Can I still be saved? [Transmigration] - Chapter 30
After scanning his meal card and getting his food, Su Yunjing looked around the cafeteria with his tray.
His eyes swept past the striking long-haired boy, he paused for a second, then quickly looked away.
Tang Wei, who was sitting across from Fu Hanzhou, waved at him when he noticed Su Yunjing.
But Su Yunjing seemed like he didn’t notice, and found a seat and sat down.
Tang Wei was puzzled. “What’s up with Wen Ci lately? He doesn’t sit with us anymore. Are we still his bros or not?”
For once, Lin Lie didn’t mock Tang Wei’s cringey English. He just glanced at Fu Hanzhou beside him.
Fu Hanzhou ate slowly, as if he hadn’t heard anything Tang Wei said.
Lin Lie sensed something strange.
Tang Wei, clueless as always, kept shouting for Su Yunjing to come over.
“Can you just eat your food?” Lin Lie grabbed him, putting extra weight on those last few words.
Tang Wei finally caught the hint. He looked at Fu Hanzhou, then subtly looked toward Su Yunjing, silently asking Lin Lie what happened between them.
Lin Lie gave him a look that said: *I don’t know either, but don’t poke the tiger.*
Tang Wei remembered the time Fu Hanzhou got into that alley fight and immediately felt Lin Lie’s advice was solid.
He made an OK gesture and quietly went back to eating, resisting the urge to gossip.
Fu Hanzhou seemed unaware of their small exchange, and didn’t react from beginning to end.
In the past couple of days, Su Yunjing hadn’t eaten with Fu Hanzhou. They hadn’t even taken the same car to and from school.
Since returning from the private island, they hadn’t spoken a word.
It wasn’t that Su Yunjing was angry. Instead he was more stunned by how much Fu Hanzhou had changed over the years.
Back then, the little cool cub might scare him with a dead mouse.
But this time, the situation was way more serious.
Wen Yanlai was a famous international actress. Even though she wasn’t the tabloid type, if a secret-child scandal broke out, it would still cause chaos in the entertainment world.
Thankfully, Wen Yanlai was careful. Everyone who attended the wedding was told to turn off their phones, even the staff. They communicated via walkie-talkie.
Because of that, the story didn’t immediately leak.
Still, Wen Yanlai had people watching sites like Diyah, Huaban, and Zhala to stop any leaks.
Su Yunjing could understand Fu Hanzhou not wanting a stepmother, but he didn’t approve of how he handled it.
What really surprised him was that, before this blew up, he hadn’t noticed how much resentment Fu Hanzhou held toward Shen Nianyun’s marriage.
He also hadn’t realized how much Fu Hanzhou disliked him.
Su Yunjing was even happy, thinking that he had established a preliminary friendship with the little cool cub.
As a result, he was slapped hard in the face.
His face was so swollen that he could not even look at it.
Even though they still sat next to each other in class, Su Yunjing and Fu Hanzhou barely spoke now.
Fu Hanzhou would simply put on his earbuds, shutting out the world and everyone in it.
Su Yunjing had once told him that wearing headphones too much would damage his hearing, but now thinking back… he probably never listened to a word he said.
Su Yunjing rubbed his temples, forcing himself to stop overthinking and focus on class.
Su Yunjing didn’t ride home with Fu Hanzhou in Old Wu’s car after school, as he had the day before.
Old Wu hadn’t attended the wedding and didn’t know what had happened.
Not wanting to stir up unnecessary trouble, Su Yunjing called him and said he had something to do that evening and told him to take Fu Hanzhou home first.
Su Yunjing slowly walked out of the school gates and was suddenly stopped by someone.
The guy wore a white shirt and jeans. His features were sharp and defined, with deep-set eyes, he looked almost like a mixed-race.
The stranger looked down at Su Yunjing. “You’re Wen Ci?”
Su Yunjing was in a bad mood. Facing this suspected provocation, his tone was not very nice,“What do you want?”
Xu Huai lowered his voice, but the malice in his words couldn’t be hidden.
“Your mom is a wh—”
A surge of anger shot to Su Yunjing’s head. He retorted,“Your dad’s just a horny old perv.”
Su Yunjing couldn’t think of anyone else who came up to insult Wen Yanlai except Xu Hongwen’s son.
Xu Huai’s expression instantly darkened.
“If it weren’t for your slut mom seducing my dad, you wouldn’t even exist, you little bastard.”
Su Yunjing saw he was fully in troll mode and didn’t bother reasoning, he fired right back.
“A woman being forced isn’t her fault. If your dad didn’t have it in him, who could’ve made him cheat?”
Xu Huai was choked up by Su Yunjing’s twisted logic and took a long time before snapping through gritted teeth, “Who knows what tricks your mom used.”
Su Yunjing scoffed,“He was in his thirties. If a nineteen-year-old girl could mess him up that bad, he must’ve been really stupid.”
