CH 36

Jiang Chen and He Qianmin looked at Huo Bo at the same time, with the same expressions of surprise and confusion. Those brown pupils were clear and beautiful, and the dimple slightly sunken in the left corner of the mouth was also faintly visible on both.

Huo Bo’s gaze froze slightly, and what he was going to say was instantly forgotten. He finally knew why he kept getting a familiar and strange feeling after seeing He Qianmin.

The knuckles of He Qianmin’s fingers holding the bandage turned white, he let go of it quickly, curled his fingers into fists, and tensed his jaw: “Why do you think so?”

Huo Bo didn’t say a word, his eyes shuttled between Jiang Chen and He Qianmin. After going back and forth dozens of times, he suddenly got up, looked at Jiang Chen expressionlessly and said, “Come out with me.”

Jiang Chen sighed helplessly in his heart. Just when he saw Huo Bo looking back and forth between him and He Qianmin, he knew that Huo Bo must have guessed something, and sure enough.

Seeing Huo Bo’s eyes, He Qianmin somehow felt that what he wanted to say to Jiang Chen was very important, not only to Jiang Chen, but also to him. He wanted to get up as well, but was pressed down by Jiang Chen. He rubbed his head: “We’ll just be out for a bit to talk about something, you just sit here obediently.”

He Qianmin’s slightly opened mouth was pressed shut under Jiang Chen’s restraining eyes, and finally he could only frown, watching them go out.

As soon as Jiang Chen and Huo Bo left, Shen Xu came over with three sauce dishes. Seeing that He Qianmin was alone at the table, he asked strangely, “Where are the two of them?”

With a sullen face, He Qianmin leaned back: “Went out.”

“Went out?” Shen Xu glanced at the door, shrugged and said, “It must be to buy drinks, let’s eat first.”

He Qianmin looked in the direction of the exit with a tense expression: “No.”

Shen Xu was puzzled: “No what?”

“…..It’s nothing.” He Qianmin glanced at the direction the two left in again, then looked away and asked Shen Xu: “You, Huo Bo and my big brother, did the three of you grow up together?”

“Practically, yeah.” Shen Xu fished out the ingredients he ordered earlier, put them on their respective plates according to Jiang Chen’s and Huo Bo’s respective tastes, and left a portion for He Qianmin, and said while adding more: “I have known Jiang Chen since kindergarten, and Huo Bo since the first grade of elementary school, and the three of us have been together since then until now.”

“How did you guys meet?”

“Jiang Chen and I? We were in the same class.” Thinking of something, Shen Xu suddenly let out a “pffft”, lowered his head and held back his laughter, saying in a low voice, “Don’t look at your big brother like this now, he was quite funny when he was young. The teachers in our kindergarten school loved to tease him. I don’t know who he learned from but he loves to reason with others. Even if a child snatched his toys, he never got angry. He would just move a small bench over and sit wherever the other kid was playing with the snatched toy, and he would seriously reason with the other hahahahahahaha……”

He Qianmin imagined that scene, and also couldn’t help but laugh out loud, but when he looked up and saw the scene of Shen Xu rubbing his stomach with laughter, he was a little unhappy, and said: “This proves that my big brother is more mature than you all since he was a child.”

“Indeed, from childhood to adulthood…..” Shen Xu put the freshly served crispy meat in front of He Qianmin: “Your big brother specially ordered it for you, try it——Huo Bo and I were responsible for causing trouble, and he was responsible for cleaning up the mess. Countless times he was the scapegoat for us, and the most amazing thing was that even though he took the blame on himself, those teachers would refuse to believe that he did it. But because he admitted to it, the teachers couldnt do anything to me and Huo Bo, so the two of us could get away with it every time.”

He Qianmin was eating the crispy meat, and thinking of something, his eyes dimmed. Seeing this, Shen Xu changed the subject: “Don’t you have an elder brother? Then you two grew up together, did you often fight?”

……

Outside the hotpot restaurant.

Huo Bo cut to the chase and said, “Who the hell is He Qianmin? He looks so similar to you, don’t say it’s a coincidence”

“My little brother.”

