Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Shen Ling's fingers were still trembling slightly when he hung up the phone.

Huo Yanshen was already standing behind him, his face unreadable. Shen Ling knew he had heard everything.

Shen Ling flipped the phone over to show him the call log. "It was Shen Shao. Shen Guoliang beat him and their mom. Cen Guilan hit her head on the corner of the coffee table—there was a lot of blood. Shen Shao locked himself in the bedroom to call me."

Huo Yanshen took the phone, set it on the nightstand, and handed him the towel to dry his hands. "You want to go?"

Shen Ling hesitated before nodding.

He couldn't really explain why he wanted to go. Shen Shao had used him like an ATM his whole life, and his stepmom wasn't a good person either. But when Shen Shao called him "bro" on the phone, it reminded him of his own past self, with no one to turn to.

Huo Yanshen gave him a steady look. "I'll go with you."

Shen Ling looked up at him. Huo Yanshen's expression was still that same unshakeable calm, but Shen Ling noticed his jaw was clenched tight—a subtle tell that only appeared when he was displeased.

Huo Yanshen obviously had no fondness for Shen Ling's younger brother. A seventeen-year-old who still hit up his brother for money to buy game consoles, and threatened to bring Shen Guoliang into it when refused—in Huo Yanshen's book, that was someone not worth a second of his time.

Not to mention the stepmom behind him, who had enabled Shen Guoliang's violence since Shen Ling was a kid, who pretended not to see a thing even when Shen Ling was dragged by the hair and slammed into the wall.

Shen Ling said weakly, "I just wanna check on them..."

Huo Yanshen knew Shen Ling had a soft heart. He pushed down his negative feelings and said, "Put on a coat. It might get cold at the hospital."

Shen Ling grabbed a jacket from the closet, then remembered something and ran downstairs to knock on the guest bedroom door.

Shen Donglian had slept there the night before. When she opened the door, she was still holding her knitting needles. One look at Shen Ling's face told her something was up.

The three of them got to Xuncheng County Hospital a little after one in the afternoon.

Shen Shao's room was on the fourth floor. When they pushed the door open, the first person Shen Ling saw was his stepmom, Cen Guilan. She was sitting propped up in the hospital bed, a white bandage wrapped around her head, and a dried blood scab at the corner of her mouth.

Her eyes grew complicated the moment Shen Ling walked in—surprise, but mostly an embarrassment she couldn't put into words.

Shen Shao was sitting on the bed by the window, hurt worse than Cen Guilan. His left arm was in a cast, hanging from a sling around his neck. The right side of his cheekbone was one big purple bruise, and his lips were split and crusted with dried blood. When he talked, the movement pulled at his wounds and made him hiss through his teeth.

When he saw Shen Ling come in, his one good eye glistened with tears, but the pride of a seventeen-year-old boy made him force the tears back.

"Bro..."

Shen Ling stood in the middle of the room, at a loss for words. He hadn't had a normal conversation with this brother in ages. Shen Shao had been spoiled rotten by Shen Guoliang—every time he got in touch with Shen Ling, it was to ask for money or stuff. For a long time, Shen Ling had felt his brother was cut from the exact same cloth as Shen Guoliang.

But now Shen Shao lay in the hospital bed, dark circles under his eyes, arm in a cast, looking like a stray dog.

"What happened?" Shen Ling asked.

Shen Shao lowered his head and rubbed his eyes with his uninjured hand.

He spoke in fits and starts. He told them Shen Guoliang had recently won the lottery several times in a row—at least a million or so. With money in hand, he spent every day out drinking and gambling, and when he came home, he'd throw stuff and hit people.

He'd always hit them before, but back then he had no money and still depended on Cen Guilan to support him, so he held back some. Now that he had money, he held nothing back—seemed like he wanted to vent every ounce of resentment he'd bottled up over the years.

"He thinks everyone owes him," Shen Shao said.

"He says Mom used to look down on him 'cause her family had money. Says I'm an ungrateful little shit too. Says the whole family has wronged him, and now that he has money, no one gets to give him attitude anymore..."

