The phone buzzed against the mahogany table. Once. Twice. A third vibration sent it skittering across the polished surface before Lin Chuan reached out and stilled it with his palm.
'Xu Jian'
He read the message that had popped up on the lock screen.
> Mu, answer me.
Another appeared before he could process the first.
> Did they force you?
His thumb hovered. The screen glowed faintly, reflecting off his pupils. Ling Mu's memories stirred. Xu Jian, classmate, best friend. The only person who had ever listened to him, really listened, without the weight of expectation pressing down on every word.
A third message arrived.
> Don't marry him.
> Let's run away tonight.
Lin Chuan stared at the words. Run away. The phrase triggered something. Not a memory of Ling Mu's this time. Something else. The novel.
After Ling Mu's suicide, the Ling family had searched his phone. They found hundreds of messages just like these. You deserve better. Your family doesn't love you. They only care about business. Freedom is out there. The devastated Ling family had needed someone to blame. Xu Jian's scholarship vanished. His parents lost their business contracts overnight. He disappeared six months later. The novel summarized his ending in a single, dismissive sentence. "No one ever saw him again."
A piece of cannon fodder. Another life thrown away to make the protagonist's story more dramatic.
His phone rang. Xu Jian's name filled the screen. He answered.
"Where are you?"
Xu Jian's voice came through breathless, urgent.
"I've been outside your house all afternoon. They wouldn't let me in."
"I'm busy."
"You can't marry into that family. Please, Mu, I know you better than anyone. You'd hate it there. The pressure, the expectations, the way they'd suffocate you."
"I post poned it."
Silence. A sharp intake of breath.
"What?"
"I'd like to explain. But not over the phone."
"Then meet me. "
Lin Chuan glanced toward the library shelves surrounding him. Economics textbooks. Medical journals. Leather-bound classics that smelled of dust and time. He wanted to keep reading. But information was valuable. Sometimes more valuable than books. And Xu Jian had information.
"Where?"
"The Eclipse."
---
The Eclipse Club occupied the top floor of one of the city's tallest buildings. Glass walls overlooked the river, catching the amber light of the setting sun and scattering it across the polished floor. Luxury cars filled the private parking lot. A valet in a crisp uniform waited by the entrance.
Lin Chuan stepped out of the taxi and looked toward the building. His gaze stopped on something unexpected.
A wheelchair.
Black, sleek and expensive. The kind that cost more than a car. It sat parked beside the entrance to one of the rooms, empty, the leather seat still holding the faint imprint of someone's weight. Someone must have already gone inside. He knew the owner.
He walked past the dance floor to the rooms he looked up and froze slightly, Ling Xu was there on the first floor. The man sat at a corner table, a glass of whiskey untouched in front of him. His posture was perfect. His suit was dark navy, impeccable. His face was calm, composed he was listening to someone speak.
He breathed in and walked quickly not wanting to be seen, what he had not realized was that the man's eyes fell on him the moment he turned away.
"Follow him."
The lobby was all marble and brass. Soft jazz played from invisible speakers. The elevator doors opened with a soft chime. He stepped inside and pressed the button for the top floor. The ascent was smooth, silent. The numbers ticked upward.
The doors opened onto a corridor lined with abstract paintings.
He was early he had wanted to step in and wait but suddenly he heard voices.
Lin Chuan watched from the doorway, hidden in the shadows of the frosted glass. He wasn't sure why he didn't step forward. Instinct, maybe.
A voice drifted from the corner. A man, he leaned against the bar, swirling a glass of something dark.
"You finally got rid of him."
Lin Chuan's spine went cold it was the voice on the phone. He recognized that voice from earlier. Xu jian.
Another familiar voice, Gu Yunting laughed softly. The sound was warm, pleasant, the laugh of someone who had never known a day of real hardship.
"...Don't speak so loudly."
"Come on. That baggage was obsessed with you. I still can't believe he actually listened."
A brief silence. Gu Yunting tilted his head. His smile never wavered.
"I never told him to die."
The man snorted.
"Sure you didn't."
"I simply asked him a question." Gu Yunting's voice remained light, conversational. "I asked whether someone like him deserved to keep living if he only caused trouble for everyone around him."
The man laughed. It was an ugly sound.
"And the idiot believed you."
"He wanted to prove his love." Gu Yunting shrugged, a small, elegant movement. "I merely let him make his own decision."
Lin Chuan felt his fingers curl into fists. His nails pressed against his palms. The pain was grounding. The pain was necessary.
"So," the heavy-set man said, "the engagement's finished."
"It is."
"And now?"
A pause. Gu Yunting's gaze flickered to Ling Xu, then away.
"Now I marry into the Ling family, but there is a new issue I never noticed"
"You mean..."
"Ling Xu. I don't know why that Monster is suddenly interested in his trouble causing nephew,"
"If he finds out."
"As long as Ling Mu is obsessed with me there is nothing they can do lest he." He made a gesture of dying and they both laughed.
Gu Yunting continued, his voice soft and thoughtful.
"The Ling family's real power has never been Chairman Ling. He's old. Tired. Grieving. The real decisions are made by Ling Xu. He controls the businesses, the investments, the future. As long as I gain his trust, the rest is easy."
The other whistled.
"What about Gu Zhen?"
"My cousin?" A hint of disdain crept into Gu Yunting's tone, quickly suppressed. "He's useful. For now. Once I'm inside the Ling family, I won't need him anymore. But he's a useful distraction. Everyone's so worried about his instability that they don't look too closely at me."
"You don't think Ling Mu will cancel the engagement?"
Gu Yunting laughed.
"No. Someone who loved me that much wouldn't suddenly change. He'll come crawling back eventually. They always do."
Lin Chuan stepped forward. His feet carried him into the light, past the frosted glass, into full view of the room.
Gu Yunting's face went white.
"Ling Mu?"
He stepped back.