Rewind a little.
After answering Ke Bu’s call that day, Zhi Li immediately bought a plane ticket and flew overseas in search of the two venerable troublemakers who had vanished the moment their honeymoon began. He needed Lan Yin and Zhi Zuo Si to soften Ke Bu’s parents up before he confronted them himself. He had expected to find them within two days.
Instead, it took him an entire month to track down the pair, who had been roaming from place to place without the slightest plan.
Exhausted, Zhi Li knocked on the door of their hotel room. When Lan Yin finally answered in a bathrobe, clutching a glass of red wine and looking thoroughly out of it, he wanted to shove her head into the toilet.
The instant she saw him, Lan Yin lunged forward and hugged him with enough force to choke a bear unconscious. “Were you worried Big Sis might run away with another man? Don’t worry. Big Sis would never betray you.”
Zhi Li shoved her away and rubbed his aching neck. “Put some clothes on first. Don’t make me look at anything indecent.”
“You’re no fun.” Lan Yin stepped aside to let him enter, then immediately began untying her robe.
Zhi Li grabbed the nearest object and flung it at her. “I didn’t tell you to change in front of me.”
Lan Yin swatted it aside. “Why are you embarrassed? You used to bathe with me all the time when you were little.”
“Don’t bring up traumatic memories. Where is he?”
Lan Yin jerked her chin toward the bedroom. Right then, its door opened and Zhi Zuo Si emerged. He showed no surprise at seeing Zhi Li. His handsome face remained expressionless as he sat on the sofa, picked up his coffee, and unfolded the newspaper.
“What is it?”
“I need both of you to meet Ke Bu’s parents.”
Lan Yin poked her head out of the bathroom, a maliciously delighted smile tugging at her lips. “What happened? Did his parents find out? What a shame I missed it. I would’ve loved to see that idiot Ke Bu looking utterly miserable.”
Zhi Zuo Si took a measured sip of coffee. “I don’t recall you having anything left that I want.”
No one in this family helped anyone for free. When Zhi Zuo Si had agreed to accept Ke Bu, he had already secured the greatest possible reward: Lan Yin would stop singing. Lan Yin, meanwhile, had received one year of kissing privileges.
In other words, as far as they were concerned, Zhi Li had no bargaining chips left.
Lan Yin returned after changing, lit a cigarette, and sat beside him with her arms folded. “Try again next year. Once my kissing privileges expire, I might consider it. Unless you have something better to offer? You could let me hold you while I sleep for a year, like when you were little. I’ve really missed your body.”
Zhi Li looked at her coldly. “Do you believe I can have you sent to a women’s prison before the day is over?”
“Then we have nothing to discuss.”
“I want to speak with both of you privately.” Zhi Li stood and entered the bedroom.
A mocking smile crossed Zhi Zuo Si’s face. He was curious to see what trick Zhi Li still had left. Lan Yin followed, but Zhi Zuo Si stopped her with a glance.
“How many times must I tell you not to bring cigarettes into the bedroom?”
Lan Yin shrugged and winked at him. “What are you going to do? Hit me?”
“I’ll take care of that later.”
Ignoring him, Lan Yin entered. Zhi Li shut the door and leaned against it. She stood before him and exhaled a cloud of smoke.
“Let’s hear it. Don’t disappoint me. If you want me to kill them, it’ll cost you.”
“There’s no need to silence them yet.”
Why? Why did he have to say yet?
Fortunately, Ke Bu was currently wallowing in despair on the other side of the world. Had he heard this conversation, he would probably have coughed up blood and died on the spot.
Zhi Li continued, “The PINs for all of Zhi Zuo Si’s bank accounts and credit cards.”
Lan Yin’s interest was immediately piqued, though her expression did not change. “This must matter a great deal to you. You think that’s enough to buy me?”
Greed was another family trait.
“And the combination to his safe.”
“I already know it.”
“I mean the one hidden behind the toolbox in the garage.”
“Bastard! There’s another one? He never told me!!”
Zhi Li’s voice carried the temptation of a demon. “That’s where he keeps everything he doesn’t want anyone else to see. Interested?”
Lan Yin raised an eyebrow. “You truly are my pride and joy.”
Apparently, the more wicked Zhi Li became, the greater her sense of achievement.
