Ji Ting looked at the suitcase in front of him and let out a barely audible sigh.
This probably had very little to do with Lu Yanchu. Ji Yanzhi just found an excuse to kick me out.
At that moment, Ji Yanzhi, standing at the second-floor window, heard that thought loud and clear.
He gritted his teeth and drew a deep breath, his face as black as ink.
After finishing his shower, Ji Yanzhi had heard something go off in the courtyard. He went to the window, only to find the butler and the others inexplicably seeing Ji Ting off.
He was momentarily dazed. Just as realization dawned, a bodyguard brought out the suitcase too.
Ji Yanzhi was so furious he laughed. These people had zero comprehension, but their ability to execute orders was off the charts, was it?
Half an hour earlier.
Ji Yanzhi had just arrived home, and the butler came forward to take his coat as usual.
"Uncle Yang, have Liu start preparing dinner. I'll come down after my shower."
The butler blinked. "Eldest Young Master, the Second Young Master isn't home yet."
"Heh." Ji Yanzhi, who was undoing his cuff links, gave a cold laugh and said mockingly, "He's Lu Yanchu's little brother now. What would he come back for?"
The butler froze. What was going on? Had something happened that he didn't know about?
Utterly confused, he could only follow Ji Yanzhi's lead. "Then... is the Second Young Master going to stay at Mr. Lu's place from now on?"
Ji Yanzhi was already in a foul mood, and that only made it worse. "If he wants to go, you might as well throw him a housewarming ceremony."
With that, he turned and headed upstairs.
The butler snapped out of his daze and craned his neck to ask, "Eldest Young Master, should I pack the Second Young Master's luggage for him in advance?"
"Whatever," Ji Yanzhi said impatiently.
Did "whatever" mean pack it or leave it alone? While the butler was still puzzling over it, a bodyguard came over and whispered, "Uncle Yang, the Eldest Young Master means yes."
"Wait, Zhao, what exactly happened today?"
Zhao Tianzheng was one of the bodyguards who had brought Ji Ting his suitcase. After hearing the whole story from him, Uncle Yang was even more confused. "That doesn't seem right. The two young masters have been getting along much better lately. Why would the Second Young Master suddenly..."
"It's precisely because they're close that he feels betrayed. Think about how much President Ji hates Lu Yanchu. The Second Young Master was holding hands with him and calling him his brother. How could President Ji not be angry?"
The butler thought it over. That did seem to make sense.
"Then what should we..."
"Have the servants pack the Second Young Master's luggage. I'll prepare the housewarming ceremony."
Back in the present, Ji Ting stood silently for a while, then picked up the suitcase.
The butler was startled by the gesture. He hadn't expected the Second Young Master to choose to leave rather than go upstairs and make peace with the Eldest Young Master.
"Uncle Yang, there's no need to have anyone pack the rest. I'll come back tomorrow and sort it out myself." Ji Ting nodded to him, then pulled out the suitcase's telescopic handle.
"Second Young Master, please..."
The second-floor window was suddenly flung open, and Ji Yanzhi's furious voice rang through the courtyard. "Zhao Tian, drag him back in here-"
Ji Ting had only just looked up when the window slammed shut again with a bang.
Ji Ting: ?
Still unaware that he had botched things, Zhao Tian approached with another bodyguard. "Second Young Master, if you would..."
Looking at them, Ji Ting remembered that these were the same two men who had hauled him into the bathroom that first time at the Small Hotel in the Urban Village.
Seeing their awkward expressions, Ji Ting said calmly, "I'll go in myself."
Ji Yanzhi came downstairs without drying his hair. A few half-wet strands fell across his forehead, no longer as meticulously styled as usual.
He sat on the sofa and, as everyone came in, first gave the butler and Zhao Tian a cold look each.
"Uncle Yang, let everyone else go eat first."
"Yes."
The butler ushered everyone away, leaving only the two brothers in the living room.
Ji Yanzhi glanced at the suitcase Ji Ting was still pulling and snorted. "What, have you made up your mind to go live with Lu Yanchu?"
Baffled by this attempt to turn the blame on him, Ji Ting asked, "Weren't you the one kicking me out?"
The words left Ji Yanzhi feeling so stifled he could barely breathe. Through half-clenched teeth, he said, "You leave just because I tell you to? Since when have you been so obedient?"
"I'm still not listening to you. But the butler and the bodyguards do." As he spoke, he pulled the suitcase in front of him as evidence. "Look, they even packed my things for me."
At that, some of the coldness in Ji Yanzhi's eyes inexplicably faded. "You feel wronged, so you're coming to me to complain about them?"
Ji Ting paused. "That's not..."
"Fine. Since you feel wronged, I'll give you a chance to explain."
Ji Ting looked at him and suddenly fell silent.
Ji Yanzhi is like a researcher who's stayed up for three nights straight. There's a kind of madness to the way he talks to himself while his brain is in total disarray.
Ji Yanzhi scoffed inwardly. He had never even met a researcher, yet here he was making ridiculous comparisons.
Now that they could communicate, Ji Ting let go of the suitcase, sat on the nearby sofa, and started from the beginning.
"I went out this morning to Shangwen Road..." He paused briefly, then continued, "to buy something. When I came out, I ran into Lu Yanchu, who'd been following me."
Ji Yanzhi's brows drew together in disgust. "Why was he following you?"
"Because he discovered that the Edge of the Wind..."
Fifteen minutes later, Ji Ting finished his clear, concise account of the day's events. He had altered a few details, though-for instance, that Lu Yanchu had only begun to suspect something was wrong with the Production Crew because of him.
Ji Yanzhi didn't speak immediately after listening. His deep-set eyes narrowed slightly, as though he was seriously considering something.
The living room remained quiet for a while before he gave Ji Ting a suspicious look. "Since Lu Yanchu had already uncovered something himself, why didn't he keep following the clues? Why come to you at a critical moment like this?"
Ji Ting had anticipated every question he might ask on the way home, so he answered calmly, "Because he didn't have any concrete evidence. His only option was to find a way to listen in on the suspects first. That's why he wanted to borrow Shili's technology from you through me."
Ji Yanzhi gave a derisive snort, mocking Lu Yanchu's naivety. "Why should I help him? And where did he get the confidence to think I'd lend him the technology just because you tried to persuade me?"
Ji Ting nodded as though that were only natural. "Right. So I turned him down for you on the spot."
Ji Yanzhi suddenly felt as though something had caught in his throat. He took a deep breath. "Go on. How did Lu Yanchu beg you to agree after that?"
He refused to believe that, with the situation this urgent, that man Lu could still keep up his insufferable, pretentious airs.
Ji Yanzhi's reaction was somewhat unexpected. Ji Ting looked at him and slowly asked, "So it's not really that you won't help him. You just want him to come and beg you first, don't you?"
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