Chapter 11

Yan Tingshen stiffened all over, and the hand resting on Qin You's shoulder and neck tightened involuntarily. "Put me down!"

Qin You held him against his chest and looked down at him. "Don't move," he said in a low voice.

Meeting a gaze utterly unlike his usual one, Yan Tingshen looked away. "I can walk."

Qin You asked only, "Do you really want to end up crippled?"

Yan Tingshen said, "I—"

Qin You cut him off. "Enough. Stop wasting time."

His tone left no room for argument.

Yan Tingshen looked at him for a long time.

Gradually, his clenched hand relaxed.

Chapter 11

...Can you still move?

The voice by his ear was calm and steady. It felt faintly familiar, but he couldn't remember whose it was.

The slightly warm hands that fell on him were steady and strong, finally bringing him a trace of warmth amid the cold that felt like ice and snow.

Pei Sheng struggled to open his eyes.

But his frozen body couldn't move, and the spot on his back where he had been struck hurt so badly it pierced his heart. He was on the verge of losing consciousness, and his leaden eyelids no longer obeyed him.

He felt the person beside him take on his full weight. Those arms held him firmly, confining him like shackles, yet making him feel deeply reassured.

Is it... Tingshen?

He didn't know how much time had passed before a conversation jolted Pei Sheng out of his daze.

"...Take him back first... pick me up... quickly..."

Lights flickered all around him.

Pei Sheng lay weakly on a stretcher, his breathing faint and shallow.

Amid the swirling, howling snow, a chaotic buzzing filled his ears. He used the last of his strength to look toward the voice.

Is it... him?

Complete darkness swept over his mind.

Pei Sheng lost consciousness entirely.

When he woke again, the biting wind was gone, and his body had warmed up a little. Only his head was terribly dizzy.

Pei Sheng opened his eyes and had barely moved when a sharp pain spread across his back. He frowned and coughed twice, his throat hurting as though it had been cut with a knife.

"Awake?"

Pei Sheng turned and saw Cui Ling. He opened his mouth.

"If you're too weak, don't talk."

Cui Ling told him, "You had a high fever. The doctor said it was a good thing Young Mr. Qin got you out in time. Otherwise, injured and unconscious as you were, you might have died if you'd developed hypothermia."

At the mention of Qin You's name, Pei Sheng pressed his lips together.

He hadn't seen wrong. It really had been Qin You who saved him.

By that reckoning, he owed Qin You his life twice over.

Seeing him fall silent, Cui Ling also looked out the aircraft window and said no more.

Fortunately, the young master had been foresighted this time, so he had been able to get Pei Sheng out before the organizers began their rescue. But as for Young Mr. Qin...

"Yan..." Pei Sheng managed a single word before coughing hard twice.

He was still wearing Yan Tingshen's coat.

At the banquet, the accident had come without warning. The falling icicles had sent snowmelt splashing over him, soaking him through in an instant. If Tingshen hadn't given him this coat to keep some warmth in, he might not even have retained that last shred of consciousness.

Now Qin You had rescued him, but what about Tingshen? And how was Qin You himself?

Cui Ling sat beside him, clutching a phone with a call still connected. His manner was somewhat cool. "Don't worry. Young Mr. Qin has already gone to rescue President Yan."

Qin You had left in such a hurry, going back the way he had come. Clearly, he had been anxious to save the man he loved.

He just hadn't expected the young master to be so kindhearted. Even though he normally couldn't be bothered to spare Pei Sheng a glance, he had disregarded his own health and risked danger to rescue him anyway.

Given Qin You's personality, he had thought he would save only Yan Tingshen.

Still, when he thought about how the wound on the young master's arm hadn't healed and would now be aggravated again, Cui Ling found it hard to be cordial to Pei Sheng.

Every time he ran into these two, there was either a car accident or a building collapse.

The young master was flesh and blood too. How could he withstand that kind of ordeal?

Most importantly, he kept getting hurt and having to recover. When would Young Mr. Qin ever get down to business?

"...They're out, they're out!"

The excited voice of a rescuer came through his earpiece. Cui Ling hurriedly asked, "How are they?"

Knowing Pei Sheng was listening too, he connected the call to his earpiece as well.

"Mr. Qin is fine. The person he rescued is conscious too, though he seems to be injured—"

Hearing this, Pei Sheng's breathing tightened slightly.

Tingshen is hurt?

"—Mr. Qin carried him out."

Cui Ling froze.

Pei Sheng was stunned as well.

"Carried him out?" Cui Ling blurted.

"Yes, yes, yes!" The person on the other end was running, and his voice was breathless as he spoke again.

Cui Ling wanted to ask more, but the other man clearly had no time to talk and had already hung up.

Listening to the beeping in his earpiece, Cui Ling instinctively looked at Pei Sheng. Seeing his face reminded him of his direct superior.

That President Yan who kept strangers at a distance.

Wait...

He was conscious?

And carried out?

