Chapter 13

Zhou Wangchuan sat down beside the bed, put his arm around Shang Mu's waist and helped him sit up. He hugged him and patted his back gently: "Okay, don't cry."

The two hadn't seen each other for nearly a week. When their bodies touched, they both felt that the other had lost weight.

Zhou Wangchuan wiped his tears and asked, "What have you been eating these days?"

"meal."

Shang Mu said sullenly, opening his tear-stained eyes and gazing at the person standing so close. Zhou Wangchuan was wearing a white lab coat, his features looking almost identical to those of college, but there was a hint of weariness in them. He lowered his head, not wanting to meet their gaze.

"Feeling better?" Zhou Wangchuan stroked his jaw with one hand and asked softly, "Are you still feeling uncomfortable anywhere else?"

Shang Mu buried his head in his neck and shook his head silently. In fact, he was still in pain, but it was much better than when he first took the pill. The pain was within his tolerance.

Zhou Wangchuan continued, "You can't do that again..." He paused mid-sentence, feeling this was not a good time to lecture, and changed the subject, "I still have two bottles of medicine. I'll go home after I finish hanging them."

Shang Mu still didn't say anything, but nodded with his head buried in his shoulder.

Zhou Wangchuan couldn't see his expression, but he could feel his subtle movements and couldn't help but laugh: "Why are you so obedient?"

Shang Mu rubbed his eyes on his shoulder, wiped away his tears, and raised his head.

He was in a bad mood at the moment, looking listless, with drooping eyelids. He sat on the hospital bed with his knees hugged, looking pitiful and well-behaved.

Zhou Wangchuan looked at the beautiful misty eyes, and with a sudden thought, he leaned forward and kissed Shang Mu's lips. Shang Mu responded to the kiss with his eyes closed, and based on his feeling, he rubbed his nose against the tip of Shang Mu's.

As they were kissing, there was a knock on the ward door.

The two separated, and Zhou Wangchuan said, "Please come in."

The nurse pushed open the door and poked her head in: "Doctor Zhou, the preoperative preparations for bed number four are complete. The operation will begin immediately."

"Okay, I'll be right there."

As he spoke, he stood up. Shang Mu reflexively reached out to pull his sleeve, but when his hand was halfway out, he came to his senses and pulled his hand back into the quilt.

Zhou Wangchuan didn't notice and turned around to touch his hair again: "The operation will be quick. By the time your IV drip is finished, mine should be finished too. You lie down and rest for a while."

"oh."

Zhou Wangchuan walked to the door and suddenly remembered something. He turned around and warned, "Don't pull out the needle."

Perhaps he felt that this sentence was not strong enough, so he added: "Be careful or I will give you a shot in the buttocks."

After saying that, he hurriedly left the ward and headed for the operating room.

Shang Mu was the only one left in the ward. He sat quietly for a while. His phone was charging on the bedside table, close to him, within easy reach. Zhou Wangchuan was always so attentive.

Shang Mu opened his phone and saw Cheng Yunxuan had sent him revision suggestions for her autumn collection. Cheng Yunxuan wasn't about to lower her standards just because they were so close. She held Shang Mu to the same standards as she had held the designers who had custom-made her clothes before, if not higher.

After listening carefully to Cheng Yunxuan's voice, Shang Mu discussed several details with her and determined the direction of the modification.

Cheng Yunxuan's requirements were very high, but Shang Mu didn't feel embarrassed at all. On the contrary, he felt respected. Respect for his identity as a designer, respect for his ability and level.

If only Zhou Wangchuan could respect him like this, Shang Mu thought as he put down his phone.

On Zhou Wangchuan's side, a small operation was supposed to be performed, but something unexpected happened in the middle, and the operation ended an hour later than scheduled.

After the operation, he changed out of his surgical gown and hurried to the ward. He thought Shang Mu would be impatient to wait for him and might have already removed the needle and left, but when he opened the door, Shang Mu was sitting quietly on the bed, flipping through a magazine.

Hearing the voice, Shang Mu looked up and asked, "Is it over?" The voice was calm.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting." Zhou Wangchuan breathed a sigh of relief.

He walked over and held Shang Mu's left hand. The needle site on the back of his hand was covered with white tape to prevent infection. He touched the spot and asked, "Are you hungry? What do you want to eat tonight?"

"Whatever." Shang Mu closed the magazine and threw it aside. "Go home."

Having just finished crying, he felt ashamed and regretful as soon as he calmed down. His attitude returned to its cold state and he deliberately kept his distance.

Zhou Wangchuan didn't care. He leaned over, put his arms around his shoulders and waist, and helped him stand up.

Shang Mu felt dizzy when he stood up after lying down for a long time. He subconsciously grabbed Zhou Wangchuan's upper arm, but felt that his body stiffened for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Shang Mu immediately realized something was wrong.

Zhou Wangchuan said, "Nothing."

Shang Mu frowned and said irritably: "Don't make me ask a second time!"

"It's nothing," Zhou Wangchuan sighed. "The night before yesterday, I was on duty in the emergency room. A patient was brought in in critical condition. I explained the situation to the family before entering the operating room. Maybe I wasn't tactful enough, and the patient got a little anxious and pushed me, causing me to bump into the shelf."

"Then you don't know how to fight back?"

Zhou Wangchuan laughed and said, "It wasn't that serious. The operation was successful and the family apologized to me."

Shang Mu sneered: "The damage has been done, will an apology be of any use?"

Zhou Wangchuan pinched his face and said softly, "It's really okay, don't worry, okay?"

"Who's worried about you?" Shang Mu pushed his hand away and walked out the door. "You don't even know how to fight back when you're beaten. You act like a good guy every day. Who would give you an award?"

