CHAPTER 119: 118: AS LONG AS YOU’RE WILLING, I AM YOUR HOME.

Ning Rongyue finally saw Ning Guiwan’s expression falter, and left with a triumphant laugh.

Ning Guiwan stood there, lips pursed, a cold light flickering in her eyes.

Ning Rongyue’s expulsion had made their father sick with anger.

What about me? The whole of Shencheng knew I had been injured by Qiao Youning and hospitalized. During my stay, many people visited me in the hospital, but among them, not a single one was my kin. My only relative in this world had discarded me like an old shoe.

「...」

"You’ve just been discharged from the hospital; how can you drink like that?" Tan Xi asked with concern when she saw Ning Guiwan return to the private room and immediately start drinking again. Her words, however, seemed to have little effect.

What Ning Guiwan heard instead was Ning Rongyue’s voice: "...he said he would rather die than have you visit him..."

He would rather die than see me...

"Xiaowan..." Tan Xi was very worried. She didn’t know what had happened to Ning Guiwan. Could it be related to the phone call she just received?

Just as she was about to say something, her ringtone sounded from her bag.

Tan Xi took out her cell phone. Seeing it was a call from home, and having nothing to hide, she answered it directly, "Dad, what’s up?"

"...No, I’m doing fine... I’m eating right now... I’m not working overtime, don’t worry, I promise to sleep before nine... You and Mom should take care of yourselves at home, and please wear the cotton clothes I bought for you—don’t be reluctant to use them..."

As Tan Xi spoke, her tone was playfully endearing, like that of a teenager.

After hanging up, she looked up and met Ning Guiwan’s direct gaze.

"Your father cares a lot about you?" Ning Guiwan tilted her head slightly, holding a wine glass, her fair cheeks flushed a light red.

Seeing her ask so seriously, Tan Xi laughed. "Of course! What father doesn’t care about his daughter..."

Before she could finish, Song Changfeng pinched her arm. Tan Xi cried out, "OUCH!" and turned to glare at Song Changfeng with dissatisfaction, only to meet his exceptionally stern gaze. Tan Xi instantly realized then that Ning Guiwan had fallen out with her father.

Even when she was injured and hospitalized, her father hadn’t called to check on her, let alone come to visit.

Ning Guiwan’s eyes drooped, her long lashes concealing the emotion within them. Although there were four people in the private room, a profound loneliness and solitude seemed to emanate from her, one that could not be dispelled.

Tan Xi suddenly remembered the first time she met Ning Guiwan.

A girl, not yet eighteen, stood inside a doorway, looking haggard and thin, her eyes filled with bewilderment and fear, like a pitiable, abandoned creature.

When she and Song Changfeng appeared, the girl hurriedly grasped her arm, her grip as strong as a drowning person clutching a life-saving straw. Her eyes flashed with a startling surge of joy and hope. "Did my dad send you to take me home?"

Upon receiving a negative answer, the disappointment in those beautiful eyes was enough to make even a stranger like Tan Xi feel a pang of heartache.

For a long time after that, whenever Ning Guiwan had free time, she would sit on the rooftop, staring east. At first, I thought she just liked the Cambridge scenery, Tan Xi recalled, but I later realized she was waiting for her family to come and get her. The place where the sun rises is the direction of home.

She waited from summer to autumn, and from autumn to winter. When spring finally arrived, with flowers blooming once more, she stopped waiting.

It was also around that time that a smile returned to her lips, Tan Xi mused, but there was no soul in that smile.

"Let’s go sing karaoke!" Tan Xi raised her voice, trying to sound festive. "Your big sister here is great at singing; I’ll sing a few songs for you!"

Lai Yang nodded in agreement.

She too had drunk a bit and couldn’t drive, so she shared a ride with Ning Guiwan in Song Changfeng’s car.

While they were waiting at a red light, Ning Guiwan suddenly opened the car door and got out. Just then, the light turned green, and traffic began to move. Tan Xi hurriedly got out of the car to chase after her, shouting, "Xiaowan, watch out for the cars!"

"Don’t follow me." Ning Guiwan stood by the roadside, the night wind ruffling her long hair. Streetlights cast a hazy glow around her. Dressed in a red coat over a dark-red long shirt that revealed her long legs, and wearing thigh-high boots, she looked fashionably exquisite, beautiful to the point of seeming unreal.

"I want to be alone for a while."

"Xiaowan..."

"I’m very sober, don’t worry."

「...」

Yun Shu had ordered some food from the hotel across from the hospital. The night was cold. As she entered the hospital building, she took off her gloves, rubbing her frozen face while waiting for the elevator.

Entering the ward, she found Ning Honghua reading a newspaper. Upon hearing the door open, he immediately closed the paper and set it aside.

Seeing the food Yun Shu had brought, he frowned. "Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want to eat? Why did you still..."

"You have to eat, even if you don’t want to," Yun Shu said. Her voice was gentle, but her attitude was firm. "You haven’t eaten properly for several days. Don’t you care about your health at all?"