CH 84.1

TL: Hua

“Are your words sincere because you’re a dying man, or… you don’t feel good about yourself, and you don’t want others to feel better?” Shi Yunnan paused and turned back to face him with a faint smile.

An ambiguous laugh spilled out from Xie Keyue’s throat. “Shi Yunnan ah, Shi Yunnan, do you really think Luo Lingsheng has you in his heart?” There was no madness in those eyes, only a subtle pity remained.

The electronic watch above the glass compartment began a countdown with one minute of visit time remaining.

“It seems that you really don’t want me to feel better.” Shi Yunnan walked back slowly and stood in front of the glass partition, “Just give up already. I know he once had someone he liked, but I don’t care.”

“Don’t care? If you really love him, how can you not care?”

Xie Keyue didn’t believe his words at all.

With a playful smile, he said, “Shi Yunnan, you will always live in Wen Yibei’s shadow. Aren’t you tired?”

Every word, like a machete infused with murderous intent, stabbed into Shi Yunnan’s heart.

“Compared with Wen Yibei, do you know what kind of a terrible mess you are in contrast? When the Shi and Wen families were fighting for children, who didn’t want Wen Yibei? Did anyone want you?”

“Do you think you belong to the current Luo family? Wrong, absolutely wrong.”

“You don’t believe me? I understand the final outcome of this story better than anyone.”

Xie Keyue leaned against the glass partition. His eyes fell on Shi Yunman’s fingers, “If Luo Lingsheng really loves you, why didn’t he give you a ring after you two got the certificate for so long?”

“Are you finished?” Shi Yunnan calmly accepted his provocation and laughed, “I trust Luo Lingsheng.”

“…..”

These few simple words beat off Xie Keyue’s smugness.

“I ought to show off that I have a husband, a brother, a grandfather, an uncle, good friends, and yes, a little nephew who hugs me like a spoiled child every day. Do you know what it feels like to be surrounded by love?”

Xie Keyue’s smile completely stiffened.

Shi Yunnan put his hands in front of the glass partition and leaned forward slightly.

“I forgot to tell you that Shi Sheng and the old man, whom you have been sucked up to, wanted to hand over the Shi family’s private property and company to me some time ago.”

“You and the Shi family will have an accident after this smuggling case. This is the news I got from your opponents in advance. It’s a pity that I don’t care about those junky assets.”

“…..”

Xie Keyue’s chest heaved up and down as if he was being stabbed by Shi Yunnan’s words.

The more the other party showed indifference, the more it showed how ridiculous his past paranoid pursuits were.

“Xie Keyue, it’s time for you to admit it.” Shi Yunnan stood up again and declared, with a victorious stance, “You’re the one who’s a total loser.”

These words were like a thunderbolt, which suddenly smashed Xie Keyue into a distorted expression.

The visiting hour was up.

Shi Yunnan turned around and walked out, but behind him was still Xie Keyue’s unruly clamor—

“Shi Yunnan! I didn’t lie!”

“You know, Wen Yibei is many times better than you!”

“Everything you’ve got now is given to you by Wen Yibei!”

“Sooner or later, you will lose it completely! You are the one who will never be loved!”

When Shi Yunnan heard these remarks, a tiny crack appeared in his pupils, and he quickened his pace towards the outside of the prison.

Xie Keyue saw that his lie couldn’t provoke the other party to lose his temper in the slightest, so he took two heavy breaths, and finally fell back to his seat decadently.

“…..”

Xie Keyue slowly covered his face, and burst into tears after realizing it.

Some people were good at seizing opportunities in the face of adversity and relied on their excellent ability to turn around and win.

But what about him?

After a smooth start, he blew himself to such an end.

At this point in time, all of Xie Keyue’s resignation had boiled down to a single realization – he had completely lost to Shi Yunnan.

…

The door made a dull sound.

Shi Yunnan fell back onto the car seat. He grabbed the steering wheel and tried to take a deep breath to calm his fluctuating emotions.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at his empty ring finger, and in the next second, his hands unconsciously squeezed the steering wheel.

“…..”

For some reason, Shi Yunnan’s mind was filled with Xie Keyue’s hissing voice, like a trapped beast.

——You will always live in Wen Yibei’s shadow. Aren’t you tired?

——It’s been so long since you got the certificate. Why didn’t Luo Lingsheng give you a ring?

——You are the one who will never be loved!

Shi Yunnan subconsciously took out his mobile phone. His fingers hovered above his lover’s familiar WeChat avatar, but he hesitated and changed his target.

Shi Yunnan dialed Wen Yibei’s phone number.

When the clicking sound that signaled the call being connected echoed in Shi Yunnan’s ears, he hung up the phone and let out a self-deprecating laugh within half a minute.

“Fool, what are you calling for?”

It was obvious that Xie Keyue was sowing discord between them. Why did he still jump into the pit?

Shi Yunnan threw the phone onto the passenger seat, adjusted his mood, and drove home.

…

Shi Yunnan had skipped his afternoon shift to go to the prison, so it was still early when he arrived at Luo’s house. The butler, Uncle Qin, was instructing the servants to clean up.

