HL 41

“Nan Xiao, don’t move.”

While chewing on bread, Xu Nanxiao heard Ying Yusheng say this. Immediately after, the other’s face drew close, and a shadow cast down over him.

Xu Nanxiao was startled and instinctively shut his eyes, shrinking back.

Yet the anticipated kiss never came; instead, fingertips brushed swiftly across his cheek.

“You were eating too fast, and there’s something on your face.” With that, Ying Yusheng pulled out a tissue and wiped Xu Nanxiao’s mouth for him.

Xu Nanxiao stood frozen in place, letting Ying Yusheng do as he would. By the time he came to his senses, his complexion had shifted from white to green and then to purple.

Ying Yusheng wiped his fingers clean, looked up, and pretended only then to notice his unusual state, asking with a smile: “What’s wrong? Did you think I was going to kiss you?”

Xu Nanxiao said without any politeness: “Get lost!”

Watching Xu Nanxiao storm off cursing, Ying Yusheng was still laughing.

Even a blind person could see the change in Xu Nanxiao.

When he had laughed enough, Ying Yusheng gazed at Xu Nanxiao’s retreating back and thought: though Xu Nanxiao, who forced himself to accept it, had a flavor all his own, the Xu Nanxiao who relied on him was also not bad.

This saved a great deal of trouble. Ying Yusheng did not want every intimate moment from now on to feel like a battle.

He looked down on coercion and violence—they were pathetic and low-class. He preferred to handle matters with dignity.

As for the matter of “Xu Nanxiao liking him” itself, to say he was particularly surprised—actually, he wasn’t.

Everything was simply developing naturally toward the outcome Ying Yusheng had planned, just like everything before. It was merely a matter of sooner or later.

During this time, Ying Baiying had come to the school to find Ying Yusheng many times.

Mindful of Ying Yusheng’s warning and the company shares he held, Ying Baiying did not appear directly before Xu Nanxiao. She only pressured and cajoled Ying Yusheng, urging him to end this distorted relationship as soon as possible.

But if he could be swayed by others’ words, then he wouldn’t be Ying Yusheng.

So Ying Baiying found that her son still went his own way, and was even more intimate with Xu Nanxiao than before.

Her youngest son had died at Xu Nanxiao’s hands. Though mother and son had spent little time together, blood was ultimately thicker than water, and Ying Baiying had spent many years trying to forget that hatred. Now her eldest son had also been bewitched by Xu Nanxiao, entangled with him in all manner of filthy, heaven-defying acts.

Ying Baiying realized that this man named Xu Nanxiao was simply her bane.

She had to do something, or she would be driven mad by this man.

Xu Nanxiao knew nothing of this. More than ten days later, he needed to go out to negotiate a deal on sports equipment and asked Ying Yusheng to borrow his car.

“That’s fine,” Ying Yusheng said. “But didn’t you just pick up a car recently? Why use mine?”

“That car of mine is too cheap. When I go out to talk business, I need to keep up appearances.”

“There’s an Aston Martin in my garage. Why not take that?”

“No, that’s a bit too flashy.”

“Heh heh, I don’t understand your standards.” Ying Yusheng lowered his head with a soft laugh.

Now whenever he saw Ying Yusheng laugh, Xu Nanxiao always felt his heart inexplicably speed up. He snapped back to himself, cursed inwardly, and berated himself for being so spineless.

Still, he always felt that Ying Yusheng wasn’t quite the same as when they first met. His smiles now were less fake—how to put it—they carried more of a living person’s warmth.

“Alright,” Ying Yusheng’s voice drew Xu Nanxiao’s thoughts back. “Then tomorrow I’ll drive your car to the academic annual meeting.”

So the next day, the two set off in each other’s cars.

Because their destinations were along the same route, they traveled together for a long stretch. Ying Yusheng appeared refined and easygoing, but he drove with unexpected wildness and daring. Xu Nanxiao struggled to keep up, barely able to catch sight of his car’s rear.

