When Mo Ming woke up in a daze, the intense pain in his body made it difficult for him to think clearly. It took him a while to fully regain his senses.
Moonlight filtered through the treetops, just barely outlining his surroundings.
“Han Shao Zhou, can you hear me? Han Shao Zhou…” Mo Ming struggled to sit up, anxiously scanning the dark forest as he called out. He remembered that in his last moments of consciousness, Han Shao Zhou had been holding him.
He had to be nearby…
The shadows of the trees loomed heavily, and the dense undergrowth reached up to Mo Ming’s calves.
Leaning against a tree, he managed to stand, but he hesitated, unsure which direction to take. He was afraid of moving further away from Han Shao Zhou, so he remained where he was, desperately calling out Han Shao Zhou’s name until his voice grew hoarse, nearly exhausting himself.
Finally, a weak voice came from not far behind him.
“Here… I’m here…”
Mo Ming’s heart tightened as he turned and followed the sound, finding Han Shao Zhou lying in the grass.
“How are you? Can you move?” Mo Ming knelt beside Han Shao Zhou, unable to see the extent of his injuries, but he could smell the faint scent of blood.
“It’s hard…” Han Shao Zhou panted painfully. “My left arm and right leg… I can’t feel them.”
Mo Ming forced himself to stay calm. By the faint light of the moon, he carefully probed Han Shao Zhou’s injuries, realizing that his left arm and right calf were likely fractured.
Using nearby branches and strips of cloth torn from his own clothes, Mo Ming fashioned makeshift splints to stabilize the fractures.
“Do you think I’m crippled?” Han Shao Zhou asked anxiously.
“If we get rescued in time, I don’t think so,” Mo Ming replied, focused on securing the splints.
Han Shao Zhou let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. If I ended up disabled, it’d be even harder to find a wife.”
“…”
After a pause, Han Shao Zhou asked, “Would you dislike someone who’s disabled?”
Mo Ming took a deep breath, his voice steady. “No, but I do dislike idiots.”
Han Shao Zhou chuckled, but it triggered a bout of coughing that lasted several minutes.
With no way to determine their location and it being nighttime, the only option was to stay put and wait for rescue, or for daylight. Mo Ming thought about the car explosion—such a loud noise would surely attract a professional rescue team tonight.
“I sent my location to Ah De before I entered the restaurant,” Han Shao Zhou said. “If he can’t reach me, he should be on his way with help.”
Mo Ming was taken aback. “So you suspected something was wrong from the start?”
“The staff at the restaurant said you had booked the entire place…” Han Shao Zhou gave a weak, bitter smile. “But you’re the type to take back even the light bulbs after a breakup. There’s no way you’d spend so much money on booking an expensive restaurant just to talk to me. You haven’t even liked me…”
“…Do you realize you almost died tonight? If we had gone over the cliff with the car, do you think you would have survived long enough for your bodyguards to find you? Would you have had a chance to say these things to me?”
“Are you mad?” Han Shao Zhou asked softly. “Am I really that stupid?”
“Yes!” Mo Ming replied without hesitation.
“That’s why I need to find a smart wife,” Han Shao Zhou said, inching closer to Mo Ming and tugging lightly at his clothes with his one good hand. “I can be trained, really. If there’s anything about me that annoys you, we can work on it after we’re married…”
Mo Ming pushed Han Shao Zhou’s hand away, stood up, and moved to sit at the base of a tree a few meters away.
In the darkness, neither could see the other’s expression.
Han Shao Zhou could tell Mo Ming was angry, but not about the jokes he had made. Summoning his courage, Han Shao Zhou propped himself up on one arm and crawled toward Mo Ming, grunting with effort as he said, “Mo Ming, everything hurts…”
In the darkness, Mo Ming watched as Han Shao Zhou, like a giant worm, slowly inched his way to his feet before rolling over to rest his head on Mo Ming’s lap.
Looking down, Mo Ming could just make out Han Shao Zhou’s face, and his lips pressed together in a tight line.
“You’re bleeding. You shouldn’t move around so much,” Mo Ming warned. “If you die before the rescue arrives, don’t blame me.”
Han Shao Zhou gazed up at Mo Ming’s face, which was as beautiful as ever in the moonlight. The pain seemed to ease just by looking at him.
“It’s not your fault. In the end, Pang Yuanqing was after me. I dragged you into this.”
Mo Ming turned his head, staring into the misty night. “He never planned to let me go, so there’s no dragging anyone into this.”
“My eyes…” Han Shao Zhou suddenly said hoarsely, “I think blood got into my eyes. Mo Ming, can you wipe it for me…?”
