TSMLI CHAPTER 22

After getting in the car, Lin Chu said, “Just drop me off anywhere in the city. Thank you!”

Shen Zhongxun smiled faintly and said, “You’re being too polite with me again.”

Perhaps it was because of the hot weather, but the drivers on the street were all particularly irritable. Every now and then, a driver could be seen sticking out of the window and cursing. The air was thick with tension, and even Shen Zhongxun did not smile.

A van caught fire on the highway, billowing smoke and flames shooting toward it as it passed. Firefighters formed a circle around it, unsure if they could extinguish the fire immediately. Lin Chu said, “This kind of weather is the most terrifying. Most cities across the country have been scorched this year, and fires can break out at any time.”

Shen Zhongxun said leisurely, “Many of them are playing with fire and getting burned.”

Lin Chu nodded seriously, completely unaware that Shen Zhongxun had glanced at her.

Halfway there, Lin Chu received a call from Ye Jing, who said, “Then you should go register first. There are a lot of people seeing doctors on Sunday. I’ll be there in about fifty minutes.”

After hanging up the phone, Lin Chu heard Shen Zhongxun ask, “Which hospital?”

Lin Chu was taken aback. “Uh… City Hospital.”

Shen Zhongxun changed direction and drove straight to the city hospital. Half an hour later, he arrived at the hospital entrance, and Lin Chu thanked him and got out of the car.

Ye Jing waited outside the consultation room and stood up to wave when she saw Lin Chu.

Seeing her pale face, Lin Chu asked worriedly, “How did you spend this week? You looked much better when you went back!”

Ye Jing laughed and said, “How else can I live? I go to work and come home every day, pretending that nothing is wrong. I regret not moving out back then. I’m always worried about living with my parents.”

Lin Chu squeezed her hand and whispered a few words of comfort.

There were too many patients waiting for their appointments, and the aisles were crowded with people, making it difficult to find seats.

Ye Jing lamented, “No phone call, no text message. He just transferred two thousand yuan to my card. He had said before that all his money was in his wife’s hands, and I believed him. I never asked him for a single penny, but now he’s just trying to get rid of me with two thousand yuan. I feel so cheap!”

Lin Chu frowned, put her arm around her, and said, “If you’re still thinking about him, then you’re really cheap.”

Ye Jing shook her head. “You really don’t understand. You can’t just forget someone you’ve truly loved. Didn’t you have a crush on someone before? It takes this long to end a crush, let alone a real relationship!” She then whispered, “I really don’t believe in love anymore. It’s all so disgusting.”

Just then, a commotion broke out ahead. Two burly men were waving at people blocking the road. A little girl behind them said something, and the two men immediately lowered their heads and obediently fell behind, letting her go first.

The young girl walked over to Ye Jing and found an empty seat. She immediately sat down, looking slightly tired. The two burly men stood to the side, their tattoos faintly visible on their arms.

Lin Chu and Ye Jing looked at each other, then moved slightly closer to the girl, keeping their distance. The conversation was temporarily interrupted, but Ye Jing remained tearful and seemed weak and listless.

Lin Chu secretly glanced at the girl and noticed that her belly was protruding, indicating that she was pregnant. She then spoke to Ye Jing to attract her attention and prevent her from seeing the girl and being reminded of her feelings.

Ye Jing still saw it. She turned her head and saw the little girl’s hands protecting her stomach, and a tear finally fell from the corner of her eye. She wiped it away and couldn’t help but strike up a conversation. “Are you here for a prenatal checkup alone?”

The young woman paused for a moment, then smiled and said, “My husband came with me.” Seeing Ye Jing glance at the two big men with a strange look, the young woman added, “He went to change his flight. We were supposed to take a 2:30 flight to go on a trip, but I had a bit of an upset stomach, so we had to miss it. These two are my husband’s and my friends. They’re not bad people.”

A moment later, a burly man came running up from the end of the corridor, shouting, “Yao Yao!”

The little girl immediately stood up. As the man walked toward her, everyone in the aisle shrank back against the wall, fearing he might bump into them. A moment later, he reached her, bringing a gust of wind with him. His voice, however, was not as harsh as before; instead, it sounded somewhat cautious. “What are you doing here?”

The little girl replied, “There are no seats over there, and I’m tired of standing.”

Upon hearing this, the man immediately glared fiercely at the two burly men. The little girl pulled him back the way they came, whispering something to each other, while the two burly men continued to follow behind with their heads down.

Ye Jing burst into laughter through her tears. “Why does it look like a mountain bandit king taking his wife on a trip, along with two tall and burly henchmen?”

Lin Chu watched them walk away, a faint smile appearing on her face as she thought of something. “Sometimes when I see couples like this, I really think marriage is a good thing!”

Ye Jing nodded. “That’s true, but who knows how long that couple will stay together? And where can you find a man who doesn’t cheat?”

Lin Chu said with a worried expression, “Speaking of which, my mom set me up on another blind date today!”

“Huh?” Ye Jing was incredulous. After listening to Lin Chu’s story, she burst into laughter and added insult to injury. “No wonder you’re dressed so beautifully today! You said your mom is going through menopause, so why don’t you just go along with it and pick someone to date? You can always break up with them!”

