As the alcohol started to gradually wreak havoc inside of every neuron in their bodies, the topics of their conversation became broader and even more unrestrained. Tong Zhe also revealed a rare casual side of him that he wouldn't normally let loose.
"He got angry just because I answered the phone for you?"
Both of Gu Hai's intoxicated eyes were suffused with helplessness, "Yeah, he's completely ignoring me. Since he left until now, he hasn't talked to me on the phone even once. And, when I went to look for him at the training base the other day, he refused to see me no matter what. So, I ended up waiting for him in the reception room for the entire day for nothing."
Tong Zhe was secretly speechless, "He doesn’t seem like such a narrow-minded person!"
"How so? That's because you don’t understand him!" Gu Hai boast without shame and shifted all of his foul traits onto Bai Luo Yin. "As a matter of fact, he is extremely shameless at taking advantage of things. If even the smallest thing doesn't go his way, he loses his temper and acts foolishly! You haven’t seen him when he's being unreasonable, he can be as irritating and annoying as anyone can imagine!"
Tong Zhe's long and narrow eyes were saturated with an intoxicating ring of light. As his lips parted slightly and broke out in a fine dew of perspiration, there was a type of frivolous and lethargic aura about it that was very attractive.
"Why do you still like him then?"
Hearing that question, a gentle smile emerged on Gu Hai's lips, softening the surface of his robust face while his eyes glistered with an intense and passionate kind of love that Tong Zhe had never seen before. It seemed extremely unsuitable for that face, but strangely enough, having it there did not give off a sense of disarray.
"He has an attractive side. I'm not going to tell you that easily though. If I say it, you will definitely be enthralled about it."
Tong Zhe laughed willfully, "Isn’t just about what happens on the bed? What kind of man isn't firmly controlled by the lower half of his body first?"
Gu Hai did not admit or deny that statement, but the especially smug look abiding in his eyes was more than enough to prove that, even though that was not an adequate prerequisite, it was definitely an essential prerequisite.
"I really can't imagine what he would look like when he's aroused." Tong Zhe couldn't help but to sigh.
Unexpectedly, that sigh irritated Master Gu Hai's jealous nature and resulted in Tong Zhe not only suffering a punch in the head, but his collar was also lifted up until even his feet dangled off the floor.
"Who allowed you to imagine? Do you know that you've crossed the fucking line?"
Fuck! Tong Zhe also became angry. Thinking about it is also wrong? Shit, I wasn't even thinking that! I only threw a sentence out randomly…
Just as he was about to kick back as retaliation, Gu Hai suddenly pressed him back on his legs and continued tormenting him, nearly causing the food that he had eaten to come back up. After that donkey was caulked with alcohol, the reemergence of his barbaric strength was inevitable. Tong Zhe was absolutely not his opponent.
"I have not said a single word to him for over two weeks. I miss him! Do you know that? I miss him! I miss him so much, I barely know what my last name is! How can he be so heartless? How come he doesn’t miss me?"
As loud cracking noises sounded near his ears, Tong Zhe's balls also shattered into pieces along with those fallen plates. A man trapped by love is truly hard to deal with!
"You had too much to drink!"
Once Tong Zhe was finally able to break free from Gu Hai's arm, he straightened up his clothes and sat to the side.
Meanwhile, Gu Hai had lit up a cigarette and was taking drags of it with unstable breaths. "I'm not drunk, I'm as sober as I can be!"
Tong Zhe snatched the cigarette from Gu Hai's mouth and let it dangle in his own mouth before his gaze faintly swept over. "Since you're unsatisfied with him in so many ways, then you can be together with me! In any case, your brother has already regarded me as his substitute. You might as well take me as his substitute too."
Just as those words dropped, Gu Hai suddenly leaped in front of Tong Zhe and let his overbearing gaze flit across his face. Then he stretched his hand forward to snatch the cigarette back from Tong Zhe's mouth while a mockful, yet playful smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"I think that's a very good idea."
