When Will My Childhood Sweetheart Marry Me?-Chapter 186: To Capture a Person’s Heart

A cigarette only lasted a few minutes.

Jiang Shuyao didn’t plan on waiting for Pei Yan; she wandered alone along the quiet corridor, appreciating the various artworks on either side.

She stopped at each piece, even studying them closely to analyze the gap between herself and professional art students.

Of course, Jiang Shuyao didn’t realize that "Dawn" had become the center of attention.

From the crowd ahead, she faintly heard sighs and expressions of amazement.

"It really captures such a profound atmosphere."

"Yes, just one look and you’re deeply drawn in. How did she manage to do that?"

"I wonder if the person in the painting is real or fictional."

"It’s probably fictional. With the pandemic being serious, so many touching incidents happened around us; I guess she wanted to express her respect for medical professionals."

Medical professionals...

Jiang Shuyao unconsciously stopped in her tracks and turned her gaze towards a nearby window.

Standing on the top floor of the art building looking out, the sky over Rong City seemed closer and bluer than the sky she used to look up at from the Yunzhong playground.

Her thoughts drifted back to the beginning of August, that midsummer night.

Her mother had returned from a hospital shift; Jiang Shuyao was just shutting her studio door, preparing to go back to her room to sleep.

As usual, Old Jiang had set out a late-night snack and asked her if she wanted to eat something more.

Jiang Shuyao always shook her head, even if she was actually a bit hungry, thinking of having to sit alone with her mother at the table made her subconsciously resistant.

Despite having agreed that they had put past grievances behind them, there shouldn’t be anything insurmountable between mother and daughter.

She couldn’t understand why she was so stubborn.

When she got up for water in the middle of the night, she saw the lamp in her parents’ bedroom was still on. Without thinking much of it, she assumed that Old Jiang was working on an engineering project.

The next day when she asked about it, her father told her that her mother had actually been rewriting a patient’s medical record all night.

Rewriting Wet Nurse’s record.

Overturning the one previously stored in the hospital archives and modifying it.

Old Jiang’s indescribable expression at that moment was something Jiang Shuyao still recalled with a pain in her heart.

"Girl, if that medical record is submitted, your mom’s career will end right there."

A doctor suspected of falsifying medical records would be warned by the health authorities or ordered to suspend practice for at least six months to a year.

Her mother, being so proud, would have certainly submitted her resignation before the hospital could demote her.

She dared not imagine how her mother would live without her white coat.

For a medical professional, the scalpel is life itself.

At that moment, all the emotions suppressed in Jiang Shuyao’s chest almost exploded instantaneously.

It was also the first time she fainted due to anemia.

In a daze, Old Jiang anxiously took her to the hospital; after two bags of IV fluids, the door to the hospital room was slammed open.

Peering through the half-hidden curtain, she saw her mother standing a meter away from the bed, her eyes red, her hand still holding that medical record, their eyes silently meeting; her mother dared not step closer for a long time.

Jiang Shuyao quietly turned her head, her face pale and bloodless.

She struggled to muster a faint smile, condemning her mother still in her white coat, "Mom, call an experienced nurse later to give me the injection. The intern did it, and it hurt."

The hospital room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

For some reason, seeing her mother step towards her, Jiang Shuyao couldn’t control her tears.

Fortunately, things were not as serious as she had feared. The wet nurse personally approached the hospital director before being discharged, honestly disclosing the situation with the head of cardiology who intentionally concealed her condition, while keeping everyone in the dark from beginning to end.

Later, Old Jiang lamented that three years had passed, and Lin Zhen was still as inscrutable as ever, difficult to understand, yet impossible to hate.

Yes, in this world, the only one who hated the wet nurse was her own biological son.

In the distance, footsteps sounded, and Jiang Shuyao withdrew her gaze from afar and turned to look at the figure approaching.

She slightly furrowed her brows, noticing that Pei Yan was coming from the other end of the corridor.

His direction was exactly opposite to the one he had taken when he went downstairs to smoke.

"Don’t look so surprised, I just saw you were so absorbed in the scenery, I didn’t have the heart to disturb you," Pei Yan said, his eyes and eyebrows carrying a casual smile, his tall figure and long legs giving him a leisurely demeanor as if he had just returned from a walk in the countryside.

He stopped in front of her and genuinely complimented, "You look beautiful, and so does the painting."

Jiang Shuyao’s eyelid twitched, and she instinctively asked, "What do you find beautiful?"

"Your delicate voice, your soft body, from your hair to your toes, all beautiful."

"..."

She held her breath, speechlessly saying, "I was asking about the painting."

Pei Yan smiled innocently and, with a large hand, draped his arm over her shoulder and walked her downstairs.

"Princess, I’m only interested in people, as for the painting, it’s ’love the house and its crow," understand?"

Love the house and its crow...

Jiang Shuyao’s heart softened.

So, he meant, he had forgiven her.

In fact, regarding the matter with Lin Zhen, Pei Yan had never blamed Zhu Yun, as he believed never in his life would he go to Los Angeles, regardless of whether the illness was concealed.

Because from the beginning, he never truly trusted Lin Zhen.

At the airport that day, he gave that woman two choices.

Either go back to Los Angeles for treatment and, after the pandemic, return to the country to recuperate and he would still be her son.

Or stay in Rong City and wait for death, and he would forever sever ties with her.

Perhaps Lin Zhen had never expected her own flesh and blood to say such harsh words.

But the fact was, she had no choice and couldn’t take the risk.

The moment Lin Zhen boarded the plane, Pei Yan stood far off in the terminal, one hand in his pocket and a cigarette dangling from his lips, until the announcement of the flight’s departure echoed in the hall, then he stubbed out the cigarette and walked towards the volunteer bus parked outside.

At that moment, he had countless thoughts of returning to Yasong Residence, kicking open the door, and fiercely taking her against the doorframe.

The last shred of rationality told him to remain calm.

Even if the next month was long and torturous, he had to suppress his longing for her.

What was destined to be his, would never escape in this lifetime.

And the princess’s feelings for the devil needed to be tested by time and elevated by the soul.

Pei Yan smirked to himself, probably no one in the world knew how twisted he was.

Twisted enough to torture himself to death just to capture someone’s heart.

As the silence grew around him, Jiang Shuyao couldn’t help but turn her head and look at him, "Tomorrow is your birthday, any plans?"

It happened to be the weekend; should he consider going home for once since he hadn’t been back at all since the summer break, a full four months.

As if reading her thoughts, Pei Yan’s voice carried his usual laziness, "Going back to Yasong Residence works too, or straight to my place, just the two of us."

What.

Jiang Shuyao gave him a sidelong glance, "I meant for you to go back to the villa to see your dad."

He remained silent.

Seeing his reluctance, Jiang Shuyao said with a laugh and a sigh, "How about this, visit Uncle Pei in the morning, have lunch with Chen Jin and the rest, and then we rush back to school in the evening."

As they walked, Pei Yan suddenly stopped.

He asked her in a prepared tone, "It’s rare to have a birthday, and you’re kicking me out, what’s the meaning of this?"

Jiang Shuyao stared at him, stunned.

Pei Yan wrapped his arm over her shoulder, leaned in close, his lips curving into a mischievous smile, "Are you afraid I’ll devour you?"

"..."