The room was deathly quiet.
Nan Yu was nestled in Tan Linyuan's arms, her body only starting to tremble at this moment.
He whispered, "Blame me, Yu Yu."
Nan Yu shook her head.
She didn't blame Tan Linyuan.
This matter had nothing to do with him from start to finish. How could she blame him?
Even if it hadn't happened this time, it would surely happen the next time or the time after that.
After a pause, she softly asked, "Is Shen Yanche dead?"
The wrongdoer should be held accountable.
The person she should be looking for was Shen Yanche.
"He's still in the emergency room. His life and death are still uncertain for now," Tan Linyuan replied coldly. "However, even if he makes it out of the emergency room, he won't live long."
Nan Yu understood what he meant.
She didn't move in his embrace, simply saying quietly, "Shen Yanche came clean to me. He was the one who killed my parents."
Tan Linyuan hesitated for a moment and tightened his embrace.
She recounted everything Shen Yanche had said on the rooftop to Tan Linyuan. By the end, her voice was hoarse. "They were still protecting me even in their last moments, but I thought they had abandoned me."
"It's not your fault."
"But I did hate them for a short while, thinking they were selfish and cowardly."
Tan Linyuan's voice was deep. "I'll go to the cemetery with you. We'll apologize to them together."
Nan Yu would apologize to her parents.
He would apologize to her parents too.
Nan Yu sniffled, her voice choked with emotion. "Okay, but I want to see the Shen family get their just deserts first."
Only when the Shen father and son received the punishment they deserved could she console her parents' spirits in the afterlife and face them with dignity.
Tan Linyuan promised her, "I'll take care of them. Even without you saying it, I won't let them off easily."
It was at this moment that Qu Jiaran burst into the room.
She looked flustered and nervous. "Yu Yu! Are you okay?"
At the sight of the two hugging each other, Qu Jiaran froze for a second, then awkwardly turned her head. "I didn't see anything. I saw nothing..."
Nan Yu: "..."
Tan Linyuan: "..."
Tan Linyuan didn't care about this, but Nan Yu felt a bit embarrassed and gently pushed him with her left hand.
Only then did he let go of Nan Yu. His voice was cold. "She needs rest. Go back where you came from."
"No way. I'm here to visit Yu Yu. Even if someone's going to kick me out, it has to be Yu Yu." Qu Jiaran was assertive.
Seeing Qu Jiaran's worried face, Nan Yu had no choice but to say, "Let me talk to her for a while. You go and get your work done first."
She had a premonition that Tan Linyuan was going to deal with the Shen father and son next. She couldn't waste any more of his time.
Tan Linyuan glanced at Nan Yu and finally compromised. "I'll go out for a while. There'll be someone guarding the door. I'll be back in an hour."
Qu Jiaran walked in proudly. When she passed by Tan Linyuan, she even made a face. "You're nothing. I'm Yu Yu's best friend."
Tan Linyuan ignored her.
Qu Jiaran plopped down and immediately asked about Nan Yu's condition.
Nan Yu was annoyed by her endless questions, so she simply repeated what Tan Linyuan had said to her.
Upon learning that the baby was safe, Qu Jiaran exaggeratedly patted her chest, looking as if she had survived a disaster. "Thank goodness you didn't have a miscarriage. If you had, I would've had an abortion right away."
She said it seriously, not like she was joking.
Only Qu Jiaran could treat such important matters as pregnancy and abortion so lightly.
Nan Yu silently glanced at Qi Zhu standing in the room and couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him.
Nan Yu was confused. "If I really had a miscarriage, why would you have an abortion?"
Qu Jiaran had her own logic. "If you're not having the baby, then I'm not having mine either!"
"..." Nan Yu was speechless. "What does this have to do with me? Isn't this just moral blackmail?"
"I'm not blackmailing you," Qu Jiaran denied.
"Yes, you are," Nan Yu insisted.
Qu Jiaran got anxious and quickly explained, "I didn't mean it that way, Yu Yu. Don't be angry. I just want to do everything with you. Perform on stage together, go to the temple to burn incense and pray together, go..."
"You went to the temple to burn incense to meet Tan Linyuan," Nan Yu interrupted her, exposing her lie.
"..." Qu Jiaran was a bit embarrassed. "That was before. Now I don't want to run into him at all."
Qu Jiaran pouted and straightforwardly blamed, "It's all that bad luck charm's fault. He brought you such a huge disaster. You can't play the piano anymore. He ruined your career."
Nan Yu frowned and firmly denied, "I won't allow you to say that about Tan Linyuan."
Qu Jiaran was still unconvinced. "But I'm not wrong."
"If you keep talking like this, I'll have someone come in and kick you out," Nan Yu said, pretending to call the bodyguards outside.
Seeing that she was serious, Qu Jiaran immediately obediently admitted her mistake. "Okay, it's my fault. I won't say it again. Yu Yu, don't be angry with me. Don't kick me out."
Nan Yu remained expressionless.
She was afraid of hearing this very sentence.
On the rooftop, she had actually thought about ending it all.
The death of her parents had resurfaced. At the moment when she learned the truth, besides anger, there was also despair.
She couldn't imagine the pain her parents must have felt when they were hanged on the top floor and then pushed down.
It was as if her heart was being ripped out of her chest.
There was no meaning in living anymore.
But then she thought that if something really happened to her and she died, Tan Linyuan would fall back into that prophecy.
He himself would never be able to get out of the guilt and self - blame.
She could even predict that he would find it harder to accept her death than she did.
For his sake, she couldn't die.
She had to live to prove that the so - called prophecy and fate were all false.
Qu Jiaran sat with Nan Yu and chatted for a while. Then Qi Zhu came over to remind her that it was time for her check - up.
Qu Jiaran mumbled, "You're so naggy, like an old maid," but her body was honest as she stood up and walked over to hook her arm through Qi Zhu's.
The two leaned against each other, looking as intimate as a couple.
Nan Yu couldn't help but think that if these two really got together, they wouldn't be such a bad match.
At least, they seemed well - matched for now.
"Yu Yu, I'll come to see you again in a while. Take good care of yourself. Eat more and sleep more!"
Qu Jiaran waved goodbye to Nan Yu reluctantly.
—
In fact, Tan Linyuan didn't leave the hospital.
After learning that Shen Yanche had been transferred to a VIP ward after leaving the emergency room, he went straight there.
The doctor told Tan Linyuan that Shen Yanche's wounds had been bandaged and he was waiting for the anesthetic to wear off.
As soon as the anesthetic wore off, he would wake up.
But Tan Linyuan wasn't in the mood to wait, nor did he want to waste time.
He brought some people with him. Standing in the room, he looked at the unconscious Shen Yanche, his eyes cold and filled with a frosty chill.