“Blond, open the car door.” Geng Manhong climbed up from the ground.
“It’s open. Also, stop calling me Blond!” The blond boy pressed the key to unlock the safety lock, his face full of exasperation. “My damn name is Lu Ying. Lu as in land, Ying as in hero. This is the second time I’ve said it.”
“Okay, Blond.” Geng Manhong patted the dust off his legs and looked around. “Good kid, hurry up and drive. I just feel it’s a little too quiet.”
“How’s your leg?” Fu Yan helped Jiang Xinghuai stand up.
“No problem.” Jiang Xinghuai raised his brows in disdain. “A small matter.”
Fu Yan frowned at the little spots of blood seeping through the gauze, then bent down and scooped him up.
“Hey!” Jiang Xinghuai was startled.
“Don’t move.” Fu Yan ordered him. “You can’t move your leg anymore.”
The blond boy pulled open the back trunk door. “This is for hauling goods, only one seat in the front. But with his leg like that, he can’t sit. You two just sit back here.”
The back compartment was fairly clean. Fu Yan took down both of their backpacks, stacked them together, then carried Jiang Xinghuai up, letting him lean back against them.
“I’m closing the door now. There’s a small window in front. Just push it to the side, you’ll be able to see us.” The blond boy gave his instructions and then shut the van’s back door tight.
Inside, the compartment instantly turned pitch dark. Jiang Xinghuai frowned, blinked, and unconsciously grabbed Fu Yan’s arm beside him.
“It’s okay.” Fu Yan patted his shoulder reassuringly, then groped in the dark for the little window the blond had mentioned. With a pull to the right, white light streamed in.
Jiang Xinghuai turned his head to look. It was a small rectangular window, just enough to see the driver’s seat and the passenger seat.
“Xingxing, your leg doesn’t hurt, right?” Geng Manhong pressed his face against the little window.
“You’re blocking the light, fatty,” Jiang Xinghuai said.
“Call me Teacher! No manners at all.” Although Geng Manhong said this, he immediately moved his face away.
“Which way are we going?” The blond boy turned his head to look at them.
“Go straight, then at the intersection ahead, turn right,” Fu Yan said.
“Where to?” Jiang Xinghuai asked.
“Hungry?” Fu Yan replied with something irrelevant, reaching his hand toward the basket of bread not far away.
“In that blue plastic basket, that’s bread,” the blond boy said while driving. “I’m starving. I want that big pizza. Fatty, what are you eating?”
“Anything’s fine, Blond,” Geng Manhong said.
Fu Yan handed each of them a piece of bread, then lifted the plastic basket and set it in front of Jiang Xinghuai, letting him pick.
Jiang Xinghuai picked an orange-flavored one. After two bites, he frowned and set it down.
He was clearly very hungry, but couldn’t really eat.
Fu Yan passed him a bottle of milk. “Does the wound hurt?”
“No,” Jiang Xinghuai answered immediately.
“Let’s go!” Up front, the blond boy shouted with a pizza dangling from his mouth.
The van’s engine started. The roar attracted a few scattered infected who began chasing after it.
But the infected were far too slow to catch up with the vehicle and were quickly left behind.
“Where exactly are we going?” Jiang Xinghuai bit on the straw and asked doubtfully.
“The hospital.” Fu Yan frowned at his lips, which had been rubbed red from chewing. “Don’t bite the straw. Drink properly.”
“The hospital?” Jiang Xinghuai was stunned. “Didn’t my fever already go down? Why are we still going there?”
“If the wound isn’t stitched, the fever will keep coming back,” Fu Yan said.
“There’ll be a lot of people at the hospital, right?” Jiang Xinghuai frowned in judgment. “Actually, my leg really isn’t a big deal. It doesn’t hurt. The flesh will just grow back together on its own.”
“Don’t worry, we’re not going inside the hospital,” Fu Yan explained. “Just nearby. There’s a pharmacy there.”
“…Oh.” Jiang Xinghuai nodded. “But—”
Before he could even finish speaking, the van braked sharply. He was thrown headfirst into Fu Yan’s arms.
Fu Yan caught him without letting go and raised his head to ask the front, “What’s outside?”
“A big crowd of people running this way. Looks like they came out of the shopping mall ahead.” The blond boy frowned, watching the panicked group fleeing toward them.
“Don’t stop the car,” Fu Yan said. “Turn directly. Don’t go down that road.”
