Life is Like a Journey – Chapter 97

Volume 3: Transition

Complex

Everyone loves Gu Yanzhi

I never thought I’d see her again. When the young woman wearing a black suit with a collared shirt underneath walked up to her, the shop changed songs. A man with a weathered face sang Eason Chan’s “□□” (a song title, possibly censored or unknown) in a hoarse voice.

            

Qin Xuan put down her glass: “Check, please.”

Xiang Nanke’s hand, reaching out with a credit card, froze in place. After a while, she put her wallet back.

Qin Xuan picked up her coat and stumbled out. The two didn’t say a word, not even exchanging a glance, just passing by each other.

            

At that moment, Xiang Nanke’s heart ached sharply. The music hadn’t ended when she ran out after her.

Snow was falling from the sky in flurries. Jinzhou City’s first snow of the season came unexpectedly.

She caught up to her, panting, just as she was about to get into a taxi: “Help me with something, one last time.”

            

She gritted her teeth: “After this, I won’t bother you again.”

The taxi picked up another passenger and slid away. Qin Xuan listened and then looked at her with a cold smile: “What makes you think I’d help you?”

“Because this isn’t my request. I’m asking for your help on behalf of the entire police force.” The proud head bowed slightly before her.

            

Qin Xuan quietly looked at her, with a hint of pity in her eyes: “I’ll tell you, it’s impossible. Even if I don’t love him, I won’t harm him. Do you know why?”

“Because he’s my benefactor. Without him, there wouldn’t be who I am today.”

Xiang Nanke got excited, her eyes slightly reddened as she shouted: “Do you know how many people he has harmed?! Just the registered drug users who die from drugs each year exceed 50,000 people! 50,000 people! How many broken families are behind that! Our police officers who sacrificed their lives in drug enforcement and prohibition are no less than this number! My comrades! My teachers!”

            

At this point, she choked up slightly: “And my father… they all sacrificed themselves.”

Qin Xuan stood under the street lamp, snowflakes dancing above her head, falling on her hair tips, covering her scarf. She looked like she was about to blend into the entire background.

“What’s that got to do with me?” she said coldly, turning to leave. Xiang Nanke chased after her for a couple of steps.

            

“If you don’t accept, I can also apply to superiors for forced execution, but I don’t want to do that. From the first time I saw you, I knew you were a very kind and warm-hearted woman. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have brought Chen Qiao’er to me, and you wouldn’t have persisted until the last moment during the Changping Tunnel collapse. Besides love, people have other responsibilities and obligations to fulfill in life. Qin Xuan, I know you’re not bad by nature. This is the last thing I’m asking of you. We still don’t know what role Bao Fengnian plays in this transnational organization. Perhaps there are others above him, perhaps he’s also forced into it. If that’s really the case, don’t you want to give him a chance to reform?”

Qin Xuan turned around to look at her. The early morning street had few pedestrians left. They stood on the sidewalk, with occasional cars quickly passing by.

She saw Qin Xuan slightly tilt her head up: “Did you start approaching me for Old Bao’s case?”

            

Xiang Nanke nodded reluctantly: “Yes, but not entirely—”

Qin Xuan’s lips curled into a cold smile. She didn’t know why, but looking at her slightly reddened eyes, she felt her own nose starting to sting.

“Enough, no need to say anything else,” she seemed extremely tired, pulling her scarf up to protect half of her cold face. Her fingertips felt a bit warm when they touched her skin.

            

She actually cried, unable to tell if it was for Bao Fengnian or for herself who trusted others too easily.

“Then promise me one thing.”

Xiang Nanke walked a few steps forward, separated by a zebra crossing and a red light, actually wanting to go over and hug her.

            

“Spare his life, give him a lighter punishment.”

Actually, this wasn’t something she could decide, but Xiang Nanke still nodded solemnly: “I won’t shoot at the arrest scene. As for the rest, I swear to you, the law will handle everything fairly and strictly.”

“Okay,” Qin Xuan felt relieved. She smiled slightly, a smile that would always be beautiful whenever she recalled it later.

            

They had a brief encounter for a year, but Xiang Nanke remembered it for a lifetime.

