After My Cheap Husband Faked His Death, I Ended Up Happily Ever After with His Younger Brother - Chapter 11

That afternoon, Luo Huai went to great lengths to transport the safe to his residence in the Western District.

The box was not large, but it was incredibly heavy. After hauling it up and down several times, his arms were aching. He placed the safe in the corner of his bedroom, knelt down, turned the combination lock a few times, and opened it.

Inside, everything was neatly arranged: the compensation received from the Luo family, the betrothal gifts and wedding money from the Lin family, and some scattered savings. Luo Huai counted these items one by one, found a sturdy but inconspicuous box, and packed all the cash and bank certificates inside.

He did not touch the card Pei Jiheng had given him.

That bank card remained quietly tucked away in the innermost layer of the safe, completely untouched.

He used the money from the Luo and Lin families with a clear conscience; one was rightfully owed to him as compensation, and the other was essentially his indenture contract. He felt no psychological burden spending those funds however he pleased.

But Pei Jiheng’s money was a different story.

It was better to let it be for now. After all, their relationship was just a slightly more complicated version of a one-night stand. It was best to leave it undisturbed.

Luo Huai zipped up the box, stood up, and stretched his sore neck.

He finished his preparations and was about to leave when he heard the sound of the door lock turning.

Luo Huai was cautious. He did not immediately pick up the box but instead pushed open his bedroom door and peeked out.

In the entryway, a young man was changing his shoes.

He carried a black backpack over one shoulder. His hair was black, straight, and fell over his forehead. His brows and eyes were handsome but icy, and there was no expression on his face. He wore Bluetooth earbuds and seemed to be listening to something. When he saw Luo Huai poking his head out, he simply gave a slight nod as a greeting.

This person was Luo Huai’s roommate, Yu Sui.

He was a Beta with a remarkably cold and aloof personality. He never smiled; Luo Huai once suspected he had facial paralysis. He was a civil engineering major and in the same year as Luo Huai. Although they had been living in this apartment for half a month, Luo Huai did not have much interaction with him.

Yu Sui was a man of few words, and Luo Huai did not like to initiate small talk. Both lived in their own rooms and followed their own schedules. They only nodded to each other if they happened to run into one another in the kitchen or the living room.

Yu Sui’s expression remained icy as he walked straight to his room.

Luo Huai opened his mouth to say something, but upon seeing Yu Sui’s distant expression, he decided against it.

He had important business to attend to anyway.

Luo Huai watched as Yu Sui closed his bedroom door, then turned back, picked up the box, and left the apartment.

Luo Huai took a taxi to an old alleyway.

The alley was deep, lined with old brick walls overgrown with vines. After walking inside for about a hundred meters, he spotted the tavern mentioned by his contact.

The tavern’s frontage was very narrow. Upon pushing the door open, he found the interior equally small. It was dimly lit with Chinese-style wooden tables and chairs, and the partitions were made of hollow-carved flower windows. The air held a faint scent of sandalwood.

Luo Huai gave the name he had used for the reservation, and the waiter led him to a private room at the end of the corridor.

The room was small, containing only a square table, two chairs, a pot of tea, two cups, and a plate of snacks. A landscape painting hung on the wall, though the dim lighting made it difficult to discern the details.

Luo Huai sat down, but the other party had not yet arrived.

He did not relax for a moment. He sat with his back straight, hands resting on the table, his gaze slowly sweeping across every corner of the room: the position of the door and windows, the angle of the teapot on the table, and even the possibility of something being hidden behind the painting on the wall.

This location had been chosen by the other party.

Luo Huai had arrived half an hour early to ensure he had sufficient space to react.

The reason was simple: the person Luo Huai was meeting today was an intermediary designated by a senior official at a private prison in Bin City. The level of danger could not be underestimated. Even though this was not their first meeting, he could never afford to let his guard down.

After confirming that the room held no abnormalities, Luo Huai withdrew his gaze and lowered his eyes to stare at the ordering QR code on the table. He appeared to be zoning out, but his mind was racing.

His fingers tapped unconsciously against the tabletop twice before stopping.

Time always passed slowly while waiting.

A pot of tea sat on the table, prepared by the waiter, but Luo Huai did not touch it.

He simply sat there, his heartbeat gradually accelerating.

For two years, he had been waiting for this day.

Luo Huai’s thoughts began to drift.

He was never truly alone. He had a sister, not by blood, but their bond was thicker than water.

Her name was Ji Chuli. They had relied on each other for fifteen years.

Before returning to the Luo family, Luo Huai’s surname was Ji. Ji Huai was the name she had given him.

They had first met in an orphanage.

When Luo Huai was very young, he was obedient and naive. After being kidnapped, he had tried desperately to escape, eventually being transferred to an orphanage in a county under Bin City.

The story was quite cliché. He was too small and weak at the time and was bullied by other children in the orphanage. He was pressed to the ground and beaten, not daring to fight back, not even daring to cry out loud. Then, a girl descended like a deity and saved him.

The girl was half a head taller than all the other children, and though she was skin and bones, her eyes were fierce. With one punch, she knocked the ringleader to the ground.

She pulled him up from the floor, brushed the dust off him, and frowned as she asked, “Are you stupid? Don’t you know how to fight back when people hit you?”

Luo Huai was still very young then, and he did not understand anything; he could only stare at her blankly.

From that day on, she provided him with a name, protection, and companionship.

Ji Chuli was also an Omega, four years older than Luo Huai. Her mother had passed away during childbirth, and her father had abandoned her to pursue a wealthy woman, leaving her in the orphanage. On her first day there, she shielded Luo Huai from the orphanage bully and drove them all away.

At that time, Luo Huai had no name.

There were always children in the orphanage who did not even have names. No one bothered to give them any, so they were numbered based on the order in which they arrived.

Luo Huai was about two years old then. Traumatized by the kidnapping, he had forgotten everything, including his name. He was the sixth child to be sent there, so everyone called him Little Six or Liu Liu.

But Ji Chuli said, “That is just a number, not a name! Every person should have a name!”

It was during the change of seasons from spring to summer, the first day of true summer. Ji Chuli pulled him to sit under a cypress tree in the backyard and told him her name had been chosen by her grandmother using pheromones. When she had her initial pheromone test as a child, it showed pear blossoms, so she was named Ji Chuli.

She asked Luo Huai what his pheromones were.

Luo Huai remembered that he had just finished his admission physical. He recalled the nurse petting his head and saying the pheromones he released were acacia blossoms.

After Luo Huai told Ji Chuli, she patted her chest, her eyes bright: “Liu Liu, take my surname! From now on, you will be called Ji Huai.”

Luo Huai nodded ignorantly.

In his memories, Ji Chuli immediately stood up and patted the mud off her bottom: “Let us go! We are going to tell the director! You have a name now! From now on, you are my brother!”

She reached out her hand to Luo Huai, facing the blazing sun.

Even in the summer heat, their palms were sweaty, but they gripped each other’s hands tightly.

The memories were beautiful, but the last time they had clasped hands, also in the summer, was two years ago, right before Ji Chuli was taken away by those people.

Their lives were destined never to be peaceful.