HOYSE CHAPTER 104

Chapter 104 — Don’t Waste Time

The mood on the way to the hospital was strange. Wu Fuyu lay on the gurney and played dead.

After emergency treatment, he was pushed into a room and slipped into a medicated sleep. For once he was not raising a ruckus. The quiet on his face gave him a surprising gravitas, a faint echo of the stern authority that clung to the Wu family patriarch.

Police officers were waiting outside the ward. They needed statements about the attack at the movie theater. If no one had been injured, everyone would already have been taken to the station. Seeing that their friend had just come out of the ER, the officers held back and did not press them.

Gu Xi listened to the doctor’s instructions and wrote them down one by one. Rong Jing spoke with the officers in the hall.

Because Rong Jing had previously reported a suspected criminal and been commended as a brave citizen, the police took today’s assault very seriously. The call log that just came in from headquarters suggested this was likely a premeditated murder attempt rather than a random attack, which made the case far more severe than they had first assumed.

When Wu Fuyu’s assistant got the news, he called the Wu family home, then hurried to the hospital. The Wu consortium had kept a very low profile lately. Wu Hanqi, the man at the helm, had barely appeared in public. Outsiders whispered that winter had come for the Wu family.

The assistant arrived and saw Rong Jing. He bowed at once.

Rong Jing, still speaking with the officers, nodded to him and tipped his chin toward the ward.

It was hard to imagine that the all-conquering “crown prince” had a moon he circled, and that moon was an Alpha. The very, very Alpha kind. Anyone around Wu Fuyu would sigh about the same thing: he could have liked anyone, and he just had to like someone no amount of money or power could touch.

The officers had notified several victims’ families. As they were doing that, Rong Jing’s phone rang. It was Mr. Hu, a university advisor, calling in tears of relief to say a suspect had been caught. After the break-in at his home, Rong Jing had visited often, so Mr. Hu shared the update with the student who kept encouraging them.

Rong Jing soothed him a few words, told him not to get too worked up, and to be careful on the road.

When he first arrived in this world, Rong Jing received so much kindness. It was that kindness that made him stay. He often thought that since he was here, he should try to do something, change something, and leave a mark.

He finished with the officers and went into the ward.

Gu Xi had already sent the aftercare notes to the assistant. The assistant said, “Leave this to me. You should go handle your affairs. I will stay with him.”

Rong Jing and Gu Xi met each other’s eyes. Gu Xi signaled that Wu Fuyu’s condition was stable. Rong Jing then told the assistant, “Call me if anything changes.”

He glanced at the bed and stepped closer just as Wu Fuyu’s eyelids twitched.

Rong Jing bent down and said quietly, “Thank you.”

When he saw that guy rush at Gu Xi earlier, his heart nearly stopped. Maybe Gu Xi would have dodged on his own, maybe he would not have. Either way what Wu Fuyu did was undeniable. The thanks was sincere.

Wu Fuyu pressed his lips together and kept his eyes shut. He continued to play dead.

Have you ever died of embarrassment in public?

If you have, then you know how he felt. He was certain what had just happened deserved a line in his all-time Book of Shame. There was no way he was opening his eyes right now.

Once Rong Jing left, the assistant came back to the bed, and Wu Fuyu’s eyes opened.

His abdomen still ached. He stared up at the ceiling until his eyes dried out, then slowly covered them with his hands.

“What the hell was I thinking? Why would I do something that stupid and thankless?”

Whenever he imagined Gu Xi being in danger, he imagined Rong Jing being in pain. If that was even a possibility, then all he could see was Gu Xi getting hurt. He was not nearly magnanimous enough to save his rival in love. He simply did not want Rong Jing to hurt.

“I am never doing that again,” he muttered, rolling onto his side and turning his back on the assistant to stew by himself.

The assistant thought, as long as you are happy. At first he had found the young master headstrong and impossible to serve. Now that he knew the man’s genuine temper a little better, everything was… unexpectedly human.

Clips of the theater incident had already hit the internet. There were a lot of people on site, and Wu Fuyu had not covered his face, so rubberneckers got good shots. The Wu family’s legal and online teams moved fast. Before the photos could spread, they were scrubbed. Thus, the impact was contained.

Gu Xi scrolled. “All gone. The Wu family moves fast.”

Rong Jing said, “As long as that man is still there, the Wu family will not fall.”

They went down to the garage to get the car. They needed to head to the station and give statements. Gu Xi tugged lightly at Rong Jing’s sleeve. “Rong… Rong Jing.”

Not far away, the butler was pushing a wheelchair. In it, half-awake and half-asleep, sat Wu Hanqi. He looked worse than the last time they had seen him.

The power of a “heaven’s will” was fading, and the one bound to it was fading too.

As they drew close, they heard Rong Jing speak. Wu Hanqi opened his eyes slowly. Age had barely marked him, but fatigue weighed heavy. His irises were no longer pure black; a sheen of silver glimmered there. When he looked up, storm clouds seemed to gather. It felt as if the gaze alone could break things to pieces.

He did not waste words. His pace was slow, yet every syllable landed with force.
“The Wu family will handle this. You will have an answer.”

