CHAPTER 330: CHAPTER 328 COMPENSATION

"...What did you just say?"

"It was Zhengwei Jing who told me," Qian Yuya declared resolutely, "Zhengwei Jing was my brother’s friend, and Yin Yinyin is the murderer who killed my brother. That’s why he told me about Yin Yinyin."

Le Yu looked like one of those subway uncles staring at their phones, "No way!"

"Why not?" Qian Yuya shot back, "Are you saying Zhengwei Jing couldn’t be my brother’s friend, or that he couldn’t have told me about Yin Yinyin? I’m not making this up. I have a letter from Zhengwei Jing, and he personally admitted that he was my brother’s friend!"

"How is that possible—" Le Yu was about to retort loudly, but suddenly choked up.

There really was such a letter.

The first time he sent money to Qian Yuya, in order for her to accept this ’mysteriously sourced dirty money,’ Le Yu wrote a letter claiming to be a close friend of Qian Yuliu, saying they were so tight they shared a single pair of underwear, and that he was sending money specifically to look after the late friend’s younger sister—urging her to spend it freely, no need to be polite.

But Le Yu hadn’t signed his real name, and deliberately chose anonymous delivery when sending the money. For White Night and Qian Yuya, who were far away in Yanjing, there was no way they could know the money came from Machine Three, unless someone was pulling strings in the background—

Suddenly, memories surged like waves, and the scheming plots of the dead resurfaced: Qin Leyin had long discovered that Zhengwei Jing was secretly sending money to a female student at the Yanjing Imperial Academy, so he dispatched the Four Guards of Yanjing to investigate the girl’s background and see if she could be kidnapped as leverage against Zhengwei Jing...

Predictably, that plan failed; Qian Yuya had White Night’s protection, and the Four Guards of Yanjing returned empty-handed.

"And in the process, it’s likely the Four Guards exposed some info on Zhengwei Jing, like directly asking, ’What’s your relationship with Zhengwei Jing?’ Naturally, Qian Yuya would connect the ’helpful donor’ to Zhengwei Jing!"

This wasn’t some careless slip. Qin Leyin did it on purpose, "Even if he couldn’t catch Qian Yuya, he wanted her to know about Zhengwei Jing—the more Zhengwei Jing tried to hide, the more he wanted to expose his identity."

"Partly for spite, but also just for fun."

In his own words, "Heaven’s will is inescapable."

Qin Leyin really did not bother with anything in the world of the living, but didn’t miss a single beat among the dead.

He understood Qian Yuya’s motives, too. She was deliberately lying to bait Qin Leyin into revealing more intel. No matter if he refuted her or believed her, either way she was bound to learn more. "She simply couldn’t let go of her brother’s death. Whether enemy Yin Yinyin or friend Zhengwei Jing, they’ve both become the only two main-quest key NPCs for her right now."

But she didn’t realize how ridiculous it all was, "She was telling Machine Four that Machine Three had told her something about Machine Two."

"I’m tired," Le Yu suddenly said coldly, "It’s late, Miss Qian Yuya, you should leave."

"No problem," Qian Yuya stood up and replied, "As long as you, Teacher Hongle, don’t mind me loudly asking you these questions in the cafeteria or the classroom next time, I can set aside my concerns for now."

"As for Zhengwei Jing’s story, I’ll cover it in detail during upcoming lessons. There’s no need to be so anxious—"

"You know me!"

Qian Yuya stood, facing Le Yu, completely unafraid to meet his gaze, "You knew me long before Qin Yueshi did. You know Yin Yinyin, Zhengwei Jing... and you even know Qian Yuliu!"

Qian Yuya waited for Le Yu to argue, but all he did was watch her quietly.

"A sudden, overwhelming joy filled her chest. She had only been fishing for info, and by pure luck, she actually got a real answer—"

"What are you hoping for, Qian Yuya?" Le Yu sneered, "You ask one question, I answer one? You think the world revolves around you, or are you thinking there’s some secret blood tie deeper than the usual student-teacher stuff between us?"

"If you don’t mind—"

"I don’t mind; say whatever you want out there." Le Yu shook his head, "It seems you’ve misunderstood something. As an outsider, I’ve got nothing much to worry about here in Yanjing. Whatever you don’t care about, I don’t care about either. Leave. I don’t have the answers you’re looking for."

