SABA Chapter 73

“Try it tonight?” Jiang Tiao’s phone was on speaker, and everyone in the room could hear it. Zhuang Xiang hadn’t expected the plot to advance so quickly. He had still tried to indirectly remind Luo Xingwen’s assistant about previous cases in the entertainment industry, and Luo Xingwen hadn’t even completely fallen out with Chu Xu yet!

He quickly stood up, but before he could say anything, a dizzying sensation struck him. His vision went black, and his eardrums felt as if they were filled with water, making the outside sounds incredibly distant and muffled. Before he could react, he stumbled and fell straight down.

Jiang Tiao quickly caught Zhuang Xiang, almost flinching from his body heat. The temperature was hot enough to fry an egg!

Huo Shen’s expression was unusually stern. “You go ahead, I’ll handle things here.”

Jiang Tiao thought the same. He didn’t have time to say anything more to Huo Shen. As he walked out, he made several calls. As the elevator descended to the underground garage, he dialed Luo Xingwen’s assistant. He didn’t have time to console or listen to the assistant’s anxious explanation, as if he were an ant on a hot pan: “Go wait at the hotel front desk now. The manager will come to you shortly and take you to the monitoring room.”

It was past ten o’clock at night, no longer the peak traffic hour in City B, but having to repeatedly brake every few dozen meters pushed his already agitated mood to the extreme. Time seemed to stretch infinitely. What he usually considered a not-too-far distance now seemed to have no end.

Tingyu Hotel was hosting the television festival’s appreciation dinner, with at least a thousand people including various staff. Even with surveillance, finding someone wasn’t that easy. He initiated a group call, with all relevant parties waiting for the latest report from the monitoring room.

Red light after red light. This road seemed to have an endless number of red lights.

By the time he rushed to the hotel, they had finally found Luo Xingwen’s whereabouts.

He and the hotel manager, who had a universal master key and assistant Xiao Li, arrived at the eighteenth floor almost simultaneously. However, the door to the room at the end of the corridor had already been violently kicked open. Large shards of sharp glass were embedded in Luo Xingwen’s chest, and the front of his shirt was covered in bright red bloodstains. He lay collapsed in the corner between the sofa and the bedside table, unconscious. His clothes were disheveled, with many torn rips. His face was pale, showing no signs of life.

The portly investor had been beaten into silence by Chu Yanhao. His face was swollen and covered in blood. His closed eyes and unresponsive demeanor left one wondering if he was dead or alive.

Jiang Tiao bypassed the frantic Chu Yanhao and quickly moved the obstructing sofa. After checking his breathing, he felt no pulse, and his heart sank to the bottom. Fortunately, a faint pulse on his neck stopped it from sinking further.

He kicked Chu Yanhao off the investor he had beaten unconscious. Chu Yanhao’s eyes were bloodshot, looking as if he were about to fight anyone who blocked him.

Jiang Tiao, with an even more imposing aura than Chu Yanhao, grabbed his collar and flung him in front of Luo Xingwen. “He’s still alive!”

Chu Yanhao’s hands trembled as he reached for Luo Xingwen’s neck, shaking uncontrollably.

…

The ambulance finally arrived, followed by Nie Jin and Chu Qingchao.

The scene was chaotic, and Jiang Tiao didn’t stay long. He accompanied Chu Yanhao in the ambulance, sending Luo Xingwen to the emergency room.

The constant coming and going of medical staff felt like a dull knife scraping at his heart. No one knew if someone would hand them a critical illness notice the next second.

Chu Yanhao clasped his hands tightly, pressing them against his forehead. Jiang Tiao sat beside him, the air seemingly frozen. He didn’t even dare to breathe heavily, afraid of blowing out the red light shining outside the emergency room.

On one hand, he worried about Luo Xingwen, and on the other, he worried about Chu Yanhao. With so many reporters present, he didn’t know if anything had been photographed. He also didn’t know how the person Chu Yanhao beat was doing. If something really happened to Luo Xingwen…

The ticking of the clock seemed to come from another dimension. He didn’t know what the result would be when the second hand reached its end.

Time lost its meaning in such a wait. Anxiety was like a rubber band being stretched continuously, and no one knew when it would snap.

“He…” Chu Yanhao’s throat was too tight, so the second syllable couldn’t come out. He paused for a moment before speaking again, his voice like scraped iron. “He stabbed himself in the chest with the glass…”

According to the scene, this should be the case, because only Luo Xingwen’s palm had bloodstains from grasping the glass with all his might. And Han Cheng probably, seeing the situation develop extremely, wanted to silence him. He covered his hands with a towel and pressed the glass, intending to inflict further harm on Luo Xingwen, when he was interrupted by Chu Yanhao breaking in.

