GBT Chapter 35
by VolareZhang Zhen first grabbed some tissues, then brought over an ice pack.
“Apply this yourself.”
Jiao Bai thanked him verbally, his attention focused on Zhang Zhen’s profile picture.
Those colorful blocks were still the same as before.
Initially, he guessed they were candies or wrappers, but since the profile picture hadn’t changed, he could only stick with that guess.
Seeing Zhang Zhen turn his wheelchair around to leave, Jiao Bai, holding the tissues in one hand to wipe his snot and tears, casually said, “Mr. Zhang, just say whatever you want to say. Don’t hold it in, it’s easy to get hemorrhoids.”
Zhang Zhen: “…”
The words came from his mouth, but hemorrhoids grow on the butt. How did that sound like he was mocking him?
Also, the last time at Di Ye, this person inexplicably called him “little brother,” and now it’s the distant “Mr. Zhang.”
Calling him “little brother” was to grab his hand, flatter him, and use him to get out of trouble.
This time, he didn’t have anything the other person wanted to exploit.
Zhang Zhen turned his wheelchair around and looked at the person in bed. Aunt Liu said his name was Jiao Bai, even his surname had changed. So scheming at such a young age, no wonder he became something outside of Shen Ji’s principles.
“During a dinner party early this summer, Shen Ji brought a boy toy who was draped in his arms, like a little cat.”
Zhang Zhen began speaking about something nonsensical, “Halfway through the meal, one of the CEOs at the table touched the boy’s hand. He panicked and quickly pulled his hand back, shrinking next to Shen Ji, afraid to move. Guess what happened?”
Jiao Bai didn’t want to guess.
“I was standing at the door at the time,” Zhang Zhen said. “I saw Shen Ji pour a cup of hot tea on the boy’s hand, water that had just boiled.”
Jiao Bai applied the ice pack to his swollen face, his tongue licking the split corner of his mouth.
“Although that boy wasn’t proactive, he wasn’t quick-witted enough to dodge in time, so he was punished.” Zhang Zhen didn’t quite agree with that approach, but he wouldn’t voice his opinion. “Shen Ji’s people, as long as he hasn’t thrown them away, can’t be touched by anyone else.”
Jiao Bai knew that. Weren’t all “slag gongs” this disgusting?
So, Shen Ji getting jealous because of his relationship with Shen Er An and misunderstanding his feelings for Qi Yi Liao, he considered it to be marking territory. The so-called possessiveness had nothing to do with emotion, it didn’t even involve humanity, it was purely dictatorship.
The reason Shen Ji initially traded the original Wang Chuqiu for Jiang Yan was because he treated the original owner like a dog, not a person.
Anything goes with a dog.
“My third brother and Shen Ji have been friends for about twenty years. You sat on my third brother’s lap in front of him, and you’re still alive.” Zhang Zhen blinked. “I can’t understand it.”
Shen Ji seemingly only slapped him once, swung a belt, and didn’t beat him to death. His third brother was also quite strange. Someone as germophobic as him didn’t even push him away after he sat on his lap.
How did Zhang Zhen know this? Because if his third brother had acted, this Jiao Bai would have definitely been pushed to the ground, his forehead and hands severely scraped.
But those two areas of his body were intact, with no wounds.
Jiao Bai didn’t respond to Zhang Zhen. He noticed that Shen Ji’s activity level was starting to rise again, up a little, down a little, up a little, down a little, fluctuating back and forth.
If it was just lust, it would either rise directly or fall directly, it wouldn’t be so conflicted.
Jiao Bai was too lazy to witness that Old Shen Dog’s self-torture.
While Jiao Bai was silent, Zhang Zhen’s activity level changed to 0.9.
Jiao Bai was stunned for a moment, then understood. Zhang Zhen was curious about what kind of person he was, to be able to survive under Shen Ji’s thumb.
These people were in the same circle, so it was easier for them to be like this now, linked to one node, and the others would follow.
“You can go ask Shen Ji,” Jiao Bai said jokingly, seeing as how Zhang Zhen’s activity level had increased.
