Love Stops Rumours - Chapter 19

Wei Ru Song watched the history of his life flash past him, but for some unknown reason it was showing him and his dad Wei Yang Hai, first he was carried by his dad to practice Wang Ba Fist, the actions like a monkey, then his dad got into position and threw a fist at Wei Ru Song, unprepared Wei Ru Song was punched and flew backwards, then Wei Yang Hai pulled Wei Ru Song up from the ground, threw an arm around his shoulder and started drinking beer. Wei Ru Song boldly drank a glass.

“Dad, it’s not that I’m bragging to you, I saved a person’s life, somebody’s life!”

“Not bad, kiddo you’re pretty resilient.”

“No, not really,” Wei Ru Song proudly clinked his glass against Wei Yang Hai’s, and emptied it in one shot. “The other person is very skilled.”

“You’re skilled too,” Wei Yang Hai smiled. “To live honourably and to die gloriously, not bad not bad, you’ve made the Wei family proud.”

Wei Yang Hai gently caressed Wei Ru Song’s head.

“Yes, silly child, you’ve- died!”

Wei Yang Hai’s exclamation had sprayed Wei Ru Song’s face with saliva, Wei Ru Song leapt up from the bed in fright and got into the first position of Wang Ba Fist.

“Who the hell died!”

“…” Xiao Nian, sitting by the bedside, silently turned his head.

“…” The training nurse who was trying her best to flirt with Xiao Nian was shocked speechless.

“Great! Great! You’re finally awake!”

A man in a black suit hurriedly came over and held onto Wei Ru Song’s hands, looking at him emotionally, struggling to free his hands but failing to do so, Wei Ru Song could only smile at him.

“Heheh, heheh…”

“Regarding this lift incident we’re very sorry about it, luckily you were not injured too badly, the lift fell to the 3rd floor before it was held up by the backup safety cable.” The man was very sincere, his face apologetic, “We will compensate you 10 thousand dollars for this trauma, is that ok with you?”

Wei Ru Song heard the ring of a jackpot machine. 10 thousand! 10 thousand! This would not only cover his school fees for 4 years of college, but probably he could also screw in the presidential suite for 5 days! This was essentially earned with his blood! Wei Ru Song wished that he would experience another lift incident like this, another 10 thousand dollars there would be enough in his marriage fund. However, Wei Ru Song did not want to show that he was a materialistic poor person, he pretended to ignore the man who was smiling like a fortune cat, and crooked his finger towards Xiao Nian. Xiao Nian leaned over.

“Hmm?”

“Do you think 10 thousand dollars is worth it, should we ask for more? Is there a scam somewhere?”

“…”Xiao Nian thought for a moment and shook his head. “Not worth it.”

“Eh why?” Wei Ru Song felt a little pleased, seemed like to Xiao Nian his life was of some value. “You mean we would get more if we sued them instead?”

“Since their lift had a problem, it clearly shows that there is an issue with their safety, this time we were lucky, but an investigation needs to be done.” Xiao Nian was stern. “Even if the possibility of this happening is tiny, nearly minuscule, it doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen again.”

Wei Ru Song’s eyes locked with Xiao Nian’s, his voice a little hesitant.

“You mean… We would very likely win if we played the lottery, so we shouldn’t bother about this 10 thousand?”

“…” Xiao Nian, for the first time, felt that he wanted to kill Wei Ru Song. “I mean that their hotel should have their safety procedures inspected, and to report the results to the public.”

“Wow, ok!” Wei Ru Song repeated it word for word to the fortune cat man. “I want your hotel to have your safety procedures inspected, and to report the results to the public!”

“Yes yes yes, definitely!”

As long as the lawyers did not have to get involved, they would agree to anything, also, as a student what could Wei Ru Song know, they would just cover the incident up with money, after all everyone would give some face to money. This time it was Xiao Nian’s turn to crook his finger towards Wei Ru Song.

“Senior, do you want a public case or to do it behind closed doors?”

