MLV Ch 36

Huo Ang came over and grabbed his expensive tie.

“…Are you threatening me?”

Calmly, Shen Duo pried his fingers off one by one and said, “If you join my team, carrying a firearm will be legal. You’ll have a civil servant status and a state-issued license to carry. Think about it, Mr. Huo.”

“Alright,” Huo Ang grinned maliciously. 

“But I’m not interested in any of that stuff you mentioned. And I never wear ties.”

“What do you want?” Shen Duo asked.

Huo Ang, intending to humiliate him, said, “Let me fuck you once, and I’ll risk my life for you once. One for one. Consider it my payment.”

Shen Duo took a deep drag from his cigarette.

Huo Ang asked, “So…”

Before the word “what” could leave his mouth, Shen Duo suddenly struck. He grabbed the back of Huo Ang’s neck with both hands and slammed him down. At first, Huo Ang thought Shen Duo was going to kiss him, wondering, Are all university lecturers this wild these days? But to his surprise, Shen Duo smashed his chin against the car’s side-view mirror. The pain made Huo Ang’s vision go black. The bastard was vicious and incredibly fast. Before Huo Ang could even react, Shen Duo kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him to the ground. Shen Duo flicked his cigarette butt, and it landed right on the back of Huo Ang’s hand.

Shen Duo stepped on his hand to extinguish the cigarette and said, “I advise you to reconsider. My previous team all died in Taisui Village, and I’m really short-handed right now.” He bent down and asked amicably, “Have you felt my sincerity, Mr. Huo?”

“You son of a bitch…” Huo Ang cursed under his breath.

“I’m on a tight schedule. I’ll give you half an hour. Take your time thinking about it on the ground.”

Shen Duo opened the car door and started the engine. The thunderous roar of the engine erupted as the tires sped away, kicking up dust from the sand right next to Huo Ang’s head and spraying it all over his face. That bastard wasn’t even afraid of crushing his head to a pulp. Huo Ang had every reason to believe he did it on purpose!

A kilometer away, Shen Duo returned the rented Mercedes to the dealership, then took off the overcoat, watch, and tie and gave them back to the shop owner. What a joke. How could a humble gardener tending to the motherland’s flowers afford a ten-thousand-yuan handmade tie? He straightened his hair in the car’s rearview mirror, then left to catch a bus. He hoped Huo Ang would fall for it; after all, he really was short-handed.

Gasa People’s Hospital.

“Eighteenth birthday?” Jin Feize rested his chin on one hand. 

“Wasn’t that two months ago, on our anniversary?”

The mention of this made Jiang Ye’s heart sink. He remained silent for a moment before saying, “I didn’t receive any special gifts that day.”

“Xiao Ye, you’re so heartless,” Jin Feize said. 

“Weren’t the fireworks I gave you the most special gift of all?”

“You mooched those off someone else.”

“Nope,” he said seriously. 

“I hired a fireworks company to set them off just for you.”

He opened his phone, pulled up the order, and showed it to Jiang Ye, proving that the firework display was exclusively his.

“I would never give you something that someone else has used. Everything I give you is the best.” Jin Feize pinched his cheek. 

“The glass display case I’ll use for your head specimen in the future will also be the best.”

Jiang Ye: “…”

He didn’t want to deal with this guy. He tried hard to recall what he had done on his eighteenth birthday and whether he had met anyone special. Racking his brain, the most special thing that happened was Jin Feize pretending to be a girl to lure him into an online relationship. A gift… a gift… he repeated the word to himself. The only gift he received that day was a Gundam model his mother had brought back from a business trip. He hadn’t opened it. His mom brought back the same gift every time, and he hadn’t bothered to open one in a long time.

Could there be something wrong with the Gundam his mom brought back?

Now that he was in Gasa, he couldn’t return to Tianlu Mansion to check the model. He’d have to put it off.

Jiang Ye put away his laptop, closed the folding table, and unfolded the camp bed.

