PBMM CH34

In the past, even if he smiled like this, it would have been quite pleasing to the eye. But now, with the red and swollen wound on his face tearing open hideously, his smile was incredibly hard to look at. Zhao He, however, had no time to care about this. He stared dead at the person in front of him. Only when he spoke did he realize his voice was trembling. “What exactly happened! What’s wrong with A-Qing!”

Yan Xizhi laughed until tears came out, and finally, it no longer looked like laughing, but rather like he was crying. He self-deprecatingly withdrew his hand. “What’s wrong, you ask what’s wrong…” Thinking of A-Qing frantically begging, completely engulfed in pain, he wished he could twist his own neck from back then. Of course, before that, he had to twist Lin Wan’s!

That day, he was confident Lin Wan wouldn’t dare play tricks, so he just timed his arrival. But A-Qing had personally said it was Zhao He who ordered the person to make a move. A-Qing wouldn’t lie, and Zhao He had no reason to do it, so it could only have been Lin Wan—

When Yan Xizhi’s hate-filled, ruthless gaze fixed on her, Lin Wan’s legs went weak with fear. Shivering, she hid behind the desk. “A-He! A-He!”

Zhao He turned around exactly as she wished, but those eyes were no longer indifferent. His eyes were heavily bloodshot as he practically gritted his teeth and asked her: “What exactly did you do to A-Qing!”

Terrified by his appearance, Lin Wan trembled all over and stuttered an explanation: “A-He, A-He, I didn’t…”

She wanted to say she hadn’t, but seeing both men glaring at her with red, hateful eyes, the rest of her words unconsciously turned into shifting the blame. “I-I called you! You’re the one who thought it was He Qing playing tricks! You’re the one who refused to go!”

“You called me…” Zhao He’s eyes were blood-red. He seemed to remember now. That day, he received a call from A-Qing and was very angry, then received his text message asking to meet at a certain place. Zhao He had sneered at the time, directly deleted the message, and blacklisted the number.

Yan Xizhi, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, only took a few seconds of thought to figure out the whole sequence of events. He laughed in extreme anger. Step by step, he walked towards Lin Wan, who shrank behind the desk upon seeing him approach. Standing still, he looked down at her from above. “Lin Wan, you never notified Zhao He that A-Qing was kidnapped at all, did you.”

The makeup on Lin Wan’s face was already ruined. Hearing the man’s icy inquiry, she looked up, shivering, and stubbornly insisted, “I told A-He. If he cared about He Qing, he naturally would have gone. Since he didn’t go, it can only mean he didn’t care—”

“Ah—” the woman shrieked miserably. The man’s leather shoe kicked viciously into the desk in front of her, producing a loud bang. Under Lin Wan’s gaze, nearly scaring her soul out of her body, he slowly withdrew his foot, leaving only a dent in the desk. Seeing her face covered in tears and snot from fear, Yan Xizhi’s cheek wound twitched; he wasn’t even willing to squeeze out a sneer anymore. “Don’t worry, I won’t hit you…”

He softened his voice as he spoke. After Lin Wan slowly relaxed, he suddenly grabbed her arm, and under the woman’s disbelieving, despairing gaze, inserted the needle…

“Ahhhhhhh!!!” Lin Wan’s shrill, terrified scream echoed throughout the entire office.

Zhao He watched numbly. Only one sentence echoed in his mind: If I had cared enough, if…

————

[Ding! Zhao He favorability: 85. Please keep up the good work, Host.]

[It’s already come to this, and it’s actually only eighty-five.] Wearing a hospital gown, He Qing stood by the windowsill and gently plucked a flower. [A-He is truly hard to capture…] If it were the Zhao He from their school days in the past, it probably would have been much simpler.

—But it doesn’t matter, he will make him remember just how gentle Zhao He used to be.

