Chapter 84

Qi Xu’s medical report was delivered straight into Xie Huai’s hands the moment it was ready.

It was around noon. Qi Xu was currently locked in a fierce battle with a bowl of medicinal stew when Xie Huai arrived from the Xie family estate to join him for lunch.

To be precise—he was there to keep him company.

Xie Huai had already eaten with the old master back at the estate and came over just in time for the “post-meal herbal phase.”

He was long used to the taste of medicinal broths, and downed most of the bowl in a few steady sips, calm and composed. Sitting across from Qi Xu, he pulled out some documents and began working.

That’s when the report arrived.

Xie Huai set the papers aside and opened the envelope.

Qi Xu, still poking listlessly at his food, asked casually, “What are you looking at?”

“Your physical exam results,” Xie Huai replied.

Qi Xu immediately shoved the bowl of stew away like it was poison. “Let Uncle Li take a look too. I’m healthy as a horse—I don’t need any of this.”

Xie Huai flipped through the report page by page with care. There weren’t any major physical issues—nothing that Western medicine could pinpoint, anyway. The “deficiency” was more on the traditional side of diagnostics.

A few days back, Old Master Xu had come by to check Qi Xu’s pulse. Qi Xu had been pulling late nights for a project and ended up catching a cold. Xu had written up a prescription and Qi Xu had been drinking the concoctions for two days now.

Xie Huai glanced at him. “If you’re not drinking the stew, then you’re drinking decoctions. Pick one.”

Death by broth or death by herbs. Qi Xu rested his chin in his hand, studying the man in front of him who could drink this stuff without flinching. “Is your sense of taste broken or something?”

Xie Huai lifted his eyes, calm as ever. “I can still tell your tears are salty.”

Qi Xu: “…”

Before he could clap back, Xie Huai continued mildly, “Or do you want me to describe the taste of something else?”

Qi Xu kicked him under the table. “You could just stop talking. No one’s forcing you to be a clown.”

Xie Huai chuckled and reached over, placing a piece of braised lamb into his bowl. “You asked. I thought I’d answer.”

Qi Xu sneered, “Then go ahead. Tell me—what does it taste like?”

Xie Huai raised one hand in surrender. “Alright, shutting up.”

Qi Xu went back to eating, while Xie Huai turned to the last page of the report.

As he flipped it over, his hand suddenly froze.

The corner of the paper crumpled beneath his grip—just short of being torn.

Symptoms of acute stress disorder.
Occurrence count: one.
Location: high-rise staircase.
Trigger: a past incident of misstepping.

The consultation notes were private and not to be disclosed without explicit permission, so the report only listed the final results.

Although the patient had experienced very few episodes, the recommendation was monthly follow-up visits, along with an emergency prescription for acute attacks. The patient displayed no current fear of staircases in daily life—but the word “staircase” itself had become a trigger.

A trigger for Xie Huai, too.

He wanted to ask Qi Xu when that misstep had happened, but the onset of his own stress response stopped him. Jaw clenched, he forced down the tremor in his hands, pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket, and, under Qi Xu’s questioning gaze, stiffly unscrewed the cap and swallowed one.

Qi Xu set down his chopsticks and walked over, picking up the bottle from the table. “What are you taking?”

Xie Huai reached up, tugged him down into his lap, one arm circling his waist tightly. It took him a long moment to reply, “Vitamins.”

It was, indeed, a bottle of vitamins. Qi Xu twisted off the cap and glanced inside—about a third of them were already gone.

“Why the sudden health kick?” he asked, placing the bottle back on the table and touching Xie Huai’s forehead. “You feeling sick lately?”

Xie Huai answered naturally, “No. Just been busy, haven’t had time to work out. My immune system’s down—just like yours. Doctor said vitamins might help.”

Qi Xu knew Xie Huai had been swamped. He’d passed out around 1 a.m. the night before, and even then, Xie Huai still hadn’t returned from his meetings.

Qi Xu tousled his hair. “Then the medicinal soup should be yours.”

That made Xie Huai laugh. He rested his chin on Qi Xu’s shoulder, chest pressed to chest, eyes closed. “Your psych report said you had an acute stress reaction. When did that misstep happen?”

