Zhou Yu immediately said that he had already spent the money from the watch, but he was willing to apologize to Ye Meng.

However, despite receiving Zhou Yu’s apology, Ye Meng insisted on calling the police. She had already raised the phone to her ear when Li Jin Yu casually snatched it away. Ye Meng turned to scold him for being so indulgent, but he simply said, “I need to ask him something first.”

The two leaned against the car door, blocking the dim alley entrance. Zhou Yu clutched a large black bag to his chest, trembling and cowering in the corner. The scene looked more like two adults robbing a helpless high school student.

The alley entrance emitted a faint but heavy stench. Zhou Yu felt he was about to suffocate. Yet the seemingly refined young master before him showed no discomfort whatsoever, not even wrinkling his brow. He sure can endure, Zhou Yu thought.

Li Jin Yu tossed Ye Meng’s phone into the car, crossed his arms over his chest, and asked with casual curiosity, “What kind of prostitute costs 300,000 yuan? Tell me, I’m a bit inexperienced.”

Ye Meng instinctively glanced at him, seeing his eyes fixed intently on Zhou Yu, appearing genuinely curious.

Zhou Yu kept his head down, his lips sealed as if glued together, refusing to say a word. At that moment, he wished he could dissolve into the gutter and wash away with the current.

“As far as I know, the prostitutes around here only charge 300 yuan a night,” Li Jin Yu smiled at him. “To put it bluntly, even if you found a virgin, it shouldn’t cost 300,000 yuan, right?”

After saying this, he slowly pushed himself off the car and walked step by step toward Zhou Yu, who instinctively retreated two steps.

“Helping someone redeem themselves?”

“Gambling it away?”

“You spent my money, so shouldn’t you at least tell me what you spent it on?”

Li Jin Yu was like a patient and gentlemanly wolf, each question seemingly casual yet increasingly pressing.

Zhou Yu found himself with nowhere to retreat, his eyes still secretly gauging opportunities to escape. Li Jin Yu’s words pinned him in place.

“Don’t even think about it. I know all the shortcuts in Pingling Cave’s ninth street and Eighteenth Alley, and I know exactly where to intercept you. Running again would be pointless. My patience is limited. If you don’t want to say anything, then we’ll just call the police. This isn’t a small amount of money, and if you’ve broken the law, I’ll have the police coming to me later, which would be very troublesome. To be honest, if you weren’t brought home by her, do you think you’d still have the chance to be standing here? I would have thrown you out the day you stole my cigarettes.”

Why was this area so chaotic? Because the ninth street and eighteenth alley of Pingling Cave were unusual in that every alley was connected. Viewed from above, it resembled a giant maze, and anyone unfamiliar with the terrain could easily lose pursuers. This was why illegal activities such as prostitution and drug dealing were common here. Even if the police came, the criminals had a high probability of escape.

Zhou Yu certainly didn’t believe him and thought Li Jin Yu was bluffing. Hugging his bag and shrinking into the corner, he stammered, “Someone… like you probably has never been here before. How could you know the routes so well?”

“Have you heard of a memory palace?” Before Li Jin Yu could answer, Ye Meng walked over and said expressionlessly, “He memorized the map after looking at it once. He doesn’t need to have been here before. So, are you going to talk or not? We really will call the police; we’re not bluffing. I’m running out of patience too.”

Zhou Yu didn’t know why, but compared to Li Jin Yu, he was more afraid of Ye Meng. This sister was like a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

Zhou Yu finally backed up against the wall, his heart pounding anxiously. Eventually, like a puddle of mud, he slowly slid down the wall, hugging his head as he said softly, “I’m not looking for prostitutes. I came to find someone called ‘Master Yin Zhen’.”

…

Zhou Yu was essentially a slum version of Li Jin Yu. Apart from his family not being as wealthy as the Li family, they had both endured the same domestic violence. Ye Meng finally understood why she had impulsively decided to bring him back, and why she had always vaguely felt it was some kind of divine arrangement. Tai Ming Xiao had once said something they hadn’t paid attention to—Zhou Yu resembled Li Jin Yu somewhat, especially in his eyes. However, coincidentally, he wasn’t as handsome as Li Jin Yu and appeared overly effeminate.

Zhou Yu’s father was a gambler who frequently beat his wife and children. Zhou Yu had five or six younger siblings. But Zhou Yu’s father didn’t beat any of them—only Zhou Yu and his mother. Because Zhou Yu was born with feminine features, had a weak personality, and spoke in a shrill voice like a woman’s. To put it bluntly, he was effeminate. The townspeople said the child was born into the wrong body, that he was his father’s retribution, and they secretly mocked that Zhou Yu wasn’t his father’s biological son. So, Zhou Yu’s father often beat him to vent his anger.

