The pressure of his hand around her neck, the suffocating feeling of being unable to breathe, and the pain when her knee struck the gravel all came rushing back.
Bai Tao subconsciously touched her neck. It still hurt a little when she touched it.
Damn Pei Jin.
Serves you right for bullying me.
Look at you getting your punishment!
Thinking about it, Bai Tao suddenly felt a strange sense of satisfaction at the fact that Pei Jin had been beaten up.
She even failed to suppress the slight upward curl of her lips.
Then she quickly forced it back down.
No, no. She was going to become Pei Jin’s lifesaver. She couldn’t be gloating over his misfortune.
Those aunties at the supermarket had just given her a brilliant idea.
If she suddenly became this enthusiastic toward Pei Jin, given his miserable attitude, he would definitely think she was acting strangely. He certainly wouldn’t treat her nicely.
But what if she put it another way?
What if she said she had secretly loved Pei Jin for a long time?
Then wouldn’t it be perfectly natural for her to want to take him in?
Bai Tao was moved by her own cleverness for an entire second.
She adjusted her expression and skipped into the pharmacy.
The Doctor had already hooked up Pei Jin’s IV and inserted the needle. Pei Jin was covered with a blanket, leaving one arm outside. Medical tape was wrapped around the back of his hand, and the transparent IV tube released one drop after another.
The Doctor came out of the examination room, walked behind the front counter, dragged out a reclining chair, and unfolded it with a loud snap. He lay down, took out his phone, and started scrolling through short videos.
Bai Tao greeted him before turning into the small ward.
Pei Jin was lying on the hospital bed with the blanket pulled up to his chest. His exposed shoulder was almost glowing white. His face was turned to one side, his brows slightly furrowed as if he still felt uncomfortable even in his unconscious state.
The skin on his lips was dry and cracked, with flakes peeling up. His breathing was deep and slow, and his chest rose and fell gently with each breath.
Bai Tao’s eyes landed on his exposed arm.
So white.
White enough that the bluish veins beneath his skin could faintly be seen. The muscles along his arm were beautifully defined. They weren’t the exaggerated bulk of someone who spent all day at the gym, but lean, powerful strength that seemed to have grown naturally from his very bones.
Bai Tao swallowed.
Then her gaze moved downward completely against her will.
The shape beneath the blanket.
Bai Tao immediately looked away, the tips of her ears turning red enough to bleed.
He wasn’t wearing anything underneath the blanket.
A little after eleven, the Doctor poked his head into the room to check Pei Jin’s IV. He looked at Bai Tao as well and instructed her, “There are still two more IV bags to go. Keep an eye on him. Come get me when they’re finished. Don’t fall asleep.”
Bai Tao obediently nodded.
“Okay.”
The Doctor pointed toward the other empty hospital bed in the room and explained, “It’s not that I’m refusing to let you sleep there. Before, when there were no patients, family members were allowed to sleep on the beds. But later, some bastard reported us, saying the hospital beds weren’t clean or something. Ever since then, we’re not allowed to let anyone lie on them.”
Bai Tao quickly waved her hands.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll just sit on a stool.”
The Doctor nodded, yawned, and returned to his reclining chair to watch videos.
Bai Tao dragged over a small stool and sat beside Pei Jin’s bed.
She took out her phone and opened the alarm. She set one alarm every twenty minutes. Even if she accidentally fell asleep, the alarms would wake her up.
Then she rested her elbow against the edge of Pei Jin’s bed, placed her chin on her arm, and stared at the IV bag.
One drop.
Two drops.
Three drops.
The room was very quiet. She could hear Pei Jin’s breathing.
Bai Tao stared at the IV bag for ten minutes before her eyelids began to grow heavy.
The alarm rang again and again, while Bai Tao repeatedly drifted between wakefulness and half-sleep.
At one in the morning, the second IV bag finally finished.
Bai Tao hurried to the front to call the Doctor over. He quickly replaced the bag with the third one, yawned, and went back to the front.
Three in the morning.
The final IV bag was finally empty.
The Doctor came over, removed the needle, and took Pei Jin’s temperature once more. He nodded.
“His fever has gone down a little. Take his temperature again tomorrow morning.”
Only then did Bai Tao finally relax.
