Qiao Nan awkwardly pulled back his foot and whispered, “Maybe I should do it myself.”
Pei Xu looked up at him, a faint smile appearing in his eyes, but the grip on his hand didn’t loosen at all.
His fingers enclosed Qiao Nan’s slender ankle in his palm, preventing him from pulling away.
“Don’t move, it’ll be done soon.”
Qiao Nan shifted uncomfortably but ultimately stopped struggling, letting Pei Xu continue to clean his foot.
After thoroughly rinsing the wound, Pei Xu carefully dabbed it dry with a clean towel, and finally, wrapped his feet snugly in a blanket.
“There, all done.”
He slowly wiped his hands clean with a wet wipe, then sat back down beside Qiao Nan, unzipping his windbreaker and opening his arms to him.
“Do you want to sleep?”
Having been too worried to rest properly before, Qiao Nan was indeed tired and sleepy.
Pei Xu’s wide embrace looked warm and full of security.
After only a slight hesitation, Qiao Nan gave up resisting and honestly leaned into his embrace, saying with a heavy nasal voice, “Then I’ll just nap for a little while. Wake me up when the helicopter arrives.”
Pei Xu softly hummed in response, wrapping him in his windbreaker, and gently patting his back.
“Sleep.”
Qiao Nan slept deeply.
Midway, he vaguely heard the buzzing of rotating helicopter blades, but before he could even open his eyes, a gentle voice coaxed him back to sleep.
When he woke up again, he found himself lying in a hospital bed.
An IV drip was on the back of his hand, and his feet had been treated and bandaged.
Pei Xu was sitting in a chair by the bed, a laptop resting on his lap as he worked.
“When did we get back?”
Qiao Nan propped himself up on his elbows.
He turned to look out the window and saw that it was already dark outside.
“How long did I sleep? Where are the others?”
“You only slept for four or five hours. The doctor said you’ve been too mentally stressed these past two days and your body needs rest.”
Pei Xu poured him a glass of warm water.
“Everyone else is in different rooms. They’ve all been scheduled for physical exams. Except for Qiu Ran, whose condition is a bit more serious, the others mostly just have colds and low fevers.”
Qiao Nan finally relaxed.
Pei Xu then asked, “Are you hungry? I had Zhao Bo buy some porridge and keep it warm.”
He didn’t notice until Pei Xu mentioned it, but Qiao Nan was indeed a bit hungry.
He nodded like a pecking chick.
Pei Xu put down his laptop and brought over the thermos.
He initially wanted to feed Qiao Nan, but Qiao Nan felt it was too exaggerated for just a few blisters on his feet and insisted on eating himself.
Pei Xu reluctantly relented.
Qiao Nan slowly ate the porridge from the thermos.
He then picked up his fully charged phone from the nightstand and scrolled through it, finding that all the news notifications were related to the Guizhou disaster.
He clicked on the Weibo hot search list and, as expected, four of the top ten trending topics were related to the Guizhou disaster.
After Browse a few news reports, he realized that the disaster in Guizhou was much more severe than he had imagined.
This was actually Guizhou’s most serious flood disaster in ten years.
No wonder the driver who promised to pick them up disappeared, and no police had come into the mountains to find them.
“How is Fengxi Village doing now?”
The news said Shita County was one of the most severely affected areas.
“Most people have already been transferred to temporary safe shelters, but the disaster was quite sudden, and a small number of people who couldn’t evacuate in time were trapped in the floodwaters. The government has already dispatched the army for emergency relief.”
Seeing his worried expression, Pei Xu added, “I’ve also asked the rescue team to participate in the disaster relief, and two batches of supplies have been sent. Everything will be okay.”
Qiao Nan remembered the old woman who embroidered Miao clothes for him and Mingda, who drew a sun on the wall.
He wondered how they were doing now.
His mood visibly dropped.
“When I’m better, can I go see them?”
Many nights when they video called, Qiao Nan would share stories about people or events in Fengxi Village with him.
