Chapter 6 (continued)

Pei Sheng looked at him again.

How would he ever have meddled in such a trivial matter under normal circumstances? And how could he possibly have used such a roundabout reason?

Pei Sheng did not know just how close he and Qin You were, so he asked, "This is an internal matter for the Qin Household. Would it be inconvenient?"

Yan Tingshen paused.

"Then let's leave it for now," he said.

Pei Sheng was about to say something else when a noisy series of footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

"Hey! Sir, you need an appointment to visit. Which patient are you looking for—"

"What? I need an appointment to see my own son? What a joke!"

Hearing the voice, Pei Sheng frowned and looked at Yan Tingshen again.

Just then, the door was shoved open.

The newcomer pointed at the hospital bed and said to the nurse, "This is the patient I'm here to visit. Go make the appointment."

The nurse instinctively looked at Yan Tingshen. "Well..."

Yan Tingshen nodded.

Only then did the nurse breathe a sigh of relief and turn to leave.

The newcomer sneered as he passed Pei Sheng in his wheelchair, his face full of disdain. "You're here too?"

Pei Sheng's expression remained unchanged. "Mr. Yan."

Yan Lihui ignored him and walked over to the bed.

Seeing the injuries on Yan Tingshen's neck and face and the arm suspended in front of his chest, he clicked his tongue. "Look at the state you're in. What a disgrace. And you kept it quiet without even telling your own father? If I hadn't gone to the company looking for you today and asked your grandfather when I couldn't find you, I still wouldn't know you were here. What, have the Yan Family's hospitals all shut down, so you have to stay at someone else's?"

Yan Tingshen got straight to the point. "What do you want?"

Yan Lihui's expression soured. Clearly displeased with his attitude, he dropped the pretense and stated his business.

"Transfer me five million."

Qin You had just reached the door to the ward when he heard those words.

Then came the target's voice. "Why?"

"A son giving his father money is only natural. What reason do I need?"

Qin You had intended to stay out of it.

Although the original owner's memories showed that the target's parents were indeed extremely difficult to deal with, this was still the target's family business. If an outsider like him got involved, things would only get more tangled.

[Host, this is your chance!] The system, however, grew excited. [From the original owner's memories, we know the target has always wanted to free himself from his parents. If you can help him do that, his favorability will definitely rise!]

Qin You turned around. [Favorability?]

He remembered the system mentioning a favorability mission.

The system said, [That's right, Host! If you unlock the main favorability mission, you won't have to do the time-limited emergency plan mission!]

Hearing that, Qin You immediately gestured to a nearby nurse.

Before entering, he confirmed one thing. [The target genuinely wants to free himself from his parents?]

The system checked the data again and was utterly certain. [A million percent genuine!]

Qin You walked into the ward.

Pei Sheng was facing the door and saw him first. "Young Mr. Qin?"

Qin You ignored him as before and continued toward the bed.

At the bedside, a middle-aged man with a face somewhat similar to the target's, but a vastly different physique, turned to look at him as well.

He openly looked Qin You up and down before turning back to Yan Tingshen, his tone somewhat impatient. "Five million isn't much. Do I really have to file a report with you over that little bit of money?"

A little bit of money?

Qin You looked at the man's figure, which had clearly never known hardship.

As Yan Tingshen's assistant, the target did not even earn that much in a year. Even if he had kept some personal assets after the Pei family's company went bankrupt, five million could not be a small sum to him now.

As he thought about it, he reached Yan Tingshen's bedside and faced Yan Lihui.

Yan Lihui frowned at him. "What are you doing?"

"Forget the report," Qin You said. "Why don't you write an IOU instead?"

Yan Lihui could hardly believe his ears. "An IOU? Are you crazy?"

Pei Sheng was taken aback too.

To Yan Lihui, being told to write an IOU for five million sounded more like an insult.

"Money has to be earned." Qin You looked back at Yan Tingshen. "A-Sheng has been so badly injured, and he's still working."

At that, he looked at Yan Lihui again. "Sir, do you know what that's called?"

Yan Lihui found him utterly unreasonable and blurted out, "What?"

"Disabled but determined. An admirable spirit."

Qin You's smile did not change. "Unlike some people, who are perfectly healthy but spend every day loafing around. Not working is one thing, but they even have the nerve to be parasites. People like that—"

Yan Lihui trembled all over with rage. "How dare you mock me?!"

Qin You raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, I underestimated you. Turns out you're quite self-aware."

Furious, Yan Lihui tried to get around him to look at Yan Tingshen. "You're just going to stand by and watch him insult me like this?!"

Qin You stepped halfway across to block his view and said with a smile, "This is my hospital, and A-Sheng is my patient. Here, I have the final say over everything concerning him."

