Chapter 42: When the World Was Altered

Qin Liang slowly opened his eyes. Before him was a pure white, everything blurry.

The last moment of his memory was of him suddenly vomiting blood and fainting, unconscious.

‘Did I die from a sudden illness?’

‘Then where is this?’

‘Heaven?’

Although he was well-versed in materialism, because of his terminal illness, Qin Liang would still find some spiritual comfort for himself, considering himself a semi-believer.

The face that leaned in from the hazy, blurry white light was pure and flawless, dyed with a warm, light color.

‘What is this?’

‘An angel?’

“Ah Liang, Old Qin, don’t die! Wake up, wake up!!”

Someone was calling out anxiously in his ear.

For a moment, he was a little dazed. Ah Liang, a very familiar name.

Who was calling him?

‘An angel?’

Qin Liang tried to lean forward, wanting to see the angel’s face clearly. He smelled a faint, elegant lemon scent, with the coolness of added ice.

This is… Ah Le’s scent.

“Holy crap! You’re finally awake! You scared me to death! I thought you were gone!!” Someone let out a long sigh of relief, their chest heaving violently.

“Kele?” Qin Liang’s vision gradually cleared. He was lying in a hospital room, sunlight shining in through the white gauze curtains. He also saw the anxious person waiting by his bed.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“You scared me to death. I was just buying two cups of milk tea when I saw you vomit blood and fall to the ground, still clutching a fountain pen in your hand.” The beautiful girl in the black stockings and JK uniform patted her chest, looking as if she were saying, “Thank goodness you’re okay.”

‘Fountain pen?’

Qin Liang glanced to the side. His right hand was currently clutching the fountain pen tightly, his fingertips white.

The fountain pen was still the same, with a black body and golden patterns. But Qin Liang felt that something was different. Holding the pen gently, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if it were an extension of his own arm.

Qin Liang sat up and moved his limbs. There were no various tubes inserted into his arms, and there was nothing wrong with his body. It was as if he had just taken a normal nap on the hospital bed.

“What did the doctor say?” Qin Liang asked, rubbing his temples and looking at Kele.

“He said you should stay in the hospital for observation for two or three days and have a full check-up,” Tang Yunle said softly.

“Thank you.”

Qin Liang said his thanks. He sat up in bed and moved his body. He didn’t feel any discomfort. On the contrary, after vomiting that mouthful of blood, his body felt much lighter.

“It’s okay. I’m your girlfriend. This is what I should do.”

“By the way, big brother, I paid for your hospital fees. Can you…”

“Yes, I’ll send it to you now.”

“Thank you, big brother. Let me peel an apple for you.”

With a “clatter,” the hospital room door was pushed open.

Lin Haiyu rushed into the room, hunched over, followed by a panting Li Wei.

“Girl, how’s Old Qin…”

Before the two could say anything, they suddenly saw Qin Liang on the hospital bed, looking as normal as usual. Then they saw the black-stockinged JK girl peeling an apple by the bed with her head lowered. They were both stunned for a moment.

“We heard you vomited blood and fainted, so we came,” Lin Haiyu said, loosening his collar and adding, “Your girlfriend sent us a message.”

“Ah Le said he has something to do, but he’ll be here soon. We have to wait,” Li Wei said, holding his waist and panting.

Qin Liang acknowledged them, but a question arose in his mind.

‘How does Kele have my roommate’s contact information?’

Just as this thought popped up, he saw the girl stuff the peeled apple into his palm, the strap of her canvas bag already on her shoulder.

“Big brothers, you can chat slowly. I still have something to do at school.” She waved sweetly to the three of them, the pleats of her skirt trembling with her steps. In the blink of an eye, she was out of the hospital room.

The moment the door closed, Lin Haiyu and Li Wei exchanged a glance, then looked at Qin Liang with an “you lucky b*stard” expression.

“Holy cow, Old Qin, is your girlfriend shy?!”

“Black stockings with a JK uniform, you’re eating well!”

“Who was it that said they weren’t interested in a girlfriend last time? And now, after such a short time, you’ve already gotten her!”

“Good brother, you’ve even gotten the older sister. Can you introduce the younger sister to me?”

Amidst the playful banter, Qin Liang took a bite of the apple. The sweet juice spread on his tongue.

