As night fell, the temperature continued to drop, and the biting wind made people shiver uncontrollably. Lu Min held Ying Yulian’s hand in one of his while gripping a flashlight in the other, leading the way deep into the pitch-black alley the boy had pointed out. He noticed the hand in his grasp was trembling slightly. Lu Min glanced at Ying Yulian’s pale face and then at the mouth of the alley, which was completely devoid of light. He squeezed the boy’s hand tighter and tucked it into his own overcoat pocket.
“You could have stayed in a comfortable hotel, yet you chose to come here and endure this,” Lu Min said. He looked at the shivering teenager with a touch of confusion. He truly could not understand why the boy would pass up the warm, bright hotel room he had booked to come searching for a corpse in the middle of the night.
“If my analysis is wrong and I made the officers go on a wild goose chase while I was sleeping soundly in a hotel, everyone would be unhappy, and I would feel very guilty,” Ying Yulian replied, pursing his lips. He looked up and stole a glance at Lu Min. His fingers instinctively followed Lu Min’s lead, sliding between the man’s fingers until their hands were fully intertwined. He gripped Lu Min’s hand firmly. “Besides, I also want to see if my analysis is correct.”
The boy looked at Lu Min with moist, cautious eyes. In truth, he was terrified of being wrong. If his analysis failed, it would not just be a waste of everyone’s time and energy. Lu Min was the one who had allowed him to speak. Because he was just a child, the others might not direct their anger at him, but what about his brother? Would they vent all their frustration on Lu Min instead? This immense anxiety made it impossible for Ying Yulian to sit idly in a hotel waiting for their return. He preferred to trek through the freezing wind.
Lu Min was far too perceptive not to notice the boy’s anxiety. He reached down, hooked a finger under the corner of Ying Yulian’s downturned mouth, and gave the boy’s nose a playful flick.
“Do not be so nervous. I have been wrong in my analyses before. Everyone was stuck without any leads anyway. You simply provided a theory that we could verify. Do not be afraid.”
“I am not afraid as long as you are here,” Ying Yulian said. Sweet dimples appeared on his cheeks as he held Lu Min’s arm, leaning his entire weight against the man. From a distance, he looked like a koala clinging to him.
“Why are your hands still not warming up?” Lu Min noticed the boy’s hands remained icy, and he frowned slightly. “Old Chen, let me borrow your gloves.”
Lu Min reached out and took the gloves amidst Chen Shen’s speechless surprise, then carefully fitted them onto Ying Yulian’s hands. The boy intentionally tucked his thumbs inside instead of through the proper holes. Lu Min chuckled softly, used his fingers to guide the boy’s thumbs, and finished putting the gloves on properly with both hands.
“Stop playing around and wear them correctly, alright?”
The boy brushed his pinky finger against Lu Min’s hand as if trying to be cute. Secretly, he moved closer toward the opening of Lu Min’s unbuttoned coat. He wanted to be enveloped by the scent of tobacco lingering on the fabric. He wished to merge with his brother so they would never be apart. This gave him an extraordinary sense of security, making him feel as though he would never be abandoned.
However, after Lu Min knelt to fix his scarf and gloves, the man stared at him for a long time. His eyes held indulgence, but also a complicated trace of… nostalgia? It felt as if Lu Min was looking at someone else through him. Ying Yulian had felt this before. He wondered who it could be.
Lu Min’s eyelashes brushed against Ying Yulian’s palm, creating a tickling sensation that traveled all the way to the boy’s heart, yet it could not soothe his underlying unease. He could never understand why Lu Min had saved him. There were so many children being sold in the shanty towns, so why had he alone been rescued from that misery? He was not the most beautiful, the most obedient, or the most charming. To a man like Lu Min, he had no value.
Why did he save me? Is it because of the person he sees when he looks at me? Ying Yulian was so deep in thought that he failed to notice the ground beneath him and stepped into a hole. He cried out in pain.
“Are you alright? Did you sprain your ankle?” Lu Min immediately noticed the fall. His hot palm pressed against Ying Yulian’s ankle, causing the boy to flinch at the sudden heat.
“I am fine. I can still walk,” Ying Yulian said through gritted teeth as he pushed himself up. Lu Min was already tired, and he refused to be a burden.
Lu Min watched the boy limp forward and then looked at his colleagues walking rapidly ahead. He sighed helplessly. “Come here. I will carry you on my back.”
“But…”
“You will fall behind if you keep walking like that. Listen to your brother.”
Chen Shen, who was shivering from the cold, rubbed his gloveless hands together while watching them. He felt as though he had gone mad. He had been on the force for ten years, yet here he was, following a teenager who had been illiterate for most of his life simply because the boy claimed to know where the body was dumped. Chen Shen looked at Lu Min, who acted as if this were perfectly normal, and thought the man was truly losing it. Did Lu Min not realize that most of the officers were only following this analysis out of respect for his former position in the bureau?
If they did not find a body, people would accuse Lu Min of interfering with public duties through nepotism. That would be enough to cause him serious trouble. If the case became a media sensation, the public backlash could even threaten the profits of Lu Min’s company. He truly did not know where Lu Min got such confidence.
“Are you settled?”
“Yes.”
Ying Yulian placed his hands on Lu Min’s shoulders. As Lu Min lifted him, he intentionally avoided the boy’s backside, supporting him by the calves instead. However, the boy felt a surge of heat from the back of his knees that made him break into a light sweat. He shifted uncomfortably.
“Do not move, or you will fall. Stay still.”
