A knot in the heart

"What are you doing? You won't even tell me what you and Cheng Yu argued about! That was someone's life, not a game! Why did you drag me away?"

Qi Sijing had been seething with anger. The moment they came through the door, a fierce argument erupted.

"Cheng Yu said he likes Lin Xingye!" she sobbed, breaking down. "Aren't you two good friends? Make him like me! Why can't he marry me?"

Qi Sijing stared at her. He knew their family had spoiled his younger sister, but he had never imagined she could be this unreasonable.

"We're friends, but no matter how close we are, that doesn't give me the right to dictate his life!" He had never fought this bitterly with Qi Sinian before.

But she wouldn't listen to a single word of reason now. "Why can't you talk him into it? Why didn't you tell me he likes Lin Xingye?"

"Qi Sinian!" He glared at her, so furious he almost laughed. "From the very first day you asked me about him, I told you he already liked someone. Did you listen?"

"Yes, I knew. So what? He's been single all these years. If that person won't cherish him, I will! What's wrong with that?" she insisted.

"Well, you've seen how it turned out. Are you satisfied now?" Qi Sijing's head felt ready to explode.

In her fury, she lashed out without thinking. "He likes Lin Xingye, and you like Lin Xingye too. What's so good about him? He can't do anything! He's useless!"

Qi Sijing knitted his brows and pressed his throbbing temples. "Qi Sinian, watch your mouth."

She scoffed, convinced she'd hit a nerve, and pushed further. "Am I wrong? He's a grown man who can't even inherit his family's company. Other than being a little kind and a little stupid, what does he have going for him?"

"You're right."

Qi Sinian hadn't expected him to say that. "What did you say?"

He reached into his pocket, but unfortunately, it was empty.

Looking around, he picked up a candy from the table beside her, tore off the wrapper, and popped it into his mouth.

He bit down lightly, crushing the translucent candy between his teeth.

Sweet orange flavor burst across his tongue.

He let out a deep sigh, finally easing some of his irritation.

"Sinian, he really is kind. That's exactly what we like about him." He pulled out a few tissues and gently wiped the tears from her face.

"What kind of families were we born into?"

"How many people around us genuinely wish us well? And how many are only there because there's something to gain?" He didn't expect Qi Sinian to understand him.

In the end, all he said was,

"Sinian, in an environment like ours, who around you would risk their life to save you? You know the answer, don't you?"

"You should know better than I do why he's worth liking."

"Anyone can say the right things. No one actually does them."

"Awoo! This smells so good! Bo Xi, you're a master chef! A master-master-master chef!" Lin Xingye ate faster and faster, not even caring that the food burned his mouth, his face brimming with satisfaction.

[Sure enough, the way to someone's heart is through their stomach.]

[Master Bo could win the hearts of everyone in the universe.]

Bo Xi had eaten quite a bit while tasting the food in the kitchen and wasn't hungry, so he only sampled a few dishes.

Watching Lin Xingye stuff one mouthful after another into his mouth as though someone might steal his food, he was just about to tell him to slow down when his phone screen lit up at an inconvenient moment.

He glanced at it with seeming nonchalance and rose, his expression unchanged. "Star, An Shi, go ahead and eat. I have something to take care of, so I'm heading out. Someone will come clean up later."

Once Bo Xi left, only the two of them remained.

An Shi watched Lin Xingye devour his food like a little hamster and finally asked the question that had been troubling him for so long. "Star, do you like them?"

His chopsticks paused. Then he raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "No."

The answer surprised An Shi, yet made perfect sense.

An Shi asked, "Then why don't you resist when they get close to you?"

Lin Xingye was unexpectedly honest with him. He set down his bowl and chopsticks and gave it some serious thought. "Because I don't dislike them. But I don't really care, either."

Then he abruptly changed the subject. "After all, haven't you all gotten plenty of information out of me?"

Lin Xingmo's repeated attempts to pry information out of him, his parents' sudden caution around him-every bit of it pointed to things being different from his previous life.

He was the only one who had been reborn, so it was inevitable that his behavior would seem strange. After all, he had eight whole years of memories that no one else did. But the others shouldn't have changed.

The butterfly effect didn't work on people like that. Put simply, people didn't change out of nowhere. Something had to have happened.

For instance, someone had recently stepped in to help him deal with Li Hanwen. Something no one had done in his previous life wasn't something they would suddenly do in this one.

That was when he'd begun to wonder whether someone else had been reborn too.

Only when everyone seemed to start fishing for information from him, openly or otherwise, did he become certain that they hadn't been reborn. They were simply obtaining information from him through some means.

It would be a lie to say he felt no resentment. Just as he blamed himself, he blamed them too. Why had no one stepped up to help him in his previous life, while now they all came running?

He knew Qin Ke was the source of the problem, but he was only human. He couldn't help letting those negative feelings spill out.

He didn't dislike them because they had been good friends as children.

But he didn't remember any of it.

He no longer even understood how to like someone. All he knew, from the bottom of his heart, was that he didn't dislike them.

Perhaps, deep down, they were all very important to him. But he didn't like them.

More precisely, he no longer dared to like anyone. He was afraid the tragedy would repeat itself.

He quietly gazed at the blue sky and white clouds outside the window. "I don't dare hope for love or romance. I just want everyone around me to be safe. I don't want anyone else to die because of me."

"That wasn't your fault." An Shi reached out and took his hand. "Don't doubt yourself because of someone else.

"He did terrible things because he's a terrible person. It had nothing to do with you."

"You were just unlucky enough to be chosen by him. But being unlucky wasn't your fault, either. You were only his first target. You wouldn't have been his last."

"Human greed is like a bottomless black hole. The problem lies with the person, not the circumstances." He shifted closer and pulled him into his arms. "Don't punish yourself for someone else's mistakes."

"When there's nothing you can rely on, you have to learn to save yourself."

An Shi gently patted his back, his voice soft, as though soothing a child. "Those three aren't so bad, either. Try trusting us a little."

"If you don't like them, tell them to get lost. If you do, just bestow a little favor on them." His thoroughly irresponsible remark made Lin Xingye laugh.

He laughed until tears came to his eyes. "An An, the way you put it makes me sound like an emperor."

An Shi thought about it and readily agreed. "To them, you're not much different from one."

He smiled without answering that. "Our priority right now should still be dealing with the people hiding behind all this."

"Don't bottle everything up. We'll succeed." An Shi patted him encouragingly. "Come on, eat."

A little puzzled by An Shi's inexplicable confidence, he asked, "How can you be so sure?"

[Do they have some secret ace up their sleeves?]

An Shi said, "Because evil never triumphs over good."

Lin Xingye: ?

What kind of nonsense was this?

An Shi calmly went on eating. "I'm kidding. Go on, eat."

"William, the kid spilled everything. Carl sent him!" A burly man emerged from the room with a cigarette between his lips and a baseball bat in his hand.

William lounged on the soft couch, puffing smoke. He merely nodded and waved for the men to leave.

Knowing smiles spread across their faces. Muttering something among themselves, they walked out, laughing and talking.

William stared blankly at the ceiling, its circling patterns like an endless vortex.

He couldn't help recalling how strangely the others had behaved out at sea.

But even after racking his brains, he couldn't work out why. After a long silence, a wicked smile curled his lips. "Looks like everyone has plenty of secrets."

"What part do you play in all this, Lin?"