Volume 1, Chapter 47: Clearly, Huo Yu was the fake! The counterfeit!

Zhang Shuqin was startled and rushed over. "Yanchuan, what's wrong with you? Don't scare Mom!"

She had only been gone for a few hours—how did it come to this?!

"Quickly, call the doctor!"

The servant turned around to fetch the doctor.

Huo Yanchuan lifted his face from the pillow, his eyes flashing with a crimson glare. "Mom, Huo Yu came here to humiliate me!"

"He called me a fake and took everything from my bedside table!"

Clearly, Huo Yu was the counterfeit! The fake!

What right did he have to call him a fake?

Zhang Shuqin let out a gasp of disbelief. "How dare he?!"

It was one thing for him to ignore her words and run over to Yanchuan's place to flex his muscles, but to curse at Yanchuan and steal Yanchuan's things?

Having only been back for a few days, did he really think he had grown wings?

"Don't worry, Yanchuan. Mom will make him return everything obediently," Zhang Shuqin gently comforted Huo Yanchuan.

Not long after, the doctor arrived carrying a medical kit, cut open the clothes on Huo Yanchuan's back, and revealed his bloody back.

After a few days of recuperation, a thin scab had formed over the wounds on his back, and the bleeding was caused by some of the scabs being torn open.

The doctor briskly disinfected the area, applied medicine, and wrapped it in gauze before instructing, "Second Young Master, this is a critical period for scabbing. Be sure to mind the intensity of your movements and avoid tearing the wounds open again."

Frequent tearing was not conducive to wound recovery.

"Mm," Huo Yanchuan replied indifferently.

The doctor sighed and left with the medical kit.

***

Huo Yu's Courtyard

Li Feng was just about to turn off the lights and go to sleep when he heard a knock at the door.

Looking through the peephole and recognizing the visitor, a bad feeling sank in his heart.

He instantly guessed Zhang Shuqin's intention.

Huo Yu had just returned from Huo Yanchuan's courtyard not long ago, having plundered so many things, and now Zhang Shuqin was showing up on their doorstep. Anyone could figure out the reason with their eyes closed.

He sent a message to Huo Yu, waited a moment longer, and only opened the door unhurriedly when the knocking sounded again.

"Madam," he nodded, greeting her respectfully.

Zhang Shuqin plopped down onto the sofa, glanced at him, and said with disdain, "Why did it take you so long?"

Keeping her waiting outside for quite a while!

"Reporting to Madam, I was just about to change and go to sleep..."

Zhang Shuqin waved her hand, having no desire to listen to these trivial matters, and directly issued an order: "Call Huo Yu out."

Li Feng wore a troubled look. "But the Young Master already went to rest half an hour ago..."

At this hour, he was probably already fast asleep.

Calling someone out now was truly heartless.

"Li Feng, have you been in Country Y for too long and forgotten whose person you are?" Zhang Shuqin asked in a breezy tone.

Hearing this, Li Feng lowered his head. "This subordinate wouldn't dare forget."

He appeared to submit, but it was actually to mask the towering fury in his eyes.

He was afraid that if he looked at Zhang Shuqin, he wouldn't be able to help revealing his true emotions.

He hated Zhang Shuqin; he hated her to the very marrow of his bones!

"Then hurry up and go!"

"Yes." Li Feng turned and went upstairs.

Turning the corner and making sure Zhang Shuqin couldn't see him, he pressed his back against the wall and took heavy, deep breaths.

The feeling of having one's enemy within arm's reach yet being unable to exact revenge was excruciatingly torturous!

A hand rested on his shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze, silently imparting strength.

Opening his eyes to look, it was Huo Yu.

He didn't know when Huo Yu had arrived. He was wearing a light gray plaid bathrobe, his soft dark hair clung to his temples, and his entire demeanor was exceptionally relaxed.

Li Feng used his eyes to signal that Zhang Shuqin was downstairs.

Huo Yu nodded slightly.

The two of them returned to Huo Yu's room one after the other.

Time ticked away drop by drop.

Zhang Shuqin kept glancing at the wall clock.

