Chapter 42

“Chaochao, get up. Didn’t we say yesterday that you’d keep me company for breakfast today...?”

Jiang’s mother pushed open the door and called for Jiang Chao, who still hadn’t appeared. Her voice cut off at the sight of an empty bed.

The bathroom door was wide open; the bed was in complete disarray; the beige-checkered comforter had been thrown aside. The room was utterly silent, and it was obvious that its owner had left long ago.

It was only just past seven. Had this child stayed up until the rain stopped, then gone straight back to look for that person?

“So she really does like her...” Jiang’s mother sighed and turned to leave the room, all the while sending a message to her daughter, who had broken her promise.

The message arrived just as Jiang Chao’s car came to a stop.

With a crisp ding, Jiang Chao thought it was Sheng Huaixi finally messaging her. She didn’t even bother unfastening her seat belt; her eyes lit up as she reached for the phone on the passenger seat.

The screen lit up, and the conspicuous contact name instantly shattered her expectations.

“Oh, it’s Mom.”

The tension in Jiang Chao’s body loosened at once. Her cheeks puffed slightly of their own accord, the focused look in her eyes vanished in an instant, and she let out a soft sigh.

Leaning forward, Jiang Chao let her shoulders collapse. Her forehead hit the steering wheel; the pain brought her mind back into focus.

After only a moment, she got out of the car and hurried toward the elevator.

There was no one in the weekend morning elevator to compete with her for space. A few seconds later, Jiang Chao was standing in the small box, the glow of the message screen flashing across her face.

- Remember to apologize to her properly. Also, as compensation for breaking your promise, you have to accompany me to a banquet next Friday.

Suppressing a sigh, Jiang Chao quickly sent back an “Okay.” Her gaze drifted uncertainly over the screen. Those two characters looked no different from any of the others, and yet in Jiang Chao’s eyes they stood out all the more.

An apology...

Jiang Chao unconsciously licked her lips, her gaze unfocused as she tried to ease the nervousness jumping through her chest with the quick motion of her tongue.

A panic called anxiety rose in her heart, clawing madly at her chest. She hadn’t slept all night.

The elevator numbers ticked upward one by one. Jiang Chao kept glancing at them, her long lashes blinking rapidly like a light butterfly weighed down by too much burden. Her toes tapped before she could stop them.

Waiting was the hardest thing.

The broken, intermittent hours of the night had already taught Jiang Chao that very clearly.

She closed the door behind her and didn’t even bother changing shoes before running straight toward Sheng Huaixi’s room.

As expected, there was no one inside.

What greeted Jiang Chao was only empty air.

The only thing that let her breathe a little easier was that Sheng Huaixi’s things were still there.

Sheng Huaixi hadn’t made any real preparations to leave this place completely.

But where was she?

Jiang Chao put away her phone and, brow tightly furrowed, searched the room stubbornly, comparing everything carefully with the way she remembered it being arranged, hoping to find even the slightest clue that Sheng Huaixi had moved something when she left.

Nothing.

Jiang Chao turned back and stood by the door, her fingers irritably twining through her hair as her thoughts raced. Countless possibilities for Sheng Huaixi’s night-long absence flashed through her mind.

Had someone asked her out? Was she simply irritated and didn’t want to stay home? Or perhaps she had gone back just to let Jiang Chao know that she had returned?

Her fingers froze mid-twist. Jiang Chao seized on the thought that had just flashed through her mind and built on it.

In the surveillance footage, Jiang Chao had clearly seen Sheng Huaixi turn back to look at the camera.

She knew there was a camera here.

On purpose?

Jiang Chao rubbed her temples; the nerves at her forehead were jumping furiously.

She forced herself not to think for the moment about whether Sheng Huaixi’s behavior carried any other meaning, and took it simply as a way of reporting she was safe.

Deliberately letting the camera catch her so Jiang Chao would know she had been home; that she didn’t want to stay here; that she hadn’t brought an umbrella; that maybe she had driven out...

“!”

Her eyes suddenly lit up. Jiang Chao quickly grabbed hold of the fleeting location that had flashed through her mind, turned decisively, and rushed out the door, her brows and eyes bright with excitement.

That villa!

Sheng Huaixi had gone back to the villa!!

Her foot slammed hard on the accelerator. The car shot forward like a red bolt of lightning, racing across the dim sky and through the crisscrossing bridges. Jiang Chao’s expression was taut as she drove straight toward the suburbs.

Her eyes fixed tightly on the road, Jiang Chao nervously licked the tip of her teeth, occasionally biting down. The sharp teeth pressed hard into her tongue as she struggled to steady her breathing.

