Chapter 16

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For as long as Xi Fei remained in the hospital, Zhu Shiyan stayed by his side.

He was still hospitalized when the new term began. Zhu Shiyan asked the teacher for leave on his behalf, then rushed to the hospital the moment school ended each day.

After failing to catch him several times, Chu Junyuan finally lost his temper. The day after school, he grabbed Zhu Shiyan by the back of his collar and ground out through clenched teeth, “You promised me before New Year’s that you’d come to my house for dinner after I got back.”

“I told you, I’ve had something to deal with lately.” Zhu Shiyan pulled his collar free and quickly packed his schoolbag. “Thank your aunt for me. I’m leaving.”

Chu Junyuan hurried after him and seized the strap of his schoolbag. “What is it? Where are you going? I want to come too.”

Zhu Shiyan stopped and turned to stare at him. After staring for quite some time, until Chu Junyuan felt increasingly uneasy, he finally said, “You can come, but you have to promise me one thing.”

“What?”

“Don’t be rude to him.”

Chu Junyuan: “?”

Rude to whom?

When they arrived at the hospital, he fell silent. Eyes wide, he pointed at the person in the hospital bed. “You refused to come home for dinner with me just to visit him?”

Zhu Shiyan cast him a cool glance. “What did you promise me before we came?”

Chu Junyuan looked aggrieved. He wanted to say something, but did not dare. In the end, he sat down in a chair and sulked by himself.

When he had returned for the new term and found the seat beside Zhu Shiyan empty, he had assumed that boy had finally stopped coming to school. He had even waited confidently for the chance to become Zhu Shiyan’s desk mate.

Who could have guessed the boy had been injured and hospitalized, and that Zhu Shiyan would come visit him every single day?

The more Chu Junyuan thought about it, the angrier he became. He glared fiercely at Xi Fei once more.

Zhu Shiyan ignored him. As usual, he asked Xi Fei how he was feeling, then handed him the papers he had brought. “Here. Today’s homework.”

Xi Fei had been looking forward to Zhu Shiyan’s arrival all day, but he had never expected Chu Junyuan to come along as well. The boy was glaring at him as though he were a sworn enemy—and had even said something about going home with Zhu Shiyan for dinner.

An inexplicable sense of danger welled up inside him. As he worked through the papers, he said, “The doctor said I can be discharged.”

Zhu Shiyan eyed him suspiciously. “Really?”

His doubt was not unfounded. The previous week, Xi Fei had told him just as seriously that he could leave the hospital. Zhu Shiyan had excitedly packed up his things and gone to the doctor to arrange the discharge, only to be thoroughly scolded because Xi Fei’s leg injury had not healed enough for him to leave.

Only afterward had he learned that Xi Fei had merely decided for himself that he was ready to go home. He had never asked the doctor at all.

Now that Xi Fei was saying he could leave again, Zhu Shiyan’s first instinct was to confirm it with the doctor. But before he could even step out of the room, the doctor entered ahead of him.

“He can be discharged. Come back tomorrow to complete the paperwork.”

Only then did Zhu Shiyan believe that Xi Fei really could leave. He nodded repeatedly. “All right, all right. Thank you, Doctor.”

After the doctor left, the two of them leaned their heads together and began discussing the questions in low voices. Feeling ignored, Chu Junyuan asked unhappily, “What happened to him?”

Zhu Shiyan replied casually, “He was in a car accident on New Year’s Eve.”

“What about his parents? Why are you the one handling the paperwork?”

“...They’re both away on business.”

“They won’t be back for half a month?”

“They went overseas.”

“...What about the rest of his family? Surely it shouldn’t have fallen to you to handle everything.”

Zhu Shiyan: “...”

Had anyone ever told him that he really talked too much?

“I asked him to help me.” Xi Fei, who had remained silent until then, raised his head and looked straight at Chu Junyuan. “I have no other family. Zhu Shiyan saved me, and I’m very grateful to him.”

Chu Junyuan froze, as if he had not quite understood. Only after a long while did he say, “I see.”

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Before Zhu Shiyan transferred to the school, he and Xi Fei had barely crossed paths. He only knew that their class had a student whom everyone despised—a gloomy, unpleasant boy who supposedly brought bad luck to anyone who came near him.

Chu Junyuan had never paid much attention to those rumors. He simply disliked people with such a gloomy air, so he had always pretended Xi Fei did not exist and had never cared what happened to him.

He preferred people like Zhu Shiyan, who were easy and comfortable to be around. Although he did not understand why Zhu Shiyan was always spending time with Xi Fei, he did not care enough to ask. Most of the time, he simply acted as though he saw nothing.

They had encountered each other many times, but this was the first time Xi Fei had ever spoken to him. Chu Junyuan considered it for a moment and decided it was not so bad. Just as he was about to continue the conversation, he turned his head and discovered that Xi Fei had already gone back to working on his papers, with no intention of paying him any attention.

Chu Junyuan: “...”

He really did hate this boy.

Xi Fei worked through the papers Zhu Shiyan had brought with remarkable speed. Once he finished, Zhu Shiyan explained the problems to him. The two of them studied as though no one else existed.

With nothing to do, Chu Junyuan leaned over to listen for a while, but could not understand a word. He wandered out of the room and aimlessly roamed the halls.

When he reached an empty stretch of land behind the hospital, his gaze drifted to the side and landed on Zhu Tingyun, who was smoking in a relaxed posture.

Several large, heavily built bodyguards stood in front of her. Something—or someone—seemed to be lying facedown opposite them.

Chu Junyuan cautiously hid behind a tree, peering out with one eye.

Zhu Tingyun exhaled a cloud of smoke. She looked down at the man on the ground as though he were a piece of trash.

“Refusing to sign?”

