“It’s a good thing you’ve woken up!” The grandmother in the hospital bed next to them piped up happily, “Yin Mingzheng, you really have to thank your classmate here. If it wasn’t for him, who knows when you would’ve been able to wake up.”

She gave Zhou Juan a meaningful look and said, “Some people simply don’t deserve to be parents. Honestly, this country needs to have a test for people who want to have children or something. This way, only qualified people will be allowed to become parents. If everyone else was like a certain couple and abandoned their children left and right, what would become of this country?” 

Zhou Juan felt very embarrassed when she heard what was said.

When Yin Qiang returned from the bathroom, he heard the grandmother’s pointed remarks and said gruffly, “How’s it any of your business?”

There were three hospital beds in the hospital room. The uncle in the third bed also spoke up, “What? We’re not allowed to speak the truth?”

Yin Qiang scoffed. 

Zhou Juan’s face burned with shame.

Seeing that everyone was giving him critical stares, Yin Qiang said loudly, “He’s not my kid. I’ve already done more than enough by coming to the hospital everyday to take care of him. What else do you want me to do?”

Zhou Juan heard what Yin Qiang said and quickly explained to Yin Mingzheng, “Mingzheng, I have to tell you something. You’re not actually my biological child. Rather, you were adopted.”

Shu Ning shot Zhou Juan a glare. He gritted his teeth and said, “Mingzheng literally just woke up. Could you not upset him right now?”

Then, he worriedly looked at Yin Mingzheng. However, Yin Mingzheng seemed entirely indifferent to the news. Ever since waking up, he hadn’t revealed many changes in expression.

Shu Ning’s heart dropped. Could it be that the emotional center of his brain was damaged?!

Yin Qiang and Zhou Juan were also observing Yin Mingzheng’s expressions. While they watched him, they noticed that Yin Mingzheng didn’t reveal any shock, sorrow, or anger. He simply leaned back against his hospital bed without a single expression on his face. They couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled.

“Did he really become a moron?” Yin Qiang muttered to himself. 

Xhou Juan hurriedly pinched his waist and signaled him with her eyes. “Don’t talk nonsense. Mingzheng’s completely fine. There’s no problem at all.”

Yin Qiang finally got the hint. If Yin Mingzheng really was mentally handicapped, he may end up going to jail, so he quickly shut up.

Shu Ning gave Yin Qiang a cold stare.

Yin Qiang felt uncomfortable being stared at, so he deliberately raised his voice. “What’re you looking at, huh? You can see for yourself, Yin Mingzheng’s fine. He doesn’t need you to worry about him. I’m not gonna go to jail. You should try minding your own business from now on.” 

Yin Mingzheng slowly shut his eyes. “Don’t be noisy.”

Now that he knew Yin Mingzheng was awake, Yin Qiang said, “I’m heading home. Zhou Juan, you should hurry up and go to work. Don’t stick around taking care of a mor…bastard.”

Zhou Juan stood up and said, “Okay, I’ll go handle the discharge procedures.”

Shu Ning quickly stopped her. “Mingzheng just woke up. What are you discharging him for?” 

Zhou Juan hesitated. “But, I have to work. I won’t be able to take care of him.”

Shu Ning suppressed the anger in his belly. “You don’t have to take care of him, and you don’t have to pay, alright?! I’ll handle it!”

This was exactly what Zhou Juan wanted. She said with a smile, “Shu Ning, thank you so much!”

After they finished speaking, she left the hospital with Yin Qiang. 

Once the two of them were gone, Shu Ning was afraid that Yin Mingzheng would feel upset. He sat on the edge of his bed and picked up an orange, peeling it while he comforted him. “Don’t take their words to heart. Your mom…is probably really very busy.”

He knew that Yin Mingzheng had a lot of affection for Zhou Juan. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able accept the truth, so he endured his disgust for her and powered through, “She cares a lot about you.”

Yin Mingzheng didn’t open his eyes.