When Zhou Yu was ten, his father went berserk, saying he would kill his mother. His father, in a towering rage, grabbed his mother’s hair and slammed her head against the wall repeatedly. His mother cried out in agony, but no matter how much she begged, his father wouldn’t spare her. He kept violently smashing her head against the wall. The sound was like someone hammering on the wall with a heavy iron mallet. Zhou Yu couldn’t imagine how much pain his mother’s head must have been in!

His younger siblings all thought their father was just venting and would calm down if they stayed quiet. After all, he had never beaten them.

Zhou Yu felt desperate because only he could hear his mother’s dying pleas and cries. He also knew firsthand how painful his father’s beatings could be. That night, Zhou Yu secretly ran out to report to the police. When the police came, his mother had nearly lost her life. But then what? Zhou Yu, only ten years old at the time, unexpectedly told the police he wanted to report his father for domestic violence, but his mother remained silent, like a cold, emotionless mummy. The police back then hardly took a ten-year-old child’s words seriously and left after asking a few cursory questions.

The result was predictable. Because of his mother’s weakness, Zhou Yu was beaten half to death by his father, who didn’t even pause to rest, beating him for a full hour while cursing him as a “little slut.” His mother still said nothing, as if she were dead. Zhou Yu thought that he had probably died that night too.

However, Zhou Yu never expected that his nightmare would only begin when he entered high school. Initially, he was mocked by classmates for his shrill, high-pitched voice. Gradually, the mockery turned into malicious pranks. Their greatest joy was seeing him shriek in his thin, high voice: “Haven’t you had enough?!”

They provoked and bullied him just to see how this effeminate boy would react when angry. Their day’s pleasure came from his humiliation. For Zhou Yu, compared to his father’s beatings, all this amounted to nothing. If they wanted to laugh, let them laugh. He felt that since he was an anomaly, he should live in the depths of the earth. Until one day, he had a conflict with a rich second-generation kid.

This rich kid had incredibly varied methods of torment.

Seeking some excitement, the rich kid forced Zhou Yu to steal money and lift girls’ skirts. He recorded videos and posted them on forums, making Zhou Yu a target of public criticism. If Zhou Yu refused, he would drag him into the bathroom and beat him without hesitation, then urinate on his face and step on him heavily. If he still refused, the next step would be to push his head into the toilet to drink from the urinal.

At seventeen or eighteen, one should be at a bright age where mountains are seen as mountains and seas as seas, but Zhou Yu was dragged step by step into the abyss by this demon.

Later, Zhou Yu was forced to drop out of school. But with stealing, once you start, it becomes habitual, and after three times, it becomes addictive. Zhou Yu found he couldn’t quit. He often didn’t even realize when he had stolen something; his hand just reached out and took it unconsciously.

Once, while out, he tried to steal from this “Master Yin Zhen” and was caught in the act. By then, his technique was quite skilled, and he had never failed before. That was the first time.

Master Yin Zhen saw that he was young and didn’t make an issue of it. Instead, he earnestly advised him to turn back from the wrong path. Before leaving, he even took out a book from a cloth bag and gave it to him.

Hearing this, Li Jin Yu, who was leaning against the car, lightly tapped his cigarette ash and asked, “What book?”

He carried this book with him at all times and read it several times a day. Many of the words in it had been etched into his heart, but Zhou Yu wasn’t sure if he should take it out, hesitantly looking at them both.

Li Jin Yu frowned, losing patience.

Zhou Yu immediately took it out: “This one, ‘The Door’.”

The entire book cover was plain white, without any design elements like a dust jacket—just a large character for the “door” in the center. It didn’t even list the author. The design was simple but also looked bootlegged. Li Jin Yu leaned against the car door, head lowered, one hand in his pocket, the other turning the book over to examine it. He quickly lost interest: “You’ve been to school; can’t you tell this is an illegal publication?”

Of course, he knew it was an illegal publication. Zhou Yu was about to speak when an unexpected voice cut in.

“Why does this book look so familiar to me?” Ye Meng took the book from him.

Li Jin Yu thought perhaps he was just being ignorant. He leaned casually against the car door, arms crossed over his chest, adopting a posture of attentive listening: “Come on, you two, tell big brother what groundbreaking masterpiece this is.”

