Running Towards You - Chapter 4

Early the next morning, Yanzi rushed to the hospital.

“Look what delicious treats I brought you!”

Ji Yin had just gotten up, and the caregiver had finished helping her freshen up. When she lifted her head and saw the fruit basket in Yanzi’s hand, she immediately recognized it as the expensive kind from the supermarket. Her face instantly darkened. “I opened a supermarket so you could keep taking things out for free?”

“Seriously, am I giving these to strangers?” Yanzi took the fruit to the bathroom to wash it. When she came out and noticed the other patients staring, she kindly handed out apples to everyone.

Ji Yin: “…” And you claim you’re not giving them to others?

Noticing Ji Yin’s resentful look, Yanzi chuckled and said to the others, “Please keep an eye on my sister these next few days.”

“Don’t worry, of course! We all look out for each other here,” the patient in the next bed replied with a smile.

“Where’s my apple?” Ji Yin asked.

“I haven’t peeled it yet. Have your breakfast first.”

“No need to peel it.”

“But I want to peel it.” Yanzi sat down beside her, humming as she carefully peeled the apple.

“By the way, remember to have Dong Xiang take my bike in for repairs.”

“Got it. Honestly, why don’t you just stop riding that thing? It’s way too dangerous. You have a car but refuse to drive it, insist on riding that motorcycle. It’s scary just looking at it, and it’s not like this is the first accident you’ve had.”

Ji Yin’s first vehicle had been a motorcycle, an old-fashioned one. Yanzi used to love riding on the back, thinking it made them the coolest girls on the street. But one winter, they slipped on a slope. Luckily, Ji Yin managed to brake in time and avoided a crash, but the incident left Yanzi with a lasting fear. She rarely rode on the motorcycle after that.

“I’m used to it, and it saves gas,” Ji Yin said.

“Then why not get an electric bike?”

“What’s the point? I already bought a gas-guzzling car just to show off during business deals. Why would I add an electric one to the mix? That’s just burning money for no reason.”

“I really don’t get you.”

When people suddenly come into money, many tend to splurge impulsively. But not Ji Yin. Even though she earned plenty, she remained frugal. Money never stayed in her bank account not because she spent it, but because she kept reinvesting it in new projects. It was as if she were addicted to making money. As soon as one business stabilized, she’d start planning the next.

“Here, eat.” Yanzi handed her the peeled apple. Just then, a few medical staff entered the room, including a somewhat familiar face, Dr. Lu.

As Yanzi picked up a tissue to wipe her hands, she noticed Ji Yin sitting up guiltily, her eyes darting toward Dr. Lu like a student caught off guard in class.

“Sis, why do you look a little scared?” Yanzi whispered.

“Who’s scared?” Ji Yin muttered, then flopped back against her pillow, pretending to be completely at ease.

“Dr. Lu, I behaved really well yesterday! Can I have my duck now?” a little boy piped up.

“Of course.” Lu Jiahe smiled, pulling a rubber duck from his pocket. He patted the boy’s head before walking over to Ji Yin’s bed and asking routinely, “How’s the knee? Any pain?”

“None at all,” Ji Yin replied.

Lu Jiahe looked at her skeptically. “Really?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Family members, please keep a close watch on her. Don’t let her run off on her own again,” Lu Jiahe reminded Yanzi.

“What? She ran off?!” Yanzi exclaimed in shock.

“You still don’t know?”

Yanzi shot Ji Yin a resentful look, but Ji Yin continued munching on her apple nonchalantly and even glared back at her.

Yanzi conceded defeat: “She’s my sister. I can’t control her at all.”

“Then who can control her?” Lu Jiahe asked.

“Not even the heavens could manage it.”

“…”

Ji Yin chuckled softly.

Just as Lu Jiahe was about to leave, she suddenly heard Ji Yin call out: “Dr. Lu, when are you planning to return my duck?”

“Keep dreaming.”

Watching Dr. Lu’s resolute retreating back, Ji Yin pouted and turned to order Yanzi: “You, go buy me a duck.”

