The Plough

Yue Dingtang quickly regretted his moment of weakness that lasted only 0.01 seconds.

"My stomach is still injured and hasn't fully healed, please don't touch it."

"If you move your hand down a bit, my back hurts too."

"Sigh, we haven't even entered my house yet and now we have to return to your place. It's too much trouble for Sister Chunxiao."

Yue Dingtang couldn't help it anymore.

"Why don't you ever say that it's going to be troublesome for me?"

Ling Shu replied, "We've been old classmates for so long, there's no such thing as trouble or not trouble. You're being too formal."

Yue Dingtang: ...

He truly admired Ling Shu. 

Just as the car came to a stop, Yue Dingtang witnessed with his own eyes the stick hitting Ling Shu's back. 

He knew the other party must have been seriously injured, in addition to the injuries he had suffered in the underground warehouse of the Yuan family. 

Yet Ling Shu was still able to joke and laugh, which was truly admirable.

But despite his admiration, Yue Dingtang really wanted to throw Ling Shu off his back. 

Fortunately, they only had a few steps to go.

As soon as the driver finished speaking to Aunt Hong and hurried over to open the car door, Yue Dingtang quickly threw Ling Shu into the back seat like a hot potato and walked to the other side, expressionless, to give instructions to the driver.

"Drive."

Yue Chunxiao was surprised to see them come and go, but when she heard Yue Dingtang's account of what had happened, her surprise quickly turned to anger. 

"Unbelievable! Who does Shen Shiqi think he is? He even dares to mess with our Yue family. Little brother, he's acting so recklessly right under your nose. If you still do nothing, then you're letting down the honor of our Yue family!"

Yue Dingtang sighed, feeling that this statement had countless loopholes.

Since when did Ling Shu become a member of the Yue family? And when did the Yue family become known for their honor? His older brother and second brother had nothing to do with these two words.

"I'll ask about this tomorrow. It's too late now. Sister, go call Doctor Qian."

"I'll go right away!"

Yue Chunxiao woke up as if from a dream and hurriedly ran to call the family doctor.

Ling Shu coughed twice. "Chunxiao, there's no need to shout. I just need to sleep."

"Don't move!" Yue Chunxiao held a phone and pointed at him from a distance, shouting loudly as if she could cast a spell to immobilize him. Ling Shu had no choice but to stay still. 

The family doctor quickly arrived with a medicine box and treated Ling Shu in the room. 

Yue Chunxiao couldn't go in, so she waited outside for a while and muttered to himself, "I'll go get him some supper." 

Yue Dingtang stopped her and said, "Didn't he just finish eating hotpot?" Did his sister become stupid? 

Yue Chunxiao scolded, "You don't understand. I'll have them cook some lotus seed and sugar water to calm him down first, and then stew some blood-activating and stasis-dissolving soup for him to drink tomorrow when he wakes up." 

Yue Dingtang frowned, "Sis, you treat him like a younger brother, but he still has a real sister. Why do you have to be so busy taking care of him? Are you being too good to him? Be careful not to be taken advantage of and end up counting someone else's money!"

Yue Chunxiao smiled, "You know my personality. I am clear about my likes and dislikes. For someone I have a good connection with, I want to give them the best in the world. Ling Shu is someone who caught my eye, and he is also well-behaved, sweet-tongued, and good-looking."

Yue Dingtang: ... 

Is the last sentence the most important?

"Someone like him is destined to have admirers everywhere in the future. There will be plenty of girls willing to take the initiative to approach him. If I were ten years younger, I would also pursue him. Are you jealous? I will prepare both sweet drinks and soup for you. After all, you are my real younger brother!" 

Without waiting for him to react, Yue Chunxiao turned around and rushed down the stairs.

Yue Dingtang turned around and went back to the room.

The doctor was giving Ling Shu medicine.

A purple and red wound on his fair back was strikingly visible.

And it had just appeared, in a few hours, the blood would clot under the skin, and the color would only become more terrifying.

"Do you have a cough?" The doctor asked while applying the medicine.

"It's okay," Ling Shu lay on the bed, burying his head in the pillow, his voice muffled. "I caught a cold yesterday, it's not from being beaten."

Yue Dingtang watched coldly, feeling that the wound was somewhat shocking.

"Do you need further examination at the hospital?" He spoke up. 

Dr. Qian said, "Let me take a look first. Later, I'll prescribe some medicine for you to take. Be careful not to get the wound wet. Just wipe it clean with a damp towel every day. When you sleep tonight, remember to lie on your side or stomach."

"Thank you, Dr. Qian. Let me walk you out," said Yue Dingtang.

Dr. Qian packed up his medical kit and left with Yue Dingtang, who closed the door behind them.

Their voices faded away as they descended the stairs.

The guest room had not been used for a long time, so Yue Chunxiao decided to let Ling Shu stay in Yue Dingtang’s own room for the night. 

Yue Dingtang was a neat freak, and his room was sparsely decorated with no picture frames or paintings. Even the bedside table had nothing on it except for a lamp. 

The bedding had a faint scent of cologne and smoke, but it didn't make the room look messy. It could only be said that the owner of the room was a smoker, but also a smoker who paid attention to personal grooming. 

