Chapter 13: CH 13

Xia Lao Er shouted at Zhou Chuan and the lawyer, murderous anger and spittle flying. If he had a knife in his hand, he might have thrown it at them. It was only when the medical staff reminded him to keep his voice down and not to disturb the patient that he calmed down a little.

Only then did Xia Qingshu realise that the man who usually acted like a coward at home as if a grandson, was so rigid and manly when his family was in trouble.

If not for the bad timing, he would have wanted to wave the flag for Xia Lao Er.

Xia Qing Shu secretly thought to himself, he had finally known how to make Xia Lao Er and Old Man Xia break off their relationship once and for all.

Zhou Chuan picked up his gold-rimmed glasses and calmly took two steps back, gesturing for his lawyer to come forward.

Xia Qing Shu was simply unable to communicate, and his parents were the best people to communicate with, despite their crankiness.

The lawyer withstood Xia Lao Er’s storm of verbal abuse and said loudly, “Sir, please calm down, I am my client’s lawyer. What has happened has already happened, there is no use cursing anymore, let’s settle down and discuss Xia Qing Shu’s subsequent treatment.”

“Old man, I will sell my iron and house to cure my son, I don’t need your fake kindness.” Xia Lao Er picked up the broom and tried to shoo him out the door.

The lawyer revealed his identity, “Mr. Xia, do you know about the big Zhou family?”

Xia Lao Er said in a low mumble, “Yes. What’s the matter with the Zhou family?”

Seeing Xia Lao Er’s appearance, the lawyer had a good idea, “My client is from the Zhou family.”

The Chen, Zhou, He and Xia families were the four main families in the city, with the Chen family at the head and the Zhou family being one of them, ranked second.

During the Republican era, the Zhou family had started out by running a newspaper and was now involved in the nation’s media industry. A notorious media tycoon in the industry, the Zhou family’s reputation had reached the point where it was considered a household name.

Xia Lao Er’s face changed with the naked eye, and his original arrogance seemed to be doused by a pot of water.

As the saying goes, people do not fight with the powerful. If they have money and power, they can use it to kill you.

Xia Lao Er is almost fifty years old and has been in the underclass for so many years that it is impossible for him not to know these rules.

A young man in their production team was beaten half to death by a man in the county, and his family refused to compromise. In less than a year, someone in the production team saw the assailant bouncing in a disco, and the young man’s family went to ask for an explanation, but it was said that the assailant had done well in prison and his sentence was reduced, and he was now on parole.

Xia Lao Er knows the dangers of society. He had no power and was afraid that his impulsiveness would delay his son’s best treatment. After learning that the assailant was from the Zhou family, he was instantly hesitant.

“So what about the Zhou family, ah, so what, the Zhou family can get away with beating people up?!”

Yelling out these words, Xia Lao Er’s aura weakened by at least fifty percent, “You rich people are not allowed, great, I give you this, you must cure my son, or I will sacrifice this old life to fight to the end ……”

If not for Xia Lao Er propped up on the side of the bed, he might have already given the other side a knee.

The lawyer’s heart was clear, now was the best time to negotiate.

Xia Qing Shu saw that Xia Lao Er was bluffed.  Weak willow like, he pulled the hem of Xia Lao Er’s coat.

Li Xiao: “Husband, don’t argue, Qing Shu has something to say.”

Xia Qingshu’s eyelids fluttered, tears like broken beads, snapping downward, “Dad, you calm down, don’t do something stupid for me ……”

“….. Mum and Dad, my biggest regret in this life is that I can’t honor you, if there is an afterlife, I will be your child again, I will eat well, never get sick again, and not let you worry about me ……”

“Woooo …… Thank you mum and dad for raising me ……”

As it turns out, good-looking people not only look good when they cry, they are also very infectious.

When Xia Qing Shu cried, Xia Lao Er and his wife also followed suit and shed tears.

Xia Lao Er is uneducated and does not know what brain stem injury is, and through his observations of the doctors and police, he thought Xia Qing Shu was going to die.

