Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side

Ji Shaoyan stayed in the highest-ranked private hospital in the city.

People who can get treated here are either the rich or the powerful. After staying for so many days, the medical staff had already figured out his identity.

Before, the young master was incredibly emotional to the point of harming himself, and any attempts of communication was ineffective. Although they had to decide amongst themselves about compulsory measures they needed to take to calm him down first, they did not dare to give him any more shots and the amount of medicine used on him was very small.

But in the end, he was still too weak and was put to sleep for a little longer.

He slept for more than three hours this time and it was already night-time when he woke up.

As the eldest young master of the Ji family, he naturally occupied a master suite.

There were three connecting bedrooms in the suite. Everything, necessity or not, available in-room or on request, with all of them coming from the most fine selections in its category. The indoor temperature was perfectly adjusted and the floor was covered with a layer of the fluffiest carpet imaginable. There were also two pots of flourishing green plants placed in front of the French windows to create the most comfortable environment for the live-in patients.

Young Master Ji was not comfortable at all. He just wanted these people to go away.

The lessons he learned from past experiences were worth the trouble. The calmness and rationality he had cultivated over the years were put to work in this stranger-filled environment, and it was enough to stop the impatience that was about to explode. He finally managed to put a stop to these rounds of anaesthetics.

Grandpa Ji thought the previous outbursts were just false alarms and was pleased with this result.

Liang Jingxiu, who had come to guard the ward, also wore a relaxed expression. The corners of his mouth lifted in a habitual smile.

He and Xiao-Yan heard that A-Yan had woken up today; his circumstances were still not stable and he was put to sleep by anaesthesia. Fearing that he had contracted some kind of disease or something, they rushed over to the side to accompany Grandpa Ji. Xiao-Yan’s heart was not in the best of conditions so he was forced to go home by Liang Jinxiu. Who would’ve expected that A-Yan would wake up the moment he turned his head. 

He stood to the side with Grandpa Ji and waited for the doctor to check the data around his friend’s body and health. Learning that everything was working as normal, the giant rock dangling in his heart finally surrendered and fell. With a smile, he walked over and said, “You finally woke up. I was almost scared to death by you this time.”

Ji Shaoyan quickly analysed his current situation during an examination.

He had been lying down for nearly a month and his body was not obedient to his orders. Just now, the doctor also stated that he needed a good and thorough rest. With his grandfather’s unageing strong will, at this time, let alone being discharged from the hospital, even taking one step out of this ward was impossible.

But he also knew that his grandpa must have been utterly terrified for him during this period so he initiated a small talk with his grandpa first, persuading the elderly man to rest in one of the bedrooms before looking at Liang Jingxiu. “What time is it?”

Liang Jingxiu glanced at clock and answered, “Nine twenty-three.”

Ji Shaoyan asked, “Where’s my phone?”

Liang Jingxiu said, “In the bedside table.”

He stood up as he said this, but saw that Ji Shaoyan was so impatient he couldn’t even wait for this brief interval, wanting to go over to retrieve things himself. Anxiously rushing forward to hold the patient down, he went to open the drawer and handed the phone over. 

Ji Shaoyan grabbed it and pressed the power button, only to find that the battery was already dead and the device had already turned off automatically.

Liang Jingxiu was planning to stay overnight and already asked the nurse for a charger so he walked into the living room, taking the charger into his ward and connecting it to his phone.

Ji Shaoyan closed his eyes slightly, taking a couple of deep breaths, calm and collected.

Liang Jingxiu peered at him, keenly aware that his friend was a little irritated. A sudden curiosity itched at his mind.

They have been together since they were little children. Apart from Grandpa Ji, no one understood A-Yan’s temper better than him and Xiao-Yan. This young master was always serene when he encounters anything and especially excelled in hiding his true emotions and as he grew older, it became increasingly difficult to see through him, as if he was planning to drag this flawless camouflage into the grave along with his dead body.

Right now, this rare impatience leaked through the cracks of his serenity, and suddenly this person gained an air of genuine humanity.

