82 Chapter Eighty-One
You call me brother.
The moonlight, like a scroll, slowly unfolds and then quietly rolls up, hiding beneath the camel's peak.
There's a little kid in the next bed with a broken leg who's going to be discharged in the next couple of days.
Having just recovered his energy, he hid under the covers in the middle of the night watching porn. Without headphones, he played it on speakerphone at the lowest volume, but Zhang Zongxie could still hear it. Annoyed to death, he deliberately pressed the nurse call button.
The little brat immediately turned off his phone, rolled up the blanket, and started to pretend to sleep.
Zhang Zongxie curled the corners of his mouth and asked the nurse when the VIP ward would be available.
The nurse shook her head, indicating that there were no cases. Many elderly people fall in winter, and the orthopedic hospital wards are in short supply, even the VIP wards are crowded.
He understood. After all, the medical resources in a county town have a limited ceiling, unlike private hospitals in provincial capitals where money can be poured in.
In the county town, a VIP ward costs only 500 yuan a day, and children vie to send their elderly parents there, competing to see who shows more filial piety, who stays longer, who stays shorter, and who gets gossiped about by the neighbors if they refuse to let them stay.
Li Yingqiao often told his colleagues, "Don't trust people from Fengtan. We Fengtan people are the least reliable." Indeed, the people here are outdated in their thinking. They weigh everything carefully, and their calculating and mercenary nature is mixed with a bit of sincerity. Their shrewd and calculating words are quite disheartening.
“Mom has never stayed in such a nice hospital room in her life. It’s only 500 a day, not 5,000. Let her stay here.”
"Dad wants to stay here too."
"Then break his legs."
“When I gave birth, my mother didn’t hesitate to take out her retirement money to let me stay in a postpartum care center that cost 50,000 yuan a month. I still owed her 35,000 yuan a day for 500 yuan a month.”
...
What happened to the saying "a long illness tests filial piety"? His grandmother was bedridden when his father ran away and took the money she had saved up in a cookie box from collecting recyclables to pay for his schooling.
People are indeed more concerned about inequality than scarcity. Even someone like Li Lianfeng at least knows how to write the word "filial piety" and knows to plead for his old man.
Fengtan is a strange place. In this barren land where even foxtail grass grows, towering trees that can block out the sky grow. Their roots are buried deep in the ground, and you might think they're rotting, but their canopies stretch towards the heavens. They might be enduring a raging storm themselves, yet they'll still ask, "Would you like to take shelter here?"
One or two are like this.
He wondered if Yu Renjie had ever imagined that he himself would become disabled one day when he sponsored those disabled students.
But he had asked Li Yingqiao before, "Your career prospects are bright and promising, why gamble your career on an accident? Whether the bus plunged off the cliff at the scenic area was due to company negligence or driver fatigue, it has nothing to do with you. You've survived so many hardships in Y Province, why are you so fixated on this one thing?"
He didn't understand at the time, but after arriving in Fengtan, he learned from Yu Jinyang that her mother was a truck driver and that she often went on trips with her mother when she was a child. She grew up on a truck, which is why she couldn't stay silent.
However, Li Yingqiao did not tell him these things at the time in an attempt to evoke his empathy and make him understand her decision.
She's always like this, never playing by the rules. When it's most appropriate to play the emotional card, she insists on using reason to persuade him.
He remembered that it was winter in Beijing at that time, but unlike Fengtan, the snow on the road was very thick, stretching to the sky in white. The small teapot next to his desk was bubbling with steam, and he was brewing Pu'er tea that she had sent back from Y province.
He even thought that Li Yingqiao might have become arrogant after her sudden rise to fame in Rainbow Youli. She regarded the resources and platforms attached to Convey as a reflection of her commercial value. So he reminded her in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in his office: "Don't believe in the internet's idol-making movement. The entire influencer economy is attached to the capital interest chain. These are what Convey adds to you, not your personal value."
Li Yingqiao seemed not to have listened, only replying with the previous sentence, which left him completely speechless: "My career prospects are bright and clear because I am walking on the path you have walked. I acknowledge your professionalism and excellence, but in my opinion, you live like a walking corpse."
She hesitated for a moment, then leaned against his desk, her fingers resting on the edge, a slight smile playing on her lips. Li Yingqiao had a subtle habit of always lowering his eyes slightly when he smiled, and later he discovered that Yu Jinyang also had this habit.
