Chapter 16: The King of Performance
The call came from the hospital. The attending physician spoke calmly, reminding her, “Miss Shen, the funds you previously deposited have been depleted. Please make a payment as soon as possible. The bill has been sent to your email; you may check it.”
Shen Ling looked up. Her reflection in the mirror showed eyes streaked with red, a consequence of sleepless nights. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes and sighed, “Alright, I understand.”
After hanging up, she changed her clothes and transferred two hundred thousand yuan into the designated account. She had planned to head to work, but after a moment’s thought, she turned and made her way to the hospital instead.
The ICU’s top floor specialty ward had seen countless patients come and go, yet her visits were so frequent that even the nurses remembered her. When she arrived, they greeted her.
“Miss Shen, here to see your mother again?”
She nodded slightly in reply, donned her protective gown, and entered the ward.
Her mother lay on the hospital bed. Since the car accident years ago, she had never awakened. Though the doctors had managed to save her life, the injuries had been too severe. She remained unconscious, her life constantly in jeopardy, unable to leave the specialty ward even now.
With practiced ease, Shen Ling picked up a cotton swab, moistened her mother’s lips to prevent them from cracking, and forced a smile, murmuring softly.
“Mom, I’m doing well out here. You must get better soon, too. These past years without you, my career has flourished, but I’ve felt lonely.”
A sound came from the doorway. Shen Ling, unwilling to reveal her vulnerability before others, stopped speaking and gently grasped her mother’s hand. The needle marks left her mother's skin bruised and discolored, filling Shen Ling with pain and sorrow.
A nurse entered, pushing a cart, and hung a bag of nutrients for her mother. Unable to eat on her own, her mother survived only through these intravenous infusions.
When she finished, the nurse reported, “There’s still no improvement in the patient’s condition.”
Every day in the ICU burned through money. Sometimes, human obsession was truly frightening. The nurse sighed softly; now, all that remained was to pray for a miracle.
“Thank you. I’ll stay with my mother for a while,” Shen Ling replied, forcing a polite smile.
The nurse said no more, quickly tidying up and leaving.
Shen Ling gazed at her mother’s increasingly gaunt face, grief and guilt swelling in her heart, her nose stinging with unshed tears.
If it hadn’t been for Bo Jinhan’s argument with her and their breakup, her mother would never have gone out after receiving that call, and the tragic accident wouldn’t have happened.
If not for Bo Jinhan, none of this would have come to pass. The blood and tears of that day had become a lifelong pain, and each recollection only deepened her hatred.
Suddenly, her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. Shen Ling wiped away the traces of tears from her eyes, steadied herself, and answered.
“Hello, what is it?”
The call was from a colleague she was close to at work, the voice urgent and hurried.
“Sister Shuang, why aren’t you here yet? Something big has happened!”
Her colleague sounded furtive, as if afraid to be overheard and unwilling to speak loudly.
Shen Ling didn’t press for details, simply assured her she would hurry to the office before hanging up.
She glanced at her mother lying in bed and managed a smile, “Mom, I’m leaving now. I’ll visit you again soon.”
Outside the ward, she quickly composed herself; the fragile, lonely Shen Ling, unknown to others, was left behind.
She hailed a taxi and hurried to the company, finding the atmosphere far more tense than usual.
She looked towards her colleague who had called, about to ask what had happened, but the other cleared her throat and lowered her head.
Understanding, Shen Ling turned and saw her direct superior, Feng Qin.
Feng Qin held a file, radiant and energized, walking leisurely in patent leather heels. Her lips curled in a mocking smile, her eyes gleaming with undisguised triumph.
“As expected of the star performer—coming and going as you please, showing up whenever you like.”