Chapter 6

Doctor Lin checked the IV bag. There was still a little less than half left. He said, “There’s nothing seriously wrong with your body now. Once this bottle of fluids is finished, you should slowly recover. But your constitution is far too weak. You’re so young—being like this won’t do. You still need to exercise more normally. When you have time, go run a few laps on the track or something.”

Mu Cheng also felt that she ought to exercise properly, so she nodded. “I will.”

Doctor Lin’s brow lifted almost imperceptibly. “I remember Yingzhi has a habit of running in the morning. You can go with her. Having a companion makes it easier to keep at it.”

“Forget it.” Mu Cheng refused instinctively.

Doctor Lin smiled and did not say anything more. He pointed at the congee on the table. “The congee is getting cold. Keep drinking. I’ll get back to work.”

Mu Cheng hummed in acknowledgment, picked up the congee, and slowly took a sip. It was a little bland, but the taste was quite fresh and delicious. Once it entered her stomach, it felt warm and comforting. After a few mouthfuls, the bowl was already empty.

Mu Cheng stared at the empty bowl, feeling as if something was not quite right. Zhong Yingzhi really did not seem like the kind of warmhearted roommate who would send congee over.

This congee couldn’t have been poisoned, right?

Afterward, her body did not seem to feel unwell, so it looked like the congee had not been poisoned. Only then did Mu Cheng put her heart back into her stomach.

A small cold had twisted and turned and dragged on for nearly a month before finally getting better. After her body fully recovered, Mu Cheng listened to Doctor Lin’s advice and began going out in the mornings to exercise and run, striving to improve her resistance.

In order to set aside time for morning runs, Mu Cheng deliberately set an alarm before going to bed.

Early in the morning, the alarm rang. Mu Cheng rolled around on the bed several times before unwillingly crawling out with her eyes half-closed.

While washing up, she did not open her eyes the entire time. Even when she walked, she swayed unsteadily.

Zhong Yingzhi looked at her wandering-soul-like state and moved slightly out of the way, afraid Mu Cheng might bump into her.

After washing her face, half of Mu Cheng’s drowsiness faded.

Just as Doctor Lin had said, Zhong Yingzhi went for a morning run at a fixed time every day.

At this moment, Zhong Yingzhi had already changed her clothes. Her waist-length hair was tied high, and she wore a clean white T-shirt with casual pants. The clothes were loose and suited for exercise, and on her, this outfit made her look especially tall and striking.

Mu Cheng, who was also dressed in sporty clothes, glanced at her, then lowered her head to look at herself. Zhong Yingzhi looked good in anything. As for herself, she looked like a silly fool no matter what she wore.

Zhong Yingzhi bent down to tie her shoelaces. Mu Cheng looked at her, thought for a moment, then said hesitantly, “I’m going for a morning run too. Together?”

Zhong Yingzhi’s expression was cold. No one knew whether she had heard Mu Cheng or not. After tying her shoelaces, she stood up without saying a word and walked out of the dorm.

Mu Cheng watched her leave and clicked her tongue twice. “She looks like she wants to be friends with me? Doctor Lin wasn’t lying to me, was he?”

If they were not running together, then they were not running together. Mu Cheng gave a little tsk and leisurely combed her hair in front of the mirror, wanting to tie it into her favorite bun. When it came out crooked, she tied it again.

She had plenty of time, so she dawdled for a long while before finally leaving the dorm.

In the end, the moment she came out, she almost bumped into someone head-on. She retreated several steps in a row before finally read the original at bailiantales.com seeing clearly who was in front of her.

It was Zhong Yingzhi.

Zhong Yingzhi was leaning sideways against the wall, her face dark. She glanced at the watch on her wrist. “Half an hour. A full thirty minutes. Do you have no concept of time?”

Mu Cheng froze, then belatedly realized what was going on. “You didn’t say anything, so I thought you were refusing to go running with me. So, um, something like that.”

Zhong Yingzhi gave a cold chuckle and stepped forward.

Mu Cheng jogged after her. “Don’t walk so fast. I can’t keep up.”

Zhong Yingzhi acted as if she had not heard, her face cool and indifferent, yet her footsteps slowed down ever so slightly without leaving a trace.

For someone who basically never exercised, once she suddenly started exercising, it was no surprise that her waist and back were sore the next day. Her legs hurt even more, so badly that they trembled when she walked.

The alarm rang. Mu Cheng groaned and whined as she turned it off, then buried her head and continued sleeping, clearly not planning to get up.

Zhong Yingzhi finished getting ready and was about to go out for her morning run. Seeing that the person on the bed still had not gotten up, her face showed displeasure.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Zhong Yingzhi bumped into a stool. The stool fell over and made a loud bang.

Mu Cheng, who had been sleeping sweetly, shot upright with a whoosh. She blinked several times in a daze, her eyes full of confusion.

Zhong Yingzhi picked up the stool and did not wait for her. She went to the track alone.

While running, Zhong Yingzhi kept glancing toward the entrance of the track from time to time, her brows tightly furrowed.

Only when a familiar figure appeared at the entrance did Zhong Yingzhi’s tightly knit brows loosen slightly. Even her running steps became much lighter.

Mu Cheng lazily did stretching exercises, her entire body aching terribly. She saw Zhong Yingzhi jogging along the main track, her movements calm and unhurried. Her long ponytail swayed left and right, like an incomparably beautiful painting.

Mu Cheng raised a hand and waved at her.

Zhong Yingzhi did not even look at her. Expressionless, she ran past her, as if she did not know her at all.

Mu Cheng’s waving hand froze in midair, then she pretended to naturally turn it into touching the tip of her nose. How awkward. “This rude fellow.”

