I Want Xiao Xiao, and You…
Blood was dripping down the young man’s forehead. He froze for a fraction of a second, as if he had not expected anyone to actually fight back.
The next second, unadulterated fury exploded. His eyes reddened, and with a wild roar, he lunged straight at Zhang Lu.
Having fought frequently in his younger days, Zhang Lu was well prepared and had deliberately stepped back earlier to widen the distance.
Seeing the man lunge forward, he did not panic, nor did he make a hasty retreat. He tightened his grip on the middle section of the water pipe and whipped his wrist fiercely.
The heavy brass shower head whistled through the air like a rigid whip, smashing viciously into the young man’s swinging arm.
With a dull thud, the copper head struck with enough force to make the young man hiss in sharp agony, instantly halting his offensive.
Taking advantage of the opening, Zhang Lu retreated another large step, bringing himself closer to the house.
By this point, he could tell that the fellow was just all bluster and lacked any real combat experience.
If this were the old days, he would have kicked the madman’s knee to pieces and beaten him flat onto the ground.
Yet right now, merely swinging the water pipe twice had sent his heart rate soaring to its absolute limit.
A wave of fishy, sweet blood pooled in the back of Zhang Lu’s throat.
His legs were already turning weak.
Damn it!
It was all that pervert’s fault!
Clutching his rapidly swelling arm, the young man stared fixedly at Zhang Lu’s ragged, heavy breathing.
He might not have fought much, but he was not stupid.
His gaze locked onto Zhang Lu’s slightly hunched posture, where he was deliberately shielding his lower abdomen, with the venomous malice of a snake.
“So, you are really that terrified of me touching this monster.”
Spitting out a mouthful of blood-stained saliva, the young man let out a spine-chilling, hideous laugh.
As he spoke, he lunged forward again. This time, he did not aim for Zhang Lu’s arms.
Instead, as he closed in recklessly, he raised his hard-soled leather shoe and kicked with all his might directly toward Zhang Lu’s slightly bulging belly.
If that kick landed squarely, it would undoubtedly kill the little thing inside!
Zhang Lu’s pupils constricted sharply, and his breathing came to a complete halt.
There was no way to dodge it.
The medication had made his body as heavy as an iron block, completely failing to keep pace with his instinct to evade.
In a fraction of a second, Zhang Lu clenched his teeth hard. The moment the sole was about to strike his abdomen, he forced himself into a wretched, violent spin.
He exposed his completely defenseless back entirely to the attack.
Bang!
A tremendously dull, heavy crash echoed out.
That forceful, heavy kick landed squarely on the upper part of Zhang Lu’s lower back.
A violent, dull agony exploded instantly, making it feel as though his internal organs had been dislodged by the blow, and even his spine emitted a groan of protest.
Zhang Lu’s vision darkened abruptly, and he lost his balance entirely, pitching forward heavily.
Yet, the moment he crashed toward the ground, he still kept his arms tightly tensed, using hands and feet to prop himself up desperately against the rough stone pathway.
Arching his back, he forcefully erected an absolute safety bridge over his abdomen.
Cold sweat instantly soaked his sideburns.
The pain blinded him to the point that he could not even manage a muffled groan, left with only the harsh, bellows-like sound of his breathing.
Still, his reddened eyes remained fixed forward like an isolated wolf on the brink of death guarding its cub.
The veins on the hand gripping the brass shower head bulged into visible ridges.
Seeing that Zhang Lu was utterly devoid of counterattacks, the young man burst into loud laughter.
The laughter was gratingly harsh, sounding like fingernails scraping across an iron sheet.
He arched his back, preparing to pounce again.
Suddenly, his movements jerked to a halt. A shriek of agony erupted: “Ah!”
Clutching the side of his face tightly with both hands, he began hopping frantically in place from the pain.
At the same time, with a sharp snap,
A black smartphone fell heavily onto the stone flags right in front of Zhang Lu.
