Chapter 4

Chapter 4

What was I supposed to say?

Lu Tinglan, thank you for risking your life to save me, but I was already diagnosed with stomach cancer. I’m still going to die.

Lu Tinglan, I have a System. The System glitched and brought me back to life, but the person it was supposed to revive was your true love.

Lu Tinglan, I’m not your true love.

…

No matter which one I picked, it would be impossible to understand, right?!

In the end, I chose to say nothing.

“Jiang Yao, I’m going to ask you one more time. How did you get like this? Are you feeling sick?”

Lu Tinglan looked down at me, his thin lips pressed into a straight line, like a storm was about to break.

I instantly chickened out and said in a small voice, “I got dirty eating spicy blood curd stew. Leave it alone.”

Lu Tinglan tilted his head and thought about it.

He couldn’t make sense of it.

So he decided to act.

He scooped me up in one motion and, with a dark expression, strode toward the bathroom.

Was he insane?!

This was a library!

And we were two men!

I struggled silently in Lu Tinglan’s arms.

He chose the most secluded bathroom. Once inside, he locked the door behind us and set me on the sink.

His solid, powerful arms braced on either side of me.

There was nowhere to run.

“Spicy blood curd stew? Fine. Then I’ll wash you clean. You don’t need to worry about it either.”

“What? Fuck, that’s cold!”

Lu Tinglan’s gaze was dark and feverish, like a mad dog that had lost control. He drenched me from head to toe with the hose.

My arms, my neck, my chest.

Every spot stained with blood was scrubbed clean by him, hard enough to turn red, hard enough that I broke down in tears.

Why did he always have to treat me like this?!

My T-shirt was torn in half.

The moment he saw the knife scar on my waist, Lu Tinglan snapped back to his senses.

I swung my fist into his face.

He swayed, then lowered his head and buried himself in my arms, like a big dog that had been wronged.

“Does it still hurt here?”

“I’m sorry. I just hate seeing you get hurt. I hate seeing you bleed. I hate seeing you go to the hospital.”

“I want to protect you, the way you once protected me.”

I froze where I was, staring at Lu Tinglan in confusion.

This scar was from taking a knife for Jiang Mian. What did that have to do with him?

Did we know each other before?

I seemed to remember something.

After Jiang Mu died, Jiang Mian cried nonstop, and her personality changed completely.

To fulfill my duty as her older brother, I escorted her to and from school every day, afraid she’d be bullied.

While watching over her, I casually beat up a few little brats and saved a few poor kids who were being bullied.

The time I got stabbed, I had just saved a little boy covered in blood from a group of punks.

Then Jiang Mian suddenly ran out, slapped people, and caused a drunken scene.

So we became the targets of revenge.

I told that little boy with the bowl cut to run first.

Could that have been Lu Tinglan?

No way. He’d changed so much…

When I looked at Lu Tinglan, he happened to be looking at me too.

His face was serious.

“Jiang Yao, I’m begging you, don’t carry everything by yourself. What normal person coughs up blood?”

“Let’s go to the hospital and get you checked again, okay? I’ll go with you.”

“I gave you so much of my blood. Your life counts as partly mine too, so can you please listen to me?”

I licked my lips and looked away.

“Bro, I’m soaked from head to toe right now. How am I supposed to go to the hospital? Can you at least wait until I change?”

“Clothes? I have a spare set in my bag. I was planning to go to the gym today.”

Lu Tinglan pulled the zipper open with one hand. His other arm didn’t move, keeping me firmly trapped.

“Jiang Yao, if you don’t say anything, I’ll take that as a yes. Once you’ve changed, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

I was just about to speak when an oversized T-shirt dropped over my head, blocking every word back down my throat.

The clean, cool scent of cedar made my heartbeat stumble for a few beats.

“Wait, I’ll change the pants myself!!”

I fought desperately to preserve the last shred of my dignity.

Lu Tinglan’s hand hesitated, but in the end, he still didn’t let go.

“Jiang Yao, you’ve been hiding from me for days. I’m afraid you’ll run off on the way to the hospital too.”

“I’ve got to keep one hand on you, you know?”