Chapter 60 I like you, I only like you.
Li Baidong looked at Xing Lan, eager to hear his answer, yet unconsciously nervous, afraid that the answer wouldn't be what he wanted to hear.
Xing Lan pursed her lips, seemingly hesitant.
After a while, he finally made up his mind and opened his mouth to answer.
"It's true." Xing Lan looked up and met his gaze. Her clear and gentle voice was clear and steady, each word distinct and unwavering, filled with boundless tenderness.
"I am happy every day I spend with you."
"I don't like her, I like you. I only like you."
Li Baidong paused, staring blankly at Xing Lan, a clear glint of tears flashing in his dark eyes.
Xing Lan wasn't good at sweet talk, but to coax Li Baidong, he almost went all out, revealing his true feelings and saying things he would never have said before. But after he finished, Li Baidong hugged him and cried even harder.
"elder brother……"
"Waaaaaah..."
The cries echoed through the quiet, empty hospital corridor. An older nurse passed by, stared at them for a long time with a look that defied description, coughed lightly, and said expressionlessly, "Please keep quiet."
Xing Lan said "Don't cry" many times, but she couldn't stop Li Baidong's tears. His tears were like ever-growing chives; as soon as one crop was wiped away, a fresher one would grow.
He lowered his eyes, silently pursed his lips, and suddenly raised his hand to gently pat Li Baidong's arm.
"Don't cry."
"If you promise not to cry anymore, I'll give you something."
Li Baidong looked at him through teary eyes, and stopped sobbing temporarily as he was drawn in by his words: "What is it?"
Xing Lan carefully wiped away the tear stains on Li Baidong's cheeks with her fingertips, and then suddenly took out a glittering silver necklace from her pocket.
Li Baidong looked down and saw the object clearly. He exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this my necklace?"
This was Li Baidong's favorite necklace. He would carefully wipe it with a special silver polishing cloth every day and wear it for several years.
However, when he was beating up Qi Bo in the toilet that day, he was accidentally pulled off the silver pendant by that person, and it rolled into the sewer. In the emergency, he didn't have time to deal with this unexpected accident.
Xing Lan searched for a long time based on her vague impressions before finally finding the original store online.
The exact same necklace is no longer sold, so he had to choose a different one in the store. Based on the customer service's recommendation, he bought a style that was similar to the one Li Baidong had originally owned.
This new necklace is an upgrade from the old one. The black leather cord has a better texture, and the color of the bone pendant is more delicate and beautiful. It uses the most advanced anti-oxidation technology, so you don't need to take it off when you take a shower or go swimming.
Xing Lan glanced down at the necklace, then at Li Baidong. The boy's emotions shifted rapidly; the moment he saw the necklace, the sadness and gloom on his face vanished instantly, and he licked his lips, eager to try it on.
Xing Lan looked at him and offered again, "Let me help you put it on."
Li Baidong's face was still wet with tears as he looked at Xing Lan with joy and anticipation, his invisible tail swaying behind him.
Li Baidong was so tall that Xing Lanruo had to stand on tiptoe the whole time to help him put on the necklace, which was a bit of a struggle. However, just as he was about to stand on tiptoe, Li Baidong bent down on his own and obediently offered his long neck to Xing Lanruo's hand.
As he approached, a faint, pleasant scent of mint wafted in on the breeze, enveloping Xing Lan in its familiar aroma.
Xing Lan paused for a moment, then gently helped him put on the necklace, carefully fastening the clasp.
Li Baidong was very proud of the necklace Xing Lan had given him, which Xing Lan had personally put on him. He was beaming with joy and hugged Xing Lan, chasing after her and kissing her repeatedly, kissing her from her fair and soft neck all the way up to her forehead, which was covered by her black bangs.
The nurse who had just passed by had returned sometime earlier, and as I passed by them, I couldn't help but cast another incomprehensible glance my way.
The man was crying hysterically just moments ago, but now he's hugging and kissing someone; the scene is truly bizarre.
However, there's no rule against kissing in a hospital. The nurse stared at them in silence for a long time, then finally shook her head helplessly and walked away.
