Chapter 03#
Sorry for the Trouble#
When Li Xingyun’s face turned pale and he strode back, the first thing he saw was blood.
Stabbing blood.
Bright red.
Ji Landong was still sitting. When he saw Li Xingyun, he greeted him politely and asked him for a cigarette.
Li Xingyun could not move and dared not move.
His pupils contracted, cold sweat seeped out, and his voice was hoarse due to excessive tension: “…Okay, Ge, what cigarette do you want? I’ll take you to buy it.”
Ji Landong didn’t smoke or drink in the past.
In Li Xingyun’s memory, Ji Landong was extremely ambitious and strict with himself. Smoking hurts the throat and drinking ruins the complexion; Ji Landong didn’t touch such things.
Now Ji Landong sat on the ground, looking up and asking him for a cigarette: “Chuncheng, right?”
Li Xingyun nodded randomly: “Okay.”
He knelt down, tried his best not to disturb Ji Landong, forced his stiff fingers to bend, and held Ji Landong’s arm.
Ji Landong was helped up by him.
His right hand hung down, swaying, and blood dripped from his fingertips.
The broken glass was completely pressed into his left chest. Because he was so thin, one could even see the glass pulsating with the heartbeat under the blood-stained pale skin.
Li Xingyun’s hands were cold and trembling. He tried his best to steady his movements, took off his cotton T-shirt, crumpled it into a ball, blocked Ji Landong’s wound, and called an ambulance.
He helped Ji Landong onto the motorcycle. There was no signal here, so he had to rush to a crossroad with positioning.
Ji Landong couldn’t sit steadily, his head and limbs sliding down. Li Xingyun could only use a restraint strap to tie the person to his back: “Ge, don’t sleep, Ge, let’s go buy cigarettes.”
This damn place was remote, full of desolate weeds, and there was only a dilapidated dirt road.
Li Xingyun twisted the throttle to the limit, and the motorcycle roared and sped out, dust flying, no one in sight.
Ji Landong leaned quietly on his back, his breathing cold and weak, intermittent, brushing past Li Xingyun’s neck.
“Thank you.” Ji Landong asked, “What’s your name?”
Li Xingyun’s hands gripping the handlebars turned blue and white.
After a few seconds, he replied: “Li Yang.”
Ji Landong smiled.
Li Xingyun tried his best to block the wind for him and tried to ask softly: “Is this name funny?”
Ji Landong didn’t answer again. At the next turn, the body on his back tilted. Li Xingyun saw the ambulance. The motorcycle braked sharply and piercingly. He unfastened the restraint strap and stumbled off the bike to hold the person. The body in his arms was so thin that it felt light.
Ji Landong was very quiet, his lips pale and dry, his slightly open eyes looking past him directly at the blazing sun.
The emergency personnel rushed over to run an ECG and were busy with emergency treatment amidst the alarms. Li Xingyun stood blankly to one side, tinnitus swallowing all the noise, his vision turning white, his hands and body covered in blood.
His blood and Ji Landong’s blood.
In that so-called “office”, Li Xingyun learned how troublesome it was to deal with things that could not be solved with money. Being a young master, he could fight; anyway, if he lost and suffered, someone would cover for him. Ji Landong had gone to the police station to bail Li Xingyun out more than once, flicking his forehead half-headached and half-amused.
Being President Li was no longer possible. Liyang Media had just started not long ago. Provoking people was a dead end. Li Xingyun chose the easiest way and picked up a knife and stabbed his arm.
The cold reality hitting his face made the young master Li, who had never suffered, remember the heaven-defying ambitions of that year.
Li Xingyun remembered it was midnight.
The sky was full of stars, and there were crickets chirping in the weeds by the roadside.
Ji Landong was fully armed with sunglasses and a mask, without even an assistant, and went to the police station to bail him out.
The young master Li, whose forehead was flicked, complained indignantly: “They bullied people first! I was acting bravely for a just cause. Ge, do you know how cool it is to act bravely…”
“I don’t know.” Ji Landong pressed a boiled egg against the bruise on his face. “Do you know that the company is going to fine me millions tomorrow?”
Ji Landong debuted early. The strange thing is that although he was born in this circle, he seemed to have received no dividends at all. The contract was incredibly harsh.
