Chapter 14: Every man has a few scars

If he was just being paranoid, that would be the best outcome.

He had to go check.

If it really was… if his suspicion turned out to be true…

He didn’t dare think about the worst-case scenario.

Passing the parking lot halfway up the mountain, he found it empty and deserted. Only a few empty buses sat by the roadside. Xu Lin glanced around and then ran straight down the mountain.

The largest parking lot at Yuehua Mountain was at the foot of the mountain. Even though they and the Danshi students were on two different peaks, they shared the same parking lot.

Ji Jixuan’s car should be down there.

Xu Lin didn’t dare slow down for even a moment. He had never run so fast in his life. By the time he reached the parking lot at the foot of the mountain, his insides felt like they were about to explode. The taste of rust churning in his lungs, rising to his mouth, nearly made him vomit on the spot.

He gasped for breath, searching the vast parking lot.

On the other side, Ji Jixuan stood by the roadside, scrolling through documents his assistant had just sent to his phone. Because he needed to attend an emergency meeting, he had left early, cutting short this event he wasn’t interested in but had been forced to attend.

The arranged driver arrived quickly. A black car appeared from the end of the road and stopped in front of Ji Jixuan.

“Young Master.”

The driver got out and opened the car door for Ji Jixuan. Ji Jixuan lifted his foot to step in but suddenly stopped, pulling his foot back.

The driver, who had been keeping his head down and quietly watching his movements, froze. He looked up and unexpectedly met Ji Jixuan’s icy gaze.

“Ji Jixuan!”

The moment Xu Lin’s voice rang out, everything happened in an instant. The driver’s hand shot toward his waist. Ji Jixuan caught the movement in his peripheral vision. Without even blinking, he reacted swiftly, raising his leg in a horizontal kick that connected squarely with the driver’s head. The force of the blow sent the driver flying backward, rolling several times across the ground. A small remote control slipped from his hand and skittered away.

Ji Jixuan stepped on the remote’s casing, then casually kicked it into a nearby bush.

The driver lay on the ground, blood streaming from his mouth and nose. Ji Jixuan’s kick had been brutal. He lay there for a long time, unable to recover.

Ji Jixuan turned his head. In the distance, Xu Lin was running toward him, shouting something, but he was too far away for Ji Jixuan to make out the words.

“Cough…”

The driver let out a low, raspy cough. Ji Jixuan shifted his gaze away from Xu Lin and looked back down at the man on the ground.

The driver let the blood flow freely down his face as he slowly pushed himself up from the ground.

His suit jacket hung open, revealing a row of miniature bombs strapped to his waist.

Seeing that his plan had failed, he didn’t resist. Instead, he looked at Ji Jixuan with a complicated expression and suddenly smiled at him.

“Mr. Ji was right,” the driver said, spitting blood as he spoke, his voice hoarse with a sigh. “Young Master… you truly are a worthy successor. Suspicious enough. Alert enough. It’s just a pity… every single person in the Ji family is rotten to the core. Every last one of you is heartless…”

He laughed, a low, rasping sound. “People like you will never come to a good end. How could you? Karma will come. Mr. Ji was the first. Young Master, you’ll be the second. Hahaha—”

As his laughter grew unhinged, the bombs strapped to his body let out two sharp, shrill beeps. The next second, he was blown apart into a shapeless mist of blood.

Immediately after, a strange, dissonant noise came from the black car in front of Ji Jixuan. The vehicle burst into flames in an instant—a massive explosion and a billowing cloud of black smoke engulfed the area where Ji Jixuan stood.

All of this happened within a matter of seconds.

The ground itself seemed to tremble. The shockwave from the blast overturned several rows of nearby vehicles. Ear-piercing alarms blared across the parking lot. Shards of metal and flying debris scattered everywhere. It took over two minutes for the scene to gradually settle.

Xu Lin’s ears were ringing, as if he were underwater, sounds muffled and distorted. After a brief moment to collect himself, he shook his dazed head and struggled to open his eyes, looking down in panic.

At the moment the driver detonated, Xu Lin’s mind went blank. His body moved mechanically, his feet never stopping. He charged toward Ji Jixuan, who had frozen for a split second, and just before the car exploded, he threw himself on top of Ji Jixuan, tackling him to the ground and rolling them both away. Using his arms and body as a shield, he took the brunt of the blast for him.

