Chapter 65

Early Saturday morning, Xu Ze went to the Sanatorium. The bodyguards still brought him over; after getting out of the car, he went into the inpatient building alone, to find Zhou Zhen.

"You know we've tried many medications on your grandmother, and her responses haven't been great. The interventional procedure six months ago didn't work out as we'd hoped, either," Zhou Zhen said. "And because of her psychiatric issues, the swings in mood and behavior are large — the strain on her heart and lungs gets heavier, and for a patient with pulmonary hypertension, that's genuinely dangerous."

"This time Professor Li looked over the test results. He's adjusted the medication, but he still recommends a lung transplant. If we keep putting it off, the longer we wait the higher the risk. We can't wait until conservative treatment has completely failed before we start preparing — by then it would be far too late."

"Roughly how much will the surgery cost?" Xu Ze cupped his hands together and laid them on his lap. He looked very calm, reaching only for the most essential question.

Zhou Zhen knew — Xu Ze rarely looked at the monthly statements. The moment his wages came in he would transfer them straight into the Sanatorium's account. If a doctor said to switch medication, he switched it; if the new drug was expensive, he went out and earned the money. Since Ye Yunhua had been admitted to the Sanatorium, Xu Ze had never once fallen behind on a single bill. Sometimes Zhou Zhen found it hard to imagine how he scraped the sums together, but Xu Ze had, in fact, managed it.

"You'll need to set aside at least five hundred thousand to start. The monthly costs after the transplant are also considerable, but —" Zhou Zhen paused, as though unsure how to phrase it, and after a moment went on, "finding a donor requires getting in line, and it isn't that fast. You don't need to rush; I'm only discussing it with you, so we can settle the matter first."

"Mm." Xu Ze nodded.

But Zhou Zhen understood his own explanation had already come too late. Xu Ze, he suspected, would begin raising the money at once.

"Will it take long to wait?"

"Generally speaking, yes — but it also depends on luck. I'll put the paperwork together in the next few days and let you know when it's time to sign. Once you've signed, we can put you into the system and get you a number."

"All right. Thank you."

Xu Ze understood Professor Li's and Zhou Zhen's advice perfectly: a lung transplant could not be treated as a last-ditch rescue performed at death's door. The earlier the transplant evaluation, the better Ye Yunhua's physical condition, the higher the success rate, and the smoother the recovery.

Coming out of the office, Xu Ze went to Ye Yunhua's room.

"She was just on oxygen for a while; her condition is stable for now. Press the call button if anything comes up." The nurse spoke softly.

"All right. Thank you."

Ye Yunhua lay quietly propped half-up in bed, looking out the window. Xu Ze followed her gaze outward — still the same familiar sliver of view, the one she must have grown tired of long ago.

"Would you like some fruit?" Xu Ze sat down beside the bed and asked.

Ye Yunhua shook her head; her lips were tinged purple from the difficulty of breathing. After another half-minute of watching, she suddenly said, "How could they leave Xu Ze all alone and just go like that?"

For an instant something seemed to wedge itself in his throat. Xu Ze stared for a long while before he could make a sound. "What?"

"Last night, very late it was, Qiao Yuan and Xu Ming came to see me," Ye Yunhua said, in a tone of utter seriousness. "They told me to come along to a nice place and enjoy myself. I was quite happy, so I went with them."

"Halfway there I felt it wasn't right — Xu Ze hadn't come along. So I stopped and asked them, why weren't they bringing Xu Ze too? He was still so small, he'd be frightened all alone at home."

Xu Ze lowered his eyes to his own hands. After a good while, the tips of his fingers twitched once, involuntarily; then he lifted his head and slowly reached out to take Ye Yunhua's hand. Ye Yunhua was still talking, as though she hadn't noticed.

"They didn't answer, just stood there together looking at me and smiling. I said, then you two go on ahead, I have to go back and check on Xu Ze." Ye Yunhua sighed. "I saw Yuanyuan didn't seem to blame me. As long as she didn't blame me, that's good — I shouldn't have hit her."

She had slapped her daughter, and the next morning discovered her daughter had slit her wrists and died on the blood-soaked bed. Even knowing that the swindled compensation had been the final straw that broke Qiao Yuan, for a mother the guilt and the regret could never be erased.

And so Ye Yunhua's mind had broken; and so, even with her memories in disarray, she could not stop aching over that single slap.

"She won't blame you," Xu Ze said slowly.

Only then did Ye Yunhua notice that Xu Ze was holding her hand. She looked down for a few seconds, drew her hand back, studied her own wrist on her own, and asked, "Where's my bracelet? I was still wearing it last night."

She had never once asked about such things since her mind had gone bad. Xu Ze stood up at once. "I'll go get it for you."

