The next second, the door was pushed open.
Another woman walked in.
Everyone in the ward, men and women alike, immediately looked toward the door.
First, a foot wearing high heels appeared, followed by a leg clad in suit pants, and then the whole person.
Xu Xiuwen immediately recognized the woman.
It was Li Haimei.
Behind her was a girl.
It was Li Ke.
Everyone saw a mature woman walk in, and their first reaction was that she had entered the wrong ward.
But the woman clearly mentioned Xu Xiuwen's name, so it was obvious she hadn't made a mistake.
Everyone started to wonder, Who is this beautiful and sophisticated woman? What's her relationship with Xu Xiuwen?
Before they could think too deeply, they saw a young girl walk in after her.
As soon as Li Ke entered the ward, her eyes immediately found Xu Xiuwen lying on the bed.
Her gaze shimmered with tears as she called out, "Teacher Xu, are you okay? Teacher Xu, please don't scare me."
She rushed to the bedside, her eyes instantly reddening as she looked at his bandaged hands.
Her actions and words displayed her concern for Xu Xiuwen without the slightest attempt at concealment.
Xu Xiuwen's roommates all had strange expressions.
The four girls from Room 301 didn't look happy.
Among the three girls from Room 601, Shen Minyao naturally kept her usual icy expression.
Tang Weiwei kept her head down, making her expression unreadable.
Su Yanyan, however, looked at Xu Xiuwen with admiration, thinking, Wow, Big Bro is amazing. He knows so many gorgeous women.
Xu Xiuwen himself hadn't expected the Li family mother and daughter to visit him in the ward.
Li Ke's emotional response warmed his heart slightly.
Though rebellious at times, Li Ke wasn't a bad person at heart and genuinely cared about others.
Xu Xiuwen smiled and comforted her, "Li Ke, don't cry. I'm fine. Don't worry too much."
"But, Teacher Xu, your hands are like this, and you're still saying you're fine... Waaa... Teacher Xu, this is so unfair to you!"
Li Ke wasn't pretending—she was genuinely upset.
Her beloved teacher's hands were injured, leaving him bedridden. How pitiful was that?
Waaa...
Unlike her daughter, Li Haimei, being an adult who had weathered all sorts of storms, remained composed.
She walked closer and asked calmly, "How are you doing? What did the doctor say?"
It had been a few days since Xu Xiuwen last saw Li Haimei.
To be honest, he did miss her a little.
Of course, missing her as a person was secondary.
What he truly missed was her body.
Just thinking about the unparalleled pleasure of that night made his heart race.
Many people might think Li Haimei was past her prime, but only those with discerning eyes would recognize her as a hidden gem.
She had so much to offer, so much to explore.
Being with her would never grow dull.
"The doctor said I'll be fine after some rest."
"I see." Li Haimei nodded calmly.
Then she turned to Li Ke and said, "Keke, stop crying. Xu Xiuwen is fine. Don't make a scene and embarrass yourself."
Only then did Li Ke gradually stop crying.
She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her hands and then smiled at Xu Xiuwen.
"Teacher Xu, you must get better soon."
Because her eyes were red and her smile looked forced, Li Ke's smile at this moment wasn't particularly beautiful.
But seeing it warmed Xu Xiuwen's heart.
This girl's sincerity was unmistakable.
Xu Xiuwen began to believe her when she said she liked him back then.
It seemed she hadn't lied, nor was she joking.
Xu Xiuwen smiled and said, "Alright, I promise you."
At that moment, Li Ke seemed to snap out of her daze.
She glanced around the ward and asked curiously, "Teacher Xu, who are all these people?"
This was also a question Li Haimei wanted to ask, though she didn't feel it was appropriate for her to do so.
Now that her daughter had voiced it, she quietly waited for the answer.
"Uh, they're my classmates. They came to visit me in the hospital today."
"Oh."
Li Ke wanted to ask why all the visitors were beautiful women, but she held back.
As for Jin Haonan and the other four male visitors, it didn't take much thought to guess they were Xu Xiuwen's roommates.
In Li Ke's eyes, they were unimportant and not worth noticing.
Li Ke also recognized Cheng Lu.
She already knew that Cheng Lu was Xu Xiuwen's girlfriend, though she'd never had the chance to meet her in person.
Now that she finally saw her, Cheng Lu was even more stunning than she had imagined or seen in photos.
She was like a perfectly sculpted work of art, impossibly flawless.
For a moment, Li Ke was lost in thought.
When she came back to her senses, she felt not only awe but also envy and jealousy.
Upon closer inspection, she realized Xiao Youran was also this beautiful in real life?
