Zhao Huaide reacted quickly.
The stiffness on his face lasted only a moment before he smiled again.
"Xu An? That name sounds familiar, but I'm getting old. My memory isn't what it used to be. Zhihan, are you sure you haven't misremembered?"
Xu Zhihan looked at him without speaking.
Standing beside him, Lu Wenchuan lightly tapped the side of his glass.
When Zhao Huaide noticed Lu Wenchuan, his smile faded a little. "Captain Lu, you're here too. This is the Xu Family's reception. I didn't expect you to grace us with your presence."
Lu Wenchuan drawled, "I have no shame. I invited myself."
Zhao Huaide could no longer smile.
There was no good way to answer that.
Xu Zhihan suddenly asked, "Do you know Jiang Ren?"
The corner of Zhao Huaide's eye twitched.
"I invest in healthcare. It's perfectly normal for me to know a few doctors."
"He was taken away," Xu Zhihan said.
Zhao Huaide's expression remained unchanged. "I heard. Such a shame. Apparently, Director Jiang was involved in some shady business and hurt quite a few people."
He distanced himself very quickly.
So quickly that it sounded rehearsed.
Xu Zhihan said coldly, "You're well practiced at washing your hands of things."
Zhao Huaide finally struggled to maintain his composure.
He glanced around.
There were plenty of people in the banquet hall, and some nearby had already noticed them. Xu Chengyuan had seen them too and was walking over.
Zhao Huaide lowered his voice. "Zhihan, your father and I have been friends for years. You're in poor health. Don't speak so harshly. You'll only give outsiders something to laugh at."
Xu Zhihan looked at his right hand.
Zhao Huaide wore a jade ring.
Its surface was clean, but a Sin Line snaked out from beneath it, winding around his wrist.
The other end of that line was connected to a woman.
She was tied to a bed, something stuffed into her mouth, her eyes wide open.
Before she died, she had been terrified.
And filled with hatred.
Xu Zhihan's gaze grew colder.
"The ring on your right hand. Whose was it?"
Zhao Huaide instinctively moved his hand behind his back.
The gesture was far too obvious.
Lu Wenchuan noticed, and his gaze shifted slightly.
The smile vanished from Zhao Huaide's face. "Xu Zhihan, what are you implying?"
Xu Chengyuan had already reached them.
He heard the last part, and his expression darkened. "Mr. Zhao, Zhihan only recently woke up. He's unwell, so he's bound to speak out of turn."
Zhao Huaide seized the opening and smiled. "It's fine. He's just a child."
Xu Zhihan looked at Xu Chengyuan. "A child?"
"Shut up," Xu Chengyuan said coldly.
The words were quiet, but carried the command of long habit.
Everyone nearby in the banquet hall fell silent.
Xu Mingji came over too. Noticing the tense atmosphere, he immediately said gently, "Are you tired, brother? Let me take you to the lounge."
Xu Zhihan did not look at him.
He only looked at Zhao Huaide.
"Mr. Zhao." His voice was indifferent. "Where is your wife?"
Zhao Huaide's expression abruptly darkened.
"My wife died of illness years ago. Everyone in our circle knows that. Why are you asking?"
Xu Zhihan nodded.
"Died of illness."
He spoke those words softly, yet they sent a chill down Zhao Huaide's back.
Zhao Huaide suppressed his anger. "Xu Chengyuan, is your son deliberately trying to make trouble for me?"
Xu Chengyuan's expression turned utterly grim.
He had invited Zhao Huaide tonight because Zhao Huaide was implicated in what had happened to Lin Wan and Xu An years ago. But he had wanted to use him to keep Xu Zhihan in check, not let Xu Zhihan make a bitter enemy of him in public.
Xu Chengyuan lowered his voice. "Zhihan, go to the lounge."
Xu Zhihan did not move.
Lu Wenchuan suddenly took half a step forward, placing himself squarely between Xu Chengyuan and Xu Zhihan.
Xu Chengyuan gave him a cold stare.
