As Yu Zi rushed to the emergency room, many alarming scenes flashed through his mind. However, when he pushed open the door, he didn’t see any of the scenes he had imagined.

Xie Dongcheng was standing inside, looking calm with his back facing him, except for his right arm, which was wrapped in gauze.

Yang Ke and Xiao Liu stood aside, both looking frightened.

“Xie Dongcheng!”

The three of them turned abruptly at the sound of Yu Zi’s voice. They saw Yu Zi panting heavily, filled with anger.

Seeing the situation was not right, Xiao Liu quickly stepped forward to stop Yu Zi and explained, “Uh, it’s just that Dongy’s car was rear-ended by someone else… His car wasn’t going fast…”

Yu Zi’s expression did not soften because of this explanation. Seeing Yu Zi like this, Yang Ke and Xiao Liu knew it was not appropriate to stay here any longer.

“Um, boss Yu, if there’s nothing else, we’ll go first.”

Seeing the time, Yu Zi realized it was already too late and waved them off. “You guys go.”

The two of them hurriedly left, leaving behind a gust of wind.

After they left, the emergency room doctor happened to walk in and sat down in front of Xie Dongcheng. He carefully bandaged Xie Dongcheng’s right arm with a splint and wrapped it with gauze.

“Doctor, is it serious?”

The doctor glanced at his arm again. “It’s just a fracture, nothing major after checking the X-ray.”

Xie Dongcheng breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave, but the doctor stopped him.

“Hey, where are you going? Normal fractures don’t require hospitalization, but yours has an open wound. It’s best to stay in the hospital for observation to prevent infection.”

Xie Dongcheng deflated.

The doctor didn’t look up and shouted, “Family here? Go arrange for hospitalization. Observation in the hospital for seven days.”

Yu Zi stood still. The doctor turned his head and urged him, “Family. Go pay for the hospitalization.”

Yu Zi hesitated for a moment, glanced at Xie Dongcheng, and then, with anger still burning inside him, led him to the hospital ward.

An hour later, the two of them took the elevator to the 15th floor of the hospital, and the room assigned by the doctor was at the end of the corridor.

Most of the patients in the late-night ward had already fallen asleep, and the corridor was empty, with only the nurse on duty walking back and forth.

Only the sound of footsteps echoed in the narrow space.

Yu Zi walked ahead, with Xie Dongcheng obediently following behind.

After a moment, Yu Zi glanced at the room number on the ward and then pushed open the door.

There was no one in the room, and it was pitch black and extremely quiet. He turned on the room’s ceiling light, and only then did the two of them have time alone.

“Speak up.” Yu Zi sat on the chair next to the bed, holding his arms and looking at Xie Dongcheng lying on the bed.

“What do you want to know?” Xie Dongcheng scratched his head with his left hand, looking somewhat embarrassed.

“About the car accident.”

“Oh, the car was sent for repairs. It shouldn’t be a big deal… just need to replace the headlight, right side fender, and rear bumper.”

“Who asked you how the car was fixed?! I’m asking you how the accident happened!” Yu Zi felt like every additional word with him would shorten his lifespan. He pressed his right ear in frustration.

Xie Dongcheng looked a bit embarrassed as he turned to look at him. “I was driving on the elevated highway. Suddenly the car behind me swerved, and I couldn’t stop in time, and I bumped into the car in front of me.”

“Why were you on the elevated highway so late?” Yu Zi remembered that he didn’t need to take the elevated highway to get home.

“I just took a night shift job. Night shifts pay more, you can earn triple the usual amount. I thought of making some extra money…”

Yu Zi was stunned, lips tightly closed, eyes somewhat vacant. He thought Xie Dongcheng had just had an accident while driving home from work.

After a while, he looked back at Xie Dongcheng again. “So, you work in the shop during the day and drive at night?”

“Yeah,” Xie Dongcheng nodded.

“Driving while fatigued?” Yu Zi guessed, his tone becoming a bit harsher, “You value money more than your life?”

Xie Dongcheng remained silent.

Outside the hospital room window, there were probably a few sparrows nesting. In the dead of night, a few chirps could be heard.

Yu Zi remembered what the doctor had said when he was admitted, instructing him: “The doctor said to stay in the hospital for seven days. Once the wound is okay, you can leave. You need to wear a splint for a month and a half. Oh, by the way, what about the car that chased you? Is it sorted out?”

Xie Dongcheng didn’t expect the topic to change so quickly and was caught off guard. “Ah, you mean the car that chased me?”