He laboriously supressed his curious heart and unlocked his own phone, saying, “If you want to make a call, why don’t you use mine for now?”

Ji Shaoyan wanted to make the call but he didn’t even know Zhou Li’s number.

He was just about to refuse but Liang Jingxiu had already handed him the phone as soon as he finished speaking——there was clear evidence that he was playing games before. As soon as the screen was turned on, the phone screen was taken over by a game layout and a new message had just appeared in the chatroom.

Zheng San: Damn it, Li, whoever you are, you come from Liuxi ba? Where is Liuxi?

His eyes paused on these words and he immediately snatched the phone, practically holding his breath.

It took several seconds before he saw this very familiar person bubbling in the chat.

Li: Don’t be so hot headed in this summer weather, be careful you don’t burst into flames.

Zheng San: Who cares if I burst into flames, give me the address, and I’ll treat you to a meal tomorrow!

Li: Don’t, there are too many who are in love with me. I want to be kind to you. It’s better if our meeting never befalls us. Forget about me ba.

En. Speaking with this tune, it can only be Silly Fool.

Ji Shaoyan watched Zheng San descend into a wrath-induced insanity and his mouth curved faintly upwards.

Liang Jingxiu felt that his friend’s emotions seemed to stabilise in an instant. He leaned over and glanced at him, unable to understand how Zheng San being forced to yield and surrender can make him so happy. He briefly explained, “This is a small broken mobile game developed by Grandpa Wei. Today’s the second day after launch. It’s not too late for you to start playing right now, the invitation code’s just in the drawer. We thought you were going to miss it.” 

As he spoke, Ji Shaoyan’s phone finally lit up.

He brought it towards him and scanned the QR code to start the download.

Since Zhou Li can still play games, he should be fine for the time being.

The tingling of anxiety in Ji Shaoyan’s heart subsided a bit and he picked up a cup to take a sip of water. He asked, “What has Xiao-Yang been up to recently?”

Liang Jingxiu was taken aback and answered, “We’ve already checked. Your car accident this time had nothing to do with his side. “

At the beginning, they also suspected that A-Yan’s mishap was executed on orders from the stepmother, but after deep investigation, they found that it really was just an accident.

Ji Tianyang only came here for a single visit when A-Yan was just in a car accident. He saw that A-Yan was in a coma and proceeded to stay for for less than ten minutes before leaving. During these days, he only came in regularly to punch in, all whilst behaving normally.

Ji Shaoyan was aware that they never found out about the brainwave transfers. If he hadn’t been changed into a dog himself, he too wouldn’t have thought his stupid little brother’s uncle was actually undergoing this type of experimental research.

He smiled. “En, but I still want to know what that Didi* of mine was doing during the time I was in my car accident coma.”

[T/N: little brother]

Liang Jingxiu said, “Instigating a dog-search for his little girlfriend.” 

After a pause, he briefly explained the background and consequences of this search, ending with, “It was found today, but the dog was seriously wounded and sent to be rehabilitated. He went to guard it.”

Ji Shaoyan said, “Who hit it?”

Liang Jingxiu said with a smile, “This is where there’s a surprising turn of events. I heard that two groups were trying to grab the dog and even started drag-racing on the streets. It was like a scene straight out of a movie.”

He saw that Ji Shaoyan seemed to be interested in this event, so he opened Weibo while commentating, “It was much more active before. There’re two speculations going around, one is that a high schooler had picked up the dog and wanted to return it to the owner, but another group wanted to steal the prize money and blocked the kid with some cars. But afterwards, the husky pup protected the kid and bit the leader of that group, so the men brought along by the one who got bitten ended up beating the dog. Another theory is that the high schooler is actually some gangster with a character problem. He refused to return the dog and even wanted to increase the reward money, which pissed off the owner, so they called for some hired men. The latest update is a briefing from the police, saying these are all misunderstandings. Nuo, today’s hot trends have already dwindled.”

