Eleven hours in the air—every single second was torture.
When the plane finally landed, the sky outside the window was a clear blue. The sun blazed high, white clouds scattered thinly, as if something good were about to happen.
But Li Jichuan knew better.
It was just wishful thinking.
All he wanted was for Su Pu to be safe.
He was the first to disembark, wheeling quickly through the long corridor. Behind him, a flight attendant came jogging after him, calling out,
“Mr. Li—Mr. Li, wait!”
Suppressing the panic in his chest, Li Jichuan stopped his wheelchair. The flight attendant caught up and handed him a teddy bear, plump and adorable.
“You forgot this…”
A very cute teddy bear—the kind Su Pu liked.
Li Jichuan blinked. After so long without sleep, his eyes were dry and stinging.
But in the next instant, his eyes were flooded with moisture. Li Jichuan lowered his head and gently squeezed the teddy bear’s soft, squishy belly.
“Thank you…”
The flight attendant smiled warmly. “It’s nothing at all. I hope everything goes smoothly for you today!”
The teddy bear’s belly was soft and plush. Su Pu’s belly, by contrast, was so thin it caved inward.
Only a few frail bones protected his heart.
Li Jichuan didn’t waste a second. He accelerated his wheelchair and sped into the terminal.
Drip. Drip…
The red sweater on the teddy bear grew damp.
Passersby cast looks of concern—or curiosity.
As Li Jichuan went by, someone tapped their companion.
“Did you see that man just now? The one in the wheelchair—he was crying… crying so hard.”
The companion glanced back. All they saw was a figure leaving without hesitation, back ramrod straight.
“Well… life must be really inconvenient for someone with a disability…”
…
Ouyang met Li Jichuan at the hospital entrance and hurried after him toward the inpatient building.
Su Pu had been sent straight here from the café.
“Yesterday evening, your aunt suddenly came to the shop and asked Su-ge to talk privately,” Ouyang recounted.
“I don’t know what she showed him, but Su-ge suddenly lost control. He had pretty obvious self-harm tendencies…”
“My boyfriend noticed something was wrong first and pulled him away. Then Su-ge started smashing things everywhere—crying, screaming, trying to shout, but no sound came out… I—I’ve never seen him like that before…”
They got into the elevator, and Ouyang still hadn’t finished.
“He completely broke down. After we brought him to the hospital, his condition kept swinging—sometimes very quiet, sometimes suddenly violent, resisting everyone… I really didn’t know what else to do, so I called you.”
The elevator doors opened. The three large characters—Psychiatry—at the ward entrance seemed to turn into three sharp arrows, stabbing mercilessly into Li Jichuan’s eyes.
His Xiao Pu… in a psychiatric ward.
Was he scared?
Ouyang kept talking. “Anyway… go see him first.”
When Li Jichuan entered the room, Su Pu was lying on the bed, eyes tightly shut, his breathing faint.
His wrists and ankles were strapped down, fixed to the hospital bed.
The bright sunlight outside the window only highlighted his pallor and exhaustion.
Li Jichuan drew closer. Su Pu’s brow was deeply furrowed, as if trapped in some terrible dream.
Li Jichuan reached out and gently touched his forehead.
“I’m here. Don’t be afraid anymore…”
“Xiao Pu, I’m here…”
In his sleep, Su Pu seemed to calm slightly. Soon, his thin eyelids fluttered open, those doe-like eyes slowly focusing.
Everything around him felt unfamiliar—cold.
His emotions collapsed all over again.
The little mute struggled to sit up, only to realize he couldn’t move at all. Panic set in, and he began breathing rapidly.
Calling it panting was only because he couldn’t make any sound.
After this sudden upheaval, Su Pu’s language ability had rapidly regressed. He’d once been able to force out a faint breathy sound—now even that was gone.
He was terrified.
Where was this place? Why was he tied up?
He hadn’t done anything wrong—why were they restraining him?
No—no, he wanted to live. He wanted to live so badly!
Save him. Anyone—please save him!!!
Seeing this, Li Jichuan hurriedly signaled Ouyang and Pei Zhicheng to help undo the restraints while he wrapped Su Pu tightly in his arms.
“Xiao Pu, it’s me. I’m Li Jichuan. Look at me.”
Held like that, Su Pu froze for a moment—then grew even more agitated. Big tears poured down in strings, instantly soaking Li Jichuan’s shoulder.
“Xiao Pu…”
Li Jichuan realized something.
“…You don’t recognize me anymore, do you?”
Su Pu continued struggling. His wrists were quickly rubbed raw by the straps, skin breaking and bleeding.
Yet he fought like a trapped animal, driven purely by instinct to escape.
He really had forgotten.
Li Jichuan swallowed the sting in his nose, nodded hard, and soothed him.
“Don’t move. Don’t move, Xiao Pu. I’ll undo it right away…”
The man in the wheelchair, choking back grief and tears that threatened to spill, spoke instead in a gentle voice.
“Stay still, okay? Otherwise it’s hard for me to get these off…”
Two seconds passed.
Sure enough, Su Pu calmed down. He stared blankly as Li Jichuan unfastened the restraints around his wrists and ankles.
Freed at last, Su Pu hugged his knees and sat quietly, curled up like a little mushroom.
Only his gaze was unfocused, fixed on some distant point.
Li Jichuan followed his line of sight.
It stopped on the teddy bear in Ouyang’s hands.
