Chapter 58

At the entrance of the residential area, Jiang Chengyi had just gotten out of the car when he was stopped by a person who darted out from the shadows of the trees.

"Chengyi, wait!"

The person emerged from the darkness and stood under the streetlight, revealing a gentle face; it was Jiang Chengyi's mother.

Jiang Cheng's excited emotions suddenly cooled down. His pupils contracted slightly as he looked at the newcomer warily. "What are you doing here?"

"Chengyi, I missed you so much that I couldn't help but come and see you."

"You've seen enough, you can leave now."

Jiang Cheng walked past the woman without glancing to either side and was about to leave.

But Jiang Yanlan kept chasing after him relentlessly.

"Chengyi, please listen to me for a few more words before you leave, just a few words. I swear, after I say them, I will never come looking for you again."

Jiang Cheng stopped abruptly. "What are you saying?"

Jiang Yanlan, panting as she chased after him, gave him a gentle smile. "Chengyi, thank you for still being willing to listen to your mother."

Her demeanor was very different from before; the tension was gone.

“Mom has been thinking a lot lately and reflecting on her parenting methods. Gradually, she has realized that there are many mistakes in how she treats you.”

"Mom shouldn't have been so strict with you; shouldn't have placed so many restrictions on your life; shouldn't have transferred her expectations of others onto you; shouldn't have..."

As Jiang Yanlan spoke, her voice choked with emotion, "Chengyi, it's all my fault. You've suffered so much all these years."

"Afterwards, Mom will do her best to make it up to you."

She held Jiang Chengyi's hand tightly, her eyes filled with expectation, "Are you willing to forgive your mother?"

Jiang Cheng looked at Jiang Yanlan, his face full of nervous anticipation, as if he desperately wanted a positive answer from him.

But he simply pulled his hand back, saying, "I don't need your compensation."

Jiang Yanlan's face fell, but she smiled again. "Chengyi, Mom is going back. I've booked a flight for tomorrow morning. Would you like to have one last meal with Mom?"

Jiang Cheng glanced at the time; it was almost midnight. He looked up and accurately located Yu Miaomiao's window among the buildings—it was pitch black.

The impulse subsided slowly in the cold wind, and reason returned. He gradually realized that it was not appropriate to go to Yu Miaomiao at this time.

After a moment's thought, he said to Jiang Yanlan, "Okay, go back and live a good life. Don't look for me again."

-

Yu Miaomiao submitted her defense materials right on the deadline, and her final working hours totaled 116.

The moment Li Zhi stepped out of the counselor's office, she cheered, "It's finally over, Miao Miao, you don't have to rack up volunteer hours anymore."

“I think you’ve been working yourself to death lately. Look at your dark circles, they’re really bad.”

After Li Zhi said that, Yu Miaomiao belatedly realized that a strong sense of fatigue was welling up inside her.

For the past two weeks, she has devoted all her spare time to volunteer work. After returning home, she still has to catch up on homework and work tasks, and polish her presentation slides. She has hardly had a moment to stop and rest. It seems... she really should take a break.

She glanced at the time; it was exactly five o'clock. So she raised her chin at Li Zhi and said, "Let's go. I'll treat you to dinner. You can choose the place."

"Yeah!"

Li Zhi excitedly scrolled through her phone looking for a place, not even looking where she was going as she went down the stairs, clinging to Yu Miaomiao for balance.

After resting well for two days and recovering her energy, Yu Miaomiao arrived at the auditorium for rehearsal on time on the morning of the third day.

The teacher took the list and counted the number of students.

"Zhu Jun"

"arrive"

"Ran Zimin"

"arrive"

He Yongzhen

"arrive"

Yu Miaomiao

"arrive!"

...

"Jiang Chengyi"

"Jiang Chengyi?"

"Jiang Chengyi!!"

The teacher made a few marks on the list and continued calling out names.

Offstage, Yu Miaomiao frowned slightly, looking at the empty seat, a hint of doubt flashing through her mind. In her opinion, Jiang Chengyi was definitely not the type to casually skip meetings or stand people up.

After the rehearsal ended and the crowd dispersed, Yu Miaomiao stayed behind and found her teacher.

