Chapter 188: Chapter 188

Pei Che remained silent for too long; Shen Jianian couldn’t help but grow suspicious. Her eyes, clear and discerning, looked at him unblinkingly, and she couldn’t help but ask, "Is this question... difficult to answer?"

"Little Nian..." This text is hosted at n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net

Pei Che hesitated before revealing the truth.

He repeatedly asked himself, should he really share the harsh truth with Little Nian? Tell her that the Shen Family no longer existed, that her father had been betrayed by his lifelong friend, and after his company collapsed, unable to bear the blow, he had a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital, where he didn’t survive. Her mother, unable to withstand the shock, followed her father.

She lost both parents overnight.

Pei Che couldn’t bring himself to say it.

He still remembered the scene when he returned to Yicheng to see Little Nian. Her once-clear eyes were filled with pain, struggle, and hatred, and even now, thinking about it made his heart ache immensely.

Revealing these truths would undoubtedly cause her further harm, not conducive to her recovery.

The doctor had also said that maintaining a relaxed and happy mood is beneficial for physical recovery. On the contrary, if one’s mind is heavy and distressed, remaining in a state of unresolved tension, the body would also be affected.

This is why sometimes doctors and family members conspire to hide the truth about a patient’s condition.

Facing Shen Jianian’s inquisitive gaze, Pei Che couldn’t come up with a perfect reason in a short time to respond, so he awkwardly changed the subject: "Little Nian, you’ve been awake for so long, aren’t you sleepy?"

Shen Jianian was not foolish; she could certainly see Pei Che’s evasiveness and changing the topic. She persisted, "I’m not sleepy yet."

Seeing that he still wouldn’t speak, she had to make another request: "Can you... call my parents? I want to hear their voices."

"Little Nian, don’t rush..." Pei Che, not good at lying, was flustered when he heard her say this, "Some things can’t be explained in a few words. Once you recover, I’ll explain everything to you in detail, okay? I promise you."

Shen Jianian’s eyes half-closed, somewhat disheartened. She had just asked him why she had the car accident, and he had given a similar response, telling her to wait until her body recovered.

Even such a small request like asking him to call her parents, he refused to agree.

Pei Che, seeing that she seemed angry, stood up helplessly: "Don’t sulk, it’s not good for your health. In the future, anything you want to know, I’ll tell you. The most important thing now is to recover."

He couldn’t go a few sentences without mentioning her health, Shen Jianian realized how weak she appeared, closed her eyes, and stopped speaking.

Pei Che couldn’t decide whether to stay or go and sighed softly.

Hearing that restrained sigh, Shen Jianian’s heart also felt uncomfortable. She lifted her eyelids and looked at Pei Che’s thin face by the bedside, able to read the distress from his expression.

"I’ll ask one more thing," Shen Jianian said.

Pei Che met her gaze, contemplated for a moment, but didn’t say yes or no.

Shen Jianian asked, "Why are you back in the country, don’t you need to study?"

Pei Che was initially taken aback, then quickly realized that she had forgotten the grievances between the Shen and Pei families and naturally didn’t remember what happened afterward.

He had returned earlier than expected, after all, because of her, but he couldn’t say that now.

"I completed my credits ahead of time and successfully graduated, so I came back." Pei Che joked, hoping to cheer her up, "Aren’t you happy to see me?"

Shen Jianian instinctively shook her head, and suddenly her head hurt, her little face squished up in pain.

"Did you hit the wound?" Pei Che nervously cupped her face, tilted his head to check her head, and furrowed his brows, "Didn’t I tell you not to move carelessly?"

Tears welled up in Shen Jianian’s eyes, not from the pain of the wound, but because she felt like a patchwork rag doll, with nothing intact on her body. Even when she recovered, there would still be scars everywhere.

"Why are you crying? I’m sorry, I was too harsh," Pei Che’s heart ached as he saw her tears, not knowing what to do. It had always been since they were young. He folded a tissue and gently wiped the tears from the corner of her eye, his tone soothing like coaxing a child, "You suffered a severe head injury and had surgery; it will definitely hurt if you touch it. I told you not to move because I was worried about your pain, not to scold you."

Shen Jianian said, "How much longer do I have to lie down before I can move freely?"

Pei Che stopped the hand holding the tissue, unable to give her an accurate answer.

No matter how optimistic, even the strongest spirit could be worn down by the daily physical pain, especially when Shen Jianian wasn’t considered strong to begin with. Lying immobile on a hospital bed made her even more vulnerable.

No one knew how terrified she felt every time she woke up to face herself . She would rather sleep longer, at least to avoid pointless thoughts.

"I’m tired, I want to sleep now." Shen Jianian stopped asking anything, closing her eyes.

Pei Che tucked her in comfortably, stood quietly for a while, then left the ward on light footsteps.

As he reached the door, he encountered the returning caretaker. He instructed them to take good care of Shen Jianian, to call him or ring for the nurse if anything happened. He would come back later.

Hearing the soft click of the door closing, Shen Jianian opened her eyes, staring at the white ceiling.

The window on the side was mostly sealed, to prevent patients from contemplating suicide, but it didn’t stop the sunlight from sneaking in. A brilliant beam of light fell at the foot of the bed, right on her feet, and warmth could be felt even through the blanket.

Shen Jianian knew she had forgotten some things, for example, she searched every inch of her memory but couldn’t recall the circumstances leading to the car accident.

She was curious, which is why she asked Pei Che.

Perhaps the car accident that left her severely injured was too tragic, and Pei Che didn’t want her to be upset, choosing to temporarily hide it from her, waiting until she could bear a certain level of pain before telling her.

Pei Che was doing it for her good, she understood that.

But, everyone has a desire to know; the more something is hidden from her, the more she wanted to find out.

She noticed the name of this hospital, Jiangcheng First Hospital, as it was written on her hospital clothes. She was clearly in Beicheng, so why was she receiving treatment in a hospital in Jiang City?

There seemed to be only one answer: she had the car accident in Jiang City, was critically injured at the time, and had to have surgery here. Her recovery was slow, making it inadvisable to move her, so she had to stay here.

She didn’t know anyone in Jiang City, was she here for travel?

Besides herself, was anyone else involved?

Why didn’t her parents come to see her?

When she asked Ah Che to call her parents just now, his reaction was strange. She wouldn’t mistake the panic in his eyes for that moment, could it be... something bad had happened to her parents?

Thinking too much made her brain feel tight as waves of pain began to surface, so Shen Jianian had to clear out those connecting clues from her mind.

In the garden downstairs of the inpatient department, Pei Che sat with his legs stretched out on a public bench, his fingers clasped together, elbows resting on his knees, forehead leaning on his hands in a contemplative pose.

He now confirmed one thing, Little Nian had forgotten Fu Jichen.

She wasn’t deliberately avoiding mentioning him; it was just that there was no trace of this person in her mind.

Her memory had stopped before the incident with her parents, just like the neurological doctor had said before; after the trauma, the brain initiated self-protection, selectively deleting memories that would cause her pain.

For her, the source of pain was her parents’ passing, so she had even blocked out the subsequent memories entirely.

Pei Che lifted his head, his clasped hands resting on his legs, leaning back against the bench, with his gaze directed at the sky.

At around four in the afternoon, the sun was still so intense. Jiang City’s summer was renowned, known as a "furnace," sitting under the sun for a while made one sweat all over.

Little Nian’s missing memories were too many, and her questions would only increase as her physical condition improved. She definitely wouldn’t just ask once; he had to think of a complete set of explanations before she asked him again. He couldn’t brush her off like earlier by saying her body hadn’t recovered.

He might have to tell her a great, encompassing lie.