Became the Terminally Ill Supporting Male Lead's Rabbit Spirit

Chapter 47

The first floor was bustling with noise, while in the hallway of the second floor, He Ermeng and Lu Zhe were facing off against each other.

Upon hearing Lu Zhe's words, jealousy nearly made He Ermeng see red, and his response was even more hurtful, "Keep her company? How can you do that? Surely you know that ALS patients' limbs will atrophy after a year, and it gets so severe that even walking becomes impossible. You'll be bedridden, needing help with basic bodily functions."

He Ermeng's temple throbbed with anger as he questioned Lu Zhe: "Do you intend to stay by Su Ci's side with such a body? What's your purpose? Don't tell me you want her to take care of you when you become useless?"

"As an ALS patient, you know better than me what you'll become. If you truly care for Su Ci, you should stay far away from her and not burden her." He Ermeng glared at Lu Zhe, emphasizing each word: "You know you're going to die, yet you still stay with her. How selfish!"

Lu Zhe lowered his eyelids, his rigid face appearing exceptionally pale under the hallway lights, his thin lips completely bloodless.

His fingertips were numb with cold.

He looked up, his dark eyes meeting He Ermeng's, "I'm prepared to go to hell after death."

He Ermeng's jaw clenched in anger, his temple pulsing, "You're just going to burden Su Ci!"

At that moment, the door opened.

Both Lu Zhe and He Ermeng turned to look. The girl standing in the doorway had an icy expression.

"Cici, Lu Zhe has a terminal illness. Don't stay with him," He Ermeng's tense face softened as he looked intently at Su Ci. "He won't live long and can't spend a lifetime with you."

Su Ci looked at him seriously, "Are you sick in the head?"

"I remember telling you very clearly that I don't like you, and my business is none of your concern."

When Su Ci turned harsh, she was even more cutting than He Ermeng, "I'm the one who doesn't like you. What's the point of causing trouble for Lu Zhe? Venting your frustrations? Do you think this is like elementary school where you can get the toy by bullying others?"

Su Ci's voice was beautiful, but her icy tone was like a knife stabbing into He Ermeng's chest, "Your angry and childish behavior just makes you look stupid in my eyes."

He Ermeng stared at Su Ci in disbelief, his body feeling as if it had been struck hard, nearly losing his balance.

The arrogance in his expression faded, his eyes turning bloodshot as he looked at Su Ci, "Cici, you're taking advantage of my feelings for you to hurt me."

Su Ci shook her head, her eyes turning cold, "You're wrong. I'm not taking advantage of your feelings. It's because I don't like you that I don't care whether I hurt you or not. You insult the person I like, I insult you back. That's fair."

He Ermeng had always been used to getting his way. Coming from a good family, he had been the little tyrant since childhood, getting whatever he wanted, until he met Su Ci and fell hard for her, only to get hurt.

The girl's cold words pierced He Ermeng's chest, making his eyes turn red.

He struggled to breathe, glaring at Su Ci and Lu Zhe, his chest full of resentment.

"My brother is being foolish. I apologize for the trouble he's caused you both."

At this point, Brother He stepped out.

His face still wore its usual refined smile as he walked over and grabbed his brother He Ermeng's hand, "Thank you for the Su family's hospitality today. We have matters to attend to at home, so we won't intrude any longer."

"Let's go." Brother He firmly pulled He Ermeng away, half-dragging and half-pushing him to leave.

The Su family's daughter was in love with the Lu family's recently found son. If the Su and Lu families were to unite, their combined power would be formidable.

After Brother He left with He Ermeng, the hallway returned to silence.

Su Ci went over to hold Lu Zhe's hand. The girl who had just moments ago worn a cold expression and fiercely confronted others instantly transformed back into an adorable sweetheart, "I heard what you and He Ermeng were saying."

Lu Zhe's pale lips twitched, and his numb fingers gradually regained sensation as the girl held them, "Although He Ermeng was targeting me, what he said wasn't wrong."

He raised his cold hand to tuck a few loose strands of hair behind her ear, "Tuantuan, I am indeed selfish."

Su Ci gave him a displeased look, "Nothing He Ermeng said was right, and nothing you're saying now is what I want to hear."

