Lui Heng saw that Jian Shiwu’s face was very poor, so poor to a state that made people feel heartbroken. After knowing each other for so long, his impression of Jian that he has always been optimistic and cheerful, nothing is able to affect him, always happy, but these days it is like he is being stimulated by something general.
Lui Heng was a little distressed: "Shiwu..."
He was leaning against the car window, half of his body buried in the shadows, the car was moving forward, the streetlights emitting bright light, the dappled shadows passing over his body inch by inch, leaving only inch by inch traces of loneliness.
Silence.
A dead silence.
When Lui Heng didn't know what to say, Jian spoke slowly, his voice a little darker: "Did I say the wrong thing."
Lui Heng pursed his lips.
"I just think..." Lui Heng thought for a moment before speaking, "Since you did that, the class representative would be sad."
Jian closed his eyes with some despair. Jian opened his mouth to say something, but the hot words ended up on his lips, and were reduced to a feeble, "I'm sorry."
...
Lui Heng looked at him, and even though he was dull, he could feel the pain that was being suppressed in Jian’s body, and he couldn't help asking, "Why did you avoid letting the class rep know? I don’t understand."
Jane took a deep breath, "I’m not avoiding him.”
"Then what is it?"
"I just..."
He couldn't open his mouth, he couldn't say it, it was like an unsolvable problem that held him in this cage, suffocating him to the core.
Lui Heng waited for a while, and finally said: "Brother Shi, we have known each other since primary school, not to say anything else, at least we know each other, we used to climb the walls and skip classes together when we were kids, we did everything together, I think I should know you well..."
Jian nodded gently.
"But I haven't understood you since middle school."
Lui Heng said softly, "I think you are like a different person, but it's not bad. Willing to study, to make progress, and not confused, it's good, it's like being enlightened, but I just think, you've also changed a little too ...... "
He thought about it, as if looking for an appropriate adjective, before finally settling on, "There’s something...like as if you’re frightened."
Jian Shiwu looked up abruptly. There was a serious look in Lui Heng’s eyes as he said, "I can tell you're scared of him.”
Jian looked up in surprise, it felt like someone standing on the edge of a precarious cliff and pretending nothing was wrong, when suddenly someone came over and took his hand and said, "Don’t use too much force, I can see you are having a hard time."
Jian Shiwu tried to open his mouth, he wanted to retort, but found there was no way to do so.
"I think so, since I can see it, do you think the class rep’s not able to see it?" Lui Heng spoke patiently: "Being friends, but always having reservations and being avoided, it is actually very hurtful, I think, if there’s any misunderstanding then it’s better to solve it before it’s too late, if it really can’t be forced, then it’s better to just shoot it out and break it off."
Jian’s eyes widened as he repeated subconsciously, "A clean break..."
Lui Heng nodded.
A dead silence fell over the car, and the driver at the front didn’t dare to breathe, fearing that he’d be silenced for knowing too much. Finally, after passing the next turn, the driver slammed on the brakes, "Young Master Jian, your home is here."
Jian Shiwu nodded and said, "Thank you."
When he got out of the car, it was cool outside, and the cold breeze could stimulate one to be much more awake at once. Lui Heng behind him said, "I'll go back, then."
Jian turned around and said, "Okay."
Lui Heng clearly saw Jian’s red eyes and felt the despair that he was holding back.
He sighed heartily.
In the end he choose to follow suit and got out of the car. He walked up to Jian Shiwu and gave him a hug with open arms, a solemn embrace between two good brothers after many years in the cold, cold wind, like they were warming each other up and also passing on strength.
"In fact, I also know that Shen Cheng is very dangerous, he’s not someone we can afford to provoke, I understand you haveto make a decision, but I think, over the years, in good conscience, brother Cheng treats us well. Anyway, we all know what we have in our hearts, no matter what, at least he cares about you, so…
Jian Shiwu listened quietly.
