Chapter 5 - Lively and Carefree

But fortunately Qiu Yanzhi's brain reacted quickly.

He immediately smiled and introduced He Zhou, "Nurse-jiejie, this is my husband. We just got married yesterday. He’s very handsome, right?"

The little nurse was already feeling awkward when she saw He Zhou, and when she heard Qiu Yanzhi said she immediately echoed him, "Yeah he’s quite a looker! You guys seem like a lovely couple! Congratulations on getting married!"

After the little nurse changed Qiu Yanzhi's dressings, she practically flew out.

He Zhou gave Qiu Yanzhi a look and spoke flatly, "You didn't seem so slick before."

Qiu Yanzhi smiled, his eyes curving into crescents, "I'm happy that Mr. He is finally willing to start getting to know me."

He Zhou looked at Qiu Yanzhi's smiling eyes and unconsciously averted his gaze.

Why was everything this person said so...strangely hair raising.

After staying in the hospital for a few days, Qiu Yanzhi insisted on going home to recuperate .

There wasn’t any reason in particular.

He just wanted to live together with He Zhou and Meng Qikang to make the game more exciting.

He also wanted to see how close those two were as well as whether or not He Zhou was still a viable capture target.

Honestly, no matter how much Qiu Yanzhi liked He Zhou's face, he still couldn't accept sharing a man with someone else.

Even if it was just in a game.

In other news, He Zhou's attitude towards him had eased up quite a bit since his injury. If this trend continued, He Zhou shouldn’t be too hard of a character to capture.

And yet…

This thought was shattered on Qiu Yanzhi's first day home.

Qiu Yanzhi didn't tell He Zhou about being discharged from the hospital.

So when He Zhou came back from work, he was stunned to see Qiu Yanzhi sitting at the dining table.

He frowned slightly, "Why are you back?"

"I didn't like the smell of the hospital, so I decided to rest at home." Qiu Yanzhi looked at the abundant food in front of him before smiling and turning to He Zhou, "Do you want to join us for dinner?"

"No, I ate already." He Zhou took off his jacket and hung it up. Turning around, he was about to say something else when his eyes suddenly fixated on a certain someone.

Meng Qikang was coming out of the kitchen.

He was wearing an apron and placed a bowl of hot soup in front of Qiu Yanzhi on the table .

"Qikang-ge?" He Zhou was taken aback, "Why are you here?"

Meng Qikang seemed to be tired. He held his wrist with his other hand as he warmly said "Yanzhi still needs care when resting at home. I happen to be a doctor so I came over to help."

He Zhou’s eyebrows furrowed, "Did you cook all this?"

"En? I..." before Meng Qikang could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by He Zhou.

He Zhou strode forward and took hold of his arm. He turned Meng Qikang’s arm over.

The inside of Meng Qikang's fair wrist had a conspicuous burn mark.

Meng Qikang felt a bit uncomfortable with the way Qiu Yanzhi’s eyes dug into them. He wanted to pull his hand away but couldn't: "...The soup was too hot but it's not very serious. Let, let go first..."

Without saying a word, He Zhou dragged him to the bathroom to rinse the wound with cold water before seating him on a chair and getting the first aid kit. He carefully applied ointment to Meng Qikang's burns.

This continued for more than half an hour, during which he didn’t look at Qiu Yanzhi once. He only bothered after tending to Meng Qikang. His voice was cold. "Come over here Qiu Yanzhi. I have something to say to you."

Qiu Yanzhi put down his chopsticks and said with a half smile, "Go ahead, I'm listening."

He Zhou tightened his grip on Qiu Yanzhi's wrist and almost dragged him to his room on the second floor. He walked so fast that Qiu Yanzhi stumbled behind him.

Qiu Yanzhi's wrist had an obvious handprint on it when He Zhou let go.

Even though Qiu Yanzhi had reduced his pain sensitivity by 70% since the chandelier incident just in case something happened, his wrist still hurt.

He Zhou slammed the door shut.

His eyes glared daggers into Qiu Yanzhi and his tone was like a winter storm: "What exactly are you trying to do?"

Qiu Yanzhi lowered his eyes. His words were also dispassionate and indifferent. “Don't you like it? I thought you would be happy to see him since you like him so much."

He Zhou, "He's not your maid. He's not obligated to take care of you or cook for you."

Qiu Yanzhi, "Are you feeling bad for him? Or are you blaming me for putting him in the kitchen and not in your bed?"

He Zhou was furious. He gnashed his teeth and gritted out, "You're sick. I'm taking him somewhere else. Never contact him again."

Qiu Yanzhi remained calm. “Are you coming back here afterwards or are you going to sleep with him tonight?"

He Zhou stared at Qiu Yanzhi with freezing cold eyes for half a moment before saying, "It has nothing to do with you."

Qiu Yanzhi closed his eyes. He managed to not OOC in the end. His voice was barely more than a whisper, "Don't go. Don't stay with him tonight… I’m begging you."

