Our Entire Family Has Secrets [Transmigrated] - Chapter 17
Separated by the door, a faint yet distinct smell of blood seeped out from inside.
Yuan Bozhu frowned.
Honestly, he had been prepared for a prank.
Lin Shuanghuai didn’t seem like someone who would easily get into trouble.
He was intelligent, perceptive, adept at disguises, and particularly skilled at keeping himself in a perfect state at all times.
Such a person, theoretically, should be good at handling unexpected situations.
Yuan Bozhu had been trying all along to find a plausible reason for Lin Shuanghuai’s late-night call.
But the undeniable scent of blood suggested that perhaps Lin Shuanghuai really needed help.
Even though Yuan Bozhu still didn’t understand why Lin Shuanghuai hadn’t sought help from family or friends but had come to him instead.
He rang the doorbell, but no one came to answer.
Yuan Bozhu waited outside quietly for a while.
He could hear faint movements inside—
The sound of water.
Probably from someone showering.
Although he didn’t understand why the person had started showering only after he had rang the doorbell.
Yuan Bozhu gave him five minutes.
When he rang the doorbell again, there was a flurry of hurried activity inside.
The sound of bare feet on the floor, muffled.
Rapid and restless breathing, light yet chaotic.
Then the opening and closing of the wardrobe, the faint rustle of clothes.
Followed by a thud—
A fall.
He heard Lin Shuanghuai gasp for breath.
One could imagine how busy Lin Shuanghuai must have been in his limited one-bedroom apartment during this short time.
Having good hearing wasn’t always a good thing; the previously quiet environment suddenly seemed lively to Yuan Bozhu.
Soon, the door was pulled open.
Yuan Bozhu had expected the person opening the door to look disheveled, perhaps covered in wounds or blood.
But neither was the case.
Lin Shuanghuai was dressed in a clean set of home clothes, a warm shade of orange, with an unusual red cast reflected on his face in the light.
His hair was wrapped in a thick towel, droplets of water trickling down, moistening his eyelashes, nose, chin, sliding down his slender neck into unseen depths.
Despite appearing freshly showered, there was no warmth emanating from him.
Perhaps he had used cold water.
“Yuan, you’re here,”
Lin said with that familiar smile.
His breathing already flawless as usual.
Yuan Bozhu’s expression remained neutral, showing neither curiosity nor concern about what secrets Lin Shuanghuai might have hidden in those few minutes.
“Hmm,” he replied, standing at the doorway and handing Lin Shuanghuai the scissors he had asked for.
Lin Shuanghuai glanced at them, then took them in his hands, saying, “Thank you, it’s really troublesome for you. Come on in and have a seat, I’ll pour you some water.”
Before Yuan Bozhu could refuse, Lin Shuanghuai opened the door wider and went to fetch water himself.
Yuan Bozhu wasn’t used to entering other people’s homes.
But Lin Shuanghuai’s place couldn’t yet be called a home.
The living room only had a sofa, with a small stool serving as a makeshift coffee table, holding only three scattered keys and an access card for the community gate. There were some recently removed traces on the walls, perhaps left by the previous tenant or landlord who had taken down some old items, making the place look messy and empty.
It was clear that Lin Shuanghuai had moved in not long ago.
Even the air carried a stale and desolate scent, which didn’t match Lin Shuanghuai’s character.
The bathroom door was tightly shut, and Yuan Bozhu wondered if there were secrets inside that Lin Shuanghuai didn’t want him to see.
Did Lin Shuanghuai kill someone?
But even if he did, what was the point of calling him?
They weren’t close enough to cover up each other’s crimes.
Yuan Bozhu glanced in that direction inexplicably.
Perhaps that was the reason why Lin Shuanghuai suddenly decided to hide—to finally realize, after sobering up, that Yuan Bozhu couldn’t help him dispose of a body.
Lin Shuanghuai approached him with the water and noticed Yuan Bozhu’s gaze directed towards the bathroom. Concerned, he asked, “Do you need to use the bathroom? I just moved in today and haven’t tidied up yet, it’s messy inside. If you don’t mind, I can—”
“No need,”
Yuan Bozhu interrupted, withdrawing his gaze and looking at Lin Shuanghuai.