Huo Bo crossed his arms, furrowed his brows and said, “I remember that your only blood-related brother is Yang Shengmao.”

The corners of Jiang Chen’s mouth slightly curled up, “Now there is one more.”

Huo Bo: “One…..more?”

Jiang Chen suppressed his smile and said seriously: “I know you have many doubts, but before the truth is investigated, I can’t tell you a guess without evidence. Huo Bo, I know you are worried about me, but I can only deal with it myself, don’t intervene and don’t ask too much, when the time comes, you will know.”

Huo Bo stared at him quietly, and after a while, he said, “I just want to ask one question, does the Sun Zhi matter have anything to do with what you want to investigate?”

Jiang Chen: “Yes.”

Huo Bo’s eyes darkened: “If you encounter any possible danger, you must tell me.”

Jiang Chen chuckled, and the two knocked fists, tacit understanding in their hearts.

……

When Jiang Chen and Huo Bo went back, Shen Xu was waving his chopsticks to teach He Qianmin to fight: “…..if someone sneaks up on you from behind, just do it like this, elbow back first, and then lower your body, and while he isn’t paying attention, poke his eyes, use the eagle claws move, got it? Just like that! Never show mercy, and if…..”

Huo Bo and Jiang Chen looked at each other, rolled their eyes and suppressed a smile.

“You guys came back just in time. I’m teaching the secret manual of the Shen family. Little brother Min has good comprehension skills, but his attitude towards learning is a bit…..”

He Qianmin: “Shut up.”

Shen Xu shook his head and said, “The child can’t be taught”, then put away the chopsticks and asked them, “What were you two talking about, it’s been so long.”

Huo Bo: “Just chatting.”

“If it’s just chatting why go outside.” Shen Xu took the drinks they brought back, took out the milk, kept one for himself and handed the other to He Qianmin: “This is for you.”

He Qianmin’s eyes landed on the milk box for a second, then turned to look at Jiang Chen who had just sat down: “Big Brother, what did you guys do out there?”

“Buy drinks.” Jiang Chen helped him open the milk: “There is only beer here, so I bought a few bottles of milk.”

“But just now…..”

As soon as He Qianmin started talking, Jiang Chen’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the number, raised his hand to signal to the few people, got up and walked to a quiet place.

“D.” The other party’s voice was a little raspy and vague, with a hint of a smile: “The little favor you asked me to do yesterday has been completed, I wonder if you are satisfied?”

Jiang Chen stood by the window, watching the people coming and going outside on the streets, the smile on his face fading: “What happened on his side?”

“Nothing happened except trying to find out who beat him up, but I found something interesting.”

“What is it?”

“He Qianjian was in contact with a man recently and gave him a sum of money. The amount was not large. It seemed that he wanted to ask him to do something.”

“Who?”

“A man named Yang Tianci, I checked. He has no background and had no contact with He Qianjian before. Do you need me to find out how they met?”

“No, continue keeping watch on him, and let me know if there is any change.”

“Okay.” The man paused, and said, “There is one more thing, I wonder if you would like to hear it.”

“Please go ahead.”

The other laughed: “The person I found to do the deed might have been a little bit too rough. He Qianjian not only broke his right hand, but also suffered some injuries to his head. He passed out for a while and remained unconscious in the hospital. The doctor helped him do a brain examination, but unexpectedly they actually found that there indeed seemed to be some problem with his head. It just so happened that the He family arrived to see him, and the doctor suggested He Qianjian to have a comprehensive examination. Who knew that when his blood was drawn, he suddenly woke up.”

Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed: “And then?”

“Refused to agree with it. Apparently, he almost hit the nurse who took his blood for this. The He family rushed to the ward in time to stop it.”

“Was his blood drawn?”

“No, he said that he had just had a blood test a few days ago, and there was no problem with the blood. The He family didn’t insist anymore, and there were no problems in other aspects, so he was discharged from the hospital. What’s interesting is that when the He family just walked out of the hospital gate, a Taoist priest walked by them. The Taoist priest shook his head when he saw He Qianjian. When the old madam of the He family asked, he said that He Qianjian had no fate with the He family, and that he could not see his future clearly because his fortune was messed up, entangled in the fortune of several people. He also persuaded He Qianjian to commit less crimes.”

