Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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The fire truck turned the corner, and the siren gradually faded.
The firelight disappeared from Xing Cheng’s sight.
A warm sensation sprayed onto his neck, and Lu Dangui’s shoulder line suddenly tightened.
The person in his arms turned their head and gently rubbed their nose against his neck.
Xing Cheng’s heart was beating very irregularly, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, like he was going crazy.
His heart pressed against Lu Dangui’s chest through the fabric, beating again and again, endlessly.
Thump, thump.
A continuous flow of life force emanated from his chest cavity, and something broke through the soil and sprouted in the dimly lit ward.
Pulling himself out of the painful memories, Xing Cheng raised his red eyes and stared blankly at the person in front of him.
“It’s alright now…”
“It’s all over now.”
The young doctor kept repeating those two sentences, tears soaking his shoulder, yet he held on tightly, refusing to let go.
Realizing that the person in his arms was gradually waking up from the illness, he stopped gently patting his back.
Night fell silently, and the moon outside the window was big and round.
Xing Cheng knew that he had come back to life.
….
Noticing that the person in his arms had stopped trembling, Lu Dangui paused in mid-air and slowly lowered his hand from Xing Cheng’s back.
The person was gradually regaining consciousness, and there shouldn’t be anything else for him to do next.
If Xing Cheng were to regain consciousness and find himself being held in his arms and gently comforted, their relationship would likely become even more entangled in the future.
Lu Dangui wasn’t a typical straight man, and he was well aware that the mess they had left behind had long exceeded the boundaries of normal friendship.
But the more this happened, the more chaotic his mind became, like a tangled mess.
If it were him three years ago, knowing what he had done three years later, he would have beaten him black and blue and called him a good-for-nothing who had forgotten his pain once the wounds had healed.
It’s not just about embracing the person who hurt his sister.
He would often dream at night that they were drenched in a wet bathroom, kissing each other until they were breathless in a cramped car, and intertwined on an empty bed, leaving each other’s marks on every inch of their skin.
He would never forget the day the doctor came out of the operating room, shook his head at him regretfully, and told him to make a decision as soon as possible.
As Lu Wenfei’s brother and her only relative, he personally signed the consent form for the amputation surgery.
Thinking of this, Lu Dangui looked up at the window, his eyes filled with a weary and confused look.
Xing Cheng showed not a trace of remorse for what happened to his sister back then.
He maintained a facade of complete ignorance, whether genuinely or feigning ignorance was unclear. In short, the accident did not stir the slightest ripple in his heart.
Tonight’s events caused Lu Dangui to waver briefly on this matter.
Even such a cold-blooded person, would there be times when they toss and turn in bed due to anxiety?
Remembering the few words Xing Cheng had been repeating, Lu Dangui sat by the hospital bed, lost in thought.
Xing Cheng buried himself in his arms, tears streaming down his face as his whole body convulsed and trembled. He kept repeating the same few words over and over: “girl,” “save people,” “fire.”
He tried to soften his tone, hoping to extract more useful information from Xing Cheng. But whenever he asked about the crucial parts, Xing Cheng would raise his hand to cover his head, choking out a painful and heart-wrenching sob.
Over the past few years, Lu Dangui has handled many cases under the guidance of the director and has also accumulated some experience in judging the onset of cases.
Based on these keywords and Xing Cheng’s stress response to the siren, it was not hard for him to deduce that what Xing Cheng had been thinking about was very likely related to a fire.
The information he could deduce so far was that a girl was trapped in a fire, and Xing Cheng wanted to rescue her or find someone to rescue her.
He didn’t know if it was successful in the end, but it was highly likely that it wasn’t.
Because if it had succeeded, it won’t become a nightmare that trapped Xing Cheng.
Actually, when Xing Cheng mentioned the word “girl,” for some reason, he thought of his younger sister for a moment.
However, when Wenfei had the accident, he, as her older brother, was not at the scene and did not know what had happened.
He later received information from the police that there was a problem with the stage equipment at the concert venue, and an emergency evacuation was carried out. During the evacuation, Lu Wenfei, who was sitting in the first row of VIP seats, was hit directly by the collapsing lift platform and fell into a coma on the spot.
There was no indication that a fire had occurred in the gymnasium. Lu Wenfei also had no burn marks and never mentioned anything related to the fire after waking up.
None of these details matched his younger sister’s experience.
In fact, his deep-seated prejudice against Xing Cheng over the past three years stemmed not only from his sister losing her leg in the accident, but also from the series of aftermath following the accident.
After the accident, Xing Cheng’s agency, Baiwen Entertainment, immediately blocked all news from the scene, only stating that the concert was temporarily cancelled due to special circumstances.
During that period, the internet was peaceful, and there were no discordant comments.
No one knew that a girl had lost both legs in the accident.
For a long time afterward, Xing Cheng neither updated his Weibo nor made any statement. Instead, someone claiming to be a staff member of Baiwen Entertainment called him, wanting to meet him to discuss compensation. In reality, it was a demand for hush money.
In a fit of rage, he refused the man’s request. Later, he also subtly inquired with Bai Jiuyan, who said that Baiwen Entertainment did not have such a person.
This matter had thus become an unsolved mystery.
During the time his sister was hospitalized, he considered posting a long article online to expose the tragic accident that was disguised as peaceful, but his sister, who was in the hospital bed, stopped him.
Lu Wenfei pleaded with her brother not to do this, saying she didn’t want to pursue the matter any further.
Two months later, just as fans were starting to discuss online why Xing Cheng wasn’t active in the entertainment industry, their brother reappeared in the public eye.
