When Ren Jiayun received the call, it was exactly 12:30 a.m.
He was sitting lazily in his car, one hand resting on the steering wheel, preparing to head home and get some sleep. Suddenly, his phone rang.
The call was from Chu Ci.
But before Ren Jiayun could answer, it disconnected.
He didn’t think much of it. He assumed Chu Ci had woken up in the middle of the night, realized he was already home, and was calling to thank him.
A few seconds later, the phone rang again.
This time it lasted only a few seconds before disconnecting as well.
Ren Jiayun paused, then called back.
To his surprise, nobody answered for a long time. Just as the call was about to disconnect automatically, it was finally picked up.
A hazy, drunken voice came through.
“…Hello?”
Ren Jiayun frowned. He could hear the sound of rushing water in the background.
“Engineer Chu, what’s wrong?”
Silence.
It was so quiet that it sounded as if Chu Ci had fallen asleep.
Ren Jiayun waited and waited. After calling out several times, he finally heard Chu Ci speak lazily:
“…I fell.”
After a pause, he added:
“I can’t get up.”
Inside, Ren Jiayun cursed viciously.
He immediately hung up, spun the car around, and drove back.
When he had left Chu Ci’s apartment earlier, he hadn’t gone straight home. Instead, he had stopped at a teahouse to sober up a little. So although an hour had passed, he was still not far away when Chu Ci called.
Less than fifteen minutes later, he was back at the apartment.
Standing outside the door, he pounded heavily.
“Engineer Chu! Engineer Chu! Open the door!”
He knocked for what felt like the time it took to drink a bowl of tea, yet nobody came.
Calling the phone produced no answer either.
Ren Jiayun became increasingly irritated.
I’ve really been worked to death tonight!
How did a dignified chief surgeon end up working as a chauffeur and manual laborer?
“Engineer Chu! If you don’t open up, I’m breaking the door down! I mean it!”
He slammed his fist against the door and absentmindedly twisted the doorknob.
“I’m warning you, I’ll call the police too! I’m a—”
Click.
The door opened.
Ren Jiayun froze.
He looked at the doorknob.
Then at his own hand.
After a long moment he scratched his head in confusion.
“…It wasn’t locked?”
After all that knocking, the door hadn’t even been locked.
The huge apartment was completely silent.
Other than the rushing sound of water coming from the bathroom, not a single light was on.
Ren Jiayun switched on lights as he walked through the apartment. When he pushed open the bathroom door, a wave of steam nearly drove him back out.
Water was everywhere.
The shower was still running, and had apparently been running for quite some time. The bathtub, the sink, the floor—warm water covered everything.
And Chu Ci was curled up in a corner beside the bathtub, his head drooping to one side, seemingly asleep.
He was wearing a white cotton bathrobe that had been soaked through. His dark hair, made even darker by moisture, clung to his forehead, making his skin appear even paler and smoother.
Water droplets clung to his long eyelashes.
There was a fragile elegance about him that was startling to look at.
Ren Jiayun stood frozen in the doorway for more than ten seconds before finally snapping back to himself.
He coughed loudly.
“Engineer Chu? Engineer Chu? …Are you awake?”
Chu Ci slowly lifted his head.
Without opening his eyes, he merely hummed in acknowledgment.
Ren Jiayun strode into the bathroom, unconcerned that the water was soaking his expensive leather shoes. He helped Chu Ci to his feet, draped him over his shoulder, shut off the shower forcefully, and carried the beautiful, troublesome, fiercely independent engineer into the bedroom.
The moment he stepped into the room, he felt doomed.
This apartment had been bought and furnished personally by Han Yue.
Yet Han Yue himself had never spent even a second with Chu Ci in this bedroom.
Meanwhile, Ren Jiayun had now entered it twice.
And both times, he had been carrying an unconscious Chu Ci.
Whatever the truth might be, if Han Yue found out, someone was definitely going to die.
“Where are your pajamas? Your clothes are soaked—you need to change.”
To avoid seeing anything he shouldn’t, Ren Jiayun turned his back toward Chu Ci and faced the wardrobe, pretending to search for clothing.
Behind him, there was silence.
After a long while, Chu Ci asked lazily:
“Are you afraid of me?”
Ren Jiayun’s fingers stiffened on the wardrobe door.
