As she approached the hospital entrance, her phone vibrated slightly, and she took it out to look at it.
It was sent from an unknown number.
"Coming tonight? I brought a foreign girl."
[It's a promise, Xu Qingzhu is coming along.]
[Should we exchange for one day or one week?]
Liang Shi: "..."
Grass!
She knew the original owner was a scumbag, but she never imagined she could be this scumbag.
They're even capable of wife-swapping?
Liang Shi sighed and blocked the person.
Then, she casually tied her hair up with a hair tie, and suddenly the elevator floor changed, taking her directly to the tenth floor.
She needed to get straight to the point and make things clear with Xu Qingzhu first.
She is not the same Liang Shi as before!
A few minutes later, Liang Shi stood at the door of Xu Qingzhu's ward and gently knocked.
A clear, cold voice rang out, "Enter."
It seems that Bai Weiwei and Zhao Xuning have already left.
Liang Shi pushed open the door.
In the empty and quiet ward, Xu Qingzhu sat on the bed in her hospital gown. Sunlight shone on her face, making her look very fragile and easily arousing people's protective instincts.
Liang Shi gripped the plastic bag, making a swishing sound.
She gently closed the door and said softly, "Xu Qingzhu, I have something to tell you."
But to her surprise, Xu Qingzhu's expression changed immediately when she saw what she was carrying, and she pressed the emergency button on the bedside table.
Soon, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.
“I won’t hurt you,” Liang Shi explained urgently. “I’ve really changed. Can you believe me just this once? I’m really not the same as before.”
"I will treat you very well," Liang Shi said. "Give me another chance, and I won't let you..."
Before he could utter the word "disappointment," the door was pushed open forcefully.
Zhao Xuning, his white coat open and panting heavily, was furious when he saw the strawberries in Liang Shi's hand. "You dare to give her this?!"
Liang Shi looked confused, "..."
"Last time I gave her strawberries injected with aphrodisiacs, which caused her to go into heat early and almost killed her. Are you doing it again this time?!" Zhao Xuning said, throwing a punch at Liang Shi, but Liang Shi instinctively dodged it.
She used to practice Sanda and Muay Thai, so she is in very good physical condition.
But hearing Zhao Xuning say that, I felt a mix of emotions.
She suddenly thought of a song lyric, "Build a city on the ruins."
Now she's the one who has to build a city-state on ruins, and she doesn't even have an excavator.
She picked up the strawberries and explained, "These are just ordinary strawberries I bought downstairs. They weren't injected with anything. If you don't believe me, I'll eat one and show you."
She picked up a piece to eat, when Xu Qingzhu on the bed suddenly screamed.
It sounded like a final, pitiful, and mournful cry.
Zhao Xuning was startled and immediately shouted towards the outside of the ward, "Go find Dr. Gu, there's a patient here experiencing a PTSD attack."
Chapter 5
Xu Qingzhu's illness flared up so quickly that the ward soon descended into chaos.
Zhao Xuning kept talking to Xu Qingzhu to soothe her emotions.
Xu Qingzhu couldn't hear anything at that moment. She gripped the blanket tightly with both hands, her hands turning white. After her initial shrill scream, she buried her head in her knees, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.
“Xu Qingzhu, listen to me, this is a hospital, no one will hurt you.” Zhao Xuning spoke to her much more gently than he spoke to Liang Shi. “It’s okay, you can trust me, I am Zhao Xuning.”
Xu Qingzhu suddenly buried herself completely under the covers, still trembling.
Zhao Xuning turned around, intending to see if Dr. Gu had arrived, but instead saw Liang Shi standing there. She frowned and said irritably, "Why haven't you left yet?"
Before Liang Shi could react, he instructed the nurse beside him, "Push her out, don't upset the patient."
Liang Shi frowned slightly, and her long hair came down as the nurse pushed her.
The beautiful and powerful Alpha made the nurses unconsciously pause their movements, as if pushing her any further would anger her.
Liang Shi gently struggled and broke free, saying, "I can walk by myself."
If the Alpha really doesn't want to go out, no matter how hard the Beta tries to push, it won't work.
Liang Shi carried the strawberries out, but when she reached the door, she suddenly turned back. She pursed her lips, her voice gentle yet resolute.
