After Failing To Tame The Scumbag - Chapter 38

“I look terrible right now.”

“Irregular eating habits combined with intense emotional agitation caused hypoglycemia. It’s not a major issue, but she needs proper rest and recovery,” the doctor said, adjusting his glasses. He hesitated for a long moment, unable to hold back one last comment: “She hasn’t had a proper meal for several sessions. To last this long before collapsing… it wasn’t easy.”

Yun Chuxiu: “…”

Yun Chuxiu pinched the bridge of her nose, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed.

This was an unfamiliar place, and she still had leftover issues to handle. Ji Jin had rushed here specifically to chase after her, logically and emotionally, she couldn’t just abandon her. She could only stand there stiffly, listening to the doctor’s instructions, and then handle the entire “one stop service” of paying bills and running errands.

“If you’re awake, stop pretending to sleep.” Yun Chuxiu caught a glimpse of Ji Jin’s fluttering eyelids out of the corner of her eye. She unceremoniously pinched a bit of soft flesh on Ji Jin’s cheek to wake her up. “You really have a knack for letting yourself fall apart like this.”

“I was afraid if I opened my eyes, you’d be gone,” Ji Jin chuckled weakly. She seemed to have recovered slightly from the surge of emotions, clutching the thin blanket with both hands. She looked quite obedient. “Sorry. I didn’t expect to end up troubling you after all.”

Yun Chuxiu: “…If you don’t want to trouble me, then don’t collapse in front of me.”

Ji Jin nodded at everything she heard: “Mhm, definitely next time.”

Yun Chuxiu: “…”

Yun Chuxiu remained calm, but in reality, she was out of options. “I really don’t have the energy to argue with you anymore. Fine… eat something first.”

She pointed to the thermos on the table. One second, two seconds, three seconds… Ji Jin’s gaze didn’t shift for a moment; she just stared at her quietly.

Yun Chuxiu: “.”

Yun Chuxiu didn’t want to bicker with a patient. Thinking that the sooner Ji Jin recovered, the sooner she could leave, she gave in to her wishes once more. She stood up, scooped a bowl of steaming millet porridge, and handed it to her.

“Eat it yourself. Your hands aren’t broken, are they?”

Ji Jin looked slightly troubled, but she knew there was a limit to pushing her luck. After two seconds of silence, she took it herself.

The porridge was cooked until soft. Ji Jin lowered her eyes and blew on it carefully. Her hands, where the veins were visible, held the spoon for barely half a minute before her weakness was exposed. Trembling, the spoon eventually made a “ding” sound against the side of the bowl.

“Sorry,” Ji Jin set the porridge aside. As if she had anticipated this scene, she spoke helplessly: “I don’t have any strength right now… can I drink it later?”

Yun Chuxiu sighed. “It’s my fault for not noticing. I’ll feed you.”

Ji Jin’s eyes brightened ever so slightly. Though her hands lacked strength, she wriggled her body toward the edge of the bed. To cooperate with Yun Chuxiu’s movements, she even lowered her head intentionally.

Maintaining such a position would be exhausting.

Yun Chuxiu glanced at her but said nothing as she held the bowl.

One fed, the other ate. The feeder barely moved her hand while holding the bowl, and the eater actively leaned in, carefully minimizing any movement that might show her fatigue.

Until the bowl was nearly empty.

Yun Chuxiu intentionally slowed her movements again, clearly dragging out this uncomfortable interaction. After being in that position for so long, half of Ji Jin’s body was numb, yet she still smiled. Her eyes were bright, without a hint of complaint.

“Can I have another bowl?”

Yun Chuxiu felt like she had thrown a punch into a pile of cotton. With a cold face, she set the bowl down.

“You don’t actually want to eat right now. You’re clearly feeling miserable, aren’t you? Why don’t you say so?”

“It’s different,” Ji Jin replied. With half of her arm numb and immovable, she hid the functional hand under the blanket, quietly rubbing her stomach. She blinked and said, “It’s still better to eat something warm.”

“Fine.” Yun Chuxiu pulled out Ji Jin’s phone, tossed it onto the bed, and said, “Call someone who can take care of you.”

Ji Jin’s hand under the blanket instinctively clenched. “Am I wasting your time?”

“Not yet, but soon,” Yun Chuxiu glanced at her coldly and said calmly. “While I’m not ‘busy with a myriad of affairs’ like CEO Ji here, who doesn’t even have time to eat, I’m not exactly an idle person either.”

“They still came to find you?” Ji Jin frowned. Despite her own lack of energy, she forced a smile. “Sorry. It seems I didn’t do a good job after all. I clearly intended not to cause you any trouble…”

“It really was you,” Yun Chuxiu thought back to the aftermath of those “unasked for surprises,” and for a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

She rubbed her temples and raised a hand to stop Ji Jin’s self-reproach. “If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t be sitting here taking care of you.”

Yun Chuxiu wasn’t ungrateful. Ji Jin’s behind the scenes arrangements had genuinely saved her a lot of trouble, and she wouldn’t deny that.

“Don’t do it next time,” Yun Chuxiu said. “The fact that some people were willing to trust me in the past was indeed partly due to your influence. I was prepared to lose those things long ago.”

She had been in the business long enough, she wouldn’t be crippled by a minor emotional issue. At worst, she’d just lay low for a while. Business is never smooth sailing.

“But I didn’t want you to be like that,” Ji Jin lowered her head dejectedly. The surge of nausea became more intense. Gradually, her voice grew lower and lower, like a child who had messed up a good intention, her words pushed out by mere breaths. “How could I let you suffer grievances and lose things too?”

