Li Kening's life could probably be described as a ruin.
The earthquake in 2008 took all his family from him. Another earthquake in 2017 left him disabled, with half a leg amputated, at the age of twenty.
When a blood clot pressed on his optic nerve and left him blind, he even thought about ending it all.
But Zhou Jichen stopped him, putting himself in danger and getting hurt in the process.
Li Kening felt he was becoming abnormal. He desperately wanted to hold on to this person who had given him such comfort over the past half month.
So he confessed to Zhou Jichen.
After a long silence, Zhou Jichen replied, "You're in a really bad place right now."
Once his sight returned and he had gotten himself together, Li Kening went to look for him, only to catch a glimpse from far away. Zhou Jichen was leaving.
Even other people wouldn't give him Zhou Jichen's contact information.
Li Kening suddenly understood that being hounded by someone like him would only be a burden to Zhou Jichen.
Who could have guessed that five years later, they would meet by chance? After a dinner and a glass of wine, Li Kening woke up to find himself lying beside Zhou Jichen.
He stared blankly at Zhou Jichen's peaceful sleeping face as memories of his drunken antics the night before flooded back.
"Cyber-cultivation, mechanical ascension. Send me 50 and I'll tell you my grand ascension plan."
"What kind of plan only costs 50?"
"Come lie in bed with me and I'll tell you all about it..."
When he opened his phone, he saw a new friend request on WeChat and a transfer notification in the chat.
Someone had sent him 50,000 yuan, with the note: Buyout plan.
Li Kening looked from his phone to Zhou Jichen. "..."
This is really weird, you know.
*
It had been five years since Zhou Jichen volunteered in the earthquake-stricken area, but he still often thought of those bright, clear eyes.
At first, those eyes had brimmed with tears, helpless and fragile. But their owner's resilience had helped them shine with life again.
Like creeping plants growing over ruins, dependent and incredibly fragile, yet still able to break through rubble and spread their soft tendrils in silence, filling the cracks in crumbling walls.
They made him feel ashamed for ever wanting to give up.
He had thought they would never meet again. But that day, at a hospital in the disaster zone, after working at high intensity for 48 hours straight, Zhou Jichen dragged his exhausted body out of the operating room and saw Li Kening sitting in a hallway chair, wearing a yellow volunteer vest.
The other man seemed tired and was absently pounding on his amputated leg, holding the prosthesis he'd just taken off in his right hand.
Suddenly, those eyes that had appeared in Zhou Jichen's thoughts so many times turned toward him, filled with surprise and bewilderment.
Zhou Jichen saw Li Kening smile, unusually awkward and shy. In his fluster, he even raised his prosthesis to greet him.
"Hi," the young man said softly.
By the time Zhou Jichen came to his senses, his heart was already wrapped in creeping vines.
*
Li Kening could endure pain better than most, because if he couldn't, he wouldn't have been able to bear all those injuries.
But Zhou Jichen worried about him and didn't dare be too rough with him.
Li Kening looked at the man struggling to hold himself back, climbed on top, and told him breathlessly, "I like the pain you give me."
Clear-eyed, open-minded, clingy, and direct bottom x gloomy, taciturn, possessive top
Rehabilitation equipment designer x orthopedic surgeon
1. First love for both, happy ending, five-year age gap with the top older, reunion at the start, sweet romance
2. Medical information is all sourced online. I've tried to keep it reasonable, but readers who want rigorous accuracy should be cautious
3. Two timid people saving each other. The characters are imperfect, so please keep that in mind
4. Not too long, probably around 150,000 to 200,000 Chinese characters
5. Prompt archived: 2025.6.20
Theme: Keep striving to live
