The vicious female supporting role is posted in the opposite direction by the cub

Inside the ward, the heart-pounding alarms and noisy footsteps finally subsided, leaving only the regular, faint ticking of the life monitor, like a weary heart that had finally stabilized.

Grandma Ji was pulled back from the brink of death and is now in a deep coma. Her face is so pale it's almost transparent, and every breath she takes seems extremely difficult.

Ji Li sat stiffly on the chair beside the hospital bed, like a clay sculpture whose soul had been taken away.

His hand gripped his grandmother's withered, cold fingers tightly, as if they were the only vine connecting her to the edge of a cliff.

Yan Yueqing's cold, angry question, "A person can have nothing, but they cannot have no conscience!" still echoed in his mind, intertwining with the fragile flame of life of his grandmother in front of him, which seemed to be extinguished at any moment, forming a huge, almost crushing, tearing feeling.

After an unknown amount of time, Grandma Ji's eyelids twitched slightly and she slowly opened them.

His cloudy gaze struggled to focus in the dim light, finally settling on his grandson's pale face.

“Xiao…Li…” Her voice was weak and feeble, her chapped lips moving slightly.

"Grandma!" Ji Li woke up with a start, almost throwing herself to the bedside, tears instantly streaming down her face. "Grandma, you're awake! You scared me to death! How are you feeling? Where does it hurt?"

Grandma Ji shook her head with difficulty, trying to raise her hand to touch her grandson's head, but she couldn't muster even a shred of strength. She could only use all her strength to squeeze Ji Li's hand that was holding hers, that weak force conveying endless comfort.

"Silly child..." she gasped, her voice broken, "Grandma is old and useless, the time has come..."

"No! Grandma, don't talk nonsense! You'll get better! The doctor will cure you!" Ji Li shook her head desperately, tears falling in large drops onto her grandmother's hand.

"Don't cry..." Grandma Ji's eyes were filled with reluctance and a kind of peaceful relief. "Xiao Li, what Grandma worries about most is you. Back in the village, Grandma couldn't close her eyes in peace, afraid that you wouldn't have a place to live..."

She paused for a long time, gathering her strength, her gaze fixed on the deep night outside the window, as if recalling something. A faint, relieved smile appeared on her lips: "Now it's all good. Heaven has opened its eyes, allowing us to meet a living bodhisattva like Miss Yan. She pulled you out of the mud, treated Grandma's illness, and sent you to a good school... Even if Grandma were to breathe her last now, she could rest in peace..."

"Grandma!" Ji Li's heart ached as if it were being stabbed with needles. Every word of gratitude his grandmother expressed to Yan Yueqing felt like it was tearing his heart out. He couldn't understand how his grandmother could trust that woman, whom he perceived as scheming, so much.

“Xiao Li…” Grandma Ji seemed to sense her grandson’s stiffness and resistance. Her cloudy eyes strained to look at Ji Li, her expression more solemn than ever before. “Tell Grandma… why do you hate Miss Yan so much? Why are you targeting her like that? She is our greatest benefactor…”

Ji Li's body trembled violently, her lips pressed tightly together, and her eyes instantly became incredibly complicated.

He lowered his head, not daring to look his grandmother in the eye.

The only sounds in the ward were the ticking of the monitor and the heavy breathing of the grandfather and grandson.

"Grandma...I..." Ji Li's voice was thick with nasal tone and struggle. He bit his lower lip so hard that it almost bled.

The fear, confusion, and anger buried deep in my heart finally burst forth like a flood after the immense grief of my grandmother's impending death and the direct questioning at this moment.

“…I always have strange dreams…” Ji Li’s voice was soft, with a dreamlike daze, “In my dreams, there are people who are kind to me, smile at me, and help me and my grandma. Her name is Qin Youran, and she has also helped many children at the orphanage, just like it was written in the newspaper…”

He raised his head, his eyes filled with confusion and pain: "In my dream, she saved us, she took us away from Canglong Village, she arranged for my grandmother to get treatment and sent me to school... But when I woke up, there was nothing there, only Yan Yueqing."

