Chapter 18

Time seemed to slow down, and the stairs leading down felt so long as if they would never reach the end. Chu Yichen felt as if all his strength had been drained. His steps were somewhat unstable, so he could only hold on to the handrail. He was accustomed to being calm, accustomed to being expressionless, accustomed to being in danger, but at this moment, maintaining these habits had become so difficult.

    

With each step, his heart sank. He was afraid, afraid that when he arrived downstairs, he would receive news he could not accept.

    

“He is still alive.” The four words Zhang Jun said made everyone breathe a sigh of relief at the same time. “Fortunately, there were soft bushes and soil underneath. Judging from the current situation, there may be several fractures. As for whether the internal organs are damaged, it is hard to say. I will take him for further examination.”

    

Chu Yichen nodded faintly.

There were other doctors there who carried Chu Yunhan carefully into the ambulance. Because there were always some injuries invisible to the naked eye in the Black Hawk Club that needed to be dealt with, the group had a private clinic with top equipment in K City, and Zhang Jun wanted to take Yunhan there.

    

“Do you… want to go there together?” Doctor Zhang couldn’t help asking when he saw him look like this.

    

The man looked at the ambulance and shook his head.

    

Zhang Jun sighed, patted his shoulder and said, “I am here, don’t worry.” After that, he turned and hurried away.

The ambulance drove away. Chu Yichen remained motionless.

    

Usually he was like a meticulously running accurate clock, without the slightest error, but now that clock had completely stopped ticking, as if its batteries were empty, losing all ability to calmly think and process. There was nothing left in his mind except for Chu Yunhan’s expression before jumping down.

    

These tired and empty eyes turned into a freeze-frame.

    

Chu Yunhan simply jumped, without saying anything at all.

    

When bidding farewell to this world, he didn’t say a single word to him.

    

There was a rumble of thunder in the distance, and the sky that had been cloudy for a long time was finally suffused with light rain, and the fine water droplets falling from the sky were swayed by the wind and fell reluctantly to the ground. Chu Yichen stood silently in the rain with his hands hanging by his sides, the wounds on his fingers still bleeding. Hei Yu persuaded him with a few words from the side, but he didn’t even hear him, staring blankly at the small blood stain where Chu Yunhan had landed. 

Hei Yu had no choice but to strictly order his subordinates not to leak anything about what happened today, and let them disperse first. Du Chuan held up an umbrella for Chu Yichen from behind him. After a while, Bai Xiao hurried over and wanted to say something, but was stopped by Hei Yu. The two talked in low voices. Bai Xiao learned what had happened, and looked at the person standing in the rain in surprise. He frowned and continued discussing with Hei Yu.

    

The rain was getting heavier and heavier. Despite the umbrella, the raindrops still fell on his body, and his pants and shoes got all wet in the blink of an eye. The small pool of blood on the ground thinned in the rain, getting smaller and smaller and finally disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed.

    

Chu Yichen finally moved. He turned around, looked at Bai Xiao, and asked, “Speak. How is it?”

    

“Master, two ships at the southeast pier were detained this time. The goods were declared to the customs. There was no problem. But… four boxes of smuggled rare animals were found on the ships. Both ships are Wang Jin’s. He smuggled the goods privately. The person has been detained, and the police station is awaiting our reply,” Bai Xiao briefly explained the general situation.

    

“One should take responsibility for one’s actions. Tell them that they don’t need to use such methods to give me face.” 

    

“But… there are many people under Wang Jin and he has always been very good to his subordinates. He splits the money equally, so he is very popular and is regarded as one of the most capable fourth-level officers. I am worried that pushing him out without giving him some face will trigger dissatisfaction within the lower ranks.”

    

The man frowned and wanted to speak, but was overcome by sudden dizziness. Suddenly, everything in front of him lost color and sank into darkness abruptly. He staggered, and before collapsing, he heard Bai Xiao shouting.

    

“Young Master! Young Master! What’s wrong with you…”

    ……

In the confined secret room, he was sitting in the corner, covered in blood, looking up at the only small window high above. The light coming in from there illuminated the dust floating in the air. He looked fascinated, his expression focused and motionless. When the heavy door opened, he averted his gaze and looked at his father, who walked in.

    

“Do you regret it?” the man asked.

    

He shook his head.

    

“In this position, there will be many times when you have to dirty your hands with blood. If you are as indecisive as this time, you will pay a more painful price.”

    

He glanced at the man lying in a pool of blood in the corner, and looked down. “I understand.” 

    

Three days ago, he was locked in this secret room with this murderer who had taken several lives. The instructions given to the opponent were to kill him to survive. In the previous two and a half days, he was trying to find a way to let both of them live, but was attacked several times and scarred. In the end, he cut the guy’s throat with the only knife in combat.

That was the first time he killed someone with his own hands. Walking out of the dark room reeking of blood, he felt like he had died once.

