Chapter 51: The Price of Productivity

Ming Hai was typing furiously on her keyboard, offering no reply. She didn’t even lift her head to glance at me.

After a long while, she finally checked her watch, squinted her eyes, and slowly, deliberately, rose to her feet.

As she stood, her body suddenly swayed to the side. Instinctively, she gripped the coffee table with force, causing the entire table to wobble violently.

Two bottles toppled over, yet fortunately, she managed to keep herself from falling completely.

I was startled. Taking two quick steps forward, I urgently asked, “Are you alright? Are you feeling unwell?”

Ming Hai frowned, remaining silent. Bent at the waist, she clung tightly to the glass surface of the coffee table, maintaining that posture for a long time without moving.

After a brief pause, she slowly straightened up and made her way to the kitchen.

She retrieved a box of instant noodles from the cabinet.

I turned my head, frowning as I glanced at the table. It was littered with empty Red Bull bottles and cans.

I stood there for a moment, then walked to the coffee table. Pinching the bottles with my fingers, I began tidying them up one by one.

The rumbling sound of the water heater echoed from the kitchen.

I turned to look, seeing her standing by the water heater, waiting. A box of braised beef instant noodles lay nearby. Her head was bowed, her dark, long hair fanning over her face, obscuring it.

All I could discern was the side frame of her black-rimmed glasses.

I stared at her, several bottles clutched in my hand. Realizing I couldn’t hold them all, I simply placed them back on the table.

I looked at Ming Hai and said, “Are you pushing yourself this hard just for money? How much do you need? If you’re short, you can just borrow from me. We’re friends, do you really think I wouldn’t lend it to you?”

The words had barely left my mouth when I silently scorned myself. I realized that ever since I met Young Master Feng, my tone had become quite a bit more lavish.

Ming Hai still said nothing, staring at the floor, lost in thought.

After an all-nighter, her reactions were noticeably sluggish, likely due to her fighting off exhaustion. Indeed, this was the Ming Hai I had come to know over the past month and a half.

Every morning, she would wake up in this exact state—a dazed expression, sitting on the sofa, staring silently at the coffee table.

The sound of boiling water in the water heater gradually grew muffled, then with a soft click, the switch popped open.

Ming Hai, still silent, stood by the cabinet and began tearing open the plastic film on the instant noodles. She whispered, “I hate borrowing money.”

I pulled a long face, turning to glance at the coffee table. After a moment of thought, I said, “Then consider this: is it worth pushing yourself like this? Staying up all night, pulling all-nighters? Look at your dark circles in the mirror!

“You don’t need to be so stubborn… think about it, life is like that! There are always a few compromises, right? It’s perfectly normal, isn’t it?”

By the latter part of my speech, my tone was practically pleading. Damn it, it was the first time in my life I’d begged someone to borrow money from me—a truly novel experience.

Ming Hai opened the lid of the instant noodles and awkwardly tore open a seasoning packet. She softly said, “I hate compromising with life, and I never have.”

“Besides, this is also an opportunity to learn new skills, and the money comes quickly. The cost isn’t particularly high either… all you need is a computer, a case of energy drinks, and to sit in front of the computer all day… there’s just one drawback.”

I was a little speechless. I asked, “What drawback?”

Ming Hai shook the seasoning packet into the noodles. “My blood sugar is too low,” she explained. “If I sit for about 48 hours, I’m prone to fainting.”

“After fainting once, I usually wake up a day later… The workload has been quite heavy recently, and this kind of thing really affects efficiency.”

Upon hearing this, I couldn’t take it anymore. You’ve fainted, and you’re still thinking about efficiency?

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. After a long moment, I shook my head and resumed tidying the bottles on the coffee table. “Stop talking nonsense. Finish your meal and go straight to bed.

“Get your sleep schedule back on track… Even if you have to work on these things, at least do it during the day. Staying up all night is too damaging to your body.”

Ming Hai remained silent, a dazed expression beginning to appear on her face. The focus in her eyes slightly scattered as she tried to concentrate on the instant noodles before her.

A moment later, she turned her head, saw me tidying the Red Bull bottles on the table, and walked towards me, speaking softly:

“Never mind, I’ll do it…”

*Thump—*

Ming Hai’s entire body went limp. Before she could finish her sentence, she collapsed directly to the floor, hitting her head first. It looked as if she had suddenly died.

I was terrified. The bottles in my hand clattered to the floor as I rushed over, urgently patting her back. “Hey! Oh my god… oh my god! Are you alright?”

I patted her back for a long time. After a moment, she gripped my shoulders and dazed, sat up from the floor. The right lens of her glasses was almost completely shattered, but fortunately, she had no serious injuries, only a slight bruise near her eye.

Her sudden fall had scared me senseless. I held her face, examining her left and right. Fortunately, there was nothing else besides that small bruise.

I held Ming Hai’s shoulders and asked, “How are you doing? Damn it, I told you, don’t stay up late like this! You never listen to me, you freaking…”

Ming Hai shook her head, gripping my shoulders, and slowly stood up. As she pulled herself up using me, I barely registered her body weight; she felt incredibly light.