Sweat blurred Zhang Lu’s vision. Staring at the black phone with its completely shattered screen and blood-stained edges, his heart gave a violent jolt.
In the courtyard, aside from the young man’s shrill screams, the silence suddenly turned terrifying.
Followed by the slow, heavy sound of leather shoes approaching.
It felt as though footsteps were treading directly upon someone’s heart.
“Jin, Jin Yuan?!”
The young man’s screams were cut off mid-air as if someone had choked him by the throat, leaving only the clicking chatter of chattering teeth.
Jin Yuan walked forward in absolute silence, his gaze falling upon the fallen Zhang Lu.
The temperature in the air plunged instantly to freezing point.
“I only left for a moment.” Jin Yuan spoke in a calm tone, though it carried an underlying trace of reprimand.
Zhang Lu twitched the muscles in his face, forcing out a meager smile.
Suppressing the sweet taste of blood in his throat, he panted heavily: “Blame me? Who could have known you had so many perverts around here!”
Jin Yuan curved the corners of his lips, stating coldly: “Do not lump me in with trash like him.”
Before his voice trailed off, with what looked like casual precision, he kicked the young man squarely in the kneecap.
A spine-chilling crack rang out.
Accommodating a shriek that pierced the clouds, Jin Yuan stepped right over the rolling body on the ground, bent down without a second word, and scooped Zhang Lu up into his arms.
Zhang Lu bit down hard to choke back the gasp that nearly slipped past his lips.
As his gaze fell upon the half-section of the water pipe, Jin Yuan’s expression grew even darker as he clicked his tongue softly:
“It looks like I really do have to keep a tighter leash on you.”
Discarding the water pipe, Zhang Lu pressed his lips into a tight line.
Every inch of his body ached right now, and his heart remained anchored anxiously to Xiao Xiao.
He simply had no strength left to spar with Jin Yuan.
Carried back into the room, Zhang Lu’s consciousness began to blur.
The pain in his back spread further. Every breath felt like a tugging on his spine.
He heard the steady thud of Jin Yuan’s leather shoes and, in the distance, intermittent screams.
The sounds felt as though they were separated by a wall of water, distant and hazy.
His nostrils were filled entirely with Jin Yuan’s scent, a cold, bloody aroma mixed with his signature cologne, domineeringly occupying his senses.
Laying him down on the bed, Jin Yuan spoke in an icy voice: “Do not move.”
The man in his field of vision drifted closer and further away, yet Zhang Lu could not ignore the chill residing in those eyes.
So cold.
He could not help but shiver.
One of Jin Yuan’s hands pressed against his shoulder while the other reached toward his lower back.
Startled, Zhang Lu instinctively tried to pull away.
“Do not move!”
The pressure on his shoulder grew heavier.
Zhang Lu stayed still. The pain in his back pierced through him with every breath. He raised his eyes, sweat rolling down his cheeks from his forehead, his eye corners red.
“My stomach feels a bit heavy.”
His voice was hoarse, his eye tails flushed red, hoping Jin Yuan would understand.
Without batting an eyelash, Jin Yuan understood immediately: “Let us check your injuries first.”
The hand on his shoulder slid downward by half an inch, loosely cupping Zhang Lu’s shoulder while his other hand lifted the hem of his shirt.
Offering no further resistance, Zhang Lu lowered his gaze.
Consequently, he missed the instant flash of freezing malice and the jawline strung as tight as a bowstring in Jin Yuan’s eyes when the injury was exposed.
A servant had already delivered a medical kit, placing it neatly at the foot of the bed.
Without a word, Jin Yuan opened the box and pinched a povidone-iodine cotton pad between his fingers.
When the pad touched the wound, Zhang Lu shuddered violently from the agony, a muffled groan trapped in his throat as his fingers dug into the bedsheets, knuckles turning white.
“Bear with it.” Pausing slightly, the pad descended once more, the cold edge draining from his voice to leave only a steady, deep tone.
