Chapter 85: Information in the Pocket Watch
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
The man in a black suit looked at Gu Liyu, squinting his eyes. “You’re Gu Yunli’s son. Did you help him escape?”
“It was me,” Gu Liyu replied.
The sound of bullets being loaded echoed.
The man in the black suit lowered his head, picked up the honey tea on the table, and sniffed it before his nose. “Is this how your father welcomed you?”
Gu Liyu’s brows furrowed.
“Kid, finally realized something’s wrong?” The man sat down at the table. “I guess Gu Yunli used this drugged honey tea initially to knock out everyone, especially Gu Qingchuan. Because Gu Qingchuan understands your father’s tricks better than you do, he won’t fall for it as easily as you. He used your pheromones to suppress all the guards here and leave. He must have found a reason convincing enough for you to compromise, right?”
“He said… my mother is in the hands of ‘Eden’,” Gu Liyu answered.
“Your mother in the hands of ‘Eden’?” The man laughed. “There’s no way. When he lies with such a straight face, even the most outrageous lies become believable. Do you understand now?”
“He’s locked up here, unable to get the drugs that make people faint. This jar of drugged lemon honey was my mother’s private item, and it already contained drugging medicine. Gu Yunli’s escape plan… was coordinated with my mother.”
“Although you were manipulated by them, you still have to bear the responsibility. Come with me to the Alpha Management Committee.” The man said.
Gu Liyu lowered his eyes. “When An Lan wakes up, I’ll go with you.”
The guards behind the man didn’t have such patience; one raised the barrel of his rifle and said, “Releasing high-concentration pheromones to suppress the guards of the Alpha Management Committee, you’ve violated the rules! How dare you…”
The man raised his hand, gesturing for the guards behind him to shut up.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t provoke him when an alpha’s possessiveness is strong. Haven’t you noticed that he’s holding his lover in his arms? Are you so confident that you can hold your guns when he launches another pheromone attack on you?” The man pointed at the guards who had lost consciousness, being carried away by others. The others immediately fell silent.
Gu Liyu lifted An Lan, sat in the car arranged by the Alpha Management Committee, and went to the hospital.
Not until evening did An Lan gradually wake up. When he turned his head, he saw Gu Liyu sitting in a chair.
“Gu…” An Lan furrowed his brows, his head still a bit foggy. As his memories replayed, he recalled the last words he heard before losing consciousness.
They were all drugged by Gu Yunli.
“He’s awake, you should leave with us now,” a man in a black suit spoke.
Gu Liyu raised his hand and gently stroked An Lan’s hair. “Xu Xingran will come to pick you up in a while.”
An Lan was stunned; something must have happened during the time he lost consciousness.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon,” Gu Liyu lowered his head and gently kissed An Lan’s lips.
It was a simple touch, without any impure thoughts. An Lan instinctively closed his eyes because he could feel how sincere Gu Liyu was.
When Gu Liyu left, An Lan noticed that there was also an ankle bracelet on his ankle!
“Gu Liyu! You…”
“I haven’t entered my susceptible period; don’t worry.” Gu Liyu stopped at the door, turned back, and smiled gently at An Lan.
When the ward quieted down, An Lan hugged his legs. He couldn’t understand how things had developed to this point. There were a thousand and ten thousand questions in his mind, but he couldn’t get any answers.
Various sounds came from outside the door—nurses pushing carts, doctors discussing treatment plans, patients and their families crying. Amidst these sounds, An Lan heard another rhythmic sound.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock…
An Lan searched for the source of the sound. It was very close to him. He lifted the blanket, turned around, and picked up the pillow. Finally, under the pillow, he found a pocket watch.
He opened the pocket watch, revealing a photo inside. In the photo, Gu Yunli was very young, and Song Kelan was leaning against him.
An Lan knew that Gu Liyu wouldn’t casually give him a pocket watch, and this pocket watch obviously belonged to Gu Yunli.