Ji Shaoyan speedily scanned through the briefing and scrolled down the forum. He was soon met with a hand-drawn illustration. In the centre of the image was a teenager, eyes closed and lying in a pool of blood. A large husky laid beside him, curled up around the small boy as a ring of protection. The entire piece was a truly beautiful artwork.

He stared at the red puddle on the screen and saw that another account posted: “After seeing the drawing of the unconscious little Gege, my brain hole has expanded*”. Supressing the growing fire inside, he mildly questioned, “Someone took pictures of the scene?”

[T/N: fill up gaps with your own wild imagination]

Liang Jingxiu said, “En, though it’s mainly pictures of that high schooler. The emergency medical workers were busy saving the man and that dog so they left the high schooler on the street and didn’t bother with him. There was an onlooker whose brain probably short-circuited* since they just took a photo of the kid and posted it online to ask if anyone knew him and to contact his parents. That high schooler was good-looking so it immediately went on trending. The photos have been deleted for now but you should still be able to find them if you search around a little.”

[T/N: literally brain convulsion/damage, this term describes people who act out of reason (or if they’re just stupid), but not always used in a derogatory way. This onlooker probably meant well but like, don’t post a picture of an unconscious bleeding minor online…]

Ji Shaoyan went through several pages and after a while, finally found the photos.

He stared at Zhou Li’s closed eyes, with blood on his head that dripped down his forehead as his body laid sprawled on the concrete, unaware and unconscious as he acted as spectacle to the public. He squeezed the phone tightly, fury rising instantly in his body but still enduring the writhing emotions in his heart. He asked, “What happened after? Did his parents arrive?”

Liang Jingxiu found his interest in this matter a little strange and said, “En, I heard he’s already been taken home. You’ll have to ask your brother about the specific situation since he was the one who sorted out this little event. When he was finished dealing with it, he went to guard the dog. He’s probably still at the veterinary hospital right now. I didn’t expect him to be so serious about a relationship this time.”

Ji Shaoyan forced a smile on his face. After sliding them into this conversation and coming to a rough conclusion of the ending, he returned the phone to his friend without any more questions. 

At this time, Ji Tianyang was indeed guarding the dog.

Today, he had wanted to invite the second master to a meal but when he arrived at the club, he received a call from Er Ye.

Er Ye’s reach naturally couldn’t touch the main city, so when his little underlings were inexplicably caught, he had to ask Ji Tianyang for help. Because he was the dog’s owner, it would be better for him to come forward and say it was all a misunderstanding.

The most important thing is that the dog they just found was once again missing and they didn’t know what the kid was up to. In order to avoid things going in the wrong direction, they could only notify Ji Tianyang first to show that they were working on it.

Their update made Ji Tianyang somewhat agitated and he quickly agreed, going out to meet the dog-taker personally and then asked them to contact their peers to get news on the latest developments.

The two young men were very dutiful and made the call right in front of him. After hearing a few words on their side, their expressions suddenly flipped.

Ji Tianyang also felt that his body was a little uneased when he heard the words coming through the phone, so he first sent his little cousin to the clinic to guard the husky and personally went to the hospital to deal with the rest.

By the time he arrived at the hospital, Lin Ye had just been issued his third critical illness notice.

Although the husky was still a puppy, the force used in its jaws was not small at all, and the injury was especially gruesome as it tore off a piece of flesh from Lin Ye’s neck. At the scene of this bite, all the underlings felt a chill in their hearts. Fortunately, there was a hospital near the university campus. They had all ran for their lives desperately so that their boss could be rescued in time, otherwise their Master Lin would have died on the road.

Ji Tianyang pressed down his temper and calmly gave out a few orders, then asked, “Didn’t you say there was a boy? Where is he?”

The man’s eye sockets were tinged red as he replied hoarsely, “We don’t care.”

Ji Tianyang’s eyelids slightly jumped and he said nothing more. He turned around and sent someone to find the boy.

A quick investigation revealed that the boy was also sent to this hospital. Not only that, but the spectators had also taken pictures of the scene and posted them online.

There weren’t many people on the university campus but that didn’t mean there was none at all.

