The Way Of The Evil

The Final Gentleman Part 1

G.o.d said, Let there be light—since then, the light and the darkness had been clearly differentiated. Nevertheless, if there is only one thing that could seep past and boundlessly communicate our words to one another, then I hope, it is love.

When Jiang Hu walked into the ward with flowers in hand, he saw the woman standing beside Su Junzi and the small girl she was holding hands with. She was truly a great woman—not to say she was very pretty, but when she smiled, the sunlight seemingly melted, making one feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The child whose hand was held by the woman heard the approaching sounds. Turning around to look at him, her eyes lit up. "Uncle Jiang!"

Jiang Hu half-crouched down to better catch the little girl that pounced at him. The little girl stretched out a little, plump hand to grab at his clothes, complaining, "You agreed to come play at my place. And I prepared so many storybooks but you didn"t even come for a long time!"

Jiang Hu apologized, "For this… I"m really sorry." He took out a lily from the bundle of flowers in his arms, giving it to the little girl. "Su Ran, little pretty girl, I"ll express my apology with this, is that okay?"

The little la.s.s took it, saying in arrogance, "Now, that"s much better. Then, I"ll forgive you!"

The woman laughed. "Xiao Ran, quick, don"t be so disrespectful."

Her voice was really pleasant to hear, Jiang Hu thought. Surely enough, some people carried a unique innate healing trait. Su Junzi pointed at the woman, "This is your sister-in-law[1]. Minmin, this is Dr. Jiang. He"s the one your baby girl has been talking about all day after going to the bureau the previous time."

Jiang Hu understood now. This was the legendary wife of Su-ge, Hu Min. He either intentionally or unintentionally swept a glance at Sheng Yao. The latter was leaning against the bed, tilting his head as he smiled at them. So, he too followed readily, obediently calling, "Sister-in-law, h.e.l.lo."

Hu Min scrutinized him up and down, shaking her head. "I"ve long heard that Dr. Jiang is capable, but I didn"t expect that you"re so young."

Jiang Hu was a little embarra.s.sed. "Actually, not really. I look younger, but I"m also pretty old now."

Everyone in the room laughed. Jiang Hu put the flowers at the head of Sheng Yao"s bed. Sheng Yao breathed in the flower scent deeply, sighing drunkenly, "NENCY"s Water of Life[2]. The young lady who gave you this bouquet of flowers must be a beauty full of life and freshness."

Jiang Hu thought for a bit, and spoke the truth. "Oh, no. If you"re talking about the one who sold flowers, that was a grandpa who"s getting on his years a little."

Sheng Yao looked at him a little dumbly. "Ah?"

"Mn, right. I don"t really know the way, so I took the public commute here. It was a little squeezy on the bus and someone"s perfume bottle broke." Jiang Hu continued to a.s.sault him straightforwardly. "Mn, the one who broke the perfume bottle wasn"t a young lady either. She seemed to be getting on her years too. I forgot what I should call her, just… around the same age as Yang-jie"s mother who came to the bureau before to catch Yang-jie I guess?"

Sheng Yao felt that his gla.s.s heart had shattered into pieces and fallen onto the ground.

Su Ran was like a tiny adult as she tugged on Jiang Hu"s clothes. "Uncle Jiang, don"t speak anymore. Look at how Uncle Sheng Yao"s about to lose sight of his life goals." After finishing, she climbed onto Sheng Yao"s patient bed brashly, stretching out her little meat claws to pat Sheng Yao"s head and spoke with complete seriousness and endless sternness, "%*#……#￥!"

Then, she nodded. "Done!"

The adults in the room looked at the little girl with some interest. Sheng Yao pulled down her small hands. "Little fairy, what spell did you cast on me?"

Su Ran said, "My daddy said that you only got injured because you were protecting daddy when catching the bad people. Last night, I secretly asked Grandma Pumpkin and she taught me a spell. She said that you won"t hurt anymore after reciting it. Uncle Sheng Yao, does it still hurt? Is Grandma Pumpkin"s spell useful?"

Sheng Yao"s face was utterly moved and he hugged Su Ran. "Very effective, hey. Really, it"s too magical. Right now, I don"t feel any pain at all. Xiao Ranran, are you the legendaery little angel?"

"I"m a little witch."

"Oh, then you must be the cutest, cutest little witch in the world."

