Chapter 61 — The Girl He Could Never Forget All His Life
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Holy shit!" Yang Huaijun slapped his thigh and stared at Wei Zhao in amazement. "You really know your stuff — worthy of the captain of the Hounds. After I was wounded back then, the unit brought in Elder Chen Xuezhi, the most renowned expert in traditional Chinese medicine in the country. He examined me, and those were his exact words too."
"Chen Xuezhi?" Wei Zhao seemed to have heard the name before, though he had forgotten where.
"That's the man. He's also the one who said I wouldn't last half a year." Yang Huaijun smiled. "He told me that if I wanted to die a little slower, I should stop treatment altogether and just hold out on painkillers — maybe I'd stretch out a few more days."
"What kind of damn advice is that?" Wei Zhao could not help but frown. "Your illness — let me think it over after I get back, and I'll come up with a plan for you as soon as I can. But first I can write you a prescription. It will work better than Western painkillers, with fewer side effects."
With that, Wei Zhao walked over to Yang Huaijun's desk, took paper and pen, swiftly wrote out a prescription, and handed it to him. "You'd best fill this yourself — don't let anyone else know about it. And about me: I don't want others to know. What's past is past; don't bring it up again."
"Does it really work? Eagle, the surprises you bring me are simply too great." Yang Huaijun took the prescription and stared blankly at the dense list of herbal names. There was no way this could have been written at random — an ordinary person probably could not even write out the names of these herbs.
"I told you, don't call me Eagle. My name is Wei Zhao." Wei Zhao corrected him.
"Fine, Wei Zhao." Yang Huaijun nodded and carefully tucked the prescription into his jacket. Since it had been written for him by his former captain and comrade-in-arms, he would trust it unconditionally, no matter what. Worst case, it kills me — and who knows how many days I have left anyway. "You really are something, kid. No wonder Xiao Ning is so taken with you."
At that name, the smile on Wei Zhao's face froze in an instant. A long while passed before he raised his head. "She... still remembers me?"
"The last time I saw her, she asked about you." Yang Huaijun nodded with absolute certainty.
"Maybe she was just asking casually..." Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. He and she belonged to two entirely different worlds; there was no chance their paths would ever entwine. And even if they did, they were destined to part.
There had never been equality between people — Wei Zhao understood this profoundly. At least for now, he did not have the means to give her a future...
"You're planning to shirk your responsibility?" Yang Huaijun's expression suddenly turned fierce as he glared savagely at Wei Zhao.
Yang Huaijun's strange reaction startled Wei Zhao for a moment, but in the next instant he seemed to understand something. "You... like her?"
"..." Under Wei Zhao's question, Yang Huaijun fell silent. Only after a long while did he say, "Back in the suicide squad, there wasn't a man among us who didn't feel something for Xiao Ning..."
That was, in a roundabout way, an admission of his feelings.
"You two are quite a good match." Wei Zhao knew of Yang Huaijun's background; he and she could be considered well-matched in social station.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Yang Huaijun leaped to his feet as though a sore spot had been struck, his face purple with rage as he jabbed a finger at Wei Zhao. "What kind of man do you take me for? A friend's wife is not to be touched — even if the Hounds are a pack of bastards, we'd never do a thing like that!"
"She is not my wife." Wei Zhao shook his head and said calmly, "All right, I'm leaving. I'll leave the matter with Qiu Lingshan to you — I trust that won't be a problem."
With that, Wei Zhao rose and headed for the door.
"I really want to kill you." Yang Huaijun drove a fist at Wei Zhao's back.