This was Li Xiaoya's first time in a large hospital.
The fluorescent lights were blinding, and the floor was so shiny it seemed to reflect one's image.
Her phone vibrated violently in her pocket.
Qin Sui caught up and helped her take out her phone.
"Don't answer it yet, just read out the number," Li Xiaoya stopped him.
Qin Sui picked up the phone and looked: "Why isn't there a contact name? Is it a spam call?"
Though confused, Qin Sui still read out the string of numbers.
It was Ke Muning calling.
Li Xiaoya immediately said, "Then you can't answer it for me. I'll call back later myself."
"Why? Is it Sheng Yuxiao calling?"
"It's not Sheng Yuxiao, but if you answer, the caller will think you've kidnapped me."
"..."
Qin Sui helplessly put the phone back in her pocket.
Soon, Old Mr. Zhang was wheeled in for emergency treatment, and Li Xiaoya finally let go, walking to the side to call Ke Muning back.
"What happened? I saw the ambulance," Ke Muning said quickly on the other end.
"Someone fell ill at the banquet."
"Oh." Ke Muning didn't care about that. "Come out, I'll take you home."
"I'm at the hospital."
"Did the person who fell ill try to extort you?"
"No." Li Xiaoya didn't know how to explain. "I'll tell you later."
She ended the call.
On the other end, Ke Muning angrily pointed at his phone and said to his subordinates: "She hung up on me!"
The subordinates didn't know how to judge... After all, the boss's psychology was the opposite of normal people.
No one knew if he said this hoping others would join in criticizing her, or praise her for hanging up well.
Ke Muning then repeated with a gloomy face: "She hung up on me!"
The subordinate, who seemed sharp on the battlefield, now appeared dull. After much thought, he stammered out: "You used to hang up on others all the time, uh, very, very much in your style. The inheritance is perfect."
Ke Muning: "..."
On this side, Li Xiaoya turned around, meeting Qin Sui's gaze as he caught up.
She asked, "What about your birthday party? Are we going back?"
"We're not going back, I don't like birthday parties anyway," Qin Sui didn't seem to mind.
"Then why have one?"
"Because it's necessary. People need banquets to showcase their status and wealth."
"Oh, then I'm leaving."
"I'll take you."
"Someone will come to pick me up."
Qin Sui didn't insist, because the party was hosted by his family, and since Old Mr. Zhang fell ill at the party, they naturally needed to see it through to the end.
He nodded, "Then I'll see you to the ground floor."
Li Xiaoya hugged him.
She hugged him...
She hugged him!
And she initiated it!
Qin Sui froze on the spot.
Indeed, the more unattainable something is, the happier one feels when suddenly receiving a bit of affection, right?
"Qin Sui, happy birthday," Li Xiaoya said earnestly. "I wish you, um... all the best."
After delivering her simple blessing, Li Xiaoya turned and walked towards the stairs.
"Wait!" Qin Sui grabbed her from behind, seizing her arm: "Your hand..."
She hadn't noticed until he mentioned it. Li Xiaoya looked down.
There were finger marks on her wrist where she had been grabbed.
It even hurt a little.
"That old man is so strong..." Li Xiaoya marveled.
"Grandpa Zhang was in the army when he was young," Qin Sui paused. "Put some medicine on before you go."
Qin Sui went to find a nurse.
Li Xiaoya's wrist was smeared with a circle of reddish-purple medicine, and only then did Qin Sui let her leave.
Qin Sui escorted Li Xiaoya downstairs, just as they ran into Qin Haoming and Mrs. Qin, who hadn't followed the ambulance and arrived a bit later.
Mrs. Qin was still holding that revolving lantern, not having put it down even at this point.
Qin Sui paused, took the lantern back into his arms, and then followed them upstairs.
Li Xiaoya walked to the hospital entrance and took out her phone to call Ke Muning.
The wind blew past the flower bed at the hospital entrance, rustling the plants. She couldn't help but shiver and shrink her neck.
The wind was getting stronger.
It seemed as if ghostly shadows were lurking in the flower bed.
"Why did you stop talking?" Ke Muning asked on the phone.
