Chapter 54: Sumptuous
Zhang Chi seemed to be in good spirits. "Teacher, You all came to see me this evening instead of resting. You shouldn't have. Have a seat wherever."
Gu Zhichang sat on the side of the bed and took a good look at Zhang Chi's neck. "I heard you were real lucky. It missed the artery by two millimeters. Whew, I don't know whether to say you were lucky or unlucky."
"Lucky, of course. My attachment to this world is not over yet. King Yama didn't want me." Zhang Chi smiled. His eyes unconsciously drifted to Gu Shi.
Gu Shi had been smiling the whole time, not wanting the other woman to see her emotions.
"You went above and beyond on this assignment," Gu Zhichang said. "Your sketch was not only accurate, and led to an arrest, you really made the veterans in criminal investigations and analysis stand up and take notice. I have to reward you well."
Zhang Chi's eyes flashed. "Oh, what reward?"
Gu Zhichang said happily, "Up to you. I'll get you whatever you want to eat. This time your teacher will act as your little takeout waiter."
"Dad was worried when he learned you were hurt and insisted on coming to see you tonight. This is really special treatment. I'm always the one having to help him run errands." Gu Shi shook her head helplessly.
Zhang Chi grinned. He was so happy to see Gu Shi he didn't know what to do with himself; his joy was bursting to get out.
Gu Zhichang's phone rang. "You two chat, I need to take this call."
The woman stood by the door of the bedroom, smiling kindly and watching them. Gu Shi turned to her. "Auntie, how's his appetite today?"
The woman shook her head fretfully. "He slept most of the time after I got back from the airport. He's only eaten two bowls of congee."
Gu Shi gave Zhang Chi a stern look. "That's no good. You're in the recovery phase. Eating is just as important as resting."
Gu Zhichang hurried in. "Look's like I'm gonna have to go back on my word. There's a new case. I've have to go see about it."
"I don't have to go?" Gu Shi stood up uncertainly.
"Not for now. You can run errands for your old man. We have to keep our word, right?" Gu Zhichang came over to Zhang Chi. "For now don't think about working. Look how pale your face is! Good preparation saves time. Get yourself back in good health so when you come back I can work you like a dog."
Zhang Chi nodded gratefully. He said to the woman, "Aunt, you go on and rest early today. I won't need anything for a while. Please see Teacher out."
"Okay, as you wish. You should listen to what Gu Shi said. Miss, please, get him to eat something. It's no good for him not to eat as weak as he is." She kept on talking as she left, still a bit anxious.
Gu Shi nodded awkwardly and stood to see her dad and the woman out. Once they had left Gu Shi frowned slightly. "You did this on intentionally, am I right? Being so careless?"
Zhang Chi scratched his head. "I got hurt on purpose? No way."
Gu Shi couldn't be bothered explaining herself. But she was too curious not to ask, "If that woman is your aunt, how come you live here all by yourself?"
"She was hired by my parents to manage things here. She's been with me since I was little. She's spent much more time with me than my parents have. She's getting old now and her son is taking his college entrance exams so I don't have her come here often, maybe twice a week at the most. I won't get into too much trouble here by myself. I eat out so as not to bother everyone."
"And your parents?" Gu Shi was surprised. He didn't even have a pet in the house. Living all by oneself seemed too inhumane, and dreary.
Zhang Chi said flatly, "They live in Canada. Their business is there. They come back once or twice a year, if that. I'm used to it."
Gu Shi had never heard him talk about his family. Now seeing how empty it was here she guessed that even though something major like his injury had happened, he still didn't want to talk about his parents.
It made her think back to when she was a child, and how she would always cry in the dark when her parents were informed of a new case. They always thought she was sleeping.
Zhang Chi was like her. He would rather be strong on his own than be coddled and weakened. She couldn't help but sympathize with him and her hard expression began to soften.
"How are you feeling now?" Gu Shi asked him, sitting in a chair by the window.
Zhang Chi heard his aunt close the door downstairs. He looked straight into Gu Shi's eyes. This girl had not been able to hide her concern since the moment she walked in and was now asking him one thing after another. If he had known that getting hurt would give her the courage to confront her real feelings then he would have bled a lot earlier.
She began to feel a bit uncomfortable under his gaze. Her face felt hot, but she stared back at him, not to be outdone.
He wanted to pull her into his arms when he saw how embarrassed she looked. It was a rare chance to get close to her, if her weren't afraid of scaring her off.
Gu Shi noticed how easily he seemed to see through her and her heart jumped. She didn't know what he was about to say to make her blush like this.
She really wanted to get up and leave before he said anything.
