The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

He knew someone was crying.

It was a very soft, suppressed sobbing.

Chills began to spread upwards from his legs, as if ice-cold fingers were lightly pressing him down onto the bed, starting by touching his feet. The temperature low enough to freeze blood continued to crawl upwards.

Although his eyes were shut, he felt as if he could faintly see the thing crouched at the left end of his bed extending its hands towards him as the bloody face shouted noiselessly.

The feeling of despair and powerlessness slowly permeated from those frozen fingers into his body.

I don’t actually want this ending…

I don’t want to die…

The sobs echoed through the space.

He only felt his head grow heavy and dizzy. Despite really wishing he could tell the other person not to talk business while he was resting and to please wait until after he woke up, he could not. All he could do was passively accept the sorrow that flooded his heart.

After a long period of haziness, the thing finally seemed to calm down, and he felt a person touch his forehead.

“A fever. Xiao Yu, can you help me grab a towel?”

Yu Yin struggled to open his eyes in attempt to see what was happening. Instead, all he saw was the sky, which suddenly began to collapse as he lost his centre of gravity and began to fall straight downwards.

Someone held his hands and helped him wipe away the tears and sweat that covered his face, softly saying words that he could not discern yet still managed to make him feel at ease.

Thus, he once again sank into deep sleep.

When Yu Yin gradually came to, the first thing he felt was the blankness in his mind and his body’s lack of strength.

He then turned his head to see wide, violet eyes staring at him.

“What the hell…” Yu Yin pushed away Yu’s extremely close face and wiped his face. As he spoke, he discovered how weak his own voice sounded, and how simply opening his mouth was exhausting. He was completely drained and sore all over, as if he had just done some kind of intense exercise.

“High fever, the entire night,” Yu quietly said as he grabbed the ear thermometer to see that the fever had finally broke. With a sigh of relief, he grabbed the towel to help wipe the other’s face.

“Fuck…I knew it.” Yu Yin craned his head to look at the foot of the bed, but there was nothing there aside from some scattered rays of light. The clock next to him showed that it was currently around noon. “Did Dad and Uncle go to work?”

Yu nodded. In actuality, Yu Tong had originally wanted to take leave in the morning, but after Yu had expressed that he could watch Yu Yin without any issues, the two adults had finally gone out one after the other.

Yu Yin met the violet-eyed gaze locked onto him and scratched his head as he let out a sigh. “It followed me.” He was too used to it now, to the point where there was no need to bother saying it. Everyone else had likely guessed it already too. “Did I say anything last night?” He still vaguely remembered the sorrow. He remembered how powerful it had been despite having completely faded after waking.

“Don’t want to die.” Yu handed over warm water as he helped the other sit up. “Repeated non-stop.”

“Did she regret jumping…” Yu Yin drank the water and accepted the porridge passed over afterwards. As he ate, he contemplated the possibilities. “Or was it not a suicide at all…”

Yu turned on the computer next to him and pulled up the news to show him.

It was an article from last night that also reported the jumping incident. The contents basically stated that the police had later discovered something in the female student’s blog some hidden contents that were suspected to be a suicide note.

Yu Yin had Yu pull the table closer so that he could get a closer look at the suicide note.

I can’t hold on any longer, I’m so exhausted.

There’s no way I could tell this to anybody, but it hurts, it really hurts so much. No one can help me.

Mom and Dad, I really love you guys. But I can’t tell this to either of you. I’m sorry, sorry.

Even I’m so disgusted with myself. I really want to die.

The news also wrote that the family members had not actually sensed the female student had suicidal thoughts. However, there was no objection to the suicide, and there were photos of the parents crying in anguish as well.

Yu Yin read through several other similar articles on the web before having Yu push the table back.

After resting for a while and eating a meal, his physical strength had mostly returned. He tossed his blanket aside and said, “I’m heading out for a bit.” He just had this nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right, yet he could not explain what. The fact that the thing had followed him back indicated that there was likely still something else.

For some reason, Yu Yin felt that he should go back to the scene and take a look. Plus, it was as if he had to go back, like he had no other choice.

