The place Lin Qingyan received treatment was at a private hospital in the city that specialized in oncology. It was neat and felt quite luxurious; normally, very few people frequented there.

On this morning, Da Hu trailed Lin Qingyan’s car as per usual. When he arrived outside the hospital, he watched him walk into the hospital with the help of two assistants. He wore a black hat and a long, thick coat, making him seem tall but also skinny.

Da Hu left his car after a while and followed him. Private hospitals were very much like clubs, one could not enter without a membership. Nonetheless, the receptionist at the entrance was already familiar with him by now, so he just paced in after presenting his police identity card.

At this point, the fact that Da Hu was tracking Lin Qingyan was no longer a secret. After all, due to Lin Qingyan’s status, he was always accompanied by several high-level bodyguards. It was impossible for Da Hu to track him closely without being noticed. That being said, Da Hu was great at playing his cards, and upon being blocked by his bodyguards on one occasion, he simply walked up to Lin Qingyan and said politely, “Mr. Lin, although Tan Liang’s case has been solved. We are wary of the fact that he may have accomplices who may still want to harm Yao Meng and her family. As such, I’ve been ordered to protect you. I hope that you’ll cooperate with the police on this matter.”

Lin Qingyan only smiled and waved his hand, signaling to his bodyguards to ignore him.

However, places like exclusive wards were still out of bounds for Da Hu. As such, he quickly took a seat on the bench at the end of the corridor the way he always did. Lately, Lin Qingyan had been spending long hours in the ward every day. Da Hu was well aware that he would be here for a while.

The ward was furnished to give it a homely feel. Lin Qingyan sat by the bed in his white shirt and black trousers. Though the doctor had told him that he only had three months left to live, he still took the time to dress himself up. Even now, he looked handsome and kind.

The doctor smiled and approached him. “Mr. Lin, you’re looking good today.”

The doctor was rather young. In actual fact, he was more like a private, highly-paid companion as the patient approached his final checkpoint; at this point, check-ups and treatments were meaningless. After a routine check, the doctor sat down next to him and began talking to him.

A moment later, Lin Qingyan’s phone rang. He apologized and took the call, then hung up after exchanging a few words. He struggled to his feet and apologized once again. “Something came up at the company, I’ll have to go back to deal with it. Can I come back later for the rest of the treatment?”

“No problem.” The doctor smiled and stood up, just as he was about to open the door for him, he saw Lin Qingyan wave dismissively. “I’m going this way.”

There was a door connecting the neighboring ward to this one, and the doctor quickly realized that Lin Qingyan was the one reserving the neighboring ward over the last few days. Despite this, he knew that the rich liked their peace and quiet, so he just let it be.

“The person at the door is protecting me for good reason, but it would be inconvenient if he were to follow me as I handle my business.” Lin Qingyan smiled plainly.

Since the doctor had seen Lin Qingyan greet Da Hu before, he nodded. “I understand, please attend to your matters, Mr. Lin.”

After Lin Qingyan left from the neighboring ward, an assistant entered. He removed his coat and smiled at the doctor. “Mrs. Lin would like me to ask you about her husband’s illness again.”

After Da Hu sat in the corridor for some time, he saw a nurse exiting the ward. Thus, he called out to her, “Hey, how are things inside?”

The nurse recognized him, so she twitched her lips out of annoyance. “The check-up is still going on. Why do you ask every day?”

Da Hu smiled, then he walked over to the door and pushed it open a crack. He could vaguely see a man sitting on the other side of the frosted glass screen of the room, and the doctor seemed to be talking to him happily. From his figure and clothes, Da Hu guessed that the man behind the glass screen was probably Lin Qingyan.

He then quietly closed the door then went back to his seat.

Xu Xu was doing a check-up at the closest maternity hospital to her house. Compared to public hospitals, there were naturally fewer patients here, but it was not entirely empty. She waited with her nurse, Xiao Liu outside the consulting room for some time before it was finally her turn.

