Chapter 4: Drama! Awkwardness! “Let’s Go Home”
The system’s icy electronic voice snapped Lu Xunye back to his senses.
Blood flowing from Si Jinyan’s forehead streaked across his cheek, blending into the muddy yellow water on the ground, creating a horrifying sight.
Lu Xunye’s eyelashes trembled slightly. He glanced at the terrified Shen Yunqian, then reached out to check Si Jinyan’s breathing. He exhaled in relief immediately.
He frowned, ignoring the splitting pain in his right arm wound. He stood up, trying his best to appear calm, and walked normally to stand in front of Shen Yunqian, blocking the sight of Si Jinyan’s fallen body behind him.
Lu Xunye looked at the mud splatters on the young man’s face, finding them a bit of an eyesore. He kept his tone as gentle as possible: “Look up at me.”
Only when Shen Yunqian raised his stiff neck and looked back at him with hollow eyes did Lu Xunye gently hold his shoulders with both hands. Without waiting for Shen Yunqian to speak, he actively offered soft comfort.
“He’s not dead. He just passed out temporarily. It’s not your fault. I know, you just wanted to save me.”
Lu Xunye’s tone was solemn: “Thank you.”
Shen Yunqian’s eyes softened for a moment. He opened his mouth, as if completely relieved. The taut string in his heart snapped, his body swayed, and he was caught just in time by Lu Xunye and pulled into his embrace.
Lu Xunye checked the temperature of his forehead; sure enough, it was burning hot. After hesitating for two seconds, he picked the person up in a princess carry: “I’m taking you to the hospital.”
It was fortunate that the hospital was nearby.
He had just taken a step when Shen Yunqian tightened his grip on the clothes at his chest. Lu Xunye lowered his eyes, watching as the other’s gradually unfocusing gaze turned toward the person on the ground.
“I know.” Lu Xunye held him tighter. “If you’re tired, just sleep for a while.”
Once the person closed his eyes, Lu Xunye turned and walked toward the driver, who was struggling to stand up by the car.
The driver looked at the young man held in his arms, his eyes flickering slightly, and warily clenched his fists across his chest: “What do you want?!”
“He’s your boss, right?” Lu Xunye didn’t waste his breath, speaking briefly. “Take him to the hospital.”
Hospital
Shen Yunqian woke up, opening his eyes to see two backs in front of his bed go from blurry to clear. He looked around, and upon realizing where he was, his face immediately went pale.
The other two people in the room didn’t notice him at all.
“Young people need to treat their bodies better,” the middle-aged doctor in a white coat, looking about fifty, instructed Lu Xunye earnestly.
“Relying on your youth and being so careless, fighting and causing trouble all day long. When you get old and your whole body is full of old injuries, you’ll suffer for it.”
Lu Xunye laughed dryly twice, moving his right arm to show him: “Look, I’m perfectly fine! Don’t worry about it.”
“Stop talking about me,” Lu Xunye begged for mercy, quickly changing the subject. “What about my… friend? When will he wake up?”
“He’s fine. It’s just a fever; he’ll wake up in a bit.” The doctor handed over a slip. “Go on. Once he wakes up and finishes the IV drip, he can be discharged.”
“Hmm?” Lu Xunye paused for a moment before reaching out to take it. “What is this?”
The doctor joked, “It’s something delicious. You want to eat it?”
Lu Xunye: “…”
“Alright, what could a doctor give you? Of course, it’s the prescription for your friend.”
The two talked as they walked to the door of the ward. Lu Xunye’s hand behind his back gripped the door handle, his expression thoughtful.
The doctor nodded to a nurse who passed by, while saying to Lu Xunye, “Don’t just stand there. Go to the outpatient clinic on the first floor to pay the fees, then take the receipt to the side of the hall to pick up the medicine. Handle the discharge procedures while you’re at it.”
Pausing for a second, the doctor was about to head back to his office when he saw the person beside him still standing there like a telephone pole. “Meditating?”
The doctor waved his hand in front of his eyes. “Did you hear me clearly?”
Lu Xunye turned back, clutching the prescription slip tightly, and used force on the door handle to close the door: “I’ll go right now.”
