Fu Yu had always been a man of his word.
Even though Song Qi had already prepared the health supplements, nutrients, and medication, and the night had grown deep, Fu Yu insisted on leaving immediately.
All for Ruan Luo’s single sentence: “I don’t like it here.”
Fu Yu adjusted the Maybach’s cabin temperature, helped Ruan Luo into the passenger seat, and shut the door. He then checked the trunk, confirming that none of Ruan Luo’s supplies and medications had been left behind, before finally pulling open the driver’s-side door.
Song Qi stood outside the car, arms crossed, leisurely watching Fu Yu bustle back and forth like a spinning top.
As Fu Yu opened the car door, he suddenly turned back to look at him.
Song Qi tilted his head. “My esteemed boss, are there any further instructions?”
Fu Yu glanced at him for a second. “Thank you.”
A shiver ran down Song Qi’s spine, and goosebumps broke out all over his skin.
Only after the Maybach shot away like a rocket did Song Qi snap back to his senses. He stroked his chin suspiciously. “Oh, the beast can actually say thank you. Is he getting into character now?”
Watching the direction the Maybach had disappeared, Song Qi’s eyes narrowed. “Something’s off. Very off. I need to find a chance to sneak a peek at Fu Yu’s brain. This guy has been impossible to read these past few days.”
The weather in the Capital City was fickle. The gentle breeze from the first half of the night gave way to a sudden chill, and light rain began to fall.
Pedestrians, caught completely off guard, hurried along the streets.
A group of boys was laughing and running in the drizzle when one of them suddenly stopped, his eyes widening as he pointed to a Maybach slowly pulling into the street. “Look! Isn’t that the car of the Fu Family’s young master. the current head of the richest family in the Capital City?”
The others turned and shouted in unison, “It is! Oh my god, quick, let’s take a picture!”
They crowded the roadside, recklessly striking poses as they snapped photos of the Maybach’s license plate.
Inside the car, Fu Yu didn’t spare them a single glance.
Ruan Luo, however, watched their carefree laughter and grew lost in thought.
Fu Yu immediately noticed Ruan Luo’s change in mood. As he drove, he kept stealing glances at him.
Only after the boys’ figures vanished from the rearview mirror and Ruan Luo could no longer see them did he lower his lashes, picking at his fingertips, lost in his own thoughts.
Fu Yu hesitated before asking softly, “Do you want to go play with them?”
“No.”
“Are you tired of sitting? Do you want to go for a walk?”
“No, I just… find it strange.”
“Tell me.”
Ruan Luo fell silent for a moment, then said with a hint of embarrassment, “I don’t know why, but when I saw them, I felt a deep sense of envy. What am I even envying? They’re just playing on the street like anyone else.”
Fu Yu’s grip on the steering wheel tightened instantly, his heart feeling as if it had been pricked by a needle.
By the time the Maybach pulled up to the villa, Ruan Luo was fast asleep.
Fu Yu didn’t wake him. Instead, he walked around to the passenger side and gently lifted Ruan Luo into his arms.
The butler, who had been waiting outside after receiving word, hurried forward to hold an umbrella over them. He glanced at Ruan Luo in Fu Yu’s arms and immediately averted his gaze. Lowering his voice, he said, “The room at the end of the third-floor hallway has been prepared for Mr. Ruan. Everything inside has been dealt with, including the piano and Aunt Jin. Aunt Jin has been reassigned as a gardener in the back garden. Anything that might trigger unpleasant memories for Mr. Ruan will no longer appear before him.”
Fu Yu said nothing. He strode into the villa, carrying Ruan Luo. As his foot touched the cool, black stone floor inside, his brow suddenly furrowed. “Cover the entire villa with carpets.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Especially the stairs, at least one centimeter thick. As soon as dawn breaks, send someone to start. Wrap all the sharp edges and corners in the villa with soft gauze. Ruan Luo is frail. When I’m not home, pay close attention and make sure he doesn’t bump or scrape himself.”
The butler was utterly astonished. His master rarely spoke so much to him in a single breath. And all of this was for Ruan Luo.
The butler found the whole situation surreal, as if he were still sleepwalking. He hurriedly replied, “Yes, sir!”
Although Ruan Luo’s medication contained a sedative, Fu Yu was still worried that bathing him would wake him up. To be safe, he only wiped his body clean after undressing him.
By the time he finished everything, it was already 1:30 in the morning.
Only then did Fu Yu reply to the message Assistant Wang had sent that afternoon.
Seeing Fu Yu sitting in the first-floor lobby with no intention of going to sleep, the maid brewed him a cup of black coffee.
