Xie Qingcheng crumpled the moment he got through the door of his dorm. Using the last of his strength, he threw himself into the bathroom, where he collapsed over the edge of the sink and threw up immediately.
All that strong wine, on top of the drugs—he'd forcibly endured it for so long, maintaining his strong persona in front of the others. He hadn't softened or bent his waist a single iota when he faced He Yu, remaining upright and poised like a javelin the entire time.
He did all that just to avoid losing his dignity in front of He Yu, although he'd already lost his body to the scoundrel. It was only now that Xie Qingcheng was alone that he finally went limp and started throwing up violently until he felt like he was about to puke out his gallbladder as well. His ears rang, and his vision seemed to be veiled with black gauze, making everything he looked at dark and blurry.
No.
He couldn't fall apart…
He had to take some medicine, and then…
Xie Qingcheng scrubbed his face at the sink and repeated this to himself. However, his consciousness faded away mercilessly, indifferent to his miserable begging.
In the end, he stumbled on a step and collapsed in front of the sink.
Just before he passed out, he blearily saw someone open the dorm door. It was Chen Man, holding the key he'd gotten from Xie Xue. He started anxiously looking around the moment he entered the room, and his eyes eventually landed on Xie Qingcheng, who was lying on the icy tile.
"Xie-ge?!"
Xie Qingcheng heard Chen Man's voice and, in his delirium, strove to stand up. He wanted to finish playing out this performance.
But it wasn't just the exhaustion in his limbs. Even his eyelids had become extremely heavy. All that remained on his retinas were flickering shadows, and all he knew was that Chen Man ended up running over and kneeling anxiously by his side as he checked his condition.
After that, Xie Qingcheng completely lost consciousness. When he woke up, a great deal of time had passed.
He was lying on an articulated sickbed beneath a white hospital blanket, and there was an IV attached to his hand. He found the flow of the drip uncomfortably fast and wanted to move, but all he could do was twitch his fingertips slightly where they lay on top of the blanket.
"Xie-ge!" Seeing that he'd woken up, Chen Man snapped to attention where he'd been standing guard at his bedside and hastily grabbed his hand, asking with audible worry, "How are you? Do you still feel unwell?"
"I'm fine. Why are you…"
"I was worried about you, so I asked Xie Xue for the key to your dorm and followed you back and found you passed out. By the time I got you to the hospital, your temperature was already at 39.8 degrees. The doctor said that the high fever was from a severe inflammatory response, and that it would've gotten very serious if you'd come any later." Chen Man's eyes were red, like a rabbit's. "Why didn't you say anything? How could you just…just…"
Xie Qingcheng's consciousness was slowly returning to his body.
He closed his eyes, taking a moment to gather himself, then slowly turned his head. His arm lay exposed over the blanket. His palms were still covered in cuts from the shattered wine bottle, and his wrists were still covered in marks from He Yu's knots.
He instinctively wanted to hide the evidence of his disgrace back under the covers.
But Chen Man had clearly already noticed. He gazed at Xie Qingcheng. "Did someone beat you up?"
Xie Qingcheng didn't know what to say.
"Did someone attack you because of those videos, because of the rumors and gossip?"
Xie Qingcheng coughed softly. "Do I look like someone who's too weak to hit back to you?"
"But—"
"I was in a bad mood and hurt myself." Xie Qingcheng's voice was low and hoarse as he spoke to Chen Man. "That's why I didn't say anything."
Chen Man looked as if he didn't believe him at all.
But Xie Qingcheng didn't want him to keep asking questions. "I'm a little hungry. Could you go get me a bowl of congee?"
Chen Man left absentmindedly, his hair a tousled mess, only to hurry back a few seconds later—he was so out of it he'd forgotten his phone.
After Chen Man left, the surroundings went very quiet. This was an area set aside for emergency patients who required IV infusions, and the beds were separated from each other by light blue curtains. Xie Qingcheng could hear the faint sounds of nearby patients sobbing quietly in pain. With his eyes open, he suddenly felt a little envious.
Ever since he was little, he almost never cried. It felt like the right to vent in that way had never belonged to him.
His throat was painfully dry, and his mouth felt like a parched desert.
He didn't know how much time had passed when the curtains opened again. Xie Qingcheng thought Chen Man had returned, so he opened his eyes.
"Doctor Xie, it's me."
