Given that he lived in a a lawful society, He Yu obviously couldn't toss Xie Qingcheng into the underbrush to torture him for the sake of vengeance. But in any case, there was no way for them to leave, so the two of them ended up accepting their fate and returned to the camping grounds with nothing to do but stare at each other and make idle conversation.
Perhaps this is what actually happened with Adam and Eve—they weren't really in love, they simply had no other options than each other. After all, they could hardly spend all their time talking to the snake in the tree.
"Little devil," Xie Qingcheng spoke up.
Aside from Xie Qingcheng, no one else ever called He Yu "little devil."
Furthermore, whenever he called him this, it usually meant that Xie Qingcheng intended to have a proper conversation with him.
He Yu turned. "Mm?"
"Has the injury on your hand healed?"
"It has." He Yu smiled. "Doctor Xie, why are you worrying about my hand? That day at the police station, you seemed like you were half-tempted to stab me again."
"You know that I genuinely don't want to hear others talk about the past."
"Then did you know that I was genuinely trying to apologize to you that day?"
Xie Qingcheng looked up without a word.
He Yu's smile remained, but his eyes were cold and indifferent when returning Xie Qingcheng's gaze. "It's just how I am, Xie Qingcheng. I wasn't being insincere that day, nor was I, as you said, speaking like a member of the bourgeoisie giving a PR statement. Ever since I was little, it was always you guys who demanded that I control my emotions. Could it be that it's been too long since you left your job that you've forgotten what you once told me yourself?"
A few beats of silence passed, and Xie Qingcheng said, "It's true that it's been a long time since I left my job."
"It's been four years."
"And in that time, I still haven't had the chance to ask you properly," said Xie Qingcheng. "How are you doing?"
"Much better." He Yu smiled once more. "There's no need for you to worry. Regardless of how I see you as a person, I've always considered your medical philosophy to be sound and kept the instructions you gave me in mind."
Xie Qingcheng took in the youth's indifferent expression and said, "That's great. Your illness demands that you save yourself. No matter what doctor you have, the most important thing is your own mindset."
He Yu fell silent for a spell, then lowered his head and smiled. "Just listen to yourself—these words of yours, why do they sound so familiar? Ah," he paused as his eyes glazed over with a chilly sheen. "I remember now. You said those words to me once before, Doctor Xie. It was the day when you left…"
The day when Xie Qingcheng had quit being his doctor.
The previous day, after He Yu and Xie Xue had finished doing some reading at the library, it began to rain. He Yu walked Xie Xue home under his umbrella.
"Thanks for walking me all this way."
"It's nothing."
"Do you wanna come in for a bit? Though my house is kinda small…"
"Won't I be intruding?"
"Of course not. I was just worried you'd feel uncomfortable." Xie Xue smiled as she pulled He Yu's hand and led him toward the alleyway where her house was located.
Xie Qingcheng wasn't home, but Li Ruoqiu was.
The woman was sitting at her desk and in the middle of messaging someone on her phone with an irrepressible smile on her face. She didn't even look up when her little sister-in-law stepped into the house, as she said, "Xie Xue, you're back."
He Yu rarely interacted with Li Ruoqiu. As he entered the house, he very politely said, "Li-sao, sorry for the disturbance."
Li Ruoqiu started in surprise at the sound of his voice and lifted her
head. "…Ah, a VIP, a VIP. Quick, take a seat."
She got up in a hurry to make him some tea.
He Yu smiled. "Saozi, there's no need to trouble yourself. I was just walking Xie Xue home, so I'll be leaving soon."
"What are you saying? Take a seat, I'll go fetch you guys some snacks."
She turned and left.
Xie Xue leaned over and said, "Saozi's a pretty good person, and super enthusiastic. But if you refuse her, she'll get angry."
Li Ruoqiu was a very strong-willed woman indeed; He Yu could tell based on the handful of fleeting encounters he'd had with her. Not to mention, what kind of ordinary woman would want to marry a cold and patriarchal man like Xie Qingcheng?
So, he obediently took a seat. The old houses in Huzhou's alleyways were very cramped. This one in particular was a studio that had been partitioned with curtains. The junior-high-school boy had already reached puberty and hit his growth spurt and all the changes that came with it.
This was the first time he had entered Xie Qingcheng's personal territory. His gaze flickered across the furnishings of the room and paused for a moment on that double bed half-hidden behind gauze curtains. A strange sort of feeling arose in his heart.
