chapter 6
Chapter 6
A dress from DIOR’s early spring collection peeked out from under the haze-blue MaxMara coat, its hem brushing Wu Ai’s knees.
“Ligao Royal Mansion, please.”
Her voice, tinged with a tipsy sweetness, gave the address without sparing Wu Ai a glance.
“Wait a minute!”
Wu Ai grabbed her wrist. “There’s a thing called first come, first served. I hailed this cab first. Don’t think I’ll let you have it just because you’re pretty.”
He hadn’t even finished speaking when the girl suddenly seemed to freeze, as if someone had pressed pause.
Her pale cheeks quivered slightly under her lashes, and she pitched forward.
Wu Ai caught her on reflex. “Shit, don’t you dare fake an injury! Driver, you better back me up here!”
He reached out and gently shook her shoulders. Her body swayed weakly, like a delicate marionette.
“Hey, wake up, damn it! I don’t know how to play Puppet Master!”
The girl still didn’t respond.
“Shit, don’t die on me! If you die, there’s no way I can explain this!”
“Young man, you’d better take her to the hospital first. Otherwise, neither of us will be able to explain ourselves…”
…
Chaoyang Hospital was crowded as always, especially on weekends. Most of the patients were elderly, followed by many parents with children.
Alone in a chair along the ward corridor, Wu Ai stared at the bill on his phone, eyes full of pain.
It wasn’t until he tried to register her for emergency treatment that he realized, without the girl’s insurance card, all the registration and consultation fees would have to come out of his own pocket-and at full price, too.
Wu Ai gritted his teeth, not daring to look at his account balance.
What made things worse was discovering his guitar was missing when he got to the hospital.
In the rush to help the girl out of the car, he’d completely forgotten it.
Leaning back against the chair, Wu Ai closed his eyes in boredom, trying to rest.
He didn’t know how long had passed before a doctor emerged, immediately spotting Wu Ai beside the ward door.
The doctor reached out and gently shook him awake. “Are you this girl’s brother?”
Still not fully awake, Wu Ai grumbled, “I’m her dad.”
The doctor froze for a second, then burst out laughing.
“You young people really know how to joke. Come in and have a look.”
The doctor led Wu Ai in, where he saw the girl lying on the hospital bed.
By now, a faint blush had returned to her face. Her features were flawless, like a carved jade sculpture, and there was a subtle grace about her brow and eyes.
Maybe it was the earlier rush, or maybe her messy hair had obscured her face, but Wu Ai hadn’t noticed just how beautiful she was until now.
He found himself staring until the doctor handed him a report, pulling him out of his reverie.
“Here, this is the girl’s blood test report.”
Wu Ai took the report, but couldn’t make heads or tails of the complicated information. Scratching his head, he looked to the doctor.
“I can’t really understand this. Is there some big problem?”
The doctor nodded. “It’s not a small issue-actually, it’s pretty serious.”
Wu Ai’s eyelid twitched. Could it be some rare, complicated illness?
He couldn’t reach her family, and if she needed to be hospitalized, there was no way he could afford it.
“Please don’t scare me. What exactly is wrong with her?”
“Anemia and hypoglycemia.”
The doctor adjusted his glasses, his eyes smiling behind the lenses. “Just a little occupational humor-I like to tease young people.”
“Very funny…” Wu Ai gave a thumbs-up. “You nearly scared me to death with that suspense.”
“Thank you, thank you,” the doctor said, clearly enjoying himself.
“But what’s strange is, it looks like this girl hasn’t eaten for three or four days. Fainting was, in large part, simply because she was hungry.”
After saying that, he looked at Wu Ai again.
“You call yourself her brother? That’s way too irresponsible!”
Wu Ai was just about to explain that he didn’t even know this girl, but before he could get a word out, the doctor stopped him with a wave of his hand.
“It’s no use talking. You can keep this ward for now. Go out and buy your sister something to eat.”
The doctor finished speaking, turned, and walked straight out of the ward, not giving Wu Ai any chance to argue.
Wu Ai thought to himself that the doctor was right.
Whether she was a friend or a stranger, she was still a poor girl who hadn’t eaten for days.
He might as well do a good deed to the end.
But at the same time, he had his own plans.
This girl clearly came from a good family. All he needed to do now was win her favor, and maybe when it was time to ask for his money back, he could even get double.
Thinking about this, he casually bought a few boxes of snacks and two bottles of milk from the convenience store.
“Poor me, I’ll just buy these to fill her up for now.”
The shop assistant was stunned when he heard this.
“Do young people these days even wash it down with milk?”
Wu Ai walked to the register and was just about to pay when his phone suddenly froze, the screen stuck for ages.
Then, in the next second, over a dozen messages exploded onto Wu Ai’s phone like thunder. The flurry of notification sounds startled the shop assistant. “Hey, did you just top up your data?”
Wu Ai ignored him, his finger frozen on the screen, staring at the unread messages that landed like heavy blows.
Every message had the same sender: Shi Xian.
That silly girl had really sent them one after another.
From the excitement before she set out to the anxiety while she waited, the last few messages were spaced half an hour apart.
The latest was from five minutes ago: “Forget it, I’m going home.”
Just six simple words, followed by a smiling emoji, yet Wu Ai felt as if something sharp had scraped across his chest.
After reading the messages, Wu Ai slapped his forehead.
He remembered last week when Shi Xian, blushing, showed him the new dress in her shopping cart: “Remember to ask me out next week. I’ll wear it for you!”
Who would come from so far away? Only a fool would.
“Damn, I forgot she really is that silly!”
Wu Ai’s fingers flew across the screen. As soon as the payment beep sounded, he immediately called Shi Xian.
“The number you dialed isn’t answering…”
Shi Xian didn’t pick up the first time. On the second try, just as it was about to time out, she finally answered.
As soon as the call connected, a resentful voice came from the other end.
“Wu Ai, you lied to me again!”
Shi Xian was mad.
It wasn’t the kind of small anger you could smooth over with a few words; her voice was flat and subdued-she neither cried nor shouted.
If he didn’t explain himself, she might get even angrier.
Thinking of this, Wu Ai took a deep breath.
He slowly explained the whole story to her.
“Ah, how is she now?” Shi Xian’s voice was full of concern.
“She’s not in any real danger, but the girl is still unconscious. The doctor is convinced I’m her family.”
“Which hospital are you at? I’ll come find you right now!”
“No need, I’ll handle it here. I can’t bear to make you come all this way again.”
Wu Ai sighed helplessly. “This time I really stood you up. I’m so sorry. I promise next time…”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Just remember to come home early, okay? I’ll hang up now…”
On the other end, Shi Xian put away her phone.
She lowered her head, looking at the half box of snacks in her hand, tears welling in her eyes.