When Lou Mingshen asked this question, his tone was casual, like saying, “Look, the weather is nice today.” But his eyes were sharper than ever before.
Something in them seemed impossible to suppress any longer, about to burst out of their sockets.
“Her?” A trace of confusion flashed through Ming Yu’s eyes, but because of the words “my sister,” a few hints of suppressed sorrow also surfaced.
He performed perfectly the stir caused by unintentionally thinking of a deceased lover, as well as the confusion of suddenly having her mentioned.
If Lou Mingshen hadn’t investigated for more than half a year and already grasped some clues, he might have been fooled by him.
“You don’t need to keep pretending. I already know, ” Lou Mingshen said word by word, his gaze icy, “Jiang Fuyue is Lou Mingyue! She’s back!”
“Absurd! I think you’re seriously ill. Only someone with a broken brain would say such crazy nonsense!”
“Really? If she isn’t Lou Mingyue, then why did you return to the capital from the Northwest? Why did you suddenly want to treat your leg? Why did you suddenly change from your previous state of having no will to live, existing only to wait for death, to teaching and even forming a new experimental team?”
Lou Mingshen said, “I can’t think of anyone except her who could bring you back to life. I’m sitting here today telling you all this, the answer itself doesn’t matter. Whether you admit it or deny it, it won’t affect my judgment.”
Ming Yu looked at him for a long time.
His eyes were calm like an abyssal dead sea. “Since you don’t need an answer, why bother asking me? Lou Mingshen, you’re far less confident and certain than you claim. I think it’s necessary to remind you that Mingyue has been dead for twenty-three years, and the people who personally sent her to her death back then were you and Lou Mingxin! And now you say she’s come back? Heh… heh heh… Are you displaying your guilt, or expressing your repentance?”
“Using such an absurd method and such a clumsy lie to deceive yourself, does your conscience feel at ease? Let me tell you, she’s dead, killed by you and Lou Mingxin! Forever, forever she will never come back!”
“Shut up, ” Lou Mingshen stood up with red eyes, no longer possessing the earlier composure.
He was like an enraged lion, roaring as if to intimidate the other party.
“It wasn’t me, you know nothing, you know absolutely nothing!”
“Then what is the truth? Say it!” Ming Yu also stood up emotionally, meeting his gaze directly, refusing to yield.
“I hope more than anyone that she’s alive and well! All these years it’s not only you, Ming Yu, who has lived in pain and longing. I thought you would be the one who understood me best.” Lou Mingshen lowered his eyes, his tone lonely.
If hardness didn’t work, then he switched to softness.
For a brief moment Ming Yu was moved, but only for that moment. Looking at the other man’s slightly hunched posture, he spoke coolly:
“You should go. Don’t ask me these meaningless questions again. I don’t want anyone mentioning her in this way.”
Lou Mingshen withdrew the vulnerability that had appeared on his face. In an instant, he returned to his previous calm and deep demeanor.
Suddenly, without warning, he laughed. A trace of secrecy and strangeness flowed through his pitch-black pupils.
“Ming Yu, you shouldn’t be like this.”
“What are you talking about?”
Lou Mingshen sighed. “When I mentioned that Jiang Fuyue is Lou Mingyue, you shouldn’t have been so calm, nor so indifferent. Your first reaction shouldn’t have been denial. You, slipped up.”
With Ming Yu’s obsession and madness over these years, if he heard that Lou Mingyue might still be alive, even if the guess was so absurd and the possibility extremely small, he would grab onto it like a lifeline and try to verify it.
Instead of desperately denying it like he was now.
Therefore…
Lou Mingshen said, “You’re lying! You already knew she was my sister!”
Ming Yu’s body trembled.
Lou Mingshen sneered and stood up. “Before I came to see you, I only had fifty percent certainty. But now it’s one hundred percent, Jiang Fuyue is Lou Mingyue. She’s still alive!”
After saying this, he made as if to leave.
Ming Yu remained standing where he was, his eyes half-lowered, his voice heavy.
“…So what?”
Lou Mingshen paused mid-step but didn’t turn around.
Ming Yu continued, “Are you going to kill her again?”
Hearing this, Lou Mingshen seemed to be restraining something. His jaw muscles tightened hard, and for a moment his eyes were fierce. But soon that was replaced by bleakness and sorrow, and finally everything returned to deep silence.
He said nothing and strode out.
Bang!
The door slammed shut.
Ming Yu remained standing where he was. The last trace of sunset shone through the floor-to-ceiling window and fell upon him. Though it looked so warm, it couldn’t hide the chill covering his entire body.
The next second, he suddenly snapped awake. Realizing something, he grabbed his phone and called Jiang Fuyue.
“Sorry, the number you dialed cannot be connected at the moment…”
Ming Yu hung up and called again.
He received the same response.
“Lou. Ming. Shen!” He was so furious he nearly smashed his phone.
Since the call wouldn’t go through, he sent Jiang Fuyue a text message.
Mingyue, you absolutely must not let anything happen…
…
“Mm, the car has a small problem, I’ll arrive a bit later. No need to wait for me… Hello? Grandpa?”
Jiang Fuyue lowered her phone and looked at the screen. There was no signal, the call had been cut off.
She frowned.
Looking at the car stalled in the middle of the road, she suddenly felt like laughing.
Last time it had been Xie Dingyuan’s car. This time it was hers. Both times on the way home.
This time might be even worse, because the signal on this inner ring highway section was extremely poor.
She should be grateful that before calling the old man, she had already contacted a tow truck company. They said they would arrive within half an hour.
Jiang Fuyue stood by the roadside, watching the sunset gradually sink beyond the horizon, hiding the final trace of light.
Night fell.
The wind in the hills was a bit cold, striking the body with a chill that seemed to seep into the bones.
Jiang Fuyue tightened the windbreaker around herself and looked into the distance.
Suddenly, her phone made a ding-dong sound.
It was a new text message notification.
Just as she was about to open it, a black G-Class suddenly rushed toward her.
Jiang Fuyue’s eyes turned sharp, her body moving faster than her thoughts as she dodged aside.
At the same time, the car began to slow down and finally stopped.
The car door opened, and a tall figure stepped out.
The night was too dark, or perhaps the streetlight too dim, or the angle wrong. Jiang Fuyue couldn’t see his face clearly.
As he slowly approached, that face was revealed little by little under the light.
From the jaw… to the mouth… to the bridge of the nose… and finally those pitch-black eyes.
Lou Mingshen?
Why was he here?
Jiang Fuyue instinctively stepped back, trying to widen the distance.
In her previous life, the reason she had been successfully ambushed by that idiot Lou Mingxin, and even stabbed once more in the chest, was not because Lou Mingxin was particularly strong or clever.
It was simply because she believed Lou Mingshen.
“Sis, I’m at the old house. Will you come back and have a meal with me?”
At that time, he had been obedient and sensible, exceptionally talented. Unlike Lou Mingxin’s shallow flattery and ingratiation, his closeness toward her had been pure and simple, without asking for anything.
Whenever those eyes looked at her, they were always clean and clear, full of dependence.
“Alright.”
But she hadn’t expected that once she went, what awaited her was a dead end!
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