Pandora’s Box

“Really? Is it possible? Is it a misunderstanding?”

Ke Luo didn’t have a smile on his face. “He was caught on the spot and he took off Shu Nian’s pants. As for what he planned to do, I don’t want to know. Everyone who went with him recognized him and many pair of eyes watched him. He admitted it himself.”

My first thought was that Lee was dead.

He was absolutely dead meat.

Putting aside that he kidnapped Shu Nian, it was absolutely impossible for Lu Feng to let a traitor go.

I thought back to Lu Feng’s heavy gloom earlier this evening and felt a sudden chill down my back.

I didn’t have time to think about what Lee was doing so I instinctively asked, “Where’s Lee? Is he still alive?”

I was afraid that Lee was sunken to the bottom of a river by now.

Ke Luo said, “He’s still alive and he’s fine now.”

“Is he locked up? Is he okay now? Will you beat him up?”

Ke Luo whispered, “I let him go.”

“…..”

“He climbed out of the window from the third floor and escaped safely.”

“…..”

I breathed a sigh of relief. This guy was always getting more audacious.

“I’m telling you this to be mentally prepared. He probably won’t contact you. In theory, he won’t dare to contact anyone related to us, but in case he finds you, you must tell me as soon as possible.”

I hesitated a little, “Okay…”

“Now the Xie family is looking everywhere for him to settle accounts. If he’s caught, he’ll be finished. Tong Shan will probably silence him. His situation is very bad and the problem is that he may not realize it.”

My heart was beating wildly and it took me a while before I could ask, “Ke Luo, you, will you bear a grudge against him?”

Ke Luo lowered his voice, “What do you think?”

I also felt stupid for asking. Lee, this was another 25 year old, and this was kidnapping, so who wouldn’t bear a grudge?

To be honest, Lu Feng treated him well. Lee, himself, told me that when he was miserable in the United States, Lu Feng asked him to return to China, in which was a big deal for him. He let him climb up, his treatment was good, and even Ke Luo helped him.

I didn’t know what Lee was thinking. Although he was sometimes unprincipled, obscure, and unorthodox, he was not bad to the point of being treacherous, malicious, and shameless.

Why did he do such a terrible thing?

While I was angry that his head was disturbed, but also worried about his safety, I asked Ke Luo eagerly, “Then, how will you deal with him?”

Ke Luo was quiet for a while and answered, “Then, why should I let him run away?”

I was slightly relieved, and immediately felt that my friendship was not that genuine. I was obviously biased towards Lee.

It was really hard.

Fortunately, Ke Luo didn’t care about my erratic thoughts.

I thought about it and still felt uneasy. Ke Luo was kind hearted, but Lu Feng was not.

I asked, “Then, what about Lu Feng? Does he know what Lee did?”

Ke Luo paused before saying, “Do you think it’s possible that Uncle Lu doesn’t know what I know?”

“…..” My heart went cold.

Could Lee still have a life?

“That, that…”

I repeated “that” for a while, but the continuation of “that” did not come out. Ke Luo said, “But regarding this, you don’t have to worry.”

“Ah?”

“I begged Uncle Lu for mercy.”

“Really?” After getting excited, I couldn’t help but become suspicious. “But, did it help?”

It wasn’t that I doubted his weight in Lu Feng’s heart, the problem was that it was a taboo to feed from the hands of both an insider and outsider.

Although Lu Feng cherished Ke Luo, he couldn’t tolerate someone making such a scene. If betrayal didn’t incite punishment, then all other rules were meaningless.

“Well, he agreed.”

I was shocked, “Really?”

Ke Luo nodded, “Yes.”

“No,” I was apprehensive, “How can Lu Feng be so easy-going? Is this really him? Or is he faking it? Is he possessed by Cheng Yichen? I know! He’s actually trying to fool you so you can relax your vigilance, and then he’ll catch you by surprise!”

Ke Luo interrupted my wild imagination, “No, of course he promised everything.”

I couldn’t believe that at all.

“You’re right, he can’t be that easy to talk to, so he refused at first.”

“Ah? Then what?”

Ke Luo paused for a while before opening his mouth, “I told him that if he felt any guilt towards me, then this was his chance to make it up to me.”

I was stunned.

I couldn’t believe my ears.

I did not expect him to show his cards at this time, and I did not expect him to show his cards to Lu Feng for Lee.

After my shock, I quietly asked, “Then, what was his reaction?”

Ke Luo laughed self-deprecatingly, “He was as surprised as you are.”

“…..”

“After a long time, he said that I can handle Lee as I want and he’ll grant me full authority. He won’t interfere.”

“…..”

I didn’t know what to say at the moment.

It turned out that people like Lu Feng would feel shame and cave in.

Ke Luo softly said, “I imagined many times of the scene where I would clear out my relationship with him. It’s just that I never thought that it would be used as a bargaining chip like this. When he agreed, I actually felt very uncomfortable. I didn’t know whether to hate him or myself.”

