This move made Bai Shuijin’s back teeth tremble three times, but the cane remained intact in his hand, which showed its extremely high quality.
He pursed his lips, gritted his back teeth tightly, but his expression remained extremely composed.
‘It’s okay, it’s okay.’
But deep down, he wanted to clutch his leg and wail from the rooftop of the Wang family’s old house.
If he showed any pain now, he’d lose. This was the time to show momentum and manly spirit. Even if his leg were broken, he wouldn’t so much as frown.
“Hand it over.”
A voice came from above his head, and a large hand took the cane from Bai Shuijin.
Wang Muguang gave him a look: Watch closely, Little Shorty. Let me show you what power means.
He raised his knee and slammed the cane down on it.
Double kill.
Wang Muguang’s lips instantly tightened into a straight line. As his knee lowered, his whole body staggered to the side uncontrollably.
He wasn’t quite the same as before, but the cane remained unchanged.
For a moment, the room was filled with a strange awkwardness.
In the end, it was Wang Zhenzhu who stormed over, lifted the cane and finally broke it in two.
Bai Shuijin: “…”
Wang Muguang: “…”
Now they both looked like skinny dogs.
Among the three siblings, the only one the old man doted on was Wang Zhenzhu. But if she had to choose between Wang Huanxiu and the old man, she would choose her eldest brother without hesitation.
She knew the old man was good to her, so she still maintained proper respect toward her elder. “Grandpa, don’t be like this anymore.”
The old man glared at Wang Huanxiu, his voice filled with anger. “If I didn’t treat him like this, would he be where he is today?”
“Ask him yourself. Who raised him to be this outstanding? Was it your parents, who passed away early, or me!” The old man pointed at Wang Huanxiu. “Do you all not remember how unruly and wild he was as a child? He didn’t need anyone else, he alone could stir up the heavens.”
How else could he manage him?
He put in painstaking effort to raise Wang Huanxiu. Was that wrong? His current capabilities didn’t come out of thin air, he forged them piece by piece. If someone did wrong, they needed to be punished. How was that wrong?
Wang Huanxiu was hard to control. Only by bringing him here, bringing him before his parents, would he behave.
Their parents didn’t have bodies left behind. Even the tombstones were empty. The two ancestral tablets here silently became vessels for their spirits.
For the fourteen-year-old Wang Huanxiu back then, this was his parents. He felt guilty toward them. Just like the old man said, if they hadn’t rushed overseas to see his competition, the accident wouldn’t have happened.
His younger siblings could have grown up happily like before, and the death of their parents weighed heavily over his head. He had never gotten over it.
He didn’t take good care of his siblings either, and there was distance between their bond.
Although he held great power, it was as if he’d accomplished nothing, and he hadn’t held on to any part of his childhood.
The old man didn’t need to say it. Wang Huanxiu was well aware of his favoritism, but he had indeed nurtured him. So in this family, he would give the old man the respect an elder deserved.
The old man also knew that Wang Huanxiu’s parents were his sore spot. As long as he mentioned them, no matter how unyielding he was, he would behave immediately.
“If not for him, would your parents, my son and daughter-in-law, have…”
Before the old man could finish, a tribute fruit was stuffed into his mouth.
Bai Shuijin had run to the altar and quickly returned, shoving a piece of fruit into the old man’s mouth.
After that, he swallowed hard himself.
“Sorry, I know this is rude,” Bai Shuijin said first before confronting. His heart was pounding in his chest as he could guess what the old man was about to say.
“But how could you say something like that?”
How could he say that? Losing parents was such a devastating thing. He didn’t have parents himself. Just graduating from elementary school and leaving his classmates and teachers had made him cry his eyes out.
He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose one’s closest blood relatives.
Wasn’t Wang Huanxiu only fourteen when his parents died in a plane crash?
How could anyone blame a boy who had lost both his parents for their deaths?
It was like death by a thousand cuts, constantly scraping at Wang Huanxiu’s heart.
Bai Shuijin looked at him firmly, refusing to back down. “You’ve gone too far.”
