ZhouXiang rushed to the hospital.

Initially, he felt that YanMingSu was exaggerating. No matter how one puts it, YanMingXiu is his son; to what extent can YanFei beat him? Therefore, although he was dejected, he wasn’t too worried.

But when he got to the hospital, ZhouXiang is shocked.

YanMingXiu’s face had no marks but his arm is in a cast and his eyes are closed with his brows bunched up, looking very uncomfortable.

YanMingSu is sitting on the side of his bed working on his laptop. After ZhouXiang came in, he made a “hush” movement, then put down his laptop and pulled ZhouXiang out of the room.

YanMingSu whispered, “He just fell asleep, talk out here.”

ZhouXiang quickly asked, “Is his arm broken?”

“Yeah, it’s broken,” YanMingSu seems to be used to it, “His ribs also fractured.”

ZhouXiang’s face changed, “You... your dad... from your dad’s beating?” A parent’s teaching of his child is fully justified, but he rarely saw a parent laying such heavy hand on his own son. How could he have the heart to do that to his own child?

“Yes, my dad doesn’t easily beat people because he can’t control himself when he starts.” YanMingSu glanced at the back room, “Beat him with a baton.”

ZhouXiang looked at YanMingXiu’s tightly closed eyes from afar, feeling immense pain. He was so depressed that even his shoulders drooped, having to lean against the wall, at a loss.

YanMingSu glanced at ZhouXiang and said, “You don’t have to worry too much. My dad didn’t hit his vitals. When I was young, I’ve angered him a lot but it was all trifling matters. MingXiu angered him less but it was very big matters every time. If my dad didn’t control himself then, he would have killed him, “YanMingSu shrugged his shoulders, “In fact, there is some advantage to this. After he finished hitting us, my mom would have a fight with him. Afterward, we would have some peaceful days.”

ZhouXiang gnawed his teeth, “Isn’t he your fucking real father?”

YanMingSu said with a blank expression, “Being able to live to the present, of course, is real.”

“I’m going to go in to see him?”

YanMingSu nodded, “Go in. He had been waiting for you this entire time, then couldn’t wait anymore and fell asleep.”

ZhouXiang walked quietly to the side of the bed and looked at YanMingXiu’s paled face, he couldn’t describe the agony his heart. If the beating was from someone else, he could pick up a rod and beat the person for revenge. But this is YanMingXiu’s old man, what can he do? What can YanMingXiu do?

Almost without thinking about it, he also knew why YanMingXiu was beaten. It had to do with him rashly and crudely running to the Yan family home and saying a bunch of mindlessly careless words that are beyond his position. He did so with unconstrained courage and persistence but didn’t consider YanMingXiu.

He dared to laugh at YanMingXiu for being dumb? In this relationship, no one is smarter than the other, because one ends up losing more miserably than the other.

ZhouXiang stretched out his fingers to gently touch his cheek. He just wanted to feel YanMingXiu’s temperature with his fingertips because his face is too pale, looking as if there is no trace of blood.

With such a slight touch, YanMingXiu immediately opened his eyes. His eyes went from blurred to awake. After seeing who is in front of him, he revealed a gentle smile, “Xiang Ge, you’ve come.”

ZhouXiang softly whispered, “I was at the gym this afternoon and didn’t hear the phone.”

“It’s fine. You’re here is all that matters.” YanMingXiu extended his left hand to hold ZhouXiang’s hand.

ZhouXiang somberly muttered, “MingXiu, I didn’t consider the consequences. It’s my fault, I’m sorry.”

YanMingXiu smiled, “You don’t have to apologize. You did great. We need to let my dad know where we stand. I already know. You also know. This will allow him to take our relationship seriously. Today’s confrontation is good. With my dad, only my grandfather and mother can deal with him. When we were young, he would even hit my elder sister. Hitting me is no big deal, the harder he hit, the better. My mom would likely fight with him for at least three months. He will leave us alone for at least three months.”

ZhouXiang sighed, “This is not worth it. It would have been fine if you went back last night... ”

“Don’t think too much about it. In fact, it wasn’t so much about you running to my home. It’s because of what I told him about WangYuDong that got him pissed.” YanMingXiu’s lips curved into a smile, “I want to give him a good show. Whether or not he agrees to us being together, his son is gay regardless. But if he disagreed, his son-in-law would also put the family to shame.”

