Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Three: The Cat Clan (II)

Chu Ge looked at him warily. “A surprise?”

He’d consider himself fortunate if it didn’t scare the s.h.i.+t out of him.

Yan Jin nodded sincerely.

“Save your surprise. I still need to get back to work. You can return to wherever you came from.” Chu Ge had no intention of playing “guess what Yan Jin was plotting”. He no longer cared about getting Yan Jin back for his earlier trickery. He just wanted Yan Jin gone.

Yan Jin played for time. “Really, this surprise, it’s the nice kind.”

“Drop the act and go away. Where did Fishy go?” Chu Ge had heard that Yan Jin was accompanied by a s.h.i.+fty-looking person, which he immediately a.s.sumed to be Xiao Yu. He found it strange that Xiao Yu wasn’t here right now.

“He’s preparing your surprise,” Yan Jin said.

“…If you keep that up I’m really going to call security.”

Yan Jin insisted, “It’s the truth.”

Chu Ge didn’t have the time to respond before the door of the nearest ward slid open.

Xiao Yu was struggling with a fat white cat clawing to get free. “Yan Jin, h.e.l.lllp…”

His plea died down as he saw Chu Ge’s stormy glare fixed on the cat in his hands.

“You. Guys. Are. Nuts,” Chu Ge seethed. “Why the f.u.c.k have you brought a pet into a hospital? If I don’t beat you guys up, I’m not Chu Ge.”

“Heyheyhey, calm down, calm down.” Xiao Yu hid behind Yan Jin still carrying Faye. “I was looking for a doctor, the person inside is awake…”

Chu Ge wasn’t paying attention while he rolled up his sleeves.

“Xiao Yu already told you to calm down.” Yan Jin protected Xiao Yu behind him. He pointed at the ward behind Chu Ge. “You should take care of your first priority, which is your patients. Your patient is awake.”

“Only an idiot would buy that. What patient—” Chu Ge looked in the direction of Yan Jin’s finger and immediately froze like he’d been turned to stone.

Beyond the open door, a thin body was propped up on the pillow. Although the body looked weak, the eyes burned with vitality.

As their eyes met, Chu Ge saw the hint of a smile on her face.

Before coming out, Xiao Yu had hit the bell to call for a doctor. As they watched, doctors and nurses began rus.h.i.+ng into the ward to begin inspections and to marvel at the patient’s consciousness.

Perhaps the patient regaining consciousness was the more important of the two.

A patient who had been in a vegetative state for ten years had managed to regain consciousness. Few cases of this had ever happened in the world. In the thirty years of this hospital’s operation, this was the first.

In about ten minutes, perhaps even the hospital’s president was going to come.

Chu Ge stood stunned by the door. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. His chest felt like it was going to split open from his heart’s hammering, but that also told him he wasn’t dreaming.

Qiao Yutang was awake?!

Before he completely lost himself to emotion, Chu Ge looked back.

Together, Xiao Yu and Yan Jin had finally managed to restrain Faye. Yan Jin still had his usual immaculate appearance. On the other hand, Xiao Yu looked miserable. His jacket had been flung off to who-knows-where and his sweater had been torn into so many pieces that Xiao Yu had simply given it to the culprit to play with. His remaining s.h.i.+rt was completely crinkled, and his arms were covered in claw marks.

Xiao Yu looked like he had rushed over for a vaccine after being chased by rabid dogs.

Sensing Chu Ge’s gaze, Xiao Yu gave him a silly smile. “Hurry up and go. She’s waiting for you.”

“Just go, no need to dawdle here any further. We still need to get this cat out of here. Remember to help Fishy get an antibacterial shot later,” Yan Jin said impatiently.

Chu Ge robotically stared at them for a little longer. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He was at his limits, but he realized that this definitely wasn’t a coincidence.

“No need to thank us. Scram. If you wait any longer there won’t be any room left in the ward for you,” Yan Jin said with no small amount of antipathy. He departed with Xiao Yu and Faye without a second look back.

……

“Ow.” They had managed to get all the way back to the car, but just as Yan Jin was stuffing Faye into the cage on the back seat, one of Faye’s frantic swipes caught Yan Jin.

Unfortunately for him, it resulted in an open cut.

Xiao Yu hid a smile. “Don’t worry, later we can get our shots together then.”

“Why is this cat so crazy? Hopefully she doesn’t actually have some disease…”

“Nah, it’s probably because she’s not used to two strangers,” Xiao Yu explained.

Yan Jin looked doubtful, so Xiao Yu continued, “The cat clan member’s bodies don’t merge together. Only their consciousnesses are exchanged. Qiao Yutang said that Faye’s consciousness was frozen many years ago, so of course Faye doesn’t recognize us.”

“The cat clan…” Yan Jin repeated.