After frantically calling the system to no avail, Lu Xunye stood with a desolate back at one of the payment windows in the outpatient clinic.
After scanning the registration barcode, just like with the people coming and going around them, the staff member smiled professionally and said to him:
“Sir, will it be cash or scan?”
Lu Xunye’s throat choked up: “…Scan.”
“Please show your payment code.” The staff member gestured with their palm up toward the scanner. “Please scan here.”
Lu Xunye glanced at the numbers displayed on the electronic screen next to the scanner, inexplicably feeling that the phone in his hand, with the payment code page already open, was exceptionally hot.
After hesitating for a long while, until the staff member cast an inquiring gaze that almost roasted him alive…
Lu Xunye’s ears turned bright red. His hand involuntarily propped up his forehead, covering his face, as he asked in a voice as quiet as a mosquito:
“Can I… use cash…?”
“What?” The staff member kept smiling. “Sorry, I didn’t hear that clearly. Could you repeat it?”
Lu Xunye: “…”
Discontented voices came from behind. The staff member said, “Sir, please hurry up. Don’t hold up the people behind you. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Lu Xunye took a deep breath, throwing caution to the wind. He lowered the hand covering his shame, his voice clear and forceful: “I don’t have enough money on my phone, and I didn’t bring that much cash. Can I scan first and then make up the difference with cash?”
As soon as these words came out, the hall fell silent. The people in line behind him, including those in the surrounding lines, all looked over.
Countless gazes landed on this tall young man standing in front of the window, battered and bruised with dirty clothes, and on the amount to be paid displayed on the electronic screen directly in front of him—280.5 Yuan.
Again, a strange silence.
This time it was Lu Xunye who spoke up to urge: “Is that okay?”
The staff member nodded hurriedly: “Of course.”
He handed over 100 in cash.
The change of 35 yuan and a 50-cent coin, the 32 cents on his bank card, plus the two yuan in change from buying things earlier—that was the entirety of Lu Xunye’s current assets.
afterward, the Lu Xunye who had calmly accepted the payment receipt one second, fled the next second as if escaping for his life.
After picking up the medicine and completing the discharge procedures, Lu Xunye returned to the ward. Just as he opened the door, the breath he had been holding in his chest completely choked him.
As far as the eye could see, the hospital bed where a person should have been lying was now empty. The removed IV tube hung from the head of the bed, the needle tip still dripping liquid medicine onto the floor drop by drop.
Lu Xunye, with one hand clutching the medicine bag and the other holding the doorframe: “…”
【System starting up—】
The system, which had been silent all this time, suddenly popped up in his brain.
Lu Xunye was startled, the corner of his mouth twitching imperceptibly. He vented his previous embarrassment and anger onto it, mocking sarcastically:
“My Lord! You’re still alive? I thought you were dead. Otherwise, how could you pretend not to hear me when I called you like that earlier? What a good, responsible system you are!”
The system felt wronged: 【But you really don’t have medical insurance. You know how it is with freelancers. The original owner didn’t pay it either. And even if you did, you can’t use it for someone else.】
Its electronic brain whirred, and the system swallowed the sentence “Isn’t it just because you’re too poor? A dignified web novel god can’t even afford 280.”
【Ding—】
【Random Optional Mission Released: Counsel the Protagonist Shou.】
System: 【Optional missions can be completed or refused by the Host. Correspondingly, there are no rewards or penalties.】
As for the Protagonist Shou, surely no one other than the Protagonist Gong could hurt him.
After all, the term “Protagonist Halo” didn’t come from nowhere.
Lu Xunye was delighted: “Then…”
The system immediately followed up: 【The Protagonist Shou is on the rooftop.】
Rooftop…
Lu Xunye’s pupils constricted, and he rushed straight for the rooftop.
He kicked open the old iron door. The roof after the rain still held undried puddles.
Shen Yunqian stood on the high platform wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown, his hands resting on the half-height parapet wall, his chestnut-brown hair fluttering messily in the cool breeze.
Lu Xunye’s heart beat violently, and his breathing became rapid. He opened his mouth to shout, but the words stopped right at his lips.