ZhouXiang touched his forehead, “Take it easy. He is your father after all. Getting him so riled up, the only one feeling horrible in the end is yourself.”

YanMingXiu snorted, “I know my limits. Seeing how he rushed over to hit me a few times yesterday, he’s in good health.”

At this time, YanMingSu came in from the outside, holding some beverages and fast food in his hand, “Haven’t eaten yet, right? Come eat something.”

“Where did you get it?” YanMingXiu glanced at the fast food box.

“Wherever I got it, you’re not allowed to be picky. Just eat. I’m fucking very busy every day yet still have to get away to deal with your business. Having a brother like you, I’m in really bad luck for a long time.”

YanMingXiu smiled, “This can’t be blamed on me.”

YanMingSu put the things on the bedside table, “You guys eat. I’m leaving.”

ZhouXiang asked, “You’re not eating with us?”

YanMingSu glanced at his watch, “I have a social event tonight. Gotta go.” After saying that, he turned around and walked toward the door.

YanMingXiu called out, “Ge.”

“Yeah?” One of YanMingSu’s hand is on the doorknob as he turned to look back.

“Thanks ah.”

“Hnnn, don’t give a crap for that.” He didn’t turn his head and left.

YanMingXiu shrugged and reached his hand out for a can of drink. He suddenly became anxiously worried because he can now only use one hand.

ZhouXiang is very envious of having brothers and sisters, growing up together, growing old together. Even if one day their parents are gone, they can still help and support each other. This feeling must be great. He took the drink from YanMingXiu, inserted a straw into it and put the straw in his mouth.

YanMingXiu muttered, “Being able to use just one hand is very inconvenient.”

“Isn’t that nonsense?” ZhouXiang opened the lunch box and put a piece of braised pork to his mouth.

YanMingXiu smiled while taking joy in being fed by ZhouXiang.

The two haven’t eaten a few mouthfuls before the door to the ward is suddenly opened. Both of their actions paused as they turned their heads to look at the door. YanMingXiu’s mother quickly rushed in, looking at them in a daze.

“Mom....”

ZhouXiang have seen her a few times before. This women’s entire body exuded an air of nobility. Her appearance and mannerisms are exceptionally good. A woman at her age, blossoming with sophistication and elegance is especially alluring. The two Yan brothers looking so handsome, their facial features are mostly inherited from her. In contrast, although YanMingMei is beautiful, she could not be compared to her two brothers.

However, her expression at this time is hasty with her eyebrows bunched up in anxiety and her hair a bit disarray. Obviously her condition wasn’t very good. She quickly swept a glance at ZhouXiang and then her eyes fell on her son, quickly rushing over, “MingXiu How are you? Where is your brother?”

“I’m fine. It’s all been taken care of. Brother had some matters to attend to tonight.”

“What can be more important than his own brother? Really, I obviously told him to watch over you.”

ZhouXiang stood up and gave up the only chair in the room to her. He nodded to Mother Yan and stood silently on the side.

All along, Mother Yan hadn’t taken a good look at this young man. Now thinking that he might become her daughter-in-law, she wanted to look more closely in this moment.

ZhouXiang is very different from the kind of men in her imagination that could captivate men and make them confused. In her old-fashioned views, this kind of men should be similar to that of a woman, wearing makeup and tight clothes. But looking at ZhouXiang, he is a gracefully dapper looking man. She had seen him on TV. At the time, she thought that this youngster looked quite good. To say that he’s handsome, he’s far from her son. But his body exudes this calmness and natural temperament that gives people a very good feeling toward him. Unbeknownst whether this is a woman’s natural instinct, she couldn’t really hate this young man.

Mother Yan sat in the chair and gently stroked YanMingXiu’s arm cast. Her eyes a little red, “How can there be a father like that? So ruthless...and you too, telling you to beg for forgiveness and you won’t. You could have just coaxed him, but instead getting him so enraged by insisting on going against him. What is it that you want? Getting beat to such extent...”

“This is not much. The bones will heal well soon. Mom, I beg you not to cry. I get a headache when you cry.”

“Little rascal...” Mother Yan wiped the edge of her eyes. Seeing what they were eating, she frowned, “What are you eating? Your brother bought that for you?”