I lightly placed my hand on Ke Luo’s shoulder.

“Then he told me that one of the things he needed to let me know about my mother was that she wasn’t a stupid woman like everyone else said she was. She was insanely intelligent, and was the smartest woman he’d ever met. Her only mistake she ever made was him.”

I could feel the slight tremor of his shoulder under my palm.

After a moment, I heard him whisper, “At that moment, I completely forgave him.”

My eyes suddenly became warm.

It didn’t matter whether it was right or not, but how many times could forgiveness be shared in this lifetime?

I was a little happy for Ke Luo, but also a little sad for him.

“Then, will you make your relationship public?”

Ke Luo shook his head. “I don’t want to attract other people’s attention. I don’t want to receive any unwarranted looks. Uncle Lu and I-”

I interrupted him, “Right now, there are no outsiders so you don’t have to call him uncle to talk in front of me; it sounds awkward.”

Ke Luo paused for a moment, showing a subtly shy expression, before continuing, “Let the matters between my dad and I remain between the two of us.”

“Won’t you feel wronged without recognizing this relationship publicly like this?”

“No,” Ke Luo said, “I actually like the feeling that he and I are tacitly keeping the same secret.”

I observed his face as it gradually became more and more similar to Lu Feng’s. I thought to myself, could this really stay as a secret in the future? =.=

In any case, if they could reach a tacit understanding, then this was perfect.

I climbed out of bed and poured him a glass of water. We sat, facing each other for a while. Ke Luo’s face appeared more relaxed than when he first entered through the door. He said, “Thank you, Xiao Jing. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know what to do with these things. I don’t know who to tell.”

“Huh? Wenyang will be happy to listen to you. His family is also complicated so he must understand your feelings. He knows how to comfort people better than I do.”

Ke Luo shook his head, “It’s not just about me. It’s about Lee. Because Lee is like this now, I can’t find anyone who will stand on his side.”

I was silent, and patted him on the shoulder. “You are welcome. What you care about is what I care about. What else would our relationship between us be?”

The relationship between us and Lee was that one was Lee’s ex-ex-ex-ex-ex and the other was current. =_=

Lee disappeared for a few days without any additional news. I tried to contact him but, of course, I couldn’t get a hold of him.

I understood that he was currently in hiding and I believed in his ability to hide, but I was also worried about him.

I could only obtain updates on the issue from Ke Luo. Ke Luo finally succeeded in negotiating with Xie’s family and they stopped pursuing Lee. Xie Yan finally returned to S City.

I had no idea what price he had to pay for this and Ke Luo wouldn’t say, but I knew it must have embarrassed him. Although Lu Feng entrusted him with full authority on this matter, but spending energy and resources to help a traitor must be difficult to showcase to the public.

Today, I had an appointment with Ke Luo to grab dinner, and I took two bites of the food when the phone rang. Ke Luo picked it up and glanced at it before his complexion visibly paled.

“What’s wrong? Any news about Lee?”

He said, “Lee went to find Tong Shan.”

I was bewildered and cursed, “WTF?”

“I don’t know what he’s thinking, does he still think that Tong Shan will protect him?” Ke Luo gritted his teeth and said, “Usually he looks so smart, but did his brain finally rot now?”

I remembered what Ke Luo said before and was scared enough to sweat, “Then what should we do now? I’ll help you find him!”

Ke Luo shook his head, “Go to class as soon as you finish eating. I’ll take care of it.”

“How can I still eat?!”

“You can’t help in this case,” Ke Luo said, “Besides, those people are not good people and I don’t want to involve you.”

I knew he was telling the truth.

It was true that I didn’t know anything about their world. When I was wandering in the past, I only knew about eating, drinking, and having fun. However, now that I was more grounded and serious, I understood a little more about things, that was, in textbooks (which was not a lot =.=).

Although it was a joke to ask him for red envelopes during Chinese New Year, he was indeed much more mature than me and so was Zhuo Wenyang.

I was the oldest, but now I lived a more childish life. This made me feel a little ashamed.

It appeared that I should work hard to grow up.

Tong Shan seemed to be much harder to deal with than the Xie family. Ke Luo’s face was very unsightly during these few days. I could feel his exhaustion and frustration even if he didn’t complain to me.

Finally, one day, Ke Luo told me, “They will send Lee back in the afternoon.”

“Really?” I was overjoyed and quickly confirmed again, “Is it the kind where he’s whole and alive?!”

Ke Luo smiled and replied, “It’s the kind where he’s whole and alive.”

This was the first time that I recently saw Ke Luo smile, and I also breathed a sigh of relief.

Yet, the exhaustion behind that smile was apparent.

Lee really cost a lot of money this time. He probably never thought that he was so valuable in this life. If he returned back safely this time, how about he thank Ke Luo for once?