Chapter 6
Hospital
Tang Yi and Dao Yi both sprint into the emergency room and see Jiang Jin Tang, who's wrapping up Hong Ye's wounds.
"Hong Ye!"
"Ah Yi?"
Tang Yi rushes forward immediately and hugs Hong Ye, who's sitting up in the hospital bed.
"How is she?"
As he's treating her wounds, Dr Jiang explains the situation, "There are a few abrasions, I've already prescribed some medicine for that. And because we are afraid that she may have a concussion from trauma to the head, so we've also done a brain MRI, and now we're waiting for the report to come out."
Realising that Hong Ye was mostly fine, both men release huge sighs, relieved. Dao Yi's tightly clenched fist at his side also relaxes gradually.
"That gun was just pointing at us... I was really scared, my mind just went blank-"
A nurse comes over with swift steps and goes over to Dr Jiang's side, and reports, anxious, "Dr Jiang, the other patient has been wheeled into the operating theater, Dr Zheng hopes that you can go over right now."
"Okay, I'm going now."
Dr Jiang's expression is somber, and just as he's about to turn to leave, Tang Yi grabs onto his arm.
"Is it Meng Shao Fei?"
"Gunshot wound to the abdomen, his Glasgow coma score is 3♯."
The man wearing his doctor's robes answers, then moves Tang Yi's hand off of his arm, before following the nurse quickly into the operating theatre. The doors of the emergency room slide open once again, revealing Captain Shi and the rest of Team 3, who were informed about Shao Fei's injury earlier. Their expressions all reflect panic and worry - even Yu Qi's eyes are red, and she's obviously cried a few times on the way here.
Captain Shi rushes straight for the desk and grabs onto the nearest nurse to ask, "Meng Shao Fei, where's Officer Meng?"
"Officer Meng was shot in the abdomen, he's currently still in surgery."
Standing on the side, Zhao Zi is unable to hide his panic either and asks, anxious, "How did he get shot?"
"We're not very sure either. Please wait at the side, and don't obstruct the way into the emergency room."
Captain Shi looks up, about to find a place to sit, when he sees a particular someone in the waiting area. He walks forward angrily, and without saying a word, Captain Shi directly slams his fist on the other's face.
"Tang Yi! I agree to let Ah Fei protect you, but he's not for you to use as a shield for bullets! Why did this happen? Why?"
Blaming himself for it all, Tang Yi does not resist - his eyes do not land on Captain Shi even once, and his expression is so cold and distant that he almost looks like a nonchalant outsider. Only those who know him well like Hong Ye and Dao Yi understand, that the man in front of them is in a state of absolute fury.
"Tang Yi you listen carefully, you better pray that nothing happens to Shao Fei, otherwise I won't stand on ceremony and will arrest you to the police station!"
"Boss, don't be like this! Boss!"
Zhao Zi and Jun Wei hold onto the captain's arms on each side, and drag the fuming man away from the emergency room, that is packed with plenty of other patients and their family members. The last one to walk in is Ah Zhi. Right before he leaves, he turns and sends Ah De a look at the doors to the emergency room. Ah De subtly shakes his head at him, before turning his gaze back to Tang Yi seated in the plastic chair and who is staring straight ahead.
The Tang Household
Having just returned home from the hospital, Ah De follows closely behind Tang Yi up the stairs. Jack, who's been waiting there since earlier, takes the initiative and approaches Tang Yi first, "Boss."
"Where's he?"
"Inside."
Tang Yi's footsteps do not cease as he angrily tears his suit jacket off of him, the garment dropping to the ground. Ah De picks it up and hangs it over his arm, his expression revealing both anxiety and unease.
The moment the door to the room opens, they see the man who attacked Hong Ye and Shao Fei earlier tied to a chair in the room, gagged with a piece of cloth. Once the man sees Tang Yi's expression, he immediately begins to struggle and shout.
"Get out."
