The Person I Love Who Has Been Missing For Three Years - Chapter 59

Chapter 59: Eagerness to Return (4k Nutrient Solution Added…)

The first, the second… as Song Xiangwan signed them, her mind was completely blank, and her hands were shaking so much she could barely hold the pen.

As the procedure went on, she became slightly numb.

She couldn’t enter the operating room, but she could feel through the successive critical illness notices that Ming Jin was alive, yet seemed to be dangling on a suspension bridge held by only one steel cable. If the cable snapped, her entire world would collapse.

It wasn’t until Lin Rong emerged from the operating room that Song Xiangwan met the eyes beneath the delicate, smoky brows, and she felt all the strength drain from her body.

She felt separated from the world by a thick pane of frosted glass. Everything around her was untouchable. Lin Rong’s voice, muffled and distant, came through the glass: “Although there were a few unexpected complications, we managed to stabilize the situation. The surgery went very smoothly. She hasn’t woken up yet and will need to be observed in the ICU for two days.”

“C-Can I go see her?” Her phoenix eyes were filled with bloodshot veins and an intense, pleading look.

“No,” Lin Rong shook her head. “She is in a critical monitoring period. You can see her once she’s transferred to a regular ward.”

“Come on, let’s go get something to eat,” Lin Rong tried to break the tense atmosphere with a slight smile, but her attempt failed.

The three of them ate together. Lin Rong was the only one with a decent appetite. The other two looked like mannequins, staring blankly at the rice in their bowls, barely eating a few grains.

Lin Rong slowly swallowed the last bite of her meal, placed her chopsticks down elegantly, rested her chin on her long fingers, and looked at the two people opposite her: “Are you two trying to become immortals?”

“She’s not dead yet, and you’re already mourning?”

“Lin Rong…” Xu Zhiyan frowned, calling her by her full name, her tone full of displeasure.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t try to bite me now, okay?” Lin Rong’s eyes held a playful look. “The river hasn’t been crossed yet, and you’re already thinking about dismantling the bridge?”

Tapping her fingers on the table, Lin Rong leaned back in her chair, her posture languid: “Hurry up and eat something. If both of you collapse from hunger, no one will be able to look after her.”

Her words were harsh, but her intent was kind.

Song Xiangwan took a deep breath, lowered her gaze, and focused on eating. Although it tasted like chewing wax, she managed to finish a bowl of rice.

“That’s a good girl,” Lin Rong looked up, her eyes holding a smile. “Once you’re done eating, take turns going back to shower, sleep, and then come back refreshed.”

“You go back and rest first,” Xu Zhiyan told Song Xiangwan. “She won’t wake up anytime soon…”

Xu Zhiyan was quick to accept the situation. Not long ago, she couldn’t stand Song Xiangwan, but now she accepted that, to Ming Jin, Song Xiangwan was more important.

Song Xiangwan’s fingers tightened around her chopsticks. Finally, she nodded: “Okay.”

…

The Ming family home was still bright and clean. Qiu Jie kept the house impeccably organized. Song Xiangwan entered Ming Jin’s bedroom, took out her phone to charge it, and went to shower.

Her phone had long since run out of battery. Song Xiangwan hadn’t bothered to charge it at the hospital, letting it remain off.

When she came out after showering, the phone by the bed had turned on and was vibrating violently.

It was Cao Xin’s call. Song Xiangwan answered: “Hello?”

“Where are you?” Cao Xin’s voice held an indescribable urgency. “You were filming a show, and then you disappeared? I couldn’t reach you by phone. Where did you go?”

Cao Xin was unaware of Ming Jin’s surgery. As Song Xiangwan’s agent, she had been bombarded by the production team all day long.

She couldn’t reach Song Xiangwan.

She also had no news from Ming Jin.

Song Xiangwan might have had a temper before, but she had never simply vanished without a word halfway through filming a show.

If Song Xiangwan hadn’t answered the phone tonight, she would have called the police.

“I was dealing with some personal matters…” Song Xiangwan didn’t want to elaborate.

