But Shen Chaoyi was still in shock, too stunned to even notice Han Yecheng’s breach of decorum.
This made Yi Qingzhuo’s hand, which she had been instinctively reaching out in concern, freeze in mid-air.
Watching Han Yecheng’s flustered, anxious expression, and seeing Shen Chaoyi, frightened, cradled in his arms…
That single image hit Yi Qingzhuo harder than the two slaps she had received.
She stood rooted to the spot, feeling as if all the blood in her body had frozen solid.
It was as if everything around her had been put on pause.
She stood in the middle, able to hear the police officers led by Chen Yao immediately restraining Zhou You and Xu Jiangqin, and she could hear Han Yecheng yelling, “Get him under control! How dare he lay a hand on someone!”
Everything was real, but Yi Qingzhuo felt as though she couldn’t touch any of it.
She looked down at her hands, still stained with spots of blood.
It felt like all the bones in her body were about to fall apart again.
Zhou You was held down, but he wasn’t giving up.
Even though two police officers were restraining him, he struggled free from their grip and lunged at Yi Qingzhuo.
Yi Qingzhuo was still in a daze when she heard Shen Chaoyi’s urgent cry, “Yi Qingzhuo!”
She looked up and saw Zhou You’s twisted, furious face.
All the blood in Yi Qingzhuo’s body surged into her arm. Drawing on a strength she didn’t know where she found, she gritted her teeth against the pain. Just as Zhou You’s fist came flying, she sidestepped, dodging the blow. Then, in one fluid motion, she landed a vicious punch squarely on Zhou You’s face.
Zhou You staggered, his head snapping back involuntarily from the force of Yi Qingzhuo’s hit.
Before he could even register a look of disbelief on his face,
he was already handcuffed and forcibly dragged away from Yi Qingzhuo.
Zhou You was filled with a mix of rage and humiliation. He kept cursing under his breath.
A wave of excruciating pain, like a distant, crashing wave, washed over her. Yi Qingzhuo could no longer support herself. She collapsed onto the edge of the bed.
She wanted to check on Shen Chaoyi’s face, but when she looked up, all she saw was Han Yecheng’s resentful glare. He was staring at her while trying to calm Shen Chaoyi down.
Yi Qingzhuo had no choice but to give up.
The protective way Han Yecheng was acting was too painful to look at.
Yi Qingzhuo blinked heavily, meeting Shen Chaoyi’s eyes.
Those eyes that were normally full of laughter were now only filled with panic.
Yi Qingzhuo’s heart ached. She didn’t know if it was for the punch Shen Chaoyi had taken for nothing, or for the way Han Yecheng’s arm was around Shen Chaoyi.
Maybe it was for both.
“Yi Qingzhuo, are you okay?” Chen Yao’s face loomed large in front of her, but his voice seemed to be fading away, getting farther and farther.
The strength was slowly draining from her body.
Yi Qingzhuo tried to lift her head, but she couldn’t move an inch.
She leaned her head back, her eyes closing heavily.
“Yi Qingzhuo!”
In that instant before her vision went dark, she thought she heard the same anxious voice from the emergency room.
Shen Chaoyi’s stunningly beautiful face flickered before her eyes for a second, and then she remembered nothing else.
She was probably back on the edge of life and death again.
Last time, it was because of the house. This time, it was because of the letter of understanding.
Yi Qingzhuo was truly exhausted.
Her shoulders couldn’t bear the weight of one storm after another.
But she remembered, this time, there was someone standing by her side.
…
“Chaoyi!” Han Yecheng tried to stop Shen Chaoyi.
But Shen Chaoyi pulled her arm away from him, ignoring his protests.
“Chaoyi, what are you doing? That Yi Qingzhuo, she’s nothing but trouble. And that cousin of hers, he looks like a common street thug. And you still want to protect her?”
“Now you’re hurt, your aunt will be so worried.”
“Listen to me. Given what’s happened, you can go to the chief and request a change of attending physician. Stop being responsible for her. Who knows how much more trouble there’ll be down the line?”
“Chaoyi, are you even listening to me?”
Han Yecheng followed behind Shen Chaoyi, chattering incessantly.
Shen Chaoyi turned around. It seemed she had finally had enough of Han Yecheng’s nagging.
Her brows furrowed slightly. “Doctor Han, this matter has nothing to do with you. Please stop following me.”
“Chaoyi…”
“Call me Doctor Shen. Thank you!”
Shen Chaoyi’s expression was cold. Her swollen, red lips and the stray strands of hair falling across her cheek made her look a bit disheveled, but her manner toward Han Yecheng remained deliberately distant.
She paused for a second, then continued, “Yi Qingzhuo is my patient. I will see it through to the end.”
“But she’s currently…” Han Yecheng wanted to say more.
“That’s my business. Please show some respect.” Shen Chaoyi’s gaze was icy. After saying this, she walked into her office.
As soon as she pushed the door open, Chen Yao followed her in.
Seeing this, Han Yecheng wisely didn’t follow.
“Doctor Shen.”
Yi Qingzhuo’s sudden fainting had also startled Chen Yao.
