Mistakenly Marked – Chapter 21
by Little PandaPhone Call
“It’s better to be candid.”
After dropping Lin Qingman off at home, Xu Jialuo drove back to her apartment.
She’d showered, changed into pajamas, and settled onto the sofa — and still the ache in her limbs wouldn’t ease.
Her gaze drifted down to the fruit plate she’d set out earlier at the table’s edge.
By now, the water left from washing it had long since dried.
—”Cherry scent.”
Lin Qingman’s remark flashed through her mind. Xu Jialuo reached over, picked up a cherry, and put it in her mouth.
The juice burst, was swallowed just as fast, leaving behind nothing but a pit grinding against her teeth.
The taste was mediocre. Not much flesh, either.
What was supposedly so good about this fruit?
Xu Jialuo got up and dropped the stem and pit into the trash.
Turning toward the bedroom, she caught sight of the phone screen lighting up inside her jacket pocket.
An incoming call.
When had it switched to silent mode?
Xu Jialuo leaned over and fished out the phone. As her fingertip ran along the edge of the case, something caught on it — a fleck of color.
Her gaze steadied. She looked down.
A small red stain.
It sat right over the flame shape on the case — easy to miss unless you looked closely.
It didn’t seem to be paint.
More like… a bloodstain of some kind.
She’d just showered. Xu Jialuo was certain there wasn’t a single wound on her hands.
Then who put it there?
Blurred fragments of last night flickered through her mind again, never sharpening into focus.
Her brow creased. She pulled out a tissue and, wiping the trace from her fingertip, answered the call.
Liang Xiao said, “I picked up an outside dispatch gig.”
Heading for the bedroom with the phone in hand, Xu Jialuo asked, “What gig?”
“Over in Nanshan. Some event where celebrities pre-record livestreams ahead of time.”
To guard against accidents, any properly run event keeps a doctor on site.
“Why’d they send you of all people?”
“My department head said I’ve been running back-to-back surgeries and should get out and unwind for a bit.”
A voice cut in from beside her: “Doctor, one of the artists has injured her hand. Could you go treat her first?”
“Sure.” Liang Xiao turned to the staff member. “Which room?”
“The break room at the east end of the second floor. Miss Bo Suiqing.”
Xu Jialuo’s steps faltered, just slightly.
Her lowered eyes went to the fingertip she’d just wiped clean of the bloodstain. Lin Qingman’s words flashed past once more.
—”Cherry scent.”
…
Impossible.
Sensing the silence on Xu Jialuo’s end, Liang Xiao said, “Small world, isn’t it.”
Xu Jialuo didn’t take the bait. “Go take care of your work.”
The weariness was pressing down heavier and heavier. She decided to sleep first, then tell Liang Xiao about differentiating into an Alpha.
She tossed the phone down beside her pillow and burrowed into the covers.
Closed her eyes, exhausted.
“Suiqing-jiejie, the doctor the organizers arranged for will be here any minute.”
Xiao Nan kept her head lowered, looking at the wound welling blood across the jade-white web1 of Bo Suiqing’s hand.
“I’ve already told them — the doctor will treat your wound first.”
But even as she said it, she realized the woman leaning back in her chair had let her lashes droop lazily, apparently not listening at all.
“Jiejie, if you’re tired, get some sleep first.”
Assuming Bo Suiqing was simply short on rest, Xiao Nan stopped bothering her and slipped quietly out of the room to coordinate the day’s schedule.
A few minutes later, a knock sounded at the door.
It opened. Their eyes met. Both of them paused.
The woman in the white coat greeted her first. “Miss Bo.”
Bo Suiqing gave a small nod. “Doctor Liang.”
Liang Xiao came closer and set the medical kit she’d carried in on the table. “It’s the hand?”
“Mm.” Bo Suiqing extended her hand.
After examining the wound closely, Liang Xiao found the antiseptic in the kit and dabbed it on with a cotton swab.
As she turned the wrist, a tendon in it got twisted. Bo Suiqing’s brow furrowed.
Registering the tension in the muscles of that hand, Liang Xiao glanced at her over the rim of her glasses. “Miss Bo, if it hurts, you can tell me.”
Bo Suiqing looked sideways out the window. “It’s fine. Just keep going.”
Liang Xiao studied her for a beat, then bent back over the wound and said abruptly, “Senior Bo.”
The address had changed — as if dragging her back years in an instant. Bo Suiqing froze. “What?”
“At lunch with Jialuo yesterday, we happened to see the two of you trending.”
“…”
Bo Suiqing lowered her eyes, then lifted them to meet Liang Xiao’s gaze, red lips curving into a smile. “What’s this — does Doctor Liang have something she’d like to say?”
Those glassy, glacial eyes glittered — with no light of pleasure in them.