Knowing that he had lived in Fengxi Village for over half a month and had developed feelings for the villagers, Pei Xu didn’t object, “Okay, you rest well first. When you’re better, I’ll go with you.”
Qiao Nan nodded.
After eating about half a thermos of porridge, sleepiness crept up again.
Perhaps the trauma of being trapped in the mountains hadn’t yet dissipated, for even in his sleep, his brows were tightly furrowed, and he curled up insecurely, facing Pei Xu.
Pei Xu tucked him in, looked at his restlessly trembling eyelashes, held his hand, and leaned down to plant a feather-light kiss on his forehead, “Good night, sweet dreams.”
@Infinite Good Writing, All in Jinjiang Literature City
Qiao Nan’s parents, Qiao Shian and his wife, arrived in Ziyun at 2 AM.
Due to the severe weather, flights were delayed or canceled, so fearing a delay, they had their assistant drive them directly.
When Zhao Bo met them, he was startled by their haggard appearance and quickly led them to the hospital room, “The doctor has already examined him; Young Master Qiao is fine. Mr. Pei has been with him in the room; he might have had his phone on silent, which is why he didn’t receive your calls.”
“It’s good that he’s okay,” the couple’s tense expressions relaxed slightly.
Actually, Pei Xu had already messaged them to reassure them, but as parents, they couldn’t truly relax until they saw him with their own eyes.
“We’ll go up and see him,” Zhou Ruo said.
This hospital was a relatively high-end private hospital in Ziyun City, and Qiao Nan’s room was on the fourth floor of the inpatient department.
Zhao Bo led the two in, gently knocked on the door, but received no response.
“The doctor said Young Master Qiao needs rest, and Mr. Pei hasn’t closed his eyes from last night until now, so he might be asleep,” he explained, then gently pushed the door open.
The couple quietly entered and saw that both were indeed asleep.
Qiao Nan was lying on the hospital bed, his complexion ruddy, sleeping very soundly.
Pei Xu was making do, sleeping in a chair by the bed, with an open laptop still on his lap.
Qiao Shian wanted to wake Pei Xu up and tell him to go to a hotel to rest, but Zhou Ruo stopped him.
Making a “don’t disturb them” gesture with her mouth, Zhou Ruo carefully stepped forward and quietly picked up the laptop, placing it on the nightstand.
Just as she was about to straighten up and leave, her gaze inadvertently swept over the two brothers’ clasped hands.
Qiao Nan’s hand was extended from beneath the covers, clasped tightly with Pei Xu’s.
They were holding hands with intertwined fingers.
Zhou Ruo’s expression froze slightly, and she immediately stood rooted to the spot.
At that moment, Pei Xu heard the movement and opened his eyes.
He saw Zhou Ruo staring intently in a certain direction.
Following her gaze, Pei Xu’s brow furrowed slightly, but he very naturally released Qiao Nan’s hand and stood up.
“Auntie, Uncle, when did you arrive? I apologize, I fell asleep.”
Qiao Shian said, “We just got here. We just wanted to quietly check on him, but we didn’t expect to wake you up.”
“Nannan was scared in the mountains and couldn’t sleep soundly. I just wanted to stay with him, and I didn’t realize I also accidentally fell asleep,” he said.
But his face showed obvious fatigue.
Hearing him say that, Zhou Ruo’s expression relaxed a little.
“Xiao Zhao said you haven’t closed your eyes for a day and a night either. Let your Uncle Qiao and I watch over him here; you go get some rest.”
Pei Xu nodded and didn’t refuse, “Then I’ll go rest first and come back tomorrow morning.”
Afraid of waking Qiao Nan, they didn’t say anything more.
Pei Xu took his laptop and went to a nearby hotel with Zhao Bo.
Zhou Ruo watched his retreating figure, then looked at the sleeping Qiao Nan, her brows slightly furrowed.
***
At Qiao Shian and his wife’s insistence, Qiao Nan had to stay in the hospital for three days before being discharged.
He felt fine, except for the blisters on his feet, which still hurt a bit and made walking difficult.