Jiang Tiao thought Luo Xingwen probably didn’t expect Han Cheng to spare him no matter what.

“He might have wanted to stay awake after being drugged, or he might have been at his wit’s end and wanted to use this method to intimidate…”

“No,” Chu Yanhao’s voice was filled with immense pain, self-reproach, and an inability to let go. “It’s because the last time we met, I told him that holding a knife to your neck to threaten someone is useless. You have to stab yourself to make it effective. He hates me, so he chose this way. He wants me to see how he dies.”

Jiang Tiao felt like his ears were playing tricks on him. He really didn’t know what these two were doing with their love-hate relationship. The main purpose of them being together seemed to be competing to see who could inflict more harm on the other’s heart.

Just as Jiang Tiao was about to speak, he saw Chu Qingchao, his face like a stone, walking over with two uniformed police officers.

Jiang Tiao’s heart sank. He was incredibly flustered and looked at Huo Shen, who had come with them, for help. However, Huo Shen just shook his head.

The opposing lawyer filed a lawsuit against Chu Yanhao for intentional assault. Reporters, tipped off in advance by the mastermind, swarmed the hospital. The relationship between Chu Yanhao and Chu Qingchao was also leaked online by interested parties. The media reports were all eye-catching content like “Moral decay under inflated wealth,” “Rich second generation assaults person,” “Money can buy anything,” and “Privileged class bullies ordinary people.”

Class antagonism and anxiety over unequal social resources made everyone wish they could rush to the court and demand the judge impose a heavy sentence, with many even demanding the death penalty. Chu Yanhao’s past disciplinary actions for fighting and frequenting bars were also reported, directly targeting Chu Qingchao, the CEO of ELEGANT Group. Chu Qingchao’s image plummeted overnight…

There was no worse situation than this.

The only good news was probably that Luo Xingwen had finally passed the critical period after days of treatment. The day Luo Xingwen was moved out of the ICU, Jiang Tiao bought a bouquet of golden lilies to visit him.

Luo Xingwen had lost weight and his face was pale, devoid of any color. He lay weakly on the hospital bed, with bandages wrapped around his chest, where faint bloodstains were still visible.

“How did this happen?” Jiang Tiao asked the question that puzzled everyone. Luo Xingwen had been in the entertainment industry for many years, working his way up from an extra. He should have known better than anyone how to protect himself. How did he get caught in such a situation?

“It was Chu Xu,” Luo Xingwen said with a somber expression, a hint of anger visible. He never drank anything outside his line of sight. That night at the dinner, all the drinks he consumed were randomly picked from the waiter’s tray. The only exception was the glass Chu Xu handed him casually.

A few actors he had collaborated with came over to toast him. By the third toast, the drink in his glass had just finished. Chu Xu, who was nearby, conveniently picked up a glass for him from a passing waiter’s tray.

He had hesitated for a moment then. But at that time, a slightly shy girl was toasting him, and he didn’t want to embarrass her. Moreover, people usually guarded against strangers or unfamiliar staff, and few people guarded against their acquaintances and colleagues. Furthermore, although his relationship with Chu Xu wasn’t as good as before, it wasn’t too bad either. Chu Xu was currently plagued by negative rumors, and he was one of the few in the entertainment industry who hadn’t stepped on him, and even maintained normal interactions with him. He never imagined that Chu Xu would harm him with such despicable means, nor could he understand Chu Xu’s reasons for doing so.

Jiang Tiao was silent. “Then what happened? You realized you were drugged, why didn’t you try to find someone? Or try to go to a crowded place?”

Luo Xingwen: “I didn’t know what kind of drug it was and didn’t feel anything was wrong until I came out of the bathroom. But by then it was too late. The drug took effect very quickly. In an instant, I couldn’t stand up anymore. I had already dialed my assistant’s number.”

Jiang Tiao: “But your phone was taken?”

Hatred flashed in Luo Xingwen’s eyes. “It was Ye Qinghan.”

Jiang Tiao sighed. As expected. They had reviewed the surveillance footage countless times during this period, and Ye Qinghan was the most suspicious. However, because there was no surveillance in the bathroom, no one knew exactly what happened inside.

