Li Shuyun said in a small voice, “But… when I watch you play, brother, you’ve never been injured.”

Li Yunhui’s lips flattened into a line, his brow furrowed. “That’s just because you haven’t seen it! How many times have you even gone with me? At the end of last year, when I was racing, the steering wheel briefly failed. If it had been just 0.1 seconds slower to recover, you’d be visiting me in the dirt right now!”

Li Shuyun’s eyes widened in astonishment, disbelief filling them.

Sensing his brother’s wavering, Li Yunhui immediately struck while the iron was hot and continued, “I have a friend who got a good ranking in a world racing competition. But what was the result? The year before last, his car overturned on a turn during a race, and he’s still lying in the hospital now!”

“And that’s just car racing, a ground activity. What about the skydiving you did today? Once an accident happens in the air, you have no room to maneuver. You fall, you die!”

“But… but…”

Li Shuyun was extremely aggrieved. “Extreme sports are supposed to be about challenging thrills. Brother, you’ve been injured too, you’ve almost had accidents, but you… aren’t you still doing it now?”

Li Shuyun seemed to have finally found an outlet, pouring out the grievance and confusion he had felt all day.

“Why is it that you can do it, brother, but I can’t?”

“And brother, by forbidding me like this, aren’t you doing the same thing as Dad? Brother, you clearly said that Dad was infringing on your right to choose freely, that he was questioning your ability, that he was venting his desire for control. What about you, then, brother? Why… why are you doing this to me too?”

Li Shuyun was heartbroken, his eyes and brows drooping with disappointment. He curled into a small ball on the headboard, as if only by doing so could he protect himself.

Li Yunhui: “…”

Li Yunhui’s mind was filled with countless dissenting thoughts, overflowing, each one loudly protesting his brother’s words.

But when it all came down to words, he could only say drily, “I’m not the same as Li Zhengshen. I’m doing this entirely because I’m worried about you!”

Once the words were out, Li Yunhui felt they couldn’t even convince himself, let alone his brother.

Just then, the butler arrived at the door with a tray of food and knocked twice. “Knock, knock.”

The butler said, “Young Master, I’ve brought your food. Hmm? Eldest Young Master, you’re here too?”

The butler feigned surprise.

The butler’s intrusion successfully rescued Li Yunhui.

He immediately stood up, helped pull the table to the bedside, and then pulled up a chair for his brother, placing a cushion on it to elevate his foot.

With this flurry of activity, the previous topic was naturally cast aside.

His brother was still somewhat avoidant of his care.

However, it was slightly better than the fear he’d shown when he first entered the room.

The butler arranged the food and, looking like he intended to chat with Li Shuyun for a bit, told him to go rest first.

Li Yunhui didn’t insist on staying and quickly returned to his own room.

Today, his brother had again said he was acting just like Li Zhengshen…

How were they alike? Impossible. Absolutely impossible!

The thought of Li Zhengshen annoyed Li Yunhui. The thought of being compared to Li Zhengshen by his brother annoyed him even more!

Extremely annoyed, he tossed and turned in bed, unable to close his eyes. He had no choice but to find something to distract himself.

Li Yunhui lay in bed and thought blankly for a long time. He couldn’t be bothered with He Wenyan’s matters, and he wasn’t in the mood to ask about his own little racing team today.

After thinking it over, Li Yunhui decided to check on Cheng Huanzhen’s progress. He had shared the intelligence with him so long ago, how come Cheng Huanzhen hadn’t given him any feedback yet?

Thinking of this, Li Yunhui’s annoyed and worried mood was finally diverted a little.

He sent a Green Letter message to Cheng Huanzhen to inquire: [Any progress?]

…

Nearly five months had passed since his little uncle’s disappearance.

Five months was enough time to fade many traces.

In the family’s refrigerator and snack cabinet, his little uncle’s favorite foods were no longer specially stocked; on the daily menu, dishes that suited his little uncle’s taste gradually disappeared.

The house became quiet again, and the color palette grew more muted. The little uncle’s traces were slowly weakening in this world. He didn’t know if there would be a day when they would disappear completely.

However… he would not let that happen.

During these five months, Cheng Huanzhen had strictly followed the requests his little uncle had made before he left.

