Chapter 127: 127: Go to sleep at Jiang Zhi’s place, Jiang Zhi checks Fang Bao
A hand held a hammer, driving the steel bar into her chest bit by bit.
“Jiang Zhi.”
“Jiang Zhi.”
She whimpered softly, calling him twice before passing out.
Jiang Zhi took off his coat, wrapped her in it, and carefully held her in his arms as he walked toward the car.
Stunned, Ah Wan hurriedly followed.
...
Jiang Zhi looked back and glanced at him, “You stay.”
The unsettled Ah Wan stammered, “What?”
Jiang Zhi gave a concise and clear order, “Clean up the blood on the ground and that rock.”
Ah Wan exclaimed, “!”
Getting rid of the corpse and destroying evidence!
Ah Wan looked at the “corpse,” the “murder weapon,” and the crime scene’s “evidence” in horror, shivering and stammering, “Boss, I’m afraid.”
He was a witness, after all.
No, he couldn’t be an accomplice.
“Boss, I’m afraid of going to jail…”
“She’s not dead,” Jiang Zhi looked at him as if he were an idiot, “Idiot!”
Ah Wan, “…”
He was nearly scared to death!
There were no hospitals nearby, and Jiang Zhi didn’t trust taking Zhou Xufang to one, so he took her to a Chinese medicine clinic instead. It was not even nine o’clock, and the clinic was already closed.
Jiang Zhi, holding Zhou Xufang in both hands and drenched in sweat, kicked the door repeatedly with his feet until someone inside made a noise.
“Stop knocking; there’s nobody here.”
Jiang Zhi continued to kick, each kick harder than the last.
The person inside became impatient and roared, “I told you to stop knocking!”
“It’s me, Jiang Zhi.”
The person in the clinic was an acquaintance, the old teacher of Xue Bingxue, a middle-aged, single man who was nearing old age.
The middle-aged single man angrily said, “Even if it’s you, I’m not opening!” His tone was extremely annoyed, “We are closed for the day, come back tomorrow.”
Jiang Zhi continued to kick, “Open up, or I’ll set a fire.”
Damned kid!
Bang!
The door was yanked open, and the middle-aged single man, who was wrapped in an old army coat, had a face as black as coal, “What do you want in the middle of the night!”
Ji Feifan, a man, 49 years old but with the face of a 59-year-old, the stride of a 69-year-old, the hair of a 79-year-old, and yet the mental age of a 29-year-old, was a third-generation single heir “old Chinese medicine practitioner.”
Xue Bingxue was studying Chinese medicine under him.
Jiang Zhi, holding a person, bypassed him and entered, “My girlfriend is injured; please check her quickly.”
Ji Feifan touched the sparse strands of graying hair on his head and glanced at the patient, “Lay her on the bed.”
Jiang Zhi carefully placed her on the examination bed, pulled the blanket, and covered her precisely.
Ji Feifan yawned, dragging his ‘elderly’ pace, and asked while inspecting, “What did you stab her with?”
“A pen.” Jiang Zhi glared at him dissatisfiedly, urging, “Hurry up!”
Ji Feifan could be explosive too, glanced sideways at Jiang Zhi, “What’s the rush; it’s a minor flesh wound, she won’t die.” Checking the bleeding, he rubbed his eyes, “Take off her clothes first.”
After saying that, he wiped away the physiological tears caused by being too sleepy and shuffled in his slippers to fetch medicine.
Jiang Zhi sat at the bedside, hesitated for a few seconds, then reached to undo Zhou Xufang’s clothes. Just as he touched her collar, she suddenly opened her eyes and grabbed his hand.
Awake?
She was still a bit groggy, her gaze vacant, “Are you going to take off my clothes?”
Jiang Zhi nodded, his face even paler than Zhou Xufang’s, “I need to treat the wound.”
He unzipped her coat.
She immediately held his hand, “Don’t take it off.” Her consciousness slowly returning, slightly dehydrated, her lips dry, she licked them and said, “I’m already fine.”
Jiang Zhi still felt like he was hanging in mid-air, unable to find solid footing, scared, panicked, and flustered.
