Ji Siming stiffened slightly, lowering his gaze to look at the person before him.
The young woman was tilting her head up, her lovely eyes fixed squarely on him.
He had no idea why she had suddenly asked for a hug.
Yet it was precisely what he had been praying for.
He answered her with action, bending down to scoop her up horizontally before carrying her step by step toward the vehicle.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Yun Qingwu pressed softly into his embrace. The physical discomfort ebbed away, leaving her feeling as secure and comforted as a weary desert traveler finally stumbling upon an oasis.
Assistant Liu settled Wu Yuxuan into the front passenger seat and helped buckle her seatbelt.
Carrying Yun Qingwu, Ji Siming climbed into the back row.
Once inside, Yun Qingwu glanced toward the front passenger seat and noticed something amiss.
Wu Yuxuan drank on occasion and had a notoriously terrible tolerance for liquor, growing wilder the drunker she got, but tonight she was far too quiet.
“Professor Ji, would you mind terribly taking us to the hospital? I think Xuanxuan is acting a bit strange.”
“Alright, hospital it is.”
Yun Qingwu shifted herself over to sit on the opposite side, leaving Ji Siming’s arms feeling suddenly empty and a touch forlorn.
Ji Siming drove them to the nearest private hospital and stayed put long afterward, waiting with her until the test results came back.
Just as she suspected, the alcohol had been spiked with a sedative.
Fortunately, that group had only intended to render her unconscious so they could use her phone to send messages; if they had harbored any genuinely malicious intentions, the consequences would have been completely unthinkable.
Yun Qingwu called Wu Yuxuan’s older brother, Wu Feng. The moment Wu Feng arrived at the hospital, she took her leave.
Ji Siming drove her back home. Bidding him farewell, she stepped out of the car, only to turn around and find Gu Yi standing right at the entrance.
Walking over, she asked, “Brother, what brings you back?”
“I was worried about you being alone.”
Stepping into the house, Yun Qingwu slipped off her shoes at the foyer. “Auntie left Chen Ma here to keep me company, you don’t need to worry.”
As she walked further in, Chen Ma brought out a bowl of ginger tea. “Miss, drink some of this ginger tea to warm yourself up before heading upstairs.”
“Thanks, Chen Ma~”
Cradling the warm bowl of tea, Yun Qingwu curled up on the sofa to sip it.
Gu Yi walked over and settled onto the adjacent sofa. “Who was the person that brought you back?”
“My arranged marriage candidate, obviously.”
“You’re meeting him again?”
Casting a sideways glance at him, Yun Qingwu retorted, “It was a chance encounter.”
Finishing the ginger tea, a pleasant warmth spread through her entire body. “I’m heading up to bed, goodnight, Brother.”
Watching her ascend the stairs, Gu Yi lit a cigarette, a deep restlessness churning in his chest.
He began to wonder if using an arranged marriage to force her to keep her distance had been a grave mistake.
Back in her room, Yun Qingwu took a shower and, collapsing onto her bed, opened up WeChat to check on her psychological counselor.
Her last interaction with this doctor had been two full years ago.
Yun Qingwu: “Dr. Jiang, I met someone today. We’ve barely met a few times, yet he’s somehow able to alleviate the agony when my condition flares up. What could be the reason for that?”
Several minutes passed before Dr. Jiang replied: “That indicates that during a time when you were deeply helpless and severely lacking in a sense of security, he crossed your path and provided you with that safety.”
Reading the message only left Yun Qingwu more baffled than before.
Yun Qingwu: “I didn’t know him before.”
Dr. Jiang: “You certainly crossed paths somewhere. Even if you don’t consciously remember him, your body still holds the memory of the safety he once offered. Unless you’ve shared unforgettable experiences together in the past, there is zero chance he could become your [Medicine].”
Yun Qingwu scratched her head in confusion. She had never suffered from amnesia or anything of the sort.
With Ji Siming’s striking, ethereal looks, if he had ever crossed her life previously, she definitely wouldn’t have forgotten him.
Besides, during their very first encounter in the classroom, his reaction bore no resemblance to someone who already knew her.
Being a bit of a perfectionist, unanswered puzzles kept her up so late she couldn’t even sleep!
Seizing her phone, she tapped out a frustrated post on her WeChat Moments: So annoyed with this world, can someone just delete me already?
Given the late hour, no one replied.
Staring blankly up at the ceiling, she heard her phone buzz with an incoming notification.
Noticing who sent it, the corners of her lips curved upward.
Only Mist: “What’s wrong, Mist-treasure?”
Only Mist was one of her oldest fans—a remarkably sweet and endearing young girl.
