The Heart of a Smith

When they finished dealing with everything and Lu Shang finally reached home, it was in the middle of the night. The second Lu Shang walked in; he saw Li Sui lying face down on the sofa, one of his arms was hanging out. He hadn’t changed his clothes yet, under the bloodied shirt was Li Sui’s strong back. Li Sui had grown a lot; he was basically a grown man when looking at his body size. As Li Sui exercised a lot, one could see the muscles on his arms.

Lu Shang examined Li Sui’s arm, it was bandaged and cleaned already. On the table were a few capsules of anti-inflammatory medicine and a cup of water, the water had turned cold already.

Lu Shang lightly hit Li Sui’s shoulder a few times, he didn’t wake up. When he checked Li Sui’s temperature, he found Li Sui’s forehead was hotter than usual; he had a fever. Lu Shang immediately called Leung ZiRui, asking him to come over.

The person on the other side of the phone was probably asleep, he sounded tired, “Are you sick?”

“Not me, the little guy’s wound might be infected. He has a fever.”

Leung ZiRui gave a light “Hm”, he said like a ghost, “I understand… coming…”

Lu Shang hung up the phone, he looked down to find Li Sui awake. Li Sui was looking at him, his eyes clear and shiny, perhaps due to the fever, his face was a little red.

“The doctor is coming, be patient.” Lu Shang seldom used such a soft tone when speaking.

Li Sui only smiled, and he fell asleep after closing his eyes again.

Lu Shang was taken aback by the weird smile, he felt like Li Sui was teasing him somehow. But very quickly he realized, there was no way Li Sui had the guts to tease him, he probably wasn’t conscious either, the fever must had fried his brain.

He didn’t want to bother Aunt Lu at this hour, so Lu Shang acted as a caretaker for once. He got Li Sui up to his shoulder, bringing him to the bedroom. Lu Shang cleaned Li Sui’s body gently, then helped him change and put him onto the bed. Li Sui had lost quite an amount of blood, so he might be a bit sensitive to the cold. The moment Li Sui touched the blanket, he subconsciously snugged in, almost like a turtle.

Lu Shang just suddenly found Li Sui funny like this, he himself found this thought odd as well.

However, this happiness didn’t reach his mouth, the forming smile quickly receded. The problem with Li Yan wasn’t over yet, Xe WeiLan and the others were waiting for his answer. When the sun rose again, he would have to hide all his hesitation, and make the best decision in everyone’s eyes.

The fucking most annoying thing in life was when the right choice went against the choice you wanted.

Sounds came from downstairs, after a while Leung ZiRui climbed up the stairs with steps as heavy as a corpse.

“I left for how long? And so many things happened.” Leung ZiRui had two huge eyebags under his eyes.

Lu Shang moved away from the side of the bed, letting Leung ZiRui examine Li Sui, his face wore no expression.

“He’s fine, his wounds weren’t big either. I’ll give him an injection. After some sweating and a good night’s sleep, he will be alright tomorrow.” After Leung ZiRui finished examining Li Sui, he took out a syringe and administered it to Li Sui. Feeling the pain, Li Sui muttered something in his sleep, but he didn’t wake up.

“Will the wound leave a scar?” Lu Shang asked out of the blue.

Leung ZiRui had a face that said he didn’t care. He then said, “What’s so bad about a scar, he’s a guy… Oh, you feel guilty, don’t you? Do you want me to get some medicine for removing scars later?”

Lu Shang nodded, he glanced at Li Sui, then he sat down on a chair and leaned backwards. After a long while, he said tiredly, “I think I might have done something wrong.”

Leung ZiRui said, “Your heart is too soft, if you can’t bring yourself to do it in the end, then you should never have gotten involved with him.”

“My heart is soft?” Lu Shang turned back to look at Leung ZiRui, he stopped for a while and said, “… no one has ever described me like that.”

“Don’t you think you are really hesitant now? You weren’t like this before.”

Lu Shang fell into silence.

“Never mind, go to bed. Do you know what time it is now?” Leung ZiRui was too tired, he glanced at his wristwatch and said, “Your health deteriorates every time you don’t sleep, you know?”

Lu Shang ignored him, he rubbed his forehead, as if he had a lot on his mind.

Leung ZiRui put the tools away, he sighed. His friend was great at every aspect, but his moral principles were too high. In uglier words, he was too rigid. As someone working in business, that wasn’t an advantage. When he first knew Lu Shang was going to take over Tong Yan, he worried if Lu Shang could handle it.

“Tonight, when Zuo brought people to me for treatment, I heard him say something about today’s incident. He said you didn’t want Li Sui to take the mess with Chan Zhuang, even he saw through you.”

“This mess had nothing to do with Li Sui.”

“Lu Shang, you think too highly of yourself. You aren’t a saint.”

Hearing that, Lu Shang raised his head, the arteries were visible in his eyes.

“You should have known this day would come when you took him in. The two of you have opposing stances from the beginning, do you understand?”

Lu Shang’s voice sank, “I know.”

Leung ZiRui knew Lu Shang understood, so he stopped and changed the topic, “There’s another thing, I noticed a lot of strangers roaming around in RuiGe hospital’s office, it’s still unclear who they are. I will arrange more staff in each shifts, you should be more careful of your surroundings too. I’m going to America to hand in a report the day after tomorrow, I’ll be back at the end of the month. If you have any problems before that, go find my uncle.”

Lu Shang nodded, he stood up to see Leung ZiRui off, but the moment he stood up, he felt dizzy. He couldn’t balance himself, Leung ZiRui was quick, he held onto Lu Shang, saying seriously, “Damn, what’s wrong?”

Lu Shang shook his head, “Nothing, I’m just tired, I’ll get better once I have some sleep.”