Zhang Zhen curled his lips slightly. “He’s in a rage right now, and I’m injured. I can’t beat him.”
Jiao Bai found it cute when this handsome man was being playful, so he teased, “What are you afraid of? You have Chairman Qi behind you.”
Zhang Zhen realized he was being teased and quickly returned to a serious expression.
Jiao Bai held back a laugh and asked, “How did you get injured?”
Zhang Zhen said, “I saved a child.”
A very complicated guess popped up in Jiao Bai’s mind: “Where did you save them?”
Zhang Zhen’s thin eyelids flickered. This person’s mouth was split open, didn’t it hurt to talk? Why was he asking about irrelevant things? He was taken aback by the person’s serious gaze and said the name of the place.
Jiao Bai couldn’t laugh anymore.
Zhang Zhen, so you were that unlucky guy.
Jiao Bai switched hands holding the ice pack, thinking to himself that the plot changes were really numerous and exceeded his imagination.
In the original book, Qi Yi Liao had few scenes, and Zhang Zhen had even fewer. He wasn’t a member of Li Jue’s male supporting cast, he only considered the other person a pitiful person trapped by obsession, a poor little brother.
But Li Jue picking up the thermos and encountering an accident, being saved by Zhang Zhen, this was a plot point that wasn’t in the comic, it was newly added.
Zhang Zhen forming this kind of interaction with him, who knows what kind of butterfly effect it would bring later.
“Chen Yi Ming’s call.” Zhang Zhen took out his vibrating phone, observing Jiao Bai’s change in expression. He was really curious, interested in a person who could make Shen Ji and his third brother make exceptions.
Jiao Bai acted as if he didn’t hear, remaining indifferent.
“…” Zhang Zhen didn’t answer Chen Yi Ming’s call on the spot, he turned his wheelchair and left the room.
Talking to Zhang Zhen earlier had exhausted Jiao Bai’s limited energy. He was in too much pain, that pain spread throughout his entire body, it was very agonizing.
“Sigh.”
Jiao Bai sighed, his mouth filled with a metallic sweetness. Who could be his helper? No one. He couldn’t rely on anyone else, there was no path behind him, the future was bleak.
Or… Forget it? He might as well throw away this broken life.
“I was lying just now,” Jiao Bai said to himself.
I want to live.
[Player Jiao Bai’s spirit of not giving up and not retreating in the face of a dead end is commendable.]
Jiao Bai: “…No reward?”
[None for now.]
“Goodbye.”
Jiao Bai was depressed for a while, then sighed again. Zhang Zhen hadn’t checked “J’s” information, otherwise, he wouldn’t have had that attitude just now.
Actually, given the current situation, Jiao Bai really wanted to drop his alias.
He was 10% sure that Zhang Zhen wouldn’t blame him for deceiving him and would continue to talk to him.
Why only 10%, and why was he in such a hurry to drop his alias?
Because Zhang Zhen was the only one who was both kind-hearted, capable, simple-minded, and cared for by Shen Ji and Qi Yi Liao.
But,
Why hadn’t Zhang Zhen checked up on him yet???
Even a little bit of concern would lead him to wonder why the little brother who checked in every day for four months suddenly disappeared one day, right?!
For him, checking up on an online friend wasn’t a difficult task. Even his brothers knew to check.
Jiao Bai complained at the ceiling, it seemed like he had to drop his alias himself.
And it had to be done naturally.
As naturally as possible.
Zhang Zhen sneezed in front of the tower. He told Chen Yi Ming about Jiao Bai’s condition: “That’s it.”
“He really had snot and tears all over his face?” Chen Yi Ming asked strangely.
“Why would I lie to you?” Zhang Zhen waved his hand to tell the brothers who were coming over to go somewhere else. “For Shen Ji, he’s being lenient, giving him an unprecedented exception, but the person involved doesn’t think so. His face was slapped, his hand was grabbed, and his body is full of injuries. Helpless, with no family or friends. It’s normal to be sad.”
Zhang Zhen’s latter half of his statement was somewhat untrue. He couldn’t quite detect the emotion of “sadness” from Jiao Bai.