Ye Meng flipped through a couple of pages under the dim yellow street light. “No, I’m certain I haven’t read it, but this book cover seems familiar. Don’t interrupt me, let me think.”

Afraid she would strain her eyes, Li Jin Yu snatched the book back and tossed it into Zhou Yu’s lap, then continued leaning against the car door, asking, “So then, why were you looking for this ‘Master Yin Zhen’?”

Zhou Yu said, “Master Yin Zhen said people need to have some faith to live, not to live aimlessly like me. Master Yin Zhen said if I read this book and wanted to join, I should find him at Pingling Cave in Beijing.”

Li Jin Yu said, “So, you gave him the watch? An entrance fee, right?”

Zhou Yu shook his head, “Master Yin Zhen is a good person. He wouldn’t take my things. Besides, I didn’t meet Master Yin Zhen. It was a bald man who came, who looked somewhat like Master Yin Zhen, but I’m certain it wasn’t the same person.”

“What about the watch?” Ye Meng only cared about that.

Zhou Yu said to Li Jin Yu, “I didn’t mean to take your watch. I just wanted to borrow your shirt. You had left it on the washing machine. I was in a hurry and stuffed it into my bag. Only when I looked through my bag later did I realize your watch was tucked inside? That man said before joining, we had to throw our most valuable possessions into a box to show our sincerity. I didn’t dare throw in your watch, so I threw in the jade pendant my mother gave me. As a result, those people thought I wasn’t sincere, kicked me out, and took the watch.”

“Let’s go, we’re reporting this to the police.” Li Jin Yu wasted no words, turning to get into the car.

Ye Meng didn’t follow him, instead lowering her head and leaning against the car door, motionless. Since she wasn’t moving, Zhou Yu didn’t dare move either, carefully watching her. Finally, Ye Meng just gave him a cold glance and said nothing.

Opening the car door, she glanced at him coolly: “Get in.”

Once the three were seated, Ye Meng sat quietly for a moment, then said to Li Jin Yu, “I remember where I’ve seen this book before.”

Li Jin Yu turned to look at her. “Where?”

“My mother,” Ye Meng said. “After my mother died, among her belongings that the police gave us was this book. It was found in her car.”

Li Jin Yu: “Was your mother religious?”

Ye Meng shook her head: “I can’t say. She didn’t seem particularly religious. But after I went to Beijing for school, I didn’t know much about what happened at home.”

Without turning his head, Li Jin Yu reached back toward Zhou Yu with an open palm. “Give me the book.”

Zhou Yu obediently handed it over.

Li Jin Yu lowered his head and casually flipped through it.

Ye Meng drove, occasionally glancing at him. At that moment, with Li Jin Yu seriously looking down at the book, it felt like they were back in Ning Sui. Back then, when he read, she would lean on the table watching him, counting his dense eyelashes, playing with his hands.

Back then, he was both obedient and subtly flirtatious, not at all like the aggressive person he is now. He was like a kitten—sometimes aloof, sometimes clingy.

Li Jin Yu flipped through the book briefly and found nothing unusual. It was full of motivational clichés, the kind commonly found online. It was normal for Ye Meng’s mother to be deceived, but he was quite surprised that a young person like Zhou Yu could still fall for it. He tossed the book back to him with an expression of surprise. “Young man, don’t you use the internet? If you want to hear this kind of toxic inspirational nonsense, this sister next to me could compose three volumes for you in minutes.”

Ye Meng gave him a side-eye: “Are you insulting me?”

“No, I’m complimenting you,” Li Jin Yu sprawled back lazily, tapping his foot slightly, his eyelids forming a cool, indifferent arc as he looked at her, even adopting a posture of settling old scores: “Weren’t you quite the talker? Didn’t you say you would build an empire for me? Where’s that empire? Where is it?”

Zhou Yu was completely confused. He gathered his courage and asked softly, “What’s your relationship?”

Li Jin Yu, with an infuriatingly smug expression, casually looked out at the rushing night scenery outside the window: “Guess.”

Just then, Ye Meng’s phone rang. The caller was Tai Ming Xiao.

After she hung up, Ye Meng removed her Bluetooth earpiece and said to Li Jin Yu, “I need to go pick up Gou Kai now. Should I drop you and Zhou Yu at the police station?”

Li Jin Yu: “Back to Fenghui Garden.”

Ye Meng was startled. “You’re not going to the police anymore? Those people are a pyramid scheme organization.”

Li Jin Yu remained composed, speaking softly: “Don’t worry about it. Go handle your business.”

…

The two men got out of the car. Li Jin Yu and Zhou Yu stood at the front gate.

