When Bai Yang carefully pushed open the hospital room door, the time had just passed six in the evening.

After the caregiver briefly handed over duties with him outside the door and went to eat, dusk was gradually deepening. The room had no lights on. Bai Yang tiptoed to the bedside and discovered that Bai Liu was already asleep.

Throughout the year, even Bai Yang rarely got to see his sister completely without makeup, and now, on the second day after surgery, without the enhancement of those exquisite cosmetics, Bai Liu looked so fragile she was almost like a piece of cream cake that would crumble at a touch. Her brow was furrowed, and even her breathing was very light.

They said that when she entered the hospital, she was already in so much pain she couldn’t even walk… And just like that, Bai Liu had actually hidden this from him for a full ten days, and even when she called him to sign papers, she was still lying to him, saying this was just a minor surgery that didn’t need someone to stay with her.

“You’re just afraid of trouble, afraid that if I cry you’d still have to comfort me, isn’t that right?”

Gently pulling over a chair to sit down, Bai Yang gazed at his sister’s face in the dim darkness, and in a trance, he thought that the last time he had seen such a scene was still over ten years ago.

Summer of 2004, ten-year-old Bai Yang was led by seventeen-year-old Bai Liu into the hospital room.

At that time, the little boy’s palms were covered in sweat, even though before coming, Bai Liu had already explained to him in great detail about cancer, about their mother’s illness, about everything they might have to face in the future—Bai Liu, who had just started her sophomore year of high school, had told him almost everything with meticulous care, without any reservation.

“Dad won’t come home, Mom only has us now, so even though you’re still young, you must know what’s happening…”

At home, Bai Liu had shown a serious expression that Bai Yang had never seen before. She crouched in front of him, looking into his eyes and saying word by word: “What I mean is, Mom might leave us, Yang Zi, you need to understand this right now, do you know?”

Mom might die.

Even though Bai Yang didn’t understand all that medical information about cancer, he ultimately understood this one thing.

And before he could react, tears had already flowed into Bai Liu’s palm.

“How could Mom get sick, Sister, why is it Mom who got sick?”

Although ten-year-old Bai Yang had been deceived by Bai Liu since he was small, at that moment, the instant Bai Yang saw his sister’s eyes, he knew.

Bai Liu wasn’t lying to him this time, because even his sister, who always made him suffer, had obvious fear in the depths of her eyes—though hidden very deeply, Bai Yang still discovered it.

If Mom left and Dad didn’t come home either, wouldn’t that mean only he and his sister would be left?

Bai Yang quickly cried so hard he couldn’t even see Bai Liu’s face clearly, and unlike in the past, this time Bai Liu let him cry for a long time without coming to comfort him. Finally, when Bai Yang had cried himself tired, he felt Bai Liu pull him over and gently pat his back.

“It’s okay to cry now, you can cry in front of me, I’ll comfort you, but when we see Mom in a bit, don’t cry anymore, Yang Zi. She’s very sick, we can’t let her worry about us right now when she needs to focus on getting better.”

In Bai Liu’s embrace, Bai Yang heard that his sister’s voice was also trembling slightly. Instinctively, he wanted to look at his sister’s face, but Bai Liu held him without letting go.

She said: “Cry for five more minutes, then wipe your face clean after crying, we’ll go to the hospital to see Mom—from now on, I’ll pick you up to go to the hospital every day after school.”

Bai Yang cried with hiccups: “Then… then what about Dad…”

“He just needs to pay the bills.”

Bai Liu’s voice turned cold, and the trembling in her voice also disappeared: “From now on, staying with Mom is our job, Yang Zi, you have to promise Sister that no matter what happens after this, you must be strong and help Sister, okay?”

Afterward, Bai Liu carefully wiped her brother’s face, and on the way even bought him an ice cream cone, which was unprecedented, and they went all the way to the hospital like that.

Even though Bai Yang felt he had mentally prepared himself sufficiently, when he actually saw Mom wearing hospital clothes sleeping in the bed, his nose still inevitably felt sour, and he had to grab his sister’s hand tightly to avoid crying directly.

Very good.

