Chapter 48

Those three words were so unexpected that Chen Shuhui's tone was, for once, a little hesitant. "What?"

"Let me go." Wen Ran repeated at the same volume, same tone.

Chen Shuhui looked at him for a few seconds, then let out a mocking scoff, set down the porcelain bowl in her hand, and said with contempt: "Where could you even go?"

"I won't show up again. I'll keep my mouth shut about everything." Wen Ran said. "As for where I go, that's something I need to figure out myself."

"What, Gu Yunchi kicked you out?" Chen Shuhui was clearly suspicious of Wen Ran's motives. "Out of nowhere you say you want to leave—you think that's possible?"

"You're working with Uncle Gu, aren't you."

Chen Shuhui's eyes snapped up to him: "Who told you that."

"I'm guessing." Wen Ran answered. "Right now Gu Chongze is handling everything. If Gu Peiwen's health doesn't improve, after enough time passes it'll be very hard for Gu Yunchi to take Boqing Group back intact. Even if Gu Peiwen recovers, every day he's in power is another day of benefit. By any measure, working with Gu Chongze looks like the smartest move."

"Can't tell—you're quiet every day, turns out you were secretly watching the situation." Chen Shuhui crossed her arms and leaned back. "Climbing onto the Gu Family was always about money, of course you go wherever the power is. Anyone who can't read the room gets weeded out eventually. I just don't get it—what does that have to do with you wanting to leave?"

"If Gu Yunchi ends up the heir, if the arranged marriage still counts, then one day he'll figure out I've been lying to him. Because I probably can't be marked, can't get pregnant. And this whole marriage was built on compatibility and continuing the family line." Wen Ran paused, then continued: "Just like how he's willing to be good to me now—it's only because of the match rate. Once they find out I can't be marked or pregnant, I won't have a good ending."

"You think pretty clearly. The doctor did tell me before—your reproductive cavity is still at Beta development level. Besides the possibility of not being able to mark and difficulty conceiving, even if you did get pregnant, the artificial Gland would cause Pheromone disorder, and the baby wouldn't survive two months in your belly." Chen Shuhui said lightly.

Wen Ran's body trembled almost imperceptibly. He curled his fingers, fingertips digging into his palm, and said as steadily as he could: "If Boqing Group ends up in Gu Chongze's hands, Gu Yunchi is out, the marriage is void. I'm a spent piece—I have to find somewhere to go."

Two hypotheses, well-reasoned, no obvious holes. Chen Shuhui studied Wen Ran, then said after a moment: "What if Gu Yunchi doesn't care about your fake identity and the gender surgery?"

"How could he." Wen Ran said flatly. "If it weren't for the high compatibility, if I were just a Beta, Gu Yunchi wouldn't even look at me."

That thought aligned perfectly with Chen Shuhui's own. She smiled: "You've got some self-awareness."

"But who can say about inheritance? What if Chairman Gu drops dead one day, and that will of his—notarized by dozens of lawyers—gets made public? Boqing Group will be turned upside down." Chen Shuhui picked up her bowl again. "It's obvious the will favors Gu Yunchi."

She glanced at Wen Ran: "By that logic, Gu Yunchi's odds are better. You really not going to reconsider?"

"Even if Gu Yunchi wins, based on Gu Peiwen's thinking, most of the clauses probably only take effect after he gets married and has kids. By then he'll just hate me more for lying to him. So no matter what, I have to leave." Wen Ran released his palm and said quietly: "I don't know if Gu Yunchi knows what's in the will. I'll try to... find out."

Chen Shuhui scooped a spoonful of bird's nest, lowered her eyes in thought, sipped it, then hummed slowly: "Besides leaving, you don't have any other requests?"

After a pause, Wen Ran said: "No."

"I'll think about it. Go upstairs first."

"Okay."

Just as he turned, Chen Shuhui added: "Oh right, isn't the Preparatory School doing midterm physicals soon? Remember to apply for an off-campus exam. I'll arrange a doctor."

"Mm." Wen Ran nodded.

Upstairs, back in his room, Wen Ran took his Mobile Phone from his pocket. The screen showed it was recording. He pressed stop and saved the audio.

The recording was full of lies he didn't mean, but anyone else listening would find it completely reasonable. That was enough.

