My Wealthy Ex-Girlfriend Knelt and Begged Me to Come Back [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 31

“I did it to save her,” Qiu Miaoran explained, the thin gold chain of her glasses swaying slightly. Behind the delicate lenses, her thick black eyelashes trembled. “Out of humanitarianism, and…”

Moreover, Qiu Miaoran had long known this patient—or rather, this was someone she had coveted for a long time…

She was just a step too late and couldn’t save Ji Jiayu from the conflicts of the Song family.

Ji Jiayu had been sitting in that car; originally, Song Tingyu was also supposed to be there, but he changed his ticket in advance. The person who intended to harm Song Tingyu didn’t know, and the one in the car was Ji Jiayu…

And so, this tragedy occurred.

Ji Chen’s gaze grew increasingly serious—

She didn’t understand exactly who the patient Qiu Miaoran was referring to.

It could be said that Qiu Miaoran rescued a deeply comatose patient out of humanitarianism, but observing her for two years, it was clear that humanitarianism alone couldn’t explain everything.

—This was merely a method to monitor the patient’s treatment results and decide whether to expand the scale of the research project, as a way to evaluate unforeseen risks.

“Unless the patient has given consent, all this data counts as personal privacy. Saying it’s ‘humanitarianism’ is actually just sophistry,” Ji Chen remarked.

Qiu Miaoran frowned slightly; her eyelids twitched and her gaze flickered.

Her micro-expressions were too obvious—even Ji Chen could see that Qiu Miaoran had not obtained the patient’s authorization. “So you really didn’t inform her, Miaoran. You’re usually so rational—how did you suddenly become so careless?”

“The matters of the Qiu family… I shouldn’t have gotten involved. This medical project, I shouldn’t have participated in either.”

Ji Chen sighed, then spoke softly, “I did it for my sister.”

Ji Chen’s sister was the eldest daughter of the Ji family, Ji Jiachen, Qiu Miaoran’s mother.

The Qiu family, being the richest in Jing City, had severe internal conflicts over inheritance, often escalating to violence.

The third branch managed overseas businesses and had a son named Qiu Changsheng, Qiu Miaoran’s cousin.

The second branch was Qiu Miaoran’s parents. On Qiu Miaoran’s thirteenth birthday, her parents were involved in a car accident on the way back to Nancheng. Her father died on the spot, her mother fell into a deep coma, and eventually, she couldn’t survive past the third year. Her brain activity ceased, leaving Qiu Miaoran alone.

Ji Chen’s sister was Qiu Miaoran’s mother.

After her elder sister’s car accident left her in a deep coma and eventually passed away, Ji Chen had always harbored resentment.

So, after joining MIT for a direct PhD program, Ji Chen went to École Polytechnique in Paris as a visiting scholar, specializing in algorithms applied to advanced medical equipment, especially for treating biological neural networks.

Unfortunately, while participating in a motorcycle club event, she was caught in a mountain collapse accident and was missing for over three years.

This time she returned to China because Qiu Miaoran invited her back to serve as a technical advisor for Project 001.

Ji Chen tapped the display screen. “I suggest you seriously think about how to handle this matter.”

Qiu Miaoran’s eyes went blank, slightly dazed. They were so close that she had forgotten—until Ji Chen mentioned it today—that she might have made a serious mistake.

Ji Chen cleared her throat. “Without the patient’s consent, starting follow-up observation is indeed a potential issue.”

“Every step of applying for a patent must be legal and compliant,” Qiu Miaoran snapped back to reality. “Sorry. I will go back and obtain the patient’s consent.”

“And I think she will definitely agree.”

Ji Chen lifted her gaze from the screen and looked at her, smiling faintly. “I’m curious… why are you so sure?”

Qiu Miaoran hesitated, a trace of nervousness appearing as she lowered her eyelashes, hiding the expression in her eyes. “She will agree. You really don’t need to worry about this.”

She would agree… such an obedient little girl, who loved her the most, the most special among all her companions, who had given her everything in moments of irredeemable passion…

And subconsciously, she had already considered the little girl to be her own.

“I’ll handle this. You and the tech development can continue as usual.”

The phone rang again.

Qiu Miaoran took it out and saw it was Assistant Li, probably another failed negotiation with Tongda Construction Investment.

