Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 25

Since winter began, the old lady’s health had been getting progressively worse. On several occasions when Ling Yu arrived at the hospital, the old woman had already been rushed into the intensive care unit for emergency resuscitation.

In Jiangcheng, the division of the Xu family was at a fever pitch. Despite his anxiety, Old Master Xu had to remain calm and preside over the situation in Jiangcheng. When the doctor called for the third time to inform the family members to sign the informed consent form, Old Master Xu insisted on having Xu Miao sent back to Yuncheng in advance.

On the night before New Year’s Day, Xu Miao rushed to the hospital from the airport. Her face still showed the fatigue of a long journey. Ling Yu, sitting on a bench outside the operating room, heard footsteps, propped her chin up with her hands, and turned her head to look.

“Great-grandmother is being resuscitated.” Her voice was a little tired and hoarse from staying up all night. If you looked closely at her clear eyes, you could see a few red blood vessels. Xu Miao looked at Ling Yu, then followed Ling Yu’s finger to the “Resuscitation in Progress” sign outside the intensive care unit. The bright red light hit her eyes, and Xu Miao flinched. Her face turned pale. She dragged her suitcase to Ling Yu and patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll stay here. You should go back and rest.”

Ling Yu didn’t nod immediately. She narrowed her eyes and yawned. There were dark circles under her eyes. She hadn’t slept for two days. The old lady’s condition had been fluctuating. It was as if she couldn’t make it past the threshold of 2023 and was holding on to her last breath in the final days of 2022. When you get old and your breathing depends on a ventilator and your heart needs a pacemaker, living is more of a pain. The old lady’s death was expected by everyone.

But when it really came down to it, Ling Yu knew that both Old Master Xu in Jiangcheng and Xu Miao in front of her would feel incredibly sad. But at this critical moment, her grandfather, her uncles, and even everyone in the Xu family seemed indifferent to the old lady’s life and death. This was impossible. Ling Yu half-raised her eyelids and looked at Xu Miao. “The family division isn’t going well?”

“No.” Xu Miao answered straightforwardly. She found a spot next to Ling Yu and sat down. She opened her suitcase, took out a plane ticket, and handed it to Ling Yu. A hint of surprise flashed in Ling Yu’s eyes.

“Grandpa told me to book this for you,” Xu Miao explained. “Yu Yu, Grandpa told me to tell you that Ling Taiguo was also involved in the second uncle’s matter. Don’t go back to Jiangcheng. This ticket is for after New Year’s Day. You should go abroad to relax…” Saying “relax” was actually giving Ling Yu a deadline to stay in the country. If the situation was urgent, Old Master Xu would not have given her a plane ticket with a set time.

Although Ling Yu didn’t know what was happening in Jiangcheng, Xu Miao had mentioned Ling Taiguo. She guessed what Old Master Xu meant. The agreement that Ms. Xu Qian forced Ling Taiguo to sign back then had loopholes. She didn’t have to get married. If she died unexpectedly, went to prison, and so on during the agreement period, Ling Taiguo could still use the opportunity to strip her of her inheritance. Ling Yu remembered the advice the old man had given her after they had a deep conversation. She wasn’t surprised by the plane ticket in Xu Miao’s hand. The old man had told her a long time ago not to stay in the country. This ticket was just his final deadline for her.

Ling Yu took the plane ticket, stood up, went to the pantry to pour a glass of hot water for Xu Miao, and then returned to the entrance of the intensive care unit. She hadn’t closed her eyes for two days and two nights. She handed the hot water to Xu Miao to warm her hands, said a few simple words, and then turned to leave.

It was past ten at night. The hospital corridor was empty. Ling Yu went back to the old lady’s room to get her backpack and then went to the nurses’ station to return the umbrella. The nurse on duty was not the young nurse from that night. She took the umbrella from Ling Yu and said, “Hmm, that’s strange.”

“How about this, you leave the umbrella with us for now. When the nurse from that night comes on duty tomorrow, I’ll ask my colleague for you.”

Ling Yu shrugged nonchalantly, thanked the nurse, and turned to leave.

But when she got to the elevator, a boy’s voice came from behind her. “Lunch box sister.”

Ling Yu paused and glanced out of the corner of her eye at the boy in the wheelchair three meters away. The boy’s lips were crooked, and he laughed at her. His eyes weren’t big. Perhaps because of his congenital disease, his eyes slanted when he looked at people. When he laughed, his facial features contorted, and combined with his gloomy gaze, he gave off a strange feeling.

