"We don't know how it got there either," Nurse Lee suddenly says. She could tell that Yuying was confused as well from the way that her face contorted.
I do, Yuying thinks to herself as she gently brushes her fingers over the bandage around her right ear. The image of how she'd whipped around immediately after feeling a whizz by her ear to see an assassin staring right at her with evil eyes was still fresh in her mind.
"I mean, you could've scraped your ear against the edge of the steps when you fell," Nurse Lee reiterates as she walks over to Yuying, who still had her hand clasped over her right ear, "But even so, the abrasion shouldn't look like the one that you have on your ear."
Yuying recalls how she'd been so shocked that she hadn't even felt the stinging at her ear. All that'd been on her mind as soon as she processed the fact that there was an assassin standing before her was to run for her life.
"It looked like your ear had been sliced at by a sharp object or something," Nurse Lee grimaces as she recalls the way that Yuying's ear was bleeding when she came in. "Which really doesn't make any sense, considering that there aren't even any metal claddings on the stairs that you fell down on..."
Yuying widens her eyes at Nurse Lee's suggestion that her ear had been sliced right open by a sharp object. For someone who didn't actually know what had happened, she was awfully, and almost scarily, accurate.
Yuying wonders for a brief moment if Nurse Lee was from that strange ancient Chinese universe that she'd found herself in, if she was perhaps the shrill voice that she'd heard before she'd blacked out. However, Yuying quickly dismisses this thought, trying to reason with herself that it might've all been just a dream, albeit an incredibly vivid and realistic one.
/Maybe I've just been so stressed out over my webnovel lately that I completely forgot that I was in the middle of my research assistantship with Professor Williams...and somehow fell down the stairs while helping her out...and somehow plunged right into a weird dream where I was in the body of a prince in some ancient Chinese universe...?/
Just then, Yuying recalls the Choosing. She remembers Zheng Yimeng gracefully gliding through the air with ease, her long, lilac ribbon spiraling around her at command as they danced as though they were one with the wind.
Yuying remembers Hua Maque skilfully surfing through the air on her sword, her entourage of flowers and sparrows that'd been on the hilt of her sword coming to life before her very eyes as they trailed behind the latter like the fervent supporters that they were.
Yuying remembers Liu Yuqi and her dramatic but impressive performance, the way that she'd ascended into the air and created the glowing image of a cherry blossom tree such that she'd looked like she was perched on one of its branches, the way that her fingers had danced across the strings on her guzheng as she sent healing cherry blossom petals to cure the special guests that she'd brought for her performance.
Yuying remembers the way that she'd sat alongside the Emperor and the Empress on the platform, the feeling of power and might that she'd felt for the first time in her life as she was almost quite literally placed on a pedestal as the subject, the center of attraction, the star in the spotlight. She was the reason why the Choosing was happening in the first place.
Yuying had never felt as important as the way that she'd felt when she was sitting on the throne. Well, not exactly 'the' throne, considering that she was sitting beside the Emperor and was still known as 'Second Prince Zhao' back in that ancient Chinese universe, but you get the idea.
Everything was too vivid for it to be just a dream.
"Anyway," Nurse Lee continues as she purses her lips, making Yuying snap out of her trance. "Aside from that strange cut, a few bruises here and there, and a slight concussion, everything seems to be fine."
/Yeah, right. Everything else seems to be fine, including the fact that I'd somehow transmigrated or teleported into an ancient Chinese universe or something, I don't even know whether it actually happened or if it was just a dream or if I'm going crazy or something, and woke up in the body of not just any random dude, but a prince...!/
Even though Yuying is freaking out on the inside, she forces herself to smile at Nurse Lee. She can't make her internal dilemma known for obvious reasons. It's bad enough that Yuying thinks she's going crazy. She doesn't need anyone else to think that she's going crazy too...!
"By the way," Nurse Lee suddenly says, "Your family is here."
Yuying freezes at this.
/Great, just when I thought things wouldn't get any worse.../
"Do you want me to send them in?" Nurse Lee asks, appearing oblivious to the way that Yuying had stiffened at the mention of her family. Yuying fidgets with her fingers for a moment as she internally takes in a deep breath. Even though she was uncomfortable at the idea of her family coming in, she didn't want to come off as even weirder to Nurse Lee as she probably already had.
