Extra Chapter Two: If Timeline(2)
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“I’m your future girlfriend.”
“The Third Hospital isn’t far from the business district. I can give you a free ride there.”
The Third People’s Hospital of Qinan City was famous for its psychiatric department.
Jiang Siyi nervously clutched her backpack straps, watching the familiar figure decisively leave. She wanted to follow, but she was afraid of being sent to a mental hospital.
As Shen Shiwu turned the corner and went down the elevator, Xu Yuan finally arrived, holding two ice cream cones. She handed one to Jiang Siyi: “Here, it’s on me.”
The other clearly wasn’t in the mood for ice cream and shook her head, declining. Xu Yuan, confused, followed her gaze and, combined with her earlier dramatic words, suddenly realized: “So you like older women?”
“But you can’t just hit on people like that. It’s good that she didn’t think you were crazy.”
Jiang Siyi’s mouth twitched, and she could only smile wryly.
It was the height of summer in June, and the weather was already scorching. The two weren’t going in the same direction. So they rode their electric scooters in opposite directions at the intersection.
Jiang Siyi didn’t go home.
According to the timeline, Li Nan’s company hadn’t been acquired yet, and he was still doing well. She hated the sight of that man.
So she parked her scooter in front of the neighboring villa without hesitation.
The gate was locked, and the owner seemed to be out.
Under the scorching sun, Jiang Siyi was organizing her words, preparing for the upcoming conversation with Shen Shiwu, when she suddenly felt dizzy.
Then her face turned pale, and she felt unsteady on her feet.
Oh no, she thought—her hypoglycemia was acting up.
The reason Jiang Siyi was able to offer candy to Yang Yi when she was about to faint was that she herself occasionally had the same problem.
Her stomach was empty. She had been asleep before the “time travel” and hadn’t eaten breakfast.
So it was normal for her condition to act up.
The last thing she thought before losing consciousness was:
She should have taken that ice cream.
The hospital bed was uncomfortable, and even turning over was difficult.
Half a bag of glucose was slowly infused, and Jiang Siyi felt much better. But she was still a little dazed, and she almost rolled off the bed with one movement.
Just as she was about to make close contact with the floor, a pair of hands caught her and helped her back to the center of the bed.
The familiar scent was like a switch in her brain.
Jiang Siyi immediately opened her eyes wide and stared at the person who had caught her.
Seeing her staring at her, Shen Shiwu asked, “Are you feeling better?”
Sensing that the other person was about to withdraw her hand, Jiang Siyi immediately hugged it like a koala. She moved quickly and even nuzzled her head against it, her voice muffled, “Not at all.”
Shen Shiwu paused, “Let go.”
“I won’t.”
If she moved any more, the needle would come out.
Looking at the girl’s slightly teary eyes. Helpless, Shen Shiwu stopped trying to pull away and, on a whim, let her hold her.
Successful, Jiang Siyi smirked to herself and pretended to casually try to get closer, but this time she was mercilessly held back.
A calm voice sounded, “If you want to get poked again, then keep moving.”
A blatant threat!
Jiang Siyi reluctantly lay back down.
But she still didn’t let go of her hand.
“When can I be discharged?” she changed the subject.
“After the infusion is finished.”
“Oh… Then can I go home with you?”
“You can.” Shen Shiwu actually smiled.
Jiang Siyi’s eyes lit up, “Really!”
“Yes, really,” the woman saw that her attention was diverted and took the opportunity to pull her hand away, “I live at the Third Hospital, you’re welcome to join me.”
A deathly silence.
Seeing her girlfriend’s feigned amnesia and refusal to acknowledge her, Jiang Siyi curled up. She rolled up in the thin hospital blanket, and after hearing the answer, she turned her head and remained silent.
Tears welled up and slid down her cheeks, cold and sticky. She strained her voice, speaking softly to herself, “Thank you for taking me to the hospital.”
“I won’t bother you anymore.”
She wiped away her tears with one hand, and under Shen Shiwu’s puzzled gaze, she suddenly gritted her teeth, “I hope you won’t regret it on July 3rd.”
After she was discharged, Shen Shiwu had someone send her electric scooter over, and then she left decisively, seeming to have no curiosity about these mysteries.