Knowing that Tang Yi intends to torture the man personally, Ah De immediately stops in front of him. He says, "Boss, let me do it. Don't dirty your hands."
"Get out," the words leave Tang Yi's throat softer than before, but his tone this time leaves a chill down everyone's spine.
"This small matter, I can handle it-"
Ah De does not get a chance to complete his sentence before he's viciously shoved to the wall. Glaring at the subordinate who has interrupted him repeatedly, Tang Yi glares at the man.
"He dared to touch my people, and you call it a small matter? Then what is a 'big matter'?"
"I'm sorry, I spoke out of turn. I'll leave right now."
Having followed Tang Yi for so many years, this is the second time Ah De has seen such an expression on Tang Yi's face - the first time, was four years ago when Tang Yi woke up in the ICU ward, only to be given the news that Boss Tang was dead. Ah De knows that he can no longer say anything. All he can do is hold onto the suit jacket in his hands and leave the room, feeling panicked.
The merciless expression on Tang Yi's face is akin to a grim reaper just as it's about to wield its scythe - he grabs at the man's jaw and smiles coldly, "Hold on just a little longer. I'll definitely let you listen to the sound of your ribs breaking one by one."
Wearing his spiked brass knuckles on his dominant right hand, the man tied to the chair is so fearful that he soils himself, his pants stained with the evidence of his shame and also the unpleasant stench.
Outside of the room, Ah De is unable to sit still and instead paces outside the door, wanting to know what's going on inside, then also looking at his phone from time to time, as if waiting for someone's reply.
Jack calmly plays with the butterfly knife in his hands, and speaks, "Don't worry. He won't beat him to death. Boss knows this much at least."
If the man is beaten to death, then he cannot reveal any clues. The trick is to beat him until he thinks he will die in the next moment, but leave him that tiny, little glimpse of survival. Only then can they get the answers they need. This is what Jack learnt from the battlefield, and this is also the logic he used on himself when he was captured as a hostage and interrogated. Even if he was at his limits, he remembered that there is no reason for him to be loose-lipped, because once he tells the truth he no longer has any value. And people without any value and use will truly walk towards certain death.
"Why would I be worried about that fucker?"
"Oh? Then I must be mistaken. I saw that you were so nervous, I thought both of you knew each other."
"What do you mean? What do you mean by I know him? Who does he think he is, do you think I will know a small fry like him?"
Jack looks at the man who has suddenly switched moods, then smiles, "De Ge, don't get so angry. I'm hardly being serious here, don't take it to heart and don't listen too closely."
Ah De suddenly grabs onto Jack's butterfly knife in his grasp and warns sternly, "Some things cannot be said for the fun of it. Also, be careful of your knife."
At this moment, Ah De's quiet phone sounds with an incoming message and quickly leaves. A few minutes later, Jack deftly keeps his knife and walks over to the floor-to-ceiling windows. With his smiling eyes that scream anything but friendly, he watches as Ah De drives out of the house.
Restaurant booth
"Why did you only just return my texts, he's already been caught by Boss," Ah De says to the person who's been waiting there for a while, the moment he opens the door and walks into the booth.
Hong Ye coldly looks at the man who hurriedly closes the door, and asks, "Li Zhi De, did you really want to kill me?"
"I didn't! The plan was just as I discussed with CEO Zuo previously. We'll pretend that your attacker is your competition from the bid* and I already instructed them to use only sticks to teach Meng Shao Fei a lesson, to make him look like he can't protect anyone at all, that's al!"
Hong Ye picks up the glass of red wine, and with sharp eyes scrutinising the other's every reaction, she continues, "Sticks? But he was holding a gun. That time, you were the one who said you could chase Meng Shao Fei away and that's why I reluctantly cooperated with you. In the end, this show has turned out to be farce. Or... did you have other motives for this?"
