ALCSRB Chapter 23

Only then did Su Wanxin reveal that her youngest son had been hospitalized due to acute gastritis.

“This… is somewhat related to you,” Su Wanxin sighed. “You should remember how Xiao Yi was never able to accept the fact that you were going abroad.”

Shen Xingyan nodded. That had always been the biggest rift between him and Jiang Mingyi.

“At the time, we thought we had coaxed him out of it. Who knew the child was just as stubborn.”

Back then, Jiang Mingyi was already in elementary school. During the day, he would quietly let the driver take him to school. At school, the Shen family believed everything was normal—he attended classes, came home after school, like always.

In reality, his heart was filled with thoughts of Shen Xingyan. One day, he overheard his classmates discussing how, if a child fell sick, the family would be so worried that even someone far away would immediately return home.

He remembered those words and figured a simple cold wouldn’t be enough to make Shen Xingyan rush back.

He thought about it for days but couldn’t figure out what kind of illness would work.

Then one day, a classmate seemed distracted in class and was scolded by the teacher. The classmate burst into tears, saying his grandfather had been hospitalized with stomach cancer, and he couldn’t concentrate. But his parents had no time to care for him since they were always at the hospital, so he had to just stay in school.

Watching the classmate’s anxious face, Jiang Mingyi was struck with an idea.

He asked the boy if that illness was serious. Upon hearing that the grandfather might die, Jiang Mingyi cried alongside his classmate.

But afterward, he thought: I don’t want to die. If I die, I’ll never see my brother again.

He asked around again. Some classmates gave him advice: “That’s easy. Stomach cancer is hard to get, but stomach problems? That’s simple.”

So he followed their plan—eating excessively at home, then secretly starving himself at school.

This irregular eating quickly damaged his stomach.

The first time he was hospitalized for stomach pain, Su Wanxin was shocked by the diagnosis.

“How is that possible? Xiao Yi is still so young!” she said, trembling as she clutched the doctor’s hand in disbelief.

The doctor reassured her that since the child was still young, with proper care, recovery was possible.

Su Wanxin had no idea that the reason he deliberately made himself ill was just to get Shen Xingyan to come home. After bringing him back, she looked after him carefully.

Meanwhile, Jiang Mingyi thought his mother would tell his brother about his illness. He waited eagerly, day after day.

But even a month later, Shen Xingyan never appeared at the front door. The hope that had once filled Jiang Mingyi began to fade, and he fell into a deep gloom.

He numbly followed his mother’s instructions—eating, taking medicine—and eventually recovered, returning to school.

That Christmas, Shen Xingyan returned home especially for the holiday, only to be met with rejection.

“I don’t want you to be my brother anymore.”

———-

After hearing everything, Shen Xingyan fell silent. After a long while, he finally asked, “Why wasn’t I informed about this back then?”

Su Wanxin sighed, “At the time, we didn’t understand what Xiao Yi was thinking at all. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago when I was cleaning up and accidentally came across what he had written in his diary.”

Diary?

Shen Xingyan immediately thought of that notebook in Jiang Mingyi’s room with the combination lock.

Su Wanxin continued, “Xiao Yi always looks cheerful and lively on the outside, but in reality, he keeps a lot to himself and rarely confides in us.”

“Your father and I didn’t know what else to do, so we just spoiled him as much as we could, hoping to give him enough sense of security.”

“All these years, every time you came back, he would avoid you. Clearly, he’s never gotten over what happened back then. As his mother, I really hope you two brothers can love and support each other, and not let this cause a permanent rift between you.”

Thinking of how things between the brothers had seemed to ease recently, Su Wanxin felt some relief.

“Xiao Yi’s parents passed away too suddenly, and the relatives on the Jiang side don’t really care for him. He only has us to rely on.”

—

In the hospital room, Jiang Mingyi stared at the ceiling for a long time.

He vaguely remembered they were eating late-night snacks, and after drinking a few bottles of beer, he got dizzy…

Then, he seemed to have cried messily while leaning on Shen Xingyan?

Jiang Mingyi covered his face with his hands.

Calling it “messy” was putting it nicely—he had basically thrown a drunk tantrum at Shen Xingyan.

He didn’t scream and wail like some people, but he did cling to Shen Xingyan, hugging him and refusing to let him leave.

Thankfully, his subconscious had stopped him from doing anything even more embarrassing. Otherwise, he really didn’t know how to face Shen Xingyan now.

At some point, the band-aid on his index finger had fallen off. There was no longer any visible mark where he’d been pricked, but the back of his hand now bore a bluish-purple dot from the IV drip.

Jiang Mingyi slowly placed his hand on his stomach, finally realizing that he had ended up in the hospital last night due to a flare-up of his stomach condition.

He had been pampered by Su Wanxin over the past few years and had nearly forgotten how painful his stomach issues could be.

Last night, he drank alcohol and ate all kinds of spicy crayfish—way too much at once.

His taste buds were thrilled, but his stomach paid the price.

A soft sigh echoed in the quiet hospital room. With a bitter expression on his handsome face, Jiang Mingyi recalled even more stupid things he had done in the past.

When Shen Xingyan entered the room, he saw the person on the bed still lying there with eyes closed, seemingly asleep.

He walked quietly to the bedside, standing tall and still, saying nothing.

Jiang Mingyi continued to feign sleep, gradually sensing the pressure of someone standing next to him.

What’s this guy doing just standing there?

He wondered silently but dared not move a muscle. He lay stiffly, never having had such proper sleeping posture before.

The room was so quiet, he could hear his own heartbeat.

After a long while, a sigh sounded near his ear, and then a warm hand gently brushed against his cheek. The touch was so soft that Jiang Mingyi felt momentarily dazed and completely at a loss.