After a night of torrential rain washing everything clean, the bleak sky hung heavily over people’s hearts. Thin, cloudlike wisps of rain drifted down and were instantly smashed apart by the car’s hood.

From far away, Jiang Chao could already see the familiar car parked outside Sheng Huaixi’s home; in that instant, the tightly stretched nerves she had been holding all night finally drew a breath.

She had guessed right.

Sheng Huaixi really had returned to the villa.

Jiang Chao quickly walked to the door. With a soft beep, the door opened.

At that moment, Jiang Chao sincerely thanked Sheng Huaixi for her forceful behavior.

After hearing that Jiang Chao would be staying long-term, Sheng Huaixi had that very night grabbed her and added Jiang Chao’s fingerprint to the lock.

Otherwise, Jiang Chao wouldn’t even be able to get in now.

She shut the door and glanced down. Sheng Huaixi’s high heels from last night weren’t there. Jiang Chao licked her lips, hot breath spilling out as she frowned and went straight upstairs.

The staircase spiraling upward wasn’t long or short, but the few times she had climbed it before had never felt this far.

Jiang Chao bit down hard on her lip, fresh red spreading across her pale mouth until it was almost blood-colored. She took the stairs two at a time, her footsteps pattering through the hallway as she raced upward.

Sheng Huaixi, please be here...

The bedroom door was closed. Jiang Chao’s heart suddenly seemed to skip a beat. A flood of guesses flashed through her mind and shot past like the wind.

Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Chao, breathing shakily, decisively pressed down on the handle.

With a sharp click, Jiang Chao pushed the door open; what she saw made her freeze in place. Her pupils contracted at once to pinprick size, and her ears seemed to go muffled and deaf.

It felt as if someone had smashed her in the back of the head.

“Sheng Huaixi.” Jiang Chao called her name softly. The syllables forced out of her throat trembled faintly, full of fear.

No one answered.

The person lying on the bed had even made her breathing difficult to detect, just like the message she had sent all night without receiving a reply, so faint that Jiang Chao could almost miss it.

The only thing that made Jiang Chao feel a little better was that, after the rain-soaked night, she had finally found the person who had been in a low mood and turned away without a word.

Even though... the situation in the room was far too alarming.

Jiang Chao held her breath and used the light from her phone to slowly illuminate the room’s wreckage.

The dark room, with its tightly drawn curtains, admitted not a single ray of daylight. The spacious room was in complete chaos; broken pieces were scattered everywhere on the floor.

Things that should have been on the table were strewn all over the ground. The faint glow of the screen reflected on the floor, shattered to pieces and beyond recognition. It wasn’t hard to imagine the madness that had once filled this room.

What exactly had Sheng Huaixi done in here...

Jiang Chao watched with growing alarm and carefully stepped over the obstacles in the room, slowly moving toward the faint figure on the bed.

The thin body was breathing evenly. Jiang Chao approached quietly, not daring to make a sound.

The usually alert person was completely still now, lying abnormally quietly on the bed.

She had driven all the way over from home last night; just the time it took to get here probably meant it couldn’t even be called early. It was normal that she still wasn’t awake now.

After thinking it over, Jiang Chao turned off her phone screen and shoved it into her pocket, afraid the light would rouse Sheng Huaixi and disturb her sleep.

The light went out, and everything before Jiang Chao became pitch-black.

Even after her eyes adjusted, she could only make out a little of the figure at such close range. Her ear twitched, counting the breaths one by one, then again and again.

She’d finally found her.

When she woke up, she’d obediently apologize. As for everything else, they could talk about it later.

The tension she had been holding all night finally relaxed at this moment. Jiang Chao let her shoulders sink and slowly crouched by the bed, sleepiness she had delayed far too long flooding over her in a rush.

Her eyelids stung; her body felt weak. For comfort, Jiang Chao shifted position, stretching one wrist forward to rest lightly on Sheng Huaixi’s blanket, thick and soft.

It supported the exhaustion in her body.

In the dark and quiet room, with weariness washing through her and the worry she had carried all night finally laid down... Jiang Chao’s head drooped again and again like a chick pecking at grain.

Again, and again; once, and then again...

Her head rocked up and down in a struggle, and Jiang Chao’s consciousness gradually sank into a haze. Her dulled nerves slowly lowered, and the wrist resting steadily on the blanket also slipped down with it.

She had found Sheng Huaixi, so it was fine. Just sleep for a little while. It was fine...

Her thoughts blurred. Half asleep and half awake, Jiang Chao touched something warm. It felt soft and smooth to the touch, the best thing for keeping her hands warm.

