Chapter Sixteen: Treatment (Part Two)

  "How can this be! Waaah, it's so unfair...!" Su Jinghua became more and more heartbroken as she spoke, her voice growing louder until finally, tears fell from her eyes. "It's too pitiful, really too pitiful. Such a perfect steward... waaah... I want one too!"

  "Goodness, Jinghua sister, are you crying because they're tied together by fate or because you haven't met a perfect match like him?" Gu Huanli sighed and handed over her handkerchief to Su Jinghua, who was sniffling and tearful. It wasn't that she didn't care, but rather, Su Jinghua's professional standards were too high, and she really couldn't bear to tell the truth. Moreover, without waterproof makeup, it was truly terrifying - the large teardrops that rolled out from the corners of her eyes were transparent at first, but by the time they fell onto her cheeks, they had turned into dark red droplets. Even with Gu Huanli's strong adult heart, she couldn't help but feel like her facial nerves were twitching uncontrollably.

  "Why are you crying...” Su Jinghua raised her head and glared at Gu Huanli, "You little girl, where did you get so many stories from? I've heard that most of your time is spent practicing piano. But the piano in the first floor hall, you haven't even touched it once."

  "My hand is injured." Gu Huanli replied leisurely, with a warm and sincere smile on her face, mixed with a hint of helplessness and unspoken words.

  "I've seen your X-ray, and I've also asked the doctor who treated you." Su Jinghua hooked up the corner of her mouth, completely unaware of how terrifying the smile on her face was. "So, saying that your hand is broken and can't play the piano is purely your own delusion. This is also one of your psychological illnesses."

  "Does Sister Jinghua mean that if I can play the piano, it will prove that my mental state has fully recovered?" Gu Huanli struggled to hold back the smile at the corner of her mouth and said seriously, "Although it will be very painful, but since Sister Jinghua says it's okay, then... let's try."

  "Huh?" Su Jinghua blinked in surprise, this little girl was acting strange today. Then, she started to recall, from the moment she entered the door, every expression on Gu Huanli's face, every word she said, every move she made. Even tracing back to the day they first met.

  From the first day Gu Huanli was sent in, Su Jinghua paid extra attention to this little girl who was only about eight years old. Although her case wasn't reported in the newspapers, through her family connections, Su Jinghua still found out about the kidnapping case from start to finish. Isn't it interesting? Whether as a research subject or to satisfy her curiosity, or simply to pass the time, Su Jinghua indeed intentionally asked the department director to let her be Gu Huanli's exclusive psychologist.

  After more than 20 days of interaction, Su Jinghua realized that Gu Huanli was not just a precocious child. Although many children who can afford to stay in private hospitals are precocious, children like Gu Huanli who are sensitive and have a strong self-protection consciousness are extremely rare.

  By the way, she had met Gu Huanli's uncle and aunt as well as the lovely Chu Lianyou. Su Jinghua knew that Gu Huanli was currently in a state of dependence, but this kind of thing often happened to famous families. Including herself, when she was young, she had also spent many days alone in a large house, although there were people around her, none of them were relatives.

  Su Jinghua once tried to talk to Gu Huanli about family matters, but the result of the painting test only proved that she was a child with a slightly introverted personality and strong independence. This conforms to the appearance, but does not conform to her psychological profile for Gu Huanli.

  She also observed Gu Huanli's interactions with Luo Yichen and Ye Qinglan. Perhaps there was gratitude, but lacking the admiration that belonged to a child, or the eagerness to show off. On the other hand, Chu Liuyue had all the reactions an eight-year-old girl should have.

  It was precisely because of the stark contrast between the two that Gu Huanli's abnormality became so apparent. Su Jinghua thought, such a distinct difference, Ruo Yichen and Ye Qinglan must have felt it too. Otherwise, with their identities as young masters, there was no need to run to the hospital every day just to accompany a little girl who often put up her guard with a bad attitude.

  Wait!

  Defensive posture?

  Luo Yi Chen and Ye Qing Lan aren't her lifesavers?

  Su Jinghua turned her head and looked at Gu Huanli who was sitting in a wheelchair. The little girl's right hand supported her cheek, intently gazing out the window at the pale blue sky, as if waiting for someone to arrive.

  Actually, Gu Huanli didn't think too much about it. She was just adjusting her attitude, behavior and mentality day and night. A lie told a thousand times becomes the truth; if you want to deceive others, first deceive yourself. Her problem was that although she looked eight years old, she was used to speaking in a tone of over twenty years old and thinking about problems in a way that was also over twenty years old.

  She didn't refuse to play piano, but it's been too many years since she last touched one.

  Although those notes were deeply etched in her heart, she had lost the courage and interest. Gu Huanli didn't know if it was too hasty to want to cut off all the entanglements of her past life, but facing Luo Yichen's face every day, honestly, she had thought countless times about throwing the teacup in her hand at his head or using something to knock a big hole in his brain.

  Unfortunately, life is not a movie, and there are reasons why it's not like a movie. The biggest difference between life and movies is that you can direct your own life, but no one guarantees that it will follow the script you wrote. So, she could imagine countless times, but had no ability to make her dreams come true.

