A bitter wind swept across the street. The sound of a sanitation worker pushing a tricycle through the snow gradually faded into the distance.
Snow melted against Gu Yan’s fingertips, yet he couldn’t feel even the slightest trace of cold.
His heart was pounding uncontrollably.
He looked in the direction the little boy had pointed, his chest filled with a tangled mixture of nervousness, anticipation, and a shame so deep he hardly dared face the person he longed to see.
It had been such a long time since he’d last seen Yi Heng.
Hadn’t Yi Heng already let him go completely?
Then why was he here?
Was he waiting for Yi Feng? Was it merely a coincidence? Or was there some other reason?
The feelings he had buried deep within his heart began stirring restlessly once more.
Every memory of their time together felt like pressing a sharp fang into a wound that had already festered beyond healing.
Before he even realized what he was doing, Gu Yan had started moving.
Then he broke into a run across the snow.
Seeing him dash across the road, the little boy immediately shouted,
“Wait for me! Didn’t your mommy teach you to look both ways before crossing the street? You have to be careful!”
Gu Yan ran all the way to the tree.
But there was no one there.
The little boy came running after him, panting heavily.
Finding the space beneath the tree completely empty, he scratched his head in confusion.
“Huh? But he was right here! How did he disappear in the blink of an eye?”
Gu Yan lowered his gaze.
A faint trail of footprints marked the snow, leading toward the street corner.
The little boy continued muttering,
“I really wasn’t lying. There really was someone standing here earlier.”
Suddenly, he noticed the footprints too.
As though he’d discovered a crucial piece of evidence, he grabbed Gu Yan’s hand and tried to pull him along.
“Quick! Come with me! He definitely hasn’t gone far! If we run, we can still catch him!”
But no matter how hard he tugged, Gu Yan wouldn’t budge.
He remained standing exactly where he was.
“If you don’t chase him now, you’re going to lose!”
The boy looked up anxiously at the beautiful older boy, clearly unable to understand his hesitation.
In his innocent eyes, the two of them were simply playing an exciting game.
Gu Yan blinked, shaking the snowflakes from his eyelashes.
“We don’t need to chase him anymore. I believe you. Thank you for helping that big brother deliver the umbrella.”
Children couldn’t understand the complicated thoughts of adults.
The little boy had only wanted to chase after the stranger to prove that he hadn’t been lying.
All he wanted was to be believed and acknowledged.
Sure enough, the moment he heard Gu Yan’s words, his face lit up with a delighted smile.
“You’re welcome!”
He stopped insisting that the pretty older boy follow him.
Still, he puffed out his cheeks and offered a solemn reminder, looking every bit like a tiny schoolteacher.
“But aren’t you two playing hide-and-seek? If you don’t catch him in time, you’ll really lose!”
Lose?
Something stirred in Gu Yan’s mind.
His fingers tightened around the umbrella handle.
But a moment later, images of those photographs marked with red crosses surfaced in his memory.
He drew a deep breath.
“No. I’m not going to lose.”
He couldn’t let all the insults and abuse he’d endured over the past few days be for nothing.
Nor could he allow the people he cared about, and those who cared about him, to suffer in vain.
He would tear away someone’s hypocritical mask and expose every last one of their crimes for the entire world to see.
Once he’d made up his mind, the restless pounding of his heart gradually settled.
Only then did Gu Yan realize how impulsive he’d been today.
He shouldn’t have run over here.
If Yi Heng had still been standing behind that tree, what expression could he possibly have worn when facing him?
Gu Yan bought the little boy a delicious lollipop, then sheltered him beneath the umbrella as he walked him all the way home.
The streets were already filled with the festive atmosphere of the approaching New Year.
Bright red lanterns hung beneath the streetlights, adding warmth and color to the snowy evening.
On New Year’s Eve, Gu Yan stayed home alone and cooked himself a bowl of noodles.
Ever since separating from Yi Heng, his daily meals had become extremely simple.
As long as they filled his stomach, that was enough.
Occasionally, he craved something delicious, but he couldn’t be bothered to go out.
Yet whenever he stepped into the kitchen, he inevitably discovered that he didn’t know how to cook a single one of his favorite dishes.
Ironically, his steamed fish and tofu with scallions were getting better and better.
Little by little, even his tastes began to change.
He no longer cared much for sweet, spicy, or heavily seasoned food.
