In order to ease his mind, Shi Jin planned to secretly observe Lian Jun and judge whether he was angry or not based on various details. However, Lian Jun didn't give him the chance. After discovering that Shi Jin had finished bandaging his wounds but hadn't gone to rest, Lian Jun grabbed a piece of his clothing and pulled him in his wheelchair, personally driving him out of his room and closing the door.

"I wouldn't disturb his rest, so why did he kick me out?" Shi Jin felt resentful and a little sour. "Before, Number Nine could just sit on the sofa outside his room during his nap."

Xiao Si cruelly reminded him, "I think it's because you're too dirty now..." 

Shi Jin looked down at his clothes and argued with conviction, "Where is it dirty? This outfit is clean and I just put it on today!"

"But you haven't taken a bath in many days...or washed your hair..." Xiao Si cruelly reminded him.

Shi Jin's face stiffened as he carefully thought back and realized that he really hadn't bathed in several days. During that time, he had rolled on the ground countless times due to mission requirements, and now he felt itchy all over. He asked, "When we went to the hotel, didn't Xiang Aoting wipe me down?"

Xiao Si replied with pity, "Don't think about it. He helped you change into comfortable pajamas, which was already considerate of him."

Shi Jin: "..." 

In a hurry, Shi Jin rushed back to his room, stripped off his clothes, and took a thorough shower. He scrubbed his skin so hard that it turned red before putting on a thin set of pajamas. Checking the time, he realized it was almost dinner time. He quickly changed into some proper clothes and made his way to the dining hall.

When he arrived, Lian Jun was already seated at the table. As usual, he didn't say anything, just gestured for Shi Jin to sit down and start eating.

Shi Jin still couldn't tell if Lian Jun was angry or not. Seeing that most of the dishes on the table were his favorite, he felt touched and couldn't help but explain again, "Young Master Jun, I really just care about you. If you don't like it, I can change."

Lian Jun paused with his chopsticks and looked up at him, asking, "How would you change?"

"...Maybe be a little more reserved?" Shi Jin tentatively replied. 

Lian Jun put down his chopsticks and picked up his soup bowl, saying, "Finish your meal, then come with me to the study."

Shi Jin: "..." Why did he feel like the air pressure had dropped even lower.

......

After finishing their meal, Shi Jin obediently followed Lian Jun to the study. They sat across from each other with a tea table between them. Lian Jun carefully brewed tea and asked, "Is your wound taken care of?"

Shi Jin's gaze unconsciously fell on Lian Jun's fair fingers resting on the dark teapot. He nodded and replied, "It's taken care of. There's just a little redness and bruising, nothing serious."

Lian Jun poured the first cup of tea and began brewing the second one. He then brought up the topic, "Tell me about the mission this time."

Shi Jin carefully observed his expression but couldn't discern anything, so he obediently followed the topic and briefly recounted the process of the mission. 

As he listened carefully, Lian Jun kept his hands busy brewing tea. By the time Shi Jin finished speaking, the tea was ready.

Lian Jun poured a cup and pushed it towards Shi Jin, saying, "Try it."

Shi Jin took a big gulp and exclaimed, "It's delicious!"

Lian Jun: "..."

Shi Jin, who knew nothing about tea, received a belated reminder from Xiao Si, "Jin Jin, you don't drink tea like that. You have to take small sips and savor the flavor."

Shi Jin: "..." 

Lian Jun straightened up, looking at Shi Jin without saying anything.

Shi Jin felt embarrassed and began to sweat. He deeply understood the feeling of being caught in a lie, and shifted uncomfortably under Lian Jun's gaze.

"Why did you insist on coming to dinner today?" Lian Jun suddenly asked. 

As Shi Jin opened his mouth to continue his flattery, Lian Jun cut him off, "I want to hear the truth."

Sensing the change in tone, Shi Jin swallowed the flattery that had been on the tip of his tongue and carefully replied, "I'm afraid for your safety... Not many people know that you're still in B City, so when an old friend suddenly came to invite you out, I couldn't help but feel that something was off."

