Chapter 455 She just left like that.

Those few simple words seemed to have exhausted all her strength, and her shoulders slumped after she finished speaking.

Zhou's mother was clearly surprised that she agreed so readily; a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, which quickly turned into a faint sense of relief.

Then, Cui Xiao looked at the pale-faced man on the hospital bed and said, "I want to stay with him for another half hour."

The doctor said he would wake up as early as tomorrow, and staying a little longer wouldn't be a problem.

Zhou's mother did not object, but simply got up and walked to the window, leaving her some private space.

Cui Xiao sat back down on the hospital bed, and this time without hesitation, gently took Zhou Mubin's cold hand.

His fingers were slightly curled, and his palms were still damp with a thin layer of sweat, traces of blood loss from before.

She ran her fingertips along the bulging veins on the back of his hand, her gaze sweeping from his pale cheeks to his chest wrapped in thick gauze. Tears streamed down her face again, dripping onto the back of his hand, where they were quickly dried by her body heat.

Cui Xiao gently tucked his messy hair behind his ear and moved the warm water glass on the bedside table closer to the bed.

When the time came, Zhou's mother reminded her again.

Without lingering, Cui Xiao nodded goodbye and walked out of the ward without looking back.

After a night, the man on the hospital bed suddenly twitched his fingers, then his eyelids trembled, and he slowly opened his eyes.

The glaring sunlight made him squint instinctively, a dry, soft sound came from his throat, and his first reaction was to turn his head to look at the bedside.

There was no one there, except for a glass of lukewarm water on the bedside table that had long since gone cold, still bearing signs of having been touched.

His heart tightened, and he struggled to sit up. A sharp pain shot through his chest wound, making him gasp. His hoarse voice was urgent, "Mom...where is Cui Xiao?"

Zhou's mother, who was by the bedside, quickly stepped forward, pressed down on his shoulders, and placed a pillow under his arm. She tried to keep her tone calm, "You just woke up, don't move around, or your wound will reopen."

She avoided Zhou Mubin's gaze, picked up the warm water on the table, and held it to his lips. "Drink some water to soothe your throat first. You just had surgery, so don't rush to speak."

Zhou Mubin pushed the water glass away, spilling some water on the quilt, but he didn't care. His eyes were fixed on his mother with an unyielding stubbornness. "I asked where Cui Xiao was. Has she been here watching over me the whole time?"

He clearly remembered that before he lost consciousness, Cui Xiao grabbed his hand and cried, shouting that she would take him to the hospital. He was certain that she would stay by his side.

Seeing her son's anxious expression, Zhou's mother felt a slight pang in her heart, but she remained calm on the surface. She sighed softly, as if recounting an ordinary event, "She... is gone."

Seeing Zhou Mubin's expression freeze instantly, she softened her tone and continued, "Yesterday, after she took you to the emergency room, she called me and said she had work to do. She left before the doctor said you were out of danger and didn't even call back to ask."

She deliberately omitted all the details, only saying the words that would make Zhou Mubin "give up," a barely perceptible hint of heartache flashing in her eyes.

"impossible."

Zhou Mubin suddenly raised his voice, his chest wound throbbing with pain from the excitement, but he was completely unaware of it. "She won't leave. Before I fainted, she was crying and saying she would take me to the hospital. How could she leave before I woke up?"

He didn't believe it at all and struggled to reach for his phone on the bedside table.

Zhou's mother tried to stop him, but he violently pushed her away, the movement so forceful that it almost pulled the IV tube.

With trembling fingers, he unlocked his phone. The moment the screen lit up, he immediately opened his contacts, found that familiar nickname, and quickly pressed the dial button.

The call connected and the notification sounded again and again, each one like a hammer blow to his heart, until finally the cold electronic voice said, "The user you dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later."

Zhou Mubin's fingers froze on the screen. He dialed again in disbelief, but the phone was still off.

Undeterred, he opened WeChat again, found his chat with Cui Xiao, and typed rapidly.

[Cui Xiao, where are you? I'm awake, and I miss you so much.]

Did my mom say something? Don't listen to her, let's talk this out.

I know I was wrong. I'll never pressure you again. Please come back.

...

He sent message after message, deleting and rewriting the words in the input box, from initial urgency to later pleading, but the dialog box never received any new reply.

He stared at the screen for a full ten minutes, his fingers drooping limply, the phone falling onto the blanket with a "thud," the light in his eyes gradually fading, leaving only a deathly despair.

Zhou Mubin suddenly remembered the first time he took traditional Chinese medicine, when Cui Xiao took him to the hospital and said she would just abandon him.

Leaving before he was out of danger was indeed something she was capable of doing.

Looking at Zhou Mubin's ashen face and bloodless lips, Zhou's mother felt only heartache.

If Cui Xiao is willing to be with him, Zhou's mother will not object at all. After all, she never intended for her two children to use marriage to gain benefits.

Moreover, Cui Xiao is indeed a wonderful girl; her abilities and appearance are both outstanding.

Unfortunately, the girl wasn't interested.

So Zhou's mother had no choice but to take this path: send Cui Xiao away, thus completely extinguishing Zhou Mubin's hopes.

He might feel pain, but it will only be temporary. It's better than being entangled in this mess for a lifetime, wasting his own time and the time of others.

In the days that followed, Zhou Mubin fell completely silent.

Every day, Zhou's mother would bring him a thick, simmered pork rib soup on time. He would either ignore it or force himself to drink a couple of sips with cold water, which made his already pale face look even more sickly sallow.

When the nurse applied pressure to change his dressing, he would instinctively tense up, but he remained silent, staring blankly at the ceiling. Even when Xie Nanzhi and Xi Bei came to see him, he would only nod perfunctorily and refuse to mention the name "Cui Xiao" again.

Everyone knew he was enduring it, but no one dared to break through that thin veil of secrecy.

He was simply resisting the fact that Cui Xiao had disappeared with silence.

On the day of his discharge from the hospital, Zhou's mother specially instructed the housekeeper to prepare everything, intending to take him back to the Zhou family home to recuperate.

But as soon as Zhou Mubin changed his clothes, he walked straight past the luxury car at the entrance and headed towards the taxi at the hospital entrance with unsteady but firm steps.

"Mom, I have something to take care of."

His voice was so hoarse it sounded like it was covered in sandpaper. Before Zhou's mother could stop him, he flagged down a car on the roadside, opened the door, and gave her the address of Cui Xiao's company.

As the taxi sped away, Zhou's mother sighed helplessly and quickly instructed the housekeeper to follow at a distance in the car, fearing that his wound might reopen.

When the taxi stopped downstairs at the East Asia Group building, Zhou Mubin held onto the car door for half a minute before he could stand up. The wind blew into his chest wound, causing him to throb with pain.