Flames licked at Xu Lin’s face. The car had been torn apart into a shower of white-hot, razor-sharp debris. One piece, the size of a palm, sliced across Xu Lin’s left cheek like a blade. At first, he felt no pain—only an itching sensation, followed by something warm streaming down his face.

“Are you okay?” Xu Lin didn’t even bother wiping his face, his eyes filled with anxiety as he checked on the person beneath him.

Ji Jixuan, who had been tightly shielded by Xu Lin’s arms and body, was completely unharmed. Seeing him safe, Xu Lin let out a sigh of relief.

He glanced at Ji Jixuan’s face and clothes, now covered in dust and grime. Inappropriately, he thought to himself: This clean freak is definitely going to be bothered by this later.

Ji Jixuan didn’t answer Xu Lin’s question. Instead, he stared at him with an expression of disbelief and shock, as if he was seeing something terrifying.

Xu Lin had never seen that look on his face before.

He almost felt like teasing him, but before he could say a word, red droplets appeared in his vision.

Drops became trickles, trickles became streams. It was as if a bucket of red paint had been poured over him—blood poured freely from his body, splashing onto Ji Jixuan’s collar, staining his neck and clothes, pooling in the hollow of his collarbone.

In Ji Jixuan’s amber pupils, Xu Lin’s reflection stared back—a blood-soaked specter, looking as if someone had cracked his head open.

What happened after that was blurry.

He was taken to the hospital, dazed and confused. As he was rushed through the halls on a gurney, Ji Jixuan stayed by his side the entire time. Before losing consciousness from blood loss, he overheard Ji Jixuan talking to a doctor.

“No vital organs were damaged. His eye can be saved. But the wound on his face is too deep. It will leave a scar even after healing. His face… most likely cannot be restored to its original state.”

Ji Jixuan was silent for a long time before he finally said, “Treat him first.”

After that, Xu Lin lost all awareness.

When he woke up again, the first thing he saw was blinding white.

He was in a hospital.

Xu Lin didn’t know how much time had passed. He only knew he was lying in a bed, an IV needle in the back of his hand, fluids dripping into his veins.

His body still felt sluggish. He didn’t rush to sit up. Instead, he looked around to take in his surroundings.

It was a spacious, clean room with a large floor-to-ceiling window.

No one else was in the room. Xu Lin struggled to sit up in the bed. The movement made him hiss in pain—the left side of his body felt like it had been run over by a wheel. His back burned as well. Looking down, he saw that his blue-and-white striped hospital gown covered a torso wrapped in layers of bandages.

He finally managed to sit up properly, the IV tube pulling back slightly with a hint of blood. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he realized it wasn’t just his body that hurt—the left side of his face was also throbbing. It felt as if something with sharp, serrated jaws was gnawing at him, making it impossible to get comfortable.

He could taste blood in his breath.

He reached up with his other hand and touched a layer of gauze.

Half of his face was tightly wrapped.

Right. The explosion. He’d been caught in the blast…

Wait—what about Ji Jixuan?

Just then, the hospital room door swung open.

Ji Jixuan, the very person he’d been worrying about, walked in.

He looked intact—no missing limbs, no visible injuries. He was probably fine. Lucky him. Unlike Xu Lin, who was wrapped up like a mummy.

“You’re awake. How do you feel?” Ji Jixuan asked softly as soon as he entered and saw Xu Lin sitting crookedly on the bed.

Xu Lin blinked.

Something felt different. Although Ji Jixuan’s expression was as blank as ever, his tone seemed less cold than before.

“Does it hurt a lot?” Ji Jixuan asked again when Xu Lin didn’t answer.

Xu Lin shook his head, but the movement made the left side of his face throb even more. He gritted his teeth and said, “Not too bad.”

“You had stitches on your face and body. Don’t move around too much.”

Stitches. He’d never had stitches in his life before. Xu Lin asked, “What’s my condition?”

“Your back has burns, as well as some embedded metal fragments and glass. Quite a few of them. But they didn’t damage your bones or internal organs, and your nerves are intact. The fragments have been removed. As for your face…” Ji Jixuan’s gaze flickered. “It was also injured.”

