Battle Against the Heavens

Seeing Xia Yueshan nod in acknowledgment, Lin Yu continued asking:

"Then the reason I lied to you was to hit on your sister?"

"Surely you can tell that given how your sister treats me now, winning her over would be a piece of cake."

"Yet up till today, I haven’t made any moves on her."

"Xia Yueshan, whether you believe it or not, I don’t like your sister."

"Though she’s pretty and has a good figure, she’s not my type. I prefer innocent, cute girls."

"And to be blunt—"

"Given her age, if we dated, it’d be more like her robbing the cradle."

At this point, Xia Yueshan, who had been silent all along, suddenly nodded and said in agreement:

"That really does sound shameless of you."

Lin Yu, unfazed, raised his hand and gave Xia Yueshan’s forehead a hard flick, ignoring his howls of pain as he went on:

"So think about it—why do I go through all this trouble to come to your place for dinner every day?"

"I’m not after money or looks. Surely I’m not making the long trip just for a meal, am I?"

Xia Yueshan clutched his head, grimacing. Though he was still resentful, he had to admit Lin Yu’s reasoning made sense.

It was like those crime shows on TV—when the police ruled out suspects, they always looked for one crucial element: motive.

Premeditated crimes always had motives—whether for money, lust, or revenge.

There had to be a reason.

From what he could see, aside from dinner every night, Lin Yu hadn’t asked for anything from him or his sister.

At this thought, Xia Yueshan looked up at Lin Yu, his face drooping as he muttered an apology:

"Sorry, Lin Yu. I shouldn’t have doubted you."

Hearing the apology, Lin Yu didn’t feel the slightest bit of triumph. Instead, he grew even more somber. He sighed, patted Xia Yueshan’s head, and poured out his thoughts like spilling beans.

"Xia Yueshan, even if you hadn’t come to me just now, I would’ve gone back to find you."

"Your sister is a good person. I wouldn’t let a tragedy happen just because I was upset with you."

"As for when that disaster will strike—I’m sorry, but I don’t know."

"If I did, I wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble."

"I’d just camp out in advance and kick the bad guy’s ass the moment he showed up."

"And you know what?"

"I hate eating fish, especially freshwater fish. No matter how it’s cooked, I can always taste this disgusting muddy flavor. Every dinner at your place is torture for me."

"Wha—?" Xia Yueshan’s mouth fell open in shock. He whispered weakly:

"But my sister said you love fish the most, and you eat a lot of it every night."

"Well, I had no choice." Lin Yu spread his hands helplessly.

"Back then, to get close to your sister and protect her like I do now, I lied and said I loved fish."

"Now I’m stuck paying the price for that lie."

Xia Yueshan pouted, his whole face scrunching up as if he felt even guiltier.

"Alright, let’s head back."

Lin Yu patted him on the shoulder and said,

"Go back and stay with your sister more. Protect her well."

"Will you... will you come tomorrow?"

Xia Yueshan said in a plaintive voice, as if afraid that Lin Yu would be angry with him and stop taking care of his sister.

"Of course I will."

Lin Yu grinned at Xia Yueshan and said,

"I'm not at ease leaving your sister's safety to you, a little fool."

"All right, go home quickly."

Lin Yu urged Xia Yueshan to go home again and then planned to turn around and leave.

Before he could make the turning - around motion, he stopped. Lin Yu thought for a while and felt that since he had said so much, it wouldn't hurt for Xia Yueshan to know a bit more.

Looking at Xia Yueshan with drooping eyebrows, about to turn around and leave, Lin Yu called him to a stop and said seriously in an unprecedentedly solemn tone,

"Xia Yueshan, no one can fathom the thing called fate."

"Don't think that all the preventive measures we've taken so far will definitely work.

In fact, what we're doing now might even be adding fuel to the fire, unconsciously pushing that possible bad thing forward."

"These are all uncertain things."

"What should we do then?"

Hearing this, Xia Yueshan asked anxiously,

"Is there no way to ensure my sister's safety?"

Looking at the hopeful look in Xia Yueshan's eyes as if he regarded himself as a life - saving straw, Lin Yu slowly shook his head and said regretfully,

"Sorry, there isn't."

"All we can do now is to do our best, carefully observe every detail in life, and when something unreasonable happens, you have to stay 100% vigilant.

Even if there is only a tiny bit of unreasonableness in this thing, or even if it seems quite reasonable, you can't let your guard down."

"Maybe only in this way can we have a glimmer of hope to win against it."

As he said this, Lin Yu stretched out his index finger and pointed it at the star - filled night sky.

Xia Yueshan looked up at the sky. After lowering his head, his expression became extremely serious. He nodded heavily and said,

"I understand."

...

"Zhuzi, what are you doing?"

Sun Tao, lying on the bed playing with her phone, looked up and asked.

"My wallet is missing."

Xia Muzhu, frowning as she walked back and forth in the bedroom, rummaging here and there, said.

"Ah?"

"Your wallet is lost?"

Sun Tao bounced up from the bed all of a sudden and asked worriedly,

"When did you notice it was gone?"

"I don't know. I clearly used it when I went grocery shopping yesterday."

Xia Muzhu picked up the canary - yellow table lamp on the bedside table, took a look under the lamp base. After not seeing her familiar wallet, she put the lamp down and said.

"Could it be under the lamp?"

"You silly girl."

"What does your wallet look like?"

"I'll help you look for it."

Sun Tao got out of bed and looked at Xia Muzhu.

"It's a small rectangular porcelain - blue leather bag with a gold button."

Xia Muzhu briefly described what her wallet looked like. After learning what it looked like, Sun Tao immediately joined the search.

The two rummaged around. After Sun Tao flipped the mattress over for the third time and still didn't find the wallet, they finally accepted the fact that the wallet was lost.

"Are there any valuable items in the wallet?"

Sun Tao turned to look at Xia Muzhu and asked worriedly.

Xia Muzhu thought for a moment and nodded, saying,

"Yes."

"I have three bank cards in my wallet, along with several thousand yuan in cash. Besides these, my ID card is also in the wallet."