Last Words

If Lu Yan's tone had not been so earnest, Yu Zechuan might have thought he was mocking him. After several seconds of silence, he could not help saying coldly, "Mr. Lu, perhaps you're joking."

"No, I'm not."

Lu Yan simply turned to face Yu Zechuan. Perhaps because of his serious illness, he always seemed a little more thin and frail than other people. Against that handsome face, it made him as mesmerizing as a whirlpool:

"If I had someone like you, I could never bear to leave him downstairs in the rain all alone."

Lu Yan said it with a smile, as though he were teasing.

Yu Zechuan's lips twitched, but he could not even manage a false smile. Even he found it ironic. Jiang Boyun, his official partner, had sent him to prison and never spared him a thought. Years later, the only concern he received came from Lu Yan, his "love rival."

Remembering that the man before him was Jiang Boyun's kept lover, Yu Zechuan's mockery deepened. "Do you really not have anyone?"

Rather than answer directly, Lu Yan held out the dry white towel in his hand. "Talking about things like that at night can make people sad. Maybe when the sun rises tomorrow, I'll answer you."

So please don't carelessly let him live to see tomorrow.

Whatever Lu Yan's reasons, his actions had at least temporarily smothered the killing intent rising in Yu Zechuan's heart. Yu Zechuan frowned, hid the dagger away again, took the white towel, and walked out of the bathroom without a word, roughly toweling off his hair.

With his hands in his pockets, Lu Yan walked up behind him and reminded him with concern, "Do you want to change clothes? Your jacket is soaked through."

Yu Zechuan seemed to hate having anyone stand behind him. The moment Lu Yan came closer, every muscle in his body tensed, and he immediately put some distance between them. "No."

Lu Yan shook his head slightly. "What if you catch a fever?"

Yu Zechuan almost wanted to laugh. Lu Yan probably had no idea he was on the brink of death, yet he still had the mood to worry whether Yu Zechuan would get a fever. "I've always been healthy. I've never been sick."

"That's good, then."

Lu Yan did not dwell on it. He walked to the full-length mirror and began unbuttoning his shirt, one button at a time. By the time Yu Zechuan realized something was off, the man's lean, fluidly muscled body was already completely exposed to the air.

Yu Zechuan's expression darkened. "What are you doing?"

It was as though Lu Yan had only just remembered there was another person in the room. "Sorry. My clothes got wet, and they're uncomfortable to wear. Could you sit on the couch and give me some privacy?"

The original host owed money everywhere, so this rented apartment was naturally not much to speak of. Calling it a living room was generous. It was really just a couch set beside the bed, with nowhere else to turn away.

Yu Zechuan glanced at his own dripping clothes. At last, he silently walked to the window and turned his back to Lu Yan.

Lu Yan took in the sight and was briefly lost in thought. Even after Yu Zechuan had come to such a vicious end, the cultivation in his bones was still hard to erase. Without Jiang Boyun, perhaps he would still be that graceful young gentleman of high society.

Which only made Lu Yan find it more absurd. Shouldn't Yu Zechuan have gone to kill Jiang Boyun first? Why was he lying in wait below Lu Yan's building?

Yu Zechuan had no idea what Lu Yan was thinking. He stared at the blurred rain outside the window, but all his attention was drawn to the soft rustle of clothes behind him. He could not help frowning.

Yu Zechuan was sexually indifferent and had no interest whatsoever in sex. He and Jiang Boyun had met in college and spent five years as business partners in a startup before making their relationship official in the sixth year.

Because of his personality, Yu Zechuan had never asked for intimacy. For some reason, Jiang Boyun had never made a move on him either. They had dated in that awkward fashion for half a year. Yu Zechuan considered them partners, but to outsiders, they looked more like business associates.

Yet at this very moment, the sounds of Lu Yan changing behind him were making Yu Zechuan strangely restless.

"I'm changed."

Lu Yan's voice pulled Yu Zechuan's wandering thoughts back. He turned and saw that Lu Yan had changed into a clean, fresh set of casual clothes: a loose white shirt and gray trousers. He looked warm all over.

At the sight, Yu Zechuan suddenly found the wet clothes clinging to him unbearably uncomfortable, as if countless ants were crawling over his skin. He tightened his grip on the knife hidden in his sleeve and only then realized that there was no reason to wait for Lu Yan to finish changing. After all, he had come today to kill him.

Yu Zechuan narrowed his eyes soundlessly and approached Lu Yan step by step. But Lu Yan seemed to be searching for something in the wardrobe. He suddenly turned to face him and said, "I have a set of clothes I've never worn. Why don't you put them on in the bathroom?"

As he spoke, he handed over a set of clothes still bearing their tags. The color was even somewhat similar to what Yu Zechuan was wearing. Everything from underwear to outerwear was included, his thoughtfulness so meticulous that there was nothing to fault.

Yu Zechuan stared into Lu Yan's concerned eyes without moving. For a moment, the room was so quiet that only the muffled, chaotic sound of rain outside could be heard. Lu Yan did not withdraw his hand, maintaining the same pose.

After a long silence,

"...No. I should go."

Yu Zechuan spat out the words coldly and suddenly shoved Lu Yan away. Irritably putting away his knife, he could only feel that today was not a good day for murder, and that he wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. But just as he was about to open the door and leave, the sound of a car engine suddenly approached from downstairs.

Yu Zechuan halted abruptly, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes.

Lu Yan's expression changed slightly. He turned to look out the window and saw a white sedan at the entrance to the alley. Jiang Boyun had returned!