Lin Chu said irritably, “Do you think this is a vegetable market? I need to pick something that I feel a connection with!”

Ye Jing hummed in agreement and laughed. “It has to be someone like your older brother next door, right?”

Lin Chu ignored her and told her to keep a close eye on the line.

Ye Jing breathed a sigh of relief after the examination. She didn’t have that shameful disease, but her body wasn’t in good order and her hygiene wasn’t thorough enough. She would need to put in some effort in the coming days.

Just as the two finished preparing the medicine, Lin Chu suddenly received a call from Shen Zhongxun. She answered curiously, only to hear a deep voice on the other end ask, “Not ready yet?”

“Ah?”

Shen Zhongxun asked, “Still not out of the hospital? I’m outside.”

Lin Chu immediately stopped in her tracks. “You… is there something you need?”

“Hmm,” Shen Zhongxun said in a low voice. “How much longer do you have?”

Lin Chu couldn’t discern his emotions; she only sensed a low, heavy tone, like the gloomy sky before a storm, where insects and birds hovered low, unable to withstand the descending air pressure. She grabbed Ye Jing, who was walking forward, and replied, “It’ll be quite a while. What’s wrong? Can’t you say it on the phone?”

Shen Zhongxun paused for a moment before saying, “It’s nothing. You can continue. I won’t bother you.”

After hanging up the phone, Lin Chu looked completely bewildered. Ye Jing asked, “Who was it?”

“Shen Zhongxun.”

Ye Jing joked, “Oh, you even called me directly. I almost forgot he’s also one of your suitors. Don’t you have any feelings for him? He’s much better than all your blind date dates, isn’t he!”

Lin Chu said with distress, “If we have to compare them like this, he is of course the best one, but the problem is…” She couldn’t explain why for a moment. Ye Jing probed, “You answered so decisively last time. Why are you hesitating this time?”

Lin Chu glanced at her, then silently pulled her to a chair nearby, intending to leave later.

Lin Chu had only been sitting for a short while when a scream suddenly came from the corner of the corridor, followed by a commotion. Looking in that direction, she saw a large group of people suddenly surge out of the corridor, shouting, “Murder! Murder!”

In the blink of an eye, a doctor with blood on his face ran out of the crowd wielding a scalpel. Someone tried to grab him, but hesitated for a few seconds in fear of the sharp blade in his hand. In those few seconds, the doctor had already run up to Lin Chu, grabbed a nurse next to him, pressed the tip of the knife against her neck, and shouted, “Get out of the way, or I’ll kill her!”

The group screamed and fled toward the door, but the security guards outside couldn’t get in. Several doctors shouted to stop them, but the man cried out like a madman, “I’ve already killed one. I’m not afraid to kill another one. All of you get out!”

Lin Chu covered her mouth in horror, watching helplessly as the knife slashed into the neck of the nurse who was so close to her. She immediately pulled Ye Jing and ran toward the door with the crowd, but the doorway was already blocked. People were jostling and shouting at each other. Some even fell and were trampled underfoot. The cries and screams grew louder and louder.

The doctor, carrying a semi-conscious nurse, forced his way to the door. The crowd grew increasingly chaotic, and the scene was out of control. Lin Chu’s legs went weak as she watched the bloody face getting closer and closer. Ye Jing burst into tears and desperately tried to squeeze through the crowd. The two of them finally managed to squeeze through the gaps in the crowd. A large number of people stumbled and fell to the ground, but immediately got up and fled far away from the hospital area.

The blood-faced doctor rushed out, and in the ensuing scuffle, Lin Chu heard him scream hysterically, his eyes bloodshot, completely out of his mind, in a state of madness. The screams of the crowd could no longer be controlled, because the knife had already pierced a section, and blood was flowing down the nurse’s neck.

Lin Chu knew she shouldn’t look, but her gaze kept uncontrollably fixed on that spot. She forced herself to look away, but her eyes felt like they weren’t even hers.

The next instant, the back of her head was suddenly pressed down, her face pressed against a chest. An unfamiliar breath filled her nostrils, and she screamed in shock, frantically hitting the person. Suddenly, she heard a voice above her: “…City Hospital, a doctor is holding a nurse hostage. The scalpel has been plunged into the nurse’s neck. The scene is chaotic, and many people have been injured in the stampede.”

Lin Chu calmed down inexplicably, trembling slightly, but stopped struggling and breathed heavily against the fabric of his suit.

Shen Zhongxun hung up the phone and immediately cupped Lin Chu’s face in his hands to look at her. Lin Chu’s eyes were wide open, her lips were parted, and her face was as white as paper. Hearing the screams and roars in her ears, she became even more frightened.

The doctor dragged the nurse to a car. Just when everyone thought he was about to drive away, he suddenly roared, laughing and crying at the same time. He then raised his scalpel high and stabbed the unconscious nurse. Several men nearby rushed to stop him, but it was too late. Blood stained their eyes. Lin Chu moved her head with a scream. Shen Zhongxun pressed her against his chest again and whispered, “Don’t look!”

