Chapter 45

Chapter 45

"045"

The taxi hadn't even come to a full stop on the suburban boulevard when Xiao Mian came running over. Xiao Lancui got out of the car carrying a bag.

Xiao Mian was starving—he hadn't eaten all day. The smell of spicy malatang carried on the cold wind smelled like the greatest meal on earth, and Xiao Lancui looked like a god descending from heaven.

Xiao Mian was so touched he nearly teared up. He rushed forward, arms open for a hug. "Bro! I love you—"

Before he could get close, Xiao Lancui held up his arm and shoved the steaming, fragrant food bag into Xiao Mian's chest, along with a bottle of water that was still at room temperature.

It was freezing out. Within seconds of getting out of the car, the water bottle had already gone cold.

Xiao Lancui said, "Don't get too close. You reek of cigarettes."

Xiao Mian had, in fact, smoked a few. "Oh." He took the food bag, and the smell instantly brought him back to life. He was starving, so he pulled out the chopsticks right there and started eating.

In all eighteen years of his life, Xiao Mian had never suffered like this. He chewed while complaining, "I'm freezing my ass off and starving to death. Third Brother, where'd you get your info? I've been staking this place out all day, and nobody's gone in or out. Besides, Second Brother and Lu Siye aren't close. Why would he come to his place? I don't buy that he'd be into trash like Lu Siye."

He'd blurted out "Third Brother" without thinking. His chewing paused for a second, then he went back to it like it was no big deal. Xiao Lancui was his third brother, after all. He was totally justified in calling him that!

Xiao Lancui said coolly, "If you don't believe me, you can leave. Why waste another day here?"

A beef ball was wedged in his mouth. Xiao Mian glanced up at Xiao Lancui, then lowered his head and chewed the beef ball vigorously. Only after swallowing did he let out a fake cough, his head almost buried in the malatang container. "But I believe you, though."

Xiao Lancui looked at him. "Don't you hate me?"

"..." Xiao Mian's cheeks were stuffed full, and an embarrassed flush crept across his half-frozen face. He stammered, "I... I don't hate you now..."

Xiao Lancui didn't answer. The garden gate up ahead was shut tight. He asked, "Did you ring the doorbell?"

He headed over first.

Xiao Mian, "...No." He trailed after him, malatang in hand, explaining, "Me and Lu Siye don't get along. What if Second Brother's not even there? That'd be so awkward."

Xiao Lancui shot him a look without saying anything, but Xiao Mian could clearly read "idiot" in his eyes. He wanted to defend his IQ, but what came out instead was, "Third Brother, is there anyone you actually think is smart?"

Calling him "Third Brother" felt satisfying. Xiao Mian couldn't resist doing it again. "Third Brother, tell me."

Xiao Lancui's voice was cold. "There's one."

Xiao Mian was curious. "Who?"

They reached the big black iron gate. Dead vines clung to it—in spring it must've been lush and green. Xiao Lancui stopped, rang the doorbell, and said flatly, "You wouldn't know him."

The doorbell rang and rang, then went silent. No answer.

Xiao Mian had a "I told you so" look on his face. He defended himself, "See? Nobody's there! It's pitch dark, not a single light on inside. Nobody's home."

Xiao Lancui pulled out his phone. Xiao Mian shook his head. "You calling Second Brother? He's not gonna pick up."

Xiao Lancui didn't bother explaining. He dialed a number, and someone picked up instantly.

Fu Chen deliberately cleared his throat. "Who's this calling so late?"

"Xiao Lancui." Xiao Lancui didn't waste any words on him.

Fu Chen felt a little awkward. He didn't want Xiao Lancui thinking he didn't have his number saved, so he laughed a little too loudly. "Just messing with you. I've got your number saved."

Xiao Lancui cut to the chase. "Come to Lu Siye's villa in the suburbs."

Fu Chen threw the covers off and got out of bed. "You're with A Ye?"

Xiao Lancui didn't confirm or deny. He just asked, "Can you come now? If not, I'll find someone else."

By then, Fu Chen was already out of the hospital room. A few steps in, he realized he was still in his hospital gown. He cursed under his breath, turned around, and stormed back to the room. "Wait for me! I'm on my way!"

The call ended.

Fu Chen started cursing up a storm. Lu Siye's suburban villa was basically a sex den! There was no question what Lu Siye was planning to do to Xiao Lancui there.

And Lu Siye definitely forced him to go! No doubt about it.

Xiao Lancui would never be into someone like Lu Siye!

Fu Chen's hands were shaking. He yanked his jacket zipper up hard, and it caught his thumb, scraping off a chunk of skin. Blood immediately welled up. The sharp pain snapped Fu Chen back to his senses for a second.