"...You're quite perceptive," Lian Jun nodded and leaned forward to remove the tea that had been steeping. He rang the bell for a servant to bring Shi Jin a hot milk tea and continued, "In the future, don't be so impulsive. If you have any doubts or suspicions, come to me directly for confirmation. Don't try to handle everything on your own. It's not a good habit to fight alone."

Was this an attempt to comfort him? Or was Lian Jun also teaching him how to handle crises properly? 

Shi Jin was taken aback as he looked at Lian Jun, who always had a pale face no matter how well he was taken care of. In a moment of impulsiveness, he blurted out, "Lian Jun, you must live on, live for a long time."

Lian Jun paused and looked up at Shi Jin.

Shi Jin was momentarily stunned by his own words, then sighed in resignation.

Before, he wanted to save Lian Jun for the most part because of the progress bar and Xiao Si, and a small part out of human kindness. But now that he had been with Lian Jun for so long, he had to admit that he only wanted to save him because he wanted Lian Jun to live.

Humans are emotional creatures, and Lian Jun was so good that Shi Jin didn't want him to die, not even a little bit. 

"Surviving is the key to having a future, Lian Jun. Can you please try harder? There are so many people out there who want you dead. If you don't take care of yourself, I'm afraid you might suddenly disappear one day. Plans can never keep up with changes, and danger doesn't wait for you to be fully prepared." 

Shi Jin spoke with a sincere and caring tone. As he spoke, he couldn't help but move closer to Lian Jun, grabbing the hand that was resting on the armrest of his wheelchair. He leaned towards him, emanating the worried aura of a concerned mother.

He was truly afraid. Lian Jun's progress bar was rising like a rollercoaster every time. His rational mind told him to take it slow, as there was still a chance before the progress bar reached its limit. 

But as they spent more time together, emotions began to affect his mood more and more. He couldn't guarantee that he would always remain calm. 

Lian Jun lowered his head, looking at his hand that was being held.

Shi Jin continued to mutter, "For example this time, so what if there are people in the main hall? They're so far away. What if someone in the adjacent private room suddenly attacks, or if Chen Qing decides to burn everything down? They won't have time to react."

Lian Jun didn't respond, but instead turned his head to glance at the increasingly short distance between them.

"And since you knew something was off about this dinner, why didn't you bring more people when you left? Even if you didn't bring everyone, at least bring Number Three and Number Five. Bringing only Number Two is too risky." Shi Jin was completely oblivious, still trying to persuade Lian Jun. Perhaps he felt that Lian Jun's hands were too cold, so he unconsciously rubbed them a few times.

Lian Jun's gaze deepened, and he finally spoke, "Shi Jin." 

"Hmm?" Shi Jin turned his head to look at him. Of the two of them, one sat upright and the other leaned in so close that they could almost count each other's eyelashes.

Lian Jun looked at Shi Jin with his sincere and innocent eyes that sparkled, and asked with a clear voice that was inexplicably low and slower than usual, "Is my hand nice to touch?"

Shi Jin was stunned, and the movement of rubbing Lian Jun's hand stopped for a moment. 

He looked down at the hands that were clasped together for a few seconds before suddenly letting go and backing off to the other side of the sofa. His expression stiffened as he awkwardly explained that he didn't mean to do it, while poking Xiao Si in his mind and asking, "How did I end up holding Lian Jun's hand? When did I do it?"

Xiao Si's tone was strange, with a hint of excitement: "Jin Jin, don't be afraid! I support you! You can do it!"

No, what are you supporting?! 

Shi Jin felt like his brain was malfunctioning or that he had been possessed by something strange. He looked at Lian Jun's inscrutable expression and struggled to swallow, attempting to save himself: "Young Master Jun, your hands are too cold. Although there is heating in the clubhouse, you should still wear more clothes."

Lian Jun ignored him, turned around, and slid his wheelchair to the desk. He picked up a document and began reading, his figure extremely cold.