“You asked him for help, but he took your phone. He hid the unconscious you in a utility closet, and then Han Cheng’s people came and took you away?”

Luo Xingwen himself wasn’t very clear about what happened afterward. He only knew that the last person he saw before losing consciousness was Ye Qinghan. When he regained consciousness, he found himself in an unfamiliar room.

“I don’t understand. What grudge does Ye Qinghan have against me? We’ve barely had any interaction, our career paths are different, and we’re not even rivals. Why would he take such a risk to deal with me together with Chu Xu?”

Seeing Luo Xingwen’s angry and bewildered expression, Jiang Tiao couldn’t help but sigh. In fact, if you look closely, Luo Xingwen was truly an innocent victim. Seeing Luo Xingwen enduring discomfort, coughing occasionally, and not even asking for a glass of water made him want to sigh even more.

He got up, got a cup of warm water, put in a straw, and handed it to Luo Xingwen.

Luo Xingwen was stunned for a moment, lowered his eyes, and said thank you.

Jiang Tiao: “The person they wanted to deal with was actually Chu Qingchao.”

Luo Xingwen was stunned for a moment.

Jiang Tiao: “Did Chu Yanhao tell you about Chu Xu’s relationship with the Chu family?”

Luo Xingwen gave a wry smile and shook his head. “We… rarely talk about these things.”

To be precise, it wasn’t just about these things; their conversations seemed to be getting fewer and fewer. Besides sleeping together and making love, their meetings seemed to only involve verbal mutual harm.

He didn’t know how he had turned this relationship into this. He also wanted it to be good, but this relationship made Chu Yanhao feel incredibly exhausted. He could see that Chu Yanhao had wanted to end it countless times. Besides making Chu Yanhao hate him, he didn’t know what other way he had to keep him.

“I only saw what happened at Chairman Chu’s birthday banquet online.”

Jiang Tiao: “The other protagonist in Chu Xu’s photo set was Ye Qinghan.”

Luo Xingwen was stunned for a moment, then showed a wry smile.

They wanted to deal with him because of his relationship with Chu Yanhao, but he was learning about their relationship with Chu Yanhao for the first time from others.

How ridiculous.

Jiang Tiao sighed again, seeing the self-mockery on Luo Xingwen’s face. He really didn’t know what to say about this matter.

“Do you know who Ye Qinghan sent a message to after he took your phone?”

Luo Xingwen frowned slightly. During his time in the ICU, he couldn’t use his phone. He had asked Sister Jin and Xiao Li, and they only said that the hotel was part of Jiang Tiao’s family’s property, which was why they were able to retrieve the surveillance footage so quickly and asked him to recuperate. He would thank Jiang Tiao after he was discharged.

“I thought it was Xiao Li, and I just couldn’t get in touch with him…”

Jiang Tiao: “They used your phone to make a call to Chu Yanhao, but they didn’t speak. Then they sent him a text message with no beginning or end, only the four words ‘Tingyu Hotel.’ Chu Yanhao called me on his way to find you, and that’s when I found out you were in trouble.”

Luo Xingwen’s tone carried a hint of self-doubt. “Then… where is he?”

Jiang Tiao took out his phone, opened Weibo, and handed it to Luo Xingwen.

[ELEGANT Group’s second young master assaults person, causing an eighth-degree injury.]

[Former Chairman of ELEGANT Group publicly apologizes to victim, admits parental dereliction of duty.]

[Chu Qingchao angrily retorts to reporters, stating he believes in the impartiality of the judiciary.]

[Where will the next eighth-degree injury victim be?]

…

Jiang Tiao took back his phone and shrugged. “The public outcry was too great, and he’s now in detention.”

Luo Xingwen’s brow twitched fiercely. He subconsciously tried to sit up, but Jiang Tiao quickly pressed him down. However, a slight bloodstain had already seeped through the gauze on his chest.

“Calm down!” Jiang Tiao felt a headache coming on, thinking that these two were really one worse than the other in not taking their own conditions seriously.

Luo Xingwen couldn’t sit still at all. “Why is he in detention? He was saving me, isn’t that self-defense?”

“The boundary of self-defense has always been difficult to determine,” Jiang Tiao looked deeply at Luo Xingwen. “But the key is that he didn’t want to drag you into the public eye.”

Luo Xingwen paused. He sat there quietly, like a frozen statue.

…

Jiang Tiao gently closed the door for him. Seeing Huo Shen waiting outside the ward, he sighed softly.

