After My Death, Everyone Repented (Transmigration) - Chapter 10

Xie Shaoyun arrived before Xie Guangqi and his wife.

Damei was waiting for her at the stairwell. When Xie Shaoyun appeared, Damei shoved a stack of lab reports into her hands, her fingers trembling.

“There was so much blood,” Damei told her. Originally, they had gone to see a dermatologist.

Jian Qing had complained of lower abdominal pain, and the doctor referred them to gynecology for further tests.

But on the way upstairs, Jian Qing started bleeding.

Damei’s lips quivered as she recounted the events in a disjointed manner, her expression one of utter distress, a look Xie Shaoyun had never seen on her before.

Xie Shaoyun cut her off. “Where’s Jian Qing now?”

“After the dilation and curettage, there were no beds available in the ward, so she’s staying in the delivery room for IV fluids.”

“Let’s go in together.”

Xie Shaoyun reached out to steady Damei, but Damei took a step back, avoiding her touch.

She stared silently at Xie Shaoyun and said she’d rather wait outside.

“If I’d been more careful, asked one more question, or just not given her that tattoo… the baby wouldn’t be gone. I don’t even have the right to apologize.” Damei’s voice was thick with unshed tears.

Xie Shaoyun parted her lips but ultimately said nothing. She simply reached out and gave the visibly shaken Damei a reassuring pat.

Then she asked the nurse if she could enter the delivery room to see the patient.

Only after the nurse checked with the attending physician was Xie Shaoyun permitted inside.

The window was open, and a cool breeze billowed the curtains inward.

Xie Shaoyun closed the window before turning her attention to Jian Qing’s condition.

Fresh from the procedure, Jian Qing lay flat on the hospital bed. She was thin, her face small, and her pale lips made her entire being seem frail and broken, steeped in sickness.

“Are you okay?” Xie Shaoyun asked.

Jian Qing lifted her eyelids. The moment she saw Xie Shaoyun, tears welled up in her eyes. “Sis,” she said, “it hurts so much.”

Xie Shaoyun hummed in acknowledgment, then walked to the bedside table, pulled up a chair, and sat down.

On the table was a fruit basket Damei had just bought. Xie Shaoyun picked out the reddest apple.

Holding it in her palm, she asked Jian Qing, “Do you have a fruit knife here?”

Jian Qing shook her head weakly. “I can’t eat anything right now.”

“I know,” Xie Shaoyun said. She borrowed a knife from the nurse.

Sitting back down, she began peeling the apple, the wide strip of skin curling into a long ribbon. Once done, she took a bite herself before saying, “This isn’t for you. I’m eating it.”

The crisp apple was sweet without being cloying, neither too cold nor too bland just the right balance of vitamins. Xie Shaoyun loved this kind.

She took another bite.

Only when the feigned fragility on Jian Qing’s face faded did Xie Shaoyun speak again, her tone deliberately provoking. “Done pretending?”

“You’ve already pissed me off,” Jian Qing retorted, mustering her strength to prop herself up with a pillow beneath her waist. She sat halfway up, locking eyes with Xie Shaoyun.

The performative weakness was gone. She called Xie Shaoyun by her full name, her voice steady. “Xie Shaoyun, you haven’t changed at all.”

“Likewise.” Their gazes held for a moment before Xie Shaoyun tilted her chin slightly. “Who’s the father?”

Jian Qing answered honestly, “I don’t know.”

Xie Shaoyun was taken aback. After a pause, she asked, “More than one?”

Jian Qing nodded.

Xie Shaoyun couldn’t laugh this time. She fell silent for a couple of seconds.

“Sometimes, I really don’t understand you.”

Jian Qing replied faster than expected. “That’s because you were born with everything handed to you.”

She added, “I wasn’t.”

“You don’t lack anything you just always reach for things you can’t have.”

The words struck at the darkest corners of Jian Qing’s heart, yet she didn’t get angry. Instead, she readily admitted that she was indeed that kind of person.

“No one in this world understands me better than you.”

Xie Shaojun couldn’t respond to that, nor did she feel honored by it. She only pitied Professor Xie and his wife for the millions they spent every year on overseas education.

There’s a certain kind of person in this world not exactly evil, but far from good, who always stands on their own ground, treating others’ sacrifices as taken for granted.

Jian Qing was that kind of person.

Xie Shaojun wasn’t surprised by her answer.

After the nurse came in to change the IV and left, Jian Qing became more talkative. She was eager to share with Xie Shaojun how she had clawed her way up over the years.

“Do you know what it takes for someone with no foundation to establish themselves in the highest echelons of a foreign fashion industry?” Jian Qing smiled, her eyes curving into crescents. “Looks? Figure? Charisma? None of that works.”

“So you got pregnant by a man? Was the price too high?” Xie Shaojun said. “Was it worth it?”

“Don’t make it sound so crude. I just slept with someone a few times. It doesn’t conflict with the fact that I like women.” Jian Qing stroked her belly and murmured, “Besides, didn’t I lose the baby anyway?”

