Chapter 300

Chapter 300: 293: He’s Waiting for You, from Birth till Death (Grand Finale Part One) Chapter 300: 293: He’s Waiting for You, from Birth till Death (Grand Finale Part One) In the afternoon, while heading back to the city, Fu Ying rode in Xie Shang’s car.

Wen Changling sat in the back seat, sleeping on Fu Ying’s legs. She had been very sleepy lately due to the medication.

Fu Ying took a call and asked Xie Shang in a low voice, “Can you drop me off at the hospital first?”

Changling wasn’t sleeping deeply and woke up.

“What are you going to the hospital for?”

“Chen Baishi woke up.”

Wen Changling hugged Fu Ying’s waist tightly, rubbing against her in a dependent manner.

After the cold winter, it was indeed a time when spring blossomed.

Wen Changling went with Xie Shang, and when they arrived outside the hospital room, Fu Ying didn’t immediately open the door.

Hesitant, she said to Wen Changling, “You and Xie Shang go back first.”

“I want to see him too.”

“Alright then.”

Fu Ying grabbed the door handle, feeling a sort of hometown shyness. Chen Baishi had been in a deep slumber for too long, and she had even prepared herself for the possibility that he would never wake up.

She slowly pushed open the door.

The person on the hospital bed was sitting up, looking out the window. Hearing the sound, his eyes shifted, then suddenly froze, motionless, staring at Fu Ying.

His eyes were so bright, her Alabai wolfhound.

Fu Ying walked towards him, meeting his gaze, “Chen Baishi.”

He was silent, just staring dumbly.

“Can’t speak?”

Fu Ying was very anxious. She had spoken with the doctor on the way, and he had clearly said everything was normal. She squeezed Wen Changling’s hand, and Changling understood immediately, rushing to find a doctor.

Even if he couldn’t speak, she would take care of him for the rest of his life. Fu Ying sat by the bed, placed her hand in front of Chen Baishi’s eyes, and moved it up and down, “Who am I?”

Chen Baishi grabbed her hand, carefully holding her fingertips.

“Fu Mingyue.”

“Fu Mingyue.”

“Fu Mingyue.”

He called her name three times.

A loyal Alabai wolfhound only recognizes one master in its lifetime. Fu Ying smiled, then began to cry while smiling.

Xie Shang’s car had been scratched, so he went to handle it, leaving Wen Changling in the hospital corridor where she bumped into an acquaintance.

“Miss Wen.”

It was Dai Qiu.

Wen Changling hadn’t seen her for a while.

“Long time no see.”

“Long time no see,” Dai Qiu said, “I resigned.”

“I heard.”

After Wen Changling left Huaqi Technology, Dai Qiu resigned shortly afterward. As for the reason, Dai Qiu made it clear: “You’ve always known, I’m from Young Master Jiang’s side.”

“I know.”

“Why didn’t you fire me right from the start?”

“I thought it would be safer to keep you close by, and you’re very capable at your job.” Wen Changling spoke calmly, without any resentment toward Dai Qiu.

Even though Dai Qiu was planted by Jiang Chengxue, she had never really hurt Wen Changling; in fact, Wen Changling thought Dai Qiu was pitiable, willing to be used despite being unloved.

Xie Shang sent a message, and after reading it, Wen Changling nodded to Dai Qiu and turned to leave.

Ahead in the corridor was the ICU, guarded by police. The police had already started an investigation, determining that the car race on Wangbei Mountain was an attempted murder orchestrated by Jiang Chengxue, with the car having been tampered with.

The evidence was conclusive.

Dai Qiu walked over, touched the glass with her fingers, stroking the silhouette on the glass inch by inch, “Did you hear her voice?”

*****

Wen Changling would visit Doctor Tao twice a week. Previously, they’d talk quite a bit, but lately, she had been letting Wen Changling sleep because of her severe insomnia, which stopped her from sleeping well.

When she slept, she would dream. The same dream, repeating endlessly.

“Sister.”

“Are you lost again?”

“Why haven’t you come to keep me company yet?”

