“Where are you going?”

If Chen An hadn’t spoken, Ying Ni would have thought she was still in the taxi.

She rubbed her eyes, lowered her head to unbuckle her seatbelt, her voice soft, but the muddled, sticky sound suggested she had just woken up, “Drop me off here.”

“Wait for me to pull over,” Chen An said.

Ying Ni muttered a soft “mm.”

The car could have driven a few hundred meters further in.

Her place wasn’t inside the community, it was on the sixth floor of an old self-built house. The narrow road to get in was full of stinky ditches, the walls were chipped and peeling, wires hung in bundles, and rats strutted around.

It was the typical urban-rural junction, and it would be hard to find a worse place to live in Heze City.

The sound of a spatula clinking from a fried rice stall wafted through the air, and the smell of cheap fried rice filled the street. After getting out of the car, Ying Ni instinctively sniffed the air, and when she reached for her phone, she realized her bag was missing.

She turned back, and Chen An seemed to have noticed earlier. He was holding the narrow strap of her bag with his fingers, his arm half-hanging out of the window, silently waiting for her to come back.

She took the bag from him, and his elbow returned to the windowsill.

“Is there anything else?”

Ying Ni checked her pockets, then looked at the passenger seat, shaking her head.

“Be careful,” Chen An reminded her.

Ying Ni responded with a couple of “mm”s, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she turned to leave. But then she suddenly stopped, knocked on the window twice.

The glass began to lower slowly. Chen An looked at her, his eyes questioning.

Ying Ni hesitated for a while before bending down to speak two words:

“Thank you.”

Chen An responded without any politeness, saying “No need to thank me,” and smiled, adjusting his seat slightly. Then, he turned on the left-turn signal, preparing to turn around.

As he steered the wheel, his gaze inadvertently drifted outside the window.

Just like when they met near the hospital, she was walking slowly, her head lowered, her bag swaying with the motion of kicking stones.

She seemed bored, not in any hurry to get home.

Thinking back to her tiredness when she had fallen asleep and the awkwardness of not wanting to reveal her address, he suddenly stopped mid-turn.

The car stopped diagonally in the middle of the road, the lingering warmth of her shoulder and the faint scent still in the air. Chen An glanced at it, paused for a moment, then looked again.

In his memory, Ying Ni had always been admired for her good family background and beauty, always praised by others, which led to her arrogant and unruly personality, assuming everything was owed to her.

In the year and a half of being in the same class, neither classmates nor teachers had ever seen her apologize or lower her head for anything.

Though he didn’t know what had happened in those years to cause such a change, Chen An was certain that the Ying Ni from then and the Ying Ni now were very different. At least she wouldn’t have been standing in front of a messy midnight snack stall, arguing with the owner just to get extra toppings.

And despite her reluctance, she had still properly thanked him when getting out of the car.

It seemed like life had worn her edges down.

She had completely lost her vitality.

Ying Ni’s first task when entering her home was to lock the door. The self-built house didn’t have any security or even a gatekeeper, so she had installed a door stopper herself for safety.

While putting the stopper in place, she suddenly thought about how Chen An had most likely dropped her off out of simple courtesy to an old classmate. Whether or not he had other intentions, at least he hadn’t suggested having supper together or coming inside.

He was still a gentleman.

After washing her hands in the kitchen, Ying Ni opened her laptop, forcing herself to find a good drama to watch before starting to eat. The fried rice had too much fatty meat, so she picked it out while eating, disgusted by it.

After finishing half, she put the rest in the fridge. It was Sunday tomorrow, so she could just reheat it and continue eating.

The next morning.

Ying Ni had to drag herself to the hospital to accompany Lin Rongyuan. When washing her face, she suddenly touched her earlobe. She had felt something was off last night, but didn’t notice anything wrong.

It turned out her earring was missing.

Ying Ni searched the entire house. She turned over every tiny corner, shaking the bed linens and covers. Standing in front of the bed, holding a pillow, she furrowed her brow, forcing herself to recall where it could have been lost.

The earring was a handmade piece she bought at a small silver shop a year ago. It wasn’t valuable, but she liked it and wore it daily.

