It was probably because the adults had arrived that the doctor spoke more directly and clearly.
There was a moment of silence in the ward.
The doctor continued, "The current situation is that our hospital is doing everything in its power to provide him with conservative treatment."
"If you want to take the child home, that’s also an option."
This statement was essentially a death sentence for Zhao Xiaogui.
Soon after, Aunt Xia’s low sobs began to rise.
"Doctor... Is there really no chance at all?" Uncle Xia asked with difficulty.
The doctor sighed, "It’s not that there isn’t any hope. If he’s taken to a better place, with the best doctors, there still might be a sliver of hope."
"It’s just that his condition isn’t suitable for long-distance travel; it’s very possible that he wouldn’t even survive the journey."
The doctor’s implication was clear: without transferring hospitals, death was certain; but given Xiaogui’s condition, the chances of him being saved even with a transfer were very low.
"The family should consider it carefully."
With that, the doctor left the ward.
"Ah..." Finally, Aunt Xia could no longer contain herself and released a piercing cry.
"My child!" Her voice was filled with a harrowing mix of despair, her words saturated with tears.
"If only I had never allowed you to go into the city with Chuyi!" Aunt Xia wailed.
Xia Chuyi, who had been biting her lip and forcibly keeping herself upright, felt something snap inside her.
Her body shook violently.
"Chuyi?" Xia Chengzong looked at her worriedly.
"I... I’m going to step out for a bit!" She lowered her head and rushed out of the hospital, as if she were fleeing in panic.
"Chuyi!" Xia Chengzong called out after her.
The skies of Ling County had, at some point, started to drizzle a mix of rain and snow.
She ran headlong into the storm, the fine snowflakes mixed with rain and wind piercing deep into her marrow.
She kept running, her mind in complete turmoil.
For the first time since her rebirth, she began to seriously doubt its purpose.
Did her rebirth really mean anything?
The Xia family, no matter how they scrambled and clamored, seemed like nothing more than a troupe of jesters in her eyes.
They were only using kinship to hold her hostage, and once she made up her mind to be cold-hearted, they posed no threat.
So, since her rebirth, her focus had been more on the people she cared about.
Her uncle and aunt, her cousin and second brother—she believed that her second chance at life was given by heaven to make up for regrets and to save her family.
But time and again, the gears of fate seemed to push her back toward her previous life.
After preventing Uncle Xia from smuggling goods, he still had an accident.
Finally, after Uncle Xia was safe, she started her own business in the city, turned her attention to helping her second brother with college entrance exams... Just as things were beginning to get back on track, her cousin met with an accident!
In her previous life, Aunt Xia despairingly collapsed because of Uncle Xia’s accident; in this life, was she going to collapse in despair over her cousin’s accident too?
No, that couldn’t happen!
But her cousin’s condition... She hugged her trembling body, biting her lip.
Was everything, despite her efforts, inevitably going to revert to the way things had been in her previous life?
Cutting ties with the Xia family, causing Aunt Xia’s household to fall apart, leaving her hometown alone, living a solitary life, inexplicably murdered by He Qing... Would all these events just repeat themselves in another way?
Yes, she was scared, she was retreating.
She ran out of the hospital; she couldn’t bear to face her uncle and aunt, their sorrow, their suffering, or even their despair.
The wind suddenly grew more biting, and a rumbling sound came from the skies above Ling City.
"Look, a helicopter!"
In an era where even cars were rare, a helicopter was an exceedingly uncommon sight.
But at that moment, Xia Chuyi had no interest in such things.
She just ran aimlessly.
With a "thud", not knowing how long she had been running, her foot slipped, and she fell forward.
But the expected pain didn’t come.
Instead, she crashed into a warm embrace.
"Chuyi, I’m here," came the low voice of Huo Shiqian.