CH 24

It was already seven in the evening by the time they finished skimming through the video recordings.

With Julian Goyle’s authentication, Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan obtained all of the video files as evidence, made copies for them to keep, and followed procedure to submit the new evidence. 

Ordinary people would dine together after finishing business at this hour. However, Julian Goyle was a notary. By the current alliance rules, it wouldn’t be appropriate for them to dine together.

This was also tacitly understood between them.

“Alright. Then I’ll go back first,” Julian Goyle bid farewell to them both and left.

“Are you hungry yet?” Yan Suizhi took a look at the time. He swept his gaze down Two Moon Street, seeing what there was to eat. 

Gu Yan glanced over at him. “Not hungry.”

Yan Suizhi tsk’ed. “Your stomach has probably gone numb from hunger. What shall we eat?”

Gu Yan, “…”

While they talked, Yan Suizhi noticed that Rosie Dale, with a hand clinging onto the hem of his coat, was looking not too far off.

“What are you looking at?” Yan Suizhi bent down and asked her.

Rosie hid behind him. She tilted her head up and shot a bashful smile at him, murmuring, “I know him.”

As she said this, she pointed her finger in a particular direction.

“What did she say?” 

Yan Suizhi heard Gu Yan ask him this as soon as he straightened back up.

His voice was very deep; hearing this low-pitched voice suddenly speak close to his ears made his ears tingle.

Yan Suizhi turned his head away imperceptibly, then lifted his chin in the direction Rosie pointed at. “Nothing much. She said she saw someone that she knew.”

At the turn-in to Two Moon Street that connected to a run-down alley, a taxi was stopped on the side and two people were chatting by the door. One of them was a slightly stout middle-aged man, with one hand put against the car door as if he’d just come out of the driver’s seat. 

The other man was a person they all knew—Fix, the taxi driver who had driven Rosie to the hospital that day.

This scene looked very familiar.

Yan Suizhi suddenly recalled that when he came to Two Moon Street on the first day, the unlicensed taxi that had sent him over had dropped him off over there, then made a call to someone to take over the shift.

Only, he never thought that there would be such coincidences. The person he had contacted was Fix? 

Yan Suizhi glanced at the car plate: EM1033.

It looked just as familiar. His guess shouldn’t have been too far off.

However, there wasn’t anything noteworthy about the tone the taxi driver had when contacting Fix previously; but now, they both looked rather disgruntled.

There wasn’t any need for them to make their greetings in this type of atmosphere, let alone that neither Gu Yan nor he were that extroverted. So they simply glanced over, taking Rosie to walk in the opposite direction. 

As per the rules at Southcross Law Firm, when a lawyer brought his intern along on a business trip for a court case, meals and board were fully covered. Of course, anyone that an intern insisted on treating wasn’t included in this coverage.

However, the exact phrasing of this rule was ‘three meals a day’. For Yan Suizhi who needed five meals a day, the more stingy lawyers would feel hard-pressed to accommodate.

Fortunately, Gu Yan didn’t have any stinginess written in his bones.

Immediately, he brought Yan Suizhi and Rosie to a very, very expensive… vegetarian restaurant. 

“…”

Yan Suizhi’s soul hurt.

This vegetarian restaurant wasn’t completely vegetarian, they just mainly served vegetarian dishes.

Gu Yan ordered a table full of vegetarian dishes, along with a serving of sweet prawns and a serving of king crab jelly. Yan Suizhi didn’t know the Gu Yan from back then very well and wasn’t very clear on what exactly Gu Yan liked to eat. But from his impression, Gu Yan wasn’t quite keen on food being served raw. 

There were very few sweet prawns. Three beautifully plated prawns were individually laid in pocket-sized dishes on a larger serving plate. Further taunting him was that there were only two tiny pieces of crab jelly.

Gu Yan placed the two dishes in front of Rosie, and Rosie was seated next to Yan Suizhi—those two dishes constantly swam about in Yan Suizhi’s vision.

So, Yan Suizhi had reason to suspect that this bastard had deliberately ordered these two dishes to leave in his sight, for he really liked eating these.

Professor Yan’s soul really hurt. 

He ate his food, completely grief-stricken. When he finished, he crossed his arms and reclined in his seat, admiring the glittering, translucent glaze on the sweet prawns, feeling the grassy taste in his mouth turn astringent.

