Chapter 19: Sister Bai, Black-and-Blue
Ten million was more than enough for Jiang Yu to live on, so he waited for Han Cheng to dump him.
Watching one Han Cheng scandal after another, every time Jiang Yu saw intimate photos of Han Cheng with someone else, he’d get excited, thinking Han Cheng was finally going to dump him.
But after waiting a whole year—even after Ji Xu, that “white moonlight,” had returned—Han Cheng still hadn’t dumped him. That dog of a man was harder to figure out than a woman.
It wasn’t that Jiang Yu hadn’t tried to dump Han Cheng himself. When he brought up the breakup, the look in Han Cheng’s eyes—like he wanted to devour him—still gave Jiang Yu chills whenever he thought about it.
Han Cheng must have been angry, but he still agreed to the breakup. Jiang Yu thought he was finally free, and that very night he happily left the seaside villa.
But in a villa area where even a dropped hundred-yuan bill would only ever be picked up by Jiang Yu, a few thugs suddenly appeared that night. Jiang Yu was nearly pinned to the ground and dealt with on the spot.
After smashing his luggage into the thugs, Jiang Yu staggered and ran for half an hour before escaping the villa area. He finally reached a main road and, with great difficulty, managed to flag down a taxi.
He had the driver go for an hour, found a hotel more than eighty kilometers away from the villa area, and when he got out to pay, he discovered his WeChat and bank cards had been frozen.
Over ten million yuan—frozen just like that, in an hour and a half.
He’d smashed his luggage to fight off the thugs, and he didn’t have a single cent of cash on him. After driving for nothing, the ferocious-looking driver refused to let him out without payment and drove for over another hour, dumping him back on the main road outside the villa area.
And there was Han Cheng, leaning against the sports car Jiang Yu had bought in a fit of pique. The thugs were with him. He was leisurely smoking, having been waiting there all along.
The fierce driver instantly turned as docile as a kitten in front of Han Cheng. Jiang Yu immediately understood everything. Amid Han Cheng’s smug smile, he was pressed back into the sports car.
Jiang Yu was harshly “taught a lesson” all night. The next day, looking at the sun outside the window, he resigned himself to fate—he simply couldn’t escape Han Cheng’s Five-Finger Mountain.
That night, Jiang Yu didn’t sleep well. He kept dreaming. Maybe because he’d gone over his transmigration experiences while awake, his dreams replayed those memories over and over.
Good and bad alike—he experienced joy, anger, sorrow, and delight several times in a single night. Sleeping was worse than not sleeping at all; when he woke up, he felt even more exhausted.
“You’re finally awake. How can you sleep so much?” As soon as he opened his eyes, Sister Bai’s swollen face filled his vision.
Jiang Yu jumped in fright. Only after looking closely did he recognize that the black-and-blue face, with a clear handprint swelling on it, belonged to the usually fierce Sister Bai.
“Sister Bai? What happened to you? Who hit you?” Jiang Yu was instantly wide awake. He tried to sit up, but his waist wouldn’t allow it, so he could only lie there and look at her.
“Who would dare hit me? Who else could hit me? If someone hit me, who wouldn’t I dare hit back?” Sister Bai stood up, resentfully touching the corner of her eye, which was so swollen it was just a slit.
“Han Cheng?” Jiang Yu thought about it. It seemed only Han Cheng could keep Sister Bai in check.
“I’m a top-tier manager, after all. I’ve worked at the company for fifteen years. President Han really didn’t hold back.” Sister Bai touched the corner of her mouth again. That slap from Han Cheng had swollen her entire left face.
“Why did Han Cheng hit you so hard?” Jiang Yu asked, puzzled.
“What else could it be? Because Meng Yi smeared you. Didn’t you see the way President Han looked on set, like the King of Hell? I almost thought I was done for. Meng Yi had it much worse than me—he’s still lying in the hospital now.”
