Qin Hao, at the tender age of twenty-four, had only suffered heartbreak once in his life.
He was a Hong Kong Chinese born in Thailand. His parents divorced when he was young; his father returned to Hong Kong for work, while he stayed in Thailand with his mother and learned martial arts from an elderly Thai master. When he was sixteen, his mother died, and he went to Hong Kong to seek refuge with his father. But his relationship with his biological father and stepmother was terrible, so he simply ran away from home, drifted onto the streets, and became a gangster. Once, he was tricked into transporting “white powder” and was caught red-handed by Xie Jia Hua. Xie Jia Hua believed his testimony and found evidence proving that he had known nothing about the drugs, saving him from prison. Later, with Xie Jia Hua’s financial support, he fulfilled his dream of entering the police academy and was selected to work undercover. His first undercover assignment was highly successful: despite his youth, he assisted his superiors in dismantling the criminal gang led by “Old Fifth of Temple Street.” His second assignment, however, was a complete failure. Not only was his identity exposed, but he was also manipulated by He Chu San, Xiao Qi Hall’s male Sister-in-law. He credulously accepted false intelligence that He Chu San had anonymously provided, and in the end, for reasons unknown, this very Sister-in-law personally destroyed his own man’s hall. The hall master disappeared, the deputy hall master blew up the villa and killed herself, and Qin Hao became the biggest joke in the whole fiasco.
To make his misery even worse, not long after the mission failed, his senior Xie Jia Hua—the man he secretly loved—handed him the little-brother card: “A’Hao, you are the younger brother I cherish most. That will never change.”
He was heartbroken, but there was nothing he could do. That was life. As the old foreign saying went: “Shit_just_happens.”
He was emotionally detached by nature and had believed that, apart from Xie Jia Hua, he would never develop feelings for anyone else. Yet on the very day he received the little-brother card, he lost control after drinking and slept with another masked man who had also been rejected. No—he was the one who got slept with.
The masked man spoke openly and politely, was gentle and considerate in bed, had a good body and strong hips, and was a little clingy and a little adorable. But none of that was any reason for Qin Hao to become interested in him. So the next morning, he regretted everything profoundly. Outwardly icy but inwardly panicking, he abandoned the masked man and fled.
He remembered the slight downturn of the masked man’s lips. He sensed that the man’s interest in him went beyond a one-night stand and that he might have hurt him. Qin Hao felt guilty, but there was nothing he could do. Shit_just_happens. To that pitiful masked man, Qin Hao was probably that pile of Shit.
Not long after he received the little-brother card, the police force issued its internal disciplinary decision. Because Qin Hao had committed serious dereliction of duty during the operation, he was transferred out of the Major Crimes Unit and demoted to an ordinary uniformed police officer in the Hong Kong Island Region. This dealt a blow not only to his professional ambitions, but also widened the distance between him and Xie Jia Hua—not merely emotionally, but physically as well. He was deeply dejected, but there was nothing he could do. Shit_just_happens.
One night soon afterward, he wanted to deliver some information concerning Xiao Qi Hall to Xie Jia Hua. Carrying the documents, he spent an hour traveling by MTR and then bus before finally reaching Xie Jia Hua’s door. Just as he raised his hand to press the doorbell, the door opened from inside. Xie Jia Hua held a bag of rubbish in his left hand, while someone clung to his right arm. As he opened the door, he cursed, “Are you finished yet? Let go! I’m going out to throw away the rubbish!”
“Buy a few condoms while you’re out, Brother Jia Hua. I’m sore…” The other person deliberately dragged out his voice and acted spoiled.
“Don’t call me that!” Xie Jia Hua was nearly hopping with rage.
“Bro…” Qin Hao swallowed the greeting that had just begun to leave his mouth. He also recognized the man pestering his Brother Jia Hua to buy condoms as Investigator Lu Guang Ming from the ICAC, whom he had met before. He had already suspected that those two had slept together.
Qin Hao glanced at Xie Jia Hua’s shirt on Lu Guang Ming’s body, then at the newly purchased slippers on Lu Guang Ming’s feet. His police instincts told him that Lu Guang Ming had not merely slept there—he was living there. He even called him Brother Jia Hua. Qin Hao had once been the only person who addressed him that way.
Calmly, Qin Hao stuffed the documents into the hands of the visibly awkward Xie Jia Hua, nodded in greeting, then turned and left.
