JOH CH87: Transition

Gu Xinrong was terrified. Originally, she had come to see Su Yiran today only to ask him to persuade Gu Yuanting to let her older brother be transferred to another hospital.

A week ago, she had suddenly received word that her brother wanted to transfer hospitals and had asked her and their father for help. He told them that the reason his condition had suddenly deteriorated was because of something Gu Yuanting had done. Now he was being kept under control in that hospital, his body was frail, and he couldn’t do anything he wanted. He hoped they could help him get transferred.

Xinrong knew her brother’s illness had already progressed to the late stage. Even if he transferred hospitals, there was no saving him. She suspected the transfer was just his way of escaping Gu Yuanting’s control to do something else.

She had no idea how to help her brother, so she placed all her hopes on their father. But to her shock, her father’s covert efforts had been discovered. The plan had failed, and just yesterday, he had even been driven out of the main residence and was now confined to a nursing home with no freedom.

Relying on her own strength alone, there was no way to help her brother. After thinking it over, she decided to take a desperate gamble and come to Su Yiran.

The Gu family had long been abuzz with talk about Gu Yuanting’s affection and protection for Su Yiran. In the past two days, everyone in the family had seen it firsthand. At first, some had tried to request an audience with Su Yiran, but they had all been turned away. Xinrong, relying on her status as a direct daughter of the Gu family, had managed to order the butler to announce her visit while Gu Yuanting was away.

But she never expected to suddenly receive that text message.

Her hands trembled as she held her phone. Suddenly remembering something, she called the hospital, but the call wouldn’t go through.

Her panic deepened. She was completely at a loss, crying as she held out her phone to Su Yiran.

“The hospital line isn’t connecting—he’s going to kill my brother, I know it! Look—look at this message. I’m not lying to you… Please, I beg you, save my brother…”

Su Yiran frowned, his gaze sweeping over the phone screen. The message read:

“Gu Yuanting just entered the hospital, had everyone dismissed, and is now alone with Brother Feng. No one can get near them. The hospital cannot be reached. Something is wrong! Urgent!”

Through her tears, Xinrong explained, “That’s someone my brother planted in the hospital—he’s always been our eyes and ears for anything unusual.”

Su Yiran shook his head and stood up, not believing a word of it. “Please send her back. I’m going upstairs,” he told the butler, already turning to leave the sitting room.

The butler gestured. “Second Miss, please leave.” At his signal, two servants stepped forward to drag her out.

But in that moment, Xinrong somehow found the strength to break free. She rushed over to grab Su Yiran’s arm, eyes still wet but her tone suddenly calm.

“I remember now—I have surveillance footage, Mr. Su. Please look at it.”

Worried that he might refuse, she quickly added, “Even if there’s only a one-percent chance, do you really want to let Gu Yuanting become a murderer?”

Su Yiran had already shaken off her hand and was heading toward the stairs, but her last sentence made him pause.

…Even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance, he didn’t want Ting-ge to become a criminal. To waste himself for someone else—it wasn’t worth it.

He stopped and looked at her coldly. “Where’s the footage?”

Flustered, Xinrong fumbled with her phone to open the surveillance app. They had only managed to install the camera in Gu Mingfeng’s ward after seizing a rare opportunity, and in her panic earlier she had completely forgotten about it.

The butler’s face turned pale. “Mr. Su—” he began, trying to stop her.

Su Yiran noticed the butler’s reaction and sensed something was wrong. He turned back to the sitting room. The butler, left with no choice, signaled the servants to leave and shut the doors.

Xinrong pulled up the feed, praying it wasn’t too late. Only two or three minutes had passed since she’d received the message.

When the footage came up, she breathed a sigh of relief. Su Yiran also saw the two figures in the frame. His pupils contracted, and he took the phone from her. The angle was from left to right, partially obscured by foliage—the camera must have been well hidden.

On the bed lay Gu Mingfeng. Though said to be only in his thirties, he looked like a man in his forties or fifties, wearing a breathing mask, clinging to life, half-conscious.

Ting-ge stood at the bedside, expression icy. Su Yiran hadn’t expected him to actually be at the hospital. His first instinct was to question whether the footage was real—until he saw Ting-ge reach toward Mingfeng’s oxygen tube.

