Chapter 96

Chapter 96

By the time the head nurse woke Chi Shang, it was nearly evening.

Without giving anything away, he got up and walked out of the ward. The moment he stepped outside, he ran into several “fellow patients” waiting in the corridor.

Luo Ziwei lived across from him and had come out even earlier than he had.

Taking advantage of a nurse entering Room 606, Chi Shang bent his elbow and nudged Luo Ziwei. “Hey! Did the head nurse tell you where we’re going?”

Strangely, Luo Ziwei turned and glanced at him. His eyes were cold and distant, as if he were looking at a complete stranger.

“Say something, will you?”

But Luo Ziwei simply withdrew his gaze and lowered his head, looking utterly unaware of his surroundings.

Chi Shang glanced at Fan Jianqiang as well. Seeing that he, too, looked muddled and dazed, Chi Shang finally confirmed that something was wrong.

What on earth had happened to everyone?

As the head nurse called people out ward by ward, Chi Shang discovered that all of them had turned somewhat blank and sluggish.

After thinking it over carefully, he roughly guessed that it might have something to do with that cup of black medicinal sludge.

Because he hadn’t drunk it.

Once he figured out the source of his confusion, Chi Shang copied their behavior and did his best to act vacant and dull.

That said, he knew exactly what kind of level his acting skills were at. While the head nurse wasn’t paying attention, he quietly slowed his steps and trailed unsteadily at the back of the line.

When they reached Ward 614, the head nurse knocked on the door as a matter of form. Just as she was about to press down on the handle, the door opened eerily from the inside.

“What?”

The head nurse gave him a surprised look, then said coldly, “Third floor. Talk session.”

Not only that, she also wrote something down in her little notebook. Her voice was low, but that did not stop Shang Yan, whose eyes and ears were exceptionally sharp, from catching it.

The notebook read: Patient in 614 did not take medication. Ward-round nurse was negligent. Marked down once.

“Dock one day’s pay.”

Shang Yan withdrew his gaze.

Mm. Confirmed. It had nothing to do with him.

“Let’s go. Come with me to the third floor for a talk with the psychologist,” the head nurse ordered.

Shang Yan looked at her. “Not going.”

At that, the head nurse’s gaze began to turn icy, faintly laced with malice.

With a soft clatter, a silver chain slowly slipped from beneath his sleeve. The head nurse froze in place for three seconds, then decisively turned and left without the slightest hesitation.

During all this, the instant the door had opened from inside, Chi Shang had stolen a curious glance over. His gaze immediately locked onto the person who had opened the door.

The man had long, jet-black hair. Perhaps he had just taken a shower, because the ends were still damp with moisture. Droplets slowly slid down the strands and fell to the floor, the faint, barely audible drip only further magnifying the man’s extraordinary looks.

He was gorgeous, like a red peony brushed with morning dew.

At that moment, Chi Shang’s belief that he was the most beautiful person under heaven collapsed with a thunderous crash.

Right now, Chi Shang did not even need to deliberately act. He was genuinely wooden.

“Move it!”

When the head nurse turned back to hurry him along, she did not even notice anything unusual about him.

Honestly, if he could keep up this level of acting when he was actually performing, he would probably have an Oscar by now.

By the time Chi Shang came back to his senses, they had already followed the head nurse into the elevator. The person from 614 had not come with them.

What was going on? Was that person not a streamer?

But if he wasn’t a streamer… why had the head nurse gone to call him?

And if he was a streamer, why hadn’t he followed them? Besides, when Chi Shang entered the Instance, he had not seen this person at all.

Chi Shang felt somewhat confused and stifled. To be more precise, it was probably jealousy.

Fine. It was jealousy. He was jealous that the other person was better-looking than him, so jealous that his mind had gone completely blank just now, and he had not even heard what the other person and the head nurse had said.

On this side, he followed the group to the psychological consultation room on the third floor. The head nurse stood nearby, watching them like a hawk, then called them in one by one according to room number.

Only after one person came out could the next person enter.

After Luo Ziwei came out, the head nurse shoved Chi Shang inside.

He instinctively looked up at the psychologist, only for his eyes to meet the other person’s gaze head-on.

His heart could not help but skip a beat.
Soon, the psychologist wearing black-framed glasses twisted his lips into an eerie smile. “Hey, a fish that slipped through the net.”

