7. Given the choice between the two, he chose his little girl once again.

Lu Tingyuan did not speak again, clearly waiting for Ji Qingran to state her position.

Her hand clutching the phone was stiff, yet she forced herself to speak as if nothing were wrong: "What do you want me to do?"

"Make a statement to explain that Yiyi is not a mistress. She is innocent, and I don't want her to be misunderstood by others."

His tone toward her was polite enough for now, but if one listened closely, the sense of detachment was palpable.

Ji Qingran couldn't help but ask him, "Since you are in the group chat, you have seen how your friends are talking about me, haven't you?"

The person on the other end gave a faint "hmm." He didn't seem to care much about her words, only saying coldly, "They say what they want. Qingran, don't take it to heart."

"So, it’s fine for them to humiliate me, but it’s not okay for Jiang Yao to call Su Yiyi a mistress?"

There was a long silence on the other end.

It wasn't until a voice was heard in the background—a delicate, weak, and timid cry—that he spoke again: "Qingran, do as I said."

Ji Qingran wanted to say "no," but the call had already ended.

She sat alone in the darkness, the quiet like an endless, frigid night, swallowing her bit by bit.

The phone beside her lit up and went dark, lit up and went dark again, flickering for a while before she finally gathered the strength to pick it up.

A drop of water fell onto the screen. She paused, realizing she had begun to cry at some point. Tears wet her cheeks, biting and cold.

She opened the messages, forcing herself to focus all her attention on the screen.

It turned out that Lu Tingyuan had added her to the group. The insults and mockery still swirling around her hit her eyes directly.

Indeed, it was much worse than what Jiang Yao had relayed to her.

Lu Tingyuan sent another message to urge her: "Yiyi is awake. Hurry up."

Ji Qingran blinked her sore eyes and replied, "Okay."

She did as he wished, posting in the group: "I am Ji Qingran. Lu Tingyuan and I have broken up, so Su Yiyi is not a mistress. Please do not misunderstand."

She was someone brought in by Lu Tingyuan, so once she spoke, those who had been berating her fell silent. It wasn't out of consideration for her, but rather to give Lu Tingyuan some face.

Ji Qingran had no energy left to look at the messages in the group, so she simply turned off her phone and went to sleep.

She had come home with wet hair that evening, caught a cold wind on the way, and was physically and mentally exhausted. Once she fell asleep, she drifted into a feverish illness.

The next day, Jiang Yao woke her up, asking with concern if she was alright.

Having lived alone abroad for years, she was used to minor illnesses and didn't take them seriously, waving her hand to tell Jiang Yao not to worry.

Jiang Yao had a meeting with new investors to tour the company that day and couldn't be late, so she told her to rest and recover, then left.

Ji Qingran slept until the afternoon. Feeling that something was wrong, she found a thermometer and measured her temperature: 39.5 degrees Celsius.

She couldn't afford to be careless with such a high fever, so she gritted her teeth and got up to go to the hospital.

She didn't expect to run into Lu Tingyuan's assistant while picking up her medication.

She tried to dodge him, but the assistant had already walked over: "Ms. Qingran, Mr. Lu wants to see you."

Ji Qingran knew that the assistant must have seen her earlier and sought Lu Tingyuan's approval.

She was too sick to have much energy, and hearing this, she lacked the strength to refuse. She nodded, "Give me a moment to steady myself."

The assistant smiled politely at her and said, "Ms. Qingran, you know Mr. Lu's temper. Please don't make things difficult for me."

Ji Qingran was led to Su Yiyi's hospital room, though the assistant didn't let her go inside, telling her to wait at the door. Through the door, she could hear Su Yiyi’s laughter, full of vigor.

After a long while, Lu Tingyuan finally came out.

He had sought her out to question the statement she made in the group the night before: "Why did you say we broke up?"

Ji Qingran couldn't really tell if Lu Tingyuan was angry. She felt terrible, her head spinning, and she was on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

Her body swayed, and her forehead bumped against something hard. She leaned into it, using it as a support to hold herself up.

"What else?" she said, too miserable to even open her eyes. "You asked me to explain for Su Yiyi. If I said we were broken up, people wouldn't think she was a mistress anymore."

When she leaned over, Lu Tingyuan habitually placed his hand on her waist. Only after his hand landed did he notice a hollow feeling in his palm.

He squeezed her waist as if in disbelief, only then realizing she had lost so much weight.

She hadn't had much flesh to begin with, and now she was even thinner. He couldn't help but frown, saying with a headache, "You've become so thin that it feels bony when I hold you."

Only then did Ji Qingran realize she had collapsed into Lu Tingyuan's arms.

She immediately tried to pull away, but his hand remained tightly locked on her waist. As a sick person with weak limbs, she couldn't break free at all.

"Why are you dodging?" he glared at her with dissatisfaction, only then noticing the abnormal flush on her cheeks. He reached out to touch her, shocked to find her skin burning hot.

"Are you sick?"

Ji Qingran didn't answer, her gaze fixed on the door of the hospital room.

The door opened at some point, and Su Yiyi stood there in a hospital gown, looking at her with eyes full of malice.

As someone with a high fever, she inexplicably felt a chill run through her entire body.

Lu Tingyuan saw Su Yiyi too and asked with concern, "Why did you come out?"

Su Yiyi gave him a gentle smile, not a trace of malice left on her face: "I wanted to ask the nurse what time the injection is, but I didn't expect to disturb Brother and Ms. Qingran."

As she spoke, she took two steps forward, her pale, fair feet exposed beneath her pant legs, stepping barefoot on the cold tile floor.

Lu Tingyuan let go of Ji Qingran and turned to stop her: "The floor is cold; how can your body handle it?"

Su Yiyi stuck out her tongue and immediately admitted her mistake: "I was in such a hurry, I forgot."

Lu Tingyuan moved to pick her up and carry her back to the room.

By this time, Su Yiyi had reached Ji Qingran, only two or three steps away. Lu Tingyuan was tall, and as he bent down to scoop her up, Su Yiyi giggled and said it tickled. He adjusted his posture and, without paying attention, bumped into Ji Qingran.

Ji Qingran couldn't withstand the impact at all. She stumbled back uncontrollably, the back of her head hitting the wall hard, and then she collapsed limply to the floor.

Lu Tingyuan wanted to go to her, but Su Yiyi was in his arms, her hands wrapped tightly around his neck. Every time he moved, she cried out in fright.

Unable to simply abandon Su Yiyi, he had no choice but to call for the assistant.

Ji Qingran soon regained consciousness. Her mind was clear, but she felt a searing pain in the back of her head, and her vision swam in waves of dizziness. Her entire body felt sapped of all strength; no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get up.

Later, she was lifted onto a stretcher by many hands. As the nurse pushed her along, she noticed a pool of crimson liquid where she had been lying.

She realized with a slow, dull ache that she had bled so much. The color was so piercing, just like the liquid that had pooled all over the floor of that rented room years ago.