Every month, he would buy a piece of clothing he liked, which would be very suitable for his little uncle to wear; every month, he would go to a place he liked, which would be very suitable to take his little uncle to; every month, he would eat at a restaurant he liked, which was very much to his little uncle’s taste.

This behavior allowed Cheng Huanzhen to be certain, for the time being, that his little uncle’s color would at least not fade from his own world. As long as he persisted, his little uncle could not possibly disappear.

A while ago, he had found traces of his little uncle’s growth in the old residence’s account books. There were some questionable points in the records, which gave him the idea of probing the older generation of the family, for example, his father.

Unfortunately, at that time, his father had been taken out of town by a director without his knowledge. After receiving his message, he couldn’t rush back and could only “coax” him via video call.

But he didn’t actually need his father’s coaxing.

He just wanted to probe for some information face-to-face. Video calls weren’t suitable, so that line of inquiry was delayed.

He couldn’t find a better target for his inquiries and had to try his best to scrutinize the bank card transaction details, but this path was even more difficult. For nearly two months, he had made almost no progress on this front.

Fortunately, his father had finally finished filming in that location and returned home once again.

The day Cheng Huanzhen learned of his father’s return, he postponed all his other arrangements for the next two days, freeing up his entire evening.

Cheng Huanzhen: “Welcome home, Dad. I’d like to treat you to dinner tonight, as a congratulations for wrapping up the shoot.”

Cheng Zhaorui was flattered. “Oh, my good son, you’re actually going to celebrate my wrap-up! Alright, what time tonight? I’ll cancel my dinner plans right away!”

And so, at seven in the evening, Cheng Huanzhen and Cheng Zhaorui arrived together in a private room at the Dragonfly Hotel.

The Dragonfly Hotel was an enterprise under one of the many groups controlled by the Cheng family.

Unlike the Xiyalama Hotel, it didn’t take the high-end route but focused on being affordable and accessible to the public. Its chain stores were spread across almost every province, city, and district in the country.

However, precisely because of this, the Dragonfly Hotel never appeared on the list of alternative hotels for banquets held by the various prominent families of the capital. But if it was just for their own internal staff to eat, drink, and chat, it was completely sufficient.

This was the first time Cheng Zhaorui had been treated to a meal by his son.

He was a little gratified, a little nervous.

His son first showed concern for his new drama. Although the questions were a bit stiff and superficial, he knew this was his son’s love for him!

Next, his son showed concern about his contact with his own father and the old residence. Ever since Cheng Zhaorui had seen his ninety-million-dollar brother successfully make his father bow his head and admit defeat with his son’s help, he was finally no longer as fearful of the old residence as before, and naturally, his contact had increased. The fact that his son could notice this and show concern also represented his son’s love for him!

The table today was full of dishes, and his son had even thoughtfully prepared several bottles of his favorite Jiuliangye liquor!

It was a rare opportunity for Cheng Zhaorui to eat and drink like this with his son. His mood was cheerful, and he happily drank a few more glasses with his son.

Of course, he still remembered the reminder Lin Chen had specially sent him a few days ago, saying that his son was recently trying to investigate the truth of Cheng Yiming’s identity, and that he should pay more attention and absolutely not let anything slip.

Cheng Zhaorui was very confident about this. He was a professional; his lips were sealed, and he guaranteed he wouldn’t let a single thing slip out.

However, as Cheng Zhaorui listened, his son didn’t mention a single word about his “little uncle” throughout the entire meal. It really seemed like the meal was entirely to celebrate his wrap-up!

This made Cheng Zhaorui even more delighted.

And so, they ate, drank, and chatted, from family matters to topics from all over the world. Cheng Zhaorui was thoroughly enjoying himself.

Cheng Huanzhen drank with his father.

He rarely drank usually, had an average tolerance, and was not particularly good at it. So he had specially prepared opaque wine glasses. When drinking with his father, as long as he drank the liquid level down to where his father couldn’t see it from his angle, he would pretend he had finished a glass, then promptly refill his wine, adding one to his glass count.

Then he would refill for his father. Before refilling, he would wait a moment by his father’s glass, signaling for his father to drink it all, before refilling for him.

