Ah Zhong squinted, a look of helplessness flashing across his weathered face.

“Uncle Zhong,” Pei Shasha picked out Huo Jingnan’s photo, placed it next to her pillow, looked up at Ah Zhong and smiled happily, “One day, I will make this man really sleep next to me!”

"Sasha!"

"Will you wish me well?"

Ah Zhong looked at her for a while, and the light in his eyes gradually dimmed.

"If you consider me your daughter, you should bless me!"

“If you really were my daughter,” Ah Zhong sighed softly, “I would shoot you dead…”

"What?"

Ah Zhong's words were mumbled, and Pei Shasha didn't hear them clearly. She stared at him with her beautiful, big eyes, looking confused. Ah Zhong gently walked over and affectionately patted her head. In that instant, he remembered the scene many years ago when Pei Hong saved him.

At that time, Pei Hong also gently touched his head, wiped the blood from his forehead, and asked him with a half-smile, "Would you like to follow me from now on?"

The disappointment in Ah Zhong's eyes for Pei Shasha gradually faded, replaced by unconditional and boundless doting.

Just like a father doting on his daughter.

Even if she has made a terrible mistake, even if she is utterly depraved, then let him go to hell with her.

"Uncle Zhong, what did you just say?"

“It’s nothing,” Ah Zhong smiled. “What I just said… you will always be my daughter.”

"That's good!" Pei Shasha's face revealed a victorious and arrogant smile. "Then I'll trouble Uncle Zhong to help me get rid of this thorn in my side and make me the only one in this world!"

*

Pei Nian and Huo Jingnan visited Qin Nuan at the hospital again.

The two hadn't reached a conclusion regarding their previous discussion. Pei Nian thought back for a long time; she definitely hadn't run into Jiang Mianmian at the hospital that day, but Jiang Mianmian's account was so certain that it seemed rather suspicious.

"Logically speaking, even if someone looks like you, Xiaoyouzi is so close to you, how could she mistake you for someone else?"

Pei Nian thought for a moment, "Is there a security camera at the entrance to the restroom?"

“Yes,” Huo Jingnan nodded. “This is United Hospital. Junyu’s maternal grandfather is one of the shareholders. I have already asked Junyu to investigate.”

Pei Nian smiled and walked upstairs to the ward with him.

Outside the ward, she saw Ding Cheng taking care of Qin Nuan. It was Sunday, a day off from school, and Ding Cheng rarely had a day off, but unlike other boys who would play soccer in the sun, he preferred to spend his time in this ward.

At that moment, he was reading a picture book to Qin Nuan. No one knew what they were talking about, but Qin Nuan was laughing heartily.

Their innocent and carefree childhood is truly enviable.

Ding Cheng turned around and saw Pei Nian and Huo Jingnan outside the ward. He immediately gestured for them to go to the door to talk.

Pei Nian and Huo Jingnan followed him to the corner of the corridor.

"You're not bad, kid!" Huo Jingnan ruffled his hair as soon as they met. "You really put your heart into Xiao Nuannuan!"

Ding Cheng smiled sheepishly, then looked up at Pei Nian, "Nuan Nuan needs her injection now, that's why I called you out. There can't be anyone else in the ward when she's getting her injection, otherwise it will interfere with the doctor's work."

“Yes, I know,” Pei Nian said softly.

"By the way, sis," Ding Cheng frowned slightly, "what exactly happened recently? How did you manage to scare Nuannuan like that?"

Pei Nian was taken aback, unsure how to answer his question.

She hadn't scared Qin Nuan, but everyone around her said that Qin Nuan was frightened by her.

Just like how she had never seen Jiang Mianmian at the hospital before, but Jiang Mianmian said that she had seen her.

She couldn't help but wonder if there was a gap in her memory? Or was there a mental problem, like Lu Ran's mother, who suffered from dissociative identity disorder and could split into another personality at any time?

"Sister? Sister!" Ding Cheng shook her hand. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Pei Nian came back to her senses and patiently explained to him, "I don't know what's going on either. Recently, a lot of strange things have been happening for no reason."

Ding Cheng looked at Huo Jingnan with a puzzled expression, and Huo Jingnan gave him a brief explanation. Ding Cheng was also somewhat surprised, and after a long silence, he said half-jokingly, "Sister, there won't be another you in this world, will there?"

"What...what are you saying!"

"Otherwise, how can all this be explained?"

Pei Nian was speechless; Ding Cheng's words only intensified her worries.

Should I see a psychiatrist?

"Hey, sis!" Ding Cheng's voice interrupted her thoughts, "Nuannuan's finished her injection, let's go in!"

Pei Nian entered the ward.

Since scaring Qin Nuan last time, Pei Nian had to go to great lengths to get Qin Nuan to accept her again. After her tireless efforts, Nuan Nuan's attitude towards her finally softened.

At least, Nuannuan is no longer so strongly resistant.

Pei Nian sat down beside her. Little Nuannuan had just finished her injection; her face was pale, and she was clutching the hem of her clothes tightly with both hands. Pei Nian opened her arms, and Nuannuan hesitated for a moment before cautiously leaning against her.

"aunt……"

This sound caused Pei Nian to feel extremely bitter.

Huo Jingnan took Ding Cheng out, leaving only the two of them in the ward.

Because of chemotherapy, Qin Nuan had lost all her hair. Wearing a large hat, Pei Nian touched her head with some heartache and forced a smile.

"Auntie, that person that day wasn't you, was it?"

"What did you say?" Pei Nian was stunned.

Qin Nuan continued in a low voice, "You don't have that scent on you... and there are no black butterflies on your hands! Also, you... you're not wearing a mask!"

Pei Nian's heart skipped a beat, and her mind went blank.

After leaving the ward, she was preoccupied, Qin Nuan's words echoing in her ears. Huo Jingnan noticed her unusual mood, gently put his arm around her shoulder, and asked softly, "What happened?"

“Jingnan…” She bit her lip, a bad feeling pressing down on her heart like a heavy dark cloud.

However, just as she was about to tell Huo Jingnan everything Qin Nuan had said, a voice suddenly came from not far away.

"Little girl... is that you?"

Pei Nian turned her head and saw a taxi parked beside them, with Ah Zhong struggling to lift his head out of the window.

"Haha, it really is you!" Ah Zhong greeted him warmly. "I saw you just now, but I wasn't sure... I didn't expect we'd have such a connection!"

"Uncle?" Pei Nian was also a little surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Ah Zhong opened the car door and got out. Pei Nian saw that he was using a cane and had great difficulty moving around.

"Sigh, I'm getting old, I can't take a fall!" Ah Zhong said with a hint of self-deprecation. "I fell the other day! I was fine at first, but when I got home I felt something was wrong, and when I got checked out, I found out I was really injured! Ha... The doctor at the clinic suggested I be hospitalized, so I'm packing my things and coming over now!"