“Beijing time, 10:43:13 AM, patient clinically deceased.”
The doctor slid the signing pen back into the pocket of the white lab coat on his chest and bowed deeply to the two family members.
The man opposite said, “Thank you for the hard work of the medical team during this time, ensuring he passed without too much suffering. Especially Dr. Chen, who stayed at his post and performed multiple resuscitations. You’ve worked hard.”
Dr. Chen straightened up and looked at the other man.
The man’s black suit was impeccably neat, and his bangs were completely slicked back with hair oil, revealing sharp, clean facial contours. Even upon hearing the death announcement, his face didn’t show the usual grief of a family member of the deceased.
Dr. Chen wasn’t sure of their family relationship. To say he didn’t care…the man had come to the hospital for every resuscitation attempt. To say he cared…he didn’t seem particularly sad now.
Their eyes met for a moment, and Dr. Chen realized he had been observing for too long.
He immediately snapped back to his senses.
“President Jiang, it was my duty,” Dr. Chen said. “The nurses will come in shortly to provide basic care for the body. Do you need my assistance in contacting your contracted funeral home?”
Jiang Heguang’s gaze swept over the face on the hospital bed, now covered with a white sheet. “No need, I’ve already made arrangements. Dr. Chen, you can go attend to your duties now.”
‘So quickly?’ Dr. Chen was surprised.
But given how long he has had the illness, they must have been prepared a long time ago. So, his apparent lack of sorrow now is probably because he had already accepted the fact psychologically.
Dr. Chen understood the situation in his heart and left the intensive care unit.
The young man who had been waiting behind Jiang Heguang was still wearing the dark blue jacket of a key high school, its zipper half-open, revealing a black hoodie with a skull design underneath. His pants were adorned with straps and chains.
Jiang Tongchen had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his straight-leg pants. As he lowered his head, the brim of his hood sank even lower. “Big Brother, is he really dead?”
He seemed to be trying very hard to muster a sorrowful expression, but as he looked up, he couldn’t help breaking into a bright smile. “Our dad is really dead?”
Jiang Heguang remained expressionless. “Do you want to check for a pulse?”
Jiang Tongchen shook his head. “Respect for the deceased is paramount, respect for the deceased is paramount.”
He exclaimed, “I have an English exam this afternoon. Don’t jinx my luck later.”
Jiang Heguang suddenly raised his hand, and Jiang Tongchen instinctively blocked, forgetting to protect his hoodie’s hood.
His silver-gray hair was exposed to the air, a few strands sticking up due to static electricity.
“Didn’t I tell you to dye it back just last week?” Jiang Heguang’s face was cold as frost. “When did you dye it?”
Jiang Tongchen replied sullenly but honestly, “This morning.”
Jiang Heguang: “You didn’t go to class?”
Jiang Tongchen said righteously, “If I had gone to class, could I have gotten here within half an hour of your call to see my dad’s last moments?”
A phone rang. Jiang Heguang glanced at the screen and said to Jiang Tongchen, “Your part here is done. Go back and wait for the funeral arrangements.”
Jiang Tongchen stuffed his hands back into his pockets and walked out.
From behind came his elder brother’s instructions that were devoid of concern. “Don’t go to the exam this afternoon either. Go dye your hair back.”
“Got it,” he said without looking back, waving a hand as he merged into the sparse flow of people entering the elevator.
This was the Jiang family’s private hospital. He knew this place like the back of his hand.
So, after entering the elevator, he didn’t press any of the lower-floor buttons.
Jiang Tongchen raised an eyebrow as he continued to move his fingers up two rows to find the exact number.
He pressed it, and it lit up.
A week ago, a patient was transferred to the VIP ward of their family hospital. In addition, Professor Zhao, the leading thoracic surgery specialist in the country, was specifically chosen for an open-heart surgery scheduled in half a month…
With all these moves, did Jiang Heguang really think he wouldn’t find out?
