Brother, Don't Get Hurt Again

At the hospital, Ye Qingpu tilted his neck to let the doctor disinfect it, while Jiang Jifu watched from the side with a tense expression.

"Don't worry, Mr. Jiang. The wound isn't deep and didn't hit anything vital."

Even the doctor grew nervous under his stare and could only offer a helpless reassurance.

"It won't scar, will it? Does the wound really not need stitches?"

Jiang Jifu still couldn't put his mind at ease. That person had suddenly rushed forward, and he hadn't managed to pull him back in time.

"Don't exaggerate. It's not like I was slashed with a knife."

Ye Qingpu smiled helplessly. When Jiang Jifu had let out that scream, even he had thought he was definitely done for. In the end, the guy had only been holding a pen. He had just used too much force, leaving a rather long cut across Ye Qingpu's neck.

"Little Uncle, a pen can kill someone too. If the other guy had been a strong alpha, I'd be holding a vigil for you right now."

Jiang Jifu looked somewhat guilty. In the few short days since returning home, he had already gotten his little uncle into trouble twice. Maybe he ought to get his fortune told and see whether he and Ye Qingpu were incompatible this year.

"I'm fine, aren't I?" Ye Qingpu said with a comforting smile.

"Obsessive fans are terrifying." Jiang Jifu shuddered in lingering fear. After looking over Ye Qingpu's treated wound and thanking the doctor with his eyes as the doctor left, he sighed to himself.

"It's over. If that Pei guy finds out, he'll scold me to death."

Damn it, that Pei guy acted all respectable in front of his little uncle. The thought made Jiang Jifu furious. His perfectly good little uncle had been snatched up by that perverted bastard.

Ye Qingpu hadn't caught what Jiang Jifu was muttering. He merely straightened his clothes and asked teasingly,

"Are we still going on that picnic?"

"No." Jiang Jifu shook his head firmly.

"I'd better stay home."

"The home you're staying in is mine."

Ye Qingpu shot him an irritated glance. Since coming back, this brat had never mentioned returning to his own place. His father had already called Ye Qingpu several times.

"Your home is my home. Aren't you my little uncle? Why divide things between yours and mine? It hurts our relationship."

Jiang Jifu spoke with perfect confidence, completely failing to notice the tall figure standing at the doorway.

It wasn't until an inexplicable sense of pressure settled over him that Jiang Jifu belatedly turned around and met Pei Jiaqian's somewhat sinister gaze.

Jiang Jifu swallowed and silently stepped behind Ye Qingpu. He declared that enigmas were his most hated gender in this lifetime. It wasn't personal—he simply wanted to condemn every last one of them. Every enigma he had met acted humble and refined in public, then turned creepy and sinister in private like some old scheming bastard.

"Why are you here?"

Ye Qingpu frowned and turned to look at Jiang Jifu behind him, who wore an expression like none of this had anything to do with him.

Pei Jiaqian looked at Jiang Jifu with a cold face, then tilted his head.

Tch... what a rude guy. Jiang Jifu curled his lips. But with a weakness in the other man's hands, he patted Ye Qingpu on the shoulder and slipped out of the department like smoke.

Ye Qingpu studied him curiously. How was this man's information network so efficient? It was just like the period a month ago when he had harassed Ye Qingpu—he always appeared out of nowhere like a ghost.

Pei Jiaqian looked at the wound on Ye Qingpu's neck, which had only been disinfected, and a flicker of heartache surfaced in his eyes. When he heard Ye Qingpu had been hurt, he had thrown down his chopsticks and left the hospital room before even having time to put on the brace for his leg.

After stepping forward and touching Ye Qingpu's neck to inspect it, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

Ye Qingpu stared at him blankly. The man had come over without saying a word. What did that mean?

"Where's that person?"

Pei Jiaqian suddenly rested his chin on Ye Qingpu's shoulder, pressing half his body weight onto him.

Ye Qingpu instinctively stepped back half a pace to keep his balance, his nose once again filling with the pleasant scent of the enigma's pheromones.

"That obsessive fan? The police took him away."

As Ye Qingpu spoke, he clearly heard Pei Jiaqian say something in a foreign language. Judging by his gritted-teeth tone, he was probably cursing.

"How did you get here?" Ye Qingpu patted his arm, trying to get him to stand properly.

Pei Jiaqian rubbed his head against Ye Qingpu's neck and said in a muffled voice,

"Don't mind me, Brother. I'm still angry."

Ye Qingpu: ...? What did I do to him now?

After thinking it over, was he still angry about that morning? Or because Ye Qingpu hadn't replied to his messages? Surely not.

"Don't try to guess why I'm angry either, Brother."

Ye Qingpu smiled helplessly and patted his head. When he got no reaction, he tugged a little harder at his hair and made him straighten up.

"Let go, Brother. That hurts."

Pei Jiaqian looked at him with some resentment.

"Did you take the wrong medicine?" Ye Qingpu touched his forehead. It wasn't hot either.

Pouting in dissatisfaction, Pei Jiaqian sat down in a chair and wrapped an arm around Ye Qingpu's lean waist, pulling him a little closer.

Ye Qingpu instinctively lifted one leg, placing his knee on Pei Jiaqian's strong, solid thigh to keep his balance.

"Don't move, Brother. Let me hold you for a while."

"This is a public place. Don't you know an enigma and an omega shouldn't be touching like this?"

