Silent Era - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Bai Sihuan rinsed his burned skin with cold water for more than ten minutes before the burning pain subsided.

Lin Xianyan applied ointment and took him to the hospital for treatment and injections.

Lin Xianyan and Bai Sihuan shared a deep sympathy. As Cheng Sutang’s second daughter, Lin Xianyan had received little care from her mother. While Lin Heng had a car to drive to and from school, and Bai Sihuan had a bicycle, Lin Xianyan had always taken the bus to and from school.

Lin Xianyan had always felt like the lowest class member in her family. It wasn’t until Bai Sihuan showed up that she felt like she had found a kindred spirit.

Because of Cheng Sutang’s warning, Lin Xianyan rarely interacted with Bai Sihuan. After this rebellion, Lin Xianyan opened up to Bai Sihuan: “I don’t really want to listen to her at all. It’s just that if I don’t, she’ll kick me out, just like she kicked out my older sister.”

“But this time…” Bai Sihuan lowered his head, his face flushed, a blush that was either from the burn or guilt.

Lin Xianyan smiled and patted his shoulder: “Don’t give in so easily!” She handed Bai Sihuan the medicine in her hand, muttering softly, “I can’t always listen to her.”

She walked in front, speaking a sentence that seemed both to her and to herself: “Big brother protects himself well, and Ah Heng is protected well by Mom, but we’re different…”

At night, the burns flared up, and Bai Sihuan couldn’t sleep due to the pain. The door creaked open, and Lin Heng walked in with a tube of ointment.

Bai Sihuan immediately pulled the quilt over his head, enduring the pain and hiding in the airtight blanket.

Lin Heng didn’t care whether he was truly asleep or just pretending. He came up and pulled back the quilt, grabbing his collar.

Bai Sihuan held the collar tightly, refusing to let him even look.

Lin Heng sternly ordered, “Let go.”

Bai Sihuan curled up into a ball, refusing to move.

“Let go!” Lin Heng, furious, tore his already tattered clothes apart with a single force.

A large area of ​​reddened skin, along with half of his swollen face, was exposed to the air. Bai Sihuan’s eyes were red, and he bit his trembling lips. For the first time, he dared to look Lin Heng in the face.

His tearful eyes held a glint of hatred, humiliation, and a touching pity.

Lin Heng was momentarily distracted, feeling bewildered. “I’m just applying some medicine…”

Bai Sihuan sniffed, tears streaming down his face. He let go, letting him do what he wanted, motionless as if giving up resistance.

Lin Heng squeezed half a tube of ointment and gently rubbed his fingers across his half-ripened skin, his voice softening considerably. “Does it still hurt?”

Though sweat poured down from the pain, Bai Sihuan shook his head.

Lin Heng cupped his face and applied medicine to the burned side, wiping away the tears from his eyes. He muttered softly, almost accusingly, “You pulled her away, and now you have to go back to her?”

Bai Sihuan’s eyes flushed again.

Lin Heng quickly said, “I was just saying that. Don’t… don’t cry again.”

Bai Sihuan wasn’t crying because of the accusatory words, but because he had touched a painful spot, causing him to cry. But Lin Heng never noticed where he was hurting, or where he had touched him.

After applying medicine to Bai Sihuan, Lin Heng’s gaze shifted to his calf. The wound from Karen’s bite had been treated, covered by gauze, the faint color of the medicine shone through.

Lin Heng touched his calf, his eyes lowered. “Here, does it still hurt?”

This time, Bai Sihuan didn’t react. Speaking of pain, the wound on his calf was definitely not as painful as the burns on his body, but the trauma it left in his heart was far greater than that scalding cup of coffee.

Lin Heng explained with a hint of anxiety, “I didn’t know Karen could bite so hard. She’s never bit anyone before.”

Bai Sihuan didn’t seem to want to hear his explanation, and he knew full well that his defense was lame.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Heng said, “Sleep well. If you need anything in the middle of the night, call the servants.”

Seeing Lin Heng turn to leave, Bai Sihuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. But before he could fully relax, Lin Heng returned.

“Forget it. I’ll sleep with you. If you need anything, just call me.”

The moment Lin Heng slid into bed, Bai Sihuan turned his head and closed his eyes helplessly.

Lin Heng’s action was clearly idiotic. In the middle of the night, he’d hurt Bai Sihuan several times out of habit, hugging her. After a night of tossing and turning, the sun rose. Because of him, Bai Sihuan hadn’t slept well the entire night.

Shanghai’s climate changes dramatically, and autumn brings a constant and chaotic shift of hot and cold air. Lin Heng was a precious young master, and today, with the sudden chill, he wore too few clothes. His face was pale and his lips were purple by the morning.

At lunch, Bai Sihuan noticed his thin clothing and immediately took off the scarf from his neck and gave it to him.

Lin Heng hesitated for a long time before accepting the scarf, cursing, “So unfashionable,” as he tied it around his neck. A sudden chuckle broke out, whether it was mocking himself for wearing such a thing, or perhaps something else.

A week before the independent entrance exam for a key high school, Bai Sihuan’s injuries had completely healed. After a week of intensive study, Bai Sihuan followed the principal’s instructions and took the exam.

A month later, the results came in. Bai Sihuan ranked in the top ten in the city, and was admitted to a higher grade with full tuition waived, plus a scholarship.

