Cao Wenjun went to charge his phone, depressed, glancing over to see Chang Yuncheng sitting there, flipping through a file folder, holding a carbon pen in a grip like he was handling a calligraphy brush, scribbling something on the paper.
Doesn't even know how to hold a pen! Doesn't even know how to text! Acts like a complete illiterate, hardly recognizes any characters—what kind of cultured man is he pretending to be? “Do you even know how to write? Want me to teach you?” he asked.
Chang Yuncheng ignored him, made a note on the phone number he couldn't reach earlier, and closed the folder.
“Not calling anymore?” Cao Wenjun asked, tossing his own phone twice in his hand. “Want to use mine?” Beg me, you little bastard! “No need.”
Chang Yuncheng stated plainly.
Cao Wenjun was quite surprised.
For the past two days, aside from working and sleeping, this kid had been glued to his phone, making calls.
He had expected him to power through and not stop until every call was made.
“Don’t be polite, I don’t mind footing the bill for a few of your calls.”
Cao Wenjun said.
Chang Yuncheng shook his head.
“I’ve made all the calls I needed to today; I have other things to do.”
He said, standing up as he spoke. “I’m stepping out for a bit.”
“Want your humble servant to accompany you?” Cao Wenjun asked, his eyebrows raised skeptically.
Chang Yuncheng glanced at him.
“No need. You’re too ugly; it wouldn’t look good taking you out,”
he replied.
Cao Wenjun nearly fainted.
What was 'ignorant yet fearless,' he finally understood! A man with no status, no money, nothing at all, actually dared to treat him with such disdain! Who did he think he was! He was Cao Wenjun! The third generation of the Cao family, the legitimate third generation! The Jeep roared, tearing into a hospital entrance, scattering the parking attendant who rushed over in fright.
Cao Wenjun threw open the car door and promptly threw up a few times.
“I told you I should drive, but you wouldn’t listen. Do you know how many cameras caught you speeding down the road? Now we’ll have trouble…” he said, gagging dryly.
Chang Yuncheng patted the steering wheel, looking at Cao Wenjun.
“You.”
He said.
Cao Wenjun looked up.
“Have you ever seen a grown man riding a horse being led by someone else?” Chang Yuncheng asked faintly.
Although it was phrased as a question, it clearly didn't require an answer from Cao Wenjun. After speaking, he glanced at the outpatient building ahead and strode away.
What on earth was that about? The guy was definitely out of his mind! Damn it, someone with a mental problem who was also this arrogant—he’d never seen one before! “I’m asking you, are you done yet? You’ve blown up the phone for days. How old are you, still playing games meeting strangers online?”
Cao Wenjun chased after him.
“The calls are done, but I still need to confirm something in person,”
Chang Yuncheng replied.
“Confirm what?” Cao Wenjun asked, bewildered.
To confirm whether she had forgotten him from the phone call, and if seeing the real person might jog her memory… Chang Yuncheng glanced at the folder in his hand; the doctor at this hospital named Qiyue was an obstetrician-gynecologist.
Standing in this bright, crowded hall, he felt dizzy.
What a chaotic world… why were there so many people… “Excuse me, coming through, coming through…” An emergency doctor rushed past, pushing a patient on a gurney into the hall.
Chang Yuncheng seemed to glimpse a past scene.
He involuntarily raised his foot and followed the group.
Doctors and nurses were frantically busy in the emergency room.
Various monitoring devices emitted rhythmic beeps.
“Family members, please step out. Family members, please step out.”
Nurses were trying to persuade the distraught families crammed inside the room.
But the emotionally agitated relatives couldn't hear anything.
The scene became even more chaotic.
“Did you not hear us asking you to leave?” Chang Yuncheng stepped forward in a few strides, extended his long arm, and pushed. Four or five family members were shoved backward.
His tall frame and authoritative voice commanded attention.
His sheer strength momentarily stunned everyone, who were pushed out in a daze.
New hospital security? The nurses stared at the man in surprise. Oh my, he was also incredibly handsome… “Thank you so much,”
she said with a smile, resolving to thank him properly once things calmed down, perhaps ask him out for a meal or something.
Cao Wenjun slapped his forehead, grabbing Chang Yuncheng, who was standing at the door like a guardian deity.
“Are you obsessed with staring at doorways!” he hissed. “Can you stop embarrassing me?” After yelling, Cao Wenjun immediately regretted it.
Damn it, wasn't his embarrassment exactly what he wanted! Why did he reach out and grab him! Had he become addicted to being treated like a servant? He angrily shook his hand free.
