Lin Huai brought Li Liner and Li Caier’s corpse out of the parlor. The most important thing now was to bury Li Caier. Li Caier’s corpse was brought away by the undertakers, and Lin Huai and Li Liner followed suit.
Lin Huai and Li Liner were the only ones left in the morgue. Under normal circumstances, there would be a lot of autopsy that needed to be done. However in Li Caier’s case, despite unnatural causes of death, there was no autopsy needed and everything was kept to the minimum. That was because Thunder God was emperor of Chengbei District and did not allow the police to interfere with the matter. Therefore, the arrangement for Li Caier’s funeral was simplified. Li Liner sat in a corner, in a daze whereas Lin Huai was busy dealing with the funeral arrangements. By the time he was done, he went to check on Li Liner who was in a daze next to the coffin.
Lin Huai sighed and said, “Liner, I know you are upset and sad but there is nothing you can do to change what happened. My condolences to you.”
“Brother Huai, my sister was pushed to death. You know that. It’s your Big Boss Lei who caused her death,” Li Liner said so with a cold and solemn voice.
Lin Huai had the same resentment for Thunder God but he gently sighed and said, “I know…”
“Brother Huai, I know you are not to be blamed. You are a kind person but at the end of the day you are in the same gang… You don’t have to take care of me anymore. Thank you but from now on let me walk down my own path.”
Lin Huai hesitated but ultimately chose to walk over. He gently hugged Li Liner’s shoulders. She wanted to squirm away but eventually could not bring herself to do so. If it was not for Lin Huai, she would not have been able to leave that horrendous place. Deep down she was still extremely grateful for what Lin Huai did for her.
Lin Huai hugged her and with a sigh he said, “I have promised your sister that I would take good care of you in the future. Therefore I can’t go. Not only that, didn’t you say that you wanted to be together with me in the future? I agree with that…”
“But now I don’t feel like it.”
“Do you hate me?” Lin Huai stared seriously at Li Liner and continued asking, “Did you start to hate me because of this matter?”
Lin Liner cried. She lied on the coffin and burst out crying. “I don’t know. I have no idea whether I should hate you or not. This has nothing to do with you. I know you are a kind person, a very kind person. But-But you are a henchman of Big Boss Lei. He is the murderer who killed my sister. I have no idea how I am going to face you from now on. I am going to seek revenge on Big Boss Lei. I will report this to the police.”
Lin Huai sighed and said, “Do you think that would work? Your sister killed herself by smashing her head into the wall. At most Big Boss Lei would be a customer looking for a prostitute. These kinds of small problems would be easily resolved by him. Do you think that reporting to the police would work?”
“Then I will kill him and seek revenge for my sister.”
Lin Huai sighed and said, “I know you want to seek revenge but in order to do that, you have to take good care of yourself first. If you can’t even take good care of yourself, how are you going to seek revenge for your sister?”
Li Liner sobbed. “Do you know that me and my sister have always been close? My sister used to take such good care of me. Although she was born a few minutes earlier than me, she always treated me like a younger sister. She would take care of me in everything and always gave in to me. In my household, my father passed away, my mother did not love us, so my sister was the only family member I had!”
“I know, I know!” Lin Huai sighed and hugged Li Liner. Then he said, “I will be your family in the future. I would take good care of you and make sure that you will not be bullied by anyone.”
“I feel so sad and upset. I really want to chop and dice Big Boss Le into pieces but I know I can’t do that. I am just an ordinary girl that is weak. I can’t do anything and I am useless.”
Lin Huai said, “Don’t say that about yourself. I guarantee someday in the future…”
Lin Huai suddenly leaned in close to Li Liner’s ears and whispered, “Eventually someday in the future, you will have the opportunity to seek revenge.”
Li Liner trembled and stared at Lin Huai in shock. Lin Huai shook his head and sighed. He said, “Believe me and stay by me side alright?”
“I… Alright.”
Lin Huai heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Okay. If you wish to continue crying then go ahead. However after that, you have to stay strong. How are you going to seek revenge if you fall sick?”
Li Liner leaned onto Lin Huai and burst out crying again.
After a long time, Li Liner’s voice went hoarse and her eyes were swollen. Only then did she stop crying.
Lin Huai wiped the tears off her eyes and asked, “Are you done crying?”
“Yup.”
“Then you have to become stronger.”
“Alright.” Li Liner agreed with Lin Huai. However she no longer had the cute and innocent look on her anymore.
Lin Huai’s heart ached and he sighed. “Let me help you handle the funeral arrangements of your sister. However, there are certain things you have to stay strong for. You have to tell your mother about it. No matter what, she is still your mother. Now that your sister passed away, she should come over and pay her respect.”
Li Liner shook her head and indifferently said, “She’s the one that forced my sister onto this path and her death. She has no right to come over and see my sister for the last time.”
