Chapter 288: Haunted Building (24)

  Zhou Jinchen was well aware that the boy had sent out a distress message. He immediately contacted someone to delete the message from the recipient's device. 

Since the deletion happened swiftly, most of the messages remained unread. 

Even if someone had seen it, it wouldn’t matter much. Although the boy was smart, he had never been outside the construction site building, so the message he wrote lacked detailed information that could reveal their location.

As for Ren Yanqing, Zhou Jinchen didn’t bother with him. Ren Yanqing’s attitude was already clear—he wouldn’t come to rescue the young master even if the exact location was provided to him.

Therefore, Zhou Jinchen didn’t mention anything about it, letting the others assume that the whole situation was just an accident.

He didn’t quite know why he kept silent himself. Lowering his gaze, he idly fiddled with the phone in his hand, probably because he thought it was too troublesome to explain. After all, whether he said anything or not wouldn’t change the outcome.

The plan to use Ren Yanqing’s illegitimate child as leverage had fallen through, and the young master in the basement was clearly of no use either. They needed to devise a new strategy to make threats work.

The group engaged in a serious discussion, which continued until it was already time for dinner.

Eventually, someone’s alarm went off, interrupting the discussion. Everyone turned toward the source of the sound.

Xu He silenced the alarm on his phone and spoke calmly to the group, “It’s time for dinner.”

After saying that, Xu He left directly, not caring whether the discussion had reached any conclusion.

None of them usually cared much about meals, nor had anyone ever set an alarm specifically for dinner. 

The meaning behind this alarm was self-evident. 

The rest hesitated briefly but stood up together, heading toward the cafeteria at the construction site. This was the first time they had all gone to the cafeteria in such a coordinated manner.

After collecting their meals, they went straight to the basement. However, as soon as they stepped into the basement, they instinctively quieted their footsteps. 

The boy who had been sitting at the table writing earlier had unknowingly fallen asleep on the bed.

It was unclear whether it was because the bed was too hard or because of fear and unease, but his delicately shaped brows were furrowed slightly, and his thin, frail body was curled up into a ball. In his hands, he was still clutching a notebook.

Xu He put down the food and walked softly to the bedside. He then gently pulled up the blanket that had slipped off Ruan Qing’s body.

But as he reached the notebook the boy was holding, Xu He’s hand paused.

Lowering his gaze to look at the notebook in the boy’s arms, he seemed to think of something. Tentatively, he reached out and tugged at it slightly.

Xu He’s touch was so light that he had almost pulled the notebook completely out without waking the boy.

Xu He was extremely careful as he slipped out the notebook, all the while keeping a close eye on Ruan Qing’s reactions. In the end, he managed to retrieve the notebook smoothly.  

Everyone present turned their gaze toward the notebook in Xu He’s hand, even Zhou Jinchen and Yan Lulin couldn’t help but look.  

After all, the boy’s defensive demeanor earlier had piqued their curiosity, especially since he was still writing something when they left—it looked like he was working on a little essay.  

Xu He flipped open the notebook directly. The boy’s elegant and neat handwriting came into view, just as they had imagined. However, the content was completely unlike the delicate handwriting.  

> [The food is so bad. Is that really meant for human consumption? I feel like even dogs wouldn’t eat it.]  

> [The medicine is disgusting too. How can anything taste that bad? Honestly, taking that medicine feels worse than just waiting to die.]  

> [The bed is so hard I can’t even sleep. Were the people who made this bed born without brains? Oh, and I guess the person who bought it doesn’t have one either.]  

> [The floor is dirty. The blanket is dirty. The chair is dirty. The clothes are dirty.]  

> [Those awful “big brothers” are dirty too. What are they even wearing? It’s so ugly, it gives me a headache.]  

Everyone: "…"  

The notebook, although new, already had three pages filled.  

And all three pages were complaints.  

Complaints about the food, complaints about the environment, and… complaints about them.  

The boy had criticized everyone present, sparing no one—even Xu He, who had always treated him gently, wasn’t exempt. The boy even questioned if his own judgment in the past had been flawed.  

As for Zhou Jinchen, who had forced the boy to take his medicine…  

The boy had dedicated almost an entire page to ranting about Zhou Jinchen, condemning him for being barbaric and uncivilized.  

