Chapter 130#
The island was quiet, with the occasional sound of waves coming from afar.
The window was open, and the moonlight shone in, spreading a layer of fluorescent light on the floor. Yan Heqing was not asleep.
Perhaps he had slept enough during the day, his brain was unusually awake now, without any sleepiness.
He lay on his side, looking at the window. After a while, the rustling sound of fabric friction came from behind, and a warmth approached. Lu Lin pulled him into his arms.
Lu Lin’s chin rested on Yan Heqing’s neck, his hands passed around his waist, wrapping around Yan Heqing’s hands, slowly warming them up.
“So cold, should we close the window?”
“Not cold.” Yan Heqing’s voice was soft. “Did I wake you up?”
“Who could you wake up being so quiet?” Lu Lin chuckled with a breathy sound, pinching his index finger, and gradually the flavor changed, playing with Yan Heqing’s fingertips.
They were not delicate and soft, but had thin calluses.
Lu Lin loved this touch very much. “If you can’t sleep, let’s chat.”
Yan Heqing turned his face slightly. The moonlight was bright, and he could see clearly without turning on the light in the room. However, Lu Lin’s chin was pressed against his neck, limiting the angle, so he could only see Lu Lin’s vague outline.
His attention was attracted. “Chat about what?”
Lu Lin curled his lips. “What do you want to chat about?”
Yan Heqing couldn’t think of anything for a moment. Lu Lin rubbed his calluses. “Why do you like biology?”
Yan Heqing thought for a while. It was probably when he was in the sixth grade.
He rushed back after school at noon to cook for Yan Feng. Downstairs, he met Yan Feng and a few children squatting under a tree.
They found a magnifying glass from somewhere and were roasting a grasshopper with a broken leg under the sunlight.
Several people laughed as they watched the grasshopper struggle. Yan Heqing never dared to be fierce to Yan Feng, but that day he was very angry and actually snatched the magnifying glass. The other children scattered. Yan Feng stared at him blankly, and after a few seconds, his mouth flattened, and he went upstairs crying loudly.
“I’m going to tell my parents that you bullied me!”
Yan Heqing knew he would inevitably be beaten later, but he didn’t care. He squatted down and gently picked up the grasshopper. The grasshopper was missing a leg, but it still struggled hard in his hand.
Yan Heqing released it back into the grass.
“It disappeared very quickly.” Yan Heqing recalled. “At that time, I felt that life was great.”
“It was so fragile, yet so strong.”
He smiled lightly. “But after checking schools after the college entrance examination, I realized that biology majors can’t make money.”
Lu Lin understood.
Wanting to make money quickly to find Lin Fengzhi, Yan Heqing filled in software engineering, which could make money, as his choice.
It was just that something happened at the beginning of his freshman year that made him decide to fight back against his “creditors”, and also made him give up on Lin Fengzhi, start pursuing his own dreams, and live for himself.
Lu Lin’s heart only had a slight numbness, but it hurt him terribly.
He felt he was very close to that answer.
But still very far.
The night deepened, and the moonlight faded. Seeing that Yan Heqing was still not sleepy, Lu Lin hugged him a little tighter. “Sing you a song?”
Yan Heqing didn’t like listening to songs, but he was really curious about Lu Lin singing.
“En.”
Lu Lin’s lips were close to his ear, his voice low. “In my arms, in your eyes…”
Yan Heqing remembered. It was “By the Lake Baikal”.
No wonder Lu Lin could sing it. He probably heard it when learning the harmonica.
“Just one day, you are clear and mysterious, like the Lake Baikal.”
Yan Heqing’s eyelashes fluttered. “Seems like you sang it wrong.”
He remembered this was the ending, and Lu Lin skipped a line.
Lu Lin stopped singing, his magnetic voice laughing ticklishly. “It’s been too long, I only remember this line.”
He pressed against Yan Heqing’s ear again and sang softly, “You are clear and mysterious, like the Lake Baikal…”
Back and forth with just this line, Yan Heqing was really lulled to sleep by him. He closed his eyes, as if returning to that quiet sea.
There was the night sky, the sea, Lu Lin, and the beluga whale.
That was the most beautiful scenery he had ever seen.
*
Early the next morning, without disturbing Lu Ruchan, Lu Lin and Yan Heqing returned to the capital.
After the plane landed and they returned to the city, it was almost lunch time. Lu Lin took Yan Heqing to eat first before sending him back to the old house.
50Hz and 51Hz were playing in the garden, taken care of by a dedicated breeder. Both had shiny fur. 51Hz had grown a lot, and 50Hz was also obviously bigger. When Yan Heqing came back, both ran over and clung to his legs, wagging their tails frantically and making “whining” milk sounds.