She said, "Over the past four years in Convey, I've seen so many things rotting in the ground, and carrion devoured by hungry wolves. Have you seen them? I believe you have too, but you didn't say anything. At the time, you didn't think much of it. But years later, one day you suddenly understood—"
Actually, that rotten flesh isn't someone else's; it's yours.
But you won't tell me how dirty and smelly this road is anymore, because you're in it. She looked up at him only after saying this, her expression calm throughout, her calm eyes carrying an almost weary mockery. "So I had no choice, I could only gamble."
Zhang Zongxie felt he might never meet such a smart woman again in his life, so when he later approached her with another 300 million yuan, he had expected her to refuse. But to his surprise, she readily accepted the allure of capital. He thought she had resigned herself to her fate over the past six months, but later discovered she was merely betting that he still had some conscience towards Yu Renjie. She and Yu Jinyang couldn't overcome the obstacle of their parents' influence; some things could only be done by him. It's like a washed-up celebrity performing in a rural area—both sides feel they've gained something.
...
After being fitted with a prosthetic leg, Yu Renjie became very fond of walking and often strolled to the hospital. He even brought his own suit for Yu Renjie to wear, saying, "This is a pure handmade custom-made Italian garment from twenty years ago, shipped all the way from the ocean. It's not a ready-made garment from a brand store. Our little devil said you only wear pure handmade custom-made clothes and not ready-made clothes. Where am I supposed to find that for you? In Fengtan, only old ladies still make their own clothes. If you don't want to, wait two months. Grandma Jin Yang is no longer here. His great-grandmother could make a sleeve in two months by just pressing the thread with her lips and shaking her hands."
Zhang Zongxie: "..."
He admired Yu Jinyang.
He knew the various aspects of life; the world was like a giant paradise where people exchanged tickets. Some exchanged them for wealth, some for love, some for family, and some for friendship.
He wondered if he had been too useless in his past life, because when he entered the academy in this life, he didn't ask for anything except his career.
Family, love, friendship... he had few friends. After his grandmother passed away, the world felt like an empty city to him.
That's how people are; no matter how many things keep you up at night, it's best not to stay up late, especially when you're not feeling well.
Because staying up late makes you more prone to emo, and emo makes you more likely to post on social media.
The day after posting on WeChat Moments, I expected to be ridiculed and given nicknames by people who also stayed up late but didn't post on Moments.
"Has anyone brought food to that 'empty city guy'?" Yu Renjie sat on the ground playing with ice cream cones for a while, then suddenly turned to ask Tang Xiang.
Tang Xiang had just hung up the phone with the finance department. She planned to consolidate the company's funds over the next couple of days to see how to collaborate with Xiaohua City on a brand project, perhaps by opening a cultural and creative studio there. This idea was originally proposed by Jin Yang, but it had been put on hold due to his competition. Now that her son was back, and the government had specifically requested Yu Renjie to lead the effort, it was a good time to push it forward. She was incredibly busy these past few days, and without even looking up, she said, "I don't know… Jin Yang's friend, Zhong Su, yes! Zhong Su went yesterday."
Zhong Su was at Miao Jia's house, doing something unknown, when he overheard a man's voice suddenly turn cold as he said during a phone call: "Zheng Miao Jia! If you keep doing this, I'm going back to Shanghai."
Zheng Miaojia was quiet for a while before he explained in a gentler tone, "I'm not the one delivering the food today, it's Taihe."
Taihe also exclaimed "Ah!" in the car. The car was driving on the highway. Zhao Pingnan was driving and turned to look at him in surprise. He heard him say blankly, "Gao Dian said he would stand in for me today because Zhao Pingnan and I are going back to Qingyi this week to see her mother."
"Oh dear, how could I forget about President Zhang!" Gao Dian slapped his thigh in shame in front of the wealthy woman in Shenzhen.
Immediately afterward, Yu Jinyang heard a loud, energetic female voice suddenly burst from the other end of the phone: "President? Which president! Is he richer than me?! Gao Dian! I didn't expect you to be so popular! I've got my eye on you."
Gao Dian fell silent: "..."