“Forget it,” Cao Xin sighed. “You take care of your business. As long as you’re safe, I’ll tell the production team you won’t be participating in the rest of the filming.”

Cao Xin had resigned herself to the situation. As long as the person was safe, it was fine. Backed by a powerful figure, there was nothing Ming Jin couldn’t smooth over.

Song Xiangwan checked the time: “No need. I’m heading there now.”

“That works too. Missing only one day, we can just make up an excuse to cover it up later…” Cao Xin mused.

Song Xiangwan couldn’t sleep right now. Besides, this show was specifically put together for her by Ming Jin. She couldn’t just abandon it.

By the time she arrived at the filming location, it was already eight in the evening. Everyone was gathered on the lawn for a fun sports day, creating a lively atmosphere.

When Lu Peiling saw her approaching, she waved. But after getting a clear look at her face, Lu Peiling frowned: “Are you sick? You look unwell.”

“No,” Song Xiangwan shook her head. “I’ll go touch up my makeup.”

The person in the mirror looked significantly worse than usual. The bloodshot veins in her eyes were completely unconcealable, her face was gaunt, and there were slight dark shadows under her eyes.

Song Xiangwan’s exclusive makeup artist, assigned by Rongxing, had never seen Song Xiangwan in such a poor state. It took tremendous effort to improve Song Xiangwan’s complexion.

Although she didn’t look as radiant as usual, she was presentable enough. With post-production filters and skin smoothing, the camera wouldn’t show a difference.

“The rules are as follows: heights are divided into low, medium, and high levels. Each member chooses for themselves. The difficulty of the bar corresponds to 3, 2, and 1 point, respectively. The team with the highest accumulated score wins…”

Lu Peiling tugged Song Xiangwan, and Song Xiangwan followed her into the area.

She only felt that her mind was a little sluggish, perhaps due to lack of rest…

She felt like an outsider in this setting. The laughter and noise around her seemed distant. She played the game mechanically according to the rules.

After the sports day ended, everyone happily ate a late-night snack, sitting around on the lawn. Some played guitar, some sang, some danced—it was a lively scene.

This was the “Group Moment,” the harmonious atmosphere that variety shows loved to create.

“Sister Wan, let’s go dance together,” Zhou Xintong excitedly approached and invited Song Xiangwan.

“No, you go,” Song Xiangwan forced a smile and declined the invitation, remaining an observer on the side.

Lu Peiling walked over and sat down next to Song Xiangwan: “What’s wrong? Something on your mind?”

“No…” Song Xiangwan pinched the bridge of her nose and said softly, “Maybe I’m just a little tired.”

“Then go back and rest early. It’s okay. Your health is more important,” Lu Peiling looked at her with concern.

“I probably can’t sleep anyway…” Song Xiangwan murmured, picked up the iced orange juice next to her, swallowed it in one gulp, closed her eyes to compose herself, and when she opened them again, most of the exhaustion seemed gone. “Let’s go, let’s go dance.”

Since she had come, she needed to be useful and couldn’t just be background scenery in the show.

The current determination keeping Song Xiangwan going was that this show was a gift from Ming Jin, and she absolutely could not mess it up.

When Zhou Xintong saw her approach, she immediately pulled Song Xiangwan’s arm, and they formed a circle with a group of people, dancing joyfully around the bonfire.

Filming a variety show is extremely exhausting. Lu Peiling, who always kept a routine of early to bed and early to rise, went back to shower and lay down to sleep.

After the sports day and dancing, Song Xiangwan was sweaty again. She took a shower, got into bed, hugged Ming Jin’s pillow tightly, and drifted into a hazy sleep.

But in less than forty minutes, she suddenly opened her eyes, covered in a cold sweat, as if she had just been pulled out of the water.

She couldn’t sleep. The pillow in her arms was full of Ming Jin’s scent. Her heart felt like it was dangling on a cliff edge, making sleep impossible.

Xu Zhiyan was standing guard in the hospital corridor, a laptop on her lap, handling company matters.

