Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-One: The Life That Could Be Saved
Xiao Yu might not have given it a second thought if it were a different month, but August…
If his memory was correct, he had been kidnapped in August.
Xiao Yu didn’t consider himself too perceptive, but his intuition told him that his kidnapping had something to do with this.
“Yeah, around that time…” Chu Ge sighed sorrowfully. “Sometime at the beginning of the month.”
“Liar,” Yan Jin accused.
Chu Ge gave up. “Alright, alright, you guessed it.”
“Apologize,” Yan Jin ordered.
“Give me a break. I’m not blaming you either. Considering when it happened, if I hadn’t done anything, who knows where Nan Chan would have ended up?” Chu Ge hung his head dejectedly.
Xiao Yu discreetly tugged on Yan Jin’s sleeve and gave him a questioning look.
Yan Jin sighed and mouthed, his terminally ill girlfriend.
“You two, I’m not blind, you know?” Chu Ge rebuked at the two of them passing messages.
“I don’t have a choice. I need to try my hardest to pamper my wife and make sure we are fully aligned on all issues,” Yan Jin shot back with amusement.
Xiao Yu stomped on Yan Jin’s foot. “I say, we’ve all known each other for so long now. I can’t be considered an outsider anymore. Can’t you guys tell me what this is all about?”
“Ask him,” Yan Jin said, looking at Chu Ge.
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Chu Ge gave a self-mocking laugh. “There’s nothing to hide.”
Yan Jin gave a noncommittal grunt.
Chu Ge sounded like he didn’t have any issues with it, but when he began his story, Xiao Yu distinctly felt the room grow solemn.
……
Yan Jin and Chu Ge had similarly sorrowful expressions.
For Yan Jin, time didn’t heal his sadness. For Chu Ge, each time he looked through the glass window into the special ward at that pale bloodless face, he would be reminded of the tragic scene.
“Maybe I’ll just stay out here since I’m an outsider…” Despite his mental preparation, Xiao Yu had still been reduced to sobs at the end of Chu Ge’s story.
What was more surprising was that Chu Ge’s story didn’t end there. For some reason, Yan Jin had insisted on bringing him to the hospital to see Qiao Yutang, who had lain unconscious for ten years.
Xiao Yu was now standing outside the ward, unsure if he should be there.
“No need, Tangtang likes new friends. And, how are you an outsider? You’re her little brother’s wife.” [TLN: Unlike in English where family relationships can be covered by uncle, in-law, etc., there are different titles in Chinese depending on, say, whether the uncle is your mother’s older brother, mother’s younger brother, father’s older brother, or father’s younger brother. Here, little brother stems from Chu Ge considering Yan Jin as a little brother, and this title passing transitively to Chu Ge’s girlfriend.]
Hearing a cutesy nickname like “Tangtang” from Chu Ge sounded like something out of a horror movie. Xiao Yu felt goose pimples erupt across his back.
“Who are you referring to?” Yan Jin raised an eyebrow.
Chu Ge countered, “It can’t be that you’re the bottom, can’t it?”
“When did you become my older brother?”
“… That’s common sense. Just like the sun rises from the east every day, you are my little brother. Surely you can’t reject that.”
Yan Jin smirked. “Sorry, only people from the Nan Family or Ye Family can be considered my cousins. What about you?”
Chu Ge: “…”
Not only did he need to kneel before and wait on his little brother, he could only laugh it off when that little brother rejected the hierarchy of seniority.
It had been a long time since this thought had last occurred to Chu Ge. Unexpectedly, he even held some twisted nostalgia for this.
Xiao Yu felt Chu Ge was too pitiful so he grit his teeth and said, “Alright, alright. She’s my older brother’s girlfriend. We’re already all here, so let’s go in.” [TLN: Chu Ge = Xiao Yu’s older brother transitively through Yan Jin.]
Chu Ge nodded gratefully.
Xiao Yu’s heart beat faster as they stepped inside.
Xiao Yu normally wasn’t nervous in hospitals. Sure, he had some aversion to them because of what had happened to his parents, but he was usually fine. However, this one, City S’s Private Hospital No. 1 was an exception.
Other people would perhaps say that his lowest point was when the mystery designer had been crushing him. But, to Xiao Yu, this could perhaps only be considered as one of his lowest points in his career, the other being his firing from SI. However, his personal lowest point was when he had returned to his human form from his hamster form.
That event had started right here in City S’s Private Hospital No. 1.
Xiao Yu still hadn’t forgotten Chu Ge displaying his burning hatred for him the day he woke up on the hospital bed. Although Xiao Yu now understood he couldn’t blame Chu Ge for this, that understanding didn’t lessen the trauma in his heart.
Aside from this, the other reason why Xiao Yu didn’t want to see Qiao Yutang was because of Yan Jin and Chu Ge’s descriptions.
She had been left completely mangled by a car crash. The last ten years of her life had passed while she was unconscious, sustained only by various IV drips.
Xiao Yu didn’t consider himself too cowardly, but it seemed like it depended on the situation.
He didn’t feel scared watching horror movies because he understood they were fake. However, he wasn’t sure he would be able to handle it if some disfigured skeleton missing an arm appeared in front of him.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
With a treatment cost of thirty million a year, maintaining her appearance was the least they could do.
Aside from her pale face and emaciated body, she looked like a normal girl.
Like Snow White, time had left no mark on her sleep. When she woke up, she would undoubtedly captivate the prince.
