Author: Su Youbing
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Jia Zhiqing was eventually found to have a slight concussion and stayed in the hospital for observation.
He called Gao Qin to ask for leave.
Gao Qin actually agreed without demur. “It may not be a bad idea. It saves your time from going in and out of the place and traveling to and from over and over again.”
…was he not clearly swearing the man?
Jia Zhiqing hung up with grief and indignation. He decided to stay in to make the most out of it, and by the time Gao Qin would ‘make three calls at the thatched cottage [1]," only then would he leave the hospital.
([1] 三顾茅庐, literally translates as ‘Three Visit to the Thatched Hut," from the Romance of Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. This was about the story when Liu Bei made three visits to Zhu Ge Liang to request him to become his advisor. It"s a very popular Chinese idiom used to refer to someone who repeatedly requests another to take up a position of responsibility.)
Yan Su"ang and Aaron Feng bought the drinks and came back.
Xiao Bai and Jia Zhiqing each got two bottles.
Xiao Bai put Jia Zhiqing"s things back and prepared to go home.
Aaron Feng proposed to send Xiao Bai home.
Yan Su"ang asked Xiao Bai to have a meal.
Jia Zhiqing was beaming off to one side while watching the drama.
Xiao Bai hesitated and said, “I want to go back home and read.”
Aaron Feng happily rubbed his hair. “Well, Xiao Bai"s really a diligent and good boy.”
Yan Su"ang slightly pursed up his lips.
On top of the one from last night, he had been rejected twice within twenty-four hours. Not bad, not bad at all. It opened a new record in his life.
Aaron Feng grinned from ear to ear and said, “How about if I send you home while on the way?”
Yan Su"ang"s eyes swept from Xiao Bai"s face and then fixed them in his eyes, “No need. I really don"t deserve to compliment the driving skills of people who came out of Yimate.”
Jia Zhiqing gloomily thought, does this count as disaster for the fish in the moat [2]?
([2] An idiom which means ‘to be involved in a disaster not of one"s own making.")
Seeing that Yan Su"ang was about to leave, Xiao Bai wanted to say goodbye to him, but Yan Su"ang pa.s.sed by him as if Xiao Bai was air.
Aaron Feng sneered. “Manners, manners.”
Yan Su"ang stopped and suddenly turned to Jia Zhiqing with a faint smile and said, “Take a good rest. I"ll come to see you next time. Goodbye.”
Jia Zhiqing dully waved his hand.
Could it be said that…the Great G.o.d was so fast to fall on his knees under Jia Zhiqing"s charm, ready to fall in love with someone else? But Jia Zhiqing likes women…he gnawed on the quilt.
But, if the other party was the Great G.o.d…
He remembered the long eyelashes, the bright and sparkling eyes…no way! No matter how good the Great G.o.d"s looks was, it was not good! He still wants to continue the family line. He still needs to produce a male heir to continue the family line…
Xiao Bai looked at Jia Zhiqing"s suddenly-happy-suddenly-worried expression and wondered, “What"s wrong with him?”
Aaron Feng looked at him hopelessly. “It"s post-concussion syndrome, isn"t it?”
Xiao Bai asked nervously, “Huh? What kind of symptom is this?”
“Starry-eyed infatuation.”
On the way to Xiao Bai"s home, Aaron Feng asked casually, “What do you think of Yan Su"ang?”
Xiao Bai replied, “A good man! He even invited me to dinner.”
“…”
For Xiao Bai"s method of distinguishing good people, Aaron Feng could only express speechlessness.
“He"s Weijie"s person.”
Xiao Bai turned to look at him, “Who"s Weijie?”
“It"s not a who. It"s a managing company.” He paused and tried to speak in a flat tone, “There"s been a fierce compet.i.tion between them and Yimate these past few years.”
Taciturn, Xiao Bai turned back and looked down at his hands on his knees.
The street lights on both sides glimmered into the car, and the orange stars twinkled on the car windows.