Instead, he found himself growing increasingly fond of mild, delicate flavors.
Gu Yan had grown up sheltered from the world, like a flower carefully cultivated inside a greenhouse.
For the first twenty years of his life, apart from studying, everything had revolved around four simple pleasures:
Eating, drinking, having fun, and enjoying himself.
If even one of those things failed to go his way, he would act as though the entire world were collapsing.
But now, looking back on all the ridiculous things he’d done, the pointless sulking, the childish tantrums, and the petty arguments he’d started…
There was only one thing he genuinely wanted to say about his former self.
What a fucking idiot.
Gu Yan had once believed that a person’s tastes and habits were incredibly difficult to change.
Yet now, in the span of just one month, he had changed completely.
He had even become more skilled at slurping noodles than he had ever been at cutting steak with a knife and fork.
He supposed he was finally beginning to understand a little of the truth that adults seemed to know.
Aside from life and death, what in this world was truly so important that it could never be changed or erased?
Gu Yan finished every last drop of broth in his bowl, then left the remaining mess for the dishwasher to handle.
He had caught a slight cold recently.
A few days earlier, he’d gone outside without wearing thermal leggings, then returned home and wandered around barefoot instead of putting on slippers.
After four or five days of carelessly mistreating himself, his body had finally decided to punish him.
Refusing to wear thermal leggings had been a conscious choice.
But forgetting his slippers genuinely hadn’t been intentional.
That was another bad habit he’d picked up while living at Yi Heng’s house.
The irony was that Yi Heng’s words had turned out to be prophetic.
That really had been the last time Yi Heng reminded him.
Gu Yan slipped his feet into his slippers.
After eating and drinking his fill, a wave of drowsiness inevitably settled over him.
He slowly made his way to his desk, swept the scattered sheets of scratch paper aside, and cleared enough space to draw a diagram.
Du Ting owned only one car.
The tracking device attached beneath it had run out of battery several days ago.
Using the data he’d collected, Gu Yan had mapped out Du Ting’s movements across a map of Kyoto, carefully marking several locations the man frequently visited.
Among them were the dessert shop and a quiet bar.
Gu Yan had already sent someone to investigate.
As expected, the person Du Ting met at the bar was the very same person who regularly received the desserts he sent.
Beyond that, however, Du Ting was exceptionally cautious.
There were no other obvious weaknesses to exploit.
Gu Yan was still deep in thought when—
Whoosh—Boom!
Outside the window, a brilliant streak of light arced gracefully into the sky.
The clock struck midnight.
Dazzling fireworks burst into bloom above the city, exploding with sharp, crackling sounds and scattering radiant clusters of light across the night sky.
Moments later, fireworks began erupting from other locations as well.
The entire sky above Kyoto blazed with color, glowing almost as brightly as daylight.
A new year had quietly arrived.
A magnificent shower of golden sparks cascaded from the fading fireworks, its brilliance reflected in Gu Yan’s eyes.
Something stirred softly in his heart.
He picked up his phone, opened the long-neglected privacy settings on WeChat, and found a familiar contact.
It was a new year.
Yi Heng was probably at the Yi family residence right now, watching television with his family.
Or perhaps he was standing in a square somewhere, watching the fireworks.
Or maybe…
He had already gone to bed.
Even though Gu Yan knew his messages could no longer reach Yi Heng, he still wanted to send something on this special day.
A simple greeting would do.
Or perhaps just a few words wishing him well.
When replying to other people, he could always find the right words so easily and naturally.
Yet now, staring at this empty chat box, he found himself completely at a loss.
He didn’t know what to say.
Even ordinary couples who reunited after just a week apart would experience a period of awkwardness, unsure how to act around each other.
And things between him and Yi Heng had become far more complicated than that.
Gu Yan scrolled back through their chat history, hoping to recapture some of the familiarity they had once shared.
But the longer he scrolled, the more absurd the whole thing seemed.
He had actually reached the point of seeking advice from his former self.
In less than ten minutes, he had already reached the very beginning of their conversation.
Gu Yan froze.
It turned out they hadn’t exchanged nearly as many messages as he’d imagined.
Most of the time, they had simply existed together in the same space, keeping each other company in comfortable silence.
After hesitating again and again, Gu Yan eventually turned off his phone without sending anything.
It wasn’t as though Yi Heng would see it anyway.
There was no point.
After New Year’s Day, the weather gradually improved.
