Chapter 5 - Kill the Chicken to Take the Eggs1
The man still had a blank expression as he stared fixedly at Du Ziyu. His lips were pressed into a straight line, not saying a single word.
Du Ziyu looked at the naked man. Silently, he pressed the space between his brows in frustration and took a deep breath. "English?"
The man did not respond. Du Ziyu took another breath. "Sawadika?"
The man seemed to understand and walked several steps closer to Du Ziyu, suddenly grabbing his wrist. Du Ziyu tried to break free but the man placed his hand over his stomach. Under the palm of his hand was the man's smooth and flexible abdominal muscles. Du Ziyu could feel the rhythmic pulse of his blood flowing inside. He tried to break free again and angrily said: "I'm not in the mood to play with you! If you don't return my things, I'll really call the police!"
The man was unmoved. He simply continued to tightly hold his hand over his stomach. "Ah……." He opened his mouth, but didn't know how to pronounce.
"What's wrong with your stomach?" Du Ziyu wrinkled his brows.
"Stomach." The man repeated and pressed down his hand again. He had a look of contemplation on his face: "Thumb ring…….stomach."
"Are you trying to say you ate my thumb ring?!" Du Ziyu practically wanted to laugh.
At this moment, the man nodded solemnly with a seemingly earnest look: "Ate it."
Du Ziyu felt that his patience was running out. He flung away the man's grip and put on a bathrobe. He picked up the ink jade Pixiu from the dressing table, which unexpectedly felt lighter. He frowned slightly but didn't put much thought into figuring it out. He just quickly put it on and pushed open the door - only to see the female Thai technician who had brought him in holding a wooden basin.
"Guest?" The female technician spoke rusty Chinese. She looked at the naked man behind Du Ziyu and was startled: "Your friend?"
"My friend?" Du Ziyu was also taken aback. He turned around and looked at the man suspiciously: "You're not a technician here?" He didn't wait for the man to answer. He took out his phone and called Shi Lai: "Ah-Lai, come here for a moment. I've encountered something troublesome. I want to call the police."
"Don't call the police! Don't call the police!" Du Ziyu hadn't finished speaking and the other side of the phone shouted: "Fuck! Young Master Du, don't ruin us! I brought you to my club and you call the police! Are you doing this deliberately?!" In the middle of speaking, Shi Lai came out of his room. He was also shocked when he saw the man behind Du Ziyu: "Fuck! You called a male prostitute?"
Du Ziyu felt a burst of pain in his head. He turned around, took out a bathrobe from the room and tossed it at the man beside him: "Put this on first."
Shi Lai was bewildered. He looked at Du Ziyu, then looked at the handsome man beside him, and was only able to speak after a long time: "You want to report and surrender to the anti-pornography department?"
Du Ziyu's complexion became more and more ugly. Finally, he sighed in defeat. He pushed the man into his room and beckoned at Shi Lai: "We'll talk in here." The three of them filed into the room. Du Ziyu shut the door, leaving the technician outside.
"No….What happened?"
"To put it simply, he stole my jade thumb ring." Du Ziyu sat on the sofa with his left leg crossed over his right. He picked up the herbal tea on the table and swallowed a mouthful.
"Ate it." The man added earnestly.
"Ha?" Shi Lai laughed out loud.
"Uh-huh, ate it?" Du Ziyu humphed. His eyes glanced at the man's body and the corner of his lips slowly hooked up: "It's not impossible….." He said as he stood up and approached the man with a few steps, eyes narrowing dangerously: "Then let's go to the hospital for a gastroscopy." He placed his index finger on the man's lower abdomen, slowly pressing down: "If it's true, I'll pay for your surgery to dig out my things!"
"Pu…..And if it's not there?" Shi Lai had a look of absurdity. While listening to his joke, he replied in his usual teasing manner.
"No thumb ring, no problem!" Du Ziyu had a cold expression. He didn't believe the "ate the thumb ring" nonsense. He looked at the absurd man with cold eyes. He drew a circle on the man's lower abdomen with his finger, then traced his finger along the line in the middle of his abs up to his chest. "You still have kidneys, a spleen, a heart, and a liver!" His lips trembled slightly. Du Ziyu spoke with a pause between each word: "Cut! It! Give! Me! Compensation!"
