Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 804: Chapter 48: Heartstrings

It seems that not only is communication disrupted, but even the power supply in some areas has encountered problems.

When Arno walked into this public toilet, it was dark all around, with only one emergency light inside shining. Arno shook his head, silently cursing his bad luck, then quickly placed his backpack on the sink and started taking out clean clothes to change into.

He was about to take off his shirt, but it seemed he thought of something. He had only lifted his shirt halfway when he put it back down and cautiously glanced around.

Finally, he seemed to see a black shadow in the mirror… standing behind him!

Arno was startled, quickly turned around, and felt a chill of terror — silently, a figure had already stood there behind him.

He could make out it was a woman… But she seemed to have her head bowed, her wet long hair draping down in front of her face, and her clothes were soaked.

It was as if a drowning person had been rescued and pulled to shore. Through the gaps in her hair, Arno could faintly see a pair of eyes filled with hatred.

In a moment of shock, Arno stepped back, bumping into the sink. His hands instinctively grabbed the sink to steady himself. At that moment, the disheveled woman’s arm suddenly moved!

It was a Western-style dining knife — the kind used for cutting steak!

The Western knife pressed against Arno’s throat, and the hard sensation sent a chill down his spine. He dared not move, fearing that if the knife pierced his throat, death would be inevitable.

“Don’t be impulsive!” Arno shouted nervously!

“Where is it!” the woman shouted and raised her head.

The faint emergency light from the public toilet illuminated her face, which was bluish, appearing ghost-like. Arno inhaled sharply, asking fearfully, “Wha-what do you mean by where?”

“Where!!”

The woman screamed again and lunged forward, pressing the Western knife into Arno’s throat further.

But this dull blade only pressed against Arno’s skin, making it sink into the muscle without actually piercing it — yet it was enough to instill fear!

“What… I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Arno took a deep breath, trying not to provoke the woman, “Ma’am, could you be mistaking me for someone else?”

“You… murderer! Thief!!” The woman became even more agitated, seemingly mad: “You killed Livia, stole my money!! You incorrigible scum!!!”

“Li… Livia?” Arno was stunned, then quickly said, “You’re the woman who escaped this morning!”

The Western knife pressed further, and Arno felt that the next time this woman exerted force, even something not sharp could puncture his throat.

“You know perfectly well! You scum!! I’ll kill you!!”

“Calm down! Calm down! Listen to me! Listen to me! I’m not the person you’re talking about!!” Arno grabbed the woman’s arm momentarily.

As a man, his strength was much greater than the woman’s before him. The two struggled directly there and fell to the ground together. Yet, this woman seemed mad, and Arno could not suppress her.

“Scum!!”

“No!! Listen to me!! I’m really not the person you’re talking about!” Arno hurriedly said, “I’m Arno! The scum you’re talking about is Harry! My brother! My twin brother! He has the same face as me and has done all sorts of bad things!! Please, you have to believe me!”

“Scum!!! You’re lying to me!!”

“I have evidence!! I have evidence!!” Arno said with difficulty, “I really have evidence to prove it!”

Arno finally pinned the woman down. His hands pressed the woman’s arms to the ground, his body weighing on her, rendering her immobile. He then said excitedly:

“Listen! You can’t resist now! If I shout a few times, I’ll find people to help call the police and arrest you! See, I didn’t do that. I’m trying to calm you down! Why is that?”

The woman still struggled and screamed!

“If you want to prove your innocence, if you also want to find that scumbag you’re talking about, calm down!”

“Do you think I’ll believe you, you scum!!”

“But you have to believe now, don’t you?” Arno gasped and said, “You still have a glimmer of hope! But Miss, if you continue to act crazy, I’ll have no choice but to get help! In fact, I have no reason to explain these things to you here! Look, I have you pinned down, I could call someone to arrest you at any time, then when you get to the police station, you might have no defense! In there, you may not receive a fair trial! Right? Think, calm down, if I were the murderer, would I be speaking with you like this?”

The force of the woman’s resistance seemed to lessen.

Arno quickly said, “Think, if I were the person you’re talking about, why didn’t the police take me too? Because I wasn’t home last night! The police found enough evidence to believe me, didn’t they?”

The woman’s reaction weakened further.

Seeing his words seem to work, Arno relaxed a little: “Miss, please believe me, okay? I can prove what I’m saying, maybe I can help you a bit too.”

The woman suddenly stopped moving.

