“Ah Lan…… do you think I should also pledge my body to you1?”
Chi Qian felt that even if the killer didn’t come in the end, this scamming broken system could still pit2 her to death.
She heard the system punishment notification in her head and really wanted to curse people. It even told the host to get ready—how was she supposed to get ready? She couldn’t even stand up right now.
She just knew it; once she showed any sign of being relaxed or happy, a succession of broken matters would happen.
The asthma spray3 was in the pocket of the clothes she had just thrown in front of the window. It was very far away, and she couldn’t reach it at all. If this notification had been sent out just a little earlier, she wouldn’t have thrown her clothes that far.
Gonna die.
Sunlight beat down intensely on Chi Qian’s body, scorching the surrounding air until it felt thin.
It felt like something was expanding inside her chest and lungs. Her opening and closing throat felt like an old, broken bellows had been stuffed inside; air squeezed in and squeezed out, raspy and indistinct.
Chi Qian felt that this punishment from the system seemed to be aiming for her life. The punishment had only just begun, yet she instantly lost all her strength.
This was the first time she felt the sun was so intense it made her uncomfortable. The light came so scorching hot that it made every one of her pores break out in a cold sweat.
This house had been soaked in medicinal herbs for decades, and the bitter scent of medicine drifted everywhere.
Chi Qian still had the strength to frown, and ghosts and gods at work4, she felt that the room’s ice-cold floor wasn’t as soft as the Humulus vines5.
Humulus vines.
That was the place she and Shi Jinlan had fallen into after rolling down the hillside.
It seems that when people are about to die, they always like to recall profound things. Chi Qian remembered the first time her asthma flared up.
At that time, she was also about to die, and it was Shi Jinlan who helped her take out the asthma spray.
This person’s hands were cold, which was better than the current sun.
Shi Jinlan…
Why was she thinking of her?
Her clothes were thrown so far inside, and Shi Jinlan couldn’t stand up. Even if she came, she wouldn’t be able to reach them, right?
The sound of a cat’s sharp claws scratching across glass tore into Chi Qian’s ears, stroke by stroke.
She seemed to see Thirteen revealing an anxious expression. The system punishment had just shielded it, so it could only worry in vain like this.
Chi Qian used her few remaining shreds of clarity to judge the situation and suddenly pulled a trace of a smile from the corner of her mouth.
No one could give her the asthma spray.
This time, it seemed she was really done for…
She had originally wanted to be Thirteen’s one hundredth surviving host.
She hadn’t even protected Shi Jinlan at the final moment yet.
Ah… Lan.
Watching Chi Qian’s breathing grow weaker and weaker, Thirteen the whole cat was burning with anxiety.
It was restricted by the system; no matter how it tried, it couldn’t enter Chi Qian’s room.
It just had to be that Chi Qingyan had left at this exact moment. Who could save Chi Qian?
Save its host.
In these years of being a system, Thirteen had already bid farewell to too many hosts.
It hadn’t told Chi Qian yet that the host who “ran with the ball”6 was also sent to be destroyed by the main system because she couldn’t accept that once the mission ended, she would have no further relationship with her child and the male lead.
That day, Thirteen stayed in the system space for a long time without coming out. The program code didn’t endow systems with emotions, but it just felt uncomfortable.
This long-suppressed emotion intensified today. Every piercing sound of fingernails scratching across the glass was Thirteen’s unwillingness.
It really didn’t want Chi Qian to leave it too.
It especially couldn’t accept Chi Qian leaving.
“Be careful.”
“Many thanks.”
Just at this moment, the sound of two people talking came from the courtyard.
Yuan Ming had escorted Shi Jinlan to the door; while turning around, he said, “The school needs me for something, so I won’t go in.”
“Good.” Shi Jinlan nodded.
A very subtle atmosphere always lingered between the two of them; they simply couldn’t be alone together.
Under the long daylight, Shi Jinlan maintained her politeness, standing at the door to watch Yuan Ming leave.
Then, without waiting for his back figure to completely disappear, she turned and walked into the courtyard.
The double crutches tapped on the ground, the sound almost inaudible.
But Thirteen’s ears twitched.
It turned to look at the courtyard, watching Shi Jinlan walking in, as if seeing a savior.
“Meow meow!” Thirteen quickly jumped down from the windowsill, running to Shi Jinlan in three steps combined into two7, meowing at her incessantly.
The sunlight made Thirteen’s white, yellow, and black body look fluffy and soft, and its meows were even more well-behaved.
Shi Jinlan watched it circling her legs and frowned. Her first reaction was to look for Chi Qian: “Where is your owner?”
Hearing this name, Thirteen’s meowing became even more pronounced: “Meow——!”
Like Chi Qian, it was also somewhat afraid of Shi Jinlan.
It carefully tugged at the hem of her skirt with its mouth, trying hard to signal her to follow it.
