DTTM 26

Chapter 26: Birds Should Be Free

The walls were covered with fancy fabric wallpaper, and there was a thick carpet with intricate patterns underfoot. A huge brass chandelier hung from the towering ceiling, and the four-poster bed was full of soft, fluffy pillows without any sharp edges.

This was a very “aristocratic” bedroom, dark, luxurious, and lifeless.

…Oh no, it’s now “dim, gorgeous, and with a touch of life”.

The bouquet I brought was carefully arranged in a vase and placed by the sunniest window in the bedroom. Blue star flowers and delphiniums intertwined to create a sea of ​​​​blue and purple, while pale green ranunculus unfurled its slender stems and leaves, sparsely dotting the space, each petal shimmering with a pearly sheen. It became the only bright spot in this decaying space.

“I told you I was fine.” Zong Yanlei sat on the edge of the bed, his hands behind his back, his shirt unbuttoned, allowing me to examine his wounds.

Bazel was indeed impressive. In just one week, the once bloody and gruesome wound had completely healed, and pink new tissue had grown back. At first glance, it looked like a tattoo shaped like a lightning bolt or a withered tree.

“We’re about to go to Xuanpu, so please take it easy.” I squatted down to examine the wound carefully. The injury was slightly red and swollen, probably because of the strain earlier, but as Zong Yanlei said, it should be fine.

“You seem to care more about the competition than I do.” Zong Yanlei reached out and opened the bedside table drawer, took out a pen-shaped syringe and tossed it to me. “100 IU. Inject it two fingers around the wound, four times in total, up, down, left, and right.”

Fortunately, I had been keeping an eye on his movements and managed to catch the injection pen without any serious injury.

“Because… I also want you to win.”

Disinfect, change the needle, rotate the scale to the designated number, and finally inject. When the needle went in, even though I tried to be as quick and precise as possible, Zong Yanlei’s body still tensed up instantly, and even the outline of his abdominal muscles became more defined.

“I didn’t record it. Lance isn’t good enough for me to scheme against him.” Perhaps trying to divert attention, Zong Yanlei returned to the previous topic. “Besides, I’m not as shameless as some people who would leak other people’s privacy to the media.”

His tone wasn’t particularly harsh or sarcastic; in fact, it was rather elegant, but… it made “some people’s” smile freeze.

“I didn’t provoke him, it’s just that he’s prejudiced against me.” I pretended not to hear his sarcasm.

“Prejudice?”

After the last injection was given and the needle was pulled out, Zong Yanlei grabbed my chin with his hand and lifted it up without leaving me any room for resistance.

“I’ll ask you one more time, was that an accident, or did you do it on purpose?” His face was expressionless, but his eyes blazed.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt like his attitude towards me softened after the Fantong incident. It’s as if… he was moved by my reckless act of rushing to his aid, and decided to give me another chance to “turn over a new leaf”?

“Of course…” The hand gripping my chin suddenly tightened, and I winced as I looked up. “Of course I did it on purpose. Didn’t you say he deserved it?”

Upon hearing my answer, Zong Yanlei gradually loosened his grip and set me free.

“He deserves it. There are plenty of ways to deal with him, but you chose the stupidest one.”

I rubbed my aching jaw, trying to decipher his expression. Although he still looked down on my actions, there was no displeasure on his face, so I guessed that I had “passed the test.”

“He’s an nobleman, what can I do? That’s the best and most powerful way I can think of to retaliate.” I put the syringe back in the drawer.

“You can let…” Zong Yanlei paused abruptly behind me, and after a moment, continued, “You can take your time to plan. A wise person takes revenge even after ten years.”

I smiled, got up and stepped aside without arguing.

A wise person may wait ten years, but that’s not true of me.

Zong Yanlei slowly buttoned his shirt back up, one button at a time: “Stay for dinner before you leave. Xiao Mitang… seems to like you a lot.”

He lowered his eyes as he said this, not looking at me.

For me, this was like a pillow being handed to me when I was sleepy, it came at the perfect time. I couldn’t have been happier, so I naturally agreed.

“Then I’ll have to trouble you.”

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Unlike the serious and oppressive atmosphere at the Zong family’s residence in the past, the dining atmosphere between Zong Yanlei and Zong Yinzhuo was exceptionally warm and cozy.

