The first time, Yu Nanzhi felt that the former Ji Liao was humble and lowly. She coaxed him, teased him, often cooked delicious meals for him, and always considered his feelings, but none of that could make him happy.
Now, she had become noble. She gave all her care to others, with no place for him in her eyes or in her heart.
Lu Chengnuo carefully protected Ji Liao’s feelings, allowing her hands to continuously examine his body. When she touched his wounds, he only gritted his teeth, doing his utmost to prevent her from suffering any further shock or harm.
His face was injured and bleeding. Ji Liao wiped away the blood, tears beginning to fall. “Look at you, why did you have to fight with a mad dog? Isn’t this just asking for trouble?”
Even as she spoke through tears, her expression remained stern. Yet, with concern, she asked, “Does it hurt?”
Lu Chengnuo immediately smiled, and though the movement tugged at the wound on his lip, he lied to keep her from worrying, “It doesn’t hurt, not at all.”
Ji Liao was puzzled by his words. His face was cut and bleeding—how could it not hurt?
Yu Nanzhi, who had been watching for a long time, grew increasingly displeased. Perhaps it was the accumulation of long-standing resentment that made him stride over, grab Ji Liao’s slender arm, and pull her from Lu Chengnuo’s grasp into his own embrace.
The Breath of the Underworld King was as cold as frost, carrying a faint hint of mint. Ji Liao, as if the earth were about to explode, pushed Yu Nanzhi away violently. Losing her balance, she fell to the ground, curling up with her knees held tightly to her chest.
She—was so terrified of him!
He should have been pleased by her reaction, so why did his heart feel as if it were being squeezed, bleeding drop by drop?
“Liao Liao!” Lu Chengnuo tried to help her up, but she sobbed. Then, in the next second, unable to control the intense pain, she let out a low roar, each cry heavier than the last, as if trying to shatter the inner demon enveloping her.
All the memories suppressed in her heart broke through their seals once again, overwhelming her in an instant and plunging her back into a violent turmoil.
“You scum, get away from her!” Lu Chengnuo swiftly snatched the irrational Ji Liao back, hurling curses at Yu Nanzhi. “She’s already like this—what more do you want from her? Will you only be satisfied when she’s dead?”
Yu Nanzhi’s outstretched hands had nowhere to rest as he watched Lu Chengnuo take Ji Liao and rush into the hospital. Suddenly, a peculiar fear spread through his heart. He pressed a hand to his chest, frowning, unable to understand why it ached so intensely because of Ji Liao’s condition.
Did he want to drive her to her death?
Did he truly desire that?
He couldn’t discern his own thoughts. When he looked up again, the elevator carrying Ji Liao was slowly closing its doors. In that final moment, he clearly saw her bury her face in that man’s chest.
The elevator ascended, but his heart sank.
Li Chengru finished his surgery a little past ten at night. As he passed through the corridor, he saw the elevator doors open and someone carrying Ji Liao rushing over frantically. “Doctor, please check her. She doesn’t seem well.”
Setting aside his exhaustion, he plunged into another battle. “What happened to her?”
Wasn’t she fine before he went into the operating room? How had she turned into this unrecognizable, ghost-like state?
Lu Chengnuo truthfully informed, “She encountered someone downstairs, and then she became like this.”
“Became like this just from encountering someone?” Li Chengru seemed skeptical, but after a brief thought, he likely realized who Ji Liao had met. Aside from Yu Nanzhi, who else could drive her to such madness? “First, place her on the adjacent hospital bed. This is a matter of the heart—there’s no cure for it.”
“You haven’t even examined her; how can you know her condition?”
Li Chengru set the report on the nurse’s station and turned to him, saying, “I know her. I’m fully aware of her past. So, whether she recovers from this ailment depends entirely on her ability to overcome it herself.”
Lu Chengnuo wanted to say more, but the person in his arms tugged at his clothes. “Anuo, put me down. I’m feeling much better now.”
Li Chengru shrugged at him, as if saying: See? This is how she is. How do you expect me to treat her?
Lu Chengnuo sighed in frustration and looked down, meeting her pair of deep, dark eyes. Their beauty unsettled him further. Tears slid from the corners of her eyes, piercing his heart with sharp pain.
“You need treatment,” Lu Chengnuo said with concern.
Ji Liao dismissed it, struggling to get down and barely steadying herself between the two men. With Yu Nanzhi absent, her heart felt slightly more at ease.
Facing Lu Chengnuo, she forced a pale smile, somewhere between a laugh and a cry. “I’m not sick; there’s no need for treatment. Let’s go see Qing’er first. She’s still lying in the Intensive Care Unit.At that moment, Lu Chengnuo understood: this was her way of escaping.
She habitually groped around, searching for her lost blind cane. As the elevator doors opened, the blind cane appeared—in Yu Nanzhi’s hand.
He stepped forward and placed the blind cane in her palm. Ji Liao sincerely said, “Thank you.”
Yu Nanzhi’s eyes widened. Her expression when she didn’t hate him was like a blooming flower, bringing a sense of ease and delight.
But the next moment, she recoiled like a startled deer, stepping back abruptly as if a ferocious beast had appeared before her. The color that had just returned to her cheeks drained away once more.
Lu Chengnuo moved to intervene, but Li Chengru rushed between him and Yu Nanzhi, pushing them apart to create distance. “This is a hospital. I won’t allow any commotion here.”
As a doctor, he naturally noticed the scars on both their faces.
Yu Nanzhi and Lu Chengnuo each pushed Li Chengru away and stepped forward, neither willing to back down.
The wind seemed to blow from the heavens, amplifying their anger with each passing moment.
Just moments ago, Ji Liao had been terrified.
Now, she fell into complete silence.
She began to retreat, flee, hide, and sink into stillness, as if intending to vanish from everyone’s sight forever.
From the corridor came an urgent call, “Doctor, the patient is experiencing a high fever seizure!”
It was from the Intensive Care Unit where Lu Chengqing lay. Before the nurse’s figure even appeared, the Attending Physician and Li Chengru had already sprinted toward the room.
Ji Liao halted her steps, then began anxiously calling for Lu Chengnuo, asking him if something had happened to Qing’er.
Her intuition had always been accurate—so accurate it frightened her into disbelief.
Lu Chengnuo had rushed to the door the moment the nurse shouted but was stopped outside by other nurses.
Li Chengru emerged and asked, “Who is the patient’s family?”
“I’m her brother,” he replied, his throat choked with emotion, feeling as though he might cry, but his eyes remained stubbornly dry, only stinging with bitterness.
Li Chengru flipped through the examination report, “The patient’s condition is unstable. Is she allergic to any medications?”
“No,” he answered truthfully, but then asked, “What’s wrong with my sister?”
“She was injured while saving Ji Liao not long ago, and was later diagnosed with cirrhosis.”