Fu Yu crossed his long legs, leaned back on the sofa, and took a small sip. Just then, Assistant Wang rushed in, carrying a briefcase.
Even though she was working overtime, she seemed to be pumped up on adrenaline. It was clear that the bonuses and overtime pay Fu Yu usually gave them were generous enough to make her view overtime as a reward.
Assistant Wang opened her briefcase, took out a folder of A4 documents and a USB drive, and respectfully pushed them toward Fu Yu. “All the information on Mr. Ruan’s grandfather is in here. However, I’m afraid we won’t be able to arrange a meeting with him. Because Mr. Ruan’s grandfather is in a vegetative state.”
Fu Yu’s brow furrowed. He wrapped one hand around his coffee cup and began flipping through the documents with the other.
Assistant Wang opened the laptop she had brought, inserted the USB drive, and pulled up a video on the screen. It showed an old, dilapidated hospital room.
The paint on the walls was peeling, and the medical equipment inside was outdated, even dilapidated.
An old man lay in the bed, his face covered by an oxygen mask and his body riddled with tubes. The equipment was rusted, and the tubing looked ancient, relics from who knows how many decades ago.
Assistant Wang pointed at the old man. “Ruan Luo’s grandfather is being kept alive solely by these machines.”
Her voice trembled with emotion. “President Fu, I know I shouldn’t be tattling, but I just can’t hold back anymore! The Ruan family has been absolutely monstrous to Young Master Ruan and his grandfather. It’s infuriating!”
“What do you mean?”
“They’ve gone too far!” Assistant Wang fumed. “They took thirty million from you, yet they’ve been refusing to pay the most basic nursing and hospitalization fees for Ruan Luo’s grandfather! The hospital was on the verge of kicking him out!”
Fu Yu’s expression darkened.
Assistant Wang continued, “We followed the clues from Ruan Luo’s grandfather and uncovered some information that was missing from the previous files.”
She took a deep breath to compose herself. “Three months ago, in this very hospital room, the Ruan family had a phone call with Ruan Luo. They demanded five hundred thousand from him, claiming it was for his grandfather’s medical bills. When Mr. Ruan probably told them he had no money, they flew into a rage over the phone. They screamed so loudly the entire ward could hear, calling Mr. Ruan an ungrateful white-eyed wolf and a useless waste of space!”
Crash.
The coffee cup in Fu Yu’s hand shattered.
Assistant Wang’s eyes widened, and she hurriedly grabbed tissues to clean up the mess.
The butler and the maid, who had been waiting outside the living area, rushed to warm towels and find the first-aid kit.
Fu Yu waved them off.
A dark tide surged in Fu Yu’s eyes. His voice was low as he glanced at the butler. “How did Ruan Luo communicate with the Ruan family?”
From his analysis since transmigrating here, Ruan Luo had no phone, and there was no phone in the basement. He had no way of contacting the outside world. Fortunately, now that he was here, he would give Ruan Luo the best of everything he deserved.
But Assistant Wang’s mention of a call had left him puzzled.
The butler quickly stepped forward. “It’s like this…”
After speaking, he glanced at Assistant Wang.
The meaning was clear: she couldn’t hear this.
Assistant Wang pursed her lips at him, only to hear Fu Yu say, “You can head back now. I’ll have the driver take you home.”
Assistant Wang rolled her eyes at the butler. “Okay!”
She grabbed her empty briefcase and laptop, then trotted out the door.
Only then did the butler say, “Please give me three minutes.”
Three minutes later, the butler returned, cradling an old-fashioned cell phone as he presented it to Fu Yu. “Mr. Ruan’s dedicated phone. I keep it with me at all times. Only on the last day of every third month, at exactly 9:00 PM, do I accompany him as he makes a ten-minute call home.”
As the butler spoke, his head bowed, a flicker of doubt crossed his mind.
He felt his employer had changed recently, not just in how he treated Ruan Luo, but also in this sudden, inexplicable forgetfulness.
If forgetting the lights in the basement was ordinary forgetfulness, then forgetting Ruan Luo’s scheduled call home… what was that? Selective amnesia?
Fu Yu asked, “What was said during the call three months ago?”
“There is a recording, sir,” the butler replied. “One moment, I will play it for you.”
Fu Yu closed his eyes slightly. “Before you play it, remember one thing.”
“Your instructions, sir!” the butler said, bowing his head respectfully.
Fu Yu spoke each word with deliberate clarity: “From this moment on, all surveillance of Ruan Luo is to cease immediately. This includes, but is not limited to, visual and audio monitoring.”
He opened his eyes, a cold glint piercing through his gaze. “Do I make myself clear?”