OSTAQT Chapter 4

Lian Yu pursed his lips, not even daring to blink. He gathered his courage to say that he truly didn’t want to eat, but he was interrupted by the man bending down to pick him up from the bed.

“…”

Cao Bin choked on nothing, instinctively looking out the window. Seeing that the sun was setting properly in the west instead of rising, he quickly grabbed Lian Yu’s bag to catch up with his boss who was already on his way out of the room with the boy in his arms. He heard the conversation between the aunt and her husband as he was passing by —

“What kind of person is that? He’s so scary…”

“Who knows, he looks like he’s a fierce one. That boy’s so young and he has such a good temper…”

“That little baby was so scared… like a quail…”

Indeed, like a quail, the little baby Lian Yu remained huddled in the man’s arms until they walked out of the hospital gates. He didn’t dare to speak or ask anything, silently allowing himself to be placed in a car. He simply watched the passing scenery, no idea what was about to happen¹If you get picked up by a random man and put in a car, struggle. Do not do what Lian Yu is doing lmao.

Wei Chenming spared Cao Bin no attention even if he kept glancing at them through the rearview mirror. He was about to move the boy, who had been lying quietly in his arms, to the seat beside himself.

However, maybe it was because he was nervous, or maybe he was scared; Lian Yu had grabbed on to his collar and hadn’t let go, staring out the window of the car blankly.

“…” Wei Chenming looked down, glancing at the small hand gripping his collar. Seeing the bruise from the IV, he stopped moving.

The city lights flickered as they passed, grabbing Lian Yu’s attention. When he came to his senses, he realized that the car was driving farther and farther away from the city center, towards the more rural region. The shadows of the trees outside frightened him.

The sound of a vibrating phone finally pushed Lian Yu to sit down on the seat himself, pushing his back tightly against the backrest and afraid of looking at the man next to him who had answered his phone.

“Wei-xiaozi²This is a way of addressing a younger man, usually from a senior to a (male) junior.…” an elderly man’s voice sounded from the phone. “Does the child with the congenitally weak heart you mentioned have any other symptoms?”

Cao Bin glanced at the mirror once more to see the pale boy lift his head, eyes shining with hope, and he couldn’t help smiling.

“Low body temperature, weak immune system, and insufficient blood supply.”

The moonlight shining in through the window swayed with each tree the car passed, illuminating the man’s cold face quickly before disappearing once more. It made it hard to discern what expression was on his face.

“Uh-huh, anything else?”

“He has a low fever, and he faints easily,” Wei Chenming answered, voice still calm.

“Ah? Didn’t Cao Bin say he pulled both of you out of the car? How could he have gotten the strength with all these symptoms?”

Lian Yu nervously swallowed, fists clenching against his knees, his heart once more pounding in his chest.

“Is it treatable?” Wei Chenming interrupted, frowning slightly.

“What are you even talking about?” the old man asked, voice rising. “Bring him over, I’ll see to him myself!”

Wei Chenming pulled his phone away from his ear, turning his head to look at the boy staring up at him with bright eyes. “Do you want to go?”

Cao Bin rolled his eyes, thinking, You brought him to your car and now you think to ask? Hypocritical of you, isn’t it?

“Go, of course I’ll go!” Lian Yu answered desperately, nodding his head enthusiastically.

“En,” Wei Chenming answered, much calmer in comparison. He brought his phone closer to his mouth and said, “you heard him. Goodbye,” before hanging up.

Cao Bin could only imagine how the old man on the other end of the line must have flown into a rage. He wanted to laugh and tease Wei Chenming about it, but a glance at the rearview mirror caused him to feel like his throat closed up out of nowhere, so he just stared straight ahead without saying a word.

By god, did I see wrong? The kid in the backseat is actually crying!

Droplets brightened by the moon fell in the shadows. Lian Yu reached up to touch the sudden coldness on his cheek.

Surprised to find himself crying, he finally noticed the discomfort in his chest; his other hand came up to his collar as he continued to wipe his tears from his face.

