I don't understand.
Song Zicheng, who had just finished teaching his last class that day, was grading students' homework in his office. He looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already 11:30. Just as he was about to finish grading the remaining homework, he suddenly remembered that he had an appointment to keep at noon.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Song Zicheng said, slightly out of breath, as he looked at Lu Zhize.
"I just arrived too, please have a seat, senior."
While waiting for the food to be served, the two started chatting. "What did you want to see me about?" Song Zicheng asked.
Lu Zhize did not answer immediately. Instead, he crossed his arms, raised his chin, and leaned back in his chair, looking down at Song Zicheng with a half-smile. His slightly narrowed eyes no longer held the innocence and kindness of the past, but were filled with a sense of inquiry and scrutiny.
Seeing that no one spoke for a long time, Song Zicheng suddenly felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange. As soon as he looked up, he met Lu Zhize's gaze. The gaze was sharp and stared straight at him, which made Song Zicheng feel uneasy. He looked at Lu Zhize in front of him and couldn't quite put his finger on what was strange about him, but Lu Zhize at this moment was very different from the Lu Zhize he had seen before.
Song Zicheng frowned slightly without showing any emotion, and asked again in a somewhat puzzled tone, "What do you want from me?"
Lu Zhize raised the corners of his mouth and chuckled: "It's a small matter. It's not that I intentionally wanted to trouble you, senior, but only you can do this."
Song Zicheng let out an "oh" in shock. As he lowered his head to drink water, his eyes kept darting around in their sockets. He didn't have much of a feeling about Lu Zhize, whom he felt was both familiar and unfamiliar. He had only thought that Lu Zhize was cheerful, simple, and kind. Although Lu Zhiyan rarely mentioned him, he could sense that Lu Zhiyan disliked his younger brother very much. He couldn't make a hasty judgment about someone based on just one side of the story.
"I will definitely help if it is within my power," Song Zicheng said.
“Okay,” Lu Zhize said, his smile fading. He put down his crossed legs, leaned forward, and rested his chin on his left hand on the dining table. His voice, which had been gentle and soft before, was now filled with a sense of oppression and gloom: “I need you to go to Lu Zhiyan’s apartment and get me a document.”
Upon hearing this, Song Zicheng, who had been intently watching Lu Zhize, froze on the spot. The smile on his face vanished abruptly, as if frozen in time. His hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into fists. He chuckled and tried to calm his voice: "What are you saying? I don't understand."
"Oh, really?" Lu Zhize raised an eyebrow, as if he could finally tear off his long-pretended mask and reveal his true, wolfish nature. Every word he uttered was full of amusement and mockery: "What, you're not living at Lu Zhiyan's house anymore?"
Song Zicheng's expression was almost out of control. He didn't speak, but just stared blankly at Lu Zhize.
"I went to great lengths to spread your personal information and address online so that you could move into Lu Zhiyan's apartment. It's only been a short time, and you've already moved out. But it's okay, I know you have plenty of ways. My brother is very concerned about you."
"What did you say?" Song Zicheng's face was filled with anger and disbelief, his expression was extremely ferocious, and his voice was trembling. "You did it? You posted my video online and spread my information at will?"
Lu Zhize dropped the pretense and nodded smugly, pursing his lips as he said, "I did it, didn't expect that, did you!"
Song Zicheng momentarily wondered if he was dreaming, but the excruciating pain that shot through his body as he slammed his hands on the table clearly told him this was not a dream. He bent over, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the stranger Lu Zhize, and said, word by word, "I have no grudge against you, why did you do this?"
Lu Zhize chuckled, then said in a sinister tone, "What else could it be? Of course, it's because of Lu Zhiyan." He paused, then waved his finger lightly in the air. "Actually, we do have some minor grudges between us. If you hadn't saved Lu Zhiyan at the bar and ruined my plans, none of this would have happened."
The barrage of messages gave Song Zicheng a headache. He tried to calm himself down and sat back down in his chair. After thinking it over for a long time, he suddenly realized, "So all of this was arranged by you. You deliberately fell off your bike to get close to me, posted my information online, and made me unable to go home. I had to go to Lu Zhiyan for help."
"Yes, you should thank me. If I hadn't pushed things along, would you and Lu Zhiyan have progressed so quickly? Would he care about you so much?"
It was disgusting, truly nauseating. Song Zicheng had no desire to continue the conversation. He didn't want to see Lu Zhize's ugly face anymore. Just as he was about to get up and leave, Lu Zhize said, "Don't be in such a hurry to leave. You haven't helped me yet."
Song Zicheng ignored him.
"What, you don't want to save your brother anymore?"
Song Zicheng paused with his left foot, standing stiffly in place. He slowly turned around, looked at Lu Zhize's sinister smile, and gritted his teeth, saying, "What do you mean?"
"Ugh, it's nothing special," Lu Zhize said, waving a document in the air. "Do you recognize it?"
Song Zicheng certainly recognized it; he knew it all too well. He couldn't even remember how many times he had looked at the New Year's gift Lu Zhiyan had given him on New Year's Day. "How did you get this document?"