A well-known male star appeared in the police station late at night.
Given the degree to which Ji Landong was besieged by paparazzi, millions of public relations fees were indispensable.
It was impossible for the company to pay, and it would still be deducted from Movie King Ji’s account.
Li Xingyun got angry when he thought about this: “Ge, wait until I open a management company in the future, I will only sign you and take good care of you.”
“I will support you in the future, Ge. I won’t let you be wronged. Even if the Heavenly King comes, don’t think about bullying you.”
Ji Landong rarely expressed opinions on his “grand wishes”, nodded in cooperation, and continued to drive.
Li Xingyun got excited and held his arm without letting go: “Ge, give it a name, give it a name, it counts as our post-marital property.”
Ji Landong was bothered by him and had no choice but to stop the car on the side of the road and flick his ear: “Nonsense.”
Where did the post-marital property come from? There are no relevant laws in the country.
Li Xingyun didn’t care: “There are abroad, let’s go get married, Ge, I want to be a family with you.”
After saying this, Li Xingyun saw Ji Landong freeze.
Ji Landong rarely freezes.
Entering the industry at the age of thirteen, he was a senior in this circle in his early twenties. Laden with honors, Ji Landong had long lost his childishness and innocence. He had also long been working hard on a more steady and mature track when accepting roles.
That night, Ji Landong looked at Li Xingyun, did not speak, just looked.
He probably looked for a long time, so long that the young master Li was dissatisfied and clamored for a kiss.
Ji Landong was teased into lowering his head and smiling. At that moment, there was a rare refreshing boyish air. Li Xingyun unfastened his seat belt and comfortably climbed into Ji Landong’s arms to snuggle. Ji Landong kissed him gently. Their car was parked on the side of the road, and the night breeze was very cool.
Ji Landong held him very tightly.
…Li Xingyun’s vision was empty. He sat in the back carriage of the ambulance and was called several times before he regained his senses.
He spoke hoarsely: “…Sorry.”
The emergency personnel were bandaging Ji Landong’s right arm.
Holding the bandage, they didn’t know how to start, because the person involved was obviously looking for a large blood vessel, and the broken glass had almost cut the flesh.
“Does the patient have suicidal tendencies?” The doctor behind the mask was worried and frowned. “This kind of thing will not be rare. You, as a family member, should be careful in your care.”
Li Xingyun moved his gaze from his tightly clenched hands upward to look at the unconscious Ji Landong.
The ventilator hummed and made noise. The dense pipelines connected the person and the machine. Life became data and lines, struggling weakly in the gray-white screen.
The doctor reminded: “You can talk.”
Li Xingyun thanked him and nodded with difficulty.
In the narrow and shaking space, he knelt down, hugged Ji Landong’s shoulder, and buried his burning eyes in the cooling neck.
“Ge.” Li Xingyun said, “I was throwing a tantrum with you.”
He explained with extreme difficulty and to no avail: “I… didn’t sign Ji Ran.”
Liyang Media.
The company he promised to open for Ji Landong alone.
The company he patted his chest and guaranteed to take good care of for Ji Landong. Li Xingyun still remembered that he said he would give Ji Landong nine months of vacation a year. The company’s performance standard was whether Movie King Ji was happy. As long as Movie King Ji was in a good mood, the whole staff would get bonuses and eat big meals…
That road home was very long. Later, Li Xingyun thought about it repeatedly, calculated it many times, and walked it many times himself, and finally realized that Ji Landong took a detour that night.
Ji Landong took a detour, patiently listening to the little young master Li’s bragging, and his eyes in the rearview mirror were slightly curved.
It took Li Xingyun a long time to finally realize one thing.
Ji Landong was in a very good mood that night.
…
The ambulance rushed into the hospital in a hurry.
The emergency personnel carried the stretcher and rushed to the emergency room. There were people everywhere, very crowded. Li Xingyun couldn’t hold that hand. In the chaotic vision, Ji Landong’s arm hung down.
The light in the operating room was on for several hours, and finally went out, and the person was sent to the ICU without stopping.
ICU, Intensive Care Unit.
Rescue, consultation, transfer, and transfer again.
The drops of sedative liquid dripped into the blood vessels one by one, and the flesh barely grew together, leaving new scars.
