Cen Lingqiu asked the System about Yu Mingjiao’s self-destruction index during this period. The System informed her that it had dropped by eight percent. Although it was a slight decrease, it was still a positive trend.
It seemed that her shameless feeding efforts during this time had some effect.
Today, she made breakfast as usual and brought it to Yu Mingjiao’s door. She knocked for a long time, but no one answered.
She thought Yu Mingjiao was still sleeping and knocked a few more times, but there was still no response.
Strange, is she still sleeping?
She’d never opened the door this late before.
She wanted to call her, but then remembered she still didn’t have her contact information.
Yu Mingjiao had a world-weary and gloomy disposition, and she was a disabled person with limited mobility. Cen Lingqiu couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
Just as she was about to knock again, the door opened.
Yu Mingjiao was sitting in her wheelchair, her face pale, her eyes drooping with weariness. She gave Cen Lingqiu a tired glance and turned to go into the living room.
“Were you sleeping just now?” Cen Lingqiu asked casually, placing the breakfast on the table. Seeing the balcony curtains drawn tightly, she walked over.
“Why do you always like to keep the curtains closed?” Cen Lingqiu pulled the curtains open, and bright daylight flooded in from the balcony, illuminating the entire living room.
Yu Mingjiao sat at the table without answering her. Her breathing was a bit rapid, and her eyelids drooped weakly.
Cen Lingqiu noticed something was wrong with her, leaned closer, and asked softly, “What’s the matter with you?”
Yu Mingjiao was silent. She couldn’t hear what Cen Lingqiu was saying. Her head felt heavy, she was dizzy, and her vision was blurry. It was as if she had fallen into a swamp, her breath and gaze suppressed.
There seemed to be a figure in front of her, constantly talking to her.
The voice was very soft, like water flowing over pebbles on a summer day, clear and cool.
She felt terrible.
“It hurts.”
Yu Mingjiao’s consciousness was muddled. She didn’t know who was in front of her, only that she felt awful and blindly wanted to grab onto someone.
“Where does it hurt?” Cen Lingqiu asked.
“…My head hurts.”
After saying this, Yu Mingjiao’s strength gave out. Her body was limp, her hand weakly clutching Cen Lingqiu’s sleeve, and her head drooped onto her chest.
Cen Lingqiu caught her. “Yu Mingjiao?”
Yu Mingjiao’s eyes were closed, her expression pained.
She touched Yu Mingjiao’s forehead. It was burning hot.
Cen Lingqiu guessed she had a fever and, without hesitation, took her to the hospital.
Yu Mingjiao felt as if she had been thrown into scorching magma. Her body was hot, but in the next instant, it was as if she were in the dead of winter, waves of cold washing over her.
She tossed and turned between heat and cold, constantly tormented.
This pain made her recall a time in the past when she was sick with a fever. She felt terrible and complained to her father, but he just told her to go back to her room and sleep, not to bother him. Her stepmother didn’t care about her either, taking her younger sister out to play.
She shivered under the covers, her head dizzy. She knew she was sick and wanted to see a doctor, but she had absolutely no strength, not even enough to speak.
She felt awful and very scared. Because of the immense loneliness, she wished someone could be by her side, anyone at all.
But in the end, there was no one.
After an unknown amount of time, the suffering slowly subsided, the chaotic dreams stopped, and Yu Mingjiao slowly opened her eyes.
The pungent smell of disinfectant, a white ceiling.
Was she in the hospital?
Yu Mingjiao was dazed. There was the sound of faint breathing beside her ear. She turned her head and saw Cen Lingqiu sleeping, propping her forehead up with her hand.
Outside the window, it was already dark.
The hospital room was quiet. Cen Lingqiu slept peacefully by her bed, breathing softly.
Why was it her again, keeping her company in the hospital?
Cen Lingqiu was a light sleeper and quickly sensed the movement beside her. She opened her eyes.
“You’re awake?” Cen Lingqiu yawned. “Are you hungry?”
Yu Mingjiao’s voice was hoarse. “…Did you bring me to the hospital?”
Cen Lingqiu raised an eyebrow. “Who else?”
“The doctor said you caught a cold and have a fever.” Cen Lingqiu said in a slightly reproachful tone, “Did you set the air conditioner too low when you slept at night?”
Yu Mingjiao clearly didn’t want to hear her criticism. She turned her head away and replied coolly, “I don’t know.”
Cen Lingqiu’s lips curved slightly. She stood up. “I’m so hungry. I haven’t eaten much since bringing you to the hospital this morning. I’m going out to buy food. Is there anything you want to eat?”
“You can go,” Yu Mingjiao said emotionlessly. “I don’t need you to take care of me. I’ll give you the money for the medical bills.”
