Chapter 15: Did We Know Each Other Before?
The next day’s rehabilitation went smoothly. Liu Mingzhou diligently attended to Chi Qiulin, showing no signs of fatigue. Chi Qiulin, however, found the clingy Liu Mingzhou somewhat bothersome.
During a break, Chi Qiulin thought of his mother. She had a terminal illness, but he didn’t know in what capacity he could see her one last time, to lessen her regrets before she passed.
Lost in thought, Liu Mingzhou’s gentle voice sounded in his ear, “Ge, what are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking about my mother…”
“If you want to, let’s go see her.”
Chi Qiulin looked up at Liu Mingzhou in surprise. “But what identity should I use…”
Liu Mingzhou sighed. “The tumor in her brain is pressing on her retina. She can’t see clearly anymore. Since you have memories from your past life, communicating with her won’t be a problem. She won’t suspect anything.”
Chi Qiulin felt even heavier after hearing this.
Liu Mingzhou naturally understood Chi Qiulin’s sadness, but any further words would be pale and weak. So he said nothing, just gently hugged Chi Qiulin, and they quietly embraced for a long time.
A long-lost sense of peace washed over him. The young man in his memories also seemed to like being embraced tightly like this. Chi Qiulin was speechless. After drawing comfort from Liu Mingzhou’s warm embrace, he hesitantly spoke, “Xiaozhou, have we met before? A long, long time ago?”
Liu Mingzhou chuckled softly. “You guess.”
Chi Qiulin shuddered, somewhat at a loss. He remembered Liu Mingzhou’s immediate suspicion of his rebirth, and the image of the young man falling from the bridge into the river in his memories.
At that time, Chi Qiulin had been frustrated. Why would Liu Mingzhou believe such an improbable possibility? Now it made sense—only someone who had been reborn would dare to suspect others of being reborn.
But even if such a bizarre thing had happened to him, he still couldn’t believe it. Chi Qiulin’s voice trembled slightly. “Xiaozhou, you… have you also been reborn?”
“No,” Liu Mingzhou’s answer was firm and sincere. “I have always been me, Ge. Think again.”
Chi Qiulin was about to ask more questions when Yao Xinyu’s call came through. “Mingzhou, where are you?”
Liu Mingzhou’s voice returned to its cold calm. “My brother and I are at the rehabilitation center. What is it?”
Yao Xinyu’s voice was low and serious. “Chi Qiulin’s mother’s condition is not optimistic. She was just sent to the ICU.”
The volume of the call wasn’t low. Chi Qiulin, sitting beside him, heard it clearly, his eyes instantly stinging. “Take me there, okay?”
Liu Mingzhou nodded silently, lifting Chi Qiulin and heading towards the exit of the rehabilitation center. He then said in a low voice, “Ge, your father is likely there too, so you need to think about what identity you’ll use to see them.”
Chi Qiulin’s mind was in chaos. He only wanted to see his mother; nothing else mattered. So he vaguely replied, “Let’s go to the hospital.”
At the city center hospital, Yao Xinyu was waiting, Chi Xiangming sitting beside him. Chi Qiulin awkwardly huddled in Liu Mingzhou’s arms, asking puzzledly, “Does my father know about my fall?”
Liu Mingzhou nodded. “To keep your mother at ease for her treatment, we kept it from her.”
Chi Qiulin struggled to get out of Liu Mingzhou’s arms, but he caught Chi Xiangming’s attention.
Chi Xiangming’s gaze was sharp, meeting Chi Qiulin’s. Seeing Chi Xiangming’s complex expression, Chi Qiulin felt uneasy again.
Chapter 16: Four Men and a Drama
Chi Qiulin, supported by Liu Mingzhou, struggled to stand. Although he was taller than Chi Xiangming, he still felt inferior in terms of presence.
Chi Xiangming walked straight up to Chi Qiulin and unceremoniously asked, “Who are you? Who are you looking for?”
Liu Mingzhou wanted to help Chi Qiulin out, but after a moment’s thought, he didn’t know what identity Chi Qiulin wanted to use to face his parents, so he remained silent, waiting for Chi Qiulin to speak.
Unexpectedly, Chi Qiulin’s response was a car crash of a sentence: “Who I am is none of your business!”
Chi Xiangming’s eyes widened. “You…”
“What about me? The nurse was just urging you to pay the medical bill,” Chi Qiulin said nonchalantly. “Instead of wasting time here with a busybody, why don’t you pay your wife’s medical bill first?”
Chi Xiangming scrutinized Chi Qiulin for a long time but ultimately didn’t press further, turning and leaving.
A wave of bitterness washed over Chi Qiulin. He couldn’t help but scoff. It wasn’t that he intentionally wanted to antagonize Chi Xiangming, but their relationship had been fraught with conflict for the past three years. He simply couldn’t face his father with a conciliatory attitude.
Pushing open the ward door, Chi Qiulin’s mother lay sleeping in bed. Supported by Liu Mingzhou, he approached the bed with difficulty. Seeing his mother’s gaunt features, he involuntarily cried out, “Ma—”
The person in the bed remained unresponsive with her eyes closed. Chi Qiulin was speechless. He silently knelt by the bedside, gently holding his mother’s hand. Tears flowed uncontrollably, falling heavily onto the clean sheets.
After a while, footsteps sounded in the corridor. Liu Mingzhou quickly whispered, “Ge, someone’s coming.”
Chi Qiulin said in a half-joking, yet weary tone, “Chi Xiangming, right? It’s okay. When he comes in, I’ll call him ‘Dad’ and scare that old fox to death.”
The ajar ward door was pushed open abruptly. At the intersection of Chi Qiulin’s and Liu Mingzhou’s gazes stood Yao Xinyu, his face filled with shock.
Liu Mingzhou: “…”
Chi Qiulin: “!”
Yao Xinyu quickly walked to Chi Qiulin’s side, his voice still laced with disbelief. “You… you’re Chi Qiulin?”
At this point, any further explanation would be a pale and feeble defense. Chi Qiulin raised an eyebrow, frankly admitting, “It’s me. So?”
Yao Xinyu’s emotions were somewhat out of control. “You’re back… you’re back, why didn’t you tell me?”
Hearing Yao Xinyu’s question, Chi Qiulin inwardly scoffed: Why tell you? Aren’t you chasing Liu Mingzhou with gusto?
But outwardly, he remained calm, hiding his anger and sadness behind his silence.
However, Liu Mingzhou’s cold voice cut through the air, “Chi Qiulin is mine now.”
Chi Qiulin was startled. He hadn’t expected their relationship to be revealed so soon.
Yao Xinyu was even more shocked. “What did you say?”
Liu Mingzhou bent down, pulling up the kneeling Chi Qiulin, saying each word clearly, “I said, Chi Qiulin and I are dating. Chi Qiulin is mine.”
Yao Xinyu’s face grew darker. He looked at Chi Qiulin, his voice low, “Qiulin, do you really like him?”
Chi Qiulin froze.
Did he like Liu Mingzhou? If Liu Mingzhou was the boy from before… No, Liu Mingzhou wasn’t him.
If Liu Mingzhou hadn’t lied, then Liu Mingzhou wasn’t reborn. But Liu Mingzhou and the boy shared no resemblance, and Chi Qiulin had seen the boy fall from such a high bridge into the river—how could he have possibly survived?
So, he only liked the similarities between Liu Mingzhou and the boy. In other words, he didn’t actually like Liu Mingzhou…
After coming to this realization, Chi Qiulin was shocked. He snapped back to reality, but under Yao Xinyu’s scrutinizing gaze and Liu Mingzhou’s expectant look, he slowly replied, “I like him.”