Hearing about something and seeing it with your own eyes are two entirely different experiences.
Although the doctor had spoken gravely earlier, nothing could compare to the impact of seeing those injuries up close and so clearly.
So when Ning Xin personally said that her cousin Ning Ling had choked her unconscious, the air in the ward seemed to freeze.
Not to mention Old Madam Ning and Xiao Li, even Chen Zhigang, who had been completely drawn into this matter today without any warning, looked at Ning Ling with undisguised disgust.
Old Madam Ning was speechless.
Her mind kept replaying the image of her second son, treating this girl like the apple of his eye.
His wife had died young, and this girl had been raised by him with his own hands.
In other families, they doted on their sons, but he cherished this little girl who had lost her mother at such a tender age.
He carried her with him everywhere he went, afraid that the slightest thing might happen to her.
Old Madam Ning didn’t dare imagine what would have happened if Ning Xin had actually died just now.
Would that mean that, at her age, she wouldn’t even dare to die anymore?
Otherwise, how could she face her son in the afterlife?
Thinking of this, Old Madam Ning turned her gaze back to Ning Ling, who was huddled by the door, shaking her head in frantic denial.
A wave of overwhelming disgust rose within her, impossible to suppress.
She couldn’t control herself as she stood up and shouted at Ning Ling, “Get out! Get out!”
“Hold on, Auntie, don’t tell her to leave. I have to take her with me,” Xiao Li interrupted, his expression serious.
“What she did is a crime. At the very least, it’s intentional injury. At worst, attempted murder wouldn’t be a stretch. I heard what the doctor said earlier. Xiao Ning woke up, but what if she hadn’t?”
As he spoke, Xiao Li walked over, grabbed Ning Ling’s hand, and snapped the handcuffs onto her wrists.
By now, Ning Ling was completely paralyzed with fear, slumped on the floor, unable to move.
She seemed completely unable to grasp the severity of the situation, let alone understand what awaited her.
Terrified beyond even the ability to scream, she stared blankly at Ning Chengyou with a look of sheer horror, crying out in despair, “Uncle! Uncle!”
Ning Chengyou had never experienced anything like this either!
How was he supposed to know what to do?
He stood frozen in place, his expression looking worse than tears.
His eyes darted back and forth between Xiao Li and his mother.
He wanted to plead for Ning Ling, but he also knew it would be useless.
He wanted his mother to beg Ning Xin to say something on her behalf, but he also felt for his mother and didn’t want to put her in a difficult position.
After hesitating for a long time, he turned his head and, with trembling lips, looked at Ning Xin. “Xiao Xin…”
“It’s no use asking Xiao Ning about this. Say one more word, and I’ll take you in as well for coercing the victim to cooperate with the investigation!”
Xiao Li was thoroughly fed up with this group of people.
At the same time, he felt even more sympathy for Ning Xin.
The young girl was still lying in bed, and her family was making such a scene around her.
If they begged Ning Xin, what could she say? Of course she would have to plead on their behalf.
But was this something a plea could fix?
If everything could be solved by begging, what was the point of having laws?
Xiao Li’s words left Ning Chengyou completely dumbfounded. His lips moved, but he had no idea what to say.
“Brother, don’t say any more.” Chen Zhigang, unable to bear it any longer, quickly pulled Ning Chengyou back and gestured with his eyes for him to look at the old woman’s expression.
The old woman’s face was pale and ashen. She sat there, her body swaying, barely holding herself together.
Ning Chengyou was startled!
“Mother!” He reached out to help the old woman, but she slapped his hand away.
“Go home. You go home right now!” she commanded in a cold voice.
“But…” Ning Chengyou was torn.
He had brought Ning Ling here, but he couldn’t take her back.
When his third brother came home and asked for his daughter, how would he explain?
“People must bear the consequences of their own evil deeds. If you regret it now, what were you doing before? You go home!”
The old woman had clearly read her eldest son’s mind and repeated her order coldly and firmly.
They were all her grandchildren. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t worried about her granddaughter being taken to the police station.
But the old woman understood that if small mistakes weren’t punished, big ones would follow.
At least Xiao Xin wasn’t seriously harmed this time. Even if Xiao Ling was locked up for a few days, it could serve as a lesson.
