Chapter 39

“How… how is there a puddle of vomit here?”

Bai Wei pointed at the messy stains on the floor.

“Oh, that was left by me…” Lu Sen quickly tried to cover it up.

Bai Wei paced back and forth in the basement and the downstairs bathroom three times, shaking his head forcefully.

“No, it’s clear that someone has lived here. Vomit, bandaged wounds, leftover food bags… these are signs from at least a month and a half ago!” Bai Wei squatted on the floor, nervously inspecting the remnants. Then, his head snapped up, and his dark eyes looked directly at Lu Sen.

Lu Sen: “…”

Bai Wei: “You’re lying… The person you brought back, who did you lock in here?”

— It’s over, the friendly lie has been exposed.

Lu Sen had a headache. He wanted to cover up the fact that someone had broken into their home. A tall, burly stranger hiding in a newlywed couple’s house, what other motive could there be besides intending to kill or rob?

Moreover, he had also sown discord between the couple!

Lu Sen didn’t want Bai Wei to think that Xueshan Town was dangerous. He wanted Bai Wei to believe that Xueshan Town was peaceful, full of good people, and an ideal place for them to develop their relationship in stability. Lu Sen believed that interacting with people was like programming—once it’s running, you just let it go, without changing anything. Their relationship had just gotten on track and was developing steadily, which must be due to the favorable circumstances of Xueshan Town.

For this potential environmental factor, he didn’t want Bai Wei to leave Xueshan Town. But at the same time, he couldn’t refuse Bai Wei’s request.

However, not only had Bai Wei seen through his lie, but his conclusion was also somewhat absurd. Lu Sen realized that he didn’t want Bai Wei to misunderstand him.

The house remained lit throughout the night, with the two of them running around, searching everywhere.

Bai Wei not only found traces of vomit and blood in the basement, but he also found a used first aid kit in the bathroom on the first floor… Everything pointed to the fact that the person had been seriously injured.

He looked at everything before him, his mind calm, but his fingers trembling slightly.

What in their house could have harmed this outsider? Who else but Lu Sen?

And Lu Sen, on the other hand, found a lot of things.

“Darling! I found an ice-pick trap in the grass! This must have been set up by that person to murder us!”

“Darling! There’s a bare electrical wire by the garden faucet!”

“Darling! I found a packet of poison deep in the storage cupboard; this must have been left by that person!”

Sorry, those are all things I left behind. Bai Wei sat in despair on the wicker chair, hearing his murder traps being dismantled one by one.

Lu Sen placed various props into a sack. He turned the modified launcher in his hand, surprised: “I didn’t expect this person to set so many murder traps in such a short time!”

He then turned to Bai Wei and showed him his findings: “Darling, there’s so much evidence here. You must believe me now, right? This person has nothing to do with me, and he even wanted to kill me.”

Bai Wei, looking at his past efforts: …

He glanced coldly at Lu Sen. “This person, wasn’t he locked in the basement by you?”

Lu Sen protested innocently: “Wife, of course not!”

Bai Wei: “Then tell me, what was this person here for?”

Lu Sen tried to pick a word between “killer” and “thug” that wouldn’t frighten his wife too much: “I don’t know.”

Bai Wei: …

During his hospitalization, Lu Sen had not only kept someone in the basement but also hidden a person? What had he done to that person? Rape, imprisonment, beating, murder?

Bai Wei was furious. Had Lu Sen ever considered that such a simple action could easily attract police investigations, making Bai Wei’s plan to kill him fail again? Furthermore, if things were exposed and Lu Sen was caught, Bai Wei would become the laughing stock of all Xueshan Town, or even the whole world!

And could Lu Sen, with his limited education, even understand the common sense of handling a corpse? The stench of a body would attract flies and pedestrians’ attention. The crime would soon be exposed in broad daylight. If Lu Sen hadn’t properly dealt with the body or thoroughly checked the disposal site, their lives would be no different from a suspended sentence.

… On the bright side, perhaps Lu Sen ate the person. Since Lu Sen was a monster, it wouldn’t be too surprising if he ate people. Lu Sen would have consumed all the decaying meat and drank all the blood that emitted a smell.

Bai Wei sat in the chair, holding his forehead with one hand, and this thought made him feel slightly better.

… But would Lu Sen eat bones? If not, where did he spit them out?

Had he processed the skull?

Bai Wei finally looked at Lu Sen. At that moment, his eyes were calm, cold, and almost ferocious, like a bloodthirsty animal revealing its true nature.

“Is he still in this house?”

Lu Sen thought Bai Wei must be afraid.

Poor Bai Wei, frightened by the intruder at home, shedding fur all over the place.

“Darling, I’ve searched everywhere in the house. He’s not here anymore,” Lu Sen tried to pull Bai Wei into his arms. “We’re safe.”

But Bai Wei’s cold, white hand pushed him away.

His eyes were dark and cold, like black ice cubes in a glass of wine at night.

“I mean, any part of him, anywhere in our house. The basement? Underground? Any freezer? The attic? Or your cellar.” Bai Wei said. “Lu Sen, have you dealt with him? Are you sure you took care of him?”

“No… Darling.” Lu Sen was startled. At first, he thought Bai Wei was scared that the killer might be hiding in some unseen corner, and he was moved by Bai Wei’s delicate sensitivity. But Bai Wei’s latter words, like a sharp knife hidden behind layers of delicate white lace, pierced through his palm without warning.