Jiang Tongchen ruffled his short, silver-gray hair and casually tidied it up in the elevator mirror, the studs on his earlobes glinting.
With dark circles under his eyes, Meng Wenzhuo had already been escorted by his big brother to deliver flowers and apologize in the hospital room.
There was no reason he shouldn’t come see his future “sister-in-law.”
Hiding a beauty in a golden house? Not a chance.
The elevator dinged, and Jiang Tongchen strode out, hands in pockets.
He walked all the way to the end of the corridor, where he saw two figures waiting in front of a room. He narrowed his eyes slightly.
He knew these two.
After Meng Wenzhuo got punched by him, they exchanged information…
Xin Hexue seemed to have a boyfriend…
Which one was it?
Jiang Tongchen’s gaze shifted between the two.
………
“You don’t have classes? Why are you so free, running to the hospital every day.” They ran into each other again at this hour, and Lu Yang’s eyes sparked with anger as he looked at Lin Oufei. “I can take care of Xin Hexue just fine.”
Lin Oufei’s expression was calm. “…If he doesn’t want to see me, he should be the one to tell me. Do you want to barge into the room now, wake him up, and tell him you don’t want me here, that you don’t want me around?”
Lu Yang swallowed a surge of anger. “You…”
Before the words he intended for Lin Oufei could leave his mouth, footsteps echoed in the rarely frequented corridor.
“Who’s that?” Lu Yang frowned.
Lin Oufei matched the face with the man from his memory who had handled Xin Hexue’s transfer paperwork and reached an answer. “It’s someone from the Jiang family.”
“They ignored him before, and now that he’s grown up and promising, they want to snatch him back? Do they think it’s that easy?” Lu Yang’s expression turned cold as he wordlessly blocked the doorway. “What is this damned Jiang family here for again?”
Lin Oufei felt compelled to remind him, “We are currently in the Jiang family’s hospital.”
As they spoke, Jiang Tongchen was only steps away.
He looked straight ahead, not sparing a glance at Lu Yang who stood guard like a watchdog. He walked up to Lin Oufei, scrutinizing him from head to toe. “You’re Xin Hexue’s boyfriend?”
Lin Oufei pressed the corners of his mouth slightly, his thin lips pursed. “What do you want with Xin Hexue?”
Lu Yang: “Hey, who are you?”
Jiang Tongchen subconsciously reached for his pocket, remembering he hadn’t brought his card when he left home. But that didn’t hinder his current negotiation. He stared straight at Lin Oufei. “Regardless, I don’t care about the foundation of your relationship or how you got together. In short, break up. You’re not worthy of him.”
This demeanor felt somewhat familiar.
Lin Oufei’s gaze focused on the school emblem on the dark blue jacket, then shifted back to Jiang Tongchen’s face, from his silver-gray dyed hair to his ear studs and piercings. He let out a light chuckle. “I’m afraid that’s not for you to comment on. What right do you have to say such things? If you were Xin Hexue’s family, that would be one thing. But he’s not a Jiang family member yet, and I believe he never will be…”
“He will be in the future!” Jiang Tongchen’s voice suddenly rose. “Of course we will be family in the future!”
Realizing that he was too agitated, he cleared his throat. “Ahem, I mean, my brother has been pursuing him for so long. Now he’s even come to our family hospital for surgery arrangements. I’m telling you, them being together is inevitable. You should break up with my sister-in-law now.”
Lu Yang: “What nonsense are you saying?”
Lin Oufei was confused as well.
Lin Oufei frowned, as if hearing something completely absurd. “You are brothers.”
Jiang Tongchen’s expression stiffened. He nodded hurriedly and repeatedly, his heart flustered like the flickering of his ear studs.
“Yes, my brother and I are brothers. Of course I wouldn’t have any ideas about my sister-in-law. Hah, as if you need to tell me? You don’t think I came to warn you with ulterior motives, do you? Haha, you really think too highly of yourself.” He laughed mockingly.
