Bai Sha emerged from the room.
At the dining table, Bai Qing sat with her arms crossed, visibly fuming.
Zhao Dingzhuo was attempting to soothe her, while Bai’s Mother looked on, her gaze fixed anxiously on the room.
Seeing Bai Sha appear, Bai Qing quickly inquired, “How did it go?”
Bai Sha made an ‘okay’ gesture.
“He agreed,” she announced.
A significant portion of Bai Qing’s anger dissipated, and her tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly.
Bai’s Mother let out a long sigh, her worries finally easing.
Zhao Dingzhuo gave Bai Sha a thumbs-up, impressed that she could even persuade this ‘old ox’ (TL Note: A colloquial Chinese term referring to someone stubborn or set in their ways), a testament to her capabilities.
Bai Sha settled beside her sister.
“The previous hospital was in the county town, wasn’t it?” she asked.
“Let’s switch to a city hospital, or if absolutely necessary, we can transfer him to S City.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Bai’s Mother hastily interjected, “A hospital is a hospital, no matter where it is.
Your sister already asked; a big hospital can cost several thousand a day for a stay.”
“Money is not an issue,” Bai Sha countered firmly.
“If we’re going to treat him, we should do our best to cure him completely, to prevent any future relapses.”
Bai Qing concurred, turning to Bai’s Mother.
“Mom, please don’t worry about the money for this,” she said.
“Xiao Sha and I will cover it.”
Bai Sha looked at her sister, on the verge of speaking, but then hesitated.
In truth, she wished to bear the entire cost herself.
Her sister and brother-in-law didn’t have high-paying jobs, and their savings likely weren’t substantial.
When Bai Anguo returned to the inpatient ward, though no longer at the county hospital, he was surprised to find Xiao Er, the boy who had almost drowned, in another bed.
Xiao Er, looking utterly bewildered, questioned his teacher:
“Bai Anguo, why are you here too?”
Zhao Dingzhuo, who was supporting his father-in-law, let out a chuckle.
Bai Anguo, however, scowled.
“I’ll settle your score later, young man,” he growled.
“If there’s nothing wrong with you, hurry back to school! Don’t you know classes have started?!”
Xiao Er rolled over, turning his back to the teacher.
He had actually wanted to thank his teacher, but Bai Anguo was so fierce.
As a troublemaker, Xiao Er was used to being scolded and beaten, and the moment Bai Anguo’s face darkened, he dared not utter another word.
The two Bai sisters, meanwhile, went to sign documents and pay the fees.
Due to the start of the school term and the fact that both her daughter and son-in-law were at the hospital, Bai’s Mother had not come upstairs.
****
In the hospital corridor, Bai Sha and Bai Qing chatted after completing the necessary procedures.
“When are you and brother-in-law planning to have children?”
Bai Qing rubbed her face, sighing.
“There’s a mountain of things to deal with, both inside and outside the house,” she explained.
“At least a few more years, I’d say.”
“If you ever need money, just tell me.”
The moment Bai Sha uttered those words, both sisters paused, surprised.
For many years, that was a phrase Bai Qing typically said to her, but now the roles seemed to have reversed.
Bai Qing playfully stood on her tiptoes, gesturing to compare her height with her sister’s.
“Who’s the older sister here?” she teased.
“Hey! Have you gotten a little shorter?”
Previously, Bai Sha had been nearly a head taller than her, but now the difference was perhaps half a head at most.
Bai Sha, however, remained calm and composed.
Having suffered from issues with her ears and spine in the past, she had always maintained a habit of regular physical examinations and was quite familiar with her own body.
“I’ve shrunk a few centimeters,” she admitted.
“Even though I haven’t gotten any shorter since, it’s still quite annoying.”
“Your man is so tall; won’t kissing him be exhausting?” Bai Qing quipped.
To Bai Qing, who had grown up in the south, Zhou Haochen, a Northeast man nearly 1.9 meters tall, truly seemed like a giant.
“Not at all,” Bai Sha replied.
“He just needs to lower his head a bit, and I can stand on my tiptoes, right?”
‘In truth, whenever they weren’t out in public, most of their kisses eventually led them to tumble into bed.’
Bai Qing glanced around, confirming no one was nearby.
She then conspiratorially leaned closer to Bai Sha’s ear and whispered, “Sister’s asking you, have you, you know, *done it* with him yet?”
Bai Sha’s face flushed crimson with a ‘peng’ of heat.
She chuckled, “I could give birth to a second Xiao Yu right now.”
“No way?! You’re actually going to have a baby!” Bai Qing exclaimed.
