Chapter 411: Soberly Suffering

Gu Zhiyan left the Epidemic Prevention Center, the doctor's instructions swirling in his ears.

During the blockade period, sharing personal items is prohibited throughout, and staged follow‑up examinations are required.

Syphilis has a serological window period of two to four weeks; a single negative cannot rule it out, so a basic screening is done at week four after exposure, a follow‑up at week eight, a key follow‑up at month three, and only double negatives can exclude basic infection, with a final follow‑up at month six.

This bite from Lin Shutong will at least plunge him into six months of anxiety and fear.

Gu Zhiyan punched the stone pillar at the entrance of the Epidemic Prevention Center, scraping his knuckles and drawing blood.

Li Dan, who had come driving, happened to see it.

With a bang of the car door shutting, Li Dan walked over to Gu Zhiyan, frowning and saying, "What's wrong with you, Gu Zhiyan? I don't have any band‑aids or anything."

"Don't touch me." Gu Zhiyan looked at Li Dan, his expression complex, his mood terrible, his words cold and impatient; realizing this, he continued, "For the past six months, don't come near me—look up and see where we are."

"It's just the Epidemic Prevention Center…" Li Dan froze, his eyes widening slightly, unable to hold back: "Did you two have a relationship? No, she's already in prison—how could you still have a relationship? No, no, you were together during the New Year period."

"Nothing happened; I went to visit her in prison this morning, and she…" Gu Zhiyan felt a faint pain in his lower lip, "She bit me."

Li Dan: "???"

After his shock came a spell of speechlessness—what are you doing, going to prison for no reason? You're not rushing to get bitten!

Forget it.

It's really pitiful.

Let two women deceive him into going in circles, even sacrificing his own body.

"Let's go, let's eat." Li Dan and Gu Zhiyan went to their usual restaurant; when Li Dan picked up the wine list, Gu Zhiyan stopped him.

"I can't drink alcohol." In fact Gu Zhiyan really wanted to; getting drunk would ease the turmoil in his heart, but the doctor's orders forbid alcohol and late nights, as lowered immunity raises infection risk.

He could only endure the pain while sober.

This is a silent torture.

Li Dan saw he had no appetite and sighed heavily; he had wanted to say you're better off than Xie Yongsi's brother—you got bitten and went straight to the Epidemic Prevention Center for prophylaxis, so you'll probably be fine, whereas the Shen‑surnamed guy is worse: after infection he only noticed a primary hard chancre, and now he takes medicine and works out there every day, with a monthly check‑up.

On second thought, that isn't really a proper comparison.

Who could be more miserable?

"What do you have later?" The Li and Gu families are distantly related, occasional contacts; he and Gu Zhiyan are childhood friends, so he can't just watch his childhood friend sit here lost in thought—he should take him out to clear his mind.

Gu Zhiyan was still dazed; after a moment he replied, "Send my grandparents back to B City."

Li Dan: "Are you coming back too?"

Gu Zhiyan opened his mouth, paused, then said, "No, I'm not coming back—I'll see them to the airport, then call and have… have my dad send someone to pick them up."

Li Dan noticed he only got halfway through saying Gu Yinxue's name before stopping, his eyes shifting: "The things Xie Shao said at the Gu residence last time—did you finally get what he meant?"

Gu Zhiyan lifted his gaze to look at him.

Li Dan: "The matter of Yin Xue hiding the data…"

Gu Zhiyan's face darkened and he low‑growled, "Don't mention her to me!"

He picked up the glass of plain water on the table and drained it, the anger in his eyes nearly bursting forth.

Li Dan silently took a sip of water, feeling this wasn't as simple as he knew; otherwise Gu Zhiyan would have exploded long ago, and it wouldn't have taken until now for him to forbid mentioning Yin Xue and refuse to go back to B City.

He simply stopped asking and proposed, "After seeing the elders off on the plane, how about going racing?"