She took off her jacket, folded it, and placed it beneath her arm. Then she lay down beside Pei Jin’s hand. Resting her head on her arm, she turned her face to the side, just in time to see the hand that had received the IV.
There was a small patch of bruising on the back of his hand, left behind by the needle.
His long fingers were slightly curled, the joints sharply defined, his nails neatly trimmed.
That same hand had strangled her that afternoon.
Now it rested quietly at the edge of the bed.
Bai Tao stared at it for two seconds before she finally couldn’t hold on any longer.
She closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep beside his hand.
The room was left with nothing but the sound of their breathing, rising and falling together, sometimes in sync, sometimes overlapping.
At some point, the rain outside had completely stopped.
Occasionally, a drop fell from the eaves onto the puddles below, making a soft sound.
Bai Tao was awakened by the Doctor stretching.
She struggled to open her eyes. Her eyelids felt as heavy as lead.
She fumbled for her phone and turned on the screen. The harsh light made her squint.
6:00.
She blinked and unconsciously opened her WeChat list.
There were no red notification dots.
No unread messages.
Not a single person from the Bai Family had sent her a message.
Just like in her previous life.
Bai Tao stared at the empty chat list for two seconds before turning her phone face down on the bed.
By six-thirty, old men and women were already lining up outside the pharmacy. They brought their own stools and chatted together in groups of two or three.
“Doctor, I’m going out to buy some breakfast.” Bai Tao greeted him. “Please keep an eye on him after he wakes up.”
A small truck was parked outside the pharmacy. Someone was unloading baskets of eggs one after another. The Doctor stood at the entrance with his hands behind his back.
“Doctor, are you holding some kind of promotion?” Bai Tao asked as she approached.
The Doctor turned around and smiled.
“Yeah. Come here for a health check and you get free eggs.”
“Are they really free?”
The Doctor gave her an amused look.
“How could they be? Of course you have to spend money first.”
Bai Tao nodded.
All right. If she had to spend money, she didn’t want them. If they were truly free, she might consider it.
The Doctor was so busy he didn’t even raise his head. He waved his hand.
“Go on, go on.”
Bai Tao didn’t like eating anything too greasy in the morning. After thinking about it, she bought a cup of soy milk and a bowl of millet porridge for each of them.
The soy milk was freshly made and came in an opaque plastic cup. It was hot enough to warm her hand.
The millet porridge was packed in a disposable bowl with a small packet of pickled vegetables on the side.
Bai Tao carried the breakfast back, her footsteps much lighter than before.
Meanwhile,
Pei Jin opened his eyes.
A large expanse of glaring white filled his vision, and the smell of disinfectant permeated the air.
Was he… dead?
Yesterday afternoon, after separating from Bai Tao, he had dragged his suitcase into an alley.
He had gotten somewhat lost. He had lowered his head to look for directions, and by the time he realized what was happening, seven or eight people had surrounded him.
The leader had dyed his hair yellow and wore a thick golden chain around his neck.
Behind him were several others, some fat, some thin, some tall, some short. They stood in a row.
Pei Jin knew some martial arts.
When he was young, Pei Shengli had been afraid he would be kidnapped, so he had specifically hired a private instructor for him. Pei Jin had trained in Sanda for several years.
But that level of skill was enough to deal with one or two people at most.
Against seven people, especially when the other side had knives and clubs, he wasn’t nearly good enough.
And there were two men who looked to weigh at least 250 pounds each.
When those two men pressed down on him, Pei Jin felt as though his ribs were about to break.
He struggled several times, but couldn’t move.
His suitcase was stolen.
His phone was stolen too.
He had been beaten until he couldn’t stand. He curled up on the ground like an ant someone had stepped on.
Then the hail came.
The hailstones, each about the size of a fingernail, struck his body.
At first, they hurt.
Then the pain turned numb.
Then he couldn’t feel anything at all.
Using the last bit of strength he had, he crawled little by little beneath a bicycle shelter, following the filthy water flowing out from beside a garbage bin.
The dirty water soaked through his clothes. It smelled foul and disgusting.
He sat on the ground gasping for breath, feeling as though he might freeze to death there.
And then Bai Tao appeared.
Back when he had everything, Bai Tao had never approached him.
Or perhaps she had, but they had never been close.
