Chapter 74 - You guys are old enough as it is...

"Wushuang?"

"Fan Wushuang, daughter of President Fan Lei of Fan Entertainment. She was a friend of ours." Han Ye took the last bite from his burger before he said, in between chewing, "She... mysteriously disappeared... during a camping trip with... with her uncle's family."

His tone was a little off when he said "her uncle's family", and Lu Ziyan sensed it. Hence, the latter asked, "You don't think that it's a simple disappearance?"

Han Ye hesitated for a moment before he answered, "I think there's something wrong. Not long ago, she called me and said that her aunt was abusing her. We were supposed to meet up on the next holiday, but then she had to go for this camping trip. Then she disappeared..."

He sighed before he continued, "Her youngest uncle, Fan Chuan, said that she disappeared in the middle of the night and thought that she went out for a walk herself. But I found his explanation to be weird at that time. The Fan Wushuang that I know was afraid of the dark, and it only got worse after her parents passed away, so there was no way she would walk outside by herself… Unless…"

"Someone took her?" Lu Ziyan asked in a serious tone.

Han Ye nodded. "Yeah… Back then, I told the policemen this, but they ignored me… They said that there was no indication that someone broke into the house. My wife, Yuexue, was devastated."

Han Ye took a sip from his cup of water before he added, "See, they had always been closed, and they treated each other as sisters. When Wushuang moved away after her parents' deaths, even though she did not show it, Yuexue was really upset… After the mischievous girl disappeared, we spent even more time together after that, and not long after, we started dating…"

"Wait… Fan Wushuang… Now that you mentioned her, I think I heard of her name before." Lu Ziyan leaned back against his wheelchair and thought for a moment. He then said, "I was really young back then, so I didn't pay much attention to the news but isn't there a piece of news about the Fan brothers fighting not long after she disappeared? I can still remember it because my parents talked about it quite often back then."

Han Ye nodded. Since he followed all the news about the Fan family back then, naturally, he knew about the fight between Fan Shaohang and Fan Chuan.

"Wushuang's eldest uncle came back a few years after she disappeared. When he found out that she was gone, he flipped. He blamed his youngest brother for it, and for some reason, he tried to fight for the management of Fan Entertainment... which was odd to me, because up until that point, he seemed to have no interest in the company. However, given that Fan Shaohang hadn't worked in a company for years, none of the shareholders dare to place their trust in him. Naturally, he didn't get any of their votes. In the end, he disappeared again."

"Fan Shaohang disappeared?"

Han Ye glanced down at the water in his cups as he continued, "It was normal for him to disappear just like that. Wushuang mentioned him briefly to us before. She said that her Uncle Shaohang didn't like the modern world, so he spent most of his time in the Amazon rainforest or in her words, playing with elephants somewhere in Africa. He would cut off any forms of contact for a few years and only return home occasionally to check on things. I figured that was why he did not know anything about President Fan Lei's accident or Wushuang's disappearance until years after."

"But now?"

Han Ye shrugged. "I have no idea where he is now… I haven't been paying attention to them for a long time now."

"I'll try and check for you. Maybe there's something on the Internet."

The sound of door creaking alerted them, and they turned around only to see Tian Le walking toward them with a cover over his head. He was half-n.a.k.e.d, wearing only his light grey joggers. Despite it not been that long since Lu Ziyan bought the joggers, but Tian Le's joggers already starting to look a little short on him. 

Tian Le stood next to Han Ye and glanced down at his ankles. He then looked at Lu Ziyan and said, "I think I need a new pair." 

Lu Ziyan nodded. "I'll get you a bigger pair."

He then glanced at Tian Le's stomach where the abs were forming and asked, "You've been working out often?" 

Tian Le nodded. "A little. Compared to Lyle, I'm progressing quite slowly. His six-packs are more obvious than mine." 

"Lyle has more time than you. You are almost at the age of college entrance examinations. Don't worry too much about your looks and focus more on your studies."

Tian Le smirked as he picked up Han Ye's glass of water. He then said, "I won't let my big brothers down." 

He then drank everything in one shot while Han Ye frowned at him for taking his drink. 

All three of them came from similar backgrounds. The two older men had parents who were not highly educated, and they grew up poor, and most importantly, all of them were orphans albeit they were orphaned at different stages of life.

Despite their adversity, both Lu Ziyan and Han Ye managed to get scholarsh.i.p.s and change their circ.u.mstances around. 

Tian Le wanted to be like them as well. He wanted to rely on himself and make a name for himself, just like his two foster brothers. 

As he placed the empty cup down, he asked, "So, where's the woman? I want to meet her." 

"She's asleep. You'll see her tomorrow," Han Ye replied nonchalantly. He then looked at Lu Ziyan and asked, "Did you know that we have a new neighbor?" 

"Huh?" Lu Ziyan asked, confused. This apartment that they were currently living in was newly built, and most of the units were unoccupied because of the high cost. As far as he knew, the immediate units to their left and right were both unoccupied. 

"I heard some noise coming from inside earlier."

"They probably moved in after I left the house earlier. That's weird… Who would move so late at night?" Lu Ziyan asked. 

Han Ye shrugged. 

"Why don't you guys just check tomorrow?" Tian Le asked nonchalantly. He then yawned and said, "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep first… Don't stay up too late."

He then grinned mischievously as he added, "You guys are old enough as it is…"

"Hey!" Both the men said in protest. 

"You have white hair before us, so you can't say something like that," Lu Ziyan pointed out before he ran his fingers through his hair. 

Tian Le stuck his tongue out at them before he said, "It's because of all the late-night studying. Once I'm done with high school, my hair would be fine."

He then walked back into Han Ye's room.