The Ming family’s old residence was located in the old district of Harborport, its low buildings nestled deep among green shade red bricks, white tiles, wooden doors with iron rings, exuding a quaint charm rarely seen in a modern metropolis.
To preserve tradition, the old house had not undergone major renovations inside. However, once one becomes accustomed to the convenience of smart home technology, it’s hard to return to such a primitive way of living. As a result, the family rarely returned more than a few times a year.
This time, they came back because Ming Feng’s daughter, Doudou, needed to do an extracurricular project on ancient architecture preservation, and this old residence happened to be a ready-made subject. The family took the opportunity to come back, had the place cleaned from top to bottom, and fired up the stove for a meal.
At the dinner table, Ming Yiqing and Ming Feng had endless work topics to discuss.
Ming Feng was Ming Rao’s biological older brother, but he was over twelve years his senior. He had also started a family early, which made Ming Rao’s position in the family hierarchy rather delicate. Every time Ming Feng brought his daughter along, Ming Rao would automatically be grouped with his little niece into the “kids’ camp.”
After inquiring about Ming Feng’s work, Ming Yiqing, playing the role of the even-handed parent, turned his attention to him: “By the way, A-Rao, how have things been at school lately? Met anyone interesting?”
Ming Rao nearly choked on his soup. His mother, Song Wan, irritably shoved Ming Yiqing: “What do you mean by that? My precious son isn’t even twenty yet are you already trying to push him into marriage?”
Ming Yiqing looked both innocent and exasperated: “I was just asking if he’d had any conflicts with anyone. Look at you, where did your mind go?”
“You’d better be,” Madam Song said with a dramatic eye roll. “You promised our A-Rao gets to date freely.”
“Fine, fine, free love nobody’s saying he can’t have his freedom,” Ming Yiqing said, only then realizing how off-track the conversation had gone. He straightened up and addressed Ming Rao seriously: “The reason I’m bringing this up is because your Uncle Lu recently ran into some trouble.”
Ming Rao lifted his head slightly from where it had been nearly buried in his bowl: “Huh? What happened?”
“His company got hit by a hacker demanding ransom, and the guy was specifically targeting his son.”
“Lu Feiyang?”
“Yeah, it was very targeted. First they demanded money, then they specifically demanded that Lu Feiyang withdraw from the Harborport University Innovation Camp. Anyone who could make that kind of demand is clearly someone from Feiyang’s school probably a classmate conflict.”
Ming Rao’s heart suddenly raced. He asked urgently: “So do they know who it is yet?”
Ming Yiqing shook his head: “They asked, but Feiyang wouldn’t say. He was being evasive probably doesn’t want the adults to know. Sigh, your Uncle Lu is really worried about it.”
Lu Feiyang wouldn’t say, no doubt because he didn’t want his father to find out that his innovation project had been stolen. If that came out, not only would his sports car plans go up in smoke, he’d probably have a few credit cards frozen as a warning too.
But as for who this person was, Ming Rao already had an answer in his mind.
That answer sent a chill down his spine. Without thinking further, he quickly pressed: “So what does Uncle Lu plan to do about the hacker?”
“It all depends on whether that person is truly determined to leak the information. Since it’s a conflict between classmates, they’d naturally prefer to resolve it privately. Unfortunately, Feiyang keeps refusing to say who it is Your Uncle Lu isn’t afraid, though. It’s a bit of a hassle, but he’s dealt with this kind of thing enough times that he’s prepared.”
“But if it really comes to that, that classmate’s life would basically be ruined,” Ming Yiqing sighed, then got back to the point. “The reason I’m telling you this is to encourage you to get along well with your classmates. If there are conflicts, communicate actively and resolve them in time don’t end up harming others without benefiting yourself, leaving both sides destroyed.”
Song Wan noticed Ming Rao’s face growing paler and paler, his chopsticks frozen mid-air. She shot Ming Yiqing a glare: “What are you doing? It was supposed to be casual conversation, but now you’re lecturing? Our A-Rao isn’t hot-tempered like Feiyang. Have you ever seen him get into a conflict with anyone? Look you’ve made the kid lose his appetite.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll stop. Let’s eat, let’s eat.” Ming Yiqing apologized while picking food for Ming Rao with his chopsticks.
But Ming Rao had completely lost his appetite.
He thought back to the way Yan Yuchuan had looked so focused while writing his proposal in the study room that day, and then he recalled what his father had just said.
Hacker extortion a ruined future.
Could that really be Yan Yuchuan’s final outcome?