Hearing that, Tong Zhe also pulled the corners of his lips back into a smirk. He grasped his wrist and lifted his arm up before moving the stub of the cigarette, which was still clamped between Gu Hai's fingers, closer to Gu Hai's own mouth.
"Then you should put this cigarette back into your mouth."
Gu Hai lowered his head and stared at the stub of the cigarette that had been in Tong Zhe's mouth before. His gaze remained indifferent the entire time, without even a hint of being disturbed by a raging wave.
In the end, he snapped that half a stick of cigarette in two and threw it into the ashtray.
"I knew you didn’t have the balls to have an affair…." Tong Zhe laughed as he ridiculed, "I could have never imagined that there’s actually someone you’re scared of."
After a long moment of silence, Gu Hai faintly said, "I’m not scared of him, I just love him."
Eventually, he drank to the point he became completely drunk. It wasn't until the phone rang that Gu Hai sat up from the sofa; by then, it was already two o'clock in the early morning. Gu Hai glanced down at his cell phone only to see that it was actually a call from Bai Han Qi.
"Da Hai, it's me, your Aunt Zou!!"
Hearing Aunt Zou's anxious tone, Gu Hai sobered up immediately.
"Auntie, what's wrong?"
The more anxious Aunt Zou was, the more unclear she spoke. "Your uncle was sleeping… he was sleeping… fine… but, in the end…"
Without hesitation, Gu Hai rushed to the door and put on his shoes. He pushed the door open and said, "Auntie, don't worry. I'm heading over there right now."
In less than ten minutes, Gu Hai's car stopped in front of the first floor of Bai Han Qi's place.
The place was an old-fashioned building without an elevator. And, although Bai Han Qi lived on the very top floor, Gu Hai broke through the apartment door in less than a minute. Seeing the scene before him, he stared blankly for a moment. Bai Han Qi was lying on the floor without a hint of blood on his face, with Aunt Zou sitting beside him crying. All the while, Meng Tong Tian was looking flustered as he tried to move Bai Han Qi in an attempt to help him back onto the bed.
"What happened to my uncle?" Gu Hai hastily kneeled down to examine Bai Hai Qi's condition.
Aunt Zou spoke in between sobs, "I don’t know… he got up just now, probably to go to the bathroom… he suddenly collapsed on the floor, and no matter how much I called out to him, he wouldn't wake up. I gave Yin Zi a call, but I couldn’t get through to him. I was at my wit's end, so I had to call you…"
"Did you call for an ambulance yet?" Gu Hai asked.
Meng Tong Tian responded from the side, "We called a long time ago, but they still haven’t arrived yet."
"Forget it." Gu Hai carefully took Bai Han Qi by the arm and helped him up, "I’ll just drive him to the hospital myself!"
Aunt Zou anxiously asked, "Lao Bai is so heavy, how are you going to carry him to the car? We don’t even have a stretcher here…"
Before Aunt Zou had a chance to finish, Gu Hai had already carried Bai Han Qi on his back and was rushing out with Meng Tong Tian following behind, supporting him with his arm. In less than two minutes, they flew down the stairs and placed Bai Han Qi in the car. He raced on the road like a violent hurricane before quickly arriving at the nearest hospital.
After a series of emergency treatments, Bai Han Qi escaped from peril at last.
Immediately after that, Gu Hai contacted the doctor. "What is his exact condition?"
"Acute myocardial infarction."[1]
Hearing those three words, Gu Hai's heart skipped a beat while Aunt Zou stood to the side with an utterly white complexion.
"Does my uncle have a history of coronary heart disease?" Gu Hai asked.
Aunt Zou shook her head, "I've never seen him sick before!"
"A person suffering from a sudden myocardial infarction doesn’t necessarily have to have a history of coronary heart disease. There are some people who don’t have any abnormalities in their hearts and can still suffer a myocardial infarction. I advise you to take him to a hospital that specializes in cardiology for a proper examination. If he really does have a coronary heart disease, then it's better to treat it as soon as possible before it's too late."
When Bai Han Qi gained consciousness, Gu Hai and Aunt Zou walked into the patient ward together.
