The floodgates holding back the fierce beasts suddenly swung wide open, and all the words he had hesitated to say instantly burst the dam. 

"Chu Jianglai," he called out suddenly and urgently. 

The young man in his arms rubbed his cheek against the crook of his neck and let out an ingratiating, "Mn." 

Why did you do that? Chu Qiubai roared internally, gritting his teeth. 

The process of suppressing his emotions was astonishingly draining; a brief, difficult silence of just over ten seconds left him completely exhausted. 

"What is it?" the person in his arms asked in a muffled voice. 

After a moment of silence, Chu Qiubai ultimately didn't mention a single word about the real reason. Clenching his jaw, he tried his best to maintain a calm tone as he asked, "Who told you that Mom doesn't like you?" 

Chu Jianglai paused slightly, and then, in an even more downcast voice, answered, "Isn't that something everyone knows? I'm not her biological son." 

He buried the lower half of his face into the crook of Chu Qiubai's neck, his palm slowly resting on his tense back, saying, "I only have you, Brother Qiubai. No matter what I did wrong, I'm willing to apologize, really. Forgive me, I beg you." 

The earnest plea made Chu Qiubai's heart feel as if it had been splashed with boiling oil; it rapidly tightened and burned, leaving a numbing discomfort in his chest. He had to reiterate, "I am married." 

The moment of silence that followed felt as long as a thousand years. 

Chu Jianglai gritted his teeth. "I know. So fast it feels like a dream." His nose brushed against Chu Qiubai's neck, his lips pressed against his collarbone as if ready to take a bite out of him at any moment. "I had barely stepped out the door before you ran away from home. You wouldn't answer my calls, wouldn't reply to my WeChats. I wrote you several emails but couldn't get in touch with you at all." 

Saying this, Chu Jianglai let out a low chuckle, as if mocking his own naivety and stupidity. "Actually, even before my business trip, you were acting weird. I should have noticed sooner. I really am too stupid." 

If you're stupid, then there are no smart people in this world.

Chu Qiubai denied it in his heart. 

He pulled back a little, trying to shake off the head nuzzling against his neck. 

"I didn't run away from home; it was just a work transfer." 

He had barely moved his shoulder a few centimeters before Chu Jianglai's chin immediately followed, bumping into Chu Qiubai hard enough to sting. 

"So it was premeditated? You've wanted to leave me for a long time, haven't you? The moment I went to America, you couldn't wait to move to Jing City. Have I become that detestable to you?" 

Rather than calling it detestable, "fear" would be a much more appropriate word. 

The mere thought of that disc made Chu Qiubai's hair stand on end and his scalp tingle uncontrollably. 

He considered himself an emotionally stable person, with feelings so placid they bordered on apathy. 

If it hadn't been for Chu Jianglai, he probably would have found it difficult to experience any surging, passionate emotions in this lifetime. He even once thought it would be impossible for him to ever love anyone. 

Both his parents came from prominent backgrounds and were the type of people who, having been spoiled in wealthy families, largely only cared for themselves. Growing up, Chu Qiubai had weak family ties and no particularly close friends. Before Chu Jianglai, his emotional experiences were practically a blank slate. 

Chu Jianglai gave him countless vivid experiences. 

Like love, like cherishing, like struggling, and like fear. 

Right now, he was incredibly thankful that he wasn't good at showing his emotions. Because of this, even though he was in extreme agony and fear internally, he could still appear completely indifferent. 

"Brother Qiubai, what's wrong? Why are you trembling?" 

"I'm a bit cold." 

"Your hands are freezing." 

Maintaining the embrace, his stiff, icy fingers were enveloped in soft, warm palms. 

"Without you by my side, I haven't been able to sleep well a single day. Haven't you missed me at all these past few days?" 

"No." 

Due to his unhesitating denial, the originally affectionate leaning turned into a forceful hug, the strength so great it made it hard to breathe. 