So, he asked Pei Xu to borrow a wheelchair and pushed him around to visit his classmates in their respective hospital rooms.
Zhao Yutong was visibly surprised to see him in a wheelchair, his expression exaggerated, “What happened to our hero?!”
Qiao Nan rolled his eyes at him, “The hero’s feet hurt; he doesn’t want to walk.”
Zhao Yutong was stumped.
After a moment, he changed the subject, “Everyone’s recovering well. Old Li booked a bus, and we’re planning to take the highway back to Nanjing the day after tomorrow. Are you coming with us?”
Qiao Nan shook his head, “My parents are here too, so I won’t be joining you. Plus, I want to stay a couple more days and go back to Fengxi Village to see it.”
“Then it’ll have to be ‘see you in Nanjing.’
My parents were so worried when they heard the news, they can’t let me go with you.”
Zhao Yutong shrugged helplessly.
After visiting all his classmates, Qiao Nan returned to his own room.
Zhou Ruo and Qiao Shian returned after lunch, just as Pei Xu was pushing him back.
The brothers, one standing and one in a wheelchair, were talking and laughing, their posture intimate.
Her expression shifted subtly, then she quickly masked it, smiling as she took over the wheelchair and said to Pei Xu, “I had my assistant pack some food. You go eat first; I’ll take care of Nannan.”
Pei Xu’s eyes darkened slightly, but he showed no emotion, nodding normally as he handed Qiao Nan over to her.
Since last night, Zhou Ruo’s attitude had been somewhat subtle.
This was likely a mother’s intuition.
She didn’t make any overly aggressive moves or rashly question anything.
Instead, she politely and subtly separated the two, reducing their chances to be together.
Pei Xu didn’t know how much she had figured out.
When facing Qiao Shian and his wife, he had always carefully hidden his feelings, never doing anything that might cause misunderstanding or suspicion.
Only last night, in a moment of carelessness, did Zhou Ruo sense something.
He lowered his gaze and turned to leave.
Qiao Nan then asked Zhou Ruo, “Why did you send my brother away?”
Zhou Ruo smiled, “Oh, you noticed that?”
Qiao Nan pouted, “I can’t eat all this food by myself; it’s just right for two people.”
Zhou Ruo didn’t explain much.
She pushed him into the room, then arranged the food on the table, a rare display of a mother’s tenderness.
“A girl named Qiu Ran came looking for you this morning. You weren’t awake then, so she left.”
Although she had doubts, her years of experience as a lawyer prevented her from drawing immediate conclusions.
Instead, she chose to cautiously probe.
She deliberately adopted an ambiguous tone, “The girl is pretty and in your class. She even specifically came to see you. What’s your relationship?”
“You sent my brother away just to ask that?”
Qiao Nan took a sip of soup, a little speechless.
“You’re at the age for dating now,” Zhou Ruo said euphemistically.
“But she doesn’t like me; she probably just came to say thank you?”
Qiao Nan guessed.
“She had a crush on my brother before and even asked for his WeChat.”
Zhou Ruo was startled, “And then?”
“There’s no ‘then.’ My brother rejected her.”
Zhou Ruo sighed regretfully, “That girl is pretty and seems to have a good personality. Why do neither of you try to pursue someone? Speaking of which, your brother isn’t young anymore, and I haven’t seen him bring a girlfriend home.”
“My brother is so busy, how would he have time to date?”
Qiao Nan immediately defended his brother.
“Besides, he told Qiu Ran he already has someone he likes.”
Although Pei Xu denied it in the bathroom that day, Qiao Nan was still a bit skeptical.
Zhou Ruo was somewhat surprised.
Recalling the scene she saw last night, she wondered if she was overthinking it.
The two brothers grew up together.
Especially Qiao Nan, perhaps because he lacked parental care as a child, he was particularly dependent on his brother Pei Xu.
Even now that he was in college, he was still closest to Pei Xu.
And there was nothing abnormal in Qiao Nan’s words.