Ji Li's voice suddenly rose, filled with grievance and resentment: "Why her?! Why is it Qin Youran in my dream?! Why was Qin Youran arrested?! The newspapers say she committed a crime, is that true? Or did Yan Yueqing do it?! What is true and what is false?!"

His emotions surged again, his small body trembling with immense confusion and long-suppressed fear.

He clung to that "dream" and that old newspaper about Qin Youran, using them as his only weapons against Yan Yueqing's "hypocrisy" and as the "justifiable" source of all his hostility.

However, reality created a huge rift between the dream and the report. Grandma Ji listened quietly, her cloudy eyes showing no surprise, only deep sorrow and understanding.

She squeezed her grandson's hand tightly, her voice weaker yet carrying a wisdom born of experience: "Silly child... a dream is just a dream. Qin Youran was arrested; that was the law of the country. Without solid evidence, the country will not wrongly accuse anyone..."

She took a while to catch her breath before continuing, "Grandma doesn't understand those grand principles, but Grandma has lived a whole life and judges people by their hearts, not by their ears, and certainly not by their dreams."

“Miss Yan is right here in front of me. Grandma has seen everything she has done. The new medicine is good; Grandma’s pain is much less now. I can spend more time with you these days thanks to her. She supported your education and gave you the best, but she never asked you to do anything in return. Isn’t that true enough?”

Grandma Ji's gaze was fixed on Ji Li's confused and pained eyes. She spoke each word with her last strength: "Little Li, look with your heart, feel with your heart. Don't let dreams cloud your vision, don't let the past block your way."

“Miss Yan truly cared for you and Grandma. This kindness and affection are genuine. Grandma can rest assured and entrust you to such a person even after she passes away.”

"Look with your heart..." Grandma's voice grew softer and softer until it was almost a whisper, and she closed her eyes wearily.

"Grandma!" Ji Li called out hurriedly, and only breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the slight rise and fall of her grandmother's chest and the fluctuations still present on the monitor.

He slumped back into his chair, his grandmother's words like a pebble thrown into the turbulent lake of his heart, stirring up ripples that lingered for a long time.

Look carefully... don't let dreams blind you...

Yan Yueqing's icy words echoed in my ears again: "With my abilities, what kind of talent don't I have? ... Why would I gamble my time, energy, and vast resources on the uncertain future of an eight-year-old child like you? ... Do you think that's a smart move?"

Yes...someone like her, standing at such a high position, possessing so much.

The grandfather of the richest man in City C, the mysterious and powerful mother Jiang Yu, even a giant like Blue Ocean Heavy Industry was forced to bow down and offer nine billion by her, and there is also the unfathomable Jun family...

She has such capable people and so many elite talents around her.

The number of universities, projects, and talents she has funded is probably countless.

What is Ji Li? A little boy who crawled out of a poor mountain village, with a withdrawn and extreme personality, who is almost useless except for being good at studying.

What does she want from him?
Are you hoping he'll become successful in a decade or two? Then why not wait until he's actually successful before recruiting him? Why invest so much while he's still a troublesome kid, enduring his hostility and defiance?
Did she expect him to be grateful? But she never asked for a word of thanks, nor did she ever hint at any reward. Even when her grandmother was critically ill, she was the first to appear and stayed by her side…

Could it be that I was really wrong?

Could that dream about Qin Youran, those newspaper reports... really just wishful thinking on my part? Was it an obsession and excuse I fabricated to escape reality and refuse Yan Yueqing's kindness?

Ji Li stared blankly at his grandmother's sleeping face, then recalled Yan Yueqing's words, "Don't look yet," when she drew the curtains, and the red marks on her wrist that he had gripped so tightly... Those subtle actions that he had deliberately ignored suddenly became clear under his grandmother's words and Yan Yueqing's questioning.

He slowly lowered his head, looking at his clenched fist, which seemed to still retain the sensation of the angry shove he had made to Yan Yueqing.

The cold hatred receded like the tide, leaving behind a chaotic beach.

What should he do? What should he believe?
In the ward, only the regular ticking of the monitor, like the footsteps of time, urged a child, under the shadow of the impending extinction of the candle of his loved one's life, to begin to examine the high wall he had built in his heart, and the light outside the wall that he had long rejected, called "truth".

He fell into a long, silent contemplation. (End of Chapter)