The Female Lead Keeps Forcing Me to Take My Meds [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Searching for Someone

The weekend passed, and Cheng Zhishu fully recovered, returning to her regular schedule.

This upcoming examination was Cheng Zhishu’s first since transferring, and it was crucial for her, as the final score would affect whether she could receive a scholarship.

She had excellent grades since childhood and received full scholarships for all three years of middle school at her previous institution, covering most of her study materials and living expenses.

However, since her adoptive parents constantly demanded money from her and would make a huge scene if she refused, Cheng Zhishu had no choice but to comply.

Besides that, she occasionally took odd jobs during winter and summer breaks to save up for tuition, which saved her from the fate of dropping out early to work in a factory.

Before transferring to No. 1 High School, Cheng Zhishu had already passed the school’s entrance exam and was only allowed admission after meeting the standard.

But that test only included her as a student. She wasn’t clear on her ranking among the entire student body and had to wait for the results of this upcoming exam.

Even though her tuition, miscellaneous fees, and all living expenses were now covered by Xi Congshuang, and she lacked nothing, no longer needing to live the pinched life of the past, and should have enjoyed herself.

But she was already accustomed to her habits and had no intention of changing.

Xi Congshuang noted her diligence but didn’t say much, nor did she persuade her not to work so hard like Xiao Liu did. She simply observed her silently.

In Xi Congshuang’s view, Cheng Zhishu was the kind of person who felt uneasy when idle.

The observation result was: Protagonists really are like this, always unwilling to be inferior to others.

The exam lasted three days. The atmosphere in Wen Hai also became quiet. Everyone was afraid of disturbing Cheng Zhishu’s study, and even Xiao Liu’s steps when bringing fruit upstairs became light.

This left Xi Congshuang dumbfounded. She told Xiao Liu the room was well soundproofed and there was no need to be so cautious, completely oblivious that this atmosphere had started with her.

If Xi Congshuang hadn’t told Xiao Liu to focus on Cheng Zhishu’s diet since Sunday and to hire a nutritionist to customize a meal plan for her, no one would have paid this much attention to a high schooler’s minor monthly exam.

The monthly exam ended on Wednesday. Cheng Zhishu was supposed to be dismissed relatively early today. Since noon, Xi Congshuang had changed clothes and was waiting in the garden.

Cheng Zhishu had messaged this morning saying she wouldn’t need the driver to pick her up. She said she was going with classmates to buy study materials and would try to come home early.

Xi Congshuang, however, did not wait for Cheng Zhishu, who should have been dismissed early. Instead, she waited for another person.

Xi Hanran, who hadn’t been seen for a long time, appeared at Wen Hai during the workday and easily found Xi Congshuang reading among the flower bushes.

Xi Hanran walked along the paved stone path, pushed aside the foliage, and peered in: “I wondered where that medicinal smell was coming from. Sure enough, it’s you here.”

Xi Congshuang closed her book and complimented: “Your nose is sharp.”

“You!” Xi Hanran frowned, initially wanting to retort, but felt her current posture lacked impact, so she pulled her head back.

A burst of hurried footsteps rounded the flower bush and approached from the other side. Xi Congshuang quickly saw a person coming from the end and unceremoniously sat down on the chair opposite the wrought-iron table.

Xi Hanran glanced at the items on the table: a laptop with a black screen, an incomprehensible German book that she would never read, and a thermos cup.

Half a cup of warm water remained in the white porcelain cup. She looked closer and regretfully noticed a lipstick stain on the rim.

Xi Hanran: “Why is there only one cup?”

Xi Congshuang: “I’m only one person, so naturally one teacup. Why are you here to stir up trouble?”

“I kindly came to check on you, and you call it stirring up trouble?” Xi Hanran no longer felt like drinking water: “Have you been out of school for so long that you’ve forgotten what ‘respecting elders’ means? I haven’t forgotten…”

Xi Congshuang said “Oh”: “Then go ahead and check on me. What do you want to know?”

Xi Hanran choked. The prepared speech in her mind suddenly wouldn’t form a single word. Then, under Xi Congshuang’s gaze, she said stiffly: “I heard you went back to the hospital for a check-up…”

Xi Congshuang countered: “Who told you that?”

Xi Hanran subconsciously replied: “It wasn’t exactly ‘heard’; I saw it myself… No, why are you so wary? I wasn’t following you.”

