BL Ch131

Yu Duqiu held Bai Zhao, kissing him for a long while, thoroughly absorbing emotional nourishment. Bai Zhao, mindful of his injuries, was the one to create some distance between them, stopping Yu Duqiu’s pursuing lips with his hand. He chuckled, his voice low, “Aren’t you clingy, Young Master?”

The pad of his thumb, warm against Yu Duqiu’s lips, lingered, caressing the damp skin. Yu Duqiu opened his mouth, taking the finger in, swirling his tongue around it. As expected, the smile on Bai Zhao’s face faltered.

Little thing, still so inexperienced in flirting with him.

“…One last time.” Bai Zhao hastily pulled his finger out, replacing it with his own tongue, willingly letting himself be entangled.

This promise went unfulfilled. In the end, it was Yu Duqiu who turned his head away, breathless, ending the lingering kiss. He also caught Bai Zhao’s hand, which had already slipped under the covers, and nipped at his ear, “What mischief are you up to? Hmm? There are surveillance cameras in the ward, you said it yourself.”

Bai Zhao’s face was buried in Yu Duqiu’s shoulder, his breathing uneven. Reason had been driven away by the kiss, his mind still hazy. His hand under the covers gently rubbed Yu Duqiu’s waist, remaining silent for a long moment as he slowly quelled his impulses.

Yu Duqiu threaded his fingers through Bai Zhao’s hair, gripping neither too tightly nor too loosely, as if soothing a small animal. “It’s only been a few days, and you’re this impatient?”

Bai Zhao’s bobbing Adam’s apple nudged against his shoulder, “Every day.”

Yu Duqiu chuckled, the vibration in his chest causing a faint ache, but he was in a good mood and didn’t mind. He patted the man’s back, offering a generous promise, “When I’m discharged… Be good.”

Bai Zhao nodded, finally sitting up. “Dr. Sun said your injuries aren’t serious. You can go home in a week, but you have to wear the cast for a month.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” Yu Duqiu frowned. “One arm won’t be enough to restrain you… Doesn’t that mean you can bully me for a month?”

Bai Zhao smoothed out the wrinkles they’d made in the blanket, about to speak, when the ward door was suddenly pushed open.

A pretty young nurse smiled as she entered, walking straight to the bedside. Ignoring their intimate posture, she placed a bright red apple on the nightstand, her cheeks flushed like the apple, a shy blush coloring her face. She softly addressed Bai Zhao, “Mr. Bai, this is for you.”

Bai Zhao’s eyes flickered at the sight of the apple. He reached out and took it. “Thank you.”

The young nurse shook her head slightly, shyly saying, “You’re welcome.”

Yu Duqiu’s gaze shifted between the two of them. He asked casually, “Shouldn’t the fruit be for the patient?”

Bai Zhao looked at him, “Do you want it?”

“No, it was given to you. How could I possibly eat it?” A smile played on Yu Duqiu’s lips as he reminded the naive young nurse, “However, next time you enter my ward, remember to knock first. Otherwise, you might see something you shouldn’t.”

The young nurse’s face flushed crimson. She stammered, “Um… Dr. Sun asked me to tell you: this is a hospital, please… restrain yourselves.”

With Sun Xingchun’s fiery and straightforward temper, he would never say such polite and roundabout words. The young nurse had racked her brains to transform Sun Xingchun’s gruff, “Warn them, if they mess around in the hospital again, they’re out!” into a “kind reminder.”

“This apple, it wasn’t from me either… Dr. Sun asked me to bring it.” To be precise, it was given to Dr. Sun by a visitor.

Yu Duqiu’s expression softened slightly upon hearing this. “Tell Dr. Sun I apologize for the trouble.”

Having completed her task, the young nurse had no reason to stay in the ward any longer. She said, “Get some rest,” and excused herself.

As soon as she left, she excitedly ran to report to her friends, “Oh my god! The two handsome guys in the VIP ward were kissing for half an hour! Their hands were still intertwined when I went in! The handsome guy in the bed’s lips were so red and delicate from being kissed, I was too embarrassed to look,呜呜…”

The aroma of the apple drifted through the air, a pleasant and refreshing scent. Bai Zhao held the apple to Yu Duqiu’s nose. “It smells nice. I’ll peel it for you if you want to eat it.”