The only response he received was the door loudly slamming shut.

The room was quiet for a moment.

Qiu Yanzhi let out a long sigh.

His body fell back onto the large bed.

Big Yellow appeared in front of him with fluttering wings again.

It hesitated for a moment before saying, "You're acting kind of strange today..."

Qiu Yanzhi lit a cigarette and took a puff.

The smoke slowly dissipated.

He closed his eyes somewhat tiredly. His voice was distant, "Big Yellow."

"I almost died from the pain when I helped He Zhou block that chandelier."

"When I was about to pass out, there was only one thought running through my head."

"I've suffered so much so I have to get He Zhou. How could I recoup my losses otherwise?"

"That's why I feel particularly annoyed now when I see He Zhou still playing hard to get. "

Big Yellow tilted his head in thought for a moment before suddenly saying, "I get it. It’s like the little prince said, your rose is so important to you because you spent so much time on it. He Zhou is your rose. You love him."

Qiu Yanzhi was already in a pretty bad mood, so he almost scoffed in anger when he heard Big Yellow’s words. He put the remaining half of his cigarette out in the ashtray. "F*ck you. He Zhou isn’t even a real person. I haven’t gone completely crazy yet."

Big Yellow, "So what if he’s not real? Does that mean he doesn’t deserve love? Did you know what our game developers said before? Our game’s focus on love is meant to evoke a passionate fire in the players, so that everyone can experience an unforgettable and wonderful romance. Since our game is so realistic and He Zhou is such an excellent character, maybe you'll really fall in love with him someday.”

Qiu Yanzhi stretched and got off the bed. He walked towards the door while mulling over Big Yellow's naive comments. He couldn't help but laugh, "Come on. I would sooner fall in love with a dog than him."

Meng Qikang was spacing out at the dining table when he heard footsteps. He stood up and turned to see that only He Zhou had come down, so he couldn't help but ask, "Where's Yanzhi?"

He Zhou didn't answer. He said to Meng Qikang, "You eat first. I'll take you back afterwards."

Meng Qikang hesitated before saying to He Zhou, "I’m actually fine with staying here. Then I can take care of Yanzhi.”

"But I’m not." He Zhou put his hands on Meng Qikang's shoulders and made him sit again, "Eat first."

How could Meng Qikang eat properly right now? He quickly scarfed down food randomly only to choke, and when he panicked and drank some soup he burned his mouth. His whole face scrunched up from the pain.

He Zhou poured him a glass of water and gently handed it to him. "Eat slowly, there's no need to rush."

Meng Qikang took the glass and downed it. He felt a bit better.

"If I knew you were coming I wouldn't have heated the soup just now." Meng Qikang’s recently scalded tongue still hurt a little.

He Zhou was stunned, "Heated it up?"

Meng Qikang took a tissue and wiped his mouth, "The maid had already prepared the rice, but Yanzhi insisted on waiting for you until all the food was cold. I thought that the soup at least should be hot, so I decided to heat it up."

He Zhou was taken aback.

…So Qiu Yanzhi didn’t order Qikang-ge to make all this food.

He looked upstairs just in time to see Qiu Yanzhi standing by the handrail on the second floor, his eyes staring dead at his hand that had received Meng Qikang's empty glass.

Then Qiu Yanzhi's gaze slowly moved to He Zhou's face. When their eyes made contact, Qiu Yanzhi turned and slammed his door.

When He Zhou escorted Meng Qikang out, he found that it was raining again.

The night had already darkened the sky, and the pitter patter of raindrops hit the ground and splattered into countless puddles reflecting round white lights.

The sound was very soothing.

It was the only thing to broke the silence between them.

"...Yanzhi seems to like you a lot." Meng Qikang suddenly said.

He Zhou paused from fastening his seat belt for a moment.

Then he looked down and snapped the seat buckle shut: "It's none of my business."

Meng Qikang stared out the window, "Then why did you marry him?"

"If I didn't marry him..." He Zhou paused and looked at Meng Qikang, "If I had asked you to marry me, would you have said yes?"

Meng Qikang was stunned.

He opened his mouth, but the words wouldn’t come out.

He Zhou turned to the road ahead and stepped on the accelerator.

He had liked Meng Qikang since he was a child.

But Meng Qikang didn't like him.

But that wasn't the main reason why he married Qiu Yanzhi.

In the same vein, his company needing money and how he was ‘caught red-handed in bed’ by his elders also weren’t the main reasons he married Qiu Yanzhi.

Ever since Qiu Yanzhi appeared, he has done many things that he wouldn’t have done normally, and he often didn’t know why he did those things.

Most of them were small, like walking down the road and suddenly pulling a leaf off a tree, inexplicable yet justifiable.

It was like he was being controlled.

This made him dislike Qiu Yanzhi more and more.

His dislike for Qiu Yanzhi was a foregone conclusion from their very first encounter.

But when he thought of Qiu Yanzhi's bloodied head when the chandelier fell and the cold eyes of the man standing on the second floor...

