Chapter Ch65.1 - I’ve got this Undercover Agent’s back (4)
Chapter 65.1 – I’ve Got This Undercover Agent’s Back (4)
Liang Xia: ?!
Liang Xia felt that his teacher had changed.
The doctor in the room looked young. His dark eyes looked between the two, showing a bit of surprise. He couldn’t help but ease his expression.
At least it’s not the old director. When he catches people, he lectures them until they are unable to tell which way is up. Liang Xia breathed a sigh of relief and turned sideways to slip into the hospital room. Just as he was about to laugh it off, the young doctor, who seemed to be about his age, nodded to Gu Pingming. He praised him warmly, and gave him a candy from his pocket as a reward.
Seeing that doctor actually raise his hand to grip Gu Pingming’s arm, Liang Xia’s heart gave a jump. He hurriedly spoke up to warn him, “Doctor, wait-”
Gu Pingming had his own way of thinking. He carried an uninhibited gangster aura around him. He looked easy to get along with but inside he was wary of people. If he was touched casually like this, he might be tempted to throw you over his shoulder.
Liang Xia was helped by him once, at the beginning, but this didn’t mean that he got to know the other smoothly. It took several days of him standing in the snow at the gate of Cheng's house, before he finally got Gu Pingming to take pity on him and give him guidance. These days, they had finally established some tacit revolutionary-fate friendship due to hiding cigarettes and sneaking out of the hospital. He finally got rid of the treatment of being pinned on the table by the shoulder every time he inadvertently invaded the other’s personal space.
The doctor in front of him didn’t look familiar. He was probably new here, not yet aware of these inexplicable habits of Gu Pingming’s.
Liang Xia, afraid that he would hurl the doctor away, pulled his sleeve to stop him. However, Gu Pingming’s demeanor had already completely changed to a gentle appearance. He even took the initiative to raise his hand to take the candy.
“Did you sleep well? Are you hungry yet?”
Contrary to his perceptions, Gu Pingming’s entire body showed a positive attitude. He peeled off the wrapper of the candy and bit down on it with a crunch. He handed over the cake in his hand, and leaned over a little to speak tenderly.
“I brought you lunch at noon. I saw you sleeping and couldn’t bring myself to wake you up. I don’t know if it’s still any good. If you can eat, keep it. Remember to eat it if you’re hungry during your shift ……”
Liang Xia: “&#k2026;&#k2026;”
Liang Xia felt that his teacher might have injured his brain again.
“I slept well and ate the lunch you left me.”
Lu Baiyu blinked, and answered the question, lightly smiling. He pocketed the pack of cigarettes and looked at Liang Xia, who was at the side, neither standing nor sitting. “Is he your friend?”
With the protagonist present, the main plotline can’t be completely reversed. Even if he manages to avoid it, the world itself will automatically correct to redirect the plot back on its original course.
Meeting the protagonist so early in this world gave him a sense of urgency about the next task.
“Don’t mind him, he never has anything serious to talk about.”
Gu Pingming turned back and waved him away. He carefully scrutinized Lu Baiyu’s face for a while. Seeing that his eyes were shining brightly, he finally felt completely at ease. “Going back to work? Is the internship also this busy?”
“I’m going back and turn in my shift. I also have to finalize details for your rehab plan for tomorrow.”
Lu Baiyu nodded with a smile. Looking at Liang Xia’s almost overflowing desire to speak again, he didn’t continue to delay. He waved his phone in front of him. “There are a few patients that I need to handle. I won’t be coming over tonight. I’ll come to you tomorrow morning, and we will start with the new rehab program.”
… …
Meeting Gu Pingming’s eyes, Liang Xia felt an unexpected chill down his back. He understood immediately why and raised his hand to speak, “I won’t take the whole night, I’ll leave in half an hour! Ten minutes will do!”
“I know, I’m the one with a lot of things going on.”
Lu Baiyu couldn’t help but smile lightly, patiently responding with a slight nod towards this inexplicably seemingly oppressed protagonist. Taking out two more pieces of candy and placing them in Gu Pingming’s palm, he specifically instructed, “Don’t go to sleep too late, rest well.”
There were a few cases among the emergency patients last night that weren’t so simple. While not under his supervision, they still needed to be taken care of as well. Today, he needed to hand over the detailed shift, to check on the patient’s recovery, and to implement Gu Pingming’s new rehab plan into the various concerned departments. There wasn’t quite enough time in one night.
Fortunately, he only chose to intern as an attending physician. If he had been a level higher, he wouldn’t even know how many more patient rooms he would have look after.
