Chapter 37
What is she up to now?
Lu Yin saw through Lin Qianqian’s ploy, but couldn’t think of a suitable response.
She didn’t reply, deciding to wait until she got home with the cake.
Zhong Shiwu had messaged her, saying she was on her way to the hospital and asking Lu Yin to stop by and pick up some diagnostic reports.
They communicated frequently, but rarely met in person.
Lu Yin arrived at the hospital first and waited in her car for Zhong Shiwu to contact her.
She looked at the picture Lin Qianqian had sent, wondering how angry she was by now.
She considered sending a placating message, afraid Lin Qianqian would be too upset to even appreciate the cake.
Suddenly, a three-wheeled vehicle crashed into the front of her car.
An elderly man jumped out, yelling and gathering a crowd, claiming Lu Yin had hit him.
Lu Yin got out of the car. Before she could speak, the man collapsed on the ground.
Recognizing the scam for what it was – a brazen attempt to extort money by staging a fake accident – Lu Yin calmly called the police.
The dashcam footage clearly showed her car parked at the curb, the man deliberately colliding with her.
The man, seeing Lu Yin’s lack of reaction, started wailing about his difficult life, hoping to guilt her into giving him money.
Lu Yin frowned. This was going to take a while.
She had cleared her schedule for today, not for this nonsense.
“There’s a hospital right there. You can get checked out. I’ll cover all the expenses,” she said, annoyed by the man’s increasingly dramatic performance.
That only seemed to enrage him further. He accused her of being arrogant and uncaring, refusing to take responsibility for her actions.
When the police arrived, Lu Yin showed them the dashcam footage.
The man, after seeing the video, quickly got up, dusted himself off, and stopped his theatrics.
The situation was resolved quickly, but the police asked Lu Yin to give a statement.
She was short on time. This would take hours.
As she hesitated, Zhong Shiwu arrived, glanced at the man, and spoke to the police.
The man was taken away in a police car, and Lu Yin was no longer required to give a statement.
As they walked into the hospital, Zhong Shiwu explained, “He’s a known scammer. He targets private hospitals, hoping to find people who are willing to pay him to go away. Sometimes he gets lucky.”
Lu Yin hadn’t received any new messages from Lin Qianqian, and she felt a surge of anxiety. “Someone should do something about him.”
“They’ve tried. It doesn’t work. He always comes back,” Zhong Shiwu said, searching for the reports. “There’s no real punishment for this kind of scam. The police can only give him a warning.”
She rummaged through a drawer. “Where are they?” she muttered.
Lu Yin’s phone rang. It was Yu Miao, asking about the student portfolios.
Lu Yin told her to access her work computer and she would email them. Yu Miao mentioned a student had just arrived for class, saying she had seen a car accident near the hospital, but she wasn’t sure if it was Lu Yin.
“It was me,” Lu Yin admitted. “Not an accident, just a scam.”
“Are you okay?” Yu Miao asked, concerned.
“I’m fine.”
Lu Yin turned off her phone’s ringer, not wanting to be disturbed.
She looked at Zhong Shiwu.
“I think I left them in the other room,” Zhong Shiwu said, checking the adjacent room and returning. “The door is locked. That girl should be here around noon. We’ll just have to wait.”
Lu Yin nodded.
Lin Qianqian had expected Lu Yin to be moved by her picture, to promise to come home after her classes.
But after half an hour of staring at the chat window, there was still no reply.
She sat on the floor, the red rope still tangled around her, her phone clutched in her hand.
It was her birthday!
Was Lu Yin really going to ignore her and spend the entire day teaching?
She hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since waking up, too preoccupied with her elaborate plan.
Her stomach rumbled, but she ignored it, preparing to rip the ropes off and go to the art institution.
But the knots were tight, and the more she pulled, the tighter they became.
She stood up to find some scissors, tripping over the rope and almost falling, her knee hitting the corner of the table. A sharp pain shot through her leg, bringing tears to her eyes, her anger at Lu Yin intensifying.
She cut the ropes, gathering the tangled mess and stuffing it into a bag.
She left the apartment, took a taxi, and headed straight for the art institution.
She wouldn’t message Lu Yin, wouldn’t call her. She would confront her in person, demanding an explanation.
When she arrived, she checked the schedule and went to Lu Yin’s classroom, but a different teacher was teaching.
She went to the office.
The office door was usually open during work hours.
She peeked inside, seeing someone sitting at Lu Yin’s desk.
The other desks were empty.
She stepped inside, her eyes meeting Yu Miao’s.
“Xiao Lu isn’t here. What do you need?” Yu Miao asked, copying a list of names and then sitting back down at her desk.
“Where is my sister teaching?” Lin Qianqian asked, uncomfortable around Yu Miao, who had always been distant and aloof.
Because of Lu Sui, Yu Miao had never shown any interest in getting closer to her, and Lin Qianqian could sense it.
“She doesn’t have any classes today. She’s at the hospital,” Yu Miao said.
“The hospital?” Lin Qianqian’s heart sank. “Is someone sick?”
If Lu Yin was at the hospital during work hours, it must be because of a student.
Yu Miao shook her head. “I think there was a car accident. I don’t know how serious it is.”
Lin Qianqian froze, her mind going blank. “Which…which hospital…?”
Yu Miao gave her the name, and Lin Qianqian instantly recognized it as the same hospital she had visited with Ming Yao.
