Lin Xingye quietly watched An Shi examine his wound. Without so much as looking at Qi Sijing, An Shi said, "No infection or inflammation. Good."
Qi Sijing muttered under his breath, "What about me..."
An Shi ignored him. "Star, remember to tell me if you feel unwell anywhere."
Lin Xingye nodded obediently, then showed some concern for the pitiful person beside him. "What about him?"
An Shi smiled gently. "Don't worry. If he needs me, I'll collect his corpse."
Qi Sijing: ?
Lin Xingye gave him a sympathetic look, wondering when he had managed to offend An Shi.
[Oh~ poor little thing~]
Qi Sijing could have cried himself to death. He was already in this state, and Star was still singing at him.
An Shi smacked him on the head with the medical chart. "No more racing."
"You two, come outside with me."
Bo Xi and Cheng Yu exchanged a glance, went out to call the people waiting outside into the room, then followed An Shi away.
"Well? Did they find anything?" Cheng Yu sounded doubtful. "Probably not, right? There wasn't any concrete evidence, after all."
An Shi nodded. "I never intended to get him arrested in the first place."
Bo Xi kept tapping away on his phone whenever he had a spare moment, busy with who knew what. "After all, you only wanted to drag him into this."
At the thought, An Shi gave a cold laugh. "I spoke to Hu Kai. He's awake."
"He said it was all his own idea, and that he simply couldn't stand Qi Sijing. Since he voluntarily confessed and his account matched Qin Ke's, the police let Qin Ke go."
"But Mrs. Hu didn't believe him. She thought Qin Ke had manipulated him, so she went straight to the papers with everything he'd done."
"She stirred things up online, too. He's certainly made a name for himself now. Whatever he tries to do in the future, it won't be so easy."
Cheng Yu understood. "Mrs. Hu wants to use this to get her son's sentence reduced? Claim he wasn't the mastermind and only acted on impulse?"
"Of course, but the Qi Family won't let him off." At some point, Bo Xi had put down his phone. He slid it over for them to see. "He's in trouble. Duan Peng's family came knocking."
"An Shi, why didn't you tell us you were doing all this?"
An Shi's expression remained indifferent as he continued writing something on a sheet of paper. "If I let you do everything, how would I take credit in front of Star?"
Cheng Yu said, "Damn, why didn't I think of that?"
Bo Xi pressed a hand to his forehead, speechless. "Stop joking. What are you planning? Can't we help?"
An Shi stopped writing and pressed his lips tightly together, then quickly returned to normal. "Nothing. I just want to see how far his reach extends under these circumstances."
Bo Xi stood up, silently approached, and caught his hand. An Shi froze, then looked up and glared at him. "Bo Xi, being too smart isn't always a good thing!"
"You want to divert the trouble onto yourself, lure him into acting, and force him to shift his focus away from Star and attack you instead, right?" Cheng Yu snatched the pen from his hand and waved it around.
"An Shi, you really haven't changed a bit since we were kids."
An Shi had known they might figure it out, but having his intentions seen through so quickly still annoyed him immensely. "Finished? Then get lost."
Cheng Yu had always loved being a nuisance. He vigorously ruffled An Shi's hair, successfully turning Doctor An's smooth, straight hair into a bird's nest.
An Shi: ...
I really want to beat him to death.
Bo Xi chuckled as he helped straighten An Shi's disheveled hair. "An Shi, Star saved us when we were little. Now it's our turn to save him."
"This isn't something you have to do alone."
An Shi haughtily pushed Bo Xi's hand away, lowering his head in embarrassment as he fixed his own hair. "I know. Get out."
"Stop hanging around here all the time. Haven't you noticed the strange looks his family keeps giving you? Both of you, get back to work!"
The two offered a few perfunctory murmurs of agreement and went out.
Please. As if we'd let you hog this chance to make an impression.
Not to mention Qi Sijing, who was lying in bed playing the victim and watching like a hawk.
"That crazy bitch! Her useless son couldn't even do anything to Qi Sijing, and he dragged me down with him. Now she's smearing me online!"
Qin Ke stared at his phone, reading all the condemnations and conspiracy theories posted online. Worse still, their guesses were remarkably close to the truth, filling him with uncontrollable panic.
On top of that, he had to listen to the system repeatedly warn him about all the dangers of his declining reputation. His features nearly twisted with rage.
