Yang Ruqin refused to give up. She called her brother again, but he didn’t pick up. She frowned and attempted to do it again, but before she could, her mother called her first. Her face became visibly pale upon seeing the picture of her mother flash on her phone. She swallowed the lump in her throat and nervously looked at Zhao Lifei.

"M-my mom is calling..." She whispered as if she was scared of getting caught for doing something bad.

"Pick it up then." Zhao Lifei said, knowing the more Ruqin made her mother wait, the more Madam Yang would be infuriated.

Yang Ruqin looked at her nervously. "Can you pick it up for me—" The phone stopped ringing. She let out a sigh of relief, only to panic again when her father’s contact flashed.

"Oh my god, its my dad!" She yelped, nearly tossing the phone to the other side of the room.

"Just pick it up Ruqin, they’ll continue to call if you don’t." Zhao Lifei said.

Missed calls from both of her parents would not look good for her if she’s taken back to the Yang Mansion. She could stop Yang Feng, but she knew she couldn’t stop Mr. and Mrs. Yang if they brought their people to pick up their daughter.

"A-alright..." Yang Ruqin whispered. She walked to the corner of the room and talked in hushed voices with her parents.

Zhao Lifei patiently waited for the phone call to end. She laid down on the bed, stared at the ceiling, and sighed. I really hate this place.

The hospital ceiling was boring, the scent from the humidifier was beginning to annoy her, the smell of chemicals and disinfectants was beginning to trickle back haunting memories, and she despised every second spent in here.

She reached for her phone and debated the idea of calling her grandfather. She wanted to coerce him into allowing her to leave the hospital and recuperate somewhere else — anywhere was fine, as long as it wasn’t in a hospital.

Just then, she remembered Xiao Nai who was probably waiting for her. Sitting up in her bed, she was about to climb out and get ready for the day, when Yang Ruqin walked back to her with a distraught expression.

"What’s wrong?" Zhao Lifei immediately asked.

"My parents want me to return home. The chauffeur is already waiting for me downstairs." Yang Ruqin grimly said. She didn’t want to go back home because she knew they would bombard her with questions the second she stepped into the house, or it was about marrying some rich heir to improve the family connection.

She kicked the chair beside her, a pout on her face. "Stupid Feng-ge, he’s always doing this!" Not only was he controlling of Feifei, but he’s also controlling over me! What type of brother is he?!

"Just because he’s the eldest, it doesn’t mean he has the right to interfere with my life!" Yang Ruqin added on, frustrated that her own brother would sell her out.

Zhao Lifei sighed. "Guess we’re in the same boat." She rolled her eyes, not understanding why he always had to be in control all the time. Why couldn’t he relax and just let fate play its course?

"Sometimes I really want to hit him—" The phone rang again. Yang Ruqin pressed her lips together and groaned when she saw it was her father calling her.

Zhao Lifei also saw the contact name. "Go home, I’ll be fine." She said, shooing the young woman out of the door.

A few minutes after she left, the nurse came in to change her bandages and IV bag. Soon after, a female doctor walked in to check on her condition.

After a series of questions, Zhao Lifei surprisingly got permission to walk around a bit to get her joints moving again. Once the doctor left, she carefully took a shower, changed into a fresh set of hospital wear, and then opened the door of her room.

Once again, a group of men was blocking it. She already knew who they were. "The doctor said I can walk around a bit." She spoke up, but they didn’t budge.

"I’m going to another patient’s room for a small chat." She added on. After a few seconds of awkward silence where she thought her request was rejected, they finally stepped aside.

"The Boss has instructed us to accompany you wherever you go. You must come back as soon as the doctor or nurses arrive with the daily medicine." One of them gruffly said, to which Zhao Lifei reluctantly nodded. It was better than nothing.

She wordlessly walked down the hall to Xiao Nai’s room and to her absolute surprise, the girl was gone. The room was freshly cleaned and all of the gifts were gone.

action Xiao Nai had gone home.

This was strange to Zhao Lifei because she thought the child would be eager to stay because of their promise.

With a reluctant sigh, she closed the door and walked down the halls.

When she heard a sharp cry behind her, she jumped in fright. Her heart pounded a million beats per second at the sudden outbreak of noise in the quiet hallways.

Zhao Lifei turned back and saw it was just a mother with her newly born child. They were an adoring pair.

The mother looked young, but that didn’t prevent the motherly expression on her face. She softly comforted the crying baby, whispering gentle words and lightly swaying her body. Behind the woman was a big window that looked outside. The skies were dark and grey, it was going to rain soon and judging from the rumbling skies, it might even thunder.

She hurriedly went back to her room right as the first sound of thunder rumbled the skies. BOOM! She cried out in fear, flicking off the lights and hurriedly running back into her bed. She didn’t know where her fear of thunder came from, but she developed it some time in her childhood. Shaking in her blanket, her body went stiff. Her fingers dug into her skin, pain spreading from the area.

Memories of the past came flooding back, forcing her to bury herself deeper into her bed, as if it could provide some comfort and shelter from the terrifying sounds outside.

- - - -

Zhao Moyao had just finished a meeting when the first clap of thunder. He looked at the enormous window overlooking Shenbei and his face turned dark. "Prepare the car right away." He instructed Li Xuan who quickly called the driver over. Not wasting a single second, he hurriedly rushed into the hospital and straight to his granddaughter’s room.

The bodyguards stepped aside upon seeing Zhao Moyao. When he pushed the door open, his heart dropped a bit.

The lights were turned off, but he could clearly see the pitiful silhouette of a trembling body hiding beneath a white blanket. He turned on the light and walked to her. "Xiao Fei." He called to her, but she didn’t respond.

Li Xuan didn’t dare to enter the room. He could only close the door and wait patiently outside for results. Checking the weather reports, he sighed. It was going to rain and thunder all night long.

There was only so much comfort his boss could do in the hospital room in just the short span of time he had before he had to go home. The hatred for hospitals must run deep in the Zhao family’s veins. Despite his boss’ old age, the man would never visit a hospital even if he was faced with serious health issues.

"Xiao Fei, it’s merely thunder." Zhao Moyao said, but she remained quiet. He frowned at this but reminded himself to be patient. Ever since her childhood days, she was always scared of thunder. He was used to this scene of her buried under her blankets, shaking and whimpering in fear. He didn’t understand what was so scary about thunder, for it was merely a sound.

"Xiao Fei, come out from under the blanket." Zhao Moyao was not good at handling these types of situations. It was often left up to the nannies or caretakers of the house who always came in to comfort her, while he would anxiously watch from the sidelines in fear that something would go wrong.