APTnovel Chapter 56 Taking Care of 1
Chapter 56 Taking Care of 1
Gu Jing gazed quietly at the bright moon outside the window, his thoughts drifting far away. Just then, the light from his phone screen abruptly interrupted his reverie.
He instinctively wanted to ignore it, but when he caught a glimpse of Qiao Xiao's name, his finger involuntarily swiped the screen.
A series of messages from the system appeared on the screen, making his heart tighten.
"Qiao? How could she..." A sense of foreboding welled up in Gu Jing's heart, and his phone almost slipped from his trembling hand, finally touching the bed.
He suddenly sat up, knelt on the bed, stared intently at every word on the screen, and disbelief spread across his face.
He quickly dialed that familiar number, his fingers pressing the wrong keys several times due to nervousness, until finally a faint sound came from the other end of the line.
"Are you... alright?" His voice, though he tried to remain calm, betrayed his anxiety and trembling.
"I'm in the hospital." Qiao Xiao's voice sounded unusually weak, as if a gust of wind could blow it away.
Gu Jing's heart leaped into his throat. He anxiously asked, "Which hospital? I'm coming right away!"
Tears welled up in his eyes, but he forced them back, his voice choked with sobs.
After hanging up the phone, Gu Jing drove straight to the hospital without any hesitation.
In the darkness of night, his slender figure appeared exceptionally lonely yet resolute, as if no storm could hinder his progress.
In the steel jungle of the city, Qin Yan buried himself in a corner of a towering office building, with piles of documents stacked high, while the coffee on the corner of his desk emitted wisps of steam.
He took a sip, and the swirling steam seemed to temporarily soothe the barely perceptible signs of fatigue on his forehead.
Just as I was focused on my work, a sudden ringtone broke the silence, and the "A" mark on the screen jumped out at me like an emergency signal.
He glanced at the time on his phone; the hands had quietly pointed to 1:08 a.m.
It's so late, what happened?
His usually calm and composed face became unusually solemn and profound at this moment.
"Is there something you need?" His voice was deep and magnetic, with a hint of barely perceptible urgency, and he spoke more rapidly than usual.
"Qin Yan, I'm at the hospital. Come here, I need you right now."
On the other end of the phone was Qiao Xiao's weak voice.
Black is Qin Yan's shadow; those dark memories buried deep in her heart seem ready to sprout at any moment.
From the day he returned, he lied and claimed that he was recuperating from an illness, and that a fabricated plane crash isolated him from the outside world.
A edifice built on money won't collapse in a short time, which is why it was still operating normally before Qin Yan returned.
At night, coffee became his only companion, keeping him company through sleepless nights.
During the day, he was busy with press conferences, lengthy meetings, and intense business negotiations, which pushed him to the limits of his physical and mental strength.
His body was resisting strongly, but it was Qiao Xiao, the person he was willing to risk his life to see.
He looked exhausted, his face seemed to have aged several years in an instant, and dragging his half-dead body, he didn't hesitate to take heavy steps and run all the way when Qiao Xiao told him that he was in the hospital.
At this moment, Qiao Xiao was lying on a hospital bed, looking somewhat helpless, as the automatically triggered dialogue from the system rang in her mind.
Jiang Yu, holding a thick stack of medical reports, announced her "vacation" decision as soon as she entered the room.
"I have already contacted my teacher and asked your homeroom teacher for leave."
"What gives you the right to make decisions for me?" Qiao Xiao frowned, dissatisfied with Jiang Yu's autocratic behavior. Her gaze was icy. "I disagree."
Jiang Yu remained unmoved. His voice, though clear and cold, carried an undeniable firmness: "You know the consequences of refusing. That would be risking your life out of spite."
Qiao Xiao sneered, a self-deprecating smile playing on her lips: "Yes, I know. But don't I even have the right to die?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yu's expression changed slightly, but he quickly regained his composure and his tone remained firm: "Anyway, I will never allow myself to watch my savior give up his life."
The conversation between the two was full of tension, with Qiao Xiao's stubbornness and Jiang Yu's persistence clashing particularly fiercely at this moment.
She knew her own personality well; she was stubborn to the extreme. Jiang Yu's tough attitude touched a nerve.
Jiang Yu offended Qiao Xiao, committing a major taboo. Qiao Xiao is naturally resistant to gentle persuasion, and even then, it has to be very gentle. If she confronts her head-on, she will only become more stubborn and inflexible, a common flaw in people with difficult personalities.
She was in a fit of rage, and any extreme action could happen in an instant. It wasn't impossible for her to jump from the hospital building and die on the spot.
"Hmph, you still don't understand me, Jiang Yu." Qiao Xiao's tone was cold and unyielding, completely different from her easygoing student self. This made Jiang Yu start to question what kind of person his savior really was.
However, a boy is still a boy, and he couldn't hide his emotions. He was furious and flung the sheets in his hand, scattering them on Qiao Xiao's hospital bed. His tone was full of indignation: "Since that's how it is, then I'll grant your request. You can fend for yourself, Yan Rui. Consider it as if you saved my life for nothing!"
After saying that, he stormed out of the ward.
Qiao Xiao's chest heaved violently, the pain and anger intertwined, making her almost suffocate.
"System, delete this person immediately! I don't want to pursue him anymore!"
Just then, the sound of an ambulance siren broke the silence of the night, and a blinding light flashed through the window of the ward.
The sudden noise jolted Qiao Xiao awake, making her realize that she was in a hospital ward in the dead of night.
A chill ran down her spine, and cold sweat poured down her back. She temporarily forgot the pain in her abdomen and the burning sensation of sparks in her body.
A person is in the hospital.
She collapsed onto the hospital bed, muttering to herself, "But I have no money, how can I afford the fees?"
I felt like crying but couldn't, and I felt powerless.
At first, she didn't think of seeking help from anyone except herself.
But the damn plot forced her to ask others for help.
Ask someone for help? How absurd.
"System, can you exchange some money so I can become a member of a wealthy family? With money, it will be easy to save anyone."
System: "Currency, jewelry, and other financial items cannot be exchanged."
Qiao Xiao: "What about my illness? Can it be cured directly?"
System: "Energy cannot be directly exchanged. You can check the shop to see if there are any related items."
Qiao Xiao: "..."
"Can the severe abdominal pain be relieved?"
System: "10 energy points".