The autumn wind blew, and Lui Heng’s words seemed to be filled with a sigh: "Think about it."There was only one Shen Cheng in this world, ah.
Lui Heng got back into the car, the car drove away, the small area was quiet, not even a few crickets chirping, which seemed extraordinarily bleak in the autumn night.
Jian Shiwu stood in place, as if he had been frozen in place by the words, and could not move.
"Jian?"
The door of the villa pushed open and the voice of the nanny came. Jian Shiwu turned and saw his aunt walking towards him: "Why don't you come in when you get home you child, it is cold outside."
Walking into the house, he was like a wandering soul. Auntie said, "Mr. and Mrs. Jian went on a business trip, it's almost the end of the year, the company is busy, they're all busy with the IPO these days, don't worry about it, I'm here these days, tell Auntie what you want to eat."
Jian nodded haphazardly and went back to his room.
He didn’t sleep well all night, his dreams were filled with all sorts of light and strange things, images from his previous life colliding with those from his current life, like they were squeezing his head, giving him a splitting headache.
Finally, it was dawn. Jian Shiwu could not dwell on one or two things, and went to school in a daze.
As soon as he entered the door of the classroom, he subconsciously looked at the last row, Shen Cheng had arrived early, he was reading a book. The morning sunlight fell on the young man, beautiful and divine, and his attention seemed to be on the book, indifferent to the people at the classroom door.
But it wasn’t like that before. Jian Shiwu knew that in the past, Shen Cheng would have looked at him, irregardless of whether he opened or didn’t open his mouth, the two would have made eye contact, but today was different, today he stood there, Shen Cheng didn’t look at him.
......
He’s angry.
This time Jian Shiwu could conclude with 100% certainty.
Lui Heng instead rushed to greet him “Good morning, Brother Shi."
Jian Shiwu said, "Good morning."
"Explain!" Lui Heng looked at Jian Shiwu's face in shock: "Good man, what did you do last night, you look as if your husband had died, you could go straight to the funeral."
Jian Shiwu gave him a hammering.
For the next days, all of the study sessions went on as normal, and Shen Cheng did not completely ignore him. Whether he was handing in homework or meeting between classes, he was able to communicate normally, the only difference being that, it was brief and concise, like it was a normal classmate relationship, not going any further.
It's a bit of an estrangement, a disconnection. Like a big river had been crossed between the two in just one night.
When a person has been living in warm water, only by pouring in a pot of cold water can he wake up, and in the days when Shen Cheng's presence is suddenly missing, he faced various discomforts.No one would check his questions after he had finished his homework. No one would let him eat more meat because he was on a diet. No one will remind him of his nap time and help him check his papers. The life that had been in order seemed to have gone haywire all of a sudden, and Jian’s eyes always subconsciously went to Shen Cheng, but Shen Cheng never looked at him.
There were times when he’d feel somewhat aggrieved, aggrieved enough to want to shed tears. What a cruel heart ah, Shen Cheng.
He clearly knew that in his previous life, Shen Cheng was ruthless, but in this life, after being treated with a little coldness, he could not help but feel aggrieved.
Jian was a little angry with himself. He was angry with himself for being incompetent and not being able to share his parents' stress, he was angry with himself for talking nonsense and breaking Shen Cheng's heart, and he was angry with himself for still being so weak in this life and not being able to take charge at all.
One thing after another, pressing down, he had a lot on his mind, he didn't sleep well, he didn't rest well, and he was under pressure from the outside world.
When Zhen Meili came to shout in the morning she hadn't felt that anything was wrong: "Jian Shiwu?" There was no movement in the house at all.
After knocking on the door for a while without any movement, Zhen Meili finally became anxious and pushed the door in. The person lying on the bed was flushed, as if he had already passed out.
"Jian!"
A high fever of 38.8, which had started in the evening and had not been noticed until the morning, the hospital doctor did not stop condemning the parents for being so careless, another day of fever and his brains would have been burned off.