Seeing the Mercedes drive away, Jiang Siyi, homeless, could only get on her scooter and look for an internet cafe to spend the night.
When she reached into her pocket for the keys, her fingertips touched something strange. She took it out and saw that it was a piece of grape-flavored hard candy.
The packaging was identical to the one in her memory.
Jiang Siyi’s nose stung, and she unwrapped one and put it in her mouth.
The internet cafe was located in a deep alley, next to the second-hand shop where Jiang Siyi had bought a phone before. Familiar with the way, she parked her scooter and locked it, this time checking very carefully.
The wooden stairs creaked as she climbed them, and the paint was peeling off the walls. The owner’s wife, sitting at the front desk, heard the noise and knew someone was coming. Before she could even see anyone, she shouted, “Five yuan an hour, pick any computer, twenty-five for overnight.”
When Jiang Siyi got closer, the owner’s wife looked at her and said, “Oh, it’s you again.”
“Still overnight?”
“No,” Jiang Siyi took out her phone to pay, “I just don’t want to go home.”
The owner’s wife had a younger cousin who was always spouting nonsense and liked to butt into everything. He was sitting on a stool nearby, playing games. Hearing this, he wanted to mutter something under his breath, but the owner’s wife elbowed him.
“Turn around, pick a computer.”
After the person left, the owner’s wife kicked him again: “This girl is fierce, she could wreck our shop if she wanted to, she’s not afraid of anything. Don’t try anything with her, understand?”
The boy was busy playing games and didn’t really hear what she said, just mumbling a few “hmms” in response.
The internet cafe was cheap and not strictly regulated. So it was a mixed bag, with smoke curling everywhere. Jiang Siyi frowned, covered her mouth and nose, and walked to a quiet area.
After sitting down, Jiang Siyi didn’t even turn on the computer. She just stared at her blurry reflection in the black screen.
As she was spacing out, her pocket vibrated. She took out her phone and saw that it was a news notification, there were no other messages.
Feeling bored, she was about to turn off the screen when her gaze lingered on the headline.
—Major Business Shake-up, Just In, Li Group Announces Acquisition by Shen Family!
How could this be?
Jiang Siyi clicked on the news photo, zoomed in, and saw Li Nan standing at the podium during the press conference, bowing his head.
It was really him.
But… the timeline was completely off.
Still trying to process this, Jiang Siyi noticed another discrepancy. The reason she had to buy a second-hand phone back then was that her original phone had been stolen. So she had to save up to buy another one.
So during this time, she shouldn’t have a phone.
The cheap internet cafe didn’t have air conditioning, and even the fans were broken and unrepaired. Jiang Siyi felt hot and cold sweats alternately. After a while, she calmly accepted a fact—
She hadn’t traveled back in time, but had arrived in a parallel universe that was similar to, but different from, her original world.
This meant that on the night of July 3rd, Shen Shiwu might not necessarily follow Shen Yun’s wishes and pick her up.
A feeling of helplessness filled her mind.
Jiang Siyi wiped the sweat from her forehead, her heart pounding with fear.
……
The next few days at the internet cafe weren’t too bad.
Most of the time, she ate instant noodles and chicken feet sold at the front desk. When she got tired of that, she ordered cheap takeout. There was an apartment building nearby, and when she was bored, Jiang Siyi would go for a walk and chat with the elderly residents.
In short, she was just getting by.
The unexpected happened on the night of the 2nd.
At eight o’clock, it was completely dark, and it was raining lightly. The moonlight shone through the rusty window, creating a soft, gentle beauty.
At this time, everyone except those staying overnight had left. Although there was still the sound of keyboards clicking, Jiang Siyi had gradually gotten used to it after a few days.
She bought a blanket from the small supermarket next door and was planning to sleep in the chair as usual.
Although the owner’s wife was protective of her, it was still important to be cautious. So Jiang Siyi only slept lightly, easily awakened by the slightest noise.
Amidst the fragmented sounds, she heard someone walk past and scoff, “A homeless stray, who knows how long she’ll mooch off this place.”
This sarcastic tone could only belong to the owner’s wife’s cousin.
Since Shen Shiwu had stood up for her, no one had dared to call her a stray. The words “homeless stray” were something she hadn’t heard in many years.
The anger she had been suppressing during this time was finally ignited.