If it were just the two of them, that would have been fine.
Two unrivaled beauties she might grudgingly accept.
But to her shock, there was a third girl in the ward, whose looks were on par with theirs.
Li Ke felt utterly defeated.
Even though she had once told Xu Xiuwen that in three years, she would be eighteen, while Cheng Lu and Xiao Youran would already be "old women" by then—
Seeing these "old women" in person made her realize that even if they aged, she would still struggle to compare.
They were too beautiful, beautiful to the point of making her feel self-conscious and inferior.
She wasn't the only one who felt this way.
Li Haimei was also struck by the thought.
Her sharp intuition told her that among these girls, one of them must be Xu Xiuwen's girlfriend.
Li Haimei had previously asked Su Luoyi to investigate Xu Xiuwen's background, but the report didn't include any information about his girlfriend.
Still, she was certain he must have one.
A young man as exceptional as Xu Xiuwen couldn't possibly be single.
If she were ten or twenty years younger—
Meeting such an outstanding man on a romantic college campus—
She would've pursued him boldly until he became her boyfriend.
So, as long as the college girls around Xu Xiuwen weren't blind, there was no way no one would chase him.
Although Li Haimei suspected this, she never intended to confront him about it.
Even when Xu Xiuwen had jokingly called her "wife,"
And even though, in fleeting moments, she had allowed herself to imagine him as her husband,
She remained clear-headed.
The significant age gap between them ensured they could never truly be together, let alone marry and have children.
Besides, Li Ke would never accept a stepfather only two or three years older than herself.
Thus, Li Haimei had never entertained the idea of monopolizing Xu Xiuwen.
She simply enjoyed being with him—feeling relaxed, at ease, carefree, and genuinely happy.
She could be carefree, temporarily forgetting everything.
She savored that feeling. That was all.
She never thought there would come a day when she'd meet Xu Xiuwen's girlfriend.
And now, by pure chance, it happened.
Li Haimei realized that a flicker of jealousy had risen within her. She envied how the other woman was younger, more beautiful.
More than that, she envied her for openly being Xu Xiuwen's girlfriend.
For a moment, Li Haimei almost let jealousy cloud her mind.
Thankfully, she snapped out of it in time and managed to keep her composure.
The Li mother and daughter didn't know what else to say after their initial questions. Yet, since they had just arrived, they didn't feel it was appropriate to leave, so they remained silent.
The newly arrived mother and daughter were strikingly good-looking, with exceptional poise.
No one in the room immediately thought of a connection between Xu Xiuwen and Li Haimei.
Instead, they were more inclined to speculate about Xu Xiuwen's relationship with Li Ke.
Cheng Lu, being someone with a naturally calm demeanor, said nothing.
On the other hand, Xiao Youran couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Xu, who's this little girl? Why does she call you Teacher Xu?"
The phrase "little girl" carried a subtle hint of condescension.
Even though Xiao Youran didn't think Li Ke posed any real threat to her position, women instinctively remain guarded against younger women.
Xu Xiuwen was at a loss for words.
Technically, he could just explain that he was Li Ke's tutor.
But then how would he explain everything else? For a moment, Xu Xiuwen couldn't come up with an answer.
Sensing his hesitation, Li Ke took the initiative to explain,
"Teacher Xu is my tutor. I'm his student."
As soon as she said that, the atmosphere in the ward grew even more peculiar, especially for Cheng Lu, An Shishi, and Shen Minyao.
The three of them exchanged odd glances with Xu Xiuwen.
Shen Minyao's gaze seemed to say: "Xu Xiuwen, you've got some nerve. You skip classes all the time, yet you somehow have the time to be a tutor?"
Cheng Lu's eyes carried a hint of reproach: "Didn't you tell me you were too busy? So why do you have time to tutor someone else? And why didn't you tell me?"
As for An Shishi, her expression revealed a trace of suspicion.
She scrutinized Li Ke from head to toe and thought: This girl looks plain enough, not particularly attractive. She doesn't even have a fully developed figure—she's worse than me. Why would Xu Xiuwen be interested in her?
In An Shishi's mind, there had to be a reason for Xu Xiuwen to tutor someone out of the blue. Surely, he was after something.
Even someone as sharp and calculating as An Shishi didn't consider Li Haimei.
To her, it was obvious: men always liked young, pretty women, and Xu Xiuwen would be no exception.
That left only Li Ke.
But Li Ke was clearly just a little girl—not someone worthy of being taken seriously as a rival.
She even began wondering if Xu Xiuwen had changed his taste.
Xiao Youran, on the other hand, widened her eyes and asked, "Xiao Xu, where do you even find the time to tutor? Didn't you say you were super busy?"
