Chapter 18: My Heart Beats For You (IX)

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Chapter 18: My Heart Beats For You (IX)

Seeing the desolate look on Shang Ke’s face, Jian Chenfeng wondered whether he had been pushing him too hard. But if he didn’t push, this guy might never understand his feelings, much less accept them.

“Yumo.” Jian Chenfeng took the cup from his hands and leaned down to kiss him. The moment he felt Shang Ke pull back, he immediately cupped the back of his head and domineeringly deepened the kiss, only releasing him when Shang Ke was almost out of breath.

Jian Chenfeng gazed into his misty eyes and said softly, “Let me take care of you. Let me love you properly.”

Stop tempting me with this kind of tenderness! What am I supposed to do if I lose control and actually say yes?!

Shang Ke yanked a pillow out from behind himself and shoved it between them, cutting himself off from the wicked source of temptation that might make his defenses collapse.

Jian Chenfeng didn’t press him any further. Straightening, he asked, “You’re being discharged tomorrow. Your parents are coming to pick you up, right?”

“Mm.” Shang Ke hugged the pillow and nodded.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go to your family home with you for a meal first. After that, I’ll bring you home—to our home.” Jian Chenfeng’s tone left no room for argument.

“I’ve recovered. I don’t need to keep living with you.”

“I’ll give you two choices. One: we come out tomorrow, and then you come home with me. Two: you come home with me first, and we wait for the right time to come out.”

Shang Ke snapped, “You call that a choice? There’s no actual choice at all!”

“Of course there is. You get to decide when we come out.”

Shang Ke: “…”

Hehe. How very reasonable of you.

That evening, Jian Chenfeng had something urgent to deal with and didn’t stay at the hospital. Shang Ke entertained himself by lying in bed and watching television.

Just then, the door was abruptly pushed open, and Jian Xin walked in.

“Jian Xin?” Shang Ke asked in surprise. “Why are you here?”

He quickly got out of bed, intending to help her.

Jian Xin took a step back and stared at him with red, swollen eyes. “Did you say something to Donglin?”

“Hm?” Shang Ke had no idea what she meant.

“He doesn’t want me anymore. He said he wanted to step aside for you.” Jian Xin covered her face and began to cry.

“Hey, don’t cry.” Shang Ke tried to comfort her. “My brother really loves you. He isn’t going to abandon you.”

Jian Xin raised her head, anger burning in her eyes. “Jiang Yumo, what’s so great about you? Why are both my brother and Donglin always taking your side?”

“They care about you just as much as I do,” Shang Ke continued patiently. “Everyone is worried about you.”

“Worried about me?” Jian Xin sneered. “My brother spends more time with you than he does with me, and Donglin gave me up because of you. You call that caring about me? When you had a brain tumor, of course they should have worried about you. But your surgery has already succeeded. Why are you still taking away things that should belong to me?”

“I’m sorry. I never expected any of this to hurt you.”

“You never expected it? Since when has Second Young Master Jiang ever cared about anyone else’s feelings?” Jian Xin demanded angrily. “Jiang Yumo, listen to me. I will never like a hypocritical bastard like you! No matter what lies you make up, don’t even think about separating Donglin and me.”

With that, Jian Xin turned and walked out of the hospital room.

Worried that something might happen to her, Shang Ke hurried after her. As for what she had just said, he didn’t take it to heart.

In this world, only people he truly cared about had the power to hurt him.

The two rounded the corner one after the other and happened to run into Jiang Donglin, who had come to bring Shang Ke something.

The moment Jiang Donglin saw Jian Xin and Jiang Yumo together, he instinctively stepped back into the elevator and closed the doors.

“Donglin!”

Jian Xin rushed forward and repeatedly pressed the elevator button, but she couldn’t stop it from descending.

Shang Ke genuinely wanted to kneel before Big Brother Jiang.

Why do you have to be so melodramatic over a relationship? Is there really nothing you two can sit down and talk through? Now you’re even playing this ridiculous game of you chase, I hide.

Then Shang Ke saw Jian Xin rush into the stairwell and immediately chased after her.

The moment Jian Xin reached the ground floor, she saw a familiar car driving past.

She chased after it, shouting, “Donglin! Donglin!”

