Chapter 30

After Qi Yishu got into the car, Wen Zhiqing remained reclined lazily on the seat, calmly watching the shifting streetscape outside the window, acting as if Qi Yishu weren’t sitting in her car at all.

After a period of such silence, Wen Zhiqing lightly tapped the storage compartment with her finger.

“I used to keep some energy bars and snacks in here,” Wen Zhiqing mentioned, seemingly in passing. “I switched to other brands for a while, but I wasn’t used to them, so now I’ve switched back.”

Lin Wantang could never have prepared these things for Qi Yishu. Wen Zhiqing’s gaze fell on Qi Yishu’s face, attempting to catch a hint of an unusual reaction.

But Qi Yishu’s expression was as usual, without a trace of awkwardness. She even followed the direction of Wen Zhiqing’s finger to open the compartment, taking the snacks into her palm to examine them closely.

“Thank you. I’ll prepare some in my car as well.”

Qi Yishu’s tone of gratitude was extremely sincere, but Wen Zhiqing didn’t feel the satisfaction she had anticipated. Instead, she felt even more uncomfortable, as if something were blocking her chest—it was heavier than before, yet there was nowhere to vent.

She didn’t dare try to show off anything more to Qi Yishu; she worried Qi Yishu would take note of everything and then prepare an identical set.

Wen Zhiqing even began to imagine scenes in her mind—perhaps Qi Yishu would “plagiarize” her by preparing a villa with an identical layout and architecture, then furnishing it with the same decor, meticulously preparing a sense of being at home for Lin Wantang.

The mere thought of that scenario sent a chill up her spine, making her scalp tingle slightly.

For the first time, Wen Zhiqing felt the time spent sharing a car with Qi Yishu was incredibly long.

She could only comfort herself with the fact that Qi Yishu was just a Beta; Lin Wantang wouldn’t ​unauthorized copy​necessarily be interested in a Beta who didn’t even have pheromones.

Besides, she truly didn’t care at all who Lin Wantang ended up with. She was only worried Lin Wantang might die out of sympathy and pity, nothing more.

After a while, the sound of conversation resumed in the car.

“So, do you really like Lin Wantang?” Wen Zhiqing looked at Qi Yishu seemingly by chance. “Did you come back to the country for her as well?”

Upon hearing Wen Zhiqing’s question, Qi Yishu’s fingertips instinctively reached for her cigarette case, but she paused when she touched the thin paper packaging. After a moment, she withdrew her hand.

She would be seeing her junior soon; she didn’t want the smell of tobacco to cling to her clothes again.

“Does that have anything to do with you?”

Qi Yishu finally replied flatly, “You two are already divorced, aren’t you?”

Wen Zhiqing felt the temperature in the car seemed a bit high again, but she didn’t ask the driver to lower it; she didn’t want Qi Yishu to mistake it for her avoiding the topic.

“I’m just a bit curious, that’s all.”

Wen Zhiqing turned her face toward the window. The streetscape slid rapidly across the glass, but none of it entered her eyes. She clenched her fingertips until her nails dug into her palms.

After a while, she continued to say with difficulty, “You never dated before, but you said you had someone you liked. I never imagined the person you were talking about was Lin Wantang.”

She turned her head, looking straight at Qi Yishu. “So, read the original at bailiantales.comyou’ve liked her since university. But she shouldn’t have known back then, right?”

Although she was now divorced from Lin Wantang, she was praying in her heart that the Lin Wantang of that time definitely didn’t know. If Lin Wantang had known of Qi Yishu’s feelings back then, then she would be a complete and utter clown.

“The junior didn’t know about it.”

Qi Yishu thought back to the old days when Lin Wantang entered the university and frowned with a hint of sadness. “I never told her.”

When Lin Wantang started university, Qi Yishu had been resting for a semester due to poor health. She never cared about boring things like new student enrollment, but shortly after the start of the term, Wen Zhiqing forwarded her a post from the school’s official social media account.

Wen Zhiqing hadn’t explained why, but when Qi Yishu saw the Alpha freshman in a white shirt, standing before the chrysanthemum exhibition with her head lowered in a shallow smile, she understood somewhat.

Every year during the autumn welcome for new students, the school would hold a chrysanthemum exhibition on a lawn; it had become an annual tradition. Qi Yishu had never cared for these things, but in that instant, she also especially wanted to go to that patch of grass to see this year’s chrysanthemum exhibition.

