Chapter 95

Chapter 95

Chen Mo cleared his throat and pressed down on the steering wheel, diverting his attention to observing the road to cover up his indiscreet words.

A barely perceptible smile flickered in Xi Siyan's eyes.

The Chen Mo of five years later was different from the past, more thorough and mature. He had naturally transitioned from a teenager to a young adult, becoming more composed, with an inner richness and stability that made him look well-groomed.

But Xi Siyan knew that since high school, Chen Mo had essentially rebuilt himself.

He had healed the gaps in his heart.

Made up for some regrets.

Choosing a new path and moving forward continuously, he had become the person standing before Xi Siyan today.

Xi Siyan never asked how much effort it took, but he understood.

So when he could still see Chen Mo being so unrestrained now, Xi Siyan felt it rare and only wanted to indulge him.

"How much longer?" Xi Siyan asked.

Chen Mo looked back at the navigation system, "If there's traffic, it might take another ten minutes. What's wrong?"

Ten minutes later, because the address sent by Yuan Hao required them to go through two alleyways off the main street, they had to walk. In that deserted alley, Xi Siyan pressed Chen Mo against the wall and kissed him deeply and intimately.

Chen Mo couldn't withstand such kisses.

After a short while, he dodged, his breath unsteady, "You sure know how to wait, asking about time just to catch me here."

"Mm." Xi Siyan stepped back, brushing away the dust on Chen Mo's hair that had stuck to the brick wall, nonchalantly, "Since you were driving, otherwise I'd have let you be a little more flustered."

Chen Mo was speechless.

Then his eyes turned, and he leaned close, whispering, "Should I put up a symbolic struggle? But with your beauty right here, how can I bear to?"

Xi Siyan pinched the skin at the back of his neck threateningly.

From the departure to the destination, Chen Mo felt everything went smoothly.

Although they came to find a doctor, coinciding with daylight, they spent the holiday with someone very important.

Everything was just right.

Until they arrived at the clinic.

Upon entering, something felt off. The elderly doctor, in his eighties, looked frail and shaky. There was no one else in the clinic except the old man, and the atmosphere was tense.

Chen Mo and Xi Siyan exchanged a glance.

Xi Siyan, who had been alert ever since Chen Mo was attacked last time, reached out to shield him, looking around, "Let's go out first."

"No!" The old man hurriedly called out to them.

Desperation filled his eyes as he looked at the two young men who had just entered, pointing to the room behind the curtain, trembling, "Can you not leave? Someone is looking for you."

When Ren Xiansen appeared, honestly, Chen Mo had a sense of inevitability.

He held the old man's great-grandson, a boy around seven or eight years old, with one hand covering the child's mouth and the other holding a knife to the boy's neck. The boy's face was full of fear, tears welling up in his eyes.

Chen Mo's anger surged, considering this was an undeserved disaster for the old man's family.

Chen Mo spoke coldly, "This is between you and me, Mr. Ren. There's no need to make it so ugly."

"Do you think I want to!" Ren Xiansen's voice was rough and unpleasant, instantly pointing the knife at Xi Siyan, emotionally charged, "It's all because of him, Xi Siyan, who won't let me go. Forcing me to do this!" Then he turned to Chen Mo, "The arson was instigated by Lunaer, and the attack at the hospital was done by that fool Yang Shule! What does it have to do with me?! Chuanxing is my last resort, but Xi Siyan insists on leaving me no way out. If he wants to do this, then I have no choice but to come after you. But you're always surrounded by his bodyguards, making it impossible for me to get close. This time, I followed you all the way to find out where you were going, so I had to act first."

As he spoke, he pressed the knife closer to the boy's neck.

"What do you want?" Xi Siyan asked.

Ren Xiansen gave a chilling smile, "Don't think I don't know you have bodyguards around you. Whatever your plan is, tell your people to back off first."

"Alright." Xi Siyan nodded.

He took out his phone and made a call, giving instructions.

Clearly distrustful, Ren Xiansen watched as Chen Mo spoke, "You should know that the hostage in your hands can't really threaten him. I'm different. Since you've been following us for so long, you should know our relationship. Let the boy go, and take me instead. We can talk conditions then."

Half an hour later.

Chen Mo stood on the seventh floor of an unfinished building in the county, feeling a surreal sense of deja vu.

He didn't even feel nervous.

Instead, Ren Xiansen kept looking around, highly vigilant.

Until he saw the yellow air cushion laid out on the ground below.

Ren Xiansen was satisfied, pressing the knife against Chen Mo's lower back, "Mr. Chen, I know Xi Siyan isn't an ordinary person, and I won't be foolish enough to believe your words. Once his people come up, I'll get the money and the passport to leave the country. Then, Mr. Chen, we'll jump together."

"Ren Xiansen." Chen Mo kept looking outside, "Do you know what it feels like to fall from a height?"

Ren Xiansen was taken aback, "What?"

He didn't understand what Chen Mo was getting at.

Chen Mo said, "When you fall from a height, your bones might all break. If your head hits the ground first, it would be even worse. Oh, you might not know this, but the maximum safe escape height for an air cushion is sixteen meters. We're on the seventh floor, which is over twenty meters. You..."

"Shut up!" Ren Xiansen panicked, pressing the knife closer, leaning over to look down, "Are you lying to me?"

Seven stories high, with no guardrail.

The cold wind blew with a fierce and biting force.

Chen Mo suddenly chuckled, "Mr. Ren, someone who has died once doesn't have the leisure to lie to you."

