The Woman I Was Flirting With Turned Out To Be A Chaebol Heiress - Chapter 16

“How can someone your age still be so bad at taking care of yourself?”

Li Nianyi walked over with a medical kit, her tone a mix of helplessness and a touch of teasing.

Jiang Ji instinctively pouted, her voice slightly hoarse with a silent sigh:

“Sorry, Nian Nian, for making you worry and also… I accidentally got blood on your clothes. I’ll wash them for you.”

Li Nianyi sighed and resignedly sat down beside the patient.

“Clothes don’t matter. Just toss them in the washing machine. Let me treat your wounds first. If it gets worse, we really need to go to the hospital.”

“I don’t want to.”

Jiang Ji tugged gently on the hem of Li Nianyi’s shirt.

“Nian Nian, I don’t want to go to the hospital, okay? These are just surface wounds. They look scary, but they’re not serious.”

Jiang Ji didn’t want to go to the hospital. She didn’t want to smell the antiseptic scent and face that cold, sterile environment. In moments like this, she just wanted to stay close to Li Nianyi a little longer.

Li Nianyi fell silent for a moment, then suddenly leaned closer to Jiang Ji’s eyes:

“Are you trying to act cute with me, Sister Jiang?”

Jiang Ji froze, but then replied in a soft, fragile voice:

“Just take it as me acting cute with you, okay? Will you say yes then?”

Amused by her antics, Li Nianyi let out a short laugh.

“Alright, alright. I promise no hospital.”

Who knew where this woman had gone to end up in a street fight? Even her face was bruised. Thankfully, it was mostly just small scrapes. Li Nianyi dabbed some alcohol on a cotton swab and pressed it onto the wound.

“Hiss…”

The woman winced instinctively but didn’t pull away.

“Nian Nian, could you go a bit gentler?”

After the first time, Jiang Ji was no longer shy about speaking up. Her voice softened, like early spring snowflakes falling on the petals of freshly bloomed flowers.

“I thought you were made of steel. So you actually do feel pain, huh?”

It sounded like she was half scolding Jiang Ji for getting herself into such a mess.

As she spoke, she stuck a band aid over the wound.

Jiang Ji, a little sheepishly, said, “It won’t happen again.”

Li Nianyi snorted, then pointed at her waist:

“Lift your shirt.”

Jiang Ji obediently complied like a well-behaved child.

Most of the injuries were on her lower back, looking like they came from blunt weapons bruises shaded in deep purple, some even breaking the skin, oozing blood that made Li Nianyi ache just looking at them.

Though she didn’t say anything, Li Nianyi’s hands gentled as she wrapped the wounds, frowning in concentration.

It was her first time seeing Jiang Ji’s body up close like this, and only then did she notice that beneath the new injuries were old scars faint pink lines hidden under the skin, so subtle that they’d be missed without close inspection.

Who knew what kind of life this woman had led to accumulate so many wounds?

Li Nianyi didn’t ask, but her mind was already spinning with ten thousand possible backstories none of which fully explained what she was seeing now.

Jiang Ji had no idea what Li Nianyi was thinking. All she could feel was the gentle brush of her fingers, the mix of pain and comfort spreading through her body.

So close…

Once she finished, Li Nianyi sat back, frowning as she stared at the pitiful Jiang Ji. She didn’t need to say anything Jiang Ji already knew she was waiting for an explanation.

But she didn’t know where to begin, or even what to say.

“Jiang Ji, what are you? Some delinquent from the ‘90s? A biker gang member?”

“Huh?”

“I can tell you’re full of secrets. But you know, you could try opening up to me.”

Li Nianyi, rarely serious, now wore a calm expression, her usual flippancy completely gone.

She knew she could never be a proper therapist. The ethics of that profession forbid any emotional entanglement with a client.

Good thing she wasn’t bound by those morals nor did she plan to enter the profession.

Jiang Ji swallowed, heart pounding loudly in her chest. She had a sudden, burning desire to tell Li Nianyi everything.

“Have you ever heard of the Kurosaki Group?”

Li Nianyi nodded. She hadn’t expected to hear that name from Jiang Ji’s mouth.

“Didn’t they disappear a long time ago?”

Jiang Ji sighed.

“It’s a long story. The Kurosaki Group was taken down, but not completely. I had a history with them when I was younger, so some of the remaining members still come after me now and then.”

Li Nianyi felt like she’d just walked into a mafia drama. She didn’t know whether to be confused about Jiang Ji’s connection to the group, or more curious about her mysterious background.

