Inside the ward, Uncle Shen gazed at the person who had visibly lost more weight than before. He let out a long sigh and said, “You’re actually a good kid, but you tend to get yourself tangled in needless worries, and that’s why you’ve made your life so difficult.”
Qiao Yue’s expression remained calm, and after a while, he softly said, “Uncle Shen, I’ve never really felt that it’s been hard.”
At this point, he smiled faintly and added, “Moreover, this is all a consequence of my own choices.”
Listening to this, Uncle Shen remained silent for a while before patting his shoulder gently and said, “The past is in the past. It’s been so many years; it’s enough.”
“You don’t need to worry about Xiaochuan,” Uncle Shen reassured, “I will go and talk to him. After you risked your life to save him this time, I can’t believe he could still be so heartless towards you. Besides, after so many years of a relationship… This whole situation is ultimately his parents’ fault, and now it’s come back to affect both of you.”
Qiao Yue shook his head and spoke in a fragmented manner, “He’s different. He doesn’t know anything; he hasn’t done anything wrong… In the end, it’s me who let him down. He shouldn’t have suffered like this…”
Uncle Shen snorted, clearly very much disagreeing with his perspective. “It’s because he suffered too little when he was young that he turned out so unruly and reckless. He shouldn’t have suffered, and does that mean you had to? If you really want to put it that way, it’s the fault of his parents, and he should bear the consequences.”
Hearing Uncle Shen’s words, Qiao Yue seemed to recall something, and a faint smile appeared on his face for a moment, though it quickly disappeared. He spoke with a hint of helplessness, “Uncle Shen, you can’t compare it like that.”
“You coming to visit me this time already makes me very happy. As for the things between me and him, it’s not something that can be explained in just a few words… Regardless of everything, it’s me who owes him,” Qiao Yue said.
Uncle Shen listened, his heart filled with complex emotions. He looked at the child he had watched grow up, and his heart ached. Qiao Yue had endured a difficult life since he entered the Shen family, and now, due to one wrong step, he had forced himself into this situation.
“What do you owe him? That kid was reckless in high school, nearly killed himself racing cars. If it weren’t for you giving him blood, he might not even know where he is now. And this time… Only the Shen family owes you, how could there be anything you owe them?”
Qiao Yue’s voice was weak as he said, “He’s different.”
His tone was heavy, as if his heart was burdened with a weight that had been pressing on him for too long, something he had kept bottled up, and this was all he could manage to say. It made it even more precious.
Uncle Shen was in his fifties and understood perfectly. After being a human blood bag for someone for his entire life, he was still willing to continue. Uncle Shen sighed, “What a foolish child.”
“You really don’t plan to tell Xiaochuan the truth? Maybe if you tell him, you two brothers can reconcile…” Uncle Shen’s words trailed off, but before he could finish, Qiao Yue interrupted him, and there was even a momentary change in his tone, “No… you can’t tell him…”
Seemingly aware of his own loss of composure, Qiao Yue pursed his pale lips and repeated, “Don’t tell him… Uncle Shen.”
Uncle Shen had hardly ever seen him so emotionally unstable. This child had always been mature beyond his years, keeping his emotions well under control. The few times he had seen him like this, it was all related to that young man.
Shen Muchuan, standing outside the room, listened with his heart pounding. He could hear the protective tone in Qiao Yue’s words, a tone that was completely different from how Qiao Yue usually treated him.
In front of him, Qiao Yue was always cold and aloof, never willing to give him a friendly face. But in front of others, it seemed like every word was meant to defend him.
It was as if, from childhood to adulthood, his brother had always been protecting him…
As for the truth that Uncle Shen mentioned… why didn’t his brother want him to know?
—
The Shen family’s old mansion.
On a sunny Saturday morning, the sunlight was brilliant. The servants were busy on the first floor, trimming the lawn and cleaning.
Shen Muchuan walked up to the second floor and asked one of the servants for the keys to open a room.
This was the first time he had returned here in several years. When he had reclaimed the old mansion, he had been too afraid to come back. Now that he was here, he realized that not much had changed, except for a few older servants who had retired, while the rest were still working here.
His room was still arranged just like before, hardly touched, and looked neat and clean.
However, it was preserved a bit too perfectly, for a whole five years, without a trace of vacancy. This could give someone the feeling that it was as if someone had been waiting for the owner of this room to come back.
Once this thought crossed his mind, it was impossible to erase it from his thoughts. Shen Muchuan’s gaze swept over every detail in the room, finally landing on a model car placed on the bookshelf.
It was a gift from his brother when he was fourteen. Shen Muchuan picked up the model car, looked at it for a while, and then carefully placed it back.