The old man laughed angrily. “I went too far? Why don’t you ask about the effort and painstaking care I put into raising him?”
“Sir, no one denies you raised him. But Wang Huanxiu is where he is also because of himself. Did you only raise him?”
“You have more than one son, and more than one grandson. You even have many other younger relatives who share your bloodline.”
“There’s more than one person you tried to groom as a successor. But the only one who succeeded was Wang Huanxiu. Among all the ones you nurtured, he was the only one who stood out.”
He suddenly understood why the Wang family had so many villains. Everyone lived such exhausting lives. Even Wang Yan, the cousin in the same university. He had classes nonstop and endless work. Even the old man himself didn’t understand how to live properly.
In such a high-pressure life with no time for oneself, it was hard not to go crazy.
“You… who do you think you are to lecture me like this?” The old man was left speechless by Bai Shuijin.
What he said wasn’t wrong. He had trained many successors, but only Wang Huanxiu was capable of taking on real responsibilities.
Just like back then when he competed with his half-brothers for power. They were all about to step down, and the next successor had to be chosen from the younger generation.
He raised his three sons. The eldest was very capable, but the one he liked the least. The second wasn’t interested, and his wife wouldn’t let him be pressured. The youngest, Wang Wang, was the one he loved most and tried hard to train, but no matter what, he couldn’t catch up to his eldest brother.
Later, his eldest son passed away, and power temporarily fell to his brother’s son. At that time, he couldn’t swallow the bitterness. After all, back when they were young, he had been the most outstanding among the brothers and the others used to curry favor with him. But suddenly, everything flipped and he became the one who had to be courteous.
He worked hard to raise the next generation. Wang Huanxiu was one of them, as were the second son’s children and Wang Pingtian. But they all disappointed him. The only one who satisfied him was Wang Huanxiu.
Wang Huanxiu not only had to compete with them, but with every peer related by blood. Even after taking power, he couldn’t relax for a second.
It was his ruthlessness that earned him his place in the business world, where his word was law.
After getting exposed, the old man could only cover up his guilt with anger.
“Sir, he’s already done more than enough. He’s treated you with all the kindness and duty a person could.”
Otherwise, the old man and Wang Wang would both be checking into the hospital today.
“If you don’t repent and keep talking and acting like this, those three will never come back again!”
“You! You little brat, I’ll fight you today!”
The old man’s eyes turned red with rage. People around rushed to stop him, and Wang Huanxiu stood up to shield Bai Shuijin.
This wasn’t the place to cause a scene.
The butler and servants ran in to restrain the old man. “Sir, calm down, calm down!”
“How am I supposed to calm down! He came here just to piss me off to death!!!”
The old man grabbed whatever was near and started smashing.
The ancestral hall was instantly thrown into chaos, and the scene spiraled out of control.
There was no point continuing the farce, so Wang Huanxiu turned and led the group out.
The old man stared at his back, a heavy breath surging up. Enraged, he roared, “Wang Huanxiu, where are you going! How dare you walk away, how dare you leave like this in front of your parents!”
Bai Shuijin jumped up and covered his ears. “Don’t listen, don’t listen, it’s just a turtle chanting sutras.”
Old Master Wang: “…”
‘Bai Shuijin! You little brat!!!’
“Bai Shuijin! You’re a vixen seducing my grandson!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The word “vixen” split through the sky, and Bai Shuijin blushed slightly upon hearing it.
The group hurriedly walked out. Halfway through, Bai Shuijin suddenly stopped. “I forgot my phone inside. I’ll go get it. Be right back.”
Before Wang Huanxiu could grab his hand, Bai Shuijin had already turned and ran back toward the house. He moved fast, and charged in within seconds.
Wang Huanxiu quickly strode after him, but just as he was about to reach the doorway, Bai Shuijin ran out with his down jacket clutched tightly.
“You bastard!!!”
Following the old man’s furious outburst, a red apple was hurled out from the room.
Bai Shuijin bumped into Wang Huanxiu’s arms at the doorway. Time was tight. He looked up at him, his eyes brimming with pride and triumph. “Let’s go, laogong-ge, let’s go home.”
