Chapter 26

Ji Qingyuan rushed to the hospital as soon as he got off the plane.
"Wow! Brother, you have no idea, that chain was this thick, this huge! It slammed right into me! Even my mom's beatings weren't this painful." Ji Qingyuan was vividly describing the scene to Ji Linyu, while Zhu Xinyue sat on the sofa, snacking on fruit as a late-night treat.
She held the salad bowl, randomly stabbing the fruit inside with a fork. When she felt she had speared a piece, she put it in her mouth, quietly listening to Ji Qingyuan speak.
Ji Linyu sat beside her peeling an apple, facing Ji Qingyuan who was in the single sofa. From time to time, he would glance at the fruit in Zhu Xinyue’s bowl, and if it was almost finished, he would add more for her.
“Aunt Xu would hit you?” Zhu Xinyue remembered that Ji Qingyuan’s mother was a woman especially gentle with other people’s children.
Ji Qingyuan pouted, “Yeah, she would. When I used to come home late from school and she couldn’t find me, she’d hit me. But later, when she found out I was helping you with math, she stopped hitting me and even told me to bring you milk. Do you remember?”
Zhu Xinyue tilted her head and thought for a moment. It seemed like that really happened. During that time, Ji Qingyuan often brought two bottles of milk to school, but being a boy with thin skin, he would secretly slip them to her after school, breakfast milk turned into dinner milk.
“Seems like it. I thought you had a crush on me back then.” The original host probably started developing those youthful, budding feelings around that time.
Ji Linyu lowered his eyes, his hand pausing as he peeled the apple, the sharp blade reflecting a glint of light.
“Not at all. I had a crush on the school beauty from the upperclassmen back then,” Ji Qingyuan joked.
Zhu Xinyue was both annoyed and amused, unable to resist lifting her leg to kick in Ji Qingyuan’s direction. Earlier, while he was talking, he had patted her arm trying to get her attention, so she quickly pinpointed his location.
Ji Qingyuan yelped dramatically from her kick, though it didn’t actually hurt at all, he was just trying to make her happy.
Ji Linyu saw the smile on Zhu Xinyue’s lips. Among the people who had visited her these days, very few could make her laugh so happily. Ji Qingyuan was one of them, and perhaps the only one.
He lowered his head and continued peeling the apple.
“Come on, childhood crushes don’t count! Right now, the one I admire most is you, Lady Zhu!” Ji Qingyuan shamelessly leaned in again, catching the leg she had kicked out and carefully placing it back in its original position.
Ji Linyu stared at Ji Qingyuan’s hand, his brow furrowing briefly. The spiral of apple peel was severed by the sharp fruit knife in his hand.
Zhu Xinyue: “Cut it out. How long have I been in the hospital, and you’re only visiting me now?”
“I’ve been busy calming the media and fans. Ask my brother, after the incident on set, aside from recovering from my injuries, haven’t I been running around nonstop without a single day off?” Ji Qingyuan quickly turned to Ji Linyu for support.
Ji Linyu hadn’t been able to join their conversation from the start, and even when Ji Qingyuan mentioned him, he felt like an “outsider.”
An inexplicable irritation.
“Don’t use Brother Linyu as a shield,” Zhu Xinyue said, though she wasn’t really blaming Ji Qingyuan for not visiting earlier, she was just playing along with his joke.
Ji Qingyuan glanced at the time and, seeing how late it was, stood up to leave.
"I have a magazine shoot tomorrow, so I’ll head back now. Rest well and take care of yourself." Ji Qingyuan bent down and gently pinched Zhu Xinyue’s cheek as she sat obediently on the sofa.
He said, "Cry if you want to cry, laugh if you want to laugh. You don’t have to force yourself when you’re with me."
When Ji Qingyuan first arrived, Zhu Xinyue had still been using her social facade, the one she put on for others. Ji Qingyuan saw right through it. He knew her initial smile wasn’t genuine; it looked like a smile, but there was no happiness behind it. So, he did everything he could to cheer her up, staying by her side, talking and laughing with her, if only to make her darkness a little less silent.
Zhu Xinyue froze for a moment, the fork with a piece of fruit hovering in mid-air, her nose tingling with emotion.
Ji Linyu watched their interaction silently, then turned and walked toward the hospital room door.
Ji Qingyuan glanced at Ji Linyu’s retreating figure. He knew that Ji Linyu had been the one staying with her these past few days and had heard how, on the day of the accident, Ji Linyu had rushed into the fire to rescue her and another staff member.
Though he hadn’t been back with the Ji family for long, he knew exactly what kind of person Ji Linyu was.
Ji Linyu was different from him. If his older brother liked someone, it was obvious, anyone could see it.
Too bad she couldn’t see it now.
Almost deliberately, Ji Qingyuan patted Zhu Xinyue’s head right in front of Ji Linyu and said with a smile, "What I said before still stands. Back then, you chased after me all the way to Tianze City. Now, I can stay in Tianze City for you. Just say the word, and we’ll be together. I’ll take care of you forever."
Zhu Xinyue had already noticed the person beside her leaving the sofa. She didn’t know where Ji Linyu was and looked around, trying to find him by sound. But there was nothing, he didn’t speak. She didn’t know where he was, or if he was even still in the room. Had he heard what Ji Qingyuan said? What was his reaction?
Ji Qingyuan leaned in closer. His scent was overwhelmingly invasive, a rich rose fragrance overpowering the sweet aroma of apples. His warm breath brushed against her ear as he whispered, "Don’t give me your answer too quickly. Think it over."