The bear Li Jichuan had intended to give him—Ouyang was just holding it for him.
“You want that?” Li Jichuan pointed at the teddy bear. “That was meant for you in the first place…”
As soon as he said it, Su Pu visibly sucked in a breath—clearly hopeful.
Hopeful, yet afraid to show it.
In the end, Ouyang decisively stuffed the bear into his arms. “Here. It’s yours.”
The teddy bear was wedged between Su Pu’s arms and his folded legs. Its upturned nose brushed against Su Pu’s chin—
Like a kiss from the teddy bear.
A moment later, Su Pu’s features suddenly relaxed, a warm, gentle smile blooming across his face.
A teddy bear… a teddy bear, a teddy bear…
Clutching it, Su Pu lay back down on the bed, content. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.
Only then did Ouyang remember something.
“Oh, right—Su-ge mentioned before that he used to have this same teddy bear, or something like it. That’s why he likes it so much…”
“Before?” Li Jichuan stayed by Su Pu’s bedside, holding his hand with aching tenderness.
“Yeah. Before,” Ouyang said, searching his memory.
“Apparently, when he was little, someone gave him that bear,” Pei Zhicheng added.
Ouyang shrugged. “Su-ge doesn’t really talk about his childhood much.”
Pei Zhicheng nodded in agreement.
…
With the teddy bear in his arms, Su Pu fell into a deep sleep.
After the nurse administered a sedative and sleep medication, Li Jichuan finally had the time—and the space—to go settle accounts with Li Shuwen.
After causing such a mess, Li Shuwen still hadn’t forgotten her social engagements. She returned home reeking of alcohol.
Her nephew was already waiting for her in the living room.
Her makeup was smudged, a chunk missing from her dark red lipstick. She swayed slightly on her feet, yet still squinted at him with a smile.
“Well now, isn’t this a surprise? What brings you here, Xiaochuan?”
Li Jichuan looked at her coldly. “What did you say to Su Pu?”
“What did I say?”
Li Shuwen casually tossed her bag onto the sofa, then flopped down herself, struggling a bit as she removed the glittering diamond earrings from her ears.
“Oh, that kid Su Hui sent me a video. I was just worried about you, didn’t know how you were doing, so I showed it to Xiao Pu. You’ve been married so long—he’s obviously the one who knows your situation best.”
As she spoke, she pulled out her phone and opened the video.
The person who’d filmed it was Su Hui.
His internship had fallen through, and Su Fengxian had sent him back to London. With nowhere to vent his frustration, he fell back in with that crowd of rich playboys, drinking and partying day in and day out.
And it just so happened that day—they’d just finished eating at a Michelin restaurant downtown—he spotted Li Jichuan in the crowd, sitting in a wheelchair, waiting in line.
Li Jichuan had no bodyguards or assistants with him. He was alone, holding his phone, smiling with gentle eyes.
One look told you he was chatting with that bastard Su Pu.
As for Li Jichuan, Su Hui couldn’t help feeling resentful.
He didn’t like the man—but he still couldn’t stop himself from imagining: if he’d married into the Li family back then, wouldn’t he be the one now living in harmony with Li Jichuan, enjoying his boundless favoritism?
All the privileges and affection Su Pu had now were supposed to be his.
And yet here Li Jichuan was—standing in a long line just to buy a stupid plush toy for Su Pu?
Su Hui couldn’t accept it.
Surrounded by his cronies, it didn’t take much instigation before they decided to “seek justice” for him.
The group headed straight for Li Jichuan. From across the street, Su Hui raised his phone and aimed the camera at him.
A few seconds later, his lackeys entered the frame. The man in front reached out—
And flipped Li Jichuan’s wheelchair over.
Off-screen, when Su Pu saw this, his eyes flew wide in terror.
Li Shuwen chose that moment to put her phone away and asked with feigned concern, “You and Xiaochuan are so close—he didn’t get hurt, did he?”
“Actually, you know, his parents’ accident back then happened because someone bore a grudge against them… If Xiaochuan were to—” She laughed lightly. “Hahahaha.”
The woman covered her mouth, smiling innocently.
In an instant, tears welled up in Su Pu’s doe-like eyes. Despair swallowed him whole.
He wanted to ask—was Li Jichuan okay in the end?
But he couldn’t get the words out.
He also wanted to ask—was the accident that killed Li Jichuan’s parents really deliberate? Did Li Jichuan know the truth?
But he still couldn’t speak. He couldn’t even move.
He hated himself like this.
Hated being so helpless, so easily slaughtered.
He hated himself. Hated that he couldn’t protect Li Jichuan.
Li Shuwen watched his reaction, then suddenly leaned in close and whispered into his ear.
“The car accident didn’t take Li Jichuan away last time… so what about this time?”
In an instant, Su Pu snapped.
His eyes split wide, blood vessels bursting. He bit down hard on his own lip until it bled.
Teeth stained red with blood, he bared them—
He wanted to kill her.
Anyone who tried to hurt Li Jichuan—
he wanted them all dead.
The taut string in his mind finally snapped. Su Pu opened his mouth and realized he could no longer make a sound at all.
But what about Li Jichuan?
What about Li Jichuan?!
Why was she laughing—what was she laughing at?!
She wanted to hurt Li Jichuan. No.
No one was allowed to hurt Li Jichuan!
He would kill them all. Kill them all!
Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely!!!