Discharged

In the original novel, Wei Zexuan had deliberately had "Shi Yuan" dragged to a bar the night before the wedding. After a night of chaos, Shi Yuan had appeared at the wedding the next day with his clothes in disarray, reeking so strongly of alcohol that everyone kept their distance.

The wedding was ruined, but Wei Zelin had carried on chatting and socializing with the guests as though he hadn't noticed the other groom's disgraceful state.

Shi Yuan had thoroughly humiliated himself. He hadn't dared trouble Wei Zexuan, so after moving into the Wei Family's old residence, he had made life difficult for Wei Zelin every day. At Wei Zexuan's urging, he had done everything he could to humiliate Wei Zelin, even sleeping with other people and sending Wei Zelin voice messages and videos of it.

Of course, his ending hadn't been much better than that of Wei Zexuan and his father. Since he enjoyed playing around so much, Wei Zelin had found a few thugs to "play" with him. In the end, the original owner of this body had been sent abroad, where he had "accidentally" become addicted to Immortal Powder and spent the rest of his life in the Rehabilitation Center.

As Shi Yuan recalled the novel's contents, he figured that he must currently be at the point in the timeline when the wedding took place. As for why he had ended up here, he suspected something had gone wrong with the world's timeline.

"Shi Yuan" had indeed gone drinking at a bar last night, but the place had been crowded and chaotic. Someone had accidentally bumped into him, sending him plunging headfirst into the sharp corner of a table and killing him on the spot. The one who woke up afterward was Shi Yuan, a soul from another world.

Once words on a page became a real, functioning world, events wouldn't necessarily follow those cold, lifeless words to the letter.

Having transmigrated at this particular point, Shi Yuan could barely make a move. The Shi Family was sorting out the company's debts and still needed the Wei Family's connections to deal with the banks.

The Wei Family wanted him to remain married to Wei Zelin so they could find an opportunity to carry out their plan to absorb the Shi Family's business. Neither family would agree to a divorce, and the opinions of the two men themselves carried no weight.

Thinking about everything at stake, then recalling the oppressive atmosphere of the Wei Family in the novel, Shi Yuan felt his head ache terribly. He couldn't help reaching out to press the call button.

Before long, two nurses came in. Seeing that Shi Yuan was awake, one of them hurried out to fetch the doctor. While he waited, Shi Yuan drifted groggily back to sleep.

When he woke again, there was not only a doctor and two nurses beside him, but also a tall, broad-built man standing a little farther away, watching him. Shi Yuan estimated that he was at least six foot one.

"Awake?" The doctor wrote smoothly in the medical chart he held as he instructed Shi Yuan, "You were lucky to survive this time. That spot at the back of your skull is extremely dangerous. Your heart stopped while I was trying to save you last night. You mustn't drink like that again."

Hadn't the original owner died right there on the operating table? Shi Yuan nodded solemnly. "Thank you, doctor. I've really learned my lesson this time." His lips were pale and slightly chapped, and his voice was soft and hoarse. He looked utterly pitiful.

The doctor sighed faintly. Every patient who came to the hospital made promises like that. Who knew what they would do once they left? He was only fulfilling his duty as a doctor.

"Family member? Hello, family member! I'm talking to you!" the doctor called to the tall man.

"The patient can drink water now. Give him some. Can't you see his lips are chapped?"

The man wore a white shirt and black dress pants, with silver-rimmed glasses perched on his high, straight nose. His lips were rather thin, their corners slightly upturned. The glasses softened his cool, handsome face, while his smile made him look gentle and harmless.

He acknowledged the doctor's instructions. After offering a few more reminders, the doctor left the room with the nurses.

Shi Yuan was staying in a premium hospital room equipped with everything he could need. The man took the glass from the bedside, filled it at the water dispenser in the room, and set it beside Shi Yuan's bed.

Shi Yuan wanted to get on good terms with this dangerous man, who might well be his husband. But no sooner had the glass been set down than the man stepped back, turned around, and headed for the door.

"Hey? Hey!" His calls didn't slow the man's steps in the slightest.

Shi Yuan could only lie back down slowly by himself. Sigh. Sure enough, winning him over won't be easy. The original owner left him with far too bad an impression.

Shi Yuan stayed in the hospital for over a month. During that time, the man he suspected was Wei Zelin never came again. Two of the original owner's disreputable friends did drop by when they had nothing better to do, but they were minor characters who hadn't even been named in the novel. Afraid of giving himself away, Shi Yuan hadn't said much to them. Instead, they mocked him for looking down on his friends now that he had married into the Wei Family above his station. With nothing to say in response, Shi Yuan played dumb and drove off his so-called friends in a huff.

After the original owner and Wei Zelin registered their marriage, the Wei Family's money had arrived in the Shi Family company's account. Shi's Father was busy handling the debts. Despite his son's serious injury, he hadn't even come to visit, making only two brief phone calls.

Shi Yuan could have been discharged to recuperate at home as soon as his stitches were removed, yet now there wasn't even anyone to handle the discharge paperwork for him.

Before the accident, the original owner had been practically penniless. Aside from a phone and a few empty bank cards, Shi Yuan didn't even have the money to get himself discharged. He could only hope that Shi's Father would remember him once he finished his work and come take him home.

