While eating toast in the car, Zong Xian had already noticed Yan Guanbai’s strange behavior. Had he not been concerned that Yan Guanbai would stir up trouble outside and lead to unfavorable consequences for the Zong family, he had no intention of getting out of the car specifically to check on this.
Yan Guanbai’s gaze wrapped tightly around him like invisible tentacles. Zong Xian frowned slightly and raised his eyes to look at the few people chasing from behind the other man.
“Go to the back.” Zong Xian impatiently tugged at Gui Wen’s arm, pulling the person behind him.
The newcomers had a very clear target, charging straight behind him. Zong Xian raised his arm and shoved with his elbow, and one of them fell down in pain.
Gui Wen watched with wide eyes from behind. The subordinates who had just chased him were simply like little toy figures, and Zong Xian could flick them far away with just a slight movement of his fingers.
Before the crisis was completely resolved, out of the corner of his eye, Gui Wen inadvertently caught sight of a figure emerging from the corner, deliberately slowing his pace as he approached Zong Xian, holding an iron pipe in his hand.
“Brother Zong Xian.” Gui Wen lunged forward almost without thinking. He had never been good at fighting since he was a child, and when encountering such a scene, he could only rely on instinctive reaction.
If he hadn’t drunk that cup of iced lemon honey and let his mind wander a few extra turns, this kind of situation wouldn’t have happened at all, and he wouldn’t have dragged Zong Xian into it.
The iron pipe smashed heavily onto Gui Wen’s back. Hearing the commotion, Zong Xian abruptly turned around, snatched the iron pipe from the assailant’s hand, and threw it to the ground.
“I’m not someone you can afford to provoke.” Zong Xian tightly clenched the other person’s collar, his gaze as if it would pierce through the person before him in the next second. “If you know what’s good for you, scram with your men.”
The group fled in a panic from the secluded corner of the campus.
Zong Xian hurriedly squatted down to check on Gui Wen’s condition. The latter was lying on the ground after being struck by the iron pipe, and Zong Xian gently pressed against the other’s back. “Can you walk?”
“It hurts.” Gui Wen couldn’t help but frown, unable to move at all.
Zong Xian had no choice and reached out his hand toward him. Gui Wen noticed the blood on Zong Xian’s palm and subconsciously pursed his lips. “Brother, you’re bleeding.”
He asked again, “Is it serious? Was it scraped by the iron pipe? Will you get tetanus?”
Zong Xian’s expression softened rarely, looking at Gui Wen as if looking at a weak stray animal on the roadside. He simply picked the person up horizontally in his arms.
“These words are what I should be asking you.”
Gui Wen was carried into the car and fell into a daze and passed out not long after. When he woke up, he was already in a hospital ward. Zong Xian was sitting right by his bed, his dusty gray suit jacket taken off and placed aside. “Still hurting?”
“It’s alright now.” Gui Wen subconsciously looked at the wound on Zong Xian’s hand, which had now been wrapped in gauze. “Brother Zong Xian.”
“I’m fine, superficial injuries.” Zong Xian re-adjusted the patient’s blanket. The latter’s injuries were even more severe than he had imagined; he had watched with his own eyes as the doctor treated the injuries on Yan Guanbai’s back, revealing a patch of alarming redness and swelling. Aside from a large amount of bruising, there were also signs of a bone fracture, and he would need to be hospitalized for observation for quite a long time.
Yan Guanbai had not yet woken up, and on an impulse, Zong Xian gently touched the red and swollen area with the pad of his thumb, but quickly withdrew his fingertips.
“Know you did something wrong?”
“I know. I shouldn’t have gone to see that person, and I shouldn’t have made you clean up my mess.”
Though Zong Xian’s words sounded like a lecture, his tone was very calm, seemingly without much intention of blame. “You and I are even now.”
Gui Wen knew Zong Xian was referring to him helping take that blow. “Brother Zong Xian has forgiven me?”
Zong Xian paused unnaturally, his gaze also looking away from Gui Wen. “Not angry, can’t be considered forgiveness.”
Gui Wen originally wanted to say something more, but the ward door was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and Zong Xian’s parents hurried to his bedside to check on his injuries.
His mother pulled up his hospital gown to look at his back, exposing a large patch of red and swelling to the air once again. Zong Xian deliberately averted his gaze.
“Why is it so serious?” His mother immediately knitted her brows, and his father also stepped forward worriedly. “Who bullied you?”
Gui Wen hurriedly brushed it off with random excuses, sweetly comforting the two elders for a long time before the other side stopped pursuing the issue further.
His mother’s attention abruptly fell on Zong Xian, instructing him to take good care of his younger brother. Gui Wen quickly tugged at the wrist of Zong Xian’s mother. “Auntie, Brother Zong Xian brought me to the hospital, and he treats me very well.”
The elders finally set their minds at ease, and because there was still work at the company that needed attention, the parents temporarily left the ward.
After dealing with his adoptive parents, Gui Wen’s mouth was dry, and he couldn’t help licking his dry lips with his tongue.
Zong Xian had originally lingered by the hospital bed, but seeing his parents leave, he also quickly stepped out through the doorway.
Thinking that Zong Xian had no intention of coming back, Gui Wen closed his eyes to take a nap for ten minutes or so. When he opened them, he found an extra cup of water by the bedside.
He raised his hand to touch it; it was still warm.
Gui Wen stayed in the hospital for a full three weeks before officially being discharged.
His adoptive parents came to look after him whenever they had free time after work, while Zong Xian hardly ever appeared in front of him. However, whenever he woke up, there was always a cup of warm water by his bed, and even the family’s pet white cat had been sent over.
