CJLTNS Chapter 18

Drip!

A drop of water suddenly landed on the back of Yu Xin’s neck. He looked up and saw a wet patch forming on the ceiling. Yu Xin felt like a herd of wild horses was stampeding through his chest. Cheap things always came with problems—just like this cheap apartment, which now had a leak.

Within minutes, the leak worsened, soaking a large section of his bed. Yu Xin walked out of his apartment and knocked on the door upstairs. After a while, an elderly man answered.

“Hi, your apartment is leaking—it’s already dripping down into mine.”

The old man had a head full of white hair and spoke slowly: “Young man, sorry about that. Our pipes are broken, and when we got back, the place was already flooded.”

It was the middle of the night, and on top of all the chaos he was already dealing with, Yu Xin was in a terrible mood. But when he saw that the other party was an old man, apologetic and sincere, he couldn’t bring himself to scold him.

“It’s okay, Grandpa. Just please try to get it fixed as soon as possible.”

The old man nodded. “These buildings are old. The pipes are a bit tricky. My son will be back in a few days to help us fix the leak.”

Yu Xin nodded and went downstairs. When he returned to the bedroom, he saw that water was still dripping from the ceiling. The wet patch on the bed had grown even larger. He picked up the only dry pillow and decided to make do on the couch for the night.

The sofa was only 1.2 meters wide—Yu Xin was 1.8 meters tall—so it was a tight fit. His feet were hanging over the armrest.

Yu Xin had never been a good sleeper. Cramped and curled up like that, he didn’t manage to sleep at all the entire night.

Luckily, he’d just scored a huge scoop for Feng Xiaohua and made a decent profit. He could afford to take a long break with Xu Yuanyuan. Yu Xin opened his eyes, walked into the bathroom, and splashed cold water on his face. When he looked in the mirror, dark circles were obvious under his eyes. He wiped his face dry and decided to go crash at Duan Zhao and Zhao Xun’s place later during the day.

“Bang bang bang!”

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Yu Xin yawned as he opened it. “Who is it?”

The yawn made his eyes tear up. Jiang Chong, seeing tears on Yu Xin’s face, assumed something terrible had happened. “Yu Xin, what’s wrong?”

When Yu Xin opened his eyes and saw that it was Jiang Chong, he shook his head, trying to wake himself up. “Jiang Chong? What are you doing here?”

He opened the door wider to let Jiang Chong in. Jiang was holding freshly steamed soup dumplings and a cup of soy milk. Rubbing his eyes, Yu Xin was a bit confused. When did Jiang Chong start acting like he owned the place?

“I was just passing by and thought I’d come check on you.”

When Jiang saw the pillow and thin blanket on the couch, he looked surprised. “You slept here last night?”

Yu Xin sat down on the couch, nodding weakly. His voice lacked any strength: “There was a leak upstairs. My bed’s soaked. I just made do on the couch.”

A few days ago, Yu Xin still looked alright, but today, the dark circles under his eyes were worse. One glance, and it was obvious he hadn’t slept well.

Yu Xin was wearing shorts, his pale legs exposed to the air, his skin smooth and pearly white—like white pearls.

Jiang Chong suddenly remembered the dream he had last night. Feeling awkward, he looked away and handed Yu Xin the soy milk. “You can’t sleep here like this—your legs can’t even stretch out. Just move in with me already.”

Yu Xin took a sip of the warm soy milk. It hadn’t been sweetened, which suited his taste. He bit gently on the straw and shook his head. “It’s fine. I didn’t sleep well last night. I’ll just go to Duan Zhao’s place later and get some rest.”

Go sleep at Duan Zhao’s place? You’re really that comfortable, huh?
How long have you even known Duan Zhao? And how long have you known me?

Jiang Chong was fuming, puffing out his cheeks like a kid. Without asking for permission, he marched straight into Yu Xin’s bedroom. He looked up and saw the wet ceiling and the soaked mattress.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jiang was angry—angry that Yu Xin didn’t take better care of himself, and even more angry that he still refused to move into his place.

Jiang pulled out his phone and made a call. By the time he stepped out of the bedroom, Yu Xin was already eating the soup dumplings.

Jiang leaned against the wall, watching Yu Xin devour them, grease all over his mouth like a little kid. The sight melted his anger. He walked over, sat beside Yu Xin, and used a tissue to wipe the grease off his lips. “I called someone to help fix the leak. Don’t wait a couple more days—what if it starts leaking again?”