“Time for bed,” he said.

He was too tall and the camp bed was too short; his feet dangled off the end from the ankles down, which was quite uncomfortable. Jiang Ye closed his eyes, but the man’s face kept appearing in his mind. Who is he? Why do we look so similar? Could he be the father I’ve never met?

Regarding his father, Jiang Ye had asked Jiang Ruochu who his dad was back in elementary school. Jiang Ruochu’s reply was blunt: “You don’t have a dad. Don’t ask again.” Although Jiang Ye was withdrawn, he knew how to read people, so he never brought up his father again. Besides, the age didn’t add up. The man in the video looked to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight, while Jiang Ruochu was already thirty-eight at the time, and Jiang Ye was ten. If that man was his biological father, did that mean he had a child in his teens with a woman at least ten years his senior?

That was too wild. Even if this man was reckless, his mother wasn’t that kind of person.

He took out his phone and sent a message to Bai Nianci.

Argos: [Uncle Bai, is that man my father?]

Bai Nianci: [No.]

Such a definitive answer. Did that mean Bai Nianci knew who he was?

Argos: [Who is he?]

Bai Nianci: [I had forgotten too, but seeing him, and then seeing you, I slowly remembered. Xiao Ye, this world is far more terrifying than we know. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have given you the disc. Remember, don’t tell anyone what you saw on it!]

Argos: [What do you mean?]

Argos: [Uncle Bai, are you still there?]

Argos: [Uncle Bai?]

Jiang Ye called Bai Nianci, but no one answered. He waited for half an hour, but no new messages came through on WeChat. He sensed something was wrong and urgently called Shen Duo. 

“Teacher Shen, could you please check on Professor Bai Nianci? I suspect something has happened to him.”

Early the next morning, Shen Duo arrived at the hospital ward.

“Professor Bai is fine. He just fell asleep last night.” Shen Duo gestured with his chin. 

“Look, he probably replied to you.”

Jiang Ye sat up from the camp bed, fumbled for his phone, and saw that Bai Nianci had indeed sent a reply.

Bai Nianci: [Sorry, I drank too much and didn’t see your message last night.]

Argos: [You clearly know who that man who looks exactly like me is. Why won’t you tell me?]

Bai Nianci: [Xiao Ye, what are you talking about?]

Jiang Ye’s brow furrowed. He swiped up, intending to screenshot last night’s conversation and send it to him. But the chat history quickly reached the top. All that remained of their conversation from last night was:

Argos: [Uncle Bai, are you still there?]

Argos: [Uncle Bai?]

The earlier chat history was completely gone.

Jiang Ye asked Jin Feize, “Did you touch my phone last night?”

Jin Feize shook his head. 

“No, what’s wrong?”

Shen Duo pulled over a chair and sat down. 

“What did you need to see Professor Bai about that was so urgent?”

“One moment, Teacher Shen. There’s something I need to tell you.”

Jiang Ye inserted the disc into his laptop, opened the wedding video, and dragged the progress bar to the end. He wanted to show Shen Duo the man who looked identical to him, but no matter how he scrubbed through the footage, he couldn’t find that frame. Had someone stolen his laptop in the middle of the night and edited that part out? No, that wasn’t right. The video was still from the perspective of a young Jiang Ye holding the camera, and the footage still showed the bustling crowd of guests. But the whistle was gone, and so was the man in the bucket hat and black mask. The part where the man had walked towards him was now just an empty shot of the crowd, as if someone had digitally removed the man and his sound, leaving the background and ambient noise perfectly intact.

It was too bizarre. He subconsciously looked up at Jin Feize.

Meeting his shocked gaze, Jin Feize tilted his head in confusion.

Jiang Ye asked him, “Do you remember what we did last night?”

“Flirted?”

Shen Duo: “…”

Jiang Ye closed his eyes, trying to stay calm. 

“Be serious.”

“Alright,” Jin Feize smiled. 

“Watched your mom’s wedding video?”

