The memories from back then flashed across her mind like a movie.
Back then, while she did not get notified by the hospital and could not muster up the courage to open the little casket and have one last look at her child, Egger… did confirm things for her, so Ping An was truly gone…
How, then… could her son be Ji Chi?
That… was impossible!
“That can’t be…”
She looked at her mother blankly. As if she had lost her soul, her face was now pale and lifeless.
Her mother knew from her reaction that the words she had uttered were quite preposterous.
“I’m just saying that in passing; that’s why I told you that it’s ridiculous.”
She patted her daughter’s hand gently while gazing at her tenderly. “Actually, I’m just saying that in hopes of our Ping An being well and alive.
“My good daughter, don’t pay attention to your old mother’s rambling. Just take it that I’ve said too much,” she consoled.
Pei Ge nodded blankly at her mother’s consoling words, yet her thoughts were centered on the idea that Ji Chi was Ping An.
Even when she brought the kids’ home, her thoughts were still on the boy.
That continued until she put the two little guys to sleep.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?”
Ji Ziming took off his suit and changed into his pajamas before hugging her.
“I-I was thinking if, Ji Chi, could he be…” Could he not be my Ping An?
Alas, before she could say that aloud, she too found her words a little ridiculous.
Even she could not say it out loud because… that was too preposterous!
So much that she had some trouble convincing herself…
“En? Are you talking about my son? What about him?”
The man raised a brow slightly. He found that this woman was a little strange, especially when it came to her attitude to his son.
“I…”
Taking a deep breath, she wanted to tell him about the matter, regardless of how preposterous it sounded, but before she could do so, his phone rang again.
The man frowned slightly, not wanting to take the call, but when he saw who was calling, he reluctantly picked it up.
The call only brought him bad news.
“Sir, your father took it upon himself to… announce a wedding between the Qus and the Jis. News of your impending marriage to Miss Qu is spreading wildly in the capital…”
Hearing these words from the other end, the man knitted his brows, his expression gloomy.
Pei Ge, who was sitting by his side, knitted her brows tightly when she saw the man’s sudden change in expression.
“What’s wrong?” she asked softly.
“…”
The man did not answer her question; instead, he listened to the person on the other end in gloomy silence.
When he hung up and looked at her, his expression was a little different.
“I think we might have to return home earlier.”
He looked at her with a smile, but there was a complex coldness in his smile.
“Ah? Did something happen?”
She started worrying at once.
Even though she thought it was a good idea to return home earlier, she wanted to figure out if Ji Chi was Qiao Jingyun’s child or… her Ping An.
At that moment, she felt that, perhaps, she should not tell the man about this before she confirmed it.
After all, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
She would bear the disappointment alone.
“Yes, something happened back home,” answered the man, a cold light flashing across his eyes.
He did not expect the Qu family to be so capable. It seemed that he had been too friendly to them these last few years for them to have the guts to set up his family like this!
“What exactly happened? Is it serious?”
Pei Ge looked at Ji Ziming with her brows knitted. She had a feeling that it was related to her.
“It’s nothing big; don’t read too much into it.”
He waved off this matter, running his palm through her hair.
“Let’s go back home together tomorrow.”
“…Okay.”
She wanted to see Qiao Jingyun and Ji Chi as soon as possible.
She wanted to figure out if it was a nonsensical thought on her part.
If… the boy was her son, then she could not believe what her Ping An had gone through all these years.
The helpless face of the boy suddenly surfaced in her mind.
In an instant, she became more hesitant.
She hoped that her lost son was not the boy, while she also hoped that he was.
If the boy was truly her son, t-then… what had he gone through all these years?
It was destined to be an eventful night.
Her thoughts were on her dead son. Ping An and Ji Chi’s image overlapped in her mind, tugging at her heart.
Early the next morning, she went to the hospital where her best friend was confined, bid the latter goodbye, and moved to leave.
However, just as she was about to leave after telling Tang Xiaoyu everything, her friend, who had been ignoring her, spoke for the first time that day in her raspy voice.
“Ge Ge, actually Egger’s not really a good guy; perhaps… auntie’s conjecture is right. Maybe, Ping An actually didn’t die back then…”
Her heart jumped when she heard the other’s words.
“Xiaoyu, do you know something?”
She turned around hurriedly and took big steps toward the woman on the hospital bed.
“No, I don’t know anything, but Zhengrong told me that he had seen an identical woman to you at Egger’s place before…”
