The moment he heard the apology, Wu Tianzhen's burning rage was instantly extinguished.
He was about to transform into a fire-breathing dragon, but this sudden apology felt like several ice cubes were shoved into his throat, freezing all his anxious emotions solid.
"Ah, this, this is nothing!" Noticing Zhang Qiling's gaze, he quickly covered the bruise on his wrist as if scalded.
Zhang Qiling was momentarily bewildered by this obvious attempt to conceal, paused for a second, and opened his mouth to say something, only to be directly silenced by a piece of fruit from Wu Tianzhen.
At first glance, the fruit looked no different from an apple, but upon tasting it, it was more like a banana. Zhang Qiling chewed slowly, finding it rather peculiar, and decided not to say anything further.
Only then did Wu Tianzhen breathe a sigh of relief.
For some reason, he couldn't stand hearing Zhang Qiling apologize; it made him feel utterly uncomfortable.
Thinking back, it was probably a sense of contradiction at play.
A group stained with blood cheered for victory, while the wounded innocent apologized from their hospital beds. This extreme conflict created a sense of unease that made him restless.
...As for the bruise.
Wu Tianzhen stole a glance at the still-obvious thin ligature marks around Zhang Qiling's neck and turned his face away guiltily.
...Wait, if he thought about it carefully, did this mean he, Wu Tianzhen, had fought Zhang Qiling to a draw?
Wu Tianzhen: (Suddenly perked up)
With this inexplicable excitement, he sat down and, along with Fatty, proceeded to feed Zhang Qiling half a basin of fruit.
Zhang Qiling showed no signs of refusal to the endless fruit offerings. He merely slowed down his chewing, his expression remaining as placid as ever.
Then, Wu Tianzhen and Fatty's revelry was interrupted by a doctor on rounds.
"What are you two family members doing?!" The old doctor in the white coat, holding a report, paused his writing hand on the paper in shock.
He looked at the empty fruit basin and then estimated the amount of fruit Zhang Qiling had consumed, his expression gradually contorting.
"...The patient just woke up and shouldn't be eating this much fruit. You are simply, simply—"
The doctor was so angry he was gasping for breath, his white hair trembling like reeds by the shore in a strong wind due to his extreme agitation. Fatty and Wu Tianzhen watched nervously, fearing the old doctor might collapse.
Fortunately, the doctor was still quite robust. After holding his breath for a long time, he managed to calm himself down.
Then, the doctor mercilessly confiscated Zhang Qiling's meticulously prepared lunch and, with a flourish, prescribed numerous bitter-tasting medicinal soups.
Wu Tianzhen and Fatty: ...
They stared blankly at the bowl of dark, strangely-scented medicinal liquid and swallowed in unison.
"Damn it, what the hell is this stuff?!" Fatty whispered to Wu Tianzhen, pinching his nose. "Damn it, at first whiff, Fatty thought I was back in a pile of coffins. They really captured the essence of corpse oil!"
"Stop talking, or I'll throw up from remembering," Wu Tianzhen replied hoarsely, his expression contorted as he picked up the medicine bowl.
Both of them felt extremely guilty, believing their actions had made Zhang Qiling's already uncomfortable hospital stay even worse.
But Zhang Qiling still said nothing.
His amnesia seemed to have given him a "docile" buff. Ever since he woke up, he rarely refused Wu Tianzhen and Fatty's requests.
This was also the case when facing the medicine bowl. The bitter medicine that neither Wu Tianzhen nor Fatty wanted to even smell, he merely glanced at, identified, and then swallowed in one gulp without changing his expression. When he put down the bowl, not a drop had stained his lips; he looked remarkably decisive and neat.
Wu Tianzhen, holding tissues, and Fatty, holding preserved fruit, were stunned, unsure whether to put down what they were holding.
"Good heavens, what kind of skill is this?" Fatty exclaimed. "Could it be that along with his memory, Brother Xiao also lost his sense of taste?"
Wu Tianzhen, however, accepted it readily. He had always had a rather biased view of Zhang Qiling: "Don't talk nonsense. Maybe Brother Xiao just isn't afraid of bitterness?"
...After all, thinking about it, a six-foot-tall, cold, and cool guy who could punch you to oblivion might naturally be associated with not being afraid of bitter medicine.
But just as the two were lost in their own thoughts, a clear, cool voice rang out—
"Bitter."
Zhang Qiling stared steadily at the preserved fruit in Fatty's hand. His eyes showed no fluctuation, but to Wu Tianzhen and Fatty, his serene face seemed to be written with two big characters.
The left one read [Control], and the right one read [Complaint].
Wu Tianzhen and Fatty: ...
Fatty almost prostrated himself in worship, offering the preserved fruit with both hands. He berated himself for his lack of foresight, for making the divine Zhang Kaiyan speak up and remind him.
To atone for his mistake, after popping the preserved fruit into his mouth, he directly took out the entire remaining bag, determined to ensure there was no more bitterness in Zhang Qiling's mouth through his own efforts.
But clearly, Xiao Zhang was not as unrestrained as Fatty.
He slowly finished the preserved fruit in his mouth, took a sip of water, and then lay down.
Wu Tianzhen and Fatty watched him close his eyes, tucking himself into the quilt. He didn't seem bothered by the wrinkles beneath the covers and remained motionless, still.
After a few minutes, the two, not daring to breathe loudly, finally confirmed that Zhang Qiling had entered a dormant state.
Gently closing the door, the two who had come out into the corridor finally dared to make a sound.
"Whoa, Brother Xiao has good sleep quality," Fatty chuckled. "Honestly, Fatty feels like Brother Xiao is quite easy to manage now. He does whatever he's told, tsk tsk tsk."
"...I feel the same, but this might not be a good thing," Wu Tianzhen said with some worry. The moment he thought about how the Zhang family had lured Zhang Qiling away, he couldn't help but put on a pained expression.
But with Zhang Qiling asleep again, they finally had some private space to communicate details carefully.
"Fatty, have you noticed something missing from Brother Xiao?"
Wu Tianzhen spoke slowly, his expression extremely serious. This made Fatty put away his playful expression. However, he scratched his head, unable to recall what was missing.
"...Ah? What's missing?" He racked his brain, from Zhang Qiling's hair to his thick, warm boots, but in the end, he could only shrug in defeat.
"It's normal that you can't remember. We were all focused on Brother Xiao's physical condition, and I hadn't noticed that detail," Wu Tianzhen slowly organized his thoughts. "But just now, because of Brother Xiao's amnesia, I suddenly thought of the Bronze Gate—"
"Holy crap!" Fatty suddenly realized, almost shouting, but glancing around cautiously, he suppressed it to a whisper. "I remember now! The Ghost Seal that Brother Xiao always cherished is gone!"
"Yes, that's the one." Wu Tianzhen didn't say more. After learning more about the Zhang family's style from Zhang Haike, he now felt that the surroundings were filled with the Zhang family's informants.
"...I don't know if it was destroyed or what," Wu Tianzhen thought of that massive door. "If that was the key, then I can only hope that since it has disappeared, it will never appear again."