Chapter 50
Lu Zhiyue paused for a moment, then curved his brows and eyes in a smile.
“Oh? You thought I sent those flowers?”
So… going back just to get them was also because of him?
He didn’t say the last part out loud, but Chi Suiyan caught the meaning from his expression and felt that his smile was utterly infuriating.
But words, once spoken, are like water spilled — impossible to take back. Chi Suiyan could only bite the bullet and say,
“What’s it to you? Do you live by the seaside so you can stick your nose in everything? … Open the door!”
Chi Suiyan knocked on the car door.
Lu Zhiyue chuckled, took out the car key, and pressed unlock.
Chi Suiyan scrambled into the back seat, sat down, and shut his eyes to play dead, planning to sleep all the way home.
Damn, what an embarrassment.
Lu Zhiyue got in without a word and didn’t insist on him sitting in the passenger seat.
Before getting into the car, he looked down at the flowers in his arms. His movement paused, and just as he was thinking how to deal with them, a young couple came by, playfully teasing each other.
Lu Zhiyue walked toward them with the flowers. The young man instantly became alert.
“You two are a couple?” Lu Zhiyue asked.
The young man was still youthful, chin raised as he put an arm protectively in front of his girlfriend, speaking in a loud voice:
“Yeah, she’s my girlfriend. What do you want?”
This man might be handsome, but he wasn’t bad-looking himself. If this guy dared to steal his girlfriend, he’d scratch his car — and draw a lifelike big turtle on it!
Lu Zhiyue gave a faint “Mm” and shoved the flowers into his arms.
“Wishing you both a long and happy life together.”
The young man: “…”
He froze, looking down, and the tip of his nose bumped right into a trumpet-shaped bloom.
Chi Suiyan had seen the whole thing from inside the car, rolled his eyes, and declared silently that Lu Zhiyue was insane.
The car pulled away from the hospital. Chi Suiyan had originally closed his eyes to avoid talking, but to his surprise, he actually started to feel sleepy.
Outside, the city was still bustling, so they probably had a while before getting home. Chi Suiyan closed his eyes, ready to take a nap.
But the next second, the car stopped at the side of the road.
Hmm?
Did he see that wrong? Had they arrived already?
While Chi Suiyan was still glancing outside, he heard Lu Zhiyue unfasten his seatbelt and say,
“Wait for me a second. I’m going to buy something.”
Go ahead, why even tell him?
Chi Suiyan pouted and lay down to sleep.
Lu Zhiyue walked into a flower shop by the road. The owner, a young woman, greeted him.
“Sir, what kind of flowers would you like? If you don’t have a preference, I can recommend something.”
Lu Zhiyue looked around the shop.
“Do you have green lisianthus?”
The shop owner froze, then said apologetically,
“Sorry, we’ve sold out of lisianthus. There are only the last few stems left. If you’d like, I can pair them with other flowers to make a bouquet?”
Lu Zhiyue’s gaze fell on the counter.
There, on the table, were three green lisianthus — fresh, vivid, beautiful, full of life.
“No need. Just wrap those three.”
A few minutes later, the car gave a little shake as he got in. A breeze came in from outside, carrying a familiar scent.
Before Chi Suiyan even opened his eyes, something was pressed into his palm.
A faint rustling sound.
“?”
Chi Suiyan opened his eyes — and saw three green lisianthus.
They were wrapped in brown craft paper, each stem tied with a delicate card.
Chi Suiyan looked up.
“What are you doing?”
“They’re for you.” Lu Zhiyue glanced at him in the rearview mirror.
Chi Suiyan pressed his lips together.
“Yuan An gave you flowers. I wasn’t happy about it, so I gave that bouquet away. This is to make it up to you.”
Chi Suiyan pinched the lisianthus’ soft petals and muttered,
“Ugly as hell.”
Lu Zhiyue chuckled.
“Make do with them?”
Chi Suiyan just shut his eyes again and said nothing, but he didn’t throw the flowers away.
Lu Zhiyue turned his head back to the road, the smile on his lips refusing to fade.
