21. Trial

When Shen Cizhu came out of the research institute, he found that his own car had been replaced, and in its place was a Maybach.

This was Xie Yan’s car.

Xie Yan got out of the car; his face looked very bad, veins popping on his neck. He clenched his fists, shoulders trembling with a restrained anger.

“My brother can’t do such a thing!” Xie Yan strode forward, stopping in front of Shen Cizhu, breaking the usual distance etiquette. “Paternity test… you made him fake it… that’s illegal!”

“Shen Cizhu! You can’t harm my brother…” His hand pressed on Shen Cizhu’s shoulder.

“Let go of me!” Shen Cizhu suddenly glared at him.

“He can’t commit a crime.” Xie Yan let go of his hand, his eyes filled with patience.

The research institute stood in the city center, surrounded by numerous towering buildings, and the solar outer walls became more dazzling in the sunlight. Shen Cizhu shifted his gaze away, feeling a physiological stinging sensation in his eyes.

“This won’t affect anyone.” Shen Cizhu’s eyes flickered coldly, icy and heartless. “I didn’t make him fake it, Xie Yan. I won’t cross that line.”

“But he’s my brother!” Xie Yan widened his eyes.

“It’s none of my concern.”

Shen Cizhu’s shoulder bumped against Xie Yan, pushing him aside. He got into the car, sat in the back seat, loosened his suit and tie, closed his eyes.

His fair clavicle was deep and slender, buried into the shirt with a beautiful curve that bespoke a life of ease. His neck was as long as a swan’s, and when he slightly tilted it, the Adam’s apple would move clearly up and down.

The Maybach moved slowly, closing the one-way car window.

“That day, you asked me to come back from the United States, saying it was for dinner with my brother. I didn’t have time to fully extract the bullet from my chest before boarding the plane back home. Under the pressure at high altitude, my wound will never heal, but I didn’t tell you because you personally came to pick me up at the airport, and I was very happy,” Xie Yan said in a low voice.

Xie Yan gripped the steering wheel. “Just keep using me; don’t involve Xie Hou, okay?”

“Zhu Zhu, can you not harm my brother?… He’s my only relative. Don’t push him into becoming a murderer, please?” Xie Yan pleaded in agony.

A murderer?

Who told you that?

Shen Cizhu met Xie Yan’s gaze in the rearview mirror for a brief moment.

“He was already the son of a murderer; I didn’t force him.” Shen Cizhu crossed his legs, his ankles bound by a thin, almost transparent thread. The fingertips covered in black leather gloves tightened on his thigh.

“Xie Yan, I was never a good person. I enjoy using others. Besides, it’s just a paternity test. If you can’t do it, then I’ll find someone else, whether he’s your brother or not.” Shen Cizhu pressed with his hand, and his green eyes glowed with cold brilliance in the rearview mirror.

Xie Yan’s hand froze, wanting to turn back, but feeling like all his nerves were frozen, and he couldn’t react to anything.

—Bang!

The Maybach suddenly went out of control, slamming into a utility pole on the roadside, making a crackling sound of electricity.

Xie Yan’s chest heaved violently as he coughed, and his eyes were filled with bloodshot.

Fortunately, there were no other vehicles on this road. Xie Yan intentionally drove the car into an alley, where it was pitch-black, devoid of light and surveillance.

Shen Cizhu’s cheek was scratched, his skin congested, turning a deep red. He looked like a captivating demon in the snowy white.

“Xie Yan, are you fucking crazy!” Shen Cizhu grabbed the emergency seatbelt, kicked the car door open, walked directly to the front, pulled open the door where Xie Yan was, and punched him hard in the face.

Blood instantly flowed from the corner of Xie Yan’s lips, and his brain buzzed, almost suffocating.

He carefully held Shen Cizhu’s hand, which was trembling with anger. His cheek rubbed against the wrist bone of Shen Cizhu, and through the cold gloves, it sought the warmth of entwining.

“You can’t be so cruel… You can’t treat people as tools for your climb, Shen Cizhu, what do you take me for?” Xie Yan lowered his eyes, concealing all emotions.

Shen Cizhu wiped the blood off his face. His expression was extremely dark, lips both crimson and cruel.

He was about to pull his hand away when he suddenly heard the man sobbing—a very restrained, as if years of accumulated suppression were now released.