He gently placed the medicine bag on the ground, the tiny friction of plastic drowned out by the wind.
Lu Xunye held his breath and focused, slowly approaching. Finding the right moment, he leaped up, grabbed Shen Yunqian’s hand, and pulled him down from the high platform.
The two rolled onto the ground, one on top of the other. Shen Yunqian struggled defensively, trying to get up.
Lu Xunye clasped the back of his neck with his left hand, pressing him back down onto himself. He gasped in pain.
“Don’t move, let me catch my breath.”
At this moment, Lu Xunye’s tone was hoarse, deep, and brooked no refusal, far more captivating than the probing coaxing he usually used.
First, the familiar voice poured into his ears along with the whistling wind; after it quieted down, there was the sound of a heartbeat as dense as drumbeats, guiding Shen Yunqian’s heart rate to speed up a few notches as well.
Thus, Shen Yunqian let go of his strength and stopped moving.
【Congratulations Host, mission complete.】
Time passed second by second. The wind gradually grew fierce. Lu Xunye let go of his hand, his voice tranquil: “Let’s go home.”
After a silence, Shen Yunqian said: “…Okay.”
Walking on the cobblestone path near the residential complex, Shen Yunqian carried the medicine, while Lu Xunye had a canvas bag printed with a sunflower field oil painting hanging from his shoulder.
Along the way, the two tacitly remained silent. From beginning to end, they maintained an arm’s length distance between them.
Suddenly, three or four small children chased each other from behind, bumping into the two of them as they ran forward.
Lu Xunye scooped up the person who was about to fall: “Are you okay?”
Shen Yunqian steadied himself, lifting his arm from his palm, and said somewhat awkwardly: “I’m fine, thank you.”
Lu Xunye didn’t say anything. He withdrew his hand and followed Shen Yunqian’s gaze to look at the children running away from the path.
Wearing exquisite rain boots, they jumped, hopped, laughed, and clapped in the puddles left after the rain.
Lu Xunye turned his gaze back to look at Shen Yunqian, and Shen Yunqian’s pupils still reflected this harmonious joy.
The children were wearing clean clothes carefully dressed by their parents. They jumped in the rain puddles, and the dirty splashes covered their clothes in dust.
Their clothes, just like these children, were covered in a layer of dust—the same, yet not the same.
Shen Yunqian pulled his mind back. Looking from Lu Xunye’s angle, his side profile was noble and cold.
“Let’s go.”
His voice was the same as always.
While Lu Xunye was in a daze, Shen Yunqian walked ahead. Because they had been walking side by side earlier, Lu Xunye hadn’t deliberately observed him.
But now, watching Shen Yunqian’s uneven steps and the sluggish movement of his left leg, the answer was obvious.
“When did you get hurt?” Lu Xunye lowered his voice, adding, “Your leg.”
The image of pulling the other person down on the rooftop flashed through his mind.
“It was…”
Before he could finish, Shen Yunqian stopped walking. As if knowing what he was going to say, he denied it decisively: “It wasn’t.”
The words rolled in his throat again and again. Shen Yunqian lowered his eyes: “I fell before today.”
“Just now… did it hurt?” Although Lu Xunye hadn’t walked very fast just now, considering the injury on the other’s leg, keeping up with him and matching his speed couldn’t have been easy.
That speed was probably his limit.
Lu Xunye didn’t know what was wrong with him; like a nerve had been struck, anger just bubbled up. He held his breath, suppressed his temper, and pretended to speak lightly.
“If it hurts, you have to say so. Who taught you not to make a sound when in pain, not to speak up when injured? Would you not make a peep even if your leg was broken?”
Shen Yunqian remained noncommittal: “Hand.”
Lu Xunye’s anger was instantly curbed. He didn’t understand but did as asked. Unexpectedly, as soon as he extended his hand, Shen Yunqian grasped it back and pulled him toward himself.
Before he could react, Shen Yunqian held his hand with one hand, while the other reached toward the hand he tried to hide. His fingertips pressed precisely on the edge of the wound on his right arm through the clothes, asking knowingly: “Does it hurt?”
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