“And you really think your dad is some great guy? He only wants to acknowledge me now because he needs a bone marrow transplant.”
“Tell him to go find some place nice and cold to rot.”
Xu Hongwen had leukemia and needed a transplant.
Reaching out to Su Yunjing now? Even an idiot could guess what he was after.
Su Yunjing’s intention was clear. To tell Xu Hongwen to forget that there was no way he was going to help.
But to Xu Huai, those words had a whole different meaning.
His dad was already one foot in the grave, and Su Yunjing telling him to go find a ‘cold place’ sounded like he was wishing him dead.
Xu Huai’s eyes glinted with rage. He growled,“Say that again!”
Su Yunjing gave him a cold smirk.
“With a dad like that, only an idiot would go running to him.”
The moment the words fell, Xu Huai raised his fist and swung it.
Su Yunjing was actually a very good-tempered person and avoided fights but the whole situation with Fu Hanzhou had left him tense and frustrated.
Xu Huai had picked the worst possible time.
Su Yunjing took a hit to the face and instantly hit back.
The two of them started brawling right outside the school.
Su Yunjing didn’t want to go home early, so he stalled around until 6:40 PM before finally leaving school.
By that time, most students had already gone home. Only a few stragglers were still walking out.
Seeing the fight near the gate, a few students stopped to watch.
A moment later, two security guards heard the commotion and came running out.
“You two! What are you doing?! Stop that right now!”
Hearing the shouts, Su Yunjing quickly snapped out of it. He kicked Xu Huai, grabbed his bag, and ran away.
Xu Huai wasn’t a student at their school, so even if he got caught, nothing much would happen.
But if Su Yunjing got caught? That’d be a whole different story.
He ran for quite a while before stopping, hands on his knees, panting heavily.
Passersby kept glancing at him with concern.
With the adrenaline gone, Su Yunjing finally noticed the burning pain at the side of his neck. He reached up and felt warm liquid.
When they were fighting, Xu Huai had used something sharp and sliced about an inch-long cut behind Su Yunjing’s ear.
Bl00d trickled down his neck, soaking his collar.
Holding his neck, Su Yunjing ducked into a nearby clinic.
Luckily, the wound wasn’t deep so there was no need for a stitch. The doctor at the clinic just cleaned it, applied some medicine and wrapped it with gauze.
Aside from that, he’d scraped his elbow and lower back when Xu Huai slammed him to the ground.
He also had bruises on his cheekbone and near his eye.
Xu Huai didn’t get off easy either, as Su Yunjing had messed up his face.
Nothing serious, so the doctor gave him some oral antibiotics and sent him on his way.
After the fight, Su Yunjing started to regret it.
How was he supposed to go home like this?
He called Wen Yanlai to check if she was home.
After they returned from the private island, she had tried talking to him once but clearly hadn’t figured out how to approach the conversation.
She just wanted to know how he felt.
They hadn’t gone deep into the past. She didn’t talk about what really happened between her and Xu Hongwen.
When he called, Su Yunjing could feel her awkwardness and tension through the phone.
Luckily, she wasn’t home.
She was busy confronting Xu Hongwen, shutting down rumors, and dealing her relationship with Shen Nianyun.
All that, and still not as important as Wen Ci.
But because he mattered so much, she didn’t know how to face him.
She still hadn’t dared to be honest with him.
Knowing she wasn’t home, Su Yunjing was relieved.
If she were, he honestly had no idea how to explain all his injuries.
When Su Yunjing got home, dinner was already over, and the housekeepers were tidying up the dining room.
He didn’t bother greeting anyone, just quietly headed upstairs.
As he walked down the second-floor hallway, he ran straight into Fu Hanzhou, who had just stepped out of his room.
Su Yunjing’s face was bruised and swollen, a mix of blue and purple.
His once crisp white shirt was wrinkled and stained, with large dried bl00d marks around the collar.
His long neck was wrapped in gauze, and bl00d had soaked into the hollow of his collarbone.
Fu Hanzhou’s gaze lingered for a moment.
Su Yunjing saw Fu Hanzhou, but he was not in the mood to say hello. He passed him and went back to his room.
It had been a long time since he’d been in a fight, and now his whole body felt like it had been taken apart.
Su Yunjing massaged his temples, feeling completely exhausted both physically and mentally.
Things were a mess between him and Fu Hanzhou, and he had no idea what direction it would go in now.
Sigh.
….
Fu Hanzhou often had trouble sleeping.
If it wasn’t nightmares, it was hallucinations.
It had been this way for ten years.
Oddly, he could fall asleep more easily in noisy places during the day.
He had another dream again tonight.
He dreamed of the first time he and Su Yunjing had celebrated their birthdays together.
They had just blown out the candles, and suddenly, Fu Hanzhou was locked up in the orphanage again.
Separated by an iron fence, Fu Hanzhou called Su Yunjing’s name, hoping he’d come back to cut the cake with him.
He kept calling for a long time, but Su Yunjing never came.