Xie Qingcheng was stunned.
The newcomer was a director of Huzhou First Hospital's emergency department. He had a very steady temperament and observed events with meticulous care. Regarding the Qin Ciyan event, he'd always held a different perspective from other people, and he didn't have any hard feelings toward Xie Qingcheng.
"We did some examinations when you were brought in," the director said, peering at him over his surgical mask. "Doctor Xie, you ought to be a little more careful in the bedroom. Even if you're in a bad mood, you shouldn't resort to such violent methods of destressing."
Xie Qingcheng's expression soured in an instant.
"I only noticed the marks on your body; I didn't look anywhere else. Don't overthink it." A beat of silence passed. The director cocked his head slightly and gestured at the doorway. "The one that just left—is he your boyfriend?"
"Just a friend."
He hadn't been very close to this director when he was a doctor, but for some reason, he always felt that the man looked a little familiar. Likely due to some subtle compatibility in their auras, the two of them had been capable of holding a conversation back when he was still at the hospital. But Xie Qingcheng felt extremely humiliated at the moment, so he kept his expression stretched taut and devoid of any emotion. He had absolutely no intention of explaining further.
But the director continued, "That's good. If it were a cop who had those kinds of violent tendencies, they ought to book an appointment with the psychiatric department."
This wholly infuriated Xie Qingcheng, so he eventually spoke up in a mild voice. "You've misunderstood, it was a woman."
"Ah…?" The director lifted his chin slightly in complete astonishment, but his eyes remained rather calm. It was quite evident that he hadn't taken Xie Qingcheng's nonsense as truth. "In that case, this woman needs to undergo some training. How could she be so feral?"
"If you could please leave, I would like to rest now."
"Very well then, have a good rest. You've probably had a lot on your mind these past few days and haven't been able to get a good night's sleep. I'm on shift tonight, so you can rest easy."
With that, the director walked over to the curtains, notebook in hand, and pulled them open.
As it turned out, there was someone standing outside.
It was Chen Man, who had returned from buying congee. He'd been standing beyond the curtains just now and heard a part of their conversation. Now he was staring at the director in a daze, his pale face gradually flushing so red that even his earlobes began to glow scarlet. After a while, his eyes moved involuntarily from the director and landed on Xie Qingcheng, who also looked rather taken aback.
This was wholly a coincidence; Chen Man had meant to come in as soon as he returned. But he had faintly heard them talking about the importance of restraint in the bedroom and promptly froze like he'd been electrocuted. The congee was dangling from his hand, but it seemed like there was more congee than brain in his head at the moment.
The director examined Chen Man's face. "What are you doing?"
Chen Man didn't know what to say. He bit his lips and kept mum.
Xie Qingcheng was equally speechless. But in the end, he had to cough lightly before the director let Chen Man off without further interrogation and walked away, minding his own business.
Only Chen Man and Xie Qingcheng remained on this side of the curtain.
Chen Man took a step forward but then froze, as if going any further would mean trampling over some boundary, as if he'd learned a truth capable of stabbing him.
"Ge. You…you've gotten a girlfriend?" Chen Man forced a smile. When Xie Qingcheng didn't reply, he added, "A new saozi?"
"No." Xie Qingcheng was beyond annoyed, but also embarrassed. He had no desire to speak anymore, since the more he said, the further he ended up from the truth. "I was just in a bad mood and hooked up with someone for fun."
But Chen Man didn't think Xie Qingcheng was that type of guy; he might've believed it from someone else, but Xie Qingcheng going out and hooking up for fun? Even if every man on Earth had one-night stands, Xie Qingcheng still wouldn't do such a thing. He was the most stubborn and responsible person. There was no way he'd cause such unnecessary hurt.
Seeing the disbelief written over Chen Man's face, Xie Qingcheng grew even more irritated. He was so frustrated that he craved a smoke. But of course he couldn't find one.
"Why would you…"
Xie Qingcheng glanced at him, unable to understand his hurt feelings. He assumed Chen Man simply felt he shouldn't be acting like this. "Right now, I'm single and without a wife or kids," he said calmly. "There's nothing wrong with what I did."
He brought a hand to his still-scalding temple as he spoke. Almost apathetically, he went on, "I've told you not to put me on too high of a pedestal. I'm just an ordinary person. I have all the desires any human should have."
