Chapter 7: Bite Wound Part 1

There were about ten people in the infirmary, including roommates and the counselor, as well as a few freshmen resting there due to discomfort from military training. They all looked at Dai Linxuan curiously, unsure of his relationship with Lai Li.

It definitely wasn’t father and son—he was too young. Brother? They didn’t look alike, and their temperaments were polar opposites.

Dai Linxuan pinched Lai Li’s chin and tore off the bandage on his neck.

The school doctor was shocked. “What are you doing!?”

Lai Li stopped her. “It’s fine.”

The wound wasn’t severe enough to need stitches, but the long gash still looked somewhat frightening.

Dai Linxuan stared at it for a moment before suddenly pressing down hard, rubbing it roughly with his fingertip. Blood immediately oozed out again. It was clearly summer, yet his finger felt as cold as a corpse.

Lai Li shivered from the chill and furrowed his brows. “Bro?”

The counselor was speaking to Tang Xueda. “The surveillance footage shows your son made the first move. It’s only been a few days since the semester started, and a third-year senior not only failed to set a good example but even attacked a freshman. This has a very bad impact.”

Tang Xueda took a deep breath. “We’ve caused you trouble. I’ll make sure he reflects on this properly.”

Jiang Xiao muttered, “If it leads to a death, reflection will be too late. If Lai Li hadn’t dodged quickly, that knife would’ve pierced his carotid artery.”

Tang Yuanyang turned his head in fury. “Shut your—”

Tang Xueda slapped him again, cutting off his outburst.

Dai Linxuan had heard Jiang Xiao too, but his expression didn’t change. He asked the school doctor for a new sterile dressing and applied it to the wound. From start to finish, he didn’t say a word to Lai Li.

He turned with a sigh. “President Tang has raised a fine son.”

Tang Xueda pressed down on Tang Yuanyang’s head. “Hurry up and apologize to Little Chestnut!”

Lai Li got off the sickbed and leaned against his brother with keen interest, watching the show.

Tang Yuanyang clutched his face, full of defiance. “I already said I didn’t bring a knife! He staged the whole thing himself!”

Tang Xueda slapped the back of his head. “Apologize!”

“Why should I apologize if I didn’t do it!” Tang Yuanyang had been bottling up his anger all day, and now it fully erupted. “Is he Lai Li all that great? Is Dai Linxuan so superior he can scorn the law? Making you, his father, force your own son to bow his head without distinguishing right from wrong!?”

Tang Xuea’s face paled. “You bastard!!”

Tang Yuanyang, with palm prints on his face, roared back, “Yeah! I’m a bastard! I’m worthless! But at least I don’t have that disgraceful pedophile fetish!”

The moment the words left his mouth, Tang Yuanyang’s mind went blank. His ears rang, and the entire infirmary fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.

What had he said?

What had he just said?

Lai Li’s gaze darkened abruptly. He clenched his fists and moved to step forward, but Dai Linxuan grabbed his arm.

Tang Xueda swayed, nearly fainting. “President Dai, don’t take it to heart. Yuanyang is talking about a cousin of his who has that fetish… I’ve told him a dozen times not to air family laundry, but he still blabs everywhere. I’ll discipline him when we get home!”

“If it’s family laundry, you don’t need to tell me how you discipline him.” Dai Linxuan actually smiled. “But President Tang seems to have made quite a few assumptions. Otherwise, why would you think of sending me an assistant today?”

Tang Xueda closed his eyes, his heart sinking to the bottom—like it was over.

“What kind of outcome do you want?” Dai Linxuan was clearly asking Lai Li, though he didn’t look at him.

Lai Li had the ugliest expression in the room. He wanted to hack Tang Yuanyang into pieces—or better yet, let that knife have plunged into his neck and send Tang Yuanyang to prison.

He let the rage churn endlessly inside before swallowing it all down. Lai Li gripped Dai Linxuan’s wrist and stared deadly at Tang Yuanyang. “I hope the student council can sort out the trash and stop taking in garbage.”

The school and counselor were naturally thrilled at the chance for reconciliation. Tang Yuanyang’s entry into the student council hadn’t been entirely aboveboard anyway, so expulsion wasn’t a big deal.

Tang Xueda had no objections either. Shaking with anger at his son, he ended up bending his back himself to apologize. “Little Chestnut suffered today because I failed to teach my son properly. I’ll bring this disobedient boy to your door another day to apologize.”

Lai Li gave no quarter. “No need. I don’t want to see your son at all.”

