Chapter 94

On the seventh day, the curtains were not opened again.

Shi Mingyue sat at the foot of the bed, her back against the cold, hard wall, like a broken puppet nailed to the shadows.

Her gaze remained fixed on Yun Zhan's face, which was whiter than paper, with lips so pale they were almost invisible, and eyelashes that remained still, like butterflies that would never flutter again.

At first, Shi Mingyue just cried, cried silently, her tears dripping down her chin onto Yun Zhan's collar, forming a shallow ring of salt frost.

Later, when her tears dried, she stared, until her eyes ached, until her vision blurred, then pressed her forehead against that still chest, trying to listen... What she couldn't hear was the most agonizing.

The hatred suddenly surfaced one evening.

At first, she just stared at Yun Zhan's lips, counting the almost invisible rises and falls of his breath.

Later, she began to count Yun Zhan's eyelashes, one, two... until her eyes ached. Then she buried her head in the cold crook of his neck, and could only hear the roar of her own blood in her eardrums.

Shi Mingyue told herself countless times, "Just wait a little longer, just a little longer and everything will be fine."

But "waiting" turned into slow slicing, cutting her flesh every hour.

On the evening of the seventh day, the rain stopped, and the house was deathly quiet.

The orange light shone on Yun Zhan's face, making his skin appear almost transparently white, like a piece of porcelain that might shatter at any moment.

Shi Mingyue reached out to touch it, and the moment her fingertips touched the chin, light leaked through her fingers. She suddenly realized that she could no longer grasp the physical object. At that moment, a string in her chest snapped.

She suddenly bent down and bit down hard on Yun Zhan's shoulder with all her might. The taste of blood exploded in her mouth, but she didn't stop until a sob escaped her throat before she let go.

"Why did you betray me?!"

Her voice was hoarse, like it had been sanded, a low growl filled with bloodlust.

"Why did you lie to me again?!"

"You lied to me... Yun Zhan... you promised me."

"Why do you want that book? Haven't I been good enough to you? Why are you still thinking about the mission?"

I still need to go home...

She could endure the pain, but she couldn't accept being deceived.

She hated those who lied to her the most. At first, she resented Bai Jichen for breaking her promise and for breaking her up with Yun Zhan. After learning the truth, she began to hate Yun Zhan for not keeping his original intention and for leaving her on his own initiative.

Shi Mingyue raised her head, her lips still stained with a little crimson, but tears rolled down again, landing on Yun Zhan's pale neck.

He reached out and hugged the unresponsive body, his arm digging painfully into hers. His voice lowered, becoming a murmur, a curse.

"If I could, I'd take you to hell with me..."

Shi Mingyue sobbed, pressing her forehead against Yun Zhan's ear, her voice as soft as a sigh, yet burning with madness: "It's better for us to die together than to leave me here alone."

"I'd rather you take me with you than let you deceive me..."

But after saying that, she hugged that cold body tightly again. She couldn't bear to part with it; she really couldn't...

Love and hate twisted into a rope in her chest, suffocating her, yet she couldn't let go.

Shi Mingyue knew she was going crazy, but she would rather be crazy than accept a world without Yun Zhan.

Outside the window, the night deepened, and raindrops pounded on the glass. Shi Mingyue buried her face in Yunzhan's neck, and tears silently seeped into his already cold skin, like a rain that would never stop.

She's gone mad, yet she's still in love.

A heart-wrenching scream came from the doorway...

Shi Ke practically burst through the door; for the first time, he forgot to knock.

The lights were off, and only moonlight leaked through the gaps in the curtains, casting a pale white hue over everything in the room.

He saw Shi Mingyue kneeling by the bed, holding the unresponsive Yun Zhan, her hair disheveled, and a trace of dried blood on her lips.

She was crying, yet she wasn't crying. Her voice was like that of a beast being strangled, hoarse and broken, each cry higher and more desperate than the last.

For the first time, he was at a loss. His daughter, who had been dignified and well-behaved since childhood, was now like a rag doll whose soul had been taken away, crying and screaming so hard that it made his heart clench.

He turned and grabbed the doctor behind him, his voice trembling: "Can this... be treated by a psychologist? If she continues like this... she'll really go crazy."

When the word "crazy" was mentioned, Shi Ke's eyes clearly showed panic.

He wasn't truly heartless; Shi Mingyue was his only daughter. The fear he felt wasn't the fear of the unknown, but the despair of watching his precious treasure shatter before his eyes, yet being powerless to stop it.

"This... I think it's very difficult, at least in the short term, it's impossible to do..."

The doctor lowered his head; the emotional wounds were hard to heal...

Wen Yuan stood at the end of the corridor, leaning against the wall, her fingers digging into her arm so tightly that her nails almost dug into her flesh.

She raised her hand to cover her lips, her eyes red-rimmed, and after a few sobs, she began to cry softly, tears rolling down her cheeks and hitting the floor.

"What should we do then... Miss hasn't eaten or drunk anything for several days."

Looking at the young lady in the room, torn apart by hatred and grief, she felt as if her heart was being gripped by an invisible hand, the pain so intense that she had to breathe carefully.

At the end of the corridor, Shi Mingyue's cries still echoed, like a never-ending rain, soaking everyone's hearts until they swelled and ached.

The lights were blindingly bright, yet they couldn't bring life to the deathly silence of the room.

Shi Mingyue stopped crying. She wiped away the last bit of moisture from the corner of her eye with her fingertips. The tear stain left a faint red mark on her pale skin, like blood accidentally splattered on the snow.

