He Yi finished the coconut that Shang Jingwu had opened in one go, ran back to use the restroom, and then went back to the sea to practice dog paddling.
Shang Jingwu sat on the shore watching him frolic in the water, a slight smile unconsciously appearing on his lips. For the umpteenth time, he marveled in his heart at where this kid got such boundless energy, playing all day without getting tired.
After swimming, He Yi played with some children on the beach for a while and collected a lot of pretty seashells. Then, barefoot, he ran up to Shang Jingwu, holding the seashells in his hands and excitedly said, “Honey, look! I found so many treasures! Aren’t they beautiful?”
Having seen many priceless treasures since childhood, Shang Jingwu naturally didn’t find these few seashells anything special, but he still smiled and said, “Hmm, they’re quite pretty.”
He Yi generously placed the seashell into the blanket on Shang Jingwu’s lap, saying, “It’s for you!”
Shang Jingwu thanked him with amusement, but seeing that his hands and feet were white and his skin was wrinkled from being soaked, and that he still wanted to run into the sea, he quickly pulled him back and said, “Don’t go into the water today, you can continue tomorrow if you want to play.”
He Yi hadn’t had enough fun yet, and immediately drooped his head, pitifully pleading with Shang Jingwu: “I’ll play for a little while longer, just a little while, and I’ll be right back, okay?”
Shang Jingwu grabbed his hand and showed it to him, exaggeratingly threatening him: “If you soak it any longer, your hand will get rotten.”
Seeing He Yi’s unhappy face, Shang Jingwu coaxed him again, “Aren’t you hungry? Do you want to go eat? Dinner is seafood.”
He Yi perked up, drooling as he asked, “Seafood? What kind do you have? I want shrimp!”
”Then hurry back and change your clothes, or there won’t be anything left.” Shang Jingwu lied to him in a serious tone.
He Yi took it seriously and ran back to the dressing room to change his clothes. Then he pushed Shang Jingwu’s wheelchair and ran back, shouting happily as he ran, “Let’s go eat seafood!”
The portions at upscale restaurants are usually small, and there’s not much edible meat left after shelling many seafood dishes. Considering He Yi’s appetite, Shang Jingwu specially ordered more dishes and asked the kitchen to increase the portions, but it still wasn’t enough for He Yi.
He barely touched the slightly bitter vegetable salad, but ate everything else. Even so, he still complained that he wasn’t full, so Shang Jingwu had to give him two more servings of pasta.
Watching He Yi devour both servings of pasta, Shang Jingwu couldn’t help but complain, “Do you have a bottomless pit in your stomach?”
He Yi wiped his mouth haphazardly with a napkin and honestly replied, “No, I don’t have a bottomless pit in my stomach.”
After he finished speaking, he suddenly noticed other guests drinking red wine. The dark red liquid looked beautiful in the stemmed glasses and seemed delicious, so he asked with shining eyes, “Honey, honey, is that drink good? I want to try it.”
“That’s wine,” Shang Jingwu said.
”Is it good?” He Yi continued to ask.
Shang Jingwu used a napkin to wipe the sauce off the corner of his mouth, and pinched his cheek. “Do you remember the trouble you caused when you got drunk last time?”
He Yi thought about it seriously, but couldn’t remember. He opened his innocent big eyes and asked, “Which time?”
Shang Jingwu was too lazy to bring up the past, so he skipped the topic and said, “You can drink if you want, but you can’t get drunk. You can only have a couple of sips.”
This little guy is already quite a nuisance even when he’s not drunk; if he gets drunk and starts causing trouble, I’m afraid I’ll have to get someone to throw this troublemaker out.
He Yi really wanted to try it, so he immediately nodded in agreement.
Shang Jingwu then had a bottle of red wine delivered to their room. He sat down with He Yi at the coffee table on the balcony, enjoying the sunset over the sea, and poured He Yi a glass of red wine.
He Yi took a sip with great interest but refused to drink any more, complaining that it was too bitter and spicy. So spicy was he that he ran into his room, took a bottle of cola from the mini-fridge, pretended to pour it into a wine glass, and even clinked glasses with Shang Jingwu’s.
On the contrary, Shang Jingyun was intrigued by the aroma of the wine and unknowingly drank several cups by himself.
He knew his alcohol tolerance was higher than this; he had only intended to drink for fun, but he accidentally got a little drunk. Then he realized that he hadn’t drunk alcohol in a long time, so his tolerance was naturally not what it used to be.
Seeing that Shang Jingwu’s eyelids were drooping, He Yi leaned closer to him and asked, “Honey, are you sleepy?”
Shang Jingwu closed his eyes and hummed in agreement. Then, with some effort, he opened his heavy eyelids and was about to turn his wheelchair back to his room when He Yi pushed him inside, saying with a grin, “Let’s go to sleep, I’m a little sleepy too.”
