Lima syndrome

"I think you should just forget it. It's easy to scare the child to tears."

Bai Zhiyan turned around to hold Li Shanyu's hand, but the child refused to move as soon as he grabbed his hand, and looked straight in the direction of Bai Jitai.

"Sunwoo, what's wrong with you? Are you afraid of him?"

Li Shanyu glanced at Bai Jitae and then hid behind Bai Zhiyan, pinching the corner of his clothes somewhat uneasily.

"Don't be afraid, Shanyu, your uncle will take you upstairs."

"No, take me to play with you."

As he spoke, Bai Jitai squatted down and tried to grab Li Shanyu's hand, but he hid further away and held Bai Zhiyan tightly.

Seeing this, Bai Zhiyan also bent down and asked him softly, "Does our Shanyu want to play with this weird uncle?"

Bai Jitai's eyes flickered when he heard his words, and he looked up at him slightly, "You said I'm a weird uncle?"

"Hmph." Bai Zhiyan snorted and said nothing.

"Have you been having a very good time lately, Bai Zhiyan?"

"I do not want……"

Li Shanyu's soft voice interrupted the tension between the two. They paused after hearing the voice, and Bai Zhiyan couldn't help but laugh first.

"Okay, then we'll just ignore him and Sunwoo will only play with his uncle."

Bai Jitai, who was rejected, was not annoyed when watching the interaction between the two. He stood up and pinched Bai Zhiyan's face, who had not yet retracted his smile.

"Uh, what are you doing!"

"I noticed that you have become bolder recently. You are not afraid of me anymore."

Bai Zhiyan was pinched so hard that his teeth grimaced, and he stared with his eyes wide open as if to give himself courage to wave his hand away.

"I'm not afraid of you!"

"Ah--"

Hearing his sneer, Bai Zhiyan swallowed guiltily. Bai Jitai always did things on his own without considering the consequences. He had been bullied by him many times before and he didn't get any benefits from him. Although Bai Zhiyan was tough on the outside, he was actually afraid of him in his heart.

"Then you'd better keep it up."

Bai Jitai let go of her hand and left with these ambiguous words.

Bai Zhiyan rubbed his red face. His face was not a toy, so why did everyone pinch it?

"Come on, let's go upstairs with our uncle."

In this way, he and Li Shanyu spent a relaxing and happy afternoon in his room.

Although this child doesn't like to talk, he likes to stick to Bai Zhiyan. He is quiet when playing with toys by himself. When Bai Zhiyan shows him the photos he took in Jeju Island, he also looks at them with gusto.

Bai Zhiyan didn’t know what happened to this child, but perhaps because of some blood relationship, he couldn’t help but feel a little pity for him.

Bai Jiying said he went out to take care of something but did not come back until the evening. Bai Zhiyan asked Aunt Han to bring in dinner and coaxed the child to finish the meal, and the two continued to play games.

"Uncle..."

"What's wrong Sunwoo?"

"I'm sleepy..."

Bai Zhiyan looked at the time and it was indeed late. He didn't have Bai Jiying's contact information, so he could only leave the child in his room.

"Your uncle is with you, just lie down here and sleep."

He helped Li Shanyu take off his clothes and lifted the quilt, and after the person lay down, he gently patted him and coaxed him to sleep.

"Uncle, I want to hear a story."

Bai Zhiyan was stunned when he heard this. He looked down at the child's bright eyes and expectant look, and couldn't say no.

"Okay, uncle will tell you right away."

Having said that, he had never read any fairy tales, let alone tell stories. After thinking for a moment, he slowly said, "Then my uncle will tell you a story about the ugly duckling."

Bai Zhiyan began to tell the story of the ugly duckling from memory, "Once upon a time there was an ugly duckling. It was very ugly, but every time it saw the beautiful swans in the lake, it couldn't help but imagine that it could become as beautiful..."

The sky was pitch black at this time. In the boundless darkness, only a few stars were faintly visible. Before he knew it, Li Shanyu had fallen asleep peacefully.

