CH 10

Shen Kanyu trembled as he retracted his wandering hand, then he directed a cautious smile at Gu Yansheng, “I-I, that…it wasn’t on purpose, you looked like you were in a lot of pain.”

***

Shen Kanyu felt that he may have done too many bad things. Not just humans, even the Heavens found him unpleasant to look at. He had just been standing at a newsstand, took out his medicine, and about to take some when it was the end of the school day at the neighboring school. A huge crowd of students came rushing toward the newsstand to buy snacks, drinks, and magazines.

It was really hard to avoid the crowd since he stood in the center. Although he made several attempts to dodge, the medicine bottle was still knocked out of his hand, and the tablets spilled all over the floor.

At that moment, he was a little befuddled. All he could think of was that these were very expensive, very effective painkillers; every single one of them was his life, he couldn’t waste them.

He wanted to pick them up, but this lousy waist of his didn’t allow him to bend over and squat down, so he had no choice but to support his waist with a hand, straighten his back and slowly kneel down. Then he slowly lay on the ground, collecting the medicine and putting them back into the bottle tablet by tablet.

But when it rains, it pours. Before he could pick up half, his hand was stepped on by a chubby fellow. It was stomped on so hard he almost heard the sound of his bones breaking, and he reckoned he would’ve shouted out loud then and there if his throat wasn’t so blocked up.

Am I really that unlucky? Curving his lips into a bitter smile, Shen Kanyu repeatedly swallowed the acidic taste coming from his throat, creased his brows in pain then continued collecting the tablets in a disoriented manner. 

***

When Gu Yansheng drove back, what he saw was the scene of Shen Kanyu crawling and picking things up off the ground. Even when he was trampled on by people, he didn’t make a sound; perhaps the people who stepped on him didn’t even know they had stepped on someone.

Gu Yansheng couldn’t say what some of the feelings he was experiencing, but one feeling was rather clear: anger.

Anger to the point of pain in his chest, so much so that his head also began to hurt.

He marched over and called out to him several times, but he didn’t respond and carried on gathering the pills on the ground earnestly with his head down.

Shen Kanyu recognized Gu Yansheng’s shoes at a glance—he would polish and tend to each pair of his shoes every few days, replace the shoe insoles when they were worn out, and sew the shoes up tightly stitch by stitch when the seams split. So he remembered exactly what each one of his shoes looked like.

He blinked several times, wondering, ‘can it be that I’ve started hallucinating from the pain? This is really serious right?’

***

Shen Kanyu originally suffered from a slipped disc. On top of that, he got into a scuffle today, leading to acute lumbar strain, which ultimately resulted in his current half-dead state.

After the doctor looked at the X-ray, he expressed admiration for Shen Kanyu’s high pain tolerance. The affected area was large and the pain intense; once in pain, the entire body would tense up as well. An average person would’ve fainted and gone into shock long ago from this kind of suffering, but he still had the strength to prattle on about how the doctor must treat him quickly since he had something important to do.

Gu Yansheng was boiling with rage as he looked at that deformed bone. “What important matter can you possibly have?”

“I need to buy tendons…” Shen Kanyu lay paralyzed on the bed, muttering with half-closed eyes.

Gu Yansheng was so angry he laughed. “You’ve ended up in this state and you’re still thinking about food?”

“The auntie2 at the supermarket said…the tendons are really fresh today…” As Shen Kanyu’s voice grew weaker and weaker, it made one think he may very well just stop breathing at any moment. Yet he still continued speaking, “My A-Sheng ah…he loves to eat spicy tendons the most…I haven’t…bought it for him in a long time…I can’t seem…to take care of him well…”

[T/N: 2Not actual auntie, just a middle-aged woman]

It was only then did Gu Yansheng realize that in Shen Kanyu’s blurred consciousness, he had no idea he was still here, and that he was conversing with him. He just subconsciously wanted to bargain with the doctor to quickly release him so that he could buy the fresh tendons which were hard to come by. 

Gu Yansheng stared dazedly at him for a moment, then lightly sighed, “Doctor, can you inject him with a sedative so he can sleep for a while?”

“We would’ve done so even if you didn’t say anything. The patient’s in intense pain, we’re worried that he’ll go into shock during the treatment in a moment.”

“…Thank you.”