It was difficult for him to imagine what Xie Qingcheng and Li Ruoqiu would do there.
He Yu very politely averted his gaze.
"Here's the tea, now. And I've brought some snacks too. I don't know if you're used to eating this sort of thing, though." Li Ruoqiu handled the household tasks with a smile. She brought over a pot of hot tea and little pastries; there was even a platter of cut fruit on the tray. "Give it a try. I baked the pastries myself."
"Saozi, you've really gone to a lot of trouble."
Li Ruoqiu covered her mouth with a hand and laughed. Her clever eyes sized up He Yu and Xie Xue in turn.
Although these two children had a significant age gap, adolescent boys grew very quickly. Plus, He Yu wasn't wearing his school uniform today—instead, he was dressed in fall clothes: a high-collared black shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap. He was also already nearing 180 centimeters, so he didn't look much like a junior high schooler at all. When he sat next to Xie Xue, who was a few years older than him, their heights and appearances were, in fact, quite well matched.
A brief silence fell over the room.
After a few minutes, unable to help herself, Li Ruoqiu let out a "pfft" of laughter and waved a hand. "Okay, you two chat, you two chat. I'll go visit Auntie Li for a while."
"Ah," Xie Xue said. "Saozi…"
But Li Ruoqiu had already waltzed out of the room.
Even an idiot would know what she was thinking, what with the eyebrow-waggling smile she had graced them with before leaving. Xie Xue immediately felt a bit awkward, and her little face visibly flushed red.
"Um, He Yu, I'm sorry. My sister-in-law really likes to watch idol dramas, and the more she watches, the more likely she is to overthink things."
"It's all right." He Yu looked down and drank a mouthful of warm tea. Li Ruoqiu's misunderstanding made him quite happy, so he smiled and said, "I don't mind."
He liked Xie Xue a lot, so Li Ruoqiu hadn't misunderstood much at all.
"Oh, right. Your brother's not working tomorrow, but he's coming to my house to take care of some business. Do you want to come with him? After he's done, I'll take you out to barbecue."
Hearing that there would be food, Xie Xue happily agreed.
However, when He Yu got home that evening, he saw the lights were on in the living room. Lü Zhishu was sitting inside reading the newspaper when he walked in—a surprising sight.
Lü Zhishu and He Jiwei were rarely home. The He family had two permanent villas: one in Huzhou and the other in Yanzhou, which was the primary residence. He Yu had only ever lived in Yanzhou when he was very young. When he was five, he had been taken to live in Huzhou. But it was different for his younger brother, who was expected to study and was used to raising hell with his rich playboy friends in the area. He had a heart attack whenever he saw that elder brother of his who excelled in all areas, so he pretty much only stayed in the primary residence.
So it came to be that the brothers lived on opposite sides of the Yangtze River, and when their parents were free, they were naturally more willing to stay with the precious, innocent, and cute younger brother. Unless there was pertinent business to take care of, they very rarely came to stay with He Yu.
"Why are you back?" He Yu ventured hesitantly.
"I just had some business," Lü Zhishu said as she put down the newspaper. "Sit down, I have something to tell you."
Instead, the young teenager took off his backpack and shoes and walked into the room to stand in front of his mother, making her look up at him.
He Yu looked down. "Go ahead."
Lü Zhishu poured a glass of red wine for herself, took a sip, and then said, "Tomorrow will be the last day Doctor Xie comes to treat you. After that, he will no longer be our family's personal physician."
He Yu froze in shock. He had not expected this.
After a long time, he heard himself say in a seemingly calm tone, "Why so sudden?"
"Mm. I didn't tell you beforehand because I was afraid you'd make a fuss if you knew."
"Why?"
Lü Zhishu didn't answer his question directly. Instead, she said, "We are already in the process of wrapping everything up and settling the medical bill. Once he comes to report to me tomorrow, he will also say his goodbyes to you. As for after that…"—she took another sip of wine before landing the final blow—"you should stop interacting with their family."
He Yu fell quiet.
"Do you understand my intentions? We aren't members of the same class. Lao-Zhao told me you were visiting Doctor Xie's home in Moyu Alley with his sister when I had him pick you up this afternoon." Lü Zhishu sighed. "To tell the truth, you've made me quite disappointed. Mencius's mother moved thrice, carefully selecting neighborhoods in which to live. All parents hope their sons can be surrounded by appropriate companions."
