Chapter 18
Wu Yuting stood with her hands on her hips, at a loss for what was wrong with her younger brother.
She could only bend down and gently coax him.
It took Wu Xiaojiu quite a while to recover from the shock.
But once his mind cleared,
He couldn’t stop recalling what had just happened.
Wu Xiaojiu’s back grew cold as he thought more about it.
The scraping sound that had come from behind earlier-
Was probably the noise Wu Yuting made as she crawled over from the cabinet, using both hands and feet.
The more he mulled it over, the less he could sleep.
He felt incredibly uneasy.
Even though his mother and sister spent a long time comforting him, he couldn’t find a sense of security in his heart.
Mainly, everything just felt too strange.
Everything that happened today was just too bizarre.
There was nothing he could do; inside, Wu Xiaojiu was a nervous wreck. Coupled with his sister’s odd behavior, he was truly afraid something would harm his family.
After much hesitation,
He took out his phone.
Wu Xiaojiu dialed that number.
[What is it, trying to seduce Long Aotian in the middle of the night? Only you would call someone at this hour instead of sleeping.]
The System watched the drama unfold with unrestrained amusement.
It made a snarky comment in his mind.
Wu Xiaojiu refused to back down and replied helplessly.
[Anyway, he’s sleeping under a bridge, so he might as well come to the hospital and settle in for a bit, maybe even protect me. Isn’t he supposed to consider me a friend? This is a life-and-death situation-come to my rescue!]
The phone rang for just two seconds.
The call was answered immediately.
Bo Suihan’s voice showed no trace of drowsiness,
As if he had known all along that Wu Xiaojiu would call.
His first words were:
“Where are you? Let me come over.”
Wu Xiaojiu was surprised by how efficient he was.
But he didn’t have time for small talk, so he immediately gave him the address.
Facing the confused looks from his sister and mother,
He hung up the phone.
“A friend of mine is coming over. About what just happened…”
Wu Xiaojiu hesitated and glanced at Wu Yuting.
He shook his head.
“I’ll tell Mom privately when I get back.”
He was mainly worried that his sister would be upset, but he couldn’t just keep this situation hidden and do nothing.
If Wu Yuting’s condition got any worse, it would be a real problem.
Seeing he had his own plan, his sister and mother didn’t ask further questions.
After all this commotion,
Wu Xiaojiu couldn’t stand the atmosphere of having the lights off while waiting for Bo Suihan.
So theirs was the only room in the hospital with the lights on for a long time.
Wu Yuting turned over and went to sleep on her bed near the door.
Wu Xiaojiu, meanwhile, sat on the small bed, unable to lie down for ages.
He wasn’t that thick-skinned; after that fright, he’d lost all desire to sleep.
Now he just played on his phone in bed, planning to wait for Bo Suihan to arrive before sleeping.
Since Wu Yuting had taken the bed near the door, Wu Xiaojiu’s bed was naturally the one by the window.
Hospitals usually plant a few trees, and there was one right outside Wu Xiaojiu’s window.
No one knew what year it was planted, but it was lush and tall. Since Wu Xiaojiu’s room was on the second floor, he could only see the trunk of the tree.
This kind of tree gets gnarly with age, and its upper branches stuck out unevenly.
Wu Xiaojiu, bored as he was,
Started counting the leaves for fun.
As he counted, he noticed a bird’s nest in the tree, and behind the nest was a tree hollow.
Wu Xiaojiu was curious.
Because the bird’s nest was very large, looking almost like a supermarket basket, and it was built quite beautifully. Most importantly, it seemed there were some round, bulging objects inside.
What could be in a bird’s nest?
Aside from baby birds, only eggs.
That’s what Wu Xiaojiu thought at first, too.
So he was curious what kind of bird would lay such big eggs.
His leaf-counting turned into craning his head out the window to look.
The more he looked,
The bigger the eggs seemed.
They weren’t the size of a human fist-they looked about as big as a ball.
But it was too far away, and Wu Xiaojiu was a little nearsighted.
He couldn’t see clearly.
He got out of bed and walked to the window.
He opened it, wanting to lean out and look into the bird’s nest.
But the window was only halfway open when Wu Xiaojiu suddenly felt a heavy weight on his shoulder.
A hand landed on him.
“What are you doing?”
He nearly jumped out of his skin.
Wu Xiaojiu hadn’t been on guard at all; that hand almost made him collapse on the spot.
The person behind him noticed how stiff he was and turned Wu Xiaojiu around by the shoulders.
He’d just been so frightened that everything went black for a moment; in his daze, he seemed to see Bo Suihan’s face.
The expression was dark.
Not a pleasant sight.
Even the voice sounded sour.
“What’s wrong, am I really that scary?”
Only then did Wu Xiaojiu realize something was off.
So it was Bo Suihan behind him.
Still rattled, Wu Xiaojiu was near tears and sniffing.
Trying to pull himself together, he dragged Bo Suihan to sit by the bed.
He recounted his experience just now.
While Bo Suihan listened, his expression complicated, Wu Xiaojiu explained why he had asked him to come.
“I think that black shadow is haunting me. To help Miss Su, and to keep myself safe, please, show some mercy and protect me for a while.”
Wu Xiaojiu put his hands together above his head, swaying devoutly from side to side in a pleading gesture.
When he looked up, his face was full of longing as he gazed at Bo Suihan.
The other man lowered his eyes, studying him with a complex look.
After a moment, he tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Alright, but Miss Su pays me a hundred thousand an hour just for showing up. So, Mr. Wu, don’t you think you should offer something too?”
He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, making a gesture at Wu Xiaojiu.
But the Wu Family was in real trouble-where would Wu Xiaojiu get spare cash?
He couldn’t help thinking, sarcastically: If you liked me just a little more, wouldn’t money and power both come my way? Would I really be worrying about tens of thousands in front of you?
But none of that could show on his face.
Wu Xiaojiu put on a humble look, almost kneeling before Bo Suihan.
He pleaded, “Can I pay later, or write an IOU? I really don’t have any spare cash right now, and this is urgent. If I’d called you even a bit later, who knows if I’d still be alive.”
“Bo Suihan, have a heart, will you?”
Bo Suihan looked at him, twitching the corner of his mouth.
He’d meant to tease him, but that mood disappeared instantly.
It seemed Wu Xiaojiu really was in trouble and hadn’t exaggerated at all.
As he thought, Bo Suihan patted Wu Xiaojiu’s shoulder.
Wu Xiaojiu saw his expression soften a little.
He knew the matter was pretty much settled.
His gaze couldn’t help drifting again to the bird’s nest on the tree outside.
Squinting, he tried again to see what was up there.
Bo Suihan noticed and instinctively followed his line of sight.
Having lived on the mountain for years, his eyesight was much better than Wu Xiaojiu’s, untouched by electronic screens.
He saw at a glance what was inside the bird’s nest.
Bo Suihan stood up abruptly.
Wu Xiaojiu watched his movement, a bit confused.
But Bo Suihan walked past him, heading straight for the window.
He leaned out halfway, stretched his long arm, and fetched the round object from the bird’s nest.
Wu Xiaojiu was first surprised, then nervous at Bo Suihan’s action.
Really, it’s not like he would jump out the window just because he didn’t agree, right?
It wasn’t until Bo Suihan brought the thing into the light that Wu Xiaojiu’s eyes widened.
He stared at it.
After two seconds in a daze, he couldn’t hold back anymore-he cried out in shock.