Yan Heqing squatted down and hugged both of them at the same time. They licked his cheeks enthusiastically. Yan Heqing didn’t mind, just smiling even though it tickled. Lu Lin liked seeing Yan Heqing relaxed like this. He squatted down and touched Yan Heqing’s hair. “Stay here for these few days. For the wedding preparations, make a list of who you want to invite, and I’ll arrange it.”
Yan Heqing looked at him. “You’re going out?”
Lu Lin was noncommittal, his black eyes full of tenderness. “Leave the rest to me, okay?”
A few seconds later, Yan Heqing nodded. “Will you come back for dinner?”
Lu Lin smiled. “I will. Every dinner during the holiday, I’ll eat with you.”
Lu Lin went to the hospital.
There were bodyguards guarding the hospital gate, and even stricter bodyguards on the floor where Lu Muchi stayed.
Everyone who came to visit was stopped. Only when Lu Lin arrived, the bodyguards didn’t dare to stop him, looking at each other. Lu Lin didn’t make things difficult for them. He stopped at the elevator entrance and said indifferently, “Go report.”
A bodyguard nodded quickly. “Yes!” and trotted to the ward.
Lu Changcheng knew Lu Lin was back. Yesterday, he had asked Lu Han to bribe Lu Lin’s driver.
He couldn’t get through to Lu Ruchan last night. When he sent people to the nursing villa, the place was empty. He knew Lu Lin had taken her away.
Lu Lin was guarding against him. In his heart, he always only recognized the other Lu family!
Lu Changcheng actually hoped Lu Lin would never come again, out of sight, out of mind!
However, Lu Muchi tried to commit suicide as soon as he woke up. He relied entirely on sedatives to sleep and not make a fuss. He had been injected five times in just two days. He didn’t want Lu Muchi to become dependent on sedatives.
Maybe Lu Muchi would listen to Lu Lin’s words.
Lu Changcheng also knew Lu Lin didn’t bring Yan Heqing this time, and said coldly, “Call him in.”
Lu Changcheng kept staring at the door. Only when Lu Lin pushed the door open and entered did he look away. “You are truly a qualified good uncle, marrying the man who harmed your nephew.”
Lu Lin was unmoved. “You know the truth of the car accident better than I do.”
Lu Changcheng’s face twitched uncontrollably. Cheng Jian and Zhao Weifang both admitted that they planned the car accident, and it indeed had nothing to do with Yan Heqing.
But the root of everything was Yan Heqing!
Yan Heqing implicated Lu Muchi in paraplegia, making him experience the pain of his most precious grandson being disabled at an old age. He must return this pain to Yan Heqing doubled.
Isn’t Lin Fengzhi going blind? Just right. Yan Heqing made his grandson lose his legs, so he would make Yan Heqing’s own brother lose his eyes!
Lu Changcheng stood up tremblingly. In just a few days, he had aged more than ten years. He didn’t look at Lu Lin again, leaning on his cane, slowly walking past Lu Lin. “For your mother’s sake, persuade Xiao Chi not to seek death anymore. He will wake up in half an hour.”
…
Half an hour later, Lu Muchi’s eyelids moved. He opened his eyes and stared blankly for a while. His throat hurt so much that swallowing saliva was torture. He tried to bite his tongue to commit suicide last night, but it was useless. He slowly turned his head to look at the bedside table.
Empty.
Everything that could be used for suicide had been taken away.
Even the window. He didn’t have the ability to get to the window, and the window was sealed. This place was like a tomb for the living dead.
Just then, Lu Muchi saw the figure by the window. He suddenly laughed, a particularly ugly laugh, like a crow’s cry. “Uncle… are you here to see my joke?”
Lu Lin turned around. He looked at Lu Muchi. “What did you do on March 3rd?”
An unexpected question. Even though Lu Muchi was emotionally unstable, he was stunned. He squeezed out a voice, “What?”
Lu Lin observed Lu Muchi’s expression. Soon he judged that Lu Muchi had no memory of March 3rd. Maybe he did it without taking it seriously and left no impression, or maybe he really didn’t know.
Getting the answer, Lu Lin didn’t stay any longer and was about to leave.
Lu Muchi was dumbfounded. Seeing him about to leave, the taste of blood welled up in his throat. “Uncle, you don’t know, right? I almost kept Yan Heqing last year.”
Lu Lin stopped.
A sneer appeared on Lu Muchi’s lips. “But he pretended to be noble, pretended not to love money. Do you know what I did? I raped him. With that face, he was born to be fucked by men!”
He deliberately wanted to anger Lu Lin. He really didn’t want to live anymore. Let him be a cripple for life, locked in a room lingering on, he would rather die!
“Yan Heqing is just a worn-out shoe, a slut! Uncle, when you slept with him, you weren’t deceived by him, not knowing he wasn’t original, right?”
