CHAPTER 77: CHAPTER 77: WRAPPING HER ARMS AROUND HIS NECK

In the children’s room, Shi Su curled up on the bed, motionless.

If it weren’t for the discomfort caused by her period, she might have locked herself in the bathroom for a whole day and night.

At this moment, her mind was replaying the scenes from the bathroom in high definition. The more she thought about it, the more ashamed she felt, clutching the pillow in frustration for a long time until she fell asleep unknowingly while hugging it.

She slept until the middle of the night, not even noticing when Shi Mianmian ran off to the master bedroom to sleep.

In Jiang City, as autumn set in, the deep night carried a slight chill, and the room was tinged with a cool breeze.

Shi Mianmian slept soundly in the master bedroom, claiming she would tell Uncle Ji Han a story, but barely a few sentences into the story, her big eyes gradually closed, her voice becoming softer until she fell asleep, but her little hand kept holding onto his and wouldn’t let go.

It wasn’t until the middle of the night that Shi Mianmian, while snoring sweetly, turned over and finally let go of his hand.

Jing Jihan rose from the bedside and went out. The outside was shrouded in darkness, with not many lights in the old neighborhood, only a dim streetlight flickering through the high wall of the distant community.

Jing Jihan straightened the TV remote controls and cups that Shi Mianmian had messed up on the coffee table, picked up the box of ointment, and went into the children’s room to apply it on Shi Su.

Shi Su’s skin was excessively fair, and even a light pinch could leave marks. Even after a day, the bruises on her arms and legs were still quite apparent.

Applying the ointment was a skill Jing Jihan wasn’t proficient at. He tried to be as gentle as possible to avoid waking her, yet in her sleep, Shi Su frowned in discomfort and even unconsciously kicked him.

He turned his arm to dodge, ignoring her second kick aimed at him. Without taking issue, he applied the ointment on her arm, and because she subtly resisted in her sleep, he pressed down on her leg with slightly more force than before.

After applying the ointment, he glanced at the time, just about to get up, when he suddenly heard a very soft murmur coming from Shi Su’s mouth.

"So hot..."

In the darkness, his gaze fell back on her.

"Hot..." Shi Su’s whole body was starting to tremble, as if the slight heat from the ointment working on her bruises was causing her to dream of something, her hand suddenly clutching the sheet beneath her, her neck stiff and unable to move, but her whole body tensed, as if enduring an unbearable torment.

Jing Jihan hadn’t noticed how high her body temperature was earlier, so he went out to find a thermometer to check if she had a fever.

When he returned with the thermometer, he saw Shi Su turned to lie on her side, her entire body tightly curled up.

In the dream.

She grabbed something in the dark room, whether it was an aromatherapy bottle or a wine bottle, and at the moment when a person reeking of alcohol pounced on her, she smashed it hard on his head. The shattered glass pierced into her palm as she struggled to retreat desperately.

The abnormal heat throughout her body left her with very little strength, but the flickering red light in the corner of the dark room indicated that everything happening now was being recorded by someone with a surveillance camera.

To keep herself conscious, she even grabbed the glass shards on the ground hard, using the pain in her palm to remind herself of her situation, then slowly crawled out from under the person she had knocked out. The overwhelming heat almost masked the pain in her palm, with blood dripping down from her fingers...

She staggered to the door, locked from the outside, and was overwhelmed by despair. She tried hard to calm down and turned to run to the tightly shut window.

Opening the window forcefully and looking at the grass below, she had no idea which hotel’s third floor this was at.

From this height, jumping down would likely leave her crippled, and definitely would not let her escape.

But there was an air conditioner external unit bracket between the second and third floors and a tree close by. Hearing signs that the knocked-out person was regaining consciousness and seemingly moving towards her, she hastily climbed out of the window, stepping onto the air conditioner unit bracket...

She fell onto a branch and then struggled to climb down before finally reaching the ground. Lights from all directions seemed to beam towards her, prompting her to quickly stagger and search for an escape route.

Her hands were covered in blood, and she was in a miserable state. She staggered aimlessly for who knows how long, eventually finding herself standing exhausted by the street lights, dizzy and disoriented, her inner heat threatening to drain her rationality.

She didn’t know which street this was. The medication’s effects torturing her made her almost forget who she was. Whether it was hallucination or reality, it felt like someone was chasing her, with flashlight beams constantly trailing behind.

In a panic, a black Bentley parked not far by the roadside struck her almost blurred vision—

...

In her sleep, Shi Su grew increasingly restless, her hands gripping the sheets into wrinkles, everything blurry in the dream agitating her nerves.

"Don’t drive me away..."

"Someone...wants to harm me..."

Seeing Shi Su’s hair sticking to her neck, soaked with sweat, she appeared both to be suffering and resisting something, yet refusing to let go.

Jing Jihan reached out to place a hand on her forehead, finding it not hot; if she were feverish, she wouldn’t sweat this much.

He set down the thermometer, intending to wake Shi Su from her nightmare.

But Shi Su suddenly opened her eyes, half-awake yet seemingly with much of her consciousness still immersed in the dream, lying there stiffly, meeting his gaze in the darkness.

"Awake?" Jing Jihan’s dark eyes stared at her as he leaned down, intending to help her sit up.

However, Shi Su was clearly not fully awake, merely staring at the familiar figure by the bedside. Her lips moved, her voice very light and low, indistinct.

"Help me..."

A very faint, vague murmur.

Jing Jihan leaned down again, this time bringing his body closer, trying to hear more clearly.

"Please...you..."

"Please, I beg you..."

"You...help me..."

Still such a very light voice.

Jing Jihan only vaguely understood the word ’help,’ looking down at her sweat-soaked face, brushing the damp strands of hair away from the side of her face: "Shi Su?"

Shi Su’s eyes did not close, her mind still dwelling in the dream. She stared at the figure before her, his aura seemingly blending with that of the man in her dream, similarly clean and sharp.

Not knowing why, she suddenly felt an intense sense of grievance, instinctively reaching up, wrapping her arms around his neck, her voice choked with tears, full of grievance and helplessness: "Don’t go."