Chapter 29

Chapter 29

*

For a split second, Jin Mo felt like her ears were stuffed with cotton, a ringing in her ears drowning out everything around her.

She saw Yin Jihong's lips moving in front of her, saw the worry plain as day in his eyes, and also saw Chen Yuanshan quietly nudge his arm, like he was scolding him for being too blunt and blindsiding her out of nowhere.

Attempted suicide.

Those four words hit her like ice-cold needles, echoing and swelling in her head until her temples pounded.

Ever since Jin Yuan had sunk into that dark, obsessive state of mind, she'd spent a long time secretly worrying, scared Jin Yuan might spiral into severe depression and end up taking her own life.

So she'd poured her time and energy into trying to comfort Jin Yuan over and over, because she never wanted her best friend to hit a point of no return.

But in the end, she still couldn't stop it.

Even though she'd tried so damn hard.

Jin Mo's chest felt like a cold hand was squeezing it, regret and self-blame flooding over her all at once.

She even started blaming herself: if only she'd been more observant, paid more attention to how Jin Yuan was doing around New Year's, sent her a few extra texts, or even just shown up at her door. Then maybe Jin Yuan wouldn't have hit rock bottom, wouldn't have run off, and wouldn't have gone so far as to try to kill herself?

It was all because she didn't care enough.

All because she'd been careless.

A crushing wave of helplessness and grief washed over her. Jin Mo stood frozen, staring blankly ahead as tears spilled from her eyes out of nowhere, streaming down her cheeks and soaking into her collar.

Yin Jihong's chest tightened at the sight, his brows knitting together. He strode over and gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with his thumb. His fingers were still warm, and his touch was so soft, like he was handling something fragile and precious.

But for every tear he wiped away, more came.

Like beads off a broken necklace—endless.

Even so, Yin Jihong didn't show a hint of impatience. He grabbed some clean tissues and carefully dabbed at her tears, his movements impossibly gentle.

When her tears finally broke loose and her shoulders started shaking uncontrollably, he couldn't hold back anymore. He pulled her into his arms, holding her tight.

A warm, steady strength wrapped around her, like gentle but powerful ocean water, washing away some of the grief and pain that had almost swallowed her whole. Her stiff body slowly went soft in his arms.

Seeing that, Chen Yuanshan quietly stepped back and pulled the bedroom door mostly closed.

Leaning against his chest, Jin Mo could feel his strong, steady heartbeat. The steady rhythm was like a sedative, and after a long moment, she finally felt steady on her feet again, no longer swaying.

After a moment, she finally spoke: "...How's Yuan Yuan doing? Did Brother Guo say anything?"

"She's still in surgery. I've already had her moved to the best private hospital in S City, with the director personally on it."

He reached up and gently stroked her hair, his tone firm and sincere: "I know how much Jin Yuan means to you, so I'll do everything I can to save her."

Jin Mo's heart fluttered, like it was soaking in sweet-and-sour lemonade.

Seeing her emotions finally settling and her tears slowing down, Yin Jihong loosened his hold on her a little and laid out everything he knew, piece by piece.

"All I can say is, God's still looking out for Jin Yuan. Guozi tracked her to a run-down hotel on the edge of S City. When his guys got there, they caught her slitting her wrists on the balcony. Any later, and it really would've been too late."

"She didn't hold back—she went straight for the vein. She meant to die."

"If the cops had found her even a minute later, they'd have found a cold corpse."

Hearing him say that made Jin Mo feel like she was right back in that dim hotel room—a girl who used to be so full of life, curled up on the balcony, blood pouring from her wrist, eyes hollow and hopeless. The image was so vivid it made her chest ache.

She could only imagine how desperate Jin Yuan must have been to put a blade to her own wrist and end a life that still had so many bright futures ahead of it.

"Momo, don't think I'm being cold. You're Jin Yuan's best friend, and you're the one who actually cares if she lives or dies. So you deserve to know the truth, no matter how brutal. I'm not going to sugarcoat it—this isn't something that should be dressed up."

Hearing that, Jin Mo couldn't help but look up at him, forgetting to cry for a second.

Yin Jihong's eyes were bright and clear, his tone carrying that usual lazy arrogance of his, and his words were anything but pleasant.

But that was exactly what she loved most about him—he lived so freely and honestly. He could say sweet things when he wanted to, but he'd never use fake niceness to bury or twist the truth.