The car was silent. Chi Suiyan lay there for a while, then quietly opened his eyes to look at the three green blossoms in front of him.
Oddly enough, though Lu Zhiyue’s flowers were simple and crude, tied with rough twine, he found them prettier than the fancy bouquet from earlier.
After a few seconds, he poked one gently with his finger, then pouted.
… Who gives only three flowers?
Cheapskate. Stingy bastard.
And he had the nerve to say he’d started pursuing him — what a load of crap. Even a dog wouldn’t believe it.
Although he wasn’t seriously injured, Chi Suiyan still planned to rest at home for a few days. It was the perfect time to investigate the truth behind the car accident.
Ding Xuxing had just made a threat the night before, and a few hours later he got into a crash. While it seemed obvious, Chi Suiyan felt it wasn’t that simple.
When he asked Qin Suitian to look into the vehicle that hit him, the man was startled.
“You were in a car accident? Was it bad? Which hospital? I’ll come right now.”
“No need,” Chi Suiyan replied. “I’m fine. Just some scrapes.”
Qin Suitian, who had already run out of his office, slowed back down upon hearing that. The people in the office looked bewildered as he went from rushing out to walking back in.
“Who did it? Got any suspects?” Qin Suitian asked after shutting the door.
“No, but Ding Xuxing threatened me in person last night, so let’s start with him.”
“Start with him?” Qin Suitian was surprised. “You think someone else might want to hurt you?”
Chi Suiyan said coldly,
“Chi Kaidong.”
“He just came back. He doesn’t have that kind of ability.”
“He’s still got that idiot by his side. Over the years, Chi Mingyao must have listened to him whine plenty. Didn’t you see at the company yesterday how much he was protecting Chi Kaidong?”
Qin Suitian thought back to yesterday’s encounter and realized that was true.
“You’re observant.”
“It’s not that I’m especially observant,” Chi Suiyan said lazily. “It’s that I know these two all too well.”
One was a selfish hypocrite; the other, a beast in human skin. Put them together and nothing good would ever come of it.
“You think it’s him?” Qin Suitian was incredulous. “You’re still his own son.”
Chi Suiyan sneered.
“Our blood tie died ten years ago. He doesn’t care whether I live or die — he only wants the shares in my hands.”
Back then, his grandparents had transferred all of the Chi family’s assets to him. Chi Mingyao had also gotten several houses and some funds, leaving him with a small inheritance, but Chi Kaidong hadn’t gotten even a single hair.
It was said that after the will was read, Chi Kaidong had called from overseas several times to cause trouble, but Grandpa and Grandma had rejected him every time. They’d coldly completed the notarization, the will took effect, and Chi Kaidong’s hopes were completely dashed.
When your parents give everything to your son and leave you with nothing, saying you don’t resent it would be a lie. Chi Suinian suspected that all these years of staying away had been Chi Kaidong’s way of biding his time—accumulating strength, waiting for the chance to retaliate against him.
“Alright, I’ll follow the lead and investigate. The moment I find something, I’ll tell you.”
“Mm.”
It was almost mealtime. Chi Suinian lay in bed for a while until Aunt Chen knocked on the door, and only then did he get up slowly.
When he reached the dining room, he saw no one. “Lu Zhiyue isn’t here?”
“Sir had something to do at the company. He said he’d be back late and wouldn’t be eating dinner at home.” Aunt Chen smiled as she set down a bowl of tonic soup. “You’ve just been injured. The doctor said your constitution is weak and you don’t recover easily, so you should drink this soup—it nourishes the blood and qi, it’ll be good for your body.”
She lifted the lid, and a rich fragrance wafted out. The broth was a milky white, thick and aromatic, enough to make one’s mouth water.
It was very much to his taste, and Chi Suinian, for once, drank two whole bowls.
······
At the same time, in the shantytown on the outskirts of Jin City, Lu Zhiyue stepped out of the car.
This was a demolition area. Since the demolition payout had been stuck in negotiations, the work had stalled, leaving the place messy and littered with rubble. Once night fell, hardly anyone came this way.
Behind him followed a tall, muscular man—someone who, if Chi Suinian were here, would definitely have earned a dramatic eye-roll.
