Chapter 35

Chapter 35

*

Jin Mo, upon hearing this, instinctively lifted her eyes and ran straight into his deep gaze.

He still had that same easygoing, lazy smile on his face as always, but she could still feel something restrained and serious hiding underneath that careless shell.

There was something in his expression she couldn't quite put her finger on—like he wasn't quite the same as before.

"...Can't you tell me now?"

How could she not be curious? She wished she could grab him, turn him upside down, and shake every last secret out of him.

"Can't." Yin Jihong drew out his words on purpose, even putting on a fake pitiful frown. "I haven't even received my New Year's gift from you. I've already taken a huge loss—no way I'm making another losing deal."

Jin Mo watched him turn, close the door, and cut off the hallway light outside.

Only once his footsteps had completely faded did she stand there, cheeks burning with a mix of embarrassment and irritation, muttering under her breath: "...Still going on about the gift—I already gave it to you this morning, didn't I?"

Not long after, Yan Qinxuan came back, dragging a huge suitcase behind her.

Jin Mo couldn't help teasing her: "Anyone would think you're off to Europe for three weeks."

"This is me getting ready for the long haul." Yan Qinxuan settled into the recliner. "Yuan Yuan won't be able to leave anytime soon, and your family's got you on a short leash. In a few days, it'll be time for us to head back from Long Beach Island—once you're home, you won't be able to hang around here as much."

"True." Jin Mo nodded slightly and said softly, "Yin Jihong said he'll send professional caregivers and a therapist tomorrow to help coordinate Yuan Yuan's recovery and rehab. Once I'm back at work, I'll try to make time to come by too. We'll take turns staying with her—she won't be alone."

Yan Qinxuan hadn't expected Yin Jihong to have thought through even the smallest follow-up details, and an approving look crossed her face: "The Young Master's actually pretty reliable. I've decided—I won't say a single bad thing about him for the next week."

Jin Mo laughed, then filled her in on how the Jin family had shown up earlier to cause trouble and gotten thoroughly shut down by Yin Jihong.

Yan Qinxuan was so pissed she slammed the table and shot to her feet: "Those bastards! They should really borrow a machine gun from Yin Bijie and mow the whole damn family down."

"That's just the kind of trashy, low-life people they are—you've known that since day one." Jin Mo said calmly. "I used to wonder how people could have such cold-hearted relatives, but now I've made my peace with it. Getting angry over trash that isn't even human isn't worth it—we don't lower ourselves to their level."

"Momo." Yan Qinxuan suddenly reached out and gently tugged at her sleeve, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "How come you're starting to sound more and more like the Young Master? Sharp-tongued, tough when it matters—where's that soft marshmallow you used to be?"

Jin Mo shrugged: "Even a rabbit bites when it's cornered."

"I'm more inclined to think... this rabbit of yours got bitten by Yin Jihong once, and that's what slowly changed you, huh?"

Yan Qinxuan said it with deliberate innuendo, especially the word "bitten," which instantly made Jin Mo's ears burn red.

Being both women and longtime best friends, how could Yan Qinxuan not notice the subtle changes in Jin Mo lately?

The next second, Yan Qinxuan reached out, gently turned Jin Mo's face toward her, and looked straight into her eyes, giving her no room to dodge: "Tell me the truth—do you like Yin Jihong?"

Jin Mo's lips parted slightly, and for a moment, she was at a loss for words.

"You can lie to your parents, lie to anyone, but you can't lie to me." Yan Qinxuan said with confidence. "I'm the kind of person who can tell what you want for dinner just by looking at your eyes—you think I wouldn't notice who you like?"

Jin Mo really hadn't planned on hiding it from her, knowing it'd be impossible anyway.

This feeling she'd kept buried for so long was already agonizing to hold in, and with her closest friend, she chose to be honest.

"When did it start?" Seeing her confirm it, Yan Qinxuan took the chance to pinch her flushed cheeks twice. "Was it this trip to Xinjiang? You two have traveled alone together more than once—why'd the spark suddenly fly this time?"

"It wasn't Xinjiang." Jin Mo let out a long sigh. "It's just that I only recently realized—I like him."

That was a loaded thing to say.

Sure enough, Yan Qinxuan's face lit up with delighted, gossip-hungry excitement, practically beaming as she soaked up the drama: "Wow! A crush? How long has it been? I knew it! You two spend all your time together—how could feelings not grow out of that?"

"I don't think it's just because we're together all the time that I fell for him."

Those heart-fluttering moments didn't add up because of time—time only made the feeling deeper and longer-lasting. But the source of those feelings was always Yin Jihong himself. Only he could light up her heart and soul, again and again.

