Chapter 24
Missing a Kidney
Lin Suian lowered his head and picked at the loose skin around his fingers, not daring to look at the man sitting opposite him.
After hearing the police explanation, Shi Yushen’s face darkened instantly.
The cold look in his eyes seemed ready to tear Lin Suian into pieces on the spot.
Lin Suian was so ashamed even his ears burned red.
He barely dared breathe.
In the end, after a long discussion, Shi Yushen finally paid bail and brought him out.
Lin Suian wished he could disappear into the ground from embarrassment.
Shi Yushen grabbed his shoulder tightly and shoved him into the car.
His grip was so strong it hurt down to the bone.
“You’ve really become brave now. You even dared go to a place like that. Were you selling yourself?”
Lin Suian immediately shook his head.
“I wasn’t.”
“You’re really shameless. You actually wanted to earn dirty money there? Have you gone crazy trying to make money?!”
Shi Yushen shouted coldly.
Lin Suian fell silent.
His throat was hoarse and no words came out.
Then what about the relationship between him and Shi Yushen?
Wasn’t that dirty too?
How were they any different from those women and customers?
There were no feelings between them.
Only physical transactions.
For some reason, Shi Yushen was unusually furious.
He suddenly grabbed Lin Suian’s shirt and pulled it off down to his wrists, tying it there tightly.
“Who allowed you to work in a place like that?! Dirty thing, why are you so disobedient?!”
Lin Suian’s previous injuries had not completely healed yet.
Although he had mostly recovered, he still could not handle rough movements or the wound might split open again.
Seeing Shi Yushen intending to do that kind of thing right there on the roadside, Lin Suian panicked and finally told the truth.
“I really wasn’t selling myself. I worked there as a waiter because your birthday is coming soon. I wanted to earn money to buy you a gift.”
“I know working there isn’t good… but I really had nowhere else to go.”
What proper workplace would hire a high school student for hourly work?
Lin Suian suddenly felt pain in his abdomen again.
The wound had probably already reopened.
Shi Yushen had thrown him too roughly just now.
After hearing his explanation, Shi Yushen slowly calmed down, though his expression remained cold.
He sneered while taking out a cigarette.
“I need you to buy me a gift? Who would care about your cheap junk?”
“And money earned from a place like that? Even the gifts you buy with it smell dirty to me.”
Of course Lin Suian knew Shi Yushen would never value his birthday gift.
But giving one and not giving one were completely different things.
If he gave one, at worst Shi Yushen would mock him for it being cheap and worthless.
But if he gave nothing at all, Shi Yushen would only become angrier and accuse him of forgetting his birthday.
“I just wanted to buy you a gift… I didn’t think too much at the time.”
Lin Suian lowered his eyes apologetically.
When his large dark eyes looked up sincerely like that, he appeared extremely honest, though there was also a hint of trying to please him.
After hearing that soft explanation, the strange anger inside Shi Yushen gradually faded.
Actually, even Shi Yushen himself barely remembered his own birthday anymore.
Because his birthday was also the anniversary of his mother’s death.
Ever since his mother died, the Shi family had never celebrated his birthday again.
Even his father never mentioned that day each year.
Normally, bringing up his birthday should have angered Shi Yushen greatly.
But unexpectedly, another complicated emotion replaced the anger instead.
Shi Yushen crushed the cigarette beneath his shoe and untied the shirt binding Lin Suian’s wrists.
Still holding him, he lowered his voice.
“Suīsui, you really are annoying.”
Very few people could make him feel this troubled all the time.
Shi Yushen pulled out his wallet, took out money, and stuffed it into Lin Suian’s hands.
“Use this money to buy me a gift.”
Lin Suian felt embarrassed.
“Isn’t that a little inappropriate?”
“What’s inappropriate about it? If you keep going to places like that to earn money, I’ll break your legs so you can never leave the house again.”
Hearing the warning in Shi Yushen’s voice, Lin Suian no longer dared argue.
“Okay…”
He carefully accepted the money and placed it into his bag, his hands trembling slightly.
After returning home, a doctor came to examine his injuries and check his recovery.
The doctor frowned slightly.
“Your physical condition isn’t very good. You’re somewhat malnourished, and…”
Lin Suian immediately became nervous.
“And what?”
The doctor pointed at the medical report.
“Why are you missing one kidney?”
Lin Suian instinctively panicked, afraid people would see his embarrassment and uneasiness.
How did he lose that kidney?
His head suddenly hurt badly.
That blank expression appeared on his face again, the same look he had whenever he punched walls in confusion.
He desperately searched for an excuse.
But no matter what, he could not say it aloud.
In the end, he only whispered:
“Can I not talk about it?”
The doctor awkwardly laughed.
“Of course. I was only asking casually. If you don’t want to say it, that’s fine.”
Two years ago, Lin Suian’s mother became critically ill and urgently needed surgery money.
Lin Suian was deceived by organ traffickers and had one of his kidneys removed.
Not only did he fail to receive money—
He almost died too.
If Qin You had not saved him back then, he probably would not have survived until now.
At the hospital, Lin Suian had cried so hard his face turned pale and his entire body shook.
Qin You held him gently like a caring father and comforted him softly.
“Suīsui, it’s okay. Don’t be afraid. Even with one kidney missing, you still have another one. You won’t die.”
Later, to help Lin Suian move past the trauma, Qin You even took him to a tattoo shop and covered the ugly scar on his body with a tattoo.
He told him it symbolized starting a new life.
So on the left side of Lin Suian’s waist appeared a tattoo completely mismatched with his soft appearance.
Two burning red feathers.
Against his overly pale skin, they looked wild, passionate, and exaggerated.
Yet Qin You admired the tattoo and said:
“Very beautiful.”
“Suīsui is beautiful too.”
Now when Lin Suian thought about it, he only felt that Qin You had always treated him like merchandise from beginning to end.
But human emotions were complicated.
There was both good and bad.
From one perspective, Lin Suian was still grateful to Qin You.
He could never forget how he once worshipped him like a savior.
While he was lost in thought, the doctor slowly removed the bandages around his abdomen.
“The wound reopened a little, so I’ll need to wrap it again.”
“But it’s not serious, so don’t worry. Just avoid intense physical activity for a while.”
