After Xu Zhihan finished reading that page of information, the private dining room fell silent.
Lu Wenchuan did not continue.
He knew some things could not be poured out all at once.
Xu Zhihan seemed cold, but it was not that nothing affected him. He simply kept his reactions tightly restrained, never speaking of pain or raising his voice in anger.
People like that were the hardest to deal with.
When they truly lost control, no one could stop them.
Xu Zhihan lowered his head and looked at the names on the page.
Lin An.
Xu An.
Only the surname differed, yet his fate seemed to have been forcibly diverted.
The file mentioned that when Lin Wan married into the Xu Family, she had always kept a child by her side. Publicly, he was described as a distant relative's child, while his true identity was deliberately obscured. Later, when Lin Wan became gravely ill, the child's surname was changed to Xu. After that, he disappeared.
Around the same time, Xu Zhihan's condition began to "stabilize."
Stabilize meant he no longer suffered sudden high fevers or episodes of his soul leaving his body, but he became perpetually weak and could never stop taking his medicine.
Xu Zhihan understood.
The claim that Xu An had taken something in his place meant something very simple.
Someone had diverted whatever should have fallen upon him onto Xu An instead.
Xu An had died.
He had lived.
But he had never truly lived well, either.
Xu Zhihan closed the file, his fingertips slightly cold.
Lu Wenchuan looked at him. "This wasn't your fault."
Xu Zhihan raised his eyes.
Lu Wenchuan's tone was even. "Don't look at the file like that. You were only a child when Xu An died, too."
"I'm not blaming myself," Xu Zhihan said coolly.
Lu Wenchuan nodded. "Sure. You're not."
The answer was far too dismissive.
Xu Zhihan frowned. "You don't believe me?"
Lu Wenchuan poured himself a glass of water. "Halfway."
Xu Zhihan fell silent.
He really was not blaming himself.
In his previous life, he had seen far too much death. Life and death followed cause and effect, and guilt belonged where it was due. The fault should not be laid upon the ignorant.
But this body felt deeply uncomfortable.
It was as though a fine thread were tugging at his chest, making him irritable.
Those were the original owner's emotions.
Perhaps the original owner did not remember Xu An, but he still remembered that someone had once kept him company. When he was very young, someone had taken his hand, hidden with him in a corner, and slipped him a piece of candy.
The memory was too hazy.
Only the sweetness of that candy seemed to linger on his tongue.
Xu Zhihan suddenly asked, "Where is Xu An now?"
"In the basement," Lu Wenchuan said. "The Seventh Team is guarding him. He can't leave the formation core for now. If we forcibly take him away, his soul will scatter."
Xu Zhihan gave a quiet acknowledgment.
Lu Wenchuan looked at him. "Want to go back?"
"I want to investigate."
"If I take you to the basement right after dinner, the Medical Team will chew me out."
Xu Zhihan looked at him. "What does them chewing you out have to do with me?"
Lu Wenchuan laughed. "Heartless."
Xu Zhihan remained expressionless. "Did you only just realize that?"
Lu Wenchuan was momentarily at a loss for words, then laughed even harder.
Xu Zhihan did not understand what was so funny.
He thought there was something wrong with Lu Wenchuan. The man actually seemed pleased to be sniped at.
Instead of taking him straight back to the Xu Family home, Lu Wenchuan made a detour to a convenience store.
Xu Zhihan sat in the car and watched him get out.
Before long, Lu Wenchuan returned carrying a bag. Once he got into the car, he took a box of candy from it.
Xu Zhihan glanced at it. "You bought this again?"
Lu Wenchuan opened the packaging. "You didn't eat any from the last bag."
"Childish."
"Candy isn't childish." Lu Wenchuan took out a piece and held it out to him. "It can save your life when your blood sugar drops."
Xu Zhihan did not take it.
Lu Wenchuan did not withdraw his hand, either.
They remained at an impasse for several seconds.
At last, Xu Zhihan reached out and took it.
As he peeled away the wrapper, a faint milky fragrance drifted out. Xu Zhihan stared at the candy for a while before putting it in his mouth.
The sweetness quickly spread.
He frowned slightly.
Lu Wenchuan noticed. "Don't like it?"
Xu Zhihan was silent for a moment. "Too sweet."
Lu Wenchuan took out another piece. "Then I'll buy mints next time."
Xu Zhihan looked at him. "There'll be a next time?"
Lu Wenchuan smiled. "I'm shameless. Of course there will."
Xu Zhihan said nothing more.
The car fell quiet.
This silence was different from the silence in the Xu Family home. There, schemes lurked beneath the quiet, as though someone were watching from every corner. The silence in the car was ordinary. He could hear the traffic outside and the soft tapping of Lu Wenchuan's fingers on the steering wheel.