The sounds and movements of the drag-racing event on the streets had attracted people’s attention. Later, the scene of the two cars purposefully blocking one one vehicle was even more eye-catching. People nearby stood in place and never moved, secretly watching the entire situation escalate, then heard the little gang of men howl “ao ao” and strumble into their cars frantically, holding a husky and a man. Watching the two cars drive farther away, they finally noticed the person left behind to lay on the floor. Only then did the crowd hurriedly run over to him. 

During this process, a stranger suddenly remembered the post trending online all throughout the day, and guessed, “They stole a dog. It couldn’t be that dog ba?” 

Another person thought ‘crap, that it might be possible’ and, in an absolute brain-dead move, they walked over and flipped the boy over to take a picture of his face. After adding a few words as explanation for the caption and posting it with the dog-searching tag, he and the others lifted the boy up and sent him to the hospital.

The enthusiasm for the ongoing dog-search was already very high. As soon as the photo and address came out, many people immediately came forward, saying that they were also around the university campus and how they had just watched couple of people drag-racing in the streets with incredibly fast speeds. In addition to this teenage boy’s handsome appearance, the post instantly became popular.

Song Yingshi and the little brothers were currently all waiting for updates from Zhou Li. 

Because Er-ge was also a member in this neighbourhood, he seemed to have seen Song Yingshi drive the car Zhou Li was in, so he told the other brothers about it.

Xiao Wu was not all that convinced. “She knows how to drive?” 

Er-ge said, “She knows ah, I’ve seen her.”

Xiao Wu didn’t understand. “Then why doesn’t she just drive to work?” 

Er-ge said, “What work?”

Xiao Wu said, “She and Ying-ge work together at the same store. The two of them take the bus together every time.”

The others’ reactions came a little late as they unanimously asked, “Huh, they work together?”

Xiao Wu was surprised. “I’ve never mentioned this?”

Everyone yelled angrily, “No——!”

But this wasn’t the main point to take away. The main point was that the car belonged to Song Yingshi.

The small group of teenagers quickly turned back to the neighbourhood and wandered around the three apartments where they suspected Song Yingshi lived in. On the other side, Song Yingshi was feeling restless, so she wanted to head over to the main road to see if Zhou Li had come back. Thus, the two sides met up.

After listening to her recount, the little brothers’ knees went soft. “He…he went to save Eggy?”

“What should we do, the one he’s going up against is the second master ah!”

“He wants to face the entire dark force alone!”

Lao San chanted some Buddhist scripts with trembling lips, thinking ‘it’s over, this time, Ying-ge might really be sacked and drowned’.

Xiao Wu’s face turned ugly, deeply afraid that Master Lin would take this opportunity to catch their brother and do something to him.

This group of teenagers immersed themselves in this sad and bleak atmosphere, wanting to make a call to a certain someone, but too afraid the other will get in a car-related tragedy if he started texting. They were like cats on a hot tin roof, jumping around in circles, until they thought about how Ying-ge should’ve reached the Hengping District by now. Only then did they try to make a phone call. After waiting in trepidation, they found that no one answered.

Er-ge’s face paled at the beeping sounds and he turned to look at them. “No one picked up.” 

Lao San sucked in a sharp breath and gasped in horror, “Say, do you guys think it’s something like this? Ying-ge lurked in the enemy’s base camp. At the critical moment, your phone call made his start ringing, and his position was exposed!” 

The others fell apart and screeched, “Piss off, don’t crow!*”

[T/N: don’t jinx]

But no matter what ideas they came up with, the truth was that no one answered the call.

The more this group of teens thought about it, the more frightened they became. They struggled mentally for a long time before trying again. This time, the call went through. An unfamiliar male voice answered, “Wei?” 

Er-ge opened and closed his mouth, feeling like a lump of lead had clogged up in his throat. He was unable to say a single word.

The other side said, “Wei? Wei? Can you hear me?” 

Er-ge said with audible shakes in his voice, “Hear…I can hear you.”