Zhao He followed Feng Xinyang and pushed the door open, seeing the beautiful image of the youth gently sniffing the flower. Just standing there quietly, he exuded a sense of happiness. Hearing someone enter, the youth looked up. The confusion in his eyes lit up with pleasant surprise upon seeing the person before him.

“A-He!!”

The love and joy in his eyes were visible to anyone. Zhao He could practically be described as overwhelmed by the unexpected favor. A-Qing… actually doesn’t blame me?

His heart felt sour and astringent, yet also carried a bit of bitter sweetness. The expression on Feng Xinyang’s face behind him wasn’t very good, but he didn’t show it. Unexpectedly, He Qing ran over quickly, yet ignored Zhao He and threw himself straight into Feng Xinyang’s embrace.

After the man wrapped his arms around him in astonishment and care, the youth looked up, his eyes full of joy. “You came to see me! I missed you so much!”

Feng Xinyang’s face instantly became strange. He glanced at Zhao He, who was frozen in place, and coaxed the youth softly, “I missed you too. Did A-Qing take his medicine?”

“I did, it was super bitter, but I drank it all!” The youth had a little look of grievance on his face, acting somewhat spoiled as he leaned against the man. He looked at the man with a bit of anticipation, as if waiting to be praised. Feng Xinyang didn’t disappoint him, praising without a shred of hesitation: “Our A-Qing is truly amazing, drinking all of such bitter medicine!”

In Zhao He’s eyes, the youth’s face carried shyness and satisfaction, and he even somewhat embarrassedly tightly grasped the man’s sleeve. Only at this moment did he seem to notice Zhao He. Confusion entered his clear eyes. He looked up strangely at Feng Xinyang, “A-He, is this your friend?”

Feng Xinyang choked, not knowing how to answer.

Zhao He reached out a hand to the youth, whose face was full of confusion. “A-Qing, it’s me…”

Who could have known that the moment his hand touched He Qing, the youth would act like a startled bird, hiding in Feng Xinyang’s embrace in terror. His eyes were full of panic and fear; even his entire body was trembling: “A-He, A-He, I’m scared!”

Zhao He listened to him calling his name, yet the person was hiding in another man’s embrace. The hand he had extended mid-air slowly lowered to his side. He watched helplessly as Feng Xinyang, bearing the name of A-He, gently comforted the youth:

“Don’t be afraid, A-Qing. This is a friend of mine, he…” Feng Xinyang looked up hesitantly at Zhao He, ultimately not making up a random name. “He won’t hurt you, don’t be afraid…”

However, no matter how much he coaxed, the youth shrank in his embrace and refused to come out. Zhao He watched as he called out ‘A-He’ over and over again, yet looked terrified and avoided him like the plague. His fists clenched tightly by his sides. Ning Feng pushed the door open and came in. His gaze landed on the youth, who was dodging and refusing to look up upon seeing him enter, and a trace of gloom flashed through his eyes. He then looked at Zhao He and said coldly, “Come out.”

Zhao He looked at He Qing, who was hiding in Feng Xinyang’s embrace and refusing to look up, and walked out with a dark face.

After everyone had left, the youth finally carefully raised his head. “A-He, who was that? He looked so scary…”

Being relied upon by him should have made him happy, but at this moment, Feng Xinyang’s heart was full of bitterness. His chest ached in waves, but facing He Qing, who was obediently looking up and waiting for his answer, the man revealed a gentle smile. “He is a friend of mine. Is A-Qing sleepy? I’ll coax you to sleep, okay?”

The youth blinked and nodded obediently. “Okay, A-He will coax me to sleep.”

No matter how many times he heard it, the two words “A-He” were like sharp thorns piercing Feng Xinyang’s heart. He felt stifled and miserable, but could only pretend to be Zhao He to coax He Qing to sleep.

Watching the youth obediently close his eyes, his two tightly bandaged hands clearly in constant pain, yet stubbornly clutching his hand as if he wouldn’t be able to sleep otherwise, the jealousy in Feng Xinyang’s heart submerged him heavily like a swamp. In a place He Qing couldn’t see, the man’s eyes were full of hatred.

