“You didn’t answer, so I thought you were sleeping…” Sheng Li closed the door behind him and only then noticed Zuo Chi was on a video call, and the person on the other end was Qin Xu. He froze, his smile quickly fading, his mind going blank, like the chaotic world before Pangu split heaven and earth, everything blurred, with a buzzing in his ears, as if mosquitoes were constantly buzzing around.
Zuo Chi instinctively placed his phone face down on the bedside table, realizing how ridiculous it was afterward.
What did he have to feel guilty about?
He stood the phone back up and turned to Sheng Li, “Can you go out for a while?”
Sheng Li gritted his teeth, his eyebrows furrowed with anger, struggling to control his temper.
“I came to get my car keys,” he said, then deliberately walked in front of Zuo Chi’s phone.
Pretending to search the sofa, he was actually paying attention to the situation on Zuo Chi’s side.
Sheng Li’s expression was ugly, and Qin Xu’s face was no better. He had many questions but remained silent with Sheng Li still in the room.
Time seemed to slow down, half a minute feeling like ten. Zuo Chi impatiently urged, “Haven’t you found it yet?”
Sheng Li: “No.”
Zuo Chi stared at him, immediately seeing through his act, “Isn’t it in your coat pocket?”
Sheng Li gave a forced smile and reached into his pocket, “Oh, it is.”
He walked out slowly, unwilling yet helpless. When the door closed, he squatted down, dazed.
What were they talking about inside?
Sheng Li scratched his head, feeling a numbing pain in his heart.
Inside the room, Zuo Chi told Qin Xu, “On the day of the car accident, Sheng Li happened to call me, but someone else answered the phone and told him I was in the hospital.”
“Chi, do you know how I felt when I saw him?” Qin Xu’s voice was hoarse. “I felt very sad. As your boyfriend, I wasn’t there with you at the first moment when the accident happened, and instead, it was someone else taking care of you.”
Zuo Chi said, “But it’s not your fault. No one knows when an accident will happen.”
Qin Xu looked serious. “When I can’t be with you, I hope someone else can be there to help you through tough times. But him… I mind.”
Zuo Chi said, “I’ve talked to Sheng Li. Starting tomorrow, he won’t be coming anymore.”
Zuo Chi felt a bit bitter thinking about Sheng Li’s expression before he left. Sheng Li handled the procedures, cooked for him, took care of him, and investigated the truth behind the car accident… He couldn’t help but be moved, but he also couldn’t accept it.
What was the right thing to do?
“My mother’s situation is quite optimistic; she can take care of herself. After seeing me, she scolded me, saying my father exaggerated and that she didn’t need me to come specifically. I also hired a caregiver for her, and she should recover soon. After knowing about your situation, she urged me to return to China quickly…” A flash of disappointment crossed Qin Xu’s eyes. “Do you want me to come back?”
“I…” Zuo Chi couldn’t say. He felt that his minor injury didn’t need special attention and that urging Qin Xu to come back was a bit selfish. But if he said he didn’t want Qin Xu to come back, it seemed too rational and cold.
Qin Xu quietly waited for his answer.
“You’ve been in China for half a year, and it’s hard for you to see your mother. If you come back now…” Zuo Chi rarely stammered.
“I understand. I’ll stay here for a few more days as planned.” Qin Xu rubbed his brow and then asked, “What happened with the car accident?”
Zuo Chi recounted the scene and the information he got from the police.
“Just got the driver’s license and already driving so fast? So irresponsible, harming both himself and others… If I hadn’t been going to the airport, you wouldn’t have crossed that road, and this wouldn’t have happened.”
Zuo Chi shook his head. “Don’t blame yourself.”
They talked for a while, but neither was very enthusiastic.
The caregiver knocked to remind Zuo Chi it was time for a medication change. Zuo Chi responded and said to the phone, “I need to change my medication now. We’ll talk next time.”
“Okay,” Qin Xu said softly. “Take care of your injury and don’t overwork yourself.”
Knowing the caregiver was waiting outside, Zuo Chi ended the call but didn’t move immediately.
He stared blankly for a while.
At the moment he hung up the phone, he felt a sense of relief.
He feared trouble and owed debts.
Like knowing he and Qin Xu had a high compatibility with their pheromones, and maybe Qin Xu could give him a temporary mark to ease his heat, yet he couldn’t bring himself to ask.
He felt that asking would be exploiting Qin Xu’s feelings.
But for a couple, even a temporary mark was completely normal.
He felt guilty and the more he tried to clear his mind, the more confused he became.
That night, thinking that Zuo Chi hadn’t had the carp he made, Sheng Li cooked fish porridge.
Because of the incident in the afternoon, he was in a bad mood, but thinking that Zuo Chi might not eat his cooking anymore, his mood sank even more.
