I don’t know the whole story, but it looks like Lü Le’s role as an informant for the police was blown to the underworld groups around the Tianping Commercial District.

He was stabbed in secret — someone slashed him and broke his hand. By the time the cop who was supposed to meet him rushed in, the attacker had already fled, leaving Lü Le collapsed in a pool of blood.

Sis Yuanyue had gotten a call from Uncle Lei Luo while we were onstage.

I hate the smell of hospitals — all that medicine and alcohol and disinfectant makes my throat burn. Because Sis Yuanyue’s car only had a few seats, she only brought Meow Meow, Sis Xi, Xiao Lei, and me.

When we reached the ICU door, only Uncle Lei and another policeman were there.

“What’s the situation?” Meow Meow barreled forward and grabbed her father’s collar, her voice sharp with anger and worry. That old feral edge came back to her in an instant.

Uncle Lei looked like he had an ache in his gut; he blamed himself for what happened to Lü Le. He answered, “Severe hemorrhagic shock. He’s undergone surgery and just moved him to intensive care… I’m sorry.”

Meow Meow didn’t say anything more, only let go of her father wordlessly — but her red eyes still burned with fury.

“Have his family been notified?” someone asked, and the question made me feel like an idiot as soon as it left my mouth. People who end up running with the street crowd usually don’t come from stable homes.

Uncle Lei was about to answer when Meow Meow clamped a hand over his mouth; evidently there were things she didn’t want Xiao Lei or me to know.

“Just tell her,” Sis Xi cut in. “I was wondering if Xiao Kai’s ability could help.”

Sis Xi and Meow Meow had different takes on this. She explained Lü Le’s background: “He was abandoned in his swaddling clothes as a baby. The orphanage director was his nominal guardian through childhood. Nobody wanted to adopt him, so when he turned adult he went out and survived on the streets. He’s got no family to notify.”

“God… that’s awful,” Xiao Lei breathed — a feeling I shared.

Right then a masked nurse emerged from the ICU with a chart and saw us gathered at the door. “Are you here to visit a patient?” she asked.

Sis Yuanyue nodded. “Yes.”

“Which patient?”

“Lü Le,” Xiao Lei said. Uncle Lei added, “He was just brought in at noon — heavy bleeding, broken wrist.”

The nurse flipped through her folder. “Bed 7. Don’t worry — vital signs are stable. He’s still unconscious, but he’s out of immediate danger.”

Her tone was calm, probably used to ICU cases. Still, hearing that allowed us all to breathe a little.

She added, “But visiting hours for the ICU are over for today. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

Sis Xi panicked and grabbed the nurse’s hand while nudging closer. “Please, is there any way you can make an exception? If we can’t see him tonight I don’t think we can sleep — please!” she begged, stepping closer until the citrus scent filled the air. She’d clearly pulled out a last-ditch move.

The nurse flinched and took a step back, suddenly flustered. Meow Meow then copied Sis Xi and got in close too, bowing and pleading, “Please—just let us see him. He’s an important brother of mine.”

They practically pressed their chests up to the nurse in full-throttle pleading. I didn’t know where Sis Xi picked up that tactic, but apparently it worked — even on a woman. The nurse was totally thrown.

“Th-that's not allowed… girls, please don’t get so close! Girls these days develop so early!” she stammered, absolutely flustered. I noticed Meow Meow and Sis Xi throwing desperate glances at me, as if asking me to join them.

…In the end, after unleashing the full power of “assets not of this world,” we managed to win ten minutes of visiting time for three people. The nurse laid down strict rules: “Don’t shout, don’t remove your shoe covers, turn your phones off, don’t touch anything, don’t leave anything behind. You go in and come out exactly the same way, understand?”

The ICU was big but you could see everything at a glance. You could pick out Lü Le’s hair even with him asleep — his spiky, combed-up pompadour still sticking up. He must’ve been in a terrible fight as there was a gap in his hair. Compared to my small broken leg injury, Brother Lü looked terrible.

His right hand was in plaster, suspended by a sling at the window; his left arm was crisscrossed with transfusion lines. His abdomen was wrapped in blood-soaked bandages; electrodes dotted his chest for the monitor; an oxygen mask covered his mouth.

Because the mask was clear, I could, in a way, finally see his face. And then I stifled a gasp.

His upper lip was split right up the middle — like it had been ripped away from the philtrum up to the base of the nose. It was gruesome.

“Do you find it scary?” Meow Meow murmured at the bedside, like she was speaking about her blood sibling. “That’s a cleft lip — a birth defect. That’s probably why his parents abandoned him. The orphanage avoided him too because of it, nobody adopted him, and as soon as he turned adult he was pushed out. He survived by petty theft and odd jobs, but his face made steady work hard to find. That’s why he always wore a mask… he’s extremely insecure.”

What a miserable life. That lone-wolf pride was built on deep self-loathing.

I watched him silently and my mind started turning over possibilities. Qian-jie, already soft-hearted, covered her mouth and sobbed quietly.

We stood there in that quiet vigil for ten minutes. The nurse finally came and hauled us out, and Meow Meow’s face hardened again — that tiger ferocity flaring up.

“Sis Xi, you keep an eye on her. Don’t let Meow Meow do anything stupid,” I warned. After Haitang beat up Tian Xi back at Old Feng’s stall, Meow Meow already retaliated by beating us up — and now with Lü Le in ICU after being stabbed, Meow Meow isn’t going to let it slide. I’m worried she’ll get carried away.

“Don’t worry. I’ll watch her,” Sis Xi said. To be honest, she has been more level-headed since she became female; she actually asked me in a quieter voice, “Xiao Kai — about Lü Le… can you—”

I cut her off with a hand. “I know what you mean. Let’s wait until he’s recovered enough to be discharged, then we’ll talk about his future.”

Meow Meow glanced back at me and said nothing, but the look she gave me felt like thanks. She didn’t go back to school; she clung to Uncle Lei and left to take action. Uncle Lei knew he couldn’t stop her — once it involved Lü Le, Meow Meow would never stay on the sidelines. Sis Xi would have to be the brake.

I didn’t feel like going back to class either. We’d already taken the afternoon off when we left with Sis Yuanyue; so Xiao Lei and I went back to the hideout to wait and planned to pick up our bags from class after school.

Tomorrow the week-long holiday starts — and from the looks of it, these seven days are going to be anything but peaceful.