Chapter 31: CH 033

TL: Moonlit

The person supporting Lin Hanchuan had a resemblance to Qi Fenghua, but he wore heavy and clumsy black-framed glasses, greatly reducing his attractiveness and making him appear ordinary.

Lin Hanchuan recognized him. It was Qi Fenghua’s older brother, Qi Yuyu, who was also the white moonlight whom the original owner, Yi Qinglou, had once had a slight fondness for.

“I’ll take you to see the doctor,” Qi Yuyu said as he tried to assist Lin Hanchuan in finding a doctor.

Qi Yuyu’s figure was not robust, and Lin Hanchuan could even feel the protruding bones beneath his black suit. However, his hand was steady and effortlessly supported Lin Hanchuan, with warm palms.

Lin Hanchuan endured the initial moment of intense pain, which gradually subsided into a dull ache within his tolerance. He let go of Qi Yuyu’s hand and smiled, “I’m fine.”

After giving it some thought, Lin Hanchuan followed Yi Qinglou’s habit and added a title, “Thank you, Brother Yu.”

In the original text, Yi Qinglou initially had a special fondness for Qi Yuyu. The reason why he despised Qi Fenghua also had something to do with Qi Yuyu.

The Qi family was a prestigious art dealer family, while the Yi family was an artist family. The relationship between the two families was not close, just a regular business relationship, and there was also a sense of distance between the younger generations in both families. They didn’t know much about each other.

Especially Qi Yuyu, he had a cold and aloof personality, seldom spoke, and had limited appearances in the original text. Every time he appeared, he served as a catalyst for emotional twists between the main characters.

Lin Hanchuan recalled the original text and realized that Qi Yuyu’s role could be summarized as follows: being a tool to add emotional ups and downs between the main characters, and being a protective brother to his younger brother.

This was also the reason why the host later realized that he liked Qi Fenghua, the pure and flawless white moonlight he had imagined, rather than the real Qi Yuyu.

Compared to the high and mighty, endlessly embellished aloof white moonlight, Yi Qinglou preferred the person in front of him who could accompany him.

“Don’t force yourself if you’re uncomfortable.” Qi Yuyu’s eyes were hidden behind the black-framed glasses. Although it was well-intentioned advice, it sounded somewhat mocking when spoken in his indifferent tone.

The pain in his heart completely disappeared, and Lin Hanchuan returned to his normal state without any abnormalities. He curved his lips into a smile and gestured for Qi Yuyu to enter the room. “Your brother is inside.”

Qi Yuyu glanced at Lin Hanchuan, pushed the door open, and revealed his slender wrist with bruises on the back of his hand.

Lin Hanchuan’s gaze flickered.

“Why did you come so late?” Mother Qi’s voice still carried a sob, as she was extremely worried about her younger son. “Your brother is in the hospital, and you were still busy with work. Do you even care about your brother?”

When Qi Yuyu came to the hospital, he had already inquired about the situation with the doctor and knew that Qi Fenghua’s dizziness was caused by low blood sugar and was not serious. With a tall and straight figure, he said, “There was traffic on the way.”

“All these are not excuses. As an older brother, you should definitely protect your younger brother. Now that your brother is in trouble, you couldn’t arrive on time. What kind of brother are you?” Mother Qi was extremely dissatisfied and kept complaining while delivering a cup of comfortably warm water to Qi Fenghua’s hands.

Qi Fenghua held the cup of water, listening to Mother Qi scolding Qi Yuyu. He had become accustomed to such scenes, his expression absent-minded as thoughts of his and Yi Qinglou’s divorce kept replaying in his mind.

He would occasionally think of Yi Wusheng’s warm and gentle smile, like a gentle spring breeze. Sometimes, he would think of Yi Qinglou’s eyes that flickered with joy and tenderness when looking at him. Even if their appearances were identical, Qi Fenghua could always distinguish them at first glance.

Qi Fenghua believed that he would never confuse them, but he suddenly hesitated.

The four elders took care of Qi Fenghua meticulously, like stars surrounding the moon. Qi Yuyu stood in the hospital room, lowering his gaze and listening to the accusations from his own parents and the grievances of his younger brother. After a while, Qi Fenghua grew tired and wanted to sleep, and only then was he allowed to leave.

The moment he stepped out, Qi Yuyu absentmindedly unbuttoned a button on his suit and saw Lin Hanchuan standing at the door of the hospital room. He paused.

“Are you okay?” Lin Hanchuan asked.

Following Lin Hanchuan’s gaze, Qi Yuyu calmly replied, “Just running a fever.”

It wasn’t an illusion after all. Lin Hanchuan furrowed his brows slightly, unexpectedly feeling a sense of sympathy. He said, “Let’s go, we’ll go see the doctor together.”

A deliberately softened sound of hurried footsteps came from the hospital room, indicating that someone inside was about to come out.

Qi Yuyu was about to refuse but swallowed his words back. The two of them exchanged a glance and walked away side by side, understanding each other without words.

Sitting in Lin Hanchuan’s car, Qi Yuyu was slightly absent-minded. He didn’t even know how things had developed to this point.

Before today, Qi Yuyu’s impression of Yi Qinglou was merely a vague one, someone his brother wanted. And now, he found himself sitting in this person’s car, driving back to his own home.

“If you’re feeling uncomfortable, close your eyes and rest for a while,” Lin Hanchuan said without turning on the air conditioning, but only opening a small gap in the window for ventilation. “I’ll wake you up when we arrive.”

His body, which had been running a fever for a few days, was drained of energy. Today, he finally managed to find time to have a private doctor come and administer an IV at home, but then he received an urgent call from his mother.