Chen Yi Ming said: “Then I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on him, tell me if anything happens.”
Zhang Zhen let out a sigh of relief. Shen Ji still wanted Jiao Bai.
So his third brother kept the person here, taking care of him carefully at Lan Mo Manor, was actually giving Shen Ji face?
That was good.
Otherwise, he was really worried that his third brother had some intentions towards Jiao Bai.
“Assistant Chen, I might not be able to watch him,” Zhang Zhen said in distress. “I have personal matters to attend to.” He had lost his childhood memories, and this head injury had brought back some of them.
In his memories, there was a voice calling him “little brother,” and also holding a handful of things to give to him.
Zhang Zhen wanted to find that missing piece of his memory, to find the child who called him “little brother.” And also that familiar color.
As for that high school student with the colorful blocks for a profile picture, he could only put it aside for now. He would find him.
Chen Yi Ming tried to persuade him, he needed this ally to understand Jiao Bai’s movements: “It won’t take up much of your time.”
Zhang Zhen politely refused again. He didn’t like doing things half-heartedly, he did one thing at a time, and then moved on to the next thing after he was done.
“…Okay.”
Chen Yi Ming hung up the phone, standing at the harbor, his head filled with the sea breeze. He wiped his stiff face and wanted to hand in his resignation letter.
Originally, the car was heading to the airport, but the chairman suddenly ordered him to change direction and come to the harbor.
Was this a sea voyage? This was a trip to hell.
Chen Yi Ming glanced at the chairman being flirted with by a voluptuous woman. He blinked, and the chairman’s hand was already rubbing up on her.
The strength was terrifying, filled with anger that he didn’t know where it came from. The woman was in a lot of pain, her beautiful face contorted for a moment, but she still hung her arms around the chairman’s neck.
Pain and pleasure.
Chen Yi Ming turned his gaze back to the endless sea, hoping that Chu Er Shao’s participation in the sea voyage would divert the chairman’s attention.
Jiao Bai stayed at Lan Mo Manor. His room didn’t have any electronic products, and he was completely unaware of the outside situation.
Besides Aunt Liu, the nurses, the doctors, and the physical therapists, the only person he saw was the owner of Lan Mo Manor.
Qi Yi Liao came to see Jiao Bai every day after work, wearing a dark suit, his eyebrows filled with a heavy fatigue. He was only in his early thirties, but he didn’t know why he was always so tired.
That sense of fatigue seemed to be fused with his life, mixed in with his every word and action, impossible to eliminate forever.
At first, Jiao Bai had an attitude of “what’s it to me,” but after a day or two, his curiosity was piqued. He held back again and again, and finally, one day when Qi Yi Liao entered his room as usual, he asked.
“Chairman Qi, are you going bankrupt?” Jiao Bai chose a joking entry point.
Qi Yi Liao was sitting in the chair by the wall, resting with his eyes closed. Hearing this, he made a slightly lazy sound: “Hmm?”
Jiao Bai grabbed a few large fresh dates from the fruit bowl on the bedside table. He brought one to his mouth and took a bite. “I see that you’re busy every day.”
The afterglow of the setting sun slowly poured in from the window, blurring Qi Yi Liao’s deep, distinct features, similar to a mixed-race person’s contours. A few warm yellow spots of light lingered on his straight nose, and he said, “Busy is okay.”
Jiao Bai ate the fresh dates, his cheeks puffed out as he chewed: “Then why do you always look so tired?”
As soon as the words fell, a gaze flowed out from the light and shadow by the window, staring at him.
Those eyes were abnormally red.
The white cat’s eye sockets also had a ring of red, its deathly aura was even heavier.
So heavy that it materialized, drilling into Jiao Bai’s nostrils and running onto his body in wisps, as if trying to attract his attention.
That deathly aura was like the white cat’s silent cry, its last hope.
–Help me.
–Save me.
–Please.
Jiao Bai’s line of sight was blocked by a shadow. He looked at the person standing in front of his bed, still crunching on the dates in his mouth.
Qi Yi Liao had his hands in his pockets, looking debonair: “Want to know?”
