The wind blew in through the window in wisps, and a sinister strangeness seeped through Hu Jian Ming’s words.

After hearing this, Huo Ting and Jia Mian first exchanged surprised glances. Jia Mian lowered his head without speaking, while Huo Ting smiled generously, saying half-jokingly, “Then you must have done something to anger her, for someone to take a knife to you. I find it hard to believe that a girl would stab you without reason.”

Then he added with a smile, “I don’t know much about your niece, but I know my nephew very well. The person he chooses wouldn’t be wrong.”

Seeing they didn’t believe him, Hu Jian Ming took a step back, shaking his head helplessly, “Fine, just consider what I said nonsense.”

In his heart, Jia Mian was thinking that Hu Jian Ming was quite capable of making things up out of thin air. He would never believe that Yu Hao would stab someone.

Huo Ting had known Hu Jian Ming for some time. Having navigated the business world for so many years, he understood exactly what kind of person Hu Jian Ming was. If it weren’t for Old Man Yu’s sake, Huo Ting wouldn’t have associated with him for so long. Back then, Old Man Yu had been an influential figure in business circles, and Huo Ting had followed him for over a decade. Unfortunately, heaven envies talent—Old Man Yu had died early, diagnosed with stomach cancer in his early fifties and not lasting half a year before passing away. This is how it is with people—once fate pronounces a death sentence and mental defenses are breached, every step afterward leads toward the grave.

When news spread that Old Man Yu was critically ill, the board of directors had already become restless. Huo Ting had witnessed that massive change in the business world and, overnight, saw the cold realities of human relationships and the various aspects of life. He was pushed to the edge by former comrades-in-arms who forced him to make a choice…

After Old Man Yu’s death, he voluntarily resigned from his position as financial director. On the day of the funeral, several respected elders had urged him to stay. After all, there were few companies in the industry that could compare with Sheng Hua, and the new person in charge had also expressed great admiration for him.

That day was gray and misty, with a drizzle falling. The cemetery was filled with people in black suits holding umbrellas, solemn and dignified.

An elder had advised him: “Righteousness and sentiment are hard to balance, so in business, we talk about interests, not sentiment.”

Huo Ting had replied, looking at the kind smile on the bluestone tombstone: “To him, I am already a person without righteousness or sentiment. He once saved me from peril, yet I let him end up in such a situation. Don’t try to persuade me. Following my own heart, this is no longer the Sheng Hua of the past. That’s all I have to say.”

Afterward, he left Sheng Hua and started his own business with a group of people. Some time ago, Hu Jian Ming had heard from somewhere that their company was working on flight devices and needed a flight base. After the three connected, Hu Jian Ming asked Huo Ting for three percent of the shares, and Huo Ting didn’t refuse.

Out of respect for Old Man Yu, he agreed, as a way to repay the old man’s kindness in recognizing his talents years ago. Later, when he made a comeback, Old Lady Yu hated him to the bone and refused to see him. Hu Jian Ming was the only breakthrough point in the Yu family. Huo Ting generously offered to give him shares, but they had to be in his wife’s name.

Despite his wife’s repeated warnings not to get involved with Huo Ting, Hu Jian Ming gritted his teeth and said that not taking advantage of such an opportunity would be stupid. No matter whose name was used, having something was better than nothing. As long as he didn’t divorce his wife, he would always have a share in the equity, so he agreed.

So, Huo Ting, Hu Jian Ming was an in-law with a different surname, while Yu Hao was a proper member of the Yu family. If there was some conflict between the two, it wasn’t clear who he would help. He lowered his eyes, tapping his pen aimlessly on the paper.

Thinking about Yu Hao’s reaction earlier, the more he thought about it, the more abnormal it seemed.

With this in mind.

Huo Ting suddenly changed his mind, patting his pocket with an anxious expression: “I think I forgot to bring the company seal.”

Jia Mian let out an “Ah,” saying, “Really?”

Huo Ting put away his pen and carefully searched in front of them, even taking everything out of the document folder and turning it upside down. “I probably left it with my secretary yesterday during the meeting.”

Jia Mian wasn’t in a hurry; he trusted Huo Ting completely. Looking at him more carefully, he noticed that Huo Ting seemed to be giving him a signal. Jia Mian tried to decipher his meaning, tentatively asking, “Next time, then?”

Huo Ting smiled, his expression appreciative: “Next time it is. Go check on those two, and let’s have a meal first. I’ll find another time to meet you for the contract.”

Jia Mian didn’t know what Huo Ting was up to, but he obediently stood up to find Lu Huai Zheng and Yu Hao.

Hu Jian Ming put away his pen from the side, “We’re not signing today?”

Huo Ting asked in return: “Are you in a hurry? If you’re in a hurry, you can sign first, and I’ll take it back, seal it, and then give you your copy?”