Wei Chenming sat beside him in silence, his deep gaze betraying no emotion.

Cao Bin, who knew the whole story, bit his lip in silence, not knowing how to comfort the child.

This young man has probably never experienced kindness except from the poor old man who adopted him.

Cao Bin couldn’t help the pang of bitterness that hit him as he remembered the manager’s report on the results of his investigation. Who would have ever imagined that the one person who noticed the danger, who saved the lives of the driver and Wei Chenming, would be a child who had just turned eighteen years old?

Boss Wei had come to the southern branch alone to attend a meeting for an upcoming project. The issues that should have been resolved a long time ago only reached conclusion yesterday, after which the branch manager had asked the driver to accompany the boss to the nearest city to rest.

However, due to the heavy rains from the past few days, the soil on the mountain had softened, and the passing car was caught in a resulting landslide. Both driver and passenger lost consciousness due to the impact while the continuous flow of mud completely covered the car.

So, on a mountain road where there was little passing traffic, no one thought or expected that a car would be buried under a landslide, and two lives were silently passing with time.

And then someone, by some miracle, found them.

He dug into the mud until he reached the vehicle, managed to pry the door open, and pulled both would-be victims out of danger before himself losing consciousness. Even emergency personnel who responded to the call, experienced as they were, were surprised at the burst of strength it must have taken to pull off the feat.

A representative from the southern branch arrived just as the driver recovered, and after finding out the location of the accident, they had gone to the mountain town mentioned in the hospital’s intake registry to inquire about the young man.

The answers to their questions shocked them both.

A child, abandoned since birth, was adopted by a passing trader and raised on this mountain town alone. He suffered from a rare heart disease and hadn’t attended school in years. After the death of his only ‘family’, the young man decided to leave his small hometown and try his luck in the big city to find a better life.

Perhaps it was this strong desire for survival that allowed him to notice something that many wouldn’t, discover a buried vehicle, and successfully rescue people who had nothing to do with him at all.

Despite the risk of getting crushed. Despite the danger that his heart might not be able to withstand the strain.

They felt nothing but pity for this child as they read his medical records and went through the scant documents that were in his backpack. They had no idea how someone with such a frail body could gather the courage to step away from the safety of the town he had grown up in.

His fragile heart might not have let him get far.

But Cao Bin still understood that this child named Lian Yu didn’t want to keep living in his small room, learning nothing and doing nothing, only to silently disappear from the world at the end of it.

Lian Yu didn’t want that life; he wanted to live, and he wanted to live well.

When they arrived at their destination and the car had come to a full stop, Cao Bin let out a long breath, glancing at Lian Yu in the backseat who looked just like a rabbit after he cried. He left the car and moved to open the door for Wei Chenming, who once more took the boy into his arms.

The boy, eyes red, was once more carried out of the car in his daze, not reacting even after he was put in a helicopter³AGAIN. If a strange man carries you and takes you to a helicopter, STRUGGLE!!!. It wasn’t until he was fully settled in that he snapped out of it, looking around at the strange interior of the aircraft with his eyes wide open, his tears completely gone.

What an easily coaxed child.

It wasn’t until the helicopter was gearing to take off that Lian Yu, fitted with an oxygen mask, learned from Cao Bin that the original plan was to take a charter flight to the border. That plan was scrapped due to his heart issues⁴Although patients with heart disease can generally fly, they must first be cleared by their healthcare providers as high altitudes cause pulmonary vasoconstriction, therefore lowering blood oxygenation which may lead to further complications., and because time was of the essence in fully understanding his condition, it was critical that he saw Dr. He as soon as possible. The only other choice they had left was to take the helicopter that was usually used to deliver supplies.

Now knowing that it was “his fault”, Lian Yu lowered his head out of embarrassment, only now realizing that he was still in his hospital gown, without even shoes.

No wonder the man insisted on carrying him around; he’s been dressed like this the entire time!

