The Mad Beauty and the Sick Young Lady [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 32

Inside the speeding ambulance, Jiang Zhuoye sat beside Su Li, trembling as she held Su Li’s hand.

It was her innate habit to appear outwardly calm the more she was in distress; at this moment, the corners of her mouth were even slightly turned up.

But the nurse sitting next to her sighed noticeably upon seeing this. Everyone recognized this big star, and they could all tell that the slight upturn of her lips was actually a twitch of pain.

No one knew the relationship between Jiang Zhuoye and the unconscious girl on the bed, but everyone could sense that there was a deep bond between the two of them.

Jiang Zhuoye tried her best to hide it, but the aura of sorrow she exuded almost swept through the entire ambulance.

Jiang Zhuoye held Su Li’s hand, wanting to squeeze it tightly but afraid of hurting her.

When the two of them tumbled to the ground earlier, in the midst of the chaos, Jiang Zhuoye tried to protect Su Li but failed. Su Li’s hands and clothes were scratched.

Although there was no bleeding, Su Li hit her head and a lump slowly swelled up after she lost consciousness, distorting her face.

Jiang Zhuoye herself had a deep cut on her wrist, which had bled a lot. After a quick bandaging, she could no longer feel the pain.

Only her heart ached.

What was the promise she had demanded from Su Li at home earlier?

“Always be this good to me.”

Su Li turned around and proved that promise with her own body.

When the car rushed toward them, Su Li could have run away by herself, but the action she subconsciously took was to grab Jiang Zhuoye and run together, even if it meant slowing herself down.

Jiang Zhuoye also recalled that big fire. She remembered her own twisted and delighted smile in the flames, remembered that frail, pale girl who was often sick, with a devil-like expression as the flames licked her body, trying to drag her down to hell…

In the many days and nights since she transmigrated here, Jiang Zhuoye dreamt of that scene every night, and every morning she woke up with a headache that felt as if her brain had been scorched.

In her previous life, she was burned alive. Inside her own meticulously designed villa, she was led to her death by her only childhood friend, and the fire was set by her vengeful sugar daddy.

In the flames, her friend’s face was gleeful and wicked. She said:

“Didn’t expect this, did you? I hate you. I wish you would just die.”

However, the sugar daddy was meticulous and wanted to eliminate all witnesses, so he never opened the escape door he had left for the friend.

In the flames, Jiang Zhuoye watched her friend die with her. It was a hellish sight that human imagination could not fully grasp.

When she woke up again, Jiang Zhuoye had a new identity. She lived under this identity for many years and then met Su Li.

Su Li’s appearance was not very similar to that friend’s, but her sickly paleness, her innocent black eyes, and her pure, naive expression all reminded Jiang Zhuoye of that friend.

At first, Jiang Zhuoye did indeed want to completely control Su Li, tear away her outwardly kind façade, and stimulate the dark side that people like her must possess.

How could a woman who had been sick since childhood, achieved nothing, and was betrayed by a wicked woman, not harbor hatred for the world? How could she not become dark and corrupted?

But… she probed for a long time, and Su Li remained so pure.

Jiang Zhuoye didn’t believe such a person could exist in the world. She tried harder to delve deeper but found that she was always unable to transfer her hatred for her former friend onto Su Li.

She initially thought Su Li and her friend were the same type of person.

Later, she discovered that Su Li was not like anyone else. Su Li was just Su Li a uniquely pure and innocent angel in the whole world.

Jiang Zhuoye had never seen an angel, but every time Su Li stood before her with open arms, every time Su Li looked at her with those steadfast, peach blossom eyes and promised to be her good friend forever, Jiang Zhuoye felt as if she saw wings.

Dazzling, pristine white, bright yet ethereal wings.

The ambulance drove into the hospital. Doctors and nurses carried Su Li off the vehicle and into the emergency room to begin a full body examination.

“Family members, please wait here!”

A nurse reached out to stop Jiang Zhuoye, kindly pointing to a nearby seating area.