Jiang Chong’s gesture of wiping Yu Xin’s mouth was incredibly intimate, yet Yu Xin didn’t sense anything unusual about it. He simply thought to himself, Truly the power of the rich and bold. His own family wasn’t poor either, but even so, he wouldn’t dare to spend money as freely as Jiang Chong did.

About half an hour later, a small construction crew of seven or eight workers arrived, carrying tools. Jiang Chong said to Yu Xin, “These are people from my family’s property management. Let them handle the leak.”

Yu Xin took the crew upstairs to help the old man with the leaking issue. The elderly man initially thought they were going to charge him, but after Yu Xin repeatedly assured him there would be no fee, he finally allowed them into the house.

While Yu Xin was upstairs, Jiang Chong was left alone in the apartment. He took the liberty of examining Yu Xin’s bedroom in detail. Last time he’d visited, he’d only stayed briefly in the living room. Now, he had time to really look around.

Yu Xin’s bedroom was extremely simple—just a bed and a wardrobe that took up most of the space. One side of the wardrobe held a few old clothes; the other, a few new ones.

Jiang Chong remembered: before Zhao Xun came into the picture, Yu Xin only wore old clothes. After Zhao Xun arrived in Kangzhou, Yu Xin started wearing new ones.

Although Zhao Xun was Yu Xin’s “brother” in name, they had no blood relation. But just the thought of another man buying clothes for Yu Xin made Jiang Chong’s chest tighten with jealousy.

He suppressed the sourness in his heart and moved his gaze from the wardrobe to the nightstand, where he spotted a dark-colored medicine bottle. There was no label on it.

Yu Xin’s health hadn’t looked good for a while—especially his digestive system. He couldn’t eat anything too spicy or raw, and he ate very little. After being detained previously, he vomited the moment he was released.

Back then, Zhao Xun had said that Yu Xin couldn’t handle any more emotional shocks. At the time, Jiang hadn’t thought much of it, being busy with a case—but now he wondered if there was a serious health issue behind it.

Without hesitation, Jiang Chong discreetly took one pill from the bottle and slipped it into his bag before continuing to observe the room.

To Jiang Chong, this apartment was basically a slum. Yu Xin’s family might not compare to his, but they were still well off. They used to live in a villa. Yu Xin’s mother had passed away early, and he had been doted on even more than Jiang Chong had. Jiang sighed. He couldn’t understand how Yu Xin could live in a place like this.

After a while, Yu Xin came back downstairs. Jiang Chong casually pointed to the medicine bottle and asked, “What’s wrong with you? You’re still on meds?”

Yu Xin’s gaze flickered briefly when he saw the bottle. “Oh, that? It’s just vitamins. My stomach’s weak, can’t handle raw or cold fruits. Duan Zhao gave those to me.”

Jiang Chong nodded, half-believing, and once the water pipes upstairs had been fixed, he drove off and headed to the city bureau.

He walked into the forensics lab where Fang Xu was boiling human bones in a pot. Seeing Jiang Chong, Fang Xu looked surprised. “Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation? What are you doing here?”

Fang Xu took a deep breath and frowned. “Don’t tell me there’s another case… Can’t anyone catch a break around here?!”

Jiang Chong pulled the pill he had stolen from Yu Xin out of his pocket and handed it to Fang Xu. “Can you test this for me and tell me what kind of medicine it is?”

Fang Xu examined the white pill, then gave Jiang Chong a sidelong glance. “Is this an official matter or a personal one?”

“Personal. Name your price.”

At that moment, Jiang Chong no longer looked like a cop in Fang Xu’s eyes—he was a fat little lamb, ready for slaughter. Fang Xu rubbed his hands together, deciding to milk this situation properly.

“I heard from Li Fangfei that the restaurant you guys went to last time was pretty good. My apprentice and I haven’t had a proper meat meal in ages.”

As Fang Xu spoke, he leaned in closer to Jiang Chong, even raising his eyebrows smugly, thinking he looked suave. But Jiang Chong caught a whiff of that familiar corpse stench coming off Fang Xu and silently took a step back, putting some distance between them.

“No problem. A 10,000 yuan meal card—use it anytime.”

Fang Xu, a man fully aware of the “take the money, solve the problem” principle, pocketed the pill. “I’ll have the results for you tomorrow.”

