Little Madman’s Guide to Acting Good

The people around them became flustered. Zhang Yazhi rushed to Shen Yuhuai’s side and Chen Jianhong shouted at the people outside to prepare a car.

Shen Yuhuai hugged this person and the weight in his arms seemed to be a bit lighter than before. It wasn’t like when he mischievously pretended to be drunk before. The moment a person really passed out, the physical feeling became more obvious.

“Zhao Zhao, Zhao Zhao, can you hear your mother?” Zhang Yazhi couldn’t care about anything else. Her eyes were red as she tested the child’s body temperature with her hand. She grabbed his cold hand to cover it. “Shiming, have you contacted the doctor?”

Chen Shiming urgently contacted the Second City Hospital that was the closest to the group’s location. “It will take too long for an ambulance to come. I will take him there.”

Shen Yuhuai picked up the person without saying a word. Chen Jianhong took off his suit jacket and put it on Chen Qizhao’s body. When Chen Shiming walked out, he saw Chen Jianhong’s figure shaking and he stopped. “Dad?”

Chen Jianhong supported himself slightly on the sofa. “It’s okay. Let’s go.”

The smell of hospital disinfectant filled the air and the white-clothed medical staff walked back and forth hurriedly.

Chen Qizhao seemed to feel the sound of talking around him. He felt that he was placed on a stretcher and the wheels of the stretcher cart collided with the ground, making a clattering sound. The hug that was holding him was gone and the cold that came everywhere eroded his limbs. It was like heavy black water, dragging him all the way down to the depths and drowning him breathlessly.

His consciousness became more and more blurred and he could no longer hear the sounds around him.

Outside the senior ward of the Second City Hospital, the doctor withdrew from the ward. He saw the family members standing outside and looked at the case in his hand. “The patient is malnourished, overtired and has mild anemia.”

He paused after he finished speaking. “But I think this isn’t the main reason. Further diagnosis will be carried out after the patient is awake.”

Zhang Yazhi said incoherently, “Is the problem serious? He has eaten very little lately and lost weight…”

“Don’t be too nervous about your family member. He needs to recuperate now.” The doctor looked at the family members around him. “For your family member, we need to understand the situation here so we can make a detailed diagnosis of his condition later.”

Chen Shiming stood up. “Doctor.”

Seeing Chen Shiming following, Shen Yuhuai’s gaze stopped on the Chen family’s parents. He nodded to Chen Jianhong and quickly followed Chen Shiming’s pace.

The doctor’s office wasn’t far away. After entering the consultation room, the doctor told them in detail about the problems identified by several examinations at this stage. He also asked Chen Shiming about some of Chen Qizhao’s daily performances.

Noticing Shen Yuhuai coming in, Chen Shiming nodded slightly toward him. “He is a heavy smoker, doesn’t have a great appetite and has shown extreme moods.”

Shen Yuhuai quietly listened to Chen Shiming’s communication with the doctor.

“Does he have trouble concentrating and fidgeting?” The doctor asked.

“He didn’t show it in front of me.” Chen Shiming thought back to Chen Qizhao. During this period of time, except for his appetite and mental state, Chen Qizhao was calm in front of him at other times. When talking about work with him, he always cut to the core. He thought calmly but it was this highly calm situation that made him feel a bit uneasy.

“It happened before.” Shen Yuhuai suddenly opened his mouth and continued. “He should have had a sleeping disorder recently.”

The doctor listened to the description of the two people in front of him and his brow became more and more furrowed. “At present, the physiological symptoms have to wait for further verification after he wakes up. However, the patient’s condition isn’t very good. According to the previous description, he might be in a long-term anxiety situation.”

Chen Shiming was slightly startled and he said in a deep voice, “Does he have mental problems?”

“It is likely that there are emotional ups and downs, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, etc. These are all symptoms.” The doctor’s tone was serious. “His malnutrition isn’t so serious. From the current point of view, the problem of emotional symptoms might be more serious. How did your family pay attention? How are these problems only now discovered? It is already very serious if it is to the extent of falling unconscious.”

Chen Shiming squeezed his hand. “Yes, this is our problem.”

The patient’s family and doctor went to the office to record the situation and there were only a few people left in the corridor. Chen Jianhong asked Special Assistant Xu and the others to return to the company to deal with the situation. Then he pulled Zhang Yazhi to sit down in the seat outside the ward.

Zhang Yazhi’s eyes were red. “Is there something wrong with Zhao Zhao? A physical examination didn’t find any problems and he has boiled chicken soup to replenish his body. How can he still be malnourished… Before, the doctor said to pay attention to his psychological problems and I paid attention.”

She blamed herself. “I paid attention. Every time, the child said it was fine and didn’t want to tell me anything.”

Chen Jianhong slightly hugged his wife’s shoulders. His always serious face had a bit of old age this time. He didn’t speak. He just comforted his wife with his hands while thinking about what Chen Qizhao said when he lost control of his emotions in the lounge not long ago.

