Professor Xie, isn't this a case of forcing customers to buy products that don't match the

2:36 AM.

Xu Zhao finally broke free from the chaos.

He sat up abruptly, followed by a feeling of nausea and a dull pain in the back of his neck.

Fragments of memories from before falling into a coma quickly began to automatically piece together in his mind.

A half-open door... several unfamiliar men in the living room... a sharp pain in the back of my neck... a pungent odor made me cover my mouth and nose...

"Damn it!" Xu Zhao ignored his splitting headache and dizziness and scrambled out of bed.

"Yan Yan! Yan Yan, where are you?"

He turned on the lights and searched barefoot in the second bedroom, master bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen, balcony... one by one.

Finally, on the entryway cabinet, I saw paper, cards, and keys.

With a hum, that self-deceiving string finally snapped.

Shen Yan really did come back.

He left these behind.

gone.

He started frantically searching for his phone, and finally found it in a corner of the second bedroom.

There are many missed calls.

Shen Yan's was from around 4 PM, there were two of them.

He immediately called back, but the call didn't go through.

When I called back for the third time, the ringtone was cut off halfway through.

He didn't know who turned it off.

Shen Yan, or...

Zhou Xu'an.

"Don't even think about it!" Xu Zhao roared, his eyes bloodshot. He stopped fighting and decisively called the police.

Shen Yan is his man; they said they would go to H City together.

The call to the police went through quickly. Xu Zhao forced himself to calmly recount the events: illegal intrusion, violent attack, kidnapping of a paralyzed patient, and being coerced into taking his lover away.

The police arrived quickly, and Xu Zhao hurriedly recounted her story, pointing to the empty second bedroom, showing the bruises on the back of her neck, and describing the vague features of the strange men.

"Mr. Xu, do you have direct evidence that you suspect coercion? For example, audio or video recordings, or clear distress signals from the victim?"

"His mother was kidnapped! Isn't that evidence? How could he willingly go with someone like that?"

"Mr. Xu, please calm down. Your roommate, Shen Yan, is an adult with full civil capacity. We need to contact him to verify the situation."

The police quickly dialed Shen Yan's number and put it on speakerphone.

"Mr. Shen Yan? This is XX Police Station. Your roommate, Mr. Xu Zhao, reported that you were coerced into taking away. We are here to verify the situation with you."

Xu Zhao hissed, "Yan Yan! Speak up! Did Zhou Xu'an force you?! The police are here! Tell the truth!"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone before Shen Yan's voice came through.

"Officer, you've misunderstood. I came here voluntarily. My mother is in poor health, and my friend has better medical care here, so I came to take care of her. I'm sorry to have troubled you."

"Shen Yan! What the hell are you talking about! Have you forgotten our agreement?!" Xu Zhao roared. This tough guy, who never sheds a tear, had tears welling up uncontrollably.

"You said you'd come to H City with me! You said you'd never go back to that scumbag!"

"Xu Zhao," Shen Yan's voice seemed to come from afar, "Thank you for taking care of me during this time. Let's end it here. Keep the money in the card and don't contact me again."

The call was disconnected, the busy tone jarring.

Looking at Xu Zhao, who was on the verge of collapse, the young police officer sighed. "Mr. Xu, you heard that your friend clearly stated that it was voluntary and denied coercion. Regarding the illegal intrusion and personal injury, we need to make a record, but it's the middle of the night now, and given your situation... I'm afraid we'll have to wait until daytime to do a formal injury assessment."

The police left a receipt, told him he could go to the police station during the day to supplement his information, and suggested that if he was worried, he could try to contact Shen Yan again to find out the details before leaving.

Xu Zhao leaned against the cold entryway cabinet and slowly slid down to sit on the floor.

He couldn't figure it out.

How can coercion be considered voluntary?

Outside the window, the wind and snow had not stopped, howling and wailing.

After hanging up the phone with the police, Shen Yan sat stiffly on the edge of the bed.

There was a slight movement behind him, and Zhou Xu'an reached out and pulled him back into the blankets from behind.

Zhou Xu'an half-supported himself and pulled the phone out of his hand, tossing it aside.

"Yan Yan, you're a good girl." He lay back down and tightened his arms around Shen Yan.

Shen Yan had his back to him and didn't say anything.

