The voice was so abrupt that Lin Xingwan felt a surge of blood rush to her head.
"Lightly?"
"It hurts so much?"
She remembered saying similar things when she was intimate with Zhou Jinbai.
She didn't believe Zhou Jinbai was with another woman, but all the evidence from last night until now pointed to this!
Was Zhou Jinbai with that woman now?
Or what were they doing together?
Lin Xingwan didn't want to imagine, but she couldn't control her mind at all.
She directly hung up the phone. On the other end, Zhou Jinbai cast a displeased gaze at the two nurses who were bickering at the door.
"Who allowed you to come in?" As Zhou Jinbai's face darkened, even while half-lying on the hospital bed, the majesty and sternness emanating from him were enough to make people tremble in fear.
He didn't even remember which of the two nurses had spoken or what they had said. He was just annoyed by the sudden interruption.
"We're sorry, Mr. Dongfang, we're here to change your dressing."
"Dr. Lu asked us to come."
The two nurses showed expressions of extreme terror, even lowering their heads, not daring to meet Zhou Jinbai's gaze.
"Wait, let Lu Shiyan come and change it for me." Zhou Jinbai was agitated because his wife had hung up on him, so he didn't notice that the two nurses were actually unfamiliar.
The two nurses quickly left. Only after they exited Zhou Jinbai's private ward did the two, who had looked nervous and terrified, exchange a smile, revealing a deep, triumphant grin. Then they left quickly.
Zhou Jinbai called Lin Xingwan again.
This time, it rang for a long time before the call was connected.
"Wife, I..."
Zhou Jinbai wanted to explain, but Lin Xingwan interrupted him directly, "Answer my question. What exactly were you doing last night? Who are you with now? If you lie to me, I'll go out and get myself run over by a car."
Zhou Jinbai: "..."
Swearing on herself? He didn't dare to lie.
Zhou Jinbai's silence completely shattered Lin Xingwan's trust in him.
When she received that anonymous message last night, she chose to believe this man. Even though she had imagined countless terrible outcomes, she still comforted herself, thinking that Zhou Jinbai was her husband, and she had to trust him.
She waited in the cold wind at the hospital like a fool until she fell ill.
Even then, she still believed he had some difficult circumstances, but then she heard another woman's voice on the phone!
At that moment, her heart was cut like a knife.
After hanging up, she wished she could block everything related to this man. But when he called her, Lin Xingwan still answered.
In her heart, there was still a sliver of hope.
"Zhou Jinbai, you lied to me, didn't you? You weren't going to see your so-called friend. You know I hate deception the most. You told me to trust each other..." Lin Xingwan's voice was filled with a deep sob.
She had never felt so pathetic. Why do people go back on their word?
Even though she had been betrayed by Gu Shaoting before, she only felt sad and hurt in secret.
But now, she couldn't control her emotions. She desperately wanted to pretend to be indifferent, but her tears were so uncontrollable.
"Wife, I have my reasons, I... *Beep beep beep*..."
Before Zhou Jinbai could finish speaking, Lin Xingwan hung up the phone again.
This time, no matter how Zhou Jinbai called, the calls couldn't get through.
He knew his wife had blocked him. Zhou Jinbai then opened WeChat and sent a message.
【Wanxing has enabled friend verification. You are not yet friends with her. Please send a friend verification request first. You can chat after she verifies it.】
Cold.
Zhou Jinbai was so angry that he smashed his phone. It happened to hit Lu Shiyan's toe as he entered the ward. Lu Shiyan cried out in pain and hopped around, holding his foot.
"Ouch, my foot, damn it... What's wrong with you? I almost died working overtime last night to save you, and now you wake up and smash me with your phone? This is sheer ingratitude!" Lu Shiyan was in real pain, even his voice trembled.
Doctors really had a high-risk profession!
Zhou Jinbai merely gave him an extremely cold look, then pulled out the needle inserted in his hand, threw off the covers, and prepared to get out of bed.