Gu Zhiyan didn't object.

Li Dan took out his phone: "I'll call someone else."

When Xie Yongsi appeared in his racing suit, Gu Zhiyan's car happened to fly past him; he blinked and said to Li Dan, "That's intense?"

Li Dan slightly lifted his chin, watching the car's tail kick up dust: "I've got pent‑up frustration and can't drink."

Xie Yongsi said, "The person in charge here just told me we have to clear out by six thirty; the boss wants to use this venue."

Li Dan frowned: "Is Ke Zhongyu coming?"

Xie Yongsi exclaimed in shock: "This place belongs to Boss Ke?"

Li Dan: "You've been in the country all along—how don't you know?"

Xie Yongsi: "How would I know? Even among the elite there are differences—our Xie Family can't compare to your Li Family; where would I learn that?"

Li Dan glanced at him: "Then hurry up."

Xie Yongsi asked, "Your brother's attitude looks like he's going to kill himself—what happened?"

Li Dan put on his helmet: "I'm not sure of the details, but I know I went to the prison this morning to see Lin Shutong once, came back like this, and I was the one who picked him up from the Epidemic Prevention Center."

Upon hearing the four words "Epidemic Prevention Center," Xie Yongsi's expression was hard to describe: "Are we a victim concentration camp?"

"Who knows." Li Dan strode over with his long legs, got into the car, and as Gu Zhiyan completed his second lap and looped back, he immediately fell in, trying several times to force him to stop, so he wouldn't really follow Xie Yongsi's example and cause a suicide scene on the track.

Xie Yongsi got excited as soon as he sat in the race car, then couldn't be bothered with those two—he's a man who loves racing and beautiful women.

Gu Zhiyan hit the safety barrier on his third lap, finally coming to a stop; Li Dan hurried out of the car to check, and aside from the front being smashed, the person inside seemed fine.

But Gu Zhiyan sat quietly in the car, not getting out, looking as if something were wrong.

In the end Li Dan forcibly dragged Gu Zhiyan out of the car, angry: "If you've got something to say, just say it—don't act like you have no friends."

Gu Zhiyan took off his helmet; his hair was completely wet, his chest rising and falling slightly as he breathed.

Amid the roar of the race car, Lin Shutong's words still echoed in his ears, almost drowning out the noise.

Even with the throttle floored, those sounds wouldn't fade, lingering like a shadow.

After looking at the materials Xie Yongsi passed over, he had done all the mental preparation he could, yet it still wasn't enough.

Hearing Lin Shutong admit everything with his own ears, his heart, aside from anger, was also accompanied by a kind of collapse.

The Gu family had arranged his life for thirty years, his mother interfering in every choice; this was his first act of rebellion, and his defeat only proved that his parents were right after all.

He simply couldn't make the right choice—just as his father said, he was utterly, outrageously wrong.

The crux is that it also involves the Yin Xue he watched grow up and personally cared for, and it reaches his own younger sister, Jiang Lai.

Li Dan and Gu Zhiyan were still standing on the track; Xie Yongsi is the type who, once he starts playing, goes all out—he paid them no mind, shooting past them like a rocket.

Li Dan grabbed Gu Zhiyan and pulled them onto the stands.

The moment they sat down, Gu Zhiyan said: "Lin Shutong told me that reporting Ji Lao was Yin Xue's doing; Yin Xue also urged her to drive and hit Jiang Lai; Lin Shutong's fake physical exam report was also Yin Xue's suggestion; Yin Xue…"

Gu Zhiyan's eyes were bloodshot as they tilted their head to look at Li Dan: "Do you understand, Li Dan? It's Yin Xue! Before the age of two, the formula was prepared by me and my father; the diapers were changed by me and my father, you know that!"

During those two or three years when my mother's condition was poor, my father stayed with her at night, and Yin Xue always slept in the same room as me! Whenever she cried at night, I would get up to prepare formula for her and change her diapers, you know that!