Instead, a swarm of ugly, grotesque bugs with horrible mouths came crawling toward him.
Fu Hanzhou woke up in a panic, sat upright for a long time to calm down.
Ever since that woman died, it hadn’t mattered much where he lived.
But the first time he realized the orphanage was a cage, was on their birthday, when Su Yunjing sent him back.
He was inside the gate. Su Yunjing was outside it.
That day had made him happy. He’d eaten his first piece of cake in his life. It was his first birthday.
Su Yunjing had washed his hair, he wore a new outfit bought by Song Wenqian, and he had the scarf Su Yunjing had gifted him wrapped around his neck.
And then… he was sent back.
On that cold, pitch-black night, he’d watched Su Yunjing walk away, and from behind the orphanage gate, he silently begged in his heart.
“Take me with you.”
It was like Su Yunjing heard him. He suddenly turned around.
At that moment, Fu Hanzhou was overjoyed.
But Su Yunjing only walked back to give him a piece of candy and told him to go to sleep early.
Fu Hanzhou was disappointed but still listened and obeyed.
Later, when Shen Nianyun came looking, he heard Su Yunjing admit he wanted to adopt him.
Only then did Fu Hanzhou feel at ease and agree to go home with Shen Nianyun.
If he didn’t have the ability to raise him yet, then he would grow up and raise him instead.
But that person… never waited for him to grow up.
He just disappeared from his life.
For all these years, Fu Hanzhou knew he missed him but he didn’t realize he also resented him.
It wasn’t until half a month ago, when the person named ‘Wen Ci’ appeared, that Fu Hanzhou recognized that hidden anger and hatred.
He hated that Su Yunjing didn’t keep his promise. He hated that he had been abandoned.
So many of Wen Ci’s little habits reminded Fu Hanzhou of that person.
Which is why he resented this boy more than anyone else, so much that he projected all of the anger and pain he’d buried for ten years onto him.
Fu Hanzhou didn’t care what kind of woman Shen Nianyun married or what kind of stepmother he found for him.
He was not targeting Wen Yanlai.
Fu Hanzhou just wanted Wen Ci to get out of this house and out of his sight.
Just thinking about that person made his whole body restless with frustration and irritability.
He didn’t know why he felt so anxious but blamed it all on his dislike of Wen Ci.
He reached for the cigarette pack on the desk, pulled one out, and put it to his lips.
As he was about to light it, his gaze landed on a jar of White Rabbit milk candies in the corner of the desk.
His long eyelashes fluttered.
He turned on the desk lamp and opened the top drawer, pulling out a letter that had already yellowed with age.
It was the last letter Su Yunjing had sent him.
Fu Hanzhou had never opened it.
He didn’t know what was inside, and he didn’t want to know.
Anyway, it was useless to know,The one who wrote it was already gone.
Fu Hanzhou lowered his eyelashes and stroked the letter with his fingertips.
….
The phone call from Su Yunjing finally made Wen Yanlai decide it was time to talk to him seriously.
After returning to Shen’s house, she knocked on Su Yunjing’s door.
Seeing the bruises on his face and hearing that it was Xu Hongwen’s son who had caused trouble, Wen Yanlai immediately exploded with anger.
She didn’t care about talking to Su Yunjing all night. Sheshe angrily returned to her room and called Xu Hongwen, demanding that he control his son.
Because of the visible injuries on Su Yunjing’s face, it wasn’t appropriate for him to attend school. Wen Yanlai contacted the school and requested two days off for him.
The wounds weren’t severe enough to require days of rest, but Su Yunjing agreed to stay home, he didn’t want the school investigating the fight at the gate either.
The next morning, Wen Yanlai kept making phone calls, as if arranging something.
It wasn’t until the afternoon that she finally had a moment and walked over to Su Yunjing’s door. She gave a bitter smile.
Things that need to happen… can’t be put off forever.
She pressed her lips together, took a breath, and knocked.
Su Yunjing opened the door from inside. Wen Yanlai gently asked, “Do you have a minute?”
Seeing the serious look on her face, Su Yunjing felt his heart tighten. He nodded.
He sat on the bed, while Wen Yanlai took the chair by the desk. The two of them sat facing each other and the awkwardness was suffocating.
Su Yunjing blurted out, trying to break the tension: “So… you and Uncle Shen are okay, right?”
He had wanted to call him ‘father’, but the words rolled around on his tongue and refused to come out.
Forget Shen Nianyun, Su Yunjing didn’t even know how to address Wen Yanlai. Should he still say “Aunt”? Or “Mom”?
Wen Yanlai shook her head. “It’s fine.”
Shen Nianyun had been married before and had kids. Naturally, he didn’t expect a 37-year-old woman like Wen Yanlai to have been celibate all her life.
If she had told him from the beginning that Wen Ci was her biological son, he wouldn’t have minded.
But on the day of the wedding, a ‘love child’ had suddenly appeared and it had been with a married man.
