My Brother's Paying

At the top of the Jinglan Imperial Residence.

In an exceptionally luxurious room, a man hummed as he adjusted his collar in front of a full-length mirror. He was clearly in an excellent mood. The intense white light falling on his face softened some of its unruliness, and he turned his face, which bore some resemblance to Lu Xianchang's, toward the person standing by the window.

"Brother, the banquet is about to start."

This man was Lu Changfeng.

Lu Xianchang gave him an indifferent glance but said nothing. His dark blue suit was the same style as Lu Changfeng's. The two were similar in height and appearance, and standing together, they looked at first glance like twins from the Lu Family.

Lu Changfeng pulled him over and pinned a matching brooch to his chest.

"That new little brother you picked up outside came looking for you."

Lu Xianchang finally looked him in the eye.

"The card he used was the one you gave Luo Ningsang before, Brother. What do you think... he came here for?" Lu Changfeng thoughtfully straightened his collar.

Lu Xianchang grabbed his wrist, his voice a little hoarse. "Don't touch him."

"Of course." Lu Changfeng smiled and pressed him down into a chair. "As long as you stay here and behave yourself."

Knock, knock—

"Young Master Changfeng, the master is looking for you."

Lu Changfeng reluctantly left the room. The gentle smile on his face instantly turned icy. He strode to the innermost room and pushed the door open, his tone equally discourteous. "You wanted me?"

Old Master Lu grew angry at the sight of him acting like that. He picked up a teacup and raised it to smash against his head. Lu Changfeng neither dodged nor flinched, simply looking at him as he offered a quiet reminder.

"The banquet is about to start."

Old Master Lu slammed the teacup down on the table instead.

"You! What have you ever wanted that I didn't give you? Lu Xianchang is an illegitimate son. Why do you have to drag this out into the open? I didn't say anything when you kept him at home, but what's the meaning of holding a banquet? What about the Lu Family's reputation?!"

Old Master Lu truly couldn't understand.

How could the heir he had spent so many years raising lose his mind whenever Lu Xianchang was involved?

Lu Changfeng chuckled. "You still care about your reputation? Why didn't you care when you pulled up your pants and refused to acknowledge him? My mother had just given birth to me when you brought him home and said we were twins. Why didn't you care about your reputation then!?"

Old Master Lu was so angry his heart seized up. His hand trembled as he reached into a drawer and pulled out a bottle of medicine. The muscles in his cheeks twitched as he shook out a few pills and tipped his head back to swallow them.

Lu Changfeng simply watched. His voice, tinged with disappointment, sounded beside Old Master Lu's ear. "Why didn't that anger kill you on the spot? What a pity."

"Get out! Get out of here!"

"Weren't you the one who called me here?"

Before leaving, Lu Changfeng added one more warning. "I hope you won't do anything irrational at the banquet. Otherwise... I'll transfer all my shares to Lu Xianchang and let him shit on your head."

Such vulgar words came from that incomparably handsome face. Old Master Lu went mad with anger, raging helplessly. The sound of a teacup shattering rang out behind Lu Changfeng.

Shen Yu was shown to a guest room on the fifth floor. The three floors below were all entertainment venues, where women in formal dresses and men in suits mingled around tables covered in chips.

Wasn't this a casino?

Didn't anyone regulate it?

Shen Yu glanced over before looking away. He asked the attendant leading him, "Which room is Lu Changfeng in? I have something I'd like to discuss with him."

"President Lu is usually on the top floor."

Shen Yu took the room card and slipped inside, putting on a sleepy expression. "How long until the banquet?"

"Two hours."

"All right, got it."

Shen Yu closed the door.

In the spacious, silent room, the only sound was his own heartbeat.

Click.

Light filled the dim room.

Words appeared on his retina.

[Did you miss me, host?]

"So-so," Shen Yu replied.

[How heartless.]

Shen Yu ignored him and sent Lu Xianchang another message. Unsurprisingly, it disappeared without a response. He put down his backpack and searched the wardrobe, which contained changes of clothes prepared for guests. His own outfit was ordinary enough, but it stood out among all the formalwear.

The ink-black formal suit was pressed smooth, without a single wrinkle, and outlined his straight back. A ruby was faintly visible on his chest, complementing the starry-sky watch on his wrist. Though he was only seventeen, dressed like this, anyone who didn't know better might have taken him for a young noble heir sent out to gain experience.

[You look so handsome, host! Want some accessories? They're in the drawer on your right.]

Shen Yu pulled it open and picked out a dark blue, teardrop-shaped ear cuff, wearing it on just one ear. His long hair had been cut short, so the teardrop-shaped gemstone caught the eye at first glance, followed by his sapphire-blue eyes.

