Bai Yang entered the hospital room and immediately noticed a strange contraption by the window – it was made from a modified IV drip stand with a mirror attached to it.

“You are?”

The elderly woman in the room had never seen Bai Yang before, or perhaps hadn’t had visitors for many days. She instinctively asked: “Are you in the wrong room?”

“Is that Uncle Bai?”

In contrast, the girl on the hospital bed recognized him at first sight, her eyes widening with surprise as she sat up straight.

During previous video calls with her father, Han Wan had seen Bai Yang more than once, but she never expected to actually meet him in person today.

“Yes, that’s me. Your father has something to deal with today and couldn’t come, so he sent me to keep you company.”

Bai Yang carefully entered the room. Over this long period, this place had become Han Wan’s second home, so the originally sterile hospital room now contained some stuffed animals and succulent plants, giving it some signs of life.

The little girl was in pretty good condition today, not even on a ventilator, with freshly completed winter vacation homework beside her.

“Sorry to disturb you, auntie. There’s something at the shop and Old Han really couldn’t get away, so he could only send me over.”

Thinking of what his own father had done years ago, Bai Yang felt uncomfortable facing Han’s mother who had been keeping bedside vigil for years. After hesitating, he said: “Old Han works for me now, but he should have told you about my identity… For what happened before, I want to apologize to you first.”

“…”

Han’s mother hadn’t expected to meet Bai Yang so suddenly either – Han Sha hadn’t even given her advance warning.

She smiled bitterly: “He didn’t tell me he was sending you over either. He probably wanted me to make my own judgment. In the previous incident, Han Sha suffered the most. If he doesn’t mind, I really have nothing to complain about.”

With Han Wan present, some things naturally couldn’t be discussed in depth. Seeing the little girl excited by this rare visitor, Han’s mother immediately gave up her seat beside the bed, smiling: “If Han Sha let you come, it means he trusts you very much. Xiao Wan rarely sees strangers – keep her company… If anything happens, just press that nurse call button on the wall.”

After speaking, Han’s mother went to the nurses’ station. As soon as she left, Bai Yang mysteriously held up the cake box in his hand: “This cake was specially ordered by your dad for you. Guess what it is!”

Unexpectedly, Han Wan didn’t immediately answer this time. She perked up her ears, listening to Han’s mother’s footsteps fade away. In seconds, the little girl seemed to transform into a different person, asking anxiously: “Uncle Bai, is my dad unable to come because something happened to him?”

“?”

Bai Yang’s heart skipped a beat, thinking this little girl truly was Han Sha’s daughter.

This ability to change faces in an instant – if it wasn’t genetic, it would be very hard to explain.

Han Wan said with certainty: “If my dad says he’ll accompany me, he would never not come at the last minute… In the past, whenever he didn’t show up, it was definitely because someone was giving him trouble. I know.”

Seeing Bai Yang remain silent, the little girl obviously knew he had the answer. She immediately looked at him pitifully, widening her eyes like a weak little animal: “Uncle Bai, please tell me for the sake of me being a patient. Besides, it’s almost my birthday.”

After speaking, she didn’t forget to cough twice.

“…”

So this damned genetic inheritance.

Bai Yang hadn’t expected that compared to her father, this little one was actually a combined machine of playing victim and acting cute. And as someone who was weak to pretty faces, he was clearly going to be manipulated by a little girl’s cat-like big eyes.

Old Han… sorry, your daughter really has some skills.

After a long moment, Bai Yang helplessly admitted defeat: “Fine, your dad did run into some trouble. He got beaten up, his face is badly bruised, and it won’t heal for a day or two, so he didn’t dare come see you.”

“I knew it!”

The little girl’s expression turned fierce again, cursing in her crisp voice: “Damn it, he clearly promised me last time he’d tell me everything! But he’s still hiding things from me! Which bastard beat him up this time!”

“Wait… do you swear like this in front of your dad too?”

Bai Yang finally realized belatedly that this little girl bore no resemblance to what he’d seen in previous video calls – they were completely different people.

