CH 107

But even if he didn’t take his disguise very seriously, it also wasn’t to the extent that he would have people everywhere suspecting him. They had to have interacted with him. So, strictly speaking, this narrowed it down to only a few places.

One possibility was Southcross Law Firm. After all, the easiest way to perceive any oddities with an intern would be someone within the firm. 

Another possibility was Spring Ivy Hospital. During this time, the hospitals that he had visited due to health concerns were branches of Spring Ivy. Although Lin Yuan had helped him behind closed doors, there was no guarantee that a particular test or some information wouldn’t escape the notice of someone with an interest in it.

That, or… the courthouses.

Gu Yan took charge of the bulk of the affair at Wine City and his participation was meager. However, the George Manson case that he fought at Tian Qin was entirely under his purview. It could be a judge, the prosecution, or even someone in the gallery, such as a member of the Manson family.

And it was actually difficult to guess which of the three places this suspicion could have stemmed from. All of them had equally high probabilities. 

“But, no matter, it’s always better to err on the side of caution,” Lin Yuan said. “If the power failure was intentional, that shows that someone wants to view your test results, using this to ascertain some things. So I thought, since they want to see it, rather than deleting that data, why don’t I change it a little? In case being unable to access it isn’t enough to get the other party to give up; I didn’t want them to keep looking for something else to pin it to later.”

Yan Suizhi nodded. “Sorry for the trouble.”

The three continued to chat idly, and the breakfast lasted until afternoon tea.

Before leaving, Lin Yuan seemed to suddenly think of something, and he slapped his forehead. “Oh, right. You don’t have much time left on your second genetic modification. Do you want me to do some touch ups?”

Yan Suizhi considered it briefly before shaking his head, saying, “I don’t see the need for now. I can’t keep hogging your brother’s name.”

Lin Yuan smiled.

“But I’ve been wondering, do genetic modifications expire over a gradual period or instantaneously?” Yan Suizhi touched his face. “After coming back from my previous business trip, some people have said that I looked somewhat different, though it wasn’t obvious. But after returning to De Carma from Tian Qin following that, even though the length of this trip was longer than the last, no one brought up any new changes to me.”

Lin Yuan nodded, saying, “Don’t worry; who can bear waking up to a new face every day? Short-term genetic modifications work like this—there’d be minor changes at first, mostly during the time when you lay in a coma, and after that the changes would be very subtle. It’s already considered the late-stages now. In the late stage, conversely, the modifications would be more stable, so there would be near-zero changes day to day. They would all expire in the last three hours, and it’s possible that you would run a high fever or go into shock during that time. In short, it’s going to feel terrible. So you must remember to look for me before that.” 

As he spoke, he started getting vexed. “Had I known, I would’ve made it last for a few years.”

The original plan was to send Yan Suizhi faraway, and then discuss it again when the coast was clear. Who would have thought that this guy couldn’t be sent off at all.

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“I was passably satisfied with my original appearance; if I’m unable to return to that for the rest of my life, I might have to start a feud with you,” Yan Suizhi joked.

Lin Yuan flapped a hand. “It’s not that serious. I’m doing research into this area right now and had a breakthrough recently. The success rate of the lab studies is already as high as 75%, it’s just that I haven’t reported it to my higher-ups yet. If you give it more time, it’ll be even safer.”

At the end, he emphasised once more, “Remember to look for me before the modifications expire, or the dramatic changes in the three hours would shock anyone!” 

With that, he left the cafe, opening an umbrella and walking into the downpour.

The morning meeting went smoothly.

To be accurate, it was surprising how smoothly it went. But maybe in an echo of the popular saying ‘you win some and you lose some’, the client meeting in the afternoon was atrocious.

This client seemed to abhor the downpour and was particularly irascible when watching the rain pelt against the windows. He sat in front of the window for the whole afternoon, staring outside, humming in response to any question that was directed at him, just as though he was suffering from a toothache. 