Hu Min"s gaze was gentle and warm as she looked at the child and the handsome man. "Sheng Yao, really, we really don"t know what we should say. If it wasn"t for you…"

Sheng Yao lifted his head to smile at her. "Sister-in-law, don"t say it like that. In the situation Junzi was in, if it was anyone else, they would have done the same. Moreover, nothing big even happened to me. Just had a little blood injected in me and it even saved some excess nutrition from being wasted too, am I right, little baby, Ranran?"

Su Ran didn"t understand. But thinking about it, she decided to yield to the sick patient, so she nodded her head in a devotion to righteousness.

Su Junzi clapped her hands. "Ranran, come down quick. Little fat girl, you"re already ten-something kg, don"t press down on your Uncle Sheng Yao."

Su Ran was jabbed at a painful area. She made a humph, turning her head around and whispering, "Daddy is so terrible."

Sheng Yao laughed loudly, "Junzi, can"t you do some good deeds? You actually joked around with a young lady"s weight."

At the side, Jiang Hu took Su Ran over in very good judgement of the situation. He tossed her into the air before catching her again. The small girl giggled in "hehe""s, leaning at his ear as she muttered something. Jiang Hu hesitated for a moment. "You"re really telling me this?"

Su Ran sternly said in a soft voice, "You"re not allowed to tell others. Not allowed to "sell out" me!"

Jiang Hu thought, shouldn"t that be "sell me out"? Looking at how the others didn"t react much though, the little girl probably said it correctly and he just didn"t remember right. So, Dr. Jiang who felt completely inferior about his language apt.i.tude did not consider that the reason why no one corrected her was because no one heard what the little imp said.

Su Ran murmured and mumbled and Jiang Hu nodded repeatedly. Because her dad stepped on a landmine, the little girl firmly refused to tell Su Junzi what she said secretly. The Su family stayed for a while longer before getting up to take their leave. Jiang Hu pulled a chair over to sit by Sheng Yao"s bed.

"Are you still okay?" Jiang Hu asked.

"There"s not too big of an issue. That crazy girl didn"t stab me in any vital areas in the first place." Sheng Yao grinned. "I heard that, you and Bossman Shen kept me company for the entire night during my surgery?"

"Mn, the bossman told me a lot of things." When Jiang Hu said "bossman", his tongue was still a little stiff. "It"s boss…man[3]. I can"t ever seem to say it right."

Sheng Yao finally understood why people ranging from Shen Yexi to Yang Man and An Yining now teased this doctor for amus.e.m.e.nt. How can this child be so adorably silly?

Jiang Hu hesitated for a moment. "But, you"re not happy. Do you need to talk?"

Sheng Yao startled, tilted his head to look at him. Jiang Hu"s expression was very calm. The thin, light sunlight filtered in from the window and happened to splash on his face. Those eyes were extremely crystal clear, and he really did give off a slight feeling of a psychologist. As though him sitting there silently had the power to calm people down.

It was only now that Sheng Yao remembered that Jiang Hu was the "employee benefits" that Chief Mo arranged for the team.

"You could tell?"

Jiang Hu nodded honestly.

"Then, can you tell why I did that?"

Jiang Hu paused and nodded again. Met with Sheng Yao"s dubious expression, he opened his mouth and did not make a sound, only mouthing a "Su".

Hey. He didn"t notice it before, but this person was actually so sharp-eyed. Really, he was of the same type as Shen Yexi, a hateable man who knew anything quietly.

"Then, what do you think I should do to become happy?"

Jiang Hu smiled. Crossing his legs, leaning his body back slightly with two of his hands crossed on his thigh, he looked like he became much older in an instant, carrying a sense of relaxation and serenity. "I"m sorry. Whether it"s a consultant or a psychologist, they can break it down for you, give you suggestions and listen to you speak your mind. But they can"t help you make your decision."

Sheng Yao"s mouth twitched. "Then, what do we need you for?"

"To help you hear the voice in your heart." Jiang Hu said, "Do you want him to have the same feelings for you?"

But Sheng Yao did not speak immediately. He silently sat on the bed with his back leaning on the bed, gaze sweeping to the warm tumbler that Su Junzi brought for him. Chicken soup Hu Min made was inside. It took a long time before he chuckled lightly, shaking his head. "No, I don"t."

