Chapter 55

Upon hearing what the police said, the on-duty doctor finally panicked completely. His eyes darted around, and he stammered.

The policewoman then asked, "Where did the patients staying here go?"

"She has been transferred to special ward number 1."

The policewoman stopped looking at the on-duty doctor and turned to her partner, saying, "Take him back and question him properly."

The on-duty doctor panicked, "Didn't I already tell you? Why are you taking me back to the police station?"

"As a doctor, you should at least know the law."

Special Ward Number One. There is no bed, nothing at all. Pure white sponge blocks surround the entire room. The material, which should have made people feel warm, now seems so cold and inhumane.

Yu Xi didn't care. He walked barefoot on it and found a place to sit cross-legged. The room still had no windows, but at least there was a light, so it wasn't too dark.

Yu Xi is not afraid of the dark. He was often locked in the house when he was a child, so he was used to the darkness. Later, when he was allowed to go out, he even tried to spend the night in the wild. The feeling was completely different from being in a dark house.

He wasn't afraid of the dark, but he was somewhat afraid of the night.

The unknown always tugs at the nerves of humankind, and terrifying things are born in imagination. But given his own past, Yu Xi sometimes finds it hard to distinguish whether those terrifying things are figments of his imagination or actually exist.

The ward door was opened from the outside, and a policewoman in uniform stood in the doorway. Unlike her serious demeanor when she had just interrogated the doctor on duty, she now wore a gentle expression characteristic of women. "Hello, may I come in?"

"Can."

Would you like to talk here or outside?

“My family should be here to pick me up, and I want to go with her.”

"Family?" The policewoman hadn't obtained Yu Xi's information and only assumed he was a pitiful patient who had been abused in the sanatorium. But after seeing Yu Xi's current condition, she overturned her judgment. After all, Yu Xi didn't look pitiful; he was just a bit disheveled and dehydrated.

"Okay, before that, would you like some water?"

"Thanks."

The policewoman handed Yu Xi an unopened bottle of mineral water, then sat down cross-legged like Yu Xi. Neither of them spoke. Yu Xi drank the water quietly, while the policewoman stayed with him to wait for the family Yu Xi mentioned.

The man followed behind Zhou Mo, and when he saw her asking the medical staff where the police were, he was even more puzzled. "Miss Zhou, why are we asking where the police are?"

"What have you done that you feel guilty about lately?"

The man immediately retorted, "How could that be? The boss stopped us from doing anything illegal a long time ago."

"Since you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't be afraid of the police."

That being said, men's panic at the sight of the police is like a knee-jerk reflex, it's ingrained in their bones.

Something big happened at the sanatorium, and the nurses had been spreading the news by word of mouth for a long time.

Zhou Mo found out the policewoman's whereabouts without much effort.

The man found it strange, "Shouldn't this be kept secret? How did you find out so easily?"

Zhou Mo didn't intend to answer the question, because she knew that if she did, the man might not be too happy.

Special wards are always hidden deep inside; you have to go through many twists and turns before you finally see the special ward marked with number one.

The door was open, but Zhou Mo still knocked politely.

"Please come in."

Zhou Mo took off her shoes and walked in. The first thing she saw was Yu Xi holding a water bottle. Her gaze swept over him without restraint. There were no injuries on his face, and he could cross his legs, so he probably hadn't broken any bones. He looked a little weak, which was understandable, since he was in a mental hospital. There were no signs of injury on his exposed skin.

Zhou Mo judged that Yu Xi should not be injured.

Even so, she couldn't help but look disappointed.

The atmosphere in the room became somewhat awkward for a moment, and the policewoman couldn't help but smooth things over, "Hello, who are you?"

“I am his family member, my name is Zhou Mo.”

"Hello, I'm from the Ming'an City Public Security Bureau. My name is Xing Ling. He said he'd wait for his family to arrive before we could talk."

Zhou Mo nodded, then sat cross-legged opposite Xing Ling, next to Yu Xi.

"Your name is Yu Xi, right? Do you remember how you got to this sanatorium?"

Yu Xi: "Someone asked me to come out, and then covered my mouth from behind."

"After you arrived here, did they conduct any checks on you?"

Yu Xi: "No, they just locked me in a dark room without windows."

Did they give you food and water?

Yu Xi: "There is no food and no water."

Xing Ling nodded, indicating that she understood.

"Do you know who kidnapped you?"

Yu Xi: "I don't know."

"You don't need to have any worries. You should trust the police. As long as there is any possibility of illegal or criminal activity, we will investigate to the end and give the victim justice."

Yu Xi: "I really don't know."

“Okay.” Xing Ling glanced at Zhou Mo. Since coming in, Zhou Mo had kept her head down quietly, except for that first glance at Yu Xi, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Based on her keen intuition, Xing Ling asked Zhou Mo, "Do you know who might target Yu Xi?"

