Chapter 102

Although Xing Tong described it as very serious to Shen Shiqian and Fran, when she entered the classroom, Feng Ran was actually in a good condition. Perhaps it was because the pain that had been troubling her had finally disappeared, and she was unusually calm. She stood with her back against the table, having cried all her tears.

Unable to hear his own voice, Feng Ran could only rely on habit and instinct to stammer, "He's afraid of me. Are you afraid of me?"

Whether it was because Shen Shiqian, being a 3S-level, was inherently strong-willed or because he had become accustomed to various pains and excitements from his long-term interactions with Feng Ran, he approached as usual when faced with danger and pressure, and then tenderly embraced Feng Ran.

This is the answer.

He held her so tightly that Feng Ran could only feel the faint touch of their skin against each other; all she could feel was the vibration of his heartbeat and the constant flow of his body heat.

A series of kisses in response.

Feng Ran had no thoughts left. She obediently let the robot administer the medicine. In an instant, she felt all her strength drained away, and her senses, disconnected, became subtly dizzy. Fortunately, Shen Shiqian held her steadily, making Feng Ran feel that everything wasn't so bad.

When Feng Ran was carried out of the classroom, he saw Basil and Fran waiting outside the door. He was speechless for the first time and avoided Basil's concerned gaze.

Basil was afraid of her, but she was just as afraid of basil.

Everything known, unknown, changed, and unchangeable.

Basil remained standing in place, but Fran walked shakily to Shen Shiqian and took out a collection tube from the items he had brought.

His caution made Feng Ran feel at ease, but she saw him awkwardly pointing at Chen Shiqian, then at Feng Ran, gesturing for a long time. Xing Tong explained it to her at the right time.

[Master, Fran says he needs to check your pheromone levels. He needs to collect fluid from your glands, and to differentiate between levels, he also needs to collect some from Chen Shiqian.]

Feng Ran gently tapped the operation keys on the terminal a few times to lift Xing Tong's "mute" status, and then painstakingly searched his mind for two words to express his meaning.

[Stable, ...recovering.]

Xing Tong's way of thinking was designed to be infinitely close to Feng Ran's. It easily understood what Feng Ran wanted to express: "Master said it's not too late to do the examination after her physical condition stabilizes. You are still recuperating, so you are strictly prohibited from doing anything related to experiments and research!"

Feng Ran nodded slightly in affirmation of its interpretation, and Fran instantly looked dejected, reluctantly putting the item away.

After leaving school, Shen Shiqian took Feng Ran directly to the hospital. Fran, having nothing else to do, followed closely behind. Due to the effects of the sedative, Feng Ran drifted off to sleep on the way, thus missing Xisen's wonderful reaction when he saw her.

When the family was temporarily in crisis, Qian became the eldest son and Xing Tong became the second eldest. While waiting for the test results, Xing Tong manipulated the robot's short and stout body to rush to Xi Sen's side, with one of its mechanical arms still holding Fran.

"Call in the best gland specialist in your hospital and give him a full examination."

Xisen stared at Shen Shiqian in disbelief: "Your status in the family has dropped so low now?"

/

Just one week into the senior year of high school, Feng Ran had to take a long sick leave. The repair medicine takes a long time to work on nerve damage. Last time, Feng Ran was unconscious for almost a month before she recovered. This time, the side effects were even more severe. Not only did she experience intermittent body aches, but she also lost control of her body, making it impossible for her to go anywhere.

Although Feng Ran hated hospitals, she couldn't go against Xi Sen and Shen Shi Qian's wishes, so she was treated as a critically ill patient and monitored around the clock. Fortunately, Fran was also under full supervision and control with her every day, which made her feel a little more at ease.

After being forced by Xing Tong to undergo examinations, Fran's gland damage nearly alarmed the Omega Protection Association. In addition, he refused to say who marked him, so he was automatically portrayed as an extremely pitiful figure by the doctors and nurses, and his daily nutritional meals included two more dishes than Feng Ran's.

But he was perfectly healthy, and every day when Chen Shiqian wasn't around, he would come over to study the readings on the wind turbine's monitoring equipment. Then, not long after, he would be taken away by the nurses under the pretext of AO isolation.

But there's one downside to staying in the hospital. As a patient, people come to visit every few days: a former colleague from the gastroenterology department who steals a moment from her busy schedule, Bai Yunxi, the psychologist whom Feng Ran had put aside and forgotten, Afu who was worried about her, people from the military that Feng Ran found extremely annoying and had Zuo Ling keep them out of the door, and even Orville came over after hearing about it.

Even Qin Xin finally arrived, and her patience finally reached its limit.

She couldn't even control the strength to lift her hand to write on the terminal; she just looked at Qin Xin coldly, as if she were looking at a stranger.

Since Feng Ran regained his memories of his past life, he has never returned to that home. Seeing Qin Xin's face again felt like centuries had passed. He still couldn't understand what she was doing here. Was there any point in trying to salvage the situation now?