When Leung ZiRui left, he was still very worried, he kept nagging Lu Shang about what he should and should not do. Leung ZiRui’s occupational habits all came out at once, giving Lu Shang a headache. Lu Shang closed the car door for Leung ZiRui himself, hoping to get the nagging buddha away.

Lu Shang was about to go to the island for inspection soon, he couldn’t fall ill at such a delicate time. Lu Shang went back into the house and got to his bedroom; he heard some movements inside the room. Pushing the door open, he saw Li Sui extending his hand to reach the cup of water on the bedside table. Because of the wound, it seemed like he didn’t have enough strength to get it.

Lu Shang walked over and pressed the person back to the bed. Seeing that the water was cold already, he poured it out and exchanged it with warm water.

Li Sui was extremely thirsty; he drank two full glasses of water. Lu Shang measured his temperature again, his fever was persisting, but he was awake now. Li Sui was still young, his body was very healthy to begin with, plus he seldom took medicine. His body had low resistant to medicines, so Leung ZiRui’s injection had a strong effect on him.

“Does it still hurt?”

Li Sui shook his head; he patted the part of the bed beside him. The meaning was obvious, he was asking Lu Shang to rest too.

Lu Shang hesitated for a while, then he took his coat off and lay down.

“I overheard a little of what Dr. Leung said.” The two of them lay flat on the bed, Li Sui turned to his side. Li Sui noticed, in this position, he could just reach his hand out and pull Lu Shang’s head to his shoulder.

“What are you saying?” Lu Shang didn’t sound too happy.

“I’m willing, if it can help you, I’m willing to do it.” Li Sui climbed up a bit, he looked at Lu Shang from above, seriousness could be seen in his eyes.

Lu Shang scoffed lightly, “What are you willing to do? You don’t even know what it is.”

“I…”

“I’m tired, let’s sleep.” Lu Shang raised his hand to turn off the lights.

Li Sui found Lu Shang’s finger under the blanket, he pinched it lightly. There were still things he wanted to say, things he wanted to confess. In this atmosphere, at this place, perhaps it was a good chance, but those words turned to the back of his mind, just like a broken gramophone in a ball, not a single note played.

In the silence of the night, Li Sui felt a shred of hate in his heart, hate for his own uselessness. What Lu Shang said wasn’t wrong, he knew nothing. The things Li Sui had, Lu Shang might not care for, and the things Lu Shang wanted, Li Sui couldn’t get them to him. Even a “I’m willing” just now, or even a “I’m willing to do anything,” how much did those each Lu Shang? There were so many possible replacements for Li Sui.

Vows that sounded overly childish, they were like a blank check. There was so little Li Sui could give, while Lu Shang had given him so much in comparison. Li Sui’s efforts were too meaningless in the big picture. Holding Lu Shang’s credit card and saying he would foot the bill, Li Sui already made that foolish joke last year, he won’t do that again.

The sun came out, beside Li Sui were rhythmic breaths. Li Sui wasn’t sleepy anymore, he was covered in sweat, his neck was especially uncomfortable. However, he didn’t want to wake the person beside him, so he just lay there, not budging. That was until Lu Shang’s phone rang. Before Lu Shang went to bed, he would always turn his phone to silent mode, but he must had forgotten due to how hectic yesterday was.

The time when Lu Shang slept was irregular, but he would always wake up at half past seven sharp, sometimes earlier but never later. It was eight in the morning now, so naturally he should be at the dinner table already. Li Sui called out to Lu Shang with a light voice, but Lu Shang didn’t wake up. Lu Shang was slightly frowning, his face pale. Li Sui remembered the things Dr. Leung reminded Lu Shang last night, so he turned Lu Shang’s phone to silent mode.

Li Sui sneaked out of bed to take a shower. The fever came in a hurry, but it was also gone quickly enough. After some intense sweating, the fever was all gone now. After he finished his shower, Li Sui saw Lu Shang’s phone rang the third time.

Li Sui heard an alarm ring in his mind. Tong Yan’s employees were experienced, they knew to call Uncle Yuen as a backup, if it wasn’t something extremely important, they would never bomb the phone with calls like this.

Lu Shang seemed to have sensed that somehow, he slowly opened his eyes. Li Sui almost never saw Lu Shang droopy like this, it was as if a layer of fog was covering his eyes, making them look hazy. Li Sui’s heart shook.

The next second those eyes fell onto Li Sui; he immediately retracted his thoughts and gaze. He picked the phone up and gave it to Lu Shang, “It rang three times already.”

Lu Shang propped himself up, his elbow pulled on the sleeping robe he was wearing, revealing his slightly sharp shoulder. Li Sui paused and turned his head away uncomfortably.

Lu Shang was staring at the screen of his phone, so he didn’t notice Li Sui’s little reaction. He took the call while walking to the shower room, he said, “What’s wrong?”

The one on the other side of the phone said something, it made Lu Shang stop his footsteps, “I see, I’m coming.”

Li Sui had no idea what had happened, but Lu Shang left in a hurry, skipping his breakfast altogether. When Li Sui went to give the clothes Lu Shang changed out of to Aunt Lu, he noticed that Lu Shang had forgotten to bring his wallet and even his identification card, he even left his phone. Ever since Aunt Lu knew Lu Shang and Li Sui were sleeping in the same room, she had never entered the room while they were there. All the clothes that needed washing were brought to Aunt Lu by Li Sui, she also only cleaned their room when everyone was out, so she didn’t notice Lu Shang left those things behind either.

Li Sui stood at the door, he looked at the dark clouds covering the sky, he had a really bad feeling. “Aunt Lu, do we have another car at home? I want to go find him.”