Being helped with going to the bathroom was something Xiang Xi had gradually gotten used to over time. Every time, Sister Sun would handle it with such practiced efficiency that it felt like he wasn’t even a person, just some object. Before he could even start feeling embarrassed, she’d already finished.

But when it came to Cheng Boyan, the feeling was completely different.

For one thing, the level of skill in handling the situation was worlds apart.

Although Cheng Boyan was quite adept at wiping his face, the way he now held the urinal in one hand and lifted the blanket with the other made it seem like his next move would be to pinch Xiang Xi’s nose and force-feed him something.

“I… need to take my pants off first,” Xiang Xi turned his face away, worried that Cheng Boyan’s germaphobia might flare up and cause him to throw the urinal at his face. His hands could move, but they weren’t very dexterous. Usually, Sister Sun would have everything ready before he even lifted a finger, but now he struggled for a long time trying to hook his fingers into his waistband. He couldn’t help but sigh, “Damn…”

“Let me,” Cheng Boyan frowned, reaching over to yank down Xiang Xi’s pants and positioning the urinal. “There, go ahead.”

“What do you mean ‘there’? If you pull any harder, I won’t even need a urinal anymore,” Xiang Xi shot him a sidelong glance, exasperated. “Besides, do you think my thing has an auto-navigation feature or something?”

Cheng Boyan glanced down and was about to reach out when Xiang Xi raised his arm to stop him. “I’ll do it myself. This is easier than pulling down my pants. I’m afraid you’ll snap my little bird’s neck.”

“Can you not talk?” Cheng Boyan asked, pulling the blanket over him after Xiang Xi finished adjusting himself.

Xiang Xi actually listened. After Cheng Boyan said that, he stayed quiet.

Cheng Boyan stood by the bed for a long time, but Xiang Xi just lay there staring at the ceiling, not saying a word or moving. Cheng Boyan tapped the bed railing. “Are you done yet?”

“I’ve been done for a while,” Xiang Xi said.

“You’ve been done and didn’t say anything?” Cheng Boyan was speechless, pulling back the blanket.

“You told me not to talk,” Xiang Xi grinned.

Cheng Boyan, who was about to take the urinal, stopped and yanked the blanket back over Xiang Xi. “Then just stay like that.”

“Huh?” Xiang Xi was stunned and quickly moved his legs. “No, no, no, brother, I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong…”

Cheng Boyan stood still, watching him. This little punk… it was hard to tell if he was shameless or something else. Apologizing and begging for mercy came as easily to him as spinning lies.

Cheng Boyan pulled back the blanket, took the urinal, and went to empty it. Xiang Xi moved around to pull his pants back up and lay in bed watching TV for a while before Cheng Boyan finally came out of the bathroom.

Xiang Xi checked the time. He’d been washing his hands for five minutes.

“Dr. Cheng,” Xiang Xi sighed, “Brother, brother?”

“What?” Cheng Boyan responded from the bathroom.

“Your bones are probably white by now, that’s enough,” Xiang Xi clicked his tongue. “You’re doing this right in front of me, it’s kind of insulting.”

Cheng Boyan finally turned off the faucet and walked out of the bathroom.

“Is it really necessary?” Xiang Xi looked at his raised hands. “Is your germaphobia that severe?”

“I just have a thing about washing my hands,” Cheng Boyan smiled, shaking the water off his hands. “The rest is manageable.”

“Your hands look really white,” Xiang Xi squinted, still staring at his hands. “Is it from washing them so much?”

“Do you need anything else?” Cheng Boyan glanced at the clock on the wall. Sister Sun should be back soon. He had the rare day off and wanted to go home to nap and maybe read a bit in the afternoon.

“You’re leaving?” Xiang Xi, who had been lying there quite comfortably, suddenly turned his head sharply. “You’re not waiting for Sister Sun?”

“She should be here soon,” Cheng Boyan hesitated for a moment, then sat back down. “I’ll leave after she arrives.”

“Brother,” Xiang Xi seemed to relax, slowly moving his head from side to side. “Do you have something to do this afternoon?”

“Not really, I just wanted to go home and sleep,” Cheng Boyan said.

“Then…” Xiang Xi paused. “Then maybe you should go home and sleep. I don’t really need company here. Can you help me sit up?”

Cheng Boyan adjusted the bed to raise it, then placed a pillow behind Xiang Xi’s back. After a moment’s thought, he handed him a magazine. “If you’re bored, look at the pictures.”

“Oh,” Xiang Xi smiled sheepishly.

“I’m heading out then,” Cheng Boyan barely managed to stifle a yawn in front of Xiang Xi. “I’m really tired.”

“Yeah,” Xiang Xi nodded. “Go get some sleep. I know you doctors are always sleep-deprived.”

