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Cheng Xiaorui hadn't been to school for a week and rarely replied to messages. Chen Zihan's repeated attempts to find him were fruitless, and his anxiety grew day by day. He knew Cheng Xiaorui well, and he knew he wouldn't be like this unless something extremely serious had happened.
During lunch break on the eighth day, Chen Zihan could no longer sit still, so he blocked Lu Ziyi who was about to leave at the door of the teaching building.
"Brother!" Chen Zihan stopped him, his face showing undisguised anxiety, "Where's Xiaorui? Why didn't he come to school? Did something happen to him?"
Lu Ziyi stopped and looked at this nominal younger brother coldly. Their relationship had always been distant, and Chen Zihan's excessive concern for Cheng Xiaorui made him inexplicably unhappy.
"You ask me what I do, do I know?" Lu Ziyi asked back.
"You're in the same class with him. He hasn't been here for a long time. You should know that."
"He's fine." Lu Ziyi frowned and replied helplessly, "He asked for leave."
"How long? Why are you taking leave? Where is he?" Chen Zihan kept asking, his sunny and handsome face full of persistence, "I have to know if he is okay."
Lu Ziyi's eyes darkened. He didn't like the feeling of being questioned, and he even disliked Chen Zihan's obvious, extraordinary concern for Cheng Xiaorui. He pulled the corners of his mouth and revealed a cold smile:
"If you want to know so much, why don't you go ask him yourself?" He gave the name of the hospital and the ward number, then observed with interest the instant pallor of Chen Zihan's face. He added, "His mother is there, in the late stages. He wants to stay there with her until the end."
Seeing Chen Zihan's shocked and painful expression, Lu Ziyi felt a sense of almost cruel pleasure in his heart. He said nothing more, walked around him, and left.
That evening, Chen Zihan simply took a leave of absence and showed up at the ward door with some fruit and a heart full of worry. When he saw Cheng Xiaorui, who had lost a lot of weight in just a few days and had dark circles under his eyes, his heart felt like it was being clenched.
"Xiao Rui..." he called softly.
Cheng Xiaorui was wiping his mother's arm when he turned around in surprise. The moment he saw Chen Zihan, a flash of panic flashed in his eyes, followed by deep fatigue. "Chen... why are you here?"
"I can't find you, I'm going crazy!" Chen Zihan put down his things and lowered his voice, his tone filled with fear and blame, "Why didn't you tell me? Are we still friends?"
Cheng Xiaorui lowered his head, his lips moving, but he didn't know where to start. He gestured for Chen Zihan to go to the small living room outside the ward to talk.
Closing the inner door, isolating himself from his mother's sleeping face, Cheng Xiaorui leaned against the wall, as if he had exhausted all his strength. Under Chen Zihan's sincere and worried gaze, the defenses he had built up gradually crumbled.
"My mother...is in the late stage of stomach cancer." He spoke with difficulty, his voice dry. "The doctor said she...has at most three months left."
Chen Zihan gasped, covered his mouth, and his eyes instantly turned red. "How could it be..."
"I can't leave her at this moment." Cheng Xiaorui continued, staring blankly at the ground. "I might not be able to take care of my studies for the time being."
"I understand, but..." Chen Zihan took a step forward eagerly and held his cold hand. "Where's the money? Treatment will cost a lot of money, right? I can help you. I have some savings, and I can also ask my parents for help..."
"No thanks." Cheng Xiaorui gently pulled his hand back, interrupting this overly warm kindness. He raised his head and looked at Chen Zihan, his eyes filled with complex, almost desperate emotions. "The money problem has been solved."
"Solved? How was it solved?" Chen Zihan was puzzled. Considering Cheng Xiaorui's family background, the expense was almost astronomical.
Cheng Xiaorui was silent for a long time, so long that Chen Zihan almost wanted to speak again to urge him. He finally took a deep breath, as if he had exhausted all his strength, and whispered:
"Yes... Lu Ziyi. He paid for all the medical expenses."
"What?" Chen Zihan was stunned, a cold anger rising from the bottom of his heart - Lu Ziyi again. He didn't think Lu Ziyi was a philanthropist.
"Why would he help you? What conditions did he put forward?" Chen Zihan's voice trembled slightly as he carefully observed Cheng Xiaorui's expression. He already had a terrible guess in his mind.
Cheng Xiaorui didn't answer directly. He just forced a smile that was uglier than crying, tears welling up in his eyes: "Zi Han, don't ask. Let it be... This is my own choice."
"Okay, I won't ask." Chen Zihan said softly, reaching out to gently tidy up Cheng Xiaorui's hair. "But remember, no matter what happens, I will always be by your side."
He looked at Chen Zihan, his eyes filled with pleading, shame, and a calmness that came from accepting his fate. "Thank you for coming to see me, and thank you for wanting to help me. But... please don't interfere in this matter anymore."
Chen Zihan looked at his fragile yet stubborn expression, and all the words stuck in his throat. He understood that the "price" must be too heavy for Cheng Xiaorui to express. Anger, heartache, and a sense of powerlessness intertwined, making him clench his fists, but he didn't know where to swing.
