My sister, whom I raised, has turned evil after faking her death for three years.

The lights were on in the ward.

Unlike the dim nightlight last night, the fluorescent lights on the ceiling were blazing brightly today, illuminating the surrounding white walls almost blindingly.

The stark white light fell on Yin Wan, making her almost transparent.

When Su Qing pushed the door open, she was leaning against the headboard, her back straighter than the night before, her hands folded on the blanket, as if she had been waiting for a long time.

She keenly sensed that today's atmosphere was different from yesterday's, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was different.

Su Qing closed the door and sat down in the old chair by the bed.

Yin Wan watched her sit down, without any pleasantries or preamble, and then spoke in a very soft and steady voice.

She had heard everything from Wu Yue, and now she was going to tell Su Qing everything.

She wasn't trying to exonerate Wu Yue, nor was she trying to defend herself; she simply felt that there should be at least one person in the world who could hear the most complete truth from her.

She began her story on that late autumn night.

The story tells of how Wu Yue carried a newborn baby, only a few days old, through most of the northern part of the city, and placed her on the steps of a welfare home.

The story describes the little one curled up in swaddling clothes, making faint cries that were very quiet in the dead of night.

Yin Wan's voice was very steady, as if she were reading an old newspaper article that had been repeated countless times, but her fingers were twisting the quilt tighter and tighter, her thin knuckles twisting the thin quilt cover, creating deep wrinkles.

There was a note tucked into the baby's swaddling clothes, with a name written on it.

Wu Yue overheard that name outside Cui Ying's room and later wrote it down on a piece of paper.

That name is Jiang Ran.

Upon hearing this, Su Qing slowly closed her fingers on her knees.

She wasn't unprepared, but sitting here, listening to someone recount how Xiao Ran was stolen from her biological parents, how she was abandoned at the gate of the orphanage, and how she moved from one indifferent foster family to another over the years, her heart still felt like it was being squeezed in someone's palm, aching so much that she could hardly breathe.

Wu Yue's unusual reaction when he heard Jiang Ran's name at the party, the hair he secretly took, and Yin Wan's hesitation yesterday—all these fragments pieced together into a complete puzzle at this moment.

But when the complete puzzle was actually placed in front of her, she felt as if something had hit her chest hard.

Jiang Ran is the stolen daughter of the Jiang family, the child that everyone thought was dead, but who is actually still alive.

And Wu Yue... that old butler who always bowed slightly to her, so proper and respectful, was the one who sent the child away.

Yin Wan looked at Su Qing's silent profile and slowly sat up straight.

Then she did something that Su Qing never expected.

She lifted her withered hands from the blanket, placed them on her knees, and then bowed her head to Su Qing. It wasn't a slight bow, but a heavy bow that pressed down on her entire body.

Her back was bent into a deep arc, and her gray hair slipped down from behind her ears, obscuring half of her face.

She didn't cry; her tears had long since dried up in the pain and despair of the past decade. But her voice trembled, each word seeming to be squeezed from the depths of her chest: "Ms. Su, I know there's no point in saying this. What's done is done. The damage has been done for over a decade; it can't be erased with a few apologies..."

"But I still have to say sorry to you and to that child... I apologize on behalf of A-Yue for what he did, even though I know it can't make up for anything..."

Her voice grew softer and softer, the last few words almost grinding out of her throat, "But besides this... there's nothing else I can do."

  

The system softly reported in Su Qing's mind: [Every word Yin Wan said is true. Her micro-expressions, voiceprint fluctuations, and heart rate changes show no signs of lying. The credibility is 92%.]

Su Qing looked at the woman in front of her, who was so thin she was just skin and bones, and at her back that was bent so low it looked like it was about to break. She remained silent for a long time.

She knew that the harm was not caused by Yin Wan, nor was it solely Wu Yue's fault, but if she hadn't made that wrong step, Jiang Ran wouldn't have huddled on that balcony for so long, and wouldn't have etched the words "abandoned" into her bones at such a young age.

But the woman in front of me... she too had been kept in the dark for over a decade. The moment she learned the truth, she was sentenced to life imprisonment by her own conscience.

