Chapter 79 A Half-Dead Little Brother Is a Good Little Brother

Chapter 79 A Half-Dead Brother Is a Good Brother

Li Wangyue made a trip to Huanghunli, which also happened to be the day of Ting Zhenxi's follow-up appointment.

The doctor was really at his wit's end, repeatedly told him to stay in the hospital and get some real rest. Ting Zhenxi always agreed, but even with round-the-clock monitoring, he always found a way to slip out.

His brother had told the doctor to keep an eye on him. Ting Zhenxi asked Li Wangyue if he had said something to the doctor.

Li Wangyue said he hadn't.

"Really?" Ting Zhenxi moved closer, not buying it. "Really no?"

Li Wangyue shook his head silently, gently flicked the washed spinach a few times, and set it aside to drain.

"No. Why would I go to the doctor?"

"Because you don't want me running off all the time."

Li Wangyue wiped his hands. "Whether I want it or not, you can always do it anyway. So why do you care what I think?"

Ting Zhenxi's gaze swept coldly over his face, as if confirming something.

If it wasn't Li Wangyue, then it could only be Ting Wanxi.

On the other end of the phone, Ting Wanxi laughed lazily. "You can't die, my dear little brother. If you die, they'll start blaming me."

Ting Wanxi was doing a killer job as acting president, mostly because the board still had it out for Ting Zhenxi. As long as Ting Zhenxi was still around, their attacks wouldn't be directed at Ting Wanxi.

Ting Wanxi very much wanted him to be well, but not too well—just half-dead. That way, he could contain the fire from the board and the labor unions below, keep the group running on his personal clout, but not strong enough to actually threaten Ting Wanxi's authority.

A half-dead brother is a good brother. Alive or dead, both are trouble.

The more Ting Wanxi thought about it, the happier he became. Although theoretically he and Ting Zhenxi were both making money from the same pocket, even blood brothers can be on the same side but not on the same page.

"Tell your brother I said thanks," Ting Wanxi said, spinning around in his chair and humming a tune.

Li Wangyue, who was listening on the other end, said, "What's that got to do with me?"

"Of course it has to do with you." Ting Wanxi wasn't surprised he was listening, and directly addressed him. "Seriously, thanks for helping me handle him. He'd die for you, he'd live for you. In that quantum state of being half-dead, you never know whether he wants to live or die. That's the famous Ting Zhenxi Uncertainty Principle. If you can't tell if he's alive or dead, he's basically dead—but not really. You see, you let me have my cake and eat it too. So shouldn't I be thanking you?"

The pillow insert Li Wangyue was fluffing crumpled slightly in his grip.

Ting Zhenxi hung up right on cue.

"It seems it really wasn't you who talked to the doctor; it was him," he said.

Li Wangyue put the pillow insert back into its cover and threw it onto the sofa. "Get your stuff together. Time for your checkup."

Ting Zhenxi went to change clothes. Li Wangyue picked up the car keys, and as he left the room, he glanced at the flowers on the balcony. It looked like a new little bud had just bloomed. He wondered if it needed to be moved indoors; he was worried a strong gust might knock it off.

Ting Zhenxi came out wearing his clothes again. Lately, this guy kept helping himself to his hoodies, long sleeves, even his pants—without a word.

Li Wangyue sighed. "Don't you have your own clothes? I saw you bought a whole closet full."

"Just don't feel like wearing them," was all he said.

Li Wangyue had no idea when he'd gotten so spoiled. But considering he was a patient, he didn't say much. If Ting Zhenxi wanted his clothes, he would just buy more.

But any new clothes he bought would soon end up on Ting Zhenxi anyway.

Ting Zhenxi said very seriously, "You're my brother. Everything you have is mine. You can't spare a few pieces of clothing?"

Li Wangyue had nothing to say.

Whatever.

Only sometimes, when Ting Zhenxi hugged him and kissed his neck, he'd catch a scent on the collar—almost identical to his own.

He'd always get lost for a second. This man seemed to do it deliberately, sneaking a hand under his clothes to stroke his chest and stomach, eliciting tremors.

He could never keep his cool around Ting Zhenxi.

"What's up with the trees on Huanghunli? Why'd they suddenly get sick?" He stared straight ahead, not paying attention to the faint fragrance in the car.

He'd never noticed before. Then one day, Ting Zhenxi said he smelled really good, and Li Wangyue suddenly became aware of what he had previously ignored.

The two spent all day together, using the same body wash and laundry detergent, so their scents were starting to blend.

Ting Zhenxi was looking at his phone. "I don't know. Maybe waste from the pier repairs, or maybe deeper groundwater contamination."

"If it's groundwater, that would be bad. After all, the entire island's water comes from there. Desalinating seawater or piping in water from the port would be a huge pain," Li Wangyue said worriedly.

"Probably not. If it were groundwater, it would have caused problems long ago," Ting Zhenxi said.

Li Wangyue nodded, finding it reasonable. If the problem wasn't with the groundwater, it would be easier to solve.

It felt like déjà vu. The first time he went to Huanghunli, there were only some very ordinary vegetation and buildings. It was called a private island, but it was more like a small resort island with mediocre infrastructure, let alone entertainment. Only a playboy like Zhao Bing could have that much fun on a dull island.

