If we keep rambling on, seeing how anxious Aunt Carter looked, we finally got back to the main topic. “Back then, a lot of girls were secretly sending Little Ethan flirty glances, but not a single one sent any to me. Still, in Little Ethan’s eyes, there was only Grace White.”

“With the way you look, who would send you flirty glances? I’d rather send you some grass to chew on.” Jason jabbed at Big Henry again. “Let’s get to the point. Why are you bringing up all this irrelevant stuff?”

Big Henry gave an awkward smile. “That’s just how I am, always rambling and never getting to the point. Jason, it’s easy for you to say. Why don’t you speak up and let me be the scapegoat?”

Jason Reed couldn’t help but say, “Alright, alright, let me talk. If you keep going like this, you won’t finish even by nightfall. Here’s what happened, Aunt Carter: Grace White and Little Ethan have been together for over a year now. It was going okay, but Grace White is the type who’s always looking for something better.”

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘always looking for something better’?” This time, it was Aunt Carter who interrupted him.

“It just means always thinking the grass is greener on the other side. Seniors looking for jobs often say this. It just slipped out.” Jason scratched his head. “Big Henry wasn’t wrong. Grace White was waiting for a better opportunity but didn’t want to be lonely, so she kept things ambiguous with Little Ethan. Then, a few months ago, a rich kid named Jack Harris—maybe he’s extremely nearsighted—mistook... Grace White for Diao Chan.”

He originally wanted to say “mistook a sow for Diao Chan,” but that kind of joke is fine among buddies, not in front of a doctor and an aunt. He coughed. “So, Jack Harris started pursuing Grace White. As for Jack Harris, how should I put it, he’s the kind of rich playboy who’s so poor that all he has left is money. I’ve heard his father, Samuel Harris, is one of the top tycoons in Jiangyuan City. Even though he’s a total mess, there are still plenty of even more shameless female students throwing themselves at him. Grace White was thrilled, and in just a couple of days, she’d already moved on and climbed up the social ladder. That’s when Little Ethan got really depressed. He tried to talk to her a few times, but nothing came of it, so he got hooked on online games.”

“So that’s how it is.” Aunt Carter was both angry at her son’s lack of ambition and cursing every relative of Grace White she could think of. “Dr. Sullivan, what do you think we should do?”

Dr. Sullivan was very patient and listened to them ramble on. “If that’s really the reason, I don’t think it’ll be hard to solve. But for now, I can’t find any other explanation, so we’ll have to start from here.”

“So what should we do?” Helen Carter asked anxiously.

“First, he’s badly injured right now and bound to be irritable, so you all need to spend more time with him.”

“No problem, Aunt Carter. Jason and I are both pretty free right now. School hasn’t started yet, so we have plenty of time to keep him company. Even after school starts, you know I don’t have much to do—just training, and I can come whenever. Aunt Carter, you and Uncle Brooks both have to work, so just leave Little Ethan to me from now on.” Big Henry comforted Aunt Carter from the side.

Gratefully glancing at Big Henry, Aunt Carter asked again, “And the second?”

“Second, don’t let him feel like you’re comforting him.” Dr. Sullivan gave a wry smile. “If he really is heartbroken, then the more you comfort him, the deeper he’ll sink, and the more painful it’ll be. The only thing you can do is pretend you don’t know anything. Time heals all wounds. I think after a while, he’ll get better.”

Big Henry muttered to himself, this Dr. Sullivan is such a handsome guy—could it be he’s been dumped a lot too? Otherwise, how could he make so much sense?

“And the third?” Helen Carter asked again.

He paused for a moment. “There’s no third. Right now, even though he’s showing some signs of psychological withdrawal, the most important thing is to heal his physical injuries first. He’s badly hurt. I think he’ll need at least three months of rest before he can walk for a dozen minutes a day, and only after half a year will he be able to walk normally. But because his spleen was damaged, he probably won’t have much strength in the future.”

“Three months?” Big Henry couldn’t help but exclaim, “School starts in a few weeks. What are we going to do?”

Dr. Sullivan glanced at Big Henry and said calmly, “Of course school is important, but if his health collapses, what’s the use of studying? As for the psychological side, I’m not an expert, but I can introduce you to a friend. If Ethan Brooks’s psychological issues turn out to be really stubborn, you can go see him.”

He tore off a sheet of letter paper, wrote down a contact, and handed it to Ping Brooks. Ping Brooks didn’t bother to look at it closely, knowing that the most important thing now was to nurse his son back to health, so he just stuffed it into his pocket.

“Has Little Ethan woken up yet, Aunt Carter?” Big Henry asked with some concern. “Should we go see him and talk to him more often from now on?”

“He just took his medicine and got a shot, so he probably won’t wake up so soon. I suggest you go tomorrow.” Dr. Sullivan added from the side, “He’s still very weak right now. For the next couple of days, he’ll mainly be on glucose with added vitamins. When he’s able to take some liquid food, I’ll have Nurse Foster notify you.”

Volume One: Where Am I

Chapter Six: Self-Rescue