His voice cracked. "Bro, why'd he turn out like this? He was never good before, but... at least he didn't hit me and Mom..."

Shen Ling let out a sudden, dry laugh. "He's always been like this."

"You think he didn't hit you before because he had some conscience? No—it's because you were his leash on your mother. Now that he has his own money, you're useless to him. And when something useless gets in his way, he swings."

Just then, Huo Yanshen's voice cut through.

"Have you contacted social services?"

Cen Guilan's expression stiffened. Shen Shao lowered his head, his ears turning red. "No. Mom said family shame shouldn't be aired outside..."

"The last time you contacted Shen Ling," Huo Yanshen continued, his voice calm, "was to ask him to buy you a new game console."

Shen Shao's face flushed crimson. Huo Yanshen had already turned to Cen Guilan.

"The medical bills are covered. If you need to transfer hospitals later, contact this person."

He placed a business card on the nightstand—his assistant's contact information. "Shen Ling needs rest. We'll be going now."

Cen Guilan kept her head down, and it took her a long moment to squeeze out a single word: "Okay."

Shen Shao sat on the edge of the bed, watching Shen Ling being guided toward the door with Huo Yanshen's arm around his shoulder. Suddenly he called out, "Bro."

Shen Ling stopped but didn't turn around.

"...Thank you," Shen Shao said.

Shen Ling didn't put on any act of brotherly affection. He just paused for a moment, then followed Huo Yanshen out of the room.

It wasn't until they were in the hallway that he realized he'd been gripping Huo Yanshen's hand the whole time. Huo Yanshen didn't say anything—he just turned Shen Ling's hand over and wrapped his own palm around it completely.

"Prenatal checkup tomorrow," Huo Yanshen said.

Shen Ling only then remembered the original plan for today—morning routine checkup at the hospital, ultrasound to see how the baby was developing.

But Shen Shao's call had thrown everything off. It was already afternoon now, and since fasting bloodwork was required, it had to be postponed to tomorrow morning.

He sat in the passenger seat, one hand resting on his lower abdomen.

The gesture had become an unconscious habit—whenever he was nervous, he'd rub his belly through his clothes, as if he could borrow a little courage from the baby that was still smaller than a fist.

"Will something go wrong?" Shen Ling suddenly spoke. "My emotions have been all over the place lately... the baby won't be affected, right?"

Huo Yanshen glanced at him. Shen Ling's brow was furrowed, his lips slightly pouted, his hand moving in circles over his belly as if he was upset with himself.

Huo Yanshen reached over and covered his hand, pressing both their palms gently against his abdomen.

"Nothing will go wrong. We've taken our meds on time. The baby is strong."

Shen Ling was about to answer when a burst of shouting suddenly came from the alley.

The voice poured in through the half-open window—harsh and hoarse. It was a voice Shen Ling knew all too well.

Shen Ling flinched. His body reacted before his mind could—shoulders hunching up, back pressing into the seat as he shrank backward, curling himself into a small ball.

Huo Yanshen covered Shen Ling's ears with his hands almost in the same instant.

"Chen Ping," he called to the attendant in the back seat.

"Mr. Huo."

"Go see what's happening in the alley."

Chen Ping nodded and got out of the car. Huo Yanshen's hand was still pressed over Shen Ling's ears, and he could feel Shen Ling trembling faintly under his palm.

"Let's go first," Huo Yanshen said to the driver.

Shen Ling spoke up suddenly, his voice shaking, "That's Shen Guoliang's voice..."

*

Shen Guoliang had been dreaming strange dreams lately.

Funny thing was, he'd always hated dreaming in his sleep. Back in the day, he'd drink too much and pass out, dream all kinds of nonsense, and wake up having forgotten every bit of it. But these recent dreams were different—he remembered every last one, clear as day.

The first time, he didn't think anything of it. He casually bought a scratch-off at a roadside lottery stand with the same numbers from his dream.

The next day, the numbers came out. All seven matched.

Two million!

He tried a second time, a third time, a fifth time...

All winners.

He'd lived over fifty years and never once had fate smiled on him like this.

