Luo Dong’s villa is built in the local province and borders the edge of the neighboring province. From there to the closest large scale hospital there was only one path.
At this moment, the sky had already lightened. Strangely enough, Ms. Zhang Juanjuan pulled out an ambulance siren from somewhere and placed it at the roof of the car. Exceeding the speed limit, they reached their destination in 15 minutes.
Xiao Li carried Han Jia and rushed into the hospital. After Zhang Juanjuan helped in handling the paperwork and payments, Han Jia was finally carried into the surgical room.
Zhang Juanjuan said with confident, “Remember to deposit the remaining money into my account,” before quickly driving off in that car with its fake license plates.
Xiao Li sat down on a bench in the nearby waiting area. It was only then did he noticed that the front of his jacket was completely covered in Han Jia’s blood. He wanted to get up and rinse it or possibly throw it away but suddenly a deep sense of fatigue charged into his head. He already felt extremely tired, so tired that he did not have the strength to care about his own image or the blood reeking on his jacket. He did not care about anything else aside from the light that lit up the square “surgery” sign.
As he sat there, with his legs crossed, body leaned back, head against the wall, he stared straight at the lamp above the operating room. In this position and his clothes stained with blood, it looked as though he was wounded.
Han Jia’s wound was clearly made from a gunshot, so it was unavoidable that someone in the hospital must had reported to the police already. After a long while, two police officers arrived. They saw Xiao Li from a good distant away but neither dare walked toward him. A moment later, one of the officer received a phone call. He quickly glanced over at Xiao Li, then left with his colleague beside him.
Luo Dong must have done this through some bribery since this is his territory, thought Xiao Li. He also doesn’t want to cause a huge commotion here.
The blood on his jacket slowly became dry and the smell became stronger. Xiao Li absent-mindedly recalled the first day he joined the gang. A group of men ganged up and relentlessly beat up a thin middle age loan shark. That person also threw up blood, fell on the ground then suddenly rolled toward the side of his feet. At that time, he was ridden with fear and drew back involuntarily. But, someone pushed him which caused him to stagger forward and step on that man’s chest. As the man’s blood spurted out, it splashed on his pants and shoes.
After he returned home that day, how long did he wash his clothes for? He didn’t dare let Xiao Yang see it, he didn’t dare give up, nor did he dare imagine his own future.
That day when he was just a 15 years old boy, how long did he trembled as he held on to those soaked clothes? But from that day on, he quickly matured and the brilliant dream that lied at the core of this youth’s heart died. What replaced it, was a stone-cold heart.
As time went by, even when he personally chopped someone’s hand off, he didn’t care. Not to mention when killing was involved, his eyes never turned away. Looking at it from a certain angle, he was used to this kind of life, so much so that there was a type of pleasure lying beneath it. It seemed with force and violent, he was able to obtain some sort of compensation.
He was the same as Han Jia. It is just an empty satisfaction, the more satisfied the more emptiness, the more satisfied the more desperate, but the more desperate the more eager he was to satisfy the desperation. In this kind of vicious cycle, he was nourished by the darkness. He had long stopped himself from such vain attempts for a brighter day……
Memories of the past made him felt weak and lost so with knitted together that formed into a frown, Xiao Li pulled himself back into the real world.
As he looked ahead, the surgical operation light was still on and unknowingly there was another shadow stretching nearby.
Xiao Li raised his head and turned to the right side for a look.
Qi Xiu Yuan stood not too far away.
How long had he been there, silently watching him?
His complexion did not look too well. It was as if he had not slept all night. The distress that drew his face was made more appearance by the wrinkles of his clothes and how worn out it was. But even amidst the hospital white backdrop, his eyes were still radiating with warmth and his smile brimming with kindness.
Once he saw Xiao Li looking at him, Qi Xiu Yuan slowly walked over and sat down beside him.
They sat side by side with only 10 centimeters of space between them. He didn’t ask how Qi Xiu Yuan got here and Qi Xiu Yuan also did not ask him what exactly occurred.
But, all of a sudden, Xiao Li felt, as if all those dark things did not happen. He was not being chased to death, nervous or frighten. He was not chasing after anyone trying to kill them or reeking fiercely of blood. He wasn’t using his body and loyalty as a bargaining token.
There was no gang.
He was just an ordinary man, an office worker or probably something similar, sitting down with a friend grumbling about each other’s work. They were here now, visiting a mutual friend, and then they will part ways and go back to their own ordinary yet lovely life.
These kinds of thoughts gave him a peace of mind, so when Qi Xiu Yuan shifted his hand over and gentle placed it over his hand to comfort him, he did not refuse it.\n