An Lan placed the pocket watch next to his ear and listened. After shaking it gently, he found that the internal structure was stable, without any noise, indicating that there was nothing hidden inside.
He took out the photo and turned it over, but there was nothing on the back. As he was about to put the photo back, he noticed scratches visible in the light.
At this moment, a knocking sound came from the door. An Lan immediately hid the pocket watch under the blanket.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Xu Xingran.”
Hearing Xu Xingran’s voice, An Lan breathed a sigh of relief.
“Come in, the door is unlocked.”
Xu Xingran walked in, seeing An Lan sighing with his eyes covered. “Your Gu Liyu really knows how to play. Now he has played himself into the hands of the Alpha Management Committee.”
An Lan explained what happened when they went to see Gu Yunli to Xu Xingran, and then showed him the pocket watch hidden under the blanket.
Xu Xingran paused, lowered his voice, and said, “He gave you something, and you just showed it to me?”
“He trusts you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have called you to pick me up.” An Lan’s eyes showed no hint of suspicion.
“Why do I feel like I’ve been manipulated by him?” Xu Xingran said helplessly.
An Lan asked with a smile, “How did he manipulate you?”
“He used trust to kidnap me, making me work tirelessly until death.” Xu Xingran joked while packing up An Lan’s things. “Once we leave here, people from ‘Eden’ will be watching us.”
“Everyone relies on their own abilities.” An Lan replied.
They left the hospital, Xu Xingran drove, and An Lan sat in the passenger seat. As soon as he got into the car, An Lan started rummaging through Xu Xingran’s car.
“What are you looking for?” Xu Xingran asked with a smile.
“Pencil.”
“We’re in high school; where would pencils come from?”
“Then we can look for it after you take me home.”
Xu Xingran asked with a smile again, “You’re coming to my house… How much do you trust me?”
“Gu Liyu trusts you.” An Lan answered with a thick-skinned expression.
He knew that what he was about to do required a reliable helper. Xu Xingran was the only option and currently his most trusted friend.
“Here we go again, trust kidnapping.” Xu Xingran raised a finger, teasingly.
“By the way, do you know that your dad was once a member of ‘Eden’?”
An Lan’s voice fell, and Xu Xingran’s car immediately made an S-shape turn. “What did you say?”
“I said ‘once.’ And at that time, ‘Eden’ was still a charity organization.” An Lan replied.
“But my dad has never mentioned this to me.”
“I’m thinking… maybe Gu Yunli trusts your dad more than the members of the Gu family.” An Lan leaned on his chin, pondering.
“Why would you say that?” Xu Xingran asked.
“It’s simple. Gu Qingchuan hasn’t been detained by the Alpha Management Committee, so Gu Liyu could have entrusted me to him. He is a high-quality alpha, powerful in pheromones, and an expert in that field. If I have any issues with differentiation, seeking his help would be the fastest solution. However, Gu Liyu didn’t hand me over to him.”
“Indeed… if Gu Liyu suspects that my father is a member of ‘Eden’ and still entrusts you to me, wouldn’t that be like a lamb sent to slaughter?”
Xu Xingran parked the car in the garage. The Xu family was quite special, living in a confidential area, with a standalone house, and guards at the entrance.
It was An Lan’s first time visiting Xu Xingran’s house.
The door was heavy, giving off an ancient feeling, but upon closer inspection, it was made of wood on the surface, with a layer of metal in the middle, absolutely bulletproof.
As soon as they entered, the scent of books and ink filled the air.
The living room had two walls filled with bookshelves, holding books that had been there for some time.
The floor was wooden, making a slight creaking sound when stepped on. Sunlight filtered through the branches, casting a mottled and somewhat serene atmosphere on the floor near the window.
It was quite different from An Lan’s imagination of an alpha aristocratic family. There was no luxury here; instead, it resembled the office of a literature professor.
The coffee table was made of mahogany, with a set of tea sets on top, including a purple clay teapot and teacups.
