My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

At the end of May, the cherry blossom trees outside the hospital shed their last petals, each of it swayed gently to cover the asphalt road in a pale pink color and when she looked out of the window of her room, it looked just like an oil painting that depicted blue horizon and the budding summer where spring clung onto it, seemingly like it didn't want to leave yet.

Shi Nian received the last session of physiotherapy and was deemed completely healthy, with 100% recovery of her motoric nerves and reaction. Finally, she could get out of the hospital soon. The phone in her pocket buzzed and she unlocked it to find a new chat from her mother.

[Qiang Fei]: Baby, mama will arrive this weekend!

[Qiang Fei]: What does mama's baby want? Mama will buy it for you

Shi Nian chewed her lips to contain her smile and replied.

[Ten Years]: Mama, I miss you very much. Hmm, I haven't thought of anything yet.

[Qiang Fei]: Okay. Tell me if you think of something.

[Qiang Fei]: Mama misses you too, dear [love.jpg]

[Qiang Fei]: Send my greetings to Doctor Chun and Detective Xu. They have taken care of you so well.

Shi Nian replied with an OK emoji and locked her phone to the sound of knocks on her door. Nurse Zhang came in with a smile as she pushed a cart with three layers full of steaming dishes. "You will be discharged next week, are you ready?"

Shi Nian nodded her head energetically, her smile was bright enough to rival the sun. She typed on her phone memo and showed it to Nurse Zhang. [Thank you for always taking care of me~]

Nurse Zhang's heart melted into a soft mess of puddle. "You're very welcome, Shi Nian. I hope that you will recover soon. Don't forget to come and visit Psychiatrist Yu on the designated schedule, okay?" Even though Shi Nian had recovered physically but mentally, she still suffered from PTSD and selective memory loss, thus she couldn't discontinue the counseling session yet. Shi Nian nodded obediently.

Nurse Zhang put her food on the low table. "Come here and eat." Today's dishes were quite a delicacy. There was a bowl of soft white rice, scrambled egg with tomatoes, sweet and sour pork fillet and red dates soup. Shi Nian took a glance and pointed at the pork fillet.

"What's wrong?" Nurse Zhang gave her confused look.

Shi Nian pointed at the dish and shook her head.

Nurse Zhang understood. "Shi Nian, you don't want this?"

Shi Nian nodded.

"Then, you will not have any meat dish." Nurse Zhang complied and took away the sweet and sour pork fillet. "Is there something wrong? I noticed that you haven't really eaten meat these past few weeks. You are so skinny already, you have to eat more meat."

Shi Nian tried hard not to give anything away and shook her head with a carefree smile. Nurse Zhang just thought that this child didn't like to eat red meat and found nothing wrong with it. She flicked her forehead with a helpless smile. "You can't always pick on your food okay?"

She just nodded to whatever Nurse Zhang said. It wasn't that she was a picky eater, but until now, she still couldn't bring herself to look at red meat and did not recall the terrifying scene in her nightmare that had been embedded deep inside her mind.

It was a secret that no one knew but her.

Nurse Zhang sorted out the plates in the tray. There were three portions on it, less than usual by two. Because Nan Xukun had been discharged, the portion was reduced by one. She hadn't noticed anyone else being discharged so...where did the last portion go?

Shi Nian decided to solve her curiosity and didn't expect to get a shocking answer from Nurse Zhang.

"Eh, you haven't known yet?" Nurse Zhang was surprised. "Today, Mr.Jiang is going to be discharged."

Shi Nian was dumbfounded. Her eyes opened wide blankly as she stood rooted to the floor. Who? Who was going to be discharged? Mr.Jiang? Jiang Jinyan???

"Yes, it's exactly Jiang Jinyan." Nurse Zhang dispelled her doubt. "I thought that you know because his guardian Mr.Si has been coming often lately."

How could she know that?! Because Xu Binchen prohibited her from coming closer to strangers especially Mr. Si who was one of the possible suspect, she holed herself up in her room every time the man visited! A booming rumble of thunder resounded in Shi Nian's ears due to the shock.

[Is he okay already?] It took her a while to type it with trembling fingers.