But if she got away with it this time, who knew what reckless thing she might do next?
So, the old woman had no intention of pleading for her.
“Brother, you go first. I’ll take care of Mother here.” Chen Zhigang, having somewhat understood his mother-in-law’s thoughts, quietly signaled to Ning Chengyou.
Ning Chengyou bit his lip hard. In the end, he didn’t dare defy his mother’s wishes.
He lowered his head and strode toward the door.
As he passed by Ning Ling, he paused for a moment, but ultimately didn’t stop.
This had all happened so suddenly. Even Ning Xin didn’t expect her grandmother to be so resolute.
She had thought she would have to put up a bit of a fight.
For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.
Xiao Li was the first to snap out of it.
He cleared his throat and turned to Ning Xin. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back now. I’ll take this person with me. I’ll let you know how things proceed. If anything else happens, just come find me at the station. If you can’t make it yourself, you can send someone to call me.”
Ning Xin quickly agreed and thanked him.
After Xiao Li left, only Ning Xin, the old woman, and Chen Zhigang remained in the ward.
Having been through such an ordeal, the old woman still hadn’t fully recovered. She sat there motionless.
Ning Xin, seeing her grandmother’s complexion tinged with a greenish-yellow pallor, knew that the old woman’s anger had taken a deep toll on her heart.
She reached out, and across the hospital bed, gently touched her grandmother’s leg, saying softly, “Don’t be angry anymore, Grandma.”
Old Madam Ning didn’t speak. She simply placed her aged hand over her granddaughter’s somewhat slender hand and gently rubbed it.
Her expression was filled with an indescribable weariness.
Looking at her, Ning Xin thought of her grandmother from her first life, and her heart suddenly softened.
She turned her gaze to Chen Zhigang, who was standing to the side, and asked quietly, “Uncle, did you eat breakfast this morning?”
Chen Zhigang paused for a moment.
He had eaten something before accompanying his wife to her family’s home.
But once he arrived, he had been dragged into the city by his mother-in-law. He honestly didn’t know if she had eaten or not.
Regardless, from morning until now, after all that effort and stress, she must be hungry.
Seeing his expression, Ning Xin understood immediately.
She quickly said, “Uncle, why don’t you go out and get something to eat? And get something for my grandmother too. See if they have soy milk. She needs something warm right now. If they have it, bring her a bowl.”
Chen Zhigang readily agreed.
Seeing Ning Xin about to reach for money to give him, he quickly said, “I have it, I have it,” and hurried out.
Seeing Ning Xin’s thoughtfulness, the old woman was deeply moved.
Although Ning Xin had grown up in the city with her father, the old woman still knew her granddaughter well.
Feeling that her second son had it hard raising a girl on his own, and wanting to make him happy, she had always doted on this granddaughter a bit more.
But the old woman knew in her heart that this girl’s temperament wasn’t exactly warm.
It wasn’t that she had any bad intentions, she was simply naturally aloof.
Or rather, detached.
For this girl, aside from herself and her father, who doted on her the most, everyone else was an outsider.
No matter how well you treated her or how much you cared for her, you could never truly get into her heart.
You could see it in how she treated her own brother, for example.
Now, after suffering such a great wrong, she could still care about whether her grandmother had eaten breakfast.
Such thoughtfulness stunned the old woman.
A saying popped into her mind: “A child without a father grows up fast.”
Her eyes instantly welled up with tears.
This was, the child had been forced to grow up overnight!
The more the old woman thought about it, the more distressed she felt. She blamed herself for not managing the unruly members of the family properly, causing her granddaughter to suffer.
She moved from the opposite bed to Ning Xin’s side, sat on the edge of her bed, held her hand, and said with a pained heart, “Xin, don’t be afraid. Grandma is still here. As long as Grandma is alive, I won’t let anyone bully you!”
Ning Yi knew nothing of what had happened in the ward.
He had left the clinic in the morning and gone straight to the coal yard. Since he had taken a day off yesterday and lost a day’s wages, he worked non-stop all morning, even delivering coal to one more household than usual.
After finishing, he hurried home in a panic, cooked a meal, and then jogged all the way to bring it to his sister.
But he didn’t expect to find not just his sister in the ward, but also his grandmother and uncle-in-law.