"Miaomiao, what's wrong?"

The teacher looked at Yu Miaomiao with a kind smile. During the rehearsal for the defense, the girl displayed a calmness and confidence that was completely inconsistent with her well-behaved appearance. When the excellent grades, the dazzling array of awards, and various public welfare projects were presented one by one on the PPT, she knew that there would definitely be a spot for Yu Miaomiao in the FA scholarship.

"I'd like to ask, why didn't Jiang Chengyi come?"

“Jiang Chengyi,” the teacher frowned, remembering the only student who was absent. “I don’t know either. He doesn’t answer the phone, he doesn’t reply to messages, and he didn’t even come to the rehearsal today. I don’t know what he’s busy with.”

The teacher took out her phone and showed Yu Miaomiao a long list of missed calls in the call log. "Tomorrow is the formal defense. Look at his attitude!"

Yu Miaomiao said goodbye to her teacher and walked out of the auditorium. She opened her phone's contacts and went to Jiang Chengyi's page. It showed that their last phone call was half a month ago.

After hesitating for a moment, she called Jiang Chengyi.

As expected, the call did not go through.

After a moment's thought, Yu Miaomiao turned around and headed towards the office of the counselor in the Department of Animal Medicine on the fifth floor.

She just wanted to know what Jiang Chengyi had been doing; it wasn't out of concern.

That's how she convinced herself.

As soon as I reached the top of the stairs, I heard a gruff shout coming from an open door: "Teacher Li, that's impossible! Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

"How could Jiang Chengyi possibly drop out of school?"

Yu Miaomiao suddenly stopped in her tracks, then quickened her pace and rushed into the office.

Inside the office, a tall man was slamming his fist on the table in disbelief. In front of him stood a young counselor with a helpless expression. He saw Yu Miaomiao and asked, "Student, is there something you need?"

Cheng Nuo turned around and was also taken aback. "What are you doing here?"

Yu Miaomiao didn't answer the question. She suppressed her rapid breathing and spoke quickly, "Jiang Chengyi is going to drop out of school?"

The counselor nodded. "Yes, the process is almost complete. I'm about to mail the withdrawal notice."

He pulled a document out of the file bag, which was covered with several stamps.

Yu Miaomiao took the withdrawal certificate and looked at the name column. It was indeed Jiang Chengyi, and the reason for withdrawal was "withdrawal due to illness".

She looked up at her counselor and quickly asked a series of questions: "What illness? Is there any medical record? Did Jiang Chengyi submit the withdrawal application himself? Have you communicated with him about it?"

Cheng Nuo chimed in from the side, "Yeah, how could they drop out of school so easily?"

The counselor looked displeased when questioned. "Of course all the certificates are complete, otherwise why would I accept the application? As for the interview, Jiang Cheng suffered an acute spinal cord injury and is still unconscious in the ICU. How can we have an interview? Everything was handled by his mother."

Yu Miaomiao's voice turned cold, and she stared directly at the counselor without any politeness, appearing even more aggressive, "If Jiang Cheng is still alone in the ICU, it means that withdrawing from school was not his decision. Why is his mother in such a hurry to make a decision before he wakes up?"

The counselor frowned angrily. "If you don't believe me, I'll call his mother."

The phone rang several times before being answered. A gentle female voice came through: "Hello, Ms. Li, have you received your withdrawal certificate yet?"

"It's ready. I'll send it to you in a bit."

The counselor casually asked, "Jiang Chengyi's mother, is Chengyi still in the ICU?"

The woman's voice choked up, "She's still here. The doctor said she needs to stay for at least another week."

"Why not wait until Chengyi comes out and we discuss it before deciding on the matter of dropping out of school?"

“Teacher Li, my family is not particularly wealthy. The cost of ICU stays is over ten thousand yuan a day. The main reason I’m so eager to withdraw from school is to transfer my medical insurance as soon as possible so I can get reimbursed.”

"Moreover," the female voice choked, "Chengyi's illness requires one or two years of rehabilitation. Taking leave indefinitely isn't a good idea; it would be better for him to drop out of school."

"So that's how it is."