Yan Tingshen?

This...

He rescued the wrong person, didn't he?

Meanwhile.

At the other end of the disconnected call.

"Mr. Qin, this way!" The rescue team jogged over to Qin You together.

Qin You was about to go over when the man in his arms suddenly struggled.

"Put me down."

Qin You looked down at Yan Tingshen.

"I'm fine," Yan Tingshen said.

Qin You glanced in the direction of the approaching men, then looked at him again. "Are you sure?"

Yan Tingshen nodded. "Yes."

Qin You bent down and set him on his feet.

Yan Tingshen had barely steadied himself when he heard a remark beside him.

"Too proud to admit it, and suffering for it."

Yan Tingshen paused and turned to meet those eyes, which seemed to be smiling. Then he looked away again.

Qin You turned to the arriving rescuers, took a down jacket from one of them, and draped it over Yan Tingshen's shoulders. Then he gestured toward the wheelchair. "Sit."

A faint crease appeared between Yan Tingshen's brows. "No need."

Qin You raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

Yan Tingshen glanced at him. Hearing that the question was different from the one he'd asked earlier, he paused again, then slowly sat down.

His gaze dropped, and Yan Tingshen's eyes suddenly narrowed. Frowning, he seized Qin You's bleeding left hand.

Qin You glanced down too. "The wound reopened. It's nothing."

Yan Tingshen's frown deepened. "Nothing? A stitched wound reopening could lead to an infection. How is that nothing?"

Qin You looked at him. "Since you know how serious it is, don't struggle next time."

At that, Yan Tingshen's fingers tightened before he flung Qin You's wrist away.

Qin You chuckled, put on a down jacket, and pushed the wheelchair toward the helicopter.

Only after the doctor had finished a brief examination of Yan Tingshen on the helicopter did Qin You tap his earpiece and ask seriously, "Back at the venue, you knew perfectly well I was there. Why didn't you say anything?"

Yan Tingshen was silent for a moment.

Inside the venue, he had indeed heard Qin You searching for him in the darkness, heedless of the danger to his own life.

He had been about to answer, but a suddenly falling icicle had interrupted him, injuring Pei Sheng a second time.

He had also heard Qin You mistake Pei Sheng, who was groaning in pain, for him.

And the very second before the two left, he had heard Qin You's footsteps stop and sensed that unseen gaze.

Yan Tingshen lowered his eyes.

After spending several days together, he knew Qin You's temperament well.

Qin You was more concerned about his injuries than he was. If Qin You had seen him first, he would certainly have put Pei Sheng down and chosen to save him.

But Pei Sheng had been injured because he had helped shield Yan Tingshen from the snowmelt. An icicle had struck his back, and he had nearly lost consciousness on the spot. Even with a thin coat barely covering him, he couldn't have held out much longer, much less left on his own.

Yan Tingshen, on the other hand, had only been grazed by an icicle. As long as the venue didn't collapse any further, he would naturally be able to leave after some time to recover.

It hadn't surprised him that Qin You came back, either.

Though he had returned sooner than Yan Tingshen expected.

"Speak."

Yan Tingshen looked at Qin You and said mildly, "I wasn't hurt. It wasn't as serious as you thought."

Qin You said, "Now that you've gotten out safely, of course the consequences aren't serious. But did you think about what you would have done if that wooden building, which was on the verge of collapse, had come down again after I left?"

Yan Tingshen said nothing.

Qin You looked at him. "You weren't hurt, but you're more important to me. If you asked, I could come back to rescue him, but only after you were safe. Do you understand?"

Yan Tingshen met his gaze.

There was an unusual solemnity in the eyes before him now.

On the noisy helicopter, that gaze conveyed Qin You's feelings more clearly than the words in his ear.

Qin You said, "Besides, you're still a patient yourself. If you have the energy to worry about someone else, you'd be better off taking care of yourself."

It was understandable that the target valued Yan Tingshen. After all, the two had been childhood sweethearts.

But for the sake of the mission, he had to do his best to turn the situation around. Otherwise, if the same thing happened on another mission, rescuing the wrong person would be a minor matter. If the mission failed or something actually happened to the target, he feared it would be hard to set things right.

As for Yan Tingshen, since he wasn't in the original story, he could live perfectly well without him. Lying in a broken-down building a little longer wouldn't kill him.

[Oh, right! Host, that's it, show him some concern!]

"..." Qin You glanced at Yan Tingshen again, leaned back against the cabin wall, and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep.

Yan Tingshen looked at the wound that medical staff on either side of Qin You were treating urgently.

It had indeed reopened. Streaks of blood had wound down his forearm and dripped onto the floor, a glaring red.

Looking again at Qin You's face, now that his eyes were closed and his smile was gone, Yan Tingshen lowered his gaze. "Mm."

The low voice coming through the earpiece was mixed with static and barely audible.

Qin You's eyelids shifted slightly, and the corners of his lips lifted before quickly flattening again.