A False Alarm

Lü Yan stumbled home and collapsed onto the sofa, looking utterly defeated. The entire Lu Family stared at her in silence.

"Hey, little Yan, what's with the look? Did your fish game turn you into a dead fish?" her eldest brother asked calmly, wiping his mouth before setting down his napkin.

"More like a zombie fish," her second brother said, rolling his eyes.

"If you've spent all your allowance for the month, that's it. Your dad doesn't have any secret savings left to give you." Before her eldest sister could speak, Lu Dad's mournful voice filled the house.

"..."

Dad, you really didn't need to say that. Can't you see how scary Mom's glare is?

Lu Dad: I can now. o(╥﹏╥)o

Lu Dad regretted it the moment he spoke. Lu Mom had caught him giving their youngest daughter spending money, then pressed him until he admitted it came from the money he had secretly stashed away.

Lu Dad wiped away a bitter tear and discreetly rubbed his still-aching knees.

Ignoring Lu Dad's performance, Lu Mom sat beside Lü Yan and stroked her hair.

"Yanyan, didn't you go to a gathering with your friends? You said you were going to meet some new people. Why are you back already?"

Lu Mom glanced at the clock. Her daughter had come back early. Had she failed to get along with the new friends?

That shouldn't be it. Anyone close to the Bo Family should be worth knowing. If a family was troubled, the Bo Family would only keep up appearances with them.

And today's gathering was private. That really shouldn't be it. As Lu Mom's thoughts ran wild, Lü Yan spoke.

"The gathering's over. The new friends were great. The problem is your daughter—me—￥%#%#%%#...&"

Lu Mom and the others tilted their heads at Lü Yan. They understood the first part, but was the rest Martian? All they heard was gibberish.

The Lu Family: o((⊙﹏⊙))o

Lü Yan froze. Under her eldest brother's worried gaze, she came back to herself and stubbornly tried to speak again.

At first, the Lu Family listened eagerly, curious about what Lü Yan would say. Before long, they went numb and began to suspect she was messing with them.

"Fuck! If I'm not allowed to say it, fine, but why punish me for trying? That hurts like hell." Lü Yan gave up. If she kept going, the pain in her chest would kill her.

Lü Yan rubbed her chest, trembling all over from the pain. If sheer stubbornness hadn't kept her going, she would have stopped long ago.

Ignoring her family, Lü Yan thought back to a few hours earlier.

"Little Yan, fix your expression. Fang Yao's looking over," Bo Miao whispered, tugging at Lü Yan's sleeve.

Fang Yao was suspicious of Lü Yan. In fact, she was suspicious of everyone. Could someone in this world hear my thoughts? I'd barely started digging into Lü Yan's gossip when she got agitated.

It looks like Lü Yan's eldest brother is about to be struck by falling rebar. If someone calls him now, they can keep him from dying.

Fang Yao deliberately planted the thought, then kept her eyes on Lü Yan. If Lü Yan made a call, Fang Yao would know whether she could hear her thoughts—or whether everyone there could.

Fang Yao quietly waited for Lü Yan's reaction.

(●ↀωↀ●)✧

Lü Yan had no idea she was being tested. She had forgotten all about how she herself might die; all she could think about was her eldest brother's safety.

Lü Yan picked up her phone and unlocked it. She was about to make the call when a hand suddenly reached over.

"Hey, that's cheating! It isn't time yet. We agreed to look together."

"Shao Ya, stop messing around. I—"

"You what? A bet's a bet. I'm already being nice by letting you look with me, and you want to sneak a peek early? Not a chance. Xi Meng, back me up!"

Xi Meng had no idea what was going on, but she still joined in to persuade Lü Yan. She trusted that Shao Ya would never joke about a close friend's brother being in danger.

"Exactly, little Yan. Since when did you become such a sore loser?"

"What does winning or losing have to do with anything? Didn't you hear..." Fang Yao's thoughts had just said her eldest brother was in danger!

Shao Ya and Xi Meng knew what Lü Yan was about to say. Shao Ya quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.

Lü Yan panicked. Fang Yao had started counting down. Her eyes slowly reddened, and for a moment she felt like cutting ties with her friends.

Bo Zhe arrived at exactly the right moment. "Fang Yao, my brother said he wants to introduce Lü Yan's eldest brother and the others to you. He asked if you want to go."

Fang Yao looked puzzled. "When did your brother say that? Why didn't I know?"

Bo Zhe waved his phone. "He just called you, but you didn't answer, so he called me. What are you all doing?"

Seeing Shao Ya and Lü Yan tangled together, with Lü Yan's eyes as red as a rabbit's, startled Bo Zhe.

What happened while I was gone?

Fang Yao dug her phone out of her bag. Seeing several missed calls, she rubbed her nose guiltily.

Then she straightened up, indignant. It wasn't on purpose. He should've told me beforehand.

While Fang Yao was on the phone, Lü Yan tugged at Bo Zhe's sleeve and whispered urgently, "Bo Zhe, are you saying my eldest brother is with yours?"

Bo Zhe was baffled. "Yeah. Why? You all look..."

Bo Zhe trailed off. Sensing something wrong with the atmosphere, he chose to keep quiet and gave Bo Miao a questioning look.

Bo Miao looked at Lü Yan, at a loss for words. Why couldn't she keep her cool? Now Fang Yao's suspicious of us.

"Here's what happened..."

Bo Zhe's face fell as he looked at them. He had only been gone a short while, and they had made such a mess. No wonder his chest had suddenly started hurting. He had thought he had bumped into something, but it turned out...

"Are you trying to earn yourselves a face-to-face talk with my brother? Didn't we agree that no matter what we heard, we'd stay calm? How could you..." Bo Zhe shook his head in exasperation.

Everyone gave Bo Zhe sheepish smiles. When he stopped there, though, they panicked. None of them wanted a face-to-face talk with Bo Hanmo.

He hadn't earned his reputation as the cold-faced king of hell for nothing.

Hearing that her brother was safe, Lü Yan breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, she realized something was wrong.

"Forget that for now," Lü Yan said urgently. "Have we been found out?"

"You mean Fang Yao thought that on purpose so you'd hear it? She was testing us?" Lu You interrupted the others to speak first.

Lü Yan saw how pale Lu You and the others had gone and nodded stiffly. This was her fault. She hadn't kept her expression under control.

"I don't think we need to do anything," Bo Miao said. "The crisis is over. Look."

Everyone followed Bo Miao's finger. Fang Yao was beaming, giggling happily.

By sheer coincidence, Bo Hanmo had done them a huge favor.

They all broke into delighted smiles, especially when Fang Yao thought, I was overthinking it. How could anyone in this world ￥#@ hear my thoughts? I was overthinking it.

System: ...