The counselor nodded repeatedly in agreement. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he hung up the phone and glared at Yu Miaomiao and Cheng Nuo.

"Now you should believe me, right?"

He put the withdrawal certificate into a file bag, stood up and straightened his clothes. "I'm going to mail some things. You guys should go back too."

After he left, Cheng Nuo paced anxiously, "Old Jiang had such a big accident, why didn't he tell me? I don't know how he is, how serious it is..."

Looking back, Yu Miaomiao had already sat down, turned on her computer and was typing something, without a trace of worry on her face.

Cheng Nuo couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you worried about him?"

Yu Miaomiao looked up, "Do you believe what Jiang Chengyi's mother said?"

Cheng Nuo was taken aback. "But, Teacher Li said the medical records—"

“Medical records can be faked.” Yu Miaomiao interrupted him, her eyes cold and resolute. “I only believe what I see.”

She turned the computer to Cheng Nuo, and the screen was filled with rows of dense data: "There are a total of 34 hospitals in H City, 11 of which have ICUs. In the past week, none of these 11 hospitals have admitted a patient named Jiang Chengyi."

"Jiang Chengyi's mother is lying."

Cheng Nuo stared at the data in astonishment. He had no time to think about how Yu Miaomiao was able to obtain the hospital's data in such a short time. Instead, he jumped up and rushed out of the office.

"We can't let Teacher Li send the things out!"

"Don't go," Yu Miaomiao stopped her.

Cheng Nuo's voice was anxious, "What if Lao Jiang really drops out of school!"

"If you stop him, will Jiang Chengyi be spared from dropping out of school?"

Cheng Nuo paused, then lowered her head dejectedly. "Oh, right."

He also realized that mailing the withdrawal certificate was just a formality, and Jiang Chengyi's withdrawal had already been recorded in his file.

He sat down, held his head, and after calming down, he roughly figured out what had happened.

"Aunt Jiang must have locked him up."

"She wanted Lao Jiang to get into Tsinghua or Peking University. At the time, Lao Jiang chose University A, which made her furious. She kept trying to make Lao Jiang drop out and repeat a year, but Lao Jiang ignored her. I guess she resorted to underhanded tactics."

Cheng Nuo scratched his head vigorously, "What should we do? Old Jiang can't really drop out of school!"

He subconsciously looked at Yu Miaomiao. In the short time they had spent together, he had completely convinced this girl and wanted to seek help from her.

There is still a chance.

Yu Miaomiao's words ignited his hope, and his eyes lit up. "What opportunity?"

She opened the announcement page of University A and selected a paragraph:

Students who disagree with the decision to withdraw from school must submit a written appeal in person within 3 days.

Yu Miaomiao calmly analyzed: "The date on the withdrawal certificate is the day before yesterday, so as long as Jiang Chengyi comes to the school in person to submit a written appeal before the end of tomorrow, the withdrawal can be revoked."

"So that's how it works! I'm going to save Lao Jiang right now!"

Cheng Nuo got excited and immediately opened her phone to buy tickets, but after a few minutes, she was disappointed again.

His voice was low, "The earliest flight is tomorrow at noon, there's no way I'll make it."

The distance between City A and City H is more than 2,000 kilometers. Apart from airplanes, other modes of transportation would take more than a day to travel between them.

"There's still time."

Yu Miaomiao opened her backpack, pulled out a scarf, and put her laptop inside.

Cheng Nuo stared blankly at her actions. "Are you going to find Lao Jiang?"

She slung her bag over her shoulder, wrapped a scarf around her neck, and spoke calmly, as if stating a fact: "I will bring him back before nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

Cheng Nuo asked, puzzled, "Why nine o'clock?"

He was completely overwhelmed by Yu Miaomiao's calmness and confidence, and even forgot to ask her how to get there.

"At nine o'clock, the FA scholarship defense officially began."

"I consider Jiang Chengyi my rival. All the preparations I've made for the FA scholarship are for the purpose of defeating him fair and square on the podium."

Before leaving, Yu Miaomiao turned back to look at Cheng Nuo one last time, her deep green eyes filled with unwavering determination.

"I will not allow his absence."