Xie Yan was crying.

But he was already thirty years old.

It was the first time Shen Cizhu had seen Xie Yan cry. He cried heartbreakingly, with a subtle, almost suffocating shade of purple, a sign of respiratory alkalosis.

Xie Yan had been the wolf raised by the Shen family for ten years. His ruthlessness and anger were left for outsiders. People said he was a well-raised dog of the Shen family, a fortunate dog that could even seduce the eldest young master of the Shen family to bed.

But Xie Yan was too kind, and this kindness seemed indecisive, making Shen Cizhu feel uneasy.

Xie Yan’s tears kept falling, wetting the cuffs of Shen Cizhu. “In the end, have you ever loved me?”

“Why should I love you?” Shen Cizhu looked down from a high position, ruthlessly and impatiently withdrawing his hand. The side of the glove that had just been soaked by Xie Yan’s tears adhered to his palm.

Shen Cizhu took off the gloves and discarded them.

“Don’t provoke me again. Whoever told you that I want to do something to Xie Hou, Xie Yan, don’t provoke me, and don’t stop everything I do.”

“Moreover—” Shen Cizhu didn’t know what expression he had right now.

“What’s wrong with being a murderer? He was already one! Xie Yan, why do you have the right to accuse me? Wasn’t your father also killed? Have you forgiven that? Clearly, you haven’t—then don’t interfere with me.”

“I don’t care about you. I don’t love you. I just need to get what I want. My mother… he killed her. After it’s all over, I’ll take responsibility for everything myself. Before that, I can’t let him live peacefully.” Shen Cizhu pinched Xie Yan’s neck.

Shen Cizhu didn’t know what expression he had right now.

But Xie Yan clearly saw the slight trembling of Shen Cizhu’s lip, and the fine eyebrows were folded in a fragile posture.

Shen Cizhu wasn’t in anger; he was in sorrow.

After taking out a document from the car, Shen Cizhu left the alley without looking back.

Xie Yan’s hand hung weakly, and his soul felt like it wanted to be pulled away. He murmured softly, “But I want you to live well.”

The vice director of the Shen Group was a man in his fifties, and men of this age were very knowledgeable about the ways of the world. Although they had heard rumors about Shen Cizhu’s mother’s affair, they weren’t entirely sure that Shen Cizhu was not the biological son of Mr. Shen. So, they bribed an organization to falsify the results.

But no matter how they calculated and supervised everything from the paternity testing institution, they still didn’t account for the existence of a mole.

Someone informed Shen Cizhu in advance. Not only that, Shen Cizhu also took away the paternity test.

To whom did he show it? Naturally, it was clear at a glance.

However, it was a falsified paternity test. Why did Shen Cizhu take it away?

After returning to the Shen residence, Shen Cizhu dismissed everyone and went to his father’s study.

He placed the paternity test, manipulated by Xie Yan, on the table.

His father casually flipped through a page, and it naturally showed a close to 99% blood relationship, confirming them as father and son.

Shen Cizhu’s father also acted as expected. He tore up the paternity test and threw it into the paper shredder.

This paternity test is like a harsh slap in the face for the Shen family!

“They’ve grown old too.” Father’s voice was somewhat hoarse. After a while, he chuckled and said, “When old, they forget who the servant is. Whether you are my blood or not, I know in my heart. It’s not something outsiders can meddle in.”

If Shen Cizhu wasn’t his own blood, why would he keep Shen Cizhu and raise him in the manner of an heir?

Who is doubting this blood relationship?

Who deliberately bought a genetic testing research institute in an attempt to falsify it?

If Shen Cizhu is not his biological son, who would benefit the most from it?

The board of directors.

Father and son both knew it well.

“Father, the Shen family no longer needs them, right?” Shen Cizhu sat on the sofa, his serpent-like eyes showing a hint of satisfaction, the corners of his eyes lifted, smiling. “I dislike people suspecting my relationship with you.”

He deliberately didn’t mention how he got hold of this paternity test because keeping silent would make his father trust him more.

“That batch of goods at the harbor,” Father pointed and tapped his forehead.

“Burn them. Leave them not a single penny,” Father said calmly.

Shen Cizhu looked at his father. He knew that this order was not over yet.