Seeing them, Ning Yi was first startled, then immediately thought, Grandma hasn’t come to plead for Third Aunt, has she?
His expression immediately darkened a bit.
Seeing him like this, Chen Zhigang, afraid that the impulsive young man might say something to upset the old woman, quickly snatched the lunchbox from his hand and placed it on the table. Then he put an arm around Ning Yi’s shoulder and said to the old woman, “Mother, I’ll take Xiao Yi outside for a moment.”
With that, he pulled Ning Yi away, regardless of whether he was willing or not.
Watching the two figures leave, Old Madam Ning let out a cold snort and couldn’t be bothered with them.
She casually picked up the net bag containing the lunchboxes from the table and began taking them out, saying, “Can you sit up? Get up and eat something first.”
Ning Xin agreed and slowly sat up. The old woman helped her by placing a pillow behind her back, then set the lunchboxes on the small cabinet beside her bed and opened them.
The moment they opened, both of them fell silent, staring at what was inside.
Ning Yi had brought two lunchboxes. One contained two handmade steamed buns, the other contained cold cucumber salad and stir-fried tofu with greens.
The buns, whether because the dough had over-proofed or because the steamer lid had been opened too soon, were completely shriveled and wrinkled, looking like two oversized, freshly cracked walnut halves.
Staring at the buns, Ning Xin swallowed hard, not knowing what to say.
She shifted her gaze to the lunchbox with the dishes, the cucumber had been salted too early and had released all its water, looking limp and unappetizing.
As for the stir-fried tofu, Ning Xin had no idea how much force Ning Yi had used while cooking it. Calling it stir-fried tofu was generous, it was more like stir-fried soybean residue. The tofu had been broken into tiny, mushy pieces, which now sat with the over-fried greens, all soaking in the water released from the cucumbers. It didn’t look like anything worth eating.
In any case, Ning Xin doubted she could stomach it.
The breakfast Ning Yi had brought that morning had been the egg pancakes and millet porridge that Auntie Wang had specially made for her, so she hadn’t known her brother’s cooking was at this level.
In her modern life, Ning Xin had come from a family of physicians. Her parents were busy with work, so she had been raised by her grandparents.
Although her grandparents were both very renowned doctors, they had a relaxed outlook. After retiring, they reduced their workload.
Aside from the unavoidable obligation of each spending one day a week seeing patients at the hospital’s renowned physicians’ clinic, the old couple spent the rest of their time taking Ning Xin to eat and play all over the world.
Together, they visited every specialty restaurant they could find. Not only did they eat, but they also critiqued the food. When they got home, they would study and try to recreate the dishes.
Thus, from a young age, Ning Xin had developed an exceptionally discerning palate, and through constant exposure, she had also learned to cook many dishes.
In her second life, as soon as she was a little older, she had won over her master with her excellent cooking skills.
Not only was she accepted as his last closed-door disciple, but he also passed down to her all the medicinal recipe books and cookbooks he had spent most of his life collecting.
While her master was alive, besides practicing medicine, their greatest joy was traveling through mountains and rivers, seeking out all kinds of delicious food.
As a result, in her two lifetimes, Ning Xin had never really suffered when it came to food.
What she had never expected was that here, she would be faced with something like this.
Old Madam Ning looked at her, then at the food in the lunchboxes. She reached out, took the steamed buns her son-in-law had just bought, and shoved them into her granddaughter’s hands.
“You eat these.”
Then she picked up the bowl of soy milk and swapped it with the lunchbox on the cabinet.
Ning Xin felt a bit embarrassed.
“Grandma, it’s fine. I’ll just eat what my brother brought.”
“What’s there to be polite about with me? I know you, you’ve always been picky about food since you were little.”
The old woman picked up one of the wrinkled buns and took a bite. Then she frowned. “How did Xiao Yi steam these buns? Did he forget to add the alkaline water?”
She clicked her tongue in disgust. “Your father knew his way around a kitchen. How did he not learn a thing? Can’t even steam a proper bun!”
Hearing her grandmother mention her father’s cooking skills, Ning Xin’s heart stirred.
She felt a sudden urge to ask about that ancestral recipe book that, in the original story, Ning Yi had given to the female lead.