Cen Lingqiu looked down at her, arms crossed. “Are you planning to discharge yourself without permission again, and then have a nurse give me the money for the medical bills?”
Yu Mingjiao’s expression was gloomy, her face pale. She pressed her lips together tightly, clearly admitting it.
Her attitude of wanting to draw a clear line between them was quite heartless. Yu Mingjiao’s defenses were very strong. Even though she had reluctantly accepted Cen Lingqiu’s food offerings due to her persistence, Cen Lingqiu knew that a deep rift still existed in Yu Mingjiao’s heart.
She was like a scarred cat, remaining highly vigilant towards human kindness, curling up in a corner to hide her wounds.
She knew the female lead still felt repulsed by her, but what did it matter? Cen Lingqiu didn’t want to form an overly intimate relationship with the female lead. She would have to leave eventually, and a relationship that was too close would only be a burden.
She just needed to complete her mission conscientiously, treat the female lead like a fragile porcelain doll, get close to her, supervise her, and find a way to pull out the painful thorns in her heart.
Yu Mingjiao’s life lacked love and the concern of others; there was only loneliness. So, Cen Lingqiu would give her these missing things.
This was the experience Cen Lingqiu had recently gained from her colleagues.
Whatever a person lacks, give it to them.
It would be useful, one way or another.
Therefore, Cen Lingqiu could unconditionally tolerate everything about Yu Mingjiao.
Her rejection, aversion, indifference, cold expressions—Cen Lingqiu didn’t care about any of it.
Cen Lingqiu sat down again. In response to Yu Mingjiao’s confusion, she said calmly, “I’m a bit tired. I don’t want to go.”
She fiddled with her phone. “Let’s order takeout.”
Yu Mingjiao: “…”
“I don’t remember you having such a thick-skinned personality,” Yu Mingjiao said coolly.
Cen Lingqiu’s emotions were completely unruffled. “Now you know.”
The takeout arrived quickly. Cen Lingqiu gave the bland portion to Yu Mingjiao. Yu Mingjiao, being stubborn, said she didn’t want it. Cen Lingqiu told her, “You haven’t eaten all day, you’re on an IV drip, and you’re sick. Do you not want to get better by refusing to eat?”
Yu Mingjiao fell silent.
Cen Lingqiu sighed. “Don’t worry, I won’t eat at the same table as you. I’ll eat over at the coffee table.”
“You eat your food, don’t mind me.” Cen Lingqiu opened the overbed table, placed the takeout on it, and went to the coffee table by the sofa herself.
Cen Lingqiu had booked a premium room, which had everything.
Yu Mingjiao watched Cen Lingqiu at the coffee table. She was sipping her congee while looking at her phone, her plain and beautiful face expressionless, showing no signs of anger.
She blinked slowly before averting her gaze.
She lowered her head and took a sip of the congee.
Not sweet.
Why was the one Cen Lingqiu made so sweet?
It tasted a bit bad.
Yu Mingjiao silently critiqued it.
After they finished eating, Cen Lingqiu cleaned up and then took her to the bathroom to wash up.
Yu Mingjiao lay back in bed, her gaze fixed on Cen Lingqiu, as if asking, “Why haven’t you left yet?”
Cen Lingqiu took off her hair tie, letting her hair down, and said, “I’m sleeping here tonight.”
She then explained, “You have another day of IV drips tomorrow before you can be discharged. I have to take you back.”
Yu Mingjiao frowned. She wasn’t used to sharing a room with Cen Lingqiu. Just as she was about to speak, Cen Lingqiu interrupted her.
“I know what you’re going to say. Hold it back.” She lay down on the sofa, her tone casual due to her sleepiness. “I’ve been taking care of you all day. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”
She made the decision preemptively. “Let’s just leave the light on. There’s no night light here.”
“So, good night.”
After speaking, Cen Lingqiu fell silent and went to sleep.
Yu Mingjiao hadn’t even said a word.
This woman wouldn’t easily change her mind. Even if she told Cen Lingqiu to leave now, the woman wouldn’t go.
Their brief time together had also taught Yu Mingjiao that Cen Lingqiu was a resolute woman who only did as she pleased.
Yu Mingjiao turned over, her back to Cen Lingqiu.
She had thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep in the same room as Cen Lingqiu, but perhaps because her head was so dizzy, she fell asleep without realizing it.
The next day, after Yu Mingjiao finished her last IV drip, the doctor prescribed some medicine and gave her instructions on what to avoid while taking it and how to care for herself.
By the time all this was done, it was already past three in the afternoon. Cen Lingqiu pushed Yu Mingjiao out of the hospital.
“Big Sis Mingjiao!”
Just as the two of them reached the hospital lobby, a clear female voice made Cen Lingqiu stop in her tracks.