She whispered Xu Qingzhu's name: "Xu Qingzhu".
Xu Qingzhu on the bed suddenly stopped trembling. She even tentatively pulled back the quilt like a shy cat, but only glanced at it before immediately hiding back in the darkness that made her feel safe.
"Whether you believe it or not, I will not hurt you." Liang Shi turned around and gave a gentle smile.
Even though Xu Qingzhu couldn't see it, she believed that sincere kindness could touch the other person.
Liang Shi said, "Don't be afraid. There are many people here who can protect you. We can talk about other things after you recover."
"Get out." Zhao Xuning said coldly, "The patient is emotionally unstable right now. We should wait until she is better before discussing anything else. Don't put pressure on her now."
Liang Shi's expression also turned cold. She looked directly at Zhao Xuning and said, "This is not putting pressure on the patient."
"So what are you doing now?!"
Zhao Xuning questioned.
“I was just reassuring Xu Qingzhu.” Liang Shi’s voice softened instantly when Xu Qingzhu was mentioned. “I wanted to reassure her.”
"Xu Qingzhu," Liang Shi called her gently again, "I'm going out now. You must listen to the doctor. I made many mistakes in the past, but from now on, I will never let you get hurt."
After saying that, she walked out, casually handing the strawberries she was carrying to the nurses so they could share them.
Soon, Dr. Gu arrived.
Liang Shi stood in the corridor listening to the sounds coming from the ward. Soon, the ward quieted down.
She finally breathed a sigh of relief.
**
Gu Junru is Xu Qingzhu's personal psychiatrist.
Xu Qingzhu suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, which she has been undergoing treatment for. Nearly twenty years have passed since her kidnapping, but it has had a significant impact on her personality.
For a long time, Xu Qingzhu remained silent.
Xu Qingzhu didn't speak again until she was ten years old, and her condition only temporarily stabilized when she was fifteen.
She has been asymptomatic for a long time.
This whole thing startled Gu Junru.
Fortunately, the situation wasn't too serious, and Xu Qingzhu had already received some reassurance before she arrived.
Gu Junru gave Xu Qingzhu a sedative and then dispersed the people in the ward.
Once Xu Qingzhu was fast asleep and she could finally relax, she tucked Xu Qingzhu in and then beckoned to Zhao Xuning, "What happened? Why did she suddenly have a relapse?"
Zhao Xuning adjusted his glasses, put his hands in the pockets of his white coat, and said irritably, "Who else could it be because of?"
“I just saw Liang Shi at the door,” Gu Junru said.
Zhao Xuning said with disgust, "There's no one else but her."
“But…” Gu Junru paused.
Zhao Xuning raised an eyebrow: "What?"
Gu Junru shook her head and remained silent.
This is a matter of patient privacy.
"Did Liang Shi try to comfort Qingzhu just now?" Gu Junru changed the subject.
“Yes,” Zhao Xuning said. “The bamboo even poked its head out because she was talking.”
"What did she say?" Gu Junru's voice was calm. "You'd better tell me in detail."
Zhao Xuning frowned and coldly repeated Liang Shi's words, then sneered, "Hypocritical."
Gu Junru did not comment on the matter.
She didn't know much about what happened after their marriage, but she remembered that when she was treating Xu Qingzhu, Xu Qingzhu said that a girl had given her courage back then. When they were kidnapped together, that girl was braver than her and encouraged her to be brave too.
And then, during her last check-up, Xu Qingzhu said she was getting married.
The person he married was that girl.
Looking at Xu Qingzhu's pale face, Zhao Xuning sighed helplessly, "It's up to her."
Gu Junru nodded. "She is very brave."
**
Xu Qingzhu woke up in the evening, and the ward was empty.
Zhao Xuning was probably worried that she wouldn't get enough rest, so he sent everyone out and left a note by her pillow, telling her to press the emergency call button by her bedside or call her when she woke up.
Xu Qingzhu just sat there in a daze.
The events of the past two days have left her exhausted, and she needs a quiet space to clear her head.
But when she woke up, she was dehydrated. She reached for the water glass on the bedside table, but because she didn't have enough strength, she accidentally knocked the glass to the ground with a crisp sound.
She was so frightened that she shivered.