Chapter 31: N. The Puzzle Plan

When he said this, Su Hui didn’t feel sad; he was just numb. He couldn’t control his speech, couldn’t control his emotions, and couldn’t even process feedback normally.

He just stared at Ning Yixiao, his face devoid of expression.

Strangely, upon hearing those words, Ning Yixiao actually furrowed his brow, and an emotion that looked very much like pain flickered in his eyes.

Su Hui had no way of deciphering it, nor did he want to speculate on Ning Yixiao’s inner thoughts. He was already exhausted, so he turned his face away to look at the frozen ice on the car window.

He heard Ning Yixiao’s voice, which produced a strange sense of dissociation.

“Since I was the one who proposed the terms, I should be the one to judge whether there is any value in them.”

Su Hui stared at the heavy darkness outside the window, and some stubborn memories resurfaced. He remembered every word he said on the night he proposed the breakup, and he knew that Ning Yixiao remembered them too. That night, every vow he had made had been shattered, and every promise he had spoken turned into a joke.

“I already owe you a lot; I’m well aware of that,” Su Hui said, without looking at him.

Ning Yixiao didn’t respond to his words, simply telling him on his own terms, “I’ve already decided. This is the best way for you at the moment. If you pin your hopes on relying only on yourself, that means you will have to give up your grandmother’s life.

I know you can’t bear that—even an outsider like me can’t just stand by and watch. Just pretend I’m helping her. If you really mind, you can pay me back slowly. I’m not in a rush.”

Su Hui turned his head to face Ning Yixiao, half-leaning against the window. The white mist from his breath covered his face, blurred by the heat in the car like a moon falling into a lake—the slightest ripple could shatter it into pieces.

“Do I need to sleep with you?” he asked.

Ning Yixiao didn’t look at him, the corners of his mouth set in a straight line. He looked just like a stranger who had never slept with him before.

“Su Hui, I’m not that shameless.”

Su Hui laughed again, the corners of his eyes red. “Then you’re letting me pay you back with myself—what exactly am I paying back with?”

His vision was a bit blurred. Looking at the Ning Yixiao in front of him, he couldn’t help but superimpose his past self: not in a suit and tie, not this calm and mature, just wearing ordinary clothes, giving him smiles that no one else could see.

“You don’t need to do anything,” Ning Yixiao said, his eyes lowered and his voice very low. “After you finish seeing your grandmother and meeting the attending physician, I’ll have Carl contact you.”

After saying this, he suddenly opened the car door and got out.

Su Hui couldn’t feel much emotion, but his eyes were very sore. Before long, the driver opened the door and got into the driver’s seat, greeting him and telling him that Ning Yixiao had other things to attend to, asking them to go to the hospital first.

He didn’t understand what Ning Yixiao was thinking. He seemed to want to play the role of an upright philanthropist toward him, asking for nothing in return.

This made Su Hui feel even more painful. He even wondered if Ning Yixiao’s true intention was to make him suffer from guilt.

But soon, he denied this in his heart.

Ning Yixiao is a very kind person; he clearly knew that.

But he still couldn’t control his words, stimulating him with such talk. Su Hui just wanted to know what exactly Ning Yixiao wanted. His life had clearly entered a new track; he had brand-new social connections and a partner about to enter the hall of marriage. Doing charity for someone like him was of no benefit to Ning Yixiao.

While driving, they passed over a speed bump, and something fell out of the storage box in front of the passenger seat, catching Su Hui’s attention.

The driver quickly picked it up, shoved it back in, and said with a smile, “It’s my cold medicine.”

Su Hui nodded slightly. “You have a cold? You should take care of your health.”

“Yeah, thanks.” The driver pursed his lips. “It’s fine, I’m almost better.”

Neither of them were talkative people, and Su Hui was not in the right state of mind, so the car interior returned to calm once again.

After arriving at the hospital, he spent a long time receiving a vast amount of information from the doctor. Carl provided him with a lot of help on the side, assisting him in explaining and processing matters.