Yu looked at him with narrowed eyes, then suddenly charged past him to shut the bedroom door with a bang, even locking it. He planted himself at the doorway, emitting an impassable aura.

“…Eh, why not come with me?” Yu Yin attempted to discuss it with the person blocking the door.

Yu took out his cellphone, prepared to call the adults.

“You can eat all you want at a desserts shop! You can choose wherever you want to go for a week!” Yu Yin instantly offered the most powerful, instant-kill condition. He was not certain why, but Yu seemed to be acting oddly today. Thus, Yu Yin immediately attacked the heart without giving Yu much time for hesitation. “We’ll go everywhere together! But you have to tell Dad and Uncle I obediently stayed home.”

Yu studied the other person for a while before pressing the keys on the phone and turning it towards Yu Yin to show the words typed on the screen. “Can only leave after finishing lunch.”

“OK, deal.”

***

“The deceased’s house should be here.”

Yu Tong glanced at the records he was holding, then gazed up at the small, lone apartment building that was five or six stories tall. The first floor seemed to be a snack bar with quite a variety [of food] including bento boxes and noodles. Since it was around lunchtime, the place was quite lively with people from the nearby offices walking around. There were a few of the shop staff carrying out sales outside, as well as a separate vendor’s stand set up specifically to prepare take-out.

It seemed like a pretty flourishing shop. However, the deceased had lived on the second floor.

After some contemplation, Yu Tong decided to directly walk into the shop to order a serving of pork cutlet bowl while leisurely listening to the conversations the neighbours around him were having.

“I heard that the daughter from the family upstairs committed suicide yesterday by jumping off a building…it was reported on the news. I saw the parents on TV too.”

“It’s true. Her parents raised her all these years, yet she just jumps when she wants without thinking about what’ll be left for her parents. Just jumping like that is really unfilial. And her parents have to bury her now too.”

“I really don’t understand what kids are thinking these days to jump off a building just because of some academic pressure. Might as well start working and die with everyone else…”

“Eh, no need to be so extreme. The dead must be spoken well of, heh.”

A bunch of older women were speaking in low voices to each other as they watched the afternoon news showing in the shop. Just then, a middle-aged man in his fourties walked over with a pork-cutlet bowl. When he put it down on the Yu Tong’s table, the neighbours called him out.

“Old Luo, what do you think?”

“About what?” The slightly hefty middle-aged man crudely wiped the sweat from his face as he casually responded and stopped in his tracks.

“The one upstairs. Didn’t you get into a pretty big fight with them before? The police were even called to bring it to court.”

Boss Luo’s expression twisted fiercely, clearly indicating his bad image of the upstairs neighbours. “Fuck, just talking about it makes me furious. But for the time being, the ones upstairs won’t come looking for trouble again.”

“Seriously, you guys have been arguing for years now, to the point where their daughter moved out to live elsewhere. Why don’t you all find a time to sit down and properly talk things out?” One of the peace-making women said, “After all, now that they’ve had that kind of thing happen in their family…”

“What’s so impressive about a dead daughter? It’s not like I’m the damn one that told her to jump. I haven’t even complained about the nearly one million yuan that they’ve forced me to lose. Seriously, that whole family is crazy, what’s so pitiful about a daughter? The most regretful part is that the one that died wasn’t her old man or old woman that constantly stir up trouble upstairs. They’ve chased away a lot of my customers!”

“Old Luo, you’re neighbours. Be kinder with your words.”

“When have they been kind, always calling the police and health & hygiene bureau?!”

“Sigh, let’s just stop talking about it and eat, just eat.”

After watching Boss Luo angrily charge out, Yu Tong picked up his now mushy pork cutlet rice and shifted to a spot closer to the other table nearby. “Excuse me, could I ask a question?”

The older women all turned to look at him with somewhat dubious expression. However, they gave him friendly smiles and their tones were clearly softened as they asked, “What’s wrong?” The one that spoke was the woman that had wanted peace to be made earlier.