“Beibei?” Geng Manhong suddenly pressed his whole body against the window.
“Who?” The blond boy turned the wheel.
“My son!” Geng Manhong immediately tried to get out of the car.
Everyone looked outside. A middle-aged woman in a black business suit was following behind the crowd with a boy of about ten years old dressed in a basketball jersey.
“Teacher Geng, don’t get out of the car. Don’t stop. Keep turning and go straight, just slow down,” Fu Yan said calmly. “Let them get on from the back.”
“Beibei!” Geng Manhong stuck his head out the window and shouted desperately.
“Dad!” The boy stopped in his tracks and looked this way.
“Beibei, take your mom and get on from the back of our car!” Geng Manhong shouted.
Fu Yan pushed open the back door. The woman, even in high heels, ran quickly, scooped up her son, and lifted him over.
Fu Yan caught the boy with one arm, set him inside the compartment, and swiftly pulled the woman in as well.
“Dad!” As soon as Geng Bei got in, he rushed to the little window and burst into tears.
“Beibei!” Geng Manhong also squeezed up to the small window, reaching out to touch his son’s dirty face.
Jiang Xinghuai looked at the two of them. Suddenly, his nose stung. He quickly turned his head away.
Fu Yan closed the door and bent down to sit.
“This is my son. His name is Geng Bei. And this is his mother, Yu Xue.” Geng Manhong wiped his tears as he introduced them.
“Hello,” Fu Yan nodded in greeting.
“What’s so good about hello?” Jiang Xinghuai muttered softly, burying his head to hide the redness in his eyes.
Why couldn’t his dad be this kind of dad?
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming over?” Geng Manhong questioned Yu Xue in disapproval. “I thought you were still staying in Nantong.”
“Wasn’t it because the child wanted to see you! The day before yesterday, right after we got off the plane and arrived at that lousy hotel, Beibei and I nearly got bitten to death! I lost my phone. How was I supposed to contact you?” Yu Xue frowned impatiently. “Do you have any food? The kid and I haven’t eaten all day.”
“Mom, I want milk.” Geng Bei said, reaching out to grab the milk carton by Jiang Xinghuai’s side.
Fu Yan stopped him. “That’s his. Let me get you another one—”
Before Fu Yan could finish, Geng Bei immediately opened his mouth and started crying loudly.
“I have one here.” Geng Manhong’s head was about to explode. He shoved the unopened bottle of milk he was holding through the little window. “Geng Bei, I remember I taught you not to just take other people’s things!”
“He’s still a child. What’s wrong with letting him have it!” Yu Xue glared at him in disapproval.
“No, that’s someone else’s.” Geng Manhong snapped. “That student of mine is a kid, too. What’s wrong with him drinking it?”
“Who’s more important than my son!” Yu Xue lashed out furiously. “Don’t preach your damn principles at me! You were like this even before the divorce! All these years, and you haven’t changed one bit!”
Jiang Xinghuai watched the man and woman suddenly break into a quarrel, his nerves growing tense and agitated. “He can have mine, alright? Just stop fighting.”
“Xingxing, don’t say anything. Yu Xue! Stop being so selfish all the time!” Geng Manhong furrowed his brows. “The food is for everyone!”
“Geng Manhong!” Yu Xue slammed a hand against the van wall.
Bang!
Jiang Xinghuai flinched in fright, his eyes locking onto Yu Xue. His hands clenched unconsciously into fists, and his breathing grew heavier.
His whole body suddenly went tense, showing a state of fear.
Fu Yan noticed Jiang Xinghuai’s abnormal reaction. He raised his hand to pull him close by the shoulder, frowning as he asked, “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Xinghuai turned his head to glance at Fu Yan, shook his head, and didn’t say anything.
Then he lowered his head, suppressing his breathing, trying his best not to listen to their argument.
Before his parents divorced, they had almost quarreled every single day—and always right in front of him. Because both of them wanted him to make statements in court that would harm the other side. So that pair of adults would dig up each other’s ugliest truths and pour them out to him.
Your father keeps a mistress who’s his student, morally corrupt.
Your mother cheated during the marriage, ignoring the family.
He felt like he was soaked in icy water, desperately reaching out his hands, wanting to grab onto something and run away.
But his father and mother only stood on the shore, dumping bucket after bucket of icy water down on him.
Inevitably, Jiang Xinghuai began recalling everything, the skin of his palms turning pale and bluish from how hard his fingers dug in.
