Song Zhi's almond-shaped eyes widened in a glare; her burning curiosity—which had been blazing just moments before—was instantly doused with ice-cold water. "Nothing much. I was just checking to see if his girlfriend had beaten me to death yet. Oh, right—he'll probably be stopping by in a bit to help you cover your medical bills."
Su Mianmian chuckled. "What does that have to do with him? It's not like *he* was the one egging Lin Can and Lin Jiaojiao on to cause trouble." "Who says it has nothing to do with him? Every action has a consequence. If he hadn't made me pretend to be his girlfriend, would Lin Can have taken such an instant dislike to me?
If Lin Can hadn't disliked me, would she have asked to meet up with me later on? And if we hadn't met, would things have eventually escalated into a brawl over a simple disagreement?" "So, to sum it all up—when you get right down to the root of the matter—the problem lies entirely with Cheng Yuli! Take my advice: make *him* pay the medical bills!"
Song Zhi's convoluted logic left Su Mianmian feeling dizzy all over again. "Zhizhi, if we're going by that logic, then *you* ought to cover part of the medical costs, too—after all, I was the one who took that beer bottle to the head while shielding *you*."
Song Zhi's mouth twitched. "Wait—Su Mianmian, are you actually my best friend or not? Why are you siding with the outsider?" Su Mianmian's eyes crinkled into crescent moons as she smiled. "I just can't stand seeing you constantly picking on Cheng Yuli." "Me? Picking on *him*?"
At that, Song Zhi instantly exploded. "It's the other way around—*he's* the one picking on *me*!" Just thinking about what had happened yesterday made Song Zhi's blood boil. "Su Mianmian, let me tell you this in all seriousness: don't let yourself be fooled by that scoundrel Cheng Yuli's innocent and refined exterior. You have no idea just how vile he really is."
"Remember how he kept pestering me to 'take responsibility' for him—demanding that I pretend to be his girlfriend just to help him shake off Lin Can?"
"Well, guess what? Yesterday, I told him that I'd already resolved the Lin Can situation for him, and that he shouldn't come looking for me anymore."
"And what did he say in response? He claimed that our deal was 'one favor in exchange for one task'—but since we actually *did it* three times that night, I still owe him two more favors!"
Song Zhi grew increasingly indignant as she spoke; with her hands planted on her hips, her mouth kept right on chattering away. "Su Mianmian, you be the judge here: am *I* the one bullying *him*, or is *he* the one bullying *me*?"
Hearing this, Su Mianmian's rosy lips parted into a perfect "O" shape. After taking a few seconds to process the information, she finally managed to squeeze out a single sentence: "So... Zhi-Zhi, you guys really did it three times that night?"
Song Zhi was so exasperated by Su Mianmian's reaction that she almost laughed. "Is the number of times really the point here? My point is, considering how absolutely wasted I was that night, who's to say how many times we actually did it? Cheng Yuli could have just pulled that number out of thin air!"
Song Zhi grew despondent as she dwelled on the subject. "They say a woman's first time is precious, but mine was a total rip-off! Not only did I not lose it to my 'beloved husband,' but—more importantly—I didn't feel a single thing from start to finish! If I hadn't woken up to find bloodstains on the sheets, I wouldn't have even believed that I'd actually completed the transformation from girl to woman!"
After a moment of dramatic sighing, Song Zhi propped her chin in her hand and turned to look at Su Mianmian. "Mianmian, what did *your* first time feel like? I've heard that some girls are in so much pain the next day that they can't even get out of bed."
Su Mianmian and Song Zhi had always been the kind of friends who could talk about anything and everything—and that certainly included the occasional intimate, "adult-themed" conversation. Yet, when the topic shifted specifically to her *own* experience, Su Mianmian couldn't help but feel a sudden surge of shyness, her face flushing a deep shade of red. "Why are you asking me? I wouldn't know." "You don't know?"
Song Zhi's jaw dropped in suspicion. "Don't tell me you're just like me—that you, too, were completely blackout drunk when you got…" "Oh, come on, no!" Su Mianmian's face flushed crimson, her bright, expressive eyes brimming with bashfulness.
"I mean, I haven't actually *done it* with Gu Yizhou yet, so… I wouldn't know." This time, Song Zhi looked even more astonished; describing the expression on her face as "horrified" wouldn't be an exaggeration in the slightest. "No way! Su Mianmian, how long have you been married to Mr. Z now?
You're telling me he still hasn't… *done it* with you?" "Are you two having a platonic romance, or is it that Mr. Z… isn't exactly *capable*?" As to whether Gu Yizhou was "capable" or not—Su Mianmian knew the answer all too well.
Although they hadn't gone all the way yet, they had been sleeping in each other's arms every night recently; given the physical stirrings she felt from him every morning, it was practically impossible *not* to notice.
Thinking of this, Su Mianmian grew even more flustered. "It's neither of those things. It's just that I don't want to rush into it. After all, we don't really have an emotional foundation yet, so jumping into bed together this quickly feels a bit… strange." "What's so strange about that?
Look at what era we're living in now, girl! Look at me and Cheng Yuli—we aren't even officially dating, yet things still just… happened between us, didn't they?"