Chang Yuncheng didn't speak, just turned and strode away.
Let him embarrass himself; it would be better if the security guards threw him down from the upper floor later! Cao Wenjun thought, not following him.
“I’ll wait in the car!” he spat furiously, walking to the door only to remember the car keys weren't on him.
He could only curse in anger and stand by the entrance, furiously smoking a cigarette.
Not long after, Chang Yuncheng reappeared.
He opened the car door and got in without a word. Cao Wenjun snorted and followed.
“Looking for…” he started, but Chang Yuncheng sharply wrenched the steering wheel, turning his incomplete sentence into a curse. Cao Wenjun gripped the handrail tightly, bracing for another bout of jolting and swaying.
Watching the car plunge into yet another hospital, Cao Wenjun was too weak from retching to even get out.
“Are you planning to check every single hospital?” he asked weakly.
“Yes. We’ll start with Yanjing,”
Chang Yuncheng said, taking out his folder and drawing a line through the name Dr. Qiyue they had just seen, his gaze falling on the second name before he jumped out of the car.
“Are you insane? How long will it take you to check them all?” Cao Wenjun shouted in disbelief.
“I’ll eventually see them all,”
Chang Yuncheng said, slamming the car door shut and walking away.
What a lunatic! Cao Wenjun flipped him the bird.
At the Pediatrics Outpatient Department of the Third Hospital in Yanjing, Dr. Qi was quite vexed.
This man had been sitting in front of her for a long time.
“If the child is uncomfortable, you must bring them here so I can examine them myself. Just hearing you talk isn't enough,”
Dr. Qi patiently repeated.
“Okay,”
Chang Yuncheng said, still staring at the doctor.
Dr. Qi was thirty-five. While she was past the age for teenage infatuations, being stared at like this by a man made her blush involuntarily.
She couldn't help but clear her throat lightly.
“Family member, please go back and fetch the child now,”
she said, tapping her desk.
Chang Yuncheng looked at her hand tapping the desk, and his expression became agitated.
“You… are you Yue Niang?” he asked, his voice trembling, leaning forward to grip the desk.
Dr. Qi jumped in surprise.
“No.
I’m not. I am Qi Yue,”
she said, pulling her nameplate closer to let the man see.
Though he was quite handsome, perhaps his mind was not right… Chang Yuncheng ignored the nameplate, continuing to look at the doctor.
“Qi Yueliang, I… I am Chang Yuncheng,”
he repeated. “Don’t you remember me?” Dr. Qi shot up from her seat.
“Security! Security!” she shrieked.
Cao Wenjun, who had been smoking by the entrance, saw a swarm of security guards charging into the clinic with aggressive stances, and shook his head.
“Well.
That’s the last one for this time slot. Time to head to the next one,”
he muttered to himself, tossing his cigarette butt into a nearby trash can.
He clapped his hands and headed toward the parking lot.
A commotion erupted behind him. Cao Wenjun didn't even bother turning his head; before he reached the car, Chang Yuncheng had already strode past him and opened the door.
His expression remained serene.
The wrinkles in his shirt from the scuffle did nothing to diminish his imposing presence.
“Hey, let’s hurry to the next spot,”
Cao Wenjun said as he got in.
Chang Yuncheng gave him a look.
“If you keep this up, you’ll get closer to ending up in the asylum,”
Cao Wenjun said, flashing a grin.
Chang Yuncheng returned the grin and slammed on the accelerator.
Although Cao Wenjun was braced for it, he was nearly thrown back into his seat.
He held tightly to the grab bar.
The Jeep roared off, swerving wildly, causing chaos among the parked cars.
“….This is Qi Yueliang, handsome. Want to step out for a chat….” A syrupy voice purred from the phone.
Chang Yuncheng took the phone away, hung up, struck out another name in his folder, and dialed another number.
“We are sorry, the number you have dialed has been suspended due to overdue payment…” What did that mean? Chang Yuncheng listened for a moment, but no real person spoke, so he hung up too.
“Are all the calls finished?” Old Master Cao walked into the living room, holding his longevity balls and spinning them.
Chang Yuncheng looked at the densely marked-up folder. They were all done.
Except for the ones that wouldn't connect.
“There’s been a lot of staff turnover, and numbers change fast,”
Old Master Cao said, sitting opposite him. “Has the advertisement run yet?” Chang Yuncheng nodded.
