Chapter 331: She Fainted
Su Zhaozhao had been on high alert ever since Gu Qingran appeared.
So, she wasn’t surprised when Gu Qingran lunged at her. She quickly backed away.
But she hadn’t expected Gu Qingran to be more agile than she’d imagined.
Seeing her retreat, Gu Qingran pressed forward, the knife in her hand stabbing swiftly toward her.
Su Zhaozhao’s back was against the wall. With nowhere left to retreat, she could only twist her body to the side.
The knife dug into her arm.
It carved a bloody line.
Gu Qingran was about to strike again, but in the next instant, she was sent flying by a kick.
The force of the kick was immense. Gu Qingran’s body slammed against a nearby table, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood.
It was Xie Huaizheng.
Xie Huaizheng had been waiting in line. The moment he saw the commotion, his heart nearly leaped out of his chest.
He had rushed back as fast as he could, but he was still a step too late. Zhaozhao was hurt.
“Zhaozhao, are you okay?”
Xie Huaizheng took her hand and pushed up her sleeve, revealing a vivid, red cut.
Her arm was so slender, fair, and delicate that the wound looked particularly gruesome against her skin.
“I’m fine,” Su Zhaozhao said. “It’s just a long, shallow cut.”
“It only looks serious because my skin is so delicate.”
“You’re hurt this badly and you still say you’re fine.”
Xie Huaizheng’s brow furrowed, and he couldn’t help but sigh.
“Let’s go to the hospital.”
“Okay.”
For some reason, Su Zhaozhao felt her head spinning.
Just then, Gu Qingran suddenly lifted her head. She looked at Xie Huaizheng and said, “You’ve been deceived by this woman! She’s not from this world! She’s not a good person!”
She had barely finished speaking when Xie Huaizheng kicked her in the chest again. The intense pain left Gu Qingran nearly breathless.
She felt as if her bones had shattered. The excruciating pain was so intense she could hardly breathe.
As her consciousness faded, Gu Qingran heard Xie Huaizheng’s voice. “Gu Qingran, isn’t it? I regret letting you go last time. Get ready to spend the rest of your life in prison. If you ever get out, I will kill you.”
He spoke in a low, deep voice, so quiet that only the two of them could hear.
Gu Qingran’s eyes widened as she stared at the man before her. At that moment, he was as ferocious as King Yan.
That gaze… it was so familiar. She felt like she had seen it somewhere before.
‘That imperious, majestic, and chilling gaze that no one dared to meet directly…’
In that instant, Gu Qingran suddenly remembered. In her past life, she had never heard of Xie Huaizheng, only Xie Huaizhen.
‘It wasn’t that Xie Huaizheng was a nobody.’
‘It was because he was so powerful that his information was heavily protected online. He never appeared on any platform.’
But his gaze now reminded her of a group photo she had seen before. In it, he was standing right beside the most powerful man there.
‘How ridiculous of me.’
Gu Qingran couldn’t help but laugh at herself.
‘To think she had actually believed Xie Huaizheng was a nobody.’
In reality, he was more powerful than anyone she had ever known.
‘She had failed to win over Xie Huaizhen, and she had failed to win over Xie Huaizheng.’
‘And yet, somehow, Su Zhaozhao had managed to capture them both.’
The rage made Gu Qingran cough up another mouthful of blood before she finally passed out.
Xie Huaizheng turned back to Su Zhaozhao, the cold, bloodthirsty expression on his face vanishing completely. It was replaced by nothing but worry and tenderness.
“Zhaozhao, come on. I’m taking you to the hospital.”
Su Zhaozhao nodded.
When the police arrived, Xie Huaizheng gave them a brief statement. Then, the two of them got into a car and headed for the hospital.
At the hospital, a doctor cleaned and dressed Su Zhaozhao’s wound. “The cut isn’t deep,” the doctor told her. “It’ll be fine once the bleeding stops. Just make sure to apply antiseptic ointment regularly.”
He then glanced at the grim-faced man sitting beside Su Zhaozhao and couldn’t help but sigh.
“Don’t you worry, your wife will be just fine.”
“Thank you, doctor.”
As they left the emergency room, Su Zhaozhao looked at Xie Huaizheng and clutched her head. “Honey, I feel really dizzy.”
‘This is so strange,’ she thought. ‘It’s just a small cut. Why am I so dizzy?’
‘Could Gu Qingran have put some kind of poison on the knife?’
Xie Huaizheng noticed Su Zhaozhao’s deathly pale face. It was as white as a sheet of paper, which was definitely not normal.
“Zhaozhao, it’s okay,” Xie Huaizheng said quickly. “I’ve already sent the knife off to be tested.”
‘And he would make sure Gu Qingran was interrogated thoroughly.’
But in the next instant, Su Zhaozhao’s body went limp, and she crumpled forward.
Xie Huaizheng’s heart leaped into his throat. He caught Su Zhaozhao in his arms and immediately yelled for a doctor.
‘Why is this happening?’
‘The cut, painful as it might be, shouldn’t have been enough to make her faint, right?’
‘And Su Zhaozhao wasn’t squeamish about blood.’
‘Was there some kind of poison on that knife?’
Xie Huaizheng’s brows drew together, his expression terrifyingly dark.
‘If that’s the case, then for Gu Qingran, death would be too good for her.’
Doctors and nurses rushed Su Zhaozhao away for a full workup, checking everything, especially her blood.
However, they just shook their heads. “Sir, the patient is in excellent health. We can’t find anything wrong with her tests.”
Xie Huaizheng looked at the results. Every single one of her levels was perfectly normal.
“But why did she faint?” Xie Huaizheng asked the doctor.
“Well… we’re not sure at the moment. Why don’t we admit her for observation and see if she wakes up?”
“Alright.” Xie Huaizheng nodded.
‘There was no other choice.’
Su Zhaozhao lay on the hospital bed. Xie Huaizheng held the girl’s small, fair hand. It was soft and carried her unique, sweet scent.
He couldn’t help but kiss her fingers.
‘Zhaozhao, you have to wake up soon.’
Gu Qingran was taken into custody. When the police asked if she had tampered with the knife, Gu Qingran shook her head frantically. “I didn’t! What happened? Is Su Zhaozhao trying to frame me?”
“You should have given me the idea sooner! If you had, I definitely would have put something on the knife to make her wish she were dead!”
No matter how the police questioned her, Gu Qingran denied everything.
They reported their findings to Xie Huaizheng.
Xie Huaizheng knew then that Gu Qingran probably hadn’t tampered with the knife.
‘If there had been a toxic substance, Su Zhaozhao’s bloodwork wouldn’t have come back so clean.’
It wasn’t until evening that Su Zhaozhao woke up.
Xie Huaizheng watched the girl’s big, dark eyes flutter open, and he breathed a sigh of relief. “Zhaozhao, thank god. You’re awake.”
“What happened to me…?” Su Zhaozhao reached up to rub her forehead.
“You fainted.”