Chapter 4

Qin Zui pulled the shirt off his face and went to the bathroom mirror to check out his back.

It really did look like an allergic reaction. The patch of shoulder blade on the left side of his back looked like it had been splashed with boiling water—bright red and covered in little bumps.

When he hadn’t noticed it before, it was just a little itchy. But now that he could see it, he scratched at it and instantly it felt unbearably irritating, like the itch was piercing right through his back and spreading to his chest.

“Hey! Where are you?” Jiang Chu called from the entryway, already putting on his shoes.

Qin Zui scratched at it a couple more times, feeling annoyed, then pulled on the clothes Jiang Chu had thrown at him and went back to the bedroom to grab his ID card.

“Are you allergic to cats or something?” Jiang Chu had been mulling over the allergen the whole drive. The sheets and duvet cover were fresh from a wash just two days ago, his body wash shouldn’t have caused a reaction, and the only thing left to consider was Zhou Teng.

Qin Zui frowned slightly, reaching back every few seconds to scratch. He kept his voice flat. “Don’t know.”

Jiang Chu glanced at him, pulled out his phone, tapped a few times, then tossed it to Qin Zui. “Help me beat this level.”

Qin Zui caught the phone. Happy Match. Level 11, the kind even an idiot could clear.

By the time the car pulled into the hospital parking lot, Qin Zui had already breezed through to Level 31.

Jiang Chu smiled, took the phone back, spun it between his fingers, and led Qin Zui to the outpatient registration counter.

Even though he’d seen one look at Qin Zui’s back and dragged him to the hospital, analyzing allergens and all that like he was some kind of expert, Jiang Chu himself hadn’t really been to the hospital much since he could remember.

Not just him and his parents, but even going back to both sets of grandparents, all four of them were tough as nails. The few hospital visits he’d made were either to visit his second aunt after she gave birth or to see his uncle after his appendix surgery.

He’d never had to go for himself, or take anyone else to see a real doctor.

He hadn’t even taken Zhou Teng to a vet.

As they passed the nurse’s station, he held onto a shred of hope and asked, “For an allergic reaction, pretty urgent. Do I need to register?”

“Yeah, yeah, go register.” The nurse waved him off toward the registration window without even listening.

Hospitals are never short of people. There were long lines at every single window.

Jiang Chu picked the slightly shorter line and joined it. Qin Zui looked around, scratching his back, and said, “You queue. You go find somewhere to sit.”

“Oh.” Jiang Chu looked down at his phone. “Nine words. New record, huh?”

Qin Zui watched him for a while, looking bored. Noticing a nearby line had gotten shorter, he squeezed past Jiang Chu, shoved his hands in his pockets, and joined that line instead.

The line looked long, but it moved fast enough.

When there was only one person left in front of Jiang Chu, Qin Zui stopped queueing and came over to wait for him.

“Need your ID card. Got it?” Jiang Chu asked.

Qin Zui was just about to pull it from his pocket when two people behind Jiang Chu started shoving each other.

“I’m really in a hurry here. I talk fast, it’ll only take half a minute. Can’t you cut me some slack?” A young man with an impatient look on his face was trying to cut the line. He was a small, wiry guy, bouncing around like a jumping bean.

“If I cut you slack, who’s gonna cut me slack? I’ve been queuing for ages, and everyone here is sick and in a hurry!” The woman who was originally behind Jiang Chu yelled angrily. “If you’re really in a hurry, say it nicely. Don’t come shoving and squeezing like that!”

“Who shoved you? Huh? Am I blind, or are you?” The young man, losing face, got flustered.

“What do you mean by that?!” The woman shrieked. “What the hell are you talking about?!”

People around them were starting to look. Jiang Chu glanced over, then turned back. He didn’t want to get involved.

The person in front took their registration slip and left. Jiang Chu took Qin Zui’s ID card and said, “Go wait over there.”

