A Connection

The water chilled Hui Yin with its coldness. Her lungs were on fire, and she desperately needed to breathe. But Hui Yin refused to breathe. A tight, airless hammering began in her head.

Grayness began to move in front of her eyes. Hui Yin strained, but she was unable to fight it. She gasped, and water filled her lungs. She choked. But the water kept coming, filling her nostrils and her mouth. She was drowning. This was a horrible way to die. She didn't want to die like this.

She still had a lot of things to do!

Hui Yin realized that she must have fainted, because when she woke up, someone was pinching her nose. She lay on the grass, and cold lips were pressed on hers. Blow. Breath. Blow. Breath.

Hui Yin coughed and a strong hand rolled her body to the side. She vomited water into the grass and shuddered. Those same hands pushed her hair out of her face and picked her up. Hui Yin's eyes drifted into a half-mast. She couldn't see who saved her.

Warm hands stripped her of her clothing, but Hui Yin didn't have the energy to fight him. Her body felt limp. The drug was still not out of her system.

Her hands were lifted and something was tugged down into her head. It was a thick sweater that reached down halfway to her thighs. Then cottony pajamas covered her legs, and a blanket was being wrapped around her. Her little figure was wrapped like a dumpling, leaving only a pair of dazed eyes blinking at her surroundings.

"I'm going to call a doctor."

That gentle voice shook Hui Yin slightly out of her stupor. She stared at the tall man walking with long strides towards his cellphone that he left on the balcony. His hands were shaking, and when he went back to her side, he was holding a cigarette.

Hui Yin's eyes closed.

"Bad habit," she mumbled.

She fell asleep.

...

Hui Yin slept for a day and a half. In that span of time, different doctors constantly woke her up and fed her pills. Her hand was stuck to an IV. Hui Yin was often drowsy, drifting in and out of consciousness.

Nurses helped Hui Yin bathe. One time, she caught a glimpse of herself on the mirror. It was the first time Hui Yin saw what Huian looked like. There was really no resemblance to her original face. Huian was more petite than her, and her looks could only be described as average.

That relieved Hui Yin. Lu Shen was only helping her because she was his employee. With this kind of face, even her brother would have a hard time finding out her real identity. Plus, it was impossible for rational people like them to believe in the supernatural.

"Are you finally awake?"

Hui Yin turned her head to the side and saw Lu Shen. He was sitting on a chair beside the bed, calmly solving a sudoku puzzle with a pencil. She struggled to sit up and tried not to flinch when he reached out and supported her back.

Hui Yin bowed her head, letting her hair fall on each side of her face. "Sir, thank you very much for saving my life. I don't know how I could repay your kindness."

The pencil that was scribbling something paused, but his face remained expressionless. "Miss Bao has been sent to jail, so you have nothing more to worry about. It was also my lack of prudence to let guests like that enter my home. How are you feeling?"

Hui Yin didn't expect him to find out that it was Bao Bai so quickly. After rearranging her thoughts, she said, "Much better thanks to sir Lu."

She realized where she had been sleeping for the past few days and scrambled to her feet. "Thank you for letting me sleep in your bedroom, sir. I didn't mean to sleep for so long and slack off on my job."

Her words were awkwardly polite. An indecipherable light flashed across his eyes for the tenth of a second before he rose up and grabbed her arm.

"You're sick, so you can stay here and recuperate. Don't worry about your chores, I'll still pay you the same amount after the month ends."

Hui Yin stared at his chest. She wanted to take a step back and shrug off the hand that was grabbing her arm. She gritted her teeth and strengthened her resolve.

Hui Yin glanced up at him and met his dark eyes.

Then she opened her mouth to say, "Wen family."

Lu Shen was confused and asked, "What?"

Hui Yin couldn't meet his eyes any longer because she was afraid she would start avoiding him again. She really didn't want to stay close to him. She didn't want to have anything to do with him. She didn't even want to see his face.

But as long as her brother wasn't captured and the red thread bound the two of them together, what she wanted would never come true.

"Someone who knows you told me about the car accident that wiped away your memories," she told his chest. He was wearing a long-sleeved navy blue sweater, and she could see the fine stitching that distinguished it from cheap clothing. "He also told me that it might be connected to the Wen family. I don't know who he is, he just whispered it to me when I went out to buy groceries a few months ago. I thought he was lying, so I didn't believe him. I also didn't see his face."

She could only tell him in this kind of indirect way to avoid suspicion.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Lu Shen's tone was flat. Hui Yin couldn't detect any emotions in his voice.

"I didn't know you were searching for the culprit. When I saw the folder you gave to Miss Bao...I realized you might be searching for the driver that hit Miss...Mrs. Lu with his car. And that person also told me something else when he whispered about your accident to me."

Hui Yin glanced up. "He said the Wen family that was connected to your accident also had a connection to the death of your wife."