Luo Yirui rembered what Uncle Yuan had said and first dialed his dad’s private number. His dad kept this phone on him, and only family knew the number.
After he finished dialing, there was no expected "doo-doo" tone, just a long stretch of nothing, like he’d called a fake number, or hadn’t finished dialing.
Luo Yirui didn’t believe it and dialed again, sa situation. He called three tis in a row and got the sa result, so he could only give up for now and switch to calling his mom.
This ti, when he finished dialing, it was exactly the sa as with his dad—no sound at all. Unwilling to accept it, he dialed again, and it was still the sa...
Luo Yirui lowered his eyes. The odds of both his parents’ phones being unreachable at the sa ti were basically zero. If it was possible, then it could only be because...
His gaze flickered. He didn’t call the landline at the small courtyard, and instead tried Uncle Tian Zhi’s phone, with the sa result.
It was impossible for everyone’s phones to have problems, so the only explanation was that the phone he was using had an issue. Was it the phone, or the person using it?
After everything he’d been through, Luo Yirui’s mindset was much tougher. He wasn’t about to make a fuss and rashly ask whether the phone had a problem. Instead, he handed the phone to Hao Rong.
"No idea what my parents are up to. I’ll call again later. Right, where are you going this ti?" Luo Yirui casually switched the topic. Seeing that Hao Rong didn’t take the phone, only jerked his chin at that bodyguard, the bodyguard took it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bodyguard take the phone, then press a few buttons, most likely checking the numbers he’d just dialed.
That move made Luo Yirui’s heart tighten. If there was nothing wrong with Hao Rong, then that bodyguard had to be the problem.
At this point, Hao Rong set down his red wine, and the pretentious air about him faded quite a bit.
"My aunt’s sick. The weird thing is they can’t find the cause. I heard there’s a powerful doctor in Ningjin County, so I’m making a special trip to invite him!" Hao Rong shook his head and sighed.
Off to the side, Jing Changle asked, "Didn’t go to a hospital?"
In his mind, in first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the hospitals could do anything.
Hao Rong rolled his eyes. "You need to say that? Of course we went to the hospital. We even brought in several foreign specialists, flew them in on private jets. Useless. Nobody can find the cause."
Honestly, he didn’t have any real hopes for this so‑called powerful doctor. What kind of "powerful doctor" could be more impressive than foreign experts?
Foreign dical standards were more than a little ahead of dostic ones. If top-tier hospitals in Beijing and Shanghai couldn’t do anything, how could so unlicensed folk doctor have a solution?
But this was an important task his father had assigned him, and he had to see it done!
Ever since he sensed that sothing might be wrong, Luo Yirui had beco more careful with his words. "Since there’s hope, you have to at least go take a look. I didn’t know you were on serious business before and delayed you. Have them stop for us up ahead at that village."
He’d decided to bail.
He had no choice. He was already neck-deep in trouble himself; he couldn’t afford to attract any more. As for Hao Rong, he still hadn’t figured out whether there was actually anything off about him, so it wasn’t even a question of loyalty yet. What if the problem was with Hao Rong himself?
When Jing Changle heard what Luo Yirui said, the words he’d been about to say got swallowed back down. Even though he hadn’t known Luo Yirui for long, they had surprisingly good chemistry. He understood him well—if there was even the slightest chance, he wouldn’t give up on contacting his parents.
If the phone could be used, he definitely wouldn’t just conveniently forget about it.
Hao Rong leaned forward a bit, peering through the windshield at the village ahead, then turned and asked, "That village up there? You sure you’re okay?"
"What’s the problem? Just drop us up front." Luo Yirui said with a smile.
Hao Rong gave him a suspicious once‑over from head to toe. "Every ti you start talking nicely, I get the feeling you’re up to no good."
Last ti was just like this—this brat had looked all easygoing and talkative, then turned around and made his arm go numb.
Luo Yirui: "..."
Jing Changle snorted with a laugh. That did seem pretty accurate.
When the car reached that village, they happened to run into a wedding. If Hao Rong’s car stopped, it would definitely cause a traffic jam, so they had no choice but to keep driving.
"I’ll let you guys off at the next village." Hao Rong said.
Luo Yirui nodded. As long as they got the general direction, it was fine.
At the next village, Hao Rong’s stretch limo stopped beside the Dayan, and the two of them got off.
Hao Rong lowered the window and said, "You’ve got my contact info. Call if you need anything." As he spoke, he started to pull his head back inside.
Just then, Luo Yirui reached out a hand. "Thanks. Here, a little gift for you. Rember what you wanted back at the banquet last ti? Oh, and I really envy you. Your dad can hand an important task like this over to you. We’re not so lucky—we’re still too young."
With that, he gave the slightly dazed Hao Rong a wave and walked off with Jing Changle.
Watching the car start up, kick up a cloud of dust, and quickly shrink to a speck, Jing Changle asked, "What did you give him?"
They were dead broke right now. Aside from so cash, they had nothing.
Staring after the receding limo, Luo Yirui said slowly, "A Paralysis Talisman."
Hopefully he wouldn’t need to use it.
Thinking of this, Luo Yirui sighed. He’d finally gotten a chance to make so calls, and it looked like he’d just run into another big ss instead. He was really panicking. It wasn’t even his zodiac year—why was everything going wrong?
Staring at the limo, Jing Changle also let out a sigh. "That big bro’s actually not bad. At least he stopped when we flagged him down."
Luo Yirui turned and headed toward the Dayan. How could he not stop—was he going to just run them over?
But even if they hadn’t blocked the way like that, Hao Rong probably would’ve stopped when he saw them—how else was he gonna show off that family stretch limo...
Fine. No matter how you looked at it, it all felt like it was just Hao Rong’s show‑off gene acting up.
"Where are we going?" Jing Changle caught up and asked.
"We walk down. Moving along the Dayan is too big a target. If a police car cos by, we wouldn’t even have ti to run." Luo Yirui said.
Another reason he wanted to go down was to see if there was a bigger village. Even though the most likely explanation for the failed calls was that soone had tampered with things or blocked the signal, he was getting more and more worried about his parents.
And there was one more thing weighing on him: with that call just now, he’d probably accidentally exposed his parents’ private numbers. That could easily give people with bad intentions a chance to act. Fortunately, his parents were extrely smart. If soone tried to threaten or trick them using that, anyone not skilled enough would definitely be seen through by them.
Right now, the person Luo Yirui was actually most worried about was Uncle Yuan. He didn’t know how he was doing, or whether his parents had found him yet.
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