Lu Zhize loosened his grip, and the document fell right in front of him. He pointed to the chair opposite him: "Sit down and talk. Otherwise, I'll have to look up at you, and my neck will get tired."
"Getting back to the point, I need you to go to Lu Zhiyan's apartment and get a document for the project he took over in France. No matter what method you use, get the document for me."
Song Zicheng smiled, his eyes fixed on Lu Zhize, and said with amusement, "Why do you think I would help you steal the documents?"
Lu Zhize pushed the documents in front of him forward and said confidently, "Of course it's because of this. It contains not only the information of the bone marrow match for your brother, but also the signature of the match who is willing to donate. Of course, it also contains the doctor I went to great lengths to find for this surgery. How about that? It's very well prepared, isn't it? You definitely need it."
“I don’t need it,” Song Zicheng replied immediately.
Lu Zhize shook his head, putting his right index finger to his lips in a shushing gesture: "Don't be so quick to refuse. I know Lu Zhiyan also gave you a document with the donor's information on it. What a coincidence, isn't it? I happen to share the same name as him, Li Bin."
Upon hearing the name Li Bin, Song Zicheng's expression immediately turned serious. He frowned tightly, trying to expose yet another lie by Lu Zhize, but he failed.
"My brother is so inefficient and stupid. He fell into my trap so easily. To tell you the truth, I actually found Li Bin before him. I deliberately spread rumors that it's been half a year since he gave you the documents, and there's still no progress. It's so interesting to watch my good brother fall into my trap step by step. How about we cooperate? You help me, I help you, and everyone's happy."
Lu Zhize spoke very calmly, but every word he uttered carried an eerie chill and morbidity, especially the smile on his face at the end, which made him look like a serial killer in a suspenseful horror movie.
Song Zicheng felt suffocated, unable to breathe in the huge private room. Today, Song Zicheng had finally seen the true colors of Lu Zhize, who had become so crazy. He didn't want to have anything to do with this madman anymore. Song Zicheng was skeptical of Lu Zhize's words. He stood up, threw down the words "non-cooperation," and left.
"Remember to come find me if you change your mind. I have a feeling we'll meet again, senior." Lu Zhize's disgusting words, as viperous as a venomous snake, echoed throughout the private room.
Having wasted so much time with Lu Zhize, Song Zicheng was feeling annoyed and frustrated. His stomach was growling with hunger, and although he had no appetite, he still ate a bowl of beef noodles at a nearby noodle shop.
Song Zicheng was restless all afternoon. Even when he went home from get off work and cooked, he was distracted. The four or five dishes on the table were either bland or too salty.
"Something on your mind?" Lu Zhiyan asked, looking at Song Zicheng, who was sitting in a chair lost in thought.
Regarding Lu Zhize, who had been deceiving and scheming against him for so long, Song Zicheng did not completely believe what he said at noon, but he did not completely disbelieve him either.
Song Zicheng thought about it carefully. Several months had passed since the Lunar New Year, and he had no clue about the donor's information and made no progress at all. However, it had only been three or four months since he started trading with Lu Zhiyan last year, and they had found a match so quickly.
Song Zicheng lowered his head and pondered for a few seconds before speaking in a tentative tone: "Is there any news about the bone marrow match for Zi'an?"
"We're currently communicating with them, and I believe we'll receive a reply soon," Lu Zhiyan replied.
Song Zicheng hummed in agreement. Not wanting Lu Zhiyan to notice anything amiss, he picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs and placed it in Lu Zhiyan's bowl: "Okay, I understand."
Although they had known each other for less than a year, or even just ten months in total, they had experienced many good and bad things in that short time. After that avalanche in the Alps, they had become friends who had faced life and death together.
Although they rarely had the chance to truly open up and be honest with each other, they did their best to understand each other within that limited time. They could roughly tell what the other was thinking just by frowning or coughing.
Seeing the unnatural expression on Song Zicheng's face, which he tried so hard to project, Lu Zhiyan glanced at him a few times without making a sound, and frowned almost imperceptibly. Neither of them spoke again. In this seemingly peaceful atmosphere, there was a tiny, inconspicuous rift between them that, if not cleared in time, could very well lead to disaster.
In the deserted master bedroom of the apartment, the ashtray on the desk was overflowing with cigarette butts. Lu Zhiyan, looking haggard, was leaning back in his chair, staring blankly at the monotonous white ceiling.
"No progress yet?" Lu Zhiyan's slightly weary voice rang out at this moment.
"Mr. Lu, Li Bin has gone missing. We are sending more people to search for him," a young man said on the other end of the phone.
"Gone?" Lu Zhiyan was shocked and surprised. "No matter what method you use, find him as soon as possible."
After hanging up the phone, Lu Zhiyan stared blankly into space. He had a bad feeling about Li Bin's sudden disappearance, and the tension and unease in his heart intensified at this moment.
Half a year has passed, and there has been no progress. He knew that Song Zicheng was anxious but did not show it. However, today, he was absent-minded and hesitant to speak. Lu Zhiyan noticed all of this and kept it in mind.
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