Hearing the boy’s murmurings in his arms, Fu Qianyu’s expression turned even colder. He held the slender body tighter and walked out of the hotel doors without looking back.
In the back seat of the car, Jing Jiaxi curled up in discomfort. Fu Qianyu watched through the rearview mirror as the boy’s pale little face crumpled into a ball, forcing down his raging anger as he sped toward the hospital.
Jing Jiaxi was in pain all over. His mind was muddled, only aware that he had fallen into a pair of warm, solid arms.
The surrounding noise faded away, and his nostrils were filled with the scent of aftershave from the man’s suit. Sniffing it, his panicked, uneasy heart gradually settled into a calm.
He vaguely heard the man calling his name: “Jing Jiaxi…”
“Doctor, how is he?” There was a trace of worry in Fu Qianyu’s tone that he himself hadn’t even noticed.
After a careful examination, the doctor gave a serious briefing.
“The patient’s body was already weak to begin with. He inhaled a trace amount of a nerve-paralyzing drug and was physically assaulted. There were signs of an impending miscarriage for the fetus in his womb. However, his condition has stabilized after we administered a fetal protection injection. He needs to rest properly during this period and must strictly avoid any strenuous movements.”
Fu Qianyu clenched his fists. He asked, “What about the patient’s own condition? Did that drug cause him any harm?”
“Fortunately, the dosage was very small. The patient is fine now.”
A ruthless light flashed in Fu Qianyu’s eyes as he slowly spat out three words: “Lu. Zhi. Li.”
He returned to the ward and watched the boy, who had fallen into a deep sleep, frowning uneasily as his fingers gripped the corner of the blanket tight.
Fu Qianyu took hold of his ice-cold hand. Having never taken care of anyone before, he used his own body heat to warm the startled little rabbit.
“Jing Jiaxi, don’t be afraid. No one is going to hit you anymore.”
As if hearing his words, the Jing Jiaxi in the dream no longer felt terror.
He dreamed that he was submerged beneath ten thousand feet of bone-chilling ice. In the endless darkness, a small, warm, amber-yellow heater ignited. His body leaned as close as possible to this final bit of warmth, grasping it tightly, refusing to let go.
The boy leaned closer, and Fu Qianyu generously gave him an arm to hold onto.
Using his other hand, he held his phone to his ear: “Lu Zhili, handle it.”
In the hotel lobby, Lu Zhili sat dazed and soul-shattered. He couldn’t believe that Fu Qianyu had actually trampled his face into the mud in front of everyone just for a worthless wretch.
The jeers and mockery of the crowd seemed to echo in his ears, and his mind continuously replayed the image of Fu Qianyu carrying someone else and abandoning him.
In a fit of rage, he lifted a vase in the lobby, intending to smash it down. Just as he was about to, a righteous and solemn voice made his eyes widen, his entire body freezing stiff.
“Hello, are you Lu Zhili? Here are our credentials. We received an emergency call indicating that you are suspected of gathering a crowd to brawling, poisoning, and kidnapping. Please come with us.”
“No! This is impossible! Qianyu wouldn’t do this to me!”
Lu Zhili frantically grabbed the iron bars of the detention center, screaming toward the outside: “Homewreckers who interlope never meet a good end! You little wretch, just you wait!”
“No shouting allowed!”
Lu Zhili bit his lip and choked back his breath, his face flushing crimson.
When his mother visited him along with a lawyer, her voice nearly cracked from sheer fright: “Zhili, how—how could you do such a thing?!”
Kidnapping! And kidnapping someone who belonged to Fu Qianyu! How did he dare?!
“Mom, I didn’t! I just wanted to teach that ungrateful wretch a lesson!”
“Enough!”
Looking at her son’s unrepentant state, Madam Lu felt a painful ache in her heart.
But since her biological son had caused such an astronomical disaster, she, as his mother, still had to clean up his mess.
“You stay inside and reflect properly!”
Madam Lu lectured Lu Zhili furiously, but the moment she left the detention center, she rushed hastily toward the Fu residence.
Meanwhile, Lang Youyuan had already received Madam Lu’s apologetic phone call. Out of a mix of past sentiment and immense apology, Lang Youyuan couldn’t help but blame Fu Qianyu as well.
“I will definitely make Fu Qianyu come to your door and apologize another day. With over ten years of friendship, how could he lock Zhili up? He’s truly acting out of line!”
