After becoming a widow, I became the apple of a rough man's eye.

The motorcycle engine roared as if it were about to explode, leaving a long trail of dust in its wake on the bumpy dirt road.

The wind felt like knives cutting into my face.

Li Dongye felt no pain at all. His leather jacket was wrapped around the person in his arms, while he himself was only wearing a thin shirt that had been burned and torn in several places. His back was a bloody mess, stuck to the shirt. Every jolt was like a brutal torture of being torn apart.

But one of his arms was as if it were welded shut, tightly gripping the person in his arms.

"Don't sleep."

He roared, his voice shattered by the wind, carrying a distinct tremor.

The person in his arms was motionless. Only faint breaths brushed against his chest, alarmingly hot. It was a sign of an impending high fever, and also a reaction to inhaling thick smoke.

Li Dongye freed one hand, roughly wiped the blood and ash from his face, and twisted the accelerator to the floor.

Once inside the city, he didn't slow down; traffic lights were practically useless to him. The traffic police at the intersection had barely blown their whistles when all that was left was a blur of him and his car.

"Damn it! You're asking for it!"

The curses from the roadside were left behind.

The hospital gate is right in front of us.

He'd been a gangster before, had a knife held to his back, had his head submerged in a water vat—he hadn't even blinked. But now, his legs were trembling.

"Doctor! Where did you go?! Help!"

That shout drew the attention of everyone in the hall.

Li Dongye looked terrifying. He was covered in blood, his face was mottled with black and red, a lock of his hair was singed, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like a demon who had just crawled out of hell.

The two nurses screamed in fright, dropping their medical record folders all over the floor.

"What are you shouting for! This is a hospital!" A male doctor ran over with a frown, but upon seeing the scene, he was also overwhelmed by the smell of burnt blood. "What happened?"

"Fire." Li Dongye gritted his teeth and gently moved the person in his arms toward the doctor, his movements as light as if he were handling a piece of broken tofu. "He smoked and cut his wrist. Hurry up."

A mobile hospital bed was pushed over.

When Li Dongye placed Lin Qingqing on the table, his fingers were so stiff that he didn't even want to loosen them. Her face was only the size of a palm, and although it was already pale, it was now completely bloodless, making the black ash smeared on it look particularly glaring.

"Let go! We need to get him to the emergency room!" The nurse was stamping her feet anxiously.

Li Dongye snapped back to reality, slowly prying her fingers open as he watched her being pushed inside. He instinctively followed, but after a couple of steps, his path was blocked by a cold, imposing iron gate.

"Family members, please wait outside!"

With a "bang".

Li Dongye stood in the corridor, maintaining the gesture of reaching out his hand. The surrounding noise of voices, footsteps, and children crying all vanished in that instant.

Only that glaring red light remained, like a bloodshot eye, staring intently at him.

He leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to sit on the ground.

The cement floor was cool, and the cold seeped into my skin through my pants.

"Whose family member is this? Why are you sitting on the ground?" A passing head nurse couldn't bear to see him like this and came over to help him up. "Oh dear, your back... it's covered in blood! Go to the surgery department right away and get it bandaged!"

Li Dongye raised his head, and his eyes, which usually carried a slightly frivolous smile, were now frighteningly empty.

"I'm not going."

"If you don't treat this, it will get infected! You can see the bone!" the head nurse exclaimed anxiously.

"I'm not going," Li Dongye repeated, his voice hoarse as if he had swallowed a handful of sand. "I'll stay here and keep watch."

He was afraid that if he left, the door would open and the person who came out would tell him that there was no hope.

What's the point of him living? How can he face his brothers? He felt like he was such a fucking idiot.

The head nurse was intimidated by his gaze, and in the end, she had no choice but to call over an intern to perform a simple wound cleaning on the corridor floor.

……

I don't know how much time has passed.

The moment the door opened, Li Dongye sprang up from the ground. But he had been squatting for too long, his blood circulation was poor, and he had lost too much blood. His vision went black, and he almost fell headfirst to the ground.

He leaned against the wall, shook his head, and grabbed the doctor who came out.

"How is it?"

The doctor took off his mask and breathed a sigh of relief: "The carbon monoxide poisoning wasn't too severe; it was mainly due to excessive shock and blood loss from the injury. The cut on his wrist was quite deep, almost damaging the tendon; it required eight stitches. He needs to be observed overnight, as inhaling dust could cause an infection in his lungs."

Upon hearing this, Li Dongye's body went limp, and he leaned against the wall.

Thanks.

He wanted to smile or say something polite, but his facial muscles were too stiff to make any expression.

Lin Qingqing was wheeled into the ward.

It was a triple room, and the two beds next to it were empty.