The principal was so overjoyed that he was speechless. He announced his praise to the entire school and called his parents several times, including Bai Ying, the person Bai Sihuan had initially listed as his guardian.

The female classmate Lin Heng had brought home heard the news and came to Bai Sihuan’s class to congratulate him and ask how his injury had fared.

Bai Sihuan smiled politely and told her it was okay.

After that, the female classmate came to see him for three consecutive days, each time with a different reason. Sometimes she wanted to borrow a textbook, sometimes she asked for a favor, and sometimes she asked him to take care of an injured kitten.

Lin Heng caught some of the glimpses and personally went to Bai Sihuan’s class to issue a warning: “You’d better stay away from her. If I see you two together again, you’re dead.”

Bai Sihuan was frightened by his unprecedented seriousness and venom. He thought Lin Heng was jealous and didn’t have time to explain to him that he had no intention of stealing his girlfriend.

The female classmate didn’t come to see him for two days. On the sixth day, she came again, dragging him to the playground, saying she had something important to tell him.

Bai Sihuan reluctantly let her drag him to the playground. The moment he stepped onto the track, he heard a boy behind him shout, “See? I told you this guy was trying to steal your girl. I’ve seen it more than once!”

Bai Sihuan had barely turned when Lin Heng rushed over and tackled him to the track, unleashing uncontrollable rage and punches on his body and face.

After an unknown amount of time, the boy came up and pulled him away: “Alright, stop it! You’re making me bleed! Enough! There are so many people watching!”

Bai Sihuan clutched his stomach, where he’d been punched several times, and slowly stood up, wiping the bl00d from the corner of his mouth. He squinted his swollen eyes and saw that Lin Heng, who was being held back, had bloodshot eyes and a fierce look in his eyes, as if to say, “I warned you.”

Everyone stood back and watched, no one daring to help Bai Sihuan.

The female classmate proudly reached for Lin Heng’s hand, snorting, “You clearly care so much about me, why did you ignore me back then?”

“Get lost!” Lin Heng shoved her away fiercely and turned away.

Within minutes, the principal heard about Bai Sihuan being beaten by Lin Heng on the playground. After Bai Sihuan emerged from the infirmary, the principal invited him for tea again and kindly advised, “You two are brothers. There’s nothing you can’t talk about. I know you’ve been wronged by this. I’ll see if I can have his homeroom teacher have a good talk with him later.” After a pause, he added to Bai Sihuan, “The person in charge of that school will come to sign the contract with you guys next week. You must attend.”

After school that day, Bai Sihuan returned home and retreated to his room without even eating.

That evening, Lin Heng tried to open the door, but found it locked. He turned it twice but couldn’t, so he knocked, waiting for Bai Sihuan’s response.

Bai Sihuan pretended to be asleep and ignored him. Finally, there was a loud knock on the door, and Lin Heng’s retreating footsteps echoed through the hallway outside.

The next afternoon, Bai Sihuan still hadn’t left. He huddled in a corner, unlit, his dark figure silhouetted against the thick curtains that filtered sunlight. This dark, quiet corner was his protective shield, the safest place he’d ever felt.

Lin Heng’s footsteps echoed impatiently in the hallway, slowly approaching. The knock on the door was forceful and irritable: “Are you trying to starve to death in there? Come out!”

“Bai Sihuan, don’t think I don’t have your key! If you let me in, you… you…”

He kept saying “you” for a moment, then stopped. Bai Sihuan heard him take a deep breath and then leave.

Bai Sihuan had been hiding in the room for a day and a half. During that time, he hadn’t eaten, only drinking water. If he moved his arms, his head would turn dizzy, and his body would feel light and fluttery, as if he were about to fly.

His cell phone rang. Seeing the familiar number on the black and white screen, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he answered with trembling hands.

“Hello, Sihuan, I’m waiting here…outside the Lin residence. I’m here to take you home, so come out!”

Early in the morning, before daybreak, Bai Ying rode her Phoenix bicycle from the alley to the outside of Tan Palace, intending to take her son back.

He had gotten into a key high school in the city, and with three years of tuition off her shoulders, and he’d even earned a scholarship, she wanted to take her sensible and promising son back.

So, without asking Lin Huan, she chose a day when the Lins were away to secretly take her son away.

Bai Sihuan fixed her hair, stuffed her few old clothes into her backpack, and ran downstairs, carrying it.

The moment his door opened, Lin Heng stood up from the sofa. Seeing Bai Sihuan coming down the stairs, he composed his expression of surprise and joy, and stammered, “You’re out? You… there’s food on the table. Go ahead… why are you carrying your backpack?”

Lin Heng realized something was wrong and stepped in front of Bai Sihuan, “Where are you going?”

Bai Sihuan pushed his hand away and said, “I’m leaving.”

Lin Heng, assuming he was throwing a tantrum, snorted, “Leave? Where are you going? Do you think this place is…?” Where? You can come and go as you please?

“My mom is here to take me home.”

Lin Heng was stunned for a moment, then his tone hardened. “What home? This is your home, and your last name is Lin, not Bai!”

Bai Sihuan, unsure of what to say, pointed outside and said, “My mom, my mom’s waiting for me outside.”

“I told you not to leave!” Lin Heng reached out to grab Bai Sihuan’s arm, but missed. He anxiously called out, “Brother!”

The man had already crossed the hallway, opened the door, and ran away.