Chapter 39 You... went to see him again?
She disappeared suddenly and then reappeared just as suddenly, without a trace in between. Yun Jin understood Hua Yu's feelings at that moment, but...
"If you keep holding her like this, it'll be dawn soon," she gently reminded him.
Hua Yu remained silent, but hugged him even tighter.
Yun Jin was having some difficulty breathing, so she had to rephrase it as, "I'm a little cold."
Hua Yu then released her, took a step back, and stared at her without saying a word.
After holding her for so long, his tears had long since dried, but his eyelids were still swollen, silently accusing her of leaving without saying goodbye.
Under his gaze, Yun Jin silently wrapped her coat tighter.
Hua Yu noticed her movements and realized that she was really cold, so she stopped complaining abruptly. However, she couldn't bring herself to care about her, so she could only silently take a step and clumsily shield her from the wind.
He thought his movements were subtle, but Yun Jin could see them clearly.
Given that he was like a balloon that could burst at any moment, Yun Jin didn't tease him, but simply gestured for him to come with her.
The hallway door requires a card to enter. Yun Jin didn't bring anything with her this time, but luckily the card reader has a call function, so she can ask the security guard to open the door remotely.
The security door clicked open, and Yun Jin went inside, only to find Hua Yu still standing there.
"Aren't you coming?" she asked.
Hua Yu remained silent, her reddened eyes seemingly glued to her, and it was unclear what she was arguing about.
"Are you really not coming?" Yun Jin asked again.
Hua Yu remained silent.
"I'll count to three, and if you don't come in, I'll close the door," Yun Jin said threateningly. "One, two..."
Another gust of wind blew by, and Hua Yu, dressed in thin clothes, trembled slightly, but her feet seemed rooted to the spot, as if she intended to stand there all night.
Yun Jin remained silent for a moment, then found a brick to prop up the door before returning to him and calmly taking his uninjured hand.
The twenty-year-old man, whose soul was not yet mature, had already grown a pair of long and wide hands, which Yun Jin needed two hands to cover.
"Why is it so cold?" she asked softly.
It was just a casual question, without even a hint of heartache, but Hua Yu almost burst into tears.
He quickly turned his face away, secretly calming himself down with his breathing, determined not to embarrass himself a second time.
Yun Jin seemed oblivious to his distress, and slowly led him towards the stairwell.
This time, Hua Yu did not refuse and obediently followed her home.
I didn't bring the key card for the building entrance, nor did I bring my house key. Luckily, there's always a spare key under the flowerpot by the door, so I didn't have to call a locksmith in the middle of the night.
Having been away for so long, the air in the house was stuffy, but Yun Jin didn't plan to open the windows. Instead, she turned on all the lights in the house and chatted with Hua Yu.
"Did you and Zhuangzhuang move back?" she asked, starting the conversation.
"Um."
Yun Jin: "When did you move?"
Hua Yu: "I moved as soon as I was discharged from the hospital."
Yun Jin: "When were you discharged from the hospital?"
Hua Yu: "Five days ago."
Yun Jin stopped and turned around, almost bumping into his chest, only then realizing that he was following her closely.
She chuckled for a moment: "Why are you following me so closely?"
"Don't you have anything to say?" Hua Yu asked, staring into her eyes.
Yun Jin countered, "What did you say?"
His tone was nonchalant, as if disappearing for so long was a perfectly normal thing.
Or perhaps, because they don't need to explain themselves to anyone, they are free to come and go.
Hua Yu's breathing became rapid again, this time from anger.
The shrewd Yun Jin ignored his emotions once again, turned on the light, pulled him back to the sofa, and pressed him down to sit.
"Look down, let me see the wound," she commanded.
Hua Yu, however, stubbornly refused to move, clearly still angry.
Yun Jin wanted to check on his injuries and didn't have the patience to wait for him to give in. Seeing that he was sitting still, she simply stroked the back of his neck and gently pressed down on it in a way that left no room for refusal.
