Chapter 59 — You're Delusional!
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Drop the act. Arno, you know what I'm talking about." Yang Huaijun's expression turned deadly serious.
"I'm sorry, you've got the wrong person. I'm not some Arno, and I have no idea what you're talking about." Wei Zhao shrugged.
"I won't be mistaken." Yang Huaijun's face contorted with emotion. He lunged forward to stand right in front of Wei Zhao, gripping his shoulders and shaking him hard. "Eagle! Are you running from something? Why won't you admit who you are?"
Wei Zhao felt a strange numbness creep over him. Was he - really - running from something? Those years of gunfire and flames, that absolute trust between comrades... and that breathtakingly beautiful face, those melancholy, heartbroken eyes... His heart clenched violently.
"Xiao Ning has been looking for you all these years." Yang Huaijun's face twisted with pain. Wei Zhao's denials had pushed his emotions into uncharted territory.
"Xiao Ning... who is that?" Wei Zhao felt as though a needle had been driven into his heart, though outwardly he maintained the same placid expression.
"You - " Yang Huaijun's eyes blazed blood-red as he glared at Wei Zhao with vicious intensity. "You're trying to run, aren't you? You'll ruin her entire life!"
Suddenly, Yang Huaijun clapped a hand to his chest. Beads of sweat the size of beans poured down his forehead like rain. His entire face went ashen and contorted in pain, and his body began to shake uncontrollably...
"What's wrong with you?" Wei Zhao was startled at once. Yes, he could deny everything, but this man—a comrade-in-arms from days past, someone to whom he had once been able to entrust his own life—Wei Zhao could not, by any means, simply look the other way.
With difficulty Yang Huaijun fished a small bottle of pills from the pocket of his jacket, opened it with trembling hands, took out a single tablet and held it under his tongue. After a moment his color eased somewhat, though he was still gasping for breath in great heaves.
Wei Zhao glanced at the label on the bottle. It was, incredibly, an imported high-potency sedative and painkiller. His expression changed on the spot. "Why are you taking this stuff?"
Wei Zhao knew Yang Huaijun's constitution better than anyone. The man was strong as an ox, and it was unthinkable that he should suffer from some hidden ailment—and yet now...
"You... finally admit it?" Yang Huaijun's face was still deathly pale, but a faint smile, one long absent, flickered at the corner of his mouth.
"Never mind that for now—what's gone wrong with your health?" Wei Zhao no longer bothered with denials; he helped Yang Huaijun over to the sofa and sat him down.
"I'm not so delicate as all that. It's nothing." Yang Huaijun grinned, and it was plain to see that he was truly happy. "Eagle, I knew I hadn't mistaken you. These past two years you've grown taller, and the edge has gone out of your eyes—you've become much more restrained—but I still recognized you."
"All right, I admit it, I am. But first tell me—what exactly has happened to you? And how did you end up retired? Wasn't that organization you belonged to a lifetime commitment?" Wei Zhao truly could not imagine what had befallen Yang Huaijun over these two years.
Outwardly he still looked robust, but Wei Zhao had caught a trace of something sickly in his face. Old Man Wei had been the most renowned physician for miles around the village, and Wei Zhao had inherited his true medical skill.
"I'm retired," Yang Huaijun said with a smile. "Because I was injured, I could no longer carry out that kind of high-risk mission, so I was transferred to a local police station."