Chapter 33: Speaking Recklessly Deserves a Slap

Human nature is the most complex and contradictory of traits. Everyone harbors a shadowed soul within; for some, it remains locked in a cage, while for others, it has already been released.

Take me, for instance. The darkness within me was unleashed the moment I killed for the first time. I tried to lock it away again, but in the midst of relentless danger, only by embracing the darkness and the act of killing could I survive.
—Excerpt from Qin Feng’s Netherworld Diary.

…

Beeep… beeep…

The call connected, but no one answered. I hung up, feeling that this wasn't like Wang Meiyu at all.

But no sooner had I done so than Wang Meiyu called back.

“Qin Feng, I heard you took leave too? Are you back now?” Her voice was soft, yet it seemed to drift, lacking the vitality she once had.

“I’m back. I heard you quit your job to become Fu Yiman’s manager?” I replied.

“Yes. I felt it was time I saw a wider world. Linjiang is just too small,” she said with a sigh.

I was silent for a moment, then smiled. “True, the world is vast. You should go see it. Congratulations.”

After hanging up, I sat there dazed for a while before shaking my head with a wry smile.

I’d actually thought Wang Meiyu wasn’t being sincere. How vain of me. Who says others can only like you and revolve around you?

After work, just as I stepped out of the hospital, a fiery red sports car screeched to a halt in front of me. The window rolled down, revealing a pretty face behind oversized sunglasses—it was Xu Baoguo’s daughter, Xu Bao’er.

“Hey, handsome, get in,” she said with a playful grin.

I walked around to the other side and got in. The engine roared, and the car shot forward like a missile.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Nothing special. Haven’t seen you in ages, just missed you,” Xu Bao’er replied cheerfully.

Her smile made me think of Wang Meiyu, who used to smile just as brightly.

“No thinking about other women,” Xu Bao’er suddenly said, noticing my silence.

A woman’s terrifying intuition!

“I called you a week ago, wanted to ask you to the movies,” she continued.

A week ago?

That reminded me of those sixteen missed calls—fifteen from Chi Yun, and the last one, it seemed, was from Xu Bao’er.

“You didn’t save my number, did you? Hand me your phone,” Xu Bao’er said, steering with one hand and holding out the other.

“Keep your eyes on the road. I don’t want to die young,” I grumbled.

“I’m the Linjiang queen of the road—who doesn’t know about my skills? Give it here,” she insisted.

I handed her my phone. She quickly tapped away and tossed it back.

I glanced at the screen. She’d saved her number as “Goddess Bao’er.”

Childish.

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I left it as it was, slipped the phone into my pocket, and thought to myself how much Xu Bao’er had changed. She wasn’t as overbearing as before, didn’t act superior—at least, not with me.

“Where are you taking me now?” I asked.

“To a friend’s birthday party. I already told them I’d bring my boyfriend,” she said.

I raised an eyebrow. “So, I’m your boyfriend now?”

“Of course.” Seeing I was about to object, she quickly added in a pleading tone, “Just for today, please?”

I couldn’t be bothered to argue and leaned back in the passenger seat, closing my eyes to rest.

Xu Bao’er glanced at me, the corners of her mouth curling up in secret.

Soon, the fiery red sports car growled its way up to a manor atop Wanglong Mountain in Linjiang.

The parking lot was already filled with luxury cars.

We got out, and Xu Bao’er slipped her arm through mine as we entered the grand hall at the manor’s front.

Many people greeted Xu Bao’er, and I could tell that more than a few men were eyeing me with barely concealed hostility.

“You’re using me as a shield, aren’t you?” I murmured.

“In part. Those pests are insufferable,” Xu Bao’er replied.

Just then, a girl in a white evening dress, her neck adorned with glittering diamonds, bathed from head to toe in resplendent jewels, approached, flanked by a crowd of young men and women.

“Bao’er, you finally made it. Did you bring your boyfriend?” The girl’s smile was pretty, but there was a mocking edge to her tone.

“He’s right in front of you. Ouyang Lei, are you blind?” Xu Bao’er retorted with a cold sneer—there was no way she didn’t know that was intentional.

I kept a neutral expression, not deigning to be drawn into the childish sparring of two young women. Perhaps I didn’t realize it myself, but though I was only a couple of years older than them, my outlook had grown far more jaded overnight.

Ouyang Lei finally looked me up and down, then sneered, “This is your doctor boyfriend? Couldn’t you buy him some decent clothes? Just look at him.”

“Better than some people—glittering on the outside, rotten within. Hmph.” Xu Bao’er held her head high and tugged me away, grabbing two glasses of wine and handing me one.

She gently clinked her glass against mine. “I know you folks who live above the world look down on us. Isn’t it funny?”

