Chapter 24: Taking Care of Shen Xingyu All Night
Whether Shen Xingyu heard Liang Sheng’s words or not, he gripped his wrist even tighter.
Liang Sheng felt as if his wrist were about to be crushed by him. Pain flared, yet he didn’t make a sound.
He sat by the bed, quietly gazing at the man’s handsome face. He only wanted to look at this face for a while longer. Even if the owner of this face no longer loved him, he still wanted to look at it a few more times…
It seemed he wouldn’t be able to wait for Shen Xingyu to recover his memories.
He didn’t want treatment, and he didn’t have the money for it anyway.
Soon, he would turn into a small urn of ashes, buried in a grave or scattered into the sea.
Compared to freedom, he actually wanted a place to belong more.
In the twenty-odd years he had lived, he had always been drifting. He had no home when he was young, constantly moving between multiple orphanages. With great difficulty, he was adopted at age seven by his current parents, but due to various reasons, they never had a fixed residence. At least then, there were people who loved him…
Now, there was no one to love him, and he had no home of his own.
Liang Sheng closed his eyes in pain.
Suddenly, a crystal tear slid from the corner of his eye.
He didn’t sob or wail; the tear just dropped silently onto the back of his hand, blooming into a small patch of moisture. Following that, more tears fell like pearls from a broken string.
Liang Sheng remained silent, deathly afraid of disturbing the man’s rest. It was as if even crying were a luxury.
But painful memories rushed in one after another. Fearing he wouldn’t be able to control his sobbing, he pressed one hand tightly over his mouth and used the other to forcefully break free from the man’s large hand, wanting to leave this place.
Just as he stood up, the person on the bed let out a low groan, followed by intermittent gasping.
Liang Sheng turned back uneasily and saw Shen Xingyu’s brow was twisted into a deep furrow.
The blood had drained from the other’s face, leaving him as pale as a sheet of paper. Cold sweat constantly beaded on his forehead. His body, which had been lying flat, was now slightly curled up, as if he were in great pain.
“What’s wrong with you?!”
Liang Sheng was terrified. He hurriedly went to him and reached out to test the temperature of Shen Xingyu’s forehead.
But as soon as his hand touched him, the other shuddered violently. A few physiological tears seeped from the corners of his eyes.
He was clearly in pain.
He looked down at Shen Xingyu’s chest and saw the man’s fingers were tightly gripping the clothes over his heart.
The veins on the back of his hand were visibly bulging.
Was he having a heart attack?!
Liang Sheng was scared out of his wits. He tremblingly tried to pull the man’s hand away but didn’t know where to start. The other’s grip was very tight, and the intermittent breathing had turned into heavy gasping—rapid and chaotic.
“It hurts here, doesn’t it? Wait, I’ll go call someone!”
His voice was tinged with a sob. As he spoke, he prepared to run out. But he immediately realized that Shen Xingyu was having an acute, sudden heart attack. By the time he went downstairs to find someone and waited for a doctor, it might already be too late!
In his desperation, Liang Sheng hurriedly searched the drawers for medicine. Fortunately, heart medicine was always kept in the room.
His movements were too frantic, and the medicine box in his hand fell to the floor with a sharp clatter.
Several small white porcelain bottles rolled out.
Liang Sheng quickly knelt to pick them up, then poured the medicine into his palm. His hands were shaking violently.
Shen Xingyu was already in unbearable pain. His eyes were tightly closed. In his stupor, his life was in danger at any moment.
Liang Sheng laboriously helped him sit up, letting him lean against him, and then carefully tried to feed him the medicine.
The medicine was too bitter. As soon as it was placed in his mouth, Shen Xingyu spat it out, refusing to take it no matter what.
“Eat it, please, Shen Xingyu, eat the medicine! You’ll die if you don’t…”
Liang Sheng’s eyes were red with anxiety, yet he didn’t dare force the medicine down, fearing he would worsen his condition.
But if he couldn’t get the medicine in, Shen Xingyu would be tortured to death by the heart attack!
Even if this person was usually terrible to him—even using a mistress to humiliate him—in the face of life and death, Liang Sheng chose to forgive him once again.
He remembered that he had placed a small jar of peach honey in the cupboard earlier. He had specially made it because the man was sometimes afraid of the bitterness of his medicine.
He gently let go of Shen Xingyu and leaned down to search the cupboard. It was still there!
Liang Sheng’s eyes lit up. He didn’t dare delay any longer. He scooped out a small spoonful of the preserve and mixed it into some water. He fed the man a sip first. When the other stopped resisting, he immediately sent the medicine in along with the sweet honey water.
“Bitter… don’t want…”
Shen Xingyu shook his head dazed; he seemed to have tasted a hint of bitterness beneath the peach honey.
He was always like this; he couldn’t be fooled at all.
“It’ll be better once you eat it. Be good… it’s not bitter. There’s peach honey; it’s sweet. Be good and eat it.”
Despite his anxiety, Liang Sheng coaxed him again and again, occasionally kissing Shen Xingyu’s forehead a few times to soothe his restless emotions.
This time, Shen Xingyu actually ate it.
The man who was usually arrogant and cold had actually turned into a child who needed coaxing to take his medicine.
Liang Sheng breathed a tentative sigh of relief.
He didn’t dare think about what would have happened if he had been a step slower. Would Shen Xingyu’s heart have stopped? Would he have died right in front of him?
After all these years of feelings, he truly couldn’t ignore his husband’s pain.
Fortunately, this sudden heart attack wasn’t too severe.
After taking the medicine, Shen Xingyu was clearly not as distressed as before. His hand gripping his chest slowly relaxed, and his brow was no longer tightly knit. As he eased, a faint flush returned to his pale, handsome face.
