THERE IS A VICIOUS RINGING in his ears when the world roars back into clarity. A sound so sharp and violently loud that at first, he is deafened to the voice perched above him.
   â Zh... â
  He blinks a glazed gaze back into focus, finding his surroundings lie tossed on their side. This is... the floor of his pharmacy? When did he get...?
  â Doc... Bai...â
  He senses a hand on his back then, rubbing and pushing at his collapsed form to coax it back into consciousness. Sweat, cold and ill, coats his body, sticking his clothes and hair uncomfortably to his skin. He feels, nauseous â is the immediate thought he has whilst his stomach turns tumultuously from the tailspin his head is in. And weakened, like his limbs might betray him should he attempt to lift himself from his heap on the ground too soon.
   â Doctor Baizhu. â His eyes search up, squinting through the light overhead to fix on the figure above him. A customer? He's seen this face before, a few times in fact, though he cannot put a name to it at the moment.
   â Oh... â A groan voices from him as he brings his upper half to the elbows, features in an agonized twist. He aches all over; he must have passed out, but how long ago he has no idea.
   â I apologize, I... â Regret showing such a sorry state to you, a patron, Baizhu's mind supplies him with. But he doesn't voice it, only coughs and heaves into his hand and grimaces when his palm reels back wet with phlegm and blood. Changsheng is missing from his shoulders, coiled quietly over the rug space to his left. Hopefully she wasn't hurt when he lost consciousness and fell.
  Breath slows, and he keeps his vision downcast due to a growing sense of shame. This accursed vulnerability of his... He will never be at peace with it.
  Yet he knows he cannot help himself. Reluctantly, between a hanging of his head, he swallows what little is left of his pride and asks for aid.