It is known that an adult has 206 bones in all.
At that moment, what Xu Youning felt was that all of her 206 bones had cracked together. The massive blunt pain came from deep within her body, making her even unable to bend her fingers.
For a moment, she would rather end her life right away than suffer from that pain.
It really hurt, but she couldn’t find where the injuries were. She could only curl herself up like a small shrimp under the quilt, biting it hard and swallowing her pained voice back.
After 10 minutes, the pain reached its peak. It felt like someone was tearing the cracked bones one by one from her body, and each time it was likely to drive her to death.
Xu Youning couldn’t bear it anymore. She buried her face on the pillow, with her tears trickling into it.
The skin-peeling and bone-breaking pain lasted for a full half-hour. In the end, Xu Youning was soaked with cold sweat while everything in front of her became blurred. She was unable to recall nor think about anything as if her head was like a dust-laden and rusty instrument; her throat had even lost the ability to speak the simplest syllables…
In a trance, she felt like going to heaven and falling into hell. Then there came the sound of the door being pushed open, followed by the voice that kept calling her:
“Xu Youning… Xu Youning…”
“Hmm, is it Mu Sijue?” Xu Youning thought.
“It must be my illusion.”
Xu Youning did not respond to the voice and slowly closed her eyes.
She was neither unconscious nor asleep. She simply was in too much pain and too tired to open her eyes.
Mu Sijue stood beside the bed looking at Xu Youning, with a serious and unreadable look on his face.
When he was about to have a rest, by some chance he called Xu Youning’s caregiver to ask about her condition. Unexpectedly, however, he was told that Xu Youning had asked the caregiver to go home.
Lu Boyan had mentioned to him that it was uncertain whether Xu Youning had handed over the evidence because she felt guilty or because it was in her and Kang Ruicheng’s plans.
If it was Xu Youning’s self-proposition, according to Kang Ruicheng’s brutal and bloodthirsty style, he would certainly deal with her hard.
All of a sudden, Mu Sijue realized that—Xu Youning had sent the caregiver away for she had been waiting for Kang Ruicheng. She knew better than Lu Boyan that Kang Ruicheng wouldn’t let her off easily.
He couldn’t figure out how Kang Ruicheng would torture Xu Youning, but he was sure that Xu Youning would rather die.
He rushed to the hospital and found that Xu Youning had fallen into a semi-comatose state. Her hair, her clothes were all wet with perspiration and there were beads of sweat on her delicate nose, while she huddled herself up with her mouth biting the quilt.
Kang Ruicheng had left; he was one step late.
Mu Sijue stretched out his hand. Before his fingers could touch Xu Youning’s frowning face, he stopped there.
He cared for her, so what?
Xu Youning had asked for it and he would never feel sorry for her.
Mu Sijue opened the closet and took out a clean hospital suit. After a brief thought, he decided not to call a nurse, then he helped Xu Youning to sit up and unbuttoned her blouse.
Compared with her social experience, Xu Youning’s body was more in line with her age. It was a young and well-stacked body, which was so tender that it was likely to spit out water with a light pinch, and even the rose-shaped scar on her back seemed to be stirring up his innermost feelings.
Mu Sijue overestimated himself while underestimating Xu Youning. After dressing her, it took him great effort to repress his unexpected sexual desire, which was like subduing a beast that was ready to make trouble in the darkness.
Finally, He threw her sweaty clothes into the laundry basket in the bathroom. Then he returned but found Xu Youning not awake yet.
Mu Sijue walked to the bed and drew the covers for Xu Youning, then he sat on the sofa beside the bed, listening quietly to Xu Youning’s breathing.
It would seem they get along peacefully only when one of them was asleep. Otherwise, it would either be he making a cold face or Xu Youning stamping with rage.
After a time, the pain within Xu Youning’s bones eased. She came to herself and opened her eyes, recalling Kang Ruicheng’s arrival and the extreme pain he had induced on her, which was like a dream.
She moved, without feeling any discomfort; still, she couldn’t set her mind at ease.
What Kang Ruicheng had developed wasn’t safe at all, for he only wanted to achieve his horrific goal. Although she wasn’t feeling any discomfort then, it didn’t mean that she would suffer no side-effects in the future.
Xu Youning sat up, then she glanced at a figure on the sofa—
He sat there, detached and silent. But it was hard to ignore him, being like a dormant beast in the jungle, who would jump from the darkness at any time to snap off its prey’s neck.
Xu Youning hissed and took a deep breath out of fright. Then she asked in a loud voice, “Is that Mr. Mu?”
Mu Sijue stood up and walked to the bed, with his body crossing through the darkness into the dim lights, while his frosty look remained the same.
Seeing that it was Mu Sijue, Xu Youning was even more surprised. She stuttered, “Mr. Mu, did, did you… sleepwalk here?”
If it weren’t for sleepwalking, she could not understand why Mu Sijue had appeared in her ward in the small hours!
Before Mu Sijue answered her, Xu Youning thought of something more important and asked, “When did you arrive here?”
