The pot-bellied man with the buzz cut scrambled up from the floor, roaring to fight back, but was stopped by two security guards who had just arrived on the scene.
Just then, the pot-bellied man saw a police officer pull back the curtain of a treatnt room and step out. He imdiately stopped struggling and yelled, "Officer, Officer! Soone’s assaulting people here!"
The square-faced, thick-browed officer strode up to the pot-bellied man.
The officer’s nose twitched slightly. Then, his face grim, he said, "I also just heard soone shouting threats in a public place like a hospital."
"Sothing about teaching soone the aning of ’dead’?"
Under the officer’s stern gaze, the pot-bellied man reined in his emotions and explained in a placating tone, "Officer, I was just frantic with worry."
"Please, try to understand a father’s feelings."
"How are my son and daughter?"
The officer said gravely, "Sun Zhengxin’s neck injury has been treated. The doctor said she’ll be fine."
"As for your son, Sun Zhengwen, the doctor says he lost consciousness from extre fright. His vital signs are currently stable."
"As for anything else, we’ll have to wait until he wakes up so they can run a full examination."
The pot-bellied man questioned, "But the person who called said a branch had pierced my daughter’s neck, that she was in grave danger..."
The officer interrupted him, pointing to the treatnt room he’d just exited. "Your daughter is right in there. You can go see for yourself."
Hearing this, the pot-bellied man imdiately forgot about the officer and rushed into the treatnt room.
A mont later, the loud sobs of a young girl ca from inside.
"Dad, Dad, they hurt ... WAAAH..."
"Dad, they almost killed ... WAAAH..."
The girl’s words made the expressions of the Yan siblings, Wang Chuan, Yanyan, and Tian Yu turn ugly.
Seeing their reactions, the officer said formally, "We’ve already taken statents from both parties and have done a preliminary review of the security footage."
"Once we’ve conducted a thorough investigation, we will make a determination based on the facts."
He then suggested, "If you’re all physically unhard, you might as well head ho for now. Once our investigation is complete, we’ll diate a discussion between both parties..."
Wang Chuan and the Yan siblings had just reached the ergency room exit when they heard the pot-bellied man’s voice ring out again.
"Hey, Officer! My son is unconscious, my daughter is injured, and they just kicked !"
Wang Chuan and the others stopped in their tracks. Turning, they saw the pot-bellied man pointing at them and shouting at the officer, "How can you just let them leave?"
"You should at least take them to the station and lock them up!"
The square-faced officer replied in a clear voice, "Based on the current situation, this incident doesn’t warrant detention."
After a pause, the officer asked, "Sir, how did you get to the hospital?"
"I drove, of course..."
As he said this, the pot-bellied man suddenly realized sothing was wrong. He quickly explained, "Officer, it was an ergency! I had to improvise!"
"Please, I hope you can understand..."
Just then, the officer snapped to a salute and said, "Sir, you are suspected of driving under the influence."
"Please present your ID, driver’s license, and vehicle registration."
The two rooms Wang Chuan had booked at the Jinxiu Grand Hotel were deluxe two-bedroom VIP suites.
Wang Chuan, Yanyan, and their little dog, Helen, took one suite.
The Yan siblings and Tian Yu took the other.
Yan Feifan finished his shower and ca out in a hotel bathrobe to find several takeout containers on the living room coffee table.
"Feifan, I just rembered you haven’t eaten dinner," Yan Ziruo said. "This is takeout from a nearby restaurant. Go on, have so."
Yan Feifan grunted in acknowledgnt and sat on the sofa. He glanced at Tian Yu, who was sitting beside him, and said, "It’s been a while. You must have room in your stomach by now, right?"
"Want to join ?"
Tian Yu quickly shook her head and pouted. "I have room, but I don’t have an appetite."
Yan Feifan asked impatiently, "So are you eating or not?"
"I... I..."
Tian Yu glanced at the rather tempting food in the containers, gulped, and scooted over until she was right next to Yan Feifan.
"I’ll just have a little to keep you company."