Squeezed to the point of hypoxia, Chu Qiubai couldn't help but struggle. "Let go of me first." 

"I won't." Instead of loosening, the force of his arms intensified. Chu Jianglai hugged him tightly, refusing to let go, and said fiercely, "Unless you take back what you just said and promise me you'll break the engagement. Go tell that woman you changed your mind, that you won't be with anyone else but me!" 

"Chu Jianglai, let go of me first!" 

"Then break off the engagement first!" 

"Have you caused enough of a scene?!" Unable to breathe from fear and confinement, Chu Qiubai pushed him away forcefully. "Can you not understand plain words?!" 

The young man who was pushed away lowered his head like a stray dog with nowhere to go. Uncontrollable, immense pain surged in his drooping almond eyes. Such a vivid expression made Chu Qiubai's heart spasm once again. 

"Do you really not want me anymore?" 

Chu Qiubai pushed himself up from the desk, avoiding the young man's hand that cautiously reached out to touch his cheek. He turned his face away wearily. 

"Enough." 

Faced with his resolute decisiveness, the young man opposite him once again wore an abandoned expression. 

Ten thousand interrogations blocked his chest, yet he couldn't voice a single one. Chu Qiubai felt helpless against his own retreat. As a surgeon who snatched lives from the jaws of death every day, he had overcome countless technical challenges; he certainly didn't have a weak personality that shied away from difficulties. But facing a visibly hurt Chu Jianglai, he simply lacked the courage to tear everything down. So, he had no choice but to change the subject, asking, "Have you eaten?" 

The dejected young man paused upon hearing this, then looked up and answered earnestly, "Not yet." 

"Go eat something, then get some sleep." 

"Brother Qiubai..." 

"Stop talking!" Chu Qiubai frowned, trying to mask his fear with a cold, hard attitude. "Shut your mouth and go eat. Come back and talk to me after you've slept for a full eight hours. You look like you're about to drop dead from exhaustion; it's incredibly ugly." 

The young man awkwardly shut his mouth and nodded aggrievedly. After being quiet for a short while, he hesitantly called out again: "Brother Qiubai." 

"What now?" 

"Can I sleep at your place?" 

"Have all the hotels in Jing City gone out of business?" 

"But—" 

"No buts." 

Head bowed, revealing his fluffy crown, Chu Jianglai fell silent for a brief moment before asking uncertainly, "Brother Qiubai, you haven't been possessed, have you?" 

"What?" 

"Like body-snatching." Lifting his highly deceptive, handsome face, Chu Jianglai leaned in slightly. "Isn't it common in those novels or TV shows? The protagonist gets possessed by a ghost and his temperament drastically changes..." 

"How could such a thing happen in real life?!" 

Even as a theist, Chu Qiubai found it hard to believe in concepts like possession. However, Chu Jianglai's relaxed tone and the conversational nature of his words slightly loosened Chu Qiubai's tense nerves, causing him to involuntarily avoid the terrifying main issue and argue over something trivial instead. 

"Stop talking about impossible things, and hurry up and find a place to catch up on your sleep." 

"If I catch up on my sleep, will you be willing to have a proper talk with me?" 

"We'll talk after you've slept." 

Without realizing it, Chu Jianglai, who had been pushed far away, had once again leaned in close. 

Chu Qiubai could even smell the familiar, crisp scent of his cologne. It was very faint, but the fragrance, carrying the warmth of his body, easily made one lower their defenses and become weak-willed. 

And it was exactly because Chu Qiubai feared this kind of silent, permeating erosion that he had chosen to leave without a word. 

There were too many things he needed to verify on his own. 

Chu Jianglai's proximity would only wear down his willpower and cloud his judgment. 

Among the many children in the Chu family, if ranked by scheming and shrewdness, Chu Qiubai would be near the bottom. But that was also because the Chu family produced generations of capable individuals, every one of them exceptionally astute. 

