Intoxicated Friends
Translator: Jury
Editor: NomNom
First Published on Chaleuria
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07.2 – Actually, People’s Hero Yao Is Very Soft-Hearted
Yao Yuan watched her walk up to him, unsurprised. He wanted to see what the woman would do.
“Aiyo!” Su Mu’s groan shocked the other two who were staring each other down. They simultaneously turned their gazes on him. Madam Su rushed over and asked dotingly, “What’s the matter?”
“Mom, my leg really hurts. Will you call the doctor for me?” Su Mu panted heavily.
“All right, I’ll go right away. Bear with it a little.” Madam Su turned and rushed out the door, her footsteps hurried but no less elegant. When she had vanished out the door, Yao Yuan couldn’t hold back his laughter any longer. “Faking it? Good on you.”
“You got me.” Su Mu spread his hands helplessly but there was no regret in his eyes, long aware that such a trick would not fool him. “Yao Yuan, take me out for a walk.”
“Now?”
“Why not? If not now, are you going to wait for my mom to come back so you can bicker with her to your heart’s content?”
“If she keeps looking at me like that, I really might.” Yao Yuan smiled, walked to the side of his bed, carefully picked Su Mu up, and settled him in the wheelchair standing to one side of the bed. He pushed the chair out of the ward and into the elevator.
The sunlight outside was pleasant. Although it was already early winter, the sunlight that shone on them was still warm. Su Mu hadn’t seen the sky for several days and was so excited he couldn’t sit still in the wheelchair. Yao Yuan was impatient, but on account of Su Mu being a patient he didn’t quibble with him. He pushed Su Mu down a small path through the red maple trees and stopped by the basketball court.
“Yao Yuan, you’ve got guts, looking at my mom like that.” As Su Mu remembered the scene from just now, he wanted to laugh. If not for his ruse, Yao Yuan and his mother likely would have verbally battled it out. He looked up at Yao Yuan next to him. He really doesn’t know how to hide his feelings.
“People like you are very sad and also very pitiful. All day, you’re scheming against people or worrying about others scheming against you. You never feel safe.” Yao Yuan pulled a cigarette from his pocket and was about to light it when he remembered where he was. In the end he dropped the idea and just held the cigarette in his mouth.
“People like us?”
“Yes, including you, Young Master Su! Give your soul a vacation once in a while.” Yao Yuan looked up at the people happily playing basketball on the court, who probably all had high positions in society. They were currently having fun, but who knew what they were thinking in their hearts. He sneered. Even in a ball game they were thinking about merit.
“Yao Yuan…” Su Mu thought that Yao Yuan was remembering his parents who had been victimized a long time ago. He pulled on Yao Yuan’s sleeve and said with a smile, “Let’s play basketball.”
“Now?” Yao Yuan asked, surprised.
“My hands aren’t injured and you can be my legs. You’re on the school basketball team, right?”
Yao Yuan understood what he meant and an arrogant smile surfaced on his face. “Young Master Su, make sure you don’t embarrass me!”
“People’s Hero Yao, aren’t you stealing my line?”
They looked at each other and smiled. Without another word, Yao Yuan pushed Su Mu and joined in the fight on the basketball court.
At first, everyone shot suspicious looks at the unlikely duo. But as time went on, no one belittled them any longer. Su Mu was very good at handling the ball: even in a wheelchair, without a height advantage, he still landed baskets at a very high rate. Yao Yuan had a good field of vision and ran to the right place at the right time, weaving through the court as if he was threading a needle. The large wheelchair he was transporting did not get in his way, and even became his best weapon to defend against others. Most importantly, they worked together well and didn’t need to communicate with words or even eye contact. By the end, everyone couldn’t help praising them. No one believed this was their first time playing basketball together. Many years later, when they played on the same court again, Yao Yuan would be unable to hold back a smile as he remembered that day in the hospital. Perhaps, from the start, he had been destined to stand behind Su Mu as his most capable assistant.
Su Mu hadn’t exercised in a long time and leaned against the side of the wheelchair in exhaustion. He looked up at the sky as he caught his breath. Yao Yuan lay down on the ground and gazed at the sky with him. For a long time, neither of them said anything. Yao Yuan spoke first. “How did you get beaten up?”
“It happens to me a few times a year. This time things went overboard.”
“Who did you offend to get beaten this badly?” Yao Yuan turned and looked up at him from below.
“Nothing much. I just chased out some folks in the company who thought that because they worked there for a long time, they had a say in things,” Su Mu answered blandly. He had been unhappy with the company’s senior employees for a long time. They had followed his father since the business was started, so his father had turned a blind eye to their antics. Now, while Su Mu’s father left the decision-making to him while he was out of the country, Su Mu took the chance to clean them all out. That was how he had invited his bad luck.
“Su Mu…” Hearing him talk about it so calmly, Yao Yuan frowned slightly. He felt that Su Mu had been too vicious and not left the workers any avenue of retreat. Jiang Luo had reminded Yao Yuan many times that Su Mu was dangerous, and not to get involved too deeply with him. Yao Yuan felt the same, and now he was even more certain of it.
After waiting for a long time with no reply, Su Mu saw how unhappy Yao Yuan looked and smiled slightly. “It was heartless of me, right? Yao Yuan, I have my own stance on things, too.”
Yao Yuan jumped up in frustration. Su Mu was right: he had his own stance on things. But Yao Yuan could not accept Su Mu’s way of doing things. They belonged to completely different worlds. Perhaps Su Mu’s mother was right: only the young masters and misses who stood on the same ground as Su Mu would be able to understand what he did. Yao Yuan certainly should not get close to him. Yao Yuan walked behind him, then slowly pushed the wheelchair. “I’ll take you back.”
Of course, Su Mu knew what Yao Yuan was thinking and smiled while Yao Yuan could not see. Yao Yuan, this is such a small matter and you already can’t accept it? Then I’ll make you get used to it, slowly. If not, how will you stay by my side?