Jiang Jiamian’s calm voice echoed through the room.
Shen Muzhou typed as he listened, but his focus drifted again and again.
Especially when Jiang Jiamian talked about how the school prince Qi Yan harbored all kinds of desires for Jiang Jiamian in the book, feelings that Shen Muzhou realized, disturbingly, mirrored his own.
At first, he had disliked the character purely because of the na.
But now, as he listened, he felt an inexplicable sense of imrsion.
He resonated with Qi Yan’s every thought, every action.
Listening to Jiang Jiamian’s lazy, unhurried narration by his ear, there were monts when Shen Muzhou truly felt...
That he was Qi Yan.
The feeling was bizarre.
"Hm? What’s wrong?"
Hearing Shen Muzhou’s dazed murmur, Jiang Jiamian paused and looked at him.
Shen Muzhou was staring blankly at the keyboard, lost in thought.
Sothing was wrong.
Although Shen Muzhou had been facing away from him, this ti, even without seeing his face, Jiang Jiamian could sense it.
"What’s going on?"
Shen Muzhou shook his head, forcibly dispersing the haze in his mind. "Nothing. If we write ten thousand words today, we’ll submit and apply for a contract."
"Okay."
Though uneasy, Jiang Jiamian didn’t press further. He suppressed his suspicions and returned to his mories of Qi Yan.
His clear, gentle voice rang out again.
This ti, Jiang Jiamian’s gaze wasn’t on the screen, it was on Shen Muzhou’s back as he typed.
In that instant, Qi Yan in his mories beca vividly clear.
As if the sa soul had crossed worlds, ignoring differences in body and appearance, rging seamlessly in that mont.
"Qi Yan."
Jiang Jiamian murmured unconsciously.
Humans are creatures who cherish the past.
Even he, a so-called heartless transmigrator, couldn’t escape this.
Shen Muzhou’s fingers froze.
His back went rigid.
Those two words were different.
They didn’t match the sentence before them.
He hadn’t typed them.
They were spoken alone.
Why did he say that na?!
That lingering nostalgia and longing surged again, making Shen Muzhou’s heart tremble.
He turned pale and blurted out, "What?"
Jiang Jiamian snapped back to reality, eyes flickering. "Hah... nothing. I misspoke. Let’s start again."
"The classroom was already bustling with noise in the early morning..."
Shen Muzhou remained silent for a long while, his face stiff, before finally typing on the keyboard again.
Fine, he’d settle accounts with him after he finished writing today’s submission!
He didn’t want Jiang Jiamian to say that he had delayed his submission yesterday and today.
In the hospital ward, Li Zhe lay on the bed as if all signs of life had been drained from him. His eyes were numb and hollow, fixed on the ceiling. He stared like that for an unknown length of ti before finally regaining the slightest bit of awareness, his eyeballs moving slowly.
"So... what do you think about the hospital fees?"
The doctor had not left throughout the entire process. He stood to the side, diligently pretending not to notice anything, yet he had witnessed everything clearly, from the lawyer’s words to Li Zhe’s complete collapse.
This patient was short of money.
Very short of money.
With a huge compensation looming ahead, even the hospital fees were likely beyond reach.
Li Zhe remained silent for a long ti before finally opening his mouth, his voice hoarse and weak. "Doctor, save . You’re a doctor. You won’t just let lie here and wait to die, right?"
The doctor let out a dry chuckle. "Saving you requires paynt. Treating patients is our duty, but you can’t morally kidnap us, can you? If one person doesn’t pay, and another doesn’t pay, and everyone expects doctors to rely on kindness alone, then the hospital might as well close down. Don’t you think so?"
Li Zhe was rendered speechless.
After a long pause, he finally forced out a sentence. "Then... could you treat my injuries first? I can write an IOU. I’ll find a way, I swear. Also... could I borrow a computer? A phone would work too."
He needed money.
Desperately.
If he wanted to survive, he needed inco as soon as possible.
The fastest way was to forget about this website’s disaster, change his pen na, switch platforms, find a safer story, and sign a contract imdiately. As long as he could publish again, money would co.
Even if it wasn’t as popular as in his previous life, even if it was only half as successful, it would still be enough to pay hospital fees and slowly repay the compensation.
He hadn’t been reborn to live miserably.
His good days were still ahead.
As a reborn protagonist, he absolutely could not collapse from such a small setback at the beginning.
"IOU? Computer?" The doctor looked at him as if he were hearing a joke. "This is a hospital, not a charity temple. You can’t write IOUs for hospital bills, and we don’t lend computers to patients."
Li Zhe was choked by those words.
His injuries were severe.
His phone and computer were both at ho.
Thinking back carefully, his phone was either left on the desk, taken during the beating, or thrown sowhere he would never find.
"The ambulance already brought you here, and we gave you ergency treatnt according to procedure." The doctor continued calmly. "For the rest, we can’t help you without paynt. Do you have any family or friends?"
Li Zhe thought hard.
Then he realized... He really didn’t.
His family had cut ties years ago. A blended family, cold relationships, years of silence.
As for friends, his life had always revolved around reading and writing alone in a rented apartnt.
There was only one person.
The one whose phone number he still rembered.
Fang Yaoyao.
In his previous life, he had liked her for years. He confessed, was rejected, and later watched her marry soone else.
On the day of his rebirth, he had imagined success, wealth, and winning her heart.
He never imagined he would et her again like this.
Should he call her?
Asking for help was humiliating.
But not asking ant no one would help him at all.
"Doctor..." Li Zhe hesitated before speaking softly, "Could I borrow your phone for a mont?"
This ti, the doctor didn’t refuse.
When Fang Yaoyao appeared in the ward, she almost didn’t recognize him.
His face was swollen and bruised. One arm and one leg were wrapped in thick bandages.
"Yaoyao..."
Seeing her again made Li Zhe’s heart ache.
But embarrassnt drowned out everything else.
He wasn’t the successful man he had imagined after rebirth, he was pathetic.
"Are you really Li Zhe?" Fang Yaoyao frowned. "How did you end up like this? Why did you call here? Don’t tell you’re trying to play the victim. I already told you, I don’t like you."
"No." Li Zhe said quickly. "I didn’t an that. I just wanted to ask you to help ... I really don’t have anyone else in this city."
Fang Yaoyao was clearly not only beautiful but also kind-hearted. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have actually co to the hospital after receiving Li Zhe’s call. "How can I help?"
"My phone and computer are at ho." Li Zhe said carefully. "I told you my address before... could you go get them for ?"
"And also..." He swallowed. "I’m really hungry."
After all, they had been classmates and had kept in touch for several years after graduation. Seeing Li Zhe in such a pitiful state, Fang Yaoyao couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
"Alright. I’ll get them. I’ll bring you food too."
"Thank you... thank you."
Li Zhe let out a sigh of relief.
He had originally planned to borrow money, but in the end, he simply couldn’t bring himself to ask.
Fortunately, there were still so leftover royalties from his previous writing in his bank account. While it wasn’t enough to cover the compensation, it was sufficient to pay part of his hospital fees, at least ensuring that the hospital wouldn’t truly abandon him.
"Oh, right." Before she left, he added quickly, "My bank card and ID are in the black coat behind my computer chair."
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