Li Xiaoya stared at the flower bed, sniffled, and said, "The wind is so strong, my words are blown into my stomach."
Now she seemed more like a proper little kid.
Hearing this, Ke Muning raised an eyebrow on the other end, suddenly feeling that the little madwoman's soft side was quite likable too.
Ke Muning didn't let her hang up. He listened to the howling wind on her end and quickly drove to the hospital.
The car door opened, and Ke Muning stepped out with his long legs, standing there like a towering pillar.
He said, "Get in."
But Li Xiaoya hesitated.
"What's wrong?" Ke Muning asked.
Li Xiaoya said, "I think something moved in the bushes."
Ke Muning burst out laughing: "So you're afraid of shadows? Are you afraid of ghosts too? Have you watched horror movies? Do you dare?"
Li Xiaoya pressed her lips together without speaking.
"Are you angry? I didn't get mad when you hung up on me earlier. I treat you better than your own father, don't I?" Ke Muning picked her up and stuffed her into the car.
"What happened to your hand?" Once in the confined space, Ke Muning immediately smelled the medicine.
Li Xiaoya then used the translator to explain the whole process.
Ke Muning frowned without speaking.
Li Xiaoya immediately leaned closer, straightened his face, and asked, "You're not going to chop off his hand, are you?"
"No chopping, it's illegal in your Hua Country, I know," Ke Muning snorted.
The driver stepped on the gas pedal.
After driving for a while, Ke Muning suddenly said, "Wait, stop."
Then he pointed to two subordinates: "You two go check the flower bed we just passed."
The two subordinates acknowledged.
Li Xiaoya asked, "Are you going to catch ghosts for me?"
Ke Muning, a man whose smile was always cold, said with a smile: "Outside your Hua Country, such caution is very necessary. I need to maintain this vigilance, lest when I leave Hua Country later, I only remember comfort and forget to be alert."
The subordinates walked back to the flower bed and searched through it.
There was nothing.
They conversed briefly in Russian, then turned to leave.
Next to the flower bed was a corridor, at the end of which was a pillar as thick as three men.
Behind the pillar, a man was panting.
"Luckily I changed hiding spots," he said, partly resentful, partly through gritted teeth: "How can she accept a foreigner as her father? I'm her real father."
If only she hadn't been on the phone the whole time.
He would have gone up to reunite with her.
He'd have to wait for the next opportunity...
The village chief of Li Village had been arrested, and the police were looking for him too.
He had to meet with Li Xiaoya, reunite, and reconcile before he was found!
...
Old Mr. Zhang was rescued in time and didn't end up in serious condition.
The nurse helped him sit up, and he still seemed a bit dazed.
Qin Sui's sister, Qin Yue, sat on a stool by the bed. She had short hair and still looked very cool.
Old Mr. Zhang mumbled, "Xi Nian, Xi Nian..."
Qin Sui bent down and said, "Grandpa Zhang, Uncle Xi Nian is gone."
"Oh right, right." Old Mr. Zhang came to his senses, his eyes gaining some clarity. "Was it Little Yue who accompanied me in the ambulance earlier?"
"No, it was Li Xiaoya," Qin Sui corrected.
Old Mr. Zhang nodded, "Good, good, we must thank her. My memory hasn't been great these past couple of years. Write it down for me later."
Qin Sui agreed.
Soon after, Qin Haoming and the others came to check on the old man as well.
There wasn't enough room for so many people around the hospital bed, so Qin Sui simply pushed the door open and walked out.
He placed the revolving lantern on a hospital bench. Under the overly bright fluorescent lights, even the lantern seemed to be coated in a layer of shimmering light.
Qin Sui took a photo with a "click" and posted it to his Moments.
But unfortunately.
He didn't have Sheng Yuxiao as a friend.
He casually refreshed the page.
He saw that Second Young Master He, his follower in class, had liked his post.
After a while, this Second Young Master He received a reply from Qin Sui on his Moments:
[Never seen it before? You think it looks good? I'll bring it on Monday for you to see.]
He was a bit flattered and bewildered, stopping his hand that was about to type a comment, and smacked his lips in confusion, thinking, I haven't even said anything yet.
