Chapter 30: An Awkward Shura Field — “He is Mine”
“You don’t recognize him either?” Lu Xunye asked tentatively.
In the original plot, these two could be said to be at each other’s throats the moment they met; they often fought when they were young.
Because he could never win, Qin Zhuoyu had opposed Shen Yunqian at every turn growing up, attempting to regain face through sarcasm and mockery.
Later, after the Protagonist Gong and Shou entered their deep, angst-filled romance, Qin Zhuoyu’s role was glossed over in a single stroke.
Unexpectedly, just as Lu Xunye finished asking, small patches of water began to spread one after another on the snow-white sheets beside his hand. He raised an eyebrow, suddenly having a bad premonition.
Looking up, he saw tears sliding down the face of the person on the bed. A faint layer of pink surfaced at the corners of his narrow, elongated eyes; the tip of his nose was slightly red, and his thin lips were pressed into a tight line.
Shen Yunqian silently clutched the duvet at his chest, lowering his eyes and weeping soundlessly, looking utterly aggrieved.
“?” Lu Xunye flusteredly looked for tissues for him. Finding none, he used his sleeve to wipe Shen Yunqian’s face haphazardly. “What are you crying for?”
Shen Yunqian turned his head, his eyes brimming with tears, his voice choked with sobs. “Were you… showing him off in front of me before?”
No, what is all this?!
Lu Xunye felt a headache coming on. “The trending search was fake. Me being threatened by him was the truth. We have no relationship; the media was just chasing shadows.”
As the words left his mouth, Lu Xunye realized belatedly: Why am I explaining this so earnestly?
“Really?”
A sob spilled from Shen Yunqian’s throat. He hummed and whimpered, looking at Lu Xunye hopefully like a small kitten.
Lu Xunye didn’t comfort him immediately. Instead, he burst out laughing with a pfft.
Realizing this was inappropriate, he slapped his own face to sober up, cleared his throat twice to cover it up, then straightened his face and nodded solemnly. “Really.”
Shen Yunqian sniffled and broke into a bright smile. “You’re so good.”
【Random Mission Released: Please disguise yourself as the Protagonist Shou’s boyfriend and remain undetected by the Protagonist Shou for one month. Success reward: 100 days of life span.】
【This reward does not overlap with the hidden plot “Death of the White Moonlight” reward. Current life span: 32 days and 5 hours.】
Lu Xunye moved his lips, just about to say something, when another notification chime sounded.
【Love Points +10,000. Current Love Points: 120,000.】
Wuwuwu, the Protagonist Shou is so kind. Lu Xunye couldn’t hold back and buried his head in the duvet.
His conscience was under immense condemnation.
Shen Yunqian raised his hand to touch the tears on his face, lowering his eyes to look at the sheen of water left on his fingertips. No one could understand what he was thinking.
He lowered his gaze to the person with the fluffy head buried in his duvet, extended a hand very close, then froze in mid-air above him.
At this moment, Lu Xunye straightened up, and Shen Yunqian quickly retracted his hand.
Lu Xunye didn’t notice his anomaly. The young man’s eyes were innocent as he rubbed Shen Yunqian’s head, accepting the role well. “That’s right, I am your boyfriend.”
The system watched from the side, dumbfounded: 【Damn, what stiff acting.】 What did it miss! How did its Host’s acting become so trash?
Lu Xunye opened the video recording on his phone. The handsome youth wearing a hospital gown with gauze wrapped around his head appeared on the phone screen. He beckoned to the other party: “Look here.”
Shen Yunqian didn’t understand but obediently looked at the rear camera and tilted his head.
Lu Xunye pondered for a moment. “Say you swear that after you regain your memory, you are not allowed to ignore me, not allowed to hate me, and not allowed to avoid me.”
More importantly, not allowed to lower points!
Shen Yunqian thought for a moment and did as told.
Lu Xunye hooked his lips in satisfaction. He raised his palm into the screen, signaling the other party to high-five him.
Obviously, Shen Yunqian misunderstood. He opened his hand, his gaze moving up to Lu Xunye’s well-defined, powerful hand. After thinking for a moment, he interlaced his fingers through the gaps, clasping ten fingers together.
“?” Lu Xunye’s fingers, which were already straight, became even stiffer. What is this situation!
What surprised him even more was that next, he saw through the screen the youth pulling his hand over, maintaining the interlocked fingers posture, and affectionately rubbing his cheek against the back of his hand, his long, curled eyelashes trembling lightly.
Shocked, the phone slipped from his hand and landed face down on the duvet. Lu Xunye pulled back his tightly held hand as if electrocuted, scrutinizing the youth with an undisguised, weird gaze.
This, this, this… broke character, right!
He found it hard to understand what exactly the original book’s Protagonist Gong did to have a sadomasochistic relationship with the Protagonist Shou who was like this after losing his memory.
