Chapter 83: More Than Just an Acquaintance. You Mean, Someone Led You to…
In the gradually darkening tablet screen, the image of Le Can narrowing his eyes was reflected.
A minute ago, the scene of the flustered Xi Yun—whose brow was wrapped in a long black silk band—hurriedly ending the call replayed repeatedly in his mind.
He met his own gaze on the tablet and slowly curled his lips.
Le Can realized he might have caught Xi Yun’s little tail.
It was just a pity that during the subsequent cruise auction and the return journey, he wouldn’t have the chance to confront Xi Yun in person and dig deeper into the “little secrets” related to himself.
A faint sigh echoed in the empty room.
Le Can moved his limbs, which were slowly regaining strength, and walked toward a hidden door in a corner of the room. He reached out to activate the keypad and entered an eight-digit password.
With a “beep,” the verified lock clicked open.
Le Can nonchalantly raised his eyes, taking in the layout and personnel in the newly revealed space.
This was a place on the “Aphrodite” that was not on record. it was like a small private hospital, complete with doctors, an operating room, a pharmacy, and patient wards.
The moment she saw Le Can’s face clearly, the tense nurse put down the alarm in her hand and greeted the person entering with a professional smile.
“Welcome, Mr. Le. Are you here to visit the patient named Jian Minglang?”
Le Can, who had heard Xi Yun’s introduction, was not surprised. He nodded as he walked and asked, “Yes, I can go by myself. Could you please give me the ward number?”
The nurse immediately stopped. She raised her hand to point out the direction. “Go straight down this corridor and turn left at the third intersection. Mr. Jian’s ward is the third room on the left, Room A303.”
“Okay, thank you.”
“If you need any help, Mr. Le, you can press the call button in the ward, and we will come to assist you immediately.”
Le Can nodded with a smile, his pace instinctively quickening. “I will, thank you.”
He walked all the way into Room A303 under the nurse’s gaze. Closing the door to isolate the eyes behind him that seemed to still be watching, Le Can couldn’t help but reach out to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
The service was thoughtful and perfect, but for an ordinary person, it was a bit much to digest.
At this moment, Le Can felt incredibly fortunate that the uncles and aunts hired at Xi Yun’s regular villa were all relatively approachable. Otherwise, within a few days of moving in, he would have felt out of place in all sorts of ways…
Forget two years—Le Can felt he would have had to pack his bags and live separately from Xi Yun before even two weeks were up.
So, if Xi Yun had even a bit of the feudalism of the old Mr. Xi, or the rules required of a top-tier wealthy family like the Nian family, Le Can thought he and Xi Yun might not be the way they were now.
He loved money, true, but having his nature restricted?
No matter how much money Xi Yun threw at him or how handsome his face was, it would be useless.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t earn money elsewhere. Although Xi Yun did give him a lot, since he was living again, Le Can wasn’t willing to earn that “grievance money” anymore.
While walking toward the hospital bed, Le Can marveled at the exquisite timing of Xi Yun’s partnership with him. Similarly, the fact that Xi Yun could tolerate his true personality also played a significant role.
Every step was just right, causing the lives of two people who originally only had a brief intersection to gradually intertwine until they were inseparable…
Le Can sat down in the chair by the bed and shook his head with a chuckle.
Initially, he hadn’t expected it; later, he hadn’t dared to think it. Now that he had finally found a clue, Le Can was also looking forward to seeing where this relationship, which had deviated from the original book, would ultimately lead.
But that was for later. For now, Le Can looked up, his eyes casting a complex glance at the bed.
The fate that spanned two worlds was indeed quite eerie…
Jian Minglang’s left hand was in a cast and suspended in front of his chest, and his right leg was similarly treated, hanging in mid-air. At this moment, his eyes were tightly shut, and he showed no sign of waking up.
The light was poor when they saved him that night, so Le Can didn’t recognize him. Now he could see that this familiar face from the other world was covered in bruises and looked quite miserable.
Just… Le Can waited for a long time but couldn’t squeeze out a single word for the unconscious man.
There were truly too many points to criticize; he didn’t know where to start.
Overall, across two lives, Le Can had saved Jian Minglang a total of twice.
The first time he saved him was by using his own half-dead life, which could be considered repaying the other’s kindness. Aside from the bad luck of dying at the hands of that scumbag Lyu Zhangping and the regret of not being able to take his money with him, Le Can had no complaints.
The second time he saved him was better than the first; no one had to trade their life. Jian Minglang’s survival could be considered his own good luck. He was coincidentally carried by the seawater to Le Can’s side, and luckily, he was resilient enough to stay alive and ran into Xi Yun, who would absolutely never give up on rescuing Le Can.
However, although he called it good luck, Le Can felt that “unlucky” was a more apt description for the guy.
Although these words coming from Le Can were a bit like the pot calling the kettle black, in truth, they really were brothers in misfortune.
Le Can: My feelings are complex. I want to laugh, but I can’t…
Given that the coincidentally rescued Jian Minglang might be the breakthrough for finding the person behind the scenes, Le Can had to hide the news of his rescue and couldn’t leave the room.
For the next few days, besides staying in the room, he went to the secret space to visit the key witness almost every day after meals. Mm… and also to wander around and aid his digestion.
Finally, after the auction ended smoothly—four days after Le Can had officially “fallen into the water”—he finally saw Jian Minglang open his eyes.
For the first few minutes after opening his eyes, the other was in a state of chaos as his brain was just starting to boot up. Looking at those slowly blinking eyes that had no focus, Le Can knew his fellow sufferer hadn’t truly come to his senses yet.
