Peach-Orange! – Chapter 123 – Death Knocks at the Door

After punching herself, Su Tao wiped the blood from her nose and calmed down slightly.

She forced herself not to look at Chi Xiaocheng for now, afraid that losing control of her emotions would make her collapse again.

First, she called Dongfang Yang. Then, Su Tao phoned Si Chen. Finally, she didn’t forget, the emergency number 120.

The responses from the three were different.

When Dongfang Yang heard that Chi Xiaocheng was in critical condition, he took a sharp breath and only said two words: “Wait for me.”

Si Chen seemed prepared. After a quiet “Mm,” he immediately said he would send medical personnel over.

Finally, 120 responded swiftly. A chief physician arrived quickly, urgently inquiring about Chi Xiaocheng’s condition. After confirming the situation, he promptly instructed Su Tao on how to stop the bleeding and listed many precautions.

He also continuously reassured Su Tao.

Only after using the first-aid kit to perform basic first-aid on Chi Xiaocheng did Su Tao collapse weakly in front of the bathtub.

Seeing Chi Xiaocheng submerged in icy water, she didn’t even dare to move her body, terrified of causing any accidents.

One of her hands remained in the water, feeling the bone-chilling cold, as if this could provide Chi Xiaocheng with even a sliver of warmth.

Endless guilt, regret, and pain surged in her heart.

Her eyes were red, and her tears seemed about to run dry.

Su Tao had so much she wanted to say to Chi Xiaocheng, but her throat was choked, and nothing came out.

The girl in the bathtub could no longer hear her words.

The only thing Su Tao could take solace in was that Chi Xiaocheng was still alive.

She hadn’t truly left her.

Almost every minute, Su Tao would place her hand near Chi Xiaocheng’s nose, checking if that faint breath was still there.

Time felt agonizingly slow.

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“Hey, Xiaocheng… your love terrifies me.”

Her docility over the past half-month had actually been a deeper form of affection—a rebound after the yandere’s silence. The obedience she’d never shown before was like a powder keg.

What ignited it wasn’t Ye Liang, nor was it some outsider who loved her.

It was Su Tao herself!

“Xiaocheng, wake up, okay? I… I won’t say things like that again. Even if you say you want us to be lovers, I won’t reject you like that anymore. I’ll listen to you. You have to hold on, okay? You have to wake up.”

What news about family? What longing for a father’s love?

Now, her real family was slipping away from her, bit by bit.

Su Tao checked the time on her phone again.

Ten minutes had passed. The sound of an ambulance gradually became audible from the street.

Finally… help was almost here.

Su Tao’s pale face broke into a relieved smile. “Xiaocheng, just wait a little longer. Everything will be fine. The ambulance is here. The doctors are coming. Don’t worry. I’ll stay with you the whole time.

“You said it last time at the hospital, right? That you wanted to wake up and see me?

“You love me that much, don’t you? This time, when you wake up, you’ll see me too. You’ll hear me say ‘I love you.’ So for that, for us to be lovers, you have to hold on, okay?

Even if… even if being lovers was just her one-sided delusion, even if it was her twisted, pathological love… Su Tao no longer dared to reject her.

Pretending to love her was fine.

Pretending to be her lover to comfort her didn’t matter.

Even if they had to get married in the future, as long as she could stop being so extreme, as long as she wasn’t a yandere anymore,

Su Tao could pretend for a lifetime.

If she just stayed by her side like this, caring for her in every way, wouldn’t she stay obedient? Wouldn’t she stop being a yandere?

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Right. If she was afraid of this suffocating, pathological love, then she just had to accept the normal version of her.

And even if she had to stay bound to her forever, that was fine. The only thing that mattered was that she was safe.

So, please… hold on, okay?

Amid the despair, there was still that faint glimmer of light.

The ambulance’s siren grew louder, as if it had stopped outside the residential complex.

Su Tao relaxed slightly and placed her hand near Chi Xiaocheng’s nose again.

1 second….

2 seconds….

5 seconds….

Su Tao’s pupils contracted. Her fingertips trembled uncontrollably.

“Hey… this can’t be real, right?”

Her voice shook just as violently, gradually filling with terror and despair.

She kept waiting.

10 seconds passed. She still couldn’t feel that faint breath from before.

Su Tao’s shoulders trembled slightly as she slumped onto the floor, sitting in the pool of crimson water.

Looking up at the flickering light, she let out a laugh. “Heh… hahaha… HAHAHA—!

“…What the hell are you trying to do?!

“The doctors… the doctors are almost here!”

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Su Tao’s fist slammed heavily onto the floor. Between sobbing and laughing, her voice was on the verge of shattering. “Why… why take her away… at the very last moment…?”

First, it gave her hope. Then, it plunged her into despair.

No, maybe there was never any hope to begin with.

From the moment she stepped inside, all she’d felt was despair.

Her cries gradually quieted.

The constant emotional whiplash and the endless regret and guilt in her heart had drained even her strength to weep.

She collapsed fully onto the floor, her cheek stained red from the water. Drops fell, whether tears or bloody tears, she didn’t know.

“Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~”

As if playing a cruel joke, the doorbell rang.

But… did it even matter anymore?

Su Tao stood up lifelessly. Drenched red from the overflowing bathtub, she trudged forward, step by heavy step.

The doorbell sounded like Death knocking.

Screaming at her to hurry up and open the door.

Her beloved Xiaocheng had already been driven to despair by her rejection and betrayal.

And Death had come to take this poor little thing away.

Su Tao reached the entrance and opened the door with difficulty.

The light from outside stung her eyes.

Even though Si Chen had been prepared, Dongfang Yang was the fastest to arrive.

Behind him were doctors and nurses, carrying equipment, clearly ready for the worst-case scenario of on-site emergency treatment.

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Ah… it wasn’t Death who came.

It was angels in white.

How ironic, wasn’t it?

Su Tao moved aside and pointed weakly toward a corner. “In the bathroom.”

Seeing Su Tao’s hollow eyes and soulless expression, Dongfang Yang’s breath hitched.

Suppressing his dread, he asked, “How is Chi Xiaocheng?”

Su Tao grabbed Dongfang Yang’s sleeve, leaving a darker red handprint on his crimson coat.

Her voice trembled with despair. “Dongfang Yang… Xiaocheng, she… she’s stopped breathing.”

Dongfang Yang fell silent as the medical staff rushed into the bathroom.

As a last struggle, he asked quietly, “Are you sure?”

But judging by Su Tao’s expression, she must have checked already.

Out of consideration for the girl’s shattered emotions, Dongfang Yang still comforted her. “The doctors haven’t said anything yet. There’s still hope. Rest for a bit. Chi Xiaocheng wouldn’t want you to give up on her.”

Without another word, he pulled Su Tao to the couch.

On the messy table, the fruit knife’s sheath beside a blank sheet of paper stood out starkly.

But what was even more jarring was the pristine sheet itself.

Dongfang Yang flipped it over.

Two elegantly written characters stared back at him.

—Suicide Note.