A Brother at Last

Qi Wang still had matters to handle at the company. After watching Qi Si finish eating and cleaning up the trash, he left the hospital.

Before leaving, he reminded Qi Si, "Stay put in the hospital. I'll come pick you up after work."

Qi Si frowned. "I'm fine already. I can go home by myself."

Qi Wang stared at him with a cold expression. "Take one step out of this hospital and I'll break your legs."

Qi Si: "..."

Wait, hold on! Was the original owner's brother really this brutal?

Why did he remember Qi Wang being the type to grant Qi Si's every request in the original story?

How could there possibly be a plotline about breaking his legs?

Seeing Qi Si's frightened expression, Qi Wang turned and left the ward in satisfaction.

In the elevator, Qi Wang asked the assistant beside him, "Was I too harsh on A Si just now? I didn't scare him, did I?"

The assistant immediately replied, "Probably not? Besides, this is good. It'll keep the young master from running off again without regard for his health."

Qi Wang found that reasonable as well.

"Mm. Arrange for someone to watch him. Tell me immediately if anything happens."

"Yes, Chairman Qi."

After Qi Wang left, Qi Si instantly slumped.

His shoulders drooped as he fell back onto the hospital bed behind him.

Naturally, the young master was staying in a private VIP ward, with no other patients to disturb his rest.

Lying on the bed, Qi Si considered his current situation.

The original owner's tragedy had begun after he targeted the female lead for Lin Weiwei's sake.

Judging by the timeline in the book, the plot should have already reached the point where he had targeted Shen Shuyu for Lin Weiwei.

In other words, he had already offended the male lead, Bo Fuyu.

But after carefully going through the original owner's memories in his mind, Qi Si discovered discrepancies between those memories and the contents of the book.

In the book, Qi Si and Bo Fuyu had almost no private interactions. Qi Si basically targeted Shen Shuyu for Lin Weiwei's sake, and then Bo Fuyu had someone teach Qi Si a lesson.

A situation like yesterday, where Qi Si and Bo Fuyu drank together in the same private room at a club, simply did not exist.

Also, aside from the conflicts involving Shen Shuyu and Lin Weiwei, the book never mentioned any other connection between Qi Si and the male lead, Bo Fuyu.

Yet in the original owner's memories, his connection with Bo Fuyu and Shen Shuyu dated back to their school days.

According to those memories, he, Bo Fuyu, and Shen Shuyu had been high school classmates.

However, because Qi Si had been frail and sickly in high school, he rarely attended classes.

As a result, he was not particularly familiar with Bo Fuyu.

They only knew each other and had exchanged a few words. Their families also had some business dealings.

Following that line of memory, there was no way the original owner would go to the point of fighting Shen Shuyu and Bo Fuyu to the death over a Lin Weiwei.

Even if he did not consider himself, he should have considered the business dealings between their families. At the very least, he would not have gone that far.

"This isn't right!" No matter how Qi Si thought about it, something felt off.

Either there was something wrong with the original owner's memories!

Or the book in his head was pirated!

Qi Si closed his eyes and tried to uncover more memories about this body.

Yet he could see nothing. Instead, thinking about it made his head throb with pain.

Qi Si rubbed his aching head and decided to stop thinking.

"Forget it. Whatever. The one who liked Lin Weiwei was the original owner, not me."

Wouldn't it be enough if he simply did not provoke those three people?

With that thought, Qi Si decided to give up and coast.

Qi Si lay in the hospital for an entire day.

Whenever he tried to think, his head hurt.

Eventually, he did not know whether the pain had knocked him out or whether he had simply fallen asleep.

When he woke again, it was already five in the afternoon.

Outside the window, the setting sun was as red as blood, staining half the sky crimson.

Qi Si had just woken up and his mind was still muddled. He stared blankly at the sunset outside the window.

When Qi Wang pushed open the door and entered, he saw Qi Si lying on the hospital bed, gazing emptily out the window.

Like an exquisite, beautiful doll without a soul.

Qi Wang's heart jolted, and he hurried forward two steps.

"Dun Dun!"

"Hm?" Qi Si instinctively turned toward the door.

Once he came back to himself, Qi Si froze too.

He stared suspiciously at Qi Wang as he entered.

"Brother, what... did you call me?"

After receiving Qi Si's response, Qi Wang let out a breath of relief.

For that brief instant, he had vaguely felt that the person lying on the bed would disappear before his eyes the very next second.

He had even absurdly felt that the person before him was merely an illusion.

That he had never existed at all.

That was why, in his panic, he had called out Qi Si's childhood nickname.

As though he wanted to prove something.

Fortunately, he had received the response he wanted.

"Sorry, A Si. I was a little distracted just now. I know you don't like me calling you that. I won't get it wrong next time." Qi Wang looked at Qi Si and apologized sincerely.

"Oh."

Qi Si appeared calm on the surface, but turmoil had already begun to rise in his heart.

The original owner's nickname was Dun Dun too?

How could there be such a coincidence?

In Qi Si's original world, his nickname had also been Dun Dun.

Apparently, it was because he had eaten too much as a child and grown up solid and sturdy.

Other children looked chubby, but it was all soft fat. They were not very heavy when picked up.

Only he was especially solid. His parents said that holding him felt like carrying a stone bollard, so they simply gave him the nickname Dun Dun.

Before learning where the nickname came from, Qi Si had liked it quite a bit. After all, he was used to being called that, and it sounded affectionate.

But after learning how it had come about, he refused to let anyone call him that ever again.

Other than his parents, he would get upset with anyone who called him that.

But after his parents passed away, no one called him by that nickname again.

So when Qi Wang suddenly called out that nickname, Qi Si was instantly dazed, feeling as though space and time had become confused.

How could there be such a coincidence?

Having the same given name was one thing, but why was even the nickname the same?

Could this book really have been written using his character setup on purpose?

Qi Si even began to suspect that the person who wrote this book knew him.

Was this one of those... fanfictions?

If that was true, then the person who wrote this book had to be his hater.

Otherwise, why would they give him such a tragic setting?

But that was not right either. Almost no one knew that his nickname was Dun Dun.

If his earlier guess was correct, then the person who wrote this book had to know him extremely well. They might even have once been very close to him and known many of his secrets.

Who could it be?

Or was he overthinking things? Was it really just a coincidence?

Seeing his younger brother suddenly stare at him and drift off again, Qi Wang's heart tightened, and that inexplicable sense of separation surfaced once more.

Without thinking, Qi Wang reached out and pinched Qi Si's cheek.

Pain flashed across Qi Si's face, snapping him back to his senses. He looked at Qi Wang before him with utter bewilderment.

Qi Si: "Huh???" Why did you pinch me?

Meeting Qi Si's startled, suspicious gaze, Qi Wang awkwardly withdrew his hand.

"Ahem... What were you thinking about? I was talking to you, but you ignored me."

"Huh? Brother, what did you say?" Had Qi Wang spoken just now?

Qi Si fell into self-doubt. Had he been so absorbed in his thoughts that he really had not heard him?

Seeing the clear, foolish look on his younger brother's face, Qi Wang guiltily looked away, feeling a rare trace of remorse for bullying a vulnerable group.

--

Qi Si: Vulnerable group? Who, me?

Qi Wang, looking at him with pity: Who said fools didn't count as a vulnerable group?

Qi Si: ??????