36 quarrel
"I'm really fine," Zhou Qi repeated. Between the inevitable sadness of stopping her from coming back and the effort of not saying anything hurtful, "I'm fine" was the balance Zhou Qi considered himself to have. No one knew except him, but as the truck sped toward him with its high beams on, he was thinking about what to do with Yang Xiao.
Yang Xiao snorted angrily, and her sobbing voice spread to Zhou Qi's ears. "Yes, you are very good. I forgot that you are the great doctor Zhou. What's the big deal about a broken bone? You can recover without saying a word. I am the only one who is eagerly waiting for you to tell me when you are injured or in pain. Only someone as stupid as me would immediately buy a plane ticket and fly over to see you."
"I'm sorry, Yang Xiao." Zhou Qi could hardly tell whether the pain was greater from the wound or from the beating heart in his chest. "I've been hurting you. I apologize. I appreciate your intention to come visit me. So..."
"So I don't need to come, right? Okay, that's what you said, Zhou Qi." Yang Xiao hung up the phone and leaned against the car window, sobbing softly. Tears streamed down her neck, a chill. She felt that her twenties were no smarter than her teenage self. She was still the same Yang Xiao who had been in Lu Town, holding a half-broken umbrella and getting drenched by the slanting rain.
The taxi driver was kindhearted. He glanced at her in the rearview mirror and saw that she was crying so hard. He tried to persuade her kindly, "Girl, there are so many men and women in this world. Why be sad for just one person? Instead of being sad for one person, it's better to be happy for ten people. Besides, you're such a young and beautiful girl. Are you worried that no one will make you happy?"
Yang Xiao hummed, then replied with a hoarse voice after crying, "Thank you, Master."
"Oh, you're welcome. As a human being, happiness is the most important thing. When love and affection can't make you happy, then get out of here. It doesn't matter if you're young or old, if you're unhappy, all kinds of illness will come knocking on your door."
The master sighed and turned on the radio. The host, speaking in a sticky Beijing accent, recounted the trivia of emperors throughout the dynasties. The volume gradually grew, drowning out Yang Xiao's sobs, leaving her room to vent.
Arriving at the airport, Yang Xiao skipped security and sat by the flower bed in the departure hall, watching the people coming and going at the check-in counter. There was a family of three, their child smiling happily while perched on a suitcase, their front teeth occasionally showing through. There were couples facing separation, holding hands, their eyes filled with reluctance and longing. There were also those struggling to work overtime, carrying their laptops and searching for power outlets.
What about me? What do others think of me? Am I a lost, aimless weirdo with red and swollen eyes? Thinking of this, Yang Xiao couldn't help but smile. I guess no one would care.
She took the subway back for nearly two hours. When she got home, it was already dark and she was starving.
"What are you doing, Zhou Qi? I know you're worried that Yang Xiao will be in the same dire straits as you when she returns, and you're injured and can't protect her now. But she's already bought her plane ticket. Why don't you let her take a look and then I'll send her back to the airport safely?"
Fang Qiu was peeling a snow pear, using a trash can to catch the extra-long peel he had peeled. From time to time, he would look up at Zhou Qi, who was lying silently on the hospital bed, and spoke.
"Senior brother, the situation is complicated now. The other party may be using the car accident to warn me. If Yang Xiao comes back now, it will only be more dangerous." Zhou Qi looked at the white ceiling, but what he was thinking about was Yang Xiao crying breathlessly in front of him when she was in high school. Is she crying somewhere now?
The ward door suddenly opened. The voices of the family members chatting in the corridor slipped in through the crack of the door and lingered in the ward.
It’s Miao Yue.
"Zhou Qi, I'm not sick of you yet." Miao Yue came in without knocking, holding a bunch of fragrant lilies and a beautifully wrapped fruit basket. As soon as she approached the bed, she said something without a context, "I told you before, you can't touch the Miao family."
Miao Yue made no secret of Fang Qiu's presence. To her, having more or less Fang Qiu made no difference; they were simply trying to stop a chariot with a mantis arm.
"Thank you for your kind advice." Zhou Qi emphasized the word "kindness" in his tone. "But I didn't hit my head, so I'm not stupid." He knew that if Miao Yue wanted to touch him, she would never do it this way. She would use benefits to bind him bit by bit, making him willingly bow down to her.
"I think you're just too stupid, Zhou Qi. I gave you power and money, but you refused them all. You wanted your innocence, your ridiculous dignity, and now you're insisting on your so-called justice." Miao Yue placed the flowers on the bedside table and slammed the fruit basket to the ground at the foot of the table. "I'm really afraid you'll die one day."
"Really? Like my dad?" Zhou Qi's mood became noticeably downcast when Zhou Daye was mentioned. "My dad's life, my life, and Yang Xiao's personal safety, in your eyes, aren't they the same as ants? Being in such a low position, even life is so fragile."
"So for your own sake and for your beautiful sister, don't go on." Miao Yue crossed her arms and looked down at Zhou Qi, who was lying on the hospital bed with a haggard face, but this time she did not feel any pleasure of defeating him.