The old district and the East District were nearly two hours apart by car. Using the excuse of visiting a classmate, Ming Rao set off shortly after dinner and arrived at almost eleven o’clock.
Harborport was a city that never slept. People who lived year-round in the bustling areas, accustomed to artificial lights, could easily forget that this city hadn’t seen stars in many years.
The slums didn’t have brightly lit nights, yet they bore the same starless sky above them, which made the darkness there seem even deeper.
In the pitch black, Ming Rao walked up to the sixth floor and knocked on Yan Yuchuan’s door.
When Yan Yuchuan opened the door, his gaze at Ming Rao was devoid of emotion. His eyes lingered on Ming Rao’s face for a moment before he said coldly, “It’s you.”
For a brief instant, Ming Rao wondered if Yan Yuchuan had already forgotten who he was.
Thinking about it, nearly a month had passed since their encounter at the library. They hadn’t met more than a few times in total, so if Yan Yuchuan had already forgotten who he was, that would be entirely understandable.
He recalled that day at the research institute he and Yan Yuchuan had crossed paths but hadn’t spoken. Suddenly, he wasn’t sure if Yan Yuchuan had even seen him.
Standing at Yan Yuchuan’s door, he only then realized, what exactly was he doing here?
“No need to come all the way to my home just to laugh at me,” Yan Yuchuan spoke up at that moment, his tone as sarcastic and dismissive as ever. “Wouldn’t it be better to watch from a sports car?”
Alright, so Yan Yuchuan had seen him after all.
As Ming Rao walked in, he accidentally kicked over an aluminum can an empty one.
Yan Yuchuan leaned back against the sofa, a laptop resting on his knees. He looked utterly exhausted stubble was beginning to show on his chin, dark circles hung beneath his eyes, and the eyes fixed on the screen were shot through with visible red veins.
Though Yan Yuchuan had never been a man of expressive features even his smiles were usually laced with sarcasm he now looked more dejected than he ever had before.
Ming Rao glanced around, unsure where to sit, and spoke while standing: “I know you were the one who hacked into Lu Feiyang’s family company.”
Yan Yuchuan didn’t react, showing no anxiety at being exposed, as if he couldn’t care less.
“What you did wasn’t smart,” Ming Rao continued. “You’re extorting such a huge sum of money. If you get caught and thrown in prison, you won’t even be able to spend it. What’s the point?”
“The money isn’t for me.”
“You’re earning this kind of life-risking dirty money for your parents you think they’d be happy about it?”
Yan Yuchuan tugged at the corner of his mouth, a faint, ambiguous smile forming. “I don’t have parents.”
Ming Rao froze, then fell into silence.
He’d never been in a situation like this and didn’t know what would be appropriate to say. He thought of scenes he’d seen in TV dramas and realized he should say “I’m sorry.” But he’d been silent for too long the moment had passed, and anything he said now would just feel superfluous.
“You gave them a deadline of next Tuesday, right? They’re not going to transfer the money. Those pieces of information you have the money laundering, the fake accounts you really think they’re afraid? They’ve been prepared for this all along.”
Yan Yuchuan still showed no reaction.
The money truly wasn’t for himself he couldn’t even use that much.
In the email he’d sent to Lu Feiyang’s family company, he’d demanded they wire funds annually through the dark web in cryptocurrency to a designated account. He knew the technical methods to ensure no one could trace where the money went, guaranteeing the Lin family would live comfortably, enjoying the life he’d once promised them.
In truth, he’d also guessed that the Lu family’s company wouldn’t take his little threat seriously they might even dismiss it as child’s play.
But there was so little he could do, so painfully little. To repay the Lin family’s kindness, even if it meant grasping at straws, he had to give it everything he had.
“The Lu family still doesn’t know who sent the extortion message. Lu Feiyang is too afraid to tell his father that his innovation camp project was stolen from someone else, so he hasn’t dared to say a word. As long as you stop now don’t do anything, don’t send anything else I’ll quietly have a word with Lu Feiyang, and nothing more will come of it.”
Yan Yuchuan shot him a glance. Ming Rao met his eyes with determination: “Trust me.”
“Why?”
“It was Lu Feiyang’s father who told my father. They’re quite”
“I mean, why are you helping me.”
Ming Rao fell silent.
Honestly, he didn’t know why either.
He just felt that someone who could be turned away again and again, trampled underfoot, yet still pick himself up and try once more someone with that kind of resilience and refusal to give in, someone with dreams and persistence.