The courtyard had a faint, fresh scent of pomegranate leaves. While entering the passcode on the lock, Li Jin Yu said to Zhou Yu, “If you need anything, ask me before taking it. If you steal one more time, I’ll throw you straight to the police. I’m keeping you here not to save you, but because I want to meet ‘Yin Zhen.’ You figure out a way for me.”

Zhou Yu was quite submissive by nature. He couldn’t withstand Li Jin Yu’s personality at all and could only nod and say, “Understood.”

“Also, don’t let my sister know about this,” Li Jin Yu added languidly as he entered the bedroom.

Liang Yun’an had never imagined that the anonymous monitor guy would actively seek him out.

Liang Yun’an had made many assumptions about this anonymous tech genius—perhaps a skinny tech nerd, or maybe a pimple-faced otaku, or even a greasy-haired, fat-eared older man.

But he never expected the handsome man standing before him. “Handsome” was even an understated description. He looked too clean, and slender, with cold facial features and a faint arc at the corner of his eyes that made him appear somewhat detached from worldly desires. But when he smiled, that detachment disappeared.

“Officer Liang, I’m Li Jin Yu,” he introduced himself politely, leaning against the doorframe.

Liang Yun’an felt the name was familiar but couldn’t immediately recall where he had heard it.

“The witness in Ye Meng’s mother’s case,” he added.

“Ah! That’s it, that’s it,” Liang Yun’an smacked his rusty brain in frustration and quickly said, “I remember you! Is Ye Meng the one who sent you to find me? What’s your relationship with her?”

Li Jin Yu said: “Husband and wife.”

Liang Yun’an was so shocked his pupils nearly dilated. “No wonder she reacted so strongly that day.”

Li Jin Yu said, “For now, I don’t want Ye Meng to know I’m meeting with you, which is why I’ve taken the liberty of having someone contact you privately.”

“Why?”

“Let’s talk inside first.”

The two sat on the sofa. There was another person in the room. Liang Yun’an was surprised and asked Li Jin Yu, “Who’s this?”

Li Jin Yu, dressed in loose pajamas with both hands in his pockets, said: “Zhou Yu, say hello.”

Zhou Yu obeyed: “Hello, Officer Liang. I’m Zhou Yu.”

…

Only half of the sun remained, hidden at the edge of the sky. Layers of crimson sunlight fell into the small courtyard, filtering through the dense pomegranate trees and casting scattered, dappled shadows. After reviewing all the materials Li Jin Yu had provided, Liang Yun’an remained silent for a moment before solemnly saying, “This is a major case. I think we need to report it to the city bureau for handling.” After saying this, he glanced at Zhou Yu with some reservation: “If this kid isn’t lying, the police have been monitoring activities in Pingling Cave, but we’ve never heard of anyone called ‘Master Yin Zhen’.”

Zhou Yu, feeling questioned, anxiously exclaimed: “I’m not lying! I swear every word I’ve said is true!”

Liang Yun’an ignored him and continued to ask Li Jin Yu, “Do you have any other leads on your end?”

Li Jin Yu glanced at Zhou Yu, who automatically went out to the courtyard. Only then did he say, “The man I saw in Ye Meng’s mother’s car the night she killed herself was Wang Xing Sheng. But I don’t want Ye Meng to know this because that night, Wang Xing Sheng and her mother had sexual relations in the car.”

Liang Yun’an tensed. “You saw it?”

“Yes,” Li Jin Yu said, lowering his head.

He hunched over, elbows propped on his thighs, head bowed. He didn’t speak for a long time. After a while, he finally said in a hoarse voice, “To be precise, it was my brother who saw it. After learning her mother had died, my brother was unwilling to report it to the police. I didn’t dare claim I’d seen something I hadn’t, so at the time I only said there was another man in the car. Later, when I saw Wang Xing Sheng at our home, I was afraid of causing trouble for my mother, so I followed my brother’s advice and changed my statement.”

“The police at the time must have been delighted,” Liang Yun’an snorted coldly. “They were eager to close the case as soon as possible.”

Li Jin Yu seemed not to have heard him. “These past few days, I’ve been repeatedly examining this illegal publication and suddenly realized something—these motivational messages consistently promote one idea: eliminating their fear of death. For ordinary people, death leads to endless hell, but for those with faith, death might just be another door to heaven. Like Zhou Yu, Ye Meng’s mother… countless people who are terrified of life—might they be induced to commit suicide after being brainwashed by this ‘Master Yin Zhen,’ all in the name of seeking faith?”

