Chapter 14: My Heart Beats For You (V)

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Chapter 14: My Heart Beats For You (V)

Shang Ke never would have expected that after surviving so many rounds of extreme sports without incident, one casual shove from Jiang Donglin would be what finally messed up his head. He wasn’t unconscious for long, at least not long enough to miss hearing the results of his examination firsthand. The two-year period during which his condition should have remained stable had been disrupted. Without surgery, the tumor would now deteriorate rapidly.

Shang Ke was transferred to a private hospital room. Since Jiang Donglin, Jian Chenfeng, and Xu Qing were all there, he decided to continue getting his beauty sleep.

Jiang Donglin sat beside the bed clutching his phone, staring blankly into space and at a loss for words.

Jian Chenfeng gazed at Jiang Yumo lying in bed. Without his usual liveliness, he looked unusually peaceful. Half his head was sunk into the soft pillow, a few strands of hair falling across his brow and eyes as he appeared to sleep soundly.

“Doctor Xu, you’re saying Jiang Yumo already knew about his condition several months ago?” Jian Chenfeng suddenly asked.

“Yes.” Xu Qing nodded.

Jian Chenfeng narrowed his eyes, his expression darkening.

Jiang Donglin abruptly raised his head. “If you knew, why didn’t you tell us?”

If they had known, how could he possibly have ended up hurting Yumo?

Xu Qing jerked his chin toward the hospital bed. “Your little brother asked me to keep it secret.”

“What?” Jiang Donglin turned toward Shang Ke, confusion flashing through his eyes. “Why would he hide something this serious?”

“That, I don’t know.” Xu Qing turned and walked toward the door. “Arrange his surgery as soon as possible. The longer you delay, the more dangerous it’ll become.”

“Wait. I still have some questions.” Jiang Donglin followed Xu Qing out of the room.

That left only Jian Chenfeng and Shang Ke, who was still doing his best to work himself back into a sleepy mood.

Jian Chenfeng walked to the bedside and reached out to brush the hair away from Shang Ke’s forehead. Just then, Shang Ke’s eyelashes fluttered several times before his eyes slowly opened. He gave Jian Chenfeng a lazy smile.

In that instant, Jian Chenfeng felt as though everything before him had suddenly brightened, the heaviness in his chest vanishing like smoke.

“Jian Chenfeng, is Jian Xin all right?” Shang Ke asked.

Jian Chenfeng’s face immediately darkened. “She’s fine. Worry about yourself first.”

“What’s wrong with me?” Shang Ke sat up and touched the back of his head.

“Jiang Yumo, would you mind telling me why you kept participating in dangerous extreme sports when you knew perfectly well that you had a brain tumor?” Jian Chenfeng stared fixedly at him, barely suppressed anger in his voice.

Shang Ke replied with perfect righteousness, “I can’t give up my hobbies just because I’m sick.”

“Then why did you hide your condition?”

“Because if my family knew, they definitely wouldn’t let me keep doing extreme sports.” Shang Ke gave him a look that clearly said, Did you really need to ask?

“Very good.” Jian Chenfeng ground out through clenched teeth. “Since you understand that so well, then starting today, you really are forbidden from participating in any strenuous activity.”

“So bad!” Shang Ke looked as though life had lost all meaning.

Jian Chenfeng remained unmoved. He silently watched Shang Ke for a long while before suddenly asking, “Jiang Yumo, are you trying to die?”

He was completely serious, without the slightest trace of humor. After learning about his condition, Jiang Yumo had neither told his family nor cooperated with treatment. Instead, he had recklessly thrown himself into one dangerous extreme sport after another.

Wasn’t he obviously courting death?

Jian Chenfeng had always considered himself a fairly good judge of people, yet after spending so much time with Jiang Yumo, he had never seen the slightest sign that the man was weary of life. Jiang Yumo lived without financial worries and was thoroughly doted on. If anyone bullied him, his family would naturally step in to protect him.

With such an easy, fortunate life, what could possibly make him want to die?

“I’m living perfectly well. Why would I want to die?” Shang Ke said unconcernedly. “You’re overthinking it.”

“Is that so?” Jian Chenfeng said expressionlessly. “Then you’ll behave yourself from now on and stay put until the specialists work out a safe surgical plan.”

