Chapter 288 — Hearts in Tune

"Boss, what's Zhong Yongliang doing? Performing acrobatics? Why do I get the feeling his hand's been trained in the Six Meridians Divine Sword? It can even spray blood?" Kang Xiaobo looked at Zhong Yongliang with sympathy. How could this guy be so unlucky? Even writing a blood letter, he couldn't stop bleeding.

"Heh, who knows. They say when a person gets worked up, his blood circulation speeds up. That's probably it." Wei Zhao shrugged, the picture of innocence.

The business of Zhong Yongliang's blood letter turned into a farce, and word of it spread until everyone knew. It seemed that Zhong Yongliang's finger being able to spray blood drew more attention than the earlier news that he meant to write a blood letter at all.

"What kind of rotten idea did you cook up? My blood letter isn't even written yet, and in a minute I'll bleed to death!" Zhong Yongliang felt his head swimming, his steps unsteady; he nearly went sprawling face-first in the dirt.

"Brother Liang, you just cut a little slit in your hand, and on your finger at that. By rights it shouldn't be anything at all!" Gao Xiaofu sounded aggrieved. "Brother Liang, back when we used to fight, it's not like we never split our hands open. We've had worse wounds than this, but when did it ever bleed like today?"

"That's true..." Zhong Yongliang thought it over at Gao Xiaofu's words, and it did make sense. He'd cut his hands plenty of times before, more times than he could count growing up, and had far worse wounds—yet never had it bled outward like this... And bleeding? This wasn't bleeding, it was spurting!

"Brother Liang, that brat Wei Zhao came by earlier. Could he have done something?" Gao Xiaofu said, sounding suspicious.

"Wei Zhao... but no matter how capable the kid is, he can't control my bleeding, can he?" Zhong Yongliang shook his head, not quite believing Wei Zhao had that kind of ability. If a person could control the blood in someone else's body, was he even human?

"True..." Gao Xiaofu shook his head too, mocking himself for being so jumpy. Was he really that afraid of Wei Zhao? Afraid to the point of suspecting him of something this bizarre?

"Forget it, let's get to the hospital. If we don't go now, I won't be able to walk soon!" Zhong Yongliang shook his head, refusing to think about Wei Zhao. That guy was practically his nemesis—every time he saw him, he had bad luck!

Zhong Yongliang didn't believe Wei Zhao had the power to make his hand spurt blood, but he did feel that it was because Wei Zhao had, by some unlucky coincidence, come over and taken a look at him, that misfortune had landed on him!

"Huh? Brother Liang, your hand doesn't seem to be bleeding anymore..." Gao Xiaofu looked down and was startled to find that at some point Zhong Yongliang's hand had stopped spurting blood and gone back to normal.

"Hm?" Zhong Yongliang was startled too. He looked at his finger, which had somehow already dried, and blinked. "It's fine?"

"Seems like it..." Gao Xiaofu nodded.

"No way?" Zhong Yongliang raised his hand doubtfully and studied his finger, but no matter how he looked at it, left or right, there was nothing wrong with it. He could only shake his head helplessly. "It really is fine! I don't know what happened just now. Maybe it was overnutrition—too much blood in my body, so it automatically let some out!"

That was the only explanation Zhong Yongliang could come up with, because he had no other way to explain it.

"Brother Liang, so are we still going to the hospital?" Gao Xiaofu asked.

"Going to the hospital, my ass. So people can laugh at us?" Zhong Yongliang shook his head. "Come on, let's go back!"

Though Zhong Yongliang turned around and came back quickly enough, his farce had still spread through the school, and it made him feel thoroughly humiliated. But there was nothing he could do about it. He'd been humiliated plenty of times already; one more didn't matter.

At noon, Wei Zhao and Kang Xiaobo left the classroom together. "Boss, Liu Xinwen and I have already arranged it—for the next while, we're going to the hospital every noon and after school to look after Xiaofen. You coming?"

"I'll pass." Wei Zhao thought of his date with Tang Yun. This little girl was asking him to eat with her for the first time! Of course, Tang's mother's invitation earlier didn't count.

"Oh... huh? Boss, Tang Yun's coming too?" Kang Xiaobo arrived at the spot where he and Liu Xinwen met every day, only to see Liu Xinwen and Tang Yun standing together.

Wei Zhao was a little taken aback as well. He walked over and said, "Tang Yun, weren't you looking for me? Why are you going to the hospital too?"

"I... I braised some chicken wings and brought them for you all to try... Let's eat them together at the hospital..." Tang Yun blushed a little. In truth, she had made them especially for Wei Zhao; but thinking that Xiaofen was still in the hospital, she hadn't the heart to eat them all herself, so she'd decided to take them along and share.

"No way? What a coincidence—the boss brought shark meat too!" Kang Xiaobo was startled, and he waved the lunchbox in his hand.

"Shark meat?" Liu Xinwen and Tang Yun were both taken aback. "Where did shark meat come from?"

"Oh, I bought it yesterday and grilled some. There's shark fin too," Wei Zhao explained. "I'd split it into two boxes—one for Kang Xiaobo to take to the hospital, and one for Tang Yun. But since we're all going to the hospital, let's just eat it together."

"This one box is already a lot," Kang Xiaobo said, jiggling the box in his hand. "Boss, why don't you take your box home to sister-in-law! The five of us can't possibly finish that much!"

"That works too. Tang Yun, then you take it home for your uncle and aunt to try." Wei Zhao handed the lunchbox in his hand to Tang Yun.

Kang Xiaobo's calling her "sister-in-law" made Tang Yun a little embarrassed. She took the lunchbox Wei Zhao offered with a shy fidget, secretly delighted. Who would have thought things would line up so neatly? She'd made something good thinking of him, and he'd been thinking of her too—did that count as two hearts beating as one?

A girl in love always loves these lovely fantasies. Wei Zhao's casual gesture made Tang Yun very happy. Especially when she heard there was shark fin in it... that was something expensive, wasn't it? Her father and mother had probably never tasted it. Perfect—she'd take it home for them to try...

The four of them happened to flag down a taxi. Given Tang Yun's and Liu Xinwen's temperaments, they naturally couldn't bear to spend the money, but Wei Zhao insisted, and after he explained, they stopped refusing.

Wei Zhao's explanation was simple: from the school to the hospital, the bus cost two yuan per person, while the taxi—just the fare—was only ten yuan. Two yuan more, that was all. Why bother with the bus?

Tang Yun and Liu Xinwen both blushed at that. It seemed they were both so used to being poor that they'd grown a little petty, unable to work out even the simplest bit of arithmetic.

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