Shu Ning saw that he seemed to be asleep, so he put the peeled oranges on the bedside table and took out his cell phone to continue his translation work. 

Yin Mingzheng had his eyes closed, but he wasn’t actually asleep. His head still hurt a little bit, and a certain area of his head was sore and swollen. Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang’s words didn’t stir him up at all. While he was in the ICU, the nurses chatted in front of him. He already knew about how they told everyone he wasn’t their biological child and how they didn’t even bother trying to treat him. He also knew about how Shu Ning was going all over the place collecting money for him.

When he was transferred to the general ward, it had been Shu Ning who was taking care of him. Later, Zhou Juan also started showing up. She would always be weeping at his bedside, but the things she said made his heart go cold.

“Mingzheng! Please, wake up! If you don’t wake up, Dad’s going to go to jail!”

He learned that Shu Ning reported Yin Qiang to the police through the conversations between the other patients and their family members. If he couldn’t wake up, Yin Qiang would be arrested and sent to jail. 

The entire reason he was in the hospital was because he was trying to protect Zhou Juan.

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Was it just because he was adopted?

Yin Mingzheng didn’t understand. His entire world had been shattered. He was thankful that he couldn’t move or talk. Otherwise, he had no idea what he would’ve done.

During these few days of immobility, he had a lot of time to think and observe. In the end, he came to a single conclusion—his mother didn’t love him.

But what about the warmth he received before? Was all of that fake? 

Or was it because he wasn’t their biological child that they were able to throw him away like that?

If they didn’t like him, why did they even adopt him in the first place?

Yin Mingzheng’s mind was a mess.

Suddenly, there was movement next to him. It was Shu Ning changing out his urine drainage bag. Yin Mingzheng didn’t move. 

Also, what was going on with Shu Ning?

His adoptive parents had already given up on him, so why did Shu Ning still care about him?

What was he aiming at?

Yin Mingzheng didn’t understand. 

He didn’t understand Zhou Juan, nor did he understand Shu Ning.

His world was shattering and rebuilding itself. He was forced to grow, and he also desperately wanted to grow.

For the first time, he realized that he could no longer be that child who only wanted his mother. Because he didn’t have a mother anymore.

He had to be an adult. 

Shu Ning wasn’t able to stay at the hospital to take care of Yin Mingzheng. Yin Mingzheng wasn’t a relative, so it wasn’t appropriate for him to stick around too long. Furthermore, he couldn’t hurt his parents who were so good to him for the sake of someone else.

He transmigrated into the novel because he wanted to help the little villain, but this wasn’t his entire purpose. In this universe, Shu Ning had parents and relatives. He couldn’t ignore everyone else just for Yin Mingzheng’s sake.

He went to school as his parents wished, and he hired a caretaker to take care of Yin Mingzheng. It was only after school let out that he would go to Yin Mingzheng’s side. He was worried that sharing a hospital room with someone else would affect his rest, so Shu Ning applied for a single-person room.

This way, Yin Mingzheng would be able to sleep whenever he wanted. 

When he woke up, he would need to get out of bed and move around for the sake of rehabilitation.

After school, Shu Ning would help Yin Mingzheng slowly walk through the hallways of the hospital. As the two of them walked, Shu Ning would chat with him about some interesting things that happened at school.

He showed him a few of the posts on the school forum about him. He also showed Yin Mingzheng the group chat messages and donation records and told him everything.

“Our teachers and classmates all miss you a lot.” 

“The world’s a very good place.”

“Everyone sympathizes with what happened to you.”

“Also, the truth about the robbery incident was revealed.”

Yin Mingzheng stopped, turned his head, and quietly stared at him. 

He had lost a lot of weight. He was already thin, but now, he looked like he could be blown away by the wind. The courtyard outside the hospital was drizzling with a light rain. The sky got dark early in the winter. It would be pitch black before it even reached seven o’clock. Incandescent lights lit up the hospital hallway. Wispy fragments of light were reflected in the drops of rain.

