Falling In Love Inside An Urban Legend — Chapter 2.1

original novel: 在都市怪谈里谈恋爱[快穿]

author: 小生不知

mtl’d and edited by dogpotato. please leave a comment if there are any questions or errors!

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Chapter 2.1, Arc 1: Strange Sounds in the Morgue

Yao Ye had only been at this hospital for little more than a month, and during that time he had only seen An Ling a few times. However, because of his remarkable physical characteristics, Yao Ye had a deep impression of the other man.

An Ling was huge, close to two meters tall and bulky. In this small town where the average male height was less than 1.7 meters, he stood out from the crowd. Even when wearing an old-fashioned security uniform, he could still make it match his figure. He was covered in muscles that were tight but not exaggerated, and the lines of his body were smooth and powerful.

If his limbs were as healthy as an ordinary person’s, such a strong physique would be very popular among women; it was a pity that An Ling had an impairment in his left leg and a black birthmark covering half of his face. Revulsion at his appearance coupled with uneasiness due to his size conversely made him a target of others’ fear and disgust.

It was precisely because of these abnormalities that An Ling had a very low status in the hospital.

Even if he was kind and regularly helped doctors and nurses carry heavy medical equipment, no one liked him. What’s more, they often deliberately threw a lot of chores that shouldn’t be done to him and mocked him openly.

Bearing everyone’s malice, An Ling just endured silently and did not resist at all.

Yao Ye had observed all of this and felt regret for An Ling’s resilience and an undeniable sadness about his misfortune. Actually, it was not that he had never thought of helping this big guy before, but none of the parties involved had the intention to resist. What was the use? The most likely end would be getting accused of meddling in other people’s business.

In short, compared with the bullying suffered by An Ling, Yao Ye’s little setback from being excluded by his colleagues was nothing at all.

If he was being honest, Yao Ye had used this fact some time ago to comfort himself when he was being secretly pushed around by his fellow doctors.

“No, it’s nothing. You don’t have to trouble yourself, Doctor Yao.”

An Ling was dressed in a neat security uniform. The blue long-sleeved uniform shirt was stained with splotches of water, especially at his left forearm where it was soaked. Steam rose in spirals from his arm in the warm room. It was clear that the skin under the fabric must be badly scalded.

In the face of this injury that was enough to make ordinary people scream with pain, An Ling showed great tolerance.

He covered the burn on his arm with his other hand and shrank his head back, cowering as if he had made some serious mistake.

“It’s because I wasn’t looking at where I was going, I didn’t notice you in the way. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Doctor Yao…”

An Ling habitually lowered his head and apologized, looking terrified.

Only the red tips of his ears hidden in his short black hair exposed the turbulent waves in his heart. All of his attention was on Yao Ye’s warm body, moving closer and closer.

Seizing the opportunity while Yao Ye was observing his injury, An Ling took advantage of his height and secretly lifted his gaze to observe Yao Ye hovering with concern in front of him. His heart pounded in his chest and his mind went blank.

Although he knew, from the bottom of his heart, that someone as ugly as him should not be close to Dr. Yao. Even this kind of vain attempt to get close was disgusting.

But he still couldn’t suppress the deep love in his heart. He almost greedily stared at Yao Ye, tracing the outline of his soft cheeks over and over again with his eyes.

Dr. Yao, this was the first time Dr. Yao was so close to him… It would be great if he could stay here like this with Dr. Yao forever, even if it was just them talking.

However, how could it be possible that a piece of trash like him could be on the same level as Dr. Yao? It would only be a disgrace to Dr. Yao.

Yao Ye was taken aback when he heard An Ling say his name. He really didn’t expect that this security guard who he had never spoken to would remember his name.

But now was not the time to dwell on this. Yao Ye gently moved away the hand An Ling had shielding his burned arm and frowned as he rolled back the sleeve. “Don’t say that, it was because I was walking in a hurry. It’s me who should apologize. Come with me, I’ll treat the wound for you.”

Fortunately, the burn was not very serious. If it was treated in time, it should heal quickly. The guilt in Yao Ye’s heart finally felt a little lighter after seeing the wound.

An Ling hesitated for a while, but when he saw Yao Ye’s insistence, he followed him to the office.

Due to his disabled left leg, he had always walked very carefully, taking one step at a time, trying not to let people see the flaw in his step. But even if he did his best to conceal it, his uneven footsteps were enough to reveal everything.

Yao Ye walked by his side and kept his gaze focused ahead, mindful of An Ling’s insecurity. He felt pity for him and sighed in his heart.

After all, An Ling was a poor man. From now on, he would help him wherever he could.

Yao Ye was born in a divorced home. His parents made no secret of the conflicts in their marriage and he had an unhappy childhood, but at least his family was well-off enough for him to have no worries about food and clothing. He never thought about money until he graduated from college. Before he came to this hospital, he could not even imagine that a person could be so humbled into the dust.

In order to keep a job that could barely make ends meet, security guard An Ling also did his best. Previously, all of the times he had to act weak or lower himself unfairly must have also been difficult to bear. Through what fault of his was he forced to live like this?

Remembering his previous ‘hating iron for not becoming steel’[1] opinion towards An Ling, Yao Ye couldn’t help but feel ashamed.

He had never been in such a difficult position as An Ling’s. Judging him from where he stands was too arrogant. If a man could live with dignity, would he ever want to bow to others? 

After all, as far as he knows, An Ling has a disability and low academic qualifications. There are not many jobs that are available to him. If he lost this job, his life may very well become even more miserable.

When they arrived at the office, Yao Ye immediately set about treating the wound. He ran cold water over the scalded skin for a while, waiting until it was no longer hot before applying burn ointment and wrapped An Ling’s forearm with a layer of gauze.

The time it took to treat the wound was neither long nor short, but because Yao Ye had been so concentrated, he felt that the time passed quickly. Security guard An Ling was also a model patient, although Yao Ye suspected he may have been suffering from excessive internal heat[2]. Apart from the inexplicable blush on his face and occasional shudder, everything went smoothly. 

After finishing up, Yao Ye took out his phone to check the time.

It took a full half an hour to treat An Ling, so it was now 12:25.

Okay, so he’d actually be going home after midnight.

Yao Ye deeply felt that thinking he could leave early tonight was a typical case of celebrating too soon. 

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[1] idiom meaning to feel dissatisfied towards someone for failing to meet expectations and impatiently hoping to see improvement; Yao Ye is saying that he wished An Ling would stand up for himself a little more

[2] traditional Chinese medicine concept attributing ‘excess internal heat’ to an imbalance of yin and yang in the body, which is… obviously not the case here… (:3｣∠)_

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thoughts of dogpotato: i have absolutely no idea if this is the proper medical practice for a burn or not and neither does the author so… let’s just pretend we didn’t see anything (-_-;)

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