Yan Luqing held Gu Ci’s phone to scan her own QR code, smoothly letting Gu Ci add her as a friend.
Gu Ci’s WeChat profile picture was in black and white tones, and the nickname was “word.”
Ci, word.
[Note: 顾词 (Gu Ci) — 词 literally means “word.”]
“I’ve added it, and also noted my name.” Yan Luqing handed the phone back to Gu Ci’s side.
Then her eyes immediately fixed unwaveringly on her own screen.
Just like the chat boxes with Jin Qi’an and Yu Xi earlier, although he had never sent any messages, his profile picture would hang at the upper left corner.
One second.
Two seconds.
……
When silently counting to 5 in her heart, finally—Gu Ci’s black-and-white profile picture bubbled!
What would Gu Ci be thinking? What was the inner world of the big boss like? How did Gu Ci view her now? Did he think she was mentally ill?…… Could all of this soon be known!
Yan Luqing forcibly restrained the joy in her heart from being discovered by Gu Ci, bit her lips to control her breathing steadily, and carefully looked at those few bubbles.
They had no color at all; the bubbles were transparent.
Perhaps some kind of new emotion?
Yan Luqing tapped once, and a white box popped out—
「。」
Inside appeared only a single period.
Tapping again, it was still only a lonely period.
Yan Luqing: ?
The golden finger had just appeared and was already broken?
Yan Luqing switched back to the chat box with Little Black to take a look; above that child’s head still ceaselessly emerged large amounts of gray and blue bubbles, casually poking one would be “I really regret it,” “I still haven’t had time to fulfill filial piety.”
Switching to the chat box with Jin Qi’an that big idiot, it was still bubbling with fresh red curses: “F*** your mother,” “you don’t have a horse.”
Since it wasn’t broken, then what was the situation with Gu Ci’s bubbles?
Yan Luqing switched back again to Gu Ci’s chat box.
She observed back and forth for about half a minute; these transparent bubbles were bubbling very regularly, unlike others’ chaotic scrambling and disorder, but with fixed intervals of two to three seconds, looking extremely fake.
And no matter how she poked, there was only one 「。」
She hadn’t expected that after being excited for so long, she could only read out the big boss’s period.
Yan Luqing’s mood plummeted from the clouds straight to the bottom, for a moment forgetting whose room this was, unable to help letting out a heavy sigh.
Gu Ci’s voice followed, “What’s wrong?”
Yan Luqing sulkily complained in her heart: What else could it be? I just wanted to see what you were thinking, yet you only let me see a period?
But what she spoke aloud was another excuse: “I was thinking… when can you recover?”
Yan Luqing lifted her head to look at Gu Ci; he probably hadn’t expected to hear such an answer, blinked once, and from this angle his eyelashes appeared long and distinct.
No wonder he was the paper character she liked — he truly was breathtaking.
Yan Luqing continued to ask, “How are you feeling now? A bit better than when you first arrived here?”
Every word and sentence, concern earnest.
Gu Ci suddenly laughed.
The youth still wore a pale smile that formed a pleasing arc. “Why do you ask such a thing?” he said in a gentle voice. “Of course much better, and I must thank you for that.”
“That’s good, that’s good then……” Yan Luqing breathed a sigh of relief, then thinking of the matter she’d sent Big Black out to handle today, her tone became even lighter. “By the way, I had Big Black contact a very famous ophthalmologist from another province; he should be able to arrive in the next couple of days.”
The implication being that his eyes might be saved.
Gu Ci of course could tell, and he continued to smile in thanks, and even returned a concern to Yan Luqing: “How is your head?”
From the first day she confirmed her identity after transmigrating, Yan Luqing’s purpose had already been set. She would do the opposite of the original — she would be good to Gu Ci, she would save his life.
And being cared for by the big boss was an important sign that their relationship had progressed further!
Yan Luqing was deeply moved. She had originally thought this trip the golden finger would be useless and adding contact info would be in vain, but unexpectedly she harvested a pleasant surprise. So she left in very high spirits.
After watching the door close again, Gu Ci slowly put the phone aside, palm facing up.
From his forearm to his wrist to his fingers, the entire arm was in a state of involuntary, mild muscular spasms.
