OEBSAS |Chapter 5

The next morning, Shao Xian went with Cai Yalan to the hospital to pick someone up, only to come back empty-handed.

The Shao family’s nanny was already pacing around anxiously. When she saw Cai Yalan, she hurriedly explained, “Madam, I just went to the bathroom, and when I came back, Xiao Zhou was gone.”

Shao Xian quickly walked over to the nurses’ station and asked where Chen Baizhou had gone.

After checking, the nurse replied, “His mother took him home from the hospital.”

“When?”

“Not long ago.”

Shao Xian frowned. With the Chen family’s character, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t inflict a second round of harm on Chen Baizhou.

Since he had already gotten involved from the very beginning, there was no room for him to back out at the last minute.

“Mom, let’s go back. Wenjie and I will go find Chen Baizhou to play.”

Cai Yalan felt a pang of heartache and took Shao Xian’s hand. “If you go play at the Chen family’s place, don’t cause trouble.”

“Mom, don’t worry.”

After returning to the villa district, Shao Xian called over Qian Wenjie, and the two of them went together to the Chen family’s place.

The Chen family’s courtyard gate was closed.

Before Shao Xian even said anything, Qian Wenjie was already yelling, “Chen Baizhou! Chen Baizhou! Hurry up and come out to play together!”

He shouted so loudly that even the neighbors on both sides heard him, but the effect was very significant.

Shao Xian couldn’t help giving him a thumbs-up.

The Chen family also cared about their face, and they didn’t dare provoke the Shao family or the Qian family.

Bai Meijuan personally came to open the door, smiling very unnaturally. “Baizhou is resting.”

“Auntie, we want to go see him, is that okay?” Shao Xian asked with wide eyes, pretending to be innocent.

“Come in.” Shao Xian was already walking into the courtyard, so she couldn’t stop him even if she wanted to.

After the two of them entered the Chen family’s living room, they saw Chen Yu sitting on the sofa, eating fruit with one leg crossed over the other.

The Chen family’s living room was decorated in luxurious splendor. After Chen Changjian got rich, he liked these things that looked wealthy. That was a personal preference, and Shao Xian did not comment on it.

“What are you two here for? My house doesn’t welcome you.” Chen Yu disliked Shao Xian, so naturally he had no good expression.

He did not care about Chen Changjian’s instructions. Why should he lower himself beneath Shao Xian just because they lived in the same villa district?

Bai Meijuan was worried Shao Xian would get angry, but she also didn’t dare to smooth things over, afraid of making Chen Yu unhappy.

Shao Xian completely ignored him and asked Bai Meijuan, “Auntie, where is Chen Baizhou’s room?”

Bai Meijuan cautiously glanced at Chen Yu. Seeing the dark expression on his face, she felt a little afraid and did not dare answer.

“Auntie, can I go upstairs and take a look?”

Shao Xian asked again, and without waiting for Bai Meijuan to agree, he took Qian Wenjie and rushed upstairs.

“Which way?” Qian Wenjie asked.

The second-floor hallway was empty and deserted, without a single human shadow. The golden varnish and the paintings hanging on the walls were practically dazzling.

Shao Xian looked toward the end of the hallway. There it was somewhat dim, impossible to see clearly, as if a giant beast were lying in wait, its bloody maw open, waiting for its prey to enter.

Just as he was about to step forward, a burst of hurried footsteps came from behind.

“Shao Xian! Who told you to go upstairs in my house? Get the hell out, all of you!” Chen Yu’s face was covered in a gloomy expression.

Shao Xian turned around and bared his teeth in a smile at him. His teeth were neat and white, and his smile looked harmless, yet for some reason it made people feel a little uneasy inside.

“Then last time you still dirtied my house’s garden. Why didn’t I see you apologizing?” His provocative look made him seem like an unreasonable little tyrant. “What’s wrong with me going upstairs in your house?”

As he spoke, while Chen Yu was so angry he couldn’t say anything, he dragged Qian Wenjie straight toward the end of the hallway.

There was a very small door there, narrow and short, and there were some marks on it, as if it had been violently struck by something.

“Shao Xian, what are you doing here?” Qian Wenjie asked in confusion.

It was gloomy and dark here, and it made people feel pretty uncomfortable.

Shao Xian ignored him and directly reached out to knock on the door. After quite a while, there was still no response from inside.