Cheng Boyan casually straightened the blanket on the bed and walked out of the room.

As he closed the door, he glanced through the glass panel. Xiang Xi had already turned his head to look out the window.

His bed was by the window, and the sunlight was particularly nice today. The nurse had drawn the curtains, and the view outside was clear, with tall buildings and mountains visible in the distance.

Against the backdrop of the golden sunlight, Xiang Xi’s profile looked striking, but it also carried a sense of melancholy that didn’t match his age.

Melancholy wasn’t something that just anyone could exude by sitting there. Cheng Boyan felt that this, like Xiang Xi’s other traits—such as his habit of lying, his refusal to give up, his ability to switch from anger to laughter in an instant—was innate. Or perhaps it was shaped by the complex and dark environment Xiang Xi had grown up in.

A complex and dark upbringing?

Cheng Boyan frowned. Had he just inexplicably believed all of Xiang Xi’s nonsensical stories?

Was he really that easy to fool?

“You…” Cheng Boyan pushed the door open again and looked at Xiang Xi. “Do you need anything else to eat or anything you usually use? I can bring it for you tomorrow.”

“Meat and a mirror,” Xiang Xi answered without hesitation, turning his head.

“A mirror?” Cheng Boyan felt that this answer was somewhat beyond his expectations. “You want to look in the mirror?”

“Yeah,” Xiang Xi nodded. “I don’t have hair right now, but if I did, I’d also ask you to bring a comb and some hair gel…”

Cheng Boyan didn’t wait for him to finish before closing the hospital room door.

*

While picking out a mirror for Xiang Xi at the supermarket, Cheng Boyan felt a bit like he was losing his mind.

That day, when he talked to Lin He about Xiang Xi, Lin He also couldn’t believe Xiang Xi’s incredible “background,” but he asked Cheng Boyan a question that left him speechless for a long time.

“Is it your instinct to save lives, or do you have some kind of illusion that the little punk is Cheng Boyu?”

Cheng Boyan thought about this question all night but couldn’t come up with a suitable answer.

Saving people was definitely part of it, but to say that was the whole reason wasn’t accurate. The first time he met Xiang Xi, the casual way he called him “brother” had left him feeling particularly unsettled.

Normally, almost no one called him “brother.” His cousins all called him by his name directly, and apart from his niece Xiao Xi, who always called him “brother,” the only person who had called him that in recent years was Xiang Xi.

A title that once belonged exclusively to Cheng Boyu.

After increasing Sister Sun’s caregiving fee, she stopped mentioning not wanting to do the job and took good care of Xiang Xi. Cheng Boyan bought Xiang Xi a sunflower-shaped mirror and didn’t worry much about anything else after that. Every day during his rounds, he checked on Xiang Xi, who was recovering quickly and seemed to have gained some weight.

The mirror was one meant for kids, with a handle. Every time Cheng Boyan came to the room, Xiang Xi was usually holding it, looking at himself.

“My hair’s grown quite a bit, bro. Can you tell?” Xiang Xi’s arm brace had been removed, and now he had Sister Sun help him walk around every day.

“Yeah,” Cheng Boyan looked at his various test results and reports. “Your leg brace can be removed this afternoon. I’ll have the nurse get you some crutches…”

“No need,” Xiang Xi waved his arm. “I can walk. Even with the brace on, I’ve been getting around just fine.”

Cheng Boyan glanced at him. “The reason we’re letting you move around is to prevent discomfort from lying down too long, not so you can run all over the place.”

“Just casually moving around,” Xiang Xi rubbed his nose, then added in a low voice, “Brother, I’m almost ready to be discharged, right?”

“Why?” Cheng Boyan looked at him.

“Well, if I can be discharged, it’s better to do it sooner,” Xiang Xi continued softly. “It’ll save on costs. Otherwise, I might run out of money.”

“Let’s take some X-rays this afternoon, and I’ll see how things look,” Cheng Boyan suggested.

In the afternoon, the nurse wheeled Xiang Xi to get X-rays. After they were done, as they passed a section of the hallway with floor-to-ceiling windows, Xiang Xi asked the nurse to push him closer to the window.

“I’ll stay here for a bit, sister,” he said, looking out at the trees that were already sprouting new buds. “I’ll get some fresh air and enjoy the view. I’ll go back to the room on my own later.”

“Don’t stay too long. You have medicine to take soon,” the nurse reminded him.

“Yeah,” Xiang Xi responded.

After the nurse left, Xiang Xi moved the wheelchair closer to the window, letting himself bask in the sunlight.

These past two or three months in the hospital, though uncomfortable at times, had been the most peaceful days of his life. He didn’t have to worry about being beaten, no one yelled at him, he didn’t have to run away, sneak around, or act tough with everyone he met…

As for what life would be like after being discharged, Xiang Xi hadn’t really thought about it. He felt there was no need to think about it. He could handle any kind of life, as long as there was no Uncle Ping or Erpan. Even if he had to set up a stall selling grass-woven crickets, it would be fine.

