Diagnosis: Friend [Rebirth] - Chapter 37.2

Chapter 37.2

She couldn’t bring herself to smile; she could only speak through gritted teeth. “I’m not cut out to be Student Gu’s friend. Please, find someone more capable.”

She rarely spoke with such sarcasm. Her voice was laced with a biting chill, and even her movements as she climbed out of bed were trembling. Gu Yining reached out to steady her, but seeing it out of the corner of her eye, Jiang Qing pushed her hand away without hesitation.

Her mid-air hand slowly curled into a fist. Gu Yining looked up at her. “Why? I haven’t done anything wrong. You’ve handed me a death sentence for no reason. Even a criminal gets to know why they’re dying, but I’m not even allowed to ask?”

She was breathing heavily, appearing almost short of breath. “This isn’t fair to me.”

Jiang Qing said sincerely, “It’s my fault. I don’t deserve to be your best friend, and I don’t want to be your best friend.” She didn’t want to suffer anymore.

Gu Yining stared at her. “But she hurt me, and she hurt you. Why can’t you just stay away from her? Why do you insist on being entangled with her, even to the point of giving me up because of her?”

“What about you, Gu Yining!”

Jiang Qing looked at her, her eyes reddening instantly. “You’re hurting me too! You all are hurting me!”

Since the moment she found out Gu Yining was going to get engaged. Every time she saw Gu Yining standing with that man named Cheng, her heart broke. By now, even hearing the man’s surname felt like her bones were being scraped clean.

She couldn’t take it. She didn’t want to hear anything related to that surname, didn’t want to know how they met, didn’t want to know how well-matched they were. Seeing it made her miserable; hearing it made her miserable.

But if it wasn’t a man named Cheng, it would be a Sun, a Li, or a Zhao. Eventually, there would be a man standing by Gu Yining’s side, and Jiang Qing didn’t want to know about it at all.

Gu Yining gripped her shoulders, determined to get to the bottom of it. “Tell me, how have I hurt you?”

Jiang Qing’s mouth suddenly twitched. Crystal tears rolled down from her reddened eyes. She turned her head toward the rain outside, her lips slightly parted as if trying to regulate her emotions.

But it was too late. Tears poured out in succession. She felt utterly humiliated; Gu Yining’s gaze felt like a blade scraping against her face, carving away flesh and bone until the pain left her speechless.

Without warning, she broke into a loud sob, covering her face with her hands. Cold tears seeped through her fingers. As she cried, she pleaded with the stunned girl before her:

“Stop asking, Gu Yining.”

“Gu Yining, I beg you, stop asking…”

“I’m in so much pain…”

She curled her body like a cornered mouse, as if trying to shrink into the floorboards or a hidden burrow. She was sobbing so hard her pleas were barely intelligible. “Don’t look at me… don’t touch me…”

Gu Yining had let go the moment Jiang Qing let out that first heartbreaking sob. She had no idea why Jiang Qing had suddenly lost control. From her previous life to this reborn one, this was the first time she had ever seen Jiang Qing cry like this.

Helpless, she drew closer. “I won’t ask anymore, Qingqing. I won’t ask… please don’t cry.”

Gu Yining’s instinct was to hug her, but then she heard Jiang Qing’s broken voice telling her not to look. Gu Yining averted her eyes. Then she heard the gasp: “Don’t touch me.”

Jiang Qing was crying and telling her not to touch her. Gu Yining sat on the bed in a daze, her raised hand frozen in the air for a long time, ultimately not daring to touch Jiang Qing’s shoulder. The light blue quilt was slowly dampened by tears. She listened to Jiang Qing’s breathless sobbing, feeling utterly powerless.

Jiang Qing was devastated. Gu Yining could vaguely tell the sadness came from her, but she couldn’t understand why. It was as if it were raining inside the room; a thick mist of sorrow enveloped them. She couldn’t see Jiang Qing’s face clearly, only her swollen eyelids.

Suddenly remembering something, she hurried to the nightstand, grabbed a pack of tissues, and offered them to Jiang Qing. Jiang Qing didn’t take them. She just hugged her knees, burying her face deep against her thighs as her sobs echoed through the room.

After a long while, Gu Yining spoke softly, “You probably don’t want to see me right now, do you?”

Jiang Qing didn’t answer. Gu Yining’s throat felt blocked; she swallowed hard, her throat aching and her eyes stinging with tears. She stood up and looked at Jiang Qing’s tightly bound, self-punishing posture. “Then I’ll head out first. Lie down and rest. Call me if you need anything.”

The door closed with a soft thud.

Gu Yining stepped out of the room looking like she had lost her soul, running straight into Gu Xi, who was peeking around the corner of the hallway. Seeing her sister looking like a ghost, Gu Xi hesitated. “Did you guys… have a huge fight?”

Gu Yining gave a dull “mhm” and walked past her listlessly. Gu Xi frowned, looking as if she’d seen a ghost herself. She watched Gu Yining’s dejected retreating back, then turned to look at the bedroom door. She recalled the image of them embracing when she had first walked in.

She was completely baffled. How did that turn into a fight? Gu Xi glanced at the door again. It wasn’t because of me… was it?

The sound of the rain had softened. The scent of damp earth seeped through the window cracks. On the bed, the girl remained curled up until her tears began to dry, leaving two distinct streaks on her face. Her throat bobbed as she lifted her head to breathe, her gaze falling on the pinkish-blue sheets.

Having caught a fever in the rain, Jiang Qing felt as though her brain had malfunctioned. Even looking at the sheets, she thought: Did Gu Yining once lie here with her husband and child?

She didn’t know. But that didn’t stop her from finding the sheets eyesores.