“Both you and Qingshi said that the love at that time wasn’t true love, but only the foot knows if the shoe fits, and only I know that I truly loved him. I did make mistakes, but I’ve also paid the price for these things. Fortunately, everything is about to settle down. Next week I’m going to work in Shanghai. Xiang Nanke, we won’t see each other again. I hope you keep your promise and don’t come to bother me anymore.”

The red light turned green, she chased after her. She actually had a lot more to say and had prepared a gift for her.

            

Not long ago, on that summer night when they ate barbecue together, she asked her what her dream was.

The person sitting across from her smiled gently: “I want to get married”

The ring dug painfully into her palm. As she hesitated whether to take it out or not, Qin Xuan turned around casually, waved her hand neatly, indicating that she didn’t need to see her off anymore.

            

She was always so free-spirited, coming alone and leaving alone, without any attachment to this world. By the time she caught up, that person had already gotten into a taxi. She watched the car window reflect her slowly tearful profile, like a freeze-frame in slow motion in a movie.

Qin Xuan never looked back, and she never took out that ring.

Let it be this way, the vast land is all white, so clean. (This is a reference to a line from the poem “Snow” by Mao Zedong, implying a sense of finality and cleanliness)

            

“1002nd attempt, failed” Along with the cold system prompt, the surgical robot Da Vinci stopped working. The lead surgeon was a tall Russian doctor with deep-set features and blue eyes. He spread his hands regretfully and came down from the operating console.

“Doctor Fu, we still need an experienced doctor to complete the surgery together,” he communicated in broken Chinese.

“But you know, this is an unprecedented surgery in global history. It’s almost impossible.”

            

The doctor at the operating table put down the instruments in his hands and loudly argued back.

In the observation room, Fu Lei sat in a chair, rubbing his brow, looking scruffy and a bit haggard.

In terms of both workmanship and quality, the Chinese-made da Vinci is more sophisticated than the American one, with an error rate of one in ten million. But it has a fatal weakness – surgery isn’t always smooth sailing. Its ability to adapt is far inferior to the human brain. If deadly bleeding occurs on the operating table, even though scientists have pre-programmed various response plans, it still seems a bit inadequate. This is a common problem for all artificial intelligence, and da Vinci is no exception.

            

“No,” Fu Lei suddenly raised his head, his palm tightly clenched into a fist: “I won’t give up. If there’s still one person in this world with experience, then—”

The group’s vice president, following behind him, suddenly seemed to think of something and widened his eyes: “You mean…”

Fu Lei slowly nodded, his expression grave.

            

“Whew, it’s so cold,” Gu Yanzhi parked the car in the garage. As she opened the car door, a gust of cold wind hit her face. She took off the scarf around her neck and wrapped it around that person.

“It’s just a few steps, it’s fine,” seeing how thinly she was dressed, Lu Qingshi wanted to take it off and give it back to her, but was stopped.

“No way, you’re the priority care target. The doctor also said you can’t catch a chill…” As soon as she finished speaking, she let out a loud sneeze.

            

Gu Yanzhi rubbed her red nose, looking a bit embarrassed at her.

Lu Qingshi smiled and tucked her hand into her pocket: “Let’s go then”

When the warm fingertips hooked into her palm, Gu Yanzhi was slightly stunned for a moment, then immediately gripped her tightly, with a smile she couldn’t suppress at the corner of her lips.

            

Great, her feelings were being responded to bit by bit.

When Lu Qingshi came out wiping her hair after showering, she heard a thumping sound next door. She curiously opened the door and found the next door wide open, with Hamburger cowering and shivering in the corner of the room, while Gu Yanzhi had taken off her coat and was wearing only a single layer, lying on the floor fixing the radiator.

“What’s wrong?”

            

“The radiator’s broken, it’s leaking a bit”

Rented houses always have problems every now and then. Gu Yanzhi turned her head and saw her standing at the door, feeling a bit embarrassed as she said.

“You should go back in quickly, don’t catch a cold”

            

The wind in the hallway carried snowflakes in through the window, and the exposed skin instantly got goosebumps.

