After The Honest Person Was Discovered For Simultaneously Pursuing Three People - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: “What’s Wrong With Being a Man?”

“What are you all standing around for? Get my brother to the hospital!”

Tao Yuan put her hands on her hips and shouted. She looked at the two people hugging tightly, and seeing that Tao Ning was safe and sound, the stone hanging in her heart finally fell.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and sighed, thinking that she had indeed not misjudged him.

Although Zhao looks like a hooligan and is not to be trifled with, he’s surprisingly warm-hearted. He was even more anxious than she was, as his sister, when he heard that her brother was in trouble.

Seeing how anxious he was, still holding her brother and not letting go, Tao Yuan felt a sense of shame for having had prejudices against Zhao Jingqun before. You really shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

At the same time, she also felt relieved about Tao Ning going to the city to study. With Zhao Jingqun looking after him, Tao Ning wouldn’t be wronged.

The medical staff brought the stretcher over. Zhao Jingqun subtly touched Tao Ning’s forehead with his lips before releasing his tight embrace.

He raised his hand, wanting to tidy the strands of hair stuck to the young man’s face with sweat, but he saw that his palms were covered in blood. All five of his fingernails had been broken while digging through the rocks.

He frowned and was about to pull his hand back, but the young man gently caught his wrist. “You’re hurt… you have to go to the hospital with me…”

Zhao Jingqun didn’t seem to hear what the young man was saying. He was staring at the mud on the left side of his face.

The stain was especially jarring against the young man’s fair, jade-like skin. The tip of his heart couldn’t help but ache intensely again, as if his most precious and beloved treasure had almost been lost and had also been wronged.

Tao Ning saw that the man, whose hand was still dripping blood, wasn’t reacting. He clumsily poked his chest with his hand. This touch seemed to flip a switch on the man.

Zhao Jingqun came back to his senses, his tone a little gruff again: “Don’t move around.”

“Oh.”

Tao Ning didn’t understand why, but he obediently stopped moving.

The medical staff was about to lift him onto the stretcher. Tao Ning shook his head, pointed at Zhao Jingqun’s bleeding hand, and said, “He’s hurt. Please wrap his hand first…”

Before he could finish, his body suddenly lifted into the air. Tao Ning was stunned, and after he realized what was happening, he quickly grabbed the man’s shoulders.

Ignoring the surprised looks around them, Zhao Jingqun picked up Tao Ning in a bridal carry. After walking for a few dozen steps, he gently placed the person in his arms onto the stretcher, his careful manner as if handling a fragile treasure.

He Niannian even forgot to cry. She wiped her nose and watched, dumbfounded.

She had never seen Zhao Jingqun look so nervous. Before, when Old Master Zhao was seriously ill, many important and influential people came to visit.

The He family’s status wasn’t even high enough to enter the front door, but she had gone with Zhao Jingsui and caught a glimpse of Zhao Jingqun from a distance.

The man’s face showed no sign of nervousness, not even a single expression!

One could say that when Zhao Jingqun was just taken back by the family, he didn’t have much affection for the Zhao family, so his lack of emotion was understandable. But this country bumpkin was a stranger to Zhao Jingqun. Why was he so nervous?

Someone who didn’t know might even think this country bumpkin was his wife. He Niannian felt a chill from this sudden thought and figured she must have been mistaken.

She thought she was mistaken, but another lean, dry-looking man who had crawled out from under the landslide began to have his suspicions.

He was the person who was supposed to pick up the He siblings, but he failed to pick them up and instead ran into a landslide. He was really down on his luck.

The lean man approached Zhao Jingqun and asked hesitantly, “Young Master Zhao, I heard from Daozi the other day that you’ve got your eye on someone in the countryside. You’re buying clothes and phones for them. Everyone thought it was a village beauty who had captivated you… It can’t be him, can it?”

Zhao Jingqun watched the medical staff take Tao Ning away. Only then did his long, narrow eyes glance at the man, saying nothing.