Having just returned from outside, her fingers were cold, as was Hua Yu's nape. The moment her fingers touched her skin, the two negatives made a positive, creating the illusion of a burning sensation.
His breath hitched, and his brain, which had just begun to process his emotions, short-circuited again.
"Lower your head," Yun Jin repeated the instruction.
Hua Yu was reluctant, but his body seemed to be controlled by Yun Jin's fingers. As soon as she spoke, he complied again.
Yun Jin stood in front of the sofa, her legs touching his knees, his forehead pressed against her lower abdomen, and the faint fragrance emanating from her body filling his nostrils.
The overly intimate distance disturbed Hua Yu's heartbeat.
Yun Jin inserted her fingers into his hair, stroking and examining it inch by inch. The medium-length hair was parted in layers, and the pressure from her fingertips brought a tingling and stinging sensation, taking Hua Yu back to the morning she was kidnapped.
She descended from the sky then, and in the same way, examined his wounds.
He was so badly injured that he should have regarded that day as a nightmare, but for some reason, whenever he thought of it, his heart felt as soothed as if he had drunk a hot drink.
“They’ve all scabbed over, so it looks like you’re recovering well,” Yun Jin’s voice brought him back to his senses. “I remember your brain scan back then, and it seemed like everything was normal.”
Hua Yu's mind was filled with the scent of her body, and she didn't react for a moment.
Yun Jin took it as tacit agreement, turned around and sat down next to him. Although the distance between them did not increase, Hua Yu still felt a void in her heart.
"The doctor didn't mention any bruising or anything, did he?" Yun Jin asked again.
Even though he was more seriously injured, with a broken finger, she only cared about his head.
Hua Yu glanced at her: "No, the doctor said I only have a minor superficial injury on my head, and applying some iodine will be fine."
The doctor also said that if he wanted the wound to heal faster, it would be best to shave the hair off, but he refused.
Although she had never met Yun Jin's husband, she could imagine that he was a man who didn't love his wife, loved to live off women, and was utterly useless... The fact that Yun Jin was willing to marry him meant that he was at least good-looking.
Hua Yu wouldn't allow herself to be outshone by him.
His thoughts gradually drifted away, and Yun Jin also fell into deep thought.
According to Li Yueshu's conclusion, Hua Cheng's current condition is caused by a serious injury he suffered when he was young that he did not receive systematic treatment, resulting in blood clots remaining in his brain for too long, which led to cell carcinogenesis.
At this moment, Hua Yu only suffered a minor superficial injury to her head, and there was no bruising to form.
In other words, a 'serious injury' that could cause bruising is a thing of the future at this moment in 2013.
Hua Cheng, who was on the original trajectory, did not suffer any serious injuries for more than ten years after being severely injured by Qiu Sheng.
But today's Hua Yu is probably because she changed some things, which led to some subtle changes in her fate, including a brand new injury.
She first needs to determine the time of his serious injury, and then help him avoid this crisis so that Hua Cheng can recover.
...It doesn't seem to be an easy task, at least more difficult than ever before.
Yun Jin sighed.
Hearing her sigh, Hua Yu, who was lost in thought, paused and looked into her eyes again.
"What's wrong?" Yun Jin asked.
She even had the nerve to ask him what was wrong.
Hua Yu's breathing slowed, and she felt suffocated once again.
Yun Jin knew he had many questions he wanted to ask, but needed time to sort them out, so she didn't disturb him and just waited patiently.
After a long while, Hua Yu finally asked the first question: "You said before that someone was following you, but that was a lie, right? You were just afraid that I would run into Qiu Sheng and his group, so you made up an excuse to let me stay at your house temporarily."
I never expected his first question to be this.
Yun Jin paused for a moment, then nodded: "Yes."
Therefore, she herself did not encounter any trouble or danger.
Hua Yu's hands, which were resting on her knees, tightened and loosened, as if she had been relieved.
Noticing the change in his expression, Yun Jin chuckled: "I thought you were going to ask me why I've been gone for so long."
