Chapter 34: Dark-Skinned Rugged Honest Man 34

The three words “Surgery in Progress” glowed deep red outside the emergency room door. The hospital was nearly deserted in the dead of night, and those sitting in the corridor could even faintly hear the hurried clinks of trays and scalpels colliding inside.

The tall beta sat slumped wretchedly on the chair outside the emergency room, his hands covering his face in utter defeat. His clothes were soaked through, with water droplets still trickling down from the hem.

Footsteps slowly echoed through the silent corridor.

The sharp click of leather shoes on the tiled floor was grating, stirring a faint unease in the heart.

The footsteps came to a complete halt when the newcomer reached the young man.

Jiang Rang slowly lowered his hands and raised his eyes.

The young man looked utterly exhausted. His wheat-colored skin had taken on an eerie pallor, his lips were cracked beyond endurance, and his entire body swayed unsteadily, as if he might collapse at any moment, no longer able to prop up his hollow shell.

The instant he saw the alpha, he merely parted his lips but said nothing.

Chen Jingxu spoke first.

The alpha said softly, “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have come looking for you today…”

Jiang Rang made no sound, merely shaking his head wearily.

Chen Jingxu fell silent for a long moment before shrugging off his jacket. He moved to drape it over the shivering beta, but the young man flinched away, shrinking back on instinct.

The alpha slowly curled his fingers and pulled the jacket back.

He sat quietly beside the young man for what felt like ages before saying, “Jiang Jiang, that situation with the friend you told me about earlier—is that your life right now?”

Jiang Rang closed his eyes for a moment, dragging his right hand across his face. Powerlessly, he said, “I don’t want to talk about it right now…”

“But I can’t stand seeing you suffer like this, Jiang Jiang. I’ve looked into your situation. I…” The man’s voice grew faintly agitated. After a long pause, he gritted his teeth and said, “I can’t bear to watch him treat you like dirt.”

Jiang Rang froze, his eyes slowly reddening once more. In a soft voice, he said, “But he helped our family. He found an expert to treat Dad, and he even got pregnant with my child.”

Chen Jingxu clenched his fists. “But did you want any of that?”

The young man opened his mouth, but no words came out.

The man suddenly leaned in closer, his voice low and urgent. “Jiang Jiang, I have a way right now, but it’s risky. Tell me—do you want to get away from him for good?”

Jiang Rang clamped down on his teeth, his head hanging low.

It was clear the young man was hesitating. He wasn’t the sort who could just up and leave. He still had his dad and A Liu. What would become of them?

The man seemed to read his worries. In a gentle voice, he said, “Qi Family Hospital has people I’ve placed there. I can get your father out in secret, and the expert treating him will come along.”

“As for your fiancé, I’ll arrange for the two of you to leave together.”

“I promise you, he’ll never lay eyes on you again.”

Jiang Rang gripped his palms so tightly his knuckles whitened, biting down hard on his lower lip until it split and thin trickles of blood seeped out.

After a long while, the beta suddenly lifted his gaze to the man. His eyes, faintly gleaming, trembled. “Okay. What do I have to do?”

His voice was soft, like snow rustling down from the eaves, laced with a fragile thread of hope.

Chen Jingxu’s knuckles tightened abruptly. He could feel his heart racing wildly, as though the young man in that moment hadn’t been swayed by his gu but had accepted a confession of love.

He exhaled slowly, forcing his voice to stay even and warm. “Jiang Jiang, for now, just keep him calm. I need time to make the arrangements. Remember, he’s suspicious of you already. Don’t try contacting me with any devices around you.”

As he spoke, the man turned his eyes away with evident reluctance. “He’s been watching you the whole time.”

Jiang Rang blinked in faint shock. He swallowed hard, his voice trembling. “What do you mean, ‘the whole time’?”

Chen Jingxu sighed. “Everything he gave you—including that ring on your finger—most of it has the latest surveillance or listening tech built in.”

“If he wants to, you have no secrets from him.”

The young man’s face went deathly white in an instant, as if he’d swallowed a lethal poison. His whole body seemed adrift, like a paper doll on the verge of being torn to shreds.

The poor honest guy had never heard of anything like this in his life. He couldn’t wrap his head around it, and it chilled him to the bone.

In a hoarse voice, he asked, “Why would he do that?”

Chen Jingxu narrowed his eyes slightly. “Jiang Jiang, you know how it is with those arrogant types in high society. They never fully trust anyone—or maybe he’s just got some twisted kink.”

“Jiang Jiang.” The man’s voice turned lonely and raspy. The slightly curled strands of hair at his temple drooped over his eyelids, casting faint, melancholy shadows. Slowly, he said, “I’ve lived in a family like that for years myself.”

He spoke, his damp ink-green eyes shimmering with moisture as they gently and mildly settled on the young man. “But Jiang Jiang,” he said, “I hope you can be happy.”

Jiang Rang pursed his lips, as if finally letting down all his defenses. He lowered his eyes and murmured softly, “Thank you… If it weren’t for you, I really wouldn’t know what to do.”

