Chapter 10: Confrontation (Part 2)

Bai Yuanzhi sat dazedly outside the emergency room, waiting.

Perhaps the air conditioning was set too low—

She felt so cold.

What would become of her elder sister?

Would she pass away young, just like in her previous life?

Or would she gradually recover?

Bai Yuanzhi hoped for the latter.

Since she herself had been reborn,

her elder sister, who was so kind, deserved a second chance as well.

After what felt like an eternity,

the light in the operating room finally went out.

Dr. Huang walked out, looking exhausted.

Bai Yuanzhi immediately approached him, her eyes red as she asked, “Thank you for your hard work, Dr. Huang. How is my sister…”

Dr. Huang frowned at Bai Yuanzhi, his expression complicated. “Miss Bai, please come to my office.”

A sense of foreboding rose in Bai Yuanzhi’s heart.

She followed Dr. Huang to his office, with Song Junshu trailing closely behind her.

“Dr. Huang, is my sister’s condition… really not good?” Bai Yuanzhi asked anxiously.

Dr. Huang replied, “Miss Bai, your sister’s situation is quite complex.”

He sighed before continuing, “As I mentioned to you yesterday, her injuries are actually very severe…”

Bai Yuanzhi was nearly frantic. “Dr. Huang, please, just tell me—how is my sister?”

Dr. Huang explained, “To put it simply, her injuries are severe, but her will to live is strong. Although her recovery is slow, overall, her condition is improving. Just now, for instance, she showed some reaction upon hearing the voices of her family members.”

Hearing this, Bai Yuanzhi glanced back at Song Junshu.

Song Junshu’s gaze seemed oddly evasive.

Dr. Huang continued, “But what troubles me is this—Miss Bai, you are only Zhou Sier’s cousin, correct?”

Bai Yuanzhi nodded.

Dr. Huang said, “However, yesterday afternoon, Zhou Sier’s mother, Mrs. Wu, came to see me and said she wanted to withdraw life support for Zhou Sier.”

“I know this might sound inappropriate, but to buy time until you arrived, Miss Bai… I used a small tactic. I told Mrs. Wu that withdrawing treatment required a handwritten statement.”

“Mrs. Wu likely cannot read, so she told me she would bring the paperwork in a few days.”

In Bai Yuanzhi’s mind, it felt as if a tightly strung string had suddenly snapped, emitting a deafening buzz.

At that moment, her brain seemed to stop functioning.

Song Junshu was also stunned.

Dr. Huang went on, “Although this is your family’s decision, I still find it regrettable. Zhou Sier is so young, and her injuries are not untreatable. Even she herself is fighting so hard… Miss Bai, what I mean is, could you go back and try to persuade Mrs. Wu…”

“We will treat her!” Bai Yuanzhi clenched her fists and declared loudly, “We must treat her!”

“Dr. Huang, I will go find my… aunt and ask for an explanation! But until then, I hope you will do everything in your power to save my sister.”

“If you dare to abandon her treatment for any reason, I will call the police. I will not only accuse my aunt of murder but also hold your hospital accountable!”

By the end, Bai Yuanzhi was so furious that tears streamed down her face.

Dr. Huang, however, was quite relieved. “Alright, alright, Miss Bai, please rest assured. With your words, I feel at ease too. We will do our utmost to treat Zhou Sier.”

Bai Yuanzhi then asked Dr. Huang for more details about her elder sister’s condition.

Dr. Huang told Bai Yuanzhi that Zhou Sier’s condition had improved compared to before.

Previously, she had fallen into a deep coma, but after today’s emergency electric shock treatment, although she still hadn’t regained consciousness, her heart rate was now showing stress responses.

“To put it simply,” Dr. Huang chose a more relatable example to explain to Bai Yuanzhi, “human behavior is controlled by the brain, but she injured her brain during the fall, which is why it stopped functioning. Now, she might already be awake, but because of the brain injury, it temporarily can’t control her body. However, there are already stress responses, which is a good sign… With a bit more recovery time, she will definitely get better and better.”

Finally, Dr. Huang added, “It was likely hearing the voices of her family that woke her up. Miss Bai, please visit Zhou Sier more often in the future. It will help her regain consciousness sooner.”

Bai Yuanzhi nodded, bowed solemnly to Dr. Huang in thanks, and then left the hospital.

Song Junshu followed Bai Yuanzhi out.

