Just as they were talking about Yun Shen, the half-closed hospital door suddenly opened. Everyone turned to see Yun Shen standing at the doorway, looking distraught—she had rushed here at this hour.
“Yun Shen,” Ruan Yu called out softly.
Yun Shen either didn’t hear or was too preoccupied to greet others; she went straight to Teng Hao’s bedside.
Teng Hao silently watched her, and she silently watched him, a long gaze that contained too much to express.
Seeing this, Ruan Yu and the others tactfully withdrew from the ward.
The room suddenly held only Teng Hao and Yun Shen.
Yun Shen looked at the injuries on Teng Hao’s face and his arm in a cast. No matter how she tried to control herself, her eyes still welled up with tears. When she first received news of Teng Hao’s hospitalization, her mind was filled with memories of when he had been in a coma. Those past days were unbearable to recall—if she had to endure such pain again, she didn’t know if she could hold on.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Teng Hao said.
“I don’t need you to fight for me!” In her urgency, Yun Shen didn’t take time to type on her phone, instead quickly signing in sign language.
After she finished signing, she realized Teng Hao couldn’t understand sign language, especially since she had signed so quickly. Just as she was about to take out her phone to type the sentence again, she saw Teng Hao begin to sign back to her.
“I wasn’t fighting for you, I was fighting for myself. When he bullies you, it’s like bullying me.” Teng Hao’s movements were slow and deliberate, but his meaning was clear.
Yun Shen was stunned.
“How do you know sign language?”
“Learned it specially,” Teng Hao spoke.
“Why did you learn sign language?”
Sign language isn’t easy to learn; for Teng Hao to reach this level, he must have put in considerable effort.
“Because I wanted one more way to understand you,” he answered, looking at her.
“…”
This sudden display of deep feeling caught Yun Shen off guard. She quietly looked at Teng Hao for a few seconds, then turned away from his gaze, making no more signs to respond to his words.
Suddenly, the entire hospital room seemed to freeze. He gazed at her while she stared out the window at the merged lights outside, lost in thought.
Both remained motionless, yet the atmosphere was somehow restless.
“Yun Shen, why are you with Zhou Xu?” Teng Hao couldn’t help asking.
Yun Shen didn’t answer.
“Tell me honestly, did you agree to marry Zhou Xu because you truly like him?”
She still didn’t respond.
“Yun Shen!” Teng Hao’s tone suddenly became urgent, though he didn’t know what he was urgent about.
Perhaps sensing his emotional change, Yun Shen finally responded.
She shook her head slightly.
Indeed, Yun Shen’s agreement to be with Zhou Xu wasn’t her wish; it was all arranged by her father, Ren Tianhai.
Over these years, Ren Tianhai had been anxious about Yun Shen’s future—the heart of all parents, especially a single father. He knew his daughter’s disability made finding a truly suitable match difficult, so he had early on asked friends everywhere to make introductions, even declaring he would give forty percent of Haike Group’s shares to his future son-in-law… Ren Tianhai moved heaven and earth, hoping only to find a good match for his daughter, yet Yun Shen’s heart remained entirely with Teng Hao.
After Teng Hao’s accident, she traveled thousands of miles to stay by his side day and night, which both pained and displeased Ren Tianhai. Although Ren Tianhai had always had a good impression of Teng Hao and pitied his circumstances, business was business—he absolutely would not allow his precious daughter to tie her future to someone whose life hung in the balance.
Ren Tianhai had even lost his temper with Yun Shen once over this.
“I know that boy saved you, and you’re grateful to him, but Shen Shen, Dad has already repaid that debt for you. The investment I made in his mother’s company back then was to repay that debt. We don’t owe him anything—you don’t need to care for him like this, you don’t!”
“…”
“If you have any more involvement with him, don’t come home! And don’t call me father!”
“…”
No matter how Ren Tianhai persuaded or threatened, Yun Shen wouldn’t leave Teng Hao’s side. Until Teng Hao woke up and spoke those cruel words to her, only then did she finally give up hope.
Zhou Xu appeared at that time. He was the son of Ren Tianhai’s friend and heir to Jingtai. In terms of family status, they were well-matched.
Ren Tianhai particularly liked Zhou Xu. He felt Zhou Xu was humble and courteous and appeared to have a good temperament. He believed Yun Shen wouldn’t suffer any grievances with him.
Initially, Yun Shen didn’t agree to date Zhou Xu. Zhou Xu pursued her earnestly, sending flowers and gifts, and gradually she began to soften.
Later, when she was performing in Vienna, she fainted backstage due to illness. Upon hearing this, Zhou Xu rushed there overnight and watched over her in the hospital all night.
Yun Shen was deeply moved.
She thought if she was destined not to marry for love in this life, then spending the rest of her life with someone like Zhou Xu—treating each other with respect and caring for each other—would also be a kind of fulfillment.
But she had thought settling would be much simpler than it was.
After they officially started dating, Zhou Xu repeatedly expressed hope for a more intimate relationship with Yun Shen, but she couldn’t convince herself at all.
