Volume One, Chapter 12: Unwilling to Awaken

I was admitted to the intensive care unit, where visiting hours totaled no more than two hours a day.

The doctor’s exact words were: “The patient is in very poor condition. The chances of waking up after the last surgery were already slim, and this time... he will most likely become a vegetative state.”

“Don’t bother coming to the hospital anymore,” Lu Feng said to Su Qingya after leaving the waiting hall.

“Gu Ze is in this state; just consider him dead. If he really... truly becomes a vegetable, I can take care of him,” Su Qingya said, frowning and raising her voice. “Why? Gu Ze is my husband; I have the right to visit him, and I am his family! Lu Feng, you’re just a friend of Gu Ze’s, not even authorized to sign anything!”

“Did you ever treat him like a husband for even a single day? How many times did you two live together in that villa? People around him changed one after another, and Gu Ze waited for you for so many years. Did you ever once look back at him? Even once?!” Lu Feng’s eyes reddened as he yelled at Su Qingya, “I’m telling you, Su Qingya, as long as I, Lu Feng, am here, you won’t get one step close to Gu Ze!”

With that, the two stormed off angrily.

Inside the intensive care unit, everything before my eyes was pitch black, as if I were drifting through the cosmos—no pain, no sorrow, nothing to feel.

“...Gu Ze, come back,” a voice, seemingly Lu Feng’s, whispered.

“If I had known you didn’t want to live that day and said those things to push us away, we would never have left.”

It’s okay, Lu Feng, I don’t blame you.

I wanted to speak, but it seemed I had lost my voice.

After a long while, I heard another voice—probably Liu Ying’s.

She seemed truly angered by what I had said earlier, came over to scold me harshly, then left.

I should be grateful that Liu Ying has such a temper. If it weren’t for that, I might not have ended things with her so smoothly back then, and she would have suffered even more because of me.

Finally, there was Su Qingya.

Her voice was heavy, unexpectedly so.

“...Gu Ze, why didn’t you tell me earlier that you were sick?” I could tell she was crying.

If this were in the past, I would have been heartbroken and wiped her tears away, but now, my heart was strangely calm.

“Sis, stop crying, you’re going to ruin your makeup,” came a familiar voice—it was Xu Zixuan. I thought, if I really die, he’d probably be glad.

“Su Qingya, why are you here again? And you too, Xu Zixuan!” Lu Feng’s anger flared the moment he saw the two of them.

“Lu Feng, stop making trouble! I am his legal wife; it’s only right that I come to see Gu Ze!”

“Mr. Lu, you seem to have a serious misunderstanding about me. I’m here to help my sister take care of her husband!” Xu Zixuan shrugged, looking noble and righteous.

“You’re insane!” Lu Feng dropped what he was holding and threw a punch at Xu Zixuan’s face. “Get out!”

Xu Zixuan staggered back and fell to the ground, staring at Lu Feng in shock. “Are you crazy? It’s not my fault Gu Ze ended up like this; why are you hitting me?!”

As soon as he said that, Xu Zixuan realized his mistake. He glanced cautiously at Su Qingya’s surprised expression, then got up quickly, not daring to speak another word.

“Su Qingya, I’ll say this again: take your mistress and get out of this hospital!”

Su Qingya said nothing more. She quietly walked over to my bedside, gently stroked my soft hair, whispered, “I’ll come see you again,” and left.

The room was left with only Lu Feng and me.

I could feel Lu Feng holding my hand, trying to wake me up.

“Gu Ze, if it weren’t for you, there wouldn’t be a Lu Feng today,” he said in a low voice.

I knew that he had been bullied throughout middle school and suffered family troubles during high school. Although he was a good student, he almost failed to get into college.

Later, I comforted him, studied with him, and after repeating a year, he finally got into a prestigious university.

After that, Lu Feng’s life went relatively smoothly—if he hadn’t met me, a troublesome friend always needing care, perhaps he would have done even better.

“Wake up, okay, Gu Ze? Wake up and we can get a divorce. The Gu Corporation can be left behind. You can come work for me as a general manager.”

Lu Feng rambled, “I’m not as smart as you, but I’m not too bad either. Come work with me—you just focus on strategy, nothing else.”

Only silence answered him.

As if not giving up, Lu Feng choked up and said, “If you don’t want to come to me, Su Qingya doesn’t seem to hate you as much as before.”

“Although she still brings her mistress everywhere, she hasn’t shown her mistress any kindness... and she’s been much gentler to you.”

Gentler...

Listening to Lu Feng’s words, recalling the past dozen years with Su Qingya, I couldn’t even remember what her gentle expression looked like.

Were Su Qingya’s tears out of pity for me, or regret that this “murderer” was finally escaping punishment?

I shook my head in my consciousness. If it were earlier, I might have believed Su Qingya could change her mind.

Lu Feng rambled on for a long time, almost telling our entire story from when we first met until now.

I felt my consciousness growing heavy, Lu Feng’s voice drifting further away, and I was immersed in a warm, soothing bath.

“...Gu Ze, if you’re gone, have you thought about your uncle and aunt?”

Suddenly, this question jolted me from my haze.

Yes, my parents. I thought about how, during my illness, hospitalization, and critical condition, my parents hadn’t received a single update.

“Your uncle and aunt are getting old. Although your relationship... isn’t like a normal family’s, but...”

But what?

I smiled bitterly. They usually only contact me for money. If they heard I was sick, they’d surely avoid me.

“Gu Ze!” Lu Feng’s voice was filled with surprise. “He moved! Nurse! Nurse!”

...

When I woke again, I felt like a fish stripped of its scales but still alive, thrashing on the chopping board, battered and bruised.

Even moving a finger sent sharp pain through me, as if my body had been disassembled and crudely reassembled.

I hated my stubborn vitality, but looking at my best friend’s concerned eyes, my resentment vanished without a trace.

“Gu Ze, thank heavens, you’re finally awake...” Lu Feng spoke hesitantly, “I was afraid you wouldn’t wake up, so I went ahead and contacted your uncle and aunt. They might come see you in a few days.”