No One Knows [Rebirth] - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Soulmate.

Tang Ruibai was speechless.

Qin Yu couldn’t see her expression clearly, but she was very satisfied with the excuse she had found for herself.

“I’ve noticed you for a long time.” Qin Yu touched her earlobe unnaturally, playing the image of a young girl too shy to speak to her crush. There was a hint of joy in her voice, mixed with a bit of nervousness.

If there were a director and a camera nearby, Qin Yu’s performance would be considered textbook acting. But right now, the only audience was Tang Ruibai, and Tang Ruibai hadn’t bought into the act from the start.

Tang Ruibai didn’t believe her; she just watched her with cold, wary eyes, her gaze full of detachment.

Qin Yu had experienced countless “one-man show” moments. Right now, her goal wasn’t necessarily to make Tang Ruibai believe her, but to establish a plausible reason. Otherwise, what? Tell the world she was reborn and had actually been married to Tang Ruibai? Everyone would just call her insane.

“I didn’t know if it was love,” Qin Yu continued. “Every time I saw you at the school gate, I would stop to look at you. You are very special.”

Tang Ruibai twitched the corner of her mouth—it hurt—and it was obvious she didn’t believe a single word.

But what was Qin Yu’s objective? Why did Qin Yu act as if she knew her so well? Tang Ruibai was completely bewildered, but compared to these questions, survival was more important.

The night was cold, and the autumn wind wailed through the alley. Her body temperature was gradually dropping. A wound somewhere was still bleeding, and her whole body felt limp and powerless.

In the desolate alley, only Qin Yu’s soft voice remained: “Maybe you’re used to being alone, or maybe you don’t have thoughts about dating right now. That’s okay. I’m not trying to start a high school romance with you, but at the very least, I want to be your friend.”

Tang Ruibai calmed down, her gaze clearly saying: I’ll just sit here and watch you make things up.

“I got hit in the head today, and at the time, I thought I was going to die,” Qin Yu said, undeterred. She utilized everything available to her, stringing events together into a line to create a logically sound excuse. Combined with her seasoned, “less is more” acting style, she showed a perfectly timed, sheepish smile. “I thought then, I’ve noticed you so many times, but you don’t even know my name. If I just died like that, it would be such a waste. So, on an impulse, I went to your school to look for you.”

At this point, Qin Yu lowered her head, looking slightly disappointed: “But your classmates said you haven’t been to school for three days.”

Tang Ruibai let out a light sneer, her voice weak: “Why didn’t you go write novels instead?”

Qin Yu looked at her. All the love, urgency, guilt, and tension were hidden away, leaving only a hint of sadness at being dismissed: “You don’t believe me?”

Playing a part. She was very good at it.

Besides, what was true and what was false? Even she couldn’t distinguish between them anymore. That’s how acting worked: a few parts of your own real emotions, a few parts merging into the character, and then shaping a “person” who looked real. That’s how you brought a character to life.

Tang Ruibai was the one who had taught her that. But the current Tang Ruibai didn’t know.

Tang Ruibai didn’t have the energy to argue. She gave her a sidelong glance and then closed her eyes weakly to rest.

For Qin Yu, this reaction was scarier than an outright denial. She had to worry about Tang Ruibai’s body while simultaneously feeling anxious about Tang Ruibai’s attitude toward her. She couldn’t help but wonder: was the seventeen-year-old Tang Ruibai already this inscrutable?

Qin Yu used to think it was because they weren’t close, or because Tang Ruibai was precocious, that she always maintained an unshakeable composure regardless of the situation. She hadn’t expected seventeen-year-old Tang Ruibai to be like this already.

Qin Yu wanted to say more, but then the sound of sirens echoed outside the alley, and headlights illuminated the dark passage. Perhaps because the caller was a girl, two female officers were dispatched.

“What happened?” A short-haired officer crouched down to check Tang Ruibai’s injuries and asked, “Was it a robbery or…?” As she spoke, a somber look crossed her face, and her gaze instinctively drifted toward the girl’s lower body.

“It’s nothing,” Tang Ruibai said flatly. “I fell.”

“Can’t you at least come up with a better lie than that?” The officer, worried about her condition, asked: “Can you walk?”

Tang Ruibai hummed in affirmation. She placed one hand on the ground to push herself up, but she had no strength. The officer saw her stubbornness and said gently, “I’ll carry you. Let’s go to the hospital first.” She turned around and half-crouched.

Qin Yu, however, handed her backpack to the long-haired officer standing to the side. “I’ll do it, officer.”

Qin Yu directly picked Tang Ruibai up in a bridal carry. Because she had carried the later Tang Ruibai many times, it was a very natural movement for her—so much so that even Tang Ruibai didn’t have time to react. Qin Yu was actually quite relieved; she was glad she liked to exercise, otherwise she wouldn’t have the strength to lift her.

