Dawn and Dusk
A private hospital. An exclusive VIP ward.
The entire floor had been sealed off, with a highly trained bodyguard stationed every meter.
Rong Ci looked out the window. The sky outside had gone completely dark, with neither stars nor moon, nothing but endless blackness.
Just like her future.
Running away from home—
A yacht explosion—
An allergic reaction and injuries—
One thing after another.
Rong Ci didn’t dare imagine how severely she would be lectured once her guardian arrived.
When the yacht exploded, everyone had looked toward the distinguished young lady standing on the deck, and they had all reached the same conclusion—
Nothing could happen to Rong Ci. If the little ancestor suffered even the slightest injury, their elders would beat them to death when they got home. So, throughout the explosion and the rescue, everyone tacitly put Rong Ci’s safety first.
Even the rescue team was shocked: Are the rich kids these days really all this considerate?
Little did they know, these people were terrified that surviving at sea would only mean they would have to suffer a fate worse than death once they reached shore.
So, after a thorough examination, Rong Ci had nothing more than a seawater allergy and a few minor scrapes.
Rong Ci leaned against the hospital bed. “Use gauze. Wrap it a few more times.”
“Yes, yes, just like that.”
The doctor tactfully said, “Miss Rong, actually, more gauze doesn’t necessarily mean better treatment.”
Rong Ci was completely sincere. “My treatment requirement is for me to look as pitiful as possible.”
Doctor: “?”
After practicing medicine for so many years, this was the first time he had ever heard a treatment request like that.
Rong Ci had even been about to ask whether they could put a cast on her—
when several footsteps suddenly sounded outside.
Coming closer and closer.
Several people, but she could distinguish the most familiar one from the one that was most, most familiar.
The instant the door opened, Rong Ci slipped into character.
The hospital gown was oversized, hanging loosely from her body. Her long hair was scattered in disarray; she was already bony and slight, and with her black eyes and snow-white skin, even her lips were pale, her small face carrying not the slightest touch of color. The gauze on her delicate wrist showed faintly—the fragility of a sick beauty hit them square on the face.
Making it impossible to bear scolding her.
…
Time seemed to freeze.
Why wasn’t anyone saying anything?
After a few seconds, Rong Ci finally couldn’t stand it anymore and secretly peeked up.
She happened to meet her own brother’s half-smiling eyes—years of bloodline suppression from an elder brother manifesting to the fullest at the critical moment.
!!!
They had completely turned the tables on her!
Sure enough, how could a clear-eyed young college student like her possibly out-act a few old foxes from the business world?
“Brother!”
Of the three men, Rong Ci followed her instincts and looked toward Xie Xunzhao, the plea for help unmistakable in her eyes.
Xie Xunzhao happened to be standing where the light and shadows divided his face perfectly in two. On one side, he resembled a nine-colored sacred deer raised on dew—pure, noble, mysterious, and otherworldly. On the other, he was like an apex predator lurking in the darkness, coiled and ready to strike, danger radiating from every inch.
Clearly, Rong Ci only saw the harmless side illuminated by the light. She half-knelt on the hospital bed, swaying precariously as she desperately reached an arm toward Xie Xunzhao. Just as she had done every time, she had gotten herself into trouble before, seeking his protection.
Xie Xunzhao stepped forward and caught her in his arms. There were traces of acting in it, but Rong Ci really was weak, and she had just been through a terrifying ordeal.
The man’s embrace was broad and reassuringly safe. Like a koala, Rong Ci clung to him without wanting to let go, as though the damp chill that had been blown into her bones by the sea breeze had finally evaporated.
Rong Qingtiao walked over and said coolly, “Hey, who do you think you’re hugging? Look carefully. Your brother is right here.”
Rong Ci buried herself against Xie Xunzhao’s chest, fingers gripping the lapels of his suit as she resolutely refused to look at her actual brother.
Rong Qingtiao was already used to this. He lowered his eyes and examined her carefully, making sure she was safe and sound; only then did he speak, “Don’t worry. Your brother isn’t going to scold you or punish you.”
“After all, you’re married now. You’re an adult.”
Marriage comes with this kind of perk???
Rong Ci had always been good at pushing her luck, and finally pulled her little head out. “You won’t punish me anymore?”
Rong Qingtiao didn’t answer and looked at Xie Xunzhao instead. “She’s all yours, my good brother-in-law.”
He could put extra weight on the last three words.
Xie Xunzhao’s voice was very calm. “Mm.”
On the way there, they had already gone through Rong Ci’s examination report, and now they had confirmed with their own eyes that she was fine.
Rong Qingtiao pulled Jiang Fulan out of the ward. Better to spare his sister the embarrassment of being disciplined by her current guardian in front of an audience. He intended to be the most considerate big brother in the world.
