To bury the hatchet with a smile. Part 2

Neither Ding Hanbai nor Ji Shenyu went to get the doctor. They just lowered their heads and played dead. After a long while, Zhang Sinian couldn't stand it anymore. He sighed. "I'll go get him. What's the damn use of hiding it? We're all people who have suffered greatly. What's there to be afraid of?"

The doctor said some professional things, a long string of them, and offered some comfort. In old-fashioned terms, it meant that his condition was beyond saving, that the illness had reached a critical stage, and that both the patient and his family should prepare themselves mentally.

Zhang Sinian started pacing again. Ding Hanbai offered a few words of comfort, but he knew it was useless. By the bed, Ji Shenyu reached under the covers and firmly gripped Liang Hecheng's right hand. His thin lips parted, and he murmured helplessly, "Master."

He had been through this once before. When Ji Fangxu was critically ill, he had fainted and gone into shock several times. When he finally closed his eyes, Ji Shenyu had been right there beside him. He did not lack the experience of seeing someone off, but that didn't mean he didn't lack the courage to face it.

Ji Shenyu clenched his jaw and pressed his lips together. He didn't cry, but covered his face. Faint blue veins stood out on his forehead, and as if a single hair could move the whole body, his face flushed red from holding it all in. Ding Hanbai called to him, telling him not to be sad, to look on the bright side.

The illness was terminal and incurable. They were just dragging it out. The arrival of this day was expected.

Ji Shenyu bit his jaw even harder, forcing himself to suppress the heartache, but he let out a sob from behind his hands. If he were alone, he could have held it in, even mustered the spirit to comfort Liang Hecheng. But Ding Hanbai was here, and Ding Hanbai was coaxing him, and he couldn't hold anything back anymore.

In front of the two old men, Ding Hanbai should have known to restrain himself. But there were so many 'shoulds' in the world; he still chose to follow his heart. "Zhenzhu, don't be too sad," he said in a low voice, walking around to stand beside Ji Shenyu.

He put an arm around him, ruffled his hair, and patted his shoulder gently. "Crying?" he asked, bending down slightly, wishing he could kiss the crown of Ji Shenyu's head. "Let me see if your face is tear-stained. Let's go out and wash up, and buy something for Master to eat on the way?"

Ji Shenyu nodded with a pained expression, then turned and buried his face in Ding Hanbai's stomach. The scent of soap on his shirt mingled with the surrounding smell of alcohol, a combination as potent as a tear gas canister. Ding Hanbai helped him up, wiped his face, and said softly, "You've got me all flustered. I don't even know how to comfort people anymore."

Ding Hanbai put his arm around Ji Shenyu and they left, walking out into the corridor to buy something to eat.

A dead silence fell in the hospital room. Zhang Sinian abruptly turned his head, met Liang Hecheng's eyes, then just as abruptly looked away. He paced back and forth several times before he finally couldn't hold it in anymore. "I'm only half-blind. Do they take me for deaf?"

That 'is your face tear-stained' this, that 'all flustered' that, that 'comfort people' this... It was so cheesy it could make your teeth fall out!

Before long, Ding Hanbai and Ji Shenyu returned with food containers. Ding Hanbai had his arm around Ji Shenyu, his large hand covering the boy's thin shoulder. They would walk a few steps and exchange a glance, their eyes full of comfort for one another.

The two old men shivered. Liang Hecheng coughed heavily. "Shenyu, come here!"

Zhang Sinian was fuming. "What are you dawdling for? What food did you buy?!"

The atmosphere was exceedingly strange. The four of them ate around a table. Ji Shenyu looked up to see Zhang Sinian staring at him oddly. Ding Hanbai served rice porridge to Liang Hecheng, suddenly realizing that even though the man was on the verge of death, the force of his glare was comparable to General Yuchi Gong.

'Could this be the final flare of life so soon?' he wondered.

After a hasty meal, Ji Shenyu was held in a death grip by the six-fingered right hand, as if afraid someone would snatch him away. When Ding Hanbai tried to get closer, he was mercilessly pulled away by Zhang Sinian.

It was inexplicable... They stayed until dark. Before leaving, Ding Hanbai hired someone for the night watch, forbidding Ji Shenyu from staying. Ji Shenyu didn't feel at ease. Besides, at a critical time like this, every extra moment spent with him was precious.

Ding Hanbai pulled him up and said in a low voice, "You can come back first thing tomorrow morning. Master Liang needs to sleep at night. Wait until he's awake during the day, then you can come and attend to him, alright?"

Ji Shenyu remained silent, so Ding Hanbai continued, one sentence after another, persuading him with both reason and emotion. His low voice grew even lower, and his grip on Ji Shenyu's arm turned into holding his hand. He was so patient, seemingly endlessly so, warmer and more comforting than the porridge they had just eaten.

The scholar may endure, but the master cannot! Zhang Sinian cursed, "You act like this just to coax a junior brother? If you were coaxing your wife in the future, you'd probably prostrate yourself into a spineless mollusk!"

Liang Hecheng struggled. "My apprentice didn't ask him to coax him!"

The older generation's style was truly forceful. They practically swept Ding Hanbai and Ji Shenyu out the door, pushing and shoving them with disgust, as if even a glance was too much. After the two had dejectedly left, Zhang Sinian returned to the bedside and stared intently at Liang Hecheng.

