There’s a saying that goes, "Ideals are plentiful, but reality is harsh."
Fu Shinian never expected this saying to apply to him and Su Mu, and even less to his present predicant—barely an hour after waking up.
The dical staff had already left the room, leaving only Qiao Yu behind. Free from any urgent tasks, Qiao Yu dragged a chair to Fu Shinian’s bedside and seated himself. "I’ve already notified Ji Nanfeng and Rong Shen. Ji Nanfeng will be coming over with Jiang Bei shortly. Rong Shen can’t make it; he’s gone to Japan."
Fu Shinian nodded lightly, uninterested in other people’s affairs. All his thoughts were consud by Su Mu, yet the woman still hadn’t appeared.
Though he’d been unconscious for so long, and despite feeling weak after just waking, he forced himself to stay alert to wait for Su Mu. Eventually, it was Qiao Yu who broke the silence:
"You should rest a while; Su Mu will probably co over after Qiqi finishes."
At the ntion of Qiqi, a flicker of light appeared in Fu Shinian’s eyes. He hadn’t asked about Qiqi since waking up—partly because there hadn’t been ti, partly because he didn’t dare to. He knew Qiqi had returned, but given the severity of her injuries, he was uncertain about her ultimate condition. Hearing Qiao Yu ntion that she was in the neighboring ward for psychological counseling suggested that she was recovering, yet he still didn’t know the details.
But he needed to know.
"How is Qiqi?"
Qiao Yu poured a cup of water for Fu Shinian and only spoke after he had taken a few sips:
"Pretty good."
"Specifically."
Qiao Yu sighed and recounted everything that had transpired since Qiqi’s return, eventually adding, "To be honest, considering the trauma Qiqi experienced at such a young age, her progress in such a short tifra is already quite remarkable. Both you and Su Mu shouldn’t rush things, especially the psychological counseling—it’s not sothing with imdiate results. It’ll take ti."
Fu Shinian nodded slowly after a long pause:
"I understand."
"Grandma..."
Qiao Yu smiled softly. "She’s doing pretty well. I visited her at ho yesterday; her spirits were good."
Hearing this, Fu Shinian visibly exhaled, relieved. He vividly rembered that before heading to the dock, Grandma’s health had seed precarious, almost as if she couldn’t hold on much longer. Having been unconscious for so long, he had feared waking up to find he had lost the elder who had watched him grow up. Fortunately, everything was still in ti.
Qiao Yu chatted with Fu Shinian for a while longer. Although Fu Shinian’s energy remained low, he showed no intention of sleeping. Gradually, Qiao Yu caught on:
"You’re waiting for Su Mu to return, aren’t you?"
Fu Shinian didn’t deny it, glancing at Qiao Yu before turning his gaze toward the door. "I have sothing to say to her."
"Should I go and fetch her?"
"No need. She’ll co back." From the mont Fu Shinian had seen Su Mu’s expression when he awoke, he knew he could never really separate himself from her. She would co back, and she wouldn’t leave for anyone else. But expecting her to return was one thing; hearing her words and reconnecting was another. Perhaps she needed a small lesson.
But after an hour without seeing Su Mu, Fu Shinian thought to himself that maybe there didn’t need to be a lesson after all. After all, she was his wife—other than spoiling her himself, how could he entrust that task to anyone else? That was out of the question. And yet, as nearly two hours passed without Su Mu’s return, Fu Shinian decided that as long as she appeared, he would apologize for his earlier behavior. Su Mu had guarded him so anxiously for days, enduring agonizing internal tornt that he could barely imagine. Her complaints were just words, not a reflection of her true intentions. Why was he so quick to scare her?
When she ca back, he would make sure to coax her lovingly.
A few minutes later, the door finally creaked open, and Fu Shinian instinctively looked toward the entrance. It was Qiqi.
His eyes lit up. Qiqi had lost weight, but she appeared spirited, her cheeks rosy. If it weren’t for her newfound silence, Fu Shinian might not have noticed any difference. Qiqi hadn’t expected that her brief psychological counseling session in the adjacent ward would lead to her father waking up in the anti. Standing at the doorway for ages, she seed lost in her thoughts until Fu Shinian reached out and called to her:
"Qiqi, co here."