When Gui Wen was discharged, he hugged the white cat back to the villa. His adoptive parents came to pick him up, and the driver drove him back. Not a shadow of Zong Xian could be seen throughout the entire trip.
He deliberately woke up the system to check the aversion value.
[Host, the current mission target’s aversion value is 50%.]
It dropped quite a significant chunk. Gui Wen was thoroughly baffled; he had thought it would skyrocket, otherwise Zong Xian wouldn’t have gone three whole weeks without coming to see him even once.
It wasn’t until Gui Wen returned to school after his leave ended that Zong Xian made his first appearance in front of him.
“Brother Zong Xian, I just got discharged.” Gui Wen deliberately moved closer, almost pressing against Zong Xian’s body. “How come you didn’t even send me a single greeting?”
“The fact that your mouth can still act up means you’ve recovered pretty well.” Zong Xian didn’t spare him half a glance.
Gui Wen reached out for his hand again and suddenly asked sincerely, “Has your hand injury completely healed?”
“Mn, it healed very fast.” The school gate appeared beyond the windshield, and Zong Xian cast a rare glance at his nominal younger brother. “Get out of the car.”
Gui Wen walked through the school gate and returned to the dormitory, only to find that the roommate who had previously treated him to iced lemon honey was frantically packing his luggage.
He didn’t have a good impression of his roommate, but he still needed to figure out the situation. “You’re moving out?”
“Yan, Brother Yan, I was wrong, I really didn’t know Young Master Jiang would do that.” The roommate’s voice was trembling nonstop, as if he had run into an evil ghost. “Spare me. If I had known, I wouldn’t have dared push you into the fire pit even if I had the guts.”
Gui Wen was subconsciously stunned. He hadn’t even moved a single finger, so why was this person so terrified? “So you are leaving?”
“Big Brother, I, how could I have the face to stay here anymore? After Young Master Jiang went down, I haven’t been doing well either. I know I was wrong, please let me go.”
The roommate stopped what he was doing, not even bothering to pack his luggage, looking as though he was about to kneel down and grab the thighs of the person in front of him. Gui Wen hurriedly stopped his movement. “What do you mean by Young Master Jiang’s downfall?”
“It’s just, the Jiang family enterprise had its dark history dug up, and it’s spreading like wildfire online. He doesn’t even dare come to school right now.” The roommate grabbed Gui Wen’s wrist in an attempt to curry favor. “Big Brother, whatever you want to know, I can tell you.”
Gui Wen felt goosebumps rising all over and quickly shook off the roommate’s hand, searching Baidu on his web browser for news related to the Jiang family.
The enterprise’s dark history was listed line by line, and the corresponding image and video evidence was also organized and published in order, causing an uproar online.
For the source news to reach such popularity after being published for only one night, it looked as though someone was fanning the flames behind the scenes.
Gui Wen didn’t understand business matters, so this affair was soon thrown to the back of his mind.
It wasn’t until school let out in the afternoon that Gui Wen packed up his painting tools in the professional classroom and left the school gates all the way. Zong Xian’s car was already parked across the street, and he subconsciously walked across the crosswalk.
The car window wasn’t fully closed, leaving a small gap, and as soon as Gui Wen got close, he could hear the voices inside the car.
The driver happened to be not around, and Zong Xian was on a phone call in the back seat. Not wanting to interrupt the other person impolitely, Gui Wen stood outside the car door waiting for the call to end.
“It’s me.” Zong Xian replied in a strictly businesslike tone. “The Jiang family matter was handled very well.”
Gui Wen felt as though his thoughts were forcibly yanked out; the Jiang family’s trending searches seemed to be related to Zong Xian.
“Yan Guanbai.” Zong Xian paused noticeably, but quickly returned to normal. “He is considered a member of the Zong family after all. Young Master Jiang beat a dog without looking at its owner; if I left it alone, spreading it out would instead be impolite.”
Gui Wen subconsciously blinked his eyes. Sure enough, rich people loved saving face.
“Enough, don’t mention that name.”
As soon as Zong Xian’s voice fell, Gui Wen received the system’s daily warm reminder: [Host, please pay attention to managing the mission target’s aversion value; your aversion value has decreased multiple times.]
Ever since the aversion value dropped three times in a row, every time Zong Xian appeared, the system would unceremoniously pop up a prompt.
Gui Wen let out an imperceptible sigh, and seeing that Zong Xian had already hung up the phone, he pulled open the car door. “Brother Zong Xian.”
Zong Xian gave him a faint glance.
“Do you know my roommate?” Gui Wen tentatively asked. “He suddenly became very scared of me and is moving out now.”
“Is that so.” Zong Xian busied himself with handling the messages on his phone.
“I also saw the news about the Jiang family; Young Master Jiang hasn’t been coming to school recently.” Gui Wen continued speaking, his gaze quietly appraising Zong Xian’s expression.
“I’m not concerned with matters concerning those surnamed Jiang.”
“Brother Zong Xian.” Gui Wen deliberately reached out to cover Zong Xian’s phone screen, forcing the other person to focus his attention on him. “I heard you on the phone just now.”
“So, what?” Zong Xian had no choice but to temporarily meet Gui Wen’s gaze.
Gui Wen simply snatched Zong Xian’s phone away. Unexpectedly, the other person didn’t resist.
He pressed his palm onto Zong Xian’s thigh. “Did you do that to stand up for me?”
Zong Xian’s lips didn’t move.
“Can I take it,” Gui Wen said as his palm inched further forward with increasing audacity, “that Brother actually likes me a little bit?”
Zong Xian let out a soft laugh, but it was clearly not a laugh born of being amused, lacking the proper warmth.
He pinched Gui Wen’s chin, forcing the latter to raise his neck slightly.
“Want to know the answer?”