Han Li received good news soon after returning home.
There has been progress at the East City Casino.
Since he didn't trust the other party much in the beginning, he was cautious in every aspect. While the other party was planting stakes in his organization, he was actually not idle either. He secretly arranged his people into the casino step by step. Although there was not much room for action, he was able to find out a lot of key information.
They definitely hid something as important as the account books very well, so Han Li didn't have high expectations of finding it directly.
He approached it from another aspect.
Through the chess pieces he had planted inside, he found the rigged tables and arranged for his experienced men to blend into the huge flow of people in the casino every day. Then, through the tax bills submitted annually by the eastern casinos, he quietly calculated the difference. Although the specific figures have not been obtained due to the short period of implementation, the astonishing contrast in the amounts can be vaguely seen. It is only a matter of time to collect all the evidence.
Han Li put down the thick document report in his hand and raised his hand to press his eyebrows.
There was a dull pain deep in my forehead, as if some ominous undercurrent was brewing.
Han Li felt somewhat uneasy. He found the aspirin he always had on hand, peeled out two tablets and put them in his mouth. The bitter pills slowly melted on the tip of his tongue, giving his almost dulled senses a masochistic stimulation.
There were two gentle knocks on the study door.
Han Li raised his eyes and looked towards the door, only to see that the door of the study was pushed open.
Xu Bo stood at the door holding a tray, his serious and upright face showing concern, and asked softly:
"Master, does your head hurt again?"
Han Li shook his head, threw the aspirin into the drawer, and closed it back: "It's okay, don't worry."
Xu Bo walked in and put the tray in his hand on the table.
His temples were gray, and he was no longer young, but he was not old yet, and his straight body was still strong.
Xu Bo was a servant who followed Han Li's mother into the Han family. Even when Han Li was expelled from the Han family residence, he still stayed by his side loyally. Xu Bo was no longer just an ordinary housekeeper. To Han Li, he was even closer to a father than the patriarch of the Han family who had never fulfilled his obligations.
He is the only person in the world who can persuade Han Li.
Xu Bo frowned in worry, and his deep voice was filled with worry that was hard to ignore: "You must take care of your body and don't get too tired."
He watched Han Li grow up, and witnessed with his own eyes how Han Li matured quickly after the accident in his childhood, becoming taciturn and thoughtful, and eventually grew into what he is now. No one knows better than him how much burden he has borne that he shouldn't have borne, but Xu Bo is very clear that his identity does not allow for too much discussion, he can only rack his brains to hope that Han Li can enjoy some happiness at this age:
"I heard from Master Lin that you made friends at school?"
As Uncle Xu spoke, he took out the cups from the tray and placed them on the table: "If you'd like, you can bring him home to get together. After all, I rarely see you make friends of your own age."
Thinking of Cheng Chen, Han Li's facial expression softened a little involuntarily, and he subconsciously rubbed his palms.
The skin that had been turned red by the cold beer seemed to still be emitting wet vapor.
He smiled slightly and looked up at Xu Bo: "Okay, I'll ask him when I have a chance."
Xu Bo put away the tray with some relief, bowed slightly to Han Li, then turned and walked out.
The door of the study was gently closed, and Han Li was the only one left in the room again.
He turned his head to look at the cup on Xu Boliu's table and was stunned.
In the transparent glass cup, the milky white liquid swayed slightly, flashing a soft luster under the light and exuding a sweet milky aroma.
Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly, his dark pupils fixed on the milk on the table, and he fell into deep thought for a moment.
He couldn't help but think back to the strange kidnapper who saved his life and his leg when he was eight years old.
——and the similarities between him and Cheng Chen that cannot be ignored to some extent.
The smoking posture, the expression when talking, the similar temperament and eyes.
But on the night he came into contact with Cheng Chen, he sent someone to investigate his background carefully. Cheng Chen and that man had no connection at all in real life, and all the unusual behaviors he had shown seemed to be explainable before today.
His gambling skills were honed because of his father who was a gambler, and his physical abilities were honed because of his difficult living environment.