"Dad, are you still too busy? The doctor says staying here any longer is taking up public resources. Why don't you send Secretary Li to pick me up?" Shi Yuan rubbed the prickly short hair on his head as he called Shi's Father helplessly.

"Son, don't worry. We're paying, so how is it taking up public resources? Secretary Li resigned ages ago. I don't even have anyone useful around me, and I'm run off my feet every day. Besides, you're married now. Even if you're discharged, you'd be going back to the Wei Family!"

Hearing where this was headed, Shi Yuan quickly cut him off.

"Other people might not know why I agreed to marry Wei Zelin, but don't you? If it weren't for our Shi Family, would I have married a useless loser like him? Something this serious happened to me, and not only did you not visit, now you're trying to dump me on someone else?"

On the other end of the phone, Shi's Father was momentarily rendered speechless. Mother Shi had died when the original owner was still young, and Shi's Father had later married a minor actress.

There was truth to the saying that once you had a stepmother, your father became a stepfather too. Especially since the actress had given Shi's Father a cherished little daughter two years earlier. Having had a daughter late in life, he treasured the little girl more than anything. Shi's Father wasn't as coldhearted as that old bastard Wei Ming, but there was still plenty of distance between him and the original owner.

Afraid that he would steer the conversation back to Wei Zelin, Shi Yuan quickly hung up before Shi's Father could react.

Shi's Father really was busy on his end. The minor actress had even thoughtfully come to the company to bring him tea and water. If she hadn't been so adept at pleasing people back then, she would never have managed to marry into the Shi Family.

She had listened closely from the side while Shi's Father was on the phone. After he hung up and silently leafed through the documents in his hands, she tactfully offered, "Why don't I go to the hospital and pick up Yuan in a little while?"

"What would you go for? He won't have anything nice to say when he sees you." After so many years together, Shi's Father still had some affection for her. For their little daughter's sake, he was also unwilling to let her subject herself to humiliation.

Hou Tingyu understood Shi's Father's thoughts perfectly. She discreetly flattered him while offering him a way out. "Honey, the company pulled through not just because you're so hardworking and capable, but also thanks to the money Yuan borrowed from the Wei Family. Still, he's married into their family now. If we really bring him back to the Shi Family, never mind what outsiders might think—wouldn't the Wei Family be unhappy?"

Shi's Father pretended to ponder for a moment. Shi Yuan's words had indeed made him feel somewhat guilty, but he cared more about the Wei Family. Bringing his son home was out of the question. Since he had married into the Wei Family, even if his husband was a useless loser who accomplished nothing and wasn't accepted by his own family, that was simply his lot in life!

He picked up his phone and dialed a number. "Brother Wei, yes, it's me. You see, Yuan has been in the hospital for quite a while now..."

Shi Yuan sat on the hospital bed, bored out of his mind. During this time, he had already gone through the original owner's phone inside and out.

The original owner's relationships were straightforward. Only one person was pinned to the top of his contacts: Wei Zexuan. The rest were members of the Shi Family and a bunch of disreputable friends.

Shi Yuan couldn't imitate the original owner's arrogance and domineering behavior. After more than twenty years of his parents' guidance, he couldn't even get a swear word out when he was furious. Having no one close to him was just as well; it would keep people from growing suspicious when his behavior differed from the original owner's.

The next day, someone finally came to take him out of the hospital. Once again, it was the white shirt and black pants, and that same handsome face whose smile was warm as a spring breeze for everyone else but expressionless toward him.

Shi Yuan marveled. Even the third male lead is this handsome. Just how gorgeous must Shen Duo, the main top, be?

"You're discharged."

With those two brief words, Wei Zelin turned and left. Wearing the same rumpled clothes he had worn before being admitted, which now even smelled a little sour, Shi Yuan hurried after him.

The smell of something fermented hung in the air. The smile Wei Zelin had just put back on stiffened, and he quickened his pace to put some distance between them.

Shi Yuan tugged at the jacket he had just found wedged between the sofa cushions and sensibly trailed behind at a slower pace. He was a stranger here; if he lost Wei Zelin, he wouldn't know where to find him.

Once he stepped out through the hospital entrance and saw the brilliant sunshine overhead, Shi Yuan actually felt as though he had been given a new lease on life. He had unexpectedly escaped his suffocating original world and been reborn as a character in a novel with the exact same name. He might as well leave the past behind and start over, living a good life from scratch!

Wei Zelin's sedan was parked beside the street. Shi Yuan estimated that it cost a little over a hundred thousand yuan. Figuring Wei Zelin didn't like him, he passed the front passenger door and headed for the back seat.

To his surprise, Wei Zelin blocked his path and pointed at the taxi behind them.

"Didn't you say my car was too shabby for you, Young Master Shi? After you."

Fine. Even a car worth a little over a hundred thousand yuan was out of my league.

(At Wei Zexuan's instruction, Shi Yuan had found a few thugs to smash up Wei Zelin's car. When Wei Zelin got off work, he saw the young man with dyed red hair and an unrestrained grin jump down from the hood. Treading on shards of broken glass, Shi Yuan pressed the hammer he had used to smash the car against Wei Zelin's chest and said arrogantly, "Young Master Wei, this lousy car is so shabby. Aren't you embarrassing Brother Xuan by driving it around? I'm helping you, so don't be ungrateful...") -Thorn