It was the ninth of the month again. Mu Cheng lay on her bed, staring fixedly at the date on the calendar on her phone, her mood heavy.

Zhukong’s words kept echoing by her ears: a dream that is not a dream, that is the you nine years later, your fate carries killing misfortune, perhaps this is your chance to change your destiny…

Whether these words were true or false, perhaps she could confirm it this time.

With a heavy heart, Mu Cheng closed her eyes.

On one hand, Mu Cheng hoped it was true. On the other hand, she hoped it was not. She hoped it was true because she had some anticipation toward the special ability to foresee the future. She hoped it was not true because her future self seemed to be living rather badly.

Nervously, Mu Cheng opened one eye first, then the other.

Sure enough, it had changed. The place she was in was no longer the dorm, but the hospital room with the dim yellow chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

The ninth of every month. Herself lying on the hospital bed. Zhukong’s words. When linked together, everything declared that this was real. She really had transmigrated to nine years later.

There was no one in the hospital room besides her. It was so quiet that only the intermittent beeping of the medical equipment could be heard. Her body did not hurt as much as before. That made sense. Several months had already passed. Even if her whole body had been covered in injuries, she should have recovered somewhat by now.

Mu Cheng tried moving her body. It was difficult. Every tiny movement pulled at the wounds on her body, making sweat break out across her forehead from the pain.

Mu Cheng struggled to climb out of bed, panting heavily from exhaustion. She swept her gaze over the layout of the hospital room. A circular ceiling, white as the main tone, one sofa, and one solid wood table. Simple, yet still grand. The white curtains were drawn shut, making the room dim.

A mirror hung on the left wall. Mu Cheng staggered over to it.

She looked herself over in the mirror. She was wearing loose hospital clothes. The corners of her lips were cracked, her face deathly pale, and she was so thin that her bones jutted out. With this sickly appearance, where was there even half a shadow of her former self?

If there was one thing that [unauthorized copy]could prove this body was hers, then it was probably the bite mark on her ear.

This bite mark had not faded even after nine years. That showed just how fiercely Zhong Yingzhi had bitten her back then.

Mu Cheng touched her ear, looked at herself in the mirror, then pinched her face, which had grown thin enough to reveal a pointed chin. “My baby fat is gone. I’m a little too thin, but it actually seems pretty good. I just look like I don’t have much color.”

When she spoke, her voice was hoarse.

Mu Cheng thought about it. Compared to the changes in her appearance, the urgent matter right now was to find a way to understand certain things. The most important thing was why she would jump off a building.

Something especially terrible must have happened in the past nine years to make her personality change so much. This point was very important. She had to figure it out.

She carefully considered the pros and cons, then suddenly gave two dry coughs. Her throat was hoarse and uncomfortable.

Mu Cheng looked toward the kettle on the table and walked over, planning to pour herself a glass of water.

But her body was far too weak. She could not even hold a kettle steadily. Just as she lifted the glass kettle, her hand went weak. With read the original at bailiantales.coma bang, the glass kettle shattered on the floor.

Water poured out, and glass shards scattered everywhere, leaving behind a complete mess.

Mu Cheng felt a little annoyed. She struggled to crouch down, wanting to pick up the shards on the floor.

Just then, the door to the hospital room was suddenly pushed open.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Mu Cheng’s hand paused while picking up the shards. She lifted her head and saw a slender, tall figure standing at the doorway.

Zhong Yingzhi’s once waist-length hair had been cut somewhat shorter. It now barely passed her shoulders. Her sharply defined face had shed its youthful immaturity and gained a trace of capable maturity.

One person stood at the doorway looking down, while the other crouched on the floor looking up. They stared at each other.

Zhong Yingzhi’s gaze fell on the sharp glass shard in Mu Cheng’s hand. Panic flashed through her eyes, and she hurried forward.

She snatched away the glass shard Mu Cheng had just picked up. Because she grabbed it too [read the original at bailiantales.com]urgently, the shard cut her palm, and bright red blood dripped down along the glass.

Zhong Yingzhi seemed unable to sense pain. In a fluster, she swept over all the shards on the floor, using her bare hands to gather the broken glass. One could imagine what state her hands would end up in after sweeping glass shards from the floor by hand.

But she did not seem to care whether she would be cut. She only urgently wanted to snatch these shards away so that Mu Cheng could not get hold of them.

Mu Cheng looked at her blood-soaked hand, her eyes widening slightly. “What are you doing? Your hand is cut and bleeding.”

Mu Cheng wanted to stop Zhong Yingzhi, but Zhong Yingzhi misunderstood and thought she wanted to snatch the glass shards back.

She dodged away and clenched the shards in her hand even tighter.

Blood kept flowing downward.

Mu Cheng grew anxious. “Are you crazy? Holding that glass like that—doesn’t it hurt?”

Zhong Yingzhi stared at her, her eyes crimson, and said angrily, “You’re the one who’s crazy. You just woke up and already want to use these shards to cut your wrists again? I’m telling you, I won’t allow it. If you die once, I’ll save you once. I mean what I say.”

Mu Cheng froze, then belatedly understood. She quickly stood up and retreated one step. “You misunderstood. I only wanted to drink water. I just didn’t hold the kettle steadily. I’m not going to fight you for those shards, and I don’t have any intention of cutting my wrists. Your hand is bleeding a lot. Hurry and let go.”

Wariness filled Zhong Yingzhi’s eyes. Only after Mu Cheng retreated to a sufficiently safe distance did she slowly release the glass shards she had been holding.

Zhong Yingzhi’s panic, fear, and state of facing a great enemy all fell into Mu Cheng’s eyes.

Seeing her like this, Mu Cheng only felt bitterness well up in her heart. Her heart suddenly ached.