The Wind Heard Her Confession - Chapter 13: A Blatant Secret Crush

Chapter 13: A Blatant Secret Crush

The atmosphere was perfect for creating, and Lin Yuran became so immersed in her painting that she lost track of time. It was Chi Ye who finally reminded her to take a break.

“You’ve been painting for a while. Want to come downstairs and play a game to relax?”

Lin Yuran had been painting smoothly all afternoon, having nearly completed her Huo Qubing series. She readily accepted the suggestion. “Sure.”

After playing two rounds of games with them downstairs, Ji Mo rubbed his wrist, his brow furrowed in pain. “Captain Qin,” he said, “my tenosynovitis is killing me. Can I take two days off? It’s unbearable!”

Yan Xi rubbed his lower back. “Captain Qin, my back’s killing me too. I want to take some time off as well.”

Ji Mo scoffed. “Your back pain isn’t from training. It’s from… activities with your girlfriend last night. You’re shameless to use that as an excuse.”

Yan Xi was about to retort when Chi Ye cleared his throat, his voice cold with warning. “Keep it professional.”

The two glanced at Lin Yuran and immediately fell silent.

Lin Yuran smiled. “Back pain and tenosynovitis? Have you considered acupuncture?”

“I paint a lot, so I get tenosynovitis from time to time. My best friend is a renowned traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. Whenever my wrist flares up, he gives me a few needles, and it’s gone instantly.”

Yan Xi frowned. “Acupuncture? Does it hurt?”

Lin Yuran smiled. “No, it just targets specific acupoints. You might feel a slight ache, numbness, or distension.”

Ji Mo nodded. “Alright, Sister Yuran, I trust you.”

He called out to the others, “Anyone else want to try acupuncture?”

Someone asked, “Sister Yuran, can it help with neck pain?”

“Absolutely!” Lin Yuran replied. “Not just acupuncture, but also massage, cupping, you name it. My friend is a master practitioner, personally trained by a renowned expert. He’s incredibly skilled. Some of his patients had abnormal tumor marker levels. After taking a few doses of his herbal medicine, their levels returned to normal. Others were in unbearable cancer pain, and he managed to alleviate it.”

“That’s amazing! We should all give it a try.”

Everyone agreed.

Yan Xi said, “No time like the present! Let’s go today. My pain is unbearable. Is your friend available?”

Lin Yuran glanced at the clock. “It’s 3:30 PM. Can you all leave now? It has to be before he closes for the day.”

Yan Xi turned to Chi Ye, then looked at Qin Lang. “Captain Qin, is that alright?”

“Fine,” Qin Lang nodded. “My neck’s been bothering me too. I’ll go as well.”

“I’ll call my friend,” Lin Yuran said, picking up her phone and dialing Lin Yiqun.

The call was answered after only two rings.

Lin Yuran skipped the pleasantries and cut straight to the chase. “Lin Yiqun, can I bring a few friends over for acupuncture later?”

“Of course,” Lin Yiqun replied warmly. “Your friends are my friends.”

Lin Yuran smiled. “Great, we’ll be there soon.”

After hanging up, she turned to the group. “Let’s hurry. Grab your medical insurance cards and we’ll head over right away.”

The group hurried upstairs to retrieve their documents.

Chi Ye followed silently, heading upstairs as well.

Lin Yuran caught up with him in his office as she gathered her things. “I’ll take them to the hospital and then go straight home.”

Chi Ye picked up his car keys and walked out with her. “You’ve been hyping up your friend so much, I want to see this for myself.”

Lin Yuran couldn’t shake the feeling that his tone was… odd, almost sarcastic.

“Are you feeling unwell too?”

“Yeah, a headache,” Chi Ye replied casually.

The group split into three cars and headed to the Third People’s Hospital of Southern Medical University. Throughout the journey, Chi Ye didn’t utter a word, silently focusing on driving. The three boys in the back seat were equally quiet, as if afraid to speak. The silence in the car was eerily thick.

