Chapter 47 I think you've lost your mind in this relationship...
Jiang Luo's hand quickly swelled up. The back of her hand was pinched by the door and the skin was scraped. At first, it was just red, but soon the blood accumulated and turned bluish-purple, swelling up like a steamed bun.
Not only was it swollen, but it was also very painful, and my whole hand felt swollen and hot.
Jiang Luo tried to clench his fist to check if any bones were broken, but he gasped in pain as soon as he put pressure on his hand.
Unable to assess the extent of his injury, he decided to go to the hospital for an X-ray.
Cheng Jiashu called and invited him to dinner.
Jiang Luo continued on the phone and stepped into the elevator. "I have to go to the hospital. You can eat by yourself."
"Hospital? What's wrong? Are you sick?"
"I accidentally hit my hand. I'm going to take a picture."
"Holy crap? Is it serious?"
Jiang Luo looked down at his completely immobile hand and said with a wry smile, "I think it's a bit serious."
"Damn it, which hospital are you going to? I'm coming right away."
"No, I can go by myself."
"Stop talking nonsense with me, hurry up and tell me which hospital it is."
Jiang Luo went to a hospital near the school, and Cheng Jiashu arrived quickly. The two met in the lobby, and Cheng Jiashu was shocked when he saw Jiang Luo's hand: "Holy crap, what happened to you?"
"I accidentally got my foot caught in the door."
"What kind of door is this? It's so badly injured!" Jiang Luo's hand was frighteningly swollen. Cheng Jiashu hadn't expected him to be so badly injured before he arrived.
It was just bad luck. If it had been a regular door, it might not have caused this, but Gu Shiyue's house had a very high-end, heavy entrance door.
The hospital only accepts emergency appointments at night. Jiang Luo made an appointment and went to get an X-ray. There were fewer people at the hospital at night, and he got the X-ray results in no time.
Fortunately, no bones were broken.
The doctor treated his superficial wounds and prescribed him some medicine to reduce swelling and bruising.
It was almost eight o'clock when they left the hospital, and the two of them planned to find a snack shop on the back street of the west gate of the school to eat.
Gu Shiyue will be back the day after tomorrow. Jiang Luo's hands are so swollen they're unsightly. He sat in the car, looking down at his hands, feeling a little worried.
"What's wrong?" Cheng Jiashu turned and glanced at him.
Jiang Luo raised her hand: "Do my hands look scary?"
"Nonsense, it's swollen like that. One braised pig's trotter."
Jiang Luo sighed, her little face scrunched up.
"What's wrong? What's going on? You don't have any comic conventions to attend recently, do you?"
"no……"
Speaking of which, the two of them do have a comic convention to go to in a few days. It's an Only convention, but Cheng Jiashu hasn't heard that Jiang Luo will be participating as a guest. Moreover, given Jiang Luo's current fame and popularity in the industry, it's not certain that he'll be invited to a small-scale Only convention.
As they were talking, Jiang Luo's phone rang; it was Gu Shiyue calling.
"Have you had dinner?" Gu Shiyue had just returned to the hotel and drew the curtains in his room.
Not yet.
"Why haven't you eaten yet?"
"Something came up... I'm going to eat now." Jiang Luo paused, then suddenly asked, "What time is your train the day after tomorrow?"
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
Jiang Luo looked at his injured hand, hesitated for a moment, then lowered his eyes and said, "Senior, I'm going on a long trip tomorrow."
Cheng Jiashu, who was playing a game, turned to look at Jiang Luo upon hearing this, his expression puzzled.
"Where to?" Gu Shiyue asked.
"...I'm going to a comic convention, I won't be back the same day." Jiang Luo glanced out the window a little guiltily.
"How many days will you be gone?"
"Two or three days, I'll call you when I get back."
"good."
Jiang Luo breathed a sigh of relief after making the call.
"What is it?" Cheng Jiashu looked at him, completely bewildered, his mind still reeling. "How did you tell Brother Gu...?"
