It wasn’t until Lu Heyang reached over to help Xu Ze wipe the corner of his mouth that Xu Ze realized he had been drooling a lot.
After a few wipes, Lu Heyang inserted two fingers into Xu Ze’s mouth and played with his tongue. Xu Ze shut his eyes briefly before reopening them, looking at Lu Heyang with bewilderment.
“I can’t stay over at your place. I have to leave soon.” Lu Heyang removed his fingers and gently brushed the corner of Xu Ze’s eye with his fingertip.
Xu Ze looked at him for a moment with his eyes out of focus and realized that it was already early morning. He closed his mouth to swallow and asked a question that he had almost overlooked, “Did you come back after finishing your training?” He was worried that he would interfere with Lu Heyang’s training.
“That’s right,” Lu Heyang gave an answer that didn’t burden Xu Ze, “I came back because there’s an exam at the prep school coming up in a few days.”
This meant that Lu Heyang would stay until the exam was over, and that alone made Xu Ze feel happy. Xu Ze pursed his lips in what appeared to be a small smile and said, “Be careful on your way back.”
Lu Heyang looked at him for a few seconds, then suddenly lay down beside him. They had hardly ever lain together like this. Xu Ze turned to look at Lu Heyang’s profile and silently counted in his mind.
After counting to 36 seconds, Lu Heyang raised his hand to press the bridge of his nose and sat up, “Let’s take another shower.”
“I can wash…on my own,” Xu Ze replied as he also sat up. He could feel something flow out. He pulled the sheets over him and added, “It’s late, you should go home.”
“Okay,” Lu Heyang stood up by the bed. He had kept his pants on the whole time. He picked up his T-shirt at the end of the bed and put it on. Then he went to get Xu Ze’s clothes from the desk. Lu Heyang turned his back to Xu Ze and pushed aside the pile of test papers. Upon seeing the scratch paper underneath, a smile spread across his face.
As he walked back to the bed, Xu Ze was still looking at him with a blank expression. Lu Heyang put the T-shirt over Xu Ze’s head and asked him to raise his hands. Xu Ze raised his hands and put on the T-shirt.
Then Lu Heyang nudged Xu Ze’s face to make him tilt his head and leaned down to examine his neck, “The mark is quite faint, so it should disappear by tomorrow.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Xu Ze replied. It wasn’t like he had never gone to school with injuries or strangulation marks.
Lu Heyang straightened Xu Ze’s head, gently touched behind his ear, and asked, “Are you like this with others?”
Xu Ze was unprepared for the question and raised his head slightly puzzled. Lu Heyang was looking at him with downcast eyes, and his eyelashes cast detailed shadows under his eyes. Xu Ze felt like he had shrunk down in size and was completely surrounded by the shadow—Lu Heyang’s gaze always gave him an odd sense of security of being controlled.
As a result, Xu Ze became distracted and took several moments to regain his composure, “What?”
“When you’re boxing and someone hurts you,” Lu Heyang moved his hand to the back of Xu Ze’s neck to cover the glands and continued, “Do you get turned on too?”
“No, I don’t,” Xu Ze responded honestly and without any flattery or appeasement as if he didn’t need to think about it.
Lu Heyang didn’t say anything. He covered Xu Ze’s eyes and kissed him on the mouth, “I’m going back.”
“Mn,” Xu Ze nodded. The kiss felt like a reward. Xu Ze’s thoughts drifted back to the time when Lu Heyang always gave him rewards. After receiving so much—Xu Ze realized that he still enjoyed being rewarded by Lu Heyang.
As Lu Heyang had returned, He Wei finally found out what his friend had been up to for the previous twenty days.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“I don’t understand,” He Wei said, “He could have easily become a high-ranking official, so why did he go to the military academy and end up looking all dejected and exhausted? Do you understand, Xiao Ze, do you?”
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“What about you? You’re in such good physical condition, so you shouldn’t have any problems at the military academy, right? Maybe you can continue being Heyang’s schoolmate.”
Xu Ze calmly replied, “I can’t pass the physical test.”