Saying that he ate the thumb ring, normal people would not believe it. The words Du Ziyu said were just to scare the man in returning his things. Who would have thought that the man didn't eat oil and salt2. Even after saying all that, he agreed to do the gastroscopy. Du Ziyu really began to suspect that the man had a problem with his brain.
Sitting in the hospital corridor, Du Ziyu and Shi Lai stared at each other with a loss for words. They felt laughably absurd. At this moment, the sound of the doctor's reprimand came from the examining room: "Can you cooperate with this patient? How can I intubate without touching? I said you…ah! Hurts hurts hurts….let go!"
Du ZIyu hurried into the examining room and saw the man gripping the doctor's wrist; the latter had a painful expression.
"What are you doing?" Du Ziyu walked in front of the man and grabbed his shoulders. The man immediately relaxed his hand, and turned around and looked at him - unexpectedly with an innocent face!
"I can't examine your patient! My wrist was almost ripped off by him!" The doctor tossed the stomach tube onto the table angrily.
Shi Lai rushed in, furrowed his brows, and whispered into Du Ziyu's ear: "I think we should call the police? Since killing someone when mentally ill isn't illegal…………"
"Forget it, I think you should drop the act. Let's go directly to the police station for an investigation. Whether your things were stolen or hidden, figure it out with the police!" Shi Lai turned his face, grabbed the man, and tried to pull him up, but was instantly shook off. He (ML) had a look that told strangers to stay away. Du Ziyu looked at his hand on the shoulder of the man and questioningly wrinkled his brows.
Why is it that…no one could touch this person except himself?
There was a strange feeling in his heart. Before he had time to figure it out, his wrist was grabbed by the man. Du Ziyu lowered his head. The man's pitch black eyes stared fixedly at him, making his heart feel flustered.
"Really, ate it." The man's words did not change. One hand held him and one hand raised the stomach tube towards the doctor. It seemed like he would not move again.
"Really…You better cooperate!" The doctor was very reluctant but he stood up to help him intubate. Du Ziyu let the man continue holding him. His line of sight fell upon the display. The meter long tube slowly descended into the man's stomach. With a move from the doctor, the image appeared on the screen. Not before long, the doctor stopped, pointing to a white ring on the screen: "Is this the ring you're speaking of?" He made a sound in surprise: "Why is there a little black spot on this side?"
"It can't be the earring….." Du Ziyu mumbled. The scene of the man sucking his earlobe suddenly appeared in his mind. He thought it was unimaginable.
If he had swallowed the ring because he stole it and had nowhere to hide it, why would he swallow his worthless obsidian stud earring?
If he really wanted to make a profit, why would he also deliver himself to him?
Du Ziyu scrutinized the man who was obediently sitting while holding his wrist. His heart surged up and down. It can't be that he really had mental problems? Is it mental illness, or stupidity? Then who sent this guy to him?
"If the patient's stomach really has a ring and earrings, we must get it out quickly. Otherwise, it will cause inflammation." The doctor had already pulled out the stomach tube at this point. Like flying dragons and dancing phoenixes3, he wrote a bill: "Shi Lai, right? Hurry up and start the hospitalization procedure!"
"Start, my ass! He doesn't even have an ID card….." Shi Lai whispered into Du Ziyu's ear. The latter took the bill and pulled the man out of the examination room. Shi Lai took out his phone and was ready to call the police.
"Wait a minute!" Du Ziyu called to him while absorbed in thought.
"What are you waiting for, ancestor4?" Shi Lai rolled his eyes and pointed at the man: "This is a Three-No's Product5! Or maybe smuggled goods! You're carelessly taking him around; aren't you afraid of border security investigating you?! Besides…Didn't you find your things? You don't have a passport or ID card; which hospital would be willing to do the surgery! Are you crazy?!"
"You're not crazy?" Du Ziyu wrinkled his brows. The tone of his voice faltered a bit: "Doesn't my grandfather always say…my family's thumb ring was obtained from tomb robbing… What if it's a real cultural relic? Once you call the police, won't I have to immediately turn it in?"
