I Don’t Mind You Being Ugly and Blind
Chapter 85
The biting rain lashed down, drenching everyone to the bone. Amidst the downpour, rescuers valiantly worked to free those trapped beneath a deluge of stones and earth.
"Mr. Jiang, your hands need bandaging!" Gu Qing and another rescuer pleaded, desperately trying to restrain Jiang Ci. But under the relentless rain, Jiang Ci's face was a ghostly white, his lips tinged with blue, yet his eyes blazed with a dark, unfathomable intensity. "I said, let go!" he growled.
Gu Qing tried to reason with him, "Mr. Jiang!" But before he could utter another word, Jiang Ci, with a sudden, forceful move, flung him aside, sending the other rescuer sprawling in seconds. Gu Qing landed hard on the muddy ground, watching in stunned horror as Jiang Ci scrambled towards the pile of debris, his bare hands, seemingly impervious to pain, frantically tearing at the soil and gravel. Jiang Ci at this moment has completely lost his mind.
[Read More Here]
Meanwhile, in Granny Ping's house, Sheng Yan gasped as Su Yue's sudden collapse. She rushed to her side, discovering Su Yue had simply fainted. There was no fever, no other symptoms. Sheng Yan sought out an elder with some medical knowledge, who reassured her that Su Yue had only fainted temporarily, likely from the extreme tension of the landslide, now releasing its grip.
Sheng Yan borrowed a mobile phone, intending to inform Jiang Ci. He had always insisted on being updated on anything concerning Su Yue, no matter how trivial. But her calls went unanswered. She tried again and again.
Amidst the chaos, Gu Qing noticed the unfamiliar number on his phone. He answered.
"Gu Qing, where's President Jiang?" Sheng Yan's voice, barely audible through the drumming rain echoed, made Gu Qing wonder if he'd misheard. "Sheng Yan?"
"It's me. Madam had fainted. I need to report to President Jiang about it . Is he with you?" Sheng Yan asked.
"Sheng Yan, are you madam alright?" Gu Qing gripped the phone tighter, jolting upright from the mud. "You weren't crushed under the mud?"
"Yes madam and I are fine. But Sheng Tian hurt her foot. How do you know abut the landslide?" she replied, confused, about to explain her reason for calling Jiang Ci.
Gu Qing, usually so composed, couldn't help but curse. "Why didn't you contact me and President Jiang sooner? Do you have any idea...?" He glanced at Jiang Ci, still furiously digging in the downpour, his hands a bloody mess. Gu Qing scrambled to his feet and ran towards him, intent on stopping him.
"Mr. Jiang, Madam, she didn't..."
"Get lost!" Jiang Ci's eyes were bloodshot, completely ignoring Gu Qing.
"Mr. Jiang, Sheng Yan called! She said Mrs. Jiang is fine, please stop digging!" Gu Qing bellowed again over the storm, but Jiang Ci seemed deaf to his words, oblivious to everything. Gu Qing knew then that Jiang Ci had lost consciousness in his desperation.
"Sheng Yan, where's Madam? Have her answer the phone immediately!" Gu Qing yelled into the phone.
"What's happeneing out there?" Sheng Yan, quick-witted, realized something was amiss. "Gu Qing, are you and President Jiang in the village?" Otherwise, how could he know their situation? And she had vaguely heard something earlier. Could President Jiang have mistakenly believed that she and Su Yue were buried under the landslide?
"Yes! Don't waste time, just get madam on the phone!" Gu Qing urged, looking at Jiang Ci's hands, which is covered in horrifying blur of mud and blood.
"Madam suddenly fainted. I called to report this to President Jiang," Sheng Yan's voice, usually calm, now carried a hint of anxiety.
Gu Qing was equally desperate. Why faint now of all times? "Can you wake her up first? Try pinching her!"
Sheng Yan spoke to the phone's owner, then rushed back to Granny Ping's house along with it . Upon her arrival she grit her teeth, and pinched Su Yue hard. Su Yue's brow furrowed slightly. Sheng Yan pinched harder.
