Yu Yingying leaned weakly against the wall, barely managing to stay conscious. Waves of sharp pain pulsed through her head where she had been struck, while angry screams and roars rang in her ears, making her dizzy and nauseous.
“S-s-sorry, I…” A trembling voice sounded. Yu Yingying struggled to turn her eyes and saw the boy who had entered the alley with her. His face was deathly pale. He turned and ran, leaving behind only a panicked, blurry silhouette.
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She was too late to stop him.
Gasping for breath, she forced herself to endure the discomfort and pulled her phone out of her backpack. But the next moment, a wooden stick smashed hard into the hand holding the phone. Agonizing pain shot through her. With a loud bang, the phone flew to the ground and was stomped on several times by a thug.
His furious voice exploded in the air. “You trying to call the cops? Are you?! Bitch, you’re a bitch too!”
A girl, emotionally shattered, cried out hysterically, “So what if I call the police? I’m going to the police right now!” As soon as she finished speaking, she burst into tears and ran away.
In an instant, only Yu Yingying and two drunken thugs were left in the alley.
A passerby glanced cautiously into the alley entrance, then hurried away, afraid of getting into trouble.
Yu Yingying panted, watching as the thugs stepped closer and closer. Shielded by her backpack, she clenched a collapsible baton, silently gathering her strength.
Just as she was about to use her last bit of energy to strike the evildoers with all she had, a sudden, blinding beam of headlights shot straight into the dim alley, exposing everything with nowhere to hide.
Yu Yingying squinted and looked over with difficulty.
A flashy bright-yellow sports car roared into her field of vision, aggressively mounting the curb. With a beautiful drift and the shrill screech of tires, it came to a sharp stop at the alley entrance.
Backlit, she couldn’t see the person’s face, only a somewhat familiar tall silhouette. The figure jumped out of the car with one hand braced on the door, rushed forward in just a few strides, and kicked one of the thugs square in the chest, sending him flying several meters away.
Jiang… Jiang He?
Why would he save her?
Those thoughts flashed through her mind. Yu Yingying gasped twice, then weakly closed her eyes.
“Get lost!” Jiang He roared. The two thugs trembled in fear, exchanged a glance, then fled in panic.
He didn’t chase after them.
Turning back, he strode to the pale, delicate girl slumped against the wall. After hesitating for a second, he frowned and asked irritably, “Yu Yingying, are you dead or not?”
“If you’re alive, make a sound. It’s not like I can’t—”
“Holy crap! You faint without saying a word? That’s seriously bad manners!”
“Yu Yingying!”
“Yu Yingying!”
“…Damn it! I owe you or what?!”
“Remember this! I only stepped in because I saw injustice and couldn’t stand it. I have absolutely no classmates-level affection for you!”
“If you wake up and give me attitude again, I’ll—”
“I’ll get angry!”
…
Municipal Third Hospital, Emergency Department.
Jiang He frowned and asked, “Doctor, how is she? She’s not going to die, right?”
“She suffered a heavy blow to the head. There’s no external wound, but we’re considering possible intracranial bleeding or a concussion. Further tests are needed… Pay the fees and take your girlfriend for a brain MRI.”
Jiang He immediately said, “She’s not my girlfriend!”
“Not your girlfriend? Fine, fine, that’s not important. Remember to go to the radiology department on the first floor to get a number and line up for the MRI.”
Jiang He: “……”
Seeing his speechless expression, a heavily tattooed man who had fractured himself from a simple fall laughed and teased him. “Kid, the way you rushed in carrying this girl, looking so anxious—how could she not be your girlfriend? Hahaha.”
Jiang He held it in and said again with a dark face, “She’s really not my girlfriend!”
She was his mortal enemy!
“Alright, alright, not your girlfriend, haha. I get it, you young people, haha! But you should treat your girlfriend better. Look how skinny she is—tsk, tsk, tsk.”
Jiang He: “…?!”
“…”
Jiang He regretted it. Deeply. Intensely.
After rushing past that intersection, he should never have turned back!
If he hadn’t brought the unconscious Yu Yingying to the hospital, he wouldn’t be stuck here like an idiot, explaining his relationship with her over and over again, only to be treated like a scumbag.