Then, she laid Yun Zhan flat on the bed, pulled up the corner of the blanket, and carefully tucked him in. Her fingertips brushed against his cold forehead hair, the tenderness fleeting, replaced by a chilling silence.

She stood up.

His emaciated body, exposed by the light, revealed his bulging collarbones, jagged wrists, and skin so pale it was almost transparent, as if it would crumble into powder at the slightest touch.

She was like a porcelain doll whose soul had been taken away, lifeless, yet radiating a morbid light from despair, her breathing so light it was almost inaudible.

"Miss...please eat something first, otherwise your body won't be able to handle it." Wen Yuan stepped forward and carefully took Shi Mingyue's hand.

The moment they held hands, Wen Yuan burst into tears again, unable to hold back her emotions.

The young lady has really lost a lot of weight, even though it's only been seven days... her hands feel as thin as withered twigs...

"Need not..."

Shi Mingyue shook off Wen Yuan's hand.

Her gaze swept over the crowd, her voice hoarse from crying, broken yet stubborn: "Whether she wakes up or not, the engagement ceremony... will still go ahead as planned."

"She is my wife, Shi Mingyue; she is mine in life and she will be mine in death."

"Even if I die, the wedding will still be held. We will tell the public that my wife has passed away and that I will not remarry."

At this moment, family reputation and bloodline inheritance became secondary. Shi Mingyue lowered her eyes; she couldn't accept anyone other than Yun Zhan.

Madness gathered in his eyes, like the last vestige of calm before a storm.

She wanted to use these words to sever all pity and persuasion, and also to nail herself and Yun Zhan to the cross of fate. She would not marry anyone but Yun Zhan, even if it meant spending the rest of her life with an unresponsive shell.

"As long as it's you... Airbus is fine too..."

Days passed by.

One day, Shi Mingyue dressed for the first time, stepped out of her room, and saw the first rays of morning sunlight.

However, she wasn't going to class; she went to Pei Yanxi's place.

In the Pei family's basement, fluorescent lights were on 24 hours a day, casting a cold white light on the long table and two laptops.

In the center of the long table sat Yun Zhan, or rather, her physical body.

The heart rate monitor emitted a regular "beep-beep-beep." Pei Yanxi looked at Yun Zhan's pale face and lowered her head in self-reproach.

"I'm sorry... Shi Mingyue, I shouldn't have..."

"That's enough, you know that's good."

Shi Mingyue interrupted her with a sudden furrowed brow. Of course, she hated Pei Yanxi. If Pei Yanxi hadn't mentioned the mission, Yun Zhan wouldn't have had the opportunity to come into contact with that book.

Normally, she would have settled the score with Pei Yanxi, but now that Yun Zhan's life or death is uncertain, Pei Yanxi is the only person who can help her.

Once Shi Mingyue calmed down, she had no choice but to cooperate with her...

Shi Mingyue sat on the side of the chair, holding Yun Zhan's palm in her hand. His hand was whiter than paper, and his knuckles were slightly stiff from not moving for a long time.

"Do you have any ideas now? Did those time travelers leave any useful information in their records?"

Shi Mingyue finished reading one of the books but didn't find much useful information.

“I think we need to find the highest regulator to resolve this matter. Since Yun Zhan is a transmigrator, there must be some laws that will restrain her and someone will supervise her.”

This is Pei Yanxi's conjecture; finding the actual regulator will take time.

The days that followed.

Shi Mingyue would come up to get some fresh air at four in the morning and go down again at six, her eye sockets visibly sunken. Pei Yanxi would occasionally raise her eyes, her gaze sweeping over Shi Mingyue's thin shoulders before quickly looking away.

Shi Mingyue is so thin, even she, as an observer, feels sorry for her...

As June drew to a close, Pei Yanxi handed Shi Mingyue her gold-embossed graduation certificate: "Are you two getting engaged? She's still not awake. How are you going to face the guests at the engagement banquet?"

She frowned, her voice extremely low: "An engagement banquet in a prominent family is no child's play. What do you plan to do if she's still not awake by then?"

Shi Mingyue didn't even lift her eyelids: "Push her there in a wheelchair. No matter what, she's mine."

"If he/she dies, then carry his/her memorial tablet upstairs."

His tone was calm, leaving even Pei Yanxi speechless.

The last ten days of June were entirely dominated by red.

Shi Ke's handwritten, gold-embossed invitations were featured in daily headlines.

"The engagement banquet of the Shi family's heiress and her comatose lover"

The sensational headline even made headlines at one point.

Mingyue Villa was decorated in bright red, with even the wrought iron gate wrapped in red silk. In the drone photos, the whole mountain looked like a piece of cinnabar wrapped in red.

A renowned domestic designer was brought in by private jet to take measurements for the comatose Yun Zhan. The hand-sewing process took a whole month, with the skirt layered like waves, but with a deliberate opening at the waist to allow the wheelchair armrests to pass through.

The servants at Bright Moon Manor wipe the crystal chandeliers and polish the marble floors every day, and even the corners of the corridors are filled with red roses, the fragrance of which is so strong that it is almost dizzying.

Shi Mingyue would only leave the basement at three in the morning each day to help Yun Zhan try on the suit prepared for the engagement banquet.

In the mirror, she was so thin her collarbones could hold water, her eyes were dark and swollen, yet she still stubbornly placed the veil on Yun Zhan's unresponsive head, then leaned down and placed a kiss on his cold forehead.

"You're finally going to marry me."