Cold sweat instantly beaded on Chi Shang’s forehead. In the last moment before his consciousness faded, he heard a crisp finger snap, and his mind fell into an ink-like darkness…

**

Over there, Lu Shanshan finished paying and pretended to put her phone back into her pocket.

Qiao Yu glanced at Lu Shanshan’s smooth arm revealed by her wide sleeve slipping down, and gently grunted. “It’s no big deal. We’ll discuss the piano piece issue after you recover. Health comes first.”

“Eh? What’s this?” Lu Shanshan’s gaze suddenly froze on a product on the counter, asking him curiously.

Qiao Yu followed her line of sight and smiled. “Mouthwash. Haven’t you seen it before?”

Lu Shanshan honestly shook her head. “No. Or maybe I forgot.”

Qiao Yu: “…”

Even if your memory is messed up, how can you not know what mouthwash is??

There really are all kinds of weirdos.

After she left, Qiao Yu looked up and continued watching TV. After the financial news ended, a ‘White Snake Legend’ with a modern artistic style began playing.

The male lead was handsome, the female lead beautiful, but their acting… they must have shared the same plastic surgeon.

Another thing, the show is called ‘White Snake Legend,’ but… where’s the white snake?

In ‘wife cakes,’ there’s no wife; in ‘husband and wife lung slices,’ there’s no couple; and now, in ‘White Snake Legend,’ there’s no white snake??

You can keep up with the times, but you shouldn’t bring about mutual destruction, right?

This is damn near the worst disaster zone in adaptation land, a mudslide among classic remakes.

Watching it made Qiao Yu’s scalp tingle, like a fishbone stuck in his throat, like thorns piercing his back; he was in so much pain he wanted to find the screenwriter and demand compensation for emotional distress.

Even short-video platforms produce better stuff, you know!

Qiao Yu wasn’t the only one thinking this; there was also that Old Ghost leaning on a dragon-headed cane, who had come to mooch TV time without anyone noticing.

He had even unknowingly walked up to the duty desk, pointing at the TV and cursing loudly: “What the hell is this acting? Did this production team run into some bad luck and decide to take revenge on society?”

Qiao Yu glanced at the clock behind him; it was already eleven at night.

“I’m not watching this. Find me an old movie from the past,” Old Ghost ordered matter-of-factly, exuding an authoritative aura as if long accustomed to a high position.

Qiao Yu raised an eyebrow in surprise, took out the remote control, and tossed it to him. “Change it yourself.”

Old Ghost was so angry he swung his cane and knocked it hard on the ground. “You rude little brat!”

Qiao Yu ignored the ill-tempered old man, pulled a tattered magazine out from the desk compartment, and flipped through it out of boredom.

The Old Ghost, seeing Qiao Yu ignore him, stood there a while, perhaps feeling a bit awkward. Then he quietly walked over and joined Qiao Yu in looking at the magazine.

Qiao Yu: “…” What an eye-opener. This old guy was even more tsundere than Ren Yan.

As he thought this, he habitually flipped to the next page, and then a furious roar erupted beside his ear.

“Little beast!”

Wait, he hadn’t offended this old man this time, had he? Why was he being cursed at again!

Qiao Yu looked at the Old Ghost in front of him and suddenly realized he wasn’t cursing at him, but… at the magazine?

To be precise, he was cursing at the person in the magazine.

Qiao Yu glanced curiously. The heir of the Yuanyang Consortium-Tang Shenghong.

Mhm, young and promising, with boundless prospects.

“How did he offend you?” Qiao Yu was curious.

Seeing this grinding hatred, looking as if he wished the man would drop dead immediately, what deep-seated feud was this?

Old Ghost was so angry his lips seemed to tremble. He stepped forward, grabbed the edge of the magazine, yanked it hard, and then stomped on the page several times. “Xiuyun! They mistreated Xiuyun!!”

Then, as if suddenly losing his mind, he looked up and shouted at Qiao Yu, “No, I must go and bring Xiuyun back!”

After shouting, Old Ghost, leaning on his dragon-headed cane, dashed off with flying steps and disappeared.

Qiao Yu: ?? Who is Xiuyun? What the hell is all this?!