11 PM.
At the First People's Hospital in the Imperial Capital City.
In the hallway, everyone sat in a row on the seats.
Murong Huan's face was filled with worry, and she couldn't even sit still, pacing back and forth.
Song Yi looked at her, opened her mouth to try to comfort her, but then thought that she should be the last person to speak at this moment, so she lowered her head.
Around the corner, the school leaders were all there, waiting for Jiang Yiheng's specific condition.
If something really went wrong, given the Jiang family's background, the entire Saint Slee would suffer.
Quan Le had just returned from gathering intelligence from the group of leaders. He said seriously, "Even though the school, Song Yi, and Jiang Yiheng himself all share responsibility for this incident, if something serious really happened, to appease the Jiang family's anger, Song Yi would most likely be expelled."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Shen Yujing glared at Quan Le irritably, then put his hand on Song Yi's shoulder, shaking her, "Don't be so dejected, I'll support you even if the sky falls. Rest assured that as long as I'm here, you'll be able to graduate from Saint Slee peacefully."
Song Yi shook off Shen Yujing's hand without saying a word.
Actually, Song Yi wasn't worried about Jiang Yiheng's life safety, after all—
Have you ever heard of a Mary Sue novel where the second male lead dies of fright? That's ridiculous, isn't it?
But Quan Le's words had made her fall into deep thought.
Expulsion.
With her grades, being in the top ten of her year at Saint Slee, she would be sought after by other schools.
Even if the Jiang family was powerful enough to cover the sky with one hand, at worst she could continue her life in another city.
If she really got expelled, would that mean she could leave this place?
Leaving this book and getting away from the original plot had always been Song Yi's goal.
But when the opportunity was really in front of her, Song Yi clasped her hands together, suddenly unsure whether to pray for Jiang Yiheng to be okay or not.
And Song Yi's "dazed" action appeared to others as if she was scared stiff.
Murong Huan also stopped her anxious pacing and quickly walked over, grabbing Song Yi's hand.
Murong Huan said, "I'm very close with Uncle and Aunt Jiang. If something really happens, I'll make sure it won't affect you."
After speaking, Murong Huan looked at Quan Le and Hang Feng, "From now on, we need to stick to the same story. Since they didn't see Song Yi's face anyway, let's say it was Shen Yujing who scared Jiang Yiheng unconscious, got it?"
Quan Le: "Okay!"
Hang Feng: "Oh."
Shen Yujing: "Huh?"
Wait, why, how did they come to this conclusion?
Shen Yujing: "Why not you?"
Murong Huan put on an innocent expression, "Because I'm his fiancée."
Shen Yujing criticized, "Oh, so you remember you're Jiang Yiheng's fiancée? Why aren't you on his side? I see you're quite quick to react. When you marry Jiang Yiheng in the future, will you help others bury his body if they kill him?"
"That's because Yi Yi is my best friend!" Murong Huan said as she linked arms with Song Yi and sat down beside her, saying seriously, "Sisters before misters!"
Heaven knows how much determination it took for her to say those words.
Even if Jiang Yiheng was just clothes, he was the most beautiful piece of clothing!
Although Shen Yujing had objected, he still accepted Murong Huan's proposal. When he saw Jiang Yiheng being wheeled out, he hurriedly reminded everyone, "Remember, I'm the one who scared him unconscious. Don't let it slip."
Fortunately, the doctor told them, "The patient is fine. He just fainted due to not eating much these past two days combined with sudden shock. He'll be fine after resting for a couple of days."
Shen Yujing pointed at Jiang Yiheng being wheeled away and asked, "Fine? Then why isn't he awake yet?"
The doctor was also taken aback, "He was actually awake just now."
Jiang Yiheng, lying in bed with his eyes tightly shut: "..."
Song Yi pointed out, "Is he pretending to be asleep?"
Instantly, everyone jumped up from their chairs and squeezed into Jiang Yiheng's hospital room along with the school leaders.
Jiang Yiheng, lying in bed, had to lean against the headboard, expressionlessly accepting the school leaders' concerns and five burning gazes from the doorway.
Jiang Yiheng said flatly, "Nothing happened today."
He naturally understood why these people were gathered here and just wanted to send them away quickly.
Sure enough, when the school leaders heard Jiang Yiheng let it go, they all broke into smiles, some even bowing to him.
After the school leaders left, the five people at the door still stood there like five stones.
Not saying a word, just purely standing there watching him, as if they were paying respects at a grave.
Finally, Jiang Yiheng couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Didn't I say nothing happened today? What else do you want?"