Shen Nianyun understandably felt complicated.
Still, he was a mature man. He didn’t act on impulse or cancel the wedding in a fit of rage.
Wen Yanlai had talked with him. Shen Nianyun said he understood, but needed some time to process everything.
Su Yunjing breathed a small sigh of relief. At least their marriage wasn’t completely ruined.
Wen Yanlai looked at Su Yunjing, her lips moving slightly. Her eyes showed the shame of dredging up painful memories.
“I… Xu Hongwen and I…”
The moment Su Yunjing sensed where this was going, he quickly interrupted her, “Let’s just leave the past in the past.”
He didn’t want to defend her or make excuses. A mistake is a mistake.
From any angle, she shouldn’t have gotten involved with a married man.
But even if she was in the wrong, he wasn’t the one to throw stones.
There was no need to tear open that wound again, especially when it was over a decade old.
Afraid she might misunderstand, Su Yunjing forced himself to say, “Some things… I might not understand right now. But in my heart, you’re my family, someone I’m really close to. One day, I’ll come to terms with it.”
Su Yunjing wasn’t the original Wen Ci and he does not have such complicated feelings for Wen Yanlai.
Since he’d arrived in this body, Wen Yanlai had treated him well. She’d tried to communicate, tried to make up for the lost years.
If the original Wen Ci were still here, maybe he wouldn’t have accepted her belated maternal love.
But once he matured, he might forgive her and reconcile.
Su Yunjing didn’t need that emotional journey. He just wanted things to be settled now, so their interactions wouldn’t stay awkward forever.
In this way, they would not be embarrassed when they were together.
However, after much consideration, Su Yunjing decided to be more reserved. Suddenly calling her ‘Mom’ would be a little… shameless.
So he stayed tactful, making sure Wen Yanlai knew that he just can’t accept it temporarily, but he doesn’t hate her.
Hearing this, Wen Yanlai was already beyond happy.
The moment Su Yunjing finished speaking, she threw her arms around him and sobbed, “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
Her voice trembled, full of choked-back tears.
Those two “sorrys” carried two different meanings.
One was for giving birth but not raising him.
The other was for once regretting having him at all, for seeing him as a stain on her life.
Back then, swept up in Xu Hongwen’s sweet words, she foolishly insisted on having the baby.
Later, when she saw his true face, she deeply resented the one-month-old infant.
His very existence was a ticking time bomb threatening to destroy her career and a daily reminder of her biggest mistake.
For years, Wen Yanlai rarely came home, just to avoid seeing him.
When he got older, the resentment faded with time but she still didn’t know how to face the fact that this child she called “nephew” was her son.
Even now, she doesn’t know how to be a good mother.
She had failed him in so many ways.
Su Yunjing felt at a loss.
He didn’t know how to comfort her, so he just let her hug him and cry for a long time.
As an outsider, he could understand her.
If Wen Ci really had been her nephew, maybe she would’ve made a great aunt.
But because they were mother and son, she felt guilty and didn’t dare to get too close to the original owner,afraid that the media might dig up the truth.
It wasn’t just only about protecting her future. She didn’t want to disrupt the peaceful life her family had built.
But for the real Wen Ci, his mother had never fulfilled her responsibility.
He might have had money but he lacked affection and care.
Wen Yanlai had failed as a parent. No matter her reasons, she had hurt the original Wen Ci.
Su Yunjing wasn’t him, so he gave her as much understanding as he could.
After their talk, both Su Yunjing and Wen Yanlai felt relieved.
Wen Yanlai suggested that Su Yunjing move out of the Shen residence and return to their hometown for school.
Given her fame, if Su Yunjing’s identity were exposed, he’d be hit with backlash from all sides.
She actually wanted to send him abroad to lay low for a while but he didn’t want to study overseas.
So they had to settle for the second best and temporarily leave the capital.
After a year or two, once things quieted down, he could come back for college.
Wen Yanlai really didn’t want her son to leave. Her goal in bringing him here was to repair their relationship.
Who could’ve predicted all this?
Su Yunjing thought seriously about it and finally agreed to her plan.
Right now, Fu Hanzhou dislikes both him and Wen Yanlai. If he stayed here, he might just cause more drama.
Better to let things cool down, and revisit the situation later.
Besides… in his heart, something had already started to waver.
Maybe Fu Hanzhou never needed him.
Back then, Fu Hanzhou had lived in an orphanage, he was hungry, poorly clothed and needed care.
But now he is the wealthy young heir of a powerful family.
He didn’t need to work hard. Even lying down doing nothing, he’d live better than 99% of people.
So Su Yunjing began to wonder if he had been wrong to push his own will onto Fu Hanzhou?
Maybe all that ‘Let’s study together and work hard’ stuff was just wishful thinking.
He decided to give it a break for a couple years.
If Fu Hanzhou really just wanted to live like this then Su Yunjing wouldn’t stand in his way.
As for the mission from the book-traveling system?
