“Little Junior, do you want a drink?” Mo Leyang asked, a smirk playing on his lips.
Bai Nanxing clutched the blanket in annoyance, but in the end, forced by reality, he nodded helplessly.
Mo Leyang laughed happily and slowly leaned down. “Open your mouth.”
Bai Nanxing understood his intent. He gritted his teeth but obediently tilted his head back and opened his mouth.
However, the cup had a rounded rim; pouring directly made it difficult to aim, and water spilled easily. Of course, Mo Leyang was doing this on purpose; it wouldn’t have mattered what kind of cup it was.
The lukewarm water cascaded down unexpectedly. Every drop landed around Bai Nanxing’s mouth, yet not a single drop actually entered it. Mo Leyang held the cup maliciously high so that when the water fell, it almost entirely splashed onto his neck and chest.
Before long, the clothes on his front were soaking wet.
Bai Nanxing even accidentally choked on the splashing water, coughing violently several times.
Finally, when only a tiny bit of water remained in the cup, Mo Leyang lowered his hand and held it to Bai Nanxing’s face as if bestowing a charity. “Little Junior, is the water I pour really that delicious? You even choked on it.”
Bai Nanxing knew Mo Leyang had a foul personality, but he hadn’t expected him to be so cruel to a patient. He wanted to be angry, but at the same time, the worried Mo Leyang would use the remaining time to torment him further. He hadn’t left the Mo residence yet, and everything remained uncertain.
He could only humbly take the cup containing the last dregs of water and gulp it down.
That tiny bit of water did nothing to quench his thirst. Bai Nanxing actually wanted more, but he knew Mo Leyang would surely seize the chance to treat him like that again. He hadn’t brought anything with him to the Mo house; if his clothes were completely soaked, Bai Yi would surely think he had embarrassed the family and give him another scolding upon his return.
Furthermore, anyone capable of entering the Mo family’s old mansion held an extraordinary status. If someone saw him in this state, they would likely exaggerate the story to Mo Yichen, and in the end, he would be the one to suffer.
So, he decided to endure it.
Mo Leyang didn’t know exactly what Bai Nanxing was thinking, but he could tell that Bai Nanxing was settling for that tiny amount of water. He smiled, took the cup back from Bai Nanxing’s hand, and poured another full glass.
“Little Junior, that bit of water just now couldn’t have been enough. When you’re sick, you should drink more water.”
His smile looked very friendly—the kind of smile that would make a good first impression—but only Bai Nanxing knew that beneath that smile lay the soul of a devil.
“Senior, if I did something to offend you just now, I apologize. I beg you… please let me go.”
Bai Nanxing gripped the cup tightly. Seeing Mo Leyang approaching with the water, he instinctively shrank back toward the corner of the bed. Having grown accustomed to admitting fault first, Bai Nanxing was well-versed in this tactic.
However, Bai Nanxing wasn’t sure if Mo Leyang would fall for it. If it didn’t work, he would either be tormented to death or scared to death by Mo Leyang today.
Just then, the doctor who had helped set up the IV walked in.
Seeing Bai Nanxing huddled in the corner wrapped tightly in his blanket and Mo Leyang standing by the bedside with a glass of water, the doctor didn’t need to guess to know what was happening.
The doctor frowned and said, “Third Young Master, what are you doing? He is a patient and needs proper rest.”
Mo Leyang turned around holding the cup, his eyes narrowing as he smiled. “My little sister-in-law said he wanted a drink, so I came over to help him pour a glass.”
The doctor didn’t call him out on the spot, but seeing Bai Nanxing’s soaking wet neck, he knew exactly what had transpired. “In that case, I’ll have to trouble the Third Young Master to put down the cup. Oh, right—when I was coming over, the Old Master said if I saw you, I should pass along a message: he is looking for you for something.”
Mo Leyang put the cup down, not quite believing the doctor’s words. “The Old Man is looking for me? He hasn’t wanted to see me for so long, why suddenly now? Could he be developing senile dementia?”
The doctor had nothing to say to that. In truth, he didn’t want to encounter the Third Young Master either.
In the Mo family, Mo Yuncheng was a god-like existence; almost no one dared to disobey his orders.
But Mo Leyang was different.
Mo Leyang was wild and untameable, like a wolf hunting on the prairie—crazed and fearless. Only Mo Leyang would dare to be so disrespectful as to claim Mo Yuncheng “suffered from dementia.”
