Chapter 55: Origins
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
In the underground garage, Lin Su checked his watch almost every minute, anxiety clearly written all over his face. He even wished he could turn back into a white dragon and fly freely. The driver beside him tried to reassure him, saying the quietness in the complex so far probably meant the operation upstairs was going smoothly, so there was no need to worry too much.
But Lin Su thought the silence could also mean the criminals were just too cunning, playing dirty with an ambush. At that moment, he deeply felt that being a public servant’s partner wasn’t easy. If his boyfriend were just a tattoo-loving “shamate” prince, he’d only need to make money and keep him happy—no need to suffer this agonizing wait in a warehouse, counting every second like a lifetime.
Just as his mind wandered wildly, a Maybach suddenly drove into the garage and parked in the space next to theirs. An elderly man stepped out of the car, wearing a suit, gold-rimmed glasses, and carrying a briefcase. His slicked-back hair gave him the look of Harry Hart, the ace spy. Lin Su was taken aback—he thought he had seen this man a few times at Du Siyue’s company annual party. How could he suddenly appear here?
“Hello,” the old man stopped the security guard. “I need to get to the nineteenth floor. Which elevator should I take?”
The guard pointed in the direction. The lawyer thanked him and hurried toward the elevator.
The driver muttered, “This building has one elevator per unit. Is this guy really going to the nineteenth floor?”
He quickly contacted Lei Qing to report the unexpected development, while Lin Su called Du Siyue to ask if he knew anything about it. The phone on the coffee table buzzed. The caller ID showed Lin Su. Du Siyue glanced at the phone, then looked at the man opposite him and said, “It’s your wife’s call. You answer it yourself.”
Shi Wenze was speechless. The driver was still talking to Lei Qing, “Yes… okay… got it… I’m taking Mr. Lin to the nineteenth floor now.”
Lin Su felt a bit relieved. “Has the operation ended?”
“Yes,” the driver nodded. “Lei said there was an unexpected situation upstairs. We might need to go up.”
Unexpected? How unexpected could it be? Lin Su thought as he stood in the elevator.
When the doors dinged open, he saw the battered security door and Du Siyue glaring back at him with wide eyes. That’s when the answer to his question seemed clear—the “unexpected” was way beyond expectations, lightyears beyond.
Lin Su stepped into the living room and spotted Jiang Yuhao standing on the other side. The whole situation suddenly hurtled into magical realism territory. Usually, artists were indifferent, aloof, and cold. But seeing such raw panic and shock on Jiang Yuhao’s face proved the impact of this event was nothing short of a nuclear blast.
Du Siyue hurriedly tried to clear things up. “Listen, it’s not what you think.”
Lin Su replied, “I haven’t even had time to think.”
Better not think at all, he thought. Du Siyue gestured to Jiang Yuhao to wait in the bedroom, away from the scene, so he wouldn’t further disappoint his idol. Jiang Yuhao slowed his tone. “It’s okay. Don’t panic. I’ll have my lawyer handle this.”
“What’s there to panic about? This is easy to explain.” Du Siyue forced Jiang Yuhao into the bedroom, then turned to Lin Su. “Come on, tell everyone here—didn’t you once say you really wanted the Shandu Map?”
Lin Su nodded. “Yeah.”
“So I had someone get it for you.” Du Siyue pointed to the dining table. “I just bought the painting. That’s all I know.”
The lawyer was negotiating with Lei Qing nearby. Shi Wenze stood awkwardly by, neither stepping out nor asking questions. Lin Su, however, ignored his boyfriend for now. He gathered his thoughts and asked Du Siyue a key question. “Then why were you in your pajamas with Jiang Yuhao in the same room? Whose place is this—yours or his?”
Du Siyue hesitated. “Neither.” Legally, the apartment belonged to Yu Gui, who was a distant uncle of Jiang Yuhao. Lin Su’s question went unanswered, but that could wait. He looked over at the Shandu Map on the table—it was genuine, one of Cang Dai’s stolen treasures. Lei Qing finished communicating with the lawyer, whispered something into Shi Wenze’s ear, then asked Du Siyue quietly, “Mr. Du, who did you buy this painting from?”
“Some secondhand dealer a friend introduced me to, goes by the nickname ‘Mouse.’” Du Siyue said. “I only have his WeChat ID.”
Lei Qing recognized the nickname. “A regular, but no big crimes. I’ll have someone look into him.”
Shi Wenze nodded and told Du Siyue, “Sorry, but you’ll need to come with us to the Monster Control Committee with this Shandu Map.”
Du Siyue cooperated fully—he had no choice. He glanced at the live king crab and green dragon in the kitchen sink with reluctance, then went into the bedroom to change. Five minutes later, dressed, he came out. “Let’s go.”
Lin Su went with him into the elevator, down to the garage, and into the back seat of the same car. Then he said, “Explain.”
“What explanation? We don’t need explanations between us,” Du Siyue said calmly, clearly prepared and unfazed. The domineering CEO vibe was on full display as he added coolly, “I’m planning to invest in a few films next year, so I set up a meeting with Jiang Yuhao.”
“What’s Jiang Yuhao got to do with movies?”
“He’s planning a career change.”
“But you’re in pajamas.”
“Pajamas are comfortable.”