He Zhou’s thoughts grew more and more chaotic.

He pressed his lips into a fine line and stepped on the gas pedal even harder. The car continued to accelerate.

At that moment, he suddenly heard a sharp siren. He Zhou turned to look at the intersection on his left, only to see a large truck hurtling towards him amidst an overwhelmingly blinding white light!

He Zhou's pupils constricted. He hurried to step on the brakes. Trembling all over, he felt the world around him blur and fade to silence.

Memories from many years ago flooded his brain.

It was a night of pouring rain filled with the sound of sirens, collisions and cries.

The terrified driver was screaming.

His father and mother threw themselves at each other just before the accident occurred, emotionally embracing each other in their final moments.

They still faintly call each other's names as they breathed their last.

They were a loving couple that made it onto the newspapers.

Only He Zhou sat alone with a head dripping with blood. As he drifted in and out of a coma and all the way until the end, he was like an abandoned orphan.

The time Qiu Yanzhi had helped him block the chandelier was the only time in an accident where-

Someone saw him.

Someone embraced him.

"He Zhou..." a soft voice called out to him.

Only then did He Zhou shakily lift his face from the steering wheel.

The big truck earlier hadn't hit them.

Even though he slammed the brakes, their seatbelts protected them from injury.

But He Zhou was still trembling all over.

He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door in a hurry like his life depended on it. He held onto the door and bent down, gasping for air.

The rain grew heavier, pouring down on him, running down his hair and cheeks.

Meng Qikang hurried to get out of the car. He took out his umbrella and held it above He Zhou's head.

Only after a few minutes did He Zhou's breathing gradually settle down.

"Have you stopped taking your medication recently?" Meng Qikang asked.

He Zhou wiped the rainwater from his face and shook his head.

Meng Qikang opened the car door and prepared to sit in the driver's seat. "I'll take you to the hospital."

He Zhou held his head with one hand and stopped Meng Qikang with the other. "No need. I'm fine."

Meng Qikang stared at He Zhou for a moment, but he sighed and backed off in the end. "I'll drive then."

"No need." He Zhou said, "I can do it myself."

"But ever since that incident you..."

He Zhou interrupted him, "I can't be afraid of driving forever."

He Zhou quickly drove the car to Meng Qikang's apartment.

"Come up and take a shower and change your clothes." Meng Qikang said, "They’re all wet."

After He Zhou showered, Meng Qikang brought him some brand new clothes and made him a cup of hot tea.

"You don't look too good, you might’ve caught a cold." Meng Qikang went to put his hand on He Zhou's forehead to take his temperature, "Why don't you stay with me tonight? I have medicine here and the rain is getting heavier."

Just as Meng Qikang's hand was about to touch He Zhou's forehead, He Zhou grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

He let go of his wrist and stepped back.

"I can’t." He Zhou said.

He paused, looked up at Meng Qikang and whispered.

"Qikang-ge, I'm already married."

Meng Qikang still hadn’t recovered from that even after He Zhou left.

The door was closed from the outside, making a sound that was neither light nor heavy.

Meng Qikang looked at the direction He Zhou left in with a listless expression.

He Zhou was actually a bit tired, especially when he came out of the bathroom. He was basically ready to drop on the spot.

But then he suddenly remembered the look in Qiu Yanzhi's eyes and what he had said before he left.

Qiu Yanzhi had begged him not to stay with Meng Qikang tonight.

Somehow, He Zhou felt moved by his words. He wanted to go home.

Qiu Yanzhi was still waiting for him there.

And apparently the other person didn’t have a single bite to eat tonight because he was waiting for He Zhou.

What did Qiu Yanzhi like to eat again?

While he was in the hospital, he raved about the wontons there a lot, saying that they were delicious.

He Zhou turned around towards the hospital with tasty wontons.

He Zhou suddenly stopped as he approached his front door.

He looked at the specially bought wontons and remembered what he had said to Qiu Yanzhi when he left. He felt embarrassed.

When he thought about the depressed Qiu Yanzhi desperately waiting for him at home, he couldn’t help but worry that that guy would misconstrue these wontons and become even more annoying in the future.

Despite this, he couldn’t throw the wontons away even after bringing them to just above the trash can several times.

Eventually, he sighed and opened the door.

Then.

He saw that his normally clean living room had become a mess, with bottles of wine and snacks scattered all over the floor.

A bunch of strangers were gathered around eating hot pot.

One particularly strange man in a skirt was drinking beer and shouting in the direction of the kitchen.

"Yanyan! We’re almost out of lamb! I want more lamb!!!"

"And the beer’s almost gone too!"

“Zhang Yuxuan you come over here and help! Why are you just sitting there like a good for nothing young master!" Qiu Yanzhi was laughing and cursing in the kitchen, not sounding depressed at all. He could even be described as lively and cheerful.

He Zhou, however, was gloomy.

With a stiff face, he silently hid the pitiful looking wontons behind his back.