While Wang Xiaoke was lost in her thoughts, the phone suddenly rang.

The caller ID showed it was from Wang Chengyao. Could it be news from her father? Wang Xiaoke quickly answered the call.

“Is this Ms. Wang Xiaoke?”

The voice on the other end was unfamiliar. Could something have happened? Wang Xiaoke felt her heart skip a beat. She asked nervously, “Who are you? Where’s my dad?”

“It’s like this. Recent call records from Mr. Wang Chengyao’s phone show your number, so I called you,” the person on the other end explained.

But Wang Xiaoke wasn’t listening anymore. Her father had promised to tell her immediately if there was any news. Why was his phone now in the hands of a stranger?

Various possibilities flashed through her mind, and she interrupted the person impatiently, shouting into the phone, “I’m asking you—where’s my dad? And who are you?”

There was a brief pause on the other end, just a moment, but Wang Xiaoke’s sharp instincts caught it.

“I’m a police officer. Your father… he was in a car accident. He’s in the hospital right now. You’d better come over quickly,” the person said with a sigh.

Those words hit her like a bolt of lightning, turning her mind into a complete mess.

With a clatter, the phone slipped from her hand and fell to the floor. Wang Xiaoke felt as if all the blood in her body had stopped flowing in an instant. Her limbs went cold, her body stiffened, and everything around her seemed to turn unfamiliar and terrifying.

She stared blankly at the phone on the ground. The call was still connected, repeatedly reminding her of the reality of the situation.

Her mind blank, Wang Xiaoke didn’t even know how she made it to the hospital. The light above the emergency room continued to flicker, and the smell of disinfectant seeped into her bones. The oppressive atmosphere made it hard for her to breathe.

“Xiaoke, how is your dad? How could he have a car accident out of the blue?” Feng Jin arrived at the hospital in a rush, shortly after Wang Xiaoke.

Wang Xiaoke finally snapped out of her daze. She looked at Feng Jin as she approached, her expression still blank, her eyes filled with helplessness.

Feng Jin, with her shoulder-length curly hair and meticulously applied makeup, was wearing a low-cut, body-hugging long dress that accentuated her elegance and poise. Even in her evident anxiety and concern, she still carried an air of grace.

“He’s still in surgery,” Wang Xiaoke managed to say in a dry, hoarse voice. She turned her gaze back to the doors of the operating room, staring intently.

Seeing her like this, Feng Jin realized there was no point in asking further questions. She sighed and sat down nearby, waiting quietly.

Time dragged on, each moment feeling unbearably long, until finally, the doors of the operating room opened.

“Dad…” Wang Xiaoke rushed forward.

Seeing Wang Chengyao lying on the hospital bed, his face as pale as paper, barely breathing, his body wrapped in bandages like a fragile porcelain doll, Wang Xiaoke felt her heart clench painfully, almost suffocating her.

She couldn’t believe that the man lying there with his eyes closed, unresponsive to her desperate calls, was the same sharp and capable father she had always known.

Wang Xiaoke couldn’t make sense of it. How had he ended up like this? Just this morning, he was fine. He still had that stern face when scolding her for her mistakes and that subtle, reserved demeanor when she achieved something that made him proud, always encouraging her to work and study hard. No matter what, he had never ignored her like this.