Cheng Boyan, figuring it was about time, decided to go check on Xiang Xi’s X-rays. As he walked out of his office and into the hallway, he saw Xiang Xi sitting in the wheelchair with his back to him.

Xiang Xi was wearing his hospital gown with the same down jacket over it. The jacket had been covered in mud and blood before, and though Sister Sun had washed it, it still looked dirty because it was so old.

The colour had faded so much it was almost unrecognizable. Cheng Boyan walked over to Xiang Xi, thinking about buying him some new clothes when he was discharged.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly saw a puff of smoke rise in front of Xiang Xi, followed by the smell of cigarettes.

Cheng Boyan rushed over, grabbed the wheelchair, and spun it around. Xiang Xi and the chair turned in a full circle, and the cigarette in his mouth almost fell onto his clothes.

“Damn!” Xiang Xi cursed with a mix of annoyance and impatience, but when he looked up and saw it was Cheng Boyan, he froze for a moment, then quickly switched to a smile. “Brother? Are you here for rounds?”

“Where did you get this!” Cheng Boyan yanked the cigarette out of his mouth and held it up in front of him.

“Where… where did I get it? Yeah, where did I get it…” Xiang Xi pointed behind him after a long pause. “I asked the uncle for it.”

Cheng Boyan looked behind him and saw the uncle from Xiang Xi’s room bending down to toss a cigarette butt on the ground, then trying to kick it aside with his foot.

“Uncle,” Cheng Boyan was utterly exasperated. “Didn’t I tell you not to smoke during treatment? How many times have you sneaked a smoke now? And you’re giving cigarettes to a kid?”

“I… I’m going back to the room…” The uncle pretended not to hear, got up, and hobbled quickly back to the room on his crutches.

“I asked the uncle for it. He didn’t offer it to me,” Xiang Xi tried to explain on the uncle’s behalf.

“Shut up!” Cheng Boyan bent down, one hand on the wheelchair and the other pointing at him. “Didn’t I tell you not to smoke?”

“You did… probably,” Xiang Xi really couldn’t remember and lowered his eyes, speaking softly.

“Probably?” Cheng Boyan raised his voice.

“You did,” Xiang Xi sighed. He truly couldn’t remember if Cheng Boyan had told him, but Sister Sun had mentioned it once, saying smoking wasn’t allowed during fracture treatment.

“If I catch you again,” Cheng Boyan took out his phone and opened the accounting app, “I’ll multiply this number by two. If you can’t pay, you’ll go help clean the floors in our hospital’s morgue.”

“No, no, no!” Xiang Xi immediately waved his hands frantically. “I won’t smoke, I won’t smoke! Don’t make me go there. I’ll clean floors anywhere else, just not there. I’m scared of ghosts.”

Cheng Boyan didn’t say anything else and turned to walk back to the room. Xiang Xi quickly, though slowly, pushed his wheelchair after him. His arm had only recently healed, and he was still a bit hesitant to use too much force.

After a few steps, Cheng Boyan, probably annoyed by how slow he was, turned back and quickly wheeled him back to the room.

*

The examination results showed that Xiang Xi was recovering well, and if he wanted to be discharged to recuperate at home, it was possible.

However, although Xiang Xi had seemed eager to be discharged earlier, when Cheng Boyan told him he could leave the hospital anytime he wanted, he was suddenly stunned. “Huh?”

“What do you mean ‘huh’?” Cheng Boyan was also caught off guard by his reaction. “Didn’t you say you wanted to be discharged?”

“Oh, right, yeah,” Xiang Xi scratched his head, a little embarrassed. “Yeah, yeah, I do want to be discharged. If I don’t leave soon, I’ll run out of money.”

“Don’t worry about the money,” Cheng Boyan said. “You can pay it back when you have it. But if you’re discharged, will you have the conditions to rest properly?”

“What… conditions?” Xiang Xi was confused by the question.

“The conditions to rest properly,” Cheng Boyan leaned down and whispered in his ear. “Are you still planning to go out and work?”

“Brother,” Xiang Xi clicked his tongue. “What kind of question is that!”

“So, if you’re discharged, can you rest properly?” Cheng Boyan pressed.

“Yes!” Xiang Xi nodded.

“Will someone take care of you?” Cheng Boyan glanced at his leg. Although his leg was ready for discharge, he still needed to avoid too much activity. Having someone to care for him would be ideal.

“Yes!” Xiang Xi nodded again.

Cheng Boyan looked at him. “Alright then. When do you want to be discharged?”

“Well…” Xiang Xi lay back on the hospital bed. “Tomorrow.”

 

Translator : DarNan