The bodyguards looked on with puzzled expressions, but Zheng Liang, who was clearly more experienced, ignored his employer’s unusual behavior and carefully examined the abrasions on his hands: “The wounds on both hands are contaminated with pollutants, so you need a tetanus shot.”
As they were talking, Yu Yuan ran down the stairs from the other side, took a deep breath, and squeezed into the crowd. What he saw was Gu Shaocheng’s handsome face, which was so calm that it was almost numb, or even serene.
The anxious question faltered: “Uh…where did you fall?” Why did Gu Shaocheng have such a calm and collected expression, as if he had seen it all before him?
Zheng Liang stated his assessment: “Both hands are scraped, but the bones shouldn’t be broken…”
When they returned to the hotel, the estate’s family doctor was already waiting in the lobby.
Although Gu Shaocheng only suffered a scratch, Zheng Liang and his bodyguards all looked extremely serious as the group, accompanied by the doctor, marched towards the top-floor suite.
Throughout the entire process, Yu Yuan was in a state of hypersensitivity to strangers, huddled in a corner maintaining low-frequency breathing, with all his attention focused on crowd anxiety.
When he swiped the door open and saw the transparent walls like a crystal palace, he suddenly realized… was it not appropriate for them to bring people back in this kind of room?
Even though Zheng Liang already had experience delivering medicine, he couldn’t help but show his surprise the moment he stepped into the room. He already had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his wide-eyed eyes looked like copper bells.
He had accompanied Gu Shaocheng to Hainan Island so many times, but he really didn’t know that this hotel had such a special suite. He also didn’t expect that the scale of the couple’s activities would be even greater than he had imagined. After all, given the employer’s physical condition… he was a little worried about whether the couple could really handle such frequent and intense activities.
Zheng Liang subconsciously glanced at Gu Shaocheng, whose face remained calm and composed. He felt that even under the dim purple ambient lighting, his boss’s complexion was unusually pale and haggard, almost lifeless… He really looked like he had been drained of all his energy…
However, his shock only lasted for a moment before he turned around and ordered his men to stand in a line at the door.
In contrast, the family doctor standing to the side had a refined and scholarly air about him, as if he had seen it all. He had only joined the Gu family in the last two years and had previously helped many wealthy businessmen and celebrities resolve unexpected situations where they accidentally sat on foreign objects in the middle of the night.
It’s just a themed suite, nothing to make a fuss about. He had even already come up with new ways to play for Gu Shaocheng after his hand injury, because he couldn’t let the injury spoil his employer’s fun.
Tetanus is administered via intramuscular injection, and even in a dimly lit room with a purplish ambient light, it does not affect the doctor’s skillful operation.
After cleaning and bandaging the wound, he thoughtfully reminded Yu Yuan, “Sir, please don’t get your hands wet for the next few days. I’ll need your help with the daily cleaning as well.”
Yu Yuan immediately complied.
He was unaware that Gu Shaocheng’s feigned illness had triggered a chain reaction. He was convinced that Gu Shaocheng had injured his hands while saving him, and naturally felt obligated to help.
After the doctor finished treating him, he left with Zheng Liang. Yu Yuan looked at Gu Shaocheng, who was calm and somewhat detached after his fall, and hesitated before asking, “Shall we rinse you off now?”
Gu Shaocheng remained silent for a moment, then shook his head in refusal.
Yu Yuan brushed a stray hair from his forehead: “When would you like to take a shower?”
Gu Shaocheng said calmly, “No need.” He probably couldn’t withstand a third unexpected event today.
Yu Yuan frowned. “How can that be?”
Even in winter, Hainan Island is very hot. Gu Shaocheng was wearing long sleeves and trousers, and he thought the other party didn’t want to trouble him, so he blurted out before he thought, “Yes, yes, you took care of me when I was drunk before.”
An unwanted memory suddenly flashed into Gu Shaocheng’s mind: crawling on all fours, sliding and crawling between someone’s legs, taking shelter from the rain under leaves…
Gu Shaocheng took a deep breath and refused even more firmly: “I’ll wash it myself!”
*
Half an hour later, Gu Shaocheng still sat in the jacuzzi.
He never expected that the timid and stuttering little man in public would become so talkative and incessant after receiving the doctor’s instructions, muttering, “You did all this to save me. I can’t eat or sleep if I don’t take good care of you. The doctor said…”
Considering that he had not yet fully grasped his thought process, Gu Shaocheng pondered for a long time before deciding to go along with Yu Yuan, who was now somewhat convinced of its own reasons.
Gu Shaocheng soaked in the jacuzzi for ten minutes, while Yu Yuan moved a leather stool with a hollow center from the themed room attached to the suite, still wearing the same sky-blue short-sleeved shirt and shorts.
The clothes had no particular cut, yet they fit him perfectly against his frame. Combined with Yu Yuan’s fair and radiant skin and delicate features, he was a sight to behold even just standing there casually.
The hot water circulation mode of the massage bathtub easily relaxes the mind. Gu Shaocheng felt a moment of disorientation and found himself staring at Yu Yuan for a long time.
Fortunately, Yu Yuan was focused on preparing after entering the bathroom, and the bathroom was warm due to the steam, so Gu Shaocheng’s gaze did not make him feel uncomfortable.
Yu Yuan filled the small shelf with things he might need before sitting down by the bathtub.
