Volume 1, Chapter 155: Gardenia, it hurts...

Because of the pain, Liang Muzhi’s mind felt heavy and groggy, yet Xu Zhi’s words carved a stark, blank void into his chaotic consciousness.

It seemed as though he had already grown numb to the agony. His face was deathly pale, his lips moved, but no sound came out.

He looked at Xu Zhi. For reasons unknown, in that fleeting instant, he suddenly recalled a little over a year ago when he had also been in a car accident while racing.

Back then, Xu Zhi was right by his side—both at the moment of the crash and later, the very first time he opened his eyes after surgery.

She had stayed with him throughout, shedding tears by his hospital bed simply out of heartache for his injuries.

Throughout his entire recovery process, she was ubiquitous. She served him meals, poured water, and helped him change his dressings right there in the hospital room.

And now...

He looked at Xu Zhi.

It was utterly absurd; she had even spread her arms wide to shield Liang Jinmo. Was she afraid he might strike Liang Jinmo again?

Yet he was the one who was injured; he hadn't even managed to land a blow on Liang Jinmo, and she was already this furious?

A sharp wave of agony surged from the palm of his hand, making it hard for him to breathe. He called out to her in a hoarse whisper, "Zhi... it hurts..."

Xu Zhi frowned. She saw Liang Muzhi’s pale face, with large beads of sweat seeping across his forehead.

She had been too anxious when she first rushed over, and it was only now that she noticed his hand was tightly bandaged, seemingly injured.

Her hands clenched unconsciously. "Since you were the one who provoked this in the first place, there's no need to put on a pitiful act here."

She knew very well that Liang Jinmo would never go out of his way to provoke Liang Muzhi. Whenever a conflict arose between the two, it was invariably Liang Muzhi stirring up trouble.

Liang Muzhi stared at her, his eyes bloodshot, his voice very low. "I'm not pretending... I'm really hurt."

Xu Zhi pressed her lips together, speaking again after a few seconds. "Your injury has nothing to do with us, right? There's no reason we have to just take it just because you got hurt and started swinging."

There were nurses and curious onlookers nearby, and the scene was becoming terribly unsightly. She turned and pulled Liang Jinmo’s hand. "Let's go. Leave him alone."

Liang Muzhi leaned against the wall, his legs feeling somewhat weak, his vision ringed with crimson. As he watched the backs of those two figures leave hand in hand, it felt as though something within his heart had collapsed with a deafening roar.

From start to finish, she hadn't asked a single time how severe his injury was or how he had gotten hurt.

She showed not a shred of concern for him, yet she was so anxious over an unscathed Liang Jinmo.

Her attitude brooked no ambiguity, and the contrast was too devastating. He realized...

It seemed he could no longer hold on, nor could he continue deceiving himself.

She would never look back at him again.

Xu Zhi pulled Liang Jinmo toward the direction of the ward. The party involved in the fight had departed, and the onlookers had also dispersed one by one.

A nurse walked over to ask Liang Muzhi if he was alright. Gritting his teeth and leaning against the wall as the pain radiated through his limbs, he groggily tried to straighten up. The moment he barely pulled away from the wall, darkness completely consumed his vision.

He heard the nurse’s panicked cries, and immediately afterward, he lost consciousness entirely.

Down in the corridor, Xu Zhi and Liang Jinmo heard the commotion near the elevators, but neither of them looked back.

With their hands tightly intertwined, Liang Jinmo glanced at her. "Liang Muzhi was hurt; he didn't hit me at all."

Xu Zhi still looked visibly ticked off. "He's so annoying, always looking for trouble over nothing."

While she was angry, his own mood was rather subtle.

She hadn't focused her attention on the injured Liang Muzhi. Remembering Liang Muzhi's earlier provocations, he suddenly found those words utterly ridiculous.

He wasn't afraid of a fight, but...

The feeling of having someone protect him didn't seem half bad.

After fainting, Liang Muzhi was rushed downstairs to the orthopedics department by the nurses and security guards who had hurried over, where he underwent a second surgery.

Though this altercation hadn't escalated into a physical brawl, it still managed to stir up a minor commotion.

Fu Wanwen had already sensed something was amiss while waiting outside the operating room. She called Elder Liang, not daring to state outright that Liang Muzhi had been injured again. After probing cautiously, she discovered that Liang Muzhi hadn't even returned to his ward.

She went upstairs to the nurse's station to inquire, and only then did she learn the full sequence of events.

Rumors were already circulating at the nurse's station, compounded by the accounts of several passing patients. After all, this was the gossip of the prestigious Liang family; their previous engagement had already caused a massive public uproar, and now the Liang family heir and the illegitimate son were at blows, with the fiancée caught in the middle. The various versions of the rumors could not possibly have been more lively.

Fu Wanwen was driven nearly out of her mind with rage. Unable to do anything to Liang Jinmo, she went straight to lodge a complaint with Liang Zhengguo.

Liang Zhengguo was naturally aware that Liang Muzhi had injured his hand while racing, but he had been too busy lately to visit the hospital, never expecting that another incident would break out.

By the time Liang Muzhi woke up the next afternoon after the effects of the anesthesia wore off, Liang Zhengguo was already waiting in the ward.

Before he had even fully cleared his head, Fu Wanwen anxiously pressed him to confirm whether Liang Jinmo had beaten him.

Liang Muzhi’s eyes were as desolate and lifeless as ashes, his voice utterly exhausted. "Mom, don't ask anymore... I want to sleep."

"This has to be made clear," Fu Wanwen protested, failing to understand why he wouldn't cooperate. "Your father is right here. If that bas—if Liang Jinmo beat you, your father will stand up for you."

At present, she was desperate to seize any opportunity to step on Liang Jinmo in front of Liang Zhengguo.

Yet Liang Muzhi knew very well in his heart that Liang Jinmo hadn't lifted a finger; it was Xu Zhi who had pushed him, causing him to crash into the wound.

If he told the truth, Fu Wanwen would undoubtedly go and harass Xu Zhi once more.

So he said, "I bumped into it myself by accident."

Fu Wanwen's eyes widened. "The nurse's station is saying you got into a conflict with Liang Jinmo... Tell your father the truth, why are you doing this?"

Liang Muzhi closed his eyes. "I really bumped into it myself."

At that moment, Liang Zhengguo suddenly spoke up, "You were the one who went to provoke Jinmo, weren't you?"

Liang Muzhi did not open his eyes.

Liang Zhengguo knew him well enough to know that Liang Jinmo’s temperament would never lead him to pick a fight with Liang Muzhi.

Liang Zhengguo continued, "After the New Year, you can either come work at the company or go abroad for advanced studies. Think it over carefully. If you join the company, Jinmo will be your superior. If you keep locking horns with him, nothing good will come of it."

Fu Wanwen gasped in shock, "Zhengguo, are you blaming Muzhi? He's the one who's injured!"

Liang Muzhi still kept his eyes shut. He was simply too tired.

He no longer had the energy to struggle, nor did he possess the strength to refute Liang Zhengguo's words.

At that moment, he couldn't even feel anger. So this was what it felt like when the heart dies and all grief is extinguished; nothing seemed to matter anymore.

Everything he had once known was receding into the distance. His world was undergoing violent transformations while he remained frozen in place, at a loss and bewildered. He knew he couldn't go on like this.

Perhaps it really was time to let go.

He said to Liang Zhengguo, "About going abroad... let me think about it."