He was actually nothing like how Jin Ping had guessed he'd be in front of her. After years in the cutthroat world of fame and money, surrounded by schemes and backstabbing, his character was still completely untainted. Even though he knew damn well that dropping his principles and taking shortcuts would make things easier, he'd never do it.

He disdained using any underhanded tricks or schemes to seize what wasn't rightfully his.

The Young Master of the Yin Family had always stood tall and upright, with the most righteous and pure heart buried deep in his bones.

No matter when or where, as long as Yin Jihong was by her side, she could calm down at the fastest speed and find her direction again. This moment was no exception.

She took a deep breath, accepted the tissue from his hand, and wiped away her tears, her voice still carrying the remnants of her sobs: "Brother Yuanshan should have already changed my flight for me, but I still want to go to the airport now and see if I can catch an earlier flight back."

"You won't be taking that rebooked flight." Yin Jihong stood with one hand in his pocket, a faint smile curling at the corner of his lips under her astonished gaze. "We're heading to the airport now. The private jet back to S City is already waiting for us."

-

Jin Mo packed her luggage as quickly as she could, then followed Yin Jihong and Chen Yuanshan downstairs to get into the car for the airport.

As they exited the elevator into the hotel lobby, her peripheral vision caught sight of the doctor who had come down with them. Seeming to remember something, she immediately raised her hand to stop Yin Jihong in his tracks and pressed her palm against his forehead without ceremony.

In her rush to get back to S City, she had nearly forgotten that this Young Master had, not long ago, been lying unconscious in bed with a raging fever.

Actually, even upstairs, she had wanted him to stay at the hotel and rest properly—at least until the fever fully broke before heading back.

But before she could even speak, he had already waved the doctors away: "Dear physicians, I'm perfectly fine now. I won't keep occupying public resources and interfering with your life-saving duties."

Even as he said these nonsense words, he was still coughing, and he looked like he barely had any strength to spare.

The moment her fingertips touched his forehead, Jin Mo frowned slightly. His temperature was much lower than when he had passed out, but there was still a good deal of fever—it hadn't fully broken at all.

She looked at him: "Did you take the medicine the doctor prepared before you came down?"

Caught red-handed in his little evasion, Yin Jihong didn't seem flustered in the least. He said with complete composure: "Forgot."

Jin Mo didn't say another word. She bent down, pulled the doctor-prescribed medicine from her backpack, walked quickly to the hotel front desk, asked for a bottle of mineral water, unscrewed the cap, and shoved both the pills and the water in front of him.

Usually, when others handed him things, they had to carefully seek this Young Master's approval first, sometimes holding things up until their arms cramped, and he might not even deign to spare them a glance.

But at this moment, Yin Jihong looked at her with keen interest, at her calm face tinged with subtle irritation, and actually took the medicine and water from her hands with a smile on his face.

He swallowed the pills with the mineral water, then screwed the cap back on: "See how obedient your Brother Ji is to you."

Jin Mo stared at him speechlessly for a few seconds before finally letting out everything she had been holding in since learning he had hidden his illness: "Seriously, you had a high fever for days, went through an avalanche, and got yourself all banged up—and you still don't take care of yourself. Aren't you taking medicine for your own sake?"

"No." He shrugged. "It's for you."

Jin Mo: "...?"

"When I realized a couple of days ago that it was just a cold, I thought about just toughing it out. You know me—I've never believed in medicine. I'd rather trust my own immune system. But since the fever wouldn't go away and you said taking medicine would help, then I'll take it. I don't want to drag a sick, weak body around with you either."

He said it with complete self-righteousness, as if hiding his illness, pushing himself to come to Xinjiang, and refusing to take his medicine properly were all perfectly reasonable things to do.

Jin Mo felt he was simply unreasonable—how could anyone be this cocky when they're sick?

She knew well that if she kept arguing with him, he'd always talk his way out of it, making hiding his illness and not taking care of himself sound totally justified. So she gave up the argument altogether, shot him a fierce glare, and turned to get into the car first.

Chen Yuanshan, watching from the side, was totally blown away and gave a light round of applause. "Even Momo, with her temper, can be provoked to this state by you. Yin Jihong, you're truly something."

"Cut the crap—I'm not hooking you up with anyone, so kill that hope right now."

Yin Jihong waved him off and got in the car after Jin Mo.