Zhao He! What right or merit do you have!

Yan Xizhi had been waiting outside the door the whole time. He was disfigured. The once exquisite face had turned into this ghostly appearance. The moment He Qing saw him, he was so terrified he screamed and shouted, trembling as he hid in Feng Xinyang’s embrace. Thus, he could only stand guard outside like this, watching through the small glass window as Feng Xinyang held the person in his arms and coaxed him.

Seeing Zhao He walk out with a gloomy face, he sneered.

What right did Zhao He have to put on such a posture!

As he thought about it, he self-deprecatingly revealed a bitter smile. Whether it was in the past or now, A-Qing still disliked him just as much as ever.

When A-Qing was lucid in the past, he only had those two in his eyes. Now that A-Qing was not lucid, he muttered Zhao He’s name and relied on Feng Xinyang. As a disfigured person, in the eyes of the current A-Qing, he was probably just a terrifying monster.

He didn’t even have the right to be jealous. Wasn’t A-Qing like this right now entirely because of him?

Zhao He walked over, his face pale. “What exactly is going on!”

Yan Xizhi wiped away the moisture in his eyes, his voice hoarse: “Because of the stimulation from vn, A-Qing’s memory has developed problems.”

“In his eyes, Feng Xinyang is you. And right now, he is living in eight years ago.”

The man with half a disfigured face looked at the shocked Zhao He, his tone full of madness. “Eight years ago, what exactly happened!”

————

Feng Xinyang guarded the youth’s side, watching his peaceful sleeping face. Looking at A-Qing like this, he even developed a thought: as long as A-Qing relied on him like this all the time and was willing to be with him, he wouldn’t mind even if he was treated as Zhao He for a lifetime.

He truly wanted so badly to go back to the past, back to the side of the A-Qing who hadn’t yet been ruined by his own hands—the A-Qing who trusted, relied on, and loved him.

Feng Xinyang stared blankly at the youth’s sleeping face. Seeing him furrow his brows in his sleep, he hurriedly reached out to smooth them. The second he touched his brow, the youth opened his eyes wide in terror, screaming miserably as he rolled to the edge of the bed. Those previously clear eyes were now full of panic. Tears slid down drop by drop, yet he seemed completely unaware of them.

“Go away!! Go away!!”

Feng Xinyang was stunned. “A-Qing…” He didn’t know what was wrong with the youth and hurriedly got on the bed, stopping in front of the youth who was crying so hard his entire body was shaking. Not daring to reach out and stimulate him, he could only soften his voice and ask softly, “A-Qing, what’s wrong?”

As if he hadn’t heard anything, the youth continued crying and trembling. Disregarding the pain, his tightly white-gauze-wrapped hands flailed in the air. His voice had already grown hoarse from shouting, yet he still struggled and screamed hoarsely, “A-He, save me!! A-He!!”

His appearance made it truly impossible for anyone to dare approach him. Feng Xinyang gritted his teeth. “A-Qing, it’s me. I am A-He…”

The youth’s cries slightly lessened. With red and swollen eyes, he looked at the person in front of him. Like a wronged young animal, he cried bitterly and threw himself into the man’s embrace. With a choking, sobbing voice, he said: “A-He… A-He… I’m so scared… they were so scary…”

“Thank you for saving me, A-He…” Hugging the non-stop trembling and crying youth, hearing him call him A-He, Feng Xinyang swallowed the bitterness in his heart. Gently patting the person in his arms on the back, he said softly, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. I’m here…”

The three men who hurried over upon hearing the youth’s screams stood outside the door. Zhao He stared blankly at the youth, who slowly fell asleep sobbing in Feng Xinyang’s embrace. His heart began to throb. He pressed his chest, his face full of confusion.

When… had he ever saved A-Qing?