“Shao Xian, what are you doing? Who could live in a place like this? There’s definitely no one opening the door,” Qian Wenjie urged Shao Xian to change places.

Shao Xian glanced at him calmly, then reached out and turned the doorknob.

It actually opened easily.

Although he didn’t know where Chen Baizhou was staying, according to the child’s status in the Chen family, it definitely wasn’t a good place.

He had to try his luck.

At this moment, Chen Yu appeared behind the two of them, saying with a face full of resentment, “Chen Baizhou is sleeping and doesn’t want to see you.”

“Are you sick?” Qian Wenjie let out a direct ghostly yell. “Do you walk without making any noise? You scared me to death.”

Chen Yu suppressed the impulse to throw a punch, and said through gritted teeth, “This is my house.”

“Oh.” Qian Wenjie rolled his eyes at him.

He still hadn’t settled the score for the ball he kicked Shao Xian dizzy with! Wait, what did Chen Yu’s words just now mean? Could it be that Chen Baizhou really lived in this room?

Shao Xian pushed the door open directly.

The room was very cramped, but quite tidy. Right in view was a little single bed pressed against the wall, and the blanket on the bed was spread out very neatly.

Shao Xian lightened his steps and walked to the bedside.

The child was almost entirely sunk into the blanket. Because he was too thin, from the surface of the blanket, one couldn’t even make out a human shape at all.

With such a big commotion, Chen Baizhou couldn’t possibly not wake up.

The gauze on his left eye had been pulled off by someone, and his right eye was bruised and swollen, so he could only squint slightly and look at Shao Xian.

“Didn’t we agree to go play at my house?” Shao Xian took a deep breath and asked softly.

Chen Baizhou shrank inside the blanket, and tears came streaming down instantly.

He hadn’t cried when he was insulted and beaten. He hadn’t cried in the hospital. But now, because of just one sentence, his tears could no longer be stopped.

He had agreed to Shao Xian, but he hadn’t done it. Now that he saw Shao Xian, he also felt wronged.

“S-sorry…” Once the tear valve was opened, he could no longer control it.

“Fuck, why the hell are you crying!” Chen Yu roared, his face full of disdain. “Pretending what? Just like your mother, disgusting!”

Shao Xian said nothing and just stood by the bed watching.

“Chen Baizhou, don’t cry. We’re not blaming you,” Qian Wenjie said awkwardly.

He had never cried since he was little, and whenever he saw other people crying, he always felt a chill in his heart.

Chen Baizhou tried hard to hold back his tears, but he still lay motionless in the blanket.

Shao Xian looked around and couldn’t find any tissues, so he had no choice but to use his hands to wipe Chen Baizhou’s tears, saying expressionlessly, “Your eyes still haven’t healed. Don’t cry and make them worse.”

Chen Baizhou gave a soft “mm.”

“Do you want to go play at my house?” Shao Xian asked again.

“Go what go!” Chen Yu sneered. “If you go, then don’t come back!”

Qian Wenjie clicked his tongue and gave him a sideways glance. “Aren’t you tired of singing a one-man show all by yourself?”

Chen Yu got so angry he was about to fight him, but was shocked into stillness by Shao Xian’s gaze.

Those pair of widely praised big eyes were now staring coldly at him, making him unable to help taking a step back.

“What do you want? If you want to fight, I’ll accompany you!” he shouted with false bravado.

Shao Xian turned his face away and said blandly, “You’re too ugly. It hurts my eyes.”

This was simply a critical hit.

Chen Yu was only an eleven-year-old child as well, with a pride that was outrageously strong, and he cared the most about other people’s evaluation of his looks.

He was born to Chen Changjian and his first wife. Chen Changjian looked very ordinary, and his first wife also looked very ordinary, so Chen Yu’s appearance was truly as plain as it could possibly be.

In the villa district, his looks could only be considered the bottom among the children.

How could he not be jealous?

Bai Meijuan was able to marry Chen Changjian as a working girl, and the most crucial thing was still that face of hers, because she was very pretty.

Although Chen Baizhou was black and blue all over, from his features alone, his looks were something Chen Yu couldn’t even match by getting plastic surgery.

Chen Yu couldn’t bully other children, but under Chen Changjian’s indifference and Bai Meijuan’s weakness, he had always treated Chen Baizhou as his outlet.

