Chapter 46#

Chapter 46 Side Story — Twenty-One

Mo Cheng spent a week on the African savannah without internet. When he returned to the city and saw Mo Xi’s text message, he hurriedly changed his flight to return to China. When he and Li Gaocen rushed back, Mo Zi had already recovered quite well. Holding his little granddaughter in swaddling clothes, the man over fifty suddenly had the urge to burst into tears.

He heard that Xiao Jun had borrowed a lot of money this time, so he took out more than two hundred thousand and begged Mo Zi to accept it with teary eyes by the hospital bed. Nominally, it was for his granddaughter, but actually, it was for them to pay back the debt. He had been quite a failure in his life. He wasn’t a good husband, nor a responsible father, not even a qualified lover. He didn’t dare to ask for forgiveness; this was the only thing he could do now.

He also met a young man who was very good to Xiao Xi. The young man was good in all aspects and knew how to take care of people. He didn’t know why Xiao Xi refused to admit their relationship. He really couldn’t see through the thoughts of young people nowadays.

All he could do was give a few reminders, hoping he wouldn’t regret it in the future.

The hospital in late autumn seemed a bit cold. The two rows of plane trees on the sidewalk had already lost more than half of their leaves. Underfoot was a large expanse of golden yellow. When the wind blew, the fallen leaves spun like propellers in the air a few times before falling back to the ground.

Mo Xi stepped on the thick fallen leaves from time to time, making a crunching sound. Pei Hao walked beside him, holding a cup of coffee. Seeing a yellow leaf stuck in Mo Xi’s hair, he reached out and gently patted it off.

Since Mo Xi’s temperature dropped, Pei Hao took him home without stopping, giving him no chance to resist. Now that Mo Cheng and Uncle Li were also here, they could take turns taking care of Mo Zi. The whole family supported him recuperating at Pei Hao’s house and visiting the hospital less. So now he could only spare one or two hours a day to accompany Mo Zi in the hospital. If he stayed a little longer, Mo Zi would start chasing him away.

He heard that Xiao Jun took his little niece to the hospital today, so he couldn’t wait to see her as soon as he got up.

Before reaching the ward door, he heard noisy quarreling inside, like many people arguing. Mo Xi frowned. His sister’s ward had always been very quiet. Why were there so many people all of a sudden?

He and Pei Hao walked over quickly and found a crowd of people gathered at the ward door. Some were wearing white coats, whom Mo Xi recognized as Mo Zi’s colleagues from the same department; several others looked fierce and were arguing fiercely with Mo Zi’s colleagues.

Mo Xi looked at the two sides with flushed faces and had a bad premonition. At this time, Pei Hao had already walked into the middle of the crowd and neatly separated the people blocking the door into two groups.

“What are you arguing about?!” Pei Hao roared, “This is a hospital.”

Pei Hao was tall and strong. He stood in the middle and pushed his hands to both sides. The aggressive people just now hesitated and didn’t dare to move, and the atmosphere barely eased.

A doctor in a white coat flushed, his teeth chattering, pointing at the troublemakers opposite and sternly said: “Go back quickly. If you have anything to say, we’ll say it in court, otherwise we’ll call the police immediately.”

“What court? We are here for a private settlement.” A bald man in his early thirties stood out from the other side and smiled disdainfully at the doctor.

Mo Xi was a little scared seeing the man’s bulging eyes that looked like they were about to pop out. Taking advantage of no one noticing him, he quickly hid around the corner of the corridor and dialed 110.

These people were obviously up to no good. Regardless of anything, call the police first.

“Settlement for what?” Pei Hao raised his chin to look at the bald man. The bald man was really a bit short. Pei Hao looked straight at his shiny top and the rolls of flesh on it. Pei Hao felt a wave of nausea and quickly turned his head away.

“If you know what’s good for you, leave quickly. Don’t meddle.” The bald man extended his index finger and rubbed Pei Hao’s chest hard. He was very dissatisfied with the arrogant attitude of this tall man in front of him. Having been in the underworld for a long time, he hated people who had no ability but dared to point fingers as soon as they came up. Has he encountered few people who look big but cry for their parents after a few minutes of fighting?