Shi Jin secretly observed him, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Ten minutes later, Lian Jun suddenly looked up and gestured towards the study door: "Get out, you're too noisy."

Shi Jin was very aggrieved: "I didn't even say anything."

"Your breathing is bothering me," Lian Jun remained unmoved, extremely heartless. 

Shi Jin held his breath reflexively, trying to endure it for a while, but he couldn't bear the sight of Lian Jun's death gaze. He lowered his head in despair and left the study with heavy steps, looking back three times with each step.

With a soft click, the study door closed.

"Xiao Si, have I offended the boss? Am I going to have bad luck?" Shi Jin asked in a low voice on the corridor.

Xiao Si was very optimistic and spoke in a strange, excited tone, "No way, darling. The boss loves you very much."

Shi Jin felt injured inside, feeling that his golden finger was probably useless. It was still early, and after washing up, Shi Jin lay in bed for a while, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. He was tangled up in the question of whether Lian Jun was really angry or not. 

His thoughts wandered aimlessly until he suddenly remembered the important spoils of war they had obtained on their mission. In an instant, his mind snapped back to reality, and he sat up abruptly, saying, "Xiao Si, where are the files you copied for me? Show them to me!"

Xiao Si was also jolted out of some kind of dream, and excitedly clicked a few buttons before stuffing a pile of data into Shi Jin's brain.

Shi Jin's mind exploded, and he fell back onto the bed. 

The pile of data rushed through his mind like a slideshow, and he couldn't help but hold his forehead, feeling like his brain was about to burst from the overload of information. 

Upon seeing the situation, Xiao Si panicked and quickly adjusted his physical condition, adding a bunch of buffs. It apologized, saying, "I'm sorry, I forgot that this data doesn't belong to the original body and the memories of the original owner are different. You may not adapt to it."

"It's okay." With the soothing effect of the buffs, Shi Jin slowly calmed down and didn't have time to say much to Xiao Si. He focused on finding the information he wanted.

Xiao Si had copied a total of four sets of data, three of which came from the Werewolf boss, Brother Wolf, and one from Yuan Ma-zi. Each set of data was extensive, and if he relied solely on manual browsing, it would take at least three to five days to finish. 

Fortunately, with Xiao Si's help, Shi Jin was able to sift through and find something that looked like a customer list in about an hour. It was a list made up entirely of letters and numbers, with the letters at the front and the numbers at the back. It was so dense that at first glance it looked like a jumble of code, impossible to decipher.

"Earlier, I analyzed this with big data," said Xiao Si. "I'm pretty sure this is the Werewolf group's customer list. The letters at the front represent people's names, and the numbers at the back are contact information scrambled in a specific way. The last few numbers should be the dates the transactions were made."

Shi Jin asked, "Can you figure out the pattern used to scramble the contact information and unscramble it?"

"I can, but it'll take some time," replied Xiao Si.

Shi Jin breathed a sigh of relief and said, "No rush, take your time." 

He then began to ponder the list himself, trying to find useful clues by looking at the dates the transactions were made. 

However, he wasn't very good at this. Without analyzing for long, he was hypnotized and fell asleep by the dense numbers. 

......

He slept until dawn and woke up feeling heavy-headed and a little sore. He raised his hand to touch his forehead and was speechless to find that he was actually running a fever, and it wasn't low. 

Xiao Si was very guilty: "It seems that you received too much information at once, which affected your physical condition..." 

Shi Jin struggled to get up, but the more he struggled, the more dizzy he became. Helpless, he gave up and took out his phone to send a leave message to Lian Jun while asking, "Did you get any results from yesterday's analysis?" 

"Got some," Xiao Si answered, its tone heavy. "I've reconstructed all the contact information on the list, but none of the numbers match those of the known characters in the plot. And because the transaction was ultimately cancelled, there are no subsequent records of money exchanges, which is the most important information for comparison."

Shi Jin felt his headache worsen and asked, "So, we've analyzed everything but hit a dead end?"

