After the car accident, my boyfriend got straight

Jiang Shiyu had a fragile heart. He had undergone surgery when he was a child. At that time, the doctor recommended a full body check-up when he turned eighteen, and if conditions were suitable, it would be best to perform another surgery to insert a stent.

He turned eighteen when he entered his freshman year of college. That summer, Shen Li specially took him abroad for a full body check-up. The results showed that all indicators were good, meeting the surgical requirements. 

However, Jiang Shiyu was scared. Upon learning that he needed surgery, he clung to Shen Li’s arm and cried the whole night, his eyes swollen shut. 

Fearing that he would cry himself blind, Shen Li had to promise to reconsider. The two spent a week abroad before returning home.

Although Shen Li comforted him by saying they would reconsider, he actually kept the matter in mind. After returning to China, he constantly researched online and used the resources of the Shen Corporation to find specialists in this field. 

But before he could arrange everything, he was in a car accident.

Jiang Shiyu fainted and was rushed to the emergency room. His heart rate was too fast, and his heart stopped, almost leading to immediate surgery. 

However, his body was already weak, he was allergic to many medications, and he had some underlying conditions, making the doctors hesitant to operate rashly.

When he woke up again, he was in the intensive care unit on oxygen. Within less than a week, he had become as thin as a frail cat, with long drooping eyelashes and horrifying needle marks all over his arms. His vision was blurry, but he vaguely saw many people standing by his bedside.

Bai Yun saw his lips move and quickly leaned in, “Shiyu, what’s wrong?”

“Shen… Shen Li.”

Hearing his faint and almost inaudible voice, Bai Yun’s eyes turned red.

Heaven was too unfair. He was such an obedient and sensible child, yet his fate was fraught with misfortune. After losing both parents in succession, he was finally taken in by the Shen family and cared for by Shen Li, becoming noticeably more cheerful. But then this happened.

She gently stroked his forehead and comforted him, “Get some good rest, and Shen Li will come to see you when you wake up.”

Hearing this, his half-open eyes twitched slightly as if truly comforted, and soon his eyes lost their light and closed completely.

Instructing the caregiver to take good care of him, she picked up her handbag and walked to another ward. She pushed open the door, where Shen Li lay in bed with one leg in a sling, looking impatient. 

Hearing the commotion at the door, he glanced over and called out, “Mom.”

“Later, I’ll have someone help you into a wheelchair. I’m taking you to meet someone.”

Shen Li, puzzled, asked, “Meet who? I’m injured all over. Have them come see me instead.”

“You ungrateful brat. They’ve come to see you several times already, but you completely forgot about Shiyu. He’s now lying in the ICU, unconscious, and still thinking about you.”

He turned his head to avoid his mother’s swinging hand and clicked his tongue, “Shiyu? Who’s that?”

Seeing Bai Yun about to hit him again, he quickly said, “I know, I know, that sickly kid. Mom, don’t hit me. Your son is injured.”

Her chest heaved with anger. “If you weren’t injured, I’d beat you to death.”

He cried out in injustice. Ever since the bizarre car accident and waking up, not only did his mom have a new younger son, but as a perfectly normal straight college student, he now had a boyfriend who was a sickly kid.

She glared at him fiercely. “I’ll have the caregiver push you later. You better behave. When you get to the ICU, talk nicely to Shiyu. His heart can’t take any more stress. Do you hear me?”

Ever since waking up, Shen Li had heard so much about Jiang Shiyu from his mom that his ears were about to grow calluses. He even suspected that this kid who showed up halfway was his mom’s real son.

He pondered, a mischievous smile forming on his lips. He was actually curious to meet this sickly kid.

In the evening, after the doctor examined him, the caregiver helped him into a wheelchair and pushed him to the ICU door. Only one person was allowed inside the ICU. 

He used his remaining functional hand to wheel himself in. Before the door closed, Bai Yun reminded him from outside to speak kindly.

The ICU was filled with machines, their beeping sounds echoing throughout the room. Lying on the bed, covered by a blanket, was a person who could almost go unnoticed if not observed closely. 

Shen Li maneuvered his wheelchair closer, gradually revealing the small face hidden beneath the covers.

The first thought that flashed through his mind was how small the face was, probably smaller than his open palm. Under the incandescent light, the skin appeared almost translucent, like a finely carved piece of jade, exuding fragility and detachment. How could a boy look so delicate and refined?

In his hazy memory, he had vaguely encountered Jiang Shiyu before. He had sneaked into his ward like a little thief, his eyes wide and round in fright. The only impression left was of him being squeezed into a corner, all alone.