Zhi Li left her in the bedroom to pack and walked back into the sitting room. He stopped in front of Zhi Zuo Si, who continued reading without so much as glancing up.
“When you deliberately let me discover the two of you so early, then went to such lengths to secure my approval, you were already preparing for this, weren’t you?” Zhi Zuo Si calmly laid bare his scheme.
Zhi Li merely shrugged.
Zhi Zuo Si snorted. “Name your price. Give me something worth accepting.”
“I’ll make Lan Yin quit smoking within two years.”
“Deal.”
He agreed without hesitation. For Zhi Zuo Si, it was an exceptionally profitable exchange.
All three obtained what they wanted. An agreement was reached.
Zhi Li stayed only a short while. He had no desire to linger; both his body and mind were tethered to a certain person on the other side of the world.
He had to go back.
He needed to go back immediately.
The longing inside him burned hotter by the second. Whether Ke Bu had already chosen or remained trapped in indecision no longer mattered. Zhi Li wanted to seize him, drag him into his arms, and hold him until there was no space left between them.
At the door, he paused and looked back at Lan Yin and Zhi Zuo Si.
“No hitting them.”
“Tch~~”
Lan Yin’s disappointment was unmistakable.
For one fleeting moment, Wu Qian thought the two people standing outside her door were angels from another world. She was only half wrong.
They had indeed come from another world.
Unfortunately, it was hell.
Lan Yin tossed away her cigarette butt and glanced at Wu Qian’s red, swollen eyes. Turning toward Zhi Zuo Si, she said, “I told you not to use that story about him breaking his neck. You should’ve said he caught syphilis.”
“Same difference.”
They walked around the stunned Wu Qian and entered the house. Zhi Zuo Si leaned against the living room table and loosened his tie. Lan Yin pulled out a chair beside him, crossed her long legs, and surveyed the room, one stiletto-clad foot swaying idly.
Ke Qin stared at the two uninvited guests. “May I ask who you are?”
“Us?” Lan Yin replied lazily. “We’re Zhi Li’s parents.”
The moment they heard Zhi Li’s name, Ke Qin and Wu Qian’s expressions changed. Neither could immediately make sense of the situation. The pair before them did not behave remotely like parents—and certainly did not look old enough to be parents.
Wu Qian spoke apologetically. “I know why you’ve come. Don’t worry. We’ve already spoken to Ke Bu. The children are still young and don’t understand what they’re doing, so please don’t blame them too harshly. If you could persuade Zhi Li as well, then perhaps this matter—”
“I believe you’ve misunderstood us,” Lan Yin interrupted. “We came for one reason.”
She leaned forward.
“Hand Ke Bu over.”
“Wh-What do you mean?” Wu Qian stared at her.
Zhi Zuo Si placed a credit card on the table. “Name your price.”
One had to wonder—seriously wonder—whether Zhi Li had sent these two to help or to reduce everything to rubble.
Even after Ke Qin understood what they meant, he could scarcely believe what he was seeing. “What kind of parents are you? Not only do you refuse to stop them, but you indulge your son like this? You truly don’t care that he’s with our Ke Bu? They’re still young, but you’re adults. Don’t you understand the consequences? Isn’t it our responsibility as parents to spare our children as many hardships and painful detours as possible? What kind of people do you take us for? We don’t need your money.”
Lan Yin shrugged at his anger. “What a shame. No one else is prepared to offer this much.”
Zhi Zuo Si stared steadily at Ke Qin. “Isn’t that precisely what we’re doing—removing the hardships and suffering from our child’s path?”
Lan Yin rested her elegant fingers on Zhi Zuo Si’s thigh. “Which means the obstacles we need to remove are you.”
“Your thinking is completely unreasonable! Can’t you distinguish right from wrong?”
“No, we genuinely can’t. And because you’re Ke Bu’s parents, we’ve allowed you to shout at us like this and remain alive. Don’t test my patience.”
Wu Qian’s face went pale. She shook her head repeatedly. “You’re nothing but thugs! With parents like you, Zhi Li can’t possibly be any better. That makes it even more impossible for us to agree to Ke Bu being with him!”
Lan Yin turned toward Zhi Zuo Si. “Money isn’t working. Switch tactics.”
Just how many plans had they prepared before coming here?
She said switch tactics as casually as though she were changing television channels!!
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