ATAFBS Chapter 4

Baicheng.

In the evening, the private room on the third floor of the bar was already filled with people not long after its opening hour.

The person sitting on the host seat was Yu Huai, Yu Zhao and Lu Shuicheng’s biological child, who was older than Yu Juan by four years.

The surroundings were extremely lively with deafening music.

“What about your younger brother? With his exams ending recently, didn’t he make a fuss about coming with you?”

Yu Huai didn’t seem to hear clearly, so he asked, “What?”

The person by his side spoke in a louder voice, “I’m asking, where did Yu Juan go?”

Those people were all Yu Huai’s scoundrel friends who knew that he didn’t like Yu Juan, so they deliberately asked this kind of question to poke fun at Yu Juan.

Yu Huai raised his wine glass and said with a sneer, “He went to look for Zhou Huiyue.”

This answer was beyond their expectations.

There was finally someone who reacted, asking in a surprised voice, “Is Zhou Huiyue actually your younger brother’s fiancé?”

This matter of the Zhou family had caused a big ruckus. It hadn’t been easy to find the eldest son who had gone missing for so many years. Everyone had thought that such an event would have changed him completely, but they didn’t expect that he would turn out to be a genius instead– he had grown into an outstanding young talent despite all the difficulties.

However, not long afterwards, a car accident completely destroyed Zhou Huiyue’s life.

The spiteful people who witnessed Zhou Huiyue’s fall from grace felt that it was really a suitable outcome.

In a half-probing and half-curious manner, a person asked, “It can’t be that Yu Juan really plans to marry Zhou Huiyue, right? Then, your family…”

Under the flashing lights of different colors, Yu Huai sneered. “How can that be?”

“–He went to break it off.”

This news blew up at once, just like a drop of water in a frying pan coated with oil.

 

*

 

Since his decision was to stay, he needed to come up with a plan for the near future.

Yu Juan crossed the corridor on the second floor and picked out a room that could still be regarded to be in good condition. Back when Kang Mian was still alive, she paid great attention to this house. The furniture was of good quality, and there also didn’t seem to be a problem with the water and electricity.

Yu Juan was busy for the whole afternoon after deciding to tidy up the room.

After taking a bath, Yu Juan went downstairs and leaned against the sofa on the right side of the living room– he was looking up at the light emitted by the chandelier, seemingly lost in thought.

A mere thought was enough to make him realise just how many troublesome matters he had to resolve due to his decision.

Although Yu Juan might hate trouble, he didn’t have any regrets growing up.

At present, the most urgent issue on hand was how to deal with Lu Shuicheng and Yu Zhao who were in Baicheng.

With  Zhou Huiyue being trapped in this manor, it was still the Zhou family who had the upper hand– they could force Yu Juan to leave at any time.

As such, only by making the Yu family believe that he would be more useful staying here could he also convince the Zhou family.

Yu Juan thought for a while, then took out his phone and opened WeChat to look at the group chat he had blocked on the first day of his rebirth.

Most of the people in it had some connections to Yu Huai. Since he was young, the original owner liked to trail behind Yu Huai because he knew that his “mother” wanted them like that.

After opening the group chat, Yu Juan scrolled through the numerous senseless gossip before he found the content he was looking for.

An hour ago, they had suddenly started talking about Zhou Huiyue. Without mentioning Yu Juan, they talked about the engagement that had lasted for more than ten years and gloated over the fact that even Zhou Huiyue’s fiancé would give up on him–they also said that there was no way he could possibly turn things around after all this.

Yu Juan, “?”

He couldn’t help but smile again. Who was it who was so considerate to have already spread the news of him breaking off the engagement so that he didn’t need to act directly himself?

After carefully selecting a few messages to screenshot, Yu Juan called Lu Shuicheng.

When Lu Shuicheng picked up, the first thing she asked was, “Juanjuan, did you meet Zhou Huiyue?”

Yu Juan immediately complained to her, “I did, but I couldn’t talk to him about the engagement since he was too sick and muddle-headed the entire afternoon.”

“It’s too late now to go back, I’ll have to stay in this broken house.”

Lu Shuicheng said, “There’s no need to rush, it won’t be too late to bring it up tomorrow. Having a clear discussion is more important.”

Yu Juan’s temper seemed to be quite bad. “The environment here is too poor, I really can’t bear it.”

Lu Shuicheng said in a perfunctory manner, “Your brother will hang out with you once this matter is settled.”

Who wants to hang out with Yu Huai? Yu Juan thought to himself.

When Lu Shuicheng indicated that she would end the call, Yu Juan immediately interrupted her and said, “I…saw a few things, but I’m not sure if I should show you or not.”

Although Lu Shuicheng was already impatient from his complaints, she pretended not to be as she asked, “What is it?”