The two of them cuddled openly for a while, when suddenly, Li Baidong looked up, his bright eyes fixed on Xing Lan: "Brother, could you say that sentence again?"
Xing Lan frowned, puzzled, and asked, "Which sentence?"
“It’s that line…” Li Baidong curled her lips and whispered sweetly in his ear, “You don’t like her, you only like me.”
Xing Lan was taken aback, and her ears turned red without her noticing.
He gently pushed Li Baidong away, forcing himself to remain calm, and said, "Why do you need to say it again? You already know, don't you?"
Li Baidong took Xing Lan's hand and placed it on his heart, his gaze deep and his words sincere.
"Brother, my heart broke when I saw you standing with her outside the ward just now."
Xing Lan listened to his words with her head down, and an inescapable sense of self-reproach and heartache immediately rose in her heart. Her lowered eyelashes trembled slightly involuntarily.
Li Baidong stared at him, then said, "Later, when I heard you say you liked me, my heart was immediately mended."
“But now, every time I think of that scene in my mind, my heart still aches, as if it has shattered all over again.” Li Baidong held Xing Lan’s hand tightly, whimpering like a puppy, and said pitifully, “So you have to keep saying you like me so that my heart can be glued back together, and the glued back together more and more firmly, until it will never break again.”
"..." Xing Lan remained silent for a long time, then sighed softly, "Alright."
He looked at Li Baidong and said it again very seriously: "I like you."
Li Baidong smiled contentedly, hugged him, and happily replied, "I like you too, baby."
Xing Lan was slightly taken aback, finding it unbelievable.
"What...what did you call me?"
Li Baidong blinked and innocently repeated, "Baby."
The term of address was so overly intimate and cheesy that Xing Lan stiffened for a moment, finding it hard to accept.
He has rarely been called "baby" or "darling" by anyone since he was a child. Perhaps his mother called him that when he was little, but that was almost twenty years ago.
He carefully chose his words, glanced around instinctively, and cautiously tried to persuade Li Baidong, "No, please don't call him that in public..."
“Why can’t I call you that? I love you, and you love me too. You’re my most beloved baby.” Li Baidong said, lowering his eyes with a wronged expression. His voice, which had just begun to regain its composure, suddenly choked up again.
"If I were a girl, like that girl in the hospital room just now... would I be able to call you 'brother' like that?"
Seeing that Li Baidong was lost in his own thoughts again, and his red eyes were already brimming with tears, he had no choice but to change his words and coax the particularly fragile dog: "No... okay, forget I said anything just now, you can call it whatever you want from now on."
Upon hearing this, Li Baidong excitedly raised his head, a barely perceptible glint flashing in his dark eyes: "Really? I can call you anything?"
Xing Lan hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, anything is fine."
Li Baidong's lips curled up, and the next second, he immediately took advantage of the situation.
He rubbed his face against Xing Lan's neck, drawing out a sweet, drawn-out "Wife~~"
Xing Lan: "…………"
!!
After Li Baidong finished speaking, a pleasant smile appeared on his face as he stared at Xing Lan, as if expecting his response.
Under his intense gaze, Xing Lan, remembering the promise she had just made, had no choice but to bite the bullet, blush, and softly agree.
The sound was barely audible, so faint it sounded like a hallucination.
Xing Lan felt extremely uncomfortable. Being called "wife" in broad daylight by a man younger than himself was incredibly humiliating; he wished he could dig a hole and disappear.
Li Baidong particularly enjoyed seeing Xing Lan blush, a smile playing on his lips, as if the blood in his body had risen several degrees.
Although he really wanted to savor the beautiful scenery, unfortunately, he had more important things to do urgently.
He licked his lips, took Xing Lan's hand, and led him to the hospital's handwashing station. Following the seven-step disinfection method posted on the wall, he carefully washed his hands again and again.
Li Baidong not only used a lot of hand sanitizer, but also asked a passing nurse for high-concentration alcohol wipes, wiping Xing Lan's hands repeatedly, not missing a single fingertip or gap.