After pulling several all-nighters in a row to meet deadlines, he was exhausted like a dead dog and just wanted to go back and sleep hard. His brain must have short-circuited for him to meddle in other people’s business!
But…
On the hospital bed, Yu Yingying’s face was pale, her lips devoid of color. She looked extraordinarily fragile and thin, soft and easy to bully—like a snail that had lost the protection of its hard shell, anyone could poke at her.
Pitiful.
Imagining that she wasn’t his sworn enemy but instead a neat, well-behaved piece of code, Jiang He clicked his tongue, sat down beside the bed, and irritably opened WeChat.
Staying here to accompany her? Impossible. Whoever wanted to do it could do it.
But contacting Yu Yingying’s friends? Her phone was broken—who knew who her friends even were.
Contacting the counselor? The counselor had gone on maternity leave last month and was still on vacation.
Forget it. He’d just leave later.
That damned woman was at odds with him like fire and water, and she had even called him a “dog bastard.” If he really stayed here to keep vigil for her overnight, he would be the dog…
After days without proper sleep, Jiang He’s eyes went blank as exhaustion overtook him, and he slumped weakly against the chair back.
“Knock, knock, knock!”
The ward door was tapped. A nurse in white stood at the doorway, holding a chart, and asked, “Are you a family member of Yu Yingying?”
“Yes.” Jiang He sprang up from the chair at once.
“Your girlfriend not only has intracranial bleeding and a concussion caused by a heavy blow to the head, she’s also severely malnourished. Did you know that?”
Jiang He didn’t react for a moment. “What?”
“Go pay the hospitalization fees tomorrow morning. Don’t wander off during the doctors’ rounds at eight a.m., got it?”
Jiang He said irritably, “…Got it.”
“Why do you sound so reluctant? Did you hear me or not?”
Jiang He gritted his teeth. “I heard you!”
“And one more thing…”
“And what now?”
“Treat your girlfriend better! Look how fashionable you’re dressed, and yet she’s malnourished. Does that seem appropriate?”
With that, the righteous little nurse lifted her chin and left, her head held high, leaving behind Jiang He, whose chest was full of pent-up anger with nowhere to vent.
What did Yu Yingying being malnourished have to do with him? Did he eat her family’s rice or something?!
Adding fuel to the fire, a weak, soft voice sounded from behind him.
“Boyfriend?”
Jiang He stiffened all over and turned around as if he’d seen a ghost, staring at the suddenly awakened Yu Yingying on the hospital bed, frozen as if he’d been hit by a “whoever gets named dies socially” immobilization spell.
Holy… holy crap!
With how incompatible the two of them were, like fire and water, she wouldn’t think he’d deliberately let everyone misunderstand that she was his girlfriend, would she? Wouldn’t she start calling him a dog bastard again?
Just imagining that possibility made Jiang He feel like he was about to explode.
At that moment, an auntie in the neighboring bed laughed and spoke up, breaking the strange atmosphere between them. “Girl, you don’t recognize your boyfriend? Or did you two have a fight and you don’t want to pay attention to him?”
Another auntie chimed in, “Your boyfriend did really well today—running around taking care of things for you, very attentive! Even if you really don’t recognize him, you should treat him better, haha.”
Jiang He: “…?”
He was numb. This black pot was definitely his to carry now!
He glared at Yu Yingying, wanting to use that to prove his innocence.
Yu Yingying stared back at him just as shocked. Their eyes met, and she suddenly slowly raised a hand to cover her mouth, dry-heaving softly.
Jiang He: “…?!”
He saved her, and she found him disgusting?
Even if he were her boyfriend, was that really such an unbearable thing?!!
Jiang He was about to speak, when suddenly the person he was glaring at let out a soft “ah,” her eyes filling with confusion. Hesitating, she said, “…It seems… that might actually be true.”
Jiang He froze, all the anger in his eyes turning into disbelief. “What?”
The two aunties were stunned as well. “What?”
Yu Yingying wasn’t without panic, but she tried hard to calm herself down and said carefully, “I really don’t recognize him. I… I think I might have amnesia?”
As soon as her words fell, three faces in the ward were completely dumbfounded.
“Amnesia?!”
“So you weren’t just fighting?”
“Doctor, someone’s brain is broken!”