Dai Linxuan withdrew his arm from Lai Li’s grasp, glanced at the time on his watch, and headed out. “It’s late, President Tang. Take him home and educate him—family laundry shouldn’t be aired, right?”

At the door, Dai Linxuan looked back at Lai Li, who was still standing there. “Aren’t you coming? I thought you wanted me to pick you up.”

Lai Li’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly before he hurried after him.

As they turned the corner outside, Dai Linxuan glanced back at the people in the infirmary with his peripheral vision, his gaze lingering on Song Zichu’s face before slowly withdrawing.

Night had deepened, and it was past curfew for the dorms. The campus paths were nearly deserted.

Dai Linxuan’s and Tang Xuea’s cars were parked nearby. Before getting in, Lai Li glanced over. There was a somewhat uneasy boy in the back seat of Tang Xuea’s car, probably around eighteen.

A shadow of gloom darkened Lai Li’s eyes. He walked over and knocked on the window.

Xiao Zhou looked at the boy in front of him. “Is… is there something?”

If he hadn’t known Lai Li’s identity beforehand, Xiao Zhou wouldn’t have thought they looked alike. Lai Li’s wild arrogance made people overlook his sharply handsome features. Even a second more eye contact felt like an invasion, so who would scrutinize his face?

Xiao Zhou instinctively avoided his gaze. Deep down, he thought the Tang father and son’s speculations were off. How could someone like Lai Li let Dai Linxuan toy with him for twelve years? He was clearly a spoiled young master, afraid of nothing and no one, with eyes for no one.

“If I catch you near my brother again—” Lai Li said word by word, “I’ll tie you to a rock and sink you in the sea for the fish.”

Xiao Zhou swallowed hard, unsure how to respond. Fortunately, Dai Linxuan’s voice came from the other car. “Lai Li.”

“Coming!” Lai Li replied. He hooked the corner of his mouth at Xiao Zhou. “Got it?”

“Got it…”

Lai Li got into Dai Linxuan’s car. “He’s the assistant Tang Xueda wants to send you?”

Dai Linxuan hummed in affirmation.

Lai Li said in disgust, “Looks more like a bed warmer to me.”

Dai Linxuan replied, “Could be either.”

Lai Li narrowed his eyes. “If Tang Yuanyang hadn’t stabbed me with that knife, would you have taken him to a hotel tonight?”

Half a month earlier, Lai Li never would’ve suspected Dai Linxuan like this. But Dai Linxuan’s preference for men was now a nailed-down fact, and it even seemed like his pent-up desires extended to the younger brother he’d raised.

Dai Linxuan didn’t answer the question.

Liu Zeng started the car while smoothing things over. “Little Chestnut, are you hungry? Linxuan packed some food for you.”

Lai Li opened the bag and glanced inside—all his favorite flavors. “Eating in the car makes me nauseous.”

Liu Zeng smiled. “Then eat when we get back. It can be reheated.”

Dai Linxuan’s phone kept buzzing. Tang Xueda had sent several messages offering to lower the acquisition price further as compensation for the incident.

Dai Linxuan typed calmly: If Little Chestnut had injured Yuanyang unilaterally, I’d personally gift the funds for Jiang Feng without batting an eye. But as you saw, President Tang, if that knife had veered just a bit more, it’d be the carotid artery. This isn’t something an apology can settle.

Lai Li glanced over, feeling even more irritated. He acted so protective in front of others, but in reality, it was cold violence.

He suddenly asked, “There must be plenty of people who want to acquire Jiang Feng, right?”

Dai Linxuan turned off his phone, leaned back against the seat, and closed his eyes. He hummed.

Lai Li sneered, “Then why’s he so eager to shove it into your hands?”

In the rearview mirror, Tang Xuea’s black car headed in the opposite direction, gradually vanishing into the bustling night traffic.

Tang Xueda stared at Dai Linxuan’s message and murmured, “It’s over.”

Xiao Zhou hesitated. “Is there really no room for turning this around?”

Tang Xueda closed his eyes, his heart dead as ash. “Dai Linxuan means he’s done with it. Everything we discussed at dinner is off the table.”

Xiao Zhou fell silent and glanced at Tang Yuanyang.

Tang Yuanyang hurled a pillow at him. “What the hell are you looking at!”

Tang Xueda slapped Tang Yuanyang again and again, beating him until he couldn’t lift his head. “How dare you still curse here! We’ve planned this for half a year, and you ruined it all. Do you know our family is finished!?”