Xing Cheng had cut his signature medium-length hair from his debut days, and he also looked thinner than usual.
He appeared on the set of a web series, playing the second male lead.
When the reporter took pictures, he waved at the camera and, as always, flashed a bright smile.
During that time, Lu Dangui kept a close eye on Xing Cheng’s whereabouts. A fan posted pictures and text saying that when he visited the set, he saw Xing Cheng lying in the sunshade that the crew had specially built for him, and a masseuse was applying something to his back and giving him a massage.
This post even trended on Weibo after being featured by Xing Cheng’s fans, with the tag “[Xing Cheng treats the film set like a resort]”.
It was precisely because of this discussion that Xing Cheng’s free-spirited and straightforward “wild beauty” persona was firmly established, and it also brought a wave of popularity to the web drama that was being filmed.
When Lu Dangui saw this news online, he was completely heartbroken.
While he was anxiously waiting to get an explanation from Xing Cheng, the man had already gone to film a movie as if nothing had happened, and even brought a masseuse with him, living a very comfortable and carefree life.
Having liked Xing Cheng for eight long years, Lu Wenfei never received his apology after that day.
….
As Lu Dangui sat by the hospital bed lost in thought, he suddenly felt the head resting on his shoulder become heavier.
Holding his breath and lowering his head slightly, he realized that Xing Cheng had closed his eyes at some point.
Even though he was fast asleep, the corners of his eyes were still red. His right hand was not completely open, but hung limply by the bedside, half-clenching his little finger.
Noticing the person beside him move, Xing Cheng’s tear-stained eyelashes trembled slightly, and he furrowed his brows restlessly in his sleep.
“…”
Forced to become a human pillow, Lu Dangui’s eyelids twitched.
He had been sitting in front of the bedside table for a while, and his shoulders had started to ache, so he leaned back and rested his back against the headboard. Unexpectedly, the head on his shoulder also moved back with him. As he moved his shoulder, Xing Cheng slightly pursed his lips, but he didn’t wake up.
Although Lu Dangui hadn’t known Xing Cheng for very long, as the doctor who had treated him, he knew that this man harbored many secrets.
He did seem quite different from the disgraced idol in his memory who was indifferent to his fans and heartless.
Although Lu Dangui still harbored resentment over the blow to the knee, he had to admit that it was indeed this person who had saved him at Xing Yu’s manor.
As for what happened at the Xing residence, he later vaguely remembered some of it.
That night, he grabbed Xing Cheng’s collar and cried and begged in the dark, even taking the initiative to hug the man’s battered back with both hands.
The probability of an ordinary person bumping into a big star on the street was probably one in 100,000, but this person had appeared in his life again and again.
It seemed unintentional, yet it was deliberate in every way.
During their interactions, he discovered that Xing Cheng actually cherished his fans and loved his stage performances.
Why would someone like that choose to shirk responsibility back then?
Does he have some compelling reason to do this? Or… is there some hidden difficulty he faces?
The thought had barely sprouted in his mind when Lu Dangui forcefully suppressed it.
He frowned deeply, finding the idea somewhat ridiculous.
He was increasingly influenced by this person, and it seemed he was becoming somewhat obsessed.
The ward was silent; the tall man was nowhere to be seen. The motion-activated lights in the corridor flickered on and off, the night grew darker, but the person on his shoulder showed no sign of waking up.
She worked the night shift until noon, and then went to visit her sister at school in the afternoon. After a busy day, an overwhelming drowsiness washed over Lu Dangui.
Leaning against the headboard, squinting at the dim floor lamp in the VIP ward, he tilted his head back against the bed and gradually closed his eyes.
The curtains were lifted at the corners by a gentle breeze, and two figures slept side by side on the hospital bed.
A very long time passed, until everything quieted down and only the sound of breathing remained in the air.
The person leaning on his shoulder slowly opened their eyes in the dim light.
Moonlight streamed down the floor through the curtain seams, and the person lifted their head from their shoulders, raising their two clasped hands.
Then, a kiss landed.
The young doctor was fast asleep, leaning against the headboard, and didn’t notice anything unusual.
Seeing the young doctor’s sleeping profile through the glass door, Xing Cheng slightly curved his lips and drifted back to sleep.
….
At six o’clock in the morning, before dawn, a black convoy bearing a double-sail logo broke through the morning mist and slowly drove into the parking lot of the Affiliated Hospital of S University.
Two bodyguards got out of the car first and respectfully opened the door for the person sitting in the back seat.
Xing Shi, who was smoking downstairs, was completely dumbfounded as he watched the person get out of the car.
The newcomer was a middle-aged man in his fifties, with a full head of silver hair but not showing signs of age; his features still betrayed his handsome appearance from his youth. He exuded an aura of authority from head to toe, standing before people with an air of quiet power.
“Chairman Xing.”
Extinguishing his cigarette, Xing Shi stepped forward and bowed sixty degrees to the middle-aged man, cold sweat gradually forming on his forehead.
Taking off his gloves and handing them to the bodyguard behind him, Xing Jingshan asked Xing Shi, “Where’s A Cheng?”
“Young Master… Young Master is still resting, Chairman Xing.” Swallowing hard, Xing Shi stammered, “Chairman Xing, weren’t you still abroad? How come you—”
Xing Jingshan had no intention of answering Xing Shi’s questions.
He stepped forward, patted Xing Shi on the shoulder, and said to him in a kind, elder-like tone, “Xiao Shi, take me upstairs.”
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