Chapter 78 Accident
Tan Zaozao, who came to visit Ruan Nanzhu, expressed her warm condolences to him, even though Ruan Nanzhu ignored her the whole time.
"How was your fourth door?" Lin Qiushi, who was sitting next to her with nothing to do, asked her casually.
"The fourth door?" Tan Zaozao scratched her head, "It's okay..." She seemed unwilling to talk more about the world inside the door and quickly avoided the topic.
Seeing this, Lin Qiushi did not continue to ask questions.
The television mounted on the hospital wall occasionally played a perfume commercial featuring Tan Zaozao. On the big screen, she appeared dignified and aloof, imperious. Lin Qiushi glanced at the commercial, then at her, huddled beside Ruan Nanzhu, deep in her mango, her face covered in yellow fruit pulp. He fell into a delicate silence.
Tan Zaozao had obviously guessed what Lin Qiushi was thinking from his expression and angrily said, "Don't look at it, it's all fake!"
Lin Qiushi: "Hmm..."
Tan Zaozao looked at Lin Qiushi and asked maliciously, "Do you have a favorite celebrity?"
Lin Qiushi said frankly, "No." He doesn't chase stars.
Tan Zaozao said regretfully, "That's a shame! Maybe I could even get you an autograph." And maybe I could even reveal some gossip that would ruin your outlook...
As they were chatting, a breaking news broke on TV, saying that a celebrity had suddenly been involved in a car accident on the way to a concert and died on the spot. The TV then broadcast a tragic scene of the accident.
Tan Zaozao, who was still chewing a mango, looked bewildered for a moment. She said, "He..."
Ruan Nanzhu, who was lying on the bed, whispered, "Do you know him?"
Tan Zaozao nodded.
She put down the mango in her hand and whispered, "This person seems to be someone who came in as well. We've filmed a commercial together, but we're not close friends..."
Lin Qiushi looked at Tan Zaozao, and her mood was obviously depressed.
"He had some accidents later," Tan Zaozao said. "During a concert, the overhead lights fell down, but he only suffered minor injuries. After that, there were some other accidents." She said slowly, "I was a little suspicious at the time..."
"Could it just be an accident?" Lin Qiushi frowned. "It doesn't necessarily have to be the door..."
"It should be the door." Tan Zaozao sighed, his mood becoming noticeably depressed. "I'm leaving first. You guys should take care of yourselves."
Lin Qiushi looked at her and didn't know how to persuade her, so he could only let her leave in a hurry.
When Tan Zaozao left, Ruan Nanzhu remained calm. Lin Qiushi asked, "Is she okay?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "It's okay, I think it will be fine in a couple of days."
Lin Qiushi thought that Tan Zaozao had always been quite optimistic, but he didn't expect her mood to suddenly collapse... Although she left here in a hurry before the collapse.
Facing Lin Qiushi's bewilderment, Ruan Nanzhu revealed a hint of helplessness. He said, "Have you ever liked anyone in particular?"
Lin Qiushi thought about it carefully, then shook his head slowly but firmly. "No," he said. "My family relationships are weak, and I don't remember... there really isn't anyone I particularly like."
From childhood to adulthood, he has had very few friends around him. It was for this reason that he left his original city without any regrets and came here to work.
"There will always be girls who like you." Ruan Nanzhu said with certainty, "Hasn't anyone confessed their love to you before?" He didn't believe that someone with Lin Qiushi's personality and looks would be unpopular with girls.
"I have been confessed to before, but I rejected them all," Lin Qiushi replied.
Ruan Nanzhu: "Why did you refuse?"
Lin Qiushi: "Because I can't give them what they want."
Ruan Nanzhu frowned: "How do you know you can't?"
Lin Qiushi was quiet for a moment, then said softly, "I don't like them."
Ruan Nanzhu laughed dumbly and said, "You are quite sober."
Lin Qiushi smiled and said, "We can't delay them. They are all good girls."