Upon hearing her bring it up, Hua Yu's expression darkened again.
“I ran into the landlord the day I moved out of here,” he said in a hoarse voice.
A hint of surprise flashed in Yun Jin's eyes; she clearly hadn't expected this situation.
“…This is just a rented house, not your home,” Hua Yu’s voice trembled, and it took her a while to return to normal. “I just realized that apart from knowing that your name is Yun Jin, I know nothing about your identity, where your real home is, your origins and background…”
She knew everything about him, even how much debt he owed and what his friends liked to eat.
But he knew nothing about her, and he wasn't even sure if the name Yun Jin was real, since he had never seen her ID card.
From the very beginning, the two of them were not equal. Their identities were not equal, their status was not equal, and now even their information was not equal. As the one who was always at a disadvantage, he was led by the nose by her from beginning to end.
The large living room was quiet, with only his rapid breathing remaining.
"You just disappeared like that, not answering your calls, not replying to your texts. I didn't even know where to look for you, so I could only ask that Xiao Wu. At first, he just said you went abroad, but after I asked more, he said you would never come back..."
Recalling the pity and compassion she saw in Xiao Wu's eyes that day, Hua Yu still felt cold all over, even though she was in a warm room.
He was prepared to go to hell, determined to destroy his principles and bottom line, even if everyone condemned him and society despised him, he would still entangle himself with her.
He had already sacrificed himself, but she disappeared, leaving so decisively without a trace of regret, turning his desperate gamble into a joke.
The emotions that had been building up for so long were on the verge of exploding again. Hua Yu's nose stung with tears, and she wanted to say a lot of vicious things to vent her anger, but when she opened her mouth, all that came out was a weak "How could you do this..."
Yun Jin was silent for a moment, then asked, "How long have you been waiting for me downstairs?"
"Just arrived." Hua Yu turned her face away again.
Yun Jin: "Really?"
Of course it's fake.
He waited here after Xiao Wu said she would never come back.
How ridiculous! This isn't even her real home, just a place she rented for a few months, but he doesn't know where to look for her, so he can only try to find her by clinging to this place.
That's so foolish. Even if the soul has already knelt and surrendered, dignity will still make a last-ditch effort to refuse to tell the truth.
Yun Jin stared at him for a few seconds, then chuckled, "No wonder you're so angry."
Hua Yu pursed her lips, and after hearing what she said, she suddenly realized that she wasn't really angry with her at all.
He would wag his tail as soon as she glanced at him, but all his efforts would be wasted if she patted his head.
He couldn't possibly be angry with her.
He simply couldn't get angry.
He hated his own pathetic self far more than he hated her for leaving without saying goodbye.
She clearly knew this too, so she let him pretend and refused to engage.
"Actually, you're more happy than angry to see me back, right?" Yun Jin shamelessly teased him, as if he were a pet.
Hua Yu used to get angry at her attitude, but after her sudden realization, seeing her like this again, she felt not anger, but rather self-pity, sadness, and grievance.
He became like this because of her.
Even in his condition, she still laughs at him.
Then Yun Jin saw that the corners of his eyes were red again.
“…Don’t cry, I won’t bother you anymore,” Yun Jin immediately said.
Hua Yu remained silent, stubbornly staring at her.
Yun Jin: "It's only been ten days since I came back. I've been away for much longer before, and I've never seen you react this strongly."
"Can things be the same now as before?" Hua Yu asked rhetorically.
Yun Jin chuckled softly: "Why are they different?"
She simply couldn't shake her wicked habit of toying with his emotions. She had just said she wouldn't bother him anymore, but as soon as she saw his stubborn expression, she couldn't help but act up again.
In the past, when she asked such teasing questions, Hua Yu would either get angry or ignore her. But this time, she stared straight into Hua Yu's eyes until the smile on her lips faded and she had to become serious.
He then said, "We weren't even friends before, but now I'm the other woman in your life. Tell me why things are different."
