Chapter 70: Owe Me a Lifetime, Impossible to Repay

Ling Wu had his principles and did not give a definitive reply; he said, "From now on, as long as I see it, I will answer the calls you make."

A misunderstanding caused by a twist of fate seemed to be brushed aside just like that.

The atmosphere inside the villa was silent. Jin Shaoyu sat back down on the sofa, his body leaning slightly forward, forearms resting on his thighs. He looked at the clean marble floor, his aura somewhat dejected, and there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes: "Brother, what exactly was the truth of that year?"

This "Brother" had been long overdue.

So long that it felt as long as a century.

Someone as arrogant and conceited as Jin Shaoyu had also lowered his head, attempting to use a "Brother" to awaken the kinship hidden in his blood vessels, but he clearly forgot that his relationship with Ling Wu had shattered into a pile of glass over the ten years they were apart.

And now that the timing was still not ripe, if he wanted to be the first to mend it, he was destined to have his hands pierced by glass, and in the end, the pain would fall upon Ling Wu.

"Brother."

This term was not some heavenly sound; it was like a demonic chant, piercing Ling Wu's eardrums until they were riddled with holes.

He would rather be at odds with Jin Shaoyu right now.

What Ling Wu felt first was not joy, but fear, terror, and helplessness. Those endless fears and terrors dragged his body downward, about to sink into the dark, damp, cold abyss...

The truth.

The truth.

What exactly is the truth?! I can't even say it out loud.

He wanted to speak, but his throat felt like it had been cut by a knife and scorched by fire.

Ling Wu's vision was a sea of red, his chest heaving, and there was a faint sensation of a hot flow in his nasal cavity. His whole person became very wrong: "The truth... hasn't it already been laid out before you?"

Everything Jin Shaoyu knew was learned from the mouth of Jin Liangjin. That year, he was almost 10 years old, and his parents began leaving early and returning late, with only his brother accompanying him at home.

Later, Jin Shaoyu attended a half-month summer camp. During that period, Jin Liangjin called to tell him that Ling Tingwan had been in a car accident and died after rescue efforts failed, and that Ling Wu was in surgery. Jin Shaoyu tried to go see them several times, but was stopped by the bodyguards in the villa.

He saw his brother again a month later. Perhaps because of the car accident, he had lost a lot of weight, his face was pale, and there were many things in his eyes that Jin Shaoyu could not understand at the time.

The young Jin Shaoyu wept: "Brother... why did Mom get into a car accident? Did Mom turn into a star in the sky?"

"I miss Mom, boohoo... Brother, what should we do?"

Ling Wu did not cry at that time; he was very calm.

But Jin Shaoyu still remembers that sentence he said: "Brother will think of a way."

During that time, the entire Jin Family was very strange.

Jin Shaoyu had been raised under the protection of Ling Wu and Ling Tingwan, innocent and ignorant of the world like a flower in a greenhouse, unable to withstand the destruction of storms and snow in the slightest.

He didn't even notice these undercurrents surging.

Later, the Rebel Army rioted, and after the teacher colluded with the Rebel Army, they took control of the school. The young Jin Shaoyu and Ling Wu were kidnapped. It was an Abandoned Warehouse, built on Yuwen Mountain.

Jin Shaoyu was very scared, holding onto his brother and refusing to let go, only calming down after being comforted and handed a pomelo candy. That candy was very sweet, very, very sweet.

Sweeter than any pomelo candy he had ever eaten in his past...

Yet it was this very pomelo candy that would bring sweetness that sent away his favorite brother. Jin Shaoyu was lying on the ground at the time, still conscious; his fingers moved as he looked at Ling Wu's back: "Brother..."

He had no strength left; that voice couldn't even reach Ling Wu's ears.

He only heard the voice, intermittent, only knowing that Ling Wu was analyzing with abnormal calmness: "Must blow up the entire laboratory... then leave..."

Another voice said: "Must leave him behind! Otherwise, that mad dog Jin Liangjin won't let us leave easily!"

Jin Shaoyu was that rope symbolizing restraint and shackles, and at the other end of the rope, Ling Wu was trapped.

Jin Liangjin was not at all worried that Ling Wu would not return to the Empire; he could turn a blind eye, even allowing Ling Wu to leave home for the Federation to seek medical treatment or study abroad...

But that was all.

If Ling Wu stayed in the Empire, he would die and be unable to avenge Ling Tingwan; if he left the Empire, he would have to abandon his younger brother. Either way, it was a dead end.

The sedative in the pomelo candy made Jin Shaoyu's eyelids grow heavier and heavier.

Brother.

Leave what?

Don't you want me anymore?

Dad doesn't care about me, Mom is dead, are you going to abandon me too?

I won't cry anymore, I'll eat less candy, I'll give you all my favorite toys, Brother... take me with you.

Now, Jin Shaoyu feels that the "truth" Jin Liangjin told was not the truth; there must have been something fishy about what happened back then. At the same time, he hates—he hates that Ling Wu protected and cared for him, yet resolutely abandoned and left him!

The hatred accumulated over ten years of silence had long surpassed love.

Ling Wu tried to keep his voice normal: "Shao Yu, don't play the emotional card with me."

Jin Shaoyu had once told Ling Wu not to play the emotional card, so wasn't this "Brother" of his now also playing the emotional card?

Every word he had once spoken was a boomerang, stabbing him fiercely.

Jin Shaoyu stood up, his gaze locked onto him: "You left so easily, then what am I supposed to do?"

"What am I supposed to do?!"

"The second year you left, he brought that mistress into the house. Do you know how many times I've been kidnapped, big or small, over these years? Three times, a full three times. How many of those do you think were orchestrated by that mistress?"

"Everyone is hoping for my death, but I'm lucky, I didn't die!"

Ling Wu was very clear about his kidnappings.

And what Jin Shaoyu thought was his own good luck was actually Ling Wu having sent people to protect him by his side, day after day for ten years, and no one knew except Ling Wu.

Ling Wu thought he was naive and rarely spoke to him in such a stern, admonishing tone: "Without the strength to match it, do not seek the truth of facts that exceed your control!"

The so-called truth of the facts had long been covered by blood and tears.

That was not just the truth; it was declaring war on the Jin, Yin, Jing, and Yu families simultaneously, and it was challenging the interests of the entire Empire's noble class.

Tell him?

And then let him go to his death?

Ridiculous!

Jin Shaoyu looked at him in disappointment: "I will investigate it myself."

The room returned to silence.

"I am the one who was abandoned." Jin Shaoyu walked to the doorway, his back turned to him without looking back, his tone already cold to the bone: "Ling Wu, you owe me a lifetime, one you cannot repay."