“Later, I don’t have an appetite right now.” Yu Duqiu reached out and held it, casually asking, “Before you accepted it, did you know it was from Dr. Sun?”

Bai Zhao’s mind was elsewhere and didn’t catch the underlying meaning of the question. He instinctively replied, “No.” He knew this wasn’t from Dr. Sun, but he couldn’t reveal the truth at the moment.

Yu Duqiu stroked the smooth, red skin of the apple, silent for a long moment. He waited for almost a minute, and seeing that Bai Zhao didn’t offer an explanation, he started to think he might be overthinking it.

This little guy always understood his thoughts best. If he hadn’t picked up on the implication, then he probably didn’t think much of it. If Yu Duqiu brought it up directly, he’d appear petty.

Young Master Yu never lost his composure in front of a lover, let alone his beloved.

Yu Duqiu mentally turned the page, trying to forget the small knot in his stomach. Though, with his memory, he’d probably never forget it. He could only pretend not to care.

Bai Zhao seemed to finally notice his unusual silence and took the initiative to start a conversation, “Do you remember saying that you received an apple for your tenth birthday?”

Yu Duqiu, just wanting a distraction, fell into reminiscence. “Yes, I was hospitalized here as a child. The nurses would give snacks or fruit to the children every day. On my tenth birthday, when I woke up, there was a red apple like this on my nightstand. It must have been from a nurse.”

Bai Zhao’s grip on the apple tightened involuntarily. He asked casually, “Could it have been from someone else?”

“No, besides the doctors and nurses, only my family could enter my ward. My grandfather had someone guarding it.”

Unless it was his phantom friend, Yu Duqiu thought absurdly, but a phantom clearly couldn’t give physical gifts. He never believed in ghosts or spirits anyway. And since that night, the phantom friend hadn’t reappeared. From a therapeutic perspective, it was a good thing, indicating his mental state had improved and he was no longer hallucinating.

Bai Zhao’s lips moved as if he wanted to speak, but then he pressed them tightly together.

Yu Duqiu found it strange, “What do you want to say?”

Bai Zhao shook his head, “I’m not mentally prepared yet. I need a little courage.”

“When have you ever lacked courage? You’re practically audacious.” Yu Duqiu gently kissed the apple in his hand. His lips, having been kissed repeatedly, were as red as the apple. He smiled at Bai Zhao, his fingers slowly caressing his cheek. “You’ve already stolen forbidden fruit with me, what else is there to be afraid to say?”

Bai Zhao stared at him, as if bewitched. A surge of emotion overwhelmed him, and he involuntarily opened his mouth—

Just then, the ward door was pushed open once more.

Yu Duqiu cursed his luck inwardly. He should’ve locked the door earlier. But when he saw the visitor, his eyes lit up in surprise. “Mu Hao? Why are you here? Are you able to get out of bed already?”

Mu Hao, being pushed in a wheelchair, was indeed the visitor. He was recuperating on the same floor. He hadn’t changed much in the past few days; still thin and unable to stand on his own for long. Fortunately, his complexion and mood seemed good, and he smiled upon seeing Yu Duqiu. “Duqiu, I’m so glad you’re safe. I heard from Ji Lin that you were injured. I just finished my surgery and came to see you.”

Ji Lin pushed the wheelchair. The moment he entered, he saw the two of them in their shameless posture and almost wanted to cover Mu Hao’s eyes. “Have you no shame? There are surveillance cameras here!”

“I know, Bai Zhao told me. Consider it a free viewing of the Best Romance Movie of the Year. You’re welcome.” Yu Duqiu fully embraced the title of “shameless.” “If you had come a little later, you might’ve caught the action movie version.”

It took Ji Lin a second to understand what he meant, and he immediately wanted to throw the two of them out of the ward. “Action movie? You can barely move!”

“Oh, the little prude understands immediately. Seems you’re not so innocent after all.” Yu Duqiu grinned, then added self-deprecatingly, “This time was a bit rough. I thought I could complete the mission easily, but Hong Yuanhang appeared out of nowhere… How’s the interrogation going? Did he confess everything?”

Ji Lin pushed the wheelchair further into the ward, stopping at a sunny spot by the window. He turned back and carefully locked the door before speaking, “I wasn’t involved in the interrogation, but Team Xu told me…”

“Wait, why weren’t you involved? You’re an eyewitness.” Yu Duqiu asked curiously.

