Su Mian noticed that this mom's tone and attitude weren't particularly friendly, so she held her tongue for now.
She planned to observe first.
Su Qingyan looked behind her. Seeing a man standing in the doorway, her expression darkened further. "You still haven't broken up with that kept man?"
Su Mian breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed this mom still cared about her. She just wasn't happy about her being with Lu Zhou.
Su Mian sat beside the bed. "Mom, don't worry. I dumped him ages ago."
Sure enough, Su Qingyan's tone improved at that, and she even smiled. "I spent three years trying to talk sense into you, and you've finally woken up!"
She craned her neck to look outside again. "Is that your new one at the door? He looks taller than Lu Zhou, and more handsome."
Su Mian said, "He is pretty handsome, but I'm not in the mood for that right now. Anyway, Mom, when I was filming the show, you said you had a secret to tell me. What exactly is it?"
Su Mian felt there was a very good chance it was what she suspected.
Even the name Su Qingyan sounded very much like a female lead's. She was perfectly suited to being a runaway princess from a wealthy family.
Her own name, by contrast, was rather casual, like an ordinary girl working nine to five at a state-owned enterprise.
But Su Qingyan didn't answer immediately. Instead, she lowered her head.
She looked deeply ashamed, worried, and a little guilty.
Su Mian took her hand and encouraged her. "Go ahead, Mom. Even if you tell me you're a wealthy heiress, and all these years you deliberately pretended to be poor and created hardships to make me live a difficult life so you could toughen me up, I won't blame you! I'm super good at accepting things!"
Su Qingyan said, "That's not it."
The corners of Su Mian's mouth leveled out.
Su Qingyan said, "I recently got a boyfriend."
The corners of Su Mian's mouth turned down.
Su Qingyan said, "On the day you sent me money for surgery, when I went to pay the surgical fees, an old man with no respectability despite his age shoved me to the ground."
Su Mian was shocked. "What? Don't tell me you and that old man..."
Su Qingyan rolled her eyes at her. "What are you thinking? Your mom has excellent taste! Just as that old man pushed me down, a man in a suit caught me. He was six foot one, in his early forties, but he looked thirty-something because he took such good care of himself..."
"Do you believe in love at first sight, Mianmian?"
"..." Su Mian found that hard to judge.
In the original plot, her mother had stayed home without money for surgery until her illness dragged her to her death.
She hadn't met this man, either.
It seemed that because Su Mian had earned the money for surgery, the plot had begun to change.
But she didn't know whether it was changing for better or worse.
After careful consideration, Su Mian said, "I don't really agree..."
Su Qingyan suddenly turned away, clutched her chest, and began singing with a look of utter heartbreak.
"The cold night drifts down, covering my face, my daughter rebels, breaking my heart, your words pierce my heart like icicles, Mommy is truly hurt..."
Su Mian said, "..."
Holy crap, what an absurd mom.
She makes me look so normal.
Su Mian quickly changed her tune. "Actually, I'm not trying to interfere with your dating life. I fully support you finding a partner. I just think it's only been a few days, right? Shouldn't you observe him a little longer?"
Su Qingyan froze and looked at Su Mian in surprise, a trace of suspicion flashing through her eyes.
Su Mian's father had died not long after marrying her.
She had been a widow for twenty years.
For her daughter's sake, she had never had anything to do with men before, afraid of inviting a wolf into their home and hurting them both.
Only after Su Mian got into college and moved into the dorms had she begun trying to find a companion.
But back then, Su Mian had flown into a rage every time she heard about it.
Why was she so calm this time?
Su Qingyan asked tentatively, "Mianmian, you don't have to say things out of anger. If you really can't accept it, Mom can keep being a widow..."
Su Mian smiled. "Go ahead and date. You raised me all on your own and gave so much for me. It's time to live your own life. You should be Su Qingyan first, and Su Mian's mom second... I'm just afraid you'll get scammed."
Su Qingyan's eyes instantly reddened.
Boo-hoo, my daughter is so open-minded!
