Hallucination

Hospital, inside the ward.

Liang Shining looked at the sleeping figure on the hospital bed and let out a heavy breath.

He propped one hand against his brow, and after a long moment, suddenly reached out and pressed his fingertips against Ying Huai's wrist bone once more.

The blood vessels beneath the skin pulsed lightly, beating against Liang Shining's fingertips with each weary, exhausted heartbeat.

—But at the very least, he could feel it.

Liang Shining's tense shoulders loosened slightly, and he drew his fingers back.

"Don't worry, the patient's condition is still relatively stable for now." The nurse who came in happened to take in the whole scene.

Almost every time she entered, she could see Liang Shining cradling Ying Huai's hand loosely in his palm.

As she changed the IV drip, she couldn't help but speak up: "Are you worried his hands are cold? The Hospital sells hand warmers—you don't have to keep doing this..."

"It's nothing." Liang Shining cut her off in a low voice.

"Aren't you tired?" the nurse couldn't help asking.

She waited for Liang Shining to say something more, but the young man before her simply lowered his eyes again, rubbing something between his fingers.

As the nurse turned to leave, she caught a glimpse—it seemed to be a Hongyu Jewel Pendant covered in fine, dense cracks.

The moment she closed the door, she seemed to hear a slightly hoarse voice from behind: "I just want to confirm that he's still alive."

·

Ying Huai had a dream.

Countless voices clamored in his ears within the dream.

[Ying Huai, you deserve it.]

[Ying Huai, you stole someone else's chance—you have to repay it with death! Why haven't you gone and died yet!]

[Shifu, you'll never wash off these scandals. Just wait to keep falling into hell!]

At the end of the dream, he heard Liang Shining's cold voice from his previous life: [Ying Huai, you make me sick.]

"Cough, cough, cough.....

Ying Huai jolted awake from the hospital bed.

The curses from the dream still lingered in his ears. Ying Huai pressed a hand to his chest and gasped for breath, glancing around him.

The ward was empty and dim, the smell of disinfectant in his nostrils making him nauseous—just like every time he had woken up in his previous life.

Ying Huai's throat ached. For a moment he couldn't tell reality from dream. He propped himself up to sit, then stumbled toward the edge of the bed.

But before he had taken two steps, his wrist was suddenly seized by someone.

"Let go—" Ying Huai said in a low voice.

He didn't turn to see who it was, simply reaching out on his own for the water cup in front of him.

The person behind him said nothing, but the hand gripping his tightened.

After struggling for a while, Ying Huai ran out of strength. He stumbled a step and leaned against the wall, drawing in a light breath.

"I won't run out of the 'Sanatorium'..." Ying Huai said with half-closed eyes, unconsciously softening his voice.

The smell of disinfectant that had permeated the "Sanatorium" year-round in his previous life overlapped with the ward now, choking and nauseating.

Ying Huai couldn't suppress a dry heave, but forced himself not to collapse: "I'm just going to drink some water, and once I do I'll come right back—"

"Ying Huai."

Before he could finish speaking, a slightly hoarse voice suddenly sounded by his ear.

Ying Huai looked up somewhat dazedly, meeting Liang Shining's slightly grave expression: "Wake up, Ying Huai."

He paused for a beat, then blurted out instinctively: "Why are you here?"

Liang Shining didn't answer right away. He stared at Ying Huai for a few seconds, then said slowly: "I've been here the whole time."

When Ying Huai had jolted awake just now, Liang Shining had clearly been right beside the bed, but Ying Huai had acted as if he hadn't seen him, getting up unsteadily and heading straight outside.

Liang Shining stared at the light brown eyes before him and said slowly: "Just now, you thought... where were you?"

Ying Huai's gaze was unfocused, as if he hadn't heard what Liang Shining was saying.

His face was somewhat pale, and he answered his own question in a low voice to himself: "No, you couldn't have gotten into the 'Sanatorium.' This is a hallucination..."

He stumbled back a step, but his leg accidentally bumped into something, producing a muffled 'clang.'

Ying Huai turned back somewhat dazedly.

—It was a simple folding chair, placed right beside the hospital bed.

Ying Huai's expression froze slightly.

—In his previous life, something like this that could help him escape or... find release, would never have appeared in the "Sanatorium."

"Ying Huai?"