She had started following her webcomic six years ago right when it launched, initially chatting exclusively in the Weibo comment section.
Hitting it off exceptionally well, the two eventually traded WeChat handles and blossomed into inseparable friends.
Yun Qingwu: “Babe, I think I’ve mentioned to you before that I have skin hunger, right?”
Only Mist: “Mm, yeah? Did your condition flare up again?”
Yun Qingwu: “Yes, and to make matters worse, I recently crossed paths with someone. Even though we aren’t all that close, he’s somehow capable of soothing the pain during my flare-ups.”
Once the message sent, the chat window lingered on [Typing…] for an eternity, yet no reply materialized.
Perplexed by the delay, Yun Qingwu pinged her: “Babe, are you writing an academic thesis over there?”
Only Mist: “Is that person a guy or a girl?”
Yun Qingwu: “A guy. Ordinarily, even though attacks are brutal, I can grit my teeth and ride them out. But now that I know a [Medicine] exists, I can’t stand enduring it for even a single second. The catch is that he isn’t exactly easy to approach; if I suddenly track him down for a hug the next time I have an episode, I’m terrified of getting treated like some sort of weirdo and taking a beating.”
Only Mist: “You want a hug again? Isn’t that making it way too easy for him?”
Yun Qingwu: “He’s supposed to be my arranged marriage match, you know.”
As soon as that text went out, Only Mist fell dead silent.
Not a single reply came through for ages.
Just as Yun Qingwu was busy pondering what excuse she could possibly fabricate to seek out Ji Siming the next time her symptoms acted up, Only Mist finally pinged her back: “I’ve got a brilliant idea on how you can fix this problem.”
Yun Qingwu: “Do tell~”
Only Mist: “Marry him.”
Yun Qingwu: “!!!”
Only Mist: “Once you’re husband and wife, you can hug him whenever you want and touch him whenever you please—completely justified, legitimate, and fully compliant with the law.”
Emmmm…
A sudden wave of temptation washed over Yun Qingwu.
While Ji Siming didn’t seem terribly averse to her hugs right now, who could guarantee he’d be willing the next time around?
Besides, her flare-ups didn’t follow a fixed schedule, and given their current dynamic, she had zero legitimate excuse to seek him out on a whim.
Yet, if they got legally married, then as her lawful husband, seeking a hug during an episode would be entirely reasonable, right?
Yun Qingwu: “Even though he mentioned being forced into an arranged marriage by his family, he doesn’t really look like a guy dying to marry me. He probably thinks I’m not his type.”
Only Mist: “Maybe he’s just terrible at expressing himself, and actually wants to marry you so badly he could die.”
Yun Qingwu: “…? Is that tru-u-ue?”
Reviewing her recent interactions with Ji Siming in her head, she honestly couldn’t spot a single shred of evidence suggesting he was desperate to tie the knot with her.
Only Mist: “Mist-treasure, let me tell you—you’ve got to strike first to gain the upper hand! He’s being pushed into this marriage by his family, which means he could suddenly end up hitched at any second. Once he’s married to someone else, ethics won’t even allow you to ask him for a hug anymore. It’ll be way too late by then.”
Those words acted like a sudden splash of cold water, shocking Yun Qingwu into absolute clarity. Exactly!
What if Ji Siming suddenly decided on a flash marriage? Once he belonged to someone else, she’d never be able to lean on him again.
The torment of a flare-up was excruciating. Without relief, her condition would only deteriorate, driving up the frequency of future attacks.
She truly had no desire to plunge back into that extreme, agonizing abyss.
If her health worsened, she wouldn’t even be able to tag along with the production crew, throwing all her subsequent plans completely out of whack.
Yun Qingwu: “But should I really tie the knot with someone I don’t love just to treat an illness?”
Only Mist: “You could always enter into a contract marriage with him! Once your health stabilizes, you two can just get a divorce—problem solved.”
Yun Qingwu: “Would he ever agree to that?”
Only Mist: “He will!”
That message hovered for barely a second before getting instantly recalled.
Only Mist: “I’m just guessing he will.”
Only Mist: “How will you ever know if he’ll turn you down unless you actually ask?”
Scratching her head, Yun Qingwu still felt rather unconfident.
Still, she had to try something. Since he was eager to satisfy his family’s marriage demands anyway, why couldn’t it be her?
She was stunningly gorgeous; her market competitiveness was top-tier!
After pondering it a bit longer, Yun Qingwu fired off a WeChat message to Ji Siming: “Professor Ji, are you free tomorrow? I’d love to treat you to dinner!”