Gui Wen held tightly onto Zong Xian’s body. Even though it was the peak of summer, the other man’s skin was abnormally cold.
The doctor quickly took Zong Xian from Gui Wen’s arms and wheeled him into the emergency room. Gui Wen sat waiting on the chairs outside for an hour or two, unaware of when Lu Yuteng had even quietly sat down beside him, patting his shoulder in comfort.
Zong Xian’s condition was not critical, and the rescue procedure went smoothly. The medical staff wheeled the patient back to a regular ward, and Gui Wen naturally followed right behind Lu Yuteng into the room.
Lu Yuteng provided a detailed account of the events that transpired. In the end, the police arrived at the scene and rounded up all the criminals, but the true identity of the mastermind behind the scenes remained undiscovered.
Gui Wen walked over to the bedside and squatted down halfway to look at Zong Xian. The wound on his neck had been re-bandaged, and the terrifying stains of blood from earlier had been thoroughly cleaned away.
Zong Xian’s complexion remained as pale as paper, devoid of color, and his delicate brows and eyes drooped in silence, his long eyelashes resting against his skin like the wings of a black butterfly, giving him an inexplicable, morbid sort of beauty.
He reached out to brush away a speck of dust that had fallen onto Zong Xian’s eyelashes, but just as he was about to retract his hand, the other man grabbed his wrist without any warning.
“Brother Zong Xian?” Gui Wen thought Zong Xian had woken up, yet he received no response.
He leaned in close to observe Zong Xian’s condition, only for the person on the hospital bed to snap his eyes wide open without warning. With a sudden burst of strength from his grip, Gui Wen lost his balance and tumbled straight into Zong Xian’s embrace. “Are you alright?”
“Don’t worry about me.” Zong Xian wrapped his arms tightly around Gui Wen’s waist. “Did you feel that?”
Being able to use this much force to trap him made Gui Wen certain that Zong Xian hardly needed anyone to worry about him.
Zong Xian showed no intention of letting go. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Lu Yuteng, signaling the other to leave the room, and then began unbuttoning Gui Wen’s shirt with total lawlessness.
“Brother Zong Xian?” Gui Wen instinctively reached out to block him, but a few buttons had already been undone, exposing the fair skin of his upper chest.
The red marks left behind previously had already vanished completely. Zong Xian’s fingers traced back and forth over his collarbone, his lips hovering as if about to descend once more, when a sudden knock sounded at the door.
“Mr. Zong, sorry to disturb you.” Lu Yuteng’s voice sounded rather awkward. “The fruit basket I ordered just arrived. I wanted to thank Mr. Zong for what happened today, so can I bring it inside?”
Zong Xian hurriedly straightened Gui Wen’s clothes, covering his exposed chest with fabric once more. His expression turned exceptionally impatient. “Get in and out quickly.”
Lu Yuteng pushed open the ward door, placed the fruit basket on the bedside table, and hurriedly slipped out. Zong Xian pulled the person in his arms even tighter. Gui Wen was squeezed uncomfortably and gave a tentative push.
“So minding about being seen?” Zong Xian’s voice dropped into a low rumble.
Gui Wen answered without thinking much. “It’s fine, you just finished buttoning my shirt anyway.”
Zong Xian buried his face into the crook of Gui Wen’s neck. “Whatever.”
“Brother Zong Xian, are you cold?” Seeing Zong Xian press closer and closer against him, Gui Wen couldn’t resist reaching out to touch Zong Xian’s forehead. Finding his temperature normal, he proceeded to touch Zong Xian’s face and arms.
Zong Xian didn’t reply, choosing simply to hold Gui Wen’s body in silence. After a long while, he grabbed Gui Wen’s palm and pressed it against his own lips, as if trying to use the other person’s warmth to heat up his deliberately chilled mouth, only for the ward door to be knocked on once again.
“Young Master Zong, is the patient doing alright?”
Chen Suluo’s voice rang from outside the door, and the annoyance Zong Xian displayed surpassed anything from moments before. “He’s fine. You can leave.”