At first all was well; Xu Nanxiao even hummed along to music. But not long after leaving the city, he happened to look up and noticed that Ying Yusheng’s car seemed off.

That silver sedan was swaying slightly back and forth in its lane like a drunkard.

Xu Nanxiao frowned, thinking that Ying Yusheng hadn’t drunk anything last night—so why couldn’t he drive straight?

Then Xu Nanxiao’s breath caught. Because he noticed that Ying Yusheng’s brake lights were actually staying on through a section where there was no need to slow down—that dim, unsteady red glow like the pulse of a dying struggle.

Xu Nanxiao’s heart sank. Something was wrong.

He immediately accelerated to close the distance, rolled down his window, and tried to call out to him. At that moment, a faint, acrid burning smell wafted in on the wind—the smell of overheated brake pads.

There was a problem with the brakes—and a serious one at that!

The sudden shock of information left Xu Nanxiao’s mind blank for an instant. He thought dazedly, impossible—he’d just picked up that car, it hadn’t even been three months since it was registered. It had been driving perfectly fine before—how could the brakes suddenly fail now?!

Before he could calm down, a sharp turn appeared ahead. Both cars practically drifted through the curve, tires screeching against the road in a tremendous wail! Immediately after, a large freight truck suddenly loomed ahead, and Ying Yusheng’s car showed no sign of slowing, shooting straight toward it like an arrow!

At first, Ying Yusheng hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

Things started feeling off as he merged onto the expressway.

The pedal feel was wrong.

The pedal was softer than usual, with longer travel, and the car’s deceleration feedback grew increasingly faint. Though it hadn’t completely failed yet, the braking power was rapidly diminishing.

Ying Yusheng’s expression turned serious. He tapped the brakes a few more times gently and fully confirmed that this was no mechanical failure.

He immediately turned on his hazard lights to warn the cars behind and began thinking of countermeasures. He couldn’t slam the brakes—that might make the last bit of braking force vanish entirely. He couldn’t turn off the engine either—the steering wheel would lock up immediately. His only option was to use the engine to slow the vehicle down.

He gripped the gear lever, shifted from D to manual mode, and began downshifting one gear at a time. His gaze swept forward and caught sight of a construction area not far ahead, with piles of sand and dirt that could barely serve as a rough impact buffer.

But when Ying Yusheng looked ahead again, a sky-obscuring mass of steel shadow came rushing straight at his face—when had that happened? Too late! He was going to hit! Five seconds! No! Three!

His mind could still think, but his body simply couldn’t react. At that very moment, a dull, tremendous crash came from the side!

Boom!!!

The steering wheel lurched violently into his chest, and a powerful lateral force shoved both him and the car toward the right!

The steering wheel fought fiercely in Ying Yusheng’s hands, like a startled wild horse. Ying Yusheng held it with all his might, throwing his whole body’s strength against the trend of losing control, his foot tapping the brakes to modulate the force of the collision.

Finally, amid a grating, teeth-aching screech and billowing dust, the front of the car plunged straight into the sandpile. The powerful inertia was absorbed and dissipated by the soft sand. The car lunged forward once, and then came to a complete stop.

The world fell silent instantly. Only a few odd hissing sounds from under the hood and Ying Yusheng’s own ragged breathing remained.

Ying Yusheng felt the world spinning, his vision going dark. Something wet was streaming down his face, and then began to sting—he didn’t need to touch it to know it was blood.

Fortunately, the twisted, deformed door could still open.

Ying Yusheng staggered out of the car, his entire body aching as if it had been shattered and pieced back together. Looking around, he suddenly noticed that Xu Nanxiao’s car had also slammed violently into a tree by the roadside. Only then did he realize that in that critical instant, Xu Nanxiao had risked his life to ram his car out of the way.

Xu Nanxiao’s front end was deeply caved in, and the airbags had deployed, filling the cabin space so fully that no figure was visible.