“If you’re looking for a pencil, follow me.” Xu Xingran gestured to An Lan.
“Coming!”
Now was not the time to tour the Xu family. An Lan needed to figure out what secrets were hidden in this pocket watch.
Xu Xingran had his own study, with a soft carpet, spacious and bright space, and a bookshelf that could almost be called a small library.
He found a pencil from the drawer of the desk and handed it to An Lan, saying, “Have a seat.”
An Lan didn’t hesitate to sit down, took out the photo from the pocket watch, and used the pencil to rub over it, revealing a line of white small letters. Letters in front and numbers at the back.
“What is this?” An Lan asked, squinting.
After careful identification, Xu Xingran replied, “Safe.”
“A safe? We don’t have a password, a key, and we don’t even have the key when Gu Yunli arranged the safe. How do we open it? Moreover, we don’t even know where this safe is.”
“This is not a bank safe but an Alpha Management Committee safe. Gu Yunli is indeed smart. He was trapped by the Committee, yet he dared to store important information here. ‘Eden’ would never have expected this.”
“We’re going to retrieve it now. Is it safe?” An Lan became worried; there were only two of them now.
It was hard to say whether the others could be trusted.
“If we don’t retrieve it now, ‘Eden’ might beat us to it.”
Xu Xingran pondered, thought of something, and searched for Song Kelan on the internet. Surprisingly, he found a photo of Song Kelan giving a speech in high school. Xu Xingran printed it out, aged it, and then wrote a row of small characters on the back with an inkless pen before putting it back in the pocket watch.
An Lan, watching Xu Xingran with glasses and tweezers, probably understood his intention.
“Burn that photo,” Xu Xingran said. “Note down the safe number and password from it.”
“Understood.”
Once the pocket watch was ready, they immediately left for the Alpha Management Committee.
Leaving Xu’s house and entering the city, An Lan sitting in the passenger seat immediately noticed an old van behind them, with a sign saying a certain moving company.
“Xu Xingran, what should we do?”
Xu Xingran calmly looked at the car, glanced at the rearview mirror, and replied, “It’s just a cover. There are definitely other cars following us.”
“What should we do then?”
“Let them follow.” Xu Xingran answered, “They won’t openly follow us into the Alpha Management Committee.”
Xu Xingran’s analysis made sense.
As they drove into a tunnel, there was a “bang” sound as the tires ran over something, causing a blowout.
An Lan was startled, and Xu Xingran whispered, “Stay in the car.”
Xu Xingran pressed the triangle button, got out to check the tire, and the van stopped beside them. The door opened, and someone got out—it was Jiao Yun.
“Oh, isn’t this Senior SisterJiao Yun? It must not be a coincidence that I meet Senior after my tire blows out.” Xu Xingran said with a smile.
An Lan also became nervous; Jiao Yun might have been recruited by ‘Eden.’
“Where are you going? Need a ride?” Jiao Yun crossed her arms, a hint of mockery in the corner of her mouth. She had no good feelings towards alphas, especially high-quality alphas.
“We’re going to the Alpha Management Committee. Senior Sister, if you’re willing to take us, we’d be happy.”
Xu Xingran’s response was unexpected for An Lan.
“Get in the car.” Jiao Yun opened the door and added, “You’re not really planning to worship the Coach Gao, so I won’t say anything hypocritical.”
“I’m sincere.” Xu Xingran said with a smile, opening the car door and gesturing for An Lan to come out, mouthed to him, “It’s okay.”
An Lan got out of the car, Xu Xingran called a tow truck, and then actually sat in Jiao Yun’s car.
When they left the tunnel, Jiao Yun spoke, “Thank you.”
This surprised An Lan in the back seat.
Xu Xingran smiled and asked, “Thank me for what?”
“Thank you for helping me get revenge. I saw the news this morning; the Han family went bankrupt. They have no way to suppress and limit me anymore, making me live like a rat in the gutter.”
In other words, the alpha who had harmed Jiao Yun back then was from the Han family.
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
