It was still dark outside, and the greyish air was connected to the distant mist, looking indescribably stifling.
Xurank didn't dare to delay, hurriedly put on his clothes, went downstairs and drove straight to Sang Qiao's house.
The old residential area's security guard wasn't very responsible, and didn't even lock the iron gate properly at night.
Xurank climbed up the stairs, panting in front of the door, knocking: "Sang Qiao, Sang Qiao? Open the door!"
The inside of the house was silent.
It wasn't yet six in the morning.
Afraid of waking the neighbors with the knocking, Xurank took out his phone and called Sang Qiao several times in a row.
On the third attempt.
The door in front of him opened.
Sang Qiao seemed to have just gotten out of bed, looking a bit dazed.
He yawned and waved to Xurank, "Ran, I just fell asleep, why are you here so early?"
The layout of the room was very old, with no windows in the living room.
Faint light leaked from the bedroom, casting a pale light on Sang Qiao's face.
But besides that.
Sang Qiao's condition was completely different from when he called him an hour ago.
Xurank's heart sank suddenly, he grabbed Sang Qiao's arm, closed the door behind him, and walked straight to the bedroom, where he saw a white medicine bottle placed on a small table.
There were no markings on the medicine bottle, it was placed there alone.
Xurank stepped over and shook the bottle.
Very light, almost weightless.
All the tablets inside it were gone.
Xurank slammed the bottle heavily on the table, "Sang Qiao! Don't you care about your life!?"
The pajamas on Sang Qiao's body seemed to be one size too big, making him look even more fragile.
His eyes hesitantly moved over and stared at the bottle for a while, before explaining carefully, "There's only one dose of medicine left."
Xu Qiran's chest heaved violently with anger: "Every time you go to see Dr. Luan and get your medicine, it's always a fixed quantity. Sang Qiao, do you think I'm a fool?!"
Sang Qiao: "......"
Sang Qiao's eyes flickered, as if even he was starting to doubt himself, then after a while, he said: "This bottle isn't newly prescribed, it's from our home before."
Sang Qiao, a long-term sufferer, had long acquired one hundred and eighty different experiences in handling various types of psychological doctors and their interrogations, and he used them all without giving himself away.
Xu Qiran really couldn't tell whether Sang Qiao was telling the truth with his words, and so he had no choice but to confiscate the medicine bottle and suppress his anger as he asked: "How do you feel now?"
Sang Qiao sat honestly in a small chair, his hands and feet neatly arranged, and said: "I feel pretty good. I don't feel like harming myself or anyone else, so you can rest assured, Captain."
Xu Qiran: "......"
Xu Qiran couldn't possibly be assured.
He sighed deeply and took out the soy milk and buns bought for Sang Qiao on the way from his bag, handing them to Sang Qiao: "Take these to eat on the way. I'll take you to Dr Luan's place."
Sang Qiao rubbed his eyes, took the food sleepily, and shook his head while holding it: "I don't want to see the doctor now. Could you just drop me off at the program group, I still have to train today."
Xu Qiran was helpless and dared not to ask about Fu Xingzhou at this moment.
He turned and took out a thin down jacket from the closet, handing it to Sang Qiao: "Let's go. Put this on, the temperature has dropped outside today."
Sang Qiao took a sip of the soy milk, obediently followed Xu Qiran downstairs.
The program group's assembly time was at eight o'clock on Monday.
Sang Qiao had his breakfast in the car and then vomited it all out on the way.
Finally, in the face of Xu Qiran's furious scolding, he returned to the training room, carefree and unconcerned.
Once the rankings for the first public performance were announced, a group of low-ranking trainees were eliminated, and the original A to F classes were reduced to A to D classes.
The next public performance would feature the top six trainees with the highest number of votes from the audience, forming six teams for the next performance.
At the same time, the competition songs for the next performance would be drawn on this Monday.
The trainees had not been in the training room for long when they were called to the central hall by the broadcast loudspeaker.
The entire camera crew was in place.
On the wall inside the hall, there were six whiteboards, each with a song title posted on it.
Sang Qiao and the other A-class trainees had just arrived at the hall.
Suddenly, Yichu and the three mentors walked in through another door.
Yichu first scanned all the trainees, then stopped for a few seconds on Sang Qiao, and finally said: "The next round of performances, which will be everyone's second stage performance, has already been placed in front of you by the staff."
All the trainees unconsciously looked at the contents on the whiteboard.
Yichu continued: "Today, the choice of songs is in your own hands. Everyone will compete fairly. The team with the shortest time in the relay race within the team will pick first. How about that?"
Sang Qiao: "......"
Who on earth would come up with such a genius idea?
Sang Qiao hadn't slept all night since last night, and combined with the effect of the medication, he now felt like he was spinning on cotton.
However, all the trainees were boys, and none of them was weak in sports.
As soon as Yichu finished speaking, he earned unanimous approval from the entire audience.
Sang Qiao: "......"
Sang Qiao shuffled his feet and followed the team to the rear end with a troubled expression on his face.
The program rented an office building with a dedicated fitness facility, which was very spacious and suitable for intense running activities.
The rules for the relay race within the teams were also very simple.
It involved a 100-meter sprint with a U-turn, and the times for all members of each team were added together and ranked at the end.
Due to the different choices of the C position in different teams, most of the A-class trainees were scattered into their respective small teams.
