After A Secret Marriage With The Trending Queen - Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Time ticked by. Ye Qin grew a little impatient. She glanced down at her watch. Shen Lu had been gone for about half an hour; why was there still no sign of her? Her first thought was to call her, but Shen Lu’s phone started ringing right there in the room. Following the sound, she saw it lying on the chair Shen Lu had been sitting on.

This idiot. She left without her phone.

Ye Qin’s eyelid was twitching fiercely. She decided she had better go look for her. It would be terrible if something happened. She quickly got out of bed, grabbed her phone, dug out the ever-present mask from her bag and put it on, and then let her long hair down to enhance her disguise.

As she walked out of the room, she felt a bit disoriented. The narrow corridor seemed endless. Ye Qin stood at the door, looking left and right. Which way should I go? Doesn’t matter, just pick a direction.

“I heard someone fell into the sea.”

“Is that right? That’s intense! Let’s go look!”

Two people rushed past Ye Qin, their words drifting into her ears. In that instant, Shen Lu’s face flashed in Ye Qin’s mind, and she quickened her pace to follow them.

The path she had chosen led to the deck, which was now crowded with people. Ye Qin struggled to push her way through and saw someone performing emergency resuscitation. The person lying on the deck… was Shen Lu.

The buzzing of various voices and discussions filled her ears.

“I knew I heard someone calling for help! It wasn’t my imagination!”

“I wonder if this girl will be okay. She looks barely over twenty!” an older woman lamented, her face full of pity.

Just then, the cruise manager arrived, shouting to the crowd, “Who knows this young lady? Does she have any friends or family here?”

At that very moment, Ye Qin rushed forward, knelt beside Shen Lu, and gently shook her body. “Shen Lu, wake up, wake up!”

Shen Lu’s clothes were completely soaked. Her face was pale and bloodless, like that of a dead person. The surrounding noise was loud, filled with countless sounds, but Ye Qin seemed to hear nothing. At this moment, only one thought occupied her mind: she must be okay.

…

The cruise ship docked. It was the second unscheduled stop in its twenty years of operation.

The first time was because someone attempted suicide by jumping into the sea, and their family discovered the motive and called the police, forcing the ship to halt and dock.

Ye Qin followed Shen Lu onto the ambulance and immediately used her phone to contact Wang Lin during the ride.

Wang Lin and Yang Li were both exhausted after an intense bout of lovemaking. They were helping each other shower. When Wang Lin came out, wearing Yang Li’s pajamas, she noticed her phone on the table flashing with a call from Ye Qin. She instinctively answered without hesitation.

“Qin, I heard you and Shen Lu went to the lantern festival,” Wang Lin said with a smile.

“Something happened,” Ye Qin said. “Shen Lu fell into the sea. I can’t explain everything over the phone right now. We’re on our way to the hospital.”

“What? Fell into the sea?” Wang Lin’s face immediately changed.

Yang Li, though unable to hear the conversation, heard Wang Lin’s words and saw her rapidly shifting expression. The situation must be serious!

“I understand. I’ll be right there.”

Wang Lin hung up the phone, turned to Yang Li, and said, “I might… need to leave for a while.”

Yang Li smiled, completely understanding. “Go. Drive safely on your way.”

Wang Lin looked at her, unsure how to act or what to say. She walked over, cupped Yang Li’s face, and kissed her deeply. “I’ll try to come back as soon as possible.” Only then did she release her and head out the door.

…

Shen Lu was rushed into the emergency room. Ye Qin waited outside, unable to sit still. She couldn’t understand why or how this could have happened. It seemed they would have to wait for Shen Lu to wake up to determine anything.

A person walked past the end of the hallway, stared at Ye Qin for a long time, and then left.

…

“A bunch of incompetents! You had such a good opportunity and still got the wrong person!”

A man speaking with a heavy local accent complained sheepishly, “I… I have a bit of face blindness… You can’t blame me. I completed the task you assigned. You should pay me.”

The stern man next to him glared at the man standing opposite. “Where did you find such an idiot!”

“Boss, I was careless. I promise I won’t mess up next time.”

…

A little while later, the doctor came out and took off their mask.

Ye Qin rushed forward to ask, “How is she?”

“She’s fine now. It was just temporary shock. If everything is okay after an overnight observation, she can be discharged tomorrow.”

“That’s good. Thank you, Doctor.”

Just then, a nurse walked over. “Are you her…”

“Family,” Ye Qin blurted out instantly.

“Then please go to the first floor to settle the payment.”

Ye Qin nodded. Just as she took the payment slip, Wang Lin rushed over. “How is she? Is she alright?”

Ye Qin shook her head. “She’s fine now.”

“But how could she suddenly fall into the sea? Were you there?” Wang Lin’s question cut right to the core.