    

“Eldest Young Master was looking for you.” The butler handed him the phone. He took it with his bloodied hand, dialed, and heard Chu Yunhan’s voice from the other end, “You finally called me back. Today is your birthday, how are you going to spend it?”

    

“…I forgot,” he said.

    

“How can you forget it? Then I’ll arrange a super cool party for you!”

“Inviting too many people would be quite bothersome.” 

“Hey, you are the most important person today, you have the final say. Then I will come to you first, and then you can decide, okay? By the way, I will prepare a cake for you.”

    

“Okay.” He hung up, and said to Du Chuan, “Fetch me some clean clothes, dark and with a high-collar that can cover the wound.”

    

“Yes, Young Master.”

    

“And take out the chessboard.”

    

“Yes, Young Master.”

On the day before his eighteenth birthday, the cruel successor education taught him how to be ruthless. For more than three months after that, he suffered from nightmares and woke up countless times in the middle of the night.

Yet every time he saw a photo of Chu Yunhan posted on social networks, he would always curl up his lips unconsciously.

    

Fortunately, it is me who goes through all this.

    

Fortunately, it is me who needs to change.

    

Fortunately… 

    ……

“Yichen…My dad is dying!” On the other end of the line, his trembling voice was mixed with sobbing.

    

“My mother took sleeping pills and is now in the hospital… Yichen, what should I do…”

    

“Yichen…Can you call me back…”

    

When that person needed him the most, he was far away in J City, leading a team to participate in the bidding for a large-scale engineering project. He didn’t even take the call. When he called back no one answered. It wasn’t until the day before the funeral that he hurried back, and what he saw was an emaciated Chu Yunhan.

    

“I’m sorry, I…” 

    

“You don’t need to kneel here.” In the cold tone, there was no trace of closeness.

From that moment on, Chu Yunhan never called him again.

Father began entrusting some things to him. He took over for the first time and was very busy every day. He occasionally took some time off to see that person, but he always shut the door.

    ……

In the bar. 

    

That person was leaning back lazily on the sofa. Embracing an escort girl with his right hand and holding a wine glass in his left hand, he waved at him. “Long time no see, Yichen! Come, have a drink!” The lights were psychedelic and dim, adding a touch of coquettishness to that face.

    

“Leave.” He looked at the woman coldly.

    

The escort girl hurriedly got up, but was pulled back into the man’s arms. “It’s really interesting. You are not busy enough managing a business as big as the Chu family’s, so you want to take care of me now?”

    

“Chu Yunhan, how long do you want to let yourself go like this?”

    

“What’s the matter? Do you think I undermine the reputation of the Chu family, or is Second Young Master Chu looking down on me?” Chu Yunhan raised his chin and sneered. “You haven’t formally taken over as the Patriarch yet, are you here to seize the power immediately by taking a stab at me?”

    

“Go home with me.” 

    

The man laughed, looked at him and said, “My dad is dead, and my mom is in a nursing home. Tell me, where is ‘home’ ?”

    

He was silent for a moment, before saying, “You still have me.”

    

“Ha!” Chu Yunhan laughed as if he had heard a good joke, and looked at him sideways, “Chu Yichen, who do you think you are?”

    

He turned around and left. The bodyguards stepped forward and dragged the cursing young man into the car.

    ……

“Eldest Young Master injured the bodyguard and ran away. Do you want to have someone bring him back?” Hei Yu reported.

    

He turned his gaze from the book in his hand to the window, remained silent for a while, and said, “Let him go.” After a while, he added, “Send two people to follow and protect him.”

    

“Yes.” Hei Yu seemed to want to add something, but hesitated.

    

“What is it?” 

    

“Eldest Young Master’s temperament has changed a lot, and he is acting more and more out of line. I am worried…”

    

“That’s just his way of banishing himself. Let him be.”

    

“Yes.”

    ……

Later. 

    

“Yichen… I was caught by them… Please, help me…” Chu Yunhan’s voice trembled, just like the previous time, helpless and anxious.

    

“If you want to exchange his life for yours, come to the warehouse by the sea alone.” Hui Lang’s voice was fierce and harsh.

    

“I will do it, provided you don’t hurt him.” He hung up the phone, turned and walked to the door.

  

“Young Master!” Bai Xiao stopped him, “You can’t go! How could Hui Lang catch Eldest Young Master unnoticed under our heavy guard? This is simply a trap. Have you ever thought that Eldest Young Master might …”

    

He looked up calmly.

Seeing his expression, Bai Xiao said dumbfounded, “Young Master, are you…”

    

“Even if there is a 99% chance that he and Hui Lang are colliding into tricking me, as long as there is a 1% chance that he is in danger, I will go.”

    ……

Hui Lang grinned and told him that Chu Yunhan lied to him. He fell to the ground covered in blood, and the only thought before closing his eyes was, 

Fortunately, that person is safe.

    

Fortunately… 

    ……

Chu Yichen opened his eyes.

    

The room was quiet.

    

The person standing by the window heard the movement, turned around, looked at him, and asked, “Awake?”

“……Father.”

Translator: Taalia