Chapter 43 Part 2

She knew full well what she had given Liu Ran wasn’t enough to make her rush into a burning hospital.

Liu Ran was a light sleeper. She wrinkled her nose, opened her eyes, and saw Ming Siyu at her bedside, face pale as a ghost.

Liu Ran bolted upright. “President Ming…”

“Want some water?” Ming Siyu picked up the cup from the bedside table and handed it to Liu Ran. “Your lips look dry.”

Liu Ran took it and gulped it down. Before, she had always poured water for Ming Siyu; this was the first time drinking from one she offered—quite novel.

Silence settled over the room.

After a moment, Ming Siyu spoke. “I have trouble recognizing beds—severe insomnia. I came to the hospital to get it checked.”

Liu Ran gripped the cup. “Oh.”

The atmosphere turned awkward. Liu Ran licked her lips, staring at the blanket tented by her feet. “So, have you been sleeping well lately?”

“Not bad.” Ming Siyu’s tone was even; she habitually reached to adjust her glasses and grasped air. She had lost them in the hospital and hadn’t replaced them yet. She added, “Because I was holding your tail, I’ve slept pretty well.”

Liu Ran sensed deeper meaning in the words but dismissed it as overthinking; she couldn’t grasp what it was anyway.

Ming Siyu gestured to her wolf ears. “Does it hurt?”

“Not much.” Liu Ran shook her head. “My pain tolerance is lower than average people’s. So it doesn’t hurt bad.”

“Does not fearing pain mean you don’t fear death either?” Ming Siyu’s voice sharpened unconsciously. “Didn’t I tell you not to go saving other people?”

“Does that ‘other people’ include you?” Liu Ran hadn’t expected blame even now; she felt a bit aggrieved and unrewarded. “You never said it included you.”

She had saved Ming Siyu not because Ming Siyu was that important to her, but because she could hardly accept watching someone die right in front of her. Ever since her mother had perished in that fire, death had become a lifelong enigma she could never comprehend. She feared death, and she could never face it with composure.

She simply couldn’t stand by and watch a life slip away without giving her all. Even if it was someone she didn’t particularly like.

“Including me. Liu Ran, look at me.”

Liu Ran reluctantly lifted her head and met Ming Siyu’s gaze.

“The right to your death is in my hands. If I don’t allow you to die, you can’t die. Got it? So you can’t do anything that might put your life in danger. And you absolutely can’t listen to He Qiange. She’s just talking big; she doesn’t dare to kill anyone. We’ll let this time slide, but no next time, understand?”

Liu Ran seethed with anger at those words. She fumed inwardly that Ming Siyu was spouting utter nonsense. Not only did she not thank her, but she had rushed over the moment she woke up just to lecture her.

She didn’t respond and turned her head away, silently expressing her refusal.

“I know you understand.” Ming Siyu ignored her and continued, “Since you get it, let me test you now. If I got into a car accident, the vehicle caught fire, the doors were deformed, and I was trapped inside while you were outside, with the car about to explode at any moment—what would you do? Option one: Retreat to a safe distance and call for professional rescue. Option two: Force the door open. Which do you choose?”

Liu Ran thought that she had been too reckless this time. If it happened again, she’d never save Ming Siyu, even if it killed her. Who did Ming Siyu think she was? Did she really believe Liu Ran would risk her life over and over to save her?

She huffed, “I’d choose the first one.”

“Very good.” Ming Siyu stroked her hair. One wolf ear was wrapped in gauze, making her look utterly pitiful. She recalled how, after first bringing Little Wolf home, it had taken quite some time for the bald patches on her wolf tail to grow back. She wondered how long it would take for this scorched wolf ear to heal and for the fur to regrow.

As she thought about it, she softly voiced her concerns.

Liu Ran heard every word, and her heart sank completely. What Ming Siyu cared about most was still her fluffiness. All that talk about “you can’t die without my permission” was so cringey, but the real point was probably that she was afraid Liu Ran would die and leave her without any fluff to play with.

After all, there weren’t many people like her—with wolf ears and a tail—who would take brutal kicks and then throw themselves into mortal danger over just a tiny bit of gentle treatment. For the Nth time, Liu Ran inwardly cursed herself as pathetic. Utterly pathetic.

The nurse came to change Liu Ran’s dressings. Her injuries were mainly on her ear and hand, and the nurse started with the ear. After debridement, the dead flesh had been cut away, so the wound didn’t look as frightening anymore. It was the nurse’s first time changing a dressing on a wolf ear, and she proceeded with utmost care. Ming Siyu watched unblinkingly from the side. “Is this the best medicine available? Is there anything better? Something that heals faster is better.”

“There is something that can heal the wound faster, but the side effects are stronger,” the nurse said.

Ming Siyu tapped her crutch on the floor. “Then stick with this one.”