He went to the nurse, had the storage cabinet opened, and took out Ye Yunhua's belongings — an old, worn cloth bag containing a few items of clothing and some identification papers.

From the bag he drew out the Huanghua Li Buddhist Beads — twelve beads in all, carrying a faint woody scent. He returned to the room and handed the bracelet to Ye Yunhua.

But Ye Yunhua only studied the beads without putting them on. She thought it over, lost in thought, and finally looked at Xu Ze. "You take them."

Xu Ze blinked, slightly startled, and sat down. "Why?"

"You child, you keep coming to see me. I think you're a good one." Ye Yunhua slipped the bracelet onto Xu Ze's wrist. "Wear it, wear it."

The wooden beads struck the Wristband Lu Heyang had given him, with a clean, clear sound. Xu Ze felt his whole self suspended in midair. Only after a long while did he answer, "I'll wear it well."

After returning from the Sanatorium, Xu Ze began looking into selling the house. His birthday was not far off — he had not thought about it before, but once it passed he would be a legal adult, and the apartment, currently held by the Association on account of Ye Yunhua's mental illness, could be formally transferred into his name.

Xu Ze had never looked into housing prices, and had no idea what the little old-city apartment might fetch. He lifted his head and looked around the room — he had come here to live with his grandmother after his mother's death, and in the blink of an eye many years had passed, most of them spent alone.

Only this summer had another Alpha occasionally appeared in the room. Xu Ze studied the desk, the chair, the curtains, the fan, the pillow — all of them Lu Heyang had touched. Though no traces had been left behind, Xu Ze remembered every image.

He sat dazed for a few seconds, then opened his Mobile Phone's photo album and copied down, one by one, the real-estate-agent numbers he had photographed while passing through the neighborhood. At the same time his mind was working: from Monday to Tuesday there would be university recruitment talks organized for the S-Class students, and the school required attendance barring special circumstances. Lu Heyang would certainly not have the time to go.

To the other S-Class students, the talks were an unnecessary affair — most had long since decided which universities they would apply to — but for Xu Ze they were genuinely necessary.

Monday morning, Xu Ze packed his bag simply and went to the gate of the Preparatory Academy to catch the bus. The talks would run for two days; everyone would stay the night at a hotel.

An hour later they arrived in another district. The S-Class students got out, collected their room keys to drop off their luggage, then gathered in the conference hall. The first speaker had not been talking for ten minutes before He Wei was slumped face-down on the desk asleep. Xu Ze, wearing his glasses, listened intently, taking notes without pause.

Two hours passed. He Wei slept round after round, and at last, tired of sleeping, propped up his head and began searching the area for restaurants. Xu Ze was still writing — but not notes, because the school currently being introduced was one he would never apply to; he had taken the chance to work on a test paper.

He felt someone in the row ahead turning to look back. Xu Ze paid it no mind and kept working the problem. Until, faintly, he heard someone murmur, "Lu Heyang and Gu Yunchi are here?"

It was as though someone had grabbed him by the ears. Xu Ze's head snapped up; following the others' gaze toward the back, he saw a server closing the side door behind them, and two Alphas taking seats in the second-to-last row. As they sat down, two nearly identical dark crowns of head came into view, and Xu Ze identified the one on the right at once as Lu Heyang.

Xu Ze turned back to the front. He had not yet processed it; he stared at his test paper for a long while before his pen began moving again. Beside him, He Wei's hearing lagged by a good dozen seconds. He put down his phone and asked Xu Ze, "Didn't someone just say Heyang and the others are here?"

"Seems so," Xu Ze said, head bent over his paper.

He Wei, for once quick on the uptake, messaged Lu Heyang directly. Upon receiving confirmation he let out a whoop, nudged Xu Ze with his elbow, and said, "They're in the back row — shall we go sit with them?"

"No," Xu Ze said. It had been a while since He Wei had seen them either; there would be plenty to talk about.

"Go on, go on — don't you miss Heyang?" He Wei was already hunching up to rise.

Xu Ze hesitated a moment, then still said, "You go."

"Then I'm off. Remember to have lunch together later, yeah?" He Wei finished, twisted around, and made for the back row.

At noon, the morning session ended. Xu Ze tidied his notebook and test paper, turned around, and saw Lu Heyang and the others standing by the back door talking with several teachers. Lu Heyang looked as though he had tanned a shade darker; his hair had likely been trimmed again — clean-cut, neat — and his shoulders and back were squared, the posture of someone who had clearly been trained.

Xu Ze watched from a distance for a while, then pushed his chair in and made to leave through the side door. But when he looked up again, he found Lu Heyang turned to the side, looking at him, and then lifting his right hand to beckon him over.