Lu Wenchuan smiled. "President Xu, no violence. There are plenty of people here. It won't look good on camera."
"Lu Wenchuan," Xu Chengyuan said through gritted teeth.
Lu Wenchuan ignored him, turning his head toward Xu Zhihan instead. "Want to keep going?"
Xu Zhihan glanced at him. "Are you going to stop me?"
"Could I?"
"No."
"Then I'm just asking to show I respect procedure."
Xu Zhihan looked away, his face expressionless.
Zhao Huaide's face turned livid as he listened.
He suddenly felt that neither of these two took him seriously at all.
One was a sickly weakling, the other a lunatic from the Special Investigation Bureau.
Yet neither was easy to deal with.
Zhao Huaide sneered. "Xu Zhihan, I think you really should see a doctor. Young man, don't use your poor health as an excuse to spout nonsense in public. Your stepmother has cared for you for so many years. Making a scene like this is disgraceful enough already."
People around them began murmuring.
They had all seen the recent events online. Though the story had reversed several times, the Xu Family had deliberately planted the impression that Xu Zhihan was mentally unstable.
Zhao Huaide was clearly exploiting that too.
Xu Zhihan was in no hurry.
He simply asked, "Before your wife died, did she sign a share transfer agreement?"
Zhao Huaide's expression changed.
Xu Chengyuan also turned sharply toward him.
That question had already gone beyond anything the Xu Family had prepared for tonight.
Zhao Huaide said coldly, "Where did you hear that?"
Xu Zhihan looked at the Sin Line behind him.
"She didn't sign it."
Zhao Huaide's fingers tightened.
Xu Zhihan continued, "You held her hand down and pressed her fingerprint onto it. She was still alive then. She just couldn't speak."
The banquet hall fell silent for a moment.
Zhao Huaide's face turned livid. "You're insane!"
He raised his hand to grab Xu Zhihan.
Lu Wenchuan moved faster.
He caught Zhao Huaide's wrist, all trace of a smile gone.
"Mr. Zhao, we're having a conversation. Why get physical?"
Zhao Huaide went pale with pain. "Let go!"
Lu Wenchuan did not release him.
Xu Zhihan looked at the jade ring on Zhao Huaide's right hand, his voice even.
"That ring was taken from her hand too."
Zhao Huaide's pupils contracted.
With every sentence Xu Zhihan spoke, the Sin Line behind Zhao Huaide writhed more violently.
The woman's spectral figure gradually emerged behind him, her hands hanging at her sides, her eyes venomous with resentment.
Ordinary people could not see her.
But Zhao Huaide could feel her.
He began to tremble.
Xu Zhihan looked at the spectral figure and asked, "Want to make him talk?"
Zhao Huaide did not understand the question, but instinctively sensed danger.
The next second, the lights in the banquet hall flickered.
People nearby cried out.
The woman's spectral figure behind Zhao Huaide slowly raised her hands and placed them on his shoulders.
Zhao Huaide froze.
A chill burrowed from his shoulders into his bones, and his lips began to turn pale.
"Who..."
His voice trembled.
Xu Zhihan lowered his eyes. "She's asking why you didn't save her."
Zhao Huaide's composure finally shattered.
"No, I didn't..."
Xu Chengyuan's expression changed drastically. "Mr. Zhao!"
But Zhao Huaide could no longer hear him.
As though he had seen something utterly terrifying, he stared fixedly at his right hand.
A fine crack suddenly appeared in the jade ring.
The crack widened.
Finally, with a sharp snap, the ring broke in two and fell to the floor.
Zhao Huaide's legs buckled, and he dropped to his knees in front of everyone.
The banquet hall instantly erupted.
Xu Mingji turned deathly pale.
Zhou Man also took a step back.
This scene was far too familiar.
Zhou Man had knelt in the hospital room.
Jiang Ren had knelt in the living room.
Now it was Zhao Huaide's turn.
