Chapter 235: Back To That Key Moment ⑦
“…Presently, we’ve achieved critical results with our psychotherapeutic drug and hope to…”
A voice chattered endlessly into Lu Xiufan’s ears. He raised his head in confusion, his dilated pupils gradually focusing. Everything in front of him was both familiar and unfamiliar, the lab, the researcher, his brother Lu Xiuqi, the medicine, and…
Little Ze!
Lu Xiufan’s breathing stopped, his heart almost stopped beating as the Little Ze who had left him more than a decade ago, appeared in front of him alive again.
“Ah!”
At this moment, a scream rang out, and Lu Xiuqi, who was beside him, suddenly went berserk and jumped on a researcher, biting his ear to death. He then broke away from the others and picked up the metal chair and smashed it towards the location of the laptop.
Lu Xiufan’s pupils contracted abruptly. A scene he would never forget, and every time he thought back on it, he felt remorseful of. Why couldn’t he have been faster? Just a little faster, and he could have saved him!
As the chair flew past his eyes, Lu Xiufan jumped up and grabbed one of the legs of the metal chair. The inertia pulled him forward a few steps regardless. Despite his best efforts to stop it, the back of the metal chair still hit the back of Shang Ke’s head.
Shang Ke grunted and fell to the ground.
“Little Ze!” Lu Xiufan’s eyes were red as he threw down the chair and rushed to Shang Ke’s side. He carefully took him into his arms, and then used his trembling fingers to check his breathing…
He was alive, he was still alive.
Lu Xiufan raised his head and breathed a sigh of relief, a look of relief shown on his face.
The lab was in chaos, but Lu Xiufan could no longer care about his brother, who was still berserk. He picked up Shang Ke and walked quickly towards the medical room. Before he left, he ordered the bodyguards to deal with the event.
Although he didn’t know why he was back in time, he thanked the heavens for blessing him and giving him the opportunity to change history. As long as he could save Little Ze, no matter what it took, he would not hesitate to pay whatever price he had to pay!
【Brain Treatment in Progress… Estimate time is three months…】
【Dear Host, my greatest apologies. Because the System needs to follow the laws of the world, the exact time and place of each second chance cannot be pinpointed so hurt will likely be harmed. Please forgive me.】
Shang Ke : …When did you become so polite?
【The System has as many good points as the fur of an ox, Dear Host just hasn’t found them all.】
Shang Ke : Can you use the idiom properly first before talking about your good points?
【Dear Host, you currently have brain-damage, so it is normal for your comprehension skills to be reduced.】
Shang Ke : I’m taking back any compliments I made about you.
【This is the end of our chat. Dear Host, if you would gracefully enter sleep-mode and wake up in three months.】
Although he always knew that the System was unreliable, Shang Ke still didn’t expect it to be so outrageous this time.
He didn’t know which calendar the System was using when it said three months, but by the time he woke up, it was already three years later!
The difference between three months and three years is like eighteen thousand miles, okay?
Shang Ke was lying on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling in fascination. He had just woken up and his brain was still a bit foggy, but when he saw the time displayed on the wall clock, he slowly remembered everything in this world.
According to the development of his last life, it was now the third year after his “death”. He didn’t know how Lu Xiufan was doing, and whether the medicine had been successfully developed.
“Little Ze.” While thinking, a slightly stifled voice came from the side.
Shang Ke turned his head and saw Lu Xiufan walking over quickly. He squatted beside the bed, holding his hand tightly with an undisguised excitement and joy in his eyes.
“You’re finally awake.”
Shang Ke moved his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but his throat was dry and he couldn’t make any sound at the moment.
“Don’t worry, take your time.” Lu Xiufan called the doctor, and after a series of examinations, tests, and infusions, he finally confirmed that Shang Ke was conscious, and his mind was almost back to normal.
Lu Xiufan sat on the edge of the bed, quietly gazing at Shang Ke’s sleeping face. His years of depression, pain, and remorse, at this moment, all turned into satisfaction and peace…
Three days later, Shang Ke was able to get into his wheelchair and wander freely around the villa. In the meantime, he also learned from Lu Xiufan about the major events that happened in the last three years. First of all, Lu Xiufan overthrew all the power and cleaned up a large number of black sheep, many big families suffered heavy losses, and new powers emerged.
Secondly, the research and development of the psychotherapeutic drug has been patented internationally, and is produced and sold exclusively by the commercial organization belonging to the Lu Family.
Shang Ke’s brain was also healed by the drug, which greatly extended the life of a covenantor. However, the drug could not completely repair the damage. Whether or not a covenantor could have normal emotions would depend on their own recovery.
Shang Ke thought that this would not be a problem for him at all. He could express his emotions well even before he was cured, let alone after. But to his surprise, he couldn’t control his facial muscles.
He wiggled his eyes at the mirror for a while, but his face still had the same cool and calm expression.
What’s going on?
While wondering, the System’s voice suddenly popped up:
【The situation is that the Host’s seventh pair of cranial nerves, commonly known as the facial nerves, were damaged. Although the System worked hard to repair them, it still left some minor problems.】
“Don’t I have the ‘Perfect Image Pack’? You said something like, ‘No matter what kind of accident Dear Host runs into, you will have the legendary 360 degree perfect facial expression and figure posture’. And now it malfunctions with just facial nerve damage?”