Seeing this, Lu Shiyan forgot about his foot pain and hobbled to Zhou Jinbai's side, forcefully holding him down.
"What are you doing? What's gotten into you? You just cheated death last night, and now you're risking your life?" Lu Shiyan had never seen Zhou Jinbai so distraught and angry. In fact, there was even a flicker of tension and worry in his deep eyes.
"My wife is leaving me, what's the point of living?" Zhou Jinbai snorted coldly. He tried to push Lu Shiyan away, but one of his hands was in a cast, and the other was also in severe pain.
He was so weak now that he couldn't even beat Lu Shiyan, who was a weakling.
"So... you're going to find sister-in-law? You look like this, are you going to scare her to death?" Lu Shiyan had already understood the whole story of last night.
The consequences of everything that had happened were all deserved by the man in front of him. Who told him to play the game of switching between main and alt accounts? Now it had caused problems!
"Then what else can I do? She's blocked me. A qualified husband shouldn't let his wife go to bed upset." Zhou Jinbai knew Lin Xingwan's personality too well. She seemed independent and strong, but in reality, she was like a little girl inside.
"If you don't let her go to bed upset this time, I guarantee you'll be going to bed with a divorce certificate tonight." Lu Shiyan said with certainty. His words made Zhou Jinbai frown deeply.
"Last night, you saved sister-in-law as Dongfang Junze. It's fine for you to go find her now, but the problem is your injuries. How will you explain them? Jinbai, even if sister-in-law is foolish, she'll be suspicious. Will you continue to lie then? One lie requires countless others to cover it up. I think you understand this better than I do now." Lu Shiyan glanced at the pale Zhou Jinbai, who looked half-dead but was still thinking about his wife. Could love really be this great?
Zhou Jinbai gave up all resistance. His handsome face was filled with dejection. "Then what do you want me to do?"
Suddenly, a resolute voice came from the doorway, "Then, during this period when you and my precious granddaughter-in-law are in a cold war, use Dongfang Junze's identity to make her fall in love with you."
Lu Shiyan and Zhou Jinbai both turned their eyes to the old lady.
"Yes, this method is good. Then arrange a plot where your alt account dies. When Lin Xingwan is most heartbroken, you can take advantage of the situation, capitalize on her distress, and strike while the iron is hot to make her fall in love with you!" Lu Shiyan felt that such a cheesy plot was actually happening to his good brother. After saying it, he even felt a chill, but he was a dog, and he wanted to watch.
Zhou Jinbai shot him a chilling glance, and Lu Shiyan immediately shut up.
"Grandma, you know, Xingwan won't fall in love with Dongfang Junze." Zhou Jinbai said this as a statement of fact.
"Grandson, nothing is absolute. If you believe your grandma, then do as she says. Would grandma harm you? You are outstanding, but the granddaughter-in-law I, Fu Cha Wanrong, have chosen is not necessarily inferior to you."
The old lady looked at her grandson enigmatically. Lu Shiyan, standing by, couldn't help but shiver.
Zhou Jinbai compromised, but his dejected expression was as if he had lost something most precious.
The old lady patted Zhou Jinbai's shoulder and said, "Temporary loss is for a longer-lasting possession. All destined encounters come after hardship. There are variables within destiny, and destiny within variables. As long as you persevere, you will become an immortal couple! Don't think about anything for the next few days, just focus on recovering from your injuries."
After the old lady finished speaking, she prepared to turn and leave.
Lu Shiyan, being glib, said, "Grandma Dongfang, then tell me, when will my destined encounter appear?"
The old lady glanced at Lu Shiyan and replied, "At your wedding."
"Then when will I get married?"
"When your destined encounter appears."
Lu Shiyan's mouth twitched. "Grandma Dongfang, listening to your words is like listening to your words. If your answers were even a little useful, they wouldn't be completely useless."
"Then hurry up and find someone."
Lu Shiyan: "..."