Hearing the familiar voice, Yu Mingjiao’s pale lips suddenly trembled.
Cen Lingqiu looked towards the source of the voice. A girl in a school uniform was running towards them.
The girl ran very fast, reaching them in the blink of an eye. She grabbed Yu Mingjiao’s shoulders and said excitedly, “Sis, it’s really you! Why are you at the hospital?”
Yu Mingjiao’s hands gripped the wheelchair’s armrests tightly. Her eyes were icy as she spoke in a tone as cold as a venomous snake.
“Get lost.”
Yu Sui’an was confused. “Sis, how can you talk to me like that? I’m your sister, your only family.”
If there was anyone in this world who disgusted her more than Lin Qiu and Lin Dong, it was her younger sister.
Yu Sui’an was three years younger than her and her half-sister.
She was born cute and pretty, but she was an innocently cruel, bad child.
In Yu Mingjiao’s past childhood, a large part of her pain and misfortune came from this sister.
When she fell, her father blamed her for not taking care of her sister and tied her hands to the balcony railing for a whole night. When she took a little extra of the chicken that Yu Sui’an loved, Yu Sui’an cried, and her stepmother stuffed her mouth full of extremely spicy peppers, forbidding her to spit them out.
And all of this was intentional on Yu Sui’an’s part. She just wanted to see her get beaten, so she used their parents’ doting love to constantly frame her.
She was truly a thoroughly bad girl.
She loved to snatch her things. It was because that year, she insisted on taking something her mother had left for her. Her stepmother helped Yu Sui’an fight her for it, and she was pushed down the stairs by her stepmother, losing her legs.
To this day, Yu Mingjiao still remembered what Yu Sui’an said in the hospital.
“Sis, everything in this house is mine. It’s all your fault for insisting on fighting me for it. You deserve it.”
Yu Mingjiao didn’t want to see this sister at all. Seeing her again, the unbearable pain of the past pierced her flesh like countless needles.
She felt utterly disgusted.
“…Don’t touch me.” Yu Mingjiao’s already frail and pale face had turned deathly white. Her back was deeply hunched as she covered her mouth, on the verge of vomiting.
Cen Lingqiu found the girl before her somewhat familiar, but she had no time to think about it. Yu Mingjiao’s condition was too poor right now.
“Kid, we have to go now,” Cen Lingqiu said, about to push her away.
Only then did Yu Sui’an notice Cen Lingqiu. Her eyes widened, and she shoved Cen Lingqiu away, aggressively questioning her, “I know you! You’re that woman who’s always bullying my sister! What did you bring my sister to the hospital for? Did you bully her until she ended up in the hospital?! You vicious woman, flirting with men in a bar, and now you’re here bullying women. You’re disgusting!”
Cen Lingqiu was inexplicably berated by a minor. Before she could even get angry, she remembered something from her words.
No wonder this kid looked familiar. It was the kid who bumped into her at the bar last time.
As for flirting with men, what nonsense? That day, hadn’t she just had a few drinks with some of Wen Zhi’s team members?
Cen Lingqiu had a very bad impression of Yu Sui’an. She never expected her to be Yu Mingjiao’s sister.
Yu Sui’an pushed Yu Mingjiao’s wheelchair. “Sis, I’ll take you away. I won’t let this woman bully you.”
Seeing that this kid was about to take Yu Mingjiao away, Cen Lingqiu stepped forward and held Yu Sui’an’s hand. “Kid, what are you doing?”
Yu Sui’an sneered, “Of course, I’m taking my sister home.”
Cen Lingqiu recalled Yu Mingjiao’s earlier resistance. With her eyelids lowered, she slowly asked, “But, are you sure your sister wants to go with you?”
“Of course. I’m her sister. There’s no way she’d go back with you.”
Yu Mingjiao felt her head spin again. Her body was trembling, and a wave of nausea surged up her throat, blocking her mouth and nose, making even breathing difficult.
She didn’t want to hear Yu Sui’an’s voice for even a second. Her voice only made her uncontrollably remember the past.
The past she tried so hard to forget.
She had to leave this place.
Leave her so-called family that disgusted her.
Yu Sui’an didn’t want to argue with Cen Lingqiu. More and more people were looking their way, and the young girl, concerned about her image, started to push Yu Mingjiao away.
Yu Mingjiao bit her lip hard, her mind almost completely muddled. Without thinking, she suddenly grabbed Cen Lingqiu’s wrist with a thin, trembling hand.
Cen Lingqiu looked at the hand clutching her own.
Yu Mingjiao’s head was bowed, her long black hair falling down to hide her pale, damp cheeks. She struggled to force a few words out of her throat.
“…Take me… away.”