Arno sighed in relief, relaxing a little more. But then the woman abruptly headbutted Arno in the eye, causing him to cry out in pain, and she opened her mouth to bite his hand.

She gained a chance to fight back, slipping out from under Arno’s restraint, quickly picking up the Western knife from the ground and standing up.

Arno quickly scrambled to his feet. The two of them faced each other at a distance of less than half a meter, locked in a standoff, Arno clutching where he had been bitten… This woman was outright ruthless, directly breaking his skin with her bite.

At this moment, someone walked into the public toilet.

Seeing this, the woman angrily threw the Western knife at Arno, then knocked over the man who entered and burst through the door.

“Hey! What happened? Man, are you having a wild romp with your girlfriend here?”

Arno forced a wry smile, picked up the Western knife from the ground, mumbled a few words, lowered his head, ignored the man, and quickly left.

…

…

All the way, Arno repeatedly looked around warily.

He didn’t take a bus, as the bus system seemed to be partially halted as well. He walked swiftly for more than two hours before crossing the road and entering the nearest slum.

Arno seemed very familiar with this place. Finally, he stopped before a shabby house.

He took out a key and, after looking around, unlocked and entered — apparently due to that odd storm in the afternoon, there was a power outage here.

But shortly after, there was light in the house, likely from a candle or some such illumination.

Arno found something inside, then returned to the living room. He had lit the candle on the dining table before, so he immediately pulled out a chair and sat at the dining table.

Arno exhaled and suddenly said, “Miss, are you here?”

He called into the darkness, receiving no reply, but continued, “Miss, I didn’t lock the door, you should be able to come in, right? I know where you’re hiding… Here’s the evidence I wanted to show you, the proof that I’m not the scum you’re talking about.”

As he spoke, Arno nervously glanced around, finally placing the thing he’d found — a photo album — on the dining table and opening it.

Arno slowly said, “I have a brother, his name is Harry, he’s been a mischievous person since childhood…”

He pointed at a picture in the album: “This is him, and the person next to him is me.”

It was an old photo, probably taken in elementary school, showing a pair of twin boys looking at the camera and smiling simultaneously.

Arno flipped through the album page by page, speaking about his past, “…This is from when we were in high school, after a soccer match. Harry always wanted to be a soccer player from a young age. But he got into too much trouble. Once he fought with someone and injured his knee. He had a chance to join a decent local soccer team, but they dropped him because of the injury… This is our high school graduation photo. Miss… are you here?”

There was still no response from the darkness.

Arno went on about himself, “Harry and I are like the two sides of a coin. He is what people call a bastard, trash. But I… I’ve always been recognized by others. I earned a scholarship through my hard work, walked out of this place, and got a lot of support in college… This was taken at my college opening ceremony, by my father… Ms. Ren, are you here?”

There was still no response in the darkness.

Arno sighed, gave a bitter smile, shook his head, and closed the album.

He rubbed his forehead, supporting it, but an eerie sound occurred at that moment.

Arno suddenly opened his eyes, in the flickering candlelight, the woman who had attacked him in the public restroom appeared across the table.

She flipped open the album, turning the pages rapidly, remaining silent.

“Ms. Ren… you are really here.” Arno called softly.

The woman furrowed her brows at this moment, looked up at Arno, and suddenly asked, “Were you really not at home last night?”

“I was studying at school last night, I can find people to testify for me, I came back only in the morning!” Arno said hurriedly.

The woman furrowed her brows again, “You have a twin brother, why has Livia never mentioned this to me? Didn’t you ever tell her? As her boyfriend, are you hiding this from her?”

Arno quickly waved his hands, saying, “Ms. Ren! First, I don’t know the Livia you are talking about, and second, she is even less likely to be my girlfriend!”

“You!” The woman stood up excitedly, but suddenly remembered something and said, “White Hell.”

“What?” Arno was stunned, looking at the woman in confusion, “What Hell? Ms. Ren, I know you must be feeling awful right now, but… it’s not exactly Hell yet, right?”

The woman sat back down, staring unblinkingly at Arno, “Do you rarely return home?”

Arno said, “It’s only been like this the past two months. Recently, I’ve been busy with studies, school experiments, and internships; I rarely came back.”

The woman continued, “This person… I mean your brother, does he have the key to your home?”

Arno shook his head, “I’m not sure. Once he came over to my place, and a few days later, I found the spare key at home was missing.”