There were so many old injuries and scars on his body that he couldn’t pass the physical examination at the police academy, let alone the more demanding military academy. Besides, military training was tightly restricted, so he would not be able to visit his grandmother often. As for continuing to study at the same school as Lu Heyang—Xu Ze never had such an unrealistic wish.
He was unfazed, but He Wei couldn’t help but feel that there was a hint of loneliness on Xu Ze’s usually expressionless face. He Wei deftly changed the subject, believing he was being considerate, “Aiya, can you take a look at my backpack? The buckle is broken.”
“How did it break?” Xu Ze took the backpack and bowed down to inspect the strap at the seam.
“This morning, I accidentally got the strap stuck between the car door while closing it. When I gave it a gentle tug, the metal buckle came off.”
Craftsman Xu didn’t comment on Young Master He’s “gentle tug”. He Wei would always find a thousand ways to break things. It had been just over a month since school started, and this was already his eighth bag—it was more or less being bored with the old and fascinated with the new. Xu Ze used small scissors to clamp the edge of the metal buckle. He slowly restored the deformed inner ring and cut off any loose threads caused by tearing. He then stuffed the threads of the strap back into place. Finally, he pressed on another buckle and fastened it.
“Okay, take a look.”
“Wow, that was quick.” He Wei picked up the backpack. “Our Xiao Ze is truly kind-hearted, virtuous, and capable. If you were an omega, there would definitely be a bunch of alphas eager to take you home as their wife.”
Xu Ze remained silent, thinking that He Wei’s comment had nothing to do with his personality.
“Love you, wife.” He Wei wrapped his arm around Xu Ze and tilted his body to snuggle into his shoulder.
“…” Xu Ze was not used to being so close to others and attempted to free his hand, but He Wei held on tightly.
He Wei felt his hair being slapped by something and tilted his head behind, “Heyang? When did you get here?”
“When you called Xu Ze your wife,” Lu Heyang said.
“Please understand me.” He Wei clung to Xu Ze, “If I can’t call Chi Jiahan my wife, can’t I call Chi Jiahan’s friend my wife?”
Lu Heyang noticed that Xu Ze kept turning his head to look at him, so he reached out and touched his ear, smiling at him before saying to He Wei, “I need to talk to you.”
He Wei immediately stood up. He put his arm around Lu Heyang to lead him out the door and asked in a low voice, “Is my cousin back?”
“The flight is tonight.”
“I will confront him at my uncle’s house.” He Wei frowned. “He hasn’t replied to me since I texted him if he had any contact with Tang Feiyi. He’s been overseas for over a month, but he is finally willing to come back.”
“Have you grown taller?” He Wei’s attention span was like a frog jumping in a pond. He looked up and down at Lu Heyang and asked doubtfully.
“Nope.”
He Wei scoffed, “The reason you appear taller then must be that you have been practicing your posture.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Xu Ze running from the classroom toward the office. He Wei called out to him, but Xu Ze neither responded nor stopped.
At the same time, the school bell rang. He Wei turned his attention back and noticed that Lu Heyang was also watching Xu Ze’s retreating figure.
“What’s up with Xu Ze? Is there an emergency?”
“I don’t know. Class is starting,” Lu Heyang said.
When Xu Ze arrived at the nursing home, Ye Yunhua had been forcibly tied to the hospital bed. She was struggling like a fish in mud, her face turning red as her gaze remained fixed on the ceiling. She was panting heavily and muttering repeatedly, “Blood… it’s blood… all blood…”
“We gave her a small dose of sedative.” Zhou Zhen’s white coat and hair were slightly disheveled. He had obviously spent a lot of effort to calm Ye Yunhua down.
Xu Ze slowly pried Ye Yunhua’s tightly clenched right fist open. While holding her hand, he asked Zhou Zhen, “Was it a sudden episode?”
“When we were drawing blood, the needle wasn’t properly secured, causing a few drops of blood to leak from the puncture hole, which triggered her reaction.”