Lang Youyuan felt incredibly guilty. Her own son and her best friend’s child were originally supposed to get engaged.
Yet, close to the engagement, he suddenly went back on his word and even stripped the Lu family of their dignity in front of so many people.
If it really was because of some other male, then Fu Qianyu had thoroughly offended the Lu family this time.
She hurriedly called Fu Qianyu, both to reprimand him and to wake him up to reality.
“How could you hurt your childhood friend like this over a mere little plaything!”
Lang Youyuan’s words, inside and out, were nothing more than telling Fu Qianyu to quickly make peace and release the person.
Fu Qianyu listened quietly until she finished. “Mom, regarding this matter, I will not let him off easily.”
With that, he hung up the phone.
The boy lying on the hospital bed had not yet woken up. If his mother knew that Lu Zhili had almost killed her own biological grandchild, she would probably tear down the entire Lu family right this moment.
Fu Qianyu continued to exert pressure on the Lu family, refusing to let them bail Lu Zhili out so easily.
It wasn’t until a week later that the Lu family produced a certificate stating Lu Zhili suffered from a mental illness, barely managing to get him out.
During this period, Lu Zhili’s father and mother had pulled numerous strings, but all of them were suppressed by him.
They visited in person wishing to see Fu Qianyu, but Fu Qianyu left them with only one sentence: “The target who deserves an apology is not me, but the person lying in that ward.”
After Lu Zhili came out, he was extremely despondent, his previous arrogance completely extinguished.
His mother forced him to apologize to Fu Qianyu and Jing Jiaxi: “If you want a settlement, your only option is to apologize to them. Do you understand?!”
“I get it!” This was the first time in his life that Lu Zhili had been forced to apologize, his eyes bloodshot with rage.
He clenched his fists and ground his teeth, wishing he could tear that wretch’s flesh and drink his blood.
But under the combined pressure of his mother and Fu Qianyu, he could only arrive at the door of the ward with extreme reluctance.
Knock, knock, knock. “Come in.”
The boy’s voice was as clear as spring water, but to Lu Zhili’s ears, it sounded as grating as fingernails scratching a blackboard.
The door opened. Jing Jiaxi was standing by the balcony of the ward, watering some green plants. Under the sunlight, the gentle and elegant boy seemed to glow around the edges, serene and beautiful.
During his period of quiet rest, Jing Jiaxi had asked Fu Qianyu to bring him a few pots of green plants to place on the balcony, wanting to add a touch of vitality to the stark white room.
Beside him, the tall man clad in a top-tier custom suit stood behind the boy, the distance between them neither too far nor too close—intimate and natural.
This harmonious, heartwarming scene viciously stung Lu Zhili’s eyes. Having just come out of the detention center, the redness in his already bloodshot eyes deepened further.
Seeing the person who had beaten him a few days ago staring at him malevolently, Jing Jiaxi couldn’t help but shudder.
A warm, dry palm came up from behind, firmly supporting his waist, and he drew courage and strength from it.
Jing Jiaxi looked up at the calm man. Fu Qianyu—was he the one who made this person come?
“Wret… Jing Jiaxi!” Lu Zhili spoke through gritted teeth. “I came to apologize to you.”
The interaction between the two made him go mad with jealousy. Even he had never been this intimate with Qianyu; how did this wretch manage to beat him to it?! On what grounds?!
The fury inside Lu Zhili’s chest simmered, growing more volatile by the second.
Jing Jiaxi didn’t know what to make of it. Did anyone apologize with this kind of attitude?
He timidly voiced his doubt: “But… you don’t look like you’re here to apologize.” Instead, it looked like he was here to beat him up again.
Jing Jiaxi shrunk his neck in fear, hiding himself beneath the man’s tall silhouette.
“Qianyu, I’m scared.” Jing Jiaxi hugged Fu Qianyu’s arm, tilting his face up to blink his deer-like eyes, which were damp enough to make one’s heart itch.
Fu Qianyu curled his lips, taking hold of the boy’s soft, smaller hand.
The way the two interacted as if no one else was in the room caused Lu Zhili to lose his sanity completely: “You wretch!”
Slap that wretch’s face to shreds! He rushed forward in blind fury.
Only to be grabbed by someone in a vice-like grip…