Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The hospital was located in the heart of the city. There was a lot of human traffic along the nearby streets as well as numerous shops.

However, in this era of e-commerce, it had brought about a huge wave of impact and changes to the retail stores. As they walked along the street, they could see a lot of closed stores with written notices of either “for sale” or “for rent”. There was a tinge of helplessness amidst this prosperous era.

Those ice-cream that Bai Muchuan bought definitely couldn’t be finished.

However, the retail assistant had specially packed some ice packs with which the ice cream should be able to survive a couple of hours.

Hence, Bai Muchuan carried the ice-cream and strolled along the streets with Xiang Wan…

“The warmth in the world are similar to the days in October! It’s always so beautiful during this period in Jin City…”

After having eaten the ice cream and doted upon by Young Master Bai, Xiang Wan had an aura of happiness as well as a smiling face. As she walked along the streets, she actually recited a poem. That made Bai Muchuan raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Who wrote this poem? It feels unfamiliar.”

“It’s by a very well-known master…”

“Never heard of that poem.” The corners of Bai Muchuan’s lips turned downwards as he expressed his doubt.

Xiang Wan squinted her eyes complacently, revealing a cunning smile. “Well, the master’s name is… Xiang Gongzi Wan—me! My lord, what do you think of the poem?”

Bai Muchuan raised an eyebrow. “The comparison was neat but not good enough!”

It’s not good enough?

Xiang Wan wore a solemn face, hands behind her back, as she walked in front. “On account of all these ice-cream, I won’t fight with you over this. Hmph!”

“Hur! You’re angry?”

“Of course not.”

“You’re obviously angry.”

“Fine!” Xiang Wan puffed up her cheeks as though she was annoyed. “Fine, I’m angry, how are you going to appease my anger?”

Bai Muchuan followed her with a smile and looked around the area. “We’ve strolled for so long. Is there anything you wanted to buy?”

“Eh?” Xiang Wan looked at him from the corner of her eye, confused at what he was trying to say.

“I’ll buy anything that you want to appease you!”

“…” Goodness! Xiang Wan’s heart started to race again.

All her 26 years of life, nobody had ever said something like this to her. She was so stunned beyond words that her heart was going to melt…

“Bai Muchuan, don’t tempt me further! I’m a mundane person, it’s hard for me to resist sugar-coated temptation.”

“So what if it’s temptation! You have a human automated teller machine beside you, you should use it while you can.” Bai Muchuan put on a half-smile as he narrowed his eyes and gazed at her. That gaze of his was full of meaning…

Xiang Wan was startled for a moment. “The way you smile makes me worried.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You treated me to ice-cream and wanted to buy me a gift. I’m worried I can’t repay you back with something equivalent.”

“I don’t mind if you make a marriage pledge to me.”

“…” Xiang Wan rolled her eyes and almost burst out in laughter. “Bai Muchuan, have you ever been in love before?”

Bai Muchuan stopped smiling and replied seriously. “Well, for as long as I can remember… the answer is no.”

“What do you mean for as long as you can remember?” Xiang Wan stared at him, pouting her mouth. “Well, my mom told me that when I was in kindergarten,” laughed Bai Muchuan, “I went back home and told her that I liked a girl in my class. I even said that I want to marry her when I grow up…”

“Hahaha…” Xiang Wan couldn’t stop laughing. “So you’re a rogue since you’re little?”

“… Although that had come from my mom, don’t base on that and take it as the truth.”

Xiang Wan touched her ice cream-filled tummy. “I’ve never heard you mentioning your mom till now…” she remarked casually.

“Xiang Wan!” Bai Muchuan suddenly interrupted her looking sort of grim.

She jumped and turned to him. “What happened?” she asked, puzzled.

“There’s a claw machine over there.”

“…”

And here she thought there was some situation going on?

Xiang Wan chuckled. “Three-year-old Bai, you like to catch plushies?”

Bai Muchuan’s mouth formed a slight smile. “Aren’t you girls the ones who are into it?”

Who says that girls are into claw machines? Xiang Wan had never played with the claw machine once, but she did not hate it. Under Bai Muchuan’s constant urge, she agreed to exchange for tokens and started her difficult quest to catch these plushies. Naturally, she had forgotten what they were talking about earlier.

“This one, this one…”

“A little more to the left, to the left…”

“Ah! It fell!”

“Let’s change another one? The little piggy over there is so pretty. Catch it, catch it…”

“Ah! It fell again!”

Xiang Wan, who was just commenting how childish it was to play with the claw machine, was having so much fun that she was laughing cheerfully.

Bai Muchuan stayed by her side. He exchanged tokens for her, offered her guidance, and laughed with her. His eyes were on her throughout. Watching her cheerful and radiant smiles, he readily exchanged tokens and filled up the little basket of tokens for her…

However, he had fed a bottomless pit, for Xiang Wan did not manage to catch anything.

“D*rn, this is a rigged machine!” Xiang Wan started to get impatient as she failed every attempt to catch the plushies. Her face was now red in embarrassment. “Forget it, I’m not playing anymore.”

