Unerasable Bloodstains

Gu Ming declined the middle-aged female driver's kind offer to take her directly to the hospital. After getting out of the taxi near the school, she headed straight to a small pharmacy.

Inside the pharmacy, she quickly selected disinfected cotton swabs, alcohol, hemostatic agents, and other necessities. Gu Ming used a tissue to lightly cover her wound and hurried back to the school dormitory.

Today was the weekend. The dormitory, which was already sparsely populated, felt even quieter than usual. This actually worked to Gu Ming's advantage, as her current state was not suitable for appearing in crowded places. The administrator downstairs only glanced up briefly, seeing that the visitor was a female, and then lowered her head to continue focusing on her newspaper.

As Gu Ming walked by, she casually glanced at the news and happened to see that the luxurious wedding of the Du and Qiao families took up most of the page. She couldn't help but quicken her pace and headed upstairs.

This dormitory was newly built and funded by the Cultural Heritage Institute where Gu Ming studied. Compared to other dormitories, it was just as good, but due to the low number of students, it wasn't fully occupied.

However, it was rumored that the school would be expanding admissions this year, and by then, the dorms would definitely be full. After all, in our country, there's nothing lacking except for people.

Reaching door 313, Gu Ming took out her key, preparing to unlock the door. However, before she could insert the key into the lock, the door opened from the inside.

"Gu Ming, you're finally back!" Bai Fangfang exclaimed joyfully, quickly pulling Gu Ming into the dormitory and slamming the door shut with a bang.

"Ah! Take it easy," Gu Ming groaned softly as Bai Fangfang accidentally grabbed her injured wrist.

This dormitory was a quad room, but due to the low occupancy, only Gu Ming and Bai Fangfang lived there. There were unfinished instant noodles on the table, indicating that Bai Fangfang had been home all day again.

"You're injured!" Bai Fangfang immediately noticed Gu Ming's hand. She first let out a startled cry, then angrily exclaimed, "Wasn't that bastard Du Hao the one who did this? That guy who abandoned me—how dare he hurt you? If I had known, I would have gone with you and beaten him to a pulp!"

Seeing Bai Fangfang becoming increasingly agitated, fearing that she might actually do something, Gu Ming quickly tried to calm her down. "It wasn't Du Hao. I accidentally cut myself on the glass. He's a grown man—no matter how terrible he is, he couldn't possibly beat me up in public."

"That's not something you should say lightly. There are too many scumbags these days; you have to be careful. I always thought Du Hao and his rogue friends were different, but he actually tricked you into going out of town and then married Qiao Qingya. I hit my head so hard thinking, 'How could I be so stupid? The wedding invitations have been in my family for a long time, and I didn't notice them. Otherwise, how could you have been deceived?' It's all my fault, it's all my fault!"

"Enough, it's not your fault. You've never been very attentive to these things, so it's understandable that you didn't know," Gu Ming forced herself to stay upbeat.

The words she spoke to Du Hao in the restaurant were graceful enough, and she walked away with a certain ease, continuously telling herself that Du Hao wasn't worth getting angry over. However, once she returned to the dormitory and saw Bai Fangfang defending her, the pain she had kept hidden began to well up again.

How could she not feel anything when the man she was about to marry ended up marrying someone else? In the end, those beautiful words were just self-consolation.

Seeing Gu Ming's gloomy expression, Bai Fangfang couldn't help but feel annoyed. Gu Ming was heartbroken, and not only did she fail to comfort her properly, but she was also getting worked up on the side!

Realizing this, the originally agitated Bai Fangfang finally calmed down. She grabbed the small bag containing medicine from Gu Ming's hand and quickly poured a basin of clean water, carefully cleaning Gu Ming's wound and applying the medicine.

The cut from the shattered glass wasn't deep and had stopped bleeding by now, but there were still noticeable bloodstains on her wrist because she hadn't noticed it at first.

Watching Bai Fangfang meticulously tend to her wound, Gu Ming felt a surge of warmth in her heart. Without a man, at least she still had a true friend who cared about her.

She didn't blame Bai Fangfang for what happened with Du Hao. Bai Fangfang's family was also in business, though not even close to the Du family's status. They only managed to get wedding invitations to the Du family's wedding because her family put in the effort. Bai Fangfang had never been interested in such things, always dismissing them, and she wasn't showy at school. Given her ordinary family background, it was understandable that she hadn't noticed Du Hao's situation either.

