I Quit Being This Female Lead (GL) - Chapter 77

The spicy oil hotpot was bubbling and tumbling in the pot, emitting many large bubbles. The rising steam cast the faces of the two people across the table in shifting light and shadow.

Mang Ke was lowering her head, eating a piece of freshly blanched lamb, when she heard Yue Yin speak: “Your name is Mang Ke?”

Her tongue was instantly scalded with pain, and Mang Ke quickly grabbed the juice next to her and took a gulp, holding the glass without a sound.

Yue Yin stared at her with interest. “You said you knew me. Where did we meet? I have no memory of it.”

Mang Ke didn’t know where to start. She couldn’t very well tell her they met in another world, could she?

Just as Mang Ke was in a difficult spot, Jia Yun fished a slice of meat from the pot and placed it in front of Yue Yin. She said with a beaming smile, “Are you interested in my ex-girlfriend? Why have you been staring at her since you sat down? Am I not beautiful?”

Yue Yin glanced at the woman next to her, crossed her arms, and said impatiently, “I’m not interested in you.”

“Don’t say that. Since we’re sitting together, let’s have a good chat. Hurry up and eat! Talking won’t fill you up!”

Yue Yin frowned. She picked up her chopsticks and took a bite of the meat on the plate. The meat was fresh and tender with an excellent texture; the hearty bite was very mellow and fragrant in her mouth, and the sauce was just right—not too salty or too spicy.

Jia Yun noticed Yue Yin liked it and blanched two more slices for her, continuing to feed her so she wouldn’t have a chance to speak to Mang Ke.

When they were almost finished eating, Yue Yin’s manager arrived with security guards. Yue Yin stood up, intending to leave, but stopped and said to Mang Ke, “Let me add your contact information. Thank you for helping me out today.”

Mang Ke looked up at her, opened her phone, and handed it over.

After scanning the code, Yue Yin seemed pleased. She smiled lightly at Mang Ke: “Then… I’ll contact you later.”

Mang Ke nodded and watched her depart.

Jia Yun, eating a piece of tofu in her bowl, grumbled unhappily, “I was the one who asked the security guard to help her, so why didn’t she ask for my WeChat?”

Mang Ke took a sip of juice and laughed. “Are you jealous?”

“I am.” Jia Yun looked at Mang Ke and said, “If Xun Fangyun finds out you added an outsider’s contact information, she could bite me to death even with her mouth closed.”

The thought of Xun Fangyun’s current inability to speak—meaning her anger would be limited to perhaps pounding her wheelchair—was somehow funny.

“But, Little Ke,” Jia Yun said, “that woman just now seemed interested in you. You really need to be careful.”

Mang Ke stared at her, not understanding what she meant.

Jia Yun replied, “If a vinegar vat spills, I won’t go in to save you.”

Mang Ke was speechless.

After eating, Jia Yun had an urgent matter at her laboratory and had to leave. Mang Ke originally wanted to pay the bill, but then she realized Jia Yun was the restaurant’s VVV.I.P., so outsiders didn’t need to pay. Mang Ke could only helplessly take her things and return to the hospital.

On the way out of the hotpot restaurant, Mang Ke thought the earlier milk tea tasted quite good, so she took a detour to buy another cup to take away.

The subway rattled its way to the hospital. Mang Ke left the station and went straight to the inpatient department. When she arrived at the ward, she saw Xun Fangyun sitting in her wheelchair, looking down at a book. A cashmere blanket that Mang Ke had retrieved for her two days ago covered her knees.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Xun Fangyun raised her head.

As their eyes met, Mang Ke lifted the milk tea in her hand and shook it, smiling. “I brought this for you. Do you want to drink it?”

Xun Fangyun looked her up and down, huffed a muted sound, and turned her head away.

“Why are you still angry?” Mang Ke was puzzled. She walked over, put the milk tea aside, and said to Xun Fangyun, “Besides the milk tea, I brought you something else. Look at this.”

With that, Mang Ke took out the lipstick she had just bought that day from her pocket.

Mang Ke said, “I thought this shade would suit you, so I bought it. I don’t know much about these things. Do you want to try it?”

Xun Fangyun looked at the Chinese Red lipstick with the auspicious cloud pattern and couldn’t help but curl up the corner of her mouth.

Hmph. This little girl knows to bring a gift back for me after going out on a date! It wasn’t for nothing that I’ve been sulking for so long.

She picked up the tablet next to her and used the stylus to write: [Help me apply it]

Mang Ke smiled until her eyes curved into crescents. “Okay, I’ll go find Si Nan to borrow a mirror.”

Not finding Si Nan in the doctor’s lounge in the inpatient department, Mang Ke skillfully took a small mirror from the desk. It was the birthday gift she had given Si Nan for her eighteenth birthday. Sometimes when the glass broke, Si Nan would be reluctant to throw it away, taking it to a hardware store to have a new piece fitted, making it look brand new again.

Holding the small mirror, Mang Ke said to Xun Fangyun, “I’ll put it on for you. You hold this mirror first.”

Xun Fangyun took it. She was curious about the patched-up marks on the mirror, but since she couldn’t speak now, she suppressed her curiosity.

Mang Ke twisted the lipstick open, first swiping a layer on the back of her hand to remove the initial factory layer. Then, she gently lifted Xun Fangyun’s chin, asking her to raise her head.

The rounded, bright lipstick glided across Xun Fangyun’s lips. A faint chocolate scent diffused through the air around her mouth, sweet and rich.

The first layer was natural but subtle. Mang Ke looked at it and applied a second layer.

Xun Fangyun’s lips were very pale. Her prolonged lack of sun exposure made her as white as a ghost. The cool, pale skin looked unhealthy, but once the lipstick was applied, her entire person seemed to come alive.

