A City’s Fauchon Pond Private Hospital.
A large crowd of reporters staked out outside the hospital, waiting to get firs hand news.
In addition to reporters, a large number of fans rushed over upon hearing the news. Braving the rain, they blocked the outside of the hospital, trapping it so tightly not even a drop of water could leak through.
Six hours had passed since the car accident, yet still no news had leaked out. The soft weeping of fans could be heard everywhere outside the hospital, and some even knelt in the rain with clasped hands, praying for Fu Hanzhang.
Compared to the chaos outside, the interior of the hospital was orderly because security teams were monitoring the premises.
“Fu-ge, it’s trending.”
Xiao Fang sat in a chair with two cotton balls stuffed up his nose, browsing the news on his phone. “Brother Ji said the driver who crashed into us was driving under the influence. Combined with the heavy rain making it hard to see, he ran a red light and collided with us. The guy is still lying in the operating room right now, who knows if he’ll make it out.”
Because Xiaoyuan slammed on the brakes in time, coupled with the protection of seatbelts and airbags, Xiaoyuan, Xiao Fang, and Fu Hanzhang only suffered minor injuries. After simple treatment, they were completely fine.
Chi Xiang was much more unlucky. Not knowing where he hit, he had all sorts of injuries on his body and was still lying unconscious in a hospital bed.
“There are so many reporters outside, plus your fans, Fu-ge. They’re still praying for you. They must be worried to death…”
“Hiss, they are butchering Chi Xiang’s topic square, cursing a bit… Hey, why hasn’t Brother Ji issued a statement yet? We didn’t have any major incidents anyway.”
“I wonder when Chi Xiang will wake up. What bad luck, the three of us are totally fine, and only he is still lying there asleep.” Xiao Fang shook his head and sighed.
“Let’s go take a look.” Fu Hanzhang put down his phone and said.
“Ah? Look at what? The reporters? Or the fans?”
Before Xiao Fang could react, Fu Hanzhang had already strode off in a certain direction, leaving him with no choice but to limp along behind.
What he didn’t notice was that his Fu-ge, who never posted on Weibo in a million years, had just published a brand-new post moments ago.
[Fu Hanzhang: I’m fine. Don’t do unnecessary things.]
Opening his eyes, what met his vision was a field of pure white.
“Xiao Chi-ge, you’re awake!”
“Doctor, he’s awake! Come take a look quickly!”
Chi Xiang blinked once, slowly turning his head.
A young man grabbed a man in white and walked toward him.
“Xiao Chi-ge, how are you feeling? Does your head hurt? Are you dizzy?”
Chi Xiang bit his lip, feeling that the young man looked very familiar, yet he couldn’t remember his name no matter what. So he opened his mouth and asked, “Who are you?”
Xiaoyuan widened his eyes. Seeing the puzzlement all over Chi Xiang’s face not looking like an act, he anxiously looked at the doctor. “Doctor, what’s wrong with him? Could he have amnesia?”
The doctor narrowed his eyes and said with a mysterious, profound air, “Based on my experience, this is, ”
Chi Xiang tilted his head and asked, “What is it?”
Even though his face was smudged and dirty right now, it still didn’t detract from his stunning looks.
The doctor gave a light cough, pulled a ballpoint pen out of his chest pocket, and clicked it open. “It might be a sequela of a concussion. Don’t panic, let me ask you a few questions first.”
“No need.” Chi Xiang threw back the blanket and wanted to get out of bed, but Xiaoyuan pressed him back down. Puzzled, he said, “I don’t have amnesia. I know who I am. Can you let me leave? I want to go find my husband.”
Doctor: “!” What a heaven-shaking piece of gossip!
Xiaoyuan: “???”
Before they could recover from their shock, the ward door was pushed open.
“Xiao Xiang, are you alright?”
The newcomer clearly ran all the way over. Before catching his breath, he barged past the doctor and Xiaoyuan, squeezing right up to the hospital bed.
Chi Xiang looked at the newcomer, a middle-aged man of about forty, tall and sturdy, with a somewhat protruding belly, looking like he weighed at least two hundred pounds. As he got closer and closer, a wave of alcohol stench hit the air.
“Xiao Xiang, does it hurt? Your face got all scraped up…” Seeing Chi Xiang’s disheveled state, the middle-aged man reached out to touch Chi Xiang’s face, but was dodged.