The other side exhaled a sigh of relief. “As long as you can hear me, that’s good. Who are you to him? He was injured on site, quickly come to the hospital.” 

Er-ge started trembling on the spot, almost unable to stand upright.

At the same time, Song Yingshi, who was constantly refreshing posts on Weibo, managed to come across the photos of the incident and hurriedly showed everyone. The group saw the blood on the ground and their visions blurred, almost howling at the sight.

They did not dare to delay things any longer and rushed to inform Qian Duoshu.

Although they disliked this domestically violent man, he was still the sole parent of Ying-ge. If they didn’t tell him, no one will be there to oversee their brother.

Qian Duoshu just happened to arrive back home and was given the shock of his life when he heard about this, then proceeded to immediately drive to the city.

The boys and Song Yingshi could not rest easy and wanted to follow him to the hospital but due to the limited seating in the car, only Song Yingshi and Er-ge were brought along in the end. When they arrived, Zhou Li had already woken up for a little while. He leaned against the bedhead and was casually chatting with Ji Tianyang.

His head had been smashed with a weapon and the wound required three stitches to close up. He had a mild concussion, but it wasn’t anything too serious.

After inquiring about the incident, Ji Tianyang accepted his statement about “thinking of a good way to personally return the dog” and helped him pay for the medical expenses before he left, along with a remark about how he would deal with the problem that is Master Lin, and that Zhou Li didn’t have to worry about it.

Zhou Li thanked him and looked at him with a growing headache.

Different from Ji Shaoyan’s handsome and noble air, Ji Tianyang’s facial features were more angular. With his youthful appearance, he really embodied the word “dandy”. In the original text, he had a bad temper——although his attitude just then wasn’t entirely perfect, he said would help deal with Lin Ye, which wasn’t something he himself could do anyway.

Ji Tianyang stretched his limbs out lazily, finding a comfortable position to sit in on the chair. Crossing one leg over the other, he asked, “How long did you raise that dog for?”

Zhou Li: “A few days.”

Ji Tianyang: “What did he do while he was with you every day?”

Zhou Li: “Eating and sleeping, he’s a bit vegetable-like.” 

After a pause, he asked, “How is he now?”

Ji Tianyang said, “He was just given treatment, currently sleeping.”

Zhou Li felt that going by Ji Tianyang’s previous description of the injury, Young Master Ji had very likely returned to his original body, so he replied with a simple “en“.

Just when Ji Tianyang wanted to ask something else, he saw a few people rushing into the ward. Hearing that they were the patient’s family members, he took the initiative to tell the story again, but with Zhou Li’s version——they wanted to personally return the dog to his owner but met someone who stole the puppy away from them. They had thought this person was someone with evil urges, but now that the truth has come to light, everyone involved ruled it as a misunderstanding.

He had already taken care of this matter properly and the photos circulating online have also been ordered to be taken down so there was no need for Qian Duoshu to worry.

On the contrary, Qian Duoshu’s expression changed on the spot when he heard about who his son had offended, and once he learned that the second master and his people were also still in the hospital, he immediately took his son home once they made sure his wounds were bandaged and there was no need to be hospitalised.

It was already night by the time they returned to Xiangman Town.

Er-ge and Song Yingshi were very agitated about his injuries for fear that Zhou Li would be beaten for another round when he and his father arrived home. The former said, “Uncle, there’s no one at my house and I don’t feel too safe alone. I’m too scared to sleep alone, can I spend the night at your place?”

Qian Duoshu stared at him with a complicated expression. “…I heard your mother call you, telling you to get back home quickly a while back.”

Er-ge: “……”

Qian Duoshu said as kindly as possible, “Liye has a head injury, I will make sure he goes to sleep when we get home. It is not convenient today to sleep over, so let’s try another time ba.”

 Er-ge’s heart was crumbling apart just a little, so he could only try persuade the man with a few words about how it wasn’t Ying-ge’s fault, and that they hope he won’t be angry.

Qian Duoshu nodded and sent him and Song Yingshi home one by one, thanking them before leaving with his son to their home. 