Zhou Ruo subtly furrowed her brow, hoping she was overthinking things.
***
Three days later, Qiao Nan was finally allowed to be discharged from the hospital.
After completing the discharge procedures, he went to Fengxi Village.
The continuous heavy rain had finally stopped, and the floodwaters had just receded.
To save their homes, the villagers eagerly joined the post-disaster reconstruction efforts.
The off-road vehicle churned through the accumulated water and stopped in front of the village.
From a distance, many stilt houses could be seen to have been washed away by the flood, and the villagers were collectively clearing the debris.
Qiao Nan spotted many familiar faces among them.
The owner of the house where he had stayed saw them, put down his work, and greeted them, “You’re all okay?”
He explained with some apology, “You went into the mountains and didn’t come back for a night. We originally wanted to go look for you, but then the great flood happened, and we couldn’t spare the thought.”
Qiao Nan had no intention of blaming them.
He said everyone was fine and then asked about the village’s situation.
“The people are fine, but the houses collapsed, and a year’s harvest is gone.”
Speaking of these things, the man’s face showed a hint of sadness.
Then, remembering something else, he asked Qiao Nan to wait, ran to a spot where a lot of furniture and miscellaneous items were piled up, searched for a while, and brought back a bag.
“Many things were washed away by the flood, only these are left. They should all be yours.”
Qiao Nan opened it and found that the bag contained the drawing boards, paints, and other miscellaneous items they had left behind.
He hadn’t expected the man to help collect them.
Actually, drawing boards and paints were basically ruined once they got wet, but Qiao Nan didn’t refuse the man’s kindness.
After thanking him, he moved them all to the car’s trunk, planning to deal with them after leaving.
When he finished putting things away and returned to the village, he saw Mingda standing on the steps, waving to him.
“Mingda!”
He strode forward excitedly.
Seeing that the little girl was fine except for her somewhat dirty clothes, he relaxed.
“Where’s the old woman?”
“Grandma went to cook,” Mingda said.
Mingda’s stilt house was already quite old and had also collapsed in this flood.
Their family only consisted of an old woman and a child; there were no adult men, so the entire village was helping them rebuild their house.
The old woman went to help cook for everyone.
Mingda was extremely happy to see him.
Before saying a few words, she pulled his hand, gesturing for him to follow her.
Leading him to their temporary small tent, Mingda crawled inside and rummaged for a while, then pulled out a scroll painting.
She held the scroll with both hands, offering it to Qiao Nan, her large, dark pupils like two clean black pearls.
“What’s this?”
Qiao Nan hesitantly took it.
When he unrolled it, he found it was Hope, the painting he had prepared for the exhibition.
He had put this painting away after finishing it and hadn’t brought it with him when he went into the mountains.
He had thought it was ruined in the flood, but he never expected Mingda to have properly preserved it for him.
“Thank you.”
Qiao Nan carefully put away the painting and sincerely thanked her.
Mingda shook her head, her hands clasped behind her back, pressing her lips together in a shy smile.
Qiao Nan stayed in the village helping for half a day before leaving.
Before leaving, he discussed with Mingda’s grandmother for a long time, and finally agreed that he would sponsor Mingda’s education.
He even specifically left his phone with Mingda, teaching her how to use WeChat so that they could contact each other often, even if they were thousands of miles apart.
Mingda carefully held the phone, accompanying them all the way to the village entrance.
Qiao Nan sat in the passenger seat, watching her figure grow smaller and smaller, and said, “I wish I could do more to help them. The Miao clothes Grandma embroidered are beautiful, and Uncle Lu’s bamboo handicrafts are also exquisite.”
The people of Fengxi Village had lived in secluded mountains for generations.
They weren’t any lazier than others, but due to their isolated environment, backward education, and other factors, they had fallen far behind.
They deserved a chance to live better lives.
Pei Xu glanced at him in the rearview mirror and said, “Xunnan has annual poverty alleviation projects that support Guizhou. I’ll bring it up this year and pay more attention to Fengxi in the future.”