Lin handed him the glass of water, and he took it.
Accidentally touched Lin Shuanghui’s fingers.
Just as cold as imagined.
At Lin Shuanghui’s invitation, Yuan Bozhu sat on the old sofa that didn’t match Lin Shuanghui’s temperament.
He wasn’t thirsty, but still took a sip of water, then asked, “What’s the matter?”
Lin Shuanghui’s expression looked very apologetic, folding his hands together in a pleading gesture, saying, “I really trouble you to make a trip. You see, Yuan, I just moved here today, and then I found… it’s haunted here.”
“…”
Yuan Bozhu raised his eyelids silently, looking at him for a while.
He calculated that he took a taxi over, just over ten minutes.
It still wasn’t enough time for Lin Shuanghuai to come up with a better excuse.
Haunted?
What a messy excuse.
Yuan Bozhu found it difficult to even pretend. To fit into normal logic, he reasonably questioned, “Ghosts?”
“Yes, very scary.”
Lin Shuanghuai sat down beside Yuan Bozhu with a worried expression, “Don’t laugh at me, I’m easily scared.”
How could he be easily scared.
Yuan Bozhu thought, you can even say such nonsense, you must have quite a strong nerve.
“Yuan, I know you must be curious why I didn’t ask someone else and insisted on asking you?”
Lin Shuanghuai suddenly leaned forward, the distance between the two was just a fist’s width apart.
The water cup in Yuan Bozhu’s hand trembled slightly.
He slowly raised his hand, pressed the water cup against Lin Shuanghuai’s forehead, and pushed him away with a little force.
Pushed away, Lin Shuanghuai sat up straight obediently, saying, “Because Yuan, you look very masculine.”
“…” Yuan Bozhu listened to his fabrication.
“People with strong positive energy should be able to overcome ghosts, right? Anyway, that’s what I think.” Lin Shuanghuai’s face showed no sign of embarrassment, he spoke brazenly,
“Yuan, you are the most stable and reassuring person I’ve ever met. I thought, with you here, the ghosts definitely wouldn’t dare to come close.”
Listening to nonsense at home, then coming here to listen to Lin Shuanghuai’s blatant lies with eyes wide open.
Yuan Bozhu inexplicably thought: I wonder who’s better at fabricating, Lin Shuanghuai or those two at home.
But Lin Shuanghuai’s intentions were still unclear. Compared to the understandable disguises of Yuan Qifeng and Yuan Wanjiao, Yuan Bozhu decided to punish this dishonest person a bit.
Without a word, he stood up— the smell of blood came from behind a certain door.
Yuan Bozhu placed the water cup aside, looked at Lin Shuanghuai faintly, and said, “I’ll go to the bathroom for a moment.”
Then he turned and walked away.
This sudden movement scared Lin Shuanghuai so much that he almost fell off the sofa. He hurriedly rushed over and grabbed his hand.
“Don’t!”
That pretentious demeanor finally revealed a flaw, Lin Shuanghuai’s face turned pale in an instant.
Yuan Bozhu turned back to look at him, wondering if this punishment was too harsh.
Lin Shuanghuai looked like he was about to be scared to death.
In a flash, the water pipes burst, the toilet clogged, the light bulb burned out…
A series of excuses flashed through Lin Shuanghuai’s mind.
In the end, he said, “There’s a ghost inside.”
Yuan Bozhu: “…”
Very well, unrepentant.
“Okay.” Yuan Bozhu walked towards the tightly closed door without changing his expression, “Let me take a look.”
He could indeed act as if he were blind or stupid, pretending not to know anything.
But who could guarantee that Lin Shuanghuai wouldn’t try the same trick again?
Being a fool also had risks.
Once regarded as someone who could be easily dismissed, he would often face such situations in the future.
Yuan Bozhu went straight to the bathroom.
He only intended to give a warning, not actually go in.
Revealing someone else’s secrets wasn’t a good thing.
It only added trouble.
This matter requires a delicate balance—
Making Lin Shuanghuai feel he can get away with it, yet not allowing him to believe he’s easily dismissed.