Thus, every time he refilled, his father’s glass was always filled to the brim, while his was always filled to a third or half. Over time, the difference appeared.

He waited quietly. His father’s cheeks slowly turned flushed under the influence of alcohol, and his words gradually became more numerous, more “bold,” to the point where he even dared to mumble a few curses when he mentioned his grandfather’s past behavior.

Cheng Huanzhen felt the time was safe enough and finally, casually, led the topic towards his little uncle. “…The atmosphere at the old residence is much better than before now. Grandfather hasn’t been managing things as much these past two months, perhaps because he was hit by the little uncle’s disappearance…”

His expression and his words became downcast. “But it makes sense. Grandfather watched the little uncle grow up. He must be much sadder than I am.”

His father was indeed a little drunk, and his emotions were easily stirred.

Hearing him mention his little uncle, his father’s eyes immediately turned red.

His father was melancholic, sorrowful, and let out a long sigh to the heavens before wailing, “Yiming… Yiming! Such a shame, such an outstanding person! Why did he just… just… disappear at such a young age…!”

Cheng Huanzhen refilled his father’s glass.

He said dejectedly, “Dad, I was thinking… if Little Uncle is still alive, would he contact his old friends? But I don’t know much about Little Uncle’s past. What about you, Dad? Do you know what Little Uncle was like before?”

His father ignored his question and continued to wail, “Yiming, Yiming! If I had been at home then, if I could have discovered Yiming’s intentions earlier, it wouldn’t have come to this… aigh, but it’s too late to say anything now… Yiming, Yiming!”

Cheng Huanzhen didn’t give up and asked many more questions from the side.

But his father seemed to be too drunk.

Whenever his little uncle was mentioned, he would weep bitterly, and he was never able to provide any useful information.

Cheng Huanzhen was a little disappointed.

To still be unable to say anything while this drunk, it seemed his father probably didn’t have any secrets.

But it wasn’t easy to get his father drunk for once, and Cheng Huanzhen was unwilling to end up with nothing.

So he glanced at the time in the private room and said to his father, “Dad, it’s about time. We should be heading back. Can you tell the driver?”

His father didn’t hear what he said and was still beating his chest and stomping his feet, crying.

So Cheng Huanzhen continued on his own, “Then I’ll tell the driver. Hmm? My phone is dead. Dad, I’ll use your phone.”

He said it politely, and seeing that his father was still in a drunken state of wailing and didn’t pay him any mind, he directly reached out, took his father’s phone, placed it in front of his father, and said, “Dad, unlock it.”

This action was just a spur-of-the-moment idea.

With the phone in hand, Cheng Huanzhen didn’t expect to actually find anything in it.

After all, for so many years, his father’s attitude towards the old residence had always been to avoid it whenever possible.

How much could he know about what happened at the old residence in the past eighteen years?

He was just treating a dead horse as if it were alive. He opened his father’s Green Letter and asked his father, “What’s the contact name for the driver?”

At the same time, his hand was quickly searching for words like “one hundred million,” “Yiming,” and “ym” in the search bar.

“One hundred million” didn’t yield any useful records.

The message records under “Yiming” were more numerous.

Cheng Huanzhen clicked into them from top to bottom for a look and found that the times his father discussed his little uncle with others were mostly concentrated in the period just after his little uncle had disappeared.

But after that, he had almost never shown any concern for his little uncle’s disappearance or the search for him!

Cheng Huanzhen’s lips tightened. He glanced at his father, who was still wailing on the side, and a spark of extreme unhappiness ignited in his heart.

What was wrong with his father? He was crying so hard, yet he hadn’t been making any effort to find his little uncle?

Could it be that his father had already given up? …That made sense. His father had even tried to persuade him many times, always wanting him to give up looking for his little uncle too!

Cheng Huanzhen was very unhappy about this.

But there wasn’t much time now, no time to waste being angry at his father.

He quickly clicked through the records one by one, only scanning for mentions of “Yiming.” If he couldn’t find the useful information he wanted, he would skip to the next person’s message history.

After one sweep, Cheng Huanzhen didn’t get any useful information.

He didn’t even see a single message from before his little uncle returned home… perhaps his father had changed his phone?

Cheng Huanzhen was a little disappointed.