Inside the elevator, he silently wiped his face. This time, he could no longer comfort himself with “Shit_just_happens.” Why was he destined to remain the younger brother forever, while someone else was allowed to move into Xie Jia Hua’s heart?
After leaving the elevator, he could not resist going out to drink again. He chose the mask of Quasimodo, who would never obtain love, and sat alone at the bar, drinking while silently shedding tears behind it. The hateful DJ even played Waiting Until My Heart Aches:
Thinking of you brings bitter pain; waiting for you makes my heart ache. The merciless northern wind blows me onward, and all alone, I feel a little cold.
It was simply too heartbreaking.
He was so miserable that he sprawled over the bar and did not want to move. Just then, someone beside him pounded the counter fiercely. Qin Hao instinctively turned to look.
It was the masked man from last time.
They went to a hotel together again that night. The masked man kissed him very gently, and Qin Hao returned the kiss with equal seriousness. The man kissed the tear tracks at the corner of his mouth and said that he wanted to see his face.
While the masked man was showering, Qin Hao genuinely hesitated and seriously considered removing his mask. He thought the masked man was a little adorable—no, very adorable. He remembered their embrace from the previous time. The masked man’s arms had been warm, and they had slept wrapped around each other for the entire night. Qin Hao did not know whether he had begun to feel something, but he wanted another warm night like that.
Then he answered the masked man’s phone and saw his face.
It was Wang Kai Wen. Wang Kai Wen, who had served as his subordinate for a time while Qin Hao was undercover in Xiao Qi Hall, who later became He Chu San’s assistant, and who had contributed an unknown amount to He Chu San’s efforts during that enormous farce which had manipulated Qin Hao.
Shit_just_happens. But wasn’t this far too shitty?
Qin Hao removed his mask and revealed his identity to Wang Kai Wen, then abandoned him and fled once again, not daring to look at Wang Kai Wen’s disappointed and heartbroken expression. After returning to his tiny room in the police dormitory, he sat silently in the darkness for the entire night.
He was furious and disappointed. He did not know whether his grief came more from seeing Xie Jia Hua living with someone else or from discovering that the person who had embraced him throughout the night was Wang Kai Wen. He only knew that nothing between him and Wang Kai Wen was possible. One was a police officer, and the other was a gangster. Impossible meant impossible.
Throughout the night, that damned Waiting Until My Heart Aches lingered endlessly in his mind. He could almost hear Wang Kai Wen’s whimpering sobs—Stop crying! Stop acting spoiled and adorable! Impossible means impossible!
The next morning, he reported for duty with dark circles beneath his eyes, determined to forget both his hopeless love for Xie Jia Hua and the absurd feelings he had accidentally developed for Wang Kai Wen. Especially Wang Kai Wen. He never wanted to see him again.
…
That resolution collapsed far too quickly. Only a few days later, two major incidents occurred in the Hong Kong Island Region, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. As a uniformed police officer, Qin Hao was temporarily assigned to guard an “important person involved” at a hospital. He had barely taken over the shift when the unfamiliar colleague guarding the room with him suddenly drew a knife and attacked.
Qin Hao had practiced martial arts since childhood and excelled in combat at the police academy. During his undercover work, he had fought in underground boxing rings and once taken on ten large men by himself. He had even sparred with Xia Liu Yi, the Blood Asura reputed to be the greatest fighter in the underworld. A mere assassin? Easy. After a brief, vicious struggle, he used the attacker’s own knife to kill him. Speak of the Asura and the Asura appeared—he had barely finished when Xia Liu Yi arrived with a group of men.
Qin Hao and Xia Liu Yi stared at each other in stunned silence for a moment, then drew their guns almost simultaneously.
“You’re trying to kill Kevin?!” Xia Liu Yi roared.
“What Kevin?!” Qin Hao was confused at first, then abruptly astonished. “Kevin is inside?!”
What other Kevin could it be? Naturally, it was Wang Kai Wen, the assistant from Xia Liu Yi’s wife’s household. He was lying in the ward behind Qin Hao, the unfortunate “important person involved” who had sustained severe injuries in the accident and remained unconscious.
Shit_just…
Xia Liu Yi claimed that there was a traitor inside the police force who wanted to kill Wang Kai Wen and silence him, so he intended to take Wang Kai Wen away. Qin Hao’s duty naturally prevented him from allowing that. After the two sides argued for a while, Qin Hao agreed to let Xia Liu Yi take Wang Kai Wen on the condition that he accompany them. Xia Liu Yi stripped him of everything he was carrying and handcuffed him to the side of Wang Kai Wen’s hospital bed. Perhaps the situation truly was urgent, because he surprisingly did not settle accounts with Qin Hao over his undercover work.
