Lu Yanchen had a dream.
In the dream, Yu Chuci stood in the sea of sunflowers, dressed in white, smiling gently at him.
But just as he wanted to reach out and embrace him, Yu Chuci suddenly, right before his eyes, dissolved into countless white butterflies and vanished in the wind.
“Chuci!”
Lu Yanchen jolted awake from the dream, his back covered in a cold sweat.
He glanced at the time; it was almost dawn.
The business banquet had ended. Because of the inexplicable unease in his heart, he hadn’t stayed the night but had driven straight back.
The moment he stepped through the door, he sensed something was off about the atmosphere in the villa.
It was too quiet.
Quiet enough to make his heart race with panic.
“Chuci?”
Lu Yanchen called his name as he hurried towards the bedroom.
The bedroom was empty.
He checked the bathroom, the study, even the back garden, but there was still no sign of Yu Chuci.
Finally, as if guided by some unseen force, he went up to the rooftop terrace.
The moment he pushed the door open, he saw the pair of slippers neatly placed at the edge of the terrace.
Lu Yanchen’s mind went blank with a sudden buzz.
“Chuci!”
He let out a heart-wrenching cry and frantically rushed to the railing to look down.
On the lawn below the villa, a frail figure lay still, a terrifying, ever-expanding pool of red spreading beneath them.
Lu Yanchen felt all the blood in his body freeze solid.
He stumbled and scrambled down the stairs, rushing to the lawn.
“Chuci… Chuci, don’t scare me…”
His hands trembling, Lu Yanchen wanted to hold him but was terrified of hurting him further. He could only call his name incoherently.
Yu Chuci wasn’t completely unconscious yet.
He opened his eyes slightly, looking at the man before him, whose face was full of terror and streaked with tears. A smile of release tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Lu Yanchen… I can finally… leave you…”
After saying this, his hand fell heavily to the ground.
“No—!”
Lu Yanchen let out a desperate roar. He picked up Yu Chuci and frantically rushed out.
“Help! Someone get help!”
The bodyguards and servants in the villa were alerted, and the scene descended into chaos.
Outside the hospital operating room.
Lu Yanchen stared fixedly at the tightly closed doors, his entire being like a soulless walking corpse.
His hands, his clothes—everything was covered in Yu Chuci’s blood.
That blood had been warm, but now it felt so cold it made him shiver.
“Yu Chuci, if you dare to die, I’ll go and kill Shen Qingcheng! I’ll make everyone you care about bury you!”
He growled through gritted teeth, but the tears in his eyes couldn’t stop falling.
Just survive, just survive… I’ll promise you anything.
The surgery lasted a full ten hours.
Every second was endless torture for Lu Yanchen.
Finally, the light above the operating room went out.
The exhausted doctor walked out and removed his mask. “The patient is out of critical danger. However, due to the fall from a height, he has multiple fractures and internal organ damage. Whether he wakes up or not depends on the next forty-eight hours.”
Lu Yanchen staggered, nearly falling.
Out of critical danger…
As long as he’s not dead, as long as he’s not dead.
Yu Chuci was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit.
Lu Yanchen canceled all his work and kept vigil by the hospital bed day and night.
He held Yu Chuci’s pale, slender hand, talking to him incessantly by his ear.
“Chuci, please wake up, okay?”
“You wanted to go sketching, right? When you’re better, I’ll go with you. Anywhere you want.”
“You wanted to go home, right? I bought that apartment. We can live there from now on. I’ll never have people follow you again.”
But the person on the bed gave no response.
Until the morning of the third day, when Yu Chuci’s fingertips twitched slightly.
“Chuci?”
Lu Yanchen called out in surprised hope.
Yu Chuci slowly opened his eyes, his gaze empty as he looked at the ceiling.
“Doctor! Get the doctor!”
After a series of checks, the doctor’s expression turned grim.
“Mr. Lu, while the patient’s physical functions are recovering, his will to live is extremely weak.”
The doctor sighed. “If the patient himself doesn’t want to live, no matter how hard we try, it’s useless.”
Lu Yanchen’s heart sank like a stone.
He walked to the bedside, looking into Yu Chuci’s lifeless eyes, feeling as if his heart were being sliced by a knife.
“Yu Chuci, you win.”
He said in a low voice, his tone carrying an unprecedented sense of defeat.
“As long as you live properly, I’ll let you go.”
Yu Chuci’s long eyelashes fluttered. Finally, he turned his head, his gaze falling on Lu Yanchen’s face.
“Really?”
His voice was very faint, almost inaudible.
“Really.”
Lu Yanchen closed his eyes, tears tracing down his cheeks.
“As long as you live, you can go anywhere you want.”
He finally understood that his sick love had ultimately destroyed this young man who was once full of sunshine.
If the price of keeping him was to destroy him, then he would rather choose to let go.
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