Zhen Meili was crying, and Jian Zicheng had some self-condemnation as he guarded his wife and son's side.
The fever hadn’t completely subsided, but his face was slowly turning white, and even in his sleep he was frowning, a restless look.
Zhen Meili wiped her face and said with some hoarseness, "Auntie said that he’s not been in good spirits these days. And because he usually eats less because he’s losing weight, the little he ate these days didn’t bother Auntie, and he drank a few mouthfuls of porridge when he came back yesterday."
Jian Zicheng sighed: "Is it because of too much pressure from studying?"
Zhen Mei Li shook her head.
She reached out and caressed Jian Shiwu's face, remembering that this child had a chubby face, round and lovely, not knowing from which day, he started getting thinner and thinner, before he’d always been happy, she didn’t know when he started to become overwhelmed.
Jian Shiwu was having some kind of dream, his long eyelashes trembled, gradually moistened, perhaps dreaming of something sad, his whole body trembled a little, like he was suffering from some great pain.
Zhen Meili came closer to hear clearly. Jian Zicheng questioned her and said, "What is being said?"
Zhen Mei Li lifted her head to look at him and lightly opened her thin lips, "Calling Shen Cheng's name."
Two or three years ago, Jian Shiwu had a big dream and had a high fever, in his sleep he didn’t stop calling Shen Cheng’s name, and the same was true today. Jian Zicheng choked: "These two children..." Zhen Meili also sighed softly.
The fever went down that day, but a day and a night later, the boy still hadn't woken up. The news that he was sick naturally reached the ears of his classmates and the class is buzzing with talk.
"I heard that Jian never woke up."
"The fever won't go away."
"It's going to be three days."
"We can't go to see him, Jian is not awake yet, this will just be disturbing the patient."
There was a lot of discussion, and naturally Lui Heng knew about it, and as it was Friday, they naturally made an appointment to go and see him over the weekend.
When he received the call, Qiao An naturallyfirst looked at Shen Cheng. These days although Shen Cheng behaved no differently than usual, Qiao An could still feel the recent low pressure around him.
Shen Cheng's mind was not in good place.
Such a low pressure was such that even the people in the entire mansion didn't dare to breathe, for fear of being affected.
But even if Shen Cheng didn't care, the team of doctors invited from abroad in the name of the Ji family arrived at the first opportunity when they learned that Jian Shiwu was still sleeping, and even if he didn't care, the hospital's report was sent to him daily by the doctors. Even if he didn’t care, he had to come over today to visit the sick. Early in the morning, the sun hadn’t even risen yet, Shen Cheng got up.
By eight o'clock in the morning, a group of people arrived at the hospital.
The children were greeted by Zhen Meili: "You guys could just come, why bring so many things."
They hadn't seen her for a few days, but Zhen Meili had become much haggard. She hadn't been home for a while on business because of company matters, she knew that Jian Shiwu had been acting erratically that day when he found out about the listing, but she hadn't been there for her child, which made her blame herself very much.
The doctor said his illness didn’t come suddenly, it was this child who had been depressed for a long time, with a deficit in qi and blood because of too much stress, probably because of some recent trigger, a psychological blow enough ti make him totally unable to carry on before he fell ill.
Zhen Meili couldn’t stop crying these days, she couldn't forgive herself if Jian really had any problems.
"Jian Shiwu hasn't woken up yet."
"Shiwu ah, wake up and take you to play games ah."
"It's almost New Year's Eve, and we agreed to play together."
Several children were standing in front of the hospital bed, the person lying in the bed was on an IV, his pale face almost transparent, obviously it had only been half a month, but the boy had lost a lot of weight, his eyes were closed and he was terribly fragile.
All the people kept rambling on and on, only Shen Cheng stood beside him and watched quietly. A normal person would only feel that this child was cold and heartless, only those who knew Shen Cheng could see through the intense emotions under those quiet black eyes.
