart was beating wildly at a strange speed, his hands were shaking uncontrollably, and he slowly lowered his head with difficulty.
...He saw the ten-year-old Luo Chi standing on tiptoe in front of him and quickly and nimbly took off his tie clip.
The child shook his tie clip, ran nimbly, and disappeared in a flash.
Luo Jun chased after him in panic, looking everywhere for the person he had lost. Then he saw twenty-three-year-old Luo Zhi leaning against the side of the boat.
Luo Zhi looked at him seriously, and her eyes slowly curved.
"Don't laugh." Luo Jun stuttered, "Don't laugh. Don't laugh when you're sad."
"Come and hate me, come and hate me." Luo Jun said, "Come and punish me."
Luo Jun was almost begging him: "Come and punish me, I was wrong, I was wrong, little——"
He wanted to call out the name that once belonged to his brother, but when the air reached his lips, he realized that he no longer had the ability to utter the word.
He did not go to help his brother, he watched the name being taken away by someone else, so he was not worthy of calling Luo Zhi anymore.
Luo Zhi was still smiling, but the smile did not reach her eyes. Luo Zhi opened her mouth and said something to him, and her lip movements overlapped with the ones of Luo Zhi who was leaning against the office door that day.
"Brother." Luo Zhi called him this for the last time before leaving that day. "Goodbye."
The BGM of the game that Luo Zhi often played sounded in his ears, and the sound effects were so real that he seemed to be there.
He saw Luo Zhi, like the character in the game, deftly holding his tie clip and turning over the side of the boat.
Luo Jun pounced forward and grabbed the cold night fog.
The hem of the windbreaker fell before his eyes and was swallowed up by the icy sea in an instant, without a ripple.
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