Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I swallowed, not daring to meet Lu Tinglan’s eyes.

He walked toward me slowly, each step heavy and forceful. His shoulders trembled slightly, as if he were doing everything he could to keep his emotions under control.

“Looks like you’ve got the strength to get out of bed now, huh?”

“Now that you’ve recovered, are you planning to jump off a building again?”

“No… I just wanted to go to the bathroom.”

Lu Tinglan tilted his head. An unreadable darkness flickered through his eyes.

The next second, he hoisted me up with one arm and turned toward the bathroom.

“No, wait, I can go by myself!”

“I really can!”

Lu Tinglan was nearly six foot three. He pinned me in front of the toilet with effortless ease.

One leg braced my body in place. One hand clamped around both my wrists, while his other hand slowly reached for my pants.

“Fuck, I really don’t need help with this! Can you get out?”

“Please, get out…”

My face burned crimson with shame and fury, the veins in my neck standing out, all because a certain vulnerable part of me was being held in Lu Tinglan’s hand.

My body gradually melted into a limp, sodden marshmallow. All I could do was lean against Lu Tinglan’s chest, panting softly, begging him to let me go.

The instant tears spilled from my eyes, Lu Tinglan lowered his head and pressed down hard on my shoulder, his voice hoarse to the extreme.

“Jiang Yao, I don’t care who you’re trying to spite. I was the one who saved your life. If I don’t agree to it, don’t even think about dying.”

Lu Tinglan and I.

What exactly were we?

Would best friends do something like that?

System, when are you going to come explain this to me?!

I lay in the hospital for another three days.

The doctor suggested I get a stomach CT, but I refused.

Until I was discharged, I didn’t dare bring up what had happened that day again, nor did I dare look Lu Tinglan in the eye.

After returning to campus, I hid from him by practically living in the library every day.

[Mianmian: Jiang Yao, I want beef noodles from the second cafeteria and yogurt for lunch. Bring three cups of milk tea for my girlfriends too, deliver everything to the library, and pick up our packages while you’re at it.]

Jiang Mian’s message popped up on my phone. I glanced at it, then blocked her without hesitation.

My stomach hurt as if knives were twisting through it. It felt like it was about to catch fire. I curled up in my seat, my whole body trembling.

After a long while, chunks of mangled blood and flesh spilled from my mouth, staining me all over.

The truth was…

Stomach cancer was the ending I received after giving up on the mission.

That was why I felt so guilty toward Lu Tinglan.

He had tried so hard to save me, and even the System had accidentally helped.

But me? One day, I had to go home.

“Jiang Yao, how dare you block me? If Brother Jiang Mu were still here, when would a tiny thing like this ever fall to you?!”

Jiang Mian’s mocking voice came from behind me.

She circled me in surprise, then kicked my right foot hard.

“You’re really something. You couldn’t explain away jumping off a building, so you put yourself in a cast, huh?”

“Wow, wow, wow, that ketchup on you really looks like blood. Pretending you’ve got some terminal illness again? As your sister, I am so sick of you. Can’t you just die already?”

As she spoke, Jiang Mian tossed me the half-eaten apple in her hand.

Ever since we were little, I had spoiled her like this. The things she ate halfway through, the fruit pits she spat out-I would always catch them on instinct.

But this time, I didn’t move.

I told her quietly, “You will get your wish. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t want to be your brother either.”

Jiang Mian froze.

Her tightly furrowed brows revealed a trace of hurt and resentment.

She bit her lower lip, then kicked me again to vent her anger.

But this time, someone stood in front of me.

“Jiang Yao, is everyone in your family this fucking stupid?”

“Brother Tinglan? What are you saying…”

“I said you’re fucking stupid.”

Lu Tinglan lifted his eyes coldly. His powerful presence made even the air around us tense.

Jiang Mian’s eyes reddened in fright, and she turned and ran away.

I lowered my head, not knowing how to face Lu Tinglan. Then he suddenly grabbed my right hand.

Like the prelude to thunder and a sudden storm.

“Jiang Yao, where did the blood on you come from?”

“Are you hiding something from me?”