Chapter 6: Substitution (3)

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Naturally, Fang Mu’s men were unable to find Qiao Jiusheng’s whereabouts. When Fang Mu returned to the hospital in the latter half of the night, he found Qiao Jiuyin still awake. Seeing that her emotions had stabilized, Fang Mu was relieved. However, he still consoled her. “Don’t worry, heaven keeps the good out of harm’s way. Your sister will be fine.”

Qiao Jiuyin forced a smile. She suddenly grabbed Fang Mu’s hand and said, “Brother Mu, can I ask for a favor.”

Fang Mu frowned and looked at her. He did not like how distant she appeared. Xiao Sheng was always eccentric and never afraid of giving him trouble. Why is she so reserved today? Fang Mu thought that the accident might have affected her and did not give this matter too much consideration. He only said, “Tell me! I will do whatever I can for you.”

Qiao Jiuyin said, “Sister might have been saved by a kind person. Help me keep an eye out for registration information at the hospitals.”

Fang Mu assumed that ‘Qiao Jiusheng’ was unwilling to accept the news that her sister might be dead and her corpse was missing.

***

Qiao Jiusheng successfully escaped from the hospital. The anesthesia effect on her body had yet to completely disappear, and she felt the numbness in her legs with every step she took.

Waving her hand, she stopped a taxi and got inside it. The driver glanced at her and felt strange. This person is wearing a hospital gown. I can see traces of blood under her clothes. How dare she run around like this? Does she want to die?

As he thought to himself, the driver politely asked, “Miss, where are you going?”

Qiao Jiusheng was stunned.

Where to?

How could the ruthless Qiao Jiuyin leave any leeway for her? Qiao Jiusheng hailed from Junyang City, and when she was 17, she went to Binjiang City to attend university with Qiao Jiuyin. It was during this period that she got to know Fang Mu. Moreover, Qiao Jiuyin also knew almost all of Qiao Jiusheng’s university classmates.

Qiao Jiusheng realized that she could not find a place to hide.

A sense of helplessness arose in her heart, and Qiao Jiusheng went silent.

When he did not get any answer, the driver became impatient. “Miss, it’s not easy for us to do this. If you don’t want to take the car, you can get out.”

Qiao Jiusheng glanced at the driver and weakly said, “To the Medical University.”

***

The last person remaining in the office building of the Medical University at this time was reviewing a student’s thesis.

After reading the thesis in his hand, Wei Shuyi stretched his body and put on his jacket. He then turned off the lights in the room and walked toward the parking lot. As he drove to the exit of the underground parking lot, a skinny girl slowly walked out from the darkness and blocked his way under the dazzling lights.

The girl stood in the middle of the exit and raised her right hand, signaling Wei Shuyi to stop the car.

Wei Shuyi looked at the person standing in the light and did not step on the brakes.

Qiao Jiusheng gazed at the car that drove toward her without slowing down. A flash of hesitation appeared in her eyes, but she was not afraid. She remained still in her spot and looked at the man in glasses with her weak eyes.

Screech!

The car finally stopped ten centimeters away from Qiao Jiusheng.

Wei Shuyi adjusted his glasses and looked at Qiao Jiusheng for two seconds before pushing open the car door.

He got out of the car and slowly walked to Qiao Jiusheng. As the two of them faced each other, Wei Shuyi sized Qiao Jiusheng up without batting an eyelid. It was clear that they had met for the first time, yet Wei Shuyi felt that the girl looked at him as if he were her old acquaintance.

He felt strange, but he did not show it on his face.

After observing Qiao Jiusheng, Wei Shuyi frowned and said with certainty, “You especially waited for me here.”

Qiao Jiusheng held her aching ribs and looked up at him, nodding with difficulty.

“I don’t know you,” Wei Shuyi lightly said.

As the injury constantly hurt her, Qiao Jiusheng frowned in pain. Taking a deep breath, she said with difficulty, “Your name is Wei Shuyi.” You love to eat beef and hate seafood without scales the most. You are allergic to pollen, but you love the wild. You hate girls dressed in revealing flowery clothes, but the person you love the most loves to wear a v-necked outfit.

Your favorite thing to do is drawing your beloved’s face with a pencil and then wiping it all off with an eraser. You say you draw that person’s face over and over again because you’re afraid you’ll forget their appearance. You wipe those drawings over and over again out of longing.

No one knew Wei Shuyi better than Qiao Jiusheng.

After all, he was the person who had accompanied her through the last phase of her life in her previous life.

Qiao Jiusheng had a lot to say to Wei Shuyi, but she stopped herself. In her previous life, Wei Shuyi had been very lonely. In this life, she wanted him to be happy. Therefore, she thought it was better not to tell him about something that had yet to happen.

Many people in the school knew Wei Shuyi. Thus, Wei Shuyi was not surprised at this girl mentioning his name. However, he could not bear to reject her.

Wei Shuyi took off his glasses and patted them on his palms. Suddenly, he said to Qiao Jiusheng, “Get in.”

***

Wei Shuyi lived in a one-hundred-square-meter, two-bedroom apartment. He placed Qiao Jiusheng on the bed in the guest room and cut open her hospital gown. When he saw the blood-stained bandages on her chest, he frowned. “You’re so seriously injured, yet you still dare to run around. Do you want to die?”

Wei Shuyi’s tone was filled with reproach.

After saying that, Wei Shuyi used a pair of scissors to cut open the bandages and sewed up her wound again.

Qiao Jiusheng grabbed the bedsheets as cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

Her eyelids trembled as she softly replied, “If I don’t run, the only thing waiting for me is death.”

Wei Shuyi did not show much of a reaction to those words. He calmly sutured her wound while remaining silent.

Looking at the shocking gash between Qiao Jiusheng’s right thigh and knee, Wei Shuyi raised his eyebrows and sincerely suggested, “The wound on your thigh has become infected. If you want an anti-inflammatory injection, you should go to the hospital.” Wei Shuyi then removed his gloves and turned around to call the hospital.

Just as he turned around, however, a delicate hand grabbed his left hand.

Wei Shuyi closed his eyes and kept silent. A few seconds later, he turned around and lowered his head to look at the hand Qiao Jiusheng was holding on to. After staring at the hand for a long while, he looked at Qiao Jiusheng, and only looked at her, without saying a word.

“Please!” Only one word came out of the girl’s dry, pale lips.

Wei Shuyi looked at Qiao Jiusheng’s face. The girl’s eyes were filled with hope and pleading. Wei Shuyi was not a good person, and he did not know where Qiao Jiusheng’s confidence came from, that he would agree to her request.

However, Wei Shuyi was indeed moved.

“I can’t go to the hospital,” Qiao Jiusheng said again.

Silence descended in the room.

“Sigh!”

After a while, the man’s soft sigh rang in the room.

“Wait for me. I’ll go buy some medicine.” After saying that, Wei Shuyi did not give Qiao Jiusheng much attention and walked out of the room.

Qiao Jiusheng narrowed her eyes as she watched Wei Shuyi’s back disappear into the house. She then allowed herself to fall asleep.