Yan Qinxuan got it instantly.

Jin Mo's secret crush on Yin Jihong had probably been going on for years.

Seeing her best friend finally wake up to love, Miss Yan was thrilled—but after the initial excitement came worry: "Does Yin Jihong know you like him?"

"He definitely doesn't." Jin Mo thought of all their back-and-forth teasing and testing, then couldn't help asking, "Xuan Xuan, do you think... does he like me, even a little?"

She was slow and guarded when it came to matters of the heart, but even as clueless as she was, after all this time, she couldn't stay completely unaware. She could sense, more or less, that Yin Jihong treated her differently—in a way that was unique to her.

That uniqueness wasn't just the favoritism and indulgence he'd shown since childhood, treating her like a pearl in his palm. And this avalanche had shown her firsthand that he would rush to her without a second thought, even willing to throw away his own life.

Then there were the looks he'd given her these past few days, the possessiveness he showed toward her in front of others, the ambiguity and tension woven into his words. If she kept deceiving herself, brushing it all off as mere "sibling affection," even she couldn't convince herself anymore.

But she was scared.

Afraid it was all just her own wishful thinking, afraid that this special treatment, tenderness, and ambiguity were all just a joke.

Afraid that if she mustered all her courage and laid her heart bare to him, it would turn out she'd read everything wrong.

That question stumped Yan Qinxuan too: "That one, I really can't say."

Yan Qinxuan prided herself on reading people well, and she was currently in a relationship herself—by all logic, she should have sharper insight into matters of the heart than Jin Mo. But Yin Jihong was someone she truly couldn't vouch for.

He embodied too many contradictions. His likes and dislikes seemed straightforward and overt, yet you could never be sure how much of what he showed was genuine.

Moreover, the two of them had existed in a sibling-like dynamic for so long. That thin barrier between them was fragile yet deeply entrenched, not easily broken through.

Even she had always thought that this flamboyant, unrestrained Young Master wasn't the right match for Jin Mo. Now that she knew Jin Mo's feelings, she was even less inclined to jump to conclusions on her behalf.

Yan Qinxuan then grabbed Jin Mo's hand and pointed at the bandage on her neck: "I wanted to ask when I first saw you—where did these wounds on you come from? Don't try to brush me off."

Now that everything had settled, Jin Mo could finally speak openly about the morning's ordeal: "I ran into an avalanche this morning."

Yan Qinxuan was so shocked she leapt to her feet: "An avalanche!?"

Jin Mo still didn't want to alarm her too much, so she summarized the morning briefly: "Luckily, Yin Jihong found me in time and did everything he could to pull me out."

Yan Qinxuan was even more stunned: "He saved you from an avalanche?! Not a professional rescue team—him, himself!?"

"Yeah." Just thinking about that moment, even standing here safe now, still warmed her heart. "He charged into the avalanche without a second thought to save me."

After hearing that, Yan Qinxuan was instantly filled with profound respect.

That Young Master, who looked down on everyone, had gone to such lengths for Jin Mo. If she weren't afraid of raising Jin Mo's expectations only to have them dashed, she would've screamed right then and there—

He didn't even care about his own life, digging you out of an avalanche—he's absolutely crazy about you!

With the girls' heart-to-heart reaching this point, they ordered takeout. Jin Mo gritted her teeth and, in a moment of resolve, even told Yan Qinxuan about that drowsy kiss from this morning—after all, keeping it bottled up inside was driving her crazy.

At that moment, Yan Qinxuan was eating boiled bullfrog. After hearing this bombshell, she nearly swallowed the frog bone whole.

"...Holy crap!" Miss Yan set down her chopsticks, eyes wide as saucers. "You've been sitting on something this big and only telling me now?! Jin Mo, are you a tortoise or what?! Look at this prophetic mouth of mine—I said the Young Master bit you, didn't I?!"

“……”

Yan Qinxuan's blunt phrasing threw Jin Mo for a loop. She chugged half a glass of water, trying to cool her burning face.

"Are you sure it was just a kiss? Nothing else?" Once the shock wore off, Yan Qinxuan broke into a sly grin. "You've already spilled this much—might as well tell me the whole story. I mean, your Young Master definitely looks like he knows what he's doing!"

Jin Mo was so flustered by the teasing that she couldn't even finish her meal. "...Quit letting your imagination run wild!"

Yan Qinxuan couldn't believe what she was hearing. "After all that, you're still not going to confront him and get some answers?"

"How am I supposed to bring it up? What if he doesn't feel the same way? That'd basically be guilt-tripping him," Jin Mo said. "How can you hold someone accountable for stuff they did while blacked out or half-asleep?"