[(*๓´╰╯`๓)♡]

The system kept sending emoticons Shen Yu couldn't understand.

He decided to ignore it and let it amuse itself.

Looking at his blue hair in the mirror, he considered dyeing it black once he got out.

He dug the envelope out of his backpack and tucked it inside his clothes, then pressed himself against the door to listen outside. It was quiet. He didn't know whether no one was there or the room was simply well soundproofed.

[Take the elevator, host. I'll grant you access.]

Shen Yu opened the door and headed for the elevator.

"You can do that too?"

There really was no one in the corridor, and the only sound was his own footsteps. He hurried into the elevator and glanced over the buttons, finding that the topmost one, marked "max," lit up on its own.

[Hehe.]

The top floor had an L-shaped corridor. Seeing no one around, Shen Yu opened the rooms one by one to check them. Fortunately, there weren't many. When he opened the third room, he found Lu Xianchang sitting by the window, showing no reaction to the sound behind him.

Shen Yu had never seen him so dejected and called out uncertainly, "...Brother Xian?"

At the familiar voice, Lu Xianchang went rigid and looked back in disbelief. He saw the person in the doorway still holding the handle, watching him in puzzlement. Only when he turned around did that person break into a smile, the blue teardrop sapphire beside his ear catching the light.

"Shen Yu, how did you get up here?" Lu Xianchang sprang to his feet, pulled him inside, and slammed the door shut and locked it. It wouldn't do much good, since Lu Changfeng had a key, but he had locked it out of instinct.

Shen Yu spread his hands and let him look him over. "I took the elevator."

Seeing that Lu Xianchang didn't believe him,

Shen Yu said, "Really."

"What are you doing here? Hurry back." Lu Xianchang started to see him out as he spoke.

Shen Yu stopped him, his mouth turning down. "I was in the hospital and you didn't even come see me. You didn't answer my messages either. I thought you didn't want me as your little brother anymore, so I came to see what exactly was keeping you."

Lu Xianchang turned him around and looked him over again, zeroing in on the important part. "Why were you in the hospital?"

He noticed the red marks on Shen Yu's neck and hands that hadn't yet faded.

"How did you get these? Does Luo Ningsang even know how to look after a kid?"

"It's a long story."

Shen Yu grabbed his hand.

"Then make it short."

"Then you have to tell me about your situation too."

Lu Xianchang instinctively refused. "No. This has nothing to do with you."

Shen Yu stared at him for a long moment. Seeing no sign that he would budge, he said, "Then I won't tell you either. My business has nothing to do with you."

Lu Xianchang: "..."

He finally understood what it meant to drop a rock on his own foot.

Seeing that he said nothing, Shen Yu gave a couple of grunts. "I'll just ask you one thing. Are you here of your own free will?"

He held a membership card between his fingers and waved it, smiling boldly. "If you are, I won't care even if you stay here until you die. But if you aren't, now's the perfect chance to run. My brother's paying for everything I do anyway."

Achoo—

Luo Ningsang rubbed his nose after a huge sneeze and cursed under his breath as he stared at the countdown before him.

"Ten minutes left until the first bomb goes off."

That was the message that had popped up on Luo Ningsang's phone after they dismantled the bomb at the barbecue restaurant.

Lin Xinluo also understood how serious the situation was. She leaned against the wall, clutching a number tag marked "seven."

That number was truly chilling.

It meant there were at least seven bombs, and they couldn't be sure there were no numbers after seven.

The crowd around the barbecue restaurant had already been dispersed. Xu Shenzheng kicked a table, distressed. "Who is this person? How did they send that message without leaving a single trace to follow?! Who could be that capable?"

Crackle, crackle.

A sound came from the walkie-talkie.

"Report, we found a bomb in Haishan Park."

"..."

"Report, we found a bomb at Qin'an Elementary School."

"..."

"Report, we..."

In just a few minutes, six had been found.

Luo Ningsang raised a hand to shade his eyes from the sun. "Bring me the map."

They spread a detailed map of Ancheng over a greasy table in the barbecue restaurant. Luo Ningsang marked every location that had just been reported. The points were scattered all over the place.

"Which one is it?"

They didn't have enough people to dismantle all six at once. They could manage three at most.

Luo Ningsang suddenly turned the map around and connected the dots. The Chinese character "元" leaped out on the paper.

"Qin'an Elementary School."

"The first bomb is at Qin'an Elementary School. Get people over there immediately!"

"Yes!" Xu Shenzheng relayed the order at once. Though he wondered how Luo Ningsang had figured it out, his principle was to obey orders.

The others also prepared to head over.

Ding—

Luo Ningsang's phone rang. He raised it and looked.

—Brother Luo, you still know me so well.