Unexpectedly, twenty-year-old Hua Yu, who had nothing left but dignity, would one day openly admit that she was the other woman. Yun Jin blinked, not quite able to react for a moment.
"What's with that expression?" Hua Yu, who had finally swallowed her pride and mustered her courage, suddenly became sensitive. "You don't want to?"
"Why are you so agitated..."
"How can I not be excited?!" Hua Yu jumped up, but when she met her gaze, she forced herself to calm down. "You were the one who provoked me first. You used every trick in the book to force me to fall in love with you, and then you suddenly disappeared and tormented me. I could have let it go if I couldn't find you, but now that I have, don't think you can just have your fun and leave. I won't let you get away with this..."
“Little Hua Yu,” Yun Jin suddenly interrupted.
Hua Yu looked at her warily.
"When threatening someone, wipe away your tears first; it will be more convincing," Yun Jin gently reminded her.
Hua Yu then realized that her eyes were wet.
He rubbed his eyes haphazardly and stubbornly insisted, "I'm allergic to dust."
Yun Jin nodded in agreement: "The house hasn't been lived in for several days, so it is indeed quite dusty."
Seeing that she hadn't exposed her, Hua Yu's expression softened slightly, and she sat down again with a blank face.
After a long pause, he couldn't help but ask, "What exactly are you thinking?"
"What are you thinking?" Yun Jin asked in return.
Hua Yu took a deep breath and declared, "I want to be with you."
Yun Jin stared at him for a while, then asked curiously, "If I disagree, how do you plan to retaliate against me?"
Hua Yu was stunned for a moment, and before she could organize her thoughts, her eyes welled up with tears again.
How can he retaliate?
Putting aside their emotional issues, she saved him time and again, spending money and effort to give him a better life. He's not ungrateful; how could he ignore her other contributions just because she played with him emotionally?
Damn it, he really did lose the initiative from the very beginning.
Hua Yu felt frustrated and powerless, her eyes lowered and she couldn't utter a single word.
Yun Jin was amused by his puffed-up face and wanted to add fuel to the fire: "And are you really sure? Being a mistress isn't so easy."
"What's so difficult about it?" Hua Yu was seething inside, and her tone was harsh.
Yun Jin: "First of all, your attitude is wrong. Have you ever seen a third party speak so aggressively?"
Hua Yu was stunned for a moment.
Yun Jin: "Also, being a third party means you'll never see the light of day again. You have to be mindful of your identity at all times. I won't tell you anything you want to know. Only I can contact you, not you can contact me. Are you sure you can accept that?"
"It's not necessarily true that your marriage will never see the light of day. Don't be too confident about your marriage..." Hua Yu muttered.
Yun Jin didn't hear clearly: "What did you say?"
Hua Yu raised her voice: "I said, I don't care about any of that."
What else is there to say?
Yun Jin patted his face: "Alright, go to sleep early, you third party."
After saying that, she got up and walked towards the bedroom.
Hua Yu touched her cheek in a daze, and just as she was about to enter the house, she suddenly realized something.
"You agree?" He stood up stiffly.
Yun Jin stopped and turned to look at him: "What can I do if I don't agree? You're so hot-tempered, I'm afraid I'll make you angry to death."
Her words didn't sound like a compliment, but Hua Yu didn't care. She rushed to her, her eyes shining as if they were on fire.
Reckless and impulsive, he's finally starting to look like a twenty-year-old.
"You really agree?" he asked again.
Yun Jin stared at him for a moment, then smiled and said, "Mm."
Hua Yu turned her back, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled.
Repeat this several times, then turn back.
Once she calmed down, she became cool again.
"How do I know if you really agree or are just giving me the runaround?" he asked coldly.
Yun Jin crossed her arms: "Then how can I prove it?"
Hua Yu glanced at her, then quickly looked away.
After a long pause, he looked back again, forcing himself to speak awkwardly: "You can..."
"Take off your pants."
Hua Yu: "Honey...hmm?"