Xinrong cried out in panic. Su Yiran’s heart clenched; he was about to drop the phone and call Ting-ge when, in the video, Ting-ge pulled his hand back, glanced around the room, and walked toward the camera.

Su Yiran watched him draw closer, then reach toward the lens. The screen flickered and went black.

Xinrong’s hands shook as she tried to take her phone back, almost dropping it. She was terrified, yet powerless, and could only look to Su Yiran for help.

Su Yiran took a deep breath.

---

When Gu Yuanting arrived at the hospital, he went straight into Gu Mingfeng’s special care ward. He could have had someone else do this, but he didn’t trust anyone.

He wanted to end it himself.

He dismissed everyone, saying he wanted to have a “private chat” with Mingfeng. The hospital was already prepared; unlike in China, infiltrating such facilities here in Country D was difficult, but this one was under his control.

Removing the oxygen tube—five to ten minutes, and Mingfeng would be dead. The doctor he’d arranged would declare it as respiratory failure, terminal lung cancer.

Just as he was about to act, he thought of something and scanned the room. Sure enough, he found a hidden camera. He walked over, removed it, and destroyed it without a second thought. Tracking down the source and erasing the footage would be easy—he didn’t take it seriously.

At that moment, his phone rang with a special ringtone.

His heart sank. He froze, then pulled out the phone and stepped onto the balcony to answer.

“Ranran, what’s wrong?”

Su Yiran’s voice came through: “Ting-ge, where are you?”

“I’m at the office, about to start a meeting.”

There was a pause. “…I just saw some surveillance footage.”

Yuanting’s grip on the phone tightened.

“In the footage… you were at the hospital, with Gu Mingfeng. Is it real or fake?”

He was too tense to speak at first, needing several seconds to compose himself before answering calmly, “It’s fake, Ranran. Don’t be fooled.”

But that brief hesitation had already told Su Yiran the truth. “You’re lying. You are at the hospital, aren’t you? Don’t do it, Ting-ge. It’s not worth it.”

To Su Yiran, Father Gu, Gu Mingfeng, and even today’s Gu Xinrong were not people worth pitying. But killing was still a crime. To become a murderer for their sake, to stain your own hands—it wasn’t worth it.

He just wanted to live a happy life with Ting-ge.

Exposed, Yuanting felt dizzy, his mind buzzing. What could he say to undo this?

Ranran had seen him try to harm Mingfeng. Ranran knew he was a bad man now. What should he do?

When the silence dragged on too long, Su Yiran’s voice softened. “Ting-ge, stay there. I’ll come to you, okay?”

Yuanting snapped out of it. “No. You stay home. I’m coming back now.”

“Alright. Don’t do anything foolish. Promise me.”

A pause, a lump in his throat. “…Okay.”

He returned quickly, mind in chaos, regretting ever coming himself, regretting his carelessness in not checking for cameras first. Yesterday’s events had made him too impulsive. Now it was too late.

At the sitting room door, he hesitated when he saw Ranran inside.

“Ting-ge.”

Xinrong also saw him. After Su Yiran had hung up earlier, she’d wanted to rush to the hospital, but the butler had kept her detained on orders.

When she laid eyes on Yuanting, it was like seeing a sworn enemy. “Gu Yuanting!” she shouted, struggling against the guards restraining her.

Unable to break free, she suddenly laughed bitterly. “Ha… haha… Su Yiran, you saw it, didn’t you? He’s a madman! Gu Yuanting is a madman who’ll harm his own father and brother! He’s going to kill his own brother! Hahaha—”

The butler broke into a cold sweat and ordered her gagged. Even silenced, she glared at Yuanting with hatred.

Hearing her words, Yuanting’s once-chaotic mind became clear. His face pale, he gave Su Yiran a strange smile.

Su Yiran ignored Xinrong completely and embraced Ting-ge, checking him for injuries before pulling back slightly. “Are you hurt?”

Yuanting suddenly held him tighter, unwilling to let go. After a long silence, he smiled faintly, looking into Su Yiran’s eyes.

“She’s right. I am a madman. A villain who’ll strike at his own ‘father’ and ‘brother’—and I’ll do even worse things.”

His tone was calm. “Are you afraid?”

For most people, this would be unforgivable.

As he waited for Su Yiran’s answer, Yuanting felt his temples pounding, fragments of past memories mixed with strange, blurry images flashing through his mind. His hands were icy cold as he looked at Su Yiran and waited.