Hospital.
Upon receiving the news that the elderly father had fallen ill and was sent to the hospital, Pingjing City Lord Chu Tianming and his wife Yunrou rushed to the ward immediately.
When they arrived, the old man was already awake, leaning against the bedside cabinet, caressing a yellowed photograph, and murmuring the name Nannan with a sense of longing.
"Dad, didn’t I tell you to wait for me in the rest room? How could you wander off and then fall sick? Luckily, the doctor told me that a kind person helped save your life. You nearly scared me to death!"
Chu Tianjun started to nag as soon as he approached. This time he had come specifically from Pingjing to attend a meeting in the provincial city.
Initially, he only planned to bring his wife along, but old Mr. Chu insisted on joining them. Unexpectedly, during the meeting, Mr. Chu sneaked away, which frightened him and his wife terribly.
Fortunately, he knew that Mr. Chu was mentally unclear, so he deliberately placed his own contact information on him, enabling them to receive the notification from the hospital.
"Dad, how are you feeling now?"
Yunrou patted Mr. Chu’s back, her gentle gaze touching upon the small photograph in his hand, a hint of melancholy flashing in her eyes.
Mr. Chu, with tears welling in his eyes, spoke excitedly, "Tianming, Xiaorou, I tell you, I just saw Nannan. It was really Nannan..."
Hearing the name Nannan, both Chu Tianming and Yunrou’s expressions turned somewhat somber, afterward, Chu Tianjun sighed and said, "Dad, it seems you’ve gotten confused again. How many times have I told you? Nannan has been missing for seventeen years, and she might not be in this world anymore..."
Nannan was his youngest daughter. Seventeen years ago, after her birth, an accident caused their daughter to go missing.
Since then, Mr. Chu’s mental state had deteriorated, constantly talking about finding Nannan.
But the circumstances were chaotic at that time, searching for a newborn child was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
After all these years with no news, Chu Tianming and Yunrou have resigned to the grim reality concerning their daughter.
Mr. Chu stubbornly insisted, "It was truly her, my Nannan, she was the one who just saved me, she looks a lot like Yunrou when she was a child..."
Yunrou held Mr. Chu’s hands, "Dad, please don’t obsess over this any longer. Tianming and I have accepted the fact that Nannan left us. You need to let it go too, and take care of your health..."
"Xiaorou, you should look for someone to find Nannan again. She’s the only granddaughter of our Chu Family. I have a feeling she is still alive, we must find her..."
Mr. Chu seemed to be falling into madness, repeatedly uttering the words to find Nannan.
Yunrou and Chu Tianming looked on with a heart full of sorrow; Mr. Chu had been the City Lord in his youth, now he appeared so worn and weary.
Yunrou patted the back of Mr. Chu’s hand, saying, "Dad, I know you’re uneasy, and over the years have always felt it was your oversight that caused us to lose Nannan. But the main responsibility lies with Tianming and me. Please don’t torment yourself like this, though Nannan is gone, don’t we still have Xiaohuan?"
"Who’s Xiaohuan? I don’t know any Xiaohuan. She’s not my granddaughter. My only granddaughter is Nannan; I have only Nannan as my granddaughter..."
Mr. Chu cried out as if stimulated, a surge of blood rushed to his chest, and he fainted on the spot.
This frightened Yunrou and Chu Tianming to the core, and they immediately called for the doctor, sending Mr. Chu into the emergency room once again.