However, Lu Lin was unexpectedly calm. “I love him for who he is.”
Hearing this, Lu Muchi completely despaired. He hit his head hard against the headboard, but it had long been replaced with a soft cushion. No matter how he hit it, it had no effect. He could only wail with red eyes, “Uncle, I beg you to help me. Yan Heqing hates me so much, you help him take revenge, you help him beat me to death. I am willing to die. Uncle, please beat me to death, or give me a knife, a bottle of sleeping pills…”
Lu Lin left. As he opened the door, Lu Changcheng rushed in anxiously, ran to the bedside, and hugged Lu Muchi. “It’s okay, Xiao Chi, it’s okay…”
With the driver as an insider, Lu Changcheng didn’t care about Lu Lin leaving.
Only Lu Muchi burst into tears. In his vision, Lu Lin’s back became more and more blurred, and finally disappeared.
Lu Lin returned to the car, and the assistant’s call came in. “Mr. Lu, found Lin Fengzhi. At Rainbow Bridge Welfare Institute.”
Hanging up the phone, Lu Lin instructed the driver, “Don’t report to Lu Han for now.”
The driver’s face suddenly turned pale, and he was restless. “Sorry Mr. Lu, I… I was forced…” Lu Han gave him one million, only asking him to report Lu Lin’s itinerary, so he agreed out of greed.
Lu Lin didn’t care. “After today, go process your resignation.”
The driver regretted endlessly, but could only lower his head and agree.
…
On Lu Lin’s way to Rainbow Bridge Welfare Institute, Yan Heqing found a pink ladies’ bicycle from the warehouse. The old butler’s memory wasn’t very clear, and he kept nagging.
“Hey, where did this bicycle come from? It’s not ours… Speaking of bicycles, Ah Lin was so smart. Without being taught, he could ride as soon as he got on.”
Yan Heqing knew this bicycle was given to Lu Lin by his grandmother. Lu Lin rode it to school and was mocked by Xie Yunjie, who asked to meet him after school.
Yan Heqing patiently answered the old butler, even though the old butler always threw out a sentence and changed it in the next sentence. He chatted with him one by one while carefully cleaning the chain and derailleur with a rag…
The two dogs chased and played happily nearby. Yan Heqing cleaned the bicycle and oiled the key parts.
It had to be said that the quality of the old brand was very tough. With Yan Heqing’s cleaning, although it couldn’t be said to be new again, except for some fading, other parts were still very good. Yan Heqing tried riding it for a while, and it was very easy to ride. He stopped to ask the old butler, “What do you want to eat tonight?”
The old butler didn’t hear clearly. “Sleep? It’s still early.”
Yan Heqing smiled, made a gesture of eating, and pointed to the bicycle and outside the warehouse, enunciating clearly, “What do you want to eat? I’ll go buy it.”
The old butler understood. His teeth were still good, and he especially liked very soft millet porridge. “Millet porridge.”
Yan Heqing rode the bicycle to find the vegetable market.
This area was an old district. Going out from the Lu family manor was a very beautiful old street, also full of plane trees, very full of life atmosphere. One look and you knew it hadn’t been renovated for decades. Lu Lin used to ride like this on this street.
Thinking about it, the corners of Yan Heqing’s mouth hooked up slightly. He rode along the plane trees, feeling the wind, listening to the occasional singing from the roadside, and found the vegetable market unhurriedly.
The Lu family’s backyard had a vegetable patch. Yan Heqing had seen it, so he bought some vegetables that weren’t grown there, mostly fresh meat and eggs, and finally bought a pack of plateau millet.
After buying the groceries, he checked the time. It was five thirty.
He tied the bag of groceries and put it in the bicycle basket, took out his phone, and called Lu Lin.
Arriving at Rainbow Bridge Welfare Institute, Lu Lin got out of the car at the gate. Walking into the welfare institute for a while, his phone vibrated in his pocket.
Taking it out and seeing it was Yan Heqing, he answered, a smile on his lips. “Dinner is ready?”
“Not yet.” Yan Heqing’s voice sounded smiling. “I found the bicycle you rode in junior high. Just finished buying groceries at the vegetable market. How long until you come back?”
Lu Lin walked to the front of the abandoned building.
The assistant said Lin Fengzhi was hiding in an abandoned storage room.
The old employee of the welfare institute met at the playground said that when the Lin couple came to the welfare institute to adopt, Yan Heqing hid in a storage room all day.
Lu Lin had just asked the director. The storage room in this building was the second one on the left on the top floor.
Lu Lin walked into the abandoned building. His vision instantly darkened. Abandoned for years, the building had a strong smell of dampness and mold. Only his voice was as gentle as the warm sun. “About an hour.”