When Chu Luyu woke up again, she was already lying in a hospital bed.
She opened her eyes, and as her consciousness returned, the residual grief still lingering in her body swept through her once more.
She looked at the empty space above her—no sign of the system. She tried calling out to it in her mind, just as she used to.
[Cuihua? Cuihua?]
But this time, there was no voice answering her. Everything was utterly silent, as if no one had ever existed at all.
Chu Luyu even began to doubt herself in a daze.
Had those times spent with the system been real? Or had they all been figments of her imagination?
The hospital door was pushed open from the outside, and the faint rustling sound of footsteps came in—it was Chu Fanyin and Chen Mian.
“Mom, stop crying already. When my sister wakes up and sees you’ve been crying the whole time, she’s going to worry.”
“Your sister is definitely going to blame me. Things turned out like this—Hezhou and she are both in the hospital now. When she wakes up, she’s going to hate me to death…” Sobs mingled with her words as Chu Fanyin cried again, “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.”
Chen Mian was silent for two seconds, and when he spoke again, his tone was a bit cold.
“I’ve already called Big Brother to come to the hospital. When he gets here, I’ll ask him again what exactly he heard before. Mom, maybe we trusted him too much before. He just said my sister might be locked up by her fiancé, and we believed it completely without ever verifying it.”
Chu Luyu had overheard everything they said, but strangely, her emotions didn’t stir in the slightest.
She still lay flat on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling with empty eyes. After a moment, she spoke softly: “Where is Jiang Hezhou?”
Hearing a voice from the hospital bed, the mother and son both broke into looks of surprise.
Chu Fanyin stumbled over to her first. Her usually gentle, pretty face was now streaked with tear stains.
“Sweetheart, you’re awake! Do you feel any discomfort anywhere? The doctor just left a little while ago—Mom will go call him back right now!”
“I’m fine.” Chu Luyu gently stopped her. Her gaze drifted toward them, and she asked again in a very soft voice, “Where is Jiang Hezhou?”
“Brother-in-law is next door. The doctor said there’s nothing major wrong with his body—no damage to any internal organs. He just got hit on the head pretty hard, but after the tests, it’s only a mild concussion.” Chen Mian looked at his sister, his face full of guilt. “Sis, if you’re angry, hit me or yell at me. Yesterday, I was way too impulsive. When Big Brother said you were being locked up by your fiancé, I got so scared something would happen to you that I went ahead and did that without even discussing it with you…”
Hearing her younger son take all the blame, Chu Fanyin immediately grew anxious.
“It’s Mommy’s fault too. I didn’t judge things well. I lied to you.”
Chu Luyu really didn’t want to hear any more of this right now. She still felt completely drained. She struggled to push off the blanket and propped herself up, trying to get out of bed.
“Sis! What are you doing! The doctor just said you went through a huge shock—you need to rest first after waking up, you can’t get out of bed right away!”
Chen Mian rushed over and tried to stop her as he spoke. But Chu Luyu silently pushed him aside, her intent clear.
The girl’s face was pale now. The vibrant, energetic aura that usually surrounded her seemed to have vanished entirely. The oversized hospital gown hung loosely on her frame, making her neck and exposed wrists look incredibly slender and fragile. She still said nothing, paid them no attention—just held onto the bed and moved step by step toward the door.
Chu Fanyin cried and tried to steady her, but Chen Mian held her back.
The mother and son followed quietly behind the girl, watching her drag her weak steps to the door, open it, and then, holding onto the wall, shuffle bit by bit toward the room next door.
Zhang Jiting and Ji Chen were both there. When they saw Chu Luyu arrive, they both stood up from their chairs.
“Little sister-in-law.” Their voices were heavy as they greeted her.
Chu Luyu’s gaze was fixed straight on the man in the hospital bed. She gave a faint, absentminded nod and walked over.
The blood on Jiang Hezhou’s face had been completely cleaned off. His features were as they always were—pale and cool. In one hand, he was clutching something tightly. Chu Luyu looked down and saw that it was actually a corner of fabric from her coat.
“The nurse said that when the ambulance came yesterday, you two were holding each other. Jiang Er had a grip on your coat the whole time, and no matter what they did, he wouldn’t let go. They had no choice but to take your coat off first and then cut the fabric away.” Zhang Jiting’s voice was heavy as he spoke. “Little sister-in-law, Jiang Er was calling your name all night while he was unconscious.”
Those last words made Chu Luyu’s eyes turn red in an instant.
She looked at the man in the hospital bed and spoke softly: “Could you all step out for a moment? I’d like to be alone with him for a while.”
Zhang Jiting and Ji Chen had no objections, but Chu Fanyin was still very worried. She stood there crying silently, unwilling to leave.
