Jun Zishu's injuries weren't severe, so she recovered much faster than Yun Zizhou.
After making a full recovery, Jun Zishu had gone back to work like normal. Then, once she was done with work, she would take care of Yun Zizhou in the hospital.
Yun Zizhou was naturally elated by this situation. She felt so happy that she started wondering if she should prolong her stay in the hospital.
On the afternoon Yun Zizhou regained consciousness, she had promptly logged into Weibo using her phone to update her fans about her situation. As it so happened, her contract with her production company had just ended, so Yun Zizhou decided to stop live streaming altogether.
"I thought you liked streaming? Are you really going to give it up?" Jun Zishu asked when she heard about Yun Zizhou's decision.
In response, Yun Zizhou shook her head and said, "I don't like it in particular. It's just one of the means I rely on to make a living. I even received many harsh comments when I first started. The internet is a mysterious place. I am thankful to my fans for liking my voice, but I no longer need live streaming to accompany me in my life." Because I've already found something more worthy of my attention.
"Your mother's belly should be getting bigger and bigger now," Jun Zishu mentioned offhandedly while feeding Yun Zizhou some water.
"Mhm." Yun Zizhou gulped down the water, a subtle hint of coldness flashing across her eyes.
"My mother told me that you aren't too happy about your mother getting pregnant."
"Who would be happy about this? I might've been able to accept it if it happened ten years earlier, but I'm already 24 now. She has shown no concern for my feelings or her body. Since she wants to give that man a child no matter what, she can do whatever she wants," Yun Zizhou said, laughing. Her voice, though, carried hints of anger.
"Do you have a bad relationship with your stepfather?"
"You can't really describe it as bad. We just treat each other like air. He doesn't like me very much, and I don't like him very much. He's only maintaining a peaceful relationship with me because he likes my mother, which is also why I maintained a polite attitude with him. However, it just feels suffocating to stay at his home, so I moved out as soon as I could," Yun Zizhou said dismissively. Then, she held Jun Zishu's hand and looked at the latter with a pleading gaze, asking, "Let's stop talking about my family; there's nothing good to talk about, anyway. Once my injuries heal, will you still chase me out?"
"You can stay if you want to," Jun Zishu said. She only had one last mission target to deal with, anyway.
The wind blew in from outside the window, causing the curtains in the room to flutter.
Yun Zizhou looked very happy, but there was not much of a smile in Jun Zishu's eyes.
Once Yun Zizhou fully recovered from her injuries, Jun Zishu took her home.
After Jun Zishu got hospitalized, she had promptly hired a housekeeping service to clean up the mess at home. When the housekeeper saw the blood covering the kitchen floor and walls, she got so scared that she tried to cancel the job. Only after Jun Zishu had calmly assured her several times that the blood was chicken's blood was the housekeeper willing to take on the job.
"You came here to find inspiration for your drawing, but it seems like that has never gone smoothly," Jun Zishu commented in a helpless tone as she looked at the layer of dust that had accumulated on Yun Zizhou's drawing utensils.
Yun Zizhou would either get into trouble herself or get involved in Jun Zishu's trouble whenever she went out sightseeing.
"I feel that I've already picked out the best scenery."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Take a guess?"
"The central spire? The public park?"
"Nope."
"Where is it, then?"
"It's a secret," Yun Zizhou said with a wink. The best scenery was naturally the person in front of her.
...
After their lives had gotten back on track, Jun Zishu also began tackling the final stage of her mission.
When Jun Zishu invited Yu Biling out to meet, Yu Biling was incredibly shocked.
"Heavens! The girlfriend I haven't seen for almost three months is calling me?" Yu Biling exclaimed in a sleepy voice.
"I'm coming to meet you."
"When?"
"Tomorrow."
"Okay. I'll be waiting. I'll take a leave tomorrow."
After applying for leave from the hospital, Jun Zishu brought up her trip to Yun Zizhou.
"Are you going to meet with a friend? When will you be back?"
Yun Zizhou brought a plate of fruit salad to Jun Zishu and fed Jun Zishu using a toothpick.
"Within a day."
"I'll wait for you at home, then."
"Okay."
…
Jun Zishu met Yu Biling in the afternoon. They had a meal together at a restaurant, with Jun Zishu footing the bill.
After the meal, the two walked silently by a river, neither talking to each other.
In reality, the emotional connection between them had already grown very faint.
Yu Biling had long since known that there was a problem with their relationship. Even though they should've been the closest of people to each other, the interactions they shared were so incredibly awkward.
"You should have come here to tell me something, right?"
"Do you know what I have to say?"
Jun Zishu turned toward Yu Biling, the wind from the river messing up her hair and taking away her voice.
"I know. That was our parting meal just now, right?"
"We'll meet again if fate allows."
"Is it because my charm was lacking? Or did you fall for someone else?"
Yu Biling stopped walking and grabbed the hem of Jun Zishu's shirt. Then, she pulled Jun Zishu to her and looked at the woman, a hint of wildness in her eyes.
"Neither. I just felt that love was unnecessary."
"You bastard. Do you know how many people are lining up to win my heart? Why should I keep myself clean for you?"
"You're very cool."
"I know."
Yu Biling let out a heavy snort and pulled apart the collar of Jun Zishu's shirt, causing two buttons to fly off.
"What are you doing?" Jun Zishu asked in surprise.
After saying so, Yu Biling promptly bit down on Jun Zishu's neck. However, she did not bite down too hard. She also planted a love bite while she was at it.
"I am single from today onwards."