Jiang Zhuoye did not go over. She stood blankly where she was stopped, staring numbly at the door that closed in front of her.

She seemed to be thinking a lot, and yet nothing at all, only the constant pangs of pain in her heart gave her some sense of feeling.

The emergency treatment lasted half an hour. The door opened, and Jiang Zhuoye’s eyes brightened slightly, but she couldn’t speak.

Not until she heard the doctor’s words with her own ears:

“The patient only has a mild concussion. She needs rest and observation for now. Due to her weak constitution, she may need to stay in the hospital for a few days…”

A breath that had been lodged in Jiang Zhuoye’s throat for a long time finally let out slowly.

With trembling hands, she followed the doctor to pay the fees and get the medicine. After completing these tasks in a daze, she followed the medical staff into the ward and watched the caregivers settle Su Li onto the bed.

Su Li had been changed into a hospital gown. Her illness was obvious; her eyes were tightly shut, and her brows were furrowed.

Jiang Zhuoye watched silently from behind the medical staff until everyone had finished their work and the single ward was empty.

She looked at Su Li’s tightly furrowed brows from afar and suddenly thought:

Is this all because of me?

Jiang Zhuoye never used to be like this; she never regretted her actions. But now, an emotion called remorse seemed to be quietly brewing in her heart, washing over her like water.

What if she had never provoked Su Li in the first place? Why should such a pure person get entangled with her?

Jiang Zhuoye suddenly dared not imagine the scene when Su Li opened her eyes. She was afraid of seeing Su Li’s eyes, always full of trust, because Su Li always treated her with sincerity, yet she had never offered her own sincerity.

Now, even if she offered her bloody, raw heart, Jiang Zhuoye felt it would be ridiculous. The motive of the entire event was wrong from the beginning. She wanted to escape.

Her heart slowly ached. She admitted to herself that she wanted to escape to escape this sincerity, to escape the undeniable stirrings of her own heart.

The stirring was so intense that just looking at the extremely pale girl on the hospital bed made her palms feel weak, her spine tighten, and the feeling of sour and swollen orange soda course from her heart to the rest of her body, the bubbles constantly expanding in her blood vessels.

Even as Jiang Zhuoye wanted to escape, she couldn’t help but walk closer to the bed, reaching out her finger to smooth Su Li’s tightly furrowed brow.

It felt as if a tender flower had blossomed from her fingertip.

Jiang Zhuoye lightly stroked Su Li’s eyebrows and then touched her cheek. Both her fingertip and her heart trembled, the sensation profoundly strange.

She suddenly recoiled, backing up several steps until she leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

Suddenly, a nurse pushed the door open:

“Hello, could you please notify the family? Also, the hospitalization form requires you to register with an ID card.”

Jiang Zhuoye collected her emotions, went out to the hallway, called Li Zhenzhen, and finally said in a hoarse voice:

“I’m sorry, Auntie.”

Li Zhenzhen was very calm when facing a crisis. After learning the situation and the hospital address, she hung up without any unnecessary words.

Jiang Zhuoye’s light apology fell into the air, unreceived. She silently mouthed the words to the empty air again: I’m sorry.

Her ID card and other required documents were still at home. Jiang Zhuoye took a taxi home and didn’t bother to hide her face. Along the way, the driver excitedly tried to make conversation, but Jiang Zhuoye did not respond once.

She returned to her home. The washed dishes and cutlery were still in the dishwasher in the kitchen. There were small items scattered by two people at the entrance, and apple cores in the trash can.

Everything was painfully familiar. Jiang Zhuoye quickly passed these things, feeling as if her heart was being pricked with needles, afraid to linger.

Finally, she saw the roll of Christmas present Su Li had given her still lying on the sofa.

The drawing on it had an adorable, delicate style, full of creativity. The posture of every little figure was meticulously designed, and their expressions were all different.

Jiang Zhuoye couldn’t resist unrolling the white paper again. Without looking closely, her hand trembled, and she dropped the paper, then quickly picked it up and took it to the study.

She found the most secret spot in the middle of the bookcase, gently placed the paper inside, and truly closed the glass cabinet door.

