Chapter 10: Past Events
By the time they finished cleaning up the shards and returned to the room, it was nearly three in the morning.
Qi Zui looked at him sheepishly and apologized, “Sorry about that, Xiao Che. My mom scared you.”
“It’s fine.” Wen Xubai shook his head.
After hesitating for a moment, he asked, “Does your mother… have a health condition? I know a few excellent doctors; maybe I could help.”
Qi Zui shook his head with a bitter smile. “We’ve seen them. We’ve seen all the famous doctors. It’s no use…”
“Is it a rare disease?” Wen Xubai frowned. In that split second, he had already mentally cycled through every illness he knew.
“No… it’s a mental issue…”
As he spoke, Qi Zui silently opened the cabinet in the room and pulled out a bedsheet.
While spreading it out, he explained, “I heard from the neighbors that when I was still in my mom’s belly, that bastard father of mine ran off. It was a huge blow to my mom. Heavily pregnant, she looked everywhere with no luck. She had no choice but to give birth to me and raise me all on her own…”
“But as a fragile woman dragging a kid along, what kind of decent job could she find? Dishwasher, waitress… she did it all. On top of that, because she was an unwed mother, she had to silently endure the gossip of the neighbors… Over time, the pressure got to be too much… and her mind became a little unstable…”
Wen Xubai felt a jolt in his heart hearing this, but Qi Zui acted as if it were nothing, showing no embarrassment. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he straightened up and looked at him.
“Didn’t you ask me earlier why I fought with those punks? That’s why. Those good-for-nothings did nothing all day but gossip and badmouth us, so of course I had to teach them a lesson! But my fists aren’t just for show—even a whole group of them couldn’t beat me! How about that? Pretty awesome, right?”
As he said this, holding the quilt in his arms, he snapped his fingers at Wen Xubai with a crisp click.
Wen Xubai was stunned. “Then… haven’t you ever thought about looking for your father?”
Qi Zui’s hand paused as he spread the quilt, but he quickly recovered. His voice dropped. “No. I can’t find him, and I don’t want to. I don’t have a dad. I didn’t before, I don’t now, and I won’t in the future. Since that bastard left, he shouldn’t even think about coming back to disturb the two of us.”
“Otherwise… I’ll sack him, beat him to a pulp, and throw him out! Let everyone in the alley see just how shameless that bastard is!”
His voice was usually clear and bright, but when he said this, it deepened with a rare gravity, a flash of ruthlessness crossing his eyes…
When he looked up and saw Wen Xubai’s stunned expression, he suddenly laughed and teased, “What? Scared you?”
He lifted his chin and smiled. “You’ve been listening to me this whole time; tell me about yourself. Hiss… You don’t look like… the type who loves to fight, do you?”
“Why?” Wen Xubai asked, puzzled.
This stumped Qi Zui.
He rubbed his chin and thought aloud, “I don’t know. It’s just your vibe. You look like you come from a scholarly family or something. How could you be the same as us kids who grew up rolling around in the mud?”
Is that so?
Wen Xubai thought. But this life… is the one he should have been living…
So he shook his head, avoiding that topic, and chose to answer the previous question instead:
“I don’t love to fight. I just got beaten a lot…”
“Huh? Who could be that cruel?” Now it was Qi Zui’s turn to be confused.
“My parents.”
“Parents? Why?” Qi Zui exclaimed in shock.
“I don’t know.” Wen Xubai shrugged. “Maybe there were too many siblings in the family, so they needed an outlet for their stress?”
His tone was indifferent, as if telling a story that had nothing to do with him.
Qi Zui pursed his lips. After thinking for a long while, he offered comfort: “Hey, it’s okay! You’re free now, aren’t you? If anyone dares to bully you in the future, just come find me!”
Qi Zui thumped his chest—thud, thud, thud—with force. Not paying attention, he hit his wound, causing him to grimace in pain again. Yet, he still managed to say through a choked voice:
“We… we aren’t called ‘brothers in hardship’ for nothing. If Big Brother gets bullied, Little Brother here definitely has to step up, right?”
Wen Xubai raised an eyebrow playfully, looked him up and down, and teased, “You’re going to stand up for me looking like that? Forget it. If we fight together, I’d be lucky not to get beaten to death alongside you…”
“Hey!” Hearing this, Qi Zui immediately straightened up and said seriously, “No way!”
“Just wait until I heal up! Once I’m healed, I, Qi Zui, will be a hero again!”
Wen Xubai couldn’t help but laugh.
Qi Zui laughed too, scratching his head sheepishly.
Suddenly remembering the time, he quickly pointed to the single bed against the wall. “It’s getting late. You should get some rest.”
Wen Xubai glanced at the rickety single bed and couldn’t help but ask, “I’m sleeping here?”
“Yeah.”
“Then where are you sleeping?”
“Over there.”
Wen Xubai looked in the direction he pointed and saw the “bed” Qi Zui had just made on the floor.
“You’re injured,” Wen Xubai said, a vein pulsing in his temple.
“Oh, I’m not that delicate! Stop being so polite with me!”
Before Wen Xubai could utter the next sentence—insisting that Qi Zui take the bed—Qi Zui had already guessed his intention and physically pushed him down onto the mattress.
The distance between them vanished in an instant. The current posture left Wen Xubai feeling extremely insecure.
Wen Xubai instinctively struggled but couldn’t break free. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Qi Zui raising an eyebrow at him, silencing him instantly.
The next second, Qi Zui flashed a row of brilliant white teeth and grinned, “Goodnight, Big Brother!”
Wen Xubai: “……”
Before he could react, the room light was switched off, plunging the space into darkness.
Wen Xubai’s eyes hadn’t adjusted to the dark yet, so he couldn’t see anything. He could only hear the rustling of Qi Zui pulling up his covers.
A second later, snoring echoed through the room.
Wen Xubai: “……”
Looks like he was really tired.
Only then did Wen Xubai slowly relax his tense body and turn onto his side. The quilt covering him reached his nose; it carried the scent of sunshine…
Smelling that scent, Wen Xubai felt an inexplicable sense of peace settle over him.
Just then, his eyes adjusted to the darkness. From this angle, he could just make out Qi Zui’s sleeping face…
The man’s chest rose and fell rhythmically; he seemed to be sleeping soundly…
“Goodnight…” Wen Xubai murmured softly.
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