Falling After Marriage - Chapter 53

Chapter 53: The Sound Of Friction Over The Skin

As Lin Jin finished speaking, the only sound left in the cramped bathroom was the friction of the towel rubbing against her skin.

Cheng Sangluo did not immediately answer whether she was curious about Lin Sheng.

She was bent over, meticulously wiping the crazy woman’s slender body. After a brief silence, she sighed softly: “Lin Jin, you are too thin.”

In the eyes of this tall, strong retired soldier, the woman in front of her was as fragile as a sheet of paper, seemingly ready to tear with a slight increase in force.

Even through the thick towel, she could feel the prominent ridge of Lin Jin’s spine against her hand, so her movements were very gentle, like cleaning a beautiful, fragile piece of porcelain.

This sigh transcended all barriers, an undeniable flicker of emotion tinged with heartache.

Lin Jin was starting to feel sleepy in the room’s warmth. Hearing her “puppy’s” words of concern, she smiled faintly with hazy eyes: “Am I?”

“Yes.” Cheng Sangluo answered firmly. Her fingers traced the spine until they swept over the unignorable scar, which she gently outlined.

She gazed at the ugly mark, thinking it must conceal an equally ugly story. Only then did she smoothly continue the previous topic: “Although I know a person with a strange temper like yours is bound to make enemies, I didn’t expect you’d face such danger. So, I am curious who the other party is and why they tried to harm you. Of course, don’t tell me if you don’t want to.”

Cheng Sangluo genuinely wanted to know more information but also contradictorily gave Lin Jin full respect.

After all, no one willingly exposes their wounds to discuss painful past events, just as she was unwilling to dwell on the time Xu Songheng falsely accused her and sent her to prison.

Because she had experienced it, she could empathize.

She walked to the sink, re-wetting the towel with hot water, hoping the towel would stay at a comfortable temperature so the crazy woman wouldn’t feel cold.

Cheng Sangluo hadn’t realized that the tenderness poured into these details came from instinct—the instinct to take good care of the injured crazy woman.

Lin Jin leaned lazily against the tiled wall, raising her eyes to look at the “puppy” who had her back turned. Her gaze held a complex mixture of melancholy and confusion.

It had only been a month, but this person’s back was no longer as straight as when she left prison. Was it a spine bent by life, or bent by her own clumsy tactics? She couldn’t tell.

That glance gave rise to a strong sense of self-reproach, and it was that same glance that revealed the genuine, unfeigned tenderness. Her heart, which she tried to keep strong, instantly melted into mush.

She tilted her head, her eyelids fluttering slightly, as if a thought had been shaken loose.

Perhaps tonight was suitable to peel away the scar on her back and calmly discuss the long-buried past.

“Lin Sheng is my half-brother, but we have fundamental differences. He is the illegitimate child, and I am supposed to be the legitimate heir.”

Cheng Sangluo was vigorously scrubbing the towel when she suddenly heard Lin Jin’s open response. Her hand movements paused. She turned and walked closer.

She lifted Lin Jin’s arm and wrapped the still-hot towel tightly around it, allowing the languid woman to absorb more warmth. At the same time, she voiced a strange query: “A half-brother who is illegitimate? I don’t quite understand that relationship. It sounds complicated.”

“Complicated?” Lin Jin looked at her “puppy’s” serious contemplation. She suddenly grabbed her hand, speaking in an unusually consultative tone: “Carry me back to the hospital bed. Same deal as usual: you hold me while we sleep, and I’ll tell you a bedtime story.”

“Okay.” Cheng Sangluo was concise. Fearing she might appear too eager, she awkwardly mumbled: “That trade sounds fair. Hmm… wait for me…”

Lin Jin was about to praise her “puppy’s” obedient behavior tonight. Seeing her about to leave, she quickly grabbed her shirt hem and refused to let go. “Where are you going?”

Cheng Sangluo heard the panic in the crazy woman’s voice. She held the hand gripping her shirt hem, soothing her: “I’m going to get your hospital gown. You can’t crawl into bed naked, can you? Even if the hospital things are sterilized, I still feel they’re not clean. Wouldn’t a delicate person like you be even more repulsed?”

