Obscuris Labyrinth

Zhao Yuxuan drove his car slowly towards Zhixing Academy. The scenery outside the car window was the same as usual, but it also seemed to carry an unusual sense of oppression. His heart was in chaos because of what had happened at home. As he approached the academy, he took a deep breath and took out his phone to call Chen Shihan, asking her to wait at the school gate of Zhixing Academy.

Before long, Chen Shihan appeared at the school gate. As soon as she got into the car, she tightly grasped Zhao Yuxuan's arm, her slender fingers seemingly about to dig into his arm. Her eyes were full of anxiety and worry, like a frightened deer, and she said eagerly, "Yuxuan, what on earth has happened? Tell me quickly."

On his way here, Zhao Yuxuan's mind was like a mess of tangled threads, and he had been carefully thinking about how to tell Chen Shihan about this matter. He knew it was heavy news, like a huge boulder, and no matter how he told her, it would bring her a great shock. In the end, he simply told her that his parents had died mysteriously at home. When narrating, he deliberately omitted the horrible state of his parents' deaths and the matter about the ancient jade. He really couldn't bear to overly frighten Chen Shihan.

Even with such a light - hearted account, Chen Shihan was still so frightened that she trembled all over, like a leaf shivering in the autumn wind. For a long while, she was unable to speak. Her face turned as pale as a piece of white paper, and her lips trembled slightly. The images described by Zhao Yuxuan kept emerging in her mind, and her heart was filled with fear and uneasiness. She felt as if a cold chill was shooting up from the soles of her feet to her heart, enveloping her in an indescribable fear.

Zhao Yuxuan drove the car towards the love nest he shared with Chen Shihan. While driving, his expression was as solemn as the sky before a storm. His brows were tightly furrowed, like two bottomless ravines. He said slowly, "Shihan, there's one more thing I have to tell you."

Chen Shihan tried to calm herself down. She took a deep breath to ease the panic in her heart and asked softly, "What is it?"

A look of helplessness and bitterness appeared on Zhao Yuxuan's face, like a flower beaten by frost in the cold winter. He said slowly, "Maybe our lives will change a great deal in the future. My family has gone bankrupt. My parents owed a lot of money to others before they died, and the court may confiscate my family's property." His voice was low and hoarse, as if each word carried a thousand - pound weight.

After hearing this, Chen Shihan was silent for a long time again. A complex emotion flashed in her eyes. There was worry, like a cloud covering the sun; there was also a sense of loss, as if she had lost a precious treasure. Finally, she asked softly, "Will we even lose this car?"

Zhao Yuxuan nodded silently and said, "It should also be confiscated to pay off the debt." His heart was like a bottle of mixed - up spices, with all kinds of feelings welling up.

Chen Shihan immediately reacted and quickly said, "Yuxuan, how much money do you still have in your bank card?" There was a glint of eagerness in her eyes, which was like the light of grasping the last glimmer of hope.

Zhao Yuxuan frowned and thought for a while. His tightly - knitted brows were like a knot that couldn't be untied. He replied, "It seems there are still over six hundred thousand yuan."

Chen Shihan hurriedly said, "Then you should go and withdraw all of it immediately. If it gets frozen, you'll have nothing." Her speaking speed was very fast, like a rapid rain beating on the car window.

Zhao Yuxuan thought that what Chen Shihan said was very reasonable. He looked at the time. At this moment, the time was like a ruthless executioner, cutting off his last hope. He shook his head helplessly and said, "It's not possible today. The Financial Innovation Center has already closed, and it's not possible to withdraw a large amount of money. Let's do it tomorrow morning."

Chen Shihan urged, "Then you must remember this. Don't forget it at all." Her eyes were full of concern, like the warm sun in winter.

Zhao Yuxuan nodded. At this time, he couldn't help but think of his father's tragic death again, and a wave of grief surged in his heart, like a raging tide submerging him. Immediately, he stopped talking and clenched his teeth tightly. His teeth chattered as if he wanted to bite all the pain to pieces. In his heart, he was crying out painfully: Who? Who on earth was it? Who was the murderer? If I find out, I will never let them go, never!

That night, Zhao Yuxuan was immersed in extreme sadness all the time. He felt as if he was in a dark abyss, surrounded by endless coldness and loneliness. The darkness was like a huge monster, tightly wrapping him up and making him unable to break free. He didn't even have dinner. He was like a puppet without a soul, sitting there blankly. And Chen Shihan was by his side, gently comforting him with her soft voice. Her words were like warm sunshine, gradually penetrating the gloom in Zhao Yuxuan's heart. Each word was like a seed of hope, sown in Zhao Yuxuan's desolate heart, which made Zhao Yuxuan feel a little warmth. He thought to himself silently that although his home was gone, he could still build a home of their own with Chen Shihan. He and Chen Shihan would share weal and woe like his parents did. He felt that Chen Shihan was like a bright lamp in the dark, giving him the courage to move forward.

He was still young, and everything could start all over again. Although it was a difficult beginning, as long as Chen Shihan was by his side, he felt that he had the courage to face everything. He seemed to see a faint ray of dawn in the distance, which was their hope for the future.

Sadness and confusion intertwined until early in the morning when Zhao Yuxuan finally fell asleep in a daze. After some time, he felt someone gently pushing him. The gentle movement was like a gentle breeze. He woke up immediately, like a frightened rabbit. He opened his eyes and saw that Chen Shihan had already gotten up and was standing in front of him with a cup of steaming milk. The steam from the milk rose gently, like soft clouds. Her eyes were full of concern as she said softly, "Yuxuan, don't forget about withdrawing the money. Go and do this first and then come back to sleep, okay?"