“It’s like this. The daughter from the family upstairs is my classmate from university. I originally wanted to come today to represent our class to visit her parents, but they seemed very busy. About what I just overheard…” He showed an awkward expression as he pointed at the owner currently busily shouting outside before turning to look at the women. “Could I ask what the situation is?”

“Ohhh, classmates.” The woman evaluated him and decided there were no issues. “They only have that one precious daughter. The other two sons no longer live at home, so this is really quite painful for them…Ah yes, you were asking about what we were just talking about? If you’re her classmate, why don’t you see if you can persuade her parents to stop arguing with the boss down here, especially now that their daughter has already passed on? Everyone should take a step back, which would also be a favour to their daughter.”

“Alright. Then could Āyí tell me what’s going on?” Yu Tong smiled sincerely, silently rejoicing about the fact that he had come first today. Yu Xia would definitely have been unwilling to do something like this. Rather, Xia would have directly grabbed the owner by the collar and demand for an explanation. “I always wondered why a girl like her would move out even thought she’s clearly so close with her family.”

“Basically, it’s…”

Over the course of lunch, Yu Tong managed to hear most of the rumours regarding the grudges that had built over the years. It also explained Yu Xia’s doubts.

Yu Tong bid farewell to the older women as they attempted to keep him chatting with them, then walked to the public staircase next to the shop and began to climb up to the second floor as he called his brother’s number.

The line quickly connected to the opposite end. Based on the current time, Yu Tong’s twin brother was likely at the deceased’s rented apartment. Although Li Zi Hong had already asked the neighbours questions yesterday, Yu Xia was the type of person that still wanted to personally see things.

“The deceased’s family had arguments with the people downstairs.”

“Arguments?”

“Yes, apparently they’ve been arguing for at least four or five years already. The deceased’s family lived here first, while the snack bar below them only moved in a few years ago. The shop seems to be decently well-known. The boss’s name is Luo Qiang; after moving in, he built a commercial building nearby and his business did well. But as a result, the preparation work starting early morning every day, the customers constantly going in and out, and the clean-up work at night all affected the residents upstairs – the deceased’s family.”

“…A very common type of dispute. So the daughter wanted to move out because it was too noisy and chaotic downstairs.”

“Pretty much. The main thing is that the deceased’s parents would always pick fights with the owner downstairs. I heard the neighbours say that the parents would occasionally pour water or throw objects down, likely from watering plants and accidentally dropping things from the balcony. However, as time passed, the boss downstairs also got angry, and often went upstairs to argue about it, and the situation even escalated physically several times. I think that’s something we could probably find if we check the local records at the station nearby.” Yu Tong leaned against the stair railing as he planned out another trip to the local police post later. “Both sides accused the other for harm. The deceased’s parents often called out the place downstairs for poor hygiene, claiming that even rats would run up to their place. The health & hygiene bureau has also come several times to fine them. As a result, the enmity between the two households grew even more. The deceased herself was allegedly a very hard-working girl. She likely just moved out because of the noise of the constant arguments. I can confirm it when I ask the family members in a bit.”

“It’s really unseemly. These kinds of disputes are really starting to increase in number these days. When in the world will people start thinking of others?” Yu Xia’s tone was disapproving as he responded, then added, “When you get the chance, check if the owner or the girl’s family has any criminal record too.”

“Alright.”

Yu Tong hung up and pressed the doorbell.

A few seconds later, the person that opened the door was neither of the deceased’s parents, but a young man.

“Police. Pardon the intrusion.”

After hanging up, Yu Xia looked at the revolving door in front of him.

This was a juxtaposed building design. The three residences sharing the floor faced the same direction. The elevator was at the end of the hallway, with a staircase opposite it. Since people nowadays were more dependent on elevators these days, the stairs had accumulated a thick layer of dust that had only a few indistinct shoeprints.

According to the documents Li Zi Hong had provided, Yu Xia first paid a visit the neighbour closest to the elevator on its left side. After ringing the bell several times, Yu Xia was startled by the sight of a young woman wearing a facial mask, her entire body dripping wet with only a towel wrapped around it answering.