The lean man scratched his head. “It really is him? But… but he’s a man! A man! Young Master Zhao…”

He wanted to try and persuade him a little more, but he heard the man’s indifferent question in return: “What’s wrong with being a man?”

The lean man was speechless.

Zhao Jingqun continued with a cold face, “I’ll be taking him back in a while. Sun Lao Er, you keep your mouth shut. If I hear any rumors, I’ll come for you first.”

His cold gaze swept over him, full of threats and warnings. Remembering the ruthless and reckless way this man fought, Sun Lao Er shivered. He said fawningly, “I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare. This… this sister-in-law is as beautiful as a fairy. It’s understandable that you’ve fallen for him. Don’t worry, even if someone were to put a gun to my head and force me to talk, I wouldn’t dare open my mouth.”

Zhao Jingqun scoffed. It wasn’t until Tao Yuan ran over, saw his bleeding hand, and screamed, “You silly child! Why didn’t you go to the hospital with Ning Ning? Come here!”

They still took the old tricycle to the hospital, which was actually just a larger clinic in town.

Tao Ning was about to take Zhao Jingqun to get his hands bandaged, but he turned his head, and the person was gone. She mumbled, “Hey—this kid.”

In the hospital room, the doctor was wrapping the abrasions on Tao Ning’s lower legs with gauze, frowning as he said, “There’s something wrong with your wound. The bleeding has only just stopped. A person with this kind of minor injury would normally stop bleeding in a few minutes. I suggest you stay in the hospital for a few more days for observation.”

The table was piled high with blood-stained gauze. Tao Ning’s face was pale. He was wearing black pants when he went out today and didn’t notice that his lower legs had been scraped by rocks. The fear of being under the landslide had numbed the pain, but he felt a sticky sensation on the soles of his feet.

At that time, he thought it was sweat, but now he realized it was all blood. He couldn’t keep his shoes anymore.

So when Zhao Jingqun rushed over, the first thing he saw was a pile of blood-stained gauze. Tao Ning was barefoot, his face pale, like a thin sheet of paper that could be blown away by a gentle breeze.

Seeing this, Zhao Jingqun felt a tightness in his chest that made it hard to breathe. He immediately walked over and squatted down, staring at Tao Ning’s bandaged legs. “Why is he bleeding so much? Does he have other health problems?”

The doctor answered truthfully, “It looks like there might be a problem with his blood clotting. Are you his brother? I suggest you take him to the People’s Hospital in the city to get it checked out later. But the bleeding has stopped now. If you stay in the hospital for a few more days for observation, you can be discharged if there are no problems.”

After the doctor left, Zhao Jingqun used his washed hands to tuck him into bed. He wasn’t as weak as Tao Ning, who couldn’t stop bleeding for a long time. In no time, his fingers had stopped bleeding on their own and were starting to scab.

Zhao Jingqun frowned and said, “When your injuries heal, I’ll take you to Star City for a check-up.”

Star City was the provincial capital of X Province, where the best medical resources in the province were concentrated. But the city he would be going to in the future was one of the most economically developed cities, Haizhou City. A short two-month summer vacation wouldn’t be enough to treat anything, and he couldn’t afford the medical expenses either.

Tao Ning lowered his eyes. He couldn’t say that his body would get better after the capture mission was completed.

At that moment, the system’s “woo woo woo” immediately stopped when it heard the man say he wanted to be with him. It was so happy that it started playing a song in his mind: [I’ll never call you a simpleton again. You managed to capture Zhao Jingqun so quickly, you’re amazing! Now we can proceed to the second step. Find a way to make him say ‘I love you,’ and then dump him. That way, you won’t be delayed from going to the city to capture the other two.

Tao Ning came back to his senses, looking at the urgency in Zhao Jingqun’s eyes. His slender hands couldn’t help but clutch the blanket. “…I don’t want to go.”

Zhao Jingqun’s frown deepened. “No, this is not open for discussion.”

Tao Ning slowly turned his head away, refusing to look at him. The graceful lines of his profile were tense, and his rosy lips were slightly pouted, as if he was unhappy.