“Oh.”

“It was just my physical exam day, too. I looked down from my floor and saw you getting into the elevator to the parking lot, with a tagalong holding your hand.”

She hadn’t gotten to the point after all that talking. Xi Congshuang picked up the teacup, her mood inexplicably irritated.

Her uncontrollable legs reminded her that she wasn’t in her familiar world.

She didn’t need to be so wary of everyone, nor would anyone betray her, and the possibility of hidden surveillance in her living space was minimal.

Xi Congshuang set down the teacup, her tone flat: “Then you can rest assured. The possibility of full recovery is slim. The chance of standing up is minuscule.”

This was the truth the doctor had told her, an answer Xi Hanran could also get by simply asking Dr. Xu.

She felt her subtext was clear. If Xi Hanran understood, she wouldn’t waste time coming here, meticulously guarding against one person after another.

Moreover, Xi Congshuang felt she lacked the patience to deal with so many people; one Cheng Zhishu was enough.

Xi Hanran was furious and rose abruptly: “Why would I be relieved if you can’t recover?”

Xi Congshuang held up two fingers: “Allow me to interrupt. You’re only two years older than me.”

With such a small age difference, there was no way she could have watched her grow up. Instead, they constantly ended up enrolling in the same schools and silently competing for rankings and grades in different years.

The competition intensified after they entered the company. Sometimes, in their excitement, they almost came to blows, only stopped by Chairman Xi’s intervention.

Their relationship, by any measure, was one of mutual dislike, each wishing to get rid of the other.

A conciliatory approach wouldn’t work with her. She didn’t want to manage the Xi Group; once the mission was complete, she’d move to the next world, and no amount of wealth would give her time to enjoy it.

Xi Hanran: “Can’t you stop saying things that ruin the mood?”

Xi Congshuang put down her two fingers: “Fine.”

After a moment of silence, Xi Hanran asked again: “Is the chance really that slim?”

Xi Congshuang nodded: “Really.”

Xi Hanran: “I don’t believe it.”

“There’s nothing I can do if you don’t believe it. Dr. Xu truly said the hope is mi—” Xi Congshuang continued to state the facts, then pulled out her phone and flashed it in front of Xi Hanran: “I need to take a call in a moment.”

The caller ID, “Cheng Zhishu,” flashed for a second.

Xi Hanran, who was contemplating finding doctors from around the world, exclaimed: “Hey!”

Xi Congshuang swiped to answer, bringing the phone to her ear: “Hello? Zhishu?”

“…”

Clearly showing she didn’t want to talk to her, Xi Hanran was already thirsty, and now she was even drier—she was mad.

She wondered where Xi Congshuang’s good mood had come from lately. She wasn’t causing trouble anymore, wasn’t concerned about returning to the company, but had instead changed track to raising a child.

Initially, Xi Hanran thought she was just amusing herself and would lose interest in a few days, but as time went on, she realized this person was serious.

To be immersed in these unnecessary things and not planning to return to the company was truly spineless.

While she was complaining mentally, Xi Congshuang’s voice, which was right next to her, dropped low: “You’re not Zhishu. Who are you? Why do you have her phone?”

The person on the other end seemed quiet for a few seconds. Xi Congshuang impatiently urged: “Speak.”

Let alone the person on the phone, Xi Hanran, who was just across the table from her, felt a chill down her spine.

She rubbed her arms. It wasn’t like she hadn’t argued with Xi Congshuang before, but why was her tone so terrifying this time?

…

At the school, someone was pacing anxiously back and forth at the school gate, occasionally looking up into the distance.

Today was the last day of the exam, and dismissal was earlier than usual. In just over ten minutes, the campus was gradually emptying.

Shangguan Yin held two phones, and a school bag—Cheng Zhishu’s school bag—was slung over her arm. But the owner of the bag was missing. She was missing inside the school.

“Why would she just disappear?” Shangguan Yin walked to the security booth again: “I just want to check my classmate’s entry/exit records to see if she left the school. Why is that so hard?”

No. 1 High School was a public school. Money and power were not as readily available or effective as they were in a private school. Otherwise, Shangguan Yin, a minor rich kid, would have already pulled strings.

But she couldn’t just let the matter drop. She had already called the homeroom teacher, who had taken the day off and was already on her way.