Chen Man choked up and turned away abruptly. He sniffled as he lifted the pack of congee and put it on the bedside table next to Xie Qingcheng.
"Um… I-I just remembered I left something at the shop. I need to go get it." As soon as Chen Man finished speaking, he left without a backward glance, moving even more hastily than usual, as if he were fleeing.
After Chen Man fled to the main lobby of the night emergency department, he sighed deeply, eyes red-rimmed as he stood in a daze. His head was an absolute mess. What he'd overheard earlier kept echoing through his mind.
He knew Xie Qingcheng must have slept with someone. The thought made his heart throb with pain—but he didn't even have the courage to ask who Xie Qingcheng had slept with.
In Xie Qingcheng's eyes, he was forever a child. Xie Qingcheng would take care of him and protect him, but he'd never open his heart to him, let alone share his personal life with him. If Xie Qingcheng knew he actually had these kinds of feelings for him, Chen Man worried that he'd destroy their friendly relationship forever.
But right now, his heart was twisted up too tightly.
He wondered, Who exactly is it… What kind of girl is she?
Chen Man closed his eyes. It really was too painful for him; just because he wasn't a woman, he would never be able to confess his feelings to Xie Qingcheng, would he?
But what Chen Man didn't know was that at this very moment, that "girl," the primary culprit, the one he hated so much he could spit blood, was leaning against the wall in the corner with his hands in his pockets, watching from afar as Chen Man exited the emergency infusion room.
He Yu had followed Xie Qingcheng and Chen Man all the way here.
And it was only now that he got a clear look at the person scurrying about by Xie Qingcheng's side.
He Yu recognized Chen Man. He had eaten a meal with this guy, that time at the dining hall. He was very close to Xie Qingcheng.
As Chen Man stood in the light, his heart in distress, He Yu stood in the darkness, also a bit uncomfortable, with a heart that felt like it had been stuck through with thorns. But he wasn't sure why he felt that way.
Though he despised Xie Qingcheng, when he woke up, sobered up, and recalled the scattered fragments of those past incidents, he felt that it would be a bit much to allow Xie Qingcheng to meet with a truly terrible mishap. But in the end, after he followed Xie Qingcheng all the way back, all he got for his efforts was the opportunity to personally witness Chen Man half-carrying the unconscious Xie Qingcheng out of the medical school's faculty dormitory and into a car…
As He Yu watched these events unfold, he felt very, very uncomfortable.
It was his fault that Xie Qingcheng had fallen ill. He didn't fear anything and was willing to bear the consequences for all his actions. He wasn't ashamed of facing the doctor. He didn't need someone else to clean up the debts he incurred, especially since Xie Qingcheng had just today accused him of "running away after doing something wrong" back when he was still conscious.
I didn't run away, He Yu thought. Xie Qingcheng was the one who had way too many friends who were too young for him, friends who were always following him around at his beck and call, eagerly scrambling to clean up He Yu's messes.
He Yu had been standing outside the whole time Xie Qingcheng was hooked up to the IV in the infusion room. Although he wanted to know about Xie Qingcheng's current condition, there was no way for him to go in and ask with Chen Man present.
It was indisputable that he was the one who had given Xie Qingcheng a fever, but after all this time, he couldn't even enter the infusion room— until now, when Chen Man stepped out.
Watching from afar, He Yu noted the grim expression on the youngster's face; he looked like he thought the sky had fallen. A tendril of worry immediately unfurled in his heart. Was Xie Qingcheng really in terrible condition? He couldn't care less about Xie Qingcheng, but he was the one who fucked the man. Out of respect for his own dignity, he felt honor-bound to bear some of the responsibility.
Then, Chen Man walked closer. Now that He Yu could clearly make out the unexpected redness rimming his eyes, he was even more dumbfounded. He felt somewhat at a loss. What did this mean?
What exactly was wrong with Xie Qingcheng?
He Yu's face had turned slightly pale. He didn't realize it, but he was practically the spitting image of a young father-to-be waiting outside of a delivery room—barred from entering, unable to obtain any information, and desperately anxious. As He Yu was caught in the midst of his fretful handwringing, though, one of the nurses stationed in the emergency infusion room came running out, saying, "Sir, you're Xie Qingcheng's family, right?"
Briefly startled, Chen Man gave it a moment of thought and then nodded slowly.