Liang Shining's slightly hoarse voice came from behind. Ying Huai's body trembled; he turned around sharply, and the next second, something was pressed into his hand.

He instinctively wanted to throw the thing in his hand away, but the next moment, the warmth against his palm made him belatedly realize it was a cup of lukewarm water that had been set out long ago.

"What's wrong with you?" Liang Shining stepped forward, seemingly wanting to steady him.

Ying Huai caught his breath, took a step back, and his peach blossom eyes curved: "Nothing."

He lowered his eyes and slowly sipped some water, then said quietly: "How long did I sleep?"

"You were unconscious for over two hours." Liang Shining said slowly, still seeming to watch Ying Huai's every move. "Just now—"

Before he could finish, he saw the young man before him raise his head thoughtfully: "So you're still drunk?"

Liang Shining was slightly taken aback.

Before he could say anything, he watched Ying Huai stare at him for a few seconds, then nod with certainty: "Still a fool."

Liang Shining: .....

He held back for a moment, then finally couldn't help asking: "How do you know?"

Ying Huai's peach blossom eyes curved even more. He glanced at him but said nothing.

Compared to a sober Liang Shining, he still preferred him "drunk."

Although he was still a man of few words, at least he wouldn't open his mouth only to mock him sentence after sentence, wishing him dead.

Since Liang Shining was still drunk, it was understandable for him to stay here the whole time.

Ying Huai relaxed. He sauntered over to the folding chair beside him and leaned against it, half-sitting, half-reclining.

Liang Shining watched the boneless way the person before him was draped over the chair, and his brow twitched. "Go back to the bed and lie down properly."

"I'm not going," Ying Huai took a sip of the lukewarm water and said leisurely, "if you want to go, you go."

—He had lain in hospital beds enough in his previous life. In this life, whoever wanted to lie down could lie down.

As he said this, a hint of mischief entered his peach blossom eyes: "Don't worry, when the nurse sister comes I'll cover your face for you."

Liang Shining: .....

He paused for a few seconds, then spoke again: "What was that 'Sanatorium' you mentioned just now?"

Ying Huai sipped the water in the cup in small mouthfuls like a kitten, his expression unusually a bit more well-behaved.

But what came out of his mouth wasn't quite the same: "Why are you still so unlikeable when you're drunk, Liang Shining?"

Liang Shining: ?

Ying Huai finished the last bit of water in the cup, lowered his head, and began unbuttoning his hospital gown on his own: "If you need anything, ring the bell and call the nurse. I'm not responsible for answering questions about hospitalization."

"You can't be discharged yet." Liang Shining watched his movements, his brow furrowing once more.

He finally couldn't help stepping forward and straightening the other's posture: "The doctor will be coming soon to talk to you about your condition, and about the follow-up treatment..."

Before he could finish, he saw the person before him suddenly raise his head and look at him with a half-smile.

—That glance carried an indescribable coldness and wariness.

Liang Shining froze for a moment. His fingers suddenly tightened, but in the end he slowly released his grip on Ying Huai.

Ying Huai curved his lips and lazily leaned back against the chair again.

—He knew better than anyone what was really going on with his own body.

But watching Liang Shining's tense expression, he found it inexplicably amusing: "Why have I never seen Mr. Liang care this much about me before?"

Liang Shining frowned: "What?"

The dream from earlier was still vivid in his mind. Ying Huai toyed with the Hongyu Jewel at the end of his hair and leaned forward slightly: "I've been sick so many times before, and not a single one of you ever came to see me. Yet now you're suddenly starting to care."

Since Liang Shining was still drunk, Ying Huai spoke without restraint: "Found another way to use me?"

Liang Shining frowned, but quickly caught another key point: "You all? Who else?"

Ying Huai smiled at him and said nothing.

After becoming famous in his previous life, he had openly and secretly helped countless juniors, only to be stabbed in the back by each and every one of them in the end.

He knew that feeling of being used all too well.

He leaned against the folding chair, his crossed feet bobbing up and down as if in a fine mood, but his peach blossom eyes remained utterly indifferent.

"Lu Jing putting on an act is at least understandable, but why is Mr. Liang here putting on a show?"

"What do I still have that's worth Mr. Liang using?"

As expected, the moment Ying Huai finished speaking, he saw Liang Shining's face darken instantly.