Jin Mo was buckling her seatbelt with her head down when he sat down beside her, and the annoyance on her face got even worse.

But she still didn't want to talk to him, so she merely shot him another glare.

"Why don't you try glaring harder?" Yin Jihong slouched lazily in his seat. "That was way too soft, I didn't feel a thing."

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to swallow the anger building in her chest, and turned her head to look out the window, done with him for now.

But the next second, she heard him say with a smirk in his voice: "Go ahead, glare at me all you want—I'll enjoy it either way. Still better than when you wouldn't even give me a glance."

At those words, the memories she had barely managed to shove to the deepest recesses of her mind threatened to come rushing back.

Yin Jihong watched her without blinking, watching her face go from red to green to white—that usually calm, gentle face now showing all kinds of expressions he'd never seen on her.

He was now a hundred percent sure he'd done something totally ridiculous to her while he was unconscious.

But as for how ridiculous it had been, no matter how hard he racked his brain, from upstairs to downstairs, his memory was a total blank—not a single clue.

This fever was insane—nobody would believe it if he told them. It was even crazier than blacking out from booze.

But judging by Jin Mo's reaction, she didn't seem to actually hate what he'd done—more embarrassed, annoyed, and a little lost.

So maybe this was actually a golden chance for him.

This guy, who'd acted like a total animal, thought it over and, instead of feeling any guilt, was secretly thrilled that he'd played the beast.

Seeing that Jin Mo kept her head turned toward the window, refusing to acknowledge him, Yin Jihong straightened up slightly. Resting his cheek on one hand, his eyes landed on the cute back of her head with the ponytail, and he called out to her, his voice rough: "Momo."

Even though she was still angry with him, her good upbringing wouldn't let her just pretend she hadn't heard him.

So, after a moment of silence, she kept her back to him and let out a deliberately cold "Mm."

"I know I must have done something to upset you while I was unconscious." He spoke slowly, coaxing her. "After all those days of fever, it's a miracle I didn't end up brain-dead. Of course, that doesn't excuse whatever I did in my sleep."

"If I did something wrong, I'll own up to it—no excuses." He paused, a hint of testing the waters creeping into his voice. "But the thing is, I need to know what I actually did wrong, don't I?"

His voice was low and rough, with a few light coughs mixed in, and it sounded sexy and captivating to her. Jin Mo even felt that those words of admission and inquiry, coming from his mouth, had a hint of something ambiguous and flirty.

Yin Jihong's words had already stepped right up to the edge of that earlier incident. If she followed his lead and answered, spilling everything that had happened, she couldn't even imagine what would happen.

Her mind was a mess—on one side, the worry about whether Jin Yuan was alive or dead; on the other, the confusion and doubt about how Yin Jihong really felt.

Right now, she didn't know if speaking up would bring the thing she feared most—that he'd just acted on a whim, that he only saw her as a little sister, and that the kiss was just a meaningless accident.

Because she cared too much, she was scared to make a move.

Because she'd kept it buried for so long, she didn't know how to say what she really felt.

At least one thing she was sure of.

She didn't want to use that kiss to guilt him into feelings. And she didn't want this carefully hidden crush to feel cheap and embarrassing.

Yin Jihong, not discouraged by the back of her head that wouldn't turn around, glanced up and caught sight of Chen Yuanshan about to open the passenger door outside. A sly glint flashed in his eyes as he said casually:

"Momo, if you don't tell me what I did wrong, don't blame your big brother if I do it wrong again."

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Author's note:

Red envelopes are still dropping randomly! Please keep hitting me with your collections, comments, and nutrient fluids~ Love you guys! Also, don't forget to subscribe to my column! And feel free to check out my next book, "The Crane," a Beijing circle story (might also switch to a Beijing circle ensemble story)—either way, it's all mature men and women, super exciting, haha.

Damn! Yin Jihong! You're such a dog!! Your first kiss got stolen while you were out cold, and she didn't even slap you, and you're already thinking about a round two? Are you even a person?!

Yin Puppy: Don't you guys call me a dog? Who needs face when you're chasing your wife? Why be human? Just be an animal, right?

I know you're all anxious, but don't worry—the puppy's about to go all out. Chasing his wife is still easy peasy, isn't it?? Stop using Zhu Buxing, Yu Ye, and others to trash our Young Master! Hahaha!! Our Young Master is totally capable—I've already thought of all the moves he'll make (should I even be saying this??)