“I wasn’t there. I was in the room. Shen Lu went to find the restaurant. When I went out to look for her, I found her being rescued on the deck.”

Wang Lin looked thoughtful. She suddenly said, “I’ll go pay the bill. You head to the room first.” After all, it wasn’t safe for an artist to stand in the hospital corridor for too long, even with the mask and hair as a disguise.

Ye Qin gave the payment slip to Wang Lin and went to Shen Lu’s room. Shen Lu hadn’t woken up yet, sleeping peacefully. Looking closely, one could clearly see her curled eyelashes. She was actually quite pretty—not a breathtaking beauty, but one who was memorable.

Ye Qin sat by the bedside, muttering to herself, “You really went through a lot.”

“What? My sister fell into the sea!” Shen Jing sat up in bed, receiving a call from Sister Wang, completely baffled. “Okay, I’ll be right there.”

No one knew the truth behind Shen Lu’s fall; they could only wait for her to wake up and ask her.

…

Wang Lin returned after paying the bill. Ye Qin was sitting there, dozing off. Wang Lin felt a pang of sympathy and gently patted her shoulder. “Why don’t you go back first? I’ll stay here. Her brother is coming over soon, too.”

Ye Qin shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m not very tired.”

Seeing her persistence, Wang Lin decided not to push it.

Shen Jing rushed in. As soon as he saw Shen Lu lying in the bed, he pounced, crying loudly. “Oh my god, Sis, did you die an early death? Why would you jump into the sea for no reason?!”

Wang Lin awkwardly tugged on Shen Jing’s arm, which was draped over the bed. “Your sister isn’t dead. Why are you crying?”

Shen Jing froze, immediately wiping away his exaggerated tears. “I thought this was the morgue… Tsk, tsk, she’s so much trouble.”

…

Soon after Shen Jing arrived, Shen Lu woke up. She felt dizzy and her mind was filled with the stress reaction of drowning. She only remembered the seawater being very cold and very deep, the darkness all around, enveloping and consuming her. She felt like she was about to die…

“You’re awake.”

The first person Shen Lu saw when she opened her eyes was Ye Qin, followed by Shen Jing and Sister Wang, who were also in the room. She forced a smile, her expression pale, and spoke with a weak, listless tone. “Everyone’s here.”

“You nearly lost your life, and you can still smile,” Ye Qin said, a hint of a reprimand in her voice.

“How did you fall? Was it an accident, or did someone cause it?” Wang Lin asked, her face serious. Shen Jing was silent, intimidated by the atmosphere.

Shen Lu was quiet for a long time, seemingly trying hard to recall what happened. “I remember I was going to look for the restaurant on the cruise ship…”

“And then?” Ye Qin asked.

She found that the harder she tried to remember, the worse her headache became. Shen Lu hugged her head, her face contorted in pain. “I can’t. I can’t remember! I can only remember falling from the high deck into the ocean. I struggled and struggled, but I choked on so much seawater. The water was salty, it was fishy…”

At the same time, Ye Qin and Wang Lin exchanged glances, both showing the same look of disappointment. It seemed the clue ended here.

“Sister, why don’t you try harder? We can’t let the culprit get away like this,” Shen Jing asked.

Shen Lu’s headache was unbearable. “I really can’t remember! Why is this happening? Why can’t I remember anything…” She was suffering, truly suffering.

Just then, Ye Qin held her hand. “Don’t think about it anymore. You need to rest.”

Shen Lu nodded helplessly, immediately feeling a little better. Shen Jing was frustrated with her inaction. He angrily pulled up a chair and sat down, muttering resentfully to himself, “Someone must have pushed you, or someone deliberately did this.”

Shen Lu didn’t understand. But if that were true, why would someone do this? What benefit was there in killing her? She was just a minor celebrity assistant; her life wasn’t valuable.

“Qin, step out here for a moment,” Wang Lin said, signaling for Ye Qin to follow her.

The room was left with only Shen Lu and Shen Jing: one resentful and one utterly confused.

…

On the balcony outside the hospital room, being a high-floor, VIP room, one could overlook half of H City, and the quiet aftermath of the lantern festival carnival. The wind was strong, tossing Ye Qin’s long hair everywhere. She subconsciously raised her hand to brush her hair back, silently waiting to hear Wang Lin’s thoughts on the matter.

“Have you considered that the target of this fall might not have been Shen Lu? The culprit’s intention may have been to target you, but some blunder caused them to mistake her for you?”

Ye Qin nodded, staring straight ahead. “That’s possible.”

A long, long, long time passed…

“What are they talking about out there?” Shen Jing gossiped.

Shen Lu pouted, seemingly uninterested. “I don’t know.”