My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

"Alright, Mr. Si. It's very nice to meet you." The nurses were done doing the daily tests and Doctor Heng smiled politely. "Then, I will excuse myself first. Rest well, Mr. Jiang."

Si Zhening nodded in acknowledgement while Jiang Jinyan didn't react. His soul flew out to nowhere as he looked out of the window blankly.

When the two of them were left in the room, Si Zhening tried hard to find a topic to talk with him. "Young Master Jiang, don't worry. Doctor Heng is the best doctor there is for the artificial limbs department. With him, you can return to your life smoothly soon."

Jiang Jinyan snorted bitterly. "No matter how good of a doctor he is, I still can't return to being an athlete, can I?"

"Young Master Jiang…" Si Zhening said helplessly. He pushed up his gold rimmed glasses and readjusted the position of the vase on the nightstand so that the distance between each side would be precise. "Don't worry, you are still young. You will find many things to do in the future."

Jiang Jinyan didn't want to hear any more superficial nonsense and closed his eyes tiredly.

Si Zhening received the hint clearly and bowed slightly. "Then, I will return first. Please call me if there's anything." He walked across the room in steady, rhythmic footsteps and closed the door softly behind him.

Instantly, Jiang Jinyan reacted intensely and reached for the vase, veins bulged out of his forehead and arm. His eyes opened in fury and bitterness and his arms raised up, the wilting daffodil swayed along with his movement and the water splashed onto his arm, trickling down his pale skin and dropped onto his forehead and eyes like a string of tears.

But in the end, he didn't throw the vase, because it contained the flower that Wei Xiameng chose for him. Even though it was withering, dying, just like his heart.

He closed his eyes, his chest undulating fiercely. He tried hard to restrain the violent impulse that urged him to destroy everything. The vase was thrown back to the nightstand, creating a loud thumping sound. He laid in the bed weakly and buried his face into his palms, his shoulders trembling incessantly.

***

As Si Zhening walked down the hallway, a piece of candy rolled down to his feet and he stopped. In front of him, there was a thin girl in hospital gown, her golden eyes glancing at him anxiously. Within her arms were tens of similar candies and she didn't know where to put it down.

Si Zhening was stunned and before the girl moved, he had bent his waist to pick the candy up. Walking to her, he asked softly. "Is this yours?"

The girl looked at him with a hint of curiosity and vigilance. In the end, she nodded softly.

Si Zhening smiled and put the candy atop of the stack within her arms. "Be careful next time. Do you live here, on this floor? I seem to have seen you before…"

The girl glanced at him and the door where he came from back and forth, her lips pursed tight. A trace of struggle fleeted past her eyes, and she opened and closed her mouth without sound. Slowly, Si Zhening could catch what she was saying by reading her lips, "Thank you, Mister."

The smile in Si Zhening's face deepened. He didn't comment on the girl's muteness nor did he show any particular reaction about it. "You're welcome. Do you know Young Master Jiang?"

The girl blinked a few times, then shook her head. Then, pondering for a while, she nodded briefly.

Certainly, Si Zhening didn't understand what she was going to say. Thinking that they were acquaintances who stayed on the same floor, he smiled. "Then, I will bother you to take care of Young Master Jiang." Again, he took a name card and slipped it between the candies. "This is me, you can contact me if anything happens to him. Thank you very much. If you'll excuse me."

He smiled in acknowledgement and went past her. The girl turned around to stare at his back, but he never looked back. Faintly, he could hear a man's low voice asking. "Shi Nian, who are you talking to? Wait, what the heck with all of these candies?"

Si Zhening gave a courteous smile to the nurses in the station and went inside the elevator. As the door closed to separate him from others, his smile vanished in an instant, replaced with utmost indifference and coldness. He spread his two fingers where he touched the candy earlier and took out his handkerchief to slowly, meticulously, wipe them down as if there were many bacteria on it.

***

Shi Nian turned to Xu Binchen, helpless. It was Young Master Nan who dumped all of these candies for her all of a sudden. She didn't even know what he meant by it. Xu Binchen frowned as he took out a plastic bag from out of nowhere and threw all of the candies inside. Shi Nian sighed in relief, now she could free her arms.

She caught the name card that the man gave her and scrutinized it deeply.

Si Zhening

Executive Assistant of the CEO of Jiang Corporation

Below was a string of numbers and the address of Jiang Corporation's branch office in City A.

Xu Binchen leaned forward to take a glance and in an instant, he froze. He snatched the name card from Shi Nian and chewed down each word, his frown deepening by the second. Shi Nian tugged on his arm in question, and the man asked darkly. "He came and talked to you just now?"

Shi Nian didn't understand why he was reacting so intensely. With a pair of innocent and inquiring golden eyes, she nodded.

Xu Binchen's face turned ugly. This person was one of suspects in the police's black list. Even though he had been interrogated and proven innocent, such a person appearing beside Shi Nian…how could there be so many coincidences?

He warned her seriously. "Don't get too close to him."

"Why?" She mouthed, anxious. This was Jiang Jinyan's father's assistant ah, he even especially asked her to take care of him…

"Shi Nian." Xu Binchen confiscated the name card and put it out of her reach, angering her to no end.. But his next word stumped her so hard that her face paled. "He is one of the possible suspects of the serial killer, got it? You still want his name card?"