His throat tightened.
“Why would I be afraid of you?”
A faint laugh came from behind him.
“No. You’re not afraid of me.”
A pause.
“You’re afraid of Han Yue.”
“…Everyone’s afraid of Han Yue. I’m just one of them. Do you think Hou Yu isn’t afraid of him? Do you think Pei Zhi isn’t afraid of him?
“Being part of the Crown Prince circle doesn’t mean everyone stands on equal footing. Some families are stronger than others, and some individuals are stronger than others.
“The Han family—and Han Yue himself—have disrupted the balance of that circle for years.
“For someone like that, what’s wrong with being a little afraid?”
Ren Jiayun suddenly turned around, intending to continue.
But the moment he met Chu Ci’s gaze, he stopped.
Chu Ci was leaning against the headboard, looking up at him.
His eyes were calm and steady.
Yet there was something indescribably lonely about them.
“You see,” Chu Ci said slowly, his voice carrying a quiet indifference, “I’m not afraid of him.”
“From the very first time I dealt with Han Yue, what he showed me was absolute violence. Dominance. Refusal to accept rejection. Ruthlessness.”
“He can beat people without consequences. He legally carries firearms. He represents violence in its purest form within this society.”
“So I don’t want anything to do with him.
“I feel disgusted even looking at him.
“No—that isn’t fear.”
“It’s like having a fly buzzing around your house all day. You aren’t afraid of the fly, but you hate sharing the same roof with it twenty-four hours a day.
“If I can’t drive the fly away, then I’ll leave instead.”
He paused.
“You once said Han Yue truly likes me. Han Yue himself says he’ll change, become a better person.
“Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter.
“From my perspective, no matter how good a person he becomes in the future, he will always represent violence and cold-bloodedness.
“He represents baseness, selfishness, arrogance, and bullying.
“Because I’ll never forget that the first time I asked him to leave my home, he handcuffed me to a chair behind my back…
“…for two days and two nights.”
Ren Jiayun stared.
For a long time, he couldn’t say a word.
Finally, he cleared his throat.
His voice sounded strained.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Because tonight…” Chu Ci said quietly, “you looked like you’d had too much to drink.”
“Especially when you were looking at me.”
Ren Jiayun considered himself long past the age of a foolish young man.
Yet the instant those words landed, his face flushed violently.
Every drop of blood in his body seemed to rush upward.
He wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the floor and disappear into it.
“…And I drank too much as well.”
Chu Ci tilted his head back against the headboard.
His sigh was so faint it was almost inaudible.
“I’m just…
“…just too tired.”
Ren Jiayun stood there for a long time.
He couldn’t speak.
Yet he couldn’t leave either.
His mind was blank, his hands and feet awkwardly frozen.
Meanwhile, Chu Ci remained in that position, head tilted back in utter exhaustion, exposing the graceful line of his throat without any guard at all.
Ren Jiayun knew he should leave immediately.
He should say goodbye and go.
But every time he tried to speak, no words came out.
At that moment, his phone rang.
The sound was startlingly loud in the quiet bedroom.
“…Hello, Pei Zhi?”
The moment the call connected, Pei Zhi demanded:
“Where are you, Old Ren? I called your house and nobody answered.”
No matter what happened, Ren Jiayun absolutely could not admit he was standing inside Chu Ci’s bedroom.
Fortunately, Pei Zhi only asked casually before getting straight to the point.
“Hurry to the hospital. Something happened.
“Zhao Ting got one of his arms chopped off downstairs at Chun Chang Garden. They’re bringing him to your hospital for emergency surgery right now. Get over here and see what’s going on!”
Ren Jiayun was stunned.
“What?!
“His arm was chopped off?!”
By the time Ren Jiayun arrived at the hospital, it was already fairly late.
Because after hearing the call, Chu Ci had insisted on coming as well.
Ren Jiayun had not wanted to bring him.
First, Chu Ci’s health was still poor. He had only recently recovered from gastric bleeding and had been drinking heavily that night.
Second, Ren Jiayun knew Han Yue had already become suspicious regarding Zhao Ting. If Han Yue learned that Chu Ci had specifically gone to see Zhao Ting on the very night Zhao Ting was attacked, it would undoubtedly cause more trouble.