Zhou Mo slowly raised her head and shook her head under Xing Ling's gaze. "I don't know either."

"Okay, one last question, if I may ask, what is your relationship with Yu Xi?"

"I've already said it, family."

"What kind of family? Some people even call their romantic partner family."

Zhou Mo blinked. "We haven't dated anyone else. We're really family."

"Okay, I'll contact you again if you need anything else. My colleague will escort you home safely."

Zhou Mo thought about it and didn't refuse. After Xing Ling left, she sent a text message to the man, asking him to leave first.

The empty white room was now empty except for Yu Xi and Zhou Mo.

Yu Xi carefully touched Zhou Mo's hand, watching her reaction. When she realized that Zhou Mo wasn't resisting, she hooked her little finger around Zhou Mo's little finger. This gesture was both a sign of weakness and a way to comfort her.

"You went to Z University."

"Mmm," Yu Xi replied softly, sounding somewhat guilty.

"How does it feel? Is it the school of your dreams? The place you see is the North Campus, which is the old campus of Z University. It's being renovated today, and it'll probably look even better next year. I guess you haven't been to the South Campus. There are large flower groves there, and a path called the Path of Life. It's said that if you walk it all the way through in one breath, your life will go smoothly, so many students walk there. The spicy hot pot at the East Campus cafeteria is the best, and it's very cheap. The West Campus has more teaching buildings, and the library is also there. There's a really nice spiral staircase inside."

"Zhou Mo".

"Um?"

"I……"

“I understand you, Yu Xi. So you don’t need to say too much to me. Although I always say that I am the head of the family and raise you like a child, I know in my heart that you are an adult, sometimes more mature than me. So I will not question your behavior and decisions. It’s just that I’m still a little angry. Seeing you like this, it breaks my heart.”

"sorry."

Zhou Mo shook her head, her little finger clenched tightly. "Yu Xi, I really consider you family. I want you to be well, but I don't just want you to be well. I also want you to be happy, free, safe, and wealthy. Family members will eventually part ways. There is no relationship in this world that is eternal and lasting. It will eventually disappear because of birth, aging, sickness, death, and the seven emotions and six desires."

"So I really want to see you full of life before we part ways."

Yu Xi was in turmoil. He frowned as he looked at Zhou Mo, wanting to say something in rebuttal, but he couldn't utter a single word, because what Zhou Mo said was exactly what he had always thought.

In a sense, Zhou Mo is the outward appearance of herself.

It's unbelievable that two people with such different life trajectories could have such a high degree of shared values.

After Yu Xi returned from the sanatorium, Zhou Mo went back to school.

There are many classes in the first year of university, and some teachers like to take attendance and record participation grades. Zhou Mo is a student who wants to do well in everything, and she doesn't want her final grade to look bad.

But before leaving, she made proper arrangements for Yu Xi, because Yu Xi was still a little weak, so Zhou Mo asked Yu Xi for three days off.

Of course, this is Zhou Mo's opinion.

Only Yu Xi himself probably knows how good his health is.

Looking at Yu Xi, who was drunk and clutching a bottle of liquor, He Ru felt a headache coming on. "Do you think this is a good idea? Little brother, crying and begging in front of your love rival about how to keep the person I like, do you really think I'll give you any brilliant plans?"

Yu Xi lay on the table, "People always part ways."

He Ru sighed and vigorously rubbed Yu Xi's head. "Didn't you already know about this?"

"Any news about Yu Songjing?"

“I thought you wouldn’t mention that name today.” He Ru raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

Yu Xi pressed his face against the cold wine bottle and let out a sneer, "Burning down houses, huh? He really has that kind of style."

Do you really think Yu Songjing is still in Ming'an?

"Can he get out?"

He Ru thought for a moment and said, "If you can get out of Ming'an, he can too, right?"

"If he really didn't care about his life, he wouldn't have set a fire to burn me and those documents in the first place." Yu Xi will always remember how Yu Songjing looked before he set the fire: calm, indifferent, and not at all like a crazy person.

Perhaps the Yu family all have this kind of calm madness in their bones.

“He hates Ning Xuzhi the most, how could he let him go like this?”

"For more than ten years?"

Fourteen years.

He Ru took a sip of wine. "That's really long, and really ruthless."

“Not all parents treat their children like children.” Yu Xi said this without any sympathy. None of them had parents. They were either born out of helplessness and given away, or they were cruelly abandoned and thrown away after birth. Whether it was the helplessness of the former or the cruelty of the latter, they made no difference in their eyes because they were together.

The ending is the same.

Yu Xi stared at her reflection in the glass bottle. "Brother, I felt really bad when I heard what she said. I want to be with her for a long, long time."

"Then let's get married."