Her trembling just now had left him still trembling, and now she was lively again, climbing off the exam bed and standing on the floor, even jumping a bit.
“Really, I’m already fine.” Fearing he wouldn’t believe her, she continued to jump.
This girl, trying to kill him.
Jiang Zhi’s heart was still racing, unable to calm down, his face looking worse than hers, palms sweating coldly. He grabbed her, “Stop jumping.” Bending down, he picked her up and placed her back on the bed, “I won’t look, can you apply the medicine yourself?”
She didn’t want him to see her wound.
Then he wouldn’t look.
Zhou Xufang then lay down quietly, “Okay.”
Jiang Zhi worried about her wound, his brows deeply furrowed, and he was upset and impatient, urging, “Is the medicine ready yet?”
Ji Feifan turned and yelled back, “Nagging, nagging, nagging, what are you nagging for!” He gathered the medicine and bandages on a tray and brought it over, glanced at the patient, “Why haven’t you taken off her clothes yet?”
Zhou Xufang could tell that Jiang Zhi and the doctor knew each other, so she greeted him proactively, “Hello, Grandpa.”
“…”
A death stare from the middle-aged single man: “I’m only forty-nine.”
Zhou Xufang’s expression management was really poor; the ‘Is this for real? Can’t believe it!’ expression was all over his face, but then he corrected himself, “Hello, Uncle.”
Ji Feifan had already forgotten how many times thirty-something-year-olds had called him Grandpa; he was so numb to it, he grunted, not bothering to argue with the young girl, “Let’s apply the medicine first.”
She subconsciously zipped up her jacket, “Can I apply the medicine myself?”
This girl, so guarded,
looked like her injury wasn’t serious, with a frightened and uneasy gaze, more like someone who had been scared.
Ji Feifan set down the tray and glanced at the blood stains on the girl’s clothes, “Has the bleeding stopped?”
“Yes, it stopped,” Zhou Xufang added, “The cut is small.”
He put on gloves, ignoring the ‘sinister’ look from the guy next to the girl, and pressed around the wound, “Does it hurt?”
Zhou Xufang honestly replied, “It doesn’t hurt.” Her wound must have mostly healed by now, as she didn’t feel anything when pressed.
“Raise your hand above your head.”
She did as told, raising her hand high and even moving it in circles a couple of times.
The old traditional Chinese medicine doctor Ji Feifan then asked her, “Is there ink in the pen?”
“No, it’s a very new pen.”
The artery wasn’t hit, nor were the nerves, just a minor flesh wound.
Look how panicked someone is!
Ji Feifan rolled his eyes at Jiang Zhi, “First clean the wound with this, then apply the powder, and lastly the ointment. This is to be taken orally, three times a day.” He pushed the medicine to the side, took off his gloves, threw them in the trash, yawned, “Handle it yourself; I’m going to sleep. Help me close the door when you leave.”
Jiang Zhi didn’t say a word, still looking like he was owed a billion dollars.
Zhou Xufang responded, “Okay.” And thanked him, “Thank you, Uncle.”
Ji Feifan shuffled upstairs in his slippers.
Jiang Zhi remained silent, watching Zhou Xufang, wanting to ask many questions. But as the words reached his lips, he couldn’t utter them, afraid she might cry, afraid she might react like before, appearing like she was on the brink of death, trapped in fear.
He drew the curtain, “I’ll be outside, call me if you need anything.”
The moment the curtain closed Zhou Xufang lowered her eyelashes, taking deep breaths. She couldn’t hear those voices anymore, but her heart was still tight.
She sat quietly for a while, pulled down her clothes, the pen-stab wound was beginning to scab over and would heal by tomorrow, but she still applied all the medicines.
A half-inch away from that wound was a round scar; she covered it with her palm, gently stroking it.
Turns out, it was from a steel nail.
She took a few deep breaths, “I’m okay now.”
Jiang Zhi opened the curtain, walked over, and looked at her face and injured shoulder. His brow never relaxed, his eyes still dark: “Are you really alright?”
