Xingyu shook his head. “I don’t know. He went missing a week ago. We haven’t heard anything.”

“Hm…. Well, let us know if he wakes up while you’re visiting, and we have your number on file if we have any questions or information for you.” The nurse left. Weiran was still on his knees at Xiao-Xiao’s side, and Chen Rang’er was still hovering outside. Xingyu went to Chen Rang’er.

“Thank you for calling me.”

“Oh, it’s—it’s not a problem. Is he okay?”

“The nurse said we’re just waiting for him to wake up. How did you find him?”

Chen Rang’er rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, after my dad was arrested, my mom started having these health problems, so we checked her into the hospital for a longer stay during the, um, search and seizure and everything. I was taking a walk when I saw Xiao-ge through the door, and I thought…well, I thought that maybe you were trying to keep it a secret that he was hurt since everything is weird now.”

“I’m glad you called anyway.”

“Did my dad do this?”

“No,” said Xingyu, “I don’t think so.” Chen Jun was in jail already. The police were interrogating him daily and keeping an eye on all of his phone calls, on his assets, on his people. It would be extraordinarily difficult to hurt Xiao-Xiao like this without anyone knowing about it, not to mention it probably wasn’t likely that Chen Jun knew about Xiao-Xiao’s involvement with his arrest.

“I knew, you know.” Chen Rang’er quirked up one corner of his mouth and he looked away, back to where Weiran was kneeling by Xiao-Xiao’s bed. “About my dad. He wasn’t subtle about his appointments with Xiao-ge. And sometimes I would even see him looking at Xiao-ge with this…this look in his eye. But I never said anything about it. I guess I still wished that Xiao-ge would like me back. I’m sorry,” he said, his gaze meeting Xingyu’s again. “I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything. And when he’s better I hope I can apologize to Xiao-ge as well. I just…I wonder, you know? If I had done something or said something, or even if I had told Xiao-ge that I knew…maybe Xiao-ge wouldn’t have had to suffer.”

Xingyu didn’t offer him any comfort. No “It wasn’t your fault.” No “He didn’t want anyone to say anything.” If he opened his mouth now, the only thing that would come out would be an agreement. Xingyu hadn’t known the kind of things that Xiao-Xiao was having to bear all alone, but so many people had—Liu Baiyan, Sun Yue, all of Xiao-Xiao’s twisted clients, even those client’s relatives. They all knew what was happening to Xiao-Xiao, and they’d done nothing.