Two months later, Huo Youqing received a call from an unknown number.
When he picked up, a polite voice introduced itself as Father Dai’s assistant, asking if he had time to return to M Country.
“No,” Huo Youqing responded bluntly, intending to hang up immediately.
Just then, someone else took over the call.
It was Father Dai, his voice calm on the other end. “Mr. Huo Youqing, have you been in contact with your cousin lately?”
The finger Huo Youqing had poised to end the call froze, and his tone grew sharp. “What are you trying to do?”
“I’m not trying to do anything. I just heard your cousin has been under a lot of stress recently. Understandably so. After all, it’s hard to run such a large company alone after losing his parents. I’ve been through a similar period myself—young and overconfident, thinking I could handle everything on my own, only to be taught a harsh lesson by more experienced shareholders.”
There was a clear implication in Father Dai’s words. His tone softened as he continued, sounding like a typical elder offering advice. “I think I could give your cousin some useful pointers, but it’s difficult to explain everything over the phone. Youyou—that’s what your family calls you, right?—why don’t you gather your things and head downstairs? The car is waiting.”
During the past nine months, Huo Youqing had occasionally been in contact with his cousin, though not frequently. His cousin was busy, and Huo Youqing hadn’t yet figured out how to face him. He felt guilty.
After ending the call, Huo Youqing dialed his cousin. The first call went unanswered, but on the second attempt, his cousin finally picked up.
He could hear the noisy background on the other end, as if his cousin were at a club or some other venue. “Hey, Youyou, what’s up?”
“Are you busy right now? I wanted to—”
Before he could finish, his cousin interrupted loudly, “I can’t hear you clearly, Youyou. I’m with a client right now. I’ll call you back when I’m done.”
Huo Youqing paused for a moment before agreeing.
He was sure he hadn’t misheard—his cousin had sounded like he was about to vomit towards the end of the call.
Over two months ago, he had stumbled upon the scene of Dai Yixin being beaten up. He had stood at the entrance of the alley for less than a minute before deciding to call the police. He reported a fight and gave the location, then left.
He had suspected back then that it wouldn’t be so easy to shake off the Dai family, but he hadn’t expected them to act so quickly. The nonchalant tone Father Dai used on the phone made it clear that achieving his goal would be effortless. Huo Youqing knew he couldn’t win this battle, but he couldn’t accept it either.
Huo Youqing stood up and walked to the window. Sure enough, a car was parked downstairs.
The car had been there for thirty-six hours and finally picked up the person it was waiting for, heading towards the airport. That day, Huo Youqing arrived in Country M, and by the time he reached the Dai residence, it was already 10 p.m.
As soon as he entered the Dai residence, he was taken to Dai Yixin’s room, where he saw Father Dai.
Father Dai was sitting in a chair by the bed. He was an older but still handsome man, and he glanced at Huo Youqing indifferently, “Sit.”
“No need. I’m not planning to stay long,” Huo Youqing stood very straight, as he always did, even though he knew the man in front of him could end his life as easily as squashing an ant. “Mr. Dai, you can be direct now. What exactly do you want?”
Father Dai’s gaze turned colder. The gentleness he had shown over the phone had merely been a tactic. Since turning thirty-five, no one had dared speak to him so rudely.
“I invited you here because I hope you can take care of my son for a while.” With these words, Huo Youqing finally directed his attention to the person on the bed.
When he had entered the room earlier, he had glimpsed the figure out of the corner of his eye but hadn’t looked closely. Now that he focused on the person, his heart couldn’t help but jolt.
Huo Youqing almost didn’t recognize the person lying in the bed as Dai Yixin. He had lost so much weight that his hand, exposed outside the blanket, looked like skin wrapped around bones. Though awake, his mind seemed absent. His amber eyes were dry, staring vaguely into the distance, unresponsive to the sounds around him. His cheeks were sunken, and his left ear was wrapped in bandages.
As Huo Youqing stood there, shocked by what he was seeing, someone knocked on the door. It was the butler who had brought him in. The butler addressed Father Dai, “Mr. Dai, it’s time for the eldest young master’s injection.”
“What injection?” Huo Youqing regretted asking the question as soon as the words left his mouth and quickly pressed his lips together.
The butler glanced at Father Dai, hesitating. Only after Father Dai nodded did he reply, “It’s a sleep aid. The eldest young master refuses to sleep.” His expression became pained, as if he were genuinely concerned about Dai Yixin’s health. “He also refuses to take medicine, biting himself until his mouth is full of blood if he does. Even the doctor has been bitten before. Now, we have no choice but to tie him up for the injections.”
These words were enough to send a chill through Huo Youqing, and the scene that followed made it even worse—
The people who entered the room to give Dai Yixin the injection didn’t treat him like a human being. Several of them held him down and tied his limbs. Huo Youqing watched as Dai Yixin, who had been lying still moments earlier, thrashed wildly like a fish, his mouth emitting growls that sounded almost animalistic. He struggled so violently that his face turned red, but the people holding him down didn’t hesitate. They were highly trained.
Father Dai, on the other hand, didn’t even spare his son a glance. Rising from his chair, he only looked at Huo Youqing. “Let’s go to the study and talk. It’s a bit noisy here.”
Even Huo Youqing had to admire Father Dai’s cold-heartedness toward his own son. That day at the alley, he had suspected that it was all a ploy, but then dismissed the thought. Whether it was a trick or not, it had nothing to do with him.
He didn’t feel sorry for Dai Yixin.
