Xu Ze tried to open his eyes, but he did not have much strength, and he did not want to see the person in front of him, so he gave up. He could barely feel any pain. His arm only felt a little hot, so he instinctively recoiled.
His consciousness was hazy. The only thing Xu Ze was grateful for was that Lu Heyang and the others had not come to watch his fight tonight. Otherwise, they would have run into Tang Feiyi, and it would have caused trouble for Lu Heyang.
And he had ended up like this, too. It was too embarrassing.
Tang Feiyi threw the cigarette he had extinguished against Xu Ze’s arm onto the ground and lit another one. He exhaled a puff of smoke and said lightly, “I’ll say the same thing again. It’s best if I don’t find out you’re working with someone else to pocket a share of the prize money. I told you the rules here on your first day. The last fighter who tried doing this ended up crippled. You want to be the second?”
“……” Xu Ze struggled to part his lips. “I’m not fighting anymore.”
“What?” Tang Feiyi sneered.
“I’m not fighting anymore.” Xu Ze’s voice was terribly hoarse, and he repeated himself.
“What, you think you’ve gotten close to Gu Yunchi and his people, so you’ve grown wings?” Tang Feiyi stepped closer to Xu Ze, bent down, and grabbed his chin. “Xu Ze, when did you start loving to daydream so much?”
“A person needs to know his own limits and stay where he belongs.” As Tang Feiyi spoke, he took a drag of his cigarette. The ember at the tip suddenly flared brightly. He brought the cigarette toward Xu Ze again and reminded him, “A rat crawling out of a ditch is already dreaming of making it big before it’s even made it ashore. That won’t do…”
The cigarette tip was about to touch Xu Ze’s arm when the door creaked open.
Tang Feiyi abruptly turned his head. “Who—”
Before the last syllable could leave his mouth, someone kicked him hard in the shoulder, near the neck. Tang Feiyi slammed into the wall and cursed in pain. He immediately tried to get back up and fight back, but a crisp mechanical click came from the darkness, like the sound of a switch.
His movements stopped instantly.
Lu Heyang crouched down and touched Xu Ze’s face, feeling something wet and sticky. He turned his head.
Tang Feiyi was standing completely motionless, a handgun pressed against his temple.
“It’s you again.” Tang Feiyi stared at Lu Heyang. He could not make out Lu Heyang’s face, but he could guess who it was. Tang Feiyi laughed once. “The first time I saw you backstage, I thought you looked familiar, but I could never remember where I’d seen you.”
He made a troubled “tsk” sound. “Who exactly are you?”
Lu Heyang said, “Make him shut up.”
He was speaking to the bodyguard. As soon as the words fell, the bodyguard moved the gun away and immediately followed with an elbow strike to Tang Feiyi’s head, knocking him unconscious.
“Xu Ze.” Lu Heyang softened his voice. “Where does it hurt the most?”
“Nowhere…” Xu Ze slowly opened his eyes. He really did not feel pain anywhere. He was simply exhausted. Xu Ze asked, “It’s so late. How did you…come here?”
Lu Heyang went over to help him up. When his hand touched Xu Ze’s uncovered thigh, he realized that he was still wearing the skirt. Lu Heyang took off his own shirt and draped it over Xu Ze, then slipped an arm beneath his knees and lifted him into his arms.
The bodyguard holstered his gun and said, “I’ll carry him.”
“No need. Is the car here?”
“It’s at the side entrance.”
Carrying Xu Ze, Lu Heyang left the stairwell and walked into the alley outside the side entrance. The bodyguard opened the car door, and Lu Heyang placed Xu Ze in the back seat. He lowered the seatback, letting Xu Ze lie half-reclined.
He saw Xu Ze’s hand feeling around on the seat cushion.
Lu Heyang asked, “What’s wrong?”
Xu Ze tried to sit up and look. “Did I get the car dirty?”
“Don’t move.” Lu Heyang pressed down on his shoulder. “It’s not dirty.”
One bodyguard stayed behind to drive, while the others got into the car Lu Heyang had arrived in. Before starting the engine, the bodyguard at the wheel turned the rearview mirror aside to prevent it from reflecting the back seat.
Lu Heyang pulled out a wet wipe, gently rested his fingers against Xu Ze’s chin, and slowly wiped away the greasepaint and blood grime, revealing the clean face underneath.
Xu Ze’s eyes were half-open, his gaze fixed on Lu Heyang’s face the entire time. So many of his most pathetic moments had been witnessed by Lu Heyang, but he still could not get used to this kind of humiliation.
It was just that perhaps every time they met would be one time closer to the last, so while they could still see each other, he wanted to look at him a little longer.
“Is your birthday coming up?” Xu Ze asked a completely unrelated question. His lips were swollen, making his speech somewhat indistinct.
Lu Heyang took his right hand and saw the marks on his wrist left by the cigarette burns. Four or five bloody, mangled impressions overlapped one another.
