Chapter 130: I Come to Find You [Word Count Supplemented]

Under the night sky, snowflakes fluttered. The man's eyes curved gently, his familiar deep voice, the warm touch of his palm.

It was so beautiful, like a false dream.

Yet in reality, her husband was lying comatose on a cold hospital bed, his life hanging by a thread.

She stared blankly at the man before her. Her heart ached and swelled. Her lips parted, but she couldn't utter a single word.

I missed you so much...

I missed you so much.

She reached out and carefully gripped the hem of his clothes.

Noticing her movement, Shen Linyan looked down, smiling as he took her hand and tucked it into his pocket. "Are you cold? Why did you come out wearing so little?"

This once-customary gesture now left An Ling frozen in place.

A sour ache rose in her nose, and her eyes grew red. She lowered her head as tears slid silently down her cheeks. Her trembling lips parted slightly.

"I came to find you."

"Why didn't you come home..."

"Shen Linyan, I couldn't find you. I couldn't find you..."

Her cheeks were held by his hands, his thumbs gently wiping away the tears at the corners of her eyes. The man leaned down and placed a soft kiss on the corner of her eye, kissing away the bitter teardrops.

"My wife, don't cry."

He pulled her into his embrace, cradling the back of her head with his palm. He lowered his head to kiss the top of her hair, coaxing her softly, "I went to buy flowers for you. I'll come home as soon as I'm done."

An Ling pressed against his chest, so close she could almost hear his rapid yet steady heartbeat.

With every breath, her nose was filled with the man's clean, crisp scent.

She looked up at him, her voice muffled and choked with sobs, "Will you come home right after you buy them?"

Shen Linyan looked down into her teary, red eyes. He slowly lowered his head until their noses touched.

He tilted his head slightly, his high nose bridge brushing her cheek, and planted a doting kiss on the corner of her lips.

"I'll come home right after, honey."

"Will you bake cookies for me when I get back?"

The man's breath brushed against her skin, warm and lingering.

An Ling looked slightly dazed as tears instantly spilled from her eyes.

In that moment, she couldn't even tell if this was an illusion or reality.

She hugged his waist and gave a soft, tearful affirmative hum.

The surrounding scenery began to fade, and the man's face before her grew increasingly blurry.

Her consciousness gradually awakened from the chaos.

An Ling slowly opened her eyes.

Sunlight from outside the window filtered through the curtains. The bed was wide. The man lay quietly on the other side, his face pale and his long eyelashes resting on his cheeks. His breathing relied on the machine, his throat rising and falling slightly.

The cold, mechanical hum of the machine instantly dragged An Ling back to reality.

She slowly sat up and raised a hand to touch her face, only to feel cold, dried tear tracks.

She sniffled, her eyes red as she looked at the man beside her.

"Did you do that on purpose?"

"You're not allowed to enter my dreams again until you wake up, do you hear me?"

The comatose man naturally did not respond.

An Ling got out of bed and put on her coat. After washing up, she came out and wiped Shen Linyan's face and neck.

Just as she sat down, the ward door was opened from the outside.

Seeing a doctor and a nurse enter, An Ling was about to stand up and greet them.

Liang Chen quickly raised his hand and pressed it down, gesturing for her not to bother.

He smiled and said, "I'm just here to check on Shen Linyan's condition."

He took out a penlight and checked Shen Linyan's pupils, then checked his temperature, blood pressure, and other vital signs.

"Everything looks pretty good so far, so don't worry too much. You can talk to him more these days, and you can also help massage his muscles."

An Ling nodded. "Okay, thank you, Doctor."

After Liang Chen finished filling out the chart, he glanced at the man on the bed and handed the clipboard back to the nurse behind him. "You can head out first."

"Okay, Dr. Liang."

The nurse took the chart and turned to leave.

Seeing the door close, An Ling asked, "Is there something else?"

A trace of tension was hidden in her voice.

Liang Chen quickly waved his hands. "No, no, everything is perfectly normal. It's just that there were too many people around earlier to properly say hello."

An Ling was taken aback. "Say hello?"

Her gaze swept over Liang Chen's face.

Did she know anyone who was a doctor?

Seeing the confusion in her eyes, Liang Chen spoke up to remind her, "When Shen Linyan had a fever last time, I was the one who treated him."

Seeing An Ling's expression of sudden realization, he smiled and said, "Actually, I'm also Shen Linyan's friend, Liang Chen. There were two others at the door of the operating room yesterday. The three of us are Shen Linyan's good friends of many years."

An Ling blinked, her eyes curving into a polite smile as she spoke. "I see. I'm sorry, I wasn't in a very good state last night, so I didn't really pay attention."

