When the video conference ended, the hour hand had already passed the “11” on the clock and was heading toward “12”.

Sui Yuesheng turned off his computer, stretched his neck, and casually tidied up the snack wrappers scattered on the desk, throwing them all into the trash can.

That day’s work ended relatively early, so after a shower, he could go to bed. He mentally went over his work schedule and planned his evening.

Just then, his phone, left on the desk, cheerfully started ringing. He glanced at it, seeing the bright characters “Jiang Jingyun” on the caller ID.

He put on his Bluetooth headset and pressed the answer button. “Hello?”

“Am I interrupting your rest?” Jiang Jingyun’s voice had a hint of a smile.

“No, just finished a meeting.” Sui Yuesheng rubbed his sore temples with one hand, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes to rest. “Why are you still up so late, Ge?”

“A public servant can’t clock out before midnight,” Jiang Jingyun chuckled, then got straight to the point. “I finished the task.”

“Hmm?”

Jiang Jingyun clarified, “I had my secretary create new identities for that mother and son. He just called me back, saying they are already on a plane and the school on the other side is arranged.”

The mother and son, having filed a lawsuit against the shipping company, attracted significant social attention, which inevitably exposed them to the Red Gang again.

After this incident, the Red Gang, realizing they were not as controllable as imagined, would prefer to eliminate them to avoid further entanglement.

Sui Yuesheng had been worried they might be killed because of this matter and had promised to give them a new life once it was over. Now, thanks to Jiang Jingyun, they had new identities and were sent abroad, far from the Red Gang’s reach.

A weight lifted off Sui Yuesheng’s shoulders, and he quickly said, “Thank you, Ge. I’ll treat you to dinner in a few days if there’s a chance.”

“No need to rush. Saving lives is paramount. Even if you hadn’t asked, I would have helped if I could,” Jiang Jingyun replied, a bit helpless. “As for the case… It’s mutually beneficial. I help you with the shipping company, and my public support skyrockets. Besides, that ‘legislator’s mailbox’ was your idea in the first place.”

“After all these years, you finally asked me for a favor. I thought it was time to repay my debt, but now it seems the debt is snowballing, getting bigger and bigger,” Jiang Jingyun joked.

Sui Yuesheng laughed along with him, and after a few more exchanges, he suddenly became serious. “But there’s something else I need your help with.”

His tone was grave, and Jiang Jingyun straightened up in his office chair, his voice deepening. “Go ahead.”

“Now that this matter is settled, it’s time to address the other issue.” Although Sui Yuesheng didn’t explicitly state it, both of them knew exactly what he was referring to. “After Tao Fengche called me a few days ago, my people reported…”

He narrowed his eyes, his gaze cold under his long eyelashes. “Some people are finally starting to show themselves.”

“So soon?” Jiang Jingyun was taken aback, then quickly realized, “Do you have suspects?”

“Roughly, but it’s not certain yet.” Sui Yuesheng lowered his eyes and slowly rotated the jade ring on his right thumb. Under the light, the ring appeared particularly translucent.

Before his car accident, Tao Zhixing had already had a suspect and was ready to act. On the day of May 24th, he had preemptively removed the ring, handed it and his will to Lawyer Li, and went to the notary office. After that, he informed Sui Yuesheng before visiting the cemetery, saying that if anything happened to him, Sui Yuesheng should return to Jingpu and take over the Tao family.

Tao Zhixing’s meticulous plan was just a step too late.

He died before he could name the suspect, leaving Sui Yuesheng facing a fog of confusion upon his return.

Fortunately, after more than a month, the fog was beginning to clear.

Could it be that person? Sui Yuesheng thought as he turned the ring again.

···

At eleven-thirty, Tao Fengche finished his day of studying and exercising. While packing his bag after washing up, he suddenly remembered something.

When Sui Yuesheng came to check his homework earlier, although he hadn’t finished all of it, the items needing signatures were prepared in advance. But now he realized he had missed a notice.

The next day was the June monthly exam. To prevent cheating, the school issued an exam notice before each test, requiring a parent’s signature.

Although Tao Fengche considered this a useless formality, his basketball teammates found it helpful, making them cautious when preparing cheat sheets, fearing their parents’ discovery.

When Sui Yuesheng checked his homework earlier, Tao Fengche forgot to have him sign it.

