Chapter 66: The Opening (Part 1)

  Luo Yi Chen listlessly spun a ball, rolling it from his left hand to his right, and then back again, until his fingers were about to cramp up. He let the ball drop to the ground, where it bounced away with a series of loud clangs. Someone passing by couldn't help but glance over at him, either struggling to stifle a laugh or quickening their pace in shock.

  Ye Qinglan scratched her head, speaking very carefully, "You've been keeping this appearance for almost two months now. Although the school principal is reluctant to pursue the matter due to emotional considerations, but... playing basketball in this state is truly too dangerous..." The unfinished sentence was cut off by a sharp glance from Luo Yichen, and she unwillingly swallowed her words back down.

  ……

  "Yi Chen." Ye Qinglan glanced at the coach who was gesturing to him, hesitated for a moment, and was really worried that someone's nose and mouth would be made into a slit. He chose the smallest distance under the maximum safety limit, and while getting close, he also prepared to cover his head and scurry away. "We are here to play basketball, not to fight. Rather than becoming this fierce and evil appearance, it's better to grab a few more rebounds later."

  "Infuriating!" Two fierce rays shot over, and Ruo Yi Chen's foot landed accurately on Ye Qing Lan's back, leaving a large footprint that read "One Visit".

  "Ah, it's not easy to get you to open your mouth." Ye Qinglan had a warm smile that was brighter than the sun, this childhood friend of his always had an expression like someone owed him money and their life. "Speak, what's bothering you again?"

  "Xiao Lan..." Ruo Yi Chen lowered his head, the basketball in his hand continued to spin, but he lightly bit his lip, looking like he wanted to say something but held back.

  "Isn't it that your 'Dunkelmond' business is going downhill?" Ye Qinglan understood what Rong Yichen was worried about, but some things are like walking along the riverbank on a dark night. Although it's pitch black, the sound of the water can guide the direction. Rong Yichen is now walking along the riverbank, wanting to pursue his dreams, but found that some things cannot be completed even with eternal time. Clearly, he had already passed the most difficult searching stage, yet arrival became a new problem.

  Sometimes, Ye Qinglan actually envies Luo Yichen. Because, for the future, he has always been hesitant. Moreover, who can guarantee that they won't miss any corner when searching?

  "Being true to oneself" is just four words, but it's a lifelong endeavor. Moreover, not everyone has the confidence to walk alone through those long journeys from one river to another. Searching is the reason for walking, however, the world is so vast that he can't guarantee that when he stops, he will find his real dream, and it's also possible that he will succumb to family pressure and follow fate.

  How many people in this world, have thought of possessing, worried about losing, the ugly and the beautiful, if they were to pass by swiftly like the wind from beside them, hastily choosing, giving up. But time, will never stop its footsteps to wait. The azure ocean turns into yellow sand in an instant, the dense mountains become flat land in the blink of an eye, the sea changes into mulberry fields, and with one breath, it disappears, impossible to retrieve again.

  This time, the acquisition of Chu's enterprise was a complete victory. Ye Qinglan was not proud of it, he did very little, and he could even say that if it weren't for Gu Tianhui's plan, he and Luo Yichen, who were devoted to fashion design, might not have passed this family test.

  Victory seemed to come too easily, but Ye Qinglan knew that despite the protection of the night, Gu Huanli still encountered danger. This made him feel guilty, and what's more, he had personally introduced Gu Huanli to Ye, which was equivalent to pushing her into that gray world himself.

  For Ye Qinglan, he had always known about it, and even watched their actions by his grandfather's side. It was a long time ago, Ye Qinglan had forgotten all the details of why, the memory started with the red flames and black smoke in the window of the high-rise building across from the telescope. The young man held a gun against the woman's temple, at that time, he was as beautiful as a heavenly god, his face didn't have that terrifying scar yet. However, Ye Qinglan remembered those eyes, they were eyes he had never seen on any beast, such eyes could only belong to humans, because human madness is one of a kind.

  Ye Qinglan held up the telescope, unrelated to curiosity, in his grandfather's view, this was a necessary training for the Ye family heir. Although white and black were divided so clearly, but in reality, who wasn't living in the gray area, struggling to survive?

  Just then, the sniper sent by the police had arrived beside him, wearing a black mask that only revealed his eyes. Ye Qinglan knew it was this person because his eyes did not show excitement or fear, but only calmness, deep calmness.

  When I turned back, I also saw that sniper. In fact, searching is just like this, having searched hard but couldn't find anywhere, occasionally turning back suddenly, only to realize the person I had been searching for so long was actually right there in the dim light.

  The sniper's movement of placing the gun on the railing of the rooftop was elegant, and when he crouched down, his line of sight was as still as a glacier, not at all like a wild beast in pursuit.