"I can't let him see my hand..."
Cheng Jiashu realized what he meant and poked his forehead: "What are you thinking? You can't just keep avoiding him forever?"
"No, I wanted to wait until the swelling went down a bit before saying anything." Jiang Luo wasn't trying to hide her injury; she just wanted an excuse to avoid it for a few days.
At least after a few days when the swelling goes down, the visual impact won't be so strong, and it won't look like a serious injury.
"My hand is a bit... terrifying right now." Jiang Luo looked at his braised pig's trotter. "It's just too unpleasant to look at."
Jiang Luo really didn't want Gu Shiyue to see his hands in this terrible state, at least not for the next couple of days. He just imagined how heartbroken he would be if he saw Gu Shiyue's hands injured like this.
Cheng Jiashu could understand Jiang Luo's concerns. Her hand, which was originally quite fair and beautiful, had been caught in the door like this. He was startled when he saw it, let alone Gu Shiyue.
Given Yue Ge's personality... I don't even want to imagine what his reaction would be.
"You guys in love, why do you have so many complicated thoughts in your heads?" Cheng Jiashu clicked his tongue twice. "When you have someone you care about, you really think about a lot of things."
“Absolutely.” Jiang Luo chuckled. “You should know this all too well.”
Cheng Jiashu turned to look at him.
Jiang Luo joked, "I don't know who was drunk that day, crying their eyes out and throwing a tantrum at Lin Yu... You were thinking quite a bit back then too..."
Cheng Jiashu immediately snapped, "Damn it, shut up! Who the hell is throwing a tantrum at him?!"
Jiang Luo smiled and nodded: "Yes, yes, if you say there was no trouble, then there was no trouble."
Jiang Luo's excuse allowed him to successfully avoid Gu Shiyue for a few days.
Jiang Luo didn't cosplay at the Only exhibition on Saturday because of a hand injury. After the exhibition, he had dinner with a group of friends from the community, which was a buffet.
Jiang Luo's hand has gone down in swelling, but it's still not very flexible and she can't make big movements. It still hurts when she exerts force.
Jiang Luo's hand was still bruised. Zou Jing, who was sitting next to him, glanced at his hand and asked, "Jiang Luo, what happened to your hand?"
Jiang Luo smiled and said, "I accidentally got my finger caught in the door a couple of days ago."
"Are you alright? Are your bones okay?"
"No." Jiang Luo shook his head.
"No wonder you weren't cosplaying today. I didn't even notice the injury on your hand."
After Zou Jing mentioned it, everyone at the table knew that Jiang Luo's hand was injured.
The people sitting in this circle are mostly cosplayers with some popularity in the community. Although today's event is just an exclusive one, it's still a big IP event. The person talking to Jiang Luo is Zou Jing, known in the community as "Jing Zhou". He is the oldest in this group, already thirty-six years old. He is a veteran anime fan and a legendary figure in the community.
Jiang Luo went to his book signing when she was in junior high school, and she still has his autographed posters at home.
His mother was still alive then, and he still remembers the way she looked at him from a distance while he was queuing.
Now that Mom is gone, the autographed poster that was kept has long since turned yellow.
Zou Jing hasn't retired from the entertainment industry yet; he just participates in fewer offline events. Jiang Luo only got to know him after he gained some fame within the industry. This Only exhibition is Zou Jing's signature IP, so he's here today too.
Although Zou Jing is considered a veteran in the cosplay circle, he is completely approachable, has a generous personality, and a youthful mindset. He's like a grown-up kid, otherwise he wouldn't be able to hang out with this group of "kids".
Of course, he wasn't the only longtime anime fan sitting here.
Jiang Luo's friends in the industry span a wide age range.
Cheng Jiashu brought over two full plates of food, one of which was for Jiang Luo, and they were all his favorite dishes.
Cheng Jiashu doesn't like buffets, but this one tastes pretty good.
