Chapter 9: The Encounter (Part 1)

Early the next morning, Bai Yuanzhi was awakened by the commotion outside her door.

The neighbors were all working professionals, likely everyone rushing to get up and wash up around this time.

The sound of faucets being turned on and water gushing out,

The flush of toilets,

The clattering of cooking,

And the greetings exchanged as people headed out…

Just as Fourth Uncle had said, this subdivided flat was in better condition with higher rent, which kept out those of lower quality.

So although it was lively and noisy outside, hardly anyone was causing a disturbance.

Bai Yuanzhi quickly got up as well.

The clothes she had washed with plain water yesterday were still not dry.

But at least they were no longer dripping.

She moved the damp clothes to hang by the window.

How should she put it? She wanted to freshen up properly, but she had no toothpaste, toothbrush, or face towel—not even toilet paper!

After a quick rinse with plain water, Bai Yuanzhi headed out.

As she was leaving, she spotted a familiar face.

—The drunk man from yesterday.

Today, he was dressed in a suit, carrying a briefcase, looking every bit the social elite.

When he saw Bai Yuanzhi, he paused for a moment and greeted her, “Good morning!”

Bai Yuanzhi nodded in return, “Good morning!”

Then she introduced herself, “Hello, I’m Bai Yuanzhi, I moved in yesterday.”

The man let out an “ah,” looking somewhat embarrassed, “Hello, Miss Bai, I’m Liu Zhengsong. I work at the securities center. Yesterday, I might have had a bit too much to drink while entertaining a client… I’m sorry if I caused you any trouble…”

Bai Yuanzhi simply smiled.

Liu Zhengsong seemed to be in a hurry to get to work, so after exchanging a few more pleasantries, he left.

A young, thin woman with a pale and sorrowful expression emerged from another subdivided flat. Seeing Bai Yuanzhi, she also paused, “Newly moved in?”

Bai Yuanzhi briefly introduced herself.

The woman nodded, “Oh, you’re Ah Zhi. I’m Zeng Lian, you can call me Sister Lian! Did you just come from the mainland? Are you looking for work?”

Bai Yuanzhi sized up Zeng Lian.

After all, they had just met,

It was wise to be cautious.

“What kind of work do you have in mind, Sister Lian?” Bai Yuanzhi asked.

Zeng Lian replied, “Hotel cleaner, interested?”

“It’s part-time, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day, just three hours. The job involves cleaning rooms after guests check out. The hourly wage is four dollars. If you work all thirty days in a month, you get an extra ten dollars for perfect attendance. That’s three hundred and seventy dollars a month for full attendance. Are you interested?”

Bai Yuanzhi asked Zeng Lian, “Which hotel is it?”

“HomeLove.”

Bai Yuanzhi asked again, “Sister Lian, do you work there too?”

Zeng Lian nodded, “Yeah, I was hoping to find a companion to work with.”

Bai Yuanzhi said to Zeng Lian, “Sister Lian, I’m busy today. Would tomorrow or the day after work?”

Zeng Lian looked indifferent, “Sure! Just let me know when you’re free. I work two jobs a day. At noon, I clean rooms at HomeLove. At night, I work as a waiter at a nightclub. If you want to earn some extra money, just tell me, and I’ll take you along!”

Bai Yuanzhi thanked Zeng Lian and headed out to St. Maria Hospital.

Her newly rented place was neither too far nor too close to the hospital—a distance where taking the bus would hurt her wallet, but walking would hurt her feet.

Between the pain in her wallet and the pain in her feet, Bai Yuanzhi chose meat buns.

Three dollars for two meat buns and a cup of sweet, refreshing soy milk.

While eating and walking, she saw a shoe store that hadn’t opened yet by the roadside, with a promotional sign hanging at the entrance that read, “Special Sale: Genuine Sneakers for Eighty Dollars.”

(Note: Special price of eighty yuan for authentic sneakers)

Bai Yuanzhi mentally calculated her assets.

Actually, there wasn’t much to calculate.

Five hundred and four yuan. Yesterday, she paid four hundred and eighty in rent, and after subtracting this morning’s three-yuan breakfast,

she only had twenty-one yuan left.

She still needed to buy some daily necessities.

So, she simply couldn’t afford shoes.

At 8:30 in the morning, Bai Yuanzhi hurried to the hospital.

Song Junshu was already waiting at the hospital front desk.