Qi Xu gently rubbed the back of Xie Huai’s neck and replied slowly, “Back when I was doing delivery work for someone else. I realized I’d brought the wrong package and turned around to head back down. I was in a rush, missed a step, and—bam—rolled all the way down the stairs…”

The arms around his waist suddenly tightened, painfully.

Qi Xu’s words cut off. He bumped into Xie Huai’s chest. “What the hell?”

Clearly this man hadn’t been working out lately, but his grip strength was terrifying as ever.

Xie Huai didn’t loosen his hold—he pulled him in even closer. In that instant, the image of Qi Xu tumbling down the stairs bled into the dream that haunted him—Qi Xu, bloody and broken in his arms.

No. That was just a dream.

The one in his arms right now was real.

Qi Xu tried to pry him off. “What’s wrong with you?”

Xie Huai’s throat was tight as he asked, “And after that?”

Qi Xu scoffed. “What do you mean ‘after that’? I didn’t die. I lived. I’m right here in front of you. Though at this rate, I’m about to get choked to death by you instead.”

Xie Huai finally let go.

Qi Xu stared at him, brows furrowing. “What’s going on? Something’s not right with you.”

Xie Huai replied, “Nothing.”

Qi Xu gave him a flat look. “I’ll give you one more chance to answer that properly.”

Only when Xie Huai saw the serious look in his eyes did he finally say, “I might need to head to Hong Kong Island in a few days.”

Qi Xu raised a brow. “That’s it?”

Xie Huai nuzzled against his neck. “I don’t want to go.”

“How long?”

“A week. At the earliest.”

Qi Xu had his own business to handle. Xie Huai wanted so badly to ask him to come along, but deep down, he knew he couldn’t force him.

They stayed wrapped around each other for a long moment.

When Old Master Shen walked in and let out a very deliberate “Ahem!”, Qi Xu scrambled off Xie Huai’s lap.

“Aww, come on, Grandpa. Haven’t you ever seen a couple hug and kiss before?” Qi Xu glanced toward the doorway, where the two old men were very obviously pretending not to look while still sneaking glances.

Old Master Shen, supported by Uncle Li, entered the room. “I’ve never seen anyone glued together while eating, that’s for sure.”

Qi Xu plopped back down in his seat. The old man gave the nearly-cold medicinal soup a side-eye and instructed Uncle Li to reheat it.

Qi Xu immediately grabbed the bowl and downed it in one go—gulp, gulp, gulp.

He knew how it worked: once you let them reheat it, half a bowl becomes a full one, and a full bowl becomes a whole pot.

Old Master Shen and Uncle Li exchanged a quick look—both clearly pleased with how well they’d just tag-teamed that setup.

“The health check results are in, right?” the old man asked, casually changing the subject.

Xie Huai calmly slid the psychological evaluation report under a stack of documents, handing only the basic medical report to Old Master Shen.

The old man and Xie Huai sat across from Qi Xu like two schoolmasters supervising his meal—and grilling him with questions while they were at it.

That day, Qi Xu even skipped his usual post-lunch dessert. The old man had told him to watch his sugar intake.

Later, after Xie Huai headed out for work and the old man returned to his courtyard, Qi Xu called Chen Wei into his study.

“Get this pill tested. I want to know what’s in it.”

Chen Wei glanced at the pill lying on the handkerchief on the table. Then Qi Xu added, “Did Lao Gao ever mention going to the hospital lately?”

Chen Wei pocketed the pill. “No.”

Qi Xu was quiet for a moment. Something was clearly off with Xie Huai. Every day he dumped his vegetables into Qi Xu’s bowl—there was no way he was short on vitamins.

Knowing someone too well could be a double-edged sword. But in this case, it had its perks. Qi Xu could immediately tell when Xie Huai was lying.

And he was sure Xie Huai knew that he’d seen through it. Which meant that pill probably wouldn’t reveal anything important.

Sure enough, a few days later, Chen Wei returned with the results: it was just a basic over-the-counter vitamin supplement.

Xie Huai had already flown to Hong Kong Island by then. Right before leaving, he almost stuffed Qi Xu into his suitcase to bring him along.

If Qi Xu hadn’t explained to him that “transporting a human body across borders” was, in fact, illegal, he’d probably be on the plane right now.

Xie Huai’s departure coincided with another piece of news: Shen Zeyu had gone missing.