The sun shone brightly, and once most of the snow had melted, Gu Yan’s maternal grandparents arranged an outdoor picnic in the suburbs with several neighbors.
Knowing that Gu Yan had been unhappy lately, his grandparents wanted to bring him along to help lift his spirits.
Gu Yan had genuinely intended to join them, hoping to spend more time with the elderly couple.
However, just before they were about to leave, he received a phone call from the man at the repair shop.
“M-Mr. Gu, that person from last time contacted me again. It seems he still wants to hire me to do something for him. He sent someone over with cash. I thought the money might have fingerprints on it, so I didn’t dare touch anything. It’s still sitting on the coffee table in my house. What… what should I do?”
Gu Yan stopped midway through zipping up his backpack.
“How much money?”
“T-Two hundred thousand yuan…”
That much?
Gu Yan’s heart gave a sudden jolt.
An ominous feeling rose within him.
“Don’t panic. I’ll arrange for someone to move the money somewhere safe immediately.”
The money had to be carefully preserved.
The repair shop worker was a witness, and the cash was an invaluable piece of physical evidence.
Once they obtained surveillance footage from the bank and the surrounding residential area, they could follow the trail and investigate further.
Sooner or later, they would catch Du Ting and expose his schemes.
But the man remained visibly unsettled, his voice trembling.
“There’s… there’s something else. They also gave me another item. I think you need to come here in person. No one else can be allowed to see it.”
A metallic clinking sound suddenly came through the phone.
Gu Yan listened carefully for two seconds before the sound disappeared.
It sounded strange.
He couldn’t figure out what it was.
The man continued,
“I-I’m afraid they’ll find out. What if that person comes looking for me again and sees that the money and the other item are still sitting untouched on the table? What am I supposed to do? Please, Mr. Gu, you have to help me.”
Gu Yan set his travel bag aside.
“All right, I understand. Stay home and don’t go anywhere. I’ll come over around noon.”
It seemed he wouldn’t be going on the picnic after all.
Gu Yan transported all the picnic equipment he’d prepared to his grandparents’ house.
He helped the elderly couple load the prepared food and ingredients into the trunk, then arranged for two additional people to accompany them and provide assistance.
After all, his grandparents were getting older.
There was no need for them to handle every little thing themselves.
One of the neighbors looked rather disappointed upon hearing that Gu Yan wouldn’t be joining them.
“Our Mengmeng has been looking forward to playing with you for ages.”
Gu Yan smiled.
It was his first genuine smile of the new year.
“I promise I’ll make it up to her another day.”
After watching the elderly group depart, the smile on his face gradually faded.
His expression turned grave.
One of his subordinates sent a message confirming that the man had obediently remained at home as instructed and hadn’t gone outside.
Gu Yan returned home, removed the stud earring he was wearing, and replaced it with a slightly larger black one.
Then he got into a car and headed straight toward the man’s residence.
The residential complex where the man lived was old and badly deteriorated.
Paint peeled from the walls in irregular patches, while the ground was uneven and riddled with potholes.
Gu Yan met his subordinates at a wonton shop just outside the complex.
He took a USB flash drive from his pocket and handed it to one of them.
“You don’t need to follow me. If I haven’t come out after an hour, give this to Yi Heng.”
The drive contained every clue he had gathered so far, along with the preliminary chain of evidence he’d managed to piece together.
“Understood. But are you really going in alone, Mr. Gu? Why don’t you let me accompany you?”
Gu Yan replied,
“No need. Just do exactly as I say.”
The man lived on the ground floor of a small, four-story building.
Several battered bicycles were parked outside, their paint almost completely peeled away. The bicycle wedged between the others had even lost its chain.
An old water pipe, neglected for years, had cracked in the freezing weather.
Water had spilled everywhere, forming a thin layer of ice across the ground and making nearly every step treacherously slippery.
The corridor was equally cold and damp, filled with the unpleasant smell of mildew.
Gu Yan covered his nose and knocked lightly on the man’s door.
From inside, he heard a series of heavy footsteps approaching.
A moment later, the door opened.
The man cautiously peered outside. Only after confirming that Gu Yan had come alone did he finally open the door all the way.
“You’re finally here, Mr. Gu. I hid that thing in the bedroom. I’ll go get it for you right now.”
The man carefully closed the door behind him.
Standing near the entrance, Gu Yan swept his gaze across the apartment.
