Chapter 16 His Leaving

The call lasted only a minute or two.

Gu Tingchen went out for a while, but when he came back full of worry.

He looked at me helplessly.

I asked him softly, "what happened?"

He sighed and asked, "I'm leaving later. Are you coming with me?"

I was aware: "is it Wen Ruyan?"

He closed his eyes and said, "she was injured in a car accident."

I patiently asked, "so, you're going back to take care of her?"

Gu Tingchen was silent, but his leaving gave me the answer.

Before he left, I reminded him, "we had conditions before. You're not allowed to see her during our romance, remember?"

He said, "I remember. So, I want…… "

Want to ask for my approval?

But what made him think I would let you go?

"Gu Tingchen, this romance is over if you leave."

I turned off the movie, got up and said with a smile, "I won't stop you from leaving. You can break your words. But Gu Tingchen. I am never as apprehensive as you have thought."

Gu Tingchen looked at me in silence, and finally turned to leave.

He left, and I saw through the window that he looked so determined downstairs.

I sighed and turned back to lie down on the bed to sleep.

Until evening when Gu Tingchen's mother called me to have dinner, I dressed neatly and went downstairs with my suitcase. Standing in the hall, I found the snow had been thick enough.

Seeing me like this, Gu Tingchen's mother asked gently, "are you leaving?"

"Yeah, my flight is about to take off. Thanks for your concerns these days."

"You are welcome. You're my daughter-in-law, don’t be courteous."

"Auntie, Tingchen and I have been divorced for a period of time."

His mother was surprised and silent.

There was pity on her face. I asked with a smile, "can I build a snowman?"

"Yes, do you need help?"

"It’s ok, I can do it. I'll leave as soon as I finish it."

I found a place where the snow was the thickest, and began to build the snowman. Having done it with my parents while I was a child, I didn’t feel it was hard. After the snowman was finished, I took out the apricot scarf in my suitcase and put it around the snowman gently.

I went back to the hall and planned to leave with my suitcase, but a picture on the wall caught my sight. It was a picture of Gu Tingchen playing the piano when he was young was he wore a simple white T-shirt.

He looked warm, and elegant.

I had found it days before, and often stared at it in a daze. Once, Gu Tingchen saw me, and asked me in bewilderment, "what are you staring at so absorbedly?"

Ultimately, I could not help tearing it off the wall, and then hid it in my pocket. As I made it to the door, Gu Tingchen's mother called me. I thought she had found about my stealing the picture, so I pretended not to have heard her and left quickly.

So quickly that I didn’t hear her asking, "why do you have Lanzhi’s scarf?"

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I had a bad headache on the plane and fell asleep. Finally, the stewardess woke me up.

I stood up in a daze and left for home.

I felt exhausted all over. I might have caught a cold from building the snowman. Coupled with my poor health, it resulted in me being exhausted and high fever. I took a taxi to the hospital.

Seeing me, my attending doctor asked in surprise, "why do you look so weak?"

I nodded, "I caught a cold. Can you get me some infusions?"

"Sure. How are you feeling lately?" He asked.

"the pain is obvious, and the bleeding down there is a bit serious."

The doctor said, "I still suggest you have surgery."

I smiled and refused: "you said it’s an advanced cancer. Even if I have the surgery, I will not fully recover, but just have a few more months to live. In that case, what difference does it make to have a surgery?"

Besides, I don't want to waste the rest of my time in the hospital.

The doctor sighed and said, "Miss Shi, I'll check your health first."

After the checkup, the doctor arranged and took me into my previously advanced ward. I lay dizzy in bed and fell asleep very quickly. When I woke up, I suddenly saw a tall figure by the window.

The lights in Wu city was shining brightly. He turned his back to me and looked at the neon out of the window. I lay on the bed, blinked and asked him, "is Wen Ruyan also in this hospital?"

He turned around, and looked at me gloomily: "yes, her ward is right next to yours. I just passed by and saw your name written on the door."

"This hospital belongs to Shi family. This is my exclusive ward."

I was trying to tell him that I didn't show up on purpose because Wen Ruyan was also in the hospital. It was a complete coincidence.

Gu Tingchen suddenly came up to me, and asked with concern, "why are you sick?"

I had instructed my doctor not to divulge about my cancer to anyone.

So, Gu Tingchen would only know that I had a cold and fever.

"I caught a cold and felt uncomfortable, so I came to have some infusions."

