Ni Jiu (Intoxicated) - Chap 78

On the way from the airport to the hospital, Lin Chen explained Shen Tingwei’s situation to Lianjue. His logic and language seemed a little confused because he was anxious.
He said that it was not the car under the surveillance of Lian Jue. The driver did not hit and run, it even dialed 120 immediately after the accident. Due to the remote road section of the accident, the ambulance did not arrive in time. After receiving the notice, Lin Chen immediately arranged for Shen Tingwei to be transferred to the private hospital under the name of Lian Jue. He also confirmed the monitoring of the road section and the passing vehicles to ensure that there were no other people saw the scene where Shen Ting was put into the ambulance.

In the middle of stating these contents, Lin Chen occasionally interspersed with the unobjective, “Mr. Shen will be fine” in an attempt to comfort Lian Jue.
Later, he found that Lian Jue was more calm than usual, listening intently to what he had to say but never gave any response.
Actually, Lian Jue’s brain seemed to be cut off from the whole world from that moment on. The only thing that hit his heart was that Shen Tingwei had been in a car accident.

His fingertips felt an uncontrollable numbness in the stagnant and increasingly cold blood, as if he needed to hold something to relieve the unavoidable panic in his heart, so he held the box of the ring in his pocket. The box is clenched tightly.
His cold palm was hurt by the edges and corners of the ring box. In this subtle pain that affected his nerves, his brain gradually woke up and his ears began to receive sounds from all directions.
He heard the screeching of the driver pressing anxiously in the traffic and heard Lin Chen’s still chattering words.

He first heard Lin Chen say that the hospital had just sent a message that Mr. Shen is being resuscitated.

He heard Lin Chen repeat “He will be safe.” and the self-contradictory “How could something happen in the year of Benming.”
The driver also echoed, saying some topsy-turvy sentences such as “Mr. Shen is blessed with good luck and good fortune”, and even used “good luck and hardships.”
The nervousness of the two of them aggravated Lian Jue’s upset emotions, as if something will really happened to Shen Tingwei.
Lian Jue deceived himself and thought that they were exaggerating too much.
So Lian Jue interrupted the two of them: “How long will it take to arrive?”
When his voice fell, Lin Chen and the driver closed their mouths in unison.
Lian Jue’s tone was still the same as usual but his voice seemed to be much hoarse.
The panic and unease that he thought were well hidden were all cut open when the words fell making the originally anxious atmosphere in the car turned cold in an instant.
The driver’s brows furrowed even tighter, looking at the less-than-ideal road conditions in front of him, he only gave a vague answer: “Soon.”
The air of the hospital is not well-ventilated. The smell of clean and strong disinfectant is full of it. Since this private hospital is not completely open to the outside world, it is more deserted and quiet during the working day.
Lian Jue followed the directions of the receptionist and approached the elevator. Without waiting for Lin Chen, who was just a few steps away, he hurriedly pressed the close button, as if every second was particularly precious.
Although he knew that Shen Tingwei couldn’t come out so soon, he might not see anyone immediately when he went up.
He stared intently at the slower-beating numbers on the screen panel and calmly asked the person beside him why the elevator failed to report for repairs.
The nurse at the front desk was stunned for a while. She looked around in the elevator without a clue and even wondered whether Lian Jue was deliberately making things difficult for her for a moment.
But out of fear of the boss, she answered uncertainly: “Mr. Lian, there is no problem with the elevator…”
After waiting for Lian Jue’s answer, she looked up, only to find that Lian Jue was not listening to her.
The elevator opened with a “ding–” sound.
The red light at the door of the operating room was continuously on. A doctor who was waiting at the door greeted him. Seeing Lian Jue’s serious face, he quickly omitted unnecessary politeness and said to him, “The current situation is not very good. Fortunately, the vehicle did not hit Mr. Shen’s abdomen directly causing no damage to the fetus—.”

Lian Jue didn’t have the patience to listen to him and interrupted him directly: “What about him?”
The doctor paused for a while before saying, “Mr. Shen’s head has been severely injured and is temporarily in shock. Now Director Liu is in charge of the operation for Mr. Shen. The specific situation will not be determined until Director Liu comes out.”

