AVRL 42

Yang Zhengfeng had been in a car accident on the road back to Zewu after finishing an event in the neighboring city.

It happened so suddenly that no one contacted Meng Chi, who was far away in Xichi, in the middle of the night. The way he received the news was rather mysterious.

After a thoroughly satisfying round of sex, he fell asleep quickly, yet his sleep was not peaceful—perhaps because it had been too long since he last shared a bed with someone, or perhaps because of some guidance from the unseen.

Near dawn he woke up. Meng Chi’s throat felt uncomfortable. He picked up the glass of water Yu Tingzhi had placed on the nightstand before sleep and took a sip. His gaze triggered the phone screen to light up, and so Meng Chi saw a WeChat message popup from the family group chat Yang Zile had created.

Meng Chi had not enabled message content shielding, so he could clearly see the content of the last message.

In almost an instant, the sleepiness in Meng Chi’s eyes was replaced by shock and panic. He suddenly grabbed the phone, opened WeChat, scanned the message content with a glance, then exited WeChat. While dialing Yang Zile’s number, he climbed out of bed.

There were a total of four unread messages in the group chat. At the top was a seven-second voice message from Yang Zhengfeng. Thirty-five minutes later, Yang Youran replied with a 【?】 and a sentence 【Dad, what nonsense are you talking about in the middle of the night】. Another five minutes later came the message from Yang Zile that made Meng Chi turn pale with fright: 【Dad was in a car accident, at Municipal First Hospital】

Yang Zile’s phone went unanswered. Meng Chi was so anxious his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. He turned his head and glanced at Yu Tingzhi, who was still sound asleep. Taking a deep breath, he told himself in his heart that the fact no one had notified him meant the matter wasn’t serious, while slowing his movements to change into clothes and leave this place.

Meng Chi hurriedly returned to his own room, changed into a pair of shoes, found his ID card, and dashed out the door again, beginning to call for a car. Running into Jiang Hong who was heading out to shop, he only had time to briefly explain the situation before hastily getting into the car.

He spent an extra five hundred yuan to persuade the driver to take him directly to Zewu. During the journey Yang Zile called him back and told him that Yang Zhengfeng was fine, had not suffered serious external injuries, and was not in danger—only a mild concussion and still unconscious. Meng Chi breathed a sigh of relief. Although Yang Zile said there was no need for him to come back, he still felt uneasy and would only be at ease after seeing for himself.

There was some traffic on the road. Three hours later, when the sun was high, Meng Chi finally arrived at the hospital. His phone had already run out of battery. After asking about the situation at the nurses’ station, he saw the unconscious Yang Zhengfeng in the emergency room ward, as well as the master’s wife and Yang Zile keeping watch beside him.

The master’s wife looked haggard; she was still wearing her pajama jacket, clearly having been woken from sleep. Yang Zile was beside her wrapping a hot-water bottle around the IV tube.

Meng Chi walked over and called out “Master’s wife.” Only then did she come back to herself and look at him with some surprise: “Why did you rush back? Didn’t we say not to let you come?”

“I can only rest easy after coming back to see for myself.” Meng Chi was travel-worn, still carrying a pile of red marks on his neck, but fortunately at this moment the master’s wife’s attention was all on Master.

Yang Zhengfeng was still wearing the Zhongshan suit he only wore when attending events. Apart from the gauze wrapped around his hand and forehead, there was nothing wrong elsewhere.

Meng Chi completely settled the heart that had been hanging in his throat back into his stomach and learned the process of the events from Yang Zile.

This time Yang Zhengfeng had been invited to teach at a tea-art studio in the neighboring city, so he had gone alone. The person in charge of the studio had originally arranged hotel accommodation for him, but Yang Zhengfeng was thinking of the customer appointments at You Ran Tea House the next day, so he didn’t stay at the hotel and instead planned to return to Zewu.

The person in charge of the studio was also quite considerate and arranged a car for him. The driver was an experienced hand, but because he was unfamiliar with the roads of Zewu, when passing a bend in the road he encountered a puppy that suddenly darted out. In his haste the driver swerved to avoid it but accidentally crashed into a large tree by the side.

The driver braked in time, and with the presence of the airbag he suffered no serious injury.

Yang Zhengfeng was sitting in the back seat and received an even smaller impact, but after all he was older. After bumping his head and being startled, he grew dizzy and passed out.

“The driver said he also blacked out and was woken by the dog’s barking,” Yang Zile sighed, glancing at Yang Zhengfeng lying on the bed with his eyes closed in deep sleep. His voice was low and carried a bit of a tremor. “Fortunately nothing serious. Scared me to death.”

After Meng Chi arrived, Yang Zile seemed to have found a backbone. The bit of strength he had been forcing himself to maintain softened, revealing the lingering fear after the great shock.

Meng Chi patted his head: “It’s okay now. If you want to cry, cry. I’m here.”

Yang Zile: “I’m not crying!”

Meng Chi smiled and told him to stay and keep watch while he himself went to handle the procedures. There would still be some examinations to do once Yang Zhengfeng woke up.

By the time they transferred to a general ward it was already near noon. Not long after, Yang Zhengfeng woke up. At this time Yang Youran, who had been far away in another city, also arrived at the hospital.

Meng Chi told him about Yang Zhengfeng’s condition. Yang Youran breathed a sigh of relief, looked at Meng Chi for a few seconds, then pulled the scarf hanging around her neck and tossed it to him.

“Playing pretty wild, huh.”

Meng Chi: “…”

The slowly awakening Yang Zhengfeng, upon seeing so many people gathered around him, immediately cleared the originally somewhat cloudy look in his eyes and muttered, “I’m not dead yet.”