"This service is really excellent," Zou Jing said with a smile.
Cheng Jiashu raised an eyebrow: "That's right."
Jiang Luo injured his right hand, so he couldn't use it properly and had to use his left hand to pick up food. He had been eating with his left hand for the past few days and hadn't gotten used to it. He picked up a grilled chicken wing, but he didn't hold it properly, and the wing fell onto the plate.
Cheng Jiashu was peeling shrimp when he turned and glanced at him.
Jiang Luo was still fighting with that wing root.
"Good heavens, you're going through all this trouble. Do I have to feed you?" Cheng Jiashu said.
"You've got to give up." Jiang Luo chuckled. "I don't want you to feed me."
In the past, Cheng Jiashu would have fed him without a problem, but not now, because he has a boyfriend.
Cheng Jiashu's usually straight-as-steel brain surprisingly bent for a moment, and he reacted quite quickly. He clicked his tongue twice and said, "At least you know how to avoid suspicion."
After dinner, the group planned to play a murder mystery game, but they were worried that it would take too long and end too late.
As they were discussing it, someone suggested going to the arcade.
“Lolo has an injury on his hand, so he can’t play anything at the arcade.”
"Oh yeah, I forgot."
"It's okay, let's go to the arcade." Jiang Luo didn't really want to play murder mystery games; they took too long. He wanted to go back to sleep early. "I can play games that don't require much physical effort."
Someone laughed and said, "Then what else can you play? What video games are you not good at?"
Jiang Luo smiled and said, "Of course there is. If all else fails, I can operate it with one hand."
Today is Xia Yi's birthday, and he invited a group of people to dinner, including Gu Shiyue. It's inevitable to drink some alcohol on a friend's birthday, and although Gu Shiyue doesn't usually drink, he drank quite a bit today because of Xia Yi's encouragement.
Jiang Luo sent over a few photos from the comic convention. Gu Shiyue took a sip of his drink and typed a reply with one hand.
Gu Shiyue's frequent checking of his phone during the meal was not his usual style, and Xiang Qin, who was sitting next to him, had noticed it long ago.
Xiang Qin chuckled: "You're really addicted to your phone today."
Gu Shiyue raised his eyelids slightly but said nothing.
Xiang Qin was perceptive and had long noticed that Gu Shiyue was up to something. Although he never bothered with other people's business, he couldn't help but be curious.
"Junior, you're not just a junior anymore, are you?" Xiang Qin asked meaningfully.
His voice was very low, and only Gu Shiyue could hear it.
Gu Shiyue continued replying to the message, his expression calm: "Mm."
"I knew it." Xiang Qin smiled and took a sip of wine, having seen through everything long ago. "With your cold nature, only Jiang Luo can warm you up."
Xiang Qin, having been through it all, possessed this keen insight; he saw through it early and accepted it quickly.
“You only show some humanity when you’re with him. The rest of the time…” Xiang Qin shook his head with a smile, “You’re practically inhuman.”
Gu Shiyue turned his head and glanced at him.
Xiang Qin and Gu Shiyue had been classmates for four years, so he knew about Gu Shiyue's family situation. Putting aside Gu Shiyue's own personality, growing up in that kind of environment, his sense of distance from outsiders was almost innate.
He can be really cold sometimes; Xiang Qin is afraid he'll catch a cold.
Small solar cells have a lot of energy.
"Finally, someone's thawing it for you," Xiang Qin said with a smile.
Gu Shiyue drank a bit too much today. He doesn't usually drink much, but he drank too much today and his head was a little dizzy, but he was far from being drunk.
On the way back, Gu Shiyue sat in the car with his eyes closed, while Xiang Qin scrolled through his phone next to him.
Gu Shiyue's phone rang; it was his father calling.
It had been half a month since Gu Hong last called, when Gu Shiyue was still at Jiang Luo's house.
Gu Shiyue answered the phone.
"You still know how to answer my call," Gu Hong said coldly on the other end of the phone.