Last night, it did seem like two unfamiliar men had come to the hospital, but she had been in no mood to care about such things at the time.

Besides, even if she had greeted them, her face blindness meant she wouldn't have remembered them anyway.

"It's fine. The circumstances were special, and they didn't want to bother you too much."

Liang Chen revealed a slightly helpless smile. "Mainly, we just never expected to meet you under these circumstances."

An Ling paused, lowered her eyes, and let out a soft chuckle.

"I didn't expect it either."

Liang Chen stated the purpose of his visit: "So I'll help out with everything else, you don't need to worry. No one should be coming to visit Shen Linyan for now. I've told everyone outside that he needs quiet rest, so those two friends won't come over either."

An Ling was slightly startled, then nodded. "Okay."

She had just been worrying about her face blindness and how she would recognize people if they came to visit.

Fewer people around was actually a good thing.

After saying that, Liang Chen looked down at his watch. "I have other patients to see. If you have any questions, you can come find me in my office. I'll be there whenever I'm free."

A moment before closing the door, Liang Chen's gaze lingered on the man in the hospital bed.

A couple of nights ago, Shen Linyan had suddenly taken the initiative to call him out for drinks.

It was an extremely rare move, and he had been quite surprised.

He never expected that the very first sentence upon meeting would be:

"I might die in a few days."

That single sentence had completely shocked him.

He thought Shen Linyan was joking.

But then, the man stated the location of his death, and even the murderer.

Hearing this, Liang Chen immediately realized something was wrong. He frowned. "Are you planning your own murder? Since you know Lu Jingshen wants to kill you, why don't you just stop him now?"

He didn't believe Shen Linyan lacked the power to do so.

However, Shen Linyan merely replied in a calm tone, saying something he couldn't understand.

"If I dodge it this time, there might be other accidents in the future. I'm worried that I won't know when that time comes."

Knowing in advance that his good friend was going to die left Liang Chen with complicated feelings.

"What about An Ling? She'll definitely be heartbroken if you die."

Hearing this, the man's previously indifferent eyelashes trembled ever so slightly.

He slowly lowered his eyes, the emotions in their depths unreadable, and said softly, "It will pass. Even without me, someone else will love her."

His death would ultimately fade away with time.

But by next spring, his wife would be completely free from all this.

Liang Chen didn't quite understand what was really going on.

But for Shen Linyan to willingly go to his death, it meant that this matter was already incredibly, incredibly serious.

He lost all mood for drinking, his brows furrowed tightly without relaxing.

"Then why did you only call me out this time? Is there something else?"

The man on the sofa remained silent, quietly staring at the liquor in his glass.

After a long while, he finally spoke softly:

"The hospital might get very chaotic later. Please help me take care of her and don't let too many people wander around in front of her."

...

After Liang Chen left, An Ling received a call from Ms. Chen.

She walked to the window and answered the phone.

"Ah Leng, I saw the news."

The news of Lu Jingshen stabbing Shen Linyan had already spread all over the internet the night of the incident.

Ms. Chen comforted her, "Put the rest of your work aside for the next few days. I will arrange for other colleagues to cover for you."

"Thank you, Ms. Chen. I'm sorry for causing trouble."

"It's nothing, this is a special situation. Everyone understands, and you've pretty much finished your work anyway."

Ms. Chen paused before tentatively asking, "So, is your husband doing okay right now?"

An Ling turned her head to look at the unconscious man behind her and pursed her lips.

"He's still unconscious. I'm not sure when he'll wake up."

After saying those things last night, the system only replied with an "I understand."

There were no further messages after that.

It seemed like it wouldn't let Shen Linyan die.

But she wasn't sure if Shen Linyan would remain unconscious forever.

After all, that system had screwed people over way too many times.

Ms. Chen's tone carried a hint of emotion. "Don't worry, everything will get better."

"I still remember when I first met you, you said that you and Shen Linyan were just in a marriage of convenience and your relationship was average. Yet, a few months have passed, so much has happened, and your feelings for each other have grown stronger and stronger. Time truly is a magical thing."

Upon hearing this, An Ling paused slightly.

Following Ms. Chen's words, her memories uncontrollably drifted back to that time.

Let alone Ms. Chen, when she first met Shen Linyan, even she hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

She lowered her eyes and smiled softly.

"Yeah..."

Truly magical.

After waking up in the morning, An Ling hadn't eaten anything yet. She simply packed up her things, turned to look at the man on the hospital bed, walked over, and gently hooked her finger around his.

"I'm going out to eat."

Just as she stepped out of the room and pressed the elevator button, she held her phone and checked her messages.

Jiang Mai had also seen the news and sent her a message, her tone carrying a careful probing.

