Futile Devices Scans

Late that night, a young nurse came to take He Chu San’s temperature and said his high fever still had not gone down. Not long afterward, she returned with several bags of medication for his IV. He was still unable to eat or drink, so Kevin dipped cotton swabs in water from time to time and used them to moisten his dry lips.

By the following morning, He Chu San was still drifting in and out of consciousness. Suddenly, the bodyguards outside called loudly and respectfully, “Master Qiao! You’re here!” Immediately afterward, the hospital room door was abruptly pushed open from outside with a loud bang.

Master Qiao swaggered into the room with his adviser, his coughing arriving before he did. After hacking like a broken gong for quite some time, he finally called out, “Brother He, are you awake?”

After a while, He Chu San managed to open his eyes. He gave Master Qiao a friendly smile and rasped, “Brother Qiao.”

Master Qiao gave Kevin a look, and Kevin tactfully retreated to the wall. Wearing an expression of great kindness and concern, the Dragon Head personally stepped forward to adjust He Chu San’s hospital bed and help raise him slightly. Then Master Qiao and his adviser sat on either side of the bed and showered him with concern.

He Chu San did not have the strength to say much. He merely nodded weakly and gave them an extremely grateful smile. The unnatural flush from his fever only made his dark, damp eyes and brows stand out more vividly, leaving him handsome, vulnerable, and almost painfully appealing. Master Qiao was a seasoned glutton for every pleasure of the flesh. Even while his broken-gong voice kept rattling away, a thought struck him: No wonder Xia Liu Yi wanted this one. I don’t care for men, but if I did, I’d want to take him home and play with him for a while too.

After expressing plenty of concern for the beautiful patient, Master Qiao cursed Xia Liu Yi and the rest of Xiao Qi Hall at great length. Then he pretended to casually invite He Chu San to become Deputy Hall Master of He Yi Society. He Chu San looked overwhelmed by the honor and declined, saying he lacked both seniority and experience and that simply being allowed to serve as an adviser would already be an enormous blessing. The two went back and forth. Master Qiao coaxed He Chu San into saying a few more words, and He Chu San’s breathing soon grew hurried as pain began throbbing through his wound again.

He fell weakly back against the pillow. Within moments, cold sweat covered his forehead. He apologetically waved to Master Qiao and closed his eyes, breathing through the pain.

Seeing his suffering, Master Qiao immediately displayed tremendous concern. “Brother He! Brother He, are you all right?” Then he glared at his adviser. “Look at your memory! We completely forgot! Hurry up and take out the ‘special painkiller injection’ we brought Brother He!”

The adviser quickly opened a case from his briefcase and removed a syringe and vial. He was just about to draw up the drug when someone suddenly grabbed his wrist. Confused, he looked up at Kevin, who had somehow moved in front of He Chu San.

Kevin’s expression was sincere and perfectly respectful. “Adviser, Consultant He still has a fever and is receiving an IV. The medicines may interact.”

“Interact my ass!” The adviser tried to jerk free and sprayed spit across Kevin’s face. “You’re not a fucking doctor. What the hell do you know?!”

Kevin did not move.

Beside them, Master Qiao’s sharp gaze swept across Kevin’s pale face. As though he had noticed something, his expression turned dark and suspicious.

While they remained deadlocked, He Chu San gathered enough strength to call weakly, “Brother Qiao.”

Master Qiao’s expression changed instantly. He answered with warm benevolence, “Yes, Brother He?”

He Chu San raised his sweat-covered face and struggled to speak. “I’m sorry to waste Brother Qiao’s kindness, but I absolutely cannot touch painkiller injections like that… They dull my brain and interfere with my reasoning and ability to process data… In finance, if I misplace even a single decimal point, it could mean a mistake or loss worth millions, even tens of millions…”

He paused to catch his breath before continuing slowly. “I’ve broken with Xiao Qi Hall. I have nothing left… All I really have now is this brain… If I ruin it, what use will I be to you, Brother Qiao? How will I be able to help ‘that person’?”

Master Qiao’s narrow eyes rolled in their slits, and his face suddenly bloomed into a wrinkled smile. “Brother He, this painkiller is imported from America. It really has no side effects.”

“No need. It’s only a little pain. I can bear it… Thank you, Brother Qiao.”

Master Qiao smiled again and lifted his chin toward his adviser. “Didn’t you hear him? Consultant He doesn’t need it. Put it away, put it away!”

He cast Kevin another dark glance. Kevin lowered his eyes and tactfully returned to the side.

Master Qiao exchanged a few more insincere pleasantries with He Chu San, told him to rest well and recover quickly, then left with his adviser.

…

Kevin escorted Master Qiao and his adviser outside. The moment he stepped into the corridor, Master Qiao swung his cane backward and smashed him against the wall. The hard head of the cane struck Kevin’s brow bone. He covered his eye and looked up in disarray, only to find Master Qiao’s hawklike stare pinning him in place.

Kevin glanced toward the hospital room and explained quietly, “Master Qiao, he has no intention of betraying you. You don’t need to use methods like this.”

“He doesn’t? What about you?”

Kevin looked straight at him with complete sincerity. “I absolutely don’t.”

Master Qiao sneered and tilted his head toward his adviser. The adviser took out the same syringe and handed it to Kevin.

“Prove it,” Master Qiao said with a sneer. “Show me whether you do or not.”

Kevin’s face went white. He remained silent for several seconds, then hardened his heart, took the syringe, and moved to drive it into his own arm.