"Stop making excuses for him. You still need to ask." Yan Qinxuan was direct. "If he's the type to go around kissing girls when he's drunk or half-asleep, then he's not worth your feelings. Better to rip the Band-Aid off now than drag out the pain."

Jin Mo saw the logic in that and mulled it over. "He said he has something important to tell me once the A+ project wraps up. I'll talk to him then."

Yan Qinxuan raised an eyebrow and leaned in with a sly grin. "Momo, speaking of which, that was your first kiss, right? How was the Young Master's technique? Was it... mind-blowing?"

In Yan Qinxuan's mind, someone like Yin Jihong—a golden boy blessed by the heavens—would never be short on admirers. He should be a natural when it came to romance.

But in reality, only Jin Mo knew the truth of it. Even with zero romantic experience, she could tell that kiss—born in the aftermath of a snowstorm, tinged with sickness—was surprisingly clumsy and restrained.

He was awkward and tentative, like he didn't even know how to coax her lips apart.

Yan Qinxuan's teasing sent that memory—one that could still short-circuit her brain—rushing back, replaying on a loop in her head.

There was no way she was having this conversation in broad daylight, so she buried her face in her bowl.

After a couple of bites, something suddenly occurred to her. "Oh, Xuan Xuan, there's something I want to ask Rong Zihan for."

Rong Zihan was another one of Yan Qinxuan's closest friends—the eldest daughter of the powerful Rong family in S City, who, along with Yin Bijie, made up another iron triangle. Jin Mo knew her well enough, but they weren't as tight as she and Yan Qinxuan were. Jin Mo had her own rules when it came to friendships, so she wouldn't go behind Yan Qinxuan's back to reach out to her directly.

The Rong family had pull within the government system. Rong Zihan was a lawyer herself, but her parents basically ran half of S City.

Yan Qinxuan, sharp as ever, narrowed her eyes immediately. "This is for Yin Jihong's A+ project, isn't it?"

Jin Mo owned up to it without hesitation. "The government is his last big hurdle right now. I want to help him."

The final approval of the A+ project hinged on several parties. Fu Zheng was just one piece of the puzzle. If the Rong family were willing to step in and work some angles, they could clear away a lot of obstacles and smooth the road ahead for him.

Navigating business negotiations was Yin Jihong's strong suit—she could offer him ideas and a fresh perspective—but the actual legwork was on him. So she wanted to do whatever she could within her power, quietly clearing the path ahead for him.

Yan Qinxuan asked again, "Did Yin Jihong put you up to this?"

"How could he have asked me to do that?" Jin Mo shook her head. "Besides, he'd never want me going to Han Han for his sake."

He was the type to carry crushing weight on his shoulders without breathing a word to her—always giving her the good news and never the bad. All these years, he'd only ever shown her warmth and sunshine. The dark, dangerous side of the business world—he wouldn't let even a shadow of it brush against her.

He just wanted her to live her whole life under his wing, never having to taste even a drop of hardship or struggle.

So how could he stand to watch her humble herself, asking for favors and racking up debts of gratitude on his behalf?

"Alright." Yan Qinxuan agreed without missing a beat. "I'll call Han Han later. Leave it to me."

"Thank you, Xuan Xuan." Jin Mo took her hand, her eyes curving into a grateful smile. "Tell Han Han she can name her price, and you too—I'll cover meals, spa days, trips... whatever you want. Anything within my power."

"Since when do you need to be so polite with me?" Yan Qinxuan gave her ear another pinch, her eyes soft and a little emotional. "I've known you for years. You've never asked anyone for a single favor, not even for yourself. I never thought I'd live to see you break that rule for Yin Jihong."

Jin Mo didn't say anything—just smiled quietly and pressed a finger to her lips. "Don't you dare tell him."

Yan Qinxuan sighed softly, then asked out of curiosity, "Speaking of which, why not go to Uncle Jin? Wouldn't his position make things way easier? Plus, he's watched Yin Jihong grow up—your families are so tight."

At the mention of Jin Ping, the warmth in Jin Mo's eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by a thin veil of sadness.

She was silent for a moment before telling Yan Qinxuan, "He doesn't like Yin Jihong. Not only would he never lift a finger to help him, he wouldn't want me helping him either."

Yan Qinxuan was taken aback for a second, then it clicked. "Right, Uncle Jin's personality is the polar opposite of Yin Jihong's—one's a stuck-in-his-ways old fogey, the other's a free-spirited new-gen guy. He'd find something to gripe about with Yin Jihong at every turn."