For a time, it was hard to tell if he was just making trouble for the sake of it, dragging his feet, unwilling to give his account, or if he really was so revolted by the rainstorm.

Fortunately, this case wouldn’t be brought to court so soon, so Gu Yan still had ample time to dawdle around with him.

The hour-long meeting seemed almost consumed by silence. Horace Lee stared outside for its entire length. But at its tail-end, a momentary change suddenly flashed in his eyes; the way his eyes moved made him seem like a statue that had suddenly come to life.

The moment that Yan Suizhi noticed this, to prevent startling Horace Lee, he made an extremely small movement to alert Gu Yan— 

The fingers that were holding his crossed arms, gently scratched Gu Yan’s arm.

Gu Yan, “…”

Yan Suizhi mouthed, ‘What are you looking at me for? Look outside.’

What made Horace Lee’s eyes turn animated was a bird that had streaked across outside the window, miserably flapping around for a while before finding cover from the rain under the eaves of a building. 

It was only after that bird was hopping around under the eaves did Horace Lee then laugh derisively, saying, “Stupid bird.”

And that was all he said for the entire meeting.

This rainstorm got in the way of work in De Carma, such that people couldn’t busy themselves even if they wanted to. Oddly enough, all the lawyers of Southcross were in the office today, and all got off work punctually in the evening.

Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan ate a bit at a restaurant downstairs, taking it as their dinner, then returned to the villa in the city garden. 

It was rare that they would have time to relax in the house. Reluctant to return to his room, Gu Yan pulled Yan Suizhi to sit on the sofa with him.

It was strange. Be it ‘boyfriends’ or ‘partners’, just a few simple words were enough to invoke a wondrous chemical reaction, and these endearments became the spice to make interesting anything otherwise dull.

Even if it was nestling on the sofa to read the news, case files, or simply enjoying a book or movie, this activity was tinted with a sliver of affection that wasn’t there before.

Moreover, the night through the French windows next to the sofa was beautiful. The lamp pines were sheltered by glass from the heavy rain, and the petrichor from the earth enticed even more lampflies to come out in quiet and romantic star specks of light. 

However…

Some people had not a single romantic cell in their body and were completely uncooperative.

Yan Suizhi nestled on the sofa for a while before setting down the paper in his hands, his gaze landing on an unlit area on the other side of the living room.

Gu Yan followed his line of sight and looked over at his personal gym. 

The esteemed Professor Yan inexplicably thought of how he was on the losing end and, out of the blue, said, “Gu Yan, let me use your gym.”

Gu Yan, head fogging over with confusion, felt that this guy was just speaking no sense. “Why?”

Yan Suizhi, with a profound look, “I recalled the dusty equipment in the place I stayed in last time. I used to go for a morning run but ever since I moved over to yours, even that has been done away with.”

Gu Yan, “…I have to remind you, when I got up for my morning run and knocked on your door the first two mornings, I received a message that you sent me from across the door. I still have them saved.” 

With that, he began to retrieve evidence, opening the hologram from his smart device and swiping through it before placing it in front of Yan Suizhi’s eyes. Two successive messages were right next to each other, both containing only two, clear and concise, words: Not going.

It was downright preposterous how he was insincerely asking to work out now.

Yan Suizhi clicked his tongue, reaching over to delete those two pieces of incriminating evidence, then shrugged and said, “I just felt like exercising. So can I use it?”

Gu Yan expressionlessly gazed down at him for a while, then went to the room upstairs to fetch a fresh towel, also grabbing one for himself. 

He draped the towel on top of Yan Suizhi’s head and patted it gently. “Go ahead. I’ll join you.”

Yan Suizhi yanked the towel down. His dark hair was a little mussed. ‘Join me?’ He thought to himself, ‘If we train and advance together, wouldn’t that just be a waste of my efforts?’

But before he could raise any objection, he was led by the hand to walk over with Gu Yan.

Splendid. All thanks to this pair of wayward feet, he had no choice but to exercise now.