“My parents haven’t even said anything yet!” Shang Ke glared at him.

“What Chenfeng says goes for us too.”

Jiang Yumo’s parents entered the room with Jiang Donglin. Father Jiang glared sternly at his younger son. “You really think you’ve grown independent now, don’t you? You even dared hide something this serious from us!”

Mother Jiang took Shang Ke’s hand anxiously. “Yumo, how do you feel? Is anything hurting…?”

Seeing that Jiang Yumo’s family had arrived, Jian Chenfeng took the opportunity to excuse himself. Before leaving, he glanced back at Shang Ke, who was gently reassuring his parents, and his gaze darkened.

The mere thought that this person might one day disappear made it difficult for him to breathe. He had never experienced fear like this before.

He knew he was finished.

He could no longer deceive himself into believing that the violent pounding of his heart was nothing more than an illusion…

Two days later, Shang Ke was moved into Jian Chenfeng’s home.

That’s right. Jian Chenfeng’s home.

Shang Ke had no idea how the man had managed to persuade his parents, but somehow they had handed complete responsibility for supervising and caring for him over to Jian Chenfeng. Shang Ke wasn’t even given the opportunity to object before his parents practically packaged him up and delivered him to the man’s doorstep.

“Starting today, you’ll go to work with me during the day and sleep here with me at night. If you want to do anything outside of that, you need my permission first.” Jian Chenfeng laid down the rules.

“Jian Chenfeng, what exactly did you tell my parents? How did you get them to agree to let me live at your place?” Shang Ke still found the whole thing unbelievable.

Jian Chenfeng glanced at him. “I simply told them that my younger sister could help reform you.”

He even used his own sister as an excuse? And what did he mean by “reform” ? What exactly was so wicked about him?!

Still, it didn’t matter. He had already achieved his goal of worsening his condition. Now, as long as his surgery failed, he would have an opportunity to make his grand sacrifice.

The real difficulty was figuring out how to delay the surgery. According to the original plot, Jian Xin’s operation was supposed to take place a year later, but before it could happen, Jiang Yumo had dragged her off to “die for love” with him. Shang Ke wasn’t sure whether the heart transplant would still work out if his own surgery happened ahead of schedule.

“If living here means I’ll get to see Jian Xin more often, then I suppose I can reluctantly stay.” Shang Ke hugged a cushion and flopped onto the sofa.

Hearing him mention Jian Xin immediately put Jian Chenfeng in a bad mood.

“Jiang Yumo, Xin’er likes your older brother.” He needed to make this idiot face reality as soon as possible.

“That’s fine.” Shang Ke looked supremely confident. “I’ll make Jian Xin understand that I love her more than my brother does.”

“Jiang Yumo, what exactly do you find so attractive about my sister?” Jian Chenfeng asked in an unfriendly tone.

Could you not ask such a brain-melting question? How the hell was he supposed to know what Jiang Yumo found attractive about your sister?

Shang Ke racked his brain before finally coming up with an answer. “It’s just a feeling. You wouldn’t understand.”

Jian Chenfeng: “…”

He seriously wanted to strangle him.

What did he mean, you wouldn’t understand?

He fucking understood it all too well, okay?!

Jian Chenfeng decided he didn’t want to speak to him for the time being. Otherwise, he might not be able to stop himself from laying all his feelings out in the open.

After that, Shang Ke enjoyed a genuinely leisurely and comfortable stretch of life. He coasted through work, experimented with food after hours, played the piano in his spare time, went shopping…

As long as he ignored the certain man who stuck to him like a conjoined twin, life was actually quite wonderful.

As the date of his surgery gradually approached, Shang Ke began considering his next move.

However, before he could put any plan into motion, something went wrong on Jian Xin’s side first. Feeling guilty toward his younger brother, Jiang Donglin had kept Jian Xin at arm’s length and refused to officially enter a relationship with her. Jian Xin grew increasingly anxious, suffered several attacks, and her condition steadily worsened.

Seeing this, Jiang Donglin finally let go of his reservations and sincerely accepted Jian Xin’s feelings. He visited her in the hospital every day and cared for her attentively.

Even so, her condition remained far from optimistic.