Zhao Yuxuan also knew that this matter was very important. He quickly sat up, took the milk. The temperature of the milk passed through the cup to his hand, making him feel a little warm. He drank it all in one gulp, then got up, quickly washed up, put on his clothes, and went downstairs with Chen Shihan in the elevator. Then they drove to the nearest Financial Innovation Center.

When they arrived at the Financial Innovation Center, Zhao Yuxuan filled out the withdrawal slip and handed in his bank card. The bank clerk in the counter tapped on the keyboard skillfully for a while. The sound of typing on the keyboard was particularly crisp in the quiet hall. Then the clerk handed out the bank card and said, "I'm sorry, sir. The money in your account has been frozen. If you have any questions, you can talk to our manager."

Zhao Yuxuan never expected that the court would act so quickly. He guessed it was because they had heard about his parents' death. He silently took the bank card, his heart full of loss and helplessness, like a traveler lost in the desert who had lost his last source of water. Then he walked out with Chen Shihan.

Not long after they went out, Zhao Yuxuan's mobile phone vibrated. The vibrating sound was like the tolling of a death knell to him. He picked it up and answered it, and a man's voice came from the other end: "Is this Zhao Yuxuan? I'm from the court's execution department. Your parents were sued in a financial fraud case. Now the first - instance judgment has been made. We hope you know this. Please come to the dean's office of Zhixing Academy. We'll be waiting for you there."

Zhao Yuxuan put down his phone, feeling a wave of desolation in his heart. The desolation was like the cold wind in late autumn, penetrating his bones. He and the silent Chen Shihan got into the car and drove towards Zhixing Academy.

After arriving at Zhixing Academy, Zhao Yuxuan asked Chen Shihan to go to class, and he went to the school's dean's office alone. Sure enough, there were two judges waiting for him there. Their expressions were serious and solemn, like two cold mountains. They motioned for Zhao Yuxuan to sit down, and then immediately read out the court's handling opinion on the Zhao family's property. They also stated that, out of humanitarian considerations, they would leave Zhao Yuxuan 30,000 yuan for him to finish his college education. All the other property, including his car and the balance in his bank card, would be confiscated to pay off the debt.

Zhao Yuxuan had been somewhat mentally prepared for this, so he didn't raise any objections. He just silently signed a official document. His signing hand trembled slightly, as if he was signing his own fate. Then he handed over the car keys. The keys stayed in his hand for the last second, like a friend about to leave him.

After coming out of the dean's office, Zhao Yuxuan made two phone calls. One was to his grandparents, and the other was to his maternal grandparents. They were in two other provinces respectively. By this time, they had already received the tragic news of Zhao Yuxuan's parents and were in great sorrow. The sorrow was like surging waves, hitting their hearts wave after wave. However, Zhao Yuxuan's two uncles and an aunt were accompanying his grandparents, and an uncle and an aunt were accompanying his maternal grandparents. On the phone, they just told Zhao Yuxuan to study hard at Zhixing Academy, not to worry about home, and asked him if he needed anything. Zhao Yuxuan didn't ask for anything. He knew in his heart that these elders were not well - educated. They were either ordinary workers or running small businesses. His parents had often taken care of them before. Although Zhao Yuxuan didn't know exactly what they had given, he thought that he was already an adult and didn't want to trouble the elders. Just as Liu Jiahao said, he should be a real man.

However, many things in the world are easier said than done. Zhao Yuxuan wanted to be a real man, but he was completely at a loss as to how to do it specifically. He knew that in the past, his father was like a mountain that blocked the wind. The mountain was so tall and majestic, sheltering him from the wind and rain; his mother was like a tree that sheltered from the rain. The tree was so lush and leafy, protecting him from all harm. They had always protected him like a delicate little grass. Now the mountain had collapsed and the tree had fallen, and all the wind and rain would come towards him. He was bound to encounter a lot of troubles, some troubles that he had never had before.

Sure enough, troubles soon came knocking on his door. In the past, when Zhao Yuxuan shopped at the small store in Zhixing Academy or ate at the surrounding restaurants, he was always too lazy to pay immediately. He would put it on the tab and settle the bill every one or two months. As soon as the news of the Zhao family's accident spread, those small business owners who used to flatter him like worshipping an ancestor came to collect the bills within a day.

Zhao Yuxuan didn't shirk. He very straightforwardly asked them to calculate the bills. The final result was 16,000 yuan in total.

16,000 yuan. For Zhao Yuxuan in the past, this was just a drop in the ocean. He wouldn't even frown when paying it. He used to be like a prince who spent money like water and never cared about money. But now there were only 30,000 yuan left in his bank card. Paying this amount would use up more than half of it at once. For the first time in his life, he truly felt heartache about money. He even wanted to look at the bills handed over by those small business owners to check if they had fiddled with the figures. But he couldn't bring himself to do so. He thought it seemed a bit stingy, and even if he checked, he might not be able to find out. Because apart from his consumption with Chen Shihan, Zhao Qiyang, and Wu Junhui, even some of Chen Shihan's friends had also benefited. They often put what they bought on his tab. At first, the small business owners would still ask, but later, seeing that he always nodded indifferently, they simply stopped asking. Every once in a while, when they saw Zhao Yuxuan, they would directly give him the bill, and Zhao Yuxuan had never looked at it. He wasn't stupid, and he wasn't unaware that there were big loopholes in this. But so what? He had seen with his own eyes that these small business owners got up early and worked late every day. They worked for more than twelve hours and hardly had any holidays. They just stayed there dryly every day. For Zhao Yuxuan, this was really unimaginable, and he also felt a little sorry for them in his heart. It didn't matter if they made a little more money. But now, he no longer had this ability.