TLSMLMMM Chapter 15

“Try again?”

As if under a spell, Chu Junlie obediently lowered his head and continued writing his name in the blank space of the marriage contract, practicing it over and over more than a dozen times until every blank corner of the paper was filled.

At last, his writing looked somewhat better than before.

“Once the newlyweds sign the marriage contract, we’ll wrap it in red cloth, add some gift money, and hang it on a cypress branch with a red ribbon to wish you a long and happy union. Next, we’ll move on to the engagement toast.” The person in charge looked toward the Yan couple. “Since there’s no wine today, we’ll use tea instead not only for the newlyweds but also for both families. Let’s all raise a cup.”

Mr. and Mrs. Yan stood up, smiling brightly as they looked at the two young men in front of them. They lifted their cups in sync with the staff and drank the tea in one go.

The tea was bitter, with a faintly sweet aftertaste. Chu Junlie placed the empty cup back onto the tray and watched as the masked staff quickly took it away.

With the engagement toast completed, the rehearsal for the ceremony came to an end. The organizer once again went over the important details with Si Yunyi and Chu Junlie, meticulously explaining everything.

Tomorrow, most of Harbor City’s elites would be attending this engagement banquet. Even though several other couples were also involved, the overall pressure remained immense.

After the rehearsal ended and the reminders were given, Si Yunyi checked the time and bid farewell to the Yan couple. Chu Junlie was about to follow him when he was suddenly stopped by them.

“Junlie, come back after you see Mr. Si off. We have something to discuss with you,” Mrs. Yan said with a smile.

“If there’s something to discuss, why not say it while I’m here?” Si Yunyi paused mid-step and turned back toward them.

“Oh, that won’t do.” Mrs. Yan smiled mysteriously. “Even though Junlie is marrying into our family, we still have to prepare a little something for him. We can’t let him enter the Si family empty-handed—it would make us the laughingstock of Harbor City.”

Since the Yan family wanted to give Chu Junlie a private gift, Si Yunyi had no reason to interfere.

“I’ll see Mr. Si off first.”
Chu Junlie followed behind Si Yunyi, his gaze warm and intent. His left hand carefully covered the back of his right, as though he wanted to preserve the sensation from earlier a little longer.

“Don’t take too long,” Mrs. Yan said cheerfully, waving them off as if unconcerned.

Chu Junlie escorted Si Yunyi all the way to the car. From inside, Si Yunyi watched through the window as Chu Junlie stood there, seeing him off.

“Wait.”
Noticing his figure in the rearview mirror, Si Yunyi’s eyes flickered slightly, and he told the driver to stop.

Chu Junlie looked on as the car halted suddenly. Then, the window rolled down.

He immediately ran over, meeting Si Yunyi’s gentle, calm gaze.

“Be careful with the Yan family.”

“I understand, Mr. Si.” Chu Junlie nodded quickly. Si Yunyi then slipped the ring from his own finger and handed it to him.

“Keep it safe.”

“I will.” Chu Junlie bent down to the car window, smiling brightly as he accepted the ring with both hands. He was already waiting for tomorrow and for the moment when, before everyone’s eyes, he would exchange rings with Mr. Si and have him personally place the one meant only for him on his finger.

Watching Si Yunyi’s car drive away, Chu Junlie happily tucked both rings away and took the elevator back to the banquet hall.

Mr. and Mrs. Yan were already waiting for him. The hall was now empty, with only one staff member left, cleaning up.

“He’s gone?” Mrs. Yan immediately asked as soon as Chu Junlie returned.

“Mr. Si has left,” Chu Junlie replied, nodding. For some reason, he felt slightly dizzy ever since a moment ago.

“Junlie, come sit here. Let’s have a proper talk.” Mrs. Yan patted the seat beside her, her tone warm and gentle.

Chu Junlie hesitated for a moment, then chose to sit opposite her instead, keeping a bit of distance.

“I know,” Mrs. Yan sighed helplessly, “you’re still holding a grudge against me for what happened before. But tell me—what mother would ever harm her own child?”

“When I first brought you to the Si family, I noticed right away that Si Yunyi looked at you in a very unusual way. You have to understand someone who can provoke that kind of reaction from Si Yunyi is someone I’ve never seen before.” Mrs. Yan’s tone softened, her eyes fixed steadily on him.

“I thought then that he might have feelings for you. But he’d already told Old Master Si that he had no intention of marrying, so I had to push him a little for your own future.” Mrs. Yan sighed again.

“You may have already heard, I had you marry into the collateral branch but that branch’s conditions were deliberately poor. In truth, that was just my way of testing Si Yunyi.”

Seeing that Chu Junlie still sat upright and silent, Mrs. Yan reached up, removed the necklace she was wearing, and stood to place it gently into Chu Junlie’s hands.

“I know you won’t believe anything I say right now, but someday, you’ll understand just how much your mother loves you.

This necklace was given to me by your grandmother when I got married. Now, I’m passing it on to you. I hope you’ll take good care of it.”

Mrs. Yan’s eyes were filled with sincerity and tenderness, her words slow and affectionate. Chu Junlie tried to keep his eyes open wide, but it was as if there were two Mrs. Yans swaying before him.

“Junlie? Junlie, what’s wrong?” Mrs. Yan’s face filled with concern when she saw him swaying unsteadily.

“I… I don’t feel well…” Chu Junlie’s words began to slur, his mind growing hazy.

“Finally, it’s working.” Mrs. Yan let out a long sigh of relief, yanking the necklace from his hands and putting it back around her own neck. Looking at the young man collapsed on the table, her face twisted in irritation.

“This was the most exhausting act I’ve ever had to put on.”

“I’m the one who’s exhausted, alright?” said the staff member who’d been cleaning nearby. The voice changed tone as they removed their gloves, mask, and cap, then peeled off the wig. After rinsing their hands, they took out their colored contact lenses.

