Chapter 292 - 127: The "Wild Dog" Storyline (Part 2)

Chapter 292: Chapter 127: The "Wild Dog" Storyline (Part 2)

"Why are you suddenly asking about that night?" Ruoping asked, taken aback.

"It’s been eight years, hasn’t it? Don’t tell me you’ve completely forgotten about it?" Du Kang added.

Zhang Shutong nodded weakly.

"Where do you want to start?" Du Kang asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, that night was really long. Remember? We had lunch, then Song got into a car accident. We both went to the city one after the other, and then, Shutong, you went back to the hospital for a shot..."

"I remember all that. I mean after we parted ways downstairs at the hospital."

"Oh, then Ruoping should tell you. I was in the city that night."

Ruoping cupped her face in her hands and began to recall.

"You were buried in an avalanche. Qinglian found you. She used your phone to call me, and I called my dad. He drove you to the hospital. Do you remember any of that?"

’Just as I thought.’

’It was Lu Qinglian who found me.’

Then he frowned. ’But if it was Ruoping’s dad who saved me, what about the long-haired woman? Wasn’t she buried right next to me?’

’Does that mean they didn’t manage to catch her?’

"Was it just me and Lu Qinglian at the scene?" Zhang Shutong pressed.

"To be precise, it was just you."

"Just me?"

"Yeah. You know how my dad took us to that villa before? Luckily, he remembered the way. When he got there, he found you lying in the snow all by yourself. He didn’t have time to look for Qinglian; he just rushed you to the hospital."

’I see.’ Zhang Shutong thought he understood why Lu Qinglian hadn’t been at the scene.

’She must have gone to deal with the long-haired woman.’

"Then what?"

"Then... where do I even begin," Ruoping sighed. "Things got complicated after that. Do you know how long you were unconscious for?"

Before Zhang Shutong could answer, Ruoping said:

"Until the next Monday."

"For two whole days?"

"It was definitely Monday. Wasn’t that Du Kang’s birthday? Obviously, no one was in the mood to celebrate. We all went to the hospital to be with you, which is why I remember it so clearly. Qingyi and I were there, and Qingyi suggested we call your parents first. So, your mom and dad rushed back from the city the next morning. They had you transferred to another hospital, and a few of us went along. Do you remember our middle school homeroom teacher, Teacher Song? You two ended up in the same hospital in the city for a week."

Zhang Shutong found it strangely dramatic. ’Me and Song, hospital buddies?’

Ruoping continued:

"Oh, right. Since you brought up Gu Qiuyan, I’ll tell you what happened with her. You snuck her out, didn’t you? I think you were supposed to get her back before dawn so her family wouldn’t find out. But when she woke up, she found you being resuscitated. She was so worried about you that she stayed at the hospital and didn’t leave. I remember... I think it was almost morning when she called her dad directly. A whole crowd of people showed up—her family’s bodyguards and maids. They were discussing whether to have you transferred. Her dad chewed her out, too. He was really angry. Anyway, it was a total madhouse, complete chaos. We went to sleep after we knew you were out of danger. When we woke up, you had already been taken off the island."

Zhang Shutong could imagine how chaotic the scene must have been, with all those different groups of people mixed together.

He reviewed what Ruoping had said. It all seemed to check out. The only unresolved issue, then, was that he hadn’t managed to get Gu Qiuyan back home in time?

’And that made Father Gu unhappy? Right, that’s a given. Any father would be furious if his daughter ran off in the middle of the night with some punk.’

"Nothing else happened to her after that, right?" Zhang Shutong confirmed again.

"No, what could have happened?" Ruoping said, finding it strange. "Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

"Seriously," Du Kang chimed in, raising an eyebrow. "The first thing Shutong asked when he woke up was whether Gu Qiuyan was dead or not. I was thinking, ’You two didn’t have any beef before, did you?’ You almost stunned me speechless. Dude, could you try a more tactful way of asking next time?"

Zhang Shutong ignored Du Kang’s teasing. He was simply glad that Gu Qiuyan was okay.

The thought that this girl’s life hadn’t stopped at sixteen but was instead continuing on a new path—a life that would be much longer than before, stretching on for another sixteen, twenty-six, thirty-six years... Of course, it was too early to think about all that. Only eight years had passed since the dawn of the 9th.

But if eight years had passed, that meant Gu Qiuyan was now twenty-four. Zhang Shutong suddenly wanted to see what she looked like at twenty-four.

"Are you and Gu Qiuyan in contact again?" Ruoping suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You haven’t mentioned her to us in a long time."

Zhang Shutong nodded, the realization dawning on him slowly. He didn’t understand what Ruoping was trying to say.

’Did we have some kind of falling out? That shouldn’t be possible. I can’t think of how else I could have upset Gu Qiuyan... unless running out on the day of the avalanche, and getting myself into such a mess, was seen as breaking my promise to her. And on top of that, I got her into trouble with her father for sneaking out at night.’ Zhang Shutong’s head started to hurt just thinking about it.

"Then why did you have to do that back then?" Seeing his silence, Ruoping took it as confirmation. "You should have just agreed back in your fourth year of middle school."

"Agreed to what?" Zhang Shutong froze.

"You’ve really forgotten everything..." Ruoping lowered her eyes. "She suddenly transferred schools in the second semester of that fourth year. She was moving to the provincial capital. She wanted you to go with her, so she could help you get treatment for your illness. But you refused, no matter what. You never told us what happened in the end. All we know is that her entire family moved to the provincial capital."

Zhang Shutong almost thought he had misheard.

"Help me get treatment? Treatment for what illness?"

"For the illness you have right now, of course."