This cat had never been this close to people in the past.
And the way it was acting now, it didn’t look like it wanted to play.
Shi Jinlan immediately felt something was wrong and looked down at Thirteen: “Did something happen to Chi Qian?”
“Meow!” Thirteen’s eyes instantly lit up. It tugged at Shi Jinlan’s skirt again and ran quickly into the house.
Shi Jinlan watched the robust cat sit at the door of Chi Qian’s room. The narrow corridor had no direct light source, and dim shadows were everywhere.
Somehow, a lot of bad feelings suddenly arose in Shi Jinlan’s heart.
Those calm pupils could no longer maintain their composure. She pushed the door open with one hand and saw Chi Qian lying on the floor, curled up in a ball, her breathing very weak.
“Chi Qian!” Shi Jinlan felt like she had been hammered by a fist; for the first time, a tremor of panic appeared in her voice.
Thirteen followed closely behind Shi Jinlan, wanting to drill through the loophole and enter with Shi Jinlan.
But as soon as it stepped one foot into the room, countless electric currents surged through its body, threatening to tear it apart.
Thirteen gritted its teeth tight, not letting itself cry out.
It still couldn’t get in; it could only stay far outside the door, praying that Shi Jinlan could save its host.
Meow~ Thirteen endured the severe pain and pawed at Shi Jinlan’s skirt.
It was a look akin to begging, a layer of watery mist covering its mixed black eyeballs.
Shi Jinlan had never thought an animal could reveal such a look, yet she inexplicably felt it was déjà vu.
She thought she shouldn’t believe in these things, but her hanging arm stroked Thirteen’s head: “Wait.”
In her drifting mind, Chi Qian felt like she heard Shi Jinlan’s voice.
Her eyes were downcast, struggling to lift slightly. The blinding sunlight cast a white haze before her eyes; in the dim glow, someone pushed aside this blur and walked toward her.
A long shadow blocked the sun, and non-existent green leaves interwove into Chi Qian’s vision.
Breathing weakly, she looked at the crutches in her line of sight, feeling that she was indeed about to die; even the revolving lantern8 was coming out.
But why was it Shi Jinlan?
Didn’t they say that before dying, people would see the most important person in their life?
She had known Shi Jinlan for less than three months…
Chi Qian lay on the ground, moving her mouth strenuously and weakly, as if she wanted to say something.
Shi Jinlan’s brows were tightly locked. She let go of her crutches and knelt beside Chi Qian, asking anxiously, “Where is the asthma spray? Where is your asthma spray!”
Chi Qian realized this didn’t seem to be her life’s revolving lantern; Shi Jinlan was asking her for the spray just like last time.
Her cold hand skillfully reached into her upper clothes pocket, teasing open a clear path through Chi Qian’s chaotic thoughts.
So Chi Qian also knew that Shi Jinlan wouldn’t find her asthma spray here.
“No…” Chi Qian strained, finally spitting out a word from her throat.
She couldn’t hold Shi Jinlan’s hand anymore; she just used all her strength to lift her arm, pointing to a place Shi Jinlan couldn’t reach at all.
——The large desk in front of the window.
Chi Qingyan was thrifty. This desk in Chi Qian’s room was converted from a table retired from the sick ward. The desktop was large and wide, able to hold anything, which had fostered her rather disorderly living habits.
Chi Qian had just tossed it casually, throwing the jacket directly to the very back.
Actually, for a healthy person, it would be easy to reach; just lean the body in and hook it hard.
But Shi Jinlan couldn’t stand.
She was currently relying on the double crutches in her hands to replace her legs to walk. Let alone leaning her body, she couldn’t even stand up if she was missing one crutch.
Years of immersion in the business world allowed Shi Jinlan to analyze the crux of the matter almost instantly.
The icy temperature of the floor tiles pressed against her exposed knees, and what invaded her bones was a sense of powerlessness.
But in fact, Shi Jinlan’s reason tugged at her, making her feel she didn’t need to have such a heavy sense of powerlessness.
With all sorts of things piling up and crushing down over the years, Shi Jinlan’s blood had long since run cold.
She didn’t even struggle when facing her own death, so why should she generate such emotions for others.
Analysis after analysis pounced on Shi Jinlan like program commands, wanting her to give up.
She couldn’t stand up. She could only roll up Chi Qian’s sleeves, look for acupoints, and use what she had learned these past few days to relieve her respiratory distress as much as possible.
Worst case scenario, if Chi Qian died, she would just accompany her.
“Heh.”
Shi Jinlan let out a scoffing laugh, a layer of gloom painted beneath her pitch-black pupils.
She didn’t know when she had become so calm about death; just one Chi Qian outweighed her hatred and desire to take revenge on Shi Cheng.
“Ah… Lan.”
Just as Shi Jinlan was sinking into this self-destructive tendency, Chi Qian’s voice froze her in place.