Mo Ming didn’t respond immediately. After a few seconds, his cool, slender fingers gently touched Han Shao Zhou’s eyelids, carefully wiping away the blood.
Han Shao Zhou closed his eyes, his lips curving into a relaxed smile.
After a long silence, Mo Ming finally spoke softly, “Han Shao Zhou, thank you…”
The night was so quiet that the soft words seemed especially clear in the darkness.
Just as Han Shao Zhou was about to reply, Mo Ming calmly continued, “I won’t deny that you saved my life. But Han Shao Zhou, I still can’t fall in love with you…”
Han Shao Zhou was silent for a long time before asking in a raspy voice, “Is it because of Zhou Xu?”
Mo Ming sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Yes.”
“…You still won’t let go of the past?”
“No, I’ve already decided to move on from the past.” Zhou Xu would forever be a beautiful memory buried deep in his heart, like his deceased mother, becoming a pure presence in his memories. He would miss them, but his path would always lead forward.
“Then why…”
“Han Shao Zhou… I think I care about you,” Mo Ming interrupted, speaking slowly. “But I’ve projected too many fantasies onto you. I don’t know if this feeling is pure enough. Otherwise, accepting you would just be a repeat of the last three years… I don’t want to lie to you, and I don’t want to lie to myself.”
This was the truth in his heart. After this brush with death, Mo Ming believed in Han Shao Zhou’s feelings for him, but he couldn’t trust himself.
This man was willing to risk his life for him, but what he got in return shouldn’t be a wavering affection, possibly still tinged with the shadow of another person.
Han Shao Zhou propped himself up with one hand, painfully sitting up and moving closer to Mo Ming.
Moonlight fell on his strong, defined features, and in his deep eyes, there seemed to be a gentle, inky river flowing.
Han Shao Zhou said softly, “At least I know you care about me. You just don’t want to love recklessly… You’re unsure if your feelings for me are pure because of the way we spent the last three years together. So let’s take our time to figure it out—six months, a year, two years… There will come a day when we know for sure.”
“Han Shao Zhou, I’m not a gentle or obedient person…” Mo Ming said, locking eyes with him. “The person you’ve known for the past three years wasn’t the real me. I don’t like accommodating others. I have a troubled past and a difficult personality. You…”
“Are you planning to abuse me if we get together?” Han Shao Zhou interrupted with a grin. “If so, just don’t hit my face.”
“…”
“Mo Ming, you have no idea how amazing you are in my eyes. The real you is so strong that I don’t even have a chance to impress you…” Han Shao Zhou’s gaze was tender. “You’re not awful at all. That’s why you deserve to meet someone as perfect as Zhou Xu, and you deserve to live a brilliant life on your own…”
Mo Ming said nothing, his gaze dropping slightly.
“Mo Ming, I’m really glad you’re telling me all this tonight…”
Mo Ming raised his eyes, looking at the face just inches from his own. Even smeared with blood, it couldn’t hide his strikingly handsome features. The moonlight seemed to drape a gentle veil over his face.
Mo Ming frowned slightly, reaching out to gently wipe away the blood on Han Shao Zhou’s face.
Han Shao Zhou’s eyes fluttered, and then he suddenly leaned in and kissed Mo Ming, his tongue prying open his lips and invading his mouth.
“Mmm…”
The sound of the wind and the chirping of insects faded, leaving only the sound of their heavy breathing in each other’s ears.
After a long time, Han Shao Zhou’s movements pulled on his injuries, causing him to hiss in pain as he finally let go of Mo Ming. He wanted to lean in for another kiss, but Mo Ming held him back by the forehead, pushing him away.
Mo Ming stood up and moved four or five meters away before sitting down again.
Leaning against the tree, Han Shao Zhou looked in Mo Ming’s direction, chuckling softly. “I won’t lie to you. When I first met you three years ago, I was still a virgin…”
Mo Ming looked elsewhere, his voice a bit cold. “I don’t need to know that. You didn’t stay pure for me.”
Realizing the conversation was veering off track, Han Shao Zhou quickly tried to explain, “No, I mean that you were my first. In all these twenty-seven years, you’re the only one I’ve ever slept with.”
Mo Ming’s lips twitched slightly. “Does that make you regret it?”
“Huh? No, that’s not what I meant.”
Han Shao Zhou couldn’t understand how the conversation had gone so awry. As he scrambled to explain, a beam of light from a flashlight suddenly swept across the area.
“Is it the rescue team?” Mo Ming stood up, looking toward the source of the light. There were five or six beams in total.
“No.” Han Shao Zhou squinted. “The rescue team wouldn’t arrive this quickly.”