Remembering that she had also once carried a basin to her house to borrow the water heater for a shower, Lu Qingshi hesitated for a moment, but still reached out her hand: “Hamburger, come here”

The big disloyal dog leapt up from the corner wagging its tail and pounced over. Lu Qingshi squatted down and rubbed its head: “Don’t bother with it anymore, it’s not good to disturb the neighbors. Come sleep at my place”

            

A certain person immediately turned her head in surprise, desperately trying to control the expression on her face to not look too excited and eager.

“Really?!”

Seeing her sparkling eyes, Lu Qingshi felt a bit regretful: “No, I was just kidding”

            

After saying that, she pulled Hamburger and was about to close the door. Gu Yanzhi quickly put down her tools and rushed over, squeezing through the narrow gap in the door.

“No, no, I took it seriously”

French Fries was very unhappy that someone had occupied its spot, and kept circling around Gu Yanzhi, meowing non-stop.

            

Lu Qingshi hugged it in her arms and comforted it: “You move over a bit to sleep”

“Oh” Gu Yanzhi pulled back her hand pitifully, and moved to the side a bit more.

She pressed the table lamp, and the room returned to darkness: “Good night”

            

“Good night”

Even long after saying good night, Gu Yanzhi still had her eyes open, unable to fall asleep. Covered by the same blanket, with the pillow filled with her scent, how could she possibly sleep? The darkness brought out all those subtle romantic thoughts.

Hearing the breathing from the other side gradually becoming steady, Gu Yanzhi quietly let out a sigh of relief. She moved a bit closer, French Fries had also fallen asleep in her arms. She moved a little more, catching a glimpse of her small, delicate earlobe, her hair spread smoothly like seaweed on the pillow.

            

She gently lifted a strand, carefully bringing it close to her nose. The sweet scent was mesmerizing.

She thought she really liked her too much, otherwise why would she feel like a thief, both nervous and very eager to get closer?

Reason told her this wasn’t appropriate, but emotion still drove her to place her hand on her shoulder, slightly raising her upper body, gazing at her profile in the darkness.

            

She remembered saving a photo of her a long time ago, from that fire incident press conference. She was wearing a white coat, sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window, with an open laptop in front of her, confidently addressing a room full of watchful media reporters. At that time, she was pure, elegant, and as unapproachable as a campsis flower (a reference to a climbing plant with trumpet-shaped flowers, often symbolizing nobility or high status). Only when asleep would she show this innocent, harmless side.

Her gaze moved from the full forehead, to the neatly trimmed eyebrows, then to the high, straight nose bridge. Due to just recovering from a serious illness, her complexion wasn’t very good, and her lip color had been pale recently, but this didn’t affect her longing for them.

Her heart began to beat violently in her chest. Gu Yanzhi’s head lowered more and more, her face getting closer and closer. She could smell the sweet scent on her, and her palms were covered with a thin layer of sweat.

            

Finally, when her heart felt like it was about to jump out, Gu Yanzhi gently covered her lips with her own, both intense and still. She was almost moved to tears, not daring to move for a long time.

Then, Lu Qingshi slightly frowned, opened her eyes, and their gazes met. She broke out in a cold sweat, almost instinctively stretching out her leg. A painful cry sounded from under the bed.

Lu Qingshi jumped up from the bed, French Fries ran away from her arms. She felt both annoyed and amused as she leaned over the edge of the bed to look at her pitiful state: “Why aren’t you sleeping properly? What are you doing?”

            

Gu Yanzhi lay on the floor whimpering, looking like she had fallen pretty hard, her eyes reddening with a wronged expression.

“It really hurts”

She reached out her hand: “Alright, come back to bed”

            

Gu Yanzhi’s lips curled into a smug smile, gripping her hand tightly, and with a strong pull, before she could react, everything spun around, and she fell on top of her.

Lu Qingshi got a bit flustered: “Hey… what are you doing? Let go of me”

The hand gripping hers felt like a hot branding iron, the heat spreading from her fingertips throughout her whole body. She instantly felt that something was different.

            

For example, her gaze, gentle yet eager, passionate with barely concealed desire.

