Chapter 59:
Just My Girlfriend
XIE QINGCHENG CRUMPLED the moment he got through the door of his dorm. Using the last of his strength, he threw himself into the bathroom, where he collapsed over the edge of the sink and threw up immediately.
All that strong wine, on top of the drugs—he’d forcibly endured it for so long, maintaining his strong persona in front of the others. He hadn’t softened or bent his waist a single iota when he faced He Yu, remaining upright and poised like a javelin the entire time.
He did all that just to avoid losing his dignity in front of He Yu, although he’d already lost his body to the scoundrel. It was only now that Xie Qingcheng was alone that he finally went limp and started throwing up violently until he felt like he was about to puke out his gallbladder as well. His ears rang, and his vision seemed to be veiled with black gauze, making everything he looked at dark and blurry.
No.
He couldn’t fall apart…
He had to take some medicine, and then…
Xie Qingcheng scrubbed his face at the sink and repeated this to himself. However, his consciousness faded away mercilessly, indifferent to his miserable begging.
In the end, he stumbled on a step and collapsed in front of the sink.
Just before he passed out, he blearily saw someone open the dorm door. It was Chen Man, holding the key he’d gotten from Xie Xue. He started anxiously looking around the moment he entered the room, and his eyes eventually landed on Xie Qingcheng, who was lying on the icy tile.
“Xie-ge?!”
Xie Qingcheng heard Chen Man’s voice and, in his delirium, strove to stand up. He wanted to finish playing out this performance.
But it wasn’t just the exhaustion in his limbs. Even his eyelids had become extremely heavy. All that remained on his retinas were flickering shadows, and all he knew was that Chen Man ended up running over and kneeling anxiously by his side as he checked his condition.
After that, Xie Qingcheng completely lost consciousness. When he woke up, a great deal of time had passed.
He was lying on an articulated sickbed beneath a white hospital blanket, and there was an IV attached to his hand. He found the flow of the drip uncomfortably fast and wanted to move, but all he could do was twitch his fingertips slightly where they lay on top of the blanket.
“Xie-ge!” Seeing that he’d woken up, Chen Man snapped to attention where he’d been standing guard at his bedside and hastily grabbed his hand, asking with audible worry, “How are you? Do you still feel unwell?”
“I’m fine. Why are you…”
“I was worried about you, so I asked Xie Xue for the key to your dorm and followed you back and found you passed out. By the time I got you to the hospital, your temperature was already at 39.8 degrees. The doctor said that the high fever was from a severe inflammatory response, and that it would’ve gotten very serious if you’d come any later.” Chen Man’s eyes were red, like a rabbit’s. “Why didn’t you say anything? How could you just…just…”
Xie Qingcheng’s consciousness was slowly returning to his body.
He closed his eyes, taking a moment to gather himself, then slowly turned his head. His arm lay exposed over the blanket. His palms were still covered in cuts from the shattered wine bottle, and his wrists were still covered in marks from He Yu’s knots.
He instinctively wanted to hide the evidence of his disgrace back under the covers.
But Chen Man had clearly already noticed. He gazed at Xie Qingcheng. “Did someone beat you up?”
Xie Qingcheng didn’t know what to say.
“Did someone attack you because of those videos, because of the rumors and gossip?”
Xie Qingcheng coughed softly. “Do I look like someone who’s too weak to hit back to you?”
“But—”
“I was in a bad mood and hurt myself.” Xie Qingcheng’s voice was low and hoarse as he spoke to Chen Man. “That’s why I didn’t say anything.”
Chen Man looked as if he didn’t believe him at all.
But Xie Qingcheng didn’t want him to keep asking questions. “I’m a little hungry. Could you go get me a bowl of congee?”
Chen Man left absentmindedly, his hair a tousled mess, only to hurry back a few seconds later—he was so out of it he’d forgotten his phone.
After Chen Man left, the surroundings went very quiet. This was an area set aside for emergency patients who required IV infusions, and the beds were separated from each other by light blue curtains. Xie Qingcheng could hear the faint sounds of nearby patients sobbing quietly in pain. With his eyes open, he suddenly felt a little envious.
Ever since he was little, he almost never cried. It felt like the right to vent in that way had never belonged to him.
His throat was painfully dry, and his mouth felt like a parched desert.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when the curtains opened again. Xie Qingcheng thought Chen Man had returned, so he opened his eyes.
“Doctor Xie, it’s me.”
Xie Qingcheng was stunned.
