If I Die, Will You Still Hate Me? - Chapter 2

“President Jiang, how is your health lately?”…

The news of Jiang Xuzhou, Chairman of the Baiwen Group, being seriously ill was neither very big nor very small in Mochi City. However, due to the continuous promotion by the public who loved a spectacle and the self-media, it created a huge buzz, with every passerby adding their two cents.

The only saving grace was that Wu Yi’s timely statement prevented the stock from plummeting to an unprecedented level.

Nevertheless, Jiang Xuzhou didn’t get a moment’s rest.

“President Jiang, how is your health lately?” Chen Xingxian scanned Jiang Xuzhou as he entered the room.

Jiang Xuzhou’s physical condition wasn’t as bad as the news suggested; in fact, he showed no signs of illness at all.

Jiang Xuzhou’s face was rosy, his distinct-jointed hand rested on the chair, and a gentle smile hung on his face: “President Chen, do I look like what the internet is saying?”

Chen Xingxian chuckled awkwardly twice: “I was also thinking yesterday, how could a young man like President Jiang have heart disease, and some ‘Tetralogy of…’ disease. That sounds like an old age disease.”

“Tetralogy of Fallot,” Jiang Xuzhou unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down. “It’s a congenital heart defect.”

“Ah…” Chen Xingxian scratched his head and waved a hand. “I really don’t know much about medicine. Please forgive me, President Jiang.”

“It’s nothing,” Jiang Xuzhou’s dark eyes were like a frozen lake, utterly still.

He took the folder from his secretary, scanned it open, and then spun it around on the desk, pushing it toward Chen Xingxian: “President Chen, what about our partnership?”

“The problem has been solved, and you can see I’m standing here, lively and kicking. Are you really not considering it?”

“This deal truly isn’t a loss.”

Chen Xingxian gave a couple of jolly laughs, took the pen, and signed the document under Jiang Xuzhou’s watchful eye.

“A pleasure working with you.” Jiang Xuzhou stood up, buttoned his jacket, and extended his hand.

“A pleasure working with you,” Chen Xingxian shook Jiang Xuzhou’s hand.

The first problem was solved. Jiang Xuzhou watched Chen Xingxian walk out of the office building.

“President Jiang, we still need you to record a video,” the secretary said.

“…Record a video?” Jiang Xuzhou picked up a bottle of mineral water, unscrewed it, and took a drink. “To prove I’m still alive?”

The secretary nodded.

“Let’s go now,” Jiang Xuzhou walked out of the conference room.

The script for the video wasn’t long, but it still took from morning until 2 PM to shoot.

Jiang Xuzhou returned to his office, physically exhausted, and stumbled onto the sofa.

He hadn’t been lying down for even a minute when the office door was shoved open.

“Xuzhou, time to eat.” Wu Yi came in carrying a pile of takeout bags. “I knew I didn’t even have to ask to know you haven’t eaten.”

“How will your broken stomach cope if you don’t eat?” Wu Yi didn’t give him a chance to interrupt, pointing a finger vaguely at his heart. “And that broken heart of yours, I don’t even want to talk about it. It’s a good thing medicine is advanced now.”

Jiang Xuzhou pulled the cushion from behind him and covered his face with it: “…Too loud.”

Wu Yi stopped talking and buried his head in tearing open the takeout bags. In a moment, the coffee table was covered with all sorts of containers.

“I didn’t know what type of food you’d like today, so I bought everything,” Wu Yi shook his head, lamenting quietly. “Picky eater.”

Jiang Xuzhou pulled the cushion down, glanced at the takeout boxes on the coffee table, then glanced at Wu Yi, repeating this three times, and asked: “Can we eat all that?”

“If you can’t, I’ll eat it. How much can there be?” Wu Yi spread his hands. “Anyway, it’s all stuff I like.”

When Jiang Xuzhou smelled the oily scent, his fragile stomach began to cramp. He shrank back into the sofa, refusing Wu Yi’s invitation to eat together.

“It’s not oily, it’s delicious,” Wu Yi opened a package of millet porridge and placed it in front of him.

A few red goji berries floated on the golden millet porridge; it looked delicious.

But Jiang Xuzhou didn’t think so. He closed his eyes, his throat bobbed, suppressing the urge to vomit.