She treated life as if it were grass, existing or vanishing, as if it were just a matter of words.

Xie Shaojun suddenly didn’t want to continue the conversation. Too many of Jian Qing’s values trampled over her own red lines.

For example, in Xie Shaojun’s mind, there was no difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality. Loyalty and devotion were prerequisites for loving someone and being loved in return.

Jian Qing had none of that. Every part of her personality was carefully crafted hiding the ugliness beneath, all to extract love from others.

What was even more unbearable was that this kind of person was the protagonist of this world. The plot dictated that she would meet Chi Yi at the age of five, and in the end, they were destined to be together.

So Xie Shaojun, who had once impersonated Jian Qing and fallen in love with Chi Yi years ago, didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty toward Jian Qing.

Her decision to donate a kidney to Jian Qing had been made from the start not out of debt repayment, but so she could despise Jian Qing with even more justification.

The impatience on Xie Shaojun’s face was unmistakable. Jian Qing studied her expression for a long time but found nothing beyond disgust no trace of concern whatsoever.

Her voice softened. “Why don’t you feel even the slightest bit of pity for me?”

“People must love themselves before they can expect love from others.” Xie Shaojun pushed back her chair and stood up. Her phone, charging on the floor, suddenly rang.

She unplugged it and glanced at the screen it was Chi Yi calling.

Xie Shaojun didn’t answer. Right in front of Jian Qing, she rejected the call. A text from Chi Yi quickly followed.

[Pick up.]

[Stop being so willful all the time.]

Noticing Jian Qing craning her neck to read the messages, Xie Shaojun pocketed her phone and strode toward the door.

Jian Qing let out a light laugh, her voice trailing after her. “Jun Jun, you’re always like this like a well-tended plant. Even after I’ve taken all your love for myself, you still manage to stand tall.”

Xie Shaojun replied calmly, “Say whatever you want.”

“Actually, not all of it,” Jian Qing added. “For example… Chi Yi-jie.”

At the doorway, Xie Shaojun’s footsteps suddenly halted, and she immediately slammed the door shut.

Xie Shaojun stood by the door, resolved not to interfere in Jian Qing’s affairs any further.

But when she stepped out, she didn’t see Damei. After searching for a while, she found her by the stairwell in the emergency exit.

Damei was holding a cigarette, deliberately burning the skin on her right arm.

Xie Shaojun walked over, snatched the cigarette from her, crushed it, and threw it into the trash.

“Zhao Damei, do you even know what you’re doing?” Xie Shaojun snapped angrily.

Damei buried her head in her hands, her expression fragile. But she didn’t cry, her eyes seemed to hold a storm of emotions.

“Have you heard of Qin Chu?”

Xie Shaojun froze. Qin Chu was the first and only woman Damei had ever loved in her youth.

“In the fifth year of my unrequited love, her husband died, and she came to me for a tattoo. But she was already five months pregnant at the time. I refused outright. She looked at me with such sorrow in her eyes and insisted, saying she wanted to leave a memento for herself and the baby.”

“What happened then?”

“She went to someone else. That tattoo artist was unskilled, didn’t even have a license, and didn’t wear gloves. Later… something happened. The baby was lost.”

Damei said, “I often wonder if I had agreed to tattoo her that day, maybe that accident wouldn’t have happened. But the truth is, I also ended up killing a fetus because of a careless mistake.”

Xie Shaojun wanted to tell Damei she was overthinking it.

Jian Qing’s situation was completely different from Qin Chu’s. No mother in her first trimester, knowing she was experiencing abdominal pain, would climb eight flights of stairs.

To be even harsher, Xie Shaojun even suspected that Jian Qing had sought out Damei for a tattoo a month ago precisely to get rid of the embryo.

But without evidence, Xie Shaojun couldn’t voice such a subjective assumption to Damei.

Besides, Damei was drowning in guilt right now, nothing she said would get through.

So Xie Shaojun sat with Damei in the stairwell for a while.

Five minutes later.

“The obstetrician was a former student of your parents. He’s already called them.” After calming down slightly, Damei urged Xie Shaojun to leave quickly. The mistake was hers alone there was no need for Xie Shaojun to stay and face the scolding with her.

Xie Shaojun was pushed into the elevator by Damei, but then the doctor notified them that Jian Qing had been moved out of the delivery room and needed sterile pads. Standing inside the elevator, Xie Shaojun called out to Damei, “I’ll go.”

Inside the elevator.

“Shao Jun, how have you been these past couple of days?”

Xie Shaojun was carrying a bag of sterile pads when she ran into her attending physician on the way back.

Watching the numbers flicker on the display, she replied, “Fine, just a bit more tired than usual.”

“As the cancer spreads, these symptoms will become more frequent. I still strongly advise you to discuss this with your family and arrange for hospitalization as soon as possible.”

Xie Shaojun answered vaguely, “Mm, I’ll let them know soon.”

