IJLHTW - 13

Afraid she would hang up, Bai Yu quickly called out several times and cautiously persuaded her, “Anyway, go take a look. If you’re tired and don’t want to drive, wait at the airport, and I’ll come pick you up.”

“No need,” Huo Ci said indifferently and hung up the phone.

The car was parked in the parking lot. This trip was short, so she only brought a small suitcase.

After putting it in the trunk, she got into the car. Once the car drove out, she headed straight for the elevated highway.

After driving for twenty minutes, she suddenly turned the steering wheel and followed the flow of traffic down the elevated road.

Arriving at the entrance of the Military General Hospital, Huo Ci parked her car in the parking lot at the hospital’s entrance and stayed inside for a while without getting out. She touched the pocket of her coat; not even a piece of candy was there. A cigarette would have been nice right now.

Huo Ci didn’t smoke, but when truly troubled, she would light one up. Holding it between her fingers, as the smoke drifted away, it felt as if her troubles were dissipating along with it.

Fortunately, it was the Military General Hospital. If it had been another hospital, she might not have come.

Bai Yu had already sent her the floor and room number on her phone. When she stepped out of the elevator, the corridor was quiet, and the stark white walls added an indescribable atmosphere. Huo Ci wasn’t afraid of these things. During her university days, she studied medicine, and if she hadn’t changed majors, she might have become a doctor in a white coat.

She walked inside and soon found the ward.

It was silent inside, possibly resting. She stood by the wall, neither moving forward nor entering.

She didn’t know how long she stood there until a passing nurse saw her standing there and asked, “Miss, who are you looking for?”

Huo Ci glanced at her but didn’t speak. The nurse, recognizing her, hurried over. This area housed VIP wards, and each patient was a precious individual.

Strangers should not disturb the peace here.

As the nurse approached, the door next to them opened. A slightly plump middle-aged woman, upon seeing Huo Ci, exclaimed in surprise, “Miss Huo, you’ve arrived!”

“Do you know each other?” the nurse looked at the middle-aged woman, whom she recognized as the caregiver for the patient in this ward.

“This is our lady’s daughter,” Aunt Liu immediately explained.

The nurse quickly smiled at Huo Ci. When Aunt Liu invited Huo Ci inside, the nurse glanced at the ward again. She remembered that the patient in this room was named Liu, and her husband was a high-ranking official in the Health Commission, surnamed Shen.

But she clearly heard that aunt calling her Miss Huo?

Liu Ruhuan had already heard Aunt Liu’s voice from inside the room and was preparing to sit up by supporting herself with her arms. Upon entering and seeing her rise, Aunt Liu rushed over to assist, saying, “The doctor said you must rest quietly. If you need anything, just call me.”

Aunt Liu was diligent but talkative.

Liu Ruhuan gazed at her daughter, full of joy, gently patting the bedside and softly saying, “Xiao Ci, come sit by Mommy.”

Huo Ci scrutinized her. Apart from her somewhat pale complexion, she looked fine.

Seeing her silence, Aunt Liu knew they weren’t close. Noticing Liu Ruhuan’s expectant face, she said, “Miss Huo, Madam has been suffering from chest pain for several days.”

Huo Ci sneered coldly.

“Even Lin Daiyu had this illness, a disease of affluence, all due to idleness,” Huo Ci coldly observed the person on the bed. From her angle, Liu Ruhuan’s jade-like neck was slightly bowed, and the striped hospital gown added a frailty that made her more pitiable.

Liu Ruhuan resembled the poetic description of a Jiangnan beauty—tender and affectionate. Even in her later years, she remained elegant and graceful.

Anyone meeting her for the first time would never believe she had a daughter as old as Huo Ci.

Huo Ci rarely appeared in the same setting as Liu Ruhuan. In the past, when they lived in the hospital staff quarters, people in the building often said she and her mother were cut from the same mold. Huo Ci never felt proud of this resemblance. If possible, she would rather resemble her father.

Tears welled up in Liu Ruhuan’s eyes, but she didn’t want Huo Ci to see them and turned her head away.