Not his damn business!

But he still sprinted out of the ward and straight to Huo Shenan's room. Without a word, he grabbed Huo Shenan's car keys and took off again. His own car wasn't there, but Huo Shenan had one parked downstairs.

Huo Shenan was mid-bite into a burger. "You—"

One word, and Fu Chen was already gone.

Huo Shenan, "...Got a fire up your ass or what?" He chewed his burger and went back to his video.

Someone had caught footage of Xiao Lancui's final overtake from the night of the Panshan Ridge race. The one-minute clip ended fast. Huo Shenan took a swig of his iced Coke, then smoothly dragged the progress bar back to the start.

The suburbs were wide open and dead quiet. Xiao Mian caught a faint voice from the phone—a guy's voice, not Xiao Anfeng's.

*

Xiao Mian unscrewed the cap and took a sip of water. After that hot, spicy malatang, he was warm all over now. He let out a content burp and asked, "Third Brother, who was that?"

Xiao Lancui ignored him and dialed another number.

"Dad."

This time Xiao Mian knew—it was their dad! He watched Xiao Lancui, confused, wondering what his third brother was up to now. His brother was way too hard to read.

Xiao Lancui didn't give Xiao Jingli a chance to speak. He ended the call with one sentence: "We found Second Brother. He might be locked up somewhere."

He sent Xiao Jingli his live location, pocketed his phone, and put on his gloves. After making two calls out in the cold, he was still freezing. His fingers were cold even inside the cashmere gloves.

He tucked his chin into his scarf and coughed a few times, sounding rough.

All of Xiao Mian's questions flew out the window the second Xiao Lancui coughed. He stepped forward with the water. "Here, drink some."

Xiao Lancui didn't even look up. "I have a thing about germs."

Xiao Mian, "..."—then just cough yourself to death! He turned his head away, held it for a beat, then turned back. "I didn't drink from it directly. It's clean."

Xiao Lancui shook his head. He opened his bag and took out the rest of his herbal medicine, sipping a few mouthfuls. The insulated cup had kept it warm—still hot.

Xiao Mian stared at the small bottle of brown liquid. Words climbed up his throat, and his Adam's apple bobbed a few times, conflicted. His fingers tightened around the water bottle, making it creak. "Hey, when you said you were dying, you were just messing with me, right?"

Xiao Lancui lowered his eyes, wiping the straw. "Mm," he said, totally calm.

The more Xiao Lancui acted like this, the more unsettled Xiao Mian became. An inexplicable wave of unease washed over him, and he stared at Xiao Lancui nervously, looking for reassurance. "Xiao Lancui, you're not going to die, right?"

Xiao Lancui gave another faint "Mm."

Xiao Mian was still on edge. "You..."

Suddenly, a distant roar echoed.

Xiao Mian instinctively glanced over, but beyond the layered mountains, the night was pitch black—not a single light in sight.

It was the roar of a top-tier sports car engine, still a few kilometers out.

Fu Chen had floored it the whole way, definitely racking up speeding tickets.

Before the car had even fully stopped, he flung the door open and jumped out.

The headlights caught two figures in front of the villa. It wasn't until he got closer that he could make them out—one was Xiao Lancui, and the other definitely wasn't Lu Siye.

Fu Chen exhaled in relief, then frowned. "Who the hell are you?"

He sized Xiao Mian up with a wary look.

Fu Chen didn't recognize Xiao Mian, but Xiao Mian knew him—he was the one who always went out raising hell with Lu Siye.

Xiao Mian completely ignored Fu Chen and turned to Xiao Lancui instead. "Bro, you called him to open the door?"

Even if Xiao Mian wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, once he recognized Fu Chen as one of Lu Siye's cronies, he knew who Xiao Lancui's first call had gone to.

Buddies who were thick as thieves usually swapped door codes—Xiao Mian had the codes to his own friends' places too.

Fu Chen, though, hadn't caught the rest of what Xiao Mian said—he only heard "bro." He knew the Xiao family had a youngest kid, so this had to be Xiao Lancui's little brother. Fu Chen's annoyance vanished instantly, and he got all chummy. "Hey, so you're the little bro! I'm Fu Chen, your brother's... buddy!"

Xiao Mian rolled his eyes. "Don't try to get chummy. Who the—cough—is your brother?"

Xiao Mian stepped up next to Xiao Lancui, blocking Fu Chen's view like a human shield.