"CEO Zuo, how could I have any other motives? I really don't know why it has turned out like this. I called and confirmed it earlier, before my people got to the carpark everything had already happened. Those people weren't sent by me. I wanted to take care of these small fries by myself, but who knew Boss would do it personally, and I didn't expect that Boss would have such an extreme reaction towards Meng Shao Fei getting hurt..."
That very last sentence, Ah De says through gritted teeth.
At his words, Hong Ye, who was cutting through a slice of blue cheese with her fork, freezes. Taking a deep breath, she picks up her handbag from the couch, and with a raised eyebrow, she says to Ah De, "In any case, the show is over. If that guy says anything to Ah Yi, you're on your own."
"CEO Zuo! CEO Zuo!"
Ah De shouts after her in a panic, but he can only watch as the woman leaves the booth without a backwards glance.
The Tang Household - Balcony
Tang Yi, who hates the smell of cigarette smoke, smokes one now - something that happens rarely. His sleeves are folded all the way to his elbows, still stained with dried blood.
Jack walks to the balcony and speaks, "He's been sent to the hospital to Dr. Jiang already. Does Boss already know who sent him?"
Tang Yi's eyes are filled with murderous intent and his gaze sweeps towards the red-haired man. Jack shrugs and smiles, "I'm simply curious what person wants to die so much that he dared to touch the person Boss cares about the most."
Tang Yi does not reply immediately. Instead, he draws a cigarette out of its box and lights it with his lighter, watching as the white rings of smoke float into the air and dissipate. Then in a voice coloured with resentment, he spits, "Chen. Wen. Hao."
"It was him after all."
Having gotten his answer, Jack's eyes move to the side and watch the brass knuckles settled on the surface of the table still stained with dried blood, and secretly makes his plans.
Restaurant parking lot
Hong Ye walks towards the parking lot, but sees Dao Yi, who's already standing next to her car.
"What are you doing here?"
"Boss already found out who sent the men who shot at you."
"Is that so?"
Expressionless, she moves towards the driver's seat, not want Dao Yi to realise that this was hers and Li Zhi De's plan, but she hears an unexpected answer.
"Chen Wen Hao."
Hong Ye heaves a sigh of relief on the inside, and pretends to be calm as she says, "I already told Ah Yi that he should be careful with that old fox."
"Miss, this time you were lucky that nothing worse happened. I understand that you want to protect Boss, but getting our brothers to hurt yourself, what if something actually happened? We will be very upset and hurt."
Hong Ye looks at the man who already knows everything, and stops playing the fool. Instead, she goes straight to the reason for doing it.
"Ever since Ah Yi met hat cop, nothing good has happened. I'm protecting him in my own way, what right do you have to accuse me?"
Dao Yi exhales heavily, and calmly replies. "You've seen Boss' reaction towards him. If you're really thinking about Boss, then let him handle his relationship with Meng Shao Fei. I don't wish to see you get hurt."
"You don't want to see me get hurt?" Hong Ye looks at him, her eyes bitter and asks, "Do you know who has hurt me the most? It's you, Gu Dao Yi!"
The man averts his gaze and is silent for a few moments.
"Let me send you home."
He walks towards the left side of the car, about to open the door and sit in the driver's seat and prepared to send the person most important to him safely home, but Hong Ye slaps his hand away in anger.
With tears running down her face, she yells, "Everytime we get to this topic you hide! Why can't you face the feelings that I have for you? I just want to say, I like you, Zuo Hong Ye likes Gu Dao Yi!"
"Miss, it's only because I've taken care of you for so many years, so you're mistaken habit and dependence as liking me."
"I'm definitely not mistaken! I've liked you since I was young, I've had a crush on you and also confessed to you for so many years! How could I be mistaken?"
"Miss..."
"Right. You're right. It's habit. I'm used to you treating me well, used to you taking care of me, used to you cleaning up my messes, and then I thought habit was me liking you... Very good. I'm awake now..."
