SES Chapter 196 Part 1

Chapter 196

Mu Dai stumbled upstairs to change her clothes. Cao Yanhua was beaming, so excited he nearly called out to everyone to head to the hospital together, when Yi Wan San grabbed him by the arm.

“Do you have any situational awareness at all? Of course, the boss’s wife goes first. We’ll head out later.”

True enough. No matter how big the world is, nothing beats lovers.

A customer started heckling, “Boss, why’d the music stop? Turn it back on!”

Yi Wan San jerked his chin toward the other end. “Hold on a sec.”

After fiddling with the computer for a moment, cheerful music started playing again.

“Oh~ today is a good day, everything you wish for comes true,
Tomorrow’s a good day, open the door wide~
Let’s welcome the spring breeze…”

After a brief silence, the place erupted in laughter.

Someone shouted, “Boss, that’s so corny!”
Others yelled back, “That’s the point! Those Western love songs are boring as hell—we’re sick of them. They make your stomach turn. Chinese tunes are way more comfortable to listen to.”

With customers backing it, the New Year-style song kept playing. The drumlike beat thumped through the floorboards, filling the second-floor rooms and hallways.

Mu Dai hurried out after changing and nearly ran into Huo Zihong.

She smiled apologetically. “Auntie Hong, I’m going to see Luo Xiaodao.”

Huo Zihong nodded with a smile, but didn’t move. After a brief pause, she said softly, “Mu Dai, dye your hair first before you go.”

When Mu Dai reached the ICU, her hands were trembling as she pushed open the inner door. She saw Aoki sitting by the bed. Luo Ren hadn’t woken up—he was still asleep.

For a moment, she froze, her heart suddenly sinking.

Aoki immediately realized she’d misunderstood and explained, “He woke up briefly just now and said a few things. It didn’t last long before he fell back asleep. But the doctor said this is a very encouraging sign. The family can finally breathe a little easier.”

Is that so? Mu Dai smiled faintly. She stood there holding the door, not knowing whether to go in or back out.

She asked Aoki, “What did Luo Xiaodao say?”

“He asked if you were okay, if everyone was safe, whether Leopard was dead, and how long he’d been asleep. Just those things.”

Mu Dai said “Oh,” nodded, and kept smiling. Her vision blurred slightly. “That’s good… that’s really good.”

After a while, Aoki walked over and said, “You stay with him. I’ll go grab something to eat.”

Mu Dai froze for a second. Only after he’d walked away did she turn and ask, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill Luo Xiaodao?”

Aoki didn’t respond. He strode toward the end of the hallway, the external metal brace on his leg clanking loudly with each step.

The door closed. The room fell utterly silent. The lights were dimmed to the softest level for patient rest. The numbers on the monitoring equipment blinked steadily. Luo Ren’s breathing was long and even, carrying a quiet strength.

Mu Dai sat down beside the bed, staring at Luo Ren’s face—the high bridge of his nose, the shadow beneath his eyelids, the furrow in his brow, his slightly pressed lips.

She lowered her voice as much as she could. “Luo Xiaodao, you’re awake?”

“I won’t bother you. Sleep well.”

She let out a long breath, folded her arms, and rested them on the bedside, smiling as she watched him. Life felt truly wonderful. Everything in the room felt just right. Senior Brother hadn’t lied to her—she wasn’t the luckiest person alive, but she wasn’t the unluckiest either. From childhood until now, she’d had a bit of luck, just enough to drop squarely onto her head with a thud.

An English saying: pain past is pleasure. Pain you survive becomes lasting joy. It was so well said. Luo Xiaodao was awake—there was nothing left to trouble her. There might be difficult opponents ahead, but how many Leopards could there be in this world?

Even Leopard had bowed into the dust of the past. Stretching out before her was a broad, open road.

Mu Dai gently closed her eyes, a smile still on her lips. She didn’t even know when she fell asleep.

When Aoki returned, what he saw through the observation window was this scene. Strangely enough, after so many days of being tense about Mu Dai being alone with Luo Ren, at this moment, he felt no unease at all.

He suddenly thought of Yukiko.

While Luo Ren had been unconscious, he’d called her. Hesitantly, he’d asked whether she’d met someone new during the time he was away.

Yukiko had answered seriously, “Aoki-kun, that’s my private matter. If I remember correctly, we no longer have any relationship.”

He’d been so embarrassed he couldn’t speak. Was this karma? When he left her, he’d pried her hands off him one by one and said stiffly, “Yukiko, forget me. We don’t have a relationship anymore.”

He didn’t want to hang up. His heavy breathing traveled through the receiver, across the water between two countries, to the other side.

In Japan, the cherry blossom season had already passed. Snow would soon fall on Mount Fuji. In the northern islands, cold waves battered the shore. Whaling ships might soon set sail. In this age, how many gentle women were left who still sang lullabies?

Yukiko said, “If Aoki-kun wants to pursue me again, it will take some effort. I already have a prejudice against you. And the tricks you used last time—I’m familiar with them now. I won’t fall so easily again.”

Aoki laughed. From her words, he heard hope—like a seed pushing through soil and sprouting.

Like the haiku says:
In my small garden, weeds sprout again—
soon the whole world will be green.

How much like hope unfurling. Just as Luo had planned for him: live well, have many children, fill the house with descendants, grow old into a man who could still pick fights even after losing all his teeth.

It was time for him to return to Japan.

…

Snapping back to the present, Aoki suddenly saw Luo Ren open his eyes.

He first saw Aoki and smiled faintly, then his gaze shifted to the side.

Life had treated him kindly. He’d clawed his way back from the gates of hell, and the first thing he saw upon waking was a brother who’d lived and died with him—and the girl he’d been thinking about all along.

Why was this little girl sleeping hunched over the bed?

Luo Ren struggled to lift his hand and gently stroked her hair.

Because of his severe injuries, the many tubes attached to him, and the traction device on the back of his neck, movement was extremely difficult. He could barely manage to extend his hand.

A few strands of hair left faint dark marks on his palm. Luo Ren paused, then slowly parted her hair. Lower down, hidden beneath the top layer, the hair dye hadn’t fully dried yet. His fingertip brushed against it and picked up some color.

Mu Dai stirred and woke almost immediately. Her eyes widened as she looked at him—still dazed one second, then suddenly understanding the next.

Her joy burst out. “Luo Xiaodao!”

His hand slid down from her hair and gently cupped her cheek. “You’ve lost weight.”

Aoki said he’d been asleep for twenty-four days. The little girl had come every day. How had she endured it?

Mu Dai clung to his arm, smiling brightly. “Are you hungry, Luo Xiaodao? Thirsty? Are you especially tired after waking up? Then don’t talk too much.”

He asked her, “Were you badly hurt? Are you healed?”

He remembered clearly—back then, in the cage match, he’d slashed her. From her collarbone straight down. There’d been so much blood.

Mu Dai didn’t answer. Her eyes darted toward the injury. Luo Ren frowned slightly, his hand sliding toward her collarbone. He accidentally pressed down her collar and seemed to glimpse something. He looked at her in surprise.

She… got a tattoo?

Mu Dai still said nothing. Seeing she didn’t resist, Luo Ren undid the first button and pulled the collar aside.

At the wound, she’d tattooed a dagger.

Straight, black, slanting downward across her pale skin—perfectly aligned with the path of the scar. It looked exactly like the one he used.