Wu Yi misread the situation, thinking Jiang Xuzhou wanted to eat: “Doesn’t it look good? I’m telling you, this porridge shop is absolutely incredible, super delicious.”

“…Take it away.” Jiang Xuzhou practically squeezed the words out through his teeth.

“Take it away? Just try a bite,” Wu Yi still wouldn’t give up.

Jiang Xuzhou was about to lose the battle against the nausea: “I don’t want to eat yet, take it away.”

Wu Yi was bewildered and a little annoyed by his attitude, rising to his feet: “You don’t eat three meals a day on time, sometimes only one. How are you supposed to heal your stomach and get your body healthy?”

“Do you still want to be with Ye Xun?” This sentence was practically growled out by Wu Yi.

Ordinarily, this sentence could pressure Jiang Xuzhou, who didn’t rest or eat properly, into obedience.

But this time, the words lost their effect.

Jiang Xuzhou covered his face with the cushion again, his arm pressing down on it, his voice muffled: “I wanted to before.”

“But now I don’t.”

“I don’t dare to anymore…”

He couldn’t help but recall Ye Xun’s disgusted expression last night, and that single word: “hate.”

Perhaps giving up would be the best outcome for both Ye Xun and himself.

“What?” Wu Yi hadn’t heard clearly.

“…Nothing, I just feel it’s pointless,” Jiang Xuzhou sighed, raising his voice.

Wu Yi frowned. In the two months before Ye Xun disappeared, Jiang Xuzhou neither ate nor drank, and even left the company to him. At that time, everyone thought it was laughable—he was the one who initiated the breakup, only to regret it later and want to chase him back.

Jiang Xuzhou ignored everything, his mind solely focused on finding Ye Xun.

He hadn’t said it was pointless then, so why, after meeting him once, did he suddenly say it was pointless?

Wu Yi was incredulous: “Were you provoked yesterday? Did he not recognize you, or did he beat you up?”

“…Neither, it’s just how I feel,” Jiang Xuzhou took away the cushion, his eyes hollow as he stared at the ceiling.

Wu Yi hesitated.

Jiang Xuzhou understood that if Wu Yi didn’t figure out the whole story, he certainly wouldn’t let him leave the office.

“If you absolutely need to understand, then go open the drawer under my desk,” Jiang Xuzhou’s stomach cramped again. He pressed one hand against his stomach and pointed with the other toward the takeout on the table. “Take all this takeout when you leave, and turn on the air purifier.”

With that, he closed his eyes, his weary body slowly relaxed, sinking into a light sleep.

Wu Yi quietly walked over to Jiang Xuzhou’s desk.

The office setup had changed: the screensaver on the computer was no longer a photo of Ye Xun but a green forest; the photo of the two of them that used to be in the upper left corner was gone; the cup and keyboard Ye Xun had bought for Jiang Xuzhou were all missing.

Not even a single plant with leaves was left in the entire office.

This meant he was genuinely letting go.

He pulled open the drawer Jiang Xuzhou mentioned. Inside, there was only one file bag.

Intuitively, Wu Yi felt there was nothing good inside.

He unwound the string, loop by loop, and pulled out a sheet of paper: Jiang Xuzhou’s medical examination report.

Wu Yi immediately noticed the last line: Infective Endocarditis.

He didn’t know anything about it, and after searching online for a long time, he only figured out that people with congenital heart disease are more susceptible to the illness.

Wu Yi still felt that the disease was highly likely caused by Jiang Xuzhou not resting or eating properly after his previous surgery.

After figuring out the whole matter, Wu Yi quietly gathered the takeout, turned on the air purifier, and left Jiang Xuzhou’s office.

A little after 4 PM, Jiang Xuzhou suddenly sat up. A large gulp of air rushed into his lungs, triggering a violent coughing fit. He raised his hand to cover his mouth.

“Jiang Xuzhou!” Wu Yi rushed in from outside and threw a pile of documents onto the coffee table.

After coughing for a long time, Jiang Xuzhou finally slumped weakly onto the sofa, his hands clenched into fists.

Wu Yi poured some warm water into a disposable cup, helped Jiang Xuzhou drink a few sips, and then pulled out a few tissues, putting them in his hand: “Wipe your mouth.”