At some point, the doctor had also left.
Only the two of them remained in the enormous ward. Rong Ci’s fingertips gripped Xie Xunzhao’s sleeve, unconsciously tightening.
Seeing Xie Xunzhao say nothing, she called out weakly, “Brother…”
“Why aren’t you talking to me?”
Xie Xunzhao scooped her up and gently laid her back down on the hospital bed.
Rong Ci lay there on her back, staring up at him with innocent, watery eyes. “You don’t care about me.”
She turned the tables on him completely.
Xie Xunzhao didn’t respond. He sat beside the bed and slowly unwound the thick layers of gauze around her arm, one loop at a time, until only a thin layer remained. After confirming the wound was fine, he carefully bandaged it again.
It was far too quiet.
Rong Ci racked her brains and finally came up with another accusation. “You’re giving me the silent treatment in our marriage.”
Xie Xunzhao moved on to her ankle, checking the abrasion on the outside of her leg. Perhaps the wound was too shallow; the doctor hadn’t bothered treating it.
He picked up the cotton swabs and antiseptic from the table.
Rong Ci instinctively flinched at first, then saw that Xie Xunzhao’s lowered brows and eyes looked even colder than the dead of winter.
After thinking it over, she didn’t dare pull her foot away. She could only follow the pressure and rest her ankle across his thigh.
Let him do whatever he wanted.
Black suit trousers, a snow-white calf, pale pink feet—under the somewhat bleak hospital lighting, there was something strangely intimate and delicate about the scene.
Xie Xunzhao’s touch was even gentler than the doctor’s. Rong Ci’s heart began to flutter nervously. The thoughts that had been scattered by the sea breeze were coming back to life.
In the end, she called very, very softly, “Husband?”
She hadn’t expected an answer.
Xie Xunzhao had already examined every wound on her body in meticulous detail before finally speaking. “Mm. Get some sleep.”
Rong Ci couldn’t tell whether she had relaxed or become even more tense. Her body, however, was honest. Surrounded by Xie Xunzhao’s familiar cool fragrance, her taut nerves gradually loosened.
The lights went out.
The night grew deeper.
She didn’t know how much time had passed before, half dreaming and half awake, Rong Ci vaguely heard Xie Xunzhao speaking with someone outside the door.
He kept his voice low.
But perhaps because the room was so quiet, while she was still in a haze, she could make out a few blurred words.
Family infighting, yacht explosion, an undeserved disaster…
Later, as she gradually woke, she heard Xie Xunzhao’s cold, utterly uncompromising voice clearly. “The Xie family refuses to settle.”
“If you dared to harbor such wolfish ambitions, then bear the price of failure.”
“As for why?”
“Because my wife is my Achilles’ heel.”
“Do you understand, Chairman Chen?”
About a minute later, Xie Xunzhao pushed the door open and came back inside.
The dim corridor light spilled into the room for a few seconds. Rong Ci’s lashes trembled, and, for reasons she couldn’t explain, she closed her eyes again without telling Xie Xunzhao that she was awake.
The ward fell dark once more.
The only thing visible outside the blanket was one pale, beautiful hand.
Fragile. Delicate.
Unable to withstand the slightest roughness.
As though she had simply forgotten to pull it back beneath the covers in her haste.
Xie Xunzhao lowered his eyes and looked at it for a while. The corner of his lips lifted ever so slightly. Then, as though remembering something, he pressed them flat again, as if that fleeting curve had merely been an illusion.
The man’s tall figure had an overwhelming presence, especially in the darkness; even though Rong Ci knew the person standing beside her bed was the one she trusted most, an inexplicable unease still rose within her.
No, unease wasn’t quite the right word to describe it. It wasn’t the instinctive pressure of a biological brother over his younger sister. It was… the possessive force of a man toward a woman.
Her fingertips trembled slightly. She was just about to speak when…
“Were you scared when the yacht exploded?”
Xie Xunzhao seemed to know she was awake. His clear, gentle voice sounded distinctly different in the darkness, without a trace of the coldness she had just heard a moment ago, as though she had suddenly gone from winter straight into spring.
It took Rong Ci a moment to process his question. Was she scared?
The sound of the explosion.
The screams.
The endless ocean.
Sitting in the rescue boat, the sea wind had been so strong it felt as though it might blow her away at any moment. Physical fear wasn’t something that could easily be overcome.
From the moment she had been rescued until now, Rong Ci seemed to have triggered a self-protection mechanism, trying to use feigned forgetfulness, jokes, and every kind of emotion to cover the feelings that had sunk to the bottom of her heart.