Those angry rhetorical questions were like needles piercing his heart. Chen Jianhong recalled those words and felt that he was breathless. He listened to his wife’s introspective sentences one after another and recalled the past. It seemed that he and his younger son hadn’t spoken properly once in all those years.

“You’re not wrong.” Chen Jianhong put his arm around his wife. “It is my problem.”

The waiting time was very tortuous. Zhang Yazhi couldn’t sit still and said she would ask the doctor about the situation.

The moment that people left, Chen Jianhong was the only one left in the corridor. When the last nurse who recorded the situation left the ward, Chen Jianhong pushed open the door.

In the ward, Chen Qizhao was lying down and medicine dripped slowly from the hanging needle. His face, surrounded by the oxygen tube, looked particularly small. At this time, he was sleeping quietly, not as ostentatious as when he was awake. There was an indescribable vulnerability. The feeling of looking at his child like this seemed to have been ten years ago. When the child was still young, he was also defenseless like this. He wouldn’t prohibit his parents from entering the room and he wouldn’t hide his little secret…

Chen Jianhong pulled the quilt for Chen Qizhao. He slightly covered Chen Qizhao’s needle hand but when he moved, he saw several scars on the child’s arm.

“Dad.” When Chen Shiming came over, he saw Chen Jianhong stopped by Chen Qizhao’s hospital bedside.

Chen Jianhong lowered his voice. He controlled his emotions and pulled the quilt up well. “You finished talking to the doctor?”

Chen Shiming said, “The situation has been discussed and the rest will be checked in detail. Mom just went there and was a bit emotional. I asked Xiao Xu to follow.”

“Go out first. Your brother needs to recuperate.”

Chen Jianhong stepped out of the ward. He explained a few words to Chen Shiming and handed over the hospital’s affairs to him.

So many things happened in the morning. The Chen Group’s press conference needed to be finished. The follow-up evidence submission of the inner spies caught in the company also had to keep up with the process. The most important thing was the matter of Lin Medical and the Gu family. Now people had indeed entered prison but what was needed to stabilize the current situation was further evidence submission in order to completely keep people in prison.

Gu Zhengxun was handling Gu Zhengsong’s side in the capital but the affairs of S City could only be handled by the Chen family. These were the advantages that Chen Qizhao created with his own ability. Chen Jianhong knew that his child had worked hard to get to this point and he couldn’t let the effort go to waste.

After the explanation, Chen Jianhong noticed Shen Yuhuai, who was accompanying Zhang Yazhi in the distance. He looked at his son’s friend and nodded to him slightly. “Yuhuai, this time I troubled you.”

Shen Yuhuai paid attention to Chen Jianhong’s face. “Do you need to take a break?”

“No need. I’ll go back to the company and lie down.”

Chen Jianhong patted Shen Yuhuai’s shoulder, straightened his back and walked out.

Shen Yuhuai found that this elder’s pace seemed much slower.

—

People in the hospital came and went. The quiet ward wasn’t disturbed by any sound. The silent environment ushered in darkness. In the environment that was like drowning in black water, Chen Qizhao struggled forward. The heavy black water pressed on his shoulders and the scene in front of him changed again and again.

Gradually, the black water seemed to recede and the hazy scene became real. The smell of disinfectant became heavier and heavier. When he raised his head, he saw the words ‘operating.’

The sound of Zhang Yazhi crying was right in his ears. Several senior executives of the group were standing in the corridor and his father, Chen Jianhong, was lying behind that door… the white background passed through layer after layer to a high-class ward somewhere. Chen Shiming’s face was pale. His eyes seemed to be fixed on the legs that could no longer stand up and his eyes were full of resentment and unwillingness… In the end, Zhang Yazhi lay thinly in a hospital bed. She took his hand and said a lot before leaving.

After many years, Chen Qizhao actually couldn’t remember things clearly. He only remembered the approximate meaning, which was to let him live well.

These scenes were becoming more and more blurry, like torn photos. Once put together, the cracks in the middle got bigger and bigger and even the human faces were shattered. Chen Qizhao could no longer see those things clearly. The cold spread step by step, turning into a rain curtain in the sky.

The cemetery on the outskirts of S City was quiet. Black clouds covered the sky and earth and rain washed away the mud.

Chen Qizhao found himself standing in front of three tombstones again without flowers, surrounded by the howling wind. He wanted to reach out to wipe off the withered yellow leaves falling from the tombstones, but he caught a glimpse of the vacant place next to Chen Jianhong’s tombstone. It was dug up and empty, as if it was a cemetery place reserved for him in advance.

He was about to go that way when someone suddenly grabbed his hand from behind.

Warm body temperature was transmitted from that hand and the grip on his wrist was extremely hot. Warmth seemed to gradually climb, washing away the cold of his body. Chen Qizhao couldn’t see that face clearly but when he wanted to go forward, that hand gripped very tightly. There was the faint smell of mint.

Chen Qizhao suddenly didn’t want to go forward.