Su Yunjing still believed that Fu Hanzhou acted just had a strong possessiveness and couldn’t accept Shen Nianyun’s remarriage.
What he did was cruel, but not necessarily the act of a yandere.
If he wasn’t actually a yandere, then Su Yunjing’s mission was complete.
And honestly, even if he failed the mission, so what?
The system never said anything about rewards or punishments.
After all that emotional burnout, Su Yunjing was now just going with the flow.
Whatever happens, happens.
….
Transferring Su Yunjing’s student record back home wasn’t easy.
Capital city schools had strict rules that unless there were special circumstances, students couldn’t transfer again within six months.
This was to prevent parents from constantly pulling strings to push their kids into top schools.
Frequent transfers could mess with a student’s mindset, too.
They couldn’t transfer him right away, but for safety, Wen Yanlai still wanted Su Yunjing to move out of the Shen residence.
Plenty of people in the industry knew she was dating Shen Nianyun. If Su Yunjing’s identity leaked, the media and gossipers would dig into Shen’s family.
So far, Wen Yanlai had protected her family well. Wen Ci’s existence had never been exposed.
Su Yunjing understood her concern and he agreed it was a good time to move.
Wen Yanlai had already found an apartment for him, in a high-end residential complex near his school.
It was just a ten-minute walk to Nanzhong.
Since he was taking time off to heal, this was the perfect time to move.
After she left, Su Yunjing went to the basement storage and brought up his suitcase.
When he first arrived, one suitcase had been enough.
But when they were about to move out, Su Yunjing sadly discovered that one suitcase was not enough.
Wen Yanlai had bought him a lot of things lately. He needed to bring them all because the chances of returning here were close to zero.
He spent the whole afternoon packing.
He and Wen Yanlai had agreed that he’d move out the next day.
…
Fu Hanzhou didn’t come home for dinner.
Su Yunjing, used to being nanny, automatically wondered where he went.
Given his ultra-consistent three-point routine (home–school–cat alley), he probably went to the alley to feed stray cats and smoke.
Fu Hanzhou lived like a boring old man. That little alley was the only extra stop he ever made.
But maybe that kind of life suited him.
Maybe Su Yunjing shouldn’t keep disturbing his peaceful world.
So he didn’t ask Uncle Wu about it. After dinner, he went straight to his room.
Fu Hanzhou came home late, after 8 p.m.
After coming in, he went to his room and didn’t come out again.
In the middle of the night, when Su Yunjing was sleeping soundly, the unique cold voice of the book-travel system suddenly sounded in his mind.
[“Host, go find Fu Hanzhou immediately.”]
Su Yunjing was groggy and full of question marks.
Find who?
What do you want to find Fu Hanzhou for?
After a few seconds, he finally asked, “What happened?”
The system didn’t answer.
He asked again. But the other party still didn’t say anything.
Even Su Yunjing, who usually had a great temper, couldn’t help but curse under his breath.
If I ever get rich, I’m buying a system that actually explains things clearly.
Although he didn’t know what happened, Su Yunjing still got up and got out of bed to find Fu Hanzhou.
The book-travel system would never play with him for no reason in the middle of the night. It must be that something happened to Xiao Kujiao.
His room was right across the hall.
He walked out of the room and saw that the door opposite was ajar.
Su Yunjing peeked through the gap but there was no one inside.
Puzzled, he headed downstairs and checked the living room and kitchen.
He didn’t find any sign of him, and Su Yunjing was a little anxious.
This was the first time the system had directly contacted him in this world and he was worried that something would happen to Fu Hanzhou.
Su Yunjing searched the whole house while calling out to the system.
“Where is he? Is he still in the house?”Su Yunjing asked the book-travel system.
The other party still did not respond, as if what he had just heard was all his imagination.
Su Yunjing pinched himself.
Hiss.
It seems that it was not a dream.
Su Yunjing left the Shen family house , planning to check the nearby villa complex. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a dark figure standing on the roof.
His heart dropped. He sprinted back inside.
Taking the stairs two at a time, he burst onto the rooftop and saw Fu Hanzhou standing there.
The rooftop was set up like a cozy lounge—wooden flooring, a beige outdoor sofa set in the middle.
Fu Hanzhou was standing right on the ledge, only about 15 centimeters wide.
One foot was already hanging over the edge.
The loose hem of his pants fluttered in the night breeze, exposing a pale, slender ankle.
Su Yunjing’s heart nearly stopped.
He didn’t dare approach head-on and instead took a long, slow route toward Fu Hanzhou.
Su Yunjing steadied his breath and asked Fu Hanzhou in a casual tone,“Why are you standing here in the middle of the night?”
Fu Hanzhou didn’t answer.
Su Yun held his breath and slowly approached Fu Hanzhou, fearing that he would overreact.
Fu Hanzhou’s current posture was very dangerous. Anyone with a poor sense of balance might fall off the terrace.