In the moment Ren Xiansen was distracted, Chen Mo rolled forward forcefully. Simultaneously, a figure from the eighth floor flipped down and kicked Ren Xiansen in the chest with lightning speed.

The force was so strong that Ren Xiansen crashed into the wall, grunted, and fell to his knees.

The knife in his hand clattered to the ground.

Chen Mo got up from the floor.

He removed the high-tech earpiece.

Only when he saw that the person who had flipped down wasn't any of the bodyguards but Xi Siyan himself did Chen Mo glare at him fiercely.

That burst of anger surged towards Ren Xiansen.

As he was just getting up, Chen Mo delivered a swift kick to his chest.

"Mr. Ren, you're in this line of work yourself. In this day and age of advanced smart technology, how can you still entertain such a mentality of luck?" Chen Mo's expression remained unaltered, "It appears that the lesson from last time was not sufficient."

Ren Xiansen's hair was disheveled; he looked up with a twitching smile, "How do we know unless we try? Besides," Ren Xiansen's grin turned malicious, "We've been opponents for some time now. I always thought Mr. Chen was a cultured gentleman. I didn't realize you cared so much about Mr. Xi. If I had known you were so passionate, why would we have needed to compete so fiercely in business? On the bed, I'd be willing to give everything up."

Knowing it was intentional,

Xi Siyan's face darkened instantly.

Chen Mo stopped him from moving forward, "How long until the police arrive?"

"Any moment now." Xi Siyan checked his watch.

Footsteps echoed from below.

The bodyguards were approaching this floor.

At that moment, Ren Xiansen lunged forward, grabbing Xi Siyan, who was closer, and they both tumbled towards the open edge.

Chen Mo's pupils contracted.

For a moment, it felt like the world had stopped.

He knew very well that the air cushion on the ground was not up to fire safety standards and couldn't support the weight of two people falling simultaneously.

How he reacted so quickly to grab them, Chen Mo couldn't recall later.

All he knew was that Ren Xiansen didn't succeed.

Unlike Chen Mo, who relied on instinct from past fights, Xi Siyan had systematic training. As they collided and embraced, rolling to the side and hitting the concrete edge, even though Xi Siyan took most of the impact, Chen Mo could feel the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

There was no time for reflection.

Opening his mouth, his stomach churned, and specks of blood splattered onto Xi Siyan's chest under his terrified gaze.

Under the sudden force, Chen Mo suffered a gastric hemorrhage.

His chronic condition, which had been treated, flared up completely.

Chen Mo was transferred back to Sui City that day.

An emergency surgery was performed.

During the surgery, Chen Mo wasn't entirely unconscious.

It felt like he was in a surreal dream.

Still in an unfinished building, but not seven stories, nor the one in the county.

He watched as a bystander, observing the wailing sirens of police cars and ambulances, including the stunned, unresponsive Xi Siyan standing nearby.

This Xi Siyan was different from the one Chen Mo knew.

He seemed colder, yet beneath that coldness, something simmered, ready to erupt.

People came and went around him, speaking to him, but he didn't respond.

Chen Mo stood beside him, watching until night fell.

The white sheet covered everything in front of them.

Suddenly, voices grew louder.

Yang Zhi, brimming with anger, rushed over.

"You're talking nonsense! What do you mean 'dead'!" He shouted, clearly agitated, "How could Chen Mo die? Last week, he was still telling me to go to hell!"

Then, his voice cut off abruptly.

He seemed shocked by the scene, hesitating to move forward.

Then Yang Zhi noticed Xi Siyan.

He approached quickly, grasping for something.

"Ah Yan, did you call the police?" He seemed desperate for confirmation, "Did the police make a mistake? That's not Chen Mo, right? You wouldn't look for him for no reason, so it can't be him, can it?"

Xi Siyan's unfathomable eyes turned to Yang Zhi.

Chen Mo even had the illusion that he was already on the brink of madness, and that indescribable pain was about to be inflicted on Yang Zhi with equal weight.

His tone was flat: "It's him."

When Yang Zhi could no longer maintain his composure, Xi Siyan added, "I heard he severed ties with your Yang family. He died outside; I thought you'd be happy."

Yang Zhi had been stunned since the words "it's him."

He kept muttering, "How could it be? How could it be?"

Xi Siyan finally moved, brushing past Yang Zhi, "I'll take care of his remains. From now on, he will have no connection to your Yang family whatsoever."

Chen Mo watched the departing figure, as if walking into the night.

He didn't understand what had driven Yang Zhi to madness, but watching the person walk away, a heavy weight pressed on his chest. Chen Mo wanted to call out to him, opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

The scene gradually faded, becoming increasingly blurry, and ultimately returned to nothingness.

Chen Mo blinked his heavy eyelids and slowly opened them.

The light outside the window was bright, and the scent of gardenias by the bedside was fresh and invigorating.

He turned his head to look at the person sleeping beside him.

Xi Siyan held his hand, his brows furrowed, and woke up immediately upon sensing movement.

"How are you?" he asked, rising and leaning over to press the bedside bell.

Chen Mo felt the warmth of his coat brushing against his cheek and smiled, tracing his palm gently: "I'm fine."

That overwhelming emotion was far stronger than when he woke up in the internet cafe years ago.

Back then, he was filled with weariness and had no idea where the meaning of life lay.

"What are you smiling about?" Xi Siyan asked softly.

Chen Mo felt joyful, "I was just thinking that if we were back in that internet cafe alley during high school, I would have fallen for you at first sight."