I Quit Being This Female Lead (GL) - Chapter 57

The phone clattered harshly on the floor, and everyone present looked towards her.

Si Nan looked at Mang Ke and asked with some confusion, “What’s wrong, Xiao Ke?”

“N-nothing…” Mang Ke hurriedly picked up her phone, stood up, and said, “I’m going to step out for a moment. You can just find me in the hallway when you’re done.”

Although Si Nan felt it was strange, she didn’t usually pry into Mang Ke’s affairs. Moreover, she currently had a patient right in front of her, so she rightly prioritized her work.

“I understand,” Si Nan instructed, “Then wait for me in the hallway. I’ll come find you when I’m finished.”

Watching Mang Ke rush away, Jiang Chun’er looked at her suspiciously. She felt like the person looked familiar, but she couldn’t quite place her.

Si Nan spoke a few more words to Jiang Chun’er, telling her that she should bring the forms tomorrow to get the CT scan and re-examination, and then Si Nan packed up her things to leave.

Spotting Mang Ke in the hallway, Si Nan swung her bag and smiled, waving her hand: “Mang Ke~”

Jiang Chun’er turned her head and watched the chestnut-haired girl hurriedly pull the doctor away and run off, her expression becoming solemn.

“Miss?” The butler and driver said to Jiang Chun’er, “We should leave now, or the Chairman will call again.”

Jiang Chun’er reached out, pointed at the backs of the two people, and said, “I want all the information on that woman within three minutes.”

The butler:

Why does that sound so familiar?

Before long, Jiang Chun’er received the data sent by her assistant in the car. She opened it and was dumbfounded—

Si Nan, age 26, graduated from A University School of Medicine with a Master’s degree, currently a resident in the Neurology Department at the Municipal Hospital. Hobbies…

Jiang Chun’er called the assistant: “I don’t want the information on the doctor; I want the information on the girl next to her!”

Her Empress sister, how could she let her run away again!

And what’s with this doctor? Why is her resume so perfect!

“This damned overachiever,” Jiang Chun’er gritted her teeth and said, “Tomorrow, we’ll go for the re-examination, and we’ll still see this doctor.”

The butler:

Everything Miss said today sounds very familiar.

That evening, Si Nan took Mang Ke to an old hot pot restaurant.

This hot pot restaurant was one they had frequented since childhood. The bronze pot and large blocks of red chili oil gradually tumbled and bubbled in the boiling pot, eventually dissolving into a piping hot and spicy soup base.

Si Nan ordered some of Mang Ke’s favorite vegetables and meatballs, and two servings of tripe for herself. While sitting by the steaming hot pot, she asked, “You’ve been acting strangely these past few months. Did something happen?”

Mang Ke, who was eating baby bok choy, paused, stuffed the rest of the vegetable into her mouth, and said, “No, I’ve just had some personal things come up recently, so I’ve been quite busy.”

She knew Si Nan was referring to her habit of ignoring people for months at a time, but she couldn’t tell Si Nan the truth. Otherwise, this neurologist might become her attending physician in the future.

Si Nan looked at her suspiciously with her chopsticks: “Really?”

Mang Ke said, blushing, “Of course. I really am just busy.”

Si Nan was silent for a moment, then said, “Too busy to even send me a single reply?”

Mang Ke gripped her chopsticks, lowered her head, and apologized: “I’m sorry…”

Once she was done with Xun Fangyun’s matter, she would definitely give a proper explanation to her friend, as Si Nan was the only one who cared about her right now.

Si Nan sighed faintly. For some reason, even though she was still Mang Ke, Si Nan felt she was different from before. She couldn’t pinpoint the change, but she felt Mang Ke had changed a lot.

Her eyes also seemed clearer.

The old Mang Ke was always quiet and timid due to her background. Although Si Nan felt for her, she could only stay by her side as a close friend. But even the closest friends couldn’t meet every day, and Si Nan’s work was also very busy, so she couldn’t always look after Mang Ke’s feelings.

Now that Mang Ke had become somewhat distant, Si Nan was wondering if the problem lay with herself.

Seeing Si Nan silently eating the hot pot, Mang Ke picked up her chopsticks, quickly dipped a piece of tripe for her, and placed it in her bowl with Si Nan’s favorite millet chili sauce.

“Eat more,” Mang Ke said, blushing. “I’ve genuinely been busy lately. In the future, I promise to reply to your messages as soon as I wake up, so please don’t be mad at me, okay?”

Si Nan saw her anxious look and couldn’t help but smile, her eyes curving: “Alright, I know you didn’t mean to. Let’s not talk about this anymore. If you don’t eat your baby bok choy now, it’ll turn mushy.”

“Aah, aah, aah, my baby bok choy!”

The next day.

Mang Ke accompanied Si Nan to the hospital. The patient who had been admitted the day before yesterday had already been transferred to a standard single room.

“Are you sure you want to see her?” Si Nan looked at Mang Ke strangely: “You’re not familiar with her, so why visit her out of the blue?”

Mang Ke laughed: “After all, I massaged her for a month. When I suddenly heard she was seriously ill, I wanted to go check on her.”

Si Nan thought about it and decided it wasn’t a big deal. She told Mang Ke, “Then wait for me. I’ll take you once I’ve seen these registered patients.”

“It’s fine,” Mang Ke stopped her. “You take care of your work. I know the room number, I can go by myself.”