He held his down jacket in one hand, dragged Wang Huanxiu with the other, and hurriedly walked away. The early spring evening wind was still chilly. Without dressing warmly, one could easily get sick. Bai Shuijin muttered as they walked, “The claypot rice at home must be cold by now.”
Wang Huanxiu looked at the back of his hand in Bai Shuijin’s grip. Bai Shuijin’s figure was so vivid in his eyes, the colors so brilliant and dazzling.
Clearly, in the beginning, he had only married him to anger the old man.
But everything that happened after went completely out of control.
In the long hallway, the ever cold, indifferent look in Wang Huanxiu’s eyes began to soften.
What he couldn’t walk out of at fourteen, now he seemed to have walked through.
After twelve long years, this hallway finally had a door that led to freedom.
It was already past ten in the evening by the time everyone returned home. None of the four had eaten yet, so they all wolfed down their food at the dining table.
Bai Shuijin stuffed his mouth with rice and looked at Wang Muguang, who was eating like he’d forgotten himself. “Little uncle, slow down.”
“It’s fine. I won’t choke.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s that you’re going to finish it all before I get any.”
“…”
Wang Muguang chewed his food viciously.
Everyone briefly rested around the table after dinner. Wang Zhenzhu left first to go back and do her skincare routine. Then Wang Muguang left, he had to go read his trashy novel.
He would feel uncomfortable if he didn’t read this yellow stuff for even one day. Plus, he was going abroad soon.
He was even considering taking Bai Shuijin along for a short vacation, then sending him back in a week or two.
He hadn’t made up his mind yet. Once he came up with a plan, he’d ask.
After Wang Zhenzhu and Wang Muguang left, only Bai Shuijin and Wang Huanxiu remained at the table.
Bai Shuijin gulped down a few mouthfuls of water, and while drinking, his mind replayed what had happened at the old house earlier.
Although the old man hadn’t said everything, the meaning of his words was clear: The death of Wang Huanxiu’s parents was Wang Huanxiu’s fault.
Such hurtful and heartbreaking words would be unbearable for most people, let alone someone as young as Wang Huanxiu was back then.
“Laogong-ge, did the old man used to say things like that to you a lot?”
Wang Huanxiu’s expression didn’t change. After returning home, his complexion looked much better and he returned to his usual self. He calmly ate dinner, never complaining of the pain on his back. Just like that time he broke his little finger.
“Occasionally.”
Which meant, he used to say it often. Wang Huanxiu always preferred to downplay things.
But using the pain of losing one’s parents as a tool to lecture someone was nothing less than tearing open a healing wound again and again.
It was undeniably cruel, but the old man was oblivious, and Wang Huanxiu simply endured it.
Bai Shuijin considered himself fairly familiar with Wang Huanxiu. Before, he thought the man was a cold-blooded, black-bellied maniac. Now he felt that… he was indeed black-bellied, and extremely patient when it came to major matters. But when he retaliated, the revenge would be a hundredfold. If Bai Shuijin had to write a line to describe him, it would be: absolutely not someone you could afford to offend.
Otherwise, you wouldn’t even know how you died.
Wang Huanxiu’s villain persona was terrifying. But he had also been vulnerable in that room, showing a pale expression he had never seen before.
Although the old man’s blows were vicious, could those few blows really compare to the pain of a broken finger?
What truly panicked Wang Huanxiu wasn’t the beating or scolding, it was his parents’ death.
“Laogong-ge, look at me.”
Wang Huanxiu lowered his head and looked at him.
Bai Shuijin met his eyes with a serious expression. “Laogong-ge, the old man is wrong. Uncle and Auntie’s deaths were not your fault. It was not your fault.”
Wang Huanxiu’s hand clenched by his side, his arm tensed.
Bai Shuijin: “If Uncle and Auntie knew he was saying things like that, they would be heartbroken. They loved you very much, right? Their deaths weren’t your fault. They never were. You never wanted to lose your parents either.”
“Let’s not go back to the old house again. Unless the old man apologizes to you, we won’t go back. You can still see your parents even if you don’t go back.”