Out of the five partners Jun Zishu had broken up with, Yu Biling had accepted the breakup in the most carefree manner.
Yu Biling had a rough childhood, so she had learned to live in the moment instead of dwelling on the future. However, Yu Biling had also developed a violent temper simultaneously, which led to her participation in Jiang Wentong's murder in the original storyline. After all, she had found out that not only was Jiang Wentong cheating on her with multiple people but that she wasn't even Jiang Wentong's main partner.
Simply put, so long as one didn't touch on Yu Biling's bottom line, though, everything could be negotiated.
Although Jun Zishu really wanted to say something in this situation, she felt that it was unnecessary to do so.
This was the best outcome Jun Zishu could ask for. So long as Yu Biling could let go of their relationship, she was bound to become the happiest out of Jiang Wentong's five partners.
After Little Fairy's voice rang in her mind, Jun Zishu looked at the river before silently walking away.
…
When Jun Zishu arrived back home and greeted Yun Zizhou, the latter did not return her greeting. Instead, Yun Zizhou focused her eyes on Jun Zishu's neck.
"A friend of mine played a joke on me."
Jun Zishu couldn't help but feel a little exasperated when she touched the love bite on her neck.
"Actually, I've always been curious how love bites work. People on the internet say that you can make one just by sucking on your skin, but I've tried doing it to myself several times and never gotten such marks before," Yun Zizhou complained, her eyes fixated on Jun Zishu's neck. Although her expression showed that she didn't mind the love bite, her hands in her pockets had already balled up into tight fists.
"You'll understand once you grow older."
"I'm not a child anymore."
Jun Zishu rubbed Yun Zizhou on the head, dismissing the topic just like that.
However, what Jun Zishu didn't know was that when she had fallen asleep, a certain someone had snuck into her room and kissed the mark on her neck repeatedly and carefully until she was satisfied.
…
On April 14, a serial car accident took place in the city, and many people were admitted into the hospital.
Jun Zishu kept standing by the operating table, stubbornly insisting on working even after many people had advised her to rest.
On the moment Jun Zishu collapsed, she felt a sense of liberation.
She had already completed her mission, so there was no need for her to stay in this world.
However, as mentioned before, Jun Zishu's bodies in her mission worlds were already close to reaching their life expectancies before she arrived. These bodies were literally living on borrowed time. Thus, should Jun Zishu choose to leave a mission world, the body she inhabited would die immediately.
Knowing this, Jun Zishu decided that since she would leave this cursed world, she might as well let this scumbag's body die a meaningful death. Meanwhile, what could be better than dying from overworking to save lives?
Before leaving this world, Jun Zishu only had two thoughts.
Firstly, one must never be a scumbag. Otherwise, one would never know when karma would catch up.
Secondly, Yun Zizhou would probably cry.
...
In the transit space, Little Fairy hovered around Jun Zishu as she said, "This world was truly tiring. You should get some proper rest, Host. You can expect a generous salary for this mission. You also don't need to be in such a hurry to start the next mission since you've already received official employment."
"Mhm, okay."
"See you next time!"
Even though Jun Zishu didn't experience any memorable moments this time, she still chose to go through an emotional extraction. She preferred forgetting as much of the awful feelings she experienced in this mission as much as possible.
...
Meanwhile, in another space, someone was going crazy because of Jun Zishu's sudden departure.
When Yun Zizhou received the call from the hospital, she had thought it was a joke.
However, when she stood in front of that person's body, she realized it wasn't a joke.
Yun Zizhou fell into a daze, her mind failing to comprehend the situation for a long time.
How could Jun Zishu leave, just like that? They had been chatting happily with each other just two days ago.
Yet, it was undeniable that Jun Zishu was lying on the hospital bed without a response.
Yun Zizhu heard someone comforting her, saying that her big sister was a dedicated doctor and that her big sister's noble spirit was commendable.
"I don't want her to be commendable. So can you people please return her to me?"
The people comforting her were rendered speechless.
Yun Zizhou knew what Jun Zishu liked about her. Jun Zishu liked her voice, her obedience, and her thoughtfulness.
However, Jun Zishu's fondness was that of an elder sister toward a younger sister.
Thus, Yun Zizhou had always carefully hidden her feelings, worked hard to suppress the dark thoughts in her mind, and worked hard to do whatever she could to make Jun Zishu like her.
It had been a very, very long time since Yun Zizhou had worked so hard to win someone's affection.
Yun Zizhou had never told Jun Zishu that she liked her.
It was because Yun Zizhou could tell that Jun Zishu didn't need others to like her.
Jun Zishu always seemed to be trying to get rid of something. She looked like she just wanted to relax.
She would sometimes behave like herself. Yet, there were also times where she didn't behave like herself.
When Mother Jiang received the call from the hospital, she had hurriedly returned to the country. Then, just when she had finished her daughter's funeral, before she could walk out of her sorrow, she received another nightmare.
—Yun Zizhou had died as well. She had saved a drowning child before committing suicide.
According to the bystanders, Yun Zizhou did not come out of the lake even after saving the child. Instead, she let herself sink into the lake, never to surface again.
Mother Jiang couldn't understand why Yun Zizhou would commit suicide--that was until she sorted through Yun Zizhou's belongings left in Jun Zishu's home.
There was an art book among Yun Zizhou's possessions, and every page had the same person drawn in it.
Every stroke of every drawing was carved with the artist's heart. One could feel the artist's scorching emotions even across the drawing paper.
Meanwhile, on the last page of the art book, there was one solitary sentence written there.