"The results of the blood work covered by the patient's insurance should be out. You missed one when you were picking them up just now, so if you could, please go get it. There's also the medicine prescribed by the doctor. Please pay and pick it up as soon as possible."
"Oh… Okay."
Chen Man walked listlessly over to the reception window for the lab report and collected Xie Qingcheng's blood test results. Then he went to a different window to pay for the medicine. But he was truly in a terrible mood, his mind wandering as he went through the motions. As he was picking up the medicine and paying the bill, the blood test report that he had only just obtained floated from his pile of miscellany and onto the ground.
The flimsy sheet of paper fell like a snowflake onto the ice-cold tiles of the emergency room lobby's floor.
He Yu stared at it, transfixed.
That was Xie Qingcheng's lab report…
After a few seconds of indecision, he pulled the brim of his cap lower. Then, before Chen Man could notice, he walked over with an upright posture and picked up that snow-white sheet of paper.
In that moment, He Yu was struck by an exceptionally bizarre thought. It was as though he were a scumbag university student who, after having sex for the first time, was worried that he had accidentally gotten his girlfriend pregnant because he had been too hasty to put a condom on properly. And now he was sneaking a peek at his girlfriend's pregnancy test.
He Yu shook his head aggressively, trying to dislodge the ludicrous thought. He'd really gone mad. After so many momentous events these last few days, even his thinking process had become warped.
Lowering his head, He Yu carefully examined Xie Qingcheng's blood test report. Only his white blood cell count was elevated—it seemed like he was suffering from inflammation. Everything else seemed to be within the normal ranges, so there was nothing seriously wrong with him.
Then what was that young guy crying about…?
Breathing a small sigh of relief, He Yu lifted his lashes slightly and his eyes fell on the words "Xie Qingcheng, Male, Age 32" written at the top of the report.
He stroked a finger over the line of fine print.
Hot off the press, the report still carried a hint of residual warmth from the printer.
Warm to the touch, just like that man's skin…
"Excuse me, buddy, but I believe that belongs to me."
After a round of bustling activity, Chen Man had finally come to his senses and realized that he had lost the blood test report. When he retraced his steps, however, he saw a young man about his own age carefully analyzing that very same report.
It was just a pity that Chen Man's mood was so poor, and with He Yu wearing his cap, Chen Man didn't get a very good look at his face and missed his opportunity to confront the primary culprit. Taking He Yu for an ordinary patient, he said, "Sorry, but could you please give that report back to me?"
He Yu didn't reply. With his eyes hidden in the shadow cast by the brim of his cap, a thought struck him for a split second: there was no way he would hand over the report. But an instant later, that thought seemed strange to him. Why didn't he want to hand it over? After all, it wasn't as if he was actually a scumbag university student holding the results of his girlfriend Xie Qingcheng's pregnancy test.
How utterly absurd.
Despite these thoughts, he still said in a chilly voice, "You're mistaken. This is mine."
Chen Man said, "I clearly… Please, can I just take a look?"
He Yu refused to give the paper back to Chen Man, tightening his pale, slender fingers on the lab report as he held it behind him.
"You can't. Patient confidentiality."
"I just want to see the name! Because I just dropped this sheet, right around here…"
"You want to see my girlfriend's pregnancy test results?"
Chen Man was speechless.
He Yu himself found it ludicrous the moment the words left his mouth, but perhaps because he had been thinking about all that nonsense earlier, that was the refusal that slipped out.
The deterrent those words posed was far too great. A naive young lad like Chen Man could never have the nerve to keep badgering He Yu after hearing the words "pregnancy test results."
Chen Man turned bright red and didn't dare look the boy standing before him in the eye, even though he found the entire situation rather preposterous. He hadn't taken a proper look at He Yu's face, but he was certain that the other party must be a student who was younger than him.
The things that college boys got up to these days were truly…
Chen Man stammered, "S-sorry, my mistake."
He Yu tucked Xie Qingcheng's blood test report into his pocket with a cold expression. "Yes, it was indeed your mistake."
"Then I'll keep looking…"
He Yu ignored Chen Man. That report was honestly of little use to him and could at most prove that he had fucked Xie Qingcheng for an entire night. Still, he stuffed it into his pocket with a chilly cast to his face and left without a backward glance.
Not a single person knew that he had been there.