Xia Liu Yi later sent men to transport Qin Hao and Wang Kai Wen to a private hospital, placing them inside a concealed ward. Qin Hao continued to fulfill his duties conscientiously and guarded Wang Kai Wen. All the storms raging outside had nothing to do with them, and their days remained tranquil until two days later.
On the morning of the third day, Qin Hao learned about everything that had happened from the television news in the ward: a massive fire, a huge explosion, an extensive murder scene, the ICAC launching a powerful strike only to suffer a complete defeat, Inspector Xie placing justice above family, Xia Liu Yi surrendering and presenting evidence, the fall of the “Old Shopkeeper,” a venomous python who had dominated both the criminal and legitimate worlds for years, and the shocking revelation of his true identity… and so on.
He and the other underlings guarding the room looked at one another.
“Have you received any news from your Boss or Sister-in-law?” he asked them.
The underlings honestly shook their heads. “Boss only told us to protect Kevin here.”
“…”
Qin Hao continued peacefully accompanying the unconscious Wang Kai Wen for two more days before finally confirming the truth: Xia Liu Yi had surrendered, He Chu San and Lu Guang Ming had been hospitalized, and Xie Jia Hua was not only hospitalized but frantically busy assisting with the case and supplying evidence. Everyone had forgotten about Qin Hao and Wang Kai Wen.
Such was the sorrow of supporting characters.
…
On the morning of the fifth day, Xie Jia Hua, who had been busy caring for Lu Guang Ming, finally learned their whereabouts from Xia Liu Yi, who had been busy breaking up with He Chu San. He sent someone to the private hospital to bring Qin Hao and Wang Kai Wen back.
“I’m sorry, A’Hao,” Xie Jia Hua apologized in the hospital corridor. “Xia Liu Yi only remembered to tell me today where he had hidden you and Kevin. I had no idea you had become involved in this as well.”
Qin Hao glanced at the ward behind Xie Jia Hua. “Is he inside?”
“Who? Xia Liu Yi?”
“The one who lives with you.”
“No, he—he doesn’t,” Xie Jia Hua said awkwardly. “We weren’t living together. He was hiding at my home for several days because of the investigation.”
“That means you were living together,” Qin Hao said bluntly.
Xie Jia Hua remained extremely embarrassed, but did not deny it again.
“Brother Jia Hua, have you already decided on him?” Qin Hao continued.
Xie Jia Hua sighed. “As long as he’s willing.”
“Then may I still call you Brother Jia Hua in the future?”
“Of course.” Xie Jia Hua stroked his head and smiled. “I told you—you will always be the younger brother I cherish most.”
Qin Hao smiled. Like Xie Jia Hua, he rarely smiled. “All right. Thank you, Brother Jia Hua. I’ll accept this little-brother card. I wish the two of you happiness.”
Before Xie Jia Hua could ask in confusion what a little-brother card was, Qin Hao turned, waved, and left with what he believed was great composure.
As he passed He Chu San’s ward, he glanced through the glass. Xia Liu Yi remained beside the unconscious He Chu San’s bed, holding his hand.
Qin Hao walked calmly onward and returned to Wang Kai Wen’s ward. Just as he had for the past several days, Wang Kai Wen lay motionless on the bed, peaceful and entirely unaware. Qin Hao remembered Wang Kai Wen telling him that he liked He Chu San. He closed the ward door, sighed, and sat beside the bed.
Yet another scene of two people suffering heartbreak together.
Unable to resist, he stroked Wang Kai Wen’s cold face and sighed. “How did you become so miserable?”
As though responding to his gentle touch, Wang Kai Wen furrowed his brows and murmured painfully in his sleep, “Mom… I don’t want to receive any more cards. If I get any more, I’ll have enough to play a card game… Boohoo…”
Pfft!
Qin Hao tried to swallow the sound, stroked Wang Kai Wen’s miserable face again, and held himself back for quite a while longer. In the end, he still failed. “Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!”
After lying unconscious for several days, Wang Kai Wen was startled awake by his explosive laughter. He opened his eyes amid the haze and stared at Qin Hao blankly. Qin Hao laughed until he began coughing and hurriedly pressed the nurse-call button between coughs.
“You… cough… you’re awake…”