It was that deep forest again, where the light could not penetrate; looking up, the sky was invisible, shrouded in thick fog. Ah Na, ensconced in the mist, kept calling out for her.

“Sister, I miss you so much.”

“Will you come and be with me soon?”

“Sister.”

She pushed through the dense fog, encountering many, many trees, all identical. Ah Na’s voice grew closer, but the fog only thickened.

She saw Ah Na crouching on the ground, head bowed, hugging his knees. The thick fog began to recede, and so did Ah Na. She ran desperately to reach out and grab him.

“Ah Na!”

The thick fog suddenly parted and light streamed in; the figure on the ground lifted its head.

Wen Changling opened her eyes.

“Awake.”

Doctor Tao was seated beside her. She didn’t know how many times the music had looped, the Newton’s cradle kept swinging with regular impacts.

Wen Changling sat up, her thoughts drifting. Doctor Tao didn’t rush to speak, patiently waiting in silence.

“I had that dream again.”

Doctor Tao asked her, “What did you dream about this time?”

“It wasn’t Ah Na.”

“Then who was it?”

“The one lost in the heavy fog wasn’t Ah Na; it was me.”

It was the eighteen-year-old Wen Changling.

From the beginning to the end, she was the one trapping herself in the past.

The Hooked Cymbidium in Granny Zhu’s yard had already been dug out by the roots, leaving an empty space. In the morning, Wen Changling saw Xie Shang planting a tree in the bare spot.

Wen Changling didn’t recognize it: “What kind of tree is this?”

“Chinese Toon Tree.”

Huahua, who had been knocked out by medicine before, was back to her spirited self, helping dig and burrow, paws dirty and soiled.

“Why plant a Chinese Toon Tree?” Next door, Grandma Lin’s yard was full of peonies and roses. Many residents on Lotus Pond Street liked to plant flowering trees, which during blooming season, festooned the walls with stunning cascades of color, attracting many tourists to the old street.

“Have you ever eaten Chinese Toon scrambled with eggs?”

Wen Changling nodded.

Xie Shang said, “Plant it to eat.”

The Chinese Toon buds in March, the locust blooms in April; it’s the season to “eat the spring.”

Wen Changling encountered Dai Qiu once again in the hospital. She didn’t intend to greet her, preferring to act as strangers, but Dai Qiu stopped her.

“He probably doesn’t have many days left; go see him.”

Wen Changling coldly refused, “I don’t want to see him.”

Dai Qiu, thinner than the last time they met, hadn’t put on makeup, her face pale and gaunt, the spark gone from her eyes like a flower on the brink of withering.

“He’s waiting for you. I’m begging you, go see him one last time.”

Wen Changling looked at Dai Qiu in astonishment, unable to comprehend her thinking. Why grovel for someone undeserving?

Why insist on her meeting Jiang Chengxue, when there was no good in facing an enemy?

“He stopped his medication once he found out about your reunion with Xie Shang. For him, stopping his medication is tantamount to seeking death.” Dai Qiu’s eyes, though dried from crying, still moistened at the mention of him, “The day he got out on bail to find you, his original plan was to take you with him in death. You know it; he’s a sick madman.”

Wen Changling found this laughable: “So because he didn’t take me with him to die, I should be grateful?” She couldn’t empathize with a criminal; she only knew that her Ah Na had died alone in jail.

“Do you know his past?”

“I don’t want to know.”

Regardless of Jiang Chengxue’s past, nothing could change the fact that he played a cruel game with a wine bottle, choosing her eighteen-year-old Ah Na as the scapegoat.

Wen Changling simply walked past Dai Qiu.

“Go see him.” Dai Qiu said through tears, “He said he wants to grant you your wish.”

These words, “grant you your wish,” convinced Wen Changling in the end.

Jiang Chengxue was in the ICU. The race car explosion on Wangbei Mountain had nearly shattered his internal organs.

Wen Changling stepped up to the glass, not going inside. Police officers guarded the door. Jiang Chengxue was awake, his body riddled with tubes, but he wasn’t lying down. He had been waiting for her, for three days, ever since he regained consciousness.