Hu Jian Ming smiled readily on the surface: “No need to go to such trouble. Since Mr. Huo didn’t bring the seal, we’ll do it another day.”

Huo Ting nodded and went out to make a phone call.

Jia Mian found the two in a corner.

Lu Huai Zheng was pressing Yu Hao against the wall, kissing her while whispering something in her ear, comforting her in a low voice. Yu Hao kept her head down. Lu Huai Zheng had one hand braced against the wall, then pulled her into his arms, his hand pressing on the back of her head, his head resting on hers, softly comforting her.

A dim yellow light illuminated the corridor.

The man’s voice was as gentle as water, his long fingers lightly patting the back of her head, one part after another: “Would you like to eat beef tongue tomorrow?”

The woman in his arms didn’t speak, her spirit somewhat scattered. After a long while, she said, “Tomorrow? Don’t you have to do the initial screening?”

Lu Huai Zheng listened, turned his head to see Jia Mian standing not far away, then lowered his head and whispered something in Yu Hao’s ear again. The girl looked over at him, nestled in Lu Huai Zheng’s arms, her eyes glistening with tears—a scene that would move anyone’s heart.

Jia Mian thought this girl might be a bit too delicate.

Having to be coddled by Lu Huai Zheng every day seemed like an exhausting way to have a relationship.

However, he soon realized he was wrong.

Huo Ting went out to make a phone call, and Hu Jian Ming sat in the private room, thinking that something wasn’t right. Huo Ting was always meticulous in his work; he couldn’t believe that he would forget to bring the company seal for signing a contract unless he had changed his mind.

He feared that he had said something wrong and upset the boss.

Thinking carefully, it was probably those two sentences. Initially, judging from the reaction, he thought Huo Ting and his nephew weren’t that close, so what he said was just intended to dampen the girl’s spirits. The revenge for his lost finger had subjected him to so much discrimination over the years! He remembered it all!

Huo Ting was a well-known entrepreneur in the industry. If Yu Hao married his nephew, his days would certainly not be easy!

In a moment of impulse and confusion, he couldn’t help but say a few provocative words.

After saying it, he regretted it a bit. He had taken advantage of Huo Ting’s guilt toward the Yu family to get this three percent share without giving anything in return, which was already like a windfall!

Huo Ting felt guilty toward the Yu family, not toward him! He could turn on him at any moment. He had lost his mind earlier!

Hu Jian Ming gritted his teeth, secretly making up his mind. He should warn that girl.

He stood up and saw Huo Ting making a phone call at the door, glancing in his direction. He smiled and waved to indicate—going to the bathroom.

Huo Ting nodded.

By the time Huo Ting hung up and put the phone back in his pocket, the other four hadn’t returned. He stood there waiting for a while, his expression gradually becoming impatient. What was going on? Several people went to the bathroom and still weren’t back after so long.

At that moment, a piercing scream erupted from behind, shaking the roof. He turned around, and urgent footsteps echoed in the empty corridor ahead.

It was the waitress who had served tea earlier, her expression panicked, her steps chaotic, screaming hysterically: “Help!!! Murder!!!”

Huo Ting’s heart sank. He grabbed the collar of her clothes and asked urgently: “What happened?!”

The waitress stammered incoherently: “Bathroom, bathroom! Murder, murder!”

Huo Ting pondered for a moment; being someone who had seen many storms, he coldly told the waitress: “Listen to me, go downstairs now, don’t call the police!”

The waitress was dumbfounded.

Not call the police for this?!

Huo Ting shouted furiously: “If you want to keep your job, don’t call the police! Get downstairs!”

The waitress tumbled down the stairs, rolling down more than a dozen steps, almost fainting.

When Huo Ting arrived at the scene.

As he had expected, the person lying on the ground was indeed Hu Jian Ming. His shoulder was in tatters, flesh exposed, with bright red blood oozing out, reddening everyone’s eyes. Hu Jian Ming clutched his thigh, curled up on the ground, moaning in pain.

Jia Mian stood to the side, completely dazed.

Yu Hao trembled all over, held in Lu Huai Zheng’s arms, who covered her eyes but couldn’t block her warm tears.

Then he heard him say: “It was me, it was me, it has nothing to do with you.”

Huo Ting was thoroughly enraged.

“Will someone explain to me what the hell happened?!”

“It was me, I stabbed him with a knife.”

A calm voice sounded from the side.

Lu Huai Zheng said, unfazed.

“It was me,” Yu Hao also said.

Lu Huai Zheng looked down at her, “Don’t speak.”

Huo Ting ignored them both and turned to Jia Mian: “You tell me.”

Jia Mian glanced at Lu Huai Zheng, whose eyes revealed a fierceness that made him shudder unexpectedly.

He calmly gathered his thoughts and described to Huo Ting, as clearly and logically as possible, what he had just witnessed.

