"My mother was just one of the many children Grandpa took in." Ying Bai's eyes were beautiful, clear enough to see through. "My mother was an abandoned baby, sickly ever since she was little. It wasn't until Grandpa adopted her that her condition improved."
"She grew up under Grandpa's care, staying by his side until she was twenty, when she met my father."
"They held a very simple wedding, and soon after they had me."
"After Mother gave birth to me, her health grew worse and worse, and Father's attitude toward her gradually changed."
"Later, Mother's company went bankrupt, and she was saddled with enormous debt. He was hounded by debt collectors every day, and he often left Mother and me at home alone while he ran off to hide from the debts."
"He always said the debt collectors wouldn't harass women or newborns, and he'd only dare sneak back home in the dead of night every few days."
"This went on for several months, until Father stopped contacting the family altogether and never returned home."
"Alone with a child, terrified every day, with debt collectors banging on the door and splashing paint—finally, one day, Mother collapsed."
"The doctor called Grandpa, and only then did he learn that the daughter he had taken in was living in misery."
"A white-haired elder tenderly caring for a dark-haired one—that wasn't something you often saw in the hospital. Mother's condition kept deteriorating. She wanted to see Father one more time, not for some so-called love, but just to slap him across the face and ask him one question."
"Her wish was never fulfilled before she died. The night Grandpa saw her off, he seemed to age ten years."
"After that, I went to live with Grandpa—went to school, studied…" As Ying Bai spoke, she lowered her head again. "I didn't want to cause him trouble. I really didn't."
In Ying Bai's words, the old principal of Muyang Middle School was a truly wonderful person. The malice and desire that lurked in human nature were almost impossible to find in the old man, and this only strengthened
"Your grandfather really sounds like a wonderful person. Do you know where he is now? I'd like to meet him." If he could learn the method of leaving the ghost school, Chen Ge would no longer have anything to fear. He would be invincible.
Ying Bai shook her head. "He lives outside the school. He always shows up when I'm at my most desperate, on the verge of breaking down. Every time I see him, I feel at peace."
"Understood." Chen Ge didn't press further. The ghost school would soon descend into chaos, and the old principal would definitely come to protect his granddaughter. All he had to do was wait. "You rest well. I won't disturb you any longer."
After closing the curtain, Chen Ge couldn't stop thinking about the old principal. The man had avoided him several times before—this time, he absolutely could not let him slip away.
It was only after leaving Ying Bai's bedside that Chen Ge suddenly realized something. When the girl had been recounting her past, she hadn't mentioned a single thing about Ying Hong. It was as though Ying Hong had never existed in her life.
"The family photo clearly shows Ying Hong is there. Why would this child leave her out of the story? What happened between these two sisters?"
Chen Ge felt that Ying Bai's current state was very likely connected to Ying Hong in some way.
"Once I find the old principal, everything will fall into place. I'll leave them alone for now." Committing Ying Bai's bed number to memory, the thought even crossed Chen Ge's mind of keeping Ying Bai by his side and protecting her personally. But considering the doctor in the back room was no easy opponent, he decided against it.
Continuing to check the wards, Chen Ge caught a sharp medicinal smell as he passed the last bed.
He pulled aside the white curtain and looked at the bed. A boy with thoroughly ordinary features lay flat on his back.
Both his arms and legs were wrapped in bandages. His eyes were vacant, staring blankly at the ceiling. Even when someone pulled aside the curtain, he showed no reaction whatsoever.
This child seemed not to care about anything happening in the outside world. He was like a walking corpse.
"Yan Fei?"