Chen Jingxu gently draped his coat over the young man’s shoulders. Warm body heat instantly seeped into the beta’s cold, desolate back. This time, the young man did not refuse.

The alpha smiled, his slender wrist naturally resting on Jiang Rang’s shoulder as he joked to lighten the mood. “No need to thank me. If thanks are in order, it should be me thanking you, Jiang Jiang. Thank you for letting me help you.”

The young man finally couldn’t help but chuckle. He seemed a bit helpless, his pale lips curving lightly and drawing the man’s gaze.

The alpha’s eyes deepened slightly. After a long moment, he slowly turned his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

~~~

When Qi Yu opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was the young man by his side.

The afternoon sunlight blazed fiercely, like a counterattack from summer itself. In the hospital room, the curtains were half-drawn, and the air conditioner’s hum was soft, surprisingly soothing.

The beta held a book in his hands, frowning as he read it carefully. He was utterly focused and attentive, even murmuring a few lines under his breath.

Qi Yu lifted his gaze slightly and saw the book’s title—《Guide to Soothing Pregnant Husbands’ Emotions》.

His mind suddenly went blank, a strange and sour emotion welling up in his chest.

Jiang Rang was always like this.

The young man always made him feel loved in the smallest details, yet that love was like elusive falling leaves, easily scattered by the wind.

Perhaps his prolonged staring tipped off the young man. Jiang Rang closed the book and looked up.

In that instant, Qi Yu felt utterly disheveled.

The pale pregnant husband turned his head slightly, letting his water-like long hair cascade over his chest like a waterfall. His thick lashes trembled, casting a fragile curve in the sunlight’s shadows.

The room was very quiet. Jiang Rang said nothing.

The Male Master couldn’t bear it any longer and turned his head back.

He stared intently at Jiang Rang. After a long moment, he parted his lips, his voice hoarse and low. “I still hurt.”

It was almost a gesture of vulnerability.

But the young man remained silent.

Qi Yu was a pregnant husband himself—his emotions came fast and faded just as quickly. Just as he was about to crack under the young man’s aloofness, Jiang Rang finally spoke.

“I’ll go call the doctor.”

The Male Master’s brows, thin as paper, stayed tightly furrowed. His dark eyes fixed on the young man. Only after a long pause did he rasp out, “Jiang Rang, you made me like this, you…”

“Mr. Qi.”

It was a rare, solemn tone from the young man. The honest beta’s expression—and even his emotions—were utterly calm, bordering on distant.

He spoke slowly. “You say I made you like this, sir. But have you ever believed in me?”

“That night, you didn’t even give me a chance to speak. You just ranted and acted on your own. Have you ever considered that the root of all this anger might stem from your own assumptions and fantasies?”

Qi Yu’s breathing quickened slightly. He parted his lips, his pale fingertips pressing tightly into the white bedsheets. He gritted his teeth, his eyes inexplicably reddening. “Jiang Rang, that night I called you, and another man answered. He said you were in the shower and called me a lunatic.”

“How could I believe you?”

Jiang Rang lowered his eyes and suddenly said softly, “Sir, your knowledge is broader than mine, your abilities far superior. How could you not understand such a simple truth?”

“You took the word of a stranger at face value… and hurt the person closest to you…”

The young man paused, then added softly, “Maybe what I thought was closeness was just a joke in your eyes.”

Qi Yu rarely heard the beta say so much. Most of the time, the young man was silent and considerate, like a cup of warm water that brought endless comfort the moment it touched the lips.

He seldom expressed his emotions so directly.

That was precisely why the Male Master felt a rare, genuine panic. He fought back his feelings, fine beads of sweat forming on his porcelain-pale cheeks. In near desperation, the man said, “It’s not like that.”

“Jiang Rang, I’ve never thought that way. I like you very much—like I like Baobao. He doesn’t want to leave my belly, and he doesn’t want to leave you either.”

Qi Yu let out a gasp, his pitch-black, gloomy eyes filled with an unprecedented unease. They were damp like soil after a rain, twisted and sticky. The man pleaded almost desperately, “That day was my fault. I didn’t ask clearly. I won’t do it again… Jiang Rang, you can’t talk to me like that.”

As the long-haired man spoke, pain gradually twisted his expression. His already pallid face grew even more ashen, tear tracks carving fine glints of water across his cheeks. The whites of his eyes slowly webbed with blood.

His pale lips parted and closed, as if on the verge of suffocation.

Jiang Rang’s face drained of color in horror. He hurriedly pressed the call bell to summon the doctor.

Once the doctor had been called, Jiang Rang hurried to Qi Yu’s side and squatted down. He gripped the man’s bony wrist tightly, his voice soft with reassurance. “It’s okay. The doctor’s coming right away. Just hold on a little longer.”

The Male Master’s eyes rimmed scarlet, hot salty tears falling into his sideburns.

He gazed at Jiang Rang and suddenly thought that enduring this pain forever might not be so bad.

As long as Jiang Rang loved him.

The man curled sideways into the bedding, his palm pressing hard against his abdomen to urge on the mounting agony.

In his hazy vision, he watched the youth’s anxious, panicked profile and managed a smile soaked in surging tears.