Prideful, Hong Ye has tolerated one rejection after another, and yet today all she has gotten is this embarrassing situation. So she lifts her chin up, inhaling deep, and speaks, "You being nice to me is because Boss Tang asked you to. If that's the case, let's end it here. These past few years have been hard on you, Uncle Dao Yi."
Pushing aside Dao Yi who's standing next to the door, she sits on the driver's seat and slams the door shut. She starts the engine of her blue car and drives out of the restaurant's parking lot.
Dao Yi stands in the parking lot and watches Hong Ye's car leave.
Hospital corridor
"Toothbrush, shampoo, cup, hot flask, ah! I forgot to bring the hot flask.... Is Ah Fei awake?"
Carrying a bag filled with a change of clothes and some necessities, Zhao Zi walks to the hospital room Shao Fei is in. Opening the door and taking a look, he immediately freezes.
Inside the room, Tang Yi stands at the end of the bed watching an unconscious Shao Fei, still under anaesthesia. Hearing the noise made from the door opening, his icy gaze shifts, and Zhao Zi immediately shivers. Timidly, he retreats out of the room and even closes the door shut on his way out.
Standing outside the door, Zhao Zi pats at his chest and hammering heart. "Oh my god, why is he here? I.. better visit later then."
He picks up the bag, deciding that he will first go somewhere near the hospital to eat something first, then circle around the area a few times before he comes back to visit Shao Fei.
Inside the room, Tang Yi quietly holds Shao Fei's hand - the one without the IV drip - and gazes intently at Shao Fei's face, so pale due to the loss of too much blood.
"Meng Shao Fei," Tang Yi softly calls the person who's already become the most important person to him.
The man lying in bed moves the fingers clasped in Tang Yi's hand, then slowly opens his eyes and looks at the blurry but familiar figure before him. Unconsciously, his lips curve up.
"Poker face."*
Saying those words with a smile, Shao Fei closes his eyes, incredibly at ease, and slips back into sleep.
"You see? It has a dead face like yours, I'm giving this to you. Hold onto it!"
Tang Yi cannot help but laugh at the thought of their conversation then, and takes the keychain out from his suit. Since the day he lost control and beat the culprit who shot Shao Fei half to death and tossed him to Jiang Jin Tang afterwards, Tang Yi has been carrying the keychain with him, along with the lighter that Boss Tang gave him.** Shao Fei gave it to him, this skeleton keychain.
Looking at the man in the hospital bed, Tang Yi is unable to move his gaze from Shao Fei for a long while.
Outside the hospital
Just as he's leaving the hospital through its doors, his path is blocked off by a car that suddenly pulls its brakes and stops in front of him.
Jack, who's been following closely behind Tang Yi since they left the hospital room, immediately stands in a bodyguard's position, shielding Tang Yi at his front, ready to attack at anytime.
A man alights the car and with an expression of calm, gestures towards the open car door and welcomes Tang Yi in. Politely, he says, "Mr. Tang, Boss Chen wants to see you."
Jack moves to touch his butterfly knife, but immediately after a gun is pressed at his waist belonging to another subordinate. The clean and smooth movement is familiar to Jack - obviously, these are moves taught to him also by the army.
"Just as well. I have something I would like to ask Boss Chen as well."
Tang Yi looks towards Jack and with his eyes, hint at Jack to not return the attack. Then, he moves into the backseat, and is sent to a Chinese tea room by Chen Wen Hao's subordinates.
In the tea room
"We finally meet."
The man who controls the drug network and supply in Cambodia looks just like any other elder, and with a smile he welcomes the young Xing Tian Meng leader, who was 'invited' here.
"If you've got anything to say, then get to the point. I don't like to beat around the bush," Tang Yi says, expressionless as he kneels on the tatami mat of the tea room."
"Good!" Chen Wen Hao says, impressed. "We return to others what has been done to us. That has always been a rule in our world, and since you picked on my subordinate, Wang Kun Cheng, so I retaliated with Zuo Hong Ye. But now that Zuo Hong Ye is fine, it seems like I'm on the losing end of this."
