"What are you talking about?" Su Junling’s hoarse voice interrupted the conversation between Su Junxian and Su Junzhe.
Su Junxian put away the irritability on his face and quickly walked to the bedside.
"Eat something now that you’re awake. You haven’t taken your medicine today."
Su Junling’s complexion was extremely pale, and with a raspy voice, he asked, "Is Qin Jinhai still alive?"
Su Junxian and Su Junzhe looked at each other in silence.
"Is Qin Jinhai still alive or not?"
Su Junzhe said, "Junling..."
Su Junling’s gaze fixed on Su Junxian as if piercing through him. "Did you know all along, and I was the only one you didn’t tell?"
"Did you also know all along that Fu Bing is our sister?"
"Why didn’t you tell me?"
Su Junxian said, "What would telling you change? Could you instantly stop loving Fu Bing, or could you make Qin Jinhai die?"
"Junling, you are passionate and true-hearted, but you are certainly not foolish. Even if Fu Bing is our sister, the likelihood of her returning is not high."
"There is too much between her and us. We have to remove those barriers one by one before she might come back."
"We don’t yet know who leaked this information. We still have to investigate. Even now, I haven’t figured out how to meet Fu Bing for the first time."
Su Junling gripped the corner of the blanket, his knuckles turning white.
Su Junxian said, "I know it’s hard for you. Aside from being by your side when you’re suffering, I don’t know what else I can do for you."
Su Junling said, "I want to see Fu Bing."
"I won’t allow you to see her!" Su Junxian refused without any hesitation.
Both Su Junling and Su Junzhe looked at him in astonishment.
Su Junxian said, "After you’ve calmed down, you’d never want to meet her in such a disheveled state."
Having said that, Su Junxian quickly left the ward.
After giving Su Junling a comforting pat on the shoulder, Su Junzhe followed Su Junxian out.
Su Junxian, hearing the footsteps behind him, slowed down his pace.
"You stay here, and later try to persuade Mom and Dad. Deep down, Mom and Dad might unconsciously blame Fu Bing for Junling’s car accident. Moreover, after Fu Bing’s identity was exposed, she didn’t come forward to clarify or make a statement, letting Fu Xiaomei come forward instead."
"A series of events has caused them to subconsciously reject Fu Bing. This is not a good sign. I need to get back to Jiangcheng as soon as possible and talk to Fu Bing in person."
Upon reflection, Su Junzhe realized this was indeed the case. After all, Junling was the child they had grown up with. Decades of daily companionship would naturally incline their hearts toward Junling. If Junling got hurt because of Fu Bing, even if they yearned for Fu Bing to acknowledge her ancestry and return to the family, resentment towards her would arise.
Su Junzhe said, "Elder brother, what you said earlier is right. It won’t be easy for Xiaobing to return to the Su Family."
Su Junxian smiled helplessly. "It was never as simple as just recognizing her. It’s about building emotional bonds to become real family members, and that is truly not easy."
After arranging everything, Su Junxian returned to Jiangcheng.
He could have brought the other members of the Su Family back to Jiangcheng as well.
Su Junling did not want to return.
So he went back first.
Traveling by helicopter was too tiring. Even though the noise was deliberately reduced, it was still significant.
Su Junxian chose to fly directly by commercial plane.
When he arrived in Jiangcheng, he went straight to Imperial Garden.
He met with Fu Bing in the Imperial Garden’s reception room.
Seeing his exhausted look, Fu Bing instructed the property staff to get a bottle of Nourishing Spirit Pills from the villa.
Su Junxian said, "We are very sorry about this incident. We originally did not intend to expose your identity so easily. I have always taken the matter of you being my sister very seriously, and we failed to protect you in the past. This time, we want to smooth over all the difficulties and take you back home."
Fu Bing nodded. "I believe you. Can you tell me who exposed this information?"
"I’m still investigating that. Junling was in a car accident the night of the incident. These past few days, my family and I have been out of town. I came back first to see you."
"Was he badly injured?"
"One of his legs is shattered, and how things will go from here will depend on his recovery," Su Junxian said, looking deeply at Fu Bing. "I know that our presence is not well-timed and may even be considered worthless. We regret this and feel very ashamed."
"But Fu Bing, we want to walk into the future with you. We may not have the intimacy of siblings in a normal family, but we will still have the affection of siblings."
Fu Bing did not avoid his gaze. "What are your thoughts on this relationship if I couldn’t stand up again?"
Su Junxian did not hide anything. "Even if you didn’t have your current status, you would still be my sister. From my perspective, I would do my best to arrange a good marriage for you, so that you could live a safe and happy life in the future."
"Given your current position, our dealings are more like a partnership. We can sit at a table and discuss the interests and value we can offer each other."
"The blood connection between us will bind our relationship even closer."
Fu Bing stared at the golden-yellow color of the tea.
After a long while, she said, "First, help me with something."
"When Uncle Su Chu passed away, I was too young to understand his condition. Later, my mother’s symptoms were very similar to his, but I didn’t think in this direction at the time."
"It was only today when I returned to Jiangcheng and learned that I am a child of the Su Family that I connected these two matters."
"My being taken away was not a coincidence, and my mother taking me from the Orphanage was even less of a random occurrence."
"And Uncle Su Chu just happened to be a member of the Su Family."
"President Su, you know the Su Family best. Please investigate."
Su Junxian’s eyebrows knitted tightly. "I will investigate thoroughly."
She didn’t want to have too much contact with Qin Jinhai in the short term. Their relationship was inextricable and chaotically entangled. She didn’t want most of her thoughts and energy to be focused on one man. Qin Jinhai had returned from feigning death; his precious time shouldn’t be solely dedicated to her either.
Su Junxian looked deeply at Fu Bing. "Were you together with Qin Jinhai these past few days?"
"This is my private matter, so I won’t tell Su Junxian."
Su Junxian didn’t get annoyed at the soft rebuttal.
"I had already been dealing with Qin Jinhai for many years before you met him. He is a very good opponent, but I don’t think he is a good partner. Even if he loves you, his sharpness could still hurt you."
"Even without the Qin Family, he remains the disciple of Elder Jiang. He still shines brilliantly."
"Xiaobing, both you and he have climbed out from darkness. You share similarities and can indeed understand each other. But there are so many outstanding people in this world you could meet. No one has to lock you two together."
Su Junxian stopped there, not continuing. Saying more might seem like he was lecturing Fu Bing, and this would not be conducive to repairing their relationship.
"I will consider it. Please, President Su, find out as soon as possible. Especially about the medicine Uncle Su Chu used to take. It’s very important to me."
Su Junxian left quickly.
When his younger paternal uncle passed away, he had been 12 or 13 years old. Back then, the family had handled his younger paternal uncle’s funeral even more hastily than his grandmother’s, and they had even denied him burial in the ancestral grave. The younger generation, including himself, didn’t even know where his tomb was.