ASHES CH7: Family

Luo Cheng stood rooted to the spot, unable to answer.

This was the first time Luo Zhi had ever asked her such a question. His tone was very faint, very casual, even carrying a hint of relaxed amusement, as if chatting.

…

But in that instant, countless things that had happened, were happening, and would likely happen in the future seemed capable of being lightly summarized by that single sentence structure.

Was she that kind of person?

Luo Zhi was indeed hateful, and ending up like this today was his own fault… but no matter what, this person on the hospital bed was, after all, related to her by blood… Was she originally such a cold-blooded person? Just like Luo Zhi said…

“She is not that kind of person.” Ren Chenbai suddenly spoke up. “Little Zhi, your malice towards your sister is too strong.”

Luo Cheng looked up abruptly.

Her eyes were red, and her hands tightly gripped the hem of her clothes as she looked at Ren Chenbai pleadingly for help.

“Have you seen the comments online? Those people are the ones truly wishing you dead.”

Ren Chenbai’s voice was very gentle, as if patiently teaching the simplest of principles: “Your sister is only angry because she cares and worries about you, because you did those things. She just couldn’t articulate herself clearly in the moment.”

“If she wasn’t family who truly cared about you, why would she feel guilty and blame herself over this, specifically coming here to question you?”

“It’s precisely because she hopes for the best for you that she gets angry with you,” Ren Chenbai said. “Maybe she was flustered, and her wording wasn’t considerate enough, didn’t accommodate your feelings enough, but that cannot be your excuse to set a trap and slander Xiao Cheng.”

Ren Chenbai turned to Luo Cheng, his tone mild: “Isn’t that so?”

Luo Cheng bit her lower lip hard. She suddenly felt as if the massive boulder pressing down on her had been moved away. Her fragile body swayed unsteadily, and tears rushed to her eyes eagerly.

When Luo Chengxiu entered the room, he happened to see this exact scene.

At the birthday banquet, the Luo family had almost become a laughingstock, Madam Luo’s condition had been unstable for days, and Luo Zhi just had to create this kind of scandal at the critical moment of Huaisheng Entertainment’s handover.

Luo Chengxiu was already annoyed by the storm of public opinion Luo Zhi had stirred up. Upon seeing his youngest daughter weeping with grievance, looking at him with utter helplessness and unease, the anger accumulated from all the major and minor disturbances these past few days erupted with a boom, rushing to his head accompanied by intense disgust.

Luo Chengxiu took a few strides to the hospital bed, grabbed Luo Zhi by his hospital gown, and hauled him up from the bed.

Luo Zhi was terribly thin and practically weightless. Luo Chengxiu used far too much force in this motion, and the violent change in posture quickly triggered a dizziness strong enough to swallow his consciousness.

Luo Zhi’s vision abruptly went black.

…

By the time he regained consciousness, Ren Chenbai had already persuaded the furious head of the Luo family to stop.

Luo Chengxiu sat in the farthest corner of the ward, his face dark, saying nothing. Ren Chenbai was quietly advising him about something, or perhaps explaining the specific “real situation” to Luo Chengxiu.

Luo Cheng was huddled in her father’s arms. Her eyes were terribly red, making it look as if she had cried her heart out from grievance.

Luo Zhi leaned crookedly against the corner.

He had been thrown into the corner by the bed, but he hadn’t gained any new injuries, so it seemed Ren Chenbai had intervened just in time.

No one had the time to care about him, and he himself lacked the strength to move his body.

Probably because his blood sugar still hadn’t been replenished to a safe level, even moving a fingertip would send back intense palpitations and numbness, and he couldn’t stop sweating cold sweat.

Luo Zhi lowered his eyes.

At this moment, his consciousness seemed to suddenly detach from this increasingly weak and dilapidated body, floating quietly somewhere.

It was very relaxing; he did nothing, just watched.

He watched the body hidden within the hospital gown slump down as if it had no bones, folded awkwardly and messily, like a pile of dirty, broken fallen leaves swept to the side of the road.

Luo Zhi thought of the mascot costume he had turned into in his dream.

How wonderful it would be if this were a dream right now.

It would be the five- or six-year-old him who had watched too many messy TV dramas, gotten too invested, wiped his tears, and imagined himself as some pitiful character in his head, having a long, chaotic nightmare to the extreme.

Luo Zhi saw a figure appearing before his eyes. He slowly deciphered the outline of the shadow and raised his head.

Luo Cheng stood in front of him.

The shadow of the tender, childish little girl he used to protect behind him was already very faint. The girl had grown into a graceful young woman, and her expression had settled back down.

Only her face was still a bit pale, and her eyes were still rimmed with red.

“I forgive you.” Luo Cheng looked at him, “Luo Zhi.”

Luo Zhi looked at her for a few seconds and gently curved the corners of his mouth.

Luo Cheng took this smile as him covering up his own little schemes. She didn’t pay it much mind and continued: “I understand now. You intentionally said those things to make me feel like a disgusting, bad person.”

“You think Second Brother and I teamed up to steal your company, so you had to set up a trap like this.”

Luo Cheng paused for a moment before continuing softly: “You wanted to find ways to make me blame myself, make me feel sorry for you, and then let me be tortured to madness… just like Mom.”

Luo Zhi himself was surprised by how deeply scheming he was in these people’s eyes. He raised his eyebrows, trying to examine his grown-up younger sister in front of him.

Because his vision was blurred, a faint layer of mist veiled Luo Zhi’s eyes. His pupils were a bit scattered, which instead made his eyes look purer, blacker, and clearer, his thick, long eyelashes casting a small shadow.

Being looked at by those eyes, even though Luo Zhi’s gaze didn’t have a clear focus, Luo Cheng still felt as if she had been abruptly pricked by an extremely fine needle.