Although Xia Qing Shu is not his biological son, but after so many years of affection, Xia Lao Er’s only thought is to fight for the other.

In his last moments, he could not be weak, he has to be a brave and strong father in front of Qing Shu.

Xia Lao Er got the broom and swung it towards the lawyer, “Get out of here! Crawl! Immediately! Right now!”

“If you don’t leave, I’ll spit on you!”

Only when the two of them had been driven away did Xia Lao Er feel a little smoother.

Xia Qing Shu lay down on his bed and gave a silent “yay”, then opened his mobile phone and started browsing the latest property information, it was time for Xia Lao Er to get a new car.

～

Zhou Qian spent the night in a detention cell. The conditions in the detention cell were so poor that it almost killed him to stay in the stuffy, hot and smelly cell.

Zhou’s mother was so worried that she didn’t sleep a wink and sent Zhou Chuan to the police station early in the morning to pick him up. Zhou Chuan asked the police to take Zhou Qian to the hospital on the pretext that Zhou Qian should apologise to Xia Qing Shu.

Zhou Qian was still handcuffed when he got into the car.

Zhou Qian, no matter how arrogant he was, was only in his teens and after a night of torture, most of the sharp thorns on his body were worn away. When he saw Zhou Chuan, it was like he had grabbed a lifeline, “Brother, I want to take a shower.”

Zhou Chuan gave him a look, “Bear with it and go to the hospital first.”

Zhou Chuan knew this brother of his very well, although he did something ridiculous, he was not a fool, on the contrary, Zhou Qian was smart enough to know how to use his advantage and bully his victims, this was the first time that something as simple and brutal as this crazy temptation at the edge of the law had happened.

“Say, what’s going on?” It was the first time the two brothers had communicated since this incident happened.

Zhou Qian filled a bottle of ice water, briefly washed his face, and told him what happened, “Brother, the last stomach wash was so hard.”

Zhou Chuan frowned, “Having suffered once, you should be more vigilant!”

“Brother, it was urgent, because of Xia Qing Shu, Yu Bin’s student representative role was cancelled.” Zhou Qian recalled the scene and gritted his teeth, “He made a post and caused me and Yu Bin to be scolded, if I don’t give him some credit, he would think I’m easy to mess with.”

It was Xia Yubin again. Zhou Chuan pinched his brow.

Every time Zhou Qian did something ridiculous, there was more or less the shadow of Xia Yubin. The two were sworn friends, but Xia Yubin was always a good student and a good boy in front of the adults, and his brother was the bad guy.

The bad things were all on Zhou Qian alone, and it was Xia Yubin who was able to take himself out of the all situation.

“In future, hang out less with Xia Yubin.” Zhou Chuan warned.

“Why?” Zhou Qian asked.

“You both want revenge on Xia Qing Shu, and he’s a little more eager than you.” Zhou Chuan snorted coldly, “You spent the whole night in the detention room, didn’t sleep all night, and our family is facing huge compensation. He slept well at home in the air conditioning all night, what kind of new age deadly friendship is this?!”

Faced with his brother’s mockery, Zhou Qian wanted to retort, but opened his mouth, but couldn’t say a word.

～

There were three or four students in the hospital ward, among them Xia Yubin, who had come with his classmates to visit Xia Qing Shu. The class president had bought a lot of supplements and the class notes.

Zhou Qian was led by the police and stood in the doorway. He looked a mess, his hair was wet with sweat, greasy in bunches, and he smelt of sweat. A completely different look from the shiny young master he used to be.

Xia Yubin was wearing a crisp T-shirt and was surrounded by his classmates.

Zhou Qian was brought in by the police, his hands still handcuffed. When he saw Zhou Qian looking over, Xia Yubin quickly averted his eyes, as if the two had never known each other.

Zhou Qian glanced at his “brother” and frowned.

Xia Qing Shu was annoyed at the sight of Xia Yubin and was deliberately ignoring him. He didn’t have many friends at school and these students didn’t have much to say to him, so he put down his fruit and tonic and waited for them to leave.

When the other students went out first, Xia Yubin quietly approached Zhou Qian, and in a corner where no one could see him, he shouted in a low voice, “Qian.”

