Chapter 56 The coldest season in Beijing...

During the coldest season in Beijing, Ji Qingyu sat unharmed outside the ICU, her fingers clenched tightly together. The red light of the ICU was on, and doctors were going in and out, trying to save her.

Ji Qingyu stared intently into the doorway, motionless. The rescue had taken longer than expected. Someone reached out to pull him up, and it seemed someone was whispering, telling him to go and rest first.

His fingers were pulled up and then down again. He curled up in the chair. This place felt so familiar. Ji Qingyu blinked. Why could he always only watch and wait from outside the door?

He was unbearably cold. The surroundings were both noisy and quiet. He hugged himself, burying his face in his knees. His hair hung down, blocking his vision. This was his most common way of protecting himself.

A hurried, chaotic sound came from outside the corridor. Ji Qingyu looked up and saw Luo Sheng walking towards her, panting.

"Xiaoyu, how is he? How is he?"

Ji Qingyu's tears fell like beads from a broken string, an endless stream of tears that flowed like a river. He pursed his lips, hugged Luo Sheng, and burst into tears.

"It's all my fault. If I hadn't insisted on moving out, if I hadn't insisted on staying away from him, if I hadn't..."

"It has nothing to do with you, it has nothing to do with you." Luo Sheng held Ji Qingyu tightly, and every bone in Ji Qingyu's body ached. Her fingers gripped Luo Sheng's back weakly. Fu Yunbai followed closely behind. He walked over aggressively, glared at Ji Qingyu, and seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he only sighed.

The winter in Beijing was so cold, but Ji Qingyu had no intention of returning to Jiangcheng. He just wanted Fu Han to open his coat and wrap him inside.

"A rib has pierced his chest cavity, causing hemorrhagic shock. He may not make it. Family members should be prepared," the nurse said.

"How many times has he been critically ill?" Fu Yunbai asked.

"My son has suffered so much because of you." Fu Yunbai raised his hand, pointed at Ji Qingyu, and roared, "I really wish you would give your life for his."

"Enough." Luo Sheng protected Ji Qingyu and confronted Fu Yunbai. "You've never treated him like a human being. Now you're pretending to be a loving father. Fu Yunbai, neither of us has fulfilled our responsibilities as parents. If it weren't for Xiaoyu, what would Fu Han have become? Would he be like you?!"

“He made his decision when he turned the steering wheel, so what’s the point of you saying all this?” Luo Sheng glared at Fu Yunbo, who hesitated for a moment before finally lowering his eyes and remaining silent.

"It's really too good for Fu Yunsheng. If he fell into my hands, I would definitely make him wish he were dead," Fu Yunbai said viciously.

Ji Qingyu couldn't hear anything.

Cause and effect are a cycle, and retribution is inevitable. Perhaps from the day he and Fu Han met each other, everything was bound to slide into the abyss, falling and falling endlessly.

No one knows why Fu Yunsheng gave up the chance to make a comeback and took such a crazy action.

He died instantly in that suicide attack; his car spun around, plunged off a cliff, and exploded into a spectacular mushroom cloud.

Ji Qingyu and Fu Han were rescued by the police who rushed to the scene. Ji Qingyu was only unconscious for a short time and suffered a mild concussion, so she didn't even need to be hospitalized for observation.

Fu Han was declared critically ill three times on different floors of the same hospital.

Time stretched on and on. Ji Qingyu sat on the chair by the door, frozen like a puppet. He had many hallucinations. Fu Han was chatting with him in the high school storage room, staring at him absentmindedly with his head tilted to the side... Fu Han got into a fight with someone and was injured. Ji Qingyu saw this and was so anxious that he kept scolding him.

"Can't you take better care of yourself? You're always like this. When you get hurt, don't you feel the pain?" Ji Qingyu didn't know where she got the courage to yell at Fu Han.

Fu Han didn't refute, his face hidden in the shadows of the dilapidated alleyway. He turned his head low and whispered something. Ji Qingyu didn't hear him clearly, frowned, and leaned closer to ask something, only to have Fu Han suddenly grab her hand.

"Apply the medicine to me." After saying that, Fu Han put a small medicine bottle into Ji Qingyu's hand.

"I... I don't know how." Ji Qingyu's hand trembled in Fu Han's palm.

"What's wrong with applying medicine? You can't do anything. You can't even kiss, you can't even date, and now you can't even apply medicine. So why are you meddling in my business?" Fu Han said, turning to leave.

His injuries looked truly horrific. Ji Qingyu gritted her teeth and pulled him back, applying medicine to him in the crowded alley. She could feel Fu Han's hot breath, pressing against the top of her head, his panting hoarse. Ji Qingyu's ears turned red.

"Ji Qingyu, how did other people pursue you?" After a short silence, Fu Han suddenly asked.

“Nobody’s chasing me.” Ji Qingyu carefully applied the ointment to Fu Han’s bleeding area. After he finished applying it, he tried to run away, but Fu Han grabbed him.

Fu Han opened his mouth as if to say something, but Ji Qingyu didn't listen and ran away.