Across the stream of people moving to and fro, Xu Ze met Lu Heyang's gaze and briefly lost his hearing. Like a pet that obeys its master's command without condition, he set his feet moving toward the back door. He walked a little too quickly, as though a few seconds' delay would mean missing his chance — if Chi Jiahán could see him like this, he would certainly curse him for being possessed.

A meter from Lu Heyang, Xu Ze stopped and did not come closer. Half a minute later, Lu Heyang said something to He Wei and the others, then turned and walked toward Xu Ze.

"Let's go." Lu Heyang brushed the backs of Xu Ze's hand with his fingertips.

Without asking where, without asking why, Xu Ze followed Lu Heyang out, leaving He Wei behind him voicing some version of "didn't Xu Ze promise to have lunch with me?"

They took the VIP elevator. Once inside, Lu Heyang swiped his card; the doors closed, and in the enclosed space only the two of them remained. Lu Heyang glanced at Xu Ze and asked, "Are you used to wearing the glasses?"

Only when Lu Heyang mentioned it did Xu Ze realize he had forgotten to take them off — usually, after using them, he put them away carefully in their case.

"Used to them," Xu Ze said, his voice a little thin, because his heart was beating fast.

"Why do you sound so unsure of yourself?" Lu Heyang asked. "Are you pregnant again?"

Not knowing when the two had become so inseparably linked, Xu Ze tilted his head up slightly and blinked, bewildered. "…No."

The light from the elevator's ceiling fell down, catching the lenses of his glasses and casting a few streaks of shifting color into Xu Ze's deep gray eyes. Lu Heyang looked at him and asked again, "Then what is it?"

Perhaps Xu Ze was the only person in the world who could not hear the deliberate provocation in the question, and answered honestly, "Happy."

After he said it he pressed his lips together, a faint, unknowing smile in his eyes, even the tips of his lashes catching the light. With his glasses on, Xu Ze looked more than ever like an emotionless robot, and there was something about it that was hard to put into words — as though every part of him coolly announced, "Do not touch."

Lu Heyang drew his gaze back and said nothing, only smiled.

The elevator stopped at the twenty-seventh floor. Lu Heyang had a suite; he opened the door and let Xu Ze go in first. After closing the door, Lu Heyang turned and found Xu Ze right behind him like a tail, not moving any further into the room.

Lu Heyang lowered his head slightly; Xu Ze tentatively reached out and grabbed the hem of his shirt, leaning in. But Lu Heyang pressed a hand to Xu Ze's shoulder — Xu Ze immediately let go, stood straight, and kept the self-awareness of having been refused.

"Glasses." Lu Heyang lifted his other hand and took the glasses off Xu Ze's nose, and then kissed him.

It had been only a short while since they had seen each other, but Xu Ze felt it had been a long time. The moment their lips met, Xu Ze pushed his tongue out to meet Lu Heyang's. His breathing quickly grew ragged; his legs unsteady, he stepped back, and the schoolbag behind him pressed against the wall, the air inside it squeezed out like a sigh.

For one second, Xu Ze, for the first time in his life, mustered the courage to want to take the lead in undressing Lu Heyang — but before long, hearing a sound at the door, he opened his eyes at once, drew back a little from Lu Heyang, and said quietly, "The doorbell."

"Mm." Lu Heyang unhurriedly kissed Xu Ze once more, then reached out to open the door.

Xu Ze stood against the wall adjusting his schoolbag. After the door opened, he saw the person outside sooner than Lu Heyang did; in that instant, with great decisiveness, Xu Ze pressed down on Lu Heyang's hand and stepped in front of him, blocking him with his whole body.

The Alpha outside was tall and powerfully built, his face unreadable, his gaze calm — but Xu Ze could scent the danger in him.

"Uncle Wen," Lu Heyang called out. Then the back of his hand brushed Xu Ze's waist, and he asked, "Are you my bodyguard?"

Xu Ze was still breathing slightly, his lips flushed from the kiss. He blinked, then answered, "No."

"If not, then don't throw yourself in front of me so quickly next time — it's fine." Lu Heyang placed the glasses back in Xu Ze's hand. "Go eat first. The food is already served."

Xu Ze nodded, exchanged another glance with Jiang Wen, and only then walked toward the suite's dining room.

"Can you beat him?" Once Xu Ze had gone into the dining room, Lu Heyang asked suddenly.

"I can," Jiang Wen said, and for once smiled.

After all, one of them was a high-school fighter who, even in the Underground Gym, had to strain to avoid hurting his opponents too badly; compared with the ruthless former mercenary, even if Xu Ze were given a gun, Jiang Wen, bare-handed, would certainly still win.

