Chapter 57

“Give it to me.” Lin Si rolled up his pant leg, took the healing spray from Lu Wei’s hand, and sprayed it generously on his knee. The air was instantly filled with the scent of traditional Chinese medicine.

“How did you fall?” Lu Wei looked down at his injury. “Did you hurt anywhere else?”

Lin Si pressed on his knee. “I fell during filming, but it wasn’t too bad.”

Lu Wei lifted the hem of his other pant leg slightly. “This side?”

“…Almost the same,” Lin Si replied.

“Let me see.”

Reluctantly, Lin Si rolled up his other pant leg. “I already said it’s about the same…”

After inspecting the injury, Lu Wei’s brows furrowed tightly. “Anywhere else?”

If he showed his elbows too, Lin Si would look completely battered. He instinctively tucked his arms in, not wanting Lu Wei to see.

But the clothes he wore today were loose-fitting, and with just a slight pull at his sleeve, Lu Wei revealed the hidden bruises on his elbow.

The rough asphalt of the set had scraped against Lin Si’s skin every time he fell. After more than a dozen takes, his knees, the sides of his legs, and his elbows were swollen and bruised, with patches of red, blue, and purple, contrasting starkly against his fair skin.

Lu Wei’s gaze darkened, and his voice turned ice-cold. “Who tripped you?”

“No one,” Lin Si said. “I didn’t do the scene well, so I kept reshooting. Director Ye and the others were worried I’d fall too much and wanted to delay filming, but I insisted on continuing.” He pulled his sleeve back down and lectured Lu Wei with practiced ease. “These are just minor injuries. Every dancer has all sorts of bruises and scrapes on their body, don’t make a big deal out of it.”

His words had a slight calming effect. Lu Wei’s mood was noticeably less grim, but he still said, “Let’s get it checked.”

Lu Wei didn’t carry him out, but he patted Lin Si’s arm. “We’re already at the hospital.”

And just like that, Lin Si was taken upstairs by Lu Wei. After confirming with the doctor that there were no fractures, his bruises were treated, and only then was he allowed to leave.

The entire time, Lu Wei’s expression remained solemn.

“Lu Wei,” Lin Si swallowed, “are you hungry?”

Hearing Lin Si’s voice, Lu Wei’s tense expression finally eased a little. “I’m not. Are you?”

“Yeah, I didn’t eat much earlier because I was worried about the blood test.” He took out his phone. “I’ll ask Liao Ji to bring us some late-night snacks. Want to eat together?”

Lu Yan gave a short “Mm” in response.

They probably wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon—Li Jicheng was still running tests and hadn’t returned yet.

A nearby doctor reminded them, “If you’re having a late-night snack, try to avoid spicy food and caffeine.”

Lin Si ultimately chose porridge. While waiting, he leaned against the sofa reading his script, while Lu Wei worked on some unfinished tasks. The room was silent for a long time.

It wasn’t until Lin Si, still holding his script, dozed off and tilted his head onto the sofa armrest that Lu Wei reached out and pulled him into his arms.

The movement woke Lin Si up. He sat up slightly and rubbed his eyes. “Liao Ji hasn’t arrived yet?”

“It’s only been ten minutes,” Lu Wei replied.

“Ah…” Lin Si inhaled, feeling a little dazed as he leaned gently against the sofa back, pressing against Lu Wei’s arm. “I thought it had already been an hour.”

Lu Wei didn’t retract his arm, keeping it loosely around Lin Si’s shoulders.

“How’s the filming going?” Lu Wei asked.

“The crew is great,” Lin Si said. “But the atmosphere is very different from when I filmed ‘Missing You, 66’. It’s a bit serious—everyone feels tense, and the efficiency is very high. Back in ‘Missing You, 66’, we still had time to sit and chat. But in Director Ye’s crew, if the actors are sitting down, they’re either discussing the script or rehearsing their lines.”

Lu Wei nodded slightly, prompting Lin Si to continue. “But it’s funny—one of my old co-stars from ‘Missing You, 66’ is in the neighboring crew.” He pointed to the bruise spray. “If it weren’t for him bringing this over today, I’d still be icing my bruises.”

“He treats you well,” Lu Wei commented.

“Yeah, he really took care of me on set. He even spoke up for me during a livestream.” Lin Si said, “Xiangyang-ge is a really good person.”

Lu Wei clenched his molars slightly but didn’t say anything more about the film crew.

They sat quietly for a while before Lin Si, holding his growling stomach, called Liao Ji to hurry up.

“He’s almost here,” Lin Si said.

They packed away the script and laptop, clearing the coffee table. Lin Si went to throw away some used tissues and, as he stepped outside, suddenly realized that the intensive care unit was just one floor above them.

He hadn’t checked the floor number when taking the elevator, but now, seeing the level displayed across from him, he hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Wei asked from inside.

Lin Si relaxed his fingers and stepped back in. “I just saw the ICU upstairs.”

Lu Wei followed Lin Si’s gaze to the brightly lit corridor upstairs, shining like daylight in the dark of night. He pushed the door slightly, shutting the light out behind it.

“Before I was discharged a few days ago, I went to see Old Master Lu,” Lin Si said.

On the other side of the sofa, the cushion sank slightly. Lu Wei rested his elbow on his knee, his voice devoid of emotion. “Mm.”

“I heard you haven’t visited him in a long time?”

Lu Wei rarely shared his thoughts with others, and even more so avoided mentioning his past. To the outside world, everyone knew Lu Shaoming was a man who had stolen the Yu family’s treasures. But the deeper truth about his mother—those were wounds Lu Wei never wanted to uncover.

“If anything happens to him, the hospital will call me,” Lu Wei replied.

Lin Si silently covered the back of his hand. The warmth from his palm spread up to his forearm before he absentmindedly touched his gland, his gaze unfocused.