Su Yunjing slowly crept closer, hugging the wall like a gecko, and observed Fu Hanzhou’s expression from time to time.
The young man with thick eyebrows and bright eyes lowered his eyes and looked down.
His eyes were empty, his gaze hollow, like a bottomless black void.
A chill crept into Su Yunjing’s chest, twisting it up inside.
He didn’t know what happened to the little cold cub, and he felt an inexplicable fear in his heart, afraid that he would just jump down.
“Hanzhou…” Su Yunjing felt his throat dry and hoarse.
Fu Hanzhou’s lips, usually tinted like a berry, were pale in the early autumn wind, as if covered with a thin layer of frost.
He was always sensitive to cold.
Back when they used to share a bed as kids, Fu Hanzhou always curled up close, his hands and feet ice cold, taking forever to warm up.
“Hanzhou…” Su Yunjing called again, his voice cracking.
Fu Hanzhou ignored him, and Su Yunjing continued to call.
After several attempts, Fu Hanzhou finally turned his head slightly and glanced at Su Yunjing.
His eyes were very hazy, and the tails of his eyes, which used to be sharp and pointed, were much smoother.
He glanced briefly at Su Yunjing, then looked away again.
“Can you come down?” Su Yunjing asked gently. “It’s dangerous up there. Whatever it is, we can talk down here.”
“Didn’t you hear? Fu Hanzhou’s voice was calm, Someone’s calling me. They told me to come down.”
Su Yunjing followed Fu Hanzhou’s line of sight and looked down at the terrace
This was an upscale neighborhood, full of wealthy families. People here valued privacy.
Therefore, the community is equipped with ground lights to avoid disturbing residents when they are walking at night.
The illumination of the ground lights is not high, and you can only barely see the ground and the shadows of people nearby.
Su Yunjing squinted his eyes and looked around, but he didn’t see anyone below.
It seems that little cool cub is hallucinating again.
Fu Hanzhou still looks at the dark place intently.
Before the woman left, she pointed to her head and told him that it hurts there, it always hurts, and there are many noises.
At the time, Fu Hanzhou didn’t believe her. He thought she was just making excuses.
Now, he understood.
It really did hurt. And it is very noisy. He often asks himself, What was the meaning of doing this everyday?
What is the point of living like this?
Tiny sparkles of light shimmered in Fu Hanzhou’s eyes, and a light mist clung to the corners.
It’s like something is on the verge of breaking, and the pale lips tremble morbidly—subtly at first, then harder.
He missed him.
Seeing Fu Hanzhou in such visible pain made Su Yunjing’s chest ache.
“There’s no one calling you,” Su Yunjing said softly, stepping closer.
“Someone who truly loves you wouldn’t ask you to jump to find them.”
“If you don’t believe me, let’s go downstairs together. I’ll show you. There’s no one there.”
Fu Hanzhou looked at him, under his long eyelashes, there was a pair of slightly confused eyes.
“Come down,” Su Yunjing said again, reaching out his hand.
His eyes were clear, voice calm, expression gentle.
In that quiet moment, he looked just like the boy who had once returned to the orphanage at night to give him a piece of candy and say goodbye.
“I’ll go down with you. Let’s check together,” Su Yunjing added.
He gently grabbed Fu Hanzhou’s cold hand.
Seeing that he didn’t react, he tightened his grip and slowly began to pull him off the ledge.
Fu Hanzhou stared at Su Yunjing blankly,blank and confused.
He didn’t react much when Su Yunjing pulled him forward, but just followed him as if he was sleepwalking.
Step by step, Su Yunjing brought him down.
Only when both feet were firmly on the ground did Su Yunjing finally exhale in relief, his legs still shaky from fear.
He never imagined Fu Hanzhou would have such intense self-destructive thoughts.
Sure, the novel mentioned that he had a hereditary mental illness, one that made him obsessive and a little unhinged.
But there was never a scene like this.
Su Yunjing felt a pang of pain in his heart.
He held Fu Hanzhou’s hand and led him downstairs. “See?” he said gently. “There’s no one. No one is waiting for you to jump.”
Fu Hanzhou said nothing.
It was already late, so Su Yunjing walked him back to his room.
From beginning to end, Fu Hanzhou was very quiet and obedient.
He was just like the little cool cub Su Yunjing remembered—meek, quiet, easily startled.
“Get some rest,” Su Yunjing said, letting go of his hand. “It’s really late.”
As soon as the warm hand left, Fu Hanzhou seemed to wake up from a dream. He lowered his eyes and looked at his fingertips.
Su Yunjing looked at the absent-minded Fu Hanzhou, worried that he would climb the terrace again
After hesitating for a moment, Su Yunjing asked, “Well, do you want me to sleep with you tonight?”
Fu Hanzhou retracted his gaze, ignored Su Yunjing, and went straight to bed.
Sigh.
Su Yunjing knew that he didn’t like him very much, and sighed in his heart. When he turned around to leave, the person on the bed with his back to him suddenly moved, leaving half of the bed.
