Shen Er'an raised his head but didn't say anything.

The atmosphere was a little awkward.

Jiao Bai started having second thoughts. Would asking a future scum gong scratch my back be considered courting death? I had better take back…

Before he could finish his train of thought, a shadow suddenly appeared in front of him.

Shen Er'an stood up, bent down and leaned closer. His clean fingers pulled open the back collar of Jiao Bai's hospital gown slightly.

“Here?” Shen Er'an's breath was warm, but his fingertips were a little cold.

Jiao Bai felt goosebumps rise on the spot that was touched. “Lower, lower, a bit more to the left—yes, exactly there, that’s the spot! Scratch harder, harder. Use a bit more force. No Young Master Shen, can you apply some force?!”

Shen Er'an pressed his lips together. “I'm afraid I’ll hurt you.”

“I’m not itching where my broken ribs are... hiss.” Jiao Bai got worked up and the pain returned, so he closed his mouth. Shen Er'an also applied slightly more pressure, just a bit, being very careful.

"Okay, okay, that’s enough," Jiao Bai said, his tone noticeably more relaxed. That’s much better.

Shen Er'an sat back down, resting his hands on his legs, and looked over at him with eyes, that seemed to be concealing a multitude of sombre, heavy stories yet looked especially pure and calm.

“You don’t need to thank me.” Jiao Bai raised the corners of his lips which were dry from blood loss. “At that time, the situation was urgent, so I rushed in without thinking. If I had the time to calm down and think, I definitely wouldn’t have had the courage or the guts.”

Shen Er'an took a long time to speak. “Why were, you there?”

“I was looking for you.” Jiao Bai said as if it was a matter of course, “We’re roommates. It was already so late, but you still weren’t back. It’s only natural for me to go out to look for you."

Shen Er'an looked at him for a while. “That place, is very far from our neighbourhood.”

Jiao Bai glared at him. Why are you so fixated on that? Just tell me the answer you want to hear, and I’ll say it, okay?

Shen Er'an lowered his gaze to the blue-striped sheet on the hospital bed and fell silent.

Jiao Bai felt extremely dizzy and his vision was blurring. He put in tremendous effort to muster some energy and carefully regulated his breathing to alleviate the pain. “Your family didn’t send someone to protect you?”

Shen Er'an remained silent.

Jiao Bai sighed. “In any case, you are still their young master.”

Shen Er'an gently and slowly smoothed an area of the bed sheet. There was no sympathy or pity in this person's words. He also didn’t need any of that.

However,

This person didn’t show even a trace of surprise.

Shen Er'an then felt that it made sense. This person was in contact with the servants and bodyguards at Qinxin Estate—Uncle Kang, Qi Shuang, and his grandmother, as well as his father. So, it was only natural that he could guess what kind of relationship he and his father had.

Jiao Bai knew, but he didn't find out from the people around him. He had read the comic so he was fully aware of how much old dog Shen disliked Shen Er'an.

As for the grandmother, she was far from impartial. The grandson born from an unpresentable tea-picking girl was nowhere near as important as her youngest son, whom she had struggled to bring into the world. When there was no need to choose between the two, she was a model of a good Chinese grandmother, but when she had to choose, she would unhesitatingly side with the current head of the Shen family.

Jiao Bai guessed that after Shen Er'an had a fight at school, his grandmother had probably arranged people to protect him, but old dog Shen dismissed them?

Old dog Shen was also going to have another illegitimate child.

That happened after Shen Er'an graduated from university.

In other words, at this time, the illegitimate child’s mother hadn’t met old dog Shen yet.

Jiao Bai shifted slightly. He definitely couldn’t reveal any spoilers. If word got out... Wow, come quick! This person has the ability to predict the future! Capture him!

“At our age, we all tend to be a bit conceited and think that we’re pretty awesome.” Jiao’s Bai’s tone was indifferent but his eyes very bright. “But that’s an illusion. We’re not awesome at all. We’re just ordinary teenagers going through a normal adolescence. We’re ordinary people, flesh and blood with only one life.”

Shen Er'an stared at him blankly.

Jiao Bai didn’t make eye contact with Shen Er'an. and faced the ceiling instead. His neck was pale and fragile, resembling a dying swan. Yet there was a certain strength in him—no matter how many times fate knocked him down, he could always crawl back up again. As long as he drew breath, there was hope.

“You know what I mean, right? Your family doesn't care about you, so you should find a way to protect yourself.”

Jiao Bai followed with, “How about I lend you some money?”

