No reconciliation, no forgiveness! Mr. Pei leaves with nothing.

If this incident hadn't come to light, Pei Zhan would never have known that he could find these copied USB drives again from them. If Jiang Hua knew the contents, he would be unable to defend himself and it would only lead to an even more intense argument.

Their relationship has, unusually, eased.

"It's not about covering up, it's just about preventing things from happening and minimizing trouble for myself."

Having lived under the same roof with him for over a decade, I thought that besides Ah Xu, I was the person who understood him best. But later I realized... the current Zhou Yan has never understood him at all.

"If you really fell in love with Jiang Hua, you shouldn't have come here. Are you worried about the organs that A-Xu transplanted into her, or are you worried about... Song Qingran?"

She couldn't believe that the person who loved Ah Xu so deeply before had fallen in love with Jiang Hua in less than four years.

Believing that he had fallen in love with Jiang Hua, Zhou Yan preferred to believe that what he had told her was just a feint to deceive others and avoid the danger lurking in Song Qingran.

Zhou Yan had learned about Song Qingran's past. At first, she didn't think she was like A Xu, but later, for some reason, she gradually became more and more like her.

Even their personalities are so similar…

"You can fool others, but you can't fool me."

"Brother, why won't you tell me what you really want?"

Pei Zhan turned to look at the person beside him. "Don't think too much. Just focus on your own work and cherish this hard-won position." Just as the man turned to leave, Pei Zhan felt the hem of his black suit being grabbed tightly. Looking down, he saw the unconscious person on the bed stir. "Don't go, brother..."

At that one word, "brother," Zhou Yan's heart skipped a beat, her pupils contracted sharply, and her hands at her sides trembled uncontrollably for some reason.

·

That faint voice trailed off with a lingering, reluctant tone.

Just like that year's rainy season, Ah-Xu had always been weak since childhood. With the unpredictable weather, she would often get a fever at night. Every time she got a fever, everyone would be extremely worried. That night, her mother was not home, and she was working a part-time job. By the time she returned, it was already past midnight.

That night, Zhou Yan saw the same scene as she is now.

Zhou Xu, weak on the bed, clutched the hem of Pei Zhan's faded shirt and t-shirt, "Brother... don't go."

That night, Zhou Yan watched as Pei Zhan sat by her bedside and stayed with her all night.

Everything from back then, just like now, causes her unbearable heartache.

This time…

Zhou Yan didn't get to see Pei Zhan's next move. The doctor came in and interrupted them. Song Qingran's condition was being monitored in real time by nurses. If the heart monitor showed any abnormal heartbeats, an alert would sound in the other nurses' room. The nurses had just noticed the abnormality and rushed over.

Pei Zhan was then called away by a phone call.

If the doctors and nurses hadn't interrupted you, would you have chosen to stay?

Watching that figure walk away, Zhou Yan clenched her fists tightly, her gaze shifting to the side. The reflective glass illuminated her face, filled with nothing but jealousy and resentment... In the blink of an eye, she suppressed all these emotions.

Does he mean that forgetting the past means falling in love with the person he is now?

Song Qingran, what gives you the right!

Even if he wants to like someone, it shouldn't be you.

...

In the police station's mediation room, after learning the cause of the incident, Song's mother panicked and was at a loss. She almost knelt on the ground and begged, "...It's impossible, my child would never do such a thing. Please come here."

"Please make sure you investigate this thoroughly... Qingran would never do such a thing."

The people nearby quickly helped her up. "So here's the situation: when Miss Shen had an argument with Miss Song, she didn't know beforehand that Miss Song had undergone surgery. She accidentally injured Miss Song, who is now receiving treatment in the hospital. However, as the middleman, Miss Shen caused the jewelry to be damaged during the repair process, and the raw materials for the jewelry were also stolen. Therefore... she also needs to bear some responsibility."

"This jewelry set is extremely valuable and its value is beyond estimation, so our proposed settlement is..."

“If you sign the letter of understanding, this matter will be considered closed, and you will guarantee that this matter will not be leaked to anyone. Afterwards... the Jiang family will share part of the cost of your daughter's treatment in the hospital.”

"I'll sign... I'll do anything as long as I can see Qingran."