Meanwhile, the live stream viewers, watching the group’s indescribable expressions, burst out laughing.  

[Pfft, hahaha! I knew they’d make this face after seeing the notebook. This is killing me! Serves them right for snooping!]  

[This just proves: never sneak a peek at someone else’s diary unless you want to make yourself miserable. Well done, wife!]  

[I think the wife’s complaints were too polite. If it were me, I’d have gone straight to cursing them out.]  

After reading through everything, Xu He wordlessly closed the notebook and returned it to Ruan Qing’s arms.  

Zhou Jinchen, on the other hand, was far less composed. With a dark expression, he stepped forward, clearly intending to wake the boy up immediately.  

But he froze in the next instant.  

It was because, as Xu He put the notebook back, he had accidentally touched the boy’s palm.  

The boy's palms were chafed and peeling from pulling on electrical wires. When someone touched them, it obviously hurt. His long eyelashes fluttered slightly, his delicate white fingers curled up a little, and his exquisitely small face wrinkled with grievance.

He looked utterly pitiful.

Xu He noticed the boy's injured hand right away. He immediately moved the notebook aside and gently pulled Ruan Qing’s hand open.

For construction workers, skin abrasions like this were commonplace and hardly counted as injuries. But on the boy, it was a completely different matter.

The boy was far too delicate—so delicate that even the slightest exertion could leave marks on him, and even a minor abrasion seemed incredibly severe.

The red wound on his pale pink skin was particularly glaring and painful to look at, so much so that Xu He's hands stiffened a little, as if the wound were on his own body.

No, it hurt more than if it were on his own body.

If a worker got a scrape like this, no one would usually care. But this young master was different. Leaving it untreated could easily lead to infection.

His wound had to be taken care of.

Usually, construction sites keep some basic first-aid supplies around, but none of the workers had anything on them. In the end, Duan Ming had to climb over the wall to buy medicine from outside.

To apply medicine to the wound, they first had to disinfect it. However, disinfectant stung painfully when it touched a wound. Ruan Qing instinctively tried to pull his hand back from the pain.

But his wrist was held firmly in place, and he couldn’t move it at all.

Ruan Qing was jolted awake by the pain. He opened his eyes, looking aggrieved. His still-groggy gaze was misted with tears, and his entire demeanor resembled a bullied kitten.

The pain from his hand made him want to pull it back again, but he still couldn’t. He looked pitifully at Xu He, who was applying the medicine. “I don’t want the medicine… it hurts…”

Xu He had already tried his best to be gentle, but alcohol disinfectant stung no matter how careful he was. There was no way around it.

Looking at Ruan Qing’s tearful, wet eyes fixed on him, Xu He hardened his heart and continued disinfecting and applying the medicine.

When the treatment was finally done, Ruan Qing didn’t cry, but his eyes were still glistening with unshed tears. He ignored Xu He completely after that, clearly holding a grudge.

Truly petty and vindictive.

The others, who had read the notebook earlier, pretended as if they hadn’t and ignored Ruan Qing’s disdain.

However, they didn’t force him to eat the construction site’s food again. Instead, they climbed the wall to buy proper meals from outside.

The meals they bought couldn't compare to the dishes prepared by the young master's private chef, but they were certainly much better than the food at the construction site.

Ruan Qing glanced at the fierce Duan Ming, pursed his lips, and obediently started eating his meal.

However, once the meal was over, it was time to take medicine again.

Taking medicine was on par with dealing with Zhou Jinchen, both occupying an entire page in the boy's notebook—clearly showing how much he hated it.

It was likely that his hatred for Zhou Jinchen stemmed from being forced to take medicine by him.

While they could accommodate the boy in other matters, skipping his medicine was simply not an option.

The group hesitated for a moment before ultimately turning to Zhou Jinchen.

Zhou Jinchen: "…" Heh.

Ruan Qing also looked at Zhou Jinchen. When he noticed Zhou Jinchen staring back at him, he immediately shrank behind Xu He in fear, as if terrified Zhou Jinchen would force him to take the medicine again.

He looked just like a little rabbit encountering a big bad wolf.

Seeing this, Zhou Jinchen's face darkened even more. His gaze shifted to Ruan Qing, who was hiding behind Xu He, and his tone was cold as he said, "Are you going to take it yourself?"

"Or should I feed it to you?" 

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