Ten minutes later.

“Shh…..”

Li Xiu tiptoed to open the door and turned around, gesturing to Fang Qian’an.

“My grandmother is already asleep, don’t wake her up.”

The youth’s voice was very low. Seeing Fang Qian’an nod in understanding, he let him into his home.

Li Xiu gave his slippers to Fang Qian’an. The latter struggled to stuff the front halves of his feet into the worn slippers, walking with a peculiar sort of clumsiness.

There were no lights on in the early morning, so the house was dark.

The old woman’s dull, turbid snoring sounded from the dark room. Li Xiu unconsciously held his breath and turned to look at Fang Qian’an behind him.

The late night visitor followed him quietly with an extremely well-behaved appearance.

However, Li Xiu was still a little ill at ease, although he himself couldn’t think of the reason for his discomfort.

Li Xiu took Fang Qian’an to his bedroom like a thief. When they entered the room, Li Xiu quickly locked the door, blocking out his grandmother’s snoring. He leaned against the door frame and breathed a slow sigh of relief.

After calming down, Li Xiu turned to look at Fang Qian’an.

“Fang Qian’an, what’s going on with you?”

As soon as the latter entered the door, he occupied the only chair in the room, not at all reserved like someone would usually be during their first time at someone else’s home.

Fang Qian’an sat backwards on the chair, resting his hands on the backrest to support his chin. He said nonchalantly: “Didn’t I say? I had a fight with someone.”

Li Xiu knitted his brow.

Just downstairs, he had given the same vague answer.

There was a moment of silence in the room.

Fang Qian’an fastened his eyes on Li Xiu. As if aware of the other’s dissatisfaction, he slowly added a few words. “It’s just that…..something happened, so I got into it with my old brute of a father. But let me emphasize, it was one against many. And even if it wasn’t one against many, it would have been a tie.”

He said this vaguely to emphasize that he was not beaten unilaterally.

Li Xiu lowered his eyes, his brow furrowing even more upon hearing that Fang Qian’an had been beaten like this by his father.

“I’m telling you, these are just flesh injuries. I was just accidentally scratched by the belt buckle. It’s really nothing, it just looks scary—”

Before Fang Qian’an could finish speaking, Li Xiu had already pulled out various bruise spray medicine and iodine cotton swabs from the corner of the room and approached him.

Li Xiu: “Look up.”

“Don’t worry about my injuries, they don’t hurt. They’ll be fine in a couple of days—hiss, owowow.”

As Li Xiu stared at the boy whose face was covered in injuries but was trying to maintain a playful smile, he suddenly felt agitated for no reason.

In an almost crude way, he poured hydrogen peroxide directly onto Fang Qian’ans wounds.

Fang Qian’an groaned. His jaw muscles tightened, and the fake smile on his face finally vanished.

A pair of hands reached over and neatly applied medicine for him.

There was still a stinging pain in the wound the dressing had been applied to. Fang Qian’an reflexively wanted to curse, but when he raised his head, he happened to meet Li Xiu’s lowered features.

His heartbeat jumped wildly.

“…..I told you not to worry about it.”

Fang Qian’an’s voice gradually went lower, until it was a hum as quiet as a mosquito.

Li Xiu seemed unusually silent in the room.

After cleaning up the wounds exposed outside Fang Qian’an’s clothing, he continued to speak to Fang Qian’an with an indifferent tone.

“Take off your clothes. Then scram over to the bed and lie down.”

Fang Qian’an was stunned for a few seconds, then his lips twitched and he joked exaggeratedly, “…..What are you going to do to me?”

Li Xiu stared at Fang Qian’an in silence.

After a brief meeting of the eyes, the corners of Fang Qian’an’s mouth twitched unnaturally.

“Damn, why are you so fierce?” the young school bully complained at a volume that (he thought) only he could hear.

Then he turned to Li Xiu and raised his voice: “Do you know that in the entirety of City A, you’re still the only person who dares say the word ‘scram’ to me—”

“Fang Qian’an, don’t make me say it a third time. It’s late. I’m very sleepy, and I just want to go to bed quickly.”

“Tsk. Fine, I can’t be bothered to argue with you about this,” Fang Qian’an muttered as he took off his shirt. Following Li Xiu’s command, he lay down on the narrow single bed in the room.

Sure enough, it was just as Li Xiu thought. The bruises on Fang Qian’an’s body were worse than the wounds on his face.

The worst part was that the shoulder, which had been injured in the afternoon, was now slightly swollen.

Li Xiu sucked in a deep breath.

His grandmother was old, and there may not be much else at home, but the medicinal wine used to treat headaches, brain heat, bruises, and injuries should be enough to treat it.

Ice-cold medicinal wine was poured directly onto the bruises on Fang Qian’an’s body. The youth’s palms were slightly warm, and after pouring the medicinal wine, he began to rub it in hard.

The unexpected pain hit Fang Qian’an along with the pungent smell of medicinal wine. He lay on the bed, unable to restrain his trembling and whimpers.

“Holy shit, A-Xiu, please be gentle…..hiss…..it hurts so much, my bones are about to break…..save me, why are you more ruthless than my father? Wa, it hurts so much, ahhh…..”

Under Li Xiu’s hands, Fang Qian’an was like a live fish thrown onto a chopping board, jumping so much that he nearly fell off the bed.