Lin Yuran wondered why it suddenly felt like they were back to those awkward first days after their reunion.

“Chi Ye, why don’t you put on some music?” Lin Yuran ventured, trying to break the strange atmosphere.

Chi Ye didn’t respond verbally but reached over and turned on the radio. Lin Yuran gave up trying to understand him. Whatever.

Upon arriving at the hospital, the group registered at the first-floor reception desk and followed Lin Yuran into the elevator to the fifth floor. The traditional Chinese medicine and surgical outpatient clinics were located on the same floor, at opposite ends.

When the elevator doors opened on the fifth floor, four burly men stood waiting. The one in front was covered in tattoos, his right forearm wrapped in a thick bandage, likely fresh from the surgical clinic. Their eyes lit up when they saw Lin Yuran.

Lin Yuran glared at their leering expressions, rolled her eyes in disgust, and stepped out of the elevator.

Chi Ye and the others followed. The four men behind them burst into laughter.

“D**n, this chick’s hot!”

“She even rolled her eyes at us, haha! Looks like a haughty little kitten. I love girls with attitude.”

“If you don’t get her, you’re not a real man.”

Chi Ye stopped at the sound. Qin Lang and the others halted as well. The four men’s eyes had been completely fixed on Lin Yuran, and they hadn’t noticed that the group behind her was actually with her.

The tattooed man with a bandaged arm jogged forward, blocking Lin Yuran’s path. His eyes brazenly scanned her figure as he grinned. “Hey, sis, can I get your WeChat?”

Lin Yuran scowled in disgust. “No,” she snapped.

As she tried to walk away, the man reached for her sleeve. Lin Yuran swiftly jerked her arm free, took two steps back, pointed a finger at his nose, and warned in a low voice, “Just say if you want to end up in jail.”

The man’s excitement only grew. “Ooh, feisty! Makes me even more interested… Augh—!” His crude words were cut short by a strangled scream.

Chi Ye stepped forward and seized the Tattooed Man’s bandaged arm.

The Tattooed Man immediately grimaced in agony, retreating while howling in pain as a large patch of bl00d rapidly soaked through the gauze. The three men accompanying him lunged forward, only to be surrounded by Qin Lang and his group.

Qin Lang cracked his knuckles, his fist clenched so tightly that his joints popped. “What? Looking for a fight?”

Seeing their numerical disadvantage and the imposing physiques of their opponents, the three men fell silent.

Chi Ye maintained his grip on the Tattooed Man, glaring down at him with icy contempt. “Add on WeChat? You don’t even deserve to breathe the same air as her.”

The Tattooed Man’s face had already turned deathly pale from the pain, beads of cold sweat dripping from his forehead. His only response was a continuous stream of agonized cries as bl00d seeped through the bandage on his arm.

As if disgusted by the sight, Chi Ye shoved him violently. The Tattooed Man stumbled backward several steps before collapsing to the ground.

Chi Ye closed the distance, looming over him with a voice as cold as ice. “You little punk, if you’ve got a death wish, just say so.”

The Tattooed Man visibly trembled, pleading for mercy. “Brother, I was wrong! I’ll never do it again!”

The other three men chimed in hastily, “It’s all a misunderstanding! We didn’t mean any harm! Brothers, please calm down!”

“Get lost,” Chi Ye said coldly.

The three men timidly approached, hauled the tattooed man off the ground, and fled down the stairs without daring to wait for the elevator.

Chi Ye’s eyes were naturally cold and sharp, imbued with an arrogance that dismissed everything beneath him. Normally, his gaze carried a subtle edge, but now, steeped in icy ferocity, it radiated danger. His fighting style exuded an overwhelming pressure, the kind of crushing dominance only a superior could wield. No ordinary person would dare confront him, which explained why the four men had bolted so quickly.

