Chapter 3
Edward Quan ·
Ji Shu shoved Jiang Zhixu away.
As he stumbled toward the road, Wen Ran lunged forward and pushed him aside with all her strength.
“Zhixu, look out!”
A crash.
A speeding car struck Wen Ran, throwing her against the windshield. She fell heavily to the ground like a broken doll. Blood spread beneath her.
Everyone froze.
After what felt like an eternity, Jiang Zhixu rushed over and dropped to his knees beside her.
“Ranran, where are you hurt? Does it hurt?”
“Oh God, Ranran! What do we do? What do we do, Zhixu? Is she going to die?”
Lin Yanan knelt on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
Wen Ran forced her eyes open and raised a hand toward Ji Shu.
“Shushu… forgive me… We'll always… be best friends…”
“Stop talking. Don't talk!”
Jiang Zhixu held her in terror, then turned and roared at Ji Shu.
“What are you standing there for? Call an ambulance! Ji Shu, call an ambulance! If anything happens to Ranran, we're finished!”
Shaking, Ji Shu took her phone from her bag and dialed 120.
Wen Ran kept coughing up blood. Instinctively, Ji Shu stepped forward. She wanted to save her.
“I'm a medical student. I can help—”
Before she could get close, Jiang Zhixu shoved her away.
“Get out! Ji Shu, don't you come another step closer to Ranran, or I'll kill you!”
He pushed so hard that she fell against the curb. Her lower back struck the edge, and pain shot through her. She bit her lip and tried to get up, but she couldn't move.
Watching him cry over Wen Ran hurt more than she could bear.
She had only wanted to help. Besides, the car had been nowhere near Jiang Zhixu. It couldn't have hit him. Why had Wen Ran suddenly rushed into the road?
She didn't understand.
The ambulance arrived quickly. The nurses lifted the blood-soaked Wen Ran inside. Lin Yanan and Jiang Zhixu climbed in with her.
Ji Shu was left behind.
She stared at the blood on the ground, her mind blank.
Her phone vibrated. A message from her university professor.
[Ji Shu, are you sure you won't reconsider the opportunity to study abroad? Places are limited. If you don't want it, we'll consider someone else.]
With trembling fingers, she typed:
[Professor, please put my name forward. I'd like to go.]
[Good. You'll leave after the holiday. Come back to campus as soon as you can.]
## Chapter 5
Ji Shu took a taxi to the hospital alone.
Her back hurt so badly she could barely move. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
“Out on your own this late, young lady?” the driver asked. “Isn't there anyone to look after you? In this much pain, you'll hardly make it through the hospital doors.”
“I'm all right. Thank you.”
She fought through the pain to get out, but collapsed after only a few steps.
The driver couldn't bear to leave her. He parked and helped her inside.
“Someone, please! This young woman's badly hurt her back!”
A nurse brought a wheelchair and wheeled her toward the emergency department. The driver waved.
“Don't be scared. You'll be all right.”
At a stranger's kindness, Ji Shu couldn't hold back her tears.
“Thank you.”
They had barely gone a few steps when they met Jiang Zhixu and Lin Yanan, who had just paid Wen Ran's hospital bill. Several former classmates now studying in Nancheng had come as well.
The moment they saw Ji Shu in the wheelchair, the boys erupted.
“You've got the nerve to come here?”
“How can you be so petty? Just because Wen Ran was secretly dating Zhixu, you pushed her into the road and got her hit by a car? You're terrifying!”
“Exactly. We should've told Zhixu to dump you in freshman year. Then they wouldn't have had to work so hard to hide it!”
Only now did Ji Shu understand. So many people had known.
How had she been so stupid? She had never suspected a thing.
But she hurt too much to argue.
“Please move. She's injured. I need to get her to the emergency department.”
The nurse frowned, trying to clear a path.
The first person to block her was Lin Yanan.
“Injured? She looks perfectly fine to me.”
Hands on her hips, she stood in front of Ji Shu, furious.
“Get out of that wheelchair, Ji Shu! Ranran's still in danger. You're coming with us to wait outside the operating room. The second she comes out, you're going to apologize!”
The others joined in.
“That's right. You're not going anywhere. You owe Ranran an apology!”
“Nurse… please… It really hurts…”
The pain in Ji Shu's back was growing worse. Even speaking was a struggle.