Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

As the days passed, Ling Yu's life was filled with lab work, data, and drawings. Occasionally, he would catch a few words about Liu Rusi from some ordinary sharing or extremely brief chats among classmates:

"Liu Rusi? She's in her third year of college now, and I think she got a scholarship from the department..."

"Last time I saw her in the cafeteria, she seemed... a little fatter. But she looked okay."

"That ice goddess in medical school? She's still working part-time in a restaurant. She's really working hard."

The information is extremely fragmented, without any details or emotional color, just like the shortest message in a news report.

The only signal they convey is: Liu Rusi is still there, she is still in medical school, she is still working hard, and she seems to be... moving step by step towards the goal she declared.

There were no dramatic ups and downs, no heart-wrenching surprises, only a clumsy yet resilient "steady improvement" that was maintained after a huge trauma.

Ling Yu listened to the news without a turbulent wave of emotion, only a sense of calm, a sense of relief that was hard to describe. He no longer bothered to inquire, no longer tried to piece together the picture of her life. He knew she was alive and working hard, and that was enough.

The only thing that hasn't changed is the daily love letter.

They no longer carry any "strategic" intentions, nor do they expect a response.

They became a pure, silent habit, a corner reserved for herself, away from the hustle and bustle of the world, where she could quietly express her inner thoughts. In the early morning or late at night under the desk lamp, Ling Yu would spread out the letter paper.

The scratching sound of the pen on paper became a ritual for him to organize his thoughts. He would write about a sudden rain outside the window, a good book he came across by chance...he would write about all the ordinary and trivial daily things, but he would never write directly about "you".

Love letters come day after day, as regular as the tides.

They are like a message in a bottle thrown into the deep sea, and Ling Yu does not expect an echo.

But every line, every punctuation mark, is saturated with the emotions that settled after witnessing everything that night at the police station, silently fulfilling the promise that was quietly made in the night...

I won’t bother her anymore and I hope that all her wishes come true.

afternoon.

The sunlight filtered through the car window, casting mottled shadows on the back of Ling Yu's hand as he gripped the steering wheel.

He was driving to school, thinking about the day's plans. He would drop off today's love letter in the mailroom downstairs from her dorm... and then go to the lab to process some data for the project...

Soothing light music was playing on the radio, and everything seemed peaceful and orderly.

Until the huge dump truck came into view.

It was like an out-of-control steel monster, roaring and covered in dust, driving recklessly on the main roads in the main urban area.

Ling Yu's brows knitted together instantly—at this time of year, heavy vehicles like these were strictly restricted in North City! An inexplicable sense of unease rose...

But he didn't think much about it, he just called the traffic police department and calmly reported the situation:

"On XX road section, license plate number XXXXX, a heavy earth-moving truck is illegally driving in a restricted area and exceeding the speed limit, posing a serious threat to public safety. Please address this immediately."

After hanging up the phone, Ling Yu's eyes subconsciously followed the huge car.

An even more sudden uneasiness and rare irritability took over my heart without any warning.

The direction of the car... was actually heading towards the medical school campus?

Moreover, its speed showed no sign of slowing down. Instead, it rushed straight towards the branch road at the school gate with a nearly brutal and overwhelming attitude, where there was relatively dense flow of people!

Ling Yu's heart skipped a beat.

He stepped on the accelerator almost instinctively, and the black car roared, trying to catch up to see what was going on.

A cold sense of foreboding came over him.

The next moment, his blood seemed to solidify instantly!

Just beside the road not far from the school gate, the figure that had long been imprinted in my heart appeared...

Liu Rusi.

She had just come out of school, holding her phone, looking down at the screen. The sunlight shone on her, outlining her curves full of vitality...

Ling Yu had never seen such clear and pure joy on her face!

The radiance that came from her heart, almost overflowing, completely dispelled the usual indifference in her eyes! Her whole person became lively, the corners of her mouth raised, and her face was full of bright smiles! Like a believer who finally saw the light given by God!