Sang Qiao, Fang Yuzhou, and Jiang Tong were all placed in different teams for the next public performance.
Even when the relay race was about to begin.
Fang Yuzhou stood to the left of Sang Qiao.
Jiang Tong stood to the right of Sang Qiao.
Sang Qiao: "......"
Sang Qiao felt a slight headache and could hear heavy heartbeats.
And everything in front of him began to spin, like a kaleidoscope.
The brown wood floor pattern twisted and deformed in Sang Qiao's line of sight.
He instinctively wiped the layer of sweat on his forehead and began to wonder if he had indeed taken too much medication yesterday.
Unfortunately, he couldn't remember.
Yichu's whistle interrupted Sang Qiao's endless thoughts, and he quickly followed Jiang Tong and Fang Yuzhou in starting to run.
But just as he took a step forward.
Sang Qiao felt himself falling down, his knees giving out, and he knelt straight to the solid wood floor.
Thud—
A muffled sound.
For a moment, Sang Qiao couldn't tell if the impact was loud, or if his own heartbeat was louder.
But everything before him was pitch black, and there was a cacophony of noise in his ears.
Instinctively, he reached out around him, but grasped at nothing.
The fastest way for information to spread in this world is through word of mouth.
Whether it was the program staff or temporary workers, the morning's events were posted on Weibo, without any images, just a passage of text.
The name "Sang Qiao" had been very popular lately. When the news initially appeared on Weibo, only a few people doubted its authenticity.
By the afternoon, a low-resolution video was quietly posted online. It seemed to have been taken from a camera, not very clear, but the figure in the image really looked like Sang Qiao.
Not even thirty minutes later, "Sang Qiao collapses" was trending in the top ten on Weibo.
After the last performance, Sang Qiao had finally gained a considerable number of fans. Although the fan community was divided into CP fans, pure fans, positive su fans, and negative su fans; even the CP fans were divided into nearly a dozen groups...
But at this moment.
These fans were all leaving messages under the official program account, demanding timely updates or clarifications about Sang Qiao's situation.
FeedingSugarToQiaoQiao: The incident has been ongoing since morning, why is the official account staying silent? Can't they give us the details?
RaisingTheZhouQiaoBanner: I'm really worried... I also heard that Qiao Qiao hasn't been in good health recently... what's going on?
LongLiveChuQiao: I was the first one to swarm over when I saw Chu Chu, let me offer her a piece of candy, *sob*
HasZhuangHuiPostedToday: *Offering candy*, can't this be helped? Qiao Qiao is my girl!
The official account still hadn't made any announcements, and the comment section was becoming increasingly heated.
Meanwhile, at this moment in the general hospital's emergency center.
The low air pressure centered on Yi Chu had permeated through the entire program team.
It had been nearly two hours since Sang Qiao had been brought in, and except for the doctors and nurses coming in and out, the atmosphere was eerily quiet.
After about ten more minutes,
A doctor with gray hair pushed the door open and stepped out from the emergency room, and a nurse immediately wiped the sweat from his brow.
The doctor removed his mask: "Who here is the family?"
Silence filled the room.
The doctor's expression darkened: "There's no family present?"
Seeing the doctor's reaction, Yi Chu became even more anxious: "I'm sorry, I couldn't reach his father, he said he's currently busy and can't come over."
The doctor's expression turned even more grim: "Anyone else? The patient's condition is critical, I need to speak with the family."
Yi Chu was too worried to notice the others in the program team present: "His husband flew out of town for a business trip last night, and I called him on the way here. He should arrive in less than an hour."
The others in the program team: "......"
The others in the program team: "???"
At this moment, Yi Chu was too preoccupied to pay attention to anyone else, he felt that the end was near.
Perhaps the first thing Fu Xingzhou would do when he returned was to make him pay for this.
He took a couple of steps forward, distancing himself from the other members of the program team, and urgently whispered to the doctor, "Money is not a problem, please make sure..."
The senior doctor cut him off directly, his expression serious: "Money is of no concern. The patient has suffered from heart failure due to drug overdose, no amount of money can solve this. Do you understand?"
Yi Chu: "......"
Yi Chu was taken aback: "Drug overdose?"
Before the doctor could respond to Yi Chu, a hurried series of footsteps could be heard from the crowd.
Xu Qiran pushed past the others standing at the door of the emergency room, and ran straight to the doctor, panting, "Hello, I'm the patient's agent. I am aware of the patient's condition, he has no family members, during life-threatening emergencies, I can sign for him. Here is his power of attorney."
In Xu Qiran's hand was a paper, creased all over, with Sang Qiao's name scribbled at the very end, when he hadn't yet learned how to sign his signature with a star's flourish.
The doctor verified the power of attorney and carefully scrutinized Xu Qiran for a moment, seeming to deliberate: "The patient has a history of long-term use of psychiatric medication, are you aware of this?"
Yi Chu was stunned: "What?!"
Xu Qiran glanced at Yi Chu: "Yes, I am aware."
The doctor nodded, "We will conduct another full-body examination for the patient later, which may involve the patient's **. If it's convenient, please come with me to sign."
Xu Qirang hesitated for a moment, about to follow the doctor's footsteps.
But then a voice came from the crowd outside.
"Wait."
The voice was cold and icy, but upon closer listening, it revealed a kind of almost melancholic tension.
"He is my spouse, I'll sign."