In the face of enormous danger, he was even self-destructive.
“You’re only… You’re only living for other people? You think that as long as you’ve made proper arrangements for everyone, then your own death doesn’t even matter, right?”
Xie Qingcheng sighed and pulled out a cigarette. “That’s not what I meant—”
“You’re not allowed to smoke anymore.”
Chen Man shot to his feet and pinned Xie Qingcheng’s hand down, snatching the cigarette, lighter, and box away with an ashen face. Then, he tossed them into the trash right in front of Xie Qingcheng.
Xie Qingcheng didn’t get up from his chair. A long time later, he said, “Chen Man, I don’t think my life doesn’t matter.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“I didn’t mean anything, but one has to have priorities in life. Raising Xie Xue was once the most important thing to me; that always had to come before seeking the truth. But now I’ve completed that task, and I have no attachments holding me back. So seeking the truth is now of utmost importance.”
Chen Man’s eyes were red. “But your life is also very important. To me, it’s more important than the truth.”
Xie Qingcheng replied, “You’re a police officer.”
“But I’m also Chen Man.”
For a long time, no one in the room spoke; there was only the continuous tick-tocking of the clock on the wall.
In the end, it was Xie Qingcheng who couldn’t bear seeing Chen Man like this. He sighed and changed the subject. “Sit down. Eat with me.”
Chen Man said nothing.
“Stop fussing, come sit.” In Xie Qingcheng’s eyes, he was already making a concession by saying this.
Though Chen Man was reluctant to concede, the pressure from Xie Qingcheng’s aura was too strong; he never had the power to resist it for long. He staunchly held his ground for a few more seconds, but in the end, all he could do was slowly sit down under Xie Qingcheng’s pointed stare and pick up his chopsticks again…even as tears dripped into his soup throughout the rest of the meal.
In a villa somewhere in the city, a woman’s voice rang out.
“What?! You’re saying He Yu has the blood toxin?” Lü Zhishu gaped in astonishment at the person before her, only managing to digest the information after great effort. “Executive Duan, surely you’re joking…”
Duan-laoban flipped a page of his newspaper. “Executive Lü ought to be very happy to have a son like that.”
Lü Zhishu dragged the red nails of her stubby fingers through her hair, her eyes filled with shock. She muttered to herself for a while before she looked up and said to the man in front of her, “As…as Number Four, the organization has always considered him defective goods. These past few years, I’ve raised him just like an ordinary patient; I never thought that he would have a disease-linked ability, nor…nor have any of you found him valuable as a potential research subject…”
Duan-laoban smiled. “Then it’s clear that it’s only natural for humans to make mistakes.”
She didn’t reply.
“During the investigation into the patients escaping from Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital, it was discovered that both He Yu and Xie Qingcheng went back into the burning building,” he said. “After they reentered, a lot of patients were rescued at an unusually fast rate. They told the police it was because some of the doors didn’t have padlocks and were only bolted from the outside—that explanation might be able to convince the police, but it’s not enough to convince either one of us.”
Duan-laoban took a sip of his strongly brewed pu’er tea and said languidly to Lü Zhishu, “However, Executive Lü need not worry—since He Yu is your son, he’s one of ours.”
Lü Zhishu’s eyes lost focus as she shook her head. “No, with his personality, I’m afraid he wouldn’t…”
“A person’s heart is made of flesh, and blood is thicker than water. Even if he doesn’t yet, he’ll be standing on our side sooner or later. What kind of son would disobey his mother?” Duan-laoban gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
Lü Zhishu said nothing. The aged pu’er tea was sweet and rich on the tongue. Duan-laoban took another sip.
Lü Zhishu said, “Executive Duan, when it comes to this matter, I can’t guarantee you anything. If he really does have blood toxin, he’s never mentioned it to us before…”
Executive Duan laughed out loud.