Jiang Mai: [Lingling, are you okay?]

An Ling: [I'm fine. Shen Linyan is still unconscious.]

Jiang Mai: [Scared me to death. That damn Lu Jingshen, how can someone like him be the male lead?? How could he stab someone?! Did Shen Linyan actually have a plotline like this?]

She paused, pursed her lips, and slowly typed.

[Actually, this was my plotline. I was supposed to die by Lu Jingshen's hands, but Shen Linyan took my place.]

Once this was sent, the other side fell into a brief silence, followed immediately by a series of shocked messages.

[Holy crap???? Is Lu Jingshen crazy? He really wanted to kill you?? Is he sick in the head?]

Thinking of what happened last night, An Ling hesitated and tapped on the screen.

[Actually, I was also planning to let Lu Jingshen go...]

Just as she typed the words, she stopped, eventually deleting the sentence and sighing.

"Ding—"

The elevator arrived. Inside, there was only a girl wearing a mask and a hat, and their eyes met.

After making eye contact, the other person seemed to freeze for a moment.

An Ling didn't notice anything unusual. She walked in and pressed the button for the first floor.

The elevator doors closed, and the numbers on the screen changed one by one.

An Ling was still thinking about what to eat later when a tiny female voice suddenly sounded from behind her.

"...Sister-in-law."

Hearing this, she paused slightly, turned her head to look again, and her gaze lingered on the other person's red hair. "Shen Fuyuan?"

Shen Fuyuan nodded hastily, pulled at her mask, her eyes darting away as she pursed her lips and whispered, "I... I came to see Big Brother and you..."

Saying that, she hurriedly explained, "I had no idea Second Brother would do those things, really! When I found out, I was completely stunned. I don't know where Second Brother is either, he even blocked me!"

An Ling was taken aback, realizing what the girl was worried about.

"Ding—"

The elevator doors opened. She glanced back, then looked at the nervous-looking Shen Fuyuan.

After a few seconds of silent eye contact, she suddenly spoke:

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

Shen Fuyuan: ?

A few minutes later, in a breakfast shop.

An Ling sat on a chair, a steaming bowl of wontons placed in front of her.

She picked up the vinegar on the side, poured a little with a spoon, and raised her eyes to look at the girl in front of her.

"Are you sure you don't want to eat? There are very few people here, no one should be able to recognize you."

They were sitting in the innermost part of the shop, and Shen Fuyuan had her back to the others. Just looking at her back, no one else should be able to recognize her.

Shen Fuyuan still shook her head. "I've already eaten, you go ahead."

An Ling nodded and lowered her head to scoop up a wonton with her spoon.

She blew on it, but the freshly made wonton was still a bit hot, so she could only take a small bite.

It seemed to taste a little different from the ones Shen Linyan had brought back before.

While she was focusing on the taste, she caught sight of the slightly uneasy Shen Fuyuan out of the corner of her eye.

She blinked, ate the wonton from the spoon, her cheeks puffing out slightly.

Shen Fuyuan was feeling a bit nervous inside right now.

During the previous incident with the Shen Group, Big Brother had already spared the Lu family from complete ruin for her sake, leaving a way out for their mother and Second Brother.

But now that Second Brother had done something like this, she didn't know how to face Big Brother and her sister-in-law.

Just as she was thinking this, An Ling's voice rang in her ears.

"You don't need to be so nervous. This matter has nothing to do with you."

Shen Fuyuan paused, and the eyes beneath her hat looked up.

An Ling stirred the wontons in her bowl, her tone no different from usual.

"This is what Lu Jingshen did. Neither Shen Linyan nor I will think differently of you because of this. Don't worry, just act as we always have."

Shen Fuyuan was slightly taken aback, her tone carrying a hint of pleasant surprise.

"Really?"

"Really."

An Ling lowered her head to blow on a wonton. "If you want to go see Shen Linyan, you can. It's just that he's still unconscious right now, and I don't know when he'll wake up."

Hearing this, Shen Fuyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She pursed her lips and said, "I don't know when the police will be able to catch Second Brother either. Sister-in-law, don't worry, if Second Brother contacts me, I will definitely report him."

Hearing this, An Ling's movements paused slightly.

Her eyelids drooped, and she stayed quiet for a moment before speaking:

"What if he dies while on the run?"

Shen Fuyuan's expression froze.

The dining table fell quiet for a moment.

An Ling sighed inwardly, put down her spoon, and said softly, "I'll first..."

The next second, the girl's hesitant voice caught her off guard and interrupted her.

"Sister-in-law, are you telling me to take out Second Brother?"

An Ling: "...?"

Has this girl been acting in too many dramas?