Fate shoved the answers into his head, telling him what to buy and what would hit. But he didn't call that luck.

This was destiny. He was heaven's chosen one.

Then he started having more dreams, piecing together fragments until they formed a picture he'd never dreamed of.

Shen Ling had married a man named Huo Yanshen. The head of the Huo Group, the youngest power player in the business world, with a net worth Shen Guoliang couldn't even count if he tried.

That little bastard Shen Ling—yanked by the hair and slammed into walls more times than he could count, beaten until he curled up in corners clutching his head, sobbing silently—had actually latched onto a tree that big.

That bitch's kid. He'd never been like him, not from day one. After Meng Yuan ran off, Shen Guoliang kept Shen Ling around only because the kid was his own seed. He could hit him or curse him whenever he felt like it. That was just how it was.

But the kid grew more and more like Meng Yuan—those eyes, that tear mole, that face that looked like it was begging for mercy even without a smile. Just looking at him pissed Shen Guoliang off.

Grown up, he was just as cheap—running off with rich men.

But that was fine. He leaned back on the sofa, grinning, showing teeth stained yellow from cigarettes.

The dream told him Huo Yanshen would be dead in a year. Shen Ling would inherit the estate, struggle on his own for four years, and then die too.

When he died, there wasn't a soul by his side. Liu Xian and his crew had bullied him plenty, and Shen Guoliang himself had gone to shake him down a few times. The little bastard handed the money over without a fuss.

Just thinking about it made Shen Guoliang feel all warm inside. He wasn't a learned man and didn't know any big philosophies, but he knew one thing: the higher you climb, the harder you fall.

Shen Ling was living off his husband now, holed up in a villa.

Fine. Let him have his fun. Let him be smug.

He wouldn't be smug for long.

His husband would die in that mudslide, and Shen Guoliang would use the capital from those dream numbers to build a business and make connections, to live large with power and money he'd never had in his life.

Shen Guoliang's luck didn't stop at lottery tickets.

Every now and then, a name or two would flash through his dreams. One of them was a Huo—the Huo family's eldest, Huo Yanbai. If he could get close to him, wouldn't he be the big shot after Huo Yanshen died?

After waking up, Shen Guoliang filed that away. He went through a lot of trouble, passing himself off as a small building materials dealer from down south, and after going around in circles, managed to get in touch with an assistant in charge of purchasing under Huo Yanbai.

He set up a dinner, and while toasting, he "accidentally" let slip a thing or two about his prophetic dreams—like a port project Huo Yanshen was currently running. Within days of that dinner, someone reached out to him on their own.

Now he had money and backing. Huo Yanbai kept him close, handed him cash and manpower. In that small county town, he was a kingpin.

This feeling was fucking incredible.

No one in the world could rein him in anymore.

But that ungrateful son of his had to go and cause trouble. He'd dared to sneak off to the hospital behind his back to get his wounds patched up. If word of this got back to those nosy relatives, everyone would think Shen Guoliang couldn't even keep his own son in line.

Shen Guoliang grabbed Shen Shao by the collar and hauled him out of the hospital. The casted arm slammed into the concrete, and Shen Shao let out a scream that didn't sound human.

Cen Guilan rushed over to stop him, but he kicked her in the side, sending her sprawling onto her back next to a pile of garbage.

Shen Shao crawled on the ground, sobbing, reaching for his mother's clothes, but Shen Guoliang grabbed him by the hair and yanked him back, landing a few hard slaps across his face, adding fresh cuts to old ones.

"Run," Shen Guoliang crouched down, reeking of booze, gripping Shen Shao's chin and shaking it side to side.

"Didn't you tell your mom before that your dad was the toughest in this family? What, now you wanna run? Your old man beating you is just how it is—what the hell are you running for!"

Just then, a ruckus came from the mouth of the alley.

Shen Guoliang looked up.

Standing at the alley entrance was a tall, imposing man, followed by a few stone-faced goons.

The tall man stepped forward, and only then did Shen Guoliang spot someone behind him.

Tucked safely two steps behind, a small, milky-white figure. The wind at the alley entrance messed up his hair, revealing a face pale as moonlight and that tear mole at the corner of his eye.

