Awakened

After Si Youlin left, Jiang Ran lowered her gaze to look at her wound, sighed softly, then turned and walked toward the villa. When she returned, a maid happened to be cleaning and ran into her head-on.

Upon seeing Jiang Ran’s injury, the maid turned pale with shock and quickly said, “Madam, this is… I’ll go call Doctor Zhou for you.”

Jiang Ran paused for a moment. She remembered that the “Doctor Zhou” the maid referred to was the Si family’s family physician—though in truth, he was Si Yanxiao’s personal doctor. He had a close relationship with Si Yanxiao and often mocked the original owner of this body with thinly veiled sarcasm.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ran immediately refused, “No need. Just help me treat it.”

After saying that, she walked straight to the sofa and sat down, lifting her sleeve.

The maid silently took out the medical kit, walked over, squatted beside her, and carefully began to tend to the wound.

“Hiss…”

Even though she had prepared herself mentally, the stinging pain at the moment the medicine touched her skin still made Jiang Ran suck in a sharp breath.

The maid’s hands paused slightly, trembling as she applied the medicine.

Noticing this, Jiang Ran glanced at her and softly reassured her, “It’s fine. Take it slow.”

The maid forced herself to suppress the unease in her heart, nodded, and continued applying the medicine, her movements becoming even gentler.

Soon, the wound was fully treated. The maid looked up at her. “Madam, it’s done.”

She began packing up the gauze and supplies. Before she could stand up, Jiang Ran spoke first, “Thank you.”

The maid was startled. Someone who had always looked down on others… actually thanked her?

She quickly waved her hands after coming back to her senses. “It’s nothing, nothing. This is what I should do.”

Jiang Ran smiled faintly and stood up, heading toward her room.

The moment she entered, she collapsed onto the floor, her whole body feeling completely drained.

She frowned slightly in thought.

It seemed this body still couldn’t bear her spiritual energy. She had merely been injured, yet it had already caused her spiritual energy to dissipate.

Just now, with outsiders present, she had forced herself to hold on. The moment she relaxed, she could clearly feel the spiritual energy leaking out of her body.

She absolutely did not want to die from exhaustion due to depleted spiritual energy—that would truly ruin her “lifetime reputation.”

Thud—

A dull sound echoed as she lay on the floor, gasping for breath. A sharp pain spread from her chest, impossible to ignore, fine beads of sweat seeping from her temples.

Before losing consciousness, Jiang Ran suddenly remembered something. Supporting herself with both hands, she struggled to get up and staggered toward the direction of Si Yanxiao’s room.

It was only a few steps away, yet every step felt agonizing.

When she reached the bedroom door, she used her last shred of willpower to push it open, walked to Si Yanxiao’s side—and collapsed unconscious.

At the same time, the moment she touched Si Yanxiao’s body, Jiang Ran desperately absorbed the spiritual energy flowing within him.

The spiritual energy that had nearly been exhausted suddenly surged back into her body in an endless stream.

At that moment, the infusion of spiritual energy was like a drowning person grasping a lifeline.

After circulating through her body for one full cycle, the energy slowly dispersed into her limbs and bones, repeating this process again and again, before finally gathering in her dantian.

As the spiritual energy refined her meridians, the pain throughout her body gradually eased.

“Water…”

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Ran’s consciousness slowly returned.

Then, upon hearing a soft murmur beside her, she jolted fully awake.

She saw that the man who had been unconscious all this time lay on the bed with his eyes closed, murmuring unconsciously.

Jiang Ran looked surprised. She reached out and lightly touched his forehead, sensing that his consciousness was gradually awakening.

What was going on?!

When they had first met, his consciousness had been completely lifeless.

She had originally been worried that drawing so much spiritual energy from him might cause him harm.

But now it seemed that, for him, this was actually an opportunity to recover consciousness?!

Jiang Ran was astonished. Narrowing her beautiful eyes, she couldn’t help wanting to investigate further.

Her fingertip resting on his forehead pressed slightly as she calmed her mind. This method could probe deep into a person’s memories—she was only trying it out.

But then—

Bang—

Before she could act, Jiang Ran suddenly felt a powerful force strike back at her. She abruptly opened her eyes, her breathing chaotic.

She hadn’t even entered his consciousness yet when she sensed an invisible barrier ahead.

Tch.

Worthy of being Di Shang. Even in a coma, his self-protection instincts were this strong.

Jiang Ran sighed softly, feeling a trace of frustration.

“Water…” The mosquito-soft voice once again made her freeze.

He… wanted water?

Though surprised, Jiang Ran instinctively stood up, poured some water, and brought it to his lips. But his mouth was tightly closed, and the water simply spilled out—it couldn’t be fed at all.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran pinched his mouth to force it open, but it was still useless.

“How troublesome.”

With this method also failing, Jiang Ran frowned slightly and gave up.

If it weren’t for the fact that she had just benefited from him, she wouldn’t have bothered going to such lengths to help him drink water.

After trying various methods with no success, she had no choice but to take a sip herself, hold it in her mouth, bend down slowly, press her lips to his, gently pry open his teeth, and pass the water into his mouth.

But at the instant their lips touched, fragments of hallucinations suddenly flashed before Jiang Ran’s eyes—

A car accident!

Her eyes widened as the scene unfolded before her as if she were truly inside it.

Walking forward, the crash scene ahead blurred, and when she looked again, it had turned into a mass of black fog.

If she wasn’t mistaken, this should be Si Yanxiao’s dream.

“Si Yanxiao…” Jiang Ran called toward the black fog.

There was no response. Only the woman beside him turned slightly in her direction. Jiang Ran tried to see clearly what she looked like.

But just before she could, the black fog engulfed the woman. Immediately afterward, the scene turned blood-red, rushing straight toward her.

Swish—

Startled, Jiang Ran abruptly opened her eyes. When she regained her senses, she was still inside the room.

At that moment, she felt the touch on her lips—Si Yanxiao seemed to be reacting instinctively, drawing moisture from her lips.

Sensing something was wrong, Jiang Ran quickly pulled back and looked down at him. He was still unconscious.

Thinking back on what she had just experienced, everything had felt far too real. When the blood-red mist had surged toward her, she had unconsciously felt fear. Even now, recalling it made her uneasy.

Just as she was lost in thought, the bedroom door suddenly opened. The maid looked up, saw Jiang Ran inside, and practically had the word “panic” written all over her face.

“Madam!”

Jiang Ran: ???

Why so jumpy?

Did she really become the plague of this house?

Was the next step sticking a sign on the door that read: “Dogs and Jiang Ran Not Allowed Inside”?