The hospital corridor in the deep night was incredibly quiet. People walking by lightened their footsteps. The pervasive smell of disinfectant made the air feel stuffy and uneasy.

A small bag was extended towards her. Lin Rong’s voice came through: “Late-night snack?”

She had taken off her white coat and was wearing a casual light-blue shirt and linen straight-leg trousers. Her tall figure, with one hand tucked into her pocket, looked down. Her hair slid over her shoulder, and the bag was hanging from her long fingers.

It had the logo of a certain dessert shop. Xu Zhiyan couldn’t help but slightly frown: “You have the time to go buy this?”

This was Xu Zhiyan’s favorite cake shop, but it was in the south of the city, an hour’s drive from Haicheng Hospital.

“Don’t be ungrateful?” Lin Rong lowered her hand and placed the bag on the laptop keyboard. “Eat some. You didn’t eat much dinner.”

Xu Zhiyan reached out, moved the bag away, and casually placed it on the chair beside her: “I don’t have the luxury of thinking about satisfying my palate right now, unlike you.”

Lin Rong’s delicate eyebrows slightly paused, and a helpless curve formed on her lips.

She was trying to butter her up, but it seemed she had rubbed her the wrong way.

Xu Zhiyan’s fingers tapped on the keyboard. After replying to three emails in succession, she looked up: “Aren’t you leaving?”

“Can’t I stay here and keep you company?” Lin Rong sat down next to Xu Zhiyan. Xu Zhiyan immediately shifted one seat over.

Lin Rong couldn’t help but chuckle, placing both hands on her knees, her long fingers loosely intertwined. She said faintly, “Rejected again…”

A slight note of disappointment in her voice. Xu Zhiyan’s fingers hovering over the keyboard paused briefly, then continued typing as usual: “I don’t need your company. Go back and sleep.”

“I can’t sleep…” Lin Rong said, leaning back against the chair, looking up at the ceiling, and raising her hand to unbutton the top button of her shirt collar.

Her movements were slightly shaky and erratic. She took a deep breath, careful not to show any abnormal behavior.

Xu Zhiyan turned to look. For some reason, she felt Lin Rong’s cheeks were somewhat pale, yet there was a flush of red mixed in—an unhealthy color.

“Are you sick?” Xu Zhiyan said, reaching out to check the temperature of Lin Rong’s forehead.

Indeed, it felt slightly hot. Her fingertips flinched, and she tried to pull back, but her wrist was suddenly grabbed.

Those eyes, usually lazy and unfocused, instantly filled with aggression and pressure, staring directly at her: “Little girl, are you worried about me?”

Stared at by those eyes, Xu Zhiyan involuntarily remembered the time she was grabbed by the wrist and pressed against the door at the entrance of the Ming family home…

The slightly hot temperature felt like it could scald her, full of pressure, making struggle impossible.

Xu Zhiyan was surprisingly intimidated. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly, but her tone remained steady: “I’m worried you’ll die and there’ll be no one to treat my sister.”

“Don’t worry. My senior sister will be in Haicheng recently. What am I, anyway? She’s the attending physician. My death is irrelevant…” Lin Rong said softly, pulling their distance closer. Her eyes seemed to hold a shadow. “I can’t get into surgery, I can’t hold a scalpel. What disease can I treat?”

“Lin Rong, what are you doing?” Xu Zhiyan tried to pull back, her wrist tightly grasped.

In the struggle, the laptop on her lap fell, hitting the floor with a loud clang.

“My laptop… it’s broken…” Xu Zhiyan was forced back against the chair’s backrest, unable to dodge.

She could smell Lin Rong’s scent. It wasn’t the floral scent of the past, but the strong smell of disinfectant, cold and biting, an aggressive chill within the coolness.

“I’m useless for anything other than treating illness, is that right, Xu Zhiyan?” Her voice seemed oppressed, staring intently at Xu Zhiyan.