She nodded, “Yeah.” She stood up from the bed, moved her arm to show him, “It doesn’t hurt anymore, and it’s not bleeding.”
Jiang Zhi placed his hand on her shoulder, keeping her from moving.
He could guess something about her injury.
She wasn’t speaking, still had concerns.
He didn’t ask either; this girl didn’t seem to realize where his limits and tolerance were. He placed his hand over her chest, “Tell me when you’re ready to talk.”
It wasn’t that he wasn’t curious, just that he didn’t dare to ask, afraid he might say something wrong and touch her wound. He was truly afraid, afraid she would cry like before, not hysterically, but just trembling in fear, and he found it unbearably distressing.
“I’ll take you home.” He withdrew his hand.
Zhou Xufang immediately grabbed his hand, “Jiang Zhi,” her eyes still showing timid fear, she softly pleaded, “Can you take me to your house tonight? I don’t want to sleep alone.”
She was very afraid.
Jiang Zhi patted her head, “Okay.”
She was silent all the way, holding his hand tightly.
When they arrived at Qingshan Mansion, he carried her upstairs. She was no longer shy, hugging his neck tightly and pressing her face into his chest. Even if passersby glanced their way, she didn’t move away, burrowing into him.
Jiang Zhi set her on the sofa, “I’ll go get you some clothes, you go wash up. Don’t let the wound touch the water.”
“Okay.”
As she tried to get up, Jiang Zhi didn’t let her, carrying her to the bathroom instead and waited outside the door for a while. Only when he heard the sound of water did he go to the wardrobe to fetch her clothing.
His phone on the table rang.
Jiang Zhi answered.
It was Ah Wan: “Boss, Luo Changde has already been sent to the hospital.” Ah Wan was breathing heavily, “He didn’t die.”
Jiang Zhi asked, “Which hospital?”
Why?
Did he want to finish the job since the guy hadn’t died?
Ah Wan was nervous, hesitating for a long half a minute, also afraid to hide anything, covered the phone and quietly answered, “Fifth Renmin Hospital.”
Jiang Zhi hummed a response, and that was it.
But Ah Wan had more, his biggest question was, “Boss, that, that…”
“Stop beating around the bush.”
Tonight, the boss’s tone was especially daunting.
Ah Wan pat his chest, gathering courage, “I think I heard you call that errand runner Zhou Xu.” He was standing far away and didn’t see the face clearly, “I must have heard wrong, right? How could Miss Zhou possibly be—” that scum.
His words were cut off.
Jiang Zhi’s voice was icy, “Keep your mouth shut. If you let this slip, whether deliberately or not, I will kill you.”
“…”
Ah Wan shivered, “I wouldn’t dare…”
His lips trembled weakly, but his heart thundered like a stampede.
Holy shit shit shit shit shit!
The virtuous, kind-hearted, gentle Miss Zhou was actually scum! As expected, a woman’s heart is as unfathomable as the ocean!
Ah Wan clutched at his heart, took a deep breath, and decided to say something nice to soothe his shocked boss, “So Miss Zhou had taken a liking to you that early.”
He hadn’t forgotten how that professional errand runner had once pressed down on his boss! There had even been touching!
But, it was quite sensational.
A million-word novel formed in Ah Wan’s mind, “Desiring your body is also desiring you, a love that starts with the body—”
“Dudu dudu dudu dudu…”
The call was hung up!
Ah Wan looked up at the sky, sighed, and felt that the world still needed more love and respect.
Zhou Xufang was still washing up, Jiang Zhi hung up on Ah Wan’s call, sat for a while, then dialed another number.
“Mr. Jiang?”
It was Vice President Sun from the Fifth Renmin Hospital.
Jiang Zhi walked to the balcony, glanced at the bathroom, and lowered his voice, “It’s me.”
Vice President Sun was pleasantly surprised, “What can I do for you this late?”
Jiang Zhi had smoked when he was eighteen, casually, without remembering why he had quit, with no real addiction—but now, feeling agitated, he craved a smoke. He took out a bag of marshmallows instead, unwrapped one, and popped it in his mouth, “I need a favor from Vice President Sun.”
