TF01 51

For the past few days, Shi Yi had been in the hospital, with Ying Ming and Haozi keeping him company most of the time. Kou Jing lasted only one day before nearly having his phone blown up with calls. Unable to take it any longer, he had to leave the next day.

Ying Ming’s arm was now in a cast, and aside from going out to get his medication, he spent most of his time in Shi Yi’s hospital room. Shi Yi wasn’t much of a talker, so the three of them mostly passed the time playing cards or watching TV. No one brought up Shi Yi’s eye condition. It felt a bit like they were deceiving themselves, but there was nothing else they could do except wait passively, occasionally clinging to the hope that a miracle might still happen.

But life is cruel precisely because miracles always seem to happen to someone else.

On the day Shi Yi had his bandages removed, Ying Ming insisted on staying in the room.

Both the doctor and Haozi advised him to wait outside, but he refused to leave. The group watched as Shi Yi slowly opened his eyes. He froze for a moment, looking slightly dazed, then shook his head and closed them again. He tried a few more times before finally giving up and frowning.

“No good. I can’t see clearly.”

He covered his still-intact left eye with his hand and tried looking toward Ying Ming. After a moment, he forced out a bitter smile.

He really couldn’t see anything.

It was like looking through fogged-up glasses. He could sense that someone was there, but he couldn’t make out who.

The doctor waved a hand in front of him. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

Shi Yi furrowed his brows and took a long moment to try and make out the answer before hesitantly speaking.

“Three?”

“Are you guessing, or can you actually see it?”

“I guessed.”

“I’ll arrange a vision test for you to see if corrective lenses can help improve your eyesight,” the doctor said before turning to give instructions to a nurse.

Ying Ming stepped closer to the bed. “If you keep both eyes open, can you see anything?”

Shi Yi shook his head. “It makes me dizzy.”

Having one side clear and the other a complete blur was an experience no one else could truly imagine. It felt like his body was split between two different dimensions, twisting his entire perception.

The nurse left to make arrangements as instructed. The doctor was about to move around to examine Shi Yi’s left eye when Ying Ming stepped back to make space, only to be grabbed by Shi Yi the moment he took two steps away.

He was a little surprised and looked up. The other person’s expression was somewhat awkward, but he still hadn’t let go.

“I’m saying, just stay here…”

Maybe no one else in this world had ever seen this expression on Shi Yi’s face.

Ying Ming nodded and stayed put.

Not long after, a nurse wheeled in a cart filled with various vision testing instruments. Ying Ming watched as the nurse guided Shi Yi through the examinations. The results made the doctor frown more and more. Seeing that deepening crease between the doctor’s brows, Ying Ming felt like he’d been punched in the back. He held it in as long as he could before finally asking, “Doctor, how bad is it?”

Shi Yi hadn’t said anything, but he was clearly nervous too.

The doctor glanced at both of them. “We’ll do our best.”

The next stretch of time was spent adjusting Shi Yi’s vision. With each new lens added, Ying Ming’s frown deepened bit by bit. When the process was finally wrapping up, Shi Yi’s expression relaxed slightly, making Ying Ming step to the side and ask, “How is it? Clear?”

The doctor gestured for Shi Yi to get up and walk around. “Try taking a few steps. Do you feel dizzy?”

Shi Yi stood as instructed, glanced back at Ying Ming, and said, “It’s alright.”

“For the next few days, to help your eyes adjust to the difference in vision, try not to take off the glasses except when sleeping. If you need to shower, it’s best to have someone around to assist you. The visual disparity may cause dizziness, and in more severe cases, nausea or even vomiting.”

Shi Yi nodded to show he understood and frowned slightly as he looked out the window.

After leaving a few final instructions, the doctor left.

Haozi had been waiting outside the whole time. Seeing the doctor walk away, he finally came in. “How’s it looking?”

Shi Yi was now wearing a trial frame stacked with multiple lenses, making him look a little ridiculous. He nudged the glasses and said, “Still getting used to it, but I can see alright.”

Ying Ming glanced at him. “When are you planning to tell your family?”

“Give it a couple of days…”

“Waiting a few days won’t change anything. You can’t possibly keep this a secret.”

Out of nowhere, he started wearing glasses. How could no one ask about it?

But it was clear that Shi Yi didn’t want to continue this conversation. Just then, Haozi happened to walk over to the bed, and Shi Yi smoothly changed the subject. “Haozi, give me your phone.”

He took the phone and made a call.

It was to Ou Yang.

The moment the call connected, the other side was already worked up. “What the hell! Shi Yi, where the fuck have you been? You said we had a meeting, then disappeared. I’ve been calling your phone for days, and you haven’t picked up once. Two days ago, you sent me some bullshit text saying everything’s fine. Damn it, were you on some intergalactic trip?”

“Relax. If I were, I’d leave you a ticket. I’m at the hospital.”

“The hospital? Who did you beat up this time?”

Ou Yang knew about the situation with Zhao Zicong. It was thanks to Ying Ming taking the fall for Shi Yi back then. Otherwise, things would’ve blown up even worse.

Lately, this rich kid had been acting like he was on a warpath, blowing up at people left and right.

Street racing, brawls, trashing bars… Was this really the same Shi Yi he had known for over a decade?

