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Shenzhen Hospital.
Several men were gathered in a VIP hospital room, staring at one man like spectators at a panda exhibit.
Zhou Cong lay with his eyes closed, lips drained of color, and muttered, “Get the hell out.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Zhen Chuang dropped onto the sofa, “What’d you do, drink pesticide? Food poisoning?”
Hua Qingyang scratched his head and guessed, “What’d you eat that gave you food poisoning?”
The man on the hospital bed looked completely drained. The striped hospital gown made his face look even more pale and frail. He leaned against the pillow, lifeless.
Ji Huailuo pushed the door open and shouted, “I heard the Old Master yelling like he was on stage, scolding Uncle Zhou and Aunt Zhou for being so busy with work they can’t even guarantee food safety for their child…”
Zhou Cong had a headache. He was already grown, and still his parents were being dragged into it whenever he got hospitalized.
“Hey,” Ji Huailuo looked down at him, “What exactly did you do?”
Zhou Cong’s tone was weak, “Get out.”
“Nope,” Ji Huailuo was enjoying himself for once. “Sister Li was right. You’ve been raised too soft.”
Zhen Chuang and Hua Qingyang nodded in agreement, the three of them taking turns to mock him.
Zhou Cong simply shut his ears to them, reached for his phone, and tapped it on.
A money transfer notification, and a message.
Damn it.
His stomach hurt worse.
He tossed the phone aside with a thud.
Better to face the taunts of these three mutts.
Since Zhou Cong wasn’t reacting or joining in, Hua Qingyang lost interest and turned to Ji Huailuo. “What brought you here?”
“Why wouldn’t I come?” Ji Huailuo snapped. “I don’t want to stay in that house.”
Zhen Chuang: “Fought with your Father again?”
“Do I even have the right to fight with him?” Ji Huailuo snorted. “That fake little sister of mine is so damn sensitive. I raise my voice and she shrinks like I’m about to hit her. Makes me lose my appetite.”
“……”
Hua Qingyang side-eyed the hospital bed. “Then lower your voice. Or get a voice surgery or something. Pinch the vocal cords a bit…”
“Pinch your ancestors,” Ji Huailuo cursed, “Tomorrow I’ll pinch your sister.”
Hua Qingyang sneered, “Please. With your psycho-lion-dog temper, my sister’s gonna have nightmares.”
The hospital room door opened again. It was Old Master Zhou.
The three men stood up immediately. “Grandfather.”
The old man’s face was full of anger. “From now on, every single meal, you eat at home!”
“……” Zhou Cong frowned. “I’m not a three-year-old.”
“You’re thirty,” the Old Master said sternly, “and you’ll still eat every meal at home!”
Zhou Cong closed his eyes. “This was just an accident.”
The Old Master radiated the aura of a battlefield general. “The Zhou family has dwindled down to just you. Can we afford even one accident?”
“……” Zhou Cong was helpless. “Fine, I’ll urge your son and daughter-in-law to have a second child.”
The old man snorted coldly. “Your grandmother and I had two at least. If your parents won’t, then you will.”
The other three men snickered quietly.
“That’s settled then,” as if fearing the family line might die out, the Old Master laid down the law. “Once you’re discharged, go on blind dates. Try to have the first kid next year.”
Zhou Cong: “……”
Was he a production line worker?
The Old Master came fast and left faster.
Zhen Chuang gloated, “So the legendary matchmaking arc is finally starting.”
“That was quick,” Ji Huailuo clicked his tongue. “I thought they’d at least let you enjoy two more years.”
Hua Qingyang asked, “Your families rushing you yet? Mine brought it up twice. Thank god I’m not an only child—my sister can inherit.”
Ji Huailuo raised a brow. “Well, my sister can inherit too.”
Honestly?
Having siblings didn’t seem so bad.
“……”
Damn.
Funny how just a minute ago, some people were talking tough.
The two who had sisters looked smugly at the other two who didn’t.
Zhen Chuang calmly brushed dust from his jacket. “I have a girlfriend. We’ll have a baby tomorrow.”
“……”
Apparently, no one had known he had a girlfriend.
But that wasn’t the point now.
The three turned again to the man on the bed—no sister, no girlfriend, pampered and pitiful.
Zhou Cong shut his eyes again. “All of you, get lost.”
“I actually have to go,” Ji Huailuo ran a hand through his hair. “Xu Zhiqiao’s acting weird—she’s moving to the dorm tomorrow. My father and her mother are acting even weirder. Didn’t even try to stop her…”
Before he could finish, everyone’s eyes turned to him.
As if saying, You really don’t know?
Ji Huailuo swallowed the rest of his sentence. “Was I supposed to know?”
“Brother,” Hua Qingyang clicked his tongue, “Why do you think your sister’s working?”
“…How the hell would I know?”
Zhen Chuang dragged out his words sarcastically, “If I were your Father, I’d start making a second child immediately. At least the Ji family might still be saved.”
“Screw you,” Ji Huailuo cursed. “You all clearly know something. Spit it out!”
Hua Qingyang: “You think we can barely handle your yelling, and your sister’s supposed to?”
“……”
Zhen Chuang: “She humors you, tiptoes around, doesn’t spend an extra cent… all to preserve your role as the only son.”
“I give her half my salary! What else do you want? Should I give her everything and go starve?”
Hua Qingyang: “Tch!”
Ji Huailuo: “Speak like a human being!”
Zhen Chuang leisurely added, “Dog food.”
“……”
“Forget it,” the man on the bed finally spoke up, voice cold and flat. “Moving out is a good thing.”
Ji Huailuo suddenly remembered something and tried to flip the script. “You guys can drop the act. You two—” he pointed at Zhen Chuang and Hua Qingyang, “You think my sister didn’t see the look in your eyes the first time you met her?”
That look like she was some outsider’s kid.
He snorted, then turned to the bed. “And you—”
Zhou Cong: “……”
What now?
“Hua Niuniu’s allergic to mangoes. Qingyang doesn’t even let them near her. I got Er De from you. You all say my sister’s smart—don’t you think she knows when kindness is fake?”
Zhou Cong’s eyes shot open.
“Let’s all stop pretending,” Ji Huailuo gave a low laugh. “We’re not from the same world. We’re brothers now, but one day we’ll be competitors. On the surface it’s business, behind the scenes we’re still brothers. But Xu Zhiqiao? She can’t do that.”
She couldn’t.
She couldn’t accept that kind of split reality.
Ji Huailuo continued, “What we think is respectful is really just condescending. So let’s not kid ourselves, brothers. Don’t fake it. The big brother is no better than the little one.”
“……”
The room fell into silence.
No one spoke for a long time.
Finally, Zhou Cong’s voice rasped, “Then what do you want from us?”
His eyes were sharp as ice. “She couldn’t stay in the Ji Family. Now you want us to help push her out of Shenzhen too?”