Su Hui was very grateful. He also felt that his week of hospitalization had been effective, much better than when his depressive episode had first started; at least he could answer questions normally.

“This gastrointestinal bleeding is still a complication,” the doctor sighed. “The patient is too old, and the prognosis is very important. Later treatment might require more energy and money than the initial surgery.”

Su Hui understood what he meant. He opened his mouth, and just as he was about to speak, Carl interrupted.

“These are not issues. Doctor, please save Ms. Yang with everything you have. We are willing to try any viable scheme.”

Carl spoke with sincerity, and the doctor nodded. “Okay, we understand. For now, the patient needs to stay in the intensive care unit for observation for a period of time. I will notify you if there are any new developments. You family members have been waiting here for a long time, too; take care of yourselves.”

Su Hui nodded and watched the doctor leave with Carl.

While riding the elevator, Carl brought up the topic he didn’t want to mention. “Shaw has already handed things over to me. I’ve already ordered the servants to clean up all of Shaw’s properties in New York and organize them. You can move in tonight.”

Su Hui frowned. “Move in? Why would I move in?”

“That’s what Shaw said…” Carl suddenly realized something was wrong. “Didn’t you two discuss this?”

He felt like he had become a scapegoat again.

Su Hui neither nodded nor shook his head,愣 for a long while. “Why does he want me to move in?”

In fact, Ning Yixiao hadn’t given Carl any reason and only gave the instructions. Carl had to try to guess for himself. “Maybe…”

He felt he should approach it from the perspective of brotherly affection.

“Eddy, although he is usually stern, he is actually very concerned about you and Ms. Yang.

Do you know? Before this, he had been working around the clock for a week, sleeping less than four hours a day. When he heard that something happened here, he flew directly from the Bay Area. He didn’t close his eyes on the plane, and he came straight to the hospital after landing.”

Su Hui didn’t deny Ning Yixiao’s concern. “But I have no need to live with him.”

“He won’t be living there often.”

Carl told him from the perspective of an experienced person. “Most of his work is in the Bay Area, and the company is there too. Recently, he’s been running between two places because of acquisition negotiations. Now that the acquisition matter is settled, he will likely go back. He won’t stay in New York for long, so you don’t need to worry about facing him often.”

Su Hui’s thinking was slow, but he still felt confused.

If he was made to move into his property in New York, then what about his fiancée? Where would they be going to get married?

It was too strange. This person neither asked him to sacrifice his body nor needed him to repay money; he was simply placing him in the position he wanted like a vase.

Looking at Su Hui’s expression, Carl began to swear to him. “Believe me, I promise you that moving in will be convenient and free. That house is in a great location; you will definitely like it. Shaw doesn’t say it, but he cares about you a lot in his heart. He hopes you can live better than you do now.”

Su Hui listened to his words, always feeling they were strange, but he couldn’t say where.

Based on his understanding of Ning Yixiao, these words didn’t sound like what Ning Yixiao would think, but Carl didn’t seem like he was making it up—rather, he was very expressive. So, he had to attribute this subtlety to his own illness.

“Although you say so, I still…”

The elevator door opened.

Carl didn’t press him. “You think about it first. Contact me anytime if you have any questions.”

Su Hui nodded. He noticed that after Carl said these things, some happy micro-expressions would unconsciously appear on his face, as if he had accomplished something great. He didn’t quite understand what had happened.

But Carl seemed like a very nice person, optimistic and cheerful. Listening to him talk, Su Hui felt that his suppressed state could also loosen up a little.

Despite this, Su Hui still felt he couldn’t breathe, as if he had fallen into an unavoidable vortex. Ning Yixiao demanded he move in, to live in his house, yet chose to leave when he asked if he needed a physical transaction. They were so contradictory—what exactly did he want?

Su Hui didn’t know; he couldn’t figure it out. And he felt that as he was now, besides owing him, he couldn’t give Ning Yixiao anything.