He stopped and asked again, "Who hit you?"

Zhou Wangchuan chuckled, strode over, put his arm around his shoulders, and kissed him on the cheek: "Baby, do you want to help me get revenge? You don't have to hit anyone, just take me off the blacklist."

Shang Mu snorted coldly.

On the way home, Zhou Wangchuan passed by the hotel where Shang Mu was staying. Just as he was about to drive into the hotel parking lot, Shang Mu suddenly said, "Don't go."

Zhou Wangchuan said, "I'll go help you pack your clothes, and then we'll go home."

"I'll pack up by myself tomorrow." Shang Mu tilted his head to look out the window. It was already completely dark. He could only see his own reflection in the window, pale and bleak. He raised his voice, "Go home."

Zhou Wangchuan didn't understand what was going on, but he obediently drove out of the parking lot and headed home.

Shang Mu remained silent on the way home.

That bouquet of roses once bloomed on the table in the restaurant, fresh and gorgeous, but withered away because no one cared about them. But now, the roses that should have been abandoned are placed in the vase of the hotel, blooming in the sun.

If Zhou Wangchuan saw it, all his fragility and hesitation would be exposed without any concealment.

But he can't be exposed.

He used indifference, ruthlessness and irritability to forge an indestructible armor for himself. If they were to eventually separate, he hoped that he could retain some decency and self-respect.

The moon hung high in the sky, and that night they were intimate and tender.

After a period of separation, their relationship would become passionate, then calm, and finally start a new round of quarrels and separation. Both of them were too used to it.

After taking a shower, the two of them snuggled up in bed. Zhou Wangchuan asked, "What are you going to do about the prison situation?"

Shang Mu said, "I'll handle it myself."

He emphasized, "I will handle it myself. I don't want you to have any contact with him anymore."

Zhou Wangchuan was silent for a moment, then said in the gentlest voice, "I'm afraid he will hurt you."

Shang Mu immediately became annoyed: "I told you not to bother me!"

"Okay, I know." Zhou Wangchuan touched his back soothingly, but never gave a clear answer.

That night, Zhou Wangchuan dreamed of his fifth year in college.

One afternoon, he saw a suspicious middle-aged man outside the school. The man was staring at the students passing by furtively, as if looking for someone.

Zhou Wangchuan had a photographic memory. Even though the man was wearing a baseball cap, he recognized him at a glance. This man was Shang Mu's gambling addict father.

He became suspicious and followed the man quietly. At a corner, the corner of the man's clothes was caught on the wall, revealing the handle of a knife.

Zhou Wangchuan immediately felt cold all over.

He recognized the handle; it was a long, thin boning knife.

Maybe he was wrong, but he didn't dare to take the slightest risk. He couldn't afford such a result, even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance.

The man was alert, turning around from time to time to look around. Zhou Wangchuan slowly approached him, punched him like the wind, knocked him unconscious, and dragged him to a secluded corner.

When the man woke up, he found himself tied up tightly with the boning knife lying at his feet. Zhou Wangchuan was standing beside him, staring at him thoughtfully.

"I can give you money," Zhou Wangchuan said bluntly, "as long as you never go to see him again."

The man recognized him as the passerby in the alley that night. Upon hearing his words, he immediately revealed a knowing yet obscene smile: "Hey, little brother, what's your relationship with my son? Why are you helping him so much?"

Zhou Wangchuan raised his eyelids and looked at him calmly: "Name your price."

The man laughed and said, "Since you say that, I won't be polite... Two hundred thousand."

"So little?"

The man was stunned, greed in his eyes: "Three...three hundred thousand."

"Tsk." Zhou Wangchuan shook his head. "You really have never seen money."

The man's eyes were full of enthusiasm: "Five hundred thousand!"

Zhou Wangchuan kicked the knife on the ground, and the boning knife slid straight forward and stopped beside the man's bound hands.

"I'll give you one million," Zhou Wangchuan said, "as long as you promise never to come to him again."

The man nodded hurriedly and agreed repeatedly.

Zhou Wangchuan said, "If you run out of money, you can come to me. As long as you don't go to him, you can ask for any amount of money."

As he said this, he took out a card from his pocket and threw it on the ground like garbage.

The man's eyes were red, his hands and feet were tied, so he crawled over and picked up the card with his mouth, grinning and saying, "Of course, of course!" But in his heart he thought, what a sucker!

As if seeing through his thoughts, Zhou Wangchuan looked at him with a half-smile: "I can come up with so much money, so of course I have other means. If I find out that you have any connection with him, you will have to pay me back every penny you spent."

He was clearly smiling, but the man felt a chill run down his spine.

Zhou Wangchuan picked up the boning knife on the ground and chopped him with it. The doctor's hand was precise and steady, and all the ropes broke and fell to the ground.

The knife flashed, and the man stood still, with the smell of urine emanating from him.

Zhou Wangchuan looked at him with disdain and walked away with the knife.

Later, the man was arrested and imprisoned for intentional injury in a casino before he even spent his first million.

But that slender boning knife has been Zhou Wangchuan's lingering nightmare over the years.

*

The next morning, the car stopped downstairs of the hotel. Shang Mu refused Zhou Wangchuan's company and went upstairs to pack his belongings.

After entering the room, his eyes immediately fell on the vase. The roses looked listless because they had not been pruned or watered yesterday.

Shang Mu picked up the twelve flowers, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath of their fragrance. Then, without hesitation, he threw the flowers into the trash can.

He felt weak but relieved as he packed his clothes and left the hotel.

He destroyed his own evidence with his own hands.

As long as he doesn't admit it, no one will know his weakness.