That night, Lin Zhi was overwhelmed with the task at hand. He didn’t even remember how he managed to get the two unconscious people into the car. Fortunately, the hospital and Chu Shangluo’s house were on the way, so it didn’t require another detour. When Lin Zhi parked the car in front of Chu Shangluo’s house, he got out and opened the back door. He froze for a moment.

The two unconscious people were leaning on each other in the back seat. Chu Shangluo’s head rested on Ren Jiaoming’s chest, and Ren Jiaoming’s arms were wrapped around Chu Shangluo’s waist. Lin Zhi felt a pang in his heart. When he had helped them into the car earlier, they were each slumped on their own side, so how had they ended up in such a natural embrace in such a short time?

Suppressing the bitter feeling in his chest, Lin Zhi quickly helped Chu Shangluo into the house before rushing out to take Ren Jiaoming to the hospital. The whole way there, Lin Zhi seemed dazed, with images of Chu Shangluo and Ren Jiaoming leaning against each other constantly replaying in his mind. He didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling, but if he had to, it was a sense of foreboding. He had a feeling that, in the end, Chu Shangluo would end up with Ren Jiaoming.

There was something different about the aura between them when they were together. Whether inseparable or estranged, there was always an invisible wall between them, one that kept outsiders from getting close. Lin Zhi had long since given up on Chu Shangluo. So what if he liked him? He knew that someone like Chu Shangluo wasn’t suited for him. Chu Shangluo was drawn to people like Ren Jiaoming—someone with an attractive appearance, strong abilities, and the power to dominate him. More importantly, Ren Jiaoming had the capability to help Chu Shangluo. During Ren Jiaoming’s time at Chu’s company, the company’s efficiency had improved dramatically.

To Lin Zhi, Chu Shangluo was like the moon in the sea—something he could admire from afar but cannot reach and touch. The moment he reached out, it would shatter. To maintain this relationship, he was afraid to express his feelings. He was scared of it breaking, scared that he would no longer be able to enjoy the kindness Chu Shangluo had shown him.

Finally, the car stopped in front of the hospital. Lin Zhi glanced at Ren Jiaoming, who had turned pale. He sighed. He was truly envious of Ren Jiaoming.

Ren Jiaoming had just been sent into the ward, and after receiving an IV drip, he woke up.

He had a high fever, and his vision was blurry. It took him a while to clear his mind and figure out where he was. Lin Zhi, after giving him the prescribed medication, walked to the bedside and handed it to Ren Jiaoming with a stern face, “Take it as instructed.”

Ren Jiaoming looked at the medication with a hint of hope in his eyes and asked, “Who bought this?”

Lin Zhi replied, “I bought it. There’s no more of that luxury of Mr. Chu personally delivering medicine at night.”

The light in Ren Jiaoming’s eyes dimmed, and a cold, distant aura surrounded him, shutting others out. Lin Zhi placed the medication on the table. He didn’t really have much to say to Ren Jiaoming, since Ren Jiaoming didn’t seem to want to engage either. He turned to leave but, when he reached the door, couldn’t help himself. He returned, unwilling to accept it—how could Mr. Chu like such a heartless person? He said, “Ren Jiaoming, do you have no heart? Mr. Chu treats you well, and you reject him. You can say he’s pressuring you, but you’ve used him, and now you’re still clinging to him? What for?”

Ren Jiaoming silently stared at the medication on the table, not responding. Lin Zhi wasn’t usually hot-tempered, but Ren Jiaoming’s indifference irritated him. He really wanted to shake him up, “You really don’t understand Mr. Chu at all, do you? His brother got into an accident, and his family blamed him. He dropped everything to take his brother to the hospital, and had to give up his ambitions to manage Chu’s business. He worked day and night because he’s no genius in this field. He’s scared, scared of failing the Chu family. That’s why he’s always so anxious. Who doesn’t want to be happy? Mr. Chu wants that too, but he doesn’t dare relax. He thought having you would ease his burden, make him happier, but with you here, not only is he not happy, his emotions are even more unstable. The pressure is so great, he started smoking to cope. Seeing you didn’t like it, he quit, eating lollipop every day to fight the cravings. Once, he even called me in the middle of the night asking what to do for a toothache. I told him to buy some painkillers, but he had no idea what to get and ended up buying the wrong ones.”