Xu Zhihan was not quite used to it.
But he did not find it annoying, either.
He kept the candy in his mouth and held the wrapper between his fingertips without throwing it away.
Lu Wenchuan noticed but said nothing.
When they approached the Xu Family home, Lu Wenchuan suddenly pulled over.
Xu Zhihan looked up. "We're here?"
"Not yet," Lu Wenchuan said. "We have a tail."
Xu Zhihan looked in the rearview mirror.
A black car had stopped a short distance behind them.
It had been following them since they left the hotpot restaurant. Xu Zhihan had noticed long ago; he simply could not be bothered to mention it.
Lu Wenchuan unbuckled his seat belt. "Xu Chengyuan's people, or the Gu Family's?"
"Either is possible," Xu Zhihan said flatly.
"Stay here."
Lu Wenchuan got out and walked toward the car behind them.
Xu Zhihan watched his retreating figure.
Lu Wenchuan still walked with his usual casual air, as though he were merely heading over to ask for directions. But the two people in the black car were visibly panicking, and one was already trying to start the engine.
The next second, Lu Wenchuan held the car door shut.
From that distance, Xu Zhihan could not make out what they said.
But he saw the smile on Lu Wenchuan's face.
It was not a particularly friendly smile.
Before long, Lu Wenchuan returned with a phone in his hand.
Xu Zhihan looked at him. "Robbery?"
Lu Wenchuan tossed the phone into the storage compartment. "Preservation of evidence."
"That sounds nice," Xu Zhihan said flatly.
Lu Wenchuan started the car again. "Xu Chengyuan's people. They photographed us the whole way."
Xu Zhihan was not particularly surprised.
"What was he trying to photograph?"
Lu Wenchuan raised an eyebrow. "Two men alone together, having dinner together, going home together. What do you think he was trying to photograph?"
Xu Zhihan stared at him.
Lu Wenchuan coughed. "What I mean is, he might be trying to make your private life look messy."
Xu Zhihan did not understand. "Having dinner counts as messy?"
Lu Wenchuan glanced at him and suddenly realized that Xu Zhihan genuinely did not understand.
This man was frighteningly perceptive about so many social intricacies, yet in certain areas, he was almost absurdly inexperienced.
Lu Wenchuan held back a laugh. "No. But they can twist anything into that."
Xu Zhihan frowned. "Pointless."
"It is pretty pointless," Lu Wenchuan said. "But it works."
Xu Zhihan turned to look out the window. After a while, he said, "Then don't come anymore."
Lu Wenchuan's fingers paused on the steering wheel.
"Afraid you'll drag me into it?"
Xu Zhihan said coldly, "Afraid you'll be noisy."
Lu Wenchuan chuckled.
"Don't worry. I can handle noise."
Xu Zhihan said nothing.
The car headed back to the Xu residence.
Before Xu Zhihan got out, Lu Wenchuan pushed the box of candy into his hands.
Xu Zhihan frowned. "I don't want it."
"Take it," Lu Wenchuan said. "Eat some when your blood sugar drops. If you don't want any, use it to cheer Xu An up."
Xu Zhihan went still.
Lu Wenchuan added, "He'd probably like it."
Xu Zhihan looked down at the box of candy and ultimately accepted it.
"Busybody."
Lu Wenchuan smiled. "Yeah, I have plenty of issues."
Xu Zhihan got out of the car, then stopped after taking two steps.
Without looking back, he said, "I owe you for today's meal."
Lu Wenchuan raised an eyebrow. "Then I'll put it on your tab."
"As you like," Xu Zhihan said flatly.
With that, he went through the Xu Family's front gate.
Lu Wenchuan stood beside the car and watched him disappear behind the gate. The smile slowly faded from his face.
He picked up the phone he had taken from the person secretly photographing them and opened the photos.
The pictures were very clear.
Xu Zhihan sat in the hotpot restaurant's private dining room, his head lowered as he drank soup.
Lu Wenchuan handed him candy.
The two of them got out of the car.
Every angle made them look intimate.
After looking through a few pictures, Lu Wenchuan's gaze grew cold.
Xu Chengyuan was even more impatient than he had thought.
He put the phone away and sent a message to a team member.
[Check everyone Xu Chengyuan contacted today. Keep a close eye on the clickbait accounts.]
After sending it, he glanced at the Xu Family's front gate again.
Xu Zhihan seemed cold and left many things unsaid.
But Lu Wenchuan had understood that "don't come anymore."
He was worried about dragging someone else into trouble, yet still made it sound so unpleasant.
What a bad temper.
Lu Wenchuan gave a quiet chuckle.
"Cold on the outside, warm on the inside, Young Master Xu."