"He…" Nurse Zhang sported a perplexed look. "His recovery is going well and he will soon be able to apply for an artificial limb on his amputated leg but somehow, his spirit doesn't look good, especially after…"

Especially after Wei Xiameng stormed out of his room with her face covered in tears, Shi Nian instinctively knew what Nurse Zhang was going to say. The nurses on shift had no other entertainment during their work hours except for quietly gossiping about their patients. Shi Nian had accidentally eavesdropped on them one time.

The gossip was really colorful, some said that Jiang Jinyan was depressed because he broke up with his girlfriend, some said that it was Wei Xiameng who confronted him because of his post in Weib8 that was now dwindling down from the hot topic, some even created a dog blood drama plot that could make a dramatic teen series.

She was flustered and her appetite was spoiled due to the sudden news. [When?]

Nurse Zhang didn't expect her reaction to be so large. "Mr.Si came by an hour ago. I guess that the procedure has been completed and he is going now—hey, Shi Nian?!"

Shi Nian threw her off and burst out of the room. She looked at the room diagonal to hers and found that the door was wide open. With rapid steps, she went to it and peered inside. A nurse was currently tidying the messy bedsheet and Jiang Jinyan was nowhere to be seen. "Ah?" The nurse was shocked to find her. "Hello, may I help you?"

Shi Nian shook her head and then ran to the elevator. Xu Binchen's subordinates were alarmed and followed after her while Xu Binchen himself had been missing since yesterday because the police suddenly called in all of their personnel for some emergency that she wasn't notified of.

Shi Nian didn't even realize that she didn't wear anything except a thin hospital gown. Her hair was messy from the run and her eyes frantic. The number on the elevator was still going down. 3…2…

Jiang Jinyan was just going down!

She pressed on another elevator and bit her nails anxiously. Xu Binchen's people and Nurse Zhang caught up to her and asked in concern. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Shi Nian was so restless that her eyes reddened. Her mouth opened but no words came out. Her hands were chilly and they trembled too hard for her to type anything. Meanwhile, the elevator was still crawling up from the underground floor at snail speed…

Why? Why had she just found out about it now?

In this world, she knew nothing about him except his name. She thought…she thought that she still had time until next week to say her farewell and get herself acquainted with him slowly. But then, this kind of thing happened. If he went home, where was she supposed to search for him? If he disappeared like this, what should she do?

The other elevator had stopped on the ground floor and Shi Nian's head buzzed.

Her body moved before her brain could catch up with it as she ran to the emergency exit and started to run down the stairs. The shouts and exclamations behind seemed like they had come from a distance far away and the only thing in Shi Nian's mind was to meet him one last time.

What did she want to do when they met? She didn't know but…she just really, really wanted to see him.

Five floors, almost a hundred flights of stairs. She stumbled, gasped for breath, wheezed, staggered, swayed and finally found herself on the first floor. Behind her were Nurse Zhang and Xu Binchen's people closely following but she couldn't afford to care about them right now.

She raked her eyes around in jittery. Inwardly she prayed, please, please, let me see him…

She didn't want it to be like her past life where she could only wait passively in his residence, waiting for the news about his battle only to find them separated by the uncrossable realm of death. She didn't want to go through those times again. This time, she wanted to find him, wanted to tell him that…

The figure of a man in wheelchair entered her sight and she stopped, her chest undulating fiercely. Her throat burned and her sight was blurry with tears, but his back was clear and vivid, as vivid as when he wore his pitch black armor and rode on his horse.

Jiang Jinyan at that period of time overlapped with this fragile, helpless and disabled Jiang Jinyan.

He was staring into a distance in daze. Mr.Si was nowhere to be found. Shi Nian took a step forward and halted. In the last moment, blankness filled her mind. What should she say? What should she do? She didn't even bring her board, didn't bring any gift. Her hair was messy, her back was sticky with sweat and her body was trembling incessantly. She was in such a mess. Could she really see him like this?

Mr.Si came in and approached him. He went to the back and grabbed the handle of his wheelchair.

Shi Nian instinctively opened her mouth to call out. However, she choked on her breath and only strange, intangible wheezing sound came out. General Jiang…Jiang Jinyan…this is me, Shi Nian...

At that last moment when Jiang Jinyan almost passed through the door, as if he had heard her, his head turned around and their eyes met.