‘Xiao Yu was a gift from heaven, but her younger brother used to be a man. “Hehehe” was one thing, but was he really going to have children in the future?!’
“It was just a figure of speech!” Bai Sha clarified.
“I’m not planning to right now.”
‘But who could truly know what the future held?’
‘The former Bai Sha had believed she would never return here, yet here she was.’
By the railing of the outdoor street, weeds grew freely in the hospital’s corner.
Virginia creeper climbed wildly over the mottled old wall, creating a scene of desolation that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Bai Qing leaned against the railing, gazing out.
“Are you two really getting married?” she asked.
Bai Sha leaned beside her sister, a hint of confusion in her voice.
“Why wouldn’t we?”
“You’ve only known each other for less than a year,” Bai Qing pointed out.
“Before Xiao Yu came along, your lives didn’t even intersect.”
Bai Sha followed her sister’s gaze, but instead saw vibrant green grass thriving, and Virginia creeper vying for height in an exuberant display of life.
“But now our lives do intersect, don’t they?” Bai Sha countered.
“I don’t like to dwell on what ifs.
The fact that I’m willing to marry him now is enough.
The person I was in the past and the person I might be in the future are not who I am today.”
Bai Qing gave her a strange look.
“Are you sure you want to discuss philosophy with a teacher?” she remarked.
Bai Sha let out a playful “Aiya” and flopped onto her sister.
“How old am I already?” she whined.
“Stop nagging me, okay? I didn’t say anything about you and brother-in-law back then.”
‘Yes, you didn’t say anything.
You tricked your brother-in-law into drinking bitter gourd juice.
When we were at Grandma’s house and you were about to take me for a drive, you let the air out of his tires.
The first time you met your brother-in-law, you nearly drank him to death.’
“Dad’s surgery is still a few days away,” Bai Qing said.
“Do you want to go back first?
School has just started, and both people in your household need to attend, right?”
“Never mind,” Bai Sha replied.
“Staying home alone during the day would be quite boring, now that I think about it.
I’ll just stay here and keep you company.”
Both Bai Qing and Zhao Dingzhuo had taken extended leave to return home.
Bai Sha planned to stay in a hotel for these few days, returning only after the surgery was complete and everything had settled.
“What do you plan to do in the future?” Bai Qing asked.
“Didn’t you say you weren’t going to stream anymore?”
Bai Sha stood up, letting out a playful chuckle.
“I’ll just wait for Zhou Haochen to become a big boss in the future!” she joked.
“Then I’ll be the boss’s wife, counting money at home every day!”
Bai Qing lightly patted her arm, chiding her.
“Speak properly! Stop messing around.”
Bai Sha rubbed her arm, pouting as she whispered, “That’s the dream, you know—getting money without having to do anything.
Though it’s not very realistic…”
“What are you mumbling about?”
“I really haven’t decided yet,” Bai Sha admitted.
“Maybe next year I’ll go back to being a coach or something.
I haven’t really studied much, so I won’t find a good job, and I certainly won’t just ‘work a regular job,’ okay?”
The esports industry is inherently tied to the internet.
Those who don’t stream for income in the future usually have substantial savings or come from well-off families.
“You can always pursue more education now,” Bai Qing suggested.
“If you want it, you just need to work hard for it.”
Bai Sha pursed her lips.
At five in the morning, she could be playing practice matches, ranking up, reviewing games, or even streaming, but she would absolutely not be studying.
“Let’s go,” Bai Qing said.
“Anyway, as long as you don’t gamble, you’ll probably live a better life than me in the future.”
Bai Sha followed behind her sister, internally refuting her statement.
She certainly wouldn’t gamble in the future, but she was going to buy a huge villa!
——————
In the hospital room, after Zhao Dingzhuo had left, only Xiao Er and Bai Anguo remained.
Xiao Er sat up, cautiously looking at his teacher.
“Bai Anguo, I’m sorry,” he said with genuine earnestness.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be in the hospital.”
Bai Anguo let out a cold snort.
‘You don’t actually think just getting soaked in water would land someone in the hospital, do you?’
“It has nothing to do with you,” he stated.
“Really?” Xiao Er’s eyes widened.
“Then I was planning to study hard from now on and never hang out with those guys again!”
Bai Anguo abruptly sat up with a ‘tseng’ sound, staring at Xiao Er with an unusually chilling gaze.
“Don’t look at me like that, teacher,” Xiao Er stammered.
“I… I absolutely won’t hang out with them anymore!”
Only then did Bai Anguo lie back down.