It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but Xu Ze said, “I’m sorry for the trouble.”
The tray on the cart still held the recently drawn blood samples. The blood collection tubes were completely covered in white medical tape—this was a necessary step before each blood draw for Ye Yunhua to prevent her from seeing the blood.
“Stay with your grandmother for a while. I’ll sort out the test results and talk to you about the treatment.” Zhou Zhen patted Xu Ze’s shoulder and packed up to leave with the nurse.
Ye Yunhua gradually calmed down, her eyes were partly closed but not completely. Tears trickled down from the corners of her eyes. She moved her lips, prompting Xu Ze to stoop down and listen. He heard Ye Yunhua say, “Blood… spilled out… Yuanyuan…”
The muffled and painful voice pierced his ears. Xu Ze swallowed. He held onto Ye Yunhua’s hand tightly, maintaining his hunched-over posture, as if he couldn’t bring himself to stand up for a moment.
Near noon, Xu Ze went downstairs with the various lab reports. The sun was bright outside. As Xu Ze looked out the glass door, the intense light made him squint his eyes. He vaguely saw a silhouette standing next to the columns outside.
He stepped out of the revolving door and approached Lu Heyang. He didn’t ask why he had come. Lu Heyang handed him a bottle of mineral water and said, “Let’s go for a walk.”
Beneath the south wall of the hospital building was a yellow locust tree, and a dozen meters away was a glistening artificial lake. Xu Ze and Lu Heyang stood under the tree. While Xu Ze was unscrewing the water bottle cap, he found that he didn’t need to exert any strength. It dawned on him that Lu Heyang had already loosened and tightened the cap earlier.
The water seemed to have no taste—Xu Ze gradually realized that water had no taste in the first place.
He had felt heavy as if something was pressing on him. It was so heavy that he couldn’t lift his head and shoulders. But now, it seemed to have eased a little. Xu Ze rubbed his left eye and said, “Grandma is petrified of blood.”
Ye Yunhua had been scared of blood since the year Xu Ze was eleven.
After Xu Ming died unexpectedly while on duty, Qiao Yuan stayed in her room day and night, neither talking nor going out. Many times when Xu Ze went to her room, he would see Qiao Yuan sitting on a chair looking at the two flat curtains as though she was looking through them at something outside the window.
When Xu Ze went up to her, Qiao Yuan said with an emotionless tone, her gaze unwavering, “Go play by yourself.”
Xu Ze nodded and left, quietly closing the door behind him. In fact, he didn’t want his mom to take him to play, he just wanted to be with his mom.
As a result, Ye Yunhua started a cold war with Qiao Yuan. She empathized with her misfortune while feeling frustrated by her passivity. She believed that life must go on, while Qiao Yuan had no intention of getting back on her feet. Despite this, Ye Yunhua still prepared three meals a day for Qiao Yuan and had Xu Ze deliver them. Xu Ze was like a little servant, bringing the meals to the room every day and sitting on the small sofa nearby as he waited for Qiao Yuan to eat some. This was his moment of happiness because he could spend time with his mother.
Suddenly one day, Ye Yunhua’s scolding erupted from the living room. Xu Ze opened his door slightly and heard some fragmented sentences.
“How much longer are you going to be like this? Xu Ze is still so young. His father is gone, and you, his mother, don’t care about him!”
“Now all our savings and compensation have been swindled, are you satisfied?!”
“Why did you trust those people? Just because they said they could help you find out how Xu Ming died? They’re all deceiving you! Now we don’t have a single penny left, do you believe it now!”
……
Qiao Yuan, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke in the same dull and emotionless tone, “I haven’t seen Xu Ming’s body. How do I know how he died?”
There was silence, and then a sudden “slap”. Xu Ze trembled behind the door as if the slap had landed on his face.
“Isn’t the forensic report and the notice from the detective team enough? No matter how Xu Ming died, he’s already gone and can’t come back!”
This sentence also seemed to be said to Xu Ze: Dad is dead and will never come back.