Gu Pingming had been in the hospital for a little over half a year. He naturally knew how busy the doctors were. Nodding at what he heard, he no longer delayed him and only pressed gently on his back. “You too.”
Although the injury wasn’t as good as healed yet, the palm covering his back was still as thick and solid as before. Lu Baiyu smiled and nodded gently. Carrying the bag of cake snacks, he quickly headed back to his office.
The white-clad figure completely disappeared outside the door. Gu Pingming stood there for a while, squeezing the candy’s wrapper. He used his fingertips to flatten it out, and put it between the pages of the closed book on the table.
Lu Baiyu had tidied up the room for him before leaving. The bed quilt was neatly folded, the things on the table were also properly arranged. Obviously they were still the same things, but now they created a warm and peaceful atmosphere.
The bottom of his eyes were dipped in warmth. The corners of Gu Pingming’s lips ticked up, his palm sweeping over the neatly arranged color-coded books on the table. “What’s the matter?”
“Brother Gu, do you know anyone from over there?”
Seeing him return to his usual manner whenever they interacted, Liang Xia was relieved. Dragging a chair to sit down and lowering his voice, “Recently, someone has been asking about you, saying that you still owe them something. There were people hanging around the rehabilitation center these last two days – did you provoke anyone there?”
“Around here?”
Gu Pingming frowned slightly. His heart sank.
The “over there” that Liang Xia was talking about was where he was sent undercover since he graduated from the police academy. It’s a world that was completely different from the peaceful and happy world in the eyes of ordinary people.
He had been there for seven years. He didn’t just know them, practically half of the bigshots there recognize him and have had dealings with him.
The undercover mission was aborted due to his injuries. But the situation back then was too chaotic to successfully extricate himself without a deadly escape. When he awoke from his coma, everyone on either side knew that he had survived, having narrowly escaped death.
The two sides had been fighting for so many years, and neither side was stupid. If a living man suddenly disappeared completely, he would be identified as a police’s undercover the moment they turn around. If he didn’t get off cleanly enough, he would immediately be subjected to a storm of brutal retaliation.
In order not to alert their suspicions, he could only settle down with his fabricated identity. When his body has completely recovered and the preparations have been completed by the higher ups, he would take the opportunity to get himself out of the situation, either by accepting a new assignment or leaving this place for good.
From the time of his injury until now, he had remained hidden without revealing his identity. Even Liang Xia only knew that he had a secret past that was unknown to the public, never pursuing it deeper.
Those people’s revenge tactics were something he had seen before, not only him, but everyone around him could be used to threaten him. Now that even people were nosing around near the rehabilitation center, there was no telling what would happen if Lu Baiyu became involved.
“Yeah, I just came after them.”
Liang Xia scratched his head and nodded in response. He tried sneaking off to get the candy he had placed on the table. “But they don’t have a visiting pass. They can only wander outside the building. They should still not be able to come up ……”
Gu Pingming slapped his hand away, taking the two candies into his palm with a flip of his wrist and pocketing them. “I don’t know anyone from there. Maybe it’s not for me. Don’t worry about them.”
Stingy!
Liang Xia screamed in his heart, but he could only resign himself to his fate, suffering in silence. He rubbed the back of his red hand. “Fine, fine. It’s none of my business.– Brother Gu, last time you said that based on footprints, you could identify the suspect’s physical height. Can you tell me more specifically ……”
He and Gu Pingming were just casual acquaintances, but he unintentionally discovered that Gu Pingming was almost like a natural treasure trove, full of criminal investigation experience never taught in the police academy! So he rushed up to learn something every time and only gave up pestering him when he did.
His little doctor won’t come to check on him tonight. Gu Pingming clutched the two pieces of candy in his pocket and sighed softly. He solicitously made some space for him at his desk.
… …
By the time Liang Xia left, satisfied, the sky was already darkening.
Only when he had disappeared out of the gates of the center did Gu Pingming brace himself and stand up. His gaze fell on the edge of the table, and after a moment’s hesitation, he took the cane he had placed in the corner.
He’d been a little anxious about today’s rehab, adding a whole set of exercises. He still felt the aches and pains, weakness coming from his body. It would be much better to have a cane to support his body if the occasion called for it.
Liang Xia didn’t know anything. Every time he came to him it was using his own private identity. It probably wouldn’t be enough to leak his identity. But using people close to him to threaten him was the most common tactic used by those people. Once someone had doubts about his identity, it would affect Lu Baiyu sooner or later. It seemed necessary for him to take a personal trip to resolve the matter, before it became more troublesome.
Sneaking out of the rehab center was no trouble. When the last wave of nurses on rounds left, Gu Pingming changed his clothes and left the room without a word.