But even when the young man was angry, he was still unbelievably beautiful.

Seeing this, Zhao Jingqun felt a little helpless. He didn’t expect this simpleton, who looked so easy to bully and manipulate, to have such a big temper and a stubborn personality.

But remembering what he said on the mountain, Zhao Jingqun’s expression became unnatural, and his tone softened. “Listen to me, okay?”

He gently ruffled the young man’s hair. “We’re just going to get you checked out. If there’s no problem, we’ll come back.”

Hearing this, Tao Ning finally turned his head to look at him but asked abruptly, “Are we… together?”

Zhao Jingqun’s scarred hand froze, and his gaze instantly turned cold. “What? Trying to welch on our deal? I’m telling you, it’s not possible. Don’t even think about it. You’re the one who provoked me first.”

Seeming to realize his tone was too harsh, he looked away and said awkwardly, “So I’m taking you to the hospital for a check-up. It’s my… my duty as your boyfriend. As your boyfriend, I’m taking you because I care about you.”

“…Boyfriend?”

The young man softly murmured these three words, his face showing a bewildered expression, like a little white rabbit that had been tricked and taken home by a big bad wolf.

Seeing this, Zhao Jingqun’s heart completely melted, and the corners of his mouth curved up involuntarily. “Yes, from today on, I’m your boyfriend. You, Tao Ning, now belong to me, Zhao Jingqun.”

—And I belong to you too.

But he didn’t say these four words out loud.

However, the next words the young man said made his heart skip a beat. “What should a boyfriend do?”

The young man on the hospital bed slightly tilted his small, delicate face. His features were like a vibrant painting. His light brown eyes looked at him innocently and ignorantly, like an angel who had fallen to earth and knew nothing of the world.

Zhao Jingqun’s breathing became ragged. He remembered Sun Lao Er saying, “The sister-in-law is as beautiful as a fairy,” and his eyes darkened. He suddenly reached out his hand.

In the next moment.

Tao Ning felt a warm, rough hand covering his eyes. The man’s faint tobacco scent rushed over, and a burning temperature followed. Then, his rosy lips were lightly pecked by another dry pair of lips.

“…Do this.”

The man’s voice was extremely hoarse, like rusty iron.

Tao Ning’s eyes were covered, so he couldn’t see the expression on the man’s face. But if he could, he would have been a little shocked.

Because the man covering his eyes was like a lone wolf who had found a mate after a long time. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was staring fiercely at the rosy lips under his palm, his gaze as if he wanted to devour the owner of those lips whole.

Zhao Jingqun took a deep breath, his exhaling breath trembling. After a moment, he finally put his hand down and coaxed him softly, “Be good. Aren’t you going to study in the city? I’ll take you to the hospital then.”

What he really wanted to say was that he would be going back in a few days, and then Zhao Jingqun would take Tao Ning with him. But he was afraid of scaring him, so he made the time frame a little longer.

In any case, he would definitely take this little treasure with him. If he wasn’t by his side, he wouldn’t feel at ease. Moreover, judging from what had happened, the young man was easily injured in the mountains, so Zhao Jingqun was even more worried.

But he didn’t say any of this.

Tao Ning seemed to be convinced and nodded, no longer stubborn.

Zhao Jingqun was relieved. He tucked him in again, cleaned all the utensils on the table, took the blood-soaked shoes with him, and closed the door to go take care of his hand injuries.

When he came back after his wounds were treated, the young man on the hospital bed was already fast asleep. He lay there quietly. The orange sunset streamed in, and it seemed as if time around him also became still. Everything was incredibly beautiful.

Zhao Jingqun was completely mesmerized. He tiptoed over, placed the new, soft, clean slippers under the bed, and couldn’t help but bend down, wanting to be a little thief and steal a kiss just like the young man had done to him.

Unexpectedly, just as his lips touched the young man’s nose, there were a few bangs, and the hospital room door was suddenly pushed open.

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