Chapter 277

Chapter 277: 270: The relationship between Ah Na’s case and Jiang Chengxue (first update) Chapter 277: 270: The relationship between Ah Na’s case and Jiang Chengxue (first update) The ascetic Miss Wen will sleep alone tonight.

She didn’t sleep well, trapped in a dream, unable to wake up.

“We were all panicking, so we called him.”

It was Zheng Lvhong’s voice.

“He said just find a scapegoat.”

“He instructed us on how to do it, telling us to find the three people with the highest call frequency in Fu Mingao’s call history.”

She asked, “Who were the three people?”

“You, your brother, Fu Mingao’s sister.”

Ming Ao was introverted, with only a few closest individuals appearing again and again in his call records.

“Why did you choose my brother?”

Ming Ao and Ah Na were the best of friends.

“It wasn’t our choice, he chose. He spun a wine bottle, and whoever it pointed at was the one.”

Spinning a wine bottle.

Such child’s play, like it was just a game.

“He, who is he?”

“Linbei, Jiang Chengxue.”

The dream was like a sand painting.

The scene shattered, then reformed.

“Birds of a feather flock together, but if there’s a leader among a group of clowns, they can still play together. Watching the clowns dance is quite amusing.”

“What’s so fun about going down together?”

“It’s too easy to die; wouldn’t that be letting them off cheap?”

He was tempting her, creating another game. But she couldn’t wake up, his voice binding her like a curse.

“Do wrong, and you must be punished.”

“You did well, they all got punished.”

The imagery of the dream returned to her childhood.

Ah Na brought Ming Ao home for the first time; the people of White Peach Village treated the Wens as a plague, and Ming Ao was the first friend Ah Na brought back.

“This is my sister.”

The young boy nudged the other shy and quiet boy behind him with his elbow: “Speak up, what are you spacing out for?”

“Changling sister.”

She stood up, wanting to share the chestnuts she had just picked, when suddenly a dense fog appeared in her vision, and once again, she could see nothing. The voices of her two brothers came through the fog.

“Changling sister.”

“Sister.”

“Come quickly, we’re waiting for you.”

“Don’t get lost.”

“Hurry over.”

The blurry-faced boy in the thick fog reached out his hand to her.

Without hesitation, she reached out to grab it, and the hand suddenly vanished.

“Ah Na!”

Wen Changling opened her eyes, and finally, the fog in front of her dispersed. Her back was clammy; she had broken out in a cold sweat and lay motionless as her damp clothes slowly turned icy cold.

The colder she got from sleeping, the more she uncovered the quilt and got out of bed.

Her phone lay on the table; she checked the time, 4:31 AM. She placed the phone back on the table, where a plate of belly-

button oranges from the night before, unfinished, also lay.

Her gaze fell on the fruit knife in the plate, and she couldn’t help but reach out and grip the handle. She glanced at her arm, feeling two forces pulling in her mind. Her head splitting with pain, she put down the knife and went to look for medicine.

*****

Due to the continuous heavy snow, the roads were icy.

Wen Changling didn’t trust her driving skills and hadn’t been driving herself recently. Fortunately, her car had been scratched at the hospital last time and needed to be sent for touch-up painting.

On the way home from work, the taxi passed by Doctor Zheng’s pet clinic.

Wen Changling called for a stop, “Driver, please pull over to the side of the road.”

The driver said, “We haven’t reached it yet.”

“It’s okay, just stop here.”

Wen Changling got out of the car and entered the pet clinic.

The wall behind the clinic had a notice: On duty today, Doctor Zheng.

“Hello.”

This must be the owner of the clinic, Doctor Zheng.

Doctor Zheng appeared to be around thirty, dressed in a white lab coat emblazoned with the pet clinic’s logo. Noticing Wen Changling hadn’t brought a pet, he asked, “What do you need?”

“Do you have cat food?”

“Yes.”

Doctor Zheng led Wen Changling to the clinic’s shelves.

“Does your cat have a preferred brand?”

“No.”

Doctor Zheng introduced, “This side features domestic brands, and that side has imports. You can look around.”

The shelves stood on the left, all filled with pet supplies. On the right were the pets’ habitats, built into the wall like tree hollows, each one housing a few cats and also dogs.

Some of them were shy and barked at Wen Changling.

In the bottom right corner of the tree hollows was a wall of photographs, all of them of pets, with each frame having a name engraved below.

Wen Changling walked up to the wall of photographs, drawn to one in particular. She asked Doctor Zheng, “Is this one called Potter?”

“Yes.”

In the photo, Potter was a Shiba Inu.

Doctor Zheng said, “He was a stray dog my friend found.”

Wen Changling probed, “Can I adopt him?” she said, “He’s very cute.”

Doctor Zheng shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of regret, “Potter was seriously ill and has passed away.”

So there really was a dog named Potter.

“I’m sorry, may I use the restroom?”

Wen Changling had noticed last time that there was no restroom on the first floor of the clinic.

Doctor Zheng said yes and pointed to the stairs, “The restroom is upstairs, on the left.”

Wen Changling went upstairs to find three doors, with only one closed. She approached it and turned the doorknob; it wasn’t locked.

She pushed the door open. The window in the room was closed, the space somewhat empty, with minimal furniture and a few clothes strewn about the floor, a bit messy. Across from the door was a full wall of wine cabinets, stocked with various kinds of liquor.

As a lover of wine, Wen Changling recognized some of them—most were expensive and hard to find. Her gaze settled on a large photograph hanging on the wall behind the bed, depicting a tree. She recognized that tree; it was the century-old oak at Lantu University of Science and Technology, known to the students as the Wishing Tree.

She had studied at Lantu University of Science and Technology for a year and a half and had also made a wish under that tree:

May the evil receive their just deserts.

*****

Wen Changling picked two bags of domestic cat food from the shelf, paid and thanked the pharmacist, then turned to leave. Just as she reached the door, it was pushed open, and she paused.

Jiang Chengxue, having closed her umbrella, walked in and glanced at the bags in her hand, “Came to buy cat food?”

Wen Changling acknowledged with a sound.

Even Eastern Automobile doesn’t employ professional managers; this chairman indeed has quite some spare time to frequent the pet clinic almost all the time.

“It’s snowing outside,” Jiang Chengxue handed the umbrella to Wen Changling, “Take mine.”

Wen Changling took the umbrella and left the pet shop.

“You know her?” Doctor Zheng asked.

Jiang Chengxue leaned against the door, looking outside, “I know her.”

Once Wen Changling reached a deserted street corner, she threw the umbrella into a trash bin. Jiang Chengxue probably knew from the beginning she was Ah Na’s sister, as she was in Ming Ao’s call history.

Somehow, He Dongzhou managed to convince Qin Qi to agree to donate a kidney.

Little Scar’s surgery was scheduled for Friday morning.