He let out an exclamation, his soul nearly frightened right out of his body.
Rong Ning steadied himself by grabbing the shoe cabinet in the entryway, taking a long time to calm his pounding heart before walking with trepidation toward the person lying on the floor. He gave his calf a gentle kick. “Playing dead?”
He tested the breathing, smooth.
He sniffed for a scent, no alcohol.
Had he passed out?
“Jiang Mohai, Jiang Mohai, wake up!” Rong Ning shook his shoulders, but couldn’t wake him.
He hurried back to his room to grab his phone and called Liang Chen.
“Doctor Liang, Jiang Mohai seems to have passed out. Would it be convenient for you to come take a look?”
“Inconvenient,” came the heavy breathing from the other end of the line. “I’ll teach you to judge for yourself.”
Rong Ning frowned. “What are you doing?”
“I am doing fat loss.”
“In the middle of the night, what kind of fat loss are you doing! I don’t care if you’re running or lifting weights, stop right now.” Rong Ning rolled his eyes at him 10,086 times in his head. “Tell me, how do I judge?”
“Check his pupils. If they look different from usual, call an ambulance. If there’s no change, don’t worry about it, he’s most likely just asleep.”
Liang Chen’s speech was disjointed, his pitch shifting high and low. Rong Ning only caught the general idea and let out a helpless sigh. “Fine, then I’ll give it a try.”
Before he could even finish his sentence, Liang Chen directly hung up the phone.
Damn it! Working out is more important than a friend’s life?!
Rong Ning pried open Jiang Mohai’s eyelids, his pupils looked totally normal. Then he pressed his ear against his chest to listen to his heartbeat, it was beating so joyfully that it was impossible for him to have fainted.
He was just asleep.
Rong Ning instantly let out a sigh of relief, collapsing flat onto the floor. Looking at the sprawling, soundly sleeping Jiang Mohai before him, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
This looked nothing like a rigorous, self-disciplined corporate CEO. No matter how tired he was, he shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor with zero regard for his image.
Bending over, he grabbed Jiang Mohai’s arm, intending to drag him to the bedroom.
Yet he was far too heavy, pulling him two meters made Rong Ning huff and puff for ages.
He finally gave up. Before even dragging the man onto the bed, he was going to exhaust himself into a flatline, which wasn’t worth it.
He fetched the duvet from the bed out to the living room, rolled Jiang Mohai onto it, and stripped off his jacket, trousers, and shoes.
That still wasn’t enough; he needed another blanket to cover him.
Rong Ning returned to the bedroom, pulled open the wardrobe, and instantly spotted the few pieces of clothing and boxer shorts Jiang Mohai had taken out hanging on the rack, making him want to throw in the towel on the spot.
After agonizing for a few minutes, he pulled a thin quilt out from the cabinet, tossed it casually over Jiang Mohai’s stomach, turned around, and headed back to his own apartment to continue sleeping.
The next morning, Rong Ning woke up quite early. The very first thing he did upon opening his eyes was to check whether Jiang Mohai was awake.
Opening the door to the opposite apartment, the living room was empty and the duvet was gone.
Rong Ning felt a lingering sense of disappointment in his heart.
As expected, Jiang Mohai was made of iron, lacking even a heartbeat with warmth.
Drooping his head, Rong Ning turned and retreated back toward his own place. Suddenly, the sound of the elevator doors opening chimed from nearby. Looking up, he found himself locking eyes with Rong Chuhexuan stepping out of the elevator.
Rong Ning paused slightly, crossing his arms over his chest, curling his lip, and asking, “So early, what are you doing here?” His tone was neither warm nor cold.
“I came to check on Uncle.”
“Where’s Liang Chen? Why did he send you to check?”
“He isn’t in a very convenient physical state right now.” Rong Chuhexuan maintained his usual unruffled expression, casting a sidelong glance toward Jiang Mohai’s place. “Is Uncle alright?”
“He left early.” Rong Ning drooped his head, letting his arms hang as his body leaned limply and powerlessly against the wall.
Casting a sidelong glance at Rong Chuhexuan and remembering how Liang Chen didn’t give a damn about his friend’s life in pursuit of fitness, Rong Ning suddenly felt a surge of unprovoked anger, blaming Rong Chuhexuan. “Liang Chen was working out in the middle of the night, and you didn’t even stop him. You’re spoiling him way too much!”
“Also, he takes several showers a day. Is shower water free?!”
“This…” Rong Chuhexuan scratched his head awkwardly, his face flushing slightly as he hesitated to speak.
“Hey, I’m telling you, I’m the one yelling at him, why are you blushing!” Rong Ning’s gaze locked onto Rong Chuhexuan’s face, staring at him with scrutinizing eyes.
Rong Chuhexuan smiled. “I’ll talk to him when I go back, tell him to tone it down a bit.”
Rong Ning let out a sigh, his brow furrowing slightly as he realized his tone had been a bit too harsh just now. Lowering his gaze to stare at his own toes, he adjusted his emotions amidst a flurry of shifting thoughts. “That… thank you, about the motorcycle challenge.”
