Bone-Attached Disaster - Chapter 41:

Chapter 41: Worth It

Walking to the door, Lu Jie was stopped by someone. He looked up and saw Shen Rufei.

Shen Rufei’s eyes rolled back and forth. He asked with a smile, “Are you and Jia’an together?”

Lu Jie choked a little. “How is that possible?”

“Oh~ So I saw wrong just now? You’re not together, but you’re quite clingy.”

Lu Jie gave a forced smile. “You have unique taste. Were you peeping on us?”

Shen Rufei pretended to recall seriously, “If we’re talking about ‘peeping,’ I think you’re more adept at it, aren’t you?” After he said that, his eyes curved again, as if he had made a harmless joke. It was hard to tell if he simply had a wicked sense of humor or if he was holding a grudge and retaliating to protect someone.

Lu Jie wasn’t in the mood to make small talk with Shen Rufei. He was about to find an excuse about being busy with work to leave quickly, when Shen Rufei seemed to spot something. Then, with a flick of his hand, he snatched the card from Lu Jie’s grip in the blink of an eye.

He held Fu Jia’an’s ID card up, examining it closely. His usual squinting, flirtatious eyes were rarely wide open. “He even gave you this?”

Lu Jie waited for Shen Rufei’s follow-up.

Shen Rufei said seriously, “You must keep it safe. If you lose it, you have to pay fifty yuan for the replacement.”

“…….”

Lu Jie was speechless. He unceremoniously snatched the card back and tucked it safely into his pocket. “Is this joke very popular in your hospital?”

Shen Rufei laughed, glancing at Lu Jie’s shirt pocket. “It seems Jiang Yan was inaccurate. He said you look like a disfavored concubine recently. I thought Jia’an had changed his mind.”

Lu Jie cursed inwardly, but maintained his composure on the surface. “If Dr. Shen doesn’t have anything else, I’ll…”

Before he could finish, Shen Rufei familiarily put a hand on Lu Jie’s shoulder, pushing him in the other direction like an old friend. “Let’s go. Since you have Jia’an’s card, let me freeload a meal.”

It was too difficult to refuse, so Lu Jie ended up sitting in the hospital cafeteria. The congee and the boiled egg were exactly the same as last time, but this time, he ate without any appetite.

Shen Rufei, sitting opposite him, was not at all reserved. Although he looked thin, he ate like a glutton. Two sandwiches and a hot cocoa weren’t enough, and he even took an avocado smoothie to go.

Leaving the cafeteria required walking through an avenue of trees. Shen Rufei didn’t have clinic duty in the morning, so he walked leisurely. Lu Jie was already getting impatient. He furiously checked his phone twice, only hoping to part ways at the upcoming fork in the road.

The pear blossoms had long since fallen. Green, unripe fruits peeked out from the lush leaves. Illuminated by the sun, they looked like tiny gold ingots. Lu Jie couldn’t help but stop, looking up amidst the passing crowd. Just ahead was the Orthopedics inpatient building. Three months ago, it was here that Fu Jia’an appeared after a flurry of falling pear petals. Looking back, it truly made him feel nostalgic.

The man-made lake was also nearby, and Lu Jie glanced in that direction. The sun was perfect right now, and it would soon get too hot, so many patients in wheelchairs had already come out early to sunbathe.

“Dr. Shen!”

Following the direction of the call, both Lu Jie and Shen Rufei looked over. It was a young man in a wheelchair, wearing blue hospital pajamas. His head was wrapped in bandages, and one leg was in a cast.

Despite his somewhat awkward posture, he was beaming warmly in the sun, showing all his neat teeth in a broad grin.

“That’s the car accident patient Jia’an had before. I told you about him, right? Besides the brain surgery, his multiple fractures also needed treatment, so both Jia’an and I are his attending physicians,” Shen Rufei whispered, introducing the patient to Lu Jie. “He’s twenty years old this year, and the person pushing him is his mother.”

This had nothing to do with Lu Jie, but led by Shen Rufei, he unconsciously walked over to the young man.

The young man, whose name Lu Jie saw on the wheelchair armrest was Lin Qi, had a gentle face and upturned eyes, clearly a child who grew up surrounded by love. The stitches on his cheekbones didn’t detract from his refined look. Seeing the two of them walk over, his smile widened.

“Where’s Dr. Fu? Didn’t he come? You two used to always appear together.”

Shen Rufei smiled. “Jia’an has been very busy lately and can’t visit you often.”

“Okay…” The young man was visibly disappointed, his shoulders drooping slightly.

Lu Jie had no interest in joining the conversation, standing cleverly out of the way. He glanced at the name on the wheelchair’s armrest: Lin Qi, quite an easy name to remember.

“The last time I chatted with Dr. Fu, there was a musical he was interested in,” Lin Qi fumbled in the pocket of his hospital gown, his movements clumsy due to his unhealed injuries, and pulled out two tickets. “I got my uncle to get two tickets for you guys.”

Shen Rufei joked, “Doctors can’t accept bribes, you know.”

