The Sickly Fake Daughter, But a Beloved Darling of All - Chapter 60

“Wu Boran!”

Xu Chengjin reached out and covered Wu Boran’s lips. A little closer and they would have kissed. Her eyes were filled with unshakeable shock: “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

Her heart skipped a beat; she hadn’t expected Wu Boran to do something like this: “Wu Boran!”

She called out again, her voice significantly louder. It seemed that this single shout finally pulled Wu Boran back to reality.

“Xiao Jin…”

Wu Boran trembled all over. She immediately pulled back, increasing the distance between them. She was a little flustered: “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was doing just now.”

“Get off my bed.”

Xu Chengjin turned her head away, unwilling to look at Wu Boran anymore: “I know you care about me, but right now I really can’t deal with this. Let’s both calm down.”

“Okay.”

Wu Boran didn’t refuse this time. She quickly climbed off the bed. Standing on the floor, she realized how absurd her actions had been. Not only did she climb onto Xu Chengjin’s bed in the middle of the night, but she had just tried to kiss her… If Xu Chengjin wouldn’t forgive her…

“Xu Chengjin.”

Wu Boran stood in place for a long time, finally unable to resist speaking, but her tone was more of helplessness: “I really didn’t mean to. No, I apologize for my behavior just now. My brain felt like it was filled with water. Please, don’t ignore me?”

Her voice became softer and softer toward the end. Since Xu Chengjin didn’t reply, she became increasingly timid.

Xu Chengjin was currently lying on the bed, her back to Wu Boran. Listening to the sound coming from below, she managed to suppress her original anxious emotions. She bit her lip and finally spoke softly: “I won’t ignore you. It’s very late now; it’s time to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow.”

The moment her voice came out, Wu Boran visibly relaxed. She hummed in agreement, then quickly climbed onto her own bed. Neither of them said anything else, as if nothing had happened. But the facts could not be erased. A thorn remained suspended in both their hearts, impossible to pull out, and impossible to digest in a short time.

Both of them were sleepless for a long time.

The Morning After

Xu Chengjin didn’t have classes first thing in the morning today, so she didn’t need to get up that early. However, she was still awake and washed up by seven o’clock, planning to grab breakfast at the cafeteria and then return for more sleep. Wu Boran’s schedule was packed today, and she was also up early. When the two of them bumped into each other in the morning, neither spoke, like two mutes, neither willing to break the silence first.

Xu Chengjin’s anger had long since subsided. Thinking it over carefully, she could sense that Wu Boran held some unusual feelings for her, but the middle-of-the-night incident had truly startled her. Anyone would be unable to remain calm if a person suddenly appeared in their bed in that scenario.

Not to mention, she had just been released from the hospital, and her body was already frail. At the time, she felt like she could barely breathe, and she had no idea it would turn out to be Wu Boran.

At first, she was angry—no, she was furious—not understanding why the other person would do this. It was a very offensive move to her. However, upon hearing the other person’s guilty and flustered voice, she softened.

“Xu Chengjin.”

Wu Boran was the first to grab Xu Chengjin’s hand. She had thought about it for a long time, only falling asleep close to daybreak. She felt that she might not have been led astray or influenced by that dream, but it was impossible that she liked Xu Chengjin. She still needed to analyze the specific reasons, but the fact that she wanted to be close to Xu Chengjin was undeniable.

She said: “I still want to apologize for what happened last night.”

Wu Boran slowly leaned toward Xu Chengjin, her tone very light: “Don’t be mad at me. If… if I had another chance, I would still stay with you.”

She immediately clasped Xu Chengjin’s hand: “I was really worried about you.”

Xu Chengjin hadn’t expected Wu Boran to hold her hand. She lowered her eyes and quickly glanced at their clasped hands but didn’t struggle to pull away: “Do you know how scared I was at the time? I was afraid something had happened to you, but I just didn’t expect the person next to me to be you.”

She raised her eyes and quickly licked her dry lips: “You can’t climb into my bed without my permission.”

“It’s my fault.”

Wu Boran’s attitude today was surprisingly good. She lowered her head, trying to hug Xu Chengjin: “But I seem to really want to be with you. Do you wear perfume at night too?”

Wu Boran had put her arm around Xu Chengjin’s waist. Xu Chengjin raised her hand to stop the other person’s shoulder, preventing them from getting too close: “It’s just the scent of my shower gel. If you like the smell, I can send you the link.”

But Wu Boran didn’t speak a word of nonsense and just stared at Xu Chengjin.

The other person’s gaze was too intense. Xu Chengjin initially tried to ignore it but eventually got used to it. She forced a smile, then raised a single eyebrow and slipped out of Wu Boran’s embrace: “No.”

“I won’t give you a second chance to get into my bed.”

Xu Chengjin put on her baseball cap, opened the dorm room door, and tossed out a casual remark: “I’m going to eat. See you later.”

Wu Boran, whose palm was now empty, lowered her head to look at her hand. She seemed amused by herself, but she still clenched her hands tightly and didn’t go into the bathroom for a long time.