She waited to hear whether Liang Xiao meant to denounce her on a friend’s behalf, or to offer up the same useless words of advice Xu Shangning had.
“I’d been curious about something for a while, but I had no way to contact you, no chance to ask.”
Liang Xiao went on, “Why did you block Jialuo’s collaboration with the production crew?”
Bo Suiqing’s hand, hanging at her side, stiffened.
Several seconds later: “No one’s ever asked me that.”
When she’d demanded the crew terminate its collaboration with Xu Jialuo, not a single person had asked why.
Bo Suiqing looked at Liang Xiao, the smile at her lips thin and cold — like flecks of snow trembling loose from the tips of a pine bough.
“Everyone in this industry knows it. I simply can’t stand to see Xu Jialuo do well.”
Liang Xiao’s brow creased. “So you really can’t stand to see her do well?”
“…”
Unexpectedly, Liang Xiao caught a flicker of hesitation on the actress’s flawless, beautiful face.
But it was smothered at once, leaving only a cold voice: “Doctor Liang should focus on treating the wound.”
Her brow ticking upward faintly, Liang Xiao lowered her head and laid a skin-toned adhesive bandage over the wound.
“I think I may have just twisted a tendon in your hand. But since you won’t say, I can’t be sure.”
“What is Doctor Liang trying to say?”
“With a doctor, it’s better to be candid.”
With the wound treated, Liang Xiao stood up, medical kit in hand, thought for a moment, and added —
“Not just with doctors.”
Bo Suiqing slowly raised her eyes to her.
Liang Xiao held out a tube of ointment, slipping back into her brisk, all-business mode.
“Keep the wound dry and away from water until it scabs over. Once it scabs, apply this ointment to prevent scarring.”
“Okay.” Bo Suiqing took it. “Thank you, Doctor Liang.”
Xiao Nan came running back, the schedule confirmed. “Suiqing-jiejie, everything’s ready to go. Here’s the run sheet — recording starts in half an hour.”
Bo Suiqing took the sheet and studied it carefully, eyes lowered.
Bo Suiqing threw herself into her work as a matter of course; even after going nearly a whole night without sleep, her performance came close to flawless.
The host the brand had hired was unpolished, losing the rhythm several times — and every time, she caught it back with an effortless, unruffled smile.
When recording wrapped, her long-straightened spine finally loosened a little. Bo Suiqing took the phone Xiao Nan handed over and checked the time — it was nearly noon.
The brand’s people came over to make small talk and proposed a group meal.
The segment director laughed and agreed: “Then I’d better check in with my family first.”
And mid-sentence, she actually started dialing.
The whole group burst out laughing, chatting as they waited.
Xiao Nan leaned in close to Bo Suiqing and murmured,
“Suiqing-jiejie, your driver just contacted me — she’s already on site. If you’re too tired for the dinner, I can let them know, and we can head out first.”
Bo Suiqing lowered her eyes to the phone screen. “Did she say how the person in the hospital is doing?”
“The hospital?” Xiao Nan blinked, puzzled. “No. Who’s sick in the hospital?”
Last night, Bo Suiqing had suddenly said she wanted to go to the 813 Building — then, for reasons unknown, gotten out of the car on her own and told the driver to circle the block without her.
The little assistant had assumed the big star just wanted to wander around alone — her own way of shaking off fans.
Xiao Nan offered, “Should I call the driver and ask?”
“…No need.”
Bo Suiqing’s fingertip brushed gently across the screen.
—”It’s better to be candid.”
Distracted, the fingertip resting on a number moved.
And dialed it.
Beep—
Bo Suiqing’s lashes jerked. She came back to herself and hit hang-up at once.
Xiao Nan stood to one side, utterly baffled by the maneuver, and was just opening her mouth to ask what that was about when a ringtone sounded.
The call she’d just hung up on was being dialed back.
The curtains were drawn tight; the bedroom lay steeped in darkness.
The figure on the bed stirred, thrashing the sheets loose.
Xu Jialuo had been woken by heat.
Just like last night — a scorching tide came surging in from every direction at once.
Stronger, if anything.
No…
Could this be the heat the doctor had mentioned…
The phone at the bedside lit up and went dark again, unnoticed.
The thin silk pajamas were soaked through with sweat. Xu Jialuo tried to push herself up, but her strength was already gone.
Her damp hand groped blindly across the sheets, trembling as it closed around the phone.
Xu Jialuo forced her eyes open, straining to focus her blurred vision, and tapped the phone icon.
Her fingertip moved, going straight to the top entry in the call log.
She was calling Liang Xiao.
Because her friend was an Alpha — and a doctor.
She only didn’t know how long she’d slept, or whether Liang Xiao’s work was finished, whether she’d pick up in time —
The call connected instantly.
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