Two years ago, in a high-end Shanghai apartment complex, a young man jumped from an open window. He was a freshman at Shanghai Music Institute, majoring in violin. When he was working part-time at a restaurant, he was spotted by Wang Liang, and his nightmare began that day. He was harassed, entangled, and had his personal freedom restricted.

In the end, he escaped from his cage and flew up, then down, like a bird with broken wings.

Two years later, with dark glass scattered all over the ground, Wang Liang fell from the sixth floor of a shopping mall onto the green belt in the back. Fortunately, this was landscape shrubbery, and the only thing that was hit was a clump of tiger thorn plum.

. . . . . . .

Although Lu Qi’s cut was long, it was fortunately not deep. The doctor said that there would barely be a scar after the stitches, but when Mu Nanqiao arrived later, he transferred this person to a private hospital owned by Mu Group and went through the hospitalization procedures.

The anesthetic wore off, and the wound started to hurt. Mu Nanqiao was sitting beside the bed. Lu Qi hooked his little finger with his uninjured hand and shook it, asking in a low voice: “Where is Wang Liang? Was he taken away by the police?”

His hand was slightly cold, and Mu Nanqiao immediately held it and kneaded it gently.

“He should also be in a hospital being rescued.” Mu Nanqiao leaned over and touched his forehead, where there was still a small bruise. He frowned in distress and answered his question softly: “After you left, I kept an eye on him there. He seemed to have taken some drugs and was extremely agitated. When I blocked the door, he jumped out the window.”

Truly a predictable and reasonable result, ah.

Lu Qi nodded and breathed a sigh of relief, then yawned tiredly.

He brushed Mu Nanqiao’s palm with his fingertips and whispered: “Wu…..it’s good he jumped down by himself…..I was still a little afraid…..”

Mu Nanqiao thought he was talking about fear of getting hurt, and it was only when he drew closer that he clearly heard his sleepy murmur.

“Afraid that you…..mm…..would kill him…..dirty your hands……I regret…..leaving first.”

He finished speaking in a daze. His delicate, pretty brow was still furrowed and he didn’t appear to be sleeping well. Mu Nanqiao stood up and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

“I wouldn’t do that sort of thing. If the price is to be separated from you, it isn’t worth it.” He whispered in Lu Qi’s ear: “Lu Baby, take a nap, and everything will be over when you wake up.”

He kissed Lu Qi’s ear again: “Ялюблютебя.”^[1]

It was unknown if Lu Qi had heard it or just made a nasally sound after falling asleep, but he made a hum as soft as that of a small animal.

There were two gentle knocks on the door. Mu Nanqiao straightened up and raised the temperature on the air conditioner two degrees before turning around and going out.

Standing outside were Assistant Zhang and several policemen.

One of the older men stepped forward and shook Mu Nanqiao’s hand. He showed his ID and asked straight to the point: “Mr. Mu, we still need the victim to make a statement regarding this kidnapping case. Is it convenient for him now?”

“He was frightened, and just fell asleep.” Mu Nanqiao smiled politely. That handsome face was filled with the culturedness of a young talent, and he said cooperatively: “If you have any questions, you can ask me first. I will contact you when he wakes up.”

“That’s fine. You are the one who reported the crime. What is your relationship with the victim?” The old policeman asked in a business-like manner.

“He is my lover,” Mu Nanqiao said. “With the blessings and approval of the elders, he is the lover I will spend the rest of my life with.”

He spoke frankly, and the old policeman had met many different types of people, so he was not very surprised.

Mu Nanqiao took these people next door to make a statement. Lu Qi happened to wake up at the end of the day, so two policemen went directly to his room.

Lu Qi sat up, and Mu Nanqiao placed two soft pillows behind him as if he was suffering from something serious. He whispered in embarrassment that he was fine, so Mu Nanqiao stopped and went to peel a peach.

The recording process went smoothly. Lu Qi explained in detail the process of his kidnapping. When he mentioned punching Wang Liang in the head, he was still a little proud, but then realized that he was in front of the police and straightened his expression again with a cough. This little thought made the young policeman next to him laugh.