“Those pajamas are Jiang Yuhao’s endorsement.”
“Nope.”
“I was in the elevator just now, and they were playing Jiang Yuhao’s pajama commercial.”
Du Siyue went full emo, refusing to say another word and preferring to drown his sorrows in a glass of ’82 Lafite while listening to heartbreak ballads.
The car sped toward the Monster Control Committee headquarters in Hucheng. Everything seemed to point to Du Siyue being innocent, but the bureaucratic procedures were tedious. He practically stayed in the interrogation room until nightfall. Lin Su stayed by his side the entire time. Around seven in the evening, a secretary brought two boxed meals, but an aging arowana fish vendor outside rang the doorbell, lugging three enormous insulated bags, breathing heavily.
“The lawyer for Mr. Du sent these, dinner,” the arowana uncle explained.
When the boxes were opened, they nearly covered the entire long table—steamed king crab, salt-roasted crab legs, cheese-baked Australian lobster, red wine mussels, and lobster chicken porridge. The feast was fit for a buffet at DuFeiTe.
Lin Su joked, “You do realize you look exactly like a stereotypical villain right now, right? Like those crime bosses in TVB dramas who get arrested and then pick fights with the cops.”
Du Siyue shot back, “You think I want to be?”
But as the saying goes, food wasted is a shame. He asked Lin Su, “You want some?”
Lin Su politely declined. “No thanks. I’m trying to avoid overthinking the heart-shaped carrot slices in the porridge. You enjoy it. I’m going for a twenty-dollar box of chicken legs.”
So Du Siyue quietly chewed alone at the long table, surrounded by police officers walking back and forth. If this was the last meal, it sure felt like it. Pah, pah, pah!
By the second half of the meal, maybe out of guilt or because the Monster Control Committee’s boxed meals were truly terrible, Lin Su helped eat some lobster and crab. They tasted pretty good.
“Does Jiang Yuhao still cook?” Lin Su asked. Du Siyue hummed noncommittally through his nose, then snapped to attention and said quickly, “No, that food wasn’t cooked by Jiang Yuhao. It’s from my personal chef.”
Lin Su smirked, “You say Chinese don’t lie to Chinese.”
Du Siyue, “…damn it!”
At nine in the evening, Du Siyue was finally released. A Rolls-Royce Phantom waited for him by the curb. Lin Su leaned out of the third-floor window and said, “That’s Jiang Yuhao’s car.”
For some reason, a faint sadness welled up in him, his nose tingling. Shi Wenze couldn’t help but laugh and rubbed his head. “Come on, let’s go home and get some rest. Lei Qing could call anytime with news. They might move at any moment.”
Lin Su asked, “Did they find ‘Mouse’ yet?”
“Yes. He said the Shandu Map came from a stranger. Based on the description, it sounds like the sneaky Cang Dai.”
Normally, fresh stolen goods shouldn’t change hands so fast, but Du Siyue sure gave them a lot to work with. Lin Su guessed, “Maybe Cang Dai got close to Cang Daming just to steal that Phoenix painting, but once he was there, he grabbed a few others too.”
“If he only stole the Phoenix painting, we probably wouldn’t have been able to find clues this quickly,” Shi Wenze pressed the elevator button. “By the way, Director Zhou just got a call.”
“From the kidnappers holding Xu You?” Lin Su turned around anxiously. “What did they say?”
“They said Xu You is currently safe, and he even wailed a bit.”
Lin Su was speechless. If Xu You had heard that, he would have argued. There was no wailing—he thought his status report was graceful and composed.
Sakia only let him say a few sentences before taking the phone back. Xu You looked at her as she walked away and told the burly guard beside him, “I need to pee again.”
The guard’s expression flickered with impatience. Xu You said, “Come on, I’m really scared. When I get scared, I have to pee urgently.”
The burly guard dragged him to the bathroom and untied one hand. This was the hostage privilege Xu You had negotiated by promising, “I’ll convince Director Zhou to cooperate with you and hand over the Phoenix bone soon.” Although he still had to be watched closely, at least he didn’t need help going to the bathroom and got some measure of freedom. So naturally, Xu You started drinking water nonstop and acting up even more. The guard was getting seriously fed up.
Later that evening, Wang Ran showed up again in the garage. Xu You sat in the chair and greeted him, “Hello, boss, you eat what evening?”
Wang Ran stiffened and snapped, “Shut up.”
Xu You didn’t shut up. He kept on tirelessly, “I think we should sit down and talk talk.”
Wang Ran’s face darkened as he spoke a string of words to him. Xu You focused hard, treating it like a high-stakes English listening exam—but just like those exams, he didn’t catch most of it. He regretfully said, “Sorry, too quick, didn’t catch that, pardon pardon?”
The burly guard nearby was twitching, his facial muscles barely holding it together. Wang Ran stepped forward, grabbed Xu You’s chin. Xu You thought, No way, man, don’t just touch me!
Wang Ran gave him a sharp once-over, eyes narrowing like knives. Xu You shrank back and warily asked, “What do you want?”
Wang Ran didn’t answer—he probably figured Xu You wouldn’t understand anyway. He let go and looked up at the guard. “Where’s Sakia?”
Xu You secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly, he was tired and didn’t want to keep speaking English anymore.
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