"What do you want?"
"I hear that Tang Guo Dong raised you up himself, and he treats you like his son."
Deliberately using a nonchalant tone, Chen Wen Hao tries to find out the truth about the rumor that Tang Yi is Tang Guo Dong's secret son***, but Tang Yi does not react to the sentence.
Chen Wen Hao picks up his tea and drinks, then continues, "I once treated Tang Guo Dong as my family, and I even went to jail for him willingly. I didn't expect him to have a son and then not tell me. Then again, according to the ranks in Xing Tian Meng, you should call me 'Uncle' as well."
"Of course. Those who Xing Tian Meng re indebted to, I definitely will treat them as family... but those who betray Xing Tian Meng, no matter who they are, I will make him pay the price," Tang Yi smiles, responding to Chen Wen Hao, who for some reason keeps focusing on the topic of Boss Tang.
"Since we're all family, why not let's make a deal."
Chen Wen Hao looks at the unflappable young man who reveals no emotion no matter how Chen Wen Hao tries to sound him out, and gives up on asking about the relationship between Tang Yi and Boss Tang. Changing the subject, he talks business instead.
"I don't intend to be Xing Tian Meng's enemy. After all, this is not my territory, what's more important is to be able to make money. I can forget what happened with Wang Kun Cheng and everything that happened before. We'll treat it that we didn't know each other then. From today onwards, I can reject all of Xing Tian Meng's orders. I do my own business, you reform your organisation, we don't touch each other's territory. How's that?"
Filling up a cup with hot tea, he slides it across the table until it's settled before Tang Yi.
"It's a deal!"
Tang Yi raises the cup in Chen Wen Hao's direction, and the man raises his own cup as well. They down the cup in one go, then turn the cups over to show that no drop of tea is left in their cups.
Chen Wen Hao eyes curve as he smiles, and looking at the young man seated in front of him, he says, "Good! I'll introduce you to someone next time, this person will be very helpful to your legal business."
"Thank you Boss Chen," he smiles at the old fox who has finally been led back here after years of planning, placing the cup back on the table.
Hospital roof
"Fuck! So suffocating!" Shao Fei shouts to the sky, who's sitting on a wheelchair and was pushed up to the roof for some air by Tang Yi.
Tang Yi stands on the roof, gazing at the view in the distance, and says, "Thank you for saving Hong Ye."
"Please, I'm a cop! This is what I'm supposed to do."
"But..." Tang Yi returns his gaze to the person next to him, and frowning, he continues, "Don't let this happen a second time."
"Huh?"
"I don't want to lose another friend."
"Hey! I've been upgraded? From half a friend to a friend? Oh, ouch ouch ouch ouch-"
Shao Fei, who was almost at death's door, enjoys less than three seconds of happiness, before he's yelling out in pain from pulling at this wound.
"Are you okay? Let me bring you to a doctor."
Concern written all over his face, Tang Yi anxiously looks at Shao Fei, who's pressing at his abdomen. Shao Fei is bent at the waist, lightly holding onto where he pulled at his wound and pitifully, he implores, "I just came out and you want me to go back? Please let me have some more air, please, please."
Tang Yi smiles, shaking his head. Gazing into the other person's eyes and with a somber expression, he says, "Meng Shao Fei, I'm very happy that you're still alive. Although you've been opposing me constantly in the past four years, but until the moment I was standing in front of the operating room and seeing how pale you were, in a deep, induced coma, I realised... I don't want to lose you."
The person listening to this recalls the moment he realised his own feelings for Tang Yi, the night that he cried out of hurt and pain. Shao Fei thought that in the other person's eyes, he wasn't even a 'friend', but now hearing the confession that Tang Yi didn't want to lose him.
"You made my life so different and let me experienced warmth again. So I hope that you will live well, even if it's just for my sake-"
Tang Yi continues to speak, not realising that the person next to him has teared up, his eyes all red. Suddenly, an arm hooks around his neck and lips press to his.
