Captured By The Cold Detective (BL)-Chapter 592: Flashback (1)

Zhong Yun stumbled over his words at first, too overwhelmed by his emotions to form a coherent sentence. But the more he spoke, the smoother his words became, and He Juan gradually pieced together the story of his life.

Soon after Mu Yuze manifested as an omega, Zhong Yun had been forced to change schools because his parents got divorced. His father was discovered to have sire a bastard outside, and his mother, an independent business woman, immediately signed the divorce papers, packed their belongings and took Zhong Yun away with her. Alas, because of how busy she usually was, Zhong Yun was left under the care of his maternal grandmother.

Feeling bad for his mother who had to become the sole breadwinner of the family, Zhong Yun decided to pause his education after completing high school and opted to work and gather money first so he could afford the university tuition on his own. At first, he had wanted to open a dojo like his master, but it was proven extremely difficult with his young age and lack of achievement, unlike Song Yun who was an ex-soldier.

In the end, he could only settle on the second thing he was best at— gaming.

He was surprisingly good at it, and he was smart enough to open his own business – acting as an accompanying player to rich yet inexperienced players, or offering his services to level up accounts. He even received a few tempting offers to go professional by various official eSports teams in the country, but he eventually decided against it because he did not want to leave his old and frail grandmother home alone.

When Zhong Yun finally managed to gather quite a huge sum of money, the desire to pursue further education had long faded, and it’s not like his mother cared enough about him to fuss about it either, as she was more focused on her own career.

And thus Zhong Yun continued his leisurely yet mundane life.

When his grandmother finally passed away of old age three years ago, he moved out of the house he was living in and went back to his hometown, Yuyang City. The relationship between mother and son became more estranged as time went on, and Zhong Yun wouldn’t take the initiative to contact his father either because the man had soon married his mistress and lived happily with his new family.

At the age of twenty two, Zhong Yun was alone as he contemplated his future, unsure whether he wanted to enter university or try to become a pro-gamer. Sure, his life might be a little boring, but he did not think that he was lonely.

Until a man stumbled into his life.

It was an ordinary morning like any other when Zhong Yun met him for the very first time. He had just moved into his newly rented apartment, and there was this breakfast stall he liked to visit almost every single day. However, on that particular day, Zhong Yun belatedly realized he had forgotten to bring his wallet only after the vendor had prepared his order.

"Shit," Zhong Yun cursed under his breath as he patted his pockets and found nothing inside, not even his phone.

"What the matter, young man?"

"Um..." Zhong Yun scratched his head, grimacing. His mind quickly raced up a solution. "Sorry, Uncle. Can you wait here for a while as I run back to—"

Before he could finish, a hand stretched out from behind him to hand over a few bills to the vendor uncle, followed by a gentle voice saying, "Just include his order with mine. Thank you."

Zhong Yun turned in surprise, his mouth ready to refuse the man’s kindness as his apartment was only five minutes walk from the stall, but all the words ended up being stuck in his throat when he saw the other person’s appearance.

He was... beautiful.

It might have been because Zhong Yun had grown accustomed to his father’s bald head and fat belly, or perhaps it was because he had never really socialized with anyone except for his grandma since he would rather lock himself inside the room to earn money, or maybe it was the gentle ray of sunshine that draped over the man’s figure, but Zhong Yun thought that he was the most beautiful man he’d ever seen.

Hell, he did not even realize that he could associate a man with beauty, but at that moment, he couldn’t think of a more fitting description. Unlike Zhong Yun who had come out with messy hair, an unwashed face, and a baggy hoodie he had not changed out of in days, the man looked immaculate with beautifully tousled hair, a blue button-up shirt and black slacks. And he smells good too, Zhong Yun thought in a daze as the man stepped forward to grab both his and Zhong Yun’s order together from the vendor uncle.

"Here," the man handed the plastic bag to him with a warm smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "There’s no need to pay me back, just consider it my treat."

"Oh... oh!" Zhong Yun snapped out of his reverie and hurriedly accepted the plastic bag, stammering, "T–Thank you..."

Their fingers accidentally brushed against each other, and Zhong Yun felt his heart skipping a beat, his ears flushing. What was going on with him? Why did he feel so warm all of a sudden?! Too caught up in his own turmoil, he did not even notice the man’s departure. By the time he jolted back to his senses, the spot where the man had been standing was empty, and he was nowhere to be seen.

Zhong Yun blinked a few times, still replaying their earlier interaction in his mind. Without a warning, he slapped his own forehead, the sound so crisp and loud that the other patrons gave him strange and amused looks. However, Zhong Yun couldn’t afford to care about his image at all because he was too busy cursing himself out.

For real, Zhong Yun? ’Thank you’?! That’s all you could manage?! At least ask for his name, damn it!

Feeling a tad depressed for reasons he had yet to comprehend, Zhong Yun could only turn to the vendor uncle and asked in a dispirited manner, "Uncle, do you know the man who paid for my food earlier?"

He did not expect to get his answers so easily. "Ah, him? He’s a regular here. He comes a few times a week, always orders the same thing. Let me think, what’s his name again...? Oh, that’s right!"

Qin Zhen.

Zhong Yun mouthed the name silently, his heart pounding in his chest. Even those two characters sounded beautiful somehow. A smile crept across his face as he turned and headed back to his apartment, humming a tune. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

At that moment, he still had no idea that the man would become both his greatest blessing and the source of his destruction.