Shi Mengwan breathed quickly, opened two buttons of her coat, came near Su Qingsang and patted on her shoulder.
âAm I your friend or not?â
âWhat?â Su Qingsang blinked. She hadnât completely recovered from the shock yet.
âYou are not treating me as your friend,â Shi Mengwan gave her a gentle punch and said, âHow could you not tell me that your mom had a car accident?â
Su Qingsang paused briefly and understood her meaning. âIâm sorry. I forgot. I was too busy.â
âWere you going to keep it secret from me if I didnât come here to see you today?â
Earlier, Su Qingsang told Shi Mengwan that she would leave for a two-week communication study. Shi Mengwan checked the calendar and found it was about the time for Su Qingsang to come back. She called her in the morning, but Su Qingsang didnât answer the call.
She was near the hospital after lunch, so she decided to drop by. At the hospital, she heard from Su Qingsangâs colleague that the latter might be with her mother. She had also learned that Xiang Caiping had a car accident.
âLetâs go. Iâm here and I want to visit Aunty Xiang.â
âLetâs go.â
Xiang Caiping should have woken up already.
Because of her injury, she couldnât sleep well and woke up all the time. She couldnât take too many pain killers, so her sleep was always short.
âYou really didnât see me as a good friend,â Shi Mengwan complained as she followed behind Su Qingsang.
Normally, Su Qingsang would comfort her and tell her that she didnât mean to forget to tell her. However, today she was not in the mood.
Many thoughts were going on in her mind. She brought Shi Mengwan to Xiang Caipingâs room and looked at Xiang Caiping long and hard.
Xiang Caiping had already woken up and was surprised to see Shi Mengwan.
Neither Xiang Caiping nor Xiao Ning detected the strange look on Su Qingsangâs face. Xiang Caiping was busy chatting with Shi Mengwan.
Su Qingsang looked at Xiang Caiping, wondering if the latter knew that she was not her daughter.
She believed that Xiang Caiping didnât know. She was still wearing the jade pendant that Xiang Caiping gave her. It was smooth, as warm as her body.
She remembered Xiang Caiping argued with Su Peizhen for her, even gave the latter a slap to the face.
She also remembered the sweater that Xiang Caiping knitted for her. She saw it the first day she came home. It was on the couch in the living room.
Xiang Caiping was certainly waiting to give her that sweater when she came home. However, by the time Su Qingsang was home, she was already in the hospital.
All the signs indicated that Xiang Caiping really thought Su Qingsang was her daughter.
How could that be?
Her blood-test report couldnât possibly have been faked.
Who was she then?
âQingsang?â
Xiang Caiping startled Su Qingsang out of her thoughts.
âMom.â Su Qingsang gave her a stiff smile.
She called her âMomâ, but it did not come as naturally as before. No one detected the difference, though.
âWhy are you distracted? Mengwan was talking to you.â
âQingsang, whatâs wrong?â Shi Mengwan looked at her questioningly.
âNothing. Iâm thinking about the surgery that Iâll be performing this afternoon.â
âI was asking you how long will your mom need to stay here and when she might be discharged. Did her doctor tell you?â Thankfully, Shi Mengwan wasnât angry.
âA month, at least. After that, weâll see how her recovery goes. She can go home then, but will still need to come to the hospital for rehabilitation.â
âSuch a long time?â Shi Mengwan opened her eyes and asked, âSo you guys will be here during the New Year, right?â
âYeah. Her injury is quite serious indeed.â No one wanted to celebrate the New Year at the hospital if they had a choice.
âAunty Xiang, Iâll come here to keep you company at New Year.â
âYou donât need to do that,â Xiang Caiping hurriedly responded. âBeing in the hospital isnât an auspicious beginning for the New Year. You can always visit me after the New Year. Iâm good.â
âAunty, donât say that. You are Qingsangâs mother, so youâre also my mother. Donât worry. Iâll be here at New Year.â
Xiang Caiping then stopped trying to dissuade her.
As Shi Mengwan was keeping her company, Xiang Caiping waved at Su Qingsang and signaled for her to go back to work.
Su Qingsang looked at her with a complicated expression. At last, she nodded, said goodbye to Shi Mengwan and left.
She didnât lie. She had two simple surgeries to do in the afternoon. Neither of them was difficult or time-consuming.
She was still able to focus on work, but once she stopped working, she kept thinking about the relationship between her and Xiang Caiping.
She thought for a very long time but failed to come up to a conclusion. At last, she ordered a blood test for herself.
âDoctor Su, why do you want a blood test? Didnât you do it already during the standard medical examination that the hospital gave us earlier?â
Hearing the question asked by her colleague from the clinical laboratory, she smiled but didnât answer it. That was a difficult question.
âNothing. I just want to do it again.â
Her colleague didnât ask any further questions. She did the test for Su Qingsang and then gave her the result.
The test only took a few minutes. The result was very clear. She was type AB.
...
Huo Jinyao detected Su Qingsangâs unusual emotion once he saw her that day.
She was talking to Xiang Caiping and trying to make her happy, but Huo Jinyao could tell that her smile was not real.
What happened? Huo Jinyao thought of what he heard earlier.
Su Chenghui sent Su Peizhen to the United States. Li Qianxue was so angry, so she left home for a vacation. Su Yuxin was on vacation too, so she took him with her.
None of them was in Lin City lately. Therefore, it couldnât possibly be the Su Family people who made Su Qingsang unhappy. Was it because of work?
Huo Jinyao was in no rush to ask. He believed that Su Qingsang would talk to him about it at home.
Currently, both of them spent nights at home. Xiang Caiping insisted on that. They worked long hours every day, so they both needed good sleep at night.
Xiao Ning stayed in the hospital to look after Xiang Caiping. She was a professional caregiver. She had taken care of many patients who were in even worse condition than Xiang Caiping was. Su Qignsang and Huo Jinyao trusted her.
Huo Jinyao was right. Su Qingsang fell into silence once she got into the car.
She didnât say anything but looked straight at the road. Under the streetlights, she looked confused, struggling, and somehow upset.
âDarling?â
âHuh?â
âAre you alright?â
âIâm fine. What could possibly happen to me?â She was fine. She just discovered something unexpected.
Huo Jinyao knitted his eyebrows slightly. He didnât like Su Qingsangâs tone of speaking. He really didnât like it.
However, he didnât ask any questions but drove faster.
The car parked under their building and Su Qingsang got out immediately.
Huo Jinyao looked at her back and got out as well.
âDarling, are you okay?â
âIâve told you, Iâm fine. Leave me alone.â
Su Qingsang had many thoughts in her mind at the moment and felt a little lost and confused.