Jin Mo added, "On New Year's Day, my dad told me I had to stay siblings with Yin Jihong forever—keep my distance, never cross that line."

Yan Qinxuan came from a family that was open-minded and democratic to the core, so she found Jin Ping's whole approach completely baffling. "...What?! What century is this? Since when are feelings supposed to follow rules and regulations? You're a human being, not a machine!"

Jin Mo gave a bitter, self-deprecating smile. "My dad's the kind of person who plans out even my career to fit his wishes. Is an arranged marriage really that shocking?"

-

After getting ready for bed, the two girls lay on the hospital bed, heads together, and ended up talking the whole night without even realizing it.

The next morning, a nurse was the one who woke them up.

The nurse came bearing good news—Jin Yuan had woken up.

Jin Mo and Yan Qinxuan were wide awake in an instant. Without a second thought, they scrambled out of bed, did a half-hearted teeth brushing, and bolted straight to the ICU.

Thanks to Dean Wu's fear of Yin Jihong, they basically had free rein in the hospital. So they ran into zero resistance and walked into the ICU at an hour they really shouldn't have been there.

Jin Yuan had just come to. Her face was pale and frail, her body limp, her eyes vacant and hollow as she lay there on the hospital bed.

But when she turned her head just a little and recognized the two familiar faces by her bed, her eyes instantly welled up.

Jin Mo's nose stung, and a sharp, suffocating ache spread through her chest.

She and Yan Qinxuan rushed to Jin Yuan's bedside, one on each side, gently taking her hands and calling her name in soft voices. "Yuan Yuan."

Tears the size of peas rolled down Jin Yuan's cheeks. She was still hooked up to a ventilator and couldn't talk, so all she could do was pour her feelings out through her tear-filled eyes.

"Yuan Yuan, don't be afraid. You're alive, and we're still here." Jin Mo held her hand and spoke to her slowly, one word at a time. "You have to get better. You have to live. You're still so young—there are so many places you haven't been, so many sights you haven't seen, so many people you haven't met."

"Everything beautiful in this world is worth living for."

Yan Qinxuan swallowed her tears and tried to keep things light. "Even if the sky comes crashing down, you don't have to worry. Mo Mo and I will hold it up for you. No one's ever going to hurt you again. If you really love us, take care of yourself and live to a hundred. When we're all old and gray, I'm going to make you wash our feet and rub our backs."

Jin Yuan was caught between tears and laughter—tears streaming down her face while the faintest smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

Jin Mo said softly, trying to soothe her. "Don't think about anything right now. Just rest easy here. We'll take care of you and stay right by your side."

Even with Dean Wu looking the other way, they couldn't push their luck too far.

As the thirty-minute visiting window slipped by, Jin Mo and Yan Qinxuan—even with a thousand things they still wanted to say—had to leave like they were supposed to.

As she turned to leave, Jin Mo felt Jin Yuan's fingers, resting at her side, curl just slightly and tug at her sleeve.

She looked down and found Jin Yuan staring at her with dark, heavy eyes.

Jin Mo knew in an instant what Jin Yuan was thinking.

She traded a look with Yan Qinxuan.

She knew Jin Yuan had just barely escaped death, battered in both body and soul. They'd deliberately kept Shen Yuan's name out of it, not wanting to shake her fragile state of mind any further. But this was just the first step on Jin Yuan's long road to recovery. Shen Yuan had already driven so many knives into her—no matter how much it hurt, they had to help her pull them out.

After a beat of hesitation, Jin Mo spoke slowly. "He never showed. Not once, not from start to finish."

As her voice trailed off, Jin Yuan's fingertips clutching her sleeve suddenly loosened, falling limply back onto the bedding.

Jin Mo saw the faint spark of hope that had just flickered in her eyes quietly die out.

"Yuan Yuan." Jin Mo looked at her haggard appearance. "You've risked your most precious life to win his heart—in the end, do you think you've left any mark on him at all?"

Jin Yuan's body trembled slightly. She slowly closed her eyes, letting silent tears soak into the pillowcase.

-

Walking out of the ICU, Jin Mo took out her phone, about to text Yin Jihong to let him know Jin Yuan was awake.

But just as she and Yan Qinxuan finished getting changed, she looked up and saw Yin Jihong's tall, upright figure standing in the corridor.

He was speaking quietly with Dean Wu about arrangements. Hearing her footsteps, he turned to look at her, a smile curving at the corner of his lips: "Momo, morning."

Compared to yesterday's sickly pallor, he looked dramatically better today—bright eyes, radiant energy, no trace of the fever's exhaustion left in his demeanor, as if he'd fully bounced back to his usual sharp, cocky charm.

