Blinded chapter 77

The red soup bubbled in the pot in front of them, steam rising.

Xie Li hadn’t eaten much; most of the time, he played with a lighter.

He said to Su Yun, “You really shouldn’t come looking for me. We’re not suitable, don’t waste your time.”

Su Yun asked him, “Will your special one come back to find you then?”

Xie Li asked, “special one?”

“Another way to put it? Goddess?”

Xie Li sighed, “No, he’s my treasure, okay?”

Su Yun stirred her chopsticks in the bowl, “You saying that doesn’t make me happy.”

Xie Li said, “Whether he comes to find me or not doesn’t matter; I will find him.”

Su Yun was puzzled, “But you don’t even know where he is.”

Xie Li remained silent.

Su Yun looked at him for a while and whispered, “I heard you had a big mission before?” She quickly added, “My uncle told me. I asked him about the mission, but he wouldn’t tell me.”

Her uncle was the captain of their criminal investigation team.

Xie Li said, “Yeah, even if you ask me, I won’t tell you.”

“Fine, forget it,” Su Yun pretended not to care, “I thought you had some complicated and mysterious story with him.”

Xie Li chuckled, leaned against the window, and didn’t say anything.

Su Yun raised her head, looked outside, and said, “If the person you like really comes back, I won’t come looking for you again.”

Xie Li asked her, “Are you serious?”

“Of course, I’m serious,” Su Yun said, “I am a principled person.”

After saying this, she paused for a long time, gazing out the window. After a while, she said to Xie Li, “Xie Li, there’s someone across the street who seems to have been watching us.”

Xie Li turned his head to look.

By now, it was already dark. Under the streetlamp on the opposite side, there was a person, not too tall, with a slim and somewhat youthful figure. Because the distance was a bit far, his face couldn’t be clearly seen, but it was evident that he had been looking in their direction.

Xie Li suddenly stood up.

Su Yun didn’t react to what was happening. By the time she realized, Xie Li had already turned and rushed towards the outside. Su Yun’s first reaction was to catch up. She hadn’t forgotten to grab her bag, but when she reached the entrance of the hot pot restaurant, the staff stopped her, saying they hadn’t paid the bill.

Looking up, she saw that Xie Li had quickly crossed the railing, traversed the oncoming traffic, and ran to the other side of the street.

When Xie Li reached the opposite side of the street, the person standing under the streetlamp had disappeared.

His heart was pounding, unable to resist opening his mouth and taking a deep breath of the cold air. He looked left and right, and saw the figure appearing again on the street, running towards the front.

Xie Li didn’t hesitate; he ran after him.

At this moment, it was already dark. The person in front of him was undoubtedly Xiaojia, but at this moment, his running posture was limping and irregular. It was clear that he was making a great effort but still couldn’t distance himself from Xie Li.

Xie Li shouted loudly, “Xiaojia!”

The person in front did not stop.

Xie Li kept chasing until he caught up with him. He grabbed his thin shoulders, forcefully turned him around and slammed him against the wall on the side of the street. By the light, he could see his face, but it wasn’t Xiaojia; it was Shi Hongqian.

Shi Hongqian looked at Xie Li expressionlessly.

Xie Li, with audible and emphasized breathing, didn’t let go of Shi Hongqian’s hand. Instead, he said, “Where’s Xiaojia? Have you both come back? Is Xiaojia with you?”

Shi Hongqian didn’t say anything.

Xie Li lowered his head and glanced at his feet. “What happened to your foot?”

Shi Hongqian said, “Mr. Chang crippled it.”

Xie Li urgently wanted to inquire about Xiaojia’s whereabouts, but he couldn’t hold back and asked, “Because you helped me escape that night?”

Shi Hongqian nodded.

Xie Li asked, “Where is Chang Guanshan?” He had too many questions he wanted to ask, and each one was crucial.

But Shi Hongqian calmly said, “Do you want to know where Mr. Chang is, or do you want to know where Young master Jia is?”

“Xiaojia,” Xie Li didn’t hesitate, choosing the answer most important to him.

Shi Hongqian said, “he was with me originally, but just now, he asked me to lead you away.”

Xie Li looked at him intensely for a moment, then turned and ran back towards the direction of the hot pot restaurant.

Inside the hot pot restaurant at that moment, Su Yun stared at the person sitting across from her with a bewildered expression.

It was a young man, probably around her age, very fair and thin, with droopy eyelids suggesting fatigue but undeniably handsome.

The young man had walked over and sat down on his own, asking her if she was on a date with Xie Li.

Su Yun was momentarily stunned and answered, “Yes.”

Then the young man kept staring at her with a cold look. After a while, he asked, “What’s your relationship with Xie Li?”

Su Yun hesitated and said, “Friends…”

“What kind of friends? Romantic?”

“Not yet.”

“Not yet?”

Su Yun found him somewhat frightening and subconsciously reached for her phone in her bag. “Maybe in the future.”

“Impossible,” the person opposite her said with an expressionless face.

