Chapter 152: Are You Here to Laugh at Me?

Jiang Yao did not tell Cheng Yanchi that she was hospitalized.

She lay in her hospital bed for another day, and it was not until the evening of the next day that Ye Yiyi allowed her to get up and walk around a bit.

"A-Yao, let's not walk too far; you shouldn't overexert yourself," Ye Yiyi supported her.

Jiang Yao had deliberately changed out of her hospital gown to make herself look less like a patient.

The two of them walked slowly down the corridor.

"Ah! Let me go! Help!" A woman's heart-wrenching scream echoed from one of the hospital rooms.

Ye Yiyi tilted her head, confused. "What's going on? This isn't a psychiatric ward."

Jiang Yao pressed a finger to her lips, making a shushing gesture to Ye Yiyi.

She recognized the voice clearly; it was coming from Jin Nana's room.

Jin Nana had woken up.

Jiang Yao walked toward that room.

"A-Yao, maybe we shouldn't go," Ye Yiyi said, looking worried. "Jin Nana has been through something so tragic. Right now, whether it's her or her family, they must be bursting with pent-up emotions with nowhere to vent. If you go in now, aren't you just walking right into the line of fire?"

"I have to go. She was brought to this state because of me."

Ye Yiyi sighed.

Jiang Yao did not live a happy life because, no matter what happened, she always had the habit of blaming herself first.

The door to the hospital room was not fully closed.

Standing at the doorway, one could see the scene inside.

Jin Nana was sitting on the hospital bed, her hair disheveled, terror filling her eyes as she wept bitterly and desperately.

Mrs. Jin was crying along with her, trying to wrap her arms around Jin Nana.

Old Mr. Jin stood by the window, looking at the weeping mother and daughter with a pained expression.

"So, this is what a father's eyes look like when he truly aches for his child," Jiang Yao murmured softly.

Old Mr. Jin truly loved Jin Nana; those were eyes filled with a tenderness he had never once bestowed upon Jiang Yao.

"What?" Ye Yiyi did not catch what she said.

Naturally, she could not understand.

"It's nothing," Jiang Yao shook her head and knocked on the door of the hospital room.

Hearing the sound, Mrs. Jin turned her head and saw Jiang Yao and Ye Yiyi standing there. Hostility instantly flooded her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on Nana," Jiang Yao said in a low voice.

"We don't need it! I'd thank my lucky stars if you just stopped showing up in front of us and being an eyesore," Mrs. Jin rejected her coldly.

"I think I can talk some sense into her."

"You?" Mrs. Jin sneered. "What ability do you have to talk sense into Nana? I'm afraid you're just here specifically to make a laughingstock out of the Jin family."

Jiang Yao looked at Old Mr. Jin with a resolute gaze. "You should know that I mean no harm, Uncle Jin."

She deliberately placed heavy emphasis on the words "Uncle Jin."

Old Mr. Jin glanced back and forth between Jiang Yao and Jin Nana, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Jinru, let's step outside first and give them some time alone."

"What? Have you lost your mind?" Mrs. Jin stared at Old Mr. Jin in astonishment.

"Let's go out." Old Mr. Jin walked over to Mrs. Jin, pulled her along toward the exit, and then turned back to cast a meaningful look at Jiang Yao.

Inside the ward, only Jiang Yao and Jin Nana remained.

By this time, Jin Nana had grown quiet. She sat silently, hugging her knees as tears streamed down her face in utter helplessness.

"I heard from the doctors that modern prosthetic limbs can be made quite advanced. After a while, when your body heals a bit more—"

"Get out!" Jin Nana suddenly flew into a rage, screaming at the top of her lungs at Jiang Yao.

Jiang Yao looked at her calmly. "Good, you still know how to curse at me. It seems you aren't quite as fragile as you made yourself out to be in front of your parents."

Jin Nana's chest heaved slightly, tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes. "Did you come here to laugh at me?"

"Well, do you think being like this is funny?" Jiang Yao countered.

Jin Nana lowered her gaze, staring at the empty space where a slender, beautiful leg should have been. "Isn't it funny? Someone who spent so many years studying ballet will never have legs again."

Jiang Yao sat down on the edge of her bed and looked down at her own legs. "Then I suppose that is rather funny."

"You—" Jin Nana glared at her, her emotions flaring up. "Get out! Get out of here!"

Jiang Yao sat without moving, wearing a nonchalant expression. "Still, you aren't as laughable as I am."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jin Nana turned her head away abruptly.

Jiang Yao rested her chin in her hand and looked at Jin Nana. "How much do you know about my affairs?"

When Jiang Yao's scandals had been the talk of the town some time ago, Jin Nana had naturally heard about them.

"You are utterly shameless, seducing one person after another, tangled up with your mother's boyfriend, illicitly involved with your teacher, causing the death of your teacher, causing the death of your mother..."

Jiang Yao quietly listened to her finish, then suddenly asked, "Is that funny?"

Jin Nana fell silent.

Jiang Yao smiled, gently taking Jin Nana's hand. "Since we are both such jokes, why don't we just laugh it off and move on?"

Looking terrified, Jin Nana jerked her hand out of Jiang Yao's grasp and began to shiver all over again. "What do you know? You don't know what I've been through! Those people, those men..."

Jiang Yao looked at Jin Nana's terrified appearance with a trace of heartache. "While I may not know what you've been through, I know what I've been through."

"When I was very young, I was forced to submit to a man's whip. Just to survive, I told myself I had to adapt to that kind of life—that pitch-black, hellish life without a glimmer of light. Do you know what that man's bed smelled like? A mixture of sticky sweat and the stench of blood. Every time I smelled it, it made me retch. To this day, that smell still lingers stubbornly in my mind."

"Yet, I survived. I finally gritted my teeth and watched those who harmed me march toward their own destruction. Even though I knew that in the eyes of the world, I would always remain tainted and carry that stigma for the rest of my life."

"But it doesn't matter, at least it seems my life won't be all that long anyway," Jiang Yao said with a bitter smile.

"Nonsense," Jin Nana said, completely absorbed in the story. "Who says you're tainted? That wasn't your fault! Instead of mocking the people who hurt you, those people turned around to mock you instead? They are utterly confused and foolish!"

Jiang Yao smiled with a sense of relief, holding her hands out toward Jin Nana. "Look, don't you already know all of this?"

Jin Nana fell silent once more.

"Nana, you've received the finest education. You understand these principles better than I do. Human hearts are the hardest things to fathom; we cannot control what other people think. We only need to care about those who truly love us, and that is enough. At least, unlike me, you still have a mother and father who cherish you."

Jin Nana crossed her arms. "I'm tired. You can leave now."

"All right, I'll go," Jiang Yao said, standing up. "But you have to promise me you'll cooperate with the doctors' treatment. I'll come to see you often. And so will He Yunqing."

At the mention of He Yunqing, the rims of Jin Nana's eyes instantly turned red. "He... he's a bastard!"

Love often makes people weak; even after such an ordeal, Jin Nana did not truly blame He Yunqing. What she felt more than anything was a deep sense of grievance.

"That's right, he's a bastard. Another day, I'll have this bastard come and make amends to you in person."