“Don’t think I don’t know how capable you are, Big Brother Lin. You wouldn’t have come to work as my personal bodyguard if your family hadn’t needed money for medical treatment. So, take this money. Consider it my gift for buying dresses for your little niece. You know what I’m like. If I bought the dress myself, it would be a custom haute couture piece costing over a million yuan. Would you even dare refuse it then?”
Lin Yue looked at Cui Leilei, who was threatening him with a fierce expression, and silently sighed.
He forced himself to become a little more tactful.
“I’ll report it to the captain. I’ll say that you transferred the money to me as reimbursement for the transaction fees.”
Speaking of which, it was genuinely strange.
Although they were all brothers, Cui Baocheng was a frugal and simple man. If his daughter hadn’t needed three hundred and seventy thousand yuan for surgery, neither he nor the other members of his team would have ever known that their captain was actually a rich second-generation heir.
Upon hearing this, Cui Leilei was thoroughly satisfied and promptly transferred the money.
Throughout the journey, he did his best to tell jokes and chat with Lin Yue, keeping the atmosphere light. However, once they arrived in Hangcheng and boarded the most primitive form of transportation, a human-powered tricycle and drew closer to the most authoritative judicial appraisal center, Cui Leilei still couldn’t prevent the nervousness from creeping in.
He put on a mask and even donned a pair of oversized sunglasses, covering nearly his entire face. His hand clutched his schoolbag so tightly that his fingers almost seemed to sink into the fabric.
In recent years, the appraisal center had opened a channel for individual testing to accommodate certain civil litigation requirements.
Compared with judicial paternity testing, which required the father, mother, and child to be present together and to bring all relevant identification documents, individual testing offered a certain degree of confidentiality.
That was why there were no surveillance cameras scattered throughout the corridors as there were in other places.
Remembering all the research he had done, Cui Leilei tightened his grip on his schoolbag and walked step by step into the individual appraisal registration office.
The appraisal staff glanced at Cui Leilei, who was dressed and concealed from head to toe, but didn’t think much of it. In a calm and indifferent tone, they explained the entire procedure required for the appraisal before asking, “Did you bring the samples?”
“Yes.” Cui Leilei trembled as he opened his schoolbag. His fingers shook slightly as he carefully removed the strands of hair he had painstakingly preserved. “I… I brought the samples.”
Seeing him trembling so badly, the appraisal worker explained the important details.
“You can collect the results as early as three days from now. If you have no objections, go pay the fee and bring the receipt back to me. We’ll then proceed with the sample inspection and sealing.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Upon hearing this, Cui Leilei slowly exhaled, hugged his schoolbag tightly against his chest, and walked step by step toward the payment window.
The staff member looked at the thick stack of cash he was holding. Although they were curious, they didn’t say anything else. Instead, they glanced at Cui Leilei with a hint of pity.
The children who came to the individual appraisal center usually had some sort of tragic ethical situation behind them.
Lin Yue followed Cui Leilei closely with every step. Seeing that the young man’s entire body had stiffened, he instinctively raised a hand to support him.
“Young—”
The sudden explosive sound beside his ear made Cui Leilei shudder, instantly snapping him back to his senses.
“Shh. Don’t say anything.”
“Yes.”
Lin Yue’s expression changed, and he immediately responded respectfully.
Cui Leilei glanced sideways at Lin Yue, who followed orders without question, then dragged his legs, which felt as heavy as lead weights, and began walking back step by step.
Compared with the slight bustle of the payment area downstairs, the ninth floor, where the individual appraisal center was located, was almost unnaturally silent.
It was as though they had arrived at an empty place in the dead of night. The vast, hollow surroundings made one feel uneasy from the depths of their heart, even carrying a chill that seemed to seep into their bones.
It was as though this place concealed some unspoken, shameful secret. It lacked the warmth of human life found in the judicial paternity testing area downstairs.
Even if people were shouting and tearing into one another in furious arguments, at least they had come there as a family, making a lively commotion together.
Unlike the present moment, when Cui Leilei was the only person there.
It was also unlike the way things had been described in the novel, where someone had delivered a letter to the Cui family, prompting them to investigate in secret before finally locating Shen Qian, who had been working part-time.
As he thought about this, Cui Leilei heard the sound of his own footsteps echoing.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
He gritted his teeth and forced himself to quicken his pace, entering the room and hurriedly taking a seat.
His gaze fell silently upon the half-white strands of hair.
Cui Leilei desperately tried to think of all the parental love he had received. He thought about the miserable ending described in the novel, where his parents had grown old without anyone to depend on.
A resolute light flashed through his eyes.
He immediately reached out, picked up the samples, and carefully placed them inside the sample tray.
The appraisal worker’s expression suddenly changed.
They stared at the packets of samples, one after another, then another, and another still.