Jiang Siyi opened her eyes, threw off the blanket, and without a word, kicked the boy in the lower back from behind. Years had passed, and she was a bit rusty when it came to fighting, but dealing with this skinny guy was no problem.
The boy rolled on the ground in pain, yelling, “Are you crazy?”
“Ouch—it hurts, it hurts!”
Jiang Siyi stepped on his calf and just with a little pressure, the boy retreated, wriggling like a fish on land: “Sis, sis!”
The owner’s wife rushed out from the break room: “What are you yelling about in the middle of the night?”
When she saw the scene, she quickly told Jiang Siyi to stop… ahem, stop kicking.
“Sis, she’s a lunatic, she kicked me for no reason.” The boy cried, snot and tears running down his face. The owner’s wife, disgusted, moved away from him and started scolding him: “Did you run your mouth again?”
Jiang Siyi hadn’t expected her to scold her own brother. She watched the show and, in the meantime, repeated the boy’s words.
It was too noisy, and another overnight customer, who was playing games, was disturbed. He took off his headphones and yelled, “Can you be quiet?”
The owner’s wife apologized repeatedly and slapped the boy: “Go back to the break room.”
But the boy stood his ground, refusing to move. He said righteously, “Sis, what did I say wrong? She is a homeless stray…”
Jiang Siyi scoffed.
She rolled up her sleeves, ready to find a suitable tool—something that would do maximum damage but wouldn’t kill him.
Amidst the commotion, the sound of high heels on the shoddy wooden stairs suddenly rang out.
Tap, tap—
The sound of the footsteps suggested that the owner was in a hurry.
The headphones and computers were too expensive, she couldn’t afford to pay for them.
The dusty vase nearby seemed like a good option.
Jiang Siyi went to pick it up. The owner’s wife quickly stopped her: “Miss, let’s talk this out. My brother has a big mouth, but it’s not worth it.”
Besides being good at fighting, there was another reason why the owner’s wife didn’t dare to easily provoke her.
She knew whose daughter Jiang Siyi was.
Even though her family situation was complicated, in her mind, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse. So……
The owner’s wife pushed the boy’s head down: “Apologize to her.”
The customer, who had been watching the whole scene from the best seat in the house, lit another cigarette, blew out a smoke ring, and said, not caring about making things worse, “What’s there to apologize for? I think this girl is just too sensitive.”
Then he quit the game and started reading the news.
The feeling of being isolated and helpless. The twenty-three-year-old Jiang Siyi never expected that she would experience this again one day.
She held back her tears and asked coldly, “How am I being too sensitive?”
The sound of high heels stopped, meaning the person had stopped walking. A voice, damp with the rainy weather, sounded, cold and clear, “Apologize.”
At the same time, a news broadcast slowly came from the computer screen. The female announcer’s voice was clear and precise: “After acquiring and merging with the Li Group, the Shen family’s position is even more unshakeable. This brings us to a month ago, when the Shen family’s heiress suddenly returned to the country, perhaps it was for…”
For.
For what?
The customer didn’t know.
Because he discovered that the woman standing next to him looked exactly like the Shen family heiress. He was so scared that he dropped his cigarette, and he had no time to listen to the news.
“Didn’t you hear me clearly?”
“I said,” Shen Shiwu’s gaze swept over the boy, emphasizing each word, “apologize.”
The owner’s wife was fond of gossip about wealthy families and quickly recognized the extraordinary woman in front of her. Although she didn’t know why the other person would come to her run-down internet cafe, regardless, survival was paramount.
So in the next moment, two voices simultaneously said “I’m sorry” to Jiang Siyi.
She didn’t want to hear it.
At this moment, all she could see and think about was the sudden appearance of Shen Shiwu.
Cautiously approaching her, Jiang Siyi tentatively asked, “Do you… remember me?”
The call hadn’t ended yet, and Shen Yun’s voice came from the phone: “How is it, have you found Xiao Si?”
Shen Shiwu didn’t answer the girl first, but said into the phone, “I found her.”
“What’s she doing?”
Seeing that Jiang Siyi was frowning and glaring at her because she hadn’t responded to her immediately, Shen Shiwu touched the dampness at the corner of her eye with her fingertip, gently wiping it away, and then answered Shen Yun’s question.
“She’s glaring at me like a rabbit.”
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