[At College Canteen]
The college canteen buzzed with the usual midday chaos – the clatter of trays, the murmur of conversations, and the occasional burst of laughter.
Yu Han, Yang Zi, and Jiang Shao were seated at a slightly sticky table, their half-eaten lunches between them. Jiang Shao was enthusiastically dissecting a chicken drumstick, while Yang Zi absentmindedly stirred his soup.
"Seriously, Jiang Shao, slow down! You'll choke," Yang Zi teased.
Jiang Shao merely grunted, mouth full. "This... is... delicious! You guys are missing out."
Yu Han chuckled softly, pushing a stray piece of rice around his plate with a fork.
"I think we can all agree your appetite is unmatched."
Just then, Yu Han's phone, which he'd propped against his water bottle, vibrated with a soft hum. He glanced down, expecting a message from a group chat, but his eyes narrowed as he saw the sender:
"College Admin."
His casual demeanor shifted. He picked up the phone, holding it closer, his brow furrowing slightly as he began to read.
Jiang Shao was too engrossed in his chicken, but Yang Zi, always more observant, noticed the subtle change in Yu Han's posture – the sudden stillness, the complete focus on the screen.
Yu Han's eyes scanned the message, his jaw tightening almost imperceptibly with each line:
*Dear student, we are contacting you because you haven't paid your tuition fees for this semester yet.Failing to submit, you will not be allowed to sit for their current semester. Immediately contact college administration to submit your fees.*
A cold knot formed in Yu Han's stomach. The bustling canteen faded into a distant hum. His mind raced, a torrent of desperate thoughts.
"The end of the month? That's barely two weeks away! What can I do now? I just lost my part-time job last week, and my savings... they're barely enough for living expenses. How can I possibly arrange such a huge amount by then? What about my exams? Everything... it's all on the line."
His gaze was fixed on the screen, but he wasn't really seeing the words anymore, just the enormity of the problem. A wave of anxiety washed over him, threatening to pull him under. He squeezed his eyes shut for a fleeting second, then forced them open, his internal panic battling for control. He had to hide it. He couldn't let them see.
"Yu Han? What happened?" Yang Zi's voice cut through his thoughts, soft but immediate. His sharp eyes were fixed on him, sensing the sudden shift.
Yu Han blinked, snapping back to the present. He quickly locked his phone and placed it face down on the table, forcing a casual shrug, a nonchalant smile that felt brittle.
"Oh, nothing. Just some general college announcement. Probably about a workshop or something," he lied smoothly, picking up his fork again, though he made no move to eat.
Deep down, however, his heart pounded against his ribs, a frantic drumbeat against the silence of his growing despair.
Yang Zi's internal alarm bells went off. Less than ten seconds, actually. More like three. His gaze narrowed imperceptibly.
"He is literally lying to me."
Yang Zi's hand, almost unconsciously, began to drift towards Yu Han's phone, which was lying face down on the table.
He wasn't sure what he was going to look up – maybe just check his messages.
As his fingertips brushed the cool glass of his screen, Yu Han's hand shot out with startling speed.
Before Yang Zi could even fully register the movement, his phone was no longer on the table. It was now clutched tightly in Yu Han's grasp.
"Yang Zi, why are you taking my phone?!" Yu Han blurted out.
"I – I have to search something! Really important!"
He stared at Yu Han, his expression a slow, dawning mixture of utter disbelief and profound strangeness. His eyebrows rose, slowly, to his hairline.
"Yess... actually my phone has died." Yu Han said with strange expression.
___________________
[At Li Hao's office]
Li Hao's cabin door swung open after a soft knock. Gang Zi stepped in, a slim manila file clutched in his hand.
Li Hao sat behind his massive desk, absorbed in a document, the glow of his monitor casting a cool light on his face.
"Mr. Li," Gang Zi began, his voice steady. "I have the information you requested regarding Yu Han."
Li Hao, who had been scribbling notes with a focused intensity, immediately looked up.
