The Cannon Fodder is Prepared to Divorce

The car was parked. No matter what Qu Lang asked him, Shen Mingbei wouldn’t answer. 

That year, Shen Mingbei’s parents died in a car accident. 
For a long time, Shen Mingbei couldn’t escape the trauma of the accident scene. 

Nearly ten years have passed since then. Shen Mingbei thought he was getting better; after all, he could drive and enter a taxi alone now. But Qu Lang’s sudden madness unsurprisingly forced Shen Mingbei to revisit his nightmares. 

Qu Lang carried the other into the bedroom and placed him on the bed. As he took Shen Mingbei’s jacket off, he said, “You’ve been out an entire day. Go take a shower.” After he finished speaking, he went to rummage through the bedside drawer – he remembered there were condoms in there…..

Shen Mingbei didn’t move.

When Qu Lang turned back his head and saw this, he lifted the other’s hand and kissed Shen Mingbei’s fingers. “Be good, go shower.” 

Shen Mingbei regained some of his senses. He stood up and limped towards the bedroom door. 
He didn’t want to stay in the same place as Qu Lang.

Qu Lang found his movements a little strange. He immediately pulled him back and took off his socks and shoes. 
Seeing the blisters and raw, bleeding scabs on the other’s soles, he felt a little sorry and gently touched them. 
“Why didn’t you tell me? Does it hurt?”

Qu Lang grabbed the other’s ankles and carefully examined the wounds. After confirming the blisters only occurred due to friction, he let out a sigh of relief. 
He wanted to say this person was too delicate.
Still, it must’ve hurt. Instead of dragging him down such a long mountain road, he should’ve treated his injuries at the guesthouse. 
Since the other was so delicate, it was normal for Shen Mingbei to ignore him for this. 

Qu Lang made a phone call by the bedroom door before coming back in and saying to Shen Mingbei, “Don’t move. Someone will be here soon to apply medicine for you.”

Shen Mingbei didn’t want to listen to him but his feet truly did hurt, so he obediently refrained from moving. Fortunately, the doctor came quickly, so his discomfort didn’t last long. 

Dr Fu was invited in by a servant, panting whilst carrying a large case. When he saw Shen Mingbei sitting, he took a deep breath. The first thing he said was, “As long as you’re still alive! Where are you hurt? Are you okay?”

Qu Lang frowned a little; Fu Li’s words sounded somewhat strange. As long as Shen Mingbei was with him, how could he not be okay? Such a delicate person wouldn’t even survive if he left him!
Qu Lang disrupted Fu Li’s line of sight and lightly said, “He has blisters on his feet. His skin is also scraped.”

By the time Qu Lang finished speaking, Fu Li had already taken an ointment out of his medicine box. With a slightly frustrated tone, he said to Qu Lang, “From how urgent you sounded, I thought….. You could’ve handled this minor injury just by rummaging through the medicine cabinet downstairs, so did you have to call me over? Do you know how much I charge for a single operation?” 

Qu Lang: “All of your operating rooms are mine.”

Fu Li: …..How childish! 

Fu Li no longer continued to talk with Qu Lang; instead, he focused on treating Shen Mingbei’s wounds – disinfecting and bandaging them before handing him the ointment. He told him to apply it three times a day, change the gauze once a day, and pay attention to infections; then, he patted Shen Mingbei’s shoulder. 
“If anything happens, contact me. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

Shen Mingbei nodded and finally spoke his first words since coming back.
“Okay. Thank you, Doctor Fu Li.”

No longer caring about the trivial matters between this couple, Fu Li ran off with his large case. 

While Fu Li was treating his wounds, Shen Mingbei had been holding back tears. He didn’t want to cry in front of Qu Lang, hence his eyes were red-rimmed the entire time. His large almond eyes were filled with tears, appearing very aggrieved. 

Seeing him like this, Qu Lang wanted to hug him – so he did. 
There was only the sound of breathing between them. Shen Mingbei felt he had to make things clear to Qu Lang, but just as he finished mulling over it and prepared to speak, Qu Lang’s phone rang. The ear-piercing sound shattered the silence in the room. 

Qu Lang released Shen Mingbei and lowered his head. He turned away from Shen Mingbei; this time, he stepped out onto the balcony to answer the call. 

Shen Mingbei wasn’t curious about the caller. He just held the ointment given by Doctor Fu, limped to his feet, and walked towards the guest room. 

By the time Qu Lang finally ended his phone call and turned back, Shen Mingbei had disappeared. He searched around the entire bedroom but still couldn’t find him. 

When he exited the room, he saw auntie and asked her, “Where’s Shen Mingbei?”
Auntie replied, “He’s probably in the guest room. These days, Mr Shen tends to sleep there.” 

Qu Lang couldn’t understand what was so good about sleeping in the guest room. Shen Mingbei had previously told him he wanted to sleep in the guest room. Qu Lang still thought he was too delicate – after so many years, he still wasn’t used to this life of luxury. 
The Qingtan Bay villa was truly spacious – to find someone here was quite troublesome. He stepped towards the guest room according to where auntie said it was. 
Qu Lang had never before stepped into the tiny guest room located at the head of the stairwell connecting the first and second floors.

Qu Lang believed the entire Qingtan Bay villa belonged to him. He didn’t even think of knocking – he just wanted to open the door and walk in. 

When he twisted the doorknob, he found himself unable to react. 
Shen Mingbei had locked the door. 

Qu Lang: …..