Lin Huai’s heart ached. This was such a huge blow to Li Liner. It was so bad that it caused a change in her personality. However, Lin Huai believed that deep down, Li Liner was still a kind person. The only reason she changed was because she was done with her mother.
Lin Huai thought about it and sighed. “Alright then. We shall deal with the funeral arrangements together.”
Li Liner looked at Lin Huai and said, “Brother Huai, thank you.”
Lin Huai shook his head.
Li Liner said, “Be it whether I get to seek revenge in the future or not, I would still like to thank you. If it wasn’t for you, I might have ended up in the same situation as my sister … My sister… Sigh.”
Lin Huai sighed and said, “It’s okay, let’s not talk about this anymore. Don’t be sad. At the very least, your sister passed away in peace. Although it was hard on her, you have to continue to live happily, if your sister would not be able to rest in peace. Didn’t you see that the person she was most worried and concerned about was you before she died?”
“Yes.” Li Liner nodded. Although she felt sad, at least she had vented out all her emotions. Now she was feeling much better.
Next up, they both discussed the funeral arrangements. Lin Huai planned to accompany Li Liner to stand guard by the coffin that night. Today was a Sunday and classes would commence on the following day. However, Lin Huai had no plans to return to college and planned to temporarily keep his status as a student. That was because he was going to be by Thunder God’s side to help him in the future and also to go undercover. That way he would be able to seek Thunder God’s criminal evidence. As for the college, as long as Thunder God keeps his hand away, there would not be any serious matter occurring.
However, there was another thing that had to be resolved. Thunder God mentioned that he would arrange a meeting with the West Heavenly King within the next three days. Under such circumstances, Lin Huai would not be able to find time to make it. In order to prevent agitating Li Liner any further, he left the funeral parlour before giving Thunder God a call. He narrated the situation to Thunder God. “Big Boss Lei, I am afraid I will not be free for the next two days. Can you arrange the meeting to be held three days later instead?”
Thunder God replied, “Fine. I will give you a few more days. Five days later I will host a meal downtown. I will help to resolve the issues between you and West Heavenly King. By then, you would owe me two huge favours.”
Lin Huai knew the favors were because of Li Liner’s incident as well as the West Heavenly King situation. Under such circumstances, even if Lin Huai wanted Thunder God dead, he could not reveal such emotions. He quickly replied, “Yes, Big Boss Lei. Thank you and I would die for you in the future.”
“Haha, there is no need for that. Just focus on helping me. Alright, I am going to hang up.”
“Alright.”
Thunder God did not seem like he was in a good mood. Clearly, the fact that Lin Huai brought Li Liner away had caused some tension between him and Thunder God.
However, Lin Huai was not bothered as it did not interfere with his mission of going undercover. Nonetheless, he had planned on helping Li Liner no matter what, even if he had to go up against Thunder God. Fortunately, even if Thunder God looked like he had a bad temper, as a matter of fact he was cunning and strategic. In order to dominate and unite all the forces within Chengbei, he actually tolerated all my aggressive behaviors over the past few incidents. He is such a scary person.
Lin Huai returned to the morgue and chatted with Li Liner. She was not in a good condition at the moment. Thus, after chatting for a short while, Lin Huai chose to accompany her in silence.
The next morning, Lin Huai left to purchase breakfast. When he returned, he passed food over to Li Liner and said, “Liner, no matter what, you should have something to eat. Otherwise if you fall sick, who is going to seek revenge for your sister?”
At first Li Liner had no appetite but after hearing what Lin Huai said, she kept her tears and ate the food—a steamed bun and a cup of soy bean milk.
Lin Huai heaved a sigh of relief. Although Li Liner was depressed, it was certainly normal. As long as Li Liner could still eat and drink, she would eventually recover. Therefore, Lin Huai was not too worried about her at the moment.
When Li Liner was done with her meal, Lin Huai said, “You stayed up the whole night, go and take a nap first. You can replace me in the afternoon.”
Li Liner shook her head and said, “I can’t seem to fall asleep.”
Lin Huai retorted, “But if you don’t sleep, I wouldn’t be able to sleep as well. Do you want me to collapse from staying up with you all night without sleeping?”
Li Liner hesitated but eventually she stood up. Lin Huai heaved a sigh of relief and said, “That’s right. There is a bed in the room next door. Go and have a short nap, I will wake you up later.”
Li Liner sighed and said, “Alright. Brother Huai, thank you.”
In a gentle voice, Lin Huai said, “You are welcome. Ever since I brought you out from there, I was going to protect you no matter what. There is no such thing as exhausting or tiring to me. Go ahead and take a nap.”
“Thank you.” Li Liner looked at Lin Huai in appreciation before slowly walking out.
Lin Huai took a seat next to the coffin and looked at Li Caier’s corpse which had turned pale. He could not help but sigh. He could never forget the fearful look on Li Caier’s face. That scene had been embedded deeply into Lin Huai’s mind and it was impossible to be eradicated.