You won't die. You still have a long life ahead.

"Do you know what I want to hear right now?" Su Ci lightly kicked Lu Zhe's foot to express her displeasure, making the silly little rabbit on her ankle bounce and sway, as if it was angry too.

Lu Zhe's dark eyes held indulgence, "What?"

Su Ci's fair fingers intertwined with the young man's cold hand, "Lu Zhe's entire long life belongs to Su Ci."

......

When the banquet ended, Su Ci personally arranged for a driver to send Xie Yumin home.

"Thank you for coming to my birthday banquet tonight. If you need any help in the future, you can come to me," Su Ci said to Xie Yumin in the car.

She had investigated Xie Yumin and discovered she had mild depression, which explained why she had attempted to overdose on sleeping pills after being cyberbullied.

This time, she had intercepted the news about Xie Yumin, preventing the scandal from breaking and successfully averting her suicidal thoughts. However, the person behind the leaked information still needed to be found – after all, if she hadn't intervened, they would have been responsible for taking a life.

"Thank you for inviting me," Xie Yumin couldn't help but marvel at how everyone present tonight was from the upper echelons of society. Without a certain status and position, one couldn't possibly appear at Su Ci's birthday banquet.

She originally had a scheduled appearance tonight, and her manager had berated her for canceling it to attend a friend's birthday party.

But when the car arrived at the Su residence, her manager was shocked to discover she was attending the Su family's banquet. His attitude immediately changed dramatically, and he began looking at her differently, repeatedly instructing her to seize the opportunity and not make any mistakes at the banquet.

Previously, Xie Yumin had only a vague concept of the Su family's influence, but after tonight, she felt she finally had some understanding of their power.

If Su Ci hadn't deemed her worthy, a third-tier actress like her wouldn't have had the chance or qualification to attend such a grand event even after a lifetime of struggle.

Xie Yumin got out of the Su family's arranged car when it reached her company-assigned apartment building.

As she alighted, she ran into Guan Jing who was also returning.

Guan Jing glanced at the departing car, a dark light flashing in her eyes, "Yumin, who just dropped you off? That wasn't a company car, was it? I remember that's a limited edition luxury car. Don't tell me you're..."

Guan Jing was Xie Yumin's college classmate and roommate. Xie Yumin had entered the entertainment industry first, while Guan Jing had become an internet celebrity through live streaming. Later, through Xie Yumin's connections, Guan Jing had also signed with Xie Yumin's company, and the company had arranged for them to live together in the same apartment.

Facing her friend, Xie Yumin dropped her cold exterior facade, her refined features showing a hint of a smile, "Don't get any wrong ideas."

"I haven't said anything yet, how do you know what I'm thinking?" Guan Jing teased, "I wanted to ask if you've found a wealthy boyfriend."

Xie Yumin shook her head, "No, I've told you before, I won't date anyone until I've established my career."

Guan Jing laughed and walked over to link arms with her, "Alright, alright, but I'm still curious about who just dropped you off. Someone who can afford a car like that must be quite wealthy."

She knew that in the world of the wealthy, some limited edition cars could only be purchased if one's assets reached a certain threshold. The car from earlier was supposedly one that money alone couldn't buy.

When did Xie Yumin get to know such wealthy people?

"You've misunderstood," Xie Yumin explained to her friend. "That was the Su family's driver. I attended the Su family daughter's birthday banquet tonight."

Guan Jing's grip on Xie Yumin's arm tightened, her nails almost digging into her flesh as she asked in shock, "The Su family? Which Su family? It couldn't be..."

"Yes, that Su family," Xie Yumin tried to pull her arm free. "Jing, you're hurting me."

Guan Jing quickly released her grip.

Xie Yumin wasn't angry at her friend's reaction. After all, when she first learned that Su Ci was the Su family's daughter, she had been equally shocked.

"Yumin, when did you establish connections with the Su family?"

The Su family - such an elite and prestigious household. How did Xie Yumin manage to connect with them?

Xie Yumin shook her head, "I haven't established any connections with the Su family. The Su family's daughter wanted to be friends with me and invited me to her birthday party." She smiled, and her cold face gained some vivid color. "You know the Su family's daughter too."