The spot where Fu Han had held him was frighteningly hot. Ji Qingyu's breathing was rising and falling. He ran a long, long way before stopping, placing his fingers on his knees, and bending over to breathe.

...

The air was murky and pale, the air was bone-chillingly cold, the atmosphere was tense, and the red light of the operating room shone through. There was no one else on the entire floor, only a long, narrow, and cramped corridor that seemed to never end.

In the hospital corridor, across so many years, Ji Qingyu suddenly heard clearly what Fu Han had said back then: "Because no one is worried about asking me like you did."

Fu Han, are you in pain?

No one has ever asked me that.

As darkness descended, Ji Qingyu hung his head, people coming and going around him, and he seemed like a puppet who had lost all sense of time.

"Xiaoyu, Xiaoyu, can you hear me? Let's go get something to eat first. You just went through a car accident, you can't keep going like this, your body can't take it." Luo Sheng shook Ji Qingyu.

"Xiaoyu...?"

A hand was waved in front of him, but Ji Qingyu didn't react.

"If he doesn't want to eat, just force it into his mouth. How can he not swallow?" another voice said.

"Get out of my way!" Luo Sheng roared at the person next to him.

Ji Qingyu lowered his head, looking at the ground. His knuckles were cold and curled up. He blinked and thought to himself, "It's over. I can't even remember a single bad thing Fu Han did."

His countless experiences have taught him not to easily trust others and not to fall into traps again, or he would be in a terrible situation. He should not believe in so-called temporary guilt; to Fu Han, he was just one of the dispensable ones.

But is this true?

He can't fool himself.

His eyes were wide open, and every nerve in his body seemed to be screaming that he wanted to hug Fu Han and say, "I'm sorry, I've made you suffer so much these past few days, so please don't die."

He couldn't bear losing anyone anymore.

He shook his head stiffly, stubbornly sitting in place, waiting for Fu Han. He waited for him for a long time, not knowing how much time had passed. When dawn broke, Ji Qingyu woke up groggily and found Luo Sheng beside him, letting him lean on him.

A bird pierced through a wisp of cloud on the horizon, and the operating room door creaked open. Light streamed in, and Ji Qingyu opened her eyes, stood up, and suddenly everything went black. Her knees buckled, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.

He peered frantically into the operating room, his breathing rapid, and opened his mouth to ask, "Doctor, how... how is it?"

"You're out of danger, but you'll need to be observed for a while longer. You had three broken ribs, but there's no longer any danger to your life. Adult alphas have strong recovery abilities, so you can rest assured," the doctor said.

Ji Qingyu staggered inside. The room was eerily quiet. Fu Han seemed to be still not fully conscious. He only realized someone was approaching when Ji Qingyu was right in front of him.

He tried his best to turn towards Ji Qingyu, looking at him with a hint of dependence, as if he wanted to say something. Ji Qingyu squatted down and got closer to Fu Han.

Fu Han's voice was deep as he said softly, "Ji Qingyu, I'm in a little pain."

"If it hurts, don't talk," Ji Qingyu said slowly.

"If I'm in pain, will you feel sorry for me?"

Ji Qingyu felt as if his heart had been stabbed twice, and his whole body felt like it had been crushed. The image of Fu Han covered in red before he fainted flashed before his eyes again.

“Fu Han, do you know how dangerous this is? You could get into an accident, and even if you don’t, you might suffer long-term consequences.”

He realized that the pain he was in was even greater than when his voice was destroyed, more painful than when Fu Han told him to get out, and more painful than ever before.

"It's okay." Fu Han blinked, seemingly unconcerned. "The doctor said I have a strong recovery ability."

Ji Qingyu cautiously tried to take a look at Fu Han's wound, but before she could lift the blanket, Fu Han stopped her: "Don't..."

Fu Han was powerless to resist at the moment. Ji Qingyu ignored him and lifted a corner of the gauze to see a long and horrifying scar hidden under the gauze, with blood seeping into the gauze.

Ji Qingyu opened his mouth, took a few breaths, and was a little out of breath.

Fu Han grasped Ji Qingyu's fingers. His trachea had been filled with a lot of blood, making his voice hoarse. He coughed a few times, his hand still clenched tightly, and he managed to squeeze out a sentence with great difficulty: "Give...give...one more chance...?"

Ji Qingyu looked into Fu Han's eyes. Despite being so badly injured, there was no remorse in his eyes. His gaze remained fixed on Ji Qingyu.

If Ji Qingyu wasn't afraid that Fu Han would fall apart, she really wanted to punch him.

"Here." Ji Qingyu was silent for two seconds, then placed Fu Han's hand on her forehead and started crying again.

"This time... you won't go back on your word, will you?" Fu Han's voice sounded somewhat aggrieved.

"Mmm." Ji Qingyu gasped for breath, repeating over and over, "It won't happen again, it won't happen again, it will never happen again... I'm sorry..."

Luo Sheng stood quietly outside the door, blocking Fu Yunbai from entering as well, leaving only the two of them in the room.

That day, Ji Qingyu realized that if there were fools in the world who were obsessed with love, then Fu Han must be one of them... and perhaps he himself was no exception.