Bai Zhao, who had overheard Peng Deyu’s orders in the corridor yesterday, explained, “Because he acted on his own, he’s been suspended. Chief Peng also made him write a 5,000-word self-criticism.”

“Bai Zhao!” Ji Lin immediately interrupted, but Bai Zhao spoke too quickly and didn’t heed his command. He’d already finished speaking, and everyone in the ward heard everything clearly.

Mu Hao was surprised, “So that’s why. I was wondering why you had time to keep me company. Ji Lin, that’s not good. Have you forgotten everything you learned at the academy? How could you disobey orders and act on your own? Who would be responsible if something had happened?”

His stern tone was a match for Peng Deyu’s. Ji Lin’s tanned face flushed red, like a cooked crawfish. He bit his lip, speechless.

Yu Duqiu’s playful gaze swept over the two of them. “Mu Hao, and you call yourself a criminal investigator. Think carefully, Ji Lin could’ve directed the operation from shore, why did he have to get on the boat? It couldn’t be because he has a secret crush on me, could it? Someone must have asked him to protect…”

“Can you shut up?” Ji Lin glared at him, baring his teeth. “Focus on your own recovery instead of meddling while you’re injured.”

Yu Duqiu shrugged one shoulder. “Fine, it’s not like I’m the one being wronged anyway. I only care about the results I got in exchange for a broken arm. Continue, what did Team Xu tell you?”

Ji Lin avoided Mu Hao’s inquiring gaze and summarized the main points. But even after condensing the information, the results of the night’s interrogation were still lengthy:

To be precise, before Hong Yuanhang was forced to join, Fei Zheng already had his own drug trafficking channels and routes, and didn’t need his assistance. Besides, Hong Yuanhang was clumsy and incompetent, hardly a good helper.

Fei Zheng had approached him last year.

According to Hong Yuanhang’s recollection, he had been invited to a private party, where the activities were naturally unsavory, involving gambling, drugs, and sex. He was set up, his drink spiked. He was unconscious for the entire night. When he woke up, someone told him he had lost tens of millions gambling and that the IOU had his signature on it.

That person was Jiang Sheng, whose bones were now nowhere to be found.

Jiang Sheng was Bai Zhiming’s adopted son. Because Bai Zhiming had cooperated with Fei Zheng, he also became one of Fei Zheng’s managers in the United States. He was responsible for contacting drug dealers, assassins, and other criminals that Fei Zheng had met in the US and for constantly tricking naive young people into joining their ranks. Hong Yuanhang was one of them. The assassins who had sniped Yu Duqiu in Charlotte were also contacted by Jiang Sheng on Fei Zheng’s orders.

As one could imagine, Hong Yuanhang, just a young man in his early twenties, could only succumb to the intimidation of these vicious criminals. He agreed to help them smuggle LSD and other new drugs into the country.

Later, somehow, his grandfather found out. At that time, Yu Duqiu had already begun investigating Mu Hao’s case. Hong Liangzhang learned that his grandson was transporting drugs for the murderer of the Rainy Night case and was so frightened he almost had a stroke. After careful consideration, he chose the wrong path—concealing the truth, becoming an accomplice, and protecting his precious grandson.

He thought that Fei Zheng would stop after dealing with Mu Hao. After all, the matter had already become so big, Fei Zheng definitely didn’t want to be caught by the police. But that was only the beginning.

“Hong Liangzhang was his real target, is that it?” Yu Duqiu asked.

Ji Lin nodded, “After Fei Zheng decided to kill you, he wanted to find someone you trusted and use them. Otherwise, it would be difficult to threaten you.”

Yu Duqiu didn’t trust many employees. Each of them was extremely loyal, and difficult to sway with money alone. The only way was to exploit their weaknesses, such as… their family.

It had to be said that Fei Zheng’s tactic had worked. He’d obtained Yu Duqiu’s itinerary, successfully infiltrated his home, and nearly killed him several times. In fact, if Yu Duqiu had harbored the slightest suspicion towards Hong Liangzhang, he would have quickly discovered all the inconsistencies. The problem was, Hong Liangzhang had served three generations of his family and wasn’t even on his suspect list.

“He has a keen eye for finding undercover agents.” Yu Duqiu sat up with Bai Zhao’s help, leaning against the pillows propped behind his waist. 

“So, Hong Liangzhang wasn’t involved in the Rainy Night case? Then can his sentence be lighter? He’s so old, won’t prison kill him?”