He'd barely turned off the phone when the screen lit up again. Silent mode, no ringtone. Wen Ran looked at 'Gu Yunchi' flashing on the screen, glanced at the door to make sure it was closed, then walked into the bathroom and answered.

"Hello?" He took a deep breath to steady his heartbeat. "It's so late, you're not asleep yet—is something urgent?"

"My bodyguard said you went to a tea house. What for."

Wen Ran zoned out the moment he heard Gu Yunchi's voice, forgot to respond for several seconds. When he came back, he answered: "Tao Susu invited me to hang out, said it was her grandfather's tea estate."

"You know about tea?"

"No, but the tea smells really good. I like drinking it."

"Drinking tea this late, no sleep for you tonight."

Wen Ran squatted down against the wall, smiled faintly to himself: "Then we can talk till dawn."

"We don't have that much to say to each other."

"If we have nothing to say, why'd you call?"

Both ends of the line went so quiet you could hear Gu Yunchi breathing. He said coldly: "You haven't messaged in so long, thought you were too broke for phone credit. Calling to check."

"Afraid of bothering you. Afraid you'd find me annoying." Wen Ran pressed his knee with his index finger, then suddenly called out: "Gu Yunchi."

"Mm."

"I miss dad a little." Wen Ran scratched the corner of his eye, then wiped it. "If dad were still here, that'd be good."

After a silence, Gu Yunchi said: "I know. You went to the cemetery."

"When I was little, dad always bought me models, taught me to draw. Every time I drew something, it felt like he was still beside me. But last time I went and saw the Headstone and the photo, it was like I finally remembered—he's been dead for years. Did I grow up too late? How did I only just realize?"

Going to the cemetery to see Wen Ningyuan for the first time after learning about his own background—a completely different feeling from before. The person under the Headstone might be his real father.

"I think death is terrifying. Once you're dead, there's nothing left." Wen Ran went quiet, then asked a question he'd been wanting an answer to from Chen Shuhui: "Maybe only death can atone for everything?"

Gu Yunchi's breath caught for a moment. When he spoke again, there was an inexplicable hardness and warning in his tone: "Anything that needs death to atone for it is written into criminal law. Which one are you asking about?"

Startled, afraid of being found out, Wen Ran rushed to explain: "I just suddenly thought of it, nothing else." Not daring to continue, he changed the subject: "Are you abroad? Gu Peiwen is sick—if you can, spend more time with him. What do you think?"

He'd expected to be scolded for meddling, but Gu Yunchi just hummed: "I'll be back in a while." After a two-second pause, he said: "There are some things I want to tell you when I'm back."

He had no intention of asking for a preview. Gu Yunchi said he'd tell him after returning to the country, so all he had to do was wait. Wen Ran nodded to himself on this end of the line: "Okay, I'll wait to see you when you're back."

"Don't do anything dangerous." Gu Yunchi said. "Hanging up."

Strangely reluctant to end the call, Wen Ran said: "I thought you were really going to talk with me till dawn."

"Not going to school? Don't you love studying?" Gu Yunchi said. "Or was the 'going home to do homework' thing before just an excuse."

"Goodnight." Wen Ran said immediately.

After hanging up, Wen Ran was still squatting by the wall. Gu Yunchi must know what's in the will, and might even be willing to tell him—which made it even more impossible for Wen Ran to go ask around.

Gu Chongze and Chen Shuhui were wary of the will, didn't dare make any moves against Gu Peiwen for now. After all, once Gu Peiwen died, the will would take effect, and all their work might be for nothing. As long as Gu Peiwen was alive, Gu Yunchi was absolutely safe on the surface.

The most important thing right now was making Chen Shuhui let her guard down around him further. Wen Ran gripped his phone tightly—he had to figure out how many cards Chen Shuhui and Gu Chongze were holding, and what they were.

On Thursday, the Preparatory School organized physicals. Wen Ran made an excuse to skip and applied for an off-campus exam. Saturday morning, he went to City Hospital to find the doctor Chen Shuhui had arranged, and did a routine checkup.

A required part of the AO Test is drawing blood from the area around the Gland where Pheromone concentration is highest. Wen Ran removed his Neck Ring and lowered his head. He was no stranger to this test—during the days after his surgery, he'd had needles stuck in him like this almost every day.