Luo Cheng didn’t understand why, but she subconsciously and hastily shifted her gaze away: “You wouldn’t… you wouldn’t have forgotten that Mom was driven mad by you, right?”

Luo Zhi thought about it.

He remembered he seemed to have such a charge against him.

That should have happened the year he was twelve. Luo Zhi still had some impression of it; that day, he was taken to speak a few words with Madam Luo, and later they had an argument.

And then later, he was pushed out of the second-floor window by Madam Luo.

…

After that, Madam Luo’s mental state visibly deteriorated.

Luo Cheng’s fingertips twisted the hem of her clothes tightly. She didn’t know what she was panicking about, merely lowering her head and continuing: “Change your ways, don’t harm people anymore.”

Luo Zhi lowered his eyelashes, just smiling and not speaking again.

By this time, Luo Cheng finally faintly sensed something wrong with him. She frowned and tugged at Luo Zhi’s hand: “Luo Zhi, you—”

Luo Zhi’s hand was so cold it made her shudder.

Luo Cheng let go subconsciously. She watched Luo Zhi’s arm drop limply, that already incredibly thin and pale hand falling and hitting the floor, the knuckles striking the ceramic tile with a harsh, crisp sound.

Luo Chengxiu was already preparing to leave, waiting for her at the door: “Luo Cheng.”

Luo Cheng looked back in a slight panic.

She was actually still afraid of Luo Zhi. If her dad wasn’t here, she worried Luo Zhi would continue doing what Brother Chenbai said, using even more vicious methods to brainwash her.

At this thought, Luo Cheng looked at the quietly silent Luo Zhi and couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief.

If Luo Zhi could just stay like this forever, not making trouble or doing evil, just quietly existing, that would be fine.

They were related by blood, after all; they couldn’t completely ignore him.

If Luo Zhi couldn’t move or speak anymore, just lying like this in the hospital, she could actually come see him every month…

When such a thought popped up, Luo Cheng was initially startled by herself, then, following what Brother Chenbai had taught her, she calmed down and pressed a hand to her chest.

It wasn’t that she had developed malicious thoughts, but rather that what Luo Zhi had done was truly too excessive.

Luo Zhi had come back for revenge, trying every means to destroy the Luo family. He drove their mother crazy, forced Second Brother Jian to live in his shadow, and now he was trying to drive her crazy too.

Even the gentlest Brother Chenbai, who had always taken care of them, was exhausted from being entangled in Luo Zhi’s affairs.

She heard online that when Luo Zhi debuted, he used his power to suppress people, and after starting a company, he wanted to humiliate the company’s artists. After being rejected, he even used underhanded tactics to blacklist them for years.

…

For a person who had hurt their family like this, not seeking revenge against Luo Zhi, but merely secretly harboring a bit of this thought, wasn’t a wrong thing to do.

Luo Cheng swallowed back the words she was originally going to say.

Without even taking another look at Luo Zhi, she ran out of the ward without looking back, following her father to leave in a hurry.

Ren Chenbai went out to see them off, pulling the ward door shut behind him.

…

The ward finally quieted down.

This quietness lasted for three or four hours. Because Mr. Ren had notified them in advance that family members would be visiting, the doctors and nurses doing ward rounds specifically avoided this room.

It wasn’t until Ren Chenbai had handled some matters and returned to the ward that, except for the sky having darkened, everything was exactly the same as when he left.

Because Luo Cheng had cried too fiercely in her father’s arms, Luo Chengxiu was afraid his precious daughter couldn’t catch her breath and asked someone to open the window. That window was still half-open now.

It would likely rain tonight. The night wind poured in, carrying a damp chill.

The silver moon was pale, its cold light slipping through the gap in the curtains blown open by the wind, blending into the single lamp left on in the room.

Luo Zhi was still sitting at the foot of the bed with his head bowed.

Ren Chenbai paused at the door for a moment.

His gaze was very complex, but that complexity was ultimately covered by coldness. He walked up to Luo Zhi, looking down at the disheveled figure.

“Do you know you were wrong?” Ren Chenbai’s tone was very faint. “You can’t survive on your own.”

Luo Zhi sat at the boundary of the lamplight and moonlight.

Ren Chenbai stood in front of him, his consistently gentle and considerate face made chillingly cold by the moon: “Jian Huaiyi schemes at every step, your family is selfish and cold-blooded, and the sister you want to protect is just a brainless idiot.”

Luo Zhi remained quiet, not answering.

“You realized I hate you, so you don’t want to come home with me?”

Ren Chenbai half-squatted down, pinching Luo Zhi’s pale chin: “But I won’t let you off.”

“I truly wanted to be with you once.” Ren Chenbai’s tone was gentle, but the words he spoke were a completely different matter: “But I didn’t know you were also an ungrateful, heartless monster…”

Following the force, Luo Zhi’s body soundlessly leaned into his embrace, his forehead resting limply against his neck.

Ren Chenbai looked at him, his arm unconsciously stiffening for a moment.

But that brief pause was instantly overwhelmed by an even sharper disgust and contempt. Ren Chenbai forcefully flung his arm away and stood up abruptly: “Get lost! Since when do you—”

His words came to an abrupt halt.

Luo Zhi was flung away by him, rolling twice and hitting the corner of the bed heavily, yet he still showed no reaction.

Ren Chenbai was suddenly gripped by an intense sense of suffocation. He squatted down in a daze, turning the person in front of him over.

Ren Chenbai froze still for a long time, then slowly raised his hand, reaching toward Luo Zhi’s nose.

Luo Zhi’s body was frighteningly cold.

He quietly tilted his head up, his arms hanging limp, and his breath was so light it couldn’t even flutter half a feather.