Chapter 4: The Hospital—Sister Has Returned

When Li Wanbai opened her eyes again, she was greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling. Her temples throbbed painfully, sharp stabs occasionally piercing through her mind.

The person keeping watch at her bedside brightened as she awoke. “You’re finally awake! I thought you...”

Li Wanbai smiled at Su Chengzi, unconcerned. “Relax, I’m not that fragile. I’ve had pollen allergies before, haven’t I? You never seemed this nervous then.”

“That was because... well, someone else was around then.” Su Chengzi’s words faltered strangely, her jaw clenched. “That Musang is truly infuriating, as if he doesn’t understand human speech. I told him you’re allergic to pollen, but he insisted on shoving that huge bouquet of roses at you!”

Li Wanbai studied him for a while before finally asking, “Who is Musang?”

She genuinely had no idea who Musang was, though Su Chengzi spoke as if they were intimately acquainted. Yet she felt no particular strangeness—just confusion. It was perfectly reasonable for her to have made new friends over the past ten years, but this new friend seemed to have a strained relationship with Su Chengzi.

Su Chengzi looked at Li Wanbai, hesitant, his lips twitching. Suddenly, Musang’s loud voice echoed from outside the ward.

“I’ve said I don’t know! I don’t know what kind of relationship I have with Xiaobai. If I knew she was allergic to pollen, how could I have brought such a huge bouquet of roses? Yu Baichuan, stop slandering me!”

As he finished, the door to the private hospital room swung open. Yu Baichuan entered, his face dark and severe. He spotted Li Wanbai lying in bed; his grave expression softened slightly, but his voice remained cold and hard. “You’re awake.”

Then, the young man they’d seen earlier in the café came in behind him, muttering under his breath. When he looked at Li Wanbai, irritation lingered in his eyes. “Xiaobai, you’re clearly allergic to pollen. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Maybe you just never cared,” Li Wanbai replied, tilting her head, puzzled. “And who are you to me, anyway? Why should I tell you about myself?”

It was only logical that she’d made new acquaintances in these ten years. Ye Xiruo was also someone she’d recently met. She might not know her own movements during this decade, but she knew her own tastes well.

This Musang was tall and elegant, his features delicate and striking. Rather than handsome, his face leaned toward a kind of beauty—different but not unattractive, almost an unconventional beauty.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t her type. Li Wanbai much preferred the cold, refined handsomeness of Yu Baichuan, so naturally, she assumed she and Musang were merely ordinary friends.

But as soon as her words left her mouth, Musang’s expression changed. He smiled, “Xiaobai, don’t be angry with me. I was wrong before—I shouldn’t have pressured you like that.”

He glanced up at Yu Baichuan, still wearing that gentle smile. “Whatever you want to do, you’re perfectly capable of deciding for yourself. It’s not up to me to interfere. That was my mistake.”

“So today I’ve come to apologize,” he said.

“Then why did you give me roses?” Li Wanbai asked, genuinely puzzled.

Flowers were a foreign concept to her. She’d never received any as a child. The only bouquet she ever got was in middle school, after she’d quarreled with Yu Baichuan; he somehow procured daisies that shouldn’t have grown in Haicheng. It was then she discovered her pollen allergy.

Pollen allergies ranged from mild to severe. Some people felt discomfort just walking down the street in summer; Li Wanbai’s was not that bad. Unless she was in close contact with flowers, she wouldn’t react.

But her symptoms were severe when triggered, just like last time.

Afterward, Yu Baichuan and Su Chengzi guarded her fiercely, yet ten years later, her defenses were so easily breached.

Yu Baichuan’s glare at Musang was frightening, as if he wanted to punch him straight out of the room. But in the end, he did nothing, only looked coldly at Li Wanbai. “Your own health is your greatest asset. No matter what, take care of yourself! Anyone who tries to push you to harm your body for any purpose is not truly on your side! Li Wanbai, you’d better remember that!”

He must have said this many times before; Li Wanbai could hear the frustration in his tone.

She opened her mouth to respond, but Musang interrupted, “Yu, you don’t need to beat around the bush, hinting and dodging. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. If the person Xiaobai is facing is stubborn and unyielding, and only one option remains, then no matter how absurd or painful, she must try it!

That doesn’t mean the person giving Xiaobai advice is a bad person. In fact, it’s just the opposite. The one forcing Xiaobai to resort to such measures is the real villain!”

The implication was obvious. Li Wanbai might not be quick-witted, but she wasn’t stupid. Her gaze flicked between the two men, and she suddenly understood. “Are you interested in me? Or are you pursuing me?”

She stared straight at Musang as she spoke. The subject of her gaze trembled, forcing a laugh. “Xiaobai! Saying such things in front of Teacher Yu—how could you?”

“Who’s your teacher!” Su Chengzi, unable to bear it any longer, burst out angrily. “What kind of student are you pretending to be here? Earlier you called him ‘senior’—at least you had some sense. Now you’re calling him ‘teacher’? Let’s be honest, if Xiaobai wasn’t blind enough to take a fancy to you, what right would you have to speak with us or to converse directly with the famous film emperor of the entertainment world? In the end, it’s all because of Xiaobai, nothing to do with you personally!”

Li Wanbai sat in her hospital bed, her mouth agape—she could have swallowed an egg. What in the world? I took a fancy to him?

Are you insulting me or mocking me?

She left aside Yu Baichuan, such an outstanding man who fit her taste perfectly, and instead got entangled with Musang?

Now she understood the many undercurrents in their earlier conversation, and belatedly realized why Yu Baichuan wanted a divorce.

If someone’s preferences had changed so drastically, who wouldn’t want a divorce? That would be true love!

What she couldn’t fathom was why it seemed she was the one demanding the divorce. Had her tastes shifted so earth-shatteringly in the past decade—from one extreme to another?

“Miss Su, you are both right and wrong.

Wrong, because I am quite talented myself, and lately I’ve wanted to try my hand in the entertainment industry. Since that’s the case, of course Teacher Yu counts as my teacher.

Right, because I am indeed favored by Xiaobai. She herself may not be remarkable, but her affection is something many pursue. Teacher Yu, wouldn’t you agree?”