Su Yunjing: ???
He pondered for a while, took the first step tentatively, and sat on Fu Hanzhou’s bed.
The person on the other side of the bed didn’t react.
Su Yunjing was a little amused and helpless. He stood up, closed the door, and then lay down next to Fu Hanzhou.
He wanted to ask about what happened earlier. But he didn’t know where to start.
After lying on the bed for more than half an hour with a heavy heart, Su Yunjing couldn’t stand the sleepiness and fell asleep.
As his breathing slowed and evened out, Fu Hanzhou turned over to face him.
He stared at the blurry face in the dark, his deep eyes were somewhat unreabable and scrutinizing the front of him.
—
Su Yunjing woke up aching all over — sore waist, stiff shoulders, everything felt off.
No wonder Fu Hanzhou always had trouble sleeping. This bed was seriously uncomfortable.
As he shifted, he accidentally pulled at the wound on his lower back.
“Hiss…” he winced.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t just the bed. He’d also gotten into a fight a couple days ago.
He just moved twice, and the sleeping beauty next to him frowned.
Su Yunjing glanced at the electronic watch next to him. It was already 6:40 in the morning.
Today is Friday, and there are still classes.
But considering that Fu Hanzhou woke up late every morning, he didn’t dare move too much.
Soon, those delicate brows relaxed again, and Fu Hanzhou drifted back into a peaceful sleep.
Su Yunjing lay flat, completely still, until 7:10 AM before gently nudging him.
“Time to get up, or we’ll be late.”
Fu Hanzhou slowly opened his eyes, drowsy and dazed.
Long black hair spread messily across the pillow, some tucked beneath his head.
His eyes were only half open as he looked at Su Yunjing, his gaze unfocused.
His thin lips were as rosy as if they were painted with rouge.
His eyelashes were thick and curled at the tips.
Su Yunjing: “???”
He didn’t know what the heck Fu Hanzhou was thinking, but he looked completely spaced out.
Just as Su Yunjing was about to say something, Fu Hanzhou threw off the blanket and walked into the bathroom.
Su Yunjing sighed and sat up, stretching out his sore limbs.
Because of the injury on his neck, he’d slept on his side all night. His arm was dead from being crushed.
After getting up, he automatically started folding the blanket and tidying up.
He put on his slippers and walked out.
As he turned to close the door, he spotted the opened tin of milk candies on the desk.
The box was tipped over, candies spilled everywhere, alongside torn wrappers.
Su Yunjing chuckled softly. “Still eating White Rabbit candy at this age?”
But then he remembered last night, how Fu Hanzhou might’ve been eating those when he had his hallucination and the smile quickly faded.
He gently closed the door behind him.
Hearing the sound of the door opening and closing, Fu Hanzhou came out of the bathroom and his eyes fell on the closed door.
….
At lunchtime, the cafeteria was noisy.
Everyone was focused on eating, except Tang Wei, who kept looking around.
Lin Lie glared at him. “Can you just eat already? Why are you acting so twitchy?”
Tang Wei leaned in closer and said in a low voice, “I’m looking for Wen Ci. Haven’t seen him in two days, don’t you think that’s weird?”
Lin Lie glanced at the silent, beautiful boy, who was eating beside them.
Even though he was just eating quietly, both of them felt like they were sitting next to a tiger.
Lin Lie knew Tang Wei very well, and knew that he was a gossipy person, so he also lowered his voice. “Alright, spill. What do you know?”
Tang Wei grinned. “I heard that Wen Ci was suspected of fighting with someone at the school gate two nights ago.”
He said ‘suspected’ because he hadn’t seen it himself, but it seen by younger friend of his had.
Since they often ate lunch together, some of Tang Wei’s little schoolyard gang had gotten familiar with Wen Ci’s face.
And since he hadn’t been in school the last couple of days, Tang Wei figured it was basically confirmed.
“He’s definitely the one. It’s basically a solved case,” he mouthed to Lin Lie.“Ask Brother Fu if he’s okay.”
Su Yunjing once said he and Fu Hanzhou were neighbors.
Even if they weren’t close anymore, they still saw each other often.
Lin Lie raised an eyebrow and gave him a look that said, “You ask”.
Tang Wei: …I’m not stupid, okay.
Lin Lie: Scram.
Unexpectedly, Fu Hanzhou suddenly spoke in a calm voice. “Who did he fight with?”
Tang Wei froze, then quickly said, “No idea. Probably someone from outside school.”
Fu Hanzhou did not speak again.
Tang Wei and Lin Lie exchanged a glance.
Both of them saw surprise in the other’s eyes.
They weren’t used to Fu Hanzhou suddenly becoming concern about someone.
In Lin Lie’s mind, Fu Hanzhou was a true ice prince— distant, indifferent, never emotionally invested.
Sure, the three of them often ate together, but it always felt like they lived in completely different worlds.
