Chapter 20

On the other side, the sky had turned faintly gray. It was already morning.

Whether or not she had classes that morning, Zhong Yingzhi always got up early as usual. After washing up and changing into sportswear, she prepared to head out to the track for her morning run.

When she reached the door, she suddenly remembered that she seemed to have made an agreement with Mu Cheng before, an agreement to run together in the morning—though she herself had never agreed to it.

Zhong Yingzhi’s steps stopped. She turned back and glanced at Mu Cheng, only to see her lying on the bed without moving at all.

Zhong Yingzhi frowned and said in a low voice, “What a troublesome thing.”

Although she said that, the hand she used to push open the door deliberately exerted a little more force, making a bang.

After doing that, she secretly glanced at the person on the bed. Mu Cheng still had not woken up.

Zhong Yingzhi then closed the door forcefully again, making another loud sound. She repeated this several times.

Even Xiao Xiaoli, who had always slept like the dead, was woken up by the stolen content noise, yet Mu Cheng remained completely unaware, sleeping without moving at all.

Xiao Xiaoli rubbed her eyes and asked, “Yingzhi, why do you keep opening and closing the door?”

Zhong Yingzhi gave a humph and said pointedly, “Sleeping like a pig.”

After saying that, Zhong Yingzhi lost her patience, lifted her feet, and left, leaving behind Xiao Xiaoli, who was still dazed.

Xiao Xiaoli scratched her messy mushroom hair. “What’s going on? Why did she call me a pig?”

As for the certain someone who was truly sleeping like a pig, she smacked her lips and slept very soundly.

Zhong Yingzhi went to the track alone, but while jogging, she was constantly distracted. From time to time, she looked back at the track entrance. Even after she finished four laps, Mu Cheng still did not appear.

Zhong Yingzhi frowned unhappily. “Even running is something she does three days fishing and two days drying the net. Useless.”

Jiang Zhengzhi had put quite some thought into pursuing Zhong Yingzhi. He came to stake out the track every morning during her run, and now he seized the chance to approach her.

“You must be tired. Have some water.” Jiang Zhengzhi attentively handed over [unauthorized copy]the water he had prepared beforehand.

Zhong Yingzhi simply treated him as transparent air. She did not even give him a glance and brushed past him.

Jiang Zhengzhi did not give up. Grinning cheekily, he blocked her path again. “Yingzhi, I have a basketball game tomorrow. The computer science department against our finance department. A lot of senior and junior girls will be going to cheer us on. Do you want to come too?”

Zhong Yingzhi was already irritated because Mu Cheng had not come running, so her mood was bad to begin with. Now, her face turned cold outright. “You’re blocking my way. Get lost.”

Jiang Zhengzhi froze. He knew she would reject him, but he had not expected her to be so direct and leave him absolutely no face.

Seeing this, the classmates nearby pointed at him and laughed mockingly. Their jeers could faintly be heard.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. His skin is really thick. Even after that, he’s still sticking behind her like a plaster.”

“This Jiang Zhengzhi really has too much confidence in himself. Where does he get the confidence to think Zhong Yingzhi would take a liking to him?”

“Look at that bootlicking look of his. He looks like he wants to climb into a rich family. I really don’t know why so many girls like him.”

“Because he’s handsome. A pretty boy. The type who lives off women.”

Listening to these discussions, Jiang Zhengzhi gripped the water bottle in his hand tighter and tighter. He glared at the people gathered nearby and roared, “What are you looking at?”

The students did not care. They shrugged and scattered.

Jiang Zhengzhi’s grip on the water bottle creaked. Looking at Zhong Yingzhi as she walked farther away, his eyes turned vicious.

When Zhong Yingzhi had just returned to the dorm, she saw Xiao Xiaoli lying beside Mu Cheng’s bed, her expression anxious and panicked.

Confusion appeared on Zhong Yingzhi’s face. “What happened?”

Xiao Xiaoli said in a fluster, “Yingzhi, hurry and come take a look. Something seems to have happened to Xiao Cheng.”

Hearing this, Zhong Yingzhi strode forward quickly, pushed aside Xiao Xiaoli, who was leaning by the bed, and reached out to pat the face of the person lying there.