His palm slowly moved along the curve of the cheek to his ear, and then gently pinched his earlobe twice.

A big “!” popped up in Jiang Mingyi’s heart.

What’s going on?

“Dummy.”

The voice was still low and magnetic—so pleasant that Jiang Mingyi could hardly say it sounded bad, even if he tried.

But—

Who gave you the right to call me that?

If he wasn’t pretending to be asleep right now, he’d really want to jump up and shout in protest.

Still cursing him silently in his heart, Jiang Mingyi didn’t realize that Shen Xingyan had already noticed the slight movement of his eyeballs under his eyelids.

The hand that had been pinching his earlobe withdrew, and Shen Xingyan spoke up, “Since you’re awake, stop pretending to sleep.”

Jiang Mingyi: “…”

So he already knew I was faking it?

Jiang Mingyi immediately opened his eyes, his peach blossom-shaped eyes clear and bright, a hint of dissatisfaction in them. “If you knew I was pretending, just say it. Why did you have to call me a dummy first?”

Where was he dumb? He was clearly smart, okay?

Shen Xingyan looked at him in silence for a moment, then turned to pour a glass of water. After he finished, he walked back to the bedside.

“Have some water. You drank a lot last night and had an IV drip. Your mouth probably feels bitter.”

He handed the cup to him, and Jiang Mingyi finally looked up—meeting Shen Xingyan’s deep, dark eyes, which held a touch of unexpected concern.

Jiang Mingyi blinked, not quite understanding it, but still let out an “oh” and reached out to take the cup.

The water was slightly warm—just right.

He drank the whole glass in one go, and Shen Xingyan took the empty cup and placed it back on the table.

Jiang Mingyi glanced at the door, curious where his mom had gone, but he didn’t want Shen Xingyan to know he had been awake for a while, so he held back the question.

Fortunately, Su Wanxin soon returned. When she saw Jiang Mingyi sitting up in bed, the worry on her face finally melted into a smile.

“Xiao Yi, you’re awake. Just in time—I bought some breakfast. You two must be hungry.”

Under the warmth of maternal care, Jiang Mingyi was served a bowl of bland, tasteless porridge.

He held the spoon and sipped it slowly, his eyes occasionally sneaking glances at the fragrant egg pancake in Shen Xingyan’s hand.

It smelled amazing. He wanted some.

Even Su Wanxin couldn’t help but feel helpless at his pitiful expression. “Xiao Yi, once you get better, I’ll make it for you. But right now, you can only have porridge.”

Jiang Mingyi gave a reluctant “Oh!” in response, clearly disappointed.

Shen Xingyan walked over. “Even though someone doesn’t know how to take care of themselves, this big brother still cares about his little brother.”

Under Jiang Mingyi’s gleaming, hopeful gaze, the egg pancake was held out in front of him.

With just one glance, he saw it was filled with all his favorite ingredients: pork belly, sausage, glass noodles, lettuce, shredded potatoes…

“Ah—”

He opened his mouth.

Since Shen Xingyan was being so generous about sharing food with him, Jiang Mingyi decided not to hold a grudge about being called names earlier.

That was the thought, but his teeth didn’t bite into anything—just as the egg pancake passed by his face, it slipped away.

“……”

Jiang Mingyi swallowed a mouthful of saliva and stared longingly at Shen Xingyan. “Weren’t you going to let me eat that?”

“I was just letting you smell it,” Shen Xingyan said with a smile hiding in his eyes as he watched Jiang Mingyi droop his head. “People who are sick should behave.”

Jiang Mingyi puffed out his cheeks in frustration, looking like a little pufferfish—furious and indignant.

This man’s mouth was really vicious. He seriously needed to be disinfected.

“All right, stop teasing him,” Su Wanxin cut in, halting the childish antics between the two.

Jiang Mingyi turned his head away, refusing to acknowledge Shen Xingyan, and continued sipping his bland porridge.

In his heart, he grumbled—Shen Xingyan was such a child.

Shen Xingyan looked down at him and could immediately tell from Jiang Mingyi’s expression that he was being cursed at in his heart.

Su Wanxin said, “Your brother told me you were drinking last night.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mingyi shot a glare at the “traitor.” “I only drank a little!”

Afraid his mom would start lecturing him, Jiang Mingyi quickly tried to appease her. “Isn’t it because you raised me so well all these years that I forgot I had this condition?”

“I won’t dare to do it again,” he said, raising a hand in solemn vow, looking very sincere.

“When boys go out, they need to take care of themselves. Fortunately, your brother was there this time—otherwise, your dad and I would’ve been so worried.”

Not long after, the doctor came in for rounds. After reviewing the case, he said Jiang Mingyi could be discharged in the afternoon.

Su Wanxin was relieved and went with the nurse to handle the discharge procedures.

The room was quiet again, just Jiang Mingyi and Shen Xingyan left.

He glanced at the calm-looking man and hesitated for a moment. “You didn’t have to tell Mom. You just made her worry for no reason.”

It wasn’t like his stomach condition was that serious. Seeing Su Wanxin show up at the hospital without makeup and in a rush, he figured she must’ve been really worried.

“What about me?”

Jiang Mingyi looked blankly at him.

What does that mean?

A long, slender hand landed on his soft hair, gently stroking it.

Jiang Mingyi’s eyes widened, his long lashes trembling slightly.

Just as he was about to speak, the man leaned closer, casting a shadow over him.

Then something soft touched his forehead.

“……”

The moment he realized Shen Xingyan had kissed him, Jiang Mingyi froze.

“You only thought about Mom and Dad being worried—did you ever consider that I might be even more worried about you?”

That deep voice carried a heavy concern and tenderness. Shen Xingyan grabbed Jiang Mingyi’s hand that was resting to the side and held it tightly.