“Only ten seconds.” Lin Jin reluctantly released her hand and began the countdown: “Ten…”

“Aish, you really are…” The “puppy” immediately sprinted out, feeling like she was back in the military camp, where everything had to be done against the clock.

“Nine.”

“Eight.”

“Seven.”

“Six.”

“…”

Cheng Sangluo heard the voice from the bathroom. She grabbed the hospital gown from the bedside table and rushed back inside: “Alright, alright, stop counting down. You’re making me feel like I’m doing drills in the army.”

She complained good-naturedly, quickly helped the crazy woman put on the gown, and then hurried to carry her to the hospital bed.

Lin Jin clung to her “puppy’s” neck, habitually refusing to let go, insisting that she climb under the covers. “Hurry up and get in. Stop dragging your feet.”

“What’s the rush? I need to position your foot correctly. Dr. Chi said your foot needs to quickly reduce the swelling, or we can’t schedule the surgery.” Cheng Sangluo nagged, turning to use the blanket and pillows from the neighboring bed to prop up Lin Jin’s foot. “How is this height? If it’s uncomfortable, you have to tell me.”

Lin Jin lay flat, nodded, and looked in the direction of her foot, loving the sight of her “puppy” seriously adjusting the height. She intentionally teased: “Hiss… it hurts a little… is it too high?”

“Wait a moment, let me adjust it again.” Cheng Sangluo believed her and flattened the folded pillow. “How about this?”

“Hiss… it still hurts… is it perhaps too low?”

The “puppy” tilted her head to look at the crazy woman’s mischievous smile and instantly saw through her. “Are you messing with me?”

Lin Jin changed to a side-lying position, joking: “You’re not very smart, are you? You just figured that out.”

She propped up her cheek and patted the spot she had deliberately cleared next to her. “Puppy, come here quickly. Your owner needs to hold you to sleep~”

Cheng Sangluo was probably immune to the term ‘puppy.’ She silently settled beside Lin Jin. This position avoided taking off her shoes and didn’t occupy too much space, yet still allowed her to gently hold the clingy woman close to her waist. “This is fine. The bed is too small. If I really lie down, I’ll crowd you.”

“No.” Lin Jin coldly refused. It seemed she wouldn’t stop until she got her way. “I said I need to be held, and I must be held. I want a hug… a hug… a hug… no one sleeps without a hug!”

Cheng Sangluo heard the repeating, demanding tone and had no choice but to concede: “Fine, fine, settle down…”

It wasn’t that she couldn’t handle the crazy woman. It was just that whenever a refusal came to mind, a few ridiculous words floated into her head: Forget it, forget it. She’s injured.

She lay down as Lin Jin wished, spread her arms, and pulled the woman into her embrace. “Is this okay? Can you tell the bedtime story now?”

“This is more like it.” Lin Jin buried her cheek in her “puppy’s” embrace, inhaling the satisfactory scent, and mumbled: “Well… where should the story begin…”

In truth, Cheng Sangluo wasn’t very focused on listening to the story now. Firstly, she was too tired and couldn’t concentrate. Secondly, the intoxicating cedar scent was potent and inducing drowsiness.

She gently rested her chin on the crazy woman’s head, inhaling the scent unconsciously, and whispered sleepily: “Hmm… just say whatever comes to mind…”

“Yesterday was my mother’s death anniversary.”

The opening was so sudden that it jolted Cheng Sangluo awake slightly. In the dim light, she turned her head to look at Lin Jin’s expression.

The beautiful face was not only clearly outlined from being thin but also lacked color, looking pale and pitiful.

Tonight, both of them had lost the sharpness of the daytime.

Cheng Sangluo had abandoned her usual aloofness, and Lin Jin had become unusually clingy. They were like two people who had found shelter in the turbulent ocean of life, unconsciously drawing closer because of the injury.

Cheng Sangluo hesitated for a moment before carefully asking: “So, what does the anniversary have to do with your brother? Um… I’m sorry about your mother…”

“It’s alright. She passed away more than twenty years ago.” Lin Jin’s reaction when talking about her mother was too calm, like a stone dropping into stagnant water, causing no ripple.

Cheng Sangluo already knew a little about the Lin family. Coupled with this conversation, she could roughly guess that Lin Mu’s death was related to Lin Sheng, and perhaps also related to the scar on her back.