“Anything, Mr. Jiang.”
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He chewed on the candy but couldn’t taste any sweetness, “Do you know Luo Changde?”
Vice President Sun hesitated for three seconds, “I do?”
Of course, he did.
The Luo Family was well-known in Imperial City.
Jiang Zhi crumpled the candy wrapper into a ball and threw it in the trash, “Don’t kill him—torment him for a few more days.”
The hospitals in Imperial City were mostly under the Jiang Family’s control.
Killing someone was easy, making their life worse than death was also easy.
Vice President Sun was shocked for a long time before responding, “I, I understand.”
Just then, click, the bathroom door opened.
Zhou Xufang’s eyes were wet as she came out, “Jiang Zhi.” Her hair was also washed, wrapped up in a towel.
Jiang Zhi set his phone down, “Come here.”
She walked over in a pair of pink slippers.
Not just the slippers, the towel, clothes, and even the toothbrush and shower gel in the bathroom were all pink.
Jiang Zhi pulled her to sit on the couch, scattered her hair, and patiently dried it with a towel, “Did you get water on your wound?”
She bowed her head, exposing the top of her head, “No.”
Jiang Zhi first set down the towel, took the medicine Ji Feifan had prescribed, placed it in Zhou Xufang’s hand, then got up to pour a glass of warm water, “Take the medicine first.”
“Okay.”
Zhou Xufang obediently swallowed the pills.
After taking the medicine, she set the cup down, pulled at the clothes she was wearing, and showed them to Jiang Zhi, “Jiang Zhi, whose clothes are these?”
“Pink, who do you think?” he pulled her up, led her to the wardrobe, pointed to the left side which was his, and then showed her the right side, “It’s all yours.”
Clothes, shoes, everything she liked, all in her favorite pink.
She was very happy, hugged Jiang Zhi’s arm, and nuzzled him, “You’re amazing; you even know my size.”
Jiang Zhi chuckled, went into the wardrobe, and grabbed a knitted home coat for her, helping her put it on, “You learn after a few hugs.” His hand lingered on her chest, fastening buttons, “Is the underwear too big?”
A suddenly feverish Zhou Xufang, “…No.”
Embarrassed, she looked away, then caught sight of the whole wall behind her covered in pink wallpaper, and the tatami on the balcony strewn with pink rabbit dolls.
Cups on the shelves, pillows on the couch, wind chimes on the hallway wall, all were warm shades of pink.
She was surprised, “So much pink.”
Jiang Zhi’s house originally had a stern, minimalist style, but this alteration made it particularly girlish.
Jiang Zhi led her to sit on the couch, picked up the towel again, and continued drying her hair, “Do you like it?”
She nodded earnestly, “When did you do this?”
“After I visited your house,” he said, “It was too bleak there.”
She hugged his waist and burrowed into his embrace, smiling like a contented cat, “Jiang Zhi, you are so good.”
He wasn’t good.
He was only kind and gentle to her alone.
Covering her head with the towel, he cradled her face, leaned down to peck all over her face—from her forehead to her chin, finally lingering on her lips, gently rubbing them, “Still scared?”
She shook her head, her eyes bright, “Not anymore.”
“Xufang.”
“Hmm.”
He was silent for a while, hugged her tightly, his voice barely audible, “Tell me, who nailed you with a steel bar?”
She could avoid other questions, talk if she wanted.
But not this one.
He couldn’t forget how she shivered and cried by the sea, nor dared he think of the image when a steel rod was nailed into her chest. Before, he had never believed in feeling another’s pain, but now he did.
All the hardships and tortures she had endured, he felt them all again in his heart.
“I don’t remember,” she said softly, shrinking into his embrace, “I was sold abroad when I was a child, I don’t remember anything before that.”
She didn’t remember who nailed her, only the hammer, that piece of steel rod, and the splash of blood in her vision, plus that plump hand.
She didn’t know why these memories suddenly came up, perhaps it was because of the wound from a fountain pen stab, or maybe it was because of Luo Changde’s face which she found strangely yet terrifyingly unfamiliar.
“When I was little,” she said slowly, “I must have been abused.”