Even when he held her hand, she felt violated, tormented inside.
Dislike and like differ by more than just the word “dis”—the difference is as vast as heaven and earth.
In front of Zhou Xu, she became someone with unstable emotions, yet Zhou Xu continued to show understanding and tolerance.
This earned him more points in her heart.
So when both families proposed engagement, Yun Shen wasn’t so resistant. She thought if she tried hard enough, she could gradually accept Zhou Xu.
Who knew that before these efforts could properly begin, this incident would occur?
It turned out that Zhou Xu was a hypocrite who maintained only an outward appearance of virtue. He didn’t truly like her—Jingtai was facing a financial crisis, and his family coveted Haike’s forty percent shares. That’s why he stayed by her side, swallowing his pride, maintaining the pose of someone who would marry no one but her.
“It’s good that you don’t truly like him,” Teng Hao sighed in relief.
When he heard Zhou Xu’s vicious words at the dinner, besides anger, he was more worried—worried that Yun Shen would be heartbroken and her feelings hurt. Now knowing Yun Shen had no feelings for Zhou Xu, he felt relieved.
“I don’t need you to manage me, or fight for me,” Yun Shen signed, glancing at the injuries on Teng Hao’s face with lingering fear. “If something worse had happened to you, what then?”
“Yun Shen, I’m someone who has died once before. Whatever happens to me doesn’t matter, but you can’t get hurt. I won’t let you suffer hurt from me and then go suffer again with someone else.”
“That incident is past, and I’ve forgotten those words, you don’t need to mention it again.”
“You say you’ve forgotten, maybe you truly have, or maybe you’re just saying that to comfort me. But regardless, I still need to apologize to you. I want you to know that those knives that stabbed your heart also stabbed mine. Your pain hurts me even more. Yun Shen, all these years, I haven’t forgotten you for a moment…”
Yun Shen made a stopping gesture: “What’s the point of saying all this now?”
“There is, of course, there’s a point!” Teng Hao leaned forward. “Originally, seeing you happy with Zhou Xu, I had convinced myself to wish you well, but now, knowing he’s not worthy of your lifelong commitment, I… I…”
As he spoke, his momentum weakened.
Yun Shen stared at Teng Hao, asking him: “You what?”
Teng Hao lowered his head in thought for a few seconds, then suddenly threw off the blanket covering him.
Under the blanket, he wore hospital clothes, his legs lying on the bed looking no different from normal people’s, but in reality, they could no longer walk.
“I want to ask, would you be willing to marry someone like me?”
Yun Shen was startled by these words.
“Yun Shen, I know I’m in your heart. If I weren’t, you wouldn’t have rushed here so late to see me, you wouldn’t have ignored Sister Ruan Yu and the others, focusing only on me when you entered…”
Yun Shen, her feelings exposed, glared at him with a red face, as if saying he was shameless.
Teng Hao, receiving her glare, actually smiled.
“I know you must think I’m shameless. Yes, for you, I can be shameless.” Teng Hao sighed deeply. “Yun Shen, these years, I’ve tried hard to make everyone think I’ve overcome the shadows of the past, that I’m doing better and better, but what others see is only what I want them to see. I’m very insecure… I don’t like people seeing me struggle to get in and out of cars, don’t like people helping me dress, and especially don’t like people thinking I can’t take care of myself…”
All his composure in front of others was just pretense.
So these years, even though he had countless thoughts about Yun Shen, he never dared to seek her out.
This hesitation almost caused them to miss each other again.
Fortunately, heaven showed mercy, his mother blessed them, and he got another chance. This time, no matter what, he wouldn’t easily give up again.
“Yun Shen, now if you just nod, if you don’t mind me, in the future even if it costs my life, I will use this broken body to protect you, never let you suffer even a bit of grievance! I swear!”
Teng Hao spoke with deep sincerity, while Yun Shen was already in tears.
She was willing, of course, she was willing!
The person before her was the young man she had fallen in love with at fifteen or sixteen. Though he had experienced life’s hardships and was no longer as vigorous as before, fortunately, his eyes still held that clear light, and his heart still held passion. He had become mature and sophisticated, gentle and steady—even more worthy of entrusting with her life.
Seeing Yun Shen nod, Teng Hao’s eyes instantly reddened.
“Come here,” he beckoned to Yun Shen. “Don’t stand so far away.”
Hearing this, Yun Shen obediently walked to Teng Hao’s side, only to have him suddenly reach out, grab her wrist, and pull her into his embrace.
His body still carried the smell of medicine and disinfectant.
Yun Shen worried about pressing against his arm in the cast, but he held her tight regardless, lowering his head to kiss her.
This kiss was not like her previous tiptoe flutter of a dragonfly touching water—this kiss reached deep into their very bones.
They carefully and tenderly savored each other’s sweetness, becoming increasingly certain of their mutual feelings in their lingering embrace.
They say you shouldn’t meet someone too stunning in your youth, or you’ll spend your whole life lonely from being unable to forget them. They were so fortunate—the person who had stunned their youth would continue to stun them for the rest of their lives.