"Besides, who says you don't have an emotional foundation? Yesterday, when Mr. Z was holding you in that private room—the way he looked so anxious and heartbroken? Anyone with eyes could see that he's deeply, hopelessly in love with you."
Su Mianmian gave a wry smile. "Zhi-Zhi, I seem to recall you swearing up and down last time that *Cheng Yuli* was deeply in love with *me*. And how did that turn out?" The reality was that Cheng Yuli didn't like her in the slightest; from start to finish, the only person he had ever liked was Song Zhi!
Song Zhi gave a dry, awkward chuckle, her eyes darting away. "Okay, so I misread the situation that one time. But this time? Absolutely not. You have to believe me." Su Mianmian didn't want to hear any more of Song Zhi's theories, so she held up a hand to signal her to stop.
"Just stop worrying about me. Instead of wasting your energy on that, you'd be better off thinking about what those last two demands from Cheng Yuli are going to be." …Not long after Song Zhi arrived, Cheng Yuli actually showed up himself, looking completely serious as he announced that he was there to pay Su Mianmian's hospital bills. It took repeated refusals on Su Mianmian's part to finally dissuade Cheng Yuli. Su Mianmian found Cheng Yuli truly endearing; he wanted to speak to Song Zhi but was too shy, so he just stood there, looking at her hesitantly.
As a matchmaker for this couple, Su Mianmian had truly gone above and beyond; feigning a need to sleep, she sent both Song Zhi and Cheng Yuli on their way. Only after they had left did Su Mianmian notice a message Gu Yizhou had sent her ten minutes earlier.
"Mianmian, have Song Zhi stay with you a little longer; the meeting might be delayed." Su Mianmian replied to Gu Yizhou with a sticker of a cute bunny nodding obediently. "No rush; come over whenever you're finished with your work."
After sending the message, Su Mianmian was just about to drift back to sleep when a knock sounded at the ward door. Gu Jingyu's mischievous head peeked through the crack in the door. "Sister-in-law, I've come to visit you!" Before Su Mianmian could reply, the gentle but chiding voice of Gu Jingyu's mother, Jiang Wan, rang out from behind him.
"Stop craning your neck like that—what kind of behavior is that?" Gu Jingyu stuck out his tongue playfully, then pushed the door open and stepped aside; Jiang Wan, clad in a jade-green *qipao*, walked slowly into the room. Su Mianmian was taken aback; she sat up in her hospital bed and asked, "Aunt Jiang, what brings you here?"
Jiang Wan's lovely lips curved into a smile. "It's not just me—your mother is here as well." Her mother? Xiao Ying? Su Mianmian looked toward the doorway and saw an older maidservant assisting Xiao Ying into the room.
Today, Xiao Ying was dressed in a simple, pure-white knitted outfit; she looked slightly fuller than usual—no longer quite so gaunt and frail. Her hair, streaked with threads of silver-white, was gathered into a bun and fastened with a simple wooden hairpin.
Noticing Su Mianmian's appraising gaze, Xiao Ying's usually vacant eyes lifted slightly. "I came along with your Aunt Jiang to see how you're doing." Su Mianmian was utterly flattered; she started to reach for her shoes to get out of bed, but Jiang Wan gently stopped her. "Just sit on the bed; it's fine. I heard from that girl Jingyu yesterday that you'd been injured. We were worried about you, so we made a special trip today just to check on you." Su Mianmian looked a bit embarrassed. "It's just a minor injury—nothing serious."
Jiang Wan frowned. "You were lucky, that's all. The way Jingyu described it last night was absolutely harrowing; listening to her made my heart ache with anxiety. If that glass bottle had struck your head just a little harder, the consequences would have been truly unthinkable."
Jiang Wan took Su Mianmian's hand. "I heard that Azhou was absolutely beside himself with worry yesterday. Where is he? Why isn't he here?" Hearing this, Su Mianmian's cheeks flushed slightly. "He went to the company for a meeting; he'll be back shortly."
Jiang Wan murmured an acknowledgment, but before she could say anything else, a light scoff came from Xiao Ying, who was standing nearby. "Worried? If he were *truly* worried, would he leave his sick wife all alone in the hospital?"
Jiang Wan was accustomed to Xiao Ying's ceaseless sarcasm directed at her own son; she exchanged an awkward glance with Su Mianmian. "Don't read too much into it. There's a lot of company business to attend to; Azhou surely couldn't get away." Su Mianmian hadn't been overthinking it at all; she simply shook her head.
"It really wasn't a major injury to begin with. Besides, he stayed in the ward with me all day yesterday and only left this morning."
Jiang Wan nodded with relief. "Oh, by the way—Jingyu mentioned this morning that her wrist is still bothering her a bit. I'm going to take her to see a doctor. Mianmian, why don't you have a chat with your mother while we're gone?" Once the mother and daughter had left, the atmosphere in the room grew noticeably tense.
Su Mianmian pursed her lips, got out of bed, and poured a cup of hot tea for Xiao Ying. "Mother, please have some tea." Xiao Ying—her eyes as still and deep as an ancient well—glanced at Su Mianmian before slowly accepting the teacup from her hands. "Did you not like the jade pendant I gave you last time?"