When Xu Shulan burst into the room, he saw Xia Yunyu clinging to Zuo Ziqian, calling him husband.
Xia Yunyu was still trembling from the heat of the drug, and Zuo Ziqian immediately pulled a bath towel from the side to cover him.
“Get out!” Zuo Ziqian barked, shielding Xia Yunyu firmly behind him.
Xu Shulan could not understand how Xia Yunyu had vanished from his sight in the blink of an eye, only to appear now like a stranded mermaid, curled up in the bathtub in distress, clutching another man’s sleeve and calling him husband.
“That is my person. Give him back to me,” Xu Shulan said, his voice strained as he struggled to suppress his rage.
Zuo Ziqian did not care in the slightest; instead, he guarded Xia Yunyu even more closely.
“He might have been your person before, but he certainly isn’t now.” A look of brazen aggression flickered across Zuo Ziqian’s face, which appeared particularly jarring to Xu Shulan.
Xu Shulan could no longer endure it. Just as he moved to snatch him back, Xia Yunyu let out a sound as sticky and sweet as melting honey.
“I feel so sick. It is so hot.”
No matter how slow his thinking was, Xu Shulan realized that Xia Yunyu was not acting normally.
“What did you do to him?” Xu Shulan clenched his fists, desperate to smash them into Zuo Ziqian’s face.
Zuo Ziqian did not answer. Instead, he turned to soothe Xia Yunyu by stroking his flushed, burning cheeks. The person beneath his hand immediately nuzzled against him obediently, letting out a satisfied moan.
“Did you drug him?” Xu Shulan felt as if his entire body were burning. By the time he realized what was happening, his fist had already landed on Zuo Ziqian’s face, and he had taken the opportunity to scoop up the soaking-wet Xia Yunyu into his arms.
Xu Shulan never regretted his actions. He glared at Zuo Ziqian with fierce, ruthless eyes. “If anything happens to him, we are far from finished.”
With that, he carried his little sister-in-law, who was still dripping with water, out of the suite.
Too late to stop him, Zuo Ziqian licked his split lip with his tongue. “Damn it, that brat hits hard.”
As he dressed, he made a phone call. “Stop the person who just left my room.”
But Xu Shulan had been prepared. By the time the bodyguards reacted and gave chase, he was already in a car and driving away.
Urging the driver to go faster, Xu Shulan looked at the person in his arms, feeling both angry and anxious. Guilt flooded his chest, and his hands trembled as he dialed a number.
“Bingqing, are you free right now? Someone I know is in trouble.”
After receiving a confirmation, Xu Shulan quickly gave the driver the destination, then raised the partition to cautiously check on Xia Yunyu’s condition.
His delicate skin was flushed with heat, his consciousness was completely blurred, and his entire body was radiating an intense fever.
Xu Shulan’s clothes had long been soaked by the water, yet he felt that the other’s body temperature was high enough to dry them out.
“Beast!” The more he looked, the more his heart ached, but Xia Yunyu did not give him time to react, constantly burrowing into his arms.
“Hold me.”
His lips, swollen from being kissed, opened and closed rhythmically. Xu Shulan leaned his ear in to listen carefully to what Xia Yunyu was saying.
“So hot.”
He had just pulled back the bath towel covering the other when Xia Yunyu’s limbs immediately wrapped around him, clinging tightly.
“Xia Yunyu, stay awake!” Xu Shulan looked at his sister-in-law sitting in his lap, soaking wet. “We are almost at the hospital. Just endure it a little longer.”
Hearing the near-stern voice in his ear, Xia Yunyu dropped tears in frustration, randomly kissing Xu Shulan’s chin.
“Damn it!” Xu Shulan did not dare to open his eyes; he knew that if he did, he would see Xia Yunyu begging for kisses.
Xu Shulan admitted that he desperately wanted to help him, but the shackles of their status forced him to maintain his composure.
Cursing Zuo Ziqian over and over in his heart, Xu Shulan finally let go of his bottom line.
“Just this once.”
But it seemed as if Xia Yunyu realized he was about to touch a secret. His tears fell in a panic, and he scrambled backward in confusion. Had Xu Shulan not reached out to support him, he would have tumbled over.
Seeing the other trying to hide, Xu Shulan immediately soothed him. “I will not touch you. I absolutely will not. Be good, do not move.”
As he spoke, he wiped away every tear that fell from the corners of his eyes.
“Sister-in-law, what are you making me do?” Xu Shulan thought to himself, feeling a sense of stifling frustration. The person he had craved for so long had almost been devoured by someone else right under his nose.
Xia Yunyu buried his face in Xu Shulan’s chest, keenly sensing the other’s emotions. He looked up, and still somewhat dazed, he kissed Xu Shulan’s Adam’s apple in an attempt to please him.
“Mm…” A deep, muffled groan erupted. “Truly, you little demon.”
The car gradually came to a halt. Xu Shulan ignored his own wet clothes, wrapped Xia Yunyu in the towel again, and carried him into the hospital.
It was already one or two in the morning, and the hospital was empty. Xu Shulan navigated the familiar halls, carrying Xia Yunyu to the innermost consultation room of the inpatient department.
As soon as he pushed open the door, the person inside let out a yawn and began to grumble: “It is so late; what kind of massive emergency could it possibly be?”
Xu Shulan was in no mood to reply. He placed Xia Yunyu gently onto the hospital bed. “He was drugged.”
“Wouldn’t going to bed just…” Zheng Bingqing started to say, intending to say it would fix it.
His sleepy gaze landed on the cheek peeking out from the corner of the large bath towel, and his words died in his throat.
At this moment, Xia Yunyu was covered in a light sheen of sweat, his eyes and brows flushed with desire. His beautiful, bright eyes stared blankly into the void, while lust continued to torture him.