In the distance, sirens wailed. The chaotic and bloody scene was brought under control as police officers arrived swiftly. No one knew the cause of the incident, only trembling as they recalled the last scene they witnessed in the ward: the doctor had stabbed another doctor in the same department to death with the scalpel. Witnesses then screamed, and a group of people ran out.

Finally, a reporter stepped out from the crowd and provided a clue to the police.

It turned out that the doctor was a department head. The hospital was undergoing a major personnel reshuffle recently, and he was expected to be promoted. However, he was exposed by another person for having a mistress and accepting bribes. The two had an argument in the office, and in a fit of rage, he killed the person. He went down the wrong path and hurt more innocent people.

The reporter took a pinhole camera out of a black handbag, which captured the scenes that took place in the office.

This heinous incident caused a huge uproar. Before it even got dark, major media outlets in Nanjiang City gathered outside the hospital. Police cordoned off the area, and a pool of blood was left on an open ground outside the hospital. The female nurse who was victimized died on the spot. The office on the ground floor where the incident occurred was immediately sealed off, and criminal investigators were collecting all the evidence. At the time of the incident, everyone was only concerned with escaping, but now everyone had gathered together to watch the spectacle, describing the events of the evening in front of the cameras with lingering fear.

A car drove away from the news broadcast site, turned a corner, and entered the bustling road.

Lin Chu, holding her phone, said, “I just finished giving my statement, and I’m going back now.”

Ye Jing said on the other end of the line, “I was really scared just now. I couldn’t find you after I ran out. Luckily, I didn’t see anything, otherwise I would have had nightmares tonight. Shen Zhongxun, take you back?”

Lin Chu whispered, “Mmm.” After saying a few more words in a low voice, she hung up the phone.

Shen Zhongxun was also on the phone, wearing a Bluetooth headset, and said sternly, “Get home right now! This is my order, and it’s also your grandfather’s order!”

“Why should I? Because I’m your uncle, Jiang Jin. You listen to me carefully. Get home right now, or you’ll be sent abroad tomorrow!”

He yanked off his Bluetooth headset, stared blankly at the road ahead, and silently drove through several traffic lights until he finally arrived at Guanjin Garden as night fell.

Lin Chu thanked him, her voice barely audible. Her hands, which were unbuckling her seatbelt, trembled slightly. She thought to herself that she should find time to burn incense in gratitude someday, as she had encountered this kind of bad luck for the past two months. She tried to relax with the thought, but her limbs were out of control, as if she were still at the crime scene, watching the scalpel pierce a fair neck.

Shen Zhongxun silently leaned over, helped her unbuckle her seatbelt, patted her head, and said softly, “What’s there to be afraid of!”

Lin Chu felt she had heard those words before, but couldn’t recall the specific context. Seeing that Lin Chu was clearly still shaken, even more so than when they were at the crossroads last time, Shen Zhongxun felt a pang of sympathy and couldn’t help but hug her tightly. “Really, don’t be afraid. It’s nothing serious!”

Lin Chu awkwardly moved her neck, feeling strange with her head held against Shen Zhongxun’s chest. She blushed and replied, “Okay, I know.” Then she tried to push him away.

Shen Zhongxun used force to prevent Lin Chu from breaking free, and said in a low voice, “Lin Chu, I am thirty years old this year. I studied in Beijing and graduated with a master’s degree. After graduation, I have been working in Min’an. My annual salary is higher than that of ordinary civil servants and state-owned enterprise employees.”

Lin Chu didn’t understand his intention. With Shen Zhongxun pressing her head down, she couldn’t see his expression. Shen Zhongxun continued, “I had girls I liked in college, and some girls pursued me, but maybe because I’m a bit introverted, I never had a chance to date. After starting work, I haven’t met many women, so until now, I’ve never had any dating experience. My mother passed away two years ago. My father is Shen Hongshan, the general manager of the city investment company. My brother is Shen Zhonghe, an antique dealer. My sister-in-law is Wen Peiru. I also have a nephew, Jiang Jin. That’s all I have.”

Lin Chu blushed, understanding his meaning. After hearing his last sentence, she thought, “I don’t think I’m any worse than your blind date. If you’re going to go on blind dates with other people, why not try going on one with me?”

Lin Chu raised her hand and pushed him, stammering and unable to answer, her face flushed as she avoided his breath.

Shen Zhongxun stared at Lin Chu’s fluttering eyelashes. He noticed a blush on her cheeks as she desperately pushed him away. He felt a pang of pity for her, remembering Lin Chu standing at the hospital entrance in a long dress, staring in shock at the bloody and chaotic scene.

Shen Zhongxun thought to himself that if she hadn’t dressed so conspicuously today, he might not have been able to spot her at a glance, and he didn’t know how frightened she would have become. This kind of girl was “strong on the outside but tough on the inside” and needed to be carefully protected by others.

Shen Zhongxun swallowed hard, his emotions involuntarily rising to his lips, slowly searching for Lin Chu’s.

Lin Chu’s eyes widened as she watched Shen Zhongxun slowly approach, his hot breath brushing against her face. She instinctively turned her head away, shrank back in her chair, and cried out, “Shen Jing… ah!”