Having grown accustomed to his gentle, harmless demeanor, witnessing this sudden display of lethal sharpness was utterly captivating. Lin Yuran stared, momentarily stunned.

Chi Ye walked over to her and began brushing the sleeve of her shirt where the tattooed man had grabbed it, as if trying to shake off some contamination. “Scared you?”

Lin Yuran snapped out of her daze and shook her head. “No.”

Yan Xi interjected, “Sister Yuran, as a girl, you shouldn’t try to take on guys like that alone.”

Lin Yuran scoffed dismissively. “If you don’t stand your ground, they’ll just get bolder. Don’t worry, I haven’t survived twenty-four years by being a pushover. Dealing with small-time thugs like that is child’s play.”

Lin Yuran glanced at Chi Ye before turning to the group. “Thank you all for today. I felt so safe with you guys.”

The young men chuckled. “It’s our honor to be your knights in shining armor, Sister Yuran.”

Lin Yuran smiled faintly and started walking toward the Traditional Chinese Medicine specialist’s clinic. “Those idiots wasted some time. Let’s go, we need to hurry and get treatment.”

It was just after four in the afternoon, and the clinic’s patient load had eased slightly, but there were still five or six people ahead of them. Even though Lin Yiqun was her friend, cutting the line would disrupt the medical order. Lin Yuran greeted him and sat down with the others in the waiting area.

The tattooed man, whose arm Chi Ye had squeezed until it bled, had gone to the restroom to wash his hands. Lin Yuran and Qin Lang chatted idly.

“Designer Lin,” Qin Lang asked, “does your friend share your surname?”

“Yeah,” Lin Yuran nodded. “Many families in my grandmother’s hometown are named Lin. If you trace our ancestry far enough, we might even be from the same clan.”

Yan Xi seemed to catch something in Lin Yuran’s words and interjected, “You two must have known each other since childhood, right?”

“Exactly,” Lin Yuran replied briefly. As she noticed a white-clad figure approaching in the distance, she subtly added, “Lin Yiqun and I have been playing together since we were crawling. We were together in preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school; we’re practically inseparable childhood sweethearts.”

As she finished speaking, the white-clad figure passed by them. Her footsteps faltered slightly when the phrase ‘childhood sweethearts’ landed.

It was Wang Xue, a nurse from the Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncture and massage department. Lin Yuran found her particularly annoying. Every time she visited, Wang Xue would find some excuse to linger around Lin Yiqun.

Wang Xue made no secret of her intentions, showering Lin Yiqun with warmth and concern, often bringing him little gifts. Her behavior had long crossed the boundaries of normal workplace camaraderie. Lin Yiqun had noticed Wang Xue’s feelings for him. He had repeatedly hinted that his heart belonged to someone irreplaceable, but Wang Xue refused to take the hint, leaving him increasingly exasperated.

Seeing Wang Xue swagger toward Lin Yiqun’s consulting room, Lin Yuran sprang to her feet. She rushed forward, pushed the door open before Wang Xue could, and held it ajar, calling out sweetly, “Brother Qun!”

“Brother Qun, what are you doing?”

Lin Yiqun was taking a patient’s pulse when her two ‘Brother Quns’ nearly made him burst out laughing. He looked up, smiled gently at Lin Yuran, and said, “Almost done. Just one more patient. Be good and wait a little longer.”

The door was open, and Lin Yiqun’s voice carried clearly to the outside. Wang Xue froze mid-push, her face darkening. Blocked by Lin Yuran, she glared venomously at her before turning and stomping away.

Lin Yuran giggled. When she turned around, Chi Ye stood not far behind her, his lips pressed into a thin line and his jaw set in a sharp, handsome angle, watching her intently.

……

T/N: Sorry for being unable to release on a consistent schedule. Now that my real life stuffs are clearing one by one, I will try to be more consistent with a consistent schedule (pray) and try my best not to procrastinate (pray). Thank you and have a good day~