The scent of iodine diffused into the air, stimulating Zhang Lu’s nerves.
Ultimately, he could not resist glancing at Jin Yuan.
Expressionless and deeply focused, yet somehow it filled Zhang Lu’s heart with an inexplicable sense of insecurity.
Jin Yuan set down the cotton pad, picked up a tube of ointment, and began applying medicine to the wounded area.
Staring at those slender, fair fingers, Zhang Lu’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he finally forced out the words: “Did you honestly not care about Xiao Xiao at all?”
No answer came; Jin Yuan did not even lift his gaze.
The pain in his back surged wave after wave as if tearing him apart. Gasping heavily, Zhang Lu let anger lace his tone: “The pervert just now said you are his brother, so why is he even here? Jin Yuan, are you not going to explain yourself, damn it?”
The moment those words dropped, Jin Yuan’s movements halted abruptly.
He snapped his gaze upward, his eyes cold enough to freeze blood, and spoke with a voice seemingly steeped in frost: “Say it again. Do not ever lump me in with that scum.”
“What a joke!” Flames of fire seemed to burst from Zhang Lu’s eyes as he lowered his voice into a hoarse roar: “Are you two any different? You are both cold-blooded bastards!”
Jin Yuan’s pupils constricted sharply, his gaze as deep as a midnight sea.
“If you do not care at all, then stop pulling this crap!” Zhang Lu’s anger made him almost immune to physical pain. “Is it fun? Do you know, do you know how miserable it is for a kid born without a loving father or mother to live in this damn world?”
Before the words could finish, his jaw was firmly gripped by a cold hand.
The knuckles tightened with enough force to nearly crush his bones. Zhang Lu struggled twice, but could not move an inch.
Red-eyed, baring his white teeth, he glared dead at Jin Yuan: “Did I hit a nerve?”
Jin Yuan’s long eyelashes fluttered slightly before he slowly relaxed his grip.
“Jin Yuan, I accepted this child you forced upon me. These torments, I will treat it as owing you a debt, considered paid in full.”
Sweat poured continuously from his forehead, sliding down to the corner of his lips. Licking away the salty taste, Zhang Lu continued: “Once the debt is cleared, leave Xiao Xiao alone. As long as you let it live, I do not care about anything else.”
Jin Yuan stared at him, his gaze heavy and stagnant. His thin lips parted, but ultimately no words escaped.
Turning away, he reached toward the foot of the bed for a roll of bandage.
“Hey!” Zhang Lu called out, the pain causing him to frown.
Looking back, Jin Yuan’s voice remained hard, though purged of its earlier anger: “If you care about Xiao Xiao, behave. Let us finish this quickly so we can check on the child.”
Stunned for a moment, Zhang Lu ungraciously allowed Jin Yuan to wrap the bandages around him.
“Will it be tight?”
“No.”
Securing the final layer with medical tape, Jin Yuan turned sideways, reached out to press the intercom on the bedside table, his voice completely flat: “Bring the ultrasound machine into the master bedroom. Right now.”
Silence settled over the room once more, broken only by the rhythmic rise and fall of their breathing.
Turning his gaze back to Zhang Lu, Jin Yuan looked somewhat milder than before: “That scum’s name is Jin Yang. We share half our bloodline.”
“You could have just said he is your brother.” Zhang Lu twitched the corner of his mouth impatiently, his palm resting lightly over his lower abdomen. “None of you in the Jin family want Xiao Xiao to live.”
“You are wrong.”
As he spoke, Jin Yuan leaned in toward Zhang Lu.
That sharp, overwhelming aura swept over him once more, occupying every single one of Zhang Lu’s senses.
The next second, a warmth pressed gently against his lips.
Zhang Lu’s heart and brain went on strike almost simultaneously.
Amidst the kiss, within his chaotic consciousness, he seemed to hear Jin Yuan say: “I want Xiao Xiao, and you. I said it before, do not even think about escaping from me in this lifetime. You can try and see if I mean what I say.”