“Roasted or smoked?” Yanzi asked.

“That one.” Ji Yin pointed at the toy in a little boy’s hand.

“…” Yanzi pulled a ball of yarn from her bag, sat down nearby, and began knitting. “You’re already in your thirties, how can you still sneak out like this? It’s so embarrassing. I don’t want to hear any more complaints from the doctors.”

“How old am I?” Ji Yin arched her back, preparing to toss the apple core.

“Thirty-one. Stop moving around!” Yanzi took the apple core, threw it in the trash, washed her hands, and resumed knitting.

“I never really keep track.”

Every year on her birthday, Ji Yin had to calculate how old she was, only to forget again soon after.

“Did you sneak out to see Mr. Chen?” Yanzi asked.

“Yeah.”

“I shouldn’t have told you.” Yanzi sighed. “Can’t you just rest for a while? There’s no end to making money. Shouldn’t you at least try to enjoy life?”

“Who ever complains about having too much money? Counting money is how I enjoy life.”

After lying down for a while, Ji Yin grew bored and wanted to contact Mr. Chen, but she couldn’t find her phone after patting around for it: “Where’s my phone? Where did you hide it?”

“Just stay put today. No phones allowed.”

“Give it to me.”

“No.”

“Three, two, one!”

Yanzi remained unmoved.

The next moment, Ji Yin threw off the covers and sat up, swinging one leg off the bed.

“Alright, alright!” Yanzi hurriedly stopped her from putting her injured leg down and reluctantly handed over the phone.

Ji Yin sent a very sincere message to Mr. Chen but didn’t get an immediate reply.

“Besides loving to drink, what else does Mr. Chen like to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“If you don’t know, why aren’t you out there gathering intel? Stop knitting here it’s annoying. Hurry up and send Dong Xiang to check things out. Don’t let our competitors get ahead.” Ji Yin grumbled and shooed her away.

After finishing her surgery, Lu Jiahe hurried to the restroom.

Her mother called just then.

She wedged the phone between her ear and shoulder while washing her hands.

“Are you coming home for dinner tonight?” her mother asked.

“I still have two more surgeries. Not sure when I’ll be done. Don’t wait for me, I’ll grab a bite with Yaoyao.”

“Alright. Bring Yaoyao over for a meal this weekend.”

“Okay.”

Lu Jiahe hung up and rushed off to her next surgery.

Winter nights fell early. By the time she got off work, the sky was pitch black. She checked her phone and saw that Li Chenyao had already arrived at the restaurant.

She changed clothes, drove over, and as soon as she entered the lobby, she spotted the girl with fiery red hair and headed straight toward her.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Used to it by now. I already ordered for you,” Li Chenyao said.

“Okay.”

The two had been childhood friends and knew each other’s tastes well. Lu Jiahe was rarely punctual, so Li Chenyao would always order first. If he still hadn’t arrived by the time the food came, she would start eating without him.

“That hair color looks great on you today.”

“Lately, a few of my students have been driving me crazy. This color perfectly matches my mood.”

Li Chenyao was a high school homeroom teacher, playing the role of a diligent gardener at school. But once she was off duty, she experimented with all sorts of wild styles and kept twenty or thirty wigs at home.

Seeing her in the middle of the night could be quite startling.

“What are your plans for New Year’s Day?” Li Chenyao asked.

“On duty. How about you?”

“What a coincidence, I have to work overtime too.”

The two unfortunate souls clinked their glasses of orange juice in solidarity.

“By the way, I want to introduce someone to you.”

“Who?”

“My colleague. I only found out recently that she’s also into women. She has a great personality and looks, and I think you two would be a good match. Want to meet her?”

“Forget it. Look at me, I can’t even make it to a meal on time. When would I have the time?” Lu Jiahe laughed.

“No worries, she’s busy too. Meeting for a meal won’t take much time. Just think of it as making a new friend.”

“My mom invited you over for dinner this weekend.”

