Chapter 65
Asking questions was exhausting.
As a child, after her mother’s death, Jiang Siyi had asked the housekeeper over and over again—Where did Mom go? Will she come back?
Later, when she started working part-time, the store manager had withheld her wages, and she had confronted him repeatedly, demanding answers.
The housekeeper had made up excuses, and the store manager had refused to give her a straight answer. She had thought that after meeting Shen Shiwu, her life would be less tiring, that things would finally settle down.
But Shen Shiwu wasn’t always honest.
Why was she at the same restaurant with Yang Yu?
Jiang Siyi could ask.
But what was the point? She would only get more excuses.
She was tired, she wanted to rest, to catch her breath.
She also wanted to let go.
***
Just before hanging up, Shen Shiwu asked, “So, we’re breaking up, right?”
Her mind clouded by alcohol, Jiang Siyi slumped against the table, her phone clutched tightly in her hand.
Her knuckles were white.
“Yes,”
Jiang Siyi heard herself say the word, and as she raised her hand, she accidentally knocked over an empty beer bottle. The shattering sound made the staff members hesitate to approach.
“Breaking up.”
The night was weary, and Shen Shiwu, hearing those words, ended the call, as if her heart was also tired.
The familiar voice suddenly gone, Jiang Siyi stared blankly at the table, then waved at a waiter and ordered another case of beer.
Kong Yin tried to stop her. “Ms. Jiang, you’ve had too much to drink tonight, you’ll get a stomach bleed.”
No one, except for Shen Shiwu, could control her.
Jiang Siyi skillfully opened another bottle and took a large gulp, then, finding Kong Yin annoying, she told her to leave.
Kong Yin, of course, didn’t want to leave, but she wisely kept quiet.
The rain showed no sign of stopping.
The downpour forced the restaurant to close early, and a waiter finally came over and said politely to Kong Yin, who was still relatively sober, “Miss, we’ll be closing in ten minutes.”
Kong Yin nodded. “Okay, I understand.”
After the waiter left, she looked at the completely drunk Jiang Siyi and nudged her arm. “Ms. Jiang, we should go.”
After a while, Jiang Siyi finally reacted.
Her face was pale, her head spinning.
Seeing Kong Yin trying to help her up, Jiang Siyi quickly pulled her hand away and stumbled towards the exit.
The cold air hit her.
She shivered, trying to hide herself in her clothes. Suddenly, her stomach churned.
Luckily, there was a trash can nearby.
After dry heaving a few times, Jiang Siyi felt a chill run down her spine. Then, as a flash of lightning lit up the sky, her legs went weak, and she vomited blood.
Jiang Siyi’s vision blurred, and she almost lost her balance. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, and after swallowing, she calmly called an ambulance.
At the hospital’s emergency room, Jiang Siyi lay in bed, receiving an IV drip.
The doctor said it was acute gastric bleeding, and she would need a gastroscopy later.
The emergency room was crowded and noisy, and she stared at the ceiling, occasionally glancing at the IV bag.
Kong Yin had followed her to the hospital, worried, and was now sitting by her bedside, her expression concerned.
But Jiang Siyi just wanted to be alone.
Her voice was weak and hoarse, but she still managed to say, “You can go now.”
“How can I go home when you’re bleeding?” Kong Yin’s eyebrows were furrowed with worry, and she started blaming herself. “I should have stopped you from drinking more.”
“You couldn’t have stopped me,” Jiang Siyi turned to look at her and repeated, “You can go now.”
But Kong Yin refused to leave, stubbornly staying by her side. Two hours passed, the IV drip almost finished, and Jiang Siyi, drowsy, was about to fall asleep.
“Ms. Jiang, I’ll go get the nurse,” Kong Yin said, standing up.
After the IV drip, Jiang Siyi felt slightly better, but the metallic taste in her throat lingered. She coughed a few times, bringing up a little blood, and Kong Yin quickly handed her a tissue.
“You still have to do a gastroscopy, if it’s serious, you might have to be hospitalized,” Kong Yin said, glancing at the time. “It’s about time, let’s go.”
Her bed was being pushed forward, and Jiang Siyi, uncomfortable, wanted to sit up, but she was too weak. As they moved through the crowded hallway, she attracted many stares, and she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination—
But she thought she saw a familiar figure in her peripheral vision.
Before she could turn and look, she was pushed into the elevator.
As the doors slowly closed, Jiang Siyi lay there, thinking silently,
Having hallucinations from gastric bleeding.
Tsk, never drinking again.
The painless gastroscopy required anesthesia, and a few seconds after the injection, Jiang Siyi was fast asleep. The procedure was quick, less than twenty minutes, and she was wheeled out, still unconscious, mumbling incoherently.
Kong Yin leaned closer to listen, then her face stiffened—Jiang Siyi was calling out Shen Shiwu’s name.
She took a deep breath and pushed the bed towards a recovery room. After settling Jiang Siyi in, she wanted to ask the doctor when the results would be ready.
She asked a nurse to keep an eye on Jiang Siyi, and after the nurse agreed, she left.
The recovery room was crowded, and the few nurses on duty couldn’t watch every patient constantly.
So, in a quiet corner, a bed sat alone.
The woman in the bed was still mumbling, her voice sometimes loud, sometimes soft, all her words revolving around her ex-wife’s older sister.
“Shen Shiwu,” she murmured, for the umpteenth time that night, “you jerk…”
In the quiet corner, footsteps approached, the heavy, purposeful strides suggesting the person was in a bad mood.
But as they neared the bed, the footsteps softened.
