Chapter 74 Brother, It Hurts So Much…

Chapter 74: Brother, It Hurts So Bad…

Li Wangyue got an invitation from the SDA, saying there was an event in the capital he had to go to, and Jiang Teng would be there too.

Call it an event, but Li Wangyue could tell it was just a free trip. Everyone wanted to get in on it; a bunch of people came, booked the nicest hotel, and flew business class—super comfy.

Once they got there, they called it "research," showed their faces at the event for two hours, and spent the rest of the time chilling on vacation.

This kind of thing wasn't as obvious in the capital, but there was a meeting in Hawaii once, and most of Li Wangyue's department went. It was an open secret, something everyone just knew.

After Ji Zhijia left for a business trip, Li Wangyue was living alone. Sometimes, when he didn't feel like cooking or ordering in, he'd just boil some frozen wontons.

Right when they were done and still steaming hot, he scooped one up with a spoon to cool it, and the doorbell rang.

At this hour, it definitely wasn't Ji Zhijia, and no neighbor would just drop by—it could only be one person.

He acted like he hadn't heard, kept blowing on the wonton. Once it was cool enough, he ate it in one bite, chewed slowly, and only then got up and walked to the door.

Through the peephole, he saw the guy standing outside, looking down at his phone.

Li Wangyue stayed put.

Ting Zhenxi, like he had X-ray vision, looked up and met his gaze through the peephole, then knocked twice more.

Li Wangyue opened the door but didn't let him inside.

“What do you want?”

“I'm hungry.” Ting Zhenxi tilted his head to peek through the crack. “What's that smell? Smells good.”

“Nothing. You wouldn't like it anyway.” Li Wangyue said, still not letting him in.

Ting Zhenxi ignored his resistance and sidestepped to let himself in.

The moment he got close, Li Wangyue tried to push him, but his palm hit the thickness under his shirt—tightly wrapped bandages.

Ting Zhenxi took a breath, and Li Wangyue could feel him rise and fall.

Li Wangyue pulled his hand back like he'd been shocked, and the guy seized the chance to slip inside.

“Your injury still isn't healed?” Li Wangyue watched his back.

Ting Zhenxi glanced back, then sat down on the floor, stirring the wontons with a spoon. “What do you think I'm made of? It's only been a few days.”

“Who told you not to listen to the doctor? If you'd just rested at home, you wouldn't have gotten hurt again.”

“Brother's lesson is well taken. I'll definitely change.”

That tone usually meant he had no intention of actually changing.

“What's the filling?” Ting Zhenxi asked.

“Three-delicacy. What, are you allergic?”

“No, just picky.” Ting Zhenxi took his spoon, scooped up a wonton, blew on it, and popped it in his mouth.

Li Wangyue was speechless. He went to the kitchen to make another bowl, but there were none left.

“You can share with me. I don't mind.” Ting Zhenxi was being very generous.

“That was mine to begin with.” Li Wangyue's face darkened.

“Then I'll thank brother for sharing with me.” Ting Zhenxi adapted smoothly, always able to counter whatever Li Wangyue said, just to piss him off.

Li Wangyue got a bowl and scooped some out of Ting Zhenxi's bowl.

They ate the not-so-great wontons in silence, sharing the bowl.

“I'm heading back to Yunling in a few days,” Ting Zhenxi said.

“Oh.” Li Wangyue didn't care, even felt a little hopeful.

“The doctor said I need another surgery.” Ting Zhenxi finished eating and put down his spoon.

Li Wangyue paused mid-bite, then went back to eating normally. “Didn't you already get one?”

“That was just emergency lifesaving. The bullet's still inside. It needs to come out.”

“…Bullet?” Li Wangyue didn't know what to say. “A gunshot?”

So that gunshot he'd heard back then…

“Yes.”

“The one on your left?”

“Mm.”

Li Wangyue had seen where he was bleeding—somewhere between the lower left ribs, though he didn't know exactly which one.

He knew it was close to his heart.

He'd felt a moment of panic, but Ting Zhenxi seemed fine, able to track him down here and send him those dumb texts every day to bother him. Except for the first day when he collapsed from blood loss, he looked pretty good after that.

His voice hoarse, Li Wangyue said, “It should be fine. You're recovering well enough anyway.”

“The doctor said the bullet is lodged deep.” Ting Zhenxi grabbed his hand and used his finger to point at a spot on his chest. “Right here, a few centimeters in.”

Li Wangyue wanted to pull his hand back. He didn't want to touch it. He was weirdly afraid that what he touched might stop beating, or that it might still be beating.

When he'd helped press on Ting Zhenxi's wound to stop the bleeding, he'd felt the heartbeat—fast at first, like a pump desperately forcing water out, beating so hard he couldn't hold it down, then gradually slowing.

Li Wangyue even thought that if they hadn't gotten him to the hospital in time, Ting Zhenxi might have actually died.

He pulled his hand back, and Ting Zhenxi didn't hold tight, letting him go with a slight effort.

“Listen to the doctor. Rest up after the surgery. Don't run around.” Li Wangyue stuffed the last wonton into his mouth, stacked their empty bowls, and got up to take them to the kitchen.

“Brother.”

Ting Zhenxi called from behind him.

Li Wangyue didn't turn around. He turned on the faucet and rinsed the bowls under the stream.

“What if I don't wake up?”

Li Wangyue scrubbed hard at the oil stains on the bowl, even though there wasn't much oil.

Ting Zhenxi got no response and called him by name: “Li Wangyue.”