“Yuan Bozhu!”
The warning was effective; Lin Shuanghuai panicked and called out the name directly.
Yuan Bozhu intentionally paused his steps, giving him the opportunity to rush in front and block him.
Everything was going according to plan.
Lin Shuanghuai ran up to him and forcefully extended his hands to push against him.
The timing was just right.
He guessed that Lin Shuanghuai would come up with a seemingly reasonable but actually nonsensical excuse next, to explain why he couldn’t go to the bathroom.
All Yuan Bozhu needed to do was nod along with his words.
However, there was a minor incident.
Lin Shuanghuai ran too hastily, with too much force, causing the towel wrapped around his head to inevitably lose its perfect cover.
It tilted.
Then it came loose.
Yuan Bozhu saw his long black hair, wet and falling down to his waist. Under the light, this black color shimmered with a tinge of brown.
Wait, long hair?
Yuan Bozhu began to doubt his memory.
As a few droplets of water splashed onto Yuan Bozhu’s hand during the falling process, he thought, it wasn’t his memory that was at fault.
It was Lin Shuanghuai who had a problem.
Both of them fell silent.
After a while, Lin Shuanghuai raised his head with a solemn expression, looking at Yuan Bozhu, and squeezed out the last lie from between his lips with great difficulty, “I, just got this wig, cool, huh…”
Perhaps even Lin Shuanghuai himself felt it was absurd, and he had anticipated Yuan Bozhu’s suspicion. So, after saying this, he buried his head deeply.
His hands also retreated from Yuan Bozhu’s chest, silently gathering his long hair and futilely hugging his own hair ends.
To believe or not to believe depended entirely on Yuan Bozhu’s judgment.
He wouldn’t make things more complicated.
“The school will deduct points,” Yuan Bozhu said.
“Oh.” Lin Shuanghuai, with a blank expression, raised his chin again, looking at Yuan Bozhu for a moment as if trying to discern if he had misheard.
Then, finally, he smiled slowly and said, “Right, points will be deducted, so I asked you to help bring scissors; I want to cut it off.”
Yuan Bozhu nodded.
He walked back to the sofa, picked up the unopened scissors, glanced back at Lin Shuanghuai, and said, “Shall I help you?”
“Okay.” Lin Shuanghuai wiped away the itchiness on his cheek, whether it was sweat or water droplets, and trotted to Yuan Bozhu’s side, nodding. “You help me.”
In the world of the book, everything followed its predetermined plot, with those characters recorded in black and white having their fixed life trajectories.
Since the first day he crossed into this world, Yuan Bozhu had been very clear—
He didn’t need a prearranged story ending.
Fortunately, Yuan Bozhu and his family were just insignificant cannon fodder in the book. Their lives didn’t follow any rules.
Although ten years later, Yuan Qifeng and Yuan Wanjiao appeared in the protagonist’s file as two insignificant and cold names in the “Rare Species Death Registration Report.”
And Yuan Jilang and Zhang Shu, for unknown reasons, one was imprisoned in the Alliance Prison, and the other was deported to their hometown planet.
But at least, at this moment, their stories had nothing to do with him.
For eighteen years, Yuan Bozhu had only done one thing: to guard his and his family’s ordinary and plain lives, staying away from anyone or anything that might be related to the main storyline.
Indeed, he was a rather successful guardian and risk evader.
He remembered the names and identities of every important character in the original text, their first appearances, and their permanent exits. He remembered the beginning, middle, and end of the story, and the crises that erupted.
After cutting off a strand of Lin Shuanghuai’s long hair, Yuan Bozhu was quite sure:
The name Lin Shuanghuai had never appeared before in the original text.
The protagonist in the original text was still a mischievous child in primary school this year, far removed from Yuan Bozhu, never having had any interaction with him.
As for the other characters and plotlines related to the main storyline, most of them did not have their past background stories introduced, so Yuan Bozhu could not confirm where they were dispersed this year.
But Lin Shuanghuai probably wasn’t an important character.
Yuan Bozhu tried to recall for a long time but couldn’t find any clues.