What the old man used to control Wang Huanxiu was nothing more than his parents and the so-called past efforts to raise him.
But Wang Huanxiu had brought the Wang family its current status. He had already repaid the old man. There was no need to be tied down anymore.
With that, he left the dining table, saying, “Laogong-ge, wait for me a second.”
Wang Huanxiu followed his figure and saw Bai Shuijin disappear from the dining room for several minutes, then came back holding a bundle of something.
It was his white down jacket.
Bai Shuijin looked a little sheepish as he hugged the down jacket. He smiled shyly at Wang Hangxiu. “I know it wasn’t the right thing to do, but I stole Mom and Dad out.”
He opened the down jacket to reveal the ancestral tablets of his parents wrapped tightly inside.
To call it stealing was putting it nicely. When Bai Shuijin went back earlier, he took them right under the old man’s nose. It was more like open robbery.
“Laogong-ge, didn’t you want to see Mom and Dad?”
He felt that Wang Huanxiu had always longed to see his parents again. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have kept going back to the old house.
Wang Huanxiu looked at the smiling face of the person in front of him and momentarily forgot how to speak. He remembered the apple that had flown out just after Bai Shuijin came out of that room.
Bai Shuijin hadn’t gone back for his phone, he had gone back for the tablets.
Bai Shuijin pulled Wang Huanxiu’s hand over and stuffed the bundle into it. “Laogong-ge, now you can see them every day.”
For the first time, Wang Huanxiu felt a sour ache at the corner of his mouth. “Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.” Bai Shuijin scratched his head. “As long as you’re not angry.”
After all, his actions were a bit disrespectful.
Later, Wang Huanxiu had a room cleaned out to place the tablets inside. When he came back out, Bai Shuijin was still in the dining room, eating dessert.
On seeing him, he passed him a piece too.
After a good meal, Bai Shuijin admired Wang Huanxiu’s side profile. That face was even more handsome than AI modeling. Tonight’s version was the battle-damaged laogong-ge.
“Laogong-ge, come sleep in my room tonight.”
Bai Shuijin blinked and gave him a big smile, saying sweetly. “I’ll help you apply medicine.”
Without waiting for Wang Huanxiu’s answer, he left the table and went to ask the butler where the medicine box was.
Tonight will be a little doctor-patient role-play game, and he was determined to play it.
He went back to the room first. He was exhausted after the trip to the old house. He took a shower and came out in a bathrobe.
He tied the bathrobe properly. A white coat is white. A bathrobe is also white. Bathrobe = white coat.
He carried the medicine box onto the bed. Everything was ready, just missing the east wind.
After waiting for about an hour, the east wind finally blew the bedroom door open.
Wang Huanxiu walked in with his long legs. He had obviously just finished showering too, wearing a dark gray-black robe that revealed his long and firm calves.
His hair was only half-dried and pushed back, forming a slicked back style. His shoulders and waist were perfectly proportioned, his broad shoulders and back full of mature sex appeal.
Bai Shuijin had left the bedside lamp on.
He thought they’d go straight to sleep after applying the medicine.
Wang Huanxiu emerged from the dark shadows, his tall and upright silhouette gradually coming into focus. It seemed like he had switched to a new body wash today, it smelled different from the usual.
The scent of hormones on him hit Bai Shuijin in the face. He swallowed, nearly overwhelmed by how attractive the man was.
He scooted inward on the bed, patted the spot in front of him, keeping a straight face with a serious expression, “You’re late, patient. Registration time is already over.”
Wang Huanxiu raised an eyebrow, not knowing what Bai Shuijin was suddenly playing at. Even the way he addressed him had changed.
Looking at Bai Shuijin’s serious face under the dim yellow light, he narrowed his eyes and asked, “So what should we do then?”
A few seconds later, he added, “Doctor.”
Bai Shuijin replied generously, “It’s okay, I already helped you rebook your appointment.”
“You can just sit down directly.”
Wang Huanxiu got on the bed. Due to their huge size difference, Bai Shuijin couldn’t see the light source of the bedside lamp for a moment. With the man’s body blocking the light, he couldn’t make out his expression clearly.
