It no longer matters.

"Watch out!"

The instant the kitchen knife in Huang Ge's hand came slashing down, Bai Jinyan reflexively raised his arm to shield Chen Ruowen's head.

Without any accident, the blade struck cleanly into his forearm. In just a second, blood had already soaked the white sleeve of his right shirt crimson.

With his left hand he snatched the knife away, and at the same time drove his right leg hard into the assailant's stomach.

He had not even had time to think through any of these movements. Only when the stainless-steel knife clanged to the floor and the attacker was kicked down, clutching his abdomen and groaning in agony, did he realize that his back had already been drenched through with cold sweat.

So close.

The last time he had been this frightened was last August, when they were out at sea. The moment Chen Ruowen fell from the yacht, he felt as if his heart had stopped; only after he leaped into the sea after her and drew her into his arms did he feel alive again.

But even drowning was a slow death.

If this knife had landed today, his Chen Ruowen would be gone.

Chen Ruowen had already been stunned senseless by this sudden turn of events. Only one or two seconds had passed since Bai Jinyan's warning, and she still did not even understand what had happened. But when she saw the blood-soaked white shirt on Bai Jinyan, Chen Ruowen, who feared nothing in this world, felt her eyes redden at once.

"You... your arm..."

Only then did Bai Jinyan belatedly feel the pain in his arm. He glanced sideways at it, and even now had the mood to smile faintly.

"It's fine. It doesn't hurt."

With so much blood gone, how could it not hurt?

Chen Ruowen had temporarily forgotten even the culprit who had appeared out of nowhere. She fumbled all over herself in panic, her mind full of calling for help, finding a doctor, getting treatment at once—but... where was her phone?

Why wasn't her phone on her?

Blood... so much blood... what was she supposed to do?

"Don't panic," Bai Jinyan comforted her softly. With one hand he twisted Huang Ge's limbs behind his back. Huang Ge fought with all his strength, but although Bai Jinyan was injured, he was far stronger than Huang Ming.

Now that Huang Ge had lost his weapon and his stomach had been struck hard after going hungry for days, he only struggled twice before Bai Jinyan, from behind, bent his limbs together and tied them into a knot without using rope, his technique extremely professional.

Only then did Bai Jinyan laboriously tear off the clean sleeve of his own shirt and try to make a simple bandage.

"I'll help you."

Chen Ruowen immediately rushed over and, under Bai Jinyan's guidance, helped him wrap the wound on his arm. Because she was so nervous, her hands trembled the entire time, but Bai Jinyan did not rush her at all. He patiently guided her movements and even found the leisure to soothe her.

"I'm fine. Don't worry."

Then Bai Jinyan took his phone from his pocket. Just as he was about to dial, he sighed, set the phone down, and drew Chen Ruowen into his arms.

"Why are you crying?"

Chen Ruowen kept shedding tears and said nothing.

Bai Jinyan carefully wiped her tears away and comforted her gently, "It doesn't hurt that much. Don't worry."

"Liar."

Liar. How could it not hurt?

"In a little while, once the doctor has put medicine on it, it'll be fine. Don't worry."

The doctor—right, the doctor!

Chen Ruowen immediately reacted, pulled Bai Jinyan's phone from his pocket, hurriedly entered the lock-screen password, and dialed the emergency number.

"Don't call that number," Bai Jinyan stopped her. "I have a Dr. Wei in my contacts. Call him."

Chen Ruowen had no energy at all to think about why Bai Jinyan wanted this, nor did she notice that this Dr. Wei was not even the Bai family's personal physician. She only followed Bai Jinyan's instructions and quickly placed the call.

After the call connected, Bai Jinyan said a few simple words to Dr. Wei. Less than ten minutes later, a disheveled middle-aged man who looked to be in his thirties or forties drove up in a battered van with several others.

The two young men who came with Dr. Wei first carried off Huang Ge, who had been tied into a lump. As they left, they even gave Bai Jinyan a thumbs-up and praised him as "professional." Meanwhile, Dr. Wei directed Chen Ruowen to help support him into the vehicle, then slammed on the gas and sped out of the garage.

All the way there, Bai Jinyan seemed perfectly fine, while Chen Ruowen, who had escaped without a scratch, was the one panicking terribly and needing the injured Bai Jinyan to comfort her in return.

At last the van stopped outside a small clinic. Without another word, Dr. Wei dragged Bai Jinyan into the operating room, while Chen Ruowen was left standing outside the door.

"Not bad, kid. You're injured this badly and still not changing expression, and you even have the mood to flirt?"

As soon as Wei Kun opened the sleeve of Bai Jinyan's shirt, he frowned, yet while briskly cleaning the wound he did not forget to tease him.

"Don't talk nonsense."

Bai Jinyan's face had gone deathly pale. He shivered, and the pain he had just barely been holding back was now provoked by the medical alcohol, making him suck in a sharp hiss. If he had not considered that Chen Ruowen was right outside and feared she might hear and worry, he would have cried out.

"The one outside is that childhood sweetheart you always talk about? Her face is decent enough, but she doesn't look very capable. How did you end up liking that sort of delicate, weak type?"

"I told you not to talk nonsense..." Bai Jinyan said, half amused and half helpless. "She's only worried about me. The word 'delicate' has nothing to do with her, all right?"

Wei Kun shrugged indifferently.

"Your arterial blood vessels were injured. For you to have held on until now is impressive enough. Did you do something bad and get revenge taken on you, or did you get into a jealous quarrel over some woman? How did you make yourself this way?"

Bai Jinyan had just opened his mouth to answer when Wei Kun had already thrust a syringe straight into his arm.

"I'm going to give you anesthesia and stitch the blood vessels. Save your strength and stop talking."

...

Chen Ruowen waited outside for more than an hour before the operating room door finally opened again. Dr. Wei nodded to her in greeting and then removed his mask.

"Go back and rest for a month. Don't make any sudden movements, and absolutely don't let the wound get bumped."

Chen Ruowen nodded repeatedly, her gaze unable to stop darting toward the operating room inside. The look on her face amused Wei Kun.

"Go on in."

No sooner had he spoken than Chen Ruowen rushed into the operating room like a gust of wind.

The room was extremely simply furnished, and Bai Jinyan was half-reclining on the bed in the outer room, his face still a ghastly white from excessive blood loss.

Chen Ruowen was full of guilt.

Bai Jinyan motioned for her to sit on his left side, then gently rubbed her hair.

"Are you still angry with me?"

Chen Ruowen shook her head vigorously.

Carefully, she reached out, her fingertips hovering above the bandage on Bai Jinyan's right arm, wanting to touch it yet not daring to.

"Does it hurt a lot?"

Bai Jinyan shook his head. "It just looks frightening. It doesn't hurt that much."

Chen Ruowen did not believe him at all. "Why did you use your own arm to block it? Couldn't you have just kicked him away?"

"I wasn't thinking that much at the time. It was completely instinctive."

Chen Ruowen said nothing more.

She looked at the faint trace of blood seeping through the gap in the bandage, and before she knew it, her eyes reddened again.

Sensing the oddness in the person before him, Bai Jinyan lowered his head slightly, then sighed softly and wrapped an arm around the back of Chen Ruowen's head, drawing her into his embrace.

"Can you tell me now? What have you been angry about these past few days?"

Chen Ruowen shook her head and, resigned, closed her eyes.

"It's not important anymore."

All the restlessness born of uncertainty, at this moment, no longer mattered.