“Mom!” Su Man was thoroughly at a loss. “I have to go to the research institute to find Li Li tomorrow!”

Su Man’s mother froze, then turned to stare at her. “Your father is in the hospital looking like this, and you still have the heart to go find Li Li? Isn’t that just some award ceremony of his? It’s not even that important!”

Su Man was speechless.

Her own father was injured and lying in a hospital bed—morally and logically, she had no business running off anywhere. But being asked to accompany a complete stranger on a sightseeing trip hardly seemed more reasonable, did it?

Still, with Lu Yuwen standing right there, she wasn’t in a position to say so out loud. That would be too awkward.

The man was, after all, her father’s savior. The proper response was a thousand expressions of gratitude. She couldn’t be the one to make him uncomfortable.

Su Man knew right from wrong, so she merely pressed her lips together in silent protest and refrained from continuing to argue with her mother.

Lu Yuwen smiled and said: “Please don’t trouble Su Miss. I came to Shanghai on a whim—no particular plans. I’ll just wander around as I like. If I need anything, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

Su Man’s mother was very warm: “Good, good. Don’t be shy with us—once our Old Su is out of the hospital, we’ll thank you properly in person.”

Su Man inwardly complained: *all this back and forth politeness, will it ever end…*

Lu Yuwen seemed to sense her impatience and said at just the right moment: “It’s getting late. You all rest—I’ll be heading out.”

Su Man’s mother glanced at the time. It had already gone past midnight. She knew she couldn’t very well keep Lu Yuwen any longer and immediately said: “Man Man, go see Mr. Lu out.”

“Mm.” Su Man replied.

And so she walked Lu Yuwen out.

Once the two of them had left, Su Man’s mother began tidying up. She had packed some everyday supplies in a hurry when she’d rushed out after getting Lu Yuwen’s call, and now as she went through it carefully, she found all kinds of things were missing.

Toothbrush, cup, towel, slippers…

The hospital’s ground-floor shop sold these things, but they would never be as comfortable as things brought from home.

“I’ll stay here tonight. Have Man Man go back and bring the rest,” Su Man’s mother muttered as she tidied. “You’ll be in here for at least a month—good chance to quit smoking. I’ve been telling you for ages, you have a heart condition, you can’t smoke. You wouldn’t listen. Well now look—something’s happened.”

Su Man’s father sighed. “After a lifetime of smoking, it’s not that easy to quit…”

“Look at Old Li—he doesn’t smoke. Neither does Li Li!” Su Man’s mother paused briefly, then added: “That Mr. Lu just now—he doesn’t look the type to smoke either. You were lucky this time! You found a good person. If it had been someone else, who would have paid attention to someone lying in the middle of the road at that hour? What if another car had come along…”

The thought led somewhere bad, and Su Man’s mother’s expression shifted. She quickly said “tsk tsk” twice to ward it off.

Su Man’s father had had quite a fright tonight as well. He lay there with his eyes closed and said slowly: “This time really was all thanks to that person…”

Su Man’s mother thought it over. “Hard to tell what he does for work. He looks young and capable, carries himself well, speaks and behaves properly too. If he and Man Man could develop something, that might not be a bad idea.”

Su Man’s father blinked and immediately opened his eyes.

He had a favorable impression of Lu Yuwen too, but that didn’t mean he was about to start matchmaking the moment he met a man.

“Aren’t you jumping ahead a bit there?”

Su Man’s mother gave a proud little smile, her eyes narrowed at him: “Jumping ahead? You didn’t see the way he looked at Man Man in the corridor just now… the way he stared at her, completely gone—nearly got beaten up but wasn’t even upset about it. If that’s not his heart moving, what is? I’m telling you, those two have something.”

“What nonsense.” Su Man’s father frowned. “If a strange woman suddenly went at me, I’d be stunned too! Besides, you know how Man Man feels about that Li boy—more than ten years of feelings. Don’t go stirring things up and hurting both those kids’ hearts.”

“I was just talking. What can I possibly stir up?” Su Man’s mother said irritably.

Click——

Su Man pushed the door open and came in.

Su Man’s mother blinked in surprise. “Didn’t I ask you to see him out? Why are you back so quickly?”

Su Man stared at her mother with a baffled expression. “I did. I walked him to the elevator.”

—