With that, Ji Qingyuan stood up and walked out. Seeing Ji Linyu’s expression, cold as an iceberg, only made him happier.
There was no particular reason for doing all this. He just found it amusing.
Teasing someone who was usually so serious and proper was truly entertaining.
Ji Linyu saw Ji Qingyuan out, closed the hospital room door, instructed the bodyguard to keep watch, and walked out with Ji Qingyuan.
Ji Qingyuan put on his mask and hat, covering himself completely as he walked beside his brother.
The two of them took the elevator together.
Ji Linyu asked, "Do you like her?"
They both knew exactly who "she" referred to.
"Whether I like her or not doesn’t change my responsibility for the rest of her life. Brother, she saved me." Ji Qingyuan spoke sincerely, his tone growing more serious. "If she never regains her sight, I’m willing to be her support and take care of her for the rest of her life."
"If someone saves you, do you have to repay them with your hand in marriage?"
"Her eyes went blind because she saved me. How could I possibly abandon her? That would make me utterly ungrateful."
The numbers on the elevator panel were descending, and the air began to thicken. Undercurrents surged within the confined space.
Ji Qingyuan waited for his brother to ask, but even as the elevator doors opened, Ji Linyu remained silent.
It was Ji Qingyuan who couldn't hold back first, turning the question back on his brother: "Brother, aren't you curious why Xinyue came to Tianze City in the first place?"
Ji Linyu stepped out of the elevator, and Ji Qingyuan quickly followed, hands in his pockets, gazing eagerly at his brother's tense profile.
"I know," Ji Linyu said.
Seeing his brother so calm only made Ji Qingyuan more agitated. He decided to spill everything in one go: "Zhu Xinyue has liked me since we were kids. She followed me all the way to Tianze City, and she even entered the entertainment industry because I was in it. She's always been like this, whatever I do, she has to do it too. The flavors I like, she ends up liking. The things I hate, she starts hating as well. Now, even with filming 'Peach Blossom Spring,' she has to act alongside me.
"Brother, she likes me."
Ji Linyu stopped walking and turned to face Ji Qingyuan.
They had exited the inpatient building and were standing at the entrance.
The moonlight was clear and bright, casting distinct shadows on the ground that sharply separated their silhouettes.
Ji Qingyuan met his brother's gaze without flinching.
This heir to the family enterprise, the young master who grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, now the one in power at Jin Huan Group. He envied Ji Linyu, who had been raised in the Ji family, unlike himself, who had been lost outside for so long before being found by the family.
Compared to his brother, he felt ordinary. His brother seemed to effortlessly win people's affection, with others voluntarily speaking well of him. But Ji Qingyuan was different, he had to constantly maintain his beauty, improve his acting skills, and even in life-or-death situations, remember his perfect persona, choosing to save others for the sake of a good reputation over saving himself.
Ji Qingyuan wanted to believe his brother was truly a good person because he treated everyone well.
He was different; he only treated those who loved him well. As for those he disliked, those who hated him, his anti-fans, he wouldn't hesitate to curse them to the eighteenth level of hell, and even that felt too mild.
He really wanted to know if a good person like his brother would ever do something against his moral standards out of jealousy.
"Do you like her?" Ji Linyu asked.
Ji Qingyuan parted his lips, seemingly surprised that Ji Linyu had asked the same question again. He finally realized that from the start, he had never held the reins of the conversation.
His throat tightened. Under Ji Linyu's icy gaze, an invisible pressure seemed to weigh on his heart.
"What if I said I do like her?" Braving the immense pressure, Ji Qingyuan tested his brother's limits, teetering on the edge of danger.
A cool evening breeze swept by as the night deepened, making the moonlight appear pure and flawless.
Ji Linyu looked at Ji Qingyuan and suddenly laughed. He pressed a hand to his forehead and patted Ji Qingyuan’s shoulder, as if mocking him, or perhaps himself.
Ji Qingyuan was puzzled. "Brother?"
A spark of clarity flashed in Ji Linyu’s dark eyes, as if he had suddenly understood something.
"Turns out, I don’t care about your answer at all." No matter what answer Ji Qingyuan gave, it wouldn’t change Ji Linyu’s feelings.
Ji Qingyuan was taken aback, not immediately grasping his meaning.
"I don’t care whether she ever liked you before, and I don’t care whether you like her or not." Ji Linyu slipped his hands back into his pockets, his entire demeanor calming, like the sea returning to tranquility. His gaze at Ji Qingyuan was steady and restrained, all sharp edges hidden away.
Ji Qingyuan frowned, playing his final card. "That day at the celebration party, she confessed to you just to make me jealous. Brother, she didn’t even know you back then."
A flicker of emotion passed through Ji Linyu’s eyes, a ripple on the sea’s surface, light and swift, like a small wave that was quickly suppressed.
"You’ve known her for so long, yet you still don’t understand her as well as I do."
Ji Qingyuan stared into Ji Linyu’s eyes and saw in them absolute trust in Zhu Xinyue.
"She’s not the kind of person you say she is.
"She wouldn’t drag others into something for such a foolish reason."
Ji Linyu lifted his head and looked toward the inpatient building, accurately pinpointing the VIP room with its lights on.
This was the first time Ji Qingyuan had ever seen such a gentle expression on his brother’s face.
His brother’s calm voice drifted through the air, as if stating the most natural thing in the world:
"Even if what you said were true, I wouldn’t care.
After all, I like her not because she likes me, but simply because she exists. That’s all."