From the age of seven to eleven, Xu Ze had only a vague concept of his father’s death. In his mind, Xu Ming had just gone on a long business trip and had not returned yet. But at that moment, as Xu Ze looked at the small children’s boxing gloves on the wall, he finally began to understand that death meant his dad would never again help him put on those gloves and take him to the boxing gym to punch the sandbag.
The next morning, Xu Ze went to serve breakfast. Ye Yunhua was cleaning the kitchen with her back to him, and she whispered, “Ask your mother to tidy up a bit. I’m taking her to see a doctor.”
“Is Mom sick?” Xu Ze asked.
Ye Yunhua’s movements paused, and then she replied, “Right, it’s Grandma’s fault for not taking good care of your mother, which made her mind sick. Now I have to take her to the hospital for a check-up.”
“Okay.” Xu Ze nodded.
He entered her room. Qiao Yuan was still lying on the bed. As usual, Xu Ze placed the breakfast on the bedside table and said, “Mom, it’s time for breakfast.”
Qiao Yuan didn’t react, so Xu Ze sat down on the sofa.
He waited and waited, and after several minutes, Qiao Yuan still didn’t get up. Xu Ze went back to the bed and said, “Mom, it’s time for breakfast.
No response. Qiao Yuan remained in a sideways position facing the wall. Xu Ze tiptoed to get a look at her face, only to be shocked by the sight of a crimson stain that resembled the irregular borders on a map. It spread out from under the blanket to the side of the pillow, tracing along Qiao Yuan’s pallid face.
Before his brain could fully comprehend the meaning, his body had already started to shake uncontrollably. Xu Ze trembled as he reached out to grab Qiao Yuan’s shoulder. She was stiff and cold as a stone.
Many of the following scenes were fragmented: Ye Yunhua’s distraught expression, the blood-soaked sheets, the mutilated wrists. Xu Ze was like a bystander, standing in the corner with a blank expression until the fainted Ye Yunhua was carried into the ambulance and the aunt from next door came to pick him up.
Xu Ze rested his face on the aunt’s shoulder, which was soft and warm—just like his mother’s had been.
“That’s why Grandma is petrified of blood.” Xu Ze said slowly, “After seeing that scene, how could she not be?”
The leaves rustled in the wind. Lu Heyang, like the most qualified listener, didn’t make any comments. After a while, he turned and rubbed the back of Xu Ze’s head before hugging him gently.
Xu Ze lay on Lu Heyang’s shoulder and saw the green ivy on the wall. He thought this wall must have heard many prayers, tears, and memories, and he was merely an ordinary part of it, nothing special.
The only thing special was that he was sharing this memory with Lu Heyang, which meant that at least for this moment, he wasn’t bearing it alone.
Xuze baby 🥹🥹🥹🥹
My daily dose of angst (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)
Thank you for the chapter~
Ah sorry for replying-
Awww, poor child
😭😭😭
As per what the translator said please take care of yourself and always remember “This too shall pass” a gentle reminder that your situation right now is just temporary. To the person reading this, Be safe out there. ❤️
I agreewith ypu. I lost my parents when i was at such a young age too, when i was in college i was like suicidal. And now working abroad, i can say those experiences molded me where i am rn.
Those experiences really makes a person resilient. I admire your courage, I couldn’t imagine what it’s like to be in your shoe. So proud of you.
Thank you, appreciate you being concern even for the people u don’t know. You’re one of those hopes that somehow i guess this world isn’t that cruel ♥️
Just another fellow traveler in a not so kind world. It’s another person’s vulnerability and sense of resilience that what makes one interesting. The untold stories. Thank you for sharing yours.
I can understand xu ze’s mom and grandma but it is still not right that they made baby xu ze handle it all as a child. Xu Ze was still young at that time and it seems like nobody, both the mom and grandma, thought what will happen to xu ze if they are gone or if they lose their minds. Now, xu ze was forced to work odd jobs and get punched in the face. I can’t imagine what can tang feiyi do to him if ever his hubby was not present 😭
I kinda resent the mom and the grandma sorry but they are such irresponsible adults