Before he was kicked out, Bai Tao had sent him those strange messages. He had found them inexplicable, even somewhat ridiculous.
He had even wondered whether Bai Tao was trying to use him to regain her footing in the wealthy family.
After all, she was the fake daughter who had been kicked out. Perhaps she wanted to use him first and then kick him aside.
But now, he had nothing.
Pei Jin had lived for twenty-four years.
This was the first time he had experienced what it meant to be unable to take even a single step forward.
And at that moment, someone had actually begun approaching him.
Pei Jin stared at the ceiling, his thoughts unclear.
Suddenly, he frowned.
This sensation…
He moved his body slightly.
That feeling of fabric against his skin…
It was strange.
He wasn’t wearing anything.
Pei Jin froze.
He slowly reached a hand beneath the blanket to confirm.
His expression immediately became indescribably awful.
The next second, a Doctor in a white coat poked half his body through the doorway.
When he saw Pei Jin awake, he walked in with a smile, took a forehead thermometer from his white coat pocket, and pointed it at Pei Jin’s forehead.
Beep.
“Oh, young man, you’re awake?” The Doctor glanced at the temperature and nodded. “Your fever’s gone down. Your girlfriend went out to buy breakfast for you. She hasn’t come back yet.”
Girlfriend?
Pei Jin’s brows furrowed even more deeply.
The Doctor put the thermometer back into his pocket, pulled over a small stool, and sat down.
“Your girlfriend is really good to you. Yesterday, in that heavy rain, I don’t even know where she found you and dragged you here. She was soaked from head to toe, looking like a drowned ghost. I thought someone had come to demand my life. Isn’t that funny? I’ve never hurt anyone.”
The Doctor told his own lame joke.
When Pei Jin didn’t laugh, the Doctor awkwardly clicked his tongue twice.
“I was worried something might happen to you last night. She set an alarm every twenty minutes. In all my years, I’ve never seen such a thoughtful girl. It really touched me.”
Pei Jin fell silent.
Girlfriend?
Bai Tao?
He heard every word the Doctor said.
But when they were put together, he couldn’t understand any of it.
Bai Tao?
Good to him?
Pei Jin’s mind conjured Bai Tao’s face.
The only image he could think of was her in the alley, tears spilling from her eyes while he had his hand around her neck.
He remembered the fear and regret in her eyes, along with something else.
He had thought she would leave.
He had thought that when he was at his most miserable, she would turn around and walk away.
But she hadn’t.
“Thank you.”
Pei Jin’s voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against metal.
“Where are my clothes?”
“Oh, all your clothes were soaked through, and your pants were torn.”
The Doctor stood up and walked toward the cabinet by the door. He opened a drawer and began rummaging through it.
“Your girlfriend seems to have brought you some new ones. Let me find them… Where did I put them…”
Pei Jin waited for two seconds before asking a question he didn’t really want to ask, but had no choice but to ask.
“My… clothes. Who changed them?”
The Doctor didn’t even look up as he continued searching.
“I did. You had abrasions all over your body that needed medicine, and you had to get out of those wet clothes. Otherwise, your fever would’ve gotten worse.”
Pei Jin finally relaxed slightly.
The Doctor pulled a white plastic bag from the drawer. Inside were neatly folded white undershirts and a pair of loose black shorts.
He handed them to Pei Jin.
Pei Jin took them and glanced at the Jiajiayue Supermarket tag still attached.
The prices were ridiculously cheap.
The shorts were 29.9 yuan.
The undershirt was 19.9 yuan.
But better than nothing.
Pei Jin lifted the blanket and prepared to get dressed.
The Doctor slapped his forehead.
“Oh, right. I had your girlfriend take your underwear home.”
Pei Jin froze completely.
“CK, too.”
The Doctor added this with a proud tone, as if he were rather pleased with his knowledge of expensive brands.
“That brand is pretty expensive, right? I told her to take it home and wash it. You can still wear it afterward. Don’t waste it.”
Pei Jin’s hand holding the white undershirt stopped in midair.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
What exactly was this Doctor talking about?
Was he saying his underwear had been taken home by… whom?
Pei Jin put on the shorts and tightened the waistband.
His movements paused.
The size of the underwear was strangely perfect.