“Huh? Police? How young.” The facial mask-wearing woman smiled after seeing the police badge, causing the white material to wrinkly slightly. “Sorry, I was just rejuvenating myself…Do you mind if I talk like this?” She asked as she tugged at her towel.

Yu Xia understood that the other person was indicating it was convenient to let him in, so he nodded and began to ask about yesterday.

The young, single woman cocked her head in thought before saying, “I already spoke to a handsome prosecutor yesterday. At the time, I just happened to be doing yoga. I didn’t hear anything from next door; it was very quiet. Later, I heard some loud shouts come from two doors down about how someone had jumped off the building, then there was a huge noise. That was how I learned the mèimei from next door committed suicide.”

“Can you prove you were at home at the time?” Yu Xia asked the usual question.

“Mm…well, I’m single. But when I rushed out to the balcony to look, I just happened to meet the eyes of the mister from two doors away. Before that, I was doing yoga alone in the living room.”

There did not appear to be any issues, so Yu Xia thanked the woman and she retreated back inside to continue her rejuvenation and closed the door. Then, he turned to head to the neighbour on the right of the deceased’s place.

This time, the one to answer the door was a young man around his late twenties or early thirties. He wore a neat dress shirt, and there was a briefcase placed at the front entrance. It appeared that he had just been about to head out.

Just as before, Yu Xia showed his ID and expressed the purpose of his visit. The other person invited him inside and very cordially went to prepare him some black tea.

In the short period of time, Yu Xia surveyed the small living room. The furniture was tidy and refined. All the smaller items were neatly stowed away. Even an invoice was placed in a cute, woven little box next to the phone. There was not single thing out of place.

“My wife is someone that really loves cleaning.” The man walked out carrying tea and fruits as he smiled in a friendly manner, “She hates messiness the most and won’t even let socks be carelessly tossed somewhere after returning home. They have to always be separated in the laundry baskets. She says something like how socks have more bacteria on them, so they can’t be placed with clothes and have to be put in a small basket.”

“…At my home, it’s all mixed together.” In the past, laundry was always Yu Tong’s responsibility. Everyone’s things were mixed together; he had never seen his brother specially segregate them, simply washing everything in the whole basket together. After Xiao Yu had joined, he often helped share some of these tedious housework chores. Yu Xia coughed and asked, “Where is your wife?”

“She’s at work. My wife has a customer service job at a telecommunications company. She just happened to have the day off yesterday.I’m a contract freelancer, so I work by myself.” The man modestly passed over his personal business card.

Yu Xia glanced at the card to see the printed name: Song Jie Han. Yu Xia clipped it in his notebook, then asked about the details from yesterday as before.

The man thought it over for a moment before replying with pretty much the same information he had told Li Zi Hong. “Yesterday, my wife had the day off and was cleaning the dirty laundry. Originally, she was planning on going out to eat in the afternoon, but she said that if the clothes weren’t hung up to dry right after being washed, they would smell. She didn’t let me go out in case I bought the wrong thing, so I ended up hanging the clothes while she went to buy lunch. About half an hour later, I saw the girl from next door suddenly climb on top of her balcony rails. Before I could stop her, she blindly jumped down. Really, so impulsive.”

Yu Xia looked over the balcony. There was a normal flower bed arranged there. As this was the fourteenth floor, the height was just enough for the sunlight not to be blocked. There was a clothesline hung outside with several pieces of clothing on it. A normal person would need to first climb up the flower bed that reached waist height before being able to jump down.

From where the flower bed was, one could clearly see the flower beds from both the place next door and two doors away.

“At the time, I just happened to lock eyes with the young miss from the far side, who came out soon after I shouted. Back then, the girl next door had already died from the fall.” The man shrugged and said, “Not long after, my wife came home. That’s pretty much the situation.”

“Then did you hear any strange noises or sense any abnormalities from next door before then?”

“No, the soundproofing in our building is quite good. As long as one doesn’t try to drill the walls, it’s typically impossible to hear anything next door.”

After a few more questions, Yu Xia left.