Back when the Kurosaki Group was active, Jiang Ji must’ve only been seventeen or eighteen, right?

A thousand questions flashed through her mind, but all she said was:

“Why not report them to the police?”

“I did. But those guys are just thugs. They’ve been arrested countless times, and even when I call the police, all that happens is a little compensation or a short detainment… Besides, I didn’t exactly go easy on them.”

Li Nianyi went silent.

Worried she wouldn’t believe her, Jiang Ji added: “I’ve trained in martial arts and Muay Thai. Today, they just had the numbers and brought weapons. I had to fight barehanded…”

Of course, this was only part of the truth. Her entanglement with the Kurosaki Group ran much deeper than she let on.

Li Nianyi knew that too. She wouldn’t force Jiang Ji to spill everything all at once. But at least… this was a start.

“I believe you.”

Li Nianyi smiled gently.

“In return, I can tell you something about myself too. Want to hear?”

Jiang Ji was stunned, then nodded rapidly.

“I do!”

“I’m actually an orphan.”

Li Nianyi said it lightly, as if she were discussing what to eat tomorrow. But Jiang Ji felt like the words hit her like a heavy blow.

“I don’t know who my mother is. People at the orphanage said one day, a teacher found a baby outside the gate while buying groceries. Still in a swaddling cloth, just left there.

That baby was me.”

“You know, back then, there weren’t security cameras everywhere. No way to know who abandoned me. The orphanage just had to take me in.”

She smiled faintly, like she was telling someone else’s story.

Uncontrollably, Li Nianyi began recalling what her old caretaker used to say.

It was winter. A newborn, eyes still unopened, was left outside the iron gates like trash—curled in a torn cardboard box.

They called the police, tried to find her parents. But no luck. Then again, even if she had been found, who knows what kind of life she’d have had? Maybe it was better this way.

So she stayed.

She lived in that orphanage for a long time. Unlike the other kids some withdrawn, some overly sensitive, some bullies, some timid Li Nianyi didn’t seem like a child who had been abandoned.

She ate well, played well, greeted everyone. Outgoing to a fault.

Many kids tried to act extra sweet so they’d get adopted. But not her. She never chased after those chances.

The idea of “family” she had no experience with it, so she didn’t crave it.

Li Nianyi always thought she’d stay in the orphanage until she turned eighteen, then live off government aid while continuing school.

But guess what?

An old lady who used to teach the kids English actually adopted her.

That granny was strange, too. No kids, no husband, just a lonely old woman. She had a pension but chose to work odd jobs at the orphanage instead of enjoying retirement.

Besides teaching, she also helped cook when needed. Sometimes she’d make giant pots of stew just for fun.

In her own words: “Old people shouldn’t be idle. That’s how you get dementia.”

She wasn’t like the other staff neither cold nor overly sympathetic.

She was playful and petty, didn’t care how old you were. If you didn’t follow her rules, she’d load your bowl with bitter melon.

She’d trick the kids out of their toys and scare them with ghost stories.

She didn’t treat the kids as orphans not even as kids. Just little people.

Li Nianyi used to butt heads with her all the time like the time she got caught goofing off during English class.

They had a long-standing rivalry.

But who would’ve thought? An unwanted child and a lonely old woman somehow ended up forming a family.

“Sounds like the cliché beginning of a cheesy novel, right? I thought so too when I looked back what’s with that look? Are you feeling sorry for me?”

Catching sight of the shimmer in Jiang Ji’s eyes, Li Nianyi nudged her playfully.

“It’s not as pitiful as you think. My life wasn’t rich, but I never really lacked anything.”

Then her smile slowly faded, as if something had just crossed her mind.

“But the granny passed away later. And I was alone again.”

But Jiang Ji suddenly pulled her into a tight hug.

Unlike earlier, when she’d collapsed into Li Nianyi’s arms weakly this time, she held her tight, ignoring the pain from her wounds. As if she wanted to fuse their bodies together.

Li Nianyi felt like she’d become a baby bird, fiercely protected under its mother’s wings.

The sound of Jiang Ji’s heartbeat was so close, so loud it sent ripples through her chest.

She often thought Jiang Ji didn’t feel like an “older sister” at all.

Aren’t older characters in novels always calm, mature, unreadable? Jiang Ji looked the part, but she didn’t act like it.

Yet the sense of safety she gave that was real.

Right now, this embrace felt so wonderful that she didn’t want to let go.

After a long while, a muffled voice came from the crook of her neck:

“Nian Nian, can I be the one who stays with you… always?”

Li Nianyi felt strange. It was like someone poured boiling water straight into her chest it burned.