"Snap," he turned off the faucet, gave the bowl a hard shake to dry it, and placed it on the rack.

"Write a will, get your affairs in order. Simple as that."

"And what about you?" Ting Zhenxi asked, calm.

"What's that got to do with me?"

Ting Zhenxi didn't say a word.

Li Wangyue dried his hands and turned around, only to find Ting Zhenxi right there, almost nose-to-nose with him.

"Nothing? I thought you'd cry over me."

Li Wangyue looked away from his intense stare, trying to leave, but Ting Zhenxi's arms encircled him, pinning him against the counter, waiting for an answer.

He suddenly smirked, meeting Ting Zhenxi's eyes: "Want me to cry? Fine. You die first, and I'll cry right after."

He said it partly out of annoyance from being pushed too far. Ting Zhenxi's look softened a bit, and he let go.

Before Li Wangyue could react, he grabbed his coat and left, closing the door behind him.

The living room went quiet again, like no one had ever been there.

·

Li Wangyue walked into the lounge, where a server had just poured his tea and set out some pastries.

"Thanks," Li Wangyue said with a nod and a grateful smile.

Jiang Teng had just arrived, gave him a quick rundown, then went off to mingle with the other attendees. In settings like this, Jiang Teng was always smooth and charming, handling everything with ease. Li Wangyue remembered how he handled communications in the association and felt reassured.

With an assistant like that, he could relax.

He'd just sat down for a sip of tea when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

Jiang Teng opened the door and poked his head in. "Engineer Li, the new team from Ruihai just showed up. They asked about our project progress and said if it's far enough along, they'll skip the pilot and sign the contract directly."

Li Wangyue's eyes lit up: "That's great. Where is he? I'll go talk to him myself."

Jiang Teng shook his head gently: "We've already signed over the priority cooperation rights for that land for the next ten years to the Qin family."

Li Wangyue was confused: "Wasn't that still up in the air?"

He remembered that who got the priority cooperation rights was still being debated in the association, with no final decision yet.

Jiang Teng just smiled at that, didn't answer, and went on: "In this situation, I'd usually say pick someone you can afford to piss off and turn them down."

"Which one can we afford to piss off?"

"We can't afford to piss off either." Jiang Teng pulled out a tablet and showed him: "On Ruihai's side, we don't have many people we can talk to in the new team. We need a real partnership to get the investment. As for the Qin family, we can't afford to piss them off at all. This land is key, so everyone's fighting for it. As long as the land is in our hands, we hold the leverage. But if they find out we're using it to play them against each other, we'll end up pissing off both..."

Jiang Teng's lips moved, his words all twisty and complicated, and Li Wangyue suddenly felt a headache coming on.

He couldn't figure it out.

"Can we take it slow? Let me think of something," Li Wangyue said.

Jiang Teng gave a little bow and left.

The event was supposed to last two days, but Li Wangyue only had to show up for one afternoon.

He thought over what Jiang Teng had said.

It was clearly a hot potato, and having his department show up might have been a way to dump it on him.

He got home late, wasn't hungry, was exhausted but couldn't sleep. He forced himself to eat a little, then called Jiang Teng to figure something out.

He worked until late, took a shower, didn't feel like going to bed, wrapped himself in a blanket, and watched a movie on the couch.

His phone rang—Ting Zhenxi.

After that day, he'd vanished without a trace, so completely that Li Wangyue wondered if his sudden visit for wontons had been another dream.

He didn't answer. The movie's dialogue and the ringtone blurred together. After a moment, the ringing stopped.

Li Wangyue's eyes dropped from the screen to his phone.

He held his breath.

When the number lit up again, he let out a sigh of relief.

He picked up the phone.

There was silence on the other end.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Still nothing.

Li Wangyue sat up straight, frowning: "Ting Zhenxi, don't play dumb and scare me."

After a long pause, a muffled voice came through: "...It hurts."

Li Wangyue was quiet for a moment.

"What's wrong with you?"

"It hurts so bad."

"..." Li Wangyue didn't say anything.

"Brother, it hurts so bad."

Ting Zhenxi's voice was shaky, his breathing uneven, but even as he complained of pain, there was no real pain in it.

Li Wangyue remembered their earlier conversation: "Your surgery today?"

"Tomorrow. Just got my bandages changed."

"Hit the pain pump yourself," Li Wangyue said.

A tremor in the breath on the other end—he was laughing, if you listened close.

"Say a few more things, insult me. It makes me feel better."

"You're sick," Li Wangyue muttered.

The line went silent for a moment before the voice came back.

"Still up this late, worried about me?"

"No." Li Wangyue shot back coldly, slumping exhaustedly into the corner of the sofa, suddenly feeling powerless. "Just work's not going well."

"What's not going well? Tell me about it."

Li Wangyue didn't want to talk about it at first.

He heard the beeping of instruments on Ting Zhenxi's end, likely monitoring vital signs—steady, no fluctuations, meaning the condition was good, no danger.

He didn't want to talk about it.

But he was too bothered. He'd been in SDA for so long, and it felt like he hadn't gotten anything done. He couldn't figure out where to put his energy. There was so much he needed to do, but he was blocked at every turn, and worst of all, he didn't know where the resistance was coming from.

Everyone was very supportive of him. Jiang Teng was also very professional, giving it his all for him.

But in the end, the results he wanted were never achieved.

And now he'd taken on this hot potato, and he really doubted himself.

He didn't want to talk about it. Especially not with this guy.

But the mood right then was so good, and he felt so lost.