Looking bewildered, Rong Chuhexuan asked, “Thank you for what?”
“You drew lots for me, I know all about it, no need to hide it from me.” Rong Ning spoke in a very soft tone, finding it somewhat unfamiliar to use the word thank you with him.
“It wasn’t me.”
Rong Ning snapped his head up. “Wasn’t you? I saw that you had a mask identical to mine, so I thought…”
“I did want to draw lots for you, but when I rushed over, there was already someone on stage, and he was wearing a mask too.” Pausing for a moment, Rong Chuhexuan continued, “After the event ended, I saw Uncle.”
“You mean Jiang… Uncle helped me draw lots?” Rong Ning tilted his head, his face plastered with confusion.
Rong Chuhexuan nodded with absolute certainty. “Mn, it was him.”
Rong Ning remembered that after his fever broke that day, Jiang Mohai had gone to the company, yet he had secretly gone and done a good deed?
Jiang Mohai actually knew he rode motorcycles, and was silently supporting him?!
Fine, Jiang Mohai’s heart did have a tiny bit of warmth after all.
Rong Ning’s gaze shifted as he tried to probe whether Rong Chuhexuan was a big-mouthed blabbermouth. “When did you find out I rode motorcycles?”
“Right after you returned to the country.”
That early? Rong Ning was so shocked his mouth formed an O shape.
Just as he wanted to ask more, Rong Chuhexuan preempted him. “I have a very tight zip on my lips.”
“Oh.” Rong Ning pressed his lips together, his voice softening. “Then Dad and Auntie…”
“They knew too, before you returned to the country.”
“What?” Rong Ning was incomparably shocked, his temples throbbing fiercely. “They aren’t opposed to it?”
Rong Chuhexuan shook his head, a gentle, scholarly smile curling the corners of his mouth. “You carry on as usual, wear your mask if you want to wear it, no need to feel nervous if you don’t want to. Rong Dad and Mom are totally fine with it.”
The impact was simply too massive. Rong Ning patted his own forehead in sheer disbelief. “I need to go back and properly digest this. Walk slowly, not seeing you out.” With that, he waved dismissively at Rong Chuhexuan.
“Wait a second!”
Rong Ning turned back lazily, drawing out his tone. “Now what?”
“Do you and President Jiang have some kind of misunderstanding?”
Rong Ning paused for a fraction of a second, lifting his chin slightly. “How so?”
“Every time I’ve seen you lately, your emotional fluctuations felt a bit intense, just my guess.” Rong Chuhexuan pressed his lips together and continued, “A few days ago when you forgot your home password and stormed out in anger, it was he who told Liang Chen to have me come look for you. Knowing you rode motorcycles, he even secretly helped you draw lots…”
Rong Ning’s brow furrowed even deeper. “Wait! He knew I didn’t go back to my apartment?!”
“Mn. The moment you walked out of President Jiang’s place, he called Liang Chen. I was with Liang Chen at the time.” Rong Chuhexuan probed cautiously. “President Jiang… actually cares about you quite a bit.”
Rong Ning knew that all of Jiang Mohai’s care was based on the premise that Rong Ning was the young master of the Rong family, the neighborhood kid entrusted to him by Rong Qian.
He closed his eyes tight, took a deep breath, and slowly lifted his eyelids once more, his expression shifting amidst turbulent ripples. “I know…”
“But I don’t need care right now.” What he wanted was love.
Equal love, uninhibited love.
If Jiang Mohai couldn’t give it to him, what use was mere care?
“Hmm?” Rong Ning suddenly sensed that Rong Chuhexuan’s words carried a deeper meaning, casting a scrutinizing gaze at him. “What are you trying to say?”
After a brief moment of silence, Rong Chuhexuan spoke calmly. “You like President Jiang.”
Rong Ning’s expression stalled slightly before he let out a dry laugh to mask his guilty conscience. “So I have zero privacy left, having a brother with superhuman insight is so tough!” He had thought his fondness for Jiang Mohai was hidden so well.
Hearing the word brother, Rong Chuhexuan’s mouth curved upward slightly, revealing a warm smile. “I didn’t want to tell you at first, but I’d rather see my little brother be happy.”
Rong Ning reined in his expression and nodded. “I will be.”
With or without Jiang Mohai, he was going to be happy.
Returning to his apartment, Rong Ning stared blankly at his chat interface with Jiang Mohai for a long time before finally sending Jiang Mohai a WeChat message asking if he was feeling unwell.
Yet half an hour passed after sending the message with no reply, so he called Qin Shu instead.
“What is President Jiang doing?” Rong Ning’s tone carried a hint of urgency.
“He didn’t come to the company today. He went to a neighboring city for a meeting early this morning.”
On a business trip again?!
He didn’t remember a single thing about passing out last night?
Rong Ning bit his lower lip. “Fine, send me the meeting address.”
“Is President Rong coming over too?”
“Otherwise what, am I supposed to wait around for Jiang Mohai to single-handedly build his empire and work himself to death from overwork?” Rong Ning raised a hand to check his wristwatch. “Arrange for a driver to pick me up downstairs in an hour.”