“President Wen, you…” Xiaoyuan started to say something on the side, hesitating and unsure how to phrase it. Fortunately, Chi Xiang was strong and shut Wen Gaoge up with a single sentence.
“Who are you?”
Chi Xiang asked with a puzzled expression.
Hearing those words, Wen Gaoge shuddered all over, staggered back two steps, and wailed mournfully, “Xiao Xiang, at a time like this, stop pretending you don’t recognize your dad!”
Chi Xiang looked at Wen Gaoge with the gaze one would give a mental patient. “My dad is Xiang Xingteng. If you want to impersonate my dad, you should take a look at your own face first.”
“Xiang Xingteng is… Did Chi Wan… did she remarry again?”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Can you move aside a bit? I want to go find my husband.”
“Husband?? Where the hell did you get a husband? Wait, Xiao Xiang, you like men?”
“Would you mind stepping aside, please?”
“No! Make it clear, who is that punk?”
“Ayo, mister, please calm down! The patient’s condition isn’t stable yet, stop pulling and tugging at him!”
The ward was in utter chaos. By this point, Xiaoyuan finally began to sense that something was a bit off.
Xiang Xingteng… why did that sound so much like a character from Xiao Chi-ge’s movie?
The name of the father of the character Xiang Chi, whom Chi Xiang played, was precisely Xiang Xingteng.
Could it be…
Xiaoyuan had a bold hypothesis.
This hypothesis was confirmed when the ward door was knocked on and someone stepped inside.
“Knock, knock.”
At this moment, the reasonably sized ward held only five people, yet it was as lively as an elementary school classroom during a recess. Chi Xiang was tugging and pulling with Wen Gaoge, the doctor was trying to mediate, the nurse was eating melons, and Xiaoyuan was deep in thought.
The noisy environment caused these two knocks to be completely ignored.
After a few seconds, the door was pushed open once more. Unlike Wen Gaoge’s door-crashing style, it was so light it was almost silent, failing to catch the attention of anyone inside the room for a moment.
Xiao Fang stood behind Fu Hanzhang, looking at the scene inside the ward, and his eyes slowly widened.
And here he thought he saw President Wen’s secretary just a moment ago, turns out he came to visit his little lover… And Fu Hanzhang even told him it was groundless gossip, this was solid proof right here!
Xiao Fang felt a bit smug, wanting to see what kind of expression Fu Hanzhang had right now since he made a detour specifically to visit Chi Xiang, only to run into Chi Xiang wrestling with his sugar daddy…
However, before he could clearly see Fu Hanzhang’s expression, someone in the ward finally noticed their arrival.
With strength from goodness-knows-where, Chi Xiang shoved the two-hundred-pound burly man aside, pushed past the crowd, and like a little bird flew straight into Fu Hanzhang’s embrace, his eyes brimming with tears as he cried, “Husband, you’re finally here to pick me up!”
Xiao Fang: “?”
The remaining four people turning around in unison: “?”
Fu Hanzhang: “…?”
For several seconds, the ward was dead silent.
“…Huh?”
It was unclear who uttered that puzzled syllable, finally shattering the quiet in the room.
Wen Gaoge’s expression shifted back and forth. “Teacher Fu, when did you and…”
Xiao Fang caught his breath sharply, thinking: It’s over, it’s totally over. Is Chi Xiang trying to cheat on him? And right in front of his current sugar daddy, stepping out of bounds with Fu-ge?
Wait, no! When did Fu-ge hook up with Chi Xiang?!
Hold on, could it be… because they had hooked up with Chi Xiang a long time ago, that’s why he hitched a ride with Chi Xiang and came to visit him? Yeah, that actually sounds plausible…
Xiao Fang’s eyeballs kept rolling between Chi Xiang, Fu Hanzhang, and Wen Gaoge. In a flash of lightning, countless thoughts whirled through his mind, finally settling on one sentence: Hey, I think I saw a Fu-ge x Chi Xiang fanfic earlier. Should I pull it up to read after work later…?
With no time to care about what others were currently thinking, Fu Hanzhang furrowed his brows slightly. The warm body in his arms stirred a sense of disgust within him. He reached out to push Chi Xiang away, underestimating Chi Xiang’s strength, he failed to push him away on the first try and had to use a bit more force to tear this dog-skin plaster off his body.