"Not exactly...I used the first letter of the client's name on the list and eliminated names through a process of deduction. Finally, I arrived at the most likely name," Xiao Si replied.

Shi Jin sensed something off in its tone and quickly asked, "Who is it?" 

"Xu Chuan, the trusted lawyer of Shi Xingrui, the one who came to announce the will to you." Xiao Si replied, adding, "In the original plot, Xu Chuan was eventually won over by Shi Weichong and became his exclusive lawyer, providing him with a lot of important information and helping him consolidate his position in Ruihang."

Shi Jin was speechless and quiet for a while before confirming, "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Xiao Si answered confidently. Seeing his expression was not good, it reassured him, "Of course, it's also possible that I analyzed it wrong. After all, there is no concrete evidence to prove that the letters on the client list belong to Xu Chuan." 

"No need for proof," said Shi Jin as he lay back on the bed and let out a long sigh. "The person who made a deal with the Werewolf is most likely him. Do you remember the abnormal increase in the progress bar after I refused to sign the will? At the time, I couldn't figure out why the progress bar would increase instead of decrease after I refused the inheritance. Now I understand that the problem was not with me refusing the inheritance, but with me refusing to sign 'that' will document."

Xiao Si immediately understood his meaning and asked, "Jin Jin, are you saying that the will document that Xu Chuan brought had a problem?" 

"Most likely, but all of this is just my speculation," replied Shi Jin. 

His mind was in a jumble, unable to sort out his various thoughts. 

"In the original plot, the original owner was kidnapped shortly after signing the will and was tortured for a long time. By the time the original owner was rescued, Ruihang had already been taken over by Shi Weichong. What happened to Ruihang during the short time between the original owner's kidnapping and rescue, and what roles did Shi Weichong and Xu Chuan play inside? These are impossible to investigate, so all we can do now is speculate conservatively."

Xiao Si asked cautiously, "Then Jin Jin, do you think Xu Chuan could have colluded with Shi Weichong?" 

After some thought, Shi Jin shook his head and said, "I don't think so. Shi Weichong didn't seem to have any intention of killing me, and when we met at the hospital, the progress bar immediately dropped a few points. Now I'm more inclined to believe that Shi Weichong's timely appearance made Xu Chuan and the mastermind behind the scenes wary, and they didn't try to make me sign any documents or attack me directly."

Xiao Si was still worried, "But what if it was him..." 

"If it is, then I'll just have to accept that I'm a fool and my eyes are blind, trusting the wrong person. But I still don't think it's true. Shi Weichong shouldn't have colluded with Xu Chuan, at least he definitely didn't know the contents of the will in advance. 

"This was clearly stated in the original plot. The five brothers of the Shi family only found out about the will after it was announced that Shi Xingrui had given all the property to the original owner. Although the original plot had many loopholes, this kind of clearly stated fact shouldn't be wrong, right?" 

Shi Jin pulled the blanket over his face and continued his analysis, "Also, if you think carefully about the ups and downs of the progress bar after I entered the hospital, you'll see that when I first met Shi Weichong, the progress bar dropped to 997. But after I probed him with my words, the progress bar went up again. 

"The logic behind this is crystal clear - Shi Weichong got angry with my probing. If I had continued, he would have most likely stormed off, and Xu Chuan could have taken advantage of the situation to trick me into signing the documents... 

"Luckily, I shut my mouth in time and kept Shi Weichong in the hospital. Through his efforts, Xu Chuan was forced to divide the inheritance equally among the five of us. Otherwise, I would have been done for. If they were in cahoots, the progress bar wouldn't have fluctuated like that, and Shi Weichong wouldn't have had to stay in the hospital with me, he could just have made me sign the document directly." 

Xiao Si pondered over hisi words. 

After Shi Jin finished speaking, his thoughts became a bit clearer. He thought about his interactions with Shi Weichong during this time and absentmindedly lifted the blanket covering his face. "It's no use thinking about it now. To find out if Shi Weichong and Xu Chuan are colluding, there's a simple way," he said.