He swallowed his hatred, but it overflowed in his eyes.

His eyes were wide open, and tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes again.

Zhou Xu'an noticed his trembling, reached out and wiped away his tears, "It's not worth crying over a street vendor."

"Street vendors?" Shen Yan finally reacted.

He didn't turn around; he remained with his back to Zhou Xu'an, staring at the falling curtains.

"He makes clean money in the restaurant business."

"But what about you, Zhou Xu'an? How many filthy things have you touched? Can you sleep soundly? Aren't you afraid in the middle of the night?"

Zhou Xu'an tightened his grip on Shen Yan's arm, pressing it against the back of Shen Yan's neck.

A dangerous aura brushed past Shen Yan's ear. "What am I afraid of?"

"I was afraid you would leave, but now that you're back, I'm not afraid of anything anymore."

His fingers touched Shen Yan's cold, damp cheeks, his fingertips tracing the undried tear stains.

"As for the rest... Yan Yan, that's just how this world works."

"Some people stand on high places, while others have to be in the mud."

At this point, he suddenly turned Shen Yan's shoulder, forcing him to face him.

In the darkness, Zhou Xu'an's eyes gleamed with a terrifying light.

"You think he's clean only because he's not qualified to touch dirty things."

"You think I'm heartless because I have the ability to make the rules give way to me."

"Don't judge me by your naive standards, it's ridiculous."

Shen Yan looked at the face so close to his own and said nothing.

He remembered Xu Zhao once boasting to him with a grin about how many people came to his door to buy his family's secret recipe, and how many people wanted to cooperate in opening a chain store.

At that moment, Xu Zhao made an eight-shaped gesture with both hands, his eyebrows dancing with excitement: "The one with the highest bid! Offer this amount! Say you want to invest and cooperate to open a chain."

"Hehe! My old man won't agree, and neither will my dad."

He asked, "And what about you?"

Xu Zhao laughed heartily: "Of course I wouldn't agree either."

He asked again, "Why?"

Xu Zhao brought his sauce-scented fingers close to Shen Yan's nose; it was an extremely rich and complex aroma.

"Can you smell it? That's the smell."

"The recipe is written on paper, just a few lines. But this flavor can't be acquired without years of tending the pot."

"You can open hundreds or even thousands of shops, but where can you find so many master chefs who can keep the pots and pans running?"

He withdrew his hand, laughing carefree. "As long as the money is enough, that's fine. But if the business collapses, wouldn't my old man be furious?"

Zhou Xu'an felt that Shen Yan was looking at him, but his gaze seemed to be looking through him towards a place that Zhou Xu'an could never reach.

"What are you thinking about? Why aren't you saying anything?" Zhou Xu'an asked.

Shen Yan's thoughts were pulled back, and his gaze returned to Zhou Xu'an's face.

This face, though beautiful, had once captivated him greatly, but now, looking at it only made him want to vomit.

He wanted to tear that face apart, to say he wanted to kill him, to drag this person down to hell.

But he can't.

Xu Zhao's mother's whereabouts are still unknown, but she has just been found safe.

Zhou Xu'an had all his weaknesses in his grasp.

He could only swallow all his hatred and anger, letting them burn in his lungs until his eyes were bloodshot, but he could no longer shed a single tear.

He opened his mouth and said, "I wasn't thinking about anything."

He didn't want to talk about it.

There's not much to say.

He knew Zhou Xu'an was right; this world was a dog-eat-dog world, a winner-takes-all world, and a fucking injustice.

Therefore, a large number of people rise to power by trampling on and manipulating the rules.

But is this really the ultimate truth?

he does not know.

But he thought.

People who rise to power in this way should, at the very least, not be able to do so with a sense of entitlement.

He closed his eyes, no longer looking at Zhou Xu'an, his body stiff as a stone, letting the other hold him.

Zhou Xu'an felt satisfied as the body in his arms went from violent trembling to extreme tension, and finally to stiffness after losing all struggle.

He took this stiffness as compliance.

He lowered his head and placed a kiss on Shen Yan's tightly closed eyelids, then pulled him into a tighter embrace.

"Go to sleep." Zhou Xu'an was satisfied, and his voice softened. "I'll take you to see your aunt tomorrow. From now on, we'll live a good life together."

Shen Yan did not respond.