Over the next two days, the atmosphere in the hospital room quietly changed.
Song Qiuya arrived on time every day to help care for her father.
Most of the time, she simply sat quietly beside his bed. Watching his complexion improve day by day, she finally found a little relief from the tension that had gripped her for so long.
Chen Lin would pull up a chair beside her, sometimes looking down to handle small matters on his phone, sometimes quietly reading a book.
He said little, but whenever her lips grew dry and she became thirsty, he would hand her a cup of warm water.
Whenever she frowned, he would give her a reassuring look.
His silent companionship felt so steady that Song Qiuya's heart began to settle, too.
She began to have the emotional space to observe the woman she had deliberately ignored all this time-Ye Qingqing.
She watched Ye Qingqing tirelessly tend to her father, giving him water, wiping him down, and massaging him. Every movement was so practiced that she seemed to have done it thousands of times.
The concern and pain in her eyes could not possibly have been faked.
Once, when her father coughed in the middle of the night, Ye Qingqing practically sprang out of her chair.
That instinctive alarm sent a faint stab through Song Qiuya's heart.
Her prejudices began to dissolve, little by little.
Although she remained distant toward Ye Qingqing, she could no longer feel as justified in disliking her as she once had.
The afternoon sunlight was just right.
Chen Lin's phone suddenly vibrated. It was a video call from "The Universe's Cutest Qianqian."
He answered with a smile, and two pretty, youthful faces immediately crowded onto the screen.
"Chen Lin! Look!"
Chen Qianqian excitedly turned the camera toward