However, none of them noticed that the moment the hospital room door closed behind her, the black-stockinged JK girl’s pace suddenly quickened. Without looking back, she rushed straight to a public restroom outside the hospital, closed the door, and quickly changed into the men’s clothing hidden at the bottom of her bag.

Having changed back from Kele to Tang Yunle, Tang Yunle went to the sink, scooped up a handful of cold water, and splashed it on his face. His tense nerves finally relaxed.

‘She scared him to death!’

‘In the time it took to buy two cups of milk tea, as soon as I turned around, I saw Qin Liang vomit blood and fall to the ground.’

‘Tang Yunle’s back was covered in a cold sweat at that moment!’

He just wanted to scam some money online; he didn’t want to get involved in a murder.

If Qin Liang really died, putting aside the fact that there would be no one to give him money for the next four years of college and he would be destitute, just a human life would be enough to get Tang Yunle into trouble with the police. The pile of transfers on his phone, plus “Kele’s” black-market identity, would simply mean a bleak future!

“Meow, meow, meow, wasn’t it a big sister who just went in? How did she turn into a big brother when she came out?”

A soft, childish voice sounded. Tang Yunle looked down and found a cute little shota wearing a blue and white robe and an oversized baseball cap beside him at some point.

The little shota looked up, his orange eyes curiously sizing him up, his small nose sniffing the air.

“And big brother’s scent is so familiar to me.”

“Are you friends with little sister Yin, big sister Ji, and big sister Su?”

Tang Yunle didn’t quite understand what the little shota meant, nor did he know who little sister Yin, big sister Ji, and big sister Su were. He just treated it as the little shota’s prank.

He casually gave him a fruit candy, slung his canvas bag over his shoulder, and quickly walked out of the restroom. The sound of his leather shoes on the tiled floor was exceptionally clear in the empty corridor.

Yan Qing clutched the candy wrapper and watched the young man walk away, tilting his head. “This big brother is so strange.”

Shaking his little head, little shota Yan Qing put the candy away. He took out his phone, swiped the screen, and muttered in a childish voice.

“Let’s see how to get to the hospital.”

“A cat told me earlier that big brother Qin vomited blood and fainted. I called and notified the teacher. The teacher should be here by now.”

“I’ll go to the hospital to see big brother Qin too. I can’t just eat all those chicken legs for nothing.”

He rushed to the hospital and found that there was another person in the hospital room: a man with gold-rimmed glasses and white casual clothes, who was the teacher in charge of the counseling class.

“Uncle Zhang, I’m fine. Don’t call my parents. I’m afraid they’ll worry.”

“I’ll talk to the doctor first. If it’s not a big problem, I won’t call.”

After saying that, Zhang Junfang pulled the doctor who had just entered the room and walked into the corridor.

Tang Yunle nodded to the person on the bed, indicating that he had arrived, and Qin Liang nodded back in response.

The night was deep. Blue Sky Hospital, a certain hospital room.

The group from dorm room 812 had gone back, and Zhang Junfang had also gone back with the cat.

The corridor was so quiet at night that you could hear the dripping of disinfectant. Qin Liang was lying on the hospital bed, playing with a pen.

Although the doctor said that everything was normal apart from his terminal illness, for the sake of caution, he still had to stay in the hospital for a few more days for observation.

“Patient 9527, your takeout has arrived.”

“Coming.”

Qin Liang got out of bed and took the takeout bag that was handed to him. The bag was heavy. Apart from more than a dozen fragrant skewers and a cool glass of iced soda, there was also a hardcover book.

The book wasn’t thick, about tens of thousands of words. On the cover was a lifelike little bluebird, and in the bottom right corner of the cover was a line of small words: Produced by P-station, a must-have.

‘Do they give away books with takeout these days?’

Qin Liang was confused. He casually placed the book on the bedside table, picked up a skewer, and started eating with his soda.

The greasy aroma, mixed with the stimulation of the carbonated drink, exploded on his tongue. It was very satisfying.

However, the young man with ice-blue pupils, who was focused on eating his late-night snack, did not notice that after he had casually placed the book on the bedside table, the gold-patterned fountain pen that had been placed there before had quietly rolled—

The nib of the pen had quietly touched the book for a moment.