She picked up the spare pair of chopsticks the restaurant had provided and looked at Yan Ziruo. "Ruoruo, do you want so too?"
Yan Ziruo smiled gently. "I’m not hungry and I don’t have an appetite. You go ahead and eat with Feifan."
"That extra set of chopsticks was for you, anyway."
Tian Yu murmured a small "Oh." Seeing that Yan Feifan had already started with his chopsticks, she quickly began to eat as well.
At first, she was a little reserved, but it wasn’t long before her true nature took over, and she started fighting with Yan Feifan for the food.
"Mr. Yan, I’m still small! I’m a growing girl, so I should get this pork rib..."
"Mr. Yan, no girl will ever like you if you act like this..."
"Mr. Yan..."
Yan Ziruo watched them squabbling over the food, neither giving an inch, just like they always had. A happy smile spread across her face.
"Feifan, I’m not scared at all anymore."
Yan Ziruo t her brother’s gaze and said in a relaxed tone, "You’re healthy now, and you have so many doctors at the hospital who think highly of you and look after you."
"Most importantly, I’ve realized that you’ve truly grown up. After what happened today, you were the one comforting , not the other way around."
"Even if I get arrested and thrown in jail, I won’t be worried anymore. You can live just fine on your own."
Hearing this, Yan Feifan felt a sting in his nose.
He sniffled and said, trying to sound calm, "Sis, you’re letting your imagination run wild again. You’re not going to get arrested."
"Besides, I still need you to take care of ."
"What if soone tries to bully or beat up? I can’t win a fight against them."
Tian Yu chid in loudly, "Ruoruo, you were so aweso today! You took on so many people by yourself and sent them all running with their tails between their legs."
"Ruoruo, have you trained in fighting or sothing?"
Yan Ziruo chuckled. "I never trained. I just got into a lot of fights when I was young, so I guess I have so experience."
"When we were little, people were always picking on us."
"And Feifan was always skipping grades, so the older kids would pick on him too."
"With no mom or dad, I had no choice but to get tough and fight back myself."
Yan Ziruo reminisced for a mont, then chuckled. "Thinking back, it was pretty funny, fighting over such petty little things."
"I’m still in touch with a few of the guys I used to beat up all the ti."
Tian Yu said, "Oh," then asked, "Ruoruo, can you teach how to fight?"
"There’s this boy in my class who’s always giving a hard ti. I’ve wanted to beat him up so many tis."
Yan Ziruo reached out and patted Tian Yu’s head. "Fighting isn’t good. You shouldn’t learn how."
"If that guy bothers you again, just tell your teacher. And if the teacher doesn’t do anything, I’ll go deal with him for you."
Tian Yu nodded. "Okay, Ruoruo. I’ll listen to you."
Just then, a knock sounded at the door.
Tian Yu ran to open the door and found Wang Chuan and his daughter, Yanyan, standing outside.
Yanyan was holding a cake.
"Oh my gosh, we totally forgot about the cake and the birthday song..."
Tian Yu yelled excitedly, "Mr. Yan, Ruoruo said we had to wait for you to sing the birthday song and eat the cake together!"
"Happy birthday to you..."
As the birthday song began, Wang Chuan had the sudden urge to plug his ears.
’Because of the issues with her vocal cords and oral resonance, Yanyan’s vocal quality was terrible, but at least she was singing in tune.’
’What in God’s na was that noise coming out of Yan Feifan?’
’And little Tian Yu... her pitch was jumping all over the place...’
’Then Yan Ziruo joined the chorus, and her key was also astonishingly unconventional...’
When he saw Yan Ziruo’s gaze shift to him, Wang Chuan decided he couldn’t be left out of the group. He imdiately opened his mouth wide and joined their dissonant chorus...
「The next morning」
Yan Feifan woke up in his hotel bed and noticed several unread ssages on his phone from his colleagues in the ergency departnt.
He tapped on one of them and read: "The boy, Sun Zhengwen, woke up at five this morning. He’s showing symptoms of hysteria and epilepsy..."
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