—Because of pain.
Gu Ci was very familiar with this feeling, because it was not the first time.
From fingertip to forearm, every part felt as if a sharp knife had slit open veins and then peeled away flesh — the pain all came from the addictive, hallucinogenic drug injected into him the first day he arrived at this villa; each onset’s duration was uncertain, and the affected area was also uncertain.
So when Yan Luqing had just asked whether he felt better than when he first arrived here, Gu Ci could not help but want to laugh.
Gu Ci lowered his eyes, expressionless, feeling his hand still in slight spasms, and his mind quickly ran through what Yan Luqing had done in the past few days.
Finding him a doctor, taking him to a banquet, wanting his phone, breaking Jin Qi’an’s leg. In the midst of all this she had frequently and repeatedly shown him goodwill — and it was after she had him injected with that kind of thing.
Perhaps her bodyguard was right; this time Yan Luqing’s illness was unusually split, or perhaps she was simply too deep in character.
But none of that mattered.
If this time the lunatic wanted to change up her tricks, he could also let her change her way of dying.
*
After Yan Luqing returned to her room, the family doctor who lived here and monitored the original’s physical condition at all times came to change the medicine on her forehead.
This doctor had treated her the first day she fell into a coma, and had treated Gu Ci as well. The female doctor simply had a professional face; she looked very reliable. During the dressing change, Yan Luqing took the opportunity to ask the doctor about Gu Ci’s current condition.
But the result she received was somewhat different from what Gu Ci had said.
The doctor said how long Gu Ci would need IV fluids depended on the specific recovery of his stomach; the drugs he had been injected with also had many side effects that were difficult to identify, and could only be slowly checked and nursed.
Then the doctor mentioned his eyes: “His eyes are injured too, which is outside my treatment scope. I roughly conducted an exam — it’s recent, and caused by human damage, but I cannot determine the specific cause and pathology. You’d better find a specialist in this area as soon as possible.”
After changing the medicine the doctor left. Yan Luqing clutched her chest and lay back on the bed, muttering several times: “Gu Ci is truly too miserable……”
“I’m nearly being abused into becoming one of his mom fans. How can a person be this tragic……”
“Maria, who is Gu Ci? Is he a new guest at the house?” Perhaps because the word “Gu Ci” had appeared too often, the artificial idiot beside her suddenly asked.
Yan Luqing thought for a moment: “Sort of.”
Not only a guest, but also a guest she wanted to enshrine.
The robot said again: “My system did not detect relevant information on ‘Gu Ci.’ Do you wish to assign a new code name for ‘Gu Ci’?”
“Sure.”
Yan Luqing herself didn’t know what was wrong with her. When she thought of giving Gu Ci a nickname, her head was filled with those beautiful yet tragic fairy-tale princess images, and she blurted out: “Princess Ci, Sleeping Beauty Ci, Ashen Gu Ci, Sea’s Ci Ci… you can just pick one.”
Then she opened WeChat, tapped open Gu Ci’s personal info, and casually changed his note.
——【Runaway Princess】
No matter how she looked at this remark, it pleased her eyes.
Yan Luqing was also dissatisfied with her own WeChat name: YLQ, people who didn’t know might think it was an abbreviation for Entertainment Circle.
She thought for a while, then changed it to match with Gu Ci’s.
——【Runaway Saintess】
……
During the next two days, in order to test the golden finger, Yan Luqing added the WeChat of many people in the villa, creating an atmosphere of unease throughout the place.
Through observing a sufficient number of examples, apart from blue, gray, and red, she confirmed two more colors—yellow and pink.
Yellow represented feelings of happiness.
Pink was somewhat more complicated. At first Yan Luqing thought it was “liking,” but later she discovered this color only appeared when someone held expectation for something—it could be liking something, or it could simply be having made a wish.
However, after adding so many people, only five colors appeared. The sole exception was Gu Ci: he had no color.
Even if Yan Luqing stared from dawn until dusk, opening Gu Ci’s chat box whenever she had time, the bubbles above his head never showed the slightest trace of color, and their content was unchangingly a period.
Until two days later, the day the ophthalmologist was scheduled to come.
