Injury

The night wind sobered them up. The three of them walked together along the bustling street, unhurried and aimless.

Su Yan jogged ahead of them, lifted her phone, and smiled brightly. “Two gorgeous ladies, give me a smile.”

Qin Qingyan and Bai Ruo leaned in cooperatively. They were both wearing masks, but even their eyes seemed to smile.

Su Yan flipped the camera around, then ran back to them and held the phone far out for a shot. Qin Qingyan glanced around and, seeing that no one nearby was paying attention, signaled Bai Ruo. The two of them lowered their masks at the same time and struck a simple pose. The photo was taken.

Su Yan scrolled through the pictures from just now and chose the first one she’d taken. Under the orange streetlights, Qin Qingyan and Bai Ruo both seemed to glow with a kind of lovely radiance. She set the posting time, then linked arms with them on either side.

The lights ahead were bright, and there were plenty of pedestrians. They started walking that way too.

In the darkness more than ten meters away, a figure followed close behind them.

“Maybe there’s some kind of event going on. Let’s go have some fun too; maybe we’ll even win a prize, right? Anyway, tonight is all about having a good time,” Su Yan said.

The three of them waited at a traffic light, keeping a certain distance from the other people waiting for the green so they wouldn’t be recognized. They chatted and laughed, completely unaware that someone was walking toward them step by step from afar.

The man was wearing a cap; he was lean, fairly tall, with both hands in his pockets. One pocket bulged noticeably. He kept his head down and walked at an unhurried pace, as if he were simply out for some idle fun too.

When a car turned the corner, its headlights swept across them. Qin Qingyan caught sight of the man a few meters away, and the smile from their earlier conversation was still on her lips. As she studied him, he suddenly raised his head and met her eyes.

In that instant, Qin Qingyan thought of a beast hunting its prey; greed and plunder shone in his eyes. The man suddenly sped up and charged at them, and she immediately remembered who he was.

“Watch out!” Qin Qingyan shouted, pushing Bai Ruo and Su Yan aside.

A blade flashing silver slashed past Qin Qingyan’s face. She reacted as fast as she could and dodged, but her arm was still too slow to avoid it completely; a long gash opened across it, blood surging out at once.

Once the people around them reacted, they cried out and scattered in every direction.

Zheng Jingteng followed with another stab. Qin Qingyan barely dodged it; her body lurched, her footing unstable, and she stared straight at the dagger gleaming coldly in his hand. Everything seemed to slow down, but her body had gone stiff, making it difficult to move.

She knew she wouldn’t be able to dodge this time.

A figure suddenly rushed out and blocked the way in front of her. Qin Qingyan could only watch helplessly as she fell.

Just as Zheng Jingteng was about to strike again, several people nearby rushed forward with whatever tools they had. He had no choice but to flee immediately.

The scene was pure chaos.

Some people were taking photos, some were recording videos; it was especially noisy and disordered. Yet Qin Qingyan felt as if she couldn’t hear anything at all. All she could see was the blood on the ground.

She didn’t shout, didn’t cry; she simply stood there at a loss, a vast, suffocating terror enveloping her. In the eyes of others, however, she was already in tears.

Outside the emergency room at the hospital, a woman was carrying her high heels in her hands and standing barefoot, her face anxious. When she saw Qin Qingyan and the others in the distance, the crease between her brows eased slightly; she jogged over.

Bai Ruo spotted Yan Yue first. Qin Qingyan looked up after her and saw her too.

Her eyes, which had only just stopped crying, immediately filled again with tears.

Yan Yue crouched beside Qin Qingyan and saw the arm wrapped in layers of bandages. “Qin Qingyan…”

Just before the tears fell, Qin Qingyan threw herself into Yan Yue’s arms, her body trembling hard.

“Su Su is the one who blocked it for me. The one who should be lying inside is me… Why?” Qin Qingyan said.

Yan Yue patted her back, doing her best to soothe her, but she couldn’t say a single word of comfort. What could she possibly say?

“It’ll be fine. We have to trust Su Su. I’ll stay with you, and we’ll wait for her to wake up together,” Yan Yue said.

No one knew how long had passed before the emergency room doors opened, and the three of them hurried forward to ask the doctor.

The doctor removed his mask and glanced at the beautiful women in front of him. “She didn’t hit any vital areas. If she recovers properly over the next few days and nothing goes wrong, she’ll be fine.”

“Thank you, doctor!”

The three of them finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In the ward, Bai Ruo looked at Qin Qingyan and Yan Yue, then said, “I’ll stay here tonight. You two can go back first, especially you, Qingyan; your own hand is injured too.”

Qin Qingyan shook her head. “I want to stay and see her wake up with my own eyes.”

“Don’t you care about your own body anymore? That wound is seven or eight centimeters long, and it’s been bandaged for hours. You haven’t even changed the dressing once. Are you trying to leave a scar?” Bai Ruo said.

Qin Qingyan said nothing. She glanced at the quiet Su Yan on the hospital bed; it was obvious she had no intention of leaving.

Bai Ruo had no choice but to look at Yan Yue. Yan Yue said to Qin Qingyan, “Go take care of your wound first so it doesn’t get infected. I’ll ask whether there’s an empty bed later. If you don’t want to leave, then we’ll sleep here tonight.”

Qin Qingyan agreed.

Yan Yue prepared the supplies and carefully cut open the bandage. The wound was long and glaring, though fortunately not deep. After cleaning it carefully, she wrapped it with a fresh bandage in a spiral and secured it at the end.

“Until it heals, try not to use your right hand much,” Yan Yue said.

