Lan Hanyu remained silent all the way, his mood sinking to the bottom since seeing his mother. His opinion of Xuan Mohan reached an extreme.
He had repeatedly caused his mother to suffer. Regardless of whether it was others who harmed her, he had not protected her well. Between them and his mother, his priority should have been protecting her and giving her happiness.
However, he clearly hadn't done a satisfactory job. He couldn't help but doubt if what he was doing was right. Should he protect his mother himself again?
But at this moment, he didn't realize that his mother was no longer someone he could protect.
When Lan Hanyu arrived, he found his sister crying uncontrollably in Xuan Mohan's arms. He pursed his lips and said, "Sister, come here."
With just these words, Lan Tongtong struggled free from Xuan Mohan's embrace upon hearing them. She then ran crying into Lan Hanyu's arms, "Big brother, I want Mommy, sob sob~"
He actually knew that his sister had been missing their mother for a long time. Although she played without a care during the day, at night she would hold their mother's clothes or sleep with him.
He had noticed all of this.
So he knew she wasn't being difficult, but simply missed her mother again.
She had merely wanted to leave some private time for her mother and Xuan Mohan, and had been enduring her own grievances.
"Do you really want to see Mommy?" Lan Hanyu stroked her hair, his tone calm.
"Mmm... Mmm, Tongtong misses Mommy." Lan Tongtong choked back tears and looked up at her big brother.
"Alright." After saying that, he took her hand and they left, not giving Xuan Mohan a single glance the entire way.
Xuan Mohan felt immense bitterness in his heart, but it was all something he deserved to bear, whether it was the children, or... her.
As they reached the hospital room door, Lan Hanyu stopped. He looked at his sister, who appeared somewhat uneasy, "Mommy is sick. We can't disturb her when we go in, okay?"
Mommy is sick? Lan Tongtong's eyes widened. She felt like crying again, but she wanted to be Mommy's good girl!
Lan Lexuan had been very quiet since his brother appeared because he had sensed his brother's emotions. He kept cheering himself on internally and followed them inside.
As the door opened, the scene inside was immediately revealed in its entirety.
Lan Lexuan immediately broke down, tears streaming down his face. He wiped his hand across his eyes, and his vision immediately blurred again...
"Wow~"
Lan Tongtong had forgotten everything she intended to say once she entered. She rushed to the bedside, "Mommy, sob~ What happened to you?"
Seeing Lan Tongtong wailing, everyone present felt a pang of sadness. Parents were a child's haven, and their sudden collapse was unimaginable in terms of emotional breakdown.
Lan Qianqian lay on the bed, the sound of Lan Tongtong's piercing cries echoing in her ears.
The voice kept replaying in her mind, pressing on her nerves as if countless needles were piercing them.
Her pupils deepened in color...
It was too harsh!
"Shut up!"
This angry roar startled Lan Tongtong, who immediately stopped crying. She stared wide-eyed at her usually doting mother.
But it was everyone else present who was truly startled.
Several grown men's pupils contracted, their gazes sharp as they scrutinized Lan Qianqian. Lan Qianqian's current behavior was indeed somewhat bizarre, making it hard not to notice.
Xia Han stared blankly at her best friend, unable to recover. The shock she had just received was too overwhelming.
How much she loved her children, she knew it well. Even when busy abroad all those years, she would always make time to spend with them.
Now she had yelled at her most treasured child?
Xia Han unconsciously shook her head. Couldn't Qianqian have turned hateful out of love?
"Hateful out of love? That reason is too far-fetched. If she truly hated Mo, she wouldn't have let him appear before her."
Besides, Mo hadn't done anything unforgivable, so how could she hate him?
Lu Haoran shared the same opinion.
"Xuan, what do you think?" If this couldn't be explained by common sense, then he wondered...
Mu Jingxuan lowered his head in thought for a moment. When he looked up again, his expression had become deep and unfathomable. "I'm going to see my master later."
"Mm." Qi Jiayou had the same intention.
Xia Han, listening to their cryptic conversation, felt anxious. "What do you mean by that? What's wrong with Qianqian?"
Just then, a broad arm wrapped around her. "It's okay, these are just speculations. Can you leave it to us?"
If this was indeed the case, then things would become much more complicated. Lu Haoran didn't want her to get involved, even if the other party was her best friend, he wouldn't allow her to interfere even a little.
What could Xia Han say? In terms of family influence, she couldn't compare to them, nor was she as intelligent or meticulous in her thinking. At this point, not causing them trouble was already enough.
"Then you must tell me whatever you find out."
Facing Xia Han's pleading and vulnerable gaze, Lu Haoran lowered his head and kissed her forehead. "Alright."
"I wonder how the next room is doing?" Xia Han murmured worriedly to herself.
...
"Do you think I'm very bad?" Lan Qianqian asked, smiling charmingly at the man standing beside her.
Although she was smiling, Xuan Mohan felt as if she were shrouded in mist, making her unfathomable...
"No, you've always been very good." Xuan Mohan swallowed hard, his expression showing little emotion.
"Heh heh! You're lying, Xuan Mohan!" She hadn't failed to notice his astonished expression.
Didn't he always disdain lying? Which of his words to her were true, and which were false?
"Xuan Mohan, you're so hypocritical. You clearly have issues with me but still pretend to like me."
Xuan Mohan stopped speaking. Since she had put it that way, any further words from him would be futile.
Seeing his silence, Lan Qianqian cast him a disdainful glance and turned her face away, refusing to look at him.
Meanwhile, Lan Tongtong was sleeping soundly by the bedside. She had insisted on staying there and wanted to be closer to her mother. Exhausted from crying, she had fallen asleep right by the bed.
Thinking of the little girl's silent, wronged, and pitiable tears, Lan Qianqian's heart ached with a sharp pain.
Xuan Mohan was about to step forward to move the little girl to the bed next to them, but a slender hand stopped him. "The little girl has become very impolite. She needs to be taught a good lesson."
Tongtong was only a few years old. Seeing her mother seriously ill on the bed, how could she not react?
Did she still know that the child was hers? Did she truly not love her children at all anymore? And what did that make him now?
The woman before him was so unfamiliar that she made him feel a sense of dread.
Xuan Mohan desperately wanted to shake her awake. He would rather she hate him than be this heartless.
However, she was physically weak and couldn't endure any rough treatment.
If he had made a mistake, it was due to loving the little woman before him too much.