The sounds of their banter grew fainter and fainter, and the center of the topic, Bai Chen Zhu, felt light-headed all over. Unknowingly, he fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up, the sky outside had already brightened. Jiang Ye had switched places with Zhou Zhuo Hua at some point and was now biting on a lollipop, casually turning the steering wheel.
Seeing Bai Chen Zhu sit up in the rearview mirror, Zhou Zhuo Hua poked her head out from the passenger seat, her face full of exhaustion. “Little Bai, let’s switch seats. I want to lie down for a bit.”
Jiang Ye was still his unlikeable self, scoffing. “Pig.”
Bai Chen Zhu wanted to hit him.
But thinking that the guy was driving, he held back his itchy fists. He nodded to Zhou Zhuo Hua and climbed over to the passenger seat, switching places with her.
Zhou Zhuo Hua was clearly exhausted. With panda eyes from fatigue, she went to the back seat, took off her glasses, curled up her legs, lay down, and fell asleep immediately. Her breathing was heavy.
Bai Chen Zhu rubbed his face to stay awake and listlessly looked at the road ahead.
They were driving on a narrow path flanked by mountains on both sides.
Jiang Ye ate his strawberry-flavored lollipop in a posture like he was smoking. The flavor was strong, and Bai Chen Zhu, sitting next to him, could smell the rich strawberry scent.
The sun rose from the west, and Jiang Ye surprisingly wasn’t smoking. Bai Chen Zhu raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down, wondering if the man in front of him had been replaced by an imposter.
Feeling his gaze, Jiang Ye glanced at him. “Want some candy?” He popped the candy back into his mouth, held the steering wheel with one hand, and grabbed a handful of candies from beside the driver’s seat with the other, dumping them into Bai Chen Zhu’s lap.
The colorful candy balls fell like a fireworks display, completely shattering Bai Chen Zhu’s vigilance and aloofness. He hugged the lapful of candies, his face wooden as he asked, “Are you coaxing a kid?”
Jiang Ye didn’t reply, just narrowed his eyes and looked ahead. His features were sharp, his face bold and striking like thick ink lines. His brows were always downturned, making him seem unapproachable. He also loved wearing floral shirts and shorts, looking particularly… unserious.
Anyone sitting next to him would seem like a good person by comparison.
Bai Chen Zhu didn’t want to look at the eye-searing outfit next to him. He picked out a lemon-flavored candy, unwrapped it, and tasted it. Sour and sweet, with a fresh flavor that improved his mood quite a bit.
Watching him, Jiang Ye suddenly spoke up. “How did you know it was rats coming?”
“Hm?” Bai Chen Zhu paused.
He was casual and lax with Zhou Zhuo Hua, but with Bai Chen Zhu, Jiang Ye was more aggressive. “How did you know my exact position?”
Bai Chen Zhu’s tongue hooked the candy, and his good mood from earlier vanished. He lifted his face to look at the expressionless Jiang Ye but said nothing.
“ Slept so long, head hurts?” Jiang Ye glanced at him.
Would Jiang Ye suddenly care about his health like that? No, this guy was just using it to probe him because he himself had a headache. Bai Chen Zhu frowned.
He belatedly realized that Jiang Ye loved dangling a carrot in front of him to lead him on. He was almost stripped bare, yet this guy was still hiding things.
Bai Chen Zhu slumped bonelessly against the car door, fiddling with the candy wrapper. In a bad mood, his attitude wasn’t good. “What, aren’t you the Strongman?”
At that, Jiang Ye laughed. As if satisfied with the answer, he said, “I do have a headache. But not as good as you, sleeping like a pig.”
Being compared to a pig made Bai Chen Zhu’s face darken instantly, and the faint goodwill that had just risen disappeared completely. He shot back, “Headaches are your ‘privilege.’ I was just a little tired.”
“A little tired, sleeping all day.” Jiang Ye didn’t mind, then abruptly changed the subject. “What superpower did you awaken?”
Bai Chen Zhu deflected with ease, countering, “What superpower did Young Master Jiang awaken?”
Jiang Ye said indifferently, “Probably something like Strongman.”
A dark glint flashed in Bai Chen Zhu’s eyes. He still remembered how Jiang Ye had lured him into the car with talk of ‘superpowers.’ Keeping his face unchanged, he said, “So does Young Master Jiang think I’ll turn into a Strongman too?”
Jiang Ye heard the probe in his words and raised a brow with a smile. “If I say yes, do you believe it?”
Of course not. If ‘Strongman’ as a superpower made the body stronger, Bai Chen Zhu clearly felt himself going the opposite way—his body growing weaker and more powerless.
The two people probing each other fell silent for a moment.
Both wore shirts, but Jiang Ye’s was a riot of colors, bright like a peacock fanning its tail. Bai Chen Zhu’s was clean and plain. The two clashed completely, boundaries clear. Perhaps sitting together so peacefully was already a miracle.
Bai Chen Zhu silently looked ahead, unconsciously fiddling with the candy wrapper in his hand. He was thinking about things. When not smiling, his naturally aloof temperament seemed even more serious and solemn, with a distant arrogance and coldness that kept people at bay.
But that didn’t make people dislike him; instead, it felt right, like a snow lotus that naturally grew proudly on a mountaintop, untouched by the mortal world.
