23 Price
Miao Yue was not surprised to see him. As soon as she entered, she took off her suit jacket and threw it on the sofa. She walked towards him in a dark red slip dress. The dress draped beautifully, and each step was like red wine swaying in a glass.
"Miao Yue." Zhou Qi spoke first, his voice filled with fatigue from constant work. "I'm very grateful for calling in the experts. But we need to find a different way to settle this."
"Calculate? How else do you want to calculate?" Miao Yue pretended not to understand him and gave him a teasing look. "I'll make arrangements for you and get the best treatment plan. What's the price of taking the room card? Isn't that clear enough?"
Zhou Qi took a step forward, picked up the coat she had thrown behind her, and handed it to her. "I came here to repay you for helping my father. Anything else is not within the scope of our transaction."
Miao Yue, as usual, refused to listen to him. She grabbed his coat and threw it to the ground. She bent down to take off her shoes, then tossed them randomly. She walked barefoot to Zhou Qi, leaned against the sofa, and looked up at him with a smile.
"Zhou Qi, from the moment you entered this hotel, it was your own choice. I never begged you to come. As for...help? I'm not a philanthropist. The price was agreed upon at the beginning, wasn't it? Now you want to come to the hotel again, but you're unwilling to pay. Zhou Qi, haven't you heard that greed often leads to bad consequences?"
Miao Yue stood up, took out a bottle of chilled wine from the wine barrel, and handed it to Zhou Qi by the bottle: "Here, open it for me."
Zhou Qi took it, the cold water on the bottle quickly flowing down his wrist. "The price is agreed upon, and the price you pay is 'I came here'. You win. As for the rest, you'd better think clearly about what you want."
Miao Yue raised an eyebrow, as if she had heard something funny. With a scoff, she stepped barefoot onto the tip of his shoe, rubbing her cool toes against his ankle. "What do I want? Am I not getting it right now?"
"Take it?" He slammed the bottle down on the coffee table and grabbed Miao Yue's wrist, splashing water with such force. Seeing a flicker of pain on Miao Yue's face, he took another step closer, looking down at her. The distance between them was so close that they could hear each other's breath, but there was no ambiguity or romance, only tension.
"You used the cards in your hand to force me to surrender. You succeeded. Now I'm here, isn't this the 'win' you wanted? Or do you think that I would willingly go to bed with you? Miao Yue, buying an empty shell is meaningless." Zhou Qi's voice was tense, "Taking advantage of someone's misfortune is the most despicable way of playing the game." Then, he let go of her hand.
Miao Yue stumbled, her eyes filled with surprise. She stroked her red wrist and stared at him, her chest heaving. The flirtatious look she had previously worn faded, replaced by a look of provocation.
She suddenly smiled, as if she was angry, but also as if she was excited.
"Zhou Qi, you're really great." Miao Yue's eyes at this moment scraped through him like a knife, "Okay, I'll let you go today." Then she turned around, opened a glass of wine for herself, poured it into the glass, and drank it all in one gulp, "But I will come after you for what you owe me."
"I'll find a way to pay you back."
"Zhou Qi, this is not what I want."
Zhou Qi turned around and left without hesitation. The moment the door closed, he suddenly experienced the feeling of surviving a disaster.
After leaving the hotel, several missed calls popped up on his phone, all from Fang Qiu. Then came another string of messages, telling him that Yang Xiao had been settled and that he should take care of his own affairs first. He didn't want to call back in the wee hours, so he flicked off his phone and headed back down the road to the hospital.
Zhou Daye was transferred to the intensive care unit, and Yang Xiao also had a place to go, but he was like a wandering ghost, walking on the deserted streets. The fate of angering Miao Yue to protect himself was that the sharp blade above his head could fall at any time, forcing him to make a choice between himself and Zhou Daye again and again.
He smiled bitterly and continued walking towards the hospital. Then he casually sat down on a bench in the outpatient corridor and fell asleep.
Yang Xiao spent the night in Fang Qiu's dessert shop, where he usually took his lunch break. Zhou Dashe had been transferred to the intensive care unit, and no one was allowed to accompany him. Visitors were only allowed during designated hours. She tidied the bed and, after receiving Fang Qiu's call, she pulled out her phone and called Zhou Qi. "Zhou Qi, are you in the hospital? How's Uncle Zhou doing? Brother Fang Qiu said he'll be downstairs soon and will send me over to see you."
"Don't worry, ask Fang Qiu to drive slowly. Dad is still in the ICU. Have you had breakfast? I'll go get you some." Zhou Qi's voice was hoarse and nasal. Yang Xiao couldn't help but ask worriedly, "Where did you go last night? Did you catch a cold?"
"I had something to deal with last night. It's okay, just drink some hot water later." After Zhou Qi finished speaking, he felt his throat was very itchy. He took away the phone and coughed twice: "I'll wait for you in the parking lot." He hung up the phone first.
