"Should we try the ice water now?"
"Or perhaps the smelly socks?"
"I say we roll him onto the ground again, but harder this time! That'll be sure to do it."
Whaaa? Dao Ming Shi came to as four familiar faces loomed over him: the other members of F4 along with his sister, Dao Ming Zhuang. In fact, the view he had would've been downright comical if the situation at hand hadn't been so dire. Moving to get up from the couch, Dao Ming Shi pushed away the already-dripping bucket of ice water that Mei Zuo was holding in his hands and skirted around the stinky socks that Ximen was holding at the end of a pair of chopsticks.
"Thanks a lot, sis," he muttered, having heard her very on-brand violent suggestion in his first few waking moments.
Unphased, Dao Ming Zhuang shrugged and gave her brother a hand to help him stand up.
"Glad to have you back with us, bro," Mei Zuo said, putting down his bucket.
"Yeah, took you long enough," his sister quipped, crossing her arms into her usual lets-get-down-to-business stance.
Dao Ming Shi nodded as he clutched his head, trying to remember again just exactly what had happened before he had gone crashing down to the ground.
"So Shan Cai, is she really…?" His voice trailed off as he gauged the reactions of his friends.
They were somber as they nodded, affirming to him that it hadn't all just been a bad dream, after all.
"Ugh dammit!" He slammed his fist down on the table. "What use am I as her boyfriend if I can't even protect her."
He felt his anger welling up again, combined with a frustrated hopelessness that so often plagued him when it came to his relationship with Shan Cai. For someone who either had or could procure anything money could buy at a moment's notice, he felt surprisingly hopeless when it came to that girl.
"Well, any leads as to where she could be?" He stopped his depressing introspection and looked out at his friends around him.
"Yes, we do actually," Lei answered him, as they all crowded around to look at the laptop screen he was showing them.
On it was a map with a very precise location pinpointed: Ming Hua Road. The name of the street practically glowed before Dao Ming Shi's eyes, searing itself into his memory.
He pointed to it as he turned to Lei. "So this is where she is? You're absolutely sure?" He asked, though he didn't doubt for a second that the combined resources of F4's families had been able to find it so quickly.
Lei nodded in response.
"Well, it's settled then," Dao Ming Shi sprung into action, grabbing his car keys from the counter.
"I have to go get her back."