Pei Hao slapped away the bald man’s dirty hand with a “pa”, bit the masseter muscle of his cheek hard, suppressed the extreme unhappiness in his heart, darkened his face, raised his voice and asked again: “Settlement for what?”

If it weren’t in the hospital, he would have rushed up to beat this greasy bastard long ago. What kind of thing dared to rub his hand on his chest.

After the bald man’s hand was slapped away, he immediately put on a violent face. He raised his fist and punched Pei Hao’s chest furiously. In a flash, Pei Hao grabbed his fist suddenly and twisted it outward forcefully, twisting the bald man’s face out of shape.

“Don’t hit, don’t hit,” at this time, a man in black jumped out from behind the bald man, walked up to Pei Hao and waved his hands repeatedly, “We are not here to fight today.”

Pei Hao frowned, looked the man in black up and down, and seeing that he looked quite amiable, he let go of the hand holding the bald man.

The bald man suffered a loss. He didn’t expect this tall man to be stronger than him. It seemed he had practiced. He felt that he couldn’t go head-to-head at this time, and immediately put on a cunning smile on his face: “As long as the beauty inside agrees to settle out of court with us, we will leave immediately.”

“Impossible,” the doctor standing at the front trembled with anger, “Even if she doesn’t sue your brother, the hospital will sue your brother.”

The bald man was annoyed to death by these nagging doctors. Not long ago, his brother was detained by the police for hurting people in the hospital and hasn’t come out yet. It was said that he might be sentenced. They finally found the address of the injured female doctor and wanted to spend money to settle out of court, but they were entangled by these doctors as soon as they arrived at the ward door, and haven’t talked to the female doctor until now.

A fire burst out in the bald man’s heart. He rushed up and pushed the doctor hard. If the people behind hadn’t supported him, the doctor would have fallen to the ground.

“Fuck your mother!” The bald man pointed at the doctor and cursed, “None of your business, go home and wash your ass clean…”

Before he finished speaking, his chin was suddenly pinched, causing a burst of soreness and rendering him speechless. Pei Hao pinched his chin with one hand and patted his face with the coffee cup in the other, warning impatiently: “Keep your mouth clean.”

At this time, Xiao Jun walked out of the ward. He waved to those people and said: “We don’t want to talk about settlement today. My wife hasn’t recovered yet. You guys leave.”

“Settlement or not is just a matter of one sentence,” another pockmarked man stood out from behind the bald man. Mo Xi automatically nicknamed him Pockmark. Pockmark looked at Xiao Jun arrogantly: “We just want a definite word.”

“Is this your attitude for settlement?” Xiao Jun’s always gentle and elegant face also ignited with anger. He had learned something new. Nowadays, people asking for help can have such an arrogant attitude?

Moreover, they absolutely couldn’t settle this kind of thing. Otherwise, Mo Zi would have gone to the gates of hell for nothing?

“Did you hear? No settlement.” Pei Hao had a ruthless look on his face, and the hand pinching the bald man exerted more force. The bald man’s face turned red from being pinched, and he couldn’t even breathe. Pockmark wanted to come up and fight Pei Hao but was held back by the man in black.

The man in black stopped Pockmark behind him, stepped forward and bowed to Pei Hao apologetically. Pei Hao glanced at him before reluctantly letting go of the person in his hand. The released bald man’s face was red, and he took a deep breath to recover. His chin hadn’t recovered from the severe soreness.

“Fuck, this guy is too strong.” The bald man whispered to Pockmark, looking at Pei Hao with hatred in his eyes. Just now he couldn’t move at all.

Pockmark helped the bald man up and angrily questioned why the man in black was such a coward. The man in black ignored him, but kept pushing the doctor and Pei Hao into the ward, winking and saying: “Close the door quickly.”

Soon the doctor and Pei Hao both entered the room. Xiao Jun gave Mo Xi a look from a distance, signaling him to come in quickly. They were ready to close the door and see off the guests.

Mo Xi understood, walked quickly to the ward door, and prepared to enter. Unexpectedly, a sharp pain came from his leg. He lost his balance and knelt straight down.

Pockmark kicked Mo Xi’s calf hard and cursed: “Damn bunch of bastards, refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit…”

Before he finished speaking, he received a solid punch on his face, burning with pain.

