E ⋆ Chapter 11

He landed in He City at half past noon.

Yu Zhinian had barely closed his eyes on the plane. Over nearly fifteen hours of flight time, he had organized tens of thousands of words of shorthand notes, revised his thesis, read a journal, and just when he finally felt drowsy and wanted to sleep, the plane began its descent.

After getting off the plane, Yu Zhinian dragged his suitcase out, exhausted, and received a call from Attorney Li.

Attorney Li had come to pick him up personally.

He was at the exit, not holding a name placard, dressed very formally, somewhat out of place with his surroundings. When he saw Yu Zhinian, he broke into a generous smile.

Yu Zhinian got into the car quietly and sat in silence. Due to lack of sleep, he had lost the energy for socializing and conversation, and felt his limbs growing heavy.

Attorney Li asked where he wanted to go. Yu Zhinian thought for a moment, then called the moving company he had contacted in advance. They said they had been waiting for his call, so he gave them the address of Yang Ke’s house directly.

“Let’s go to Yang Ke’s place first,” Yu Zhinian told Attorney Li. “Smith has been pushing me to come get my things.”

Attorney Li had the driver head toward the Luoser district, then said to Yu Zhinian: “We need to talk about that trust matter.”

Yu Zhinian’s mind was a complete fog. Hearing about the trust made his head hurt even more. He just wanted to avoid it, and negotiated with Attorney Li: “I’m pretty tired. Can we do this in a few days?”

Attorney Li seemed about to say something but held back. Finally he said: “It can’t really wait.”

“Let me explain first, you listen,” he told Yu Zhinian. “You can decide later.”

“The trust Chairman Yang set up for you, if you don’t marry Yang Ke, it’s not just about you not getting the shares,” he explained very slowly. “It also involves many company resolutions.”

Attorney Li’s business car was spacious. He and Yu Zhinian sat on opposite sides, his expression grave as he explained to Yu Zhinian the many disadvantages of the two of them not getting married.

After Yu Zhinian finished listening, Yang Ke’s house was almost there.

He hadn’t come to the Luoser district often before, but had lived there for a long time afterward. Seeing the newly sprouted trees along the roadside, he felt emotions he couldn’t quite put into words.

“Attorney Li,” he forced himself to focus, organizing the information from Attorney Li’s earlier explanation. After thinking for a moment, he asked the one question that actually mattered to him: “But everything you just said, none of that really affects Yang Ke much, does it? He doesn’t seem to plan on inheriting the company.”

Li Lu paused, went blank for a moment, then said: “Well, it’s not quite like that, not entirely…”

The car pulled through the gate and finally stopped at the house’s front entrance. The moving company had already arrived, with their truck and workers standing by the vehicle.

The butler was also at the door, waiting for Yu Zhinian.

Yu Zhinian didn’t continue talking with Li Lu. He got out of the car, brought his luggage with him, and walked toward the butler.

Yang Ke wasn’t home. Only the butler and workers were there. The butler led Yu Zhinian and the moving company workers down to the basement, turned his key for a long while, and discovered the basement door was broken.

Yu Zhinian asked the butler: “Was the lock working before?”

“It was,” the butler said while making a phone call. “It still opened fine a couple of days ago.”

He called to contact a locksmith, but after making several calls and even going through an intermediary, every locksmith he reached happened to be unavailable today. Yu Zhinian and the moving company workers were squeezed onto the staircase leading to the basement, unable to go up or down.

Li Lu, usually a very busy man, had for some reason not left today either. He stood at the top of the stairs, peering down, and even asked the last moving worker: “What’s the problem?”

“Mr. Yu,” the butler put down his phone and told him apologetically, “I’m afraid we won’t be able to find anyone to open the lock today.”

Yu Zhinian’s head spun even more. Looking at the door that wouldn’t open, he asked the moving company supervisor helplessly: “Do you have any availability tomorrow?”

The supervisor looked embarrassed: “We generally need to schedule appointments a week in advance. There have been a lot of moving jobs recently…”

“Could you check for me?” Yu Zhinian asked, swallowing his pride to plead.

Just as they were negotiating, he suddenly heard a voice from above that was extremely familiar.

“Why are there so many people here.”

He instinctively looked up and saw someone new had appeared beside Li Lu. Since he wasn’t at the direct front of the stairwell, Yu Zhinian could only see black trousers, a white cuff, and a wrist wearing a watch.

“Looks like the basement door is broken,” Li Lu said, stepping aside a little. The person moved forward one step and bent down to examine the complicated situation on the short stretch of stairs. Yu Zhinian finally saw him.

Yang Ke was wearing a black suit. His hair was almost unchanged from when Yu Zhinian had left. His face was expressionless. His gaze moved from the butler who was making a call at the door, to the door itself, and finally met Yu Zhinian’s eyes.

Yu Zhinian’s heart pounded heavily. He opened his mouth, his lips dry, and because his mind had stopped working, he couldn’t say anything.

Fortunately, Yang Ke only glanced at him very briefly before turning to the butler beside him: “What happened?”

“The lock is broken,” the butler, gripping his phone, sidestepped Yu Zhinian and the other moving workers, and went upstairs. “We can’t find anyone to open it. Mr. Yu’s things are all inside.”

“Since we can’t open it, why don’t we have the moving workers come back another time,” Attorney Li said, his voice slightly raised from upstairs. “This blockage isn’t convenient anyway.”