“Executive Lü, could that just be because you’re too biased? Even I know that you and your Lao-He don’t spend much time with your elder son at all. Of course he’s going to be distant from you two. But after what happened with the broadcasting tower, I think he might not be such an indifferent person after all—that Doctor Xie fellow you hired for him merely accompanied him for a brief period and showed him a bit of respect, yet that was enough for him to go to such lengths for him.”
At the mention of this, Lü Zhishu became unexpectedly indignant. “If that bullet had hit him somewhere vital, then…”
“Don’t you have He Li too? Surely He Li is more important to you?” Amused, Duan-laoban examined Lü Zhishu’s face—it resembled a milkshake that had been poorly mixed, covered in bright splotches of color. “In the future, you and Lao-He should remember to save some parental devotion for your eldest. He Li is a normal kid. I know you like him. But now that He Yu has blood toxin, it would be ideal if he listened to us unconditionally. It would save us a lot of trouble if we didn’t have to force him.” Duan-laoban poured himself some more of the red liquid from the teapot and said mildly, “You can take your time with this, Executive Lü. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Give him some more attention bit by bit, and in time he’ll forgive the way you neglected him before. There’s no rush.”
This time, he poured some tea for Lü Zhishu as well and gestured to the teacup. “This pu’er tea Xiao-Shen brought back from Yunnan is really quite good. Executive Lü should try it.”
Seeing that Lü Zhishu was frozen in place, the look in Executive Duan’s eyes sharpened slightly. “Oh, you—you’ve been very clever all along. That’s why you’ve been able to deceive your Lao-He for so many years. Your acting skills are no worse than those of the little idols Executive Huang keeps around. But when it comes to acting, it’s possible to get too emotionally invested or flub your lines. Executive Lü, do you understand what I mean?”
Lü Zhishu swayed unsteadily where she stood, as though his words had stabbed her in the foot.
Executive Duan smiled. “We’ve been collaborators for a long time now. I understand you even better than your Lao-He. When it comes to those matters from your past, Executive Lü, as long as you’re cooperative enough, I’ll always help you keep He Jiwei in the dark—no need to worry. Take a seat.”
He pushed the teacup closer to Lü Zhishu. “Try it. Don’t you love tea?”
At last, Lü Zhishu sat down slowly on the couch across from him. She tentatively touched the rim of the cup with her fingers, which had gone cold with fright. Only after she adjusted to the warmth did she lift the cup and take a sip.
She swallowed the tea, the tannins bitter on her tongue.
Lü Zhishu forced a smile. “It’s very good.”
Executive Duan looked at the uncertain expression on her face and said mildly, “Executive Lü, just give it your best effort—it takes a very long time to win somebody over. But there’s no need to feel too much pressure. Your esteemed son is only nineteen. The disease differentiation of psychological Ebola becomes more pronounced with time, so let him slowly train his abilities by himself for now; don’t lay your cards out on the table until later. I trust that by that time, he’ll willingly become one of our members.”
“Then…what are your plans for training him, exactly?”
“Let’s wait and see,” Executive Duan said in a relaxed voice, like he was playing an extremely interesting game. “We’ll take it step by step. He was an unexpected surprise to begin with, so I’m thinking that we might not need to plan too far in advance with him yet. Besides, he must have been deeply hurt by that Doctor Xie of his recently. When young people receive a shock, they should be allowed to adjust to it themselves—we’ll let him be for now.”
With that, he leaned forward to brew more tea.
“We have a lot to do too. The murder videos this time should have intimidated the rats that needed intimidating. We need to keep a close eye on Cheng Kang and Huzhou University and wrap things up cleanly. We’ve tossed a bone to the dogs, so we have to watch them gnaw on it until they’re done. Since we’ve already led them to that scapegoat overseas, we need to ensure that they don’t come sniffing around here.”
After he finished speaking, Executive Duan poured some more tea for himself with an air of self-satisfaction. “Be nicer to He Yu, but remember that it needs to seem natural. If He Jiwei finds out that something is amiss, the one who’ll suffer losses will always be you.”
Lü Zhishu looked at the image of her flabby, formless face reflected in the cup of tea. After a long while, she murmured, “All right. I understand.”