Fu Yan furrowed his brows, more or less able to guess the reason. His expression grew heavier.
“Quiet.” Fu Yan fixed his gaze on the woman.
His voice wasn’t loud. It could even be said to be very low.
But under the look in this man’s eyes, Yu Xue didn’t dare say another word.
Silence lingered for a while.
“Fine, I don’t have time to argue with you about this.” Yu Xue unnaturally brushed her hair back. “Where are you going now?”
“To the hospital. My student’s leg is injured.” Geng Manhong’s face also turned cold.
“The hospital?!” Yu Xue suddenly let out a shriek. “Are you insane! The hospital is practically full of infected—swarming everywhere!”
“My student’s leg needs—”
“We can’t go to the hospital, Old Geng.” Yu Xue glanced at Jiang Xinghuai. “Absolutely not.”
Uncomfortable, Jiang Xinghuai avoided the woman’s gaze.
For the first time, Fu Yan’s face showed a trace of disgust. He pressed Jiang Xinghuai’s head against his own chest and gave a warning: “Miss Yu, please don’t look at him.”
“…I wasn’t looking at him.” Yu Xue unnaturally shifted her gaze away, then frowned and spoke. “Listen to me. The government has already sent in the army, right next door in Jin City. We have a car. Half a day and we’ll get there. The army has guns and supplies. It’s the safest place. They’ll definitely protect us, and this kid’s leg, they’ll surely be able to treat it. We really can’t go to the hospital.”
Fu Yan frowned. “Where did you get this information?”
“A policeman told me. It’s inside news. You should understand what that means.” Yu Xue gave him a sidelong look up and down. “What line of work are you in?”
“What I do isn’t important.” Fu Yan calmly analyzed, “First of all, it’s only been three days since the virus broke out. By the second day, phone service was already cut off. Not to mention that rescue and aid in the early stage require planning and time. Even if there were rescues, in the beginning, I don’t believe the state would choose to send large-scale military forces here.”
Fu Yan concluded, “This information, I think, still needs—”
“What the hell would you know!” Yu Xue cut him off irritably. “This was insider news I paid a lot of money to get! Do you understand what that means!”
Fu Yan fell silent. There was no need for him to get into a pointless argument with this woman.
The compartment once again fell silent.
Jiang Xinghuai cast the woman a glance, his eyes almost filled with hostility. Then he clutched Fu Yan’s arm, tilted his head up, and leaned close to his ear.
“I’ll go with you,” Jiang Xinghuai said. “Wherever you go, I’ll go.”
Fu Yan was stunned and lowered his head to look at him.
In the boy’s black-and-white eyes was nothing but complete reliance and trust. The breath that brushed close carried the scent of milk.
Fu Yan felt both gratified and troubled. As a man, he could not respond to Jiang Xinghuai’s feelings. He only regarded Jiang Xinghuai as a child who needed his protection.
But now that Jiang Xinghuai’s heart was filled only with him, as an adult, as someone in the role of guardian, he couldn’t bring himself to be cruel and reject him.
After saying this, Jiang Xinghuai half-closed his eyes, leaning against Fu Yan, listless and on the verge of sleep. His whole demeanor seemed drained of energy.
“Drink some water.” Fu Yan touched his forehead again. “We’ll be there soon, don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid.” Jiang Xinghuai frowned. “I just…”
“…just feel a little hot.” Jiang Xinghuai tugged at the collar of his T-shirt as he spoke.
The T-shirt collar was already loose. With that tug, half of his shoulder slipped out into view.
Fu Yan frowned and averted his eyes, pulling the collar back up for him. “You’re running a fever.”
“Uncle, you feel really cool to the touch,” Jiang Xinghuai suddenly said.
“Mm.” Fu Yan lowered his head to look at the hand resting against his chest.
“This feeling is like getting a ten-kill streak in a game… like never having your zipper catch on you… like opening a bag of chips and finding no air inside—just that…” Jiang Xinghuai rattled off a string of exclamations.
“Jiang Xinghuai, I know you’re uncomfortable.” Fu Yan cut him off.
“You don’t know.” Jiang Xinghuai said.
“I do know,” Fu Yan replied.
“You don’t know.” Jiang Xinghuai was growing impatient.
“Fine, let’s not argue about whether I know or not.” Fu Yan took a deep breath, then lowered his voice in warning. “Jiang Xinghuai, take your hand out from inside my shirt.”
Jiang Xinghuai: “…………”
