Chapter 17: Get involved in the mess

　　Li Yun's first port of call was Cherry Adams.

But she obviously did not want to give up the orphaned children of the Lee family.

The first phone call ended with the word "crazy". Li Yun didn't even have time to react before Cherry Adams hung up. When he called back, he found that his number had been blocked.

　　Unable to reach the guardian, he called the local police station to ask for the brothers' address. The other party said that it was a citizen's privacy and could not be disclosed. Li Yun scratched his head and said that he could prove that he was the child's relative. The other party said, "Then come over.

A month later, Li Yun set foot on Chinese soil.

He went to such great lengths, and it was not without reason.

　　Li Yun is Li Fengguang's cousin. He grew up in the United States and could only see his cousin a few times a year.

He is an only child, unlike Li Fengguang who has four or five brothers. Li Fengguang was not his grandfather's first child, and certainly not the last, but he was the first to return to China for development. Later, no one expected that he would become the most promising, but also die young.

　　Li Yun was far from the turmoil of the Lee family, and neither were his parents, who did not want to get involved in that power struggle.

But the reason Li Yun had to get involved in this mess was because he liked to gamble. Li Yun didn't gamble to the point where he was heavily in debt, but the family's assets were constantly being liquidated.

He needed a windfall

to feed his gambling habit.

So he set his sights on his cousin's inheritance.

　　Li Yun was not greedy enough. He didn't understand the group struggle, and he couldn't play with the old guys. He remembered that his cousin had once revealed that he had a mansion in San Francisco that he and his cousin were preparing to use for their retirement. While everyone was fighting over the shares, Li Yun set his sights on the house.

He wanted to sell the house, take his last hope, and go to Las Vegas to try his luck.

　　He had consulted a lawyer, and according to local law, the house was inherited by his cousin's heirs, Jasper Lee and Pascal Lee. As long as he could bring them back and establish a relationship of support, he would be able to get the $20 million waterfront mansion.

That was why Li Yun came to talk to Cherry Adams.

He just didn't expect to run into a wall again and again.

　　At that moment, at Tianhe Airport.

Li Yun was sitting helplessly on his suitcase.

He downloaded a domestic search app and entered the words "Jasper Lee" as a last resort. Unexpectedly, the message that appeared made his eyes light up.

　　[Thank you, Mr. Li, for carefully raising my child! 119 points in math, and he's off to high school! Next stop, Xiangzhong!

And in this photo, who is the person sitting at the desk with the child, if not the cousin's eldest son?

Li Yun couldn't help but be overjoyed and quickly made a phone call.

When the call was connected, it was indeed Jasper Lee's voice.

Li Yun said that he had come to meet him.

　　The two of them agreed on a time and place to meet.

Because his cousin didn't often bring his children back to the United States, Li Yun still had an impression of Jasper Lee from his childhood. His cousin's child was like his father, not saying much, with very Chinese eyes, dark and cold pupils, and even when he looked at you steadily, you couldn't feel his emotions.

They met at a noodle restaurant near the train station.

Jasper Lee was sitting diagonally across the table.

　　Li Yun looked up from the steaming bowl of noodles and handed him a pair of chopsticks: "Your bowl has extra chili, Uncle, because I remember you like spicy food."

Jasper Lee looked at the thick red chili oil in the noodle bowl and said blankly, "It's Pascal Lee who likes spicy food.

Sorry," Li Yun told the owner and asked him to make another bowl.

Jasper Lee stopped him: "No, it's fine."

　　Li Yun ate quickly, and after he finished, he began to talk about how he had come a long way and what he had seen along the way. As he talked, he kept an eye on Jasper Lee's face. It wasn't until Jasper Lee put down his soup bowl, wiped his mouth, and looked at him again with his cold eyes that Li Yun finally got to the point.

"Say what you want."

　　Li Yun had no choice but to get his thoughts out, and then he gave his word: "Don't worry, I only want half the money! As soon as the house is listed online, I'll pay you immediately! It will definitely not affect your life or your brother's life... This money will be enough to support both of you for the rest of your lives!

Jasper Lee refused only after listening: "No deal".

"Then we have a deal... Lee Yun braked halfway through his sentence, "What? You're saying no? !

　　"Pascal and I are fine. We don't want to go back to the USA and we don't want to meet those people."

"Fine? What's so good about it? You can't even go to school, and you're working as a tutor!"

Jasper Lee was immediately alarmed.

"You're investigating me? What do you want?"

"Don't be nervous. Don't be nervous," Li Yun said, seeing that he was on guard. Uncle is just worried about you."

Jasper Lee then stood up and said, "I'm leaving.

　　Li Yun called out to him a few more times.

Jasper Lee didn't even turn around.

Li Yun met with Jasper Lee a few more times before and after, and he continued to eat his meals and talk about old times as usual. As soon as the subject of going to the United States came up, he would immediately look upset and leave. Li Yun realized that this was not going to work, so he went to a local police station in Wuhan and finally found some information about his brother Pascal Lee.

　　Li Yun took a taxi to Pascal Lee's primary school, but was stopped by a security guard just as he was about to enter. The guard asked him who he was.

"I am Pascal Lee's cousin,"

Li Yun said. "Cousin?" The guard looked at him suspiciously and said, "Then call Pascal Lee's teacher.

Li Yun said he didn't know who his teacher was.

The guard thought for a moment and said, "It's Pascal Lee in class 7. I know his sister, so call her."

　　"Sorry, I don't have his sister's phone number either..."

