TLSMLMMM Chapter 37

“I’m really fine,” the old man said as soon as he heard that, waving his hands repeatedly. “I was just kicked a few times. It doesn’t hurt at all now. There’s really no need to go to the hospital.”

Si Yunyi didn’t continue persuading him. He simply glanced at Chu Junlie.

Chu Junlie blinked and almost instantly understood. He turned to the old man.

“Sir, I’m listening to Mr. Si. Tomorrow, whether you want to go or not, I’m taking you to the hospital for a thorough checkup!”

“You two…” The old man opened his mouth, but when he saw the young man’s determined expression, the words he wanted to refuse never came out.

It was already very late. When the driver pulled into the residential complex, it was close to midnight. After getting out of the car, Si Yunyi didn’t head straight home. Instead, he went to the 24-hour convenience store in the complex and picked up a bottle of water.

Chu Junlie followed closely behind Si Yunyi and noticed that the convenience store clerk’s expression was a little strange when he saw the drink.

“Sir… are you sure you want this one?” the clerk asked hesitantly.

“I’m sure,” Si Yunyi replied calmly, taking out his phone to scan and pay.

Curious, Chu Junlie glanced at the bottle in the clerk’s hand. It was a common beverage, just with different packaging from what he usually saw—red, apparently a different flavor.

After paying, Si Yunyi held the bottle casually in one hand and took Chu Junlie home as if nothing were amiss.

Liefeng was lying at the doorway. Seeing the two return safely, he wagged his tail and bounced around the living room a few times, showing his delight.

Si Yunyi set the drink on the dining table, went into the bedroom to change into loose loungewear, and when he came back out, he was unsurprised to see Chu Junlie bent over the table studying the drink. Liefeng was right by Chu Junlie’s legs, standing on his hind legs with his front paws propped on a chair, curiously staring at the bottle as well.

“Want to try it?” Si Yunyi asked, taking two small cups from the wine cabinet and sitting down at the table.

Chu Junlie had thought Mr. Si must be exhausted today and would go straight to bed. He hadn’t expected him to come out, much less ask whether he wanted a drink!

“Yes!” Chu Junlie nodded happily, his invisible tail wagging furiously as he obediently sat in his seat.

In front of Chu Junlie, Si Yunyi twisted open the pointed spout of the red bottle and broke the inner seal. Instantly, a damp, rotten smell like wet soil and decaying leaves after a rain spread through the air.

Chu Junlie’s nose twitched. His expression shifted from shock, to confusion, and then he pressed his lips tightly together.

“Ugh.” Liefeng’s sense of smell was even sharper. He gagged once, then bolted toward the balcony, tail whipping wildly.

The odor was like snapping dozens of branches at once, or crushing a few green caterpillars. No one could understand why such a drink existed. Chu Junlie looked helplessly at Si Yunyi and suddenly understood the clerk’s hesitation.

Humans should not be making beverages like this.

At the very least, they shouldn’t be buying them to drink.

Si Yunyi remained calm as ever. He poured the drink into the two small cups, then screwed the cap back on and set the bottle aside.

“Let’s play a game,” Si Yunyi said with a slight smile.

Seeing the faint curve of Mr. Si’s lips, the smell of the drink suddenly seemed less unbearable. Chu Junlie nodded quickly, excitement impossible to hide in his eyes.

“We each say three pieces of information about ourselves, or our views on something,” Si Yunyi explained slowly, making sure Chu Junlie caught every word of the rules. “All three can be true, they can be a mix of truth and lies, or they can all be false.”

“Mm-hm!” Chu Junlie’s eyes were bright and dark.

“After the three statements are given, the other person makes a judgment. If you think all three are true, you judge them as true. If you think that even one of the three is false—no matter which one you judge them as false.

“If your judgment is correct, the person who gave the three statements takes the punishment. If your judgment is wrong, then the person making the judgment takes the punishment.”

Si Yunyi looked at Chu Junlie patiently. “Did you understand?”

“I got it!” Chu Junlie nodded and tried to explain it back. “If Mr. Si gives three statements about himself, and I think they’re all true, I say ‘true.’ If there’s even one fake, I say ‘false.’

“In the end, Mr. Si will tell me whether I won or lost.”