Qiao Nan looked at the rolling green mountains outside and softly said, “I want to do something for them too.”
***
After returning from Fengxi, the family prepared to leave.
Once the heavy rain subsided, flights resumed normalcy, and the family of four flew directly back to Nanjing.
Qiao Shian, due to his busy group affairs, only stayed in Nanjing for two days before leaving.
Zhou Ruo, however, uncharacteristically pushed aside many things and temporarily stayed in Nanjing.
Pei Xu guessed the reason for her stay.
He only lived at the Qiao family home for two days, then, citing too many accumulated company matters, moved back to Botting Mansion, sending Little Qiao back to the Qiao family home as well.
Qiao Nan was privately a little displeased but also knew that Pei Xu’s trip to Guizhou must have delayed many things, so he didn’t have the nerve to play coy and ask him to stay.
Just as well, Old Li, knowing he was back, seized the opportunity during the summer vacation to enlist him for help in preparing a painting exhibition.
Qiao Nan left early and returned late every day, exhausted and falling asleep immediately, leaving no time to bother Pei Xu.
Zhou Ruo, on the other hand, stayed at the Qiao family home for over a week.
Several times, she tried to subtly probe but found no clues.
Coupled with the fact that the law firm’s matters could no longer be delayed, she finally set off back to Yanjing.
The day Zhou Ruo left, Pei Xu heard the news and specially went to see her off.
During the boarding gap, Zhou Ruo hesitated several times, wanting to ask something, but ultimately didn’t speak.
She was actually a very strong woman, decisive and never procrastinating in her work.
Only when facing her own children would she be so indecisive and hesitant.
Even though Pei Xu wasn’t her biological child.
Pei Xu watched her walk into the boarding gate until she was out of sight before turning to leave.
On the highway back to Xunnan Technology from Nanjing Airport, they would pass the Binjiang Villa area. Pei Xu glanced at it from a distance before averting his gaze, pressing the accelerator.
The black Bentley sped past, leaving the villa area behind.
***
When Qiao Nan finally emerged from the heavy work of preparing the painting exhibition, three-quarters of the summer vacation had already passed.
Old Li’s painting exhibition was almost ready, set for August 26th, and only then could Qiao Nan finally breathe a sigh of relief.
As soon as he relaxed, he discovered a very serious problem.
—In the past half-month since returning from Guizhou, other than when he actively contacted Pei Xu, Pei Xu had contacted him only a handful of times.
In fact, he hadn’t even come back once during this period.
Qiao Nan sat up in bed, startled by this discovery.
He carefully scrolled through their WeChat chat history from the past half-month.
@Infinite Good Writing, All in Jinjiang Literature City
Three video calls, but none lasted more than ten minutes.
There were quite a few chat messages, but most of the time, after only a few exchanges, his brother would end the conversation with excuses like “I have a meeting” or “I’m working overtime.”
Not to mention coming to see him.
Before, he was so busy that he didn’t notice these details.
Now that he had leisure, recalling carefully, he realized that this was not his imagination—his brother was truly cold!
This wasn’t right.
Qiao Nan tried sending him a WeChat message, [Brother, I’m done with work! Want to have dinner together tonight? (^-^)]
He even included a cute cat sticker.
But he waited for ten minutes without a reply.
Qiao Nan immediately felt a little emotional.
He quickly changed his clothes, deciding to personally go to the company to confront him and see what his brother was doing that he was ignoring him.
But when he sped to Xunnan Technology, Zhao Bo informed him that Pei Xu had been on a business trip for a week.
Qiao Nan returned disappointed, indignantly poking Pei Xu’s profile picture and grumbling unhappily.
Being on a business trip shouldn’t mean ignoring people, right?
***
Not long after Qiao Nan left, Pei Xu received a message from Zhao Bo.
He opened the WeChat chat window with Qiao Nan and saw a message at the bottom of the dialogue box that read, “Young Master Qiao poked you,” followed by the swift retraction of that message.
