Are You Addicted?

“He ate two tablets of sleeping pills?”

Gu Hai gazed at You Qi whose expression suddenly changed, “I saw a medicine strip on his desk but I didn’t really pay any attention to what kind of medicine it was. When he came to school this morning, he had caught a cold so I a.s.sumed it was just medication against common cold.”

The school doctor listened to what was said in silent concentration, yet her eyes were focusing on You Qi’s face.

“How about you bring that medicine strip over here. I’ll take a look at it.”

When You Qi exited the room as he had been requested to, Gu Hai walked closer to the sickbed and carefully sat down at the edge of the bed, silently watching Bai Luo Yin"s sleeping form. He had never seen Bai Luo Yin with such a gentle expression before. All of the lines on his whole face were completely smoothed out. Even if Gu Hai were to verbally abuse him right now, it probably wouldn’t disturb his peaceful state.

“Don’t worry, he’s fine. His vitals don"t indicate any internal problems. I suspect that when he ate the two types of medicine at the same time, it caused a slight diazepam overdose [1]. He will be okay by the time he wakes up. Just remember not to take such a large dose of sleeping pills next time. One tablet is enough.”

Gu Hai had been silent the entire time, his face solemn.

A few minutes later, You Qi came back inside the room with the medicine strip and handed it over to the school nurse.

“See? It looks exactly like medication used against common cold.”

The school doctor nodded, walked over to touch Bai Luo Yin’s forehead and softly declared, “Looks like he needs an IV drip. He is a bit feverish which, combined with the drug overdose, resulted in fatigue and acute sleepiness.”

Once she was done checking on Bai Luo Yin, the doctor went to another room and left the boys alone. You Qi then walked over to Bai Luo Yin and announced to Gu Hai, “I will take care of him, you can go back. One person is enough.”

“You go back”, Gu Hai a.s.sured.

Those three words were spoken in a light tone but the unyielding force of each syllable would make anyone surrender under its heavy pressure. Once having made his point clear, Gu Hai turned his attention back to Bai Luo Yin and covered his body with the blanket the school doctor had provided for him.

While You Qi observed Gu Hai’s behavior he found himself feeling confused. From an outsider’s perspective, Gu Hai and Bai Luo Yin were completely different, just as incompatible as fire and water, but You Qi could clearly see that Gu Hai really likes Bai Luo Yin. Gu Hai wouldn"t normally take the initiative to greet anybody, yet he didn"t seem to mind going out of his way to tease Bai Luo Yin every time the opportunity presented itself. He would typically be indifferent towards other people but he would always express noteworthy enthusiasm when it came to Bai Luo Yin. Gu Hai seemed to always think of various ways to torment Bai Luo Yin however, the moment something bad happens to him, Gu Hai was the one to anxiously worry the most. Other people probably wouldn’t be able to guess what was truly going on and Bai Luo Yin wouldn’t be able to understand either but You Qi could piece it all together.

This is just like when a boy experiences love for the first time. When facing the girl he likes, he never knows how to convey his feelings. Thus, he never tires of teasing that girl, pulling her pigtails, stealing her textbooks and bullying her until both of her eyes are stained red from crying. Although Bai Luo Yin and Gu Hai are both guys, their relationship had not reached that level yet. Nevertheless, the purpose was all the same: to attract the other person’s attention.

As far as You Qi could see, Bai Luo Yin appeared to be the only one that Gu Hai wished to interact with in school. The rule of male friendship is that only when one person considers the other to be more powerful, resulting in admiration, will they take the initiative to mess around with said other person. That’s why You Qi had always thought that Gu Hai admired Bai Luo Yin. Truthfully, Gu Hai wasn"t the only one to admire Bai Luo Yin. You Qi does too.

The thing about Bai Luo Yin was that he had a unique kind of charm. The kind of appeal that would only intensify with age. He was just like a brilliant Tanhua [2]; the silent flower that seldom blooms but even so, a man would inevitably appear and willingly wait persistently for three thousand years, simply for the sake of watching the flower bloom.

“I will prescribe you some medication then.”

The doctor"s short statement interrupted You Qi’s reverie.

“Prescribe what medicine?”

The doctor smiled with sincerity while she spoke, “You’ve come all the way here and it shouldn"t be in vain. There’s a lot of supplements for brain nourishment right here in my office and I thought you could bring some of them with you back home. Studying in high school is very tiring so you need to supply your brain with nutrition on a daily basis.”

You Qi glanced at the doctor and scoffed, “Drink it yourself then.”

“……”

Gu Hai kept staring at Bai Luo Yin for a long time while he laid blacked out on the mattress. The longer he stared, the more he felt that Bai Luo Yin resembled someone. Even though the appearance of that person was somewhat blurred in his mind, the sight of Bai Luo Yin’s nose and mouth gave Gu Hai a sort of Déjà vu experience.

“En… *cough*, *cough*…”

Bai Luo Yin’s sudden cough instantaneously disrupted Gu Hai’s deep thoughts.

“I’m so thirsty…”

A few moments ago, Bai Luo Yin had a dream in which he became Kua Fu [3] who tirelessly ran after the sun. Quick, chase it. The more he chased it, the thirstier he became. He hadn’t pa.s.sed the Huanghe River yet but the thirst had already managed to wake him up from his slumber.

