Husky’s Side Chapter 35

If you have any triggers or content you are uncomfortable with, please highlight the line below for a t/w for this chapter:
t/w: suicide attempt; Qian Duoshu calls Zhou Li and Zhou Luwen while crying and Zhou Li figures out that he was going to commit suicide. The two go to his house, where he had turned on the gas stove and inhaled a lot of carbon monoxide. They end up taking him to the hospital, where his condition is stabilised.

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Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side
Longing to live

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Zhou Li knew what these little brothers of his were like.

These stupid boys were not proud of their distain towards learning, but rather, they were ashamed of learning. The teacher looked at them like they were puddles of mud, and so they slowly melted themselves into mud puddles. For them, striving towards an education may be harder than for them to learn how to harm people. 

Er-ge, uncertain if he heard his words correctly, asked, “Ge, what did you say?”

Lao San slid out a cigarette in silence with the intention to light it, but with a single sweeping glance from Ying-ge, he tapped the cigarette back in the box. 

Xiao Liu remarked with a voice as light as a feather, “We’re not exactly ‘learning material’ ah.”

Xiao Qi asked in distress, “How much does this one-on-one tutoring cost ah?”

Zhou Luwen: “……”

Zhou Li was not surprised at all and laid out his analysis in good temper. “Let’s look at this from another perspective, if you guys can’t get into university, what will you do after graduation? Distribute flyers every day, serve dishes in restaurants, help the family wash cars, or band together to sell bags of vegetables? To find an office job, you would at least need to have a bachelor’s degree ba?”

The little brother were still quiet.

They never thought about this problem in the past, but because they all needed to look for a paying job not too long ago, they all knew job-seeking was not the beautiful money-making scenery they had in their minds. With their current state, it seems that they all they can do after graduation was physical work.

Xiao Si suddenly jumped in with, “Ai, we can deliver takeaways ah. It’s said people can make a lot of money.”

The rest of the boys’ eyes lit up as they immediately grasped onto their last hope. “Right ah, food deliveries, not too much technical content, it’s that easy!”

Zhou Li agreed, “En, it is that easy.”

Inwardly, he made mental arrangements for them to experience the life of a takeaway deliveryman for a week while he outwardly offered, “Since you guys have this road to go down, it won’t hurt to try going down another, especially since you are all are so idle these days.”

He looked at them and drew an image of a cake* with a big smile, “Every Saturday and Sunday, I will send a luxury car to take you to my place to study and when you get tired, you can go swimming in the pool, eat snacks and play games, then I’ll take you to the city at noon to have a meal at a top-rated restaurant so you can all experience the life of the upper class.”

[T/N: ‘画大饼’/draw a (pan)cake: comes from story of drawing a pancake (bing) to satisfy one’s hunger; to talk about ideals and the future and use them to comfort yourself or others, but not actually promising practical things.]

The little brothers had stars beaming out of their eyes.

Zhou Li resumed, “The ones I’ve found for you are all high-ranked teachers and the questions curated are from key high schools, not like those from the crappy No. 2.”

He bewitched them with spell-like promises. “Think about it, what if you are actually capable, it’s just that the teachers you have can’t match up to you; what if that’s why you guys could never get a hold of these subjects? Wait until you are personally taught by these masterful teachers for a while, you will be the next idols in school; both your teacher and the dean will have you call you father.”

Er-ge clasped his hand in excitement. “Stop talking, Ge! Isn’t it just studying? It’s easy as f——!”

Lao San: “I’ve been smart since I was a baby, there’s absolutely no problem.”

“Right, me too, I was a smartass child prodigy when I was a kid!”

Zhou Li knew that the reason they agreed to his deal was 80% because of the promises to visit the city, but he didn’t mind.

Besides, when these boys fall into his hands*, even if they wanted other things, won’t it be him who will have the final say?

[T/N: literally, under his nose]

He nodded, satisfied with this outcome. There was another wave of boasting without a lower limit, fully affirming their talents, until every one of these stupid young boys can start to imagine the day they become a big boss and marry their ‘Mrs Perfect’*.

[T/N: 白富美: a fair-skinned, rich and beautiful young lady; ideal wife]

After everyone talked nonsense for a while, Aunt Qian called and told them to go back to eat dinner together.

Zhou Li said goodbye to the others and took Zhou Luwen to where they were having the meal.