The answers from the neighbours were pretty much the same as what Li Zi Hong had supplied. The deceased’s two roommates were not present today. Since Yu Xia had not yet gone to the office and there did not appear to be anyone that could open the door aside from the people living in the rented home, he could only head back first.

Perhaps he could ask a few more residents.

It was still very hot in the afternoon, to the point where just being hit by the rays could make anyone sweat.

It was around two when Yu Yin arrived at the suicide site from yesterday. He took off his helmet and found a good place to park his bike. The area that had been covered in blood yesterday was already cleaned so well that it was as if there had not been a person that had passed away here.

However, as he stood outside the building’s perimeters, he instantly heard the soft sobbing.

Just as it had been in the dream, the sound of the depressed cries that nobody else could hear floated over with the breeze, forcing Yu Yin to unconsciously walk forwards.

He wanted to go.

There was still something that needed to be done.

There were some things that could not just end like this.

A sudden pull made Yu Yin snap out of his daze. He turned to see Yu grabbing his hand from behind with a meaningful look. “What’s wrong?” He followed Yu’s gaze to see the bundle of hair from yesterday, the girl’s pale face staring straight in their direction. At first glance, it was a pretty horrific sight.

A few seconds later, the girl slowly began to move towards them.

That was when Yu Yin belatedly realised that she had been standing there waiting for the traffic light. He had been scared for no reason.

If Yu Yin was not able to roughly differentiate humans from ghosts, he would honestly have thought this girl was a ghost. Suddenly spotting that head of long, black hair and the face as white as paper was enough to terrify anyone to death. That did not even account for the fact that the girl was so skinny that she was basically a skeleton, which just made everything more terrifying.

As Yu Yin thoughts were flying all over the place, the girl had already crossed the street and appeared before them.

“Eh, we meet again.” He noticed that she had changed her clothes into a cooler T-shirt and capris pants that revealed her limbs that were still covered in injuries. Yu Yin began to ponder how to trick this person away. Ever since that matter with Shuang Shuang, he was always a bit afraid of encountering another child suffering from domestic violence.

The girl nodded in his direction, then turned to size up Yu with narrowed eyes. Finally, she opened her mouth, the voice coming out quite low and different from before. “Don’t be mistaken, I’m male.”

Amidst Yu Yin’s shock, the other person politely bowed. “Thank you for your help yesterday. It’s been too long since I last had exercise, and then I accidentally got heatstroke. Everyone was too cold to care about me when I collapsed on the ground. I was fortunate that this younger brother offered me water to drink.”

“…Those shouldn’t be your only problems, I think.” Yu Yin stared at the pile of bones in front of him, certain that not getting exercise and having heatstroke were only a few of the issues. “Does your family not have food to eat?” You look very much like some kind of refugee.

“I ate instant noodles before coming out today.” The boy lifted his head up towards the building before turning back towards them. “Dong Feng.”

It took Yu Yin a few seconds to realised that this person was giving a self-introduction. He quickly stretched out a hand and replied, “Yu Yin. This is my little brother, Shaodi Yu. My friends all just call me Ah Yin.” There’s no way I’d tell anyone about being called bullshit with things like “ganged up on”!

Dong Feng stared at the outstretched hand in slight interest. After a moment, Dong Feng also reached out a bony hand to shake it. Yu Yin only felt the ice-coldness of the other person’s hand that did not hold any hint of warmth. Shaking hands felt somewhat horrifying.

“Are you going home?” Yu Yin asked curiously as he released his grip. If this person really was a resident, this was a good chance to ask if he knew about the person that had jumped off.

The boy shook his head. “I don’t live here. I just came to search for someone.”

“I see…” Although Yu Yin felt a bit disappointed, he shrugged and said, “Then why don’t you come along and grab afternoon tea with us later? It’ll be my treat.”

The boy squinted at Yu Yin, head cocked in thought for a few silent seconds before he answered, “The motorbike can only seat two people.”

Yu grabbed Yu Yin, glaring at the person that could possibly take his spot at the dessert shop.