It was his son, Shen Ling.

Shen Guoliang grinned, flashing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Well, well. You really showed up."

*

Three minutes earlier, back in the car.

Huo Yanshen pushed open the car door. "Baby, head home with the driver. Chen Ping and I will go check it out. Five minutes, tops."

He moved to close the door.

Shen Ling grabbed the door handle, shot up from his seat, and leaned half his body out of the car. "I'm going too."

Huo Yanshen frowned. "Stay in the car."

"I want to protect you," Shen Ling said.

His voice was still shaking when he said those three words—a physical reaction to being scared by Shen Guoliang's voice—but he unzipped his jacket like he was ready to charge out and throw down.

Huo Yanshen pushed him back in, shut the door, and locked it.

Through the car window, he saw Shen Ling pounding on the glass, mouth moving without a sound.

Huo Yanshen had barely walked twenty steps when his phone buzzed. "Mr. Huo, Mr. Shen isn't doing well. His wristband is flagging his heart rate. Would it be safer to just keep him with you? I'll have Lao Chen stick close—shouldn't be an issue."

Huo Yanshen turned around, phone in hand, and saw a face pressed up against the rear window. Shen Ling's nose was squished against the glass, staring at him with stubborn defiance.

He walked back, opened the door, and pulled Shen Ling out of the back seat, telling the attendants to stay within arm's reach at all times.

The alley was filled with the sour stench of fermenting garbage and the metallic smell of blood.

"You actually showed up,"

Shen Guoliang looked Huo Yanshen up and down, then glanced at Shen Ling, who was surrounded by men behind him. The smile on his face deepened. "Perfect timing. Now you can watch me teach your little brother a lesson—this ungrateful bastard who snuck behind my back to rat me out to his big brother..."

Shen Ling stood behind Huo Yanshen, then suddenly lunged forward, stepping between Huo Yanshen and Shen Guoliang, spreading his arms wide to shield Huo Yanshen behind him.

"You... you stay away." Shen Ling said.

Shen Guoliang froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Shen Ling, what are you doing? Blocking your father? Since when do you have this much nerve? What, you're willing to throw your life away just to latch onto this rich guy?"

Huo Yanshen moved Shen Ling out of the way, pulling him to his side with one arm.

"Chen Ping." Huo Yanshen tilted his head and gave the order.

The men behind him stepped forward.

Shen Guoliang didn't retreat. Instead, a smug, triumphant look surfaced on his face—like a man holding a trump card no one else could see, waiting for his opponent to push all their chips onto the table before pulling off a perfect reversal.

He pointed at Huo Yanshen's nose, his voice slurred from drinking.

"Huo Yanshen, go ahead and lay a finger on me. Think carefully—do you know who's behind me? Your big brother, Huo Yanbai..."

Huo Yanshen's eyes narrowed slightly.

Shen Guoliang got bolder, his expression more brazen.

He stepped forward, looking up at Huo Yanshen, his voice tinged with drunkenness. "You don't know your brother Huo Yanbai has been scheming behind the scenes all along, do you? You think things are stable inside Huo Group? Huo Yanbai has been gunning for you for a long time. This time he's auditing the accounts of your dozen or so subsidiaries—you just wait and see. I know you're tough, but if you dare touch me, Huo Yanbai won't let you get away with it. He'll have you killed. You think you can lay a finger on me today?"

He paused, waiting for Huo Yanshen's reaction.

Huo Yanshen's face remained completely unreadable.

Shen Guoliang was speechless.

Huo Yanshen took a step forward, looking down at Shen Guoliang. "Done talking?"

Shen Guoliang's throat suddenly went dry.

Huo Yanshen crouched down in front of Shen Guoliang. Shen Guoliang instinctively recoiled.

For some reason, he felt a chill creeping up his spine, like an icy insect slowly crawling along his spine.

Shen Guoliang suddenly realized he might not live to see the day, ten months from now, when Huo Yanshen was supposed to die.

"Mr. Huo... Mr. Huo," Shen Guoliang was getting scared. "What I said just now... it was a misunderstanding. I only met him for tea once..."

