Chapter 4 - Willing to Die for You

He Zhou gently touched Qiu Yanzhi's face as if he was possessed.

Qiu Yanzhi's eyelashes suddenly trembled.

He Zhou’s hand jerked back.

Qiu Yanzhi's eyes opened in the next second.

He looked at He Zhou somewhat blankly before slowly blinking.

"He Zhou..." Qiu Yanzhi called out, stunned.

He Zhou had never been as patient with Qiu Yanzhi as he was today. He looked at Qiu Yanzhi and asked, "What's wrong? Do you want some water?"

"No." Qiu Yanzhi could only look at He Zhou, "You're so handsome."

"Even more so when you're not angry... "Qiu Yanzhi blinked and tried his luck, "Can't you smile at me just once..."

He Zhou: "..."

He Zhou couldn’t hold back the urge. He tapped Qiu Yanzhi on the tip of his nose: "You saved me just to see me smile?"

Qiu Yanzhi took the opportunity to grab He Zhou's hand when he prepared to withdraw. His eyebrows curved, "I saved you because I like you."

Qiu Yanzhi paused. He looked into He Zhou's eyes and said softly, "For you... I'm willing to die even if I have to."

He Zhou looked at Qiu Yanzhi. He felt like his hand was burning.

"Did I give birth to you just so you could die for a man?!" A woman suddenly said through clenched teeth. The door to the hospital room was flung open, and Zhong Yabai walked in with red-rimmed eyes.

He Zhou quickly ripped his hand away.

He stood up and looked at the red-eyed Zhong Yabai and the indignant looking Qiu Qingcang at the door. He smartly chose to leave.

Qiu Yanzhi looked at Zhong Yabai and Qiu Qingcang and said dryly, "...Dad, Mom. What are you guys doing here..."

Zhong Yabai said angrily, "What? We can’t come to visit you when you end up in the hospital? Did you stop being our child when you got married? You’re willing to die for a man, but your parents can’t come visit you here?!"

Qiu Yanzhi: "...Mom, that's not what I meant."

Zhong Yabai: "Then what did you mean?!"

It’s just that they finally had a good atmosphere. If he didn’t add some vinegar, how could they develop feelings, ah.

Qiu Yanzhi lowered his head and sulked, "...Mom, you know that I like him. I can't help it...It all happened so suddenly and my body jumped over before I could think… I'm sorry for worrying you."

He Zhou had already reached the door, but he paused again after those Yanyan. He was frozen in place for nearly two seconds before leaving.

Qiu Yanzhi covered his head with his hand, feigning discomfort: "...Wu, my head hurts... Is the anesthetic wearing off? Why does it hurt so much..."

In the end, Zhong Yabai’s worry for her son overrode her anger. She couldn’t say anything more after seeing Qiu Yanzhi’s pitiful state: “Where’s the doctor? Yanyan, don’t move anymore and rest… Dear, go find the doctor, ah…”

Qiu Yanzhi received six stitches on his head to go with his concussion, but he was otherwise fine.

The honeymoon, however, was cancelled.

"Mom, I like Hongming Island so much... I heard it's hard to book a reservation there. What a pity..."

"Your health is more important. You can go whenever you want when you get better. So what if it’s hard to make a reservation? Your dad can buy that small island. Consider it your wedding present. You can go whenever you want then..."

Qiu Yanzhi was moved to tears, "Mommy I love you so much."

Knock knock knock.

The hospital room door opened. A very gentle-looking man walked in with a bouquet of flowers.

"Teacher Zhong, Uncle Qiu. I just returned to China recently. I heard that Yanyan was hospitalized after an accident, so I thought I'd come over to check on him."

Zhong Yabai warmly greeted the man and took the basket of flowers from his hands, "It's been years since I've seen you. Our Qikang has grown up so quickly."

"Yanyan probably doesn’t recognize you anymore. Let me introduce you two. This is Qikang, Meng Qikang. He used to be a student of mine and he's the son of an old friend of mine. He just returned from abroad. Qikang, it’s really kind of you to come visit Yanyan."

Meng Qikang smiled gently, "Teacher, how could I not come visit? Besides, I used to be a doctor. I came here to see if I could help in any way."

"Mom…” Qiu Yanzhi suddenly interrupted them, "I'm a bit hungry. I really want some of your homemade noodles right now."

As soon as Zhong Yabai heard this, she immediately picked up her purse. "Mom will be right back. Qingcang, take care of Yanyan."

"Dad, you should go with mom too. I'm worried about mom driving alone. It’s enough to have Qikang-gege here."

"Teacher Zhong, Uncle Qiu, don't worry about leaving. I can take care of things here."

After Zhong Yabai and Qiu Qingcang left, Meng Qikang picked up the bouquet of flowers and walked towards the vase on the bedside table. He smiled as he spoke to Qiu Yanzhi, "I didn't think you'd remember me. You were especially young when I saw you before..."