Where had that well-behaved little girl from in front of Han Sha gone!

He said in shock: “You… don’t tell me you’re also acting in front of your dad?”

Han Wan pouted: “What’s wrong with that? He acts and I act – that’s only fair. Otherwise only he would be constantly coaxing me, making me seem like some child who doesn’t understand anything and can’t help him at all.”

Bai Yang thought about it: “So… why aren’t you acting in front of me?”

Han Wan looked at him carefully: “Because I have a favor to ask of you? My dad said before that when discussing important business, you need some sincerity. If I keep acting with you, you won’t trust me.”

“…”

“You really are like your dad.”

Recalling past events, Bai Yang rubbed his temples with a headache, feeling he should handle the main business first. He took out a piece of rich-colored cake from the box.

If no one mentioned it, nobody would know this was actually made with tofu.

“Your dad ordered this for you – chocolate tofu brownie.”

Bai Yang carefully transferred the cake to the plate he’d brought, not forgetting to garnish it with packaged chocolate sauce and mint leaves, finally sprinkling some powdered sugar to complete the same decoration as in the shop.

Bai Yang said: “Your dad said you always take lots of photos, so the basic sense of ceremony is still necessary. I even packed the shop’s fork for you.”

He placed the elegant golden knife and fork on the plate. The little girl was still young after all, and since she rarely went out, she had no resistance to such fancy things. Her attention was immediately drawn back.

“Thank you, Uncle Bai!”

She quickly took a bunch of photos, finally satisfied as she forked a piece of chocolate tofu into her mouth, asking: “So what kind of person came looking for trouble this time? Male or female? Did they say he cheated money or cheated on relationships?”

Bai Yang now only prayed that Han’s mother wouldn’t return too quickly, saying helplessly: “Seems like you have a clear idea of what kind of person your dad is.”

“He’s doing it all for me. Otherwise he wouldn’t need to do so many things… Uncle Bai, nobody likes constantly lying to people, and nobody likes living this kind of life – earning money for me without having a single friend.”

Han Wan pursed her lips, suddenly pointing to the strange contraption by the window: “Uncle Bai, do you know what that is? When I was too weak to get sunlight, my dad made that for me to reflect sunlight from outside… My dad is really good to me. He’s not a bad person, he just has no choice… All this time he didn’t want me to know these things, always acting happy whenever he came, so in front of him, I also have to act like I don’t know anything, even though I’m already sixteen.”

In the faint daylight, the girl’s face looked childish, but her expression was entirely that of an adult. Bai Yang was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed: “You’re very much like my sister when she was little.”

“Sister?”

“Yes, I have a sister. When we were small, our mother got sick. Every time I went to the hospital I couldn’t help crying terribly, but my sister was different. She would always go happily, telling mom about things at school, just like at home… I didn’t realize until much later that my sister would actually hide and cry secretly too, just never let me know.”

Bai Yang sighed at the end, wanting to say that having to act like this between family members was really exhausting. But Han Wan stared at him for a moment, then suddenly said: “So you liked crying from childhood, Uncle Bai? Last time my dad showed me a video – you cried so pitifully.”

“…”

“So your dad can’t show you anything good?”

Bai Yang rolled his eyes, feeling that if he continued chatting with this little girl he’d only end up getting the short end of the stick. He asked: “So your dad has been found by enemies before?”

Han Wan thought about it: “Several times, but let me say this first – my dad never broke the law. He just… used some fancy methods to earn money. After all, if he got arrested for breaking the law, then no one would be able to earn money to treat my illness.”

Bai Yang was still curious: “So what’s this about cheating in relationships?”

“That’s not really cheating either. It’s just that my dad actually… thought about finding me a stepmother too. He should have his own life.”

When this topic came up, Han Wan’s thin face wrinkled up, obviously very dissatisfied with some past events. Soon, she put the last bite of brownie in her mouth and suddenly looked at Bai Yang very seriously.

“Uncle Bai, about this – this is actually the favor I want to ask of you.”