“I just think you don’t deserve to end up like that.”
Yan Yuchuan, drunk, seemed to have a more expressive face. His expression shifted from confusion to contemplation, then to intrigue. “You know I’m a blackmailer, and you still came here alone. Aren’t you afraid I’ll kidnap you?”
“You wouldn’t,” Ming Rao answered quickly too quickly, he realized, so he added by way of explanation, “That night in the warehouse, you had the chance to… but you didn’t. You even took me home. I know you’re not that kind of person.”
Yan Yuchuan’s brow twitched slightly as he studied him quietly. “Maybe I just find men’s bodies disgusting.”
Ming Rao was taken aback, his mind going blank for a moment, then he looked away. “Maybe. Maybe it’s a combination of reasons. Either way either way, I came.”
At that, he pulled out an envelope and handed it to Yan Yuchuan.
Yan Yuchuan’s face suddenly darkened, and he made no move to take it. Ming Rao set the envelope on the coffee table instead.
“This is the money you paid me for the camera lens, plus a little extra consider it compensation for the emotional distress from that time at the bar. If you don’t want”
“Take it back,” Yan Yuchuan said, his tone hard and unyielding. “I don’t want your charity.”
“It’s not charity. It’s for a legitimate reason.”
“That time at the bar, you had someone strip my clothes off. I stripped them back, and now we’re even. You don’t owe me anything.”
Ming Rao suddenly realized that Yan Yuchuan had a strange persistence when it came to doing things that broke the rules. If someone stripped his clothes, he’d strip theirs in return; if someone hacked his computer, he’d hack theirs back as if he were holding fast to some kind of principle?
Helpless, he opened the envelope, pulled out a stack of bills, counted them one by one, and placed them on the coffee table: “Here, this is what you owe me for the lens. I checked it later it wasn’t damaged, still works fine. So now you can take it, right?”
Yan Yuchuan lowered his gaze, glanced at it, and didn’t tell him to take it back. Ming Rao took that as acceptance.
“Then it’s settled. Before next Tuesday, don’t do anything. I’ll go talk to them, and after that, they shouldn’t come looking for trouble with you anymore.”
“Them?” Yan Yuchuan slowly raised his head, looking at him with meaning. “Do you think that because of what you’ve done, I’d see you as any different from Lu Feiyang?”
“I.” Ming Rao frowned, about to argue that he didn’t, but stopped himself.
Seeing him stay silent, Yan Yuchuan let out a long breath. “Put away your hypocritical conscience. Maybe you don’t see it that way yourself, but you’ve always stood on the same side as the ‘them’ you talk about. In my eyes, there’s no difference between you.”
His speech was slowed by drunkenness, but his logic remained sharp. As he spoke, he looked directly into Ming Rao’s eyes, shedding his usual coldness and sarcasm for a sincerity that was open and unreserved like he was breaking down a complex problem step by step: right is right, wrong is wrong.
Ming Rao was struck speechless, and a quiet self-examination began to stir within him: Is that so?
Did he come here because his conscience was uneasy?
If not, then what else could it be?
Even he couldn’t say for sure.
Maybe Yan Yuchuan had hit on those hidden motives buried deep inside him ones he didn’t even know himself.
“Alright, I get it,” Ming Rao said, his mind a tangled mess, not wanting to dwell on it further. “Anyway, promise me first: don’t do anything recently. If you don’t say anything, I’ll take that as a yes.”
“…”
“And don’t do any other illegal stuff either.”
“…”
“And shave your beard.”
Yan Yuchuan frowned, wondering if he’d heard wrong. “What?”
“You don’t look good with a beard.”
Yan Yuchuan’s expression shifted slightly, and Ming Rao added matter-of-factly: “Makes you look old.”
“…”
Yan Yuchuan drew in a sharp breath, but before he could speak, Ming Rao quickly tossed out a “I’m heading off” and vanished in a flash.
The next morning, Yan Yuchuan called the restaurant where he worked to take the day off and, unusually, slept in, dozing until the afternoon.
The hangover left him feeling off. He had a decent tolerance for alcohol but wasn’t fond of drinking; yesterday had been a rare indulgence.
After washing up, he stared at himself in the mirror for a while, then finally picked up the razor.
Just then, his phone rang.
An unfamiliar voice came through the receiver, speaking with a cautious, probing tone: “Hello, are you Yan Yuchuan? My name is Jiang Ge, a student of Professor Xu. Regarding your memory editing project, would you be available to meet and discuss it sometime?”