If Jin Mo hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she never would have guessed that he'd been plagued by days of consecutive high fever and had collapsed right in front of her yesterday. His stubborn recovery was honestly mind-blowing.

"Miss Jin, Miss Yan, good morning!"

Dean Wu was holding warm soy milk and breakfast, grinning from ear to ear. "Mr. Yin specially arranged this for everyone this morning—every doctor and nurse in the hospital got some. So thoughtful!"

Dean Wu's beaming face seemed to have completely forgotten how Yin Jihong had put him through the wringer yesterday.

Jin Mo couldn't help silently marveling—that man really was as good as ever at winning people over.

A slap, then a sweet treat. He could probably sell Dean Wu and the guy would still be happily counting the money for him.

"You and Yan Qinxuan's breakfast has already been sent up to the VIP ward." Yin Jihong stepped in front of her, lowering his voice, tender and affectionate: "All your favorite Cantonese dim sum. Go on up and eat it while it's hot."

"Tsk, Young Master, you really are a thoughtful one." Yan Qinxuan teased him from the side. "Busy as you are, still bringing the warmth this early—surely you haven't already made your rounds?"

The moment she heard that, Jin Mo knew Yan Qinxuan was deliberately testing his intentions on her behalf.

But Yin Jihong didn't even flinch. He turned to Dean Wu and said, "Miss Yan says she's not hungry. Have someone bring her portion down later and hand it out to the night-shift doctors and nurses."

Yan Qinxuan: "..."

Afraid Yan Qinxuan might lunge at him, Jin Mo stifled a laugh and dragged him away.

The moment Yin Jihong turned to her, the teasing energy vanished, his tone softening: "Did you sleep well here last night? If anything's not comfortable enough, I'll have Dean Wu fix it."

Jin Mo quickly said, "It's perfect. Stop hassling Dean Wu."

"How's Jin Yuan doing?"

"Better than I expected."

But when it came to Shen Yuan—still not great.

That last part, Jin Mo left unsaid.

Back in the VIP ward, Yin Jihong opened the exquisite meal boxes—chicken feet, shrimp dumplings, pineapple buns, BBQ pork buns... laid out neatly one by one in front of her, covering the whole table.

Jin Mo stared at the feast laid out before her and couldn't help exclaiming: "...Isn't this a bit much? There's no way I can eat all this in the morning."

"I'll keep you company." Yin Jihong pulled out her chair, all elegance. "Take your time. No rush."

Sunlight poured in through the window, playfully sliding across the bridge of his straight nose before landing on his well-shaped lips, warm and soft. Jin Mo couldn't help stealing another glance: "Has your fever completely broken?"

"Did I ever have a fever?" He raised an eyebrow lazily, picking up a shrimp dumpling for her. "With my constitution, even the King of Hell takes a detour around me."

Jin Mo was caught between annoyed and amused: "Then who was that guy who couldn't even move from the fever a couple days ago?"

"How would I know." He lifted his gaze, a faint smile flickering in his eyes, locking onto her with burning intensity, his tone suggestive: "Maybe because my power bank wasn't by my side at the time."

The words caught her off guard, and Jin Mo's heart skipped a beat again.

"Blame those bastards from A+. If they hadn't been clinging to me, my power bank was right there in S City—why would I have let myself run dry?"

His gaze lingered on her lovely face in the morning light, his smile deepening. "See—the moment I got plugged in, I was back to full power."

——————————

Author's Note:

Red packets are still dropping randomly! Please keep hitting me with bookmarks, comments, and nutrient solutions! Love you all! Also, don't forget to collect my author page! And feel free to check out my next new book *The Crane* in my collection—a Beijing circle story (might also switch to writing a Beijing circle ensemble piece). Either way, it's all mature men and women, very exciting, haha.

Yin Puppy!!! You're so smooth!! Power bank!! I can see it now—you're going all out!! Hope you get to sink your teeth into your wife soon, ha!

Brother Xuan, oh Brother Xuan, you really know how to talk! Times like this need a best friend to give a little push. Honestly, at their wedding, you and Shanmei should just sit up on the stage (or just get married before them already!). That question you asked—everyone wants to know too. How exactly did Yin Jihong bite Momo? I want to know too—where did he bite? Can you get Sang Jie to write more of that, please?!

Ugh, in my head I've got all kinds of tricks I want the puppy to pull. I'm everyone's "yellow moonlight," you know—want to see it? Want to see it! Then leave me lots of comments, okay!! And please praise me for posting twice today!!

Everything's connected now—Han Han's here too! (From *Following Desire*)