Bai Muchuan let her be. When they left, he smiled at her. “Is it fun?”

Xiang Wan nodded her head. “It’s quite fun. I never knew that life can be so interesting?”

“Of course!” Bai Muchuan smiled, “You have to see who you’re with.”

See, he’s arrogant again!

Xiang Wan chortled in joy. She gave it a thought and had to agree that what he said made sense as well.

It really matters who one is with, as it directly determines one’s happiness index…

…

When Tang Yuanchu called them, the two of them were already preparing to walk back to the hospital.

When they heard that Ma Suying had awakened, they quickened their steps and headed directly to the hospital.

At the hospital, the sixth floor.

Ma Suying stayed in a single ward. When they arrived, the doctor had just finished his examination. Bai Muchuan inquired about her condition and was slightly relieved.

The door to the ward was not closed. Besides Tang Yuanchu, there was another woman inside who seemed to be in her forties.

She was sitting on a chair by the window, but quite a distance from the bed. She had a slight frown on her face. If one observed closely at her, one could tell that she seemed to be angry at something…

They were able to conclude that the woman should be Ma Suying’s half-sister, Jia Jing.

Obviously, this pair of sisters were not close.

“Boss!” Tang Yuanchu saw Bai Muchuan and immediately got up from his seat. “You’re quite fast?”

“Hm.”

Bai Muchuan looked at him inquiringly.

Tang Yuanchu shook his head and puffed a sigh.

Although Ma Suying had woken up from her sleep, she was the same as usual. She had refused to talk, not even to the doctor. She totally ignored the medical personnel and refused to cooperate with the treatments. It was rather frustrating for them…

Bai Muchuan walked over slowly to Jia Jing. His eyes seemed especially cold in the dim ward, which made his originally dashing features appear to be unusually indifferent and distant.

“Hello, we are from the Criminal Investigation Unit of Hongjiang District. We need to talk to your sister about her case.”

Jia Jing seemed to have been sitting there for a long time. When she heard the police talking to her, she finally had the opportunity to speak.

“No problem! As long as she is willing to cooperate.”

She moved her mouth and gave a snort as she pointed to the direction of the woman lying on the hospital bed as though she was a corpse.

“But, if she’s not willing, we’re unable to help you out. This morning, my dad and mom talked to her for a long time, but she did not even say a single word to them. I’m glad my parents didn’t die of anger…”

Jia Jing said continuously without stopping, anger written all over her face.

“Frankly, she caused the death of my brother. My parents are already so upset over the death of my brother. And now, something happened to her as well… If we don’t care about her, tongues will wag that we’re too heartless. But when we do… you can see for yourself, do you think she’s someone who will listen to us? Ever since young, she has a mind of her own. She never listened to the opinion of the family. If she took our advice, she will not have ended up like this. She caused Little An’s death and ruined herself as well…”

Bai Muchuan was clearly not interested in their family affairs.

He furrowed his brows. “I need to trouble you to leave the ward for a while.”

Jia Jing was just taking the opportunity to vent her frustrations. She was a little taken aback when she heard those words. When she looked at Bai Muchuan’s expressionless face, she did not dare to continue ranting. She took her bag unhappily and got up from her seat.

“Fine, you can go ahead to ask her… I’ll go for a meal.”

And then she left.

It was suddenly quiet inside the ward.

For a good while, nobody spoke nor did anything.

The atmosphere started to get stifling as they competed against who had more patience.

Xiang Wan sighed and exchanged glances with Bai Muchuan. She took the bag of ice-cream and walked over to Ma Suying’s bed.

“You want to eat ice-cream? It’s very nice,” she asked in a soft tone.

Ma Suying’s eyes were closed, as though she had not heard anything.

Xiang Wan did not feel awkward. She placed a cup of ice-cream on the bedside table and pulled a chair over to sit down.

“I know you’re upset and can’t accept all that’s happened. But if you don’t eat or drink to pit against the police, you’re just torturing yourself. You’re in the hospital. If they want you to survive, they have many ways to do so. They can force feed you by inserting a tube or something like that. Do you know how scary it is?”

Some people were not afraid of death but afraid of pain. Xiang Wan herself belonged to the latter.

Hence, she deliberately put it in a very serious manner.

The mentality of Ma Suying, however, was really unlike that of the average person.

She did not even furrow her eyebrows as she laid on the bed quietly and lifelessly like a corpse. Both of her hands lay beside her body without any strength. None of the words said Xiang Wan had spoken triggered an effect on her.

The caring card could not work on her. Persuasion had no effect, either.

Xiang Wan tried various methods to communicate with her. The result was depressing, though… She talked a lot for the past half an hour that her tongue felt dry, yet Ma Suying totally had no reaction at all.

It could be said that this was the most difficult person Xiang Wan had ever met since she worked as an advisor to the team.

She turned to take a look at Bai Muchuan for further instructions.

“Leave the ward first!” Bai Muchuan seemed to puff a sigh. “I’ll talk to her privately!”

…