The road in the East District was uneven. Lu Min stepped on a stone just as the squirming boy shifted, nearly causing him to slip off. Lu Min reacted quickly, catching the boy’s backside with his calloused palms and adjusting him back into place. When his palms landed, it felt as if he were firmly gripping the boy’s rear. Ying Yulian was grateful the darkness hid his flushed face. He said nothing, burying his face deeper into the man’s broad shoulder while staring at the beautiful red mole behind Lu Min’s ear.
Lu Min trusted the boy’s analysis because of his past life. When the copycat killer appeared in his previous life, the original criminal, a man so arrogant he would not allow anyone to mimic him had sent Lu Min cards with case analyses. Those tips had allowed the police to find bodies and catch killers. Somehow, Lu Min sensed that this talent still existed in the Ying Yulian of this lifetime.
“We are here. You should search inside those barrels. It should be dismembered body parts, though it is possible they are whole,” Ying Yulian said, looking over Lu Min’s shoulder and pointing toward the manure buckets near the fields.
“Are you serious? You brought us all this way to dig through manure?” Chen Shen looked at the scene in utter disbelief.
“Dig,” Lu Min commanded curtly.
“I will help you,” Ying Yulian added quickly.
“Do not make a mess. There are many officers here. You have done enough by bringing us here and providing the lead. Be good and wait up here,” Lu Min said, soothing the anxious boy.
The body parts were recovered shortly after. Most of them were in a gruesome state. Even Lu Min, with his extensive experience, could not help but frown. He immediately used his body to block Ying Yulian’s view.
“Hey, kid. How did you know the killer dumped the body here? It is like you have a third eye.”
“Because the killer is a farmer.”
“Stop talking about third eyes and think about why you could not figure it out yourself,” Lu Min said to Chen Shen, who immediately mimed zipping his lips shut.
“Perhaps he felt that burying these pieces in the soil as fertilizer to help crops grow could be a form of ritual for the dead?” Ying Yulian mused. “After all, if a wicked person’s flesh becomes soil that nourishes all things, is that not a good deed?”
As the words left the boy’s mouth, he saw Lu Min staring at him in a daze. The boy smiled and leaned his head against Lu Min’s chest, his lips curling up proudly. “Are you impressed by how great I am? Am I useful?”
There was no response. Ying Yulian looked up in confusion.
“Yes, you are very impressive,” Lu Min finally replied, snapping out of his trance. It seemed the startling criminal talent had indeed resurfaced in this life. The man looked down, tracing the boy’s face with a cold gaze that slowly moved toward his neck. The smile on Ying Yulian’s face froze. For some reason, he felt a sudden chill on his throat and touched it uncomfortably.
Fortunately, Chen Shen walked over and broke the tension. “The results from the lab are in, and we will find the killer soon. We owe you one, kid. Even if your method of catching a killer is a bit unconventional. We usually find the killer first and then the body. You did it backward, like you were in the killer’s head. When you grow up, why don’t you become a consultant at the bureau and solve cases with your brother?”
“I would love to,” Ying Yulian said.
“No,” Lu Min countered immediately.
Chen Shen had been rambling to himself, and neither of the two had acknowledged him until that final question. Lu Min and Ying Yulian gave completely opposite answers.
“Brother, I want to protect more people like you do and share some of your workload,” Ying Yulian said. He blinked his large, watery eyes and tugged at Lu Min’s sleeve. By helping the police and his brother, Ying Yulian had finally found a sense of value. If he could work alongside Lu Min and solve more cold cases, his brother would not have to work so hard, and more people would respect him.
Hearing the boy say he wanted to protect people made Lu Min’s gaze soften slightly. The chill Ying Yulian felt on his neck seemed to vanish.
“Your studies are very demanding right now. You are about to take the college entrance exam. Focus on getting into a good university first.”
“But…”
“Chen Shen, the lab needs me to make a report. Watch over the boy for a moment.”
Lu Min used the excuse of academics to gently shut down the idea. Every word and expression the boy had used during the investigation reminded Lu Min of the man from his past life. It had caused him to feel an uncontrollable surge of killing intent. Furthermore, he believed a teenager should be focused on school. Letting the boy participate today was an accident. Solving crimes was his and Chen Shen’s job, not the boy’s.
“You are not allowed to leave,” Ying Yulian said, grabbing Lu Min’s sleeve as the man turned to go. He raised his head, his eyes red and filled with tears. “You know my grades are good enough for a top university, so why use that as an excuse? I can tell you are looking at someone else through me. Is that why you brought me home? Is that why you raised me?”
The older man’s indulgence had allowed the boy’s stubbornness to turn into an obsession. To him, Lu Min’s past was a mystery. A man of such wealth and power had plucked him from a filthy swamp and brought him into a world of music, warmth, and fragrance. Yet, he felt he had nothing to offer in return. He felt like a pet that could only receive kindness.
How could someone as useless as me deserve such treatment? The fear of abandonment and a deep sense of unworthiness caused his tears to fall uncontrollably.
“Why are you crying? Please, do not cry,” Lu Min said. He felt the hot tears landing on his palm like broken pearls. The boy’s emotions were so heavy that Lu Min’s hands could not contain the weight of those small drops. He could only repeat, “It is only you. From the beginning, it has always been because of you.”
The boy pressed his damp fingertips against Lu Min’s lips. Lu Min was stunned by the intense, serious expression in the boy’s eyes.
“Do not lie to me.”
“I am not lying. I am telling the truth.”
“Then tell me everything about your past, alright?”
Lu Min stared at the boy’s tears and his beautiful eyes. He sighed softly, wiped the tears away, and whispered, “Alright. I will tell you everything.”