Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
What had happened to her hand?
Qiao Lian’s expression darkened at once upon hearing his question.
Suddenly, those bad memories came flooding back.
Her hand…
She gave a bitter smile. Shoving her hand back into her pocket, she clenched it into a fist.
Quickly putting her emotions in check, she looked out of the window as she explained in a casual tone, “One night eight years ago, on my way home from school, I was robbed. My hand was injured in the scuffle that broke out then.”
When he heard this, Shen Liangchuan frowned.
This was obviously not the whole truth. It made him exceptionally uncomfortable.
What exactly had happened to Xiao Qiao, and why was she always so evasive when talking about her past?
He thought again of how she had always been afraid of being in the limelight.
His frown deepened.
However, he did not force her to narrate her whole story and moved on. “What did the doctor say?”
Looking at her right hand, she said, “Although this hand looks no different from an ordinary hand, it cannot withstand intensive movements, especially like using a keyboard, gaming… After a while, it gets weak, twitches… It’s nothing I can control.
Shen Liangchuan nodded quietly.
They arrived at the hospital very shortly. After they got out of the car, Qiao Lian looked at Shen Liangchuan and said, “Actually, there is really no need to see another doctor. At that time in Suzhou, I saw a countless number of doctors. It was useless.”
She had been in her second year of high school then and her studies had been critical. Her unexpected injury had resulted in her not being able to hold a pen properly.
Her father had always doted on her, so he took her to consult renowned doctors everywhere, but to no avail.
Eventually, they heard news of another orthopedic specialist in town and had a last glimmer of hope. But that was when the tragedy struck at home.
And now it was eight years later.
After a delay of eight years, Qiao Yi could just barely stand on his legs. But her hand… such precise operations and such agile and sensitive part of the body, how could it possibly heal up completely?
Upon hearing what she had said, Shen Liangchuan took her hand.
His hand was large, warm and dry, and she felt the heat pass from her fingers right to her heart.
When she tilted her head up to look at him, he said, “We’ll just let him have a look, that’s all.”
The night sky was hazy.
Under the glow of the streetlights, Shen Liangchuan’s expression in this moment was warm and gentle.
Qiao Lian could not bear to reject.
Even if there was no hope left for her hand, his firm and steady expression suddenly made her feel like there was a light at the end of the tunnel again.
She nodded.
The normally quiet Shen Liangchuan seemed to understand how she was feeling, and he suggested as they walked into the hospital, “This doctor is a renowned orthopedist in our country. The worst that can happen is that things remain the way they are.”
Qiao Lian nodded again.
Shen Liangchuan took her hand and looked at it. Then he held that trembling right hand tightly in the center of his own palm.
Her hand was delicate and pale, even though life had been tough for her in the past eight years. But that pair of hands was flexible, as if boneless, exactly as thought she had never had to do household chores a single day of her life.
In the past, this hand had fought alongside his, and in the games they had been invincible. But now…
Every time he thought of the moment he had been among the audience and realized that something was not quite right, when he had dashed into the gaming room and saw her staring at her trembling hand, his heart felt a sharp pang of pain.
The helplessness, sense of loss, despair and sadness that she felt at that point… All these same feelings, he felt even stronger.
How could his Xiao Qiao’s hand be injured?