“I have no money to hire a lawyer…”

“I’ll pay for it.”

“We should be merciful,” Wei Ru Song felt that he was a little young to enter a lawsuit, it was already a miracle he still had his life. “Why don’t we just ask them to pay more? What about 15 thousand?”

“He wouldn’t even dare to argue even if you say 20 thousand.”

“Then it’ll be 20 thousand!”

The man agreed readily, asking for Wei Ru Song’s back account details, after enquiring about Wei Ru Song’s conditions he quickly left in case Wei Ru Song decided to change his mind.

The nurse who was standing by silently now had a chance to speak.

“Mister, you’re fine now, you were extremely panicked and hence you fainted, you can now be discharged.”

Wei Ru Song was also anxious staying in the white and empty room, he looked over himself and quickly left the hospital with Xiao Nian.

On the first floor of the hospital Wei Ru Song saw Lin Wei in the distance, Xu Yang Sheng and Huang Fan had their arms over each other’s shoulders, the brotherly image making people feel a little disgusted, only to walk closer and find out that Huang Fan was supporting the limping Xu Yang Sheng. Wei Ru Song’s face changed from “you guys actually” to “how could you guys” to “you guys really” and finally to “I can only submit to you”. Although Xu Yang Sheng’s backside was injured, his mouth was still working, he quickly interrupted Wei Ru Song.”

“Fuck, Ru Song, you gave us all a scare!”

“The two of you–“

“I’m glad you’re fine,” Xu Yang Sheng coldly pushed away Huang Fan and waddled over to throw his arm over Wei Ru Song’s shoulder. “We’ve been very worried about you! Yo, Xiao Nian, Xiao Nian, what about you?”

“I’m fine, thanks for your concern, Senior.”

Xiao Nian thanked him politely, he also suspected something. Wei Ru Song cocked his brow towards Xu Yang Sheng, eyeing him and nosily asked.

“Last night you and Huang Fan–“

“Ah haha we watched the fireworks display!” Xu Yang Sheng’s laughter was forced, trying to to change the subject. “Last night really troubled Brother Wei, Huang Fan’s really an asshole!”

“You’re really distant,” Lin Wei was the most honest amongst the group, but he was also the least observant, nothing looked wrong to him. “No worries, as long as we saw the fireworks.”

Huang Fan and Xu Yang Sheng hurriedly left, Wei Ru Song knew asking Lin Wei was fruitless, but he still wanted to hear what Lin Wei would say.

“Yesterday? Oh, didn’t Huang Fan booked a room yesterday to watch the fireworks? He also said he invited some girl, so Yang Sheng and I left first, but later Yang Sheng disappeared with no explanation, so I returned to the dormitory first. Just now Huang Fan called to say you had an incident, your lift fell from the rooftop to the ground floor, you had to be sent to the hospital, then we quickly came here.”

“It’s fine it’s fine, it was a false alarm,” But the memory of having such a close fling with death still brought shivers down Wei Ru Song’s spine. However, Wei Ru Song did not want others to worry about him, so he always presented an optimistic appearance. “Let’s go back, I’ll catch up on my sleep.”

“I’ll go buy something, Xiao Nian and you should return first.”

“Ok.”

Xiao Nian waved a cab down and they entered, both quiet for the entire journey. Wei Ru Song felt like he should speak up, but was unable to say anything. Regarding last night’s accident, he could only remember the gorgeous fireworks, the loud alarm ringing, and him holding onto Xiao Nian tightly, despite their thick jackets, they were still huddling very closely together. Wei Ru Song, in this lifetime, had never held onto anything so tightly, his willingness to disregard his own safety, as compared to death, he was more afraid of loss.

Xiao Nian closed the door upon entering their room, Wei Ru Song climbed onto his bed, his face pale. Xiao Nian started the water kettle and casually asked.

“Why did you protect me yesterday?”

“Of course, I’m older than you.”