Shang Jingwu forced himself to finish washing up, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. He lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep. When he woke up again, he found that the room seemed to be on fire. Flames danced on the curtains in the bedroom, and the orange-red flames illuminated the entire room.
He Yi was kneeling beside him in a panic, frantically shaking his arm while crying out, “Husband, wake up! There’s a fire! What should we do?”
Seeing that Shang Jingwu had finally opened his eyes, He Yi cried even harder, asking in a panic, “My husband, fire, what should I do, what should I do?”
Shang Jingwu felt completely drained, his head was throbbing, and he wasn’t very clear-headed. He coughed a few times from the thick smoke, and with great effort, he grasped He Yi’s hand and comforted him, “Don’t be afraid. Go to the bathroom and find two towels. Cough, cough, wet them with water and cover your mouth and nose. Cough, remember to stay close to the ground.”
He Yi hurriedly did as he was told, retrieved the wet towel and handed it to Shang Jingwu, asking anxiously, “And then what? And then what?”
Seeing the fire growing larger and larger, Shang Jingwu felt that the fire was burning very strangely, as if someone had deliberately set it on fire. The smoke detector in the room had not gone off, so it was probably sabotaged beforehand. Moreover, no one had come to rescue them yet, so he wondered if they had been stopped.
Also, he has always had trouble sleeping, waking up at the slightest sound, but this time he slept like he was in a coma and was completely unconscious. He is also weak all over, which is obviously very abnormal. I don’t know if someone tampered with his food or drinks.
Thinking of this, he pushed He Yi and said in a hoarse voice, “You go out first, cough cough, remember to call, cough, call someone in to save me.”
Judging from the intensity of the fire, if no one comes to rescue them, he definitely won’t be able to get out. He can’t let He Yi perish in the fire with him.
”No, no! I want to be with my husband!” He Yi said without hesitation.
Then he dragged Shang Jingwu off the bed and put him in a wheelchair, intending to take Shang Jingwu with him.
”You can’t use a wheelchair; it contains a battery that could easily explode if it comes into contact with fire,” Shang Jingwu warned him.
”What should we do then?” He Yi asked helplessly.
”Don’t worry about me, just go, listen to me,” Shang Jingwu advised him.
He Yi refused to walk on his own, forcibly pulled Shang Jingwu out of the wheelchair, kicked the wheelchair to a corner where the fire was less intense, and then bent over to carry Shang Jingwu on his back and desperately moved towards the door.
Shang Jingwu was too exhausted to continue trying to persuade He Yi: “Put me down, cough cough, otherwise you won’t be able to get out either.”
”No! I want to take you with me.” He Yi’s voice was choked with sobs again.
Shang Jingwu realized that the child was so stubborn. He couldn’t persuade He Yi, so he could only try to lighten He Yi’s burden by covering He Yi’s mouth and nose with a towel and directing He Yi to avoid the most intense fire.
Their bedroom was at the very back of the suite, quite a distance from the door, and the floor wasn’t suitable for jumping out of the window; there was no way out except through the main door.
The thick smoke choked the two of them, causing them to cough and tear up. The oxygen in the room became increasingly thin, and Shang Jingwu felt it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe, and his consciousness became blurred.
He Yi’s small frame couldn’t support his weight at all, and every step was very difficult. In addition, the wool carpet and leather sofa in the living room were burning brightly, leaving almost no place to put his feet, so he could only keep going around.
Shang Jingwu felt he was probably going to die here, but He Yi was innocently implicated by him, which made it impossible for him to die in peace.
”Don’t worry about me, let go.” Shang Jingwu urged again.
However, his voice was too soft and was drowned out by the noise of the fire. He Yi didn’t hear him at all and stubbornly dragged him toward the door.
He Yi was so choked by the smoke that he could barely open his eyes. He was about to reach the door when he tripped over something on the ground, causing Shang Jingwu behind him to fall down as well.
He Yi was pinned down by Shang Jingwu and couldn’t get up at all, while Shang Jingwu didn’t even have the strength to turn over and could faint at any moment.
He Yi looked up at the raging fire inside the house, coughed for a while, and then started sobbing, asking desperately between sobs, “Husband, are we going to die?”
”No, just hold on a little longer, someone will come to rescue you,” Shang Jingwu said in a breathy voice.
He Yi didn’t hear him and continued talking to himself: “If I die again, I won’t be a starving ghost anymore. Husband, you promised me you can’t abandon me. We’ll go to another world together.”
Shang Jingwu’s mind went blank, and he didn’t understand what he was saying. With the last bit of strength, he held the towel in his hand to his mouth and reminded him, “Don’t talk, someone will come to save you.”
After saying that, he fell into a coma.