Chapter 52: Suddenly growing up at a certain moment

The taxi stopped at the hospital entrance, and Meng Zhi and Chen Xinya stepped out.

Standing before the hospital gates, Meng Zhi looked up, a trace of daze in her eyes.

“You didn’t have to come.”

“It’s fine. Maybe I can help somehow.”

Meng Zhi fell silent. She hadn’t wanted Chen Xinya to come, mainly to keep her from learning about Feng Xiyue’s family issues.

But honestly, Meng Zhi herself didn’t even know what was going on now.

Even in her last life, Meng Zhi had only heard bits and pieces about Feng Xiyue’s family conflicts. Those fragments came from Feng Xiyue’s offhand jokes, and she never willingly reopened those wounds.

Meng Zhi knew Feng Xiyue’s mother was emotionally distant. Including Feng Xiyue’s biological father, she’d had maybe a dozen boyfriends or husbands.

Meng Zhi’s father was just one of many men in her life.

To her, perhaps nothing mattered more than her own pleasure.

Not even her own daughter.

Feng Xiyue always avoided talking about her mother. But Meng Zhi remembered that in the last life, the night Feng Xiyue chose to elope with her, she’d fought with her mother and came to Meng Zhi like she had nowhere else to turn.

With system tasks, Meng Zhi wouldn’t have refused her anyway. So they fled together to a strange city where no one could find them.

After the elopement, Feng Xiyue became much brighter and rarely brought up unhappy things. So Meng Zhi never fully understood the real conflict between Feng Xiyue and her mother.

Nor did she know if it was appropriate for Chen Xinya to know.

“Once we’re inside, stay back and wait.”

“If I need you, I’ll call you over.”

Chen Xinya nodded obediently: “Don’t worry, I’ll behave.”

In the hospital parking lot, Meng Zhi spotted a man sitting by a flower bed, head down, smoking.

Meng Zhi turned to Chen Xinya, whispering for her to wait, then walked over quietly and sat beside him.

“…Where is she?”

“Just finished all the checkups. Waiting for the last few reports.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s fine… The doctor said it’s mild malnutrition, and the vomiting was just from emotional stress. But they suggest seeing a psychologist.”

“What happened this morning?”

“I don’t know… I was just waiting in the car for her and her mother. They seemed to have fought again.”

Meng Zhi paused, then asked: “Why tell me all this?”

Her father slowly looked up. His eyes seemed to avoid hers.

“Do you… like Xiao Yue?”

“Why ask that?”

Her father’s eyes dropped, his voice tinged with bitterness: “If you do… I’m sorry. I’ve caused you trouble again.”

“My relationship with her mother is probably affecting you, isn’t it?”

Hearing “caused you trouble” from a father to his daughter felt odd.

Meng Zhi didn’t recall her father being this sincere in her previous lives.

But she didn’t care anymore. Nor did she believe him.

“We’re just normal friends. You’re overthinking.”

“I see.” Her father sighed, taking a deep drag of his cigarette. “Actually, her mother told me some things about her.”

“When Xiao Yue was in middle school, her biological father passed away. The only thing he left her was an MP5 loaded with songs.”

“During that time, she was also facing severe bullying at school. But her mother never intervened, thinking it was just kids being kids, that Xiao Yue just needed to toughen up.”

“After that, Xiao Yue started hating school, skipping classes, locking herself in her room, looping the songs on her father’s MP5.”

“Her love for music probably started then,” her father mused.

Meng Zhi kept her head down, only speaking after a long pause: “I thought you’d take that woman’s side.”

“…It doesn’t matter whose side I take.” Her father stubbed out his cigarette, exhaling a thick ring of smoke. “To them, I’m just an outsider.”

“I can understand why Xiao Yue doesn’t want to go to school. Sometimes parents owe their kids too much and deserve some payback.”

Meng Zhi wasn’t sure if her father was talking about Feng Xiyue and her mother.

Or about himself.

“Her mother… she’s a fickle woman, isn’t she?”

“…Yes.” Her father gave a bitter smile, not denying it.

“Then why are you with her?”

Her father was silent for a long time. He brushed ash off his sleeve, murmuring as if to himself: “Meng Zhi. You’re an adult now. Maybe the old me could never have said this to my daughter, no matter how much it cost my pride.”

“But that night you confronted me and your mom, I suddenly got it.”

“I’m just your father. Not necessarily someone wiser or better than you.”

“Being with her mother wasn’t really my choice. It’s more like I had no other options.”

He hesitated: “Your mother… her new family, they’re happy.”

“Happier than when she was with me.”

Meng Zhi nodded: “I understand.”

Her father froze, glancing at her. Meng Zhi’s calm, silent expression made him look away, shaking his head with a wry smile: “…Thanks for understanding.”

“You really grew up when I wasn’t looking.”

Meng Zhi didn’t respond.

It had taken her several lifetimes to fully grasp this truth.

Everyone has lessons they learn only through pain. She and her father were no different—neither was wiser than the other.

“Are you going to see Xiao Yue?”

“Yeah.” Meng Zhi looked up at the towering hospital building.

“Have you thought about what to say to her mother?”

“No. I’m just here for Feng Xiyue. Her mother doesn’t matter.”

“I see.” Her father’s eyes dimmed. “…Fourth floor, lab window.”

Meng Zhi nodded, standing to walk back to Chen Xinya.

Chen Xinya was worried. She didn’t know what Meng Zhi had discussed with her father or if Meng Zhi had moved past her parents’ divorce.

But when Meng Zhi reached her, she just said lightly, “Let’s go,” as if she’d only chatted with an old friend.

Chen Xinya didn’t dare ask, only humming softly and following quietly behind.

By the roadside, Meng Zhi’s father watched their retreating figures with a complex gaze. Meng Zhi’s shadow felt unfamiliar, like he suddenly didn’t recognize his own child.

But maybe.

Girls just grow up in a single moment, don’t they?