She put down the pillow and searched again. Only when the clock on the wall showed 10 AM did she give up and leave the house. When she was downstairs, she suddenly had a realization.

She must have lost it while sleeping in Chen An’s car last night.

With this in mind, Ying Ni took out her phone and flipped through her contacts. However, there was no Chen An in the list.

She opened the class group chat, searching through the members. Fortunately, Chen An’s username was just his name. Ying Ni clicked on it, added him to her contacts, and sent the request without hesitation.

The system automatically filled in the request message with: [“I am from the ‘2010 Class 2 Mingde’ group chat.”]

Just before clicking send, Ying Ni hesitated. Someone like Chen An, a big boss, probably wouldn’t accept friend requests from a nameless person.

So, she changed “Mm” to “Ying Ni.”

Her fingers hovered over the screen for a moment before she paused again.

Her attitude towards him had never been friendly; she had always mocked him. In his eyes, she must not have been a good person.

But that wasn’t important. What mattered was that after their cold interaction, adding him on WeChat now might come across as trying too hard to please, just like with Lu Shengzhi and the others.

With that thought, Ying Ni added, “My earring fell in your car.”

She sent the request, tucked her phone into her pocket, and went to find a shared bike.

Before getting to the subway, there was still no reply, so Ying Ni stopped thinking about it.

Before entering the hospital, Ying Ni stopped at the fruit shop downstairs. When she saw the price of lychees, she turned around and exclaimed, “So expensive?”

The shop owner handed her a bag, saying, “These are glutinous rice lychees, the king of lychees. They were brought in from Guangzhou last night. They’re sweet and fresh.”

“Can you lower the price?”

“How much would you like?”

“Half a kilogram.”

“No way!”

It might have been due to the shop being located near the hospital, but the owner didn’t bargain. Ying Ni bought the equivalent of a syringe’s worth. After giving her mother a full-body massage, she sat on a small stool at the bedside, peeling the lychees.

Just after finishing, an unfamiliar nurse entered, holding a patient record book. She looked around, her gaze landing on Ying Ni’s face.

“Are you Lin Rongyuan’s family?”

Ying Ni nodded. “I’m her daughter.”

“My name is Chen Jingjing. I’m the new nurse. Jiang Li, who was in charge of Room 7, resigned. Now, Lin Rongyuan is under my care.”

Ying Ni looked up.

This nurse had thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a bit of baby fat. When she smiled, she revealed two sharp canines, looking full of energy.

Ying Ni thought she looked familiar, especially her bright, pitch-black eyes.

Ying Ni stood up, “My mother is delicate, so please be gentle with the intubation.” She had encountered some nurses before whose patience wasn’t great, and they were rough with patients. She bowed slightly to Chen Jingjing and sincerely said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Chen Jingjing smiled. “This is my job.”

Seeing her smile so brightly, Ying Ni forced a smile in return.

But soon, after Chen Jingjing took her vital signs and handed her a payment reminder, the smile disappeared from Ying Ni’s face.

She had just paid for the caregiver fee, but hadn’t paid the rent or utility bills, and her pockets were emptier than her face.

Luckily, her credit card still had some credit left.

Ying Ni took the money out, pulled the nurse outside, closed the door tightly, and whispered, “Can I pay you five thousand now? I’ll get paid in a few days.”

Chen Jingjing shook her head firmly. “You must pay in full.”

Ying Ni tried to negotiate, asking her to be lenient, and she’d find a way to come up with the money quickly.

Chen Jingjing apologized, “I don’t have the authority. I’m just a nurse. The hospital has rules. If the payment isn’t made in full, the ventilator will be turned off.”

Ying Ni’s heart sank, and her face turned pale.

Chen Jingjing, seeing how pitiful Ying Ni looked, whispered, “Actually, you can delay for a week or two. We won’t immediately turn it off, but there will be a late fee.”

She warned, “Don’t tell anyone I told you.”

Ying Ni agreed and thanked her again. After the nurse left, she went back to the ward, juiced the fruit, and wiped down her face.

The silence in the room made her feel tense, like a beast lurking just behind the door.