Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Auntie Li provided the information. “She’s in the Yi De Fei Rehab Home in the suburbs.”
Qiao Lian nodded to show she understood.
Then, she headed upstairs.
At the same time, in a hospital elsewhere…
Purple Fairy was looking in dismay at her thighs, that had been scalded and turned bright red. She was full of anger.
The scorching pain would at the most be temporarily relieved by the application of some ointment, but that wouldn’t get rid of the sting completely.
Ouch.
Apart from the pain, she could feel nothing else in her legs.
The burns on her thighs also meant that whenever she had clothes on, they would make contact with her skin and it would be inevitably agonizing and torturous.
Forget Chuan!
The infuriated Purple Fairy was determined to make her pay for this.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden ringing of her cell phone. She picked it up and saw it was Sun Linan. She immediately answered in her sweetest voice, “How are you, Mr Sun?!”
Sun Linan’s voice came through the line. “How was the match today?”
“We didn’t have a problem. We made it to the grand final.”
Sun Linan nodded on the other end of the line and added, “Okay, great. I will be there at the grand final. Your team must win this competition, no matter what. Do you understand?”
Purple Fairy gave him her word. “Don’t you worry. We won’t have a problem!”
–
Alone in the bedroom, Qiao Lian felt that unbidden sense of loneliness engulf her once again.
She pursed her lips.
After hesitating for a moment, she dialed Shen Liangchuan’s number.
Two rings. Someone picked up the line.
Shen Liangchuan’s resonant voice was heard saying, “Hello?”
Qiao Lian pursed her lips and said after a short pause, “It’s me.”
“I know.”
His deep voice was very different from before, from the croaking voice he had as an adolescent going through puberty.
It was like a person who had undergone rebirth to become resplendent and radiant.
Eight years ago, Qiao Lian would laugh at him every time she heard his voice coming through the cell phone.
Boys going through puberty never liked to talk very much because of how they sounded just before their voices broke.
Little had this boy known that whenever Qiao Lian heard his voice, she had felt a certain sense of comfort and security.
At that time, she had often wondered how Shen Liangchuan would sound after his voice broke, and whether it would take away that sense of familiarity she had with him.
And later on, she did hear his manly voice.
Mellow, rich and so fascinating. It was an attractive voice that she had fallen in love with.
So this was how Zi Chuan was after he had grown up.
Before she knew it, her eyes began to sting as tears formed.
Her vision blurred a little.
Qiao Lian immediately drew a tissue from the box to dry her eyes.
She was becoming quite awkward.
Obviously, she had questions for him, but why was it that the moment she heard his voice, her heart stung?
She bit her lip and said after a short pause, “When are you coming home?”
“I can’t be sure yet.”
His words came with some hesitation.
Qiao Lian tightened her grip on the phone. A pause. “I wanted to ask you something.”
Silence.
The silence was deafening, she was sure she would be able to hear a needle drop.
The silence at the other end of the line caused her heart to pound in her ears.
After what seemed like an eternity, but also as fast a thought, in the blink of an eye, the man spoke, “Ask.”
Qiao Lian froze.
What was she going to ask?
Are you Zi Chuan?
The memorabilia on the third floor and the moves at the competition this morning were proof of his identity.
Did this question still make sense?
But since they had come to this point, Qiao Lian clenched her fists tightly.
She said after taking a deep breath, “I am Xiao Qiao”