He was sent back to the hospital room by Carl, took his medicine according to the nurse’s reminder, and slept groggily for ten hours. After waking up, he underwent many more checkups and was given a new IV drip by the nurse. The veins on the back of his hands were a mess, bruised everywhere.

His constitution wasn’t naturally good, and Su Hui was prone to bruising. He remembered that in the past, Ning Yixiao didn’t dare to grab him too hard because he didn’t know when he would wake up in the morning and find inexplicable bruises on his body.

Ning Yixiao seemed to care a lot about these things. After they started dating, he even asked why there were bruises on his neck the first time they met.

Su Hui didn’t know how to answer at the time, and telling the truth directly seemed a bit cruel, so he had to say he pinched them himself.

Ning Yixiao naturally didn’t understand, but Su Hui never answered questions properly. He just wanted to change the subject, always hooking his neck, talking until they became entangled in kisses, and then developing from kisses into acts that made him forget his original purpose.

He would be covered in sweat, leaning in Ning Yixiao’s arms, turning his head to kiss his lips, gasping for air.

[Because I like the feeling of suffocation.]

Like a perverse hobby, he didn’t stop there, even pulling Ning Yixiao’s hand over, wrapping it around his body, and placing it on his neck.

[Try it, do it while pinching my neck, okay?]

But Ning Yixiao couldn’t do it. At most, he would only cover the skin of his neck with his hand, unable to even grip it tightly once.

These memories couldn’t be called wonderful. Su Hui suddenly returned to reality and felt a bit of pain, only to realize that the nurse had already inserted the needle and applied new tape to cover the marks.

These memories had also been covered up by him for many years, and it wasn’t until he met Ning Yixiao again recently that they began to well up bit by bit.

He had thought he had forgotten them all.

He resisted all communication with the outside world, especially with Ning Yixiao, to the point that he wouldn’t answer any calls, pretending not to see them, just spending his days and nights in the ward in a state of depression. He just lay on the bed, feeling his life slipping away bit by bit with time, like the liquid medicine in the IV drip.

However, this silence lasted for only two days. On the morning of the third day, the landlady came to visit him.

She held a thermos in her hand, which contained spaghetti with tomato meat sauce.

“Awake? Here, eat a little. I made this myself.”

Su Hui looked at the spaghetti and wondered why it wasn’t the Chinese food delivered by Ning Yixiao today, but he didn’t say anything. He quietly picked up a fork and ate some, but he really had no appetite, even though the landlady had intentionally put in extra tomato paste.

“Why are you only eating this little? Doesn’t it taste good?” She looked at Su Hui with heartache, holding his wrist. “You’re almost nothing but bones.”

“I’m full.” He said thank you and asked the landlady to eat some too.

“I won’t eat.” She was beaming, taking out a bottle of fresh juice, pouring a glass for Su Hui, and pushing it toward him. “Eddy, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it?” Su Hui took a sip of juice and put it back down.

The landlady sighed. “It’s a long story. I’ve been your landlord for more than a year, and such a thing has happened to your family. I’m very sorry.”

She changed the subject. “However… my daughter has been sick recently, and I can’t handle it physically anymore either. The family is worried about money. I didn’t expect the agency to contact me last night, saying someone wants to buy these apartments of mine.”

“Buy?” Su Hui’s thinking was dull. It took a long time for his brain to work before he realized something was wrong.

“Who is the buyer?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t met him yet. It was the agent who contacted me. It seems his surname is Haisen, a middle-aged man.”

It didn’t match up.

Su Hui didn’t think it was that simple. How could it be such a coincidence? He had just refused Carl not long ago, and within a few days, the apartment he was renting was going to be sold.

“Is that… not against the regulations?” Su Hui asked tentatively. “My contract was signed for a year…”

The landlady knew she was in the wrong and nodded repeatedly. “Yes, that’s indeed the case. I told them about your situation, and the other party was very straightforward, saying they would come to compensate for this loss, giving you triple the rent as compensation.”

