Chapter 44: A reliable man!

Bai Yao still felt a hint of hesitation and confusion in his heart.

‘Is this some kind of prank by Qiu Ye?’

After all, if something really happened to Qiu Ye, shouldn’t he have contacted his counselor first?

Or perhaps his drinking buddies?

How long had he and Qiu Ye even known each other?

Despite these thoughts, Bai Yao had already scanned a shared bike on the side of the street.

He stood up on the pedals, cycling toward the location at his maximum speed.

‘I shouldn’t have been so frisky today! My legs are still a bit weak!’

On a night in the suburbs, there were hardly any vehicles or pedestrians in sight.

As he cycled across a bridge, Bai Yao saw three or five people gathered on the non-motorized vehicle lane from a distance.

**[Your ambiguous partner is in trouble…]**

The system had verified it! Something really had happened!

Bai Yao didn’t have time to process what the system was saying.

From the moment he picked up the phone to his arrival, it had only taken 10 minutes.

Under the watchful eyes of several kind-hearted bystanders, he pulled over to the side.

He immediately saw Qiu Ye sitting on the curb.

Frowning, he stepped forward to assess the situation.

“Wasn’t the person who answered the phone a man?”

“Is the girlfriend here?”

It was late at night, and the trees overhanging the non-motorized lane blocked the streetlights.

In the dim light, the bystanders had misidentified Bai Yao’s gender.

Bai Yao didn’t bother to explain.

He jogged over to Qiu Ye and crouched down.

“What happened? Where are you hurt?”

He couldn’t maintain his usual cold expression; his face was filled with anxiety.

“It’s nothing. I just took a bit of a spill.”

Qiu Ye sat there honestly.

His usual aggressive and overbearing aura was completely gone, replaced by a somewhat pitiful look.

“I’ll be fine after a little rest.”

“Huh? Really?”

Bai Yao was stunned.

He looked up at the people nearby.

“Look at his arm. It’s definitely broken, but he refuses to go to the hospital.”

“Oh, you’re a boy? I couldn’t tell just now.”

The bystanders chimed in to explain the situation to Bai Yao.

“My shop is right next door. I saw him fall and not get up for a long while, so I came out to check.”

“We told him to call his family. He scrolled through WeChat for ages before he finally asked us to call you.”

“Goodness! Just get him to the hospital already!”

Bai Yao’s head throbbed as he processed the information.

He caught only the most vital piece and looked down at Qiu Ye.

“Should I call 120? Let’s get you checked out at the hospital first.”

“No need.”

Qiu Ye’s speech was a bit slurred, and he kept his head lowered.

“I’m really fine. I’ll be better by tomorrow.”

“Don’t listen to him. I think he’s been drinking; he’s not even speaking clearly.”

“Exactly. His clothes are covered in blood, and he says he’s fine?”

Only then did Bai Yao realize that Qiu Ye’s clothes were stained with blood.

His hands began to tremble.

This was his first time handling something like this, and it left his mind in a state of chaos.

Flustered, his face turned red.

Should he listen to Qiu Ye or the kind older men around him?

He carefully examined Qiu Ye’s left arm.

Was that a large swollen area? Blood was constantly dripping from his nose.

He wondered if the bridge of Qiu Ye’s nose was broken.

‘How much must that hurt?’ If it were him, he would have been crying a river of snot and tears by now.

“I’ll call a car to take you to the hospital.”

Bai Yao made his decision.

He stood up, searched for the nearest Triple-A hospital on his phone, and hailed a ride.

He turned his head and asked with a lack of confidence, “Is the University Affiliated Hospital okay? Is it a Triple-A?”

“That should work.”

Once he confirmed that a driver had accepted the request and was on the way, Bai Yao looked around.

“What exactly happened?”

“He must have had too much to drink. He was walking along and just tumbled into the green belt.”

“Young man, are you his classmate? Maybe you should call his parents or a teacher?”

Hearing this, Qiu Ye pressed a tissue to his bleeding nose and quickly spoke up. “Don’t call my parents. It’s not a big deal. Why drag them all the way here?”

Bai Yao paced back and forth, conflicted.

He also wanted to call a teacher or a parent, feeling like he was just a kid who had recently turned 18 and couldn’t handle this.

But at this hour, and during the National Day holiday, even if he did call the counselor, it would take over an hour for them to arrive.

