“But he refused to take medicine, refused IV drips, and wouldn’t eat. Worse, his wound got wet and is now severely infected.”
“The doctor said a large portion of his skin tissue at the wound surface has died. If they don’t operate soon to remove the dead tissue, and if the infection spreads further, he might need an amputation.”
“President Zhan refuses to let anyone near him, and he won't undergo surgery. He’s so ill-tempered, I’m truly at my wit’s end.”
“Miss Jiang, from my observation, you’re the only one he’ll listen to. Please, could you make time to come and help persuade him?”
He was fine when she was around.
To think that in just three days of not seeing him, he had deteriorated to the point of needing an amputation?
Jiang Nan Fang clenched her fist instinctively. “Where are you now? Is Zhan Bei Jue next to you?”
“Give him the phone, I want to speak to him.”
A Zhong returned to the ward and held the phone out to the pale, vacant Zhan Bei Jue.
“President Zhan, Miss Jiang is calling for you.”
Jiang Nan Fang?
Didn’t she abandon him and go celebrate the New Year with Ke Teng?
Why was she calling again?
Had she heard he was dying? Come to send him off out of pity?
Hah. Zhan Bei Jue swept his hand and knocked the phone away.
“Take it away! I’m not taking anyone’s calls! Don’t bother me!”
“But President Zhan, Miss Jiang has something to say to you,” A Zhong said, looking at him with concern.
“Don’t you understand me? Get out! No one is allowed to disturb me! All of you, stay away from me!”
Jiang Nan Fang heard Zhan Bei Jue’s outburst clearly over the phone.
Seeing that A Zhong couldn’t control him, she could no longer sit still. She turned, went back to her room, grabbed her suitcase, and rushed out.
“Tell Zhan Bei Jue to get the surgery done immediately. I’m going back now.”
“Otherwise, if he ends up with an amputation and becomes a cripple with one leg, I’ll mock him for the rest of my life.”
Zhan Bei Jue had a fever, leaving him groggy and disoriented.
His entire body ached as if he had been whipped, the pain making him unable to move.
A fleeting voice in his mind grew closer and closer, beckoning him to a faraway land.
So tired.
He had managed the company alone for many years, almost never taking a vacation.
In the end, he still couldn’t have what he wanted. His body was tired, and so was his heart.
He longed to just disappear with that figure.
But suddenly, a crisp, young girl’s voice echoed in his ears.
“Mom, look! Someone’s having a car accident over there!”
It was Jiang Nan Fang at the age of five.
She was in a black Santana.
Due to the snowy, slippery road and the steep uphill climb, the car was moving very slowly.
Jiang Nan Fang, with a red hairband holding back her long, shoulder-length hair, wearing a black sweater and a red coat, was leaning out the window, pointing at him with her small finger.
It was the first time Zhan Bei Jue had ever seen her.
Her eyes were big and bright, her face clean and fair, clearly that of a pampered little princess.
Behind her sat a serene and elegant woman.
Like Jiang Nan Fang, she had long, shoulder-length black hair, a black sweater, and a red coat.
To Zhan Bei Jue, bleeding out and on the verge of death, she appeared as beautiful as an angel descended from heaven.
That was Jiang Nan Fang’s mother.
Hearing Jiang Nan Fang’s call, Jiang’s mother immediately stopped the car.
Soon, the family of three, the mother and daughter, trotted towards them.
Although Zhan Bei Jue was gravely injured in that car accident, his consciousness was hazy.
He never forgot the scene.
The mother and daughter standing there, looking at them with kind, innocent eyes.
The scene was too beautiful; he would never forget it.
Later, Zhan Bei Jue and his grandfather were sent to the hospital.
After some recuperation, his grandfather found the Jiang family.
At a thank-you dinner, he discovered how exceptionally cute and clever Jiang Nan Fang was. He jokingly proposed an engagement between the two children.
Perhaps because she had no son, Jiang’s mother felt a particular connection with the young Zhan Bei Jue.
Looking at his outstanding features and his mature demeanor for his age, she grew very fond of him and immediately agreed to his grandfather’s playful suggestion.
To the adults, it might have just been a joke.
But in the heart of the young Zhan Bei Jue, a seed of hope was planted.
From the age of seven, he knew he had a future wife named Jiang Nan Fang.
Therefore, in the years that followed, although his grandfather’s business grew more successful,
and their home became larger and more beautiful, he and Jiang Nan Fang never met again.
But he never forgot that moment.
Until he was fifteen, in his third year of junior high.
He saw Jiang Nan Fang again at the opening ceremony of Nan Da High School.
That year, as a representative of outstanding students, Zhan Bei Jue was assigned by his homeroom teacher to give a speech at the opening ceremony.
Jiang Nan Fang, as a representative student specially admitted for being the top scorer in the city, was placed next to him.
If he hadn’t heard the teacher call out Jiang Nan Fang’s name and noticed her slightly familiar features, Zhan Bei Jue wouldn’t have recognized her.
Perhaps due to a family crisis, Jiang Nan Fang was dressed very shabbily.
In the prestigious aristocratic school, among students adorned in brand names, she stood out starkly.
She seemed to be wearing boys’ clothes.
A black T-shirt that barely covered her waist.
Black wide-legged pants on her legs; it was unclear if they were deliberately bought as capris or if the pants were too short, revealing a large portion of her ankles.
The sandals on her feet also seemed to be a boy’s.
Although the size fit perfectly, they had a picture of Michael Jordan playing basketball, a style clearly favored by boys.
Her hair was cut very short.
On her pale, almost sickly cheeks, was a raised, purple scar, frightening like a centipede.
When he heard her name and she turned to look at him, Zhan Bei Jue was stunned.
Was this the Jiang Nan Fang he remembered as his future wife?
How had she become like this?
To understand the situation, after the event concluded, he used his position as student council president.
Zhan Bei Jue deliberately bent the rules and looked up Jiang Nan Fang’s file.
The results confirmed that it was indeed the Jiang Nan Fang from back then.
Their home address hadn’t changed.
But how had the former princess become like this?
The next day, Zhan Bei Jue planned to discreetly go near her home after school to inquire about her situation.
However, before school ended, he encountered Jiang Nan Fang, who was being punished by standing in the schoolyard.
That day, the city was holding a physics competition, and his homeroom teacher had called him and a few other students participating in the competition to the office to brief them on the competition process.
Then, amidst a group of students being punished by standing, he saw her, standing out from the crowd.
All the girls were wearing appropriate attire for girls, clean and confident.
Only she was still in boys’ clothes.
The nosebleed on her nose hadn’t been wiped off and had dried on half her face, making her look so ugly and peculiar.
As their eyes met, Zhan Bei Jue couldn’t describe his feelings.
There was pity, and there was disappointment.
He felt pity for such a good girl turned into this state.
He felt disappointed that even in her current condition, why wasn’t she studying properly and instead associating with those unsavory students.