"It hurt !" Su Yue's eyes fluttered open slowly. Every part of her body ached right now , especially her head, which felt like it might explode. She vaguely remembered Jiang Ci's 'anger value' hitting 100 just before she passed out.
"Madam." Seeing Su Yue awaken, Sheng Yan immediately initiated a video call. It connected instantly. Sheng Yan thrust the phone screen before Su Yue's eyes. "Madam, it's President Jiang. He's here looking for you."
Su Yue was momentarily stunned, her consciousness snapping into full awareness. On the phone screen, a dark, solitary figure squatted before the muddy rubble, frantically digging with both hands. The heavy rain poured over him, his hands turned into a gruesome mess of blood and dirt.
"Madam, President Jiang thought you were crushed under the landslide," Sheng Yan explained, seeing for the first time the sheer madness in President Jiang's eyes. He, who had always been so indifferent, so unfeeling, now had only Su Yue in his gaze. For her, he was willing to risk everything.
"Now Mr. Jiang won't listen to anyone. Only you can bring him back," Sheng Yan pleaded, watching Su Yue, who stared at the screen with an unreadable expression.
"Jiang Ci, I'm here!" Su Yue said, her voice directed at the figure on the video call.
In the next second, the screen shifted. It was Gu Qing, holding an umbrella over the phone, placing it by Jiang Ci's ear. "Mr. Jiang, it's Madam."
"This was the first sentence that snapped Jiang Ci back to reality ."
Just as Jiang Ci raised his blood shot hand to swat the phone away, Su Yue's soft voice drifted from the other end. "Aao, Su Yue here."
His red-rimmed eyes twitched as Su Yue's gentel voice, calling his name, resonated in his ear.
"Su Yue!"
Jiang Ci's blood-and-mud-caked hand clutched the phone to his ear. His thin, blue lips moved slightly, his voice a raw, desperate croak. "Su Yue!"
"It's me, Aao, I'm fine." Su Yue angled the phone to show her face, ensuring Jiang Ci could see her clearly.
"Su Yue!" Jiang Ci stared at her fair face on the screen, with a faint tremor on his lips.
"I'm here. Aao, where are you? I'm coming to find you now." Su Yue immediately tried to get up, wanting to run out.
"Su Yue..."
The screen in Su Yue's hand went black.[Read More Here]
A muffled thud echoed from the other end, the sound of a phone falling, and then the screen froze, showing only the relentless rain.
"President Jiang, President Jiang..." Gu Qing's anguished cry broke through the downpour.
At the hospital, Su Yue found Gu Qing standing anxiously outside the door.
"How's Jiang Ci?" Su Yue asked, stepping torward him.
"Mr. Jiang was injured a while ago. Now, because of the rain, the wound has become inflamed, causing a high fever, and his hand…" Gu Qing hesitated, "the doctors are cleaning the mud from his hand inside." He left unsaid the grim possibility of Jiang Ci losing his hand.
"Hmmm" Su Yue responded softly, her eyes downcast.
Sheng Yan followed Su Yue. From the moment of the video call to their arrival at the hospital, Su Yue's face had remained utterly devoid of emotion. Normally, witnessing such a selfless act of sacrifice would evoke profound emotion in anyone , but Su Yue remained unnervingly calm. Sheng Yan being a loyal employ of Jiang Ci frowned seeing this , feeling a pang of sympathy for President Jiang.
After what felt like an eternity, the doctor emerged from the ward .
"The mud on the patient's hand has been cleaned. There are many scratches, some penetrating deep to the bone. Fortunately, there's no bacterial infection, and the hand is saved. For the next three months, his hand will need bandaging and frequent dressing changes. He also cannot lift anything heavy ." The doctor explained, adding that the wound on Jiang Ci's waist was also inflamed, and his high fever persisted. He would need injections and anti-inflammatory medication to walk through it.
"Thank you, doctor." Su Yue strode into the ward after heraing doctor's instructions.