Rosie seemed to deeply enjoy her prawns. She immediately pushed the last plate towards Yan Suizhi, undisguised child-like longing written all over her face. “You try it.”

The esteemed Professor Yan wore the shamelessness of a bushy-tailed wolf; putting on an act, he smiled gracefully, “Thank you, but I’m already full.”

Rosie went, “Oh.” Then, she pushed the plate towards Gu Yan. “You try it.” 

Yan Suizhi, “…” Don’t you know how to insist, girl?

Gu Yan told Rosie, “Thank you, but this was ordered for you. We don’t need it.”

Rosie rubbed her tummy, “But I’m full too.”

After saying this, she simply divided the sweet prawn. She placed a small dish before Yan Suizhi, a small dish before Gu Yan, then lowered her head and concentrated on counting the candies in her pocket. Children always spoke this frivolously; before any time had passed they would already be entertaining themselves. Sure enough, she didn’t have any intention to keep eating. 

Yan Suizhi lowered his head and moved the dish, saying to Gu Yan, “It would be ungracious to decline. Also, I really need to eat this sweet prawn.”

Gu Yan, “Where is there a ‘need’?”

Yan Suizhi pointed at his own face. “See this? It’s the same colour as grass, alright? I’ve to eat some other colours to neutralise it.”

Gu Yan was utterly unmoved. “Sweet prawns are transparent. It won’t have any effect.” 

Yan Suizhi, “How could I have taught…”

Gu Yan raised his gaze.

Yan Suizhi, “…thought to call you my teacher?”

Gu Yan looked over. For that fleeting moment, his expression turned minutely odd, as if weighing something in his mind. 

“Alright, fine. Then I want a cooked prawn.” To hide the earlier slip of his tongue, Yan Suizhi avoided Gu Yan’s eyes and casually changed the topic.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gu Yan looked at him for a while longer, but didn’t say anything in the end. Perhaps he had been choked by his words, or something else.

Gu Yan eventually looked away from him, swiping a finger over his ring-shaped smart device. He tapped on an audio recording.

Immediately after, Yan Suizhi’s own voice was unhurriedly broadcasted from the ring-shaped smart device: “I’ll obediently go back to eating grass, alright?” 

Yan Suizhi, “???”

This was what he had said before when eating the lamb chops. But he had never expected that Gu Yan would actually record it! How vindictive must a person be to do such a thing?!

Yan Suizhi, “If I didn’t remember wrong, I said that I’ll obediently eat grass tomorrow. Presently, it’s still today.”

Gu Yan, “Your evidence?” 

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Fine. The student had spread his wings, incredible.

During this one meal, Professor Yan was fed grass and bloated with anger; it could be considered an exceedingly sumptuous meal.

It was almost nine by the time they got back to the hotel. Rosie returned to her room with a bag of takeout and a pocketful of blue candy. 

“Don’t be in a hurry to make inquiries about the streetlamp,” said Yan Suizhi, “carefully look through the surveillance footage tonight first.”

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—

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However, on this night, Yan Suizhi had mostly moved around indoors. The route to and from was by car, and they really hadn’t walked much. So, the wound only pricked slightly and wasn’t anything too unbearable.

At least, to Yan Suizhi, this little prickling was pretty much non-existent.

The hot shower relaxed his body and mind. He didn’t know if it was some kind of psychological effect, but after coming out from his shower, the wound on his leg still felt heated. 

He applied a layer of ointment as instructed by the doctor and wrapped it with the medical gauze the doctor had given him, neither too tightly nor too loosely.

Outside the French windows, the houses of Wine City slumbered in dim light; an ant nest sprawled across a boundless expanse, speckled with starlike golden-white lights. The lights were sparsely scattered, drenched in a lonely warmth.

Yan Suizhi took a sip of warm water, going into a daze as he stared out the window. His eyelashes appeared exceptionally dark when wet from the shower. The thoughts and emotions in his eyes, half-hidden beneath his lashes, were even harder to read.

Bzzt— 

The smart device on his figure suddenly vibrated.

It was a new notification. The source of the notification wasn’t unfamiliar; it was Southcross’ office number—

An error has occurred with the submitted application to loan copies of case files and will temporarily not be approved.