Just then, the elevator stopped on the third floor.

The doors slid open, and a long-haired woman outside handed a folder to her assistant before stepping inside.

The light fell on her face, revealing a delicate profile.

When Xie Shaojun looked over, the woman’s slightly downturned peach-blossom eyes lifted just then.

Their gazes met. The woman’s steps faltered abruptly, pausing for a moment before she strode purposefully toward Xie Shaojun.

For a split second, Xie Shaojun’s mind went blank. Three seconds later, she watched helplessly as Chi Yi walked over and stood beside her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The doctor who had been squeezed into the corner was still speaking to her: “The dosage of the medicine I prescribed for you last time needs to be adjusted. Make an appointment later and come find me.”

Xie Shaojun gave a noncommittal hum. She should have said something to cover it up, but at the same time, she found herself deeply conflicted. On one hand, she worried that Chi Yi might overhear her condition from the doctor. On the other, a darker part of her thought, Go ahead and ask if you want.

The elevator was cramped, and Xie Shaojun felt hot. She took off her coat and draped it over her wrist. When she looked up, she noticed Chi Yi was still watching her.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I’m here?” Chi Yi asked.

Xie Shaojun lifted her gaze, recalling the phone call earlier, and replied, “The Professor Xie couple called you again, didn’t they?”

Chi Yi hummed in confirmation.

Xie Shaojun told her that next time they bothered her, she should just refuse outright.

The doctor’s gaze on the two of them grew increasingly peculiar, making Chi Yi uncomfortable.

She didn’t like others brazenly scrutinizing Xie Shaojun in front of her it felt like someone was coveting something that belonged to her.

Coupled with Xie Shaojun’s silence, Chi Yi found it hard to adjust. She finally spoke up: “Next Tuesday, I have an awards ceremony at the Kremlin. Would you like to come?”

Xie Shaojun looked up in surprise, only to find Chi Yi wasn’t even looking at her. But she didn’t give her a chance to refuse either.

“I mean, as a friend. You’re welcome to come celebrate my win.”

As soon as Chi Yi finished speaking, she noticed the doctor’s scrutinizing gaze lessen significantly.

A faint, satisfied smile curled at the corners of her lips. After a moment of silence, her eyes met Xie Shaojun’s, even carrying a hint of smugness, as if she had just helped chase away an elderly suitor.

Xie Shaojun couldn’t help but study Chi Yi for a few more seconds.

If Chi Yi had asked the doctor about her condition right then or acted even slightly more intimate, her cancer diagnosis might not have remained a secret.

Xie Shaojun wouldn’t have volunteered the information, but the doctor might have revealed it. In essence, the system couldn’t blame Xie Shaojun for breaking character in such an unforeseen situation.

Yet none of the anticipated scenarios played out. Chi Yi’s focus was always perplexing.

Perhaps she had poured all her intellect into her research on lithography machines. Chi Yi couldn’t decipher the doctor’s frequent glances whether they were assessing the nature of their relationship or the unspoken words about Xie Shaojun’s condition.

Everything the doctor wanted to say was ruined by Chi Yi’s “as a friend.”

Chi Yi couldn’t read the doctor’s micro-expressions.

So she never got the chance to learn that Xie Shaojun was sick. That’s how it is, Xie Shaojun thought numbly, rejecting Chi Yi’s invitation as a friend.

The anticipation in Chi Yi’s eyes vanished instantly. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out.

Lost in thought, she remained silent until the elevator doors opened.

Chi Yi stepped closer to Xie Shaojun and said matter-of-factly, “Jian Qing had a miscarriage.”

“Yeah,” Xie Shaojun replied. “I know.”

“Did it have anything to do with you? You didn’t pick her up at the airport last time.”

Her tone was neutral, devoid of any emotion.

But to Xie Shaojun, who already knew Chi Yi’s future, the words felt somewhat offensive.

“Why would I go pick her up?” Xie Shaojun curled her lips into a mocking smile and asked flippantly, “Would you go pick up someone you don’t like?”

Chi Yi didn’t grasp the underlying implications in Xie Shaojun’s words at all. She thought seriously for a moment, then shook her head. “No, but your parents don’t see it that way.”

She continued, “Your father will lose his temper with you.”

“He might hit you.”

With an irritatingly accurate prediction of the ordeal Xie Shaojun was about to face, Chi Yi lowered her hand and tentatively brushed the back of Xie Shaojun’s hand. When there was no reaction, she grew bolder and interlaced their fingers.

“Don’t be afraid,” Chi Yi said. “They won’t dare do anything to you.”

Chi Yi was always like this seemingly objective as she laid out the cause and effect of a situation, only to naturally shift to Xie Shaojun’s side in the end, ready to shield her from any impending danger.

It made it impossible for Xie Shaojun to say anything harsh, and she found herself softening toward this person over and over again.

She’s really infuriating! Xie Shaojun thought, staring at Chi Yi’s hand clasped in hers.