“Also, the research institute they acquired, from now on, it belongs to you, including that child named Xie Hou.”

Father was a selfish businessman. He wanted money and power, so he kept an eye on Shen Cizhu—

“Cizhu, do your best to keep Xie Hou. He can bring new wealth to the Shen family, right? It’s time for us to bring in new talent.”

Shen Cizhu’s five fingers tightened slightly. His face was always pale and beautiful. When facing his father, it became even more gentle and docile, like a domesticated cat. His eyelashes hung down dark and thick, making it impossible to see the gleam in his pupils.

“I understand,” he respectfully replied to his father.

Ah.

F*ck your mother.

Shen Cizhu was extremely impatient.

He left the study, pressed against the wall, covering his chest. His heartbeat was making him irritable.

Everything about the Shen family disgusted him. This kind of family couldn’t raise a normal and happy child.

If it were before, Xie Yan, standing outside his father’s study at this moment, would crouch down, patiently and with concern, watching Shen Cizhu. He would unconditionally tolerate all the bad things about Shen Cizhu.

Xie Yan would take care of him, accompany him, but Xie Yan was no longer there.

After ten years of habit, Shen Cizhu felt a bit uncomfortable after Xie Yan left.

He was just not used to having no one attending to him.

He thought.

Who exactly told Xie Yan about all this?

Who could benefit from this argument?

… Too many people.

Rotterdam Port, Netherlands

This place could handle 160,000 ships in a year, so every late night, the Rhine River, bordering the port like a voracious beast, would devour the yet-to-be-released batch of modern high-tech products, the most expensive, precious, and mysterious ones in Europe.

Cold mechanical arms lifted boxes of goods from the deck, sensors monitored the ships and transmitted data to computers for artificial intelligence analysis. Real-time tracking and scheduling were conducted in all directions to ensure that the unloading points of the cargo perfectly matched expectations.

This automated loading and unloading system was produced by a technology company under the Shen Group. After being put into use in overseas ports, Xie Yan, as a representative of the group, came to negotiate.

The current head of the Shen family had high expectations for Xie Yan, so Xie Yan, who started as a bodyguard for the heir and now served as an assistant to the head of the Shen Group, came to represent the group.

After gaining some power, he enjoyed a brief period of prosperity, causing a sensation in the business circle around Beijing, as Xie Yan was still an outsider.

The head of the Shen family did not delegate power to the board of directors but gave it to Xie Yan.

Wasn’t this clearly an attempt to kick out the board of directors!

The port handover was considered a vital source of income for the Shen family. Previously, the board of directors was responsible for this, and the Shen family’s goods also passed through this port. Tonight, this batch of goods was a collaborative product between the board of directors and a foreign company and had not yet entered the market.

Xie Yan came here on the orders of the head of the Shen family. What to do if the Shen family didn’t want this batch of goods?

Destroy it, burn it all, leave nothing.

The board of directors would be responsible for the losses. This was a warning.

After destroying this batch of goods, Xie Yan went to the conference room to hand over the task to the port manager.

The conference room was filled with swirling smoke, and the sound of toasts and discussions lingered in the air.

After everyone left, Xie Yan swallowed the medicine his subordinates had prepared for him to treat lung cancer. However, his face did not improve; instead, he continued to cough violently, and blood gushed out from his throat.

Standing at a towering height of 1.94 meters, he possessed one of the top physiques among Asians. However, lung cancer made him appear pale, sickly, and weak.

The bullet fragment from a few days ago was not completely removed from his chest. On that day, he hurriedly returned to the country to have dinner with Shen Cizhu and his younger brother.

That dinner led to a collaboration between Shen Cizhu and his brother.

Whether it was altering paternity test data or any other task, Xie Hou worked for him. Xie Hou was too clever, making him seemingly omnipotent.

Xie Yan was now completely useless and discarded.

With each cough, the wound reopened, and blood spread across his male body, enveloped in a pitch-black suit as dark as the night.

When Shen Cizhu received the news of Xie Yan’s critical condition in the country, he was somewhat surprised.

Xie Yan could get sick too?

In his memory, Xie Yan had never been sick.

Shen Cizhu’s first reaction was not anxiety or sadness; he was just curious. He wanted to see what this man who had sheltered him for ten years and seemed invincible in his childhood looked like on the verge of death.