Ji Landong woke up more than ten days later.
What caught his eye was not a ward, but a very warmly decorated bedroom. The curtains were tightly drawn, and the light from the warm-toned fabric desk lamp was dim.
A figure curled up in the corner of the room, hugging his knees and dozing off. The posture did not look comfortable.
Hearing a movement, the figure immediately jumped up and walked towards the bed urgently.
Ji Landong thought for a while: “President Li?”
The figure paused.
The system was also shocked: “You recognize him again?”
Ji Landong hadn’t seen the mushroom for a long time. He missed it a bit and greeted it.
By the way, he explained: “This is President Li’s home.”
Ji Landong has a very good memory. He visited here once to get back the things he had given to Li Xingyun in the past.
By the way, he saw Ji Ran in the bedroom.
The system was stunned for a moment and looked at the pale Li Xingyun.
“I…” Li Xingyun said hoarsely, “I have nothing to do with Ji Ran.”
The system testified: “Indeed.”
The reason why Ji Ran appeared in the bedroom that day was because he had a depressive episode and ran out in the middle of the night to drink a lot of wine. He couldn’t be left for the paparazzi to surround and photograph him.
Li Xingyun had no choice but to bring him back.
Nothing happened.
In ten days, Li Xingyun was extremely haggard, his eyes were full of bloodshot, his hair had faded a bit, and his shirt collar was crumpled into a ball.
His lips were dry and cracked, and blood would ooze out as soon as he spoke. His voice was hoarse: “Ge, believe me… please.”
Ji Landong didn’t quite understand, but he still agreed: “Okay.”
Li Xingyun was shocked. He didn’t expect it to be so easy, but instead, a strong sense of unease arose: “Ge?”
“Did you help me?” Ji Landong propped up his body and thanked him, “Sorry for the trouble.”
Li Xingyun knelt by the bed, his chest undulating, looking up at him, his eyes full of fear and unease.
Ji Landong looked at him for a while and smiled.
“It’s okay.” Ji Landong said, “Let’s part ways on good terms. You can be with whoever you want, and I don’t hate Ji Ran that much.”
This statement is questionable. After all, in the plot obtained by the system, Ji Landong is the culprit behind Ji Ran’s depression.
For more than twenty years, Ji Ran has lived in the shadow of Ji Landong, suppressed and desperate, and unable to escape.
Li Xingyun couldn’t breathe and could only shake his head desperately.
“Ji Ran lied, didn’t he? Ge, I bet he must have lied.”
“You are not someone who would drive others crazy.”
“I figured it out, Ge. I’m stupid. I was incited. It took me so long to figure it out.”
“I shouldn’t have favored an outsider. I’m a bastard. Ge, I actually didn’t help you but favored an outsider. To hell with Ji Ran, what do I have to do with him?”
“I know you’re angry with me. Forgive me one more time, okay?”
He grabbed Ji Landong’s hand, trembling and afraid to let go, the blood color in his eyes could not be suppressed: “We didn’t part ways on good terms, Ge, we haven’t parted. I didn’t want to break up.”
Fear and despair showed in Li Xingyun’s eyes.
Because of Ji Landong’s hand.
Ji Landong raised his hand and rubbed his messy, dull red hair twice. The strength was very light. Gauze could be seen through the cuffs.
“Not angry.” Ji Landong’s tone was very gentle, “It’s my problem. I’m sick.”
Ji Landong had actually thought about it for a long time, how to straighten out those twisted and misplaced chaotic entanglements. Later, he would occasionally have hallucinations, seeing his stepfather, mother and Ji Ran.
He sometimes felt that Ji Ran was also a mushroom, with two hands pouring poisonous juice into it, raising colorful and variegated colors.
At the age of seventeen, he took the money saved in the studio to take Ji Ran to see a psychiatrist.
The matter was exposed by paparazzi, and the stepfather and mother rushed to the hospital.
In front of the doctor, Ji Ran was timid, looking at his cold-faced father and his tearful mother. He said that the former would be locked in solitary confinement when he went home, and for the latter, he had to face his mother’s heartbroken and desperate accusations.
Finally, Ji Landong crossed his arms and heard the voice inside outside the clinic.
Ji Ran said: “I suffer because… because of my brother.”