Ten minutes had passed; why hadn't Li Feng brought him down yet?

She lost her patience, stood up, and walked toward the stairway.

Since Li Feng couldn't bring him down, she would go herself!

She refused to believe she couldn't drag him down!

She had just taken two steps on the stairs when she heard footsteps coming from above.

Looking up, she met Huo Yu's calm, indifferent eyes.

Zhang Shuqin instinctively paused in her tracks.

"It's so late, Mother. What brings you to my courtyard?"

Zhang Shuqin's face turned cold, and she let out a humph. "Don't play dumb!"

"Return every single thing you stole from Yanchuan, without missing a single item!"

And he still had the nerve to ask what brought her here? Could he possibly not know why she was here so late!

Huo Yu expressionlessly replied, "I didn't take anything."

"You didn't take anything?" Zhang Shuqin's voice suddenly pitched up. "Huo Yu, don't play tricks with me!"

"If you didn't take them, did ghosts take them?"

Did those things grow legs and run away by themselves?

Huo Yu spread his hands. "Everything requires evidence, Mother. How can you prove I took them?"

"Yanchuan saw you take them with his own eyes. Could that be false?"

"I also saw him hide those things with my own eyes, purely to frame me."

Zhang Shuqin blurted out, "You're talking nonsense!"

"Clearly, it was your bandit-like behavior stealing Yanchuan's things, and now you turn around and bite back, claiming Yanchuan framed you?"

"Huo Yu, a bastard is a bastard, truly unfit for polite society!"

Zhang Shuqin couldn't help feeling glad that she had made the resolute decision back then to keep Huo Yanchuan instead of Huo Yu.

Yanchuan was obedient and sensible, providing her with plenty of comfort over the years, unlike Huo Yu, who looked gentle and kind on the surface but was actually stubbornly unyielding and completely unlikable.

The crucial point was! He was never close to her.

Every time he looked at her, it was as if he were looking at a stranger.

"To catch a thief, you must catch them with the stolen goods. Mother doesn't think a few empty words are enough to splash dirty water on me, does she?"

"Li Feng, see our guest out."

Li Feng looked at Huo Yu, then at Zhang Shuqin. After a moment of internal struggle, he finally blocked Zhang Shuqin's path. "Madam, it's getting late. You should head back and rest early."

"Get lost!" Zhang Shuqin glared viciously at Li Feng.

Li Feng shrank back and cowardly retreated to the side.

"Huo Yu, don't think you've done this seamlessly!"

The net of heaven is vast, and its meshes are wide, yet nothing escapes; she better not find a single trace of evidence, or she would certainly not let Huo Yu off the hook.

Having thrown down her threats, Zhang Shuqin left in a huff.

All the way back, she secretly cursed the surveillance cameras for failing at such a critical moment.

Recently, because of Huo Yanchuan's special situation and to prevent accidents, Zhang Shuqin had installed surveillance cameras in his room with his consent.

Tonight's playback showed that shortly after Huo Yu entered, the surveillance feed suddenly went offline.

What happened in the room after it went offline was impossible for anyone to know except the two parties involved.

The more she thought about it, the more Zhang Shuqin felt that the surveillance going offline was Huo Yu's doing.

Opening and closing his mouth demanding evidence from her was simply because he was banking on the cameras being offline, believing she couldn't produce solid proof!

His unbothered attitude precisely proved that he was the thief.

With the lights turned off and the door closed, Li Feng walked over to Huo Yu's side.

Under the cover of night, their shadows were stretched long by the moonlight.

Li Feng sighed, looking somewhat helpless. "You've only just returned and your foundation is unsteady. Why lock horns head-on with Huo Yanchuan?"

Even if they were going to deal with Huo Yanchuan, they needed to plan for the long term.

Even a cornered rabbit will bite, let alone a living person like Huo Yanchuan.

Angering him would do no one any good.

Huo Yu placed his right hand over his left wrist, gently rubbing the red fate-string tied around it. "It's not a head-on collision."

It was a unilateral crushing of Huo Yanchuan.