Until they're almost breathless, only then does Shao Fei finish the kiss and stands from the wheelchair. He walks towards the roof's shorter wall in front of him and looks towards the clear skies, then turns around and points at the Xing Tian Meng leader, who is sporting an indescribable and complex expression right now.
Full of sincerity and being so serious, Shao Fei says, "Tang Yi! I'm chasing you for sure!"
He will not be like the female characters in an idol drama where she is indecisive and counts the petals on a flower, but also eventually doesn't dare to take the step to chase after her own happiness.****
No matter who he, Meng Shao Fei, likes, he doesn't care for anyone else's opinion. Even if the other person is a male, even if he's Xing Tian Meng's boss, even if the underworld and cops are from two different worlds, Shao Fei wants to trap Tang Yi's person, and have Tang Yi's heart as well. And-
He will never regret it!
The Tang Household
Tang Yi sits behind his office desk that is illuminated only by a desk lamp, looking at the lighter and skeleton keychain on the table. He recalls what Boss Tang once told him...
"Promise me, if one of these days, you can only choose between yourself and Xing Tian Meng, then give up Xing Tian meng."
"I'm already prepared to-"
"Just leave that to me, you shouldn't be the one to have it. Xing Tian Meng was established by your uncles and I, and we have a duty to keep it alive but also die with it. And you don't."
"Because I don't have the right?"
"No, because you still have a future," Tang Guo Dong smiles and caresses the top of his head.
"Silly boy! There are a lot of precious things in life that's worth you chasing after, do you understand that?"
"Like what?"
"Love. If you've never been in love, you haven't actually live life properly."
The man reaches out with his finger and lightly pokes at Tang Yi's chest, over his heart.
"Every person in life was born lacking one rib, and that rib grows on the person you like. Maybe you think it doesn't matter right now, but I hope that one day you will understand what happiness is like loving someone. When that happens, don't forget to let me see what you rib looks like. I hope you will that person won't be like you, with an icy expression on their faces all the time..."
Tang Yi presses at his chest, right over his heart where Boss Tang once poked at and recalls everything that has happened between him and Shao Fei these past four years. He picks up the skeleton keychain, and makes a decision.*****
Hospital
Busy with helping Shao Fei pack after settling his discharge papers, Zhao Zi and Yu Qi look up to see the Xing Tian Meng leader walking into the room.
Bringing up her courage, Yu Qi opens her arms and blocks his path, and says, "What are you doing here? We don't welcome you here."
Although she doesn't know what the other person is going to do, in any case, she must not let this man close to Shao Fei, because everytime something happens to Shao Fei, this man is always involved.
"Tang Yi, what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to give you an answer."
"What answer?"
Zhao Zi scratches the back of his head and dumbly asks Jack, who's followed at Tang Yi's back and entered the room as well. Jack doesn't reply, only pinching at Zhao Zi's cheek with a smile.
Shao Fei nervously looks at the person walking towards him, not sure what kind of answer he will give him.
The next second, Tang Yi imitates the action that Shao Fei did on the rooftop a few days ago - he hooks his arm around the back of Shao Fei's neck and pulls him close, and in front of the other three people, he kisses Shao Fei's lips.
So startled Zhao Zi and Yu Qi are that heavy breathing sounds being to come from the both of them, their eyes wide and staring at everything that's happening before them, speechless. On the other hand, Jack who's standing on the side with his arms crossed, looks upon the scene with amusement.
"Meng Shao Fei, I want you!"
"We'll see who will get the other person first!" Shao Fei declares, arrogantly lifting his chin up, and looking at the man who so certainly confessed to him.
-
*In the previous chapters, I wrote 'dead person's face' as a literal translation, but in this case, he's calling Tang Yi that as a name of sorts and not a description, so I've switched to 'poker face' as a term rather 'dead person's face' or 'like a dead person' kind of thing