Xiao Si snapped back to attention and eagerly asked, "What way?"

"Simply ask him," Shi Jin replied.

Xiao Si was shocked, "Just ask him?!" 

"Right, just ask him directly. Shi Weichong is now a real good brother, so there shouldn't be any problem asking him face to face. And even if his good brother appearance is just an act, we still have the big thigh, so what's there to be afraid of? Anyway I won't die." 

Shi Jin suddenly became optimistic, sitting up from the bed, but then his vision blurred and he fell back weakly, saying, "No, I'm done for, Xiao Si my head is spinning. Help me send a text message to Number Two and ask him to bring a doctor over."

Xiao Si: "......"

A few minutes later, Number Two and Lian Jun came together with a doctor.

Number Two saw Shi Jin, who was burned silly by his fever, and began to gloat without any humanity, making fun of him for being too arrogant and getting his comeuppance.

Shi Jin rolled his eyes at him weakly and shifted his gaze towards Lian Jun. 

Lian Jun met his gaze, then signalled for the doctor to come forward.

The old doctor checked Shi Jin's temperature, raised his eyebrows, and patted Shi Jin's forehead. "Your brain is almost cooked, young man. It's impressive that you still had the energy to send a text for help, and you didn't even make a single mistake. You have good physical fitness."

Shi Jin felt miserable from the patting and said, "Uncle Long, please stop. My brain is spinning. Please give me some shots to ease the discomfort."

Uncle Long let go with compassion and skillfully prepared the medicine and needle. "I like obedient patients like you. You want shots, right? Don't worry, Uncle will give them to you." He even glanced meaningfully at Lian Jun beside him.

Lian Jun ignored him and slid his wheelchair to the other side of Shi Jin's bed, reaching out to touch Shi Jin's burning hot forehead. 

Shi Jin shivered at the touch of his hand, but then felt comfortable. He tilted his head, placing his overheated forehead in the palm of Lian Jun's hand.

Lian Jun stopped his hand movement, hesitated for a moment, and then placed his hand back on Shi Jin's forehead. He gently pressed it and asked, "Is it very uncomfortable?"

"I'm okay, just a little dizzy," Shi Jin replied, pushing his forehead against Lian Jun's palm.

Number Two stood beside them, unable to believe what he was seeing, looking as if he had witnessed a miracle.

Lian Jun's fingertips moved slightly as he touched Shi Jin's hair, suddenly saying, "Your hair has grown long." 

"Really? I didn't even notice..." Shi Jin closed his eyes, feeling his consciousness slowly slipping away. He knew he couldn't hold on much longer and was about to drift off, but quickly forced himself to open his eyes and said to Lian Jun, "Young Master Jun, don't stay here with me all the time. Be careful not to catch my illness."

Lian Jun listened to his muddled voice and gently stroked his hair, replying, "Go to sleep."

Shi Jin couldn't resist any longer and fell asleep.

Uncle Long's gaze lingered on Lian Jun's hand still resting on Shi Jin's forehead. He opened a fever-reducing patch, pushed Lian Jun's hand away, and slapped the patch onto Shi Jin's forehead, saying, "Shi Jin is right. Young Master Jun, you should leave quickly. Although a fever is not contagious, it's not good if you catch something else. Your body is weak and can't handle it." 

Lian Jun furrowed his brows and glanced at Shi Jin, who had a relieved expression after the fever-reducing patch was applied. He didn't say anything, withdrew his hand, and slid his wheelchair to Number Two's side, instructing, "Stay here and call me if anything happens."

Number Two nodded and watched as Lian Jun left. He walked to the bedside and looked at Shi Jin, who looked even more foolish while sleeping. Unable to resist, he reached out and flicked his forehead, muttering under his breath, "You...you won't really succeed in your delusions, will you?"

Uncle Long, who was binding the blood pressure cuff on Shi Jin, heard him and gave him a cold glance. He snorted and wiped the medicine on Shi Jin's arm before firmly and accurately inserting the needle into his vein.