“Jian Xin, stop! It’s dangerous!”

Jian Xin was moving astonishingly fast, and Shang Ke was actually unable to stop her in time.

As he watched her run out of the hospital and onto the road, a strange premonition rose in Shang Ke’s heart.

The opportunity to complete the additional mission is about to arrive.

Jiang Donglin seemed to spot Jian Xin in his rearview mirror. He immediately slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the roadside.

He opened the car door and was about to go back for Jian Xin when he saw a truck speeding toward her from behind.

“Jian Xin!”

Jiang Donglin and Shang Ke shouted at the same time.

But Jiang Donglin had only taken one step when Shang Ke threw himself forward without hesitation and wrapped his arms around Jian Xin.

There was a deafening bang.

Shang Ke felt his body launch into the air. Before they hit the ground, he instinctively curled himself around Jian Xin, taking the brunt of the impact.

Jian Chenfeng had finished his work early, intending to stay at the hospital with Yumo that night.

But when he arrived, what awaited him was a nightmare.

He watched helplessly as Yumo and his younger sister were struck by a truck and sent flying. They rolled a long distance across the road before finally slamming into the median barrier.

At that moment, Jian Chenfeng felt as though his heart had stopped beating.

Shang Ke suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining Jian Xin’s hair and clothes red.

Jian Xin was completely stunned. Her entire body was rigid as she lay curled in Shang Ke’s arms, her throat dry and unable to produce a single sound.

As she stared at Jiang Yumo with blood covering his mouth, her vision slowly blurred and tears began streaming uncontrollably down her face.

Jian Xin had always thought Jiang Yumo was nothing more than a frivolous rich second-generation heir whose only redeeming feature was his face. His pursuit of her had annoyed her endlessly.

But she had never imagined that this man would throw himself forward without any regard for his own life to protect her.

Even Jiang Donglin had hesitated for a moment.

Jiang Yumo had not.

“Jian Xin… are you all right?” Shang Ke asked weakly.

His entire body was covered in blood. One arm was broken, and his right leg was twisted at an unnatural angle, leaving him unable to move.

He was injured this badly, and he was still asking if she was all right?!

Protected within Jiang Yumo’s arms, Jian Xin had suffered only a few scrapes. He had taken almost the entire force of the collision for her.

That devotion, that sacrifice, finally made Jian Xin break down and sob.

“Yumo! Jian Xin!”

Jian Chenfeng and Jiang Donglin rushed to their side one after the other, both visibly terrified.

“Brother, I’m fine. Hurry… hurry and save Jiang Yumo.” Jian Xin could barely speak through her sobs.

Jian Chenfeng reached out to lift Jian Xin off Shang Ke, but the moment he tried to move her, Shang Ke coughed up another mouthful of blood.

“Don’t move me yet,” Shang Ke said weakly, lying on his side. “Let the medical staff handle it.”

Jian Chenfeng withdrew his hands and stared at Shang Ke with bloodshot eyes.

Blood streamed from the right side of Shang Ke’s forehead, running past his eye and staining nearly half his face red. His eyes were half-lidded, yet the warmth in them was the same as ever. The corners of his lips curved faintly upward, that slight smile emerging amid all the blood with an indescribable beauty.

Jian Chenfeng couldn’t understand how he could still smile.

It was as though no matter whether he faced life or death, Shang Ke could accept it calmly and without regret.

That openness and freedom moved Jian Chenfeng deeply—and hurt him just as much.

Was there really nothing in this world he couldn’t bear to leave behind?

Just then, doctors and nurses rushed out from the hospital. After administering emergency first aid, they carefully transferred Shang Ke and Jian Xin onto separate stretchers.

“Spinal fracture, multiple fractures throughout the body… His condition is critical. He needs emergency treatment immediately!”

“Hm? What’s this?”

Shang Ke’s shirt was pulled open, exposing his blood-soaked chest.

There, faintly visible across the blood on the right side of his chest, was the image of a flower in full bloom. It blazed like fire, brilliant and dazzling, drawing startled exclamations from everyone nearby.

Jian Chenfeng’s breath caught, and his heart clenched sharply.

It felt as though something deep within his soul had just been touched.

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