Of course, he hoped Zuo Chi would be safe and sound, but he had to admit that the past two days of Zuo Chi’s car accident filled the void of the past two months. As long as he was under the same roof as Zuo Chi, he was satisfied.
But after tonight, he and Zuo Chi would go their separate ways. He wouldn’t smell the close black currant scent again, wouldn’t see Zuo Chi first thing when waking up, wouldn’t be close to him anymore.
He was so sad that he sprayed a lot of scent blocker to cover the souring amber scent.
He handed the fish porridge to the caregiver, asked them to take it to the ward, and went to the small garden behind the hospital to smoke two cigarettes.
Rationally, he knew Qin Xu was Zuo Chi’s boyfriend, knew he couldn’t interfere, knew his stubbornness would only make Zuo Chi hate him, but emotionally, he couldn’t accept this reality.
Even in winter, there were still many mosquitoes in the small garden. Two bites appeared on Sheng Li’s exposed wrist.
At ten o’clock, confirming he didn’t smell like smoke, he returned to the ward.
The ward light was off, and Zuo Chi was already in bed.
“Ah Chi.”
Sheng Li called his name in the dark. Zuo Chi wasn’t asleep; the concentration of black currant pheromone indicated that, but he didn’t respond.
…………..
On the fourth day of hospitalization, Sheng Li went to work as usual. Zuo Chi vaguely sensed him leaving but felt a bit lost seeing the clean and tidy room when he woke up.
The caregiver bought breakfast in the morning, still soy milk and steamed buns.
The soy milk wasn’t sweetened.
Zuo Chi took a sip of the soy milk and glanced at the caregiver. The caregiver said, “Mr. Sheng said you prefer unsweetened soy milk. If it’s not sweet enough, I can go buy another cup.”
Holding the warm soy milk, Zuo Chi muttered, “Unsweetened is good.”
People’s tastes change with age, but some preferences never change.
Zuo Chi thought half the night about how to face Sheng Li and whether he should continue with Qin Xu.
If his good feelings for Qin Xu couldn’t turn into love, the longer he dragged it out, the more he would let Qin Xu down. Reviewing his time with Qin Xu, the guilt almost overwhelmed him.
Qin Xu was a very good person; he deserved wholehearted affection.
Zuo Chi planned to have an open and honest conversation with Qin Xu when he returned.
At noon, Aunt Chen came to deliver lunch. The dishes she prepared were abundant, with three meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a soup, all looking very appetizing.
She exclaimed that Zuo Chi had lost weight again and needed to eat more to get healthy.
“Young Master, I only just found out you had an accident. You didn’t even tell me. I can’t help with much, but I can certainly cook for you,” Aunt Chen said. “Have you been eating hospital meals the past few days? How can those fill you up?”
“Thank you, Aunt Chen,” Zuo Chi smiled at her. “The past few days, my meals were cooked by…a friend.”
Zuo Chi was already very full, but another peeled apple was handed to him.
Zuo Chi: “…”
Aunt Chen said, “Eat an apple, and may you have peace and safety.”
Zuo Chi took a bite, his eyes feeling slightly teary.
Aunt Chen had found out about his car accident from hearing Shu Qingyu and Zuo Yi arguing.
She was over fifty years old and could see that her employers’ marriage was a facade, but they rarely argued openly.
Shu Qingyu questioned Zuo Yi, “Zuo Chi had a car accident, and as his father, aren’t you going to the hospital to see him?”
Zuo Yi replied, “He’s my son, but he went against my wishes and started his own company. Ask him if he still considers himself a Zuo. If he doesn’t come to admit his mistakes and apologize, does he still expect me to make the first move?”
“He had a car accident! Don’t you understand?” Shu Qingyu screamed hysterically. “Regardless of whether he’s an Alpha or an Omega, he’s your son, our son! You don’t care about him at all!”
Zuo Yi, furious, said, “Enough! Who are you to lecture me? If you hadn’t lied to me that Zuo Chi was an Alpha, I would have brought Zuo Lie over for training long ago! He wouldn’t be as useless as he is today!”
“Your illegitimate son is a waste,” Shu Qingyu sneered. “Just hand over the company to him. Let your family’s business be ruined in his hands. When you die, see if you can face your ancestors!”
Zuo Yi smashed a teacup, “Get out!”
Aunt Chen, trembling downstairs, didn’t dare make a sound. She was a Beta, married to an Alpha, with an Alpha son and a Beta daughter, but no Omega child.
She didn’t think there was anything wrong with being an Omega, especially since Zuo Chi was always so obedient and excellent.
She had watched Zuo Chi grow up and considered him half her own child, worrying that he might not take good care of himself living alone. But now that Young Master Chi had such a major accident and was hospitalized, and Shu Qingyu and Zuo Yi were still arguing over right and wrong, Aunt Chen felt for the first time that Zuo Chi moving out was the right choice.