  Fortunately, no one saw the ferocious expression on her face at this moment.

  "There is doubt, and there is faith; there is despair, and there is hope; there is darkness, and there is light; there is sorrow, and there is joy... Holy Lord, please allow me to seek comfort as I comfort others, to be understood as I understand others, to be loved as I love others, for it is so." Gu Huanli muttered to herself, casually picking up a piece of cake, the faint bitterness giving way to a hint of coconut fragrance, slowly melting into an indescribable sweetness.

  "Ah?" Su Jinghua was startled by the sudden sound in the silence.

  Gu Huanli turned back with a faint smile, and her eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint that was unique to children, "Jinghua Auntie, haven't you watched TV? It's said that nuns can't eat meat, so I've decided to convert to Catholicism."

  "I told you not to call me Auntie!" Su Jinghua stared at Gu Huanli's face for a few seconds, then suddenly slumped back into the chair. "Alright, you two young masters can come in now."

  "But..." Gu Huanli looked at Su Jinghua's face and kindly wanted to say something.

  "Enough!" Su Jinghua stretched out her hand to stop her, anyway it was that thing she couldn't stand again teasing her. Humph, just a little girl, didn't know at all, time, it's just a ruthless slaughter knife.

  "Dr... Su..." Ye Qinglan paused for a moment, seemingly trying to choose his words carefully. After a brief silence, he spoke in a soft voice, "Just now, I met Director Mu outside and he said there were some things he wanted to discuss with you. He'll be going to the office to look for you in about twenty minutes."

  "What's this old man going on about again! I'm so fed up!" Su Jinghua stood up impatiently and said to Gu Huanli in a stern tone, "There's a charity event for sick children over the weekend. Remember, you promised me." With that, she strode out of the hospital room with quick and nimble steps.

  Ye Qinglan suppressed the urge to burst out laughing, her face turning bright red. Luo Yi Chen lowered his head in silence, focusing on studying the strawberry shortcake on the table. Since it was called a strawberry shortcake, shouldn't it have at least ten or so strawberries on top? How could it only have three?! As for Gu Huanli, she poured herself a cup of red tea and elegantly lifted the cup to her lips, hiding behind its perfect cover to stifle a laugh.

  If you keep suppressing it like this, you'll definitely hurt yourself!

  Before long, a loud and attention-grabbing laughter suddenly echoed in the ward.

  "How many times has Dr. Su been tricked by you now?" Ye Qinglan smiled and looked at Gu Huanli, intentionally reaching out to pinch her soft little face, "Really like cotton candy, just too mischievous."

  Mischievous?

  Gu Huan Liriko didn't think so, instead she envied Su Jinghua for being a person with rich emotions and brave enough to express them. More importantly, beneath her cheerful and angry facade, Su Jinghua had a delicate and willing-to-listen heart.

  Perhaps, by constantly changing the subject like this, Su Jinghua has already discovered something. Although she tried her best to show a child's scattered thinking, she was still far from being a real child. This is also why she didn't want to return to the Chu residence. Living together day and night, any slight change in her would be noticed. Even if she could attribute the reason to that kidnapping case, she couldn't always push everything onto the kidnapping case.

  "That child called Yingzi..." Ruo Yichen also stretched out his hand to poke at Gu Huanli's small face, soft and elastic with a good feel, "Do you still remember?"

  Gu Huanli's face retreated slightly as she asked uncertainly, "Zeng Huaiyuan's daughter?"

  "No relatives are willing to take her in, so she will be sent to an orphanage next week." Ruo Yichen's eyes sparkled with cunning as he asked with interest, "Do you want to adopt her and play with her?"

  Gu Huanli deliberately widened her eyes, looking at her with a surprised expression, as if she hadn't understood anything, and curiously asked, "Is she Barbie?"

  Luo Yi Chen slightly hooked up the corner of his mouth, leaned down, and with both hands, gently stroked Gu Huan Li's cheeks. "As long as you want, she can be anyone, even if treated like a pet, it's your right."

  For goodness' sake! Is there anyone warning this moron not to teach bad things to little kids!!! Gu Huan Lian was screaming in her heart, but on the surface she still looked silly and naive, "Is it like those pets that Rong Yu sister raised, MOMO, BOBO, and NONO?"

  "Yeah, and raising a person as a pet is much more interesting than raising cats or dogs."

  "Have you been sitting for too long, your ankle is swollen?" Ye Qinglan rescued Gu Huanli from Luo Yichen's clutches and put her directly back on the bed, gently covering her body with a quilt. He seemed to glance at Luo Yichen unintentionally, while the latter calmly looked at the red tulip on the bedside table without saying anything, then walked away.

  For a moment, it was quiet.

  "Brother Lan, can you help me find the sheet music for a piano piece?" Gu Huanli broke the silence first, looking up at Ye Qinglan with her eyes reflecting his outline.

  "Alright, you want the score of that piano piece?"

  "Fantasizing on the stars." Gu Huanli said quietly. She still remembered, remembered her childhood self leaning against her brother countless times, while her brother's fingers danced like butterflies on the piano keys. Although the memory was already quite distant, she knew that the tune that made her laugh was "Fantasizing on the Stars".