He removed the IV and drove to the hospital, only to find out that Qi Fenghua had low blood sugar. Somehow, Qi Yuyu suddenly felt physically and mentally exhausted.

Taking in Lin Hanchuan’s considerate actions, Qi Yuyu took off his glasses and rub his eyes, seemingly ready to take a nap.

During the drive, Lin Hanchuan unintentionally caught sight of this scene and was momentarily stunned.

In the original world, no one had ever sat in the passenger seat next to Lin Hanchuan. It was only after entering the transmigration world and establishing Starlight Entertainment that he had to personally take care of many things, unable to have a driver accompany him all the time. That’s why he often had his hands on the steering wheel, and the only person who had ever sat in the passenger seat was Ran Xing.

At this moment, Qi Yuyu leaned wearily against the seat, and Lin Hanchuan recalled how Ran Xing would look after a busy day and return to the hotel with him, just like this.

“What are you looking at?” Qi Yuyu suddenly opened his eyes and asked.

Qi Yuyu, with glasses on, looked gloomy and ordinary. When he took off his thick-framed glasses, his fair skin and pale lips appeared. There was no trace of color on his face, and his eyes were clear and sharp, like a fish suddenly swimming in a still pool, causing ripples and becoming lively.

The light shone into his amber eyes, giving him a strange sense of fragmentation.

“You seem to have no nearsightedness,” Lin Hanchuan withdrew his gaze, casually saying.

Qi Yuyu blinked his eyes. His illness made his thinking sluggish, and it took him a while to explain, “My prescription is very low.”

He had nearsightedness, but the prescription was very low, so he could wear or not wear glasses. Lin Hanchuan understood the meaning behind Qi Yuyu’s words in a strange instant.

Lin Hanchuan was about to say something when he noticed that Qi Yuyu was already asleep, holding his glasses in his hand. He silently continued driving, like a dutiful and responsible driver.

When they arrived at Qi Yuyu’s home, Lin Hanchuan was slightly surprised. Qi Yuyu was a well-known art dealer in the industry, single-handedly supporting the Qi family’s art gallery. It was reasonable to assume that someone with a net worth of over a hundred million would live in an upscale neighborhood. However, he resided in an ordinary residential area.

Qi Yuyu was in a drowsy state, and Lin Hanchuan hesitated for a moment before waking him up.

Dazedly opening his eyes, Qi Yuyu regained his clarity within a few seconds. He put his glasses back on, and his expression was once again suppressed: “Thank you.”

As he spoke, his voice was slightly hoarse, contrasting with his cold exterior. Unable to resist, Lin Hanchuan chuckled softly.

Qi Yuyu paused and silently led Lin Hanchuan into the elevator, not uttering another word until they entered the apartment.

At that instant, Lin Hanchuan was somewhat surprised.

Qi Yuyu’s house was minimally decorated, but there were numerous paintings hanging on all four walls. Lin Hanchuan looked at each one, seeing ancient original works from China, as well as imitations from later dynasties. There were famous works by foreign masters and contemporary pieces by emerging artists.

These paintings varied in age and style, but they were arranged perfectly, seamlessly integrating with the room.

This house could already be considered a small art gallery. Lin Hanchuan followed the walls and saw an unframed painting casually discarded on the coffee table.

The painting was a rough sketch by an inattentive artist. The setting sun cast its rays on the gray city buildings, setting half the sky ablaze with crimson hues. The intense red mixed with the murky black, creating a color palette so vibrant it was suffocating.

Such an emotionally charged masterpiece, yet it was carelessly thrown aside by its owner.

Qi Yuyu had been observing Lin Hanchuan’s expression all along. All the paintings in this house were his collection. Although they didn’t include multimillion- or billion-worth masterpieces, they were all works he truly cherished. Lin Hanchuan’s ability to appreciate these paintings had elevated Qi Yuyu’s favorable opinion of him by several levels.

When Lin Hanchuan saw the sunset painting on the coffee table, Qi Yuyu’s expression stiffened.

“Who painted this?” Lin Hanchuan picked up the painting and carefully examined it. It was obvious that this painting was relatively new, unlike the valuable works by renowned artists or ancient paintings.

But in Lin Hanchuan’s eyes, this painting had far greater potential than any other piece in the house.

Unlike the extraordinary talent of Yi Wusheng, Yi Qinglou was a clueless fool. He had learned to paint alongside his brother since childhood, but while Yi Wusheng could create masterpieces effortlessly, he could only copy and imitate.

Later on, Yi Wusheng became a famous prodigious youth, completely overshadowing Yi Qinglou.

Yi Qinglou’s parents took Yi Wusheng everywhere to participate in competitions and dedicatedly educated him, seemingly wanting to teach him everything and remove all obstacles for him. However, Yi Qinglou never received even a trace of his parents’ attention.

As a child, Yi Qinglou didn’t understand. He knew that his drawings were much better than those of other kids, but they simply couldn’t compare to his brother’s. So why did his parents look at him with such disappointed eyes?

Later on, Yi Qinglou understood. His brother was a genius, and no matter how hard he worked on his drawings, he was nothing more than a mediocre and ordinary person.

Full of craftsmanship, rigid, with skills but lacking emotion… these were the evaluations given by his parents, which condemned young Yi Qinglou to hell.

However, no one knew that although Yi Qinglou’s artistic skills were not outstanding, his eye for appreciating art was unparalleled.

Just like now, Lin Hanchuan could see that this casually painted piece had a greater impact than the paintings of the prodigy Yi Wusheng and the other genius Qi Fenghua. It possessed a liveliness and natural freedom that surpassed them both.