The doors of the Operating Room swung open, and the lead surgeon, still wearing his mask, was the first to step out, a trace of exhaustion on his face.
Su Jin immediately rushed to the doctor’s side, her movements so quick that she seemed to stir up a gust of wind.
She opened her mouth, wanting to ask something, but the words caught in her throat. All she could do was silently gaze at the doctor with bloodshot eyes.
Song Li quickly stepped forward, already understanding what she wanted to ask.
“Doctor, how is the situation?”
The doctor removed his mask, revealing the face of a middle-aged man. He looked at the disheveled yet undeniably noble girl before him, let out a long breath, and spoke:
“The surgery was very successful. The patient lost a lot of blood, and that cut injured the muscles and soft tissues of the back. But fortunately, it didn’t harm any vital organs or the spine.”
Hearing the words “the surgery was very successful,” all the tension in Su Jin’s body melted away, replaced by a wave of weakness as if all her strength had been drained.
She resembled a marionette whose strings had suddenly been cut—those tightly strung lines snapping in an instant. She nearly collapsed to the ground.
But Su Jin managed to steady herself with sheer willpower.
Song Li reacted quickly, reaching out to support her.
The doctor continued, “At present, his vital signs have stabilized. He’s out of immediate danger.”
Su Jin finally found her voice, “Then when… will he wake up?”
“The anesthesia hasn’t fully worn off, and the blood loss has left him weak, so the patient is still in a coma for now,” the doctor explained.
“The time it takes to wake up varies by person—it could be a few hours, or it might not be until tomorrow. You need to be mentally prepared. What he needs now is rest and recovery.”
“Okay… okay… thank you, doctor, thank you for your hard work.” Su Jin nodded repeatedly.
At this moment, she had none of her usual aloofness. She looked more like an ordinary girl, relieved that someone dear to her had survived a disaster.
“This is what we should do,” the doctor nodded.
“The patient will soon be transferred to the Intensive Care Unit for 24-hour observation. If his condition remains stable, he can be moved to a regular ward tomorrow. During this time, absolute rest is required to prevent infection or tearing of the wound.”
Just then, a nurse pushed a mobile bed out from the Operating Room.
Lin Luan lay prone on the bed, eyes tightly shut, but his breathing was gradually evening out.
Su Jin instinctively wanted to follow.
“Miss,” Song Li whispered at her side, “the doctor said he needs to be taken to the Intensive Care Unit first. We can’t go in right now.”
Su Jin halted, watching as the bed was pushed away and disappeared around the corner of the corridor.
“He’s safe now…” she murmured to herself, as if confirming a precious fact.
“Yes, Mr. Lin is truly blessed,” Song Li replied, noticing that Su Jin’s body was nearing its limit.
“Miss, you’ve been exhausted for a long time. Why don’t I take you back to change and rest for a bit? I’ll arrange for the most professional caregivers to watch over Mr. Lin around the clock, and if anything happens, you’ll be notified immediately.”
But Su Jin shook her head, still gazing in the direction Lin Luan had vanished.
“No,” she had already regained her usual ice-cold composure. “I’ll wait outside the Intensive Care Unit.”
“Doo doo doo, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later…”
Shen Yu stared at the [Lin Luan] displayed on her phone screen, her brow furrowed as she hung up.
Completely out of contact.
She glanced at the clock on the wall—it was seven-thirty in the morning.
Lin Wan had already shouldered her backpack and left for school, looking back at every step.
The little girl had only been persuaded to go after Shen Yu repeatedly promised, “Your sister will go look for your brother today, and the moment there’s any news, you’ll be the first to know.”
Since she’d made that promise, she had to keep it. Shen Yu had considered calling the police, but it seemed too rash to report someone missing without knowing the situation.
At the very least, she needed to know where Lin Luan was—what if he was just drunk and caused an unnecessary fuss?
But as for searching… where was she supposed to start?
Shen Yu had no clue at all.
Still, the first thing to do was to request a day off.
She picked up her phone and dialed Store Manager Zhao’s number at the convenience store.
“Hello? Manager Zhao, this is Shen Yu… Yes, I’m very sorry. Something urgent has come up at home, and I need to take a day off… Okay, thank you, manager.”
After hanging up, Shen Yu took a deep breath. The store manager was a strict middle-aged man, and it had taken a lot of effort for Shen Yu to secure today off—of course, at the cost of a pay deduction.
Shen Yu sat down at the desk in her bedroom and took out some paper and a pen.
Whenever she needed to think deeply, she would always use pen and paper. Maybe it was a habit from high school—she just found that writing things down was much more helpful than using her phone.
She carefully recalled everything she knew about Lin Luan’s new job, but couldn’t remember anything concrete.
All she knew was that he said he was doing sales? As for the people he was now interacting with, she didn’t know them either. To Shen Yu, everything about Lin Luan was almost a complete blank.
She forced herself to calm down and tried her best to recall any possible clues.
Suddenly, she remembered the maid outfit Lin Luan had left at her place. That was probably the only clue she had.
Things had been chaotic at the time, and she’d only had the chance to be surprised by it. Other than occasionally taking it out to use, she had never looked at it carefully.
She walked into her bedroom and pulled out the neatly folded outfit from the back of her closet.
Shen Yu spread the outfit flat on her bed, her fingers brushing over the smooth black skirt and the finely crafted white lace apron.
Her face flushed a little, but it didn’t affect her thinking or judgment.
Soon, her gaze fixed on a hand-embroidered lettered logo on the inside of the apron.
[Piton] (This is the previously mentioned Kiton. Due to the real existence of that brand, it was changed here for propriety.)
This brand is a niche Italian luxury label, where even an ordinary shirt is priced high enough to make one gasp. Does it… sell maid outfits? Isn’t it supposed to specialize in men’s clothing?
Shen Yu looked the maid outfit up and down.
Such an expensive, unusually styled—one might even say risqué—maid outfit could not possibly have been purchased by Lin Luan himself.
He’d been so frugal about delivery fees before—how could he spend a fortune on something like this for a minor hobby?
Besides, Piton would never sell risqué products. This was clearly custom-made, and for a very valued client at that.
So the origin of this outfit was highly suspicious.
Was it a gift from someone else? Or… was it part of his job?
Shen Yu frowned slightly.
A “sales” job that required such an expensive and special uniform?
That was definitely not an ordinary job.
Lin Luan, what exactly are you hiding from me? What is this so-called new job of yours?
Shen Yu regretted not examining the outfit more closely the first time she saw Lin Luan in it. She had let herself get swept up in the moment and missed any clues!
She picked up her phone and took several clear photos of the outfit’s tag and the brand logo.
Then, she opened her browser and typed the brand’s name into the search bar, hoping to find its specialty store in Chang City or see if they offered maid or other risqué outfits for sale to confirm her suspicions.
Sure enough, there were no maid outfits for sale. This outfit could only have been custom-made.
To get a brand like this to custom-make such a garment, the person must have significant wealth and influence in society. That narrowed down the search considerably.
If she could find this person, perhaps she could learn Lin Luan’s whereabouts.
But for someone so wealthy to have such a private custom order, there was no way an ordinary girl like her could discover who it was.
Unless she was the daughter of the Italian company’s CEO.