Chapter 181

Chapter 181 - 181 174 Changlings New Identity Little Scars True Face Chapter 181: 174: Changling’s New Identity, Little Scar’s True Face (First Update) Chapter 181: 174: Changling’s New Identity, Little Scar’s True Face (First Update) Granny Zhu’s taciturn tenant Xiao Wen moved out, and so did Boss Xie, the owner of Ruyi Pawnshop. It’s said that the two had broken up. Rumor has it that one afternoon, a luxury car stopped in front of Granny Zhu’s house. When the luxury car left, Xiao Wen’s eyes were slightly red. It’s said that the Xie family came and forced the couple apart.

The above “It’s said” came from the intelligence group of Lotus Pond Street.

It might have been overlooked before, but recently Wen Changling found that she kept running into He Dongzhou at the hospital.

The elevator was spacious—with Wen Changling standing towards the back and He Dongzhou towards the front.

He tilted his head slightly backward and spoke out of politeness, “Miss Wen.”

Wen Changling replied, “Mr. He.”

The smooth elevator doors mirrored their reflections, and their eyes met in the mirrored image.

He Dongzhou stood in a relaxed manner, but his demeanor was good, graceful. Now that the relationship with Xie Shang had been severed, his attitude towards Wen Changling wasn’t as easy-going.

“How have you been doing recently, Miss Wen?”

“Quite well.”

You may be doing well, but someone isn’t.

He Dongzhou got off the elevator first.

After the VIP building at Dihong Hospital was decommissioned, and the medical team dedicated to VIP clients was disbanded, the building was no longer guarded on every floor. Instead, it was used for common single rooms. The rooms were of good quality and well-equipped, thus naturally charging a high fee.

Patients with internal medicine conditions were staying in the rooms on this floor.

A second before the elevator doors closed, Wen Changling heard a woman’s voice: “Dongzhou.”

Soft Wu dialect.

As if the girl had come from the misty waterside villages of Jiangnan.

He Dongzhou entered the sickroom, “Why did you get out of bed?”

The girl was very beautiful, the kind that stirred one’s protective instincts, with no trace of aggressiveness. She looked frail and ethereal due to illness, her beauty bearing a sense of fragility.

“The weather is nice today; I wanted to go for a walk.”

Her name was Little Scar.

Because of a red birthmark that looked like a flower pattern at the corner of her left eye, she was nicknamed Little Scar.

The birthmark was small, the size of a broad bean, and its color resembled the evening glow. Little Scar used to be shy to lift her head because of this birthmark, feeling somewhat inferior, until He Dongzhou told her that it was a beautiful mark left by the gods in the heavens for special children.

He Dongzhou picked her up and placed her in a wheelchair, fetching a blanket from the bed.

“Dongzhou.”

He Dongzhou responded with a hum, placing the blanket over her legs.

“The uncle in bed 14 passed away last night.”

It was kidney failure as well.

Little Scar felt a wave of unease, clutching He Dongzhou’s hand: “I—”

He Dongzhou didn’t let her finish, “You won’t. You’ll be able to have your surgery soon.”

Little Scar had been hospitalized for half a year, waiting for a kidney donor for a transplant surgery.

He Dongzhou had already found a kidney.

*****

Wen Changling had her dinner at the hospital. She had moved to a high-end residential area called Fuling Cloud Peak.

The gatekeepers of the complex were very polite. Wen Changling had recently moved in, and the gatekeepers recognized her, greeting her warmly every day as she went to and from work.

“Miss Wen.”

Wen Changling nodded in acknowledgment.

The gatekeeper uncle remarked, “You’re getting off work quite early today.”

“Not busy today.”

Wen Changling took two oranges out of her bag and placed them on the table through the security room’s window. The oranges were a gift from Jiahui, who had received a whole box from her sister and had given a bag to Wen Changling.

The gatekeeper uncle’s smile was full of kindness: “Thank you very much.”

What a good girl. How did she end up on the wrong path?

This was an upscale neighborhood where many wealthy individuals liked to place their mistresses, and he knew of several cases. He had seen Miss Wen getting out of a middle-aged man’s car.

Wen Changling lived in unit 701 of building three, a two-hundred-square-meter apartment all to herself. Her possessions were few, which made the place seem empty. The decoration was the standard luxury finish provided by the apartment developer, unchanged and modern in style with a black, white, and grey color scheme, feeling quite cold.

In November, it started getting dark around six.

Just as Wen Changling turned on the lights, a call came through.

She answered: “Uncle Qin.”

Qin Qi spoke in a very gentle tone: “Do you have time next weekend?”

“Yes.”

Qin Qi mentioned that he wanted to take her to the Qin family home to meet the elders.

She agreed.

After hanging up, she walked to the window and looked down. There was a car parked outside the complex, its license plate indistinguishable, but she knew to whom it belonged.

From this distance, even the outlines were blurred.

She drew the curtains.

*****

Xie Shang took out a lighter and cigarette from the glove compartment, put the cigarette in his mouth, lit it, and watched the smoke drift in front of his eyes, blurring his vision, making everything seem unreal.

When Xie Shang was underage, he saw Su Beihe smoking once.

He casually inquired, “What’s so good about smoking?”

Su Beihe wasn’t a good uncle and was a bad influence. At that time, he responded, “See this smoke? Doesn’t it look like breathing, as if it contains oxygen?”

A few days after that instance, Su Beihe came clean with his family—he had a lover named Ning Song.

Once Xie Shang turned eighteen, he tried smoking—what oxygen, nonsense.

Now he had a different opinion and thought what Su Beihe said was pretty accurate.

“Sir,” the gatekeeper approached, “are you waiting for someone?”

This car had been parked here many evenings, and strictly speaking, it wasn’t allowed. But one could tell from the car’s elegance that it belonged to someone of high social standing, not someone to offend lightly.

The gatekeeper asked considerately, “Do you need me to contact the resident for you?”

“No need, thanks.”

Xie Shang stretched his hand out of the car window, flicking off the ash. He stopped smoking and just let the cigarette burn.

He stared at his phone, instinctively pressing the numbers and watching the name that popped up, but he never made the call.

What if she didn’t pick up? What if she did? What then?

Wen Changling was right; he didn’t have the right.