She assessed the boy's figure, already tall and broad. Then, she shifted her gaze up to land on He Yu's face, which was already distinctly handsome.
"Especially female companions."
Silence hung over the living room for a long time before He Yu finally asked, "Are these Doctor Xie's intentions?"
"Resigning is his intention. Having you keep your distance from their family is mine." Lü Zhishu spoke honestly as she smiled and closed the gap between herself and He Yu. She looked up as she lifted her hand to smooth back his fringe.
"But I think Doctor Xie understands my intentions as well. He wouldn't want to maintain superfluous connections after his work is finished either. He's a very rational person; it's one of the reasons why your father and I appreciate and trust him so much."
When He Yu didn't respond, Lü Zhishu added, "If you don't believe me, you can ask him yourself tomorrow."
The next day, Xie Qingcheng came.
After signing and handing over the papers, he gave He Yu one last medical checkup. When it was completed, he said softly to the boy lying on the medical recliner, "Your mother should have already told you."
He Yu didn't say anything.
"Starting from tomorrow, I will no longer be serving your family. If you feel unwell in the future, don't distract yourself by self-harming like you did in the past. In addition, no matter which doctor comes to treat you in the future, remember that the most important thing is your own mindset."
As expected, when the young doctor said these words, he didn't bring any of his personal emotions into it.
Lü Zhishu was right. To Xie Qingcheng, the boundary between He Yu and himself had always been perfectly clear. Their families were from completely different worlds; He Yu was the young master of the He family, the son of He Jiwei, and Xie Qingcheng was simply a doctor their family had hired.
It wouldn't be beneficial for He Yu either, to always rely on a doctor to manage his mental plights.
Xie Qingcheng was very calm because he understood this better than anyone else.
He provided his patients with care, support, and powerful mental encouragement, but there was no sentimentality in his farewells. He always handled doctor-patient relations in this crisp and clean manner. So, in the end, he only said, "All right, little devil. I wish you a speedy recovery."
The boy who had just reached puberty suppressed the anger in his heart and stared at him. "You don't have anything else you want to say to me?"
He waited for a while, but Xie Qingcheng didn't respond.
He Yu said, "All right. If you don't, then I do."
Xie Qingcheng still said nothing.
"Xie Qingcheng, I've gone through many doctors these past years. They had me take medicine, gave me shots, and looked at me with an expression that said I was a singular, unique patient. You were the only one who was different. It's true that I really don't like you, but I've taken in every word you said because you were the only one who treated me like someone who could and should integrate into society. You told me that taking medicine and getting shots weren't the most important things, that it was most crucial for me to make connections with others and build up a strong sense of self—that's the only way I can keep holding on and move forward."
He Yu paused briefly. "Doctor Xie, we're not very close, but I still… I…"
At this point, He Yu found himself unable to continue for a long time. He stared fixedly at Xie Qingcheng's face through his almond eyes. "I thought you saw me as a normal person with feelings, not just as a patient."
"I do see you as a normal person with feelings," replied Xie Qingcheng.
"And yet you'd leave so suddenly, just like this?" The teen's anger radiated from his mature body in a frightening aura of tangible pressure as he struggled to contain his emotions. "Are relationships between two normal people like this?"
Xie Qingcheng took a moment to choose his words. "He Yu. I know that you might find this sudden, and I certainly should have let you know earlier, but your parents and I have already discussed this matter. I cannot go against their wishes, especially not your father's. Not only can he be considered an old friend of mine, but he's also my employer. Therefore, so long as I do not betray my own principles, I must respect his wishes first…"
"Then what about my wishes?"
Xie Qingcheng said, "I'm just a doctor."
"I'm your employer too." He Yu stared at him. "Why didn't you ask what I wanted?"
Xie Qingcheng sighed. "Control yourself, young man. I don't mean to disrespect you, but you're still a student. My salary isn't something that you'd be able to afford."
He Yu didn't know what he was thinking. At this point in his life, he was already very calm and unflustered, and could navigate adult interactions without losing his composure. But when he thought about how Xie Qingcheng and Xie Xue were going to leave, he suddenly felt extremely helpless and blurted out, "I have a lot of allowance, I can—"
"Save it to buy cakes."
He Yu stared at him silently.
"I'm not a slice of cake that you can buy just because your father won't get it for you," Xie Qingcheng reasoned. "I came to treat you largely as a favor to him. It's impossible for me to go against his wishes, do you understand?"