That morning, a new long-term resident arrived at the villa first—Big Black brought back a man dressed the same as himself but without sunglasses. Yan Luqing sat on the sofa, watching Big Black introduce the man to her: “Miss Yan, this is your new personal bodyguard arranged by your family.”
The word “family” made Yan Luqing raise her brows.
The original had lived alone; if Big Black hadn’t said this, Yan Luqing would have almost forgotten the original even had a family.
The newcomer was slimmer and more handsome than Big Black, with a refined appearance. After Big Black led the man away, Little Black came over to gossip with Yan Luqing: “I heard this new big brother is very famous.”
Since discovering that Yan Luqing had no intention of disposing of him, Little Black had once again become radiant with springtime cheer.
Yan Luqing: “What’s he famous for?”
Little Black: “They all say he has an especially good temper.”
How could that count as something to be famous for? Yan Luqing asked curiously: “How good?”
“They say this big brother never gets angry when playing King of Glory.”
“…That doesn’t mean good temper.” Yan Luqing immediately regarded this big brother with solemn respect. “Not getting angry while playing King of Glory, that’s a living Bodhisattva.”
While the two were idly chatting nonsense, the ophthalmologist Yan Luqing had spent a large sum to invite from another province, who had finally freed up his schedule, at last arrived at the villa.
They came as a group. The one in the white coat took the lead in greeting Yan Luqing; he was a middle-aged Mediterranean-looking man who seemed very amiable. Squinting, he asked her, “Miss Yan, is it? My surname is Liu, just call me Doctor Liu.”
He scrutinized Yan Luqing for a moment. This girl’s whole body could be overlooked, but her eyes stood out the most. Her appearance was pretty, but that was secondary; the main thing was her gaze—clean, bright, and especially lively, mischievous.
“Your eyes look very healthy. What problem do you have?”
Yan Luqing hurriedly waved her hand: “Doctor Liu, the one needing eye treatment is my friend. I’ll take you there.”
Saying this, Yan Luqing led him and his assistants to Gu Ci’s room door.
Treating Gu Ci’s eyes was something Yan Luqing had been thinking of ever since she read the book. She had been looking forward to it for too long, so much so that she forgot to knock.
She pushed open Gu Ci’s door, and the first thing she saw was a bare back—Gu Ci was standing at the edge of the bed, halfway through changing clothes. The garment hung just above his beautifully shaped scapula, gilded by the morning light, emphasizing the overly thin yet distinctly youthful body.
Yan Luqing froze for a moment; her actions were quicker than her brain’s reaction. Before Gu Ci turned his head, she uprightly and swiftly slammed the door shut with a “bang.”
Because Yan Luqing had been walking ahead of Doctor Liu and his assistants, that scene just now should have been seen only by her.
This was too…
She hadn’t even had time to complain when, after only a few seconds, the door was pulled open again from inside.
Gu Ci’s face appeared in everyone’s sight. He slightly lowered his eyes, as though he had just washed his face, his eyelashes still damp, and happened to face Yan Luqing’s direction.
Even though she knew he couldn’t see clearly now, Yan Luqing still felt immeasurably awkward and averted her gaze.
“Morning,” Gu Ci said as though nothing had happened, his tone carrying a smile. “What is it?”
Yan Luqing tilted her body slightly: “This is the ophthalmologist I mentioned to you before…”
Once she had started, the talkative Doctor Liu took over and introduced himself to Gu Ci. Hearing the purpose, Gu Ci of course nodded cooperatively, and everything afterward proceeded smoothly with the examination.
Yan Luqing sat on the single sofa to the side, still not forgetting what had been her greatest focus these days—Gu Ci’s WeChat bubbles.
But unfortunately, even in such a major matter concerning his eyes, his inner world remained without the slightest ripple.
An hour later, when Doctor Liu’s assistant was writing the medical record, Yan Luqing wanted to peek and see what the illness actually was.
The result was… she gained some strange new knowledge.
——On that diagnostic report was a whole block of mosaic; except for the patient’s name, everything else was blurred so that not a single word could be read.