---
---
Lin Xingwan spent the night in misery. Due to the fever, she felt groggy and disoriented.
Even when she managed to fall asleep, she kept feeling like Zhou Jinbai was sending her messages.
She even dreamed that he was apologizing to her, saying that he loved her the most...
But every time Lin Xingwan woke up, she only saw Ge Xuansi by her side, and there were no new messages from Zhou Jinbai on her phone.
Lin Xingwan felt like a fool. She had already blocked all his contact information.
How could his messages get through?
But what if he used someone else's phone to message her?
Lin Xingwan read through all the messages, even the spam messages, several times. There was nothing.
After doing all this, Lin Xingwan felt like a fool again. If this man really cared about her, it had been more than ten hours since she blocked him. Why hadn't he come to find her during these ten hours?
She hadn't done anything wrong, so why did every relationship end up so miserably?
Lin Xingwan looked down on herself. After being hurt by Gu Shaoting, she had told herself not to believe men's sweet talk anymore.
But what was the result? She had forgotten her pain and thought Zhou Jinbai would be different from other men. In reality, all men in the world were the same.
"You should at least eat something. You haven't eaten anything since yesterday morning." Ge Xuansi looked at the woman lying on the hospital bed, her face haggard, her nose red. He felt so sorry for her, so fragile and weak, that he wished he could hold her tightly.
But unfortunately... he had no status or standing.
"I can't eat." Lin Xingwan shook her head and said to Ge Xuansi, "You've been with me for two days and one night. The crew has been calling you. You should go back to the crew and continue filming. I'll find a caregiver here."
"If you drink this bowl of porridge, I'll go to the crew. Otherwise, I'll stay with you." Ge Xuansi's tone was uncompromising.
Lin Xingwan looked at Ge Xuansi with surprise. The boy who had once been so pitiful was now speaking to her with such a forceful attitude.
Did he want to rebel?
But looking at Ge Xuansi's increasingly determined face, Lin Xingwan suddenly felt... that in just a few months, this handsome young man had grown so much.
Finally, Lin Xingwan ate the entire bowl of porridge in front of Ge Xuansi.
Her stomach, which had been uncomfortable, felt a little better after being filled.
Only when the caregiver Lin Xingwan had booked arrived did Ge Xuansi leave.
The caregiver was a very gentle and meticulous woman. After a brief chat with her, Lin Xingwan felt sleepy and fell into a deep sleep.
She didn't know how long she slept. Lin Xingwan felt someone stroking her cheek. Thinking it was Zhou Jinbai, she suddenly opened her eyes.
What met her gaze was Cheng Yanzhe's face, etched with a hint of worry.
The expectation in Lin Xingwan's eyes instantly vanished.
Cheng Yanzhe naturally withdrew his hand and said, "You're still burning up. Put aside the company matters for now these few days and recuperate properly in the hospital. If you had come back with me that night, none of this would have happened."
Lin Xingwan didn't know how Cheng Yanzhe knew she was in the hospital, but she still said, "Cheng Yanzhe, you have a fiancée, and I have a husband. We should maintain a distance."
"Maintain distance? We've slept in the same bed, lived in the same room, and eaten with the same chopsticks. You were my shadow for over ten years, and now you're talking about maintaining distance? Lin Xingwan, doesn't your conscience hurt?"
Cheng Yanzhe hated it the most when this woman acted like she wanted to keep her distance from him. He hadn't done anything to wrong her, yet every time he heard her speak, it successfully ignited his anger.
"That was when we were children." Lin Xingwan frowned slightly. After her mother died, she always had nightmares. Cheng Yanzhe would hold her while she slept and feed her delicious food. But she was only four or five years old then, and there was no concept of gender.
Later, she continued to be Cheng Yanzhe's shadow because of the stirrings in her heart.
But now Lin Xingwan knew that it wasn't love, perhaps just dependence and habit towards Cheng Yanzhe.