After Liu Ran’s dressings were changed, Ming Siyu still didn’t leave. She sat by the bed, replying to messages and taking calls. News of the hospital bombing had spread back home, and friends, family, and business partners who knew she was in Country B called to express concern. Ming Siyu responded to a few she couldn’t ignore and ignored the rest. Her phone was a new one—the old one had been ruined—and it was identical to the previous model.

Liu Ran was bored in bed and scrolled through the news. She discovered that stories about Ming Siyu being innocently caught in a foreign gang’s retaliatory strike had trended in Country B, though they were quickly overtaken by Xiao Yue Nong’s airport candid photos. Still, some on-site pictures had leaked. Liu Ran worried that she might appear in them; she hadn’t been wearing a hat at the time.

Sensing her thoughts, Ming Siyu reassured her during a break. “Don’t worry. Not a single photo of you leaked. I’ve told the media.”

Liu Ran still wasn’t reassured. She browsed through every photo in the related tags. Not only were her wolf ears absent, but not even a single strand of her hair appeared. Only then did her heart settle back into place.

Ming Siyu drawled leisurely, “Actually, there’s no need to feel inferior about having wolf ears and a tail. Abroad, there are streamers who make a fortune live-streaming their unusual features as gimmicks. You’re so cute; if you streamed, you wouldn’t even have to do anything—just twitch your ears and wag your tail, and you’d easily make over ten thousand a day.”

“That’s just for shock value.” Liu Ran rejected the idea. She couldn’t imagine live-streaming her wolf ears and tail for the world to see. That was far worse than being shoved under Ming Siyu’s desk and having her tail stepped on ten thousand times.

She wanted to be normal again. Before she could define her newly grown ears and tail herself, the lab staff and her first two buyers had drilled it into her countless times: She was a freak. Freaks could only survive by tucking their tails and hiding in the shadows, or they’d be killed by the public’s stares the moment they saw the light.

Subsequent events had proven them right.

“I wouldn’t let you stream either. Your wolf ears and tail aren’t tools for pleasing others.” Ming Siyu paused, then added, “This time’s ‘others’ doesn’t include me.”

Liu Ran: “…Boring.”

She downloaded a mobile game and played until she fell asleep again. When she woke, it was dark outside, and Ming Siyu was still in her room, holding her phone. Seeing her awake, Ming Siyu placed the phone on her lap. “I got you to over seventy levels. Eat something soon.”

Soon, the nurse brought dinner. The food was mediocre, but Liu Ran ate it all to avoid waste. Before, she hadn’t been picky at all—she ate anything that wasn’t moldy and wouldn’t give her diarrhea. But after over two months with Ming Siyu, she had unconsciously learned to be choosy about flavors.

After dinner and a simple wash-up, Liu Ran returned to bed to wind down for sleep. Ming Siyu didn’t leave. She opened the bedside cabinet drawer and pulled out a manila envelope-like folder. “For you.”

Liu Ran opened it to find property transfer documents for a unit in a new development Ming Siyu had bought in Country B. Liu Ran knew about the project; this unit was basically the best-located one.

The timing of the transfer was suspiciously perfect. Was this Ming Siyu’s reward? Gratitude for risking her life to save her?

Her gaze fell on the signature date at the end. It was from several days ago—the afternoon they had arrived in Country B.

“The procedures here are a bit different from back home, so it got delayed a few days. I wanted to give it to you sooner, but it was only finalized today.”

“Why give me this all of a sudden?” Liu Ran murmured. This place had to be worth tens of millions at least—enough for her to earn over a lifetime. No, she might never earn that much in her life. And Ming Siyu just gave it away?

Ming Siyu’s tone was casual. “You’re about the same age as Jian Huaici, right? She has one, so you can have one too. No need to envy the Jian Family’s lifestyle anymore.”

Before Liu Ran could process that, Ming Siyu propped herself up on her crutch, climbed onto the bed, and laboriously swung her legs up as well. Liu Ran instinctively scooted aside and asked warily, “What are you doing?”

“Sleeping.” Ming Siyu’s answer was matter-of-fact.

“No, this bed is just over a meter wide. It can’t fit two people…”

The high-end ward bed was wider than average, but it measured no more than 1.2 meters—perfect for one, but for two, they’d have to sleep on their sides.

Ming Siyu was utterly righteous. “We’ll squeeze. Did you forget why I’m in the hospital? I want to hold your tail.”

With that, Ming Siyu lifted the covers, lay down, and brazenly claimed half the bed. The blizzard-scented perfume on her had faded a lot. With their bodies pressed together, Liu Ran felt utterly uncomfortable, as if not Ming Siyu but a red-hot branding iron lay beside her.

It wasn’t as if they had never shared a bed before.

But the hotel king beds were over two meters wide, allowing her to pretend no one was behind her. On this narrow bed, there was no escaping it. No matter how much she hugged the edge, some part of her body always touched Ming Siyu’s.

Liu Ran turned her back to Ming Siyu. Soon, a warm body pressed against her back. Ming Siyu stroked her arm, her warm breath tickling Liu Ran’s neck.