But her body recovered very slowly.

After autumn passed, the cold winter arrived quickly. It wasn’t until the following spring when the flowers bloomed that she finally made it to that lawn.

In early spring, tender green sprouts had already emerged from the soil, but the vast stretches of chrysanthemums from the late autumn had long since gone.

But she already knew the Alpha’s name; it was very beautiful—Lin Wantang.

By then, the “spark” of conversation between Wen Zhiqing and Lin Wantang had already lasted for an unknown number of days; she was completely too late.

Qi Yishu buried this matter in the depths of her heart.

She changed her avatar to a field of lush green grass, and it had never changed since.

That was likely the reason for the avatar.

Qi Yishu withdrew from her memories and turned her head, as if she too had fallen into a segment of the past.

She closed her eyes and didn’t speak again; the car fell completely silent.

Before long, they finally arrived at the hospital.

Wen Zhiqing looked out the window. She knew very well that this meant Qi Yishu would go into the ward to visit Lin Wantang and persuade her to transfer. Everything she had done to ensure Lin Wantang’s surgery proceeded smoothly would be mistaken by Lin Wantang as Qi Yishu’s doing.

Wen Zhiqing felt as if she had been sitting in the car for too long—so long that her legs seemed to have lost all sensation.

The moment she pushed open the car door and her feet touched the ground, her knees went soft and failed to support her. As she began to fall, her knees nearly touching the ground, she was finally caught just in time by her assistant.

The assistant advised with concern, “President Wen, you should stay in the car and rest.”

Wen Zhiqing shook her head. If she didn’t go over with her, she wouldn’t be at peace.

Her legs were still trembling slightly. Wen Zhiqing took several deep breaths, clenched her fingertips, and slowly walked forward.

This hospital was smaller than the previous one, and the distance to walk was shorter. Wen Zhiqing unauthorized copy soon reached the corridor leading to Lin Wantang’s ward.

She stopped and looked at Qi Yishu following behind her, saying in a low voice, “It’s just ahead.”

Qi Yishu followed her gaze. The corridor wasn’t long, and the door at the end was tightly closed. She nodded, her amber eyes looking at Wen Zhiqing once more before she walked straight ahead.

But soon, she felt her leather jacket being gripped from behind. Qi Yishu looked back and saw Wen Zhiqing’s hand trembling as she tightly gripped her sleeve. Her pitch-black eyes were fixed on the ward, her gaze somewhat vacant, her thin lips trembling slightly, but she didn’t speak.

The old fluorescent lights at the end of the corridor hummed, illuminating everything in a deathly pale light. The light cast a long, thin shadow behind Wen Zhiqing, making her look even more solitary and forlorn.

Wen Zhiqing opened her lips slightly and managed an explanation: “I’ll wait outside the door.”

Qi Yishu nodded and gently flicked her sleeve, easily shaking off Wen Zhiqing’s hand. Wen Zhiqing’s fingers slid down the leather jacket and fell back to her side; in the end, she managed to catch nothing.

Wen Zhiqing watched as Qi Yishu walked to the door of the ward and gave it a gentle knock.

The sound of the knocking was exceptionally clear in the corridor.

Then, Wen Zhiqing saw Qi Yishu push the door open. After walking inside, she slowly closed it. The door panel cut off her line of sight inch by inch until she could finally see nothing at all.

The sound of Qi Yishu entering startled Lin Wantang on the bed. She looked toward the door nervously, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw the person was not Wen Zhiqing.

But Lin Wantang had not expected Qi Yishu to come, either.

“My health isn’t good; I’ve let Senior see something embarrassing.”

Qi Yishu shook her head gently. It had been a long time since she had seen Lin Wantang, and she was much thinner than the last time they met. It felt as if something were clutching her heart; she couldn’t bear to look any longer and replied with her head lowered, “Junior, I’m truly sorry for visiting you so late.”

Lin Wantang didn’t know why the news of her illness was leaking out like a sieve. But the only one who had been here after the transfer was Wen Zhiqing. Lin Wantang lowered her eyes, wondering if Qi Yishu’s visit this time was related to Wen Zhiqing.

But she didn’t ask.

Qi Yishu was a very good person; she didn’t want to ask a question that would make her embarrassed.

“I was able to find this place because Wen Zhiqing told me the address.”