But now, it seemed unlikely to be a trick. The Dai family was full of madmen.
***
After leaving the study, Huo Youqing returned to Dai Yixin’s room. Dai Yixin was already asleep. In the two months since they had last seen each other, his hair had grown long, nearly reaching his chin. His brow was well-defined, like a mountain ridge, but even in his sleep, it remained tightly furrowed.
It was as if this was nothing more than an empty shell of a body.
The butler informed him that Dai Yixin had been refusing to eat for a long time, which explained his extreme weight loss. He was now surviving on nutritional injections.
Huo Youqing withdrew his gaze. The person was sedated by medication, so even if he wanted to speak, it would be impossible.
The next day, after breakfast at the Dai residence, Huo Youqing returned to Dai Yixin’s room. The restraints had been removed, and Dai Yixin was lying in the exact same position as the day before.
“Dai Yixin,” Huo Youqing called as he approached the bed.
There was no response.
After a moment’s thought, he bent down and changed his approach, “Dai Yuan.”
The young man he addressed was skin and bones, his ribs visible through the loose clothing.
How could someone lose so much weight in just two months?
Perhaps it hadn’t happened in just two months. Huo Youqing had noticed before that Dai Yixin had gotten thinner, but even then, it had nothing to do with him.
Whether Dai Yixin could understand his words or not, Huo Youqing continued, “Your father asked me to take care of you, but I don’t know how to take care of people. I hope you’ll get better on your own, or else I’ll hate you even more. It’s because of your illness that I’m stuck here.”
Still no response.
The person who used to stare at him with those amber eyes had become a fool, or worse, a madman devoid of any awareness.
In the following days, Huo Youqing witnessed several of Dai Yixin’s fits. He refused to eat, refused to sleep, refused to take medication, and even refused to let anyone cut his hair.
The wound on his earlobe had occurred during a haircut. Even though he had been tightly restrained, he had somehow mustered the strength to ram his neck against the scissors, leaving a bloody wound and bruises from the restraint around his neck.
***
As usual, Huo Youqing came to Dai Yixin’s room. After checking on the young man lying with open eyes, he sat down on the sofa beside the bed.
He had spoken to the doctor, who warned him that if Dai Yixin continued to refuse food, his bodily functions would be severely damaged.
Father Dai had only appeared that first night and then vanished from the mansion. Though Huo Youqing stayed at the Dai residence, he wasn’t completely restricted. As long as he stayed in Country M and returned to the Dai Yuan residence at night, he could go out during the day as he pleased.
The Dai family’s driver was at his disposal, and not just the driver—everyone in the Dai residence obeyed his commands, including the bodyguards who restrained Dai Yixin.
A few days earlier, he had seen the bodyguards tying Dai Yixin up again. For the first time, he told them to stop. As soon as he spoke, they immediately ceased their actions.
But the next moment, Dai Yixin had slammed his head into the bedframe, leaving a gash that bled profusely.
Huo Youqing’s fingers trembled slightly. He noticed that the bodyguards were indifferent, which made him lose control of his emotions. “Aren’t you going to call the doctor?”
Only after he spoke did someone go to call the doctor downstairs.
But Dai Yixin still refused to cooperate with treating his wounds, so they had to tie him up. As they restrained him, Dai Yixin screamed, perhaps for the hundredth time, with a hoarse, piercing voice that sent chills down people’s spines. His entire face flushed with an unhealthy red, turning blue afterward. His eyes were wide open, as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
Huo Youqing couldn’t bear to listen or watch any longer. He left the room and bumped into the butler. The butler had also heard the commotion from the room but didn’t show any sympathy. Instead, he smiled and said, “As Mr. Dai said, Mr. Huo Youqing, you are the softest-hearted person.”
This one sentence made Huo Youqing’s gaze turn cold again. He gave the butler a frosty look, while the butler headed into the room, trying to calm Dai Yixin, advising him not to get so angry and hurt himself.
***
“Do you want to eat a banana?” Huo Youqing picked up a banana from the coffee table next to the sofa. He peeled it and waved it in front of Dai Yixin’s face.
There was no reaction in his eyes.
Seeing this, Huo Youqing ate the banana himself. After finishing it, Dai Yixin’s eyes hadn’t moved at all. Huo Youqing frowned slightly and took a piece of candy from his pocket. He unwrapped the pretty wrapper, revealing a round, milky-colored candy that gave off a sweet fragrance. “Do you want some candy?”
After waiting for a minute, he took the candy and placed it by Dai Yixin’s lips. “It’s very sweet.”
The candy had warmed up from his touch. Huo Youqing patiently engaged in this silent battle with the madman. Finally, just when his hand began to ache from holding it for so long, he saw Dai Yixin part his lips.
But instead of eating the candy, he bit down hard on Huo Youqing’s finger.
Pain surged up instantly. Huo Youqing winced and quickly pulled his hand back. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Dai Yixin eat the candy, now stained with his blood.
He numbly swallowed the candy, his gaze fixed on Huo Youqing’s bleeding finger. Slowly, he leaned closer, sticking out his tongue as if he wanted to lick the wound. But just before he did, Huo Youqing swiftly pulled his hand away.
With a grim expression, Huo Youqing got up to leave, but then he noticed Dai Yixin was crying. His amber eyes were filled with tears, which rolled down his cheeks one by one. He was crying silently, his pale face turning bright red from the emotion.
Watching this, Huo Youqing slowly placed his hand back near Dai Yixin’s lips.
“I don’t like madmen,” he lied. “If you get better, I might consider forgiving you.”