Shen Fengkai had bought him a plane ticket and personally watched him pass through airport security—but when the arrival time came, there was no sign of him. Turns out, he’d never even boarded the plane.

There were no records of him leaving the country. Which meant he was still somewhere in China.

Previously, Shen Fengkai had approached Xie Huai about quietly sending Shen Zeyu away, asking him to go easy on the kid. Xie Huai’s only response was a calm, “Sure, go ahead and try.”

Now that Shen Zeyu was missing, Shen Fengkai could only come to Qi Xu for help.

But since he didn’t have an appointment, he was left waiting in the guest room for an hour before finally being allowed to see Qi Xu.

When the assistant led him into the office, Qi Xu was just finishing up some instructions with Li Kaixing.

Li Kaixing recognized Shen Fengkai and gave him a polite nod, but nothing more. He wasn’t warm. He knew enough about the complicated relationship between Qi Xu and the Shen family to tread carefully—messing with the upper crust was a one-way ticket to ruin.

Once the assistant and Li Kaixing had left, Shen Fengkai cut straight to the chase. “Zeyu’s missing. I think this was Xie Huai’s doing.”

Qi Xu frowned. “Are you serious right now? Do you have any proof?”

What he wanted to say was: if Xie Huai wanted to lock someone up, it’d be me—not anyone else.

Shen Fengkai said, “I only ever mentioned the idea of sending Zeyu away to Xie Huai. He passed security but never boarded the plane. It had to be someone who intervened.”

Smack—Qi Xu slammed his pen down hard on the desk.

“Shen Fengkai, it was your decision to try and sneak him out. Don’t go spreading this all over the place. If I wanted to, I could get him back with a snap of my fingers. But if you dare slander someone close to me? That’s my business.”

Shen Fengkai knew what Xie Huai was capable of. It had been his hand behind the exposure of Qi Guohui’s scandals—disguised as a rival family’s doing. It was also Xie Huai who had gotten Qi Guohui detained.

He suspected even Qi Xu didn’t know the full extent of what Xie Huai was truly like—too young, too blinded by love.

“Qi Guohui is missing too. Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence? Xie Huai is far more calculating than you think.”

Qi Xu shot back, “Who he is isn’t your place to define. You’d be better off worrying about yourself.”

“And one more thing—don’t try to control me under the guise of looking out for me. Even if he does lock me up, so be it. I’ve got his backing. What could possibly go wrong?”

Shen Fengkai opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he only said, “Xie Huai has the Qin family backing him. They’re against your relationship. If anything goes wrong… you need to protect yourself first. You can’t count on them to—”

This was just who Shen Fengkai was—and he hadn’t changed at all. He always rushed to conclusions. Even after everything that had happened, he still believed Shen Zeyu was some innocent and naive kid.

He also thought Xie Huai acted lawlessly just because both families protected him.

But Xie Huai had promised Qi Xu directly—he wouldn’t do anything reckless. That was Qi Xu’s bottom line.

“Shen Fengkai, you trust Shen Zeyu. I trust Xie Huai. It’s really that simple,” Qi Xu said flatly. “Someone’s missing? Go to the police. Coming to me won’t help.”

After Shen Fengkai left, it seemed Zeng Yun had caught wind of the situation too—she called him several times that afternoon.

Qi Xu didn’t answer a single call. He planned to ask Xie Huai about it after work.

Later that evening, as Qi Xu and Li Kaixing headed down to the underground parking garage of the Yunrui office building, they unexpectedly ran into a familiar face.

“Hi, Xu.”

Qi Xu turned toward the voice, and Li Kaixing recognized the man first.

“Jackson—the CEO of Chuangzhi. He bought floors 45 through the top floor of this building. That’s ten entire floors.” He gave a rapid-fire introduction.

Qi Xu remembered him too. They’d met at a banquet before the car accident.

Jackson was as warm and enthusiastic as ever, with his assistant stepping in to interpret.

Before the assistant even finished translating, Jackson invited them to dinner that evening—he was interested in collaborating with Yunrui and wanted to discuss a potential partnership.

Li Kaixing accepted the invitation immediately. Qi Xu, who had just been looking forward to getting off work, had no choice but to suck it up and attend the dinner meeting.