Jiang Wen went into the study. Lu Heyang went to the dining room. Xu Ze was sitting motionless at the table, his hands on his lap, as though he had no intention of eating until Lu Heyang came. Lu Heyang took the schoolbag wedged between Xu Ze's back and the chair and set it on another chair, then told him, "I've already eaten. All of this is yours."

Xu Ze began to worry. "I won't be able to finish it."

"I'm not asking you to finish it — just eat until you're full. Uncle Wen has something to discuss with me. Take your time."

Xu Ze nodded.

Once Lu Heyang had closed the study door and sat down, Jiang Wen placed a voice recorder on the table. "We found He Yi's younger brother, but he doesn't know much about He Yi's affairs — only the broad strokes."

Lu Heyang pressed play, and from the recorder came at once a terrified scream: "I really don't know!"

"Did you hit him?" Lu Heyang pressed pause and asked.

"No. Not a finger was laid on him."

"Are you Lu Chengyu's people? Don't come looking for me — it's been so many years already, I've been ruined badly enough by my brother and his family. Now I'm just quietly running a small business, please, please, just let me go, will you…"

After three or four minutes of wailing and pleading, another Alpha's voice finally appeared — one of Jiang Wen's men. "Done crying out? I ask, you answer."

"…Oh."

…

"This really has nothing to do with me — blame my brother's family… no, blame my sister-in-law. That Omega was a complete fool! He actually hired people to kidnap Lu Chengyu's son right before the election! And the result was that Lu Chengyu wasn't affected at all — it was the He Family who had the bad luck, picked off one by one after Lu Chengyu took office… even someone like me, who wasn't in government, got my company driven into bankruptcy…"

"It really has nothing to do with me. Out of nowhere I became a pauper. All I know is that my brother offended Lu Chengyu — even the kidnapping I only heard about afterward. Now I've finally had a few peaceful years, please, please, just let me go…"

…

Over twenty minutes of recording, and only a few passages of useful information — the rest all weeping and pleading. It did seem he was in the dark.

Lu Heyang was not surprised. In political and commercial struggles, children had always been among the easiest casualties; even Gu Yunchi had been through something similar. Kidnapping an opponent's son on the eve of a general election was a farcical scandal, and suppressing the news to protect the Lianmeng Government's image was only normal. That so-called fool of an Omega — He Yi's spouse — had clearly been pushed out in the end to take the blame.

Being kidnapped was nothing unusual, but if it had been only a kidnapping, why did he have no memory of it? Lu Heyang had undergone thorough examinations; there was no trace of any injury to his brain.

"Can't you find where He Yi is?" Lu Heyang asked.

"Can't find him. He was sentenced to five years back then; the moment he got out of prison he disappeared. The Omega was originally sentenced to seventeen, but went mad halfway through and was thrown into a psychiatric hospital. One day he suddenly vanished — He Yi must have taken him away."

The fact that the two of them had been able to walk out of prison alive meant Lu Chengyu had not necessarily wanted them dead — so he had turned a blind eye.

Following the thread this far, Lu Heyang understood that the He Family was not the focus; the focus remained on Lu Chengyu.

"We need to be more careful from here on out." Lu Heyang handed the recorder back to Jiang Wen.

Jiang Wen gave a small nod, paused for a moment, and said, "Han Inspector was beaten and sent to the hospital."

Lu Heyang frowned. "Wei Lingzhou?"

Such a crude method couldn't possibly be Lu Chengyu's doing. If Lu Chengyu had moved, Han Inspector wouldn't have been beaten — he would have been dismissed, and lost any foothold in the Capital City forever.

"Yes. Miss Lu already knows as well."

Of course she knew — because Wei Lingzhou had done it precisely for Lu Qingmo to see.

"Send a few people to stand guard at the hospital, and prepare plenty of nutritional supplements to send over." Lu Heyang glanced at the date on his Wristband. He felt Wei Lingzhou had miscalculated this time. "As it happens, my sister is flying back this evening."

After seeing Jiang Wen out of the room, Lu Heyang went to the dining room. He had told Xu Ze to take his time eating, and Xu Ze had in fact eaten very slowly — a mouthful of rice stuffed in his cheek, his right cheek bulging out, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Lu Heyang as he walked over to him.

For no particular reason, Lu Heyang had the urge to poke Xu Ze's cheek — and in fact he did, and Xu Ze went blank for a second.

"Why did you photograph the men's-health flyers on the wall?" Lu Heyang sat down in the chair beside him. "Is there something you'd rather not say?"

Xu Ze turned the sentence over and over in his head, parsing it at length, until at last it struck him: the real-estate-agent numbers he had photographed by the wall of the compound had been surrounded by a dense thicket of those small, scabby advertisements — and the bodyguard had faithfully reported the whole scene to Lu Heyang.