A Call with Si Yu

The weather was quite nice today. The school was preparing for the sports meeting in a couple of days, and many people were getting ready on the field. Xu Chengjin walked toward the cafeteria wearing her baseball cap. Not many people ate breakfast early, so she didn’t have to wait long in line. She bought a steamed bun and an egg, found a random seat, and sat down.

Xu Chengjin’s eating speed wasn’t fast; in fact, it was a little slow. After putting on her headphones, Si Yu initiated a video call. She didn’t know when Si Yu had gone to sleep, but she had sent a good morning message at six o’clock, which was too early.

“Eating?”

Si Yu quickly answered the call. Based on her background, Xu Chengjin assumed she was in the office. The color in her face had recovered a lot, not looking as pale as yesterday.

Xu Chengjin took a bite of the steamed bun and nodded: “Did you eat this morning?”

“I had xiaolongbao (small steamed buns).” Speaking of this, Si Yu squinted her eyes and smiled: “There’s a shop downstairs from my place with a particularly good flavor, and it’s popular. I deliberately woke up early this morning to line up. I’ll take you next time if we get a chance.”

Xu Chengjin also lightly curved her eyebrows: “But I don’t like lining up.”

“I’ll line up for you,” Si Yu leaned back in her office chair, her tone very natural: “If that’s really not an option, I’ll just acquire the shop.”

“Wow.” Xu Chengjin’s praise was very fake: “You’re too awesome, so Bà Zǒng (bossy CEO).”

Si Yu’s smile became even more brilliant: “I have that much money.”

As she spoke, she made a gesture of counting money: “Miss Xu, just swipe my card for anything you like.”

Xu Chengjin was amused. She shook her head, feigning a sigh: “How dare I touch CEO Si’s money?”

After that, the two of them laughed together. Xu Chengjin started peeling her egg and casually asked: “Didn’t you live in a villa?”

Last time she left Si Yu’s home, there weren’t many people around, let alone any shops.

“The villa is too far.” Si Yu asked her secretary to make her a cup of coffee, speaking as if it were a very casual matter: “I bought a place downtown, and I also have one near your school.”

Xu Chengjin: “…”

So rich!

Xu Chengjin sighed: “Still too rich, CEO Si.”

“It’s just a drop in the bucket,” Si Yu quickly signed her name on a document, not even looking up: “Right, are you free this afternoon? I’m taking you to see a doctor.”

“Doctor?” Xu Chengjin stopped what she was doing, her eyes full of confusion: “See what kind of doctor?”

“An old traditional Chinese medicine doctor.” Si Yu patiently explained to Xu Chengjin: “It’s quite difficult to get an appointment with them. I started contacting them a long time ago, and they only recently had time to come over to our side. I was thinking, why don’t I take you to see them?”

“I’ve seen TCM doctors, and they said there’s no way to cure it, only to condition my body.” Xu Chengjin frowned. She was a little resistant to seeing a doctor: “No matter what, the outcome will be similar.”

“Are you really not going?”

Si Yu didn’t force Xu Chengjin to see the doctor. If Xu Chengjin didn’t go, she would go herself.

Xu Chengjin hesitated: “What if the result is still the same?”

“We would have tried our best, so the result is secondary,” Si Yu’s voice was very gentle, slowly guiding Xu Chengjin: “Maybe there really will be a turning point. Even if there’s only a sliver of a chance, we shouldn’t miss it, right?”

After hearing Si Yu’s words, Xu Chengjin still didn’t immediately confirm. She had taken too much medicine and endured too much bitterness since childhood. She truly had a phobia of doctors and hospitals. Every time she was hospitalized, she would be in a bad mood, always feeling like she was locked in a cage, even though she wasn’t a particularly free bird herself.

“You don’t need to rush. Just give me your answer this afternoon.”

Si Yu took a sip of coffee. She looked at her cup and then at the screen: “Aren’t you getting something to drink this morning?”

“It’s fine. I’m going back to the dorm to sleep soon,” Xu Chengjin yawned as she spoke: “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Is your body uncomfortable, or something else?”

“Neither.” Xu Chengjin shook her head, biting into her egg, the resulting sound a little muffled: “Just something on my mind.”

“What is it?”

Si Yu stopped what she was doing: “What could be on your mind that kept you up all night?”

Xu Chengjin swallowed the egg. She didn’t really want to mention Wu Boran’s name, so she spoke vaguely: “Something emotional.”

That shouldn’t be wrong. Their situation with Wu Boran certainly qualified as an emotional issue.

Before Si Yu could speak, a hand reached out from the other side of the screen, and then she heard Wu Boran’s voice: “I bought you a cup of milk. Have a little more, or you might choke.”

Wu Boran didn’t fully enter Xu Chengjin’s screen, but Si Yu could sense that she was sitting across from Xu Chengjin: “What do you want for lunch?”

Wu Boran had classes in the afternoon, so they could certainly have lunch together.

“We’ll see then.”

Xu Chengjin took the milk but didn’t rush to drink it. Her attitude was gentle. Because she was talking to Wu Boran, she didn’t notice Si Yu’s expression.

Si Yu sat in her chair, frowning as she looked at Xu Chengjin. Many thoughts rushed through her mind—

Was it because of Wu Boran that she couldn’t sleep?