Jiang Family, Bedroom.
“Achoo! Achoo!”
After sneezing several times in a row, Huang Qingchuan immediately burrowed into her best friend’s blanket, wrapping herself up tightly until only her little head peeked out.
“What’s wrong? Caught a cold?”
Chen Mengrou sat on the bed, poking Huang Qingchuan’s forehead before getting up to brew her a cup of cold medicine.
She handed it over and said, “You should take better care of yourself, Xiao Huang. Even though sleeping naked is comfortable, doing it too often can lead to colds.”
“That’s not it.”
Huang Qingchuan took the cup and downed it in one gulp.
“Just now, I suddenly felt a chill in my heart, like something bad was about to happen.”
“What bad thing could happen? Everyone in your family and mine is perfectly healthy. A woman’s sixth sense isn’t meant to be used like that.”
Chen Mengrou rolled her eyes at her.
“By the way, Xiao Huang, was it really for love that you retired back then?” she suddenly asked.
Huang Qingchuan’s gaze flickered for a moment before she thumped her chest with conviction.
“Of course it was for love! If not for love, then what else? Just think about how my fans cried their hearts out back then!”
“If only my family had daughters instead of Tongtong and Yueyue being boys, I would’ve definitely raised a little piano princess to inherit my legacy.”
“True.”
Chen Mengrou nodded, stroking her chin before teasing,
“When you retired, there were so many rumors. Some said you were being kept by a wealthy businessman and would become a caged canary. Others claimed you’d run out of talent and couldn’t compose music anymore. And then there were the wild ones-people said you had some illness and needed to recuperate.”
“No way, no way! How could a piano genius like me be kept? How could I run out of talent? And I definitely don’t have any illness!”
Huang Qingchuan nearly jumped off the bed in agitation, her face full of indignation.
“These tabloids just make things up out of thin air! If this were a decade ago, I’d have sent them lawyer’s letters and sued them for defamation!”
Yet, from an angle Chen Mengrou couldn’t see, she subtly and guiltily rubbed the tip of her nose.
* * * * * *
Binhai City, Private Hospital, Psychiatry Department.
“Dad, this time you’ve got to tell me what this thing is, right?”
Ji Haotong looked at the psychiatric evaluation report in his hands, scanning the series of technical terms before passing it to the middle- aged man beside him.
“You bring me here for a check-up every year. Do I really have some kind of problem?”
Ji Hong took the report, glanced at it, and relaxed.
“No.”
“At least not now, and probably not in the future either. Hmm… we can reduce the frequency to once every three years.”
This wasn’t their first time in Binhai City-otherwise, they wouldn’t have been so familiar with the route as to drive here themselves.
After consulting extensively with Mr. Zhao on financial and management expertise, Ji Hong had once again brought Ji Haotong here for the examination.
But why go through all the trouble of traveling to another province for a private hospital?
Naturally, to avoid those gossipy, rumor-mongering tabloids.
“Shocking! The heir of a certain corporation’s chairman has been spotted entering hospitals repeatedly!!”
Just the headline alone would be enough to send stock prices plummeting.
“So what exactly is this thing?”
Ji Haotong pointed at the psychiatric evaluation report and asked.
Ji Hong glanced at the people around him.
Perhaps because those with severe mental illnesses were confined to hospitals while milder cases were sent home to recuperate, the corridor wasn’t crowded-only a few nurses in white uniforms scattered here and there.
“Your mother…”
He deliberately lowered his voice, pointed to his own head, and gestured, “She’s sick here. And it’s hereditary.”
“What?”
Ji Haotong couldn’t help but exclaim in a hushed tone, staring at him in disbelief before immediately reaching up to touch his own head, as if carefully checking for something.
“Are you saying I have a mental illness too? How serious is it? Will it affect my intelligence or daily life?”
“That was before. By your age now, the illness usually doesn’t manifest. Consider it a recessive gene.”
“So you’re only telling me now to spare me the psychological burden?”
“Right. It’s the same for Yuenian. I’ll take him for a checkup after he comes of age. As for you-keep your mouth shut.”
Ji Haotong nodded immediately, mimicking a zipper motion over his lips to guarantee his silence.
“By the way, Dad, what exactly is this illness? And back when Mom was young…”
He couldn’t resist asking again. It had to be said-human nature thrived on gossip and drama.
At the mention of his wife, Ji Hong seemed to recall something, his face flickering with a strange expression.
* * * * * *
“Back then, Huanghuang— well, your mother-she was… unusually difficult to handle. Hmm… the kind who wouldn’t listen unless tied up or hung up…”
“Kids- Your big daddy’s home!!”
Ji Yuenian pushed the door open with both hands, his booming voice ringing loud.
However, what greeted him wasn’t the enthusiastic welcome he’d expected, but rather…
“It was you who deceived my feelings! It was you! What am I supposed to do now?!”
“How did I deceive you? You were the one who came onto me!”
“Calm down! Hu Li, Yikang! We’re all roommates-don’t ruin the harmony!”
Instead, what met his eyes were three boys tangled in a fight—no, more accurately, two boys wrestling while the third desperately tried to mediate, though to no avail.
Ji Yuenian: ???
Deceived feelings? Came onto him? What the hell had happened in the month he’d been gone?
In the end, it took Ji Yuenian—the authoritative dorm leader—and his astonishing arm strength to finally separate the two.
After some questioning, he finally learned what had transpired in his absence.
Last time, Luo Yikang had mentioned pursuing that fox-masked beauty with a classical style.
After some investigation, he’d pinpointed the location of her daily rehearsals, showering her with flowers and milk tea until he finally managed to get her WeChat.
Then… the kid got carried away.
Flaunting a few forcibly taken photos together, he bragged to everyone outside campus that she was his girlfriend, basking in the attention.
Until his real estate tycoon father caught wind of it and demanded to meet her.
That was when Luo Yikang panicked—but he also saw it as an opportunity to bring them even closer. He planned to beg and plead, hoping she’d play along as his fake girlfriend.
Smugly scheming, he returned to the dorm…only to accidentally catch a glimpse of the fox mask inside Hu Li’s drawer.
And then, well, there was no more to it.
At most, Yao Shiming stepped in to mediate, and things gradually escalated to the current situation.
After hearing the whole story, Ji Yuenian’s first reaction was: Holy shit, this is so wild!!
But the second thought that followed was: Damn, I wasn’t there for such entertaining drama—what a shame!
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