Murong Huan opened her mouth, words of concern on the tip of her tongue, but the image of Jiang Yiheng fainting today floated in her mind, and with that one fall, it completely shattered all her beautiful fantasies about Jiang Yiheng from the past eighteen years.
Never mind, she had nothing more to say.
Song Yi stood there, not knowing why she couldn't leave either, purely following the crowd mentality.
But thinking about everything that happened today, Song Yi felt she bore some responsibility.
So Song Yi bowed to Jiang Yiheng, "I'm sorry! I had no idea you were so afraid of ghosts, or that you were such a coward. I'll definitely be more careful in the future and absolutely won't do it again!"
Jiang Yiheng: "..."
Was that even an apology?
But Jiang Yiheng still held back and said, "It's fine, you can all leave now."
Shen Yujing stroked his chin, as if he had taken forever to come to the main point, "So, Jiang Yiheng is really afraid of ghosts, huh? Next time if you can't handle it, don't play along. Ah, I'm not saying you're pretending to be cool, I mean you should be responsible for yourself... Hey Jiang Yiheng, what's wrong?"
Jiang Yiheng covered his chest with one hand, started coughing violently, and pointed at Shen Yujing, "Get out!"
Shen Yujing: "?"
Before Shen Yujing could understand why Jiang Yiheng suddenly got angry—considering he had only seen Jiang Yiheng's cold face for the past two years—he was dragged away by Song Yi and Murong Huan, one on each side.
Down at the hospital entrance.
Shen Yujing was still marveling: "After being classmates next door for two years, this is the first time I've seen a second emotion on Jiang Yiheng's coffin face."
Quan Le: "Yeah, yeah, he actually got angry!"
Murong Huan: "..."
Although it wasn't very nice to say, she also wanted to mention that this seemed to be the first time she had seen Jiang Yiheng lose control.
Murong Huan sighed, "Today was supposed to be his birthday, how did it end up like this, him lying alone in the hospital."
Song Yi: "..."
If it hadn't been for Jiang Yiheng's birthday, she wouldn't have thought of that cake, and things wouldn't have turned out this way.
But Quan Le suddenly had an idea, "There's less than an hour left before Jiang Yiheng's birthday ends. To make it up to him, why don't we celebrate his birthday!"
Quan Le's suggestion received unanimous approval from those who wanted to make amends/apologize/join in the fun.
Except for Hang Feng, who said, "Do whatever you want, I'm going home."
But it didn't matter, the plan would work fine with one less person.
So, at 11:58 PM, when half the city had gone to rest.
In the hospital room, moonlight shone through the window, and the young man, exhausted from the past two days, was gradually drifting into dreamland.
Suddenly, the door opened—
"Surprise!"
"Happy Birthday!!!"
The room lights were turned on, and four people walked in holding a plate, seriously singing happy birthday, with Shen Yujing singing particularly loud.
"Happy~ Birthday~ to You!"
Shen Yujing's singing was as terrible as ever, sounding like a pig being slaughtered, a torture for both the patient Jiang Yiheng and everyone else.
The young man, startled awake from his dream, instinctively raised his hand to shield against the sudden light and asked, "What do you want now?"
"To celebrate your birthday, of course! How can you spend your 18th birthday alone in such a cold way?" Song Yi answered and then looked at Murong Huan, "Quick, go give him the cake to blow out the candles, or it'll be past midnight!"
Murong Huan carefully carried the plate over and made an effort to speak gently to Jiang Yiheng: "Happy birthday! It was too late, and we couldn't find a cake anywhere, so we had to make do with this."
When Jiang Yiheng lowered his hands and saw a steamed bun on the plate in front of him—with a large hole in the middle holding an enormous red candle—he began to question everything about this world, including himself.
What on earth were they doing? Was this something any normal person would do?
Meanwhile, Shen Yujing was urging him on, "Why are you spacing out? Are you too moved? No need to thank us, no need to thank us—hurry up and make a wish!"
Jiang Yiheng couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed another cushion beside him and hurled it forcefully toward the doorway.
Enough! He had truly had enough of all this!!!
The wind from the thrown cushion happened to blow out the red candle stuck in the steamed bun that Murong Huan was holding.
The moment the candle went out, the three people at the door burst into enthusiastic applause and shouted—
"Wow! Happy birthday, Jiang Yiheng! May all your birthday wishes come true!!!"
Jiang Yiheng: "..."
Do birthday wishes really come true?
If so, then his birthday wish would be for these three—no, four people.
To immediately, instantly, and quickly disappear from his world, and never come back!!!
