Chapter 59: The Truth

Yan Tuo didn’t go home that night.

Lu Renjia failed to hold on until they reached the hospital. He died in the ambulance.

Li Zhong came rushing over and, right in front of Cao Yiman and the others, berated Yan Tuo until his face was beet red.

Once the tirade was over, Li Zhong led his team in a thorough search of the entire building.

In the end, the outcome was just as Yan Tuo had anticipated—the diary was gone.

By then it was a little past four in the morning. Not wanting to disturb his boyfriend’s sleep, Yan Tuo simply returned to his office. He sorted through his thoughts, reflected on his mistakes, and meticulously drafted the self-criticism report his superior had demanded.

A little after eight—still before the start of the workday—Bai Yiyi, who had spent the entire night worrying, tracked him down at the city bureau. Seeing Yan Tuo safe finally eased his mind.

Yan Tuo gave a brief explanation. Bai Yiyi fell silent, unsure how to comfort his boyfriend. After all these years of waiting, the truth had seemed within reach, only to plunge into an even deeper fog?

He stayed by Yan Tuo’s side in silence for a long while until sleep finally overtook him. Then he retreated to the coconut shell to catch up on his rest.

The fog Bai Yiyi imagined was merely what Yan Tuo had chosen not to voice.

After a full night of recollection and analysis—eliminating possibilities over and over again—all the clues surrounding this so-called M pointed squarely to one person.

A family acquaintance, familiar enough to know the exact location of the safe and the toy room. Someone with a formidable mind and audacious courage, skilled in wielding a sniper rifle, deeply versed in psychology, medicine, and forensic trace examination, and capable of wreaking havoc on the dark web.

Who else could it be?

It could only be his great-uncle’s foster son—the Uncle Xu he had always admired. Director of the J City Medical University Affiliated Appraisal Center, Xu Qingru.

Glancing at the time, Yan Tuo dialed a number in A City. “Grandpa, I have a question. Uncle Xu… his mother seems to still be alive, doesn’t she? Why did you bring him home back then?”

Yu Jianguo didn’t understand why his grandson was asking about such an ancient matter first thing in the morning, but he didn’t hold back. He told the story straight:

“That woman was no good at all. Old Xu hadn’t even passed his seventh day when she took the pension money and ran off with some wild man. She abandoned her son and left him to fend for himself at school. If I hadn’t tracked her down, who knows how that boy would have survived?”

Very well. Now even M’s peculiar fondness for those bereaved by their mothers matched perfectly.

Yan Tuo’s fingers trembled faintly. He gripped the phone tightly, a dull ache spreading through his chest with every breath. Did you have any idea what manner of wolf in human skin you had brought into your home?

“…He seemed to have a very close relationship with my mom.”

“That’s right. He came to live with us at nine years old, and Yu Lian was just eleven. Your mother had only recently graduated from university at the time. Your grandmother and her mother had passed early on, and Old Uncle was working in H City. Your mother, Chengshu, handled everything inside and out, treating those two like her own children. She cared for them with the utmost devotion.”

In closing, as if sharing a joke, he added: “That Qingru kid was a little devil even back then. He kept declaring that when he grew up, he’d marry your mom and told her to wait for him. Heh. Afterward, it seemed like that’s why he always took a dislike to your dad. He flat-out refused to call him brother-in-law.”

Yan Tuo said nothing more. He quietly ended the call.

That was the reason.

He might once have been utterly baffled, but after that accidental slip-up in his Hukou [Household Register] and now this confirmation from his grandfather, certainty settled in his heart. This wasn’t some vendetta at all. It was… a crime of passion.

A long-premeditated obsession, ignited by years of unrequited longing.

Yan Tuo stepped to the window for some fresh air. Through the glass, he gazed in the direction of the medical university. In his mind, he murmured: Xu Qingru, oh Xu Qingru. I thought you simply disliked my father. I never imagined your hatred ran so deep that you wished him dead. But what about my mother? She was innocent. She had cherished you like her own child.

…That explained the deaths of the three kidnappers too. If they hadn’t turned on each other over the money, perhaps it was because they had mistakenly killed his mother.

No wonder none of them had laid a hand on her during the interrogations or harbored any ill intentions. He had thought they retained some shred of humanity, but it turned out they had simply been under strict orders.

As for why Lu Renjia had died instead of him the night before, it was likely because Yan Tuo shared half his blood with Yu Chengshu. He had watched Yan Tuo grow up. He wouldn’t strike unless it was absolutely necessary.

Every piece fit. Nothing remained unclear.

Yet the statute of limitations on the case was nearly expired, and the only evidence had vanished. The surveillance footage from the Yanhe Police Station parking lot might be worth checking, but it was unlikely to yield anything. That man wouldn’t be foolish enough to drive his own car to the scene.

What other way was there to unmask him?