The person who handled this wasn’t unfamiliar, either; it was Ms Fizz. 

Yan Suizhi thought about it. He got up and went to knock on the next room’s door.

When Gu Yan came to open the door, his shirt button had just been loosened, his bony fingers still curled around the collar. He was on the comms with someone. Perhaps because the soundproofing of the room was good, he didn’t bother using an earpiece and the sound was set on speaker mode.

As soon as Yan Suizhi entered the door, Ms Fizz’s voice slammed into his face. “There are several level 1 cases in it, how can you just casually let an intern loan it out? Don’t kid me, weren’t you the one most opposed to sharing important files around, Gu? Why have you changed after taking in an intern? Though it’s true that that intern is very likeable, if I were his teacher I’d also want to create the most optimal learning conditions for him, but rules are rules; you can’t bend them just because of his looks.” 

Gu Yan, “…”

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Any one sentence randomly picked from Ms Fizz’s words was a riot, causing the two people in the room to stare stiffly at each other for a good few seconds, both as awkward as the other.

Reality proved that Ms Fizz felt the most awkward. 

Yan Suizhi coughed appropriately to make his presence known.

Fizz inhaled sharply. “Oops—Ruan?”

Yan Suizhi said, “It’s me, Ms Fizz.”

Fizz, “Gu, you…” 

“He just came in.” While saying this, Gu Yan’s hands left his collar.

Yan Suizhi glanced over and saw that the button that was previously loosened was now fastened again.

Back before, Yan Suizhi had found that as long as there were other people around, Gu Yan would always make sure to appear well put together, never showing a more personal side of himself.

“Then you heard all of it?” Fizz recovered quickly, asking frankly after a few awkward seconds. 

Yan Suizhi smiled, “I heard you praise me for being likeable, thank you.”

Put this way, Fizz no longer felt embarrassed and immediately said with a smile, “I meant those words, you don’t have to thank me for them. But rules are rules, and there is a line drawn here. I really can’t do anything about it.”

Gu Yan was conversely a little surprised by the rules she mentioned. “I can’t even submit the application on his behalf?”

Fizz sighed helplessly, sounding forty years older. “That’s why I keep telling you lawyers to read the rules on occasion. Even if they don’t normally concern you, they’re not just there for show. According to the rules, an application to loan case files up to level 1 clearance has to be reported above. There are a lot of formalities involved.” 

Gu Yan frowned, making to say something.

But Fizz spoke as quickly as a bouncing bean. “But I know how much you dislike these procedures, so I didn’t report the application to above this time.”

Gu Yan’s frown relaxed. “Alright, leave it as it is first then. Time will be a little tight but I’ll have him organise them when we get back to the law firm.”

Fizz was a little suspicious of the motive behind the loan application. “Don’t push these interns so hard. The list of deaths from overwork compiled by the Lawyer’s Association in recent years has grown to quite a horrifying length, don’t let it extend to include interns.” 

“However—” she thought a moment and continued, “time does seem to be a little tight. When will you return? I reckon it’ll take you another two or three more days? The intern’s preliminary assessment is soon after you return. It’s too tiring to have to organise files and prepare for the assessment, how about you leave the files be for now?”

“No.”

“It’s fine.”

Gu Yan and Yan Suizhi spoke at the same time. 

Fizz, “…Ruan, don’t join the fuss, give yourself a way out. From past experience, I can tell you that having to do both will be the death of you. If you’re distracted by having to organise the files, you definitely won’t be able to pass the assessment. And the worst thing is, just look at that Gu standing next to you. Yeah, are you looking? This Lawyer Gu is the strictest and scariest mentor at the preliminary assessment every year. Other people still have their teachers to protect them. You don’t. Please wake up.”

Yan Suizhi restrained his smile. “I’m wide awake.”

Fizz, “Just making sure you are.”

Gu Yan, “…” 

He could tell. He could never let Yan Suizhi and Fizz in the same vicinity in the future; the way they chimed in perfect synchrony would give him a headache.

Yan Suizhi touched his finger and turned back to ask Gu Yan, “Teacher Gu, may I know if you will protect your intern a little during the preliminary assessment?”

Gu Yan, stony-faced, “What do you think? 50, at most.”

Yan Suizhi smiled, nodding. “Alright.” 