Guan Jing looked at her puzzled.

"The new guest from that day's food show recording."

"You mean Qin Shiyan?" Guan Jing had heard that Qin Shiyan was the Su family's adopted daughter. Had Xie Yumin already attached herself to Qin Shiyan during the recording?

"Not her, the other new guest, Su Ci," Xie Yumin told Guan Jing. "Su Ci is the Su family's true daughter."

Guan Jing stood there stunned, looking at Xie Yumin in disbelief. "Su Ci is the Su family's daughter?"

She remembered that day when this new guest arrived, she had instinctively looked at her several times. After all, with such a beautiful face, anyone would see her as a threat, and she didn't like it.

So, apart from the initial greeting, she hadn't had any interaction with her.

Moreover, she had been worried that Su Ci would become famous on the show because of her beautiful face. Unexpectedly, she ended up being criticized by Qin Shiyan's fans and trending on social media. No wonder the trending topic was removed so quickly and all the online criticism of Su Ci was deleted - it turned out Su Ci had such a powerful background.

She recalled that Xie Yumin had chatted with Su Ci for a while that day. Was that how Xie Yumin had connected with Su Ci?

Guan Jing was filled with regret. With the Su family's status, even Qin Shiyan could become popular in the entertainment industry just by being rumored as the Su family's adopted daughter, and no one dared to offend her. If she had connected with the Su family, it would have been like ascending to heaven in one step.

"Yumin, tell me what you saw at the banquet today, who you met, and what Su Ci's personality is like. I really want to know..." Guan Jing pestered Xie Yumin, trying to learn about the Su family.

Before the banquet ended, Lu Chen and Wen Ya had already left with Lu Zhe.

In the car, Lu Chen suddenly said to his son, "I saw you coming down from the second floor earlier."

Lu Zhe, who had been looking out the window, slowly turned his head and met his father's teasing phoenix eyes.

"What's wrong with our son coming down from the second floor?" Wen Ya didn't understand her husband's meaning.

Lu Chen leaned closer to his wife and told her, "Yaya, you don't know, but our son was with the Su family's youngest daughter."

"Dad," Lu Zhe called out helplessly.

"What do you mean by 'was with'?" Wen Ya immediately realized the next second, "Son, are you dating Su Ci?"

She had wondered why the Su family's youngest daughter had invited her son to dance. So they were a couple?

"But that's not right." Wen Ya recalled that at the banquet, her son and Su Ci had only exchanged polite greetings, nothing more. "Why did you and Su Ci seem so formal with each other?"

"Isn't it obvious? He and the Su family's youngest daughter are dating secretly behind our backs," Lu Chen raised his eyebrows with a knowing look. "I won't oppose our son dating, but they're clearly hiding it from Su Shengguo and his wife."

"Son, is that true?" Wen Ya felt she had been too negligent of her son, not even knowing such an important thing as him liking the Su family's daughter.

Lu Zhe's thin lips pressed together, and facing his parents' gazes, he gave a soft affirmative response.

Lu Chen had already known about the two young people being together, so he wasn't very surprised. Knowing his son had gone upstairs to meet Su Ci, he was just teasing them.

But it was different for Wen Ya. Suddenly learning about her son's relationship both surprised and worried her.

"Was I too cold towards Su Ci earlier?" Wen Ya recalled her expressions and actions, feeling regretful that she hadn't been more warm towards Su Ci.

How had she not noticed anything unusual between the two children?

"No, no, Yaya, you're always gentle," Lu Chen shamelessly complimented his wife, completely ignoring their son's presence.

"It's all your fault. You knew early on, why didn't you tell me?" Wen Ya glared at her husband.

Thick-skinned as he was, Lu Chen remained unfazed by the glare. He leaned closer to his wife, "I was afraid you'd get too excited and give it away in front of the Su couple."

"Son, do Su Shengguo and his wife not know about you and Su Ci?" Wen Ya asked her son.

Lu Zhe knew he couldn't hide his relationship with Su Ci from his parents anymore. "Uncle Su and Aunt Su don't know about my relationship with Su Ci, and I don't plan to let them know."