Back when Yun Chuxiu was still by her side, Ji Jin had noticed these things and had tried her best to dissuade Yun Chuxiu from refusing help.

How could she have known it would come to this? At one point, Ji Jin had even been smug, feeling that she could provide Chuxiu with tangible benefits and that their connection was tighter because of it.

Ji Jin always had this or that fluke of luck, but she forgot one thing, her Chuxiu never cared about those things from the start. She could accept them because of Ji Jin’s persuasion, but she could also cut them off cleanly after rejecting her, bearing all the losses herself.

But those derivative problems shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

“I’ve already handled it,” Ji Jin swallowed the bitterness in her heart. She didn’t dare lift her head, let alone try to make her stay at this critical juncture. “This is what I should have done. At the very least, I can’t let Chuxiu only think of ‘trouble’ when she remembers me.”

“You’re not dead yet,” Yun Chuxiu disliked this inexplicably pessimistic atmosphere. She moved to a seat further away and said coldly, “And you’re being very troublesome right now.”

Ji Jin looked pitiful: “But my heart feels like it’s already dying…”

Yun Chuxiu: “.”

Yun Chuxiu canceled the order with a cold face: “Cringe. Say something else.”

“Then can Chuxiu stay with me a little longer?” Ji Jin rubbed her hands cautiously. Fearing a swift rejection, she quickly added, “Just as a friend.”

Yun Chuxiu arched an eyebrow: “A ‘friend’ on the blacklist?”

Ji Jin felt a pang in her chest and retreated further: “A ‘Luxury Suite’ that’s a unique treatment, too.”

“Ah, I almost forgot if you hadn’t mentioned it,” Yun Chuxiu checked her phone and said, “I blacklisted Jiang Fanyin earlier. To fulfill your ‘Suite Dream’…”

“No,” Ji Jin pouted. Seeing thorns everywhere, she closed her eyes and poked herself. “I don’t want the suite anymore. Having a roommate is fine, especially Jiang Fanyin…”

“…Jiang Fanyin is just great,” she said through gritted teeth.

Yun Chuxiu remarked, “You’re quite flexible.”

Ji Jin muttered, “I haven’t even had a chance to ‘extend’ yet.”

Always bending, always yielding… she was practically becoming a cricket to be toyed with in the palm of Chuxiu’s hand.

Ji Jin curled back into the blanket, showing only half of her face. Her long hair was scattered against her skin, and her deep pupils stared at Chuxiu resentfully.

Like a marionette that had lost power.

It was as if the person who had gone mad and fainted was someone else entirely.

Yun Chuxiu tried her best to ignore her intentional display of weakness and continued calmly, “I don’t mind staying with you for a bit, but Ji Jin, you shouldn’t be lacking friends.”

“People to eat with you, shop with you, live with you, even sleep with you.”

“There are too many people who can do those things. To live like this, hysterical over such minor things, it’s really ugly.”

She shouldn’t have said these things again, but Ji Jin’s seemingly normal, obedient appearance was genuinely unnerving. It felt scarier than her being openly crazy.

It was a bizarre sensation, like a psychiatric patient suddenly becoming “cured” the moment they were diagnosed.

Yun Chuxiu took a deep breath. Seeing her nodding without speaking, she acted as a psychological counselor again and called her out directly: “Ji Jin, did you hear what I just said?”

“I know,” Ji Jin blinked. She rubbed her cold cheeks and then ceremoniously smoothed her messy hair. “I look terrible right now. I need to recover properly to become the version of myself that Chuxiu likes.”

“I should probably have a little more porridge after all…” she murmured to herself as she reached for the bowl on the table. She swallowed it mouthful by mouthful despite the discomfort in her stomach. She seemed in high spirits, her smile radiant. “Where did Chuxiu buy this porridge? It’s delicious.”

Yun Chuxiu couldn’t stand this overly hypocritical smile. It felt like having a slimy slime-monster pressed against her face.

She really shouldn’t have held any expectations for this person’s sanity.

“Just a shop nearby,” Yun Chuxiu pointed at the logo on the bag. Unable to stay any longer, she turned and left quickly.

Ji Jin had just finished the last swallow of porridge.

She didn’t chase after her. She simply put the bowl down calmly and stared at the spot where the figure had disappeared for a long time.

Then, she grabbed the nearby trash can and threw up until her world turned upside down.

It was too miserable, it felt like her stomach had been tossed into a washing machine for a cycle and then fished out to be blow-dried. Ji Jin leaned over the side of the bed, so exhausted she was slipping toward the floor.

“Was that really necessary?” Yun Chuxiu had returned, leaning against the doorframe with a complicated expression.

“Ah,” Ji Jin wiped the cold sweat from her face. She still forced a smile for her, instinctively apologizing first: “Sorry. I let you see me in such a pathetic state again.”

She avoided the question again.

Yun Chuxiu walked into the room. Seeing her instinctively trying to hide the trash can under the bed, she suddenly felt a sense of sorrow.

“If you puked, you puked,” she softened after all. With a dark expression, she brought a glass of warm water. She bypassed Ji Jin’s trembling hands to feed it to her, then pressed her hand against her back to help her catch her breath. “Be normal. Stop with these antics, and I won’t kick you out.”

Ji Jin lifted her head, filled with shock and joy: “Really?”

“Really,” Yun Chuxiu could only sigh.

After things had reached this point, “free range parenting” would be a lack of public morality on her part. She only wanted Ji Jin to recognize the reality of the breakup, she didn’t actually want to destroy her.

…That would truly go against her original intention.