The Qian family chose a home-cooked style restaurant and ordered a large variety of food. When they arrived, Qian Duoshu and the others had just arrived and the packed family were seated. After discussing what dishes to order, they sat and chatted, waiting for the food to be served.

Aunt Qian intended to repair the relationship with her ex-nephew, light-heartedly joking, “This atmosphere is so lively, you can go walk around when you have free time instead. Liye, you should come back more often to play around. Although we have no blood relation, you’ve still lived with us for so many years, we can be considered a family. If you run into anything in the future, your Ge and Di can help you out.”

The other children just looked at him and didn’t say anything.

They knew this bastard will now be the official young master of a wealthy family. Just a little bit of his money will be enough for them to live comfortably for several years. However, their relationship has been frozen since a long time ago. Sitting face to face across the table, they had no idea what to say. 

Zhou Luwen frowned at this statement but before he could speak, Zhou Li laughed, “Oh, sure ah.”

Aunt Qian was very pleased. “I know Liye is very sensible*.”

Zhou Li was not humble at all, smiling as he said, “I have always been like this. There is no child in this world more sensible* than me.”

[T/N: thoughtful; understands the situation]

The corner of Aunt Qian’s mouth twitched imperceptibly. She didn’t know how to respond to this sentence.

One of the little cousins couldn’t hold it back and sneered slightly.

Zhou Li’s head turned in the cousin’s direction and he smiled very warmly. “Disagree?”

The little cousin remembered his fierce fights in the past and shrank his neck, not daring to answer.

Aunt Qian gave her son a vicious glare, and hurriedly tried to smooth things over, “He is better than you in every aspect, how can you disagree.”

Everyone: “……”

This flattery truly went too far and everyone looked at her strangely.

Aunt Qian’s face flushed from being at the centre of attention. She switched to another topic with a dry smile and finally stopped acting like the devil.

Zhou Luwen looked at Zhou Li and observed the calm state of the teenager. Thinking of the other’s in-game style, he chose to zip his mouth shut.

Zhou Li deliberately pretended to be dumb and let things naturally gloss over, and all in all the meal was pretty good. After dinner, Aunt Qian wanted to stay for a while to let the kids play a few round of cards to cultivate goodwill but heard Zhou Luwen admit he didn’t know how to play. To the side, Qian Duoshu also said that it was already too late and everyone should go home to rest physically and mentally. After agreeing to meet again the next day, everyone finally dispersed.

Qian Duoshu walked home with his sons and glanced at Zhou Li. “You don’t have to pay attention to your aunt. They’ll take advantage of you.”

Zhou Li smiled. “I know.”

Qian Duoshu nodded and spotted Zhou Luwen’s figure out of the corner of his eyes, adding, “You too, Xiao-Wen.”

Zhou Luwen was very obedient. “En.”

Qian Duoshu still didn’t dare to into his eyes, but perhaps it was because of the casual conversations they exchanged during the meal that eased most of the tension and embarrassment. He was a little more relaxed than before. The moment he stepped into the house, he became busy on his feet, wanting to cut some fruit for them.

Zhou Li stopped him. “Don’t cut anymore, I’m too full.”

Zhou Luwen followed closely, “Me too.”

Qian Duoshu came to a stop after these comments and motioned for them to take a shower.

There was a newly installed shelf in the bathroom and even the old towels were thrown away, replaced with two brand new bath towels. It looked particularly like a hotel. Zhou Li didn’t know whether to laugh or cry for a while but didn’t comment on the refurbishment. After taking a quick shower, he returned to the bedroom and sat cross-legged on the bed to play the broken little game.

Briefly lost, Zhou Luwen also walked in and sat beside him to play as well.

Zhou Li looked up at him. “Aren’t you going to chat with him?”

Zhou Luwen said, “I’m waiting for him to take the initiative to find me.”

He looked at Zhou Li, suppressed the bitterness in his heart, and said, “For so many years, he wasn’t willing to go to the doctors until you came out. It was also you who told us about his condition, not him. I know he may feel embarrassed or something, but escaping responsibilities is not a solution. He can’t always be so passive and let others push him forward from behind.”

Zhou Li looked at him, slightly curious.

Zhou Luwen seemed to be easy-going and tolerant of everything, but in actuality, he has quite a few ideas in his head.

“Let’s play ba,” Zhou Luwen said, “I’m still on the second level, what’s in the third?”

Zhou Li said, “There are no rules.”