When Zong Yinzhuo got sauce on his face, Zong Yanlei would affectionately reach out and wipe it off for him; whenever Zong Yinzhuo spoke at the dinner table, no matter how trivial the topic, Zong Yanlei would respond to every word; whenever Zong Yinzhuo said he couldn’t eat anymore, Zong Yanlei would naturally gather the remaining food on his plate and silently eat it for him.

Looking at these two extremely similar faces, I couldn’t help but thought “they really look like father and son.”

In the afternoon, Zong Yanlei went to attend to his official duties, leaving the task of “hosting guests” to Zong Yinzhuo. The little guy was quite enthusiastic, holding my hand and showing me around, practically measuring out his own house on foot.

In the end, he was so tired that he could barely walk, and his pace gradually slowed down.

“Are you tired?” I was about to tell him to take a rest when our eyes met and he stopped and opened his arms to me expectantly.

Even at this age, he still needed to be carried all the time; Zong Yanlei really spoiled him too much.

With that thought in mind, I bent down and gently pulled him into my arms.

“That’s Daddy’s treasure vault up ahead, Uncle, do you want to go in and take a look?” Zong Yinzhuo wiggled his bottom, found a comfortable spot, and leaned into my arms.

“Treasure vault?” These two words hit my radar.

“It’s where he keeps his important things. Daddy usually doesn’t let me go in there.”

“Can I go into such an important place?” I asked, looking at Aunt Chun beside me.

“It’s just a room where all sorts of trophies and models are kept,” Aunt Chun explained. “The young master is still small, and Mr. Zong is afraid he’ll get hurt, so he doesn’t let him in.”

“I’m not little anymore, I’m five years old!” Zong Yinzhuo said, holding up five short fingers with a defiant look on his face.

Aunt Chun couldn’t help but chuckle: “Not at all, Aunt Chun is mistaken. Our young master has grown up already. He’ll be a big boy of six next year!”

The treasure vault was located at the end of the corridor on the second floor, not exactly in a secluded spot. Before going in, I had already given up hope after hearing what Aunt Chun said, but when I actually opened the door and saw the walls covered with a dazzling array of trophies and car models, I couldn’t help but look at them one by one.

The left wall was covered with various trophies: stage race trophies, overall points champion trophy, best driver of the year trophy… Big and small trophies are meticulously arranged on the shelf, shining brightly, proclaiming Zong Yanlei’s accumulated glory and achievements on the track.

The right wall was covered with various car models, from the ancient “world’s first gasoline-powered car” to the most advanced “unmanned hovercar” of today, a dazzling array that left me breathless. Anyone who saw this wall of models would have no doubt about Zong Yanlei’s passion for racing.

In the very center of the room was a dark green armchair and a long display cabinet.

The Zong family used to have similar hydraulic display cases, which housed Zong Shen’an’s antiques and treasures. They were said to be temperature and humidity controlled, dustproof, and theft-proof. Judging by the configuration, the items inside must be the most important in the room. But upon closer inspection, I found that wasn’t the case.

Inside were some odds and ends—a blackened, dried pine cone, a worn-out fountain pen, medicine bottles containing various pills and capsules… and some strange things that looked like hair and a feather.

“Aunt Chun, what’s all this in here? It looks like a pile of garbage.”

Aunt Chun took down the model car that Zong Yinzhuo had his eye on, telling him to be careful while playing with it, and then turned to me and said, “I don’t know either, but Mr. Zong treasures it. Did you see that tuft of silver hair? That’s the young master’s baby hair. So I think those thing in there must represent memories that are particularly important to Mr. Zong.”

Important memories?

With Aunt Chun’s help, I looked at those objects again and suddenly I could match some of them.

Could this little white ball in the middle be the one I handed to him after I beat Wuxi Chen in the polo match?

And this pine cone, it’s the one he picked himself when I first took him horseback riding.

And this hair clip and feather…

My memory was quickly pulled back to when I was 15 years old when I touched two adjacent items in the display case through the glass.

On a summer night when I was fifteen, I returned to Baiyujing from Zengcheng after my monthly break.

“How could a human possibly upload their soul to the internet? This…this is utterly absurd! The Sun God Group is a technology research and development company, not a myth-making company. Isn’t this just making things difficult for us?”

As I passed Zong Shen’an’s reception room, I overheard an excited male voice coming from inside. I stopped and listened for a few more minutes.

“Ha, that shows that our king is just an ordinary man. He sought power and wealth when he was young, and now that he’s old, he’s seeking immortality.” The previous voice was unfamiliar, and I didn’t recognize it, but this nonchalant voice was undoubtedly Zong Shen’an’d.