Aaron Feng drove the car until they reached Xiao Bai"s house downstairs.
Xiao Bai reached out and opened the door. All of a sudden, he faintly asked, “You don"t like him?”
Aaron Feng was shocked and immediately responded to what Xiao Bai said he was, “We"re rivals.”
It had long been impossible to tell whether he and Yan Su"ang liked each other or not.
The ma.s.s media likes to call them natural rivals, and he never denied them, not even in his heart.
“But he"s good to me.” Xiao Bai whispered this sentence, quickly jumped out of the car, then turned to say goodbye, and gently closed the door. The whole process was completed in one go and it did not even take more than five seconds.
Aaron Feng looked at his brisk back and the illusion of deja vu welled up in his heart.
He was once ignorant and fearless like this.
Aaron Feng just did not know when it was that he abandoned this old road. Yes…was it when he could not help but want to kiss Gao Qin when he saw his sleeping face? Or perhaps…was it that moment when Gao Qin slapped him in the face when he was confessing to him?
Only those who truly follow this path would know how many thorns were on the road, so he did not want to watch Xiao Bai walk in it. If he could turn back time, he would pull himself back.
He messed up his hair and his long-lost agitation rose to his heart. He suddenly yearned for a gla.s.s of booze that could paralyze himself. Industrial alcohol would be fine as well, as long as he could get drunk of it.
When Xiao Bai habitually pushed open the door in the morning and wanted to pull Jiazhiqing up, he only saw an empty bed. He remembered that Jia Zhiqing was now enjoying his sick leave in the hospital.
When he turned to close the door, he suddenly heard his phone ringing. Since they entered Yimate, each of them was given a handset. This phone that he had was rarely used. Jia Zhiqing muttered these two days that he simply stopped holding his phone, so Xiao Bai could not imagine who would have called at this time. When he answered the phone, Jia Zhiqing"s voice was mixed with the noise in the background.
“Xiao Bai…”
Xiaobai heard him shout himself hoa.r.s.e several times.
“I hear you!” Xiao Bai had no choice but to yell as well. It was just a little weird in such a quiet room.
“An accident, something big happened!” Jia Zhiqing seemed to be running. The noise in the background was getting softer and softer, and his breathing was getting heavier and heavier.
Xiao Bai listened without blinking, his heartbeat sped up for no reason, and a bad premonition spread in his heart.
“Xiao Bai.” Jia Zhiqing finally ran to a quiet place. “What time did you say goodbye to Aaron yesterday?”
Xiao Bai thought for a moment, “Around seven or eight in the evening.”
“Did you drink together?”
“No.” Did Aaron go to drink? The uneasiness in Xiao Bai"s heart was getting stronger and stronger.
Jia Zhiqing said, “He went driving while drunk last night and a.s.saulted the police. He"s now been detained.”
“Detained?” Xiao Bai could not respond for a moment. “What should we do?”
“Gao Qin"s already working on it. It"s alright. Don"t worry.” While talking about this, Jia Zhiqing could not help but curse, “I don"t know how the reporters found out I was in hospital. The corridor"s full of people. If I hadn"t been smart enough to pretend to be the next-door patient, I would have been dismembered.”
“Then what about the next-door patient?”
“…” The noise coming from the other end of the line grew louder and louder. After a while, Jia Zhiqing"s voice came through, “He"s happily receiving an interview.”
“…”
“Be careful when you go out. The reporters are seizing every opportunity. Since they could find me in the hospital, it"s not difficult for them to find out where you live.”
“Hmn. Then I"ll disguise myself when I go out.”
“…” Jia Zhiqing muttered to himself, “Be careful not to disguise yourself as a woman.”
“Why?” Although he never thought about doing it, Xiao Bai asked out of curiousity.
“Because if you"re caught, that would be in the headlines.” Early in the morning, it was upsetting enough to know that Aaron Feng was detained. He did not want to turn on the TV and see Xiao Bai in a woman"s dress being watched by a crowd of onlookers.