"Why does he want you to leave?"
"He didn't want me to leave," Xie Qingcheng said. "It was my own choice. Didn't you ask me just now if such a separation, this end to our relationship, is normal between people?" Xie Qingcheng gazed into He Yu's eyes as he continued, "It is. Although I see you as a normal person with feelings, the relationship we've established between us is that of a doctor and his patient. Relationships between people must always come to an end; even your parents, the people closest to you, cannot accompany you for life."
Xie Qingcheng paused, letting his words sink in. "Now, our doctor-patient relationship is at an end, so I must leave. This is a very normal conclusion to relationships between normal people."
He Yu didn't reply.
"Your father and I agreed at the beginning that the duration of this relationship would be seven years." Xie Qingcheng looked into He Yu's eyes again. "It's not suitable for someone to continue staying with you at this stage of your illness. Sooner or later, you'll have to depend on yourself to walk out of the shadows in your heart. Do you understand?"
"So, you think the same way as my mother—that after today, there shouldn't be any other contact between you and me, between Xie Xue and me?"
"If you need our help, you can contact us at any time," said Xie Qingcheng. After a pause, he added, "As for the rest of the time, it's really not necessary."
He Yu held his tongue.
"Also, your mother told me that you went out with Xie Xue alone," Xie Qingcheng said. "As her guardian, I do feel that this is rather inappropriate."
He assessed the teen and said in a calm and sensible voice, "I know that the two of you have a large age gap, that what you feel for her is only a sense of dependence and that you have no other intentions. But it's inevitable that certain ugly rumors will crop up in time, and that wouldn't be good for either of you."
He Yu didn't correct his excessively archaic and naive thinking. He only said, "So, you approve of my mother's methods."
"I do."
He Yu stared at him for a very long time. Then, he sat back down and sunk into his chair. He propped his chin in his hand as he smiled slightly. That smile seemed like clouds obscuring the sun, thoroughly and completely covering the millimeter of genuine emotion that he only ever revealed with so much difficulty.
He Yu said, "Doctor, you're really…so calm. It makes it seem like you're even more heartless than me even though you're not ill. Very well. Since it's already come to this, you may go. I will keep note of what you said. I will save myself, very calmly, and live on, very calmly. In addition, I wish you every success and a smooth-sailing career moving forward. However,"—He Yu changed the topic—"Although Xie Xue is your sister, she has the right to make her own decisions. So, no matter what you say, I will still go looking for her."
Xie Qingcheng frowned, and his stare grew sharp as a knife. "She's a girl, and you're already fourteen. You should have some sense of appropriate distance. Why do you insist on sticking to her?"
"Because she's not like you."
A beam of light cut decisively across the ground, leaving one of them in the light and the other in the darkness, like two broken fragments splintered down the middle.
"She is the only bridge I have to the outside world."
Xie Qingcheng paused for a moment before replying, "Then you should find another bridge."
The time had come. He had other matters to attend to and couldn't keep talking to He Yu, so he left.
For the remainder of the day, from dusk until the dead of night, He Yu sat in the chair without moving a muscle.
He Yu thought, Xie Qingcheng was such a cunning person. Xie Qingcheng always spoke reasonably. He was the one who had told He Yu that he hoped for him to treat himself as a normal person; he was the one who had told him that people could walk out from the shadows in their hearts all on their own. He was even the one who caused He Yu to develop the delusion that no matter how close He Yu got to Xie Xue, Xie Qingcheng, as her older brother, would still be able to accept him.
But on that day, Xie Qingcheng's actions made him realize that he had gotten too far ahead of himself.
When it came to social relationships, the one between an employer and employee was the simplest and clearest of them all. Regardless of whether it had been maintained for ten or twenty years, they could settle all the accounts without the slightest emotional entanglement when the relationship ended, leaving no loose ends.
Similarly, a personal physician could leave after being paid for his services because he had no reason to stay. In comparison to the other doctors He Yu had seen in the past, Xie Qingcheng wasn't actually all that special. In fact, he was even more cruel than the ones who saw He Yu as a different species, because he'd lied to him for the longest and benefited the most from his blood and pain. It was Xie Qingcheng who made He Yu mistakenly believe that the relationships he'd built could last; it was he who made him mistakenly believe his affection for Xie Xue was something that her parental guardian could accept.
But he had been wrong on all accounts.