She threw her arms around Su Mian. "He'll come visit me at the hospital a little later today. Help me vet him."
Su Mian patted her mother's back. "Okay."
Ah, mother and daughter had depended on each other for so many years.
If Su Qingyan really had a companion, I could leave with a little less worry.
Su Mian asked inside her head, "System, after I finish the missions and go home, will the original owner come back?"
The system ignored her.
If the original owner couldn't return, she could only apologize to her.
I have my own home, too. I have my own mom.
What she could do was protect Su Qingyan while she carried out missions in the original owner's identity.
Help vet Su Qingyan's prospective partner.
And take revenge on Lu Zhou, the chief culprit who had driven her to her death.
As mother and daughter were bonding, the sound of an argument suddenly came from outside.
Su Qingyan immediately released Su Mian and looked outside curiously.
"Mianmian, quick, hold Mom's IV bottle. Mom wants to go watch the drama!"
Su Mian said, "Let's not. I'll watch for you and report back."
Su Qingyan pouted and turned her face away. "The cold night drifts down, covering my tears..."
"...Okay, okay, okay, I'll take you right now!"
Su Mian took down her IV bottle and led her outside to watch the drama.
Mother and daughter walked out of the hospital room.
Duan Xuanyu was just about to greet his mother-in-law, but Su Qingyan had no time for him at all. She jogged off to watch the drama.
Duan Xuanyu could only follow.
Outside, a pregnant woman was supporting her belly as she ran and cried.
A man followed behind her with a stern face, chasing her while berating her.
"Can you stop making a scene? It's not like we're refusing to let you have a C-section! But my mom said kids delivered naturally are smarter because their heads get squeezed!"
"My mom only wants what's best for you!"
"My mom's old. You can't upset her!"
"I only have one mom, but I can marry any number of wives. If you insist on being unreasonable, then let's divorce!"
Su Mian connected this to the plot... So the hospital where Su Qingyan was staying belonged to Gu Yichen's family!
Wait, I already warned Gu Yichen and his mother to keep an eye on this pregnant woman.
How did those two still let her get out?
And unless something unexpected happens, this pregnant woman is about to jump off the building, right?
Su Mian had no time to explain further and immediately followed.
The pregnant woman was probably determined to die. Despite her heavy body, she moved incredibly fast.
Soon, the whole group had run up onto the rooftop.
Doctors, nurses, and security guards also came chasing after her.
Gu Yichen and Gu Yuanqiu were there too.
Gu Yuanqiu still held a syringe. Seeing Su Mian, she hurried to explain, "Miss Su, it's not that I didn't listen. While I was preparing the medication, she suddenly unleashed her hidden potential, jumped off the delivery bed, and ran..."
The pregnant woman wiped her tears and, with so many people present, began haltingly recounting her grievances. "My baby's too big. The doctor said I can't deliver without a C-section. If I force a natural delivery, I'll definitely suffer fractures..."
Her husband said sternly, "Didn't we agree to let you have a C-section in the end?"
The pregnant woman sobbed. "That's because the law says only the woman giving birth gets to decide between a C-section and a natural delivery. I don't need your permission at all!"
Her husband's face darkened further. "Then why are you still making a scene?"
The pregnant woman cried even louder. "But you and your mom kept going on outside the door, saying babies born by C-section are stupid, saying that if our child can't get into Tsinghua or Peking University someday, it'll all be my fault for refusing a natural delivery..."
"Boo-hoo... The baby hasn't even been born yet, and you're already blaming me for the child not getting into a good university! I'm not having this baby! I'm going to die!"
Su Mian understood as soon as she heard that.
If the child got good grades in the future, all the credit would go to Dad and Grandma.
If the child got bad grades, Mom would be blamed for not having a natural delivery.
Tsk, her husband and mother-in-law were scum among scum.
With her hormones affecting her, the pregnant woman was especially prone to impulsiveness right now.
At that moment, the pregnant woman suddenly turned and ran toward the edge of the roof!
The security guards and the others immediately rushed over, but they were still too late. The woman had already raised her leg and jumped!