“That should be an intruder or a homeless person who sneaked into our home. He saw me coming and going to take care of you, and took the chance to break in, then escaped. Other than that, I don’t know anything else,” Lu Sen said.

“Then why didn’t you call the police?” Bai Wei’s tone was calm, but it was as sharp as a spear, his eyes like knives, slicing through his oblivious husband, creating waves of fury. “Someone broke into our house, shouldn’t you have called the police?”

“I don’t think it’s necessary to call the police. Didn’t I already check the house?” Lu Sen replied nonchalantly. “Darling, do you want to call the police?”

Bai Wei’s frustration seemed to subside at that moment: “No, I don’t want to call the police either.”

But his hand gripped Lu Sen’s wrist like a snake, far stronger than Lu Sen had planned for. His voice carried a strange, mesmerizing rhythm: “But we can deal with him together, darling. Since he broke into our house, it’s only natural that he dies here. But if we leave any traces of him, his parts, once found by the police, we’ll be in big trouble. So you need to let me know if he’s still here so we can properly deal with him, without leaving any trace…”

If Bai Wei was usually a tall, pure white marble statue, glowing with the color of snow under the light, right now, Bai Wei was still white, but with a dangerous and seductive aura, as if he had walked out of black ink. He sat in the wicker chair, turned his head, and looked up at his husband. His calm eyes seemed to hide a thousand words, making one feel unable to escape his control.

Lu Sen found himself able to resist this charm, but he couldn’t help admiring Bai Wei’s face in this moment. He said, “Darling, don’t worry. Protecting the safety of our family is my responsibility alone. I will handle everything, you don’t need to worry.”

“No, this is a matter for our entire family. It’s both of our responsibility.”

Bai Wei’s words were like a heavy black rain, falling on Lu Sen’s calm heart.

“We are a family, and we have secrets to keep from the outside world. No matter what happens between us, we have common interests, shared desires for expansion, and things that only we can protect and hide.”

No matter what has happened between us, or what we’re thinking about each other, no matter if, one day, we smash each other’s skulls with a vase. You will know the nightmare hidden behind my file, the incurable nerves, the soul that cannot be redeemed, the hatred that has always existed, and my history of assassinating you. I will know your hidden identity, the carefully woven lies, the unforgivable deceptions, your nature of greed and competition, the cold bloodedness, cruelty, and the bloody, dirty life habits that make you fundamentally different from others. No matter if, one day, I shoot you in the forehead, and you stab my heart with a knife—

Anyone trying to break into this beautiful house surrounded by roses, whether a robber, a kind-hearted person, or a wandering stranger—

They will never leave after touching us.

We will always take care of them, bury everything in the dark soil of the roses, and guard this house like the black thunderstorm clouds guarding a castle.

This is our family.

—–

Several bags of trash were placed into a van. They would not be processed through Snow Mountain Town’s trash system but instead be taken to a further location. After the van drove away, a special agent was sent into the first floor. A young man in a black cleaning outfit carefully removed all traces that could be detected by luminol reagents.

At this moment, the morning light was faint. Behind the fence, a pair of hands finally closed the blinds. The supermarket owner, who had been watching the house next door, sighed in relief after a long, complicated expression.

This family had finally resolved their troubles, and he could have a quiet day.

When the van returned to the rose house, it was already afternoon. The driver parked the car in the garage and went upstairs. When he opened the bedroom door, he saw his wife already deep asleep.

In the eyes of ordinary people, no matter what the definition of a wife was, or what the standard of a perfect wife might be, the basic standard was that she couldn’t be a man.

But the handsome man sat on the chair by the bed, looking at the young man on the bed.

Bai Wei thought he had killed someone, Bai Wei thought he had imprisoned someone, and Bai Wei might even still misunderstand that he had cheated, kidnapped, or tortured someone. Bai Wei was such a timid, sensitive, and neurotic person. He was careless, and he would be alarmed by the slightest sound. He still worried that a new attacker might secretly enter the house…

But if Lu Sen really killed someone, he would be willing to help him dismember the body and remove all traces.

He would cover up a secret with him, deceive the world together, and bury all external intrusions under the flower fertilizer of their family.

Because they were family.

Lu Sen quietly lay next to him. The afternoon wind in Snow Mountain Town was warm, blowing through the beige lace curtains, giving the entire room a yellowish, vintage feel. The burgundy bedspread and curtains looked like they came from the last century. In this room, the wool carpet was from this century, the antique-style bed was from this century, and the tapestry on the wall was from the last century. Countless antiques had turned to dust over the centuries, vintage customs had appeared and disappeared, and even just thirty years ago, Bai Wei had never existed.

And the most antique, most enduring thing in this room was “family.” It seemed that, since ancient times, people were always bound by this damned thing, yet they couldn’t stop needing it.

He had a long dream by his antique-doll-like wife’s side. He dreamed that he was still a child, submerged underwater, floating quietly with the current. The seaweed danced with his body, and there were no others of his kind in the pitch-black water. He felt tranquil, serene, warm, yet safe.

Just then, he “heard” a sharp scream.

Lu Sen opened all his eyes. He saw his wife scrambling up, pointing a revolver at his forehead.