Therefore, she was afraid of many things—roses, fire, hammers, steel rods, Luo Changde’s face…
Jiang Zhi didn’t speak, his hands shaking slightly as he held her.
He held her so tightly that she almost couldn’t breathe, yet she didn’t hide. She rested her head on his shoulder, babbling, “I’m fine now.”
“I met you, now I’m fine.”
“I don’t remember the past anymore, it won’t make me sad.”
“I am still very fortunate.”
“Jiang Zhi, don’t be sad either.”
“…”
She placed her hand on Jiang Zhi’s back, gently patting, gently soothing. The injuries she suffered from all the tumult she went through were hers, yet she was comforting him, asking him not to be sad, not to feel her pain.
Jiang Zhi buried his face in her shoulder, his eyes turning red.
This fool, who neither resented nor hated, unlike him, full of vengeance, wanting to reciprocate the pain inflicted on her a thousandfold, even if it meant killing and arson, in this sinful world, he feared no crime.
At night, Zhou Xufang had a dream and couldn’t wake up, crying incessantly.
“Xufang.”
Jiang Zhi got up to turn on the light, and kneeling by her side, he called her, “Xufang.”
“Jiang Zhi.”
“Jiang Zhi.”
She didn’t wake up; her hands struggled and her voice mumbled his name unclearly.
“Jiang Zhi.”
“Jiang Zhi.”
He picked her up, kissing her continuously, “I’m here.”
“Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”
“Fang Bao, don’t cry anymore.”
“Please, don’t cry.”
“…”
Zhou Xufang didn’t wake up, didn’t see the tears about to fall from Jiang Zhi’s eyes.
The first half of the night it rained, then late into the night the wind and rain stopped, making it exceptionally quiet. A phone placed on the cabinet suddenly vibrated, the sound in the night comparable to a sinister ringing.
The person under the blanket turned over, not wanting to deal with it, but the phone rang incessantly, persistently.
Qiao Nanchu cursed rudely, annoyed as he answered, “Do you even know what time it is?”
Three in the morning.
Jiang Zhi still hadn’t a trace of sleepiness, his mood heavy, matching the outside sky, “I need your help with something.”
Qiao Nanchu was irritable, turned on the light, and sat up, “Can’t you find me during the day?” His temper was not good after his sleep was disturbed, “Speak.”
Jiang Zhi’s voice was low and slightly hoarse, “Professional errand runner Z, by any means necessary, help me thoroughly investigate her past. I want to know everything about it.”
Through the phone, Qiao Nanchu could feel the heavy atmosphere on the other end.
That feeling, it was like eight years ago when the Luo Family’s child disappeared, and Jiang Zhi was just like this, full of a deadly aura, unstoppable, even setting fire to the Luo Family’s house.
Qiao Nanchu sensed something was off, “Give me a reason.”
Silence fell on the other end of the line for a moment.
“She is Zhou Xufang.”
Qiao Nanchu’s cigarette dropped as he touched it, “Jiang Zhi,” it seemed unbelievable to him, “you have hidden this from me for so long.”
The reason from Jiang Zhi was, “You are still somewhat a police officer.”
“Are you afraid I’d arrest her?”
He didn’t confirm or deny.
Qiao Nanchu gave a chuckle and cursed, “She was active abroad before, it’s hard to check, but I’ll try.”
“Thanks.”
Jiang Zhi rarely thanked anyone so formally.
It was all for his wife.
Qiao Nanchu laughed, “What kind of girlfriend did you find anyway?” She looked like an naive young girl, shy around strangers, yet she was someone people feared. He had been searching for years and hadn’t caught even a tail.
That shameless Jiang Zhi replied, “The best girlfriend in the entire world.”
“Get lost.”
Qiao Nanchu hung up the phone.
There, Jiang Zhi quietly returned to the bedroom, lifted the blanket and lay down, pulling the girl beside him into his arms. She slept restlessly, her brow always furrowed.
He leaned down, his kiss landing between her brows, “From now on, I won’t let anyone bully you.”
Those who had made her suffer, just wait, he would settle every account one by one.