Chen Mian eventually pulled her out of the room, and the door was closed from the outside. In an instant, the ward was left with only Chu Luyu and Jiang Hezhou.
One of the man’s hands had an IV drip in it, the liquid trickling down the tube drop by drop. Chu Luyu sat there quietly, watching him, not moving for a long time.
Later, a nurse came to knock on the door to change Jiang Hezhou’s medication. When she saw the girl sitting by the bed, she studied her with curiosity.
“Are you the girl who was brought in with this patient yesterday?” The nurse’s eyes sparkled with interest, as if she was a little gossipy. “His girlfriend?”
Chu Luyu thought about how Jiang Hezhou always emphasized their titles, and shook her head. “Not his girlfriend. His fiancée.”
The nurse smiled. “You two are really close, huh? During the accident, he kept holding onto you and wouldn’t let go. Later, when you were both loaded into the ambulance, my colleague said he was still calling your name.”
Chu Luyu offered a faint, strained smile. She watched the nurse change his medication and asked softly, “How is he doing now? Are his injuries serious?”
Even though Zhang Jiting had already told her, she still felt uneasy.
Hearing this, the nurse seemed to light up with enthusiasm again, her tone a little excited.
“He’s really lucky, you know? My colleague said that car at the scene had its front end completely wrecked. Normally, with an accident that severe, it’s impossible for anyone to come out with only minor injuries. But after they did a full check-up on him at the hospital, it really was a miracle—only a wound on his forehead, no internal organ damage, no injuries to his limbs, and even his head only had a mild concussion!” The nurse still looked excited as she spoke. “It’s practically a miracle, you know? A real miracle!”
If this had happened before, Chu Luyu would definitely have started chatting with the system about it by now. They might even have giggled together, thinking, Of course there’s a miracle—because this man is the male lead, the absolute center of this world.
But now she was all alone. There was nothing before her but empty space. The person who used to always respond to her, always be by her side, was gone.
After the nurse left, Chu Luyu leaned against the edge of Jiang Hezhou’s bed, overwhelmed with sorrow. Her chest felt tight and heavy. Pressing her cheek against his arm, she spoke in a low voice.
“Jiang Hezhou, please wake up soon. I’m so sad. I really want someone to talk to…”
The only reply was the silence of the room.
Chu Luyu closed her eyes in pain. She just wanted to stay close to her loved one for a while—and if she could fall asleep, even better. Maybe when she woke up, he would be awake too, and she wouldn’t have to be alone anymore.
Suddenly, a fair amount of commotion came from the room next door. Chu Luyu didn’t want to pay it any attention at first, but before long, the door to their ward was knocked on.
Zhang Jiting came in from outside, looking anxious.
“Little sister-in-law, your younger brother and your stepbrother seem to have gotten into some kind of conflict. They’re heading to the little garden behind the hospital, and it looks like they might end up fighting. Ji Chen went ahead to keep an eye on things. He told me to come get you and see if you could go over and stop them!”
Chu Luyu really didn’t want to get involved, but her mind, moving a beat slower now, suddenly recalled that Chen Mian and Chu Fanyin had acted on Chen Zhou’s words and done something so senseless. She lowered her gaze, hesitated for a few seconds, and then quietly stood up.
“You stay here and watch Jiang Hezhou. I’ll go take a look.”
As she spoke, her expression was faintly detached, carrying a strange air of subdued lifelessness. Zhang Jiting felt a bit worried and called out to her hesitantly.
Chu Luyu turned back and looked at him silently, her gaze light and somewhat hollow. “What is it?”
Zhang Jiting studied her for a moment, then said, “I don’t know what exactly you and Jiang Er have been through, but… you’re both still alive and well. Whatever problems you have, you can solve them together. Jiang Er really loves you. If something happened to you while he’s unconscious, he’d probably lose his mind when he wakes up.”
Chu Luyu’s mind was a bit sluggish right now. It took her a few seconds to realize what Zhang Jiting was worried about.
“You’re afraid I might do something foolish?” She gave a faint, wry smile, tugging weakly at the corner of her mouth. “I won’t. I won’t do that.”
She had ignored the plot’s warnings and threats just to stay by his side. Even the system had been erased because it sacrificed itself to save her.
Her life was very, very important now. How could she possibly throw it away?
Later, when Chu Luyu made her way to the small garden behind the hospital, Chen Mian had already grabbed Chen Zhou by the collar and was pinning him to the ground, throwing punches.
Chu Fanyin and Ji Chen stood off to the side. Chu Fanyin looked frantic, crying and trying to step in and stop them, but Ji Chen kept holding her back.
“Auntie, this is between the two brothers. It’s better to let them sort it out themselves—you shouldn’t interfere.”
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