“How can I do that? What kind of relationship do we have? I can’t just leave without even taking a look.” Ignoring whether Zong Xian gave formal consent, Chen Suluo twisted the doorknob directly. “I am coming in.”
It would have been fine if Chen Suluo hadn’t opened the door, but the moment he did, he got the shock of his life. His eyes immediately locked onto the two people tangled together on the hospital bed, where one of them was naturally Zong Xian, while the other happened to be the nominal younger brother Zong Xian had despised for over a decade.
He rubbed his eyes hard to confirm his vision wasn’t failing him.
Clearly noticing Chen Suluo’s expression, which looked as though he had just spotted a prehistoric monster, Zong Xian temporarily loosened his grip on Gui Wen, who quickly stood up and offered a proper greeting to Chen Suluo. Gui Wen hadn’t forgotten how the man had inexplicably driven him out to the desolate mountains, but on the surface, he still needed to maintain basic civility.
Gui Wen asked Zong Xian if he wanted an orange. Seeing the patient give an affirmative nod, he sat down at the edge and pulled an orange out of Lu Yuteng’s fruit basket, silently starting to peel the skin.
Zong Xian and Chen Suluo continued chatting. Assuming Zong Xian was too busy to pay attention to him, Gui Wen popped a section of peeled orange straight into his own mouth.
Just as he was about to eat a second segment, Zong Xian abruptly turned back around, opened his mouth, and snatched the orange right out of Gui Wen’s hand, his tongue intentionally or unintentionally brushing across the other’s fingertips.
“Wasn’t that for me?” Zong Xian asked with feigned reproach.
Gui Wen had no choice but to offer the remaining orange segments to Zong Xian, who refused to take them and insisted that Gui Wen feed him directly.
The person acting as the feeder couldn’t help frowning slightly. Being a young master truly meant being a lazybones.
Chen Suluo resumed his expression of staring at a prehistoric monster. Had Young Master Zong finally managed to tame such a rebellious younger brother? Or did someone have dirt on the other? Or was there something wrong with his own eyes?
Instead of looking like brothers getting along, the actions of the two men before him carried an ambiguous undertone.
Chen Suluo wondered if he needed to admit himself to the hospital for a stay as well.
The news that the Xu family’s chairman had recovered his beloved son spread like wildfire through the business community, reaching even Gui Wen via the internet.
When he spotted Lu Yuteng at school, the boy looked largely indistinguishable from his usual self, yet every weekend a luxury car could be seen picking him up.
Lu Yuteng’s biological sister, Professor Xu, continued teaching at the academy, though not within the oil painting department, meaning a different instructor had taken over Gui Wen’s professional classes.
Gui Wen packed up his post-class assignments and brought them back to his apartment to continue painting.
The new professor’s homework demands were heavy enough that even with the system buff, Gui Wen found himself working late into the night.
Because of this, the next morning for early classes, Gui Wen nearly failed to wake up, letting his alarm ring a full two times before he finally dragged himself out of dreamland.
He hurriedly changed clothes and headed downstairs, pulling out his phone to hail a ride when a familiar luxury car pulled up right in front of him.
Gui Wen instinctively peered through the car window as Lu Yuteng rolled down the rear window half an inch. “You’re going to be late. Hop in.”
“What a coincidence?” Gui Wen hadn’t forgotten how Lu Yuteng used to intentionally keep his distance from him. “I thought you didn’t consider me a friend anymore.”
“I’m sorry, I have my own difficulties.” Lu Yuteng lowered his head, not daring to meet Gui Wen’s gaze. “You can sit in the front passenger seat.”
Gui Wen lingered his gaze on Lu Yuteng for a moment before opening the passenger door and climbing inside. “What difficulties?”
“I promised I wouldn’t tell you. Please don’t ask, I’m sorry.” Lu Yuteng’s voice grew softer and softer, and Gui Wen didn’t have the heart to press him further, remaining silent for the rest of the ride.
