Just as Sakurako was beside herself with worry, the door burst open with a loud thwack, startling her so badly she thought robbers had come to ransack the place. Just as she was about to scream for help, she saw that it was none other than Xiao Hao entering. Xiao Hao, sweating profusely, didn't say a word, but grabbed Sakurako and pulled her out the door. They ran all the way to Mrs. Nangong’s ward before stopping. Sakurako tried to push the door open but was blocked by the nurse on duty, so she could only look inside through the glass. She saw a group of doctors and nurses frantically working to resuscitate Mrs. Nangong.

“What happened to Mom?” Sakurako’s tears instantly streamed down her face as she pointed at the doctors inside the glass door and asked Xiao Hao.

Xiao Hao sighed, hesitating several times, wanting to speak but stopping. After a long pause, he stammered out, “She woke up briefly this morning, and I thought things were improving. Who knew that after that brief moment, her entire system crashed again? The hospital has called in the best doctors to try and save her…”

“Mom…” Before Xiao Hao could finish, Sakurako lost all composure and hysterically tried to rush into the ICU room. The nurse, alarmed, physically blocked the doorway, speaking words of comfort while trying to push her back out.

But how could a good person stop a maniac? With a shove and a tug, the conflict quickly escalated. Sakurako mustered all her strength and threw the nurse to the floor, crying out as she tried to storm into the ICU. It was Xiao Hao who was quick-witted, grabbing her in a bear hug, turning around, and forcefully making her sit on a stool. He held her shoulders down and said sternly, “Do you still want to see your mother one last time? If you do, you need to calm down. If you don’t, the doctors will give you a sedative, and you’ll never be able to say another word to her in your entire life!”

This warning actually worked. Sakurako sobbed and managed to control herself, no longer trying to force her way into the room, though her tears continued to fall in a steady stream onto the floor.

“Xiao Hao…”

Just as everyone was reeling from the shock of Sakurako’s outburst, Li Taizheng hurried down the corridor carrying two boxes of pastries. He stopped abruptly when he reached where Sakurako was sitting, turning to look at the frantic scene inside the ICU room—everything spoke for itself.

“Is there any way to get Sakurako in there to speak with her?” Xiao Hao asked his father in a grim voice, though a spark of conspiracy glittered in his eyes.

Li Taizheng immediately understood Xiao Hao’s meaning. He took out his phone and dialed the hospital director’s number, explaining the situation of the Nangong family. The Li family was indeed an established lineage; five minutes later, the director personally arrived at the ICU, pushing the door open gently with Sakurako and Xiao Hao following inside.

Mrs. Nangong was breathing shallowly. Seeing Sakurako enter, she seemed slightly comforted, stretching out a hand with difficulty to grasp her daughter’s. Seeing the patient wanting to communicate with her family, the doctors and nurses had no choice but to pause their work. Perhaps in the patient’s final moments, fulfilling her last wish held more significance than resuscitation efforts.

Sakurako, her face already streaked with tear tracks, was a mess of weeping, unable to utter a single complete sentence. She only held her mother’s hand tightly against her chest, allowing her to feel the heartbeat that only ten months of gestation could impart.

“Take… good… care… of… yourself…” Mrs. Nangong spoke with difficulty, looking up towards Xiao Hao standing beside them. Mistaking him for the little Shu she had raised herself, she extended her other hand and took Xiao Hao’s, placing it on Sakurako.

Xiao Hao adopted the peculiar, innocent expression unique to Xiao Shu, nodding fiercely at Mrs. Nangong but remaining silent. Of course, he could not speak; even identical twins rarely shared the exact same voice. A single spoken word could shatter Mrs. Nangong’s illusion and reveal his true identity, causing this meticulously planned farewell to fail utterly. Thus, he stood resolutely behind Sakurako and smiled at Mrs. Nangong. Mrs. Nangong smiled back with understanding, and suddenly a mouthful of blood sprayed out. Her body arched upward forcefully one last time, then her eyes closed, and she went utterly rigid before collapsing onto the bed.

To him, murder was the simplest of matters.