When he came to find the two of them, he inadvertently heard Lu Huai Zheng mention an initial screening.

He knew immediately that an “initial screening” wasn’t something good, and after pressing further, he learned that it was an HIV initial screening! That day at the base, he had been complaining to Lin Yi Hui that the atmosphere between these two was too depressing—it didn’t seem like they were dating at all, but rather like two patients supporting each other.

At that point, Lu Huai Zheng had gone to the bathroom, asking Jia Mian to watch over Yu Hao.

He admitted that in that brief moment, he had just wanted to call a good friend to ask about what to do if someone was diagnosed with HIV. He wasn’t knowledgeable about this area, but he had a friend who was an expert in this field, being gay and therefore very attentive to these matters.

Just as the call connected, he heard screams from the other side.

At that moment, he was thinking that this young lady was causing trouble. When he rushed out from the corner of the staircase, he was completely stunned.

Hu Jian Ming was tightly gripping Yu Hao’s neck, lifting her against the wall, grinding his teeth as he warned her: “…if you… I’ll kill you!”

Yu Hao didn’t struggle. Though her face was red from being choked, she maintained a stubborn spirit. Her eyes were filled with defiance as she held on firmly, despite her whole body trembling, despite being terrified to the point of death. The hatred and fierceness in her eyes was something Jia Mian had never seen before.

It was the first time he felt sorry for Yu Hao.

With a chill in his heart, he shouted at Hu Jian Ming: “What are you doing!”

But Lu Huai Zheng was a step quicker. Just then, a waitress was passing by, about to wash some dishes, with a gleaming knife on top.

Lu Huai Zheng went straight for Hu Jian Ming. When he passed the waitress, his speed was so fast that it left Jia Mian speechless. Before he could react, a shadow flashed, and the knife was already in his hand, striking without hesitation at Hu Jian Ming’s back.

At that moment, Jia Mian had only one thought: insane, they’ve all gone insane.

He almost instinctively rushed forward to grab Lu Huai Zheng’s waist, pushing him away, shouting himself hoarse with reddened eyes: “Are you crazy?! Do you want to face disciplinary action?!”

The knife clattered to the ground. Lu Huai Zheng, with a cold face, didn’t pick it up. He twisted Hu Jian Ming’s shoulders, and with two crisp cracks, deftly dislocated both his arms, then threw him to the ground. As he was about to charge again.

With his special forces background, he didn’t fight with flushed face and bulging veins. His fighting was permeated with coldness, the kind of coldness that made people despair, with every move potentially fatal. Jia Mian feared he would beat the man to death and mustered the courage to intervene, “You’re still on active duty!”

But he heard him roar, “Get out of the way, Xiang Jia Mian! I must have been insane to entrust Yu Hao to you!”

He was truly angry.

Yu Hao, freed from restraint.

She slid down the wall to the ground, gasping for breath, staring fixedly at Hu Jian Ming who was writhing on the ground.

Her eyes seemed to burn with a flame. She had completely lost her rationality, trembling severely, her breathing increasingly rapid, her brain roaring, her ears unable to distinguish any sound, just a buzzing like hundreds of flies flying—she couldn’t differentiate or distinguish.

Looking at the gleaming fruit knife on the ground, her mind was in chaos, with only one thought left—kill him! Kill him!

Kill him! Then you’ll be free!

Yu Hao lunged for the knife, gripping the handle with both hands, screaming as she stabbed at his chest!

Lu Huai Zheng came to his senses! He quickly turned to embrace her, pinning her to the ground. The knife grazed Hu Jian Ming’s shoulder, and in the process, also cut Lu Huai Zheng’s arm.

He didn’t care about that, letting the blood flow, and lifted Yu Hao from the ground, holding her tightly in his arms, gently kissing the side of her face over and over, “It’s okay, it’s okay, I won’t let him hurt you anymore, okay?”

Yu Hao finally broke down in tears.

It was a loud, heartrending cry unlike any she had ever made before. Her head banged against Lu Huai Zheng’s shoulder, each cry more mournful than the last, each sob more tragic.

That sound, even Jia Mian felt as if each sob was like a needle piercing his heart!

“I want to kill him! I want to kill him! He’s a beast! He’s a beast!! He’s just a beast!!! I wanted to kill him and then commit suicide, but I want to have a future with you! I want to have a future with you!”

Long, long afterward, Jia Mian could still recall that chilling afternoon.

He sat on the ground, lost, watching his brother across from him, with clenched fists, holding the girl in his arms, almost dying from heartache. With a somewhat desperate look, he closed his eyes briefly, biting his cheek as he said: “No matter what you’ve experienced in the past, Yu Hao, I only want you, understand? Please don’t have thoughts of suicide anymore, okay?”

Jia Mian finally understood.

Both of them.

Loved desperately.

And hurt desperately.

He had been wrong.