PD Chapter 39: Just a Second

The midday sun was a bit glaring, and murmurs of people around blurred into an indistinct buzz in his ears.

Wen Xunchuan squinted as he looked past the man in front of him. That silhouette, standing against the light, was coated in a thin layer of gold by the sunlight. Tall and upright, his entrance had a theatrical flair, almost like a superhero stepping onto the scene in a Marvel movie.

Maybe that’s why, when He Linzhou’s gaze turned toward him, Wen Xunchuan’s originally steady heartbeat suddenly skipped a beat, as if he’d taken the wrong meds. He instinctively looked away.

The man struggled twice, trying to free his arm, but the hand gripping his arm held with an unexpectedly firm force. After a few unsuccessful tries, he could only glare and curse, “Who the hell are you?”

He Linzhou withdrew his gaze from Wen Xunchuan’s face, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. He took a few steps forward, gripping the man’s wrist, and raised his chin with a condescending look. “Not a local, are you?”

The man didn’t quite understand why he’d suddenly asked that, so he instinctively replied, “Yeah…”

The woman standing beside him nudged his arm gently. Only then did he realize he was being held by some young punk. Immediately, he cleared his throat, puffed out his chest, and scowled, “What’s it to you whether I’m local or not?”

“You locals don’t know me, huh?” He Linzhou released his hand, dusting his own with a lazy swagger, his face exuding a calm indifference. “Oh, then I guess I should introduce myself. The mayor’s my dad.”

As soon as He Linzhou said that, not only did the man in front of him freeze, but even Wen Xunchuan behind him looked up, eyes full of surprise.

“The m-mayor?” The man stammered, a hint of wariness showing on his face, but he quickly straightened up again and stubbornly continued, “So what if he’s the mayor? My old man died because of them, and they have to pay!”

After speaking, he turned and grabbed Wen Xunchuan’s collar again, shouting, “I don’t care! Nobody can stop me today! Pay up! If you don’t pay, I’ll keep making a scene…”

“Let go.” Wen Xunchuan frowned at the hand gripping his collar, a barely contained disgust flashing across his face as he said impatiently, “The results haven’t come out yet. If the hospital is at fault, they’ll compensate the family reasonably…”

The man shouted obstinately, “I don’t care about your results! My old man died in your hospital, that’s all that matters…”

“Didn’t you hear him tell you to let go?” He Linzhou pushed the man back forcefully, stepping in front of Wen Xunchuan. He narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice dropping. “Didn’t I just warn you? Move a hand again, and I swear I’ll make sure you’re the one lying in the inpatient department.”

The man scowled menacingly, jabbing a finger at him. “I’m telling you, this has nothing to do with you, so you’d better step aside, or I’ll beat you up too!”

He Linzhou swatted his finger away without a trace of fear in his eyes, lifting his head defiantly. “Go ahead, try me.”

Wen Xunchuan patted his shoulder from behind, whispering, “Leave it be. These are just local thugs, and they’re bound to gang up on you. It’s best not to get into it, or you’ll suffer.”

He Linzhou looked a little surprised at his words, glancing back at him with a hint of amusement in his gaze, a teasing note in his voice, “Oh? Did I hear that right? You actually worry about me?”

Wen Xunchuan gave him a somewhat helpless look, sighing heavily, “Yes.” Afterward, he lightly tapped He Linzhou on the back with his hand. “Come on, stop messing around. I just called the police. They’ll be here soon. Medical disputes are tricky to settle in a short time, so don’t get involved.”

The man continued shouting threats non-stop, though He Linzhou didn’t really pay attention to his words. He leaned in and whispered to Wen Xunchuan, “Don’t count on it. If the police could handle them, they wouldn’t be causing trouble here now. If you ask me, they just need a good scare…”

Before he finished, he noticed a skinny man squeezing through the crowd from one side, holding something like a thick, chair leg in his hand. Without a word, he swung it directly toward Wen Xunchuan, who was focused on listening.

Instinctively, He Linzhou raised his arm to block, taking the full brunt of the stick on his arm. Immediately, the skinny man kicked He Linzhou fiercely in the side, yelling to the burly man in front of them, “Bro, don’t waste time talking! Just beat them up!”

Caught off guard, He Linzhou staggered back two steps, but was quickly caught by Wen Xunchuan, who lifted his hand to gently touch his arm, asking, “You okay?”

The burly man slapped the skinny guy on the back of his head, cursing in a dialect from who knows where, “You idiot! You dare hit the mayor’s son? Are you tired of living?”