As soon as Yang Xiao got into Fang Qiu's car, she couldn't help but ask tentatively, "Brother Fang Qiu, do you know where Zhou Qi went last night?" Fang Qiu shook his head, his eyes fixed on the steering wheel. "I'm not sure, but you'd better not talk to me while I'm driving." Yang Xiao then looked at Fang Qiu, who sat stiffly behind the wheel, turned on the turn signal, and merged into the main road with a nervous look on his face. She could only silently grasp the door handle.
Arriving at the hospital, Fang Qiu looked at Zhou Qi, who was standing at the edge of the parking lot. He looked tired, his stubble a bit bruised. He wondered what he'd been up to. When the car pulled up to him, Fang Qiu waved again, "Zhou Qi, get in and back into the garage." Zhou Qi nodded, got in the driver's seat, and handed breakfast to Yang Xiao and Fang Qiu, who had just jumped into the back seat.
Yang Xiao sat in the passenger seat. Seeing that he looked unwell, she silently ate the rice balls he had bought. Fang Qiu followed the two siblings into the hospital building. After meeting the attending physician, he first listened to him and Zhou Qi discuss the patient's condition. As they were talking, a group of experts arrived to discuss a detailed follow-up plan.
Fang Qiu's eyes widened. This kid had found some kind of god from heaven behind his back, even using VIP treatment. But because Yang Xiao was beside him, he held back and didn't ask.
When Yang Xiao turned around to go to the bathroom, he leaned over and nudged Zhou Qi with his shoulder: "What were you doing last night? So many experts came at once." Zhou Qi forced a smile, trying to fool around with it: "Nothing. I went to see the teacher in the department."
"No way, Zhou Qi, you're trying to trick me. After all, I, your senior brother, was busy running around last night, finding a place for Yang Xiaoteng to stay and buying her food. Oh, and I even gave her some advice." Fang Qiu was obviously not someone who could be fooled so easily.
After all these years of friendship, there was no point in continuing to deceive Fang Qiu. Although he no longer worked in the field, his circle of friends was filled with ascetics specializing in medical fields at the Third Hospital. Sooner or later, word of Miao Yue's story would reach him. Zhou Qi paused and said he had found a connection with Miao Hospital. Fang Qiu, no fool, understood immediately.
"His daughter got engaged a while ago, right? So she's the one who's been pestering you." Fang Qiu stroked his fingers again, his tone somewhat certain. Zhou Qi hummed, then didn't say anything else, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes to rest.
"So...you're not? You sacrificed yourself for your father last night?!" Fang Qiu hadn't finished his words when he saw Yang Xiao come out and swallowed them back. "That's not true, Brother. Thank you for taking care of Yang Xiao for me last night." Zhou Qi stood up again, his eyes bloodshot, and thanked Fang Qiu.
"Hey, that's good. It's not a big deal. No one is taking care of my shop right now, so I have to leave first." Fang Qiu patted Zhou Qi's shoulder, then turned sideways and said to him, "If you have anything, just come to me. I'm not a doctor now anyway, and I'm not afraid of offending anyone as your senior brother." After saying that, he waited for Yang Xiao to walk up to them, said goodbye to Yang Xiao, waved and left.
Zhou Qi was grateful after hearing this, but he could only take things one step at a time. As for Yang Xiao...it was time for her to return to Lu Town to pack her bags and prepare to go back to school. After all, she would be a sophomore at the start of the semester, and Zhou Daye still had him, so he couldn't delay her no matter what.
"Yang Xiao, I'll take you to the train station in a while. You go home first. Pack up the things you need for school. I'll buy you a ticket back to school in a few days. I'll come and take you back then, okay?" Zhou Qi pinched his eyebrows. He didn't get enough rest last night, and his head hurt a lot.
"Uncle Zhou, don't you need me?" Yang Xiao felt a little uncomfortable. She was clearly a member of the family, and even at this point, Zhou Qi still wanted to send her to school. "Besides, I don't have anything to collect."
Zhou Qi heard her tone and seemed to have made up her mind not to leave. He couldn't help but soften his voice: "Yang Xiao, I know you are worried about Dad, but if you stay here, you won't be able to eat or sleep well. No one can collapse before he recovers, right? Even if Dad is transferred to the general ward later and needs someone to accompany him, it should be me. You are now in the period of growth and academic development and need to work hard."
Yang Xiao didn't know what else to say to convince Zhou Qi to let her stay, because he was right. Her staying here would only become a problem. Zhou Qi had to take care of Uncle Zhou on one hand, and himself on the other. She twisted her fingers together, her usual sharp words having no effect at all. She felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
She suddenly felt a little disgusted with herself now that she was half a child. She could not share any responsibility with Zhou Qi, and she also caused him a lot of trouble. All she could do now was to shake her head and tell Zhou Qi that she could find the train station, and asked him not to send her off and go back to rest for a while.
This was the first time she was alone on a train to Luzhen. There were no relatives waiting for her to return home, nor any friends to hold her arm and chat with her. She was all alone.
When we arrived at Lu Town, it was dusk again.
Walking on the way home, Yang Xiao felt that her steps were extremely heavy, but her steps used to be so light when she went home.
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