Liang Yun’an thought Li Jin Yu’s theory was far-fetched and found it somewhat chilling. “What about Wang Xing Sheng? He was wealthy and powerful, so he probably wouldn’t have fallen for this ‘Master Yin Zhen’s’ brainwashing. Perhaps Wang Xing Sheng’s case isn’t related to this ‘Master Yin Zhen’?”

“No, Wang Xing Sheng’s case is even more bizarre. As you said, he was wealthy and powerful, didn’t have depression, and had no reason to commit suicide. The surveillance footage at the scene was also altered, and he disappeared for an entire day on the 17th. All signs indicate it wasn’t a simple suicide. I keep feeling that Wang Xing Sheng was trying to tell us something.”

…

That night, Liang Yun’an hastily left Li Jin Yu’s home. Two days later, he called Li Jin Yu, his voice excited and his emotions barely contained but resolute: “Yesterday, we especially sent people to Wang Xing Sheng’s home again, and guess what—he did have that illegal publication at his house. There’s also good news for you: because the two cases have so many commonalities, we’ll apply to merge the cases and reinvestigate your wife’s case.”

Li Jin Yu hung up the phone and stood in the small courtyard, gazing at the sunset glow filtering through the pomegranate trees. His heart, which had been adrift for so many years, suddenly felt at peace in that instant, as if he had taken a reassuring pill.

Zhou Yu, however, seemed a bit shaken. “So, if I had joined ‘The Door,’ I would have been seeking death?”

Though life didn’t seem very meaningful, Zhou Yu felt that struggling to survive until now had been incredibly difficult.

Li Jin Yu leaned against the courtyard gate, glancing down at him before turning back to look at the pomegranate tree. He nodded lazily: “That seems to be the case for now, but whatever happens, I still want to meet this ‘Master Yin Zhen.’ Thank your sister—without her, you’d probably already have been brainwashed by ‘Yin Zhen’.”

On Friday, Hanhai Langan was hosting a charity auction, reportedly organized by Li Ling Bai specifically for the “Long Bell Tripod” incident where he failed to win the bid. It was said that both Li Chang Jin and Li Jin Yu would attend.

In the morning, as soon as she entered the office, Tai Ming Xiao loudly slapped the invitation on Ye Meng’s desk. “Charity auction—Li Ling Bai is trying to salvage his reputation again.”

Ye Meng reclined lazily in her executive chair, examining the invitation. “I’m curious, just how rich is the Li family? Last year, they held thirty charity auctions across the country. Is the antique business that profitable now? Why do we have to beg and plead just to talk to a client? We might as well be their grandchildren.”

Tai Ming Xiao sat on her desk and earnestly explained, “Let me give you an example. My family and Gou Kai’s family combined might not equal half of the Li family’s wealth. Li Chang Jin himself is one-quarter British by blood. He’s more gentlemanly than Oliver. Even at nearly eighty, he’s still elegant and charming. To be honest, even young girls today are attracted to men like him.”

“Big brother, I asked if the antique business is that profitable. Why are you telling me about his bloodline?” Ye Meng looked at him, amused.

Tai Ming Xiao sighed: “You think all of China’s antiquities are still in China? The real treasures were lost overseas in earlier years. In our country, those are national treasures that must be handed over to the state, but in foreign hands, they’re truly privatized. So why is their antique business doing well? Because Li Chang Jin has foreign connections.”

“…”

Tai Ming Xiao continued: “I heard that tonight, there will be a big battle in the Li family. Li Ling Bai wants to take over the shares in Li Chang Jin’s possession, but Li Chang Jin has given all his shares to his eldest son. Li Ling Bai didn’t get a penny. The remaining fifteen percent of the shares—guess who got them?”

Ye Meng’s heart skipped a beat.

“Li Jin Yu, of course. From now on, he’ll be the richest young master in Beijing,” Tai Ming Xiao commented sincerely.

“The richest young master with just that small percentage of shares?”

“Sister,” Tai Ming Xiao wore a “you-don’t-understand” expression, “even that small percentage of shares is enough to command significant power, okay?”

Tai Ming Xiao suddenly slapped his forehead, having a flash of inspiration: “I should quickly make sure Yang Yang seizes the opportunity.”

Ye Meng’s ears perked up. “Who’s Yang Yang?”

Tai Ming Xiao: “Tai Yang Yang, my sister. If it weren’t for me interfering with her puppy love back then because I couldn’t stand seeing my sister dating so young, they would have been together long ago. Li Jin Yu has held a grudge against me for many years because of that.”