As soon as he stepped into the house, his face suddenly sank.

Zhou Li glanced at him and took two steps back.

“You…” Qian Duoshu pointed at him with a trembling finger, stuck on that one “you” for a long time, unable to form a follow up.

He felt his wrath hitting the ground then bouncing right up to the top of his head. He quickly swallowed two prescribed pills, ran to the window to be alone for a while while waving his hand exhaustedly, “Don’t take a shower tonight, just use a wet towel and quickly go to bed.”

Zhou Li hesitated for a few seconds. “That thing…what happened to me today is because I didn’t think it through.”

Qian Duoshu ill-manneredly snarked, “So, even you have moments when you’re considerate?”

Zhou Li said, “I do ah.”

Qian Duoshu didn’t want to listen to his nonsense any longer and dismissed the boy.

Although the kid said that everything was a misunderstanding today, Master Lin was so badly injured, how could the second master let him go? Just wait until they return from the city, who knows what will happen!

Zhou Li made a quick inspection of the man’s current state and didn’t let his mouth run loose about the situation anymore. He went into the bedroom after washing up and tossed around on the bed for a while. Unable to lure himself into a sleep, he decided to pull open the game.

In just one day, many people have already entered the second floor.

The second floor also consisted of opening boxes, in addition to various props and items stuffed inside, there were also fragments. In total, there were 12 different kinds of fragments, which will form a complete image when put together. Whoever finishes it can enter the third floor.

Players can exchange fragments, but only if they exchange one of their prop items in turn. With exchanges, everything was randomised.

This was a very wicked game element. For example, a person has two fragment No. 2s and chooses to exchange one of them with another player. Since the exchanged prop fragments were all random, if you were lucky, you can gain a fragment you didn’t have prior to the exchange, but if your luck was bad, you could get repetitions. Not only that, but if someone used a prop item and happened to replace the only remaining fragment No. 2 you have in your inventory, then you will be finished.

Zhou Li opened a chest and gained two props, choosing to use them all in one go. As a result, the player selected by the system was Zheng San, and all his fragments were replaced by the other’s completely different fragments. Thus, Zheng San was driven insane——Ji Shaoyan happened to come across this peculiar scene.

His game finally finished downloading after he chatted with Liang Jingxiu, so sent his friend away with the excuse of wanting to pay the game and entered the first level. While running forward and unlocking chests, he prepared to answer the system assigned questions so he could enter the second floor as soon as possible. 

At this time, he turned a corner and came across another chest. Tapping on the screen to open it, he saw a golden announcement instantly floating across the chat room: Congratulations to player [Ji Shao] for gaining a key and getting direct access to the second floor.

The server was instantly fired in a pot of oil*.

[T/N: bursting with life]

Not only because this was the first time someone had opened the chest and gotten a key, but also because of the person who managed to pull such a feat.

Quan Jie: Ji-shao?

Zheng San: Fuck, it’s actually him?

Liu Xiao Wei: It’s really Ji-shao?

Tang Xin Tian: Ji-shao???

The brain-rotting fangirls instantly went insane and started sending flowers over to the young master frantically, with the chatroom bursting with me me da*.

[T/N: like a cute kiss, ‘chu’ or xoxo]

Zhou Li knew at a glance that Ji Shaoyan had really returned. He looked at this person’s popularity and clicked his tongue a couple of times, unable to hold back the urge to send out: So many flowers, so envious.

His comment was quickly drowned by the others as the crazy people kept spamming their love, only to realise their idol hasn’t spoken up all this time, so instead they begged him to speak up.

Ji Shao: You guys are spamming too much, I can’t interject.

The moment this line was sent out, the chatroom was immediately cleared out. No one wrote anything.

Everyone stared at the box, waiting for him to speak again.

A few seconds later, Young Master Ji’s name finally appeared again under the eyes of this fervent crowd. 

[System] Player [Ji Shao] presents player [Li] with a rose, I don’t need a reason to like you [Heart][Heart][Heart]

Everyone: “……”

…The fuck?

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Zhou Li: ???