CH 31

Chapter 31

After Lu Qi'an said this, Fu Jia became completely obedient. He successfully took off Fu Jia's pants, stripped him naked, then continued to wipe his lower body with a towel.

Fu Jia was very well-behaved, lifting his leg when he was asked to lift his leg, and turning over when he was asked to turn over. In the end, Lu Qi’an didn’t find any new injuries on his body, only four or five old scars.

Fu Jia said: "That senior really didn’t know how to fight, and the couple of people that tried to break us apart afterwards were no good at fighting either. They couldn't hurt me."

Lu Qi'an watched him roll around on the bed naked without covering his crotch in the slightest. With a dark face, he covered him with the blanket.

“Get dressed, then get some rest. I’ll help you ask for a leave of absence in the afternoon,” Lu Qi’an took out a set of pyjamas and underwear from the closet and handed them to Fu Jia. 

Fu Jia accepted the items and asked: “Then what about you?”

His eyes were always fixated on Lu Qi'an, afraid that if he looked away for even a second, the person would disappear.

Lu Qi’an said with patience: “Taking a bath.”

Fu Jia was taken aback, then suddenly realized that Lu Qi'an had been drenched in the rain for as long as he had, but had been busy taking care of him since they came back; instead of taking a bath, he merely changed his clothes. 

Lu Qi'an stayed in place for a few seconds. After seeing that Fu Jia didn't speak again, he went to the bathroom.

Fu Jia picked up the clothes and put them on, and soon heard the sound of rushing water from the bathroom. After he finished dressing, he couldn't help but clutch the shirt collar for a sniff, but he couldn’t smell anything.

He laid down on the bed, sniffing around like an animal, and finally smelled Lu Qi’an’s scent on the pillow. Intoxicated, he laid on it and closed his eyes happily.

Lu Qi’an came out of the shower as fast as he could, but Fu Jia had already fallen into a deep sleep by then.

It was a double bed, but he slept on the edge of the bed nearest to the bathroom, with one arm stretching out and the other hugging the pillow, he kept half his face buried in the pillow.

Lu Qi'an wiped his hair until it no longer dripped water before walking to the bed, then grabbed Fu Jia's outstretched hand and stuffed it under the duvet. Next, he pressed the back of his hand against Fu Jia's forehead to make sure that he wasn’t sweating or feverish. 

After finishing these tasks, he sat on the chair and watched Fu Jia without moving an inch. 

He didn't count how long he watched for, nor was he ruminating over anything in his mind. He simply matched his breathing to Fu Jia’s, feeling incomparably at ease as if someone was comfortingly patting his back.

By the time he looked away, his neck was somewhat stiff.

He walked out of the room, gently closed the door, then gave Liu-laoshi a call in the living room. Up until then, his phone had been set on silent mode, and received countless calls and texts from Liu-laoshi.

"Hello, Qi’an?" Liu-laoshi's anxious voice transmitted from the other end of the phone.

“It’s me. I’ve worried you earlier.# How’s the situation on Feng Jing’s side now?” Lu Qi'an walked to the window and found that the rain had let up a lot, but dense clouds still darkened the sky. It was likely to return to torrential rain at night.

Liu-laoshi released a long sigh and said: “I’m at the hospital right now. Feng Jing’s okay, the injuries on his body aren’t severe or mild,# but his teeth are loosened quite a bit. But since the roots aren’t damaged, it will heal after some recuperation.” 

There was a burst of noise from the other end of the phone, and it took several seconds to quiet down. It seemed that Liu-laoshi had moved to somewhere with fewer people. “But Feng Jing and his parents were very emotional and kept demanding for Fu Jia and his parents to come over and apologize face to face.”

Lu Qi'an frowned and asked: "Have you contacted Fu Jia's parents?"

Liu-laoshi’s talking speed distinctly quickened once this was brought up: “Contact them? That we sure did, and the contact information was found from Fu Jia’s files, but when we called the number, the other party claimed to be Fu Jia’s father’s secretary, and even said that Fu Jia’s father didn’t have time for this sort of thing so we should stop contacting them. When we called again later, the other party stopped picking up. Now Feng Jing's parents are asking me for Fu Jia's mother, but there’s no record on file, so where would I find her? I don’t even know where Fu Jia is right now…”

Once she spoke of this, Liu-laoshi became very angry. The secretary who answered the phone didn’t even bother listening to the situation and interrupted her as soon as they heard the name “Fu Jia” with the excuse that their boss wasn’t free, then told her not to bother them again. 

Liu-laoshi felt that it was unbelievable. Leaving the secretary’s phone number on the school record wasn’t a strange occurrence, but what was strange was the secretary’s cold attitude. What kind of secretary was this? After hearing that something had happened to the boss’s son, they didn’t have any intention of passing on the news, and even adopted a nastier attitude than when they first picked up the phone. 

Was this normal? If what happened today wasn’t a trivial incident of fighting between students, but something that left Fu Jia’s life in danger, could a supposed father still act so indifferent?

Liu-laoshi didn’t know about the Lin family mess, but Lu Qi’an had a clear understanding. Since Lin Qing left his secretary's phone number, he would never let Fu Jia have the chance to get in touch with him.

Lu Qi’an said: “Please don't worry, Fu Jia is here with me. He doesn’t have any external wounds but feels pain when certain areas are pressed. There should be some deep bruising, but it doesn’t seem like he has to go to the hospital immediately. If any problems come up tomorrow, I’ll take him then. As for his parents, there’s no need to contact them.”