Everyone was used to it.
However, when people encountered him, they usually chose to avoid him.
Mo Leyang could get away with saying many things, but they couldn’t. No matter how much of a scoundrel Mo Leyang was, he was still the one Mo Yuncheng spoiled; it had nothing to do with them.
The doctor didn’t respond to his comment, simply stating: “The Old Master is indeed looking for you. If the Third Young Master doesn’t believe it, you can go and ask him directly. I am only responsible for delivering the message; as for whether you go or not, that is for the Third Young Master to decide.”
Seeing that the doctor didn’t seem to be lying, Mo Leyang’s darkened expression finally cleared. He glanced at Bai Nanxing, who was still huddled in the corner, and turned to leave the room.
Only after a moment, once he was sure Mo Leyang had truly left, did the doctor speak: “Young Master Nanxing, he’s gone. You don’t need to hide in the corner anymore. Come sit out.”
Bai Nanxing worried that Mo Leyang hadn’t gone far and might turn back, so he remained motionless. No matter what the doctor said, he kept himself curled into a ball.
The doctor sighed and didn’t force him. Instead, he poured a fresh glass of water and handed it over. “You were thirsty just now, weren’t you? No one in the Mo family from top to bottom dares to ask him to do anything, but you…”
At that point, the doctor realized that Bai Nanxing was likely at the Mo house for the first time and didn’t know Mo Leyang. He probably couldn’t get up due to his physical condition but was desperately thirsty, so he instinctively called out to Mo Leyang.
As a result, Mo Leyang thought Bai Nanxing was daring to challenge his authority before even officially entering the family, which surely made him angry. In his annoyance, he had acted that way.
Everything now made sense.
“Next time, remember: ask anyone else, but never ask him. Offend anyone, but don’t offend the Third Young Master. This is my advice to you.”
The doctor’s gaze lingered on Bai Nanxing’s swollen face. The mark wasn’t particularly obvious, but under the room’s lighting, one could still see the faint outline of a handprint. He couldn’t help but ask, “The mark on your face—did the Third Young Master hit you?”
Like a dying fish gasping for water, Bai Nanxing took the cup from the doctor and drank greedily. He was simply too thirsty. He didn’t immediately answer the question but politely handed the cup back and asked, “Could you… help me pour another glass?”
The doctor didn’t refuse and turned to pour another.
Once Bai Nanxing finished drinking, he shook his head and said, “It wasn’t the Third Young Master. He didn’t hit me.”
True. If Mo Leyang wanted to hit someone, he never did it himself. It made sense that it wasn’t him. Mo Leyang would never do something so beneath him. The doctor was quite clear on that point.
But if it wasn’t Mo Leyang, the only people who would dare strike Bai Nanxing in the Mo house were the Bai family members.
“Your father hit you?”
Bai Nanxing still didn’t respond. Instead, he looked up and asked, “Did you come here for something, Doctor?”
Seeing that Bai Nanxing refused to answer, the doctor didn’t press further. He replied honestly, “The Old Master sent me to check on you. After all, you are to be wed into the Mo family. Fainting for no reason on your first day here would negatively impact the Mo family’s reputation.”
It’s impossible that he’s truly concerned about me.
Bai Nanxing smiled bitterly.
The doctor continued, “When did your hypoglycemia start?”
Bai Nanxing didn’t like people poking at his wounds and flatly refused to answer: “Doctor, that shouldn’t have anything to do with you.”
“It truly has nothing to do with me; I wouldn’t even have to ask,” the doctor said somewhat helplessly. “It’s not that I want to ask, but the Old Master told me to ask you.”
Why would Mo Yuncheng want to know about such a thing?
Bai Nanxing looked puzzled. “What does Chairman Mo want to know that for?”
The doctor didn’t know either. In fact, he was quite bewildered that Mo Yuncheng had given him this task. Bai Nanxing was merely a sacrificial lamb for a business deal between two families, and given his status as an illegitimate son, there was no reason for Mo Yuncheng to care.
Forget about an outsider like Bai Nanxing who hadn’t even married in yet—Mo Yuncheng rarely even spared a word of concern for the Mo family’s collateral relatives. This was the first time the doctor had seen Mo Yuncheng so concerned.