Xiao Liu did not enter, instead, she waited outside the door. The female doctor was very gentle as she helped Xu Xu lay down on the hospital bed before closing the curtains. Then, she nodded as she pressed a stethoscope against Xu Xu’s belly. “The fetal heartbeat is strong, it’s going great.” She turned and searched her shelves for a while before frowning. “I’ll go get some reagent downstairs, wait here for a while.”

Xu Xu nodded, then the doctor’s footsteps slowly faded.

Xu Xu laid down and looked at the blue sky outside the window as well as the thin layer of snow on the roof of the building next door. While she was lost in her thoughts, she suddenly heard extremely soft footsteps from the other side of the curtain.

Those footsteps were different from her doctor’s, and different from Xiao Liu’s. Xu Xu instantly turned to look at the floor.

She spotted a pair of legs from under the curtain. He wore a pair of shiny black leather shoes and black trousers as the light displayed his tall, skinny shadow on the white curtain. The man simply stood there without moving.

Xu Xu was horrified and immediately yelled, “Xiao Liu!”

“Coming!” Xiao Liu responded right away, and her footsteps could be heard thundering into the room. She quickly yanked open the curtain to look at her. “Is something wrong?”

Xu Xu did not answer, her gaze went past her before she realized that it was, in fact, a young male doctor in a white coat standing on the other side of the room. At that moment, the first female doctor walked back in. She smiled and passed the shocked doctor a stack of files. “Here you go.”

The male doctor nodded and left as Xu Xu likewise breathed a sigh of relief. It was just a false alarm, she was a little too tensed up.

It was already afternoon by the time they finished the check-up and went to grab some things from the shopping mall nearby. Xiao Liu hummed as she drove, whereas Xu Xu sat at the back, holding an ultrasound photo and staring at a blurry, curled up figure in the middle of the grayscale print. She knew that Ji Bai would be elated if he could see this photo now. Meanwhile, if Xu Juan saw it, he would immediately boast that his nephew was just too handsome.

Very quickly, they entered the community area. Xiao Liu parked the car in the basement while Xu Xu stood in the garden to wait for her, she decided to call her brother to tell him about the routine medical check-up.

Xu Juan sounded very light-hearted as he picked up. “Where are you? I’m at your house.”

Xu Xu looked up at her apartment window. “I’m downstairs.”

“Mmm, did the check-up go well?”

“Very well.” Xu Xu smiled and replied.

“Naturally, since I’ve taken such great care of you. Come on up, I’ve bought some fresh cherries, I came here right after work to bring them to my nephew.”

The elevator ascended quickly as Xu Xu and Xiao Liu stood side by side inside it.

“Ding,” the door sprang open. Suddenly, Xu Xu’s phone rang too, she picked it up and saw that it was Ji Bai.

“Are you home?” He sounded very gentle as he asked in a low voice.

“Mhmm.”

“I’ve just left the police station, I’ll be home in about half an hour.”

“So early today?” Xu Xu asked.

Ji Bai paused for a while then replied softly, “I took leave today, wait for me.”

Xu Xu fell silent for a while then burst out laughing. “My brother is home.”

“Ask him to leave quickly then.”

After hanging up, Ji Bai stared out at the city skyline; the towering buildings and the bustling highways seemed so busy, yet so insignificant as his eyes lit up with a smile.

How many times had he planned this proposal?

Nevertheless, Xu Xu was right. As the passion of the honeymoon period slowly faded away, he was able to get a clearer picture of the relationship as well as his own feelings.

This time, he did not prepare fresh flowers, nor did he prepare a river cruise under the moonlight.

He did not even get a ring, because she was already wearing it.

He decided that this proposal would be a simple one, so he only brought one thing – himself.

The lines he rehearsed over and over again to himself were very simple too,

‘Xu Xu, during this work trip, I suddenly realized something.

‘This month, I’ve spent seventeen days outstation for work. I’ve spent every single one of the remaining thirteen days working until late at night at the police station. I’ve counted it, and the time that I’ve been able to spend alone with you amounts to less than three days.