"Uh…"
Xu Xiuwen found himself at a loss for words.
"Well? You're too busy to spend time with me, yet you have time to tutor others? What's that about?" Xiao Youran pouted, clearly jealous.
Xu Xiuwen cast a helpless glance at Li Haimei.
Li Haimei happened to be looking at him too.
Her gaze carried a faint trace of amusement.
Xu Xiuwen thought to himself, I can't take the blame for all of this alone.
Suddenly, inspiration struck him.
"Let me introduce you," he said. "This is Li Ke, and this is her mother, Li Haimei."
The moment the name "Li Haimei" was mentioned, Cheng Lu's brows furrowed slightly.
She stared closely at Li Haimei's face, feeling a faint sense of familiarity.
It was as if she'd seen her somewhere before.
Xu Xiuwen continued, "Li Ke's mother is a prominent figure in Jinling City. She introduced me to quite a few business connections last time, and it just so happened that Li Ke needed a tutor. So, I volunteered to be her tutor."
Everyone was stunned upon hearing Xu Xiuwen introduce Li Haimei's identity.
This wasn't just any ordinary person—she was someone they usually only saw on TV.
Cheng Lu suddenly understood. She finally remembered where she had seen Li Haimei before.
As for Xu Xiuwen's explanation, because of Li Haimei's high status, everyone temporarily put their suspicions aside.
Li Ke felt that something was a bit off, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.
Li Haimei didn't expose Xu Xiuwen's lie.
First, because she didn't want to.
Second, because she couldn't.
Pulling down her mask, she cooperated and said, "Hello, I'm Li Haimei."
The group quickly greeted her, "Hello, Ms. Li."
"Please, don't mind my identity," Li Haimei said with a gentle smile. "There's no need to be so tense. Right now, I'm just an ordinary person here to visit Xu Xiuwen, just like you all."
Tang Weiwei suddenly had a realization.
Xu Xiuwen had often called her to ask about high school-level questions in the past. She hadn't understood why back then, but now, with his explanation, her confusion was finally resolved.
While others were preoccupied with Li Haimei's high status, Tang Weiwei was thinking further ahead.
With someone like Li Haimei, Xu Xiuwen could gain a lot of support and resources. This was something most of the girls in the room couldn't offer him.
If Xu Xiuwen were to be with Li Ke, it could be a very good match for him.
Tang Weiwei felt a tinge of envy toward Li Ke for having such a mother. At the same time, she couldn't help feeling inferior.
She had no parents, only a grandmother.
Her impoverished background meant she couldn't offer Xu Xiuwen any help or support.
This sense of inferiority made Tang Weiwei lower her head even further, much like when she first started university. The only difference was that her bangs had been long back then; now, they were much shorter.
An Shishi, on the other hand, listened to Xu Xiuwen's explanation with skepticism.
His reasoning sounded logical, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Was it really that simple?
She hoped it was just her overthinking.
Once the explanation was given, and the doubtful looks in everyone's eyes began to fade, Xu Xiuwen let out a quiet sigh of relief.
However, the playful glint in Li Haimei's eyes made him uncomfortable.
Thinking for a moment, Xu Xiuwen decided that it would be best if Li Haimei left with Li Ke.
Surely, Li Haimei would understand that her staying here wasn't a good idea.
Just as he was about to speak—
Knock, knock, knock!
The sound of someone knocking on the door interrupted him.
"Is Xu Xiuwen here?"
Another woman's voice!
Everyone in the room immediately turned to look at Xu Xiuwen, except for Li Haimei and Li Ke.
"Who could it be this time?"
If Xu Xiuwen's head had felt like it was about to explode earlier, it now felt four times larger.
It really was overwhelming.
How had everyone managed to show up all at once? Was it divine punishment for him being too much of a scumbag?
Was this heaven's way of ensuring he met his end tonight?
The words of poet Zang Kejia came to mind:
"Some people are alive, yet they are already dead. Some people are dead, yet they still live."
Having survived the fire, Xu Xiuwen had physically made it out alive.
But now, he felt as though he were living a fate worse than death.
This constant feeling of being on the brink of disaster was utterly despairing.
Xu Xiuwen let out a dry laugh. "Maybe they've got the wrong room."
Cheng Lu rolled her eyes at him. "Wrong room? And they still called your name correctly?"
Then, turning toward the door, she called out, "Come in. Xu Xiuwen is here."
The person outside seemed surprised to hear a woman's voice responding and hesitated before coming in.
"Xiaomi, you go in. I won't go in."
The woman speaking outside was Lu Xinyao...