Unexpectedly, before Fu Hanzhang could even speak, the pushed-away Chi Xiang threw a tantrum first.
“Husband, you, you pushed me?” Chi Xiang’s pretty eyes brimmed with tears, full of bewilderment. “My head hurts so much right now, my body hurts too, and I have so many injuries. Shouldn’t you hug me, kiss me, and comfort me?”
Hearing Chi Xiang’s nonsensical words, Fu Hanzhang locked his brows even tighter, somewhat regretting his redundant trip over here.
He lowered his eyes, scrutinizing Chi Xiang, trying to find traces of Chi Xiang playing dumb… but there were none. If Chi Xiang had this kind of acting skill, he wouldn’t have blown countless takes while acting opposite him.
“Husband, I get it… Do you think I don’t look good anymore, so you don’t love me anymore…” Chi Xiang’s amber eyes flickered with tearlight, looking even prettier when crying than on set. He touched his face, feeling it hurt, it was definitely swollen, maybe even disfigured, which must be why Fu Hanzhang was so cold to him.
What was this called? Fading beauty, fading love!
“I knew it! Back then you were just attracted to my looks, you only loved my skin, you didn’t love my soul at all! All men in this world are the same, once they get what they want they stop cherishing it, wuwuwu…”
“But, but I still love you, husband… Han Zhang… the first moment I saw you, I fell. For your sake, I defied my dad’s orders, how could you treat me like this, wuwuwu…”
Catching the keyword, Wen Gaoge cast a suspicious gaze toward Fu Hanzhang. He brewed over it for a long time, unsure how to speak. Although he and Fu Hanzhang used to have some ties, Fu Hanzhang now held a transcendent status in both the entertainment circle and the capital circle…
Before Wen Gaoge could finish brewing, Fu Hanzhang spoke up first, his voice cold and flat: “President Wen, Mr. Chi’s mental state isn’t very good. Take him for a checkup.”
With that, he turned to leave, but was grabbed firmly by the sleeve by Chi Xiang.
“Husband, where are you going? Are you going to throw me away?” Chi Xiang’s voice carried a sob, resembling a puppy about to be abandoned by its master.
Wen Gaoge finally couldn’t hold it back anymore. “Teacher Fu, when did you start dating my son? You, you…”
Xiao Fang, who was wandering off in outer space, jolted back to reality. Son?
Fu Hanzhang paused as well, maintaining a poker face as he swept a glance over Wen Gaoge’s slightly bloated, alcohol-flush face, then looked back at Chi Xiang’s pretty face, which was tear-stained like a pear blossom in the rain. His eyebrow twitched in a subtle arc.
The doctor and nurse shrank into a corner, locking eyes with a blazing fire of gossip burning in their gazes.
Xiao Fang was practically losing his mind. Why is he calling him dad now? Is this some weird father-son play?
In the end, it was Xiaoyuan who weakly spoke up: “Everyone, I have a hypothesis that might explain Xiao Chi-ge’s current situation.”
Fu Hanzhang raised an eyebrow, peeling the dog-skin plaster off again. “Let’s hear it.”
“Just now, I heard Xiao Chi-ge say his father isn’t President Wen, but Xiang Xingteng.” Xiaoyuan looked at Fu Hanzhang. “Teacher Fu shouldn’t be unfamiliar with that name, right?”
Fu Hanzhang yanked the plaster-essence away once more, swiftly locating the cause of Chi Xiang’s abnormality from that name. “You mean Chi Xiang has mistaken Things in the Pool for reality?”
“I wouldn’t dare say for sure, so we still have to ask Xiao Chi-ge, but…” Xiaoyuan gave an awkward smile, “Xiao Chi-ge currently seems to only be close to you, so…”
Fu Hanzhang lowered his gaze. Chi Xiang seemed to have blocked out all external sounds, single-mindedly trying to drill back into his embrace, his face flushed pink.
“Chi Xiang,” Fu Hanzhang said.
Chi Xiang didn’t react.
“…Xiang Chi.”
Chi Xiang raised his head, frowning. “Husband, how can you call me by my name directly? You’ve always called me Xiao Chi.” Saying that, he lowered his head shyly again. “Or you can call me wife, too.”
“Also, also, who is Chi Xiang?”
Fu Hanzhang: “…”
Case solved.