He even felt that Chen Baizhou was just a little ant in his hand. He could pinch him however he wanted, and even if he pinched him to death, it didn’t matter.

Now someone had come to stand up for the little ant, so of course he was unhappy.

But this person, he also couldn’t provoke.

No matter what, Chen Baizhou was still their Chen family’s property, and Shao Xian could only back him up for a few days. Could he possibly back him up for a lifetime?

“Shao Xian, don’t go too far!” he yelled angrily, but could only restrain his fist from smashing into Shao Xian’s face.

Shao Xian completely ignored him. Seeing that Chen Baizhou was no longer crying, he said, “Come on, come play at my house with me.”

“I, I…” Chen Baizhou was so anxious he could barely speak, his face burning red.

Shao Xian frowned. When he had entered the room just now, he had smelled a strange odor. Now that strange odor was assaulting his nose again.

Qian Wenjie was much more direct than he was, pinching his nose as he asked, “Why does it feel like there’s a piss smell?”

Shao Xian’s heart lurched. He suddenly reached out and lifted a corner of the blanket, and immediately his blood rushed upward. He turned around and punched Chen Yu hard in the face, not holding back any of his strength at all.

“Shao Xian!” Qian Wenjie was at a loss. “What’s wrong?”

Shao Xian had no time to pay attention to him. He directly pulled back the blanket, revealing Chen Baizhou’s emaciated body.

He wasn’t wearing any clothes, lying naked on the bed, and his whole body was tightly bound with hemp rope, the constriction making his skin somewhat purplish.

Under him, the bedsheets were soaked through with urine.

“Holy shit!” Qian Wenjie couldn’t take it anymore at all. After Shao Xian, he also went red-eyed and wrestled with Chen Yu together, shouting, “Are you even human, you bastard!”

Chen Yu roared back, “I’m disciplining him, how the hell is it any of your business!”

While shaking hands to untie Chen Baizhou’s ropes, Shao Xian soothed him with a trembling voice, “It’s okay, it’s okay. Once the ropes are untied, we’ll leave. It’s not your fault. Who doesn’t have an urgent moment, right? We’ll go outside to use the bathroom.”

Tears started flowing down from Chen Baizhou again.

Shao Xian let out a slight breath of relief. It was good that he could cry.

After untying the ropes, he found some old clothes and quickly put them on Chen Baizhou, not the least bit disgusted by the fact that he had just wet the bed, and asked, “Can you walk?”

Chen Baizhou wiped his tears with his dark purple hands, nodded, and stretched out his legs to get down from the bed, only to find both legs completely numb.

Shao Xian looked at his own small frame and let out a helpless sigh in his heart. “It’s okay, I’ll carry you. Tell me where the bathroom is.”

He had originally thought he wouldn’t be able to carry him, but as soon as he slightly lifted his arm, he easily picked the child up.

Too light, like a sheet of paper.

Chen Baizhou pointed out a direction, and Shao Xian cursed again in his heart. The bathroom was actually so far from the room!

The Chen family really were something!

“Qian Wenjie, stop fighting.”

Shao Xian’s one sentence stopped the two still brawling. Qian Wenjie got up from the floor and spat at Chen Yu, “Weakling!”

Chen Yu lay on the ground gasping for breath. As the one who had lost the fight, he already had no strength left to howl back at anyone.

On the first-floor living room, Bai Meijuan nervously picked at her fingers.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard the commotion upstairs, but she had no standing to interfere. Whoever she provoked would only make her own life worse.

After a while, the noise upstairs subsided, and heavy footsteps sounded, seeming to head toward the bathroom.

A few more minutes passed, and someone came downstairs. She turned around to look.

“Second Young Master Shao, Young Master Qian… Xiao Zhou.” Her expression was extremely awkward, and she seemed completely afraid to meet the gazes of the three of them.

Shao Xian’s expression had already returned to normal. His big eyes curved into a smile, looking as if he had no scheming at all, and he said in a bright voice, “Auntie Bai, I want to take Chen Baizhou to my house to play for a few days. Is that okay?”

“Of, of course it’s okay.” The smile at the corners of her mouth was a little strained.

Clearly the one standing before her was only a half-grown child, so why did she feel a little cold behind her back?

“Thank you, Auntie.”

Shao Xian turned around, held Chen Baizhou’s hand, and walked out step by step, his face showing no expression at all.