"All main quests come to an end eventually, except when it came to Le Yu—he was an endless chain quest. He had no intention of taking Qian Yuya as a permanent party member. Her Chapter had already finished; her ending CG was the image of her dragging her suitcase onto a train, with a caption reading, ’From then on, she lived the life she wanted.’"

"The decision of Machine One was not something Machine Four planned to violate. Now that Bai Yu was even dead, Le Yu didn’t need to pull her into the Radiant Four Guards. From then on, whether the fallen leaves in the endless woods, heading west beyond the sunlit pass to a place without friends, or rain-washed bones and bloodstained remains, or cold moon over yellow sand graves—all of it had nothing to do with Qian Yuya."

He was even about to cut the last ties with the Qin siblings, so he certainly wasn’t going to get tangled up with Qian Yuya again.

Ruining one life—Qing Lan’s—was more than enough for him.

"What will make you tell me, then?" Qian Yuya showed no sign of giving up.

"The way you’re asking, you’d think you really have some leverage over me," Le Yu laughed, "You’re just a regular student who hasn’t even graduated. What resources do you have that I could possibly want?"

To be fair, in terms of cash, Qian Yuya’s current fortune couldn’t even match Le Yu’s pocket change; in terms of power, Le Yu was way ahead of her now.

Not to be rude, but even Qin Leyin, if he did a cross-dress cosplay, could be thirstier than her.

Even though Qian Yuya had grown up a lot, just a little over half a year was nowhere near enough for her to truly evolve.

Their positions were completely unequal. Normally, she should have tried to raise Le Yu’s affection points first, then find an opportunity to fish for intel, not just barge into his place on the same night she got his address in the afternoon. "If Le Yu could be broken through this easily, he might as well smash his own head in with a brick."

But Qian Yuya wasn’t careless. Before coming, she’d already estimated her odds at thirty percent. Even if she failed, she’d only be back to square one. If she succeeded, though, she’d peel back layer upon layer of fog. "Worst case, Qin Leyin would hate her, but she had some strange sixth sense—"

"She just knew Qin Leyin would never hate her!"

"There was no logic, but she trusted her gut!"

"Why are you so unwilling to talk to me about Zhengwei Jing and Yin Yinyin? On the eve of Star Engraving Night, my brother sent me away. Zhengwei Jing would only support me in secret. They were both working to push me further away because they were all in danger—they didn’t want me anywhere near it."

"And that’s exactly how it turned out. Star Engraving Night, the Dongyang incident... and then they both came to a bad end."

"This sounds like I somehow inherited part of Detective Conan’s grim reaper powers, bringing disaster wherever I go."

"Is that why you don’t want to tell me? For the same reason?" Qian Yuya asked seriously, "You’re also at the Imperial Academy for some dangerous mission, and you don’t want me getting involved, so you stay quiet?"

"No, I just don’t want you causing trouble for me." Le Yu sighed, "Qian Yuya, you really do have a wild imagination. I hope you can use it to write something, instead of indulging in this kind of self-satisfying daydream. Please go. Or do you want me to drag you out after I finish my shower?"

Having seen how Le Yu had subdued two students with a single gesture that afternoon, Qian Yuya was well aware of the gap in strength between them, and pleaded quietly, "You really can’t tell me? Not even a little bit of truth, or answer just one question..."

Le Yu rolled up his sleeves, "Do you prefer the ’Wild Goose Lands with Its Butt Out’ pose, or the ’Big Character Flattened Out’ pose?"

"Aren’t you Zhengwei Jing’s friend?" Qian Yuya made one final struggle, her eyes shining as she looked at Le Yu, "Zhengwei Jing was Qian Yuliu’s friend, and I’m Qian Yuliu’s sister, so by extension, doesn’t that make me your friend’s sister, right? So could you—"

"Your premise is wrong," Le Yu interrupted coldly, "I’m not Zhengwei Jing’s friend."

Just as Qian Yuya was about to get bold and challenge the dungeon solo, someone knocked at the door outside.