Aunt Liu noticed this and quickly changed the subject, smiling as she said, “Miss Huo, would you like some fruit? Shall I peel an apple for you? Madam said you’ve always loved apples since you were little.”

Huo Ci had no kind words for Liu Ruhuan but didn’t make things difficult for outsiders.

She softly said, “No need, I’ll leave now.”

“Xiao Ci,” Liu Ruhuan, hearing she was about to leave, hastily wiped her tears and turned to look at her hopefully. “Stay with Mommy for a while. It’s been almost half a year since I last saw you.”

Indeed, she hadn’t seen her for over a month before going abroad and hadn’t seen her since returning.

Combined, it had been nearly half a year.

“What do you want to see me for? You’re part of the Shen family now, and I’m surnamed Huo,” Huo Ci said bluntly.

Upon hearing this, Liu Ruhuan couldn’t hold back anymore. Bowing her head, tears plopped onto the white blanket, soaking a patch in no time.

Huo Ci stood still, watching her mother cry, feeling a lump in her throat.

But to utter soft words was impossible for her.

Their mother-daughter relationship was like walking into a dead-end alley. Every time they met, Huo Ci couldn’t help but mock her, making her cry, and then regretting it afterward. Yet, the next encounter would be the same. Eventually, they chose not to meet at all.

However, blood ties bound them. In this world, Liu Ruhuan only had her as a child.

And she only had one biological mother.

But Huo Ci could never forgive her mother’s decision to divorce back then.

“Madam, you can’t cry anymore. The doctor just said your heart condition can’t handle anger or distress,” Aunt Liu anxiously interjected, then turned to Huo Ci, “Miss Huo, Madam is truly ill this time. She fainted at home. She feared you’d worry, so she forbade me from telling you.”

Before Huo Ci arrived, Liu Ruhuan had instructed that if Huo Ci came, no mention of her fainting should be made.

Aunt Liu, seeing her hopeful expression, pitied her internally. After all, she knew it had been half a year since they last met.

Unexpectedly, as she stepped out, she saw Huo Ci standing by the door.

Blood ties indeed.

“Don’t cry,” Huo Ci frowned at her, but her heart softened.

Just as she finished speaking, the door was pushed open, and a tall man in an iron-gray suit entered hurriedly, bringing a gust of wind with him. Upon looking up and seeing Huo Ci, he exclaimed in pleasant surprise, “Xiao Ci is here too?”

Huo Ci looked at him and finally called out indifferently, “Uncle Shen.”

Shen Fangtang smiled, intending to chat more with her, but then heard a sob. He noticed Liu Ruhuan crying and quickly sat by the bedside, holding her hand and asking with concern, “What happened? Weren’t you supposed to rest quietly? Why are you crying?”

Liu Ruhuan lowered her head, remaining silent.

Finally, Shen Fangtang sighed softly and gently said, “You shouldn’t make Xiao Ci laugh at you.”

With gentle words, Shen Fangtang, who was naturally handsome and dignified, being a northerner, towered over the delicate Liu Ruhuan. Together, they made a perfect pair.

However, this scene was painfully glaring to Huo Ci.

Seeing Shen Fangtang arrive, she no longer wished to stay and said, “Since Uncle Shen is here, I’ll leave first.”

“Xiao Ci.”

“Xiao Ci.”

One voice was soft and tender, the other steady, as the couple called her together.

Liu Ruhuan glanced at him, while Shen Fangtang patted the back of her hand soothingly.

“Xiao Ci, your mother isn’t well these days. If you have time, come home more often to see her.”

Huo Ci turned around, her ink-black eyes frosted with a layer of coldness as she looked straight at him and said coldly, “Uncle Shen, that’s your home, not mine.”

“I haven’t had a home for a long time.”

A place of dependence is what’s called a home.

Where she currently lived was just a house, not a home.

Her home had vanished long ago.

…

Huo Ci went downstairs, bypassing the parking lot, heading towards the hospital entrance. When she entered earlier, she noticed a small supermarket nearby.