“Hey, stop it. No need to make fun of me,” Xiao Yu complained. “If you keep it up, I’ll report you for racism.”

Yan Jin shut his mouth.

As Yan Jin was about to start the car, Xiao Yu suddenly said, “Wait!”

“What?”

A loud sound reverberated in the enclosed car as Faye rediscovered her playtoy.

“Let me mention something first so I don’t have to do it once you’re on the highway.”

“Don’t worry, my driving skills are excellent.” Yan Jin plugged the car keys in.

“Ah, okay then. Well, it’s not a big thing, but Qiao Yutang asked me if you remember the time you asked her out to see the peach blossoms together ten years ago.”

The engine sounds died back down.

The atmosphere in the car suddenly grew heavy. So did Yan Jin’s complexion.

After a long period of silence, Yan Jin asked, “…What else did she say?”

Xiao Yu looked directly at Yan Jin and said evenly, “She said that on account of you taking care of her for so long, she would drop the matter if you take down the Nan Family.”

Yan Jin suddenly relaxed. He felt a bizarre relief.

Somehow, he had received a lot of forgiveness recently.

If there was a reason for all of this…

Was it from the good luck Fishy had brought?

Yan Jin hadn’t always believed in the supernatural. But, starting from the time he had given a small hamster a name, he had only received blessings.

“Oh, she also asked me another strange question.”

“What?”

“She asked…” Xiao Yu hesitated. “Whether Nan Chan was dead yet.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her the truth.”

“Which is?”

“She didn’t die but went insane.”

Yan Jin laughed softly.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Well, it’s a little complicated.”

“Can you stop speaking in riddles?”

“Sure. I’ll tell you on the highway. Sit tight.” Yan Jin released the brakes.

……

Chu Ge didn’t show himself for three days. Was he pursuing romance? In any case, the next time Xiao Yu saw him, the new year had already come and gone.

Xiao Yu still had his hamster ears when he opened the door for Chu Ge. Chu Ge scanned over Xiao Yu’s clothes that had been clearly just thrown on and the red marks on Xiao Yu’s neck. His gaze went to Yan Jin, who obviously wasn’t in a good mood. He threw Yan Jin a look of contempt. How shameless to engage in such depravities in the middle of the day.

Yan Jin tutted and returned a look of annoyance. Sour grapes? Don’t be mad because you can’t get any. Go find your girlfriend if you want some. That is, if you have the ability.

Motherf.u.c.ker! My girlfriend is still in the hospital! It was Chu Ge’s complete loss.

Xiao Yu watched their nonverbal battle without a sound.

“Did you get your shots?” Chu Ge immediately asked after sitting down.

“Yep, we got them together at the neighborhood clinic.” Xiao Yu didn’t find the question unreasonable. While Chu Ge sometimes took things too personally, he had a strong sense of duty to his patients.

“It’s not just one. Don’t forget to go back for the rest. I’ll send another reminder, especially for Yan Jin,” Chu Ge grumbled at Yan Jin.

Yan Jin waved a hand, irritated.

“How’s Qiao Yutang doing? When will she be released from the hospital?” Xiao Yu asked.

“The hospital still wants to monitor her. I don’t think they’ll find any problems though. After all, she didn’t lose consciousness because of the accident, and it wasn’t medicine that woke her up.” Chu Ge sighed. “They might as well monitor her to their hearts’ content for such a rare case. If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t want to let her go so quickly either.”

“Qiao Yutang already told you everything?”

“Pretty much. *Sigh*, when did animals become so smart…?” Chu Ge joked.

“What’s wrong with that? Everyone likes that,” Yan Jin interjected.

Chu Ge nodded. “I don’t know how I can thank you two.”

“It’s getting late now. I’ll save you the effort of mentioning it.” Yan Jin stuck a hand out materialistically. “Hand your gift over.”

Chu Ge: “…”

Well, he was already used to this.

He took a stack of doc.u.ments out from his bag and humbly presented them on the coffee table. “*Cough cough*, I came across some YL stocks some time ago and was wondering when I should give them to you…”

“Forget it. Du Fengchen gave them to you many years ago. You’ve kept them for so long now.” As he said that, Yan Jin grabbed a pen and signed his name. Then, he found his backup seal and stamped the doc.u.ment.

“…Would it kill you to be polite for once?” Chu Ge said.

“Did you know that he received these shares in a breakup settlement with the woman he loved?”

“Huh. I didn’t know that.” Chu Ge couldn’t control his curiosity.

“Actually, I was just bulls.h.i.+tting.”

Chu Ge: “…”

There was an awkward silence.

Xiao Yu felt it was too embarra.s.sing to even listen to this.

Yan Jin set the doc.u.ments aside and then said, “Then, do you know how Qiao Yutang got injured ten years ago?”