“What do you want to know for?” Qin Haiyue’s expression hardened. She didn’t want to answer and curled her lip. “It’s none of your business.”
After saying this, she felt like she was just embarrassing herself, so she stood up and walked away. Her face was gloomy, and the crowd of people staring at her outside the door made her feel irritated. Just then, a passing nurse couldn’t stand it anymore.
“The patient needs rest. Everyone, please disperse.”
The crowd in front of the ward finally scattered like startled animals.
Qin Haiyue’s angry departure left the atmosphere in the ward silent. Their relationship with her was already distant, so naturally, it wasn’t easy to say anything.
Only Qin Jiangmian stood up after a moment of thought and said to her parents, “I’ll go tell her to come back.”
As she was about to leave, Mother Qin hurriedly stopped her.
“Wait, Jiangmian. If she doesn’t want to stay, just let her go. Don’t go by yourself. In case something happens—”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Qin Jiangmian smiled, giving her a reassuring look.
With that, she left.
Qin Haiyue felt her thoughts were in a mess. She left the hospital and found a quiet spot in front. It was late at night and very cold. She had checked her phone earlier; it was about one or two degrees below zero. A cold wind blew, slipping into her collar as if to freeze her to death.
She found a small, empty park and sat on a stone bench. Darkness and cold were the themes here.
The more she thought, the more annoyed and angry she became. She shouldn’t have come back. She should have expected this. What was the use of worrying about him? She should have predicted it would be like this. She should have known.
If he died, he died. What did it have to do with her?
Irritating.
Just as she was about to turn off her phone, her gaze accidentally swept over Qi’e. As if possessed, she clicked on it.
‘What am I trying to do? Complain? Or just want to chat?’ She didn’t know. She scrolled through her chat list irritably and quickly found her target.
“Nanfeng Liang”
What was that? When did this guy change his nickname?
She frowned, but then she thought, whatever this guy’s name was had nothing to do with her. She decided not to care. Her fingers quickly tapped on the virtual keyboard and entered a line of text.
“Meet me at school tomorrow at 9:00 AM.”
After typing, she waited for a reply. But she didn’t actually expect one. After all, that person had said today that she would hide her phone at night, so it seemed inconvenient to reply.
Despite knowing this, she immediately typed: “Reply to me immediately, do you hear me?”
“You’re dead meat tomorrow.”
She didn’t know why she was sending this meaningless content. A feeling of irritation wrapped around her heart. Anyway, she just did it. The first thing she thought of after walking out of the ward was Ye Xingmian and messaging her.
She couldn’t help but recall the experiences of these days—treating her to dinner, taking her shopping, and buying her a phone. Tsk, what was she doing? It was a waste of time doing a bunch of meaningless things.
She wanted to see her, wanted to see Ye Xingmian. She even wished that person could appear in front of her instantly.
Anyway, she was completely fed up with her previous mysterious actions. Now she would act according to her own thoughts. That would be satisfying.
While thinking this, she suddenly heard light footsteps behind her. She frowned and looked back.
It was Qin Jiangmian, her younger sister.
“What are you here for?” she said irritably, stuffing the phone into her pocket.
Qin Jiangmian was much shorter than her, so she could easily look down on her. Because of this, she had bullied Qin Jiangmian quite a bit when they were young. Logically, the other girl should be afraid of her.
However, it was different from her memory. That crybaby good girl was now neither humble nor arrogant. Instead of being afraid, she stared straight at her with calm, black eyes.
“It’s cold outside. I’ve come to tell you to go back,” she said.
For a moment, Qin Jiangmian’s face seemed to overlap completely with Ye Xingmian’s. She was slightly stunned, but after reacting, an infinite rage followed.
She suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Qin Jiangmian’s collar tightly.
“What do you want me to go back for? To watch me be a joke? Huh? Oh, you’re the respected Miss. You’re going to inherit the family property, and I’m nothing. You want me to go back and continue showing off your superiority in front of our parents, don’t you?”
She gritted her teeth, the fire in her eyes almost turning physical. Although she was reluctant to admit it, she really hated this sister of hers—hated her for no reason, even wanted to strangle her.
But she quickly realized she couldn’t. Although Qin Jiangmian and Ye Xingmian looked alike, they were two completely different people.
Unlike the helpless Ye Xingmian, Qin Jiangmian was far more talented and more loved by their parents; everyone in the company respected her.
Compared to her sister, Qin Haiyue was like an uneducated, ill-behaved wicked woman, which was one of the reasons she rarely showed her face to others.
Qin Jiangmian’s gaze was somewhat cold, only turning away unnaturally. She could never treat her sister the way she treated Ye Xingmian. She tilted her head and gently patted Qin Haiyue’s hand, signaling her to let go.
Qin Haiyue took a deep breath and eventually let go.
“Thanks, but I don’t need your concern!”
“Alright. Then can I ask you a question, Sister?”
“What question? And don’t call me Sister!”
“…Who is that person named Ye Xingmian that Dad mentioned?”
Qin Haiyue frowned.
“None of your business. Why are you asking?”
“It’s nothing, just a bit curious…” Qin Jiangmian lowered her eyes slightly. She took out her phone, glanced at it, and smoothed her slightly messy hair. “Father has cancer. If you can’t survive on your own outside, you can come to me.”
“Heh, that day will never come.”
“Mhm.”
Qin Jiangmian turned and left. There was a detail Qin Haiyue hadn’t noticed. Why was Qin Jiangmian able to find her so quickly in such a large hospital? Keep in mind that Qin Jiangmian only chased after her a long time after she had left.
And the answer was hidden on Qin Jiangmian’s phone.
A map was displayed on it. Near the center, a small red dot was blinking continuously.
Qin Jiangmian turned off the location tracking, and the red dot stopped flashing. She cast a glance behind her out of the corner of her eye. Qin Haiyue was irritably striking the stone table.
A dark emotion flashed through her eyes but quickly vanished without a trace, leaving only calm, black eyes, like a pool of stagnant water.