Si Yunyi nodded. “We’ll do a trial round first. I’ll give the statements.”

“Okay!” Chu Junlie subconsciously pulled his chair closer, leaning toward the man in front of him.

Si Yunyi met Chu Junlie’s eyes.

“I own a set of black pajamas.”

“I like mint-flavored chewing gum.”

“When I was in elementary school, I once laid hands on a classmate.”

Chu Junlie stared into those gentle, beautiful eyes and tried to judge the truth of the three statements.

Black pajamas—possible. Mr. Si had several black shirts; Chu Junlie had seen him wear them.

Mint-flavored gum, also possible. He hadn’t seen it himself, but vaguely remembered that Mr. Si’s breath often carried a pleasant scent.

But hitting a classmate…

That seemed impossible. Mr. Si had been an excellent student as a child. Old Master Si had said he could score full marks in math how could he have hit a classmate?

Then Chu Junlie recalled the image of Mr. Si whipping his two older brothers with a dog leash.

Maybe hitting a classmate… wasn’t entirely impossible either?

“All three are true!” Chu Junlie lifted his head confidently and gave his judgment.

“You lost,” Si Yunyi said calmly.

“Mr. Si, which one did I get wrong?” Chu Junlie picked up the small cup in front of him, braced himself, and gulped it down.

“The subtlety of this game,” Si Yunyi said as he watched Chu Junlie drink, his brows knitting, “is that neither of us has to specify which statement is false.”

“But since this was just a trial round, and you already took the punishment, I can tell you—the second statement was false.” Si Yunyi took the bottle and refilled Chu Junlie’s cup.

“I don’t like chewing gum of any flavor.”

Chu Junlie pressed his lips together, committing that firmly to memory.

Mr. Si doesn’t like chewing gum.

Then I’ll never eat it again either.

“The real game starts now. Your turn.” Si Yunyi set the bottle down and looked at Chu Junlie calmly.

“I… like sleeping naked.” Chu Junlie tried to think of things about himself, his ears turning a little red.

“I remember things from before the Liangliang incident.”
(TL note: keeping the name as in the original text)

“And I… really like it when Mr. Si touches me.”

That last line took all of Chu Junlie’s courage. His dark eyes looked straight at the man in front of him.

Si Yunyi considered for a moment, then lifted his gaze.

“All true.”

“I lost.” Chu Junlie’s face flushed slightly as he drained the drink in front of him again.

Watching Chu Junlie’s indescribable expression, Si Yunyi’s eyes flickered faintly.

The more detailed a statement is, the more likely it is to be true, fabricated lies are hard to flesh out with detail.

That Chu Junlie remembered two things from before his memory loss was the first thing Si Yunyi judged as true. The last statement was based on Chu Junlie’s usual behavior. As for the first one, there had been an element of gambling.

Who would have thought—

The overpowered protagonist liked sleeping stark naked.

“I told the Yan couple that I only remembered my name,” Chu Junlie said softly, looking at Si Yunyi with eyes full of trust. “That was actually a lie.”

“The fragments I remember are of my parents sending me somewhere. They told me they would definitely come back to get me.”

Pain flashed through Chu Junlie’s eyes. “I think I was very young back then. My memory of what my parents looked like is blurry, but the one thing I know for sure is that they really loved me.”

“So when Madam Yan told me that they’d sent me to the countryside when I was little, I believed her. I truly thought they were my parents.” Chu Junlie looked dejected. “Later on, when I remembered this, I realized that for them, explaining my sudden appearance to the outside world… that was probably the only explanation.”

Chu Junlie couldn’t recall the details now, yet Si Yunyi had seen them in his dreams.

Back then, Chu Junlie had only been three years old. The Chu family went through major upheaval, and to protect him, his parents sent him to a mountain temple. His biological mother couldn’t bear to leave him; she kissed his forehead and, through tears, promised she would come back for him.

The abbot dressed Chu Junlie as a little monk. The child remembered what his parents had told him. No matter the season, he would sit on the bluestone slab behind the temple gate, waiting, watching the small road up the mountain, waiting and waiting.

Until Chu Junlie turned seven. After more than a thousand days and nights of waiting, he finally saw Old Master Chu, who looked more than ten years older, and the ashes of his parents.