Zhong Yingzhi patted her several times, but Mu Cheng gave no reaction. She turned and asked Xiao Xiaoli, “What happened?”

Xiao Xiaoli shook her head. “I don’t know either. I [read the original at bailiantales.com]just saw that she still hadn’t gotten up, and since she has class later and I was afraid she’d be late, I called her. But no matter how I called, I couldn’t wake her up. She’s sleeping like she’s dead.”

Zhong Yingzhi’s brows furrowed slightly. She increased the strength with which she patted Mu Cheng’s face. “Wake up. Wake up…”

Mu Cheng’s forehead temperature was normal, and her breathing was steady and no different than usual. The only abnormal thing was that she could not be woken.

After calling her for several minutes, Zhong Yingzhi’s brows knitted tighter and tighter. Her lips pressed into a straight line, her expression severe. Without hesitation, she reached out, wrapped an arm around Mu Cheng’s waist, and lifted her into a bridal carry. “Go open the door.”

Xiao Xiaoli nodded repeatedly. “Okay, okay.”

Xiao Xiaoli ran to the door, opened it, and stepped aside.

Carrying Mu Cheng, Zhong Yingzhi rushed out of the dorm and sprinted toward the infirmary.

Her speed was so fast that Xiao Xiaoli, who was empty-handed, was almost left behind and nearly could not catch up.

As she ran, Zhong Yingzhi stepped on a pebble. Her foot twisted, her body shook, and she nearly dropped the person in her arms. Fortunately, she steadied herself in time.

Xiao Xiaoli jogged after her. “Yingzhi, are you okay? Your ankle looks like it twisted. Should I carry her instead?”

“No need. I’ll hold her.” Because of the sprained ankle, sweat appeared on Zhong Yingzhi’s forehead.

Xiao Xiaoli looked worriedly at her foot. “Are you really okay?”

Zhong Yingzhi did not reply anymore. She lifted her feet and continued forward without slowing down. It was just that because of the injury to her foot, her steps were somewhat unsteady.

This was already the second time Zhong Yingzhi had carried someone to the infirmary. Lin Zhuo no longer had the astonishment from the first time. Calm and composed, he told her to quickly put the person down.

After a series of checks, Lin Zhuo removed the stethoscope from his ears, hung it around his neck, and said with an indescribable expression, “She’s just asleep.”

“What?” Suspicion appeared on Zhong Yingzhi’s face. “She looks like this, and she’s only asleep?”

Lin Zhuo nodded, extremely certain.

Just then, the eyelashes of the person on the hospital bed trembled. Her body moved, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Lin Zhuo gestured for Zhong Yingzhi to look. “See? Isn’t she awake now?”

While Zhong Yingzhi let out a breath of relief, a surge of anger followed closely after. “Are you a pig? Sleeping like a dead pig, unable to wake up no matter how people call you. Even sleeping makes people worry so much. Aside from causing trouble every day, what else can you do? Can you stop always making trouble for others?”

Mu Cheng had not even reacted yet before Zhong Yingzhi scolded her bloody.

“Um, can you stop scolding me first? Wasn’t I sleeping in the dorm? How did I end up in the infirmary?” Mu Cheng scratched her head blankly.

Zhong Yingzhi gave a cold laugh, ignored her, and walked over.

As Zhong Yingzhi came closer, her body suddenly pressed in. Mu Cheng immediately shrank toward the corner of the bed, covering her chest with both hands as if facing a great enemy. Stammering, she said, “H-hey, hey, hey, what are you doing now? This is the infirmary. There are people watching. In broad daylight, don’t go crazy.”

Zhong Yingzhi’s hand reached over her head and picked up the phone on the bedside cabinet.

So she had only been taking the phone. That scared her to death. She had thought Zhong Yingzhi was going to…

Zhong Yingzhi straightened up and glanced at Mu Cheng. “Sick.”

Moving back and forth between reality and the future had made Mu Cheng a little overly sensitive. The Zhong Yingzhi nine years later would act recklessly read the original at bailiantales.comtoward her, but the current Zhong Yingzhi had not yet become that “presumptuous.”