Now extremely embarrassed, Lian Yu’s face warmed, and his head buzzed. Although he had taken a nap and he shouldn’t be feeling so sleepy so soon, especially with how loud the helicopter was, he found himself falling asleep barely half an hour into the flight. It might have been because of shame, or maybe it was being in flight, but he fell asleep.

After what felt like a long time and no time at all, he was woken up and handfed medicine, before strong arms picked him up again, only to be put down on a soft, warm bed.

He heard an old, unfamiliar voice complaining in anger, saying, How could you let him end up like this? Leave him and get out of here, but he was too out of it to fully understand what was happening. He only felt warm fingers gripping his, working at loosening his hold on… something.

…he seemed to have grabbed the man’s collar again.

Lian Yu slept longer this time, waking up every now and then only to fall back asleep without becoming fully alert. He soon realized that the power he’d managed to muster wasn’t enough for a full ‘merge’, therefore his illness had worsened.

When he was finally alert enough to sit up and drink water by himself, he met his attending doctor, Dr. He, who told him that he was currently in a private research and development center in a northeastern border town.

The man who brought him here, Wei Chenming, currently 28 years old, was a genius who had taken his doctorate overseas. He was both a shareholder of this center and a researcher of several high-end technologies. He was, however, more known for his genius in development more than his academic qualifications.

While everyone might find him impressive, the old Dr. He had complaints about him, ranting to Lian Yu about this “faulty Wei”⁵It took me a while to find a way to translate this in a way that makes sense. The raw is “魏不是”, “Wèi bùshì”, with 不是 being used as a nickname/descriptor for Wei Chenming. Literally, it means “not”, but context-wise it’s referring to Wei Chenming who is not [obedient] without… you know, making the nickname clunky as heck. who refused to follow doctors’ orders.

What kind of researcher pays no mind to safety? Doesn’t care when he’s reprimanded? Has such a bad temper? Leads his team into desperate straits just to complete a project overnight?

There were all kinds of complaints from Dr. He. Lian Yu, listening intently, also learned about Wei Chenming’s background from the barrage of words.

Wei Chenming was also an orphan.

Born into a prominent family in the capital, he was introverted and distant, even as child; when his parents died, they left him with an inheritance that would have been more than enough to provide for him his entire life.

But this man wasn’t content to enjoy his life in peace as a second-generation master; with his gifts and talents, he studied until he got his doctoral degree from abroad, before returning to the country to co-found this research and development center with the help of Lin Shu, a friend of his father’s.

Perhaps the saying that time makes heroes was true. With the reforms that were happening, the equipment developed by the center quickly improved civilian lives, pioneering improvements until it was where it was today, standing firmly at the top. 

But it still doesn’t seem to be enough, as Mr. Wei continued to polish and develop each project like the workaholic that he was, going as far as to torture everyone in the center into baldness until he got the results he wanted.

Mr. Lin, as his partner and the general manager, regularly received angry complaints from his employees. But of course, no matter how angry they felt or how filled with righteous indignation, these complaints remained quiet; there was no other choice, as everyone was afraid of Bigshot Wei.

So when Bigshot Wei, who acted like he taught the devil of its evil ways, suddenly informed them that he was bringing with someone for former national Doctor He to treat, it caused an immediate uproar among everyone in the center.

• 1
  If you get picked up by a random man and put in a car, struggle. Do not do what Lian Yu is doing lmao
• 2
  This is a way of addressing a younger man, usually from a senior to a (male) junior.
• 3
  AGAIN. If a strange man carries you and takes you to a helicopter, STRUGGLE!!!
• 4
  Although patients with heart disease can generally fly, they must first be cleared by their healthcare providers as high altitudes cause pulmonary vasoconstriction, therefore lowering blood oxygenation which may lead to further complications.
• 5
  It took me a while to find a way to translate this in a way that makes sense. The raw is “魏不是”, “Wèi bùshì”, with 不是 being used as a nickname/descriptor for Wei Chenming. Literally, it means “not”, but context-wise it’s referring to Wei Chenming who is not [obedient] without… you know, making the nickname clunky as heck.