When Feng Ran first entered the social world, she heard someone privately comment that she was the best at hiding her emotions and true feelings, like a fake person. But all of this was learned from Qin Xin. She learned to judge the situation and see through people's hearts, but she couldn't understand her mother. Because there were too many scars left behind, she didn't even dare to believe that what she saw through was the truth.

She is an admirable actress, but she is not a good mother.

Feng Ran didn't know why Shen Shiqian had let her in, but she didn't want to know or understand. In her eyes, this belated warmth was like a prank, and immersing herself in it would be the beginning of misfortune.

So Feng Ran ignored her endless chatter while holding his hand, and only said softly at the end, "My mental power is out of control, and I can't hear anything, have you forgotten?"

Then she watched as the image of the always dignified and elegant woman crumbled before her eyes. Whether it was embarrassment or some other, more superficial sadness, Feng Ran did not want to explore. Her mental state would not be healed or redeemed by Qin Xin's sudden realization of her mistakes and repentance, or by saying things like "From now on, I will only recognize you as my daughter and love you well."

Seeing her break down brought her no relief or comfort. Ultimately, her resentment towards Qin Xin wasn't directed at any specific event like Feng Linye or Feng Xiqiao's; it was simply that Qin Xin didn't love her. She hadn't received the candy she wanted as a child, and now she was past the age of wanting sweets.

She calmly dismissed them, saying, "As you can see, I'm fine. My illness is just from an old injury. Shen Shiqian has been very good to me. It's just that I don't want to have any more entanglements with you, which is why I haven't been in contact with you. After all, my father's attitude towards me is quite obvious. We no longer need to pretend to be a family."

"I have TMS treatment coming up, so I probably won't be able to see you today, and there's probably no need for us to meet again in the future."

The message was clear: even though Qin Xin was heartbroken, Zuo Ling carefully ushered her out.

Feng Ran wasn't lying. In response to her sudden and severe emotional outburst, Bai Yunxi redesigned a treatment plan. However, since the repair process in her brain hadn't finished, medication couldn't be used, which is why transcranial magnetic stimulation had to be performed.

Shen Shiqian arrived just in time to pick up Feng Ran for treatment. Feng Ran curled up in his arms. Perhaps the treatment had indeed made some progress, because when he faced Qin Xin just now, he didn't recall any other terrible memories. He felt neither excited nor in pain.

Why did you ask her to come see me?

Shen Shiqian took out a necklace from his body and stuffed it into Feng Ran's hand. A small crystal violet hung from the bottom of the long silver chain.

Feng Ran recognized it; it was the simplest necklace among all of Qin Xin's jewelry. She had never seen Qin Xin wear it on any occasion, yet she treasured it and kept it the best.

When Feng Ran attended her first ballroom dance, Qin Xin meticulously helped her dress up, practically turning her entire wardrobe upside down. When she saw this necklace, she looked at Feng Ran with a rare gentle and quiet gaze, revealing a natural smile. She said that her eyes resembled her maternal grandfather's, and that the necklace was a gift from her grandfather to her grandmother. Before her grandmother passed away, she gave the necklace to Qin Xin, hoping that she could find her own happiness.

At that time, Feng Ran felt that Feng Xiqiao was not a good man and was full of contempt for this statement. She felt that it was a waste of her grandmother's good intentions and did not take Qin Xin's statement that she would leave the necklace to her as a dowry seriously.

She clutched the necklace, clearly disgusted, yet reluctant to squeeze it too hard for fear of breaking it. She looked up at Shen Shiqian with teary eyes: "Did she come to bless me?"

Seeing Shen Shiqian nod slightly, he continued to look at the necklace.

"Xing Tong, what did she just say?"

Everything that had just happened seemed to have been erased from my memory. Impatience and indifference were replaced by a faint sense of loss. As a result, the person in my memory changed strangely. Qin Xin, whom I had just met, was not like the person in my memory. She had become haggard, with fine wrinkles and rough, dull hair, like a rose that had reached the age of withering.

Xing Tong extracted the most crucial information.

[Feng Xiqiao's mistress is pregnant, and Qin Xin wants a divorce, but she won't get any benefits from it.]

[She just said a lot of mushy things, but the gist of it was that she only has you left, and from now on she can only rely on you for everything, but your happiness is more important than anything else.]

Love is ambiguous, familiarity remains unchanged.

No wonder she was so heartbroken and devastated when Feng Ran rejected her.

"Give her some alimony and tell her to stop coming to me."

Feng Ran then looked at Shen Shiqian: "Did you give me the necklace because you were afraid I wouldn't see her? You're so easily bribed?"

Shen Shiqian lifted Feng Ran up a little, and their heads touched. Feng Ran unconsciously captured and recognized the spiritual power he was emitting, and the words she wanted to say entered her mind like a stream of consciousness.

[I just feel that you need a proper end to your past.]