“Mmm.” Jiang Xuzhou touched his heart, his breathing gradually steadying, and looked down at Wu Yi. “Why are you here?”

Wu Yi: “Are you really going to give up?”

They asked questions simultaneously and fell into silence simultaneously.

“I just happened to have some documents for you,” Wu Yi answered Jiang Xuzhou’s question first.

Jiang Xuzhou nodded.

“Are you really going to give up on chasing Ye Xun back?” Wu Yi asked. “You looked for him for four years, finally found him, made contact, and now you just need to apologize and clearly explain what happened back then. Even if you can’t be lovers, you can at least be friends.”

Being a friend isn’t that much worse than being a lover.

“I’ve given up. I’m tired,” Jiang Xuzhou rubbed his heart, his tone flat. “Besides, how can I pursue him with this heart of mine?”

“What if I die suddenly after we get together, leaving him a widower?”

Wu Yi chuckled: “Based on my understanding of Ye Xun, he won’t be a widower for you; at most, he’ll be sad for a year or two.”

“However, given that he’ll be utterly in love with you by then, he will indeed remember you for a lifetime.”

“After all, a dead lover is sure to become a ‘white moonlight’ [a perfect, unattainable memory].”

Jiang Xuzhou didn’t respond, his expression still grim.

“You won’t die. Current medical technology is very advanced. And I checked, the cure rate for this disease is quite high,” Wu Yi comforted him. “Go ahead and pursue him.”

Jiang Xuzhou felt he couldn’t explain things to him in just a few words, so he simply picked up the documents Wu Yi had brought and began to look through them.

Wu Yi also put away his smile and asked seriously: “Make some time to go to the hospital and get checked out again.”

In truth, the facts were already laid out in black and white; verifying them again was meaningless.

However, people who love you won’t let go of any possibility. They’d rather believe that advanced medical equipment is faulty than believe you’re sick; they’d rather believe you’re only feeling unwell because you haven’t rested or eaten on time, and that it has nothing to do with the illness.

This is love; this is concern. This is what Ye Xun told him.

Jiang Xuzhou didn’t push away Wu Yi’s concern, but silently opened his packed schedule.

Wu Yi: “…”

Wu Yi sent Jiang Xuzhou’s schedule to himself: “I’ll help you take care of all this tonight. Tomorrow, you’re coming to the hospital with me.”

Jiang Xuzhou: “…No overtime pay.”

“It’s just my sense of duty,” Wu Yi happily scurried back to his office with a stack of work.

As expected, thanks to Wu Yi’s all-night effort, most of the work was basically done, except for a few meetings.

After all, this was his sense of duty; he couldn’t possibly drag the employees into his sense of duty as well.

Jiang Xuzhou also kept his promise, agreeing to go to the hospital with Wu Yi for a re-examination.

On the way to the hospital, Jiang Xuzhou was in the back seat on a video conference, only finishing as they were getting out of the car.

He gets motion sick and can’t look at things in the car. So, as soon as he stepped out, his legs went weak, and his vision went black.

Jiang Xuzhou cursed softly, managed to steady himself against the car door, and shook his head to clear it.

“Oh, isn’t that President Jiang?” A voice sounded in the distance; Jiang Xuzhou couldn’t hear it very clearly.

“…Hello, President Ye,” Wu Yi’s voice next to him was laced with a smile.

“Vice President Wu, long time no see,” Ye Xun said. “What’s wrong with our President Jiang? We were just drinking and talking happily at the gala the night before last.”

The darkness slowly receded, and Jiang Xuzhou saw the scene before him clearly: Ye Xun was wearing a thin black trench coat, a few strands of his slightly long hair were ruffled by the wind, and he looked neat and sharp, as handsome as ever.

It was just that there was another person standing next to him.

…One person.

That was a bit of a damper.

Jiang Xuzhou frowned: “Ye Xun, who is that person next to you?”

Ye Xun’s gaze shifted from Wu Yi to Jiang Xuzhou: “Oh, I forgot to introduce him. This is Cheng Zhaolin, my Vice President.”

He heavily emphasized the words “Vice President.”

Cheng Zhaolin. Jiang Xuzhou silently repeated the name in his mind.

“A good name,” Jiang Xuzhou put on his official smile and extended his hand. “Jiang Xuzhou. A pleasure to meet you.”