Qin Qingyan looked at the lines of her face, then noticed her bare feet. Remembering the way she had hurried over carrying her high heels, her heart ached with tenderness and warmth.

She stretched out her foot. “The floor’s cold. Step on my foot.”

“There are slippers at the hospital.” Though she said that, her foot still stepped onto Qin Qingyan’s without any courtesy whatsoever, even applying a bit of deliberate force.

“I’m still a patient,” Qin Qingyan said.

“Really? I don’t think someone in your condition is treating herself like a patient at all,” Yan Yue replied.

After tidying up, they returned to the ward.

Su Yan still hadn’t woken up. Bai Ruo was resting with her head supported by one hand, eyes closed. She must have been too exhausted; she completely failed to notice Li Xian outside the door in a white coat.

Nowadays, the internet was fast. What had happened earlier was already up in the news, especially since the main figures involved were all big names in the entertainment industry. The knife-wielding man had been confirmed as Zheng Jingteng, and he had escaped quickly; it was clear he had planned this in advance.

The police were still making every effort to arrest him.

When Su Yan was sent into the emergency room, Li Xian saw Bai Ruo and instinctively thought something had happened to her. She forcefully suppressed the panic in her heart and asked the staff in charge, only finally relaxing once she learned that wasn’t the case.

At that moment, the feeling was almost like surviving a disaster.

Through the thin glass pane in the door, Li Xian’s eyes were full of heartache. She could tell how tired Bai Ruo was, and she could see her vulnerability too, but there was nothing she could do.

She didn’t stay long; soon Qin Qingyan and the others would be back after changing the dressing.

Su Yan woke up a little after seven in the morning.

She forced her eyes open. Everything before her was blindingly bright, and her mind was still in chaos; she couldn’t tell where or when she was. It took quite a while before she finally fully woke up and remembered everything that had happened the night before.

So now she was…

She hurriedly touched herself. Thankfully, she was still warm.

Looking left and right, she saw Bai Ruo asleep beside the bed. Not far away, Qin Qingyan was sleeping on a folding bed; the one resting by the bed must have been Yan Yue.

She didn’t wake any of them. Smiling, she looked out the window instead. The sunlight was bright; it was going to be a wonderful day.

In her dream, she had dreamed of Cen Qingqing, dreamed of the days when the two of them spent time together in the past. Thinking back on it now made her feel deeply nostalgic.

She remembered that in the dream, Cen Qingqing had told her that since she had agreed to take her to see the world, she wasn’t allowed to go back on her word. And then she woke up.

Bai Ruo was the first to realize she was awake. Su Yan was planning to get out of bed to use the bathroom, but her body was still sore; moving even a little felt as if she were splitting apart.

Sensing the movement, Bai Ruo opened her eyes and saw that Su Yan was alive. Her drowsiness vanished instantly. So excited she forgot about everything else, she called the others in the ward awake.

After coming back from the bathroom, Su Yan’s eyes swept across the faces in front of her, and she suddenly felt rather embarrassed.

“Um… sit, all of you, sit,” she said.

The three of them each took a seat.

“Su Su, is there anywhere else that doesn’t feel right?” Qin Qingyan asked.

“I’m fine. Pretty good, actually; it’s not all that different from a normal cut. In a few more days, I’ll be able to leave the hospital,” Su Yan said.

Bai Ruo said, “How could it not be any different? The knife went right in. You were lucky to be alive, do you understand? Otherwise you’d already have gone to see King Yama.”

Su Yan said, “Actually, it really wasn’t that scary. I just felt cold inside my body at the time; only after the knife was pulled out did I feel a little pain. My body just deflated like a balloon and collapsed. I was still conscious, actually.”

Having heard it put that way, the expressions of the people in the ward only grew heavier.

“All right, all right, I’m fine now, aren’t I? Don’t always make this patient do all the work to liven the mood. Smile more,” Su Yan said.

The doctor came to examine her afterward and confirmed she was out of danger and only needed rest. That finally put everyone at ease.

“I told you I was fine. I’ve been out in the world, what injuries haven’t I taken? A mere knife wound is nothing,” Su Yan said.

Bai Ruo said, “Fine, fine, we know you’re the strongest, okay? Your wound still hasn’t healed, so talk less.”

Su Yan said, “Don’t worry, it won’t affect the wound.”

Bai Ruo replied, “No, I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop myself from wanting to hit you.”

Watching them bicker, Qin Qingyan didn’t say a word the whole time; her guilt still sat heavily in her heart. Yan Yue quietly took her hand and smiled at her, trying to comfort her.

The police soon brought back news about Zheng Jingteng, confirming that he had fled Nanjing City; his whereabouts were still being determined.

On the day of discharge, Qin Qingyan didn’t even hesitate before saying she wanted to go to Su Yan’s home to take care of her. Before Su Yan could say anything, Bai Ruo spoke first. “I’ll go. Anyway, staying home alone is boring. Besides, you’ve got an injury on your own hand too; how are you supposed to take care of her?”

Bai Ruo quickly glanced at Yan Yue, then leaned close to Qin Qingyan and whispered, “What a great chance. Shouldn’t you be thinking carefully about how to get a little closer to Yan Zong?”

She gave her a meaningful wink.

Su Yan also stretched out a hand toward her and quietly made an OK sign.

“Alright, alright, I still have to hurry home so Su Yan can make me something good to eat. Bye-bye.” With that, she grabbed Su Yan and turned to leave.

“Wow, I’m the patient here, and you still want me to cook?”

“Wow, would you dare eat what I cook? That’s the kind of thing you can’t be saved from.”

The two of them got into the car, waved to them again in farewell, and drove away.