“Xiao An?” Mr. Yan’s voice trembled with disbelief. When the disguised staff member revealed their true face, he realized it was his own son.

“Sorry, Dad. Fooling Brother Yunyi is just too hard. We couldn’t let you in on it, or he’d notice something was off.” Yan An sat down beside the unconscious Chu Junlie, slipped off his shoes, and pulled out the height inserts inside before tossing them aside.

“It’s always the half-truths that are the hardest to see through. And you told me that my studies in psychiatry and human behavior were useless well, look, they worked perfectly, didn’t they?” Yan An reached behind himself, pulled out a layer of foam padding, then tugged two shoulder pads from under his shirt and exhaled in relief.

Chu Junlie lay slumped over the table, unable to think, his consciousness slowly fading.

When he came to, everything around him was dark. Instinctively, he reached for the ring box at his chest only to realize that his hands and feet were bound.

With a creak, the door opened. The lights flicked on, forcing Chu Junlie to turn his head away. When his eyes adjusted, he saw Yan An walking toward him with a cheerful smile.

“Hello there, gege.”

Chu Junlie tried to struggle, his head still spinning.

“Don’t be so tense. I call you gege, and you actually believe I think of you as my brother?” Yan An sneered.

“You want to be my brother? Do you even deserve that?”

Chu Junlie tried to speak, but his throat was so dry that no sound came out.

“To tell you the truth, you’re nothing but trash my parents picked up off the street. The fact that Brother Yunyi took a liking to you was pure luck. But you actually thought you could climb your way up because of that?”

Disgust flashed in Yan An’s eyes. “I gave you chances. I offered you money to leave Brother Yunyi started with one million, then five million and you still wouldn’t let go. So don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

“Paternity… test…” Chu Junlie rasped, forcing out the words.

“You mean that paternity test my mother showed you?” Yan An laughed. “Idiot that was made using my hair, just labeled under your name. My parents only ever had one child and it’s me. You were nothing more than a pawn they picked up to secure a marriage alliance for me.”

Chu Junlie stared blankly at him, fury slowly hardening in his dark eyes.

“By the way, you really were lucky that time. Remember that pear juice you drank? It was laced. Brother Yunyi called you just in time and saved your pathetic life.” Yan An sighed as if in regret. “Mother and I had already decided where we’d bury you after it took effect.”

Chu Junlie clenched his jaw, glaring at the boy before him with hatred blazing in his eyes.

“What’s wrong? Isn’t it exciting to know that Mother and I both wanted you dead?” Yan An smirked. “But I have something even more exciting to tell you.”

He pulled out his phone and showed Chu Junlie the time displayed on the screen.

“It’s 8:45 p.m. right now less than twelve hours until tomorrow’s engagement ceremony.”

Yan An pocketed the phone, combed his hair back, and flashed a bright smile.

“Tomorrow, I’ll tell Brother Yunyi that you took my money and ran off, canceling the engagement. And this—”

He took out the velvet ring box Chu Junlie cherished so much and waved it in front of him. “—this, I’ll say you threw away in the trash. It was me who picked it up again. I’ll tell Brother Yunyi that I’m the one who truly loves him.”

“Give… give it back to me!” Chu Junlie’s eyes went red as he struggled desperately.

“Give it back? Keep dreaming.” Yan An grinned wider, stepping back with the ring box in hand.

“I’m only sparing your life for Brother Yunyi’s sake. Wouldn’t want him getting mad at me if you turned up dead.”

“An’an,” Mrs. Yan’s voice came from outside, “enough for tonight. You have an engagement tomorrow, wash up and rest early.”

“Yes, Mom.” Yan An beamed, turned around, and walked out with the ring box.

As soon as he left, Mr. Yan entered, holding a syringe.

“The oral sedative takes time to work, but this one will put you out much faster and it won’t leave any trace,” Mr. Yan said, flicking the syringe lightly. His eyes held a strange pity as he looked down at the man they had once “picked up.”

“Don’t blame us. If you must blame someone, blame your own bad luck for letting us find you in the first place.”

When Mr. Yan met Chu Junlie’s furious, pitch-black eyes like those of a trapped wolf, he instinctively turned his gaze away.

But then he remembered: this man was just a stray youth they’d taken off the streets—penniless, nameless, almost dead back then. So he turned back again.

Now even Si Yunyi, the only person he could cling to would become his son’s partner. The young man before them was even less to be feared; he deserved to be like fish on a chopping block, at others’ mercy.

“Just wait. Once An’an and Si Yunyi are engaged, we’ll naturally let you go.”

Mr. Yan’s voice drifted in Chu Junlie’s ears. Chu Junlie slowly closed his eyes, but Si Yunyi’s final words kept flashing through his mind: “Be careful of the Yan family.”

×××

The high-profile match between two of Harbor City’s prominent families, the Si family’s prodigy Si Yunyi and the Yan family’s child had everyone talking. The invitation didn’t list the Yan child’s name, so many were speculating: would the match be their younger son, or that suddenly surfaced elder son?

Old Master Chang put on his finest outfit and took his invitation to the hotel. On the third floor he only saw the young Chu he’d met once before.

“Sir.” Assistant Xu had just rushed over from Chu Junlie’s rented room, breathless and grave.

“I had the landlord open the door. Chu Junlie wasn’t there. The room had been tidied up; there was an iron basin and under it a dead mouse.”

Si Yunyi watched the guests coming and going, his gaze steady.

“The item under the iron basin has already been sent for testing, but the results will take some time,” Assistant Xu said in a low voice. “You’re alone now—what will you do?”

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Author’s note:
Little Chu (giving the Yan family a death stare): Just you wait.

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