They were both crazy. If Gu Qing’s vibe was one of detached indifference, Gu Ting’s vibe was that of a poisonous snake. He hid his pathological and distorted worldview within his frail body and stared at people without a care in the world. Ling Yu wasn’t Gu Qing. She was never patient with people who made her uncomfortable. She casually looked away, as if she were facing a stranger. Ling Yu nodded slightly at Gu Ting and then turned to press the elevator button. Ling Yu’s departure was so swift and decisive. The gloominess in Gu Ting’s eyes flashed and he let out a couple of hoarse cackles.

He laughed again, and the sickeningly sticky malice in his eyes as he looked at Ling Yu was overwhelming.

“You’re not like her.”

The elevator was stuck on the third floor and wasn’t coming up anytime soon. Ling Yu simply put her hands in her pockets and patiently stared at the flashing numbers.

The boy seemed to have gotten some kind of silent signal and laughed maniacally. “Do you know what my sister likes?”

The boy laboriously raised his hand and patted his own neck.

“She likes this.”

As Gu Ting spoke, saliva started to drool from the corner of his crooked mouth. A long stream of drool fell to the ground. He probably didn’t even realize how ugly he looked at that moment.

Ling Yu took a picture with her phone. The two of them, one standing and one sitting, and Gu Ting didn’t notice Ling Yu’s actions at all. He was still showing off his pathological superiority.

“She likes to use a needle to poke various shapes into the skin of different animals.” Gu Ting’s voice paused.

He raised his head with effort and stared at Ling Yu’s thin neck, revealing a gloomy and sticky smile. “Of course, she prefers doing it on people…”

Ling Yu said, “Oh,” and turned her head.

She mocked him. “On you?”

Gu Ting was speechless. He touched his smooth neck, thinking of Gu Qing’s unyielding coldness. Even when she was having an episode and her emotions were most out of control, Gu Qing was still unwilling to accept his invitation. She would rather use a needle to stab a dead rat than fall into the abyss of madness with him.

The anger in Gu Ting’s eyes flashed. He looked at Ling Yu with a hint of murderous intent. His father’s life had been traded for Gu Qing, so Gu Qing’s life was his. He wanted to stain her hands with blood and make her his kind… Because Gu Ting was very sure that Gu Qing was already crazy.

At the beginning of every month, Gu Qing’s madness was something that would make anyone’s heart tremble. She was just a very “fresh” kind of crazy.

She had a bottom line in her heart and could easily suppress her destructive urges. She had never gotten her hands bloody. Thinking of this, gloominess almost covered Gu Ting’s face. He bent down, held his chest, and tried to catch his breath for a long time.

Ling Yu took in his expression and muttered, “So, she hasn’t.”

Gu Ting’s neck was clean, unlike the neck Ling Yu saw in the hallway that night, which was full of tiny holes. In the dim light, Ling Yu stared at the boy and thought for ten full seconds. She suddenly realized that the dense, tiny holes looked like they were drawn on. Gu Qing didn’t do it. It was Gu Ting’s gift to encourage Gu Qing to enter his world.

For some reason, Ling Yu felt a wave of disgust. She had never been so harsh on a disabled boy before. Gu Ting was the only one. He was also the only person she had ever met whose mind was more twisted than his body. Ling Yu slowly walked to the boy. She zoomed in on the photo and held it in front of Gu Ting’s eyes. She lifted the corner of her mouth and said in a calm tone, “I think Gu Qing just wants to poke people with a needle. I guess your neck isn’t that attractive. Your spine is curved, your muscles are flabby, and your chin is touching your collarbone.”

Ling Yu used her phone case to tap Gu Ting’s chin and then his collarbone. They were almost connected.

Ling Yu hinted, “Gu Qing is not a person who would inconvenience herself.” The subtext was, “You’re too ugly.”

Ling Yu never had a good tone with people she disliked. She always let her impatience show in her eyes and poked at people’s hearts. The angle of the photo was perfect. Gu Ting stared at his own distorted face, and the friendly facade he had put on completely disappeared. If he weren’t so weak, Ling Yu had no doubt that this 16-year-old boy would pounce on her like an adult and bite off her carotid artery.

Gu Ting’s voice was sharp and hoarse. “Heh, you don’t believe me?”

He used his heel to push himself out of the wheelchair and then yelled at the nurses’ station, “Help!”

He then turned his head and looked at Ling Yu with those poisonous eyes. He smiled grimly. “Tomorrow is when she has an episode. You should see it for yourself…”

The nurse ran over in a hurry. Gu Ting was lying on the ground, his voice barely a whisper. He looked at Ling Yu with a timid and scared expression.

The nurse had seen Ling Yu before. She quickly helped Gu Ting up and asked suspiciously, “What happened?”

Gu Ting spoke first. The corner of his mouth was still crooked, and a long stream of drool was coming out. He avoided Ling Yu’s gaze, shrinking his neck like a small animal, and said to the nurse, “D-don’t blame this sister… I-it was my fault…”

His tone, which was almost about to cry, didn’t seem like an accident at all. The nurse’s gaze towards Ling Yu was filled with a hint of condemnation. After all, Gu Ting was a patient.