Liu-laoshi was taken aback by what he said. Why would Fu Jia be with him? Why did Lu Qi’an know so much about Fu Jia’s situation? Her heart was full of questions, but she chose to solve immediate problems first: “What do you mean by no need to contact? If Fu Jia and his parents don’t make an appearance, Feng Jing’s parents won’t take it lying down. Even if Fu Jia is fine, he still has to come to the hospital. The matter can only be resolved if the children of both parties talk things over face to face.”

Lu Qi’an subconsciously chilled his voice: “Feng Jing’s parents are at the hospital, but Fu Jia’s parents aren’t. What would Fu Jia do once he gets there? Apologize under the pressure of the other party’s parents as he stands alone?”

On the other side of the phone, Liu-laoshi widened her eyes. Blocked by his questions, she was unable to speak for a moment: “This…”

After Lu Qi'an spoke, he immediately realized that his tone was bad. Liu-laoshi had taken the trouble to help him, so he shouldn't act like this. 

“Liu-laoshi,” he took a deep breath and patiently said: “I will come to the hospital later and speak to Feng Jing’s parents. As for Fu Jia…I won’t let him go.”

He doesn’t want Fu Jia to apologize anymore.

Doesn’t want him to face the anger of others, the accusations of others. 

On the other end of the phone, Teacher Liu fell into deep silence. After a long time, she said: “Come then. I’ll wait for you here.”

Lu Qi'an thanked in a low voice: "Thank you."

“Ai,” Liu-laoshi sighed, “You don’t have to thank me. There are some things that are easier for you to handle alone than for me to help you, so what need is there to thank me? What matters is that you’re happy, it’s what your mom would have wanted.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

After hanging up the call with Liu-laoshi, Lu Qi'an stood in place and carefully contemplated for a few minutes before making a second call.

Just as Lu Qi’an expected, the rain picked up again in the evening. People standing under the rain couldn’t talk at all, not only would they be splashed by the rainstorm, their voices would also be completely masked by the rain. 

Lu Qi'an and Feng Jing's family walked out of the large hospital building together. Feng Jing's parents said goodbye to Lu Qi'an one after another with smiles hanging off their faces, but Lu Qi'an couldn't hear a word, and just nodded perfunctorily.

He walked to the parking lot under the cover of an umbrella. Seeing him approach, Lu Zhiyuan's assistant hurriedly asked the driver to get out of the car to help open the door, and then used an umbrella to shield him from rain as he sat into the car.

Seeing him take a seat inside, the assistant gave him a slight smile: “Hearing you say that you’re at the hospital, I rushed over without even changing my clothes. In the end, everything here was settled within two sentences. Please advocate a raise for me to Mr. Lu.”

The way to deal with Feng Jing's parents was very simple; Feng Jing's father had been fighting for an opportunity to study abroad for the past two years.# This wasn’t difficult for Lu Qi'an, it was simply a matter of adding a name to the roster.

Of course, Lu Qi'an made it very clear that Feng Jing was also at fault for this matter, so he must transfer to another school during this critical period of third year high school. 

The car moved. Lu Qi'an said to the assistant: "Today, I’ve troubled you."

The assistant shook his head and said, "I can't take those words seriously. But you’re aware as well that I will report everything that happened today in detail to Mr. Lu.”

Lu Qi'an looked out of the car window and nodded: "I know."

The car quickly arrived at Lu Qi'an's apartment. The driver wanted to take the umbrella and open the door for Lu Qi’an, but was rejected by him. The assistant looked up at the apartment and said, "Why don't I go up for a look? I haven't visited in so long, and I'm worried that the housekeeper auntie is neglecting you."

Lu Qi'an refused: "No need. She’s always been utmost responsible.” As he spoke, he opened the car door and walked out with an umbrella. 

The assistant sighed and said: "How about I hide what happened today for you, and you tell Mr. Lu yourself once you have the chance to?”

Outside the car, Lu Qi’an nodded towards him and closed the door. The rain pattered loudly, and he didn't hear the assistant's words.

Lu Qi’an slowly walked into the apartment building and pressed the elevator button. He had walked slowly during this entire hospital trip, but the hems of his pants were still splashed wet from rain and made him uncomfortable. 

After reaching his floor, Lu Qi'an quickly walked to his apartment and opened the door.

In the living room, Fu Jia sat blankly on the sofa, looking like his soul had drifted out of his body. Hearing the sound of Lu Qi'an opening the door, he aggressively jumped up from the sofa. Starting from his eyes, his whole person was revived. 

Lu Qi'an walked into the room, saw Fu Jia standing motionlessly by the sofa, and asked, “Woke up?” He glanced at his watch and said, “Auntie Miao should’ve already come over by this time. Did she give you any difficulties?”

Fu Jia shook his head.

“En,” Lu Qi’an walked to the storage cabinet in the living room to take out the first-aid kit. This was prepared by Auntie Miao, who regularly restocked the medicine in it. “How was your rest? I’ll help take your temperature.”

Fu Jia lowered his head and whispered: "Where have you been?"

His muffled voice had a heavy nasal sound. “I thought what happened before was only a dream… When I woke up, you were gone, and I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

Lu Qi'an's hands halted, and the first-aid kit almost fell from the cabinet.

Fu Jia raised his head, and his eyes were slightly red: "Can I hug you?"