After saying this, he swiped a finger over the ring-shaped smart device. An audio recording began to broadcast—

“Teacher Gu, may I know if you will protect your intern a little during the preliminary assessment?”

“What do you think? 50, at most.”

Yan Suizhi wagged his finger, “Anything less than 50 points is foul play. This is evidence.” 

Fizz was losing her head from laughter on the other end. “Nicely done, Ruan.”

Gu Yan, “…”

After cutting off the call with Fizz, the noisy room immediately quietened down.

The contrast was so startling that Yan Suizhi felt it a little overly quiet. He was about to open his mouth and say a little something when Gu Yan beat him to it. 

“Were you looking for me for something?”

It was only then that Yan Suizhi remembered what he had come over for. He waved his smart device. “I had just received notification that the application did not go through and wanted to tell you, but there’s no need to anymore. Are you about to shower and rest? Then I’ll head back first.”

With this, he opened the door, very casually waving as he walked outside. “See you tomorrow.”

Behind him, Gu Yan seemed to want to say something. “You…” 

Yan Suizhi started and turned back towards him, “Is there something else?”

Gu Yan frowned. He finally said in a low voice, “Nevermind, it’s nothing. Just organise the files when we return. Did you avoid the wound when you showered?”

Yan Suizhi looked down at his leg. Under the hem of his bathrobe, he could see that the skin around the gauze by his ankle was slightly red.

“…” 

He really hadn’t avoided it…

Caught, Professor Yan’s first reaction was to grab the doorknob. He decisively slammed the door shut.

—

After returning to his room, he sat beside the French windows again. As he drank the water that had completely cooled down, he suddenly found himself both amused and vexed: the wound was on his leg, what was he feeling so guilty for… 

Yan Suizhi had muddled along by himself for many years. Because of his high status and accomplishments, no one tried to or dared to care for him. It really felt quite strange having someone minding him like this all of a sudden.

After finishing that glass of chilled water, he pulled out the video recordings they obtained from those restaurants today.

He and Gu Yan each had a copy of them. Gu Yan’s was stored in his photon computer; his was stored in his smart device.

He took out his earpiece and electronic pen, created a few blank pages, and carefully watched those few recordings from beginning to end. As the time that they had in the restaurants was limited, they only managed to watch a few key points. But now there was ample time for him to watch through the surveillance from the days before and after. 

He watched most of it on fast forward. It was only at particular timepoints or when particular people appeared, that he would slow it down and make some notes on the page.

The notes he made leapt quickly from one to another, and he didn’t conscientiously jot down every word that formed the thought.

He usually wrote a timestamp and abbreviated the thought into two or three words next to it. Sometimes, two different timestamps and notes together were even connected with a long, broad stroke.

When he finished going through the bulk of the recordings, there weren’t many words written on it; each point was distributed in different positions on the page with long and short lines connecting them together. Surprisingly, it didn’t look messy at first glance, contrarily even giving off a slight artistic flair. 

But if anyone looked closely… aside from him, no one could make sense of it.

Life in the slums as depicted in the video was completely different from the ambience given off by Two Moon Street.

Even if it were daytime, this area was always dimly lit for the lanes were narrow and the houses were crammed together. Gloomy shadows were cast at every nook and cranny, crowding out the light. It always gave off a sense of chaos, but it also had a few repetitive rules mixed within this disorder.

Most of what Yan Suizhi jotted on the first half of the page was this— 

For example, every day at nine in the morning and at around seven in the evening, the woman who lived diagonally opposite Joshua’s house would take out her garbage. Some heat would emanate from the hole by the side of the machine next to the dumpster, and a drunkard often relied on this heat to tide through the night. So, this woman would often quarrel with this drunkard for ten minutes a day, seven days a week, after taking out the garbage.

And after that quarrel, that drunkard would slowly shake off his sleep, pace around the surroundings, and rub his head as he headed home. He stayed in the small cabin behind Kitty Bell’s house.

For example, at lunch and dinner hour every day, that short and stout middle-aged taxi driver would stop at the intersection outside the alley and hand the taxi to Fix. Fix would always drive the car into the alley, have a meal or a cigarette, rest for half an hour, then drive out the other end of the alley.

His shift usually lasted no more than an hour and a half, and he would come back alone. Sometimes, he would stay a long time at home; sometimes, he would go out with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. 