Su Qing took a deep breath, shifted her gaze from Yin Wan to the dark night sky outside the window.

Yin Wan straightened up and lightly rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked at Su Qing, her tone cautiously inquiring: "Miss Su, what do you plan to do? Will you tell the Jiang family about this and have them take Jiang Ran back?"

Su Qing's fingers tapped unconsciously on the armrest of the chair, her gaze fixed on the pale fluorescent light, the light in her eyes flickering.

Meanwhile, outside the ward door.

Jiang Ran stood with her back against the cold wall in the dark corner of the door frame, where the light did not reach. Her fingers gripped the edge of the door frame tightly, her nails digging into the paint, her knuckles turning bluish-white.

She heard every single word spoken, from Yin Wan's calm narration to Su Qing's long silence.

She wasn't angry about the undeserved misfortune she had suffered; the orphanage, the fifteen years stolen from her, the home that should have been hers—all of this seemed insignificant compared to the seven years she had spent living with her sister.

She was just nervous.

What will her sister say? Does her sister really want to send her away?

Su Qing has not yet answered.

The image of that little figure standing at the school gate, eagerly waiting for her, flashed through her mind; the countless evenings she had spent holding that little hand as they walked home; the arms that had wrapped around her waist from behind last night; and the warmth of that touch against the back of her neck.

She didn't want to send Xiao Ran away.

But she knew even more that she had no right to keep her.

With less than a month left before the mission deadline, she had to leave even without the Jiang family and this paternity test.

As for the Jiang family... Jiang Mingyuan and Cui Ying are Jiang Ran's biological parents. They left her more than ten years ago, and their hearts have ached for more than ten years.

Cui Ying is still mentally distraught because of the loss of her daughter. What right does she have to claim a mother's child as her own?

Jiang Ran will have a comfortable life, the best educational resources, and loving parents and brother when she returns to the Jiang family.

These are things that her older sister, who lives off system subsidies and a dessert shop salary, can never provide...

"Tell her biological parents..."

Su Qing finally spoke, her voice soft but steady, "She should go back to her real home. She's been with me for so many years and suffered a lot. She deserves better. There are some things... I can't give her."

Yin Wan looked at Su Qing, at her eyes that were calm and undisturbed even though she was talking about something very cruel, and suddenly felt her throat tighten again.

Having seen countless people, she could tell that when this girl said those words, she was genuinely thinking only about her sister's future, without a trace of feigned retreat or resentment.

She simply accepted the fact that those who could provide Jiang Ran with a better life were better choices than herself.

At that moment, outside the ward, the cold fluorescent light of the corridor shone on a stiff figure.

Jiang Ran leaned against the wall outside the door, her fingernails digging deep red marks into her palms, her lower lip turning white from being bitten, and she tasted a hint of blood.

She wasn't angry about the undeserved misfortune she had suffered; she was just waiting, waiting for her sister's next words.

She heard Yin Wan ask her sister what she wanted to do, and the silence felt like an eternity before she heard her sister's voice.

The words slipped through the crack in the door, lightly drifting into her ears, yet feeling so heavy that she felt her whole body sinking down.

Her older sister wanted to see her off...

My sister said she deserves better...

Her sister doesn't want her anymore...

Her hand moved faster than her brain, and before she could react, she had already slammed it hard against the hospital room door that wasn't closed properly.

The door slammed against the wall with a loud thud, making the medical record folder hanging behind the door rattle several times.

Su Qing and Yin Wan turned their heads at the same time. The person standing at the door was wearing a black hoodie, the hood hadn't been put on yet, his hair was a little messy from the night wind, and his chest was heaving violently.

Her fingers gripped the door frame, her knuckles so white they looked like they were about to pierce her skin.

Her lower lip was bitten until it turned white, but those eyes, those eyes that Su Qing had looked at for seven years, were now staring at her intently, with a light she had never seen before surging in their depths, as if they had been uprooted from a very deep place and torn out, flesh and blood.

Su Qing stood up from her chair, her composure finally broken.

Her lips moved, her voice filled with undisguised shock and a hint of guilt she herself didn't realize: "Xiao...Xiao Ran?"