Cheng Huanzhen finally searched for the keyword “ym.”

With this search, Cheng Huanzhen was suddenly met with a profile picture that caught his attention—it was a big strawberry!

…A strawberry?

Cheng Huanzhen’s gaze lingered on the profile picture for a moment.

L March 31, 20X4
[He’s still looking for ym.]

…Two months ago, on Grandfather’s birthday?

In the message history between his father and this big strawberry, there was only this one conversation that mentioned “ym.”

Looking at the search result alone, Cheng Huanzhen couldn’t even determine from this sentence whether “ym” referred to his little uncle.

For some inexplicable reason, Cheng Huanzhen looked at this strawberry profile picture and just wanted to click into the specific message history to have a look.

However, the moment he clicked on the record.

The entire phone suddenly went black!

…

The system screamed, “Host!! Cheng Huanzhen actually got Cheng Zhaorui drunk, took his phone, and was secretly looking through his chat history! He was about to see the Green Letter chat history between Cheng Zhaorui and you!!”

Lin Chen had been hungry for several hours and was finally eating dinner. At this moment, he was using his chopsticks to peel a shrimp.

Hearing this, he said unhurriedly, “What’s the rush? Didn’t we already have them clear the chat history long ago?”

The system said, “Host, do you remember two months ago, on Old Master Cheng’s birthday, you had a two-sentence chat with Cheng Zhaorui? That chat history has no head or tail. If Cheng Huanzhen saw it, he would definitely become suspicious!”

Lin Chen retorted, “If you black out Cheng Zhaorui’s phone, you think he won’t be suspicious?”

The system chuckled. “Cheng Zhaorui’s phone just fell into the sink yesterday. A little blackout would be perfectly reasonable!”

The system paused, then became anxious again. “Also, Host, you should change your strawberry profile picture! Cheng Huanzhen knows you really like strawberries. What if he connects your profile picture to you?”

Lin Chen chuckled lightly. “There are so many people in this world who love to eat strawberries. As long as there’s no hard evidence, what can he do even if he makes the connection?”

He paused for a moment, then said, “However, we have to guard against Huanzhen sharing the account book information with Li Yunhui. If you find any indication that Cheng Huanzhen is inclined to share, tell me immediately.”

The system reported happily, “Oh! Host, you don’t need to worry about that. Li Yunhui just asked him for progress, and he didn’t share any intelligence with Li Yunhui at all!”

But then it became puzzled. “But why? Host, do you think Li Yunhui’s investigation ability is stronger than Cheng Huanzhen’s? But I feel like Cheng Huanzhen is about the same, and even more troublesome in some ways.”

Lin Chen said, “Not stronger, but he…”

He carefully chose his words. “…has more idle time.”

Lin Chen: “Cheng Huanzhen wants to find his little uncle, so he will only stay in the country.”

“His investigation methods are very orthodox; he always starts with physical evidence. Physical evidence is easy to fake, as long as the bosses can get to it. As for electronic records, you’re here. Even if he wants to check bank transaction details, you can create a record that’s indistinguishable from the real one.”

Lin Chen sighed. “But Li Yunhui? …Who knows, one day when he’s idle, he might take the fake details abroad, check the corresponding shops one by one, cross-reference the accounts, and even go door-to-door to investigate the existence of ‘Cheng Yiming’… Human witnesses are not easy to fake.”

After thinking it over, Lin Chen came to a conclusion. “As I thought, I need to find something new for him to do as soon as possible. I can’t let him have any free time.”

…

Cheng Huanzhen had never expected that this dinner would end in this way.

After his father sobered up a little, his conclusion about the phone blacking out was also quite convincing.

But Cheng Huanzhen was very dissatisfied with this result.

He thought it over and over, and the big strawberry from his father’s Green Letter remained in his mind, refusing to leave.

Who was that big strawberry?

Cheng Huanzhen thought it over and over, unable to sleep.

So the next day, he found an opportunity to ask his father, “By the way, Dad, last night when I was using your phone to contact the driver, I saw a friend in your Green Letter. His profile picture was a big strawberry. Who is he?”

Cheng Zhaorui recalled letting his son use his phone without any guard last night, and his head ached with lingering fear. His guard was at maximum, and he answered ambiguously, “He’s a friend I met at work. Why?”