Gu Shiyue didn't answer his father's calls before because he was too lazy to argue with him, and he didn't care at all about his father's attitude towards his relationships with boys.
His father will find out about Jiang Luo's existence sooner or later, and he must take the initiative to tell his father about it.
That's why Gu Shiyue came out of the closet the day Gu Hong called.
Gu Shiyue didn't speak, waiting for his father to speak.
Gu Hong didn't mention his previous coming out, but instead said something else: "Next Sunday is your aunt's birthday, come with me to the banquet."
My fiftieth birthday is celebrated in a grand way, with a banquet.
"I'm not free."
Gu Hong assumed he was making an excuse and said in a cold voice, "They specifically instructed me to bring you along."
Logically, Gu Shiyue's aunt and uncle should have informed him directly, or Qi Xueying should have informed him. They went around in circles and had his father come to tell him, probably to find an opportunity to ease the tension between him and his father.
Gu Shiyue wasn't unwilling to go; he was genuinely busy that day.
“I told you I’m busy,” Gu Shiyue said.
His tone was harsh and cold, and Gu Hong, who had been holding back his anger these past few days, became even more furious: "I think you've lost your mind because of this relationship. Do you still have the mind to focus on important matters?"
He spent the Chinese New Year away from home and didn't attend his aunt's birthday party. Gu Hong became increasingly annoyed: "What else can you think about besides that boy?"
Gu Shiyue frowned.
He is very perceptive.
As soon as Gu Hong mentioned "that boy," he immediately realized—Gu Hong had met Jiang Luo.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have subconsciously said "that boy".
"You went to see him?" Gu Shiyue asked, frowning.
Although Gu Hong was domineering and authoritarian, he had never truly interfered in Gu Shiyue's life over the years. Firstly, because he felt guilty, and secondly, because he understood Gu Shiyue. He had the power to influence Gu Shiyue's life, but he also knew the consequences of truly angering Gu Shiyue. He couldn't afford to gamble with those consequences; he only had this one son.
Gu Shiyue knew all of this. Gu Shiyue knew better than anyone what Gu Hong used to be like. His father's edges had been worn down over the years. He was no longer the autocratic and domineering person he used to be. At least when it came to work, he was always tough on the surface.
Moreover, his father always focused on the issue, not the person, so Gu Shiyue didn't expect his father to go to Jiang Luo.
Because this would be tantamount to crossing Gu Shiyue's bottom line, his father wouldn't do that. If he wanted to talk, he would only talk to Gu Shiyue.
"You went to see him?" Gu Shiyue's voice turned cold.
Gu Hong's voice was even colder than his: "Can't I go to him?"
What did you do?
"I'll make him break up with you."
Xiang Qin turned his head and glanced at it.
Gu Shiyue sat next to Xiang Qin with his phone in hand, and Xiang Qin heard his conversation with his father.
Gu Shiyue's face was frighteningly cold, but his tone was calm: "When did you contact him? Last Tuesday?"
Gu Hong didn't speak, and Gu Shiyue remained silent for a few seconds before hanging up the phone.
Last Tuesday, four days ago, Jiang Luo said he was going on a long trip to attend a comic convention.
Gu Shiyue made a phone call to Jiang Luo.
When his phone rang, Jiang Luo was playing claw machines at the arcade, and he had already won a whole bagful.
Because he had arrested so many people and was quite good-looking, several people were standing behind him watching.
Jiang Luo took out her phone, glanced at it, and quickly answered the call.
"Senior?"
"When are you coming back?" Gu Shiyue asked on the other end of the phone.
Jiang Luo looked down at her right hand. The swelling had gone down, and the back of her hand was still bruised, but it didn't look serious anymore.
"I……"
Before Jiang Luo could speak, Gu Shiyue said, "You didn't go on a long trip."
Jiang Luo was taken aback.
Gu Shiyue's voice was deep: "Where are you?"
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Author's Note: There will be another chapter around 10 PM!
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