"My daughter is innocent. She absolutely cannot be harmed!"

Under guidance, Song's mother signed the letter of understanding. Three copies were kept by the police station as a third party. The second copy had already been delivered. The other copy was called to Shen Wanrou's hands in the mediation room. Shen Wanrou was wearing sunglasses. When she saw the agreement in her hand, she was full of disdain. Apart from feeling relieved, she only felt unlucky.

Jiang Hua: "Auntie, you can rest assured now."

Shen Wanrou said irritably, "What can you do when you're caught in this kind of mess? You can only accept your bad luck."

“Hua’er, you should be careful of this Song Qingran. He’s a complete jinx. Besides this incident, I was almost exiled abroad by my own nephew and left to fend for myself.”

Jiang Hua narrowed her eyes. "Auntie, it's not that serious, is it?"

Shen Wanrou looked up and glanced to the side, then scoffed, "You don't know, people who become the head of the family are different. When they came to me to question me, they kept calling me 'little aunt,' and the things they said were more heartless than anyone else's. Anyone who didn't know better would think I had broken some heavenly law and they wanted to kick me out of the Shen family."

Jiang Hua just smiled and said, "Little Aunt, don't be so reckless next time, otherwise... with so many eyes watching, you're likely to attract trouble!"

“You’re right. I’ll stop here. I need to go back and explain to my nephew. With this letter of understanding, I won’t have to endure his cold, stern gaze for a while.”

"Wow, where did this handsome young man come from?"

Shen Wanrou was still as frivolous as ever. As she got up to leave and walked outside the door, she saw a tall, handsome man with deep facial features walking towards her. He was wearing sunglasses on his nose and took out his phone.

Pei Zhan glanced at Jiang Hua sitting inside, then looked away and extended one hand to Shen Wanrou, introducing himself, "Pei Zhan, President of Jiang Group, Hua Hua's legal husband."

Shen Wanrou was taken aback. "What? You two got married?"

"Huahua, is he really your husband? Does Ye Bai know about this?"

Jiang Hua also said, "We're getting divorced soon anyway, so there's nothing to say. It was just a fling."

After resolving Shen Wanrou's matter, Jiang Hua left.

In the passenger seat of Pei Zhan's car, the man leaned forward to help her fasten her seatbelt. "Mrs. Pei can play around with anything, except... feelings." Jiang Hua could tell he was still bothered by that sentence.

Jiang Hua looked at him expressionlessly, letting him come closer to help her fasten her seatbelt. "Is everything that's happening now... exactly what you wanted? After all this back and forth, Song Qingran is completely unharmed, she's cleared herself of all blame."

"Jiang can stay here."

Thinking of the information the police had given her, Jiang Hua chuckled speechlessly, "The other party used Song Qingran's connections to get clients for their jewelry repair studio. Coincidentally, all the wealthy ladies Song Qingran knew were introduced to her by you, who took her to banquet after banquet. Everything that happened in this incident is inextricably linked to you."

Song Qingran was caught in the middle, and she became the most innocent one. After all, she had only recommended the client source to that studio and had not done anything herself. The jewelry that her aunt had damaged had nothing to do with her. Now that her aunt was seriously injured in the hospital, they had become the bad guys.

"Sometimes I really can't tell whether Song Qingran is pretending or just like you like, ignorant of everything and kind-hearted."

Pei Zhan remained silent, knowing that she was currently angry. The matter of Song Qingran would always be a thorn in her side, and Pei Zhan had no way to resolve it. He could only let time heal her wounds.

"I have already instructed HR to suspend her position. As for terminating her internship contract, we'll wait for Chairman Jiang's decision."

Pei Zhan distanced himself from the situation, and his actions seemed to be to prove something to Jiang Hua.

"What is it that you always push onto my dad? Pei Zhan, if you don't want Song Qingran to leave, you can tell me. I don't care at all. Do you even love Song Qingran now? Do you know... what I hate most is a person who lies, is hypocritical, and deceives me!"

"You better not let me find out, or I will never forgive you."

It took her three days to repair Aunt Shen's set of jewelry. During those three days, she tried her best to restore the damaged jewelry to be exactly the same as it was before. No matter how perfectly it was repaired, it would still have flaws compared to the original, and its meaning would be different.