But Bai Zhiyan's gentle voice did not stop.

"The ugly duckling was laughed at by other animals every day, but it never gave up and always yearned for life outside. Summer passed and winter came. Finally, it died on a cold winter night. When it closed its eyes, it had a beautiful dream. It turned out that it was also a beautiful white swan."

The story ended, Bai Zhiyan looked at his peaceful sleeping face and finally kissed him gently on the forehead, "Good night Shanyu."

He quietly got up, opened the door and wanted to go downstairs to get some water, but unexpectedly an uninvited guest appeared at the door.

"what--"

Bai Zhiyan was startled and subconsciously wanted to scream, but someone covered his mouth.

"You finally managed to coax him to sleep, and now you're woken up like this. What are you going to do?"

Bai Jitai lowered his voice and looked at him with a smile.

Talking at the door was obviously not a clear move, so Bai Zhiyan decided to give up drinking water and go back to the house quickly. He grabbed Bai Jita's wrist and signaled him to put his hand down.

"Um-"

Bai Jitai covered his mouth with one hand and clasped his waist with the other. When Bai Zhiyan realized what he meant and put his hands down from his mouth, he suddenly turned around and tried to run away.

But he underestimated Bai Jitai's reaction speed. The moment he was about to turn around, Bai Jitai had tightened his arms and held him tightly.

Before he could make any other move, Bai Jitai closed the door and dragged the man out.

Bai Zhiyan's foot injury had not healed yet. When he was grabbed by him, he could not use any strength at all, and his whole body was crookedly leaning against the wall of the corridor.

"What do you want to do?" Bai Zhiyan looked at him warily.

Bai Jitai pretended to be thoughtful, crossed his arms and said, "I was bored late at night and accidentally heard you telling a story to our good nephew. I couldn't sleep either, so I wanted to invite you to my room to tell me one too."

"What crazy nonsense are you talking about?"

"I came here to invite you personally with all my heart, how can you say that?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not interested."

"It's not up to you."

Bai Jitai slowly approached him and supported his arms on both sides of his body. In the darkness, only his eyes were shining. Bai Zhiyan had nowhere to retreat, his back pressed against the wall. Seeing that he had no intention of stopping, he had to slide down little by little and try to slip away from both sides.

"Want to run?"

Bai Jitai saw through his intention and squatted down to hold his injured ankle.

"Uh-"

Bai Zhiyan fell to the ground in pain. Bai Jitai looked at his miserable appearance with a smile and picked him up and took him away.

It wasn't until he entered Bai Jitai's room that he threw Bai Zhiyan to the ground, watching him floundering on the ground with a smile on his face.

"Is this your first time entering my room?"

Hearing his words, Bai Zhiyan swallowed. He was not in the mood to appreciate the decoration of his room. His eyes were looking straight towards the door.

Bai Jitai followed his gaze and chuckled, "What? Are you in a hurry to leave?"

"If you have something to say, say it now."

"It seems that your reaction is not slow."

Bai Jitai walked slowly to the bedside, picked up the lighter and lit a cigarette. After exhaling, he turned and looked at Bai Zhiyan who was curled up in a ball.

"You are very attentive today when Bai Jiying comes back."

"What do you mean?"

"Are you thinking that your life in the Bai family will be better after Bai Jiying comes back? Are you still thinking that you can ask her to help you get rid of me and the Bai family?"

Bai Zhiyan was shocked. He clearly didn't say anything or do anything out of the ordinary during the day. How did he know what he was thinking?

"I-I didn't."

"You know what the consequences of lying to me are, right?"

He exhaled a puff of smoke and sprayed it on Bai Zhiyan's face. Bai Zhiyan was choked and turned his head to cough a few times.

"Answer me." He pinched Bai Zhiyan's face and looked at him.

"Yes, I didn't."

"Okay, you're pretty obedient."

His dimples were visible when he smiled. He put down his hand and patted Bai Zhiyan's pale face, his tone as if he was praising a dog that obeyed its owner.

