Chapter 105: A very gentle person

“Ah, uncle, you’re awake!”

Lin Yu walked in carefully, holding steaming soy milk and fried dough sticks. She closed the door behind her, trying her best to act natural.

“Hahaha… I thought you were still asleep, so I went downstairs to buy breakfast for you.”

Luo Shaotian didn’t speak—he only looked at her with an extremely complicated expression.

“You…”

He finally opened his mouth, his voice a bit hoarse from just waking up.

“…Where did you go last night?”

Here it comes.

Lin Yu’s heart jumped to her throat. She knew this was the most crucial question.

She lowered her head, her hands nervously gripping the plastic bag with breakfast, making a faint “shasha” sound.

“I… last night I…”

“I saw… I saw you, uncle… fighting those bad guys.”

“I was so scared…”

“My mind went completely blank, I just… I just knew I had to run…”

“I’m sorry, uncle… I… I left you there alone.”

Her voice even carried a note of guilt.

And this part wasn’t acting.

Whenever she thought of last night’s bloodshed—of Luo Shaotian losing control to protect her—a real wave of guilt and lingering fear rose up, making her performance feel painfully genuine.

Luo Shaotian’s eyebrows tightened slightly.

“And then? How did I end up back home?”

“And then… I ran far, hid in a corner, and waited for a really, really long time…”

Lin Yu’s voice trembled a bit—acting to this level really wasn’t easy.

“Later… when the rain stopped, and everything outside went quiet, I… I still couldn’t stop worrying about you… so—so I snuck back to take a look—just one look…”

“And then I saw… saw you lying there alone, your whole body covered in blood.”

“No matter how I called you, you wouldn’t wake up. I was so scared… I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t dare call the police… so I…”

“I could only… carry you back!”

“Carry me back?”

Luo Shaotian sounded doubtful.

“You could carry me?”

Of course she couldn’t, so—

“Actually I put you in a shopping cart and pushed you back.”

Uh… if I had money it would’ve been nice. Taking a taxi would’ve been way easier.

This explanation was something Lin Yu had carefully crafted. On the surface, it was barely plausible.

As long as he didn’t dig too deeply…

Luo Shaotian listened in silence, his expression as unreadable as ever.

Sigh…

He walked up to Lin Yu and slowly raised his hand.

Lin Yu froze in fear, instinctively closing her eyes.

What the hell—what’s he going to do?

Hit me?

With such a pretty face, you’d really bear to!?

But the expected pain never came.

A warm, large hand landed on her head, gently rubbing it.

“…Thank you.”

Luo Shaotian’s voice was low, carrying a kind of indescribable exhaustion.

Lin Yu slowly opened her eyes, staring at him in disbelief.

He bought it?

This easy to fool?

Yep, worthy of you indeed, my good brother!

Lin Yu let out a sigh of relief inside, though she still maintained her pitiful expression on the surface.

“Eat first.”

Luo Shaotian withdrew his hand, turned away, and sat down on the living room sofa, sinking deep into the soft cushions.

Lin Yu let out an “oh,” and quickly set the soy milk and fried dough sticks on the coffee table.

The apartment fell into silence, broken only by the faint sounds of chewing.

“Munch munch…”

Lin Yu sneaked glances at Luo Shaotian from the corner of her eye.

She noticed something.

Today, Luo Shaotian looked different from any other time she’d seen him.

That unsettling, violent aura was gone; instead, he seemed… exhausted. A bit defeated.

“Uncle…”

“Are you… okay?”

His hand paused as he lifted the soy milk.

“Why do you ask that?”

“You look so down. Just like my… uh, just like one of my friends.”

“It’s just because I’m too tired.”

“Is that really it?”

“If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do.”

Luo Shaotian’s reply was cold.

Lin Yu felt conflicted too. She didn’t even know if he was upset with “Lulu”—the persona she’d used last night.

Being forced to take the blame really sucked…

But she couldn’t exactly say—

“Hey bro, that was me who blasted you last night. Awesome or what?”

Yeah right. If she said that, Luo Shaotian would definitely—

“You should leave.”

Luo Shaotian suddenly said.

“…Huh?”

Lin Yu was stunned.

“What did you say?”

“Finish your food, then leave.”

He suddenly sounded very serious.

“Or later is fine. Tomorrow is fine. Just leave this place.”

“Why… why?”

Lin Yu felt her voice shaking.

It felt like all her effort was about to crumble apart.

“Is it because… because I ran away last night and left you on your own? You’re mad, right? I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to, I—”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

He cut her off, impatience leaking into his tone.

He stood up and walked to the window, his back facing her as he lit a cigarette.

“You saw everything yesterday, didn’t you?”

His voice drifted through the smoke, somewhat distant.

“Now you understand why I don’t want you here, right?”

“Because I could become like that again at any moment. I can’t control myself.”

“I don’t want… to hurt you.”

So… that’s what it is?

Lin Yu stared at him in a daze.

He wasn’t angry—he was afraid.

Afraid he might hurt the people around him.

Seriously…

Even after being tainted so deeply by darkness, the fundamental color of his soul was still that upright, kind guy.

What an idiot…

Lin Yu cursed inwardly.

She pushed herself up from the sofa and walked to him, lifting her small, girlish face.

“But…”

She looked straight into his eyes, speaking one word at a time.

“Uncle, you… only turned into that to protect me, right?”

Luo Shaotian’s body went rigid.

The cigarette in his mouth hung still—he forgot to even breathe it in.

“If it weren’t to save me, you wouldn’t have fought those bad men. And you wouldn’t have… lost control.”

She took a tiny step closer. Their noses were close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath.

“So in the end…”

Her voice was soft as a feather, yet somehow carried enough power to pierce armor.

“Uncle, you’re actually… a very gentle person.”

“—!”

Time itself seemed to stop.

Luo Shaotian stared blankly at the girl before him—at her clear eyes, her cherry-like cheeks.

A hot, foreign sensation shot from his chest all the way to the tips of his ears.

“You…”

He jerked his head away, unable to look at her anymore. His voice stuttered from panic and embarrassment.

“You—you can’t say… weird things like that!”

“Huh?”

Lin Yu blinked innocently, tilting her head, a few strands of dark hair brushing her cheek.

Weird?

Was it?

I was just stating the truth…