After urgent treatment abroad, Xie Yan returned to the country for recuperation. On the day Shen Cizhu went to see him, it was raining. The dark umbrella surface made a tapping sound, which Shen Cizhu enjoyed listening to.

The Shen family’s private hospital was in a remote suburban area, and raindrops continued to fall outside the window, creating an indistinct sound on the leaves.

Through the window, with his hand touching the damp and cold glass, Shen Cizhu saw Xie Yan lying on the hospital bed. His eyes were closed, and an intravenous tube was delivering medication to his hand. The ECG line on the monitor on one side remained flat, as if he were on the brink of death.

“Is he going to die?” Shen Cizhu asked the doctor.

“Mr. Xie is temporarily out of immediate danger, but it’s late-stage lung cancer…” The doctor hesitated.

Shen Cizhu’s voice was soft, “I didn’t know he had lung cancer. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Shen Cizhu’s tone carried a hint of being wronged, as if friends had left him behind to play a game and forgotten him in the original place.

“Do you doctors think that if Xie Yan dies, I will cry?”

The distinguished beauty furrowed his brows, his eyelashes low, and the wet red area near the eye’s end was concealed by long and deep lashes.

“Mr. Shen, this is Mr. Xie’s intention. As medical professionals, we only adhere to—”

“You can leave.” Just when the doctors were at a loss, Shen Cizhu withdrew his gaze, standing there for a long time.

In truth, Shen Cizhu didn’t understand why he had such patience. It wouldn’t bring him any benefits.

He had never been a good person; everything he did was for himself. The image of a compassionate and benevolent person in the eyes of others was just a facade. His exterior always seemed gentle and beautiful, but inside, he was full of venom.

A child raised in a world of deceit couldn’t have a pure mind. Xie Yan was much more naive than him.

Xie Yan was only thirty years old, yet there were already lines at the corners of his eyes. Shen Cizhu tilted his head, seemingly puzzled.

Could this man who had protected him growing up get sick and age?

Would he die too?

Xie Yan would die…

Shen Cizhu pressed his hand tightly against the glass, casting a shadow.

When Xie Yan woke up, he found Shen Cizhu sitting by his bedside. He tried to speak, but his throat felt hoarse and painful.

“At the age of fifteen, my father arranged an eye surgery for me. I temporarily lost my sight, and my mother felt I needed someone to take care of me. But I dislike having a personal bodyguard; being watched all the time makes me sick.” Shen Cizhu sat at the edge of the sickbed, facing away from Xie Yan, who had just removed the ventilator.

“Xie Yan, do you know why I chose you? Because you are the most mediocre. Choosing you would embarrass my father, and that would make me very happy.”

“I…” Xie Yan’s eyes couldn’t focus yet; he struggled to see Shen Cizhu clearly. He strained to listen to each word Shen Cizhu spoke, wanting to say something but unable to find the words.

Unbeknownst to Xie Yan, while Shen Cizhu was speaking ill of him, he was also cutting an apple. Shen Cizhu, seemingly inexperienced in such tasks, wasn’t wearing black leather gloves. His snow-white, delicate hands gripped a vividly red apple. Even with safety measures, the sharp knife left marks on his hand. Multiple lines of blood oozed from the cuts.

He imitated the way Xie Yan used to peel apples for him at home, but he still couldn’t do it properly. The apple skin couldn’t form a neat and unbroken line.

He sliced the apple, picked up the most intact piece with the tip of the knife, then turned sideways. His long hair cascaded like water, covering his beautiful cheeks.

He inserted the apple into Xie Yan’s lips. It was a small piece, and Xie Yan gently bit and swallowed it.

The apple was somewhat bitter, with a medicinal taste. Xie Yan slowly raised his head, looking at Shen Cizhu, and his pupils contracted slightly.

“You used to do this to me often.” Shen Cizhu’s fingers touched Xie Yan’s neck, then caressed the man’s handsome face, from the eyebrows to the chin.

“I don’t like taking medicine, so you hid it in candies. I always thought candies were bitter, so I hated eating them.” Shen Cizhu’s lips trembled, and a red mole on his cheek resembled a drop of blood on fresh snow.

“I’m sorry…” Xie Yan hoarsely apologized.

