Chapter 84

She propped herself up on her elbow and sat up. Just this simple movement sent a wave of protest from her head.

Falling back again, Zhong Ning stared blankly, then helplessly pressed the bell.

It was not a servant who came, but the butler. Her hair neatly coiled behind her head, and her butler’s uniform was impeccable. The gaze behind her glasses remained perpetually calm.

“Miss Zhong, you’re awake. Do you feel any discomfort?”

“Nausea and headache,” Zhong Ning said weakly. “It feels like someone is running a wheel inside my stomach. Is there anything sour I can eat?”

“And where is Shiqing?”

The butler summoned a servant to go to the kitchen and bring something to eat, then replied, “There was a problem at the company. Originally, the family head had been keeping watch beside you. She was forced to leave after receiving a call. Before leaving, she specifically instructed me to look after you carefully.”

“Can you move?” she asked. “There is still a wheelchair at home. I can take you back to the bedroom.”

“I can, I can,” Zhong Ning said quickly.

The study really was not a place she should be lying down in. But just as she was about to struggle up, she remembered the miserable scene of herself falling back before and could not help but stop moving. Lying flat, she said, “Let’s use the wheelchair, or a trolley, anything will do. I can’t walk by myself.”

The butler called for two more servants. One returned with a wheelchair, while the other came empty-handed.

The one who had gone to the kitchen came back first, bringing a small plate of preserved green plums, sour and sweet.

Zhong Ning put one in her mouth. The faintly sour taste stimulated her taste buds, and also her brain. She felt that the nausea was suppressed considerably on the spot, and her mind cleared somewhat.

The wheelchair was laid completely flat, turning into a recliner. The two servants who came later lifted her together and placed her onto it. Their movements were so steady, it seemed as though they had practiced many times.

“Why is there a wheelchair at home?” Zhong Ning asked in confusion.

“After the car accident, the family head used it for a time,” the butler answered softly.

Was it Shiqing who had used it?

Zhong Ning paused, her fingertips moving lightly over the leather armrest.

A healthy person, occasionally lying down out of laziness and letting others push them around, would only feel comfortable and relaxed, treating it as a moment of indulgence. Even if they were pushed along the street under everyone’s gaze, they would think nothing of it, perhaps even find it novel and amusing.

But a person unable to walk freely, sitting in a wheelchair day after day, inevitably felt that this exposed their flaws and laid bare their helplessness.

And Xie Shiqing, being someone so fiercely proud, refused even to use a white cane. In those days when she had been forced into a wheelchair, how much torment had she endured in her heart? And to move as if nothing were wrong, how many times had she fallen in secret, how much bitterness and hardship had she gone through?

Just imagining it made Zhong Ning feel as if she were suffocating.

Xie Shiqing was truly pitiful. Her unfortunate childhood had shaped her current awkward personality.

But the harm she herself had suffered was real and tangible.

Everything in the past could be regarded as the reason why Xie Shiqing had resorted to deceit, but it could not be used as an excuse forever.

Out of habitual tolerance, she had spoken words of understanding and had been willing to give her a chance. Yet Zhong Ning had not forgiven Xie Shiqing so quickly.

She was not a saint, nor a robot executing a program, nor a goldfish with a seven-second memory who could instantly forget what had happened to her. She simply was not capable of such feats.

The injuries Xie Shiqing had endured were indeed deeper and crueler. Everything had its cause and effect, and Zhong Ning was willing to understand her. The deceit she herself had suffered, by comparison, seemed much lighter.

But was there any point in comparing pain? Just because the degree was different, did it mean the one who suffered less had no right to feel sorrow?

Seeing others in more miserable situations would not transfer her suffering into joy.

Moreover, precisely because no one had ever treated her like this before, Zhong Ning found it all the harder to accept, her heart aching to the point of suffocation.

And this was not merely a single act of deception, but an assault on her entire view of love.

Xie Shiqing claimed she loved her, yet when she was lying to her, there was no hesitation. This meant that deception, in her conception of love, was something perfectly permissible.

Their values had clashed.

That was the essence of it.

Her tongue pressed the green plum around in her mouth. Zhong Ning pondered for a while before chewing it up and swallowing. Then she asked the butler to help her buy something.

An unhealthy childhood had twisted many of Xie Shiqing’s beliefs. She would try to guide her to change. But if Xie Shiqing truly could not, then they were simply not suitable for each other.

Zhong Ning lay on the bed, sighing faintly. For a moment, she did not know whether to pity her own miserable fate first or the pitiful Xie Shiqing.

Xie Shiqing returned only in the evening. She had slipped out to the company, not entirely to avoid the situation, but also because she truly had to deal with the aftermath of the earlier video leak incident and help wrap it up.

Strictly speaking, though, she did not actually have to go.

Harboring the thought of evading things for a while, she still went.

But this was something Xie Shiqing would never admit.

When she got home, the first thing she did was go to see Zhong Ning. As soon as she pushed the door open, she smelled a strong scent of medicated oil.

“Shiqing, you’re back.” Zhong Ning was lying on the sofa bed by the window in the suite’s sitting room. She turned her head to greet her, and two big sneezes burst out of her mouth. “Aiyo, I really can’t get used to this smell of medicated oil.”

“Medicated oil?” Xie Shiqing raised an eyebrow slightly. Did a concussion require this stuff?

“There’s a bruise on my stomach. The doctor said applying this would make it heal faster.” Zhong Ning rubbed her nose and spoke in a muffled voice. “Does this smell too pungent for you?”

“It’s alright.” Xie Shiqing walked slowly in the direction of the voice.

She did not often come to Zhong Ning’s rooms and only had a rough impression of the furniture’s placement. Considering her blindness, there was not much unnecessary furniture throughout the villa. After Zhong Ning moved in, she had added a few more things.

Despite the difficulty, she still did not call a servant to guide her and did not ask Zhong Ning to help direct her.

“Are you feeling any better now?” She asked the question, wanting Zhong Ning to keep talking so she could better judge her exact location.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep