Chapter 99

She had come to the mall with Assistant Hua for an inspection—so what was Xie Shiqing doing trailing behind them?

Assistant Hua spoke up, “Miss Zhong, there’s a café upstairs with good privacy.”

Zhong Ning glanced at Xie Shiqing with a complicated expression. The latter’s eyes were brimming with tears. Zhong Ning apologized to Assistant Hua, closed her eyes briefly, then walked over to personally push the wheelchair, taking her upstairs.

Xie Shiqing’s assistant tactfully stayed downstairs without following.

The café indeed offered excellent privacy. Each table was separated by partitions and greenery, maximizing the sense of a private space. Even so, Zhong Ning still chose the innermost spot.

She didn’t drink coffee, so she ordered a glass of milk. The waiter’s departure started their conversation.

“Ning Ning… are you still mad at me?” Xie Shiqing asked, her voice carrying a faint sob, cautiously delivered, even the trailing tone muffled.

How ridiculous—like she was the one who had done something wrong. Zhong Ning was the one who should be angry, but at this moment, she only felt exhausted. A person struggling in the ocean for too long—what could she feel besides fatigue?

She had long stopped being angry.

“I have no right to be angry with you,” she said.

“You do, you do!” Xie Shiqing interrupted hastily, “It was my fault, I know I was wrong. Please listen to me, Ning Ning, I can explain!”

She shouldn’t have interrupted Zhong Ning, but she couldn’t bear to hear her say anything colder, anything that would draw even sharper lines between them.

Without waiting for Zhong Ning to respond, she continued her unfinished explanation, “I was acting out of spite. I’m sorry, I really was just being spiteful. Because you wouldn’t forgive me, I got angry. I really was arrogant, so full of myself.”

“I thought that since I’d already apologized and you were still mad, I just— I don’t even know what I was thinking. I just stormed off in anger.”

“So you gave me the silent treatment.” Zhong Ning stared at the new tear streaks on the woman’s face across from her. Her voice was softer than a willow flake drifting on the wind. “You thought it was my fault.”

“No!” Xie Shiqing was completely panicked now. She desperately wanted to spill out everything she was thinking and feeling, but when the words reached her lips, she stopped.

She couldn’t say it. She mustn’t say it. She had to keep it hidden. Zhong Ning mustn’t find out.

She had to smooth things over.

She trembled as she tried to reach for Zhong Ning’s hand. The moment her fingertips brushed the warm skin, it slipped away from her fingers.

Tears welled up in Xie Shiqing’s eyes instantly. “It’s my fault. I really know I was wrong. I wanted to apologize. I wanted to come back as soon as I could.”

“Please don’t leave me, Ning Ning. Don’t abandon me.”

"What do I have to do for you to forgive me… What do you want me to do? Just say the word, I’ll do anything, I can do anything, Ning Ning… I love you!"

She was crying so fiercely it was as if all the water in her body was pouring out. A flush of unnatural red rose on her face. Yet, knowing Zhong Ning didn’t want to attract attention, she covered her mouth with her hand. Even so, muffled sobs still leaked out through her fingers, unable to be fully suppressed.

The remorse was so vivid, and the tears so scalding.

Zhong Ning was almost frightened. All she wanted was to talk things through properly, to make everything clear, not to face this near-hysterical outburst, to listen to repeated regret and declarations of love.

She had been completely overwhelmed by the intensity of these emotions and, for a moment, didn’t know how to respond. Her mouth opened slightly, but the words she had prepared, the lines she had rehearsed to draw a line between them, were now stuck in her throat.

There was something very wrong with Xie Shiqing’s condition.

Xie Shiqing tried once again to reach for her hand. Her fingers were wet with tears, clammy to the touch. Zhong Ning lowered her head, hesitating whether to pull away. But her gaze froze.

Those beautiful hands, always well-maintained, with neatly rounded nails—were now a mess. The nails were ragged, as if gnawed at, and there were torn wounds at the fingertips, fresh and unhealed.

"You bit these yourself?"

Xie Shiqing blinked blankly, completely unaware of what Zhong Ning was talking about. A tear-streaked face lifted toward her with a near-pleading smile. "Ning Ning, you’re holding my hand… does that mean you’ve forgiven me?"

She was clearly not in a normal state!

————————

This feeling was both very direct and very subtle.

There was definitely something wrong with Xie Shiqing’s current state—her words were disorganized, incoherent, and her attention was all over the place.

She hadn’t even registered what she was saying, just talking to herself, completely immersed in her own emotional world.

Zhong Ning realized something was off.

She pulled her hand away and tried to call Qi Wan. No matter what, their relationship was closer than most, and she was a doctor. If anyone might know what was going on with Xie Shiqing, it would be her.

"Don’t leave me… Ning Ning, don’t abandon me."

Xie Shiqing clung to her hand, refusing to let go. She even disregarded the fact that she was still in a wheelchair, straining forward desperately. Her bandaged arm scraped against the edge of the table, yet she still wouldn’t release her grip. A faint stain of red began to soak through the fabric, seeping out hazily from beneath.

Zhong Ning had no choice but to awkwardly reach with her left hand toward the bag hanging on the right side of her chair. She didn’t dare pull her hand back, afraid it might provoke her even more.

The call quickly connected—it was a video call. Zhong Ning flipped the camera to show Xie Shiqing. “She’s acting a bit strange. Look at her hand—I think she bit it herself. Dr. Qi, do you know what’s going on?”

Qi Wan’s expression turned grave, and she spoke rapidly, “Take her home, now! There’s medicine in the first aid kit. She’s having a panic and anxiety attack!”

A regular person could certainly feel overwhelmed by panic or anxiety, but they would never describe it using the word attack.

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