He curved his eyes in good spirits, reaching to open the wardrobe beside him, when a slightly low voice came from the door: "Putting on an act?"

Ying Huai: ??

This time he was genuinely surprised: "Why are you here too?"

Lu Jing walked in from the door with a dark expression.

His tone was dissatisfied: "Here to put on a show."

He looked down at Ying Huai's sitting posture, frowning as he spoke: "Sit up straight, Ying Huai."

Ying Huai: ......

"If I don't come, who will sign your hospitalization notice? Him?" Lu Jing glanced at Liang Shining and laughed coldly. "A stranger who has nothing to do with you — could he?"

Liang Shining's fingers at his side suddenly clenched tight. Ying Huai glanced at him and said with a smile: "Yes, yes, thank you, Boss-shixiong."

"But when Boss-shixiong wasn't at the banquet, this 'person with no relation' saved my life."

Liang Shining's fingers loosened bit by bit. Lu Jing's expression darkened.

Ying Huai sighed, looking at the two wooden posts before him with a slight headache. "So Boss-shixiong finished signing, why hasn't he left yet?"

Lu Jing's words faltered.

He wasn't clear himself what reason had kept him here until now.

At first, following Liang Shining to deliver Ying Huai to the Hospital could still be explained as confirming the safety of his company's artist.

But from after signing until now, he could have left at any time, yet those inexplicably surfacing memories in his mind told him that if he left now, he would definitely regret it.

Lu Jing could only attribute this feeling to not having asked Ying Huai yet to clarify who exactly was the person who had helped him.

Lu Jing felt slightly settled in his heart.

He had just prepared to open his mouth to answer, when unexpectedly the person before him couldn't be bothered to pay him any attention, walking on his own to the wardrobe and starting to rummage through it.

Lu Jing had never been so ignored by Ying Huai. He was practically fuming. "...Why should I leave?"

The person before him was burying his head in searching for clothes like a kitten pawing at a ball of yarn, not even bothering to give him a proper glance.

Liang Shining's expression inexplicably softened somewhat, while Lu Jing's face grew darker and darker.

"You're an artist of the Lu Family Group. Now that you're sick, I can't just leave you behind," Lu Jing took a deep breath and continued through gritted teeth. "Ying Huai, not everyone is as heartless as you..."

"But you've done this kind of abandoning me many times before," Ying Huai laughed lightly, turning to look at Lu Jing. "Returning your own words to you."

Lu Jing was stunned for a moment.

—He instinctively wanted to retort, but the memory that had surfaced at the banquet made him inexplicably unable to speak.

"So shixiong can leave if he wants to, no need to keep putting on an act here," Ying Huai finally found the clothes he had been wearing, and curved his eyes in satisfaction. "No need to see you out."

Lu Jing's brow twitched. He suddenly turned to look at Liang Shining: "Why isn't he putting on an act?"

Ying Huai didn't understand why Lu Jing had to drag Liang Shining into everything. He turned his head in bewilderment: "I didn't say he wasn't."

Liang Shining's just-softened expression instantly darkened. Lu Jing's mood lightened slightly, but the next second, he heard Ying Huai say unhurriedly: "So you two can go out together."

Liang Shining, Lu Jing: ??

"Why should—" Lu Jing began, frowning.

Before he could finish, the hospital room door was suddenly pushed open again: "Shifu!"

Le Xi, holding a stack of documents in his hands, didn't bother to close the door and rushed in excitedly.

Ying Huai: ......

—How did he not know that his hospital room had become so popular.

Ying Huai sighed sincerely.

—But Le Xi's arrival somehow made him inexplicably recall something from his previous life.

Ying Huai glanced at the wide-open door, turned his head and coughed softly. Liang Shining's brow also furrowed bit by bit at the same time.

He rose to go close the door, but his sleeve suddenly grew heavy.

Immediately after, a hopeful voice came from behind him: "When Mr. Liang goes out, could you trouble yourself to take these two along with you?"

Ying Huai tugged at his sleeve, his peach blossom eyes curving in a pleading manner.

Liang Shining paused.

He stopped walking, turned to block the draft for Ying Huai, and said flatly while looking at him: "I'm not going out."

Ying Huai's expression instantly fell into dejection.

"Then stay, no need to close the door," he let go and sighed, muttering softly, "Still not listening even when drunk."

Liang Shining looked down at his own sleeve, his expression inexplicably softening considerably.

