Chapter 51: Brother’s Death
“He even grabbed me! I was too dizzy and had no strength to shake him off. If I had strength,” Wen Ling glanced quickly at Cheng Ge before continuing, “If I had strength, I would have beaten him up.”
After speaking, Wen Ling glanced at Cheng Ge again. Seeing Cheng Ge’s expression was normal, he stopped those little actions of secretly checking his reaction.
“I support that,” Cheng Ge said.
He found that Wen Ling’s thoughts were actually quite normal. Just beating someone up—it wasn’t electrocution or chopping off hands anymore. Did that mean Wen Ling’s distorted thinking was fast returning to the right track?
Cheng Ge thought to himself for a moment, then remembered what that guy had said. He comforted Wen Ling: “Don’t take the nonsense that idiot said to heart. None of it is true.”
“What did he say?” Wen Ling yawned again, his voice weary.
Cheng Ge was surprised. “You…”
“My head felt awful at the time. There was a lot of mixed noise, so I didn’t hear clearly.”
“It’s nothing. He said he was an idiot.” It turned out Wen Ling didn’t know what that psycho had said. That was even better.
“That’s true,” Wen Ling said. He thought that guy was definitely sick.
“Mn.” Cheng Ge gave a short laugh and patted Wen Ling’s head.
Cheng Ge had roughly figured out the whole process.
It was likely that the guy was interested in Wen Ling and adopted a pestering method of pursuit. He also misunderstood his relationship with Wen Ling, thinking Cheng Ge was a scumbag or heartless lover. That’s why he said things like advising him to stay away from Wen Ling and stop hurting him—probably trying to take the opportunity to steal him away. When that failed, he turned around and accused Wen Ling of intentionally seducing him to slander him.
This matter wasn’t Wen Ling’s fault at all, Cheng Ge thought.
Wen Ling was clearly so quiet and obedient. How thick-skinned and shameless did that guy have to be to use Wen Ling’s appearance to slander him?
This reminded Cheng Ge of many girls who were clearly blameless but, because they were good-looking, charming, or simply quiet and introverted, were subjected to personal attacks, slander, and rumors.
It wasn’t that Wen Ling or those girls were bad. It was simply that some people, unable to obtain them or feeling unworthy, wanted to slander them, dragging them from heaven into the gutter to satisfy their vanity and vengeful thrill.
That was the hypocritical, selfish root of human nature.
Yet often, such people received no punishment and continued to harm others. Just like that boy—his behavior hardly constituted grounds for disciplinary action. The teacher might make him apologize, or at most write a self-reflection, but he wouldn’t realize he was wrong.
Wen Ling might encounter similar situations again.
Cheng Ge suddenly felt very uneasy. He thought that although Wen Ling was always silly and dazed, he wasn’t without the ability to protect himself. But what if? What if he had a fever and fainted like today, or was drugged? What if he was hurt before he could protect himself?
Contradiction. Cheng Ge found himself very conflicted. He feared Wen Ling’s edges were too sharp and would hurt others, hoping Wen Ling would be smoothed down, get on a normal track, and be accepted by society.
But he also feared Wen Ling would become too simple and slow, lacking armor and spikes to protect himself, thereby getting hurt.
Cheng Ge was worrying in his heart, but the person in his arms fell asleep very quickly. Cheng Ge lowered his eyes to gaze at Wen Ling’s obedient sleeping face, sighing silently in his heart.
He looked up at the IV bottle. Half was left; it would probably take another twenty or thirty minutes to drip.
Cheng Ge carefully adjusted his sitting posture to let Wen Ling sleep more comfortably.
He probably wouldn’t be able to brush Wen Ling off anymore, let alone distance himself or detach himself. Wen Ling would notice and sulk… Cheng Ge wasn’t willing to brush him off again either, or to let Wen Ling be so sad.
He discovered that compared to those unbearable consequences he had a vague premonition of, letting Wen Ling be disappointed and hated by Wen Ling was something he couldn’t bear even more. That seemed to be destiny, set in stone the moment he first softened his heart for Wen Ling.
Wen Ling had grown up with such difficulty, encountering so much injustice and experiencing few good things. Cheng Ge didn’t want his appearance to be another bad thing for Wen Ling, bringing him unhappiness and disappointment.
Cheng Ge thought, at least in the time he could accompany Wen Ling, he wanted Wen Ling to feel that this world was beautiful.
When the medicine in the IV bottle was almost finished, Cheng Ge felt Wen Ling’s forehead. The fever had basically gone down. Seeing Wen Ling was still sleeping soundly, he wanted him to sleep a bit longer, so he didn’t wake him. After gently putting a mask on Wen Ling, he carefully laid him flat on the bed and went out of the ward to call the nurse.
When Cheng Ge returned with the nurse to remove the needle, he found Wen Ling was already awake. He was lying on the bed, eyes open, staring unblinkingly as Cheng Ge approached. Wen Ling’s eyes were very bright, his pupils looking rounder than usual.
Cheng Ge looked at Wen Ling for a moment, touched his ear, and looked away. Suddenly remembering something, he quickly reached out to cover Wen Ling’s eyes before watching how the nurse removed the needle from the side.
Only after the nurse had dealt with the needle did he quickly retract his palm, which felt itchy.
“Make sure to get adequate rest after going back. Drink plenty of water and keep the diet bland. Also, increase the intake of protein-rich foods like fish and milk. Supplement with appropriate amounts of fruits and vegetables too; this will strengthen immunity.”
The nurse explained everything one by one. Cheng Ge noted down every point seriously on his phone, then thanked the nurse.
Once the nurse left, Cheng Ge waved his phone notes in front of Wen Ling and pinched his face. “Did you hear that? I’m telling you to eat more of these foods. Don’t be so willful anymore, refusing to eat just because you don’t want to.”
Wen Ling blinked very slowly twice. “Oh.”
Cheng Ge helped Wen Ling up. “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere else?”
Wen Ling yawned and shook his head. “No.”
Cheng Ge saw the corners of Wen Ling’s eyes were wet from the yawn and wiped it away for him. “So sleepy? You were sleeping quite soundly just now; why did you wake up suddenly?”
“I felt you weren’t there, so I woke up,” Wen Ling said honestly.
Cheng Ge made a “tsk” sound in his heart, unable to distinguish whether it was annoyance, regret, or some other emotion.
Wen Ling got out of bed, put on his shoes, adjusted his mask, and asked Cheng Ge, “Why did you suddenly put a mask on me?”
Although Wen Ling used to have a habit of wearing masks when going out, Cheng Ge always felt it was stifling in the summer. He loved pulling Wen Ling’s mask down when no one was around. Later, after getting used to being exposed at school, Wen Ling didn’t wear masks much anymore.
“Didn’t you say the hospital smell was bad? I put a mask on you to block the smell.” Cheng Ge’s original plan was to wait for Wen Ling to wake up naturally after getting enough sleep before returning to school together. He had put the mask on him fearing Wen Ling would wake up unable to stand the disinfectant smell. He hadn’t expected Wen Ling to wake up the moment he left.
“Oh, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
When the two left the hospital, it was already late afternoon, approaching dusk. The air wasn’t as sweltering as noon. The sunlight had turned orange-yellow, and a breeze blew past, warm with a hint of coolness.
The car Cheng Ge hailed had an unexpected issue and required a slightly longer wait. Since neither of them was in a hurry to return to school, they didn’t change the order and sat on a roadside bench to wait.
Cheng Ge was looking at the cafeteria delicacies highly recommended on the campus wall, planning to take Wen Ling to eat once they got back to school. Suddenly, he heard Wen Ling say:
“My brother died in the hospital.”
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