"You scared me to death. Fortunately, Da Hai came on time, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to see me," Aunt Zou said as she gripped Bai Han Qi's hand.
Bai Han Qi looked at Gu Hai with a pale complexion. He moved his lips, but no words came out.
Seeing the state Bai Han Qi was in, Gu Hai felt extremely upset.
"It's alright, Auntie. Let uncle rest for a bit. We can talk to him again in the morning."
Given that his body was in an extremely weak state, Bai Han Qi fell into a deep sleep rather quickly.
After Gu Hai walked out of the ward, he said to Aunt Zou, "I will have uncle transferred to Fu Wai Hospital, so that he can have a proper examination tomorrow. It'll be the best if he doesn't have any illness, but if he does, it can be treated straight away."
A worried expression spread across Aunt Zou's entire face, "I heard it's extremely difficult to get admitted into that hospital. Will there be a bed available if he goes there now?"
"You don’t have to worry about that."
With that said, Gu Hai walked out of the emergency building to make a call.
A little past 4AM, Bai Han Qi was transferred to Fu Wai Hospital. His examination, hospital fees and ward arrangements… were all handled by Gu Hai alone. He was busy until past 9AM in the morning, without even taking a break for a sip of water.
His cellphone rang; it was a call from Tong Zhe.
"Where did you run off to in the middle of the night?"
Gu Hai let out a long sigh, "There's an urgent matter at home. I probably won’t be going to work this morning. If anything happens, help me take care of it."
Standing to the side, Aunt Zou couldn’t help but to interrupt after seeing Gu Hai hang up the call. "Da Hai! You can go back to your company now, don’t delay the important things any longer. Since everything here is all settled, it's enough with just me alone."
"How can you be here by yourself?" Gu Hai was very stern with his manner, "In the hospital these days, it’s impossible for one person to look after the patient. Can you see? Everyone that comes to the hospital, aren’t they all here with their whole family?"
Aunt Zhou sighed, "I wonder where Yin Zi is at the moment!"
"Please, don’t look for him!" Gu Hai suddenly said, "If anything comes up, you can directly look for me. Yin Zi is exhausted enough from training strenuously, let's not give him any more psychological burden. Adding on how extremely risky his profession is already, with just the slightest lack of concentration, something dangerous can end up happening."
Aunt Zou wiped her tears, "Lao Bai misses his son!"
Listening to that sentence, Gu Hai's heart couldn't help but to ache painfully. "Don’t worry, Auntie. Yin Zi will be back very soon."
After the doctor's diagnosis, it was ascertained that Bai Hai Qi's coronary heart disease was caused by a decrease of blood flow to his heart, which lead to the myocardial infarction. After a formal consultation with the family, the angioplasty and stent placement procedure[2] took place on the third day. During the operation, Gu Hai stood by Bai Han Qi's side the entire time. Then, as soon as the operation was completed without a hitch, he hastily rushed back to work. While Bai Han Qi was hospitalized, Gu Hai devotedly bolted back and forth between the hospital and work every day. He was up to his neck and barely took a break.
A week later, Bai Han Qi was discharged from the hospital. Throughout the entire process, from the start of the illness to the ending of the treatment, Bai Luo Yin was completely unaware.
Translator's Note:
[1] acute myocardial infarction (MI) – a heart attack; literally meaning, "death of heart muscle."
[2] angioplasty and stent placement procedure – also called percutaneous coronary intervention, is a procedure used to open clogged heart arteries. Angioplasty involves temporarily inserting and inflating a tiny balloon where your artery is clogged to help widen the artery. Angioplasty is often combined with the permanent placement of a small wire mesh tube called a stent to help prop the artery open and decrease its chance of narrowing again. Some stents are coated with medication to help keep your artery open (drug-eluting stents), while others are not (bare-metal stents). Angioplasty can improve symptoms of blocked arteries, such as chest pain and shortness of breath. Angioplasty can also be used during a heart attack to quickly open a blocked artery and reduce the amount of damage to your heart.