That voice, so weak it was almost inaudible, was right by Shi Jinlan’s ear.
She didn’t know why Chi Qian would call her that, only hearing her use her nearly dissipating life to say to her: “Don’t look back.”
Ruthlessly, Shi Jinlan’s heart felt like it had been twisted.
Sourness and expansion swallowed her self-destructive emotions bite by bite.
No, Chi Qian could not die.
Even if there was only a sliver of hope, she couldn’t let Chi Qian die.
Die in front of her.
Shi Jinlan had once read a phrase she found very interesting, called “living towards death”9.
In the past, she didn’t understand the meaning of these four words. She walked numbly on the path designated for her by the Shi family; life and death were not up to her.
But at this moment, she held Chi Qian’s arm.
Their light skirts draped together, illuminated pale by the sunlight, looking just like the form of life.
In a very recent instance, Shi Jinlan had this feeling too.
What she held in her hand was Chi Qian’s life, pale and drooping, just like a white Hall crabapple10.
She had to get the asthma spray.
That was the fastest and most effective method.
The shadow crouching low on the ground shuddered rhythmically, as if the sprout of some flower was breaking through the soil.
Shi Jinlan’s thin arms tensed, supporting her entire body on the crutches.
Having not walked for a long time, the bones in her legs seemed to have fused together; every exertion brought pain.
A few veins pulsed faintly along Shi Jinlan’s temples, yet with her long hair cascading down, she still looked calm and composed, as if victory were in her grasp.
The Little Mermaid finally possessed a pair of legs that belonged to her, able to walk onto the shore.
But every step she took out of the water felt like walking on blades. The flat road was like a knife, slicing across her tender soles stroke by stroke, dripping with blood.
But so what?
She had something more important than this; she could endure it.
“…”
Trembling heavily, Shi Jinlan let her feet land on the ground.
That pain of meridians being torn penetrated her whole body. The sun burned hot, sprinkling beads of sweat on her forehead.
The distance from the center of the room to the window was only five or six steps, yet Shi Jinlan felt it was as long as a century.
She exerted all her strength to reach out and hook the large desk; the rough fabric felt softer than ever before.
With the clothes containing the asthma spray in hand, Shi Jinlan could no longer support herself. Her legs went weak, and she crashed to the floor with a boom.
This was probably the most pathetic moment of her life.
Dragging crippled legs to reach for a piece of clothing, just to find an asthma spray inside that didn’t belong to her.
Shi Jinlan didn’t know how the past her would view the current her.
Her wretched state wasn’t for herself, but for another person.
A completely…
At this moment, Shi Jinlan could no longer say that Chi Qian was completely worthless to her.
Chi Qian’s greatest value was that she could not lose her.
…
The sun dyed the world before Chi Qian’s eyes into a vast expanse of white. In the illusion, she seemed to see a person.
That person looked exactly like her from the original world, reaching out a hand as if inviting her.
Inviting her to do what?
To return to the original world?
Chi Qian had a kind of joy of being able to go home.
Subconsciously, she was about to reach out to join that person, but somehow, she suddenly paused.
She suddenly realized that her yearning for that world was far less than her attachment to this current world.
Why…
The question was like a water droplet falling into still water, suddenly rippling out from the center.
Chi Qian frowned tightly. The lack of oxygen in the real world suddenly became clear again, seemingly not allowing her to leave quietly.
“Chi Qian, open your mouth.”
The world was a white haze, but Chi Qian heard a familiar voice.
She didn’t even try to distinguish who this person was, obediently opening her mouth and waiting for the next command.
But she waited a long time without receiving the next command.
Her mouth didn’t seem to be open wide enough. Under the scorching sun, her chin was clamped by a cold hand.
That person pried her mouth open and stuffed a cold and familiar object into it.
Hiss——
The atomized gas was released, slowly drowning out the ringing in Chi Qian’s ears.
Oxygen flowed in down her throat, and she gained a bit of strength to open her eyes.
A silver-gray flame burned in her eyes; Chi Qian had never felt that this flame made her feel so at ease before.
It was Shi Jinlan.
Shi Jinlan had helped her find the life-saving item.
Only, why was she kneeling on the ground?
Her knees seemed to have been bumped, red and reflecting some bruises, making her look so wretched.
Chi Qian’s eyes were darting around, and Shi Jinlan noticed it too.
She held Chi Qian’s asthma spray and pulled at the person’s flailing hand: “Don’t waste your energy.”
Not knowing if it was the confusion caused by hypoxia, Chi Qian smiled foolishly upon hearing this.
Shi Jinlan had only pinned down one of her hands; the other hand was not restrained and lifted up again just like that.
Then, inch by inch, it familiarly caressed Shi Jinlan’s neck: “Ah Lan… do you think I should also pledge my body to you?”
Shi Jinlan suddenly tensed up all over.
The author has something to say:
Lanlan: Marry! Marry!
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