The group quickly arrived at the private hospital invested in by the Bai family. As soon as they got out of the car, a nurse was already waiting with a wheelchair.

The examination results came out quickly.

“From this scan, Miss Yu’s fourth and fifth toe bones have varying degrees of fractures, but there’s no displacement. A plaster cast will be sufficient for treatment.”

Hearing the doctor’s words, everyone instinctively looked at Yu Qian. Who would have thought that someone could fracture their bones just by throwing a shotput ball at themselves? Fortunately, she hadn’t hit her own head.

“Dr. Zhang, please treat her as soon as possible.” Bai Qiming said to the doctor.

Then, remembering that he hadn’t yet informed Aunt Wang, he glanced at Yu Qian, who was still wincing in pain, took out his phone, and made a call.

────ρя


Wang Hui was in the middle of signing a contract with a client when her phone rang. She immediately picked it up to check.

In the past, when she got busy, she often missed Yu Qian’s calls, which led to many arguments between mother and daughter.

To make it easier for Yu Qian to reach her, Wang Hui had since stopped putting her phone on silent.

「Qiming.」

Seeing the caller ID, Wang Hui was a little surprised. This was the first time her stepson had ever called her, so it must be urgent. She quickly apologized to the client and stepped out of the meeting room to answer.

“Qiming?”

“Aunt Wang, Qianqian got injured during the school sports meet. She’s in the hospital now.”

“Injured?! Is it serious? Which hospital? I’ll come right away!”

The moment Wang Hui heard that Yu Qian had been hospitalized, her legs went weak.

She hastily apologized to the client again, gave a few brief instructions to her assistant, and had someone drive her to the hospital.

Before the car had even come to a complete stop, Wang Hui had already opened the door and rushed to the third-floor ward. The moment she stepped inside, she saw the doctor applying a plaster cast to Yu Qian’s foot.

“Qianqian, what happened to your foot? Does it hurt anywhere else?” Wang Hui hurried to Yu Qian’s side, her chest heaving in panic.

“Ugh….. Mom, wuuwuuwuu, my foot is broken……”

The moment Yu Qian saw Wang Hui, all the pain she had been holding back finally found an outlet. Like a child, she wailed uncontrollably, unable to even form proper words.

“There, there, don’t be scared. Does anything else hurt?”

Wang Hui gently supported Yu Qian, afraid to use too much force in case she had other injuries.

“Cough…… Aunt Wang, Qianqian didn’t get hurt anywhere else. She just dropped a shotput ball on her own foot.” Bai Qiming explained after watching the mother and daughter act as if they were experiencing a life-and-death separation.

Recalling how Yu Qian had just claimed her foot was broken, he added, “Her foot is only slightly fractured, not broken.”

Wang Hui, still flustered, finally felt a bit relieved after hearing that.

However, seeing Yu Qian crying so miserably, she still couldn’t help but comfort her daughter.

Jiang Zheng had been startled by Yu Qian’s sudden outburst of sobbing. Watching her cry so unabashedly, he felt both his ears and eyes were under assault.

Lin Niannian stood beside Yu Qian, continuously handing her tissues to wipe her tears.

Once the plaster cast was set and Yu Qian had cried enough, she lay on the hospital bed with red-rimmed eyes. Compared to her usual energetic self, she now looked utterly pitiful.

Jiang Zheng sat by the bed, feeling irritated as he looked at her like this. He couldn’t help but ask, “Do you want anything to eat? I’ll go get it for you.”

“I…… Hic…… I want braised duck feet.” Yu Qian hiccupped between sniffles, still recovering from her crying fit.

Braised duck feet…… Jiang Zheng’s mouth twitched. Was she planning to eat something that resembled her injured foot?

“No braised duck feet. You need to behave and eat something light for now.” Wang Hui said, having finally calmed down from her initial panic. After hearing the full story from Bai Qiming, she was now thoroughly exasperated.

“Look at you! You’re always so careless, and now that you’ve grown up, you still don’t use your brain. You even managed to hit yourself with a metal ball!”

“Mom……” Seeing her mother’s aggressive stance, Yu Qian weakly called out.

“Don’t ‘Mom’ me! Think about all the things you’ve done since you were a child— dislocating your shoulder from climbing out a window, falling into a ditch and getting stuck, even managing to knock yourself against the wall in your sleep and giving yourself a bump……”

Hearing her mother start listing all her past embarrassments, Yu Qian shivered and pulled the blanket up higher.

She scolded Wang Jiajia in her heart. Did Wang Jiajia have to write the novel so realistically?! Why couldn’t she have just erased all those humiliating moments?!

Jiang Zheng had initially felt a little sorry for Yu Qian, but as he listened to Wang Hui recount her daughter’s many accidents, his gaze toward Yu Qian grew increasingly strange.

It was only after Wang Hui went out of the room that Yu Qian finally breathed a sigh of relief and poked her face out from under the blanket.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Yu Qian asked Jiang Zheng, feeling a bit frustrated.

“It’s honestly a miracle you’ve survived this long.” Jiang Zheng said as he reached out and patted her head.

“I always thought you were just a little clumsy, but now I see that your cerebellum probably hasn’t even fully developed yet.” He added with a tone full of pity.

“You’re the one whose brain hasn’t fully developed!” Yu Qian dodged his hand.

“Seriously, just look at the things you’ve done. How many of them are things a normal person would do? If someone wrote down your life story, people would think it’s a comedy script.”

“Jiang Zheng!!!” Yu Qian was so angry that she momentarily forgot about the pain in her foot.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop. I’ll go get you some brain— uh, tofu pudding to eat. Your mom said you need to eat light food.”

Jiang Zheng ruffled her hair one last time and dashed off before she could hit him.

────ρя


Yu Qian’s foot was only fractured, so after treatment, the doctor said she didn’t need to be hospitalized. However, Wang Hui was worried that she might be in pain at night and insisted that she stay in the hospital for observation.

Lying in the VIP ward, Yu Qian looked around at the lavish décor and couldn’t help but click her tongue in amazement.

This level of luxury was better than most hotels. Truly, this was the world of the rich.

Wang Hui originally planned to stay overnight and take care of Yu Qian, but Yu Qian firmly refused.

She wasn’t a child, so why did she need her mother to stay with her? Besides, there was a caregiver on duty in the side room. If anything happened, she could just press the call button.

Seeing that Yu Qian really didn’t want her to stay, Wang Hui reluctantly gave her multiple reminders before heading back to the company to finish some work, planning to return later at night.

As the evening deepened, Yu Qian lay in bed scrolling through her phone. But after a while, she started to feel a strange chill in the air.

The caregiver had gone out to buy her a late-night snack, leaving her alone in the room.

The lights were bright and the temperature was comfortable, but Yu Qian couldn’t shake the eerie feeling creeping over her. Being alone in a hospital at night naturally led to unsettling thoughts.

Slowly, she curled up under the blanket……

“Buzz…… buzz buzz.”

The sudden vibration made Yu Qian jump in fright, nearly tossing her phone across the room.