Su Yun suddenly felt angry. “Why is it impossible?”

“When I say it’s impossible, it’s impossible. Stay away from him, or I’ll kill you.”

Su Yun was instantly stunned, and after a while, she recovered, “Are you crazy? Who are you? Nonsense! Believe it or not, I’ll call the police right now!”

Then, the person opposite suddenly stood up, hands on the table, and said coldly, “I’m giving you a chance. Leave now, or before the police arrive, I can’t guarantee you’ll still be alive.”

Su Yun took a deep breath, preparing to scream for help.

At this moment, Xie Li rushed in from outside, almost colliding with a waiter carrying the hot pot base.

Su Yun quickly stood up and waved at Xie Li, shouting, “Xie Li!”

However, Xie Li didn’t react; he just ran over and embraced the person standing across from Su Yun, lowering his head and burying his face in his shoulder.

Su Yun looked at him in surprise and listened to Xie Li repeatedly calling out a name, “Xiaojia, Xiaojia!”

The fierce and wicked young man on the opposite side also softened. He lifted his hand to touch Xie Li’s forehead, leaning back to look at Su Yun.

Su Yun stood there, unsure of what to do. When Xie Li raised his head again, she noticed tears on his face and subconsciously whispered, “your treasure…”

Until he lay down on the big bed at home with Chang Xiaojia, Xie Li felt like he was still dreaming.

Chang Xiaojia clung to him tightly, unwilling to separate even briefly, and even during a bath, he insisted on staying close, his soft body entwined with Xie Li’s, demanding incessantly.

However, Xie Li noticed that he had become even thinner, and there were various small and large scars on his body.

Xie Li had bought this house through a mortgage, located in the suburbs of Chongfeng City. He was still paying off the loan every month. The house wasn’t large, but when he renovated it, he insisted on installing a bathtub so that he could soak in hot water after a hard day’s work.

Now he could lie in the bathtub with Chang Xiaojia, caressing his thin shoulders and back.

“Where did Chang Guanshan take you?” Xie Li asked.

Chang Xiaojia lazily replied, “He originally wanted to take a boat out to sea but was a step too late. He could only escape from harbor city by car and hide inland. Along the way, he kept changing cars, trying to cross the border from the southwest. But when he was about to reach the border, someone under him betrayed him, took a sum of money, and ran away.”

Xie Li listened quietly, holding him even tighter.

Chang Xiaojia continued, “There was a dispute among his subordinates because they were about to escape. Some thought it was unnecessary to chase after the money. But my dad insisted on bringing the person back at the last moment.”

Xie Li asked, “What happened later?”

“Later, we entered the rainforest. Someone shot my dad from behind, and I don’t know if he’s alive or dead. During the chaos, I and Shi Hongqian escaped, and no one came after us.”

After talking for a while, Chang Xiaojia fell asleep in Xie Li’s arms.

Xie Li carried him back to the room, covered him with a blanket, changed into dry clothes, and came out of the room. He saw Shi Hongqian sleeping on the living room sofa, covered with a blanket.

“There’s a guest room in the house,” Xie Li said to him. “Go in and sleep.”

But Shi Hongqian didn’t move.

Xie Li sat down on the sofa, lit a cigarette.

Shi Hongqian reached out for a cigarette, so Xie Li handed one over. Xie Li asked him, “You must have gone through a lot on this journey, right?”

“When Young Master Jia was just brought out by Mr. Chang, he was kept alone in the trunk all the time,” Shi Hongqian lit his cigarette, slowly saying.

Xie Li’s smoking motion came to a halt.

Shi Hongqian said, “You know he’s afraid of the dark, and Mr. Chang deliberately punished with that.”

Xie Li’s eyes gradually turned red.

Shi Hongqian continued, “But he had to survive so he could come back to find you.”

Xie Li nodded and asked, “Is Chang Guanshan really dead?”

Shi Hongqian told him, “I’m not sure, but in that environment, it’s hard to survive.”

Xie Li asked again, “Who fired the shot?”

Shi Hongqian remained silent for a while, staring straight at the coffee table in front of him. Finally, he looked at Xie Li and said, “I don’t know.”

“I—” Xie Li paused for a moment, “will notify the harbor police. They might arrange for you to make a statement. Is that okay?”

Shi Hongqian said, “Is Young Master Jia and I not on the wanted list?”

Xie Li said, “You’re not. There’s no evidence linking you to the drug manufacturing and trafficking of Hongji Pharmaceuticals.”

Shi Hongqian replied, “Okay, then I’ll make a statement.”

Xie Li stood up. “You’ve worked hard. Get some rest.” When he saw Shi Hongqian getting up, he asked, “Do you need to see a doctor for your foot?”

Shi Hongqian said, “The doctor said that the deformity requires corrective surgery, but I haven’t had time for it yet.”

Xie Li said, “If you need help, feel free to ask.”

Shi Hongqian nodded. “Thank you.”

Back in the room, Xie Li hugged the sleeping Chang Xiaojia and lay down beside him, falling asleep.