Having weathered storms and suffered greatly, the two old men were now completely unconcerned about the approach of death. Their minds were entirely preoccupied with their two chattering, irksome apprentices.

"I've lived for more than half my life. In times of overwhelming wealth, I've seen all sorts of men and women. When I was brought down, I witnessed couples fly their separate ways. But I've never seen one man speak to another man like that!" Zhang Sinian still hadn't recovered from the shock, shouting with his blind eye wrinkled.

Liang Hecheng was in agony, but he too broke out in goosebumps all over the bed. He pondered, "It's not quite right..."

Zhang Sinian agreed. "Absolutely not right. These two little ones..." He suddenly recalled the scene at the Antiques Market, how Ding Hanbai had thrown the painting aside upon seeing Ji Shenyu, that joyous expression, that earnest and eager look...

The two old fossils stared at each other, their eyes fixed while their minds churned. Senior and junior brothers under the same roof, spending every day together, admiring each other's skills. Moreover, both were blessed with handsome appearances, and they were at that prime age for dalliances...

Recalling their words and expressions, their glances and actions... the threads tangled together, finally startling the two of them.

Liang Hecheng spoke first. "This is bad!"

Zhang Sinian immediately seized the high ground. "It must be your apprentice who seduced mine! You're a scheming old fox, and he's a bewitching little fox!"

Liang Hecheng was furious. "Nonsense!" Ji Shenyu knew Ding Hanbai's identity from the start and didn't even want to see him. It must have been Ding Hanbai who forced him. He said, "Your apprentice is no gentleman! He stalks and acts like a ruffian, he does it all. Otherwise, how could he get along so well with you?!"

Zhang Sinian plopped down. "I'm blind, are you blind too? Who was just coaxing whom? My apprentice is so shameless in front of others, who knows how he's fawning over him in private. It's all because your apprentice seduced him!"

Liang Hecheng was in so much pain he could barely speak and nearly passed out. After getting through it, he didn't forget to retort, "My apprentice is only seventeen by nominal age. Apart from his craft, all he does is study. He doesn't understand anything else. On the other hand, I heard your apprentice studied abroad. All that foreign ink must have made him quite open-minded. Who knows how wicked he might be."

The argument grew more and more heated. The moment a nurse pushed the door open, dead silence returned. "What's all the shouting? Be quiet."

The two old men apologized and fell silent, looking as meek as grandsons. But as soon as the door closed, they started glaring at each other again. One half-blind, one with six fingers. One just scraping by, one at death's door, critically ill. After a long while, they sighed in unison.

Zhang Sinian caught sight of the painting on the table and silently cursed Ding Hanbai for his carelessness. He simply unrolled it for Liang Hecheng to see as well. The "Picture of a Journey to Zhongnan". They temporarily forgot everything else and, by the light, took turns commenting on the quality of the copy.

After looking at the painting, they looked at the poem. Fallen tiles stir the startling wind, harsh stones pile into chaotic clouds. Liang Hecheng said, "I suppose I've stirred up my share of startling winds and chaotic clouds in my life. Being schemed against, running all over the world... money is a real bastard. I understood that back then."

Zhang Sinian said, "Money is more than a bastard. If it weren't for money, would my father have been struggled against to death? My entire family was scattered everywhere, and I even lost an eye."

Liang Hecheng nodded. "Didn't I also have my hands ruined? Worn down and scarred wasn't enough; I was held down and soaked in stinging glaze water. But I had my glory days too. When I was at my peak, who didn't know Six-Fingers?"

Zhang Sinian sneered. "Glory days? Back in the day, the Ding Family's three-courtyard residence wouldn't have been big enough to park my family's horse carriages. Who hasn't had their glory days in this life?"

These words were cut off by Liang Hecheng's coughing. Zhang Sinian leaned over to help him catch his breath. Up close, their two pairs of weary eyes met, and it was impossible to say which was more world-worn. They looked away. Better to keep looking at the painting.

It was so quiet, as if neither of them was breathing.

No more bickering. It was the first time in their lives they had been this peaceful.

A long, long time passed. Liang Hecheng mumbled, "Ghost Eye, I'm dying."

Zhang Sinian said, "Everyone has to die. There's a time to learn to walk, a time to go to school, a time to marry and have children. Death is the same. It's just that its time has come. You just get it over with."

Liang Hecheng smiled slowly, a rattling sound coming from his chest. Zhang Sinian smiled along with him—a smile of cunning, of understanding, mixed with a hint of comfort. The painting was good, a depiction of Zhongnan Mountain. The poem on it was good too. They both liked it very much.

"Just get it over with," Liang Hecheng muttered. "You're teaching me a lesson even on my deathbed. Did I lose?"

Zhang Sinian said, "Let's call it a draw. Otherwise, this comparison will never end."

They started laughing again. Together, they rolled up the painting, stopping when only the last line was visible. They paused, looking at it together. Everything was set aside; nothing mattered anymore. The good, the bad, the great joys and great sorrows—at this moment in their lives, what was death?

It was nothing.

A small tribulation among men, a burning of the heart to exchange the bones. Among the myriad springs, a hope for rebirth and a new life.

A life about to end, yet fearless and unafraid.