He wore jeans and a white shirt, with his bangs parted in a three-seven ratio hanging over his forehead, looking slim, refined, and scholarly.

Bai Yuanzhi knew why he was here—patients in the ICU were only allowed one visit per day from relatives and friends.

Yesterday, Bai Yuanzhi and Zhou Zhaodi had written their relationship with Zhou Sier as “cousin” and “younger sister” on the registration form, and they had arrived earlier than Song Junshu and his group.

Naturally, Song Junshu and the others had missed their chance to visit Zhou Sier.

However, Song Junshu must have seen the names “Bai Yuanzhi” and “Zhou Zhaoer” on the hospital’s visitation registration form.

So today, he was here lying in wait!

But at this moment, Bai Yuanzhi was supposed to not know Song Junshu.

So she pretended not to recognize him.

“Hello, nurse. I’m a relative of Zhou Sier, here today to apply for a visit,” Bai Yuanzhi said to the front desk nurse.

Song Junshu immediately looked over with a heavy gaze.

Bai Yuanzhi looked at the nurse eagerly.

The nurse, however, was all business. She took out the registration form for Bai Yuanzhi to fill out and explained, “Miss Bai, you might have to wait a bit. It’s shift change time right now, so there might not be anyone available to assist temporarily. Sorry to trouble you to wait for about half an hour.”

Bai Yuanzhi nodded, “Alright, I understand.”

Next, Bai Yuanzhi stepped aside and sat down on the waiting bench next to Song Junshu.

She even gave Song Junshu a distant and polite smile.

Song Junshu took a deep breath and said softly, “Miss Bai—”

Bai Yuanzhi turned to look at him at just the right moment, showing just the right amount of surprise, as if she didn’t understand why he knew her surname was Bai or why he was greeting her.

Song Junshu gave an awkward smile, “You… are Sier’s cousin?”

Bai Yuanzhi’s eyes lit up, “Sir, you know my sister?”

Song Junshu said gently, “I’m Song Junshu, Sier’s senior from university, and also her boyfriend.”

Bai Yuanzhi froze, “You’re my sister’s boyfriend?”

Song Junshu nodded, “I… when I came to visit her yesterday, I found out that you and Sier’s younger sister had already visited her, so I…”

Bai Yuanzhi suddenly understood, “So you didn’t get to see my cousin yesterday.”

Song Junshu, “Right, I rushed over early this morning just to…”

Bai Yuanzhi thoughtfully finished the second half of his sentence for him, “…just to go see my cousin with me.”

Song Junshu, “Yes, yes, exactly!”

Bai Yuanzhi sized up Song Junshu for a moment, “But Mr. Song, I asked my aunt, and she said… Sier never mentioned having a boyfriend.”

Song Junshu said sheepishly, “We just confirmed our relationship a week ago…”

Bai Yuanzhi immediately felt something was off.

In her previous life, after uncovering Song Junshu’s secret, she had thought he had two obsessions:

First, he deeply loved Zhou Sier, which was why he went to such lengths to be with her—because she was the younger sister of her elder sister, and the two sisters looked very much alike;

Second, he urgently needed Zhou Sier’s notebook, believing it was in her possession.

But now it seemed that when her elder sister had the accident, Song Junshu had only been her boyfriend for a week?

Then the first assumption likely didn’t hold.

In other words, it was highly possible that Song Junshu didn’t have much affection for her elder sister at all. Was he purely after her elder sister’s research achievements?

Bai Yuanzhi pressed further, “Really? Which day was it?”

Song Junshu was taken aback.

He probably hadn’t expected Bai Yuanzhi to suddenly ask such an insignificant matter.

But seeing Bai Yuanzhi looking thin and small, it was possible she was simply curious about adult love stories.

So he answered without hesitation, “It happened this month.”

“Which day?” Bai Yuanzhi persisted.

Song Junshu replied, “April 14th.”

Bai Yuanzhi’s heart skipped a beat.

Earlier, she had already questioned Zhou Xiangmei and learned that her elder sister had gone to the Bilanting Hotel on the evening of April 15th.

Moreover, according to Zhou Xiangmei, when her elder sister fell from the building, her attire was highly improper, resembling that of a call girl.

Yet, on April 14th, Song Junshu and her elder sister had established a romantic relationship;

Just one day later, on the evening of April 15th, her elder sister went to the Bilanting Hotel;

And shortly after midnight on the 17th, her elder sister fell from the building?