"Then how can you prove that you are Pascal Lee's cousin?"

Li Yun panicked and said that I know Pascal Lee's brother, and I said that I know his parents. The security guard said that I know the police officers at the police station, and if you don't leave, I will call the police.

Li Yun had no choice but to leave in disgrace.

　　Li Yun was at the end of his rope. Or maybe it was just that a young man who had blended in with the community had an abundance of ideas. He stayed in Wuhan for a while, learned a few things, and returned to Jasper Lee with this new information.

　　"She collects your monthly pension," Li Yun said. You are not related to her by blood at all, and she is still a child herself, but she is willing to support you because of that pension, right? Could it be that... you have to give her what you earn?"

Jasper Lee said, "What does that have to do with you?"

Li Yun just did some calculations with him.

　　"In order to let your younger brother continue his studies, you took a tutoring job that only pays you 4,000 to 5,000 yuan a month, which is not even enough to cover your younger brother's tuition fees, let alone your own living expenses. Don't you want to live your own life? You can't stay here forever, can you? How would your father look down from heaven?"

Jasper Lee just smiled when he talked about Li Fengguang.

"... He's gone, let's not talk about it."

　　"How much do your cousin and cousin-in-law expect from you, and how much time and energy have they spent on you? They just want you to protect the family business. Your job now is to study hard so that in the future you can make more friends in high places and take back your family's conglomerate."

"And..." Li Yun gritted his teeth, "Don't you think that plane crash was very strange? Why was it that flight on that day? Maybe..."

Jasper Lee looked at him incredulously.

　　Li Yun knew that he was wavering.

He was about to add fuel to the fire.

But Jasper Lee turned and walked away.

"...Fuck it!" Li Yun saw that he was so unyielding, and he was also a broken pot, "Jasper Lee, let me tell you! You and your brother need to come back with me!"

Jasper Lee was not at all intimidated by Li Yun, and he stood up and slapped the table, "If you come to me again, I'll call the police!"

　　"Call the police? Go ahead, I'll arrest you too!"

Jasper Lee frowned, "What do you mean?"

"You don't study every day, and you just sell classes outside... That is not a real income at all, is it? And your student status is also made up. If these students know that you are not even sixteen years old and are still a child, will they continue to buy your classes?"

This is Jasper Lee's secret.

Li Yun threatens him with this.

　　"If no one takes your class, you won't be able to afford your brother's tuition. Do you think Cherry Adams will support you? That's impossible! If she wanted to support you, she would have taken you in when your parents had their accident instead of making you run all the way to the South! Why do you think she supports you? Because she's kind? Because you can give her money! If one day you can't, do you think she'll..."

　　Jasper Lee gritted his teeth, his heart was thrown into the sea like a plane that crashed without warning.

Li Yun saw that he had achieved the desired effect, so he put on a loving expression again. He patted Jasper Lee's thin back, "I also feel sorry for you and your younger brother, don't let Cherry Adams take advantage of you without knowing it, and she's not related to you by blood..."

Can she really be good to you?

　　These words echoed in Jasper Lee's mind.

When they returned to the rented house, his sister's friend was also there, greeting him and asking him why he looked so distracted.

Jasper Lee smiled and said he was fine and turned to go back to his room. Once inside, he locked the door and quickly inventoried his belongings.

Leaving? Go? Run? Run again? Must you run again?

Leave your little brother again? Or tell Cherry Adams?

　　Jasper Lee's mind was a complete mess.

He felt desperate and helpless. After all he'd been through, he still had no safe place to go.

But he didn't expect too much. All Jasper Lee wanted was to hold his little brother's hand and walk safely together.

Jasper felt a sharp pain in his wrist.

He snapped out of his panic.

He realized that he had cut himself with a box cutter.

　　It was the first cut on his wrist.

Is this what a person does when they have no way out?

Jasper Lee cleaned up the blood in the bathroom.

It was late at night.

The autumn wind was blowing back and forth in the hallway.

Jasper Lee walked down to the grocery store by the dim, lifeless streetlamp and bought iodine and Band-Aids. Sitting in front of the window, he carefully applied the iodine to the wound.

　　If possible, he would not end his life so easily. Jasper Lee knew himself well. Even in a desperate situation like Hymietown, he had the courage to fight to the end. He was not one to surrender. From his family's bankruptcy to the present, every step was taken on his own initiative.

He should have been tough.

So why did he stumble now?

　　What made him stumble?

Jasper Lee sent a message to Cherry Adams, three sentences long.

He asked if she was there and if she knew Li Yun.

"If I can't make money, will you..."

As soon as the message was sent, he withdrew it.

It's impossible.

How could it be.

She wouldn't do that.

The next second, Cherry Adams called and asked what was wrong.

　　Jasper Lee said it was nothing and asked why she hadn't gone to bed yet. Cherry Adams laughed and said she was busy making a lot of money. She was always happy about money...his sister.

He hadn't seen her in a while.

When you're alone and running around in a strange place, you feel even lonelier, and it's a feeling of extinction. Besides, it's getting colder in the fall, and you need more warmth to fight against life.

Is that why?

　　Anyway, the days went by. Jasper Lee thought of Cherry Adams from time to time: when he was busy, when he had free time, when he was rushing somewhere, when he was eating, when he woke up in the morning, when he went to sleep...

"Sister, I..." Jasper Lee paused.

Cherry Adams gave a small "hmm" and waited for the rest of the sentence.

I miss you very much.

Don't leave us.

"Take care."