Xia Yubin deliberately pressed his voice with a pleading tone.

Zhou Qian knew that Xia Yubin wanted to stay out of this matter and did not want to be involved. Ever since they were young, they had always gotten along in this way.

Zhou Qian hadn’t felt anything wrong before, but now he suddenly found that he seemed like this was a backstabber.

Pushed by the police, Zhou Qian came back to his senses, remembered his purpose today, walked to the hospital bed and said, seemingly sincerely, “Xia Qing Shu, I’m sorry, please forgive me. I will never bully you again, and we will bear all your medical expenses and will pay extra compensation.”

Xia Qing Shu opened his eyes “weakly” and glanced at Zhou Qian. His eyes were unfocused, and he didn’t know if he had seen clearly, and kept staring at Zhou Qian for almost two minutes before closing his eyes again.

There was breathlessness, as if a sapling that had experienced the wind and rain, and would die at any moment.

Zhou Qian was startled, “Brother, what’s wrong with him?”

Zhou Qian panicked a little, he did not expect Xia Qing Shu to be this miserable, he only wanted to get back at him, he did not want him to die.

Zhou Chuan: “He’s unconscious.”

Zhou Qian finally realised the seriousness of the situation and repeated his apology in a slightly sincere manner.

Xia Qingshu opened his eyes and let out another dry heave.

The “unconsciousness” just now was an act, but this “dry heaving” was a normal reaction of the body.

Xia Qing Shu frowned.

He had always thought that the dry heaving and dizziness were stress reactions to being scared. Now that he was out of danger, his head was no longer dizzy, but why was he still nauseous.

Not only was he dry heaving now, he also felt weak and didn’t want to eat.

Oh, no, he wanted to eat oranges, the sour kind.

After vomiting several times, Xia Qing Shu could barely opened his eyes and asked in a daze, “Compensation? What reparations?”

Zhou Qian glanced at Zhou Chuan, and then at the civilian police officer beside him. Zhou Chuan gestured for him to speak at ease, they had communicated with the civilian police officer beforehand.

Zhou Qian: “We will bear all of your medical expenses and pay an additional one million, but we need you to sign the letter of understanding.”

One million?

You can’t get rid of all those bastard things you’ve done for a million!

He was almost scared to death!

He wasn’t greedy for money, he mainly felt that one million was not painful enough for Zhou Qian to make him deeply aware of his mistakes and that he would commit them again in the future.

Xia Qing Shu blinked and asked to the civilian police officer standing next to him, “Missing? What’s missing?”

After saying that, he once again weakly “passed out”.

Civilian Police: “……”

I didn’t say a fucking thing.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door of the ward, and everyone looked at the sound, but it was Chen Zhiyu.

“Zhiyu, what brings you here?”

Zhou Chuan and Chen Zhiyu were considered to be of the same age, and they both came from similar families and grew up together. Although Zhou Chuan’s relationship with him was not as ironclad as Xia Shan’s, it was quite passable.

Zhou Qian instantly became serious. Chen Zhiyu had always been an existence that they looked up to among the four of their families. Not only was he a great businessman, but he also had a harsh, vindictive and unforgiving style in his private life.

The children of the family were careful when they met him, fearing that they would be screwed if they accidentally offended him.

In private, they regarded Chen Zhiyu with eight big words – [Those who obey me will prosper and those who disobey me will die].

It was the best interpretation of his actions.

“Visiting a patient.” Chen Zhiyu ignored the prying eyes of the onlookers and gestured for Secretary Li to put the tonic on the bedside table.

“You and Xia have a friendship?” At Chen Zhiyu’s sudden arrival, Zhou Chuan did not dare to take it lightly.

“There was a one-night encounter.” Chen Zhiyu pulled a bench and sat at the head of the bed.

Xia Qingshu’s eyelids jumped when he heard his words.

“Do you remember me?” Chen Zhiyu leaned forward and put his face in front of Xia Qingshu.

Xia Qingshu’s small face instantly turned white as he could even feel the other party’s slightly minty breath because he was so close.

He lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes trembling slightly.

“I do.” Xia Qingshu woke up from the “coma” and nodded slightly.

“It means that I must have left a deep impression on you.”

Chen Zhiyu felt that Xia Qingshu was like a cat, looking weak and beautiful, as if everyone could pet him, but if he was not careful, he could be scratched. And after scratching, he will still look at you eagerly, as if nothing happened.

He had Xia Qingshu’s examination report taken to some experts and it read – “suspected” brain stem injury, but not confirmed.

He came to the hospital last night, and saw Xia Qingshu secretly shoving noodles into his mouth by the mobile phone torch.  He didn’t know if it was because the soup was too hot or too spicy, but he ate it while grimacing and blowing, his lips glowing brightly unlike a seriously ill patient.

This nasty little fool could even lie? !

Like a cat, Chen Zhiyu nodded on Xia Qingshu’s hand, “Then tell me, who am I?”

After he finished speaking, he turned on his phone, showing a candid photo of Xia Qingshu eating noodles and shook it in front of him, and quickly closed it.

Xia Qingshu: “…”

He is very hungry these days, and he likes to eat foods with unique tastes that he would not normally eat.

He woke up hungry in the middle of the night last night and couldn’t help soaking a packet of powder. He didn’t expect it to be photographed.

Which CEO didn’t sleep at midnight and went to the door of the ward to peep at people?!

Spiteful!

This surnamed Chen knows that he is not seriously ill.

Xia Qingshu sucked in his breath and through the little nose he said in a low voice, “…You are…brother.”

Chen Zhiyu raised the corners of his lips in satisfaction, turned his head and asked, “What were you here for?”

Zhou Chuan: “Aqian came to apologize to Xia, I hope Xia will forgive him.”

Zhou Chuan didn’t know what the relationship between Chen Zhiyu and Xia Qingshu was, but if Chen Zhiyu could make a special trip with a gift, the relationship between the two should not be easy.

Chen Zhiyu let out an “oh” and suddenly realized, “You want to compensate.”

After speaking, he turned towards Xia Qingshu again, “How much do you want him to pay?”

The tone is quite a bit supportive of Xia Qingshu.

Xia Qingshu didn’t think that after the two slept together once, Chen Zhiyu would treat him differently. Moreover, he was rambunctious and refused to accept the account.

If Chen Zhiyu knew that he was pretending to be slow and playing stupid, it is estimated that he would die miserably.

Xia Qingshu didn’t want to get too involved with him.

After all, in the original book, he was treated so badly by Chen Zhiyu, and Chen Zhiyu was not a good person.

He didn’t know why, Chen Zhiyu always came to him and did some strange things. He would not be so naïve as to think that Chen Zhiyu came just to help him.

Xia Qingshu pursed his lips, did not say a word, and looked timid, like a frightened deer.

“Turn around.” Chen Zhiyu waved his hand, the policeman and the Zhou brothers were stunned for a while, then turned their backs.

“Tell me how much they want to pay.” Chen Zhiyu approached him and whispered in his ear, “I’m here so, they won’t dare try to cheat.”

Xia Qingshu stared with wide eyes, and a glimmer of “admiration” flashed in his eyes.

This flash of light was sharply captured by Chen Zhiyu, who smiled lightly. The little fool has been lying weakly on the hospital bed, and his arrival made him see the light.

“Brother, this much,” Xia Qingshu stretched out his hand tremblingly, spread his fingers apart, and added in a low voice, “I want cash.”

After his eyes stayed on those fair little hands for a few seconds, Chen Zhiyu felt that the smell of milk on the other’s palm was so strong that it almost covered the smell of lemon on his hair.

Five white and delicate fingers, like snow-white milk bars.

He suddenly felt that this kind of scent was not as annoying as before, but he was reluctant to accept it

Chen Zhiyu said to the other three, “Okay, turn around.”

In the surprised eyes of everyone, Chen Zhiyu said in a tone as if buying Chinese cabbage, “Pay 50 million, and that’s it.”

Xia Qingshu: “…”