He bore grudges, and had never let go of this man calling him “madam” back at the hospital.
“Which building?” Lu Zhiyue asked.
Chen Hai got his bearings and pointed down a damp little alley. “Over there.”
Following the alley to the end, Lu Zhiyue saw a battered iron gate. Chen Hai stepped forward and knocked—not exactly gently.
A moment later, a light came on inside the yard. “Who’s there?”
The metal gate creaked open just a crack. A man stuck his head out, eyeing them warily. “Who are you looking for?”
It was a young man with bleached-yellow hair, a black scorpion tattoo under his chin, narrow eyes, and a bright red tracksuit—exactly like the hit-and-run driver caught on camera.
“Zhao Li?” Lu Zhiyue asked.
The young man’s pupils shrank, and he gripped the gate tighter. “Are you crazy? You’ve got the wrong place. Go away, I’m going to sleep.”
As he spoke, he slammed the gate shut and tried to bolt, but Chen Hai was quick—he grabbed him like a chick and pinned him down in the yard, his head ending up right in a pile of chicken and duck droppings.
Chen Hai grimaced in disgust.
He pulled out a photo and held it in front of Zhao Li. “Look—this you?”
The photo showed the vehicle that had hit Chi Suinian, with an enlarged section clearly capturing the driver’s face and clothing—Zhao Li’s face and clothing.
“It’s not—it’s not me! That’s not me!” Zhao Li shouted and struggled, but he couldn’t break Chen Hai’s grip.
“Cut the crap. The picture’s crystal clear. If it’s not you, is it a ghost?” Chen Hai pinched one of his fingers and bent it hard.
Zhao Li screamed and spilled everything. “Ah! I’ll talk, I’ll talk! I was just taking money to fix someone’s problem—someone gave me twenty thousand yuan to hit a person. I’ve been broke lately, can’t even eat, so… I took the job.”
“Who told you to do it?” Chen Hai pressed.
“I don’t know, I really don’t know him… Ah! Stop, it’s going to break! I—I don’t know who he is, but I secretly took a photo. It’s on my phone. Let me go, I swear I know I was wrong.”
Chen Hai fished the phone from his pocket, wiped it off, and handed it to Lu Zhiyue. “Mr. Lu.”
It was an older-model phone, and the photo was blurry. Lu Zhiyue sent it to his own device and told Chen Hai, “Take him to the local police station.”
Zhao Li’s eyes widened. “What? But—I told you everything, why are you still—”
Chen Hai shoved a filthy rag in his mouth. “Shut it. You took money to commit a crime—you’ll get years for that.”
Late that night, when Lu Zhiyue returned home, Chi Suinian still hadn’t gone to bed. From the bathroom came the sound of running water—he was showering.
Lu Zhiyue went downstairs, and when he came back up he was carrying a medical kit.
Chi Suinian opened the door and immediately noticed it. “You’re hurt?”
“No.”
Chi Suinian raised an eyebrow, about to ask why he was holding the kit, when Lu Zhiyue patted the edge of the bed. “Sit down. I’ll put medicine on you.”
“No need—it’s just a few scrapes, they’ll be fine in a couple of days.”
Lu Zhiyue took his hands and guided him toward the bed. “Let’s change it anyway—it’ll heal faster.”
Most of Chi Suinian’s scrapes were in… inconvenient places. The upper-body ones weren’t too bad, but the one on his thigh was a little embarrassing.
Unfortunately, that was the worst injury, still bleeding slightly even now. He hadn’t dared touch it while bathing.
“…I’ll do it myself.”
Lu Zhiyue glanced at his leg. “The wound’s on the back—you can’t see it. Lie on your stomach. I’ll be quick.”
“…”
Chi Suinian’s mind blanked.
Wait—why did that sound… so wrong?
Seeing no reaction, Lu Zhiyue gave a quiet “Hm?”
What’s there to be afraid of?
Chi Suinian flopped onto the bed on his stomach. The robe was lifted at one side, revealing the back of his thigh—where the scrape was still red and seeping.