Not too tight and not too loose.
It sat at exactly that point that couldn’t quite be called comfortable, but definitely wasn’t uncomfortable either.
He froze for a moment.
Who had bought his clothes?
Before he could think about it further, the door was gently pulled open from outside.
Bai Tao poked half her head inside.
She was carrying a bag of breakfast.
The moment she saw that Pei Jin was already sitting up, her expression visibly stiffened.
She hadn’t expected him to wake up already.
Pei Jin heard the door open and turned his head, casually glancing toward the doorway.
Just one glance.
There was no unnecessary expression and no unnecessary movement.
But when those black eyes swept toward her, Bai Tao felt the pain in her neck begin to throb again.
The suffocating sensation from yesterday, when he had strangled her, surged back like a tide and made her feel as though she couldn’t breathe properly.
But in the next second, images of LV monogram bags, Chanel, and Hermès flashed through her mind.
All those sparkling, beautiful bags waiting on the counters of luxury stores for her to take them home.
If you don’t enter the tiger’s den, how can you get the tiger cub?
Bai Tao took a deep breath and forced herself to smile at Pei Jin.
“Haha, good morning.”
She placed the breakfast on the bedside table.
The plastic bag rustled against the tabletop, making a particularly clear sound in the quiet ward.
“Do you want to eat?”
As she took things out of the bag, she asked, “I just bought whatever was convenient. Soy milk and millet porridge. I don’t know if you like them.”
Pei Jin’s eyes were dark as he lowered his head without saying anything.
Only then did Bai Tao notice that she barely reached his shoulder.
She was holding a cup of soy milk and inserting the straw when she looked up at Pei Jin in confusion.
“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you eating?”
“I have no money.”
Pei Jin’s voice was flat.
But from yesterday noon until now, he hadn’t eaten a single bite or drunk a drop of water. His throat was as dry as sandpaper, and when those three words came out, his voice carried a rough hoarseness.
Bai Tao froze.
Pei Jin didn’t look at her. His eyes remained fixed on a wrinkle in the bedsheet.
Bai Tao picked up the other cup of soy milk, inserted the straw, and held it out to him.
“Where’s your suitcase? You don’t have your phone either?”
She frowned as she recalled what had happened.
“When I went looking for you, I didn’t see your suitcase.”
Pei Jin said nothing.
He didn’t take the soy milk. Instead, he silently looked away and turned his gaze toward the window.
The ward fell silent for several seconds.
“Why?”
Pei Jin suddenly spoke.
His voice was very low.
“Why what?”
As she asked, Bai Tao forcefully stuffed the soy milk into his hand.
The warmth of the drink passed through the thin paper cup and into Pei Jin’s cool fingertips.
He lowered his head and looked at the cup that had been forcibly placed in his hand.
The straw had already been inserted.
All he had to do was drink it.
He had many questions he wanted to ask.
Why were you outside the villa district that day?
Why did you follow me?
Why did you come looking for me again after I hurt you?
Why did you buy clothes for me?
Why did you stay with me all night?
Why did you even get my underwear size exactly right?
Why do you care whether I’ve eaten?
But once the questions reached his lips, one after another, he swallowed them back down.
He didn’t want to ask.
None of it mattered anymore.
In the past, Pei Jin would never have imagined himself reduced to this point, unable even to maintain his dignity for a meal.
But right now, he genuinely felt that if Bai Tao hadn’t found him last night, and he had remained beside that garbage bin, he might eventually have been hungry enough to rummage through trash for food.
Pei Jin accepted the soy milk and took a sip.
The warm liquid slid down his throat.
It was hot enough to make him narrow his eyes slightly.
But the warmth spreading from his throat all the way to his stomach made him let out a comfortable sigh.
Bai Tao’s worried heart relaxed a little.
“Someone stole my suitcase, and my phone too.”
Pei Jin paused before lowering his voice.
“I don’t have any money to pay you back for the time being.”
Bai Tao froze for a moment, then smiled.
Her smile was relaxed and casual.
“It’s fine. We’re both people who have fallen on hard times.”
She sat on the small stool beside the bed, opened the lid of the millet porridge, and pushed it toward Pei Jin.
“You can pay me back after you make money.”
Pei Jin’s eyes suddenly narrowed.