The car drove into the internal campus grounds and parked right beneath the teaching building. Gui Wen got out first, originally intending to wait for Lu Yuteng, but the other boy walked away straight ahead without looking back.
Gui Wen headed upstairs right after.
The classroom atmosphere was so dull that Gui Wen couldn’t help nodding off, managing to stay upright only by propping up his head with his hand.
Gui Wen casually pulled out his phone. Zong Xian was still hospitalized under observation, and Gui Wen hadn’t seen him outside of a hospital ward for a full week.
Like clockwork, Zong Xian messaged his WeChat every single day without fail. [What are you doing?]
Gui Wen replied naturally, saying he was in class.
[Why are you in his car?] Zong Xian sent a sudden line out of nowhere.
Gui Wen instinctively raised his gaze to scan his surroundings. The classroom contained only familiar classmates, and when he walked over to the hallway corridor to look downstairs, nobody was there.
[I’m almost late, and big brother can’t come pick me up anyway.] Gui Wen replied, putting on an act.
Zong Xian didn’t reply further, and Gui Wen didn’t give it much thought.
After class ended, Gui Wen stayed behind for half an hour to finish his homework. By the time he packed his art supplies and headed downstairs, the surrounding crowd had thinned out considerably.
Just as he reached the intersection, someone suddenly grabbed him by force and dragged him into the deep alley beside the teaching building.
Gui Wen tried to cry out for help, but his mouth was firmly covered, and no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t pry open the palm pressed across his face.
“Be a good boy.” A hand stroked against Gui Wen’s waist from behind. “Didn’t you want big brother to pick you up?”
Gui Wen slowly stopped struggling. Only when he turned compliant did Zong Xian finally loosen his grip.
“Brother Zong Xian.” Gui Wen turned his face, frowning as he looked at the hospital gown Zong Xian was wearing. “You haven’t been discharged yet. You shouldn’t just run outside like this.”
“It’s just a hospital gown, Yan Guanbai.”
Zong Xian’s thumb traced back and forth near Gui Wen’s neck.
“Even if I were bleeding even more profusely than when I was admitted, I would still drag myself here covered in blood to pick you up.”
Gui Wen accidentally locked eyes with Zong Xian, and the man didn’t look like he was joking.
“Now that you know he’s the young master of the Xu family, you’re even less willing to let go?” Zong Xian’s gaze felt as though it wanted to strip a layer of skin off Gui Wen.
Gui Wen tried to appease him by touching Zong Xian’s wrist. “I already told you, I only like big brother.”
“Only when you’re in front of me.”
Zong Xian gripped Gui Wen’s chin hard, forcing the person before him to look up.
“But it doesn’t matter. People have to take responsibility for the things they say, you know?” Zong Xian’s gaze crashed into Gui Wen’s eyes.
“I know.” Gui Wen grasped Zong Xian’s palm, gently scratching the skin with his fingertips like a pet seeking favor. “I’ll listen to big brother.”
“You have never truly listened to my words.” Zong Xian forcefully ripped open Gui Wen’s collar, leaving a clearly visible bite mark on his shoulder.
“Ah!” Gui Wen let out a cry of pain as Zong Xian raised a hand to muffle his mouth.
Zong Xian bit down deep, breaking the skin until it oozed blood. Wounds broken like that were difficult to heal completely in a short time.
He looked thoroughly satisfied with his handiwork, licking away the fresh blood to reveal the deep red bite mark underneath.
“Big brother.” Gui Wen felt a tickling sensation from the licking, his body involuntarily trembling for a fraction of a second.
“Now that you know it hurts.” Zong Xian’s thumb stroked across the bite mark. “You’ll learn your lesson.”
Gui Wen’s collar was rearranged, and Zong Xian dragged him out of the alley, shoving him directly into the black sedan parked outside.
“From now on, your extracurricular time belongs to me. Do you understand?”
Zong Xian sat in the driver’s seat, threw on his jacket, and started the car.
“You’re going to keep big brother company as a patient now, my obedient little brother.”