By the time noon rolled around, the sky had changed, dark clouds were rolling in and there was even the faint sound of thunder.
Zhen Mei Meili came over and said, "I'm afraid it's going to rain, you guys hurry home, in case it rains too much it won't be good."
Qiao An and Lui Heng looked at each other as they walked to the door of the room, only Shen Cheng stood unmoving by the bed. From the moment he came over here, it’s like he had taken root, not leaving an inch.
Zhen Meili had some worry: "Shen Cheng..."
It was only when she spoke that Shen Cheng moved a little, he looked, and in a faint voice: "Auntie, I want to be here."
...
The room was quiet for a moment.
"Okay."
Zhen Meili looked at the two children, one lying and one standing, her nose inexplicably sour, and for whatever reason, she nodded: "You stay with him."
Who knew that after she set the precedent, Lui Heng and Qiao An wouldn’t go away either. He was staying in the VIP supreme ward, which is just like a normal three bedroom house, with a separate lounge, a kitchen, living room and a full bathroom.
Lui Heng gave Qiao An a wink, "It's going to be raining anyway, so I'll go with Qiao An to the living room for a bit."
Zhen Meili had some surprise.
Qiao An received the hint and smiled, "Just in time, it's been a while since I've tasted Auntie's cooking, can I have a bite today?"
They’d noticed that Zhen Meili was not in a good state, and as brothers, when Jian is away, they’d definitely have to look after his mother for him. Persuasion was useless. If they want to make it lively here, they should find something for Zhen Meili to do, instead of immersing herself in sadness.
Annie came too, Zhen Meili had always been fond of her daughter and she was unusually well behaved today, spilling her guts: "Auntie, you can let us stay here~"
Zhen Meimei couldn’t help it.
The children gathered around with great enthusiasm, and the sadness in her heart was relievedby a great deal, so she pursed her lips and smiled: "Good, what do you want to eat Auntie will go and cook for you."
They gave a cheer.
They all had the sense to exit from the ward, and even thoughtfully closed the door, all gathering outside in the living room, so that only Shen Cheng and Jane Shiwu were left inside the ward.
The sky slowly clouded over and muffled thunder struck outside.
"Boom!"
The quietness of the ward was broken by the flash of thunder and lightning that cut through the sky.
Shen Cheng sat in front of the hospital bed and saw the boy who was originally sleeping on the bed frowning because of the sound of lightning, a thin sweat broke out on his head, as if he had fallen into some nightmare all of a sudden. Something extremely frightening to him, nagging him to the point of crying in a small. Shen Cheng was silent for a long time, after getting closer he finally heard the somewhat pitiful cry:
"No ah, no I want to cremate mum..."
"Shen Cheng, why don’t you pick up the phone ahhhh..."
"I was wrong, I'll never dare again"
"Why are you doing this to me"
"Please ......"
The temperature inside was lowered by the rainstorm,on the autumn rainy night, the person next to the hospital bed was also cold all over. Shen Cheng looked at Jian Shiwu, the bottom of his deep eyes was like a silent storm, listening to these words, he had anger in his heart, but looking at the child on the hospital bed who was scared miserable put him in an unspeakable heart pain.
Inexplicably, he held Jian’s hands which were somehow cold, holding tightly, silently passing the temperature over.
"Boom."
Another bolt of lightning struck, the same heavy rain as the day he’d had the accident, the same thundering lightning.
The boy in the bed was still crying, he didn’t know what he was dreaming and kept murmuring in pain, his voice was soft, but each sentence made Shen Cheng’s heartache beyond measure:.
"It hurts..."
"I am in so much pain."
"Help."
"Shen Cheng, Shen Cheng..."
The young man beside him took hold of Jian’s hand, and Shen Cheng held back the emotions in his heart, his eyes, which had always been like ancient well, were tinged with scarlet, and his voice was low and husky: "I'm here."