At 6:47 PM, the Guest Reception Main Building was brightly lit.
Hei Luan Yu Si had already walked out of the main hall accompanied by the Underboss, and the row of executives on the right also filed out in an order that Rinna could never understand.
At the head seats, only Hisaki, who hadn’t gotten up yet, Rinna, who was still wiping the corner of her mouth with a wet towel, and Sumire, who was sitting in the last seat on the right, remained.
Rinna felt a bit uneasy at that moment.
Her mind was in turmoil.
‘Uncle Hei Lai saw that video… Right?’
‘And if Uncle Hei Lai saw it, then everyone else definitely saw it too.’
Rinna brought the teacup to her lips, hiding her slightly flushed cheeks.
Although she knew she’d get caught sooner or later for doing such a terrible thing, and she had somewhat imagined the consequences of being discovered, it was too fast. Too fast. It had only been a few days, and she was already found out, and by her future father-in-law no less.
On the other hand, Hisaki hadn’t changed at all.
Not only had she not changed, but because Rinna had agreed to “not casually attract others’ attention,” she seemed even happier than usual.
And at a seat about half an arm’s length to her left, Sumire was quietly chewing the rice in his bowl.
The organization’s people. So the man whose throat he had slit in the Abandoned Park was one of the group that had cornered his sister and the others earlier in the Yangjian Town Shopping District.
That man had mistaken him for a pedophile targeting “Shirase Rinna’s secret younger sister.”
Because his crossdressing appearance was modeled after Sister Bai Lai.
The white wig, the amber colored contacts, the white dress—all of it was to make himself look more like that person in his sister’s eyes.
In the end, his sister didn’t give him a second glance, but a pervert saw him as a substitute for revenge.
In other words, he had taken a blow meant for Sister Bai Lai.
But objectively, that man came at him because he looked like Sister Bai Lai…
In Sumire’s eyes, there was a certain rapidly spinning thought.
***
Dinner ended with Rinna being the only one feeling awkward.
In reality, nothing happened from start to finish.
No one played that video in public and demanded, “Miss Shirase, is this you?”
No one showed any expression of displeasure toward her.
Rinna’s embarrassment was entirely her own dramatization, and her rationality was well aware of that, but reason never won against imagination at times like this.
***
Around 8 PM, Doctor Qi Lai came by.
She wasn’t wearing a white coat today.
She took Rinna’s temperature and blood pressure, gently pressed the inside of Rinna’s wrist to feel her pulse, and quickly jotted down a few lines in her notebook.
Before leaving, she repeated the precautions.
Rinna obediently nodded, and Hisaki helped her remember by noting them down.
After Doctor Qi Lai left, the room fell quiet again.
Hisaki crouched by the low table, pouring warm water and arranging medicine for Rinna. Rinna leaned against the headboard, picked up her phone, and opened a video call.
The screen lit up, and after two rings, it connected.
On the screen were Mom and Dad.
They were sitting on the bed in their hotel room, the curtains half-drawn behind them; outside, the sky seemed to have already grown dark.
Mom’s hair was a bit shorter than in the last video call, her dark circles were lighter, and her complexion had improved considerably.
She leaned closer to the camera, adjusted the angle of the screen with her hand, then said with a smile:
“Rinna, how are you feeling today? Did you take your medicine on time?”
Her voice still had that gentle but slightly nagging tone, though it sounded a bit choppy due to the video call’s compression.
Dad squeezed half his head into the frame from the side. His hair was still as messy as last time, and the frames of his glasses glinted under the warm yellow hotel light. His mouth moved before his voice came, and then that line sounded:
“Rinna, are you getting used to the food at the Hei Lai family’s place?”
The internet speed was probably not great; his voice lagged behind his lip movements by about 0.9 seconds.
Looking at the two faces on the screen that had clearly improved so much, a wave of emotion—whether it was gratitude or heartache—rose in Rinna’s chest.
They had sacrificed so much for Rinna’s health.
They ran around every day researching, consulting experts both domestic and abroad, traditional Chinese doctors, folk remedies, new clinical trials—anything that seemed even remotely helpful for Rinna’s physique, they would pursue like grasping at a lifeline.
Mom originally knew nothing about medicine; she couldn’t even distinguish between cold medicine and over-the-counter drugs at the pharmacy. But now, because of Rinna’s condition, she had forcibly learned a ton of basic medical knowledge.
She could now understand every indicator on a complete blood count report, knew the normal range for hemoglobin, the significance of erythrocyte sedimentation rate, the clinical interpretation of cardiac enzyme profiles, and could even discuss Rinna’s condition with Doctor Qi Lai over the phone using technical terms that Rinna couldn’t understand.
Rinna watched the fine lines at the corner of her mom’s eyes, deeper than she remembered, and felt her nose sting.
She said to the screen:
“I’m fine, Xiao Fei has been taking care of me.”
Then she tilted the phone slightly to the side to bring Hisaki into the frame.
Hisaki was leaning over from the bedside and gave a slight bow to the screen.
“Hello, Uncle and Auntie. Rinna ate most of a bowl of rice today, and took her medicine on time.”
Mom nodded repeatedly on the screen, her smile even brighter than before, and said:
“Xiao Fei has been a huge help. Sorry to trouble you every time.”
Hisaki gently shook her head and said:
“It’s no trouble.”
They chatted for a while longer, and then Mom said they’d be back on Sunday.
The tickets were already booked—an afternoon flight, and they’d be home by evening.
She specifically urged Rinna not to push herself; if she felt unwell, she should lie down, and not force herself to sit up just to maintain social etiquette.
Rinna said:
“Mm-hmm, don’t worry.”
Then she waved at the screen and said goodnight.
After hanging up, once the screen went dark, Hisaki stood up and walked over to the bed.
Rinna watched her approach, and her first reaction was…
‘Was she going to reward her?’