Yu Jinyang also fell silent: "…………"
Only Li Yingqiao was laughing so hard she was convulsing, and she was slapping Yu Jinyang's thigh repeatedly.
Yu Jinyang was furious. He hung up the phone, threw it aside, and asked her if it was funny.
She sat in his lap, found a comfortable position to lean against, completely using him as a backrest, and looked up at him with the air of a mountain eagle, saying, "What's not funny?"
Yu Jinyang looked down at the person in his arms, his gaze like a heavy tank, grinding over her face again and again, refraining from asking that question.
Li Yingqiao rested her head against his chest, tilted her head back and looked up at him, her eyes meeting his directly, and those damp, muddy scenes came back to her.
She couldn't help but reach out and stroke his lips with her fingers.
He looked at her and bit down without hesitation, but the naivety of yesterday, when she could caress him at will, was gone. It was a real bite, or rather, not a bite. He held it in his teeth like a kitten, looking down at her with a cold and disdainful gaze.
Li Yingqiao laughed, her fingers gripping a tooth: "No, Yu Jinyang, what are you being so arrogant about? Believe me or not, I'll pull your tooth out."
"You said you loved me yesterday, and today you want to pull my tooth. Don't change your mind so quickly."
"I'm not good at collecting things."
"You're going to pull the collection out of someone's mouth."
She laughed and took her hand out, unexpectedly discovering a new angle for kissing. She hooked her arm around his neck and pulled him down, giving him a few light kisses on the lips. Seeing that he didn't resist, she gently slipped her tongue into his mouth, not forcefully, but surprisingly tenderly and tentatively. He gave in, cupping her upturned face and responding with his tongue.
Kongcheng didn't get to eat his first meal of the day until 10 p.m., which was delivered by Yu Jinyang.
Yu Jinyang took a picture of him eating and sent it to Yu Renjie to reassure him that the "empty city brother" wasn't starving.
Zhang Zongxie glanced at him and said, "...ambushed me."
In his eyes, there is almost no difference between taking photos secretly and launching a sneak attack.
Yu Jinyang: "…………"
"Who, who is it?" Zhang Zongxie looked like he was about to deduct this person's year-end bonus.
Yu Jinyang ignored him. Without even changing his pants, he hurriedly threw on a sweatshirt and a long down jacket and went out. His pants were still thin black lounge pants, and he was wearing a pair of sports slippers with his toes sticking out.
Yu Jinyang was dressed too darkly—a black hoodie, a black down jacket, black pants, a black baseball cap over which the hoodie hood was pulled up, and a black face mask. He was tall and big, both dark and cool. As soon as he entered, the high school boy next door blurted out, "Dude, you look young and handsome, but you look like a grim reaper."
He's been having an excess of energy these past few days, and he's been masturbating under the covers at night, thinking he's hallucinating. The older man next door hears him but doesn't care; he's a man, and everyone does it like that in the dorm.
Zhang Zongxie ignored him. Young and energetic, yet with such poor self-control, his future was practically predictable. He sarcastically remarked, "If you did fewer of these things each day, you'd live longer."
Yu Jinyang didn't understand, and even if he did, he was too lazy to reply, placing the lunchbox on his bedside table. Zhang Zongxie, seeing his attire, immediately said, "Aren't you cold? Li Yingqiao lets you go out like this? Trying to look cool, huh?"
Yu Jinyang glanced at him, too lazy to pay him any attention, and looked around coldly, saying, "Not as cool as your Kongcheng brother. Hurry up and eat. I'll take it back to wash after I finish. This is the only lunchbox I have at home."
"You called me brother?" Zhang Zongxie stopped eating with a spoonful in his mouth.
Yu Jinyang: "…………"
His speechlessness at this moment was comparable to the moment when he was downstairs carrying a lunchbox into the inpatient department, and the automatic door wouldn't open no matter what he did, and the security guard blamed him for breaking the automatic door because he was dressed in all black.
Faced with such a rival, it's hard to even manage a proper laugh, and you don't even know who to pity first.
Yu Jinyang leaned the back of his head against the wall, his neck lazily tilted back slightly, and laughed out loud while wearing a mask: "Zhang Zongxie, are you sick?"
Zhang Zongxie immediately noticed the fresh hickey on his Adam's apple, a faint red mark beneath the sharp lines.
[Author's Note]
See you tomorrow.
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