At that time, under anesthesia, he had lost all feeling. Yet, he seemed to sense the scalpel cutting into his skin and vaguely saw the assistant passing different surgical instruments to Bu Wannian.

How many times had they done it? Lin Si couldn’t remember. Maybe three times, maybe four, before the surgery was suddenly stopped.

“I am Lu Shaoming’s son. That’s an unchangeable fact,” Lu Wei’s voice was neither light nor heavy, carrying a weight that filled the empty lounge. “If you dislike me, if you mind that, it’s completely understandable. You don’t need to feel guilty about it.”

He continued, “Everyone has to take responsibility for their identity, for what they’ve done, and for the things they’ve said. Although I hope you could accept me soonee, but no matter how long it takes, I’m willing to wait.”

Lu Wei’s words felt as if they had been carved straight from his heart—each one wounding him a little first before being carefully offered to Lin Si, in long and short fragments, one after another.

Sometimes, he wished he could do something to win Lin Si’s affection. Maybe if he changed his habits, spent more time around Lin Si, made himself a daily presence in his life, things would be different. But most of the time, all he did was send Lin Si a morning greeting, a midday check-in, and call him at night.

Clumsily learning how to love, awkwardly speaking of emotions.

“Lu Wei,” Lin Si called his name softly. “A few days ago, when I went to see Lu Shaoming, I stood outside and watched him sleep. He looked so much older, much thinner. But even seeing him like that, I still thought—everything that’s happening now is just his karma. You know… he knew the success rate of that surgery was low. Bu Wannian only tricked me because Lu Shaoming told him to. I—” Lin Si touched the back of his neck. “I was young then, my gland had just differentiated, and it wasn’t yet inseparably linked to my body like in adults. Plus, I was tied down by an unfair long-term contract with Shengshi Entertainment, so I had no way to run. That made me the perfect candidate for their experiment.”

From the start, Xiaoshan Hospital had been a product of Lu Shaoming’s ambition. Back then, Shengshi Entertainment was nothing in the industry without Lin Si as its pillar. After tearing apart all ties with the Yu family, Lu Shaoming, though outwardly composed, was desperate to carve out his own empire and prove himself. He wanted success, and Xiaoshan Hospital was his chosen path.

Lu Shaoming gathered a group of unethical yet highly skilled doctors under the hospital’s banner, stealing foreign medical research with the ambition of achieving groundbreaking advancements in medicine.

Lin Si pursed his lips. “If I didn’t know about all of this, I wouldn’t hate him so much. But I do know. And knowing makes it impossible to be kind—I have very dark, very ugly thoughts.”

Between him and Lu Wei stood the towering shadow of Lu Shaoming, a weight that had been pressing down on him for years, keeping him from moving freely.

After saying all this, Lin Si felt exhausted. He lowered his gaze to the edge of the coffee table. “But I like you. I really like you.”

The moment those words left his lips, he was pulled into a warm embrace. Alpha pheromones surrounded him, driving away the heavy weight in his chest.

This was their first real hug—neither induced by heat nor existing in a virtual world. It was a hug just for the sake of embracing.

If Lin Si wanted, he could press his hand against Lu Wei’s strong, broad back, or grasp onto any part of him.

“I’m sorry,” Lu Wei murmured.

The nose that had been blocked during the blood test earlier now ached again. Lin Si rested his chin on Lu Wei’s shoulder.

The quiet moment was shattered by the sound of the door opening. Liao Ji walked in carrying two bags of food. “The place you ordered from was closed, so I had to drive to another district—”

The two figures on the sofa quickly pulled apart in panic. Lin Si, hands and feet in disarray, flushed red all the way to his ears—his first time ever showing embarrassment in front of Liao Ji.

“…”

Liao Ji really wanted to scold Lin Si, but with Lu Wei sitting right there, he couldn’t just embarrass him outright. Instead, he slammed the container of porridge onto the table. “You still don’t know why your pheromones have been leaking, and here you are, hugging left and right. If it turns out it’s because of too much physical contact, what will you do then?”

Lin Si, looking like a primary school kid who felt guilty for doing something wrong, scratched his fingers and mumbled, “It was just a hug… it’s not like we kissed or slept together.”

Liao Ji, who had just decided to let things go, suddenly had his temper go back up like a rollercoaster taking a sharp 90-degree turn. He strode over and grabbed Lin Si by the ear. Just as he twisted it hard enough to make Lin Si yelp, his own hand was firmly seized by Lu Wei.

Liao Ji quickly jerked his hand away, glaring. “What are you looking at?” His wrist actually hurt a little. He muttered under his breath, “Of all people, a Lu has the least right to control him!”

The atmosphere felt a bit off, so Lin Si quickly grabbed the porridge container and awkwardly asked, “Which district did you go to buy this? Was it really far?”

Liao Ji didn’t respond. Lin Si tugged at his sleeve and opened a container of pumpkin millet porridge, taking a sniff. “Smells so good.”

Liao Ji said, “Just eat and stop acting cute.”

Realizing that Liao Ji wasn’t actually that mad anymore, Lin Si grinned and handed him his favorite Ting Zai (boat) porridge. Then, he passed two bowls of plain porridge to Lu Wei and opened a small dish of side dishes. “Let’s eat first, let’s eat first—I’m starving.”

Just as they were about to finish eating, Li Jicheng knocked on the door.

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T/n: I think what our Si cub has gone through so far is so torturous nd painful that I’m surprised that he is even willing to be with ML even though ML is innocent in all of this. But yeah, let’s see how they spread more dog food in coming chapters becoz this is no angst novel lol 😆😂. Stay tuned guys 🥳😏. If you want to show me some support you can buy me a Ko-Fi or go to my paypal page. Happy Reading 🤩❤️