“When does she need surgery?” Jian Chenfeng asked Jian Xin’s attending physician.

“Miss Jian’s attacks are becoming increasingly frequent. If possible, the operation should be performed within the next six months.”

“Have you found a compatible heart?”

“I was just about to speak to you about that.” The doctor flipped through the records. “Not long ago, a young man came in for compatibility testing. After he was confirmed as a match, he signed an organ donation agreement specifically designating his heart for Miss Jian.”

“He came in for compatibility testing on his own? Does he have some kind of terminal illness?”

“He said he had a brain tumor and at most two years left to live. At the time, I thought he would be an ideal donor. Two years later would have been roughly when Miss Jian was expected to need surgery. We simply didn’t anticipate her condition worsening so quickly, forcing us to move the operation forward.”

The doctor failed to notice the change in Jian Chenfeng’s expression and continued, “I’ll contact him later and see how his condition has progressed. If there still aren’t signs that his illness has significantly worsened, then I’m afraid we’ll have to look for another donor.”

“He has a brain tumor?” Jian Chenfeng fought to suppress the emotions churning inside him. “Give me his file.”

“All right.” The doctor handed over the file.

The hospital belonged to the Jian family, so Jian Chenfeng had access to its patient records.

Jian Chenfeng took the file.

The moment he looked down, the name written in the patient-information field leaped into his eyes:

Jiang Yumo.

The next second, he dropped the file and rushed madly back home.

The door flew open with a bang.

And Jian Chenfeng found Jiang Yumo doing a handstand against the wall!

At a time like this, he was still fucking doing handstands?!

Jian Chenfeng’s sudden appearance obviously startled him. Shang Ke tilted sideways and was about to crash to the floor when Jian Chenfeng rushed forward, caught him, then scooped him up in his arms and carried him to the sofa.

Jian Chenfeng sat on the coffee table and stared at him with a dark, menacing expression.

Shang Ke could tell something was wrong with his mood. “Did something happen with Jian Xin? I heard from my brother that her condition has worsened. Is it serious? When is she having surgery?”

“Jian Xin, Jian Xin—Jiang Yumo, is there anyone else in your heart besides Jian Xin?” Jian Chenfeng growled.

Shang Ke stared at him in confusion.

Why was he so angry?

The sight of Shang Ke’s deliberately calm expression only made Jian Chenfeng angrier. “Jiang Yumo, are you really willing to throw away your life for Jian Xin?”

He knew Jiang Yumo liked his sister, but he had never imagined that his feelings ran this deep.

“What are you talking about?”

“Why did you sign that organ donation agreement?” Jian Chenfeng demanded.

Shang Ke froze for a moment before smiling. “I have a brain tumor. No matter how high the surgery’s success rate is, there’s still a risk. If something happens to me during the operation, then at least Jian Xin could get another chance at life.”

“Don’t treat me like an idiot!” Jian Chenfeng finally exploded. “When your tumor was first discovered, your condition wasn’t serious. You could have had surgery immediately! But not only did you hide your illness and deliberately delay treatment, you kept putting yourself in danger too.”

His eyes burned with fury.

“Jiang Yumo, you fucking planned from the very beginning to trade your life for Jian Xin’s!”

Jian Chenfeng himself could barely make sense of what he had felt when he saw that organ donation agreement.

It wasn’t merely anger.

It was overwhelming jealousy.

He was jealous of his own sister—jealous that she had so effortlessly received the kind of profound devotion he himself desperately longed for but could not obtain.

Shang Ke was a little frightened by his expression and couldn’t understand why he was reacting so intensely.

Logically speaking, even if Jian Chenfeng discovered that Shang Ke intended to exchange his own life for his sister’s, shouldn’t he either be shocked or moved by such “selfless” devotion?

This almost crazed reaction was completely beyond Shang Ke’s expectations.

“Jiang Yumo, my sister doesn’t need you to exchange your life for hers!” Jian Chenfeng stared straight at him, emphasizing every word.

“Because your life belongs to me!”

Before Shang Ke could react, Jian Chenfeng leaned forward and pressed him down onto the sofa. Supporting the back of his head with one hand, he kissed him hard.

Shang Ke’s eyes flew wide open.

Something about this development is seriously wrong!

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