PD Chapter 8: Hospital

A strange numbness spread through Wen Xunchuan’s right arm, slowly pulling him back to consciousness. He opened his eyes, inhaling the familiar scent of disinfectant. It must’ve been late at night; the infusion hall outside the emergency room was nearly empty. On the wall in front of him, an old TV show played silently on the screen, and the quiet was so deep that even a soft cough could disrupt the peace.

As he attempted to sit up, a sensation like thousands of ants gnawing at his arm engulfed him, sending waves of prickling pain up to his shoulder.

“Hiss—” Wen Xunchuan sucked in a breath, looking down to see that the needle in his hand had backflowed quite a bit of blood into the IV tube. To make things worse, someone’s elbow was pressing right into his numb, almost lifeless arm, propped up on the armrest of the soft chair.

With practiced ease, he removed the needle from his hand, his gaze tracing the owner of the offending elbow. He saw a phone screen in this person’s hand, still lit up with a Japanese-style shooting game, although the player’s hands were now motionless. Turning his head, he realized He Linzhou was slumped in the seat beside him, sprawled out and deeply asleep.

The spasms in his stomach seemed to have eased somewhat, leaving only a faint burning sensation. Compared to before, it was much more bearable. Gathering his strength, he gave He Linzhou’s arm a shove, pushing it back onto his lap, and then massaged his own numb, aching arm.

The push startled He Linzhou awake, making his phone slip from his grip and clatter to the floor. He sprang up from the chair with a loud, hearty yell: “Ha—!”

Wen Xunchuan quickly raised a hand to shield his face and offered a silent apology to the middle-aged woman in the front row who shot them a displeased look.

He Linzhou stood there, dazed and blinking at the TV show in front of him before finally snapping out of it. He sat down, picked up his phone, and cursed under his breath while checking the screen, “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Wen Xunchuan muttered back, also lowering his voice.

He glanced at He Linzhou’s cracked phone screen. But He Linzhou didn’t say anything, merely shoved the phone into his pocket and grumbled, “Damn it, I finally made it to the final round, and you had to slap me out from behind the tree. Scared the life outta me.”

Wen Xunchuan motioned toward the IV drip beside him. “If you hadn’t woken up just now, not even the hospital could’ve saved me.”

He Linzhou looked at the IV tube, where a long streak of fresh blood had flowed back, visibly surprised. After a moment, he looked back at Wen Xunchuan’s face, slowly raising a thumbs-up with genuine admiration. “Impressive!”

Wen Xunchuan stared at him silently for a while, then sighed and asked, “Why did you—”

His words cut off abruptly as he suddenly recalled his last memory before passing out by the hospital entrance.

So it was He Linzhou…

He lifted his gaze to He Linzhou, a sudden chill creeping over him as he remembered the feeling of being held in his arms.

“What about me?” He Linzhou looked at him, confused. After a pause, he seemed to catch on to the unfinished question and shrugged. “Oh, you collapsed at the hospital entrance. Out of a sense of public duty to avoid littering and troubling the sanitation workers, I decided to bring you in.”

Pretending not to notice the childish sarcasm in his words, Wen Xunchuan decided to overlook He Linzhou’s earlier littering of a cigarette butt at the hospital entrance, simply giving him a side glance and saying coolly, “You can go now.”

The moment he finished speaking, He Linzhou got up and walked out without a second thought.

Watching his retreating back, Wen Xunchuan felt puzzled. Was he actually mad?

But then again, it was just as well he left; less of an eyesore. Not wanting to run into him again at the hospital entrance, Wen Xunchuan stayed put, deciding to wait a bit longer before leaving.

He leaned back, closed his eyes, and let out a long, silent sigh. What a night—kissing and hugging with another guy. What was going on?

“Hey, why did the blood flow back so much?” A woman’s voice sounded not too far away, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching.

Wen Xunchuan opened his eyes to see He Linzhou walking back with the nurse who had just spoken, looking a bit embarrassed. “I accidentally dozed off and didn’t keep an eye on it…”

“That won’t do.” The nurse came up to Wen Xunchuan, lifted his hand to check, and asked, “Is your hand feeling uncomfortable? Or anywhere else?”