Ren Jiaoming’s eyelashes trembled slightly, but he remained unresponsive, not even sure if he was listening.

Lin Zhi continued, feeling sorry for Mr. Chu, “Mr. Chu may seem cold and tough, but he’s good to everyone. He takes care of both close and distant relatives without complaint. Why is it that people like you always have to bully him? Just because he has a face that’s hard to approach? No matter who you’re with, don’t align yourself with the Wen family. Do you know that they’re the ones who bully Mr. Chu the most? And you’re helping them? You, of all people, bullying him like that! You have a heart of stone!”

His fists clenched, eyes red as he continued, “Do you know how many people are chasing after Mr. Chu? How many people like him? Even I—”

Lin Zhi took a deep breath, looking at Ren Jiaoming, who remained unmoved. He was furious and pushed the door open, slamming it shut with a loud “Bang!”

Ren Jiaoming remained sitting still, his fingers cold. He stayed like that for over two hours. When he came to his senses, the IV bottle was empty. Most of the blood from his body had flowed back into the IV tube. He was still a little dazed, staring at the growing blood in the tube.

It wasn’t until a nurse came in for a check-up and saw the scene that she quickly removed the IV tube. She gave Ren Jiaoming a few instructions and noticed his emotionless, blank expression, wondering if he had burned his brain out.

After the nurse left, the door to the ward opened again.

A man wearing a baseball cap and a mask walked in and stood by the bedside. He looked at Ren Jiaoming, who seemed lost in thought, quietly waiting for him to regain his focus. After an unknown amount of time passed, Ren Jiaoming blinked, then pulled a half-smoked cigarette out of his pocket. The cigarette had been thrown at his feet earlier by Chu Shangluo, and after Chu Shangluo left, Ren Jiaoming had picked it up and put it in his pocket. He gently rubbed the end of the cigarette, pondering its taste.

Ren Jiaoming looked at the man standing by the bed and said in a low voice, “Let’s put the matter of toppling the Wen family on hold for now. I have other plans.”

The man hesitated for a moment but asked nothing. He turned and left the room.

The next morning, Chu Shangluo was woken up by the sound of the phone ringing, still not fully sober. After listening to the call, his drunkenness dissipated by half. He quickly got dressed and rode his old electric scooter toward the fields.

Chu Shen was sitting in front of the rice field. When he saw Chu Shangluo, he quickly rushed over, saying, “I don’t know what happened, but all the rice we’ve worked so hard to plant for a week was destroyed overnight.”

Chu Shangluo frowned and patted Chu Shen on the shoulder, walking over to take a look. The rice in the paddy was all uprooted and floating on the surface of the water.

Chu Shangluo pulled out a cigarette and began smoking in frustration. There were no cameras in this area, so catching the culprit would be impossible. However, he had a good idea of who was behind it. Looking at Chu Shen’s dejected and miserable expression, Chu Shangluo felt more sympathy for the people of the Chu family who had worked in the hot sun for a week than for the lost rice.

Especially Chu Shen, whose skin was naturally tan, and after a week of working under the scorching sun, it had gotten even darker and sunburned. Chu Shangluo reached into his pocket, pulled out fifty yuan, and handed it to Chu Shen. “Alright, it’s done. We’ll stop planting rice. Don’t be upset, buy some burn cream and some food. Go ahead.”

Chu Shen replied, “…This makes me feel worse.” He sighed. “Last night, I was the one on night duty. It’s my fault I slept so deeply. And do I really need this fifty yuan? You should take it back.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Chu Shangluo said, looking at the countless footprints on the ground. “Someone was targeting us. Even if you had slept in the paddy, it wouldn’t have made a difference.”

