Xu Youning had no idea how she had fallen asleep. It was noon when she got up.
Subconsciously, she scanned her bed side, and there was only Ah Guang sitting on the couch. Disappointment came to her gradually.
It made sense. The night before, Mu Sijue stormed out without hesitation. It was highly unlikely that he would visit that day.
“Sister Youning, you’re up!” Ah Guang ran to her and said, “The doctor just checked on you and said that the wound on your forehead is healed. But um… um…”
“It left a scar,” Xu Youning finished Ah Guang’s sentence, “I already knew. It’s okay.”
“The doctor said the wound was quite deep. So if you decide not to have a surgery for this, it’s gonna be hard for the scar to fade naturally.” Ah Guang scratched the back of his head, “Girls are concerned for their appearance, right? Sister Youning, are you really fine with it?”
“…”
They were talking about a scar on the face. Would it be possible for a girl to be okay with it?
Xu Youning was optimistic, though. Come to think of it, she had that scar because of Mu Sijue. It was the guy she loved! It didn’t matter anymore.
She nodded with certainty and said, “It has no effect in my current life anyway. If I can’t stand this someday, I will just have it removed then. By the way, I am the one who’s scarred, not you. Why are you so worried?”
Ah Guang was like a little boy whose secret had been found out. He smiled shyly, “I… I was just wondering if Seventh Brother would help you.”
“Mu Sijue?”
Inevitably, Mu Sijue’s emotionless back when leaving and the cold look on his face popped up in Xu Youning’s head. Suddenly, she felt a dull pain on her leg.
She forced herself to pull off a smile. “Seventh Brother is too busy to pay attention to trivial matters.”
He could even overlook her confession and her courage, which kind of suggested that he wouldn’t care about the scar on her forehead.
At night, Xu Youning was looking at the mirror after Ah Guang had left.
After being healed for a week with different kinds of supplements, she looked better than ever with a healthy complexion. Nonetheless, the scar on her forehead was like a crack on an exquisite china, ruining her beauty cruelly and roughly.
Xu Youning covered the scar with her hair, as she did with the upsetting story of hers.
She thought, in self-deceit, that if she didn’t think of the times she spent with Mu Sijue, the memories could be buried in the past like the scar hidden beneath her hair.
Xu Youning lost all her hope. Also, Mu Sijue didn’t go to the hospital ever since. Xu Youning focused on her medical treatment and blocked herself from caring about Mu Sijue. Occasionally, when Ah Guang mentioned Mu Sijue, she smoothly switched the topic.
At that night, Mu Sijue had already informed her his answer, explicitly, with his reactions. It was useless for her to hold any anticipation about him. It was for the best to cut him loose, and set herself free.
As for the future… Well, she could make plans for the future in the future.
Su Jianan was getting better. When she was bored, she went to see Xu Youning; they hanged out together in the garden of the hospital. It had been fun.
That afternoon, Su Jianan called Xu Youning. She told her that Lu Boyan had sent some refreshments over and asked Xu Youning to meet her in the garden.
English tea time—all the delicate desserts on a white rack, with lustrous Earl Grey steaming—shining under the sunlight in the afternoon. Even it was at the hospital, the leisurely calm afternoon tea was not affected.
Ah Guang helped Xu Youning push her wheelchair. When they went down, Su Jianan had been already sitting under the sunshade. Given to Xu Youning’s work instinct, she noticed instantly that there is a guy and a woman besides of Xu Youning. They were wearing casuals, and seemed to be just like two normal people.
However, they were alert and guarding, which was self-explanatory for Xu Youning. The woman was protecting Su Jianan at a short distance in case of any possible attacks, while the guy was looking out for any dangers around them. Their aura and unflustered manners gave away that they were both experienced guards. She might know them if she knew their names.
Suddenly, it occurred to her that Kang Ruicheng had asked her to hurt Su Jianan.
Well, it seemed that even if she was willing to, she would be killed before she could approach her.
“Ah Guang, maybe you can take a walk or go back?”
Xu Youning pushed her wheelchair by herself to reach Su Jianan. The woman who was closely protecting Su Jianan scanned her quickly. Xu Youning felt a little bit uncomfortable.
“It was Boyan’s arrangement,” Su Jianan explained, “They hold nothing against you. It’s just their instinct.”
“I understand.” Xu Youning smiled and said, “I worked for Mu Sijue for a very long time. It’s not the first time for me being scanned by other people like that. It’s still hard to get used to it though.”
Su Jianan continued, “Has Mu Sijue come to check on you?” It wasn’t difficult to see from her eyes that Su Jianan was looking forward to Xu Youning’s answer.
Xu Youning’s look dimmed, but then she realized that it wasn’t good to show her sadness. She beamed, in a way to cover her disappointment. She said, “Nah. Maybe he’s been busy. Well, he’s not gonna make me heal faster anyway.”
Su Jianan struggled with the thought and said, “…That’s weird.”
As far as she knew, Mu Sijue had not been very busy. That day, Mu Sijue used her as an excuse, saying that he was visiting her, but he actually went for Xu Youning. “He could reuse that excuse. Why hasn’t he come?”