Lin Qiushi was indeed a warm-hearted person. Whenever he encountered someone in need, he would always do his best to lend a helping hand. However, his kindness wasn't limitless. To put it bluntly, he never overextended himself. He had a full understanding of his own abilities and wouldn't ask others to do anything beyond their capabilities.
A kind, intelligent and situation-aware person is always attractive.
Ruan Nanzhu slowly closed his eyes, but there was more than just that about Lin Qiushi that attracted him.
Seeing Ruan Nanzhu's eyes closed, Lin Qiushi assumed he was tired. He stood up from beside Ruan Nanzhu and tiptoed out of the ward. As he left, he saw Cheng Qianli returning with washed lychees.
"Why did you come out?" Cheng Qianli asked.
"Don't go in," Lin Qiushi said. "He's resting now, and Zaozao's gone too."
Cheng Qianli: "Oh, what about the lychees?"
Lin Qiushi took a look and said, "Leave it there. Bring it in when he wakes up. Or you can eat it yourself."
Cheng Qianli: "I'd rather not eat it. Brother Ruan seems to like lychees very much."
Hearing this, Lin Qiushi suddenly became curious: "What else does he like besides lychees?" He and Ruan Nanzhu have been living together for some time, but he is not very clear about his preferences.
Cheng Qianli said, "Things you like? I like quite a lot." He looked at Lizhi, then at Lin Qiushi, "I seem to like you too."
Lin Qiushi: "Doesn't he like you?"
Cheng Qianli smiled innocently: "Hehehe, that's right, I'm so cute."
Lin Qiushi thought to himself, you are so shameless.
During Ruan Nanzhu's recuperation, many people from other organizations came to visit him. They said they were visiting, but in reality, they were more interested in gathering information. After all, it was rare to see a leader like Ruan Nanzhu who had passed through the Ten Gates.
Li Dongyuan from Bai Lu also came shamelessly. Although Ruan Nanzhu agreed to let him enter the ward, he didn't look at him well the whole time.
Lin Qiushi sat next to him and peeled lychees for Ruan Nanzhu. Ruan Nanzhu opened his mouth slightly and took the soft, milky white flesh into his pale lips. After chewing it carefully, he opened his mouth again. Lin Qiushi handed him the fruit plate and used his tongue to push out the black core.
The whole process of eating was surprisingly elegant. Looking at Ruan Nanzhu's appearance, Lin Qiushi suddenly understood what Tan Zaozao meant when she said that beautiful women should eat lychees.
Li Dongyuan sat beside him, with a friendly smile on his baby face, completely different from the one inside the door. He said, "Nanzhu..."
Ruan Nanzhu glared at him sideways.
Li Dongyuan had no choice but to change the subject: "Brother Ruan, Brother Ruan, are you okay?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "Okay, didn't you see it? If you have something to say, just say it."
Li Dongyuan turned and glanced at Lin Qiushi.
Ruan Nanzhu knew what he meant and narrowed his eyes: "No need to avoid him."
Li Dongyuan said, "I'm about to pass the ninth door, which is the one..."
Ruan Nanzhu: "No, get lost."
Li Dongyuan: “…”
Lin Qiushi wanted to laugh after hearing this, but felt that laughing was inappropriate, so he lowered his eyes and pretended that he was peeling lychees seriously.
"Don't be so mean," Li Dongyuan said, aggrieved. "I haven't even gotten to the point of arguing with you about pretending Zhu Meng was in love with me." His eyes were watery, and looking at him, Lin Qiushi was inexplicably reminded of Cheng Qianli's corgi...
However, Ruan Nanzhu was as hard as iron and remained unmoved. He didn't even show any surprise when Li Dongyuan revealed his identity: "Stop talking nonsense and get down to business."
Li Dongyuan said: "Didn't I hear that you still have a clue to the ninth door..."
Ruan Nanzhu smiled faintly: "I heard?"
Li Dongyuan: "Fuck, I really heard it, they are spreading it."
As they chatted at this point, Lin Qiushi suddenly remembered that Ruan Nanzhu had already passed through the tenth door. Couldn't that mean he had already gotten a clue to the eleventh door? He also wondered what the clue to the eleventh door would look like, and whether it had any special features compared to the other doors.