"Don't go in." Gu Qing stopped Sheng Yan, who attempted to follow her . "There's still a lot to deal with from the landslide. President Jiang had me dispatch people earlier; I need to follow up. You go and prepare some clothes and food for them . President Jiang hasn't eaten since last night. He'll be hungry when he wakes up."
"Why did you and President Jiang suddenly appear in the village?" Sheng Yan frowned. She hadn't received any news of President Jiang's arrival. Otherwise, after losing her phone, she would have tried to contact him immediately to report their situation.
"Do you think President Jiang was just idle and bored and suddenly decided to come here?" Gu Qing smiled wryly. "President Jiang invested in this drama. He wanted to see his wife, as an investor."
Sheng Yan was stunned. The more she learned of Jiang Ci's actions for Su Yue, the stranger she found him. The man who was once so nonchalant, so cold and aloof, as if nothing could touch him, now had a weakness.
The inside of the ward was quiet. Jiang Ci, now dressed in a blue and white hospital gown, lay deep asleep on the bed. Su Yue pulled up a chair beside him, her gaze falling on his two bandaged hands, stark white against the blue hospital gown. She remembered how meticulously he had always protected them, those slender, beautiful hands, now so scarred. The doctor had said the wounds were deep enough to see bone.
Her eyes drifted to Jiang Ci's face. His high fever cast a faint flush to it , but the scar on the left side of his face stood out even more now , pale and disfiguring from being soaked in the rain for so long. Su Yue leaned in, her lips gently brushing the scar, a wave of profound pity washing over her.
She recalled the image of Jiang Ci, on her phone screen, frantically digging through the mud to save her. A sharp ache tightened her nose, her eyelashes trembled, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. Then another. And another. Tears flowed freely.
Su Yue pressed her lips together. She knew Jiang Ci liked her, but she had never comprehended the depth of his devotion. He, who guarded his hands so fiercely, had almost crippled them for her. It wasn't worth it. Such a cold-hearted person shouldn't have become so disheveled and desperate for her.
Su Yue's lips remained tightly pursed, her dark eyes brimming with tears that fell silently. An agonizing pain gripped her chest, as if something had violently torn open a void within her, then domineeringly settled there, leaving her in a panic of pain.
"What are you crying for?"
Jiang Ci's voice was a rough, sandy whisper. As he weakly grasped Su Yue's hand, he added casually, "I'm not dead, and this is not the time to cry."
"Jiang Ci, you're awake!" Su Yue covered his mouth. "Bah, bah! You can't say such things.[Read More Here]
" Su Yue wasn't superstitious, but such words in a hospital felt incredibly unlucky, like an unwelcome omen.
Jiang Ci slowly opened his eyes, meeting Su Yue's tear-filled gaze. With a faint tug, he pulled her into his arms, mumbling, "I'm thirsty."
"Your hand is injured, you can't use force, don't move," Su Yue fretted, letting him hold her, terrified of hurting him. She removed her hand from his mouth. "If you're thirsty, I'll pour you some water." She looked at his lips. Parched and slightly swollen from the fever but they were still beautiful.
"I don't want water. I want to kiss your eyes," Jiang Ci rasped. Her eyes, watery and clear, seemed ready to spill more tears if she lowered her head. "Bend down. I'm sick now and don't have the strength to reach you."
Su Yue's face flushed, yet she didn't rebuke his casual demand. She obediently lowered her head and closed her eyes. Jiang Ci studied her intently, a slow smile gracing his lips. His injured hand moved to her waist, pulling her closer.
Geez, he should have gotten some more compensation.
The pressure from Su Yue against his bandaged waist wound was painful, but Jiang Ci barely registered it. All he desired now was to kiss Su Yue, to devour her. His dry, thin lips met Su Yue's eyelids, fierce and heavy, as if he meant to consume her very eyeballs. The teardrops clinging to her long lashes were slowly drawn away, one by one. Her eyelashes trembled as Su Yue felt her heart pound wildly in her chest. Then a prompt ring in her head.
"Anger value: 0."
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