Lu Qi let out a small sigh of relief when they left, then sank softly into the pile of pillows. Opening his mouth to eat the peach fed to him by Mu Nanqiao, he secretly looked at him.

Mu Nanqiao was amused by this cat-like sneakiness and wiped his mouth with a wet wipe.

“You’re my boyfriend, do you still need to peek?” He nuzzled the tip of Lu Qi’s nose in a silly way. “What are you looking at?”

Lu Qi took the wet wipe with his uninjured hand and wiped his mouth carelessly. Seeing Mu Nanqiao smile, he breathed a sigh of relief. The wound still hurt, but it was nothing at this moment. He lifted his arm and said: “I’m looking at my boyfriend’s smile, ah. Come here, I want a hug.”

Naturally, Mu Nanqiao responded to such a request.

The small bowl of peaches was set aside. He simply sat on the bed and reclined against the pile of pillows, holding the person in his arms sideways.

The bed in the VIP ward of the private hospital was appropriately wider. Lu Qi moved around and found a comfortable position. His shaggy head arched into Mu Nanqiao’s chin twice.

He yawned again, like a small animal that had finally found its nest. “I actually wasn’t asleep just now. When I opened my eyes and you weren’t there, I couldn’t fall asleep.”

Mu Nanqiao lowered his head to kiss his hair. “Then sleep a little longer. I won’t leave this time.”

Lu Qi rested his head on Mu Nanqiao’s arm, and with his ear against his chest, he could hear the steady, powerful heartbeat of his lover. He rubbed against him like a cat, very satisfied, and closed his eyes contentedly.

Mu Nanqiao inclined his head and looked silently at Lu Qi’s thick, drooping eyelashes.

This was actually a stress reaction. Lu Qi himself didn’t realize that he had briefly lost all sense of the world. Maybe this state of affairs wouldn’t last long, but Mu Nanqiao still felt distressed.

He had never been a magnanimous person, and cherished very few things. However, some people stretched out their claws to test him without knowing his depths.

If Wang Liang thought this would be the end of it, it was too early for him to celebrate.

. . . . . . .

Lu Qi remained in the ward for a week before he finally couldn’t stay there anymore. Under his strong protests, Mu Nanqiao agreed in the end to let him go home. However, Xiao Sanhua and the little black pig were not there when they returned. Mu Nanqiao was worried that these two little guys, who were neither light nor heavy, would touch Lu Qi’s unhealed arm, so he had temporarily sent them to Mu Chuanbai.

The afternoon after he returned, Mu Chuanbai and Talia came to visit Lu Qi at home. While Lu Qi proudly told Talia how he escaped from danger, Mu Chuanbai glanced at Mu Nanqiao, and the father and son went upstairs to the study in tacit agreement.

Mu Chuanbai’s legs had healed well. He still had a slight limp when he walked, but it was not obvious. As soon as he entered the office, the image of an amiable elder that he portrayed for Lu Qi vanished. Before speaking, he gave a cold scoff of contempt.

“Wang Duan came to the office to see you two days ago. You were away, so he wanted to meet with me, but I refused. Do you think he intends to intercede for Wang Liang?”

Mu Nanqiao leaned against the table and wiped the picture frame there with a paper towel. He replied to his father, “You ask what you already know.”

Wang Duan should not be interceding for Wang Liang.

Because when Wang Liang fell, he became a paraplegic from the neck down.

In a twist of fate, he received the appropriate retribution. Wang Liang’s situation was even worse. He had fallen face-first into the tiger thorn plums, and one eye was blinded by the plant’s sharp thorns. His other eye was also affected, and his vision became worse and worse every day.

Speaking of which, Wang Liang had asked someone to plant this sort of plant full of spikes. Its purpose was to keep people away from his lounge window, lest they hear something they shouldn’t hear, even though he was clearly on the sixth floor.

Wang Duan no longer intended to plead for such trash that even prison wouldn’t accept. He had come to clear things up between them.

And Wang Duan finally met with Mu Nanqiao when he returned to work half a month later.

There was pretty much nothing wrong with Lu Qi’s arm. This seemingly fragile little friend actually had a good self-healing ability. 

This morning, his expression was a little strange. His eyes twinkled, and he insisted on driving Mu Nanqiao to work.