“Don’t change the subject. Your mom knows about this too, and she wants you to meet her. Why do you think she invited me over for the weekend?”

“Fine.”

Just as Li Chenyao was about to elaborate on the details, Lu Jiahe’s phone rang.

Seeing it was a call from the hospital, Lu Jiahe had a bad feeling.

“Dr. Lu, the patient in bed six fell to the floor while getting out of bed.”

“How is the patient now?” Lu Jiahe quickly took a few more bites of her meal.

“It seems she hit her wound and is in a lot of pain, though she hasn’t made much noise. We’ll probably need you to assess the specifics.”

“I’ll be right there.” Lu Jiahe hung up and glanced at Li Chenyao.

“Go on, go on.” Li Chenyao waved her off, completely unfazed.

“Remember to come over this weekend.” Grabbing her bag, Lu Jiahe rushed to the hospital. She hurried into the ward and saw Ji Yin lying on the bed, sweating profusely. Gently pressing on her leg, she asked, “How does it feel?”

“It didn’t hurt much at first, but now it seems…” Ji Yin struggled to speak.

“Prepare the operating room.” Lu Jiahe informed the nurses, then changed into surgical scrubs and went in to reexamine the wound. “How did you manage to fall out of bed? Wasn’t the caregiver watching you?”

“The caregiver went to get hot water for me. I had to use the bathroom urgently and forgot my leg wasn’t functional when I got out of bed. By the time I realized, I had already fallen.” Ji Yin felt embarrassed, seeing Dr. Lu having to rush back late at night to check on her. “Sorry, Dr. Lu.”

“Your ankle is slightly sprained too. We’ll need to immobilize it, or you’ll forget you’re a patient again,” Lu Jiahe said.

“Alright.”

As Lu Jiahe bent down to clean her calf, she felt a scar on the back of her leg and asked curiously, “When did you get this injury?”

“Oh, that’s from a long time ago, not from this incident,” Ji Yin replied.

“Such a nice leg, and you’ve managed to scar it up. You really don’t take care of yourself,” Lu Jiahe remarked.

Though her tone was a bit stern, her hands moved with careful precision as she measured the dimensions of Ji Yin’s calf.

Ji Yin smiled faintly. “Anyway, this isn’t the first time this leg has been injured. I really don’t mind.”

“If you don’t want to get treated at all, then find another doctor. Otherwise, just lie still and stop moving that leg,” Lu Jiahe said.

“Alright.”

After the cast was applied, Ji Yin was taken back to her hospital room. She glanced at the nurse and asked, “Where’s Dr. Lu?”

“She left.”

“Ah, she just left like that? I thought she’d come over to scold me a few times before leaving.”

“She hadn’t even finished her meal. Probably went back to eat.”

Leaning against the bed, Ji Yin noticed the caregiver washing her clothes and suddenly asked, “Auntie, do you have Dr. Lu’s WeChat?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Send it to me.”

When Lu Jiahe got home and picked up her phone, she noticed a friend request with a note saying it was from Ji Yin.

She accepted it almost immediately.

[Lu Jiahe]: You’re not thinking of sneaking out again, are you?

[Ji Yin]: No [laughing emoji], I just wanted to say thank you. Sorry to trouble you, Dr. Lu [rose emoji].

[Lu Jiahe]: It’s my duty. Just remember to pay the bill.

[Ji Yin]: Already paid [cute emoji].

[Lu Jiahe]: Get some rest early.

[Ji Yin]: Dr. Lu, is that link you shared in your Moments for a voting thing? Let me go cast a vote for you.

Lu Jiahe opened her Moments and realized she hadn’t deleted the kindergarten voting link her cousin had asked her to share earlier, so she immediately deleted it.

Just as Ji Yin clicked on the link, ready to cast a friendly vote, the link disappeared.

Did she block me?

[Ji Yin]: Dr. Lu Dr. Lu Dr. Lu?

[Lu Jiahe]: What? What? What?

[Ji Yin]: Oh, so you didn’t block me [penguin spinning emoji].