“Xu Zhiyan, when you picked me up from the roadside back then, was it only so I could treat your sister’s illness?” Her emotion was heavy in her tone.

“Are you crazy?” Xu Zhiyan was still struggling. “How could I have known all that at the time?”

At that time, Ming Jin hadn’t had the car accident yet, and she was still a carefree university student. She didn’t know Lin Rong was a doctor, much less that she would need her later.

Lin Rong smiled softly, seemingly murmuring: “I knew it, little girl. I’m not just a tool to you.”

Xu Zhiyan was still retreating. In the struggle, one hand pressed down on the cake bag. The cream inside was squeezed out, covering her fingers.

The cream was a milky white, cool to the touch. She instinctively lifted her hand, and then her wrist was grabbed, led, and drawn towards the front.

Before she could react, Lin Rong lowered her head and lightly kissed her fingers, then licked her tongue over them, scooping the cream into her mouth.

This person was simply… Xu Zhiyan’s mind was completely blank…

Finally reacting, she snatched her hand away and slapped Lin Rong across the face: “You lunatic, what are you doing?”

Lin Rong gently pressed the red mark on her cheek but wasn’t angry. Instead, she chuckled softly: “You don’t know what I’m doing, do you?”

“Haven’t we done this before?”

She smiled like a pervert. Xu Zhiyan literally couldn’t face her and immediately stood up: “I’m going to wash my hands. Calm down, you lunatic…”

The water in the faucet rushed out, dropping down her fingertips. Xu Zhiyan lowered her gaze and washed the cream off her fingers one by one.

Amidst the rushing water sound, she pressed her hands against the sink’s edge, looking at her face in the mirror.

Her cheeks were slightly red from anger, and her unsteady breathing betrayed her emotional volatility.

She knew it. Lin Rong was a complete lunatic. She had known it years ago.

That past, the past that only the two of them knew… was being brought up again…

What a psychopath. If it weren’t for her sister’s illness, she would have kicked this psychopath away long ago.

She looked presentable outside, but when alone with her, she was completely inhuman, an absolute mad dog.

Her wet hand couldn’t help but lightly touch the side of her neck. A barely visible white mark, a circle of teeth marks, seemed to be slightly burning.

When Xu Zhiyan returned, Lin Rong had reverted to her presentable self, squatting on the floor, wiping away all the cream.

She looked up, her eyes lazy and languid, as if the mad dog from moments ago wasn’t her at all.

Song Xiangwan threw the cream-stained paper towel into the cake bag, looked up, and said: “Ayan, you go back and rest first. Come back tomorrow morning to replace me.”

“Didn’t we agree…” Xu Zhiyan’s eyes met Lin Rong’s, and she immediately nodded. “Okay, okay, I’ll take the day shift, and you take the night shift.”

During the day, there were still a few people in the corridor. This mad dog wouldn’t dare do anything.

At night… the spot on her wrist that had just been grasped was still slightly warm…

“I’ll take you,” Lin Rong said faintly, hooking the cake bag with her long fingers.

“No need. I have a driver. I’ll go myself.” Xu Zhiyan picked up the laptop from the floor and practically fled.

Song Xiangwan heard Lin Rong chuckle softly. What kind of game were these two playing? She didn’t have the energy to inquire.

Lin Rong threw the cake into the trash bin and said: “I have something to do. I’m leaving first.”

“Got it,” Song Xiangwan nodded, but showed no intention of resting. She sat down where Xu Zhiyan had just been.

This spot was the closest to the ICU door, as if separated by only a single door, from which she could hear Ming Jin’s heartbeat…

…

When Xu Zhiyan rushed over in the morning, Song Xiangwan was still sitting there. She quickly said, “You hurry back, take a shower, and sleep for a bit. I told Qiu Jie to prepare breakfast.”

“No need. I’m not going back.” Song Xiangwan stood up, adjusted the mask on her face, glanced at the ICU door, and then turned to leave.

She didn’t go home. She headed straight for the program filming location.

She dozed for less than an hour in the car and then continued filming the show.