I took a light sip of red wine and replied coolly, “I’m no sage. True sages aren’t swayed by fortune or misfortune. I’m just an ordinary man.”

“I hear you’re a womanizer. What do you think of me?” Xu Bao’er suddenly leaned close, one hand holding her wine, the other on my shoulder, tossing me a flirtatious wink.

I nearly spat my wine all over her face. What kind of woman says things like that?

“Not much,” I replied, expression darkening.

“Don’t tell me you’re impotent from overindulgence. That night, you didn’t react at all…” Xu Bao’er’s gaze flicked meaningfully toward my lap.

That night… The shame…

I wrapped my arm around Xu Bao’er’s waist, pulling her close, and said through gritted teeth, “Childish mind games, but you’ve succeeded. Want to see if I’ll drag you upstairs and take you right now?”

Xu Bao’er’s cheeks flushed, and she could clearly feel the change pressed against her abdomen, but she refused to back down. “Go ahead, who’s afraid?”

But at that moment, Ouyang Lei returned, leading a beautiful woman in an elegant gown.

“Didn’t you say your boyfriend is a doctor? Let me introduce my aunt—Dr. Wang Qing, chief physician at Capital City Hospital, here for my birthday party,” Ouyang Lei said, her smile forced.

I glanced at the elegant woman, eyebrow arching slightly. Her features were sharp, not someone easy to get along with, but more importantly, a dark shadow clouded her brow and her energy floated on the surface. She looked spirited, but within, she was already tainted by something evil.

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There was no doubt—she’d been touched by something unclean.

Xu Bao’er snorted and ignored them.

Wang Qing was proud of her status—a chief physician at the Capital’s leading hospital, acquainted with countless officials. Everywhere she went, people rushed to curry favor—yet these two youngsters treated her like thin air.

“You’re a doctor at Linjiang People’s Hospital? Just graduated? Still an intern?” Wang Qing inquired loftily.

“What advice do you have for me, Dr. Wang?” I asked coolly, already growing impatient.

“Advice? Hardly. Just a reminder—young people should be humble and know their place,” Wang Qing said. She knew Xu Bao’er’s background and dared not provoke her, so she turned her ire on me, the seemingly powerless young doctor.

“Since when does Capital City Hospital dictate to Linjiang Hospital? I think you’re the one who needs to know her place,” Xu Bao’er shot back mercilessly.

Wang Qing’s face turned an ugly shade of green. Ouyang Lei had brought her over to use her status to embarrass me and, by extension, Xu Bao’er. She hadn’t expected Xu Bao’er, the archetypal rich girl, to give no quarter, leaving her speechless.

“Bao’er, enough. Talk to her too much and you’ll have nightmares tonight,” I said.

Xu Bao’er froze, then quickly ducked behind me as if Wang Qing were carrying some terrible contagion.

“You… you…” Wang Qing was furious, feeling utterly humiliated.

Suddenly, she let out a wail, clutching at her chest, then collapsed in a fit, convulsing on the floor. The foam at her mouth was black, reeking of a foul stench.

Ouyang Lei screamed for help, and the hall erupted in chaos.

People came rushing down from the second floor—the young people had gathered on the first floor, while the elders were upstairs.

“Wang Qing! Wang Qing, are you alright?” a mustached middle-aged man cried anxiously.

“Is there a doctor here? Anyone?” someone shouted.

“He’s a doctor!” Ouyang Lei pointed at me, and all eyes turned.

“I’m just a junior doctor. I’m afraid this is out of my depth,” I shrugged. In truth, the moment she collapsed, I wanted to rush over, but forced myself to stop—her illness had nothing to do with medicine.

Ouyang Lei shrieked, “I bet he did this! My aunt was fine until she talked to him—then she collapsed!”

My expression darkened, and I swept my gaze over her, sharp as a blade.

Ouyang Lei’s breath caught, as if she’d been plunged into an icy pool, shuddering with cold.

“She’s just a child, speaking nonsense. Dr. Qin, please don’t take offense. If you’re willing to help, I, Ouyang Zhihua, will be eternally grateful,” a refined middle-aged man said, approaching me.

“Nonsense should be punished,” I said coldly.

“Dr. Qin…” Ouyang Zhihua’s tone cooled. He considered himself already very courteous—if the manor weren’t so far from the hospital, he wouldn’t be so polite to a young man.

At that moment, Xu Baoguo, who had been standing behind, pulled Ouyang Zhihua aside and whispered something in his ear. Ouyang Zhihua’s face changed dramatically, and his gaze toward me shifted.

Xu Baoguo stepped up, bowed slightly, and said, “Dr. Qin, for my sake, could you help us?”