Fortunately, Shen Chaoyi was there to handle things immediately.
Now they had moved Yi Qingzhuo to a different ward, and Yi Changhuan had rushed over to stay with her.
Only then could Chen Yao and Shen Chaoyi extricate themselves.
Shen Chaoyi’s mouth was a little swollen. Though there was no bleeding, it was very red.
She hadn’t had time to deal with it earlier. Now she bent down, took out some iodine and a cotton swab from the drawer. With a swift turn of her long legs, she neatly took off her white coat and draped it casually over the back of the chair.
The ID badge clipped to her chest pocket swayed for a moment before finally coming to a rest.
Shen Chaoyi glanced at Chen Yao and gestured to the chair in front of her. “Please, have a seat, Officer Chen.”
Chen Yao pulled out the chair. His eyes lingered on the corner of her mouth for a moment, a subtle flicker of concern in his gaze.
After the unpleasantness between them over Yi Qingzhuo in public last time, they had parted hastily because the surroundings weren’t suitable for conversation.
But he had thought about it a lot afterwards.
He had even tried to privately ask Shen Chaoyi out to explain himself.
It was just standard procedure, and also pushing the case forward in order to wrap it up quickly,
to give Yi Qingzhuo some closure.
But Shen Chaoyi had declined, citing a busy schedule, and had said that she too hadn’t thought things through at the time, asking him not to worry about it.
Before Chen Yao could figure out how to respond, they had met again at the hospital, once again over Yi Qingzhuo.
“Your wound… can you manage it yourself? Do you need me to call someone to take care of it first?” Chen Yao asked.
Shen Chaoyi let her long hair down, then clipped it back up again.
With her hair up, the injury on her face was even more visible.
Against her fair skin, it stood out starkly, making one want to take care of her.
“It’s just a minor injury. I’ll take care of it in a bit. Is there something you need, Officer Chen?”
After all, the only thing they ever had to discuss was Yi Qingzhuo.
As soon as she asked, she felt it was a redundant question. So she lowered her stunningly beautiful eyes and quietly waited for Chen Yao to continue.
Chen Yao flipped open his notebook. “I just came back from seeing your Chief Zhou. He said to ask what you want to do. If you want to pursue charges, the department will back you up.”
With a public assault on a medical professional, the hospital wouldn’t just sit idly by.
“Let the medical affairs department handle it. Whatever the protocol is, follow it.” Shen Chaoyi pursed her lips, noticing the people walking past her office door who were all peering in.
She turned around, got up, and closed the door.
Chen Yao nodded. “So, when you first went in, you saw Zhou You and Xu Jiangqin holding Yi Qingzhuo down, trying to force her to sign the paper?”
“Yes. The handprint on Yi Qingzhuo’s face was already very visible by then. She had already been hit. But the paper hadn’t been signed. Yi Qingzhuo was sitting on the bed.”
“You saw it too. That punch she landed on Zhou You at the end should count as self-defense in an emergency situation.”
Even now, Chen Yao could hear the obvious bias in Shen Chaoyi’s words toward Yi Qingzhuo.
She emphasized this point again, afraid that Yi Qingzhuo would be misunderstood and end up in a police station.
Chen Yao gave a small smile. “Of course. Zhou You was the first to provoke the whole thing. Yi Qingzhuo is not at fault, and she also retains the right to pursue legal action against Zhou You. You don’t need to worry about her, Doctor Shen. We definitely won’t just take Zhou You’s word for it.”
That last part sounded like Chen Yao had seen right through Shen Chaoyi’s thoughts and deliberately said it.
Shen Chaoyi didn’t deny it. The corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
“To be honest, Yi Qingzhuo is one of the most unique women I’ve ever met.”
“To be pushed to that point… if it were me, I don’t think I could take it either, and I’m a man.”
Chen Yao recalled every time he had met Yi Qingzhuo. She was always in such a miserable state, yet she always wore a calm, contemplative expression, a peace that was frightening.
He hadn’t seen the wounds that Shen Chaoyi had discovered, but he still felt that Yi Qingzhuo possessed a fierce, unyielding pride, the kind that stays with you long after you’ve met her.
At Chen Yao’s words, Shen Chaoyi’s solemn expression softened, tinged with a barely perceptible trace of heartache.
It was different from the heartache she had felt when she first saw Yi Qingzhuo, bearing such severe injuries without a sound, or the heartache for her past. This heartache was mixed with a feeling Shen Chaoyi couldn’t control.
Love, like a vine waking in spring, grew wild and rampant, impossible to grasp or hold back.
But Shen Chaoyi seemed to sense her own strangeness as well.
Her long fingers tightened. “Yeah. She’s unyielding.”
Only that one perfunctory phrase came out.
Shen Chaoyi struggled to hide her true feelings.
“Unyielding? That’s a rare way to describe someone.” Chen Yao raised an eyebrow.
Unyielding wasn’t the same as strong, or brave.
Shen Chaoyi smiled. “It’s unyielding.”
An unyielding person possesses an aura that stands above the peaks of towering mountains. No matter how deeply buried they are in the mundane world, the moment you look at them, they are always incredibly captivating.
