Chapter 492 Don't get your hands dirty
It took Sun Lu a while to find her voice. Even though she was in a sorry state, her stubborn nature remained unchanged.
She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her fingertips stained with red marks, her eyes filled with a sinister mockery. "Sister, what are you pretending to be, this saint? All these years, Mom has favored me, secretly taking your scholarship money to buy me dresses, letting me use the desk in your room. Didn't you also hide under the covers and cry secretly, cursing her for being biased? Now you're here pretending to be a dutiful daughter, who are you trying to fool?"
These words were like a poisoned needle, precisely piercing Cui Xiao's most hidden sore spot.
The grievances of being treated unfairly in those years, the tears secretly shed in the dead of night, all intertwined with Jin Ping's self-blame for her serious illness, making her freeze.
Her hand rose again, about to fall with a whoosh, but her wrist was firmly grasped by a warm, large hand.
Zhou Mubin's strength wasn't great, but it carried an unyielding determination that left no room for escape. The warmth of his palm traveled through her cool skin, calming her out-of-control emotions slightly.
Don't get your hands dirty.
Zhou Mubin's voice was as cold as ice in winter, yet it carried a hint of barely perceptible reassurance. He gave the bodyguards beside him a look, signaling them to restrain Sun Lu, "She is suspected of fraud. You can choose to call the police."
Upon hearing the words "call the police," Sun Lu's expression completely changed. Her previous arrogance vanished instantly, replaced by panic and fear.
She struggled to get up, but her knees were weak from the impact. As soon as she propped herself up, the bodyguard next to her pressed her shoulders down and shoved her back to the ground.
Cui Xiao took a deep breath, and the rise and fall of her chest gradually calmed down. She released her grip on Sun Lu's collar, with bits of fabric still stuck between her fingers.
She stood up, gently patted the wrinkles on the hem of her clothes, and the anger in her eyes gradually faded, leaving only a cold and resolute look, like a layer of frost. "I will call the police and hire a lawyer to sue you. You have to bear the consequences of your own actions."
Sun Lu completely panicked. The sinister arrogance she had just displayed vanished instantly like a punctured balloon, leaving only a terrifying sense of impending collapse.
"Sister, I was wrong! Please don't call the police, please!"
Ignoring the pain in her knees from the cold floor, she braced herself with her hands on the ground, her knees scraping against the tiles with a soft, scraping sound, and moved forward two steps with difficulty.
A dusty hand reached straight for Cui Xiao's trouser leg, trying to grasp at the last straw.
Cui Xiao reacted as if she had encountered something dirty, taking a sudden half-step back, her eyes filled with undisguised disgust.
Sun Lu missed her target and fell heavily to the ground. Her swollen cheeks were streaked with tears and blood, and her originally exquisite smoky makeup was smudged into a black mess, making her look disheveled and ridiculous.
She lay on the ground, her forehead pressed against the cold earth, her voice trembling with sobs and pleading, "Cui Xiao, we're sisters, we share the same blood, you can't send me to jail. I promise, I'll call all my friends right now to raise money, I'll sell everything I own to pay back Zhou Mubin's money, please give me another chance, just one more time."
Looking at her hypocritical, last-minute attempt to cram, Cui Xiao felt a wave of nausea wash over her. Fragments of past memories surged uncontrollably, and a sharp pain shot through her heart.
She closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them again, all that remained in them was an unyielding coldness. Her voice was calm yet carried immense power: "Blood ties have never been a shield for your evil deeds. When you used this money to buy bags and jewelry, you should have expected this outcome."
No sooner had the words been spoken than clear footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor, approaching with an undeniable air of authority.
Two police officers in uniform followed Zhou Mubin's assistant over, and one of them quickly stepped forward and whispered a few words to Zhou Mubin.
The police officer walked straight up to Sun Lu, showed his badge, and then the cold handcuffs clicked onto her wrists.
Sun Lu burst into a sharp scream, struggling to break free, her fingernails scratching several white marks on the floor.
As the police forcibly lifted him up, he didn't forget to turn around and hurl insults at Cui Xiao, the language extremely foul and offensive, before finally disappearing into the end of the corridor with the sound of footsteps.
Zhou Mubin gently patted Cui Xiao's shoulder, the warmth of his palm carrying a comforting power, his tone calm and reassuring, "I will handle the rest. You don't need to worry about anything, just focus on staying with your aunt at the hospital."
——
As night deepened, the sky outside the window completely darkened, and the hospital corridors lost the hustle and bustle of the day.
The regular "beeping" of the electrocardiogram monitor in the ward sounded exceptionally clear in the silence.
Cui Xiao stayed in the ward, moved a folding chair to the side of the bed, and dozed off by the bedside.
The days of running around and emotional ups and downs left her exhausted. Stray hairs fell down her forehead, covering the dark circles under her eyes, and her arms were slightly numb from maintaining one position for a long time.
In her hazy state, she vaguely heard the soft rustling of the blankets, like a feather gently tickling her heart, which jolted her awake.
Jin Ping, lying on the hospital bed, woke up at some point. Her eyes, which had been tightly closed, opened slightly, and her withered hands rested on the blanket, her knuckles covered with needle marks from long-term intravenous infusions.
His cloudy eyes were unfocused, staring blankly in her direction.
The moment their eyes met, Jin Ping's gaze first flashed with a hint of bewildered surprise, as if she were trying to identify who was in front of her.
A few seconds later, her pupils contracted slightly, and she finally recognized Cui Xiao.
Cloudy tears slowly seeped from the corners of her eyes, sliding down her wrinkled and age-spotted cheeks and leaving a small damp patch on the pillow.
Cui Xiao's throat felt like it was blocked by something, and she choked up, unable to make a sound. It felt like there was a wad of water-soaked cotton pressing on her chest, heavy and suffocating.
She instinctively stood up, reaching for the call button by the bedside, but stopped just centimeters from the button, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly, "Should I call the doctor?"
Jin Ping slowly shook her head, her withered hand trembling as she lifted it from under the covers and stretched it out in her direction.
The IV needle on his wrist swayed slightly with the movement, and his knuckles turned white from the exertion, as if he had used up all his strength.
Cui Xiao saw it and understood what Jin Ping wanted to do.
She raised her hand slightly, her fingertips hovering in the air for a few seconds before finally letting it fall to her side without reaching out to shake hands.
Jin Ping's hand hovered in the air for a moment, as if all her strength had been drained, before slowly falling back onto the quilt.
The tears flowed even more fiercely, her breathing became rapid, and she asked in a barely audible voice, as soft as a breeze, "You still hate me, don't you?"
As far back as Cui Xiao could remember, Jin Ping had never loved her.
She tried hard to recall any of the good things Jin Ping had done for her, but she couldn't think of a single one, no matter how hard she tried.
Cui Xiao couldn't even find a reason to deceive herself.
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