  Ye Qinglan put down the binoculars and was stunned for a moment. He was thinking, night, sniper, and him, is this situation not like a mantis catching a cicada with an oriole behind? When he picked up the binoculars again, the sniper was calmly looking at the scope, unmoved by the firelight and the shouts around him, his finger on the trigger long and powerful. The blood gushing out of Ye's shoulder and the red and white splashing out of the woman's shattered skull looked very abstract in the firelight.

  The sniper seemed to have said something into the microphone, he didn't appear disheartened by his failure, his eyes still shone like black ice with a sharp edge of transparent steel. And in an instant, he vanished into the thick smoke.

  Years later, when they met again, Ye Qinglan had become the master of the night sky, and that sniper was said to have been sent to Haiti as a peacekeeping police officer. However, Ye Qinglan understood that this chase was far from over.

  And he, too, was not an outsider. Because, whether it was the night or that sniper, they had both glanced at the high-rise building where he was before shooting. Ye Qinglan knew they couldn't see him through the one-way glass, but the feeling of being exposed still made him uneasy.

  Perhaps it was for this reason that he chose to stay with Universal Medical Group. Of course, the intention of his grandfather and father was also so.

  However, Ye Qinglan felt like the most formulaic clown, using a smile to extinguish the fluctuations, without any emotions. This was not despair, nor was it disappointment, for from the moment he knew that the Ye family, who were saving the world, also had a place in the underworld, this world no longer had pure black or white.

  So, Ye Qinglan liked to paint and went out to sketch on weekends so frequently that everyone thought the Ye family would not have a top-notch doctor this time, but would give birth to an oil painter. However, in his father's eyes, no matter how hard he tried, the result was always a third-rate poor artist who sacrificed everything for art and had nothing.

  The Ye family didn't know that Ye Qinglan just wanted to escape the suffocating hypocrisy. He wasn't afraid of darkness, but was disgusted by his family members who claimed to be kind and virtuous yet were actually cold-blooded and ruthless. Perhaps it was because of this disgust that he became close to the night. Of course, this closeness didn't come from blood ties or being the so-called heir and master of the Li family's estate. In reality, they were all the same kind of people, hating this family yet bound by responsibility.

  Many times, he would sit quietly in the suburbs, and even Luo Yi Chen, who accompanied him, suspected that he spent his leisure time painting, no, it should be said that he was taking a nap. Ye Qing Lan was indeed very good at sleeping, and when he woke up, he would stare blankly at the sunset, watching the birds return to their nests, and looking at those budding, lush, withered trees. Those days had wind, fog, and sunshine, with the seasons changing, but what remained unchanged was the smile on Ye Qing Lan's face. For most of the time, he was happy and gentle, only, this kind of happiness, even Ye Qing Lan himself didn't believe it.

  "Hey, hey!" Kong Yichen looked at Ye Qinglan who suddenly spaced out and kicked him again. "What's wrong with you, spacing out in broad daylight? Even if you want to die, Martians won't take you back."

  "How did you know?" Ye Qinglan stared at Luo Yi Chen's icy gaze, a faint smile on her lips, "Could it be that they just sent you back? No wonder..."

  "I think you've been with Xiao Yatou for too long, and while you haven't learned anything else, your mouth has become sharper and more vicious." Ruo Yichen's voice was laced with subtle mockery, his calm eyes gazing steadily at Ye Qinglan. "Speaking of which, it's been a long time since Xiao Yatou last watched Tianxi's match. Is a primary school student's studies so busy? Moreover, I heard that someone has spent money to buy her life on the road?"

  "Tianxi will protect her." Ye Qinglan suddenly lowered his head, his shoulders slightly trembling, and the corners of his mouth curled up. Sometimes, although Luo Yichen was a cold and unfeeling person with facial muscles as stiff as stone carvings, he actually had a soft heart.

  Looking at Ye Qinglan's sunny smile, Luo Yichen narrowed his eyes and stared at him expressionlessly. "This afternoon's match is the final battle. If Little Xiao doesn't come, I'm afraid she'll cry to death." Actually, every time he saw Little Xiao's completely different attitude towards him and Lan, a kind of dull discontent fermented in his chest, spreading throughout his body, blocking every blood vessel tightly, lingering for the entire day.

  Yes, unwilling to accept

  What's more, that little girl's "unintentional" move was spread all over the school, and even her family knew about it. Although he changes girlfriends faster than clothes, but, maternal love and all that, he really isn't lacking. However, thinking of the little girl's smile that surpasses the sun-kissed flower petals, he feels that she is like a glass vase that has just been washed clean, yet glass can shatter with just one touch.

  So he felt that he couldn't bear to part with it again.

  No, it's not that he can't bear to part with it, he just doesn't want to lose face.