After seeing Jiang Chong off, Yu Xin drove to Duan Zhao’s house. No one was home—both Duan Zhao and Zhao Xun had gone to the hospital. Yu Xin headed straight for the guest bedroom, lay down on the soft bed, and slept straight through to noon.

He checked the time—it was just past one. He’d been asleep for nearly three hours, and he felt much better.

Yu Xin ordered takeout and sat in the living room eating while watching TV. Suddenly, his phone rang. He glanced at it—it was Jiang Ran.

The last time he’d seen Jiang Ran was right after he got out of the police station, when she came to bring him food. That had been… quite a few days ago. Yu Xin felt a bit guilty. She was only seventeen, and yet she had come to take care of him like that. He decided to treat her to a meal later as thanks.

“Hello? Ah Ran?”

On the other end of the line came Jiang Ran’s pitiful voice: “Xiao Yu-ge, you’ve got to save me!”

Yu Xin immediately stood up, thinking something had happened. “Where are you? What’s wrong?”

“Xiao Yu-ge, I flunked my physics test really bad this time. The teacher wants to meet my parents. I’m doomed.”

Meeting the parents? That’s it? Yu Xin had thought it was something serious. He’d been a little hellraiser growing up—parent-teacher meetings were as common as eating dinner. His dad used to show up at school so often that even the security guards knew him by name.

Yu Xin sat back down calmly and comforted her, “It’s fine. Just a meeting—at worst, they’ll scold you a bit. What did you get?”

Jiang Ran’s voice got so small it was like a mosquito buzzing. Yu Xin had to perk up his ears just to hear her clearly: “I got… twenty-two.”

Yu Xin nearly choked on his own blood. Twenty-two?! That was catastrophically bad. Even when he was doing poorly back in school, he could still score at least forty in physics.

He scratched his head awkwardly. “Ah Ran, this is… well…”

Jiang Ran, with a far more delicate constitution than Yu Xin, whimpered, “Xiao Yu-ge, you don’t understand. My parents are out of the country. If I need someone to meet the teacher, it has to be my brother. You know what he’s like—he scolds me even when I haven’t done anything wrong. If he finds out I bombed my test, he’s definitely going to chew me out big time.”

Yu Xin let out a sigh, deeply sympathizing with Jiang Ran’s situation. Someone like Jiang Chong, who had been a top student all his life, could never possibly understand the struggles of a slacker like Yu Xin.

Jiang Chong had always been that “model child” everyone talked about. In contrast, Yu Xin had always been that “certain student” teachers grumbled about. For every award Jiang Chong earned, Yu Xin had been called to the principal’s office just as many times.

But because Jiang Chong was too rigid and aloof by nature, his own younger sister Jiang Ran actually liked Yu Xin more. After all, Yu Xin would climb trees with her, splash through streams with her, and even share all kinds of unhealthy snacks.

“So what do you want me to do for you?”

From the other end of the phone came Jiang Ran’s mysterious voice: “Xiao Yu-ge, my teacher has never seen my brother before, so how about you come to my school tomorrow and pretend to be him?”

Yu Xin’s first instinct was to reject the idea. For someone like him—a certified slacker—meeting a teacher was no different from seeing the Grim Reaper. He’d rather bolt in the opposite direction than walk straight into that trap.

“No way, no way. Think of something else.”

“Xiao Yu-ge, I’m begging you.” Jiang Ran began her classic guilt-tripping routine. As a girl who had been adorable since birth, she really only had one person in the world immune to her charms—and that was her emotionally constipated brother, Jiang Chong.

“Xiao Yu-ge, you’re the best!”

“Xiao Yu-ge, I only have you!”

“Xiao Yu-ge, I know you’ll help me, right?”

Even over the phone, Yu Xin could picture Jiang Ran’s puppy-dog eyes, that pitiful expression she always used when she’d done something wrong. It always made it impossible to scold her, let alone actually punish her.

Worn down by her pleading, Yu Xin finally gave in: “Fine, okay, but just this once—got it?”

Jiang Ran, of course, ignored everything after “okay” and only heard the part where he agreed. Yu Xin, with his youthful face and rosy lips, still looked like a college student.

Worried he might blow her cover, Jiang Ran gave him a couple extra reminders: “Xiao Yu-ge, make sure you dress more maturely and look formal, okay? Don’t mess this up.”

Yu Xin sighed, deadpan, and thought back to Jiang Ran’s childhood nickname: “Yeah, yeah. Got it, Miss Trouble Magnet.”