But today Han Li is not so sure.
Although he was not an expert, the fighting skills and combat experience demonstrated by Cheng Chen were so amazing that Han Li would not be surprised if he said that someone had died.
Even though there are so many contradictions and inexplicable things about them, there is indeed no intersection between these two people.
That man should still be on the run under an assumed name. Although Han Li has no means to revoke the wanted order, he has arranged for people to secretly monitor the news in this regard over the years, but there has been no news in the past eight years.
They all have the same mysteries.
Furthermore, Han Li couldn't even be sure whether his memory was accurate after such a long time, or whether it was just some kind of illusion - after he was rescued from the kidnapping, he could always see the shadow of that night in the people passing by him, or in the shadow of a tree passing by the window, either ferocious or brutal, or lazy and dangerous. Even though he knew that most people had been imprisoned, he couldn't stop himself from having such a vivid and real feeling.
He knows what it is.
PTSD, also known as post-traumatic stress disorder, is a psychological disorder that occurs after a person experiences extreme situations.
No matter how quietly Han Li hid it, the symptoms only gradually subsided after a few years.
Precisely because he did not trust his own memory very much, he was in a dilemma and hesitant.
Han Li frowned. The pain deep in his head was looming, and the slight pricking sensation made it difficult for him to concentrate.
A feeling of fatigue like a tsunami came over him, and his whole body was aching from overexertion. The weariness spreading from the depths of his soul eroded his body.
Maybe I should go to bed early tonight.
He pinched his nose, closed the documents on the table, and walked out of the study.
After just two days of peace, the nightmare came back again.
Like an incurable disease, it took root deep in Han Li's brain, ingrained and following him like a shadow.
Han Li knew he was dreaming, but he couldn't wake up and was forced to watch the vivid scenes before his eyes.
It feels like being an eyewitness and also like being a bystander.
He saw his younger self sitting woodenly in a wheelchair, being pushed out of the door of the Han family's main residence. Behind him, he heard the servants' deliberately lowered voices talking:
"... The Han family does not allow a disabled person to become an heir..." "What about him?" "I heard that he will be sent to a remote town to be raised." "Poor child, it is said that his grandfather's family..."
"Hush, he's looking over here."
Low whispers spread around his ears and body, like a tangible black shadow covering and burying him deeply. Even if he closed his eyes and blocked his ears, he could not escape those tiny whispers:
Pitiful.
Disabled.
My mother died, the Han family didn't want me anymore, and my grandfather's family went bankrupt.
Poor, poor, poor...
The scenes in the dream and the real experiences were mixed together, making it almost impossible for Han Li to distinguish which was real and which was an illusion.
He saw himself becoming silent and closed, never talking about his life experience, immersed in loneliness, and rejecting everyone.
Han Li felt extremely angry.
So stupid, so cowardly, so ignorant.
He wanted to rush to the smaller version of himself and punch him hard: There is a hidden reason behind your mother's death! Someone planned your kidnapping! Wake up, you self-pitying idiot, the most important thing you should do now is to make all those responsible pay the price, instead of clinging to your old ways and being a self-pitying wretch.
Han Li broke free from the shackles of the nightmare.
It was dark outside the window, and the room was shrouded in a haziness between dusk and dawn.
He was panting, and his sweat-soaked pajamas stuck tightly to his back, giving him a strange feeling of cold and sticky.
Han Li buried his face in his palms, his chest heaving. The anger he felt in his dream still dominated his emotions, making it difficult for him to calm down.
There was a dull burning pain like a needle prick in the head.
Han Li took a deep breath, lifted the quilt and walked into the bathroom.
As the warm water rushed down from above his head, he suddenly realized -
This dream was different from the usual ones. He did not see the scene of himself being kidnapped and disabled over and over again. Instead, he saw... what happened next.
Han Li turned on the shower head and raised his hand to wipe the water stains off his face. His dark eyes blended in perfectly with the night.
He had a feeling that the dreams he had were perhaps another possibility.
about…
What would his world be like if the man from his childhood had not appeared.