But it was too late. Because he faced her said two words one by one.
Two clear, distinct words.
"I'm hungry."
She breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but laugh. "If you're hungry be hungry. It's very late, the supermarket is probably closed. I'll go see if there's anything in the kitchen. We'll see how lucky you are."
"I'll go with you." He threw off his quilt.
"No no, I can find my way." She turned her back and made to leave.
"I'm not that weak, plus I've been laying here all day. My bones are all stiff."
Gu Shi didn't insist, but followed him down the stairs. He was wearing a silk men's nightgown, his muscular build faintly outlined under the loose fabric. In the kitchen he sat down on a high stool at the bar and smiled as he watched Gu Shi busy herself.
"I must be dreaming to have a pretty girl make me a snack late at night. Do I have a fever?" He smiled.
"Aside from me it shouldn't be so hard to find another pretty girl. That He Meng would be the first to help you."
Zhang Chi's smile deepened. So she understood. She was not completely unaffected by his charm.
"You don't get it. Sometimes it depends on the person. The differences between pretty girls can be vast."
"Yes, you've had a lot of experience, so of course you understand." She could help but mock him.
It was better to quit while he was ahead and not try to explain. But he clearly noticed her annoyance and felt a burst of joy and he relaxed and admired her art of cooking.
From the fridge she took out pork liver, green onions, and an egg, and she pick and chose some ingredients from the cupboard and prepared to make him some handmade noodles. She skillfully cleaned and marinated the pork liver. Once the flavor had soaked in she stir frying the onions in oil and poached the egg. The room was filled with the aroma of food, the pot on the range boiling, but she worked unhurried. In less than ten minutes a bowl of steaming pork liver and green onion noodles and seaweed with dried shrimp soup was ready, a meat and vegetable dish paired together nicely.
He relished the noodles and the soup. He heard Gu Shid say, "This will replenish the blood and calcium. Be careful from now on and don't do such dangerous things again." Watching her tidy up off to the side, not so capable and experienced as usual, wearing an apron, she looked like a graceful young housewife, going on and on, nagging him as she worked.
It was a great meal, better than any exotic delicacies he had eaten before. He finished the soup and wiped his mouth. "It would be really great to be able to eat your food all the time."
She was about to say "You wish!" when she suddenly realized what his words meant.
She didn't have a good response for that. Or more precisely, she had never really thought about that kind of question. So she just grabbed a spoon and cleared her throat and said, "Do you want another poached egg?"
Chapter 55: Secrets
He never would have imagined that he would get such special treatment. He finished his meal, perfectly content, and his energy returned to him.
Gu Shi washed the dishes and eyed the smiling Zhang Chi. "You ate so fast, did you even taste it?" There was no trace of reproach in her voice.
Zhang Chi nodded and sighed. "I never knew you were such a good cook. That was better than most noodle shops."
"When Dad used to work overtime I had to cook for myself. Then I grew up and Dad got older and his stomach started acting up, so I had to pay attention to what I made, so I became a good cook."
"How come you suddenly left the special investigations case that day?" Zhang Chi asked suddenly.
Gu Shi paused washing the dishes. "What other reason could I have, unless it was work or exercise." Her eyes glittered as she looked at him.
He got up and came over to her from behind, pretending to go over to get a glass. He could smell the scent of her herbal shampoo in her hair.
She awkwardly made way, but he was still smothering her. He looked up and looked at her close up. Her face was a bit flushed.
"Seems there are some things you never tell anyone."
"Everyone should have a few secrets, there own personal space. Right?"
"Even with parents and friends?"
"If you have some unhappy memories, will you tell your friends all about it?"
"Men and women are different. When something happens, men like to be alone to release stress, but women have to talk about it to relieve the burden." He tilted his head back and downed a few drinks of water, his gulping throat and warm arm just inches from her. "You shouldn't demand so much of yourself."
"You forget that women are not all alike. I don't like window shopping, or gossiping. You can classify me completely as a guy." She shrugged indifferently and continued washing the dishes. But her heart was still pounding. This was the first time in a long time she had avoided a man's touch like an electric shock.
"If I tell you my story will you share me yours? At least a little bit?" He moved back and to the fridge, watching her with clear eyes.
Gu Shi hesitated as scene after humiliating scene flashed before her eyes. She shook her head firmly.
"Either way, I'm willing to share mine." He clearly didn't mind her reaction. He noticed in that moment her expression: helpless, pained, lonely, like she had fallen into a terrible black hole with nothing nearby to grab onto.
He had a faint feeling of something, but he wasn't sure if what he was thinking was really true or not. In any case, he didn't want to force her.
