Hospital Checkup

Yun Xiaoran returned to his bedroom and opened VA Site. He had no plans to upload a song today. Even a workhorse needed a break.

Still, he needed to check his private messages.

His VA Site wallet now held sixty thousand, including creator incentives and tips. For Yun Xiaoran, it was neither a small sum nor a fortune.

He still had to face Li Qingxi alone the day after tomorrow, so he would give himself a day off from music today. Besides, he would be writing in a bit.

Once Yun Xiaoran settled down, he turned on his computer and started writing. While he was working, Shen Jin received a call from Sister Hua.

"Jin'er, have you checked the trending searches on Weibo?"

"No. What happened?" Shen Jin was in a terrible mood. Yun Xiaoran had left halfway through applying her medicine, leaving her to finish the job herself. She also had no idea whether she could still compete in I Am a Singer the day after tomorrow.

Biting Yun Xiaoran's arm had eased her anger a little, but Shen Jin kept feeling that she needed to bite him again to get it all out of her system.

"A whole bunch of paid trolls were trashing your performance of Silence last night and accusing Lone Cloud of plagiarism." Sister Hua sounded delighted on the other end. It was rare for an opponent to do something this stupid.

Though she could not be sure whether Li Qingxi or some other rival was behind it, it was still pretty funny.

"But I didn't sing that song. Even if I did, it wouldn't matter now. I sprained my ankle." Shen Jin's voice trembled with frustrated tears as she glared resentfully toward Yun Xiaoran's room.

"You sprained your ankle?" Sister Hua let out a piercing shriek, no longer in any mood to share the good news. The I Am a Singer finals were the day after tomorrow, and her star singer had sprained her ankle today. Would she have no choice but to withdraw?

Sister Hua fell silent for a moment before saying, "Don't cry yet. Wait for me to come over, and we'll go to the hospital for a checkup. If we take proper care of it, you might still be able to get onstage the day after tomorrow."

"All right..."

Yun Xiaoran spent the entire afternoon working in his room and finally finished a dozen or so chapters. That was still rather slow, but he was satisfied for now.

His novel had already reached fifth place in the Newcomer Rankings, and its readership was still growing. That put his mind at ease.

"How did this happen? Who made you twist your ankle?" Yun Xiaoran faintly heard Sister Hua's voice from the living room. His wife and this friend of hers really did seem close.

"This is all Yun Xiaoran's doing." Shen Jin conveniently left out the fact that she had bitten his arm and dumped all the blame on him.

"Where's Yun Xiaoran? Tell him to get out here. My Shen Jin hurt herself this badly, and he still left halfway through rubbing the oil on!"

When Yun Xiaoran opened the door, he saw Sister Hua marching toward him in a fury. He braced himself and stepped out without rushing.

Sister Hua's anger eased a little when she saw Yun Xiaoran, but she still demanded:

"How did you make her sprain her ankle?"

"I mopped the floor too slick." Yun Xiaoran told her the truth, then pointed with his chin at the bite marks on his arm, which were still seeping traces of blood. "And this is what your dear friend did."

"Impossible. How could my Jin'er bite your arm? She's... anyway, she would never bite your arm."

Sister Hua eyed the row of tooth marks suspiciously, then looked at Shen Jin sitting motionless on the sofa. Shen Jin, the Top Diva of Chinese Entertainment and the National Goddess, had bitten this obsessive stalker fan's arm? Who would believe that? And if they did, tomorrow's trending headline would surely be "National Goddess Goes Berserk and Bites Stalker Fan."

"I really did bite him. Sister Hua, I was so angry at the time that I..." Shen Jin lowered her head. She was actually backing Yun Xiaoran up, admitting of her own accord that she had been too angry.

Sister Hua: "..."

Who could have imagined it? Who could have imagined that the Top Diva of Chinese Entertainment, who presented herself to her fans as a fiercely ambitious, independent woman with no plans to marry, would be like this behind closed doors?

