Gu Nanzhou was stunned for a moment, thinking how painful the collision must have been, but before he could speak, Su Wan fiercely gripped his coat.
Her hand was shaking, and so was her voice: "Gu Nanzhou," the young girl's voice was choked with sobs, her expression panicked and helpless as tears fell one after the other, "Mom had an accident..."
In the car, Su Wan sat with her head bowed, her hands ice cold, her body still trembling slightly, her mind filled only with the doctor's words, "Mrs. Su has fainted."
The doctor said that Mrs. Su was found on the ground, her complexion pale, lips turning purple, one hand was clutching her chest tightly; the situation was very critical, and she had been rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.
After that, Su Wan didn't listen anymore; her mind went blank, and she ran downstairs, accidentally bumping into Gu Nanzhou who had just entered.
Azhang drove very fast, the tension inside the car was palpable, he dared not breathe too heavily, just kept his head down and drove.
Gu Nanzhou's eyebrows were deeply furrowed as he looked at Su Wan curling up and shaking uncontrollably; he finally reached out to hold her hand, prying her clenched fingers apart one by one.
The fingertips of the young girl were very cold, chilling his heart for a moment.
The man's eyes showed even more fierceness as he said in a colder tone, "Drive faster."
Azhang silently increased the speed a bit more.
Upon arriving at the hospital, before Azhang could fully stop the car, Su Wan flung the door open and rushed out.
By the time she sprinted to the emergency room entrance, the nursing home staff were still standing outside, gently shaking their heads at the young girl.
Her mother had not yet come out, their fate still uncertain.
The string in Su Wan's mind, tense throughout the trip, snapped abruptly; she grasped the person's collar, almost at breaking point as she yelled at them,
"My mom was fine this morning! How could she suddenly fall ill? Why did you find out so late? Tell me! How could you let this happen? Speak up!!"
The staff member was so stunned by her shouting that they stood frozen, too scared to utter a word.
Gu Nanzhou arrived just in time to witness this scene.
He quickly stepped forward to pull the young girl's hand down, held her shoulders, and turned her to face him.
Gu Nanzhou's brows were tightly knit, his strength more forceful, "Su Wan, calm down."
Startled by his low and stern tone, Su Wan paused for a second, and the next second, she violently shook off his hand and stepped back two steps.
"Don't touch me!" the young girl's voice was sharp as she stood two steps away, staring straight at him.
"What right do you have to tell me to calm down, Gu Nanzhou?" Su Wan's tears came fast and furious, unstoppable as they continued to fall.
Her vision was blurred, yet she kept staring at him, her voice trembling uncontrollably, "My mother is still lying in there, and I don't even know if she is dead or alive, how can you tell me to calm down, the Gu Family has bullied me, you're bullying me too, why... Gu Nanzhou, you can't treat me like this..."
Her heart seemed to be covered by a layer of glass, and in the middle of the glass was a vast lake, with her standing at the center of the lake.
Like a person drowning, being submerged by the lake water countless times, struggling desperately, experiencing both pain and despair.
But there was no one to save her, no one to give her a hand.
Su Wan felt that her current hoarse and exhausted state must look very disheveled, she had never been so disheveled in front of Gu Nanzhou before.
The young girl's voice gradually weakened, as she stared at the man she had liked for so many years, suddenly she forced a smile.
"Gu Nanzhou," her voice was very soft, her gaze towards him despairing and confused, "I already have no father, only my mother, how can you ask me to calm down..."
"Gu Nanzhou, I only have my mother left..."
Su Wan's voice was soft and thin, yet her words cut like blades, slicing Shen Yan's heart one slice at a time.
He looked at the girl's pale face and her helpless and desperate expression, as if a needle had fallen into his heart. The needle was lodged in his flesh, not so much a pain that was hard to bear, but a pain that was long and lingering.
It was a kind of pain that seemed to seep out of every limb and bone, fine and dense.
Gu Nanzhou's eyelashes drooped, and he struggled to lift his clearly defined lashes to look at her, struggling to find his voice. He said, "Su Wan... you still have me."
His voice was low and husky, as if it had rolled over gravel and was also a bit bitter.
"Not anymore," Su Wan shook her head and curved her lips at Gu Nanzhou, "I only have my mother left."
Her expression was bewildered, like a child who couldn't find her way home.
Gu Nanzhou realized that the girl's emotions were off, and he stepped forward softly coaxing her, "No, Su Wan, your mother won't be in any trouble."
Noticing the man's approach, Su Wan suddenly flinched, her eyes widening, and her voice rising quite a bit: "Don't come any closer!"
"Okay, I won't come over, just calm down, all right?"
Gu Nanzhou was still coaxing her.
But Su Wan could no longer hear clearly; her emotions fluctuated too greatly, and the words she had just said seemed to have exhausted all her strength.
Her vision began to blur, everything before her became fuzzy, her mind buzzed, the sound sharp and mean, as if something had taken her senses, rolled them into a ball, thrown them on the ground, then picked them up and tore them to pieces.
In the second before Su Wan completely lost consciousness, what caught her eye was Gu Nanzhou's face.
Straight brow bones, deep-set eyes, a high nose bridge, still that delicate face like uncarved jade, but his expression was not the usual coldness but panic instead.
As she was fainting, Su Wan still spared a thought to wonder, what was Gu Nanzhou panicking about?
She didn't have time to consider it further, as her vision went dark, and she fainted, hearing Gu Nanzhou shouting her name.
Su Wan didn't know how long she had been unconscious, but when she woke up, her head felt terribly swollen.
Her eyes were so sore and dry they almost couldn't open.
Su Wan didn't dare to rub them, and she just blinked gently a few times before slowly opening them.
Staring at the white expanse of the ceiling, her breath was filled with the strong disinfectant scent of the hospital, and the memories just before she fainted came crashing into her mind.
Thinking of her mother, Su Wan couldn't care about the headache anymore, she sat up straight, threw off the blanket and got out of bed.
On the other side, Gu Nanzhou, who had just finished dealing with things, pushed the door open and saw the girl hopping around on one shoe, bouncing as she looked for the other.
"Why not lie down for a while longer." Seeing her awake, Gu Nanzhou breathed a sigh of relief, the fierceness in his eyes lightened, and his voice carried an unwitting tenderness.
"Gu Nanzhou," hearing his voice, the girl stopped looking for her shoe and looked up at him, "My mom, she..."
"Mom's fine, the doctor said it was fortunate she was brought in on time. She just hasn't woken up yet."
Gu Nanzhou glanced down at her: "Go rest for a while longer, your emotions changed too drastically yesterday. It was lack of blood supply to the brain that made you faint."