Pei Xu couldn’t help but smile, even imagining how cute his panicked expression must have been when he retracted it.
His finger gently caressed the chat box, but he forced himself to pretend he hadn’t seen anything.
Pei Xu took off his glasses and leaned his head back against the chair, forcing himself not to listen or think, trying to remove Qiao Nan’s flickering shadow from his mind.
But no matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t do it.
He opened his email again.
These days, the only reason he could harden his heart and not go looking for Qiao Nan was because of the emails from Old K.
He greedily looked at these photos, one by one, over and over, but was still not satisfied.
Qiao Nan’s overly proactive behavior stirred up the buried desire in his heart.
After much hesitation, he finally found the software hidden in the encrypted folder.
But the moment the remote monitoring connection was successful and Qiao Nan’s figure appeared on the screen, he quickly closed the software again.
Reason and desire repeatedly tugged at him, with no definite outcome.
Pei Xu stared blankly at the computer screen for a long while, then irritably lit a cigarette.
The pungent taste of nicotine barely soothed his agitation, but the thoughts swirling in his mind still wouldn’t go away.
He wasn’t in Nanjing, so he couldn’t go see Dr. Chen.
After finishing two cigarettes, Pei Xu picked up his car keys and left the hotel.
He drove aimlessly around the streets for a while, then casually found a bar and went inside.
The bar wasn’t crowded at just past six in the evening.
Dynamic rock music played from the speakers, colorful spotlights flashed, the bartender slowly wiped glasses at the bar, and there were only a few scattered customers in the booths.
Pei Xu ordered a vodka and found a corner to sit in.
Aside from necessary social engagements, he rarely drank.
His alcohol tolerance wasn’t bad, but he detested the feeling of losing control of his reason when drunk.
But tonight, he made an exception.
His reason was sliding toward an abyss, and he needed a stronger stimulus to correct this dangerous inclination.
The strong liquor burned down his throat, igniting his taste buds, but he didn’t even flinch.
In the bizarre bar, the handsome man in a suit was already eye-catching enough.
Someone approached with a drink in hand, “Handsome, drowning your sorrows?”
Pei Xu looked up, not missing the flirtation in the other’s eyes.
He loosened his tie, his prominent Adam’s apple bobbing, and impatiently spat out a single word, “Scram.”
“So fierce.”
***
But even his cursing voice was sensual.
The person sat down opposite him with interest, swirling his drink.
His fingers, casually holding the glass, curved elegantly.
“By the looks of it, you’re troubled by love, unrequited?”
Pei Xu shot him a cold glance, ignoring him.
“You’re already in a gay bar, why deceive yourself?”
Seeing that he wasn’t speaking, the person became more enthusiastic, “My name is Bai Rao. Let’s be friends.”
He wore light makeup, his outer eye corners deliberately elongated and upturned.
The dim bar lights shone on his pale face, making him even more alluring than a fairy.
Few men could refuse his invitation.
“A forced melon isn’t sweet. Why not try another melon, it’s guarantee… sweet,” Bai Rao intentionally drew out the end of his words, raising his glass to clink against Pei Xu’s.
His fingers tried to hook Pei Xu’s, but he was frozen in place by Pei Xu’s gaze.
Pei Xu hadn’t brought his glasses when he left, and his narrow eyes were now half-lowered.
When he lifted his eyelids to look up at someone, they conveyed twelve parts impatience, a fierce intensity completely unlike his usual demeanor.
Bai Rao was startled by his “do not approach” aura and quietly mumbled, “He’s actually a romantic.”
Pei Xu ignored him, finished his vodka, paid, and left.
He casually leaned against a pillar by the bar entrance and called Peng Yi.
Peng Yi was startled when he came to pick him up.
In his two years with Pei Xu, he had never seen him look so grim, like some kind of beast about to devour someone.
“Mr. Pei, are you alright?”
He unconsciously lowered his voice.
Pei Xu sat in the back seat, not answering his question, simply saying, “Back to the hotel.”
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