“Sorry, auntie, I still have some other matters to attend to.”

Ji Chen waved her hand, bidding farewell to Qiu Miaoran. “Alright, you go first. I also need to return to my alma mater.”

Before returning to her alma mater, she wanted to check on a little sister…

She hadn’t replied to Ji Jiayu, not even to the earlier message saying, “I’m back.” By the time she sent a message to Ji Jiayu, she wanted to retract it but didn’t have the chance.

A little nervous about meeting Ji Jiayu again, which might be the so-called “familiar place, greater fear,” or maybe she simply didn’t know how to face her…

Ji Chen took out her phone and saw a message from Ji Jiayu sent two days ago:

[Ji Jiayu]: Sister, do you have some free time recently?

After hesitating, Ji Chen replied:

[Ji Chen]: Meet me at the old place. Is today okay?

At the west gate of Tsinghua University, under the solid plaque, stood a girl holding a small, delicate cake box.

Now it was close to winter break. She wore a khaki coat, cream-colored long pants, a mask, and her hair was loosely spread, making her face look small.

Ji Jiayu stopped at the gate. Unlike many years ago, Tsinghua had installed electronic access control. She couldn’t enter.

The security guard, seeing a girl who hadn’t swiped a card, called out, “You need to swipe your student card to enter.”

“I’m here to see a friend,” Ji Jiayu replied.

Non-students and non-faculty couldn’t freely enter, and with winter break approaching, few people were on campus besides graduate students and professors…

But Ji Jiayu looked very young, like an obedient student, definitely not a bad person—probably genuinely here to see a boyfriend or girlfriend.

The guard didn’t stop her. “Come register first.”

Ji Jiayu used face recognition to enter Tsinghua.

The internal structure of the school hadn’t changed much over the years. She knew where the ‘old place’ was.

During Ji Chen’s undergraduate years, she had studied here for four years. At that time, Ji Jiayu was very young, having just left the orphanage and barely in middle school.

Ji Chen had taken her around the school. In the lab, her junior classmates would gather around the small, pretty girl, wanting to tease her: “Middle school already at Tsinghua? You want to get into our department too?”

Ji Jiayu nodded, confused—not because she wanted to attend Tsinghua, but simply because she wanted to stay with her sister…

“You have to be in the top three of your grade to have a chance,” one junior once said.

Because of such remarks, Ji Jiayu would feel particularly upset whenever she performed poorly. Unlike other children, having grown up in an orphanage, she wouldn’t cry or act spoiled easily; she was good at hiding her emotions.

Her sadness showed mainly through silence and fewer smiles.

Ji Chen once told her, “You don’t necessarily have to get into Tsinghua; being in the top 100 is enough for a good school. What matters is which school you like.”

“You don’t have to choose this major either. Life has many paths, and I will support whatever path you choose,” Ji Chen had comforted her, gently sending all the noisy juniors out and hugging little Ji Jiayu in the lab, then closing the door with a “click.”

…

“Click,” the lab door opened.

“Senior Ji, I heard you came back to borrow the lab, so I hurried over…” A young man in a black down jacket, Chen Qing, Ji Chen’s junior in college, who stayed on after graduate school as a teaching assistant managing the lab, spoke.

Ji Chen looked up from the screen, raising an eyebrow. “Chen Qing? Why are you here?”

“To see you…” Chen Qing blurted out, then nervously fidgeted with his left hand in his pocket, realizing it sounded improper. He quickly amended:

“No, I had a debugging issue I couldn’t solve. I wanted to ask you to look at this program. What’s wrong with it?”

“Where’s the program?” Ji Chen asked.

“It’s on the machine you’re using now,” he said, pulling a milk tea from behind his back.

A cup of thick black sugar bubble milk tea.

She had liked this flavor most during their professional classes.

“Don’t bring food into the lab. How could you forget that?” Ji Chen pushed the tea back. “If you want to drink it, go outside. Don’t let it spill on the machine.”

“Thunk thunk,” came a knock on the door.

Ji Chen stood up and slowly walked over.

She felt nervous, her heart pounding fast.

The person outside wasn’t the one she wanted to meet.