Sui Yuesheng was busy with work, and even though they lived in the same house, they might not see each other in the morning. After some thought, Tao Fengche decided to take the notice and a pen to the study to find him.

But when he opened the study door, it was empty.

Where did he go?

Tao Fengche was a bit bewildered. He followed the stairs back to the second floor but suddenly heard some faint noise coming from the guest room—that had been Sui Yuesheng’s room ever since he came to the Tao family ten years ago.

Had he finished his work and returned to his room?

Tao Fengche mustered up the courage to knock on the door, but no one answered even after a long wait.

If he waited any longer, Sui Yuesheng would have fallen asleep… Based on what Tao Fengche knew about him, he slept very actively after finishing his work, and once woken up, he had a terrible temper.

When Tao Fengche was a child, he didn’t understand and often ran to wake up Sui Yuesheng in the morning, asking him to get up and have breakfast together before going to class, often getting a pillow thrown at him by a scowling Sui Yuesheng.

After hesitating for a while, Tao Fengche finally gathered his courage and pushed the door open.

The guest room was, after all, a guest room, different from the one Tao Fengche lived in; it didn’t have a study. Opening the door led directly to the bedroom, with the wardrobe and bathroom next to it.

At this moment, the bedroom was empty, just like the study on the third floor, with only the bathroom door tightly closed and the sound of running water coming from inside.

—Sui Yuesheng was taking a shower.

Tao Fengche stood there, his face turning red like a hot iron rod, feeling awkward as if he had discovered some secret. He instinctively wanted to leave but then thought, after all, his brother was his brother. Ten years ago, they had shared a bed more than once. Now, there was no need to be so flustered just because he was taking a shower behind a closed door.

Relax, relax… Being too nervous would make it seem suspicious. So what if his brother was taking a shower? It wasn’t like he was showering with the door open! Tao Fengche kept reassuring himself.

After a while, his heartbeat finally calmed down, his face cooled down, and he tightly held the notice and pen in his hand, curiously and anxiously looking around the room.

During the time Sui Yuesheng had been missing, Tao Fengche couldn’t find him anywhere. He asked Xu Song and Tao Zhixing but didn’t get a clear answer, so he started running to Sui Yuesheng’s room from time to time.

It was as if Sui Yuesheng would suddenly appear one day, lounging on the bed reading a book as usual, and when he came in, he would smile and say, “Xiao Che.”

The room’s general layout was still the same as it was ten years ago. However, since Sui Yuesheng moved back in, the once empty room now felt more lively.

Although Sui Yuesheng’s pheromones had completely disappeared, Tao Fengche always felt that the room was filled with his brother’s scent.

He suddenly missed that sudden burst of lychee fragrance, sweet and dripping, marked with Sui Yuesheng’s name, his unique scent.

Even though Tao Fengche had only smelled it once, it lingered in his dreams…

Had Jiang Jingyun smelled it too?

This thought suddenly came to him, followed by a surge of bitterness in his heart, like eating a big lemon with the peel, sour and bitter, making his features scrunch up.

No, don’t overthink it. He told himself this and turned his gaze back to the room he knew so well.

Wait. Tao Fengche keenly noticed something unusual.

There seemed to be some new things on the bedside table. He couldn’t help but want to figure it out, so he tiptoed over to take a look. He found a few medicine bottles and a wooden photo frame turned face down.

He carefully set the photo frame upright. The photo inside seemed old, the edges slightly yellowed. The picture showed an unfamiliar old lady with gray hair and a kind expression.

Her features were somewhat similar to Sui Yuesheng’s, but her blue eyes were darker, like a deep lake.

And she didn’t look well.

Probably Sui Yuesheng’s grandmother?

Tao Fengche guessed and turned his attention to the medicine bottles.

They were in opaque packages, so he couldn’t see inside. The closest one had some unfamiliar English words on it, with the bolded line probably being the name?

Tao Fengche was quite curious. He was about to take out his phone to look up what it said when a voice suddenly came from behind him.

“What are you doing in here?”

Tao Fengche turned around hurriedly. Sui Yuesheng’s hair was still wet, and he was wrapped in a white bathrobe. His exposed calves were pale and slender, with prominent ankle bones that looked like they could be grasped in one hand.

He had just finished showering, his body still steaming, and he stared at Tao Fengche with a deep frown.

Only then did Tao Fengche realize that the sound of water had stopped for quite a while.