Gu Shaocheng turned his head and met a pair of downturned almond eyes. The young man’s eyes had rounded curves, and his pupils were black and bright. The corners of his eyes drooped like a pitiful little dog. In reality, he was just focused on squeezing out shampoo and then lathering it into foam according to a certain ratio.
With everything ready, Yu Yuan looked up and smiled, a shallow dimple appearing on her lips: “Sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s start washing your hair. You can lean back on the headrest.”
Upon hearing this, Gu Shaocheng snapped out of his reverie and responded softly. His dark eyes held only indifference; he had nothing to look forward to. He only hoped that no more accidents would occur.
Unexpectedly, Yu Yuan’s technique was surprisingly skillful.
He poured the foam from the foaming device onto Gu Shaocheng’s head, then gently rubbed his scalp with his soft fingertips, applying more pressure when he encountered acupoints.
To make movement easier, Gu Shaocheng’s head was almost touching Yu Yuan’s chest, which allowed him to more clearly perceive the sweet scent of Yu Yuan’s body heat.
As Gu Shaocheng gradually lowered his guard, some strange emotions rose in his heart. He attributed it to the delayed effect of the fireworks and broke through it by saying, “You are very skilled.”
Yu Yuan’s cheeks flushed slightly. He still needed to get used to Gu Shaocheng. Hearing this, he breathed a sigh of relief. Talking to him would be a good way to distract him.
Yu Yuan took the initiative to talk about his experience of taking care of his adoptive mother. When his adoptive mother’s pneumoconiosis was discovered, it was already very serious. However, at that time, she refused to receive treatment, wanting to leave all the savings that the elderly couple had worked hard to save over the years to their son to complete his studies.
Yu Yuan has good grades and can get scholarships, but if he has the opportunity to go abroad, more money would make things a little easier for him, allowing him to focus all his energy on his studies. His adoptive parents always feel that their family’s financial situation is constantly dragging Yu Yuan down.
After several long talks, the adoptive mother finally agreed to buy an oxygen concentrator and start taking medication that was expensive for them, in order to regain their ability to take care of themselves. Otherwise, they would be out of breath with the slightest movement.
Yu Yuan spoke with great concern, but Gu Shaocheng was slightly taken aback because he couldn’t understand.
He could neither understand the unimaginable shadow that a lung transplant would cast on an ordinary family, nor could he understand why anyone would be willing to trade their own life for a child’s uncertain future.
He had never experienced this before, and while he felt that this kind of mother-son relationship was morbid, he was also secretly envious. His beautiful memories with his mother all happened when he was too young, and many of them were told to him by Aunt Lin.
At that time, in order to give birth to a healthy child, she had to stop taking medication during her pregnancy. Her condition was very bad, but she persevered. The doctor was very worried that postpartum depression would lead to a further mental breakdown in her. Unexpectedly, her condition was better after the child was born.
Gu Lanzhi loves children, but because of her illness, Grandpa Gu doesn’t want his daughter to suffer any more setbacks, and he decided early on to choose a suitable adopted son as the heir for the young couple.
After all, the Gu Group, which he had built up with his life’s blood and sweat, was like his daughter to him. He was not only his daughter’s father, but also needed to pass on the Gu family’s legacy.
However, after Gu Lanzhi became pregnant unexpectedly, she really wanted to keep the child. Considering both her daughter’s physical and mental condition, the child was ultimately kept. Moreover, because of the excellent results of various genetic tests, the family began to look forward to the child being healthy, intelligent, and exceptionally talented.
Therefore, before Gu Shaocheng confirmed his mental disorder, everything about the Gu family, including Gu Lanzhi’s paintings, was warm and beautiful.
Unfortunately, his good fortune didn’t last long. Gu Shaocheng’s childhood memories began with a near-drowning experience.
When she had an episode, his mother, who was acting erratically, would push him into the bathtub and repeatedly say incoherently that she wanted to clean him thoroughly. As he tried to struggle, she would tie his limbs with a wet towel.
His cries for help were cut off by the warm water he had choked on, and large amounts of water continued to pour into his nose and ear canals, causing him to quickly fall into painful suffocation.
Perhaps because the pain was so intense, he can still vividly recall that fear, despair, and bewilderment, and even feel that suffocating pain again when he thinks about it…
”…Back then, it was always messy everywhere. Luckily, there were instructional videos made by shampoo guys online. I watched them once and memorized them all.” Yu Yuan’s clear voice interrupted Gu Shaocheng’s recollection. Speaking of his learning ability, Yu Yuan smiled with a hint of pride.
When Gu Shaocheng looked up, he was met with a pair of smiling eyes that shone brightly in the dim bathroom light.
He quickly looked away, the nightmarish feeling of suffocation quietly receding.
Before he knew it, Yu Yuan had already picked up a towel from the shelf and helped Gu Shaocheng sit up. Soon, the towel absorbed most of the water from his short hair.
Yu Yuan pressed the water release button, and Gu Shaocheng stood up from the water, revealing a tall and powerful figure.
Yu Yuan subconsciously glanced at the large leaf that left the deepest impression on his drunken memories, his eyes widening slightly.
Sure enough, seeing it when he was fully conscious was even more shocking, and it’s no wonder he mistook it for a leaf. At that moment, he was convinced that this was the effect of “fiction”.
As the male protagonist’s half-brother, although he died suddenly, his genes must have been at the pinnacle of human potential.