"Hey, Yu Han..." Yang Zi nudged him with an elbow, his voice laced with impatience. "Have you finished the assignment? The deadline's tomorrow."
But Yu Han was lost in the labyrinth of his own thoughts, jaw clenched, fingers tight around his pen.
"How could you do this to me, Li Hao?" His throat burned with the bitterness of betrayal. "I was an idiot for trusting you. Damn it all."
When silence stretched too long, Yang Zi seized his shoulder and shook him roughly. "Hey, you bastard!" He snapped. "Daydreaming again?"
Yu Han jolted back to reality, blinking rapidly. "Huh? What? What were you saying?"
Yang Zi exhaled sharply through his nose. "The assignment," he repeated, slower this time, as if speaking to a child. "Did you finish it?"
"Oh. Right." Yu Han reached into the bag resting beside him, rummaging through crumpled papers until he pulled out a neatly completed worksheet. "Here."
"Woah." Yang Zi's eyes widened, and beside him,Jiang Shao let out a low whistle. "You actually finished it? Seriously?"
Yu Han shrugged, amused by their stunned expressions. "Yeah. Did it at Mr. Wu's restaurant while I had free time."
Yang Zi's lips twitched. "Well, since you're so far ahead..." he paused, shooting Jiang Shao a conspiratorial glance before leaning in with a smirk. "Let me copy it. Please."
"Me too," Jiang Shao chimed in, offering his most charming grin.
Yu Han arched a brow. "You two didn't even start yours?"
"If we had, would we be groveling at your feet?" Yang Zi snapped.
Yu Han laughed, then leaned back, folding his arms. "Fine. But on two conditions."
Yang Zi groaned. "Of course there's a catch."
"First," Yu Han held up a finger, his smirk deepening, "you both owe me seafood. I've been craving it."
Yang Zi rolled his eyes. "Done. What's the second?"
Yu Han's grin turned wicked. "Call me Daddy."
"Fuck you, Yu Han!" Yang Zi slammed his hands on the table, cheeks flushing.
"I don't mind." Jiang Shao chuckled. "Daddy Yu Han. Now hand it over. I'll copy it without him."
Yang Zi's nostrils flared. For a moment, it looked like he might strangle them both. Then, with a dramatic exhale, he forced a saccharine smile, grinding out through clenched teeth: "Fine. Daddy. Now please lend me your damn assignment."
Yu Han clutched his chest in mock rapture. "Music to my ears."
With an exaggerated flourish, he handed it over, laughter bubbling under his breath as they snatched the papers away.
_________
[At Li Hao's office]
Mr. Zhang, placed a slim file and a laptop on the desk.
"Mr. Li," he began, his voice low and precise, "I have the reports you requested."
Mr. Zhang opened the file. "Regarding that night, the individual you... apprehended. His identity has been confirmed." He slid a document across the desk.
"His name is Wang Yuxi. And as you can see here, he was, in fact, an employee directly under your father's supervision for the past five years."
Li Hao's eyes narrowed as he scanned the report. "My father's employee?"
"We have also retrieved some relevant security footage from your office building," Mr. Zhang said, turning the laptop towards Li Hao and pressing play.
Li Hao leaned forward, his gaze fixed on the screen.
The clip showed a man, presumably Wang Yuxi, entering Li Hao's office. He walked directly to the desk, pulled out a notepad, and began to write vigorously, his brow furrowed in concentration.
"Wang Yuxi, in your office, Mr. Li," Mr. Zhang narrated, pointing at the screen. "He wrote something... quite clearly, perhaps a message intended for you, just hours before his death."
Li Hao watched intently, a knot forming in his stomach. What could Wang Yuxi have wanted to tell me?
The camera angle shifted slightly, offering a clearer view of Yuxi's focused expression as he finished writing, folded the paper, and placed it prominently on the desk.
Mr. Zhang then fast-forwarded the clip. "Now, observe this, Mr. Li."
A few minutes later in the footage, Li Hao's father entered the office. He glanced at the note on the desk, picked it up, and read it.
There was a subtle, yet unmistakable, shift in his father's demeanor. His eyes widened , expression settled on his face before he carefully folded the note and slipped it into his pocket.
The scene on the laptop froze.
Li Hao's mind reeled, a vivid memory surfacing from that fateful day. His father's urgent, clipped voice on the phone: "There's a person who is going to leak our company's secret to Shi Wang. You have to eliminate him, Li Hao. Don't fail me."
He gripped the edge of the desk, knuckles white.
