INSIDER Chapter 29

A room full of men.

Lu Chu slept very quietly, lying on his side with his fine bangs falling to one side, revealing a clean face. Song Gui was also quite calm, occasionally turning over with small movements.

It is said that when people are overly exhausted or mentally strained during the day, they snore and talk in their sleep at night. Lu Chu had never known if it was true, but tonight he saw it for himself. Li Jiapeng started snoring as soon as he fell asleep, intermittently talking in his sleep, and restlessly turning over and kicking, making quite a commotion. He Mingde didn’t have such big issues, but he ground his teeth in his sleep, which was somewhat piercing and, combined with Li Jiapeng’s noises, created a chaotic and noisy environment.

In this racket, Lu Chu, who was used to living alone and had sensitive hearing, was repeatedly awakened.

Each time he woke up, in a half-awake state, he saw Qi Li lying beside him, eyes open and staring at the ceiling.

After being awakened several times, Qi Li, still staring at the ceiling, asked in a low voice, “Can’t sleep?”

“More or less,” Lu Chu paused and continued, “What about you?”

If he remembered correctly, Qi Li had been awake every time he was woken up.

Qi Li didn’t answer his question but instead said, “Too noisy? Let’s switch to another room.”

With that, he got up without making a sound.

Seeing his movements, Lu Chu woke up fully and asked, “But… what about them?”

They had chosen to stay together for safety reasons. Wouldn’t it be dangerous to act alone now?

Qi Li, seeing Lu Chu not moving, didn’t explain. He just bent down, picked up Lu Chu, and started walking out. Lu Chu was startled by his actions but didn’t dare to struggle for fear of waking the others.

And so, he was carried out of the room, to another bedroom.

Qi Li placed Lu Chu on the bed and calmly said, “No one will be in danger tonight.”

Then he turned and fetched two quilts, covering Lu Chu with one and himself with the other. “Sleep,” he said.

Lu Chu was both amused and exasperated. He always found Qi Li difficult to communicate with, as he was decisive and action-oriented. Hearing Qi Li’s assurance that no one would be in danger tonight, he felt at ease. With Qi Li, Lu Chu felt an inexplicable mix of reverence and reliance, despite not knowing his background or why he seemed to know what would happen next.

Anyway, reassured that nothing would happen, Lu Chu relaxed and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Qi Li, however, only closed his eyes for four hours.

———

The next day.

Lu Chu and Qi Li woke up early, and Li Jiapeng and He Mingde didn’t even notice that the two hadn’t slept there the previous night.

Song Gui secretly observed Qi Li from a corner, but Qi Li’s vigilance was very high. Almost immediately, Song Gui was discovered and had to retract his gaze, occasionally glancing at Lu Chu with a glint in his eye — he had also woken up last night. He felt that choosing Lu Chu as a temporary “companion” would lead to many interesting events.

What would they be?

Song Gui smiled, a bit anticipatory.

Lu Chu’s grandmother also woke up early. While it was still dark, she tidied up and knelt in front of the Buddha statue, burning incense and chanting scriptures to pray for her grandson’s safety.

Lu Chu made breakfast. Having slept well in the latter part of the night, he got up early, greeted his grandmother, and took on the task of cooking, with Qi Li helping out. By the time everyone else was up, breakfast was ready.

After some deliberation, Lu Chu decided to show the photos to his grandmother. He didn’t initially want to involve her, but given the limited clues they had, she might provide a breakthrough.

When his grandmother saw the photo of Lin Lin, she was momentarily dazed before saying, “Ah, she was a silly girl. Life was going well for her, why did she have to run away?”

“Grandma, were you close with Guo Jianping’s first wife?”

His grandmother patted his head and said, “Not really, just remember she was a smart and likeable girl who always greeted me sweetly whenever we met…”

“What about this person?” Lu Chu showed the other photo.

This time, his grandmother thought for a long while before saying, “Isn’t this the village chief’s distant relative? She moved away later. I saw her family a few years ago.”

Song Gui’s eyes brightened, “Grandma, where did you see her?”

She thought for a moment and said, “I’m getting old, my memory isn’t what it used to be. A few years ago, I visited my second son in A City, and got bored, so I went downstairs to chat with the elderly folks and ran into her mother. We chatted for a bit.”

“But, this Guo young man and this girl… why are they so close?” As a woman, Grandma quickly sensed something was off. Although she didn’t say it explicitly, everyone understood her implication that the photo of Guo Jianping and Cui Mei indeed seemed intimate.

Song Gui put down his bowl and chopsticks, “It seems we need to go to A City.”

Lu Chu nodded, “But we should visit Wei Rong first.”

Hearing they would leave the village, Li Jiapeng, even though he couldn’t escape the matter, was still excited, “Great! Let’s finish breakfast and head to Wei Rong’s place, then we can leave!”

Grandma was worried, “My dear grandson, do you really have to go? I just don’t feel at ease…”

Lu Chu added food to her plate and smiled, “Grandma, I’m an adult now. What’s there to worry about? Besides, if it’s fate, we can’t escape it. Avoiding it isn’t the solution. We need to find the root cause and eliminate the disaster.”

Though reluctant, Grandma agreed.

After a quick meal, they headed to Wei Rong’s house again.

Lu Chu once suspected that the avenger might be Wei Rong’s stillborn child, but now that seemed highly unlikely. He had a theory but needed confirmation.

Having experienced it once, they ignored the stench in the yard and avoided being attacked by the deranged Wei Rong.

Lu Chu took the lead in the conversation, calming Wei Rong down and guiding the topic, then said, “You are Wei Rong.”

Wei Rong foolishly smiled, “I am Wei Rong.”

“Twenty years ago.”

“Twenty years ago.”

“You loved Guo Jianping.”

“I loved Guo…” Her silly smile vanished, replaced by deep hatred. She struggled and screamed, “No! I don’t love Guo Jianping… Guo Jianping… Guo Jianping! Bastard… animal!”

Lu Chu quickly followed her words, “Yes, you don’t love him.”

“Now, calm down and tell me, who is Lin Lin?” “Lin Lin… Lin Lin…” Wei Rong’s face turned back to a silly smile, repeating “Lin Lin.”

Lu Chu exchanged a glance with Qi Li and asked Wei Rong, “Did Lin Lin die long ago?”