When Xu Xiuhe arrived, Chang Zhiyuan was howling.
"You finally came! If you'd been any later, my bladder would have exploded."
"Serve you right. Why didn't you call a nurse?"
"Nurses are women. How could I let another woman touch my body? No way, no way. A good man must keep himself pure." Chang Zhiyuan waved his hand dismissively.
"Sure, I believe you," Xu Xiuhe said sarcastically, wondering how anyone could be even more thick-skinned than him.
"Xiuhe, what do you mean? You don't believe me? I admit, I might have been a bit of a player before, but that was only because I hadn't found true love yet. It's different now. Now I have to stay chaste for my dear Shu Yi."
Xu Xiuhe looked at him with disgust. "Has your bladder grown larger?"
"Quick, I'm about to burst. Hurry up and help me to the bathroom."
Xu Xiuhe reached out and pulled Chang Zhiyuan up by one arm.
When Chang Zhiyuan came out of the bathroom, he let out a sigh of relief. "Finally took care of that. Xiuhe, I absolutely must treat you to a meal."
"What happened to you? How did you end up like this? Will you be able to walk in the future?"
"Don't curse me. It's just a fracture. I'll be fine in a while."
"It takes a hundred days for muscles and bones to heal. You're telling me it'll only take a few days?"
Xu Xiuhe's words hit a sore spot for Chang Zhiyuan. It was just bad luck that he could break a bone going down stairs. He was too embarrassed to tell anyone.
"Where is everyone? Where's the caregiver?" Xu Xiuhe asked.
"Don't even mention it. I purposely didn't hire a caregiver so that Shu Yi could take care of me. But then my parents showed up this morning, and she left. Now I'm all alone here, lonely and pitiful."
"Zhiyuan, you didn't hurt yourself like this on purpose just to get her to take care of you, did you?" Xu Xiuhe looked at Chang Zhiyuan's right leg, which was covered in a plaster cast.
"Do I look crazy to you?"
"You look like you're sick, the kind that needs medication."
"Alright, let's talk about what's important. Why did Shu Yi leave? I called her, but her phone is turned off."
Xu Xiuhe walked to Chang Zhiyuan's bedside and put his hand on Chang Zhiyuan's head, examining him. "It's your leg that's broken, not your brain."
Chang Zhiyuan immediately caught on.
"If you're my friend, don't beat around the bush. Just say it straight."
"Didn't you say your parents came? When she saw your parents arrive, of course she would leave. Her phone is off – think carefully, what could be the reason? Is it possible they said something to Shu Yi?"
"How did I not think of that?" Chang Zhiyuan slapped his forehead.
Xu Xiuhe marveled again at how a man in love could be so irrational.
"Alright, I'm leaving. The company is busy. You should get a caregiver. If worse comes to worst, there are male caregivers too."
With that, Xu Xiuhe grabbed his coat and left the hospital room. Chang Zhiyuan lay in bed, still pondering where things had gone wrong.
"Hey, Chang Ningjing, why did it take you so long to answer the phone? Did you do it on purpose? Everyone left without saying a word to me. My bladder was about to explode!"
"Uh, little brother, let me explain."
"I don't want to hear it. I just want to know, did you say something to Shu Yue? Why hasn't she come back yet?"
"Shu Yue?"
"Shu Yi, I mean Shu Yi."
Chang Ningjing was silent for a moment, then said, "You know what our parents are like. If I put it this way, do you understand?"
Chang Ningjing didn't spell it out explicitly.
Chang Zhiyuan angrily hung up the phone. He was fed up with his parents. They had to meddle in everything. He had told them not to interfere in his love life, but as soon as he said it, they started meddling?
His parents were really something. If they had just waited a while before starting to interfere, he wouldn't have said anything.
Chang Zhiyuan was furious. Damn it, he was crippled, and not only did they not come to take care of him, they went and messed up his affairs. He had been making some progress recently and could feel that Shu Yi wasn't as resistant to him as before.
Now with this interference, they were back to square one.
Good grief, he used to think his parents simply favored sons over daughters, but now it seemed they only cared about themselves and didn't consider his feelings at all.
Under the pretext of doing what was best for him, they interfered in all his affairs.
Chang Zhiyuan pressed the call button by his bed. It hadn't even been two minutes when a nurse came.
This was a VIP room, after all, with better service.
The young nurse entered respectfully.
"Sir, do you need anything?"
"I want a wheelchair."
"Certainly, please wait a moment."
Chang Zhiyuan made a phone call to his company assistant. He did have an assistant, but usually the assistant was only visible at the company, and he spent very little time there.
"Xiao Zhang, drive to Rong City No.1 Hospital and pick me up."
Two young nurses came into the room, one pushing a wheelchair.
The other nurse walked to the bedside and used the handle to manually raise the head of the bed.
"Sir, do you want to get down?"
The nurse pushing the wheelchair came over, making a motion to help Chang Zhiyuan.
Chang Zhiyuan quickly waved them off. As a good man, he had to uphold male virtues. Men and women shouldn't touch casually. It would be better if he got into the wheelchair himself.
Chang Zhiyuan first put his left foot on the ground, then supported himself with both hands on the bed and sat down in the wheelchair.
"Push me to the hospital entrance."
The young nurse complied.
Chang Zhiyuan was wearing hospital clothes and only took his phone when he left the room.
Chang Zhiyuan called Shu Yi many times, but each time he heard the message: "The number you have dialed is powered off."
Chang Zhiyuan sat in the wheelchair and waited for a while. His assistant drove up and stopped at the hospital entrance.
"Boss."
"Quick, get me into the car."
The assistant supported Chang Zhiyuan with one hand as Chang Zhiyuan hopped on his left foot to the back seat of the car.
"Put the wheelchair in the trunk."
The assistant opened the trunk, and the young nurse pushed the wheelchair forward. With the assistant's help, they put it in the trunk.
"The patient needs to return by tonight. We have another examination," the nurse said.
The assistant quickly agreed, closed the trunk and the back door, then got into the driver's seat.
At the ice cream shop, Shu Yi felt half of her unhappiness melt away after the therapeutic effects of the dessert.
"How do you plan to face him next?" Shen Yin asked.
Shu Yi shook her head. She was an artist under his company. As long as she stayed with his company, it would be impossible for them to avoid crossing paths. In the past, it wasn't so bad, but now they had filmed a drama together and still had to coordinate to make official announcements. They would have to work together in the future as well.
"Let it be. If I'm not mistaken, your phone is probably turned off right now."
Shen Yin took a sip of her drink.
"Who is he?"
Xu Yunzheng looked up, glancing at Shu Yi, then back at Shen Yin.
"He's my godfather."
"Didn't Dad say that godfather likes godmother?"
Shen Yin quickly covered Xu Yunzheng's mouth with her hand, but Shu Yi had already heard.
Shen Yin had expected Shu Yi to be upset for a while.