"So?" Ruan Nanzhu looked at him.
"So, can you sell the clue to me?" Li Dongyuan finally told the purpose of his coming here today.
Ruan Nanzhu refused without hesitation: "Impossible."
Li Dongyuan: "You can offer any price, as long as I can afford it--" The clue to the ninth door was too rare, even he didn't get it.
Only the madman Ruan Nanzhu can get two.
Ruan Nanzhu ate a lychee that was fed to him without responding.
Seeing Ruan Nanzhu's attitude, Li Dongyuan seemed a little anxious. He said, "My deadline for admission is thirteen days from now. I don't have that much time."
Ruan Nanzhu: "Aren't you very happy about stealing my business? And you even accused me of using my beauty to please others." He laughed, but his eyes were cold. "Now you know to beg me?"
Li Dongyuan laughed awkwardly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, otherwise I'll sleep with you for one night and you'll be magnanimous enough to forget about this?"
Ruan Nanzhu pointed at the door and said, "Get lost."
Li Dongyuan showed an aggrieved expression.
Lin Qiushi thought to himself that you are going a bit too far. Not only do you want to get clues, but you also want to take advantage of our boss. It’s not unfair that you were told to get out.
"It's not impossible for me to give you the clue to the ninth door," Ruan Nanzhu said, "but I have a condition."
Li Dongyuan: "What conditions?"
Ruan Nanzhu: "You have to accompany him into the tenth door."
Li Dongyuan was stunned when he heard this and looked at Lin Qiushi: "You can't be..."
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Yes."
Li Dongyuan's expression changed drastically: "Are you crazy?!"
Ruan Nanzhu was already impatient: "Either agree or get out, don't waste my time here."
Li Dongyuan's expression shifted between gloom and brightness, but he finally gritted his teeth and agreed, following Lin Qiushi into the tenth door. But judging by his expression, it seemed as if he had something else to say, but he held it back due to Lin Qiushi's presence.
Lin Qiushi stood up at the right time and said that he wanted to wash his hands.
Ruan Nanzhu didn't stop him this time.
As a result, when Lin Qiushi came back from the bathroom after washing his hands, he heard Ruan Nanzhu arguing with Li Dongyuan. Li Dongyuan was no match for Ruan Nanzhu. In the end, he was so angry that he slammed the door and walked out. When he saw Lin Qiushi, he glared at him.
Lin Qiushi was bewildered by his glare. Li Dongyuan said, "Be careful. Zhu Meng's weapon is definitely bigger than yours!"
Lin Qiushi: "..." I already know that he is older than me, no need for you to remind me, thank you.
He entered the room and saw Ruan Nanzhu sitting on the bed with an expressionless face, so he asked, "What's the quarrel?"
Ruan Nanzhu said, "Someone insists on telling me what to do." He said disdainfully, "Does he deserve it?"
Lin Qiushi: "You're still sick, don't be angry." He asked gently, "What would you like to eat tonight?"
Ruan Nanzhu leaned against the bed and said, "Have some porridge. It's the porridge you made."
Li Dongyuan left in anger, but Lin Qiushi didn't take it to heart. He thought there would be many more stories between Li Dongyuan and them, whether good or bad. However, Lin Qiushi didn't expect that that day would be the last time he and Li Dongyuan saw each other.
Thirteen days later, on the morning of his discharge from the hospital, Ruan Nanzhu received a call. At the time, everyone in the villa was having breakfast together. After he hung up the phone, his expression froze for a moment, and then he whispered, "Li Dongyuan is dead."
The people who were still talking suddenly fell silent, and everyone heard what Ruan Nanzhu said.
Cheng Qianli stopped chewing his bun. He uttered an "ah," and asked what everyone wanted to know: "Brother Ruan, what are you talking about... Li Dongyuan, is that the Li Dongyuan from Bai Lu?"
Ruan Nanzhu hummed and stood up: "I'm going over there."