"I want to go back."

Now that his goal has been achieved, Bai Zhiyan doesn't want to stay here for another second.

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave? You don't need to watch over Li Shanyu if he falls asleep."

Bai Zhiyan didn't say anything, but supported himself and tried to get down from the other side of the bed.

He dragged his injured foot and tried to crawl away regardless. Bai Jitai, with a cigarette between his lips, reached out and grabbed his ankle, and with a little force, he pulled him back.

"I'm talking to you, why are you so rude?"

As he spoke, his grip began to tighten, and the wound felt like it was being pricked by needles. Bai Zhiyan was in so much pain that he didn't dare to move and lay on the ground in an indecent manner.

"What else do you want to do?"

Before he knew it, Bai Zhiyan's voice had begun to tremble and cold sweat gradually appeared on his forehead.

"Didn't I just say that I invited you to tell me a bedtime story?"

Mental illness! Bai Zhiyan's mind is full of dirty words. He suggests that Bai Jitai and Che Jingcan go to the psychiatric department of the hospital to have their brains checked out.

Although he thought so in his heart, the desire to survive forced him to speak and turned it into, "So what do you want to hear?"

"Isn't the story you just told Li Shanyu wrong?"

"W-what's wrong?"

“Is that how the ugly duckling ended up?”

"I made that up myself."

Bai Zhiyan felt that he must be crazy, otherwise why would he be lying in his room discussing fairy tales with him?

"Is this made up? Why do I feel like there's a deeper meaning behind this?"

Bai Jitai put out his cigarette, a hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes. The story told by Bai Zhiyan did indeed allude to him. Now that the real person brought it up, he felt like he was caught, and for a moment he felt a little embarrassed and flustered.

"There's no deep meaning. I just said whatever came to my mind."

"Nevermind."

Bai Jitai didn't bother her anymore and started changing his clothes.

"I am leaving."

Seeing this, Bai Zhiyan quickly stood up and limped towards the door.

“That’s not right.”

Bai Jitai took a few steps with his long legs and stood in front of him to stop him. His upper body was stripped naked, revealing his well-defined and smoothly-defined muscles. In addition to some scary scars, there was a black tattoo that looked like a python extending from his left shoulder to his chest. It was the first time that Bai Zhiyan saw him naked, and he realized that he actually had a tattoo, and it was a black snake.

The snake was lifelike, but its lifeless and cold eyes were imprinted on Bai Jita. Bai Zhiyan took a quick look at it and felt a chill all over his body.

A nightmare he once had suddenly flashed through his mind. In his dream, Bai Jitai turned into a black snake with golden pupils that ate him up. What's more, the wound on his foot was also caused by a snake bite. Now his fear of snakes has reached its peak.

So he didn't dare to look anymore and could only lower his head.

"What's wrong?"

"You know it well enough."

His tone suddenly dropped and his face became sinister and cruel. Bai Zhiyan was so scared that he took two steps back, stammering and unable to speak.

Bai Zhiyan was so anxious that he wished he could turn into a knife so that he could stab him to death.

"Say it."

Bai Jitai's deep voice carried a sense of oppression. Although there were only two words, they were like thunderbolt in Bai Zhiyan's ears.

"I have no idea……"

He was still resisting, but his voice was as thin as a mosquito's feet.

"Are you sure you don't know?"

……

"Uncle, where are you..."

Li Shanyu's voice suddenly rang out, and at this moment it sounded like heavenly music to Bai Zhiyan's ears.

"Sun Woo is awake. He has never been to the Bai family. I can't let him wander around by himself. I want to go out."

"Then beg me, and I'll let you go if you beg me."

Bai Zhiyan had long seen through his bad taste. A real man can bend and stretch, so he gritted his teeth and stomped his feet and went for it.

"I beg you to let me out."

Bai Jitai was in a good mood and even helped him open the door with a smile. Bai Zhiyan felt humiliated and left with a red face.

Thinking of the three months that Ji Chengxun had mentioned before, he must hold on.