The doctor placed the three vials of drawn blood in a rack, waited for the bleeding to stop, then helped Wen Ran put on the disinfected Neck Ring. After finishing the other tests, Wen Ran left the Hospital.

After walking along the street for a few minutes, Wen Ran looked up at the building in front of him. The whole thing used to be the Wen Family's; now only the top seven floors were left as Shengdian Group's office space.

When he entered the building, Wen Ran was still thinking he might get to see Fang Yisen—then caught himself, remembering Fang Yisen had already fled the Capital City and gone abroad. They probably wouldn't meet again.

You needed a pass card to get through the turnstile. Wen Ran was about to quietly retreat when someone called out to him—it was Chen Shuhui's former secretary. After Chen Shuhui went to Boqing Group, the secretary had been transferred to Wen Rui's side to replace Fang Yisen—of course, mostly to keep an eye on things.

"Here to see President Wen?" the secretary asked.

Wen Ran nodded.

"Okay, follow me." The secretary, coffee in hand, swiped her card and led Wen Ran to the elevator. At the office door, she knocked: "President Wen, Wen Ran's here to see you."

"Come in."

After entering, the secretary set the coffee on the desk, took the documents Wen Rui had given her, and left, closing the door.

"Sit." Wen Rui loosened his tie, picked up the coffee and took a sip, frowning: "Shit."

Except for what Fang Yisen made, all other coffee probably fell into the 'shit' category in his eyes. Wen Ran understood.

"Been busy these past few days, no time to come find you, and here you are." Wen Rui swallowed that shit coffee. "You've been at the Wen Family too long, gone crazy too, huh? Actually daring to tell your mom you want to leave."

"Better than sitting around waiting to die. I don't want to lie to people anymore."

"Making demands of them just gets you killed faster." Wen Rui glanced at him. "You've got too much moral conscience, blame everything on yourself, feel guilty when you lie, can't bring yourself to hate anyone. If I were you, I'd have poisoned the whole family already."

"Then I'd probably just swallow the pills myself." Wen Ran said.

"Then the Wen Family would be leveled by Gu Yunchi." Wen Rui tapped the desk. "You didn't come here just to say goodbye before swallowing pills and killing yourself, did you?"

"I just thought of some things that felt off, and you're the only one I can tell."

Wen Rui flipped through the documents: "Why the sudden brotherly act with me?"

"Have you thought about it? Dad's death might not have been an accident."

The flipping hand stopped. Wen Rui looked at him.

"The Company suddenly hit trouble, then dad had a car accident, then I was sent to a research institute to start preparing for Gland surgery, and finally, under the reasonable cover of saving Shengdian Group, the marriage proposal was made to the Gu Family." Wen Ran looked at Wen Rui. "Ge, you should know more than I do. What's your take?"

Wen Rui didn't respond. His gaze fell on the old building-block model in the upper right corner of the desk—a model of the Shengdian Group building that Wen Ningyuan had designed himself years ago.

"I remember after dad died, you didn't take over the Company for over a year. Before that, did you look at all the assets and account details? Are you sure what they showed you was real?" Wen Ran sat perfectly still, continuing to press him.

"You mean Shengdian Group's assets were transferred." Wen Rui's gaze shifted to him, summarizing slowly, word by word.

Looking at his expression and reaction, Wen Ran knew he'd guessed right. Wen Rui clearly didn't know Wen Ningyuan's car accident was murder, but he must have had suspicions—just hadn't found anything.

"I'm guessing. If dad's death really was a conspiracy, then Shengdian Group's rapid decline is suspicious too." Wen Ran lowered his eyes. "That's why I want to leave. If I stay, I don't know how many more terrible things I'll have to face. I'm just an adopted son—I've done my duty. I hope I have the right to choose to go."

Except for Fang Yisen and Tao Susu, nobody knew he'd already discovered the relationship between Chen Shuhui and Gu Chongze, or that he was an illegitimate child. That was his only small advantage. Only by continuing to play the weak adopted son on this basis, staying hidden longer, could he get more information.

After a long silence, Wen Rui said heavily: "I'll look into this. Don't tell anyone, and don't get involved."

"Okay, be careful." Wen Ran stood up. "I'll get going then."