After wiping, he looked at Xing Lan's hands, which were almost raw from washing, and was still a little unhappy, his eyes drooping slightly.
He carefully took Xing Lan's hand, held it to his nose and sniffed it gently, then said in a pitiful voice, "Why is there still..."
Xing Lan looked at him, puzzled: "What else?"
Li Baidong's lips curled down, his jealousy still palpable: "That woman's perfume."
Xing Lan lowered her face and leaned in to smell it.
He'd washed his hands so many times, there was no perfume scent left. All he could smell was the faint fragrance of hand sanitizer and the pungent smell of alcohol, which made him want to sneeze.
“It’s tasteless now.” Xing Lan looked at Li Baidong and said patiently, as if coaxing a child, “Really.”
Li Baidong wrinkled his nose like a police dog and stubbornly said, "It's still there. I can smell it."
Xing Lan was at a loss for words.
In front of Li Baidong, he washed his hands carefully twice more, dried them, and then held them up for Li Baidong to inspect. Li Baidong decisively said in less than a second, "There are still some."
Xing Lan: "..."
He was at a loss; his hands were red from washing. "What should I do?"
“I think—” Li Baidong paused, a sly glint suddenly flashing in his eyes.
He grabbed Xing Lan's hand, leaned down and kissed it, raised an eyebrow, and said with a wicked smile, "I want you to help me again like that day, so the scent will be covered up and it won't be there."
Li Baidong's lips curled slightly upwards, but his eyes looked sincere, as if he genuinely offered a suggestion that he thought was good.
He deliberately lowered his voice when he said this, but Xing Lan's face turned even redder instantly.
After hesitating for a long time, Xing Lan looked at Li Baidong's expectant eyes and finally agreed softly.
"Okay, I'll help you."
-
The two returned to the ward, and Xing Lan kept her promise and helped Li Baidong once again.
Afterwards, Xing Lan remained expressionless, wiping her hands with a wet wipe. A short while later, the sound of police sirens suddenly came from downstairs in the inpatient department.
Li Baidong glanced out the window and immediately saw Xing Lan's father, Xing Yi, surrounded by several police officers. After a few routine questions, he was put into a police car without further explanation.
He looked surprised and turned to Xing Lan: "Brother, you...you called the police?"
Li Baidong wasn't the kind of person who was honest and timid, willing to suffer in silence when things went wrong. On the contrary, he was very vengeful, even to the point of being extremely vindictive. However, he never intended to pursue the matter of Xing Yi injuring him with a vase that day.
After all, no matter how much of a scumbag Xing Yi was, he was still Xing Lan's biological father. Although he knew that Xing Lan also hated his father, blood is thicker than water, and the relationships between relatives are complex and not so easy to sever.
Unexpectedly, Xing Lan silently called the police for him, sending her own father to prison for his sake.
Hearing the commotion outside, Xing Lan raised her eyelids and glanced out the window. Her tone was calm and devoid of emotion, as if she were a complete outsider.
"He brought this all on himself; he has no one to blame but himself."
He finished speaking casually, tossed the wet wipe he had just used into the nearby trash can, and then picked up his phone with his slender fingers, opening the WeChat interface without a second thought.
The top few chat boxes contained his communication records with his lawyer over the past few days, chronologically long and densely packed with messages that were impossible to scroll through.
Xing Lan not only called the police about Xing Yi's trespassing and intentional assault, but also reported his company for long-term tax evasion and the egregious act of bribing state officials in order to expedite the project's development.
That day, the moment Li Baidong fainted in Xing Lan's arms with a pale face, Xing Lan's first reaction was to immediately go to the kitchen to get a knife, settle old scores and new grudges, and fight Xing Yi to the death.
However, he quickly calmed down and realized that the most important thing at the moment was to ensure that the injured Li Baidong received timely medical treatment, rather than wasting time fighting and increasing the number of wounded.
After Li Baidong was hospitalized, he took care of him while spending a lot of time contacting lawyers to discuss how to ensure that Xing Yi received the punishment he deserved.
Perhaps he can't handle it himself, then let the law take care of it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com