The sickly one in F4 was the group's darling.

Bai Ci lowered her eyes, her fingers unconsciously gripping the towel tightly, her whole body stiff and tense.

He exuded a strong resistance and fear towards the inspection.

When he was practicing in the mountains, he was most afraid of strangers approaching. Hunters, herb gatherers, and occasional passing merchants, even just the sound of footsteps from afar, would immediately alert him, causing him to shrink into the deepest corner of the cave and wait for a long time before daring to peek out.

Even more strangely, he himself inexplicably realized that his body retained an instinctive wariness and resistance to medical examinations.

The thought of having to undergo a full physical examination made him instinctively want to back out.

He pursed his dry lips, his small hands secretly clenching the sheets beneath him. After hesitating for a long time, he finally whispered, "I...I feel fine now. I don't need to get checked."

"Nothing wrong? Yesterday you fainted and collapsed, scaring everyone half to death. You call that nothing wrong?" Bai Jiheng raised an eyebrow, his tone full of helplessness.

"I'm just a little tired from sleeping for so long." Bai Ci looked up, her eyes filled with a timid pleading look. "My constitution is naturally weak, I'll be fine after a couple of days of rest, there's no need to make a fuss about doing a bunch of tests."

He used the excuse that his body had always been weak to try and get away with it, fearing that the examination would reveal abnormal physical data.

Bai Jiheng turned his head to look at Bai Yanzhi. The two of them didn't need to say anything, but their hearts sank at the same time.

Bai Ci's desperate attempts to avoid the examination at this moment perfectly matched what Dr. Qin had told him earlier about his long-standing fear of medical treatment.

His panic today was particularly striking, as if it concealed a secret they couldn't see through at all.

Bai Yanzhi softened his tone and asked gently, "What's wrong? Why are you so scared?"

Bai Ci shook his head, then abruptly stopped halfway through his action.

On one hand, there was the instinctive, deep-seated fear and resistance; on the other hand, there was a secret he had kept hidden for so long, one that could never be known to anyone. He had no way to explain, nor dared to explain, and could only suppress his overwhelming panic.

"Big brother...can I not do it?"

Looking at Bai Ci's evasive eyes and tense shoulders, Bai Yanzhi could tell that this was not simply a matter of being afraid of pain or resisting medical equipment.

"I know you have concerns," Bai Yanzhi said gently, yet with an undeniable firmness. "But your health is no joke; repeated fainting is no small matter. Ji Heng and I will accompany you throughout tomorrow's checkup. We won't leave you alone, and we'll stop immediately if you feel unwell."

Bai Jiheng, standing nearby, tried to ease the tension: "It's not a big deal. Just find out what the problem is and treat it accordingly. When I was a kid, I broke my arm, and even though I had a cast on for two months, I still went out racing cars by climbing over the wall. In the end, my older brother dragged me back and made me kneel in the ancestral hall, but my arm is perfectly fine now, isn't it?"

Bai Yanzhi glanced at him indifferently.

"You fractured your bone yourself, how can that be the same?"

"I was just giving an example." Bai Jiheng looked at Bai Ci and said seriously, "Anyway, don't be afraid. You can only feel completely at ease after the investigation is complete."

"But..." Bai Ci wanted to argue further.

"No buts." Bai Yanzhi interrupted gently, casually taking the crumpled towel from his hand, carefully wiping his fingertips clean, and then placing it on the cabinet beside him.

While her older brother was packing, Bai Ci frantically called out to Xiao Qi in her mind, her heart filled with anxiety: "What should I do! They insist on me having a full-body checkup. What if they find something abnormal?"

Xiaoqi reassured her in her mind, "Bai Bai, don't be afraid, I have a way to handle the checkup."

"What method?" Bai Ci asked anxiously in his mind.

"I can secretly interfere with the equipment and try to access the inspection system to suppress any overly conspicuous data. I'll adjust everything that can be changed, and for the rest, we'll have to rely on luck. Leave this to me. Try to postpone the inspection until tomorrow and give me some breathing room."

With Xiao Qi's assurance, Bai Ci felt a little more at ease, but the anxiety in her heart still churned.

He felt a pang of sadness and confusion.

He wasn't the real Bai Ci; he was an anomaly chosen by chance to stay in someone else's body, and he never belonged to this family.