Zhou Luwen was surprised. “En?”

Zhou Li handed his phone to the other boy. “There aren’t any clearance conditions written anywhere.”

The first level was to get 10 points, the second was to piece together a puzzle, and the third level was accompanied with nothing but a single line: “Good luck”.

Zhou Luwen: “No strategies or weird symbols?”

Zhou Li: “None. Keep going with yours, I’ll study the level.”

As he said this, he saw the chat box flashing, so he reached out to open it. He saw that Ji Shaoyan had noticed he was online and opened their private chatroom to ask for his thoughts about the game.

Zhou Li recalled the plot.

He remembered that in the original novel, Song Yingshi accidentally smashed a box and was sent to the fourth floor as she sat in a daze. For a while afterwards, the book’s perspective was all through her experiences, during which a series of events occurred, including the husky being beaten until he was send back into his original body by Qian Liye. When Song Yingshi was finished with her business and returned to play the game, Ji Shaoyan had just entered the game. If he remembered correctly, it was Ji Shaoyan who carried everyone else to the next floor.

He replied: What do you think?

Ji Shaoyan: For now, no idea.

Zhou Li: Then I’ll think about it some more.

Ji Shaoyan: Are you free tomorrow? Why don’t you come find me and we can talk about it for a bit?

Zhou Li: Not free. I went back to my old house today and I’m meeting up with my friends tomorrow, then I’ll take Zhou-er to wander around. I’ll probably reach the city long after the sun has set.

Ji Shaoyan stared at this line of updates and was silent for several seconds before typing out two words: Zhou-er?

Zhou Li: En, he came here too.

Ji Shaoyan: “……”

Without asking, these two people must be sleeping under the same roof.

Lying down with his person, sleeping in the same bed he slept in, covered by the blanket he never got the chance to be covered with*… Master Ji imagined this scene and a beautiful smile bloomed on his face. He typed: Very good.

[T/N: when he was a dog, Zhou Li let him sleep next to him on the pillow, so they never actually shared a blanket]

Zhou Li was unaware of the internal injuries* he will suffer from in the future and continued to study the third level.

[T/N: 气出内伤: suffer internal injuries (illness) by poor external conditions (overwork, anxiety, sadness), ‘内伤’ in Chinese medicine could mean damage to internal organ by various causes, including excessive intercourse ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ]

The visual design of these floors were all the same, that is, just the maze layout plus chests lying around. If there was on main difference about the third floor from the previous levels, it was that there were not as many forked roads. 

After a day’s hard work, many of the other players also reached the third floor and the public screen filled with complaints.

Zheng San: What kinda set-up is this? ‘Good luck’, what the hell, do you need a key to enter the next one?

Ji Er: Can’t be ba?

Li: Best to you all bei, maybe someone will enter the fourth level in a few seconds.

Zheng San: Shut it, you.

As soon as this message fell, a new message instantly appeared in the public chatroom.

[System] Congratulations player [San Yue] for entering the fourth floor.

Everyone: “……”

What’s this ah? This is actually the fourth level!

Zhou Li was amazed at this sight, thinking to himself that it really was that easy to be sent to the fourth floor, just as he predicted.

Song Yingshi was very stupefied. Seeing them call for her on in the chatroom, she honestly admitted that all she did was open a chest. After a brief analysis, everyone forgot about the offhand comment about finding a key. They thought the clearance condition must be opening a chest and so they ran crazily about the maze, opening every box they found. In the end, despite opening chests for an entire night, the actions bore no results and they couldn’t do anything else but log-off to sleep. 

Ji Shaoyan stared at the “good night” sent by Silly Fool. Thinking about how this fool was sleeping in the same bed as someone else, he didn’t feel like replying all that much.

After waiting around for a long time, he stared at these two words again and, while enduring his internal injuries*, typed a few words in reply: Good night to you too.

[T/N: like before, though this internal injury may refer to the illness caused by sadness/negative emotions]

Zhou Li ell asleep without any pressure*.

He and Zhou Luwen shared a room while Qian Duoshu slept in a room by himself. With the Big Brother Bodyguard spending the night in the living room, the small apartment quickly became quiet.

The next day, Qian Duoshu had already bought their breakfast by the time Zhou Li woke up .

He had work today and told them not to buy anything to eat for lunch as he will come back to cook for them. Then he left with the car keys.

The remaining three people finished their meal and went downstairs to throw away the garbage, going on a quick walk along the way.