Master Qiao knocked it out of his hand with one swing of the cane.

“I know you don’t dare. Keep a good eye on him for me, and don’t start developing feelings for him just because you’re around him all day! Don’t forget—you still have a mother.”

…

On the other side of the wall, He Chu San lay with his eyes tightly closed, completely unaware of what had happened in the corridor. Once Master Qiao left the room, he relaxed his mind and quickly fell back into deep sleep.

He had no idea how long he remained lost in darkness before he felt a warm palm gently touch his cold face. The familiar presence in that hand almost brought tears to his eyes. Like a drop of water falling into a still lake, awareness suddenly rippled through him. He opened his eyes and breathed out a soft, sighing sound.

The room was dark, lit only by thin moonlight. Kevin slept on the attendant’s bed nearby, snoring faintly.

He Chu San slowly moved his unfocused eyes. In the moonlight, he saw Xia Liu Yi’s hazy silhouette. Xia Liu Yi stroked his face, leaned over him, and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

“Idiot,” Xia Liu Yi sighed in a voice that sounded almost like crying. “I don’t want anything anymore. I don’t care about anything anymore. Let’s go live abroad together, okay?”

He Chu San’s voice was weak and hoarse. “What about Dad?”

Xia Liu Yi lowered his head and kissed his cheek. “We’ll bring Dad, Mom, and Xin Xin. We’ll buy a big house and all live together. On weekends, we’ll drive to a lake. We’ll build a big wooden cabin in the forest and raise a big dog…”

The scene beside the lake unfolded before He Chu San like a painted scroll: a breeze stirring crystal-clear water, a grove of pale fir trees rustling in the wind, Dad and Mom smiling beside the campfire, Xin Xin laughing and playing with the big dog, and Xia Liu Yi frowning as he clumsily tried to grill skewers of meat…

The corners of He Chu San’s mouth lifted in a weak smile.

“Silly Brother Liu Yi.”

If only it could really be like that.

He kept smiling until tears blurred his vision. Xia Liu Yi’s figure suddenly dissolved, leaving only the night wind gently stirring the curtains.

It had only been a beautiful dream.

…

When He Chu San woke again, daylight filled the room. Kevin was still sitting beside his bed and said happily, “Mr. He, how do you feel? Your fever has finally broken.”

It took He Chu San a moment to return fully to himself. Then he lifted his eyes. On his pale, thinner face, the gaze that had been clouded for days finally regained its light.

He smiled. “Better. You’ve worked hard these past few days.”

“It’s what I should do. Mr. He, while you were asleep these past two days, nobody made any moves. What do we do next?”

He Chu San smiled again and motioned for Kevin to bend down. Then he slowly whispered into his ear, “Find an opportunity to contact Black Chicken. Have him help you get in touch with Brother Xiao Ma…”

…

That afternoon, Kevin took a group of bodyguards to He Chu San’s own data company to remove the computer from the general manager’s office. Xiao Ma, meanwhile, was lying in wait with a group of Xiao Qi Hall fighters. The instant the two sides saw each other, old enemies met with red eyes, and within three seconds the entire place erupted into chaos.

The white-collar office workers screamed, crouching beneath their desks with their hands over their heads. The elevators had been stuffed with rubbish and splashed with foul-smelling dog blood. The narrow stairwells were packed with bodies, and the sounds of violent shoving and fighting echoed everywhere. Xiao Ma and Black Chicken each carried a machete and chased Kevin down the corridor with a tremendous clang-clang-bang, hacking the wooden doors along both sides to pieces as they went.

“Go easy! Don’t cut my people! Hit the one wearing red—that one belongs to Master Qiao!” Kevin panted while pressing the fire alarm, a computer tower clutched in his arms. He was so exhausted he could barely breathe.

“Relax! Huff! We told everyone in advance! They know exactly who to hit! Huff!” Xiao Ma had come to help him stage the fight and had chased him roaring and snarling down eight flights of stairs. He was exhausted too and finally leaned against the wall with his hands braced on his knees, panting heavily.

Black Chicken wiped his sweat and stuck his head toward the window. “That should do it, Boss Xiao Ma. The fire engines and cops are almost here. Should we pull out?”

“Pull out, pull out…” Xiao Ma said in relief.

“Wait.” Kevin hurriedly turned his back toward them. “Give me one cut here. Please go easy.”

“Go easy my ass! If it’s too light, do you think Qiao will believe it? Is the name Ma Ru Long supposed to be all talk?!”

“I still have to go back and look after Mr. He tonight. If you cripple me, who’s going to take care of him?” Kevin argued.

These days, Xiao Ma’s knees went weak at the mere mention of the Boss’s wife. He had become thoroughly terrified of the man who was crazy enough to stab even himself. He reluctantly put away his bared fangs. “Then… Chicken, you’re weaker. You do it!”

He shoved Black Chicken forward with one slap.

Five minutes later, Kevin stumbled into a sedan parked by the roadside, clutching a computer tower with his back drenched in blood. Another bodyguard in red, covered in blood from his wounds, was groaning loudly as his companions stuffed him into the car. The sedan sped away. Behind it, Xiao Ma led Xiao Qi Hall’s gang of villains in a theatrical pursuit, waving their machetes and shouting curses. Police sirens wailed in the distance. As they ran, the gangsters scattered, splitting up and diving into several nondescript vans before vanishing into the urban jungle.

Previous

Main

Next