Mu Nanqiao was kicked out of the house for no apparent reason, and when he saw Wang Duan, his expression became even gloomier. He only glanced at his watch and said coldly: “Five minutes.”

Wang Duan smiled bitterly.

He was having a difficult time these days. His eyes were all black and blue, and this eldest young master who was boundlessly successful in the eyes of outsiders had not had a good night’s sleep for several nights in a row.

In Wang Duan’s short 30-year life, half of the time was spent cleaning up his younger brother’s messes. This time he was exhausted, and finally couldn’t clean up after him anymore.

Five minutes was not enough time for him to mention the recent losses caused by Mu Group’s vicious competition, no matter the cost. Unable to use benefits to persuade Mu Nanqiao to end his retaliation, he could only say straight to the point: “Wang Liang is already like this. Does Mu Group want us to pull out his oxygen tube?”

Mu Nanqiao gave him a deep look, his narrow fox eyes containing a mocking smile.

“Like this? How is he?” Mu Nanqiao leaned back in the chair with a relaxed posture, tapping the armrest of the swivel chair with his fingers. “He is lying in the best hospital bed in Shanghai and receiving the best treatment. Although he can’t move his limbs, that hasn’t stopped the young master from losing his temper. And even though he is blind in one eye, he hasn’t forgotten to curse my and my lover’s whole family…..”

Mu Nanqiao finally concluded with a smile: “I think his life is too comfortable.”

Wang Duan didn’t know what to say for a moment. He opened his mouth and had no choice but to continue: “Then what else do you want?”

“I want your family to sever ties with him and have a lawyer come forward to write up a statement. I want to see this statement trending on every platform…..”

Mu Nanqiao said slowly: “But out of humanitarian concern, I will allow you to find a nursing home for him before severing ties. I think ‘He Ai’ Sanatorium is very good, don’t you?”

After leaving the gates of Mu Group, Wang Duan, with a headache, told his assistant to find out where ‘He Ai’ was located.

The assistant quickly responded: “Mr. Wang, there is only one nursing home in Shanghai called ‘He Ai,” but it is located in a peripheral rural community. Um…..it’s not so much a sanatorium, and should more accurately be called a mental hospital. The conditions are rather bad, and last year there were reports that patients received shock therapy…..”

Wang Duan frowned upon hearing this, and before the assistant could finish speaking, Wang Duan was slapped hard in the face.

His mother roared hysterically, almost like a madwoman, with no trace of her former dignity and elegance. Right at the entrance of the company where people were coming and going, she screamed and scolded Wang Duan for not taking good care of his little brother.

She still didn’t understand that it was her bottomless indulgence and pampering that made her youngest son what he was today, and when she went crazy this time, she directly added another chip to Wang Duan’s already tilted balance. The pointer stopped on the side of completely giving up on Wang Liang.

. . . . . . .

When Mu Nanqiao drove out, a crowd had already encircled the third floor inside and outside. He saw the farce going on upstairs and passed by disinterestedly, driving straight home.

When he arrived at the door of the house, his uneasiness and fretfulness from not seeing Lu Qi calmed down a bit. He was about to open the door when he saw a small note on it.

It was a shopping receipt.

They were the only family on this floor, and other people’s elevator cards couldn’t reach it. 

Mu Nanqiao picked it up casually. He took a cursory glance and reached out to open the door, but the words he just saw suddenly flashed through his mind. In disbelief, he paused in the middle of opening the door and looked down again.

[Hongfu Chain Supermarket Shopping Receipt]

[Seasoning Soy Sauce]

[50/60 Chilled Shrimp]

[Iron Stick Yam]

[Baby Cabbage]

[Fresh fish roe wontons]

[001 Ultra-Thin condoms pack of 8 ]

[Blueberry Grapes]

[Premium Beef Brisket]

[Premium Pork Short Ribs]

[Bargain price potatoes]

Mu Nanqiao felt that what made his heart beat faster and his ears feel hot was probably not the bargain price potatoes or pork ribs.

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[1] “Ялюблютебя.” = “I love you.” ⮐

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Chapter Forty-Nine << Table of Contents >> Chapter Fifty-One