The young boy’s face was pale and delicate. His eyes were the same color as the night sky, deep and peaceful. Behind him, the unceasing drizzle of rain continued to fall.

Shu Ning knew what he wanted to ask and said with a smile, “Chen Hui’s ex-wife, An Ling, said that Chen Hui’s a pedophile. Everyone in the neighborhood group chat found out, and the conversation topic ended up turning towards you for some reason.”

Yin Mingzheng lowered his head, his long eyelashes casting a shadow across his cheeks. 

“Actually, I saw you and Chen Hui at the supermarket one time, and I overheard a little bit. I realized that you were actually the victim, so I told them. Someone also recorded Chen Hui harassing you at school, so I sent them the video. Now, everyone knows that you were falsely accused back then.”

The blond boy was a little uneasy. His eyelashes fluttered slightly, and he asked, “You won’t blame me, will you?”

This floor of the hospital was full of head injury patients. Both the patients and their family members were very quiet. There weren’t very many people in the hallway. The only other person was a nurse walking by with a cart full of medicine and single-use items, the rumbling of the wheels echoing through the hall.

“No,” he replied lightly. 

Shu Ning raised his head and saw the boy’s slim jawline. Weird, Yin Mingzheng seemed to have gotten even taller in the time that he hadn’t seen him.

Was he still growing taller after receiving such a serious injury?

He sure had a lot of vitality. Maybe that was the reason why he was able to recover so quickly.

Shu Ning had asked the doctor about his condition. Yin Mingzheng seemed normal at the moment, but the brain was a very delicate thing. Some issues would take a very long time to manifest, so it required long-term observation. 

Shu Ning carefully remembered everything the doctor said.

The quiet corridor. The shimmery rain. The bright incandescent lights. The two teenagers supported each other as they slowly walked back to the hospital room. Today, Yin Mingzheng fell asleep after taking his medicine. Shu Ning took the electric kettle and went to the water fountain to refill it. The amount of time it took for him to get water and come back couldn’t have been more than ten minutes, but, when he got back to the room, he saw that the door was ajar.

Shu Ning paused. Then, he pushed open the door and discovered a man wearing a black down jacket standing in front of the hospital bed. The man was leaning forward and had both of his hands wrapped around Yin Mingzheng’s neck.

“Who is it?!” 

Shu Ning’s mind went blank. He rushed forward and slammed the electric kettle against the man’s back. The man let go of Yin Mingzheng and turned his head.

The hood of his jacket slid down, revealing a gentle, ordinary face.

Shu Ning’s eyes widened slightly. “Chen Hui?”

Chen Hui pushed him away and bolted towards the door. Shu Ning was thrown towards the TV mounted on the wall. The side of his face hit the edge of the TV, and a dull pain soon followed. 

He quickly opened the lid to the electric kettle and poured the hot water onto Chen Hui’s back.

The thick down jacket blocked most of the heat, and white steam billowed forth. A little bit of the water splashed into Chen Hui’s hands. Chen Hui let out a shriek and quickly rushed out of the room.

Shu Ning chased him and yelled, “Someone help me! Catch him!”

Chen Hui started running faster. 

Shu Ning saw that he wasn’t going to be able to catch up to him, so he quickly headed back to the hospital room to check on Yin Mingzheng’s situation.

Yin Mingzheng kept coughing while he rubbed his neck. A red flush had appeared on his face.

“Mingzheng, are you alright?” Shu Ning pressed hard on the nurse call button, mashing down on it over and over again.

Yin Mingzheng shook his head. His eyes were watery because of the coughing. He looked as beautiful as a fragile elf. 

“It’s okay,” he said hoarsely. “I didn’t get hurt.”

Shu Ning deflatedly released the button. He hung his head and said, “I’m sorry.”

Yin Mingzheng’s eyes expressed his confusion. “Why are you apologizing?”

Shu Ning said, “I didn’t take good care of you…” 

Yin Mingzheng didn’t speak and stared at Shu Ning. After a while, he said, “You don’t need to take care of me. You’re just a classmate.”