“It hurts so much…..please, A-Xiu, slow down a little…..hiss…..seriously…..lighter, lighter…..wu…..”

The boy’s muffled gasps echoed in his ears, along with his hoarse pleas for mercy.

Li Xiu told him several times to be quiet, and Fang Qian’an just gasped even more severely.

“I told you, shut up!”

As he listened to Fang Qian’an’s voice become increasingly ambiguous, Li Xiu’s cheeks felt inexplicably hot. Unable to bear it any longer, he directly slapped his hand down.

Pa—

In the cramped room, that slap was nearly deafening.

Li Xiu felt the 1.9 meter tall school bully’s body bounce heavily under his palm. Fang Qian’an instantly fell silent.

Li Xiu: “……”

He pursed his lips.

Fang Qian’an buried his head in his arms and remained silent. However, his neck exposed to Li Xiu’s sight, and even his earlobes, were so red that they were practically bleeding.

The location of the slap just now…..

Li Xiu quickly withdrew his gaze.

“You’ll be fine once the blood congestion is rubbed away. Aren’t you usually so formidable? Yet this hurts you.” He swiftly took care of what could be done for Fang Qian’an, and a thin layer of sweat soon broke out on his forehead. “But you’d better go to the hospital for a checkup.”

The boy spoke calmly, deciding to pretend that little incident never happened.

“Tsk, it stinks to death. I told you not to worry about it. Only someone like you, a person with thin arms and legs and who can easily fall over if the wind blows, would make such a fuss.”

In the end, Fang Qian’an’s obedience only lasted for a short amount of time.

When Li Xiu finished with the medical kit and stowed it away, Fang Qian’an instantly turned over and sat up. As he raised his hand and softly brushed the shoulder Li Xiu had rubbed for him just now, he stared at Li Xiu’s back and continued to mumble as if in complaint.

Li Xiu stuffed the cardboard box back into the corner of the bookcase. Hearing the chatter of the guy behind him, a vein on his forehead pulsed.

Fang Qian’an kept saying that there was no need to worry about the injuries on his body. However, when Li Xiu applied medicine to it just now, it was clear that it was not a minor injury that would heal on its own without treatment.

Not only his head and face, but Fang Qian’an’s body hidden under his clothes was also covered in wounds. Even Li Xiu felt a little alarmed at the sight.

Of course, from another perspective, Fang Qian’a’n’s injuries were not so terrible.

With Li Xiu’s character, he likely wouldn’t have agreed to Fang Qian’an’s request at all.

[“What’s wrong with you…..no, how do you know where my home is?”]

[“I found someone and asked.”]

[“……”]

[“Are you touched that I came here specially to find you? Seeing how hard it was for me to find your home…..can I stay at your place for the night?]

In fact, Fang Qian’an didn’t act miserable at the time, and his tone of voice was even casual when he spoke.

Contrary to what was expected, Li Xiu glared at the uninvited guest downstairs but couldn’t force the rejection past his lips.

After treating Fang Qian’an, Li Xiu yawned.

He happened to glance at the time and immediately sucked in a breath of cold air.

Li Xiu paled, murmuring, “This won’t work. If I don’t go to sleep, I’ll be doomed to sleep in morning self-study.”

After searching the room for a long while, Li Xiu finally dug out an oversized T-shirt from the corner of the closet, which smelled like mothballs. 

Those old clothes were left there by the previous renter. There was an advertisement on it from some supermarket chain in alarming red, blue, and yellow colors that could blind a person. Its only advantage was probably that it was loose enough for someone as big as Fang Qian’an to squeeze into.

When Fang Qian’an put it on, the effect was…..intriguing.

Even Li Xiu had to admit that even though Fang Qian’an was beaten until his face swelled, was wearing the cheapest and most ridiculous advertising shirt, and would be sleeping in a narrow, dilapidated room in a shantytown, he still had a strangely noble aura about him.

He and Li Xiu came from two completely different worlds. If not for the ghostly encounters, it was likely that the two would never intersect after leaving Qiming.

Tonight, however, Li Xiu had to sleep in the same bed as someone like Fang Qian’an.

Li Xiu looked at Fang Qian’an and couldn’t help but ask, “Actually, a young master like you should have a lot of places to spend the night, right?”

Fang Qian’an was taken off guard, and blurted out, “Ah, that’s not the case. I don’t have any friends.”

“If not for you this time, I would have no choice but to sleep in the car. It was like that every time before. But after being beaten and huddling in a sports car, my whole body would really hurt when I woke up the next day.” The tall boy said this with a calm expression, and it was unknown whether to call this a misfortune or humble-bragging.

Li Xiu was silent for a moment, then replied in a dazed manner: “Oh. If you hadn’t bought me hot chocolate today, I wouldn’t have bothered to take care of you.”

“Forget it, go to sleep.”

As he spoke, Li Xiu retreated to the corner to change into pajamas.

In a fluster, Li Xiu didn’t notice that the moment he took off his shirt, Fang Qian’an, who was looking at his phone, happened to glance in this direction.

Then, Fang Qian’an’s eyes fixed onto him.

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The Author Has Something to Say:

Dog Qian’an: Although young, he is already under the wife’s thumb.

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Chapter 35 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 37