This was a neighborhood of old apartment buildings, and after nightfall the surrounding area was quiet. The sound of a car driving through it was particularly jarring. Sitting in the driver's seat, Jiang Boyun picked up his phone for the eighth time and looked at the message on its screen. The three words, "you stupid asshole," leapt out at him, making the veins in his forehead throb.

Was Lu Yan out of his mind?! Who gave him the nerve to curse at him like that?!

When Jiang Boyun saw the message on the road, he had been so angry he had nearly spun the wheel around and driven straight home. But as the saying went, endure for a moment and the sea is wide; take a step back, and the more you think about it, the angrier you get. He had already driven all this way, and turning back now would be too much of a loss. In the end, he came to Lu Yan's building anyway.

"Lu Yan, what the hell are you up to?!"

Jiang Boyun opened the car door and got out, muttering a low curse as he walked straight into the rain. He took the elevator upstairs to the eighth floor, found Lu Yan's apartment by its number, and knocked hard on the door.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

The rapid pounding betrayed Jiang Boyun's anger.

"Lu Yan, open up. I know you're home!"

But the only answer was a deathly silence. The hallway light flickered with a crackle, broken from years of disrepair.

Jiang Boyun pounded on the door hard enough to shake it. "Explain to me what those two messages meant!"

No one inside answered. Through the black gap around the door, it was easy to see that even the lights were off. Jiang Boyun suddenly gave a cold laugh. "Lu Yan, don't play dumb with me. If you don't open the door, I'll call the police and report you missing!"

On the other side of the door, Lu Yan had a cold dagger pressed to his throat by Yu Zechuan. Yu Zechuan leaned close to his ear, expressionless, his voice cold and dangerous. "Find a way to make him get lost. Otherwise, I don't know what this knife in my hand might do."

Lu Yan: "..."

Jiang Boyun, that useless lump, had worn Lu Yan's patience down to nothing. He lowered his eyes to glance at the sharp blade at his throat, cleared his throat, and finally spoke through the door. "Jiang Boyun, go home. I'm going to sleep. We can talk about anything tomorrow."

Jiang Boyun laughed in anger. "Lu Yan, are you playing me?! You texted me that your stomach hurt and told me to rush over to take care of you, and now you're telling me to leave. Do you really think I can't deal with you?!"

Lu Yan could feel that these words had stirred Yu Zechuan's hidden anger, because the knife at his throat pressed tighter, as if it would cut through flesh the next second.

"He treats you so well," Yu Zechuan sneered.

No. He just wanted to get laid.

Jiang Boyun's arrival threw Yu Zechuan's previously calm emotions into disarray again. In the darkness, Lu Yan tilted his head away from the blade, thinking about how to fool Jiang Boyun into leaving. "If you know I'm playing you, why aren't you gone yet? Staying to celebrate the New Year? You've got so many people around you anyway. You don't need me."

Get out of here already. Find someone else to get laid with.

Jiang Boyun paused, thinking Lu Yan was jealous. They had known each other since they were poor, after all, and there was some history between them. He could not help lowering his voice. "Yan, don't be jealous. We've been through hard times together. Those people outside are just a bit of fun."

Something in Lu Yan's heart inexplicably skipped. Oh no, that familiar line...

Outside the door, Jiang Boyun said tenderly, "If you hadn't helped me back then, how could I have taken over Yinchuan Group so smoothly? Everything I have now belongs to you, too."

Lu Yan: "?!!!!!"

Fuck! Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!!!!!

Lu Yan anxiously wanted to cut Jiang Boyun off, but Yu Zechuan seemed to sense his intent and clamped a hand tightly over his mouth in the darkness. For a while, the only sound inside and outside the room was Jiang Boyun talking to himself:

"Yan, I know you owe a lot of money out there. Otherwise, you wouldn't have ended up living in a place like this. Be good and stay with me. Why don't we get back together?"

Get back together my ass!

Jiang Boyun: "Be good. Open the door."

Fine. Open it and I'll stab you to death!

Jiang Boyun: "Yan, if you don't open the door, I'm really leaving."

Lu Yan suddenly did not want Jiang Boyun to leave, because he thought everyone in the world deserved their comeuppance. But unfortunately, Yu Zechuan showed no intention of acting. Their bodies pressed together against the door as they listened to the man outside speak words of love, each one stabbing ruthlessly into Yu Zechuan's heart like a knife.

Lu Yan did not know whether Yu Zechuan was crying. He only knew that the hand holding the knife was trembling.

That heart was as endlessly rainy as the weather outside.

Perhaps because Lu Yan had not answered for so long, Jiang Boyun grew tired of talking. The air gradually fell quiet. A low curse sounded outside the door, followed by the defeated footsteps of a man walking away.

Jiang Boyun had finally left.

Leaving Lu Yan with a complete mess.

Lu Yan's mind raced as he considered how to explain what had just happened. But the next second, Yu Zechuan's hoarse voice sounded by his ear. "Since you helped shield me from the rain, what last words do you have?"

Lu Yan's pupils contracted. "?!!"

Yu Zechuan had lost his patience. He began to count down coldly. "Three..."

The point of the knife shifted slightly, moving to a better angle for stabbing.

"Two..."

The man's arm tensed with force, and he raised the dagger high.

"One..."

Lu Yan blurted out nervously, "I like you!!"

Clang...

An abrupt, faint sound rang out in the darkness.

The knife fell to the floor in stunned disbelief.