Perhaps just like the original “Yuán Bózhú,” Lin Shuanghuai was nothing more than a cannon fodder, not worthy of mention.
“Yuan, is this okay?”
Lin Shuanghuai glanced at the scattered hair on the ground, feeling indifferent about the scissors.
He encouraged Yuan Bozhu, “It’s okay, just boldly cut. It… will grow back quickly.”
“Mm.”
Yuan Bozhu agreed and grabbed Lin Shuanghuai’s hair from behind, but the scissors didn’t fall.
He felt that with his skill, if he made the cut, Lin Shuanghuai would probably be dethroned from his position as the school’s heartthrob.
Suddenly, a hand reached over his arm.
And took away the scissors.
Before Yuan Bozhu could react to what the other person was going to do, he saw Lin Shuanghuai ruthlessly snip-snip a few times, cutting the hair into a mess.
After discarding those parts that no longer belonged to him, Lin Shuanghuai turned around to face Yuan Bozhu.
He blinked and handed the scissors over again, saying, “Help me trim the front, Yuan. I can’t see it myself.”
Yuan Bozhu rarely looked closely at anyone’s face.
Because for him, remembering someone was equivalent to getting involved with them.
But now he had to look, he had to help Lin Shuanghuai manage his bangs.
Luckily, Lin Shuanghuai had a face that could handle disorder well, and his hairstyle seemed to be just an embellishment to him.
Even in this messy state, he didn’t look bad.
Yuan Bozhu moved the scissors slowly.
From the scattered hair falling like a waterfall, Lin Shuanghuai looked at him with half-open eyes.
“Yuan, I’m glad it’s you I asked for help today.”
Lin Shuanghuai said so abruptly.
Yuan Bozhu had little reaction, “Is that so?”
“Yuan is gentle and considerate,” Lin Shuanghuai smiled, “very reassuring.”
Considerate?
Of course.
Yuan Bozhu never asked what he shouldn’t, and he never should’ve asked.
This was a skill he had mastered over eighteen years.
If Yuan Bozhu couldn’t make a liar believe his lies, then he couldn’t have lived peacefully in this world until now.
Suddenly, Lin Shuanghuai pursed his lips, lowered his head unconsciously, and said softly, “Yuan, are we considered frie—”
“Don’t move.”
Yuan Bozhu couldn’t see his face anymore and almost cut a gap in the bangs.
He pressed his knuckles against Lin Shuanghuai’s jaw, slightly lifting his face to confirm the length of the hair from this angle.
He happened to see the stray hair falling on Lin Shuanghuai’s eyelashes, about to poke his eye, so he gently flicked it away with his index finger.
Lin Shuanghuai’s eyelashes trembled with his movement.
He didn’t pay much attention and continued to trim the overgrown hair on the side, casually asking, “What did you just say?”
“…”
Lin Shuanghuai suddenly fell silent.
Yuan Bozhu didn’t wait for more, puzzled, he shifted his gaze from the hair to the face so close to him.
Only to find Lin Shuanghuai’s cheeks were ridiculously red.
His pupils reflected Yuan Bozhu’s indifferent expression, his long eyelashes naturally curled, fluttering like feathers. His eyes seemed to be soaked in a pool of water, rippling in the stillness.
Strange.
Like he was about to cry.
Yuan Bozhu frowned, after a moment of astonishment, he put down the scissors and asked seriously, “Did I cut it too short?”
Lin Shuanghuai suddenly leaned back, distancing himself from Yuan Bozhu, lowering his chin, shaking his head.
He didn’t speak.
Yuan Bozhu wasn’t good at everything.
For instance, he didn’t know why the articulate Lin Shuanghuai suddenly fell silent.
Fortunately, after just a moment, Lin Shuanghuai returned to normal.
He rubbed his burning cheeks and then grabbed a handful of bangs, feeling the length, saying, “It seems fine now.”
Yuan Bozhu didn’t know if it was fine, but since Lin Shuanghuai said so, then the matter seemed to be resolved.
He uttered a sound of agreement, stood up, and said, “Then I’ll leave.”
“Just leaving like this?” Lin Shuanghuai hesitated subconsciously, straightening up as if wanting to catch up with him urgently, saying, “Can you, can you stay a little longer?”