Ren Jiayun had been determined to persuade Chu Ci to stay home and rest.
But Chu Ci insisted.
His attitude was unusually firm.
He was a grown man; Ren Jiayun couldn’t exactly lock him in the apartment. Besides, he had always found it difficult to refuse this engineer’s requests.
In the end, he compromised.
When they arrived at the hospital, it was nearly three in the morning.
The surgery was still ongoing.
The hallway outside the operating room was crowded with police officers.
Pei Zhi was speaking with several doctors. When he saw them approaching, he froze.
“Engineer… Chu?
“Why are you here?”
Ren Jiayun opened his mouth to explain, but before he could speak, Chu Ci answered:
“Doctor Ren drove me here.”
Whether it was the lighting or simply imagination, Pei Zhi’s expression seemed to change slightly.
“…You two were together just now?”
Ren Jiayun instantly stiffened.
Chu Ci replied:
“He treated me to dinner.”
The words were spoken casually, without the slightest hint of emotion—no more significant than greeting someone on the street and asking, “Have you eaten yet?”
But the moment the words left Chu Ci’s mouth, Pei Zhi’s expression changed.
Ren Jiayun felt that look stab into him like steel needles, sending a chill down his spine. Fortunately, it lasted only an instant. Before he could fully react, Pei Zhi had already withdrawn his gaze and smiled.
“Engineer Chu just got out of the hospital. At this hour you should be resting at home. How can you come running over here like this?” he said. “You’ve already shown your concern by coming. I’ll have someone take you back immediately. Actually, it’s already three in the morning. By the time you go back and forth, who knows how late it’ll be? Why don’t I just arrange a hospital room for you to sleep in?”
He turned his head.
“Xiao Zhang! Go speak to the deputy director. A friend of mine was just discharged and is still weak. He can’t stay up this late. Ask him to arrange a private room.”
A young policeman responded and hurried off.
“I really don’t want to sleep in a hospital bed again…” Chu Ci said.
As he spoke, however, he yawned. Although he covered his mouth, the exhaustion in his eyes was impossible to hide.
“Just put up with it for one night. You have to be careful right after being discharged. Besides, people aren’t meant to stay up all night. Isn’t there a saying? One night’s sleep does more good than a whole feast.”
Pei Zhi’s tone was gentle but firm.
Not wanting to argue over such a trivial matter, Chu Ci rubbed his eyes and asked:
“What exactly happened to Zhao Ting?”
Ren Jiayun, who had been trapped in an awkward mood the whole time, immediately became serious as well.
“Oh, that. We just spoke with the police.” Pei Zhi took a breath. “Zhao Ting brought a hostess to Chun Chang Garden tonight. Before they could even enter the apartment building, someone knocked the woman unconscious from behind. Zhao Ting was also knocked out and then had his right arm chopped off.”
He paused.
“They were discovered around twelve-thirty. A neighbor returning home late at night was scared out of his wits and immediately called the police. At the time, the severed arm was lying right beside him. There was blood everywhere. Luckily he was found early enough and didn’t bleed to death.”
“Any leads?” Chu Ci asked.
“Hard to say. There aren’t any surveillance cameras at the entrance to Chun Chang Garden.”
Pei Zhi hesitated.
“That was because the last time Zhao Ting invited a group of people over to… have some fun… he had the cameras removed.”
When he said “have some fun,” he visibly swallowed the rest of whatever he had been about to say.
Chu Ci looked mildly puzzled.
“Fun doing what?”
Ren Jiayun coughed loudly.
Even Pei Zhi awkwardly looked away.
“Nothing much. Just an ordinary gathering.”
Given Zhao Ting’s expertise in drinking, gambling, prostitutes, and every other vice imaginable, there was no need to elaborate on what kind of “gathering” it had been.
As a doctor with cleanliness issues, Ren Jiayun rarely attended such events.
Pei Zhi, who had little interest in that sort of thing, seldom participated either.
Yet by coincidence, both of them had happened to be present the very time Zhao Ting ordered the cameras removed.
The atmosphere became slightly awkward.
Chu Ci seemed completely oblivious to it and showed no interest in digging into the decadent history of these princelings.
He simply asked calmly:
“Can the arm be reattached?”
“It’s risky. The arm was detached for too long. Frankly, he’s lucky just to be alive.”