A few seconds later, those eyes that had been scanning aimlessly suddenly fixed on him, and the corners of his eyes instantly turned red. Large, hot tears welled up and then spilled out.
Le Can, holding a cotton swab dipped in water, quickly moistened the other’s trembling lips, mainly to keep him quiet.
“Don’t worry, you are very safe now.”
Le Can, who had slept for most of the day, knew the feeling of a throat being on fire. Even if Jian Minglang was constantly on an IV, it would be hard to alleviate that dry and painful sensation.
He took the water cup with a straw from the nurse and, under Jian Minglang’s unblinking gaze, delivered the straw to his lips.
“Drink some water first. We’ll take the rest slowly.”
Only then did Jian Minglang realize that Le Can was not the only person in the ward, which was not entirely unfamiliar. He immediately shut his mouth tight, a look of defensiveness appearing in his eyes.
This was a manifestation of extreme distrust toward strangers.
Le Can couldn’t help but frown. He turned to tell the nurse to leave and to pass the news of Jian Minglang waking up to Xi Yun.
Only after the nurse’s figure completely disappeared did the person on the bed, whose body had been tensed all along, gradually relax.
It was just… Le Can could feel that those red eyes had never once completely left him.
He sighed silently in his heart and moved the water in his hand closer again.
“Don’t forget to drink water.”
Jian Minglang first opened his mouth to try and speak. “W-wr…”
Confirming that he could only make meaningless syllables and couldn’t form words or sentences, he gave up and took large, greedy gulps.
Drinking so fast inevitably led to choking. Le Can looked down at the person who was coughing uncontrollably, his chest vibrating and pulling at his wounds, causing him to frown in pain. Le Can didn’t offer any words of comfort.
At this time, pain was not only not a bad thing, it could even be considered a good thing.
Because only pain could prove to Jian Minglang that he was still alive. So being in a bit of pain was nothing; it could even help his fragile, jumpy nerves return to normal.
Sure enough, after becoming aware of the pain in his restricted limbs, Jian Minglang, who hadn’t been very settled since waking up, finally quieted down. Even the speed at which he drank water afterward was no longer so urgent.
Le Can nodded in his heart, somewhat satisfied.
Although it wasn’t his own life, it was a life he and Xi Yun had worked hard to pick up. Seeing him alive and kicking was better than him not being able to think straight and falling apart.
After he finished drinking, Jian Minglang’s neck was craned long as his eyes frantically looked at him. Le Can: “…”
Silent for two seconds, he found the control panel at the end of the bed and raised the height of the bed.
The moment their gazes were level, he sighed. “Speak.”
The moment he was given permission, Jian Minglang’s face instantly lit up. But the light didn’t last long; it vanished in an instant.
Because he had too much to say, when it actually came time to speak, he didn’t know where to start.
Le Can…
Le Can wasn’t surprised at all.
Looking at Jian Minglang, whose face was full of confusion, Le Can suddenly felt that when he had previously ruled out Jian Yu’s suspicion because of this guy, he had perhaps been a bit too irrational.
He rubbed his brow. “If you can’t speak, then I’ll ask and you’ll answer.”
“But think carefully. Any one of your answers will affect subsequent judgments. Jian Minglang, before you give your answer, I hope you have thought it through.”
His slightly serious words were devoid of any gentle tone used for patients. Jian Minglang immediately sat up straight, suppressed the messy emotions in his heart, and nodded with a serious expression.
“Y… cough cough ask…”
Knowing that the other couldn’t say long sentences now and had limited energy having just woken up, Le Can picked the important questions to ask first.
“First question: how did you end up at the location where you fell into the water?”
The moment he heard the question, Jian Minglang’s eyes suddenly widened, his pupils constricted, and his jaw immediately tightened. “It was… cough cough someone, it was cough cough cough…”
The agitated person’s face turned red, and his chest heaved uncontrollably. Because he was coughing constantly, he looked like a fish that had just been pulled out of the water, gasping for air and thrashing about.
Le Can took a deep breath, pressing the person back onto the bed with one hand while snapping the oxygen mask onto his face with the other.
“Forget it. If it’s ‘yes,’ nod; if it’s ‘no,’ shake your head. If neither fits, then give a short answer.”
After his breathing slowly calmed down and his complexion returned to normal, Jian Minglang nodded.
“You mean someone led you to the location where you fell?”
He nodded frantically like a chicken pecking at grain. “Mhm, mhm.”
Le Can sat back down in his seat, his lowered brow looking sharp. “Someone you know, or someone you don’t know?”
The person who had been nodding excitedly a second ago suddenly went quiet, the hand resting on his body slowly clenching into a fist. After a long while, he gave Le Can a response.
The slightly heavy nod seemed to weigh down Jian Minglang’s spine. After nodding, he lowered his eyes dejectedly, the sorrow in them so thick that it was hard for Le Can to ignore.
It seemed that it was more than just an acquaintance.
It should be said that it was someone exceptionally familiar, someone he had never suspected…
Thinking for two seconds, Le Can didn’t ask directly who it was. Instead, he asked, “Was the person who led you there the same person who pushed you off the ship?”
After a pause of one second, Jian Minglang shook his head firmly.
Looking at the person who seemed to have regained a bit of spirit, Le Can’s amber eyes looked directly at him this time. “Then, Jian Minglang, tell me their names.”
The color of his amber eyes was even lighter in the sunlight, like translucent glaze—clear to the bottom, yet carrying a chill that couldn’t be warmed.
Jian Minglang pursed his lips and then slowly opened them.
“Pushed… don’t know.”
“Led… Yin… Wuyu…”
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