“Since Yang Ke is here and Zhinian is too, why don’t we go upstairs and talk about things together,” Yu Zhinian saw Attorney Li’s head appear at the top of the stairs, looking at him. “What do you think, Zhinian?”

Yu Zhinian felt awkward. He felt there was nothing to talk about, and definitely didn’t want to discuss anything with Yang Ke. But standing downstairs wouldn’t make things clear, so he went up the stairs anyway. A couple of steps below Attorney Li, he said quietly: “Actually, I already know all the details from what you said earlier. I’ll think about it for a few days and contact you again, okay?”

He deliberately didn’t look in Yang Ke’s direction, but his peripheral vision couldn’t help catching glimpses of him. Yang Ke was a meter or two away from him, possibly looking at him, possibly not.

Yu Zhinian suddenly realized he seemed to have completely lost the ability to speak with Yang Ke. He became tense and disheartened.

After he finished speaking, Attorney Li didn’t say anything. Yu Zhinian thought for a moment, then said to the butler beside Attorney Li: “I’ll head back for now. Once the lock is fixed tomorrow, can you call me? I’ll come get my things then.”

“Didn’t I just hear the moving company say they’re not available tomorrow?” Attorney Li interjected. “How will you move things without people?”

Yu Zhinian turned to look at the moving company supervisor and said somewhat helplessly: “I’ll ask other moving companies. Once the door is fixed, I’ll definitely get my things moved out.”

Attorney Li fell silent again.

Yang Ke still hadn’t left. The scene was extraordinarily awkward.

Yu Zhinian didn’t know why he was still standing there. He took out his phone, wanting to call a car to go back to his rental place, but then he noticed his phone screen showed three missed calls from Lin Kai, the real estate agent. He had been too busy with the door lock issue to notice them earlier.

Lin Kai’s call came through again. As soon as Yu Zhinian answered, he received the new bad news: “Zhinian, the water pipe in your rental house broke. Water is everywhere. The place is uninhabitable for now.”

Yu Zhinian froze. He hadn’t expected to be this unlucky all in a single day. After a moment, he asked Lin Kai: “How long will it take to fix?”

“At least a week,” Lin Kai said carefully. “I’m really sorry. Let me refund part of your rent. I apologize.”

Yu Zhinian didn’t say anything. Lin Kai continued: “I’ll transfer the money back to your account right away. Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Yu Zhinian answered mechanically. “I’ll find a hotel for now.”

Lin Kai apologized to him many more times before hanging up. Yu Zhinian looked up and saw the concern in Li Lu’s eyes: “Zhinian, what’s wrong? Why do you need to stay in a hotel?”

“The water pipe in my rental broke,” Yu Zhinian told him helplessly. “I’ll have to stay in a hotel.”

Li Lu’s eyes widened: “That won’t do. Just stay here. It’s not like there aren’t rooms.”

“No need,” Yu Zhinian instinctively refused.

The butler suddenly spoke up: “Mr. Yu, your room is cleaned every day.”

Yu Zhinian clutched his phone and forced a smile at the butler, then refused again: “It’s fine. I’ll stay elsewhere.”

The moving company supervisor interrupted their exchange, telling Yu Zhinian: “Then we’ll leave for now. I’ll go back to the office and see if we can put together a team for you.”

He then left with his workers. Only Yu Zhinian, Li Lu, the butler, and Yang Ke remained standing at the stairwell. Yang Ke’s house became empty once more.

From Yu Zhinian’s angle, he could see clearly into a corner of the dining room and the stair railing leading to the second floor.

Yu Zhinian had always thought this was a warmly decorated villa, done primarily in cream and coffee tones, with many carpets laid throughout, not cold at all. He had once harbored unrealistic fantasies about it because of this, wanting to treat it as home.

“Staying elsewhere is so inconvenient,” Attorney Li, like someone who couldn’t quite read the atmosphere, continued trying to persuade Yu Zhinian to stay. “You’re already here.”

Yu Zhinian didn’t say anything more. He wanted to go get his suitcase, but suddenly heard Yang Ke say: “If you want to stay, then stay.”

“Stop dawdling,” Yang Ke said, then told the butler: “Take his suitcase upstairs.”

Yu Zhinian was taken aback. He looked up at Yang Ke. Yang Ke looked at him expressionlessly and said: “I’m not that petty. It won’t kill me for you to stay one night.”

Yang Ke’s words were never particularly pleasant to hear. Yu Zhinian said “oh,” and Attorney Li added from the side: “What’s with all this talk about dying? That’s bad luck.”

Yang Ke didn’t respond. After a few seconds, he asked Yu Zhinian: “Did you see my dad the day before yesterday?”

Yu Zhinian said “yes.”

“Why didn’t you say anything in the car,” Yang Ke asked him again. “Don’t you usually have a lot to say?”

Yu Zhinian didn’t quite understand Yang Ke’s intention in asking this, but he felt like Yang Ke seemed a bit angry. He didn’t know how to respond. After thinking for a moment, he decided to change the subject and asked Yang Ke with a pleasant attitude: “Why did you come home this afternoon? Aren’t you going to the office?”

“Taking a day off,” Yang Ke said tersely.

“Oh, so I’m really borrowing your place tonight,” Yu Zhinian said very sincerely. “Thank you.”

Yang Ke looked at him. Before he could say anything, his phone rang. He glanced at it and answered.

Yu Zhinian heard Zhai Di’s loud voice on the other end, though he couldn’t make out what was being said. He only saw Yang Ke turn the volume down a bit, say “I’m at home,” and then walk into the living room to take the call.