“Yeah.”

“Your brother just handle things like this..” Mother Yan took out her cell phone to call the lackey.

“Mom, don’t need to. We’ve already ate half of it.”

Mother Yan sighed, “Tell me, what to do? You and your father feud to this extent. If you’re disobedient on other matters, we also don’t want to care, but with this...” She remembered that ZhouXiang is still standing on the side. She couldn’t help but give him a look.

ZhouXiang softly voiced, “You two chat. I’m going to go out to buy something.”

YanMingXiu strenuously stretched out his left hand to clasp the edge of his clothes, seriously utterly, “Xiang Ge, you don’t need to evade, have a sit on the bed.”

Mother Yan astonishingly glanced at YanMingXiu and then again at ZhouXiang.

ZhouXiang felt a little embarrassed.

Mother Yan, “Then have a sit on the bed.”

ZhouXiang could only sit down. In fact, he really wanted to go out to take a breather.

Mother Yan looked at him, “ZhouXiang, how old are you? Where are you from?”

“27, I’m local.”

“What do your parents do?”

My parents are from the public institution. My dad died a few years ago. My mother is retired and is staying home.”

“Is there anyone else at home?”

“No...”

“Then you...” Mother Yan pursed her lips, “Your mom really doesn’t care...that you and...”

ZhouXiang smiled softly, “Auntie, I was in an accident about three years ago and was comatose on the hospital bed for two years, almost like a vegetative person. Before that, my mother strongly opposed that I didn’t want to marry a woman. But after this happened, my mom said that nothing is more important than me living healthily. She no longer cared as long as I live well.”

Mother Yan is startled and then slowly lowered her head.

“Auntie, more than half a year ago, my mother got an illness, it turned out to be uremia. When I was hospitalized, we owed a lot of money. We were already in debt. With her illness, it was even worse. You might not be able to imagine. At that time, my monthly salary is just a little over 3k, adding some of the acting and modeling gigs, at most I get is ¥6,000-¥7,000 a month. The expense to treat my mom’s illness is nearly ¥3,000 a month and we still have to support ourselves, pay rent, buy food, and repay debts. At the time, I was very desperate so I borrowed money from MingXiu, but our relationship is not as shameful as you think. Once my career improves in the future, I will pay him back.”

ZhouXiang’s words are very sincere. These are all words coming from within his heart. He had been watching Mother Yan’s eyes and can clearly see that this woman’s attitude is softening.

ZhouXiang had always appealed to women of all ages. According to them, they feel that he is gentle and generous, humorous and caring toward people. ZhouXiang doesn’t feel that he is particularly attractive but at least toward females, he is very patient and tolerant. Adding on, with the number of his exposures to women increasing, he could feel that older women especially are really good to him.

Mother Yan seems to be no exception. Her expression toward him have changed, she asked, “How is your mom now?”

ZhouXiang sighed, “Her condition is stable but has to do dialysis twice a week. Each time is four to five hours so basically most of the time is spent in the hospital.”

Mother Yan nodded and said softly, “Oh, this has got to be hard on you.”

ZhouXiang smiled, “Auntie, taking your son away, I am also guilty but we really can’t separate from each other.”

YanMingXiu tightly clenched ZhouXiang’s hand and smiled at him. ZhouXiang also gave him a smile.

These tiny movements all fell in Mother Yan’s eyes. She awkwardly bowed her head and muttered, “I can’t decide on such matters. I only care that my son can live well.”

“Mom, I can only live well if I’m with him. You forced me to marry someone I have no feelings for; do you think I can be well?”

“Aren’t I just afraid that you won’t have children? You might feel that not having children is good right now but wait till you’re old, you’ll know the pain of not having children.”

“Mom, we can adopt, we can find a surrogate. There are many ways to solve it. Even though what you say is important, but we’re not living our lives solely for children.”

ZhouXiang softly added, “Auntie, this problem... there are many ways to solve. But the most unwise is to knowingly hurt another woman.”

Mother Yan sighed, “I can’t beat you guys in words. You...you still discuss this with your dad, I’m not the one who can take charge in the family.”

YanMingXiu changed to grip her hand, “Mom, as long as you don’t object to us, then it’s good.”

Mother Yan said unwillingly, “I’ve really spoiled you too much.”

End of the Chapter