Because of this, Du Hao never knew that Bai Fangfang, her good friend and close confidante, had any connection with the Du family's business. Otherwise, she might still not have known the truth until she saw the news reports about the wedding.

"Gu Ming, what happened to your jade bracelet? It looks like the blood seeped inside," Bai Fangfang noticed that the inside of Gu Ming's jade bracelet was stained with blood after properly treating her wound.

She initially thought it was just because they hadn't cleaned it properly earlier. However, after wiping it several times, she realized that the red mark wouldn't come off—it was as if the blood had seeped into the jade bracelet itself.

"How is this possible?" Gu Ming found it very strange. The jade bracelet was a gift from her grandfather, intended as a wedding present. It was certainly not something cheap, and it shouldn't behave like this.

She stubbornly wiped it back and forth with a cloth several times, only to confirm that the bloodstains were indeed unerasable. It was utterly baffling. Fortunately, the bloodstains were on the inside of the bracelet, so from the outside, nothing was visible. Otherwise, Gu Ming might have burst into tears.

"Forget it. If it can't be erased, then let it be. Maybe the marks will disappear by tomorrow," Gu Ming, feeling rather down, threw the cloth aside.

Seeing Gu Ming like this, Bai Fangfang didn't know what to say to comfort her. She could only try her best to divert Gu Ming's attention. "Gu Ming, you haven't submitted your thesis yet. Professor Zhang has already reminded you several times. I'm afraid if you don't submit it soon, you might fail his class."

"Damn it, I forgot about it!" Gu Ming quickly stood up from her chair and hastily pulled out a half-written thesis from the bookshelf.

Because of Du Hao's proposal, she had been so excited that she forgot about everything else, immersing herself in the happiness Du Hao had given her, neglecting her studies. Not only the thesis for Professor Zhang, but she also remembered that several other professors had assignments she hadn't completed. It was just bad luck on top of bad luck.

"Don't panic. I've found a lot of资料 for you. You should be able to finish it today if you push yourself a bit," Bai Fangfang said, pointing to her computer while holding Gu Ming, who was on the verge of a meltdown.

"Fangfang, you're really my thoughtful little cotton jacket!" Gu Ming exclaimed happily, looking at Bai Fangfang's computer and praising her as a true friend.

Seeing that Gu Ming's mood had improved significantly, Bai Fangfang breathed a sigh of relief. After thinking for a moment, she tentatively asked, "Gu Ming, next Wednesday our major is going on a training trip for a few days. Do you want to come along?"

"Your major's training trip? What am I going to do there?" Gu Ming looked puzzled at Bai Fangfang.

Although Gu Ming and Bai Fangfang were from the same institute and lived in the same dormitory, they were in different majors. Gu Ming was a student majoring in Gemology, focusing on historical bronzeware and gemstones, with minors in ceramic history, ancient scripts, archaeology, and other subjects. Bai Fangfang, on the other hand, was majoring in Ceramic Appraisal, focusing on ceramics from various Chinese dynasties, with minors in bronze, jade, ancient scripts, archaeology, and other subjects.

While some subjects overlapped and they sometimes attended classes together, their main focuses were different. However, because Gu Ming spent so much time with Bai Fangfang, she was somewhat familiar with what Bai Fangfang was studying, though not as much as her own major.

Bai Fangfang's eyes were somewhat evasive as she stammered, "Anyway, since you've also studied some of our major's stuff, just think of it as a way to relax and avoid getting upset hearing news about Du Hao. This training is voluntary. A few people from your major have signed up. If you're willing to go, you can come along. Professor Zhang is a bit strict, but he shouldn't object."

"Has something happened?" Gu Ming knew Bai Fangfang was usually straightforward, and her current demeanor was clearly off.

"There's nothing. You're overthinking it," Bai Fangfang chuckled, but her expression was unnatural.

"If you don't tell me, I'll go ask others. Someone must know," Gu Ming glanced at Bai Fangfang, pretending to head for the door.

"Don't!" Bai Fangfang suddenly jumped in front of Gu Ming, blocking her path.

Gu Ming stared at Bai Fangfang until the latter couldn't take it anymore and turned her head to the side before speaking. "Is it because of Du Hao's situation?"

"How did you know!" Bai Fangfang exclaimed in surprise, then realized she had inadvertently revealed the truth. She desperately wanted to slap herself.