Quietly, Bai Liu looked down at him with praise, then immediately turned to their mother and said with a smile: “Not bad, the crybaby didn’t even use up a whole pack of my tissues coming to the hospital this time… Mom, you’ll definitely be able to leave the hospital soon.”

While speaking, that Bai Liu who had fear in her eyes and a crying tone in her voice seemed to have disappeared.

She began peeling an apple nonchalantly, her technique very unskilled, but from beginning to end, Mom only smiled while watching her.

Liar.

Bai Yang thought indignantly, clearly Sister’s palms were also cold, and her nose was still sniffling—he cried every day so he knew best, these were all signs that someone wanted to cry, but she just nonchalantly mocked him for being a crybaby.

Sister was a liar.

Since childhood, Bai Yang had been deceived countless times, and after Mom got sick, Bai Liu’s variety of deceptions reached a peak.

The most outrageous time was when Bai Liu told him she could cook.

At that time, because the lady of the house was hospitalized, the Bai family kitchen was suddenly empty. Bai Yiming was worried about finding a housekeeper, so he ultimately gave the money to Bai Liu, letting her and her brother solve meals on their own outside.

However, for Bai Yang who didn’t eat spicy food, most of Yujiang’s restaurants were obviously not any happy home, so after eating sweet and sour pork with Sichuan pepper flavor for half a month straight, the already picky eater Bai Yang finally reached a point of gradual weight loss.

At that time, to let her brother eat a full meal, Bai Liu patted her chest and walked into the kitchen, then confidently blew up the pot.

Even until the fire truck came, Bai Liu still told her brother that she could cook, and the reason it turned out this way was that the pot at home had started the fight.

For the next half month, Bai Liu copied recipes at the hospital every night—copying a whole thick notebook. One night, Bai Yang even heard her tell their mother: “I won’t give these recipes to anyone—don’t worry, sooner or later, I’ll make them bear mine and Yang Zi’s names, just like hot sauce.”

Just like that, holding Mom’s recipes, Bai Liu burned through two more pots, and Bai Yang’s days of not having enough to eat didn’t truly end until he learned to cook himself in fifth grade.

Incredible, even now, Bai Liu would still occasionally say she could cook.

…Really, if Sister could be relied upon, pigs could climb trees.

The sound of nurses delivering meals came from the corridor. When Bai Yang ended his reminiscence, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes and said softly: “Sometimes I really think you should live in my shop… at least that way I could cook for you every night, so you wouldn’t have to socialize randomly, drink randomly, and finally mess up your body like this…”

Thinking that Bai Liu wasn’t even forty yet, but had already had surgery three times for severe uterine fibroids, and finally couldn’t even keep her uterus, Bai Yang couldn’t help but feel his nose getting sour.

“You ended up like this and still didn’t tell me, only tricked me into coming to sign papers when you had surgery… Is it fun to lie to me every day?”

Bai Yang bit his teeth lightly and gently grabbed Bai Liu’s hand, taking care to avoid all the tubes inserted on top.

He didn’t even want to recall the scene a few days ago when he was suddenly called to the hospital to sign papers.

It was only then that he learned Bai Liu’s condition had already relapsed twice before, and after this hospitalization due to sudden abdominal pain, surgery was an unavoidable decision… After all, if it were other female patients who hadn’t given birth, doctors wouldn’t suggest hysterectomy right away.

“Sorry, kid, looks like the happy days are mine from now on, the throne of our family can only be passed down by you.”

At that time, Bai Liu leaned against the hospital bed very much like a boss, her hand almost lacking only a cigarette, calmly saying: “If it were Dad, he definitely wouldn’t agree to this, so it can only be you signing… Sign quickly, Yang Zi, after the surgery I still have a pile of things at the company, and your new shop is opening soon too, we can’t afford delays.”

Bai Yang: “…”

As could be expected, because of this terrible deceptive behavior, he ultimately cried in the corridor as if he were the one having his uterus removed, embarrassing himself in front of half a floor of patients who came out to watch.

“Liar… if I believe you again, my brain must be made of mousse.”

Bai Yang fiercely sniffed and struggled to take out the congee he had made for Bai Liu from his bag with one hand, and even though his movements were already very careful, the moment the lid opened, Bai Liu still woke up.