“You’re conducting a batch test?”
As they spoke, the appraisal worker turned toward Cui Leilei, their eyes filled with suspicion.
Lin Yue was also dumbfounded. He stared blankly at the nineteen samples that completely filled the office desk and sucked in a sharp breath.
Under the strange silence that had descended over the room, Cui Leilei’s wildly pounding heart instead began to gradually settle.
After all, there was no turning back once the arrow had been shot.
He had already placed the samples on the office desk. For a family of merchants, the moment a document was placed upon a solemn office desk, it meant that the formal process of conducting business had already begun. It was no longer a matter where one could simply act on a whim and change their mind.
Slowly exhaling, Cui Leilei hooked the thumb of his left hand around the thumb of his right.
Feeling the sense of security brought about by the intertwining of his two fingers, he quietly stared at his neatly arranged samples and began introducing them with a serious expression.
“I did my research beforehand. Brothers can also be tested. The packets in the first row contain short hair. They belong to my eldest brother. I’ve marked the collection dates on them.”
“The hair in the second row belongs to my mother. But because I didn’t collect it immediately, there’s no way for me to mark the date.”
“The third row consists of cigarette butts. They belong to my father. Collecting them was a little difficult, but I made sure to preserve them according to the sample requirements in the guide I studied.”
“The fourth row belongs to me. I guarantee that the hair was collected most recently.”
The appraisal worker couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh upon hearing this.
“So, you’re conducting repeated tests?”
They had initially assumed that this was some sort of private investigator or someone who specialized in taking on this kind of testing work.
“Exactly. I need to be one hundred percent certain.” Cui Leilei spoke with utmost solemnity.
He had been too foolish. He had thought that finding the hair would solve everything, that once he had the sample in hand, all he needed to do was submit it and wait for the results. But Baidu had still proved reliable in this regard, explaining in black and white that Cui Leilei had been thinking far too simply. Collecting samples came with specific requirements, and the samples were not limited to hair alone.
That was why he had worked so hard while he was still at home, collecting every possible type of sample. He had practically been one step away from turning the entire trash can upside down and rummaging through it until it was completely empty. In the end, he had finally managed to gather as many samples as possible.
The appraisal worker looked somewhat dazed.
“Being cautious is a good thing, too.”
“Mm.” Cui Leilei nodded in considerable agreement, then asked once again, just to make sure, how long it would take to receive the results. Only after confirming the time did he smile and bid the staff member farewell before leaving.
The moment he stepped out of the appraisal center, Cui Leilei’s legs immediately gave way. His knees buckled, and he would have collapsed directly onto the ground if Lin Yue hadn’t been there to support him.
“Young Master, are you all right?” Lin Yue looked at Cui Leilei’s visibly panicked expression, a trace of suspicion flashing through his eyes.
Cui Leilei keenly noticed the confusion in the gaze of the person beside him. He hurriedly removed his sunglasses, and an excuse came straight to his lips without any need for thought.
“The sunglasses were obstructing my vision. I… We should go worship Buddha and drive away some of this bad luck.”
Lin Yue looked at the oversized sunglasses with an expression that clearly suggested he was only half-convinced.
“Then shall we take a taxi?”
“A tricycle. Before the matter completely blows up, we mustn’t leave any traces behind. Otherwise, what if someone else finds out and starts eyeing Congcong again?” Cui Leilei continued shifting the blame onto his friend.
Lin Yue nodded.
Seeing this, Cui Leilei released a nearly imperceptible sigh of relief. He then went to a temple, hoping to experience some rare peace and quiet.
But what was destined to come would come regardless.
Three days later, Cui Leilei received a thick stack of paternity test reports right on schedule.
Gritting his teeth, Cui Leilei opened the report. He had always been the type to instinctively turn straight to the final result, but this time, his eyes moved across the pages word by word. He almost wished he could read the entire document without missing a single character.
One. Test Materials. Two. Processing and Testing Methods. Three…
Cui Leilei read every major section with exceptional care. Finally, when he reached the fifth section, Testing Conclusion, he saw the following words:
> Based on the results of the DNA genetic typing markers, the results do not support test material 1 being the biological father of test material 3, nor do they support test material 2 being the biological mother of test material 3.
Test material 1 was his father’s cigarette butt.
Test material 2 was his mother’s hair.
Test material 3 was Cui Leilei’s hair.
In other words, Cui Leilei really wasn’t a child of the Cui family.
His hand gradually tightened around the test report. Cui Leilei felt as though the conclusive evidence in his grasp was burning straight through his palm, almost scorching it until it bled.
Even though he still hadn’t found Shen Qian…
The plot would still arrive when it was supposed to.
Then…
How was Cui Leilei supposed to bring his own story to an end?
If one Cui Leilei died, wouldn’t that be enough to protect the entire family?