Lian Jue let out an “um” and after a while, he seemed to be very tired and closed his eyes. He asked a question that was unprofessional and even a bit difficult: “Will there be danger to life?”
The doctor was silent for a moment, perhaps because of the identity of the other party, he did not use the relatively euphemistic rhetoric to deal with the patient’s family but told the truth: “It is possible, but the probability is small.” He added, “But according to Director Liu partial damage was found in Mr. Shen’s brain…so the situation may not be optimistic. I can’t give you the results for the time being, everything depends on the end of the operation. ”

Lian Jue just nodded.
Lin Chen took the elevator five minutes later.
Lian Jue sat silently on the bench at the door of the operating room with his hands in his pockets. He stared at the spotless floor tiles under his feet with a heavy gaze.
Lin Chen walked up to him and brought the cell phone he just took from the ambulance staff to Lian Jue: “This is Mr. Shen’s cell phone, Mr. Lian.”
Lian Jue didn’t move for a long time, as if he didn’t hear his words, he stayed still in his original posture. It wasn’t until Lin Chen raised his voice and called him again that he slowly raised his head. His face is filled with disappointment then his face gradually regained clarity. He asked in a gentle tone, “What’s the matter?”
Lin Chen couldn’t bear to look at his expression, he retracted his eyes briskly and repeated what he just said: “Mr. Shen’s cell phone, they asked me to give it to you.”
When Lin Chen brought the phone to him again. The broken screen of the phone lit up due to the gravity sensor. Lian Jue stared at the blurry phone screen covered with tiny cracks, his eyes seemed to be scorched by the sudden light. He dazed his eyes unnaturally.
Lin Chen looked at Lian Jue’s slightly damp hands from his pocket, took the phone from him, lowered his head and said to him in a more hoarse and tired voice than when he was in the car: “You book a ticket to Jiangcheng tomorrow. I will communicate with President Li later and hand over this project to you.”
Lin Chen quickly said in a deep voice, “Okay.”
Lian Jue lowered his eyes. His eyes were fixed on the message prompt on the lock screen page.
There lay the message of [Happy Birthday] that had not been checked by Shen Tingwei.

Lian Jue saw these tho words clearly from the blurred screen and suddenly recalled the whispered sentence that Shen Tingwei had whispered when he was urging him to board the plane, as if complaining, “Otherwise, you will miss it.”
His heart seemed to be suddenly penetrated by a soft thorn which made him feel the guilt and self-annoyance he had never experienced before. The strong negative emotions wrapped around his heart like threads. The squeeze made him breathless for a long time.
Shen Tingwei was right. He missed again.

The missed birthday, the flight on a business trip, the late blessing and the ring that has not been delivered he thought angrily. Even on Qixi Festival, the jasmine was late for the whole night to make it up.

Lian Jue stared at the phone screen in his hand that had been darkened due to long periods of inactivity and his eyes also darkened.
He grabbed the phone unconsciously and after a long period of blankness, questions swept into his heart like a wave, each of which made him unable to pull away for a long time. He asked himself, why did Shen Tingwei go to the hospital alone? Ask himself, why am I always so self-righteous? Then, he asked myself, where did the confidence come from that he had the ability to control everything?
The more and more dampness in his palms interrupted his increasingly dejected thoughts. He looked at his hands with his eyes apart. The tiger’s mouth was tightened. A few small scars were inadvertently drawn by the cracks on the screen, oozing out. The blood droplets that came out quickly melted into the thin sweat on the palm of his hand smearing a less dazzling red.
Lian Jue is relatively sensitive to pain but now he doesn’t seem to feel any pain. He just feels that the sticky feeling attached to his palm makes him a little uncomfortable.
When Kang Tong came over, because he couldn’t find a tissue, he pulled out his tie to wipe the blood stains on the phone.