Hearing this, Yan Tingshen looked at Qin You, something stirring in his eyes.

He had hardly ever seen someone's back in front of him like this, shielding him;

being protected like this was an almost entirely unfamiliar feeling too.

The last time he had experienced it, it had also been Qin You.

It was very strange.

Last time, he had not needed Qin You to take the knife for him; he could have escaped on his own. But Qin You had been injured for him without hesitation, sparing him worse injuries.

And this time, it was only five million. He did not need Qin You to stand up for him either, but if this "parasite theory" could drive Yan Lihui away, he was indeed happy to see it happen.

So, apart from saving his life, Qin You had genuinely helped him. More than once.

As the beneficiary, why should he turn a blind eye and simply keep hiding behind Qin You?

"What?" Qin You's words made Yan Lihui speak with a sneer. "You have the final say over everything concerning him? Who the hell do you think you are? You must have lost your mind, acting like you know no bounds. Did you ask him before saying that? If you can make his decisions for him, then that would really be—"

All of a sudden.

His mockery was cut short by five evenly spoken words.

"He's right about that."

Yan Lihui's open mouth had yet to close, his face full of astonishment.

Beside them, Pei Sheng also looked surprised.

He looked at Yan Tingshen, then turned to Qin You, his gaze moving between the two.

Although his own abilities could never hope to match Yan Tingshen's, he thought no one knew Yan Tingshen's character better than he did.

As far back as he could remember, Yan Tingshen had stood at the peak of a pyramid, someone all his peers had to look up to. As they grew older, that feeling had not diminished but instead grown stronger, becoming an impassable chasm.

That chasm seemed to exert a natural pressure, creating a shared understanding: whenever Yan Tingshen appeared in their circle, everyone instinctively followed his lead. He never made mistakes, and he was always the one in control of the bigger picture. It happened naturally.

By now, that shared understanding was no longer limited to their peers. After all, the Yan Family was different from the Qin Household; taking control of the company was not as simple as saying the word.

Growing up, Pei Sheng had long grown accustomed to seeing Yan Tingshen give orders.

He had never imagined that one day, this man would unconditionally accept someone else's arrangements.

Yan Tingshen had already closed his laptop.

In an even tone, he repeated, "Here, he has the final say over everything concerning me."

Qin You chuckled, turned to look at him, and winked his left eye as a gesture of acknowledgment.

The system said, [That's right! Host, just like that! Seduce him!]

"..." Qin You's smile faded as he looked back at Yan Lihui. "If you don't want to write an IOU, please leave."

Yan Lihui stood rigidly, taking several deep breaths to calm his anger. He glared viciously at Qin You. "Young Mr. Qin, is it? You've got some nerve! You've offended me today, and you'll pay for it later!"

He was already bankrupt. How much weight could his threats carry?

Qin You paid it no mind. "I look forward to it, then."

Yan Lihui's breathing grew heavier. He turned back to Yan Tingshen. "Forget the money for now. There's something else I came to see you about today."

A leisurely voice put an end to the conversation. "Sorry, my patient needs his rest."

"..." Yan Lihui slowly looked back at Qin You. If he had not seemed impossible to beat, Yan Lihui's clenched fist would already have landed on that face.

Just then, security personnel hurried in.

Seeing them, Yan Lihui did not persist. He sneered at Qin You, then shoved past the guards lined up there and left in a rage.

The security guards followed him, leaving a team of six bodyguards in black stationed at the door.

When Yan Tingshen looked over, Qin You said, "They're fine."

Yan Tingshen glanced at him.

Qin You had just run into trouble at the Qin Group, yet the first thing he did upon returning to the hospital was make arrangements for him.

"Thank you."

"You don't need to be so polite with me."

Qin You smiled. "If anyone bothers you again, come find me anytime."

"..."

Pei Sheng listened quietly to their conversation. At those words, he seemed to recall something and lowered his gaze.

He had thought he and Yan Tingshen were the same, both used to shouldering everything alone.

He had not expected that, so soon, Tingshen would already have a friend to share those burdens with, no longer needing to deal with the pressure alone.

What had just happened in the ward seemed familiar to him, though he could not say why.

If only he could have a friend like Qin You too...

Unfortunately.

There were no ifs in this world.

[It went up!] The system suddenly grew smug. [The target's favorability went up! See, Host? My suggestion worked!]

Qin You asked, [How much did it go up?]

The system opened the data panel. The numbers were clear.

9% → 10%

It had risen by one point.

Qin You asked it, [Is that enough?]

[...No.] The system's smugness had already vanished, and it muttered quietly, [That's not right. His favorability increased, and ten percent is already hard to come by at this early stage, so why didn't it activate the mission? Unless... the target's favorability toward the host dropped during that time. But how could that be? You two clearly had such a good conversation this morning...]