Shu Ning was startled. Then, he bowed his head and silently sat on the edge of the bed.

Lately, Yin Mingzheng hadn’t been speaking with him very much. Now, he was saying that Shu Ning was “just a classmate”. Did this mean he didn’t want Shu Ning to take care of him?

Maybe, he would rather the person taking care of him be his family. 

Yeah, if Shu Ning was in his shoes, he would also want his family to take care of him when he’s sick, not some classmate who had bullied him before.

The sound of footsteps gradually got closer, and a nurse hurriedly appeared at the door. “What happened?”

“Someone just broke in and grabbed Yin Mingzheng’s neck!” Shu Ning put his thoughts away and explained what happened to the nurse.

The most important thing right now was Mingzheng’s safety. His own little moods weren’t important. 

The nurse was taken aback. “Is the patient alright?”

“You should check up on him.” Shu Ning stepped aside.

The nurse immediately pressed the nurse call button again. This time, the button connected with the nurse’s station on the other side. “Please tell Dr. Zhang to come to Room 1105. A patient was attacked.”

A moment later, the doctor on call brought a nurse over to check Yin Mingzheng’s condition. 

Shu Ning walked out of the room and took a deep breath. When he thought back on the three times he came across Chen Hui, he realized that Chen Hui might have mental issues. His behavior was simply too bizarre!

This kind of person was simply too dangerous because it was impossible to predict how he would act and what he would do next.

He needed to have someone guard Yin Mingzheng at all times.

After confirming that Yin Mingzheng was not injured, the doctor left, and Shu Ning breathed a sigh of relief. 

There were only two people left in the ward. Shu Ning hesitated for a moment and asked, “Yin Mingzheng, do you…not want me to take care of you?”

Yin Mingzheng raised his head. He had very deep-set eyes. They almost seemed like those of a foreigner.

“I miss Mom.”

That was what he said. 

When the caretaker arrived at nine o’clock, Shu Ning left the hospital early. Once he got home, he gave Zhou Juan a call. “A man broke into the hospital and attacked Mingzheng just now.”

Zhou Juan was shocked. “Really? Is Mingzheng okay?”

“The doctor gave him a check up and said he was fine.”

Zhou Juan breathed a sigh of relief and asked again, “Who was it? Why did he attack Mingzheng?” 

“It was Chen Hui. Mrs. Zhou, I think you should keep watch over Yin Mingzheng. I’m afraid Chen Hui will attack him again.”

“This…you know what my situation is like.” Zhou Juan hesitated.

Shu Ning gritted his teeth and said, “I’ll pay you. One hundred, no, two hundred yuan a day, alright?”

When Zhou Juan heard that she would be getting paid, the tone of her voice relaxed. “I’ll ask Yin Qiang.” 

After a while, Zhou Juan must’ve finished discussing with Yin Qiang. She said to Shu Ning, “Okay, I’ll head there tomorrow morning.”

Shu Ning’s expression was gloomy. He transferred 2,000 yuan over to Zhou Juan.

The next day, Zhou Juan headed to the hospital early in the morning in order to keep watch over Yin Mingzheng.

She put breakfast on the bedside table and asked, “Shu Ning told me that Chen Hui attacked you last night. Is that true?” 

Yin Mingzheng nodded.

Zhou Juan brought out a container of food and asked curiously, “Why did he attack you?”

Yin Mingzheng watched her attentively. Her curiosity was just that, curiosity. She acted just like any other outsider would after hearing about someone getting attacked. The only reason she asked was to satisfy her curiosity and nothing more.

“I don’t know.” Yin Mingzheng shook his head. 

Zhou Juan muttered absentmindedly, “Must be crazy.”

Yin Mingzheng was silent for a moment. Then, he said softly, “He said that he was the one who performed the paternity test.”

Clatter.

The food container in Zhou Juan’s hand fell, and the congee spilled across the floor.