“Oh.” Xu Lin didn’t think much of it. He was used to getting hurt. After a while, he’d get used to the pain. He’d been blown up and still had all his limbs intact. “I guess my luck isn’t that bad after all.”

He asked about what happened that day. “By the way, how are you? Are you hurt?”

“…” Ji Jixuan stared fixedly at Xu Lin, making him feel a bit strange.

After a moment of silence, Ji Jixuan said in a low voice, “No.”

“How long was I out?”

“Three days.”

“Three days… Oh! What about school?” The camping trip had ended long ago. Xu Lin suddenly remembered he hadn’t even asked for leave from school. He was only one step away from graduation. After struggling through four years, he couldn’t afford any problems now.

He threw off the covers and tried to get out of bed, forgetting about his injuries. The sudden movement sent a sharp pain through him, and he froze like a stiff robot.

Ji Jixuan said, “Don’t move.”

“But—”

Ji Jixuan placed a hand on his shoulder, clearly displeased with his fidgeting. “I’ve already arranged leave for you.”

Xu Lin was stunned. “You… arranged leave for me?”

“Yes.” Seeing that Xu Lin had stopped moving, Ji Jixuan let go. “Stay in the hospital for now and recover. Don’t worry about anything else.”

Xu Lin rubbed his shoulder where Ji Jixuan had grabbed him. “This won’t affect my graduation, will it?”

“No.” Ji Jixuan said it with certainty. Xu Lin figured he wouldn’t lie to him, so he relaxed a little.

They fell silent again. The room grew quiet.

Xu Lin lay back down. The IV dripped steadily. Suddenly, the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile.

Two years had passed, and he was talking to Ji Jixuan again.

How could he still be smiling when he was so badly injured? Ji Jixuan asked, “What are you laughing at?”

Xu Lin’s eyes curved gently. “Long time no see, Ji Jixuan.”

A week later, Xu Lin’s stitches were removed by the doctor. For the first time, he saw in the mirror the face that had been hidden beneath the gauze.

He almost didn’t recognize himself.

An irregular red scar spread across the left side of his face, from his cheek all the way to his ear, extending down to his neck and shoulder—the marks of burns. There was also a jagged gash, starting from his left temple and slanting down to just below his left eye. The scar from the stitches looked like a cracked bramble branch.

The worst parts were still oozing a little blood.

A burn scar and a gash, both squeezed onto half of his face. It was truly… hard to look at.

The doctor saw him staring at the mirror for a long time and sighed silently.

This probably couldn’t be called just “scarring.” It was disfigurement.

When Xu Lin had been brought to the hospital, he’d already lost too much blood. The situation was urgent. The doctors had focused on saving his life, with no time to worry about how to stitch his face to minimize scarring. Anyone could see that his half-destroyed face could never be restored.

Compared to his life, his face wasn’t as important.

But who really didn’t care about their own face?

The doctor tried to comfort him. “The wound hasn’t fully healed yet. It looks a bit frightening now. During this recovery period, make sure to apply the medication properly to prevent infection.”

“After it’s fully healed, if the scar really bothers you, you can have it removed with surgery.” His wound was too deep; surgery might not fully restore his face to its original state. The doctor didn’t say that part out loud. People needed hope.

Xu Lin gently touched the damaged skin on his face. Under his fingertips, the surface was uneven.

He blinked.

“Let it stay, then.”

Xu Lin looked at the unfamiliar face in the mirror, indifferent. “Every man has a few scars.”

Besides, a scar earned for someone you love—wasn’t that a man’s badge of honor?

Xu Lin had been disfigured. Everyone felt sorry for him.

Only the person involved remained utterly unbothered.

After applying the medication and putting on fresh gauze, Xu Lin carried a bag of bottles and jars for both external and internal use back toward his room. Passing the nurses’ station, he caught a glimpse of a news report playing on the TV.

One week ago, a vehicle explosion occurred in an outdoor parking lot on the outskirts of Danshi. A forty-seven-year-old driver died on the scene. One passerby was injured. The investigation indicates the cause of the accident was an electrical circuit overload from aging wiring, triggering the vehicle’s explosion.

Xu Lin thought for two seconds. The “passerby” was probably him.