Si Nan pondered for a moment. Seeing the people waiting in line at the door, she could only nod and say, “Then you go. If anything happens, call me, and I can come over right away.”

Mang Ke nodded and smiled: “Mhm, I will.”

Taking the elevator and walking through the corridor of the Outpatient building, Mang Ke arrived at the patient ward area.

Unlike the constant stream of people in the Outpatient building, here, patients mostly lay in bed, watching TV and chatting.

Following the area division, Mang Ke went up to the single room on the easternmost side of the fifth floor. She paused in front of a room for a long time before finally pushing the door open and walking in.

The caregiver must have stepped out. The entire room only contained the person lying on the bed and the morning sunlight streaming into the room.

The autumn breeze, carrying the warmth of the day, fluttered the blue and white gauze curtains, casting patches of shadow onto the short-haired woman on the hospital bed.

Mang Ke slowly walked over. She saw the information card hanging at the head of the bed and quietly read the name on it—”Xun Fangyun.”

A gust of wind swept through, ruffling Mang Ke’s chestnut-colored long hair.

She looked at the woman on the hospital bed with a mix of emotion and helplessness, and softly said, “It really is you.”

So, she had been accompanying Xun Fangyun for so long, and she was only just finding out now. That’s truly a bit much.

Sitting on the chair beside the bed, Mang Ke reached out and gently touched her soft cheek.

The black short hair made her look a bit like a tomboy, but her thick, mimosa-like eyelashes made Mang Ke’s heart ache.

“You must wake up,” Mang Ke said to her with red eyes. “I’ll wait for you here.”

No matter how long it took, she would wait. No matter how many adventures she had to go on, she would face them.

As long as Xun Fangyun could live well, when she opened her eyes again, she believed the two of them could truly be together…

The first year of the Daqing era, January.

Snow fell across the northern lands, the landscape covered in white frost.

Along the snow-covered official road, a continuous stream of people traveled. In a mighty procession of nearly ten thousand, clad in armor and riding tall horses, they headed toward the summit of West Mountain.

In February of the same year, Longevity Village at the foot of West Mountain welcomed a group of guests.

The small village had few places to host outsiders. Only one dilapidated inn could accommodate people, so the group intended to stay for one night.

“Junior Sister,” a woman in green robes holding a jade-hilted longsword said to Mang Ke, who had just dismounted, “There are only three rooms in the inn. It looks like we’ll have to squeeze in together again.”

Mang Ke looked up at the dilapidated little inn. If it weren’t for the [Inn] sign still standing, she would have thought her Senior Brothers and Sisters had found a dangerous, crumbling house.

“Squeezing in is fine. It happens all the time,” Mang Ke said with a light chuckle. “I actually quite enjoy squeezing in with Senior Sister. It’s very warm.”

The woman in green couldn’t help but laugh: “You, hurry and lead the horses to the back courtyard. I’m going to help Grandmaster out of the carriage.”

“Mhm, alright.”

Mang Ke led both their horses toward the back courtyard of the inn. There was a stable and dry grass there, enough to give the two hungry horses, which had traveled over ten li, a full meal.

After feeding the horses hay and water, Mang Ke noticed the snow was getting heavier and the sky was darkening.

She exhaled a puff of white vapor and looked at the falling snow, sighing with emotion.

She had been in this world for two months already, and still had no clue about Xun Fangyun. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do next.

The main thing was that winter in the Northwest was simply too cold. Mang Ke felt her hands and feet were about to freeze off, so she quickly closed the stable door and shivered as she ran toward the inn.

This time, the world was a Xianxia (Immortal Hero) novel. It was about Mang Ke accompanying her Grandmasters back to their sect when she encountered the reigning Emperor who was seeking the Elixir of Immortality. Later, during a struggle, Mang Ke would fall off a cliff into a deep pool and experience many miraculous adventures.

Mang Ke couldn’t help but complain to herself. She didn’t know how she was supposed to meet Xun Fangyun in a story like this.

When Mang Ke came in from the back courtyard, covered in ice and snow, she saw the entire inn completely blocked by a group of people.

The innkeeper, a middle-aged man covered in the smell of dirt, was currently surrounded by a group of people in armor, looking particularly small and pathetic.

“My Lords,” the innkeeper pleaded, “my humble establishment truly has no spare rooms left. A group of guests just arrived and booked all the rooms!”

“I don’t care about your situation. Tell everyone who just went in to get out! We’ve taken over this inn. No one is allowed to enter!”

“Th-th-this, this…”

The middle-aged man probably had never encountered a situation like this. He was just an ordinary villager—where would he ever meet such ferocious-looking military officers?

Mang Ke knew instantly that this group was looking for trouble. If she were kicked out in this blizzard, she would surely freeze to death on the road. It didn’t matter if she and her Senior Brothers and Sisters were young, but their Grandmaster was 100 years old this year. If the Grandmaster caught a cold, they might ascend directly to heaven.

Just as Mang Ke was thinking about how to notify her fellow disciples upstairs, she felt a collective gaze suddenly fall upon her.

The officer who had been grabbing the innkeeper’s neck now turned to look at Mang Ke, and said with a cold face, “Little girl, you must be one of the people staying at the inn, right?”

Mang Ke: “…Huh?”

Shaking his armor, the officer walked up to Mang Ke, drew his saber, and held it against her neck: “Tell your group to come out, or I’ll chop off your head!”

Mang Ke: “…”

It seemed she had arrived at a bad time.