Uncertain Rehabilitation

Ever since Qin Qingyan posted on Weibo, the comments had exploded past ten thousand in no time. Questions kept pouring in; some asked why she had canceled the endorsement deal, others asked what the post meant. The speculation never stopped.

【Could they have broken up? She’s given up on herself, so she might as well give up everything she has.】

【That’s possible. After all, a Little Qing Troupe member once said that Teacher Qin worked so hard filming just for her girlfriend. If they’ve broken up now, then of course nothing matters anymore.】

【No way. Did you even read the post? It obviously sounds more like she’s throwing sugar.】

【I’ve got a bad feeling about this (thinking hard)】

Qin Qingyan exited Weibo and leaned against the hospital corridor’s snow-white wall, letting out a long breath. At first, she had simply been afraid that Yan Yue would leave her behind and go abroad; she had already prepared herself to follow, so canceling the endorsement deal had been the natural choice.

But now the situation had changed. She could absolutely go back and explain things to the brand, yet that would take a lot of time. Right now, the most important thing was staying with Yan Yue, so when she looked at it that way, canceling the endorsement wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

It just meant the road ahead would be harder.

Putting all her heart into caring about just one person was a dangerous thing, but she couldn’t control it.

Money, fame, status; compared with Yan Yue, they all seemed much less important.

That night, when she returned to the ward, Bai Ruo was there too.

“The shoot is basically wrapped up. There’s a lot of free time coming up, and staying home would just be boring, so I figured I’d come see you two, chat a bit and all that,” Bai Ruo said with a smile.

“You’re always welcome.” Qin Qingyan sat down beside Yan Yue and studied Bai Ruo carefully.

Bai Ruo accidentally met Qin Qingyan’s gaze and froze. She quickly looked toward Yan Yue, and Yan Yue was looking at her with the same scrutinizing expression.

“What are you two doing?” Bai Ruo asked cautiously.

“You’ve been in much better shape lately,” Yan Yue said.

“Your complexion’s rosy, your energy’s strong; you look like a living person now,” Qin Qingyan said with conviction.

Bai Ruo let out a breath and smiled. “When you’re unburdened, you naturally relax a lot. Of course I’m looking better.”

“What about the rest?” Qin Qingyan asked.

“The rest? What else is there? I’m doing fine,” Bai Ruo said, puzzled. Then she suddenly seemed to remember something. “Oh, right, there’s one more thing I forgot to tell you. In a few days, I might have to go abroad for a bit. Someone specially invited me, and they’ll cover food, lodging, and entertainment.”

She raised her eyebrows, looking somewhat mysterious.

“Someone?” Qin Qingyan’s smile turned meaningful.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s a senior from the crew; we get along pretty well. We just happened to be going over together. Anyway, I’m idle either way.”

“Get the wrong idea? What exactly would I be misunderstanding?”

A flicker of something strange crossed Bai Ruo’s face. “Anyway, if I do go, I’ll definitely tell you in advance. If that side of the world really is so dazzling it turns my head, maybe I’ll be so impulsive I just settle down there.”

The two of them traded line after line.

Qin Qingyan asked, “You’ve really thought it through? Domestic isn’t bad either.”

“They’re all the same. Maybe if I go abroad, I can still…” Bai Ruo stopped halfway through. At the edge of her vision, at the door, stood someone all too familiar: Li Xian.

The smile was still on Bai Ruo’s face. She met Li Xian’s eyes, and after a long moment, she looked away. Her lips parted, but she suddenly forgot what she had been saying. “Changing environments can change your mood too. That’s not bad.”

Li Xian hadn’t come alone. She glanced behind her, and a middle-aged man wearing frameless glasses appeared before them. He smiled gently, his gaze sweeping over everyone before settling on Yan Yue, who was lying on the bed.

Li Xian spoke to him in a low voice, then the two of them came in together.

“This is Dr. Bell. He’s my mentor’s friend and has done a lot of research in rehabilitation. He may be able to help,” Li Xian said.

Qin Qingyan and Bai Ruo hurriedly stood and exchanged polite greetings before making way for them.

As Bai Ruo stepped backward, she accidentally bumped into Li Xian behind her. Turning her head, she met those eyes full of herself. It felt as if a long time had passed, though it had only been a second or two. Bai Ruo came to her senses first and moved aside a few steps.

Before long, almost as if possessed, Bai Ruo’s gaze drifted down to Li Xian’s abdomen and stayed there for a very long time; staring, thinking, spacing out.

Under the loose outer layer, even if there was anything there, it wasn’t visible.

After a thorough examination, Dr. Bell wordlessly lifted the blanket and gently covered Yan Yue’s legs again. Everyone was watching him; the ward was especially quiet.

He stood up and once more looked at the young women present. At last, his gaze settled on Qin Qingyan. He could see her worry, and in his eyes there was a trace of pity unlike what he showed the others.

The one who wanted to ask the most was also the one who had buried her questions the deepest.

Before coming, he had already learned some of the situation from Li Xian, so he could guess Qin Qingyan’s identity to some extent.

“There’s still a fairly good chance,” he said.

With that one sentence, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Qin Qingyan hurriedly looked at Yan Yue and tightened her hand around hers; Yan Yue smiled at her.

“It just can’t be rushed. Take it slowly. If the recovery goes well, it could be as soon as half a year; at the longest, it won’t exceed two years.” As he spoke, he looked at Qin Qingyan. “As the family member, you need to take good care of the patient in daily life. Besides rehabilitation, mood is also very important.”

Qin Qingyan agreed to everything one by one.

“We still have to catch the nine o’clock flight, so we won’t stay any longer,” Li Xian said.