He stayed in the room for nearly the whole morning. Around noon, a maid came to ask Shen Muchuan what he wanted for lunch. He stood on the balcony, watching Uncle Shen chat happily with the gardener in the garden below, remaining silent for a while before saying, “Prepare some dishes that Uncle Shen likes.”
Once Uncle Shen returned, several longtime servants who had worked at the old Shen estate for many years were delighted. Even the gloomy atmosphere of the villa seemed to become more lively.
After the meal was prepared, Uncle Shen looked at the spread of dishes on the table and said with emotion, “Second Young Master, you are considerate.”
Shen Muchuan lowered his head to take a sip of water before sitting upright. He interlocked his fingers on the table and spoke with a solemn tone, “Uncle Shen, I called you here today because there are a few things I want to ask you.”
Uncle Shen nodded and smiled, saying, “Second Young Master, what would you like to ask?”
After pondering for a moment, Shen Muchuan spoke directly, “Uncle Shen, is there something you and my brother are keeping from me?”
Uncle Shen was taken aback by this direct question, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, “What do you mean by that, Second Young Master?”
Shen Muchuan felt a splitting headache, as if he didn’t know how to phrase his question. He pinched his nose and said, “Yesterday, I overheard the conversation between you and my brother in the hospital room… It’s clear that there’s something you’re keeping from me.”
“Uncle Shen, I’m not trying to force you to tell me, and it’s okay if you don’t want to. I can find out on my own.”
With each word he spoke, Shen Muchuan’s face grew more serious. Just as Qiao Yue had initially considered, revealing these matters would hurt this child the most.
Seeing that Uncle Shen remained patient while he stayed silent, he became increasingly convinced that there were hidden truths behind the events of five years ago.
Uncle Shen realized he couldn’t hide this from him any longer and sighed in resignation, “Your brother has suffered a lot over the years. He’s a pitiable soul. For the things he has done, even if they were wrong, don’t blame him.”
Shen Muchuan didn’t speak. He withdrew his hand from the dining table, discreetly clenched his fingers in a place out of sight, and spoke with a strained voice, “Uncle Shen, are you referring to the matters related to the company?”
Uncle Shen nodded and then asked, “Do you remember how old your brother was when he came to the Shen family?”
Shen Muchuan smiled bitterly, but a nostalgic expression appeared on his face. He spoke softly, “He was eight years old. I was five at the time. When he first came to my house, I scared him with my dogs.”
“Have you ever wondered why your parents adopted him?”
Shen Muchuan paused for a moment. In fact, he had thought about this question before. Even when he was a child, he had asked his parents because he was dissatisfied. At that time, they only said he was a friend’s child, both of his parents had passed away, and he was brought back from the orphanage out of pity.
As for what happened afterward, he never asked again. He just felt that having another playmate was not a bad thing, especially when this “playmate” was well-behaved and obedient.
“When you were five years old, Madam had a miscarriage, and five days after being discharged from the hospital, she began to bleed heavily again. You know, Madam had the same rare blood type as you, the rare rh-negative blood, so the situation was extremely critical at that time…”
Shen Muchuan’s heart skipped a beat as he heard this, as if something unpredictable had tightened around his heart, causing his breath to stall.
As Shen Muchuan listened to the story, a look of compassion appeared on Uncle Shen’s face. “At that time, he was just a child, and losing 900 milliliters of blood, the doctors were too afraid to do it. It was something the law didn’t permit, and the hospital wouldn’t dare to attempt it. A small mistake could have cost a life… Later, if it weren’t for the old master using some influence, your mother might have been gone.”
“I initially thought that this would be the end of it, and that the child could at least get some money, which might have brought him some comfort. But what I didn’t expect was that the old master went through the proper procedures and adopted him.”
Shen Muchuan listened with his heart pounding. Eight years old… Nine hundred milliliters of blood. The sheer quantity sent shivers down his spine, as if his soul had been struck hard, causing his entire body to tremble involuntarily.
He had initially thought that having the same blood type was just a coincidence. At times, he even wondered if it was fortunate because, if it hadn’t been the case, when his brother had the accident and they couldn’t find a matching organ, what would they have done then?
Shen Muchuan clenched his fists, gritting his teeth hard as he struggled to contain the trembling throughout his body. “Are you saying that my parents adopted my brother just because his blood type was the same as mine and my mother’s? So, if necessary, they could have sacrificed him to save me?”
As he looked at Shen Muchuan’s reaction, Uncle Shen’s eyes revealed a hint of pity. He couldn’t find the words to continue. Although he felt sorry for the hardships that little Qiao Yue endured as a child, he still loved this child he had watched grow up. After all, he knew nothing about the whole story, and he couldn’t blame him.
His close relationship with Qiao Yue made knowing all this a tremendous and heavy blow to him. Shen Muchuan’s eyes turned red, and his throat was filled with a heavy sense of bloodlust. He dared not think about what kind of hell it must have been.
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