Fu Hanzhou had the face and the background that made people swarm to him.
But no matter how many people tried to get close, he never reacted, never accepted, never rejected, never responded.
If you sit next to him, he won’t say anything, and if you leave, he won’t say anything either.
Lin Lie had known him for nearly a year, and he was sure if he stopped talking to Fu Hanzhou one day, the guy wouldn’t bat an eye.
That was just who he was.
Lin Lie actually thinks that people like him are quite interesting, and Tang Wei, he was just clueless and loud.
After many twists and turns, only the two of them were still hanging around Fu Hanzhou.
Then, out of nowhere, this new guy Wen Ci appeared.
Fu Hanzhou still has the three principles of no to Wen Ci: no acceptance, no rejection, and no attention.
But Lin Lie could sense a subtle difference.
At least Fu Hanzhou will not observe others intentionally or unintentionally.
But he would observe Wen Ci.
What he observes specifically, Lin Lie doesn’t know.
Just like today, if he and Tang Wei had bruises on their faces, Fu Hanzhou would definitely not ask them who they had a fight with.
Lin Lie glanced at Fu Hanzhou, his eyes carrying a touch of meaning — as if silently saying, “These eyes of mine have seen through it all.”
Just as he was about to let out a dramatic CEO-style “tsk”, his annoying little bro Tang Wei reached over and stole a takoyaki ball from his tray.
The cafeteria was serving Japanese food today, but it was a limited-quantity special.
Lin Lie had been lucky enough to snag a serving of takoyaki and there weren’t many to begin with. Now Tang Wei had shamelessly speared two with his chopsticks, which instantly pissed him off.
With lightning reflexes, Lin Lie managed to snatch one of them back from the “dog’s mouth.”
Tang Wei quickly stuffed the other into his mouth, cheeks bulging. “Ugh, look how stingy you are. It’s not even that good. Totally overrated. Only a dumbass like you would order it.”
Lin Lie: “Scram.”
….
After what happened the night before, Su Yunjing had been deeply worried about Fu Hanzhou’s mental state.
They weren’t as close as they used to be, and it was impossible to talk heart-to-heart now.
He feared that one day, if he wasn’t there in time, Fu Hanzhou might actually jump.
But then he thought…
He was the second male lead of this world. The novel’s plot wouldn’t let him die before the female lead even appeared, right?
That must be why the transmigration system wouldn’t have suddenly warned him.
Su Yunjing remembered that Fu Hanzhou’s first meeting with the female lead was supposed to happen in their second year of high school.
Fu Hanzhou had been in a car accident and was rescued by the female lead, who happened to be passing by.
He’d fallen into a coma, and she brought him to the hospital.
It was from just that one fleeting glance that Fu Hanzhou developed feelings for her.
He was the kind of person who was incredibly devoted when it came to love. Once he set his heart on someone, he’d wait for her no matter how long it took.
When he grew up, Fu Hanzhou became a superstar in the entertainment industry. By then, he met the female lead again, who worked as a minor extra.
That was when the classic messy love triangle between the female lead, the male lead, and Fu Hanzhou began.
But the female lead hadn’t even shown up yet. How could the second male lead just vanish?
Su Yunjing wasn’t too worried about Fu Hanzhou’s safety, his real concern was that Fu Hanzhou might fall back into that same old storyline and fall for the already-taken heroine.
On top of that, his current mental state was vastly different from what the novel had described.
In fact, the novel never went into much detail about Fu Hanzhou’s childhood or teenage years. Readers only got bits and pieces, just enough to know that the charming second lead had endured a lot of suffering.
After what happened last night, Su Yunjing began to waver a little on his decision to move out.
But staying here meant a constant risk of exposure and if that happened, the one who would be put in the most difficult position wouldn’t be him, but Wen Yanlai.
It was still the era of print media; information wasn’t as fast-moving or widespread as it would be ten years later.
Su Yunjing knew that if he went into hiding, no one would be able to find out who he really was. But Wen Yanlai would be the one left to face the public backlash and scrutiny.
So in the end, he stuck to the original plan, he moved out of the house, not wanting to make things harder for Wen Yanlai.
When Fu Hanzhou came home from school, he saw housekeepers tidying up the room across the hallway.
The bed was replaced with fresh white sheets, and two maids were putting a dust cover over it.
Although the guest rooms were cleaned daily, any room not in use would have its bed covered to prevent the mattress from getting damp or moldy.
Fu Hanzhou paused in the doorway.
One of the older maids, who had worked in the Shen household for many years, noticed his silence and smiled gently as she explained.
“I heard Little Ci’s grandparents have moved to the capital, so Miss Wen asked him to move in with them.”
That was the excuse Wen Yanlai had come up with to avoid suspicion about Su Yunjing moving out.
Fu Hanzhou pursued his lips and glanced inside the room.
It was completely empty. Even the trash bin had been cleared out, as if no one had ever lived there at all.
His thin lips pursued even more.