Lu Zhiyue dipped a cotton swab into antiseptic and gently dabbed at the wound. “Don’t shower tomorrow. I’m worried the wound will get infected.”
Chi Suinian muffled an “Mm” into his pillow.
He wasn’t feeling great, honestly.
Ever since Lu Zhiyue’s strange comment, his head had been a mess — like there were a few cats scratching around inside his chest, making his heart restless.
All Lu Zhiyue’s fault, spouting nonsense like that.
After finishing with the medicine, Lu Zhiyue saw Chi Suinian lying stiffly without moving and thought he must be hurting.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
Chi Suinian shook his head. “Is it done yet?”
“All done.” Lu Zhiyue leaned in and blew gently over the freshly medicated wound.
Thin strands of warm breath brushed lightly over skin that rarely saw the light of day, unbearably sensitive.
“!”
Chi Suinian shot up like a startled fish, clutching his bathrobe tight. His cheeks instantly flushed red. “The hell are you… blowing there for?”
Lu Zhiyue hadn’t expected such a big reaction, and was momentarily stunned. “I haven’t wrapped the bandage yet. What are you jumping for?”
“No need for you, I can do it myself.” Chi Suinian’s cheeks were still burning, his words stumbling.
The atmosphere in the room felt too strange — everything felt too strange. Chi Suinian felt like something was starting to slip out of his control.
And… he felt a little hot.
Chi Suinian’s heart sank. Not good. He jumped out of bed, wrapping the bathrobe tightly around himself, and without another word ran toward the bathroom.
Wait, no. This isn’t right.
What the hell? Just from being touched twice and having his wound blown on by Lu Zhiyue, he… reacted??
Damn it, was he broken or something?
Chi Suinian was spooked. He ran for the bathroom barefoot.
Lu Zhiyue blocked him before he could reach it. “What are you running for?”
“Toilet,” Chi Suinian pushed past him. “None of your business, move.”
Lu Zhiyue persisted, “You’re sweating a lot — is your wound hurting?”
Chi Suinian was practically suffocating from embarrassment. In the middle of their pushing and pulling, the belt at his waist suddenly came undone. The bathrobe lost its hold and fell open, hanging on him like a loose towel.
The bulge Chi Suinian had been desperate to hide was now completely exposed to Lu Zhiyue’s gaze.
“…”
Crap.
Why was it that whenever he was with Lu Zhiyue, he always ended up humiliating himself?
Lu Zhiyue had to be poisonous or something.
Chi Suinian’s face flushed crimson in an instant. He scrambled to clutch the bathrobe shut.
Lu Zhiyue’s gaze lingered on him, an eyebrow arched. “So full of energy? What’s on your mind?”
“None of your damn business!” Chi Suinian flared up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. “Get lost.”
Lu Zhiyue didn’t agree — and he certainly didn’t move aside. He held back a laugh for a moment, then said, “Want me to help?”
Chi Suinian’s eyes widened instantly, thinking this man was about to lay hands on him again. “Lu Zhiyue, I’m already injured like this and you can still bring yourself to touch me? Are you even human?”
Lu Zhiyue said, “Can’t lay a hand, but I can lay a mouth.”
It was like stomping the gas pedal without warning, sending Chi Suinian straight onto the cross-city expressway.
“…”
For f***’s sake, why was he so shameless?!
“Do you want it?” Lu Zhiyue asked, his voice carrying a hint of seduction.
Chi Suinian’s face burned as he gritted his teeth. “No. Go away.”
“But I want to help you.”
“???”
Before Chi Suinian could react, a large hand shoved him onto the bed, and Lu Zhiyue pressed down over him without a word.
The big towel-like robe on him was utterly useless as protection.
Chi Suinian was furious enough to curse him out.
But before long, his body started heating up and going soft. All he could do was clutch Lu Zhiyue’s hair and growl, “Lu Zhiyue, if you dare poke me with that, I’ll kill you…”
P.S.- It doesn’t make sense to me as how Lu Zhiyue can press him down cuz he has injured his back.ㄟ( ▔, ▔ )ㄏ
thank you for the update xoxo