Chapter 25 The world will tolerate your boredom...
Pei Ci had a dream.
She dreamt of the time when she first went to Kenlin for treatment.
The year she went there, it was snowing heavily in Kenlin, and to ward off the cold, she wrapped herself in layers of winter clothes. On her way off the plane, her brother video-called her.
"Don't be afraid. The doctors treating you are from the Zhou family. Your brother is very familiar with them, and you can trust their medical skills and character."
"If you're scared, you can call your brother."
"If it weren't for the Zhou family's eccentric nature, which led them to send you alone, your brother would have come to see you off."
"Are you cold, Kenlin? There are a few mink coats in the trunk. Have the servants put them on you. If they don't take good care of you, don't hold back..."
To be honest, Pei Chi is a serious and taciturn person. However, he always talks a lot more when it comes to Pei Ci's illness. Of course, the reason he's being so long-winded this time is mainly because this is Pei Ci's first time going abroad for medical treatment.
Initially, Pei Ci was recuperating at the Pei family home and attending school normally. However, after she burned the young master of the Lu family, the conflict between her and Pei Chi over the matter of the illness escalated.
The conflict was mainly caused by Zhou Songyin, the younger brother of the Zhou family patriarch.
Zhou Songyin is a mysterious figure, a point that most people agree with.
It can be said that the Zhou family's current prominent position is inseparable from this person. It was he who, from being a spoiled brat, suddenly became ambitious, devoted himself to the study of medicine, solved many medical problems, and brought about a major revolution in medicine.
In his early years, Zhou Songyin saved many patients suffering from terminal illnesses. Some of these patients, who were not chosen by him, went to great lengths to have statues of him sculpted in an elaborate manner in order to attract his attention. However, when the statues were about to reach the face, Zhou Songyin suddenly flew into a rage and ordered his men to smash the statues to pieces.
Later, Zhou Songyin gradually withdrew from the public eye and requested that information about him be destroyed on public platforms, thus living a life of leisure and seclusion.
Many wealthy people who are ill cannot find him.
Pei Chi was in the same boat, inquiring everywhere but finding no trace of him.
However, when Pei Ci was sixteen, Pei Chi received some good news.
Zhou Songyin took the initiative to contact Pei Chi, saying that he could treat his sister.
This incident greatly shocked Pei Chi. After confirming that it was indeed Zhou Songyin, Pei Chi flew to Kenlin and hosted a dinner for Zhou Songyin. However, the dinner ended unhappily.
Zhou Songyin really wanted to treat Pei Ci.
However, Pei Ci had to go to Kenlin alone to seek treatment from him, and no one was allowed to visit her during the treatment period; they could only contact each other occasionally by phone.
This request was truly absurd, and Pei Chi had heard somewhere that Zhou Songyin was mentally unstable, so the matter was put on hold.
The world is so big, you'll always find a doctor who can cure your illness.
As a result, Pei Ci burned Lu Ran.
Pei Chi didn't really think it was a big deal, especially since the Lu family hadn't made a fuss about it.
But Pei Ci couldn't accept it. She couldn't accept losing control and becoming a madwoman who had lost her mind.
What's the difference between this and death?
"President Pei, you'll soon realize that only I can save her in this world."
"If it weren't for me, she would have died four years later on a rainy night in Anta."
The voice coming from the phone was slightly distorted, with a slow and unhurried tone, carrying the vicissitudes of time, and the words already conveyed a sense of confidence and assurance.
"Zhou Songyin, you think too highly of yourself!" Pei Chi's face darkened, and he smashed his phone in anger.
Pei Ci watched from the side.
She stood there for a long time, so long that she became a silent plant, drooping listlessly in the corner, waiting for the withering to creep over her entire life.
After listening to their conversation, Pei Ci walked over and picked up the phone from the ground.
"Why did you come out? It's too cold on the ground, you..."
As Pei Chi walked past, his gaze fell upon her trembling eyelashes and the girl's pursed lips, like a Buddha statue devoid of joy or sorrow. But the next second, the hand holding the shards of the phone dug deeply into her palm.