Qi Yishu said it directly. After she spoke, she paused, her gaze falling on that pale face.

“Junior is actually quite curious about this, right?” Her voice softened, carrying an indescribable quality. “Why didn’t you ask me directly?”

Lin Wantang lifted her head, slowly looking into Qi Yishu’s amber eyes, as if trying to confirm something. Surprise surfaced in the depths of her clear eyes, then slowly subsided as she looked up.

“I just…”

“Just care too much about others’ feelings,” Qi Yishu finished for her, her voice carrying a hint of a sigh. “Junior, you’re too kind. But actually, there’s truly no need to be like this.”

“So, is there anything else Junior wants to ask me?”

After Qi Yishu’s voice fell again, the ward became quiet.

But this time, the silence lasted only a moment. Lin Wantang was quiet for a while before asking in a low voice, “I also want to ask Senior, why did you come to visit me?”

Outside the ward, Wen Zhiqing couldn’t help but pace back and forth. The sound of her heels hitting the floor tiles sounded like her own rapid heartbeat. She couldn’t stop herself from wondering what Qi Yishu was saying to Lin Wantang, but even though the room was right there, she disdained eavesdropping.

“Perhaps because I wanted to visit the lead of my future movie.”

A smile finally appeared on Qi Yishu’s face, though her gaze never left Lin Wantang’s face as she closely observed her expression.

Lin Wantang was completely stunned. She stared into Qi Yishu’s amber eyes, forgetting even to blink.

A few months ago, when she first learned the news of Qi Yishu’s return to the country, she only dared to submit her resume based on a very thin past acquaintance to be a minor supporting character in a movie directed by Qi Yishu.

But now, Qi Yishu was seriously saying that she was here to visit the lead of her future movie.

“Does Junior think I’m joking?” Qi Yishu’s smile still lingered at the corners of her mouth—it was faint, yet impossible to look away from. “But I’ve already let Junior see the script.”

“But… why?”

Lin Wantang knew very well that she was just an eighteenth-tier minor actress; she hadn’t even played a lead in a low-budget production. She didn’t understand why Qi Yishu would give her the first role in her movie after returning to the country.

For a moment, she thought of Wen Zhiqing’s slander—Wen Zhiqing had accused her of being unable to wait to climb onto Qi Yishu and using “hidden rules” to get her role in that previous TV drama.

It… couldn’t be that Qi Yishu liked her? That was too absurd, so the thought was snuffed out as soon as it appeared. Lin Wantang knew that all the interaction between her and Qi unauthorized copy Yishu was only because of Wen Zhiqing. Because Qi Yishu was Wen Zhiqing’s friend, she had developed a slight acquaintance with Qi Yishu during their university years; besides that, there was nothing special.

“A director selecting a certain actor, of course, will only consider the compatibility between the actor and the character.” Qi Yishu looked at Lin Wantang, her tone certain. “That is the only reason.”

After saying this, she curled her lips again. Seeing the doubt in her junior’s gaze gradually dissipate, her smile became a bit more warm and kind. “I think Junior’s acting is very good. Junior should have more confidence in herself as well.”

Outside the ward, Wen Zhiqing checked her watch frequently. She felt she had never spent such a long and agonizing amount of time. she was in no mood to pace as she had before, yet she couldn’t force herself to stay completely still in one spot.

It was true restlessness.

Her nails dug deep into her palms, leaving countless crescent-shaped marks.

Wen Zhiqing thought: I’m just worried Qi Yishu won’t be able to persuade Lin Wantang to accept the transfer, that’s all.

She lowered her eyes, looking at the deep and shallow marks in her palm. As for anything else—she and Lin Wantang were already divorced. She didn’t care at all about an ex-wife’s romantic life.

Truly, not a bit.

The nail of her ring finger dug into the delicate flesh of her palm again. This new, sharp pain happened to suppress the dull ache in her heart that had surfaced again at some unknown point.

Wen Zhiqing stood in the corridor, struggling amidst the boundless pain to suppress the urge to go to the door and eavesdrop.

Qi Yishu must be too inefficient, Wen Zhiqing thought. She had been persuading her for so long without moving Lin Wantang.

But she couldn’t stop herself from wondering what exactly Qi Yishu was saying to Lin Wantang.

Surely no one would choose to pour out their heart in a hospital ward?

