Chapter 184

Chapter 184

◎ Nightmare and Reality. ◎

Ren Suiyi was startled by Meng Qi's reaction, unable to understand how in the blink of an eye, his healthy and lively Meng Qi had become like this—weak as a breeze that could vanish any second, it tore him up inside to see him fall apart like that.

Though he couldn't pinpoint the exact cause, he knew Meng Qi's change must be related to Jia Qing. In anger, he snatched the phone out of Meng Qi's hand while it was still on, then chucked it where no one could see it. Then he scooped up Meng Qi and rushed toward Li Qingjiang's room, got as far away from that room as possible.

The moment the door was kicked open with force, Li Qingjiang, who had been lying in bed with his eyes closed, shot up like a scared grasshopper. Only after recognizing who had come did he let out a slight sigh of relief. But the sudden movement strained the wound on his inner thigh, causing him to wince in pain. Still, he merely rubbed it twice and moved on, dragging his injured leg as he hobbled to the desk. He grabbed acupuncture needles and rushed back and stuck the needles into the main pressure points to stop the pain.

"That ain't a stomachache. What happened?" After inserting the needles, Li Qingjiang pressed his palm to Meng Qi’s forehead to check for a fever. Feeling no heat, he picked up Meng Qi’s left hand to feel his pulse.

Ren Suiyi wiped the sweat from Meng Qi’s face as he replied, "I’m not sure of the exact reason, but I think he got so mad it set him off. He was on the phone right before it happened."

"Who pissed him off? Did the one who made him run away track him down?" Li Qingjiang asked in rapid succession, shocked.

Ren Suiyi’s pupils contracted. He shot back instead of answering, "Did he tell you why he came here?"

Li Qingjiang shook his head. "No, I was just shooting in the dark."

Ren Suiyi decided not to dwell on that topic. He quickly filled him in on what went down between Jia Qing and Meng Qi, then speculated, "I think they had a disagreement that upset him. He and Aunt Jia have a bunch of crossed wires."

Li Qingjiang was puzzled and shot a look of disapproval at Ren Suiyi, a hint of blame in his voice. "Since you knew he doesn’t have a good relationship with his mother, why didn’t you stop him from making that call? Right now he's like a ticking time bomb—hormones are making him super unstable."

Ren Suiyi’s heart was entirely focused on Meng Qi, so he didn’t notice Li Qingjiang’s hostile look, nor did he pay much attention to the implicit blame in his words.

In fact, even if he had noticed, he probably wouldn’t have taken it to heart. After all, Li Qingjiang wasn’t wrong—he was the one who had acted impulsively.

"That was my call. I figured he really wanted Aunt Jia around, so I’ve been looking for a chance to fix things between them. I thought this was an opportunity, but I never thought it'd blow up like this," Ren Suiyi explained in a low voice.

When Li Qingjiang saw that Meng Qi’s breathing had stabilized, he removed the silver needles from his body and carefully covered him with a blanket. Then he said to Ren Suiyi, "No point crying over spilled milk now. Let him crash first. We'll figure it out when he comes to. Keep an eye on him here. Page me if anything goes wrong. Pretty sure I ripped my stitches from the sudden movement, so I gotta go next door and patch myself up."

Ren Suiyi’s eyes were fixed on Meng Qi’s face. When Li Qingjiang finished speaking, he just gave a blank nod, barely registering what Li said.

Li Qingjiang sighed and left.

By "next room" he meant Meng Qi’s.

Out of all the rooms, only his and Meng Qi's had a decent supply of stuff. After entering Meng Qi’s room, he first took out iodine, cotton swabs, and gauze from the medical kit. He took two cotton swabs out of a pack, dipped them in the iodine, and set them aside. Then he dropped his pants to his knees...

The phone in the corner was still lit. On the other end, Jia Qing heard the rustle and called out nervously, "Is that Meng Qi? Why aren’t you talking? Xiao Qi? Meng Qi? Can you hear me?"

Li Qingjiang jumped, yanked up his pants, and hobbled toward the voice. The movement was too quick, aggravating his wound and causing him to grimace in pain.

Once he got the phone, he politely explained, "Sorry, Auntie, I’m not Meng Qi. He had to step out for something."

"What's so urgent he can't even tell me he's leaving?" Jia Qing's voice sounded unsure, like she didn't really expect an answer.

Li Qingjiang thought for a moment. Since he didn't know the full story, he chose to keep his mouth shut. So he said, "Let Meng Qi call and explain when he's free. I don't want to be the middleman."

Jia Qing hung up without waiting for more.

Li Qingjiang's leg was throbbing like crazy. He hopped to the desk on one foot, yanked his pants clean off, and dumped half the iodine bottle straight on the cut. The cotton swabs he had soaked were pulled out and tossed into the trash, unused.

Liang Wenkai was coming back from the bathroom. He changed direction, went to Meng Qi's room, and found Li Qingjiang with his back to the door, bending over and fanning that nasty gash. It cracked him up. He walked over and joked, "Master, what kinda training is that? Need to be half-naked for it?"

"Longevity practice. Come on, you strip too, and follow your master in training. We’ll see who outlives Meng Lingzhi," Li Qingjiang said without looking up.

Quick on the uptake, Liang Wenkai tore off some TP, crouched down, and wiped the iodine dripping off Li Qingjiang's leg. When he saw the split wound, he hissed, then tore another piece to clean the excess iodine around it, but Li Qingjiang blocked his arm.

"Still not healed? You oughta get some stitches." Liang Wenkai stood up, frowning deeply, the lines on his forehead creased.

Li Qingjiang waved it off. "Nah. Just pass me the gauze. A few extra wraps will do."