Gu Tingchen frowned. "you were fine when I left during the day."

I said softly, "I'm too weak."

I answered whatever he asked, as if our conflict in the day did not exist. When he saw me like this, Gu Tingchen asked, "don't you have any grudge against me at all?"

I shook my head and said frankly, "I don't want to blame you. I don’t want to bother carrying a grudge."

I didn’t blame him, but I was never going to forgive him as well.

We shall have nothing to do with each other.

I appreciated him for taking care of me these days. Although those concerns were fake, they had at least let me feel what it felt like to be taken care of by a person who I loved.

When he heard that I didn’t hold any grudge, he seemed to find it difficult to accept. He stared at me for a long time, and finally said: "as you wish."

As I wish?

I was confused, and didn't know what he meant.

I closed my eyes and wanted to continue to sleep, but Ji Nuan suddenly called me, with fear in her voice, she called out "Sheng er, help me."

I asked in surprise, "what's up?"

"I'm in the police station. Gu Tingchen had me locked up."

Not until when I got to the police station did I know that Wen Ruyan was injured by Ji Nuan. I asked Ji Nuan what had happened. She said in horror: "it was Wen Ruyan who forced me. It was her. She caused that car accident."

I was confused, "what?"

"It was Wen Ruyan who hit Chen Chusheng and made him legless. I didn't know how they had settled the case, and I didn't care originally, but she came to me today and asked where you were. It's not until that time that I got to know that she was the ex-girlfriend of Gu Tingchen!"

I comforted her: "don't be afraid. What happened then?"

I hugged Ji Nuan. She cried and explained, "I didn't want to hit her, but she said you robbed her of Gu Tingchen, and hid him from her so that she could not find him. She came to me to ask where you were because she knew we are best friends. She thought I must know where you were, but I really didn’t! Then she began to satirize me and Chen Chusheng, saying that Chen Chusheng was a cripple with broken legs, and that he was a loser who could not do anything. She even said that he was not a man! I couldn't help it, so I hit her with my car. I was just too angry. If it had not been because of her, Chen Chusheng and I would not have gone through so many tribulations! Her lawyer accused me of attempted murder, and I will be in jail for at least two years. Sheng er, help me! I can't go to the jail. I must go to Chen Chusheng. I can’t lose him! I don't want to stay in jail!"

Ji Nuan was almost mentally breaking down. I hugged her and comforted her. Then I suddenly realized that Gu Tingchen was the key to the case, because he was Wen Ruyan’s greatest source of power.

I went to the hospital to find Gu Tingchen despite the pain in my body.

He was feeding Wen Ruyan porridge gently, just as gentle as he had been to me in the fake romance.

I closed my eyes and planned to knock. Wen Ruyan was the first to see me standing at the door. She asked on purpose, "Tingchen, do you love me?"

Gu Tingchen responded lightly: "why do you suddenly ask this?"

Wen Ruyan kept asking: "do you?"

"Ruyan, you know my feelings for you."

His feelings to Wen Ruyan……That would be love.

I stopped myself from knocking and waited in the hallway. Gu Tingchen did not come out until 20 minutes later. Seeing me, he was surprised, and asked in an indifferent voice, "why are you here?"

I compressed my lips and asked, "can you let go of Ji Nuan?"

"You and her…… "

"We are best friends."

Gu Tingchen thought for a moment and told me clearly, "I have to make the result of the case satisfactory for Ruyan, just as I have to make the result satisfactory for you if you get injured by others. Otherwise, she will keep arguing with me, and will think that I have not done anything to protect her."

He is right. If he helped me, Wen Ruyan will be disappointed and make a scene. He had no reason to favor me at all, because I was not his fiancee.

His words were plain, but sounded cruel.

Because he was telling the truth.

Gu Tingchen tried to bypass me to leave, but I suddenly asked him coldly: "I have never argued with you. Is that why you think that you don’t have to make the result satisfactory for me?"

He paused and looked at me calmly.

"Shi Sheng, what are you getting at?"

He said in a cold voice, fearing that Wen Ruyan would hear a trace of tenderness in his voice from the ward. I asked with tears, "Gu Tingchen, two years ago when you had my baby aborted, I didn’t argue with you even though the doctor said I had lost my fertility forever. You made me lose my fertility, and now I want you to let go of Ji Nuan. In that case, we will be even."

"Shi Sheng, what did you say?"