Kang Tong came in a hurry, the school uniform buttons on his body were not properly fastened according to Shen Tingwei’s request. The exaggerated white scarf hanging around his neck was loosely wrapped around his neck, one of the end hangs very long.
“Dad…” Kang Tong softly whispered to him.
Lian Jue glanced at him lightly, responded with a “hmm”, then retracted his eyes and said nothing.
Kang Tong’s eyes were red, obviously he had just cried, maybe the tears flowed down on the way but now he didn’t continue to cry.
This made Lian Jue feel a little relieved. There was no other reason. He thought that he did not have the mood and ability to appease Kang Tong at this moment.
Tears welled up in Kang Tong’s eyes. He wiped it dry with his sleeve as he slowly approached Lian Jue.
Lian Jue has never experienced such a thing, Kang Tong thought to himself, he has to act stronger than Lian Jue. At least in dealing with such situation, he is much more experienced than Lian Jue.

Before being adopted by Lian Jue, his father had undergone many operations.
Every time his father entered the operating room he sat alone at the door. He thought, if only my mother was here, if only his mother could hug him.
But his mother will never come back.
Kang Tong looked at Lian Jue, who was sitting alone in the waiting chair.
He used to think that Lian Jue was the most powerful person he had ever met. He was tall, had a big company, a big house, would make a lot of money and many people were afraid of him.
Including Kang Tong.
But Shen Tingwei did say that even his father was very pitiful and he had never been loved by anyone.
Even his father has no mother like him, so no one can hug him.
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So he stood in front of Lian Jue, stretched out his thin arms and gently hugged Lian Jue in front of him.
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Lian Jue’s body froze obviously. He briefly pulled away from his emotions. He heard Kang Tong’s childish voice pretending to be nondescript mature, saying, “Dad, don’t be afraid.”

The scarf hanging down from Kang Tong’s neck was close to Lian Jue’s face. The soft woolen threads were stained with an inconspicuous sweet wine fragrance. Lian Jue closed his eyes involuntarily, the familiar scent wrapped in warmth. His dry eyes let the dullness that he had nowhere to release instantly relax.

Kang Tong’s broad palms followed his back one by one, as light as a feather, not feeling real, imitating the gentleness that Shen Tingwei constantly show letting Lian Jue’s straight back gradually relax.

He raised his arms around Kang Tong and the trembling of his arms passed on to Kang Tong’s back. His shoulders slowly drooped down.
Lian Jue heard his own unsteady voice and said, “Don’t be afraid.”
Kang Tong’s tears swirled in his red eyes. After feeling Lian Jue’s unease, he was restrained and hung up by him.
He wanted to comfort Lian Jue but his words were incoherent: “I haven’t said that, after the baby is born, he will go to school to help me hold a parent-teacher conference…he never lies…” It seems that he is afraid that the language is too thin, so he endured it. With tears in his eyes, he tried his best to find out the facts to prove what he said, “He knitted a scarf for me. I had my recitation homework last week. He said that he would sign me when I had memorized it…”
“Yesterday morning, I was too full. I put the bread in my schoolbag… Weiwei said, if I don’t eat it, I will take two quail eggs. I didn’t take the two exams today…” Kang Tong wrestled. He searched for a lot of things in his brain and in the end he burst into tears, his body trembled violently. He repeated in a temperamental tone that he had never shown in front of Lian Jue, “He’s not lying…”

After a long time, he patted him on the back lightly and gently intending to appease him but in reality he was a little fascinated by his suppressed crying. How could Kang Tong think that Shen Tingwei was not lying?
Shen Tingwei often panicked and even deceived him many times with lies that were easily exposed.
“No, I accidentally fell asleep.”
“I don’t even remember what dreams I had.”
“It’s alright, I forgot if you didn’t tell me, and I am too old to celebrate my birthday…”
But in the end, even Lian Jue didn’t say anything, only replied with a low “um”.
He made two phone calls that day while he was in the hospital waiting for the operation to end.
A call was made to the payee early in the morning and he said in a cold voice, “Let him stay at sea.”

Another call was made to Kang Tong’s head teacher. When the other party thought it was unnecessary, he politely but stubbornly asked Kang Tong to take the make-up exam.
On October 16th, Shen Tingwei made two wishes.

One is the perfect score in the Kang Tong’s test.
One is to let him come back sooner.
If you think about it, you will always have to achieve one.