"How are you feeling now?"
The nurse gazed at the pale, frail girl on the hospital bed with concern in her eyes.
Chu Zhao’s throat felt parched. She remained silent for a few seconds before rasping, "Thank you, I... I’m fine."
She paused, lifting her eyes to look at the nurse. "Could you please bring me my phone?"
The nurse blinked, then offered a gentle, sympathetic smile. "Of course."
But what the nurse handed over first was a paper cup filled with water.
"It’s warm water," the nurse said softly. "Have a little."
It was care from a stranger.
Chu Zhao lowered her eyes. She took the cup, feeling its warmth against her skin, and her voice grew even hoarser. "…Thank you."
Just as her pale lips touched the rim of the cup, the phone clutched in her other hand began to vibrate.
【Little Brother】
The name on the screen made Chu Zhao’s pupils dilate. She hadn't expected Chu Wang to call.
In the end, Chu Zhao didn't heed the nurse's kindness to drink the water; she answered the call immediately.
"Li—"
"Chu Zhao! Why did it take you so long to pick up? I’ve called you so many times—are you doing this on purpose?!"
The tone was as fierce as always.
Even through the phone, Chu Zhao could picture Chu Wang’s arrogant, rebellious expression.
"It wasn't on purpose, I…"
"Stop! Spare me the excuses!"
Chu Wang interrupted her bluntly, questioning her directly: "Why did you have to cause a scene at sister’s engagement party?"
"Do you have any idea how embarrassed sister is because of you right now?"
"You’ve made her the laughingstock of the entire G City!"
*Sister.*
It was Chu Fu, not her. He was standing up for Chu Fu, not her.
Chu Zhao gripped the phone tightly, her knuckles turning white.
"…Is that all you called for?"
Chu Wang did not hesitate. "What else? Do you think I want to talk to you?"
"Can’t you just be quiet for one day? All you do is bring shame to our family!"
"If my sister is humiliated, what good does that do you?"
*Your sister…* Then what about her? Wasn't she his sister, too?
"Why on earth did Mom and Dad even bring you back in the first place!"
*We shouldn't have brought you back!*
The same familiar phrasing, the same familiar disgust.
Chu Zhao swallowed the question that had been on the tip of her tongue, just like swallowing a cold, sharp blade.
Her heart felt pierced, her insides torn open; she looked unharmed on the surface, but internally, she was already a bloody mess.
Chu Zhao started struggling for air again. A roaring sound filled her ears, making it difficult for her to hear Chu Wang’s seemingly tireless voice, even as she dug her nails into her palms.
"Mom’s health had just started to improve, and now you’ve made her sick again… You owe us… you can’t even live properly… you’re truly hopeless…"
"Hello? Are you mute?"
"…" *I’m in the hospital. I feel terrible, too. I don’t want to hear this.*
Chu Zhao opened her mouth, but only a faint, indistinct breath escaped.
"What was that noise?" Chu Wang frowned, then added impatiently, "Forget it."
"I’m telling you, I’m going to race at Yunlan Mountain the day after tomorrow."
"Remember to get there early and bring the car I left in the Z3 Garage. Don’t ruin my race, got it?"
"I’ll text you the time and place. That’s it, hanging up."
*Beep—*
Chu Zhao held the phone, remaining motionless for a long time.
Before the screen went dark, she tapped it to light it up again. She flipped from the call log to messages, then to various messaging apps.
Nothing.
There was nothing anywhere.
Aside from Chu Wang’s missed calls, no one else—not her father, mother, elder brother, or second brother—had sent her a single message.
It didn't feel like she had woken up from emergency treatment. It felt more like she was already lying in a grave. Aside from perhaps having her name carved on a tombstone, she had been forgotten—nothing more than a speck of dust.
—
"I should have just drunk that water," Chu Zhao thought.
At least that was a temperature she could feel.
Chu Zhao closed her call logs and opened Zhibo. After the splash screen, her private message count showed 99+.
Chu Zhao clicked through briefly. They were all asking why she had suddenly stopped updating, whether something had happened, expressing concern that she might be unwell... and messages fearing that her hand-drawn comic, *Little Snail is Looking for Friends Today*, would end there.
Chu Zhao clicked on the last post she had made before she went silent.
In the latest chapter, in order to invite Mr. Elephant to be his friend, Little Snail had made a grand plan to climb up Mr. Elephant’s leg to reach his eyes.
[I will let Mr. Elephant know]
[That size cannot stop a sincere heart]
The comment section had long been overrun by fans waiting for new content.