Tsk, a boy looking so pretty and weak—how could he possibly have been in a relationship with him? If it weren’t for Bai Yun’s detailed accounts over the past few days, he would have suspected his mom had made it all up to trick him.

He was staring at the person on the bed in a daze when the eyelashes on that small face suddenly fluttered. It seemed as if he sensed the familiar presence nearby, like a butterfly struggling to open its wings. 

Shen Li watched Jiang Shiyu intently as his cat-like eyes slowly opened, the dark pupils moving around before settling on him.

At that moment, a line of poetry he had once read came to mind: “Eyes like autumn water.”

It was like a delicately carved wooden puppet coming to life the moment it opened its eyes, brimming with spirit. Shen Li felt a heavy thump in his chest and instinctively touched it, thinking it was a leftover effect from the car accident.

Jiang Shiyu’s vision remained blurry and his mind foggy for a while after opening his eyes. Eventually, he recognized the person by the bed, and his eyes instantly reddened, looking pitiful.

Shen Li had come with the attitude of seeing what magic this sickly kid had that charmed his parents so much, carrying a hint of disdain and scorn. 

But seeing his red-rimmed eyes, an inexplicable tightness gripped his chest.

Jiang Shiyu still had an oxygen mask on his face, and his mouth moved, but no sound came out. Shen Li stayed still in his wheelchair. The next second, Jiang Shiyu twisted his body as if trying to get up.

“What are you doing? Stay put,” Shen Li reached out, pressing down on the blanket to stop him from moving around. Seeing him covered in instruments, his face devoid of color and still fidgeting, he inexplicably grew angry, his voice low and reprimanding.

“You’re in the ICU and still moving around. If something happens later, my mom will blame me for it.”

Jiang Shiyu fumbled around and extended a hand from under the blanket, a hand without any IVs attached. His long, slender fingers grasped the hand Shen Li had placed on the blanket.

The contrast in their skin tones was stark, like mixing milk into coffee, his fingers soft as if boneless.

“Shen Li, do you remember me?”

The boy’s voice was soft and sticky, the kind Shen Li used to dislike the most at school. Yet today, hearing it, he sensed a hint of grievance.

Jiang Shiyu’s clear cat-like eyes were filled with expectation as he gazed at the person in the wheelchair, waiting for a response. Shen Li remained silent for a few seconds before replying, “No.”

Jiang Shiyu instantly let go of his hand, the warm and boneless touch disappearing suddenly. Shen Li instinctively moved his hand but did nothing else.

His voice was now tinged with tears. “Then why did you come to see me?”

Lying on the bed, looking sickly and with eyes red from crying, he appeared so pitiful that Shen Li felt like he had done something unforgivable. His throat tightened, unable to utter the words that it was Bai Yun who sent him.

He turned his head away, leaving behind a stiff “get well soon,” then quickly wheeled himself out of the ICU. Back in the ward, the image of those tearful, pleading eyes kept haunting him, like a chain that suffocated him.

He even forgot what mindset he had before agreeing to see him. He angrily pounded the bed beneath him, the sound echoing with frustration.

“Damn.”

Rolling over, he grabbed the blanket and lay down, realizing why this little sickly kid had managed to charm his parents into obedience.

His phone had been smashed in the car accident, and the one he had now was provided by Bai Yun. The SIM card remained the same, but everything on the phone was gone, including all WeChat messages. He scrolled through his contacts list, each name displayed as it was when they were added, without any personal notes. There was only one contact with a note attached, labeled with “bb.”

It stood out glaringly, and he grimaced at those two letters, feeling a sourness in his mouth. If he didn’t know it was his own WeChat ID, he would have deleted it long ago. It was disgusting to have a note like “bb.”

He first opened the contact’s Moments. Surprisingly, there was nothing posted for three days. After closing it, he checked his own Moments. He didn’t post often, only about four or five times in total, which made it easy to scroll through.

He remembered several of his own posts, but one from a year ago left no impression on him.

It was a photo taken in a snowy landscape, with him carrying someone on his back walking under a streetlight. The person on his back, dressed like a little bear, was leaning towards his ear as he turned his head, and the two were kissing under the streetlight, the atmosphere intimate and ambiguous.

He stared fiercely at the photo, almost piercing through the screen with his gaze. The light from the phone reflected in his eyes, tinged with a gloomy hue.

No matter what Bai Yun said, seeing it for himself was irrefutable. That ambiguous photo posted on his Moments, with two intimately positioned figures, was undoubtedly him and Jiang Shiyu.

If they weren’t close, he wouldn’t be kissing someone under a streetlight, let alone posting such a photo on Moments.

So, Jiang Shiyu was indeed his boyfriend.