Jiang Hu"s brows twitched once. "Why?"

"Did you see Hu Min and Xiao Ran?" Sheng Yao exhaled a light breath, half closing his eyes. Actually, at times, you really need to have someone like this. Even if they were just at the side, silent without a word—hearing him rant about those depressing things weighing down on him, those unattainable things unquiet in his mind. "Say, what kind of person would bear to hurt a pair of mother and daughter like that? Moreover, Junzi is a good, responsible father and a good, responsible husband. If he wasn"t like this, if he wasn"t…"

If he wasn"t him anymore, then those feelings that he would have obtained would be meaningless, wouldn"t they?

Sheng Yao sighed, "As you live, you can"t be too selfish. I still know this principle at least."

"Do you think that a peaceful consciousness like this would offset your pain and suffering?"

"No." Sheng Yao paused. "I"m caught between a rock and a hard place."

This phrase, "caught between a rock and a hard place", was too cultured. Jiang Hu didn"t understand. He was startled for a bit. When he was abroad, he really didn"t encounter such awkwardness before. He could only cough lightly to cover it up. "You suppress your desire, but it will become bigger and bigger."

Sheng Yao turned his head aside. "Then, what should I do?"

"Use another channel, discharge it."

"Discharge?" Sheng Yao arched an eyebrow and snorted. "Look at my reputation and you"ll know that I"ve discharged an amount now."

"But you don"t use your heart. Sheng Yao, I"m not talking about the discharge from your physical body. Ask your heart, isn"t it empty, right now?" Jiang Hu said. Sheng Yao looked at him, stunned. That look was like he directly hit the matters in his heart. Jiang Hu continued, "Have you heard of things like states of hypnosis? Hypnosis is not sleep. A great area of the brain of the hypnotized person is suppressed, but in their head, they still have a slight elevated excitement. Their range of consciousness becomes very small and their attention is highly concentrated. Some professionals believe that love is a type of phenomenon of hypnosis. When you see that person, you"ll naturally put all your attention on that person, and it"ll also form a tendency for you to forget about others. Your feelings will seem narrow."

Sheng Yao was blank for a moment. "So… you"re awakening me?"

"On one hand, you"re unwilling to go closer to him and hurt him, but on another hand, because he attracted all your attention and you couldn"t see the others, you can only force yourself into a very, very cramped place, and that"s why you"re unhappy." Jiang Hu said, "Sheng Yao, why do you choose not to take a step back and widen the scope of your vision? At that time, you"ll know what you should do."

Sheng Yao pondered deeply for a while, grinning. "Dr. Scatterbrain Hu, I"ve more or less connected the dots of this matter of Chief Mo transferring you in and things like raising the job wages."

Sheng Yao was only someone who had heavy matters in his heart but he was also someone clever. No matter what, Jiang Hu felt that he"ll have a greater understanding towards his own feelings and situation. And afterwards, the situation proved that the benefits that the stingy Chief Mo gave everyone were all well-deserved. Right at this time, Jiang Hu"s phone vibrated. A message came in. Shen Yexi concisely only provided three words: "Watch the TV."

There was a television right in Sheng Yao"s ward. The two turned on the TV. At the bottom of all the channels, a piece of news was rolling: Today, ten in the morning in the local city, there was an explosion in Bus 97. Four injured, including a child. The fortunate thing is that there were no deaths. The reason for the explosion is still undergoing investigations. According to reports, this is already the second explosion in this city in the past two days. The police force have revealed that the cause of the two explosions might be the same type of bomb…"

Translator Notes:

1: Note that the term, sister-in-law, 嫂子 has two usages. One is as sister-in-law, likely as Su Junzi sees Jiang Hu as a brother and Jiang Hu also refers to Su Junzi with the older brother honorific, "-ge". While the other is an honorific used to refer to married women as well.

2: 兰西的生命之水. We can"t quite find a corresponding perfume, but there is a perfume by the name of Water of Life by NENCY, which could be a brand in China that isn"t in production anymore.

3: The term used is actually 头儿, which means "the head", but it"s in a form that underwent erization (adding a -r at the end), turning it into slang. Here, I turned it into bossman, as some second-language learners for English may find consonant cl.u.s.ters difficult to p.r.o.nounce. It has not been translated as such in other instances as it has not been relevant, and we also think it sounds rather unnatural.