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

Bai Ci looked in the direction Bai Jiheng was pointing and immediately spotted Bai Yanzhi walking towards the end of the corridor.

He took a step forward, but Bai Jiheng grabbed his shoulder and pressed it down.

"What's the rush?" Bai Jiheng's voice was low, with a hint of the confidence of someone who's been there. "We've been standing here in the wind for half a day. If we rush in now, we're bound to get a scolding from our older brother."

Bai Ci froze.

Third Brother is right. If you see Big Brother standing in the wind right after he comes out of the medical room, he might not say a word, but just give you a look. That look says it all, and it makes you feel ten times more guilty than being scolded.

"Pull up your coats, let's stroll over slowly."

Bai Ci quickly zipped the zipper up to his chin, turned his collar up neatly, and subconsciously straightened his back to make himself look more energetic.

Bai Jiheng followed half a step behind him, carrying a cloth bag, and saw the scene clearly. Before his older brother even got close, this guy had already automatically switched to "ready for inspection" mode, which made him secretly amused.

"Big Brother." Bai Ci stopped in front of Bai Yanzhi and obediently called out.

Bai Yanzhi approached, his gaze first falling on Bai Ci's face, confirming that her complexion was better than in the afternoon, before looking at Bai Jiheng beside her.

"Is everything packed?"

"It's all packed away." Bai Jiheng lifted the cloth bag he was carrying, gesturing for Bai Yanzhi to see it.

"Uncle Chen was going to help him pack, but he insisted on doing it himself, saying there wasn't much stuff, and sent Uncle Chen away first. Then, a patient squatted down to pick up some things, and when he stood up—"

"Third Brother!" Bai Ci warned.

"—My knees buckled, and I almost ended up doing a floor-wiping performance right there and then," Bai Jiheng said without changing his expression.

"...I didn't almost sit on the ground," Bai Ci retorted.

"Yes, yes, yes," Bai Jiheng nodded, his tone extremely sincere, "It's all thanks to my quick action in helping me."

Bai Ci pursed his lips and simply shut up. Arguing with his third brother was a waste of time; the more he argued, the more enthusiastic he became.

Bai Yanzhi looked at Bai Jiheng's seemingly truthful yet deliberately exaggerated manner, and then at Bai Ci's clenched fingers and suppressed anger, a faint, gentle smile flashed across his eyes.

"Then why have you been standing in the corridor in the wind? Didn't I tell you to take him back to his room first?" He looked at Bai Jiheng.

"He insisted on standing here and waiting, and I couldn't persuade him otherwise." Bai Jiheng spread his hands, looking completely innocent, as if he had no say in the matter.

Bai Yanzhi looked at Bai Ci, who felt a little guilty under his gaze.

He looked up, met Bai Yanzhi's eyes, and earnestly corrected him, "I wasn't exposed to the wind, I was just waiting for you to come over."

Bai Yanzhi's gaze softened for a moment.

"...Let's go. Let's go back to the room first. It's chilly outside."

The three walked side by side toward the main building. The evening breeze blew through the eaves, carrying the faint fragrance of grass and trees. Bai Ci pulled her coat tighter and secretly nudged Xiao Qi in her heart.

He had wanted to ask his third brother about the details of his fainting spell that night in the corridor, but Xiao Qi had remained silent. Now was the perfect time for him to press the matter.

"Xiao Qi".

"exist!"

"Last time in the hospital room, you stopped halfway through your sentence. You said that when my brother carried me into the medical room, his knees were covered in... covered in what?"

Xiaoqi was silent for a moment.

Those two seconds of silence, in terms of the system's processing speed, were equivalent to a human holding their head and thinking for a whole century. The last time it was this conflicted was when it tried to make strawberry candy for Bai Ci but ended up matching durian flavor instead.

Say or don't say?

To be honest, my older brother knelt through shards of porcelain and milk stains to pull the person out, his pants were torn in several places, and he stood outside the emergency room for most of the night without sitting down. If Bai Bai knew about these things, he would definitely feel bad and guilty, feeling that he had caused trouble for others again.

He kept it to himself, but Bai Bai had already become suspicious. He had been staring at his older brother's face for a long time in the corridor, pondering the details.

Xiaoqi quickly made a list in her mind, filtering through all the information points that could be said, couldn't be said, that would make Baibai feel bad if said, and that would make Baibai even more uneasy if not said. Then she made a very "Xiaoqi" decision.

"Ah, that one." Its voice suddenly rose half an octave higher than usual, feigning nonchalance and ignorance.

"Back then, in order to stabilize your vital signs, I allocated all the system's energy to maintaining your basal metabolism, so I was actually in standby mode during that time—yes, standby! I don't really know what happened after that. Bai Bai, you know, I can sometimes let you down, like with the durian candy incident, and it happened again this time, hehe."

When he said the last "hehe," the last syllable floated up slightly, sounding a little guilty.

Bai Ci remained silent for a moment.

"Xiao Qi".

"Um?"

"You always talk a lot when you lie."

Xiaoqi fell silent instantly. After a long while, it finally spoke in a muffled voice, its tone eight octaves lower than before, filled with genuine grievance and a hint of resentment: "...Anyway, I don't really know. Blame me if you want."

Bai Ci didn't press further. Xiao Qi usually seemed unreliable, with a bunch of minor issues like broken filters, bad redemption attempts, and random countdowns, but she was truly reliable when it mattered.

Last time it faced Huang Mao at the hair salon, it was so angry it bristled and turned on its filter faster than anyone else; this time when he fainted, it allocated all its energy to save his life and simply went into standby mode.

He may be unreliable, but he'll always protect you when it matters.

"It's not your fault," Bai Ci thought to herself, "but could you at least let me know before you go into standby mode next time? I get anxious when I find you're not around."

Xiaoqi was silent for a moment, then her voice softened, carrying a warmth that she couldn't hide after being touched: "Bai Bai, I'm going to save this line."

"...You save everything?"

"Of course I'll save it! This is the first time you've said you'd panic if I wasn't around!" Xiaoqi said confidently. "I'll write it down and replay it on repeat later!"

Bai Ci really wanted to take back that stupid thing she said.

He was so engrossed in whispering to Xiao Qi that his pace slowed down unconsciously. Bai Yanzhi and Bai Jiheng also slowed down, and neither of them urged him on.

He wanted to ask his eldest brother, but his third brother said in the ward that he was "extremely anxious," while his eldest brother said nothing.

He wanted to know, but he was also hesitant to ask. He was afraid that asking would remind his older brother of something unpleasant, and he was also afraid that he would find out later that he was overthinking things and that the other person might not have been in any real danger and had simply taken him to the hospital as usual.

He raised his head, glanced at Bai Yanzhi's profile, then lowered it again. He raised it again, then lowered it again.

"What's wrong, big brother? Is there something on your face?" Bai Jiheng joked.

Bai Yanzhi stopped in his tracks.

"What do you want to ask? Just say it." He turned around to face him and spoke first.

"Well..." Bai Ci hesitated for a moment, then chose a safer way to ask, "That day, after I fainted, how did I get to the medical room?"