He never intended to deceive anyone, yet he harbored a deepest secret from beginning to end. Once his identity is exposed, his only safe haven and his hard-won peaceful life will crumble instantly.

He never intended to lie, but he had to keep it a secret because he dared not gamble on the consequences of the truth being exposed.

Bai Ci lowered her head even further, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible: "I don't want to investigate now, can we postpone it?"

Bai Yanzhi felt a pang of heartache seeing him trembling and desperately trying to escape.

Remembering that Dr. Qin had mentioned his long-standing fear of seeking medical treatment, I really didn't want to pressure him.

But when he thought of the scene last night where he suddenly fainted and almost had an accident, he dared not compromise easily, and his tone was full of dilemma: "His health cannot be delayed. I will not be at ease until the matter is thoroughly investigated."

Bai Ci looked up at him, her eyes filled with pleading, "Big brother, just one night, okay? Postpone it to tomorrow morning, I promise I'll cooperate tomorrow!"

Seeing Bai Ci's fear and helplessness, and recalling his years of resistance to medical treatment, Bai Yanzhi's resolve completely crumbled.

He paused for a moment, then reached out and placed his hand on Bai Ci's slightly cool hand, gently comforting her: "Okay, whatever you say."

The checkup has been postponed until tomorrow morning.

Bai Yanzhi gently instructed again, "Get a good rest today and recharge your energy. We'll head over first thing tomorrow morning."

"...Okay." Bai Ci nodded gently.

Bai Yanzhi picked up the food box and gave Bai Jiheng a look.

Bai Jiheng stood up from his chair, stretched, and followed Bai Yanzhi out. When they reached the ward door, he turned back and gestured with his chin towards Bai Ci: "Don't lie in bed and overthink things. Your older brother will be with you the whole time, so don't panic. But if you really faint from fright in the examination room, I won't be the one to carry you."

Bai Yanzhi, who was standing to the side, immediately raised his hand and lightly patted him on the back of the head to stop him from scaring people.

The door was gently closed, and the sound of two footsteps faded into the distance.

Upon reaching the elevator, Bai Jiheng lowered his voice and asked, "Big brother, don't you think Bai Ci's behavior today wasn't just about being afraid of the inspection?"

Bai Yanzhi stared at the closed door of the ward, his eyes dark and deep: "I can see it. His fear of the physical examination is just a facade; he has something else weighing on his mind that he doesn't want to tell us."

"Should we force him to undergo the examination? What if it upsets him?"

"Keep a close eye on him tomorrow, partly to check his physical condition, and partly to find out what's making him so timid."

The elevator doors slowly closed, shutting out the light from the corridor.

The ward fell silent again, with only the steady beeping of the monitor.

Just then, the phone on the bedside table vibrated slightly.

Bai Ci threw off the covers, picked up her phone, and saw a message from Shen Tinglan pop up on the screen.

"Why didn't you go back to school today?"

Bai Ci's fingertip hovered above the screen, hesitant.

Should I be honest and say I fainted last night and am still in the medical room waiting for a check-up the next day?

After thinking it over, he simply typed a few words and sent them:

"Something came up, I'll be back in a couple of days."

The message had just been sent successfully when the screen lit up again, followed by a barrage of questions from Shen Tinglan.

"What is it?"

Bai Ci stared at the screen, a slight tightness in her chest. Shen Tinglan was always aloof and distant, never interfering excessively in other people's trivial matters, but his questioning now carried a silent stubbornness that made it impossible to simply brush him off.

"...I've fallen slightly ill." After typing this, he paused, then added, "It's not serious."

After sending the message, he placed his phone face down on the blanket, but the phone vibrated again very quickly.

He flipped it over and glanced at it. Shen Tinglan only replied with three extremely simple words.

"understood."

His tone was flat and emotionless, devoid of concern or questioning, yet it carried a silent sense of oppression, its depths difficult to discern, leaving one unable to fathom his true nature.

Bai Ci put her phone back on the bedside table, pulled the blanket tighter around herself, and tried to close her eyes and fall asleep.

But the thought of the medical check-up early tomorrow morning and the possibility of my identity being exposed filled me with anxiety. I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep at all.

The security he enjoys now is something he stole by chance.

Once it's punctured, there's nothing left.

The night is long, and the challenges we will face tomorrow are only just beginning.