His gaze was like two blades, stabbing straight toward Bai Tao.
It was cold, sharp, and filled with scrutiny, enough to make her back prickle with unease.
“People who have fallen on hard times?”
His voice dropped.
Every word was like an ice cube hitting the floor.
“How did you know?”
Pei Jin was not the biological son of the Pei Family.
The news had not yet become public.
Unlike Bai Tao’s blood-type mismatch, which had caused a huge commotion, Pei Family had kept this matter tightly under wraps. Only a handful of people knew.
But how did Bai Tao know?
Bai Tao’s heartbeat skipped instantly.
Her neck began to ache again.
Pei Jin couldn’t possibly think that the fact he wasn’t the biological son of the Pei Family was something she had orchestrated, could he?
Given Pei Jin’s current state, it wouldn’t be strange for him to suspect anyone.
Bai Tao’s mind raced.
She was doomed.
She forced a smile and spoke twice as quickly as usual.
“The day my blood type was tested, I overheard some things. They said something about you getting your blood type tested too…”
She paused, then added what she thought was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
“And you’re in such a miserable state now, and you were dragging your suitcase out of the villa district.”
Bai Tao paused again before adding, “Who would walk all the way out of such a huge villa if they were the biological child of the family living there? Haha.”
Pei Jin stared at her for two seconds.
His eyes traveled from her head to her feet.
Bai Tao was so nervous that she thought he could even see the color of her underwear.
Then he looked away.
He barely believed her.
Bai Tao secretly let out a long breath.
She really could become an actress.
She immediately took advantage of the moment and changed the subject.
“Do you have somewhere to stay now?”
Perhaps because Bai Tao had saved him, Pei Jin’s attitude toward her was slightly better than yesterday.
At least he no longer looked at her as if she were trash.
He had also begun responding to her questions.
He shook his head.
Bai Tao’s eyes lit up.
“Then why don’t you come live with me?”
Pei Jin looked at her strangely, confusion filling his eyes.
Bai Tao realized she had sounded far too eager and quickly tried to explain.
“Haha, I was just thinking… If two people split the rent, it’s better than one person paying the whole thing, right? And we know each other. It’s still better than finding a complete stranger as a roommate.”
“You should find another girl.”
Pei Jin’s voice remained emotionless.
“And I don’t have money to split the rent with you right now.”
Bai Tao waved her hand.
“Then you can owe me. I’m just afraid you’ll run away.”
Pei Jin looked at her as though she were an idiot.
“Don’t you have money on your phone either?” Bai Tao asked.
The moment she finished speaking, she regretted it.
Pei Jin’s expression remained blank.
“My phone was stolen.”
“Oh, right.”
Bai Tao hurriedly nodded.
“Then you definitely need to live with me.”
She counted on her fingers as she explained the situation.
“If you can’t pay me back, you can do some housework. You can also find a job and use the money to repay me. The medical expenses for staying here last night weren’t cheap. Once you’ve saved enough to pay me back, you can move out.”
Pei Jin leaned against the headboard, his eyes lowered as he seemed to be thinking.
Seeing that he still wasn’t convinced, Bai Tao gritted her teeth.
She was prepared to unleash her ultimate move.
She opened her mouth.
The words “I’ve secretly loved you for a long time” were already on the tip of her tongue.
Pei Jin nodded.
Bai Tao swallowed the words back down and nearly choked on her own saliva.
She immediately stood up, afraid he would change his mind.
“Then I’ll go pay!”
Bai Tao ran to the front counter to pay the medical expenses, then hurried back and called for Pei Jin to get out of bed.
Pei Jin put on the plastic slippers Bai Tao had bought from the supermarket.
9.9 yuan a pair.
Blue.
Standing at the entrance of the pharmacy, he lowered his head and looked at what he was wearing.
He was dressed almost exactly like several of the elderly men waiting outside.
But Pei Jin was young and handsome, and with his excellent physique, he looked almost like a model standing there.
Quite a few middle-aged and elderly women couldn’t help glancing at him.
His entire outfit had cost less than a hundred yuan.
Pei Jin expressionlessly looked away.
Bai Tao opened the navigation app on her phone and led the way while checking the route.
Pei Jin followed behind her.
The two of them walked one after the other into the alley.