Not that long ago, and now they're about to open it up?

This was probably the second opening of Huanghunli.

He recalled what Meng Chi had said about the urban legends surrounding Huanghunli.

"Are the rumors about Huanghunli true?" He couldn't help but feel curious.

Ting Zhenxi put down his phone. "Which one do you mean?"

"Are there many?" Li Wangyue wondered, trying to recall. "The one where people played a murder game that turned real, bodies stuffed in a basement or dumped at sea. Sounds as messed up as the Lurongyu case."

Ting Zhenxi thought for a second. "Half of it is true."

"Which half?" Li Wangyue was genuinely surprised.

"There was indeed a murder game, but no one was actually killed," Ting Zhenxi said. "It was about five or six years ago. Zhao Bing got the bright idea to rent out the island for a Halloween party. Halloween is supposed to be a bit spooky, and you know how Zhao Bing is. He didn't warn people the island would have staged scares, so people took it for real. And back then, the island wasn't well-developed; many places were practically wasteland. It was natural for people to be scared. Things got out of hand. Someone set a fire to call for help, starting a fire that indirectly killed a tourist—acute cerebral hemorrhage."

Li Wangyue's eyes widened slightly.

Ting Zhenxi: "Because of that incident, the Zhao family was front-page news. Money was secondary; their rep took the real hit. As a result, Zhao Bing's brother grounded him for over a year, and the island was taken back, completely renovated, and only reopened in the last two years."

Although the sole deceased had concealed his medical history in order to play on the island, Zhao Bing had also failed to fulfill his duties as the island's owner. If it had gone to court, it would've been bad for the Zhaos. So they paid a lot of money and spent a great deal of effort to settle the matter.

"...So that kind of thing really happened." Li Wangyue couldn't help but sigh. "It really shouldn't have happened."

Ting Zhenxi laughed. "After hearing such a rumor, you still dared to go to the island that day?"

He meant the first time he'd visited the island with Ji Zhijia.

Li Wangyue: "I was just hanging out with a friend, and I didn't really believe much of it anyway."

"Oh, so just to keep him company, you'd go to a dangerous place like that without even thinking twice?"

"I told you, I didn't believe it either," Li Wangyue retorted softly.

But now that he thought about it, Ji Zhijia apparently believed it and got really excited, saying that if it were real, this place could work as a haunted house attraction.

Ting Zhenxi put on his earphones and cracked the car window open, letting the cool breeze in to lighten the heavy mood.

The examination took over an hour. The doctor was thorough and did a full re-examination, finally saying that he could be discharged, but he would need regular follow-ups until fully recovered.

Li Wangyue waited outside the consultation room. He had planned to go in, but since the doctor needed to check the wound's healing, he stayed out.

He really didn't want to see Ting Zhenxi's wound. Call it avoidance or whatever, he just didn't want to see it.

During this time, Ting Zhenxi would always come home for the night, sometimes in the evening, sometimes late at night, but never later than the next morning.

Occasionally he would be kind enough to let the exhausted Li Wangyue rest, but more often he was irritably stubborn, getting annoyed if Li Wangyue was on the phone with a colleague he didn't know, pestering him to let off steam and make demands.

The lights were always off. In the dark, his senses sharpened, his anxiety grew, and when his emotions hit a breaking point, he couldn't tell whether what he saw was illusion or reality. Ting Zhenxi would wrap him in his arms, soothe him in a low voice, and bring him back to his senses.

Sometimes a dim nightlight would be left on. Even in the heat of passion, Ting Zhenxi remained impeccably dressed, as elegant as a deity, yet with a casual, teasing touch he could drive him wild. His narrow eyes were lowered with a half-smile, while Li Wangyue was already disheveled, his shirt hanging off his arms at some point. His back was cold, then warmed by Ting Zhenxi's hand.

Li Wangyue didn't like this—it seemed that only he was a mess, while the other looked at him as if he were a plaything. He felt ashamed of his body's obvious reactions, again and again.

He hadn't thought about it before, but now that he recalled, he realized that he really had never seen Ting Zhenxi's wound.

He only knew it was near the heart.

The examination took a long time. He sat in the lounge, not wanting to look at his phone, his mind full of thoughts, and he unconsciously started reciting place names again.

The eleventh time he got to "Yun Leng," the lounge door opened.

A pair of shoes entered his field of vision and stopped. Then his head was lifted. Li Wangyue's vision was blurry, and before he could see the person clearly, his head was pulled and pressed against the other's waist.

He smelled a familiar scent, so similar to his own.

The messy sounds of the inexplicable rhythmic recitation of place names in his mind fell silent in an instant, as if dead, leaving only the sound of breathing rising and falling.

Ting Zhenxi stroked his head. He was standing, and Li Wangyue was leaning against his waist, unable to exert any strength, more like a pet being manipulated. He didn't like this and wanted to push away, but his arms had no strength either, so angry that his breath hitched into sobs.

The man in front of him knelt on one knee, his calm eyes meeting his, and wiped away the tear stains that had appeared on his face without him even knowing when.