Chapter 198 — Tang Zhi's Secret Worry

Before, his feelings for Tang Zhi, for Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, had been nothing more than admiring affection; he knew perfectly well it was impossible, and merely indulged in a little fantasy — in plain terms, the stirrings of a young heart.

But with Lan Zhi it was different. Kang did not know what love at first sight meant; he only knew that from the very first glance at Lan Zhi's photograph, he had felt drawn to her! Especially when he saw that thin, frail figure on the third-floor windowsill, slowly falling from above — in that instant, Kang's heart seemed about to shatter.

Having heard Tang Zhi tell of Xiao Fen's past, Kang felt a deeper tenderness for this poor girl, though for now what he felt was mostly a kind of *** emotion.

It was a *** that reckoned nothing of consequences; once he calmed down, it might well change.

Wei Zhao understood Kang's state of mind well enough, of course. He nodded and said nothing: "We'll talk about it once we're at the hospital."

Tang Zhi had noticed Kang's hesitation too. She sighed and said nothing; at last, though, she shot Wei Zhao a ferocious glare: "You rich young masters — all you know is ruining girls!"

"Me?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. "I'm hardly a rich young master, am I?"

"..." Tang Zhi pursed her lips and ignored him.

After his burst of anger, Kang seemed utterly deflated, his head bowed in the back seat the whole way, no one knew what he was thinking.

Wei Zhao parked the car in the lot of the First People's Hospital, and the three of them got out and headed straight for the emergency room.

There they found the doctor on duty and asked him a few questions; Kang was the first to speak: "Doctor, I'd like to ask — how is Lan Zhi doing?"

"Lan Zhi? The girl who was just brought in, the one who jumped?" The doctor flipped through the records on the desk, then said: "Lan Zhi is out of danger. She was simply severely dehydrated and had fainted from shock; she's already been taken to a ward for an IV drip, Room 6 of the emergency wing. But she may need to stay for observation. What are you to her?"

"We're her friends. Thank you, doctor!" Kang said, and made to go find Lan Zhi.

"Wait — settle the medical fees and the admission paperwork first. Lan Zhi's family only paid a three-hundred-yuan deposit earlier; it isn't enough." The doctor stopped Kang.

"Ah? Right, we'll go do that now!" Kang agreed without a moment's thought, all in a fluster. "Where do we go?"

"She needs to stay for observation; the patient's condition is very poor, very weak. Let's admit her for a week first — I'll write up the paperwork for you," the doctor said.

"All right." Kang nodded again and again; whatever the doctor said now, he took as gospel.

Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. Had Kang really fallen for Lan Zhi? It was a little theatrical, perhaps — but then, this was an age steeped in drama! Boys and girls, that pure streak of love, stubborn and ***.

This could count as Kang's first love, couldn't it? A man in the throes of first love is always ***; he will go through fire and water, his head will run hot... But once he has calmed down, will he still go on seeing Lan Zhi?

He glanced at Tang Zhi, only to find her still glaring at him with considerable temper.

"What is it?" Wei Zhao was rather puzzled by Tang Zhi's manner today. Before, she had been cool but not cold toward him; yet after getting into the car, she seemed to have turned back into the old Tang Zhi, full of grievances against him.

Seeing Kang snatch up the admission form and hurry off to pay, already some distance away, Tang Zhi turned her gaze back to Wei Zhao: "I want to ask you something."

"Hm?" Wei Zhao started, looking at her in some confusion.

"What are you really thinking?" Tang Zhi bit her lip, and when she asked the question she lowered her head a little in embarrassment. "Thinking about what?" Wei Zhao did not follow. "About Xiao Fen and Kang? That depends on what Kang wants..."

"I'm not talking about him — I mean you!" Tang Zhi raised her head and looked at Wei Zhao. "That night, what I asked you! Are you or aren't you going to be my boyfriend?"

Wei Zhao hadn't expected Tang Zhi to still be wrestling with this matter, but he nodded all the same. Since he had already spoken to the old man at home and intended to stay here for the long term, there was no need to look left and right, hesitate and worry.

"So do you just want to have some fun, or do you actually want to be with me?" Tang Zhi frowned, looking straight at Wei Zhao, enunciating every word: "Wei Zhao, if you just want to have some fun, then please stay away from me, stay away from my mother, stay away from my whole family, all right? I'm not Xiao Fen. She was young and naive back then, but I'm already eighteen. I won't fall for your tricks!"

"Uh..." Wei Zhao was momentarily at a loss for words. He hadn't expected Tang Zhi to ask such a thing. "What am I playing at? Do I look like I have that much idle energy to spare? Do I look like someone who's just playing around?"

"Fine then! If you're not just playing around and you really want to be with me, then stop pestering me for the time being, would you? Let me get into university without distractions. I don't want to lose focus at a time like this!" On Tang Zhi's delicate features there was a trace of stubbornness. "When that time comes, if you still want to be friends with me, then... I'll agree!"

Today's showdown with Wei Zhao had actually been the result of several days' deliberation. Tang Zhi herself didn't know what exactly she felt toward Wei Zhao; she only knew that he had helped her family immensely, and that she owed him far too many favors.

But naturally Tang Zhi wouldn't start dating Wei Zhao just to repay a debt. It had to be admitted that in her heart she was growing less and less repelled by this man who had suddenly barged into her family's life. And it was precisely this that stirred a certain inner panic in her — which was why she put on that cold, indifferent face whenever she faced Wei Zhao.

Tang Zhi was afraid. She was afraid of falling too deep. Although she refused to admit that she had any tendency toward early romance, the loathing she had once felt for Wei Zhao had genuinely grown smaller and smaller, replaced by a sense of gratitude and an inexplicable flutter of the heart...

Especially ever since Liu Xinlan had asked her about her and Wei Zhao, Tang Zhi's mind had not been at peace. Even in her dreams at night she had somehow dreamed of Wei Zhao... And the most infuriating part was that she had dreamed of kissing him...

The dream had been somewhat inexplicable, not quite real, with a gauzy, phantasmal quality about it; Wei Zhao's face in the dream had not been very clear either. But when Tang Zhi woke with a start, she knew — that person had been Wei Zhao...

She had actually had an erotic dream, and the object of her very first such dream had been none other than Wei Zhao. Tang Zhi naturally knew that erotic dreams during adolescence were a perfectly normal phenomenon, and that the person appearing in such dreams was usually someone one already had feelings for in real life. That was what she had read in the health education textbook.

But precisely because of this, Tang Zhi felt a rising panic. She was a little scared now — scared that she really might slowly develop feelings for Wei Zhao, and end up with him...

Yet her reason told Tang Zhi that this was a dangerous thing. She absolutely must not let herself sink too deep, or the consequences might be no different from Xiao Fen's.