Fu Chen raised an eyebrow—a real clingy little brother, huh. He was in a good mood now, so he let it slide. He tilted his head, waved at Xiao Lancui, and grinned. "Classmate Xiao, what's the emergency?"

Xiao Lancui cut in. "You can open this door, right?"

Both Fu Chen and Huo Shenan had their fingerprints saved on Lu Siye's properties.

Before Fu Chen could react, Xiao Lancui grabbed his hand, yanked it over, and pressed it straight onto the fingerprint lock.

Click.

A single sound, and the iron gate slowly slid open.

Fu Chen's heart lurched right along with that click. Through the cashmere glove, he stared blankly at the hand holding his.

Xiao Lancui... was holding his hand?

The night was dark and the wind biting; his hand had gone numb from the cold, yet he could still feel the soft, smooth texture. Logically, he knew it was just the glove's fabric. Emotionally, though, he couldn't help wondering—was Xiao Lancui's hand just as soft and smooth?

Fu Chen was still spacing out when Xiao Lancui let go of his hand and gestured for him to lead the way. "Go on."

His hand suddenly empty, Fu Chen felt a twinge of loss but obediently headed inside. Xiao Mian stared in disbelief—Xiao Lancui was something else... breaking into someone's place in broad daylight.

Xiao Lancui then turned to Xiao Mian. "Water."

Xiao Mian handed it over immediately, then remembered. "Didn't you say it was dirty?"

Xiao Lancui took the bottle, crouched down, and wedged it between the two iron gates as they were closing. Xiao Mian shut his mouth at once and rubbed his nose as he headed in.

They crossed the garden to reach the villa. It was pitch black inside—didn't look like anyone was home. Fu Chen finally thought to ask, "What are you doing here anyway?"

Fu Chen had one thing he didn't dare say out loud—this place reeked of condoms... maybe they shouldn't go in?

Xiao Lancui was direct. "Looking for someone."

Fu Chen was curious. "Who?" He pressed his thumb to the lock, and it clicked open.

The motion-sensor entry light flicked on, and all four of Fu Chen and Xiao Mian's eyes landed on the four shoes scattered across the floor.

Fu Chen gave a dry cough, nodding at one of the shoes as he glanced at Xiao Lancui. "Your friend?"

He recognized Lu Siye's shoes—a limited pair that had dropped at the start of the month.

Xiao Lancui didn't say either way. Xiao Mian frowned silently, staring at the shoe. He recognized it—it was Xiao Anfeng's. He'd given it to him for his birthday last year.

Xiao Anfeng was really here!

Xiao Mian's temples pulsed. He thought of the man's sweet moans from that bathroom stall, and blood rushed to his head. Without a word, he shoved past Fu Chen and stormed inside.

Fu Chen, seeing how frantic he was, didn't get annoyed. He tilted his head and whispered to Xiao Lancui, "Not your brother's girlfriend... or boyfriend, is it?"

Xiao Lancui didn't reply and walked in.

Fu Chen quickly followed, ready for the show.

Catching someone red-handed—not an unfamiliar scene.

Lu Siye, that professional jackhammer, had slept with countless other people's partners. Getting caught wasn't a first for him, and it wouldn't be the last.

But so what? That was Lu Siye.

Who'd dare mess with him.

When the mood hit, he'd sleep with both halves of a couple right then and there.

Even Fu Chen sometimes thought Lu Siye was a straight-up freak.

Fu Chen followed Xiao Lancui upstairs and turned left, surprised by how sure he seemed of where he was going.

That was Lu Siye's private fuck room—did Xiao Lancui know about that?

But before he could think about it, Xiao Lancui knocked.

No response. Made sense. This villa had cost millions in soundproofing—firecrackers going off inside and out wouldn't bother each other.

Xiao Lancui was patient, knocking twice more. A moment later, the door slid open from inside.

A pungent stench rushed out.

Two sets of footsteps echoed from the stairwell. And there, in the doorway, Lu Siye's face appeared.

A loosely draped robe hung on him, chest bare, with overlapping hickeys trailing down his stomach before disappearing under the robe.

Lu Siye, catching sight of Xiao Lancui, felt a sudden, surreal sense of time slipping away.

How long had it been since he'd seen that face?

A day, two days... a week?

Lu Siye stared at Xiao Lancui, and the restless irritation within him—that gnawing hunger that never seemed to be satisfied—suddenly settled into calm in that instant.

He noticed Fu Chen, and also the two figures rushing up from the stairs—one being Xiao Lancui's father, and the other his big, goofy younger brother.

He couldn't care less about any of them. He only looked at Xiao Lancui, let out a low, husky laugh, his voice thick with raw desire. "What, you here to join the party?"