Liang Sheng slowly laid him back on the bed and covered him with a blanket. Although Shen Xingyu had suffered several sudden heart attacks before and he had stayed with him through them all, he still felt helpless every time he faced it.
He sat by the bed, his hand gently brushing the sweat-dampened hair from the man’s forehead. He watched him as he slept; without his usual sharp edges, he was like a hedgehog that had shed its quills—his forceful nature gone. He was rare, gentle, and obedient, but only while asleep.
Liang Sheng loved watching him sleep. He loved watching him hold the bedding with such a lack of security. He was so gentle and peaceful. Only this version of Shen Xingyu made him feel like the man belonged to him.
Liang Sheng suddenly felt a pang of heartache.
He felt heartache for his husband’s heart disease. Perhaps it was a shared sense of suffering, or perhaps it was the love he had held for so many years.
His own stomach cancer was a long, slow torture, while Shen Xingyu’s heart disease was an instantaneous death if not relieved with medicine immediately.
Liang Sheng was worried his husband would have a relapse in the second half of the night. He stayed by the bed, not daring to leave for a single step or even to doze off.
Outside the window, the rain pattered down.
It splashed against the window frame, sounding a bit noisy.
Despite the soundproofing, slight movements could still be heard inside.
Shen Xingyu lay on his side, his brow tightly knit. The sound of rain outside made him feel very uncomfortable.
People with coronary heart disease feared noise most of all.
Although he was hard to wake after being drunk, he could still hear things in a daze.
Liang Sheng didn’t know what to do. He could only try his best to block the window with things to reduce the sound.
Whenever it rained, Shen Xingyu had a hard time.
Even living in a high-rise didn’t help him avoid it, let alone now in a courtyard house where the highest point was only the third floor.
After closing the window, Liang Sheng turned back with worry, only to hear the man let out a muffled groan and vomit by the side of the bed.
He rushed over, gently patting Shen Xingyu’s back. “Get it all out. You’ll feel better once it’s out.”
The head-down position was very uncomfortable. Shen Xingyu opened his mouth and couldn’t help but vomit again.
In his stupor, he seemed to feel himself vomiting onto someone. That person froze for a moment but didn’t show any disgust. Instead, they got water for him to rinse his mouth, wiped his mouth, and then supported him back onto the bed.
He tried very hard to open his eyes to see who that person was, but he couldn’t lift his eyelids no matter what.
Liang Sheng didn’t care about cleaning himself up. He tirelessly went to the bathroom to fetch a basin of hot water. He wiped Shen Xingyu’s face and body clean, then took out clean clothes to change him into.
Once Shen Xingyu finally settled down and fell into a quiet sleep, Liang Sheng looked at the vomit on the floor and began to clean it up.
Most of what he had vomited was liquor.
He didn’t understand why Shen Xingyu would waste himself like this, or why he wouldn’t listen and drink less.
Liang Sheng wondered… what would happen if he died one day and there was no one to manage his drinking and medicine…
Forget it. It seemed his husband didn’t care much anyway.
He sighed. The drizzling rain outside was like the dense sadness in his heart—it never seemed to stop. He had long since drowned in this marriage where no sunny day could be seen.
He cared for Shen Xingyu until dawn. Midway through, Liang Sheng was so sleepy he nearly passed out. He was truly too exhausted and could only pinch his thighs to force himself to stay awake.
He didn’t know what the point of doing this was, nor did he expect his husband to be moved upon waking.
He was just a fool in love.
After being hurt by Shen Xingyu, Liang Sheng had warned himself countless times not to be a “love-brain” anymore.
He clearly knew that excessive giving would leave him covered in wounds, yet every time he saw Shen Xingyu—saw him tired, saw him sick—those rational thoughts vanished. His heart and eyes were only filled with the desire to be good to the man.
Outside the door, Su Nian hid behind the wall, secretly observing Liang Sheng. Naturally, he took in every single one of his movements in caring for Shen Xingyu. His beautiful, pure eyes were full of jealousy.
He clawed at the wall, gnashing his teeth. He was unwilling to only follow behind the man like a shadow, without even an open identity. Why did Liang Sheng get to be with Shen Xingyu!
Inside the room, Liang Sheng kept feeling a sharp gaze on his back. He turned to look but found nothing.
He leaned down to tuck in the folds of the blanket, suddenly smelling the stench of alcohol on his own clothes. Only then did he realize he had been so focused on caring for his husband all night that he hadn’t changed his clothes.
If Shen Xingyu woke up, he would probably be disgusted by him…
His own clean clothes were in the cloakroom next door. Liang Sheng quickly took off his coat, cast a glance at the sleeping man, and then left the room with peace of mind, closing the door softly.
Su Nian quickly hid in a corner.
Once Liang Sheng left, he hesitated. A plan formed in his mind, and he carefully pushed open the bedroom door.
He leaned down and tiptoed in, then turned to close the door and came to Shen Xingyu’s bedside.
The man’s brow twitched, but he didn’t wake.
A bowl of hot hangover soup sat on the bedside table.
Su Nian walked over, stood by the bed, and then picked up the spoon to gently stir it, lost in thought.
At that moment, Shen Xingyu let out a “hiss.” He was clearly awake but hadn’t opened his eyes yet, only raising his hand to rub his splitting forehead.
“President Shen, you’re finally awake?!”
Translator’s Note:
- Peach Honey (桃花蜜): This is a specialized honey, often home-brewed with peach blossoms. It’s used here as a sweet cover for bitter heart medicine.
- Coronary Heart Disease (冠心病): This is a recurring plot point. Shen’s heart is literally fragile, just like his relationship with Liang Sheng.
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