In front of her, she truly didn’t hide anything, to the point that even her voice became a bit hoarse.

“Does the wound still hurt?”

            

She shook her head blankly, feeling a bit lost, not daring to look into her eyes, as that flame would burn her.

“Is there anywhere else that feels uncomfortable?” She was really too close, soft bodies pressing against each other, her lips were by her ear when speaking, with a kind of rustling texture.

Lu Qingshi continued shaking her head, then nodded frantically, looking so anxious that she slightly bit her lower lip, with a hint of tears in her eyes.

            

Unbearable.

She reached out to close her eyelids, grabbed the bedsheet and pulled hard, the thin blanket fell and covered both of them. Gu Yanzhi hugged her and rolled over, waves began to surge (meaning: things got intense) under the blanket.

“Mmm…” After a long while, she finally managed to poke her head out to catch a breath, but was pulled back in again, feeling like she couldn’t breathe properly.

            

“Gu… Gu Yanzhi… don’t… I’m not ready yet…”

She closed her eyes, clutched her clothes tightly, curled up in her arms and said these words. After that, the person on top of her slowly calmed down. She took a deep breath, helped her sit up, and fixed her messy nightgown. The buttons on the collar had fallen off somewhere, leaving her feeling both amused and embarrassed, her face burning with shame.

“Sorry…” It was a shy, gentle, and sincere smile. She hugged her, helping her catch her breath.

            

“Haven’t you been away from women for eight lifetimes?” The doctor snorted through her nose, a little complaint, but didn’t push her away again.

“How do you know, it’s first love”

Lu Qingshi curved her lips, sweetness rippled through her heart: “That’s really…”

            

“What?” Gu Yanzhi was curious, helped her up, and looked into her eyes.

“Too lucky”

“I also think meeting you used up all my luck”

            

“No, I think I’m very lucky,” Lu Qingshi peeled her hand off her own shoulder and held it in her palm.

“Meeting you is also the luckiest thing for me”

She stared at her blankly, not knowing what to say for a moment. She should be happy and excited, but her throat felt blocked, so much that looking into her eyes, tears inexplicably fell.

            

Actually, she was the lucky one. Lu Qingshi was a very open-minded and broad-minded person, not overly concerned about her identity. If it were someone else, they might have rejected her from a thousand li (a traditional Chinese unit of distance) away. Her initial rejection was also because she didn’t dare to start a new relationship. She was afraid of failing her, and even more afraid of failing others.

She’s just that kind of outstanding person who always thinks of others. Her doctor is really too good, the best in the whole world.

“Eh? Eh! Don’t cry…” Lu Qingshi frantically pulled tissues from the bedside table to wipe her tears.

            

“Did I say something wrong? I’m sorry… I just tend to talk nonsense when I’m in a hurry… Don’t cry… If you keep crying, I’ll also…” Seeing that she was about to cry too, Gu Yanzhi grasped the tissue along with her hand in her palm.

“No… I’m just happy… Can I ask when it started?”

Even though she was still choking up, a smile spread across her face. Lu Qingshi’s face turned slightly red, unable to move as her wrist was held, with an attitude of not giving up until this question was answered.

            

She had to give in: “Okay, okay, hero complex”

Since ancient times, beauties have often favored heroes, and she was no exception. Perhaps because no one accompanied her since childhood except for studying and practicing suturing techniques, she would always sit in front of the TV watching cartoons in her spare time. She liked big heroes who saved the world like Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Transformers, but never thought she would meet such a person one day.

Watching the figure resolutely walking towards the fire scene, she actually had only one thought: Though there are thousands of people, I alone will go (a reference to a famous Chinese poem, expressing determination and courage).

            

So such people really do exist.

Gu Yanzhi was her girlish crush, her hero dream, and also… her lover.

Gu Yanzhi was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: “How old are you? You still have such girlish dreams, hahahahaha”

            

The doctor was thin-skinned (easily embarrassed), her ears turning red in an instant, pouncing over to tickle her: “Will you die if you don’t speak?!”

Gu Yanzhi picked up the quilt, dodging here and there: “Aaaaah I was wrong, Qingshi!”

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