The Moment of Collapse

The IV fiasco had finally settled down. The new medicine dripped into her veins with a gurgle, bringing a trace of cool relief. Still shaken, Gu Yue decided to go all out. She turned her phone volume to maximum and played a tacky comedy video out loud, trying to drown out Tang Wulin's presence with sheer noise.

Tang Wulin huddled in the corner like a large dog that had done something wrong, listlessly scrolling through his phone. Every so often, he snuck a glance at Gu Yue, hoping to catch some sign that he could be forgiven.

Just then, his phone buzzed. It was a WeChat message from Xu Xiaoyan.

"Tang Wulin, why didn't Sister Gu Yue come to work today? Everyone in the group is guessing whether you two eloped. @Tang Wulin"

Tang Wulin's eyes lit up. He felt this was a perfect chance to divert Gu Yue's attention while proving that he was "always keeping track of his wife." He immediately unlocked his screen, opened the camera, chose an angle facing Gu Yue as she lay in bed watching videos, and prepared to take a photo of his "wife still looking beautiful despite being sick" (though he mainly wanted to show how diligently he was caring for her) to send over.

He adjusted the focus and framed the shot. Gu Yue was pursing her lips at something funny in the video, her profile soft and delicate. Though her complexion was still a little pale, she truly had a different sort of fragile beauty. Perfect!

Tang Wulin confidently pressed the shutter.

However, when he lowered his head to check the photo, his smile froze.

In the bottom-right corner of the photo, that damned transparent urine collection bag, complete with measurement markings, had been caught in the shot! And because of the composition, the bag full of liquid looked especially clear, conspicuous, and even somewhat... "artistic."

It's over... Tang Wulin's scalp went numb, and he instinctively wanted to delete it and retake the picture.

But it was already too late.

Xu Xiaoyan replied almost instantly.

Xu Xiaoyan's voice message came through his phone speaker. Since Tang Wulin had turned the volume all the way up while watching videos earlier, the voice message automatically played at full blast too—

"Pfft—HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Tang Wulin! What the heck did you send me?! That... that transparent bag next to Sister Gu Yue, what is that? Hahaha! It even has a tube! Are you two playing some kind of kinky game? Hahaha! I'm dead! I'm seriously dying of laughter! Sister Gu Yue actually... hahahahaha!"

Xu Xiaoyan's uncontrollable, broken bursts of laughter exploded through the quiet hospital room like an atomic bomb.

Gu Yue had been immersed in her video when the sudden, deafening laughter made her jolt. She turned her head in confusion toward Tang Wulin's phone screen, just in time to see the voice-message waveform bouncing wildly as Xu Xiaoyan's demonic laughter continued pouring out:

"HAHAHAHA! Tang Wulin, you're finished! You actually took a picture of Sister Gu Yue's... hahaha! Just wait for Sister Gu Yue to beat you to death! Hahaha! That bag looks so full! Tang Wulin, you actually dared to send it out! Hahaha!"

Gu Yue: "..."

She felt her blood rush to the top of her head in an instant, her face burning hot enough to fry an egg. Shame, fury, embarrassment, collapse... every emotion erupted like a volcano. The defensive mechanism she had painstakingly built to "block out Tang Wulin" had been blown to pieces by that voice message.

"Tang! Wu! Lin!"

Gu Yue shrieked and abruptly sat upright, her eyes wide as saucers and blazing with rage, as though she wanted to swallow Tang Wulin whole.

"You... you actually... actually took a picture?! And sent it to Xu Xiaoyan?! You even got that... that thing in the shot?!" Gu Yue's voice trembled with extreme humiliation and fury, her words tumbling over one another. "Has Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid soaked your brain rotten?! Did you deliberately want the whole world to know I have a catheter in me?!"

Tang Wulin's hand shook so badly that his phone nearly fell to the floor. He frantically tried to pause the voice message, but the more panicked he became, the less accurately he could tap. Xu Xiaoyan's wicked laughter continued: "...Sister Gu Yue, don't be mad, I didn't mean to laugh... hahahaha! I just can't hold it in! Tang Wulin, you're way too bold!"

"Shut up! Stop laughing!" Gu Yue roared at the air, though it was impossible to tell whether she was yelling at Xu Xiaoyan or Tang Wulin. Then she snatched Tang Wulin's phone and viciously hit delete, even wiping the chat history.

After doing all that, her chest heaved violently. She pointed at Tang Wulin, her finger trembling as if she had Parkinson's.

"Fine... fine, Tang Wulin! What a wonderful husband you are! First you force poison down my throat and make me get a tube put in, and now you take photos and send them to my best friend for her enjoyment, huh?!" Gu Yue was so furious that tears welled in her eyes, half from anger and half from shame.

"Wife, I'm sorry! I didn't do it on purpose! I really only wanted to take a picture of you! I didn't notice that corner!" Tang Wulin was scared out of his wits. He rushed over to hug her, only for Gu Yue to smack him away with one slap.

"Get away from me! Don't touch me!" Gu Yue grabbed a pillow and hurled it at him again. "I'm divorcing you right now! Immediately! At once! Give me back my salary, give me back my Huabei, and then go live with your urine bag!"

"Don't, wife! Darling! I was wrong! I'll call Xiaoyan right now and make her delete it! I'll send her a red packet to keep her quiet!" Tang Wulin clutched the pillow, sweating profusely as he tried to use money to salvage his dignity, though that dignity now looked utterly worthless.

"Too late! It's all too late!" Gu Yue was overcome with grief and indignation, speaking as fast as a machine gun. "Xu Xiaoyan has such a big mouth that within ten minutes, the whole company will know that I, Gu Yue, have a urinary catheter in at the hospital! How am I supposed to face anyone after this?! Tang Wulin, I hate you! I hate you to death!"

The more she spoke, the angrier she became, until she started blurting out anything that came to mind. "Don't you like looking at urine bags? Don't you think they're interesting? Fine! Then drink it! Drink all the urine inside! Not one drop left! It's your masterpiece! You should have a proper taste!"

Tang Wulin: "..." (His face instantly turned even paler than Gu Yue's.)

"Drink it! Why aren't you drinking?" Gu Yue advanced step by step like a cat with its fur standing on end. "Don't you want to inherit my Huabei? Drink this cup of 'special mixed beverage' first!"

"Wife, that really can't be drunk..." Tang Wulin backed away again and again, nearly crashing into the IV stand.

"Who's your wife?! I don't have a perverted husband like you!" Gu Yue grabbed the last throwable object within reach—the cup of warm water—and made as if to splash Tang Wulin with it. "Drink! Drink it for me!"

"Help! Murder! Patient family member abuse!" Tang Wulin fled with his head covered, hiding behind the nurses' station and drawing curious looks from several nurses on duty.

Gu Yue stood there holding the cup, panting heavily, her chest rising and falling violently. She looked at Tang Wulin's disheveled fleeing back, then at the needle in the back of her hand. Then she thought of Xu Xiaoyan's uncontrollable laughter, and that damned urine bag caught in the photo...