"Mr. Meng." Qiu Yanzhi suddenly interrupted him, "I'm allergic to pollen."

Meng Qikang was stunned for a moment, then picked up the bouquet again, "I'm sorry, I didn’t know. I'll take them out right away."

Meng Qikang was apologetic as he re-entered, "I remember you weren't allergic to pollen when you were little..."

"You've misremembered." Qiu Yanzhi looked up at Meng Qikang, "By the way, Mr. Meng, do you know He Zhou?"

Meng Qikang startled, "...Y-yes, I know him. I used to be his piano teacher when I was in university."

"Are you two close?"

"...No."

Meng Qikang's phone rang at that moment.

He didn’t know if Meng Qikang did it on purpose or if his eyes were just sharp, but Qiu Yanzhi saw the two words on the display-- He Zhou.

Meng Qikang looked at Qiu Yanzhi for a moment before walking over to the windowsill and answering the phone.

"...I'm already back. I took a taxi. It's okay, I know you were busy. I didn't wait too long anyways. I have something else to do here, so I'll hang up first."

When Meng Zikang hung up and came over, Qiu Yanzhi also put down his things and looked up at Meng Zikang.

“Mr. Meng, although you feel that you aren’t close with my husband, you’re a very important teacher to him. You've just returned to China, so you probably haven't found a place to stay yet. Why not stay at my house?"

Meng Zikang was stunned, "...What?"

Qiu Yanzhi smiled, "This isn’t just for my husband, but also my mother. You studied medicine, so it would be convenient if you lived with me. I must apologize if you find it too bothersome. Pretend I didn’t say anything."

Since Qiu Yanzhi had already said this much, Meng Qikang couldn’t easily refuse. He had to agree.

Meng Qikang had something to do so he left momentarily. Big Yellow started screaming as soon as he walked out.

"Qiu Yanzhi what are you doing?! Who does this to themselves?!! Why did you invite your love rival into your own home?!!!”

Qiu Yanzhi yawned without a care in the world.

"Don't you think it would be exciting for the three of us to live together? Games are only fun if they’re a bit provocative, right?"

"And stop jabbering so much. I'm getting dizzy."

Dizzy?

Big Yellow suddenly remembered something: "Right, are you okay…? You were way too reckless earlier! And how could you go offline without saying a word! You nearly scared me to death!"

"Don't remind me." Qiu Yanzhi recalled the moment the chandelier hit him. His fingers twitched and trembled slightly.

He had just made a great sacrifice. In order to make his act more realistic, he used the pain reduction function, but that only reduced his pain sensitivity by 50%. The pain alone almost killed him.

The moment Qiu Yanzhi passed out in the game, he felt like he was really dying.

So he panicked and went offline to see how his body was doing in the real world.

Fortunately nothing happened. To soothe his nerves, he scarfed down two large bowls of noodles.

"Big Yellow," Qiu Yanzhi asked, "If I die unexpectedly in the game, will it affect my real brain?"

Before Big Yellow could answer, the door to the ward was flung open again.

A little nurse pushed a cart in.

"Sir, I'm here to change your dressings. It might be a little painful now that the anesthetic has worn off."

Qiu Yanzhi couldn't take it when he heard it was still going to hurt. He frantically whispered to Big Yellow, "Lower my pain sensitivity, lower it to 20%... Forget it, just lower it to zero."

"Zero?"

"Mmhmm. Quickly."

After his pain sensitivity level dropped to 0%, Qiu Yanzhi felt like all the discomfort in his body had disappeared. This miraculous change almost made him believe that the pain from before was just a bad dream.

He breathed a long sigh of relief.

At once, he felt the blue sky outside the window was bright, and the green radishes by the window were lush and vibrant. Even the little nurse seemed a little more beautiful.

The little nurse pushed the cart to Qiu Yanzhi's bedside. Seeing Qiu Yanzhi's fair appearance, her tone unconsciously became gentler: “Tell me if it really hurts. I'll be more careful."

Qiu Yanzhi smiled at the nurse, "It doesn't hurt. Nurse-jiejie you’re so pretty. How could it hurt at all?"

The little nurse blushed and said coquettishly, "Do you talk like this to everyone?"

Qiu Yanzhi blinked his eyes: "Of course not. It’s because Nurse-jiejie is too pretty."

The little nurse said shyly, "What's the use of being pretty? You're married..."

Qiu Yanzhi's eyebrows curved and his eyes carried a hint of a smile: "So what? That doesn’t stop me from feeling better after looking at a pretty lady.”

Suddenly, a deep voice could be heard. "Then do you feel better after looking at me?"

Qiu Yanzhi was stunned. He looked up.

He Zhou was standing at the door of the hospital room.

There was a dark expression on his face.

Qiu Yanzhi: "......"

He was doomed.