Chapter 106: I'm Here, Don't Be Afraid! (Part 1)

Room 1601.

Yu Ling curled up in a corner of the living room sofa, so large it almost buried her, wrapped in a thick cashmere blanket. She wore only soft off-white house clothes, her long hair draped in a mess. Her face was pale, almost transparent, and strands of hair still clung to her forehead, damp with sweat.

The cramping pain in her stomach was like a never-ending blunt knife slowly cutting into her abdominal cavity, intertwined with the suffocating feeling of her heart being gripped by despair, making her feel cold all over and her fingertips icy.

She held the silver thermos cup printed with simple geometric lines tightly in her arms. The walls of the cup had already cooled down, leaving only a little pitiful residual warmth. It was her only support at the moment.

The scene of being "escorted" out of Xinghui Building that afternoon played over and over in her mind like a cold silent film. Zhou Zheng's cold voice, the forged transfer records, the screenshot of that fateful email, the evasive glances of her colleagues, the security guards' attitude as if they were escorting a prisoner...

And then there was Gu Qianqian's smug yet resentful face hidden behind the scenes! Humiliation, anger, and helplessness, like icy tides, crashed against her shaky defenses. She could even imagine that by now, rumors of her "instigating the theft" and "being imprisoned" were spreading like a plague throughout the Haicheng business community.

It's over.

Starlight is finished.

Everything she had fought for was over.

Cold tears slid down silently, soaking the soft fur of the cashmere blanket.

“Click.”

There was a very slight sound of a door opening at the entrance.

Yu Ling's body stiffened imperceptibly, and she subconsciously wrapped the blanket tighter around her and lowered her head. She didn't want him to see her in such a state of disgrace, on the verge of collapse.

The sound of hurried footsteps approached from afar, piercing the dead silence with an undisguised panic. Zhao Chen appeared at the living room door. He was still wearing the same impeccably ironed dark gray suit he'd worn that morning, but his tie was awry, his hair a mess, and his breathing was a bit rapid, clearly having hurried back.

The expression on his face was one of genuine anxiety and panic, a look Yu Ling had never witnessed before—the panic of an ordinary husband who suddenly learned his wife had been wrongly accused, helpless in the face of the vast legal machinery. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes were no longer the deep, calm hushed light of their former selves. Instead, they reflected panic and helplessness, even a hint of disbelief.

"Lingling!" Zhao Chen spotted Yu Ling curled up in the corner of the sofa. His pupils shrank sharply, and he rushed to the sofa in a few steps, kneeling on one knee on the carpet. He reached out to touch her cold cheek, but his fingertips trembled slightly and stopped just before touching.

"How...how are you?" His voice was obviously hoarse and trembling, his eyes anxiously roaming over her paper-pale face, capturing the suppressed pain between her brows, "Is your stomach still hurting badly? Why do you look so bad? Did they give you anything difficult?" A series of questions, with a clumsy but extremely real concern.

Yu Ling raised her tear-stained face and looked at the man before her, his face filled with anxiety, even a touch of embarrassment. Seeing the unfeigned panic and distress in his eyes, seeing the mask of "elite employee" she had once known so well completely shattered, revealing his true worry and helplessness, the grievances and bitterness in her heart surged out like a flood.

She wanted to throw herself into his arms and burst into tears, to accuse the world of injustice, to seek support...but reason held her back. She couldn't! She couldn't drag him into this mess! He was innocent! He was just an "ordinary employee." Faced with this massive frame-up and legal process, what could he do? He could do nothing but worry and anxiety in vain!

"I... I'm fine." Yu Ling spoke with difficulty, her voice dry and hoarse with a heavy nasal tone, and she forced out a smile that was uglier than crying, "I'm just... just a little tired." She subconsciously hugged the cold thermos in her arms tighter, as if it was the last piece of driftwood.

Zhao Chen's gaze fell on the cup in her arms, his eyes darkening slightly. He immediately stood up, his movements clumsily anxious. "You definitely didn't drink it! The brown sugar water's cold! I'll make you some ginger soup! To keep the cold away! It'll be ready soon!" As he spoke, he frantically unbuttoned his suit and casually tossed his expensive jacket onto the armchair next to him. Then he rolled up his shirt sleeves and quickly walked towards the open kitchen.

Soon, the sound of rummaging through drawers and cabinets, the gentle clinking of pots and pans, and the sound of running water could be heard from the kitchen. This usually warm and homely atmosphere seemed particularly abrupt and sad in the oppressive atmosphere at that moment.

Yu Ling curled up on the sofa, listening to the obvious flustered and clumsy busy sounds coming from the kitchen, which belonged to Zhao Chen, and her tears flowed even harder.