The woman asked again, “Then why haven’t you changed the lock?”

Arno gave a wry smile, “There’s nothing valuable at home. Besides, if I say the key is lost and suggest changing the lock, my landlady would definitely flip out. Also, it’s possible I just misplaced it for a while and couldn’t find it, so I forgot about it later.”

He furrowed his brows, looking at the woman, “You say Livia is my girlfriend… but I don’t know her at all. Wait, when did Livia say she had a boyfriend? How did they meet?”

“White Hell.” The woman said defeatedly, “She said she met you at this nightclub.”

Arno quickly said, “Ms. Ren! My financial situation doesn’t allow me to spend in places like that!”

“Don’t say anything, let me think.” The woman shook her head and wiped her face.

She started recalling some things Livia had mentioned about herself and her boyfriend.

She said they met at the nightclub; that night she drank too much and was harassed by some ruffians. Usually, just harassment wouldn’t have mattered, as Livia wasn’t exactly a good girlfriend; it might be just like eating for free, as if bitten by a dog.

But unexpectedly, a man stood up and saved her.

She said the man was handsome and was a student at a prestigious university, who earned a scholarship through his efforts.

She said that he was usually very busy with his studies, and she didn’t want him to know about her affairs, so they only met when he wasn’t busy with his studies. Usually, they waited for him to contact her actively.

She said there was no future between them, but she greatly enjoyed this sudden love…

If… if Arno really wasn’t the Arno Livia talked about, it meant Arno’s twin brother impersonated him and seduced Livia with this identity.

Indeed… compared to those petty thugs, the identity of a prestigious university student, a future elite of society, could really attract some ignorant women to throw themselves at him.

Livia was such an ignorant woman with a habit of daydreaming.

“Why did you come back here?” She asked Arno again, trying to read something from his expression.

Arno gave a bitter smile, “I said I would provide you with evidence… and also, I felt you wouldn’t give up easily, so when I came out of the restroom, I thought you might follow me, so I came back here—here, is where we lived before my parents passed away.”

“I’m taking this album.” The woman stood up abruptly, “But I won’t easily believe you… if I find out you lied to me, I won’t let you go! Not even as a ghost!”

She walked straight to the door.

But after taking only a few steps, she fell to the ground.

Arno hurriedly got up, walked over, and helped her sit up, “Are you okay?”

The woman merely held her hand over her ankle, showing a painful expression. Arno furrowed his brow, “Did you sprain it in the restroom? You… you walked such a long way?”

The woman didn’t speak, stubbornly turning her head.

Arno said, “Wait, I’ll get you something for the sprain. My brother… Harry used to get hurt often; there are quite a few medicines at home, though I don’t know if they’ve expired.”

As he spoke, Arno quickly stood up, walked to the place beyond the candlelight, seemingly searching for something.

Soon after, Arno returned with a spray in hand. He removed the woman’s shoes, looking at her reaction, then began spraying: “It might hurt a bit, but bear with it.”

Due to the power outage, the room was very stuffy, and Arno’s face was covered in sweat. He adjusted his glasses and continued to focus on treating the woman’s sprained ankle.

The woman then noticed a distinct row of bite marks, even bleeding, on Arno’s palm…

She instinctively said, “I’m sorry…”

“No problem… anyone falsely accused would react the same.” Arno replied casually.

The woman said, “I meant the injury on your hand.”

Arno instinctively lifted his hand to look, then smiled, “It’s nothing, I’m a man; a small injury like this is no big deal. You, on the other hand, walked so far with a sprain, that’s truly exhausting. How do you feel now, better?”

The flickering candlelight made Arno’s face appear exceptionally gentle.

Something seemed to strum a chord in her heart.

“I… My name is Caroline.”

…

…

Ding-dong… ding-dong––!

The doorbell rang for a long time before the door of the exquisite seaside apartment opened, Luo Qiu came out and found it was indeed Song Haoran standing at the door.

“Mr. Song?” Luo Qiu looked surprised, “Sorry, the power went out, I was busy looking for lighting, so I made you wait longer.”

The truth was… the boss had just returned from the club, after concluding an interesting transaction.

“It’s fine.” Song Haoran smiled slightly, “Today’s weather is indeed somewhat irregular, I faced delays on the way.”

Luo Qiu nodded, then was silent for a moment before the door, and asked, “Are there any results?”

Song Haoran nodded, revealed a sincere smile, and whispered, “Shall we talk inside? My relative…”