The attacker was pinned to the ground on his knees by the flustered volunteers, his eyes bloodshot as he glared fixedly at Dai Linxuan, as if they truly harbored some irreconcilable grudge.
A staff member prodded the empty bottle on the ground with a stick, and his expression changed drastically. “It’s sulfuric acid!”
Lai Li pushed away Dai Linxuan’s hand. “Bro, don’t touch me…”
“Shut up.”
Dai Linxuan immediately grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked off Lai Li’s hoodie, tossing it aside onto an empty patch without a glance. At the same time, his other hand deftly untied the drawstring of Lai Li’s pants. Just as he hooked his fingers into the waistband to pull them down, Lai Li grabbed his hand. “It’s not concentrated sulfuric acid… There are kids around.”
The hoodie on the ground didn’t corrode into charred blackness right away, and he hadn’t felt any obvious burning sensation.
“You’re not wearing underwear?” Dai Linxuan ignored him, his voice icy. “Take them off.”
As he said it, something occurred to him, and his brows furrowed deeply. He quickly grabbed Lai Li and rushed toward the nearest bathroom.
The Welfare Home only had public baths without any partitions, which was actually advantageous for the situation. Dai Linxuan turned on three nearby showerheads, drenching Lai Li under the middle one until he was soaked through.
With no outsiders around, Lai Li finally took off his pants. “Bro, I really didn’t…”
“Tilt your head back.” Dai Linxuan didn’t glance at his body once before striding out of the bathroom.
“…get hurt.” Lai Li pinched his fingertip, staring in the direction Dai Linxuan had left.
After a moment, his gaze slowly shifted sideways, landing indifferently on the mirror opposite him. There reflected an unsightly, hideous body—
The healthy flesh-toned surface was covered in deep and shallow old scars, from his collarbone down to his legs, densest on his chest and back, varying in size and shape.
Most had faded, leaving only faint, thin marks. Taken individually, they weren’t much, but clustered on one body, they created a visual impact like some kind of body graffiti.
Even with Lai Li’s current tall, slender frame—broad shoulders, narrow waist, and a body of taut, explosive muscles—it couldn’t conceal the inherent inferiority emanating from his very bones.
If his skin had been a shade darker, all but the few larger, vicious scars would have been invisible to the naked eye. But the once trash-like Lai Li had been treated like a precious golden branch or jade leaf under Dai Linxuan’s care. The greatest hardship he’d endured was fever medicine, and he’d never been exposed to a bit of UV damage.
Lai Li in the mirror reached out and touched his lower abdomen.
The protruding hip bones were entwined by a black snake that led to a golden sun at the other end.
On closer inspection, the tattoo’s serpentine body was so lifelike not just because it was built on bone, but because winding scars formed its spine.
Compared to Dai Linxuan’s near-perfect physique, the shell in the mirror right now was utterly inferior and unworthy.
Lai Li had always wondered.
Did Dai Linxuan really like him? Like this ugly version of him?
Would Dai Linxuan feel sexual desire for his body, or was it only for his face? Maybe as soon as he stripped naked, his brother would go limp at the sight of these hideous, terrifying scars.
It might even cure his homosexuality.
Less than a minute later, Dai Linxuan returned with hurried footsteps. He stepped behind Lai Li, snipped off a few locks of hair on his head with two quick cuts of the scissors, and confirmed the scalp wasn’t contaminated with sulfuric acid. Only then did his expression ease slightly.
He then twisted open a bottle of clear liquid and poured it over Lai Li’s neck and shoulders.
“What’s this?” Even after being doused with sulfuric acid, Lai Li showed no stress or defensive reaction to Dai Linxuan’s actions.
“Sodium bicarbonate solution.” Realizing it sounded too technical, Dai Linxuan switched to a more understandable term. “Baking soda water.”
It could neutralize the sulfuric acid.
After completing all the protective measures, Dai Linxuan suddenly froze in place, and the bathroom filled only with the sound of rushing water.
The impeccably suited Dai Linxuan stood behind the completely naked Lai Li, tugging uncomfortably at his collar as his breathing grew labored. “What were you thinking, throwing yourself in front like that?”
“What was I thinking?” Lai Li muttered the question to himself. “—You mean, I should have just stood there and watched you get splashed with sulfuric acid?”
He turned slowly, his gaze hostile as he fixed on Dai Linxuan, as if a single “yes” would prompt Lai Li to lunge and strangle him right then.
“…” Dai Linxuan raised his hand, seemingly wanting to touch the area on Lai Li’s shoulder that had been hit by the acid—bare without clothing, now reddened over a large patch.
But realizing it was inappropriate, he immediately withdrew it.
Only then did Lai Li notice his brother’s face was pale, his fingertips trembling slightly.
Dai Linxuan had developed the excellent instinct in his youth to stay calm and handle crises methodically, but afterward, certain emotions sprouted like weeds drenched in a storm, growing wildly in the barren valley and ravaging the surrounding rock walls.
“Bro.” Lai Li turned and caught Dai Linxuan’s hand, emphasizing again, “It was dilute sulfuric acid.”
“Do you think the scars on your body aren’t enough?” Dai Linxuan seemed not to hear. “Lai Li, can’t you cherish your own body a little?”
Lai Li looked at him.
Dai Linxuan’s breath hitched as he heard Lai Li say in a calm tone, “But Bro, you’re more important than anything.”
Dai Linxuan was speechless for a long time. He raised his hand, first covering Lai Li’s warm lips, then sliding up to block those even more unbearable eyes. With his other hand, he gripped the back of Lai Li’s neck and pulled him into his embrace.