It was only a little over sixty square meters, hardly spacious, yet it was crammed with an astonishing amount of clutter.
Just as the man had said, his daughter was ill and hospitalized.
Still, the apartment was filled with belongings related to her. Her medical records alone formed a thick stack.
While the man went into the bedroom, Gu Yan took out a surveillance camera no larger than a fingernail.
He placed it on top of the refrigerator, positioning it to capture the entire living room, then carefully concealed it behind a few objects.
The two hundred thousand yuan sat neatly stacked inside a bag on the coffee table.
Meanwhile, the man seemed to be fumbling with something in the bedroom.
Suddenly, an enormous crash came from inside, as though an entire cabinet had toppled over.
Gu Yan walked toward the bedroom doorway, about to ask whether everything was all right.
But before he could speak—
A pair of hands reeking of sweat suddenly shot out from the room.
One clamped tightly over his mouth while the other violently dragged him inside.
Gu Yan’s head struck the doorframe, sending a burning pain through his skull.
He quickly glanced around the room.
The cabinet was still standing perfectly upright against the wall.
Nothing had fallen.
Instead, a coil of rope and a burlap sack lay on the floor.
And at last, Gu Yan understood what had caused the metallic clinking sound he’d heard over the phone that morning.
A pair of handcuffs.
The repair shop worker stood beside the window.
The moment he saw Gu Yan, he dropped to his knees in terror and began shouting desperately.
“I’m sorry! I really didn’t want to hurt you! I’m sorry… They forced me to do this!”
Gu Yan was stunned.
There was someone else hiding in this apartment!
There was no time to settle accounts with the man who had betrayed him.
Realizing how dangerous the situation had become, Gu Yan immediately threw a punch at the person dragging him.
But the muscular man’s hands were like iron clamps.
One look was enough to tell that he was a trained professional, someone who specialized in this kind of work.
The two immediately began struggling.
Within just a few exchanges, however, Gu Yan found himself at a clear disadvantage.
Then, with a powerful strike from the edge of his hand, the muscular man knocked Gu Yan unconscious.
“Brother Jun! Brother Jun… I’m begging you! I did everything you told me to do! Could you please not hurt him? He’s the one who saved my daughter’s life!”
The man stared at Gu Yan, who lay unconscious on the floor.
Trembling violently, he crawled forward and clutched the muscular man’s trouser leg. His eyes glistened with tears of regret and terror.
Brother Jun kicked him aside in disgust and glared at him viciously.
“Cut the crap! Grab the money from the living room and come with me. Otherwise, I’ll send you straight to hell with one stab!”
He was being paid to do a job, and there was nothing he hated more than people who wasted time with pointless hesitation.
The man shrank back, his entire body shaking uncontrollably.
He didn’t dare utter another word.
Gu Yan was stuffed into a burlap sack and carried out of the building like a bag of sand.
A van had already been waiting outside.
Brother Jun roughly threw him into the back seat, accepted a cigarette from the driver, and tucked it between his lips.
Then he forcefully shoved the terrified repair shop worker into the vehicle as well.
“Good work.”
The accomplice in the back seat restrained the man, then reached into a bag, pulled out two bundles of cash, and tossed them to the muscular man.
“Here. Your payment from the boss.”
Brother Jun put on his hat and nodded.
He placed the money inside a wheelbarrow standing beside the wall, covered it with bricks, and pushed it away, looking no different from an ordinary construction worker.
The van drove brazenly out of the residential complex and headed toward the outskirts of the city.
Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.
The subordinate waiting near the complex kept checking his watch, his uneasiness growing stronger with every passing moment.
An hour had passed.
Gu Yan still hadn’t come out.
Without another second’s hesitation, he rushed toward the motorcycle parked by the roadside and swung himself onto it.
Twisting the throttle all the way open, he sped straight toward the Yi Group headquarters.
When Gu Yan regained consciousness, it was because someone had thrown an entire basin of cold water over him.
His arms were pinned behind the back of a chair, his wrists secured with handcuffs.
His legs had also been tied to the chair legs with rope.
His coat had been stripped off, leaving him in nothing but a thin shirt.
The water soaked through the fabric, quickly turning unbearably icy in the freezing winter air.
Gu Yan stiffly raised his head.
Standing before him, casually smoking a cigarette, was Du Ting.
“Well, hello, Young Master Gu. Long time no see.”
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