“It’s nothing.”
Gu Yan suppressed the gloom in his eyes, his expression tinged with apology.
“Uncle has some matters to attend to, so I’m afraid I can’t stay at the hospital for now.”
He reached into the inner pocket of his suit, took out a business card, and handed it to Jiang Shining.
“This is my phone number. You can contact me.”
Jiang Shining accepted it with both hands.
After a moment of thought, Gu Yan spoke again, “Jiang Shining, would it be convenient for you to leave your contact number for me?”
Jiang Shining’s hand holding the card paused as she looked at Gu Yan.
Gu Yan remained expressionless as he searched for an excuse. “In case there are any complications from your injury, it’ll be easier for us to communicate.”
Having searched for so long and finally found hope, Gu Yan naturally wouldn’t let it slip away.
And Jiang Shining, of course… was exactly what I wanted.
“Of course, no problem, Uncle Gu.”
Jiang Shining glanced at the business card, affectionately addressing him as Uncle Gu.
The two, each with their own hidden agendas, exchanged contact information. After confirming everything, Gu Yan finally left the hospital room with his bodyguards.
In the hospital room, only Jiang Shining remained.
Jiang Shining held the business card in both hands as if it were a treasure.
“Gu Yan, CEO of the Gu Group. Hahaha.”
She already felt that her path to becoming a wealthy heiress was more than halfway successful, with a life of luxury beckoning to her.
The urge to curse Sister Zhang vanished the moment she touched her flat stomach.
A blessing in disguise.
A blessing in disguise indeed!
Buzz, buzz.
Her phone rang. Jiang Shining looked at the caller ID and answered, “Hello? Lin Momo, what’s wrong?”
Lin Momo was her best friend. She also came from a chaotic neighborhood, and they often worked part-time jobs together.
Lin Momo’s voice on the phone was filled with panic. “Jiang Shining, something happened to you, right? How are your injuries now? Are they serious?”
Jiang Shining hadn’t expected Lin Momo to get the news so quickly.
She comforted her best friend, “It’s fine, I’m not injured. Sister Zhang’s frog mascot costume took the knife for me.”
She briefly explained what had happened.
Lin Momo finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang Shining, as if remembering something, instructed, “By the way, you can’t tell Qin Wang about this.”
If he found out she had gotten a scratch, Qin Wang would worry endlessly. If he learned she had taken a knife for someone, he’d probably go crazy.
However, the other end of the phone fell silent.
Jiang Shining immediately had a bad feeling.
A few seconds later, Lin Momo’s voice slowly spoke up.
“I’m afraid it’s too late. The incident at the mall entrance was recorded and posted online. Qin Wang… is frantically searching for you at the hospital right now.”
Damn it.
Jiang Shining’s face turned extremely pale as she gripped her phone. She ignored Lin Momo’s repeated calls of “Hello? Hello?” on the other end, taking a long time to recover.
“Alright, I understand.”
Jiang Shining hung up the phone.
She first went online to check the video. The angle only captured the two bodyguards and her, while her wealthy father wasn’t clearly visible.
She breathed a sigh of relief before looking at her call log.
Sixty-four missed calls…
Jiang Shining’s hand holding the phone trembled.
This guy!
She took a deep breath and dialed back the number with the red missed call notification.
The other party answered instantly.
As if he had been waiting by the phone for her call.
“Where?”
Only two words, with no discernible emotion.
Jiang Shining glanced out the window and dryly gave the hospital address.
A dozen minutes later, the black-and-red motorcycle came to a halt at the entrance of the municipal hospital.
Recognizing the familiar motorcycle, Jiang Shining hurried over with quick steps.
Standing before the bike, Jiang Shining took a deep breath. “It was just nonsense posted online. I already told you on the phone—nothing happened to me. If you don’t believe me, feel for yourself.”
She placed Qin Wang’s hand on her abdomen, the exact spot where the knife had struck during the day.
“See? Nothing’s wrong.”
Jiang Shining looked at Qin Wang expectantly.
But Qin Wang didn’t reply. Instead, he grabbed Jiang Shining’s arm and pulled her onto the motorcycle.
The engine roared as the motorcycle sped through the city streets.
The speed kept increasing.
Eighty kilometers per hour, ninety, one hundred…
Jiang Shining sat behind him, her arms tightly wrapped around Qin Wang. Even with a helmet on, the extreme speed made her eardrums feel like they were vibrating.
The wind howled furiously.
Wearing only a dress, Jiang Shining felt the summer wind turn bitingly cold.
She clung tighter to the person in front of her and gritted her teeth. “Stop.”
“Qin Wang, stop.”
The motorcycle continued to race forward, Qin Wang’s speed still climbing.
Jiang Shining couldn’t hold back any longer.
She hissed through clenched teeth, “If you don’t stop, I’m going to throw up.”
“You lunatic, we’re breaking up!”
The motorcycle gradually slowed down, eventually executing a sharp, graceful drift before coming to a stop on Z City’s cross-river bridge.
Jiang Shining scrambled off the bike immediately, her legs feeling weak.
“Ugh.”
She kept retching dryly.
Having skipped lunch, Jiang Shining’s stomach was completely empty.
When a tissue was handed to her, she angrily slapped it to the ground.
Her eyes, reddened from discomfort, glared at him. “What on earth is wrong with you? Why are you acting so crazy?”
She hadn’t come here to film some reckless action scene with this madman.
Qin Wang slowly withdrew his hand.
He removed his motorcycle helmet and placed it on the bike seat before finally looking at her.
“Jiang Shining, I don’t want you to be too kind.”
Jiang Shining, who had been waiting for an explanation, was caught off guard by these words and froze for a moment.
Jiang Shining: “?”
What did kindness have to do with her?
She stared at Qin Wang, only now noticing how different he seemed.
His dark eyes were filled with an unshakeable sorrow, his gaze dim and his eyelids tinged with red. He seemed enveloped in a profound sense of helplessness.
As if he had been crying.
“What’s… what’s wrong with you?” Jiang Shining asked.
Qin Wang took a step closer to Jiang Shining.
“Taking a knife for a stranger, treating your own life as worthless.”
“Jiang Shining, were you being heroic, or did you just not want to live anymore…”
When Qin Wang saw the video during the day of Jiang Shining fearlessly stepping in front of someone else, his heart nearly stopped.
Panic, confusion, despair.
He hadn’t been by her side at that moment.
Seeing Qin Wang’s despondent expression, Jiang Shining realized he must have misunderstood something.
“I didn’t, Qin Wang.”
As she explained, she took a step back while watching Qin Wang approach.
In the darkness of night, Qin Wang was shrouded in shadows, inexplicably making Jiang Shining feel uneasy.
Her back pressed against the railing of the cross-river bridge, the roar of the waves crashing beneath her.
“You didn’t?”
Qin Wang sneered. “Then when you shielded someone else, what if something had really happened?”
“Did you… think of me?”
Jiang Shining was stunned.
The situation had been urgent at the time—how could she have possibly thought of Qin Wang?
Besides, in her original plans for the future, he hadn’t been part of them at all.
He stared at her.
“If anything happens to you today, Jiang Shining, I will jump from here.”
Qin Wang’s gaze was unusually serious.
This made her realize he was not joking.
Jiang Shining was left speechless.
As the distance between them closed, Qin Wang leaned in and kissed her lips.
She remained motionless.
The river wind was biting, yet Qin Wang pulled her into his embrace. As if driven by vengeance or to vent the turmoil in his heart, his kiss was fervent and domineering, leaving her utterly flustered.