Le Yu blinked in surprise, and Qian Yuya instantly turned and darted into the bedroom, "Probably not a good look if someone finds me in your room. I’ll leave after you deal with your visitor."

Stalling for time... The moment Qian Yuya wagged her tail, Le Yu knew what she was up to—just buying a little extra time to figure out how to break his defenses. Seeing Qian Yuya be so crafty only strengthened Le Yu’s resolve to spank her into next week—honestly, it surprised him too; Qian Yuya was never this stubborn before, and just now, she almost seemed like she was trying to act cute for him.

"Even Qian Yuya has learned to play the cute card... Is this what growing up means?"

Le Yu had barely opened the door before the guest swept into the living room and dropped into a chair, glaring at Le Yu with obvious displeasure before turning away and snorting coldly.

"Don’t you ever clean up?" Qin Yueshi looked around, "Without second brother to help with housework, you let the place go like this? And you still want to be emperor... What are you staring at?"

Qin Yueshi suddenly noticed Le Yu staring at her with an intense gaze. She shivered, a chill running down her spine.

But Le Yu simply let out a long breath, "Seeing your truly ugly little sister side, for some reason, it just feels so comforting..."

"...Just you wait!" Qin Yueshi’s knuckles popped as her fist clenched, that all-too-familiar feeling coming back—earlier, when they were in public, her brother had seemed reserved, talking so tactfully it didn’t sound quite right. Sure enough, the moment it was just them, his first words had her fired up again.

"Did Senior Qian come here to see you?" Qin Yueshi cut straight to the chase.

After dinner, the more she thought about it, the weirder it seemed. Qian Yuya was always one for swift action, and she might just try to find Qin Leyin that very night. To avoid any unnecessary deaths, she decided to come warn her brother first.

"...If I’m not misunderstanding, you’re saying you gave her my address." Le Yu raised an eyebrow, "How much did you get for it? Isn’t it fair if I get half?"

"She told me she wanted to thank you privately for how you looked after her in class, what was I supposed to do?" Qin Yueshi said, "I’ll tell you about Qin Leyin, but with Senior Qian, she’s my friend, so don’t cross any lines."

Le Yu wanted to say, "What if I do, what can you even do about it," but remembering that Qian Yuya was eavesdropping, he obediently nodded, "No problem."

Her brother being so obedient was a bit weird for Qin Yueshi, but she hadn’t just come for that, "Qin Leyin, I already know why you really came to teach at the Imperial Academy."

Le Yu lifted a brow, "Brat, what exactly do you know?"

"You think I’m bluffing?" Qin Yueshi sneered, "Radiant Celestial Maiden, the throne struggle—isn’t that it?"

That’s not wrong, but... Le Yu felt something was off, and asked, "You know, so what?"

"...If you need help, I’ll help you." Qin Yueshi said, "Even if I don’t like your methods, at least you’re doing it for us."

"You let me transfer into the Imperial Academy so I could be useful, right? You never make investments that don’t pay off."

"...Or maybe as compensation." Le Yu conveyed original Qin Leyin’s idea, "After Zhengwu Jing’s death, big brother wasn’t going to admit fault, but he didn’t want you to take all the loss either. Arranging for you to study at the Imperial Academy, to start over and meet new people—that was his apology to you."

"Compensation? You think everything in the world can be traded on a scale?" Qin Yueshi’s face instantly turned nasty, "If someone’s dead, how do you compensate for that? Oh, so you mean teaching this class is also compensation? That’s your apology to Zhengwei Jing?"

Le Yu sensed something was off and quickly said, "You should go—"

"Are you running away? Maybe others can’t tell, but you think I can’t?" Qin Yueshi felt she had found a chink in her brother’s armor. After being roasted by him for so long, there was no way she’d let it slide, "Establishing a course to study him, spreading his philosophy, compiling his ideology, repeating his name over and over... It sure looks like you truly saw him as a friend."

"Zhengwei Jing was not my friend—"

"Yeah, no question," Qin Yueshi sneered, "Because you’re the one who killed Zhengwei Jing with your own hands!"

"Behind the bedroom door, Qian Yuya was unknowingly biting her right hand, eyes gleaming ever brighter—like a moth in the darkness, finally finding a burning flame."