What kind of goddess was this? This was just Shen Jin being a woman. If her fans found out, they would abandon her in no time.

"Whatever happened, let's go to the hospital first." Sister Hua took a deep breath and accepted that her dear friend did, in fact, bite people.

Sister Hua went into Shen Jin's room while she changed and noticed a pillow that looked completely out of place. It had not been there last night. She pointed at it and asked:

"Whose pillow is that?" Shen Jin glanced at it as she briskly got dressed and answered without thinking, "Yun Xiaoran's."

"You slept with him?" Sister Hua stared at Shen Jin, struggling for words and almost letting out another piercing shriek.

"No, of course not. We only put it there to make it look that way because his parents came over today." Seeing Sister Hua's strange look, Shen Jin hurried to explain.

"You nearly scared me to death, you little menace." In an instant, Sister Hua pictured the scene: the handsome Yun Xiaoran and the gorgeous Shen Jin, together in...

Unable to hide her delight at the juicy gossip, Sister Hua asked Shen Jin, "Have you ever thought about it?"

"Thought about what?" Shen Jin was a good girl and naturally had no idea what Sister Hua meant.

"I mean..."

A while later, Shen Jin stared at Sister Hua through gritted teeth.

"What are you thinking? He and I are only putting on an act. Besides, we're getting divorced in a month..."

"I was only joking." Sister Hua gave her a knowing smile. "My darling husband."

Hearing that form of address, Shen Jin flushed with both embarrassment and anger. "Why didn't you stop me back then?"

"How could I? You were the one insisting on calling him that."

"Stop bringing it up."

After Shen Jin got dressed, Sister Hua tried to scoop her up in a bridal carry, only to discover that she simply could not manage it.

She went back out of the room and looked at Yun Xiaoran, who was sitting in the living room.

"What are you sitting around for? Your beautiful wife has sprained her ankle, and you're still just sitting here. Do you have any conscience at all?"

"I..."

With no other choice, Yun Xiaoran braced himself and entered Shen Jin's room to help Sister Hua support her.

As Shen Jin struggled to walk, one of her delicate, creamy-white hands fumbled for Yun Xiaoran's larger hand and grabbed it. She wanted to resist, but she had no choice. For the sake of the I Am a Singer finals, she would just have to put up with it...

The two kept drawing closer to each other as they moved.

Shen Jin's scent came from expensive cosmetics, her clothes, and a clean freshness, rather than the smell of cheap, synthetic perfume. That lovely fragrance was even nicer than what he remembered from when he first got to know Li Qingxi.

Yun Xiaoran, on the other hand, smelled of tobacco and a faint, sweaty "dog smell."

"That should do it, right? Then I'll head back..." After finally helping her into the car, Yun Xiaoran thought he was free, but a single remark from Sister Hua crushed that hope.

"Of course you can't leave yet. You still have to help her into the hospital. I can't support Shen Jin all by myself." Sister Hua gestured with her chin, looking aggrieved. Yun Xiaoran looked at Shen Jin in the back seat and sighed softly. All he could do was repeat silently:

This is all my own doing. All my own doing...

In the end, Yun Xiaoran sat in the back seat with Shen Jin while Sister Hua drove.

To avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings, Yun Xiaoran deliberately sat as far away from Shen Jin as possible once he got into the car.

Though Shen Jin could not move her right leg, seeing Yun Xiaoran act as if she were a tiger made her anger flare.

Oh, so sitting with me is such an ordeal for you, is it?

As she kept studying Yun Xiaoran's handsome yet solemn face, Shen Jin actually felt an urge to tease him, as though a spotless white cloth belonged in the mud.

No, I'm supposed to be a cool, aloof goddess. How can I act like that? Shen Jin forcibly suppressed her urge to tease Yun Xiaoran.

They arrived at the Private Hospital.

The moment Shen Jin got out of the car, she covered herself up tightly.