What was she reading? What news could have made her so happy? A scholarship? A breakthrough in her research? Or…

But Ling Yu had no time to think about it, the huge fear fell like a meteorite of doomsday!

Because the out-of-control dump truck showed no signs of turning or slowing down! The huge shadow, like the scythe of the god of death, was moving straight towards them with a thunderous force.

Precisely towards the roadside...

The figure who was still immersed in great joy, crushed past!

"Do not--!!!"

Ling Yu's roar was blocked by the car window, sounding weak and desperate...

The accelerator was stepped on to the bottom, and the engine roared loudly!

He tried to rush forward, trying to use the black car's hardness that was far beyond its surface to protect her from the disaster!

嗏

Just a dozen meters away...

Just a few seconds...

Everything happens in the blink of an eye!

The huge crashing sound was so dull that it was soul-shattering!

He watched helplessly—

Liu Rusi's slender figure disappeared under the wheels of the earth-moving truck!

The dump truck didn't even stop, but just sped away in a crooked manner.

The world lost its sound and color before Ling Yu's eyes.

He didn't know how he parked the car next to Liu Rusi, nor did he know how he got out.

Kneeling beside the pool of blood, he looked at her mangled body, at her dust-stained face, her eyes still open with a glimmer of joy...

He reached out and touched her for the first time...

The screech of the ambulance cut through the sky...

hospital.

Rescue the outdoor corridor.

Time has lost its meaning.

Ling Yu was like a sculpture, leaning against the cold wall, his eyes bloodshot, staring at the closed door.

His clothes were stained with dark red blood and dirt, and he looked in a terrible state, but he was completely unaware of it.

Professor Qin and other project members who rushed over after hearing the news surrounded him, their faces filled with shock, grief and worry.

The door opened. The surgeon came out and took off his mask. His face was filled with heaviness and fatigue that could not be concealed. He glanced at Ling Yu helplessly, his voice dry:

"Mr. Ling...we tried our best. But...she's already brain dead. The impact was so severe that her vital signs are completely maintained by machines."

The three words "brain death" hit Ling Yu's heart like a heavy hammer.

But he suddenly stood up straight, his eyes flashing with madness, and he grabbed the doctor's arm with such force that it hurt him:

"What brain death? That's a hoax! As long as... as long as her body is still there, there's still a chance! There's a chance she'll wake up!" His voice was hoarse and paranoid. "Our project! Our 'Brain-Computer Interface - Mechanical Warrior'! We can..."

"Ling Yu!" Professor Qin interrupted him sharply, his voice filled with pain. "Calm down! Look at the report! Her body... from the waist down, she's suffered devastating amputation injuries! Her internal organs... her organs..."

A young researcher nearby added with a sorrowful voice, "Brother Ling...that case of a high-level paraplegic abroad who survived with a mechanical device...his liver and lungs were intact! Student Liu...she only has...the part above her chest cavity left, her heart and brain are relatively intact...the rest..."

"Then keep the part above the heart!" Ling Yu practically shouted, grasping at the last straw. "Lung function can be replaced with an artificial lung! Liver and kidney function can be maintained with dialysis! Isn't the core of our project research brain-computer interface and neural control? Isn't that the ultimate solution for this situation?! We can build a new torso for her! We can..."

"Wake up!" another senior researcher advised with red eyes, "Our experiments are still in the animal model stage! We haven't even received ethical approval for human trials! Not to mention... not to mention the need to adapt such... such an extreme 'carrier'! This is simply..."

"Even if there were donated bodies... or volunteers willing..." someone murmured, but was immediately silenced by Professor Qin's stern gaze. This very idea was extremely dangerous and inhumane.

The crazy fire in Ling Yu's eyes did not go out, but burned even more vigorously: "We need the family's consent! Yes! We need the family's consent!" He seemed to have found the only way out. He hurriedly took out his mobile phone and quickly found the contact information of Liu Rusi's parents.

He first called Liu Rusi's mother.

The call was connected, and similar noise and faint instrument sounds were intertwined with the sound from this end of the phone.