The photo on Qin Zui’s ID card was pretty good. His nose was a nose, his eyes were eyes. Jiang Chu couldn’t help sneaking an extra look.

This kid, whenever he got his picture taken, he had no expression, but his eyes were always so fierce.

It was kind of cool, but it made him look… hard to place. A bit like a thug.

Jiang Chu thought about his own ID photos. Driver’s license, passport, all of them were a disaster. The kind of tragic that made airport security hold them up to your face and study them for a second longer.

He used to be pretty bummed about it, until one time, Da Ben’s girlfriend Bao Li insisted on setting him up with her friend. She even sent the WeChat contact. Jiang Chu had no idea how much crap Bao Li had talked about him to the girl, but she was super enthusiastic from the start. It made even Da Ben feel awkward on the sidelines.

Jiang Chu had absolutely nothing to say to her, so in a moment of desperation, he took a picture of his ID card and sent it to her. She went radio silent immediately.

An ugly ID card was only good for that kind of thing. Next time he renewed it, he had to get a good picture taken…

Wait.

Jiang Chu looked at Qin Zui’s ID card more carefully. The birthday didn’t match.

According to Qin Shuman, Qin Zui was “sixteen or seventeen.” He wasn’t even seventeen yet.

But according to the date on this card, he would be turning eighteen next month.

Did they register his birthday early when he was born?

Mulling it over, Jiang Chu took a step forward. The moment his foot touched the ground in front of the counter, amidst a shriek, a force like a speeding trike slammed into his back. He was sent crashing hard into the registration desk.

A sharp pain shot through his ribs. He instinctively tried to brace himself on the counter, but it was made of marble. His hand, still holding the slick ID card, slid right off.

Right after that, he couldn’t tell if the gasps from the crowd came first, or the loud bang of his own face hitting the glass window of the counter.

From his perspective, he just saw the nurse behind the window, like a scene from a movie, her eyes slowly widening in slow-motion as his chin smacked against the glass.

The whole thing lasted maybe two or three seconds, but Jiang Chu’s gums were already numb.

He touched his chin. It wasn’t cut, but the moment he opened his mouth, the taste of blood filled his entire mouth.

“Shit.” He pushed his tongue against the inside of his lower lip, swearing under his breath.

The woman was the one who had slammed into him. She looked startled by Jiang Chu’s collision, but didn’t seem sorry. She just kept screeching, “It wasn’t me! He pushed me!”

Jiang Chu frowned and turned around. Before he could even see what happened, another gasp went through the crowd. The guy who’d been arguing with the woman was now pinned by the back of the neck and slammed headfirst into the window.

Bang.

The nurse’s eyes had just gone back to normal; now they nearly flew out of her head again.

The woman next to him shut up immediately. Even Jiang Chu was startled. That sounded way more solid than his own hit.

And it happened right next to him.

And the hand pinning the guy’s head down belonged to his new, unrelated brother, Qin Zui, who could barely string three sentences together.

Qin Zui had stayed put after handing Jiang Chu his ID card.

When the two started shoving, he eyed the distance between them and Jiang Chu. He’d thought a nurse would come and break it up. But before the nurse got there, the guy lost his temper and gave the woman a hard shove on the shoulder.

Then all hell broke loose.

Qin Zui had reached out to grab Jiang Chu, but the woman was in his way. He didn’t make it in time.

Watching Jiang Chu hit that glass, the itch on his back and the restless irritation that had been churning inside him all day finally twisted together. Qin Zui’s arm shot out, he hooked the guy’s neck, and slammed him headfirst into the glass too.

Fights breaking out in hospital queues weren’t that uncommon. A few shouts from the security guards usually calmed things down.

But it looked like real fighting this time. With the “bang-bang” of heads being slammed into the registration window, several security guards came running over.

“What’s going on? Form an orderly line, don’t cause trouble, okay? Talk it out!” One guard tried to pull Qin Zui off.