Qiqi took cautious steps forward to stand by his bedside. Even as Fu Shinian gently held her hand, she remained engulfed in her own dreamlike reverie. Fu Shinian smiled faintly:
"What’s wrong? Not happy to see Daddy awake?"
Qiqi shook her head:
"I’m happy."
Though Qiao Yu had warned Fu Shinian that Qiqi wasn’t talking much these days, hearing it was one thing; witnessing it firsthand was sothing else entirely. Fu Shinian couldn’t suppress the ache in his heart, but he chose not to show it—today was a good day, and he didn’t want to weigh her down ntally with unnecessary worries. Instead, he maintained a composed deanor:
"Daddy’s happy too. It feels like such a long ti since I’ve seen my little princess."
Qiqi’s smile deepened slightly, and she reciprocated by holding Fu Shinian’s hand tighter in her own palm. "Please don’t sleep for so long again."
Fu Shinian solemnly nodded:
"I promise. After being apart from Qiqi this long, I couldn’t bear it."
Qiqi smiled softly and planted a gentle kiss on Fu Shinian’s cheek, before obediently sitting beside him without saying much more. Her bright eyes fixed unwaveringly on Fu Shinian made her appear irresistibly charming. Fu Shinian relished the look of admiration and reliance from his daughter, but he didn’t indulge in it for too long. There was sothing important he needed to find out. He gazed at Qiqi and asked:
"Qiqi, where’s Mommy?"
Qiqi hesitated briefly, then began scanning the room. In that mont, Fu Shinian felt a flicker of panic. "Didn’t Mommy go to see you?"
Qiqi shook her head: "I didn’t see Mommy."
Fu Shinian turned to Qiao Yu, who shrugged innocently: "When I ca up to the top floor, I saw Su Mu leaving your room. She seed emotional, but I didn’t think much of it. She said she wanted to visit Qiqi, and I couldn’t exactly stop her, could I?"
At this mont, Fu Shinian, whether he wanted to admit it or not, had to face a certain reality—Su Mu had escaped.
Within ten minutes of him waking up, she had fled beyond his sight.
To be honest, Fu Shinian had no idea why Su Mu had run away. According to the conventional narrative, shouldn’t Su Mu have been crying inconsolably by his side, pouring out all her fears, telling him how worried and terrified she had been, and pledging to cherish him forever going forward?
Why would Su Mu react this way? How could she have slipped away while the doctors hadn’t even confird his recovery? How could she leave without even considering Qiqi?
Fu Shinian felt as though sothing crucial was evading him, but he couldn’t yet identify what kind of reason could provoke such behavior from Su Mu.
As for where Su Mu went... While she didn’t intentionally make herself hard for Fu Shinian to find, she also genuinely didn’t want to see him at the mont. Once she confird he had woken up, and let her initial rush of joy and relief cool off, she felt she needed to leave. She stopped by the neighboring ward to check on Qiqi and, reassured of her wellbeing, left the hospital directly, returning to Gui Ning Residence.
In Grandma’s room, she shared the good news, spent so ti chatting, and finally bid Grandma farewell before retreating to her own upstairs bedroom, throwing herself under the covers to sleep.
Su Mu had thought it would take a while to fall asleep—after all, although many of her worries had been laid to rest, others remained unresolved. Yet she had miscalculated. Within less than a minute of lying down, she had already plunged into a deep slumber.
She slept until nightfall, and though Auntie Lin had suggested waking her up for lunch, Grandma had overruled her:
"She’s been exhausted for so long, and now that everything is finally over, let her rest properly. Don’t bother her. Tell the kitchen to prepare so sweets in case she’s too hungry when she wakes."
When Su Mu finally woke up to a pitch-dark room, she montarily couldn’t rember what day it was. Sitting on the edge of her bed in a daze, it slowly dawned on her that she wasn’t in the hospital anymore, Fu Shinian had woken up, and she had returned to Gui Ning Residence.
She got out of bed and went to the bathroom for a soak, almost nodding off again in the bath from sheer comfort. But she knew she couldn’t let herself keep indulging—her hunger was unbearable.
After freshening up, she headed downstairs, where Auntie Lin was the first to greet her:
"Madam, you’re finally awake."
Su Mu yawned with a smile:
"Still haven’t had enough sleep."