Ling Yu spoke incoherently and at the fastest speed possible to explain the situation - brain death, severe body damage, and his crazy plan - to preserve the heart and the upper torso, and connect it to mechanical life support and a future brain-computer interface system.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, with only suppressed, intermittent sobs.

Then, the woman, exhausted to the extreme, as if her soul had been drained out, seemed unable to digest so much information... She only caught the words she had longed for. The female voice spoke with an almost numb confusion, and the first sentence she asked was:

"The heart above is intact... It's... her heart... Can it be... transplanted? My daughter... has been waiting for a matching heart... for a long time..."

Ling Yu held the phone in his hand, his knuckles turned white, and a cold chill instantly froze all his madness.

As if a poisonous snake had wrapped around his throat, he couldn't say anything and hung up the phone.

A black tide of despair overwhelmed him.

The assistant next to him looked at Ling Yu's pale face and shaky body, and couldn't bear it. He took the phone, took a deep breath, and dialed Liu Rusi's father.

When the call was connected, the sound was deafening music and a drunken, impatient man's question: "Who is it?!"

The assistant suppressed his discomfort and tried to recount as clearly and concisely as possible the facts that Liu Rusi had been in a car accident, was brain dead, and had serious physical damage.

The noisy background noise on the other end of the phone seemed to fade a little. A long silence followed, with only the sound of heavy breathing.

Just when the assistant thought the other party would say something even more unbearable like his mother—

Father Liu's voice suddenly changed! It was filled with even more hysterical rage, mixed with a mixture of incredible shock, immense bewilderment, and a roar... as if he had been instantly crushed by something, on the verge of collapse:

"She's dead?! How is that possible... Didn't she... Didn't she tell me to wait and see?! Wait to see her success! Wait to see how despicable I am?! I... I'm still waiting for her! How could she..."

His voice suddenly rose, filled with a heart-wrenching rage and despair of being toyed with by fate: "She's a liar! She fooled me so much! I waited for nothing!"

After the roar, there was a longer, dead silence.

There was only suppressed, trapped breathing on the other end of the line. Then, in a voice filled with endless fatigue, the violent, selfish man responded to the question:

"...Let her...go."

"Just let her go..."

The call was hung up.

The busy tone of "beep...beep...beep..." sounded particularly harsh in the silent corridor.

Ling Yu leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the cold ground. The assistant's movement to hand back the phone froze in mid-air.

Professor Qin and the others looked at him in silence.

All the madness, all the paranoia, all the unrealistic fantasies completely collapsed and annihilated in Father Liu's last words, "Let her go," which were utterly exhausted.

Liu Rusi, the girl who climbed out of hell with hatred and obsession, the avenger who vowed to make her parents who abandoned her wait and see her climb to the top, ultimately... failed to wait for that day.

The bright future that she was almost about to reach was crushed into dust forever by a dump truck.

And Ling Yu, the bystander who just wanted her to "live well", ultimately couldn't even keep her cold, broken body.

Ling Yu took it upon herself to organize the funeral, which was held in a quiet cemetery near the university.

Liu Rusi's parents were not notified. There was only a silent permission from Liu's father, and a burial fee transferred through the school. Ling Yu asked the school to return the money intact.

She didn't need their money, much less their belated, useless, disgusting confessions.

There were a lot of people at the funeral.

Teachers and students from the medical school, Professor Qin brought all the project team members, the restaurant owner and colleagues, and many students who had never met her but had only heard of the deeds of this "Iceberg Goddess".

The black tombstone is filled with white chrysanthemums, like a sad snowfield.

People sobbed softly, speaking of her excellence, her tenacity, her efforts, her misfortunes... and the icy yet brilliant light that had emanated from her short life.

Ling Yu was wearing a pure black suit and standing a little further away from the crowd, like a silent ghost.

He looked at the flowers and listened to the eulogies without any expression on his face. He personally selected the tombstone, which had only the simplest name and date of birth and death.