Gu Shi was a good listener. She sat quietly on the sofa as she listened to his story. Zhang Chi hadn't expected to reveal so much about himself to her, from his favorite pinball game when he was a kid to being captain of the basketball team in junior high, from changing goals to staying within the country for university to his fight with his parents over his desire to enroll in the police academy. He knew full well to refrain from talking about his romantic exploits, that that was best kept a mystery, but he couldn't help from inviting her to become a part of his life.
Several days later, the special investigations case wrapped up and a burglary case opened. Zhang Chi asked Gu Shi out to eat to celebrate, but she politely declined. She said he had to "go for a swim and wouldn't have enough time".
Zhang Chi went to the restaurant all by his lonesome and let Instructor Fan treat him to that meal he had promised him. When their conversation reached here, Instructor Fan laughed wantonly and teased him. "You're definitely a skirt chaser. Who would have guessed you were defeated by a woman this time. Where did you learn your social skills?"
Zhang Chi was not hard pressed. He laughed and drank his beer. He ate as he mocked himself. "Technique, strategy, everything I know is the product of reasoning. When you really meet someone you like, all that goes out the window and magically leaves you."
"Gu Shi is a good woman. I've known her many years. No one has ever gotten close to her. We'll see if you can catch her. What's her father have to say about it?" He laughed.
Zhang Chi didn't know Gu Zhichang's attitude toward i, or if he had seen through Zhang Chi's heart. But as he got to thinking about it he realized many of the opportunities he'd had alone with had been created by her father. Wittingly or not, it at least showed her father was not against it.
The next morning, Zhang Chi was sitting in the office, thinking about Instructor Fan's warning and finding it quite reasonable. He might as well get up and go to Gu Zhichang's office and wipe the desk, sweep the floor and bring him some high-quality tea leaves. But Gu Zhichang had not yet arrived by the time he finished.
Zhang Chi checked in another office and someone told him. "You're early. Do you not know your teacher? At 7:30 he'll be in the cafeteria."
As he was thinking about this he got a call from Gu Zhichang. He sounded a little out of breath. "Little Zhang, get down here quick. I'm at the underground train platform at the bureau entrance."
Zhang Chi tried to ask," What's…"
But Gu Zhichang cut him off. "Call 120 and then you get over here quick too. Make it fast."
His voice seemed distant and unfamiliar. He was usually calm and collected, speaking in an even tone. Never flustered and panicked like this.
Zhang Chi wanted to see Gu Shi first before he left to get an idea what might have happened. But no one had seen her. She must have left to tend to a case bright and early.
He didn't think about it anymore, but went back to his office and did what Gu Zhichang had told him and dialed 120. Then he went and got a first-aid kit and sprinted to the train station.
He didn't have to look for his teacher. As soon as he got to the station he saw him half-squatting on the ground, his face pale. He looked to be holding someone. He ran over and saw the person lying on the ground was Gu Shi!
Her eyes were slightly closed, blood staining her clothes around her stomach as blood still poured out, her clothes sticking to her body. Gu Zhichang had his hand pressed to her wound and he had her propped up on his legs. His other hand kept tapping her face every few seconds so she wouldn't fall asleep, doing his best to keep her awake, but it was no use.
"Teacher, I'm here!" Zhang Chi called lightly. Gu Shi seemed to be sleeping.
Gu Zhichang looked up. His eyes were bloodshot as he looked for the ambulance.
Zhang Chi didn't have time to ask what happened. He made the crowd of people move back and then knelt on the ground and opened his medical kit and got out a tourniquet. "Teacher, it'll be two or three minutes before the ambulance arrives. The important thing now is to stop the bleeding."
Gu Zhichang suddenly seemed much older and seemed to be completely in a daze at that moment. He nodded weakly and let Zhang Chi do it. Zhang Chi took Gu Shi lightly in his arms and laid her down on the ground.
Chapter 56: Man-made Disaster
Zhang Chi looked at him in encouragement. "Don't worry, Teacher, I'm here. She'll be fine."
Gu Zhichang nodded, weeping.
He sat cross-legged and swiftly bandaged her simply, putting the skills he learned at the academy to use in this life and death situation. He heard the ambulance siren as he finished up. He helped the paramedics get Gu Shi onto the stretcher. Her slim figure seemed to have lost the weight of her soul and become unusually heavy.
Zhang Chi wiped the blood from his hands and made a quick call, then told the driver, "Take her to Fenyang Hospital."
Gu Zhichang staggered up into the ambulance and stared at his daughter blankly, holding her hand tightly, not willing to let go.