When Yan Suizhi saw this, he had half a mind to get up and discuss this briefly with Gu Yan. But right as he stood up, he felt a swelling ache come from the wound on his leg. It was too troublesome; he straightforwardly used his smart device to send Gu Yan a message:

-Let’s go find that taxi driver Fix tomorrow

Gu Yan’s reply came quickly:

-Watching the recording? 

-Mhm. The car is parked at a good angle. Ask him if he has surveillance installed in his car, which model it is, and whether it can video the happenings behind the car.

-Don’t get your hopes up.

-Who knows, what if we get lucky.

After Yan Suizhi sent this, he thought for a moment and shook his head, supplementing: 

-I don’t seem to have much luck. We’ll be counting on you.

This time, perhaps Gu Yan was busy with something; there wasn’t any response for a long time.

And a long time later, he finally replied:

-Mn. 

Mn, your ass.

Where’s your courtesy??

Yan Suizhi angrily closed the message interface and continued to watch the recordings.

Most of what he wrote in the second half of the page revolved around Joshua Dale— 

For example, Joshua Dale would leave the house at a little after six every morning. At least eight out of ten times, he would run into Chester, Kitty Bell’s relative. Enemies were bound to meet on a narrow road; they would each walk on one side of the alley without saying a word to each other from start to end. If they did, they would inevitably raise their voices, looking close to blows.

Every day at eleven in the morning, the little girl Rosie would drag a square stool and sit by the door, acting like a stone lion. 

At around eleven-thirty, Chester would return home.

Mystifyingly, he seemed to be at odds with Joshua Dale, but seemed to have a good relationship with Rosie. There were even two times that he gave Rosie something when he passed by, some small gift or other. There was also a time when the drunkard wandered around Rosie and Chester kept standing by the wall as a deterrent until the drunkard walked off; only then did he return home.

And Joshua Dale usually wouldn’t be back until around noon. When he came back, Rosie would docilely follow him in, dragging the square stool behind her.

Chester always left after lunch. Conversely, Joshua Dale’s movements in the afternoon didn’t follow any fixed pattern. He would occasionally only leave at two or three, and occasionally leave early, only coming back at around six or seven. 

Chester always came home around eight in the evening.

The alley was much quieter after the case without Joshua and Rosie, and even Chester mostly stayed in the hospital, only coming back late at night.

Even that drunkard stopped lumbering around the dumpster area for several days. There were two days that he even took a jog down the alley, pulling a few people on his route into a chat, including the woman who regularly took out garbage.

Fix’s taxi, as always, continued to stop by at those two timepoints before leaving. 

After combing through those timepoints in the video several more times, Yan Suizhi leaned back against the chair to study the pages of notes he had taken down, circling a few names as he did. He then combined it with the case file he had previously read and made careful comparisons between them…

In the past, it was very normal for him to spend the night like this when he was busy. If there was time, he’d take a nap in between, and drink a cup of coffee to energise himself after waking up. Everyday, he would make sure to exercise for half an hour, so even if these late nights weren’t too good on his body, he could still shoulder the burden. It was very uncommon for him to unwittingly fall asleep when looking at a case…

But today was an exception.

He really couldn’t remember at which point he started to feel tired, and at which point he changed his position. In short, by the time he squinted and pulled himself halfway into consciousness, he found that he was already lying in bed with only a corner of the quilt over him. 

Before his mind cleared up, he felt very hot and unbearably feverish. A while later, when he woke up, he inexplicably felt very cold, but his mind was still as dizzy as before.

When Gu Yan got the hotel staff to forcibly open his door, Yan Suizhi was bundled up in the white quilt and sleeping restlessly.

His eyebrows were tightly knit together. Hearing the noise from the people entering his room, he unconsciously buried his face further into the pillow, then stopped moving.

After a few seconds, he squinted his eyes open, blinking. He clung onto his barely conscious awareness and asked gloomily, “Who is it? Get out…” 

His voice sounded extremely impatient, a far cry from the usual smile in his voice.

Also, his voice was low and hoarse, as if delirious from fever.

Gu Yan strode to his bedside and reached out, pressing his hand against Yan Suizhi’s forehead. Probably because his hand was cold, Yan Suizhi’s frown deepened from the chill, but his mind turned a little more sober.

