Diagnosis: Friend [Rebirth] - Chapter 35.2

Chapter 35.2

In her previous life, after Jiang Qing’s incident, the Gu Group had weathered the crisis through alternative means, and Gu Yining had requested to cancel the engagement. It had always been a business marriage; the two had rarely met, let alone developed feelings. The Gu family provided the Cheng family with some compensation, and the engagement was dissolved gracefully.

Gu Yining shook her head slightly. “No need, thank you, Mr. Cheng.”

The man spoke again, “Is Miss Gu waiting for her driver? Why wait out here on the curb instead of inside? You’ll catch a cold in this rain. If your driver can’t make it soon, perhaps Miss Gu would like to take my car instead? I wonder if I might have that honor?”

Under the transparent umbrella, Gu Yining’s awkward, stiff expression was fully exposed.

So pretentious, so “chunibyo,” so awkward.

“No thank you, Mr. Cheng,” Gu Yining said. “My car will be here shortly.”

The torrential rain hammered against the umbrella, its crisp drumming blending into the roar of the downpour. For some unknown reason, the man didn’t leave; he simply stood there, holding the umbrella quietly beside Gu Yining.

The red light reflected on the water-slicked crosswalk, turning green moments later as a rapid “beep-beep” urged pedestrians to cross. Gu Yining looked up at the tall buildings across the street when a bus suddenly burst into her field of vision, completely occupying her sight.

Pedestrians were still crossing; the red light for the vehicles had thirty seconds left. Amidst the swirling rain, the bus slowed to a halt. Gu Yining’s wandering gaze slowly focused, piercing through the hazy curtain of rain.

A girl stood by the bus window. Her pale, weary face was reflected in the glass. At the moment their eyes met, a spark of joy lifted the corners of Gu Yining’s lips.

It was Jiang Qing.

In the next instant, her peripheral vision caught the person standing beside Jiang Qing. Gu Yining’s smile froze. Her dark pupils shifted slowly, focusing on the lightly smiling Tan Baozhu.

They were together.

This was no coincidence. Gu Yining concluded almost instantly: the reason Jiang Qing had been leaving early and returning late for the past two weeks was that she was with Tan Baozhu.

A pane of glass and a thick mist of rain separated her from Jiang Qing. Jiang Qing’s face remained expressionless, her gray eyes melting into the rainy haze as she slowly averted her gaze from Gu Yining.

Inside the bus, it was crowded and damp. Jiang Qing felt ice-cold, her hand trembling slightly as she gripped the window rail.

Outside, the man tilted his head toward Gu Yining with a gaze that was cautious yet clearly fawning. He seemed to sense the eyes on him, as he slowly looked up toward the bus window.

Jiang Qing had been reborn for nearly a year. Gu Yining’s engagement banquet was long in the past, and Jiang Qing had thought she was slowly moving on. She believed that given enough time, the heart Gu Yining had hollowed out would slowly regrow its flesh. She didn’t necessarily have to have Gu Yining.

But…

Raindrops pounded the window with a dull thud. Jiang Qing stood silently, staring blankly outside. Water flowed haphazardly across the glass, streaking through her vision.

Standing beside Gu Yining was her fiancé.

No, not just a fiancé. Gu Yining had said she returned from 2039—ten years had passed since her engagement. They… had already been a married couple for a decade.

The ten years Jiang Qing had been absent were completely filled by a man. They were husband and wife.

This cruel yet real realization made Jiang Qing feel physically ill. She hurriedly withdrew her gaze from the window, her hand tightening around the rail until her knuckles turned white. Her head hung low, rain (or was it sweat?) sliding down her cheeks as her breathing became ragged and heavy.

The bus slowly lurched forward. The noisy chatter of the passengers felt like a surging tide, clamoring and churning. The girl kept her head down, looking as though she had been utterly crushed by the storm.

“Jiang Qing! Jiang Qing!”

The girl raised a deathly pale face and forced a weak smile at Tan Baozhu. “I’m fine… I’m just a little motion sick.”

Tan Baozhu pointed out the window, studying Jiang Qing’s bloodless face. “Just now… I think Gu Yining was calling you from outside.”

Jiang Qing simply shook her head.

Outside the window, the greenery washed clean by the rain receded rapidly. In the noisy bus, amidst the rain and the glass, Jiang Qing hadn’t heard Gu Yining’s desperate shout, but Tan Baozhu had.

It was within Tan Baozhu’s expectations that Gu Yining would be upset, but Jiang Qing was acting very strange today. Tan Baozhu couldn’t put her finger on it; she just felt that Jiang Qing seemed… very heartbroken.

She slid the window open, allowing rain and wind to pour in, and poked her head out. Through the misty rain, she saw Gu Yining get into a car. For the next ten minutes, that black car trailed right behind the bus.

As they neared the stop by the school, Tan Baozhu said, “Gu Yining seems to have been following you the whole way.”

Though she didn’t know what conflict they were having, Tan Baozhu could see that Jiang Qing was exhausted and had no desire to communicate with Gu Yining.

Jiang Qing looked up. her eyes weren’t as red as before, but her face was still ghastly white. she stared blankly out the window, and thinking of something, suddenly bit her lip and let out a laugh.

It was a tragic sort of laugh.