A stranger paused, raising a hand holding a delicately wrapped box. “A girl just asked me to deliver this to a senior named Ji in this lab. Are you her?”

“Yes, thank you.” Ji Chen took the box, her eyes dimming slightly.

Ji Jiayu didn’t even want to meet her in person? Was she angry about the years of lost contact?

But she had her own unspeakable difficulties…

Ji Chen carried the square cake box back into the lab, turning the chair to sit with her back to the mainframe. The cake box from Ji Jiayu was on her lap.

“Senior, didn’t you say no food in the lab?” Chen Qing asked, unaware of her low mood. “Which junior is this? So rude.”

“Chen Qing, please leave.”

“Why?” Chen Qing clutched the tea bag.

Ji Chen lowered her head, fingers gently touching the delicate ribbon on top of the box. “The lab is lent to me today. Please leave first.”

“I just… want to be alone, okay?”

Chen Qing awkwardly smiled. “Alright, Senior. I’ll take this cake out and leave it on the table outside. Remember to go out and eat later…”

As he reached to move it, Ji Chen snapped her hand lightly, “pa,” pushing his hand away.

The gesture was slightly disdainful.

Chen Qing: …Low harm, extremely insulting.

Ji Chen raised her head, eyes soft, the corners slightly lifted. “Still not leaving?”

Always gentle, never angry. Now she smiled, but not from the eyes.

“Going… I’m going… Senior, enjoy. Just swap the lab key before leaving…” He hurriedly retreated.

As he walked, he wondered: Earlier, she scolded him for bringing milk tea into the lab, but now, when a junior gave her a small cake, she treated it like treasure, holding it protectively.

So strange…

Chen Qing left. The door clicked shut.

Ji Chen untied the ribbon carefully, opening the box. A small round cake, creamy yellow animal cream melting on her lips, soft sponge with sweet fruit filling.

After eating, she opened the bottom compartment of the box.

The weight of the box wasn’t just from the cake. Inside the compartment was something Ji Jiayu didn’t want others to see.

Inside, taped securely, was a phone. A note on cardboard read:

[Sister… help me.]

[I suspect there’s something on my phone. Please check it. I can’t meet you now. Can we use another way to contact in the future?]

Ji Chen glanced at the wall clock—11:35 a.m.

Rewinding to 7 a.m. this morning—

The doorbell of Qiushui Mansion rang.

“Here~” Aunt Chen set down her work to open the door.

“I’m back to get some materials. Qiu’s materials were left here,” Assistant Li rushed in to retrieve them from the shelf Qiu Miaoran had designated.

“Tap, tap—” His shoes clicked hurriedly across the wooden floor.

He didn’t see someone turning the corner.

He stopped abruptly, but the folder in his hand hit…

A USB drive “dinged” to the floor, some A4 papers scattered.

Ji Jiayu bent to help him pick up the papers.

“Thanks, Miss Ji,” Assistant Li said.

Ji Jiayu waved lightly. “No need.”

After organizing the folder, Assistant Li hurried away.

Ji Jiayu noticed two lines of writing on one of the papers. A chill ran down her spine:

Patient attended a corporate annual meeting. 24-hour EEG shows mild abnormalities. Mood low. Cause unknown.

…

During the annual meeting, Qiu Miaoran was still abroad.

So this schedule in Assistant Li’s hands clearly wasn’t Qiu Miaoran’s.

Ji Jiayu’s gaze slowly dropped. Standing there at the end of January, the heating in Qiushui Mansion was strong, but she felt… cold.

The chill ran up her spine, into her bones, making her teeth chatter.

Qiu Miaoran, a person of high society, outwardly refined, polite, and courteous; inherently a meticulous businessperson, analyzing gains and losses, never letting herself take a loss.

She treated her like a substitute, real or not, silently observing her in unknown corners…

Hence, the so-called “schedule record.”

Qiu Miaoran was the one here most worth fearing.

Ji Jiayu’s expression blanked slightly. She slowly descended the stairs, her slippers softly clicking on the wooden floor.

In the living room, Aunt Chen was still watching a morning drama. The TV voice was clear:

“There are two types of deceivers in this world,”

“One deceives for themselves, the other for others,”

“But both cause harm to each other, inevitably.”

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