Jiang Chen’s eyes flickered slightly: “Is that person really a fortune teller?”

“Not necessarily.” The other side said with a smile: “Perhaps it was someone who disliked the He family who came to try to upset the He family. He not only said He Qianjian had no fate with the He family, he also claimed that the He family had a heart that faced towards the benevolence and originally should have been protected by virtue for a hundred years, but because of strange powers they would meet with great danger, within three years there would be a catastrophe, and only one person could solve it. If this is not a curse then I don’t know what is, no wonder the old gentleman of the He family raised his cane.”

The other side obviously only regarded this incident as a joke, but Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes. He didn’t think that the appearance of the Taoist priest was a coincidence, and those words he said…..some of them were actually not wrong, but, he really wanted to know if the Taoist priest was a real Taoist priest or if there were other forces that he didn’t know were targeting the He family or He Qianjian. If there was another wave of people, he really wanted to know what the purpose of that person was.

“Go and check that Taoist priest.”

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Chen returned to his seat. Seeing that He Qianmin hadn’t moved his chopsticks, he couldn’t help asking, “You don’t want to eat?”

“No.” He Qianmin put down his chopsticks, sat upright and looked at Jiang Chen. He wanted to say something several times but couldn’t say it. After almost two minutes he finally said, “Just now I said that He Qianjian’s hand was broken. That I think it’s retribution. Do you think I’m…..cold-blooded and ruthless?”

Jiang Chen was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, “Of course not, why do you think so.”

“Because I’m jealous of him.” He Qianmin looked at Jiang Chen stubbornly, and enunciated word by word: “Because he is better than me in everything, because he dominates me in everything, because I am insensible and in a rebellious period, because…..a lot of people think so, why don’t you think so.”

“Why do we have to think like this?” Huo Bo raised his eyes and said lightly, “Of course I have eyes to see for myself.”

Jiang Chen sighed, rubbed He Qianmin’s head and said, “There is no unreasonable hatred in the world. If you don’t like him, it’s because he did something that upset you.” He said softly, “Before you said, it happened quite a few times like the last time you got cut by a fruit knife, you hating He Qianjian, it must have something to do with this.”

He Qianmin was stunned for a moment, and then hesitated for a while before saying: “…..How do you know?”

Jiang Chen didn’t answer, but continued to ask, “Didn’t you tell your parents?”

“I did once.” He Qianmin lowered his eyelashes: “They didn’t believe it, and I haven’t said it since then.”

Shen Xu couldn’t help but interject, “What fruit knife? You mean that your elder brother purposely caused your injury, then why didn’t you say it?”

“Who would believe something without evidence.” He Qianmin laughed self-deprecatingly at himself and said, “If I told you that I had a car accident when I was twelve years old, and I was sitting in the back seat with He Qianjian at the same time. He sat on the left and I on the right, but when the car in front hit us, I suddenly switched places with him out of thin air, would you believe it?”

Shen Xu was a little hesitant, looked at Jiang Chen and then at Huo Bo, unable to see what they were thinking, so he could only probe: “…..How to switch places out of thin air? Teleportation? Superpower? Could it be that back then you…..”

He Qianmin interrupted Shen Xu: “At that time, I was hurt too seriously, and it left a psychological shadow, especially when I was seriously injured to the point of being unable to move, I saw He Qianjian who was only slightly scratched, so I was stimulated and the dissatisfaction accumulated over my elder brother exploded all at once, but the accumulated negative emotions were not conducive to the recovery of the body, so my brain started to protect itself and fabricated that memory privately. Is that what you want to say?”

Shen Xu said dumbly: “I…..”

Jiang Chen: “I believe it.”

Shen Xu looked at Jiang Chen helplessly, and Huo Bo also raised his eyebrows in surprise.

He Qianmin trembled, and turned his head to stare closely at Jiang Chen’s eyes. After a few seconds, he turned his head and said, “Liar.”

“I saw it.” Jiang Chen said lightly, “I was the one who dragged you out of the car back then.”