Ying Ming happened to overhear Ou Yang’s remark from the side. He instinctively raised an eyebrow and glanced at Shi Yi. The latter frowned. “Help me look into something first. Has anyone been talking about making a move on Ying Ming recently?”

Ou Yang sounded a little surprised. “Ying Ming? Oh, that actor friend of yours?”

“Yeah.”

“Got it, no problem. But Shi Yi, your uncle called me yesterday, asking if I knew where you were. I told him you were away on a business trip. You better be ready. Looks like he’s got something for you.”

At the mention of his uncle, Shi Yi knitted his brows slightly and let out a quiet breath. “Got it.”

After hanging up, he turned to Ying Ming. “Doesn’t matter if I wanted to keep this from my family or not. My uncle’s probably already gotten word.”

Just as he finished speaking, the hospital room door swung open. Kou Jing walked in, just in time to hear that last sentence. He let out a cold chuckle. “Figures. A family’s a family. You sure called it.”

Shi Yi turned to see Kou Jing standing at the doorway, not stepping in immediately. A bad feeling crept up his spine. Sure enough, the next moment, another person appeared behind Kou Jing.

Shi Yi froze for a second before taking two steps forward. “Dad.”

He had thought his younger uncle would show up first, but instead, the head of the family had been alerted directly.

Standing further back, Ying Ming watched as a stern-looking middle-aged man walked in. His coat was plain and unassuming. When he heard Shi Yi call out to him, he merely let out a faint snort.

Kou Jing closed the door behind him and exchanged a look with Haozi and Ying Ming, signaling for them to step out.

Shi Yi’s father had clearly come to have a serious talk with his son.

The two of them understood the cue and started heading toward the door. But just as they reached it, Shi Yi’s father unexpectedly spoke up. “Which one of you is Ying Ming?”

Ying Ming turned back. “I am.”

“Stay. I have a few things to clarify with you.”

Haozi and Ying Ming exchanged glances. The latter took a step back and quietly stood to the side.

Shi Yi frowned. “Dad, why are you here…”

“You’re hospitalized, and the one who signed the admission papers was your friend. If they hadn’t notified me, I would’ve made sure to settle accounts with each of them later.”

His tone was firm. Shi Yi’s father took two steps forward and raised a hand, examining the somewhat ridiculous-looking glasses his son was wearing. “You get injured like this, and you don’t even inform your family?”

He actually had to hear from someone else that his own son’s eye was injured.

“I was planning to tell you and Mom today. I didn’t want you to worry.”

“If you don’t want us to worry, then stop making trouble!”

His voice suddenly rose. As expected of someone with a military background, the sheer volume of it made the other two in the room freeze for a moment.

Shi Yi looked apologetic. “Dad…”

But he didn’t get to finish. His father sat down in the chair by the bed, brows furrowed. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

This time, it was Ying Ming who answered. “Uncle, this was actually targeted at me. Shi Yi only got involved because he was helping me.”

Shi Yi’s father turned to look at him. “Do you know who did it?”

“Not yet,” Ying Ming replied.

From the moment the incident happened until now, all his attention had been on Shi Yi’s eye injury. He hadn’t had the time or the energy to think about anything else.

But Shi Yi was a Shi family member through and through. Hearing this, he immediately caught on. “Dad, has Uncle already found out who did it?”

His father shot him a glare. “As soon as I found out you were injured, I reported it to the police. But your uncle was even faster than them. First, tell me exactly what happened between you and Zhao Zicong.”

So he had gone behind his back and messed with someone connected to one of his old comrades.

Now that the conversation had reached this point, Shi Yi didn’t dare hide anything. He gave a rough summary of the situation with Zhao Zicong but skimmed over the details of the fight. When he mentioned how Ying Ming had taken the blame for him, his father cut in with a sharp comment. “You’re getting more and more out of hand!”

Then, he turned to Ying Ming. “Since this issue between you and Zhao Zicong started because of Shi Yi, he should be the one to handle it.” His tone was noticeably softer when speaking to Ying Ming than it was with his own son.

Ying Ming frowned. “So those people were Zhao Zicong’s?”

Not surprising.

At first, they had considered the possibility that it was Weisai’s doing. But since Weisai had already sent a lawyer to negotiate with him, if they really wanted to cause trouble, they wouldn’t resort to such low-level tactics. Besides, if it had been Weisai, they wouldn’t have targeted Shi Yi.

Shi Yi, standing next to him, let out a crude curse. “Fuck that bastard!”

His father gave him a glance but didn’t say anything, his gaze shifting back and forth as he scrutinized Ying Ming.

Clearly, before coming here, he had already looked into who Ying Ming was. Ying Ming didn’t react to the scrutiny, maintaining a calm and natural demeanor. When the silent examination finally ended, Shi Yi’s father gave a slight nod. “I heard you’ve had some trouble with Weisai as well?”

After saying that, he turned to Shi Yi. “Last time you came to me about Weisai, was it for Ying Ming’s sake?”

Shi Yi was momentarily stunned before nodding. “Yeah.”

“Next time you’re helping a friend, just say so. Don’t try to spin it as work. Do you really think I’d blindly help you without figuring out the real reason first?”

Shi Yi’s expression stiffened slightly at that, but in the end, he still asked, “So now…”

“First, tell me exactly what’s going on with Weisai.” His father’s tone was firm as he added, “And don’t hide a single thing!”