“Little Chestnut…” he murmured hoarsely. “Don’t talk to me like that.”
Hearing the surging emotions in Dai Linxuan’s words, Lai Li froze abruptly.
“I can’t take it, Bro.” Dai Linxuan closed his eyes.
Two years ago… or more precisely, even earlier, Dai Linxuan’s feelings had begun crossing the line of familial love from these near-“confessions” Lai Li uttered one after another.
“I’ve been raising you since you were ten. Even after you grew taller and bigger, to me, you’re still a kid. After all, it was my first time raising someone—no experience. I didn’t know most kids go through puberty…” The words seemed unfinished, but Dai Linxuan skipped ahead on his own.
“So, the things I forgot to teach you before, I’ll say now.”
“Some words are far more ambiguous than a simple ‘I love you.’ They’re not suitable for everyone. Like what you just said, with that strong sense of ‘exclusivity’—it’s easy to make someone…”
Dai Linxuan paused.
“—misunderstand.” Lai Li’s lashes brushed his palm as he finished for him. “What did I say before that made you misunderstand?”
Lai Li wasn’t dense; he just didn’t care about most things. But anything involving Dai Linxuan made him instinctively sensitive.
He stepped back, taking in Dai Linxuan fully again, staring intently and unwilling to miss even the slightest change in his brother’s expression.
“…”
At this point, Dai Linxuan finally confirmed that Lai Li truly remembered nothing.
Amnesia?
Unlikely—no warning signs, no head injury, no door slamming on his brain.
It could only mean that those words and actions Dai Linxuan couldn’t forget were, to Lai Li, as ordinary as “good morning,” “good night,” or “meals three times a day”—uttered and done, then forgotten, not worth keeping in mind.
As for that night, it was probably just a bizarre drunken outburst.
It was his fault. He hadn’t taught Lai Li the boundaries of familial love.
The child he raised—he should know best that Lai Li was never like ordinary kids.
Yet he’d deceived himself into accepting the “temptation.”
“Knock knock—” The assistant rapped on the half-open door. “Mr. Dai, the ambulance is here. Clothes…”
“Leave them on the chair by the door.” Dai Linxuan shifted aside, blocking the stark-naked Lai Li.
Lai Li felt it wasn’t that serious and didn’t want to go to the hospital. “No need for an ambulance…”
“Dilute sulfuric acid can still kill.” Dai Linxuan went to the door, handed the loose clothes brought by the assistant to Lai Li, and softened his tone. “You go first. I’ll wrap things up here and come join you.”
As Lai Li dressed, he asked, “Did someone call the police?”
Dai Linxuan hummed in affirmation. “The police should be arriving soon.”
Lai Li lowered his gaze slightly, concealing the vicious glint in his eyes.
He’d better pray to stay in jail longer. Don’t fall into my hands.
By the time Lai Li went out, the police had already cuffed the acid-thrower. The man seemed fearless, his gaze still burning into Dai Linxuan as if Dai Linxuan truly bore some unforgivable sin.
“Old Zeng!” The dean said heartbrokenly. “You’ve worked here for two or three years—don’t you know Mr. Dai’s character? Do you have evidence for those accusations!?”
Old Zeng gritted his teeth. “I saw it with my own eyes. What more evidence do I need?”
Lai Li, who had been about to leave, pivoted on his heel and clenched his fist toward Old Zeng, but Dai Linxuan was prepared. He grabbed Lai Li’s waist—the part untouched by the acid—and half-pushed, half-guided him to the ambulance.
“Go to the hospital first,” Dai Linxuan said. “Be good.”
“Get new bodyguards.” Lai Li’s expression was awful, his demand almost forceful. “Now, immediately.”
To let someone carrying a bottle of sulfuric acid enter the Welfare Home and get close to Dai Linxuan.
“It’s not their fault. I didn’t expect anyone to attack inside the Welfare Home, so I left them all outside to avoid scaring the kids.” Dai Linxuan paused, gripping Lai Li’s arm. “It won’t happen again. I… promise, Bro.”
He seemed to be talking about the acid, yet also something else.
Lai Li naturally recalled their bathroom conversation… No more misunderstandings?
The ambulance doors closed and headed toward the nearest private hospital.
Lai Li’s mind was full of what had just happened.
That Old Zeng was a Welfare Home staff member who claimed to have seen Dai Linxuan commit an indecent act.
It was bullshit—his brother absolutely couldn’t have that kind of fetish. So only two possibilities: either Old Zeng was so nearsighted he mistook someone else, or he was instructed to frame Dai Linxuan.
But for something that never happened, there was no evidence. Old Zeng’s empty words alone couldn’t do much to Dai Linxuan.
Either the mastermind would produce a lying child to corroborate Old Zeng’s false testimony, or the goal wasn’t to send Dai Linxuan to prison but simply to ruin his reputation.
And the biggest impact of damage to Dai Linxuan’s reputation right now would be the group board’s upcoming election.
But too many people didn’t want Dai Linxuan as the new director—practically everyone in the Dai Family was suspect, including Dai Yi.
“Brother.”
Lai Li snapped back to attention, realizing there was another child in the ambulance—the stuttering little girl who’d been close to Dai Linxuan earlier.
Due to the angle, and because Dai Linxuan had pushed her toward a nearby volunteer first, she hadn’t been hit by the acid. But just in case, she was coming along for a checkup.
“Does it hurt? Hurt?” The little girl offered a candy. “Here, eat.”
Lai Li didn’t take it, rejecting her coldly. “I don’t eat them.”
“Little Chestnut, brother.” The little girl looked at him, suddenly clapping in realization, her face innocent as she stammered out, “You, did you, forget, my, name again?”
