Futile Devices Scans

After climbing down from the ladder, Ke Bu bit the last ice from the ice-pop stick and threw it into the trash. When he went upstairs with Ying Xiu Jie, they found Gong Zhu, Chu Hao Yu, and the others pressed against the door of a room. Ke Bu remembered that this was the room Zhi Zuo Si used for handling business. Gong Zhu noticed them and placed an index finger against his lips, signaling them to stay quiet. Ke Bu more or less guessed what was happening and quietly walked over to press his ear against the door too.

Zhi Zuo Si was on the phone with his company secretary, giving instructions about work. He heard movement behind him but didn’t turn around. The call was extremely long—at least, it was for Su You Yan. More than ten minutes later, Zhi Zuo Si ended the call. He turned around, leaned back against the bookshelf, and asked nothing.

“I mean if. If Lan Yin didn’t exist, if you weren’t married, would there have been a possibility between us?”

“The hypothetical situation itself doesn’t exist. How am I supposed to answer it?” Zhi Zuo Si spun the phone between his fingers. He showed absolutely no reaction to Su You Yan’s feelings. That kind of response was the cruelest of all, as though Su You Yan were simply one of the many women he had rejected. Even his rejection of her couldn’t make her special. But then, the person she had chosen was Zhi Zuo Si. During all those years he and Lan Yin were divorced, and even after they remarried, neither of them clung to the other. Some of the people who pursued him didn’t even know Lan Yin existed.

But Su You Yan apparently didn’t think it was cruel enough. She needed something even more merciless to help her give up and forget.

“Have you never been attracted to a younger, gentler woman? When you look at me, what do you feel?”

Someone pressed down on Ke Bu’s head. Ke Bu tried to move away, then looked up and discovered Lan Yin. She had pressed her own ear against the door too. Rather than worried, she looked curious. She gave Ke Bu a look signaling him not to make any noise.

Zhi Zuo Si tossed his phone onto the desk and pulled out the office chair to sit. “A woman? I’ve only ever met one.” Zhi Li had once said that Zhi Zuo Si had never been attracted to any woman other than Lan Yin. Perhaps that statement had been slightly wrong. It would be more accurate to say that Zhi Zuo Si had never regarded anyone other than Lan Yin as a woman.

Ke Bu suddenly discovered another trait shared by that family. They all chose the person they would love for a lifetime. Every one of them was devoted.

“My name is Su You Yan. Please don’t categorize me only as Zhi Li’s friend. At the very least, please remember my name. Sorry for disturbing you.” She carried herself far too freely, so freely that Ke Bu’s heart ached for her. When she opened the door, she walked straight out. Everyone else shoved Ke Bu, telling him to follow her. Lan Yin lit a cigarette and lazily leaned against the doorway. “You knew I was eavesdropping and deliberately said that, didn’t you? A little girl likes you, so you were secretly trying to show off to me.” Zhi Zuo Si ignored Lan Yin and opened his laptop. Lan Yin walked inside and closed the door. She pushed the computer aside and sat on the desk, planting her right foot in the space between Zhi Zuo Si’s legs while resting an elbow on her knee. “Your taste really is terrible. Why did you have to fall for a woman like me?”

Zhi Zuo Si’s index finger slowly traced upward along Lan Yin’s seductive calf. “After all these years, you’re still asking such a stupid question.” Suddenly, he grabbed her leg and pulled. Lan Yin landed directly on his lap, resting her chin on his shoulder. “That’s because after all these years, you still refuse to properly say you love me.”

“Want to hear it?”

“Don’t want to say it?”

“If you want to hear it, beg me.”

“Dream on.”

Zhi Zuo Si pulled the computer back in front of himself. Lan Yin extinguished her cigarette in the ashtray. “I suppose I should let you work.” She started to stand, but Zhi Zuo Si caught her around the waist.

“Stay like this.”

Ke Bu found Su You Yan on the second-floor terrace. Zhi Li was already there. Su You Yan had her back to Ke Bu, so he couldn’t tell what expression she was wearing.

“You Yan, um…” Ke Bu was a man, and he truly had no idea how to comfort a woman. Su You Yan turned around. “What?”

“Nothing. I thought you…”

“Thought I was crying?”

“I didn’t think it would go that far.”

Su You Yan stretched. “Finally, it’s over. Saying it aloud felt better than I expected.” Ke Bu wondered whether her happiness was genuine or something she was pretending. Since he had no idea how to comfort anyone, he passed the difficult task to Zhi Li. “Zhi Li, you say something too.” Zhi Li turned his head toward Su You Yan. “Think it over again. Do you want to switch your target to my grandmother?” Ke Bu immediately wanted to throw Zhi Li off the second floor.

“I told you to comfort her!”

“Why would she need comforting after getting rid of a man like that? We should celebrate.” Zhi Li picked up the bottle of red wine Lan Yin had left nearby and handed it over. Su You Yan accepted it, tilted her head back, and took a large drink. Something called a smile finally appeared on her face.

That night, the exhausted group sat around the dining table. Lan Yin’s demands had come one after another. Fortunately, with Zhi Zuo Si around, all of her perverted requests involving Zhi Li had been restricted. Zhi Zuo Si thought the downstairs was too noisy and hadn’t come down. Ke Bu looked around the table. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen Dora all day.

“Did stinky Dora die?” Zhi Xiao Xun asked while drinking juice. Lan Yin cut the meat on her plate with a knife and fork. “Anyone who doesn’t respect her elders has to be locked in the little dark room to reflect. You two should learn from her example.”

“Y-You’re absolutely right.” Dora had probably tried to do something to Lan Yin again. The “little dark room” Lan Yin mentioned was actually a small wooden storage shed beside the villa. Lan Yin sliced the meat on her plate into pieces. “Ke Bu, go let her out.” Ke Bu looked at the table knife in her hand, then at the meat on her plate, and willingly stood. He picked up a flashlight. Although the shed wasn’t far from the villa, once he stepped outside, the surroundings were genuinely eerie.

“Hey, Dora.” Ke Bu shone the flashlight over the wooden door. Strange. It wasn’t locked. He gently pushed it open. The scene inside was even creepier than outside. Dora’s mouth was gagged and her eyes blindfolded. She had been tightly bound and hung upside down. Ke Bu’s psychological endurance was fairly good, but even he nearly died of fright when he saw her, thinking for a moment that someone had hanged themselves. He pointed the flashlight directly at Dora’s face and gloated. “Never thought you’d have a day like this, did you? Call me Brother Ke Bu and I’ll let you down.” Dora only struggled. Ke Bu had merely been joking anyway. He knew she would never say it. Carefully, he lowered Dora and struggled to untie the tightly knotted ropes. His attention was entirely on the knots, and he never noticed the dark figure standing behind him.

The shadow raised the wooden club in its hand and swung it toward the back of Ke Bu’s head.