…
Xie Xunzhao crouched down halfway and lifted the hand she had left outside the blanket.
What was he going to do?
The next second, Rong Ci’s entire body went rigid.
Xie Xunzhao lowered his head slightly and kissed her wrist through the gauze. The short strands of hair at his temple brushed the inside of her wrist, making her a little ticklish.
The gauze was very thin. Rong Ci could even feel the softness and warmth of his lips through it.
In that instant, it was as though the fireworks over the sea that she had missed on the yacht suddenly burst open before her eyes.
Rong Ci never expected that she could analyze the difference between her actual brother and Xie Xunzhao with such startling clarity at a moment like this.
If something like kissing her wrist happened between her and Rong Qingtiao—no, it wouldn’t even get that far. The two of them would have already slapped each other across the face.
But Xie Xunzhao had kissed her, and she hadn’t pushed him away.
In that moment, in the deep night of the hospital ward, Rong Ci finally understood, with absolute reality, what it meant for their relationship to have changed.
Xie Xunzhao was comforting her, but more than that, he was using this gesture to make her understand: No matter how much they tried to avoid it, their relationship could never return to what it had been.
They could only move forward.
~~
Rong Ci thought being married was wonderful. She had caused such a huge disaster and somehow hadn’t been lectured!
And no punishment either!
Rong Qingtiao had kept his word. He hadn’t even gone and told on her to their parents far away abroad.
Mirror Lake Manor.
Rong Ci stood beside the antique grandfather clock in the corner of the living room, admiring the little bird doodles painted on its glass casing.
Actually, look at it long enough, and it had quite an artistic air.
“It’s so good to have a husband.” Rong Ci nodded.
Uncle Ye approached like a wandering ghost. “You caught the sea breeze. For the next half month, you’re not allowed to eat ice cream.”
“You caught the sea breeze. You need to go to bed early and get up early to recover your health. The internet cutoff that had previously been moved to ten is now back to nine.”
“You caught the sea breeze. Starting today, your daily traditional Chinese medicine has been increased from once a day to three times…”
“You caught the sea breeze…”
Rong Ci covered her ears. “Uncle Ye!”
“Please stop saying the words ‘sea breeze’!”
She knew it!
The punishment had been late, but it had arrived.
Xie Xunzhao’s long-term, slow-blade approach was even worse than being scolded by her actual brother, confined to the house for a while, and made to write a self-criticism letter.
Uncle Ye was extremely obedient. “Of course, Madam.”
“Starting today, the use of all yachts, cruise ships, private aircraft, and other vehicles registered under your name is suspended. Your allowance has also been frozen.”
“If you need to use any of them, you must submit an application to Sir in advance.”
“Your curfew is six in the evening.”
Rong Ci: ???
This was getting more and more outrageous!
She was twenty years old, not two. A six-o’clock curfew—who would she even tell that to without dying of embarrassment?
Even kindergarten children weren’t subjected to a six-o’clock curfew when they went out to socialize!
“I object!!!”
During lunch break, Rong Ci went straight to the executive office at Xie Group as though she owned the place, slamming both hands onto Xie Xunzhao’s desk.
“Objection denied.”
Xie Xunzhao didn’t even raise his eyes. He simply reached out and steadied the coffee cup beside him. He even calmly picked it up and took a sip.
Rong Ci racked her brain. “Aren’t you transferring my premarital assets?”
A man, especially a successful man, couldn’t stand having his financial integrity questioned, except Xie Xunzhao.
Xie Xunzhao nodded frankly. “That’s right.”
Rong Ci was speechless. “…”
She rose onto her toes and tried to snatch his coffee. “If you don’t lift the restrictions, I’ll drink coffee and keel myself!”
Xie Xunzhao leaned back slightly and suddenly said, “Mumu, you know your brother is a normal man with normal needs, right?”
“?”
Was this even the right topic?
How had it suddenly shifted to here?
They had been talking about money. How had they suddenly ended up talking about that?
Rong Ci stared at the man in the black shirt, whose cool, abstinent aura was at its maximum, and was completely thrown off.
“I suppose?”
“But that has nothing to do with me…”
Xie Xunzhao patiently led her along. “You see me as your brother, so naturally you wouldn’t want to do that sort of thing with your brother, right?”
“Huh?”
Rong Ci was completely bewildered by the sudden turn in the conversation and repeated haltingly, “Right?”
She didn’t even know if that was right!
Xie Xunzhao casually crossed his long legs and sighed softly. “So, your brother can only endure it for the rest of his life. If things continue like this, I might end up in the same predicament as Zeus someday, losing the ability to be a man altogether.”
“Your brother is making such a huge sacrifice, and you can’t even bear to give me this little bit of your property?”