Shen Min ushered him into the back seat and handed him a thermos: “Your medicine. The housekeeper just finished brewing it. I’ve been working all day, so I won’t drive for you. I’m afraid it wouldn’t be safe.”

Gao Ji Yi found the highway exit, turned the car around, and drove back.

The car cabin suddenly fell quiet, the atmosphere mysteriously sank, and the three men didn’t speak.

Gao Ji Yi silently watched the road for a while, and was the first who couldn’t bear it anymore: “Number Two, call Xiao Min.”

Fang Lang Jie took out his phone and called Shen Min as instructed.

Fang Lang Jie put it on speakerphone and spoke to Shen Min: “Xiao Min, where have you all gotten to?”

Shen Min’s voice was still the same, calm and flat: “We’re at the Fourth Ring Road now.”

Gao Ji Yi snatched the phone and asked bluntly: “Xiao Min, what’s wrong with him?”

Shen Min didn’t dare speak.

Gao Ji Yi became angry and shouted into the phone: “Shen Min, you can be guarded with anyone else but not us three! If something happens to him, who wouldn’t be upset? Do you think I’d harm him?!”

“Brother Gao…” Shen Min acknowledged and then fell silent again.

Fang Lang Jie also became impatient and couldn’t help but urge: “Xiao Min, what did the doctor diagnose?”

Shen Min’s voice trembled slightly: “The preliminary report shows the ulcer has deepened, with minor bleeding on the ulcerated surface.”

Fang Lang Jie’s heart sank: “What about his doctor?”

“The doctor wanted him to be hospitalized and rest, but he refused.”

Gao Ji Yi asked: “Does Teacher Zhou know?”

“Zhou Zi doesn’t want me to tell his family. It’s all under control, and he’s still going to work as usual.”

Fang Lang Jie fell silent.

Zhao Ping Jin’s private condition wasn’t good. Although he never showed it in the slightest during the day, others might not notice, but the brothers could see something was wrong. It’s just that he always acted like nothing was wrong in front of others. Fang Lang Jie thought he might gradually get better, never expecting that he was just planning to drag it out day by day.

Shen Min choked up a bit: “We still need to wait for the pathology results. The doctor said with his current condition, we must take early preventive measures against the possibility of heterogeneous cancer.”

Gao Ji Yi hastily responded: “Does Zhou Zi know this?”

“He knows.”

“Damn it, has he given up on life?!”

Shen Min also fell silent.

The phone went quiet.

The phone remained in Fang Lang Jie’s hand, and from the speaker, they could only hear the howling wind coming through Shen Min’s Bluetooth earpiece.

Gao Ji Yi and Fang Lang Jie looked at each other, speechless.

After quite a while, Gao Ji Yi spoke to Fang Lang Jie: “Lang Jie, he should talk to him.”

Fang Lang Jie rubbed his face: “Xiao Min, check his schedule. Let me know when he’s free so we can have a meal together. As soon as possible.”

Shen Min slowly responded with an “Okay.”

At some point, sounds came from Lu Xiao Jiang in the back seat—intermittent sobbing. Gao Ji Yi looked up at the rearview mirror and saw Lu Xiao Jiang with his head buried in his arms, crying in the darkness.

Gao Ji Yi said irritably: “Now you know to cry? Where were you earlier? Still, like a three-year-old, all you know is how to cry!”

The year Lu Xiao Jiang’s parents were transferred to work in Beijing, he was only three years old. His parents were busy with work, and Lu Xiao Jiang was often locked alone in the house. One afternoon, he woke up and wailed loudly in the room. Zhao Ping Jin, who was five years old then and known as the mischievous troublemaker in the compound, climbed in through a first-floor window, opened the door, and took him home. The nanny at Zhao’s house held him in her arms and stuffed snacks into his hands.

For more than a year after that, three-year-old Lu Xiao Jiang was fostered at Zhao Ping Jin’s home.

Even closer than Shen Min, who was his brother.

As they grew older, Shen Min became close to Zhao Ping Jin, while Lu Xiao Jiang grew distant.

Fang Lang Jie gritted his teeth and picked up the phone: “Xiao Min, tell me the truth, is he still—thinking about Xi Tang in his heart?”

Shen Min, in the darkness on the other end of the phone, didn’t respond.

In the car, only Lu Xiao Jiang’s sobbing could be heard.

Gao Ji Yi shouted: “Stop freaking crying!”

Gao Ji Yi reached out and hung up the phone.