Huo Yanshen wasn't listening.

He stood up and gestured to Chen Ping. Several men stepped forward, hauling Shen Guoliang up from the ground, pinning his arms behind his back.

Huo Yanshen turned to look at Shen Ling, who was still standing where Huo Yanshen had moved him.

"Sweetheart," Huo Yanshen walked over to Shen Ling, turning sideways to block his view of Shen Guoliang. "I need to talk to Shen Guoliang for a bit. Head back to the car with Chen Ping first, okay?"

Shen Ling shook his head.

"Look, I've got three men with me."

Huo Yanshen pointed at the men behind him. "You think he can lay a finger on me?"

Shen Ling bit his lower lip. He looked at the big burly guys behind Huo Yanshen. "You promise me you'll be okay."

Huo Yanshen said, "I promise."

Shen Ling finally let go of Huo Yanshen's sleeve. Chen Ping stepped forward and was about to walk him toward the alley entrance when Huo Yanshen suddenly called out again.

"Sweetheart, wait."

Shen Ling turned around.

Huo Yanshen walked up to him and asked softly, "When he used to hurt you, which hand did he use the most?"

Shen Ling was taken aback—the question caught him off guard. "...The right one."

"Did he ever kick you?"

Shen Ling lowered his head, staring at his own feet, and nodded.

Huo Yanshen said, "Good."

"Go back to the car with Chen Ping first."

Chen Ping gestured for Shen Ling to follow and led him back to the car, parking far enough from the alley that Shen Ling couldn't hear what was going on. He also took Shen Shao and his mother back to the hospital.

Only Huo Yanshen's men and Shen Guoliang remained in the alley.

Shen Guoliang was pinned to the ground, his face pressed against the concrete, his lips scraped raw and bleeding, saliva and blood dripping onto the pavement.

He was still struggling, muttering curses. Huo Yanshen walked over to him, casting a shadow over him, and crouched down.

"That intel you mentioned earlier—where'd you get it?"

Shen Guoliang spat out a mouthful of blood. "You motherf—"

Huo Yanshen didn't wait for him to finish. He reached out, grabbed Shen Guoliang's right thumb, and snapped it back. The joint cracked dully, and Shen Guoliang's scream tore through the alley.

Huo Yanshen released his thumb and straightened up. He jerked his chin at Xiao Zhao, one of the men nearby. "Find me a stick."

Xiao Zhao found an old mop handle. Huo Yanshen looked down at Shen Guoliang.

"Which foot did you use to kick him?"

Shen Guoliang was beyond answering. He curled up on the ground, desperately tucking both feet beneath himself, like an overturned beetle flailing its limbs uselessly.

Huo Yanshen didn't need his answer.

The mop handle came down on Shen Guoliang's right ankle with a sickening crack.

The alley echoed with Shen Guoliang's screams as he rolled on the ground clutching his leg, knocking over a nearby trash can. Garbage, vegetable leaves, and cigarette butts rained down on him.

The men watched with blank faces, making no move to help.

Huo Yanshen crouched down again. "Now, try again. Where did that intel come from?"

Shen Guoliang was trembling all over. "Half a month ago... he sent his secretary to find me in Xuncheng, gave me a bank card with five million yuan as a down payment. He said he wanted me to use Shen Ling to track your travel routes in Haishi..."

He continued, "I had some old buddies tail you a few times, but you always had too many people with you—hard to get close. So I only passed along your whereabouts at the company and the times Shen Ling went out alone."

Huo Yanshen's expression didn't change as he listened, before asking again, "What was his purpose?"

"He didn't tell me. He's not the kind of guy who'd level with me," Shen Guoliang swallowed hard, his face twitching from the pain. "He promised me that once it was done, he'd give me another thirty million..."

Huo Yanshen stood and held out his hand to Chen Ping, palm up. Chen Ping handed over Shen Guoliang's phone.

Huo Yanshen turned on the phone and held it up to Shen Guoliang's face to scan it.

Face unlock failed—Shen Guoliang's face was so swollen that even his phone didn't recognize him.