Fortunately, the car arrived quickly.

The kind older men rushed forward to carefully help Qiu Ye into the car.

Just as Bai Yao was about to follow, someone called out to him.

“Take two packs of tissues. He’s bleeding quite a bit.”

“Oh, okay…” Bai Yao paused.

“Thank you. I appreciate the help.”

He got into the car, gave the driver the last four digits of his phone number, and asked, “Can you take us directly to the entrance of the Emergency Department?”

The Emergency Department! In his mind, that was a place for missing limbs or people on the verge of death.

“I can. Hold onto him so he doesn’t get hurt again.”

The driver was kind-hearted.

After giving those instructions, he started the car and drove toward the hospital, sticking to the speed limit.

Bai Yao finally looked at Qiu Ye sitting beside him.

Qiu Ye still seemed dazed.

He leaned back against the seat, his injured arm resting on his lap while his other hand held a tissue to his nose.

He didn’t say a word for a long time.

Noticing Bai Yao’s gaze, he gave a bitter smile.

“We don’t need to go…”

“We’re already in the car. It’s better to get checked out so we can stop worrying.”

Bai Yao shifted his weight to get a bit closer.

Now that they were in the car, his initial nervousness had eased slightly.

He pulled some tissues from his pocket.

“Do you have enough? I have more here.”

“Mhm…”

Without warning, Qiu Ye tilted his head and leaned it on Bai Yao’s shoulder.

Bai Yao froze.

He could feel Qiu Ye’s short hair poking against his cheek—it was itchy.

He also felt the heavy weight on his shoulder, which began to ache after only a moment.

‘This is the first time in my life I’ve been someone’s shoulder pillow!’

‘Am I already a capable adult? A reliable man?!’

Bai Yao felt a small surge of excitement deep down.

He completely ignored his aching shoulder and instead moved his face closer, leaning it against the top of Qiu Ye’s head.

‘Would this make Qiu Ye feel more comfortable and at ease?’

‘Should I pat his head to comfort him right now? Or would that be too ambiguous?’

“It’s okay. We’ll be at the hospital soon.”

In the end, he only offered dry words of comfort.

He didn’t have the courage to touch Qiu Ye’s head.

Qiu Ye closed his eyes.

It had to be said that the current Qiu Ye was much easier on the eyes.

Without his aggressive personality, his features didn’t look fierce. He looked honest and pitiful.

Bai Yao had the illusion that he had picked up a dirty, sickly stray puppy, which stirred a sense of pity in him.

But he didn’t know what else he could do, so he simply stayed by Qiu Ye’s side in silence.

“We’re here.”

The driver got out, opened the door, and helped Qiu Ye out of the car.

“Support this arm. Go inside and register first.”

“Register? Huh?”

Forget the Emergency Department—Bai Yao had never even been to a hospital by himself.

He helplessly supported Qiu Ye’s injured arm, being so careful he barely dared to touch it.

He watched the ride-hailing car drive away and then looked toward the doors of the Emergency Department with a sense of helplessness.

‘As expected, being a “reliable man” was just a delusion!’

‘If I look too panicked right now, it’ll make Qiu Ye feel uneasy too, right?’

Bai Yao steeled himself and led Qiu Ye into the Emergency Department.

He immediately spotted a counter near the entrance and stepped forward to ask, “Hello, what do we need to do for the Emergency Department?”

“Go over there to register.”

‘Isn’t the Emergency Department supposed to be for urgent cases? You still have to register…’

Bai Yao led Qiu Ye to the registration window and picked up an information form.

Because he was still supporting Qiu Ye, he didn’t have a free hand to fill out the form.

He looked at Qiu Ye, conflicted.

“Should you find a place to sit first?”

‘Ah! I have to take care of Qiu Ye and register him at the same time!’

“You don’t need to hold me.”

“Okay! Then what’s your phone number? And your ID number?”

Bai Yao grabbed a pen and leaned against the registration window, but he got stuck on the very first step.

“How do you write your name? Is it ‘Qiu’ as in ‘Autumn’?”

“……”

“Ugh! Forget it!”

Whether it was ‘Autumn Leaf’ or something else, he would just write it down and get the registration done first!

This was likely the first time Bai Yao had ever stood on his own two feet to provide shelter for someone else.