“Then don't rush. If she sees it, she will certainly contact you,”
Old Master Cao said, looking at Chang Yuncheng. “Xiao Chang, about that man whose tire you shot out by the gate the other day—someone asked if you were interested in sparring with him? Special forces style….” “Not interested,”
Chang Yuncheng interrupted, standing up. “I have one more hospital to visit.”
Old Master Cao looked at him.
These days, every doctor named Qi Yue in every hospital, large or small, in Yanjing had been troubled by this lunatic.
“The ads are out, the calls have been made. If you’re going to visit every hospital like this, when will it end? Once you finish Yanjing, are you planning to cover the whole country?” Old Master Cao asked. “Xiao Chang, life is long, take your time. Some things you can’t chase; you have to wait…” As he spoke, Old Master Cao suddenly saw the man before him stiffen—it was the first time he had seen any outward display of emotion from him.
Old Master Cao stopped talking and watched Chang Yuncheng.
“Life… is not long…” Chang Yuncheng spoke slowly, his tongue seeming stiff, spitting out the words one by one. “Some things… cannot wait… If I don’t… wait now…” Old Master Cao, having experienced everything in his lifetime, was usually emotionally numb, but at that moment, hearing those words, an overwhelming wave of sorrow washed over him.
“…Feng’er, wait for me, wait here, I’ll be right back to take you away…” Amidst dense gunfire and rising smoke, his younger self had let go of that girl’s hand.
And then there was no ‘after’…. Old Master Cao didn’t notice when Chang Yuncheng left. He sat quietly on the sofa alone, lighting a cigarette. His health doctor had forbidden smoking, and the housekeeper saw him and wanted to remind him, but she saw the old man wasn't smoking it, merely holding it and watching the smoke rise from the ashtray.
The housekeeper tiptoed out. The old man sitting alone on the sofa remained silent as a statue.
“None?” Chang Yuncheng asked, lowering his head again to look at the folder in his hand.
Qi Yue, Cardiothoracic Surgery at Yanjing Hospital.
“Yes, there used to be one, but she transferred a while ago,”
the nurse said.
This wasn't the first time he had encountered such a situation. Doctors on these lists had transferred, resigned, or even switched professions entirely.
But that didn’t matter. He would find them one by one. Once the hospitals were exhausted, he would search outside the medical field. This world was vast; there were so many methods available. If he truly wanted to find her, he would find her.
Chang Yuncheng nodded, said thanks, and turned to leave.
The nurse watched his retreating back.
“Hey, he’s actually quite polite, not at all like the madman they say he is…” she remarked.
“It’s mostly about looks,”
the nurse next to her put her arm around her shoulder. “In your eyes, as long as a man is handsome, even a lunatic looks like an angel.”
Laughter echoed in the corridor.
Chang Yuncheng had already walked into the elevator.
Several people stood inside, all doctors in white coats. Chang Yuncheng didn't look at them, standing still and focusing on the indicator lights.
“Wait, wait, wait…” Just as the elevator doors were closing, someone grabbed them from the outside, reopening them as a plump nurse squeezed in, laden with things.
“Xiao Huang, why are you in such a rush?”
a doctor laughed.
“Ah, Dr. Qi, I was just looking for you,”
Huang Ying said happily.
The words “Dr. Qi” made Chang Yuncheng turn his head. He saw an energetic, elderly doctor standing deepest inside.
The old doctor, a man.
Chang Yuncheng turned back, continuing to watch the indicator lights. A nurse squeezed closer to him; he shifted slightly aside, watching as the nurse fumbled with a stack of newspapers she was trying to pull one from. Because her hands were full, all the papers slipped and scattered onto the floor.
Everyone in the elevator helped pick them up, except for Chang Yuncheng, who stood rigidly still, not even moving his feet. He slightly bowed his head, noticing a newspaper lying on the top of his foot.
“Hey, look at this one, another rich idiot running some ridiculous missing person ad… Qi Yueliang, I’m Chang Yuncheng, I’ve come. Where are you….” “…Aren't they copying the lines from the ‘If You Are The One’ dating show ads…” “…Must be an ad, just like that one a few days ago about the first wife, second wife, and mistress…” The elevator was filled with lively chatter.
Huang Ying snatched the newspaper from the top of Chang Yuncheng’s foot and glared at him with displeasure.
This man was so good-looking and seemed so well-mannered, yet he had absolutely no sense of etiquette? Honestly… handsome men these days were all spoiled rotten… The elevator doors opened, and Chang Yuncheng stepped out.
“Dr. Qi, look, this newspaper has a report about Yue Liang’s deeds…” Chang Yuncheng suddenly froze.
Yue Liang? Yue Liang!!