“Hey!” The nurse shouted from the sidelines. “If you want to fight, do it outside. Is this the place for it? What kind of behavior is this?”

Jiang Chu himself didn’t exactly have a saintly temper. If he’d been stuck with this kind of infuriating situation, he probably would have thrown a punch too.

But the difference between him and Qin Zui was that he would try to keep his cool first. If he could, great. If not, well, that was another story.

Qin Zui, on the other hand, clearly hadn’t even considered keeping his cool.

Jiang Chu saw the look in Qin Zui’s eyes. He had zero doubt that if Qin Zui got annoyed enough, he’d take a swing at the security guards too.

He raised a hand to block the guard from grabbing Qin Zui’s arm and said, “Let him go. I’m fine.”

Qin Zui glanced at Jiang Chu’s chin first. He didn’t let go. Instead, he spoke flatly, right by the guy’s ear. “Apologize.”

“Whoa, who the hell—let me go!” The guy, whose head was still pinned, finally came to his senses, struggling to get free.

Qin Zui’s eyes narrowed slightly. He pushed the guy’s head forward into the glass.

“Alright, alright, holy shit! It was an accident!” The guy’s face was pressed against the glass, his voice going high and squeaky. He slapped his hand on the window frantically. “I apologize! Sorry! Damn it!”

They got to the hospital at 7:30. After registering, seeing the doctor, getting examined, getting an injection, getting the medicine, receiving a lecture on public order, accepting a reluctant apology and compensation for the medical bills from that jumping-bean line-cutter, and finally leaving, it was already 8:40.

Jiang Chu had gotten his first-ever morality lecture in a hospital. After he got in the car, he first lit a cigarette to process this surreal experience, then pulled out Qin Zui’s test results and looked them over, leaning back in his seat.

“Allergic to seafood.” He tucked the lab report into the glove compartment and started the car. “You didn’t know what you were allergic to?”

Qin Zui, having gotten some of his frustration out with the fight, stared out the window, silent. He didn’t look at Jiang Chu either. A moment later, he reached back and scratched his back.

Of course he didn’t know.

He didn’t know because he’d never had an allergic reaction before.

He’d never had one because, before today, he’d never eaten seafood.

Jiang Chu glanced at Qin Zui again and tossed the bag of medicine into his lap. “Stop scratching. The more you scratch, the worse it gets.”

As he spoke, the cigarette butt scraped against his injury. Jiang Chu winced. He checked the rearview mirror. His chin was already swelling up like a steamed bun.

Qin Zui turned his head slightly, one eye half-lidded, and stared at him.

“What are you looking at?” Jiang Chu shot him a glare, annoyed.

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds. Qin Zui’s lips twitched, but he didn’t say anything. He turned his head back to the window, but not before Jiang Chu caught the hint of a smile on his face.

His chin now looked like a little gourd.

“Go on, laugh. Holding it in?” Jiang Chu couldn’t help but snort, half amused. He reached over and punched Qin Zui in the arm.

“Don’t touch me.” Qin Zui said the same thing as before, but this time he didn’t bristle like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

“What a temper.” Jiang Chu touched his own chin again and let out a frustrated hiss. “After the swelling goes down, it’s gonna be bruised for at least a week. You, kid, can tidy yourself up tomorrow and go to work for me.”

Qin Zui rubbed his back, his eyelids drooping. The corner of his mouth lifted a little more.

Getting his chin smashed in exchange for a smile from this difficult little brother… it was a shitty deal no matter how you looked at it.

Jiang Chu didn’t want to think about his chin anymore. Too annoying. He turned the steering wheel and changed the subject, asking Qin Zui, “What do you wanna eat? I’m hungry. Pick something you’re not allergic to.”

“Go home and eat.” Qin Zui answered quickly.

“What, I can’t be seen with my chin like this?” Jiang Chu said.

Qin Zui looked at him, speechless, before finally explaining, “Go home and eat. I’ll cook.”