Although her curiosity was strong enough to kill a cat right now, she refrained from asking further.

Some things needed to be voluntarily spoken by the person involved to confirm unknown suspicions. This was Cheng Sangluo’s respect for Lin Jin, and also her inherent kindness at work.

Lin Jin was silent for a long time, presumably organizing her thoughts, trying to recall those terrifying scenes.

She was sinking into the abyss of that night. All her fear was evident in the details.

Her brows gradually furrowed as she remembered, and the slender fingers gripping her “puppy’s” shirt turned white. Following this was uncontrollable trembling throughout her body.

“The lightning that night was purplish-red, the thunder roared as if it would split my head at any moment, and the heavy rain washed down the back mountain. It started as a rushing stream, then turned into a flash flood.”

The memory, like a gate bursting open, was overwhelming, yet also like countless sharp shards of glass. The first unforgettable scene was always the ominous weather of that night.

Lin Jin didn’t dare to close her eyes, fearing she would relive the moment.

She could only raise her eyes to meet Cheng Sangluo’s gaze. Perhaps looking at the person she longed for would give her some confidence, or she wanted to find a sense of security in her “puppy’s” eyes, allowing her to pull herself out of the memory vortex at any time.

Cheng Sangluo finally understood why the crazy woman was afraid of lightning and thunder. She didn’t remain a passive listener.

Even though it was calm outside, she decisively covered Lin Jin’s ears, just as she had done that night in the closet, offering gentle and patient companionship.

Perhaps the person she wanted to shield wasn’t just the current Lin Jin, but the little girl who shivered in the storm more than twenty years ago.

Lin Jin followed suit, mimicking that night’s action by pressing her ear against her “puppy’s” chest: “I still prefer listening to your heartbeat.”

She was quiet for a while, then her thoughts jumped to another subject: “My mother was an accomplished dancer. She married my father at an age when she should have been performing and winning awards all over the world. They were together because of a family marriage alliance, so there was no love in that marriage. Logically, I shouldn’t have come into this world. How wonderful it would be if I hadn’t come here.”

Lin Jin desperately suppressed the sadness that welled up in her heart. That sigh of ‘how wonderful it would be’ was accompanied by a light laugh, yet it became increasingly poignant due to the uncontrollable, choked trembling.

In Cheng Sangluo’s memory, the woman in her arms was always unscrupulously insane, disregarding others and using ruthless tactics—that was the overbearing Lin Jin.

Cheng Sangluo was accustomed to her assertiveness. This sudden sense of brokenness was momentarily overwhelming, leaving her panicked and unable to offer comforting words. She could only gently stroke her head with her palm: “Let’s not tell the story anymore, okay?”

‘Okay?’ was originally Lin Jin’s catchphrase, often used to seek confirmation when she was being gentle with her “puppy.”

Unexpectedly, tonight, those words became her “puppy’s” suffix.

Her “puppy’s” gentle treatment stemmed from intense empathy. The consequences of a poor family background accompany a person throughout life, and both she and Lin Jin were unfortunate victims.

They needed healing, but the world was desolate, and love was more precious than gold, so healing was never easy.

At this moment, Cheng Sangluo tightened her arms, filling her embrace with the fragile woman. The silent strength seemed to be saying: Companionship is better than enduring alone. We are already living in a better future. Don’t be afraid. I am here.

“You are so strange. Rarely do I want to patiently answer your questions, and now you don’t want to listen.” Lin Jin knew well that her “puppy” didn’t mean that, yet she deliberately misinterpreted the meaning of her words.

She did it for no other reason than simply enjoying being unreasonable, knowing that the person who was ridiculously clumsy in matters of the heart would indulge her in everything.

“I don’t want you to be sad.” The “puppy,” who was always verbally stubborn, rarely revealed her true thoughts so openly.

She didn’t avoid Lin Jin’s deep eyes, seemingly knowing that the pitiful crazy woman needed her firm gaze.

Perhaps seeing Lin Jin’s strong desire to express herself tonight, even if it meant enduring the fear of memory and exposing her deepest wounds, why should she spoil her intention?

Cheng Sangluo pressed her face against the crazy woman’s ear and softly changed her question: “Then… what happened later… how did your aunt pass away?”

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