Chu Ge sat down beside the bed.
Not long ago, he had wished he could sit closely beside her and rub her sunken cheeks.
But now, he wished that the glass wall would always separate them.
The day Xiao Yu had been abducted, Chu Ge received a notice that Qiao Yutang was terminally ill. It was no longer realistic to continue prolonging her life. Short of a major surgery to repair her failing organs, the only other choice was to give up on treatment and wait for her body to finally cease functioning.
The irony was that in all of City S, there were only two people who could do this fate-defying surgery. One was Old Fang, who had long since retired. The other was Chu Ge.
“The last time I saw her was several years ago, but she still looks the same.” Yan Jin’s tone might have been commenting on the weather.
Xiao Yu gave Yan Jin a pinch.
Watch your words! Look at the heavy atmosphere!
Xiao Yu glared at Yan Jin.
“I wish she would always stay the same,” Chu Ge said mournfully.
Yan Jin sighed. “You’ve tortured yourself for ten years now. You still haven’t had enough?”
Chu Ge had no reply.
Yan Jin shook his head in disappointment. He wanted to say more, but Xiao Yu quickly dragged him away.
“Then, Chu Ge, we’ll be stepping out first…” Xiao Yu closed the door behind him considerately, leaving Chu Ge alone in the room.
Before the door closed entirely, the last scene Xiao Yu saw was of Chu Ge hunched over the bed.
……
“You’re too soft,” Yan Jin accused.
“Bah! I think you’re the mentally sick one,” Xiao Yu retorted. “I’m not telling you to stop bullying Chu Ge normally, but have some sympathy when Chu Ge’s miserable.”
“No amount of sympathy can last ten years,” Yan Jin disdained. “Chu Ge’s not quite thirty, so he’s still got at least several years still in his prime. No one should waste their life on some woman who’s never going to wake up.”
“Oi…”
“If Qiao Yutang were conscious, she wouldn’t want Chu Ge to die with her.”
Xiao Yu sighed. This was the correct logic, and he knew that Yan Jin was right. It was painful to watch a living person waste away for another already fated to die, especially if the two loved each other.
Xiao Yu’s heart tightened again as he recalled his last glimpse of Chu Ge kissing Qiao Yutang.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you…” Yan Jin sensed that he was out of sorts and took a deep breath to calm himself.
His eyes held a deep darkness.
“Don’t worry about it, everyone’s in low spirits,” Xiao Yu replied generously.
Yan Jin wrapped him in a hug.
Xiao Yu quietly stood still in Yan Jin’s embrace. Then, he asked, “Uh, is there really no hope to save her?”
“It was already impossible ten years ago. It’s taken everything to just keep her alive until now. The cost is thirty million a year; doesn’t that sound frightening?”
“There’s something that I don’t know if I should mention…”
Yan Jin pinched Xiao Yu’s waist. “If there’s something you dare to hide from me, there’ll be punishment.”
“Waitwaitwait, let me finish. This is pretty important; it could save her.” Xiao Yu ducked away from Yan Jin’s kiss.
“Save her?” Yan Jin was stumped.
“Mhmm, actually, I wanted to mention it earlier, but it didn’t seem appropriate given the atmosphere. And, maybe it’s not too appropriate to bring up in front of Chu Ge either…”
Yan Jin had no idea what Xiao Yu was going to say next. It was a rare moment for him. Most of the time, Xiao Yu didn’t even need to open his mouth and Yan Jin would understand what Xiao Yu wanted to convey.
“Do you remember that time I turned back into a human from a hamster after falling into the water after the car crash? Was I sent here after?”
Yan Jin nodded and nervously held Xiao Yu a little tighter.
It had been a terrifying moment for Yan Jin as well. If he hadn’t managed to phone for help before losing consciousness, they might not have been saved given their desolate location outside the city.
In the call to his subordinates, Yan Jin had specifically ordered them to save the other driver at all costs if the other driver was still alive. He would handle the aftermath with the offender personally. Yan Jin now felt so fortunate for this decision.
If he hadn’t said this, perhaps he would never be able to hold his Fishy like he was now.
“That time, I accidentally heard Chu Ge saying that I already had no signs of life. But, he still made every effort and with his CPR, I lived.”
Yan Jin was doubtful. “Was Chu Ge telling the truth?”
“I don’t really trust his medical ethics, but I don’t think he had a reason to lie to me,” Xiao Yu said with certainty. “And, after such a large accident, I didn’t sustain any injuries. Don’t you think that’s weird?”
“Maybe the water in the river cushioned your landing?” Yan Jin still didn’t understand where Xiao Yu was going with this. To begin with, he didn’t know why Xiao Yu brought up this topic at all, so he had no basis to guess Xiao Yu’s thoughts.
“… Forget it, stop asking questions and let me talk.” Xiao Yu lost all patience for Yan Jin’s lack of EQ.
“Basically, I think it has something to do with my hamster form. Do you remember the little torn paper I gave you, the one with all the special characteristics of us hamsters?”
“I gave it to an expert to analyze. I heard that it has a lot of scientific value,” Yan Jin replied.
Xiao Yu: “…”
“So, what I want to say is that this little piece of paper is from a rolled up scroll. That scroll was in Aunty Fang’s necklace, which was given to her by my father as a commemorative gift.
Yan Jin looked at him blankly.
“And, I saw earlier that around Qiao Yutang’s neck, there was a pendant hanging there.”
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