“Sigh, don’t get worked up.” Yu Yin patted the strangely unhappy Yu and smiled. “There’s supposed to be a pretty good place nearby. We can all just walk over together – it won’t take long. Or we could just take a bus.” That’ll solve everything.

“Before that, is the person behind you someone you know? He’s already been glaring at you for a very long time.”

Just as Dong Feng finished speaking, Yu Yin felt chills shoot down his spine. Trembling with fear, he turned around…and honestly just wanted to run away as quickly as possible. Because the person he saw behind him was his uncle eyeing him with crossed arms, emitting a murderous aura from where he stood outside the apartment entrance. The glare directed towards Yu Yin was clearly saying that he would be the next dead person.

At this point, it was too late to claim he was just passing by.

Yu Xia was filled with deep killing intent as he stomped over and directly swung a fist down on Yu Yin’s head without a word. Then he went over to the accomplice, slamming down on Yu’s head as well.

“Didn’t I tell you not to come to these kinds of places! And Xiao Yu, don’t just learn all these bad things! Just because Ah Yin wanted to be reckless doesn’t mean you should join him! Are you both asking for a beating?!” Yu Xia used both hands to pull the two children by their ears as he ruthlessly disciplined them.

“Ow-ow-ow…Uncle, I just recovered from sickness!” Yu Yin covered his now throbbing head and ears. Unlike Yu, who was feeling wronged next to him, Yu Yin had already gotten very used to being beaten up after all these years. He pulled Yu behind him so that he wouldn’t get hit again. His uncle’s fists were always extremely painful. “It has nothing to do with Xiao Yu.”

“Meaning I can just murder you as the main schemer?” Yu Xia cracked his knuckles and decided that it would be a good time to test his nephew’s pain tolerance after the recent trainings.

“No, if possible, please kindly let me go.” Yu Yin obviously did not want to get killed in this kind of place. He quickly pushed out the skeleton he had just gotten acquainted with to use as a shield. “Also, my friend is here right now. Why don’t we all calm down and get some afternoon tea? We can talk more after we grab some snacks.” His uncle had luckily also taken a motorbike out today, so now they could bring one more person. Moreover, it was perfect if his uncle was there; if the boy really was a victim of domestic violence, his uncle could easily deal with it.

Yu Xia furrowed his brows as he scanned the stranger in front of him and clicked his tongue. “You’re not an anorexic, are you?”

“…” Dong Feng silently circled back to stand behind Yu Yin.

“Let’s just go first.” In order to save himself, it seemed like Yu Yin would not be able to go into the building today for the time being. He shot a backwards look in slight regret.

The girl soaked in blood stood under the shadows, making the same crying sound.

Since Yu Xia was present and Yu Yin wanted to show that he had no intentions of returning later, Yu Yin chose a sweets shop that was further from the crime scene. The shop also provided simple meals, so they could force the boy to eat something as well.

Although it was a normal weekday, there were quite a few people inside the shop. In addition, since everything was made on demand, it would require some wait time.

Yu Yin was afraid of getting beaten by his uncle again, so he decided to toss his uncle and the skeleton at their seats and let them stare each other down while he and Yu waited in a line before the front counter for their food. As they waited, the TV displayed in front of the shop was broadcasting the news.

“People nowadays are so quick to act fiercely.”

Yu turned to narrow his eyes at Yu Yin, who had suddenly spoken up.

Yu Yin let out a sad sigh as he watched the TV. It was currently showing an incident of someone having attacked their neighbour with a knife, apparently just because of a short fuse for pointless talk. It was really so unamusingly laughable. Because both sides had been unable to tolerate each others’ noise, it had escalated to a stab with a knife. Fortunately, the older male that had been attacked was fine. However, he had insisted on filing charges against his next-door neighbour, so the case would likely not end anytime soon.

As he watched the news, he recalled a time when Ah Guan would occasionally complain about how noisy it was above him after moving into the dorms. Whichever senior lived above, they were constantly jumping around in the middle of the night, sometimes even cranking the music up loudly. Many of them had already come together to protest about it multiple times.