"Not taking them off?" Yun Jin asked thoughtfully. "That's fine too."
Hua Yu felt a chill on his waist. When he looked down, he realized that she had lifted his hoodie and slipped her other hand into his waistband.
Realizing what she was about to do, he took two steps back in shock, his mind going blank.
Yun Jin remained calm: "Isn't it to prove something?"
Hua Yu remained silent for a long time, when suddenly a patch of red appeared on her neck, which then spread rapidly, making her look as if she had ripened completely.
"I...I didn't mean that..."
He just wanted her to kiss him, but he didn't expect her to go straight for the groin.
Although Hua Yu has a face that could bring ruin to a country, he actually has no experience even holding hands with a girl. Suddenly jumping from a children's channel to a late-night pay-TV show is a bit overwhelming for him.
After a moment of silence, he fled in panic.
The guest room door opened and closed with a bang, and then the world was quiet again.
Yun Jin chuckled softly and went back inside.
Having not slept here for so long, Yun Jin lay in bed and suddenly found herself unable to sleep.
At 1:30 a.m., she wanted to drink some hot water and remembered that Hua Yu had bought a kettle in the kitchen, so she got up.
As is her habit, she walked to the door in the dark. The moment she pressed the handle, a weight suddenly pushed the door open, and the next second someone fell at her feet.
Hua Yu woke up with a start and immediately jumped up.
Just as Yun Jin was about to ask him what he was doing squatting at her door, she heard him question her: "Are you trying to sneak away again?!"
Yun Jin was speechless for a moment, then asked in return, "Are you guarding the door because you're afraid I'll leave?"
Hua Yu paused, her eyes darting around in the darkness.
"If someone really wants to leave, there's no point in you staying with them," Yun Jin casually reminded him.
Hua Yu's alarm bells rang loudly: "So you're really leaving?"
Is this the key point?
Yun Jin turned on the light, and the light was so bright that Hua Yu closed her eyes for a while before looking at her again.
“I want to drink hot water,” she said.
Hua Yu was stunned for a moment, but after realizing that this was why she had gotten up in the middle of the night, her mood improved: "I'll go make it."
Five minutes later, the water was boiled. Hua Yu added a little cold water, and after confirming that the temperature was suitable, she handed it to Yun Jin.
Yun Jin drank about half a cup and handed the cup back to him: "I'll be going home tomorrow."
Hua Yu stiffened and looked at her silently.
"I need to go back and look into some things. I'll come back as soon as I'm done," Yun Jin added.
Hua Yu pursed her lips and remained silent, her whole demeanor gloomy, a far cry from the lightness she had displayed when boiling water.
A stressed kitten will find it difficult to accept a second separation in a short period of time.
However, some things can only be found by stepping outside of this timeframe.
“I have to go,” Yun Jin emphasized.
Hua Yu remained silent for an even longer time this time. Just when Yun Jin thought he wouldn't speak, she suddenly heard him ask, "How long will this journey take?"
Yun Jin, who was about to go back to her room, stopped in her tracks: "I'm not sure, I'll go back after I check."
"What if we can't finish investigating?" Hua Yu asked back.
Yun Jin thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll come back to see you in between."
"Really?" Hua Yu looked into her eyes.
Yun Jin nodded.
"Will you answer my calls while you're gone?" Hua Yu asked.
Under his expectant gaze, Yun Jin gave a very decisive answer: "No."
Hua Yu's heart skipped a beat.
Looking at Yun Jin with her delicate features, he kept comforting himself that this was what being a third party meant. Since he had accepted this identity, he had to accept all the joys and sorrows that came with it.
Moreover, this state may not necessarily become the norm for the rest of one's life.
if only……
Hua Yu slowly regained her breathing: "Then you must come back."
“Of course,” Yun Jin smiled, “I will definitely come back this time.”
"I'll wait for you here. I'm not going anywhere." Hua Yu stared at her intently, her eyes so resolute that it seemed she would wait here for a lifetime.