“What would you like to buy?” The shopkeeper looked up and saw an exceptionally beautiful girl standing at the counter.

Huo Ci glanced at the cigarettes inside the counter. On the counter were candies—lollipops, chewing gums, soft candies, colorful assortments.

Different from the mint candies she usually ate.

She tapped the glass counter, “Give me a pack of cigarettes.”

After purchasing the cigarettes, the shopkeeper gave her a lighter with a green plastic case. Huo Ci stuffed it into her pocket and returned to the parking lot. Once inside her car, she lit a cigarette, rolled down the window, and rested her elbow on the windowsill. The sky was pitch black, and the crimson glow stood out vividly in the darkness.

Half a cigarette burned out in no time.

Huo Ci felt extremely irritated. She shouldn’t have come; it only added to her frustration.

“Mr. Yi, isn’t that Miss Huo’s car ahead?” Yang Ming, driving, softly informed the person in the back seat.

Yi Zecheng still carried a faint smell of alcohol. He had just left a dinner gathering when he received the call and rushed to the Military General Hospital to find her.

Huo Ci’s car was imposing—square and boxy, its gleaming shell not discreet even in the night. Yang Ming had a good memory; after seeing it once, he remembered the license plate.

As Yang Ming expected, the person in the back remained silent.

Ahead, a car was reversing out, seemingly struggling with poor driving skills and taking a long time. Yi Zecheng checked the emails on his phone and put it away. Glancing up, he saw the flickering light of a cigarette butt in the SUV’s window.

“Isn’t Miss Huo smoking? She doesn’t smoke, does she?” Yang Ming said curiously.

Yang Ming personally investigated Huo Ci’s background and found this Miss Huo quite fascinating. Truly a breath of fresh air in the photography circle, she didn’t indulge in smoking, drinking, or promiscuity. Even her ability to ignore her boss’s icy demeanor astonished him.

The crimson speck of light continued to shine outside the car.

And that snow-white palm, like smooth jade, glowed against the dark dusk.

Finally, the car ahead moved out of the way.

Yang Ming softly asked, “Mr. Yi, shall we greet Miss Huo?”

“Drive,” Yi Zecheng’s indifferent voice finally sounded in the car.

Yang Ming felt a tinge of regret internally. It seemed this extraordinarily beautiful Miss Huo couldn’t move Mr. Yi either.

**

Yi Zecheng didn’t find her when he arrived; she had already left. Yang Ming, seeing his displeased expression, asked if he wanted to be driven home.

He shook his head: “Let’s go look.”

Yang Ming didn’t dare say anything, but with such a vast city as Beijing, where could they look? Yi Zecheng mentioned a place, surprising Yang Ming somewhat, but he still drove there.

The roads were congested, but upon arrival, Yang Ming realized it was an old roller-skating rink.

The neon lights at the entrance were only half-lit, and the entrance was dilapidated. Yi Zecheng got out of the car himself and told Yang Ming to stay behind.

Inside, only a few parents were skating with their children.

Frowning, he searched around and asked the staff but found nothing.

After exiting, he walked along the street. Ahead was a dessert shop that had been open for over a decade.

Approaching Christmas, many shops had already hung multicolored star lights outside. Through the large glass window of the dessert shop, he immediately spotted the lone table of customers inside. Sitting in the corner by the window, they faced away from the window.

Yi Zecheng pushed the door open, and the silver bell above it rang crisply.

“What would you like to drink, sir?”

Yi Zecheng: “A cup of hot cocoa.”

“For takeout?” The cashier was a young girl, blushing shyly as she looked at him.

He shook his head: “No, bring it to that person over there after I leave.”

The girl was momentarily surprised, then glanced at the sole table of customers inside and quickly nodded. Seeing the handsome man with an icy demeanor, she couldn’t help but ask, “Sir, do you need anything else?”

She assumed they were a quarreling couple.

Yi Zecheng looked at the computer inside the cashier’s booth and suddenly asked, “Can I request a song?”

The girl beamed: “Of course, which song would you like?”

“Why Did I Fall in Love with You.”