He was still thinking about making her ginger soup... When she was accused of business crimes and faced imprisonment, the only thing he could think about was her stomachache and whether she was cold or warm. This clumsy, even somewhat inappropriate concern was like a red-hot blunt knife, repeatedly cutting her already scarred heart.

Not long after, Zhao Chen cautiously approached, carrying a steaming white porcelain bowl. The ginger soup in the bowl was a rich, uneven dark brown, with a few crooked slices of ginger floating in it. His movements were filled with unprecedented caution, but just as he bent down to place the bowl on the coffee table in front of Yu Ling—

"Bang!"

A crisp sound!

For some reason, Zhao Chen's wrist trembled violently, and the rim of the bowl missed the edge of the coffee table, causing the boiling hot ginger soup to spill out! The dark brown soup splashed out, most of it spilling onto the polished glass coffee table, and a small amount directly onto the back of his right hand, where his sleeves were rolled up!

"Hiss!" Zhao Chen gasped in pain! The back of his hand instantly turned red, and several blisters swelled up visibly!

"Ah!" Yu Ling screamed in shock, sitting up straight on the sofa. She didn't care about the pain and subconsciously reached out to check his hand. "How are you? You're burned! Let me see!"

"It's okay! It's okay!" Zhao Chen acted as if he was not the one who was burned. He quickly hid the back of his burned hand behind his back and forced a very painful smile on his face. His other unburned hand quickly reached for the tilted bowl, trying to save the situation. His movements were clumsy and awkward.

"I... I'm clumsy! I accidentally... spilled it! Didn't it burn you, Lingling? I'll get another bowl! It'll be ready soon!" He spoke incoherently, and even beads of sweat seeped out of his forehead because of the pain and panic.

The way he tried so hard to hide his pain, and clumsily wanted to continue taking care of her, but made things worse because of his "incompetence", completely broke down Yu Ling's defense!

What grievance! What anger! What despair!

At this moment, she was completely crushed by the glaring redness and swelling on the back of the man's hand and the clumsy look in his eyes as he endured the pain but still only cared about whether she was burned!

"Stop it!" Yu Ling couldn't control herself any longer and cried out in a low voice! She rushed over and desperately grabbed the hand that Zhao Chen had hidden behind his back! The hot, swollen skin burned her fingertips, and the rapidly swelling blisters made her heart ache! Tears burst out like a dam breaking.

"It's already burned like this, what are you still doing? Zhao Chen! You idiot! Idiot!" She cried and scolded, while frantically pulling him towards the kitchen sink.

Icy tap water rushed over the back of Zhao Chen's scalded hand. Yu Ling grabbed his wrist and pressed it under the water while she frantically searched for a first aid kit in the nearby cabinet. Tears streamed down her face, hitting the cold stainless steel sink.

Zhao Chen obediently allowed her to do what she wanted, head lowered, watching the water wash over the redness and swelling on the back of his hand. From an angle Yu Ling couldn't see, the panic and helplessness of an "ordinary husband" faded from his eyes behind his glasses like the tide, leaving only a coldness. The trembling from "accidentally" spilling the ginger soup was just a perfectly timed "mistake" made by his precisely controlled muscles.

"Lingling... don't cry..." Zhao Chen's voice rang out again, hoarse from the burns and filled with a deep, almost powerless exhaustion. He looked up at Yu Ling's red, tearful eyes. He raised his uninjured hand clumsily and hesitantly, gently wiping the tears from her cheek with his fingertips. His fingertips were cold and damp.

"I'm fine...really..." He tried to make his voice sound calmer, but he still couldn't hide the "heaviness" and "powerlessness" in his voice. "You...don't worry about me. You're the one having the hardest time right now..." He paused, his Adam's apple rolling with difficulty, as if he was swallowing a huge bitterness. "That...Xinyue Technology...and the evidence..."

At this mention, Yu Ling's body stiffened noticeably. The despair that had just subsided due to heartache returned like an icy tide. She lowered her head and continued to search the first aid kit, her movements becoming mechanical and numb.

Zhao Chen watched her profile darken instantly, sensing the almost dead despair emanating from her. His eyes darkened behind his lenses, a fleeting icy sharpness. He took a deep breath and, with his uninjured hand, gently pressed against the back of Yu Ling's cold hand, stopping her pointless rummaging.

Yu Ling raised her head and looked at him with tearful eyes.

Zhao Chen met her gaze, his face trying to maintain the composure and conviction of an "ordinary husband" in the face of injustice. His eyes held an almost pious, unwavering "firmness":

"Lingling, listen to me." His voice was still trembling, but he tried to slow it down. "I... I can't help you much... but you have to believe! You must believe in the law! Believe in judicial justice!"