Cheng Huanzhen probed, “Does he know the little uncle too?”

Cheng Zhaorui answered in surprise, “Of course! When Yiming went missing, didn’t I send messages to many friends, asking them to help look for Yiming?”

Cheng Huanzhen: “…Oh.”

Finding no flaw, Cheng Huanzhen was a little disappointed.

It seemed this line of inquiry with his father was a dead end.

Then… ask Grandfather for permission to check the historical bank card details under the pretext of something else?

Or, directly ask Grandfather about the account book?

Cheng Huanzhen hesitated. He felt that no matter which method, as long as it had to go through his grandfather, it was likely… a slim hope.

Little Uncle… he clearly just wanted to find his little uncle.

In his confusion, Cheng Huanzhen thought of that big strawberry and suddenly remembered the Li family’s young master, who had very similar eating habits to his little uncle.

An idea popped into his mind out of nowhere:

…What if I go see him?

…

His brother’s anger had not yet subsided.

According to the butler, his brother still refused to promise to stop doing extreme sports in the future. Whenever the topic was mentioned, his brother would fearfully and sadly bury his head in the covers, silent and not making a sound.

Li Yunhui was annoyed hearing this.

He thought, maybe I should go coax my brother myself.

Since his brother had come to like extreme sports because of his “bad example,” then he could naturally set a “good example” for his brother again and lead him to quit extreme sports.

Halfway through his thoughts, Li Yunhui suddenly heard the butler say, “By the way, Eldest Young Master. This morning, I reported the matter to Mr. Li. Mr. Li is very angry, especially about you leading the young master astray.”

The butler paused, his tone devoid of emotion, as he said to Li Yunhui, “Mr. Li said that if you are unwilling to completely give up extreme sports, then he will forbid you from meeting with the young master. Mr. Li said he cannot let you continue to lead the young master astray.”

As soon as Li Yunhui heard this, his anger flared up, and all his previous plans vanished.

He sneered, “Li Zhengshen controls the heavens and the earth, and now he’s finally going to control whether my brother and I can even meet? If he’s so capable, why did he send Shuyun back home in the first place?”

The butler frowned. “Eldest Young Master, are you going to insist on being a bad example for the young master? That’s not what you said yesterday… If so, then I won’t let you get a step closer to the young master either.”

Li Yunhui glared at him. “What kind of example I set for my brother is none of Li Zhengshen’s business. You tell him to stop pointing fingers from across the ocean. If he’s got the guts, he can come back in person!”

Li Yunhui was standing at the top of the stairs.

He had originally been hesitating whether to go see his brother again, as he still hadn’t figured out how to answer his brother’s questions. But provoked by Li Zhengshen like this, Li Yunhui now had to go see his brother no matter what.

So he said, “Move. I’m going to find Shuyun.”

The butler was displeased. He stood in the way, unmoving, and said, “Eldest Young Master, Mr. Li has already stated his position—as long as you nod your head, I will naturally step aside now.”

Li Yunhui’s tone was terrible. “My head, you can forget about me nodding it. My brother, I insist on seeing him. Get out of my way!”

The relationship, which had just taken a turn for the better for a day, became tense again at this moment.

Just then, a knock suddenly came from the front door.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

The butler frowned slightly.

The butler: “We have a guest, Eldest Young Master.”

Li Yunhui didn’t move. “You’re the one who should open the door.”

The butler: “Can you guarantee you won’t move from here?”

Li Yunhui gave him a look as if he were an idiot. “Am I an idiot?”

The butler thought, ‘as expected,’ and called over a burly bodyguard, instructing him, “Stand here. Without my command, do not let the Eldest Young Master pass.”

Li Yunhui was annoyed. “Is this your house or my house?”

The butler replied in a pleasant tone, “It is Mr. Li’s house.”

After speaking, he bypassed Li Yunhui and went to the entryway to open the door.

The butler: “Hello… hmm?”

The butler was surprised. “Young Master Cheng?”

Outside, the Cheng family’s young master was dressed neatly, his dark blue shirt ironed exceptionally flat.

The Cheng family’s young master asked him politely, “Hello. May I ask if Li Shuyun is home?”