He looked at Ying Huai's still-pale complexion, hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked toward the inner room.

Lu Jing beside him, hearing Ying Huai's words, turned his head with a strange expression: "What did you say?"

—He clearly remembered Liang Shining's capacity for alcohol...

"Nothing." Ying Huai, preserving the last shred of Liang Shining's dignity, fiddled with his phone and dismissed it casually.

The moment his words fell, Le Xi beside him could no longer wait and spoke again: "Shifu, I have some good news to tell you—"

"Hmm?" Ying Huai turned his head absently. "Did you bring me the termination contract?"

Le Xi was startled. "No, shifu..."

"Then wait a moment, don't be in a hurry."

Ying Huai lightly made a 'shh' gesture and said unhurriedly, "Wait a little longer, maybe you won't need to say it."

Le Xi lowered his head in some bewilderment, only to see that Ying Huai wasn't paying him any attention at all, just fiddling with his phone on his own.

Le Xi was anxious. He paused, then suddenly looked at Lu Jing with some grievance: "Uncle Lu, is shifu angry at me because of the banquet?"

He said softly: "Could you help me persuade shifu..."

"Ying Huai, what are you doing?" Lu Jing was also somewhat displeased. "Little Le came all the way to see you, can't you stop being so willful..."

Before he could finish, a burst of noisy voices suddenly came from the hospital room door: "Mr. Ying! Mr. Ying—"

Lu Jing was stunned.

Ying Huai raised his head with a half-smile, silently mouthing: "They're here."

A large crowd of reporters from god-knows-where swarmed in, completely ignoring the nurses' attempts to stop them, instantly filling the hospital room.

"Mr. Ying, may I ask the reason for your hospitalization this time? Is it because you couldn't bear the harassment of online smear campaigns?"

"Mr. Ying, the internet is currently full of discussions about your hospitalization. Some say you're deliberately playing the victim to divert public attention. Do you have anything to say?"

"Of course," Ying Huai said lightly, "but not about me."

He folded his hands to prop up his chin, a faint smile surfacing in his peach blossom eyes.

"Le Xi and I, from today onward, are dissolving our master-disciple relationship." Ying Huai said softly, enunciating each word.

The reporters instantly erupted in an uproar. Le Xi raised his head in disbelief. Lu Jing beside him frowned and spoke: "Ying Huai, what are you doing? Can you stop messing around—"

"When shixiong sent me to the Hospital, you must have concealed our whereabouts, right."

Ying Huai pressed the send button on Weibo and said unhurriedly: "Only a few people knew I was at the Hospital. Who does shixiong think leaked the news?"

He remembered, in his previous life it was also like this. Le Xi had taken advantage of his unconsciousness to deliberately leak his hospitalization information, causing reporters to block the door, leading to the worsening of his condition.

At the time, although he had some suspicions, he was hampered by his serious illness and could not resist,

But in this life—

"By the way, Le Xi's behavior has already constituted an infringement of my privacy rights," Ying Huai toyed with the Hongyu Jewel at the end of his hair, his expression half-smiling. "One day, he might receive a lawyer's letter from me."

Lu Jing's expression darkened slightly. Le Xi beside him looked on the verge of tears.

"Shifu, why are you doing this?"

"Is it something I didn't do well? Or do you have a better person to be your disciple, so you don't want me?"

He threw himself in front of Ying Huai, his voice choked, but his words were somewhat strange: "But if shifu doesn't want me as a disciple, who else could you... find."

Ying Huai of course saw that Le Xi was trying to shift public opinion onto himself. He stared at Le Xi for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed: "Anyone will do."

"No matter who it is, they're better than you."

He stretched and said casually: "Whoever walks through the door next is my disciple—"

The moment his words fell, the surroundings suddenly fell silent.

Ying Huai was stunned for a moment, belatedly realizing something.

He turned around sharply and came face to face with Liang Shining at the door, holding a blanket.

Liang Shining's expression carried some strangeness. Ying Huai was truly panicked this time.

He stood up abruptly: "Wait—"

Before he could finish, he suddenly heard Liang Shining before him say softly: "Shifu."

Ying Huai: ?

Liang Shining spoke as he walked over, naturally draping the blanket over Ying Huai: "Shifu, be careful not to catch cold."

Ying Huai: …