The moment they passed by the intersection between the old and new complexes, Zhou Li heard the faintest sound of someone crying mixed with the banging sound of gongs. Zhou Li’s heart faintly skipped a beat and his head whipped in the direction of the sound’s source.

Seeing this reaction, Zhou Luwen said, “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Li said, “My friend’s grandma may have passed away.”

He said this while making his way towards the sounds, running into Er-ge along the way. The small group arrived downstairs of Song Yingshi’s house and found that a mourning hall* had been erected. Through the muttering of bystanders, apparently the person had left in the middle of the night.

[T/N: 灵棚/ling peng/funeral shed (I don’t know anything about funeral processions in China, sorry)] 

Birth, age, sickness, death; that is the law of life. A soft sigh escaped Zhou Li’s lips. He walked in and bowed three times, nodding to Father Song who he had met once before stopping in front of Song Yingshi. He whispered, “My condolences*.”

[T/N: Zhou Li says “节哀”/jie ai, which basically means ‘restrain your grief, don’t be hard on yourself’, works similar to ‘I’m sorry for your loss’]

Song Yingshi had cried from night until day. Her eyes were already red and swollen and all she could respond with was a choked “en“.

Her stepmother and stepsister observed him closely.

Although this boy was very good-looking, his head was wrapped in a layer of gauze and a tattoo peeked out from his ankles. At first glance, it was obvious he’s a problem child. How nice that Song Yingshi was involved with this kind of person.

Zhou Li ignored the burning gaze he felt from his side and offered a few more words of solace before turning and walking away.

Song Yingshi’s mind was filled with static* and she seemed to remember something just as he was about to leave the property. She stood up and ran after him, asking him to go upstairs to pick up the little golden retriever and to take away the dog food and toys along the way. It was useless if she kept them anyway.

[T/N: filled with some wood]

Zhou Li had no objections. Besides, the reason he agreed to come back this time was so he can pick up the little golden retriever.

They finished discussing this arrangement and Song Yingshi saw her step-sister sneaking over towards her. After hearing their exchange, she curiously peered at Song Yingshi. “Jie, is he your boyfriend ah?”

Taken aback, Song Yingshi replied, “No.”

Her stepsister didn’t believe her. “Then why did you help him raise a dog?”

Song Yingshi couldn’t be bothered paying any attention to her and returned to the mourning hall, kneeling down once more.

It was even more unlikely for Zhou Li to bother with the little sister. Already knowing the layout of the house, he went upstairs and found that Song Yingshi had tied the golden retriever to the radiator. The little guy gazed up at the group of strangers around him and shrank silently into the corner, feeling aggrieved. When it finally saw Zhou Li, it quickly scurried over.

Zhou Li touched its head and hastily packed its belongings. Once he untied the rope, he led it out of the room.

When he returned downstairs, he sent a glance towards the mourning hall again and sighed in his heart. Song Yingshi will have a harder time after she goes back to her home in the city and he didn’t know if Eggy will care about his wife this time around.

He saw the little dog spinning around his ankle and couldn’t help saying, “Say, your brother doesn’t want to stay with his dear mother* and instead insists on pestering his stepfather*. What’s clogged his brain?”

[T/N: probably referring to that time SYS called herself Eggy’s mum, while ZL thinks of himself as Eggy’s dad (not sure why stepdad, maybe it’s because he considers novel-SYS as Eggy’s true ‘mum’)]

Little Golden Retriever expressed that it did not understand, stretching out its paws to hold his ankles and playfully chewing on his shoelaces.

Zhou Luwen and Er-ge off to the side were even more unlikely to understand, following him back to the main road.

Er-ge looked back at the small crowd of people in white clothes behind them, then turned to Ying-ge. “Saozi* is so distressed, why don’t you stay with her longer?”

[T/N: sister in law]

Zhou Li said, “I already told you, don’t call her saozi.”

Before, because he had to send his most important Eggy to Song Yingshi, he couldn’t explain things clearly in order to make his actions appear reasonable. However, this was not the case now so he seriously clarified to Er-ge, “People’s feelings will change. I think it’s better for the two of us to be brothers*.”

[T/N: the same brother (兄弟) as his other little brothers; ‘bros’]

“Ah?” Er-ge’s eyes became a little dazed. “You, and her, be brothers?”

Zhou Li: “Can’t we?”