"Password," Huo Yanshen said.

Shen Guoliang's fingers trembled, and his voice came out hoarse. "President Huo... I'll tell you the truth... just let me go... I deserve to die..."

Huo Yanshen tilted his head to look at him. Shen Guoliang immediately rattled off the numbers, his voice raspy as he forced the words out.

Huo Yanshen handed the phone to Chen Ping. "Back it up. All comms, transactions, and location data."

Chen Ping took the phone, plugged in a portable device, and the screen flickered as the transfer progress bar started moving.

A few minutes later, he unplugged the device and handed the phone back to Huo Yanshen.

Huo Yanshen took the phone and smashed it on the ground.

He kicked the shattered phone over to Shen Guoliang and said, "The backup is already in my hands. Today I'll settle what you did to Meng Yuan and her son. As for what you owe Shen Ling, I'll deal with you separately."

With that, he turned and left, the hem of his black coat snapping in the alley.

*

Huo Yanshen opened the car door and got into the driver's seat. Before he could even buckle his seatbelt, Shen Ling leaned over from the passenger seat and started patting him all over.

"Turn around, let me see. Did he hit you? Where'd he touch you?"

Huo Yanshen grabbed his fumbling hands. "No."

Shen Ling didn't buy it. He pulled his hands free again and lifted Huo Yanshen's shirt to check his waist for bruises.

Huo Yanshen caught his hands again. "Baby, I'm fine."

With his wrists held, Shen Ling had to stop, but his eyes still swept up and down over Huo Yanshen. Only after confirming there were no signs of a fight did he slowly exhale.

"Don't go see him again," Shen Ling said. "He's bad news."

Sitting in his seat, Shen Ling spoke with a dead-serious expression, brows furrowed and lips turned down, like he was giving Huo Yanshen a very solemn safety lecture.

"You hear me?"

When Huo Yanshen didn't answer, Shen Ling repeated himself and poked his shoulder.

"I heard you," Huo Yanshen replied.

Only then did Shen Ling seem a bit satisfied.

He knew Huo Yanshen—he only looked tough on the outside, but he was always easy to deal with.

In his past life, he'd counted on exactly that to act so spoiled. Huo Yanshen indulged him every time, never once saying "no."

Someone like that would definitely get pushed around out there.

Huo Yanshen watched Shen Ling's worried face, wondering what was going on in his head.

He pulled Shen Ling's seatbelt across and buckled it, then told the driver, "Home."

*

The next morning, Huo Yanshen pulled Shen Ling out of bed.

Huo Yanshen said, "Prenatal checkup today. I told you last night—you need to fast for the blood draw."

Shen Ling hummed in acknowledgment, let himself be led by the hand out of the bedroom, and was tucked into the car.

Once in the car, Shen Ling finally woke up a bit more, leaning back and scrolling through his phone. He hadn't been scrolling for more than a few minutes before Huo Yanshen took it away, so he could only scoot closer to him.

About twenty minutes into the drive, Shen Ling started feeling off.

He'd been curled up quietly in Huo Yanshen's arms, breathing steadily, but suddenly his body went stiff. He lifted his face from Huo Yanshen's chest, pale, with a fine layer of sweat beading at his temples.

"Baby?" Huo Yanshen looked down at him.

Shen Ling swallowed. When he spoke, his voice was weak, as if afraid that opening his mouth would let something come rushing out. "Honey... I think I'm gonna throw up."

He hadn't had anything to eat that morning.

Huo Yanshen made sure he ate breakfast every morning—eggs, milk, fruit, the works—but today he had to fast for the blood draw, so he'd left the house on an empty stomach.

It was only now that Shen Ling realized, belatedly, that Huo Yanshen forcing him to eat breakfast every day wasn't for nothing. His stomach was empty, acid churning inside, over and over.

Huo Yanshen immediately looked at the road ahead. The route to the prenatal center went through a main road under construction, and the car kept stopping and starting, each brake making Shen Ling's body lurch.

"Pull over," Huo Yanshen told the driver.

