He was desperate to know his daughter's current condition.
The doctor shook his head helplessly, his tone filled with apology.
"The situation is not optimistic. Due to long-term malnutrition, the patient's physical condition is too poor to withstand intense measures."
For a moment, his heart seemed to abruptly stop, and his brain was bombarded with bursts of roaring.
Gu Chen staggered and fell heavily into the cold chair.
It was over.
It was over.
The doctor patted his shoulder.
"The patient is still fairly lucid. Go inside and say your last few words to her."
Yes, his daughter was still inside.
She was still lying there in the cold hospital room, waiting for him.
He couldn't give up now.
He had to accompany her to the very end.
Gu Chen rubbed his reddened eyes forcefully and clenched his fists tightly.
He took a deep breath of fresh air and mustered all his courage before finally walking into the hospital room.
He forced himself to smile, although the smile was terribly ugly.
The hospital room was filled with cold machinery, and the girl lying on the bed looked even paler and more haggard, with not a hint of color in her face.
Seeing Gu Chen,
she struggled a few times, desperately trying to sit up.
But clearly, she failed.
Gu Chen hurried over.
"Lie down, don't move if you're tired, daddy is here..."
Though he held back his tears, his voice trembled violently with despair.
This was his daughter, his own flesh and blood.
The girl looked at him with pity, "Daddy, I'm sorry for worrying you."
Her voice was so weak it could not be any weaker.
It felt like something had broken deep inside his heart.
Gu Chen finally crumbled.
A scalding tear fell, landing on the back of his daughter's hand.
Then two, then three.
"It's daddy, daddy is sorry..."
Damn himself!
How could he be such a bastard?
Why couldn't he have discovered it sooner?
Why!!!
The girl's lips were deathly pale, yet she tried hard to smile.
Like a blooming lily, pure and clean.
She looked at Gu Chen calmly, her pure gaze not tainted by a single impurity.
"Dad, don't cry, Pian Ran doesn't blame you, and I never blamed mom. If there is a next life, I still want to be your daughter, just... don't leave me behind again, I don't want to be alone."
The flood of emotions finally breached the last of his defenses.
Watching his daughter's eyes slowly close, Gu Chen completely collapsed.
He was forty years old that year,
but looking back on his life, what did he have left?
His wife was gone.
His child was gone too.
Gone, everything was gone.
The wrenching pain in his chest made it difficult for him to breathe.
He reached out tremblingly to tidy his daughter's hair one more time.
However, the next second, his heart felt as though it were suddenly grasped and squeezed fiercely by someone.
His vision gradually blurred, and his legs lost all sensation.
The hand still hovering in the air crashed down.
"Doctor, doctor, come quickly, the patient's relative is also collapsing..."
...
Gu Chen was awakened by pain.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a yellowish, slightly cracked ceiling, with spider webs and thick dust in the four corners.
Besides a wardrobe and the hard plank bed beneath him, there was nothing else in the room.
He heard someone speaking, a soft, gentle, and delicate voice.
"Pian Ran, come inside, it's cold outside, mommy will come and play with you as soon as I finish washing the clothes, okay?"
"Hmph, mommy doesn't like Pian Ran anymore. Pian Ran is going to find daddy!"
The childish, milky voice confused Gu Chen.
He squinted his eyes.
Pian Ran?
Gu Chen suddenly sat up.
It was Pian Ran!!!
A small civilian house, an old and worn-out wardrobe.
Deep-set eyes incredulously looked at a pair of clearly jointed hands.
Similar hands, but younger, brimming with vitality.
He clenched them fiercely.
It was then that he suddenly realized a problem.
He... had he been reborn?
With a creak, the flimsy wooden door was pushed open by the chubby little hands of a toddler.
She peered curiously into the room.
When her round eyes saw Gu Chen sitting on the bed, they immediately scrunched up into a smile, adorable to no end.
The door was fully pushed open.
The little girl in front of him was smiling with curved eyebrows and eyes, and her voice was childishly sweet.
"Daddy, hug!"
The girl spread her small arms and toddled towards him.
Memories flooded back.
Memories and reality rapidly intertwined.
The girl on the sickbed was pale as snow, and her voice filled his ears.
"I really miss mommy..."
"I don't blame mommy, and I've never blamed you."
"Daddy, if there's an afterlife, I still want to be your daughter."
"Don't leave me behind again..."
"I don't want to be alone."
Memories surged down the path.
In an instant, Gu Chen's tears flowed uncontrollably.
He bent down and fiercely hugged the tender and soft little body in front of him, rich with the sweet scent of milk.
"Sugar, daddy loves you, I'm sorry..."
His voice broke as he cried.
The little girl in his arms seemed startled by his immense reaction.
Her small mouth pouted, and the next second she burst into tears with a "wah".
Gu Chen was frightened, quickly let go, and looked at the milk baby in front of him with distress.
"Daddy, daddy didn't mean to..."
Gu Chen was somewhat panicked.
He stretched out his shaking hand, gently caressing the little face of the milk baby, trying to soothe her.
The little girl's eyes blinked and quickly filled with a small pool of water.
Then a tear the size of a bean dropped down.
She sniffled as the expression on her little face crumpled miserably.
However, the next second, she unexpectedly stretched out her soft and tender little hand to clumsily wipe away the tears on Gu Chen's face.
"Daddy, daddy don't cry, Sugar, Sugar is scared."
The little girl in front of him looked about two years old, with soft, light yellow hair and a pair of gleaming black eyes, extremely beautiful.
On her thin body, she wore a small red cotton-padded jacket.
The jacket was somewhat tight, likely handed down from another child.
It didn't fit very well, and the cuffs were even rolled up, with a bit of her plump little wrists showing.
Her hands were soft and tender, and still a little cool to the touch.
She carefully helped wipe his tears.
At this moment, it seemed like his eyes, his heart, were filled only with her.
His heart beat more powerfully with each thump.
Gu Chen confirmed it once more.
He had been reborn, truly reborn.
He gritted his teeth, vowing in the dark that, in this life, he must make something of himself.
He would never let his daughter suffer the slightest injustice again.
It seemed as if someone outside had heard the commotion and abandoned the washboard in her hands to run into the room.
"What's wrong? Did daddy bully you?"
The woman wore a blue jacket, which though washed pale, looked clean and tidy.
Her black hair was tied low behind her back, and her eyes, like polished onyx, were anxiously fixed on him.
Her reddened and cold hands frantically rubbed on her clothes.
The next second, she tried to take the child from Gu Chen's arms.
"Sugar is still young; if you're angry, don't take it out on the child."
Her voice carried an indescribable indifference.
Gu Chen was shocked, "Ji Pianran?"
The woman of around one meter sixty, although slender, didn't lose any of her beauty, with eyes as black as apricots shining with morning light, looking gentle.
Her nose was delicate, and her full lips were attractive.
Only, her complexion was somewhat sallow, looking frail and ill.
Gu Chen knew that this was the result of three years of suffering.
The woman glanced at the complex expression on Gu Chen's face and spoke indifferently.
"What do you want by calling my name? It's three in the afternoon now. Aren't you going to gamble today?"