Yuan Bozhu looked at him and asked, “Do you have something else to do?”
Lin Shuanghuai didn’t dare to reveal the true crisis, and Yuan Bozhu naturally wouldn’t press for further questions.
Now was the best time to leave.
He didn’t understand why Lin Shuanghuai wanted him to stay.
“It’s just…” Lin Shuanghuai’s eyes blinked rapidly, and he began to fabricate on the spot in front of Yuan Bozhu, “because I’m still scared of ghosts and don’t dare to be alone.”
“…”
Yuan Bozhu felt like laughing.
This person seemed oblivious to seizing the opportunity. Just now, he was almost exposed, and now he wanted to challenge Yuan Bozhu’s intelligence with these flawed lies.
Two fingers stealthily but openly grabbed Yuan Bozhu’s cuff.
If Yuan Bozhu had a mischievous mind, a statement like “Then let me accompany you to the bathroom to catch ghosts” would have made Lin Shuanghuai panic.
But he didn’t say it after all.
He just honestly told Lin Shuanghuai, “There are no ghosts in this world.”
That was the truth.
The emphasis was on “this world.”
From the perspective of the original text’s worldview setting, ghosts and spirits didn’t exist.
Of course, Lin Shuanghuai didn’t know about this world’s setting, but as someone knowledgeable about science, he also knew there were no ghosts in the world.
He just wanted to keep Yuan Bozhu.
It was a completely unreasonable stubbornness.
He didn’t want to tell Yuan Bozhu the truth, yet secretly hoped Yuan Bozhu would discover it.
He was afraid Yuan Bozhu would know about his eccentricity, yet secretly imagined Yuan Bozhu could soothe his fears.
Long-term self-contradiction made Lin Shuanghuai’s face turn redder.
Suddenly, Yuan Bozhu held his hand.
In the moment their bodies touched, Lin Shuanghuai trembled slightly, his heartbeat accelerating sharply, his breath even becoming erratic, tilting his neck to look at him.
But there was no hint of ambiguity at all.
Yuan Bozhu just casually pulled his cuff away from Lin Shuanghuai’s fingertips.
“Go out to stay or stay here. Let me know your choice,” Yuan Bozhu said, “I’ll leave it up to you.”
He let go of Lin Shuanghuai’s hand, waiting for an answer.
Lin Shuanghuai’s five fingers instinctively clenched, as if trying to retain the warmth he had briefly felt.
“Aren’t you going to accompany me?”
It was a somewhat childish and willful remark. Lin Shuanghuai closed his mouth tightly right after saying it, feeling like he had made a mistake.
He was acting spoiled towards a classmate who was cold and aloof.
Bound to fail.
“Mm.” As expected, Yuan Bozhu calmly explained, “There’s no need for that.”
Lin Shuanghuai displayed a kind of flexibility that could adapt, if he couldn’t keep someone, he wouldn’t.
So he nodded, “Then I’ll just stay at home.”
Yuan Bozhu glanced at him, the answer was expected, he shouldn’t ask further, but still blurted out, “Aren’t you afraid of ghosts?”
“Fear is useless.” Lin Shuanghuai was quite good at adjusting his emotions. He shrugged, “Since Yuan, my classmate, won’t stay with me, I can only coexist with ghosts.”
“Mm.” Yuan Bozhu lightly curved his lips, but then felt it wasn’t the time to smile, “Then, you two get along well.”
Perhaps it was the first-time hearing Yuan Bozhu joke, Lin Shuanghuai widened his eyes in surprise.
But Yuan Bozhu quickly ended the conversation, “I’m leaving.”
As soon as he turned around, Lin Shuanghuai jumped off the sofa, barefoot, and followed behind him.
Until Yuan Bozhu walked out of the house and stood at the elevator entrance, Lin Shuanghuai still stood by the door, watching him.
The elevator arrived at their floor, with a ‘ding.’
As Yuan Bozhu stepped into it, Lin Shuanghuai suddenly spoke at a rapid pace, “Yuan, my classmate, I’ll treat you to lunch tomorrow. Goodbye!”