The room didn’t have the heat on. Jiang Chao had naturally no intention of letting go of the warming object in her hands, so she squeezed and kneaded it, trying to draw out even more warmth.

The thing was warm all over; the heat in her hand lingered for a long time, and the soft feel made her want to keep touching it.

It warmed her palm and soothed her mind. Comfortably, she let her cheek rub against the blanket beneath her, her wrist clutching tighter.

Only, the thing under her hand kept shifting.

Was the hand warmer trying to run? Half asleep, Jiang Chao gripped harder, her brows drawing together slightly as she muttered a few words before sinking back into a daze.

But... wasn’t this hand warmer a little too long-lasting?

Sheng Huaixi didn’t fear the cold, and the warming thing stuffed onto the bed was actually better than any she had used before... Wait! Sheng Huaixi’s bed!

Sheng Huaixi never used a warming device in bed!

A jolt shot through Jiang Chao’s mind. She suddenly opened her eyes and, still clutching the thing in her hand, sprang up violently. A tingling current shot up from her calves, and her lower back ached.

She didn’t have time to worry about waking Sheng Huaixi. Jiang Chao followed the thing she was gripping and quickly felt upward. It was scorching hot; the skin exposed outside was absolutely not the temperature it should have been in this season.

What hand warmer with good material? It was Sheng Huaixi’s body burning up!

Turning around, Jiang Chao slapped on the lamp switch beside the bed.

Light flooded the room, driving away all the darkness. Jiang Chao closed her eyes and squinted, adjusting to the brightness before lifting a hand to shield her brow and looking down.

One glance, and she wanted to beat her past self—the stupid, overthoughtful one—to death.

The sleeping Sheng Huaixi’s face was flushed with fever!

“Sheng Huaixi, Sheng Huaixi..."

Jiang Chao bent over and gently patted Sheng Huaixi’s cheek. The heat under her palm nearly burned her hand away.

But the person sunk in sleep didn’t stir at all in response to the calls.

Anxiety spread across Jiang Chao’s brows. She bit her lip and, without another word, yanked the blanket open. Bending down, she was just about to lift the person up when the dark stain in her line of sight made a bad feeling flash through her heart.

No way...

Jiang Chao touched the area at her waist. The fabric, completely soaked through, shattered all of her hopes; her vision went dark.

She refused to give up and checked everywhere. Without exception, the thin fabric in sight was wet and cold in patches.

Even the bedsheet beneath Sheng Huaixi had already started to show obvious dampness.

Sheng Huaixi had worn this little more than scraps of clothing to sleep all night, and it was even wet?!

Was this crazy woman afraid she wouldn’t get a fever?!

What overtook Jiang Chao’s mind faster than anger was urgent worry. As for what had already happened, she had no time to blame anyone.

The most important thing right now was that she had to get this damn outfit off Sheng Huaixi immediately.

With that thought, Jiang Chao hurriedly picked up her phone, sent Jiang’s mother the address, and told her to call a family doctor here right away.

After sending the message, Jiang Chao decisively climbed onto the bed, grabbed Sheng Huaixi by the shoulders, and lifted her into her arms, propping her against herself. Lowering her head, she quickly examined the construction of the clothes.

Fortunately, it was a dress.

Jiang Chao gripped the skirt and pulled it downward. Her knuckles brushed against soft flesh with unavoidable elasticity; the snow-white fullness was cinched tightly by the soaked fabric.

“Haa—”

Jiang Chao knew she shouldn’t be thinking about anything else right now, let alone letting her thoughts drift toward anything so ambiguous. But her mind’s restlessness was not under her control.

The pale skin, tinted red by the fever, was seductive to look at; her fingertips caught against the soft flesh, and Jiang Chao’s ears turned red.

“Aren’t we... not related anymore...”

A faint voice drifted up from her arms; a scorching hand trembled as it landed on the back of Jiang Chao’s hand.

The force was negligible. With just a little effort, Jiang Chao could have pulled free.

But she only froze where she was, not moving at all.

“Why did you still come to my house looking for me... and touch me..."

Sheng Huaixi’s murmur was light and airy, and even the confusion in her words was soft, as if the wind could carry it away.

Jiang Chao didn’t dare answer.

The palm trapped between the scorching hand and the warm softness beneath clearly heard the frantic beating of her own heart.

Through a thin layer of skin.

She couldn’t tell whether it was Sheng Huaixi’s or her own.

But the movement of her fingertips, catching on the fabric as it slipped down from Sheng Huaixi’s chest, was real.

Jiang Chao’s thoughts were in complete chaos. Her lips opened and closed again and again; she didn’t know which of Sheng Huaixi’s questions she should answer first.