Incurable Chapter 1 Part 2

Chapter 1 (2/2)

Lin Wei, who was always well informed, scooped up another spoonful of congee and replied, “The head of the Liu family, one of Xia City’s Four Young Masters, is also named Liu Qianxiu.”

Then she added, “But it’s probably just the same name. The head of the Liu family must be drowning in work. Why would someone like that be in a hospital working as a doctor? How much money can doctors even make?”

“Maybe he doesn’t need money,” Mu Wan said lightly. “Maybe he became a doctor because he wants to heal people and find some kind of spiritual redemption.”

Lin Wei rolled her eyes and gave her a look that said, “Please listen to yourself,” making Mu Wan laugh.

Mu Wan stayed with Lin Wei until the rain stopped, then left the inpatient building with her umbrella in hand. The rain had fallen for two straight days, soaking the whole city through. The moment she stepped outside, the cool wind after the rain brushed past her and carried a hint of chill.

Night had begun to settle in. The buildings across the hospital grounds were all lit up, their lights reflected in the puddles. Mu Wan stepped through them, breaking the reflections with every footfall, until she found her car and got in.

The moment she sat down, her phone chimed with a notification. The screen lit up her face. She unlocked it and saw a transfer notice—payment for the drama she had just finished filming.

Back when she chose to attend film school, one of the biggest reasons was simple: acting paid off quickly. Even if she didn’t fight for roles and only got the sort of small parts that barely had any screen time, it was still enough to support herself.

She had grown up without a father and had lived with her mother in the Mu family home. Later, after her mother passed away, Mu Wan moved out as soon as she graduated from high school. Now she was truly on her own. She had signed with a small agency and played tiny, forgettable roles. But she fed herself, supported herself, and answered to no one.

Honestly, that kind of life wasn’t bad at all.

Not every drama was built around the leads. Supporting roles were the reality for most actors.

She was probably the least ambitious actress in the entertainment industry.

After replying with a thank-you to the company’s finance department, Mu Wan put her phone aside and prepared to start the car. Her foot was on the clutch, but before she could press the ignition button, she heard a dull knock against the window.

Someone was standing outside.

The tinted glass showed only the outline of a tall, lean figure, not his face. Mu Wan paused, then rolled the window down.

The dark window slowly slid open, like a stage curtain lifting.

Outside, the man had already taken off his white coat. Without it, he had lost some of that neat professional air, and yet somehow looked even more ethereal. He was wearing a loose linen shirt, simple and comfortable, but impossibly good on him. On one hand, he held a long, folded black umbrella. His fingers were slim, his knuckles distinct against the handle.

The sky was dim and shadowed, but under that faint darkness, his cool, fair skin seemed almost luminous. Up close, his features were even more refined than they had looked from afar.

Especially his eyes.

Dark, clear, and bottomless, like a still pool of water.

When Mu Wan lowered the window, his expression remained calm. He pointed beneath her car.

“Just a moment. There’s a kitten under your car.”

His voice was low and cool, like spring water.

It was Taoist Liu.

As Liu Qianxiu spoke, he had already moved to the back of the car. Mu Wan rested her wrist on the window frame and glanced toward the rearview mirror.

In the small mirror, she saw him crouch down, one long leg folding smoothly as he lowered himself. In his hand was what looked like a small biscuit or cat treat. Under the dim wash of evening, the line of his profile looked soft and clear all at once, like a watercolor painting waiting for its final touch.

Looking toward the space beneath the rear wheel, Liu Qianxiu called gently, “Come here.”

A moment later, a cat emerged from under the car.

Mu Wan’s gaze shifted.

It was a calico cat, round-bellied and a little plump, its fur dulled with grime. The moment it came out, it tilted its head up and let out a soft, sweet meow at Liu Qianxiu, as if it already knew him.

As soon as it came close enough, Liu Qianxiu bent down and lifted it into his arms without hesitation.

The ground was covered in puddles, and the cat’s paws were muddy. As soon as it settled against Liu Qianxiu, it left little plum-blossom-shaped paw prints on his linen shirt. He didn’t seem to mind at all.

Lin Wei had said he barely interacted with people, but he was unexpectedly gentle with a cat.

As Mu Wan watched him standing there with the calico in his arms, tall and still beneath the dim after-rain sky, he looked unreal somehow—like someone half-hidden in mist, too clean and distant to belong entirely to the ordinary world.

For one brief moment, she really did think he looked a little like an immortal.

“Is it your cat?” Mu Wan asked, propping both elbows on the window frame as she looked up at him and the cat.

Liu Qianxiu turned around. The calico in his arms looked over, too.

Inside the car, the woman was bright and vivid, smiling at him with curved eyes and a warmth that made her seem almost glowing.

“No,” he said. “It’s a stray.”

“It seems close to you.”

Mu Wan glanced at the cat. Its pupils had widened into dark, round circles.

“I feed it sometimes,” Liu Qianxiu replied.

Their conversation was simple.

She asked one question; he answered one.

Never more than that.

He really was exactly the kind of man people described as distant and unruffled.

“You like cats?” Mu Wan asked with a small smile.

“Mm.”

Again, just one short answer.

After hearing it, Mu Wan gave a tiny shrug, and her pretty face crinkled into a playful smile.

“Meow~”

It was a soft little sound, neither too loud nor too quiet. The sweetness in her voice mixed with her smile, light and soft and unexpectedly charming.

The calico twitched its ears, distracted by her imitation, and looked over at her.

Behind the cat, Liu Qianxiu lifted his gaze as well.

His eyes rested on her quietly, still as ever, vast and unreadable.

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