That afternoon, Chu Shangluo and Lin Zhi boarded the yacht heading to the Yu family’s place for the second round of cooperation meetings. Only the companies that had passed the selection process were invited this time. The number of people on the yacht was half of what it had been before.

There were new faces as well as familiar ones. As expected, Chu Shangluo spotted Wen Yan inside, who was sitting with Chen Ran.

Chu Shangluo stared at Chen Ran’s unscathed legs, his mind occupied with thoughts on how to break one of Chen Ran’s legs to take revenge for Lin Zhi.

It seemed that Wen Yan had sensed Chu Shangluo’s gaze, as he raised his glass with a smile. Chu Shangluo wasn’t as fake as him, though. He held his glass and walked onto the deck, the sea breeze mixed with the salty, fishy smell of the water hit his face. The grip on his glass tightened. He had so many people to deal with.

The temperature on the sea was lower than on land, and since Chu Shangluo was only wearing a not-so-thick suit jacket, the cold breeze made him feel chilly. Just as he was thinking of going back, a coat was draped over his shoulders. He turned around to see Ren Jiaoming walking up to him, his gaze fixed on the distant island in silence.

Chu Shangluo studied Ren Jiaoming’s face; his complexion was much better than yesterday. His eyes were deep, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking. It seemed like his fever had subsided, and he had calmed down. He wasn’t clinging to him like he had been yesterday.

Chu Shangluo shrugged his shoulders and let the coat fall to the ground before turning back toward the cabin. Ren Jiaoming reached out his hand toward him but quickly withdrew it.

Chu Shangluo’s lips curled with a touch of coldness. He thought to himself that Ren Jiaoming had been all over him yesterday, regretting his mistake, but now today he was back with Wen Yan at Yu’s company. It seemed that Ren Jiaoming was just confused by his fever yesterday. As soon as the fever broke, his true nature was revealed again.

Chu Shangluo didn’t feel any sense of loss, though. He had long known what kind of person Ren Jiaoming was. Moreover, even if Wen Yan and Ren Jiaoming didn’t have any substantial intimate relationship, Chu Shangluo didn’t think for a second that Wen Yan had no significance in Ren Jiaoming’s heart. They were relatives, and they had known each other for a long time; it was impossible to say they had no feelings for each other.

Chu Shangluo often thought about how Ren Jiaoming had saved Wen Yan when the roof collapsed instead of saving him. He had thought he had already processed it, but it turned out he hadn’t. He had just been suppressing it deep inside, refusing to think about it.

Ever since Chu Shangluo had heard someone say that he was a substitute for Wen Yan, and noticed something felt off, all the ways Ren Jiaoming had treated him badly had resurfaced. This made his dissatisfaction with Ren Jiaoming reach its peak. No matter how many clothes Ren Jiaoming gave him, he couldn’t forget the harm done.

While thinking, Chu Shangluo lit a cigarette and took a slow drag. He returned to his seat, and soon after, Wen Yan came over holding a glass of wine to greet him.

“Chu Shangluo, how’s the farming going? You sure do have that earthy vibe about you now.”

Chu Shangluo could tell that Wen Yan was admitting to having been behind the rice field incident. The current Wen family certainly had the leverage to make Wen Yan feel untouchable.

Chu Shangluo smiled coldly, blowing a large puff of smoke in Wen Yan’s face. “Thanks to you, I didn’t want to plant rice in the first place, but I didn’t know how to tell my relatives to pull it up. You provided me with some free labor, saving me a lot of trouble. I should be thanking you.”

Wen Yan’s face darkened. If it was by accident that he had helped Chu Shangluo, then he truly disgusted himself. But he quickly regained his composure and raised an eyebrow.

“No need to thank me. I’m really looking forward to seeing if you make it onto the final collaboration list for Yu’s company today. If you do, I’ll call you ‘Grandfather.’^[1]Grandfather in chinese means respecting a person, it was a slang term used by younger ones.”

“‘Grandfather?’” Chu Shangluo found the term amusing. “Let’s make a bet then. If I’m on the list, you’ll call me ‘Dad’?”