Lin Xingye, meanwhile, had gained even more admirers. They praised him for his courage and fearlessness, calling him a hero worthy of admiration.
The Qi Corporation had even come forward to announce that Lin Xingye would henceforth be an honored guest of their company. Whenever a collaboration arose, they would give the Lin Corporation priority regardless of the circumstances, and they would personally visit him with gifts to thank him.
Everything was developing in Lin Xingye's favor. This couldn't go on.
[Host, I have a method that can transform you completely.] [Why not give it a try?]
Qin Ke's brow twitched. He couldn't deny how tempting the system's words were, but he wasn't actually that stupid. There was bound to be an enormous price to pay.
Even so, what choice did he have? He already had very few people under his control, and none of them held much power.
A few days earlier, Duan Peng's family had come knocking, demanding to know whether he had induced Duan Peng to do such a thing.
After all, he was the only person around Duan Peng with any connection to Lin Xingye.
Duan Peng had absolutely no reason to do anything like that.
Not to mention that Duan Peng already had a girlfriend, making Qin Ke the other man.
Guilty to begin with, he had panicked and driven them out. They took that as proof of his guilt, then went online and exposed the whole affair.
Someone was fanning the flames behind the scenes, and the story spread at an alarming rate. Netizens utterly despised his behavior as a homewrecker and a villain.
It had reached the point where even a passing dog would have taken a kick at him. Now he could barely go outside.
Under these circumstances, he had no option but to follow the system's arrangements.
"What do I need to do?"
[Please follow my instructions.] [With me here, you will surely reach the pinnacle of life and make everyone who humiliated you pay.]
Lin Xingye lay in bed, staring into space, when an inexplicable uneasiness came over him. He had no idea why.
Meanwhile, Lin Xingmo had finally found time to visit his older brother, only to be intercepted by certain people.
"Yes, yes, I can hear it, but I-I haven't told anyone a single word!" Helpless, he could only admit it first.
Cheng Yu lowered his head and rubbed his hands, then tugged him toward someone's office. "The walls have ears. Let's talk in there."
An Shi had just put on his white coat and was about to check on his patients. When he opened the door, he found the two of them planted outside like pillars.
An Shi: ?
Lin Xingmo refused to go in, while Cheng Yu insisted on forcing him inside. The two remained at a standoff in the doorway.
Who knows whether he's taking me in there to finish me off! Lin Xingmo thought.
An Shi pointed at his head and twirled his finger, offering them a friendly reminder. "If you're sick, get treatment."
"Don't block the way. Move."
The two obediently made way for Doctor An.
Lin Xingmo wanted to put up one last struggle, but someone suddenly shoved him into the room from behind, pushing him in, shutting the door, and locking it in one seamless sequence.
Bo Xi even remembered to steady him, his expression utterly innocent. "My apologies, Miss Lin. Your little double act out there was so entertaining that you were drawing quite a crowd."
"Forgive the rudeness."
Lin Xingmo: You already shoved me. Why bother pretending!
Cheng Yu never stood on ceremony. He plopped down on the sofa with easy swagger and waved at him. "Miss Lin, let's skip the chatter and get down to business. Have a seat."
Lin Xingmo reluctantly sat opposite him. "What do you want to know?"
Bo Xi filched An Shi's prized tea leaves from his drawer. As he leisurely handled the tea-making utensils, he asked, "I imagine you know the broad outline, Miss Lin, but there must also be plenty we don't know."
"We hope you can clear things up for us, Miss Lin. After all, we're all trying to protect Star."
In short, they wanted to work together.
Lin Xingmo eyed them dubiously. Whatever the case, their ability to hear his brother's thoughts had to be connected to this matter. And Bo Xi had saved his brother before, so he seemed reasonably trustworthy.
As for Cheng Yu... his brother had cracked Cheng Yu's head open, and Cheng Yu hadn't even gotten angry. He really couldn't figure out their relationship with his brother anymore.
Lin Xingmo asked, "Why are you helping my brother so much? Just because he saved you when you were little, and now you've come to repay him?"
Bo Xi paused in the middle of making tea, then gave a faint chuckle. "You can think of it that way, but there's more to it."
Lin Xingmo pondered for a moment. After turning it over in his mind, he said,
"He's already died once."
Before you continue