Er-ge didn’t know what was going around in Ying-ge’s head, but since he said they were brothers, Song Yingshi will also be considered as their brother from now on.

Zhou Luwen could guess that it might’ve been the previous Qian Liye who liked Song Yingshi in the past so he kept silent and followed them back downstairs. When he looked up, he saw Aunt Qian coming over in their direction.

This time, in addition to her son, she also brought a little girl. She introduced everyone to each other, saying that the girl was her uncle’s daughter. Her sister-in-law happened to have a daughter as well, so she brought along the little girl to act as her niece’s companion. 

Zhou Li noticed the girl sneak a fleeting glance at him. He suddenly felt that his aunt of his had quite the talent.

Perhaps she had one too many dreams about marrying into a wealthy family that she turned to matchmaking. He looked at the two ladies with squinted eyes and a smile, then raised a hand to the side and stuck out two fingers.

Er-ge blinked, then had an epiphany.

He quickly shook out a cigarette and planted it between the fingers, then lit the end with a lighter.

Zhou Luwen: “……”

Zhou Li took a drag of the cigarette and slowly blew out a cloud of smoke at them in a cocky manner. He laughed, “Sure ah, everyone play together. I’ll call those little brothers of mine out and take them to the clubs, we can all dance around and have some fun.”

Aunt Qian and the three others: “……”

The colour on Aunt Qian’s face switched all at once. “How can you go to such a place?” She looked at Zhou Luwen. “Xiao-Wen, what do you say?” 

Zhou Luwen said, “I haven’t been before, I want to go and see what it’s like.”

“You can’t go!” Aunt Qian’s expression grew even worse. “That place is far too messy!”

“How’s it messy? I think it’s pretty good,” Zhou Li said as he took two steps forward and knudged the shoulders of his little cousin, almost knocking the boy over. He laughed, “Auntie, don’t worry about it. We young people have our own ways of letting go. Come on, cousin, Ge will take you somewhere that will open your eyes today.”

Aunt Qian’s yelped “ao”  and forcefully snatched her son back.

She saw her two nephews staring at her in unison and dryly chuckled, “That… He is timid, I’m afraid he won’t find it fun playing in that environment. I still have to buy them clothes, so you two can go on first, I’ll get them their clothes first before coming back to find you.”

She left without waiting for their reply, dragging the two kids with her.

Zhou Li still didn’t think it was enough, so he yelled after her, “Then you should hurry up ah, I’ll reserve a spot for them.”

Zhou Luwen glanced at him and took the cigarette from the other’s hand, finding a place to press it out.

After this trouble, Aunt Qian never appeared again.

Maybe she also contacted the other children in the family because after this, none of them came to bother them.

Zhou Li was very content. He took Zhou Luwen to walk around the neighbourhood until the temperature outside rose, then he called the other little brothers to hang out at their house. The group of boys played cards and spent the whole morning in a lively gathering.

At noon, Qian Duoshu came home and cooked up a table’s worth of dishes for them, but he still didn’t have the courage to talk to Zhou Luwen about his mental condition. It was highly likely he didn’t want to ever bring the issue up in the future.

Zhou Luwen didn’t say anything about it. He took an afternoon nap and found that the farmer’s market had been set up by the time he woke up. He went downstairs and strolled around curiously. Before he knew it, the day had already become the evening.

Father Zhou had already called in advance and drove over to have dinner with them. He looked at them from head to toe and found that there were no irregularities. Once they were done with the meal, he signalled for the boys to go downstairs first.

Qian Duoshu knew at a glance that the other man had something to tell him. Instead of sending the two children out himself, he sat still and nervously asked, “What do you want to say?”

Father Zhou said, “I don’t want to say anything right now.”

Once he said this, he raised his arm and threw a punch. “I just want to beat you first.”

Zhou Li and the others waited downstairs for more than 20 minutes. Once finished, he saw Father Zhou’s now-messy shirt and a little bit of blood peeking out from the corners of his mouth——in the end, he finally forced Qian Duoshu’s fire out, though this didn’t benefit him in anyway.

“……” Zhou Li and Zhou Luwen walked over together.

“It’s okay, I just talked things over with him a little.” Father Zhou emphasised, “I didn’t lose out on anything.”

The two: “……”

Father Zhou said, “He doesn’t want to come downstairs, let’s head off.”

The two found it hard to ask anymore questions.