Jiang Hua didn't know when a jewelry restoration workshop had been set up at the school. The police told her that a jewelry restoration class had several people working together to complete the work, but... they didn't know who the owner of the jewelry was at first, nor did they understand its value. They just used a batch of materials from the school's material library to make do with inferior materials.

They only fixed a rough part, all for the sake of the money. With more than a dozen people committing the crime, and the million was divided among them, each person would get at least 100,000.

Little did they expect that this money would become the money they used to take their lives.

This million is nothing to Shen Wanrou, but if it falls into the hands of these scoundrels, Shen Wanrou will make them spit it all out, penny by penny.

So all the people involved were temporarily detained without leaving a criminal record. If they wanted to be released, they had to return the money. Most of the twelve people who were detained have already raised the money and been released...

The studio has been temporarily suspended for rectification...

However, there is still no news about the stolen jewelry, and the investigation is ongoing. None of the people involved dare to admit that they were the thieves.

As soon as Jiang Hua finished repairing it, she took it to the police station and handed it over to her.

She hasn't been able to get a proper rest in the past few days.

After Pei Zhan escorted her back to Jinsha Shallow Bay, Jiang Hua slept until six o'clock in the evening. By the time she came downstairs, it was completely dark.

The maid, carrying a package, stepped forward and handed it to Jiang Hua, saying, "Madam, everything you requested has been prepared."

Jiang Hua reached out and took it, gave a casual reply, got into her private car, and left Jinsha Shallow Bay.

Little did they know that this scene was witnessed by Pei Zhan, who had also rushed back, and the two were only half a minute apart.

As soon as Pei Zhan got out of the car, Jiang Hua got into her car and left.

"Sir, you're back?" the maid greeted him as he returned to the house.

"What did you take with you when you went out, Madam?"

The maid replied, "Sir, it's white jade ointment. Madam has been taking some with her to the hospital every time she goes out lately."

Baiyu Ointment is a medicine specifically for repairing scars. It's not expensive, only a few hundred thousand yuan per bottle and the quantity is small, but it's very effective at repairing scars.

Pei Zhan went to the hospital several times, but the medicine Jiang Hua had sent wasn't found in Jiang Weiguo's ward...

Jiang Hua arrived at the hospital quite early today, before eight o'clock, as the roads weren't too congested.

Upon reaching the fourteenth floor, Jiang Hua got off the elevator and saw the man in a wheelchair sitting on the edge of the rooftop in the corridor. Looking at his figure, Jiang Hua had lost count of how many times she had felt that familiar feeling about him. Compared to Ji Liangchuan, she felt the same way about him.

Jiang Hua has a bad temper and is easily agitated, but being around him always helps her calm down.

Ji Liangchuan was sent away by his father. So many years have passed, and Jiang Hua has no idea whether his appearance has changed, or whether he has... forgotten her.

Perhaps her gaze lingered on him for too long, for the man not far away noticed his presence. Wen Qian pushed the wheelchair over, and Jiang Hua watched him come quietly without any intention of helping. The wide hospital gown was a bit too big for him and didn't quite fit, nor could it hide the burn marks on his legs.

He silently pushed his wheelchair inside, with Jiang Hua following behind him. She sat on the sofa outside, waiting for him, looking at the cakes and pastries on the tea table without touching them.

The man returned to the ward, took out the piece of music he had just written the day before from the bedside table, went to her side and gave it to her, "You can try it when you get back. If you feel that something is wrong, you can come to me to revise it."

"Why haven't I seen your wife today?"

"She has a performance that won't end until midnight."

Jiang Hua: "It's only right to reciprocate. You've helped me so much, I should repay this favor."

This white jade ointment is a bit hard to buy. She had to ask some people in the circle to help her buy these eight bottles, all of which she bought at several times the price.

"Why is this piece of music only half complete?"

“It was written by someone I know, but he left before he could finish it.” Jiang Hua said casually, “I like things that are complete, like this half-finished score… Over the years, I’ve asked many people to fill in the other half, but I always feel that something is missing and something is off. I can’t find the right person to create it, and in my hands, it’s just a bunch of useless pieces.”

"Is that person...someone you know very important to you?"