She took the important documents from the drawer and was about to turn and leave when her peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of something on the desk.

It was not an item she would usually keep there.

Jiang Zhuoye walked closer to look. It was a celadon porcelain bowl, completely shattered into pieces. The inside was densely taped together with adhesive tape, looking quite ugly, but it was indeed firmly mended.

Jiang Zhuoye didn’t remember when she had smashed this porcelain bowl. For her, these things were just tools to vent stress. Porcelain shattered with a sharp sound, and the scattering pieces were beautiful, possessing a cruel aesthetic.

This broken porcelain bowl, mended with tape, was genuinely ugly.

But looking at the bowl, Jiang Zhuoye involuntarily reached out, picked it up, and examined it in her palm.

The tape wasn’t applied smoothly, some shards were still missing, and small gaps often appeared between the pieces of porcelain.

Jiang Zhuoye stood in the middle of the empty study, holding this carefully repaired porcelain bowl, as if holding her own broken heart, which had just regained hope.

By the time she realized it, she was already in tears.

In the hospital ward in the evening, when Su Li woke up, she saw Li Zhenzhen, Su Yue, Su Meng, and Su Rugang.

The whole family stood before her, each looking serious. As soon as they saw Su Li wake up, they immediately crowded around her.

Li Zhenzhen and Su Meng were weeping. Su Yue’s eyes were also red. Li Zhenzhen hugged Su Li’s shoulder:

“My sweet child, my darling… Why is the outside world so dangerous! My darling has suffered too much…”

Su Meng wiped away her tears and said fiercely:

“Don’t let me find out who did this. I’ll skin them alive!”

Although Su Yue was a man, he also had the similar peach blossom eyes of the Su family. At this moment, he tried to sound composed and nodded:

“Little sister, tell us everything you know. Your brother will get revenge for you.”

Su Rugang walked over from the window, his voice as the head of the household authoritative:

“When the police arrive, you must cooperate with the investigation. And what about your friend? She must be investigated too!”

Su Li also wanted to ask about Jiang Zhuoye was she hurt?

She opened her mouth, her voice terribly dry:

“Jiang…”

Su Meng quickly brought over a glass of warm water and watched her sister drink it.

Li Zhenzhen said considerately:

“Jiang Zhuoye… she seemed to have something to attend to. I didn’t see her when I arrived. The nurse said she went home.”

Su Li felt relieved. Being able to go home meant Jiang Zhuoye was fine.

She herself felt nothing but a headache, so she began to discuss being discharged, but the whole family disagreed. They started arguing over who would arrange her nutritious meals.

Su Li couldn’t stop them and had to lie down resignedly. Only after drinking a few sips of the extremely bland vegetable soup did she finally see her parents and brother off.

Su Meng stayed behind as the older sister to look after Su Li. Of course, they had also hired the two highest-level caregivers for the summer, so Su Meng didn’t need to do much. She chatted with Su Li, asking about her friend Jiang Zhuoye.

“You said Jiang Zhuoye had a conflict with Chen Ying from the Chen family a while ago, right? I know Chen Ying. She’s brainless, and Huanxu is already an empty shell. I’ll investigate her.”

Su Meng went to the hallway to make a quick phone call. Su Li wanted to ask her to hand her phone, but Su Meng didn’t hear her at all.

Su Li could only lie bored on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Suddenly, someone gently pushed the door open. Su Li turned to look, and her eyes lit up:

“You came! Are you okay?”

The person was indeed Jiang Zhuoye.

In just a short afternoon, Jiang Zhuoye looked much more haggard. Meeting Su Li’s smile, she forced a small smile:

“Yes, I’m fine. This time… I dragged you into this. I’m sorry.”

Su Li said:

“You didn’t hit me, so why are you apologizing again? It’s fine. When I saw it happening, of course, I had to pull you away.”

Jiang Zhuoye lowered her head, her voice very soft:

“In the future, don’t risk yourself for me. Don’t put me in your heart, okay? I’m begging you.”