This truly raised many questions!

Song Junshu turned the question back to Bai Yuanzhi, “What’s the matter, Miss Bai? Is this matter very important?” His gaze held a hint of scrutiny as he looked at her.

Bai Yuanzhi displayed just the right amount of awkwardness, “I’m just worried about my elder sister’s medical expenses—”

Song Junshu was clever and immediately understood Bai Yuanzhi’s implication.

She was worried that his feelings for Zhou Sier weren’t strong enough for him to cover her medical expenses.

Song Junshu inwardly laughed at his own suspicion.

He reassured himself—Bai Yuanzhi looked to be at most sixteen or seventeen, having just arrived from the mainland and lacking worldly experience. Such a girl was easy to placate.

“Don’t worry, Miss Bai. Even if there are difficulties… I’ll find a way to resolve them,” Song Junshu said vaguely.

Bai Yuanzhi slightly curved the corners of her lips, then quickly smoothed them.

—If she hadn’t personally heard Song Junshu say yesterday that Zhou Sier’s medical expenses were covered by the Bilanting Hotel, she might have almost believed that he was shouldering all the costs himself.

Looking back, in her previous life, she must have been wearing rose-tinted glasses to have failed to see the true nature of this venomous snake during their two-year relationship.

But for now, appearances still had to be maintained. “Thank you, Mr. Song.”

A nurse came over to call Bai Yuanzhi for visitation.

Bai Yuanzhi pointed at Song Junshu and asked the nurse if she could bring him along.

The nurse agreed.

So Bai Yuanzhi returned to the glass wall from yesterday and saw Zhou Sier lying on the bed with her eyes tightly closed.

To be honest, from the outside, Zhou Sier looked no different today than she did yesterday, and it was impossible to tell whether she was better or worse.

This made Bai Yuanzhi extremely anxious—yesterday, the doctor had said that if her elder sister didn’t wake up soon, she might not survive!

And today was already April 20th.

—Today in my past life was the anniversary of my elder sister’s death!

Bai Yuanzhi held the receiver and spoke to Zhou Sier, who was separated by a glass wall: “Elder sister, you must be filled with so much regret in your heart right now, aren’t you?”

Upon hearing this, Song Junshu’s expression turned stern!

Bai Yuanzhi continued: “You worked so hard to come to Hong Kong City, obtained your identity, and got into university… You were about to graduate and soon find a respectable job. To have something happen at this moment, you must be unwilling.”

Song Junshu’s expression eased slightly.

Bai Yuanzhi: “And also, elder sister, why did you go to such a luxurious hotel? And how could you be so careless as to fall from upstairs! I know this couldn’t have been your intention. Elder sister, were you pushed off?”

Song Junshu’s heart leaped into his throat.

Bai Yuanzhi: “Elder sister, please don’t let anything happen to you! Wake up, okay? You’re already in your third year of university, about to graduate. I believe you had clear plans for your future and career… If you give up now, all your hopes and efforts will be in vain! Elder sister—”

Song Junshu’s expression turned stern again.

Yes, Bai Yuanzhi was deliberately saying these things.

What she feared most right now was that her elder sister would pass away.

She was also afraid Song Junshu would give up on her elder sister—because he was the one handling the payment of her medical expenses through Bilanting.

Her words to her elder sister were actually meant to pressure Song Junshu directly.

Indeed—

Song Junshu’s expression shifted unpredictably.

But in the end, when he heard Bai Yuanzhi say “all your hopes and efforts will be in vain,”

Song Junshu seemed to have made up his mind.

He clenched his fists.

Bai Yuanzhi turned to him and asked, “Mr. Song, would you like to say a few words to my sister?”

Song Junshu exclaimed softly, “Is that allowed?”

Bai Yuanzhi nodded, “Of course.” She handed him the receiver.

Song Junshu took it and said, “Sier—”

He hesitated, as if he had a thousand things to say but couldn’t find the words.

Bai Yuanzhi watched Song Junshu’s performance quietly.

However, a few seconds later, although Zhou Sier on the other side of the glass wall appeared to remain still and unchanged, lying quietly in bed, several monitors beside her suddenly beeped with alarms.

Bai Yuanzhi froze.

Song Junshu was also stunned.

Nurses in the ICU rushed over upon hearing the commotion, frantically shouting, “Doctor! Get the doctor here quickly!”