“But I’m taller than you.”

Xiao Nian immediately rebutted, Wei Ru Song cheered up.

“You think you’re Zhang Zhi Ming?”

“Then you’ll be Xu Chun Jiao.” (T/N: They’re like the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet? Or a reference to the characters in the movie Love in a Puff? I’m not sure.)

Wei Ru Song pretended to not understand the underlying meaning of Xiao Nian’s words, only to whisper.

“Actually I was very afraid that you would die.”

“Me too,” Xiao Nian spoke urgently. “I don’t need you to protect me, even if I survived, I won’t be happy.”

“Kiddo, if you dare to think like that, if I were to die I would smite you on the spot!” Wei Ru Song waved at Xiao Nian. “Come come, let elder brother pamper you for a bit.”

Xiao Nian actually went over, with his height his head was right next to the bunk bed, Wei Ru Song reached out and ruffled his hair, Xiao Nian did not fight back, allowing him to continue messing around.

Wei Ru Song went home during the winter break, he did not inform Wei Yang Hai of the lift incident, his mother had also passed away from an accident, so he did not want to increase Wei Yang Hai’s worries. As for the 20 thousand dollars, Wei Ru Song believed that everything came with its price, he could not afford to receive such a big windfall, so he halved the twenty thousand, donating ten thousand to Project Hope, the other ten thousand to parents who lost their only child, using the name “Handsome Mr. Wei”. He did not tell anyone about this, believing that everyone would have called him stupid.

Returning home Wei Yang Hai was not around, Wei Ru Song dragged his luggage that still was missing a wheel into the house, perfunctorily cleaned his room and then went to pay respects to his mother. Wei Ru Song’s mother was called Xu Lan, the prettiest and gentlest woman in the world, but when Wei Ru Song was in elementary year 5 she was met with a car accident, the young Wei Ru Song waited at school till dark but his mother never picked him up, only to have the news of his mother’s passing arrive.

“Ma,” Wei Ru Song took out a cigarette and a lighter, but thought that his mother would be unhappy seeing him smoke, so he returned them to his pocket. He stared at the lit joss stick, “It was you who protected me, right? You protected me, so I protected Junior, heheh.” Wei Ru Song tugged on his hair, it was a little long, time for a cut. “You know that since young I’ve been pretty unlucky, to the point where I’m used to it, I was also unlucky in college, but also not that unlucky,” Wei Ru Song’s lips curved helplessly. “Because there was someone who shared my bad luck, well it couldn’t be considered sharing, the unlucky one is still me, but with him around I don’t feel that lonely, this person is called Xiao Nian, my roommate and faculty junior.”

The black and white photo could not diminish Xu Lan’s beauty and gentleness, she smilingly looked at her grown-up son, as though encouraging him.

“He’s a very nice person, a perfect example of being rich, tall and handsome, although he lacks a little common sense, but it’s fine, I can teach him, I really spent a lot of effort on him, just like being his parent, but he refuses to call me Dad, how frustrating!” Wei Ru Song was silent for a moment, only to continue. “Ma, I think, I like him, it’s that type of like, I like him beyond what I could imagine and control.”

“If Dad knows about this he might just kill me with the Wang Ba Fist.”

“Forget it, if there’s a chance I’ll bring him here for you to see,” Wei Ru Song rubbed his face, unsure about why his face felt warm. “He’s really a nice person, I’m not good with words so I can’t describe it, but I feel that–“

“Ru Song, you’re back? Come come come, your junior is here to look for you, he looks so outstanding. What about you, having practised Wang Ba Fist for more than ten years yet you still look like that!”

To be heard before he was seen was a habit of Wei Yang Hai, Wei Ru Song’s heart pounded. Junior?! Outstanding looks?! He hurriedly went to the living room, Xiao Nian was really standing there chatting with Wei Yang Hai, after seeing Wei Ru Song, the smile in his eyes deepened.

— Ma, I might be letting him meet you earlier now.