“No… no, Mom… it’s fine, I’m doing okay now…”
Hearing Lin Anping’s words, Lin Jianqing felt even more uneasy.
“If only your father hadn’t gone on that business trip with me.”
Lin Jianqing’s parents were both researchers at the Human Superpower Research Institute. This research had existed ever since human women began to change.
In an instant, Lin Jianqing felt her slightly loosen her grip on his hand, while the cuff of her other arm seemed to hide something. Before Lin Jianqing could react, there was broken glass hidden in Lin Anping’s cuff.
With lightning speed, as if she had made a decision, Lin Anping thrust the sharpest part of the glass shard toward her own neck. It seemed fast, but in Lin Jianqing’s eyes, his mother’s movements seemed to have been given a slow-motion debuff.
No matter how slow, no matter how much Lin Jianqing wanted to stop it, his body felt like it was filled with lead. He couldn’t move at all, could only watch helplessly.
Pssh…
Everything happened too fast. Lin Jianqing couldn’t even react. It wasn’t until warm blood splattered onto Lin Jianqing’s face and Lin Anping’s hand fell uncontrollably that he saw a sharp piece of glass protruding from her neck.
Bloody, like the overlap of an illusory void and reality.
“Mom… Mom!”
Nothing.
Rush, rush…
Water gushed from the faucet. Lin Jianqing leaned on the sink, his Adam’s apple bobbing with difficulty.
His entire face was covered in water droplets, and the blood that had splashed on him earlier seemed impossible to wash off.
The rescue was timely; Lin Anping’s life was saved, but she was transferred from the general ward to the ICU.
Before Lin Jianqing arrived at the hospital, Lin Anping had already attempted suicide by smashing her head against glass.
The nurse discovered it, but she only ended up with a cut on her head and a few broken panes of glass. Unfortunately, a small piece of glass was secretly hidden by Lin Anping.
But… none of that mattered now. After this surgery, plus the ICU costs, Lin Jianqing’s debt to the hospital had grown even larger. The Lin family originally had few relatives.
Not being able to borrow money wasn’t the scary part; the scary part was that Lin Jianqing now couldn’t even find anyone to ask for a loan.
‘Maybe… I should just go along with mother’s words and let her end it all?’
Looking at himself in the mirror, Lin Jianqing quickly shook his head. He absolutely couldn’t think that way. After all, Lin Anping was one of his few remaining relatives in this world.
At least there was still a chance she could recover… Lin Jianqing couldn’t understand why his mother had become so self-destructive.
Lin Jianqing stayed in the restroom for a long time, as if this could temporarily escape the chaos of the outside world—his own ‘comfort zone’. Maybe he could ask the company for an advance on his salary.
Otherwise, Lin Jianqing couldn’t think of any other way to pay off his mother’s medical bills. Clearly… life had been heading in a good direction, but…
Just as Lin Jianqing was about to leave the restroom, he noticed the note in his pocket. The note the hotel clerk had given him earlier.
‘If you need help, you can call the number above.’
The content of the note was simple: a line of text and a phone number.
Yesterday… Only now did Lin Jianqing’s mind finally return to normal. When his brain had crashed earlier, he had even forgotten what happened yesterday.
He only vaguely remembered that last night there was a company gathering. He drank too much, and then he couldn’t remember anything.
Right… last night, who had taken him to the hotel? Lin Jianqing’s head was completely muddled, but seeing the number on the note, he subconsciously dialed it.
“Beep—beep”
“Hello, um, hi. Excuse me, did you send me to… last night…”
After getting through, Lin Jianqing remembered that last night he had also incurred an accommodation bill. That was a five-star hotel.
Even the cheapest room for one night would probably cost Lin Jianqing a month’s living expenses.
“You really called, Lin. Do you need any help?”
On the other end was a woman’s voice that was terrifyingly calm, but though it was calm, Lin Jianqing found it somewhat familiar.
“Um… do you know me?”
“Of course I do. Can’t you recognize me yet?”
‘What a riddle…’
“Sorry, I can’t tell. Um, what’s your Alipay account? I’ll pay you back the hotel money sometime, but definitely not soon, because I can’t afford that much right now.”
Hearing her words, Lin Jianqing felt vaguely uncomfortable, but he tried his best to be polite. Without her, who knows where he would have ended up today.
“Forget it. Come to Linzhou University. I’ll wait for you at the school gate. We’ll talk about the rest later.”
“And also, anyway, you must be in need of money right now, right?”
After hearing her words, Lin Jianqing wanted to refuse, but her final remark—”You need money, don’t you?”—forcefully pulled him back.
“Okay… I’ll be right there.”
His body trembled slightly, as if frightened, but his soul remained indifferent. Should he go or not? But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Lin Jianqing could roughly guess what she meant.
She just wanted to keep him… In the past, when Lin Jianqing first entered the university, many nearby sugar mamas or relatively big small-business bosses had approached him, but he had always refused them.
Now… now it was the same. Lin Jianqing hadn’t sunk to the point of selling his body to survive.
‘Is that really the case?’
Just as Lin Jianqing hung up, Shen Huaixue was already leaning against a big tree at the gate of Linzhou University, staring intently in the direction of Linzhou City Hospital.
Now, ever since she went to that milk tea shop and Lin Jianqing entered her field of vision, Shen Huaixue knew everything about him. Soon, Lin Jianqing arrived at the school gate, and Shen Huaixue’s figure stepped out from the tree’s shadow.
“You’re finally here. Does your head still hurt?”
Shen Huaixue tucked a strand of hair from her forehead. In front of Lin Jianqing, she still cared about her appearance.
“President Shen… President Shen, why are you here…”
Looking at the phone in Shen Huaixue’s hand, it all seemed to make sense.
“I was the one who called. Let’s talk about the rest in the car.”
Seeing Lin Jianqing’s surprised eyes, Shen Huaixue just smiled calmly. Her expression was very calm at that moment, but the calmer the sea, the more likely it hides danger.
“Um… President Shen, about last night…”
Looking at Shen Huaixue’s back, he felt an inexplicable fear. A person he had only met a few times, why… An extremely bad thought appeared in Lin Jianqing’s mind, but his heart wasn’t sure.
“We’ll talk about last night later. Your mother probably needs money, right?”