With hesitant and light knocks, Xiao Yunhua stood before the door to the small house that she shared with her grandmother.
Silence greeted her despite her constant knocking. Suddenly, Xiao Yunhua had a very bad feeling. She looked around the house and finally found the small, potted daisy. Digging around in the dirt, she didn't care that her fingers were getting dirty. After a few minutes, she finally found the spare key to the house, albeit a bit dirtied.
Xiao Yunhua quickly unlocked the house door and fervently glanced everywhere. When she couldn't find a trace of her grandmother, her eyes widened in fear. She took off her shoes and meticulously searched in the living room and kitchen, but she couldn't find her. She decided to go search in the bedrooms, but she couldn't find her there either.
Finally, she decided to check the bathroom. Surprisingly, the light was turned on and the door was slightly open. With furrowed eyebrows, Xiao Yunhua pushed the door open slowly and paled at what she saw.
Her old grandmother was passed out with barely any color visible on her face. With shaking hands, she quickly dialed the emergency services. She felt tears streaming down her face as she regarded the old woman who took care of her despite not having any relations to her.
Ironically, those that did have blood relations to her actually didn't bother with her. Her birth mother passed away giving birth to her, her stepmother despised the very ground she walked on, and her father...
Her father was a whole new story.
Recalling his final words to her, Xiao Yunhua sighed and shook her head. Her eyes fell to the old woman again. A new wave of tears filled her eyes as she watched the only person who genuinely cared for her and raised her, kept her eyes closed.
Xiao Yunhua's shaking hands gripped the frail hands of the old woman until she finally heard the familiar sirens and her grandmother was quickly stationed into an ambulance. Xiao Yunhua was immediately questioned on what had happened and she could only sigh as she told them the truth.
When she told them that she stayed at a friend's house yesterday and only just came back, she immediately saw that disappointment filled their eyes. This was a country that deeply valued filial piety so her behavior of abandoning this frail and old woman due to their argument was a big showcase of being unfilial.
Even she felt guilt and shame fill her. If she hadn't argued with her grandmother and listened to her words, then none of the misfortunes that had happened would have happened.
Zhao Meiliang would have never had access to her phone.
She would have never had to waste all her Pretty Points.
Zhao Meiliang and she would still be friends. Deep in her heart, she was still hurting because she really and truly treated the other girl as her friend. She was disappointed.
But this also showed that Zhao Meiliang was against her before the malicious girl could cause any further damage.
Like a mindless zombie, Xiao Yunhua and her puffy eyes took a taxi and followed the ambulance to the hospital. When she arrived, she quickly asked where her grandmother was resting in. After a few minutes, she quickly was told the room number, which coincidentally, was room 512.
When Xiao Yunhua heard the room number, she paled even more and started to visibly shake as memories poured inside of her head. These memories she wanted to forget, yet fate was so cruel to remind her.
The number 512 was her curse and her most brutal experience.
But even though she could barely feel blood circulating, her heart was thumping at a rapid pace, and she felt like throwing up, Xiao Yunhua dragged her feet to stand before the room 512.
Her hand was shaking and goosebumps were evident on her arms as she gripped the doorknob.
"Are you alright?" Xiao Yunhua turned around and her brown eyes were met with a handsome face that looked to be in his mid-to-late twenties. The man had a pair of kind, chocolate brown eyes and glasses which gave him a vibe of intelligence, especially with his white coat and the stethoscope hanging around his neck.
"I-I..." Xiao Yunhua didn't realize that her voice was so hoarse. Her dry lips should've been an indication, yet her mind had been so occupied with the horrors of room 512 that she hadn't bothered with her dry throat and chapped mouth.
As though she finally realized the predicament of how her body was, a sudden pain erupted in her head and she found her vision slowly getting more and more blurry.
She could feel a pair of strong arms preventing her body from falling to the ground, but she couldn't tell who it was because she passed out.
A while later, her eyelids started to slowly flutter and she found herself in a hospital room, lying on a bed. She tried to tilt her head, but a dull ache immediately filled her head. She cringed from the pain until her line of sight fell on a nurse with a name tag that read 'Ling Qiu'. The nurse seemed to be in her early twenties had had a pair of sparkling eyes that were filled with positive energy.
"You're awake!" The nurse, Ling Qiu, said, snapping Xiao Yunhua out of her thoughts.
Xiao Yunhua tried to nod, but her the same pain from earlier was still there and prevented her from doing so.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Ling Qiu sighed. "it'll cause you to feel more pain."
"What happened to me?" Xiao Yunhua's hoarse voice asked. Her usual voice was soprano-like and pleasant to the ears, yet her current voice was rough and it sounded like she hadn't drank water in a long time.
"Ah, you blacked out and basically strained your brain." Ling Qiu said as she tried to summarize the medical report to the high school student.
"Blacked out? Why—Oh my goodness! My grandmother!" Xiao Yunhua exclaimed in horror as her eyes frantically darted everywhere trying to find the old woman. Long Qiu immediately told her to relax or else her head would hurt even more.
But currently, to Xiao Yunhua, her headache didn't matter. Her precious grandmother was in the hospital and she hadn't even gone to see her nor did she know what happened to her.
"Miss Han, you'll see your grandmother soon." Ling Qiu reassured and consoled.
However, Xiao Yunhua didn't believe her as she attempted to get up; fortunately, Ling Qiu immediately held her down. The teenager shot a glare in the direction of the nurse, to which the nurse only chuckled. After a silent contest of constant staring and glaring, Xiao Yunhua finally gave up and leaned back on the bed.
Long Qiu flashed her a playfully victorious smile and stood back. A few seconds later, a man knocked and opened the door. What came into sight was the same man that Xiao Yunhua had seen when she blacked out.
His appearance immediately caused Ling Qiu to playfully salute him as she said, "The patient is ready for examination, sir."
"Ling Qiu."
"Yes sir?"
"Please go and check on the patient in room 346."
Ling Qiu pouted but she agreed. She waved Xiao Yunhua goodbye before closing the door. Xiao Yunhua was confused as to why such a playful person was even a nurse when she seemed to not even take her job that serious.
"She's an assistant doctor." The man said as though he heard her thoughts. "It's her first year dealing with patients, so don't mind her unruly ways too much."
The man walked closer to Xiao Yunhua and she saw the name tag that was attached to his white coat. It read as Qiang Yue. The name was oddly familiar to Xiao Yunhua, so she closed her eyes and quickly reminisced in her photographic memories until she finally remembered where she saw the surname Qiang.
Qiang was also the surname of the butler that was with Zhou Lang, Butler Qiang Luo! Was there such a coincidence of surnames, or were they related?
She wanted to ask, but she couldn't expose herself so soon. If Qiang Yue was really related to Qiang Luo, then she just found her way of getting close to the youngest master of the Zhou household, Zhou Lang.
"Miss Han Yunhua?"
"How did you know that I'm Han Yunhua?" She didn't have her school ID with her nor had she been to this hospital before, so how did they know her identity when she passed out?
"Well, we didn't. Not until the receptionist said that you were looking for your grandmother, Han Mi, and from there, it was only a matter of putting the puzzle pieces together." Qiang Yue explained.
Xiao Yunhua nodded as she immediately asked, "Where is my grandmother? How is she?"
"Coincidentally, I'm the doctor that's assigned to her. That's why you saw me before you passed out. As for your grandmother..." Qiang Yue's voice faltered and his gaze turned a bit sympathetic. "Your grandmother is awake at this moment."
There was something that he hadn't told her yet and Xiao Yunhua felt like it was something that could cause her an endless amount of tears. Her grandmother was okay, right? Nothing could happen to her, right?