Yet Jiang Ye loved to ruthlessly bully the pure. If he didn’t ‘bully’ for a day, his hands itched, his heart itched, and he felt uncomfortable all over.
Jiang Ye glanced sideways, openly sizing up the person in the passenger seat. He crunched the candy in his mouth with a crunch-crunch sound. Bai Chen Zhu really suspected he was biting him through the candy.
That gaze burned like fire, growing harder to ignore as time passed. Bai Chen Zhu had to turn his attention back and shot him an irritated glance. “What are you looking at?”
Jiang Ye said without changing expression, “You can look at me, so why can’t I look at you?”
Bai Chen Zhu held back a curse, trying to seem as pure and kind as his appearance. “You look at me, that’s why I look at you. Got it?”
“Don’t… get it.” Jiang Ye said maliciously. “If you don’t look at me, how do you know I’m looking at you? Since you can look at me, why can’t I look at you? You only say I’m looking at you because you’re looking at me looking at you, but actually you’re looking at me to know I’m looking at you, so you say I can’t look at you…”
“Jiang Ye!” Bai Chen Zhu’s head hurt from his nagging. He could no longer maintain his calm; his face was full of forbearance. He took several deep breaths before suppressing the dangerous urge to stab the male lead.
Seeming pleased by Bai Chen Zhu’s expression, Jiang Ye raised a brow and whistled a curly tune, his mood visibly great.
“Why are you so childish?” Bai Chen Zhu was helpless against him and rubbed his nose bridge in exasperation.
He could feel that Jiang Ye treated him like entertainment, like a toy to poke at now and then—like a playful cat rolling an innocent ball of yarn or pouncing on a resting little bird.
“That’s your fault too.” Jiang Ye directly shoved all the blame onto him, staying clean himself. “Before meeting you, I was a proper good person. So you should reflect on yourself.”
It was the first time Bai Chen Zhu had seen someone so shameless, impervious to everything. Knowing he couldn’t win in a battle of words, he gave up competing with him, shook his head, and turned away—out of sight, out of mind.
Not talking anymore? Jiang Ye observed for a bit and saw that Bai Chen Zhu really ignored him. He sneakily stretched out a hand, trying to poke the slightly puffed cheek.
Bai Chen Zhu, with eyes closed in rest, precisely slapped away his paw.
Just when he thought the guy had finally settled down, another paw reached over.
Bai Chen Zhu’s tongue pressed against the hard candy on his cheek; the lemon flavor at the end was just sweetness left. He directly shoved the candy wrapper into the guy’s hand. “Stop messing around. Go play by yourself.”
“Heh.” Jiang Ye curiously pinched the crunchy candy wrapper, stuffed it into his pocket with one hand, and quieted down. But his interest in the person next to him only grew.
A murmur came from the back seat.
“Hey—” Jiang Ye dragged out his tone, looking at the dazed sleeper in the back through the car mirror. “Sis, big sis, get up and switch shifts.”
He called a few times, but Zhou Zhuo Hua didn’t respond. Jiang Ye unwrapped a lollipop and popped it in his mouth, muttering discontentedly, “Is this guy trying to slack off?”
He said it, but Jiang Ye had no intention of forcibly waking her.
Bai Chen Zhu carefully examined Zhou Zhuo Hua in the mirror.
In the back seat, Zhou Zhuo Hua frowned in sleep. Her face was flushed, her forehead damp with sweat, and her body was sweaty too. Her short-sleeved shirt clung wetly to her skin. She didn’t know what she was dreaming of, occasionally punching and kicking at the air.
Bai Chen Zhu straightened up, his voice steady and rapid. “Jiang Ye, stop the car. Something’s wrong with Zhou Zhuo Hua.”
Jiang Ye unconsciously obeyed him and found a flat stretch of road to pull over.
The two got out, opened the back doors from both sides, and climbed in.
Jiang Ye directly patted Zhou Zhuo Hua’s cheek. “Get up, stop sleeping… Damn, why’s she so hot!” He pulled back his hand and shook it.
Bai Chen Zhu touched Zhou Zhuo Hua’s forehead; the scorching temperature was obvious even without a thermometer. “She’s running a fever.”
Fever? The sensitive word quickly made Bai Chen Zhu think of something. Ignoring the difference in gender, he quickly rolled up Zhou Zhuo Hua’s pant leg.
One side was fine, but the other ankle had a bruise, purple and blue. It was from when they encountered the mutated rat and rushed into the car—when Bai Chen Zhu had pulled her in, the car door had pinched it.
But a pinch on the calf shouldn’t cause a fever.
Bai Chen Zhu looked closely and finally spotted three tiny wounds near the bruise, already scabbed over.
“Looks like claw marks,” Jiang Ye realized something was wrong and darkened his face. “What did you guys run into back then?”
Bai Chen Zhu took a deep breath. “When the mutated rat lunged at us, I shoved Zhou Zhuo Hua into the car. Her leg got pinched by the door then, and probably scratched by the mutated rat at the same time.”
The situation had been urgent, and their attention wasn’t there—no one had noticed.
Jiang Ye’s face changed immediately. He grabbed Zhou Zhuo Hua by the collar, pulled her up, shook her shoulders, and patted her face. “Zhuo Hua! Zhou Zhuo Hua! Wake up, wake up!”
With such a commotion, Zhou Zhuo Hua slept like the dead, showing no reaction.
Deep coma. Jiang Ye’s unease grew stronger.