Whether it caused a negative social impact was an important discretionary factor in sentencing. Although public opinion could not determine judicial outcomes, it could influence them to a certain extent. If Chu Yanhao insisted on not involving Chu Qingchao in the entire matter, then the public opinion would not be convincing at all.

Moreover, Han Cheng’s side had their own staged evidence, such as the text message sent from Luo Xingwen’s phone inviting him to the room. Therefore, it was now difficult to even prove that he had attempted to assault Luo Xingwen against his will.

Jiang Tiao: “Brother Qingchao must be driven crazy by Chu Yanhao during this time, right?”

Chu Yanhao didn’t want him to involve Luo Xingwen and refused to reconcile or compensate with Han Cheng, which would put the situation in a very unfavorable position for him.

Huo Shen: “He even stated that Chu Qingchao should publicly distance himself from him.”

This way, regardless of the final outcome, Chu Qingchao would not be affected.

Jiang Tiao: “…Is he trying to drive Brother Qingchao to death?”

Huo Shen: “Perhaps he already has.”

Jiang Tiao was amused by Huo Shen’s serious demeanor while saying such things.

“Actually, I don’t understand. Chu Yanhao can go to such lengths for Luo Xingwen’s reputation and future, which means he clearly cares about Luo Xingwen. Then why doesn’t he want to continue their relationship, and instead wants to end it?”

Huo Shen: “Mutual care might only determine whether they can be together. Whether two people can continue to walk together might require more than just care.”

Jiang Tiao recalled Chu Yanhao’s words, “Why did he say that Luo Xingwen never liked the current him?”

Huo Shen: “Perhaps Luo Xingwen wants to make up for past regrets too much. One is desperately trying to recapture past feelings, while the other has let go of the past and wants to move forward. Their paces are different, so it naturally becomes like this.”

Jiang Tiao’s eyelids drooped slightly, and the corners of his mouth curved into a playful smile. “You’re quite clear when it comes to other people’s problems. What about yourself? If you had told me earlier that the person you liked was me, would we have wasted so much time?”

And deliberately provoked him, making him suffer for so long!

Huo Shen chuckled and hooked his arm around Jiang Tiao’s shoulder, pulling him closer. His warm breath brushed against Jiang Tiao’s ear: “You were always the one saying you didn’t like men.”

Jiang Tiao’s body felt numb, and he almost lost his balance. He struggled to maintain a poker face and glanced at Huo Shen. “So your solution was to deliberately leave me hanging and make me think you liked someone else?”

Huo Shen deliberately lowered his gaze, his eyes showing a half-genuine, half-playful grievance. “You rejected me too many times, I was afraid.”

Jiang Tiao couldn’t stand Huo Shen looking like that. Although he knew that Huo Shen’s words were somewhat intentional and joking, the pain and grievances he suffered over those four years were real. Thinking of it, Jiang Tiao’s heart felt like it was breaking. He ignored the urge to settle the score with Huo Shen and affectionately held his hand.

“You should know me. If it had really been me back then, even if you confessed before I understood my own feelings, I wouldn’t have treated you like this.”

Because he always valued his relationship with Huo Shen more than anything else.

Huo Shen wanted to hear Jiang Tiao say these words to him himself. The past hardships and sorrows seemed to be released, along with the accompanying fear and hesitation. He embraced Jiang Tiao and kissed his ear. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a faint beep from the bracelet on Jiang Tiao’s wrist, the yellow indicator light indicating mild pain that could be tolerated.

This is really annoying! Jiang Tiao’s face fell. “Can we take it off for a day? It’s really ruining the atmosphere!”

Huo Shen thought for a moment. “That’s possible too.”

Jiang Tiao’s eyes lit up, but before he could rejoice, he heard Huo Shen’s next sentence. “Or we can switch to a new product from Frank’s institute.”

“…” Jiang Tiao bitterly added another point against Frank in his mind. What kind of a research institute was this? Taking investors’ money and not doing proper work, spending all day researching these useless things! A shared pain bracelet, did anyone think of something like this? It was fine if one person felt pain, but why transmit the pain to another person?

This clearly showed that he knew he would be reluctant to give it up!

Huo Shen laughed heartily seeing Jiang Tiao’s ashen face. He bit Jiang Tiao’s ear. “I’ve done some research, and there are other ways…”

As Jiang Tiao listened, his face slowly turned red.

Huo Shen squeezed Jiang Tiao’s earlobe, which was red as if it could bleed, and coaxed him with a smile. “Try it tonight?”

…