"Not sleeping enough is fine, as long as you eat sothing first. Even if you want to eat and go back to sleep, that’s alright."
Su Mu chuckled and took a seat in the dining room while Auntie Lin hurried off to the kitchen. Yawning again, even Su Mu herself found it odd—during those nights in the hospital divided between two wards, she hadn’t gotten a proper rest yet didn’t feel particularly tired. Now that she had slept nearly an entire day, she felt worse off instead.
When Auntie Lin served dinner, Su Mu felt as though she would starve if she didn’t eat imdiately. She grabbed a steaming bun, took a bite, sighed contentedly, then turned to ask Auntie Lin:
"Has Grandma eaten?"
"You think about the ti? Grandma’s already eaten and gone to bed. You don’t need to worry. She said not to bother her specifically and told you to focus on eating and resting well."
Su Mu nodded, smiled faintly, and then lowered her head to eat a few bites. Suddenly, it struck her that the house seed a bit too quiet. She thought for a mont before realizing what felt off:
"Where’s Shiyue?"
"Miss Fu left in the afternoon. She said since you’re back, she’s not entirely comfortable with Qiqi being at the hospital and went to look after her."
Su Mu nodded again, saying nothing further.
She had co ho mainly to vent frustration toward Fu Shinian, but hadn’t intended to neglect Qiqi. However, Qiqi’s attachnt to Fu Shinian ant she’d never willingly follow Su Mu back ho. Under these circumstances, Su Shiyue’s presence at the hospital provided Su Mu so peace of mind—Shiyue genuinely adored Qiqi.
After half an hour spent finishing her al, Su Mu returned upstairs. She decided to freshen up again in the bathroom, before lying down in bed and scrolling through her phone. She noticed several missed calls from Fu Shinian, apparently made after he’d recovered his SIM card earlier in the afternoon.
Staring at the familiar number, Su Mu let a faint smile grace her lips but didn’t return the calls.
After idly browsing her phone for a while, sleepiness crept back over Su Mu. She didn’t plan to deprive herself, so she set her phone down and prepared to sleep again. However, just as she reached for the bedside lamp, her phone buzzed on the nightstand once more. She glanced at the screen, intending to ignore it—until she saw it was Jiang Bei calling.
A tiny smile tugged at her lips as she answered:
"Xiaobei."
Jiang Bei’s amused tone carried over the line. "I went to the hospital and saw Fu Shinian awake, but you weren’t there. What’s going on?"
Though the words were frad as a question, the teasing undertone revealed Jiang Bei’s true motive: she wasn’t interested in answers—she was here for the drama.
Su Mu chuckled helplessly. She harbored no intention of keeping things from Jiang Bei:
"He’s awake now, isn’t he? That ans he’s out of danger, right? After taking care of him for so long, don’t I deserve so proper rest?"
"What about Qiqi?"
"Qiqi wouldn’t co ho with in her current state, and it’s not bad for her to remain there—it makes psychological counseling easier. With Fu Shinian and Qiao Yu around, I feel reassured."
Jiang Bei chuckled lightly on the other end of the line: "Susu, you’re still angry, aren’t you?"
Without hesitation, Su Mu admitted, "Yes, I am. It’ll take ti for to forgive him."
Indeed, Su Mu’s anger had been expertly suppressed during the period when Fu Shinian’s life hung in balance—there was no room for trivial emotions where life was concerned. She managed to bottle up her resentnt and focus all her energy on caretaking.
But this didn’t an that her fury had disappeared. Fu Shinian’s actions remained unforgivable in her eyes. Jiang Bei didn’t attempt to console her, nor did she offer any advice. Instead, she simply chuckled: "Alright, as long as you’re happy."
The two exchanged a few casual remarks, eventually agreeing that Su Mu would visit Jiang Bei the next day before hanging up.
The root of Su Mu’s anger lay in Fu Shinian secretly rearranging his plans with Qin Nianwan and leaving her behind, even drugging her with sleeping pills to immobilize her. She undoubtedly understood his motivations—everything he did was for her sake.
But the sense of abandonnt she experienced, having to face everything alone, enraged her to the core. The mory of it was enough to make her tremble with fury.
She was determined to teach Fu Shinian a lesson: no matter what uncertainties the future held, they would face them together. What she didn’t need was a self-sacrificing "hero."
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