Yu Zi nodded.

Xie Dongcheng thought for a moment. “The driver who rear-ended me came along with me. He’s probably undergoing brain surgery now.”

Yu Zi paused, then replied after three seconds, “You really have luck on your side.”

Xie Dongcheng noticed that Yu Zi had been holding a white plastic bag, which looked like it was from the hospital pharmacy. After entering the ward, Yu Zi had thrown the bag onto a nearby cabinet.

“What’s in that bag?” Xie Dongcheng pointed.

Yu Zi glanced at it, subconsciously touched his right ear, and then casually replied, “Cold medicine.”

“You have a cold?”

“Yeah.” Playing the full act, Yu Zi even coughed a couple of times.

“I’ll go buy you some red date ginger tea. There’s probably some downstairs…” Xie Dongcheng said, about to get off the bed.

“You rest.” Yu Zi pressed him back down.

Xie Dongcheng looked at him and could only continue clutching the bedsheet.

Seeing that he was fine, Yu Zi picked up the bag of medication and was about to leave.

However, Xie Dongcheng stopped him, “Um…”

“What’s up?” Yu Zi stood at the door and turned back.

“I haven’t had dinner yet…” Xie Dongcheng said softly.

Yu Zi stood at the door for a few seconds, then sighed, “Get up. Let’s go downstairs and eat something.”

Xie Dongcheng quickly nodded, “Let’s go.”

The hospital cafeteria had already closed, with a big iron lock hanging on the door. The two of them wandered around, but luckily, there was a 24-hour convenience store downstairs in the hospital.

With his right arm bound, Xie Dongcheng followed behind Yu Zi into the convenience store. The welcoming bell rang as they entered.

“What do you want to eat?” Yu Zi turned back and asked.

“I’ll go order,” Xie Dongcheng said, about to take out his wallet from his pocket with his left hand.

“Save your energy,” Yu Zi hadn’t eaten anything since he spent the afternoon in the hospital, so he went straight to the shelves to have a look.

The late-night convenience store had almost run out of ready-to-eat food. After searching around, Yu Zi ended up grabbing two bowls of instant noodles.

He paid for them and handed the noodles to the cashier. The cashier filled them with boiling water, then sealed the lids with a fork.

Five minutes later, the two of them, each with a bowl of noodles, sat by the convenience store’s floor-to-ceiling window.

With his right hand bound, Xie Dongcheng struggled to use his left hand to pull out the fork, blew on the still-hot soup, and slowly fed himself the noodles.

Seeing him struggling to eat, Yu Zi took the fork from his hand, scooped up the remaining noodles, and handed it to him.

“Open up!”

Xie Dongcheng opened his mouth dumbly, and Yu Zi shoved the forkful of noodles into his mouth, nearly choking him.

Xie Dongcheng chewed for a full two minutes before finishing the forkful of noodles.

Yu Zi wasn’t completely heartless. He opened a bottle of mineral water for him and pushed it over.

“Drink some water to wash it down.”

Xie Dongcheng gulped down a big mouthful of water before finally recovering.

The two of them stared at each other for a while. Suddenly, Yu Zi remembered something from earlier in the day.

He cleared his throat, “I’m going back to Fangjiayuan tomorrow.”

Xie Dongcheng was a bit surprised, “What for?”

“To get my luggage.”

Xie Dongcheng’s eyes dimmed slightly when he heard that, and he lowered his head, fiddling with the cup of instant noodles, silent for a long time.

Yu Zi felt a pang of guilt seeing his expression, unexpectedly feeling sorry for him.

He sighed and added, “I’m going to sell that watch when I go back. It should fetch some money.”

“The watch in your suitcase?” Xie Dongcheng remembered that watch. Yu Zi always kept it in the softest compartment of his luggage, treasuring it, afraid it might get scratched or bumped.

“Yeah.” Yu Zi sighed again, not saying anything more.

“Don’t sell the watch.” Xie Dongcheng suddenly raised his eyes and looked straight at Yu Zi. His left hand clenched slightly.

“Not selling the watch won’t get me that much money. I went to ask some loan companies, but their interest rates…” Yu Zi didn’t finish his sentence. Suddenly, Xie Dongcheng took out a bank card from his pocket and pushed it across the table to him.

“There’s money here. Use it for now.”

Yu Zi abruptly looked up at him. “Where did you get the money? You didn’t really go for a big loan, did you?”

Xie Dongcheng shook his head. “No.”

“Then where did the money come from?”

“I… mortgaged my house.”