Crimson blood seeped out between her fingers, leaving serpentine trails on the pale branches.
It seemed to carry a message of death.
Pei Chi's pupils contracted sharply, and he grabbed her hand. "Xiao Ci, let go!"
"Let go! Don't make me say it twice!"
Don't hurt yourself!
However, those slender fingers wouldn't loosen their grip no matter what. Pei Chi tried to pry her palm open, but he was afraid of breaking her fingers, so they remained locked in this stalemate.
Pei Ci!
Pei Chi was genuinely angry.
But Pei Chi remained unmoved.
Just when Pei Chi thought Pei Ci was done with it, Pei Ci suddenly mechanically opened her fingers, her blood-stained phone fell to the ground, and her palm was a bloody mess.
"doctor!"
"What are you doing? Get over here right now!!"
Pei Chi called out as he carried Pei Ci to the bedside. While the family doctor came to bandage Pei Ci, Pei Chi stood by the side. The light shining obliquely in from the window divided his face into shadows, making his expression inscrutable.
While using tweezers to remove fragments from Pei Ci's wound, the doctor was on tenterhooks because he was being watched closely. He used all his medical skills and his movements were very swift. Occasionally, if he moved a little too roughly, his eyelashes would just tremble.
Pei Ci has always been exceptionally tolerant of pain.
After the doctor finished bandaging and left, Pei Chi walked to Pei Ci's side, his face unusually showing anger.
"What are you doing?!"
Pei Ci looked up, her eyes calm and still. "I didn't intend to do anything."
"You didn't intend to do anything?! Do you really have to go abroad for treatment?! You're unfamiliar with the place, what if something happens to you?!"
The two had differing opinions on whether or not to go abroad for medical treatment, and this opinion was brought up again after Lu Ran's incident.
However, Pei Ci remained silent. She stared at Pei Chi for a long while before calmly saying:
"Brother, I've lost control."
"Just now."
"By the time I realized it, my hands were already a bloody mess."
Pei Chi frowned even deeper, "Even if you want to get treatment, you don't need to..."
“That’s just how it is.” Pei Ci blinked. “Brother, of course I can become a madman who hurts others at any time. But what if one day, my sharp knife is turned against myself?”
Pei Ci gave the other person ample time to think, then looked down at her own wound and asked, "Will you stop me?"
"Or rather, can you stop me?"
In an instant, the two questions struck Pei Chi like heavy hammers, leaving him completely stunned.
When he came to his senses, he only saw Pei Ci looking at him.
He felt a lump in his throat.
Because he wasn't sure if he could actually stop it.
After all, he couldn't even pry open her fingers and remove the fragments from her palm.
Moreover, he had to admit that he was indeed afraid to face the scene Pei Ci described.
The conflict ended with Pei Ci's insistence. Afterwards, Pei Chi deepened his connection with Zhou Songyin through communication. After arranging everything, Pei Chi sent Pei Ci to Kenlin on a plane.
Let's go back to the present.
Listening to Pei Chi's nagging, Pei Ci went to the place Zhou Songyin had arranged for her to stay.
"Okay, I understand." Pei Ci forcefully interrupted Pei Chi's rambling. Her eyelids drooped, and her voice sounded tired. "I'm a little tired. I'll call you later."
After hanging up the phone, Pei Ci leaned against the car window. The glass was cold and hard, so someone thoughtfully folded a towel and placed it under her face.
Through the car window, Pei Ci gazed at the snow-covered landscape. Thinking about it carefully, she realized she'd never really been interested in the vibrant world outside, but…
"The outside is colorful, vibrant and colorful."
"She's different from the white-clad ward. If you take precautions against the cold, you can go out and take a look."
The girl who slept next to her in her past life was chattering away in her ear again, arguing like sparrows outside.
But for some reason, it reminded her of people and things she thought she had forgotten.
That person would say the same thing.
"The outside world is colorful."
"real."
"Aren't you interested?"
"It's okay, the world will tolerate someone as boring as you."
But then he told her—
"A-Ci, if I can heal you."