Wen Xunchuan shook his head politely. “No, thank you.”

“And your stomach—feeling better?”

“Much better.”

“Alright, once this bottle’s done, you’re good to go.”

After reattaching his needle, the nurse left, and He Linzhou flopped back onto the sofa, muttering discontentedly, “So is she the nurse, or am I? Sitting here watching the IV like a watchdog—I might as well just stick the needle in you myself and call it a night!”

“They’re working the night shift, which is pretty rough,” Wen Xunchuan couldn’t help defending her, and He Linzhou fell silent.

Turning to him, Wen Xunchuan murmured, “Thanks.”

He Linzhou seemed slightly caught off guard by this, glancing over and replying, “…No problem.”

After that, they both went quiet, watching the TV in front of them.

After a while, He Linzhou shifted closer to Wen Xunchuan and asked in a low voice, “I have a question.”

Wen Xunchuan, still watching the TV, responded with a hum from his nose. “Mm.”

He Linzhou looked genuinely puzzled. “Are you a 0.5?”

“No.”

He Linzhou looked even more confused. “Then why do I keep seeing you with a 0? Are you… gay?”

Wen Xunchuan looked at him as if he were slow-witted. “You’re not gay?”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, do you like people of the same… type?”

“Nope.”

“Then why did you…” He Linzhou trailed off halfway, suddenly turning his head with wide eyes, looking at Wen Xunchuan in disbelief. “Wait, you—you’re a 1?”

For some reason, seeing his expression gave Wen Xunchuan a sense of satisfaction, like watching a clueless kid suddenly understand something. He nodded encouragingly, his tone full of mockery. “Well, aren’t you sharp!”

He Linzhou straightened his posture, turned to him, and frowned accusingly. “I can understand a fake name, I can even understand you wanting a little flirtation when lonely, but even the ‘model number’ is fake—are you messing with me just for fun?”

Wen Xunchuan met his gaze without flinching, holding eye contact for a moment before replying, “With your IQ, I’d advise you not to get into online dating.”

Saying this, he took out his phone, tapped a few times on the screen, and handed his WeChat QR code over. “Scan this.”

He Linzhou, puzzled, opened WeChat and scanned it. A friend request popped up on the screen: [Chuan].

“This is…” He instinctively clicked “Add Friend.”

“My WeChat.” Wen Xunchuan accepted the friend request, thought for a moment, then added, “My one and only WeChat.”

He Linzhou’s face suddenly froze.

Wen Xunchuan shifted his gaze, scrolling through his own feed without disturbing He Linzhou’s slow-motion mental meltdown.

He opened his feed to see Wen Zhixu’s post from three minutes ago.

[Wen Zhixu]: 3 a.m. ↓

The post included a video of a black-and-white border collie, passionately howling as if reveling in a midnight party.

Wen Xunchuan chuckled, leaving a comment below: Is your “goddaughter” in her awkward phase?

Wen Zhixu replied almost instantly: Didn’t think you could call it “awkward” so tactfully.

Laughing again, Wen Xunchuan replayed the video of Chun Mei’s antics before scrolling further down…

[Qian Duoduo]: Fine, flashy paired with limp, I wish you and your whole family the best.—[10 minutes ago]

[Qian Duoduo]: Screw off and die!!!!—[30 minutes ago]

[Qian Duoduo]: What the hell’s going on!!!!—[1 hour ago]

[Qian Duoduo]: What the f*ck?!—[2 hours ago]

[Qian Duoduo]: Damn it!!!!!!!!!!—[3 hours ago]

[Qian Duoduo]: ???????????—[3 hours ago]

Wen Xunchuan: …

From the moment he accepted the WeChat request, He Linzhou had been staring at his phone in silence, until suddenly, he rose from his seat.

Wen Xunchuan looked up, casually asking, “Heading out?”

With a grim expression, He Linzhou said nothing, turning away and striding off.