The phone on the bedside table vibrated, the screen lighting up twice. Lu Xunye’s hand seemed to still retain the warmth.
He hurriedly broke the subtle atmosphere, rushing to reach out: “I’ll get it for you.”
“Nothing important,” Shen Yunqian grabbed his arm, stopping his movement. “After all, in this world, I only have you as my one important family member.”
He paused, gazing at Lu Xunye with clear, innocent eyes, and asked softly, “Isn’t that right?”
Lu Xunye thought about it; the other party really seemed to have no family left. Unfortunately, he, the so-called “boyfriend,” was also fake.
He had schemed to get close to the youth only for the sake of the mission.
Why empathize with a paper character? Anyway, this world was fake to begin with.
Lu Xunye looked deeply at Shen Yunqian’s look of total dependence on him. Subconsciously, he ignored the fact that ever since Shen Yunqian knocked Si Jinyan out with a stick, the predetermined plot seemed to be developing in an uncontrollable direction.
“I’m a bit thirsty. Can you pour me a glass of water?”
Lu Xunye snapped back to reality, remembering he was still a patient. He bent down to lift the thermos bottle by his feet.
Then getting up, he paused as he opened the door. He turned back and said, “Out of water. I’ll go get some. Wait for me.”
Shen Yunqian half-leaned against the headboard, hands resting on the quilt. Hearing this, his eyes sparkled, and he nodded obediently. “Okay, I’ll wait for you.”
When the door closed, cutting off the hurried people in the corridor.
The innocence on Shen Yunqian’s face vanished instantly. He answered the phone casually, his tone flat: “Found it?”
The other side unleashed a torrent of complaints: “I’m telling you, are you cultivating immortality? So isolated from the world? Why didn’t you reply to my many messages?”
…
Shen Yunqian silently held the phone away. After he finished, he perfunctorily replied, “Mn, okay.”
Hearing this, the person on the other end knew he hadn’t listened seriously. Rolling his eyes, he started talking business.
“Your guess was right. Your brother is indeed not dead and is in the country, but I don’t know why he isn’t coming back.”
“Although our people found out after Si Jinyan did, what’s certain is that your brother wasn’t caught by him. You can rest assured on this point.”
“Since that fire at the Si family’s old residence nineteen years ago destroyed many confidential documents and the old family head died in the fire, plus internal corruption by the directors, the capital chain has always been tight. It only improved in recent years after Si Jinyan took over the company.”
“But judging from the board meeting they held recently, they want to bid for that piece of wasteland in the east city that was abandoned due to construction errors at the auction a week later. Do you think we should also…”
“What,” Shen Yunqian kept his eyes on the ward door, “Just fabricate a little public opinion about a piece of land abandoned for twenty years, and you believe it too?”
Su Zhuo’s voice on the phone went silent for a while. “Fabricate… You did it?”
The doorknob turned. Shen Yunqian whispered, “Don’t contact me recently.”
Then the call ended.
Lu Xunye opened the door and walked in. Seeing the youth still sitting on the bed in that posture, he poured him a glass of water and handed it over. “Do you want to sleep for a while? Are you hungry?”
Shen Yunqian held the cup with both hands and took a sip. The warm water flowed down his throat, warming his body as well. He tapped his fingers lightly against the cup wall. “Can I be discharged now?”
Lu Xunye placed the thermos in the corner of the cabinet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the steaming teacup wrapped in a pair of porcelain-white, slender hands, the fingertips a pale peach pink.
His Adam’s apple rolled. “Tomorrow.”
Seeing the IV bag on the stand was almost empty, Lu Xunye prepared to go out and call the nurse to remove the needle.
Just as he was about to tell Shen Yunqian, he saw Shen Yunqian pull the needle out of his hand, his movements crisp and decisive, without a hint of hesitation.
Lu Xunye: “…” Is this Protagonist Shou reckless or what?
Shen Yunqian explained, “I just felt calling someone was too slow.”
Unexpectedly, as he spoke, a hand suddenly covered his forehead. Lu Xunye stood a bit closer, feeling carefully. “Are you running a fever?”
Shen Yunqian didn’t move. After a while, he asked, “Can you tell?”
Lu Xunye pushed his bangs up with his palm, almost forgetting there was a layer of gauze. After thinking for a long time, he suggested, “How about we do another CT scan of your brain?”
————
The Next Day
Shen Yunqian held the railing as he walked down the stairs.
Lu Xunye followed behind him, looking from his feet to his head, sighing softly to himself: Tsk, this angst novel Protagonist Shou really possesses a constitution built for abuse.
Suddenly, a voice growing closer came from the corner behind them.
“Tell me, why are you so stubborn with your dad? Look at you now, fell down the stairs, didn’t you?”