“We saw something strange in the video. Do you remember what it was?”

“Something strange?” Jin Feize asked. 

“What strange thing?”

He looked completely baffled. Jiang Ye was secretly stunned. Bai Nianci had forgotten Jiang Ran, and now Jin Feize had forgotten too. The man had not only vanished from the video on the disc but also from their memories. Who had erased Jiang Ran from the video and from their minds? Who had such power? Jiang Ye suddenly remembered his stepfather saying his mother was looking for a non-existent city and a non-existent person. Could that non-existent person be Jiang Ran?

Jin Feize suddenly leaned in close to his ear and said mysteriously, “It wasn’t a thing, but a person.”

Jiang Ye’s head snapped up. 

“You remember?”

Jin Feize whispered, “A person who vanishes without a trace must have a reason for disappearing. If you’re the only one in a crowd who can see a ghost, you should pretend it doesn’t exist, just like everyone else. Because once you stare at a ghost, it will notice you too. Everyone thinks he doesn’t exist, so you should think so too. Didn’t Bai Nianci tell you? Don’t tell anyone. Except me, of course. Because I’m your dearest boyfriend, and you can tell me anything.”

“Why did he disappear?” Jiang Ye asked in a low voice.

Jin Feize shrugged. 

“Who knows?” He said with a grin, “See? Only the two of us remember. It seems we’re a match made in heaven.”

Jiang Ye: “…”

Jiang Ye would rather forget Jiang Ran like everyone else than be a match made in heaven with this lunatic.

Shen Duo pinched the bridge of his nose, looking a little helpless. 

“Xiao Ye, you said you had something to tell me, but you’ve been whispering with A-Ze this whole time.” He joked, “What is it you wanted to say? You two have been so close lately, inseparable. Don’t tell me you’re going to announce you’re dating?”

“Of course not,” Jiang Ye retorted instinctively.

“Then what is it?” Shen Duo asked.

His expression turned serious, clearly thinking Jiang Ye had an important clue.

Bai Nianci must have had his reasons for telling him not to speak of Jiang Ran to others. His sudden loss of contact last night was definitely not as simple as him just falling asleep. Jiang Ye believed something must have happened to him, but for some special reason, he couldn’t talk about it. And if Jiang Ye spoke up, he would likely run into some irresolvable trouble.

“…” Jiang Ye was silent for a moment, then said, “It’s nothing.”

Shen Duo clearly didn’t believe him. He sighed. 

“Xiao Ye, you’re definitely hiding something. What, you don’t trust me? You’ve been to Taisui Village; you should know what kind of strange things exist in the nooks and crannies of this world. You can’t handle them. If you have a clue, I advise you to tell me the truth.”

Jiang Ye’s brow furrowed slightly. Shen Duo wasn’t easy to fool. Since he had called him over, he had to give him a plausible reason.

“What I wanted to tell you,” Jiang Ye closed his eyes, forcing out the difficult lie, “is about us dating.”

Shen Duo’s face was a picture of shock, his expression indescribably complex. He stood up and paced back and forth in front of the bed. 

“No, that’s not right. Jiang Ye, I remember you have a girlfriend. She even gave you a gift box of stockings.”

“I’m his girlfriend,” Jin Feize said, grabbing Jiang Ye’s hand. 

“I was the one who gave him those stockings.”

Shen Duo couldn’t comprehend it.

“Why would you wear stockings?”

Jin Feize said as if it were the most natural thing in the world, “Because our Xiao Ye likes it, of course.”

“This joke isn’t funny,” Shen Duo took a deep breath, refusing to face reality. 

“Stop messing around.”

The old man in the next bed couldn’t listen anymore and chimed in, “What joke? These two kids are a couple. Everyone in this ward can vouch for it. Goodness, if the boys have the courage to tell you adults, don’t you have the courage to accept it? What era is this? You look so fashionable, but your thinking can’t possibly be that behind the times, can it?”