He looked at Xu Shulan, then at the young beauty on the bed, and shook his head regretfully.
“To drug such a beautiful person and send them to your bed, it is a complete waste.”
Veins bulged on Xu Shulan’s forehead. “What are you thinking? Hurry up and examine him!”
“Fine, fine…” Muttering dismissively, Zheng Bingqing adjusted the glasses on his nose and touched the young man’s forehead. It was scalding hot. He gently lifted the blanket, and after just one glance, he marveled that his childhood friend was truly a saint to be able to remain composed in this situation.
“What are you doing?” Although the person beside him was his childhood friend, Xu Shulan grabbed Zheng Bingqing’s wrist with a wary look.
Zheng Bingqing was surprised. “I was just looking.”
Xu Shulan let go, his face cold. He longed to love the other openly, but unfortunately, he could not.
Keenly sensing that their relationship was unusual, Zheng Bingqing’s curiosity was fully piqued, though he kept his composure on the surface. “I will draw some blood later to see if the drug has caused any damage, then put him on an IV drip to dilute the effects. That should be about right.”
Just as Xu Shulan breathed a sigh of relief, Xia Yunyu began to move restlessly again, longing for something cool to calm the burning heat inside his body.
“Ugh, so uncomfortable. So uncomfortable.”
Just as Zheng Bingqing prepared to draw blood, he urged Xu Shulan to hold Xia Yunyu down so he would not move.
As soon as contact was made, Xia Yunyu skillfully climbed onto Xu Shulan’s body, causing the bath towel to slip away.
Zheng Bingqing had intended to look away, exercising the virtue of not seeing what he shouldn’t, but he was captivated by the flash of sea-blue, his gaze fixed in place.
Xu Shulan managed to pin Xia Yunyu down, and upon turning his head, he caught his rogue childhood friend staring at his sister-in-law.
“Have you seen enough?” His tone was sinister, successfully snapping Zheng Bingqing back to his senses.
Zheng Bingqing felt awkward; he had not seen enough, and shamefully, he had even felt a spark of attraction.
No, honestly, who could resist the temptation of a beautiful person dripping wet? Not him, that is for sure.
After sending the blood samples to the lab, the two faced another challenge: they needed to change Xia Yunyu into clean clothes.
Thinking Xia Yunyu was a girl, Zheng Bingqing said naturally, “I will go call the nurse on duty.”
But he was immediately rebuffed by Xu Shulan. “No!”
Zheng Bingqing rolled his eyes. He was incredibly exhausted and had no time for Xu Shulan’s nonsense. “Then you change her.”
“…No.”
“You cannot do this and you cannot do that. Does she have some kind of secret she cannot let others see?” Zheng Bingqing was getting annoyed, but after pondering his friend’s expression, he realized the other did not deny his insinuation. “Do not tell me… is he actually a boy? You guys sure play games.”
Xu Shulan could not take it anymore. “Get out. I will change him.”
Zheng Bingqing was a person full of curiosity, but under the threat of his friend’s gaze, he left his own consultation room, looking back every few steps.
The air suddenly went quiet.
Zheng Bingqing’s office was different from an average doctor’s; he liked a life with taste. There was a faint scent of orchid incense in the room, yet Xu Shulan could still smell the trace of Xia Yunyu’s scent lingering in the air, an elusive, lingering fragrance that haunted the night.
But Xia Yunyu’s condition could not be delayed; he was still in pain. Realizing this, Xu Shulan worked quickly, afraid to look too closely as he helped him change into the hospital-issued patient uniform.
So, when Zheng Bingqing returned with the IV drip, Xu Shulan had already changed the clothes of the unnamed beauty, and even the soaked formal gown was neatly folded on the table.
For this, Zheng Bingqing could only give him a thumbs up. His friend was truly a saint of the modern age.
After hanging the IV and administering a mild sedative, Xia Yunyu’s brows smoothed out, and he drifted off to sleep.
Watching the beautiful, serene face of the sleeping beauty, Zheng Bingqing couldn’t help but yawn. “So sleepy. I am going to sleep too. Do you want me to find you an empty ward?”
Xu Shulan shook his head. “I will stay here and watch over him.”
“Wait, who is he exactly?” Zheng Bingqing couldn’t help himself; he was about to explode with curiosity.
Xu Shulan didn’t want to say, but he knew he couldn’t keep this from Zheng Bingqing, whom he had known for so many years. So, he replied truthfully: “Xia Yunyu, my sister-in-law.”
“Xia Yunyu…” Zheng Bingqing pondered the name, then combined it with the word “sister-in-law,” a term that seemed entirely too inappropriate for the current situation, and finally realized the implications. He shuddered, his sleepiness vanishing by seventy or eighty percent. “Are you saying he is your sister-in-law?!”
Zheng Bingqing, realizing that the situation was far beyond what he could have imagined, wanted to grab his friend by the shoulders and shake him to see if he could shake the water out of his head. “You just returned to the country, and when your sister-in-law gets drugged, you are the one bringing him here as the little brother-in-law!”
“It is a long story.” Xu Shulan rubbed his brow in exhaustion.
Zheng Bingqing knew that the relationship between Xu Shulan and Xu Hao was one thin paper away from total war. He was so anxious he could tear his hair out; he couldn’t imagine how this little brother-in-law had ended up entangled with his sister-in-law.
“Then make the long story short.”
But the other’s mouth was as tight as a clam now.
Zheng Bingqing’s fox-like eyes were filled with exasperation. “You are doing this again! Forget it, do whatever you want!”
With that, he turned and went into his private lounge.
However, after lying on the bed and closing his eyes, he suddenly opened them again. He seemed to vaguely remember that the person Xu Hao married was someone from the Xia family with health issues.
It seemed to be… intersex?