Today was rehearsal day. In full costume and makeup, her fatigue wasn’t noticeable.

“They have coffee!” Everyone cheered and went to get some. Zhou Xintong glanced at Song Xiangwan’s face and stayed put.

“Why aren’t you going?” Lu Peiling asked when she saw her motionless.

“I’ll pass…” Zhou Xintong knew Song Xiangwan and Su Chenxing were rivals. As Song Xiangwan’s good friend, she felt she needed to take a stand…

Wait, the person returning with a cup of coffee was… Song Xiangwan?

“Sister Wan,” Zhou Xintong’s eyes widened.

“Only a fool doesn’t take a bargain. This brand is quite expensive, hand-ground, over a hundred yuan a cup,” Song Xiangwan took a sip and sat down.

She even urged Zhou Xintong and Lu Peiling: “You guys go get some too, before the staff members snatch them all up.”

“No thanks, I don’t drink coffee. I’m getting old, and my nerves are weak. I can’t sleep if I drink it at night,” Lu Peiling shook her head.

“Okay, okay, I’m going right now!” Zhou Xintong sprang up and dashed to grab a coffee.

Song Xiangwan’s words were completely picked up by the microphone around her neck.

Release it. Release it.

The director’s instruction was given. Not only was it released, but special graphic effects were added.

The twenty-minute spin-off program, The Daily Rehearsal of the Sisters, was uploaded to the streaming channel the next day.

LOL, only Song Xiangwan would do that.

Good mental state. Never hold back when eating. Only a fool passes up a bargain.

Is Su Chenxing trying to be nice?

LOL, how is that being nice? When she saw Song Xiangwan holding the coffee, the anger in her eyes was practically bulging.

Why didn’t I notice before that she’s so funny?

I feel like the show isn’t protecting Su Chenxing either. They’re even showing her reaction face memes.

We should all have Sister Wan’s spirit: eat well, drink well, and don’t let worries bother you.

I feel like Sister Wan looks a bit unhappy in the spin-off. A little cold-faced. Looks tired.

Did she rehearse all night?

No, no, no. I think she might have insomnia?

It’s normal to have insomnia without the roommate sister (dog head).

No pre-sleep activities. The bed is cold. Can’t sleep (dog head).

Ahem, ahem, what are you all talking about?

I have fan fiction. Do you want it? Like this comment, and I’ll send it to you one by one.

Wow, good stuff, please.

LOL, I’m back after reading the fanfic. I read over ten stories. Wanwan is the submissive one in all of them. Pity for Wanwan.

Su Chenxing read the comments and trending topics in the restroom, her face darker than the bottom of a pot.

She bought the coffee. Why? Why was Song Xiangwan trending? Why was everyone focused on Song Xiangwan?

But, upon leaving the restroom, she still had to force a smile and mingle with the other sisters.

Now, she didn’t dare to give any cold shoulder to the minor actors, desperately trying to maintain her approachable, gentle ‘little white flower’ image.

“Sister Xingxing, Teacher Song bought fruit for everyone. I brought yours back,” the actress from the same dorm placed the fruit platter on the table.

If she eats it, the internet will call her hypocritical.

If she doesn’t eat it, they’ll say she’s petty.

Su Chenxing had never experienced a moment like this since her debut. It seemed everything she did was wrong.

When a public image collapses, no matter what one does, it is magnified for scrutiny, and everything is wrong—this is a rule of the entertainment industry.

This Song Xiangwan was absolutely targeting her.

That wasn’t true. Song Xiangwan barely remembered targeting Su Chenxing now.

It was just that Cao Xin had reminded her that during the collective camp, most of the senior members had treated everyone to food and drinks, so it was her turn.

She had completely delegated the matter to Cheng Cheng and hadn’t even considered Su Chenxing as an individual.

Right now, she wasn’t even in the dorm. Staring at the passing street trees and streetlights outside the car window, she only felt that the car was moving too, too slowly.

She didn’t care about anything else. Right now, she wanted to rush straight back, filled with an eagerness to return.