Tao Zhi stayed at the hospital for less than an hour this time before heading back.
Half of that time had been spent when Fu Si Heng called him out to talk about something.
Strictly speaking, Fu Zheng hadn’t even spent 25 minutes with Tao Zhi that day.
Fu Zheng was, of course, displeased.
But Tao Zhi had perfectly legitimate reasons for leaving and for not coming to pick him up—nothing to pick at.
Fu Zheng racked his brain for a long time but couldn’t come up with a good way to draw Tao Zhi’s attention. In the end, he had no choice but to accept it reluctantly and instead sent messages to Tao Zhi on WeChat.
Tao Zhi arrived at the underground parking lot and had just buckled his seatbelt when his phone started chiming incessantly.
He glanced down. “…”
The phone screen flooded with messages like a barrage, and none of them were anything serious.
Tao Zhi scrolled through a few, then muted his phone.
The screen still kept lighting up and going dark, lighting up and going dark.
Tao Zhi thought for a moment, then simply enabled Do Not Disturb specifically for Fu Zheng.
Fu Si Heng noticed and let out a light chuckle.
Hearing the sound, Tao Zhi instinctively looked up. When his gaze met Fu Si Heng’s, he pursed his lips and shifted his eyes away as if nothing had happened.
Fu Si Heng promptly closed the car door and walked around to the driver’s seat.
As he started the car, he said to Tao Zhi, “Fu Zheng really is annoying.”
So enabling Do Not Disturb for him was perfectly normal—nothing awkward about it. If he could have his way, Fu Si Heng would prefer that Tao Zhi just block Fu Zheng outright and be done with it.
But Tao Zhi didn’t see it that way.
He told Fu Si Heng, “Once he stops spamming me, I’ll disable Do Not Disturb.”
“Okay.”
It was exactly as expected.
Fu Si Heng knew very well that he was just a kind-hearted good boy.
Even so, he couldn’t help saying, “That’s too bad.”
Tao Zhi: “…”
Is your brotherly relationship really that bad?
Not just a little—it was really bad, with no room left for reconciliation.
Tao Zhi didn’t want to get stuck between the two of them. He stopped paying attention to Fu Si Heng and turned to look out the window.
The car drove on quietly. Occasionally, when they stopped at a red light, Tao Zhi could sense Fu Si Heng’s gaze landing on his side profile.
It was a faint gaze, yet its presence felt extraordinarily intense. It traced the contours of his face over and over, finally settling on one spot, where it lingered solidly. Only after the light turned green did he casually shift his eyes away.
Tao Zhi fidgeted his fingers lightly against the car window from the intensity of the stare.
This feels so weird, he thought. There was an indescribable strangeness to it.
He could sense that Fu Si Heng felt strange too.
A powerful possessiveness seemed to envelop him.
Tao Zhi figured he was probably overthinking it. No way that’s the case.
So he turned his head back to look at Fu Si Heng.
Fu Si Heng: “Hm?”
“Back in the ward just now.” Tao Zhi remembered the moment and tried to shift the atmosphere by chatting with Fu Si Heng. “Fu Zheng asked me if I’d still visit him after he gets discharged.”
“Can I?” Tao Zhi asked.
Fu Si Heng had arranged several bodyguards to keep an eye on Tao Zhi, so he wasn’t sure if they’d allow him to meet up. He had to ask Fu Si Heng.
“Do you want to go?” Fu Si Heng said.
Before Tao Zhi could answer, he added quickly, “If you want to go, you can go anytime. I only had the bodyguards watch Fu Zheng because of him specifically.”
“You can see Fu Zheng whenever you want.”
He would just tag along.
“Oh, I get it.” Tao Zhi understood what Fu Si Heng meant.
Fu Si Heng hummed in acknowledgment. “This way, you can have some peace and quiet too.”
“Spares you from Fu Zheng causing you more trouble. He says he wants to pursue you, and I have no doubt he’d pull something cheesy like arranging heart-shaped roses and candles under your dorm building.”
Tacky and embarrassing.
Tao Zhi: “…”
Ha, haha.
He hadn’t expected Fu Si Heng to guess correctly.
Fu Zheng had arranged roses before—not under the dorm, but it had been embarrassing enough.
The only silver lining was that no one had been around at the time.
Tao Zhi let out a couple of dry laughs and said nothing more.
The Maybach fell quiet once again.
Tao Zhi gazed at the passing scenery for a while until a phone ring suddenly interrupted.
Fu Si Heng was driving, so he hit the speakerphone button. Xu Yujia’s voice filled the car: “A-Heng, you busy?”
“No.” Fu Si Heng replied, “What’s up?”
“Of course there’s something. It’s about Xiao Zheng.” Xu Yujia clearly knew about it too. “I heard he broke his leg and your girlfriend was taking care of him. What happened this time?”
Fu Si Heng: “Street racing.”
“Street racing again.” Xu Yujia rolled her eyes. “Didn’t he sell his sports car? What did he race with? An off-roader? That possible?”
Fu Si Heng: “Motorcycle.”
Xu Yujia: “…”
Damn.
She hadn’t expected motorcycles to still be in play—she’d thought Fu Zheng had quit that ages ago.
Xu Yujia didn’t know what to say anymore.
She let out a deep sigh.
“Don’t worry too much. He’s fine now—just a minor injury,” Fu Si Heng assured her. “He can be discharged tomorrow. No need to fret.”
“That’s good, then.” Xu Yujia felt much more relieved hearing that.
“Oh, and pass on my thanks to Mian Mian for me. Taking care of Fu Zheng must be exhausting. She’s worked hard this time—I’ll bring her a gift when I get back.”
“Oh, he’s right here,” Fu Si Heng said.
“Ah…” Xu Yujia paused briefly.
Tao Zhi froze for a second too, then snapped back and said quickly, “Hello, Auntie.”
“Ai.” Xu Yujia responded cheerfully, sounding pleased. “Mian Mian, long time no see. How’ve you been lately?”
“Pretty good, pretty good.” The Mian Mian persona hadn’t been used in a while, so Tao Zhi felt a bit stiff and awkward in his response.
“Hahaha.” Xu Yujia picked up on it but assumed it was because they hadn’t seen each other in ages.
Xu Yujia chuckled. “Don’t be nervous.”
“I heard you’ve been helping take care of Fu Zheng lately. Thank you so much.”
