Volume 14
Chapter 15: An Unfinished Matter
Han Guowei stammered, speechless. He felt that the two people in front of him were making fun of him, but he was unwilling to give up the temptation Lu Li had placed before him. He needed five million, or rather, his daughter needed it. This five million was enough to pay off their debts, enough for her to live without worries about food and clothing for the next ten years. Five million, perhaps enough to make up for the absence of a father.
“Are you two serious?”
Lu Li didn’t answer right away. He deliberately remained silent to make the atmosphere more serious and to give Han Guowei more time to think. It was only when Han Guowei had almost convinced himself that Lu Li finally said, “Yes. You can think I’m superstitious, you can think we’re fools with money to burn, but I promise your daughter will receive every bit of the five million and the university admission waiver. You can think of it as spending money to avert a disaster.”
Han Guowei’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Just smashing a crystal, and he can get five million and a university admission waiver for his daughter. Even if this pretty boy was telling the truth, he would take it. Han Guowei said, “Okay. Sign the contract. Let’s sign the contract first!”
Lu Li and Zhu Xi exchanged a look. Things were going a little more smoothly than they had imagined. Of course, they had already prepared the contract. Han Guowei studied every word on the contract, then held it up to the camera and shouted, “Take a picture! Did you get a picture? This is all evidence! This is all evidence that I signed the contract! You can’t go back on your word!”
Lu Li calmly watched him sign the contract. In truth, this contract was not binding on him or Zhu Xi. Whether Han Guowei’s daughter, Han Duoduo, would receive the contract money depended entirely on whether the two of them had a conscience. Lu Li asked himself if he was a half-good, half-bad person. Not long ago, he had even given a sum of money to the owner of the hunter’s cabin in Beijiang.
Han Guowei kept one copy of the contract and returned the rest to Lu Li. “What should I do now?”
Zhu Xi took out a small hammer from under her seat. “Hold out your hand, take this, and smash the crystal. Don’t make any other unnecessary movements. Don’t try to touch the crystal.”
“I’m not a fool,” Han Guowei said impatiently.
He took the small hammer. He saw Lu Li carefully hold the Colored Stone and place it flat on the tabletop. “You can begin.” For a moment, the breathing of all three people in the room became much quieter. Everyone nervously watched the Colored Stone in the center. Lu Li’s feeling was the strongest. After taking out the Colored Stone, he vaguely heard a murmuring whisper, as if someone were hiding in the box and speaking. The light and shadow around them gradually disappeared, and the world collapsed into this small interrogation room.
Lu Li’s breathing gradually became rapid. He felt that something bad was happening. Just then, Zhu Xi held his hand back, gripping it tightly, not speaking, just conveying her feelings to him.
Lu Li looked at this Colored Stone, a thousand thoughts in his mind. Everything he had experienced had been born from the Colored Stone. He couldn’t say for sure whether he had conquered fate, or if fate had manipulated him. Looking back now, at Mei Jinliu, he could finally see that she had been led by the nose by fate all along. What about himself?
Crack.
All of Lu Li’s thoughts were interrupted by a crisp sound.
Han Guowei hadn’t controlled his strength well the first time. He had hit too lightly and hadn’t shattered the crystal, only making some cracks. He uneasily raised the hammer again, and after getting a nod from Lu Li, he swung it down again. This time, he finally shattered the Colored Stone into pieces.
“Is… is this it?” Han Guowei asked.
Zhu Xi ignored him and looked at Lu Li with apprehension. “Do you feel any… different?”
Lu Li touched his face. Did he feel anything? To be honest, he was no different from the him of a minute ago. He couldn’t feel any change. He also couldn’t be sure if the Price had been successfully transferred. At a time like this, perhaps the only thing he could do was comfort himself.
So, Lu Li smiled and said, “I feel much better, as if a weight has been lifted.” Nonsense, there was no difference at all.
Zhu Xi finally breathed a sigh of relief. She was genuinely happy for Lu Li. “That’s great. This way, there’s only one Price left… The world is so big. There will always be a way to solve the last Price. Lu Li, I will spend a lot of money to organize a team of people, including folklorists and explorers, and have them investigate the folk anomalies in Shenzhou—no, all over the world. I believe they will definitely find a way to break the last Price.”
Lu Li grinned. “It sounds like a novel. The protagonists of those cliché adventure stories are usually reclusive explorers, and then for some reason, they are willing to come out of the mountains and go on adventures in various ruins with the Asian hacker, the white scholar, the blonde beauty, and the black homosexual in the team. Usually, when this kind of story develops to the end, this little team will discover that their behind-the-scenes backer is actually the biggest villain, wanting to monopolize the mysterious treasure and rule the world. At this time, the protagonist group will have a final battle with the behind-the-scenes backer. Zhu Xi, do you think we look like the behind-the-scenes villains in a novel?”
Zhu Xi said, “If you’re willing, I’ll be a villain with you.”
Lu Li was a little moved. It was rare for Zhu Xi to be so docile. He smiled. “Then let’s not be villains.” He picked up the shattered crystal and put it back in the wooden box. These crystals would be as good as new by tomorrow. He still had to return it to Grandma Zhu.
Seeing that they were about to leave, Han Guowei quickly leaned against the glass and shouted, “Hey, hey, five million! Remember! Five million!”
Zhu Xi couldn’t even be bothered to acknowledge him. It was Lu Li who turned his head and said with a smile, “The message to approve the payment has already been sent out. Your daughter will receive five million from ‘Han Guowei’ within three days. She will probably come to see you soon. You can confirm it with her then.”
Han Guowei let out a long sigh of relief. He slumped in his seat and kept saying “thank you.”
Now that the Price had “possibly” been transferred, Lu Li, on the contrary, couldn’t relax. After today’s events, he realized that perhaps it wouldn’t be long before he, like Han Guowei, would be forced to separate from the one he loved deeply and face the unavoidable fate of death. The most optimistic situation was that today’s Price had been successfully transferred, and he only had one Price left—even the most optimistic situation was far from ideal.
If I could see Zhu Youcheng again…
Or if I could figure out the origin of the Colored Stone…
Or, use the last Colored Stone to be reborn and buy a little more time…
Lu Li was startled by his last thought. People are always like this. Greed is born in the blink of an eye. Once you use the Colored Stone, you’ll think of a second time, always feeling in your heart that with the Colored Stone as a backup, everything will be fine.
He secretly pinched the back of his hand.
Lu Li, don’t let any more people bear the Price because of you. Let the Colored Stone be forever silent in the ancestral hall.
…
Sitting in the car, the Capital City Central Prison gradually disappeared in the rearview mirror. Lu Li decided to temporarily put the matter of the Price aside and cherish the time he had left with the girls. At the very least, he wanted to have no regrets before he died.