Ying Yusheng called out in a daze: “Nan… Xiao?”

Huff… huff… huff… huff…

There was no response—only his own deafening breaths rampaging through his ear canals. Finally, with a sharp “zzz,” they turned into a piercing white noise inside his skull.

At the hospital, Ying Yusheng kept close beside Dr. Mao the entire time.

“Why isn’t he awake yet? Did he suffer a head injury?”

“Mr. Ying, please don’t worry. Mr. Xu has had a full examination. Apart from a mild concussion, there are no other issues. All we can do now is wait.”

“But it’s been a whole day, and he’s still unconscious.”

“You’re injured too, you know. It’s best not to get up and move around too often.”

Ying Yusheng could no longer contain his temper. His voice suddenly rose sharply as he shouted at Dr. Mao: “You say there’s no problem, no problem—then why hasn’t he woken up yet?!”

Dr. Mao was startled and stared at him blankly.

Only then did Ying Yusheng realize he had lost his composure. He took two deep breaths, forcing down the surging emotions, and pinched the bridge of his nose as he said: “I’m sorry. I know you’ve done all you can. I’m practically half a doctor myself, but still…”

Ying Yusheng was a long-term VIP ward member, and Dr. Mao was an old acquaintance. In all the time they’d known each other, this was the first time Dr. Mao had seen Ying Yusheng so agitated and restless. When he had arrived with the ambulance, the blood from Ying Yusheng’s face had been streaming into his eyes without him even bothering to wipe it away—he was utterly distraught.

Though Dr. Mao didn’t ask, he could guess that this Mr. Xu must share a special relationship with Ying Yusheng.

“It’s alright, Mr. Ying. I understand how you feel.” Toward the hospital’s biggest patron, Dr. Mao naturally offered gentle reassurance. “In my experience, Mr. Xu should wake up today.”

At this point, Dr. Mao had essentially thrown his disclaimer to the wind and stated it definitively. Ying Yusheng naturally could not press him further. After expressing his thanks, he let Dr. Mao leave.

After Dr. Mao departed, the inpatient ward grew quiet again. Ying Yusheng stood there in a daze for a few minutes. He did not return to his own room, but walked instead to Xu Nanxiao’s room.

The hospital’s VIP ward was different from ordinary ones. The double doors slid open silently, and what came into view was less a hospital room than a lakeside presidential suite. No noise, no crowding—only the shifting light and shadows outside the window.

Ying Yusheng stood by the bed, silently watching Xu Nanxiao. If not for the gauze wrapped around his head, he looked more like he was just asleep.

Acting on impulse, Ying Yusheng took off his coat, slowly lay down beside Xu Nanxiao, and gently rested his head on Xu Nanxiao’s outstretched arm, pressing himself against his chest.

The sunlight’s fingers just reached across the bed, warming the entire quilt, and even Xu Nanxiao’s hair and eyelashes seemed to radiate that warmth.

Ying Yusheng gently smoothed the faint crease between the other’s brows, thinking: Why, even in your sleep, do you look so unhappy?

Why do you always put on a cold front and speak with such harsh words?

Why do you care more about face than anything else?

Why do you keep getting entangled with all kinds of women?

Why did you risk your life to save me back then?

Ying Yusheng didn’t actually need Xu Nanxiao’s love; he only needed the other to be unable to leave him. Even if he pursued Xu Nanxiao, offering gentleness, thoughtfulness, and attention, it wasn’t because he wanted Xu Nanxiao to be happy. He cared only about himself—and these were merely the most effective means of “conquest.”

But that could not explain where the fullness in his heart at this moment came from.

It was as though he had swallowed a hundred butterflies, a hundred dragonflies, and a hundred larks. When they fluttered their wings, the world around him suddenly burst into clamor, and the wind they stirred trembled like bells in every one of his cells.

And Ying Yusheng still did not understand what this meant.