Xu Youning looked at Su Jianan confusedly. “What do you mean?”
Su Jianan shook her head, the pointed at the macarons on the desert rack and tried to distract Xu Youning, saying, “Try. It’s been said that these are the best macarons in the city.”
“Oh.” Xu Youning was a macaron maniac. She then enjoyed her afternoon tea relaxingly. In the meantime, she checked the other guard out, the male one, who was standing nearby and looking around. She pointed at him and asked, “Is it necessary to be this careful when you are at your own hospital?”
Su Jianan took a sip of her juice and replied, “I don’t like it either. But Boyan said it’s for the best to be cautious.” She had no choice.
Xu Youning nodded, showing approval. “Indeed, it’s never wrong to be careful.”
After their tea time, the female guard protecting Su Jianan called Lu Boyan’s office. “Mr. Lu, Xu Youning didn’t appear to be a harm to Mrs. Lu.”
“But Kang Ruicheng does,” Lu Boyan said, “Don’t slack off.”
The woman responded with solemnity, “Understood!”
As long as they were there, nobody could harm Su Jianan; not even her hair, let alone the babies.
After that, with the help of the doctors, Su Jianan was getting better and better. She had stayed for few more days just to make sure that her condition was stable. Finally, Dr. Han discharged her.
It was during a weekend when she was discharged; a warm, sunny day. Su Jianan woke up early in the morning. She couldn’t wait another minute to take off her patient clothes.
After ten days of staying in the hospital, she looked thinner and slightly pale. The maternity clothes were obviously too big for her. It seemed like they could fit a larger pregnant lady. Heartbroken, Lu Boyan frowned hard. But she was quite optimistic about things. “I did get bigger.”
Lu Boyan scanned her, asking with suspicion, “Where?”
Su Jianan pointed at her own stomach, looking serious. “Here.”
She wasn’t kidding at all. Maybe it was because of the twins, ever since her bump was showing, her stomach was like a balloon: getting bigger and bigger day by day at an outrageous speed. Other pregnant moms could never defeat her in terms of the speed of growing her bump.
Despite her fast growing belly, other pregnant moms at the same period as her could easily defeat her in terms of weight. Carrying around a big, rounded bump with her skinny body would be a challenge for her. It would get even bigger once it reached its limit.
“…” Lu Boyan’s hand touched her stomach gently, “Are you tired?”
“Hey, don’t forget what I did for a living!” Su Jianan meant it as she said, “I used to stand in front of the dissecting table for a whole day. And I had to hang in there even when I worked overnight. But now I can sit or lie down whenever I want. How tired could I be now?”
Lu Boyan went silent for a while. He said, “I think we should cut down a little bit on discussing your profession or dissecting tables before the babies come along. It’s bad fetal education.”
“…” Su Jianan mulled over it, and nodded her approval. But then, all of a sudden, she realized something—”Did Lu Boyan just refer to my profession with contempt?”
Before she could ask, she was dragged out of the hospital.
April, the end of spring. The remaining coldness was dissipated by the sunlight. The once withered tree thrived with green leaves, reflecting a flourishing city view.
Before they got into the car, Su Jianan thanked Dr. Han as she was sending them off, for her dedication while taking care of her.
“I was just doing my job,” Dr. Han said, “The most important thing is that your babies and you are safe and sound.” Or else, they could lose their jobs.
On the way home, Su Jianan thought of Xu Youning and asked, “When can Youning be discharged?”
“Around these few days, I guess,” Lu Boyan said, “Mu Qi would have it settled. Don’t worry.”
What really worried Su Jianan was the relationship between Mu Sijue and Xu Youning.
However, love was destined.
Like Lu Boyan and her, two people with no previous connections; they got in touch because of a certain incident and fell for each other when they were young, then were confused and kept apart for 14 years. But they were eventually married and fell in love all over again because of their families’ arrangement.
If Mu Sijue and Xu Youning were meant to be, no matter what lied between them, they would pass through all of it and be together in the end.
But if they weren’t meant to be, then Xu Youning would have to suffer. After all, love cannot be forced. Not everyone gets what they want.
They went back to the Dingya Villas, where Shen Yuechuan was sitting on the couch in the living room brazenly, enjoying the food prepared by the chef.
Seeing that Lu Boyan had come returned, Shen Yuechuan handed a file to him, saying, “Selling figures of the property this month.”
Lu Boyan flipped over the file casually. It seemed like he had expected the result; he put down the file with no response.
“Mood killer.” Shen Yuechuan looked at Lu Boyan, unsatisfied. “It’s not bad at all. Show something.”
Lu Boyan said with the slightest emotion, “It’s just my normal standard.”
Su Yicheng: “…”
Su Jianan grabbed the file and flipped it over. She didn’t know much about the content, but from the conclusion of the report, she could tell that the Lu Enterprises Property Agency returned to where it once was. All the selling counters of the properties were crowded. Even the collapsed Fanting Garden entered the process of reconstruction. The workers and their families were settled and received proper amounts of reimbursement. All of those were reported by the press; Lu Enterprises regained its reputation.
Lu Boyan won, after all.