Standing at the hospital entrance, Bai Yuanzhi turned to Song Junshu and asked, “Mr. Song, will you come to see my sister again tomorrow?”

Song Junshu looked somewhat bewildered.

Bai Yuanzhi understood perfectly—her elder sister hadn’t shown any reaction when she heard her voice. And since her sister and Song Junshu had only been in a relationship for a day before the accident, it proved that their feelings weren’t deep enough for that kind of response.

Yet, her sister had a stress reaction as soon as she heard Song Junshu’s voice?

This suggested that her sister’s feelings toward Song Junshu… might not be love to that extent; it almost seemed like there was animosity!

So, for Song Junshu, he was likely caught in a dilemma now.

Perhaps he didn’t want Zhou Sier to recover, because she had most likely gotten into trouble because of him!

But he also hoped Zhou Sier would recover, because his team couldn’t do without her as its core member.

Bai Yuanzhi said, “I’ll come to visit my sister again tomorrow, Mr. Song. If you’d like to come too, let’s set a time, so you don’t make a wasted trip.”

Song Junshu snapped out of his daze. “Ah… yes, yes.”

“Then let’s meet at 8:30 tomorrow morning again,” Bai Yuanzhi suggested.

Song Junshu nodded absentmindedly. “Alright.”

Bai Yuanzhi added, “By the way, Mr. Song, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask you.”

Song Junshu replied, “Go ahead.”

Bai Yuanzhi said, “Where is my elder sister’s dormitory? I’d like to go and pack up her belongings.”

Song Junshu was taken aback. “You—”

Bai Yuanzhi explained, “Given my sister’s condition, she probably won’t be able to continue her studies for now. I want to pack her things, bring them back, and help her apply for a leave of absence. Once her condition stabilizes in the future, she can resume her studies.”

Then, she added, “However, I need to go back and talk to my aunt right away. Mr. Song, could you please give me my sister’s dormitory address? After I finish talking with my aunt, I’ll go pack her things.”

Song Junshu told her Zhou Sier’s dormitory address.

Bai Yuanzhi politely bid farewell to Song Junshu and left.

However,

Bai Yuanzhi headed straight for the Hong Kong University dormitory area.

—She had to take Zhou Sier’s belongings before Song Junshu could react.

To be precise, she hoped to get her sister’s diary.

Soon, Bai Yuanzhi found Zhou Sier’s dormitory.

No one was in the dorm at the moment.

Bai Yuanzhi waited for about an hour before two young girls arrived hand in hand.

Bai Yuanzhi quickly stepped forward to introduce herself, saying that Zhou Xiangmei had sent her to pack up Zhou Sier’s things.

Zhou Sier must have been very popular.

The two girls immediately let Bai Yuanzhi in, not only helping her pack Zhou Sier’s belongings but also eagerly asking about Zhou Sier’s recent condition.

Bai Yuanzhi simply said there was no improvement and asked them to help her with Zhou Sier’s leave of absence procedures, but not today—she had to deliver Zhou Sier’s luggage to her aunt’s house first.

The two girls readily agreed, set a time with Bai Yuanzhi, and even helped her carry the luggage to the bus stop.

And so, Bai Yuanzhi finally brought all of Zhou Sier’s luggage to the subdivided flat she had just rented.

Then she closed the door and began sorting through all of her eldest sister’s luggage and personal items.

Of course, she also got her hands on her eldest sister’s diary as she had hoped.

There was another unexpected surprise—she found banknotes tucked inside the diary’s front cover, a mix of small and large denominations, totaling around two thousand dollars.

This meant that, in the short term, making money wasn’t such an urgent matter.

Bai Yuanzhi searched through Zhou Sier’s luggage once more.

She quickly sorted the items into categories.

First, Zhou Sier’s daily necessities, such as a washbasin, bucket, soap, shampoo, slippers, a small rice cooker, and clothes—anything she could use, she kept.

Second, items that seemed more important, like handwritten manuscripts and letters, which she carefully stored away.

Finally, she sorted out a portion of books, along with some of Zhou Sier’s other belongings, packed them into two bundles, and hurried to Zhou Xiangmei’s house with them.

Carrying so many things, Bai Yuanzhi took the bus.

It wasn’t rush hour, so the bus was quite empty.

Bai Yuanzhi sat by the window, looking up at the street scene outside.