“Your family has a private doctor, yet just to avoid seeing your dad, you insist on coming here with a lame leg. Was it necessary?”
“Get lost! Why do you talk so much nonsense? Did I ask you to come with me?”
The reply was a defiant male voice.
Lu Xunye pricked up his ears, feeling the voice was somewhat familiar. Just as he turned his head, he was bumped back two steps, nearly missing his footing. He simply jumped directly to the landing platform in the middle of the staircase, standing firmly beside Shen Yunqian.
The commotion wasn’t small, startling Shen Yunqian who was preparing to turn and go down. Seeing the two people appearing at the stairwell, an unnatural expression flashed across his face before quickly recovering.
The moment Lu Xunye looked up and saw clearly the two people on the upper stairs, he frowned. Enemies really do cross paths on narrow roads!
Wait, no. Lu Xunye panicked: It’s over, an old acquaintance. My cover is blown!
The person at the other end of the stairs obviously spotted him too. Qin Zhuoyu’s face turned iron-green.
Only the person beside him remained outside the situation, poking Qin Zhuoyu’s elbow in confusion. “Eh, you know him?”
The parties involved in the trending search were all present. Lu Xunye recalled Shen Yunqian’s questioning in the ward yesterday.
Because Qin Zhuoyu’s cosplay makeup had been too heavy, he wasn’t sure if Shen Yunqian had recognized that Qin Zhuoyu was the person on the trending search yesterday.
Qin Zhuoyu pushed away the person beside him and ran down loudly, thump thump thump, shocking the youth next to him who was left clutching the crutch shoved into his arms, dumbfounded. “Holy crap, a miracle doctor.”
Seeing Qin Zhuoyu coming aggressively, Lu Xunye took half a step back. Suddenly, someone blocked him in front.
He lowered his eyes to see Shen Yunqian, head wrapped in bandages, standing before him. Like a kitten showing its claws with zero attack power, he said coldly to Qin Zhuoyu, “He is my boyfriend.”
At this moment, a nurse carrying a tray passed by, looking at them strangely.
As the one being protected behind him, Lu Xunye became the target of public criticism. He half-covered his face, wishing he could pass away on the spot.
The little person in his heart screamed: Don’t let this kind of awkward Shura field happen to me!
Although there are a lot of people at the elevator right now, Qin Zhuoyu, you’re crippled, so don’t take the stairs!
Qin Zhuoyu hadn’t expected Shen Yunqian to pull this stunt. He stared blankly for a full ten-plus seconds before noticing the injury on his head.
He immediately identified something different about Shen Yunqian compared to before. With this discovery, his anger instantly dissipated by half.
Qin Zhuoyu scanned Shen Yunqian with a disdainful gaze, gloating, “…Amnesia?”
He lifted his chin, looking askance at Lu Xunye, and sneered, “Boyfriend?”
The clueless youth recognized Shen Yunqian and hurriedly went down to pull at Qin Zhuoyu, whispering advice, “No, although you guys didn’t get along before, he’s so miserable now, just let it go.”
“You know sh*t.” After Qin Zhuoyu “declined” his suggestion, he raised an eyebrow upon realizing the reason why Shen Yunqian was still full of gunpowder towards him even after losing his memory.
Because of Lu Xunye’s popularity, Qin Zhuoyu had also ended up on the hot search.
Although it was suppressed in time, his dad still discovered his hobby and scolded him furiously for not doing honest work, which caused him to lose his footing and fall down the stairs.
Even worse, his mom found out he didn’t go to the cemetery to pay respects and nagged him all night.
Qin Zhuoyu was baffled how his mom found out. It was clearly seamless; he had sent the video Lu Xunye sent him to his mom immediately.
Qin Zhuoyu was certain Lu Xunye had tampered with that recording.
So, whether it was Lu Xunye or Shen Yunqian, he had to take some revenge.
Here.
Lu Xunye had just persuaded Shen Yunqian and was ready to take him away.
Suddenly, a provocative tone from behind stopped Shen Yunqian’s steps, and he wouldn’t walk with him anymore.
“Yo, do you know who your boyfriend was with yesterday?”
Seeing Shen Yunqian didn’t seem to believe it, Qin Zhuoyu hardened his heart. He took two steps forward, grabbed Lu Xunye’s collar, pulled him down, and enduring the nausea, tilted his head up to kiss his cheek.
!!!
Lu Xunye saw his intention and turned pale. He directly covered Qin Zhuoyu’s face with one hand and pushed him away forcefully, unable to hold back a curse: “F*ck, are you disgusting?”
Shen Yunqian voiced a question: “Are you very disgusted?”
Lu Xunye nodded halfway, then noticed the youth’s slightly off expression.
He stiffened his neck, not knowing if he should finish the nod: “…”
Wait? Aren’t they on the same side? Why is he questioning him instead!
Recommended Reads