Yun Jin patted his head: "Good boy."
After the negotiation was completed, Yun Jin returned to her room.
She took one step, and Hua Yu followed.
She turned around, and Hua Yu looked to the side.
"I'm not leaving now," Yun Jin sighed.
Hua Yu glanced at her, making sure she was telling the truth, before reluctantly returning to her room.
The next morning, Yun Jin returned to 2025.
She didn't sleep much all night. She first checked with Liu Zhuang to confirm Hua Cheng's condition. Only after confirming that his condition was relatively stable today did she turn off her phone and catch up on sleep.
After sleeping for about two hours, she took a shower, changed her clothes, and went to the hospital.
At the hospital, Liu Zhuang and Hua Cheng had long since grown tired of each other. As soon as they saw Yun Jin arrive, Liu Zhuang immediately slipped away.
Hua Cheng lay in bed receiving an IV drip, and stretched out his other hand to Yun Jin with a wronged expression: "Wife, hug me."
As soon as Yun Jin entered the room, she began to check the medical records folder. After that, she started to check the room's temperature and cleanliness.
Hua Cheng reached out to hug her, but she only glanced at him and asked, "What happened with Fatty again?"
“He said I was crazy,” Hua Cheng immediately complained.
Yun Jin: "Why did he say that about you?"
"Because he has low moral character," Hua Cheng said, downplaying the issue.
Yun Jin exposed him: "You provoked him first, that's why he said those things about you."
"I don't!"
The two talked for so long, but Hua Cheng still didn't put his hand down.
After Yun Jin finished the last bit of her inspection work, she turned around and took his hand.
She was wearing a French-style shirt with a coat today. She had taken off the coat when she came in, and was only wearing the shirt at the moment.
The silk material is soft and clings to the body, revealing slender and beautiful wrists with every movement, as well as a black watch that is partially concealed on the wrist.
The moment Hua Cheng saw the wristwatch, her expression froze. The next second, she leaned over and embraced him tightly.
They were so close that her hair fell onto his shoulder, and her familiar scent enveloped him completely.
In the few seconds that he was pressed close to her, Hua Cheng told himself that putting the watch back on was like him getting tired of a certain food and suddenly wanting to try it again after a while. It was all just a sudden whim and had no real meaning.
His logic was clear and logical, and he quickly convinced himself.
The next second, Yun Jin let go of him, straightened up, and habitually tidied her hair.
The clear hickey appeared before his eyes, silently shattering all his self-deception.
The ward was quiet, but Hua Cheng seemed to hear the sound of something collapsing.
Knowing she has someone else is one thing, knowing she's still entangled with him is another, and knowing she'll do intimate things with him, like a real couple... like them, kissing and sleeping together, is yet another completely different matter.
No, he actually knew this would happen long ago, when he already knew she had fallen for someone else.
But thinking about it is one thing, seeing it with your own eyes is a completely different experience.
He wasn't angry, nor did he feel sad; it was just... a bittersweet feeling.
It's like stepping on a lemon with your heart, or like when allergic rhinitis is severe, your eyes feel excessively moist even though they are actually dry.
After Yun Jin hugged him, she went to talk to the attending physician and returned half an hour later.
The IV drip alarm was emitting a ticking sound, but Hua Cheng, sitting on the hospital bed with her eyes downcast, was completely unaware, still maintaining the posture she had when she left.
Yun Jin rushed over and, after confirming there was no blood return, immediately called the nurse.
After a flurry of activity, the IV bag was successfully replaced, and once again only the two of them remained in the ward.
"What's wrong?" Yun Jin asked.
Hua Cheng looked up, his voice low: "Why...did you go to see him again?"
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Author's Note: Neither the little flower nor the big flower deserves pity, because after they meet, they will become two warriors...
It's almost here, almost here, really almost here! (I was going to say it would be in the first chapter, but I was afraid you'd think I was just making empty promises [crying emoji]) I'm giving away 50 red envelopes~
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