Cheng Xiaorui, the man he loved, was standing alone on the edge of a cliff, using a nearly self-destructive method to exchange for the peace of his mother's final moments. And he seemed to be unable to do anything except watch.
After all, the sunlight cannot shine into every corner, just like his feelings, which seem so pale and powerless at this moment.
After leaving the hospital, the warm smile on Chen Zihan's face instantly disappeared. He got into the car and made a phone call with an expressionless face:
"Help me check what Lu Ziyi has been doing recently. Especially anything related to the hospital."
After hanging up the phone, he looked at the hospital building, his eyes gradually becoming gloomy.
Since his good brother wanted to use money to bind Xiao Rui, he would make Xiao Rui completely dependent on him. When the time was right, he would take Xiao Rui away and hide him somewhere where no one could find him.
By then, Xiaorui will belong to him completely and exclusively.
Beneath the sunny appearance of a young man, a paranoid possessiveness is quietly growing. In the ward, Cheng Xiaorui knows nothing about this. He just feels a little warm for his friend's concern, completely unaware that he has become the center of a secret struggle.
The next day, Chen Zihan arrived quickly. He pushed open the door of the ward and saw the lifeless Cheng Xiaorui. He walked over slowly. Cheng Zhixu was already asleep. Chen Zihan whispered:
"Send me your class schedule and notes, and I'll come to give you extra lessons after school every day." Chen Zihan's tone was gentle but unyielding. His fingertips tapped lightly on the phone screen, as if fulfilling a solemn promise.
Cheng Xiaorui opened his mouth, his voice a little dry: "But..."
"No buts." Chen Zihan interrupted him forcefully, her eyes sweeping over Cheng's mother who was sleeping in the ward. She lowered her voice, "Auntie must also hope that you graduate successfully. Don't fall behind in your studies. I'll accompany you."
Accompany you. Cheng Xiaorui was stunned for a few seconds.
From that day on, Chen Zihan arrived at the hospital punctually. Every afternoon at 5:30, he would push open the ward door, backpack on his back, and carefully place a carton of still-warm milk or a Swiss roll, one of Cheng Xiaorui's favorites, on the bedside table. He would then pull out a chair and set up a small table next to the bed.
"Today we reviewed the most difficult part of trigonometric functions in math. I marked it in red in my notes. Look here..." He always tilted his head while explaining, observing Cheng Xiaorui's expression. If he noticed that his eyes were blank, he would stop and gently tap his arm with his pen. "Don't understand this? Then let me explain it another way."
His patience and meticulousness were at odds with the hospital's oppressive atmosphere, yet strangely, they became the only bright spot in this pale space. Sometimes, Cheng Xiaorui would stay up all night caring for his mother and would unconsciously doze off during class. Chen Zihan never woke him up, but simply silently covered him with the blanket that had slipped off, then continued to organize his notes. When he woke up, he would gently ask, "Do you want to rest a little longer?"
What moved Cheng Xiaorui even more was that Chen Zihan wasn't solely focused on his studies. He would remember that Cheng's mother needed to be turned regularly, and when Cheng Xiaorui felt tired, he would naturally take the towel and, with awkward yet diligent care, wipe Cheng's mother's arms. He even learned how to watch the caregiver operate the equipment, so that he could be aware of any abnormalities when the caregiver was away.
"Don't be like this..." Once, Cheng Xiaorui couldn't help but say, "I'll take care of these things."
Chen Zihan just shook his head and handed him the wrung-out towel, his eyes clear: "I want to help you share some of the burden, even if it's just a little bit."
His company was like a ray of sunshine that persevered through the thick clouds. Although it could not dispel all the haze in Cheng Xiaorui's life, it at least cast a small piece of warm and reliable halo on his coldest and loneliest road.
However, there are always moments when this halo is invaded by shadows.
Whenever Lu Ziyi appeared at the ward door, Chen Zihan's gentle aura would instantly subside. He would unconsciously sit up straight, seemingly unintentionally adjusting his position to shield Cheng Xiaorui from a more comprehensive angle.
He never confronted Lu Ziyi head-on, and would even nod politely and call him "Brother", but a clear sense of vigilance would emerge in those eyes that always wore a smile.
Once, Lu Ziyi brought a document that needed Cheng Xiaorui's signature. Chen Zihan immediately stood up and took the document: "Brother, give it to me. Xiaorui's hands are not convenient. I can help him."
Lu Ziyi's gaze lingered between the two of them for a moment, a faint smile forming at the corner of his mouth as he handed the document over. Chen Zihan carefully flipped through the obscure clauses, his brow furrowed slightly. Although he ultimately couldn't discern any clues, as he handed the document to Cheng Xiaorui, he whispered, "Take your time, there's no rush."
Lu Zi also saw all of this and said nothing. But when he left, his deep gaze lingered for a second on Chen Zihan's protective attitude.
Chen Zihan didn't know what the document meant, nor did he fully understand the details of the silent deal between Cheng Xiaorui and his stepbrother. But he could sense Lu Ziyi's gaze towards Cheng Xiaorui, as if he were examining his possessions, filled with a desire for absolute control.
This caused a certain protective desire to emerge from the depths of his heart and quietly grow. Protecting Cheng Xiaorui was not just out of friendship, but seemed to be turning into a deeper and more persistent instinct.
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