Everyone who went against Xu Zhihan seemed to end up on their knees in the same humiliating state.
Kneeling on the floor, Zhao Huaide streamed cold sweat. He began babbling, "I didn't mean to kill you. I just wanted the company back. The doctor said you didn't have long to live. I only moved things forward a little..."
At those words, the crowd erupted completely.
Someone immediately pulled out a phone to record.
Xu Chengyuan wanted the security guards to stop them, but it was already too late.
Lu Wenchuan released Zhao Huaide's wrist and looked down at him, his tone turning cold.
"Mr. Zhao, I suggest you save what you just said for the police."
Zhao Huaide abruptly came to his senses, his face ashen.
"What did I just say?"
No one answered him.
Xu Zhihan stood where he was, his face paler than before.
He had used a little of his power.
Not much, but this body still could not bear it.
Lu Wenchuan turned toward him. "Still holding up?"
Xu Zhihan frowned. "You always ask pointless questions."
Lu Wenchuan breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. You can still insult me."
Xu Zhihan gave him a cold look.
Lu Wenchuan immediately raised a hand. "I'll shut up."
By the time the security guards helped Zhao Huaide up, his entire body had gone limp. He still wanted to explain, but quite a few people had already recorded those remarks.
The mood in the banquet hall had changed completely.
Those who had thought Xu Zhihan was talking nonsense now dared not say a word.
There was a new measure of fear in the way they looked at him.
Sickly, silent, the Xu Family's outcast.
Those labels still seemed to cling to him.
But no one dared truly treat him as a sick man they could push around anymore.
Xu Zhihan ignored those stares.
He looked at Xu Chengyuan.
"These are the people you invited?"
Xu Chengyuan's face was livid. He couldn't get a single word out.
Xu Zhihan's voice wasn't loud, but it carried to everyone nearby.
"The Xu Family's friends really are all so clean."
Those words were like a slap straight across Xu Chengyuan's face.
Lu Wenchuan nearly laughed.
Xu Chengyuan stared fixedly at Xu Zhihan, his eyes frighteningly dark.
But with so many people watching, he couldn't lash out.
Xu Zhihan didn't care whether he lashed out or not.
He turned and walked out of the banquet hall.
Lu Wenchuan followed him and asked quietly, "Where are you going?"
Xu Zhihan's expression was cold. "To rest."
"I'll come with you."
"No need."
"You're a little unsteady on your feet."
Xu Zhihan stopped and turned his head to look at him.
"Say that again?"
Lu Wenchuan knew better than to push. "My mistake."
Xu Zhihan continued walking.
Once they were outside the banquet hall, the corridor was much quieter.
He briefly steadied himself against the wall, then quickly let go.
Lu Wenchuan noticed but didn't call him out. He simply took a piece of candy from his pocket and held it out to him.
Xu Zhihan looked at the candy.
"This again?"
"Low blood sugar," Lu Wenchuan said.
Xu Zhihan didn't take it. "I didn't say that."
"I saw it."
Xu Zhihan fell silent for two seconds, then took it after all.
The candy was very sweet.
He didn't particularly like it.
But after he ate it, the darkness at the edges of his vision did ease a little.
Lu Wenchuan leaned against the wall and looked at him. "Young Master Xu, you were pretty scary back there."
Xu Zhihan lowered his eyes. "Scared?"
Lu Wenchuan smiled.
"Yes."
Xu Zhihan looked at him.
Lu Wenchuan looked casual, but his eyes were clear and alert.
"But it was pretty satisfying."
Xu Zhihan looked away, his voice very soft.
"Boring."
Looking at his pale profile, Lu Wenchuan suddenly found his stubborn refusal to admit anything a little funny.
The banquet hall was still in chaos.
In the corridor, Xu Zhihan sucked on the candy, his expression cold, as though he hadn't been the one who had just made someone kneel in front of everyone.
Lu Wenchuan stood beside him without saying anything else.
He knew that after tonight, another layer of the Xu Family's facade of respectability had shattered.