Yu Juan sent Lu Shuicheng the screenshots he had taken earlier. His face was expressionless despite speaking in a slightly quivering voice, “Will Uncle Zhou get angry?”

Lu Shuicheng felt a sudden chill when she opened the photos and saw the words that were written.

Even if there was no mention of the Yu family, anyone with a discerning eye could see that their side was overly impatient and anxious concerning this matter.

When she had heard about Zhou Huiyue’s car accident while still abroad, she had lost her composure from panic and could only think about breaking off the engagement. Now that the public was aware of the situation, though, she couldn’t be too anxious and hasty.

Even if Zhou Heng really didn’t care about this child, he would never want to lose face.

Besides, all these years, the Yu family had relied on this connection between them to cooperate with the Zhou family.

Neither she nor her husband wanted to offend Zhou Heng.

Since Yu Juan was already with Zhou Huiyue, why not have him stay there and pretend that he was taking care of Zhou Huiyue? Once those external disturbances calm down, there would always be other things that could draw the attention of the crowd. When they break off the engagement at that time, nobody would be able to point fingers at them.

Once she thought up to here, Lu Shuicheng said, “You’re right, we can’t be hasty with this matter. Otherwise, what would outsiders think?”

She put away her impatience and gently coaxed, “Juanjuan, we’ll have to wrong you. Just stay there for a while, okay? Think of it as a vacation after your exams.”

Yu Juan made a really cute OK gesture to the chandelier after hearing those words.

Handled easily, all according to plan.

Afterwards, he very reluctantly agreed.

On the other side, Lu Shuicheng still had some doubts about the conversation they just had, so she thought to herself, “Can Yu Juan actually be so calculating?”

She didn’t want Yu Juan to be like that. If he was, it wouldn’t be good if he were to break out of her control.

Auntie Xu comforted Lu Shuicheng, “Don’t worry, Madame. Even if he is, he should still be on your side.”

Lu Shuicheng nodded.

After hanging up, Yu Juan quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Probably because he was too tired, Yu Juan didn’t have a nightmare that night.

He dreamt of Zhou Huiyue’s eyes again. This time, though, it wasn’t that scene during dusk– rather, it was from this afternoon when the man had turned to look at him.

*

The room was completely silent.

Yu Juan’s voice, a little muffled, could be heard from an old phone that had half its screen broken.

Sun Qibai would rest on the only couch in the living room whenever he would drop by every once in a while.

–So there was a tapping device set up there.

With his head propped up, Zhou Huiyue absentmindedly listened to every word spoken by Yu Juan.

When Zhou Huiyue returned to his twenty-two year old self, he barely had any impression of Yu Juan. The other party was classified as someone he didn’t need to take care of, as someone who couldn’t hinder his plans.

The Yu family had treated him as a disposable object. After their last attempt to use him failed, they discarded him without a single shred of hesitation.

Zhou Huiyue was really busy and didn’t have the free time to deal with such a trivial matter. Back then, Yu Juan was already unable to get out of bed. Zhou Huiyue had just casually instructed him to not wander around and to not try anything illegal. Only a few months later when the doctor said that the other party had a short time left did Zhou Huiyue remember that there was such a person.

Zhou Huiyue went to see him for the last time. Yu Juan’s eyes no longer held obvious resentment– instead, they were as clear as a spring lake whose bottom could be seen at a glance.

He had died. He had died right in front of Zhou Huiyue.

At that second, Zhou Huiyue even felt the illusion of sympathy.

It was probably because of those green eyes.

And, at this moment, Yu Juan seemed very different from what he remembered.

If Yu Juan had returned to life, what would he do?

Kill him, then tell those people from Baicheng what would happen ten years or so later.

Or perhaps use him– feign obedience like how he did before when he wanted to steal the confidential business documents.

Whatever it was, it seemed like it had nothing to do with what he was currently doing– Yu Juan chose to barge in here arrogantly.

Not long after, there was a very light and subtle noise coming from the phone.

Zhou Huiyue raised the volume a bit and listened in a more earnest manner.

Three seconds later, Zhou Huiyue realised that it was the sound of Yu Juan’s breathing.

The other had fallen asleep, carelessly leaning near where the tapping device was.

Quietly, softly, as if he could easily be disturbed.

Zhou Huiyue closed his eyes and inexplicably had many thoughts.

He didn’t have much interest in the life he had lived before. After coming back, he dealt with those past events in a methodical manner.

Everything had already occured, so revenge was also inevitable.

It wouldn’t be too difficult– probably not too easy either, but rather just boring.

Yu Juan had called his name, and Zhou Huiyue had turned around to look at the person who shouldn’t have been present here.

Green eyes, red lips, snow-white skin.

Every color was completely pure and warm like the embodiment of summer.