“Damn!” A sharp pain radiated from He Linzhou’s arm, where the stick had hit. His whole arm went numb, to the point where he couldn’t even lift it. Frowning, he said in a pained voice, “I can’t lift my arm. Pretty sure it’s fractured.”

Wen Xunchuan quickly moved to his other side, lifting He Linzhou’s good arm over his shoulder and wrapping an arm around his waist. “Let’s go inside and get an X-ray.”

“Hey, hey, hey! You think you can just walk away?” The skinny man saw them heading toward the iron gate and quickly stepped up, grabbing He Linzhou’s injured arm.

An immediate, piercing pain shot up his arm, and He Linzhou broke into a cold sweat, hissing, “Ah—”

Wen Xunchuan’s patience snapped. With one hand supporting the visibly pained He Linzhou, he raised a leg and kicked the man in the stomach, his voice icy as he said, “Get lost.”

The man fell to the ground clutching his stomach. A woman thrust her phone toward them, wailing in a shrill voice, “The doctor’s hitting people! The doctor’s hitting people! This crooked hospital is taking lives and beating people! Where’s the justice in this?”

How the scene ended outside the gate, Wen Xunchuan didn’t know. All he knew was that just moments ago, the dashing He Linzhou was now sitting in the orthopedics examination room, whining like crazy, making Wen Xunchuan blush with secondhand embarrassment.

“Ah—it hurts, hurts, hurts! Ah, Uncle, can you go easier?” He Linzhou shouted, tilting his head back.

Several young nurses peeked in from the hallway, covering their mouths and giggling. Wen Xunchuan, reaching his limit, smacked the back of his head, muttering, “Shut up, have some dignity.”

“I don’t want to, okay? But it hurts, ow ow ow…” He Linzhou’s voice trailed off as the doctor adjusted his arm with a bit more force, causing him to cry out again, “It hurts, ahhh—”

The elderly Dr. Chen looked at Wen Xunchuan, chuckling despite his ringing ears. “Xiao Wen, your friend’s got quite the voice, huh?”

“Uh…” Wen Xunchuan replied awkwardly, chuckling, “Haha, yeah.”

As he helped He Linzhou out of the orthopedics clinic, one of the nurses couldn’t help teasing, “Dr. Wen, your friend looks so handsome when he’s not screaming!”

He Linzhou, clutching his sore waist, grinned at her, saying, “Pain is the great equalizer, even handsome guys aren’t immune.”

The nurse laughed, “You’re really something.”

Wen Xunchuan pinched him lightly on the waist, “Let’s go, Mr. Handsome. Stop fooling around. You may not mind embarrassing yourself, but I do.”

He Linzhou frowned, about to shout, “Ouch, ouch…”

Before he could, Wen Xunchuan clamped a hand over his mouth. “I didn’t even press hard. What are you whining about?”

“Mmph…” He Linzhou mumbled, unable to speak, staring at him with wide eyes.

Wen Xunchuan threatened, “If you shout again, I’ll anonymously report your ‘mayor’s son’ act.”

With no choice, He Linzhou could only glare back at him.

“No shouting, got it?” Wen Xunchuan shot him a look, and only when he nodded obediently did he release his hand, helping him toward the elevator.

“So you knew I was bluffing?” He Linzhou said. “The look on your face earlier almost had me thinking I’d actually fooled you.”

Honestly, Wen Xunchuan was momentarily taken aback, but he quickly pieced it together. “I was just wondering why I’d never heard of a mayor named He in our city.”

“I just wanted to scare them since there were so many of them,” He Linzhou chuckled, though the movement pulled at his injured waist, making him wince. “Ah, but who knew they’d play dirty.”

Supporting He Linzhou as they waited by the elevator, Wen Xunchuan glanced at his reflection in the mirrored doors, then called out, “Hey.”

“Hmm?” He Linzhou looked up, meeting his gaze in the reflection.

Wen Xunchuan looked into his eyes and said, “Thanks for today.”

“Ah.” He Linzhou paused, his eyes crinkling into a smile. “Man, that sounds so out of character for you. Makes me feel weird.”

Wen Xunchuan chuckled unexpectedly too. After a moment, he added, “You looked pretty cool today.”

This time, He Linzhou was genuinely taken aback. Turning his head to look at Wen Xunchuan, he raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Falling for Brother Zhou?”

“Ding—”

The elevator doors opened.

For once, Wen Xunchuan didn’t counter with a sarcastic retort. Instead, he wrapped an arm around He Linzhou’s waist and helped him into the elevator, casually saying, “Just a second.”