“We’ve already spent five years and tens of billions on this. Are we going to keep wasting time like this?”

“Then what can we do? Back then, His Majesty coveted the mineral veins of the Kingdom of Wo, but the Kingdom of Wo refused. With the help of others, he wiped them out. If I dare say I can’t do it, he can wipe out the Zong family tomorrow. Do you believe me?”

“But the development of brain-computer interface technology cannot be rushed. Let alone five years, even fifteen years might not satisfy His Majesty…”

“Then let’s show him some of our results first, to prove we’re not just giving him the runaround. Here’s what we’ll do: tomorrow, find someone from the R&D department, quick-witted, to someone come with me to the palace to meet His Majesty…”

The conversation behind me gradually faded, and I couldn’t hear it clearly. Afraid of being seen, I quickly walked away.

“Young Master, I’m back.”

When I entered the living room, Zong Yanlei was still awake. He was sitting in his wheelchair with his back to me, gazing at the balcony through the glass door, seemingly unaware that I was calling him.

Curious, I walked over to him and followed his gaze. I saw something fluttering on the dimly lit balcony. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a small brown bird.

It may have hit the glass and injured itself; it kept twitching and couldn’t stand up.

“What’s that on your head?” Zong Yanlei’s voice suddenly rang in my ears.

I was taken aback, scratched my head, and pulled out a pink cartoon hair clip.

I showed it to him: “Oh, I had dinner with the neighbors’ siblings tonight. When I was washing the dishes after dinner, my bangs were a little blocking my eyes, so my neighbor gave me her hair clip.”

Zong Yanlei glanced at the hair clip with a look of disgust: “Did she put it in your hair?”

“No, I did it myself.” Actually, Wei Nuan put it on for me because my hands were covered in soap and I couldn’t free them. But for some reason, Zong Yanlei always seemed a little displeased whenever I mentioned my grandmother or Wei Bao and his sister. To avoid any trouble, I decided to keep this detail a secret.

Zong Yanlei’s expression softened slightly upon hearing this: “It looks awful. Go get your hair cut tomorrow, you hear me?”

“I heard you.” I readily agreed, put away the hair clip, and looked back at the balcony. “Young Master, how long has that bird been like that?”

“It’s been about an hour. Bring it inside. Don’t let it die outside and dirty my balcony.”

Zong Yanlei spoke in a cold and indifferent tone, seemingly not caring at all about the bird’s life or death. But when I carried the bird into the house from outside, he kept telling me to be gentle and slow. He even pulled out a drawer, lined it with a thick blanket, and made a temporary nest for the little bird.

“Will it get better?” Zong Yanlei bent down, stared at the little bird struggling to breathe in the drawer for a long time, and then looked up to ask me.

“Yes, it will be fine tomorrow.” I gave him the answer he was hoping for, but I knew in my heart that the bird was likely in grave danger and probably going to die.

“It would be good if it could get better… Being sick is so painful.” He reached out to touch it, but then, as if afraid of hurting the bird, he withdrew his hand after only touching the tip of a feather.

That night, I looked after the bird, or rather, waited for its death, staying up until midnight.

It must have broken its neck. Although it was still breathing, its condition was deteriorating rapidly. All its physiological functions were failing, and it was in an irreversible, near-death state. At this rate, I suspected that when Zong Yanlei woke up, he might witness its final breath.

The little brown bird lay quietly in the square drawer, its eyelids drooping, its breathing barely visible.

According to the teachings of the Jing Shi religion, this was the bird undergoing its own life trials, and I shouldn’t interfere. Fortunately, I do not believe in the Jing Shi religion.

“Pain is pain, where is the beauty?” I glanced at Zong Yanlei’s bedroom door, took the little bird out of the drawer, held it in my palm, and pressed down on the broken part of its neck with my thumbs.

The little bird immediately stopped breathing, and I held it quietly until it lost its last bit of body heat.

Under the cover of night, I buried it under a wisteria tree in the backyard.

After daybreak, Zong Yanlei asked about the bird’s condition, and I told him that the bird had recovered and flown away.

“It flew away?” Zong Yanlei looked at the drawer that had been put back in its place, then looked at me. His gaze lingered on my face for an unusually long time.

I thought he had seen through it, since the lie wasn’t very clever and I was trying to cover it up, but then he suddenly laughed.

“It’s good that it flies away; birds should be free.”