The driver had been blown to pieces on the spot. A suicide attack with a human bomb—and it had been disguised as an accident.

Had the Ji family… had Ji Jixuan suppressed it?

The time displayed in the corner of the TV screen was 1:00 PM.

Seeing that it was time, Xu Lin immediately returned to his room.

He pushed open the door. The empty hospital bed already had someone sitting beside it.

Hearing the door open, Ji Jixuan turned to look at him.

Xu Lin smiled. “You’re here.”

“Yes.”

During the week Xu Lin had been hospitalized, Ji Jixuan had visited him every day.

Arriving promptly at 1:00 PM, sitting on the accompanying chair for an hour, and leaving promptly at 2:00 PM. Like an NPC that refreshed at a fixed time.

“How are your injuries?” Ji Jixuan asked.

“The stitches are out. I just applied the medication.” Xu Lin set the bag on the bedside table. “It doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

Ji Jixuan casually glanced through the bag of medication and frowned. “That’s all?” As if dissatisfied with what the doctor had prescribed.

Xu Lin said, “These are enough.”

Ji Jixuan didn’t respond, lost in thought.

“Ji Jixuan,” Xu Lin sat on the edge of the bed, swinging his feet, “I want to be discharged.”

Xu Lin had inquired over the past couple of days. This hospital was in the heart of Danshi and normally only accepted Alpha and Omega patients. He didn’t know what methods Ji Jixuan had used to get him, a Beta, into a private room without any objections.

He’d discreetly asked a nurse about the room rate and was shocked to find that one day here cost as much as he’d spend in an entire year. He silently marveled—as expected of the Ji family’s young master. His extravagant spending was truly an eye-opener for a poor man like Xu Lin.

The money pained him. Whose money it was didn’t matter; it still hurt.

He didn’t want to stay here.

He’d tried to leave on his own before. But every time he so much as set foot outside the hospital entrance, someone would promptly pull him back to his room.

It could be a doctor, a nurse, or even a cleaning lady.

Xu Lin wasn’t stupid. He guessed they were all Ji Jixuan’s “eyes.” In this hospital, it seemed Ji Jixuan’s word was law. If Ji Jixuan didn’t nod, he’d never set foot outside the door.

He had no choice but to appeal to Ji Jixuan directly.

Xu Lin said, “I have just over a month until graduation. I want to go back to school.”

Hearing this, Ji Jixuan frowned. “Your wounds haven’t healed yet.”

Xu Lin pressed on. “The stitches are already out. The wounds on my back are almost healed. The doctor said that as long as I apply the medication on time, the one on my face will be fine. I can take care of it myself. I don’t want to stay in the hospital.”

“No.” As expected, Ji Jixuan refused.

“Why?” Xu Lin was unwilling to accept this.

He was baffled. “I’m just a little scarred on my face. It’s not like I’m incapacitated. Why do you insist on keeping me here?”

This seemed to upset Ji Jixuan. Though his expression remained mostly unchanged, his face visibly darkened. His jaw tightened, and a vein bulged on his neck. “And what about you? Why did you do it?”

Instead of answering, he turned the question back. Xu Lin was confused. “Do what?”

“Why did you throw yourself in front of me?” Ji Jixuan’s voice was cold, carrying a hint of anger.

Xu Lin paused, falling silent.

“I didn’t ask you to do that. I didn’t ask you to die for me.”

“…” Xu Lin’s fingers clenched, nails digging into his palms. He muttered, “Who said I was dying? I’m still alive, aren’t I? Why are you so worked up?”

Ji Jixuan’s gaze fell heavily on the gauze on Xu Lin’s face.

“Why?” Ji Jixuan pressed, his tone relentless.

It was as if this question had been weighing on him for a long, long time, and now, finally able to ask it, he was desperate for an answer.

Xu Lin took a deep breath. He couldn’t dodge the question any longer. He suddenly felt like he had nothing left to lose. After all… after all, he was about to graduate and leave Danshi anyway.

He let himself fall back onto the bed, the harsh fluorescent light from the ceiling glaring into his eyes.

Xu Lin squinted and said, “You still don’t know why? It’s simple.”

He raised his index finger and pointed at Ji Jixuan’s face, speaking openly and without shame.

“Because I like you, idiot.”