Panic set in. By the time she got into a taxi, tears were streaming down her face.
Why was she so stubborn?
It was just a birthday. She could have celebrated alone. Why bother Lu Yin, demanding she come home when she had classes?
And when Lu Yin didn’t reply, she had bombarded her with messages.
She called Lu Yin, her voice choked with sobs, but the call went unanswered.
Her panic escalated, her mind filled with worst-case scenarios.
She hadn’t achieved anything yet, hadn’t even begun to mend their relationship. If something happened to Lu Yin, she didn’t want to live.
At the hospital, she gave Lu Yin’s name at the reception desk, but they couldn’t find any record of her.
She tried to describe Lu Yin, but realized she didn’t even know what Lu Yin was wearing today.
The nurse, seeing her distress, tried to comfort her, telling her to calm down and think.
“Her name is Lu Yin. Lu like ‘reindeer,’ Yin like ‘singing,’” she said, unable to offer any further details.
She realized why she always talked about the past. She knew nothing about Lu Yin’s present life.
She couldn’t even describe her to a stranger.
Lu Yin always answered her questions, but she hadn’t asked the right ones.
She should have abandoned her playful banter and asked Lu Yin about her life these past four years. She had come back to be with Lu Yin, to support her.
But now, Lu Yin was in a car accident, and she couldn’t even find her.
She paced back and forth in the hospital lobby, hoping Lu Yin would magically appear.
She suddenly remembered Zhong Shiwu. Maybe she could help.
But she didn’t have Zhong Shiwu’s number, so she went back to the reception desk.
“Dr. Zhong?” the nurse hesitated. “You need an appointment.”
“Please, just help me contact her…” Lin Qianqian pleaded, her tears flowing freely, but the nurse could only offer her a tissue.
She would have to try her luck at the clinic.
She ran towards the psychiatry department, located in a separate building. Despite her usual directional challenges, her panic sharpened her focus, and she quickly found Zhong Shiwu’s clinic.
Lu Yin had just picked up the diagnostic reports when she saw Lin Qianqian standing in the hallway.
Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks flushed, her expression filled with a mixture of fear and relief.
“Sister…” Lin Qianqian ran towards her, her arms wrapping around Lu Yin’s waist. “You scared me…I thought you were…”
“Don’t say such things,” Lu Yin said, holding her close, her hand stroking Lin Qianqian’s hair, comforting her.
Zhong Shiwu, observing their interaction, noticed a subtle shift in Lu Yin’s demeanor, a softening she hadn’t seen before.
She quietly left the room.
“Why didn’t you answer my calls? Or my messages? I sent you a picture this morning…”
Lu Yin retrieved her phone, noticing several missed calls from Lin Qianqian. She had turned off the ringer and hadn’t seen them.
Guilt washed over her. She had silenced her phone to avoid work-related distractions, but she had inadvertently shut out the one person she wanted to hear from.
Lin Qianqian’s hand, still clutching Lu Yin’s waist, accidentally bumped against the cake box.
“I don’t want a birthday anymore. You can hate me, you can kick me out, I just want you to be safe,” Lin Qianqian sobbed, her vision blurred by tears.
“I bought you a cake, rescheduled my classes. Why wouldn’t you want to celebrate?” Lu Yin asked, her voice gentle.
“I thought you wouldn’t…” Lin Qianqian said, Lu Yin’s voice, so soft and warm, reminding her of a time when Lu Yin had indulged her every whim.
Lu Yin looked down at her. “You’re so gullible. You believe everything I say?”
“What else can I do? I have to listen to you. I’m afraid you’ll hate me, afraid you’ll send me away…” Lin Qianqian’s earlier defiance crumbled. “I wanted to see you. I’ve been waiting for four years. I didn’t want to leave before. I never wanted to leave you…”
Her tears and snot smeared Lu Yin’s clothes, but she didn’t care.
“I’ve always loved you, Sister…” she sobbed, her tears flowing freely, her fear giving way to a torrent of emotions. “Even if you don’t love me back, I have to tell you…”
She had been afraid, but now, she was terrified of losing this opportunity.
She regretted not defending Lu Yin years ago, when she had been subjected to cruel gossip and accusations. She had hidden behind her mother, watching Lu Yin’s smile fade, her heart breaking.
She had tried to forget, to convince herself she had been too young, too immature, too afraid to face the consequences, leaving Lu Yin to bear the brunt of the criticism alone.
But the guilt had lingered, a constant reminder of her cowardice.
She had hurt Lu Yin, destroying her last, her only hope.
Now, she didn’t want answers, only to express her own feelings, her own truth.
She loved Lu Yin, her sister.
And what was wrong with loving your sister?
It was the purest form of love…
“Lin Qian,” Lu Yin said softly, wiping away her tears.
“Don’t scold me…” Lin Qianqian pleaded, afraid Lu Yin would silence her again. “I’m telling the truth…”
“I’m not drunk, and I’m not being unreasonable…I mean every word…”
“Please believe me…I really love you…”
“I don’t care what anyone else says. I just want to be with you…Let them say whatever they want!”
“They’re all assholes, all of them. Only you were ever kind to me…”
“I was with you before, and I want to be with you forever…”
“You only want to take care of me for ten years? I don’t want that!”
“I want you to take care of me forever!”
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