Only when the expressions of the two before him grew increasingly strange did Jiang Tongchen sense something was off, and a thousand threads of thought twisted into a rope tightening around his nerves.
“Say that again. What do you mean?” His voice became cold.
Lin Oufei said calmly, “Is it hard to understand? I’ve been speaking Chinese.”
“If you really can’t understand, perhaps the person in question can explain it better.” He lifted his chin slightly, indicating someone walking down the corridor behind Jiang Tongchen. “Mr. Jiang.”
Jiang Tongchen’s brain went blank for a moment before a large, muffled yet loud slap landed on the back of his head, like a firecracker exploding on the ground.
“I told you, this has nothing to do with you.” Jiang Heguang withdrew his hand, composed and calm, unlike an elder brother who would resort to harsh physical discipline. “What are you doing here?”
Jiang Tongchen turned his head and grimaced in pain, a million thoughts crowding his mind and threatening to burst. “Jiang Heguang! Why didn’t you tell me! Why didn’t you tell me…”
Jiang Heguang smiled, but it was a cold smile. “Father’s will states that all inheritance goes to me. So you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Is that the point?! Why didn’t you tell me earlier that Xin Hexue is my half…” Jiang Tongchen’s breathing grew rapid, his chest heaving violently, emotions bursting forth. A thousand words condensed into one sentence: “Jiang Heguang, I’ll fuck your dad!”
The other two were already dumbfounded.
Jiang Heguang raised a hand to massage his temples. His lips moved slightly, as if he had many things to say, but in the end, he only said, “Should I remind you, we share the same father?”
Jiang Tongchen’s eyes were red with fury.
Suddenly, a cacophony of “clattering” and “tearing” sounds, like ripping fabric, came from inside the room, breaking the deadlock.
Lu Yang heard the noise and pushed the door open. “What’s wrong! What happened!”
Xin Hexue, who was sitting on the bed, looked up, his eyes clear and bright. “The cup, um… I don’t know how… it fell on the floor.”
Lu Yang hurriedly stopped him. “It’s fine, don’t move, don’t move. I’ll clean it up.”
With Lu Yang holding his shoulder so he couldn’t move and being scrutinized from head to toe, Xin Hexue had no choice but to speak wearily. “Lu Yang, I’m fine.”
As Lu Yang bent down to clean up, Xin Hexue’s gaze shifted past Lu Yang’s shoulder to the doorway of the hospital room.
‘So many people…’
‘Is this a tourist attraction?’
Xin Hexue’s light glance swept over Jiang Tongchen. The loud noise that woke him had come from this person’s mouth.
He lowered his head and said to Lu Yang, “My big brother is coming to stay overnight tonight. You should go back and get some proper rest.”
Hearing the term “big brother” from Xin Hexue, Jiang Heguang instinctively took a step forward.
Lu Yang swept the broken glass into the trash can. “Brother Tongguang is coming? When? This afternoon? Then I’ll swap shifts with him in the afternoon before going back.”
Jiang Heguang’s hand, which was raised mid-air, fell back down.
“Big brother, can you not be like this?” Jiang Tongchen couldn’t stand watching. “Those who know think you’re his biological brother; those who don’t would think you’re the mistress.”
Completely lowering his own status.
Oh, that analogy wasn’t right. His brother couldn’t even be the mistress; he’d have to get rid of these one, two, three guys first.
‘Can you be a bit more competitive?’
At least they share the same father and mother…if the elder brother ends, the younger brother succeeds. He still needs to rely on Jiang Heguang before taking over.
Uh, he meant, take over as a brother.
His thoughts were written all over his face, and they were obvious to all.
Xin Hexue gave a light chuckle and looked at Jiang Heguang, addressing him with a title he hadn’t used before. “Big Brother, is this the heart donor you found for me?”
Jiang Tongchen’s eyes widened instantly.
I apologize for missing a lot of last week’s update schedule! Had lost login details for most of the necessary sites and recovery was not as smooth 😫. Thank you for the patience 🧡🧡.