Lu Heyang stared at them expressionlessly for a while. Then he raised his head and smiled at Xu Ze. “Yeah. Next Friday. Are you going to give me a present?”
Xu Ze did not answer. He had vaguely heard He Wei mention before that Lu Heyang’s birthday was in a certain month, but he had not expected it to be at the beginning of the month.
Xu Ze began thinking about what he could afford to give him, but Lu Heyang probably lacked nothing.
“If you’re going to spend money to buy me a present, then it won’t be next Friday,” Lu Heyang said.
“Hm?” Xu Ze looked at him in confusion.
“Are you going to buy one?”
Because he wanted to know exactly when Lu Heyang’s birthday was, Xu Ze lied. He shook his head. “I’m not buying one.”
“Mm.” Lu Heyang smiled again. “My birthday is next Friday.”
Xu Ze was completely confused by him and stared at him blankly. Lu Heyang poked his cheek and said, “Go to sleep. I’ll wake you when we get there.”
Xu Ze did not ask where they were going or what they were going to do. He nodded, exhausted, and closed his eyes.
He fell asleep feeling completely at ease.
It was just an ordinary night, no different from any other.
Among the students of the preparatory school, some were studying and doing practice problems peacefully, some were attending high-society banquets, and some were indulging in a life of wine, women, and excess…
And some were fighting a bloody boxing match in a filthy underground club.
Many different lives were unfolding simultaneously. Reduced to their simplest terms, the difference was no more than one between living in silks and fine food and fighting with one’s bare hands.
Lu Heyang had never been able to deeply or clearly understand this difference before.
Xu Ze still had not woken up by the time they reached the hospital. The doctor transferred him onto a hospital bed, and Zhuo Yan had already arranged the necessary examinations. When Xu Ze was wheeled away for a CT scan, Lu Heyang stood in the hallway and called Lin Yumin.
“Dad.”
“It’s so late. What happened?”
“Did I wake you?”
“No.” Lin Yumin laughed. “I just came out of the studio.”
“I wanted to ask if Uncle Wen is in the city right now.”
Lin Yumin did not ask any further questions. After a second, he answered, “Whether he is or not, if you need him, you can contact him anytime. I told you before, the people under Uncle Wen work for you and Qingmo unconditionally.”
“Okay, I understand.” Lu Heyang paused. “Aren’t you going to ask what I’m planning to do?”
“If I remember correctly, this is the first time you’ve wanted to use Uncle Wen. But I’m still not going to ask. You’re not an impulsive person.”
“Mm. Good night.”
After hanging up, Lu Heyang sent a text message to the number in his contacts that he had never contacted before. Less than half a minute later, the number called back.
It was the steady voice of a middle-aged man.
“Young Master.”
“Just call me Heyang.” Lu Heyang raised his hand and glanced at his arm. It was smooth and clean, without a single scar.
“Uncle Wen, I’d like to trouble you with something.”
“Go ahead.”
When Xu Ze woke up, it was just past midnight. The only light in the entire hospital room came from the dim wall lamp beside the bed.
“I’ve only been asleep for a little over an hour.”
Xu Ze turned his head toward the voice and saw Lu Heyang sitting right beside the bed.
“Do you want some water?” Lu Heyang asked.
“No…” His throat was extremely hoarse. Xu Ze shook his head.
“I noticed you kept frowning in your sleep. Did you have a nightmare?”
Xu Ze stared intently at him. The faint light covered half of Lu Heyang’s face, giving him a very particular gentleness and tranquility. It also gave Xu Ze the illusion that Lu Heyang was someone who would be willing to listen to him talk about his dreams.
“I didn’t have a nightmare.” Xu Ze said, “I dreamed about my mom and dad.”
They were two faces that had already become very blurry.
Sometimes Xu Ze dreamed about them, and for a short while after waking up, he would have an uncontrollable urge to talk about everything inside him. He had simply never mentioned it to anyone—not Ye Yunhua, nor Chi Jiahan.
Xu Ze had originally thought he could keep enduring it like this forever.
Lu Heyang quietly watched Xu Ze. He could sense that Xu Ze was currently in a detached and fragile state, and he could also feel that this taciturn alpha had something he wanted to say—perhaps something he had never told anyone before.
Xu Ze tucked his face a little deeper into the blanket, staring at the IV bottle as he said quietly, “My dad used to be a homicide detective. When I was seven, he went on a mission and accidentally fell down a mountain.”
“Not long after Dad died, Mom got sick. She didn’t want to talk, and she didn’t want to leave the house.”
“My grandma came to take care of me. She used to be a pastry chef. There was a lady who often asked Grandma to go to her house and make pastries for her guests. After Mom got sick, Grandma would take me with her every time she went out.”
It was during that time that Xu Ze met Lu Heyang.