Zhong Yingzhi no longer cared what kind of madness Mu Cheng was having. She lifted her feet and left the infirmary.

Lin Zhuo chased after her and called, “Your foot! Your foot is injured. Apply medicine before you leave.”

Zhong Yingzhi did not stop walking at all and completely ignored Lin Zhuo’s calls.

Mu Cheng put on her shoes, got down from the hospital bed, looked at Xiao Xiaoli, and asked, “How did I end up in the infirmary? And what was wrong with her just now? The moment I woke up, I heard her constantly scolding me. One moment she called me a pig, the next she said I was sick.”

Xiao Xiaoli explained, “You couldn’t be woken no matter how we called you just now. Don’t blame Yingzhi for scolding you. I was scared by you too. How do you sleep so deeply? We almost thought something had happened to you.”

Mu Cheng was a little embarrassed. The reason she could not be woken was because after she transmigrated over there, this side could not be awakened and remained in a sleeping state.

Mu Cheng touched her cheek and hissed in pain. “Why does my face hurt so much?”

Xiao Xiaoli coughed lightly, her eyes dodging. “Because we couldn’t wake you up before, when Yingzhi called you, she lightly patted your face once or twice.”

Mu Cheng walked to the mirror and took a look. Her face was red in a circle and slightly swollen. “This is lightly patting once or twice? My face unauthorized copyis swollen. Was that person using the chance to slap me?”

Xiao Xiaoli said, “Yingzhi isn’t as bad as you make her sound. She cares about you a lot. When we couldn’t wake you up just now, she was even more anxious than I was. While carrying you all the way to the infirmary, she even twisted her ankle.”

Mu Cheng did not quite appreciate it and curled her lip. “Of course she cares about me. Let me tell you, she has improper intentions toward me. She covets my beauty.”

Xiao Xiaoli looked at her as if she were looking at someone mentally ill. “You’re probably muddled from sleeping. You’re even having delusions now.”

Mu Cheng waved her hand, too lazy to explain. “You don’t understand.”

…

Downstairs at the dormitory building, a man and a woman were anxiously pacing back and forth while waiting. The man was forty-five or forty-six, his face covered in stubble and his expression haggard, while the woman had a head of green hair.

They were Liu Sihui and her father.

When Father Liu saw Zhong Yingzhi, his eyes lit up, and he immediately went forward ingratiatingly. “Eldest Miss Zhong, do you still remember me? I’m the owner of Jiangcheng Timber Company. In the past, I was fortunate enough to have had a small cooperation with a branch company under Zhong Group.”

Zhong Yingzhi swept a glance over Father Liu, her face expressionless.

“Of course, I know you definitely don’t remember me. Today, I specially brought my disobedient and ignorant daughter here to apologize to you.” Father Liu tugged Liu Sihui. “Idiot, hurry up and apologize.”

Liu Sihui walked in front of Zhong Yingzhi, lowered her head, and spoke sincerely. “Eldest Miss Zhong, I touched your person. It was my fault. I apologize to you and hope you can forgive me.”

Father Liu smiled ingratiatingly at Zhong Yingzhi. The dark circles under his eyes were very heavy. “Look, is this idiot’s apology still to your satisfaction? I hope you can spare me, and spare my company.”

Zhong Yingzhi watched the two of them sing in harmony, her expression cold and indifferent, without much reaction. “If you’re finished, move aside.”

Zhong Yingzhi was about to leave, and Father Liu grew anxious. His knees bent, and he knelt directly on the ground.

Seeing her father, who had always seemed so tall and imposing, kneel on the ground and bow beneath someone else, Liu Sihui’s heart was suddenly filled with complicated feelings. “Dad.”

Father Liu glared at her. “Shut up.”

Father Liu turned to look at Zhong Yingzhi and begged humbly, “I’m begging you. My company can’t collapse. Sihui’s mother has a very serious illness and needs a lot of money. The medical expenses have always been supported by the company’s profits. If the company collapses, there’ll be no money to treat her illness. She’ll only be left waiting for death. I’m begging you. Please show mercy and leave me a way to live.”