Chapter 92: Brothers' Gambit

Jin Shaoyu evaded the main point and said, "I want to drink corn and pork rib soup, I just don't know if it still tastes like it did when I was a child."

The wind outside the window blew with a touch of dry heat, and the moonlight was so hazy, mixing with the neon lights flickering across the entire city, like a fleeting old dream.

Ling Wu closed the car window: "Are there ingredients at home?"

"Yes," Jin Shaoyu said: "I had Gu Xin buy them in advance... he is my deputy."

"Mm." Ling Wu glanced at the nearby road section: "Are you going back to the old mansion?"

Jin Shaoyu: "No need, I bought a house outside a few years ago."

"Good."

Jin Shaoyu drove the car to outside his detached villa; the interior decoration of the villa was a standard minimalist European style. He placed the car keys on the table and opened the refrigerator to take out the ingredients.

Ling Wu stood to the side, the light from the crystal chandelier making his hair look exceptionally soft. His eyebrows curved slightly, and his eyes held a smile as he looked at Jin Shaoyu: "Do you know how to cook?"

"Not really."

Jin Shaoyu added truthfully: "Noodles are alright."

He had his back to Ling Wu and did not notice his brother's complex and meaningful expression, until footsteps sounded behind him and a slender hand reached over, while Ling Wu's clean voice came to his ear: "Go and rest, leave the kitchen matters to me."

Jin Shaoyu turned to the side and saw those eyes of Ling Wu's that occasionally visited his dreams; they were so beautiful and bright that he couldn't tell if it was reality or a simulation.

He nodded: "Okay."

Afterward, he handed the ingredients in his hand to him.

Ling Wu was wearing slippers and carried the ingredients into the kitchen, closing the glass door and leaving only a small gap. He turned on the faucet and simply rinsed the corn once.

"Whoosh!"

The sound of the water flowed into the living room through that gap.

Jin Shaoyu sat on the sofa, his long legs slightly bent, his phone tossed to the side. He was very quiet, just silently watching Ling Wu's back, using his eyes to trace every inch of the figure's outline in the kitchen, his fingertips rubbing together incessantly, feeling somewhat uneasy.

He had known since he was small that his brother was very formidable.

When he still hadn't learned how to hold a gun and was being scolded by Jin Liangjin, Ling Wu had already been calmly and composedly pulling the trigger, hitting the bullseye from a hundred paces away.

Jin Shaoyu hated Jin Liangjin's calculated strategies and cold-blooded ruthlessness, but at the same time, the innate aura of a superior that Jin Liangjin possessed also made countless people submit in admiration.

Ling Wu was the most like Jin Liangjin.

This was a conclusion Jin Shaoyu had reached when he was very young.

If the two of them had to have any differences, Jin Shaoyu might describe it this way: Jin Liangjin was a lion who had long since dominated the jungle; he was ruthless and sharp-clawed, and behind his mighty, massive body were piles of white bones—a visible terror and deterrent.

But Ling Wu was the rivers and the seas; the first glance at him was gentle, inclusive, beautiful, and approachable... as if it were forever calm and peaceful, making one think of countless beautiful words of praise. But water can carry a boat, and it can also capsize it; the undercurrents surging beneath the calm and the unknown, turbulent waves were a far more terrifying existence.

He never held his sharpness and thorns high, but instead hid them with forbearance; only when someone foolishly tried to touch him would he reveal his edge and deliver a fatal blow!

Jin Shaoyu understood this point with absolute clarity.

Ling Wu was too good at using his own feigned "weakness" to make his enemies let down their guard.

Therefore, when Ling Wu was pushed into the artificial lake by Wei Ranxu, he knew it clearly—the outcome of this game had been predetermined from the start.

Ling Wu would not lose.

But even though he understood that Ling Wu was pretending and acting, when Ling Wu took the initiative to call him and said to him—"I only have you as a younger brother left," Jin Shaoyu hesitated and struggled; knowing full well that Ling Wu had a thousand ways to handle it, he still willingly became the knife in his hand.

Jin Shaoyu touched the packet of powder inside his suit jacket, and now, he had to play a game against his own brother who had been so excellent since childhood.

All for the sake of an unspeakable truth.

Jin Shaoyu withdrew his gaze from the thin figure in the kitchen, stood in front of the refrigerator, and asked: "What do you want to drink?"

"There's orange juice, coconut milk, cola... or should we drink alcohol?"

It wasn't as if Jin Shaoyu hadn't seen Ling Wu drinking before; how could he possibly believe he would get drunk?

Two seconds later.

Ling Wu pulled the small gap in the glass door wider with one hand and poked his fluffy head out, wearing an apron and holding a cooking spatula: "I'll drink orange juice!"

When Jin Shaoyu peeked out from behind the refrigerator door, he was clearly stunned for a moment. Ling Wu's eyebrows were curved, and the cold, elegant air around him had vanished without a trace, replaced by a very grounded, human warmth. In this instant, the barrier disappeared... it was as if they really had a home.

He quickly lowered his head.

Why did his eyes want to tear up?

Jin Shaoyu took the orange juice out of the refrigerator and poured it into a glass. His heart was beating like a drum, but his hands were very steady, and his expression was also calm. He poured the sleeping drug from the paper packet into the orange juice and tucked the remaining half-packet into his jacket pocket.

This new type of sleeping drug was colorless and odorless, dissolving rapidly.

It was impossible to see anything unusual.

Ling Wu blanched the pork ribs to remove the blood and impurities, reducing the gamey smell, and then he called out toward the living room: "Shao Yu, can you come and help for a moment?"

"Coming."

The glass door of the kitchen was pushed open, and Jin Shaoyu asked him: "Where do you need help?"

Ling Wu: "The corn over there has been washed, just use the knife to cut it into a few sections."

Jin Shaoyu said: "Okay."

The sound of the kitchen knife grazing the corn and landing on the cutting board was exceptionally clear, just like the executioner on the scaffold, finally bringing down the blade of judgment.

The two stood side by side in the kitchen, the atmosphere warm.

Ling Wu asked listlessly: "Didn't you go out with Jing Du and the others? How do you have time to come find me?"

"I just came back from them." Jin Shaoyu tilted his eyes: "Whether I have time or not, it never stops me from coming to find you."

"Oh." Ling Wu said pointedly: "I thought you had something you wanted to tell me."

Jin Shaoyu's hand cutting the vegetables paused for a moment, then returned to normal: "No."

Ling Wu scooped up the pork ribs and placed them on a plate; the heat quickly rushed toward them. He walked toward Jin Shaoyu's right side, and the corner space became cramped. The two were pressed very close together. He leaned one hand against the edge of the stove and reached out to grab the faucet: "Shao Yu, can you move aside?"

Jin Shaoyu felt a push at his waist; his expression remained normal, and he moved aside naturally: "Oh."

"Whoosh!"

The sound of the water flowed and then shut off.

Ling Wu observed his micro-expressions and quickly reached a conclusion; as he passed behind Jin Shaoyu after washing and drying his hands, he unintentionally knocked a plate onto the floor, and amidst the noise to create a distraction, Ling Wu brought his slender fingers together and reached into the other side of his suit jacket, pinched the packet of anesthetic, and slipped it into his own pocket, the entire process taking no more than two seconds, his movements fluid and natural, and he quickly returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

"The plate fell!"

Jin Shaoyu reacted, pressing down on his shoulder: "Stand still, I'll clean it up."

"Sure."

Ling Wu watched him leave the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest, his expression indifferent, leaning lazily against the stove, waiting with great patience for him to come back in.