“Sister Bai, Brother Yu.” The ward door suddenly opened, and a boy of sixteen or seventeen walked in, carrying two large bags.
Sister Bai pulled the boy over and forced an ugly smile as she introduced him to Jiang Yu. “Sun Haoxuan. I just signed him. I’ll be managing him from now on. You’re his senior, so I brought him to see you.”
“Hello, Brother Yu. These are some supplements—drink more of them, they’re good for your waist.” Sun Haoxuan set the two large bags on the bedside cabinet. Jiang Yu saw the packaging of cordyceps inside the plastic bags.
Those two bags definitely hadn’t been cheap.
“Sorry to put you to such expense.” After the lesson with Meng Yi, Jiang Yu didn’t want to make another seemingly close friend so easily.
“No problem. Brother Yu, if it’s inconvenient for you to get up, just tell me—I’ll help.”
When Sun Haoxuan smiled, he had that bright, sunny look. Sunlight streamed in through the window behind him, radiating around his figure and making him stand out even more.
For a moment, Jiang Yu seemed to see Meng Yi again, grinning at him with his big buck teeth, completely unguarded.
Covering his eyes with his palm, Jiang Yu sighed and asked, “Where’s Aunt Chen?”
“Aunt Chen said she went home to get you some clean clothes, toothpaste, toothbrush, and other daily necessities. She’ll be back soon and asked us to look after you for a bit.”
“Then I really do need to trouble you. I’ve just woken up and haven’t taken care of a certain physiological need yet. Help me bring the wheelchair over and support me onto it—that’s all. I can handle the rest myself.”
“That’s an urgent matter. Haoxuan, hurry and get the wheelchair, push Brother Yu into the bathroom.” Jiang Yu had been looking at Sister Bai when he said it, hoping she’d help, but Sister Bai instead directed Sun Haoxuan.
The boy immediately started searching the room for a wheelchair. “Brother Yu, where’s the wheelchair?”
“If it’s not in the room, then it’s in the wheelchair storage area. There’s a room at the end of the corridor—go there and ask the nurses to lend you one. Register it under my name.”
“Okay, I’ll go right away.” Sun Haoxuan darted out.
Sister Bai asked Jiang Yu with satisfaction, “Well? Good-looking, hardworking, knows how to read the room, and is good with people. Most importantly, his singing isn’t bad either. I can definitely make him into a second Meng Yi.”
“Sister Bai, do you really like the sunny pretty-boy type that much? Be careful he turns into another Meng Yi.”
“If he turns into another one, I’ll just switch to a new one. Aren’t there plenty of handsome boys who want to get famous?”
Sister Bai didn’t care at all. After looking at Jiang Yu for a moment, she hesitated, then said, “Jiang Yu, Meng Yi is in this hospital too, also being treated for a back injury. President Han kicked his back to the point of crippling it. He’s on your floor, in Ward 501, sharing a room with three other people. President Han wouldn’t let him have a private room.
“If you want to ask him why he set you up, you could go ask him quietly. But that kid keeps his mouth shut tight. President Han and I both questioned him, and he wouldn’t say why—he’d rather have his back kicked half to death than say a single word.
“If you go ask him, maybe he’ll talk.”
“Han Cheng crippled his back? And beat you up like this—why, because of me?” Jiang Yu didn’t want to be narcissistic, but the situation really was strange.
“Who else could it be? While President Han was beating Meng Yi, he was snarling, ‘You dare bully my man—you’re asking to die.’” Sister Bai bared her teeth, mimicking Han Cheng’s vicious, violent manner.
“Jiang Yu, I’ve told you before, stop always fighting with President Han. He may be a playboy, but when it comes to you, he really is serious.
You two have been together six years, right? Since your debut, President Han has never once brought up breaking up with you. Look around—who’s ever stayed with President Han for more than three months? If he didn’t have you in his heart, would he have dragged things out with you for six years?”