Before Ji Lin could speak, Mu Hao said, “I know you care about him, but he committed a crime and must bear the consequences. He can’t be exempt just because of his age.”

Ji Lin agreed, “Exactly. He’ll be sentenced according to the law. It’s not something we can interfere with. Besides, don’t forget, your second uncle died because of him, and he knew about all of Fei Zheng’s subsequent crimes but didn’t report them. You’ve already shown him enough mercy. If you hadn’t set a trap to force Du Shuyan to confess, he and his grandson might have become scapegoats. You helped them escape the death penalty, the prison sentence is what they deserve. There’s no need to plead for them anymore.”

Yu Duqiu touched the cast on his arm and sighed softly, saying nothing more.

Ji Lin continued, “The tracker in the gun when you went to the US was also planted by Hong Yuanhang and Jiang Sheng working together. Fei Zheng originally wanted to keep it a secret from Du Shuyan and send someone to kidnap and murder you. After all, you were still Du Lingya’s fiancé at the time, and because of the business marriage, Du Shuyan didn’t want to kill you either. Unexpectedly, Hong Yuanhang was cowardly and anxious. He told his grandfather, and Hong Liangzhang, unable to bear the thought of you dying, arranged for those masked men to obstruct the assassins. So our guess was right, the two groups did belong to the same organization, both criminals they had met in the United States.”

Bai Zhao asked, “Was Hong Yuanhang involved in the later incidents?”

Ji Lin shook his head, “He was abroad and wasn’t involved until you called him back this time. So he doesn’t know anything about what happened after you returned to China. We’ll have to wait until Du Shuyan and Hong Liangzhang recover before interrogating them further.”

Yu Duqiu looked up, “What happened to Hong Liangzhang? Was he injured when he fell into the water?”

“Nothing serious, just weak from old age. We’ll interrogate him properly after he rests for a couple of days and recovers. However, he put all the criminal evidence he had on a hard drive beforehand. The police have already been to your house and found it in a drawer in his bedroom. There was a suicide note underneath it. It seems he was prepared to die when he boarded the ship. Given that he repented at the last moment, I think the judge will take that into consideration.”

Yu Duqiu’s expression brightened a little. “If he didn’t have such resolve, he wouldn’t have dared to drug Du Shuyan and Fei Zheng. By the way, you just said Du Shuyan hasn’t been interrogated either? He hasn’t been seasick this whole time, has he?”

Ji Lin scoffed, “He had his stomach pumped, but it was too late. He’ll probably be going to rehab. Serves him right for doing such harmful things. It’s entirely his own fault.”

“Devoured by the very tools he used…” A similarly mocking smile appeared on Yu Duqiu’s face. “Maybe ‘karma’ really does exist. I’ll believe it for a second.”

The two men exchanged a look, their expressions equally gleeful.

Mu Hao, watching them, felt something was off. He couldn’t help but say, “Ji Lin, why do I feel like you’re… becoming more and more like Duqiu?”

Ji Lin’s villainous smile faltered. He quickly resumed his usual serious expression. “H-How could I be like him! Mu Ge, you must be tired. I’ll take you back to rest.”

“Wait.” Mu Hao raised a thin arm, weakly stopping him. “I still have a question.”

Ji Lin immediately listened attentively, even taking out his notebook, as if a leader was about to deliver an important speech, humbly asking, “What question?”

Although Mu Hao hadn’t fully recovered, his voice was firm and resounding. His righteous tone made people instinctively straighten up. “The night Wu Min asked me for help… that is, on my birthday, I brought her home to talk in detail. When we were almost at my doorstep, I seemed to sense someone following me…”

The three listeners froze.

“But it was too dark. The person flashed by, and I didn’t get a clear look. I didn’t think much of it at the time, thinking it might just be a passerby. But after what happened, thinking back, that person should’ve been one of their accomplices.”

“I heard from Team Feng that Fei Zheng had installed surveillance cameras at my doorstep long ago. The recordings showed me and Wu Min returning home. Team Feng should know who that third person is, right? Why wouldn’t he tell me when I asked him?”

“You didn’t seem to catch that person in this operation either. Who is he? He must be brought to justice. We can’t let a single one slip through the net!”

Clack!

The black pen in Ji Lin’s hand fell to the floor, rolling a good distance away.