Shen Er'an: “...”

Jiao Bai: “...”

The old lady was unlikely to be stingy with her grandson’s living expenses.

Young Master Shen wasn’t particular about his clothing. The collar of his shirt beneath his school uniform was pilled from frequent handwashing. It wasn’t because he was poor. He just didn’t care for material things.

Sure enough, Jiao Bai heard Shen Er'an say, “I have money.”

“I also have people to use.” Shen Er'an stood by the hospital bed with his head down and said softly, “I will, be, careful."

Jiao Bai nodded. From the sounds of it, this young master must have thought it wasn’t necessary before, but he knew to be more vigilant from now on. He took a few breaths and asked, “Did you see my phone? It’s in the pants I changed out of.”

Shen Er'an rubbed his fingertips together repeatedly, his gaze unfocused.

Jiao Bai sensed something unusual in the air. Did this young master enter some strange mode after he got injured?

After a long while, Shen Er'an said slowly, “I forgot to take your phone out, when I was washing your clothes.”

Jiao Bai felt like he couldn’t understand Mandarin anymore, “Wait, you helped me wash my clothes? You washed my clothes?”

Shen Er'an was taken aback by his big reaction, “I washed them, in passing, while washing my own.”

Jiao Bai was speechless. How can it be in passing[1]? My lad, you’re the protagonist gong of this world.

“Is my phone still alive?" Jiao Bai took a moment to calm himself.

Shen Er'an nodded. “Alive.” He paused, picking at his neatly trimmed nails like a child who had done something wrong. “The sticker on the case is damaged.”

“The sticker being damaged is no big deal. I thought my phone was a goner. Bring it with you the next time you come to the hospital.” Jiao Bai had already passed the most agonizing phase and felt alive again, so he started longing for his intimate lover, his beloved phone. Jiao Bai wasn’t worried about Shen Er'an seeing his private matters, as he had both a password and a fingerprint lock for double security. Besides, the private matter only involved Zhang Zhen anyway.

Shen Er'an suddenly spoke up, "Do you have, friends, you need to contact?"

"Nope," Jiao Bai replied, glancing sideways. "I'm just bored."

Shen Er'an didn’t say anything else.

Jiao Bai felt a tickle in his throat and couldn’t help but cough. The pain made him to scream like a pig being rkztfgsdqdc, and tears streamed down his face.

Shen Er'an was about to call a doctor, but Jiao Bai stopped him. What was the point? Could the doctor suffer the pain in his place?

Jiao Bai didn’t dare to cough again for a while, despite the doctor encouraging him to do so.

The atmosphere in the hospital room was heavy and depressing. Shen Er'an seemed to be trying to find a topic. “That night in the lounge of Fuyuan Restaurant...”

What is it? What is it? Jiao Bai's spirits perked up a little bit.

Shen Er'an objectively appraised, “Your acting was a bit, over the top.”

Jiao Bai: “...” Some things were better left unsaid.

However, Young Master Shen clearly knew he was acting so why did he still fall for it? Qi Zizhi most likely noticed it too.

After all, Jiao Bai's acting was so bad that even he wanted to puke.

But the tears were real. Five drops.

“You’re often acting, you’re always acting.” Shen Er'an pulled the sides of the curtains, ensuring they were tightly closed so that no sunlight could reach the person in the hospital bed.

Jiao Bai was puzzled. What did Shen Er'an mean? Did he become zcchbsdc to watching him act and turned into his fan?

However, putting the past aside, he wasn’t acting now. He truly wasn’t feeling well. “I can’t lie down any longer. I want to sit up.”

Shen Er'an's youthful face tensed up. “In a few days, you'll feel better.” His tone softened, “Just, hang in there.”

"Alright, I'll hang in there."

Jiao Bai forced himself to sleep. It’d all be fine if he was asleep. As his head grew heavy, he heard Shen Er'an's hoarse, muffled voice. “When you first came to Third High, why did you, deliberately, do things that disgusted me?"

The word “deliberately” jolted Jiao Bai awake. In an instant, he thought of many responses but ultimately just kicked the ball back to the server. “Were you disgusted?”

“Didn’t, care[2].” Shen Er'an faced the curtains. His long, thick eyelashes cast a faint fan-shaped shadow under his eyes.

Jiao Bai broke into laughter. “Young Master Shen, if you didn’t care, why are you asking me this question?”


[1] Washed them while washing his own. 顺便 implies without much extra effort, in passing, along the way.

[2] 无所谓 – means indifferent, doesn’t matter, don’t care