Although Zhou Luwen wanted to see his biological father’s injuries, he felt that Qian Duoshu might not even want to see him at this time, so could only get in the car and leave.

This time, Zhou Li took his household register and a small photo* with him. The next day, he followed his big brother to handle the household registry before being taken to Mingying to fill out a few forms. He was so busy that he went through an entire day without realising the passage of time.

[T/N: a one-inch photo of his face for identity proof, most likely]

At night, he entered the game as usual and saw how everyone else was still stuck on the third floor for the entire day. Except for one lone Song Yingshi, there was no second person who was able to enter the next floor, which made all the players suspect there was even a bug.

Zhou Li wandered around for a long time, noticing that there were fewer forked roads compared to the first two floors. Turning this over in this mind, he knocked on Ji Shaoyan’s chat: Would you say this could be part of a picture?

Ji Shaoyan thought so as well.

He felt that Song Yingshi must’ve found the clearance key by accident, which was how she could enter so quickly. He replied: Could be possible.

He couldn’t help but send out an invitation: I’ll try to sketch it out tonight. Will you be free tomorrow? We can figure this out together.

Zhou Li happened to have nothing in his schedule tomorrow and happily replied: I’m free, I’ll come visit you.

Ji Shaoyan was very pleased and chatted with him some more before going off to sketch the maze layout.

Zhou Li also tried to draw a bit himself and went to bed late into the night. When he was finally on the brink of falling asleep, he just heard a clear ringing sound which directly shook him awake. He felt around for his phone in a daze and saw that it was Qian Duoshu. He reluctantly answered, “Wei?“

There was no reply.

Zhou Li repeated “wei” once more and sighed, “If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t you know what time it is? Do you not need to go to work tomorrow?”

“I…”

Qian Duoshu’s voice was extremely hoarse, with a hint of drunkenness. “I’m not going, I’m quitting.“

Zhou Li was taken aback. “Ah?”

Qian Duoshu vaguely mumbled, “I’m depressed, I haven’t wanted to stay since a long time ago.”

Zhou Li guessed that the inevitable had finally came and the man was finally fired, so he adjusted his voice to be more patient and comforted, “You’ve been working for so many years, if want to rest then you can take a break for a bit. Travel or whatever, I don’t need you to buy me a post-marriage house anyway. Keep the money you have and don’t spend it all in one go.”

Qian Duoshu gave a short chuckle before falling silent again.

After a while, he spoke again, with a heavy choked edge to his words. “Liye ah, I am sorry for all these years. What your father said is right, the best thing I can do right now is to apologise to you. I…I am sorry.”

Zhou Li mood grew more complicated and he didn’t respond.

Qian Duoshu seemed to be crying uncontrollably and inconsolably. “I am a beast, I have beaten you so many times…”

Zhou Li sighed. “You will get better in the future ba.”

Qian Duoshu continued to cry out his apologies on repeat.

Zhou Li listened quietly. It took a long time before the cries calmed down. Qian Duoshu said, “Xiao-Wen’s household registration, I…I won’t sign him in, I won’t hurt him. You two, you need behave well in the future. Don’t fight.”

Zhou Li replied, “I know.”

The alcohol in Qian Duoshu’s system seemed to catch up to his mind and he started to murmur, “You also have an illness. Go seek an expert. Don’t drag it out like I did, it’s not good for you.”

Zhou Li didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Okay.”

Qian Duoshu said, “Oh right, the household registry, you know where I put it ba?”

Zhou Li answered, “I know. In that that locked drawer in your closet.”

Qian Duoshu continued, “En, there is a small box in the drawer, the bankbook and the house registry are both in it. If you need to put your registry back and I’m out and about, just leave it in the box.” 

Zhou Li: “Okay.”

Qian Duoshu croaked, “Okay, it’s late now. Go to sleep ba.”

Zhou Li helplessly replied, “You need to sleep quickly too, and drink less in the future.”

Qian Duoshu responded with a single “ai” and cut off the call.

Zhou Li put the phone down and proceeded to close his eyes shut again. Five minutes later, he sat up, body trembling and breaking into a cold sweat.

Something’s not right!

What was that old geezer doing with his bankbook and household registry?

He thought of a possibility and jumped up as fast as he could. Hastily pulling on a pair of sleepwear, he threw open the door and bolted to Zhou Luwen’s room.