Lin Qiushi said, "I'll stay with you." Although Ruan Nanzhu had been discharged from the hospital, he hadn't fully recovered yet, and his face looked a bit pale. He was worried that if Ruan Nanzhu encountered something outside, his body would not be able to bear it.
"Okay." Ruan Nanzhu agreed to let Lin Qiushi follow him.
Lin Qiushi quickly changed his clothes and got into the car with Ruan Nanzhu.
After Ruan Nanzhu named a location, he settled into the passenger seat and closed his eyes. His face was pale, accentuated by his long, crow-like eyelashes, which trembled slightly, adding a touch of fragility. But this fragility seemed to be just Lin Qiushi's illusion.
Was Ruan Nanzhu sad? No, Lin Qiushi felt he exuded more of a kind of grief, a kind of sorrow that comes from the loss of a rabbit. Ruan Nanzhu hated Li Dongyuan, but he didn't want him to die like this. Seeing Li Dongyuan's fate would inevitably remind them of themselves.
Lin Qiushi recalled the last time he saw Li Dongyuan more than ten days ago. He let out a long breath, as if to expel the air that was pressing on his chest.
After a forty-minute drive, they arrived at an apartment in the city.
Lin Qiushi thought Bai Lu lived in a house in the apartment, but when he arrived he found out that the entire apartment was bought by Bai Lu.
At this moment, quite a few people gathered below the apartment building, and Lin Qiushi had a bad feeling. Sure enough, after parking his car, he leaned closer to the throng and saw something they were surrounding in the center.
It was a body that had been smashed to pieces. Its appearance could no longer be seen, but from the clothes and the features of the body, it could be identified that the person who had fallen to death was Li Dongyuan.
It wasn't the first time Lin Qiushi had seen a dead person in real life, but it was the first time he'd seen someone familiar die like this. He tilted his head and glanced at Ruan Nanzhu, seeing that he still maintained a calm expression. Only his black eyes were shimmering, like a disturbed deep lake.
A woman's cry was heard, and a teenage girl rushed out from the crowd. She knelt beside Li Dongyuan's body and cried loudly, and wanted to reach out and hold Li Dongyuan's broken body in her arms.
The people around stopped the girl and forcibly pulled her away from Li Dongyuan's body.
Lin Qiushi looked around and found that some people were whispering, while others had sad expressions and numb eyes. They must be members of Bailu.
A beautiful woman walked up to Ruan Nanzhu and whispered to him, "Hello, Mr. Ruan."
"Hello, Miss Jin." Ruan Nanzhu said.
"You can call me by my name, Jin Yurui." The woman seemed to want to smile at Ruan Nanzhu, but her smile was extremely stiff. She just forced the corners of her mouth to curl up, looking very reluctant. "From now on, I will take over the internal affairs of Bailu."
The implication of her words is that she is the next leader of the White Deer.
"Yeah." Ruan Nanzhu nodded, indicating that he understood. He was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "If you don't want to laugh, don't laugh."
Jin Yurui's smile faded instantly. She took a deep breath, as if trying to control her emotions, and then said in a hoarse voice, "Please come in, Mr. Ruan."
Ruan Nanzhu nodded and walked towards the house, with Lin Qiushi following behind him.
There were six people sitting or standing in the lobby of the apartment. Together with those outside, Bai Lu's entire organization should be around twenty people.
Jin Yurui began to announce what Li Dongyuan had prepared before his death. The whole process was very quiet.
Yet, within this silence, Lin Qiushi sensed an undercurrent. Some in the crowd seemed dissatisfied with Jin Yurui's selection as the successor, but their gazes were fixed on Ruan Nanzhu—they were actually wary of Ruan Nanzhu, an outsider.
Lin Qiushi finally understood the reason why Ruan Nanzhu came here. He actually came here to save Li Dongyuan's place for the last time.
Jin Yurui became the next leader of the White Deer. She had just passed the eighth gate and it would take some time before the ninth gate.
But obviously, she couldn't convince the Bailu people like Li Dongyuan did.
Ruan Nanzhu must have noticed it, but he had no intention of interfering in Bai Lu's affairs. He just sat silently by the side.