At that, Bai Ruo looked toward Li Xian, as if she had something she wanted to ask. Li Xian noticed it and said, “I’m not leaving.”

She said those words while looking at Bai Ruo. Bai Ruo’s expression changed slightly, though not very obviously, and she didn’t look at her.

The others in the ward tacitly chose to remain silent, as if they had heard nothing.

Qin Qingyan saw them to the door. Before leaving, Dr. Bell said to her, “There’s hope for her to regain sensation, but walking may take longer. You need to be prepared for that.”

“You mean… she might not recover?” Qin Qingyan asked.

“I can’t guarantee a complete recovery,” Dr. Bell said.

After they left, Qin Qingyan leaned outside the ward for a long time before going back in, putting on a natural smile.

“Why were you gone so long?” Bai Ruo asked casually.

Glancing at Yan Yue, afraid she might overthink it, Qin Qingyan said, “I saw them off downstairs and took the chance to ask more about the precautions. Learned a bit more.”

“That makes sense. That doctor really does look like an experienced one; the sort you can never get an appointment with. Since we finally had the chance, of course we had to make use of it,” Bai Ruo said.

Qin Qingyan smiled. “Yeah, we had to make use of it.”

There was something pointed in those words, and Bai Ruo caught it.

“It’s late. Time for my beauty sleep. Goodbye, my dear sisters.”

The ward fell quiet again.

Yan Yue asked, “Did you talk about anything else?”

“About what?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t know.” Qin Qingyan sat at the foot of the bed and massaged Yan Yue’s legs. “Dr. Bell said patients can be sensitive and tend to think too much. Looks like that’s true.”

“Qin Qingyan, I’m not thinking too much,” Yan Yue stated.

“I know.” Qin Qingyan looked up and smiled brightly. “You’re only thinking about me.”

On the day of discharge, everyone from the Yan family except Old Master Yan came over. The atmosphere wasn’t exactly harmonious, but Qin Qingyan kept both sides in check, and things finally didn’t feel so tense.

Qin Qingyan pushed the wheelchair; the car was waiting outside the hospital building.

Yan Zhengqing mentioned having Yan Yue recuperate at the Yan family home, but before he could finish speaking, Song Shuxiao shot him a cold look and he immediately stopped.

“I was just saying… Forget I said anything.”

Yan Yue looked quietly at the blanket over her feet, listening to the conversation behind her.

When they passed through the lobby, Qin Qingyan unexpectedly spotted Bai Ruo; even more unexpectedly, there was a girl beside Bai Ruo, delicate and cute-looking. Qin Qingyan had seen her once before at an awards ceremony.

Noticing Qin Qingyan had seen her, Bai Ruo hurriedly waved, her eyes moving back and forth between Qin Qingyan and the girl beside her.

Qin Qingyan understood what she meant. Looks like her peach blossoms really were thriving.

The girl coughed softly, tilted her head, and leaned straight against Bai Ruo’s shoulder. She nuzzled there, then comfortably closed her eyes.

Qin Qingyan had originally wanted to lend Bai Ruo a hand, but the moment she saw Li Xian walking with a patient not far away, that thought vanished. She calmly pushed the wheelchair out of the hospital.

Bai Ruo stared in disbelief as Qin Qingyan walked away so gracefully, then sighed in resignation.

Not long after, a familiar voice made her freeze. She looked up; their eyes met.

Li Xian paused for a moment, then quickly moved her gaze to the girl on Bai Ruo’s shoulder. The girl looked obedient and very young, as if she were asleep. Further down, her hands were wrapped around Bai Ruo’s arm.

Following Li Xian’s gaze, Bai Ruo understood that she might have misunderstood something, but she had no intention of explaining anything.

“Dr. Li?” the patient beside Li Xian called out again.

Li Xian came back to herself and smiled at him. “I’ll take you to handle the paperwork first.”

After the two of them walked off, Bai Ruo unconsciously looked toward that retreating back.

She still remembered the first time she met Li Xian; it was precisely those retreating backs that had relieved so much of her longing. Fortunately, she had eventually managed to win her over; otherwise, she probably would have been labeled a voyeur.

The one she had pursued so earnestly.

The girl beside her opened her eyes, still a little dazed, and sat up. “Why hasn’t Tang Tang come to pick me up yet? If she’s any later, I’ll miss my chance to look at handsome guys.”

“You’ve worked with so many handsome men already; still not enough?” Bai Ruo asked.

“That’s different. Their types and character settings are all different. I like cool, cold boys. Guys who talk too much aren’t good, because I talk a lot too. If I ever got married in the future, the whole house would definitely be arguing all the time.”

Bai Ruo nodded in agreement.

So, back then, the quiet, taciturn Li Xian hadn’t needed any tricks at all to draw in the restless her so easily.

“So this time you’re working with a rather cold male celebrity. The plot is pretty standard; I chase him, he gives me the cold shoulder, and then we finally fall in love. Just when life gets good, we break up again because of some misunderstanding, but we still care deeply about each other. I’ve seen plenty of dramas with that setup.”

“That does sound familiar,” Bai Ruo said.

“I just don’t get it. If they both still care about each other, why not just clear up the misunderstanding and start over? Why make each other suffer like that?”

“Misunderstandings are easy to resolve. The reason they happen in the first place usually has more than one layer; maybe that’s the real reason they can’t start over.”

“Really? That’s way too profound. No wonder people say love is also a kind of study.”

She didn’t stay long before her assistant came to pick her up. Bai Ruo sat alone in the hospital lobby, watching people come and go. She didn’t want to see Li Xian, yet she also secretly hoped to catch another glimpse of her.

She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there when a white figure sat down beside her. Bai Ruo’s mind swayed; for no reason at all, she knew it was Li Xian.