The car pulled over. Shen Ling pushed open the door, and the moment his feet hit the ground, he bent over and dry-heaved. There was nothing in his stomach—just acid. The sour liquid burned his throat as it came up, and by the end, only a few dry retches came out.

As soon as the door opened, a wave of heat hit him. The sun blazed down overhead, the light stabbing into his eyes, white-hot rays piercing through his eyelids.

When he was done, Shen Ling straightened up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, but that motion seemed to drain the last of his strength. His color didn't improve—it only got paler.

The nausea began to subside, but his stomach issues flared up again. His stomach cramped and tightened, and he instinctively bent over, one hand pressed hard against his belly.

Too hot. Chest tight. Stomach hurting. Can't breathe... All the discomforts seemed to have agreed to hit him at once.

"So hot..." He turned to walk back toward Huo Yanshen, but his knees gave out and he started to fall.

Huo Yanshen caught him in one motion, scooping him up and setting him in the back seat. Shen Ling leaned against his chest, eyes half-closed, hand still pressed to his stomach.

Huo Yanshen reached out to move his hand away so he could rub his stomach, but Shen Ling was gripping it tightly. It took a few coaxing words before Huo Yanshen managed to pry his fingers loose, covering the spot with his own palm and rubbing slowly.

"Go to the nearest hospital," Huo Yanshen told the driver, already dialing Wen Pei with his other hand.

Wen Pei got to the hospital before them and was waiting at the emergency entrance.

When Shen Ling was carried in, he was curled up in Huo Yanshen's arms, hand still on his stomach. Wen Pei took one look at his face and, without a word, arranged a private room and hooked him up to IV fluids.

"Morning sickness plus mild heatstroke. Going out on an empty stomach made the GI reaction worse—he's dehydrated," Wen Pei adjusted the IV drip and scribbled a few notes on the chart. "Reschedule the prenatal checkup. He's in no shape for it today."

Shen Ling lay on the hospital bed, an IV needle in the back of his hand, white medical tape on skin so thin it was almost translucent.

His eyes were closed, his lips finally regaining a hint of color, but he still looked awful. He half-opened his eyes, his hazy gaze shifting toward Huo Yanshen.

"...It hurts so bad."

Huo Yanshen asked right away, "Where does it hurt?"

Shen Ling wanted to cry. In his previous life, whenever he felt miserable, he would cry, and the moment tears fell, Huo Yanshen would kiss his forehead and say, "There, there, baby, don't cry, don't cry."

But now he couldn't even cry. His eyes were dry, only a sour, throbbing ache building up inside, like a sink with a blocked drain—the water had risen to the brim but just wouldn't flow out.

Shen Ling said, "I can't cry..." He raised his hand and pressed his palm against his eyes. "I want to cry, so why won't the tears come?"

Huo Yanshen reached out and gently pried his hand away from his eyes.

Shen Ling's eyes were even redder now, fine red veins threading across the whites. The moisture in his eyes shimmered for a moment but never managed to spill over.

He buried his face into Huo Yanshen's palm, letting out a desperate, muffled whimper.

Huo Yanshen looked down at him, then picked up his phone and walked out of the ward.

The hallway was quiet. He dialed Song Zhengqing's number.

The other side picked up. "Mr. Huo?"

"Shen Ling is feeling terrible right now. He wants to cry but can't."

Song Zhengqing paused for a moment, likely assessing the urgency of the situation. "How is his physical condition right now?"

"He's on an IV at the hospital. Pregnancy nausea plus mild heatstroke, dehydrated. He's stabilized a bit, but emotionally he's really pent up."

"Mm," Song Zhengqing's voice was steady and calm. "That... handling it in a hospital setting would be complicated. Is there a way to assist him physically?"

"What kind of physical assistance?"

"Find an onion," Song Zhengqing said. "Cut it open and have him smell it. The strong smell will stimulate the tear ducts and help him actually cry. Stay by his side and talk him through it. As long as he can feel that he still has the ability to cry, his emotions should improve significantly."

Huo Yanshen hung up and turned to look at the nurse station at the end of the hallway. "Does your cafeteria have onions?"