The master’s wife sitting beside him immediately waved her hand through the air, “Pah pah pah, you’re perfectly fine—what’s this talk of dead or not dead? Are you trying to scare me to death?”

Yang Zhengfeng raised his hand comfortingly and patted the back of her hand, then turned his head and swept his gaze over the travel-worn Meng Chi and Yang Youran. A trace of gratified smile surfaced in his eyes, but it quickly dissipated into nothing when he noticed the trendy jacket covered with dangling metal ornaments on Yang Youran, as well as her heavily made-up face and hair.

“What kind of appearance is that, dressing like this?!” Yang Zhengfeng raised his voice in rebuke. “Deliberately trying to anger me to death—”

Before he could finish the rest of the words, the master’s wife slapped the back of his hand and used her eyes to signal that he shouldn’t say things that shouldn’t be said. Just then Meng Chi had already called the doctor over, so Yang Zhengfeng didn’t continue lecturing Yang Youran.

Yang Youran sighed helplessly. She had rushed over nonstop right after finishing a performance and was so tired she didn’t even want to speak.

After a full-body examination, it could basically be confirmed that apart from a mild concussion and his old problem of high blood pressure, Yang Zhengfeng had no other issues. To be on the safe side, he still needed to stay in the hospital for a few days of observation.

After completing all the various examinations, Yang Zhengfeng’s head began to feel dizzy again. Upon returning to the ward he fell back asleep.

Yang Youran had also brought along a man in his thirties, dressed in a crisp suit, his short hair carefully styled with pomade. He said he was her manager.

The manager handed his business card to Meng Chi with a fawning smile: “I’ve long heard Ranran say she has a younger brother. I didn’t expect him to grow up so handsome. With these looks it’s a pity not to enter the entertainment industry. Handsome Ge, would you consider…”

Catching sight of Yang Zile’s rather unhappy face, Meng Chi gave a light smile and pulled Yang Zile over: “This one is actually Sister Ran’s younger brother.”

“Is that so?” The manager was awkward for an instant, then piled on a smile. “Doesn’t look much like Ranran. My eyes are clumsy—handsome is still handsome, but the age is too young. Better not delay his studies.”

Yang Zile: “…”

Yang Zile and Yang Youran indeed didn’t look alike. Yang Zile’s features were sunny and rugged, while Yang Youran had a sweet baby face. The two could be said to each take after themselves—neither resembling their father nor their mother, as if from a genetic mutation.

Yang Youran impatiently slapped the manager: “That’s enough. Take my mom and my brother back, and find me a hotel.”

Before leaving, the manager glanced at Meng Chi again, then stuffed his business card into the pocket of Meng Chi’s trench coat and even winked at him: “Handsome Ge, think it over carefully, okay～”

Yang Youran kicked him in the calf: “Stop making a fool of yourself here and get going.”

The tea-art studio that had invited Yang Zhengfeng was very responsible. The moment they learned of the car accident they sent people over to handle things, covering all the medical expenses, and even moved Yang Zhengfeng into a single room.

After finishing all the matters, Meng Chi finally let out a long breath. Once he relaxed, the feelings of exhaustion and hunger swept over him.

Meng Chi ordered two meals. While eating, Yang Youran received a work phone call, and only then did Meng Chi remember that his own phone was out of battery.

He got a portable power bank to charge and turn on the phone, and several missed-call reminders immediately popped up, along with quite a few messages on WeChat.

Almost all of the call reminders were from Jiang Hong, plus one unfamiliar number. Meng Chi called Jiang Hong back and reported that he was safe.

Just as the call ended, he opened WeChat and saw the message from Yu Tingzhi asking him “When did you leave?” He was just about to reply when the phone began vibrating again, and that string of unfamiliar numbers popped up on the screen.

Meng Chi answered. The moment he said “Hello,” he heard the familiar voice coming from the receiver: “Meng Chi.”

“Teacher Yu,” Meng Chi’s brows lifted slightly, then a faint smile surfaced on his face. “I was just about to look for you.”

“How is your master?” Yu Tingzhi asked.

“Nothing serious—just the impact, a bit of a concussion,” Meng Chi said. “A few days of rest and he’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry.”

His voice carried a bit of exhaustion, yet his tone was light. Yu Tingzhi set his mind at ease: “As long as he’s fine.”

“I left in such a hurry this morning after receiving the news that I forgot to tell you,” Meng Chi added.

As he spoke he thought of the day he had woken up in Yu Tingzhi’s home, when Yu Tingzhi had also vanished without a trace. Honestly speaking, after being tossed about for a whole night and then waking up without even seeing a person, he had felt a subtle bit of displeasure at the time. Now, by coincidence, it had also let Yu Tingzhi experience the feeling of waking up alone after sleeping together—rather interesting.

“It happened suddenly. It’s not like you deliberately left without saying goodbye,” Yu Tingzhi said.

Meng Chi laughed: “Irresponsible scum behavior like leaving without saying goodbye is not my style of doing things.”

“Oh?” Yu Tingzhi’s voice was tinged with a bit of amusement. He asked, “Then what is your style of doing things? Are you going to take responsibility for me?”

Meng Chi was stunned for an instant, then curved the corners of his mouth. He deliberately remained silent for a moment before softly asking in return: “Do you need me to?”

After saying these words, the other end of the phone also grew quiet. The faint sound of the current seemed to transmit even Yu Tingzhi’s breathing. Meng Chi suddenly felt his ears grow a bit hot, and a secret anticipation floated up in his heart.

The silence lasted no more than a moment, or perhaps two breaths. Yu Tingzhi parted his lips, about to speak, when suddenly a warm, gentle voice came from behind him: “Tingzhi.”

Yu Tingzhi turned at the sound and saw a tall, slender young man with a gentle temperament standing not far away.

“Song Chen?”