She was still asleep, lying there quietly with an IV drip in her hand. Her wrist was wrapped tightly in gauze, like a rice dumpling.

Li Dongye sat on the iron stool beside the bed.

He didn't dare touch her.

His hands were covered in blood and grime, they were incredibly dirty.

Lin Qingqing is so clean.

Even now, she's like a flower stuck in the mud, making you want to take your heart out and use it as a stepping stone.

Li Dongye went to the bathroom and rinsed his hands with cold water more than a dozen times. He rubbed his skin until it turned red, and only sat back down when he was sure he could no longer smell the blood.

He carefully reached out and cupped her uninjured hand in his palm.

It's cold.

Li Dongye pressed her hand against his cheek and gently rubbed his stubble against her palm.

"Qingqing".

He called out softly.

No one answered.

Only the medicine in the IV drip bottle dripped down, like a death knell, or a countdown to rebirth.

Li Dongye didn't close his eyes once that night.

As dawn approached, sparrows outside the window began to chirp.

Li Dongye lay on the edge of the bed, unable to stay awake any longer. His nerves had been on edge for a day and a night, and now that he was finally relaxing, his eyelids were drooping.

He held Lin Qingqing's hand, buried his face in her palm, and fell asleep.

……

Lin Qingqing was awakened by thirst.

My throat felt like I'd swallowed a handful of charcoal, burning and painful. My lungs felt congested, and every breath tasted metallic.

She struggled to open her eyes.

The first thing I saw was a stark white ceiling, and there was a strong smell of disinfectant.

He's not dead?

The thought had barely crossed her mind when the warm touch on her hand snapped her back to reality.

She turned her head to the side.

The morning light peeked through the gap in the curtains and fell directly on Li Dongye's profile.

For a moment, Lin Qingqing thought she had mistaken the person.

This is so embarrassing.

Li Dongye, who usually sports a slicked-back hairstyle, wears a leather jacket, and has a cigarette dangling from his mouth, is now unshaven, with dark circles under his eyes and a large sunken cheek.

He lay there, his brows furrowed, as if he were fighting desperately in his dreams.

Lin Qingqing moved her fingers.

Almost at the same second, Li Dongye suddenly woke up.

The moment he raised his head, the murderous intent in his eyes hadn't completely dissipated. But when he saw Lin Qingqing looking at him with her eyes open, that fierceness slowly faded, replaced by a cautious, ecstatic joy.

"woke up?"

His voice was so hoarse it was unbearable, even worse than Lin Qingqing's, who had been smoked.

Lin Qingqing opened her mouth but couldn't make a sound, so she could only nod.

Li Dongye hurriedly went to pour water. The water in the thermos was a bit hot, so he poured it into an enamel mug, turning the two cups back and forth to cool it down. Then he took a cotton swab, dipped it in water, and gently moistened her chapped lips.

"Drink slowly, don't choke."

As the water flowed down her throat, Lin Qingqing finally felt alive again.

"Fourth Brother..."

That shout brought tears to Li Dongye's eyes.

"I'm here." Li Dongye buried his face in her hand, his shoulders trembling slightly. "Fourth Brother is here."

Looking at him like this, Lin Qingqing felt a pang of sadness in her heart.

She raised her uninjured hand and touched his prickly hair.

"I thought... I would never see you again."

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

He took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to kill, and adopted his usual nonchalant yet incredibly serious tone.

"Qingqing, let's go home."

"Let's go back to the village. We're not staying in this lousy city anymore. What nonsense about recognizing ancestors and being the young master of the Mu family." Li Dongye placed her hand on his heart. "Let's go back and have the eldest brother make you chicken soup, and have the second brother make you a longevity lock. We...we're going home."

Lin Qingqing looked at him.

"Mmm." She smiled, tears sliding down her cheeks and into the pillow. "Let's go home."

"Sleep a little longer." Li Dongye tucked the blanket around her. "The doctor said you need to rest more."

Lin Qingqing was indeed very weak; she had already run out of energy after saying just a few words. She obediently closed her eyes, but her fingers clung tightly to Li Dongye's sleeve.

"I'm not leaving." Li Dongye saw through her thoughts, patted the back of her hand, and said, "I'll stay here and watch over you."

Watching Lin Qingqing's breathing gradually become steady, she fell asleep again.

The warmth on Li Dongye's face vanished completely, like a receding tide.

He slowly pulled his cuff out of her hand, the movement so light that it made no sound.

He stood up and shielded her from the somewhat glaring sunlight coming through the window.

Then he turned and walked out.

At the end of the corridor, the intern who had treated the wound yesterday was passing by. Seeing him walking towards him with a gloomy expression, he was so frightened that he stood close to the wall.