He was just straightforward, not stupid. In intelligence tests, his IQ was even in the same tier as his younger cousin Chu Huainan, who had been hailed as a genius since childhood. Therefore, when faced with irrefutable evidence, it was impossible for him to deceive himself like a true fool. 

Before seeing that disc, even though he already knew that Chu Jianglai was intimately associating with many highly qualified women behind his back, Chu Qiubai had easily convinced himself that Chu Jianglai definitely had his own plans and strategies. 

In his perception, the Chu Jianglai who had clung to him for over a decade could absolutely never secretly fall in love with someone else, because the Chu Jianglai he knew wasn't that kind of person. 

He was a child more open and honest than anyone. 

Even though he did possess a ruthless side unknown to outsiders, Chu Qiubai had never once demanded that he possess perfect kindness. 

He could have sharp edges, he could use schemes, and he was even allowed to have some underhanded malice. 

Chu Qiubai loved him beyond reason, accepting any of his flaws with near-indulgence. 

But one thing was certain: Chu Jianglai was definitely not the kind of person who would maintain a false front of peace while secretly betraying him behind his back. 

Even if the day truly came for them to end, there would surely be an open, honest closure between them. 

However, that disc, burned many years ago, had completely shattered Chu Qiubai's long-held perception. 

He even began to doubt himself, wondering if he had perhaps never truly known Chu Jianglai. 

Head bowed, looking very obedient, Chu Jianglai seemed to want to say something more, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. 

"Director Chu, the family member of an admitted patient would like to speak with you." 

Chu Qiubai was certain he saw a fleeting shadow of gloom flash across Chu Jianglai's face—like a blizzard caught in the middle of a bright sunny day that swept through for just one second before immediately receding. It was aggressive, yet so strangely and bizarrely brief that it made his skin crawl. 

That elusive sense of unfamiliarity descended once again. His hands, seemingly casually tucked into the pockets of his white coat, couldn't help but clench into tight fists. Chu Qiubai's temples throbbed twice. Maintaining a normal expression as best as he could, he walked around the young man standing by the desk like a schoolboy being punished, and reached out to open the door. 

A young nurse wearing black-rimmed glasses and sporting a few cute freckles cautiously peered through the door. "Were you taking a nap?" 

"No." 

"Oh!" Confirming she hadn't disturbed the director's rest, the young nurse breathed a sigh of relief and then said, "It's the family member of the patient with the thymoma." 

Chu Qiubai had a deep impression of that patient surnamed Zhang. This was a patient he had personally received in the VIP outpatient clinic. He had just turned seventy; the tumor wasn't large, but its location wasn't ideal. The surgical plan had already been finalized. Chu Qiubai would personally be the chief surgeon, assisted by Youmin Hospital's thoracic surgery team, to perform a uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) thymectomy via the subxiphoid approach. 

This type of surgery could easily cause compressive damage to the patient's intercostal nerves. The slightest carelessness would greatly increase the probability of postoperative complications like intercostal neuralgia. It was quite difficult. But if this surgery could be successfully executed at Youmin, it meant that under Chu Qiubai's leadership, Youmin's minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgeries would leap to a new level. 

Everyone at Youmin attached great importance to this surgery. 

Under the young nurse's curious gaze, Chu Jianglai sensibly stepped aside and thoughtfully pushed Chu Qiubai's chair back to its original position. 

Chu Qiubai was the type of person who highly valued his privacy, and an absolute practitioner of the principle "do not wash dirty linen in public." In his early years in the medical field, many of the colleagues who worked directly with him only learned from the news that his surname "Chu" came from the illustrious "Chu family"—the very family that could cause a massive earthquake in the Jianghu business world just by stomping their feet. 

If he had to be compared to an animal, he would be like a seashell—hard on the outside, soft on the inside. Outwardly tough and indifferent, but in reality, he merely used a hard calcium carbonate shell to armor his soft, fragile, and tender heart. 

