Pei Ruyin stared at her for a moment before slowly and deliberately putting away his umbrella.
He was always like this—methodical, handling every aspect of life as if no challenge was too great to overcome.
He walked over to Xu Luling and knelt down in front of her, his expression filled with guilt but not a hint of shame from being exposed. His sincerity was enough to make most people soften. In the past, Xu Luling might have been swayed, but this time she remained motionless on the sofa, not letting a single change in his expression escape her scrutiny.
“Where exactly were you during those three hours you went missing ten days ago?” It seemed like an unrelated question to the matter of the ring, but it was deeply connected to that timeframe. She emphasized again, “You’d better not lie.”
In psychology, when someone says this, it often means they already know a secret but are giving the other person a chance to come clean.
The moment any lie is detected, the trust built over time crumbles instantly.
And that was exactly how it was for Xu Luling. Just half an hour ago, while waiting at home for Pei Ruyin, she had received a forwarded video from Wu Na.
It was a clip from a livestream, where the influencer was saying to their audience, “I’ve heard that airport sightings are common, so today we’re randomly filming passersby to see if we catch something interesting!”
As they filmed, viewers quickly noticed a man walking by.
The man’s face was only partly visible in profile, and soon only his back was seen as he walked away with another tall man wearing a hoodie, a cap, and a mask—his entire body covered. The two seemed to be talking and briskly left the frame.
The hashtag #StunningPasserby made its way to the lower ranks of the trending topics on a popular short-video platform, and Wu Na, who loved surfing the internet, stumbled across it and sent it to her: “Doesn’t this look like your jealous boyfriend?”
Xu Luling had just found her ring and wasn’t in the mood to watch. She casually glanced at it, intending to swipe it away, but her gaze froze.
With just one look, Xu Luling recognized him from the side profile alone.
She messaged the influencer privately, and their team, thinking they had violated someone’s image rights, quickly sent her the screenshot with the time and place of filming.
The date was the first day of the rainy season, and the time was even earlier than when she had arrived at the airport.
Low blood sugar? Passed out?
Xu Luling almost wanted to laugh.
It was as if she had been living inside a carefully crafted lie.
Pei Ruyin’s expression had darkened, and he closed his eyes briefly, clearly unsettled.
“I’m sorry about this. I lied,” he admitted, no longer avoiding the issue. Looking up at her, there was an uncharacteristic weariness in his usually calm demeanor, though his voice remained gentle. “There’s something I’ve been hiding from you. I have a twin brother, Pei Ru Xiao, and that day I went to meet him.”
“Ru Xiao,” she repeated, the name meaning “before dawn.” It was a good name. She mulled over it, not showing any surprise at the revelation of a brother. She had already known about him through Wu Na. “So this was something you needed to keep hidden?”
Her voice was light, but anyone familiar with her would know she was on the verge of anger. Their relationship now stood at a crossroads.
“Ru Xiao is the youngest. He was born slightly lighter than me, and while we look similar, our personalities are very different.”
Xu Luling recalled how Wu Na had described his brother as aimless and unruly. It seemed Pei Ruyin wasn’t lying about that part.
He continued, “I did well in the entrance exams and got into a top high school, but on the day of the college entrance exam, I had acute gastroenteritis and failed. I was devastated, but with the help of a teacher, I applied to a foreign university and got accepted. However, my family wasn’t wealthy, and later, Ru Xiao died in a drowning accident during a boat trip. My mother received a large insurance payout. The rest you already know… I didn’t tell you because I always felt there was something suspicious about it. I didn’t want you getting involved.”
Xu Luling, having caught onto a key detail, immediately asked, “So, he didn’t actually die?”
Pei Ruyin’s expression grew heavy as he reached out to gently hold her cool hands, as if seeking warmth. When he touched her skin, Xu Luling didn’t pull away—whether out of reluctance or an instinctive desire to believe his explanation, it was hard to say.
“I later learned that my mother staged Ru Xiao’s ‘accidental death’ so I could continue my studies,” he revealed.
Faking a death to claim insurance money, forcing his brother to live without an identity for years like a ghost—what kind of twisted mother would do such a thing?
How could someone even come up with such a bizarre insurance scam?
Every year, people come up with new ways to commit fraud, but deceiving an insurance company without a solid plan and cooperation is nearly impossible.
Such a cruel idea, extreme favoritism, and an elaborate scheme.
A chill swept through Xu Luling’s body. After a long silence, she asked, “You used that money to study abroad?”
Pei Ruyin didn’t deny it. “If I had known, I would never have let them do it. Ru Xiao was kept under my mother’s control all these years. After she passed away, I thought I had severed ties with my family. But a while ago, after my interview in a finance magazine, my brother must have seen me and decided to find me.”
He then explained his disappearance at the airport. “He just wanted to talk for a bit. You hadn’t arrived at the airport yet, and I thought a short conversation wouldn’t delay me, so I went with him.”
“But we ended up arguing about what happened, and he pushed me. I hit a wall and passed out. That’s when the ring got thrown off.”
“And where is Ru Xiao now?” she asked.
“I didn’t see him when I woke up. By then, three hours had already passed. I didn’t know how to explain everything, and I didn’t want to burden you with the truth. When I saw the candy in my pocket, I panicked and…,” Pei Ruyin bared his insecurities and vulnerabilities to her, something very unlike his usual composed self. “When I realized the ring was gone, I felt ashamed and thought of just getting a new pair. I admit, it was childish.”
After he finished, Xu Luling didn’t comment or ask further questions.
Even though his large hands still enveloped hers, providing warmth, she felt none of it.
“I’m a little hungry. Can you make me something to eat?” she said.
Pei Ruyin hesitated for a moment, recognizing that this was her way of signaling she wouldn’t pursue the matter further. He smiled, returning to his usual self. “Alright. I’ll reach out to Ru Xiao again and let you know if I hear from him. I got home late tonight, so how about a simple seafood pasta?”
Xu Luling nodded, her gaze no longer sharp or probing.
As Pei Ruyin walked away, the warmth left with him, leaving her feeling as if she were plunged into ice.
This man, so much like the one she knew.
Was he really Pei Ruyin? Or… was he Pei Ru Xiao?
•
Later that night, after Pei Ruyin had fallen asleep, Xu Luling quietly went to the study, turned on her computer, and began searching for news.
As he spoke earlier, something had come to mind.
She remembered the headless, charred body found near the Shitong River a few weeks ago—a case that had yet to be solved.
The time of death coincided perfectly with Pei Ruyin’s disappearance.
She knew her imagination was running wild, but there were too many coincidences, and they were all too perfectly aligned.
There were no updates on the investigation of the case.
If Pei Ru Xiao had “died” physically, it would be nearly impossible for the police to find any trace of him.
After all, who would believe a dead man could die again?
Even though modern DNA technology can now trace family trees, without a family member in the criminal database, it would still be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
As for the man’s ring found inside the snake, no one had come forward to claim it.
Xu Luling looked down at the ring on her finger.
If the ring found in the snake was a match to hers, Pei Ruyin’s decision to throw his away would certainly raise more questions.
As she connected the dots, suddenly, in the darkness, a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.
“Lingling, why are you up so late? What are you looking at?”