Shi Yunnan went up to the second floor, and the corridor was still filled with the smell of fruity cleaners.

Uncle Qin saw Shi Yunnan’s figure and quickly greeted him, “Mr. Shi, why are you back so early today?”

Shi Yunnan replied, “I came back after I finished some work.”

Just in time, the servant came over and said, “Uncle Qin, the second floor is all cleaned except for the study. Should we go downstairs first?”

Shi Yunnan unconsciously shifted his sight to the study at the end of the corridor when he heard those words.

——Don’t enter the study at the end of the second floor; the rest is up to you.

This was what Luo Lingsheng had instructed him not long after he entered the Luo family.

Shi Yunnan had always been a person who didn’t like to pry into other people’s private affairs. At first, he felt it was unnecessary because of the ‘marriage agreement’, but after he and Luo Lingsheng got into a relationship, he felt that he should give Luo Lingsheng enough private space.

Over time, he automatically suppressed this initial curiosity.

Shi Yunnan slowly looked back, “…Don’t you need to clean the study?”

The servant answered before the butler, “The patriarch is very fond of his study. Even if he has mobility problems, he has to do all the cleaning of the study himself!”

“So attentive?”

Shi Yunnan smiled. His train of thoughts once again wandered off.

“The patriarch usually works in the study room, which is full of important documents, so the servants are generally not allowed to enter, so as not to cause trouble.” The butler added.

Not to mention a servant, even he didn’t dare to set foot in it.

Shi Yunnan didn’t respond.

The butler, who could read people’s expressions, saw his distracted state and was a little worried, “Mr. Shi, are you not feeling well?”

“No.” Shi Yunnan restrained his thoughts and replied casually, “Lingsheng should arrive at the Imperial Capital in a few days.”

There were some doubts in his heart, but he could ask the person himself when they met tomorrow.

The butler smiled with relief and anticipation on his face and said, “Yes, two days ago I heard Yuan Meng say that the patriarch’s legs were much better. After all these years, I finally had something to look forward to.”

Shi Yunnan also felt anticipated and said with a smile, “I’ll go back to my room to rest for a while. You guys, go ahead with your own work. Uncle Qin, it’s almost time to pick up Little Goldfish.”

“Ok.”

Seeing Shi Yunnan’s smile, Uncle Qin asked the servants on the second floor to go downstairs without much thought.

Shi Yunnan walked towards his room and changed his destination just three seconds later. He stopped in front of the study at the end of the corridor after a few steps.

He hesitated for a while, staring at the solid closed wooden door, but he still couldn’t resist pushing the door open.

The door made a slight noise, revealing the world inside to Shi Yunnan’s field of vision-pure black and white, very much in line with Luo Lingsheng’s usual behavior.

Shi Yunnan closed the door of the room and gently approached the most conspicuous desk. Apart from all kinds of office appliance and documents, the most striking thing on the desk was the black square jar.

“… We’re legal husbands, so it shouldn’t matter if I just have a look, right?”

Shi Yunnan murmured and made a self-affirming mental preparation before he opened the black jar.

Different from the simple and atmospheric appearance, the jar was actually filled with fruit candies.

Shi Yunnan was stunned for a moment, then let out a sweet smile, “He didn’t like it when I first gave it to him, but why did he hide so much in private?”

No wonder when he was unhappy back then, his lover could conjure up this candy to coax him.

Shi Yunnan peeled off the candy wrapper and tasted one.

It was still the familiar sweet and savory taste.

Shi Yunnan’s gaze continued to search down and landed on the drawer with the password lock. It was as if a strange force was pulling him into the darkness and waiting for him to dig for the treasure hidden within.

Shi Yunnan bent down and, with his intuition, entered the six digits of his birthday.

–Ding.

The electronic prompt for successful unlocking sounded.

Shi Yunnan smiled with satisfaction and slowly pulled open the first drawer. The next second, he saw a well-preserved invitation letter.

The mere appearance of the invitation letter had already given him an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

“…..”

Shi Yunnan stopped pulling the drawer as an answer suddenly appeared in his mind. But his right hand, as if out of his control, took out the invitation and opened it.

——We sincerely invite Mr. Luo Lingsheng of the Luo family to attend the 18th birthday banquet of Wen Yibei, the grandson of the Wen family.

The moment the first line of words came into view, Shi Yunnan’s smile stiffened. His mind was full of the remarks he had heard before.

—— Mr. Luo and his friend came to our 18th birthday banquet.

——Luo Lingsheng, do you still have any impressions of me?

——I can’t remember clearly because it was a long time ago.

——Today’s birthday party is for Wen Yibei. Do you think anyone knows you?

——Shi Yunnan, you will always live in Wen Yibei’s shadow. Aren’t you tired?

The phone suddenly rang at that moment.

Shi Yunnan was abruptly pulled out of his imagination. He took a few deep breaths before taking out the phone in his pocket in a slow, half-hearted manner.

Wen Yibei.

There was no name in the world that was more familiar to Shi Yunnan than this.