Chapter 43: Nine

The ambulance arrived quickly, and the medical staff immediately lifted Ye Shen onto a stretcher. As Tong Lin escorted her away, Ye Shen still clutched the bedsheet tightly, lying there with her head twisted back to stare at Ye Can.

Ye Can hung her own bloodstained hands limply, unmoved, watching coldly from the sidelines. Lin Zixi, standing beside her, looked worried. Only after Ye Shen was taken away did Ye Can reach out, grabbing Lin Zixi’s hand and dragging her downstairs. “Let’s go. We can’t stay here anymore. What are you waiting for?”

Lin Zixi stumbled from the pull, calling out in a panic, “Ye Can… Ye Can, wait… your hands…”

Ye Can led her to the luggage, bent down to yank it up with force, and strode out the door without looking back. “This isn’t a place I can stay anymore. From now on, I’m counting on you to take me in. We’re going back to your original place.”

She spoke with such determination that Lin Zixi had no choice but to hurry over and take the luggage from her hands. Ye Can dodged nimbly, saying quickly, “No need, no need. It’s not troubling you.”

Lin Zixi gazed at her wrists smeared with blood and let out a soft sigh, at a loss for words for the moment.

The two took the elevator back to Lin Zixi’s original room. The door had already been repaired. After entering behind Lin Zixi, Ye Can set the luggage on the sofa by the bed, still muttering under her breath, “If I’d known the house servant the Immoral God arranged for me would be so disobedient, I wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. Might as well have just stuck by your side, mooching meals.”

Lin Zixi had something on her mind and didn’t quite catch what Ye Can said. She looked up, seeing the confusion on Ye Can’s face. “What’s wrong?”

Ye Can plopped down on the sofa and huffed, “Nothing. I’m just hungry. Lin Zixi, can you get me something to eat now?”

Lin Zixi nodded. “Sure, I’ll order something right away. But before dinner, can we treat the wounds on your hands first?”

Ye Can murmured an agreement and sat obediently on the sofa.

Lin Zixi rummaged through her luggage, pulling out her small medical kit. She took out some cotton swabs and alcohol to disinfect Ye Can’s wounds.

Both sides of Ye Can’s wrists had been rubbed raw by the handcuffs, and the blood had flowed heavily at the time. Lin Zixi was already a bit squeamish about blood; her fingertips trembled as she wiped away the traces with the cotton swab.

With her eyes half-closed, Lin Zixi pressed the swab near the wound and asked, “Does it hurt?”

Ye Can, sitting there, shook her head. “No pain. I don’t feel a thing. Just do whatever.”

Lin Zixi glanced up at her and saw no sign of discomfort on her face. Only then did she relax and carefully clean the blood from the wound.

Her movements were gentle, trying her best not to cause Ye Can pain. But her anxious heart still made her hands press a bit too heavily.

Lin Zixi’s mind kept replaying those words from Ye Can, and she hesitated. “Ye Can…”

Ye Can responded with a hum, her clear eyes fixed on Lin Zixi, full of curiosity.

Lin Zixi met her gaze and asked, “Why did you say you came to this world for me? Before you met me, do you remember what you were doing?”

Of course Ye Can remembered—it was all so vivid.

Staring at the dark crown of Lin Zixi’s head, Ye Can replied casually, “Of course I do. Before I met you, I was making a deal with a god.”

Lin Zixi’s hand paused as she followed up, “A deal with a god? What god? What kind of deal?”

Ye Can answered straightforwardly, “The Immoral God. The deal was… I wanted to save you.”

Lin Zixi froze again. “Save me? Why save me? Was I in some kind of danger that night?”

She looked up, staring intently at Ye Can, demanding an answer. Ye Can’s gaze began to wander. “It’s just… it’s just…”

Finally unable to dodge, she threw up her hands in defeat. “If I didn’t save you, you’d suffer some really painful punishment.”

“What punishment?”

Ye Can grew frantic, scratching her hair before deciding to lay it all out. “Argh, you don’t remember anything now anyway. You don’t even know me anymore, so the punishment doesn’t matter. Just know that if I hadn’t saved you that night, you’d have died in a car accident.”

Lin Zixi latched onto the key info in her words, her eyes lighting up as she pressed, “I don’t know you? Should I know you? If we knew each other before, what was our relationship?”

Ye Can looked into those sparkling eyes and felt her chest tighten. She couldn’t help recalling the image of Lin Zixi in white robes, holding a cup of white tea as she approached.

All the words stuck in her throat. Ye Can stared at Lin Zixi’s face before looking away. “You’re… you’re my…”

Family. The only one who ever gave her love.