Now, on this isolated island, He Yu gazed at Xie Qingcheng's face as he thought about this part of his past.
So many years had passed since then. Xie Qingcheng was still that elder brother of the Xie family, and nothing had really changed in the end.
He was still unwilling to let Xie Xue be alone with him, still standing guard before his sister in a tyrannical, dictator-like and protective position—even the words he used to admonish He Yu were completely identical.
Xie Qingcheng might very well be a great doctor with medical philosophies deserving of praise, a righteous way of thinking, and a strong sense of responsibility toward his patients, but unfortunately, he had no heart.
"Are you still thinking about what happened in the past?" Xie Qingcheng's voice pulled He Yu back to the present.
Snapping out of his musings, He Yu said, "You mentioned it, so it came to mind. Now that I think about it, you probably don't actually remember the way I used to speak in the past." He Yu smiled at last. "In the end, the relationship between the two of us is merely a doctor-patient relationship that has already ended, isn't that right?"
Before Xie Qingcheng could reply, a streak of light suddenly flared overhead. A loud bang sounded as a firework blossomed in the night sky. It was the brilliant fireworks that served as the campus exploration's finale every year. Countless flowers burst in midair with a barrage of explosions.
"Right," said Xie Qingcheng.
Amid this brilliant resplendence, the muffled boom of thunder suddenly rang out—a rain shower had begun. Ultimately, the tender blaze born from the fireworks couldn't stand up to the lightning's fierce, ice-cold chill, and quickly surrendered in defeat. In the distance, students giggled as they darted into lecture halls or dorms to avoid the rain as droplets the size of soybeans pitter-pattered down onto the bustling world below.
Beneath the darkening sky, He Yu maintained that small smile on his face as he said, "Then let's hide from the rain together, Doctor Xie. If I use your clearheaded style of reasoning to analyze this, aside from our doctor-patient relationship, you're also my teacher's older brother now. If you end up soaked in the rain, it'll be hard for me to explain myself to her."
He paused briefly, and a mocking lilt entered his voice once more. "For two people who have already ceased their doctor-patient relationship, hiding from the rain together should count as normal behavior that doesn't violate any boundaries of propriety, right?"
Xie Qingcheng knew that He Yu still held a grudge against him, but he didn't have the patience or magnanimity to coax He Yu any longer. His tone was cold as he responded, "Right."
He Yu smiled. "There's a cave up ahead. After you."
While He Yu and Xie Qingcheng were looking for a place to hide from the rain on the island, He Yu's senior was still cautiously taking care of things on his end. He continued to guard the dock entrance and prevent any other participants in the campus-wide event from approaching.
The club member pondered a bit. Everyone probably already had their share of fun, and it was unlikely that anyone had absolutely nothing better to do than come all the way to Neverland Island for a stamp, so he allowed himself to relax a bit.
"Aiya, this rain is really too heavy." He sat ruefully on the duck boat, gazing stupidly toward the island in the hopes of catching a glimpse of something, but the island was too far away. Earlier, he could only vaguely make out He Yu and someone with a rather tall and slender figure. This beautiful lady looked like she was pushing 180 centimeters—maybe she was wearing high heels? He was nearsighted and couldn't see them too clearly, so he couldn't say for sure.
But it sure seemed Young Master He had unique tastes to like tall girls, especially one this tall.
Ah…the lives of the bourgeoisie truly were something to be envied.
A feeling of temptation rose in his heart as the thought crossed his mind; he really wanted to know how the two people on the island were getting along under the downpour right now. The two of them hadn't brought an umbrella, and the only shelter on Neverland Island was a cave; it was a blind spot in the school's campus surveillance system and students rarely went there, though the club member had heard that some couples liked to go to the cave in the middle of the night for an outdoor tryst. He reckoned that He Yu, with his looks and family background, and after putting so much effort into pursuing that 180-centimeter beauty, must have succeeded in his mission by now.
Should he send that member of the bourgeoisie a text and remind him to use protection?
At this thought, he pulled out his phone.
Going all the way on the night of a declaration of love—that would only be fitting for someone living life in the fast lane, wouldn't it?
So he composed his message. He planned to send it to He Yu's unblocked phone in order to curry some more favor with that member of the bourgeoisie.
"He-laoban, there's a first aid kit inside the cave on the island. It has boxes of condoms in the second compartment. If you need them, you can check inside the kit, and remember to send me a red packet afterward…"