Chapter 10
A SHEEN OF COLD SWEAT clung to Fei Du’s temples, either from the heat or the pain. His face as white as a sheet, he squeezed a sentence out between his teeth: “Are you done?”
At his side stood Luo Wenzhou, wearing an expression so sorrowful he could’ve been in mourning. Two seconds later, though, Luo Wenzhou couldn’t hold it anymore. He turned to the side and burst into laughter.
“Young man, this is not good,” the old orthopedic doctor chided as he dealt with Fei Du’s broken left arm. “You young people need better lifestyle habits,” he prattled. “You go out at night and don’t exercise—just play on the computer. How can you stay healthy doing that? I just don’t get it. Is it really all that fun? Don’t think being young will save you. Plenty of twenty- and thirty-year-olds have osteoporosis.”
Fei-zong, who had never in his life stayed up late playing computer games, felt so unjustly accused that he didn’t know what to say.
Near Sunrise Road, a sudden approaching car had hit the passenger side of Fei Du’s SUV. The other driver, who had only gotten his license two months ago, had to be taken away in an ambulance. Apparently, his unfamiliarity with the road signs had led him to take a wrong turn, and he unexpectedly found himself facing oncoming traffic. He’d panicked so hard that when he saw Fei Du’s SUV—which was larger than a tank—driving toward him headfirst, he hit the gas instead of the brakes. At least, that was the conclusion the traffic police had drawn. Essentially, the accident had been caused by a driving school’s lax standards and Fei Du’s bad luck.
It was good that Fei Du had been driving such a safe vehicle today and that he had such good reflexes. Those things meant that the other car was damaged much worse than his own, and Fei Du himself was more stunned than hurt—his glasses didn’t even break. Of course, those glasses were very strong. Fei-zong’s precious body, on the other hand… The impact of the airbag had fractured his left arm, but Fei Du maintained that that was due to his position, not the health of his bones.
The most unfortunate thing was that that asshole Luo Wenzhou had somehow caught him in a rare moment of disarray!
Luo Wenzhou accompanied Fei Du on his day trip to the hospital, and now having heard about the extent Fei Du’s injuries—he was laughing helplessly, clutching Fei-zong’s indestructible glasses. All the work stress he’d accumulated over the last several days lifted from his heart.
“Doctor, useless one-percenters like him don’t play computer games. They go out and enjoy the nightlife.” Eager to egg the doctor on, Luo Wenzhou further embellished his slander of Fei Du. “Look at that face. Look how weak he is—proof of his corrupt, decadent life.”
The old doctor peered at Fei Du’s vampiric complexion through his reading glasses, his eyes as large as a dragonfly’s. “Mm. I see it.”
Fei Du didn’t dignify that with a response.
“I’m going to secure the bone. This isn’t a serious fracture—you can come get the cast removed in a few days. In the meantime, make sure not to engage in any strenuous activity. No smoking, no alcohol, no sex,” the old doctor warned seriously. “And remember to get enough calcium, young man. Otherwise, in ten years, you’ll snap like a cracker!”
For some reason, that last sentence appeared to strike Luo Wenzhou’s funny bone. He laughed hysterically, as though he could survive off this joke for the rest of his life. Even as he drove Fei Du home, he kept letting out weird giggles. Fei Du pitied him; he gathered that Sergeant Luo led a very sad, uninteresting life. Beyond being beaten up by his cat, his only entertainment evidently stemmed from lowbrow sources like this.
The pair originally had separate plans—Fei Du with Dr. Bai and Luo Wenzhou with Deputy Lu—but now both had to cancel.
“Left at the next street… You passed it!” Fei Du glanced at him impatiently. “Is your eyesight going, Old Man Luo? Do you even know how to follow the GPS?”
“Oh, you didn’t notice that I kidnapped you and I’m about to sell you off? I’ve already found a buyer.” Luo Wenzhou continued down the wrong street until he reached a shopping center. He parked, then waved at Fei Du. “Let’s go. The buyer is waiting to inspect the goods just ahead.”
“Then package me up nicely before you sell me, please.” Looking grumpily at his wrinkled shirt, Fei Du tried to move, but his whole body felt like it was covered in bruises. Everything hurt, so he sat motionlessly and said in a lifeless tone, “Can you tell the buyer to come here? I haven’t got the energy to move.”
Luo Wenzhou just laughed at the way he slumped in the seat, letting him be. He got out of the car and walked off, leaving behind the passenger more fragile than a pair of glasses. Fei Du figured he had some business to take care of on the way. He didn’t really care; either way, he was hitching a ride, so he had no right to demand that his driver take him home right away.
He reclined the passenger seat back a little, which took up most of the space in the car. Now he was nearly horizontal, his eyes half closed.
In the relentless fog of pain, he thought back to the accident. Misreading a road sign, mistaking the gas pedal for the brake… Those were common errors. Was this deliberate, or had it resulted from panicked mistakes? No one could say for sure, and the only difference was that the former was attempted murder, and the latter was an accident. From that perspective, a car really made an excellent murder weapon.
Fei Du was still stuck in the depths of his own conspiracy theory when the car door opened. Luo Wenzhou was back. Fei Du glanced at him carelessly and was shocked to see an over-the-top cake box in his hand, covered in pictures of candles and stupid cartoon characters. Fei Du leaned away from it automatically, as if the thing in Luo Wenzhou’s hands wasn’t a cake box but a bomb.
“What are you cowering for? Have you never seen a birthday cake? It isn’t going to molest you.” Luo Wenzhou set the cake down. “You gave your ID to the guy who dealt with the accident, remember? Don’t tell me the birth date on it was wrong.”