Walking right into death

The moment Li Juan opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a pair of sparkling eyes.

They were watching her. It was a penetrating gaze which reached the deepest layer of her heart. A familiar silhouette of a man appeared in front of her.

Is it Tang Wei Sheng?

Wei Sheng Ge! She tried to call him but somehow her voice stuck in her throat. Li Juan was still half asleep and her head felt heavy. She somehow tried to sit up. Upon watching her struggles to sit up, he helped her to sit face to face with him.

"How are you feeling now?" He asked.

His voice was rather deep but very sensuous.

It is not Tang Wei Sheng. His voice has a different feel; it gives warmth to the person who hears it. Li Juan closed her eyes and opened once again to clear her blurry vision.

"Li Juan!"

"Yes." Li Juan involuntarily replied to him.

"Can you see me?"

"Hmmm," Li Juan looked at the person in front of her, with widened eyes.

Upon seeing her innocent expression, a smile bloomed in his lips. "Here, have some water." He said as he extended a glass of water to her. However, instead of handing over the glass to her, he moved it towards her mouth.

Li Juan involuntarily tried to take the glass from him.

But the moment she tried to move her hands, she felt a thrumming pain on her left shoulder.

"No, do not move your arm. " He warned her in a tone that was laced with affection and care. "It takes some time for the wound to heal, so no rapid movements."

He held the glass and helped her to drink the water. Somehow Li Juan ended up drinking the whole glass of water and still felt thirsty.

"Would you like to have another glass of water?" He asked her politely.

"Yes, but." Li Juan replied and tried to take a look at her surroundings. "Where am I?"

"You are at my place," he casually replied.

Li Juan glared at him. What kind of answer is that?

"Who are you and why I am at your home?"

"Well, my name is Liang. And someone told me to take care of you for a while, that's why you are here."

"Who? Wei Sheng Ge?" Li Juan was enthralled as she deduced that Tang Wei Sheng was the one who asked this man to take care of her. "Did he return?"

"Not yet." Liang coldly replied. "Let me take a look at your wound." He came closer to her and slid the shirt to examine the condition of her wound.

There was a bandage on Li Juan's honey-coloured shoulder.

"It is a flesh wound and will heal soon," Liang sounded confident. He slowly disinfected the wound and bandaged again.

"Are you a Doctor?" Li Juan asked him.

"Are you hungry?" He asked while checking the glucose drip on Li Juan's arm.

"Yes." Li Juan answered without any hesitations. She doesn't know how many hours passed since she had a proper meal.

"Okay." He stopped the drip and went outside.

Li Juan slowly examined the room.

It was a small room. Apart from the bed, there was only a bedside table as furniture in the room.

But the first thing that catches the eyes of the visitor was the walls which are filled with books.

The two walls of the room were decorated with bookshelves designed as a tree and its branches.

There was a window adorned with white curtains which are open to a garden. Whenever a breeze passes, the white curtains flowed beautifully. There was a simple sitting space near the window. The flower-filled garden and the window held breathtakingly beautiful scenery like the paintings.

The air and early sun rays coming through the room felt fresh and lit up the room. On the other side of the room, there was a closet and a bathroom. The whole design of the room seems to be created for a diehard reader. Li Juan thought. She also wants to have a room designed like this.

Liang came back with congee and water.

"Did you have your breakfast?" Li Juan asked him.

He was surprised to hear that. Li Juan was lying in sleep for 48 hours and woke up only a few minutes ago.

How can she concern about another person in this short time?

"Not yet."

"Dr Liang. Let us eat together." Li Juan requested him.

"Eating alone" was one of the things Li Juan hated the most. Liang kept the food tray in the bedside table and came back with his food. Both of them sat in the bed.

"Do you want to remove the needle? It will be difficult to hold the spoon." Liang asked her before starting to eat.

"No thanks, I can handle this." Li Juan grabbed the spoon with her left hand and began to eat.

"So do you have any explanation for me being alive?" Li Juan asked him while eating.

"Do you remember what happened in Xi city?" Liang replied with a counter-question.

A group of people tried to harm and ultimately shot her.

"If my memory is correct, I was attacked by a gang and someone shot me." Li Juan tried to recall the events that almost sent her to death.

"So, you remember? Good." Liang sounded excited and it was widely visible on his face. "Were you able to recognise those people? Anyone whom you know?"

"No. Not really. I'm new to this place and I hardly know anyone here." Li Juan told the truth it has been only three days that she came to Xi city.

"Also they wore masks, so I didn't see their faces."

"What do you think? Why do they attack you?" Liang continuously bombarded Li Juan with questions and she felt like she was being interrogated by a police officer.

It took her a moment to gather her thoughts.

"I thought they were just some robbers or something, but when they kept chasing me hard, I felt that it was not just a random attack. They even had guns."