"If Wang Yuxi was truly going to betray us to Shi Wang," he mused aloud, his voice barely above a whisper, "then why was he in my office? Why was he writing a note – a note clearly meant for me – instead of slipping away, or meeting a contact?"
He looked up at Mr. Zhang, his eyes filled with a dawning, terrible suspicion. "What did he want to tell me? What was so important that it changed my father's expression like that?"
Mr. Zhang cleared his throat. "Mr. Li, I believe the most direct path to the truth might be to speak with your father. He saw the note; he certainly knows what was written on it."
Li Hao let out a short, hollow laugh, devoid of humor. "My father?" He pushed back from the desk, standing up abruptly.
"My father was the one who personally instructed me to 'shoot that man.'
He ordered me to eliminate Wang Yuxi. And you genuinely believe that if I approach him with this, if I ask about a note from the man he commanded me to kill, he will simply... tell me everything? You have a rather naive impression of my father, Mr. Zhang. He's not the kind of man to open up about something so deeply entangled with his own directives."
Mr. Zhang's expression remained neutral, but a hint of concern flickered in his eyes. "Then, Mr. Li, uncovering the full truth will undoubtedly prove to be a more difficult than we thought."
Li Hao paced for a moment. Then, his eyes snapped back to Mr. Zhang, a resolute glint in them.
"Difficulty is not impossibility. I'll provide you with an address. He paused, choosing his words carefully.
"I want you to conduct a thorough search of that area, every inch of it. Look for anything – documents, personal effects, digital devices, anything that could shed light on Wang Yuxi's true intentions or his relationship with my father. But,"
he stressed, his voice dropping to an imperative whisper,
"this investigation must be conducted with absolute discretion. No one, absolutely no one, is to know about this. Not a soul within the company, and especially not my father."
Mr. Zhang met his gaze, a silent understanding passing between them.
"Understood, Mr. Li. I will ensure it is handled with the utmost secrecy and precision."
___________
"This is really too much, Yu Han! This assignment will take an eternity to copy." Yang Zi exhaled, flipping through the daunting pages of Yu Han's assignment.
"How are we ever going to complete this by tomorrow morning?" Jiang Shao sneered, eyeing the massive stack.
"That's up to you guys. You have the whole night to complete it," Yu Han said, pulling on his shirt. "Okay guys, work hard! I'm going to my shift. Fighting! See you later."
"Don't forget to eat something!" Yang Zi yelled after him.
Yu Han waved goodbye, stepping out of the apartment.
The biting wind tore through Yu Han's thin jacket the moment he stepped out of the alley.
He buried his hands deep in his pockets, he hunched his shoulders and blew warm air onto his numb fingers.
"Ahh, I'm freezing," he muttered, a cloud of white mist escaping his lips. "When will this winter finally end?"
He hurried past a brightly lit electronics showroom, but a flash of movement on a colossal display screen caught his eye. He paused, his breath fogging the glass.
There he was again, that overly enthusiastic news anchor, his face beaming as he prattled on about the latest celebrity gossip:
"Breaking news! Sources confirm the sizzling romance between Li Hao and Yuna! Is this the love story of the decade?"
Yu Han scowled. "Seriously?" he grumbled under his breath, startling a passerby.
"This again? Don't these channels have any real news to report? Wars, famine, the economy, anything but another celebrity's dating life!"
He balled his fists, feeling a surge of irrational anger. "It's relentless! Everywhere I go, it's Li Hao and Yuna. Are they paying these stations to broadcast this nonsense twenty-four-seven? It's driving me absolutely mad!"
He yanked his gaze from the screen and strode purposefully towards his destination, hoping to outrun the ubiquitous coverage.
At Mr. Wu's Restaurant ,the moment Yu Han pushed open the door, the familiar, chirpy voice of the anchor assaulted his ears.
Li Hao and Yuna, again. Without a word, Yu Han stomped towards the set and, with a decisive click, plunged the room into a sudden, welcome silence.
Mr. Wu, wiping down the counter, looked up, a puzzled frown replacing his usual cheerful expression. "Hey, what's wrong, Yu Han? I was watching that!"
Yu Han sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Mr. Wu, with all due respect, that's not 'news.' It's just endless celebrity fluff designed to fill airtime. It's not important, not relevant, and frankly, I'm sick to death of hearing about it."
He leaned against the counter, voice laced with exasperation.
Mr. Wu let out a long-suffering sigh, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Alright, alright, I get it. Now, about your actual job – I've prepared the order. Make sure it's delivered in thirty minutes, sharp."
Yu Han nodded, a faint hint of a smile touching his own lips. "Understood, Mr. Wu. Thirty minutes."