Last week, her selfish, foolish husband once again dictated to her life, demanding she cut off all contact with Zhou Qi. She refused, but on what grounds? Ji Heng himself had a steady stream of other women, so how could he demand she obey the rules? Was it because he loved her that he was possessive? Miao Yue didn't believe it.
This was just to maintain his fragile "face" as a man. What he wanted was to have a gentle and loving place to rely on outside and Miao Yue to cook for him at home. And he was just making some mistakes that most men would make.
Besides, he thought, since he was young, handsome, and wealthy, he should have more girls. But Miao Yue couldn't do that. If he let the rumors get out and couldn't even control his own wife, then he was a complete loser.
Miao Yue thought this was absurd. She thought that sacrificing her marriage to power and money was enough, and she could still find love outside of marriage. But her husband turned around and used a shameful method to tell her directly:
I will use any means necessary to cut off your connection with Zhou Qi. It used to be Zhou Yigang, now it's Zhou Qi's turn.
On the day Zhou Daye died, as soon as she received the news from the hospital, she went to block Zhou Qi. She was afraid that Zhou Qi would reveal all his cards at once in a panic. Then she would really shoot herself in the foot.
As for using Yang Xiao to continue threatening him, it was her last resort. The distance between Beijing and the city was nearly 1,900 kilometers, and she hadn't even cleaned up her own mess, so how could she have the time to harass a little girl?
She was just betting on how important Yang Xiao was in Zhou Qi's heart.
Fortunately, she won again.
But Yang Xiao felt quite pitiful when she saw how distraught she was.
After walking out of the hospital gate, Miao Yue breathed a sigh of relief, but was left with only a burning anger in her heart. She drove all the way on the highway to her and Ji Heng's "wedding room".
Ji Heng sat on the sofa in the living room, crossed his legs, and puffed away at a lit cigarette in his right hand. For a moment, the room was filled with a pungent smell of smoke.
Miao Yue rushed forward and slapped him, decisively and forcefully.
"Are you crazy?" Ji Heng stood up after stubbing out his cigarette. A layer of red marks immediately appeared on his face, which looked indescribably funny. "Are you worried about Zhou Qi's dad? He's already a vegetable, and you still cherish him so much?"
"I think you're the crazy one. Do you know how much he has in his hands?!" Miao Yue didn't care about being polite anymore and slammed the file bag on the coffee table. "So it was you who really touched his father."
"So you're afraid he'll get desperate?" Ji Heng said slowly, as if he was pretending to be relieved after hearing that she and Zhou Qi were in a relationship of exchange for benefits, and then turned into a venomous snake coiled on the ground, spitting crimson tongue at people from time to time, "How simple, just make him deaf, dumb, and blind."
Miao Yue shuddered, the hair on her arms stood up, and goose bumps began to appear. "We live in a society ruled by law now. If he gets injured or disabled, it won't do the hospital any good."
"Well... that's right, let's scare him." Ji Heng suddenly reached out and hugged Miao Yue, his warm palms wandering across her waist and abdomen through her clothes, "From now on, you must be obedient."
Miao Yue couldn't help but feel nauseous when she thought of Ji Heng, and continued to remind Zhou Qi "kindly", "I'm just warning you here, the rest is up to you, take a good rest."
"Goodbye, I can't see you off." Zhou Qi's words revealed sarcasm and disgust. "Your threats, like your promise to save my dad, are useless."
Fang Qiu opened the door, eager to get rid of the culprit who had turned Zhou Qi's life upside down.
The cicadas outside the ward chirped non-stop into the night, joining the crickets in their chorus, determined to shatter the night's unique tranquility. Unable to bear this off-key duet, the tuberose crawled in from the screen window, bringing with it waves of rich fragrance.
"Brother, you should go back and rest too."
Fang Qiu was about to open the small folding bed for the patient when he heard the patient chase him away. He immediately became unhappy, "What do you mean, kid? I've already packed everything up and you want me to go home and sleep, right? No, I want to sleep here. I'm telling you, if you chase me away again, I'm going to sleep next to you."
Zhou Qi fell silent.
"You're just as afraid of bothering others as little Yang Xiao. What's the saying? Alas, they're like birds of a feather." Fang Qiu spread out the folding bed and pulled out a quilt and pillow from his bag. Zhou Qi's awkwardness was making him extremely unhappy. So, don't blame Senior Brother Fang for bringing up such a topic.
Zhou Qi was completely silent now.
"Well, that's right. Be good and take good care of your injuries. Don't be like a hedgehog, chasing this and that away all day long. In your heart, you hope this and that will come, right? Little Zhou Qi?" Fang Qiu continued talking to him with his eyes closed while lying on the small folding bed that creaked every time he turned over.
"Go to sleep." Zhou Qi sighed and responded to him helplessly. Tonight he once again witnessed Fang Qiu's character of not giving in when he should.
Thin clouds blocked the moon, and the originally bright moonlight reflected in the window gradually became hazy and dim. Zhou Qi suffered from insomnia, which was rare.
So this is what insomnia feels like.
It turns out that the long and unbearable nights that Yang Xiao once thought of were like this.
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