Shi Lai stared blankly and was dumbfounded: "It can't be….you really believe your grandfather's nonsense? And at the club, who was the one who first shouted to call the police? The one who wants to call the police is you, and the one who doesn't want to call the police is also you…I said you…" Shi Lao's eyes suddenly lit up. He had a look of ridicule and he lowered his voice: "You two are playing a trick!" He laughed oddly: "Did you exchange an oath of eternal love and loyalty with him in Yunnan? He swallowed your family's heirloom because he was hell-bent on tying you down and never letting go! I see….you're not heartbroken because of some thumb ring. You're heartbroken because this boy is reluctant to call the police?"
"I feel wronged from your inappropriate screenplay." Du Ziyu humphed. He took a look at the man beside him and couldn't make up his mind. To tell the truth, the man's origins were unknown, and he really should be sent to the police station. Looking at his uncivilized appearance, it's uncertain what charges he'll get when they arrive at the police station. The main point is that his stomach still has his thumb ring. If he gave him up to the police in one fell swoop, god knows how long it'll take for him to get the ring back.
"I say, Young Master Du, don't give me these crocodile tears. You can give me a clear order of priorities. This man's origin is unknown, and you're sheltering him instead of reporting him. What if he's actually a wanted man? You're not in real trouble?" Jokes aside, Shi Lai stood firmly by his standpoint: "We should hurry up and send him to the police station without delay!"
Du Ziyu looked at the man beside him again and finally nodded his head in compromise.
"That's right! Don't stir up muddy water. Nowadays, there's pitfalls everywhere, waiting for you to fall in…." Shi Lai mumbled as he headed out with Du Ziyu following behind. They had walked to the hospital entrance and had paused momentarily to let some migrant workers moving steel bars pass by. Just then, someone suddenly grabbed Du Ziyu's arm and pulled him backwards. He was unstable and his whole body fell backwards, falling into someone's arms with a muffled sound. Then, with a crash, the two fell to the ground. He had barely recovered from his shock when he saw something flash by like lightning. At the hospital entrance, a piece of foreign glass came flying down at full speed and crashed onto the ground. The crowd was blown away; a woman screamed, a child cried, and someone shouted: "The glass fell on someone! Hurry up and take it away!"
"Ah! Blood!" Du Ziyu came to his senses from the sharp cry. He was about to sit up when he saw Shi Lai rush over and grab him. "Du Ziyu, are you alright? Fuck that scared me to death!" He looked behind him, immediately widened his eyes and dragged Du Ziyu up with his hands and feet. "Fuck! Why is there so much blood? Lean on me, lean on me, lean on me…..Someone help….."
"I'm not….." Du Ziyu smelled the stench of blood and medicine. He had no pain on his body. As soon as he stood up firmly, he turned to see the person who had saved him and had become his meat cushion. In front of his eyes was the man of unknown origin, who was trying to get up from the ground. His whole body was covered with blood. In between the blood stains were shards of broken reagent bottles and glass. Not far behind him was a toppled medicine cart.
The man didn't seem to notice the pain and simply propped up one side of his body to stand up. He stared straight at Du Ziyu and tilted his head with a slightly confused expression. Then he opened his mouth and spoke in a low voice with a trace of temptation: "Du…..Zi…..Yu?"
杀鸡取卵 - Idiom which means doing something for short-term gain at the sacrifice of your long-term profit. "Killing the golden goose". ↩ 油盐不进 - Idiom meaning a stubborn person; one who doesn't listen to others ↩ flying dragons and dancing phoenixes - lively and vigorous calligraphy strokes ↩ 祖宗 - Literally means ancestor. I don't know if this is slang or sarcasm; I can't find any other definitions. I'm guessing he's saying it arrogantly like how you would say "Laozi" ↩ 三无产品 - Products with no production date, no quality certification, and no manufacturer listed on the packaging. They are sketchy, substandard products that don't follow legal requirements. Shi Lai is basically calling ML a sketchy guy of unknown origins. ↩