‘You said that you wanted to wait a year before deciding if you’d like to marry me, but I did the math, and from now until our one-year anniversary, we would’ve only spent another ten days together.

‘Xu Xu, I don’t know how long it’ll take before you feel that everything has fallen into place. Our work as criminal police officers requires us to give most of our time to others, instead of the ones closest to us. That is why, in this life that is full of restrictions, I don’t want to waste even a single day. For me, everything will eventually fall into place if I’m just allowed to grow old with you.’

Xu Xu put away her phone and walked to the door alongside Xiao Liu.

When she opened the door, she first saw Xu Juan’s leather shoes neatly placed at the entrance as his cashmere coat also rested on the couch. The living room was empty, but the splashing of water could be heard from the kitchen. Xu Xu smiled, he was probably washing the cherries for them.

Xu Xu nodded at Xiao Liu. “You can head back first. Thank you for your hard work.”

Xiao Liu smiled, then she placed the things down and left, closing the door behind her.

Xu Xu removed her coat, then took the ultrasound photo from the pocket and placed it on the table. After this, she walked in.

The winter sun shone in through the windows of the dining room, coating the furniture and floor in a faint, pale light as it did so. On the dining table was a plate of freshly-washed cherries, water droplets could still be seen on them.

Xu Xu picked one up and ate it, but as she was about to go look for Xu Juan in the kitchen, she suddenly realized that something wasn’t right.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of something poking out of the quiet corridor leading to the bedroom.

She walked closer and squinted slightly to get a better look, only to see that it was a pair of legs. The body was hidden in the shadows.

Xu Xu suddenly broke into cold sweat and immediately dashed over. The scene before her eyes absolutely terrified her – Xu Juan was sprawled on the ground quietly as though he was asleep, and underneath him, a pool of blood was spreading out slowly.

Xu Xu’s head felt like it was going to split as her eyes were filled with tears. At this moment, the sound of water from the kitchen stopped, followed by calm, steady footsteps.

Lin Qingyan leaned against the wall and looked at her with a smile. “Your brother loves you very much.”

As Xu Xu looked at the handkerchief in Lin Qingyan’s hand and suppressed the indescribably sharp pain in her heart as she turned to look at Xu Juan who was on the floor. “Please call an ambulance. His life has been full of hurdles, but if he doesn’t get help soon, he’ll spend the rest of his life with brain damage. You don’t have to kill him.”

Lin Qingyan smiled faintly without saying a word.

After he placed the unconscious Xu Xu in the backseat of his car and drove out of the community area, he took out his phone and dialed the number for the emergency center. “Someone here is severely injured, the address is…”

As soon as Ji Bai reached the entrance of the community area, his phone rang. It was Da Hu. Ji Bai stopped by the side of the road and picked up the call.

“Captain, Lin Qingyan escaped!” Da Hu’s voice was urgent and shaky.

The color immediately drained from Ji Bai’s face. “What about Yao Meng?”

“She didn’t come to the hospital today.”

“Notify the station, get them to send more manpower and apply for a search warrant. We have to find them!”

After hanging up, Ji Bai was about to turn around, but he quickly saw the blue flashing of an ambulance siren coming from the entrance of the community area. A dreadful feeling rose in his heart as he stepped on the accelerator and bolted past the gates.

The corridor in the apartment was crowded with people, and the elevator did not even after a long time. Thus, Ji Bai darted all the way up the stairs to his unit. As he arrived at the floor, he saw two paramedics shuffling toward him with a stretcher. Xu Juan was lying on it covered in blood; his face was awfully pale, and his eyes were half open.

“Xu Juan!” Ji Bai felt like he had been stabbed as he aggressively grabbed the stretcher. However, he was immediately stopped by the paramedics. “Move aside, he has to be sent to the hospital right now!’

With an ashen face, Ji Bai took a step back, but he suddenly felt somebody grab his hand. He looked down to see that it was Xu Juan. He was gasping for air, but his eyes were ferociously determined as he croaked, “Xu Xu… Xu Xu…”