“…Lucky just to be alive.”
Chu Ci repeated the words slowly.
Then he laughed softly.
“That means he must not have committed anything truly unforgivable. His life wasn’t meant to end yet. He lost an arm, but he still kept his life.”
Though he was smiling, his tone was remarkably cold.
He hardly sounded like someone who had rushed over in the middle of the night to visit a friend.
Ren Jiayun couldn’t help glancing at him.
“You two keep talking.”
Chu Ci adjusted his collar and said calmly,
“I’m going to the restroom.”
Pei Zhi smiled and nodded, watching him disappear through the crowd toward the restroom.
Ren Jiayun sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“Thank God I wasn’t the surgeon tonight. I haven’t slept all day. My head is killing me…” He frowned. “What do you think happened to Old Zhao? Revenge? But who takes revenge by cutting off an arm instead of killing someone?”
“Maybe,” Pei Zhi said lightly, withdrawing his gaze, “the person seeking revenge thought the grievance wasn’t severe enough to warrant a life.”
He paused.
“Maybe they thought Zhao Ting wasn’t Hou Hongchang.”
“Maybe Zhao Ting never ran over and killed a migrant worker’s child.”
Ren Jiayun was startled.
“What does Hou Hongchang have to do with this?”
“You know how Hou Hongchang died, right? One strike. Clean and decisive. His cervical vertebrae were nearly severed.”
Pei Zhi’s expression darkened.
“Do you know what the cut on Zhao Ting’s severed arm looks like?”
“The entire cross-section is smooth and clean, forming a perfect arc. Not even a fragment of shattered bone.”
“The blade entered through the shoulder blade, cut through muscle, bone, and blood vessels, then emerged beneath the armpit, completely separating the arm from the body.”
“When the blade came out under the armpit, it didn’t even touch a single inch of skin outside the wound itself.”
He paused again.
“One strike.”
“Just one strike.”
“There isn’t a second wound anywhere on Zhao Ting’s body. Not even a scratch.”
Normally, people who suffered deliberate chopping attacks would have multiple wounds.
Human bodies weren’t slabs of pork.
No matter how ruthless the attacker, there was usually hesitation before the first strike, or additional shallow cuts afterward in the frenzy of violence.
Even accidental knife wounds from a brawl typically left two marks—the entry wound and the exit wound.
Forensic examiners often used the differences between those wounds to distinguish homicide from suicide.
Yet both Hou Hongchang and Zhao Ting bore wounds that were astonishingly smooth and complete.
Each formed a single clean, level scar.
That meant the attacker had applied force evenly, remained exceptionally calm, and acted with extraordinary precision.
Such wounds were not something an ordinary person could inflict.
Even many professionals would struggle to achieve them.
“One strike killed Hou Hongchang.”
“One strike severed Zhao Ting’s right arm.”
Pei Zhi took a deep breath and said slowly:
“These two cases were definitely done by the same person.”
Ren Jiayun sucked in a breath.
A chill seemed to rise from deep within his bones.
At that moment, Xiao Zhang returned and bowed respectfully.
“President Pei, the room is ready. VIP Ward Number One.”
“Good. Thanks.”
Pei Zhi started to leave, then suddenly remembered something.
He stopped and looked at Ren Jiayun with a cold smile.
“Oh, by the way, Old Ren.”
“Where exactly were you and Engineer Chu having dinner until three in the morning?”
Ren Jiayun immediately panicked.
“What are you thinking?! I treated Engineer Chu to dinner, accidentally drank too much, then took him home and looked after him for a bit. That’s all that happened! Damn it, if you embellish this story and tell Second Young Master Han, I’m dead!”
Pei Zhi stared at him.
Without moving.
For a long moment.
There was something unreadable in his eyes that made Ren Jiayun’s skin crawl.
“Hey, you…”
“Keep up the good work.”
Suddenly, Pei Zhi slapped him on the shoulder and sneered.
“If you manage to steal Engineer Chu away from Han Yue, I’ll personally give you a very generous reward!”
Ren Jiayun froze.
Pei Zhi turned and strode away.
“Hey! Where are you going?”
Pei Zhi waved a hand without looking back.
His voice drifted from farther down the corridor.
“Going to talk to Engineer Chu about something!…”