Zhou Luwen had already fallen asleep and was naturally surprised to see him. Before he could ask a simple “what’s wrong”, he heard the other say, “Did your dad call you?”

Zhou Luwen said, “He called.”

Zhou Li: “What did you guys talk about?”

Zhou Luwen: “Talked about his illness. I said I’ll accompany him for the treatment but he told me he didn’t want to delay my studies, so he’ll go get the treatment alone.” 

Zhou Li: “Fuck!”

This was the first time Zhou Luwen’s ever seen the other explode so ferociously. With wide-eyes, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Li: “Where are the car keys around here? I think he’s going to commit suicide.”

All colour drain from Zhou Luwen’s face. “What?”

Zhou Li: “I’ll tell you on the road, just get me the keys first. Pull up the GPS on your phone.”

Zhou Luwen hurriedly ran after him and out the door. “Let’s call the driver ba.”

Zhou Li: “If you call the driver to come at this time we’ll end up in th waking up the entire estate. Believe in my skills, even drag racing is a breeze for me.”

Zhou Luwen thought back to the incident that made online-headlines and shut his mouth.

The two found the keys and drove straight to Xiangman Town.

Zhou Li stared at the road ahead with a heavy shadow hiding his face.

The old beast was used to being the head of the family. His face needed to be bigger than the sky*, which meant he refused to take responsibility when it came to many things.

[T/N: as in, needing to save face (reputation)]

He was forced to treat his mental illness and his apologies were beaten out by Father Zhou. Even things regarding his illness, he was only willing to tell his son on his deathbed… Always evading, and still hesitant to take the next step even when other people have the hard work of pushing him.

For such a person, even Zhou Li felt it was unnecessary to save him.

But…but…

Illness, unemployment, the fear of disgust from his son… He knows it is difficult to face these things, but the most difficult times have already past, why can’t you hold on for just a little bit more? At least it wasn’t some hopeless situation. At least you are still alive, right?

You find it so easy to say you want to die, but you don’t know how to cherish this life. Every single one of them had no idea, of just how desperately he had wanted, how desperately he longed…to live.

There were not many vehicles driving at night. Zhou Li accelerated within what the law allowed for more than an hour before finally swerving into the complex lot.

The two sprinted upstairs and was assaulted by the smell of gas the moment they opened the door. Zhou Li quickly covered his nose and darted into the bedroom. In there, he saw Qian Duoshu holding a photo of his deceased wife in his arms, looking as if he already the outcome between life or death.

The two switched off the gas stove, and lifted the man downstairs, starting their ride to the hospital.

Qian Duoshu had probably turned on the gas stove while he was on the phone and he inhaled a lot. As soon as they entered the hospital, he was sent directly to the emergency ward. It was a long time before his life was deemed to be safe.

The two breathed a sigh of exhaustion. Seeing that it was already this late, they paid to spend the night at the hospital.

Zhou Li slept deeply until almost nine o’clock in the morning and got up to see Qian Duoshu, although he vaguely felt that he had forgotten something. After a while, he knocked on his forehead and remembered.

In a certain high-ranked hospital, the nurse looked at a bed piled high with clothes and silently looked at Young Master Ji.

Although there was no expression of dislike on his face, she knew that the young master might still be dissatisfied with the clothes, and so she said with a tremble in her voice, “I think…this outfit is very handsome.”

Ji Shaoyan sat in front of the mirror and took a picture, replying gently, “Really?”

The nurse nodded fiercely. “You look good in anything you wear!”

Ji Shaoyan smiled softly and looked in the mirror again. Reluctantly accepting this appearance, he asked, “Have you booked the desserts I told you to order?”

The nurse confirmed, “All booked, and they were delivered on time.”

Ji Shaoyan hummed and was just about to ask something else when he heard the sound of a WeChat notification. He took out his phone turned it on, seeing a message on the home screen.

Zhou Li: Very sorry ah, but I bumped into a temporary problem so I won’t be able to come today.

Ji Shaoyan: “……”

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The author has something to say:

Ji Shaoyan: En, adding another stroke*. So hard, my life is so hard.

[T/N: remember, JSY has a little booklet recording every time ZL has wronged him (this petty husky…)]

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This was was fine (except for the word count, ugh) until Zhou Li started talking about QDS/people taking life for granted. I was kinda stressed from other stuff while translating his inner monologue and almost broke down crying ;;

Sorry for the excessive T/Ns, I didn’t know how many there were until I was proofreading.