Her head felt heavier than when she first woke up, and her breath was scorching. She climbed out of bed in a daze, not even putting on shoes. Her bare feet stepped onto the icy floor. She looked down expressionlessly, finding the floor annoying too.

Hating the house and everything in it, she didn’t want to see Gu Yining or anything Gu Yining had touched. She swayed as she pulled the door open. Her vision was a blur of black and white, with only a small patch of clarity in the center.

Jiang Qing waved a hand in front of her face. Fine. I can still see my fingers.

She followed that small patch of vision forward. Someone seemed to come up and speak to her, but she couldn’t hear them. she just waved them away, murmuring, “I want to go home.” But she had no home; she just wanted to go back to the dorms.

Her steps grew heavier, her breathing labored. She leaned against the wall, stumbling forward. Suddenly, a “wall” appeared in front of her—straight and imposing, casting a cold shadow over her. Even though there was no bright light, Jiang Qing instinctively raised a hand to shield her face. She belatedly noticed a very pleasant perfume and thought dizzily: Rich people even spray perfume on their walls.

Her eyelids were heavy. Jiang Qing shook her head and reached out to steady herself on the “wall”—it was soft, like a person.

She didn’t have time to be surprised because a pair of red high heels appeared in her downward gaze. They were beautiful, as were the feet wearing them. Jiang Qing struggled to look up, and her vision suddenly cleared.

It wasn’t a wall; it was a beautiful woman. The woman held her by the arms, tilting her head and frowning slightly. Jiang Qing frowned back. In the next second, her mouth puckered, and her dried tear tracks were moistened again. She stood there helplessly, trying to force a smile for the woman, but ended up crumbling into a messy cry.

Catching sight of the woman’s open arms, Jiang Qing’s body could no longer support her. She slumped forward into the woman’s embrace, murmuring indistinctly, “Zhou Xuening…”

“Don’t go back…”

Her bare soles stepped onto Zhou Xuening’s beautiful shoes. Zhou Xuening glanced down, wrapped an arm around the girl’s waist, and patted her gently.

The surrounding servants stepped forward to explain, “Miss Zhou, this is someone the Eldest Miss brought back.”

The girl’s face was terrifyingly red, sweat beads popping from her pores. Her body temperature was alarmingly high. The woman bent down and picked the girl up, the faint scent of perfume enveloping Jiang Qing.

Zhou Xuening said, “I know. I recognize her. Call the doctor. I’ll speak to Ning’er later.” She kicked off her heels, adjusted her stance, and carried the girl into her room.

Around the corner, Gu Xi leaned against the wall, her throat bobbing. She looked at the bedroom door, confirming again and again that this wasn’t Gu Yining’s room, but Zhou Xuening’s.

Hmm… strange.

Better call Gu Yining.

Inside Zhou Xuening’s room.

The woman placed the girl by the bed and stuffed a few tissues into her hand. She felt the girl’s forehead—it was burning. Her palm slid down to the cheek, gently kneading the soft skin. She looked down at the girl’s bare feet. “Sit for a moment.”

She went into the bathroom and brought out a basin of hot water. Zhou Xuening knelt at Jiang Qing’s feet and looked up. “Feet. Put them in.” Like she was teaching a child how to wash their feet.

Jiang Qing looked dazed. Her brain hadn’t processed it, but her body obeyed Zhou Xuening’s command. Her head was still spinning, feeling even heavier than before. A pair of beautiful hands moved in the basin, occasionally stroking her feet, which were turning red from the heat.

The girl remained dazed, her head lowered, until Zhou Xuening began drying her feet. Only then did she sway and lift her head, a flash of confusion in her eyes. “Zhou… Zhou Xuening?”

Zhou Xuening gave a soft “mhm,” lifted the girl onto the bed, pulled back the quilt, and asked, “Do you want to lie down or sit up?”

The girl continued to stare blankly, calling her name again: “Zhou Xuening.”

There was a hint of a sob in her voice. Zhou Xuening patted Jiang Qing’s head and hummed again in response.

“Zhou Xuening…” Jiang Qing called out again, muffled.

The woman laughed softly at that, gently patting her back. “Don’t keep calling me ‘Zhou Xuening’ this and ‘Zhou Xuening’ that. Where are your manners?”

The girl froze for a long time; such a complex sentence seemed to overload her feverish brain. Feeling the woman’s comfort, Jiang Qing’s nose tingled, and the tears she had finally stopped came gushing out again. She lunged forward into Zhou Xuening’s arms, her forehead pressing against the woman’s chest. “Zhou Xuening, I… I feel so bad…”

Her brain was like mush, and her heart had been stirred into a mess by Gu Yining.

Zhou Xuening patted her. “It’s okay. The doctor will be here soon.” The girl trembled in her arms, her tears quickly soaking Zhou Xuening’s shirt.

After a few minutes, the girl seemed to fall asleep against her. Her swollen eyelids pushed her lashes high, and the two tear streaks were stark and obvious. Her steady breathing fell against Zhou Xuening’s clothes.

Zhou Xuening went to help the girl lie down, but before she could move, she looked up toward the door and met a gaze through the crack.

Those eyes were beautiful, but cold. They radiated an animosity that the owner herself hadn’t even realized.

Zhou Xuening smiled slightly, as if in greeting.

Outside the door, Gu Yining slowly withdrew her gaze. Her peripheral vision fell on the pair of red high heels by the door. Gu Xi said that Jiang Qing had been carried into the room by Zhou Xuening.

She didn’t mind that part. Under the circumstances, she should thank Zhou Xuening for being able to calm the sick Jiang Qing.

She just suddenly remembered: when Jiang Qing returned to school after her grandmother’s death, the faint scent of perfume she had smelled on Jiang Qing seemed… identical to the one on Zhou Xuening.