Seeing his pale face, Lin Qiushi thought that he might be feeling unwell, so he became a little worried. After thinking for a moment, he took out a candy from his pocket and quietly slipped it to Ruan Nanzhu.
Ruan Nanzhu looked back at him, nodded slightly, peeled off the candy wrapper, and slowly put it into his mouth.
The candy tasted sweet, diluting the uncomfortable feeling. Ruan Nanzhu sat in the hall for a long time until Jin Yurui finished giving instructions.
The people in the hall began to disperse, and finally only the three of them were left.
Jin Yurui raised her head and said with a wry smile, "Thank you, Mr. Ruan. If you hadn't been here, I wouldn't know what to do."
Ruan Nanzhu stood up and said, "I can only help you up to this point. You have to walk the rest of the way by yourself."
Jin Yurui nodded. She was not a fragile dodder. Although she was temporarily shaken when facing the wind and rain, she still had to stand on her own in the storm.
"Then we'll take our leave first." Ruan Nanzhu said.
"Mr. Ruan, won't you stay for dinner?" Jin Yurui asked politely.
"No thanks." Ruan Nanzhu declined Jin Yurui's offer. He said, "I'll come back when he's buried."
Jin Yurui did not force it, nodded, and sent Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi to the door.
Li Dongyuan's body had been cleaned up, and only a pool of dirty blood remained on the ground, telling the world what had happened here.
In a few days, this stain will disappear. With people coming and going in Bailu, perhaps they will soon forget that there was once a leader named Li Dongyuan.
Ruan Nanzhu's face didn't look good all the way here.
On the way back, once he was in the driver's seat, Lin Qiushi realized something was amiss. He asked, "Nanzhu, are your wounds alright?" He could smell a faint scent of blood. Initially, Lin Qiushi had thought it was Li Dongyuan's fault, but now he could still smell it.
"It's okay." Ruan Nanzhu leaned against the car door.
Lin Qiushi didn't believe that he was okay at all. He frowned and said, "Let me see."
Ruan Nanzhu said, "No."
Lin Qiushi was stunned. He didn't expect Ruan Nanzhu to refuse so bluntly.
"Let's talk about it when we get back." Ruan Nanzhu said. After he said this, he slowly closed his eyes, seeming a little tired.
Lin Qiushi was worried and couldn't help but drive faster.
Dozens of minutes later, they returned to the villa, and Ruan Nanzhu finally opened his eyes tiredly. Lin Qiushi quickly helped him into the house. After seeing him lying on the bed, he sat down on the edge of the bed very naturally, and grabbed the corner of Ruan Nanzhu's clothes with his hand.
Ruan Nanzhu raised his eyes and looked at him: "What are you going to do?"
Lin Qiushi said, "I want to see your back..." The wound on Ruan Nanzhu's back was the most serious.
Ruan Nanzhu tilted his head and glanced at Lin Qiushi: "Can you not look at it?"
Lin Qiushi frowned: "No." He felt that Ruan Nanzhu's wound must have split.
Ruan Nanzhu thought for a moment and said, "Then give me a candy."
Lin Qiushi took out a candy from his pocket, peeled it, and stuffed it into Ruan Nanzhu's mouth.
"Let's take a look." Ruan Nanzhu, who had a candy in his mouth, said vaguely, "Actually, there's nothing to see..."
Lin Qiushi lifted up Ruan Nanzhu's clothes and saw that the wound had indeed split open. Blood flowed down his back and was finally absorbed by the clothes.
He frowned: "This won't work. We need to go to the hospital."
Ruan Nanzhu stopped moving and his breathing became even.
Lin Qiushi looked up and sighed, "Why are you pretending to be asleep?"
Ruan Nanzhu still didn't say anything.
Lin Qiushi looked helpless. He could only stand up and fetch some gauze. He helped Ruan Nanzhu to treat the laceration, saying, "You must go to the hospital tomorrow morning."
Ruan Nanzhu hummed vaguely and closed his eyes again. He was indeed a little tired and wanted to have a good rest.
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