Hopefully Ah Guan won’t try to hack his neighbour down.

Since it seemed that their order would still take a while, Yu Yin sent Yu back to their seats as well so that there was no need to stand around for too long.

The news quickly changed to another story. This time it was related to the throat-slitting wolf. There was an expert instructing females how to protect themselves when they encountered danger, and the host invited the expert to perform some basic self-defence manoeuvres.

Yu Yin spaced out as he stared at the TV. For some reason, he thought back to a murderer he had encountered in the past. That one had truly been psychotic. Yu Yin had not expected Taiwan to have so many of these kinds of serial killers that one would normally only see in movies, but it now seemed that he might have simply not noticed it before…

The three people in the ice cabinets back then…

“Excuse me, it’s your turn.”

A soft, gentle voice shocked Yu Yin out of his thoughts. Stunned, he discovered that he was now the last person from the line left. The very beautiful woman in front of him was likely a mixed blood. She had an impressive figure and wore simple clothing. Her long, dyed hair was curled in large waves, her black, shining eyes faintly glittering in amusement as she looked at him. “Your order.”

Yu Yin finally realised with a start that he had been waiting for their food still. He hurriedly apologised and retrieved the food before stumbling back to their seats.

“Why so rushed?” Yu Xia asked as he grabbed the hot drink, having seen how the child had acted.

“Eh, no reason.” Yu Yin rubbed his face and sat down opposite of Yu. Then, he passed over the simple meal to the skeleton sitting next to Yu.

Yu stared at him suspiciously for a few seconds before reaching out to grab the pudding cake. This cake was something that Yu had been looking forward to for a long time now. Since this shop had limited supply every day, it would usually get sold out by the afternoons. It was a rare stroke of luck that there were a few left today.

Yu Yin coughed to hide his unusual embarrassment. He wasn’t quite sure why he had gone dumb for a second just earlier either. It was probably because he rarely saw such a kind and attractive girl before. The women by his side were all bolder and fiercer than the one before them. Whether it was Li Lin Yue who played around with others’ emotions, Fang Yi Xun whose inside and outside were complete opposites, or Xiao Hai could who beat ten people simultaneously in a fight, none of them possessed that kind of gentle and beautiful temperament.

Sigh, as expected, the gentle and beautiful type are the ones that can really make a man blank out completely. He had never seen any girls with this kind of elegance even in the gatherings he had gone to with his friends.

Yu Yin shook his head in amusement to shake off these thoughts, then bit down on his spoonful of cake. He then called out to the skeleton slowly picking up a fork, “Eat some more. This place’s sweets are crazy delicious. If there isn’t enough, we can order more later.”

“It’s enough.” Dong Feng stared at the entire meal seat and silently poked at it.

Yu Xia sipped his drink; he had not ordered anything else. As he studied Yu Yin and Yu, he decided that for the time being, he would not to ask them why they had appeared again at the scene. After all, there was a stranger present. They could always talk more back at home.

The atmosphere turned colder.

Yu Yin was quiet for a moment as he could only start to brainstorm topics to chat about. Of course, he would not choose his own death by bringing up the case. “Oh yeah, why don’t we all go out as a family and eat somewhere nice next time? Xiao Yu and I found a pretty good place before. Xiao Yu, you probably want to go again, right?”

When they had been surfing the web before, they had found quite a number of restaurants and had run around visiting several of them. Yu Yin felt that there were a few really great ones, even if just a bit pricy, so they could not visit too often. Still, if their whole family went together once in a while, it would be worth the cost.

Going to these places everyday to eat sweets in exchange for Yu letting him go out or bribing Yu into speaking was honestly a huge expense. Fortunately, Yu was not picky about cheaper quality sweets; he was happy with just a box of Tongyi pudding. However, as long as Yu Yin was not tight on cash after deducting his monthly savings, he always tried to find some better shops.

When Yu Yin saw Yu’s eyes light up like this, his mood also rose.