Jiao Bai resisted the urge to nod. People are easily tempted by mysterious things, and he didn’t know how long he could resist.
Qi Yi Liao had a lingering scent of moist, heavy wood. Jiao Bai, through observation in the past few days, determined that the scent came from his shirt collar.
He had something hanging around his neck.
A Buddha amulet?
Qi Yi Liao seemed to not have noticed Jiao Bai’s probing: “I’m tired because I’m getting old, I’m not up to it anymore.”
Jiao Bai: “…”
He wanted to expose this old man’s pretense: “You’re in your prime, and you’re already tired?”
Qi Yi Liao laughed: “I’m thirty-three.”
Jiao Bai also laughed, with a bigger smile than him, his eyes full of desire for life: “Only thirty-three.”
Qi Yi Liao’s gaze at Jiao Bai was very deep and very shallow, making it difficult to guess what he was thinking. He shook his head after a long while: “People’s lifespans are limited.”
Jiao Bai frowned, this person didn’t seem to be pretending.
What, could it be that the leading boss of the West City real estate industry not only believed in ghosts and gods but also had a short life?
This brainstorm didn’t stay in Jiao Bai’s mind for more than a few seconds, and then it dissipated.
“When you’re lying down, don’t hold the date pit in your mouth, it’s easy to choke on it.” Qi Yi Liao suddenly leaned over, his hand reaching to the child’s mouth, his fingers pinching the dark red, long pit that still had some pulp on it.
Jiao Bai subconsciously bit down. Just like a little animal about to have its food stolen.
Qi Yi Liao didn’t forcefully pry the date pit out, he put his fingers in a little further, his fingertip pressing on the soft skin, his voice low: “Let go.”
Jiao Bai’s teeth parted slightly.
Qi Yi Liao threw the wet date pit into the trash can, his fingertips stained with some clear liquid: “Fresh dates aren’t suitable for people who are bedridden. I’ll have Aunt Liu send you other fruits tomorrow, go to bed early.” After saying that, he left.
It took Jiao Bai a long time to come back to his senses.
After staying at Lan Mo Manor, Jiao Bai knew that the old pervert was a germaphobe. Now he wasn’t sure if the other person was a mental germaphobe or a physical germaphobe, or both.
Anyway, he was a germaphobe.
Qi Yi Liao had picked out his date pit, wouldn’t that hand have to be washed raw?
Jiao Bai smacked his lips, touched his chin that had grown a little bit of flesh, and then ate the fresh dates, remembering that Qi Yi Liao said it was easy to choke on, so he sullenly put the fresh dates back.
Whatever, he’ll ignore the secret on the third floor for now, as long as Qi Yi Liao didn’t torture him like Shen Old Dog, he really needed a quiet place to heal his bones.
The nurse came as usual at night to bring milk, and Jiao Bai fell asleep after drinking it.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when an electronic voice suddenly rang in the sleeping person’s mind.
[Your friend is online]
The profile picture at the top lit up. The golden-eyed white cat was grabbing the thin wire around its neck with both paws, its mouth making painful, desperate gasps, but its eyes, full of tears from the pain, were calm, without a trace of emotion.
It seemed to have long accepted the pain it couldn’t get rid of and the imminent death.
Jiao Bai didn’t wake up.
The lock on the door turned, and a tall, dark figure appeared in the doorway. He raised his foot and stepped inside, slowly walking to the wall and picking up the chair, placing it in front of the bed.
After sitting down, he hunched his back and rested his hand on his forehead, staring at the sleeping person in bed. His eyes seemed cold, yet passionate, excited, containing a ball of gray fire.
“You drink milk every day, sleep every day, for six days in a row. Your vigilance shouldn’t be this weak.”
“If you haven’t noticed on the seventh day, then you’re too stupid.”
“No one likes stupid little children.”
Qi Yi Liao turned the child’s face that was tilting inward, his thumb against his chin, and laughed in his ear.
“Tomorrow is the deadline for me to let you be stupid, I hope that when I come over at this time tomorrow, you’ll be awake.”
“Kid, don’t disappoint me.”