Chapter 50: Only Pain Teaches a Lasting Lesson
“Swallow it for me! Swallow it!!”
Shen Chuyan’s eyes were wide and bulging. His expression was hideously twisted, as terrifying as a demon crawling out of hell. He used the corner of the quilt to desperately smother Jian An’s nose and mouth.
The face of the person on the bed gradually turned purple. His body trembled incessantly, his breathing grew rapid and uneven, and his eyes slowly lost focus as if he were about to suffocate to death.
“Shen Chuyan! What are you doing to Xiao An?!”
Startled by the voice that suddenly rang out from the doorway, Shen Chuyan jumped. He hurriedly hid his hands behind his back. Before he could even turn around, he was violently shoved to the floor.
“Ow… it hurts…!”
He clutched his bruised backside and slowly scrambled up from the floor, his face contorting in pain. Looking up and seeing the man before him, he felt an inexplicable surge of guilt. The malice on his face dissipated slightly, yet he still forced himself to ask.
“Bro… Brother? Why did you push me?!”
Shen Yunheng didn’t respond. His face was as dark as ink, and his dark eyes burned with intense fury. He quickly reached out to pull the quilt off Jian An’s face.
Seeing his beloved battered and covered in injuries from the abuse, the rage between his brows turned to pained regret. His movements faltered for a moment as he tore away the IV tube tangled around Jian An’s hands. He leaned down to pull him into a tight embrace, his voice thick with sobs.
“Xiao An… how are you? Can you still see me? I’m sorry, I’m late. Please don’t let anything happen to you.”
“Cough, cough, cough…!”
Jian An couldn’t stop coughing, his throat feeling as though it were on fire. He then shook his head stiffly.
A faint, relieved smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He let out a soft breath that had been trapped in his chest, closed his eyes in exhaustion, and comforted the other man in a raspy voice.
“Yunheng… I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a wave of intense nausea surged in his stomach. He immediately tilted his head to the side. He tried to cover his mouth with his hand, but it was too late. He vomited up the contents of his stomach, mixed with gastric acid, onto the floor.
“What is all this? Why is it like this?”
Shen Yunheng stared at the puddle of greasy vomit and then looked at the open insulated carrier on the table. His brows knit instantly, and his fingers clenched into fists. He roared.
“The doctor said he can’t eat greasy food yet! What on earth did you give him?!”
Shen Chuyan, who had been trying to slip out of the ward unnoticed, froze. Hearing those words, he immediately quickened his pace. However, before his hand could reach the doorknob, he was violently yanked back.
Shen Yunheng gripped his wrist so tightly that the veins on the back of his hand bulged, leaving red marks on the youth’s delicate skin. His voice was raspy with suppressed rage.
“Why are you here? What exactly did you do to Xiao An while I was away? If you dare to lie to me, don’t blame me for turning my back on our family ties!”
“Brother! What are you doing?! You’re hurting me…!”
Shen Chuyan’s face was full of pampered grievance as tears welled in his eyes. He looked at the cold, indifferent man and said.
“How can you be so mean to me? I didn’t do anything to Brother Xiao An. I was kind enough to cook chicken soup for him, but he just heartlessly wasted it. How was I supposed to know the doctor said he couldn’t eat anything greasy?! I haven’t even recovered from my own illness yet!”
He piteously voiced his grievances, yet he couldn’t stop his gaze from drifting toward the vomited soup, his heart burning with rage.
Now that the chicken soup had been vomited up, was the drug inside gone? If it hadn’t been for the lack of opportunity to tamper with Jian An’s IV drip, he wouldn’t have had to risk being discovered by coming to the ICU to force-feed him soup.
But it didn’t matter. He just loved simple, brutal abuse. Elaborate schemes took away the pleasure, and besides, no one would ever do anything to him anyway.
Whenever he saw Jian An safe and sound, his heart would itch with an unbearable resentment. He wished he could tear the man apart.
He cursed Jian An to never be able to stand up again for the rest of his life!
Shen Yunheng felt only disgust and repulsion for the face that was so easy to pity. He was glad he had long since seen through the fangs hidden beneath Shen Chuyan’s skin.
He truly couldn’t understand how his parents, who had lived such upright and charitable lives, could have sired a brother so diametrically opposed to his own character!
Shen Yunheng glared at him with pained indignation, his eyes full of resentment. He pointed a hand toward the hospital bed and spoke in a fury.
“Shen Chuyan, are you blind? You fed the chicken soup to the bed? You don’t have to keep talking with that fake sincerity. I won’t believe a single word. Don’t call me ‘Brother’ ever again. I don’t have a brother as malicious as you!”
At these words, Shen Chuyan’s piteous expression vanished in a blink. It was replaced by a look of utter disgust, and even his voice carried a hint of a tearful shout.
“It was clearly because he wouldn’t drink it and pushed me away, spilling all the soup! Why are you blaming me?! I don’t have a brother who sides with outsiders to bully his own family!”