Although only lipstick was applied, Xun Fangyun somehow seemed to be fully revitalized.

The way she blinked gently was a subtle yet constant pull on Mang Ke’s heart. The air stirred by those small fans felt fragrant.

After observing for a long time, Mang Ke snapped out of her own amazement, and her ears involuntarily turned red.

She is so beautiful.

If her skin color were a little more rosy, she would definitely be an extremely gorgeous woman.

Xun Fangyun was only in her twenties, the age of peak beauty. It was only unfortunate that her most tender years had been spent confined to a bed. Now, she radiated a unique charm characteristic of a mature woman.

Xun Fangyun turned her head and watched Mang Ke’s blush deepen, then couldn’t resist opening her mouth and saying, “Am I beautiful?”

Mang Ke couldn’t help but nod, and her face became even redder.

She knew Xun Fangyun was beautiful, but being teased like this was just too much!

Mang Ke lowered her head to put the lipstick away, then grabbed the mirror from her hand and held it up, saying to Xun Fangyun, “What do you think?”

Xun Fangyun examined herself in the mirror and sighed involuntarily.

Mang Ke felt a little panicked. She thought she had applied the lipstick well, so why the sigh?

Had she done something wrong?

Xun Fangyun reached out and touched the stray hairs near her ear, saying plaintively, “If only I had long hair. I remember a certain person has a thing for long hair.”

Mang Ke was stunned, and then she shot up abruptly. “You’re talking nonsense! I do not have a thing for long hair!”

She only likes girls with big, wavy hair!!!

Xun Fangyun looked at her with a soft chuckle, her expression saying, ‘Don’t try to fool me.’

Mang Ke’s face was completely flushed, but she didn’t know how to explain to Xun Fangyun that she wasn’t such a superficial woman who judged based on appearances!

Just as the two were at a stalemate, a group of people—the doctors on their afternoon rounds—entered the room.

The attending physician saw Xun Fangyun sitting in the wheelchair and walked over with a folder. He glanced at her and asked, “Who applied that for you?”

Xun Fangyun remained silent.

The doctor said with dissatisfaction, “Makeup can easily interfere with a doctor’s diagnosis. You outsiders shouldn’t be so casual.”

Mang Ke immediately apologized, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Be careful next time.”

“Understood… okay, Doctor…”

Seeing Mang Ke’s distressed look, Xun Fangyun said unhappily, “It’s just lipstick. It’s not that serious, is it?”

“????”

The middle-aged doctor’s face turned dark. He stared at Xun Fangyun and said, “Didn’t I forbid you from speaking to rest your voice? Why are you speaking? And you said so much at once! Have you been talking behind the doctors’ backs?”

Xun Fangyun was speechless.

The middle-aged doctor snorted, pointed at Xun Fangyun, and said, “In the future, count on your fingers when you speak. You cannot say more than ten sentences a day, and each sentence cannot exceed five characters. Otherwise, it will seriously affect your voice’s recovery. Do you understand?”

Xun Fangyun: “…Heh.”

Then, she raised a single finger.

That’s only one word, which is within the five-character limit. Let’s see what you can do about me.

The middle-aged doctor rolled his eyes and ignored her. He looked at Xun Fangyun’s data for the day, signed the document, and then led the group away in a grand manner.

The intern doctor was walking at the back. Mang Ke saw the colleague who had a good relationship with Si Nan, and she quickly followed him, asking in a low voice, “Where is Si Nan? Where is she now? I didn’t see her in the lounge.”

The doctor slowed his pace and said to Mang Ke, “She’s on duty at the clinic today. She’s currently in the outpatient building. If you want to see her, go to the Neurology Department. It’s just… she might be having a bit of trouble right now. You had better…”

“What are you doing back there? Hurry up!”

“Ay, coming, coming!”

Urged by his colleague, the young man smiled at Mang Ke and said, “Remember not to tell her I told you this, okay?”

Mang Ke was a little curious. Si Nan had been working shifts at the clinic for quite some time, so what did he mean by that today?

Returning to the ward, Mang Ke quickly wiped off Xun Fangyun’s lipstick. Xun Fangyun was not happy, throwing a tantrum with a foul expression. Mang Ke knew she was uncomfortable because she couldn’t walk or talk, but her body, having just woken up, still needed care, so she urged her to follow the doctor’s orders.

Before going home, Mang Ke decided to go to the outpatient department to see Si Nan. She had only been looking after Xun Fangyun lately and hadn’t seen her friend for a long time.

Skillfully taking the elevator up a floor, Mang Ke arrived at the Neurology Department clinic and noticed that all the other queues were quite long, but there was no one waiting outside Si Nan’s door.

Mang Ke poked her head in suspiciously, and her heart immediately leaped into her throat.

She saw a girl with her back to her, chatting with Si Nan, who had an expression of utter weariness but was struggling to maintain a pleasant demeanor. She looked exceptionally strained.

“Doctor Si, I’ve been having severe migraines lately.”

“You come here every day and stay all day. Are you really having migraines?”

The girl said, “I am! I’m so delicate! My illness won’t get better in just a day or two.”

Si Nan held her forehead and said, “I don’t think you should be seeing a neurologist. You should go see a psychiatrist.”

“Huh? Aren’t those two the same department?”

Jiang Chun’er rested her cheek on her hand and said huffily, “My dear doctor, please just give me the contact information for your friend Mang Ke. I can see you’re very busy. If you tell me, I promise I won’t come to see you again.”

Si Nan gave a cold laugh. “I think you are seriously ill, Miss Jiang. Go get help soon.”