So she asked the doctor directly about Gu Ci’s eyes, but when he opened his mouth to answer, the sound that came out was censored, turning into: “Beep—beep—”
He was clearly speaking human words, and the people around showed no odd reactions, but Yan Luqing simply couldn’t hear the specific content. Doctor Liu’s mouth opening and closing was exactly like a telegraph machine.
Yan Luqing: “?”
She was about to put on the mask of pain.
Everyone else sober, only I drunk? It could be played like this???
The doctor, completely unaware of the bizarre scene Yan Luqing was experiencing, saw her horrified face and assumed she was too worried. He comforted her: “Don’t worry. I’ve handled such cases before. In two to three months he can recover 90% of his vision; if treated properly, the results may be even better.”
That sentence Yan Luqing could hear clearly.
It was only when it involved the illness that it was censored. Earlier in the original’s memory, that medicine had also been censored…
The original author had never written what exact drug had blinded Gu Ci’s eyes, nor had the book ever mentioned the name of the injection. Could it be that anything not specifically written would turn into that censored state just like just now?
……The unscrupulous author only cared about saving themselves trouble, had they ever considered the feelings of someone transmigrated into the book!
After realizing this, the scene was still bizarre.
After all, aside from the medical terms related to Gu Ci’s eye condition, Yan Luqing could still hear the rest of their exchange. Thus the picture turned into—
The doctor said to Gu Ci: “This ‘beep——’ is not as frightening as it sounds. At its root it was caused by ‘beep——,’ belonging to ‘beep——.’ Fortunately, you are still young, your recovery ability is strong, so there will basically be no aftereffects.”
What a world-class painting.
Gu Ci nodded and said to the doctor: “Alright, thank you.”
Doctor Liu smiled and pointed at Yan Luqing: “It was that young lady over there who called me. You should thank her instead.”
Gu Ci glanced toward the other side of the bed, in Yan Luqing’s direction where she was standing.
His brows relaxed, his smile carrying a somewhat lazy air. “Mm, I will thank her well.”
……
Doctor Liu was discussing the treatment plan with his assistants.
Yan Luqing took the chance to sit on a small spot at the side of Gu Ci’s bed, her phone in hand still open to the chat interface with him.
The two sat in silence for a while. Yan Luqing clenched her teeth, forced herself, and called him: “Gu Ci.”
“Mm.”
“Didn’t you just say you would thank me properly?” Yan Luqing asked, enduring the embarrassment.
“How do you plan to thank me properly?”
The moment she finished speaking, she immediately lowered her head to check her phone.
Sure enough, the Runaway Princess profile picture began to bubble!
Yan Luqing instantly tapped—
「……」
In the chat box, slowly appeared a string of ellipses.
Was he speechless?
Although it was no longer a period, Yan Luqing could not feel happy at all—this was still punctuation!
Yan Luqing really had locked horns with him.
She refused to believe in this evil; she had to provoke this big boss into displaying a complete sentence.
“Actually, I’m not even trying to make you thank me,” Yan Luqing cleared her throat. “I just want to hear you say one sentence…”
“…What sentence.”
“You just say to me—” Yan Luqing leaned in until she was only a dozen centimeters from his side, her lips aimed at his left ear, lowering her voice: “‘Erkang! My eyes cannot see anymore!’”
“…………”
After Yan Luqing finished reciting this line, she clearly felt Gu Ci’s breath stagnate for an instant.
At the same time, bubbles emerged from the Runaway Princess chat box that had finally changed color, turning white! Yan Luqing was overjoyed and tapped at once—
Inside the large chat box was drawn a large: 「？」
Yan Luqing was dumbstruck.
She had thought that now that it carried color, there would finally be words. Who knew it would be a giant question mark.
Yet Gu Ci did not repeat the line she had spoken, and his action had nothing to do with their previous conversation.
Gu Ci unlocked his own phone and handed it to her. “Do me a favor, download an audiobook app.”
“Oh… alright.” Yan Luqing took it, casually searched the app store for a download, and asked along the way, “What book do you want to listen to? I’ll add it to your bookshelf later so it’ll be convenient for you to listen in the future.”
“Then I’ll trouble you.” Gu Ci enunciated two words clearly: “Abnormal Psychology.”
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