He shifted the medical kit at his side to a spot where there was light so that he wouldn’t grab the wrong medicine later.
Bai Shuijin’s little pharmacy went into action.
“I heard you got injured. I’ll check it out and apply some medicine while I’m at it.”
He put on a pair of white medical gloves, slipped his fingers in, and flexed his hands in a practiced motion once they were covered in white.
Even after he had the gloves on, Wang Huanxiu still didn’t take off his robe. Bai Shuijin’s eyes lit up. If he wouldn’t do it, then he would do it himself.
After all, his laogong-ge was a proper person, and he usually didn’t smile or joke.
“Since you’re injured, I’ll help you take it off.”
The ending of his words rose happily. After all, who wouldn’t like being with a handsome guy? He’d always liked looking at handsome guys.
This was his first time taking off Wang Huanxiu’s robe. Before, the other party would always sleep with it on, only showing part of his chest.
Actually, it was quite comfortable not wearing anything to sleep. Ever since he moved into this room, he often just slept in his underwear.
He hummed happily under his breath, not even knowing what tune he was humming. It wasn’t even a proper melody.
Wang Huanxiu looked at the flustered head in front of him, the other’s cheerful voice ringing in his ears.
Bai Shuijin’s gloved hands untied the belt of his bathrobe, and he heard the other party gasp.
Wang Huanxiu stared at Bai Shuijin’s face nonchalantly, waiting for his next move.
Bai Shuijin looked at the sexy, exploding body in front of him and gulped hard.
He knew that the old man had gone all out hitting Wang Huanxiu, the eight-pack abs were beaten into existence.
Before, even touching them required all sorts of roundabout excuses.
But today was different. He was a doctor now. He could touch all he wanted.
Bai Shuijin licked his lips, impatient, but pretended to stay calm. “Um… I’ll check you first.”
His palm touched and felt around Wang Huanxiu’s abs. After a while, he suddenly looked up. “Can you tense up a bit so I can see if there’s any internal injury or something?”
Wang Huanxiu asked back, “You can see internal injuries like this?”
Hearing the teasing tone, Bai Shuijin’s face flushed. ‘I just have bad intentions.’
Bai Shuijin: “I know how to check. Just tense up first.”
The next second, the abs in front of him really did change. Bai Shuijin was so excited he wanted to squirm, but he held himself back due to his profession.
He really liked them.
Wang Huanxiu’s waist was firm and strong. He wondered what it would feel like to ride him.
He had never ridden before, and Wang Huanxiu definitely wouldn’t let him.
His laogong ge didn’t seem to like him very much. It had been that way from the start. The other party thought he was annoying, and he probably still did now.
Maybe it was because he was annoying that Wang Huanxiu agreed to his requests so quickly. Compared to the beginning, now he just agreed in one go.
Probably to avoid being pestered.
Bai Shuijin thought so.
He poked Wang Huanxiu’s waist with his finger, his eyes full of endless envy. Maybe someone else would get to ride him in the future. He’d let others ride. But he couldn’t.
In Wang Huanxiu’s field of vision, he saw Bai Shuijin’s mouth pout unhappily. Just a second ago he was humming happily, but now his little mouth looked like it could hang an oil bottle.
He thought it was because his muscles had disappointed him. He looked down at his own body. He hadn’t stopped going to the gym and had kept himself in good shape.
“What’s wrong?”
Bai Shuijin turned his head slightly, no longer looking at him. “Nothing.”
Wang Huanxiu could let whoever he wanted ride him. It’s not like he really wanted to anyway.
He forced himself to think that way, then circled behind Wang Huanxiu to start applying the medicine.
The red marks on the man’s broad back were harsh to look at. Bai Shuijin scooped out some ointment and began to apply it.
The wound felt cool from the ointment, but Bai Shuijin’s little mouth suddenly stopped talking, forcing Wang Huanxiu to look back at him.
He didn’t know why the other party was unhappy.
Bai Shuijin happened to be applying the medicine near his waist. Seeing him turn around, he snapped in a dissatisfied and fierce voice.
“Don’t look at me.”
