We're Done Competing

Completed works: The Wealthy Family Can Forget It, I'll Just Be a Forensic Doctor; My Sickly Enemy Is Carrying My Child Next up: After the Old-Fashioned Man Gets Pregnant has already started building up a chapter buffer. I'll start posting after I have 15 chapters. A ridiculously strong criminal investigation captain who fights on despite his injuries, gong & a gorgeous, crazy surgical department director, shou Everyone in the residential compound knew that Bai Zihan and Pei Jun were childhood friends unlike any other. Other people shared the kind of bond formed by wearing split-crotch pants as toddlers, but these two shared the bond of competitive overachievers. From academics to fitness, and from fitness to combat, they pushed each other as hard as they could, until they finally went their separate ways at university: one entered the police academy, and the other medical school. They both breathed a sigh of relief. That was until six years after graduation, when the swaggering captain of the criminal investigation team ended up severely injured on Bai Zihan's operating table. Just when Director Bai thought that after nearly 30 years of competing, he could finally hold his head high, his overachieving childhood friend succeeded in making him furious every single day. Three days after leaving the ICU, Pei climbed out a window and disappeared. Four days after leaving the ICU, Pei held his apprentice hostage and forced his way out of the hospital. Seven days after leaving the ICU, Pei dragged him off on an escape mission to take the blame for someone else... "Pei Jun, are you trying to get yourself killed or what? If you want a spot in the morgue, just say so in advance. How many seconds do you think it'd take me to strangle you with an IV tube?" When they needed to seduce a suspect, Pei Jun immediately thought of his stunningly handsome childhood friend, Bai Zihan. The usually stern, icy man smiled with unusual warmth. "Director Bai, it's time to shine for the people from beneath the operating table again." Bai Zihan: "Am I a light bulb? Do I have to shine all day? How much fieldwork pay are you planning to give me for ordering me around, Captain Pei?" Pei Jun actually took a card out of his pocket. "You can have my salary card." Then, during a mission, Bai Zihan took a drug offered by the suspect. The drug magnified his emotions, tearing away his flippant, amiable facade. The madness and possessiveness in his nature tore at his reason. Watching him take the drug, Pei Jun's eyes nearly bulged with rage. "Bai Zihan, what exactly was that drug? Tell me." "It does have some psychological side effects." Pei Jun rarely spoke so gently and soothingly. "It's okay. Take your time and tell me. It's okay." A beastlike chill glinted in Bai Zihan's usually flirtatious, captivating eyes. "Why are you in such a hurry? Hmm? Be good and tell me. If I'm not satisfied, I won't tell you what the drug is." Pei Jun gently brought the hand that was misbehaving to his lips and kissed it. "Are you satisfied now?" An accidental drugging laid bare the feelings that had been buried deepest in their hearts for years. Pei Jun never imagined he'd end up falling for the guy he'd competed with since childhood. PS: Both the gong and shou are police officers. The shou studied medicine and is a doctor at a public security hospital. I checked, and doctors at public security hospitals used to be police officers too, though that's gradually being phased out now. Let's just call that an author-invented detail. Content warning: The final chapter's extra features role reversal. Enter with caution. Next up: After the Old-Fashioned Man Gets Pregnant Luo Zhao is willing to sacrifice everything, even his own body, to get research funding. He enters a contract marriage with Bai Jiyan, a mature man he met through a matchmaking arrangement. After the wedding, they agree to keep out of each other's way. One no longer has to worry about research expenses, while the other no longer has to worry about his public image or his family's pressure to marry. A win-win. One drunken accident leads Bai Jiyan and Luo Zhao to cross the line from their contract into something physical. They're both men, so there's no point arguing over who's to blame. They drank, and they both enjoyed it. But Bai Jiyan's meticulous nature means he has to take responsibility. "This was my mistake. The Bai Group will add another year of funding." Luo Zhao had been planning to pull up his pants and pretend nothing happened, but immediately clasped both hands around the hand of his money god. "President Bai, you really understand technology." "If you have no objections, we can add a clause: for every time we fulfill our marital duties during the contract period, I'll add another million to the investment. Of course, if you object, forget I said anything." After all, he was an adult with normal needs. He didn't dislike Luo Zhao, but he couldn't let him come away empty-handed, either. Luo Zhao thought it over. They were married, so this couldn't count as paying for sex, right? At most, it was a bit of fun between husbands. He could just think of his legally wedded husband as an investor. "No problem." The problem came two months later, when his old-fashioned, meticulous investor got pregnant. Luo Zhao was stunned. Even the usually expressionless Bai Jiyan's face cracked. Bai Jiyan had never known the warmth of a family growing up, and he didn't want to give up the child, but the baby needed a complete family. "I want this child, and the child needs a legal father. Could we try being a couple? You can set whatever conditions you like." Luo Zhao glanced at the man's stomach. He was the one who'd caused this, while Bai Jiyan was the one suffering. Taking responsibility was what an adult man had to do. But he never expected that the old-fashioned man's idea of dating would be like this: In the morning, they discussed the day's work. At noon, they discussed lunch, reviewed the morning's progress, and talked about whether they'd need to work overtime that evening and whether one of them should pick the other up after work. In the evening, they reviewed the day's work, reported which clients and business partners they needed to meet, and had a deep, soul-level discussion. There were also weekly and monthly reports. If you missed a message, you owed three phone calls. Was this really dating? Theme: Justice will always come.