Jiang Siyi, oblivious, continued muttering curses. “Bitch, asshole, jerk!”
The person being cursed stood by the bed, hands in pockets, looking down at her. She listened quietly, her expression unreadable.
Only when Jiang Siyi started sobbing softly, tears soaking her pillow, did Shen Shiwu’s eyes flicker.
“This breakup, this is really goodbye.”
“Shen Shiwu, I won’t like you anymore.”
Although her words were firm and resolute, Jiang Siyi’s tears flowed freely. Her consciousness returned slightly, and she could hear the distant chatter of patients and their families.
As if sensing something,
She opened her heavy eyelids, her vision slowly clearing.
“Ms. Jiang, you’re awake?”
It was Kong Yin’s face she saw. She held up two fingers. “The results will be ready in twenty minutes, how are you feeling? Still uncomfortable?”
Jiang Siyi wasn’t sure what she was feeling, a sense of disappointment perhaps. She closed her eyes again and said, “A little better, it’s nothing serious.”
Kong Yin, relieved, seeing her close her eyes again, remained silent.
Back in the emergency room, after the results were ready, the doctor examined them carefully and said that it was fortunate the ambulance had arrived in time, it wasn’t too serious.
“Doctor, does she need to be hospitalized?” Kong Yin asked.
“No, she can go home and take her medication, come back for a check-up in a week. And no food or drink for two hours after the gastroscopy, then she can have some light, liquid food.”
“Okay, thank you, doctor.”
Kong Yin folded the report and put it in her bag. Seeing Jiang Siyi stand up, she reached out to help her—but Jiang Siyi quickly dodged her hand.
Jiang Siyi walked out silently, and Kong Yin, knowing she was upset, followed her. Reaching the hospital entrance, Jiang Siyi waited for her.
Kong Yin quickly caught up.
“Jiang…” She was interrupted.
Jiang Siyi spoke first. “Thank you for today.”
Kong Yin smiled. “It’s okay, I should do that.”
Her smile faltered as she heard Jiang Siyi’s next words.
“But there’s no need next time,” Jiang Siyi said calmly, wrapping her coat tighter as the light rain started falling again, the air turning cold, “I don’t like owing favors to strangers.”
Strangers.
After all this time, they were just “strangers.”
Kong Yin couldn’t believe her ears.
She was speechless, unable to reply. Only when Jiang Siyi turned to leave did she finally speak, “Jiang Siyi.”
This was the first time Kong Yin had called her full name.
“You must have known about my feelings for you, right?” Her voice choked with emotion. “Remember that snowy night three years ago?”
“I had a fight with my family, I had no money, and I even thought about ending it all on the streets of a foreign country. You stopped me and took me in for a few nights.”
“Yes, I’ve liked you since then,” she finally confessed, “but…”
“You can’t say such hurtful things just because I like you.”
Jiang Siyi, who had been about to leave, stopped. The rain was still falling, a light but steady drizzle, and she, her illness not fully recovered, had already put on a hat and wrapped her coat tightly around her.
Her voice, muffled by her clothes, sounded strangely loud in the quiet night.
“I’m not saying these things because I think I can take advantage of your feelings. I’m saying this because I need you to know,” Jiang Siyi said seriously, “I don’t like you.”
“Not now, not ever.”
“I don’t like leading people on, and I’m not one to play games. I think a clear rejection is better for both of us.”
Seeing the rain intensifying, Jiang Siyi said goodbye and turned to leave, her figure disappearing into the darkness.
Kong Yin didn’t chase after her this time.
She stood there, tears mixing with the rain.
It was always difficult to get a cab at night, especially past midnight.
Jiang Siyi stood by the roadside, looking more frightening than a ghost.
Seeing another driver cancel her order, she sighed, tired of standing, and slowly squatted down.
She closed the ride-hailing app and opened the map app, wanting to check how long it would take to walk back to the hotel.
But the page was still loading when suddenly, car headlights illuminated her surroundings.
The bright light made her squint.
Surely this car wasn’t here for her?
Thinking this, Jiang Siyi moved to the side, almost hiding behind a tree. She looked down at her phone, still trying to calculate the walking distance.
A few seconds later, the car stopped right in front of her.
Jiang Siyi looked up, startled, and saw the car window roll down, revealing Auntie Wang’s smiling face. “Ms. Jiang, what a coincidence.”
Seeing a familiar face, she couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion.
“Auntie Wang,” she said, surprised.
“It’s hard to get a cab at this hour. Ms. Jiang, where are you going? I’ll give you a ride.” Auntie Wang was as enthusiastic as ever.
Remembering that her boss was Shen Shiwu, Jiang Siyi hesitated, then shook her head. “It’s okay, I can go back myself.”
“Is that so…” Auntie Wang drawled, stalling for time, waiting for instructions.
A female voice came through her earpiece.
“Tell her someone died on this road. It’s easy to run into ghosts if she walks alone at night.”
Auntie Wang repeated the words verbatim.
Jiang Siyi’s expression remained unchanged, her voice calm and steady. “Really? I’ve never heard of that before.”
Auntie Wang, seeing her reaction, thought, Damn it, this isn’t working either. Just as she was about to cough and ask for further instructions—
Jiang Siyi discreetly moved closer to the car, saying, “Actually, I’m not afraid of ghosts, and I can get a cab. But it’s been a while, I wanted to catch up with you…”
As soon as she finished speaking, she opened the car door.
Jiang Siyi had wrapped herself up like a ball.
And the next moment, the ball rolled perfectly into the car.
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