They weren’t even pretending anymore.

Su Hui lowered his head, picked up his phone. He had already found that unsaved number for Ning Yixiao in the last call logs, but after hesitating for a moment, he chose to call Carl instead.

Carl answered, and after listening to what he had to say, denied that the matter came from him.

“I really don’t know. Could it be someone else? Eddy, many people are buying old apartments in Brooklyn now for investment purposes. One of my uncles is like that, but he bought in a different block.”

He said it so convincingly that Su Hui couldn’t ask the next question.

“Then do you have to move out from there?” Carl asked attentively. “Should I bring a few people to help you?”

“No need, I haven’t…”

“Has the landlady already signed the contract?”

Su Hui’s phone was on speakerphone. The landlady sitting across from him heard it and immediately nodded, whispering that her daughter urgently needed this money now.

“She said she signed it.” Su Hui was a bit helpless, but he couldn’t bear to make the landlord sad.

Carl had the tone of someone who had already agreed. “Then you have to move as soon as possible. You have a lot of stuff, right? I’ll come over this afternoon. You don’t need to do anything.”

“I’m not going to his place,” Su Hui said very slowly. “You don’t need to do these things.”

There was silence on Carl’s end for a moment, as if he had suffered a setback at work.

“That… but Eddy, I might lose my job this way. You know, he is completely ruthless. As long as I don’t complete the tasks he gives me, he will fire me without hesitation, really.”

This time, it was Su Hui’s turn to be silent.

On the other end of the phone, Carl prayed that the method Ning Yixiao had given would work again.

Sure enough, it worked.

Su Hui was a bit helpless. He didn’t know how things had developed to this point, but he still didn’t want to agree to let go. “Alright then, in any case, let’s move out first. I’ll go with you.”

“Good!” Carl was only busy being happy, then immediately changed his words. “No need, no need, I can do it. You have to have confidence in my work ability.”

The landlady was obviously very happy too. She stood up hurriedly to pack her things. “Then I’ll go back first, open the door for them, and watch them move, so nothing gets left behind.”

Su Hui opened his mouth to stop her, but couldn’t stop her at all, watching as she hurried away in a flurry.

With a dizzy head, Su Hui looked at the time, wondering if he hadn’t woken up at all and was still dreaming. With so many coincidences, none of it looked normal.

He lay down, curled back into the quilt, not moving, staring blankly at the IV infusion tube.

He would rather believe that this was truly a coincidence than admit it was Ning Yixiao’s self-proclaimed clever, meticulous planning.

Six years had passed, and he was long since not the person he had been. As he was now, he didn’t know what he had that was worth Ning Yixiao’s calculation and exhausting every effort. Not to mention that Ning Yixiao was now successful, having achieved all the ambitions and ideals he had told him about at the time, almost exactly as the blueprint described.

At that time, he was still a small part of his blueprint, occupying a part of the future life he fantasized about.

He thought, perhaps this was Ning Yixiao’s hobby. He was a terrifying person who must do things according to a plan and did not accept any mistakes.

Even when playing with a puzzle, Ning Yixiao couldn’t accept any missing pieces. They could not be scattered together; every one of them had to be pieced together and saved in a collection.

Su Hui had liked to secretly scatter his puzzles and put them in a box. But the next day, when he returned home, he would find that his “crime scene” had been neatly pieced back together.

Ning Yixiao never got angry. He would only quietly piece them together alone after discovering it, put them out again after finishing, repeating the cycle, until Su Hui gave up his “re-offending intentions” first, allowing these puzzles to be preserved completely according to the plan.

Su Hui couldn’t help but think, perhaps he was that small missing piece of the puzzle.

If he were collected and placed in the position he should be according to the original plan, even if the relationship changed, everything changed—as long as he was lying there quietly, Ning Yixiao’s plan seemed to have no flaws.