“Who the fuck are you kicking?” Pei Hao was like an enraged beast. He stepped out of the ward in one stride, veins popping on his forehead. He grabbed Pockmark’s collar and slammed his knee hard against his abdomen. Pockmark curled up on the ground holding his stomach, unable to make a sound from the pain. The coffee originally in Pei Hao’s hand fell to the ground with a “pa”, splashing all over Pockmark.

Seeing Pei Hao’s eyes turn red and about to rush up again, Xiao Jun and another doctor quickly pulled him back. Pei Hao pursed his lips, his chest still heaving violently. He pointed at the person on the ground and cursed: “Don’t let me see you again, or I’ll beat you every time I see you.” After speaking, he bent down to help Mo Xi on the ground.

Pei Hao held Mo Xi’s hand trying to pull him up, but suddenly a figure jumped out from beside him, holding a short-handled object in his hand, reflecting a stream of light, rushing straight down towards them. Pei Hao immediately realized what it was. He quickly blocked in Mo Xi’s direction.

Everything happened too fast. Mo Xi suddenly heard a “zip” sound. The moment he looked up, he just saw Pei Hao blocking in front of him. A small knife quickly slashed across his arm. The white hoodie was instantly cut with a long opening, and blood quickly soaked through.

Mo Xi’s heart sank instantly. He hurriedly threw himself forward to hug Pei Hao and pulled him towards the ward. The vicious face behind raised the knife and stabbed at Pei Hao’s back again. Fortunately, Mo Xi moved agilely and dodged while holding the person.

Within a few minutes, people inside and outside the room were fighting together. The nurse who came to check the room saw this scene and her mind went blank for a few seconds before realizing she needed to call for help. When the hospital security guards arrived, Pei Hao had already pinned the other few people to the ground. The bald man and Pockmark were beaten so badly they couldn’t stand up. Pei Hao had three cuts on his body, Xiao Jun also had a cut on his leg, and several doctors were also punched and kicked. Mo Zi sat on the bed holding the baby, witnessing the group fight that just happened with horror on her face. Both adults and children were scared to tears.

All the security guards could do was separate the two groups and wait for the police to handle it.

Mo Xi wanted to comfort Mo Zi. Turning his head, he saw three cuts on Pei Hao’s body bleeding continuously. The snow-white hoodie was quickly stained with patches of red, shockingly red. His heart pounded wildly, and he hurriedly pulled the person to go to the emergency room for bandaging. Pei Hao wanted to say it was nothing; this level of injury was nothing to him. His dad beat him much harder than this. But meeting Mo Xi’s helpless eyes that were about to cry, he immediately shut his mouth and let the other party pull him towards the elevator.

“Um…” Pei Hao walked a few steps and stopped, paused, pointed in the direction of the ward and said, “Your brother-in-law also got cut on his leg.”

“Ah?” Mo Xi slapped his head in annoyance and ran back to the ward. He had been staring at Pei Hao just now and didn’t notice anyone else at all.

Xiao Jun was comforting Mo Zi and his crying daughter in the ward. He glanced at the wound on his leg. It wasn’t serious, so he waved to Mo Xi, telling him to take Pei Hao for bandaging first.

Mo Xi trotted all the way to Pei Hao, quickly pulled up his hand and ran towards the elevator. Pei Hao looked at the person in front of him who was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. His heart softened, and he pulled the person into his arms, rubbing his chin on the person’s hair, with the sound of his gentle breathing lingering in his ears. Although Pei Hao had thousands of desires surging in his heart, he just suppressed them and hugged very lightly and gently. This person had given him the cold shoulder for too long. He just needed a second of closeness to heal the small loss wandering in his heart over the past few years. After the hug, he was still his certain future.

It is said that when hugging someone, the body temperature rises by 0.5 degrees. Mo Xi’s heart beat faster in Pei Hao’s solid chest, and his head was dizzy. Logically speaking, in the five years he was with Pei Hao, they had done everything they should do, but now he was like a pure little boy who hadn’t tasted first love, blushing for no reason.

People came and went in the hospital corridor, rushing back and forth with their own thoughts. Few people noticed this brief hug—one person bewildered, one person tender as water. A few seconds later, the two separated, as if nothing had happened.

Only those who hugged knew how surging their hearts were at that time, as if a massive mountain torrent had turned over in their hearts. Everything was as usual, but it seemed that everything was different.