The newcomer was a director of Huzhou First Hospital’s emergency department. He had a very steady temperament and observed events with meticulous care. Regarding the Qin Ciyan event, he’d always held a different perspective from other people, and he didn’t have any hard feelings toward Xie Qingcheng.
“We did some examinations when you were brought in,” the director said, peering at him over his surgical mask. “Doctor Xie, you ought to be a little more careful in the bedroom. Even if you’re in a bad mood, you shouldn’t resort to such violent methods of destressing.”
Xie Qingcheng’s expression soured in an instant.
“I only noticed the marks on your body; I didn’t look anywhere else. Don’t overthink it.” A beat of silence passed. The director cocked his head slightly and gestured at the doorway. “The one that just left—is he your boyfriend?”
“Just a friend.”
He hadn’t been very close to this director when he was a doctor, but for some reason, he always felt that the man looked a little familiar. Likely due to some subtle compatibility in their auras, the two of them had been capable of holding a conversation back when he was still at the hospital. But Xie Qingcheng felt extremely humiliated at the moment, so he kept his expression stretched taut and devoid of any emotion. He had absolutely no intention of explaining further.
But the director continued, “That’s good. If it were a cop who had those kinds of violent tendencies, they ought to book an appointment with the psychiatric department.”
This wholly infuriated Xie Qingcheng, so he eventually spoke up in a mild voice. “You’ve misunderstood, it was a woman.”
“Ah…?” The director lifted his chin slightly in complete astonishment, but his eyes remained rather calm. It was quite evident that he hadn’t taken Xie Qingcheng’s nonsense as truth. “In that case, this woman needs to undergo some training. How could she be so feral?”
“If you could please leave, I would like to rest now.”
“Very well then, have a good rest. You’ve probably had a lot on your mind these past few days and haven’t been able to get a good night’s sleep. I’m on shift tonight, so you can rest easy.”
With that, the director walked over to the curtains, notebook in hand, and pulled them open.
As it turned out, there was someone standing outside.
It was Chen Man, who had returned from buying congee. He’d been standing beyond the curtains just now and heard a part of their conversation. Now he was staring at the director in a daze, his pale face gradually flushing so red that even his earlobes began to glow scarlet. After a while, his eyes moved involuntarily from the director and landed on Xie Qingcheng, who also looked rather taken aback.
This was wholly a coincidence; Chen Man had meant to come in as soon as he returned. But he had faintly heard them talking about the importance of restraint in the bedroom and promptly froze like he’d been electrocuted. The congee was dangling from his hand, but it seemed like there was more congee than brain in his head at the moment.
The director examined Chen Man’s face. “What are you doing?”
Chen Man didn’t know what to say. He bit his lips and kept mum.
Xie Qingcheng was equally speechless. But in the end, he had to cough lightly before the director let Chen Man off without further interrogation and walked away, minding his own business.
Only Chen Man and Xie Qingcheng remained on this side of the curtain.
Chen Man took a step forward but then froze, as if going any further would mean trampling over some boundary, as if he’d learned a truth capable of stabbing him.
“Ge. You…you’ve gotten a girlfriend?” Chen Man forced a smile. When Xie Qingcheng didn’t reply, he added, “A new saozi?”
“No.” Xie Qingcheng was beyond annoyed, but also embarrassed. He had no desire to speak anymore, since the more he said, the further he ended up from the truth. “I was just in a bad mood and hooked up with someone for fun.”
But Chen Man didn’t think Xie Qingcheng was that type of guy; he might’ve believed it from someone else, but Xie Qingcheng going out and hooking up for fun? Even if every man on Earth had one-night stands, Xie Qingcheng still wouldn’t do such a thing. He was the most stubborn and responsible person. There was no way he’d cause such unnecessary hurt.
Seeing the disbelief written over Chen Man’s face, Xie Qingcheng grew even more irritated. He was so frustrated that he craved a smoke. But of course he couldn’t find one.
“Why would you…”
Xie Qingcheng glanced at him, unable to understand his hurt feelings. He assumed Chen Man simply felt he shouldn’t be acting like this. “Right now, I’m single and without a wife or kids,” he said calmly. “There’s nothing wrong with what I did.”
He brought a hand to his still-scalding temple as he spoke. Almost apathetically, he went on, “I’ve told you not to put me on too high of a pedestal. I’m just an ordinary person. I have all the desires any human should have.”
Chen Man choked up and turned away abruptly. He sniffled as he lifted the pack of congee and put it on the bedside table next to Xie Qingcheng.