The man smiled and said, "I'll tell you a secret."
secret?
What secret?
Pei Ci doesn't remember.
But she knew she had to survive.
Even if it means living alone.
*
When Pei Ci opened her eyes again, she had already arrived at her destination. Outside the carriage was a large manor, with a gate made of black iron, engraved with exquisite patterns, and lavishly inlaid with tiny pieces of gold.
One of Pei Ci's people made a phone call, and the dark iron gate opened, from which a young man carrying an umbrella walked out.
The umbrella was transparent, with snow water squeezed onto it, dripping straight down. The boy was tall and slender, with a cold and stern face, narrow phoenix eyes, and thin lips. When he frowned, he looked somewhat eerie. Unfortunately, he wore a bright red scarf around his neck, but even such a vivid and passionate color could not dispel the chill emanating from him.
In a daze, he seemed colder and more somber than the weather outside the umbrella.
This is Zhou Jiyue.
The second young master of the Zhou family is someone Pei Ci's age can name in their circle.
Compared to the gentle An Eun-woo, he was more taciturn and disliked socializing. He was intelligent, down-to-earth, reliable, and possessed superb medical skills.
Pei Ci was stunned when she saw Zhou Jiyue.
Zhou Jiyue did not attend the banquet hosted by her brother, and the next day she took a leave of absence from school and went abroad.
I never expected to run into you here.
Pei Ci sensed that he didn't seem to like her.
Maybe they thought she was a nuisance.
A short while later, Zhou Jiyue took out his phone from his pocket and made a call.
A short while later, Pei Ci answered the call.
Zhou Jiyue's cold and irritable voice came from the phone—
"Is Miss Pei going to sleep in the car?"
His tone carried a hint of impatience.
Pei Ci asked someone to prepare to get out of the car. When she got out, she was wearing another coat. Because it was inconvenient to wear so many clothes, she had to be carried out of the car, and others held umbrellas for her.
As they got closer, Zhou Jiyue clicked her tongue and opened the door.
There were private cars available for transportation within the manor. Zhou Jiyue quietly watched the servants help Pei Ci into the car, and then sat down beside her.
On the way, Zhou Jiyue briefly introduced the Zhou family's Rose Manor to Pei Ci, saying that after the heavy snow melts away, that is, when winter turns to spring, the manor will present a beautiful, colorful scene. This is formed by a combination of factors, including location and weather, and is rarely seen from outside the manor.
Patients within the manor are free to move around freely within the manor.
Pei Ci wanted to know more about the place she would be living in for who knows how many years. So she added Zhou Jiyue as a friend and received photos from her.
"What are you looking at in the photo?"
Seeing that she was engrossed in her thoughts, Zhou Jiyue asked.
Pei Ci snapped out of her daze and exited the image viewer. "Hospital, house, flower, tree, sky, bird, person..."
“I wasn’t playing the search game with you,” Zhou Jiyue said. “So, what are you daydreaming about?”
Can I not tell you?
“I’m a doctor,” Zhou Jiyue said matter-of-factly. “Patients should listen to their doctors.”
Pei Ci thought about it and realized that was indeed the case.
She is a very self-centered person, but in order to survive, she has to listen to the doctor.
"Do you really want to hear this?" Pei Ci asked him.
"What, is there something I can't hear?"
"It's nothing." Pei Ci lowered her eyes. Her raven-black hair made her skin look like fresh snow. Her complexion was pale and haggard, yet undeniably beautiful. But she lowered her eyes and said:
"The so-called colorfulness is nothing more than this."
After hearing this, Zhou Jiyue remained silent for a long time. "Is that all?"
"No." Pei Ci quickly changed her answer, realizing something was wrong.
“I heard you.” Zhou Jiyue stopped. He had a world-weary face, and his furrowed brows made him seem unapproachable. He then grabbed Pei Ci's shoulder and asked:
"You're not interested in this world?"
"Then why are you alive?"
At that moment, the car, which was driving through the wind and snow, silently came to rest in front of a tall man with black clothes and white hair.
The man's eyes drooped, his gaze cold.
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