“Well said,” Ling Yu said, completely unfazed. She narrowed her eyes and clapped lazily for him.

Gu Ting was so choked up that he was speechless. He looked at the clapping Ling Yu as if she were an idiot. The nurse was also confused.

Ling Yu’s gaze swept over both of their faces. Then she smiled meaningfully and took out her handbag. She pulled out a check and threw it into Gu Ting’s arms.

“Is this enough?”

Gu Ting stiffly raised his head. “What?”

“For the performance.” Seeing that he didn’t answer, Ling Yu threw two more checks into his arms. Then she said to the nurse, “I’m paying to watch a show. Can I ask you to get me the surveillance footage of the disabled boy’s wheelchair survival video I just bought?”

Gu Ting, who was playing the part of “wheelchair survival,” turned bright red. He was out of breath.

Ling Yu said, “Oh,”

“Don’t get too excited. It’s just that your performance pleases me…” As Ling Yu spoke, she winked at the nurse and, as she turned around, happened to run into a pair of ice-blue eyes. The smile on her lips froze.

From behind her, Gu Ting called out in surprise to the woman in the elevator, “Sister.”

Gu Qing was holding a lunchbox in her hand. She didn’t even look at the boy. Her gaze stayed on Ling Yu’s face. After a moment, she said calmly, “The money you gave him for the tip isn’t appropriate…”

Ling Yu laughed in anger. “What? Not enough?”

“Too much,” Gu Qing said concisely. She scanned the checks in Gu Ting’s arms with her usual sharp gaze. After a moment of thought, she glanced at Ling Yu dismissively and then looked away. She suddenly asked, “You didn’t come to work today?”

“A family member is sick. I asked for the morning off,” Ling Yu said, holding back her anger. A few days ago, this person had turned around and left because she was three minutes late. This time, she might get her fired for being absent from work. Ling Yu had already seen Gu Qing’s harshness.

The other woman said, “Oh,” and then asked, “Did you… stay at the hospital all day?”

The old lady was being resuscitated in the intensive care unit. Ling Yu was afraid she might have to sign something, so she stayed outside the intensive care unit all day and even forgot to eat. She was tired and hungry. She was not in the mood to argue with Gu Qing. She gave her a glare and walked past her. As she passed by, her arm was suddenly grabbed by the woman.

“Ling Yu,” Gu Qing said. Her phoenix eyes fell on Ling Yu’s handbag. “Since you gave my brother so much money, I can’t let you leave empty-handed.”

Ling Yu was stunned. She hadn’t expected Gu Qing to be so reasonable. She was a little skeptical that she would think this way. After all, the woman had been so harsh and cold a few days ago, almost to the point of a physical fight. The contrast was too great.

Ling Yu looked at Gu Qing suspiciously and asked, “What is it?” On the other side, Gu Ting tried to interrupt the two of them, but Ling Yu and Gu Qing stood together as if they were drawn together by some kind of magnetic field. He opened his mouth and found that he couldn’t get in. Gu Ting stared at the two of them with a gloomy expression and then coughed loudly. Hearing the sound, Gu Qing gave the dazed nurse on the other side a look. “Gu Ting is tired. Please, help me push him back to the room.”

“Sister!”

Gu Qing looked at him with disgust and warned, “You’re tired.”

After she finished, her cold blue eyes swept over the nurse. The nurse’s forehead was covered in cold sweat. She quickly understood and subconsciously pushed Gu Ting away in his wheelchair.

Ling Yu watched the woman coldly and ruthlessly order the little lunatic away. She clicked her tongue. “Your brother will be a handful when he grows up…”

Ling Yu saw that Gu Qing was noncommittal and brought the topic back. “What did you mean just now?”

Not letting her leave empty-handed meant she was going to give her a gift? A famous watch, perfume, diamonds… Wow, a few days after their confrontation, had Gu Qing finally had a change of heart and come to make peace? A light bulb went off in Ling Yu’s head, and her expression softened a little.

Gu Qing’s slender fingers pushed her long, curly hair behind her back. She elegantly stepped forward and raised the shabby lunchbox in her hand, tossing it into Ling Yu’s arms like she was throwing garbage.

Ling Yu: “???”

“It’s too late,” Gu Qing said. “You eat it for me.” After she finished, a cold scent wafted past, and she walked away in her high heels. It was as if she had just come all the way to the hospital to dispose of her garbage.

Ling Yu stared at the curves of the woman’s body wrapped in a pencil skirt, and she was furious. She was determined to make Gu Qing kneel in front of her and cry.

As a result, the next night, her wish came true.