"You really should hit the ER for stitches," Liang Wenkai insisted, tossing the toilet paper into the trash and handing the gauze to Li Qingjiang.

Li Qingjiang wrapped it tight, grinding his teeth. He had to stop halfway to let the pain ease off before continuing. Only then did he have the presence of mind to say to Liang Wenkai, "Stitches would be fine, but not today. Meng Qi passed out. I need to wait for him to wake up first."

As soon as he heard Meng Qi had fainted, Liang Wenkai wanted to rush to him but stopped himself, prioritizing Li Qingjiang, who needed more immediate help.

Li Qingjiang briefly explained the situation. "It's probably qi stagnation. I already did the acupuncture. He'll be okay for now."

Liang Wenkai hummed in acknowledgment. Seeing Li Qingjiang try to bend over to pull up his pants after wrapping the gauze, but wincing in pain with every movement, he stepped in to help. He asked if Li Qingjiang wanted to rest in Meng Qi’s room or return to his own to watch over Meng Qi.

"Let’s go back to my room. I can’t rest with a restless mind. His condition is too unusual to handle conventionally. I’d better stay near him," Li Qingjiang said, turning to leave. But he stopped after a single step, glancing back at Liang Wenkai. "You’ve known him the longest. Do you know why he’s hiding out here? I thought he was fleeing a love debt, but from the way he interacts with Young Master Ren, it doesn’t seem that simple."

Liang Wenkai shook his head. "I don’t know. Back then, I was just a low-level lackey, not qualified to pry into their affairs. When I met Young Master Meng again later, he was kind enough to consider me a friend. I only focus on helping my friends. As for other things, if he doesn’t want to talk, I don’t ask."

Li Qingjiang paused for a few seconds, then sighed. "Alright, I’ll wait for him to tell us himself." He muttered under his breath, "If only the snake gall were still here."

"What?" Liang Wenkai didn’t catch the last part.

Li Qingjiang said as he walked, "Actually, I found that snake gall specifically for Meng Qi. It could have been useful in a critical moment. It’s a pity..."

"But it saved your life, so it’s not a total waste. Besides, Young Master Ren has sent people to look for it. The good are blessed. They won’t let us down, I’m sure," Liang Wenkai said, seeming optimistic and even offering comfort.

Li Qingjiang pressed his lips together, deep in thought. "I was just preparing for the worst. But it’s pointless to talk about it now. I have a feeling that once we know why he came here, we might not need the gall."

"Yeah, knowing the reason means finding the answer. Then we can go from being passive to active..."

The group expected to wait a long time, but surprisingly, Meng Qi spoke up on his own in less than two hours.

Meng Qi wasn't totally out—he was in a twilight state. He knew Ren Suiyi had taken his phone, knew Ren Suiyi had carried him to find Li Qingjiang, knew Li Qingjiang had inserted eleven silver needles into him, and knew Ren Suiyi had cried while watching over him.

He fought to open his eyes but couldn't. Eventually, in a half-asleep, half-awake state, he had a dream—

In the dream, he saw an overhead view of how the "Meng Qi" from the novel died a brutal death. The scenes were both vivid and vague:

Vivid because he could feel the "book Meng Qi’s" pain and despair—the cold scalpel slicing through his stomach, the moment his heart stopped, and the final moment when he wanted to see the child he had sacrificed everything to bring into the world but couldn’t, plunging everything into darkness.

Vague because even though he could empathize with the "book Meng Qi," he knew clearly it was just a dream, not reality.

But would he wake up? And when? That was his second kind of hopelessness.

Then he woke up.

Gasping for air, he tried to fill his lungs with fresh air to expel the pain and despair from the dream.

Ren Suiyi held his hand tightly, calling his name by his ear. Meng Qi slowly turned his head and found salvation in Ren Suiyi’s eyes—eyes full of fear and pity.

In the dream, he had desperately wished for the owner of those eyes to descend like a god and save "him." His prayer was answered. He had woken up, survived. He had the chance to spend the rest of his life with the owner of those eyes, to see his baby, to hold and kiss the child, to watch them grow up and have a happier, more perfect life than his.

For that, he had to tell Ren Suiyi the "truth" he had heard from Jia Qing—so Ren Suiyi could take precautions, save him, and save their child.

"Brother, I had a nightmare. It was very real, and it wasn’t my first time. I’m terrified it might come true. Can you help me? Don’t let it become reality." The fear he'd never shaken off came rushing back, and he was shaking all over as he spoke.

Ren Suiyi leaned down and kissed his forehead, his eyes, placing a broad hand on his head to offer as much security as possible. He nodded solemnly, making a promise. "I can. I will. Leave it to me, okay?"

"Good." Finally, the burden lifted, and he felt completely at ease.

Then, he wove together what he had seen in the book and what Jia Qing had told him, turning it into a "nightmare" he claimed to have had, and told it to Ren Suiyi. Finally, he said, "I was afraid the nightmare would come true, afraid that I would really die. That's why I wanted to stay far away from everyone I knew. I thought that was the only way to escape."

Ren Suiyi pulled him into his arms, his face filled with the relief of having him back. "You did well. Thank you for being so cautious and persevering until now. But from this moment on, you don't have to live in fear anymore. Leave those who have hurt you or wish to hurt you—all of them—to me."

Just then, Yang Yiming called Ren Suiyi, further proving that Meng Qi's suspicions and the truth Jia Qing had revealed to Meng Qi were not unfounded. He had overheard his boss, Li Jinqiu, mention on a phone call: "We need to find Meng Qi before anyone else does. Don't let him have a chance to return to the Meng family."

"Then he's really biting off more than he can chew." A bloodthirsty smile curled at the corners of Ren Suiyi's mouth.

"Author's Note"

Finally! This is the last stretch!!