Seeing Chu Junlie before him—deeply remorseful and pained, Si Yunyi fell silent for a moment, then gently raised a hand and stroked the top of his head.

Chu Junlie’s emotions gradually settled. He looked up at Si Yunyi.

“There’s another fragment I remembered when I was hit on the head by the Yan family’s bodyguards. I used to stay abroad, and I was involved in… very dangerous work.”

“That’s all in the past,” Si Yunyi said, understanding that he was most likely referring to experiences from when he worked as a security consultant.

“Mr. Si… you won’t dislike me because of these things, will you?” Chu Junlie looked up at him pitifully, wanting an answer from the man in front of him.

Si Yunyi looked at Chu Junlie and spoke gently.

“I won’t dislike you because of what you experienced in the past.”

Chu Junlie’s brows relaxed, and the joy in his eyes was just about to spill out when he heard Si Yunyi continue.

“I support legitimate self-defense and stepping in bravely to help others.”

“But I don’t like it when you use those two reasons as an excuse to torture or abuse other people.”

The gentle hand on his head withdrew. Chu Junlie pressed his lips together, and when he saw the seriousness in Si Yunyi’s eyes, he immediately understood.

Everything Mr. Si had just said was true.

And Mr. Si hadn’t been playing that game without reason, he had used a way that didn’t hurt Chu Junlie’s pride to warn him.

“I know you were trying to fight violence with violence,” Si Yunyi said, looking straight at Chu Junlie. “You wanted to teach them a lesson, to make them afraid, so afraid they’d never dare trouble the old man again.

“But have you considered that this kind of approach only makes the people directly involved afraid? The ones managing them will instead feel their authority and face have been trampled, and that can lead them to retaliate even more viciously.”

Chu Junlie lowered his head, obediently listening to the reprimand.

“Look at me,” Si Yunyi said, not allowing Chu Junlie to avert his gaze.

A little aggrieved, Chu Junlie slowly raised his head. His dark, moist eyes looked at the man before him.

“Fighting violence with violence should only happen as a last resort,” Si Yunyi said, meeting his gaze.

“Violence is a contagious disease. Everyone has a ferocious tiger inside them. If those tigers are released one after another, children will imitate it, and vulnerable groups will be dragged into an even darker night.”

Chu Junlie’s eyes dimmed slightly. When he looked up again, there was a hint of pleading for forgiveness in them.

“I was wrong, Mr. Si.”

“The fact that the law didn’t punish your actions today means that most of what you did was right. I’ve faced desperate criminals before, and I’ve done similar things,” Si Yunyi said, staring at him. “What I’m saying now is more about setting boundaries for your future behavior.”

“I understand, Mr. Si,” Chu Junlie nodded earnestly. “I’ll be careful from now on.”

Chu Junlie’s attitude in admitting fault was excellent. Si Yunyi’s expression softened a little as he picked up the drink in front of him.

“You were right in your guess just now.”

Before the drink could reach Si Yunyi’s lips, another hand quickly snatched it away. Chu Junlie downed the entire cup in one gulp, doing his best not to show how painful it was.

It was really, truly awful.

There was no way he was letting Mr. Si drink it.

Si Yunyi paused as he watched Chu Junlie, a flicker of emotion passing through his eyes, and then lowered his now-empty hand.

“Mr. Si, may I ask one more thing?” Chu Junlie glanced at the remaining drink. “Why don’t you like chewing gum? Is it because you hate the sound of people chewing, or because you don’t like the taste?”

“Do you remember that round—the third statement?” Si Yunyi asked, picking up the bottle.

“I remember!” Chu Junlie nodded repeatedly. Mr. Si, the model student, getting into a fight as a child it was still hard to imagine!

“Some of my classmates couldn’t stand boys with long hair. So during breaks, taking advantage of their numbers, they stuck chewing gum into my hair.”

Chu Junlie froze for a moment, then stared intently at Si Yunyi’s dark hair, casually tied behind him. The fist at his side slowly clenched.

“I stopped thinking about that a long time ago,” Si Yunyi said with a faint smile.

“Almost all animals reject those who are different. Those who can tolerate and accept others are the rare few who resist their own nature.”