If Mu Sijue had been there long, he would have seen her half-dead look just then. Xu Youning thought, “How should I explain?”
“I just arrived.” Mu Sijue made a common excuse and said, “I passed by the hospital, so I came to visit you.”
Xu Youning breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “Oh, then… when are you leaving?”
Mu Sijue narrowed his eyes with a mysterious look on his face. It suddenly became cold in the room, and he asked in a chilly voice, “Do you want me to leave?”
“…” Xu Youning didn’t know whether to nod or shake her head.
Indeed, she didn’t want Mu Sijue to leave. If he stayed there, Kang Ruicheng would not dare to visit her. She didn’t want to suffer the pain of all her bones cracking at the same time anymore.
“If I ask Mu Sijue to stay with me,” she thought, “I would be mercilessly teased by him.”
“I can’t even let him know about a lowly wish like that,” Xu Youning thought, upset. Then she turned her back to Mu Sijue and said, “It’s up to you! Your legs belong to you. I can’t make them move!”
It seemed that Mu Sijue was chuckling, then the coldness in his voice dissipated and he said in a pleasant tone, “So, you don’t want me to leave.”
As Xu Youning used to do, if she wanted him to leave, she would have thrown the pillow at him.
Realizing that she had been seen through, Xu Youning felt shocked. She was about to deny it, but she bit back her words.
No matter how strong-willed she had been, she wanted company at that moment.
In a voice that could hardly be heard, she said, “Mu Sijue, I’m scared.” Having worked for Kang Ruicheng for a long time, she knew him well. If he failed again, he would continue torturing her.
Her fear of Kang Ruicheng had surpassed the embarrassment of being seen through.
Xu Youning had never been afraid of anything. Even when she saw someone dart a dagger into the table in front of her, she could brush it with her forefinger nail without blinking an eye, to continue negotiating with her opponent at ease.
When she was assigned to dangerous work, she had never feared anything. It was the first time that she showed her timidity in front of Mu Sijue, and told him that she was scared.
However, she couldn’t tell Mu Sijue why she was scared, so she had to turn her back to him.
At the same time Mu Sijue thought that Xu Youning felt guilty. So she had to pretend she was miserable to angle for sympathy, but she didn’t dare to face him because she was afraid to be seen through.
The more she tried to act that way, the more willing Mu Sijue was to purposely make difficulties for her. He intentionally asked, “What scared you?”
His voice was like a wind blowing from the North Pole and into the room, expressionless and bitterly cold.
Xu Youning suddenly sobered.
“Why did I show my weakness in front of Mu Sijue? Am I looking forward to his being softhearted toward me?”
“Damn it, my weakness may be a joke to him!”
Xu Youning forced a smile, then she turned to face Mu Sijue and said, “Oh, I’m just worrying that I would be disabled.”
“Your worries are superfluous,” Mu Sijue said in a cold voice. “If you are disabled one day, it could only be because I’ve beaten you.”
Xu Youning’s lips twitched fiercely, then she asked, “…Do you have to scare me like that?”
“I’m not scaring you.” Mu Sijue bent down, staring at Xu Youning with a mysterious look on his face. He said, “If I find you’re not obedient one day, breaking your legs is a piece of cake.”
Xu Youning was used to that. She calmly looked into Mu Sijue’s eyes and said, “I want to go to the bathroom. If you don’t get out of the way, punching you to give you black eyes is also a piece of cake!”
Beyond her expectation, Mu Sijue did as she asked.
When she was about to get out of bed, Xu Youning realized why she wanted Mu Sijue to die—he knew she couldn’t get out of bed herself.
She had drunk too much water, so she had to go to the bathroom!
Xu Youning regretted having asked her caregiver to leave. She thought, “I can’t hold it back till tomorrow, ah, ah, ah, ah!”
“Mu Sijue? Bah, I’ll never ask him for help!”
Looking at Xu Youning’s anxious and tangled face, Mu Sijue finally showed his kindness and carried her out of bed.
The sudden weightlessness blanked Xu Youning’s mind. She stared at Mu Sijue’s well-defined chin with her widened eyes, thinking that he must have been possessed by ghosts for he couldn’t be that kind to her.
Mu Sijue just showed a cold face. He placed Xu Youning beside the toilet and said, “Call me when you’re done.”
Xu Youning thought it unbelievable. When she finished and was about to call Mu Sijue, she suddenly saw her blouse in the laundry basket.
After she took a shower in the evening, the caregiver had washed the clothes she had taken off. “The sweaty blouse in the laundry basket must have been taken off just now.” She thought.
“But, I don’t remember changing my clothes… ”
She then recalled that when she was nearly pained to death, in a trance she was lifted by someone, who helped her put on clean clothes while his rough fingertips touched her shoulders and back from time to time.
“That touch couldn’t be of a nurse.” She thought.
Xu Youning subconsciously looked to the bathroom door—Mu Sijue’s figure loomed on the glass.
“Ah—!”
Her sudden scream almost penetrated the entire building.