I stood up with her, watching her warily, afraid she might fall again if she wasn’t careful.

She lowered her head, pushed at her shattered glasses, and softly said, “I really can’t go on, it’s always like this lately… I’ll go to the hospital for a check-up later, and I need to buy a new pair of glasses anyway.”

She turned her head and softly said,

“I’m sorry, Lu Ren, I don’t have much money right now. The hospital fees might not be enough… Can I postpone my rent payment this month?”

I stared at her, thinking seriously for a long time, but couldn’t recall when I had ever asked her for rent.

After a moment, I pointed to the floor and said, “You don’t need to pay rent to live in this house.”

Ming Hai turned and glanced at me, her deep eyes still unreadable. She said, “I will pay it, just a few days late.”

“Save it. I won’t ask you for rent, and I never will,” I stated seriously.

She said nothing, took off her broken glasses, walked to the kitchen, and tossed them into the trash can. Then, she washed her face using the kitchen sink faucet, wiped her face, and walked straight towards the door.

I stood in the living room and asked, “Where are you going?”

Ming Hai was already at the entrance, putting on her shoes. She softly said, “To the hospital.”

A strange irritation welled up inside me. I strode after her, put on my shoes, and went downstairs with Ming Hai to hail a taxi. I found that I was quite skilled at getting a taxi downstairs now.

The road below my apartment had few cars, so it was best to walk a bit further. After crossing this small street, there was a main road where it was easier to find a taxi.

Once we arrived at the hospital entrance by taxi, Ming Hai reached into her shirt pocket to pay. I gently pushed her hand away, pulled a twenty-yuan note from my pocket, and handed it to the driver.

Ming Hai looked at me sideways, her hand suspended in mid-air. The driver didn’t pay much attention, accepted the twenty yuan, and handed me the change.

Inside the hospital, it was fortunate that there weren’t many people. After all, few registered on a Saturday. I hurried to the front, and after explaining to the receptionist, the Little Nurse glanced at the records, then at Ming Hai beside me.

Holding her mouse, she tapped something on the computer and calmly asked, “Your girlfriend, huh?”

I glanced at Ming Hai beside me. She was expressionless, her dark, hollow eyes unblinking, staring blankly into space. I gave an awkward laugh and said, “No, she’s just a friend!”

The Little Nurse scoffed. The dim light from the display screen illuminated her face as she said, “Your friend seems quite careless. Low blood sugar fainting is no joke; it can cause brain damage, and people can even die!”

I immediately panicked. Brain damage? I considered Ming Hai’s perpetually dazed expression. Could she have become a complete idiot from fainting? I quickly asked, “Brain… brain damage, or no damage, I don’t know…

“This, dying?? Then, is this, is this curable?”

Ming Hai, likely unable to bear it any longer, turned to look at me, calmly stating, “No damage…”

The Little Nurse looked at us both, sighed, and pulled out a form, handing it to me. “Fill in the contact number, name, and gender… Go upstairs for a blood test, a CT scan, to check for liver problems, or any exocrine tumors…

“If there are no other major issues, and it’s just due to poor lifestyle and eating habits, then a glucose drip will suffice.”

I accepted the form with profuse thanks and clumsily handed it to Ming Hai. Her usually placid face, for the first time, showed a hint of helplessness as she reached out and took the form from my hand.

I stood with my hands on my hips, surveying the hospital lobby. Few people registered on a Saturday. A middle school student, a cotton ball pressed to their arm, clattered downstairs, followed by several friends.

As he exited the hospital doors, he laughed and cheered, “*Mom, I finally don’t need injections! Let’s go online, guys!”

The group laughed, surrounding him like stars around the moon. I watched him. He hailed a taxi, and after the few of them got in, it drove away.

My gaze retracted, my mood decidedly troubled. Ming Hai was bent over the counter, meticulously writing her name stroke by stroke.

I leaned closer, hands on my hips, and couldn’t help but murmur, “How many times have I told you… go to bed early, wake up early, and eat your meals! All you do is write your damn code, and you won’t even let me lend you money…

“Can anything be more important than your health, right? Don’t you agree?”

Ming Hai remained silent, a serious expression on her face. Her delicate hand gripped the receptionist’s ballpoint pen, and she began to write, stroke by careful stroke.

I watched her for a while, hands on my hips, then lowered my gaze. First, one character: Chu—her grip on the pen was standard, and her hand was very fair. Though seemingly delicate, her knuckles were distinct.

She wrote slowly, very carefully. Then came the other two characters: Ming, and Hai… Chu Minghai.

I stared at these three characters, saying nothing.

I didn’t know much about calligraphy; my own handwriting resembled a dog’s paw dipped in ink, flailing aimlessly. Yet, the three characters she wrote were slender and tall, each stroke seemingly cast from iron—sharp, incisive, like iron paintings and silver hooks. Just looking at them, one could feel a surge of keen spirit.