“You’ll always be sorry, Xie Yan. You’ll only be sorry. Even if you’re dying, you’ll still say sorry.” Shen Cizhu leaned down, his cheek gently pressed against Xie Yan’s chest, his fingers slightly bent.

“Xie Yan, for the past ten years, only you have been with me… Will you leave me too? After breaking up, can’t we be together? My mother is gone, and now you want to leave me too.”

They broke up.

It doesn’t matter.

When Shen Cizhu learned from the doctor that Xie Yan had terminal cancer, he felt unexpectedly uneasy.

Why did he get cancer? When did it happen? Was it in the year after their breakup, or even earlier?

Why didn’t he know?

Xie Yan would leave him… Would there never be anyone as good to him as Xie Yan again?

Shen Cizhu still had the scent of the apple on his hands, with juice sticking to his fingertips. He placed his fingertips on Xie Yan’s nose, slowly moving upward to his forehead.

He lowered his eyes, gazing from Xie Yan’s well-defined eyebrows to the warm skin below his eyes.

After a long silence, Shen Cizhu turned his face, and the deep mixed-race nose gleamed in the light rain outside.

“I’m sorry for our argument that day,” he said.

Upon hearing this, Xie Yan’s lips struggled to move, and he spoke in a soft voice, “I’m not angry…”

Shen Cizhu tightened his hands, feeling a bit choked up. At this moment, he seemed like the person he was when he met Xie Yan ten years ago. He was still a child, still hated parting, and naively believed that apologizing would make the person he hurt reluctant to leave.

“I won’t hurt him, I promise,” Shen Cizhu said with tears like pearls falling on his beautiful and slender chin. “I was just too upset at that time. I said things out of anger.”

After a while, he turned his face. His melanin level was low, so his skin easily reddened with slight stimulation. Now, there was a faint pink ring around his eyes, and the long eyelashes at the corners of his eyes were wet with tears.

“Xie Yan, are you really not going to die?”

“I won’t argue with you anymore. Can you please not die?”

Xie Yan raised his hand, a pair of rough and weathered hands covering Shen Cizhu’s pampered and milky white hands.

In a hoarse voice, Xie Yan said, “I’ve always been sorry. One year ago, when we broke up, it’s not that I didn’t love you. I just… didn’t know how to repay your father. It’s my fault; I hurt your feelings. But I’ll never betray you.”

“A few days ago, I went to Rotterdam. Every household there had bouquets outside their windows. You love flowers, don’t you?” Xie Yan’s fingertips gently stroked Shen Cizhu’s fingers.

When Shen Cizhu was a child and afraid to sleep, he would cry, and his nose would turn red, like a beautiful doll with makeup on. Xie Yan would gently pat his fingertips with this doll to soothe him to sleep.

“I promise you, once I recover, I’ll take you there. I’ll plant your favorite apple blossoms outside the window. Whenever you open your eyes, I’ll be by your side.” Xie Yan whispered, “I will love you forever.”

“Apple blossoms are ugly.”

“But I know you like them.”

You see, even if they quarrel because of someone’s secret manipulation, there will still be someone willing to back down.

A faint red light flickered in the indoor corner, fleeting like an eyeball forgotten by God, judging the world.

But it was just a pinhole camera.

“Ah.” In the solitary and dark laboratory, Xie Hou lowered his eyes. His specially treated gloves took off the earphones from his ears, along with shutting down the suspended monitoring screen in front of him.

The red mole on his throat spread a strange, ghostly color with his swallowing, as if an evil eye had opened.

His appearance remained unattainable, as cold and ethereal as a banished immortal. His jet-black hair was untainted by dust, and his fingertips lightly brushed the hair on his forehead, revealing his phoenix eyes covered by the cold goggles.

Quietly, his fingers crushed the listening device.

The sound of electrical currents echoed, tearing apart a blur of unclear voices. It was Shen Cizhu’s voice; Shen Cizhu was talking to his brother, saying something.

Forget it.

Xie Yan’s amber eyes were lifeless and indifferent, within the silent realm enclosed by advanced technological machinery and countless genetic helices. His incisors moved deliberately, and his tongue, with a faint coldness, stirred subtly, almost murmuring, incredibly mocking.