Ever since Yu’s family situation had been resolved, these types of actions had increased in frequency. Although very subtle, Yu now occasionally laughed with them when he was happy, which was already a major improvement. As expected, one could not just keep bearing enormous pain upon themselves. Sometimes, stepping outside was necessary to peacefully start a new life.

Yu Yin was starting to feel like he was watching a son growing up now.

“Don’t tell me that you’ll just suddenly come back one day and say something like, ‘Give me some money, old man’?” Yu Yin could not help but voice this guarded question as he eyed the person currently immersed in eating.

Yu’s reply was his fork stabbing down onto the remaining half of Yu Yin’s cake and treacherously stuffing it directly into his mouth before Yu Yin had the chance to rescue it.

“Damn you ahhhhh—”

Yu Yin forcefully rubbed Yu’s head in revenge, messing his hair up to form a giant bird’s nest.

“Don’t bully Xiao Yu.” Yu Xia knocked a fist down on his nephew’s head.

“It was clearly him who started it! He bullied me, and now my cake is gone!” Yu Yin cried out in anguish as he pointed at his empty plate.

“How much older are you? What’s the point in bickering over this kind of thing?”

Yu did not pay any attention to his hair as he cleanly finished the other person’s cake, then continued to enjoy his own pudding cake. Yu Yin, who was paying, had not given Yu a limit on amount, so the latter had happily ordered two portions without holding back.

Since Yu Xia was present, Yu Yin had no way out. He huffed as he picked up his hot tea. Just as he was about to shift his focus to monitoring the skeleton until the meal was finished, he suddenly caught sight of half a pale face pressed up against the window next to him.

He was so shocked that he nearly spat out his tea. It was just too sudden; he had not at all been prepared to see this in the hubbub they were at. Is coming out at night no longer the trend? They can show up even in this lively of a place now?

Clearly not caring about whether it could or could not be done, the girl standing outside remained plastered against the glass window, her scarlet blood leaving behind a deep print on the other side of the glass. The blood dripped down unceasingly on the shining surface, the anguished cries seeping through.

The heavy sorrow passed through him.

There’s still…

I don’t want to die yet…

I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die….

The bloody fingertips passed through the glass and slowly touched Yu Yin’s face.

That coldness was enough to freeze flesh.

The tears mixed with blood flowed down her face, the low sobbing nearing him so that it was like a murmur right next to his ear.

There are still things that need to be done.

This is unacceptable, it can’t stay like this. I have to finish things.

He had to complete that task.

Yu Yin instantly felt the world flip. The only thing he saw was the empty sky as his body instantly lost its centre of gravity and turned upside down.

He knew he would fall, then slam heavily into the ground.

Humans could not fly. They could only tragically crash at the furthest point from the sky.

He could not grab anything to stop his fall.

I don’t want to die…

“Ah Yin!”

Before the impact, a force grabbed him, forcing him awake.

As Yu Yin sharply snapped out of it, he discovered that he was still sitting in his chair, the upper half of his body having been grabbed by Yu Xia before it could fall. The cup of tea had already shattered on the ground, the brown liquid spilling all over the ground. Yu and the skeleton had also stood up in unplanned unison to stretch their arms out as if to catch him as well.

He did not know who those feelings just now had belonged to. His head was dizzy and heavy; he could not hear the whispers of the other customers around him.

“I-I’m fine…” He really wanted to tell Yu Xia that he was alright. But when Yu Yin stretched his hands out, he discovered that there was now blood on them. He had no idea where the blood had come from, but it covered his palms completely, and even his nose was starting to smart.

Yu hurriedly pressed a napkin against Yu Yin’s face, and Yu Yin belatedly realised that his nose had started bleeding. Moreover, a light press on the paper resulted in it being soaked with blood…I didn’t see any kind of hot and sexy scene just now, right?

“Could you help call an ambulance?” The skeleton asked the waiter that ran over, then hurriedly also pulled out paper to wipe Yu Yin’s hands.

However, the blood did not stop, flowing out unceasingly from his hands. Yu Yin only felt a hot pain fill his palms as blood seemed to gush out from every single pore with no sign of stopping.

Then, they heard the sound of the ambulance.