“…why did you come in?” Yan Suizhi took a while to get used to the sensation, then with his eyes half-lidded, muttered a few words. 

Even with a forehead that burnt Gu Yan’s hand, he still had the energy to glare at people.

But he closed his eyes not long after he finished his glare, hazily, dizzily, slowly falling back asleep.

Perhaps due to the discomfort of his fever and that Gu Yan’s chilly palm felt soothing, as Gu Yan was about to draw back his hand, Yan Suizhi pressed his forehead forward with his eyes closed. This action was very muted, yet it felt as though he had consciously made to nuzzle his head into Gu Yan’s palm.

So much so that Gu Yan paused for a beat when drawing back his hand. 

“How is he?” The young lad with many silver piercings from the front reception was the one who had come up to open the door for him.

Two minutes ago, when Gu Yan went to him asking for the master key, his heart thumped and he had almost swallowed down the gum he was chewing. He stretched his neck and managed to stop it from going down.

As he hastily hurried up, his heart was like a frog set in gradually heated water, sploshing about relentlessly.

It wasn’t much if there was any small incident or illness, but in the event that any unexpected misfortune came knocking, he could pretty much bid this hotel business adieu. 

“Fever.” After Gu Yan drew back his hand from his forehead, he hesitated briefly and lifted a corner of the lower half of Yan Suizhi’s quilt.

He glanced at it and covered it back up, then turned to ask. “Do you have any anti-inflammatory medicine?”

Who knew what nasty things ran through the young lad’s mind, but the colour of his face turned particularly spectacular for a moment. Wavering, he rubbed his neck and said, “Yeah. I have all kinds of anti-inflammatory medicine, hang on a bit.”

With this, he sprinted out of the room exuberantly. 

“…”

Gu Yan felt that there must be a few screws loose in that guy’s head.

Yan Suizhi frowned and squinted his eyes again at the disturbance of these two people’s voices. This time, he raised his head slightly, stared at Gu Yan for a long time, then slumped back down, mumbling, “Illegal trespassing is a criminal offence, Gu Yan. If you refuse to leave after you’re caught, you’ll be punished with imprisonment for up to three years…”

Gu Yan, “…” 

Still could recognise people, still could remember the law; that wasn’t too bad already, it was only that he didn’t seem to know where his body was.

He let Yan Suizhi fall back asleep without disturbing him further, deciding to pour a glass of warm water to leave on the bedside table.

When the young lad came back again, he brought a medicine box, in which were seven or eight kinds of anti-inflammatory medicine and a dozen different kinds of fever medicine, as well as two home-use anti-inflammatory injections, just like a human vending machine. “By right, the medicine in Wine City should work basically the same way as what you have over there. But they may have been manufactured in different places, so I don’t know if there’s anything you guys are averse to.”

Gu Yan picked two boxes of medicine with lesser side effects and an injection needle. “Thank you.” 

“Is there anything else I can help with?” The lad asked, “I’ve studied two years of nursing before, I shouldn’t have any problems when it comes to giving injections.”

Actually, this type of injection for home use was easily administered; even people without nursing knowledge would be able to handle it. However, Gu Yan still let him lend a hand.

When Yan Suizhi’s scalded calf and ankle was exposed, the young lad then knew that he had made a huge misunderstanding. He turned his head away and coughed, then looked down at the obviously inflamed wound, saying, “That must be painful.”

The lad unpacked the injection needle. He tapped it lightly twice on the side of Yan Suizhi’s leg, “This guy really doesn’t treat his leg as a leg. Press his knee down for me. I’m afraid that he’d shirk away when half-awake and leave the needle stuck in his leg.” 

It was at this time that Yan Suizhi became fully sober on all accounts.

After all, having someone press his knee and twist it sideways was a… very disconcerting feeling.

He instinctively tried to pull his leg back, then supported himself up to a sitting position with impatience written all over his face. As a result, he came eye to eye with Gu Yan who was pressing him down. 

“You actually woke up?” At this point, the young lad spoke up and waved the injection needle at him. “This inflammation… I’ll be making a couple of injections along your wound in a bit, so it may be a little painful. Err… truth be told, it may be very painful. So just put up with it a little.”

Yan Suizhi’s eyelashes drooped down. He lazily replied with a hum.