The moment Yu Han's name left Gang Zi's lips, a subtle but distinct shift occurred in his demeanor. His eyes, previously sharp with business acumen, now held an almost predatory gleam.
His hand shot out, not quite snatching, but certainly grasping the file before Gang Zi could fully extend it.
Li Hao's gaze was already scanning the first page, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"Excellent. Truly excellent, Gang Zi."
He looked up, a rare, almost startlingly genuine smile playing on his lips. "You've done a very thorough job. Thank you. That will be all. You're dismissed."
Gang Zi blinked. Had he heard right? Li Hao... thanked him? Really thanked him? In all the years he'd worked for Mr. Li, handling countless sensitive tasks, urgent errands, and demanding investigations, a "thank you" was rarer than a pay rise.
He usually just got a curt nod, a direct order, or at best, a grunt of acknowledgment. But Yu Han's name... that name seemed to have a magical effect.
"Right. Of course, Mr. Li." He gave a slight, almost imperceptible bow, feeling utterly bewildered.
As he turned to leave, the thought echoed in his mind: He never thanks me for anything. Why today? What is it about this Yu Han? Oh god, this man is so confusing.
The cabin door clicked shut with a definitive thud,Gang Zi's heavy footsteps quickly receded, leaving Li Hao utterly alone.
Li Hao didn't waste a second. As if on cue, a sleek, dark tablet was produced from beneath his jacket, its screen flaring to life with a soft hum.
His fingers, surprisingly agile, danced across the virtual keyboard, pulling up a secure browser.
Subject: Yu Han
Li Hao began to read, his eyes meticulously scanning each line, his expression unreadable.
"Yu Han. Born [November 7th, 2002]. Current Address: Beijing, Chaoyang district, XX street. Contact Number: +86-XXXXXXX."
He mentally ticked off the first critical piece, a faint, almost imperceptible curl of his lip. "College: Beijing University, Course: Finance."
He scrolled down, details about Yu Han's childhood home, his parents' names – common, unremarkable – passing briefly through his mind. Then, the report delved deeper, into the precise timeline of Yu Han's integration into Yang Zi's life.
"Began living with the Yang family on
2012, at the age of Eleven." Li Hao paused, his gaze lingering on that sentence. That early. Deeper roots than he'd perhaps initially assumed.
"Moved to Beijing with Yang Zi in 2021,"
A soft, almost silent breath escaped Li Hao. Everything. Not just the surface details, but the interwoven history, the years of shared life. This wasn't just an acquaintance or a recent friend; this was a lifelong companion, a constant presence in Yang Zi's world.
He went back up to the top of the report, his finger tracing Yu Han's contact number on the screen. He read the digits once, twice, committing them to memory before his thumb tapped the "save contact" option.
Name: Yu Han Number: +86-XXXXXXX
Done.
Li Hao leaned back, the tablet still glowing in his hand. A cold, calculating gleam entered his eyes.
Now, the real game could begin.
__________________
[At Home]
During the whole day, Yu Han managed to hide his phone from Yang Zi phone.
"Go shower, I'm ordering take out." Yang Zi told Yu Han.
As Yu Han was already too tired, he immediately agreed to him.
The consistent drone of the shower filled the small apartment.
His gaze, however, was fixed on the table where Yu Han's phone lay, face down. He took a shaky breath, the nagging unease from Yu Han's distant behavior all day finally pushing him over the edge. He just had to know.
With a furtive glance towards the bathroom door, as if Yu Han might suddenly appear, Yang Zi reached out.
His fingers, surprisingly steady, punched in the familiar passcode. The screen unlocked, and his thumb hovered over the email icon.
Five minutes later, his thumb was sore, and his heart was sinking. Nothing. No suspicious names, no cryptic messages, no unexpected attachments. No secret rendezvous, no coded plans, no signs of a second life. His brow furrowed deeper with each clean email.
"But why?" he whispered to himself, the sound barely audible over the shower.
"Then why? Why the evasive answers, the preoccupied silences, the way Yu Han had almost flinched when he'd touched his arm earlier?" Yu Han had been almost physically present, yet utterly absent, all day.