Of course, she wasn’t as fit now as she would be later. In the future, to train her back muscles and abs, she had professional daily courses and a much higher exercise intensity. But right now she was younger, and more importantly, Tang Ruibai was lighter.

She was thin as a feather. When Qin Yu held her, she could feel her bone structure through the thin clothing.

Once in the police car, an officer finally asked Qin Yu: “You are her…?”

Tang Ruibai was in a semi-conscious state. Hearing people talk felt like it was coming through a layer of insulation, like wearing noise-canceling headphones.

Qin Yu was worried about Tang Ruibai; her eyes had been glued to her from the beginning. Suddenly hearing the officer’s question, her brain didn’t even skip a beat before answering: “Mhm.”

Naturally, she belonged to Tang Ruibai.

The officer was stunned, then helplessly face-palmed. “What are you ‘mhm-ing’ for? I asked who you are to her?”

Qin Yu: “…”

Fortunately, Qin Yu never got embarrassed by such questions. After a second of silence, she said: “Soulmate.”

Among the common answers like “friend” or “good friend,” she chose a deeper one. She was worth it.

Tang Ruibai, however, managed to muster a sliver of strength from the chaos to distance herself: “I don’t know her.” Her voice was very weak, but the coldness was undiminished. “She was just passing by.”

The officer looked at Qin Yu suspiciously.

Qin Yu pursed her lips. “I went specifically to look for her. But I didn’t expect her to be so badly injured.”

“Minor injury,” Tang Ruibai said. “It won’t kill me.”

“But you lost a lot of blood.”

Qin Yu’s tone became stern, but Tang Ruibai replied indifferently: “If I die, I die.”

Qin Yu’s palm, which had been holding her wrist, suddenly tightened, as if she wanted to crush Tang Ruibai’s bones. The officer felt the atmosphere in the car become very stiff, even a bit cold. Two underage kids were actually making her feel a sense of pressure? It had to be… it must be her imagination.

Seeing this, the officer stopped asking. She pointed at Qin Yu and said, “Treatment first. You’ll need to give a statement later.”

Tang Ruibai’s injuries were indeed serious: two broken ribs, bruises all over her body, a gash on her thigh, and significant blood loss. Fortunately, she was brought in time, or it could have been life-threatening.

Qin Yu sat in the hallway, filled with lingering fear. She went to give a temporary statement to the female officer, but she didn’t know much about the incident and was ignorant of all of the current Tang Ruibai’s social relationships, so she couldn’t answer most questions.

The statement was finished in less than half an hour. The officer asked for her parents’ phone number so they could come and collect her.

Qin Yu was very cooperative: “I’ll call my parents. They’ll need to pay the medical bills too.” The officer had no objection. After Qin Yu signed the statement, the officer went to wait outside the emergency room. For a situation like Tang Ruibai’s, they would definitely have to conduct a follow-up investigation.

Only then did Qin Yu have time to take out her phone. President Qin and Ms. Wen had called her over twenty times each, and even Qi Miaoyan, Ling Feng, and Lu Xin had sent messages of concern.

Qin Yu called President Qin first. No choice; economic status determined the reporting order.

As soon as the call connected, President Qin asked in a heavy voice: “How are you? Where are you? Are you hurt?”

Qin Yu: “…”

“No,” Qin Yu gave a light cough. “Dad, I haven’t been kidnapped.”

She had been kidnapped once when she was a child, and that incident had left a significant psychological shadow on President Qin and Ms. Wen. She herself didn’t feel much about it; it happened when she was two or three years old—what could she remember? However, it was brought up countless times as she grew up, with President Qin and Ms. Wen constantly reminding her not to trust strangers.

After Qin Yu spoke, there was two seconds of silence on the other end, followed by a sharp: “Then where the hell did you go? It’s fine that you aren’t back by this time, but you didn’t even pick up the phone! Qin Yu, have you gone too long without a scolding?!”

Qin Yu shuddered, but she didn’t feel afraid at all; instead, she felt at peace. “Dad, I’m at the Emergency Department of Lan City Second Hospital. Can you come pick me up?”

“Emergency Department?!” President Qin panicked again. “Are you hurt?”

“No. It’s a soulmate of mine.” Qin Yu instinctively shifted into a business-like tone: “It’s hard to explain in a few words. Just come over and we’ll talk.” With that, she hung up.

At home, the veins on President Qin’s forehead were throbbing. “Is that how she talks to me?!”

Ms. Wen patted his arm. “Enough. Let’s go get Xiao Yu first. It’s about to rain.”

President Qin twitched his mouth unpleasantly. “You just spoil her.”

Ms. Wen gave him a sidelong glance. “Is it me spoiling her or you? When you see our daughter, I’ll see if you’re still acting this tough.”

President Qin grit his teeth. “I want to see exactly who she was with that made her stay out this late without contacting us!”