Ye Qingpu couldn't break free. His waist was held in a death grip.

"Your bed partner is worried about you."

Pei Jiaqian rested his chin against Ye Qingpu's flat stomach and looked up at him quietly.

"Oh, you..."

Ye Qingpu's face was full of helplessness. This man already had curly hair—why was his temperament so much like a canine's too?

"Please don't let yourself get hurt again, Brother," Pei Jiaqian pleaded.

"You're making things difficult for me. It's not something I can control, right?" Ye Qingpu said in a negotiating tone.

"Then can Brother apologize to me for no reason at all?"

"...Sorry. Is that enough?"

"Then can Brother let me live at your place?"

"Don't push your luck."

"Why? Jiang Jifu lives at your place."

Pei Jiaqian frowned. Pei Jiaqian was displeased. Pei Jiaqian got smacked on the forehead.

"He's my nephew. It's only natural for him to live at my place."

"Then I'm your bed partner. I'm even more qualified," Pei Jiaqian said righteously.

"No." Ye Qingpu refused without hesitation.

"Then Brother can live at my place."

"What nonsense."

"Then Brother can move out with me."

"Don't even think about it... Why are you so obsessed with this? Are you some clingy little puppy?" Ye Qingpu looked at him with amusement.

"I'm Brother's Puppy~"

"...All right, let go."

"No."

"Let go. I'm hungry. Let's go eat."

Ye Qingpu finally managed to break free and looked at the man in front of him helplessly.

Pei Jiaqian frowned and took out his phone to send a message.

"Let's go together?"

Ye Qingpu paused at the doorway.

"Help me, Brother. My leg hurts."

Pei Jiaqian held out his hand and placed it on Ye Qingpu's shoulder.

Only then did Ye Qingpu notice that the man wasn't wearing the stabilizing brace on his leg.

"Where's your brace? And your crutch?"

"It's mostly healed already. I don't need them anymore."

Being young was nice. Ye Qingpu quietly grumbled to himself. He was even a little jealous, though more than that, he felt relieved.

When Ye Qingpu came out supporting Pei Jiaqian, Jiang Jifu was squatting by the emergency exit smoking. The two tall men exchanged a look, then snorted coldly in perfect unison.

"Are you two kids from Sprout Class?" Ye Qingpu looked at them with amusement.

"Come on, let's have dinner together."

No one objected when it came to eating. They all followed Ye Qingpu's preferences and had something light. Jiang Jifu only occasionally lamented that he seemed to have entered a health-conscious retirement lifestyle ahead of schedule.

Ye Qingpu didn't say much. He was rather speechless about his own body too. To avoid eating himself into another health issue, he ate very little. The three or four bites of food he picked up were less than what the others could swallow in half a mouthful.

As evening approached, there was nowhere much to wander around, so Ye Qingpu called a taxi for Pei Jiaqian and forcibly stuffed him into it, sending him back to the hospital.

Before leaving, Jiang Jifu provocatively draped an arm over Ye Qingpu's shoulder and deliberately raised his voice.

"Little Uncle, let's go home too. Back to that huge river-view apartment of yours. I need to hurry back, wash up, and sleep in the bed~room~ next to yours~"

Before Pei Jiaqian's face could even darken, Jiang Jifu urged the driver onward, and the taxi sped away with one press of the accelerator.

Only after the uncle and nephew were alone did Ye Qingpu ask,

"Did you tell him where we were?"

Jiang Jifu immediately cleared himself.

"Heaven and earth can bear witness—if I told him even one word, I'll spend the rest of my life living in an even bigger mansion and driving an even fancier luxury car."

"You little bastard, always running your mouth."

Ye Qingpu's expression wasn't nearly as harsh as his words. After fastening his seat belt, he drove back to his large river-view apartment, the trunk stuffed full of picnic supplies.

He had just finished washing up and lain down when his phone received a message from Pei Jiaqian.

Seeing him report that he was safe, Ye Qingpu gave a brief reply: "Mm."

"Brother is being too cold to me. Recall it and send it again~"

Seeing the immediate reply, Ye Qingpu smiled helplessly.

"Shut up."

"Brother should say: I'm home too. I've showered and am lying in bed already~"

Ye Qingpu froze and sat up to look around. As usual, the curtains were drawn, there were no hidden cameras, and on the twenty-sixth floor, nobody could possibly be carrying a camera around to spy on him.

"Brother isn't nervously checking whether there are cameras around, is he?"

Ye Qingpu awkwardly rubbed his nose.

"You really installed one? If I catch you, you're finished!"

"Nothing of the sort. I simply started timing things when you got in the taxi and only messaged you after figuring you'd be home and done washing up~"

Ye Qingpu was half-convinced, half-skeptical, but quickly realized something—how did this man know where he lived?

"Jiang Jifu forgot to turn off the location on his social media post, so I saw it~"

Pei Jiaqian replied quickly, as though their hearts were linked.

Ye Qingpu opened the social media feed skeptically. Sure enough, he saw a post from Jiang Jifu, shirtless, with the caption: Body management.

Still, Ye Qingpu wasn't worried that an obsessive fan like the one from today would follow the address back here. This was an upscale area with very strict security. Even residents had to use facial recognition to access the floors.

"It's getting late. Go to sleep early, Brother~"

Looking at the message on the screen, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Ye Qingpu's lips. He set down his phone and wrapped himself up in the blankets.