Every thought ran through her mind hundreds of times. Wen Zhiqing stood up from the corridor bench again and began to pace slowly.

Her heels tapped against the hospital floor tiles—tap, tap—accompanying the thin hum of the fluorescent lights. This once again made Wen Zhiqing’s mind chaotic, and she stopped once more.

Only then did she realize that she had unconsciously moved closer to the ward. Wen Zhiqing hurried away again in a bit of a panic. She didn’t want Qi Yishu to come out and think she was near the ward because she wanted to eavesdrop.

She was absolutely not that kind of person.

Inside the ward, Lin Wantang looked at Qi Yishu and nodded solemnly. “Thank you, Senior.”

She paused, her voice somewhat raspy, as if something were blocking her throat. “Senior, I truly don’t know how to thank you.”

But soon, Lin Wantang seemed to remember something, and the light in her eyes flickered slightly.

She asked in a low voice, “Senior, will Wen Zhiqing block it this time?”

Outside the ward, Wen Zhiqing finally grew impatient. Her palms were covered in mottled crescent marks, deep and shallow, layered upon each other. In some spots, spots of blood had already seeped out, staining the lines of her palm with fragmented crimson.

She had finally waited long enough.

With her heart pounding, she walked toward the door. Finally, she stood pinned [bailiantales.com]against the ward door and began to listen to the voices coming from inside.

“Senior, although I know you and Wen Zhiqing have a very good relationship… it’s not for an outsider to come between relatives, and I actually have no right to judge her character here.” Lin Wantang sighed. “But I really don’t like her. She only follows her own whims, standing high above and wantonly trampling on others’ hard work.”

“Senior, I’m worried I might involve you.”

Wen Zhiqing’s brand-new coat was pressed against the door. Inside the ward, Lin Wantang’s voice came through the door panel, every word falling clearly into her ears.

First, she heard Lin Wantang say it wasn’t for an outsider to come between relatives. After a moment of confusion, a surge of wild joy rose in her heart.

If Lin Wantang believed her relationship with Qi Yishu was “closer,” then Lin Wantang and Qi Yishu were actually not particularly close.

Which meant their feelings hadn’t developed to that point.

But then she heard Lin Wantang’s judgment of her.

Only follows her own whims… standing high above… wantonly trampling on others’ hard work.

So that was how she was being described?

Wen Zhiqing stood outside the door, hearing Lin Wantang’s words shoot toward her like arrows, one by one. She stood dazed by the door, her new coat against the cold door, like an unavoidable target.

Qi Yishu seemed to say something as well, but she could no longer hear clearly. In a daze, she remembered that during university, Lin Wantang had said the exact opposite.

“Senior is an exceptionally good person; she just looks a bit bailiantales.com cold, that’s all. But she’s actually exceptionally gentle and exceptionally kind.”

Back then, some had also said she was too proud and heartless. At the time, Lin Wantang had seriously and publicly refuted them like that. It was clearly just a small detail; she hadn’t thought she would remember it so clearly, but even now, years later, it was still vivid in her mind.

Had there ever truly been a moment when Lin Wantang really thought she was a good person?

If Lin Wantang had truly once approved of her character… what about now? Who exactly was the one who had changed?

Wen Zhiqing slowly leaned her forehead against the doorframe.

Back then, Lin Wantang would only call her “Senior.” But now, Lin Wantang was calling someone else “Senior” and telling them to be careful of her.

Inside the ward, Lin Wantang had already agreed to sign the transfer agreement. The smile at the corners of Qi Yishu’s mouth deepened, but as she was about to leave, she suddenly remembered something.

“Junior, I’ve hidden one thing from you.” She paused for a moment, her amber eyes blinking. “I’m sorry. After your surgery is over, I will explain it to you.”

Lin Wantang was a bit startled, but she still nodded.

Qi Yishu gave another gentle smile, said her goodbyes, and turned to leave.

She pushed open the door and saw Wen Zhiqing standing silently at the entrance. Wen Zhiqing’s eyes were slightly red, as if they had been soaked in something and then dried under the old fluorescent lights.

When Qi Yishu’s gaze fell on her, Wen Zhiqing turned away and lowered her head, hiding all her distress in the shadows.

“So she calls you ‘Senior’ as well.”

Finally, Wen Zhiqing spoke, her voice somewhat hoarse, as if finally confirming that one person was growing closer and closer to another.