Other than that, there was a book by the pillow. 

Ling Shu picked it up. 

‘Lin Family's Shop.’ 

Ling Shu raised an eyebrow, a little surprised. This didn't seem like the kind of book Yue Dingtang would read. 

But the bookmark in the middle pages and the creases in the book indicated that he had already read more than half of it, and he had read it carefully. 

In Ling Shu's impression, Yue Dingtang, who was now so righteous, should prefer to read books that matched his status, such as "The Wealth of Nations" and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," rather than being interested in the subject matter of small business owners on the brink of bankruptcy in a society of darkness and turmoil. 

With the connections and abilities of the Yue family, even if they were to move abroad, they would still be able to live a wealthy and worry-free life. Perhaps Yue Dingtang simply had a pure love for literature and wanted to expand his reading horizons in his free time.

Ling Shu put down his book and yawned, feeling a bit drowsy. But he struggled to get up, buttoning up his pajamas one by one and straightening his sleeves, covering the scars on his right arm in the process.

Even though the old injury had long since healed, the scars still bore witness to the brutality of the past. The scar that ran almost from his right shoulder down to his arm was so severe that it probably tore through his flesh and tendons.

Even now, his right hand, though it appeared normal on the surface, still trembled slightly when he wrote with a pen, and he couldn't even lift heavy objects. He refused to become a useless person and decided to train his left hand instead. 

With gritted teeth and perseverance, he trained hard and after several months, his left hand began to function like his right hand. Now, there was hardly any difference between the two.

Through his sleeve, his gaze fell on the wound. But after only a moment, he looked away without hesitation. 

The past was gone, and dwelling on it was pointless. It was better to focus on the present.

Footsteps outside came and went, gradually getting closer until there was a knock on the door. Ling Shu didn't answer. Instead, he calmly lay down, pulled up the covers, closed his eyes, and breathed shallowly.

Soon, the person outside pushed open the door. Yue Dingtang was holding a bowl of lotus seed and coix seed soup that Yue Chunxiao had just cooked. 

"If you're still awake, come have some late-night snacks. My sister made them specially for you," he said in a voice that was neither too low nor too high, enough to wake up those who were still awake but not enough to disturb those who were already asleep.

Ling Shu didn't move.

He slept on his side, with his back to the door, lost in a deep sleep.

Yue Dingtang asked again, waited for a moment, and when Ling Shu didn't respond, he turned and left.

Ling Shu stirred, struggling to turn over and reaching for the book on the pillow.

He had no desire to sleep, so he decided to read for a while to help him fall asleep.

Suddenly, the door opened again!

With a loud bang, the light came on.

Ling Shu's hand froze in mid-air.

Their eyes met.

Yue Dingtang had no expression on his face.

Ling Shu looked innocent.

"Are you pretending to sleep?"

"No, I really fell asleep just now. I woke up when you closed the door."

"You woke up and immediately wanted to read?"

"Yes, I'm curious to see what books Captain Yue usually reads, so I can learn from him and gain some insight."

Yue Dingtang walked over and placed the bowl on the bedside table with a bit of force.

"Drink the sweet soup, or Sister will nag at you again later."

Ling Shu obediently sat up and followed his instructions without arguing or causing trouble. The sweetness of the soup soothed his frightened heart and his wounds seemed to hurt less.

"Sister is so kind!" Ling Shu exclaimed with genuine admiration.

Yue Dingtang said, "Starting tomorrow, you'll come to work with me. If I have to go to school, try to stay at the police station and don't move. I'll handle things with the Shen family, but Shen Shiqi probably won't let it go easily. Don't cause any more trouble." 

Ling Shu said, "But even with the best-laid plans, there will always be slip-ups. If he makes a move, I can't just sit and wait for death. And if I accidentally kill Shen Shiqi, what will I do?"

Yue Dingtang replied, "He's not a fool. After today, he won't show his face again. If he wants to do something, he'll do it in secret, away from the elders. You just have to be careful. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for attracting the attention of a beauty and not a gentleman."

Ling Shu sighed, "If you want to blame someone, blame me for being too outstanding and attracting the attention of beauties. From now on, I'll stay far away from them and not attract these kinds of troubles."

He drank the sweet soup in two gulps, and Ling Shu suddenly remembered something. "By the way, how did you know I was pretending to sleep?"

Ling Shu was confident that he had not made any mistakes in his breathing or movements just now. 

Yue Dingtang chuckled, "Because you're in an unfamiliar place and you're used to sleeping with the lights on. Before I came in, you turned off the lights."

Ling Shu was surprised, "I didn't expect you, Old Yue, to observe me so closely. If you were a girl and we were childhood sweethearts who reunited after a long separation, wouldn't we rewrite a love story?"

Yue Dingtang thought to himself, "If any girl was unlucky enough to marry you, she would probably be on edge every day, afraid that you would bring back some peach blossom."

Even Ling Shu didn't expect that he slept exceptionally well that night, without any dreams.

The next day, as soon as he arrived at the police station, Ling Shu received a package sent by He You'an.