Yan Tuo sank into thought.

~~~

Heaven never bars every path.

That afternoon, as Yan Tuo racked his brain for a solution with no success, he received a message from the Yanhe Police Station in Yanjiang District.

Lu Renjia’s missing phone had been found at dawn by an environmental sanitation worker on a grassy patch by the riverbank.

The device bore obvious bloodstains, and given the recent fatal brawl in the area, the sixty-year-old cleaner suspected it might be related evidence. He promptly delivered it to the station.

With the owner deceased and no relatives or friends to contact, the police called the person who had posted bail: Yan Tuo.

The phone arrived smoothly—an older model Huawei with a slightly cracked screen. It had shut down from a dead battery.

Yan Tuo sent it to the Technical Group and asked Little Liu to help crack it open. He lingered nearby, hoping for even the slightest clue from its contents.

Half an hour later, the results came back.

Far more than a mere hint. Lu Renjia’s phone photo album contained clear, complete photographs of every page of the diary related to the Yan family kidnapping case. Not a single word was missing.

…

June 21, clear skies. Young Master Duan rolled up to Villa 5 with three beauties for an overnight stay. Wonder if that scrawny frame of his can handle it. Rich folks sure live the good life. Not sure if M was telling the truth, but that Yan family at No. 1 supposedly has enough cash to fill an entire wall!!

June 25, light rain. Brother Lei’s mom was diagnosed with uremia today. She still won’t admit to our relationship, but I can’t just let her die. Dialysis and such will probably cost a fortune down the line. Should I talk to Brother Lei about M’s plan?

July 3, clear skies. Da Chuan’s a straight shooter—no funny business. Said thirty percent, and that’s exactly what we got. Not a word extra. Just wonder how much we’ll end up with in the end. Enough to last a lifetime? Once we take this step, there’s no going back.

July 27, clear skies. M’s definitely a close insider at Boss Yan’s place. How else could he know so much? Even the safe’s make and exact location. No clue why he insisted we only target Boss Yan himself—no touching the family. Isn’t threatening the wife and kid the quickest way to make him talk? Whatever. He’s not in on the split anyway. A small request like that—we’ve got to oblige.

August 10, moderate rain. Action starts this week. Boss Yan, when you get down there, make sure you know who the real mastermind is. Don’t pin it all on us three brothers. That birthday of young master Yan’s… it’ll haunt him for life. Last time I saw him, the polite kid even called me uncle. Sorry about this. Hope everything goes smoothly.

…

The emotions that had churned inside him from suspicion to revelation over the past day and night finally overwhelmed him. Yan Tuo’s eyes burned red as he scrolled through the photos. He powered off the phone, unwilling to lose composure in front of his subordinates, and stormed out of the Technical Group.

The autumn rain that had begun falling in the afternoon came in relentless waves. He didn’t bother with an umbrella. He wandered across the open parking lot of the compound to the entrance of the main office building. Not ready to go in, he turned back and circled aimlessly around the athletic field.

Soon he was drenched to the skin, but that suited him just fine. At that moment, not even he could tell whether the streams trickling down his face were rain or tears.

He had no idea how long he walked when a sodden, bedraggled ball burst through the curtain of rain. It landed unsteadily on his shoulder and let out a soft call: “Yan Tuo?”

Yan Tuo halted but didn’t reply. He simply reached up with gentle fingers to stroke the white belly, flicking away some of the water. Cupping a hand like an awning to shield it from the downpour, he fell still. It was as if the long road of the past decade-plus had worn him out completely, and now he simply wanted to rest.

Bai Yiyi asked no more. He perched there steadily, sharing the drizzle in companionable silence, lost in thought.

The rain grew heavier, turning bitingly cold. Even Bai Yiyi, wrapped in his coat of feathers, shivered. Yan Tuo finally snapped out of it. With no intention of returning to the office, he shot off a quick message to his brother-in-law requesting sick leave and headed home with the little bird in tow.

After a hot shower and a change into dry clothes, he blow-dried the damp feathers for his companion. Then he pulled out the case files once more and pored over them anew, searching for any solid evidence.

He knew who the true culprit was now, and yet the man stood right before him—untouchable, beyond the reach of swift justice.

The diary contained not a single mention of Xu. The murders of the three kidnappers might constitute a crime in themselves, but for now, it was merely his word against theirs.

The only path forward was to find irrefutable proof that Xu Qingru was M. Only then could the diary truly seal the case.

Unmasking M’s true identity had leaped from a graduate student’s thesis topic to the most critical key in Yan Tuo’s mind.

He hadn’t secured the diary the day before, so his knowledge of the perpetrator’s identity likely remained hidden.

Could he set a trap to force a self-incriminating slip?

Or, even if not, perhaps he could test the waters—probe for other threads to pull?

Yan Tuo sketched out a mind map on paper while meticulously plotting his next steps in his head. Just as he settled on a plan and prepared to set it in motion, the rich aroma of home-cooked food wafted through the room.

Bai Yiyi had simmered a pot of lamb soup and whipped up a steaming batch of spicy hot pot, hoping the chilies and Sichuan peppercorns would chase away the chill for his boyfriend. After that downpour earlier, anyone with even a slightly weaker constitution might already be nursing the onset of a cold by now.

He untied the apron and stepped over to the table, leaning gently against the man’s back as he softly asked, “All done? Ready to eat?”

Yan Tuo reached back with his left hand, drawing the other man into an even tighter, closer embrace, while decisively punching in a number with his right.

“Uncle Xu? You free this weekend? It’s been forever since I had your crayfish. I’ll bring some booze—we can catch up, just us guys?”

There was a brief pause on the other end before a hearty laugh rang out. “You bet. I’m always up for it.”