The security guard, who resembled an old grandpa, leaned back in his reclining chair, holding a thermos cup: “Without a signature from a school leader, you can’t just check the surveillance footage.”

He didn’t care about Shangguan Yin’s anxious expression, just waved his hand: “These are regulations. If I let everyone who asks look, how can I keep my job? Why don’t you call your classmate? Maybe she left early without her bag.”

“There’s an internet cafe behind the school. Go look for her there. The school is practically empty now.”

No. 1 High School was the top high school in the city, with abundant teaching resources and a leading university admission rate.

But even here, there were always some useless students. No. 1 High School was no exception, and the security guard clearly lumped Shangguan Yin’s classmate into that category.

Shangguan Yin showed her phone: “I told you, she didn’t even take her phone. How could she have left early?”

The security guard didn’t recognize the phone brand, only that it looked brand new: “You students are afraid of teachers confiscating your phones, so you often carry two. Did you think I didn’t know?”

In short, his attitude was: No, not my responsibility, wait for the signature.

This was precisely what angered Shangguan Yin.

The school leadership had been out for a meeting since last week. The principal wasn’t even present for the Monday address; the Dean of Students had stood in.

If today wasn’t the day of the all-school teacher meeting, she would have long knocked on the principal’s door and thrown the signed permission in the security guard’s face.

She had gone, found no one, and then remembered that today was the day of the external leadership meeting and the internal school-wide meeting. Most other offices were also empty.

Trespassing into the meeting room… she didn’t have the guts for that. Students were naturally afraid of teachers.

Completely out of options, she had to call for external help and was anxiously waiting by the school gate.

“Why is the timing so terrible? Everyone’s in a meeting. No one can be found…”

Just as Shangguan Yin was arguing with the security guard, a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon drove up to the school gate. With a clean drift, it settled down in a parking spot like a colossal beast.

The school was mostly cleared out by now, and the previously bustling campus was unnaturally quiet, so even a small disturbance attracted attention.

The security guard sat up straight, peering outside.

Shangguan Yin glanced at the car, uncertain if Xi Congshuang was inside.

The car’s style was decidedly un-Xi Congshuang—loud, reckless, and extremely imposing.

The driver’s door opened, and a long leg in a black short boot stepped out. She stood on the ground, scanning Shangguan Yin, who was frozen by the school gate, and narrowed her eyes.

“…”

Shangguan Yin thought the person looked familiar, someone she must have met, but being stared at made her nervous, and she clenched the two phones in her hand.

“The height and build don’t match; it’s not Cheng Zhishu,” Xi Hanran, with her slight myopia, didn’t get a clear look. She turned to the trunk.

She retrieved a wheelchair and a pair of crutches from the trunk. Pushing them toward the right rear seat, she opened the car door: “We’re here. Need me to help you?”

A section of a fair wrist extended from inside the car. A jade-white hand with slightly protruding wrist bones was framed by a dark green cuff. Just as Shangguan Yin wondered who was wearing long sleeves in the summer heat, when air conditioning wasn’t necessary, she saw that hand snatch the crutches from Xi Hanran’s grip.

She didn’t know if the person had answered Xi Hanran’s question. She must have, because Xi Hanran clicked her tongue, bent down obediently, and reached in to help the person out.

Her face showed extreme displeasure. As she followed Xi Congshuang’s wheelchair with her hands in her pockets, she muttered: “I’m like your nanny. Why don’t you call me Auntie a few more times as thanks?”

Xi Congshuang didn’t reply because her other hand was holding her phone, the screen lit up, and the call was active.

Glancing at the back of the wheelchair, Xi Hanran couldn’t help but say: “Don’t go so fast; the wheels are almost sparking.”

The security guard watched as the people approached. He assessed the person’s intensely superior demeanor, yet they looked vaguely familiar. He wasn’t sure if this was a guest he had helped the principal entertain before.

Xi Congshuang didn’t waste words. She held up her phone, showing the number on the screen: “I need to check the surveillance footage. As for the permission signature, you can talk to the principal yourself.”

The phone was on speaker. As soon as Xi Congshuang finished speaking, a familiar voice came through—it was the principal, who should have been in a meeting.

The principal said: “How can you be so careless about student safety? Didn’t the training tell you to prioritize expediency in urgent matters, especially student safety? Quickly pull up all the surveillance footage for Miss Xi to see!”