"What about when we were children? You're so eager to draw a line between us. Are you afraid Zhou Jinbai will misunderstand? You're so considerate of him, but what about him? Where was he when you were hospitalized?" Cheng Yanzhe asked aggressively.
Lin Xingwan remained silent, not knowing how to answer. Cheng Yanzhe sneered, "Perhaps he's in some woman's bed having a good time right now."
"Cheng Yanzhe, do you have to think of Zhou Jinbai as so despicable?" Lin Xingwan's frown deepened.
She could scold and hit her own man, but when did it become others' place to point fingers?
"His own woman is sick and hospitalized, and he's never shown up. How despicable is such a man? Do I need to say?" Cheng Yanzhe's rhetorical question left Lin Xingwan speechless for a moment.
"Are you here at the hospital specifically to argue with me? I'm tired and want to sleep. If there's nothing else, you can leave." Lin Xingwan didn't want to continue this conversation with Cheng Yanzhe at all. Moreover, she increasingly felt that Cheng Yanzhe had become more annoying since returning to China.
Lin Xingwan's annoyed expression made Cheng Yanzhe's anger flare up. "Lin Xingwan, I only said Zhou Jinbai was despicable, and you couldn't accept it? How many years has he known you? How many years have I known you? You could like Gu Shaoting, like Zhou Jinbai, why can't you like me? I've been with you for over ten years. What am I inferior to them in?"
He didn't want to hide anymore, nor did he want to miss her again.
He wanted to protect her openly.
Lin Xingwan looked at Cheng Yanzhe in astonishment. "Do you know what you're saying?"
Cheng Yanzhe leaned closer to Lin Xingwan. Lin Xingwan instinctively dodged backward. As her back hit the cold wall, she placed her hands on Cheng Yanzhe's chest, trying to stop his advance.
Cheng Yanzhe simply grabbed her wrist and said again, "Don't you feel at all that I like you?"
"Cheng Yanzhe, what nonsense are you talking about?" Lin Xingwan was terrified. She had never imagined that Cheng Yanzhe would like her, let alone say such things to her.
"Am I talking nonsense? Heh." Cheng Yanzhe felt extremely pained. "Go ask. Besides you, this fool, who among our former classmates doesn't know I like you! Lin Xingwan, you're such a big fool! I originally planned to confess to you at the start of university, but you... you gave me such a big gift, which has bothered me for so many years! If you had stopped me when I went abroad, we wouldn't be in this situation today."
Lin Xingwan looked at the man's resentful eyes, which in the next second were filled with self-mockery and pain. "I know you told me you suddenly changed your major because of my mother, but in reality, if you liked me enough, you would have told me all of this."
Cheng Yanzhe had already inquired about the previous incident with Hao Manqing, and Hao Manqing had readily admitted it.
For this reason, Cheng Yanzhe had a huge argument with Hao Manqing.
"Perhaps I had a slight liking for you before, but one thing you said is right: I didn't like you enough, so when I encountered even a little difficulty, I thought of retreating instead of solving it. But you don't need to morally obligate me, because in your heart, your mother will always be more important than me. Even if I were with you, as long as your mother didn't like me, there would still be countless problems between us. Then you would be in a difficult position, and I wouldn't want to be wronged all the time. So I'm very glad now that we didn't get together back then."
Lin Xingwan wore a indifferent and distant smile. "Don't say these words to me again in the future. My future will involve meeting Yang Shaoting, Zhao Shaoting, and Li Jinbai, Dong Jinbai, but never Cheng Yanzhe."
"I will prove with my actions that I am no longer the Cheng Yanzhe you remember. Lin Xingwan, you can only be mine!" After saying this, Cheng Yanzhe tried to kiss Lin Xingwan.
Madness!
Cheng Yanzhe was definitely crazy!
Lin Xingwan desperately dodged, but soon her other hand was also restrained by Cheng Yanzhe.
Just as Cheng Yanzhe was about to force himself on her, the ward door was kicked open.