If such a person were to truly fall for someone's trap and open his heart to them, he would instantly turn from a tightly sealed clam into a treasure trove that could be claimed at will, like a piece of unguarded fat meat, allowing himself to be slaughtered and exploited without limits. 

The best clams never respond to force, only to softness. And the secret to prying open a clam shell is the exact same as the method for opening the gates of an evil dragon's castle: you cannot use force. 

If you want to enter the dragon's castle, marching in fully armed and imposing will only be met with stubborn, to-the-death resistance. The prince who longs to conquer the dragon actually uses the wrong method from the very beginning. To enter and destroy the dragon's world, all he needs to do is hold a bouquet of flowers and knock gently on the door. 

The prince doesn't need to fight the dragon at all. He merely needs to weave an illusory facade of "you will be unconditionally understood and loved." 

The dragon, who possesses vast treasures but has never been wholly loved, will undoubtedly weep tears of gratitude and offer everything up with his own hands. 

The principles of the world are just that simple. To plunder, one doesn't necessarily need to take the stance of an invader. Only by giving first can one steal more. 

"Since you're busy, I'll head out first." 

Before completely leaving the office, the young man—whose handsome face alone had the on-duty nurse staring unblinkingly—turned around and emphasized once again, "Don't forget what you promised me! And don't think you can just easily hide from me. I'll come pick you up after work! Work hard, Brother Qiubai." 

Chu Qiubai really wanted to say "I can go back myself," but before he could speak, the door had already closed. 

The patient's family member was a fierce-looking middle-aged man. He wasn't tall but had a robust build, and there was an eye-catching Qilin tattoo on his neck. The young nurse was clearly a bit afraid of him, unable to resist stealing glances out of the corner of her eye. 

Focused on the medical records, Chu Qiubai didn't pay much attention to this. He patiently explained the surgical plan to the family member and responsibly pointed out some risks of postoperative complications. 

"So you're saying, even if he has the surgery, my old man might still be in constant pain?" 

The overly young department director in front of him looked very much like a "nepotism hire" who had been parachuted into the position. Sitting in the chief specialist's office at such a young age, his attitude, though somewhat polite, was slightly cold. He carried himself as if he were incredibly special, which was downright irritating to look at. 

"I'm speaking of the less-than-ideal scenarios," Chu Qiubai explained patiently. "All surgeries carry risks. Complications or lingering effects are often unavoidable. Although your father's tumor isn't large and belongs to a very early stage discovered during a routine checkup, because its location isn't ideal, the likelihood of intercostal pain after the surgery is still relatively high." 

"What? So you mean he won't get better?" 

"You can't exactly say that. After all, it's early stage, and the risk of malignant transformation isn't high either." 

"So you're saying this is 100% not malignant, right? Can we just not operate? He's so old, if something goes wrong during the surgery, it'll be a huge hassle! He hasn't even had time to write his will yet!" 

Chu Qiubai let out a soft exhale, trying his best to dispel the tension and fear brought by Chu Jianglai with a deep breath. 

But the fierce-looking man opposite him seemed to have misunderstood something. His face suddenly darkened. "What do you mean by that?" 

"Hm?" 

The man abruptly stood up, his face flushed with anger as he roared at him: "From the moment I walked in until now, your attitude has been total crap! What? Looking down on patients, are you? Think I'm annoying? Would it kill you to answer a few more questions?!" 

"Hey, family member, please don't get agitated!" The young nurse who had brought him to the director's office had been standing at the door the whole time. Seeing his terrible attitude as he scolded Chu Qiubai, she deeply regretted bringing such trouble. 

"Director Chu didn't mean it that way. Please sit down and let's talk properly!" 

She walked over, trying to ease the tense atmosphere, but was violently shoved aside by the man. She almost crashed into the filing cabinet door nearby, letting out a short, panicked "Ah—!". 

Seeing someone causing a violent scene, the anger Chu Qiubai had been suppressing for so long instantly reached its peak. 

He stood up with an icy expression: "A grown man putting his hands on a young girl. You are truly pathetic."