As the bus stopped at a red light, she saw the large advertisement on a skyscraper with the words “Standard Chartered Bank.”

Bai Yuanzhi’s gaze shifted to the ground floor of the building.

As the bus started moving again, a colorful sign flashed past her eyes.

But Bai Yuanzhi still managed to read it clearly: “Standard Chartered proudly introduces a new service—private property storage in bank safety deposit boxes.”

Ah, bank safety deposit boxes!

Bai Yuanzhi smiled.

She thought her eldest sister’s diary had finally found a safe place.

Carrying two heavy bundles of luggage, Bai Yuanzhi got off the bus two stops early and first went to Jiang’s Roast Meat Shop.

The lunch rush was over, and there were no customers in the shop.

Aunt Jiang’s expression soured as soon as she saw Bai Yuanzhi, and her tone was sharp. “You show up after all the work is done! Honestly, we agreed yesterday that both you and your sister would come to help at noon today, but neither of you showed up! Now that I’m already done, what are you here for?”

Bai Yuanzhi apologized sincerely. “I’m sorry, Aunt Jiang. This morning, when I went to see my eldest sister, something happened to her, so I was delayed.”

Aunt Jiang immediately asked, “What happened to your eldest sister?”

Bai Yuanzhi didn’t hide anything from Aunt Jiang and told her directly.

Because she needed to create some public opinion to force Zhou Xiangmei not to give up on treating Zhou Sier through overwhelming pressure.

Sure enough, as soon as Aunt Jiang heard it, she exploded, “What are you talking about? Aunt Xiang… went to tell the doctor to give up on treating Sier?”

Bai Yuanzhi nodded pitifully, “But the doctor clearly said my sister has been improving! Aunt Jiang, my sister is still so young! She’s almost a college graduate…”

“Is Aunt Xiang sick?” Aunt Jiang cursed, “Sier is such a good girl…”

As she cursed, Aunt Jiang asked Bai Yuanzhi, “Is Aunt Xiang complaining about Sier’s treatment being too expensive?”

Bai Yuanzhi replied, “My sister’s treatment fees are currently being covered by the hotel.”

Aunt Jiang became even angrier, “Then since she doesn’t have to pay for the treatment, why won’t she let the hospital treat her?”

Bai Yuanzhi added fuel to the fire, “Maybe she’s afraid Uncle Wu will dislike her for having too many children…”

A look of sudden realization dawned on Aunt Jiang’s face, “That’s right! Oh, even a tiger doesn’t eat its own cubs!”

Bai Yuanzhi then said to Aunt Jiang, “Aunt Jiang, I’m going to my aunt’s house right away to talk about this. I want to ask you a favor—if Officer Jiang comes back, could you ask him to come to my aunt’s house?”

Aunt Jiang, who had just been united in anger and indignation,

froze completely upon hearing this.

Her gaze toward Bai Yuanzhi carried a scrutinizing look that seemed to ask, “Are you also like Wu Jiayin and Li Yongzhen, trying to chase after my son?”

After a moment, Aunt Jiang said firmly, “Ah Ming is busy today.”

Bai Yuanzhi said very politely, “The main thing is—I suspect my aunt wants to murder my cousin.”

Aunt Jiang was stunned, her mouth agape.

Soon, a blazing flame of gossip ignited in Aunt Jiang’s eyes, “I’ll call Ah Ming right away and have him go to Aunt Xiang’s house to find you.”

Bai Yuanzhi said regretfully, “But I have no evidence.”

Aunt Jiang comforted her, “You’re not a police officer, of course you don’t have evidence.”

Bai Yuanzhi seemed a bit troubled, “I don’t know if it’s too much trouble for Officer Jiang to deal with something based on rumors.”

Aunt Jiang said, “He’s a police officer! No clue should be overlooked.”

Bai Yuanzhi added, “Speaking of which, I’m about to go talk to my aunt about my older sister, and I’m quite nervous. After all, I’m new here and not familiar with the place. I get scared even when my aunt raises her voice a little. It would be great if an elder could accompany me.”

Aunt Jiang said, “Oh, I just remembered the Roast Goose is sold out today! I might as well pack up and go home now… Mrs. Wu told me yesterday she also wants to go to the store to buy discounted sauce. I’ll go ask her if she wants to come with me.”

Bai Yuanzhi and Aunt Jiang exchanged a knowing smile.