novelraw Chapter 263: "Besides You, Who Else Do You Think There Is?
Chapter 263: "Besides You, Who Else Do You Think There Is?
"Don’t hurt him, okay?" Xu Su slowly crouched down, reaching for the dagger in Zhou Mochen’s hand.
After a long standoff, Zhou Mochen dodged her hand. "...I knew you’d be soft-hearted. I should have told you to wait in the car."
Pulling Xu Su to her feet, Zhou Mochen tossed the dagger to a bodyguard. "But you have a point. Xu Weiping is your biological father, so it wouldn’t be right for me to personally hurt him, nor can I just cripple him."
Before Xu Su could even sigh in relief, she heard him add, "But Susu, you need to understand something. No one gets to hit you, not even your parents. So I’m taking one of his fingers to make him remember this, to remind him what lines not to cross. That’s acceptable, isn’t it?"
It was a question, but before Xu Su could answer, Xu Weiping’s tragic, pained scream rang out.
She looked down just in time to see the bodyguard who had taken the dagger. As if on cue the moment Zhou Mochen finished speaking, he cleanly and decisively chopped off one of Xu Weiping’s fingers.
"Zhou Mochen!" Xu Su’s eyes widened. The next second, she was swept up into his arms and carried outside.
Huang Chao was jogging ahead and opened the rear car door in advance. Zhou Mochen placed Xu Su inside, then got in himself.
Zhou Mochen soothingly patted Xu Su’s back and asked toward the front, "Did you contact the hospital?"
"They’re already waiting for us." Huang Chao started the car and drove out of the old alley.
Xu Su sat stiffly, the image of Xu Weiping’s and Xu Hao’s severed fingers filling her mind. Hearing Zhou Mochen’s question, she looked up in a daze. "Can they be reattached?"
Zhou Mochen faltered for a moment, then laughed. "Silly Susu, I contacted the hospital for *you*. You think I’d arrange treatment for the fingers I had chopped off?"
"So their hands will be crippled forever?" Xu Su’s heart felt heavy. She grabbed his arm. "Isn’t this too cruel?"
An arm tightened around her waist, and Zhou Mochen pulled her sideways onto his lap, so her right cheek was facing him.
Her face, now treated with ointment, wasn’t as frighteningly swollen, but the handprint was still obvious. As Zhou Mochen stared at it, he gritted his teeth. "Cruel? This isn’t over yet."
Xu Su looked at him. "What else are you going to do? I don’t want them to suffer because of me. I just want to treat them like strangers. Can we do that?"
"Strangers?" Zhou Mochen let out a cold laugh. "What kind of stranger would dare to hit you like this? Xu Su, go look in a mirror and see how badly you’re hurt. This isn’t just about you anymore. You might be able to forgive them easily, but I can’t let it go."
"..." Xu Su remained silent.
Zhou Mochen held her tighter and said in a low voice, "If I were the one who got hit today, I’d listen to you completely. But they shouldn’t have done this to *you*. Be good, Susu. Just listen to me on this, okay?"
Every single word was filled with unconcealed heartache for her.
’If I were the one who got hit, I’d listen to you completely...’
Xu Su’s eyelashes trembled, and she couldn’t bring herself to say no.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and instructed, "...No knives. No blood."
"Okay..." Zhou Mochen gently touched her swollen face, his voice trembling slightly. "We were apart for less than a day, and you come back covered in injuries. I spent all afternoon looking for you, Xu Su. Where did you go?"
"...Just wandering around..." Xu Su turned her head, avoiding his gaze. "I had no money and no phone. Where could I go?"
Zhou Mochen watched her quietly for a moment, then suddenly asked, "...When you took out your phone, who were you planning to call?"
"Who else could it be?"
"Don’t be evasive." Zhou Mochen lowered his gaze to meet hers. "Who was it?"
Xu Su glared at him. "Besides you, who else do you think it could be?"
After Xu Weiping hit her, her first instinct had been to contact Zhou Mochen, like a wronged child running to their parents to tattle...
Thinking about it now that she was calm, it felt rather incredible. She had actually come to trust Zhou Mochen this much.
’Besides you, who else do you think it could be...’
Zhou Mochen’s heart trembled. He gave her a rewarding kiss on the forehead, then suddenly paused. He reached out and placed his hand on it. "Why is your forehead so hot?"
Xu Su blinked and reached up to feel her own forehead. It was quite hot. She had a sudden realization. "No wonder I feel dizzy."
Late on the night of New Year’s Eve, the director of Chang City Central Hospital received a phone call. He immediately issued an urgent notice to all department heads: anyone in the city who could make it back was to wait at the hospital entrance now.
The ground was frozen and the air was frigid. This group of the hospital’s top doctors stomped their feet from time to time to keep warm, but no one dared to utter a single word of complaint.
When Xu Su was carried out of the car, her mind was already muddled from the fever. In a daze, she saw a crowd of white coats surrounding her.
When she regained consciousness and opened her eyes again, she was in a VIP hospital room. Outside, the sky was bright.
She had just started to lift her hand when someone pressed it down. "You’re awake? You’ve got an IV in. Don’t move."
Xu Su turned her head to look at the man reclining beside her. He probably hadn’t slept all night. Zhou Mochen’s eyes were clearly bloodshot, and he hadn’t shaved the new stubble on his chin. He looked completely worn out, yet there was something sexy about his appearance.
She was in no mood to admire him and said urgently, "I need to use the restroom..."
Zhou Mochen got up and carefully helped her into the bathroom, looking like he wished he could thoughtfully help her pull down her pants.
Xu Su quickly stopped him, her cheeks slightly flushed. "I can manage with one hand. You can go out."
’How embarrassing, having someone help me with my pants to use the toilet. I couldn’t do that, not even with an intimate partner. Besides, I’m just wearing a hospital gown with an elastic waistband; it’s easy.’
Zhou Mochen didn’t insist. He backed out and gently closed the door, only coming back in after he heard the toilet flush, confirming she was done.
Xu Su looked down at the hospital gown she was wearing and asked him, "Did you change my clothes?"
"Mhm..." Zhou Mochen took out a toothbrush, squeezed toothpaste onto it, and handed it to her. "You think I’d let someone else change your clothes?"
"..." Xu Su was at a loss for words. She took the toothbrush and began to brush her teeth in silence.
Once she had washed up and was back in bed, she returned to the previous topic. "That time I got drunk last year... it definitely wasn’t the housekeeper who changed my clothes, was it!"
Zhou Mochen showed no intention of hiding it and nodded decisively. "That’s right."
’Damn it!’
’Pervert!’
Xu Su cursed him out in her head. They hadn’t even been together back then!
A knock sounded at the door. Huang Chao came in carrying breakfast, followed by two elderly men in white coats.
After thoroughly questioning and examining Xu Su, the older of the two said, "The patient still has a low-grade fever, so we recommend she stay for another day of observation. The perforation in her eardrum is small and won’t require surgery, but she must be careful not to get water in it. Keep it clean and dry, and avoid any secondary injury. It should heal on its own in three to four months at most."
"Her ear still hurts. Is that normal?" Zhou Mochen listened attentively, then asked, "Are you sure there’s nothing wrong? Does she need a more thorough examination?"
"If you’re worried, we can certainly perform another, more thorough examination." With his many years of medical experience, there was no kind of patient the old doctor hadn’t seen. He smiled and said, "A clear diagnosis will put the patient’s mind at ease as well."
"There’s no need to go to all that trouble..." Xu Su was mid-sentence when she saw Zhou Mochen turn and glance at her. He didn’t say a word, but his gaze made her stop talking instantly...
’So scary!’