"Sure," Yuying murmurs quietly in response, still fidgeting with her fingers underneath the rough and scratchy hospital blankets. Even though she doesn't know how exactly her family would react and what exactly her family would say to her, she knows that there was one thing for sure...
Yuying doesn't say anything when Nurse Lee walks over to the door and opens it. Three people walk into the hospital room as soon as she does this. Nurse Lee leaves the room to give Yuying and her family some privacy. Yuying has to fight against the urge to call out to her and beg her to stay in the room.
However, she knows that it's too late when Nurse Lee shuts the door behind her, and tension that hadn't been in the room previously was now hung in the air. It was subtle, but it was there.
Yuying doesn't have to look up to know that there were looks of disappointment on their faces.
"Yuying," she hears a low voice sigh. Yuying has heard her name getting uttered in that disappointed tone so many times by now that she thinks that it's a wonder how her father hasn't disowned her or severed ties with her or something by now.
"Please tell us," another equally disappointed voice continues, "How did you manage to fall down a flight of stairs during a research assistantship under a professor?" Mrs. Liu asks as she folds her arm across the chest. She appears to be reprimanding her daughter, who was laying in a hospital bed after just regaining consciousness, rather than showing concern for her.
Yuying rolls her eyes internally. /Of course the first thing that they're asking me is how I'd messed up so bad and gotten into trouble. They aren't even asking me if I'm alright. Then again, it's not like it's a surprise. Classic./
"I..." Yuying mutters, swallowing slightly before she continues, "I was careless." She decides not to say too much since she'd learned from her experience that whatever that she'd said could be twisted and used against her in either the same or a different scenario in the future.
"We didn't even know that you were doing a research assistantship." Mr. Liu retorts, a disapproving tone evident in his voice.
/That's because you never care about what I do...!/
"That's right," Mrs. Liu agrees, "We wouldn't have allowed you to do it if we knew that this was going to happen."
/What right to do you have to decide what I can or can't do...!/
"I really don't know how someone could possibly fall down a flight of stairs during a research assistantship," Mr. Liu continues, "After all, it's just a simple task, really. Do you know how worried your professor was when she contacted us?"
/I wasn't even doing the research assistantship...as ridiculous as this may sound, I was trapped in another universe...!/
"That poor woman," Mrs. Liu mutters, "She probably didn't know that she was going to have to deal with even more trouble than she'd been dealing with before..."
/How could you say that to my face? I'm your daughter, for crying out loud...!/
Even though Yuying was more or less used to disappointing her parents, she couldn't hold back the tears from prickling in her eyes. She kept her head down so that her family couldn't see her face as she continued to fidget with her fingers under the scratchy blanket.
"Mum, Dad, that's enough," the third person in the room finally speaks up. Yuying couldn't help but think about just how similar she sounded to a certain contender back at the Choosing in the ancient Chinese universe as soon as she spoke up.
"Give Yuying a break," Yuqing says as she makes her way over and places her hand on Yuying's shoulder. Yuying flinches slightly, but doesn't try to remove her sister's hand. It's going to make her look even more like the devil to the angel that her sister was.
/It's always Yuqing good, Yuying bad./
"She's trying her best," Yuqing says as she rubs Yuying's shoulders comfortingly. It takes everything in Yuying not to throw up in her mouth. Even though Yuqing may seem like a loving and caring big sister, don't be fooled by her. It's all just an act.
"She obviously isn't," Mrs. Liu huffs, "Otherwise, why would she screw up something as simple as a research assistantship?"
Yuying clenches her fists under the blankets. She'd secretly taken up the research assistantship under Professor Williams not just because she was interested in the research project, but also because she wanted to prove herself to her parents, that she was just as capable as Yuqing was, as much as she didn't want to admit it. Yuying was going to tell them about it only after she'd completed it.
However, everything had completely backfired on Yuying. Instead of thinking that their younger daughter was actually worthy of something for once, Yuying's parents now thought that she was more incompetent than ever.
"Mum," Yuqing says in a slightly warning tone, "That's enough. Let's just take Yuying back and let her rest at home for the next few days or so, alright?"
Yuying widens her eyes at this. She hasn't been home in quite a while now. After all, her shared dorm with Jiawen felt more like home to her than her actual home.
/I'm going home for the next few days...?!/