Li Juan tried to remember the details of the whole scenario. "But I don't know why they attacked me; I am just a random tourist...like nobody. It will be a joke if I accuse that I have enemies." She couldn't help but snigger.

"What if they were your boyfriend's enemies?" Liang threw a question at her, which Li Juan immediately denied.

"My boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend."

"What?" Liang let out a chuckle when he heard her sudden denial. "Don't you have a boyfriend?"

Li Juan remained silent for a moment and replied no.

No one knew that she is dating Tang Wei Sheng. She didn't even reveal her relationship to Tang Wei Lan. How can she say this to a stranger?

"Then what about the CEO of Tang corporations?" Liang sounded curious. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"No." Li Juan immediately replied. "He is my employer."

A mocking smirk appeared on Liang's face when he noticed her ardent efforts to hide the truth. "As far as I know, Li Juan still works as a research scholar at Jing University."

"He invests in our research." Li Juan blurted out to save her lies.

"Oh, I didn't know that Tang Corporation is interested in archaeological researches."

"You seem to know so many things about me." Li Juan looked at him with suspicion.

"Yes, of course." Liang smiled and continued, "Tang Wei Sheng and you, you guys were childhood sweethearts."

"Okay, I believe you, you surely know a lot." Li Juan agreed to him and tried to change the topic. The high school love was seriously something she didn't want to discuss.

"I didn't know that you would confess so easily." Liang laughed and looked at her.

"Confession, what confession?" Li Juan tried her best to blurt out anything about their relationship.

"I just threw bait and you fell for it." Liang chuckled.

"What?" Li Juan took a moment to reflect her words.

"I didn't know a thing about your relationship with CEO Tang and it was you who kept giving me hints. I was wondering what kind of employee would think of their CEO when they nearly escaped from death?" Liang Explained.

Li Juan just remained silent. How did she fell into his verbal trap and blurted about their relationship?

"So, let's come back to the point. You say that you don't have any enemies. So the next possible suspicion comes with Tang Wei Sheng." Liang said with a straight face.

"But why should his enemies try to kill me? For the outer world, we don't even have a proper boss-employee relationship."

"Why would they kidnap a mere research scholar to negotiate with the CEO of Tang corporations?" Li Juan was in clear confusion.

"Li Juan, you can say that you are not in a relationship with him. But the truth is that your actions were quite clear to assume that you guys are in a relationship." Liang explained.

"No. That is not possible. We haven't been in touch for a while and,"

Li Juan's words were interrupted by Liang once again.

"Do you think that the hitmen and those people behind them are dumb?"

"They do research; they search for every single detail about their target. They will go deep in searching about the target's weaknesses, strength and all.

That's how an organised crime takes place." Liang explained it to her like an experienced person.

"But I met him only a week ago." Li Juan was looking for reasons to refuse his accusation.

"Yes, at his birthday party. Do you know that you were the only guest who appeared out of blue and mysteriously disappeared afterwards?"

Well, Liang was right.

Li Juan remembered the party night where Tang Wei Sheng hugged her in front of the crowd. At that moment she wasn't bothered about it.

"And the havoc created in the restaurant that day, did you thought that you guys were in a private kitchen or something?

Or do you want me to elaborate the details of the trip you guys had to the monastery?"

The coldness and seriousness in Liang's words made Li Juan uncomfortable.

Why his mannerisms show that he is scolding Li Juan as if she was found guilty for her misconduct.

"How do you know all these?" Li Juan suddenly asked him. "Are you stalker?"

Liang let out a laugh.

"A minute ago, you called me Doctor. Now you are calling me a stalker. I wonder what will be my next title."

This doesn't make any sense. Li Juan became even more suspicious about the person in front of her.

"It is pretty much easier to find out people who are secretly dating than people who flaunt their love publicly." Liang crossed his arms and looked directly into her eyes.

"In your case, you thought you kept everything hidden, but in reality, everybody knows about it. Even a simple background check on your school days will reveal your relationship with him.

It was so evident that Tang Wei Sheng laid his eyes on you."

Li Juan felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Liang was right. Even though during their schools days, Tang Wei Sheng and Li Juan weren't a couple, due to the kiss, it was rumoured that Li Juan was Tang Wei Sheng's girl.

Tang Wei Sheng was friendly with everyone and for Li Juan; he cherished her more than anything else in the world. He made sure to protect Li Juan at any cost.

"Maybe they targeted you to negotiate with Tang Wei Sheng," Liang explained to her.

"And you saved me from them?" Li Juan asked him.

Liang nodded his head in agreement.

"So who are you then?" Li Juan asked the question once again.

This man, he says that he is a doctor, but his words are suspicious.

Li Juan examined the man in front of her eyes.

Why does he look familiar?

Especially those obsidian eyes?

Li Juan felt a chilly sensation all over her body.

Did she walk right into the hands of death?