“Uncle Qi, are you going to the station to see how it ends?”

“No need.” He waved a hand. He did not meddle by nature, but if someone touched his family, he paid it back in full. “Anyone involved in this, not one is getting away.”

It was clear he meant both the suspect and whoever was behind him. Wu Hanqi would not be letting either go.

As they moved away, a final sentence drifted to them. “Don’t waste time.”

Gu Xi’s heart gave a small jump. Somehow he felt those words were meant for him.

At the station, during the statement, an officer showed Rong Jin a photo of the suspect before plastic surgery. The face looked ordinary, almost unmemorable, but the eyes brought back a chill of recognition. If there had been a red birthmark on the side of the neck, it would have been certain. It matched the fake chauffeur he had run into with Guan Hongyi not long after arriving in this world.

Before the surgery he had been painfully average, nothing to fix in the mind. On the run, he had tweaked his features multiple times and was extremely alert to being tracked, which made him much harder to catch. Now he was in custody. The police were gathering evidence and preparing to charge him.

Rong Jing noticed the color drain from Gu Xi’s face. He thought of how close Guan Hongyi had come to dying and felt a shiver of fear. He squeezed Gu Xi’s hand. Gu Xi gave him a gentle smile in return. He was worried, but there was something else too. Since Guan Hongyi had thrown himself into a one-sided pursuit, Gu Xi worried even more about that pointed sentence from Wu Hanqi.

“Why did he have my information?” Rong Jing asked.

That was what mattered. He had reported the suspect anonymously. If the man found him to take revenge, someone had investigated him and fed the suspect his details.

The police already had a lead, but proving it would take time. The latest news was that the person who had sold the information was trying to leave the country overnight. He had been stopped at the airport and was being held. They needed to find evidence before the detention window closed.

As Rong Jing stepped out of the station, he crossed paths with a detainee being escorted off a patrol car.

He looked coldly at Chu Yang. Chu Yang looked back, full of frustration and impenitent resentment.

Counting the previous brushes, this was the first time Rong Jing had faced this scumbag head-on, the only one who had hurt Gu Xi before Rong Jing even came to this world.

As Chu Yang passed Gu Xi, he smiled with fake innocence. “I don’t remember, but I must have touched you. I bet you felt great. What a pity~”

A few light words almost dropped Gu Xi to his knees.

The wind was cool, and he felt colder still. He had worked so hard to break free, yet these ghosts refused to disperse.

He did not dare look at Rong Jing.

This was one of the things he feared letting Rong Jing know most, and now it lay there in front of them. Most Alphas wanted their omegas to be spotless, untainted. This world was built to protect omegas, but those protections came with suffocating expectations. Someone like him, who had been imprisoned, was “dirty” in too many eyes.

He heard Rong Jing’s footsteps.

Gu Xi did not move. He lifted his head and met the eyes that looked like they held a river of stars.

A soft kiss landed on his forehead. “I know. Do not be afraid.”

In the original text it was only a brushstroke, but the damage had always stayed, a scar in the deepest part of Gu Xi’s heart.

“I am dirty…” His throat tightened.

“You are not. Not even a little.”

Rong Jing folded him into his arms. The shivering eased by degrees.

He had never truly feared Chu Yang. He had feared that once Rong Jing knew, Rong Jing would leave.

As long as Rong Jing gave him one word, he could be unbreakable.

…

Gu Xi had just steadied himself when they were about to leave.

“Rong Jing, is that you?”

A couple with wet eyes stood behind them. After hearing the suspect had been caught, the person they most wanted to see was the citizen who had reported him. They had never expected that the student they had just called on the phone would be that very man. The world was a strange place.

Gu Xi quietly gave them space and went ahead to the car.

In the days that followed, Rong Jing handled the remainder of the case. With the Wu family’s help, Chu Yang’s trial was scheduled within the month.

By the time everything was settled, it was late when Rong Jing finally came home.

Gu Xi woke in the night. He slept lightly when Rong Jing was not beside him. A dark shape stood at the side of the bed. He rubbed his eyes. “You are back early tonight?”

The figure said nothing and lunged.

In the dark, the man looked down at him like a hunter sighting prey.

Gu Xi felt it was Rong Jing, and the roughness sent a shiver through him. He liked how fierce Rong Jing could be and the heavy Alpha possessiveness, yet something felt wrong.

“Rong… Rong Jing?” The last of his drowsiness vanished.

“Mm.”

It was Rong Jing’s voice, but his heart hammered. “What are you… I am going to turn on the light.”

The man moved lower. He tore open the pajama shirt and covered Gu Xi’s mouth, not letting the words of refusal escape as if he intended to take everything in one sweep.

Gu Xi stared at the head bowed over his chest. His resistance faltered.

Then, while the man was not guarding against it, Gu Xi snapped his knee up and kicked. The man tumbled off the bed.

Gu Xi flicked on the bedside lamp. The Alpha in front of him sat up where he had fallen, tall as a mountain. The warmth in Gu Xi’s chest went cold. His gaze sharpened.

“As I thought,” he said. “It is you.”

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