The young lad had injected himself with this type of anti-inflammatory injection before; once the needle went in he wailed like a ghost, no joke. By the time he finished a round of injections, there was a circle of curious onlookers at his door.

Little did he expect that after circling the wound with injections, aside from feeling the tightening of muscle, this guest didn’t have any other reaction. 

“Doesn’t it hurt?” the lad tossed the single-use injection into the disposal.

Yan Suizhi’s response was dismissive. “It’s alright.”

Gu Yan loosened the hand on his knee. Yan Suizhi also exhaled quietly in relief, only realising his shoulder and back muscles had been taut after feeling a little soreness in his shoulder.

The young lad spread the medicated ointment on the gauze and passed it over to Gu Yan. 

Yan Suizhi moved his leg. “It would be fine if it was when I was asleep, but now that I’m awake, I think I’d better do it myself.”

Gu Yan glanced at him. He didn’t insist and passed the gauze over.

Now, Yan Suizhi felt completely at ease. As he frowned and wrapped his wound with gauze, he found how red and swollen his wound was, and couldn’t help but laugh at himself in a hoarse voice, “Went to sleep and woke up with another leg.”

Gu Yan, “Go ask the lamb chops you had yesterday.” 

“The effect really is quick.”

Gu Yan, “Would you like another one today?”

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Knowing that he was wrong, he obediently shut up. He wrapped the gauze, and firmly bound the quilt around his leg, leaving it out of sight and out of mind. 

The young lad tidied up his things and made his leave. “Then I’ll go down first. Don’t let any more water touch your leg. For better or for worse, this leg has grown out of your body, not from the lottery. Cherish it a little.”

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Once the young lad left, only he and Gu Yan remained in the room.

He initially thought that this student was surely about to start splaying poison, poisoning him to his death; but little did he expect that Gu Yan would simply sit on the side of the bed and open the anti-inflammatory and fever medicine for him. 

“Hand.”

Yan Suizhi, “…”

His mind was still a little fuzzy from the fever, but he felt it a little amusing in his heart. He followed Gu Yan’s instructions and stretched out a hand.

Gu Yan shook two capsules out onto the palm of his hand, then handed the warm water he poured earlier to him. “Eat the medicine first.” 

Yan Suizhi’s throat was so sore that both swallowing capsules or water felt uncomfortable. Uninterested, he drank a little water then shoved the cup back into Gu Yan’s hand. “That’s enough.”

“Did I say something to you earlier?” Yan Suizhi massaged his temples. “I can’t remember it anymore, did I say any sort of nonsense?”

Gu Yan, “Do you have nonsense that you can’t say?”

Yan Suizhi smiled. “No. I’m afraid that I’ll speak ill of you to your face when my mind isn’t fully awake.” 

Gu Yan’s gaze paused on him for a moment, then shifted away. “Nothing of that sort. You only threatened me with the law saying you wanted to sentence me for illegal trespassing.”

Yan Suizhi, “…”

He found it quite funny. “Then why did you forcibly enter my room?”

Gu Yan, “I suggest that you take a look at your smart device.” 

Puzzled, Yan Suizhi projected a hologram and took a look:

38 missed communication calls…………

Gu Yan poured out the cooled water in the cup and fetched a fresh glass of warm water. His voice was slightly muffled under the sound of running water. “You didn’t respond when I knocked on the door, didn’t pick up when I called, and there was no sound from you in the morning at all…”

“And it just had to be a hotel again.” He looked up and glanced at the mirror, swiftly relaxing the frown between his brows. 

By the time he returned to the bedside, his face was composed.

“Just had to be, what?” Yan Suizhi unconsciously took the glass cup that was handed to him and slowly drank the warm water to soothe his throat. “The sound of water was too loud, I couldn’t hear you.”

“It’s nothing much,” said Gu Yan. “I received a notice in the morning. The court will be held the day after tomorrow.”

“What time?” Yan Suizhi passed the pages he had written last night to Gu Yan. “I jotted down some notes yesterday, I’m handing them over to you. Who’s going up to the defence table this time?” 

This obviously wasn’t a serious question; he himself laughed first after saying it.

Gu Yan was speechless as well. “Do you still remember that you’re an intern? Or do you plan to hop on one leg to the defence table before the judge?”