Before it came out of his throat, he seemed to be trying to imitate Shen Cizhu’s tone. Shen Cizhu’s Chinese had a subtle unfamiliarity, slow and deliberate, with a touch of feigned tenderness.

When Xie Yan spoke, there was a kind of childlike innocence, like he was learning to talk. His fingertips tapped on the table like playing a tune.

“I like you.”

“I like you.”

“I will love you forever,” Xie Hou said slowly.

Splash.

The blinds were gradually soaked by the increasingly cold raindrops, making a soft sound as they slowly closed. The room became pitch dark, and Xie Hou’s eyeballs shifted numbly before closing again.

In his memories, Shen Cizhu didn’t have hair as long as it is now. At that time, Shen Cizhu was only eighteen, and he was eleven.

With just one glance, Xie Hou felt that it was better if Shen Cizhu was his.

Such a dazzling person, his brother didn’t deserve to have him.

After all the light and shadow disappeared, it was like the end of an ancient drama. The velvet red curtain was adorned with intricate rose patterns, translucent and elegant. The beautiful lines resembled tattoos, gracefully and indifferently embedded on Xie Hou’s cheek.

This was his most perfect makeup on the stage.

Here felt like a drama, as if a highly skilled actor was delivering perfect lines. It was a solo performance of a youth in the silent rain night, a drama where the curtain had fallen, and the hunter, formally revealed, was now being peered at again.

When Shen Cizhu arrived at the hospital parking lot, he had a wet tissue in his hand, wiping the apple’s juice off.

The parking lot was extremely quiet, and the warmth of the human body temperature light was also distorted. The direction was dimly visible, and Shen Cizhu stopped in his tracks, but the footsteps still echoed softly.

Someone was following him.

Without turning around, Shen Cizhu’s thumb pressed against his index finger’s fingertip. He had received professional combat training, and he could easily deal with ordinary robbers and kidnappers. But this time was different.

Before he could adjust his wrist at any angle, the person behind him took control. In the blink of an eye, before Shen Cizhu could react, his eyes were suddenly covered from behind.

This time, it was a face-to-face position. Shen Cizhu’s back was pressed against the parking lot wall. The person’s breath was cold, and as they leaned down, they seemed to be examining something closely.

“You won’t gain anything by doing this,” Shen Cizhu calmly said. “Why not let me go? I can give you fifty million as a reward, and afterwards, there will be even more.”

“Too little,” the person replied.

Shen Cizhu’s lips were touched by the approaching person. Fingers tightly pressed against his skin, two fingers effortlessly opened his lips.

Shen Cizhu’s snow-white teeth pressed against the person’s knuckles. His tongue moved slightly, as if saying, “F*** your mother.”

The person in front seemed to enjoy being cursed. His laughter was light and cold.

“Curse me again.”

“Curse me again, and I’ll f***ing kill you right here.” His fingertips pressed against Shen Cizhu’s tongue surface, slowly moving inside, reaching the pure white tongue piercing deeply rooted at the base of his tongue, a part unseen by others.

Like half a pearl.

His nose buried in Shen Cizhu’s black hair, sniffing gently, like a young wolf patrolling its territory.

The weakness of this beauty was the deep base of his tongue. At this moment, he couldn’t break free from this sudden restraint.

“Shen Cizhu, Xie Yan isn’t as good as you think.” Xie Hou’s five fingers grasped Shen Cizhu’s wrist. He looked at Shen Cizhu indifferently, phoenix eyes like a deity, cold and clear, yet tinged with a hint of madness.

You’d better choose me.

Aren’t you supposed to choose me?

Why are you going back on your word today?

Why are you looking for my brother?

Didn’t we agree that you would use me?

I can do anything for you.

He withdrew the finger placed in Shen Cizhu’s lips. While Shen Cizhu was still breathing softly, he pinched Shen Cizhu’s chin.

As the beauty frowned slightly, Xie Hou kissed his lips—light, fleeting, like a dragonfly skimming the water.

Splash.

The rain continued to fall unrestrained, shrouding the moon completely. Shen Cizhu’s fingertips trembled slightly. The black bands on his eyes were drawn too tightly. Even though thunder rumbled, and the parking lot was filled with blinding white light, he still couldn’t see who the person in front of him was.

TN:

What about the voice? Can’t he recognize it?