Knock knock knock.

Shen Mingbei had just finished washing up. When he came back, he rummaged out an old, spare phone and was currently using it to respond to his work colleagues’ messages. 
He explained how he wasn’t in a very good condition – that he might not be able to travel to Redstone Mountain tomorrow and the filming schedule might have to be cancelled. News travelled faster when it came to Xiao Zhang. He texted Shen Mingbei eagerly, asking him for more specific details, but Shen Mingbei had no idea what to say. 

Hearing the sudden barbaric and impolite knocking against the door, he instantly knew it had to be Qu Lang. 
He didn’t want to open the door, but the villa was Qu Lang’s. 

Shen Mingbei quickly stepped towards the door and leaned against it. He opened a crack and softly said, “Qu Lang, I’m going to bed. If you have something to say, we can discuss it tomorrow.” 

As long as Qu Lang wanted to, he could push open the door even if there was a lifting jack against it, not to mention a mere Shen Mingbei. 
But when he caught the vigilance in Shen Mingbei’s eyes, he suddenly couldn’t find it in him to use force. 
He hesitatingly mumbled, “Okay.”

He allowed Shen Mingbei to close the door and listened to the lock click. Qu Lang stood at the door and discovered he could sense an audible patter. An image of Shen Mingbei sleeping on the bed was conjured in his mind. 
Remembering how cautiously Shen Mingbei looked at him, Qu Lang felt an inexplicable hollowness in his heart. 

Suddenly, it felt as if he couldn’t breathe, as if he was about to drown. 

Qu Lang rubbed his pricking chest. 

He walked down from the second floor. Qu Lang remembered Shen Mingbei seemed to like drinking milk, so he grabbed a bottle of milk from the fridge. He sat at the dining table and finished it. With the chilled beverage entering his stomach, Qu Lang felt a little more awake. 

On this night, Qu Lang was sleepless. 

He got out of bed repeatedly, wanting to go to the guest room and carry Shen Mingbei back so he could sleep beside him. 

But he didn’t dare. 

Qu Lang dug out one of Shen Mingbei’s shirts from the closet and sniffed it, but only found the scent of laundry detergent. He wasn’t a lustful person, but for some reason, he’d always lose control when it came to Shen Mingbei. 

Qu Lang didn’t like the feeling of being manipulated by his emotions. 

He endured until dawn finally arrived. Qu Lang almost ran excitedly towards the dining room. He sat on a chair and stared at the stairwell, wanting to see Shen Mingbei come down for breakfast. 
He waited until nine. Assistant Xiao Cheng had sent him countless texts asking for instructions, yet Shen Mingbei still hadn’t come down. 

The auntie probably realised something was wrong, so she said to Qu Lang, “Mr Shen hasn’t been eating much recently.”

Qu Lang: “He’s not eating?” Why is he not eating?

The auntie shook her head and shrugged. “Who knows why. Mr Shen doesn’t tell me.” 

Qu Lang waited for a while longer before he finally walked upstairs and knocked on Shen Mingbei’s door. 
But this time, there was no movement inside. Qu Lang reached out and twisted the doorknob, but it didn’t open. He knocked again. 

Knock knock knock. The knocks were so powerful it seemed he wanted to smash through the door. 

There was still no movement inside. 

This time, Qu Lang couldn’t wait any longer. In his anxiety, he forgot auntie had the key to the guest room door – he raised his foot and kicked it open. 
With a ‘bang’, the fragile door was unable to escape its fate of getting broken after one night. 

Shen Mingbei didn’t move even after such a loud ruckus; he was still in bed, talking in his sleep. 

Qu Lang reached out and touched Shen Mingbei’s flushed cheeks, noticing the other’s bad complexion. How come this person caught another fever? 

…..

Because Shen Mingbei recalled the incident from that year, he had nightmares all night. He was still in a nightmare and would occasionally hear some nonsense. 

The doctor who came to check up on him was still Fu Li. He was becoming slightly annoyed by how this couple kept tormenting themselves, but he still updated Qu Lang after an examination, “His fever is caused by an incomplete recovery from his last hospitalisation, irregular diet, weak immunity, and sudden shock.” 

Qu Lang pondered but still couldn’t figure out what could’ve possibly shocked Shen Mingbei. 

Fu Li didn’t know all the details about their interaction last night; he just heard from Qu Lang that Shen Mingbei had been in the mountains for a long time.
He hesitatingly asked, “Did he encounter something in the mountains?”

Hearing this, Qu Lang nodded. It must be that. He indifferently said, “Then I’ll contact his company to stop them from posting announcements about him. He’ll get better after taking some rest at home.” 

Fu Li always felt that since Shen Mingbei could stand Qu Lang, he must’ve loved him to death. 
Seeing how Qu Lang rarely cared about someone to this degree, he suggested, “If you’re free, spend some more time with him. That way, he should get better soon.”

If this was before, Qu Lang definitely wouldn’t have agreed. He had never-ending work to do, so why would he accompany someone just because they were sick? 
This time, Qu Lang hesitated a little before nodding in agreement. 

Seeing Qu Lang nod, Fu Li let out a sigh of relief. He’d interacted with the Qu Family many times, so he knew Qu Lang’s temper well. 

Thinking about how happy Shen Mingbei would feel knowing this after he woke up, Fu Li couldn’t help but smile. Out of goodwill, he even advised Qu Lang, “You should treat him better. Even if you like Lin Xiang, he’s still legally your partner.”