"Why?" Was her son planning to be with Su Ci without any formal recognition?

"I don't have much time left. I don't plan to make my relationship with Su Ci public, and her parents wouldn't approve anyway." Lu Zhe lowered his eyelids, hiding the expression in his eyes.

Wen Ya couldn't bear to hear her son talk like this. Her eyes grew hot and swollen, "Mom will have people do their best to treat you. If you like Su Ci, Mom will support you, but son, please don't talk about not having long to live anymore. It hurts Mom to hear that."

Her son had been smart and well-behaved since childhood, and now he had grown up so quickly. She hadn't even had the chance to properly make it up to him. She prayed to heaven, asking for her son to live a long, healthy life without pain or illness.

Lu Zhe responded with a soft sound of acknowledgment.

Beside them, Lu Chen fell silent, pain flashing through his phoenix eyes.

The Lu family might be powerful, but they were still helpless in the face of life and death.

Summer weather could change in an instant. After the banquet ended, heavy rain began to fall.

The rain in the deep night carried a chill as it fell all around, leaving only the sound of rushing water.

The security guard saw a man get out of a car, stumbling as he stood at the iron gate, and hurried forward to inquire about the situation.

"I want to see Ci Ci, tell her to come out and see me," He Ermeng's handsome face was flushed with alcohol.

"Young Master, let's go back. Miss Su is already asleep. Let's not disturb her rest," the driver said, holding an umbrella, trying to pull He Ermeng away.

"Get lost, I'm going to wait for Ci Ci to come see me," He Ermeng reeked of alcohol as he pushed the driver away.

The security guard finally realized this was the He family's young master. With such heavy rain, if the He family's young master caught a cold, the He family would make trouble, and it would be problematic.

The driver approached the security guard and said, "Our young master has had too much to drink, but he insists on seeing Miss Su. Could you help pass along the message? Otherwise, the young master won't leave until he sees Miss Su."

The rain grew heavier, and the security guard frowned, "I'll have someone pass along the message, but whether the young miss comes out or not is not up to us."

"Of course, thank you for your trouble." The driver's umbrella covered He Ermeng's head, but his clothes were already soaked.

Su Ci was woken up by knocking on her door.

She stood behind the door, eyes half-closed, "What is it?"

The servant was flustered and somewhat cautious as she relayed the message: "Miss, Young Master He is standing in the rain at the main gate, waiting to see you."

"What time is it?" Su Ci's voice was heavy with sleepiness, somewhat soft and lazy.

The servant replied, "Two-thirty in the morning."

Su Ci couldn't help but yawn. She opened her eyes, and her moist, dreamy eyes held a cold light, "It's the middle of the night. He's not sleeping, but I need to sleep. What's wrong with him?"

"The security guard says Young Master He is drunk," the servant quickly added, feeling tense.

"Oh, so he's having a drunken fit." Su Ci was exasperated, "Go tell He Ermeng that I won't go out to see him."

She would have to be crazy to go out in such heavy rain.

"The security guard says that Young Master He won't leave until he sees you, Miss. If he keeps standing in the rain, this..." The servant thought the He family's young master was truly devoted to their young miss, and perhaps the young miss would be moved.

Su Ci frowned, "If he wants to stand in the rain, let him. Life isn't a romantic drama - even if he catches pneumonia or dies from the rain, I still won't like him if I don't like him. If he still won't leave, just call his older brother and have someone take him away forcibly. Don't disturb my sleep."

"Miss..." The servant was somewhat incredulous hearing Su Ci's cold words.

"What are you standing there for? Go!" Su Ci had been sleeping soundly before being suddenly awakened, so her tone wasn't very gentle. "Relay my words directly to He Ermeng, and tell him to stop bothering me."

"Yes, Miss." The servant didn't dare think too much and hurried to deliver the message.

Raindrops as big as beans fell painfully on his body.

The servant held an umbrella and repeated every word Su Ci had said to He Ermeng without missing anything.

"Did Ci Ci really say that?" He Ermeng's face was covered in rain, his bloodshot eyes blurred by the water. "I must be nothing but a joke in her eyes, right?"

The servant didn't dare make a sound.

At that moment, a car stopped in front of the Su family's gate.