【Dear Host, do you know how facial nerve damage usually looks like? Facial muscles are paralyzed, eyes are slanted, mouth is slack. If the mouth is slack, drool would just overflow. If it weren’t for the beautification of the Perfect Image Pack, Host would simply be unfit to be seen, okay?】
“Is it as serious as you said?” Shang Ke was suspicious.
【The System has ‘slightly’ exaggerated, but there’s no denying that the Perfect Image Pack plays a positive role in preserving Host’s image.】
Shang Ke : “…So, I’ll have to be a facially paralzed man from now on?”
【Not so. The Perfect Image Pack will continue to mend Host’s damaged nerves for as short as one or two years, and as long as seven or eight years. It’s almost done.】
“One or two years and seven or eight years, isn’t the span between them a little too big?”
【Being able to get it fixed it pretty good already.】 The System replied irresponsibly.
Shang Ke : You are no longer that although dishonest but practical and realistic System I know.
At this time, Lu Xiufan walked into the room and saw Shang Ke sitting by the window looking in the mirror. He asked, “What’s wrong?”
Shang Ke shook his head, indicating that he was fine, then put the mirror on the window sill and turned to look at him.
Lu Xiufan walked behind Shang Ke and said as he pushed the wheelchair into the villa, “There’s something I want to discuss with you.”
He carried Shang Ke to the sofa, put a pillow under him and covered him with a blanket before Lu Xiufan said, “Before, in order to prevent someone from harming you, I announced that you were dead, and then secretly moved you here. Now that you have recovered, I need to reassign an identity to you.”
Lu Xiufan looked at Shang Ke, his eyes overflowing with tenderness, “Little Ze, what name do you want to call yourself?”
Shang Ke took his hand and wrote the word “Shang Ke” on it.
“Shang Ke, Keke…” Lu Xiufan murmured softly and smiled lightly, “Okay. From now on, your name is ‘Shang Ke’, not Yue Family’s Yue Ze, and also not the covenantor, Shang Ze, but the genuine free man, Shang Ke.”
Shang Ke’s eyes sparkled with light, overlapping with Lu Xiufan’s memory of his brightness.
Lu Xiufan cupped his face and gave him a peck on the lips, “Keke, when you get well, let’s go on a trip?”
When Shang Ke’s mind wandered off, he felt a cold sensation on his wrist and looked down to see a watch-shaped camera on his left hand.
“Happy birthday, Keke.”
That hand-drawn picture of a cake was one of Lu Xiufan’s regrets from his previous life. July 19, he firmly remembered the date, and every year from now on, on this day, he would send him a cake. A sweet, real cake.
“Happy birthday, Young Master Ze.” Feylin pushed a large cake into the room, smiling and wishing him well.
Shang Ke’s eyebrows were slightly arched, and although the curve was small, it was easy to feel his joy.
“Keke, make a wish.” Lu Xiufan helped him light the candles, a total of eight, plus the three years of unconsciousness, Shang Ke was 26 years old this year, “No matter what you wish, I will help you fulfill it.”
Wishes, he had plenty of. So let’s fulfill them all with our entire lifetime.
Shang Ke suddenly raised his head and left his mark on Lu Xiufan’s mouth.
Before Lu Xiufan’s heart could bloom in happiness, he saw Shang Ke reach out his hand to Fei Lin again.
His face darkened, and he stopped, “Not this one,” he said. He even casted a warning glance at his butler.
For the first time, against his master’s wishes, the butler, who had always done his duty, fearlessly approached Shang Ke and solemnly offered him his face.
Shang Ke hugged him and gave him a large smooch on his face.
Lu Xiufan stared grumpily at the smiling Fei Lin, wondering if he should exercise his right as the master of the house…
In fact, Shang Ke has no concept of a birthday, and the reason he left a hand-drawn cake on the computer was just a whim. He had no idea that his “whim” had made Lu Xiufan hung over it for half of his life.
Of course, it was a great pleasure to spend a birthday with his lover. Shang Ke treasures this intention very much.
That night, after taking a hot bath, Shang Ke was lying on the bed, using the computer to organize his photos.
At this moment, Fei Lin walked into the room with a cup of hot drink.
“Young Master Ze.” He placed the hot drink on the bedside table first, then said, “I have a favor to ask of you, Young Master Ze.”
Shang Ke stopped, turned to him, and gestured for him to speak.
Fei Lin said with a worried expression, “Sir had a very difficult few years, often encountering terrorist attacks and almost losing his life several times. It left him with many injuries. The doctor told him to nurse himself, but he delayed it all. For each day Young Master Ze wasn’t awake, he would not have a peace of mind. If this continues, his old injuries would worsen and be hard to cure. I wish for you to talk to him about it.”
Shang Ke turned pale. He closed his computer and let Fei Lin help him into the wheelchair. Then he pushed himself towards Lu Xiufan’s bedroom.
As soon as he reached the door, he heard a deliberately muffled coughing sound from inside.
Shang Ke pursed his lips and pushed straight through the door.
Lu Xiufan raised his head alertly, and upon seeing Shang Ke, his expression stiffened.
Shang Ke’s eyes swept over the bottle of medicine on the table and the glass of water in his hand. Something dawned on him.
No wonder Lu Xiufan hasn’t been in the same room with him all these days. He thought he had conquered the lust in his body and become a pure man who knows how to abstain from sex. Who would have thought he was actually sick, and was even hiding it from him…