Lin Zixi’s heart raced. She grabbed Ye Can’s knee, her gaze sharpening. “So that’s why you called me your sister? Am I really your sister?”

“Tell me, Ye Can. Tell me.”

Ye Can saw the longing in her eyes and felt her chest ache. After hesitating, she couldn’t bring herself to lie. “I see you as a sister, but you’re not my sister. Lin Zixi, don’t ask anymore.”

“I really came here for you. I’d do anything for you.”

Lin Zixi stared hard at Ye Can, trying to discern truth from her eyes. After a long moment, she nodded. “Okay… I believe you.”

She straightened up, meeting Ye Can’s eyes calmly. “So you’re not from this world, right?”

Ye Can nodded.

She didn’t belong to this world or this place. The only reason she was here was for Lin Zixi.

Lin Zixi hesitated before continuing, “Then where are you from?”

Ye Can looked at her seriously. “Where I’m from doesn’t matter. What matters is, I’m a dead person.”

“Lin Zixi, I’ve been dead for a long time.”

The winter evening was frigid, and without the AC on, the room was filled with icy chill. Bathed in the bright white light, Lin Zixi looked at Ye Can before her, a inexplicable shiver crawling up her back.

Tilting her head up, Lin Zixi asked, “You mean you’re a ghost? You don’t belong in this body, but you’re using it?”

Ye Can shook her head, glaring. “This is my body. Why would I use someone else’s?”

Suddenly inspired, Ye Can raised her voice with a “Whoa!” “You sure have wild ideas—thinking I’m possessing a corpse to come back to life? Do I look like the type to take over someone else’s body? This is my body!”

Ye Can huffed indignantly, even pulling her hand back with a sulky expression. “You actually think I’d possess a corpse? I wouldn’t dream of taking over someone else’s stuff.”

Her sudden childlike petulance instantly warmed the room’s chill. Lin Zixi felt a vague realization dawn. She stood, stroking Ye Can’s head with pitying eyes. “Ye Can, you’re not dead. You’re alive.”

“You have body heat, a heartbeat, breath.”

Lin Zixi’s voice trembled faintly as she ruffled Ye Can’s glossy black hair. “Maybe you were born the moment we met, coming here for me. But welcome to the real world.”

“Ye Can, the world will embrace you gently.”

Lin Zixi reached out softly, pulling Ye Can into her arms. Ye Can’s face pressed against her soft chest, stunned for a moment before asking, “Lin Zixi, are you crying?”

Lin Zixi shook her head, hugging her tighter.

“Multiple personalities?”

After being admitted to the hospital and stabilizing, Ye Shen immediately called Lin Zixi. Lin Zixi took the phone and stepped out the door, covering the mouthpiece as she explained Ye Can’s condition to Ye Shen.

Ye Shen sat on the hospital bed, looking utterly dejected. She had chronic stomach issues; this time, the vomiting blood stemmed from emotional shock compounded by prior gastric bleeding.

Hearing Lin Zixi’s guess, Ye Shen gripped the phone tightly, biting her lip. “Thank you, Miss Lin. Even now, you’re willing to look after her.”

Lin Zixi said softly, “She saved me.”

“Director Ye… This current personality of hers is quite intense in her actions. I suggest not trying to force her with violence like last time.”

Lin Zixi paused, then continued, “Her feelings toward you aren’t great right now. If you want her to see a doctor for a proper diagnosis, we need to take it slow.”

She glanced toward the room, then added, “Director Ye, you should focus on recovering in the hospital for now. I’ll take care of Ye Can.”

Ye Shen sat silently on the bed for a long while before saying, “Then I’ll trouble you, Miss Lin. I’ll give you generous compensation.”

Lin Zixi took a deep breath. “Director Ye, I don’t need compensation. I’m taking care of Ye Can because I want to.”

“You should realize something: not everything in the world can be bought with money. Emotions especially—they need love, care.”

“Just like Ye Can.”

Lin Zixi sighed. “I may not be as wealthy as you, Director Ye, but I won’t let Ye Can suffer. Since she says she came to this world for me, I’ll treat her well.”

“Director Ye, before today, Ye Can and I weren’t close.”

“But now, she’s the only miracle in my life.”

With that, Lin Zixi hung up.

A miracle? Ye Shen leaned against the headboard, her gaze drifting blankly to the opposite wall, her mind wandering. What had that private investigator said? That Ye Can surviving was a miracle, and she should cherish it.

But what had she done? She’d tried to “correct” this Ye Can again.

Did it really matter if she was normal? Would being “crazy” affect anything?

Ye Shen clutched her phone, wearily pressing a hand to her forehead. She slumped against the headboard, her dark hair falling over her lowered face, lost in prolonged thought.