Brother He got out of the car with an umbrella. Seeing his brother leaning dejectedly against the gate in the rain, he walked over and said, "Ermeng, let's go home."

He Ermeng looked at his brother with drunken, confused eyes and burst into tears like a wronged child.

He admitted that when he first saw Su Ci, he was indeed attracted by her beauty. But being beautiful was her virtue - who said you couldn't like someone because of their looks?

Gradually, he came to love not just her face, but everything about her.

He even loved it when she fiercely scolded him for being annoying and told him to get lost.

Sitting in the car, He Ermeng's wet clothes clung to his body. Though the temperature was low on this rainy night, he seemed numb to the cold. The usual wildness and arrogance had disappeared from his features, leaving him looking lost and lonely.

His chest felt hollow.

Brother He asked the driver to turn on the heater. Looking at his dispirited brother, he didn't say much.

His brother had gotten too many things easily since childhood. It was time he learned that not everything in life goes the way you want it to.

His little brother needed to grow up.

......

Su Ci didn't know that after He Ermeng left in the rain that night, he developed a high fever and remained sick for over a week. The once arrogant and unruly young man seemed to have become a different person.

But Su Ci couldn't care less about how He Ermeng was doing. Her and Lu Zhe's college entrance exam results had come out.

The moment Su Ci's father learned of his daughter's results, the first person he called was Lu Chen: "The college entrance exam results are all out. My daughter is this year's top scorer."

When it came to bragging about his daughter to Lu Chen, Su Shengguo never needed to beat around the bush.

In the past, when Lu Chen had lost his son, he would be left speechless whenever Su Shengguo bragged about his child, the pain striking right at his heart. But things were different now.

Lu Chen leaned back in his office chair, raising his eyebrows and saying smugly into the phone, "Oh, what a coincidence, my son is also the top scorer."

Times had changed - not only could Su Shengguo brag about his daughter, but he could also brag about his son.

"I'm planning to throw a proper celebration for my son," Lu Chen said self-satisfyingly as he swiveled in his chair. "By the way, which university did your daughter apply to?"

Su Shengguo remembered that according to investigations, Lu Zhe had always been an excellent student. He clicked his tongue - Lu Chen really lucked out with this fox. "What's this? Are you seeking my advice?"

Lu Chen smiled more cunningly than a fox, "Yes, yes, yes. You see, I haven't had much experience being a father for a long time. Now that my son is going to university, I naturally want to choose well for him."

Lu Chen lowered his stance to gather intelligence for his son, "Tell me which university your daughter applied to. Your choice must be excellent, I'd like to use it as a reference."

Completely unaware of Lu Chen's intentions, Su Shengguo was in a good mood and answered his question, "My daughter applied to B University."

"B University is good, close to home, convenient," Lu Chen said, his phoenix eyes filled with cunning mirth.

After hanging up, he immediately called his wife to claim credit, "Ya Ya, I found out Su Ci applied to B University. Let's have our son choose B University too..."

Su Ci had already agreed with Lu Zhe to choose the same university. After seeing her results, she wasn't surprised at all. What did surprise her was receiving successive large transfers from her parents and older brother as rewards.

She realized her family liked to give her money at every opportunity.

Even Little Tiancai and Little Su Ning took out their pocket money and happily stuffed red bills into her hands, praising their sister for doing so well in the exam and giving her rewards.

The two little radish heads were absolutely adorable.

Her brother Su Zhiyuan only had one month left in his life value, and Su Ci could only wait. Meanwhile, it was time for the second recording of the food show.

Everyone in the crew thought that after the last incident where Su Ci was criticized on social media, she wouldn't be in a good mood. However, when the girl appeared at the studio with rosy cheeks and bright eyes, they realized they had overthought it - clearly, Su Ci didn't care about what happened online.

In the guest lounge.

When Guan Jing saw Su Ci come in, she took out a thermos from her bag and walked over to her.

With a caring smile on her delicate face, she said, "Su Ci, the weather has been quite hot lately. I made some snow pear and white fungus sweet soup at home and brought some for you. Would you like some?"

Seeing the eager expression on her face, Su Ci directly refused, "No need, I don't want any."