Xi Kuo was being held down by two men. He spat and said, “Do you think I’m stupid? That little brat is a cash cow now. I’d have to be insane to sign this.”

Zhu Tingyun raised an eyebrow. “The past month hasn’t been going particularly well for you, has it?”

Xi Kuo stiffened. Breathing heavily, he snapped, “What the hell does that have to do with you? Where’s Xi Fei? I want to see him! What are you trying to do by hiding my son?”

“Your son?” Zhu Tingyun let out a mocking laugh. “Aren’t you ashamed to say that?”

Xi Kuo’s eyes turned vicious. “This is unlawful detention. I’m calling the police!”

“Oh, you’re calling the police?” Zhu Tingyun nodded. “You should.”

A man beside her promptly handed her a stack of documents. After looking through them, Zhu Tingyun frowned as though she had come across something filthy.

She tossed the documents onto Xi Kuo and looked down at him. “If I hand these over to the police, who do you think they’ll arrest—me, or you, a man guilty of domestic violence, molestation, theft, and every other kind of wrongdoing?”

Xi Kuo’s face flushed crimson, and panic entered his expression. “That’s nonsense! The police won’t believe you!”

Xi Kuo was not bold enough to commit serious crimes. He confined himself to petty acts of depravity: secretly photographing women beneath their skirts on the subway, slipping a few pieces of fruit into his pocket while shopping, and once attempting to molest a middle-school student, only to be beaten viciously by the child’s father.

He was a typical bully who was meek before the powerful and cruel toward the weak.

He only dared to act viciously at home. Outside, he was obsequious and timid; toward his family, however, he resorted to beatings and abuse at the slightest provocation. Zhu Tingyun felt that even looking at him dirtied her eyes.

For a scoundrel like him, the best response was to fight violence with violence. Over the past month, Zhu Tingyun had arranged for people to follow him and had collected abundant evidence of his crimes.

She wiped her hands and said slowly, “If I use this evidence to sue you, how long do you think you’ll be sentenced?”

Xi Kuo glared at her hatefully.

“Oh, right. I forgot to introduce myself. My surname is Zhu.” Zhu Tingyun smiled faintly. “Zhu of the Zhu Group.”

After obtaining the written promise to sever all ties, Zhu Tingyun crooked a finger toward the place where Chu Junyuan was hiding.

“Yuan, come here.”

Chu Junyuan emerged trembling, a fawning smile on his face. “Sister Yun.”

“You saw everything?”

Chu Junyuan hesitantly nodded, then quickly shook his head.

“No. I didn’t see anything at all.”

Zhu Tingyun gave a low laugh. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you to silence you.”

Chu Junyuan could not stop himself from shuddering.

She was terrifying.

Zhu Tingyun asked, “Did you come with Shiyan?”

Chu Junyuan nodded again.

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Zhu Tingyun glanced at him and said unhurriedly, “Then go call him for me. I have something to discuss with him.”

Chu Junyuan readily agreed and took off running.

By the time he returned, Zhu Shiyan and Xi Fei had just finished their homework.

Seeing him come back, Zhu Shiyan said, “I was just about to look for you. You came back at the right time. Let’s go.”

Chu Junyuan caught his breath and said shakily, “Your sister wants to see you.”

“Hm?” Zhu Shiyan put down his backpack. “Where is she?”

“Behind the hospital.”

Behind the hospital? Where exactly was that?

Zhu Shiyan frowned. “Take me there.”

Chu Junyuan shook his head frantically. “That deserted patch of land behind the hospital. You go by yourself. I’m not going.”

“Tsk.”

Zhu Shiyan could not drag him along, so he went alone.

Still shaken, Chu Junyuan sat down in the chair. After a while, he secretly glanced at Xi Fei, who had his eyes closed. Remembering what he had just witnessed, he swallowed and asked as casually as he could, “You don’t get along with your family, do you?”

Xi Fei’s eyes flew open.

The sharpness in his gaze sent cold sweat down Chu Junyuan’s back. “W-what is it?”

Xi Fei looked away and gave a flat hum.

After waiting a while, Chu Junyuan asked again, “Does your father hit you often?”

He regretted the question the moment it left his mouth, because Xi Fei fixed him with an unwavering stare.

“What did you hear just now?”

Chu Junyuan’s heart lurched. He forced out a laugh. “Nothing. I didn’t hear anything.”

Xi Fei continued staring at him without a word. Chu Junyuan shifted restlessly in his seat, trying to maintain a calm expression.

“I really didn’t hear anything!”

The air fell silent for a long time. At last, Xi Fei lowered his head again.

“Mm.”

Chu Junyuan let out a long breath and shrank into his chair like a frightened quail, not daring to ask anything else.

Following the direction Chu Junyuan had given him, Zhu Shiyan found Zhu Tingyun looking down at her phone.

Without raising her head, Zhu Tingyun tossed a file toward him.

“The things you asked for.”

Zhu Shiyan caught it with both hands and read through it carefully. Then he smiled.

“Thanks, Sis!”

“Mm. Don’t forget to transfer the shares to me.”

“No problem.” Zhu Shiyan grinned cheerfully. “Prepare the documents, Sis. Just call me whenever you need me to sign.”

Zhu Tingyun glanced at him. “How did you know he would commit those petty crimes?”

Zhu Shiyan put on an innocent expression. “I guessed. What kind of decent person beats his wife and children?”

Xi Kuo had no legitimate job. All his money came from Xi Fei. Once Xi Fei was hospitalized, Xi Kuo lost his source of income and was bound to resort to illegal activities.

Zhu Tingyun made a disinterested sound and did not pursue the matter. Instead, she handed him another file.

“What are you planning to do with this evidence?”

“Of course I’m giving it to the police.”