Before the man could speak, Jian An had already propped himself up. His face was haggard, and he spoke in a weak voice.
“Yunheng… it’s exactly as you saw. He forced me to drink that chicken soup…”
At these words, Shen Yunheng felt even more humiliated and frustrated by his brother’s actions.
“Do you really love forcing and bullying people that much? Then today, as your brother, I’ll educate you on behalf of our parents! I’ll make you taste some bitterness so you can turn over a new leaf!”
For the first time, Shen Chuyan saw his usually steady brother fly into such a rage. His captured arm trembled, and he began to shrink back in sudden fear.
But the other man had no intention of letting him off so easily. He forcibly dragged him toward the hospital bed, ignoring his terrified screams and incoherent roars.
“You… what on earth do you want to do? Let go of me! I’m warning you not to do anything reckless!”
Seeing that being aggressive didn’t work, Shen Chuyan immediately began to cry like a rain-drenched pear blossom. Tears flowed one after another as he sobbed in terror.
“Brother, I won’t do it again. I was wrong, okay…? I really didn’t force Brother Xiao An!”
The smell of chicken soup lingering in the air was thick and nauseating. Jian An used a tissue to wipe away the soup that had splashed onto his cheeks and been coughed into his nose, fighting through the exhaustion.
He watched Shen Chuyan, who had been arrogant a moment ago and was now a sobbing mess. A tiny, microscopic trace of irony flickered in his vacant eyes.
If Ji Songting were here to see this fragile, piteous act, he would surely be heartbroken and try to comfort him with car rides, gifts, and luxury items. But Shen Yunheng didn’t buy it; his eyes saw through people more clearly than anyone’s.
Listening to the youth’s cowardly pleas for mercy, Shen Yunheng remained unmoved, his heart full of only disgust. He let out a cold snort.
“Now you know how to be afraid? When you were hurting Xiao An, did you ever consider his feelings? He’s already in this state, and you still won’t let him be? You, Shen Chuyan, will never recognize your own mistakes. Only pain will teach you a lasting lesson!”
Shen Chuyan immediately began to struggle even more desperately, only for both of his slender arms to be easily pinned together by the man’s large hand. Only his legs remained free to kick wildly, yet it was to no effect.
Knowing that no amount of humble apologies would help, he suddenly swapped to a fierce expression, though his voice still trembled with fear.
“I… I’m going to tell Mom and Dad that you, Shen Yunheng, are a terrible brother to me. And A-Ting too! If you dare to do anything to me, he’ll definitely take revenge for me! He won’t let you off!”
But Shen Yunheng turned a deaf ear to his snarling threats. He directly picked up a glass of mango juice from the table and prepared to pour it over the youth’s arms.
The move nearly scared Shen Chuyan out of his wits. His face was filled with terror, and his arms began to twitch violently. Even his rosy lips turned pale.
He screamed at the top of his lungs, “No… Brother, no! Don’t touch me! I’m allergic to mangoes! Are you trying to kill me?! How can you be so malicious?!”
Hearing this, Jian An’s body, which had been leaning against the wall, instinctively sat up straight. His movements halted, and a flash of surprise crossed his face. Looking at Shen Chuyan’s deathly fear, he didn’t seem to be lying.
For someone allergic to mangoes, contact or ingestion can lead to skin inflammation and swelling at best, or death in severe cases.
He couldn’t help but recall the scene of Shen Chuyan smothering his mouth and forcing him to drink chicken soup. Hearing the other’s desperate cries for help, he felt both angry and moved.
The reason he was moved wasn’t out of a soft heart. It was because he knew that if something truly happened to Shen Chuyan here today, based on Ji Songting’s personality, the consequences would be unimaginable.
His lips moved slightly, and he let out a soft, helpless sigh.
“Yunheng, forget it. Don’t let something truly happen. Don’t invite unnecessary trouble for my sake.”
“What trouble am I afraid of? I just want to vent some of this anger for you and give him something to keep him quiet for a while.”
Shen Yunheng ignored the shrill, pig-like squealing. He poured half a glass of mango juice directly over those two patches of delicate skin on the youth’s arms.
“Aaaaah… let go of my hands!!”
The cold juice on his skin felt like thousands of ants biting and tearing at him. Shen Chuyan began to shake uncontrollably, letting out a piercing scream.
Gradually, his entire face turned a deep, bruised purple. His face and eyes began to swell, and tiny, light red rashes slowly began to appear.
“Help… A-Ting, I don’t want to die…”
He called out weakly, his throat feeling as though it were blocked by a fishbone. His voice was terrifyingly raspy.
Seeing this, Jian An was suddenly startled. He tried to move his body to stop the man, but his arms were too weak to lift. He could only lean closer toward the edge of the bed and advise.
“Yunheng, okay, okay. Scaring him a bit is enough. There’s no need to actually do it.”
Shen Yunheng stopped the glass before the juice was finished.
“It’s fine. I know what I’m doing.”
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