Guan Jing put down the thermos with a smile and continued asking Su Ci, "During the recording later, can I sit next to you?"

"Why?" Last time, Guan Jing hadn't been this eager to please.

Guan Jing explained, "Sitting next to Nan Yi makes me feel too much pressure."

Su Ci didn't agree, coldly saying, "The guests' seating is arranged by the director."

Guan Jing was rebuffed, and when Xie Yumin came in after finishing her makeup, she whispered to her, "This Su family young lady is so arrogant. I just tried to chat with her and even wanted to share some sweet soup with her, but she completely ignored me."

Although Xie Yumin hadn't interacted much with Su Ci, she felt that while Su Ci had the pride of a young lady from a wealthy family, she wasn't one to put on airs. "Maybe she's just not familiar with you."

Guan Jing bit her lip and didn't say anything more.

Soon after, staff members came to notify that all guests had arrived and recording could begin.

Qin Shiyan had already finished her makeup in another waiting room.

As soon as they walked into the recording room, several guests caught a whiff of the smell and instinctively made gagging motions.

"It smells terrible," Guan Jing covered her nose and couldn't help saying.

Qin Shiyan had just walked in and smelled the air, her brows furrowed as she said with disgust, "What is this smell?" She gagged once, then couldn't help but gag several more times.

Was this meant to suffocate people with the stench?

Xie Yumin, who was walking behind, was better off - she just sniffed her nose, while Nan Yi beside her took a deep breath and said, "I think it smells quite nice." He strode in.

Su Ci, walking last, slightly furrowed her delicate brows. Strangely, she felt this production team had a peculiar sense of humor.

She didn't say anything and walked to her seat.

The guests had no idea that from the moment they stepped into the room, the livestream had begun, and all their reactions were being broadcast.

"Hahaha, did someone fart in the recording studio? The guests are almost fainting from the smell."

"So funny, Qin Shiyan almost threw up from the stench."

"Hugs to my dear Shiyan, why does the recording room smell so bad? Did the director fart?"

"I bet someone was eating durian in there earlier?"

"Am I the only one who noticed that even Su Ci's frown is beautiful? What kind of fairy is she?"

"Get lost, plastic surgery monster. My Shiyan is the real fairy."

"Did the production team prepare something really smelly?"

The netizens were curious, after all, watching the guests nearly faint from the smell was hilarious.

Then, as the camera followed the guests' movements to the long dining table, everyone discovered that the table was already full of food.

The director sat in the main position and smiled as he spoke: "Today we've prepared some special foods for you. People who like them really enjoy eating them, while those who don't will find them very unpalatable."

The director smiled and had the staff remove the covers from the dishes, exposing one dish after another, and the smell grew stronger.

The director introduced: "Today we'll try some special stinky tofu, river snail rice noodles, stinky winter melon, pork intestines, stinky mandarin fish... And of course, the king of fruits, durian."

"Hahaha, I can already see the guests' faces looking like they've given up on life."

"To be honest, although these smell terrible, they taste delicious."

"Shiyan is covering her mouth wanting to throw up, what should we do, I feel so bad for her."

"Can't they not make our Shiyan eat these things? She's a young lady from a good family, she's definitely not used to eating such food."

"The production team is too mean. I can see tears in Shiyan's eyes from the smell. I hate the production team."

"Eat it or not, other guests can eat it, so why is Qin Shiyan too noble to eat? Last time when Su Ci didn't eat rabbit meat, she was attacked by your crazy fans for being pretentious. Don't be such a hypocrite."

"Is the person above a fan of that plastic surgery product Su Ci? You probably don't know Qin Shiyan's background - she was raised in luxury at the Su family since childhood and has never eaten these street foods."

"Exactly, our Yan hasn't tried these before. Everyone knows that people who haven't tried stinky tofu and river snail rice noodles find them smelly and hard to accept. Why compare others to our Yan?"

"Please don't compare Su Ci with our Yan. She even copied the small tear mole under the corner of Yan's eye. It's disgusting."

...

Su Ci had no idea she was being criticized again. She picked up a piece of stinky tofu and examined it - it was black and smelly. She frowned, hesitating before taking a small bite.