Zhang Chi consoled him. "Teacher, let the paramedics examine her. She'll be fine as long as there's no internal bleeding or arterial damage. Fenyang Hospital has the best emergency surgical center close by. I called a classmate and had him prepare for her arrival. The head of their surgical department will be in charge of her operation."
Gu Zhichang nodded and let go of her hand and the paramedics surrounded her and began their checks. Tears streaming down his face, he mumbled, "She's my only daughter."
"How was this girl wounded?" the paramedic said as he administered first aid.
Gu Shi, on the stretcher, didn't hear anyone. Her face looked calm and relaxed. If she were not biting her lip one would not be able to tell she was in pain.
"I'm not sure. She called my number but passed out before she could say anything." He wiped his tears. "A cop at the station said she was helping pursue a thief when a gang member came out of the crowd and ran toward her, but she didn't notice because she was focused on the person she was chasing, and she was stabbed unawares."
"Are you all police officers?" another paramedic asked as he worked. He sized them up and pointed to their police uniforms.
"Such a pretty girl doing such dangerous work…" Several of them shook their heads, feeling sorry for her.
The two of them looked unhappy, but didn't say anything. At that moment it seemed a police uniform was an object of ridicule, always protecting total strangers, yet now not even able to save the person closest to you.
Zhang Chi was the first out of the ambulance. He carefully received the stretcher and set his end down lightly on the ground. His old classmate was waiting for him at the hospital entrance. He hurried over to help push the hospital bed when he saw the situation as he called to the nurses to assist. Gu Shi was quickly carted into surgery.
Zhang Chi and Gu Zhichang waited in the corridor, the latter holding his head in his hands, blaming himself. "Isn't this an old man's usual routine? I got up early. If I had known something like this would happen on the way to work I would have waited for her and went with her."
Zhang Chi pulled back his arm and patted him on the back. "Let the doctors take care of her. You shouldn't blame yourself. No one could have predicted something like this would happen."
"It's my fault. Since she was a kid I raised her like a boy, taught her to run faster than others, always the first to step in and help someone in trouble."
Gu Zhichang was talking about how Gu Shi had been a sprinter in junior high, the top of her class. If it had not been for an injuury sustained in a match she might have gone on to represent China in the Olympics and would not have thought about enrolling in the police academy, and she would not have met him. Zhang Chi rejoiced quietly as he thought of that.
Zhang Chi handed Gu Zhichang a cigarette, but the latter shook his head wearily. So he had to go out to the little garden outside and smoke by himself. Gu Shi had always looked on in disgust when she saw someone smoking, but he couldn't help it now. He needed a smoke to calm his nerves.
Gu Shi's pale face and spilled blood pained him, and his teacher's unabashed and unable to conceal frailty pained him as well. He called a classmate of his at the train station police and confirmed that the person who stabbed her had been caught and was in the middle of interrogation. He waved his fist in the air and finally felt a little better.
He went back inside. All he could do was accompany this father-daughter pair who depended on each other for survival. Gu Zhichang had his head down, looking at his phone. Looking at a childhood picture of Gu Shi, a family photo of the whole family, all three of them.
"Teacher, her mother would be proud to see how outstanding her daughter has become." Zhang Chi got closer and examined the photo. The little face of Gu Shi was had not changed that much to now, just a bit more mature, a bit more stubborn and aloof. The only difference was the Gu Shi in the photo was smiling sweetly, cozying up close to her mother's shoulder.
Gu Zhichang shook his head slowly. "My wife would not have been pleased to know her daughter had become a cop. She would have been the first to object."
"Then why did Gu Shi want to enroll in the academy?"
"In the beginning, it was because her mother had passed away. She was always in a bad mood, and I always had to work overtime, leaving her home alone. Whenever anyone asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up she would say whatever it is, it won't be a police officer. Then later she began crying every night. Cried for a whole week. Then suddenly said to me, one day I will definitely become a police officer."
"Why? There is a reason for everything."
"I don't know if it's because she missed her mother or because she had been affected by my overtime. Even now I couldn't say for sure. Either way, from then on she became more introverted, more reticent. I neglected my duty as a father. My mind was preoccupied with nothing but the cases. The child would not tell me what was on her mind. Ah." He kept looking up at the surgery room door.
"Teacher, a single man raising a girl on his own is not an easy feat.
"Who said it was. But after becoming a parent I always felt it wasn't enough. I really let my child down."
"Don't think too much about it. No matter how parents raise their kids they always rebel in adolescence and don't want to talk. Don't keep blaming yourself." Zhang Chi handed him a tissue.
The red light outside the surgery room was still lit. They held their breaths and kept on waiting.