“Oh, come on,” Lin Qi looked heartbroken. “I thought we were friends now. Saying that makes me so sad. Even the cut seems to hurt more…”

“Dr. Shen, please take them,” Lin Qi’s mother also said gently from the side.

Shen Rufei smiled. “Alright, alright. Then I’ll thank you on Jia’an’s behalf. I’ll pass them on to him later.”

Soon after, Lin Qi’s mother received a call, probably a video call from Lin Qi’s father. Shen Rufei gave a few instructions about recent care and then didn’t bother them further.

After they had walked a little distance away, Lu Jie complained, “Your smile just now was so fake.”

Shen Rufei said, “Was it obvious?”

Lu Jie gestured a few times in the air, “Roughly the difference between (^ω^) … and (^_^).”

Shen Rufei found it amusing and laughed so hard his shoulders shook. “I didn’t realize you had a talent for drawing.”

Lu Jie didn’t take the bait. “Just tell me. What was your purpose in deliberately bringing me here to see Lin Qi?”

“Can’t it be a coincidence?”

“Do you think I’d believe that?”

It was easy to talk between smart people. Shen Rufei dropped the pretense. “Lin Qi really likes Jia’an. You could tell, right?”

“And then what?”

Shen Rufei shrugged. “That’s it. That’s all the information.”

“Do you think that’s enough to make me jealous?” Lu Jie hadn’t expected Shen Rufei to go through such a lengthy detour only to use such a… simple method to assist.

He felt like he had completely wasted his morning, but he didn’t show it on his face. He just said calmly, “Fine, I got it. I have some business at the company. I’m leaving now.”

“See you later.” Shen Rufei maintained his smile and waved twice.

Looking at Lu Jie’s receding figure, Shen Rufei’s mind was clear as a mirror. Lu Jie had too many things weighing on his heart, heavier than a lead weight. Some feelings, hidden for too long, are like a locked safe. The treasured contents are never shown, and over time, the password is forgotten.

But remembering the password, when it finally happens, is the work of a single instant.

The phone in his pocket vibrated too many times. Shen Rufei finally read the messages. Jiang Yan had sent over a dozen messages early in the morning, and since he hadn’t replied, Jiang Yan was persistently sending more.

The eyes that always carried a hint of a smile finally curved to their widest arc, like the richly colored peach blossoms of March. Shen Rufei walked toward the outpatient building, cradling his phone and replying to the messages one by one. The person on the other end couldn’t wait and called.

“What are you doing? Why haven’t you replied all morning?” The tone was full of grievance.

Shen Rufei expertly coaxed him. As he turned the corner at the right entrance of the outpatient building, he casually tossed the two crumpled musical tickets into the trash can.

The moment Lu Jie sat down in the Western restaurant that evening, he finally understood why his stomach hurt. He thought he had dealt with certain emotions, but his body’s reaction was the most genuine. It was Friday, and his stomach started hurting before his mind did.

The root of the problem was this: he was trying his best to avoid thinking about meeting Dai Mengshu tonight. He used work to escape, and he used going to the hospital to escape, but the issue remained a bomb buried in his life.

Lu Jie tried every way not to detonate it, but life ultimately didn’t grant him the peace he wished for.

Dai Mengshu came without warning today, bringing a woman with her. Both sat across from Lu Jie.

“Xiao Jie, this is your aunt’s colleague’s…”

Lu Jie didn’t hear the long string of introductions that followed. He restrained his temper with sheer willpower and only replied with an “Oh.”

The meal was consumed with even more stomach discomfort. Lu Jie felt like every bite was hard to digest. His stomach was grinding like it was full of pebbles, and the pain came in waves.

After the meal, Lu Jie went to pay the bill. Dai Mengshu followed him, saying, “I’ll pay. You take Xiao Meng home.”

“Xiao Meng?” Lu Jie was hazy, almost asking who Xiao Meng was. He felt utterly exhausted. He placed his card on the counter and turned to his mother. “I have something to do tonight. I can’t drive her.”

“You’ve been checking the time all through dinner. What’s wrong? What urgent matter could you have tonight? Aren’t you off work? Is Jiang Yan looking for you again? You’re not working for him during the day only to have to drink with him at night, are you?”

Lu Jie habitually rubbed the area between his chest again. “Mom, seriously, let’s meet less often in the future.”

“What kind of talk is that!”

Lu Jie took a deep breath. “I said, let’s meet less often.” His face was grim. His tall figure stood in front of Dai Mengshu. “Or let’s not meet at all.”

After saying that, he turned and walked out, immediately starting his car and speeding toward the apartment.

Calls came one after another, but Lu Jie silenced his phone.

His mind was a mess. It was true that Dai Mengshu bringing a girl without permission was wrong, but given his habit of maintaining appearances over the past few years, he would usually handle things smoothly.

Hadn’t he accepted it? Hadn’t he decided that it didn’t matter how he lived the rest of his life or who he lived it with? Hadn’t he been obedient with the meetings his mother arranged? Why was he resisting now?

Why was there a voice constantly repeating in his mind,

Lu Jie, you deserve to have someone in this world who genuinely loves you.