Tan Baozhu paused, then said after a moment, “Do you want to come hide at my place? The bus from my house to school is very convenient, and my dad went on a business trip this morning—he won’t be back until next Sunday.”

Seeing Jiang Qing look at her, Tan Baozhu shrugged. “Thanks for applying my medicine. I’ll need you to help me do it again when we get home.”

Tan Baozhu wasn’t a saint. Gratitude was the excuse; stoking the fire to make Gu Yining angry was her true intent. She smirked and squeezed her bruised arm, hissing at the pain.

Jiang Qing’s eyes remained downcast, her expression dazed, as if she hadn’t quite processed the words.

The rain continued to fall as thunder rumbled through the dark sky. The bus stop was flooded, and the driver kindly pulled close to the curb so passengers could step directly onto the sidewalk. This was a downtown stop; people were everywhere, umbrellas clashing.

A black car stopped right behind the bus. The door opened, and Gu Yining ran toward the bus stop under an umbrella, her eyes searching everywhere, but she still couldn’t find that figure. Cold rain lashed her umbrella. She peeked around, failing to find the person she wanted. After a few seconds of thought, she sprinted toward the school’s back gate.

A flash of lightning illuminated the living room through the floor-to-ceiling windows, turning everything bright for a second before plunging it back into darkness, like a ruin.

Tan Baozhu sat cross-legged amidst the ruins, crunching on a bag of potato chips. Hearing the sound of a hairdryer from the bathroom, she looked over. A faint glow from the frosted glass door acted like a nightlight.

Ten minutes later, Jiang Qing pushed the door open.

Her eyes found Tan Baozhu’s in the dark. As she stepped forward in her slippers, Tan Baozhu said, “The light switch is to your left.”

When the light flickered on, the room became blindingly bright. Tan Baozhu shielded her eyes for a moment before adjusting, then resumed chewing her chips.

Initially, Jiang Qing hadn’t wanted to come up. She had sat despondently on the bench at the bus stop, her face gradually flushing with an unnatural red. She had looked up vacantly, finding even the act of shaking her head a struggle.

Tan Baozhu saw she had a fever and was in a terrible mood. At that moment, a car sped by, splashing Jiang Qing with water. As the car sped away, Jiang Qing remained expressionless, simply wiping the water from her face.

“You have a fever. Come up, take a shower, change into clean clothes, and take some medicine. If you don’t want to, I’ll call Jian Wenxin to come get you,” Tan Baozhu had threatened coolly. “I’m sure she’d braved the storm for her favorite student.”

Jiang Qing had looked at her, and after a long silence, stood up and followed her home. Jian Wenxin was far too responsible, and Jiang Qing didn’t want to burden her further, especially in this weather.

After the shower, Jiang Qing changed into pajamas provided by Tan Baozhu. She felt less sticky, but her head was still heavy and spinning. She sat stiffly on the sofa opposite Tan Baozhu, staring down at nothing. After a long while, she looked up at Tan Baozhu, who was playing a game. “Tan Baozhu, do you have any fever reducers?”

Her cheeks were flushed and her voice was tiny. Tan Baozhu didn’t hear her at first and took a few seconds to react. She put down her phone and went into another room. Soon, she placed a box in front of Jiang Qing. “All the medicine is in here. I don’t know what you take for a fever, find it yourself.” She opened the box.

“Okay, thank you.”

Jiang Qing lowered her head, pulling the box onto her lap to rummage through it.

Because the girl had just bathed, she radiated heat and the pleasant scent of body wash. Tan Baozhu watched her sitting there obediently and, driven by some inexplicable impulse, leaned in closer and closer to Jiang Qing.

Under the bright light, the fine down on Jiang Qing’s face was visible. Tan Baozhu tilted her head, watching how the long eyelashes cast small shadows on the lower eyelids. She reached a conclusion: The rank #1 student actually has some looks.

If Jian Wenxin didn’t have a boyfriend and wasn’t seemingly straight as an arrow, these two would actually make quite a pair. A woman rushing into the mountains to save a trapped girl—it was a brave and romantic story; it was only natural for the girl to fall for the woman afterward.

If Jian Wenxin had saved Tan Baozhu, she would have clung to her no matter what, never giving herself the chance to be heartbroken. Jiang Qing had too much of a moral compass.

Tan Baozhu smirked and leaned in even further, nearly brushing Jiang Qing’s cheek with her own. She could hear Jiang Qing’s breathing and smell the sweet scent of her face. A few white fibers from the towel Tan Baozhu had given her were stuck to Jiang Qing’s face, unnoticed by the girl.

Such low defenses. No wonder she needed saving.

Tan Baozhu reached out to pick the fiber off her face. Before her fingers could touch the flushed cheek, a sharp, urgent doorbell shattered the silence of the room.

Jiang Qing looked up at the sound, and Tan Baozhu reflexively pulled her hand back. She stood up and walked toward the door. Who would come this late? It couldn’t be her old man returning early from his trip, could it?

The electronic screen by the door lit up. Tan Baozhu looked at it impatiently.

The surveillance feed showed the person outside the door: Gu Yining.

She was still wearing that beautiful yellow dress, now soaked and darkened to a dull ochre by the rain. Her hair was pinned up, but water droplets slid down her neck and onto her collarbone.

The girl raised a pair of heavy, dark eyes, locking onto Tan Baozhu through the screen from across the door.