A sweet and refreshing liquid suddenly flowed into his mouth, which fully hydrated Bai Luo Yin’s parched lips and tongue. His hand instinctively stretched out to grab the gla.s.s, but instead of the gla.s.s surface he touched another person’s hand. He could easily tell that it was a man"s hand considering how strong the palm felt under his fingertips with its well-defined joints. Bai Luo Yin tried to take the gla.s.s from that person’s hand but only managed to grab at the edges of the gla.s.s instead.

Gu Hai swatted away Bai Luo Yin’s wandering hands and gently placed the gla.s.s against his lips once more, carefully tipping it so that the water would continue to flow into Bai Luo Yin’s mouth.

Once Bai Luo Yin felt that he had drunk enough, he pushed Gu Hai’s hand away.

“Dad, I’m not thirsty anymore.”

Gu Hai’s stiff expression, which had lingered on his face the entire afternoon, finally eased up into an amused smile, “Why are you being so polite?”

Hearing those words, Bai Luo Yin sensed that something about them was off and began opening his eyes little by little. To his dismay, the first thing to appear in his field of vision was Gu Hai’s face. The sight of him made Bai Luo Yin"s eyes darken and become ice cold.

“Why are you here?”, he grumbled.

“Don"t tell me you don’t recognize your father?”

Bai Luo Yin clenched his hand into a fist and reached out to punch Gu Hai, but Gu Hai forced his hand back down against the mattress.

“Stop moving around. There’s a needle stuck to your hand.”

Bai Luo Yin glanced down and noticed, as Gu Hai had said, the needle in his hand and then the IV bag hanging above his head.

“What happened?”

Gu Hai thoroughly explained the series of events that had led up to that particular moment to Bai Luo Yin, from the beginning to the end. When he described what had happened he didn’t leave out any of the details and, unsurprisingly, he didn’t seem to be remorseful at all. He acted as if giving Bai Luo Yin sleeping pills was a pursuit of truth, a process of exploring a great mystery. In that process, Bai Luo Yin was depicted as the difficult one  who screwed up in that critical moment.

Bai Luo Yin really wanted the nurse to prescribe two pounds of Suxiao Jiuxin pills [4] for him after listening to the entire story.

“Just tell me, what I have done to provoke you and I"ll apologize for it.”

At that point, Bai Luo Yin was truly sick and tired of it all. Gu Hai was able to pay for his own squandering but Bai Luo Yin couldn"t. If Gu Hai ruined his own uniform he could easily replace it with a new one the very next day but Bai Luo Yin only owned one set of uniform. Gu Hai could get injured and spend the night at the hospital but the price of one IV drip cost ten days worth of Bai Luo Yin’s allowance. At last Gu Hai managed to figure out Bai Luo Yin’s train of thought and instantly began speaking.

“I can afford paying for all of your expenses but I won"t stop teasing you.”

Bai Luo Yin banged his head against the pillow in frustration and stared sternly at Gu Hai, unable to restrain his anger.

“Are you f.u.c.king sick?” [5]

Gu Hai laughed coolly, “Yes, I am.”

“If you’re sick, then go take your medicine.”

“You are my medicine.”

Bai Luo Yin looked at Gu Hai coldly, “What do you mean?”

“If you want me to recover then you have to endure the suffering.”

“……..”

Translator"s Note:

[1] Diazepam (Valium) is medicine that produces a calming effect. It is mainly used to treat anxiety disorders, trouble sleeping and seizures. The overdose of this drug can cause extreme drowsiness, loss of balance, weak muscles, fainting, or may even induce comas. In the chapter above, the medicine against common cold that Bai Luo Yin took (the black pill) probably contains an ample amount of diazepam, as the black pill helps with sleeping at night. Combined with the sleeping pills, the calming effect is doubled and caused Bai Luo Yin’s body to enter a really deep sleep.

[2] Tanhua is the Chinese name for Queen of the Night or Night-blooming Cereus (Epiphyllum oxypetalum), a pure white flower with the size of a dinner plate. This flower only blooms at night and wilts/closes when the sun rises the next day. In Chinese idiom, 曇花一現 (a flower that vanished as soon as it blooms), this flower is used to describe someone with an impressive but brief moment of glory, since this flower may take a year to bloom and only blooms over a single night.

[3] Kua Fu is a giant in Chinese mythology who wished to capture the Sun. He followed the Sun from the East to the West and drained all water sources to quench his thirst. In the end, he wasn’t able to finish his quest as he died of the extreme heat and exhaustion. In modern Chinese usage, this story can be used to describe a person who failed to obtain his goal because he greatly overestimates himself.

[4] Suxiao Jiuxin pill is a Chinese herbal medicine to treat angina pectoris, a feeling of discomfort and pain within the chest due to anxiety. Angina pectoris is also a symptom of cardiac arrest. In short, this pill is a medicine to treat heart attack.

[5] “Are you f.u.c.king sick?”: What Bai Luo Yin meant is “Are you f.u.c.king crazy?”, since the Chinese character can be translated as sick or crazy. But I used sick, since it is more fitting to Gu Hai’s retort.