【Little Snail is so cute today, completely unaware that he has made a decision that will take a lifetime to complete~】
【"Size cannot stop..." exactly! Good friends are even better because of their differences!】
【Wuu wuu, this is no longer "today’s" Little Snail, this is Little Snail from three days ago!】
【Three days! Three days! Do you know how I’ve survived these three days? You don't! You just coldly stopped updating!】
【Is it possible that the author is using a metaphor to tell us—Little Snail really has been climbing for a long time?】
【No way! Who wants that kind of metaphor?! Wuu wuu, author, come back! We corporate slaves rely on this cute content to survive! Without Little Snail, my sanity is gone!】
Chu Zhao read through the comments, and her eyes, once as still as stagnant water, began to ripple. Under the light, her dark pupils shimmered with bits of starlight—beautiful and bright, though no one else would ever see it.
Chu Zhao wrote a leave of absence note and attached a previously drawn long-format comic: [Little Snail and Friends' Joyful Picnic].
After doing this, her mood sank back into gloom. She switched Zhibo to a secret secondary account where all content was set to private.
It was updated almost daily, and every post contained the complex emotions Chu Zhao could not voice to anyone else.
[May 17th, Overcast]
[The heart is a precious thing]
[Precious things should not be shown easily]
[I broke this rule, offering my heart—reckless, naked, and without reservation]
[I was destined to pay the price of not being cherished]
Chu Zhao typed the last line and hit send, then turned off the screen.
The hospital room fell into complete silence. Chu Zhao turned on her side and picked up the medication capsules from the small table by the bed. She didn't need to read the instructions; the moment she saw the pills, she knew exactly what they were and what the standard dosage should be.
There were twelve pills on the blister card. Chu Zhao swallowed four of them.
Soon, a chaotic wave of drowsiness washed over her, and she fell into a deep sleep.
—Two days later, Yunlan Mountain—
"Chu Wang, it’s almost race time. Where’s your car? Why isn’t it here yet?"
"You talked such a big game earlier—are you still going to do this or not?"
Chu Wang irritably swatted away the hand resting on his shoulder, his rebellious eyes flashing with impatience. He was about to speak when someone else chimed in to stir the pot.
"Hey, Yaozi, watch your tone. How could our Young Master Chu possibly fail?"
"He’s got the latest modified SA Fengshen supercar—plenty of horsepower!"
"Instead of mocking Young Master Chu, you’d better worry about whether your bet on Young Master Su will flip!"
"Heh, talking so big—let’s see him actually bring the car out."
"Don’t tell me it wasn't that Young Master Chu didn't want to win, but that he forgot to drive his car to the race! Hahaha!"
Chu Wang listened to them bicker back and forth, his annoyance growing. He pulled off his black leather half-finger gloves, and just as he was about to lash out, he saw his old rival, Su Jingmo, walking over with a smile on his lips.
He was grinning, his true emotions unreadable—the "fox" type that Chu Wang hated most.
The moment Su Jingmo spoke, he brought up the person Chu Wang least wanted to hear about.
"Wasn't that SA supercar of yours confiscated by your dad? What is it? Did you ask your sister to drive it over this time?"
"She’s not my sister."
Chu Wang denied it expressionlessly, a flash of disgust crossing his dark brown pupils.
"Right, it’s Chu Zhao." Su Jingmo’s smile deepened, his tone meaningful. "You really do hate her, don’t you?"
"What does it have to do with—"
"If I recall correctly, she only checked out of the hospital this morning, and it’s a three-hour drive from A City—"
Su Jingmo put on a troubled expression. "Are you sure she’ll make it in time?"
*Checked out of the hospital?*
*Chu Zhao was in the hospital again?*
Chu Wang was stunned for a moment, but quickly returned to his usual state. It must have been those same old mental health issues again.
Chu Zhao’s episodes were too frequent; his family had long ago stopped bothering to inform him about such things. But regardless, he couldn't let an outsider watch the Chu family make a fool of themselves.
Chu Wang pulled a malicious smirk. "That’s none of your concern."
"She’ll be here."
"So confident," Su Jingmo remarked, even offering a mocking round of applause. "Always betting on winning or losing is getting a bit boring, isn't it?"
"Since you hate Chu Zhao so much, how about we make this even more exciting?"
Chu Wang’s eyes were impatient. "What are you getting at?"
Su Jingmo chuckled, his voice measured, yet carrying a palpable sense of pressure.
"Let’s put up my Water Villa in the Tianshui district of A City—the one your other sister, Chu Fu, likes—as a stake in our bet…"
He lowered his voice and, watching Chu Wang’s pupils widen, asked with a smile: "Do we have a deal?"