Xiao Bai went out wearing a big straw hat and a big mask.
As expected, a few people with cameras were waiting in front of the door. When they saw him coming out, they immediately surrounded him.
“Xiao Bai, did you know that Aaron Feng was detained?”
“I heard that you were with Aaron Feng last night. Do you know why he ran to drink alone? Was it because of your love affair with him?”
“Does this matter have anything to do with Yan Su"ang? Someone saw them visiting your manager in the hospital together.”
“Did Zhou Minli break up with him? Is that why he got drunk?”
“…”
The questions were like a squadron that blew in his ear.
Xiao Bai looked at the way that was completely blocked and did not know how to react.
The cameras kept flashing right before his eyes. The scenery in his eyes wandered between shining white and different colors.
“All of you…” He suddenly opened his mouth, silencing all of the talking reporters at once. “…are reporters, right?”
…The reporters looked at each other in blanked dismay.
If they were not reporters, could it be that they came running here to deliver take-outs?
“Xiao Bai, were you with Aaron Feng last night? Do you know why he went alone to drink?” The reporters persisted on asking questions.
Xiao Bai honestly responded, “It"s Brother Aaron who sent me home last night.”
“Then why did he go drinking alone?”
“I guess he wanted to be alone.”
“Why didn"t you go with him?”
“Because he didn"t ask me.”
“Are you two quarreling or not?”
Xiao Bai wondered, “Why should we quarrel?”
The reporters were roaring with laughter. If they knew, would they still need to ask him here?
“Then you…”
A hand suddenly swooped in and a ferocious-looking middle-aged burly man stopped him and the reporters. He coldly said, “Mr. Zeng has something to do and would need to leave first. Please make way.”
After saying this, he grabbed Xiao Bai"s arm with one hand, and like a surfboard, he swam his way out of the wave upon wave of reporters that were surrounding them.
In a daze, Xiao Bai followed him from behind, and then he was stuffed into a car right before the unwilling eyes of the reporters.
The car quickly drove away.
When the reporters who were left behind were about to disperse, one of them yelled, “Isn"t that Weijie"s car just now?”
Several well-known managing companies and celebrities" car license plates had detailed records.
“That man seems to be Yan Su"ang"s a.s.sistant, Lin Fa.”
There was a strange silence all around. Then, the reporters who needed to jump in their cars, jumped in their cars, and the ones who needed to make phone call made phone calls. The scene was in a great mess again.
The car was awfully fast.
Xiao Bai looked at the scenery pa.s.sing by outside the car window. Surprised, he said, “This isn"t the way to the company.”
Yan Su"ang gently rubbed with his right hand the watch strap on his left wrist, then he casually said: “Now that Aaron"s not around, you won"t refuse to have breakfast with me, right?”
Xiao Bai frowned, “I can"t. I need to go to the company soon. I don"t know how Brother Aaron"s doing.”
“With Gao Qin around, he…” Glancing at Xiao Bai"s worried expression in the corner of his eyes, Yan Su"ang swallowed the words ‘won"t die" forcefully and said, “Won"t get into trouble.”
“But I"ll feel much better if I hear it with my own ears.”
Yan Su"ang took out his phone and opened the cover. He quickly pressed several keys, and handed it to him, “There"s something in the world called a phone.”
Gao Qin"s voice quickly transmitted out of it.
“Su"ang?”
Xiao Bai picked up the phone, “Big Brother Gao Qin, it"s me.”
“Xiao Bai?” Gao Qin"s voice was deep, “What"s the matter?”
“I want to ask about Brother Aaron…”
“He"s alright. Get back to the company earlier.” Gao Qin hung up without waiting for his answer.
Yan Su"ang took back his phone and raised his eyebrows. “Now, can we go and have breakfast?”
Xiao Bai shook his head and said: “I want to go to the hospital first. Zhiqing said that he was surrounded by reporters early in the morning…”
Pa!
Yan Su"ang closed the phone"s cover with a wooden expression.