Just Friends?

Shen Yu suddenly remembered what had happened at the Police Bureau that day. "Did you go there to save my brother?"

Yuan Qingshan's face darkened. "What do you mean, your brother? You two aren't even related by blood."

He couldn't help adding, "Brother Luo and I have been close since we were kids. You can't compare. We've been through more together, and we're closer than you two are. You don't understand Brother Luo at all!"

Yet Yuan Qingshan's words were thick with jealousy.

Shen Yu gave him a strange look.

What was this supposed to be? A big dog had been abandoned, only to come back and find its owner had a new cat, and now it was showing off its close relationship with the owner, both openly and subtly?

Shen Yu pushed Jiang Qianyu out of the way of his view. Jiang Qianyu's legs had already gone weak, and the push sent him down onto the sofa. At first, he tried to struggle to his feet, feeling that sitting there diminished his authority. But then he realized he was sitting right beside Shen Yu, the two of them pressed so close together that he could even smell a faint fragrance on Shen Yu. It was mixed with the smell of disinfectant and wasn't obvious, but he could smell it all the same.

Jiang Qianyu blushed.

Could this be the legendary... natural body fragrance?

He let himself collapse against Shen Yu and buried his head against Shen Yu's neck, looking pitiful and frightened.

Feeling his body trembling, Shen Yu instinctively reached out and patted his shoulder to comfort him.

For some reason, Yuan Qingshan found the scene before him extremely grating.

With Jiang Qianyu lying against Shen Yu's shoulder, Shen Yu couldn't see his expression, but Yuan Qingshan could see part of his profile. Where was there even a trace of fear?! The corners of his mouth were practically reaching for the sky, and he was enjoying himself immensely. Yet Shen Yu thought he was a docile little white rabbit and simply held him in his arms?

Yuan Qingshan sneered. Meeting Shen Yu's searching gaze and seeing the face he had been unable to forget after a single glance, he had been about to warn him to stay away from Brother Luo, but the words changed as they reached his lips. Instead, he warned him, "Stay away from him."

But Shen Yu had no idea whom he meant and assumed he was talking about Luo Ningsang. He chuckled, his sapphire-blue eyes narrowing as his whole bearing sharpened, and sized up the young man before him.

"You... what gives you the right to tell me what to do? Who are you to me? What standing do you have to say that?"

Yuan Qingshan froze, his expression turning ugly. It was hard to tell whether it was from anger or embarrassment.

Jiang Qianyu even turned his head to give him a provocative look, then wrapped both arms around Shen Yu's waist and buried himself against his chest. Taking advantage of the fact that Shen Yu couldn't see his expression, he raised a brow, a disdainful smile on his lips. The provocation in his eyes was blatant and brazen, completely undisguised. He was clearly trying to infuriate Yuan Qingshan on purpose.

But the words out of his mouth stood in stark contrast to his expression, making him seem like a different person altogether. "Brother Shen, he's the mastermind controlling everything from behind the scenes. Maybe even this Brother Luo you keep talking about was fooled by his act. He planned everything, with explosives and games and all. He definitely has bad intentions!"

Jiang Qianyu was quietly trying to turn Shen Yu against him.

Yuan Qingshan looked so much like a youthful college student that it was utterly deceptive. After Jiang Qianyu's initial fright had passed, he noticed the darkness lurking in Yuan Qingshan's eyes.

Yuan Qingshan kept talking about that Brother Luo, but what he implied was that Shen Yu should stay away from him. How could Jiang Qianyu not understand?

Birds of a feather, that's all.

A man's pride made him straighten his back.

Shen Yu's whole body stiffened in his embrace. It felt a little strange, but he put it down to Jiang Qianyu being timid and merely ruffled his hair without pushing him away.

"Go on. What exactly do you want?"

Yuan Qingshan was grinding his back teeth hard enough to break them. Looking at Jiang Qianyu's wandering hands, he suddenly had the urge to chop them off and feed them to the dogs. Then he heard Shen Yu's icy tone, one that warned strangers to keep their distance.

"If it's revenge you wanted, you've already had it. Don't drag innocent people into this." Shen Yu looked at the large screen behind Yuan Qingshan. He Wen was soaked in blood, and every person who had come here today had their hands stained with the blood of sin.

But the person who was supposed to be watching was gone.

Yuanxiao wasn't there.

Shen Yu frowned.

He looked for Lu Changfeng in the center of the room and, sure enough, he was gone too. Lu Xianchang stood by the stairs with his eyes lowered, who knew what he was thinking. The banquet held today to acknowledge him as family had been utterly ruined, and in a cruel, bloody, and violent way.

"Innocent?" Yuan Qingshan rolled the word around, a low laugh rumbling in his throat, as if mocking Shen Yu's naivety. "You call them innocent? Which of the people here doesn't have blood on their hands?"

He looked at Jiang Qianyu, who was pretending to be well-behaved in Shen Yu's arms, and scoffed. "Do you know what the Jiang Family used to do?"

Meeting Jiang Qianyu's venomous glare, Yuan Qingshan smiled maliciously and punctured the illusion of innocence he had put up. "The Linjiang Blade-Bearer, who cares only for money and not the person paying it—isn't the imposing underworld Blade-Bearer Jiang Mucen your biological father? What, now that you've gone legitimate, young master, you won't acknowledge what came before?"

"Do you think he's a good person? Do you need me to remind our young master of the good deeds he's done?"

Jiang Qianyu's face instantly went pale. He didn't dare look up at Shen Yu's expression. He didn't want Shen Yu to know about those sordid affairs. They had met at a casino, and the fact that Shen Yu had such skills yet wouldn't let him go out and gamble on his own showed that he was a man with moral boundaries, not the same kind of person as him... or his family.

Although the Jiang Family was gradually transferring its assets and going legitimate through its entertainment company, once entangled in that world, how easy could it be to leave it behind completely?

Shen Yu could feel Jiang Qianyu stiffen, but he was hardly a good person himself. He had come here only because this man had genuinely threatened his safety.

As for the people outside?

If there were major casualties in a case Luo Ningsang was handling, he would be reprimanded too.

As for Jiang Qianyu, he had truly given Shen Yu a pleasant surprise.

An underworld family looking to go legitimate?

How could it be so easy to pull out? Luckily, they ran into me. Since they don't want it... I'll take it over.

Shen Yu lowered his eyes to Jiang Qianyu, who looked as though he were awaiting judgment, and the corners of his mouth lifted involuntarily.

Jiang Qianyu felt a gentle hand settle on his head and softly ruffle his hair. Then a warm, firm voice, full of trust, sounded above him.

"So what? He's a friend I, Shen Yu, have chosen. Whatever he's like is between him and me. What does it have to do with you?"

A chosen... friend?

Jiang Qianyu felt as though the world had fallen silent. The heart in his chest pounded harder with each beat, like a drum. But a faint unwillingness followed, welling up in his heart and nearly bursting from his throat before he forced it back down.

...Just friends?

But at that moment, no one paid any attention to his thoughts.

Shen Yu raised his eyes, growing impatient. He didn't want to keep talking nonsense with this man, and his tone was sharp and cutting.

"Are you letting them go or not?"